his race as an out-cast of great Charlemagne Lewes V. reigned one year only and dyed without Heir leaving his place void in troubles of State and confusion of times horribly corrupted unto the House of Hugh le grand Earl of Paris God had prepared the means both for the Father to lay the foundation and for his Son Hugh Capet appointed for the Regal Dignity to finish this goodly building Now cometh in the third race of the Kings of France called Capets of the name of Hugh Capet Charles Duke of Lorrain was first Prince of the Blood-royal he was Son to Lewes IV. Brother to Lothair Unckle to Lewes V. the last King to whom the fundamental Laws of France did adjudge the Crown But Hugh Capet was chosen King by the French assembled in Parliament and Charles Duke of Lorrain was rejected from the Crown This change happened in July Anno 987. This new King was sirnamed Capet or Capitosus either for that he had a great Head or that being young he was accustomed to catch at his Companions caps as a presage of that he should do unto Kings Otho and Henry two other Sons of Hugh le grand were Dukes of Burgundy one after another his other Sons were advanced to Ecclesiastical Dignities the one Arch-Bishop of Tholouse the other of Rovan and another dyed young Charles of Lorrain gathered an Army and entring France came to the City of Laon within which City he by the Treason of Anselm the Bishop of that City was taken and delivered with his Wife and Children into the hands of his Enemies Hugh being crowned King causeth his Son Robert to be crowned King at Rhemes Anno 990. three years after his Father's election Hugh decreeth that the elder Son should reign alone among his Brethren and suppresseth the Majors of the Palace He likewise decreed that hereafter Bastards should not be only rejected from the Crown but also from the sir-name of France the which before was allowed them To him likewise are due the goodly Ordinances of Justice Paris was the chief place of Hugh's residence which City was greatly augmented and beautified in his Reign Arnulph Bastard to Lothair was the only Man which had favoured Charles of Lorrain against Hugh Capet This Man was both perverse and disloyal having deceived both Charles of Lorrain and Hugh Capet who had given him the Arch-bishoprick of Rovan in recompence of the service he promised him against Charles to whom notwithstanding contrary to his Faith he gave means to seize upon the Cities of Rhemes Laon and Soissons Hugh therefore resolves to suppress Arnulph but respecting his quality he assembled a National Council of the French Church in the City of Rhemes This Assembly deposed Arnulph as guilty of Treachery and a troubler of the publick quiet and they substitute Gilbert in his place who had been School-master unto Robert Afterwards Hugh confines him to Orleans with Charles of Lorrain there to end his days in rest The Prelates of France in this Synod made a Declaration that the Popes have nothing to do to usurp the power and authority of Kings Arnalt Bishop of Orleans maintained in that Synod that the Popes have no power at all over the Bishops of France so as to have any cognizance of Cases belonging to them and he declaimed most stoutly against the avarice and corruption of the Court of Rome Seguin Arch-Bishop of Sens was sent also to Orleans to be imprisoned because he consented not freely to the deposition of Arnulph Pope John 12. being displeased with Hugh for that he had not appealed to him for his confirmation in this new Royalty disanulleth this Decree of the Council of Rhemes excommunicates the Bishops which had assisted restores Arnulph and deprives Gilbert of the Arch-bishoprick of Rovan and to temper this sharp and rough proceeding with some lenity he doth invest Gilbert with the Arch-bishoprick of Ravenna And this was a means to raise him to the dignity of Pope Acta Synodi Rhemensis Anno 990. The Acts of this Council of Rhemes under Hugh Capet have these words Poor Rome What clear lights of Fathers hast thou brought forth in the time of our Predecessors What horrible darkness hast thou poured out upon our times which will redound to our shame and dishonour in future Ages The Pope threatens his curse against Hugh and his Son Robert The King returned Answer that he had done nothing in contempt but that he was willing to justifie what He or his Bishops had done if it pleased the Pope to meet him at Gratianople on the Frontiers of Italy and France or if rather he would come into France he promised to receive him with the highest honour The Pope sent his Legates into France Gerebert Arch-Bishop of Rhemes sent an Epistle unto Seguin forementioned who was said to favour the deposed Arnulph the tenour whereof is Morn in Myst iniqu It became your worthiness to eschew the craftiness of deceitful men and to hear the voice of the Lord saying Here is Christ Hist Magdeb. in Actis Synodi or there is Christ follow not One is said to be in Rome who justifieth those things which ye condemn and condemneth those things which ye think just God saith If thy Brother offend against thee go and rebuke him How then say some that in the deposition of Arnulph we should have waited the determination of the Romish Bishop can they say that the Judgement of the Bishop of Rome is greater than the Judgement of God But the Prince of the Apostles saith We must obey God rather than Man St. Paul also cryeth If any Man Preach unto you otherwise than what you have received although he were an Angel from Heaven let him be accursed Because Pope Marcellinus offered Incense unto Idols should therefore all Bishops offer Incense I say boldly that if the Bishop of Rome himself sin against a Brother and being often admonished will not hear the Church even the Roman Bishop according to the command of Christ should be esteemed as an Heathen and a Publican for the highest rise hath the lowest fall And if he think us unworthy of him because none of us assenteth to him when he judgeth contrary to the Gospel he cannot therefore separate us from the Communion of Christ seeing even a Presbyter unless he confess or be convict should not be removed from his Office c. The Priviledges of St. Peter saith Leo the Great are not where Judgement is not exercised according to Righteousness Wherefore occasion should not be given unto these our envyers that the Priesthood which is one every where as the Catholick Church is one should be subject unto one Man that if he be corrupt with Money favour fear or ignorance none can be a Priest except whom these virtues recommend unto him Let the Law of the Catholick Church be common Farewel and suspend not your selves from the sacred Mysteries Pope John had intelligence of this Letter and summoned the
Peter did and although his Doctrine was so often condemned by the Popes yet it could not be rooted out of the minds of men for Matthew Paris writeth Math. Paris Hist Anglor Math. Westm that all France was affected with this Doctrine and Matthew of Westminster at the same time saith That the Doctrine of Berengarius had corrupted all the English Italian and French Nations So that the Berengarians that is the Preachers of the true Faith which the Romanists call Heresie against the rising errours did not lurk in a Corner Sigeb Gemblac Chroni And Sigebert in his Chronicle saith that there mere many disputations among divers persons both for him and against him both by word and by writing Thuan. Hist in Epist Dedicat. Thuanus also hath noted that in Germany were many of the same Doctrine and that Bruno Bishop of Trevers banished them all out of his Diocess but sparing their Blood And John Tossington a Franciscan in his confession set forth Anno 1380. saith thus The Heretical sentence which is raised of the dreams of Berengarius affirmeth openly that all the Fathers of the Church and Doctors of the second thousand years as they speak that is who have been within 380 years have been after the loosing of Satan and the Doctrine which we saith he hold to be the Faith of the Church Usher ca. 3. concerning the blessed Eucharist they say it is not right but an errour and heresie and the tares of Satan being let loose To defend the words of the former Recantation which was given in the Synod at Lateran unto Berengarius these flatterers of the Romish Idol have devised a new distinction of oral manducation viz. That oral eating is either visible or invisible And they called the opinion of eating Christ 's flesh visibly the errour of the Capernaites and they said the eating of Christ 's flesh with the mouth invisibly was the explication of Christ But the Fathers of higher antiquity condemned all oral eating as Capernaitism neither were the Capernaites so subtle as to make such distinctions yea surely Christ would have made his correction according to their errour Mark what St. Augustine saith August Tract 27 in Johan who abideth not in Christ and in whom Christ abideth not without all doubt he neither spiritually eateth Christ 's flesh nor drinketh his blood albeit carnally and visibly he with his teeth do press the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ And Tract 28. What is it They are Spirit and Life they are spiritually to be understood Understandest thou them spiritually they are Spirit and Life Understandest thou them carnally so also they are Spirit and Life but not to thee They understanding spiritual things carnally were scandalized Here St. Augustine opposeth carnal eating unto spiritual eating and he saith that carnally men eat not the flesh of Christ but the Sacrament of his flesh Philip the first succeeded his Father Henry This Henry had caused his Son Philip to be crowned King being but seven years old and gave him Baldwin Earl of Flanders for Tutor and Regent of the Realm He lived but a little time after his Son 's Coronation The King 's Minority passed quietly by the wise government of Baldwin who having accompanied his Pupil to the Age of 15 years dyeth and leaveth him his Realm in peace Baldwin left two Sons Baldwin and Robert with their Mother Richilde Then their Unckle Robert the Frison pretended the Inheritance to belong to him and supplanting his Nephews seizeth on the Earldom of Flanders and King Philip forsakes Baldwin's Children at their need forgetting the good Offices he had received from their Father Now William Duke of Normandy is received King of England and Crowned in a solemn Assembly of the English and homage is done unto him as their lawful Lord Anno 1066. He had encountred King Harold and overcome his Host in that place where afterward was builded the Abbey of Battle in Sussex The day after the Battle very early in the morning Odo Bishop of Baieux sung Mass for those that were departed being slain in the Battle Before this time Priests were forbidden to marry but could not be restrained from their liberty In the Year 1074. Pope Gregory VII otherwise Hildebrand in a Synod at Rome condemned all married Priests as Nicolaitans He directed his Bulls as they called them to Bishops Dukes and other Powers declaring every one to be no Priest that had a Wife His Bull was sent into Italy and Germany This Decree being proclaimed through all Italy he sent many Letters unto the French Bishops commanding that they should upon pain of an everlasting curse put away all the Women from the Houses of Priests But the residue of the Clergy stoutly withstood the Pope 's decree and would not agree thereunto Then there arose such a Schism in the Church that the people would not send their Priests unto the Bishops but did elect them among themselves and put them in Office without the knowledge of the Bishops And Nauclerus saith that both Priests and people did oppose the Pope 's decree and that not only in Germany but in France also Yea Gebuiler a late Papist testifieth that in those times 24 Bishops in Germany and France with their Clergy did constantly maintain the liberty of Priests marriage If other Nations had followed the like concord and constancy of these German and French Ministers the devilish decree of this Hildebrand had been avoided About this time at Nantes a Letter was presented unto a Clerk as directed from Hell in it Satan and all that fry gave thanks unto all the Popish Clergy Math. Paris Hist because they were not wanting to do their wills and pleasures and because by negligence of preaching they had sent so many souls to Hell as no Age preceding had seen so many After the death of Hildebrand Victor the third Abbot of Cassa was made Pope not by the Election of the Romans or Cardinals but was thrust in by the aid of his Harlot Mathilda and the Normans that were of his faction He being established began to defend Gregorie's pranks against the Emperour and others But the hastiness of his death shortned his malice When Gregory and Victor were dead the Bishops of Germany and France considering the calamities of the Church by that unhappy schism Avent Annal. li. 5. met at Gurstung to end the controversie There Conrade Bishop of Vtrecht made a long Oration in the Assembly The Papal party had chosen Gebhard Bishop of Salisburgh to speak in their name but when he heard the Oration of Conrade he would not open his mouth to speak on the contrary At length a Synod was convocated at Mentz whither came the Emperour the Electors and many Dukes Peter Bishop of Portua and Legate of Clemens and many Bishops of Germany and France There the faction of Hildebrand by common suffrage was condemned as contrary unto Christian piety and a decree was published
of Auxerre in France Henry's Son-in-Law 4. Robert 5. Baldwin the fifth and last At this time the Tartarians over-run the North of Asia and many Nations fled from their own Countries for fear of them Among other the Corasines a fierce and Warlike people were forced to forsake their Land Being thus unkennelled they have recourse to the Sultan of Babylon who bestows on them all the Lands the Christians held in Palestine They march to Jerusalem and take it without resistance Soon after the Corasines elated herewith fell out with the Sultan himself who in anger rooted out their Nation so that none remained The French-men make War against Reymund Earl of Tholouse and think to enclose him in his Castle of Saracene but the Earl lying in Ambush for them in Woods slew many of them and 500 of the French Souldiers were taken and of their Servitors to the number of 200 men in armour were taken of whom some lost their eyes some their ears some their legs and so were sent home the rest were carried away Prisoners into the Castle Thrice that Summer were the French-men discomfited by the aforesaid Reymund King Lewes puts a stop to the persecution of the Albigenses saying that they must perswade them by reason and not constrain them by force whereby many Families were preserved in those Provinces In those times lived Gulielmus de sancto amore a Doctor of Paris and Chanon of Beauvois exclaiming against the abuses of the Church of Rome He wrote against the Fryars and their hypocrisie but especially against the begging Fryars In his days there was a most detestable and blasphemous book set forth by the Fryars which they called Evangelium Aeternum or Evangelium spiritûs sancti The Everlasting Gospel or The Gospel of the Holy Ghost Wherein it is said That the Gospel of Christ was not to be compared to it no more than darkness to light That the Gospel of Christ should be preached but fifty years and then this everlasting Gospel should rule the Church He mightily impugned this pestiferous Book Fox Act and Monum p. 410. ad 416. He was by the Pope condemned for an Heretick exiled and his Books were burnt His story and Arguments may be read in Mr. Fox his first Volumn Pope Alexander armed Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure men of violent spirits against him but he was too hard for these reprovers his followers were called Amoraei Pope Gregory succeedeth Innocent and is a great Enemy to Frederick the Emperour who had entred Italy with a great Army After his Election he sends his Nuncio into France to exhort Lewes to succour him The Pope comes into France and calls a Council at Lyons whither he cites Frederick but yet upon so short a warning as he could not appear Frederick having sent his Ambassadours to require a lawful time and to advertise the Pope of his coming begins his Journey to perform his promise Being arrived at Thurin he hath intelligence given him that the Pope had condemned him as Contumax excommunicated him and degraded him of the Empire But this was not without the consent of the Princes Electors of the Empire who after mature deliberation proceeded to a new Election They chuse Henry Landgrave of Thuring for Emperour but he besieging the City of Vlmes was wounded with an Arrow whereof he dyed shortly after Frederick writes to the French King against the sentence against him at Lyons Then the Electors chose William Earl of Holland for Emperour In all the chief Cities the Guelph's Faction was the stronger through the Authority of the Council of Lyons Frederick over-pressed with grief dyeth leaving Italy and Germany in great combustion The Pope having Canonized Edmond Arch-Bishop of Canterbury soon after Blanch Queen Regent of France came into England to worship that Saint representing to him that he had found refuge for his Exile in France and beseeching him not to be ungrateful She said my Lord most Holy Father confirm the Kingdom of France in a peaceable solidity and remember what we have done to thee Now Lewes IX came to assist the Christians in Palestine His nobility diswaded from that design Lewes takes up the Cross and voweth to eat no Bread until he was recognized with the Pilgrim's Badge Their went along with him his two Brothers Charles Earl of Anjou Robert Earl of Artois his own Queen and their Ladies Odo the Pope's Legat Hugh Duke of Burgundy William Earl of Flanders Hugh Earl of St. Paul and William Longspath Earl of Sarisbury with a band of valiant English-men The Pope gave to this King Lewes for his charges the tenth of the Clergy's revenues through France for three years and the King employed the Pope's Collectors to gather it whereupon the Estates of the Clergy were shaven as bare as their crowns and a poor Priest who had but twenty shillings annual pension was forced to pay two yearly to the King Having at Lyons took his leave of the Pope and a blessing from him he marched toward Avignon Where some of the city wronged his Souldiers especially with foul Language His Nobles desired him to besiege the city the rather because it was suspected that therein his Father was poisoned To whom Lewes most christianly said I come not out of France to revenge mine own quarrels or those of my Father or Mother but injuries offered to Jesus Christ Hence he went without delay to his Navy and so committed himself to the Sea Lewes arrives in Cyprus where the pestilence raging two hundred and forty Gentlemen of note dyed of the infection Hither came the Ambassadours from a great Tartarian prince invited by the fame of King Lewes his piety professing to him that he had renounced his Paganism and embraced Christianity and that he intended to send Messengers to the Pope to be further instructed in his Religion but some Christians which were in Tartary diswaded him from going to Rome King Lewes received these Ambassadours cuurteously dismissing them with bounteous gifts And by them he sent to their Master a Tent wherein the History of the Bible was as richly as curiously depicted in Needle-work hoping thus to catch his Eyes and both in his present pictures then being accounted Lay-mens books The French land in Egypt and Damiata is taken by them Discords grew between the French and English the cause was for that the Earl of Sarisbury in sacking a Fort got more spoil therein than the English Then dyed Meladine the Egyptian King Robert Earl of Artois Brother to King Lewes fighting with the Egyptians contrary to the Counsel of the Templars is overthrown In his flight he cryed to the Earl of Sarisbury flee flee for God fighteth against us To whom our Earl God forbid my Father's Son should flee from the face of a Saracen The other seeking to save himself by the swiftness of his Horse and crossing the River was drowned The Earl of Sarisbury slew many a Turk and though unhorsed and wounded in his Legs stood
Charles the second King of Sicily and Apulia dyed also After the death of Pope Gregory X. the first conclave was in Arezzo where the Pope dyed The Guards lasted but one night for the same night the Cardinals entred they agreed to chuse Pietro Farantasio a Burgundian and Dominican Fryar Pope who took upon him the name of Innocent V. Innocent was crown'd in Rome forty days after his Election After the death of Innocent which happened in the year 1276. six months exactly after his Election Alexander V. who succeeded him being created in Rome with all the formalites of the conclave revoked the order established by Gregory concerning the affairs of the conclave though in due form it had the approbation of a general Council Divers other succeeding Popes were all created according to the order observed before the time of Gregory X. King Philip the third dyeth having reigned fifteen years and lived forty of his first Wife Isabel he had Philip and Charles remaining Philip his eldest Son was King of France after him Charles was Earl of Valois of Alanson and of Perche Father to that Philip of Valois who in his course shall succeed to the Crown Fryar John of Paris a Doctor in Divinity of the Order of predicants wrote about the year 1280. Joann Paris in Tract de potest Regia Papal in pro. In his Tract of the Royal and Papal power he saith I am of opininion that truth it self hath made a medium here namely that it is not utterly impossible that Clergy-men have Dominion and Jurisdiction in Temporal matters but yet it belongs not unto them by reason of their profession and as Christ's Vicars and the Apostles successors but is convenient for them to have it by the grant and permission of Princes if so be they have bestowed it upon them out of devotion or if they have got it by other means And in the eighth Chapter he sets down this conclusion Whence it appears that seeing Christ as Man had no power nor jurisdiction in Temporal matters the Priest be what he will hath not received any power over them from Christ inasmuch as he did not give unto them what he had not in himself Philip the fair now King of France was advised by the Princes and French Barons not to suffer the Pope to make any Ordinances belonging unto his Kingdom Du. Tillet en Padvis sur les libertez del eglise Gallicane p. 5. without the Council of him and his nor any new and unwonted thing to be brought in thither So saith Mr. John du Tillet in his advice concerning the Liberties of the Gallican Church And it is the very counsel which Eudeas Duke of Burgundy gave him which is yet to be seen in the Treasury of Chartres This King loved Justice and Learning wherein he was well instructed for that Age. His Wife Joan builded in her name that goodly Colledge of Navarr Peter Morone an Hermit was chosen Pope and assumed the name of Celestine V. a Pope little practised in politick or Ecclesiastick affairs The Cardinals in short time by reason of the many errours that he fell into by his insufficiency for the Popedom made several Instances to him that he would spontaneously be pleased to renounce the Papacy and not expose the Church to so many perils Hereunto they were stirred up by the instigation of Benedetto Gaetano who was afterwards Boniface VIII Who was a Cardinal of great Learning and Experience but so extreamly ambitious of the Papacy that he left no Stone unturn'd to compass his designs And because he saw he might easily bring it about if Celestine would renounce he perswaded Celestine to resign laying it to him as a scruple of conscience telling him that at the day of Judgement it would be imputed to him if any ill did happen to the Church Gaetano likewise suborned some of Celestine's friends to make an hole corresponding with that part of the chamber in which the Pope's bed stood from whence they cryed all night long with a most dismal voice as if it had been the Judgement of Heaven Celestine Celestine lay down the Popedom for it is a charge too great for your abilities Celestine hereupon resigneth the Papacy in the sixth Month after his creation and returned to the Cell from whence he came The same day in which Celestine renounced the Cardinals without the form of the conclave chose the said Gaetan with open Votes He being declared Pope and having assumed the name of Boniface VIII began his Reign with so much insolence and Tyranny that in a short time he gain'd the Title of Nero II. A great Assembly meet in the City of Gramont Anno 1296. Where Adolph the Emperour Edward King of England the Duke of Austria John Duke of Brabant the Earl of Juliers and his Son John Earl of Holland and Henuault Robert Earl of Nevers William Henry and Guy of Flanders unanimously resolve to make War against King Philip. The colour was to maintain Guy Earl of Flanders unjustly afflicted by Philip who had violently taken and stoll'n away his Daughter and detained her against the right of Nations refusing to restore her to her Father It was decreed that Guy should begin by force and be well seconded by the Emperour and the English But before they come to Arms Pope Boniface should make the first point by the lustre of his Authority This Pope commandeth Philip by his Nuncio to restore to the English and Flemmings what they demanded and for not obeying he cites him to appear at Rome upon pain of Excommunication Philip sends an honourable Embassage to Rome by the Arch-Bishop of Rhemes and the Earl of St. Paul to lay open his right against the Deputies of the King of England and the Earl of Flanders who were then at Rome to complain as being wronged All parties being heard Boniface decreeth that Philip should yield unto Edward and to Guy all they demanded both in Guienne and Flanders charging the Arch-Bishop of Rhemes to signifie this Bull unto the King upon pain of Excommunication for not obeying Philip being undaunted prepares to defend himself invades Flanders and defeats the Flemmings seizeth upon all Flanders and the Earl of Flanders is forsaken by his confederates Guy with his children and followers are imprisoned in sundry places in France under sure guards Philip getting Flanders and uniting it to the Crown of France He comes to Gaunt where he is received as their Soveraign appointing James of Chastillon Lord of Leuse and Condè for Governour and Lieutenant-General and so returneth to Paris The people of Flanders being oppressed revolt from Philip. All the Cities Gaunt excepted make an offensive and defensive League against King Philip and for their Earl's delivery At Bruges the French are slain by their Hosts The Nobility joyn with the people Philip prepares an Army of 40000 Men but even at his entry into Flanders returns again His sudden retreat incensed this mutinous people more
was John XXII He was a Cistercian Monk he sate in that seat eighteen years This John believed that the Souls do not enjoy the presence of God before the day of Judgement He sent two Preachers to Paris the one a Dominican the other a Franciscan to assert and maintain the same Heresie But one Thomas an English Preacher withstood the Pope and the Pope threw him into prison Hereupon the French King summoned a Council unto his palace in Vintiana Sylva the whole Assembly subscribed against the Pope Immediately the King sent to Pope John to reform his errour and to set the Preacher at liberty which he did Some say that the Divines of Paris made him to recant his errour publickly Append. to Martin Polon in Joann 22. sub Ann. 1317. This John XXII erected the Church of Tholouse in France to an Arch-Bishoprick divided the Diocess of Tholouse into six Bishopricks the Bishops whereof should be suffragans to the Arch-Bishop of Tholouse and turned six Villages into Cities viz. Montauban Rieux Lombez-Abbey St. Papoul Lavaur and Mirepoix He created two Bishopricks within the Arch Bishoprick of Narbon the first at Limoux whose Seat he translated to Alet not long after the second in the Abbey of St. Pons setting out their Diocesses He divided also the Bishoprick of Alby into two and created one at Castres He erected divers others besides which are reckoned up in particular by the Authour of the continuation to Martinus Polonus Clement V. predecessour to this Pope had ordained that Emperours by the German Princes elected might be called Kings of the Romans but might not enjoy the Title or right of the Empire to be nominated Emperours without their confirmation given by the Pope Wherefore because Lewes of Bavaria being chosen Emperour used the Imperial dignity in Italy before he was authorized by the Pope the said Pope John therefore Excommunicated the Emperour who often desired of him a Treaty of peace which the Pope refused to hearken to At the same time divers learned Men disallowed the doings of the Pope as William Ocham whose transactions were afterward condemned by the Pope for writing against that See and Marsilius Pativinus who wrote the Book entituled Defensor pacis which was put into the hands of the said Emperour wherein the controversie of the Pope's unlawful jurisdiction in things Temporal is largely disputed and the usurped Authority of that See is set forth to the uttermost Some Writers say that a great cause of the variance was for that one of the Emperour's Secretaries unknown to the Emperour had likened in divers of his Letters the Papal See to the Beast rising out of the Sea in the Apocalypse At length when the Emperour after much suit made to the Pope at Avignon could not obtain his Coronation from him he went to Rome where he was received with great honour and both he and his Wife were both crowned by the consent of all the Lords and Cardinals there and another Pope was there set up called Nicholas V. Not long after Pope John dyeth at Avignon after whom succeedeth Benedict XII Anno 1335. This Man was as uncourteous to the Emperour as John had been he renewed the curses against him bereft him of all Regal Dignity and by his sentence deprived him of the Dukedom of Bavaria Hereupon the Emperour cometh into Germany and assembleth the Princes Dukes Nobles Bishops and other learned men in a Council at Franckford where he caused an injunction to be dispatched wherein he affirmed the sentence pronounced against him unjust and that his Excommunication did no way bind him Wherefore he commanded upon great penalties that no man should obey his censures and interdictions in that behalf which injunction caused great alterations in Germany especially among the Clergy some holding with the Emperour others with the Pope Dante 's a man of profound Learning at that time wrote a Book called The Monarchy wherein he favoured the Emperour for which he was afterward condemned and his Book held for Heresie And other great men wrote Books and Treatises defending the Pope's supream Authority Charles IV. Brother to Philip the long succeeded in the Kingdom of France being the last Son of Philip the Fair. He dyed Anno 1328. having reigned six years leaving the Crown to the second royal Branch of Capets whereunto the order of the fundamental Law did lawfully call them Philip the Hardy had left two Sons Philip the fair and Charles Earl of Valois of whom it is said that he was the Son of a King Brother to a King Unckle to a King Father to a King and yet no King Philip the Son of Charles of Valois is saluted and proclaimed King of France and anointed and crowned at Rhemes according to the usual custom Near the beginning of his Reign De Serres Hist in vit Philip. de Valois the Courts of Parliament and all the Soveraign Judges assembled from all the Provinces made a general complaint against the Clergy of France accusing them of sundry abuses and namely that against the right of their charges they intermeddled with the politick jurisdiction The suit was vehement and famous for the greatness of the parties The King to reconcile this quarrel calls a general Assembly of his whole Realm at Paris The cause was pleaded before him with great liberty by Peter de Cugneriis this is He whom in derision they call M. Peter Cugnet who is in the great Temple in Paris noted with a little Monkey's head placed betwixt two pillars to put out the Candles being odious by reason of his pleading and as coldly defended by Peter Bertrand both famous Advocates in those times The issue was doubtful and Philip seriously exhorted the Prelates to reform themselves and in reforming the abuse to avoid these popular complaints refering the matter to a further hearing This Pope Benedict took from the Emperour the Senatourship of Rome he first took upon him to usurp the presentments of all Bishopricks He abridged many unlearned men of Priesthood He reformed many Sects of Monks He commanded that all his Chaplains should lye in one Dormitory together and should have no other Revenues than for Dyet and Apparel He published certain Acts against the Dominicans he kept divers Concubines And leaving great store of Treasure to the Church he dyed Anno 1342. of whom these verses were made Iste fuit verò Laicis mors vipera Clero Devius a vero turba Repleta mero Clement VI. born in Lemonia by profession a Benedictine called before Peter Rogers being Abbot of Fisca succeeded Benedict at Avignon This Man Excommunicated all the Princes Lords and Bishops that consented to the doings of Lewes the Emperour He made Avignon part of St. Peter's patrimony He ordained that the Jubilee should be kept every fiftyeth year after the manner of the Jews and so it was kept at Rome Anno 1350. Now there were great Wars in France between Edward III. King of England and the King of France
Orator Dialecticus Poeta Tractator Geometra Musicúsque Doctus solvere vincla quaestionum Et verbi gladio secare sectas Vi quae Catholicam fidem lacessunt Tandem Concludit At tu quisquis doles amice lector De tanto quasi viro nihil supersit Vndis parcegenis rigare marmor Mens gloria non queunt humari Paulinus lived about this time he was Bishop of Nola born in France a man of a great wit and an excellent Orator and Poet. Of both Testaments he writeth thus to Severus Paulin. Epist ad Sever. 12. Nam quia latorem duo Testamenta per unum Pacta Deum in Christo copulat una fides Lex antiqua novam firmat veterem nova complet In veteri spes est in novitate fides Sed vetus atque novum conjungit gratia Christi And upon the Supper of the Lord I will add these mystical Verses out of the same Epistle In cruce fixa caro est quâ pascor de cruce sanguis Ille fluit vitam quo bibo corda lavo Carne tua vivet tunc illi pocula sanguis Praebeat in verbo vivat agátque tuo The next I shall mention is John Cassian the Scholar of Chrysostome and made Deacon by him at Constantinople afterwards he was a Presbyter of the Church of Marseilles Vincentius Lirinensis a French man spent the first part of his life in Secular and Military employments but afterwards he led a solitary and contemplative life and became a Presbyter as the Catalogue of Gennadius relateth he wrote against the Pelagians and Nestorians and against prophane novelties In the Year of Christ 485. Clovis the first of that Name and the fifth King of France began his Reign being about the Age of fifteen years a Prince of singular Hope born for the establishment of the French Monarchy He had the honour to be the first Christian King of France Although Clovis was a Pagan before by Profession yet was he no enemy to the Chrstians fitting himself to the humour of the Gauls who generally followed the Christian Religion He suffered his Wife likewise to Baptize her Children Causins Holy Court Part. 2. Clotilda desired nothing more than the Conversion of her Husband which happened in this sort The Suevi a people of Germany passed the Rhine with great Forces Commanded by many Kings who were personally in the Army and came to rush on the Gauls with intentions to destroy the beginnings of the French Monarchy Clovis speedily opposeth them with good Troops for he likewise had drawn together to his Aid the Ribarols people near bordering on the Rhine who were Allied to the French and had first of all given notice of the Enterprize of the Suevi who in a near degree threatned them The encounter of the two Armies was near Colen which was one of the most desperate that we find in Histories The King undertook the Conduct of the Cavalry and had given unto Prince Sigebert his Kinsman the Infantry There was nothing but fire tempests deaths and slaughters so great was the resistance on either side In the end Sigebert valiantly fighting was wounded with an arrow and born all bloody out of the battel by his Son The Infantry through the absence of their Colonel was defeated and put to rout All the burden of the battel fell upon the Cavalry which did great exploits fighting before the eyes of their King but in the end the shock of their enemies was so impetuous that it brake through and scattered them Clovis covered with blood and dust performed the duty both of a great Captain and valiant Soldier but notwithstanding all his endeavours terrour had so seized on these flying men that his affairs grew desperate Hereupon Aurelianus the Kings great Favourite perswadeth him to make a vow unto God to be Baptized if he returned victorious from this battel which he did calling aloud upon the God of his Wife and promising an absolute Conversion to the Christian Faith The word was no sooner spoken but that his Troops rallied themselves up made head against their enemies pursued them ran through and routed them with so great a massacre that the fields were all covered with dead bodies The discomfiture so terrified them on the other side of the Rhine that the Almans which survived yielded themselves tributaries to his Majesty Clotilda hearing the news of this victory and of the King 's pious Resolution went out to meet him as far as Champagne accompanied with Remigius Bishop of Rhemes a man of great Piety and Eloquence to instruct him in the true Doctrine wherein he was very ignorant De Serres Hist in Vit. Clodov It was necessary he should be instructed by a discreet man that in leaving the vanity of Pagans he might not be infected with the Arian Heresie which then was dispersed in divers places and even his own Sister Lantielde was infected therewith The preaching of Remigius was effectual with Clovis and the Example of Clovis with his men of war When he came to the Church of Rhemes to be Baptized Remigius spake to him these words Bend thy neck to the yoke in mildness worship that which thou hast burnt and burn that which thou hast worshipped He Answered I worship the true God which is the Father Son and Holy Ghost the Creator of Heaven and Earth The King being Baptized exhorted his men to the same belief they cry all joyntly We leave our Mortal Gods and are ready to follow the Immortal So Clovis was baptized at Rhemes by Remigius and with him three thousand of his Soldiers to the incredidible joy of the Gauls greatly affected to Christian Religion and this perfected the union betwixt them and the French making their yoke easie and them tractable The first War he undertook after his Baptism was against Gombaut King of Burgundy who being vanquished became Tributary to Clovis Gombaut was an Arian and this his Heresie drew upon him the vengeance of God Afterwards Clovis encountred with the Forces of Alaricus in Aquitain discomfiteth them and kills Alaricus The hand of God thundred and lightened at that time upon many Diadems of Heretical Kings viz. Gombaut Godemar Chilperic Godegisilus Alaricus and in the end on Theodorick himself Remigius was a man of most holy Conversation and besides his admirable sanctity acknowledged throughout all France he had the reputation to be one of the most able and eloquent men of his time witness Sidonius Apollinarius who speaking of his eloquence with admiration saith He thought there was not a man living upon the face of the earth whom Remigius surpasseth not without any elaborate study at all through the experience he had acquired of well-speaking his conceptions were unimitable his language so sweet and polite that it resembled a very smooth piece of ice whereon nothing might be seen unequal His sentences were full of weight his arguments forcible and his words glided along like a river and ever bare in them some flashes of lightning at
Chilperic received King of France in the place of his elder Brother Anno 578. and Reigned fourteen years at Paris and Soissons while that Childebert the Son of Sigebert Reigned in Austrasia or Lorain and Gonthran at Orleans and Burgongne He found Brunhault the widow of Sigebert at Paris a subtil and audacious woman whom he confined to Rhoven whither he likewise sent his Son Merovee to take possession o the City but there he was surprised by the beauty of Brunehault She so insinuated into the Bishop that he allowed of this Marriage although she was his Aunt Chilperic moved herewith came to Roven degraded and banished the Bishop and puts Merovee into a Cloyster Merovee fleeing is pursued taken and slain by his Father's command and lest Audovere his Mother a virtuous Princess and Clovis her other Son should seek means of revenge he rejects his Wife and causeth Clovis his other Son to be slain For these disorders the Nobility complain against Fredegunde hereupon Chilperic takes Galsonde to Wife the Daughter of Athanagild King of Spain but by the instigation of Fredegonde Chilperic strangleth his second Wife and publickly marrieth Fredegonde Chilperic when he had seen Clotharius born to him of Fredegonde the fourth moneth after a little before night returning from hunting is by privy murtherers killed Anno 584. That murther was hatched by Fredegonde and committed by Landerick an Adulterer of hers thus died this detestable Chilperic Historians make him guilty of impiety as well as of execrable wickedness for he denied the truth of the three persons in one Deity and the Incarnation of the Son of God Gunthran dieth in the year of Christ 593. having left a good memorial behind him of Piety and other Virtues the which being committed to Church-Tables is repeated every year on the 28th of March His Kingdom came to Childebert Childebert Anno 596. is taken away by poison together with his Wife whom Theodoric and Theodebert his Sons succeed under the tuition of their Grandmother Brunehault They fight against Clotharius and being overcome in battel they force him to part with the greatest part of his Kingdom Sagittarius Bishop of Ebreduna and Salonius Bishop of Vopinga in France for their wickednesses and also because being armed they fought in manner of soldiers in the Assembly of Lions were before this deprived of their Episcopacy in the sixth year of Gunthran but they appealing to Pope John were restored by his command At last because they continued in hainous offences they were again by the Cabillonian Council deprived of all Dignity At Augustoritùm died Radegund Anno 587. in whose Monastery were some Virgins sprung from a Royal Stock who being lifted up in pride against Leubovera the Governess of the Nunnery first of all departed from her The Guardians being sent into the Monastery and all things taken away they drew out Leubovera by force from thence At length by the command of Châ—ldebert a Council of Bishops being gathered together in Pictavia they were Excommunicated and Leubovera restored unto her former place About the year 590. Serenus Bishop of Marseilles seeing his people falling to the adoration of Statues brake them and cast them out of the Church About which Pope Gregory the first reproveth him in two Epistles saying That Images indeed ought not to be worshipped but that they ought not to be broken neither because they are instead of Books unto the ignorant But it was not long before the Popes became the great Patrons of the adoration of Images and made it a means of their rising for when the Greek Emperours fell to the breaking of Images Gregory the second took thence occasion to shake off the yoke of the Emperours as enemies of the Saints Sigon Lib. 3. de regno Ital. and made Rome and part of Italy to revolt from the Obedience of their Soveraign And he made himself a Temporal Prince under colour of defending Images as Sigonius relateth Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus by Nation an Italian came into France seating himself first at Tours afterwards at Poictiers he was first made a Presbyter then he became Bishop of that place He is reported to have reduced the French to a more gentle kind of life by his writings and example Illyricus make's mention of one Alcimus Catal. Test verit Lib. 6. of the Ancient Family of the Aviti whose Great Grandfather Grandfather Father Uncle Brother were famous and eminent for Ecclesiastical Dignities His Father succeeded Mammertus in the Bishoprick of Vienna Alcimus succeeded his Father Many excellent Verses of his are extant unto this day Concerning the first sin of Man and the Grace of Christ you may read what he saith in these following Verses Quòd varii eveniunt humana in gente labores Vnde brevem capiunt mortalia tempora vitam Vel quod polluti vitiantur origine mores Quos aliena premunt priscorum fata Parentum Addatur quanquam nostrâ de parte reatus Quodque etiam amisso dudum peccatur honore Adscribam tibi prime Pater qui semine mortis Tollis succiduae vitalia germina proli Et licet hoc totum Christus persolverit in se Contraxit quantum percussa in stirpe propago Attamen Auctoris vitio qui debita lethi Instituit morbosque suis ac funera misit Vivit peccati moribunda in carne cicatrix And speaking unto Christ he addeth Nullum aliud praeter te unum solamen habemus Then speaking of Christ the Mediator whose Figure was that Bow in the Heaven after the flood and of the salvation of those that believe in him he saith Nunc quisquis semel allatam servare salutem Optas signatum potiùs signo inspice Christum Verus enim atque unus firmati faederis arcus Ille deum atque homines inter qui virgine carne Virgineo ex utero sumptâ jam munere lucet Multiplici in caelo Varius sed fulgidus omni Vitalem monstrat sacrati pignoris arcum Hunc coram aspicies quisquis baptismate tinctus Ad coelum liber culpis pereuntibus ibis And of the water flowing out of the Rock he thus speaketh Nec portentificae caepit me oblivio virgae Quo signo summus percussâ rupe sacerdos Protulit irriguos poculis sitientibus haustus Insinuans Christum stabilem consistere petram Percussus jaculo largas qui praebuit undas Porrexitque suis sacro de vulnere potum Hist magdeb Cent. 6. cap. 9. King Chilperic before his death called a Synod made up of the Gallican Bishops at Prennacum upon this occasion The Earl Leudastes applyed himself to Riculphus a Presbyter a perverse man and rebellious against Gregory Bishop of Tours his own Bishop these two reported to the King as if Gregory had said that Queen Fredegund had carnally lain with Bertram Bishop of Burdeaux hereupon Bertram accuseth Gregory before the Synod Chilperic being present Gregory constantly denieth it But the King asserteth that he could convince Gregory of this
Bishops of France unto a Synod first at Rome then at Aken The Bishops answered They were not obliged to go out of their own Country At last he named Munson on the borders of France where only Gerebert appeared and boldly maintained the cause of the French Church so that the Legate Leo could do nothing without new instructions from the Pope save only that he appointed another Synod at Rhemes and in the mean time he suspends Gerebert who wrote the Apology of the French Church as his Epistle unto Wilderodon Bishop of Argentine testifieth Gerebert excelled in Learning and came afterward to the Roman Chair and called by the name of Silvester the second he was promoted to that dignity by the Emperour Otho Hugh Capet having reigned peaceably nine years died Novemb. 22. 996. leaving his Son Robert his successour a Prince wise resolute peaceable and continent he is said to have been Learned a lover of Divinity and humanity They sing Hymns of his Invention the which thus beginneth O Constantia Martyrum mirabilis the which bearing resemblance with the name of his Wife Constance he was wonderfully pleased with the humour she had to be honoured with his writings being then greatly esteemed throughout the World He preferred virtue before the prerogative of primogeniture and caused Henry his younger Son to be Crowned in his life time decreeing by his Will that his eldest Son Robert should content himself with the Dutchy of Burgundy doing homage for it to the Crown of France Century XI IN the beginning of this Century Arnold Earl of Sens Fabian's Chronic. used great Tyranny among the Bishops and Ministers of the Church Hereupon Leofricus Bishop of that See through the advice and aid of Reginald Bishop of Paris put out the said Arnold and delivered the City unto King Robert But the Brother of the said Arnold with divers of his Knights fled to the Castle and held it by force Then the King besieged the said Castle and took both it and Fromond the Brother of Arnold and sent him to Orleans where being imprisoned he dyed shortly after This Robert builded the Castle of Mountfort He founded also divers Monasteries and Temples at Orleans the Temple of St. Avian at Stamps a Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and many other in divers places of his Realm And he endowed the Church of St. Denis with many great priviledges and had special devotion to St. Hypolite above all other Saints At this time flourished Fulbert Bishop of Chartres a very learned Man Sundry Sermons and Treatises that are amongst the works of St. Austin are said to be his He wrote an Epistle to Adeodatus wherein he first reproveth a gross opinion of some Men who held that Baptism and the Eucharist were naked signs Then he proveth that these should not be considered as meer and outward signs but by Faith according to the invisible vertue of Mysteries The Mystery of Faith it is called saith he because it should be esteemed by Faith and not by sight to be looked into spiritually not corporally the sight of Faith only beholdeth this powerful Mystery c. Then he illustrates the same by comparison of a baptized Man who albeit outwardly he be the same he was before yet inwardly he is another being made greater than himself by encrease of invisible quantity that is of saving grace c. Here is no word of substantial change of the Elements the Bread is still Bread But we find two other changes the Faithful are transposed into the body of Christ and Christ is infused into the habitation of a faithful Soul yet so that Christ 's body remaineth in the Heavens and by the Revelation of the Spirit faith beholdeth Christ present Biblioth part de e bigne Tom. 3. or lying in his Mother 's bosom and dying rising and ascending and he entreth into the gratious habitation of a faithful Communicant and many waies refresheth him Here also we see that the substance of Bread remaineih as the substance of him who is Baptized remaineth albeit inwardly he be another Some say that Fulbert composed many Songs in praise of the Virgin Mary and that he built a Temple and dedicated it unto her Historians also do feign that Fulbert being sick was visited by the Virgin Mary Hist Magdeb. Cent. 11. and that she cherished him with her own Milk O impudent forgers of lies O foolish Mortals who gave credit to such palpable lies King Robert dyed Anno 1031. His Son Henry succeeded him and reigned 33 years In his time the Realm of Burgundy had an end in the posterity of Boson and the Emperours of Germany challenged the right and title of it Robert Duke of Normandy had maintained the Hereditary love of his Father with King Henry greatly relying upon his friendship Having resolved upon a long and dangerous Voyage to the Holy-land he intreated him to take the protection of William his Bastard Son whom he had made his Heir excluding his lawful Children Robert settled his Estate before his departure appointing him good Governours and putting the strongest holds and treasure into their hands Robert dyed in this long Voyage beyond the Seas at the City of Bythinia having before his departure commanded the Lords of Normandy and sworn them and Robert Arch-Bishop of Rovan to perform their Allegiance unto his Son William and to take him for their Lord and Duke if he return not again When King Henry had settled his Land in quietness he then builded the Monastery of St. Martin called Des Champs besides Paris and set therein secular Priests King Henry after he had reigned 31 years dyed and was buried at St. Denis Anno 1046. Gregory VI. created Odilo Abbot of Cluny Arch-Bishop of Lyons sending him the Pall and the Ring which he received yet without accepting the dignity saying he would reserve it for him that should be chosen Arch-Bishop Berengarius a French-man Deacon of St. Maurice in Anjou was the Disciple of Fulbert He was the first that was accounted an Heretick for denying of Transubstantiation and troubled for the same In his days it was broached that the Bread of the Eucharist was the very body of Christ and the Wine his Blood substantially or properly Berengarius on the contrary taught that the Body of Christ is only in the Heavens and these Elements are the Sacraments of his Body and Blood Adelman Bishop of Brixia wrote unto him In the beginning he saluteth him as his holy and beloved Brother and Con-disciple under Fulbert Bishop of Chartres Then he sheweth he heard it reported that Berengarius did teach that the Body and Blood of Christ which are offered upon the Altar throughout the Earth are not the very Body and Blood of Christ but only a figure or certain similitude howbeit indeed Berengarius had said nothing so To the intent Adelman may bring his Brother from this opinion he entreateth him not to depart from the Doctrine of their Master Fulbert and of
equity and honourableness of the cause and chiefly with a Vision as they say from Heaven took the whole business upon him and travelled to Rome to consult with Pope Vrban the second about the advancing so pious a design Some think that the Pope first secretly employed this Hermit to be his Factor and to go to Jerusalem to set on foot so beneficial a Trade for the Church of Rome because the Pope alone was the gainer by this great adventure and all other Princes of Europe came off losers Pope Vrban had called the Council of Clermont in France forementioned where met many Princes and Prelates to whom he made a long oration which was to this effect First he bemoaned the miseries of the Christians in Asia and the vastation of those holy places Next Tyrius li. 1. c. 15. he encouraged the Princes in the Council to take Arms against those Infidels and to break their bonds in sunder and to cast their cords far from them as it is written to cast out the Handmaid and her Children Otherwise if they would not help to quench their neighbours houses they must expect the speedy burning of their own and that these barbarous Nations would quickly over-run all Europe Now to set an edge to their courage he promised to all that went this Voyage a full remission of their sins and pennances here and the enjoying Heaven hereafter Lastly he thus concluded Gird your Swords to your Thighs O ye men of might It is our parts to pray yours to fight ours with Moses to hold up unwearied hands to God yours to stretch forth the Sword against these Children of Amaleck Amen This motion was most chearfully entertained so that the whole Assembly cryed out God willeth it Sabell An. 9. lib. 3. A speech which was afterward used as a fortunate Watch-word in their most dangerous designs Then many took a cross of red cloth on their right shoulder as a badge of their devotion And to gain the favourable assistance of the Virgin Mary to make this War the more happy her Office was instituted containing certain prayers which at Canonical hours were to be made unto her One observeth that it is enough to make it suspicious that there were some sinister ends in this War Tho. Fuller Hist sacri belli because Gregory VII otherwise called Hildebrand and by Luther in his Chronology Larva Diaboli the worst of all that sate in the Papal Chair first began it but death preventing him Vrban the second whom Cardinal Benno called Turban for troubling the whole world effected it Now a great controversie was in Christendom about the investiture of Bishops whether the right lay in the Pope or in secular Princes Now the Pope diverted this question out of Princes Heads by opening an issue another way and gave vent to the activity of their spirits in this Martial employment and in the mean time quietly went away without any corrival concluding the controversie for his own profit Moreover he got a Mass of Money by it He had the office to bear the bag and what was put into it as contributed to this action from pious people and expended but some few drops of the showers he received As the Pope so most of the Clergy improved their Estates by this War Aemil. de gest Franc. p. 109. For the secular Princes who went this Voyage sold or morgaged most of their Estates selling for Gold to purchase with Steel and Iron and the Clergy were generally their Chapmen Godfrey Duke of Bovillon sold that Dukedom to the Bishop of Liege and the Castle of Sartensy and Monsa to the Bishop of Verdun Baldwin his Brother sold him the City of Verdun Daniel in Henric 1. Yea by these sales the third part of the Feoffs in France came to be possessed by the Clergy who made good bargains for themselves and had the conscience to buy Earth cheap and Heaven dear Many Prelates and Fryars left their pastoral Charges and Covents to follow this business The total sum of those pilgrim Souldiers amounted to three hundred thousand The French Dutch Italian and English were the four Elemental Nations whereof this Army was compounded But France contributed more Souldiers to this Army than all Christendom besides The signal men were Hugh sirnamed le Grand Brother to the King of France Godfrey Duke of Bovillon Baldwin and Eustace his younger Brothers Stephen Earl of Bloys Father to Stephen afterwards King of England Reymund Earl of Tholouse Robert Earl of Flanders Hugh Earl of St. Paul Baldwin de Burge with many more besides of the Clergy Aimar Bishop of Puy and Legate to the Pope and William Bishop of Orange Out of the farthest parts of Italy Boemund Prince of Tarentum and Tancred his Nephew both of the Norman seed though growing on the Apulian soyl led an Army of twelve thousand Men. Many Souldiers also went out of Lombardy England also the Pope's pack-horse in that Age sent many brave men under Robert Duke of Normandy Brother to William Rufus now King of England after the Death of his Father as Beauchamp and others whose names are lost All these Princes being called up by Pope Vrban gathered together great Armies at divers times and places unto that War After many difficulties and the loss of many men they arrived in Palestine and Jerusalem was won by the Christians and twenty thousand Turks therein slain on July 15. Anno 1098. Robert the Norman refuseth the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Godfrey of Bovillon is chosen King In this choice that they might know the nature of the Princes the better their Servants were examined on Oath to confess their Master 's faults The Servants of Godfrey protested their Master 's only fault was this That when Mattens were done he would stay so long in the Church to know of the Priest the meaning of every Image and picture that Dinner at home was spoiled by his long tarrying All admired hereat and unanimously chose him their King In the latter end of this Century Bruno Chanon of the Church of Colen and Rhemes bare the praise of Learning and Holiness and was Master of the Schools by whom the order of the Carihusians was begun The Cistercian Order was begun Anno 1098. by Robert Abbot of Molisma as Sigebert saith Godfrey of Bovillon dyed having reigned one year wanting five days After his death the Christians with a joynt consent sent to Baldwin his Brother Count of Edessa a City in Arabia the Lord whereof had adopted this Baldwin to be his Heir and entreated him to accept of the Kingdom which honourable offer he courteously embraced Anno 1100. He was a Prince of the largest size higher by the Head than his Subjects Bred he was a Scholar entred into Orders and was Prebendary in the Churches of Rhemes Liege and Cambray but afterwards turned secular Prince but Baldwin put not off his Scholar-ship with his habit but made good use thereof in his Reign Century XII
and pretending another not to intermeddle nor usurp the cognizance of the Feoffs belonging to the King which he knoweth to appertain to the King and the Peers of France but only to have the cognizance of the perjury And he afterwards adds All this he wrote to appease the Peers of France Cujac in d. c. novit de Judic extr and bear them in hand that he proceeded justly against their King and put all his Kingdom into an Interdict upon this occcasion yet for all that he gained nothing by it In this Century William Arch-Bishop of Senon wrote unto the Pope thus Let your Excellency most Holy Father hear patiently what we say for our Soul is in bitterness and so is your devoted Son the Most Christian King of France how all the Church of France is troubled with scandals flowing in time of your Apostle-ship from the Apostolical See seeing as our Nation saith Satan is let loose there to the ruine of all the Church there Christ is Crucified again and manifestly sacrilegious persons and murtherers go free Peter a Monk of Paris being of great Age dyed Anno 1167. he commendeth God's Word and taxeth the idleness and impieties of Priests the curiosity of School-men the multitude and abuses of Masses the multitude of Men's Traditions whereby the precepts of God are made void He calleth Indulgences a godly deceit Bernard a Monk of Clugny about that time wrote a large Satyr not sparing the Pope nor Cardinals of which here are some passages Pontificalia corde carentia corde probavit Pontificalia corda pecunia contenebravit Pontificum status antè fuit ratus integer antè Ille statum dabat ordine nunc labat ille labante Qui super hoc mare debuerat dare se quasi pontem In Sion omnibus est via plebibus in Phlegetontem Stat sibi gloria pompa superbia divitiarum Hoc propè tempore nemo Studeus fore pons animarum Qui stat in agmine primus in ordine Presbyteratus Est vitio levis officio brevis inguine fractus Then of the Popish Prelats and Clergy he saith Vos volo credere quod volo dicere Pseudoprophetas Nulla feracius ac numerosius hâc tulit oetas His sacra nomina sacraque tegmina corda superba Agnus eis patet in tunica latet anguis in Herbâ Quilibet improbus extat Episcopus Abba creatur Vi precio prece Dignus homo nece sceptra lucratur Nullus ei timor haudque sui memor est aliarum Non sine Simone sed sine Canone dux animarum Divers others he hath of this Nature which I shall pass by Peter Abailard spoke and wrote against the Holy Trinity and against the Office of Christ In the Doctrine of the Trinity he was an Arian of Grace a Pelagian of the person of Christ a Nestorian He was summoned to answer in a Council at Soissons where he did appear but would not answer but only did appeal unto the Court of Rome and did glory that his books had found acceptance there The Bishops did note and condemn his Errour and the sentence against his person they did refer unto Pope Innocent Peter Cantor flourished about this time he was of Paris He wrote a Book de verbo abbreviato In that Book he not only taxeth the loose life of the Clergy and the neglect of their Office but also many other abuses of the Pope and his Mass-Priests John de Vesalia in his Book against Indulgences writeth that this Cantor said that Indulgences are pious frauds Among other things he sharply taxeth many abuses of the Mass especially the too-frequent multiplication and prophanation of it he reprehendeth the heap and impiety of Popish Traditions saying that for the Commandements of Men they made void the Commandements of God Hugo de Sto. Victore was by Nation a Saxon but Abbot of St. Victor at Paris His Works are extant in three Volumns and many of them mentioned in Oxford Catalogue Richard of St. Victor flourished at the same time with Hugo aforementioned and lived in the same Monastery with him His Works are extant in two Volumns Catal. Test veric lib. 15. In that he was esteemed for a very learned Man and was Religious in his outward conversation he wrote many things of which much is lost Peter Lombard Bishop of Paris at this time followed the footsteps of his Brorher Gratian and gathered the sum of Divinity into four Books of Sentences out of the writings of the Fathers Pezel Mellif Hist and he is called The Master of the Sentences Gratian compiled the Pope's decrees or the Canon-Law These two Brethren were the greatest doers in finding out and establishing the blind opinion of the Sacrament that the only similitude of Bread and Wine remained but not the substance of them and this they call the spiritual understanding of the mystery Lombard's Sentences were authorized as the Text in all Schools and to the end that no man from thenceforth should search antiquity and truth any more from Fathers or Councils under no less danger than guiltiness of Heresie Hear what Cornelius Agrippa saith of this Scholastick Theology It is saith he of the kind of Centaures Cornel. Agripp de vanit scient ca. 97. a two-fold Discipline blown up by the Sorbon of Paris with a kind of mixture of Divine Oracles and Philosophical reasonings written after a new form and far different from the Antient Customs by questions and sly syllogismes without all ornament of Language c. He addeth that the faculty of Scholastick Divinity is not free from errour and wickedness These cursed Hypocrites and bold Sophists have brought in so many Heresies which preach Christ not of good will as St. Paul saith but of contention so that there is more agreement among Philosophers than among these Divines who have extinguished antient Divinity with humane opinions and new errours Bartholomew Gravius a Printer at Lovain in his Preface before his Edition of these Sentences telleth us that he had a purpose to reduce all the Testimonies unto the first Fountains sincerely but to his grâ—â—t admiration he was told by the Masters there it could not be so because albeit in their Editions innumerable places were corrected yet many errours were as yet remaining and these not little ones And not a few things in the Edition at Paris were changed not according to the truth of the old Books but in conjecture yea and oft-times the old words were corrupted through an immoderate desire of amending and in many places the worse was put for the better c. And seeing these Books have been so often changed little credit can be given to any of their late Editions and that even the Master himself had not written soundly according to the Fathers which he citeth Century XIII ALegat came into France and commanded King Philip upon pain of Interdiction to deliver one Peter out of Prison that was Elected to a Bishoprick and thereupon he was delivered In the Year 1203.
with such an enemy as never bare Arms nor came into the field it is reported that he said he never dealt with any enemy which used so little armour and put him to so much trouble For King Charles after he came to the Crown never put on Armour himself but managing all his affairs by Wisdom and policy committed the execution thereof to his Brothers In the time of Charles V. a Book was written in France called The Vergers Dream Review of the Counc of Trent lib. 6. ca. 6. first in Latin then translated in French by his command In the seventh and eighth Chapter whereof the Clergy-man and the Knight confer together on this wise I call saith the Clerk and account the Decrees and Decretals of the Holy Fathers of Rome to be good Law which oblige every true Christian as a Subject and Son of a Holy Church our Mother To whom the Knight replyeth If the terms of Rome be Decrees or Decretals Ordinals or Constitutions touching the Temporal affairs of Kings Princes or other Secular Lords you Clerks among your selves shall call and account them Law if you please But the truth is That no Man can establish or ordain any thing where he hath no power nor Authority So as the King of France hath no power to make a Law or Ordinance to bind or tye the Empire so neither can the Laws of the Emperour bind the King of France and his Subjects And a little after I hold it therefore a frivolous thing and very ridiculous that the Holy Father should make any Decree Decretal or constitution about Temporal matters In the thirteenth years of the aforesaid Charles V. Charles IV. Emperour of Germany came into France by Cambray to do certain pilgrimages at St. Denis and elsewhere and so was conveyed with honourable men unto St. Quintin and from thence to Paris Mathias a Bohemian abode a long time in Paris and was called Pariensis he wrote a large Treatise of Antichrist in which he proveth that the Pope is the Antichrist He inveigheth against the Clergy for negligence in their callings and calleth them the Locusts mentioned in the Revelation He complains that every City and almost each man had his proper Saint or Saviour besides Christ the Images and Reliques that are set up in Churches to be adored he calleth the Invention of Antichrist He saith the worship of God is not tyed to persons places nor times he rebuketh the Cloysterers for contemning the Lay-men and calling themselves the only Religious he refuteth the merit of works and calleth them the cause of salvation sine quâ non In the end he prophesied Catal. Test Verit That God will once again send Godly preachers who in the zeal of Elias will openly disclose Antichrist unto the eyes of all the world After the death of Pope Gregory the Church began to be miserably torn with new schismes which began to arise betwixt the French and Italian Cardinals each Nation choosing it's own Pope and in it's own manner The French not able to digest the affront they received from Gregory in transporting the See from France into Italy departing privately from Rome they removed to Fondi and being arrived there they used many invectives and Satyrs against Vrban VI. whom they had already with the Italian Cardinals elected in Rome They pretended that they were forced to it by the people of Rome otherwise it was never their intention to make an Italian Pope For these reasons the Chair in their Judgements being vacant by the favour of Joan Queen of Sicily who was their friend Il. Cardinalismo part 3. lib. 1. they chose another Pope one Roberto a Cardinal with the Title of the Holy Apostles He was of Geneva and particularly of the Antient Family of the Conti in that City he took upon him the name of Clement VII From Fondi Clement removed with his Cardinals to Avignon where he was obeyed by the French and Spaniard These disputes lasted long the Legitimate Pope at Rome and and the Anti-Pope at Avignon firing their Bulls upon one another and sending them forth into all parts of the World The adherents of both sides set forth several defamatory Libels calling one another Schismatick Heretick Tyrant Thief Traytor Wicked Sower of Sedition Son of Belial and such like Stuff of which there are two Treatises extant at this day one of them written by Dr. John de Ligni in favour of Vrban against Clement and the other by the Abbot of St. Vast in favour of Clement against Vrban Whilst Clement was contriving which way to remove the Pope who resided in Rome he dyed Anno 1392. and was buried in Avignon He being dead Boniface IX who was Pope at that time in Rome writ a Fatherly Letter to the French Cardinals exhorting them to desist from their Schism and return to their obedience to the Holy Mother the Church of which he was he said the lawful Head But the French laughing as it were at such perswasions chose a successour to Clement which was Pietro della Luna who took the name of Benedict XIII who had argued very much in Clement's justification and that was the principal point upon which he was chosen by the Cardinals who concluded that he who defended another's cause with such ardour would doubtless more vehemently defend his own Whilst this Anti-Pope had his residence in Catalonia in the Castle of Paniscola administring the Sacramentss and conferring of dignities He was condemned together with the Cardinals which elected him by the Authority of a general Council Afterwards he assembled a Council at Perpignan where he created several Cardinals and commanded them after his death to follow his orders which were to choose another Pope without losing of time which they did For this Anti-Pope being dead at Paniscola the Cardinals chose one Giles Mungot a Chanon of Barcelona in his place calling him Clement IX who at the Instance of King Alphonso created Cardinals forthwith and began to Act in every thing as the true Popes use to do But afterwards upon Pope Martin the fifth's accomodation with King Alphonso Giles being commanded renounced the rights of the Papacy and was declared Bishop of Majorca and the Cardinals which he had created were likewise forced to renounce their Cardinalitial dignity Charles VI. succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of France at the Age of 12 years he was crowned in the year 1380. married in 1384. he falls into a Phrensie Anno 1393. and dyes Anno 1422. Charles the Wise left two Sons viz. this Charles VI. and Lewes Duke of Orleans And Charles VI. had three Sons Lewes John and Charles and one Daughter named Katherine These three Sons were Daulphins one after another in their Father's Life And Katherine was married to Henry V. afterwards King of England a mournful gage of an horrible confusion for this Realm Century XV. CHarles VI. having called a Council at Paris to consult about the schism which then was in the Popedom
renounce Gregory was hereupon declared Legate Della Marca and went to his charge but he dyed soon after at Ricanati of discontent John and Gregory being removed there remained a third still which was Benedict XIII who declared that he would never renounce Hereupon Sigismund the Emperour went in person to the Kings of France and of England to advise with them about forcing Benedict to a renouncing also Sigismund having received a satisfactory answer from these two Princes he went to Narbon and discoursed personally with Ferdinand King of Arragon whose Subjects paid obedience to Benedict But Benedict still alledged that he was the true Vicar of Christ saying that Constance was not a place convenient for the liberty of an Ecclesiastical Council seeing that John had been condemned and deposed from the Papacy by those very persons who had been formerly his Friends and received him to the Pontifical dignity The Princes of Spain observing the pertinacity of Benedict concurred with the opinion of the Council which was managed by five several Nations viz. Italy Germany England France and Spain What these Nations had done was approved and published by a Trumpet or a publick Notary Then Benedict's cause being discussed he was at last deposed and declared void of the Papacy no reckoning being made of the absent Scots and Count d'Armignac who continued their obedience to him About this time John Huss and Jerome of Prague his Disciple were condemned and burnt for Hereticks On Novemb. 8. Anno 1417. thirty two Cardinals entred the conclave with thirty others for the several Nations which is six a piece and on the 11 th of the same Month which was the Feast of St. Martin about three in the Morning Cardinal di san Gregorio called Oddo Colonna before was created Pope with great satisfaction to the people The Emperour presently went into the conclave and having thanked the Cardinals kissed the Pope's Feet The Pope embraced him and thanked him for his great industry in that affair This Pope would needs be called Martin because his Election hapned on that Saint's day Then all the French Cardinals left Benedict and came in unto Martin the Scots and d'Armignac did the same and all Christendom except Paniscola which remained divided Martin being desirous to put an end to the Council Anno 1418. he made a publick Assembly after which by common consent but especially of Sigismund Ibaldo Cardinal of St. Vito by order from the Pope pronounced these words of dismission Domini ite in pace and so all had liberty to depart Then Martin hastned to Rome travelling by Milan as the nearest way He sate fourteen years and dyed of an Apoplexy Febr. 20. Anno 1431. When Benedict had sate thirty years and was dead his Cardinals chose Pope Clement VIII but he compounded with Martin and so the schism was ended Henry V. King of England had invaded France and soon after at the Battle of Agin-Court ten thousand French-men were slain Anthony Duke of Brabant with his Brother Philip Earl of Nevers were also slain by the English Bow-men These were Brethren to John Duke of Burgundy Charles Duke of Orleans and Lewes of Burbon the Earls of Richemont Ew and Vendosme the strongest pillars of the Orleans faction with many other Noble-men and Gentlemen were taken prisoners and carried into England Lewes the Daulphin dyeth soon after this defeat The Emperour Sigismund cometh into France making shew of the great desire he had to make a peace betwixt the French and the English The English take all Normandy and Rhoan is besieged and taken and all the Isle of France yieldeth to King Henry even to the Gates of Paris France was now strangely divided into divers factions The King's Authority were for the Queen and the Burgundian Piccardy Burgundy and many other Towns in Bry Champagne and Beausse obeyed them absolutely after the great massacres that had been lately done in Paris Only Sens adhered to the Daulphin Charles The Prince of Orange of the Burgundian Faction makes War in Daulphinè and Languedoc to cross the affairs of Charles who notwithstanding had the greatest part of the Countrey at his devotion with the friendship of Avignon and the Earldom of Veness The English possessed all Normandy and a great part of Guienne But Rochel Poictiers St. John de Angelo Angoulesm Fontenay and some other Towns acknowledged the Daulphin All Anjou was his Avergne Berry Burbonois Forrest and Lionois obeyed him He likewise took upon him the Name of Regent The Duke of Britain leaves the English and joyns with the Daulphin The people grow in dislike with the Duke of Burgundy and the Parisians mutiny against the Burgundian faction and kill his Servants At length a peace is made betwixt the Daulphin and the Burgundian Anno 1419. but soon after the Daulphin causeth John Duke of Burgundy to be murthered in his presence This John had slain Charles Duke of Orleans traiterously and now he is treacherously slain by Charles the Daulphin Philip Son to John Duke of Burgundy stirs up great troubles against Charles the Daulphin in revenge of his Father 's death By his means Isabel an unkind Mother makes War against Charles her Son and peace with Henry V. King of England then a Capital Enemy to the State She gives him her Daughter Katherine in Marriage and procures King Charles VI. her Husband to declare Henry his lawful Heir and to disinherit his only Son Charles from the Realm of France But in the midst of these occurrences Henry V. dyeth in the vigour of his age and spirit on the last day of August Anno 1422. and Charles VI. the French King dyed fifty days after on the 22. of October the same year After his Funerals Henry VI. an Infant Son to Henry V. is proclaimed King of France and after is crowned King at Paris Charles VII after the decease of his Father Charles VI. took upon him the name of King of France notwithstanding the pretension of the English He was 21 years old when he began to reign and reigned 39 years The beginning of his reign was troublesome till he was installed King and thereby acknowledged of all the French Afterwards he reduced the Cities subdued by the English to his obedience beginning with the City of Paris and so proceeding to the rest of the Realm expelling the English from all except Calais In the close of his Reign he had many Domestical discontents which hastened him to his Grave after the happy events of all his difficulties At this time flourished John Gerson a divine of Paris he was present at the Council of Constance and in some written Treatises highly commendeth the decree Bishop Jâ—el's preface to his defence of his Apolâ—gy Bishop Bedel Waddesw â—eâ—â— p. 107. that the Bishop of Rome should be subject to the Council and saith The thing is worthy to be written in all places for a perpetual memory He was the most learned Man of his time and the only Doctor and Leader of
between the Bishop of Evereux and Du Plessis Morney page 90 A new Colledge built by King Henry IV. at la Fleshe page 95 A conference between Du Moulin and Father Gontier a Jesuit page 96 A Congregation of French Prelates page 4 A Colloquy at Poisy in France between the Popish Doctors and the Protestant Ministers page 5 6 John Croy a Learned French Divine page 10 A Conference at Flex page 33 A Conference between the German and French Divines at Mompelgart page 45 A Council of sixteen in Paris page 53 Robert Constantine a Learned Frenchman page 19 An affront put upon the Duke of Crequi at Rome and the effects thereof page 177 178 Jacobus Cujacius a great Lawyer page 11. D. LAmbertus Danaeus a French Divine of Orleans page 71 The Death of the Bishop of Chartres who had been Confessour to Cardinal Richlieu page 171 Dionisius Lambinus a Learned French-man page 24 The French Divines answer and censure the Book of Sancterellus the Jesuit page 182 The Death of King Lewes XIII page 160 Daniel Chamier a learned French-man page 107 Daniel Tilenus Professor at Sedan page 104 E. AN Edict made against Duels page 129 Father Edmonds Prior of the Covent of Jacobines executed page 70 Queen Elizabeth 's Letter to King Henry IV. upon change of his Religion page 80 French Exiles at Mompelgart page 45 F. ANthony Faius a good French Divine and Abraham his Son their works page 50 John Fernelius a learned French Physician page 8 A difference between the Bishops and the Fryars in France page 143 A sore Famine in Paris page 76 Francis Cupif a Sorbon Doctor turneth Protestant his Censure page 152 Fishes called Surdonnes sent by God's providence to the relief of the Poor at Rochel during the Siege page 27 G. THe Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Guise slain page 59 60 A League of the Guisian Faction page 34 35 Gilbert Genebrard a Divine of Paris page 10 Paul Gondy Arch-bishop of Corinth and Cardinal de Rhetz page 163 Henrico Gaetano sent Legat by the Pope to the League of France page 71 The Guisian League sworn in Tholouse by the black Penitents page 45 Many places in France side with the Guisian Faction page 43 H. KIng Henry III. curseth the City of Paris p. 55. he is murthered by a Jacobine Monk page 67 Michael Hospitalius Chancellour of France an opposer of wicked Counsels against the Protestants page 29 King Henry IV. embraceth the Roman Catholick Religion p. 79. he is murthered by Ravillac page 97 I. THe Jesuits restored in France page 95 Julius Caesar Scaliger and Joseph Scaliger very learned Men. page 9 L. A List of the Protestant Churches in France lately demolished page 189 190 191 The latter Councils of France since the Council of Trent page 192 c. The Laws of a Seminary College p. 194. and that of Bourdeaux in particular page 199 200 A Letter of King Henry III. to the King of Navar. page 41 M. CHarles Marillac Bishop of Vienna page 2 August Marlorat Minister of the Reformed Church at Roven hanged by the Guisians page 17 Clement Marot a famous French Poet. page 17 The bloody Massacre of the Protestants at Paris page 23 24 Peter Merlin a learned French Divine page 24 John Morinus a Learned Papist page 19 Muretus an eloquent Writer page 17 Duke of Montmorency beheaded page 144 Papyrius Massonius a Writer of the French Chronicle page 1â— Count Montgomery taken and put to death page 28 Andrew Melvin his Verses page 29 Michael Montaign his Works and when he flourished page 30 Cardinal Mazarine made prime Minister of State p. 164. he raiseth a stately Library p. 164. his Death page 175 John Mercer a learned French-man Successor of Vatablus as Hebrew Professor at Paris page 24 N. KIng of Navar and Prince of Conde excommunicated by Pope Sixtus V. page 44 Their Protestation against it ibid The King of Navar 's Declaration against the Guisian League page 44 O. OBusson Arch-bishop of Yverdon A Form of an Oath propounded by those of the Guisian League page 35 D'Ossat and Du Perron made Cardinals page 84 Some Orders cryed down in France because of their Conspiracies against the State page 45 P. PEter de Espignac Arch-Bishop of Lyons page 35 Peter Verseris Advocate in the Court of Parliament at Paris page 35 The Protestant Princes of Germany raise an Army to defend the French Protestants page 51 John Passeratius an excellent Orator and Poet. page 11 Du Plessis Morney his Story page 103 104 105 Protestants disturbed in the exercise of their Religion page 34 A Popish Form of Profession of Faith page 195 ad 203 The Works of Cardinal Du Perron page 101 Q. JOhn Quinquarboreus Professor of the Hebrew and Chaldee to the French King in Paris page 18 R. A Relation of the present Estate of the Reformed Churches of France page 184 ad 188 The Duke of Rohan his military Actions in France p. 140. his Peace made with the King 141 his Death page 152 The Siege of Rochel page 137 The English attempt to relieve it but in vain ibid It is yielded to the King page 138 Cardinal Richlieu his death The Characters given of him page 156 157 Francis Rabalaesus a Witty but Atheistical Writer page 19 Peter Ramus slain in the Parisian Massacre page 24 Rozarius a Preacher at Orleans Apostatizeth and afterwards recanteth page 24 Andrew Rivet and William Rivet two Godly French Divines page 107 A Provincial Synod held at Roven page 41 S. SEdan a Refuge for the Protestants page 122 A Star seen in the Constellation of Cassiopea page 29 A National Synod held at Tonneinx p. 104. another at Alais in Languedoc page 108 Gaspar Scoppius his Book tending to the Rebellion of Subjects against the Soveraign power burnt by the Hangman page 102 The Spanish Renuntiation of all Priority to France page 176 Claud. Salmasius a learned French Critick page 100 Jac. Sirmondus a Learned French Jesuit p. 99. his works page 100 T. BEnedict Turretine a learned French-man page 100 V. FRancis Vieta a learned French Mathematician page 100. Nicholas Vignerius a Learned French Historiographer page 100 Nicholas Vignerius Junior a Learned French Divine page 100 The Bishop of Verdun imprisoned page 131 FINIS ERRATA PArt I. Page 2. Line 31. read Mantz p. 13. l. 23. 24. r. circumcelliones p. 28. l. 14. r. Avergne p. 31. l. 29. r. Theodorick p. 57. l. 38. r. levies p. 83. l. 17. r. Carthusians p. 91. l. 20. r. his p. 109. l. 27. r. and p. 112. l. 8. r. There Part II. p. 7. l. 11. r. leave and l. 37. r. leave p. 11. l. 3. r. Undiquaque p. 30. l. antepenult r. peace was concluded p. 54. l. 41. r. at Soissons p. 70. l. 19. r. Mars p. 105. l. 3. r. Towns p. 130. l. 19. r. the chief p. 146. l. 22. r. one Fish-day p. 208. l. 8. r. Bells
of Emperour unto Lewes Bavaria and unto Chrarles France Pepin enjoyed Aquitain without contradiction Lewes not content with Bavaria levies an Army and passeth the Rhine The miserable Father prepares an Army to go against him but he falls sick and dieth Anno 840. There was a Council held at Paris by the Command of Lewes and his Son Lotharius Anno 829 and three others at the same time in other places as is collected from the Preface It was Ordained that Synods should then be Assembled in four several places of their Empire In his Reign in France was used of Priests and Church-men precious and shining Vestures and golden and rich staring Girdles with Rings and other Ornaments of Gold Fabian's Chron. Wherefore the said Lewes procured of the Pope a correction for all such as used such strange apparel causing them to wear brown and sad colours After the death of the Emperour Lewes Lotharius his eldest Son and Emperour by his Fathers Testament would force his Brethren to a new division He quarrelleth with Charles King of France and Lewes Duke of Bavaria but the two Brethren unite together and joyn their Forces to oppose Lotharius Lotharius finding himself the stronger refuseth the Conditions of Peace offered by his Brethren Then Lewes and Charles charging the Army of Lotharius overthrew it with a notable slaughter Lotharius after this defeat changeth his humour with his estate he enjoyed the titulary mask of the Empire with Austrasia yet much curtailed and divided to his three Sons Lewes Charles and Lotharius Then Lotharius having remorse of Conscience for attempting against his Father and Brethren professeth himself a Monk in the Abby of Pluviers and dies a Monk in the Year 855. Charles and Lewes after the Victory call the Bishops to take their Advice upon Occurrents who being solemnly Assembled exhort them to Concord They hearken to them make an Alliance and come to the dividing of their parts Charles remains the sole King of France Daulphine and Provence were left to Lewes in his partage for the commodity of Italy which was given him notwithstanding the pretensions of Bernard's Children But he died soon after without any Issue-male leaving one only Daughter called Hermingrade Heir of all his great Estates Charles married his Neece Hermingrade to Boson Earl of Ardennes Concil Meldens Cap. 78. Tom. 3. brother to his Wife Richilde who called himself King of Arles At the Council at Meaux held about this time it was Decreed that the Capitular Laws concerning the Church made by Charlemagne and his Son Lewes should be strictly observed The same Council entreats King Charles the Younger to grant the Bishops a freer liberty for the execution of their Ministeries in their Parishes Charles called the Bald began his Reign Anno 841. King Charles was present at the Council holden at Pistis upon Sein Anno 963. He is named first the Decrees are conceived in his name He caused himself to be proclaimed Emperour after the death of Lewes who survived Lotharius without contradiction He went to Rome and was Crowned Emperour by the Pope with the Imperial Diadem then raising his Spirit very high after the custom of the Grecians he walketh with a Surplice This King Charles the Bald relying on the Popes help favoured the Pope with all his Power and brought the French Clergy to the subjection of the Roman See as much as he could Then began the Popes Legates to come to the Councils of France and there to preside Then also the French Kings began to tremble under the thunderbolts of the Vatican and to fear the Excommunications of the Pope The first Pope that made tryal of his Excommunications against them was Pope Nicholas the first who threatned Lothary to Excommunicate him unless he recalled Tietberga his Wife whom he had put away to take Waldrada whom he loved which also this Pope did Excommunicate Whereupon there was great murmuring of the Prelates and People of France against the Pope being displeased both at the Pope's Usurpations and the pusillanimity of their Kings These things happened from the Year 863 to 866. After that Nicholas came Adrian the second who favouring Lewes Du Moulin cont Perron lib. 3. c. 9. Grand-child to Lewes the Gentle against Charles the Bald his Unckle sent peremptory Letters into France whereby he declared That if any presumed to make an enterprize upon the Kingdom of Lewes not only he would make void by his Authority all that he should do but also that such a man being bound with the bonds of Anathema and deprived of the name of Christian should be lodged altogether with the Devil * Pope John the 8. having excommunicated Count Lambert and Count Adalbert and some others which had ill entreated him in Italy came into France Anno 870 where he called a Synod at Troyes consisting of the Bishops of that Kingdom to desire their Consent to that Excommunication which they accordingly granted him This is seen in the Epistle which Hinomarus Arch-Bishop of Rhemes writes to the said Adrian upon the said subject where he saith That both Ecclesiastical and Secular men being Assembled at Rhemes would say in a reproachful way That never any such Mandate was sent from that See to any of the Kings Predecessors Adding That the Bishops of Rome had never withdrawn themselves from the obedience of Heretical Emperours Wherefore said they we will not believe that we cannot otherwise attain to the Kingdom of Heaven but by receiving him for a Temporal King whom this Apostolical Lord recommendeth to us It was in this ninth Age that the Decretals were forged by Riculphus Bishop of Mentz as is supposed who published them under a false Title And at that time and a long time after the Arch-Bishops of Mentz were the first promoters of Papal Authority in Germany And nothing hath helped more to the establishment of the Papal Empire than these Epistles which have for a long time been held for Oracles in the West by them the Father of lies hath wrought very powerfully These Decretals were forged under the Reign of Charlemagne and of his Son Lewes the Gentle being unknown before and never mentioned in all Antiquity bearing on the front the name of Isidorus Peccator and in some Copies Isidorus Mercator a man unknown and a name forged at will That Collection of Decretals began to go about in France in the beginning of the Reign of Charles the Bald. The first that used them was Hinckmar Bishop of Laon upon this occasion Hinckmar Arch-Bishop of Rhemes had promoted to the Bishoprick of Laon another Hinckmar his Nephew who having excommunicated his Clergy and hindered the Divine Service and the Baptism of Children in his own Bishoprick and committed divers crimes and excesses was cited to appear before his Unckle who was his Metropolitan But he would not obey nor appear Upon that Hinckmar of Rhemes disanulled all the Acts of Hinckmar of Laon and would synodically proceed against him
John King of England lost all his holds and possessions in Normandy through the force of the French King The Pope had Excommunicated King John not only for the paricide of his Nephew Arthur but also for the ill usage of his Clergy King John sends confiding men in all hast to Pope Innocent IV. beseeching him to protect him against the King of France promising thereupon to bind the Realm of England and Seigniory of Ireland to hold of him and his successours and in sign of obedience to pay him a yearly tribute of a thousand marks of silver Innocent sends his Legat presently to absolve him to pass the contract and receive the homages of Fealty as well of himself as of his Subjects John is absolved and having laid down his Crown Scepter Cloak Sword and Ring at the Legats feet he doth him homage for the Realm of England kissing his Feet as his Tributary and binds the English to the like duty by a solemn Oath He was willing also to discharge what he had taken from his Clergy This was done Anno 1215. Then the Legat returning into France requireth Philip in the Pope's name that he should suffer John to enjoy his Realm of England in peace and freely to possess the Lands which he held by homage of the Crown of France Moreover that he should satisfie the great complaints which the Clergy of his Realm had made against him restoring that which he had exacted from them during the Wars upon pain of Excommunication if he did not obey presently Philip promiseth to submit himself and before the Legat's departure he frees the Clergy of his Realm of the Tenths which he had exacted for the charge of the Wars according to the decree of a National Council held at Soissons King John being freed by the Pope and pressed by him to perform his command oppresseth his Subjects by extraordinary impositions and Tyrannical exactions The English Nobility therefore reject John and offer the Realm to King Philip who sendeth his Son Lewes giving him a train fit for his person in so great an exploit Lewes having taken Hostages of the English for assurance of their Faith passeth into England and so to London Math. Westm Il. 2. sub anno 1215. where he is joyfully received In the mean time complaints come to Philip from Pope Innocent who in a general Council held at Rome did Excommunicate Lewes the eldest Son of Philip Augustus with all his adherents King John dyeth and the English receive Henry the Son of John and dismiss Lewes of France King Philip instituted the Provost of Merchants and the Sheriffs at Paris for the politick Government thereof he caused the City to be paved being before very noisome by reason of the mire and dirt he built the Halls and the Louvre He Walled in Bois de Vincennes and replenished it with Dear and other Wild Beasts he finished that sumptuous building of our Ladies Church In his Testament he ordained many notable things he left towards the winning the City of Jerusalem III. C. M. pounds of Paris Money to the Hospital in Mountfort one C. M. pounds and to be distributed among the poor Commons of his Land he gave XX. M. pounds But a pound of Paris Money was then but two shillings six pence sterling King Philip dyed and was buried with great pomp in the Monastery of St. Dennis Anno 1223. and Lewes VIII his Son succeeded him who was crowned at Rhemes Pope Innocent III. having gathered together an Army of one hundred thousand pilgrims set forward for the final extirpation of the poor Albigenses The best Champions for the Pope herein were the Duke of Burgundy the Earls of Nevers St. Paul Auxerre Geneva Poictiers with Simon Earl of Montfort Of the Clergy Milo the Pope's Legat the Arch-Bishops of Sens and Rovan the Bishops of Clermont Nevers Lysieux Bayeux Chartres with divers others every Bishop with the Pilgrims of his jurisdiction to whom the Pope promised Paradice in Heaven but not one penny on Earth Their work was to destroy the Albigenses which were in great numbers in Daulphinè Tho. Fullers holy War li. 3. ca. 21. Provence Narbon Tholouse and other parts of France Their commission also extended to the rooting out of all their friends and favourers whether detected or only suspected such as were Reimund Earl of Tholouse Reymund Earl of Foix the Vice-Count of Besiers Gaston Lord of Bern the Earl of Bigorre the Lady of la Vaur with divers others The first piece of service these Souldiers performed was in sacking the City of Besiers and Burrough of Carcassone in which many of the Papists dwelt and promiscuously were slain with the Albigenses Yea Priests themselves were cut in pieces in their Priestly Ornaments and under the banner of the Cross As for the City of Carcassone which was not far from the Burrough whilst the City was besieged they escaped out by the benefit of a Vault under-ground and so shifted abroad for themselves Hitherto this War was managed by the Pope's Legat. Simon Earl of Montfort is now chosen Captain of this Army who swears to vex the Lord's enemies After he was seized of the Vice-County of Besiers he took many other Castles and Cities When the Quarantine or forty days service of this Army was expired the time the Pope set them to merit Paradice in they would not stay any longer but ran away And though the Bishops perswaded some few to stay yet could they little prevail which was no small advantage to the Albigenses The Earls of Tholouse Foix and Comminge and Prince of Bern sheltred themselves under Peter King of Arragon whose homagers they were receiving investiture from him though their Dominions lay on this side the Pyrenean Hills This King suspected the greatness of the Earl of Montfort therefore he fomented a faction in them against the Holy Army he charged Earl Simon for seizing on the Lands of good Catholicks for supposed Hereticks and complained that the Vice-Count of Besiers who lived and dyed firm in the Romish Faith was lately trained into the Legat's hand and against Oaths and promises of his safe return was kept Prisoner till his death and his Lands seized on by Earl Simon A pitcht Battle was fought near the Castle of Moret where the King of Arragon being wounded to death fell from his Horse and immediately his Army ran all away Simon pursued them to the Gates of Tholouse and killed many thousands The Fryars imputed this Victory to the Bishop's Benediction and adoring a piece of the Cross together with the fervency of the Clergyes prayers that remained behind in the Castle of Moret Yet within few years the face of this War began to alter for young Reimund Earl of Tholouse exceeding his Father in valour and success so bestirred himself that in few months he regained what Earl Simon was many years in getting And at last Earl Simon besieging Tholouse with a stone which a Woman let fly out of an
Engine had his Head parted from his body Some conceived they saw God's finger in the Womans hand that because the greater part of his cruelty lighted on the weaker Sex for he had buried the Lady La Vaur alive respecting neither her Sex nor Nobility a Woman was chosen out to be his Executioner He dyed even then when the Pope and three Councils of Vaur Lateran and Montpelier had pronounced him Son Servant favourite of the Faith the invincible defender thereof Among other of his stiles he was Earl of Leicester in England and Father to Simon Montfort the Cataline of this Kingdom See Camden in Leicester-shire also in Worcester-shire who under pretence of curing this Land of some grievances had killed it with his Physick had he not been killed himself in the battle of Evesham in the Reign of King Henry the third Here ended the storm of open War against the Albigenses though some great drops fell afterward And the Pope grew sensible of many mischiefs in prosecuting this people with the Holy War Perin de Albigensib li. 2. ca. 4. Three hundred thousand of these croised Pilgrims lost their lives in this expedition within the space of fifteen years so that there was neither City nor Village in France but by reason hereof had Widows and Orphans cursing this expedition The Pope therefore now resolves upon a privater way namely to prosecute them by way of Inquisition The chief promoter of that War was Dominick the Authour of the Order of the Dominicans His Mother being with child of him dreamed that she had a dog vomiting fire in her Womb. Du. Moul. Contr Perron l. 7. This ignivomus Cur as one calleth him did bark at and deeply bite the poor Albigenses who put above two hundred thousand of them to death Almerick for his laziness was deposed by the Pope and John Bren was made King of Jerusalem In the beginning of his Reign this accident fell out In France a Boy for his years went about singing in his own Tongue Jesus Lord repair our loss Restore to us thy Holy Cross Numberless Children ran after him and followed the same tune their Captain and chanter did set them No bolts no bars no fear of Fathers nor love of Mothers could hold them back but they would to the Holy Land to work wonders there but this merry musick had a sad close all either perishing on Land Math. Paris p. 324. or being drown'd by Sea Mathew Paris saith it was done by the instinct of the Devil King Lewes VIII having compounded with Almery the Son of Simon Earl of Montfort for Languedoc resolves to unite this rich Province to the Crown To this end he levies a great Army fortified with cruel Edicts against the Albigenses as Hereticks and Rebels Count Reymund submits himself to Pope Honorius and yieldeth to Lewes and perswades the Earl of Cominges to the like obedience Thus both of them abandon the people and go to Rome leaving the poor Albigenses to the mercy of Lewes who presently subdues all Languedoc and Provence The House of Montlor one of the greatest in the County of Vivaret having followed the Albigenses party makes his peace by means of the Town of Argentiere given to the Bishop of Viviers who enjoyeth it to this day Many Families were made desolate These poor miserable people were dispersed here and there and such as remained in the Country were forced to acknowledge the Pope's Authority Lewes ordered the Marshal Foy of the house of Mirepois to command his Forces leaving the Lord of Beaujeu for Governour and Lieutenant-General of Languedoc All this mischief was contrived by the Pope who had sent his Legat into France Fox Act. monum Vol. 1. to summon a Council at Biture whither the King with six Arch-Bishops and the Bishops and Suffragans of nine Provinces repaired to the number of an hundred besides the Abbots Priors and Proctors of all the Covents of France Having dispatch'd the business of Earl Reymund and the Albigenses the event whereof hath been before declared Romanus the Pope's Legate gave leave to all Proctors of Covents and Chapters to return home only retaining with him the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots to whom he opened another part of his Commission which was to obtain of every Cathedral Church two Prebend-ships one for the Bishop the other for the Chapter And in Monasteries also after the like sort where the Abbot and Covent had divers and several portions to require two Churches one for the Abbot the other for the Covent keeping this proportion that how much should suffice for the living of one Monk so much the whole Covent should find for their part and as much the Abbot for his likewise The Clergy of France answered that the thing he enterprized could not be brought to effect without great offence taken and inestimable damage to the Church of France In conclusion when the matter came to debating with the Legat the objections of the inferiour Clergy were these following 1. They alledged the great damages and expences Math. Paris which they were like to sustain thereby by reason of the continual procurators of the Pope which in every Diocess must live not of their own but must be sustained upon the charges of the Cathredral Churches and other Churches also and many times they being but procurators will be found as Legats 2. By that means they said great perturbations might ensue to the Covents and Chapters of Cathedral Churches in their elections Forasmuch as the Pope's Agents and Factors being in every Cathedral Church and Chapter-house perchance the Pope would command him in his person to be present at their elections and so might trouble the same by delaying and deferring till it might fall to the Court of Rome to give and so should be placed more of the Pope's Clientele in the Churches of France than of the proper Inhabitants of the Land 3. By this means they affirmed that all they in the Court of Rome should be richer and receive more for their proportion than the King of the Realm by means whereof the Court of Rome would delay and drive off great suits and would scarce take any pains with small causes Thus would Justice be turned aside and poor suitors should dye at the gates of Rome and for the better speeding of their causes they thought seeing it was meet they should have friends in the Court of Rome by keeping them needy their gifts might be the sweeter and their causes sooner dispatched 4. Seeing it is impossible that the Fountain of greedy desires should be stopped it was to be feared that either they would do that by others which they were wont to do by themselves or else they should be enforced to give greater rewards than before for small gifts with great Rich Men are little regarded 5. Whereas the removing away the slander was alledged which goeth on the Court of Rome by this means rather the contrary were to be
trusted by us and such as neither can nor ought to perform those Duties and Services which they are bound to do unto us by reason of the said Benefices In this Century flourished Stephen Pasquier a learned French-man a notable moral Philosopher Ludov. Jacob. de Clar. script Cabilon a Man well skilled in the Greek and Latin Tongues and in all the liberal Sciences He hath published also Icones Epigrams and Epitaphs and several other works He hath written an excellent Treatise in French stiled La Recherche de la France After the death of Pope Nicholas V. which happned in the year 1455. tne Cardinals entring into the conclave made four factions eleven of them pretending to the Papacy themselves and yet there were but XV. for any one After this there began strong practices in the behalf of Cardinal Bessarion a Grecian of Constantinople an opposite to the Latin Church He had disputed much against purgatory unleavened bread and against the very person of the Holy Ghost who he asserted proceeded from the Father alone and not from the Father and Son Cardinal Bettone Arch-Bishop of Avignon laboured to frustrate that enterprize who thus expressed himself Most Illustrious Lords shall we prefer a Grecian to the Latin Church and establish a Neophite in the highest place of the Vatican 11 Cardinalismo part 3. lib. 1. Who can assure us his conversion is true Heterodox opinions in matter of Religion though renounced and altered with the Tongue do yet leave a muddiness and disturbance upon the heart Shall we give the Keys of Heaven to him who for so many years and with so many Arguments denyed that there was a purgatory Shall we make him Head of the Catholick Church who opposed it with so much boldness Is the Church of Rome so poor and indigent that there cannot be one person found out who was born in her bosom and is worthy of the Government of the flock of Christ What will the rest of the Nations say to see us go up and down begging our Popes of this Countrey and of that Rouze up your selves most noble Companions and permit not a thing so scandalous in the Church of Christ I am sure of this He which is a Friend to Christianity will not give his voice for such a Pope These words being spoken with great energy had such an effect upon the Cardinals that they chose Cardinal Alphonso Borgia of the City of Valenza in Spain who took the name of Calixtus III. He lived three years and dyed August 6. 1458. and on the 20 th of the same Month Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini of Siena was created Pope by 18. Cardinals which were present in the conclave in which there were but two competitors for the Papacy viz. Cardinal Rotomagensis and Aeneas aforesaid so that for the four days time in which it was debated in the conclave they had no other difficulty but to make choice of the one or the other of these two It was strange to see each of these two persons driving on his own promotion magnifying his own virtues and debasing the qualifications of his Adversary Rotomagensis in this manner went from one Cardinal to another saying What have ye to do with Aeneas How can ye think him worthy of the Papacy What passion blinds you so as to confer an office of that import upon a gouty Beggar Where is his Knowledge Where is his Learning Will ye make him a Pope because he is a Poet It is not long since he came out of Germany and may he not be likely to transfer the See into Germany I should not have ambition'd it had I not seen a person stand for it of much weaker parts than my self Besides I am the Ancienter Cardinal of the two And I believe you think I have parts and Learning enough to govern the Church of Christ Moreover I am of Royal extraction and have wealth friends and faculties wherewithall to accommodate and alleviate the necessities of the Church and upon my Election the many Benefices I hold will be divided among you The Cardinal of Avignon pursued the interest of William Rotomagensis not so much as he was a French-man as because upon the promotion the Church of the said William he hoped with his Palace and Chancery would fall to him He assembled therefore certain Cardinals in an house of Office as in a secret place in the night and agreed with them about the way how William should be chosen The Cardinal of Bologna discovered the business to Aeneas after midnight In the morning early Aeneas went to Cardinal Roderigo a Spaniard and one of the conspirators for Rotomagensis who had received a promise in writing from the said William and the Cardinal of Avignon that the Chancellourship should not be taken from him He excused himself to Aeneas that he had concurred because he certainly believed he would be chosen and he was unwilling to hang off and lose his Chancellours place Aeneas answered will you then sell your Vote and by Simony run your self into the displeasure of God Do you take so little care then to obtrude a youth upon the Vatican and one that is an enemy to your Nation Know that the Chancellourship which is promised to you is promised likewise and confirmed to the Cardinal of Avignon and can you think that a French Pope will do more for a Spaniard than for one of his own Nation But Roderigo Borgia gave him not a word So Aeneas departing found out the Cardinal of Pavia who was one of the conspirators likewise and accosted him in this manner I hear you resolve to choose Rotomagensis Pope you ought to be ashamed to degenerate so much from Cardinal Brando your Uncle who with so much labour and sweat tyred himself out to transfer the Pontifical court from Germany to Rome and you that are his Nephew would transport it from Italy into France Surely Rotomagensis will never give the Italians the precedence before the French and yet you an Italian will confederate sooner with France than with your own Countrey Can you have the heart to see your self a slave to the French when it is in your power to make the French obedient to our Nation Cardinal Pavia replyed that he did not believe that the French had any thoughts against the profit of the Church they having given with so much generosity most of the Provinces it possessed and they would not probably take away that which they had so lately given To which Aeneas replyed thus But suppose that should be ought it not to stir up your heart against Rotomagensis to consider the infamy of his manners who is given to all lasciviousness You have often told me you would sooner dye than give your voice for Rotomagensis What is the reason of so great a change Is he in the twinkling of an eye become an Angel of a Devil Or are you become a Devil of an Angel Pavia was astonished at these words and
this our Request which it most just and reasonable but will obey it especially considering that our said Chancellour Presidents Masters of Requests c. are employed daily and in continual trouble about the maintenance and defence of the Rights and priviledges of the Churches of our said Realm and the administration of Justice to our said Subjects signifying unto you that you shall herein do us such an acceptable favour as nothing more by means whereof we take you and your affairs into special recommendation Given at Mascon August 18. in the sixth year of our Reign thus subscribed By the King In the presence of my Lord Cardinal D' Amboise Legat in France and others Robertet Sealed with yellow Wax with the King 's broad Seal There is in the same Book an exemplification of the privy Letters which the Court of Parliament writ to the Prelates about these nominations the Tenour whereof is this Reverend Father in God We send greeting to you It hath pleased the King to grant unto the Presidents Counsellours and other Officers of this Court his Letters and nomination to some Benefices which are in the hands of some Collatours and Patrons of this Realm and among others to our Brother such a Counsellour of our said Soveraign in this Court to the Benefices which are in your gift and disposal Wherefore we earnestly beseech you that in obedience to the said Letters and in consideration of the deserts of our said Brother you would bestow upon him the first Benefice that falls in your gift being by him required thereunto And in so doing you shall do us a most acceptable courtesie for which we shall take your affairs into special Recommendation Reverend Father in God we beseech the blessed Son of God to grant you your desire Written at Paris in the Parliament under the Seal thereof Septemb. 7. The Men celebrating the Parliament And this Annotation is written in the Margin Antiquitùs fiebant alitèr Voyez le recueil Du Fontan les grand ordonnances Tom. 4. Tit. ◠cap. 1. The said King Lewes XI in an Ordinance of January 8. 1475. makes this Narration When any Questions or differences come upon us as well concerning the state of the Church of our Kingdom as other our affairs we that ought to have recourse to them cannot be assisted aided or advised therein by reason of their absence where we and the Common-wealth are oftentimes much interessed Then after this he ordains in this manner We Will Ordain and declare by these Presents that all Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Prelates and others that hold any Dignities within our Kingdom and do reside out of the bounds thereof and out of our Obedience Do Return and Repair within five months after the publication of these Presents unto their Benefices within our sald Realm or unto some one of them if they have any more and there make continual Residence there to celebrate and continue divine Service as belongs unto them and as they are bound to do As also to the end that they may serve and assist us in our Councils and otherwise to the behoof of us and the Common-wealth of our said Kingdom when need shall be And this upon pain of being deprived of the Temporals of their said Benefices Fabian's chroni King Lewes falling into a long and and grievous sickness gave much Alms and in the Church of St. John Baptist in Paris he founded certain Priests to sing Masses for him perpetually for whose maintenance he gave of yearly Rent a thousand pounds of Paris Money So he remained in a languishing condition three years before he dyed He dyed August 30. 1483. and his Son Charles VIII succeeded him in the Kingdom Charles being crowned at Rhemes was from thence with pomp brought to Paris A general Parliament was held at Tours where the Pragmatick Sanction was restored to use it as they had accustomed In the year 1494. this King Charles VIII carried an Army of fifty thousand of Foot and Horse out of France into Italy and in two months space he became Lord of the whole Kingdom of Naples except some little Towns on the Sea-side which held for King Ferdinand The Pope seeing the success of King Charles makes a League with the Emperour Maximilian and the Venetians Into this League also entred Lewes Duke of Milan notwithstanding that by his procurement King Charles took occasion to come into Italy King Charles having Intelligence of this League resolves to leave such forces in the Kingdom of Naples as might be sufficient for the defence thereof and with the rest of his Army to return into France and marching toward Rome he gave the Pope to understand that he came to do his duty to his Holiness Pope Alexander not daring to abide his coming departed from Rome wherein and in other of the Pope's Towns the King's Troops did much harm The French King departing from Rome continueth his journey toward France Coming near to Parma passing the River Tarro he met a great Army of his Enemies whereof Francis Gonzaga Marquess of Mantua was General with whom they came to a Battle in which there dyed a thousand Men of both sides Anno 1495. But after some Treaties between the two Armies the French in a night went toward Astè where the King remained certain days and a Peace was concluded between him and the Duke of Milan and Lewes Duke of Orleans rendring Novarra King Charles returned into France and Ferdinand King of Naples recovered that Kingdom Concerning the abuses of the Court of Rome among the Statutes of this King Charles VIII I find in a Statute of February 18. 1496. this complaint Some years ago the Popes of Rome in despight and contempt of the Decrees of Antient Fathers and General Councils have brought all Ecclesiastical Dignities Cathedral and Collegiate under their disposal and all other of greatest value next after Bishopricks Review of the Counc Trident. li. 2. ca. 6. they have granted Livings in reversions upon the Vacancy to any that would sue for them which hath been the occasion for one to thirst after the death of another They have invented abundance of tricks whereby they have utterly annihilated the power and Authority of the Bishops Chapters and Colledges insomuch that there is none now that hath the power to present to a living In the Year 1498. King Charles VIII dyed of an Apoplexy at Amboise In him failed the direct Line of the Kings of France descended from Philip of Valois and the Crown fell to the collateral Line of the which the nearest Prince of the Blood was Lewes Duke of Orleans and Valois who succeeded in the Kingdom of France He was an excellent Prince of a liberal Nature affable temperate and of great moderation and was happy in his Reign Who subdued under his obedience Milan with Lombardy and Genoa with her two Rivers East and West together with the Islands of Corsica and Chio reconquered and divided the Realm of
partly otherwise slain partly sent to the Galleys twenty five persons that fled into a Cave near the Town of Mussy were smothered to death with smoak Certain of the Helvetians sued unto the French King to favour the Waldenses but no entreaty would serve But the bloody Tyrant Minerius the Governour of Provence escaped not the just Judgement of God for God smote him with a terrible Disease and he felt as it were a fire burning him from the Navel upward and the lower parts were rotten and consumed away with Vermine with an extream stink and profusion of Blood in place of his Urine and so with great torments he ended his wretched Life Lewes de Vaine Brother-in-law to the said Minerius the President and also the Brother and the Son-in-law to Peter Durant Master Butcher of the Town of Aix these three did slay one another upon a certain strife that fell between them And upon the same day the Judge of Aix who accompanied Minerius in the same persecution as he returned homewards going over the River of Durance was drowned By an Ordinance of this King Francis I. dated January 15. 1546. the Visitation of the Hospitals and other charitable places is committed to the Judges Royal Voyes le recueil des ordonnances fait par Fontanon Tom. 4. Tit. 27 des malad Hospit ca. 4 Ordinaries of the place where such Hospitals are scituate All Governours and Administrators of Hospitals or other charitable Foundations shall be compelled by our Judges of the places next adjoyning to give up their accounts of the Revenues and Administration of the said Hospitals by what Title soever they hold them together with the Charters and Titles of their Foundation if they have any within two months after the publication of these presents Whom we Command and expresly enjoyn every one respectively within his Precincts and Jurisdiction that immediately after the publication of these presents they visit the said Hospitals and charitable Foundations Orontius Fineus was professor of the Mathematicks at Paris at this time to enquire of the Revenue Estate and reparation of the places and the number of beds and poor people whom they shall find there There were four Stevens French-men Henry the Father and Robert his Son Henry Robert's Son and Paul the Son of that Henry all learned Men and Printers Robert Stevens not only Printed but made many excellent works himself His Thesaurus Linguae Latinae is incomparable Antoine du Verdier in his Bibliotheque commends him and this Work Gesner Bibliothec Dictionarium seu Latinae Linguae Thesaurus non singulas modò Dictiones continens sed integras quoque Latinè loquendi scribendi formulas ex optimis quibusque Latinae Linguae Scriptoribus Opus excusum parisiis apud Authorem divisum in Tomos tres Anno 1542. He published an Edition of the Latin Bible wherein he had conferred the copies that were in use at that time with some old Manuscripts and according to them he amended some errours The University took this ill that he had attempted to change the Translation He defended himself that he had changed nothing but had Printed according to old Copies which he had by him His answer was tolerable in the Judgement of reasonable men Nevertheless they pursue him before the Court of Paris and do petition that he may be burnt In respons Rob. Steph. ad censuram Theologot Paris pag. 109. But their petition was burnt Then he printeth the Bible retaining the corrupt Translation and in the Margin he addeth the words of the Manuscripts with Notes shewing the Copies whence he had these words These do accuse him before King Francis and his Council but were put to shame and silence Then he Printed the ten Commandements in great Letters and in such a form that they might be fixed upon Walls of Houses for common use and so did he with a sum of the Bible This did provoke them yet more especially because he had Printed the second Commandement Thou shalt not make unto thy self any graven Image c. And they accuse him But the King gave him a Warrant to reprint both the Ten Commandements and the sum of the Bible both in Latin and French They summoned him to appear before them saying that his work was worse than the Teaching of Luther Fifteen persons did approve him and added their seals unto his attestation So the most of them seeing the King's Warrant and that attestation were ashamed and their Deputies did assoil him R. Stevens did first distinguish the Verses of the Bible with Arithmetical figures Henry Stevens his Thesauri Linguae Graecae and his other works shew his great abilities Scaevola Samarthanus in his second Book of Epigrams hath these Verses In Gellii Noctes Atticas ad H. Stephanum Quis Stephanum esse neget Phoebi de semine cretum Obscuris adfert noctibus ille diem Henry Stevens Robert's Son made also the Greek Concordance Beda's Works were Printed in three Tomes at Paris Anno 1545. At this time flourished Francis Vatablus Regius Prefessor of the Hebrew Tongue in Paris King Francis ordered him to expound the old Testament out of the Original and his Hearers did write his exposition and his Annotations The King's Printer dealeth with the Hearers and receives from them a new Translation which he printeth with the old Translation and with the Annotations This work being perfected in the year 1545. he sheweth it unto some of the University entreating them to shew him if any part thereof had not been rightly observed by the Hearers to the end if there be any thing amiss he may amend it They do approve the work and assure him that no evil could proceed from the Lectures of Vatablus But the Books being sold some observed that the Translation and the Annotations were contrary unto the present Doctrine of the University and therefore the Books should not be sold seeing they were Printed without the knowledge of the Faculty The Printer goeth unto the Court and sheweth Peter Castellan Bishop of Mascon that the University was offended and intend to hinder the selling of his Books He seeing the Bishop doubtful what advice to give saith if the Divines will give him their censure he is willing to Print it with the Bible and he will neither be ashamed nor take in ill part to advertise the Reader of whatsoever errour is in the Book This overture did please the Bishop and he relates all unto the King who willeth the Bishop to write in his name unto the University that they shall revise the Translation and the Annotations and note what doth not please them and subjoyn unto every fault a reason of their Judgement and deliver their censure to be printed either apart or with the Bible Castellan writes so unto them and they promise to obey But they were often required to deliver their censure They evade it and send unto the Divines of Lovain entreating them to reckon that Translation among
example and perswasions the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were induced to renounce the Protestant Profession for a time Yet afterwards this same Rozarius being gravely admonished of the vileness of his Apostasie departed out of France into Germany and writ Letters to the Prince of Conde wherein he acknowledged his errour begged mercy of God for that he had been a snare and stumbling block unto him I read in the life of the learned Dr. Peter du-Moulin the elder that his Father Joachim du-Moulin See the Life of Dr. Peter du Moulin written by his Son was called to be Minister at Coenures near Soissons Anno 1570. The Protectour of that Church was Monsieur d'Estree called since Marques de Coanures who then professed the Protestant Religion But when he heard of the great Massacre of Paris August 24. 1572. and that the like was to be speedily executed over all France he presently forsook the Protestant Profession and to approve himself a true Convert expelled the said Joachim du-Moulin out of Coenures Then was the good man in great extremity and in this general Massacre the murtherers were seeking for him And how to dispose of his Wife and four little Children he knew not At last this he did he left his Children with a Woman of contrary Religion half a mile from Coenures Himself with his Wife fled to Muret a Town belonging to the Prince of Conde and so to Sedan with the Duke of Bovillon of the house of de la March who passed that way flying from the Court The Murtherers that were sent to kill Joachim and his Family for they spared neither Age nor Sex found the Womans house where the Children were left Ruffina the Woman to whom the Children were committed hid the Children in the straw of a Bed the ordinary bottom of beds of the lower sort in France and laid a feather-bed and a blanket over them Scarce had she laid the blanket when the Murtherers came into the room and searched it but lookt not in the Bed Peter then under four years of age not liking to be thus laid up would cry but his Sister Esther then seven years old who had been made apprehensive of their danger stopt his mouth with her hand whereby she made him struggle and to make some noise which to drown with another Ruffina pretending to reach something upon a shelf made the Pewter fall and then took it up again with much rustling till the Murtherers were gone As soon as they were out of doors she ran to help the Child whom she found well-nigh smothered with the stopping of his wind but he soon recovered and the Children were kept safe in her house till their Parents sent for them Thus God doth many times preserve the infancy of his servants from the rage of Satan and the world The day before that terrible execution the King dispatched Posts into divers parts of the Kingdom commanding the Governours of Cities and Provinces to do the like but this Commission was performed with more or less severity according to their several inclinations for the same night at Meaux and the daies ensuing at Orleans Roven Bourges Angiers Tholouse and many other places but above all at Lions there was a most bloody slaughter of the Hugonots On the other side in those places where the Governours were either Dependants on the Princes or followers of the family of Montmorancy the Order was but slowly and remisly executed And in Provence the Count of Tende refused openly to obey it for which cause being a while after at the City of Avignon he was secretly made away and as it was believed by the King's Commission The third day after the death of the Admiral the King accompanied by all the Princes and Lords of his Court went unto the Parliament where he pretended that he had miraculously discovered the conspiracy of the Admiral and his Complices to take away his life and not his alone but the lives of the Queen-Mother and the Dukes of Anjou and Alanâ—ou his Brothers and even the King of Navarre's also who because he was alienated from their party was esteemed no less their enemy than all the rest He gave order it should be recorded among the ordinary Acts of that Court that whatsoever had befallen the Admiral and the rest of his faction either in Paris or any other part of the Kingdom was done by his will order and express Commission Then he commanded them to proceed to the examination of Prisoners to defame the memory of the dead by laying open their Rebellions and by inflicting such punishments upon them as the strictness of the Law required And lastly he caused to be published not only in the Parliament but likewise in all the Streets of Paris that they should desist from further effusion of blood The Parliament condemned Briquemald and Cavagnes two Protestant Noble-men They laboured by torturing them to extort from them a confession of the fore-alledged Conspiracy But the Noble-men died constant in the true Faith without any confession of such Treason as was alledged They were publickly torn with Pincers and their bodies quartered Notwithstanding they were not ashamed in their names after their death to publish a confession of horrible Treason which they never confessed whilst they were yet alive Davil Hist of the Civil Wars of France lib. 5. The King commanded also a Statue of the Admiral 's to be broken in pieces and burned declaring him a Rebel a disturber of the Kingdom an Heretick and an enemy to all good men The Magistrates also sentenced the Hostel de Chastillon to be razed to the very ground and all his Posterity to be deprived of Nobility and made incapable of bearing any Office or possessing any goods in the Kingdom of France The King therefore dispatched his Grand-Provost with all diligence to seise upon his Wife and Children But his eldest Son with the Widow-Lady his Mother-in-Law the Wife of Teligni and Monsieur de la val the Son of Andelot deceased were already fled secretly to Geneva and the better to avoid their danger went to live among the Swisses in the Canton of Bearn The younger Children were condemned to death in their tender years coming to that end which in the variety of worldly affairs accompanies the ruine of great Families At the same time this execution was done in Paris la Charite which was still held by the Protestants was surprized by the Gens d'Arms of the Duke of Nevers The Town of Rochel was the Town of greatest importance of all the rest of the Towns that were yet in the hands of the Protestants The King with a mighty Army besieged it by Sea and Land which siege began in the Month of December and endured until the Month of July next following Anno 1573. The marvellous providence of God was seen in this siege for God sent a number of Fishes called Surdonnes to the support of the poor during the time of