Bastile of S. Anthony was built some say by the English and indeed it is somewhat like those peeces which they haue built elsewhere in France as namely that at Rouen howbeit I read in Vigner his Cronicle that it was builded by a Preuost of Paris in the time of Edward the third of England at what time our Kings began their first clayme and had as yet nothing to doe in this City Some other monuments I purpose to speake of with their Founders by the example of Plutarch who in his discourse of Athens particularizeth in this maner Pantheon Hecatompedon built by Ictinus and Callicraditas the Chappell of Eleusine by Coraebus the Lanterne by Xenocles the Theater or the Odeon by Pericles the Port Pyraeum by Muesicles and the Pallaedium of Pallas by Phidias So in this Towne the Chastelet was built by Iulian the Apostata the Vniuersity was founded by Charlemagne Anno 800. who also erected those of Bologna and Padoa The Church of Nostre Dame Our Lady was founded Anno 1257. where are these verses following engrauen to shew the greatnesse of it Si tu veux sçauoir comme est ample de Nostre Dame le grand Temple Il a dans aeuure pour le seur dixsept toyser de hauteur Sur lae largeur de vingt et quattre et soixante et cinq sans rebattre A de long aux tours haut monteés trent quattre sont bien comptées Le tout fonde sur pillotis anssi vray que ie te le dis If you would know the greatnesse of the great Church of our Lady the roofe thereof is 17. fathom high it is 24. fathom broad 65. fathom long the two Steeples are 34. fathom high aboue the Church and al founded vpon piles The Hostel de la ville The Towne-House was finished by Francis 1. Anno. 1533. with this inscription ouer the Gate S.P.E.P. that is Senatui Populo Equitibusque Parisiensibus piè de se meritis Franciscus primus Francorum Rex potentissimus has aedes a fundamentis extruendas mandauit accurauit condendisque publicè consiliis et administrandae Reip. dicauit anno vt supra For his wel-deseruing Senate people Burghers of Paris Francis the 1. most puissant King of France commanded this house to be built from the foundation and finished it dedicated it to the calling of the Common CouÌ„cell and gouerning the Citie in the yere aforesaid This is as ye would say the Guild Hall of the towne The Hostel Dieu in Paris was augmented and finished in 1535. by Antoine de Prat Chancelor in this City his pourtreict with Francis 1. is vpon the dore as ye enter This is as we call it at London the Hospitall The Palaiâ—e de Paris was built by Philip le Bel 1283. purposing it should haue bin his mansion house but since it hath bene disposed into diuers Courts for the execution of Iustice iust like Westminster Hall which likewise at first was purposed for the Kings Palace Here you haue such a shew of Wares in fashion but not in worth as ye haue at the Exchange Heere is a Chappell of the S. Esprit built by S. Lewes 1242. Here are all the seuen Chambers of the Court of Parliament which was first instituted by Charles Martel father to King Pepin anno 720. but of them all the great Chamber of Paris is most magnificently beautified and adorned by Lewes the twelfth At the entry is a Lion cowchant with his tayle betweene his legges to signify that all persons how high soeuer are subiect to that Court. The Chamber also of Comptes built by this Lewes is a very fayre roome at the entry whereof are fiue portreicts with their Mots The first is Temperance with a Diall and Spectacle Her word Mihi spreta voluptas I despise pleasure Secondly Prudence with a looking Glasse and a Siue her word Consilijs rerum specutor I prye into the Counsell of things Iustice with a Ballance and a sword her Mot Sua cuique ministro I giue to euery man his owne Fortitude with a Tower in one arme and a Serpent in the other her word Me dolor atque metus fugiunt Both payne and feare auoyde me And lastly Lewes the King with a Scepter in one hand and holding Iustice by the other and this written for his word Quatuor has Comites foueo coelestia dona Innocuae pacis prospera Sceptra gerens My happie Scepter in calme peace doth flourish While I these heauen-bred sisters 4. do nourish To speake particularly of all other the buildings and Courts of this Palace as the Chamber of the Treasurer the Table of Marble the Courtes of Aides and such like were to be too tedious The buildings of this Citie are of stone very fayre high and vniforme throughout the towne onely vpon the Port N. Dame Our Ladies Bridge which is as it were their Cheapeside their building is of brickbat all alike notwithstanding the fayrest Fabricke in the towne and worthily is the Kings Castle or Palace of the Louure at the west It is in forme quadrangulare the south and west quarters are new and Princelike the other two very antique and prisonlike They were puld downe by Francis 1. and begun to be rebuilt but finished by Henry the second with this inscription Henricus 2. Rex Christianissimus vetustate collapsum aedificium refigere coepit The most Christian King Henry the 2. began to repaire this time-ruined edifice From this Palace the King is building a Galery which runnes along the riuer East and West and his purpose is it shall passe ouer the towne ditch with an Arch and so coÌ„tinue to the Twilleries which is at least sixe huÌ„dred paces and so both these buildings shall bee vnited into one which if euer it be done will bee the greatest and goodliest Palace of Europe This Gallery is very curiously wrought with Flowers de luce curious knots branches and such like deuice cut in stone and in euery place this word of the Kings Duo protegit vnus Which I suppose implyeth One God maintaynes the two Kingdomes of France and Nauarre The building of the Twilleries begun by the Q. Mother which is also a stately work is now in the finishing for this Queene Mother began many things but finished none except mischiefes witnesse this present house of the Twilleries and that other at S. Maur some two leagues from Paris whither ye remember we went to kisse the young Prince of Condies hand which then tolde vs was morgaged to her creanciers creditors for 25. thousand Crownes and now stands vnperfited The next house in state both for the beautie of the building and deuice in the Gardens is that of Monsieur Gondy an Italian whose father came into France with Katherine de Medices and was here by her aduanced There be other very many and very stately buildings as that of Mons. Sansuë Mons. de Monpensier de Neuers and infinite others whereof especially towardes
or forty within the compasse of one league besides their children Out of these if the King would hee might compose a Gendarmery of 8000. men at Armes and 16000. Archers which bodie of 24000. Gentlemen would represent in the field 60000. horse Hee might also haue a cauallerie Legiere of foure or fiue thousand Gentlemen He might also furnish the Ban and Arierban according to the olde fashion with twelue or fifteene thousand Gentlemen And yet might hee haue besides all this foure or fiue thousand for the State of his Court and gouernment of his Prouinces This is his computation But you shall see it proued when wee come to speake of the Nobilitie of France that it is exceedingly shortned in number and decayed in estate and therefore nothing able to come neere this number As good a consequent it were to say that because yee haue two or three millions of men in England able to fight that therefore our State can bring so many into the field without considering the prouision of Armes and all other things necessary But this Cabinet was made by one of the Religion that was transported out of himselfe by the heate of his zeale and hate to the temporall liuings of the Church Whose proiects and driftes are much like those of the Supplication of Beggars a booke made in King Henry the eights dayes where he frameth in his fancy an Vtopia and felicitie not to be hoped in France building Castles in the ayre and concluding that if it would please the King to aliene the Church temporall liuings and vnite them to the Domaine nihil est dictu facilius a thing easily sayd but not easily done that ouer and besides the forces of fourescore thousand horse abouesaid hee might also maintayne an Infantery of the French Gentlemen of twelue thousand Item another of the populare of forty eight thousand And lastly yet another Infantery legionaire of 48. thousand The Supplication was answered by Sir Thomas Moore his booke called The Pitifull complaint of the puling soules in Purgatory How well I knowe not but of this I am sure that if such a number of horse and foote should either bee maintayned vpon the Church liuing or vpon the poore people vpon whome all these charges of the Gend'armes lyeth here would bee many more puling soules and pitifull complayntes in France then are Sir Thomas Moores Purgatory It then remaines that we hold our selues to the iudgement of La Nouë afore set downe who also confesseth that in Charles the sixt his time there were in the fielde twentie two thousand Lances but since the Gendarmerie was instituted were neuer but once at Valenciennes aboue ten thousand For as for that great number whereof yee reade in M. d' Argenton that besieged Lewes the eleuenth in Paris they were the Forces of three great Princes and the better part Burgognons There is yet one thing you must note why the French haue quit their Lances and serue al with the Pistol whereof yee shall read somewhat in La Nouë and heare more of others by discourse but nothing of mee by writing for I dare not deale Vltra crepidam in a matter I vnderstand not fully I must now remember you of the Officers for the war in France and because warre is made both by Sea and by land I must also reckon the Sea officers for as for the French Kings forces at Sea I haue not yet learned that he hath any and therefore can say nothing thereof The first and principall and which commandeth all in the Kings absence euen the Peeres and Princes of the blood whatsoeuer is the Constable Who as hath before beene remembred hath his name of Comes stabuli Count of the stable For in former times the Kings chiefe Officers were called Counts with an addition of their office as Comes palatii Comes praesidii Comes rerum priuatarum Comes sacrarum largitionum Comes castrorum Comes nauium Count of the Palace Count of the Gard c. And though hee hath not now the command of the Kings horse yet keepeth he still the name This office was erected in Lewes le Gros his time It was bestowed vpon the house of Memorencie in Francis the first his time and remayneth still in the same The ancient deuice of the house of Memorency is this Dieu aide le premier Chrestien et premier Baron de France God ayd the first Christian ancieÌ„â—st Baron of France Hee hath the keeping of the Sword royall And as the Grand Escuyer Great Esquire hath the Sword in the scabberd D' Azure semé de fleurs de Lys d' or Azure seeded with flowers de Lyce or added to his Armes so beareth the Constable for an Honour the naked Sword the Mareschals beare the Hache Battel-axe and the Admirals the Anchor The Constable and Mareshals giue the othe to the King He sitteth chiefe Iudge at the table of Marble vpon all persons Sutes Actions and complaints whatsoeuer touching the warres When the King entreth a Citie in his greatest pompe or vpon a deliuerie he goeth before with the sword naked wheÌ„ the King sitteth in Assembly of the three States he is placed at his right hand He that killeth the Constable is guilty of high treason The Mareshals are named as some say of Marc. Cheual a Horse Schal maistre Master Qui commande aux cheuaux Commander of the horse Others of Marcha i. limite ou frontiere March or frontier quasi Praeâ—ectus limitum as it were Gouernour of the Marches Till Francis the first there were but two in all France after foure and now ten for as is said before when any that held either some strong Towne or place of importance came in to the King hee did alwayes capitulate to haue some one of these Offices besides summes of money and Gouernments also such was the necessities of the times saith Haillan These vnder the Constable haue the coÌ„mand ouer all Dukes Earles Barons Captaines and Gensdarmes but may neither giue battail make proclamation or Muster men without his coÌ„mandement They haue vnder them Lieutenants which they call Preuosts Marshals who haue the punishing of mutinous souldiers such as quit their colours Rogues and such like There is the office of Admirall Ce que les Mareschaux sont en vne Armée de terre l' Admiral est en vne nauale ces offices sont distinguez d'autant que le subiect est different diuers Looke what the Marshals are in a land-Armie the same is the Admirall in a Sea-Armie and these two offices are seuerall because the subiect of their imployment is differing and vnlike This office is the most ancient of all France for Caesar speaketh thereof Les Admiraux de la Prouence de Bretagne Narbonne sont louës pour la pratique dexterité des guerres nauaìes The Admirals of Prouence Bretaigne and Narbon are much commended for their practise and
noire He had neuer made any Athenian weare mourning robe For these by selling Iustice and robbing the poore of their right giue the fatherlesse and oppressed Widdowe iust cause to complayne and of wearing that mourning robe that Plutarch speakes of Saint Lewes among many other good Lawes and reuocation of diuers impositions extraordinary made also an Edict against the sale of Offices And it is reported of Alexander Seuerus that he should say when one offered a peece of money for a certayne Office Non patiar mercatores potestatum I will suffer none to traffique Offices Therefore sayth the Athenian Orator to Timarâ—hus That the liues not the Purses of them that stoode for Offices were to be looked into And yee shall reade in Plutarch that he which anciently stoode for an Office in Rome was to shew himselfe certaine dayes before the Election in the Forum or open streetes apparelled in a thinne Robe that through the same the people might see the wounds he had had in the Warres for his Countries seruice and thereafter as he had deserued to choose him And lest any man should by briberie corruption or any such indirect and vnlawfull way seeke to get any Office or Authoritie these olde Romans made many good and wholesome Lawes against such maner of proceedings which they called Ambitus i. an Ambicious seeking of preferment This the Lex Petilia forbad The Lex Calphurnia declared them that were detected of any such course to be vncapable of that Office for euer And the Lex Tullia banished them that were conuinced Ambitus for ten yeeres so hatefull were such purchases in those dayes And in the time of Ferdinand they had the like law in Spaine against the buying of any Office whether of Warre or Iustice Que vse quedam vender ny trocar officios de Alcaldid ny Algnaziladgo ny Regimiento ny vientes quatria ny fid executoria ny iuraderia Thus you may obserue how hurtfull soeuer it be to Common-wealths and how much so euer forbidden yet that necessitie oftentimes forceth Princes to that which is most losse to themselues La pauuretè quelques fois contraint le Roy de casser bonnes loix pour subuenir à seâ— affaires et depuis qu' vne fois on a faict ceste ouuerture il est presqu ' impossible d' y remedier Pouertie sometimes constraineth the King to breake good Lawes to helpe his affaires and when once this hole is made in the Lawes it is almost impossible to keepe it It is a strange thing to consider and incredible to beleeue what infinite masses of money haue bene made heere in France by these sales where there is not that Collector CoÌ„troller Treasurer Sergeant or subalterne Office whatsoeuer but he hath bought it of the Prince and at no small rate for I haue heard it credibly reported and yee shall reade also in late writers that these Offices are bought in France at a dearer rate then our Lands in England of twentie yeeres purchase Yee must obserue they haue them for terme of life and after to returne to the King who is againe to sell them A man in his sicknes or in danger of death or vpon any neede whatsoeuer may sell this his Office or resigne it to his Sonne or friend whatsoeuer which sale is good if the party liue fortie daies after the sale or resignation is confirmed otherwise not Now we are to consider what Entrade or Reuenew the French King yeerely maketh by any or all of the meanes abouesaid The estate of the Finances Domaine and al in Charles the sixt time Anno 1449. was but 1400000. Liures Henry the second leuoit sur son peâ—ple par voye ordinaire quinzâ— millions des francs tous les ans dâ—nt quelque partie a depuis esté engagée pour les dettes Non obstant lesquelles nostre Roy en tirs autant auiourd huy raysed vpon his people by way of ordinarie Reuenew fifteene thousand pound sterling a yeere whereof some part hath since bene aliened for the debts of the Crowne which notwithstanding the King rayseth as much now But yee may obserue that this summe is of late yeres growne much greater by two thirds as is generally beleeued for whereas in those dayes some three or fourescore yeeres since the ordinarie summe was fifteene millions of Francs or Liures it is now so many of Crownes And Monsieur Riuault Treasurer to the Duke of Mayenne shamed not some eight yeres since to say that his Master had improued the Realme of France to a better rent then any Prince had done beforetimes For saith he Au lieu qu' il ne vallait que dix huict ou vingt millions il en vaut auiour d'huy cinquante Whereas it was woorth but eighteene or twentie thousand pound sterling it is now woorth fiue millions sterling And another saith that onely by the sales of Offices in twentie yeeres space Le Roy en a tire cent trent et neuf millions The King hath raysed one hundred thirtie and nine millions which is after the rate of seuen millions the yeere So that it is probably to be inferred that the Reuenewes are at lest fifteene millions of Crownes wherein all late writers agree Neither must we thinke that men are mistaken by counting Crownes for Liures considering that Bodin and La Nouë and most elder writers speake onely of Liures not of Crownes For the maner of Accompt of France is by especiall ordinance commaunded to bee made by Crownes and that of Liures to cease So that whensoeuer yee reade in the Stories of France of any summe of thousands millions or such like without naming either francs or Crownes you are to respect the times when it was written for if it was aboue twentie yeeres past they meane Liures or Francs if of latter yeres then twentie it is alwayes to be vnderstoode they speake of Crownes this rule will not faile you Hauing briefely spoken of his Entrade and sufficiently of the meanes by which he raiseth it as especially by the last which is not the least namely the sales of Offices which are now bestowed not vpon them which can execute them best but such as can giue the most of whome we may say as Commines of them of his time presently after the Battell of Montlherry Tel perdoit ses offices et estats pour s' en estre fuy et furent donnes à autres qui auoyent fuy dix lieües plus loing Some lost their Offices and estates for running away the which were bestowed vpon others that ranne ten leagues further So these Offices were taken from them that pilled the people much and bestowed vpon others that pill them ten times more Hauing I say spoken sufficiently of these it remaineth I keepe the same course I haue done hitherto that is after the relation of the Court to reckon vp the Officers of Court and after the discourse of his Forces
then a matter of loue betweene Orleans and Burgogne And we had one in England about no smaller a matter then the Crowne impatientes consortis erant maiestas amor Both Maiestie and loue Do no Corriuals loue Betweene the houses of Lancaster and Yorke wherein Commines sayth were betweene three and fourescore of the bloud slayne How true that is I remember not but as I take it there were fought ten battels betweene them one hundred Barons Knights slayne ten Princes Dukes and Earles and an hundred thousand naturall English Animus meminisse horret My mind doth tremble yet But to remember it That diuision was the onely cause why we not onely lost all we had in France but also the meanes to recouer all which wee ought to haue had for in those times France her selfe also was miserably distracted brought to so lowe an ebbe as one sayth Dieu fit ce bien en ce temps-lae que les gueres diuisions d' Angleterre esloyent encores en nature les vns contre les autres So may they now thanke God and our late Queene The Nurse of Peace and refuge of the afflicted who as is sayd of the great Earle of Warwicke That he thought it as great an honour to make a King as to be a King to cancell with the Speares poynt the forged law of the Saliens tooke not such oportunity but raysed the afflicted lownesse of the desolate King of Diepe to the peaceable possession of the great Realme of France But it is a thing euer obserued in great States and Kingdomes that they neuer rise to any greatnesse except in their rising they meet with many lets and are sometimes euen brought to such lowe tearmes as they are thought past all hope as Athens by the Persians and Rome by the Gaules the like is to be said of great Princes as of Edward the fourth of England and this Henry the fourth of France of whome wee may truely report as Plutarch doeth of Camillus Si Camillus n' eust esté perdu Rome ne se fust pas retrouuée If Camillus had not bene lost Rome had not bene found againe Possidonius calles Marcellus the sword and Fabius the buckler of Rome but we may call this King both the one and the other to France to one to cut off all disturbers of the State the other to defend his Subiects in the libertie of their conscience and enioying of peace This office he now executes in his quiet reigne that other he vsed in time of the ciuill warres when as alwayes they of the Kings part sent for his aide to the suppression of the Leaguers though after that done they cared not for him So saith Plutarch of Themistocles Les Atheniens n'y honoroyent n'y ne l' estimoyent point en temps de paix mais quand il leur suruenoiel quelque orage de guerre qu'ils se voyoient en danger ils recoureyent à luy ne plus ne moins qu' on fait à l'ombre d'vn Platane quand il suruient vne soudaine pluye puis apres quandle beau temps est venu on l' esbranche luy coupe l' on ses rameaux The Athenians neither honoured nor esteemed him in time of peace but when they were ouertaken with any storme of warre and that they sawe themselues in danger then they had recourse to him as men vse to runne in a suddaine shower to the shelter of a Plane tree and as soone as it is faire weather againe they breake and cutte off his branches This King then of whom now by course I am to relate is about 48. yeeres of age his stature small his haire almost all white or rather grisled his colour fresh and youthfull his nature stirring and full of life like a true French man One of his owne people describeth him thus De son naturel il est si extremement vif et actif qu' à quoy qu'-il s' adonne il s' y met tout entier ne faisant tamais gueres qu' vne seule chose à la fois Deioindre vne longue deliberation auec vn faict presse cela luy est malaise Le faire et le deliberet se rencontrent en mesme temps Mais aux conseils qui ont traict de temps à la verité il a besoigne d' estre soulage Vne promptitude admirable d' esprit Aux affaires de la Iustice des finances aux negotiations estrangeres aux depesches à la policie d' estat il croit les autres il ne s' en mesle point He is of such an extremely liuely and actiue disposition that to whatsoeuer he applyes himselfe to that hee entirely employes all his powers seldome doing aboue one thing at once To ioyne a tedious deliberation with an earnest and pressing affayre he cannot endure Hee executes and deliberates both together But in Councels that require tract of time to say the truth hee hath neede of helpe He hath an admirable sharpnesse of wit In affayres of Iustice of his Reuenues forrayne Negotiations Dispatches and gouernment of the State hee credites others and meddles little himselfe He sayth there farther that though by his Phisiognomy his fashion maner of behauiour ye would iudge him leger and inconstant yet is no man more firmely constant then he He confesseth it were hard for him not to be sparing considering the profuse and lauish spoyle that his predecessor made before him yet to salue the matter he makes this difference That the other gaue much to few this giues a little to many If you remember when we saw him play at dice here in Orleans with his Noblesse he would euer tell his money very precisely before he gaue it backe againe I will not spare in this discourse which is onely for your selfe priuate to speake the trueth though of a King we are here in a Country where ye daily heare his owne Subiects speake of him more liberally And besides his Maiestie hath generally this commendation which is very laudable in a Prince he can endure that any man should tell him the truth though of himselfe Which I will interpret to wisedome though perhaps some will impute it to a facility of nature Concerning this thriftie vertue then of sparing we must note that he is a very good mesuager Il fait d' argent auec ses dens He makes money with his teeth saith the Frenchman meaning his sparing of great and superfluous expence at his table And for his giftes wee may call him by an Antiphrasis as Plutarch sayth they vsed to call Antigonus in scorne doson that is qui donnera pour ce qu' il promettoit tousiours iamais ne donoit One that will giue because he alwayes promised but neuer performed For my part I thinke he giues S. P. Q. R. not Senatui populoque Romano that is to all sorts of people but Si Peu Que Rien
so little as scarse any at all They say that the chamber of Accounts is to examine the Kings gifts and if they find any vnmeasurable to shorten them to which purpose there is written in great letters in the same court Trop donnè soit repeté Let gifts too great be reuoked It should seeme hee saues them this labour Such a parsimonious sparer was Lewes 11. of whom in the said chamber of Accounts as Bodin saith it is recorded that he wore a greazy hatte and clothes of the coursest stuffe and there likewise yee shall find a reckoning of 20. sols that is ii s. sterling for a new payre of sleeues to his olde dublet an another of 15. deniers that is three halfe-pence for grease to liquor his bootes This was he that made his Taylor his Herald of Armes his Barber his Ambassador and his Surgeon his Chancellor of whome Commines reporteth many vertues as many faults and yet it should seeme that Commines his seruant would not tell all for so sayth another of the French Historians discoursing impartially of this Lewes Nous auous librement dit ce que Commines n' a osc et volu dire et ce que les autres n' ont sceu We haue freely spoken what Commines durst not nor would not speake and what others knew not Though he himselfe protesteth that he left none of his trumperies and double dealings vnreuealed Non pour en vser mais pour en gardez Not to practise but to preuent theÌ„ As we desire to know the poyson in the Apothecaries shop from his other good drugges not to vse to the hurt of others but to shunne for the safety of our selues And howsoeuer Haillan taxe him of impartialitie true it is that the Q. Mother did not like him of all others For said she hee hath made as many Heretikes in Policy as euer Luther made in Religion by discouering the secrets of State Which should be kept as secret as the Caball of the Iewes or verses of the Druides But neither the sparing of this Prince that now raigneth of whose vertues I will presently speake nor the faults of Lewes the 11. make them the onely two Kings of this Realme taxable aboue the rest For one of their writers sayth in general that France hath fatally beene subiect to this malheur desaster to haue Kings imbecilles et estroppiez de l' entendement weake and lame in iudgement He reckoneth vp many as Charles the great a paillard a wencher Pepin a vsurper Lewes the first lasche et mol faint-harted and effeminate and after these three other Charleses the baldâ— the grosse the simple which no doubt if they had deserued better Epithites should haue had them Insomuch as one concludeth of the good Kings of France as Suetonius did of the Princes of his time Se pouuoyend bien touts grauez en vn anneau they might al be grauen in one ring But I had rather conclude with Bodin There is no Prince without his fault Howbeit those few that are in this Prince are recompenced with many very heroicall and princely vertues both of body mind For those of the mind let me only coÌ„mend the excellency of wit and suddennesse of answere whereof wee may take acknowledgemeÌ„t in these three which I wil here recount answerable in my opinioÌ„ to any of those Apophthegms of the olde Kings or Philosophers which history hath commeÌ„ded to vs. At his being here at Orleans this Iune last past the Maior and Burgeses of the Towne came to his Maiestie to desire they might bee eased of certayne extraordinary taxes and impositions wherewith in the time of the league they had been burdened by Mons. de la Chastre their Gouernour Saith he M. de la Chastre vous a liguez qu'il vous desligue M. de la Chastre hath tide you let him vntye you At his being at the siege of Amiens amongst others of the Noblesse which he summoned to that seruice he sent also for the Count Soissons a Prince of the bloud one of the rarest Gentlemen of France to whom the King giues as is said 5000. Crowns pensioÌ„ The Count at that time discontented returned the King answere that he was a poore Gent. wanted meanes to come to that seruice as became one of his birth place being a Prince of the bloud Peere of France he therfore most humbly craued pardon and that hee would pray for his Maiesties prosperous successe which was all he could doe Well saith the King Dautaut que les prieres ne seruent point sans ieusne il faut qu' il ieusne de la pension de ses 5000. escus Seeing prayer is not acceptable without fasting my couzin shall hereafter fast from his pension of fiue thousand Crownes After the death of the Duke of Guise when almost all France had reuolted from the late King like a poore Roy d' Iuidot as the French prouerbe is he was chased of them of the League from all places of France to Toures and was there as it were besieged of Charles Duke of Mayenne After that this King present came thither with his small forces to the distressed Kings succour the King of France whose name was also Henry would needes perswade Henry King of Nauarre with those small forces which they both had to march out of the Towne and encounter the Dukes forces who were double the number Sirs saith hee ne hazardons point vn double Henry contre vn Carolus Let vs not play a double Henry against a Carolus that is a peece of gold of 14 shillings and this a peece of brasse onely of 10. deniers For his valour and princelike courage it is such to say truly as neuer any of his Predecessors Kings of France were matchable to him who for the space of almost thirty yeeres hath as one would say neuer beene vnarmed without his foote in the stirrop and his lance in the rest hath beene himselfe in person the formost in all perils and last out of the field A Prince not long in the resoluing but once resolued quicke to performe and himselfe alwayes one in the executioÌ„ though perhaps some wil taxe this hazarding of his owne person as a matter of imputation and better befitting a young Prince of Nauarre then a great King of France For as I read Epaminâ—ndas was fined for hauing beene too forward seruing without good armour after a great victory which he had vpon the Lacedemonians This forwardnesse indeed is most honourable and prayse worthy in all Nobilitie and Commaunders whatsoeuer excepting onely the chiefe Iphicrates an Athenian Captayne sayd the Vantâ—urrers resembled the hands the Gensdarmes the feet the Batallion on foot the brest and the Generall the head which saith hee must best be armed and carefullest bee garded And therefore the answere of Callicratidas is disliked who when it was tolde him that in the battell hee was
ready to giue the enemy he should haue great care of his own person for that the Sacrifices had foreshewd some danger Sparte dit il ne depend pas d' vn homme seul Sparta depends not vpon one man alone This Plutarch reproued in Pelopidas And Homer in his descriptions makes alwayes Achilles Aiax and the best and chiefest Commaunders best armed Stetit sub Aiacis clipeo septemplice tectus The shield of Aiax seuen-fold Did shrowd him safe and make him bold And the lawes of Greece punished that Souldier that threw away his buckler But I will end this discourse with the answere of Timotheus to Chares a Generall talking of his many woundes of the body and hackes in his shield and I quoth he quite contrary am ashamed of this that when I besieged Samos I came so neere the walles that an arrowe from the Towne lighted hard by me For that Ie m' estois trop aduance en ieune homme hazarde plus temerairement qu'il ne conuenoit à Chef d'vne si grosse armée I went too farre like a forward yong fellow and hazzarded my selfe more rashly then became the Generall of so great an Army For the chiefe Commaunder is the moity of the whole force When one told Antigonus that the enemy had more shipping then he at the I le of Andros Et moy dit-â—l ponz combien de vaisseux conte tu I pray you for how many ships count you me If then one Generall be in stead of many ships at sea and many troopes at land it behoueth he be carefull to keepe those forces well that is him selfe if he will doe his Countrey good seruice You must note therefore that there is no man so great by birth or Noble whom it well becommeth not to be as valiant and forward as the best euen though hee were a King and indeed the greater hee is the more his honour is engaged to be valiant prouided alwayes that hee bee not the chiefe Commaunder of the Army As the King of Boheme dyed in the field on the French Kings side fighting against the English in France with more honour then the French King Francis the first at Pauie in Italy where by his too great forwardnesse hee was taken Prisoner Therefore it is that one saith Vn bon saye General doit mourir de vieilesse A good and discreet Generall should dye of age But to returne to the King Hee is naturally very affable and familiar and more we strangers thinke then fits the Maiesty of a great King of France But it is the fashion of this Countrey of France as Bodin sayth though he seeme much to misse-like it and preferreth the fashion of England Suedon and Poland where the Princes haue more Maiesty and reuerence among their subiects For as Plutarch sayth C'est bien difficile de maintenir vne seuere grauité pour garder sa reputation en se laissanâ— familierement hauter à tout le monde T is a hard matter for a man to keepe a seuere grauity for the vpholding of his reputation if he familiarize himselfe with euery body Wherevpon he there sheweth how retyredly Pericles liued from the common view of the vulgar sort So we likewise reade of the Kings of Borny Aethiope Tartary the grand Signor himselfe and the great Duke of Moscouy that they seldome come abroad in publike to be seene of the people We may therefore say of the Frenches liberty as Artabanus Lieutenant General to Xerxes said to Themistocles Quant à vouâ— autres Grecs on dit que vous estimez la liberte et l'egalite sur toutes autres choses mais quant à nous entre plusieurs autres belles constumes et ordonnances que nous â—uous celle-la nous semble la plus belle de reuerer et adorre nostre Roy comme limage de Dieu de nature qui mantient toutes choses en leur estre leur entier T is sayd that you Greeks aboue all things esteeme liberty equality but among many other our excellent customes ordinances wee iudge this to be the best to reuerence and adore our King as the Image of the God of nature that maintaynes all things in their being and perfection And we may wel inferre as Haillan doth Familiaritas parit contemptum and contemptus coniurationem le mesprise est la cause de coniurations contre le Prince Familiarity breeds contempt and contempt treason You saw here in Orleans when the Italian Commedians were to play before him how himselfe came whifling with a small wand to scowre the coast and make place for the rascall Players for indeed these were the worst company and such as in their owne Countrey are out of request you haue not seene in the Innes of Court a Hall better made a thing me thought most derogatory to the Maiesty of a King of France And lately at Paris as they tell vs when the Spanish Hostages were to be entertayned he did Vsher it in the great Chamber as he had done here before and espying the Chayre not to stand well vnder the State mended it handsomly himselfe and then set him downe to giue them audience It followeth I speake of his descent and Pedigree wherein you shall see hee is lineally descended of the house of Burbon from Robert Earle of Clermont yonger sonne to Lewes surnamed the Saint from whome for default of heires males in the house of Valois descending of Philip le hardi the elder brother hee is now rightly entituled to the Crowne of France The lineall descent of this house of Burbon whose word is Esperance Hope is this Saint Lewes had two sonnes namely Philip le Hardy King of France Robert Earle of Cleremont married to Beatrice daughter to Archibald of Burbon Lewes Count of Cleremont first Duke of Burbon married to Mary Countesse of Heynalt Iaques Duke of Burbon maried to Iane de S. Paul Iohn Duke of Burbon Count of March maried to Katherin Countesse of Vandosme Lewes of Burbon Count of Vendosme maried to Iane of Lauall Iohn of Burbon Count of Vendosme and Isabel his wife Francis of Bur. Count of Vendosme to Mary of Luxembroughe Countesse of S. Paul Charles of Burbon to Francis of Alencon Anthony of Burb. King of Nauarre Henry 4. K. of France Nauarre 3. base children Caesar D. de Vandosme Henryette a daughter Alexander Count de Foix. Katherine Princesse of Nauarre now presently to be married to the Prince of Lorraine Francis Du. of AnguieÌ„ Charles Card of Burbon Iohn Du. of Ang. Marguerite maried to the D. of Nener Lewes of Bur. Prince of Conde Henry P. of Conde Henry Prince of Conde heire apparent to the Crowne of France Francis P. of Conty Charles Count of Soissons NOw yee see from what Ancestors he is come yee must also obserue what issue is come of him In the vnfortunate and inhumane massacre at Paris wherein the olde
charges set downe by this said Authour who for his errors in other matters hath also lost his credit in this Howbeit I thought good to remember them that yee might thereby haue some vnderstanding of the difference of those Offices and how one exceedeth another as well in pension and benefit as in precedents and honour To speake either particularly of the Court expenses or generally what they be certaine I cannot not hauing heard any thing thereof but onely that it is supposed the charge of the Kings house is fiue hundred Crownes a day But sure it is that these late Warres haue forced the Crowne of France to be at infinite charge for yee shall read in La Nouë that aboue twenty yeres since Nos roys ont dependu aux guerres ciuiles soinant dix millions d'or Our Kings haue spent in the ciuill Warres sixtie millions of Crownes And it is said that Monsieur Gobelin Treasorer d' Espurgne Treasorer of the Exchequer passed his accompts this last yeere for twentie one millions d' or of Crownes so deare was the recouering of Amiens for no question there was his greatest expence except the pay of Financers wages What then hath bene the expence in these eight and thirtie yeeres space of the Ciuill warres may easily bee coniectured to be infinit considering withall the lauish prodigalitie and immeasureable spending of the Princes especially of the last who some let not to say that hee left the state engaged by one meanes and other as namely the sale of his Aides the alienation of his Domaine and money taken vp to vsurie not much lesse then two hundred millions of Crownes in debt So that wee may say this King findes France after Charles the ninth and Henry the third as Vespasian found the Empire after Nero and Caligula whereof the one had giuen away fiue and fiftie millions and the other had spent sixtie seuen in one yeere Whereupon he protesteth in open Senate Quadringenties millies i. 1000. mill opus esse vt resp stare possit But no maruaile though the Crowne of France grew farre into debt considering that euen before these Ciuill warres when was no such necessitie of expence Henry the second ought more in 12. yeeres saith Bodin then his predecessors had leuied vpon France in forty yeres before by all meanes And the Chancellour auoweth to the Court of Parliament in Francis the second his time that the King could not quit his debts which his Grand-father and Father left him in in ten yeres Which debts Bodin in particular proueth to bee about the summe of fortie three millions which in the same place hee setteth down namely 2312610. De prests gratuits of loanes or priuy Seales Dont il ne payoiet point d' interest 15926555. for which hee payed interest and 775979. which he was yet owing in arrerages of the vsance behinde to be paide Besides to the Duke of Ferrara and other debts for marriages to the summe of 8514592. Besides other debts to particular Marchants of 1564787. As also the summe of 14961778. for which his Aides Domaine and Gabelle of Salt was engaged And lastly 3000000. which he ought to the Hostell de Paris to the Chamber or Towne-house of Paris But the beginning of all this is imputed to Francis the first who hauing in his Coffers one million and seuen hundred thousand Crownes in ready money would notwithstanding take vp great imprests of money at great vsance to enable himselfe to goe through with his warres in Italy A course very ill taken and if we may compare great things with small much like to a couetous and greedie-minded man who will venter vpon a purchase of his neighbours land before he bee well prouided for such a purpose but taketh vp money to loane which so eateth into him as he is at last forced not onely to sell his new purchase but his ancient inheritance also For by these great interests a Prince is brought to one of these two extremities either vtterly to ouerthrow his Domaine and Finances whereof the Kings of France are good examples or else to play Bankrupt and pay no body as now of late the King of Spaine hath done with the Marchants of Genoa Florence Ausburghe and almost all the Bankes in Christendome insomuch as the last yeere when I was in Italy ye should heare them say in derision that the King of Spayne had made more ill faces vpon the Exchange in one day then Michael Angelo the famous Paynter and Caruer had euer made good faces in all his life King Philip learned this kind of borrowing of Charles the fift his father who at one time was indebted fiftie millions for which his Domaynes and Reuenues of Naples and Millaine were morgaged and once also in twenty yeres discharged all his debts on this fashion And surely so they may and yet the Creditors bee no losers so vnreasonable is the interest they take insomuch as the King of Spayne payeth thirty or forty at the least in the hundred for all the money hee hath of the Genoueses before his Souldiers receiue it in the Low Countries The French Kings not being able to crye quittance with their Creanciers Creditors in like maner but running on further and further these fortie yeeres as hauing great troubles and by consequent great charges and little or no benefit by their Finances and ayds by reason of the former alienation wherewith to defray thē It must needes be thought that now the Crowne of France is infinitely indebted but whether to the summe of two hundred millions or no though it be generally reported I dare not say Monsieur Bretagne in Charles 9. anno 1562. in his Harangue Oration for the third estate at the assembly of Saint Germaine after many wayes disputed how to pay that Kings debts concludes this as the best The temporall liuings of the Church sayth hee are foure millions of rent yeerely this sold would amount to one hundred and twentie millions Of these forty eight millions may be put in sure hands to interest for the Clergie which would yeerely yeeld them their foure millions à denier douze at 8. and one third of eight in the hundred as commonly they let in France Then would remaine for the King seuenty two millions wherewith forty two millions hee might pay his debts and redeeme his Domaine and Finances morgaged And with the thirtie that remayne he might fortifie his frontiers entertayne his Garrisons encrease his Ban and Arrierban and furnish himselfe with Shipping If in those dayes so wise a Counseller as was any in the land could not deuise possibly how to pay the Kings debtes without selling the Church lands you may imagine it will be a hard matter to deuise how to discharge them now that they bee growne fiue times so great as then they were For all his Domayne is morgaged as before is sayd or at least the greater part and as La Nouë sayth that is engaged for
15. millions which is worth 50. His rents of his Aydes are also gone for they are engaged to each Generallity in France as of Paris Rouen Caen c. to the number of one twenty of them and each hath his portion therein which would be too tedious to set downe in particular His Offices are all sold and many thousand erected ouer and besides the ordinarie and money also made of them His poore people are already with these ciuill Warres so spoyled and impouerished as there is almost nothing to be had I see not therefore but we should say of this King as the Recueil de l' estat de France saith of the Duke of Sauoy Quant-à son argent pour faire bonne chere en sa maison il y en a assez mais pour faire me si grande guerre non As touching his money hee hath enough to make good cheaâ—e at home but not to maintayne so great a warre So hee to make merry with his friends in this merry time of peace hath money enough mais pour payer vne si grande summe non But not to pay so great a summe of debtes It now remayneth to speake of his Entrade or Reuenue For a Prince cannot haue peace without war noâ— warre without men nor men without money nor money without meanes nor are there any meanes but these viz. First Domaine Secondly Conquests Thirdly Dons des amys Fourthly Pension des allies Fiftly Traffique Sixtly Imposts sur les Marchandisez apportes ou emportes Seuenthly Imposts des Subiects First Domayne Secondly Conquests Thirdly Giftes of his friends Fourthly Pension of his Confederates Fiftly Traffike Sixtly Impositions vpon Marchandise brought in or carried out Seuenthly Impositions vpon his Subiects And yet one other which the Kings of France haue lately inuented to helpe when all other fayled which is Eightly the sales of Offices more dangerous and preiudiciall to the State then any other Of these 8. meanes I wil giue you particular obseruations and then conclude what is generally holden to be the whole Reuenue of the Crowne of France by all these meanes First the Domayne is as it were the Dowre which the State brings to the King her Husband for her tuition defence and maintenance And therefore one saith n' est au Roy ains à la Coronne Belongs not to the King but to the Crowne There are 2. sorts of Domaines First the rent which the King holds in his hands of the Feifes giuen for seruice Secondly that which is vnited and incorporate to the Crowne The rights of the Domaine are these Rents Fifts payments at alienations tributes peages toll of whatsoeuer enters or comes out of Cities woods forrests and diuers other This is the most ancient and most lawfull ground and foundation of Finances For yee shall obserue in Liuy that at the first there were in the territorie of Rome onely eighteene thousand Acres of land whereof one third was for the Church and sacrifices another for the Resp. and the rest for particular men This is also confirmed by Dionisius Halicarnasseus who liued with Master Varro the true Register of the Romane antiquities as Bodin cals him A Citizen of Rome had but two Acres but after the expulsion of Tarquinius they had 7. apiece This diuision among the Romanes was deriued from the Egyptians who did diuide their whole land into three parts One for the Church another for the King and the third for the Calasyres That is Domaine which belongeth to the Crowne First either by Possession time out of mind Or secondly by Reunion for want of heires males as the Appennages when they returne Thirdly or by Confusion for want of such as can make iust claime much like our concealed lands in England Or lastly by Confiscation of offenders inheritances Of this last sort wee reade that in the time of Saint Lewes there were confisked to the Domaine the Counties of Dreax Bray Fortyonne and Monstreuil Languedocke Guyenne Aniowe Maine Turraine Auuergne And after in the time of Philip the Duchy of Alençon the Counties of Perche Perigort Poutieu La Marche Angoulesme Marquisate of Saluzzes But Bodin saith most of this came to the Crowne by force La sieur de la serre He saith it came by way of exchange or purchase But the Author of the Comentaries of the estate of the Religion and policie of France is of the first opinion Thus great was the Domayne in former times that of it selfe without oppressing the people with Impositions it was sufficient to maintayne the State and greatnesse of the Kings of France but it is now vtterly wasted On sçait bien que le Domaine qui seul entretenoit la splendeur et le lustre de l' estat Royal n' est tel qu'il estoit de temps du regne des roys Loys 11. Ch. 8. et Lo. 12. La continuation des guerres l' a faict engager en plusieurs mains entelle sorte qu' il faudroit plus de quinze on seze millions des liures pour rachepter ce qui en vaut plus de câ—nquante millions T is well knowne that the Domayne which alone maintained heretofore the beauty and lustre of the Royall Estate is not now such as it was in the raignes of King Lewes 11. Charles 8. and Lewes 12. The continuance of our warrs hath caused it to be engaged in many hands in such sort that there is neede of more then fifteene or 16. thousand pound Sterling to redeeme that which is worth aboue 5. millions of poundes And Bodin saith that almost all the Counties Baronies and Seigneuries of the Domaine are aliened for the ninth or tenth part of that they be worth Yee must obserue that the lands of the Domaine are not alienable but in two cases 1. Pour l' Apennage des freres 2. Pour les guerres 1. For the ApeÌ„nage of the Kings brother 2. For the warres these must be coÌ„firmed by the Arrest of the Parliament For in all other cases all Lawyers and Historiens of France agree that it is inalienable and many Arrests haue beene made of late yeeres to confirme it I haue read that the Charta magna of England saith the Kings when they are crowned take an othe not to aliene it so doe they heere in France And there is no prescription of time to make such sales or alienations good but that they may bee recouered and repurchased whensoeuer the Crowne is able To this purpose Plutarch sayth well Men cannot prescribe against God nor particulars against the Respublique 2. Concerning the second meanes of raysing mony by Conquests the present state of France can yeeld no example it hath bene long on the losing hand but ye shall read that the Turke dayly when hee conquereth a Prouince or Countrey giues the Lands to such as shal serue him in the Warres whom he sendeth thither as it were Colonies to enioy eche
sayth The Reuenue of Charles the sixt which was but fourteene hundred thousand Francks was as sufficient to mayntayne the greatnesse of a French King as that of Charles the nynth which was fifteene millions considering the price of all things and pension of Officers enhaunced And so by consequent the ransome of the Sultane of Egypt of fiue hundred thousand Liures which hee payd the Turke not much lesse then the three millions of Crownes which Francis the first paide to Charles the fift It remaineth I speake of of the Administration and Execution of Iustice and of those places and persons where and by whome it is done I will therefore begin with their Assemblies as the highest and greatest Court of al which well resembleth the Parliament of England the Diet of the Empire or the Counsell of the Amphyrthions in Greece We may say of these Assemblies of France where matters are concluded by the multiplicitie of voyces not by the poyze of reason as was said of the Romanes elections where the Consull propounded and the people approoued by suffrage or disprooued or as the Philosopher Anacharsis said of Solons Common-wealth Es consultations et deliberations des Grecs les sages proposent les matieres et les fols les decident In the consultations and deliberations of the Greekes wise men propound the matters and fooles decide them There are three especiall causes of calling these Assemblies The first Quand la succession à la Coronne estoit douteuse et controuersé ou qu' il estoit necessaire de pouruoir à la Regence durant la captiuité ou minorité des Roys ou quand ils estoyent preclus de l' vsage de leux intendement When the succession of the Crowne was doubtful and in controuersie or when it was to take order for the Regencie during the Kings captiuitie or minoritie or when they had not the right vse of their wits Hereof ye haue examples Anno 1327. S. Lewes an infant and Charles the sixt Anno 1380. lunaticke and 1484. Iohn prisoner For all which occasions Assemblies were called to determine who should haue the Regencie of the Realme in the meane while The second cause is Quand il est question de reformer le Royaume corriger les abus des Officers et Magistrats ou appaiser les troubles et seditions When there is question of reforming the kingdome correcting the abuses of Officers and Magistrates or appeasing troubles and seditions Hereof ye haue examples 14.12 when a peace was made between the Infants of Orleans Burgundy whose houses had long warred one with another and distracted all the Nobilitie of France to their parts taking Also anno 1560. when Frances the second called an assembly at Orleans for the different of Religion where the Prince of Condie was arrested and condemned of treason and where this young King died before hee could see the execution And anno 1587. an assembly called at Blois for the reformation of the State punishment of diuers abuses in Magistrates as the Duke of Guise pretended and for the deposing of the King as some thought that he entended others say that he had here plotted to kill the King and that the King had but the start of the Duke one day for if he had deferred the death of the Guise till the next day the lot had fallen vpon himselfe There is a very iudicious late writer who discoursing of this assembly at Blois where the three Estates excepted against the Kings ill Gouernment complayneth that of late they are growne too insolent in their demaunds Ye shall reade in our Histories of such a like Parliament as this in England called by Henry of Derby against Richard the second The third cause is la necessitè du Roy ou royaume où l' on exhortoit aux subsides subuentions aides et octrois The want and necessity of the King or kingdome in which case the Estates are exhorted to giue Subsidies subuentions aides and gratuities For in former times the Kings contenting themselues with their Domaine and impost of such wares as came in or went out of the land the two most ancient and most iust grounds of Finances were not accustomed to leuy and impose vpon their Subiects any taxe whatsoeuer without the consent of the three States thus assembled They did not say as of later yeeres Lewes the eleuenth was wont Que la France estoit vn pré qui se tondoit trois fois l' anneé That France was a Meddowe which hee mowed thrice a yeere The next Soueraigne Court for so the French call it is the Court of Parliament le vray temple de la Iustice Françoise Seige du Roy et de ses Paires The true temple of French Iustice Seate of the King and his Peeres And as Haillan calles it L'archbouttan des droicts the Buttresse of equitie This Court very much resembleth the Star-Chamber of England the Areopage of Athens the Senate of Rome the Consiglio de' dieij of Venice There are no lawes saith Haillan by which this Court is directed it iudgeth secundum aequum et bonū according to equitie and conscience and mitigateth the rigour of the Law Les nom des Parlements sont appliquez aux compagnies de Cours Soueraignes qui cognossoient en dernier ressort de matieres de iustice The names of Parliaments are giuen to the bodies of Soueraigne Courtes which determine without appeale in matters of Iustice Of these Courts of Parliament ye haue eight in France That of Paris the most ancient highest in preeminence which at first was ambulatory as they call it euer followed the K. Court whither soeuer it wēt but since Philip le bel it hath beene sedentary in this Citie That of Grenoble was erected anno 1453. That of Tholouse anno 1302. That of Bourdeaux anno 1443. That of Dijon in the yeere 1476. That of Rouen in the yeere 1501. That of Aix the same yeere And lastly that of Bretaigne in the yeere 1553. Anciently all Arch-Bishops and Bishops might sit and giue voyces in this Parliament of Paris but in 1463. it was decreed that none but the Bishop of Paris and Abbot of Saint Denis might sit there except he be of the Bloud for all these are priuiledged The Presidents and Councellors of the Court of Parliament of Paris may not depart the Towne without leaue of the Court by the ordinance of Lewes 12. in the yeere 1499. Senatores semper adesse debent quòd grauitatem res habet cum frequens est ordo The Senators ought alwayes to be present because things are carried with more maiestie when that Court is full To this Parliament they appeale from all other subalterne Courts throughout the Realme as they doe in Venice to the Consiglio grande Neither can the King conclude any warre or peace without the aduice and consent hereof or at least as Haillan sayth hee demaundeth it for
a Fee and Knights seruice thereto belonging hath recided in their family And another Writer sayth In Gallia Nobiles aestimantur ex genere vita militâ—ri In France men are esteemed noble by blood and profession of Armes And sure if there be difference in Nobilitie as there must needes bee because the causes bee different for some are ennobled by their valour and Martiall knowledge and others by their Offices and prudence in the manage of matters of Estate I see no reason but that these last should be holden the more noble Nobilitie if I may so say alwayes giuing the first place to them that are of Noble houses by Race For of all these three sorts the French writers speake when they say Ily a difference des Nobles 1. Les vns par race 2. Les autres par annoblissement et deux sortes d' annoblissement les vns sont annobâ—is par lettres deuâ—ment verefies en la Cour de Parlement les autres par â—e moyen â—es offices dont ils sont pourueus There is a difference of Nobles The first by Race The second by ennobling and of Ennobling there are two sorts One by Patent duely prooued in the Court of Parliament The other by meanes of Offices to which they are aduanced And howsoeuer Turquet hereof inferreth that it is la vertu que fait la Noblesse car il y a de nobles vilains et de vilains nobles Vertue which makes Nobilitie for there are noble Peasants and peasantly Nobles Yet sure it is that the degenerating of one from the vertue of his Ancestors cannot preiudice the Nobilitie nor eclips the glory of his succeeder who as Histories shew many times excell all the former of their house The highest degree of honour in France is the Pairrie in which order haue beene sometimes 7. sometimes 11. neuer aboue seuenteene and most commonly 12. Whereupon they are called the Twelue Peeres of France These haue the precedence before al the rest of the Nobilitie and of these they of the Bloud although they were latest called into the Pairrie Of these Peeres there be sixe of the Clergy 1. Archbishop Duke of Rhemes 2. Bishop and Duke of Laon. 3. Bishop and Duke of Langres 4. Bishop and Comte of Beauuais 5. Bishop and Comte of Noyon 6. Bishop and Comte of Chaalons Of temporall 1. Duke of Burgundie 2. Duke of Normandie 3. Duke of Guyenne 4. Comte of Tholouse 5. Comte of Champagne 6. Comte of Flanders Since these were first instituted many other houses haue beene admitted into the Pairrie by the Kings of France and the olde worne out As to them of Burgundie and Flanders were added the Dukes of Bretagne Burbon Aniow Berry Orleans the Comtes of Arthois Eureux Alençon Estampes all of the Blond in Charles the fiftes time Since also in the times of Charles the ninth and Henry the third haue new Pairries beene erected as Neuers Vandosme Guise Monpensier Beaumont Albret Aumal Memorency Vzes Pentheur Mercoeur Ioieuse Espernon Rets Monbason Vantadoure and others Yee must obserue that the fiue ancientest Pairries of the temporaltie are returned to the Crowne the sixt which is of Flanders doth recognize it no longer as now being Spanish Some say these Paires quasi pares inter se as much as equal among theÌ„selues were first erected by Charlemagne others by Hugh Capet others which is holden for the truest by Lewes le ieune 1179. to ayd and assist the K. in his Council saith Bodin And therefore this Session of the King with his Paires was called Le Parlement sans queuë The Parliament with addition as the Kings brothers and sisters are called Monsieur and Madame sans queuë Whereas all other soueraigne Courts are named with an addition as Le Parlement de Paris le Parl. de Rouen c. Yee may also obserue that they of the Laity haue the right hand of the King and the Clergie the left in all assemblies or solemne Sessions whatsoeuer I thinke this diuision of the Pairrie into these 2. sorts was deriued from that ancient order of the Gaules of whome Caesar speaketh Gallorum Nobilium genera duo Druides Equites Of the Nobilitie of Gallia are two sorts the Druides and Gentlemen Where he likewise discourseth of their diuers Offices This honour of Paire of France was at first giuen for life only afterwards for them and their heires males and lastly to the women also for default of Males who likewise are called to sit in Councils and assemblies as are the Queenes of France as at the Assembly at Blois and at the Arrest of Counte de Clermont in the time of S. Lewes where the Countesse of Flanders is named present among the other Peeres Yee must note that Peeres and Princes of the blood On t priuilege de n' estre point subiects à la cire verte si non au cas du premier chef de leze Maiesté They be priuiledged from being subiect to any Writ or Processe but in case of high Treason and then also no Processe can be commenced against them before any other Iudges whatsoeuer que par le Roy seant en sa Court de Parlement suffisamment garnie des Paires de France But by the King sitting in his Court of Parliament sufficiently assisted by the Peeres of France All other Iudges are incompetent But to leaue the discourse of this highest honour in France and to speake of the Noblesse in generall ye shall reade in Historie that at the end of the second Race of Kings they began to take their surnames of their principall Feifs Since when of later yeeres some haue contrarily put their surnames vpon their Feifs which hath so confounded the Noblesse saith Haillan as it is now hard to finde out the ancient and true Nobilitie These are they among whome the prouerbe is still currant Vn homme de guerre ne deuoit sçauoir si non escrire son nom A man of War should haue no more learning but to bee able to write his owne name And therefore their profession is only Armes good horsemanship wherein if they haue attained any perfection they little esteeme other vertues not caring what the Philosopher saith Vne seule anchre n' est par suffisante pour tenir ferme vne grande nauire One onely Anchor is not sufficient to hold a great Ship Nor considering that the olde Gallants of the world were wont to ioyne the one with the other and ancient Painters were accustomed to paint the Muses altogether in a troup to signify that in a Nobleman they should not be parted Bodin sayth it is reported of Cato Censorius that hee was a valiant Captayne a sage Senator an vpright Iudge and a great Scholler The world reputes Caesar to haue beene a Politician an Historian an Orator a Warrior excellent in all The Poet of Greece sayth that Agamemnon was Amphontros basileus tò agathos
as to get that from another which is not our owne For as it is truely said of the Spanish King that hee hath not got vpon the French money by victories but victories by money And as Plutarch saith of Philip of Macedon It was not Philip but his golde and siluer that tooke the townes of Greece So may we say of his Treaties which hee hath had with France whereunto hee hath of force beene driuen euen as Ennius saith of Fabius Our State which witlesse force made wayne His wise delayes made waxe agayne For that this nation will rather yeeld the enemie what he demandeth then bee troubled with long deliberation a thing so contrarie to his nature as nothing more You may obserue by the course of later Histories that the Spaniards purpose was to deale with France as Alcibiades said the Athenians would deale by them of Patrae They will eate you out by litle and little To which purpose in all these late ciuill Warres King Philip played the Fire-brand like the Priests of Mars who when two Armies were met threw fire betweene them for a signall of battell to set them together and then retired themselues from the danger He set the Popes on also to kindle this fire who were but Barkers and could not bite their leaden Buls did but butt they could not hurt abler to curse then to kill whose force is like that of a Whet-stone Which though it sharpnesse lacke Yet yron sharpe can make But when hee saw that little England which is to Spaine as Alcibiades said the I le Aegina was to Athens Vne paille en l'ail a mote in his eye did trump in his way and crosse his dessignes and when as hee considered that as Henry the second of France was the only cause of hindering his father Charles the fift from vsurping vpon all Germanie for which cause hee is called in their publike writings The Protector of the Empire and deliuerer of the Princes So her Maiestie by defending the oppressed and withstanding his Forces deserueth the Title of Protectrix of France and deliuerer of the Estates Hee was then content to motion a Peace and like a false friend when he could doe no more hurt to shake hands Herevpon he did capitulate to render Calâ—is Durlens Ardres Blauet and other places conquered or surprised vpon the French A course no question wisely taken by the Spaniard considering the termes wherein hee stoode the want of money hee had the credit hee had lost in all Bankes the decrepit age wherein he was and lastly the sudden and incredible good fortunes of the French King and State after so many yeres of miserie and losse As for the French what could he haue done more dishonourable to himselfe or profitable to his enemies or preiudiciall to his late Allies what lesse agreeing with the time with his cause with his oath then to yeeld to this peace But it hath bene an old tricke of the French to obserue neither promise nor oath as Clouis the first saith Haill lib. 1. Wee may say of their purpose as Plutarch of Lisanders Children are deceiued with chance bones and mâ—n with oathes In this schoole of Fraude Pope Iulius 2. was well read who professed to his priuate friends that all the Treaties which he made with the Princes of France Germanie and Spaine was but to deceiue the one of them by the other But let the French take heede there come not a day of payment for this who are so hastie to abandon their friends and make peace with their foes onely vpon a foolish naturel of theirs to desire change and to enioy their present ease and pleasure not foreseeing future daungers like Schoole-boyes who care not so they may play to day though they be britcht to morrow When the Dukes of Burgondie Berrie and Bretaine were combined against Lewes the 11. of France as were lately England France and States against Spaine the counsell of Francis Zforce to the King was for the present to agree to all things they desired and after saith hee in short time ye shall haue occasion when they are disleagued to deale with them one by one And we may well say of this King present as the Count Charollois feared of the Duke of Berrie the French Kings brother That he was a likely man to be soone drawen to agree leaue vs in the mire forgetting the olde sentence It is the true signe of the approching ruine of a Countrey when those that should holde together diuide themselues and abandon one another And howsoeuer for the present the French bragge to be gayners by the bargayn I am sure their Allies haue no part of the Gasteau Cake It is true therefore that Commines saith There was neuer so plentifull a mariage feast but some went without their dinners Wherein me thinks we haue great wrong to beare a burden with them in their Warres and not to partake with them in the benefit of their Peace Maximilian the first Emperour said hee made Peace for no other end with Lewes the twelfth but to be reuenged of seuenteene wrongs he had done him The King present by the policie of this age and law Talionis might say and doe the like to the Spaniard not for seuenteene wrongs but for seuenteene yeeres wrongs hee hath receiued which when hee shall haue done it is but quittance and the other shall be but iustly serued for saith Bodin He which is falsly dealt with hauing himselfe first played false hath no cause to complaine And surely the French must againe shortly bee doing with him or some other or at least one with another at home he will soone be as wearie of Peace as he is now of warre La nation Françoise est insolent en pain impatiente de demurer long temps en la maison The French nation is insolent in Peace impatient of tarrying long at home ¶ Thus haue you a superficiall suruey of this Country and People of France of whom we may conclude with La Nouë Plus de la moitié de la Noblesse est perié le peuple diminué les finances espuisées les debts accreuës la discipline renuersée la pieté languisant les moeurs desbordées la iustice corrumpuë les hommes diuises More then halfe the Noblesse is perished the people diminished the Treasure exhausted the debts increased good Order ouerthrowen Religion languished maners debaucked Iustice corrupted and the men diuided I make no doubt but to these slender obseruations you wil after adde better of your own Collection vsing this onely as the patterne of a method how to discourse of the Cosmography Policie and Oeconomy of such other Countries wherein you shall trauaile FINIS Caesar Com. lib. 1. P. Commines Limits P. Commines Cabinet du Roy Bodin lib. 6. La Noüe Prouinces La Guide CoÌ„modities La Noüe Bod. li. 6. Bod. contra Malatest Bod. contra Mal. Iustin. Poggio Cabinet
the chiefe Gamesters had their heeles blowne vp the Duke of Guise stabbed at Bloies the Cardinall strangled in the Castle the Duke of Parma poysoned at Arras the Duke Ioyense slayne at Coutras the Duke de Mayenne ruyned at Iuery the Duke de Mercaeure come in this March who lately marched afore his troupes in Bretaigne a capalto with an erected countenance now walketh vp and downe Paris like Dionisius in Corinth Capo chino hanging the head This was iust such an Hexarchie as Charles Duke of Burgogne wished in France who had hee liued till now had seene what hee wished When Mons. Durfé charged him that he loued not France but sought by all meanes possible to disturbe the State thereof â—ush sir saith he you are deceiued l' ayme mieux le bien du royaume que vous ne pensez car pour vn roy qu'il y a ie y en voudroy siâ— I wish better to the Kingdom then you imagine for one King that there is nowe I would there were halfe a dozen All these forsooth agreed that the Common-wealth was sicke and out of temper ech one pretended with his Phisicke to cure her The D. of Guise to ease the paine which was at the hart ment as he doth that giues the best remedy for the tooth-ake to pull them all out to strike off the head To which purpose at the Barucadoes of Paris hee had the King fast in the Castle of the Louure but yet most vnwisely hauing the bird in the cage let him flye away The Cardinall that should by his calling haue ministred the most gentle and lenitiue kind of Phisicke and if it had beene possible haue cured France with good counsell prescribing a good diet ministred nothing but corrasiues and bitter pilles of disdaine among the Nobles The Duke of Parma like a Doctor of good practise brings with him a whole shop ful of Phisicke inough to purge all France hee applieth his receipt of the Low-Countrey Souldiers to ease her of her malady but the weake stomacke of this Countrey could not brooke so strong an ingrediens and therefore shee vomited them out againe before they had done the deed The Duke Ioyeuse like a desperate young Doctor that would get credit in his trade vpon his first patient by putting all to the hazard without vsing any preparatiues or obseruation of criticke dayes giues the potion before Monsieur Matignon could come at him who came with other good phisicke to assist him in this practise but at that time they say that Mars a maleuolent Planet was retrograde in Aries or entring into Taurus and so it should seeme for one of the King of Nauarres troupes called Monsr Taurin as they say gaue him a Pistolade in the head Ioyeuse was not so precipitate to breake the Impostume before it was ripe but the Duke de Mayenne was as much a dreamer to forslow the occasion for wheÌ„ his brother Guise was stabbed and all the great Cities reuolted to him Ioe then was she sicke at the hart he should then haue plyed to haue applyed his medicines but then had he his Phisicke to seeke And after when the party was pretily recouered began to refuse Phisick hauing a little relished the wholesome diet of good counsell then comes he in such haste that hee brake his bottels by the way and so was a loser by the bargayne As for Monsieur de Mercaeure hee playd the good Kitchin Doctor of whome Rablais speaketh who gaue his patient the necke and bones to tyre vpon and kept the wings himselfe for he left them all France tyred and tewed as bare as a birdes bone and kept Bretaigne one of the fattest wings of the Countrey to himselfe purposing to haue entituled himselfe Duke thereof But these were all pretended Phisicians the poore King Henry the third ment wel indeed but wanted skill who found by experience after hee had slaine the Guise and left the rest of his house that were then in action how dangerous a thing it is in matter of execution to doe it to the halfe and that in ministring phisicke a violent potion is not so dangerous as one that is too weake which onely stirreth the humors and is not able to expell them Among so many Phisicians we must needes haue one woman to looke to the patient this was the Queene Mother of whom and her Sonne Charles 9. that consented to the Massacre of Paris we may say with the Poet Crudelis mater magis an puer improbus ille Improbus ille puer crudelis tu quoque mater Which hath poore France more ruinde and vndone The cruell Mother or her wicked Sonne A wicked Sonne was he A cruell Mother she This Queene who with the two other Queenes with whom she is before compared may be called the Alecto Tesiphone and Megera the three Furies of France in stead of being a Nurse and cherisher of her Infants and family which shee should haue bene by all law of reason became a Stepdame as shee was by nature being an Italian Who for more as it is thought then honest loue to the Guisard Doctors desired still to haue her people kept lowe and sickely that they might be aduanced by their practise These were they that left France in such pitifull taking vnder a false pretext of reformation of the State as we might well say of it as is said of the abandoned French Constable in Lewes 11. his time Il ne sçauoit à quel Saint se vouÄ›r se tenoit comme pour perdu He knew not to what Saint to vow himselfe but held himselfe for a lost man or as their prouerbe is here Il ne sçauoit de quel bois faire ses flesches He knewe not of what wood to make his arrowes But leauing France for a while in this grieuous sicknesse till the Hercules that now reignes conquered this monstrous Hidra and like a skilfull Esculapius recouered her of this pestilent feuer ye may obserue this one Epiphonema heere necessarily imployed namely That Diuision in an Estate is the most compendious way to her downefall Discordia res magnae dilabuntur By discord great matters melt away to nothing as hath well appeared by this great State of France Here is also a good lesson for other to beware by Tum tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet The burning of your neighbours Towers Concernes you neere next turne is yours And as Rablaies saith Vn fol enseigne bien vn sage A foole may teach a wise man wit And if you would haue yet more instances of the miserable effects of Factions read Guicciardine and you shall bee plentifully furnished as with the Colonni and Vrsini in Rome the Bianchi and Neri in Florence the Adorni and Fregosi in Genoa and so almost through euery particular Citie and in generall ouer all Italy the Guelphi and Ghibellini Here was also one here in France about no greater cause
Admirall the greatest Souldier in France and many thousand of other of the Religion were murdered the same time was this King married to Marguerite de Valois daughter to Henry the second and sister to the last King With her these many yeres past he hath not liued neither hath by her any issue I haue heard the reason of their liuing apart is her incontinencie By Madame Monceau his Mistrisse whome of late he hath made Dutchesse of Beaufort hee hath three children liuing but by reason of their illegitimation and incapabilitie to succeede the apparency of Inheritance as yet bideth in the young Prince of Condie a towardly Gentleman of much hope and very well fauoured of the age of 11. yeeres whome ye saw at S. Maur. Concerning the Coronation of the Kings of France I read that in the first race they vsed no other solemnitie but onely to lift him vp vpon a shield and cary him about the Campe crying Viue le Roy God saue the King for thus du Haillan out of Gregory de Tours reporteth of the crowning of Cloâ—is the first that was christned Since in the yeere 1179. Philip Augustus ordained the Coronation to be alwayes at Rhemes in Champaigne for before that time they were crowned but not here as Lewes the Grosse at Orleans 1009. Pepin at Soissons and Charlemagne at S. Denis And since then also vpon occasion they change sometimes the place as ye see in this King for example who was crowned at Chartres The ornaments heretofore vsed at this solemnization are these A great crowne of gold wherewith he is crowned a lesse crowne which he beares that day at dinner made by Philip Augustus The Camisoles Sandales Tunicke Dalmaticke and Mantel of blue Satten made by Henry 2 who also garnished of new the olde Crownes the Scepter the Sword the Spurres All which were ordinarily kept in the Church of S. Denis whence in these late ciuill warres they were taken by the League and money made of them La Ligue vn monstreinsatiable vn gouffre qui deuoure tout vn feu qui consume tout vn torrent qui ruine tout a vollé brise cesse fondu tous ces ornements royaux The League a Monster that eates all a Gulfe that deuoures all a fire that consumes all a Torrent that ruines all hath stollen bruzed broken melted all these Royall ornaments The King of France present hath made newe ornaments for the Coronation which you saw at S. Denis The Princes and Peeres of France haue these Offices in that solemnitie The Archbishop of Rhemes doth annoint him King The Bishop of Laon beares the Ampulle The Bishop of Beauuais beares the Mantell Royall The Bishop of Noyon the Girdell The Bishop of Chaalons the Ring The Duke of Burgondie the Crowne The Duke of Guyenne the first Banner The Duke of Normandie the second The Count of Tholouse the Spurres The Count of Champaigne the Banner Royall or Standard The Count of Flanders the Sword royall Thus crowned hee holdeth the Sword in his hand and turning himselfe foure times East West North and South protesteth to defend the Church and maintaine Iustice against all persons of the world For which hee hath the Title of Most Christian King and first Sonne of the Church and is in right to haue precedence next the Emperour before all Princes Christian though the Spanish Embassadour of late hath thrust for the place and somtimes had it as namely at the Councel of Trent which wrong afterward the Pope and Colledge of Cardinals confessed and disauowed the fact The Spaniard also once since at the Emperours Court tooke the place and in Polonia likewise they lately striued where it was ordeined as our law is at the Ordinaries in London that hee which came first should sit first The Turke when hee writes to him this Title Le plus grand et le Maieur des plus grands Princes Chrestiens The greatest and chiefest of the greatest Christian Princes And whereas Haillan but with no great ground out of Histories would needes infâ—rre that all other Christian Princes hold of the Empire he alleageth for a singular preeminence and prerogatiue that this King holdeth nothing either of the Empire or Church of Rome but that he is next and immediatly vnder God supreme both ouer the Ciuill and Ecclesiasticke bodie of France because saith he he can impose taxes and payments vpon the Church without asking the Pope leaue he cannot onely present but also conferre benefices he hath in right the Election of the Pope as Charlemagne had though Lewes Debonnaire his sonne renounced againe this authoritie for Vn l'oy ne peut quitter son drâ—ict A King cannot giue away his right But Charles the Great had not this power as he was King of France but as he was Emperour I thinke therefore he doth the Empire wrong to whom doubtlesse this right still belongeth to bestow it vpon France For when the Empire was translated out of France into Germanie which was in the yeere 880. then were also all rightes and priuiledges thereto belonging of necessity to leaue this Countrey together with the Empire to which they are inseparably annexed As for the Pope ouer whom the French writers will needes giue their King a priuiledge of Election he desires them for ought I can learne to haue an oare in their boat rather Concerning the Armes of France they haue diuers times as it appeares by historie beene altered For the first Armes were three Toades After that changed to three Cressants then to three Crownes and lastly in the time when France embraced the Christian faith there were sent them from heauen say their fabulous writers Les fleurs ae lys d'or enchamp d' azure The floures de Luce Or in a field Azure With these armes of France the King nowe present quartereth his Armes of Nauarre which whether it be a wheele or a chaine with a Carbuncle in the midst as some say or what els I knowe not I cannot yet bee satisfied of any Frenchman that I haue asked I should now by course speake of the French Court wherein hauing yet spent no time I haue little to say I make no question but at our returne into these parts you will sufficiently instruct your selfe therein as with the diuers offices the number of the Noblesse that ordinarily follow it and their seuerall humours and fashions which is a thing very fit for you to obserue I can onely remember you of that which your selfe haue read in the booke of the late troubles which you may well call an Historicall declamation or declamatory history where it is said Iamais la Cour de nos Roys qui estoit autres-fois le seminaire des vertus de la Noblesse Françoise ne regorgea en plus de desordres des luxes d' exces que sous le regne du Henry 3 Neuer did the Court of our Kings which was heretofore the seede-plot of
ouer all Officers of chase They of the Kings chamber are either Gentils-hommes de la Chambre Gentlemen of the Chamber of whom I spake before or Vallets de la Chambre Groomes of the Chamber which are but base Groomes and Roturiers yeomen Les cent Gentils-hommes de sa Garde The hundred Gentlemen of his Gard though there bee two hundred of them they hold and vse a weapon called Le bec de corbin They match two and two before him they are part French and part Scots The Scot carries a white Cassocke powdred with Siluer plates and the Kings deuise vpon it The French weare the Kings colours There is also a Gard of Swisse attired in particoloured Cloth drawne out with Silke after their Countrey fashion these follow the Court alwayes on foot the other on horse Where by the way yee may obserue that the reason of the entertainement of Scots in the Kings Gard is as one saith because they were Anciens ennemys des Anglois Ancient enemies to the English and euer since the house of Austrich matched with that of Burgogne the King hath had also his Gard of Swisses Ennemys hereditaires de la maison d' Austriche Hereditarie enemies of the house of Austria There belongs to the Court also the Mareschaux des logis Marshals of Lodgings and Fourriers Haruingers they haue like Offices as the Haruengers in the English Court there bee also diuers others which are here needlesse to be spoken of and wherwith your purpose is to bee better acquainted hereafter I will therefore proceede to speake of the order of France which was instituted by Henrie the third Anno 1579. and is called L'ordre du S. Esprit The Order of the holy Ghost The reason of this institution was Comme vne autentique declaration qu'il ne pouuoit ny aymer ny faire bien aux Heretiqueâ— obligeant par vn serment solemnel tous les Cheualliers à des conditions qui ne platsent qu'aux ames toutes Catholiques As an authenticall declaration that hee could neither loue nor fauour the Huguenots binding by a solemne oath all the Knights to conditions suteable onely to mindes intirely Catholiques Whereby yee may note that none of the Nobilitie of the Religion are of this order neither was this King himselfe of it till 94. when being crowned at Chartres he tooke it vpon him Among many other statutes of this order this is one That none are capable thereof except he can proue his Nobilitie by three descents from the Fathers side You haue many in France that are called Cheualliers des ordres durâ—y Knights of the Kings orders that is both of the order of Saint Esprit and Saint Michael also The order of Saint Michael was instituted by Lewes the 11. in the yere 1469. the statutes whereof are comprised in 98. Articles amongst which this is one That there should neuer be aboue thirty sixe of the order But saith La Nouë this Article was so ill obserued that at one time there haue bin 300. whereof 100. shortly after by reason of the great charges and trayne they kept were forced as he there saith Serrer le colier dans leurs coffres To lock vp their collers in their Cofers In the yeere 60. were 18. created of this order A thing not before heard of that so many should be made at once which the Constable disliking said Que l' ordre estoit mis en disordre the order was disordred Against which Bodin also inueigheth and against the number of Barons made in France without either desert or liuing And another complaineth that the honourable orders of France are exposes a l'ambition qui estoyent destinez au merite Exposed to ambition which were dedicated onely to deserts You must note that of S. Michaels order there were 2. sortes du grand ordre et du petit the great and the small order Those wore a coller of Massie gold these onely a Ribbon of silke Before these was the order De l' estoille of the Starre or as others call it De la vierge Marie of the Virgine Mary instituted by Iohn the French King anno 1365. which after growing too common a fault generally noted in all Countries where orders are erected that they bee bestowed vpon too many and some vnworthy except onely in the most noble order of the Garter which by the confession of all writers maintayneth still his ancient glory the order of the Starre I say growing too common and therefore the Princes and nobler sort disdayning to weare it it was bestowed vpon the Archers du guel who still weare it the Nobility hauing long since quitted it But the most ancient order of France is that of the Genette instituted by C. Martell The Knights of this order wore a Ring wherein was engrauen the forme of a Genette The cause of instituting this order is not knowne it endured till S Lewes his time Besides these foure forenamed orders which haue beene instituted by Kings I reade also of two others in France which had their erection by Princes of the bloud and were onely taken by Knights of their partie The order of the Porc-espic rased by the Duke of Orleans in enuy of the order of his enemy the Duke of Burgogne The order of the Croissante or Halfe-Moone by the Duke of Aniowe anno 1464. with this Mot Los as who would say Los en croissant Prayse by encreasing The Knights of this order had in the middest of the Cressant a Truncheon to signifie hee had beene in the warres for else he might not bee of that order if twice then two Truncheons if thrice three and so orderly His Habillement was a Mantle of Crymosin Veluet and a white Veluet Cap. It is not much impertinent here also to obserue what orders haue bene erected in other Countries whereof the most Noble renowmed order of S. George of England is the chiefest therefore first to be remembred It was instituted in King Edward the 3. time before any of these of France except onely that of the Genet which no doubt was some obscure Order as appeareth by the place where it was worne and by the little or rather nothing which the French Writers speake thereof The next is the order of the Toison d' or The Golden Fleece erected by Philip the second Duke of Burgogne The coller of this order hath a Golden Fleece hanging at the end in memory some say of Gedeons Fleece others which is most likely of the Golden Fleece of Colchas which Iason with his gallants of Greece ventured for The feast of these Knights is kept vpon Saint Andrewes day The habillements a mantle of Crymson Veluet and a cap of violet colour It was instituted anno 1430. There is also the order of the Annunciade erected by Amadeus Duke of Sauoy In the coller hereof is written in Letters of gold or stone this
Gouernement of our gracious Soueraigne because they knew not the miseries of others murmure and grudge at the payment of a Taxe or Subsidie as a matter insupportable which in comparison of the impositions laide vpon others is a matter of nothing Touching the Gabell of Salt which is also comprised vnder this head Some say it was first erected by Philippe le Long Others by Philip de Valois 1328. True it is that the ordinance of Francis the first 1541. sets downe an impost of twentie foure Liures vpon euery Muy And in the yeere 1543. an ordinance was made for Gabell to be taken vpon all Sea-fish salted And in 1544. it was ordained that all Salt should bee sold and distributed into the Magazines or Storehouses of euery seuerall generalitie The benefit of this one commoditie hath beene very commodious to the Crowne till the yere eightie one whē the King was forced for want of money to let it out to others whereby he lost as is in my Authour prooued eight hundred thirtie sixe thousand Crownes yeerely Here is also a kinde of taxe called the Equiuallent that is an imposition laide vpon some persons and places but not generally to haue libertie to buy and sell Salt and to be exempt from the Magazines The Impost of Wine is laide vpon all without exception or exemption whatsoeuer it is the twentieth part to the King besides all other rights as of Billots entring into Cities passages by land or ryuer and such like Besides a later imposition of fiue Sols vpon euery Muy leuied by Charles the ninth 1561. Concerning the Traicte foraine it is of like nature with the Aides saue that it is leuiable vpon more particular sorts of Marchandise besides the Aides is an Impost vpon things spent in the Land and the Traicte forraine is of such commodities as are transported out As of Wheate Rie Barley Oates Wine Vineger Veriuice Cidre Beefes Muttons Veales Lambes Swine Horses Lard Bacon Tallow Oyle Cheese Fish of all sortes Drougs of all sorts Mettals of all sortes Silkes and clothes of all sorts Leather of all sorts and finally all other marchandise as Fruites Parchment Paper Glasse Wood Roopes c. 7 The seuenth ground or foundation of Finances is the Imposition vpon the Subiect that is not vpon the Wares or commodities but vpon the persons themselues according to their abilitie and it is much like the leuying of the taxe and subsidie in England where euery one payeth rateably to the lands and goods he possesseth And therefore Haillan iudgeth well to say they bee neither personall nor reall but mixt imposées au lieu du domicile ayant esgard à tousles biens du taillable en quelque part qu' ils soyent assis et posez Assessed in the place of their dwelling according to all the goods of the partie assessed in what part soeuer they lye or abide These tailles were first raysed by Saint Lewes but by way of extraordinary Subsidie Charles the 7. made them ordinary for the maintenance of his Gendarmerie And whereas at first they were neuer leuyed but by consent of the three States and to endure but while the warre lasted he made them perpetuall Therefore saith one Ce qu'estoit accordè par grace est depuis venu patrimonial et hereditaire aux roys That which was at first yeelded of fauour is become since patrimoniall and hereditarie to our Kings But this is a common course I thinke there is no countrey in Europe but can giue instances therof There is yet to be obserued that these tailles are onely lyable vpon the Plat païs the County all Cities are exempt as also all Officers of the Kings house all Counsellors Lawyers and Officers of Courtes of Parliament all the Nobilitie the Gensdarmes the Officers of warre the Graduates of Vniuersities c. The taillon is another imposition raised by Henrie 2. anno 1549. which was to amend the wages of the gensdarmes who by reason of the smalnesse of their pay lay vpon the poore villages and ate them vp for the ease whereof this imposition was deuised which also lyeth vpon the poore Countrey-man whereby at first hee was somewhat eased But now all is peruerted the poore is still oppressed and yet he payeth still both taille and taillon Lastly there is the sold or pay of 50000. foote which ye may remember were erected by Lewes the eleuenth in eight legions sixe thousand to a legion which with their Officers come about this number To maintaine these Legions there was a taxe leuyed vpon all sortes of persons priuiledged in the taille but onely the Nobles There are also the Decymes Tenthes leuyed vpon the Church For the leuying of the taille taillon and sold de 50000. gens a pied wages of 50000. foote Ye must note that the King sends his Letters Patentes by Commissioners to the Treasurers of each Generalitie these according to the summe rate each Election this is as yee would say a hundred in a shire or a Bailywike and then send to these Elections to haue the said summe gathered in their seuerall Townes and Hamlets according as they be rated So doe they to the Maieures Consuls Escheuins and chiefe Officers of euery City that are lyable to any of these payments who rating euery man according to his abilitie giue these Rolles to certayne Collectors to gather it vp These are bound to bring it quarterly to the Receiuers These carry it to the Receiuers generall in the same species that they receiued it and from them to haue an Acquittance after the Accounts haue beene perused by the Controler generall And these are all the meanes by which Princes rayse their Finances whereof yee see some nothing to pertayne to the French King but to others and some to him onely not to others 8 There yet remayneth one other meanes though extraordinary to a Prince to get money which the necessities of the times and the want of other meanes haue forced the French Kings of late yeeres to vse This is the vent or sales of Offices a very dangerous hurtfull Marchandize both for the Prince and subiect This Lesson sayth Bodin the French Kings first learned of the Popes with whom it is still as familiar as olde to sell Bishopricks liuings Ecclesiasticall promotions A course saith one de grāde consequence tres-perilleuse mais couuerte de necessité of great and dangerous consequence but cloked with necessity It is indeed thrice dangerous because sales of offices cause sales of Iustice for what these Purchasers pay in grosse they must needs get in retayle forgetting what was sayd to Sophocles the Gouernour of Athens Il faut qu'vn Gouerneur ait non seulement les mains nettes mais les yeur aussi A Gouernour must not onely haue his hands cleane but his eyes also They cannot say as Pericles did on his death-bed Que nul Athenien pour occasion de luy n' auoit onc porte robbe
vertues for the French Noblesse more abound in all disorders of wantonnesse and excesse then vnder the raigne of Henry the third But that was a censure of the Court in the dayes of a Prince giuen ouer to pleasures and excessiue spending insomuch as I haue here heard say that the only solemnizing of the marriage of Duke â—oyeuse his Mignion cost him two hundred thousand crownes But it is likely that now the humour of the King being otherwise the fashion also of the Court is changed for Regis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis Looke in what mould the King is form'd To that his subiects are conform'd Whereof you may haue two very fit examples here in France of Lewes the 11. and Frances the 1. without seeking further King Lewes would haue his sonne Charles learne no Latine forsooth but onely this sentence Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare He that knowes not how to dissemble knowes not how to raigne Hereupon all the Court began to despise learning and to say that Latine was for a Priest not for a Gentleman And that it was learning ynough for a Nobleman if hee could write his owne name yea and I haue heard of an Admirall of France that could not do that neither The second example is of Frances the first who cut his hayre short because of a hurt hee had in his head and presently all the Court and Noblesse followed that fashion cutting sayth Bodin their long lockes qu' estoit l' ancienne marque de beaute et de la Noblesse Which was the ancient badge of beauty and Nobilitie Which olde fashion I doubt not but they had from the Lacedemonians whose youth were all of them commaunded to weare long locks because saith their Law-maker Les cheueux renaent ceux qui sont beaux encore plus beaux et câ—ux qui sont laids plus espouuentables et plus hideux à voir Long hayre makes such as are louely more louely such as are hard-fauoured more dreadfull and hideous to behold The carriage of a Prince though it bee a naturall defect and disgraceful is oftentimes imitated of the Courtiers by affectation Philip of Macedon and Ferdinand of Naples held their heads awry vpon the one shoulder and both their Courts followed Tel Maistre tel vallet Like Master like man You see in that thing wherein you would most be instructed I am least able to satisfie you by reason we haue not seene the Court at all saue onely two dayes while it staid here at Orleans Howbeit out of that which I there saw which I haue heard of others and read in Authors I will aduenture to relate concerning the Officers of this Court for as for other great Offices as of Constable Admirall Marshal Grand M. of the Eauës and Forrests Grand M. of the Artillery and others I shall speake of them when I come to relate of the Kings Forces ingenerall to which place these Offices especially appertayne The first Office then of Court is that of the Grand Maistre Great Master which in elder times was called Comte de Palais Earle of the Palace and after changed into the name of Grand Seneschal and now lastly into Grand Maistre The Count Soissons youngest Son to Lewes of Burbon Prince of Condie doth now enioy this place It was not long since in the house Memorency but the French King to fauor the D. of Guise vpon whom he bestowed the place caused the other to quit it It is his office to iudge of matters of difference betweene other Offices of Court He had also the charge to giue the word to the Gard to keepe the keyes of the Kings priuate lodging to determine in disputes amoÌ„g Princes that followed the Court for their lodgings In asseÌ„blies he sitteth right before the K. a stayre lower as you read in the Dern Trobl Grand Boutellier or Eschançon Great Butler or Taster was in former times a great Office in the Kings house they had place in the Courts of Iustice as Peeres This Office was long in the house of the Countes of Senlis it is now vanished and onely there remaines that of the Grand Panetier This Office is ancient he hath besides the Kings house superintendence ouer all Bakers in the City and Suburbs of Paris They which were wont to be called Panetiers Eschançons and vallets trenchans Pantlers Tasters and Caruers are now called Gentils-hommes Seruiteurs de la Cour Gentlemen Wayters of the Court. The Office of grand Chambellan great Chamberlayn was long in the house of Tankeruile he lay at the Kings feet when the Queene was not there His priuiledges are now nothing so many as in times past Those which were then called Chambellans Chamberlaines are now Gentils-hommes de la Chambre Gentlemen of the Chamber The office of grand Escuier great Esquier is not very ancient though now it be very Honourable and is the same that M. of the Horse is in the Court of England for it is taken out of the Constables office to whom it properly appertained thereof he had his name Conestable quasi Comes stabuli Count of the stable It was first instituted in the time of Charles 7. In the K. entrance into the City he carries the Sword sheathed before him The cloth of Estate carried ouer the King by the Maior and Sheriffes belongs to his Fee No man may be the Kings Spur-maker Mareschall and such like Officer but he must haue it of him as also all other inferiour offices belonging to the stables He had in times past the commaund ouer stages of Post-horses but now the Contreroller generall of the sayd Posts hath it This Office is now exercised by Monsieur de Thermes Seigneur de Bellegarde a gallant Gentleman and one of the finest Courtiers of France The Office of Maistre d' hostel du Roy Master or Steward of the Kings house hath charge ouer the expence of the Kings house For a marke of his authoritie hee carries a Truncheon tipt at both ends with Siluer and gilt and marcheth before the Sewer when the Kings dinner comes to the Table No Sergeant can arrest any of the Kings house without their leaue They serue quarterly they were wont to bee but foure but now I haue heard it credibly said they bee 80. in name but all of these doe not execute the Office The Grand Preuost de France et del hostel du Roy Great Prouost of France and of the Kings house so called since Charles the ninth for before hee was called Roy des ribauds King of the Raskals His Office is to stickle among the Seruants Pages Lacqueis and Filles de ioye Punkes or pleasant sinners which follow the Court and to punish all offences in these people I should haue named before these last as a place more honourable the Office of Grand Fauconnier and Grand Venneur Great Faulconer and great Hunt who haue authoritie