all Europe by the esteem of his Vertue In effect since the first foundation of the French Monarchy the History furnisheth us not with any Reign more memorable by reason of the great Events more repleat with the wonders of Divine Assistance more glorious for the Prince and more happy for the People then his and it is without Flattery or Envy that all the Universe hath given him the surname of Great not so much for the greatness of his Victories however comparable to those of Alexander or Pompey as for the greatness of his Soul and of his Courage for he never bow'd either under the Insults of Fortune or under the Traverses of his Enemies or under the Resentments of Revenge or under the Artifices of Favorites or Ministers he remained always in the same temper always Master of himself In a word he remained always King and Soveraign without acknowledging other Superiour then God Justice and Reason Let us then proceed to write the History of his Life which we shall divide into three principal Parts The first shall contain what happened from his Birth till his coming to the Crown of France The second shall speak what he did after he came to it until the Peace of Vervin And the third shall recount his Actions after the Peace of Vervin until the unhappy day of his death But before all it is necessary we speak something briefly of his Genealogie He was Son to Anthony de Bourbon Duke of Vendosme and King of Navarre and of Jane of Albret Heiress of that Kingdome Anthony descended in a direct and Masculine Line from Robert Count of Clermont fifth Son to King St. Lewis This Robert espoused Beatrix Daughter and Heiress to John of Burgoyne Baron of Bourbon by his Wife Agnes for which cause Robert took the Name of Bourbon but not the Arms still keeping those of France This sage Pre-caution served well to his Descendants to maintain themselves in the Degree of Princes of the Blood which those of Courtnay lost for not having acted in the same manner And besides the Vertue which gave a splendour to their Actions the good management and oeconomy which they exercised to conserve and augment their Revenues the great Alliances in which they were very diligent to match themselves ever refusing to mingle their Noble among Vulgar Blood and above all their rare Piety towards God and that singular goodness wherewith they acted towards their Inferiors conserved them and elevated them above Princes of elder Branches for the People seeing them always rich puissant wise and in a word worthy to command had imprinted in their spirits as it were a prophetick perswasion that this House would one day come to the Crown and they on their side seemed to have conceived this hope though it were at great distance having taken for their Word or Device Espoir or Hope Among the younger Branches which issued from this Branch of Bourbon the most considerable and most illustrious was that of Vendosm It carried this Name because they possessed that great Country which came to them in the year 1364. by the marriage of Katharine Vendosme Sister and Heiress to Bouchard last Count of Vendosme with John of Bourbon Count of the Marches At present it was but a County but was after made a Dutchy by King Francis the first in the year 1514. in favou◠of Charles who was great grand-childe to John and father of Anthony This Charles had seven Male-Children Lewis Anthony Francis another Lewis Charles John and a third Lewis the first Lewis and the second died in their infancy Anthony remained the eldest Francis who was Count of Anguien and gained the Battel of Cerisoles died without being married Charles was a Cardinal of the title of Chrysogone and Archbishop of Rouen this is he who was named The old Cardinal of Bourbon John lost his life at the Battel of St. Quintin The third Lewis was called The Prince of Condé and by two Marriages had several Male-Children from the first descended Henry Prince of Condé Francis Prince of Conty and Charles who was Cardinal and Archbishop of Rouen after the Death of the old Cardinal of Bourbon There were eight Generations from Male in Male from St. Lewis to Anthony who was Duke of Vendosme King of Navarre and father to our Henry As for Jane d' Albret his Wife she was Daughter and Heiress to Henry of Albret King of Navarre and of Margaret du Valois Sister to King Francis the first and Widow to the Duke of Alenzon Henry d' Albret was son to John d' Albret who became King of Navarre by his Wife Katherine du Foix Sister to King Phoebus deceased without Children for that Realm had entred into the House of Foix by marriage as it 〈…〉 afterwards into that of Albret and since into that of Bourbon Ferdinand King of Arragon had invaded and taken the Higher Navarre that is that part which is beyond the Pyraenean Hills and the most considerable of that Realm from King John d' Albret so that by consequence there rested to him onely the Lower that is that beneath the Mountains towards France but with it he had the Countries of Bearn of Albrett of Foix of Armagnac of Bigorra and many other great Signories coming as well by the House of Foix as that of Albret Henry his Son had onely one Daughter Jane who was called The Minion of Kings for King Henry her Father and the great King Francis the first her Uncle with Envy to each other strove most to cherish her The Emperour Charles the fifth had cast his Eyes on her and caused her to be demanded of her Father for his Son Philip the second proposing this as a means to pacifie their Differences touching the Kingdome of Navarre but King Francis the first not thinking it fit to introduce so puissant an Enemy into France causing her to come to Chastellerault affianced her to the Duke of Cleves and after releasing her of that Contract married her to Anthony of Bourbon Duke of Vendosme and the Marriage was solemnized at Moulins in the year 1547. the same year that Francis the first died The two young Spouses had in their first three or four years two Sons both which died at Berceau by accidents very extraordinary the first because its Governess being her self cold of nature kept it so hot that she stifled it with heat and the second by the carelessness of the Nurse who playing with a Gentleman as they danced the Childe from one to another let it fall to the ground so that it died in torment Thus Heaven deprived them of these two little Princes to make way for our Henry who merited well both the Birth-right and to be an onely Son Let us now come to the History of his Life The First PART OF THE LIFE OF HENRY the Great Containing his History from his Birth until he came to the Crown of FRANCE
IT hath not been precisely known in what place Henry the Great was conceived The common opinion holds that it was at la Fleche in Anjou there where Anthony of Bourbon his father and the Princess of Navarre his mother sojourned from the end of February anno 1552 until the middle of May in the year 1553. But it is certain that she first perceived her conception and felt it move at the Camp in Picardy where she was with her husband who was Governour of that Province and who was gone from la Fleche to command an Army against Charles the fifth It was most just that he who was destined to be an extraordinary Prince should begin the first motions of his life in a Camp at the noise of Trumpets and Cannon as a true childe of Mars His grandfather Henry d' Albret who yet lived having understood that his daughter was with childe recalled her home to him desiring himself to take care for the conservation of this new fruit which by a secret pre-sentiment he was wont to say ought to revenge him of those injuries the Spaniards had done him This couragious Princess taking then leave of her husband parted from Compeigne the fifteenth of November traversed all France to the Pyrenaean mountains and arrived at Pau in Bearne where the King her father was the fourth day of December not having stay'd above eighteen or nineteen days on her journey and the thirtieth of the same month she was happily brought to bed of a son Before this King Henry d' Albret had made his Will which the Princess his daughter had a great desire to see because it was reported that it was made to her disadvantage in favour of a Lady that good man had loved She durst not speak to him of it but he being advertised of her desire he promised to shew it her and put it in her hands when she should shew him what she carried in her womb but on condition that at her delivery she should sing a Song to the end said he that thou bringst not into the world a weak and weeping infant The Princess promised him and had so much courage that maugre the great pains she suffered she kept her word and sung one in the Bearnois language so soon as she understood he was entred into the chamber It was observed that the infant contrary to the common order of Nature came into the world without weeping or crying Nor was it fit that a Prince who ought to be the joy of all France should be born among tears and groans So soon as he was born his grandfather carried him in the skirt of his Robe into his own chamber giving his Will which was in a box of gold to his daughter telling her My daughter see there what is for you but this is for me Whilst he held the infant he rubbed his little lips with a clove of Garlick and made him suck a draught of Wine out of a golden cup that he might render his temperament more masculine and vigorous The Spaniards had formerly said in Raillery concerning the birth of the mother of our Henry O wonder the Cow hath brought forth an Ewe meaning by that word Cow Queen Margaret her mother whom they called so and her husband Cow-keeper alluding to the Arms of Bearn which are two Cows And King Henry resting assured of the future greatness of his little grandchilde taking him often in his arms kissing him and remembring the foolish Raillery of the Spaniards spoke with joy to all those who came to visit him and congratulate this happie birth See said he how my Ewe hath now brought forth a Lion He was baptized the year following on Twelfth-day being the sixth of January 1554. For this Baptism were expresly made Fonts of silver richly gilded in which he was baptized in the Chappel of the Castle of Pau. His Godfathers were Henry the second King of France and Henry d' Albret King of Navarre who gave him their Name and the Godmother was Madam Claudia of France after Dutchess of Lorain Jaques de Foix then Bishop of Lescar and after Cardinal held him over the Font in the name of the Most Christian King and Madam d' Andovins in the name of Madam Claudia of France He was baptized by the Cardinal of Armagnac Bishop of Rhodez and Vice-Legat of Avignon He was however difficult to be brought up having seven or eight Nurses of which the last had all the honour At his being weaned the King gave him for Governess Susan de Bourbon wife of John d' Albret Baron of Miossens who elevated him in the Castle of Coarasse in Bearn situated amongst the rocks and mountains His grandfather would not permit him to be nourished with that delicateness ordinarily used to persons of his quality knowing well that there seldom lodged other then a mean and feeble soul in a soft and tender body He likewise denied him rich habiliments and childrens usual babies or that he should be flattered or treated like a Prince because all those things were onely the causers of vanity and rather raised pride in the hearts of infants then any sentiments of generositie but he commanded that he should be habited and nourished like the other infants of the Country and likewise that they should accustom him to run and mount up the rocks that by such means he might use himself to labour and if we may speak so give a temperature to that young body to render it the more strong and vigorous which was without doubt most necessary for a Prince who was to suffer so much to reconquer his Estate King Henry d' Albret died at Hagetmau in Bearn on the five and twentieth of May 1555. being aged about fifty three years or thereabouts He ordained by his Will that his body should be carried to Pampelona to be interred with his predecessors and that in the mean time it should be laid in State in the Cathedral of Lescar in Bearn This Prince was couragious of a great spirit sweet and courteous to all the world and so nobly liberal that Charles the fifth once passing thorow Navarre was in such manner received that he protested he had never seen a more magnificent Prince After his death Jane his daughter and Anthony Duke of Vendosme his son-in-law succeeded him They were at present at the Court of France and with much difficulty obtained their leave to retire to Bearn for King Henry the second pressed to it by ill Counsel would have deprived them of the Lower Navarre which yet remained to them pretending that all that was below the Pyrenaean Mountains belonged to the Realm of France They knew how justly to oppose against him the Estates of the Country and the King durst not too much pursue this subject for fear lest despair should force them to call the Spaniards to their assistance but he still remained troublesome
custome became mediatrix of an Accommodation but the King fearing to be inclosed in a fright retires to Chartres The League by this becoming Mistress of Paris take possession of the Bastille the Hostel de Ville and the Temple hang the Provost of the Merchants and the Civil Lieutenant And at the same time they assured themselves of Orleans Bourges Amiens Abbeville Montreuil Rouen Rheims Chaalons and more then twenty other Cities in several Provinces the people every where crying Long live Guise Long live the Protector of the Faith The King not without much reason was extreamly affrighted The Parisians deputed some to him to Chartres to ask pardon but withal they demand the extirpation of Heresie All the world encreased his fears none fortified his Courage In this distress he knew no securer way to shun that danger which threatned him then by essaying to disarm his subjects To this effect he sends one of his Masters of the Requests to the Parliament to let them understand that his absolute intention was to forget all that was past so that every one returned to his Duty and to labour diligently for the Reformation of the Kingdome for which end he found it convenient to assemble the General Estates at the end of the year where they might provide for the assuring a Catholick Successor of the Blood-Royal protesting that he would observe inviolably all the Resolutions of the Estates but that he would have them free and without Faction and that from that day all his Subjects should lay down Arms. It much troubled the Duke of Guise to consent to the laying down Arms fearing lest when he was left defenceless he should remain at the mercy of his enemies and particularly of the Duke d' Espernon He therefore stirred up the Parisians by a famous deputation to demand the continuation of the War against the Hugonots and the expulsion of that Duke The King after some resistance granted both the one and the other for he caused to be Ratified in Parliament an Edict most advantagiously favourable for the League and most bloody against the Hugonots and he bid Adieu to the Duke d' Espernon who retired into his Government of Angoumois After this the Duke of Guise came to attend the King at Chartres having the Queen-mothers word for his Security and both gave great assurances of his Fidelity and received all the testimonies he could wish of the affection of the King insomuch that he made him great Master of the Gens d' Arms of France In the mean time the League gained the upper hand throughout all the Provinces on this â—ide the Loire and caused Deputies for the Estates to be elected at its pleasure In the moneth of November the Estates assembled in the City of Blois It is not necessary here to recount all their intrigues In fine the King perswading that they had conspired to dethrone him caused the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal his Brother to be slain in the Castle and kept prisoner the Cardinal of Bourbon the Archbishop of Lyons the Prince of Joinville who after the Death of his Father was called Duke of Guise and the Duke of Nemours brother by the mother to the first Duke The Queen-mother under whose word the Guises thought to have been in security was so touched with the reproaches made her and with the â—lightings of the King her Son who after this believed he had no more need of her that she died with grief and envy few days after lamented by no person not so much as by her Son and generally hated by all parties In truth if ever there were an Action ambiguous or problematical it was this The servants of the King said that he was constrained to it by the extream audacity of the Guises and that if he had not prevented them they had shaved him and shut him up in a Monastery But the ill repute he had among all men the general esteem these Princes had acquisted and the odious circumstances of the murther made it appear horrible even to the eyes of the very Hugonots who said that this much resembled the bloody Massacre of St. Bartholomew Our Henry conserved a wise Mediocrity in this rencounter he deplored their death and gave praises to their Valour but he said That certainly the King had very puissant Motives to treat them in that manner and for the rest that the Judgements of God were great and his Grace thrice-special towards him having revenged him of his Enemies and neither engaged his Conscience nor his hand in it For certain Gentlemen having often offered themselves to him with a determinate resolution to go kill the Duke of Guise he had always let them know that he abhorred such a Proposition and that he would neither esteem them his friends nor honest men if they conserved it in their thoughts His Council being assembled upon this great News found that he ought not for it make any change in the conduct of his Affairs because the King though himself might be willing to it durst not for some moneths speak of a Peace with him for fear lest he should make it be believed that he had slain the Guises to favour the Hugonots so that he continued the War and kept several places In the mean time the progress of Affairs beat him out a path to lead him to the heart of the Kingdom and return him to the Court which was the post he ought most to wish for Henry the third amusing himself after the murther of the Guises to examine the Acts of the Estates at Blois in stead of mounting presently to horse and shewing himself in those places where his presence was most necessary the League which at first had been astonished at so great a blow regained its spirits The great Cities and principally Paris who were possessed with this madness having had leisure to dissipate their amazement passed from fear to pity and from pity to fury The Sixteen chose at Paris the Duke of Aumarle for their Governour The Preachers and Church-men declaimed horribly against the King the people snatched down his Arms where-ever they found them and dragged them through the dirt The Parliament who would have opposed this rage were imprisoned in the Bastille by Bussy le Clerk a simple Proctor but very much esteemed among the Sixteen and were forced to regain their Liberty to swear to the League At their coming forth of the Bastille there were many who continued to hold the Parliament at Paris the others stole away by little and little and went to the King who transported the Parliament to Tours where they kept their Session until the reducement of Paris in the year fifteen hundred ninety four These without doubt testified most fidelity to their King but those who remained at Paris rendred him afterwards much greater service as shall be observed in its place The Widow of the Duke
the Spaniard in Italy But the King was too wise to be gulled by gilded shadows he answered That he had no ambition to conquer the Estate of another but onely to recover his own That he would not speak of this Affair to the Duke but that they ought refer that to their Council In effect they named some persons who conferred together but those of the King insisting dayly on its restitution and the Duke endeavouring to free it to himself nothing was concluded Yet though all hopes were wanting to the Duke of obtaining any thing he lost not at all his Courage but trusted to the secret intelligences he had renewed with some great ones of the Court and particularly with the Duke of Byron Many believe that he began now to debauch him and that to this effect he served himself of one named Laffin a Gentleman of Bourgongne of the house of Beauvais la Nocle but the most pernicious and most trayterous Fellow that could be found in France he making a Trade of carrying Tales from one to another The King knew him well and often seeing him very familiar with Byron he had the goodness to tell the Marshall more then once Let not that man approach you he is a plague be will ruine you The Duke knew that Byron loved the King because he had raised him to the greatest Dignities of his Realm and that the Prince likewise honoured him with his Good-will It was therefore necessary to make him loose this affection to render him capable of any evil designe Byron was without doubt brave and valiant to the utmost but so puft up with his Gallantry that he could not suffer any person to equal him After the peace of Vervin not having any thing more to do he continually boasted of his great Actions according to his own words he had done all and he intoxicated himself in such manner with his own praise that he raised his own Valour above the Kings He believed that he ought him his Crown that he could refuse him nothing and that he should govern him absolutely These Bravadoe's pleased not the King he was troubled that his Subject should think that he equalled him in Valour but much more that he should have the presumption to hope to govern him who had ten times more brains and good judgement then the Marshal It is certainly a noble Ambition and not onely well placed but absolutely necessary for a King to believe none of his Subjects more worthy then himself When he hath not this good opinion of himself he lets himself be governed by him whom he believes a more able man then himself and by this means soon falls into Captivity therefore though he may be deceived he ought still to esteem himself the most capable person to govern in his whole Realm I may say rather that he cannot deceive himself in this because there is no person more proper then himself however ignorant he be to rule his Estate God having destined this Function to him and not to others and the people being always disposed to receive Commands when they come out of a sacred Mouth Henry the Great had therefore taken some disgust against the Marshal of Byron by reason of his vanity so that the Duke of Savoy praising one day the Noble Actions and great Services of Byron both Father and Son the King answered That it was true they had served him well but that he had taken great pains to moderate the drunkenness of the Father and the violent passions of the Son The Duke remembred these words and caused them to be carried by Laffin to Byron who touched in his most sensible part was transported to a thousand extravagancies and having lost all respect lost likewise that affection he had left for the King It hath been suspected that he at present abandoned himself to all manner of wicked designes and that he promised to enter into a League which the Savoyard was to make with the King of Spain on condition that he gave him his Daughter in marriage and assisted him to make himself Duke of Bourgongne After that the Duke of Savoy had remained more then two moneths in the Court of France shewing as the Proverb says A merry Countenance at an ill game and shadowing his discontent with an apparent joy but not knowing how to return without shame nor how to stay longer without any fruit The King who would not give him subject to say that he had treated him with the utmost rigour gave him to understand that if the Marquisate was so commodious to him and that he could not restore it without a notable inconveniency he would be content to take la Bresse in exchange This Condition seemed no less hard to the Duke then that of the restitution of the Marquisate however that he might have some pretext to retire with honour he seemed not averse to it and there were some Articles drawn up which he professed were not disagreeable to him But he demanded time to consider of the Alternative of the Restitution or Change and to take advice of the Grandees of his Estate on so important a thing There were granted him to this purpose three entire moneths which was to the end of February in the year sixteen hundred A little after he took leave of the King who conducted him to Pont de Charenton and gave order to the Baron of Lux and to Praslin to accompany him to the Frontier He returned by Champagne and Bourgongne from which he entred la Bresse and went to the Bourg They had great joy to see him arrived because they feared lest he should be arrested in France Indeed some there were would have counselled the King to have kept him till such time as he should restore the Marquisate but the King much offended at this Proposition answered in anger That they studied to dishonour him but that he should chuse rather to loose his Crown then to incur the least suspition of having falsified his Faith even to the greatest of his enemies The three moneths being expired and the Duke not having satisfied his promise the King was troubled and pressed him to resolve either on the one or the other interchange The Duke finds new delays but promises him dayly that he will satisfie him In the mean time he remonstrates to the Council of Spain the danger in which he was that the loss of the Marquisate would put him in such an estate that he should not have the power to serve the Spaniards that it would open a door to the French to go trouble Italy and that this tempest after having laid waste his Country would fall upon Milain The Council of Spain apprehended well the importance but acting very slowly were a long time before they resolved In fine the Count of Fuentes Governour of Milain had order but two moneths later then was necessary puissantly to assist
several Petitions of complaint against them accusing them of a great number of Exactions and Cruelties The Duke d' Espernon who without doubt sustained these Burgesses at the Court was sent by the King to accommodate this difference The Soboles who had offended him no longer trusted him they would not permit him to enter into the strongest Citadel nor let the Garison go out to meet him so that being justly incensed he envenomed the plague instead of healing it and animated the inhabitants in such a manner that they Barricadoed themselves against them The King who knew that the least sparkles were capable to kindle a great fire was not content to send La Varenne but went himself being moreover willing to visit that Frontier Sobole gave the place into his hands and he gave it to Arquien Lieutenant-Colonel of the Regiment of Guards with the Quality of Lieutenant of the King to command in the absence of the Duke d' Espernon Governour who had no great power so long as the King lived The King passed the Feast of Easter at Mets. Whilst he was there he hearkned to the request which the Jesuites made for their re-establishment He referred the doing them Justice till he should come to Paris and gave leave to Father Ignatius Armand and Father Coton to come to sollicite their cause They were not wanting to do it and Father Coton being of a sharp and witty discourse and a very famous Preacher gained so soon the favour of all the Court and pleased the King so well that he obtained from his Majesty the recalling of the Society into the Kingdom contrary to the opinion and advice of some of his Council He then re-established them by an Act which he caused to be confirmed in Parliament and caused to be thrown down that Pyramide which had been erected before the Palace in the place of the house of John Castel where there were many writings in Verse and Prose very bloody against these Fathers Thus was their banishment gloriously repaired and after all the King kept with him Father Coton as his Chaplain in Ordinary and Confessor and Director of his Conscience This was not accomplished till the year 1604. In these two years of 1602 and 1603. we have yet three or four important things to observe The first that the King at his departure from Mets went to Nancy to visit his Sister the Dutchess of Bar who died the year following without Children The second that he renewed the Alliance with the Suisses and some months after with the Grisons notwithstanding those Obstacles by which the Count of Fuentes endeavoured to oppose it The third was that in returning to Paris he received news of the Death of Elizabeth Queen of England one of the most Illustrious and most Heroick Princesses that ever Reigned and who Governed her Estate with more Prudence and Power then any of her Predecessors had ever done She was Daughter to King Henry the eighth and to that Anne of Bullen for whose love he had left Katherine of Arragon Aunt to Charles the fifth Emperour his first wife There was nothing wanting to the happiness of her Kingdom save the Catholick Religion which she banished out of England And we might give her the name of good as well as great if she had not dealt so inhumanely as she did with her Cousin-German Mary Stuart Queen of Scotland whom she kept eighteen years prisoner and after beheaded induced to it by some conspiracies which the Servants and Friends of that poor Princess had made against her person The Son of that Mary named James the sixth King of Scotland being the nearest of the blood-Royal of England as Grandchild to Margaret of England Daughter to King Henry the seventh and Sister to Henry the eighth married to James the fourth King of Scotland succeeded Elizbeth who had put his Mother to death He caused himself to be called King of Great Britain to unite under the same title the two Crowns of England and Scotland which indeed are but one Island formerly called by the Romans Magna Britania The Alliance of so powerful a King might make the balance incline to which side soever it were turned either of France or Spain For which reason both the one and the other immediately sent Magnificent Ambassadors to salute him each endeavouring to draw him to his side It was Rosny who went on the part of Henry the Great he obtained all the favourable Audience he desired and the confirmation of the ancient Treaties between France and England The Ambassador of Spain found not such facility in his Negotiation the English appeared resolute The Spaniards were forced to yeild that the place of the Treaty should be appointed in England and to grant the English free Taffick in all their Territories even in the Indies and give them liberty of Conscience in Spain so that they should not be subject to the Inquisition nor obliged to salute the holy Sacrament in the streets but onely turn from it France was in a profound peace as well without by the renewing of the Alliances with the Suisses and with England as within by the discovery of the Conspiracies which were quite dissipated the King enjoyed a repose worthy his labours and his past travail made his pleasure more sweet However he was not idle but was seen daily employed for he endeavoured with as much diligence to conserve peace that divine daughter of heaven as he had used courage and valour in making War He was often heard say That though he could make the house of France as powerful in Europe as that of the Ottomans was in Asia and conquer in a moment all the Estates of his neighbours yet he would not do so great a dishonour to his word by which he was obliged to the keeping of the Peace His most ordinary divertisements during this time were Hunting and Building He at the same time maintained workmen at the Church of the holy Cross at Orleans at St. Germain in Laye at the Louvre and at the Place Royal. The Nobility of France during this peace could not live out of action some passed their time in Hunting others with Ladies some in Studies of Learning and the Mathematicks others in travelling into Forraign Countries and others continued the Exercise of War under Prince Maurice in Holland But the greatest part whose hands as it were itched and who sought to signalize their valour without departing from their Countries became punctilious and for the least word or for a wry look put their hands to their swords Thus that madness of Duels entred into the hearts of the Gentlemen and these Combats were so frequent that the Nobility shed as much blood in the Meadows with their own hands as their enemies had made them lose in Battails The King therefore made a second and a most severe Edict which prohibited Duels confiscating the
not here tell the mischiefs and inconveniencies which this wicked invention hath caused and doth daily cause The most stupid may easily know them and see well that it is a disease whose remedy at present is difficult I will not charge this History with all the Ceremonies and Rejoycings made at the Birth and Baptism of all the Children of Henry the Great nor at divers Marriages of the Princes and Grandees of the Court amongst others of the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Vendosme which were made in the Month of July 1609. The Prince of Conde Espoused Câ—anlatta Margarita of Montmorency Daughter of the Constable who was wonderfully fair and had a presence absolutely noble which the King having considered was more lively struck with her then he had ever been with any other which caused a little after the retreat of the Prince of Conde who carried her into Flanders and thence retired to Milain Not without the Kings extreme displeasure to see the first Prince of his blood cast himself into his enemies hands The Duke of Vendosme Espoused Madamoiselle de Merceur to whom he had been affianced since the year one thousand six hundred ninety seven as we have said before however the Mother of the Lady standing upon high punctilio's of honour brought many troubles to the accomplishment of this Marriage so that it had never been made had not the King highly concerned himself in it This was none of the least difficulties of his life for he had a high and obstinate spirit to bend however he employed only ways of sweetness and perswasion acting in this business only as a Father who loved his Son and not as a King who would be obeyed Now will I speak of his ordinary divertisements Hunting Building Feasts Play and Walking I will adde only That in Feasts and Merriments he would appear as good a Companion and as Jovial as another That he was of a merry humour when he had the glass in his hand though very sober That his Mirth and good Discourses were the delicatest part of the good Chear That he witnessed no less Agility and Strength in Combats at the Barriers Courses at the Ring and all sorts of Gallantries then the youngest Lords That he took delight in Balls and Danced sometimes but to speak the truth with more affection then good grace Some carped that so great a Prince should abase himself to such follies and that a Grey-beard should please to act the young man It may be said for his excuse that the great toiles of his spirit had need of these divertisements But I know not what to answer to those who reproach him with too great a love to playing at Cards and Dice little befitting a great King and that withal he was no fair Gamester but greedy of Coin fearful at great Stakes and humorous upon a loss To this I must acknowledge that it was a fault in this great King who was no more exempt from Blots then the Sun from Beams It might be wished for the honour of his memory that he had been only guilty of this but that continual weakness he had for fair Ladiesâ— was another much more blamable in a Christian Prince in a of his age who was married to whom God had shewed so many graces and who had conceived such great designs in his spirit Sometimes he had desires which were passant and only fixt for a night but when he met with beauties which struck him to the heart he loved even to folly and in these transports appeared nothing less then Henry the Great The Fable saies that Hercules took the Spindle and Spun for the love of the fair Omphale Henry did something more mean for his Mistresses He once disguised himself like a Country-man with a Wallet of straw on his back to come to the fair Gabriella And it hath been reported that the Marchioness of Verneuil hath seen him more then once at her feet weeping his disdains and injuries Twenty Romances might be made of the intrigues of his several loves with the Countess of Guiche when he was yet but King of Navarre with Jacqueline of Bueil whom he made Countess of Moret and with Charlotta d' Essards without counting many other Ladies who held it a glory to have some Charm for so great a King The high esteem and affection which the French had for him hindred them from being offended at so scandalous a liberty but the Queen his wife was extremely perplexed at it which hourly caused controversies between them and carried her to disdains and troublesom humours The King who was in fault endured it very patiently and employed his greatest Confidents and sometimes his Confessor to appease his spirit So that he had continually a reconciliation to make And these contentions were so ordinary that the Court which at first were astonished at them in the end took no more notice Conjugal duty without doubt obliged the King not to violate his faith to his Legitimate Spouse at least not to keep his Mistresses in her sight but if he in this point ought to have been a good husband so he ought to be likewise in that of Authority and in accustoming his wife to obey him with more submission and not perplex him as she did with hourly complaints reproaches and sometimes threats The trouble and displeasure of these domestick broiles certainly retarded the Execution of that great design which he had formed for the good and perpetual repose of Christendom and in fine for the destruction of the Ottoman power Many have spoken diversely but see here what I find in the Memoires or Notes of the Duke of Sully who certainly must know something being as he was so great a Confident of this Kings which makes me report it from him The King said he desiring to put in Execution those projects he had conceived after the Peace of Vervin believed that he ought first to establish in his Kingdom an unshaken Peace by reconciling all spirits both to him and among themselves and taking away all causes of bitterness And that moreover it was necessary for him to choose people capable and faithful who might see in what his Revenue or Estate might be bettered and instruct him so well in all his Affairs that he might of himself take Counsels and discern the good from the ill feasible from impossible enterprizes and such as were proportionate to his Revenues For an expence made beyond them draws the peoples curses and those are ordinarily followed by Gods He granted an Edict to the Hugonots that the two Religions might live in Peace Afterwards he made a certain and fixed Order to pay his debts and those of the Kingdom contracted by the disorders of the times the profusions of his Ancestors and by the payments and purchases of men and places which he was forced to make during the League Sully shewed him an account
Spain the puissance of his Father-in-law had raised his Ambition and Courage and made him forget that constant affection which his Predecessors have almost continually had for France insomuch that they have held themselves much honoured to be Pensioners to our Kings But the Conduct and Valour of Lesdiguieres made him repent all his high designs especially by the battails of Esparon de Palieres and of Pont-Charra where that Duke received as much loss as confusion About this time our Henry conceived a passion for the Fair Gabriella d' Estrees who was of a very noble house and that passion by degrees grew so strong that whilst she lived she held the Principal place in his heart so that after having had by her three or four Children he had almost resolved to marry her though he knew not how to do it but by hazarding great troubles and very dangerous difficulties Having taken the City of Noyon he gave the Government to Count d' Estrees Father of this fair one and a little after gave him likewise the charge of Great Master of the Artillery which had formerly been held by John d' Estrees in the year 1550. Not long after the Siege of Noyon he understood the escape of the Duke of Guise who after many other attempts had got at high-noon out of the Castle of Tours where he had been in prison since his fathers death The News at first no less touched the King then it surprized him he feared this great Name of Guise which had given him so much trouble and he doubted lest this young Prince should re-ingross the love of the people which his father had possessed to so high a pitch he was troubled to have lost such a Gage which might serve him in many things However after he had a little meditated he diminished his apprehensions and told those who were about him That he had more reason to rejoyce then be troubled for of force it must happen that either the Duke of Guise must take his party and that if he did so he would treat him as his Parent and Kinsman or that he must cast himself into the League and then it would be impossible that the Duke of Mayenne and he could continue any long time without contending and becoming enemies This Prognostick was very true The Duke of Mayenne having seen those Rejoycings which all the League testified at this News the Bonefires made in the great Cities those Actions of thanks which the Pope caused publickly to be rendred to God and the hopes which the Sixteen conceived to see revived in this Prince the Protection and Qualities of his Father which they had idolatrized the Duke of Mayenne I say seeing all this was struck with a very strong Jealousie and though he sent him monies with entreaties that they might have an Interview yet notwithstanding he looked not upon him as a new renforce but as a new subject of inquietude and trouble to him In effect this young Prince immediately knit himself in firm bond with the Sixteen and promised to take their protection By this means and by the help of the Spaniards they emboldened themselves in such manner that they resolved to loose the Duke of Mayenne not ceasing to cry down his Conduct among the people I have been assured that there was some amongst them who writ a Letter to the King of Spain by which they cast themselves into his Arms and intreated him if he would not reign over them to give them a King of his Race or to chuse a Son-in-law for his Daughter whom they would receive with all Obedience and Fidelity They advised themselves besides this to make a new form of Oath for the League which excluded the Princes of the Blood to the end they might oblige all suspected persons who would not swear a thing so contrary to their thoughts to depart out of the City and to abandon their Goods to them By this artifice they drave away many persons among others the Cardinal of Gonde Bishop of Paris whom they had begun to hate because that with some Clerks of the City he honestly endeavoured to dispose the people in favoâ—r of the King There remained nothing now but to dissolve the Parliament who watched them day and night and stopt their Enterprizes They had pursued the Condemnation of one named Brigard because he had Correspondence with the Royalists and the Parliament having pardoned him they were so incensed that the most passionate by conspiracy amongst them and by their private Authority having caused those of their faction to take arms went to seize on the persons of the President de Brisson and of de Larcher and de Tardiff Counsellours whom they carried prisoners to the Castelet and after some formalities one of them pronounced against them the sentence of death in execution of which they caused them all three to be hanged at the window of the Chamber and on the morrow to be carried to the Greve to the end they might move the people in their favour but the greatest part abhorred so damnable an attempt and even the most zealous of the party remained mute not knowing whether they ought to approve or blame it Yet there were some of these Sixteen found so determinate as to pass farther they said They must finish the Tragedy and rid themselves of the Duke of Mayenne if he came to Paris he being at present at Laon That after that they might assure to themselves the City elect a Chief who should depend of them re-establish the Council of Forty which that Duke had abolished and demand the Union of the great Cities And certainly there was some appearance that having the Bastille of which Bussy was Governour the common people and the Garison of Spaniards for them that they might render themselves Masters of Paris and afterwards treat at their pleasure either with the King or with the Duke of Guise or with the Spaniards but they wanted Resolution In the mean time the Duke of Mayenne having been in two days doubt whether he should come to Paris because he feared they would shut the Gates against him at length comes with a warlike attendance and seeing that the Parliament durst not attempt to make process against these people he resolved whatever might arrive to chastise them himself and thereupon without form of Process in his Cabinet condemns nine to death They could catch but four whom he caused to be hanged in the Louvre the other five saved themselves in Flanders The most remarkable of these five was Bussy le Clerke who had been constrained to yeild the Bastille to the Dukes people He was seen to lead a miserable life in the City of Bruxels yet still to conserve his hatred against the French even to the last gasp which he breathed forth a little before the last Declaration of War between the two Crowns This terrible blow having quite quelled the
but I with my Gray Jacket will give you good effects I am all Gray without but you shall find me Gold within I will see your desires and answer them the most favourably I can possible All his Prudence and all his Address were not too much to teach him to govern himself so that both the Catholicks and Pope might be content with his Conduct and the Hugonots have no cause to be alarmed or cantonize themselves His Duty and his Conscience carried him to the assistance of the first but Reason of State and the great Obligations he had to the last permitted him not to make them despair To keep therefore a necessary temperature he granted them an Edict more ample then the precedent It was called The Edict of Nantes because it was concluded the year before in that City whilst he was there by this he granted them all liberty for the exercise of their Religion and likewise license to be admitted to Charges to Hospitals to Colledges and to have Schools in certain places and preaching every where and many other things of which they are since deprived by reason of their Rebellions and divers Enterprizes The Parliament strongly opposed it for more then a year but in the end when they were made understand that not to accord that security to the Hugonots who were both powerful and quarrelsome were to rekindle new War in the Kingdom they confirmed it On the other side to sweeten the Pope who might be troubled at this Edict the King shewed him all possible manner of respect and strenuously embraced his interests as appeared in the action of Ferrara in the years 1597. and 1598. This Dutchy is a Fief Male of the holy Seat of which the Popes had formerly invested the Lords of the house of Est in charge of its reversion in default of legitimate Males Alphonso d' Est second of that name and last Duke died in the year 1597. without Children and had left great Treasures to Caesar d' Est Bastard to Alphonso the first his Kinsman He had done what possibly he could to obtain the Investiture of the Dutchy on this Bastard who not able to obtain it yet ceased not to take possession of it after the death of Alphonso the second resolving to maintain it by force of Arms. Clement the eighth was obliged to make War against him to dispossess him the Princes of Italy took part in the Quarrel and the Dukes of Guise and Nemours were upon the point to undertake the defence of Caesar whose near Kinsmen they were being the issues of Anne d' Est Daughter of Hercules the second Duke of Ferrara and of Madam Renee de France for that Anne in her first marriage had espoused Francis Duke of Guise and in her second James Duke of Nemours The King of Spain likewise favoured him underhand not desiring that the Pope should grow greater in Italy by the re-union of that Dutchy But Henry the great was not wanting to take this occasion to offer his Sword and his Forces to the holy Father The Allies knowing it were extreamly disheartned and he constrained to treat with the Pope to whom he surrendred all the Dutchy of Ferrara There remained to him onely the Cities of Modena and Regia which the Emperour maintained to be Fief of the Empire and of which he gave him the Investiture From whence came the present Dukes of Modena If the heat which the King testified in this occasion for the interests of the holy Seat sensibly obliged the Pope that care which he made dayly appear to bring back the Hugonots into the bosome of the Church was no less agreeable to him He acted to this purpose in such a manner that from day to day many of the most understanding and of the best quality were converted But that which was more important was his taking the young Prince of Conde from the hands of the Hugonots who had kept him diligently at St. John d' Angely ever since the death of his Father which happened in the year 1587. and brought him up in the false Religion with great hope to make him one day their Chief and Protector The King considering how it would be both prejudicial to the safety of the young Prince and to his own interests to leave him longer there knew so well how to gain the principal of the party that they suffered him to be brought to Court and he gave him for Governour John Marquess of Pisani a Lord of a rare merit and of a wisdome without reproach who forgot not to instruct him well in the Catholick Religion and in the truest sentiments of Honour and Vertue He was yet but seven or eight years old when he came to nine the King gave him the Government of Guyenne loving him tenderly and cherishing him as his presumptive Successour During this calm of the peace nothing was spoken of but rejoycings feasts and marriages That of the Infanta of Spain Isabella-Clara-Eugenia and of the Arch-Duke Albert was solemnized in the Low-Countries and that of Madam Katherine sister of the King with Henry Duke of Bar eldest son to Charles the second Duke of Lorrain at Paris Katherine was forty years of age more agreeable then fair having one Leg a little short She was very spiritual loved Learning and knew much for a woman but was an obstinate Hugonot The King feared lest she should marry some Protestant Prince who by this means might become Protector of the Hugonots and be like another King in France by reason of which he gave her to the Duke of Bar thinking moreover to gain more belief among the Catholicks by allying himself with the house of Lorrain Before this he had used all possible means to convert her even to the employing of threats but not being able to do it he said one day to the Duke of Bar My Brother it is you must vanquish her There was some difficulty about the place and the Ceremony of Celebration of this marriage the Duke would have it done at the Church and the Princess by a Hugonot-Minister The King found a mean he caused it to be done in his Closet whither he led his Sister by the hand and commanded his natural Brother who had for about two years been Archbishop of Rouen to marry them This new Archbishop at first made some refusal of it alledging the Canons but the King representing to him that his Closet was a consecrated place and that his presence supplyed the default of all solemnities the poor Archbishop had no longer power to resist him This Marriage being made for the good of the Catholick Religion it seemed that the Pope should have been content Nevertheless not willing to suffer an ill that a good might come of it he declared that the Duke of Bar had incurred Excommunication for having without the dispensation of the Church contracted with an Heretick nor ever could the Duke
on Alexander de Medicis who was named the Cardinal of Florence He took the name of Leo xi but he died at the end of sixteen days so the business was to begin again The King would not that they should take pains in the choice of another and declared That France took no other interest then that an honest man should be chosen The Conclave in the end chose the Cardinal Bourghese who was named Paul 5. In the first years of his Papacy there was re-kindled a great difference which was begun under his Predecessours which had set on fire all the corners of Italy and possibly all Christendome if our Henry had not taken care to extinguish it I am about to tell the subject of it The Signory of Venice had formerly made an Ordinance or Decree which prohibited the Monks from purchasing Lands in their Dominions above the value of twenty thousand Duckats and enjoyning every one that had purchased above that value to remit it to the Signory who would re-imburse them the purchase and the improvements they had made on it And following the foot-steps of this ancient Decree they made another which forbad the founding or building of new Churches Convents and Monasteries without express permission of the Signory upon pain of banishment and confiscation of such Foundations and Buildings It was indeed part of the function and charge of Bishops to hinder this multiplication of Convents but either through negligence or too much facility they gave to all as much permission as they demanded insomuch that the Commonwealth seeing the default of the Prelates found themselves constrained to take notice of it otherwise it would soon have happened that all their Cities would have been nothing else but Convents and Churches and all their Revenues which ought to bear the charge of their Estate and serve for the nourishment of married people who furnish it with Souldiers Merchants and Labourers would have been expended onely in the maintenance of Nuns and Fryers The Senate therefore made another Decree which prohibited Ecclesiasticks from purchasing any immoveable Goods except by the permission of the Senate And at the same time it happened that an Abbot and a Cannon accused of very horrid Crimes committed in the Territories of the Signory were imprisoned by the Authority of the Secular Justice which passed for a strange attempt on the other side the Mountains where the Ecclesiasticks are not at all subject to Secular Justice Now Paul the fifth coming to the Pontificial Chair not able to pass by said he all these attempts of the Secular Estate on the Ecclesiasticks dispatched at the same time two Briefs to his Nuntio of Venice One containing the revocation of the Decrees made by the Signory touching the purchasing of temporal Estates and the other commanding the sending back the Abbot and the Canon to the Court of the Church The Nuntio signified these Briefs to the Signory who answered boldly That their Authority was born with them That no person but they had to do with it and That they should know how to maintain it against any would enterprize to oppose it Both the one and the other employed the best Pens of the time to defend their Rights and confute the Defences of their Adversaries There were spread abroad every where great quantities of Manifesto's and Treaties full of reasons of Right passages of holy Scripture Authorities of Fathers and Councils and Examples drawn from History In the mean time the Pope extremely offended at this answer thunders out an Excommunication against the Duke and the Senate if within four and twenty days they revoked not their Decrees and consigned the prisoners into the hands of the Nuntio The Signory was not at all moved at it but boldly declared the sentence of Excommunication Null and abusive nor was there any Ecclesiastick in their whole Territories who would attempt the publishing it or durst observe the Interdict or make Divine Service cease There were only the Capuchins and the Jesuites who resolved to depart and demand leave of the Signory They granted it to the Capuchins with liberty to return when they pleased and to the Jesuites with prohibitions of ever re-entring their Dominions Things being thus embroyled to the utmost between these two powers the Spaniards look't out with a sharp eye to make their profit of these divisions and underhand cast oyl into the fire though openly they made shew of extinguishing it For on the one side they encouraged the Venetians and heartned them up to maintain their rights and on the other they commanded their Governours of Naples and Milan to serve the holy Father with all their powers Henry the Great more sincere and more dis-interested embraced this occasion to establish his power in Italy in a more fair and just manner He assured the Pope that as the true Eldest Son of the Church he would always sustain its Interests and that in case of rupture he would go himself in person with an Army of forty thousand men but he intreated him that before it came to that he would grant that he should try all means possible for an accommodation He answered likewise to the Ambassador of Venice who demanded his assistance that he ought it to the holy Father in prejudice of all others And therefore he exhorted the Signory to give him content which that they might do without wounding their honour or rights he desired to be Mediator Both parties having accepted his Mediation he dispatched the Cardinal Joyeuse into Italy who to speak all in two words managed this Negotiation with so much Prudence that in the end he concluded an accord The Treaty contained four Principal Articles 1. That the Signory should consign the two prisoners into the hands of the Ambassador of France to remit them to his Holiness 2. That they should revoke the Manifesto and Declaration they had made against the Apostolick Censures 3. That they should re-establish all Ecclesiasticks in their goods 4. That the Pope should give them absolution and that in requital they should send to thank him by a Noble Embassy and assure him of their filiâ—l obedience On the morrow the Cardinal de Joyeuse coming to the place assigned by the Senate the doors being shut in the presence of the Duke and five and twenty Senators and the Ambassador of France revoked the Excommunication and gave Absolution to the Signory All these things passed without the Spaniards having the least participation though they endeavoured to make themselves of the Feast Thus had both parties some sort of contentment by the intermission of Henry the Great There was only the business of the Jesuites which for some months retarded the Treaty and which some thought would have quite broke it because the Pope considering that they were driven away for his sake absolutely resolved that the Signory should re-establish them in their houses and in their goods and they
accord the party had by this means conserved its bonds together and not been overthrown but appeased When he had got the upperhand in his Affairs and was reconciled to the Pope and that his subjects were reconciled with him the ill counsel of the Hugonots who desired always to see him in trouble perswaded him to declare a War against Spain It was now that he thought he should fall into a worse Estate then ever They took from him Dourlens after the gain of one battel Calais and Ardres by storm and Amiens by surprize The rest of the League which lay hid under the cinders began to rekindle the discontents of the great ones to be discovered Conspiracies were formed on all sides his servants were amazed his enemies emboldened But his Vertue which seemed to sleep in prosperity rouzed it self in adversity he encouraged his friends re-took Amiens and forced the Spaniard to make peace by the treaty of Vervin The Duke of Savoy thinking to deceive him in the restitution of the Marquisate of Saluces and to raise factions in his Realm which should hinder the King from demanding reason of him found that he had to do with a Prince who knew as well how to over reach him in his designes as to conquer his forces for he forced him among those rocks where he boasted he had nothing to fear but the thunder-bolts of Heaven and made him shamefully restore what he had unjustly usurped At the same time the King had thoughts as well for the security and tranquillity of France as for his own to generate Children of a lawful marriage Heaven gave him six and with them a peace of ten years which was onely lightly troubled by the conspiracy of Byron by the devices of the Duke of Bouillon and by some popular risings against the Pancarte or Sol pour livre During all this he laboured principally for two things the one his great designe of which we have spoken for which he made friends and allies on all sides cleared his revenues paid his debts with as good credit as if he had been a Merchant gathered monies and pacified all differences which were between those Princes with whom he would associate The other was to repair the damages and ruines of France which a forty years civil War had caused remove those causes which imbittered and divided spirits reform those disorders which disfigured the face of the Estate make it flourishing and rich to the end his subjects might live happily under the wings of his protection and his justice In the mean time himself was not free from troubles perplexities and disgusts his Mistresses caused him a thousand vexations in the midst of his pleasures he found thorns even in his Nuptial-bed and in the ill humour of his wife and Conchini was causer of griefs to him just as a little but vexatious Mouse may furiously trouble and turmoile the noble Lyon As he was ready to mount on horse-back to begin his great designe by the assistance of his Allies he lost his Life by the most detestable Parricide was ever known Thus he whom so many Pikes so many Musquets and Cannons so many Squadrons and Battalions of men could not hurt in the trenches and in the field of battel was killed with a Knife by a wicked and trayterous Rogue in the midst of his capital City in a Coach and on a day of publick Joy Unhappy blow which put an end to all the joys of France and which opened a wound which to this day hath left its scar. Henry was of a middle stature disposed and active hardened to labour and travel His body was well formed his temperament able and strong and his health perfect onely about the age of fifty years he had some light assaults of the Gout but which soon passed away and left behinde them no weakness He had his forehead high his eyes lively and assured his nose Aquiline his complexion ruddy his countenance sweet and noble and yet withal his presence Warlike and Martial his hair brown and very thin He wore his beard large and his hair very short He began to grow gray at the age of thirty five years upon which he was accustomed to say to those who wonder'd at it It is the wind of my adversities hath blown me this Indeed to consider well all his life from his very birth few Princes will be found who have suffered so much as he and it will be difficult to tell if he had more crosses or more prosperities He was born the Son of a King but of a King despoiled of his Estates He had a Mother generous and of a great courage but a Hugonot and an enemy of the Court He gained the battel of Coutras but he lost a little after the Prince of Conde his Cousin and his right hand The League stirred up his vertue and made him know it but it thought to overthrow him It was the cause that the King having called him to his assistance he found himself at the gates of Paris as if God had led him by the hand but Paris armed it self against him and all his hopes were almost dissipated by the scattering of the Army which besieged that City It was without doubt a great happiness that the Crown of France fell to him there having never been a succession more distant in any hereditary Estate for there were ten or eleven degrees between Henry the third and him and when he was born there was nine Princes of the blood before him to wit King Henry 2. and his five sons King Anthony of Navarre his father and two sons of that Anthony eldest brothers of our Henry All these Princes died to make room for his succession But he found it so embroyled that we may say he suffered an infinity of labours pains and hazards before he could gather the fair flowers of this Crown Young he espoused the sister of King Charles which seemed a match very advantagious for him but this marriage was a snare to entrap both him and his friends Afterwards that Lady in stead of being his Consort became his trouble and in stead of being his honour became his shame His second Wife brought him forth fair children to his no little joy but her grumblings and disdains were the causers of a thousand discontents He triumphed over all his enemies and became Arbitrator of Christendom but the more powerful he made himself the more was their hatred envenomed and the more means used they to destroy him so that after having plotted an infinite number of conspiracies against his life they found in the end a Ravaillac who executed in the end what so many others had failed in Now it must be acknowledged that all these adversities which he suffered ought to whet his spirit and his courage and that in fine he should be the greatest of Kings because he came to the Crown through so many difficulties and in an age very mature And certainly it is
sends forth enlivenings and joy into the eyes of all that behold it To continue the Metamorphosis I will yet say that so many wise Laws which he made for Justice for Policy and for his Revenues so many good and useful Establishments of all sorts of Manufactures which produced to France the yearly profit of many Millions so many proud buildings as the Galleries of the Louvre the Pont-neuf the Place Royal the Colledge Royal the Keys for Merchants of the River Seine Fontain-bleau Monceaux St. Germain so many publick works Bridges Causwaies Highwaies repaired so many Churches rebuilded in many places of the Realm should be as the Ingravements and Imbellishments Let us Crown then with a thousand prayses the immortal memory of that great King the love of the French and the terror of the Spaniards the Honour of his age and the Admiration of Posterity Let us make him live in our hearts and in our affections in despite of the rage of those wicked persons deprived him of life Let us shout forth as many Acclamations to his glory as he hath done benefits to France He was a Hereules who cut off the Head of the Hydra by overturning the League He was greater then Alexander and greater then Pompey because he was as Valiant but he was more Just he gained as many victories but he gained more hearts He conquered the Gaules as well as Julius Caesar but he conquered them to give them liberty and Caesar subjugated them to enslave them Let his Name then be raised above that of the Hercules the Alexanders the Pompeys and the Gaesars Let his Reign be the Model of good Kings and his Examples the clear Lights to illuminate the eyes of other Princes Let his Posterity be Eternally Crowned with the Flowers de Lis Let them be alwaies happy alwaies Triumphant And to compleat our wishes let Lewis the Victorious his Grand-child Resemble or if it be possible Surpass him FINIS The Life of Hen. the Great divided into three parts The first The second The third His Genealogie Who Antho. de Bourbon his father was a Peter sixth Son to Lewis le gross espoused Isabella Heiress of Courtnay and took both Name and Arms a fault very prejudicial to his posterity b The branch of Bourbon produced many among others that of Vendosme Charles Duke of Vendosme had Anthony and six other sons Who Jane d' Albret his Mother was 〈◊〉 of Bourbon Duke of Vendosme and Jane d' Albret married at Moulins 1547. 1552. Henry the Great conceived at la Fleche 1553. His mother sings at her delivery of him He cries not at his birth So soon as born his grandfather carries him into his chamber he rubs his lips with Garlick makes him taste wine The Spaniards Raillery concerning the birth of his mother Her fathers Reply to it 1554. Baptism of Hen. 4. His godfathers and godmother He was hard to bring up He had for Governess Madam de Miossens His grandfather permits him not to be nourished delicately * It hath been said that he was ordinarily nourished with coarse bread beef cheese and garlick and that oftentimes he was made to march with naked feet and brre headed The death of Henry d' Albret 1555. His daughter son-in-law succeed him and retire from the Court. 1557. 1558. 1559. Death of King Henry the second Francis 2. succeeâ—s Divisions at Court 1560. Death of Francis 2. Charles 9. succeeds Queen Katherine declared Regent and the King of Navarre Lieutenant-General of the Realm 1562. He is killed before Rouen 1562. The Queen his wife returns to Bearn and embraces Calvinism 1566. She taâ— her son from the Court and gives him a Master instructs him in ill Doctrine 1567. Henry Prince of Navarre declared chief of the Religion 1569. Louys Prince of Condé his Uncle his Lieutenant with Admiral Coligny A judicious action when yet an infant b This Duke of Anjou was King after Hen. 3 Another action very judicious at the battle of Jarnac Lewis Prince of Condé slain After his death the Admiral commands all He hazards the battle of Montcontour Our Prince impatâ—ent to engage but hindred Gives marks of his judgement 1570. He with the Admiral continues the War The peace of Arnay-le-Duc 1571. A Resolution to entrap the Hugonots and exterminate them Death of Jane d' Albret Her son takes the quality of King of Navarre He marries the King of France his sister Massacre of St. Bartholomew The grief and fear of our young King He is constrained to turn Catholick 1572. His great dangers troubles at Court His wise prudent conduct He contracts friendship with the Duke of Guise He shuns contention with Duke d' Alenzon but lets himself be overcome by the beauty of Ladies which was his greatest weakness 1572. He fell not into any other of the horrible Vices of the Court. 1573. The Duke of Anjou besieges Rochel and carries the King with him The siege raised by the election of Duke d' Anjou to the Kingdome of Poland 1574. Charles 9. falls mortally sick at Bois de Vincennes A league made at Court into which Henry enters The Queen-mother discovering it causes him the Duke Alenson c to be arrested and la Mole Coconas Tourtray to be put to death The Chancellour would examine the King of Navarre Charles 9. near his death sends for him 1574. Queen Katherine alarm'd would affright him After the death of Charles 9. she seizeth on the Regency The two Princes set at liberty The Prince of Condé was in Germany The King of Navarre cannot escape as he desires He falls in love with a Lady The Queen-mother alluminates all the factions and civil wars 1575. Conspiracy against Henry 3. who confides in our Henry Henry 3. anointed and espoused to Louis de Lorrain Familiarity between our Henry and the Duke of Guise The Queen-mother breaks this union Henry 3. falls very sick a Francis 2 died of an Aposthume in his ear which was believed to come of poyson A noble and generous action of our Henry 1575. 1576. Monsieur departs from Court and joyns with the Hugonots Our Henry could not soon follow him but at length saves himself at Alenzon Peace made with Monsieur and the Hugonots 1576. Our Henry again turns Hugonot He is received into Rochel and after goes into Guyenne The gates of Bourdeaux shut against him The birth of the League These Leagues a fair path for the ambitious to rise by The Duke of Guise makes himself chief of the League The War of Monsieur his joyning with the Hugonots the cause of the League The Cities of Picardy begin it and why Christopher de Thou hinders its procedure at Paris The Leaguers oblige the King to call the Estates They assemble at Blois War resolved against the Hugonots Henry 3. declares himself chief of the League 1577. He raises three or four Armies against the Hugonots The Queen-mother obliges him to grant them peace 1578. She makes a voyage to Guyenne