of their coming chiding the Porters and threatning a severe Punishment for suffering any to pass and at the same time putting themselves in a posture to hinder their advancing further Whereupon these Illustrious Confederates gave each other the Signal and drawing their Swords from under their Vests soon laid the Eunuchs on the Ground running with all the hast imaginable to the Magicians Apartment where they found them together consulting on the last Accident of Prexaspes When hearing the Crys of the Eunuchs and perceiving what was done they made a Vertue of Necessity and stood upon their Defence one seizing a Bow and the other a Lance The first was useless against men that were so near and aimed at their heads the other defended himself valiantly with the Lance or rather a Halbeard with which he wounded Aspathynes in the Thigh and struck out one of Intaphernes his Eyes but none of these seven Lords were kill'd He that could not use the Bow sled into a Chamber where he lay endeavouring to barricade the Door but Darius and Gobrias entering at the same time with him prevented his Intentions The Room was dark and the Windows shut this pretended King affecting obscure places Gobrias closed with him and Darius fear'd to run his Sword into the Magician lest he should kill his Friend by mistake but Gobrias calling to him chid him for his delay chusing rather to be kill'd himself than save the Impostor Darius either by his Voice or his own good Fortune took his measures so well that he onely wounded the Magician with that stroak laying him on the Ground Five of these Lords Deliverers of their Country went out with the Heads of the Magicians leaving Aspathynes and Intaphernes wounded in the Palace to secure that whilst they shew'd the People what they had done telling the reason of their Exploit and killing all the Magicians they met The Persians were Ravisht for Joy of his Heroick Action being inraged at the same time against all they thought Magicians they destroy'd many and had not the Night hindered them none would have escapt Afterwards they kept that day a Festival called Magophonia or The Destruction of Magicians which Day none of them durst appear in publick but shut themselves up in their Houses This History is taken out of Herodotus one of the ancientest Historians whose Works have been preserved and transmitted to our Times and who flourished about the Year of the World 3573. This is in his Third Book Entituled Thalia 'T is 2213 years since it happened counting to this present year 1682. and 5655 years since the Creation of the World according to the Chronology of Conradus Functius For almost all Chronologists vary about the number of Years counting either some few more or less And this was in the year of the World 3442. that this Impostor the Magician thus shewed himself I might have begun my History long before and have spoken of the famous Semiramis Wife of Ninus the Son of Belus the second King of the Assyrians or Caldeans Some there are that confound him with his Father Belus since this crafty Queen had the subtilty to disguise her Sex and usurp the Throne of her Son Nynias so that she might pass for an Impostor Nevertheless because she had been the Wife of a mighty Monarch and that she made her self as famous as any other of the Kings of Assyria by her Victories in Asia Media Persia Aegypt Lybia Ethiopia and the Indies during her long Reign of Forty two years which began in the year of the World 1959. and also by the memorable Building of Brick which encompassed the City of Babylon of 480 Stadia or Furlongs And that I have not undertaken to speak of any but Infamous Impostors who being descended from Base and Contemptible Parentage have aspired to the Dignity of Princes and Soveraigns to make themselves the Possessors of their Estates and which Imposture of theirs has been punished with some Ignominious Death Nor will I less rank among these Notorious Impostors the Patriarch Jacob Father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel the Person in whom were deposited the great Blessing which God had promised to his chosen People though he feigned to be Esau covering his Hands and Neck with the Skin of a Kid and although he had told more than one Untruth That he came from Hunting where he had kill'd Venison and that he was his Brother Esau For in the bottom Rhebecca his Mother who had put him upon practising this deceit did not sin in the main and by consequence he was no Impostor An eminent Action when it is Just and Honourable ought not to be condemned for one that is small and imperfect So the Body ought not to be rejected because one Member is out of order The promise of God must have been accomplished That the Elder Brother must serve the Younger Herodotus gives an Account immediately after this History of the Consultation what Government should be establish'd in Persia Otanes spoke in favour of Democracy for the People Megabysus for Oligarchy or the Nobles and Darius for Monarchy whose Opinion prevail'd as also his Fortune for the Choice fell on him CHAP. II. THE Counterfeit NERO. THE Emperour Nero that Monster of Cruelty the Horrour and Aversion of Mankind believing himself condemn'd by the Senate to a Cruel and Ignominious Death though not proportionable to his Crimes found one of his Free Men call'd Epaphroditus to encourage and assist him to chuse one more milde which he gave himself in the Thirtieth Year of his Age and of the World 4033 of our Lord the Seventy first About two Years after when Otho bore the Name of Emperour an Impostor appeared in the East who had Insolence and Ambition enough to perswade the People he had a Title to the Imperial Crown which he said was torn from him by the unjust and villanous Attempts of the Senate Cornelius Tacitus gives us this Relation in the Second Book of his History whom I will endeavour to follow When Otho govern'd Rome both Greece and Asia were alarm'd with the Apprehensions of Nero's being alive many and different were the Stories of his death some reporting others believing he was yet living A Slave who came from Pontus in Asia or as others say an Italian Free-Man who could sing and play on the Harp which with the Resemblance of his Face did not a little serve to perswade the World he was the true Nero. He gathered many Fugitives and Vagabonds that knew not where to go o'recome with Want and Poverty to whom he made mighty Promises Taking shipping with them he was driven by a Storm on the Isle of Cynthus or Delos where the Mountain Cynthus was consecrated to Apollo or to Diana There he got more Souldiers who were coming from the East destroying those who refused his Service He plundered all the Merchants in the Island giving Arms to the most vigorous Slaves he could find But he try'd by all possible means
be of Alboin's coming into Italy and conjured him to countermand and hinder it all he could When the Pope and he were returned to Rome and considering how they might remedy this Misfortune Narses died whose body was carried to Constantinople and there magnificently buried Gondoald after this Accident crossed the Sea and made his Court to the Emperour Justin and the Empress Sophia his Wife an Ambitious and Airy Princess His good Meen and Intriguing Humour made him extreamly considered in that Court Venerationem sibi ac Majestatem conciliarunt says Paulus Aemilius He remained at Constantinople all the time of Justin the Second a pusillanimous Prince who suffered his Wife to govern the Empire contrary to his Honour and Interest During the Reign of Tiberius which was seven years he made several Campaigns in the Wars of Persia under Mauritius who was after chosen Emperour and Successor to Tiberius for Gondoald dared not to venture himself in the Court of France where he had been so ill treated having many sad Examples of his Relations Cruelty even to their own Blood Clotaire his Father without Pity or Mercy burnt Cramnus or Granus his own Son with his Wise and Children in a House where they Fled for Refuge He overcame kill'd in Battle Senabut Duke of Britain He Burnt Conobald Duke of Guienne in the Chappel of S. Martin where he ran for safety because he had assisted Granus in his Revolt to whom he Married his Daughter This Clotaire also was Guilty of that abominable parricide of dipping his hands in the Innocent Blood of his two young Nephews Theobald and Gontier Sons of Cladomir his Brother King of Orleans Gondoald considering he had little Reason to expect a better Treatment from his Fathers Brothers Sigebert and Chilperic chose rather to Live quietly in Justin's Court But when he was Informed how matters went in France he resolved to hasten thither encouraged by the Empress Constantina and the Emperour Mauritius Son-in-Law to Tiberius who promis'd him their Assistance His two Sisters-in-Law Brunechilde the Daughter of Athanagilde King of the Wisigoths in Spain Married to his Brother Sigebert and Fredegonde Woman of the Bed-chamber to the Queen Galsond Wife to Chilperic his other Brother King of Paris who first became Mistress and then Wife to that King These two Women disturbed all France Their Husbands having been Traitorously Murthered which was the occasion of his Return after having been Twenty Years in the East He Landed at Marseilles with a splendid Equipage where Theodore Bishop of that Diocess received him with much Honour it being reported he brought Vast Riches along with him and was able to give great Rewards having made the best Advantage of his Happiness in the Eastern Court besides the finding a mighty Treasure hid by Narses the Eunuch His Royal Qualities and Majestick Person were admired The Fame of his Actions having gain'd him the Reputation of a good Captain Scholler to the Incomparable General Narses Didier who absolutely Commanded the Countrys adjacent to Tholouse Mummol much talkt of for his Service in the Wars against the Greeks and Lombards and thought one of the best Souldiers in his time besides many Lords both Visigoths and Romans who kept the Frontiers of Spain declared for him Thus having acquir'd such powerful Friends and reduced to his Obedience a great part of the People and Cities of Guienne the Peregordins and Bourdelois those of Tholouse and Anjou followed his Fortune Childebert King of Mets the Nephew of Gondoald was then angry with his Uncle Gontran King of Orleans for refusing to deliver into his hands his Mother-in-Law Queen Fredegonde the Murtheress of King Sigebert his Father which reason perswaded him to declare for Gondoald sending him Ambassadors and stiling him King to give him the more Majesty for the obtaining the Hearts of the French advising him to take the Name of Clotaire his Father The occasion of Gontrans refusing to deliver to him the Queen Fredegonde was that young King Clotaire the Second her Son was under his Tutelage and he thought it below a Generous Prince to give up the Mother of him whom he intended to make his Successor Gontran was a Prince extreamly Good Pious and Charitable I can find no other Reason why he preferr'd Clotaire his Nephew who was but Four Months Old when his Father Chilperic was Assassinated by the Infidelity of Fredegonde his Wife Gondoald having before so much cause to doubt whether Clotaire were Lawfully begot or no his Mother being of a very scandalous Life in her Husbands time abandoning her self to the Maire or Stewards of the Pallace Londry de la Tour. Unless he thought the Decision of the Laws sufficient that Filius est quem nuptiae demonstran That Child is Legitimate who is Born of a Woman who hath a Husband He hoped to give good Impressions to the young Prince being like soft Wax capable of any he would make But Gondoald's Humour he extreamly apprehended for his fierceness and resentment of the usage he received in his younger Days That Divine Quality so Admirable in a Prince to forget Injuries received when 't is in his Power to Revenge them never having been exercised by Clotaire his Father who always prefer'd his own private Resentments This made him not acknowledge Gondoald that came from the Court of Constantinople when the Grecian Artifices Treachery and Cruelty were much in use The Affection and tenderness he had for the Innocent Child prevail'd over his aversion to the Vices and conduct of Fredegonde his Mother Raymond Bishop of Paris a Person of an Exemplary Life first spoke to the good King in Favour of this young Prince he having before saved Fredegonde from the Fury of the People inraged by the Death of their King Chilperic of which she and her Gallant Landry were shrewdly suspected he giving her with her Son and Treasure refuge in his Church The Merciful King continued his Clemency to his Death which happened the 28th of March 594. Still assisting the Queen with his Councel and Protection He perswaded her by his remonstrances with the fear and respect she had to offend him to Live a more retir'd Life He caused what the Courtiers and Domesticks of his Brother Chilperic had unjustly taken from several particular Persons to be restored He did many Favours to the Church making those dues to be paid which Chilperic had supprest or diverted and largly assisting the Poor All which he had reason to believe Gondoald would not do being greedy of Money wanting all the Treasure he could get to recompence his Creatures and support the Luxury he had Learnt at Constantinople I will not stop to relate the Encomiums which Gregory of Tours and Fredegarius in their Chronicles give this King Gontran only say it was the greatest misfortune or if you please an effect of Gods Judgment to want his protection and be rejected by him Though Gondoald did all he could to obtain his Favour He chose two
Michalogli who was a cunning Souldier and a Greek though he had abjured his Country with his Faith caused it to be reported that the Greeks were for them and were sending vast Succours to their Army This False News soon got into Mustapha's Camp where it put them in such a Consternation and Disorder that before their Ambassadors could give them the True Account of their Alliance with the Empire and the Assistance he was preparing most of the chief Officers and European Souldiers deserted him getting over the River Lupadi in the Night into Amurath's Camp others by various ways flying into their own Countries Mustapha seeing himself thus unhappily forsaken and incapable to resist his Enemies a Memoral 〈◊〉 Example shewing the Power of True or False News spread oppoâ—â—â—â—â—ly through an Army fled with his Baggage toward the City Baga or Bâ—â—â— bearing the Name of the River on whose Banks it stands whither he was so closely pursued that he very narrowly escaped the danger of being taken but by the Favour and Assistance of the Cady or Judge of the Place to whom he gave a round Sum of Money he there got shelter Zunaites Prince of Smyrna who had always followed Mustapha's Fortune both before and since his Captivity being as much afrighted as the least Souldier in the Army could be stole away secretly in the Night with all his People and by his Example drew those after him who had any remains of Affection to the supposed Prince Mustapha Amurath putting all those Troops that remained to the Sword while Mustapha only thought of saving his Life flying with very few followers and being favoured by the Greeks passed the Channel or Straights of Gallipoly into Romania or antient Thrace seizing all the Ships and Vessels he found in the Ports or on those Coasts to hinder Amurath from pursuing him but could neither foresee nor help a Genoese-Ship that cast anchor on that Shoar having for it s Fraight of Turks at two Duckets the Head paid to the Master of the Vessel Historians differ about this Infamous Avarice of the Genoeses so prejudicial to Christendom by their helping the Turks for Money into Europe some mistaking it for the first time which was long before when the Turks were fled over from Asia at that narrow Neck which is near to the Fortress of Asty or Maitos formerly called Cheronesus at the Mouth of the Hellespont and took Zemenicum at the same time sirnamed Chirocastron or the Town of Widows because according to Nicolaides they destroyed all the Men and only kept the Women for their Use And others mistake it for that in a few Years after when Pope Eugenius having Absolved Vladistaus King of Hungary and Poland of his Oath given to Amurath for the Observation of the Truce made in the Year 1444. obliging him to declare War which proved Fatal to himself That deluded King losing his Life and a Great Army at the Memorable Battle of Varna The Grecian Emperor John Paleologus with the Venetians and other Christian Princes of Italy seconding his Intentions promising to keep the Straights and hinder the Turks from coming into Europe while Ibraltem Prince of Caramania held him employed in a Fierce War in Asia This was one of the deepest Wounds that Christendom er'e received from the Turks their Army being Eighty Thousand Men composed of several Nations as Hungarians Germans Bohemians Polanders Italians and Walachians besides a Train of Four Hundred Pieces of Artillery The Peace after a Defeat of the Turks had been concluded for Ten Years and for the Security of it Lunclavius in his Pandects Numb 116. affirms upon the Authority of several Christian Writers particularly Cuspinian and many others That this Young King Vladislaus by the Impious Advice of some Counsellors or Ministers of State gave into the Hands of Amurath a Consecrated Host which he thought his God pawned for the inviolable Observation of the Truce and solemnly sworn upon the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Amurath swearing also by his Prophet Mahomet But notwithstanding these sacred Conclusions of this Affair the Pope of Rome Eugenius the Fourth never left off when Amurath was retired into Asia with his Army till he had broke the Peace sending the Cardinal Juliana Cesarini his Legate a latere to dispence with and absolve the Christian Princes of their Faith and Oath which they had plighted to the Turk for the Observation of this Truce Which Cardinal so acquitted himself of his unjust Message by his Prayers and Intreaties added to the Papal Commission that he broke the Peace notwitstanding the Repugnancy of the most Consciencious Opposers Amurath finding himself obliged to return our of Asia and meet Vladislaus his Army came bringing the greatest Strength he could so suddenly raise And when the Fight was begun near the City of Varna in a Marish Ground by the Mar Maggiore or Pontus Euxinus he saw the Beglerbeg of Romania killed by the Hands of the Valiant John Huniades and the two Wings of his Army put into great Disorder he then absolutely despairing of Victory drew out of his Bosome the Consecrated Host with the Articles of the Truce which the Christians had made and lifting up his Hands and Eyes towards Heaven said these words or to this effect O Jesus Christ if thou art God as the Christians affirm to us revenge the Perfidiousness of thy Followers who have pawned Thee in my Hands see the Injury they do Thee after having sworn in Thy Name and on Thy Holy Gospel violating by an execrable Crime that Peace so holily and solemnly sworn between us After he had made this Prayer the Success of the Battle soon alter'd For Amurath rallying his Routed Troops and with Fury charging this half Victorious Army in a short space defeated and ruined it entirely Thus did God shew his Judgment on the Christians for having abused and violated contrary to Justice their Faith given in his Name as both the Christian and Turkish Histories agree Though Callimachus says This matter was so secretly done that the Publick could never know certainly that any such Gage was put into Amurath's Hands The Circumstances of this Great Disaster makes us observe That the Protection which the Emperour gave to the False Mustapha and the Avarice of the Genoese-Merchant who sold a Passage into Europe to Amurath's Troops were two dreadful blows to Christendome which has often endured its greatest Losses by the blameable Conduct of Christians them selves But to return to our Story Amurath having passed the Straight encamped with his Army upon the Plain Ezea which is near to Maitos on the side of Thessaly Mustapha finding himself so pressed took his March towards Bolairis or Bolerus This plain of Azea is sometime confounded with Bolairis from thence he sled into Adrianople where being abandoned by his Men and his Disasters encreasing he endeavoured to save himself in some other Place but was taken and brought back to Adrianople which Amurath by this time had seized
made him swallow Poyson without effect strangled him with his own hands reporting he had destroy'd himself when he had Reign'd Six Months and Eight Days The French and Venetian Army by Land and Sea continued in the Neighbourhood expecting the effect of young Alexis Promises which he not being able to perform in the time agreed on too earnestly endeavouring to raise the Money fell into the hatred of the People and was thus deprived of his Diadem and Life So bloody a Regicide deserved the Chastisement our Warriours intended him who drawing their Army down Besieged Constantinople for 72 Days Geofry de Vilhardouin writ the Story of this Siege and the particular Actions of the Heroes Murzuphle fled with his Treasures abandoning the City which was taken the 12th of April 1204. The Princes and other Lords resolved to choose an Emperor amongst them The Earl of Flanders with the Count of St. Paul named Five to give their Suffrages The Marquis of Montferrat and the Earl of Savoy other five The Venetians choosing the like Number In all 15 Voyces The Plurality were for Baldwyn This Prince was very powerful and a Great Souldier of which he had given many Proofs in the Siege He was Uncle by the Mothers Side to Lewis design'd Successor to Philip the August King of France He was Crown'd by Thomaso Morosini newly created Patriarch of Constantinople Boniface Marquis of Montferrat had from young Alexis for a Recompence the Island of Candia which he sold the Venetians for a great Sum of Money and was nevertheless made King of Thessaly Godfry Lord of Champagn was made Duke of Athens and Prince of Achaia John Earl of Brienne was sometime after made King of Jerusalem Baldwin had scarcely possest this new Dignity a Year before he went to Besiege Adrianople three Days Journey from him and possest by his Enemies who very much annoyed him That Success he had in the beginning did not accompany him in this Affair since by the profound Secrets of the Divine Pleasure being attackt with great Numbers of his Adversaries Greek Fugitives Bulgarians and Tartars he was defeated and supposed to be kill'd in the Plaines of Orestes A nostris pro Mortuo deploratus est says Paulus Aemilius His Brother Henry Succeeding him in the Empire This Disaster happened in the Year 1205 though some Chronologists antidate it two or three Years Twenty Years after This Famous Impostor calling himself by the Name of this Emperour appeared in Flanders Jane eldest Daughter of this Baldwin by Mary the Daughter of Henry Earl of Champagne was at that time Countess of Flanders and Married to Fernando Infant of Portugal She had great Wars her Husband having been taken Prisoner at the Famous Battle of Bovines which King Philip the August gained over the Emperour Otho the 4th in year 1214. And was long a Prisoner in the Louvre at Paris Although this had been some Years past she still felt her losses and that great Consternation Robert Son of Peter de Courtenay Earl of Auxerre and Prince of the Blood of France and Yolente only Daughter and Inheritrix of the Emperour Henry Earl of Flanders then possest that Throne to which this Impostor pertended One would have thought he should first have gone to the place where he was taken Prisoner but he could hope no assistance from the Greeks On the contrary Theodore Lascaris who resided at Nice and always took upon himself the Title of Emperour of Constantinople would have used him worse than the Bulgarians if he had fallen into his hands As for Robert de Courtnay whose Mother Yolente was his pretended Niece he was no ways inclin'd to yield him the Empire he had too much difficulty in obtaining it His Father the Emperour Peter falling into the Hands of Theodore was cruelly put to Death by him So that this Impostor thought his Affairs would advance better and he be more kindly received in his Native Country The Earldome of Haynault was his first Inheritance for this Baldwin was Son to an Earl of Haynault of the same Name Sirnamed The Magnanimous and of Margaret of Alsace Heiress of Flanders For this Reason he was Joyfully received there and with more satisfaction to those Martial People who hated the Dominion of a Woman Besides it was Independant on the Kings of France The Flemings received him very coldly seeing but a small Train with him nor would they own him for their Earl or Emperour of Greece This Impostor affected an extraordinary Gravity in his Meine the better to draw Veneration and acquire the Majesty of an Emperour The Countess Jane refused to see him but was advised to interrogate him for the better discovery of his Practises The President of her Councel of State summon'd him to appear ask'd him many troublesome Questions Gravibus fatigare percontationibus ausus est and spoke to him in this manner If it be true that you are the Earl Baldwin and assume not a False Title to the Empire of Greece I demand of you Why you have abandon'd your Subjects in that Country Even those poor People laden with Miseries whom the Divine Providence by the Suffrages of so many brave Men had committed to your Protection Why forsake you them in their greatest need of your Conduct and Care having so many Generous and Experienc'd Captains to whom you owed the last and greatest Obligations for chusing you among the most principal Men in the World to be their Chief and set the Imperial Diadem upon your Head Why have you thus neglected them exposed to the rage of Barbarous Nations For this reason although you were the true Baldwin we have sufficient Cause to dissemble our knowledge of you sure then we shall not own you who are but a false and a counterfeit Badlwin Why when the Affairs of all the East were laid on your shoulders to be supported and sustained by you when they were in disorder and lost by your misfortune have you feign'd to be dead and conceal'd your being alive What could you expect from so strange a Deceit Or what could be the reason of such a supposition and imposture If you would so long dwell among the Dead why should we now believe you are alive not having appear'd in any place these twenty years And had you been what you pretend now why did you not come in the time of Philip the August your Brother in Law who Married Alix one of your Sisters and in the life time of so many persons of Honour who might either have proved your Imposture or authorized your Title Why came you not sooner out of the Grave In what darkness have you hid that Glorious Face known to the whole World And with what new one do you pretend to Enchant the eyes of Men after so many years I ask if you believe your self that we ought to give faith to a Man who after so vast an Interval shall say I am the Emperor Baldwyn Have we never seen nor heard that there
their Subject This so possest the Dutchess with Rage and Jealousy that she destroy'd all she had before done for him and declared him an Impostor Xerine came soon after into Portugal to sollicite the Establishment of her Husband purely moved by her own Conjugal Affection notwithstanding his Ingratitude and had she come before he had left the Dutchess her Resentment might have been more Fatal Mademoiselle des Jardins contrary to the Idea that Strada gives of her says Her anger was the more Justifyable having granted this Counterfeit Sebastian many innocent Favours which this Accident made her think Criminal Her Aversion bearing a Proportion to her Former Kindness made her fly from one Extream to another She sent and declared to the Estates That he was a Counterfeit which she had discovered by the many Contradictions and different Stories she found him in Making a Voyage into Portugal more to raise him Enemies for his Perfidiousness than for the obtaining her Son Rainuccio that Crown And as her Anger saw plainer than her Love so it was more Active The Circumstances of the true Sebastians Death were examined by the Assembly of the Estates His defeat at Tamista was not so general but that several Persons of Note could give an Account of their Princes Fate They all affirmed They had followed him to the Side of the River Mucazen Some added They saw him drowned there And others said They had like to have perish't by endeavouring to Save him This Story no way agreed with what Xerine affirmed of finding him in the middle of the Battle But that which made most against him was the Account she gave of the Cloths he was wounded in The King's Officers affirming that they were no way like those he had on that Day But Nature had made the Subject so like the Prince and he so supported the Resemblance by his Wit and Courage that they knew not what to resolve The more they examined the greater Difficulties arose It was a horrid Crime to refuse their Lawful Prince his Crown And it could be no less to give it to an Impostor But the Death of the Counterfeit determined the Matter The Politicians look't on this Union of Don Sebastian with the Moors as very dangerous to Portugal He had Married Xerine by a most Signal Infidelity charmed with her Beauty before he came to Affrica She drew him from among the Dead and was Married to him before the Old Prince Boabdelin at Hoscore and it was impossible to bring any Obstacle by reason of the Difference of Religion she having promised to become a Christian and kept her word as soon as she Landed in Portugal Mademoiselle des Jardins says The Pretended Sebastian was with an Army raised in his Favour upon the Frontiers of Portugal where it is separated from the Kingdom of Oviedo and that being obliged to Fight his Ambition made his Courage so rash that he was made a Prisoner and carried to Lisbon where his Adversaries talked of no less than punishing his Insolence by a shameful Death But this supposed King died in Prison leaving great Suspicions that his Death was hastened He desired to see Xerine before he dyed and the last Breath being a Touch-Stone to the Artinces of Life he confest to this Princess of Morocco That he was not the King of Portugal and Conjured her not to disturb the Election after his Death This Declaration he found necessary for the Peace of his Conscience Xerine having had a Son by him who might have caused much disturbance He could not make such a Confession without great Signes of Remorse Crying Ah Madam I have deceived you more ways than one yet I can but weakly reproach my self for the Deceit which made me your Husband I should do it more not to have used it when in my Power than I can think my self Guilty for the accepting so great a Glory But Madam That which makes me Dye in Despair is That once I ceased to Love you for the hopes of a Crown which I obtained not and which a Thousand Accidents might take from me if I had gained it I was on the point of Renouncing a Heart that all the Diadems upon Earth could not justly Meritâ—â— Afflict not your self said the Generous Princess with 〈◊〉 too late and unuseful Repentance I Loved the Person of Don Sebastian more than the Splendour of his Condition I thought I had met that Person in you Those charmes which first touch't me have lost none of their Priviledge because they were not placed in a Monarch though I confess I should never have observed them in an Ordinary Man Neither my Spirit nor my Birth would have permitted me to Consider whom I had not thought a Prince but my Error became dear to me and is so still for all it is Fatal to my Peace The Name of Husband is so sacred to a Woman truely Vertuous that it wipes out any Stain which accompanies it Therefore try to overcome your Illness my dear Prince pardon that Name Fortune said she lifting her Eyes to Heaven might have given it where she gave me Rescue your self from the Arms of Death if it be possible it may be we may find you a Happiness more serene and easy than that which is denied you in Portugal He was so moved with this Excess of Generosity that he could no longer suffer the Transports of it But expired in the Arms of the Passionate Xerine whose Soul with much difficulty staid behind This Man had in the highest Degree abused the Princesses mistakes and the unconstancy which followed the first Fault was more Injurious than the Crime it self But Xerine truely Loved the Counterfeit Don Sebastian and religiously fulfilled his Desire as soon as her Grief permitted retiring into Affrica without giving the least Disturbance to the Competitors of the Crown I acknowledge to have borrowed the most agreeable Part of this Relation from Mademoiselle des Jardins her Annales Gallantes P. Mathieu in his History of Henry the Great says That Sebastian wandred through many of the Courts of Italy till he fell into the hands of the Viceroy of Naples who sent him to Philip the Second King of Spain By an Effect of whose Policy he dyed in Prison out of the sight of the World and without Witnesses He passed through all Christendom except in Portugal since the late Revolutions in 1639. for an Impostor CHAP. X. THE LIFE OF THE COUNTERFEIT Voldemar Elector and Marquis of Brandenbourg THis Man has past for an Impostor in the Opinion of most Historians as Hen. the Monk of Rebdorff in his Chronicle John Cuspinian in his Lives of the Emperors Nicholas Lutinger in his Life of Frederic the First of that Name Elector of Brandenburg and John Leunclavius in his Pandects of the Turkish History c. For my own Part after examining the Circumstances of his Story I am apt to conclude in his Favour and pity this Princes Disafter in losing his Country and being decryed by
in his Place the absent Voldemar whom they believed was dead They knew that Lewis bore a mighty Hatred to the House of Ascagne the two Electors of that Family Rodolph Duke of Saxony and Voldemar the First having opposed his Election declaring for Frederick of Austria his Rival in the Empire in the year 1313 at the Diet of Franckfort Voldemar the First starving Nicholaas Booch his Envoy in Prison for falsifying his Letters of Procuration razing out the Name of Frederick to insert that of Lewis contrary to his Master's Intention and Pleasure All these Considerations make me reasonably conclude they either thought him Living and had some News of him or were perswaded the Emperour Lewis only gave his Son the Administration of the Marquisate and Electorate of Brandenbourg till he returned or his Death was better confirmed It is almost impossible he should die in a strange Country and tell no Body who he was as likewise that the Emperour Lewis of Bavaria should send no Messengers to be assured of the Place and Circumstances of his Death when it would have saved him so much Trouble and secured so rich a Prize How many Examples are there of Princes who have quitted their Country thro' the same Motives that Voldemar did William Duke of Guienne and Earl of Portou whose eldest Daughter and Heiress Elenor was repudiated by Lewis the Seventh King of France called the Young and Married to Hen y the S cond King of England in the year 1152 also of the Old Blood of the Earls of Anjou which Lady became the occasion of most cruel Wars between those Martial Nations while her Father went on Pilgrimage to St. James of Galicia feigning himself Dead he in the mean time travelling like a miserable unknown Wretch about the World that he might exercise those rude Pennances for his Crimes after his Death being made a Saint to eternize his Memory Fiacre Son of Eugenius the Fourth King of Scotland lived a Hermite unknown to all near Meaux in France chusing a Spade before a Scepter Him also they made a Saint Julius Sabinus an Illustrious Gaul near Langres who boasted that he was descended from Julius Caesar and in the time of the Civil War between Vitellius Otho and Vespasian caused himself to be proclaimed Emperour by several Legions but having the worst in Fight lived Nine Years in a â—ave with his dearly beloved Wife Eponina where in the greatest Extremity to Poverty he had several Children by her but could not so conceal himself to avoyd Death by the Cruelty of the Emperour Vespasian who destroyed him with his Wife and Children The Proverb says Ill gotten Goods are soon lost Which was verisied in the Posterity of Lewis of Bavaria Marquis of Brandenbourg for neither He nor his two Brothers Lewis the Roman nor Otho ever possest it quietly but were constrain'd to abandon it to the Emperour Charles the 4th Thus as Carion concludes in the Fifth Book of his Chronicle the Bavarians were deprived of this Electorate and Marquisate of Brandenbourg by the same Deceits which they had used to frustrate the Princes of Anhalt after the Absence and Death of Voldemar who were justly the next Heirs CHAP. XI THE False Mustapha SON of BAJAZET The First of that Name Emperor of the Turks THere 's none can be so ignorant in History as not to have heard of Tamberlain Emperour of the Tartars and of the Victory he gain'd over Bajazet the First of that Name Emperor of the Turks In the Turkish Annals these two Monarchs are called the one Temir Can and the other Gilderum Can. The Title Can which signifies King or Lord being commonly used to any other Tartar Prince or Turkish Lord. But the Name of Tamberlain or Tamerland was given him because he was Lame which Land expresses in the Persian Tongue Some called him Temir Cuthlus signifying in the Tartarian Language a Fortunate Sword His Sirnames were The Terrour and Desolation of the East Terror Clades Orientis He also stiled himself the Wrath of God or the Instrument of his Indignation As for Bajazet he was Named Gilderum or as others say Hildrim which in the Language of the Tartars signifies the Terrour of Thunder and Lightning The Greeks called him Lelapa that is a Violent Torrent The Imposture of this False Mustapha who called himself the true Son of Bajazet certainly believed to have been killed in this great Battle where his Father was defeated and made a Prisoner obliges me to look backward and tell you of Bajazet with the Subject and Circumstances of the War Bajazet was a most Cruel and Bloody Parricide being the First who taught the Princes of his Family to Imbrew their Hands in the Blood of their nearest Relations he causing his Brother Jacup or Jacob to be strangled whom Paulus Jovius calls Solyman His Ambition was so great that without having any right but the sharper Scymitar he drove many Soveraign Princes out of their Countrys As Techrin Prince of Erzingue or Erzrum in the Greater Armenia whom some call Scander and make him King also of Armenia together with the Prince of Germian the Duzinon or Lord of Adem and others sadly experimented He had also much Afflicted Constantinople and made great Devastations in the Countrys of Emanuel Emperour of the East These expelled Princes being thus cruelly used went in Person to implore the Protection of Tamberlain against the Tyranny and Injustice of Bajazet The same Greek Emperour groaning under the severe Yoak of this Tyrant paying him Three Hundred Thousand Crowns Tribute every Year Tres myriadas Auriorum as Carion has it in his Chronicle was constrained to surrender up the City of Philadelphia to him which the Tyrant had so often Besieged in vain giving him also Hostages and being Obliged to furnish such number of Souldiers for his Wars this made him also send Ambassadours to represent his miserable condition Axalla the bravest of Tamberlain's Generals was a Christian of Genoese Extraction born at Copha in Taurica Chersonesus which was then a City and Collony under the Dominion of that State of Genoa This generous Man endeavoured also by his entreaties to perswade his Master to re-establish these Persecuted Princes and beat down the Pride and Insolencâ— of Bajazet Tamberlain was pleased to hear him express what Glory it would be to his Reputation if he should deliver the Emperour of Constantinople and the other Princes from so unjust a Tyranny The Tartar was so sensibly touched with their Misfortunes that he dispatched away a Herald to require Justice on their behalf from Bajazet at the same time sending a very Rich Vest which is always by them presented from a Superior to an Inferior This so enraged the Turk that a War was soon declared Bajazet bringing an Army of Eight Hundred Thousand Men into the Field Paulus Jovius says a Million where in a bloody Fight he was absolutely defeated and taken Prisoner The Turkish Annals mention not the numbers of either Army only