Crown to be Entailed on his Heirs Male in short for setling Luther's Reformation in his Country and Abridging the too great Power of the Clergy Eric the Eldest Son of Gustavus Succeeded him but wanted the Virtues of his Father He introduced into Sweden the Dignities of Count and Baron which before were unknown there It was thought this was done to divide the Nobility among themselves The too great Union of this Powerful Body was able to create Trouble to a Family newly raised to the Throne The Dignities bestowed on some gave a Jealousie to the rest Those who had most Ambition made their Court to the King to obtain the same Distinction And the New Nobility were obliged to support the Authority of the King and adhere here to his Family to preserve their Privileges Eric made himself Odious by his Cruelties and Despicable by his Debauches and Extravagancies His ill Treatment of John Duke of Finland and Charles Duke of Sudermannia obliged them to rise and put themselves at the Head of the Malecoutents These two Princes Attacked Eric in Stockholm it self He first delivered up his Favourite whom all the Kingdom Exclaimed against They inflicted an Infamous punishment on him John and Charles would have something more than all this They agreed to take the Sovereign Power from Eric who abused it unjustly and that the Duke of Finland should be declared King and the Duke of Sudermannia should share with him in the Government without having any outward Marks of Royalty John thought himself now discharged from the Oath he had taken when Eric delivered him out of a close Prison where he had kept him three or four years The Duke had given Assurance by a Writing under his Hand that he would continue faithful to the King and not aspire to the Crown neither before nor after the Death of the King his Elder Brother and that he would acknowledge those Children for lawful Heirs of the Kingdom which Eric had by a Mistress of Mean Birth whom he afterwards Marryed Solemnly But John was not very anxious about the Religious observing his Promises When he was Master of his Eldest Brother not contented with shutting him up in a Castle he soon poisoned him John and Charles continued to attack Stockholm The Senate of the City delivered it up to them and poor Eric reduced to Extremity was left to the Discretion of his two Brothers The States of Sweden declared him fallen from the Crown and John Duke of Finland was set up in his place John King of Sweden endeavours to alter the Religion Established by his Father The New King of Sweden was not truer to the Duke of Sudermannia than he had been to his Predecessor Charles had no share in the Administration of the Kingdom Men promise any thing when they are to ascend a Throne but when they are once Established in it they find other Principles of Religion and Honour John had Married Catherine Jagellon Daughter to the King of Poland Whether the Princess had inspired her Husband with an Aversion to the Protestant Religion or the Reading the Books and Conversation of able Men of the Papal Communion had raised doubts in him or he hoped to be King of Poland after the Death of Sigismund Augustus his Brother-in-Law who had no Children as soon as John had made a Peace with Denmark by the Treaty of Stetin in Pomerania he applied himself seriously to change the Religion which his Father had setled in Sweden It is not a place here to relate all the Artifices he made use of to prepare the Minds of his People for the Alterations he designed I shall only observe that the King who wanted not Wit or Judgment was convinced there were a great many things to be altered in the Worship and Doctrine of the Church of Rome He can neither be reckoned among the good Catholicks nor the true Protestants Ever uncertain and wavering sometimes he relished the Project of Accommodation which Cassander had given to the Emperor Maximilian II. at other times he was inclined to the Greek Church The Answers of Jeremiah Patriarch of Constantinople to the Divines of Wirtembergh pleased him so much that he once thought to unite with that Communion Possevin a Learned Jesuit whom Pope Gregory the XIII had sent into Sweden thought he had persuaded King John to Reunite himself in earnest to the Church of Rome He confessed himself to that Jesuit the Popes private Nuncio he received the Communion in the Form used in that Church Possevin imposed as a Pennance on him for the Murther of his Brother Eric whom he had poysoned to fast every Wednesday throughout the year It is said John observed this Practice regularly all the rest of his Life Nevertheless he frequented the publick Service of the Church of Sweden There was a New Liturgy used which himself had introduced and the Pope refused to approve of The Mixture of these two Religions was one of the ways by which this Prince pretended insensibly to bring the People to forsake the Worship and Belief of the Protestants of the Ausburgh Confession Several Romish Churchmen came into Sweden The Irresolution of King John and his Indulgence drew them thither Several of his own Subjects too favour'd his dissembled Designs By their manner of Discourse the more unthinking People took these Preachers for free Protestants But others observed in spight of their Disguises all they spoke tended to insinuate into the Minds of the People the Doctrines of Popery The Archbishop of Vpsal suffered himself to be won by them Some Prelates and divers ignorant or ambitious Churchmen follow'd his Example There were some Bishops ordained according to the Roman Pontifical The Bishop of Linkoping several of his Brethren and a great number of Churchmen couragiously defended the Reformation setled by Gustavus Ericson The Clergy of the Dutchy of Sudermannia shewed a firmness of Mind which much confounded King John Charles his Brother declared highly for the Ausburgh Confession He opposed this Alteration with all his Might Neither the King nor I can make any Innovation in the Religion established by Law he replied to those sent to dispose him to comply All things are well regulated by the last Will and Testament of the late King our Father We must fix there For my part I am resolved never to depart from it The States of Sweden shew'd great Vigour on several Occasions They represented to the King that mighty Jealousies were risen in Sweden and Foreign Countries that his Majesty would overthrow that Constitution which his Father had wisely established and that to put an end to all those Rumours it concerned him to declare publickly that the Reformation received in that Kingdom was conformable to the Sense of the Primitive Church Farther the States commanded several Popish Books brought into that Country to be suppress'd they press'd the King to place able Men of unblemish'd Reputation in the Publick Schools to instruct the Youth In the last
place they desired that Sigismund the King 's eldest Son should be bred in the Protestant Religion because that young Prince began to give some Umbrage Queen Catherine Jagellon his Mother had so strongly tinctured him with the Principles of the Church of Rome that the Senators of the Kingdom having one day threatned him that he should lose the Right of Succession to the Crown if he did not soon renounce the Religion he had imbibed and embrace the Ausburgh Confession I prefer replied he boldly the Kingdom of Heaven to all the Crowns in the World No other Answer could be got from him On some Occasions the States of Sweden had more Complaisance for the King All seem'd dispos'd to receive the new Liturgy and the Accommodations he had invented Charles of Sudermannia the Clergy of his Provinces and some great Lords were the only People who defended the Reformation but the Interest of the Duke and the effectual Remonstrances of the rest brought back several whose Hopes and Fears had abated their Warmth and Zeal The King himself had lost much of that Ardor the Jesuit Possevin had inspired into him Whether he could not accommodate himself to the haughty Humour of Sixtus V. Successor to Gregory XIII or his Doubts were not sufficiently cleared or the great Power of his Brother kept him in awe John humbled the Catholicks who thought themselves now Masters of all things He drove out the Jesuits and demolished their College Gennila Bielke whom the King married after the Death of Catherine Jagellon cooled the Fervour her Husband had before shewed for the Roman Religion Kings often think they do that of their own Heads which a dextrous and insinuating Woman inspires into them John King of Sweden thought he had solid Reasons to doubt of the Truth of the Protestant Religion But his principal Motive though he scarce knew it himself was his great Complaisance for Catherine Jagellon The Queen Gennila might have brought him back to his first Religion in the same manner as the other had seduced him from it Sigismond Prince of Sweden is chosen King of Poland After the Death of Stephen Battori King of Poland Ann Jagellon his Widow and Aunt of Sigismond Prince of Sweden managed the Polish Nobility so well that the greatest part declared for him The contrary Faction chose the Arch-Duke Maximilian Brother to the Emperor Rodolphus But Sigismond's Friends carried it He was received in Poland beat the Arch-Duke and Maximilian being taken Prisoner redeemed his Liberty by renouncing all his Pretensions to the Crown of Poland The Swedes made their Conditions before the Prince left that Kingdom as the Poles made theirs before they received him The Principal thing which the Senate of Sweden stipulated with Sigismond was the preserving the Priviledges and Religion of their Country They added this Clause in the Treaty that if the King of Poland becoming King of Sweden after the Death of his Father should contravene any of the Articles agreed on that then the Swedes should be discharged from the Oath of Allegiance they had taken It is very probable that Sigismond before his departure from Sweden urged the King his Father to pursue his Design of causing his new Liturgy to be received together with the ancient Ceremonies which he had establish'd a little after his coming to the Crown When Princes have begun a Work that makes a great Figure they are loth to quit it and soon resume it when they see the least Prospect of Success Sigismond hoped his late Advancement would make it easie for him to accomplish the Work which his Father had drawn a rough Draught of And the King of Sweden strengthned by the new Alliance of Poland flatter'd himself that Charles of Sudermannia would not dare to oppose him He was deceived in his Conjectures The Churchmen of the Dutchy agreeing perfectly well with the Prince refused to receive his Liturgy This disturbed the King so much who was now at greater variance with his Brother than ever that he thought of recalling Sigismond in earnest The new King himself was tempted to return into his Country He would willingly have done it if the Poles had not briskly opposed it A Foreign Prince is easily dazled with the glittering Title of King of Poland But he soon takes distaste at the false Lustre of a Crown which only appears fair at a distance Those who have left their Hereditary Countries to go into Poland have repented This is the way to hazard the loss of an Effective Sovereignty for a Title which has more Pomp than Reality Sigismond knew by Experience the Truth of this Maxim The King his Father finding so great opposition from the Swedes who were more upon their Guard since the Election of Sigismond had nothing else to have Recourse to but to reconcile himself speedily to the Duke of Sudermannia and admit him to a Share in the Administration of Affairs The Apprehensions of John were something lessened by Charles's losing his Wife She left no Issue behind her and John pretended his Brother promised him never to think of a second Marriage If it were so the Duke in his turn broke his Word He soon after married Christina Daughter of Adolphus Duke of Holstein It is reported Sigismond courted this Lady before he went into Poland But a Sister of King John diverted the Prince her Nephew from the Match He after married Constance of Austria Daughter of Charles and Sister of Ferdinand Arch-Duke of Gratz in Stiria Christina enraged at this Contempt conceived so great a Hatred against Sigismond that after she was married to Charles of Sudermmannia she incessantly urged him to force the Crown of Sweden from Sigismond King John was not well satisfied with this second Marriage of Charles But his ill Humour did not last long He died soon after at Stockholm The Duke of Sudermannia was active as soon as he heard this News He set at liberty the Senators and Clergymen Sigismond King of Poland succeeds in the Kingdom of Sweden whom the late King had confined for opposing his Designs Sigismond very much distrusted his Uncle To prevent his enterprizing any thing to his Prejudice the new King writes that he was making all Preparations to come speedily into his Hereditary Countries In the mean time the Duke of Sudermannia takes the Administration as next of Kin to the King Puffendorf Introduction à Histoire Tom. IV. p. 11. Rhap 1. 2. John left another Son by his second Wife but he was yet a Minor The Senators without prejudice to their Oath taken to Sigismond promised to obey Charles in every thing he should order with their Consent for the Glory of God the Preservation of the Protestant Religion and the maintaining the just Rights and Priviledges of the Nation The Duke promised of his Part not to transact any thing of weight without the Advice and Consent of the Senate A Council is thereupon assembled at Vpsal to regulate Matters of
to the Prince answer'd still to all the Instances and Menaces made them That they would not restore the Princess without the Consent of her Husband who had entrusted her with them A very generous Resolution indeed But is there not ground to think their secret Desire to excite some Commotions in France to traverse the vast Projects of Henry inspired them at least as much as their love to Equity and Justice Henry IV. prepares to march at the Head of his Army The great Preparations in France and other places kept the World in suspense None doubted the King had some greater Design than to drive Archduke Leopold out of the Countries of Cleves and Juliers In the mean time the House of Austria appeared Serene It could not be observed that she made any Provisions against this approaching War which openly threatned her either because she expected that Stroke which soon changed the State of Affairs or that the King of Spain a stupid and unactive Prince suffer'd himself to be perswaded by a weak Minister that the Ardour of Henry would cool when the French had spent their first Fire on the Countries of Cleves and Juliers and some other places of Italy The King had Thirty Thousand Foot and Six Thousand Horse in Champagne Sixty Pieces of Artillery and abundance of Money and Provisions Twelve Thousand Foot and Two Thousand Horse waited in Dauphine the Orders of Lesdiguieres to go and join the Duke of Savoy's Army The Venetians promised to declare themselves on condition they might have that part of the Milanese which lay most conveniently for them Henry burned with Impatience to march at the Head of so fair an Army Sometimes he would try the Arms he design'd to bear in the Day of Battel at other times he took pleasure to see the brave Prince Maurice of Orange bring him the best Troops of the Vnited Provinces Vex'd at the Advantages which Alexander Duke of Parma had gain'd over him in the Sieges of Paris and Roan he hoped to take his Revenge against the Marquiss of Spinola whose Reputation began to equal that of the other He was the only General now which the House of Austria had to oppose to the King Measures were taken for the Administration of Government in his Absence The Queen was to be Regent and the Duke of Epernon President of her Council It is amazing that Henry would trust his Wife and Children in the Hands of a Lord whom he never loved and whose Fidelity was ever suspected by him But after all he could never have made a better Choice Of the Three Princes of the Blood the first was in the Enemies Hands Conti passed for a weak Man and the Count of Soissons was disgusted 1610. Their ancient Enmity and the strict Tie the Guises had to the Spaniard made it unsafe for him to trust any of that House Epernon had Wit Courage Honour and was not without some Vanity So great a Mark of Respect engaged him to exert himself to answer the good Opinion the King had shewn of his Prudence and Fidelity Henry had yielded to the Importunities of the Queen Henry is Assassinated the 14th of May 1610. who ardently desired to be Crowned in all the Forms He imagined this Complaisance would make that jealous Princess forget the ill Humour the Kings Mistresses and above all the Marquise de Vernueil had so oft put her in The Ceremony of Consecration was perform'd at St. Denys with great Magnificence All things were disposed for the solemn Entry of the Queen into the Capital of the Kingdom When on the Eve of the Day design'd for that Pageantry Henry going in his Coach to the Arsenal to confer with the Duke of Sully Superintendant of the Finances and great Master of the Artillery received two or three stabs with a Knife one of which cut through the Artery of the Lungs He fell down dead on the Duke of Epernon who was on one side of him and to whom he was whispering in the Ear when he received the first blow Francis Ravillac a Native of Angoulême committed this execrable Parricide the 14th day of May 1610. In the Hurry and Confusion which attend Accidents of this kind he might have saved himself by hiding his Knife But perswaded this was an Action worthy of Reward he kept it in his hand till he was seized One of the Kings Gentlemen in ordinary and some Footmen would have given him a thousand stabs upon the spot but the Duke of Epernon remembring the fault committed in killing in this manner the Monk who murthered Henry the III forbid any on pain of Death to touch him So he was secured and carried to the Hôtel of Retz By a Negligence which appear'd suspicious and affected instead of throwing this Wretch into a Dungeon every one had the liberty to speak to him during the two days he remained there If the first Persons of the Kingdom thought they had more pressing Affairs than to revenge the Death of the King what hindred the inferiour Magistrates from doing their Duty in discovering the Authours of so black an Attempt The Queen labours to procure her self to be declared Regenâ—… during the Minority of Lewis XIII her Son The Queen wiped off her Tears as soon as the Chancellour and Villeroy had made her sensible every Moment was precious and she must labour incessantly to make her Advantage of the absence of two oâ—… the Princes of the Blood and the weakness of the other to procure her self to bâ—… declared Regent during the Minority oâ—… her Son The new King Lewis XIII was about to begin the tenth year of his Age being born the 27th of September 1601. The Dukes of Guise and Epernon seemed the most proper Persons to execute the Project The unbounded Ambition of both these Men made them equally believe by doing this service to a Foreign Princess unskilled in the Arts of Ruling a Nation they should make themselves Masters of the Government Behold then both of them marching through Paris at the Head of divers Armed Men to suppress any Tumult might be caused by the unexpected Death of the King Guise goes directly to the Town-House Epernon arrives a little after and both exhort Lejay Provost of the Merchants the Echevins and the Citizens met there to continue faithful to the Son of him whose Loss they Regretted and to take all necessary care to prevent Disorder and Confusion The Duke of Sully came from the Arsenal as soon as he heard of the Death of his good Master He went to the Louvre as other Persons of Quality did who all ran to offer their Services and swear Fidelity to the New King and the Queen his Mother Memoires de Bassompierre Surpriz'd to find Bassompierre at the head of a great number of Horse he thought fit to exhort him to take an Oath of Fidelity to Lewis Well Sir replyed Bassompierre in a haughty disdainful Tone We come here to require that
where there have been some Princes of the House of Austria have thought their Conscience and Religion allowed them to stir up People to defend the Liberty of their Countrey and march at the Head of an Army against their own Brothers As soon as the Emperour found the Designs of the Archduke he convened the States of Bohemia raised Troops writ to the Elector and Princes of the Empire to demand Aid of them There was in Bohemia at that time two powerful Parties of a contrary Religion the Catholicks and the Gospellers Under the name of Gospellers were comprehended the ancient Hussites those of the Confession of Ausburg and the Reformed The States of Bohemia were composed of Persons of both one and the other Party They presented to the Emperour divers Articles for the Regulation of Policy and Justice The Gospellers in particular required That the Clergy should not meddle in Civil Affairs That they should not determine Disputes concerning Marriage That they should not acquire Estates in Land without the consent of the States of the Kingdom That all Persons should be admitted to places of Judicature without distinction of Religion Rodolphus consented to what the States demanded The Concerns of Religion were remitted to the next Assembly which was appointed the end of September following And the States in conclusion swore to employ their Lives and Fortunes in the Emperour's Service Matthias was already at the Gates of Prague with his Army A Treaty of Peace between the two Brothers After some Negotiations the two Brothers agreed to name Deputies on both sides to confer together in a Neighbouring Village The Peace was concluded on certain Conditions I will relate the principal ones That the Emperor should quit the Kingdom of Hungary the States of the Country should chuse no other King than Archduke Matthias that Rodolphus should give him and his Heirs Male the Archdutchy of Austria without reserving to himself any Right That he should succeed to the Kingdom of Bohemia in case the Emperor died without Issue Male That the States of Bohemia should ratifie this Article That the Archduke should promise to maintain their Privileges if the Kingdom came to him That Matthias and his Heirs should have the Administration of Moravia with the Title of Marquess That in the Assemblies of the Countries yielded up by Rodolphus the Archduke should take care to have a certain Annual Contribution paid to the Emperor When the Treaty had been ratified on both sides Matthias goes to take Possession of the Arch-dutchy of Austria The Catholicks swear Fidelity to him but the Protestants refuse to do it and take Arms. By the Perswasion of Leopold of Austria Bishop of Strasburg of Mellini Cardinal and Nuncio of the Pope and Forgatsi Bishop of Vienna and Cardinal the new Soveraign published an Edict to forbid all his Subjects of Austria the exercise of the Protestant Religion Matthias is Elected and Crowned King of Hungary From Vienna Matthias passes into Hungary Before they proceeded to Crown the new King the Lords of the Country presented divers Articles to him which they required him to swear to observe viz. That the Protestants should have free exercise of their Religion in all Cities not excepting that in which the King resided That a Palatin should be erected who should in Conjunction with the Senators have the Administration of Affairs in case the King did not reside in Hungary That the Jesuits should not be tolerated and the Licentious Lives of the Clergy be reformed On these Conditions Matthias was proclaimed King and Crowned at Presburgh in the year 1608. The Discontent of the Protestants in Austria abated The Protestants in Austria sent a Deputation to those in Hungary intreating them to interceed with Matthias in favour of their Brethren and desiring their Assistance by virtue of a League Offensive and Defensive still in being between the States of Hungary and Austria in case Matthias persisted to refuse them the free exercise of their Religion He replyed to the Instances the Protestant Lords of Hungary made to him That he would leave all things in the same State they were put in by the Regulation of the Emperor Maximilian his Father The Consideration said he I am obliged to have for the Pope and the Catholick King will not allow me to grant the Protestants the exercise of their Religion in the Towns of Austria Let them lay down their Arms and I will grant it them abroad In the mean time those of both Religions shall be indifferently promoted to places of Judicature The Hungarian Lords thought this reasonable and advised the Protestants to accept the Terms rather than make War It is hard to come to a Resolution on a sudden After some Movements the matter was determined in the year 1609. At the Intreaty of thaâ—… States of Moravia and by the care of the Archduke Maximilian Brother of the Emperor and King of Hungary Matthias consented That the Lords and Protestant Gentlemen of Austria should have the free exercise of their Religion in their Castles Villages and their private Houses for their Family only when they should be in Town That they should have Publick exercise of it in three Cities specified in the Treaty where the Churches should be equally divided between the Catholicks and Protestants That all places should be indifferently given to capable Persons of both Communions The Protestants upon this submitted and took an Oath of Fidelity to the new King Differences about Religion in Bohemia The Emperor had longer and more difficult Contests with the Gospellers in Bohemia The Assembly of the States appointed at the end of September 1608. was put off till January following The Roman Catholicks did all they could to exasperate Rodolphus against the Gospellers and perswaded him that they enjoyed the exercise of their Religion only by a simple Toleration The Oath of Subjects is relative to that of a Prince said the Gospellers with Indignation to Rodolphus hearken to the ill Advice given him by certain Persons If the Emperor will not keep the Oath he has made to us we think our selves discharged from that we have taken to him Rodolphus remitted the hearing of their Complaints to the chief Officers of Bohemia who were all Catholicks These interessed Judges contemning what the Gospellers alledged in their Defence they protested in a full Assembly against all the proceedings of the States and demanded time to give notice to the rest of their Brethren in the Kingdom of what passed and to inform his Imperial Majesty The Gospellers instantly sent a Deputation to the King of Hungary and the Electors and Princes of the Empire intreating them to intercede with Rodolphus The Emperor resolved the States should continue to sit and regulate all Matters of Religion The Term of their Sessions being expired the Emperour dismist them and forbid the Gospellers to meet in the Court of the New Prague or debate of their Affairs there In vain did they Petition his Majesty
Princess sent to let the Regent know that La d'Escouman had great things to Reveal Some Persons were ordered to go to the Hôtel of Queen Margaret They conceal themselves in an adjoyning Closet while the Princess makes la d'Escouman repeat with a loud Voice what she had said Margaret testified the Woman did not vary but repeated Word for Word before to her what they had now heard She is Condemned Upon the Report made to the Regent her Majesty ordered her Letter Patents to be dispatched for the Parlement of Paris to take cognizance of this New Affair La d'Escouman being examined by the first President de Harlay accuses two Persons one of which had been Valet de Chambre to the Marquess d' Entragues These Men are Seized Examined thrown into a Dungeon confronted with d'Escouman who affirms peremptorily all was true she had charged them with Farther she declares the Marchioness of Vernueil had sent Ravaillac to her with a Letter for one Madamoiselle du Tillet and that in her Presence du Tillet had spoke to Ravaillac to Assassinate the late King But the Evidence so ill maintain'd her Charge was so deficient in describing the Person of the Murtherer and said so many things directly false that no Credit was given to her Depositions The two Prisoners were acquitted and la d'Escouman condemned to close Imprisonment for the rest of her Life Reflections on 〈◊〉 Sentence The care taken to confine this Wretched Woman and the keeping her Examination so private gave occasion for divers Suspicions and many Reflections It was pretty commonly believed Persons of Eminent Quality had a share in this Mystery of Iniquity and it was not judg'd convenient to disclose it Some pretended this was only done to spare the Reputation of certain Persons of the first Rank who had made this use of la d'Escouman to ruine their Enemies So ill and revengeful a Woman as la Vernueil said they may well enough be guilty of a great Crime But is it to be believed the Queen who mortally hates the Marchioness would spare her Could she ever find a fairer opportunity to revenge the frequent Disquiets which the ill Nature and Raillery of a Rival had given her The Duke of Epernon 's Interest added some Judicious Men could never stifle this Matter He has powerful Enemies at Court The Prince of Conde and the Count of Soissons declare openly against him The Mareschal de Bouillon and the Marquess of Ancre strictly tied together seek to remove and ruine him If any one reflect on the Conduct of the Duke of Epernon his Humour and Inclinations he will not appear capable of so black an Attempt And if he had Malice enough to conceive it is he so void of Common Sense to trust this in the Hands of a Fool as Ravaillac was In short if he suborned the Assassin would he have taken pains to keep him from being killed on the spot as James Clement was The Duke of Epernon said some who were the most prejudiced against him could not be called to an Account without bringing in the Queen whom he served in it Doubtless said others to them it would be much safer and easier to have poison'd the King than to depend upon a Blow of that Importance on such a Fellow as Ravaillac was There was a greater Division in the Court of Prague than that of Paris and the Princes of the House of Austria in Germany lived in a more visible Misunderstanding than the Princes of the Blood in France The Emperor Rodolphus had three Brothers Matthias Albert and Maximilian The first had forced from his Elder Brother the Kingdom of Hungary and the greatest part of what the House of Austria calls her Hereditary Countries Albert lived contented with the Provinces of the Low Countries which the Infanta Isabell brought to him in Marriage and Maximilian having long agoe relinquished his Pretensions to the Kingdom of Poland which he disputed with Sigismund King of Sweden led a quiet Life with Matthias King of Hungary These four Brothers had two Cousin Germans Children of Charles Brother to the Emperor Maximilian II. The small Country of Gratz in Stiria did not satisfie the Ambition of Ferdinand the Eldest of this second Branch of that House and Leopold the younger Brother desired something more than the Bishopricks of Strasburg and Passau Rodolphus and his Brothers had no Children this gave their Cousins mighty Hopes but as yet they were a great way off The King of Hungary this year Married Ann Archdutchess of Austria and might leave Heirs Ferdinand Wisely concealed his vast Ambition he seemed contented with managing the Pope and keeping a strict Correspondence with Spain and seem'd willing to wait patiently for a more favourable Opportunity to obtain the Succession of his Cousins All Men looked on the Emperor as a dead Man The Courts of Rome and Madrid were not very well satisfied that Matthias kept fair with the Protestants which he did to prevent being opposed by them when there should be a Debate about chusing a Successor to his Brother Perhaps too his Inclination led him to follow the steps of Maximilian II. a very Wife and Moderate Prince He had had a good Opinion of the Protestant Religion and it is thought would have embraced it if he had not met with Obstacles from Ferdinand the I. and the Court of Rome The Emperor his Father pressed by the Pope threatned Maximilian to Disinherit him but if the Son had shewn greater Resolution the Father would have found it no easie Matter to have made such an Exclusion valid I very much doubt if he would have dared to attempt it Ferdinand Archduke of Gratz was very far from this Moderation of Maximilian He was violent against the Protestants to a prodigious degree The Jesuits and Ignorant Monks who had too great Influence on the Councils of this Prince and his Descendants kept him in this extravagant Bigotry flattering him with the Assistance of the Pope and King of Spain to obtain the Empire even whilst those of the Elder Branch were yet alive The Archduke Leopold had no less Ambition but was still more impatient The Ambitious Designs of Leopold of Austria Bishop of Strasburg and Passaw on the Kingdom of Bohemia vext to see himself reduced to live on his Benefices and to find his mighty Designs on the Countries of Cleves and Juliers prove Abortive he resolved to take his Advantage of the Weakness of Rodolphus and to make himself King of Bohemia to the prejudice of Matthias to whom that Crown was promised after the Emperors Decease Leopold had raised a small Army with the consent of Rodolphus under colour of keeping Juliers against the Confederate Princes The Town being taken by the Brave Maurice of Orange the Arch-duke kept his Troops in his Bishoprick of Passau with an intention to employ them in some greater and more prositable Work Romeo their General as Active and Stirring as Leopold
perswaded him to treat with his Friends in the Court of Prague and the Roman Catholicks in Bohemia who could not endure to see the Gospellers enjoy the free use of their Religion Leopold designed in the first place to make an Alteration in the Government of Prague and Expel divers Lords of the Emperors Council who were in the King of Hungary's Interests the thing did not seem practicable in a free Country as that of Bohemia was There was a Necessity for him to content himself with gaining over the Catholick Party and chiefly the Churchmen and Monks by giving them hopes that if Leopold should enter Prague by force of Arms he would oblige the Emperor to revoke the Edict in favour of the Gospellers The Jesuits were the most forward to favour the Designs of Leopold they filled their Colledge with Canon Arms and Ammunition to make use of in case there should be occasion Leopold's Troops â—…arch into Bohemia Leopolds Army was compos'd of nine Thousand Foot and four Thousand Horse They marched strait towards Austria under the Command of Romeo who found the means to help the Soldiers to Money in their way they plundered divers considerable Castles King Matthias being unprovided to resist was very much alarmed He writ to his Subjects and Friends to come immediately to his Aid In the mean time Romeo passes the Danube ravages whereever he comes marches into Bohemia under pretence of exacting those Subsidies the Emperor had promised Leopold for the Subsistence of his Troops He took two or three important Places and Leopold joined him when he was at the Gates of the Capital The States of the Countries amazed at these Motions prepar'd for a Defence The Gospellers appear'd more active and warm than the rest they were afraid to fall under the Government of one of the House of Gratz But it was not possible to hinder Leopold from entring into a third part of the Town which is called the little Prague He had a good Intelligence there the two other Quarters which they call the Old and New Prague defended themselves so vigorously that Leopold could not make himself Master of them Matthias King of Hungary Marches to the Assistance of Bohemia During the Confusions which Accidents of this Nature must needs cause in a Town divided into two Factions Violent against each other Rodolphus remained in his Castle contented with commanding both Parties by a Herald to lay down their Arms he seemed to stand Neuter His old Piques against his Brother made him encline to Leopold who seized on the Castle and was declared Lieutenant General for the Emperor The King of Hungary had at that time a Dispute with Gabriel Battori Prince of Transilvania He chose rather to give up his Pretensions than to have Bohemia taken from him Behold him then at the Head of an Army of eighteen Thousand Men. Leopold and Romeo make a quick Retreat to the Frontiers of Bohemia as soon as they are informed Matthias was enter'd into the Kingdom too fortunate in carrying off their Booty and two Hundred Thousand Florens which the Emperor gave them The King of Hungary being come to Prague the States of the Country received him with all possible Magnificence Matthias is Crowned King of Bohemia After some of Rodolphus his Counsellors were clapt into Prison and others forced to fly it was no hard Matter to make Rodolphus consent to a Demise of the Kingdom of Bohemia in favour of his Brother This poor Prince had very good Conditions in appearance made for him at the Solicitation of the Elector of Saxony who always was a Friend to the House of Austria The States of Bohemia too proposed theirs to the New King for the securing the Privileges of the Kingdom and Liberty of Conscience The City of Prague made some separate Stipulations and particularly that the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction should be restrained and the Abuses of it corrected After Matthias had been Solemnly Crowned at Prague the 23d of May by the Cardinal Ditrechstein an Agreement was made with Leopold who still had divers Important Places in his Hand He promised to quit these upon the payment of a certain Sum of Money In Conclusion the King of Hungary and Bohemia having agreed to some Articles for a perfect Reconciliation with the Emperor he went to Breslau his Design was to go and take Possession of Silesia which had likewise been given up to him The Bishop of the City the Lords and States of the Province took an Oath of Fidelity to him and he likewise swore to preserve to them the free Exercise of that Religion each of them professed before A Cabal in the Court of France against the Duke of Epernon The Princes of the House of Austria lived the rest of that year in a good Understanding as to outward Appearance those of the Royal Blood did the same in France Conde and Soissons being now combined together were not content with Supplanting Sully they resolved farther to ruine the Duke of Epernon the Marquess of Ancre took part with them He promised the Count of Soissons to remove a Man who was insupportable to all the Favourites Epernon hated them in effect because he loved to engross Favours he thought no one besides himself could deserve it Conchini provoked by the great Contempt the Duke treated him with resolved to humble a Man who ow'd his Rise to the Favour of Henry the III. and was now more haughty and hard to be bended than the Princes of the Blood The more Epernon found his Interest at Court sink the more he strove to make the Princes of the Blood Sensible if they would not love him they should have reason to fear him After the Count of Soissons had threatned to insult him he went through the Streets of Paris attended with Seven or Eight Hundred Gentlemen he would sometimes take Pleasure in going to the Louvre a foot His Men marched in order of Battle and when the first were at the Louvre the last were at the Hôtel of Epernon The Distance of these is near two thousand Paces In the midst of this outward Splendor the Discontent to see himself Excluded from Publick Business tormented him exceedingly The Cardinal of Joyeuse who only Subsisted by the Dukes Support resolved to go to Rome and Divert himself in the Chapels and Congregations there since there was no more occasion for him in the Court of France Epernon desired leave to go to his Estate and Government this he obtained with the good liking of the Court Mem. de la Regence de Marie de Medicis The Regent gave him on this occasion several Marks of Confidence and Respect The Prince of Conde had a mind to go and take Possession of the Government of Guienne and nothing could divert him from this Resolution His stiffness gave Umbrage to the Court The Reformed had a civil Assembly at Saumur and the Regent did not know whether Conde might not have some secret design
Power of a Favourite or a Minister The King's Brother was not always in a Passive Humoun If the first Prince of the Blood was weak a younger Brother of his House would not submit to creep to a Cardinal Some of the greatest and wealthiest Men of the Kingdom shew'd great Vigour and Courage on divers Occasions The Reform'd did not tamely suffer themselves to be oppress'd without making any Opposition The Court was forced to keep Measures with them after they were Masters of their Cautionary Towns The Monarchy of Spain was not at that time so formidable abroad But the Emperour Ferdinand II. began to grow so Potent in Germany that it was apprehended he would entirely subdue it There was a necessity to make Alliances with the King of Sweden the United Provinces all the Protestant Princes and those of Transylvania which created Trouble enough to the House of Austria The Affair of Mantua caused extraordinary Motions beyond the Alps. There was a Necessity to assist the Duke to preserve a Succession which could not rightfully be contested France began a Treaty and join'd with the Princes and States of Italy alarm'd at the new Projects of the House of Austria At length the Revolutions which happen'd in Portugal and Catalonia gave occasion to several Projects and Treaties on the part of Spain For these Reasons no one can write the History of Lewis XIII without entring into the Particulars of what happened all over Europe These are the Reasons why I have thought fit to proceed a little higher in some places of the first Part in the Affairs of Foreign Countries Gustavus Adolphus for instance must make so great a Figure in this Work that it was almost indispensable to â—…epresent how this Hero came to the Crown to the prejudice of Sigismund King of Poland Son to his Father's elder Brother None can well understand the Affairs of the Empire under Ferdinand II. unless he understand what passed about the end of Rodolphus and under the Reign of Matthias I have not a good Opinion enough of my self to think my Style such as Lucian â—…equires for an History Some of my Friends have told me that the begininng of a pretty large Work would endure â—…eading This is enough for me The chief Business of a Writer is to profit the Publick by discovering the Truth or Probability For after all in History we must often be content with the latter The Principal Facts are certain but in â—…he Reasons Motives and Circumstances of an Action or Enterprize there are ever â—…ome Grounds of doubting and we must â—…cquiesce in what is most likely I am only follicitous for the most essential Quaâ—…ities of an Historian Lib. II. de Oratore Not to dare to advance what he knows to be false and to speak freely what he knows to be true withâ—…ut being byassed by Prejudice Discourse of the manner of writing History Lucian on this Subject very judiciously says That we must not imitate the Painter who invented the drawing Side-Faces to conceal the Defect of a Prince who had â—…ut one Eye The Historian ought to paint Persons whole Let not his Affection for his Country hinder him from relating the Losses she has sustained or the Faults she has committed An Historian is like an Actor Neither of them are accountable for the bad Parts they represent The former is obliged to prefer Truth to his Interest and Passions This is the only Divinity he should adore He must ever have the Judgment of Posterity in his sight if he would pass more for an Historian than a Flatterer It is reported Alexander desired to revive for a little time after his Death He would have been pleased to see what Men would then say of a Prince who had made such a noise in the World I do not wonder said he to find every one praise me now Some are afraid of me others court my Favour If Princes judged as reasonably as this Conqueror to whom they so much love to hear themselves compared they would not be at the trouble to here Writers or cause Triumphal Arches and Statues to be erected nor assemble Men of Letters to form Designs for Medals to be coined to their Honour or to compose Magnificent Inscriptions to be engraven on Marble or Brass at the Pedestal of their Statues or over a Triumphal Arch or the Gates of a Capital or other conquered Places Contented with well governing their People and making them happy they would leave to them the Care of immortalizing their Benefactor after his Death What Service will those Histories wrote by Command those Monuments of your Vanity or the Flattery of Mercenary Wretches then do you An Historian who will not be led by Fear or Hope Friendship or Hatred who is of no Country or Party who will call Things by their Names without caring whether he please or give Offence such an Author I say as Lucian requires with one Stroke of his Pen will shew the ridiculous Folly of your Pride and the Baseness of your Flatterers Polybius who may be called the Master and Model of good Historians had given the same Precepts as Cicero and Lucian A private Man says he Polybiuâ—… L. I. ought to love his Friends and his Country He may shew his Affection to those who do them good and his Aversion to their Enemies But when a Man has once put on the Person of an Historian he must forget all that Then you are often obliged to speak Good of your Enemies and to praise them when their Actions deserve it Farther you ought to blame your nearest Kindred and expose their Shame if they have committed unexcusable Faults Take Truth from History and it is like an Animal which has lost its Eyes What remains is useless Let none then scruple to reprehend his Friends and praise his Enemies Let him not fear on certain Occasion to condemn those Persons whose Merit he commonly extols Those who are at the Helm do not always succeed on the contrary they do not eternally commit Faults A good Author ought to judge of things without respect to Persons speaking of these as the Subject requires For my part I so little fear being Censured for the Fault Frenchmen are usually reproached with of being fond of their own Nation that I do not know whether I ought not to justifie my self here to my Countrymen for not speaking through the whole Series of this Work very Advantageously of France and its Government They would not do me Justice if they thought I was fallen out with my Native Land and this had introduced me to leave it I am a Frenchman and I think it an Honour to be so but I am not so partial to my Country as to think it far Superior to any other There is good Sense Merit and Virtue to be found in all places If some Nations have more Vivacity and Politeness than others these Advantages are not so considerable that they should set themselves
Regency of Mary de Medicis The Tryal and Execution of Ravillac The Condemnation of Mariana's Book and Doctrines The Funeral of Henry IV. The Good and Ill Qualities of that Prince The Regents Council resolve to send Aid to Juliers Edicts revoked to ease the People A Declaration in Favour of the Protestants The Prince of Conde's Return His Arrival at Paris Two Powerful Factions at Court The Prince of Conde Head of the one the Count of Soissons of the other The Mareschal de Bouillon attempts to unite the two Parties The Queen Traverses this Reunion The Rise of Conchini the new Marquess of Ancre The King of Spain's Prospect in renewing the Treaty of the double Marriage Differences between the Emperor Rodolphus and the Arch-Duke Matthias his Brother A Treaty of Peace between the two Brothers Matthias is Elected and Crowned King of Hungary The Discontent of the Protestants of Austria appeased Quarrels about Religion in Bohemia The Pacification of the Troubles in Bohemia The Diet of Prague in 1610. The Emperor gives the Elector of Saxony the Countries of Cleves and Juliers The Siege and taking of Juliers by Maurice Prince of Orange The Meeting at Cologne to determine the Affairs of Cleves and Juliers Reflections on the Coronation Oath The Oath that James I. King of England required of his Popish Subjects occasions a Dispute of the Independance of Sovereigns in Temporal Matters Paul V. forbids the English of his Communion to take the Oaths King James prints an Apology for his Oath without putting his Name to it He declares himself Author of the Apology He Addresses this to all the Princes and States of Christendom Coeffeteau writes against the Apology Cardinal Bellarmine addresses to the Emperor and all the Kings of the Papal Communion his Answer to the King of Englands Apology The Sentence of the Parlement of Paris against Cardinal Bellarmine's Discourse of the Authority of the Pope The King of Spain's Edict against the XI Volume of Cardinal Baronius his Ecclesiastical Annals Differences of the Marquess of Ancre with the Count of Soissons and the Duke of Epernon Their Reconciliation a Party made at Court against the Duke of Sully BOOK II. A Quarrel between Bellegarde and Conchini The Count of Soissons falls out with the Cardinal of Joyeuse and the Duke of Epernon A Difference of the Count of Soissons with the Prince of Conde his Brother The two Princes Reconciled Another great difference of the Count of Soissons and the Duke of Guise The Duke of Guise is Reconciled to the Count of Soissons The Duke of Sully's Disgrace The first President de Harlay lays down his Place A Cabal to hinder Mr. de Thou from succeeding him La d' Escouman charges the Marquess de Vernueil and the Duke of Epernon with being concerned in the Murther of Henry IV. She is Condemned Reflections on her Sentence The State of the House of Austria in Germany The Ambitious Designs of Leopold of Austria Bishop of Strasburgh and Passaw on the Kingdom of Bohemia The Troops of Leopold advance into Bohemia Matthias King of Hungary Marches to the Assistance of Bohemia He is Crowned King of Bohemia A Cabal at the Court of France against the Duke of Epernon The Cardinal of Joyeuse and the Duke of Epernon resolve to leave the Court. The Marquess of Ancre designs to Marry his Son to the Princess of Soissons The Count of Soissons accepts the Proposition The Duke of Epernon's Generosity The Cardinal of Joyeuse's Instructions upon his going to Rome The Regent justifies her self to Paul the V. upon what she did in Favour of the Protetestants Complaints of the Court of France against the Duke of Savoy The Perplexity of the Duke of Savoy upon the Death of Henry IV. The other Princes of Italy not less Embarassed than the Duke of Savoy The Prudent Conduct of the Senate of Venice The ill Designs of the Court of Spain against the Duke of Savoy Divers Treaties to oblige the King of Spain and the Duke of Savoy to Disarm in Italy The King of Spain demands the Duke of Savoy to make him Satisfaction by way of Preliminary France lays down her Arms in Dauphine She has some Jealousie of the Spaniards remaining in Arms in Italy The Voyage of Philibert Prince of Savoy into Spain The Form of the Satisfaction which the Prince of Savoy gave the King of Spain for his Father The Reconcilement of the Duke of Savoy to Spain Velasco Constable of Castile and Governor of Milan receives Order to lay down his Arms. Divers Projects of the Duke of Savoy The Duke of Savoy resolves to Attack Geneva and the Country of Vaux The Council of France resolves to protect them At length they force the Duke of Savoy to lay down his Arms. The Civil Meeting of the Protestants of France The Protestants preparation to hold a General Meeting The Mareschal of Bouillon suffers himself to be won by the Court The Meeting of the Reformed is Transferr'd from Chatelleraut to Saumur The Reconciliation of the Mareschal of Bouillon and the Duke of Sully The Protestants renew their Oath of Vnion The Duke of Sully's Affair proposed in the Meeting at Saumur The Duke of Sully's Remonstrance to the Assembly A Discourse between the Mareschal of Bouillon and the Duke of Rohan about the Duke of Sully's Affair The Assembly declares for the Duke of Sully The Court undertakes to break up the Meeting at Saumur A Division in the Meeting at Saumur The Wisdom of Du Plessis Mornay on that occasion The Book of Du Plessis Mornay against the Papacy The Book of Du Plessis Mornay is censured by the Faculty of Paris Reflections on this Censure The Troubles of Aix la Chapelle The Meeting of several Protestant Princes of Germany about the Affairs of Cleves and Juliers The Princes of the Protestant League meet at Rottenburgh in Bavaria The Death of the Elector of Saxony The Electoral Diet at Neurembergh The Elector's Requests to the Emperor The Emperor's Answer The Death of the Queen of Spain The Death of the Duke and Dutchess of Mayenne The Dutchess of Lorrain and the Cardinal of Gonzaga come to the Court of France The Count of Soissons discontented The Faculty of Paris Censures the three Panegyricks of Ignatius Loyola Reflections on the Miracles ascribed to Saint Ignatius and the Character given him Disturbances at Troies in Champagne about the Settlement of the Jesuits in that City The Process of the Vniversity of Paris against the Jesuits upon the opening their College there Disputes on the Questions of Grace and Predestination The Rise of Arminianism in Holland Vorstius is chosen to succeed Arminius James the I. King of England opposes the Election of Vorstius The King of England's Apology for his Conduct in the Business of Vorstius Revolutions in Sweden after the Death of Gustavus Ericson John King of Sweden Attempts to change the Religion Established by his Father Sigismund King of Sweden is chosen King of
Poland He succeeds to the Kingdom of Sweden Differences between King Sigismund and Charles Duke of Sudermannia The States of Sweden give the Regency of the Kingdom in the absence of King Sigismund to the Duke of Sudermannia The Duke of Sudermannia and the Senate of Sweden are divided King Sigismund Attempts in vain to reduce the Duke of Sudermannia by Force The States of Sweden depose King Sigismund Charles Duke of Sudermannia is chosen King of Sweden The King of Sweden sends the Challenge to the King of Denmark The Death of Charles King of Sweden BOOK III. THE State of France since the Regency of Mary de Medicis The Treaty of the double Marriage between France and Spain The double Marriage is concluded between the two Kings Intrigues in the Court of France when the Treaty of the double Marriage was known there The double Marriage at last passes in the Council of France The Popes Nuncio complains of the Sentence of Parlement on the Process of the Vniversity of Paris against the Jesuits The Nuncio's Invectives against the Advocate-General Servin The Nuncio's Advances to the Parlement to procure a Modification of the Sentence The Nuncio's Intrigues with the Clergy The Difficulties of the Jesuits to keep even in their Conduct to the Court of Rome and Parlement of Paris A Book of Doctor Richer Syndic of the Faculty of Paris makes a great Noise there The Cardinal du Perron and the Bishops of the Province of Sens assembled together to Condemn Richers Book Richer has the Syndicat of the Faculty of Paris taken from him Publick Rejoycings for the double Marriage New Disturbances in the Court of France The Duke of Mayenne is sent into Spain to demand the Infanta for the King Matthias King of Hungary and Bohemia is Elected Emperor after the Death of Rodolphus II. Antonio Memmi is chosen Doge of Venice after the Death of Leonard Donato The Embassy of the Mareschal of Bouillon into England The Discontent of the Mareschal Lesdiguieres Mary de Medicis depresses â—…e Factions of the Duke of Guise and Epernon The Count of Soissons undertakes to ruine the Ministers and engages outragiously to Attack the Chancellor de Sillery The Marquess de Coeuvres diverts the Count of Soissons from this Enterprize The Impostures of the Marquess of Ancres Some Persons suborned to accuse him of Magick The Affair of the Duke of Rohan at St. John of Angeli The Reconciliation of the French Protestant Lords The Protestation of the National Synod of Privas in the Name of all the Reformed Churches of France against the King's New Declaration The Entry of the Duke of Pastrane into Paris The Signing of the Marriage Articles between the Prince of Spain and the Eldest Daughter of France The Duke of Mayenne's Entry into Madrid The Signing the Marriage Articles between Lewis XIII and the Infanta of Spain A Conspiracy against the Duke of Parma A Discourse of Marrying Christina second Daughter of France to Henry Prince of Wales The Death of Henry Prince of Wales The Fortunes of Robert Carr in England The Death of the Count of Soissons A New Face of the Court of France The Condemnation of a Book of the Jesuit Becanus The Sentence of the Parlement of Paris against a Book of Schioppius Peace between the Crowns of Sweden and Denmark Revolutions in Muscovy A False Demetrius in Poland Demetrius enters Muscovy and causes himself to be Crowned there Demetrius and a great number of Poles are Massacred at Moscow Susky is made Czar of Muscovy and after lays down Ladislaus Prince of Poland is proclaimed Czar of Muscovy The Polanders are driven out of Muscovy and Michael Federovitz is elected Czar BOOK IV. THE Baron de Luz is killed by the Chevalier of Guise The Regents Anger against the Guises The Duke of Guise desires to combine with the Prince of Conde The Queen becomes jealous of the Prince of Conde The Violence and Mercenary Temper of the Duke of Guise The generous Sense of the Duke of Epernon The Regent is Reconciled to the Dukes of Guise and Epernon The Ancient Ministers are recalled The Confusion and Perplexity of the Prince of Conde The young Baron de Luz is killed again by the Chevalier of Guise The Death of Francis Duke of Mantua New Projects of the Duke of Savoy upon this occasion Artifices of the Duke of Savoy The Governor of Milan demands the Dutchess Dowager of Mantua and her Daughter The Regent of France opposes the Duke of Savoy's designs The Pope's Conduct in the Affair of Mantua The Republick of Venice supports the Cardinal of Mantua Ferdinand Cardinal de Gonzaga takes the Character of Duke of Mantua New Efforts of the Duke of Savoy to fetch away from Mantua the Princess Mary his Grand-daughter Ambitious Projects of the Duke of Savoy The Duke of Savoy carries Montserrat This Enterprize is the cause of New Metions in Italy Manifesto's of the Duke of Savoy and the Cardinal Duke of Mantua Artifices and Bravades of the Duke of Savoy His Intrigues at the Court of France are discovered The Marquess of Ancre being found Intriguing with the Duke of Savoy is exceedingly Embarassed The Ministers are reconciled to the Marquess of Ancre The Court resolves to send a powerful Aid to the House of Mantua The Queen is diverted from sending Aid so soon to the Cardinal Duke The King of Spain declares against the Duke of Savoy The Emperor requires the Duke of Savoy to desist from his Enterprize on Montferrat The Governor of Milan constrains the Duke of Savoy to submit to the King of Spain's pleasure A difference between the Duke of Nevers and the Governour of Milan The Marriage of the Elector Palatin to a Daughter of the King of England A Discourse concerning the Marriage of Charles Prince of Wales with Christina of France The Emperor Matthias comes to the Diet at Ratisbon The Catholicks and Protestants reciprocally complain of each other The ill success of the Diet at Ratisbon The Fortune of Bethlem Gabor Prince of Transilvania A difference between the Houses of Brandenburgh and Neuburgh about the Government of Cleves and Juliers Prince Wolfgang of Neuburgh Marries the Sister of the Duke of Bavaria and changes his Religion Difficulties to make the Peace concluded between the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua lasting The Governor of Milan presses the Duke of Savoy to Disarm The Dukes Evasion The Governor of Milan demands the Princess of Mantua on the King of Spains part The King of Spains Views in this demand The Republick of Venice traverses the King of Spain's Designs The Perplexity of Mary de Medicis in the Business of Mantua A Proposition made to the Council of France to cause Troops to march into Italy The Regent sends the Marquiss de Coeuvres into Italy to treat an Accommodation between the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua The vast Ambition of Conchini made a Mareschal of France and Galigai his Wife A Continuation of the Disputes about Grace
Extremities of the North to defend those of his Religion in Germany overthrows the ambitious Projects of the Courts of Vienna and Madrid The Emperor trembles and fears to lose his Hereditary Countries and France by the help of a League opportunely made with Sweden forces from the House of Austria part of her ancient Patrimony The Success of the Spanish Arms in Picardy strikes a Terrour into Paris it self The King of France comes out of his Capital to repulse the Enemy and cannot refrain from Tears to see the Fire advanced so near the Gates of his own Palaces The Revolutions on the other side the Pyrences change the Face of Affairs Catalonia surrenders to Lewis XIII and Portugal drives out the Spaniards and replaces the Duke of Bâ—…aganza on the Throne of his Ancestors Philip the IV. in a Consternation leaves Madrid to secure the Country of Arragon and reduce the Catalonians But no soonâ—…r does he begin this Expedition but he receives the unwelcome News that France had seized the Town of Perpigan and the County of Rousillon In this Variety of Events there may be â—…und many eminent Instances of Virtue â—…nd Vice Treachery richly rewarded â—…e highest Posts of Honour obtained by â—…e most infamous Crimes some few beâ—…owed on Merit great Preferments reâ—…cted with Contempt from Motives of â—…eligion and Probity Some great Lords â—…eanly ransom their Lives and Estates by coming Slaves to an Ambitious and Revengeful Cardinal Others threatned to be made a Sacrifice to his Passions and Interest with a Noble Haughtiness continue faithful to their Friends and suffer Death with an Heroick Courage This Fragment of the Modern History of France which I design to illustrate is so curious and full of Variety it would soon tempt a Man who would employ his Time in writing something Diverting and Instructive However the boldness of the Attempt has often awed me and perhaps it is above my Abilities If I praise the principal Actors who appear upon the Stage I am in danger of being censured for Flattery and if I speak too freely I am sure to be charged with Detraction Constant Panegyrick disgusts and incenses most Readers They love to have the Vices and secret Passions of Men laid open This Air of Freedom pleases and diverts them But if I should indulge this natural Inclination we have to heaâ—… others condemned will not the World too say I am making a Satyr and not wriâ—…ting a History I shall endeavour then to avoid theâ—… two Extremes with all possible Care have no Inducement to praise or blaâ—â— Persons who were almost all dead befoâ—â— I came into the World What particular Reason can I have to love or hate them The difference of Opinion in Matters Religion and Government shall not hind the from doing Justice to Merit or conmending what is worthy of Praise I am thanks to God in a Country where every one enjoys a Happiness which is so rare in this World to speak their reasonable Thoughts with freedom If I am not in a Capacity to do my Country Service I have the Liberty to deplore its Misfortunes The State of Europe and of France at the end of the Reign of Henry IV. Before I enter upon the Matter I shall promise some few Things of Henry the Fourth and the End of his Life It s necessary to know the Posture of Affairs in Europe and France when this latter lost one of the greatest Monarchs she ever had He employ'd the first Years of his Reign in reducing by force of Arms or gaining by Treaties all who had formed a potent League against him under Colour of Religion and in carrying on a War against Philip II. King of Spain This Ambitious Monarch had supported the League with a mighty Assistance of Men and Money out of a Design to place a Prince of his House on the Throne of France or at least to dismember that Monarchy whose Power was an invincible Obstacle to the vast Projects he had conceived But finding himself worn out with Infirmities of Body and seeing his Country quite exhausted by the Immense Sums he expended and the great number of Soldiers and Ships which he lost in his Wars against the Vnited Provinces of the Low Countries England and France Philip I say after so many Men and so much Treasure consumed in vain was glad to make Peace with Henry on such Conditions as the State of France not less exhausted than Spain could not give them leave to hope for Elizabeth Queen of England and the States of the Vnited Provinces made loud Complaints that the King abandoned his good and faithful Allies in preâ—…sing â—…o cagerly the Conclusion of the Treaty with Philip. Tâ—â—â— say they is a sure way to lose the favourable Opportunity of taking those Advantages against Spain which its low and declining Condition must have put in our Hands Henry excused this Proceeding of his as well as he could alledging the Incapacity of his Kingdom to support a Foreign War after it had been so miserably harass'd by a Domestick one which had lasted so many Years and was not yet well extinguished The Reason was specious But the King seemed impatient to give himself up to his Pleasures and with ease to enjoy so fair a Succession which he had purchased with so much Hazard and Trouble It must be own'd Henry had good Reason to distrust his Strength for the future The Duke of Mercoeur penned up in Britany would not have made his Peace if he had not believ'd that of Spain entirely resolv'd on Besides the Protestants of France who had served a King bred up amongst them with so much Courage and Constancy took Umbrage and Jealousie His changing his Religion and the Favours with which he purchased the friendship of the Great Men who had been Leagued against him began to Alarm them and his New Engagements to the Court of Rome their crael and implacable Enemy had like to have cool'd them Henry prudently confirmed his best Subjects by the Edict of Nantes which was concerted with great Industry and Deliberation Happy had they been if the Successors of this good Prince had left them peaceably to enjoy what he so justly granted them No sooner was Peace setled at home and abroad but Henry strove to win the Hearts of his Subjects by publishing he would labour incessantly to make them live in Ease and Plenty Several Manufactures were set up and some certain Duties taken off It is probable the great Debts he contracted and the engagement of a great part of his Revenue would not give him leave to take away divers others very burthensom and made him give ear to all Projects for bringing Money into his own Coffers But in all this he had the Address to prevent and stifle all Murmurs by making the French Nation since for a long time accustomed to patience believe his greatest desire was to make them happy The King flattered himself he should check the turbulent humour of divers great
of others and there is no need of â—…our preaching to us on that Chapter I cannot tell whether this answer made the Duke suspect these Men went to seize the Arsenal and the Bastile and that his Enemies were resolved to drive him out as soon as they could However this was Sully returns back shuts himself up in the Bastile takes away all the Bread in the Markets and Bakers Shops and writes to the Duke of Rohan his Son-in-Law Colonel General of the Swisses to come to Paris with six Thousand Men of that Nation which he commanded in Champagne In a word he seems to make Provisions to sustain a Siege in case any Attempt should be made to Dispossess him without his consent An Imprudent step and subject to the most Sinister Interpretations especially in a time of universal Jealousie and Distrust Whilst Sully confin'd himself in the Bastile Vie du Due de Epernon L. VI. others were providing for themselves by labouring for the Queen The Duke of Epernon had placed the Regiment oâ—… French Guards on the Pontneuf and in thâ—… Streets round the Convent of Augustinâ—… The Parlement was there at that time because the Courts were fitted up for the Feasts prepared against the Crowning oâ—… the Queen As soon as the Chamber were met by the care of the Presidenâ—… Seguier with whom the Duke haâ—… conferr'd he entered boldly into thâ—… Hall with his Sword taken out of thâ—… Belt It is yet says he in the Scabbarâ—… with a Rough Menacing Air. If the Queeâ—… be not declared Regent before the Court break up it must be drawn and I foresee there will be Blood spilt Some of you Gentlemen says he demand time to consider This is an unseasonable Prudence What I propose may be done now without Peril but to morrow it cannot without Blood The Duke added somewhat to soften so violent an Advance The Members lookt on one another astonished at the Novelty of the Proposition to put the Administration of the Government into the hands of the Queen without the participation of the Princes of the Blood and the Officers of the Crown The Magistrates remained for some time in a pensive Silence The first President de Harlay broke this at last and said in few words the Court was obliged to the Duke of Epernon for the Zeal he had shown for the Publick good and exhorted him always to retain Sentiments worthy of his Rank and Virtue This short and general Answer made Epernon reflect a little Far enough from perswading them the Soldiers were placed â—…round the Covent only to secure 〈◊〉 free Debate the Duke gave occasion to believe he intended to extort a Vote at any rate He went out of the Hall to give the Chambers liberty to deliver their Opinions without Constraint I â—…ave proposed said he as he withdrew the â—…est way There is no time to be lost La â—…uesle Procurator General who had his Hopes as well as the rest concluded in favour of the Queen and the Parlement awed declared her Regent during the under Age of her Son In the breaking up of the Assembly the wisest Men deplored more than before the Misfortune of their Country in losing a King whose Life was so necessary for its Welfare Now said they are we once again at the Discretion of an Italian Woman What good is to be expected from a Regent Prodigal Imperious and unexperienced Our dependance must be now on Galigai and Conchini her Husband Confidents of the Queen and Pensioners of Spain What Confusions will not their Covetousness and Ambition cause in the Court and Kingdom If the King added others had followed the Advice given him and drove out that Rabble who were always cherishing Jealousie and Discontent in the Queen perhaps we might not have had occasion now to bemoan the loss of so good a Prince It is well known Conchini and his Wife threatned the Person of the King if he attempted to punish their Villanies Might not People of this stamp suborn an Assassin â—â—â—moiâ—…es de â—â—â—â—gence de Mâ—…rie de Medicis The next day all was ferene at Paris Guise so well managed the humour of the Duke of Sully that he brought him to the Louvre to pay his Duty to the King and Queen Villeroy had disposed them to receive him kindly He insinuated incessantly to the new Regent that the ancient Ministers of her Husband being most acquainted with Affairs at home and abroad it would not be convenient to make any alteration in the Council The Secretary of State was afraid the Disgrace of the Superintendant might be of dangerous Consequence to the rest This was an Example might be made use of against Villeroy himself Sully made a set Speech to the Queen and being perswaded she was averse to the War with Spain and would unite her self with those her Husband sought to depress the Duke assured her Majesty he had endeavoured to divert the late King from his Designs The Duke of Vendome being luckily there Sully appeal'd to him for the truth of what he had said to his Father in his presence Base Courtier who Sacrificed so early the Reputation of his Benefactour to his wavering Fortune The Provinces followed the Example of the Capital Catholicks and Protestants alike submitted to the Regency of Mary All was calm in the Armies At the Sollicitation of his Father-in-Law the Duke of Rohan had brought the Swisses a days march towards Paris but Sully content with the good Reception of the Queen sending a speedy Countermand he returned back Gonzague Duke of Nevers who commanded the Army in Champagne made all the Officers swear Allegiance and the Mareschal Lesdiguieres kept that in Dauphine to their Duty The News being dispersed on all sides that the new King was Recognized by the Parlement the day after his Fathers Death and the Regency of the Widow was confirmed there in a Solemn manner this did not a little conduce to settle the Tranquility of the Remote Provinces The Constable the Peers of the Kingdom and the great Officers of the Crown Lewis XIII sits in his Seat of Justice the first time appear'd in the Parlement The King came thither followed by the Queen his Mother the Prince of Conti and the Count of Enghien Son of Soissons who was retired to an Estate in the Country Disgusted that some mark of Distinction was refused to his Wise at the Queens Coronation After every one had taken their place Mary began a small Discourse which she had premeditated Scarce had she uttered two or three Words but a shower of Tears hindred her from proceeding farther It was doubtful whether they proceeded from Grief or Joy Every one made what construction he pleased Resuming her Discourse after a sew Sighs Mercure Francois 1610. either Affected or Sincere I have brought you here my Son says the Queen to intreat you to take that care of him which you are obliged to do I conjure you to do this by
the Memory of his Father by the Love you ought to have for your selves and your Zeal for your Country I will instruct him to follow your Advice in all the concerns of State It is your part to see this be wholsom and good When she had done she came down within the Bar as if she would still give them a liberty to agree in their Opinions concerning the Regency The Princes Lords and Magistrates convinced there was more Ceremony than Reality in this begg'd her to take her place again Mary skill'd in the Art of Dissimulation suffer'd her self to be prest for a long time till the Instances she required seem'd to be a force on her Modesty and Grief Young Lewis rehearsed well enough the Discourse prepared for him It was not omitted here to insert the young King would follow the Advice of his Parliament This is a Language which ancient Custom has made usual in the beginning of a Minority but is never remembred by Princes when their Authority is once Established Ann of Austria and her Son said the same thing Nevertheless we have seen with our own Eyes in the present Reign and we shall see in that whose History I now write that Lewis XIII and his Successor have too much given ear to vile Flatterers who have prompted them to annul the Authority of a Body of Men on which the Preservation of France does depend Reisel Hist de Louis XII dans son livre de la Monarchie de France 1. part chap. VIII X. and which was Established to curb the Absolute power of the King Thus Men talked in the time of Lewis XIII And this Discourse is Seditious under the Reign of Lewis XIV The Chancellour assured them the late King had more than once signified his Intention according to divers preceding Examples that the Queen his Wife should have the Administration of Affairs in case he died before his Son was a Major After the Chancellor's Harangue was over the first President began He exhorted the young Prince to strive to deserve the Title of Father of his People as the good King Lewis XII had done on whose Throne he sat and to follow the Instructions which St. Lewis left to Posterity Servin Advocate-General did the same and all was concluded by the King's Decree sitting in his Seat of Justice and confirming that made the preceding Day and by sending it to other Parliaments and publishing it throughout the Kingdom The Speeches of these Two great Magistrates would have been worthy of their Gravity and Reputation if they had given less excessive Praises to a Princess who never deserved the most moderate ones The New Decree being given out the King returned with mighty Shouts and Acclamations of the Multitude who admire whatever strikes their Senses All People wished a long Prosperity to the Son of the Great Henry crying for Justice on the Authours of his Father's Death Happy had it been if the Prayers and Wishes of his Subjects could have obtained for him the Qualities of Mind and Inclinations necessary to tread in the Steps of the good Kings who preceded him the number of whom is very small But he had not Genius enough to acquire the one and his Mother would not permit him to have a Governour to form him for the other The Count of Soissons was extremely surprized to find all done in his Absence He made haste to Paris Intrigues and Cabals at Court in the beginning of the Regency of Mary de Medicis accompanied with Three Hundred Gentlemen on Horseback To lessen his Discontent which began to discover it self he had the Government of Normandy given him The Regent next rewarded those who had servâ—…d her well The Pensions of the Princes of the House of Lorrain were very moderate in the preceding Reign But Sully who strove to support the greatest Enemies of his Religion raised them to a Hundred thousand Livres The Duke of Guise obtained Two Hundred Thousand Crowns to pay his Debts and the Queen promised to favour him in the Design he had to marry the Heiress of Joyeuse Widow of the Duke of Montpensier by whom she had only One Daughter Epernon was so wealthy and had such Places he seem'd above the Gratifications of the Court He was rewarded according to his own Humour He had great Honours done him and all the Marks of a particular Distinction The Queen lodg'd him in the Louvre I do not said she Vie de Duc d' Epernon L. IV. think my self safe there wihtout him The Secretaries of State communicated all Dispatches to him In a word he seemed on the Point to render himself as formidable now as he had been under the Reign of the weak Henry III. The Count of Soissons sought his Friendship with great earnestness He He aimed by this to strengthen himself against the Prince of Conde who was invited to return and take his Rank at Court The Princess of Montpensier was Daughter to a Niece of the Duke of Epernon and the Count hoped to bring the Wealth of that rich Family into his House by marrying his Son to that Heiress This Match could not be concluded without the Consent of the Uncle Soissons hated Sully mortally He flatter'd himself that Epernon exasperated against that Minister who had done very ill Offices to the One and the Other with the late King would join with him to rid themselves of their common Enemy The Duke did not refuse the Friendship of a Prince of the Blood but would not engage to serve him in all his Projects The Edge of the Count was not taken off by this He proposes to his new Friend to stab the Duke of Sully in the Louvre A base and cowardly Action unworthy I will not say of a Prince but of the meanest Man in the World It struck with Horror one who valu'd himself on his Virtue and Probity Epernon reply'd as civilly as he could his Trust would not permit him to suffer a Violence of that kind in the King's House The Count took this Denyal ill However the secret Desire he had to raise himself above the Prince of Conde who fill'd a Place that Soissons thought belonged of Right to him made him dissemble his ill Humour Could Epernon after this maintain a Friendship with a Man who had discover'd so villainous a Heart However great a Prince is by his Birth or Interest he can deserve nothing but Hatred and Contempt when he once becomes guilty of so black a Crime Jealousies broke out and Intrigues grew numerous State of Affairs in the beginning of the Regency when the Debates began about forming the Regents Council The Princes of the Blood justly pretended to have a place there by Right of their Birth The Constable of Montmorency and the Duke of Joyeuse thought they ought not to be excluded Those of the House of Guise assured of the good Intentions of the Queen towards them hoped to raise themselves They were too weak
Prince The Mareschal de Bouillon undertakes to Reunite both Pazties he made his Account of had neither Genius nor Courage to follow the steps of his Predecessors he resolved to reconcile himself with the Court. Bouillon would have put himself at the Head of the Protestants of France He had thought of this in the preceding Reign But the Dukes of Sulli and Rohan the Mareschal Les Diguieres and divers other considerable Persons of the Party were no Friends to him So he made new Protestations of his Devotion to serve their Majesties He proposes to the Marquess de Coeuvres the Reconciling of the two Princes I 'll undertake to dispose Conde says the Mareschal to the Marquess if you will treat with Soissons who has a Regard for you Sillery Villeroy and Jeannin govern whilst the Princes and great Lords are divided among themselves Let us Reunite the contrary Parties without prejudice to the Queens Authority This is the only way to remove these great Ministers and reduce the rest to the simple discharging the Duties of their Places The Queen Traverses the Vnion of the Princes and great Lords The Count of Soissons was afraid this was a Trick of the Mareschal He imagined if those of his Party gave ear to Bouillon's Proposition he would inform the Queen and create a Distrust in her of the Count and his Friends The Cardinal of Joyeuse was of another Opinion perhaps he sincerely meant the Good and Repose of the State The Cardinal then obtained the consent of Soissons to treat with the Mareschal upon the Subject The Queen to whom the Count communicated the Accommodation proposed seem'd to be well satisfied with it however underhand she Traversed it The Ministers made her sensible that if the two Princes of the Blood the Constable of Monimorency the Dukes of Guise and Epernon the Mareschal of Bouillon and the Cardinal of Joyeuse were once agreed her Authority would be much diminished by it The Regent thought it better to keep up Jealousies and Misunderstanding between contrary Factions and gain the Heads of both by her Favours The Rise of Conchini the new Marquess of Ancre The Failing of so many Projects made the Mareschal of Bouillon resolve to retire to Sedan at the same time preparations were making for the Inauguration of the King The Mareschals Religion would not give him leave to assist at the Ceremony But before he left the Court for some time he was resolved to make a powerful Friend near the Regent This was Conchini Husband of Leonora Galigai a Confident of Mary de Medicis He had lately bought the Marquisate of Ancre in Picardy As his Favour encreased every day he had obtained the Governments of Peronne Montdidier and Roie in the same Province So sudden a Rise made all the Ministers uneasie I cannot tell whether the Count of Soissons and those of his Party neglected a New Favourite whom they did not think able to serve or hurt them However this was Conchini strove to gain the good will of the Prince of Conde This Man was the Instrument which the Queen employed to divert the Prince and Duke of Guise from hearkning to the Accommodation proposed by the Mareschal of Bouillon the Mareschal was too discerning a Man not to see the Friendship of the Marquess of Ancre might be of great Service to him He offer'd to lay down his Place of first Gentleman of the Chamber if Conchini would buy it the Bargain was soon concluded The King of Spains Prospect in the double Match All Foreign Princes the Republick of Venice and that of the Vnited Provinces had sent Ambassadours to the New King The ancient Alliances were renewed and Lewis with all Solemnity received in the Church of the Feuillans the Garter which the Ambassadour of England brought him from James I. The Duke of Feria appeared with great Pomp and Splendour in the Name of the King of Spain Not being able to embroil France by means of the Prince of Conde Philip offered his Forces to Mary against all those who should disturb her in her Regency The Ambassadour again proposed the double Marriage which his Master had made an offer of to the late King Philip knew very well he could not propose any thing more agreeable to the Regent The present posture of Affairs of the House of Austria required her speedily to conclude a Treaty which might give her time to settle her Affairs in Germany and raise Jealousie and Distrust among those Princes who were Allies of France And because the Marriage could not so soon be finished the King obtain'd Mary's Word that France should not meddle in the Affairs of the House of Austria in Germany and he engaged himself reciprocally not to hear any Propositions which the Disaffected Party in France should make him Behold now how the Court of Madrid was Embarassed Differences between the Emperour Rodolphus and the Archduke Matthias his Brother The Emperour Rodolphus extremely broken seem'd not likely to live a long time Endeavours were used to secure the Empire in the House of Austria by the Election of a King of the Romans Rodolphus lived in a misunderstanding with his Brethren and the Protestants were very powerful The King of Spain was afraid some Men should make use of so favourable an Opportunity to remove the Empire from a House which possest it for too long a time and seeks to make it Hereditary The Archduke Matthias taking advantage of the weakness of the Emperour his Brother had carried on in the Year 1608. a Confederacy between the States of Hungary and Austria He marched sometime after towards Moravia at the Head of an Army of twenty Thousand Men with a design to compel Rodolphus to yield up the Kingdom of Hungary the Arch-dutchy of Austria and Stiria and Moravia Matthias took the Pretext of ill Administration and Infractions of the Privileges of those Countries who after the Example of the ancient Germans never gave their Princes an Arbitrary Unlimited Power A Fundamental Maxim of Government in all States formed out of the Ruines of the Roman Empire Philip II King of Spain had attempted to Abolish the Privileges of the Hereditary Provinces of the Low Countries and he took them away entirely from the Kingdom of Arragon the first Magistrate of which would have opposed the unjust Oppressions of Antonio Perez The Archduke Matthias next Kinsman to Philip better instructed than that cruel Tyrant in the Maxims of lawful Government made no scruple to place himself at the Head of the Vnited Provinces for the Defence of their Liberty against the Spaniards At present too the same Archduke makes without scruple War on his Brother who violates the Privileges of the States of Hungary and Austria If Rodolphus gave just cause for this Opposition or not it is not a place here to examine the Fact I only Remark that in the first years of an Unfortunate Age in which Tyranny has Established it self almost every
King is Master of the Body and the Goods of his Subjects The Courtiers who instil'd this Doctrine into Sovereigns this Judicious Divine without Ceremony calls Dogs and Court-Parasites To prevent the ill effects of the bad Politicks of the Cardinal Director of the Education of King Lewis the XIV they printed the same things during the Minority of that Prince Neither the Bookseller nor the Author did dare to set their Name to it This Book was writ by a Churchman Eminent for his Learning and Probity Mr. Jolli Chantre de Nôtre-Dame de Paris Maximes veritables impnrtantes pour l'institution du Roi. He since enjoyed one of the first Dignities of the Church of Paris but what was spoken freely to Henry the II. and what was published covertly about 50 years since the French would have now lost the Memory of if it were as easie to forget as it is to be silent to avoid Danger all Books of this kind are now burnt by the hands of the Hangman Can those unworthy Magistrates who order this believe that the flames by consuming of Paper will erase out of the Hearts of good Frenchmen those Sentitiments that right Reason hath deeply inscrib'd in them The Oath which James the 1. King of England requirâ—…d of his Pâ—…pish Subjects caus'd a Dispute concerning the Independance of Sovereignty in Temporal Matters The Parlement of Paris on the 26th day of November the same year made a Decree for the Suppression of the Treatises which Cardinal Bellarmin a Jesuit had published concerning the power of the Pope in Temporal Matters since this new Book was a Consequence of the Dispute of the Author with James the first King of Great Britain upon the occasion of the Oath which that Prince required of the Roman Catholicks of England I will in a few words Relate the beginning and Progress of the Controversie After the Horrible Gunpowder Plot King James thought for his own Safety it was necessary to require the English Papists to take a particular Oath of Allegiance to him The Form of this was so ordered that it might not offend the Conscience of those who without renouncing their Religion would pay that duty to their Sovereign they rightfully ow'd him In this they acknowledg'd the Pope had no right to Depose Kings or dispose of their Kingdoms or any Foreign Prince to Invade them or Absolve their Subjects of their Oath of Allegiance or Command them to take Arms against their Sovereign they promis'd farther to be faithful to the King and serve him notwithstanding all that the Pope should attempt against him or his Successors and to discover all Conspiracies which should come to their Knowledge They Abjured and Detested as Impious and Heretical the Doctrine of those who teach it is lawful to Depose and Assassinate Princes Excommunicated by the Pope and lastly they protested they believed that neither the Pope nor any other power could dispense with the keeping of their Oath and Renounced all Dispensations which the Pope might think fit to give The thing appear'd reasonable to the English Papists the Nobility Gentry Priests and all others swore in this Form George Blackwell nominated Arch-Priest of England by the Pope not content with taking the Oath himself wrote in Defence of it against all its Opposers Paul V. forbids the English of his Communion to take the Oath The Court of Rome made a quite different Judgment in the matter Thinking Men were not surpriz'd at it a Proposition which she makes one of the Fundamental Articles of her Religion was here Rejected as Impious and Heretical Whatever be said on this Subject those who approve the Oath reason inconsequently if they own the Pope for the Vicar of Jesus Christ Paul V. scared at these proceedings of the English Catholicks without his Knowledge and Consent sent a Brief immediately to forbid them to take an Oath Inconsistent as he said with the Catholick Faith and the Salvation of their Souls These Expressions are as moving and strong as if he designed to disswade these poor People from subscribing the most Impious Tenets against the Divinity of Jesus Christ This thundering Brief discompos'd them so much they thought they could not do better then regard it as Subreptitious or Spurious His Holiness not being well inform'd of the proceedings in England King James his Apology for his Oath without setting his Name to it They were not suffered long to remain in this voluntary Mistake Paul soon dispatch'd another Brief to confirm the first Cardinal Bellarmin was the greatest and most eminent Champion of the Pontifical Power since the Death of Cardinal Baronius which happened not long before Bellarmin I say wrote a well studied Letter to Blackwell to reduce him into the right way A more passionate Remonstrance could scarce have been made to one who had renounc'd the Gospel and embrac'd the Alchoran This made James loose all Patience he wrote himself to defend his Oath against the two Briefs of the Pope and the Letter of Bellarmin and now he did not set his Name to the Work Had not a King better forbore Writing at all and left this care to another This good Prince own'd himself publickly that it became a King more to Judge than Dispute A little Jesuit made a Cardinal by blotting of Paper was not an Adversary worthy of a great Monarch Borghese behav'd himself like a King and James acted the part of a Doctor one Commanded and the other Disputed Except a Prince then write as Julius Caesar or Marcus Aurelius he is in the wrong to become an Author Julian was pleas'd to take his Pen to defend his Philosophick Gravity and Religion and with all his Learning made himself Contemptible and Ridiculous The King of England declares himself Author of the Apology to the Princes and States of Christendom Bellarmin did not fail to reply to the King but under a borrowed Name A Learned Prelate of England undertook to refute the Cardinal he shewed that before Gregory the VII no Ecclesiastical Writer had attempted to maintain the Authority of the Pope over the Temporalities of Sovereigns The King of England caused another Edition of his Apology to be printed and declared himself the Author of it Shall I say he thought in this to do himself Honour by becoming a Champion for the common cause of all Sovereigns or had a mind to display a Learning not very common in Persons of his Rank The Work appeared with a very pompous Preface at the Head of it This was a Manifesto addressed to all the Kings Princes and other Republicks of Christendom to give an account of his Oath and his Conduct with regard to his Roman Catholick Subjects Rouse your selves it is high time said the King to them The Common Interest of all Sovereigns is concerned a Formidable and Obstinate Enemy is undermining the Foundations of your Power unless you act in Concert to put a stop to the Progress he makes every Day
Excommunicates and Absolves by himself or his Magistrates all Laymen and Ecclesiasticks Bishops and Cardinals themselves residing in his Kingdom This Right say they farther though derived from the Holy See is now Irrevocable it is the Sovereigns Property Thus the King of Spain is alike in Spirituals and Temporals and has the same Right there as the Pope has in Countries under his Obedience Joan the foolish Mother of Charles V. and divers other Princesses who Reigned alone Sicily every one of these Ladies were Sanctissimo Padre This Title was given them and their Magistrates They might in this Quality preside in Provincial and National Councils or substitute others in their Room The Kings of Spain are so jealous of this rare Prerogative that in the Reign of Charles V. a Vice-Roy of Sicily Collected all the Titles and Acts which serve for the Justification of it Three Authentick Copies of this Collection were drawn at the same time by order of the Viceroy In the year 1698. one was exposed to Sale in London it had been brought away the last time Barcelona was taken by the French I had it a pretty while in my Hands The Right Reverend the Bishop of Norwich curious in all good Books did not purchase it too dear considering the rarity of the Manuscript This is a Collection like that of the Proofs of the Liberties of the Gallican Church It contains chiefly divers Judgments given in the Tribunal commonly called of the Monarchy of Sicily The Cardinal Baronius in the eleventh Tome of his Annals vigorously Attacked this Spiritual Power which the Catholick Kings ascribe to themselves without Scruple A Right never heard of says the Cardinal A Right that Frederick the Second and his Children those unjust Tyrants and Rebellious Persecutors of the Roman Church never were so Audacious as to usurp This caused a great Contest between Baronius and the Cardinal Colonna who pretended his Brother had no Reason to set himself so violently against the King of Spain The Court of Madrid was so displeased at the Author of the Annals that she procured him to be excluded in a Conclave where he had 37 Voices At last upon the 3d of October 1610. Philip III. published an Edict where after great Complaints made against the Invectives of Baronius and a long Enumeration of the Services which the Kings of Spain and Sicily his Predecessors had done for the Church of Rome he forbids his Subjects on severe Penalties to Read or Sell the Eleventh Volume of Baronius Annals till the place Repugnant with the Monarchy of Sicily was Expunged Servin knew very well the example of the King of Spain was of great weight with Mary de Medicis who every day contracted new Tyes to Philip he hoped this would hinder the Regent from taking exception at the Proceedings of the Parlement against Bellarmine's Book The Advocate General was deceived in his Conjecture The Queen was not less devoted to the Court of Rome than that of Madrid The Nuncio in Spain did not dare to open his Mouth against the Edict of Philip. The Popes Agent was bolder and more Successful in France At his Sollicitation the Regent ordered the Execution of the Decree of Parlement against Bellarmine's Book to be Superseded The Enemies of the Sovereign Power of Kings ever had Liberty of Speaking and Writing Differences of the Marquiss of Aucre with the Count of Soissons and Dpke of Epernon The Marquess of Ancre a Favourite of Mary's began to be insupportable to the Princes and first Lords of the Court. In the Kings Journey to Rheims the Servants of the Machioness had some Contest with those of the Cardinal Joyeuse about Lodgings Conchini made first Gentleman of the Chamber had likewise a Dispute about the Precedence with Bellegarde Great Esquire at the Publick Entry of the King into Paris on his return from his Inauguration The Duke of Epernon a Kinsman of Bellegarde declared against Conchini Mem. de la Regence de Marie de Medicis and the Count of Soissons enraged at him for assisting the Duke of Guise to marry the Dowager of Montpensier would not any more speak to the Marquess of Ancre The Enmity of two such powerful Men made him very uneasie He labour'd to be reconciled to them Soissons was not very averse to this but he required the Marquess and his Wife should serve him in two Things which he passionately desired to marry the Count of Enghien his Son to the Princess Heiress of Montpensier and to ruine the Duke of Sully Their Reconciliation For the first Proposition the Marquess delivered himself in General Terms to those who were concerned in this Accommodation He spoke more positively on the Article of the Duke of Sully in case the Ministers would side with him Conchini did not love the Duke He was afraid the Interest of an Old Minister might be an Obstacle to his growing Favour Nevertheless the Count of Soissons did not dare to conclude this Reconciliation till the Duke of Epernon was satisfied It was not so easie to bring down his Haughty and Stubborn Spirit who pretended to be his own Support independently on all Favourites Epernon required Conchini should come to him and make him Satisfaction in the presence of the Count of Soissons He blown up with his Favour and New Honour refused that Submission to the Duke which he could without meanness make to a Prince of the Blood Soissons found an Expedient which might be a Salvo for the Nicety of the one and satisfie the Haughty Humour of the other The President Jeannin had presented Conchini to the Count after those Compliments had passed which were agreed oâ—… before the two New Friends sate down to play together The Game being over It is not enough says Soissons to the Marquess that we are Reconciled You must have a right understanding with all my good Friends I am going to make a visit to onâ—… of them I beg your Company I am disposed to do what you please replyed Conchini They were soon at the Hôtel of Epernon all things were carried there to thâ—… content of both Parties That which 〈◊〉 lookt on as a Trifle amonst Private Meâ—…passes for a weighty Matter with greaâ—… ones A Party formed at Court against the Duke 〈◊〉 Sully There was no need to take much painâ—… to gain the Ministers over to act in Concert with the others to ruine the Duke of Sully He had a Misunderstanding witâ—… Villeroy the only Man of their Number who had taken pains to keep him in Employ Sharp and Affronting words paâ—…sed between them in the Council in thâ—… Queens Presence Villeroy who though himself to be the more necessary and to have the better Interest leaves the Court. This was a sort of Menace that he would not return as long as Sully had a share in the Government The Regent her self was inclin'd to dismiss him A Protestant could not be very grateful to a Princess who blindly
what passed at Madrid When he heard his Son was received with great Haughtiness and Indifference That the Duke of Lerma boasted he had a Copy of the Treaties made with France and that the Court required Prince Philibert to ask pardon in the Name of his Father Charles Emanuel fell into so furious a Rage that for a long time he could not contain himself within the Bounds of Decency I will sooner lose my Life 〈◊〉 Siri Memorie recondite Tom. II. p. 424 425. my Children my Dominions than consent to any thing so unworthy of my Rank Am I then a Vassal to the Crown of Spain that I must ask Philip's pardon for making a Treaty which does not suit â—…ith his Interests There is now no need for management thanks be to God I am not so weak but I can hazard a Battle against Spain Let them Treat my Son ill Let them break the Laws of Hospitality These Hardships shall not oblige me to do so mean an Action When the Pope's Nuncio undertook to represent to the Duke that the State of his Affairs would not allow him to refuse to make some sort of Submission to his Catholick Majesty he was more Transported than before he said a Thousand nasty things he protested he would never consent tho' the Pope himself should order him The Nuncio was not Diverted by this he briskly told the Duke that he must not expect any Aid from France whatever happened if his Country became the Stage of a War it must unavoidably be ruined So that Charles Emanuel convinced at last by the News he had from France that the Regent would assist him with all her good Offices at the Court of Spain he consented Prince Philibert should make Satisfaction according to the Form agreed on with the Duke of Lerma The thing was done the 19th of November 1610. At the Intreaty of the Pope and the King of France replied Philip with his usual Gravity In consideration you are come hither and the Request you have made me I will not put in Execution what I have designed I will give Marks of my good will to the Duke your Father as his good Behaviour shall induce me Prince Philibert made a profound Reverence and humbly thanked the King for his Majesty's Gracious Regard to the Duke of Savoy had always Velasco Constable of Castile and Governor of Milan receives orders to Disarm Philip answered to the Pope and the rest who prest him to withdraw his Troops out of the Milanese that he must wait till Velasco who was appointed to Succeed the Count of Fuentes was Arrived at Milan He was on the Road when the Prince of Savoy performed the Conditions proposed to him The Pope and Mary de Medicis redoubling their Instances to Philip to Disarm he was under a necessity of complying As soon as Velasco was in Possession of his Government he received Orders from Philip to Disband the Army The posture of Affairs of the House of Austria in Germany were so bad and the Kingdom of Spain was so much exhausted of Men and Money that Philip â—…ad no other way to revenge himself of an inferiour Prince who had attempted to take the Milanese from him Nay France and the Pope were forâ—…ed to assist him privately to save his Honour Without this Charles Emanuel would have been a Match for him and the King of Spain would not have dared to attack him Different Projects of the Duke of Savoy The Duke of Savoy was ready to burst with Spight to see himself made the sport of all Europe He resolved to defer laying down his Arms as long as he could and to make his Advantage of the Troops he had on Foot Sometimes he would declaim against the King of Spain and made a Mein as if he would Disavow all the steps of Prince Philibert At others he was violent against the Regent of France and threatned to make work for her in her own Kingdom in case she would not perform the Treaties made with the late King One day he thought of Surprizing Genoa and for that purpose enter'd into a Negotiation with the Mareschal Lesdiguieres because the thing was not fesible without the Concurrence of France Some time after he Resumed his old Project on the City of Geneva Filled with new Hopes he strove to engage the Pope and Constable of Castile to favour him in the design to destroy a Common-weath equally hateful to the Courts of Rome and Madrid Charles Emanuel was on the point of Surprizing Geneva at the end of 1602. Some of his Men were got upon the Walls and ready to open the Gates to the Duke who was come near it if the Enterprize had not been happily discovered In the year 1609 he hoped to succeed better on the side of the Harbour The Contrivance was to conceal divers Soldiers in Vessels loaded with Wood and to run these down the River The second Attempt was defeated sooner than the first Du Terrail Head of this Enterprize imprudently spoke of it to some Persons who gave the Magistrates of the City notice to be upon their Guards After this in the Spring time 1611. the Duke of Savoy thought to try if he might not succeed better with open Force The Duke of Savoy resolves to Attack Geneva and the Country of the Valleys His Troops were ordered to pass out of Piemont into Savoy This sudden Motion of a Restless Ambitious Prince gave great Suspicions at first he strove to conceal his Designs on the Country of Geneva but the Inhabitants of the Town and those of the Canton of Bern soon discovered them They first Addressed themselves to the Mareschal Lesdiguieres and desired him to procure Assistance from the Regent Lesdiguieres promised his good Offices Before he wrote to Court he laid before the Duke his Friend that Geneva and the Country of Vaux as being under the protection of France she would not fail to defend them Charles Emanuel did not seem to give much heed to these Discourses and therefore the Mareschal earnestly prest the Queen and her Councel to oppose the Designs of the Duke they saw very well the Consequences La Nove Son to that Brave and Religious Gentleman who gain'd so fair a Reputation in the Wars of France and the Low Countries had order to go to Geneva with two Thousand Foot and the Canton of Bern received New Assurances of the King's Protection The Council of France resolves to protect Geneva and the County of Vaux Bellegarde Gentleman of the Horse was sent into Burgundy and the Marquiss of Alincourt to Lyons to watch the Duke of Savoy's Motions Berrault appointed Ambassador extraordinary at Turin went to represent to Charles Emanuel that his Enterprize would have troublesom Consequences and declare directly that the Regents Council were gathering Troops to defend a Town and Country which the Predecessor of Lewis the XIII had taken into the Protection of their Crown The Duke who reckoned on the
the New Institution was Dangerous to the Faith capable of disturbing the Peace of the Church and in one Word more tending to destroy than edifie When the Jesuits desired to be incorporated in the University she rejected them with Indignation and Contempt When they attempted to teach publickly she opposed them with Vigour The Pasquiers and Arnauds undertook her Defence The Learned Arguments are still extant in which they lay before the Parlement of Paris the Reasons which the University had to declare against this Hermaphrodite Body said they which is neither Ecclesiastical nor Regular The Attempt of John Chastel against the Person of Henry IV. was the cause which moved the Parlement of Paris whose most Eminent Members were bred in that University to give a terrible Sentence against them commanding all Jesuits to remove out of Paris and all other Cities within three days and out of the Kingdom in fifteen branding them for Corrupters of Youth Disturbers of the Publick Peace and Enemies to the King and Government After when Henry IV. at the Sollicitation of the Pope at the Instigation of Sillery and Villeroy and Instances of de la Varenne the Infamous Minister of his Pleasures had granted them his Letters Patents for their Reestablishment the President de Harlay employed all the power of his Wit and Eloquence to perswade the King this Act of his was inconsistent with the Safety of his Person the Preservation of his Authority and the Welfare of his Kingdom But neither the Decrees of Sorbonne nor the excellent Discourses of two Illustrious Advocates nor the wise Remonstrances of the gravest Magistrate of that time could hinder the King from being worse advised than the Mayor and good Commonalty of Troies in Champagne Henry resolved to forget the League was first conceived among the Jesuits and that Barricre and Chastel who made an Attempt on his Life were instructed and pushed on by Varade and Guignard Jesuits His Imprudence cost him dear poor Prince Ravillac profited by the Doctrines and Lessons of the Writers and Doctors of the Society The World was not exceedingly Surprized to see them within three Months after the bloody Death of Henry IV when all the Preachers of Paris were exclaiming against the Jesuits and an Infinity of Pamphlets had been published to expose their Temper and Doctrines have the boldness to desire a Permission from the New King to open their College of Clermont Mercure Francois 1611. which had been shut up ever since their first coming to Paris and to make their Publick Lectures there All Men were now pretty well acquainted with the humour of that Body A long experience had taught them that they are not confounded with Noise That Just and Reasonable Confusion which makes other Men fearful and modest encreases the Courage and Boldness of these good Fathers That which most amazed all Honest Men was to see the Regent and her Council give the Jesuits Letters Patents to be confirmed in Parlement at the same time that these Magistrates all well affected to the King and Government 's Repose declared peremptorily in their Decrees that the Doctrines of Mariana and some other Writers of the Society had plunged the Knife in the Heart of the two last Kings of France Father Coton was not less busie in the Hall than at Court He demanded the entring the King's Letters with the same boldness that he had Sollicited the Regent and her Ministers for them But the Rector and the Faculties of the University of Paris opposing this the Decision of the Affair was remitted till the following year During a pretty long delay caused by the Proceedings and Formalities of Law the Jesuits got together four-score or a hundred Scholars whom they taught in the College of Clermont At length the matter came to a publick Hearing This was in the Month of December 1611. La Merteliere Advocate for the University made a long Discourse where he repeated with Emphasis what Pasquier Arnaud and the first President de Harlay had formerly said against the Jesuits He added all they had been accused of having done in England Holland at Venice Genoa and elsewhere The Divinity of these good Fathers was not forgot He shewed the Corruption and Danger of it In the last place the University concluded by the Mouth of her Advocate that if the Parlement would not have regard to her wholsom Remonstrances she should at least have the Consolation of having done her Duty and having given more than once by her repeated Oppositions to the Enterprizes of the Society a certain Testimony of her sincere and continual Affection for the Service of the King and the Good of her Coutry Montholon Advocate for the Jesuits answered in a very short Discourse He affected too to speak so low that the greatest Part of the Auditory could not hear his Defence After this Hardivillier Rector of the University spoke a long Harangue in Latin This was rather the Declamation of a College Rhetorician than a Solid and Eloquent Discourse The Advocate General Servin spoke according to Custom after the rest and concluded in favour of the University The Parlement being tired with the Importunities of the Jesuits thought of a good Expedient to free themselves They proposed to them to subscribe to four Articles repugnant to the Doctrines imputed to them You cannot be incorporated with the Vniversity nor have Permission to teach publickly said the Magistrate to the good Fathers unless your Sentiments agree with those of the Sorbonne This Turn was well devised They foresaw the Jesuits would never sign such Propositions for fear of incurring Displeasure at Rome and their Refusal would clear the Parlement at Court for not passing the King's Letters Can we the Magistrates might have said allow a Body to teach publickly which refuses to subscribe the Doctrine commonly received in France The first President de Verdun then ordered eight Jesuits to be called who were in Court to hear the issue of their Cause Will you says he to them Subscribe these four Propositions and undertake your General shall likewise do it The first was That a General Council is above the Pope The second That the Pope has no power over the Temporalties of Sovereigns and that he cannot deprive them by Excommunication The third That a Priest who by way of Confession comes to the Knowledge of a Design or Conspiracy against the Person of a King or his Government or any Act of High Treason is obliged to Reveal the Matter to the Magistrate The fourth That Church-men are Subjects of the Temporal Prince and Civil Magistrate The Provincial of the Jesuits did not know how to extricate himself in this difficulty In our Statutes says he with a Modest and Devout Air taking a Book and setting himself to read We have a positive Order to obey the Laws of the Country where we live but we cannot promise any thing for our General We will write to him upon this Matter and do all we can
Religion They abolished the Liturgy and Ceremonies introduced by the late King and reassumed those of the Protestants of the Ausburgh Confession They elected an Archbishop who was well affected and deprived those of the Clergy who had devoted themselves to serve the late King in his Innovations The Swedes and the Goths only assisted aâ—… this Assembly The other Provinces weâ—â— afraid of displeasing King Sigismond iâ—… they engaged without his Consent Thâ—… Decrees of the Council were confirmed by the Duke of Sudermannia by the Senate the Clergy the Nobility the Ministers of State and the Burgo-Masterâ—… who were present Those who were noâ—… there subscribed after Sigismond and his Uncle Charles observed each other The Nephew's Distrust was encreased by Charles his demanding that before he left Sweden his Majesty would give him a Promise under his Hand that he would confirm the Liberties and Priviledges of the States of the Kingdom and suffer them to enjoy the same Freedom of Religion they had done under the Reign of Gustavus Ericson and in the beginning of the late King 's The Duke of Sudermannia farther represented to the King that the ill Condition of his Country would not admit him to carry much People away with him These Instructions and Demands increased Sigismond's Jealousie He thought his Uncle plainly discovered he had vast Designs Sigismond was resolved not to heed the Duke's Remonstrances And now Charles had greater Hopes than ever to embarass the new King when he saw the Poles gave Sigismond leave to go into his Hereditary Country under Condition to keep his ancient Oath not to abandon Poland as Henry III. King of France had done â—…nd that his Majesty should return when he â—…ad setled his Affairs in Sweden and have â—…is usual Residence amongst them The Swedes were disatisfied the new King had plainly declared the Decrees â—…ade at Vpsal in his Absence and without â—…is Consent to be null However they reâ—…eived him with great Marks of Joy â—…nd Affection Duke Charles withdrew â—â—fter he had made his Compliments to his Majesty He thought it proper to leave â—…im alone with the Council of his Kingâ—…om The Pope's Nuncio who was with â—…igismond much disquieted the Swedes â—…t was visible the new King hearkened to â—…he Councils of the Court of Rome He â—…roke the Regulations made at Vpsal and commanded another Archbishop to be chosen He who was raised to that Digâ—…ity was in his Opinion an Enemy to the late King Afterwards he demanded a Church in every great Town for the Roman Catholicks The States of the Kingdom and the Clergy vigorously opposed his Enterprize being assured of the Protection of the Duke of Sudermannia The time of the Coronation approaching the Senators demanded in the Name of the States of Sweden that the King should first promise under his Hand-writing not to hinder the Exercise of the Protestant Religion Sigismond replied only in general Terms that he would give his Subjects satisfaction after his Coronation All these Difficulties retarded the Ceremony The Quarrel between King Sigismond and Charles Duke of Sudermannia Men cover Liberty and Independence only for themselves Very far from procuring it for others they strive by all ways possible to enslave the rest of the World The Polish Nobility so Jealous of their Privileges and Liberty but accustomed to keep other People in Slavery incessantly cried to their King Sigismond that an Hereditary State is Governed otherwise than an Elective Kingdom That in Poland he was subject to the Laws but in Sweden he was above them These Maxims easily insinuate themselves into the Mind of a Prince Sigismond displeased to see himself dependant on the Senat of Poland was better satisfied with being Absolute in Sweden He Rejected the Petitions presented to him The Duke of Sudermannia stood Neuter in the beginning of the Dispute He advised the King to have regard to the just Requests of his Subjects but he was not very uneasie to find a Difference arise between them by his Denials and Delays The States secure of Charles Assistance abated nothing of their Pretensions The stubbornness of the King strangely incensed them and the Sermons of some zealous Preachers of the Protestant Religion warmed the most cold â—…nd indifferent They talked of offering â—…he Crown to the Duke and giving it to Prince John in case he would not accept â—…t Being persuaded it was not yet time â—…o hear a Proposition of this kind he conâ—…ented himself with going to wait upon â—…he King at Vpsal and strongly backing â—…he Pretensions of the States The Neâ—…hew and the Uncle so heated each other â—…hey were upon the point of Fighting They were parted and as soon reconcil'd â—…o prevent any Confusion and Disorder in â—…he Kingdom These Accidents conâ—…irm'd the States the more in the Resoâ—…ution they took to make the King Exâ—…lain himself before they would proceed â—…o his Coronation The Popes Nuncio and such of the Poâ—…ish Nation as then attended at Sigismond's Court now perceived clearly that in Pruâ—…ence he ought not to stand it out any â—…onger but must yield to the present Exgency of Affairs They told him withal That he was not bound to keep a Promise exâ—…orted from him by Violence Now Sigismond promises 'em any thing they 'd have He reserved only that he might have the â—…ree Exercise of the Popish Religion for himself within the private Walls of the Castle where he should make his Residence But he from that very time took a Resolution of destroying his Uncle The Plot of Murdering him at a Play having miscarried they undertook to drive at him with all the Vigour and open Violence that was possible Immediate Orders were given to the Polish Army to march toward Stockholm This made the States of that Kingdom begin to think of their own Security They Summoned the Inhabitants of the Highlands to come down to their Assistance In the mean time during all this bustle the King took no care of the Government nor of securing the quiet of the Kingdom When any Proposal was made to him by the States he likewise would make a demand of some other thing at their Hands The Polanders were still at him to return home and to come to no Conclusion with the Swedes They flattered themselves that the wider the Breaches and Divisions grew in Swedeland the easier it would be to reduce it So that Sigismond in fine following their Advice took thipping for Dantzick He left Orders how he would have the Kingdom Governed in his Absence but neither the Duke of Sudermannia nor the States would submit to any of them as judging the Persons imploy'd therein to be averse to the Treaty concluded at Vpsal before the King's Coronation The States of Swedeland commits the Government of the Kingdom during the King's Absence to the Duke of Sudermannia Soon after his Departure the States of Swedeland pray'd Charles of Sudermannia to take upon him the Government The Duke desired to be excused yet
declared at the same time that neither his Conscience nor the Love he bore his Country could ever permit him to comply with the Orders left by his Nephew yet notwithstanding his seeming Modesty the Duke wanted only to be further courted in the Matter The Senate was to have almost an equal share with him in the Government and Governors of Towns did exercise a sort of Sovereignty in their Jurisdictions The King had contrived it should be so as a necessary precaution to ballance his Uncle's Authority and to lessen his Power Such a Scheme of Government was not for the Duke's turn He expected that the Senators would abate somewhat of their Rights and Privileges and that more Authority would be allowed him over the Governors of each City Matters were accordingly brought to that pass as he would have it The Duke then as if he had only yielded to the repeated Address of the Senate slides into the Saddle of State and marches to Stokholm Then he was wont to say That the best way of Government at that juncture was to put into execution what the King was indespensably bound to perform himself And are we bound said he to obey such Orders of his that are found to be contrary to his Coronaâ—…ion Oath As soon as the Duke enter'd â—…tokholm he Cashier'd the Governour of â—…he Castle for being a Roman Catholick he â—…lso forbid the Exercise of that Religion within that City he made great Presents to the Senators he granted Pensions to the Bishops and to the Professors of Colleges and won his Clergy's and Citizens Love by his Affable and Courteous ways His Wife Christina was brought to bed at that time and the Child was Christn'd by the Name of Gustavus Adolphus This Ceremony was concluded with a splendid Entertainment which he gave to the Senators and to the chief of the Nobility The Famous Astronomer Ticho Bradhe who then Calculated this young Prince's Nativity pronounced that he should one day wear a Crown This was sufficient to raise his Parents hopes to a high pitch It is usual for Persons that are enter'd upon Difficult and Glorious Designs to entertain such uncertain Prognostications 〈◊〉 undoubted Oracles The Duke of Sudermania thought that the calling together of the States would be a means to Establish his Authority The Confusion in which the King left Matters in Swedeland at his going away was a Specious pretence enough for this Convocation Charlâ—â— together with the Senate writ to the King about it But he made them no Answer This Silence of his was by some Interpreted as an Assent to this Meeting 〈◊〉 the States by others as an unjust Dissent But if so the Prime Officers of State iâ—… Swedeland do pretend that in such a Caâ—â— they are impowr'd by the ancient Lawâ—… and Constitutions of the Kingdom to convene a General Assembly of the States They met accordingly at Suderkopin As soon as the News of it came to the King he charged them not to proceed any further declaring that he would never ratifie such Resolutions that were taken contrary to his Will and Pleasure But no Regard was had to such Prohibitions of the King 's The States maintain'd that their Meeting at this Juncture of time was both Lawful and Necessary for the Welfare of the Kingdom They then came to a Resolution not to allow of any other Religion in Swedeland saving the Protestant Persuasion according to the Ausburg Confession of Faith That the Rites and Worship after the manner of Rome should be every where Abolisht That Priests of that Communion should hasten out of the Kingdom in a Fortnight's time The Duke of Sudermania was declared Regent during the King's Absence With this Limitation that all Affairs should be Administred by him in Concurrence with the Senate Many other Laws were ordain'd for the Preservation of the Liberty and Privileges of the Country and they who would not submit to such Regulations were declared to be evilly affected toward the Welfare of the Land and to be Disturbers of the publick Tranquillity Charles his Regency seemed now to be well Established A Misunderstanding betwixt the Duke of Sudermania and the Senat. so that Sigismond had no other way left him but to endeavour to create Jealousies and Divisions betwixt that Duke and the Senate This took and it was cunningly carried on Charles was the more readily disposed to fall out with the Senat for that he did suspect them with holding a Correspondency with those of the Province of Fineland who still held for the King The Senators on th' other hand complained that he did all things after his own fancy and dealt harshly with such as opposed his Designs in the least Charles alledged that they did wast the Publick Revenue and had fomented Misunderstanding betwixt the King and him with a design as it should seem to ruin both his Majesty and himself that they themselves might thereby become sole Masters He made a shew of laying down the Administration of Affairs that was committed to him but was extreamly surprised when he found not one of the Senate opposed that his seeming Resolution Therefore considering with himself that he had gone too far to retreat in hopes to slip his Neck out of the Collar he again laid hold of the Helm of publick Affairs He Summon'd a General Assembly of the Senates to be held at Arboga There the Senate with many of the Nobility formed a distinct Party in opposition to that of the Dukes many went home again and there were not very many that came to this Parliament held at Arboga The Decrees of the Convocation at Vpsal were here confirmed and whatever was enacted by the late General Diet at Suderkoping Addresses were made to Charles to request him not to Abandon the Government at this juncture with a promise that none should be allowed to have so great a sway as he in the Administration of publick Affairs Yet the Senate refused their Assent to these New Regulations and the Chancellor with some others left the Kingdom upon it Such a favourable Conjuncture as this King Sigismonds unsuccessful Attempt to reduce the D. of Sudermania by force prompted Sigismond to march with a good Army towards Swedeland if he had made more speed he might have disperst the Duke's Party which grew weaker every day but the King's slackness gave him time to gather strength and to seise on many fortified Places and to secure the Fleet. When Sigismond Landed the Elector of Brandenbourg and other Princes of Germany us'd their Endeavour to Reconcile the Nephew and Uncle but their Negotiations proved ineffectual Charles protested that he only sought the Preservation of the Peace of the Privileges and of the Religion of the Country But Sigismond would not trust him He resolved to be the ruine of an Uncle who openly aspired to no less than the Crown These two Princes was each of 'em at the Head of his own Army and there was great likelihood that the
Fate of one Battle would decide the Quarrel Sigismond was so overseen that his Camp was surprised at Linkoping Part of his Army was kill'd and some drown'd To save the remainder he sued to his Uncle for a Peace Charles agreed to it on condition that the five Swedish Senators that were with the King might be delivered up to him he charged them to be principal Authors of all these Distractions and that they should be brought to their Tryal for it at the next Sitting of the States The two Princes concluded a Treaty Charles renewed his Oath of Allegiance to the King And Sigismond ingaged that for his part he would govern the Realm henceforward according to the Constitution of the Country and his Coronation Oath He further promis'd to call a Parliament in four Months time and that all Matters in Controversy should be there decided in presence of such Commissioners as the Emperor the Confederate Kings and Electors should appoint on Application made to 'em for it There were other Stipulations made for the Mutual security of both Princes and for the Disbanding of their Forces on each side Care was taken to add this farther Article That in case King Sigismond performed not this Treaty his Subjects of Swedeland should be discharged of their Oath of Fidelity to him The States of Swedeland depose King Sigismond The King and Duke had frequent Meetings and all things seem'd dispos'd toward a lasting Peace Charles seemed sincerely inclined to observe the Treaty on his part But Sigismond vext to the Heart to see himself forced to submit to his Uncle's Terms retired secretly into Poland instead of going to Stokholm as he had promised He was no sooner arrived at Dantsick but that he publisht in all Courts of Europe that his Uncle was a Traytor and a Rebel and therefore pretended that he himself was in no ways bound to the Treaty concluded at Linkoping Was it possible for him to do any thing that could more contribute to the promoting of Charles his Designs who knew accordingly to turn all this to the best Advantage He therefore so managed the point that the States met at Linkoping where Sigismond was cited and summoned to make good his Promises at the last Treaty of Accommodation That he would embrace the Protestant Religion that he would come to make his Residence in Swedeland or that at least he would send his Son Prince Ladislaus to be brought up under his Uncle's Tuition in case that he himself did chuse rather to tarry in Poland It was at the same time Enacted by the States that in case the King refused to accept these Terms that he and his Issue should forfeit all their Right to the Crown of Swedeland which would be bestowed on a Person capable to govern this Realm after the Fundamental Laws of the Land Whilst Sigismond dallyed to return an Answer the Duke of Sudermania was desired to take the Government upon him and to maintain the Protestant Religion The States since held at Stokholm declared That they were no longer bound to the Oath of Allegiance they had taken to Sigismond because he had contravened his Grandfather's last Will and Testament had not performed the Office of a good King refused to observe the Treaty concluded with him at Linkoping and slighted all Remonstrances made to him Yet after all this they made an offer of the Crown to Prince Ladislaus in case that in a years time he came to reside in Swedeland and would be instructed in the Protestant Religion But that if Sigismond and his Son refused to agree to such reasonable Demands as these they Solemnly protested that neither himself nor his Issue should be ever capable of pretending to the Crown of Swedeland Charles Duke of Sudermnia chosen King of Swedeland Nothing in the World could be more favourable to Charles his Designs than such a Conjuncture of Affairs as this was King Sigismond took a fancy to maintain the Claim of the pretended Demetrius in Muscovia He had afterwards several wrangling Contests with the higher Nobility of Poland so that whilst he was thus taken up all he could do in some of the Remotest Provinces of Swedeland proved to be very weak and unsuccessful Then the Duke become Master of the Heart of the Country and of the best Garrisons summon'd the States to meet at Norkoping in March following in the stear 1607. To make the World believe that he had no hand in perverting the Loyalty of Sigismond's Subjects nor of Usurping of his place on the Throne he offer'd to lay down the Regency committed to him and even proposed to accomodate Matters with Sigismond or to place John the King's Brother on the Throne The States would have no further mention of either Sigismond or of his Son As for Prince John whether it was that he more loved his Ease than Ambition or whether he rightly guess'd at his Uncle's Real Sentiments in the bottom who made such Proposals but for a shew but truly coveted the Government for himself John I say did very generously refuse it in outward appearance declaring at the same time That he was content with his Dutchy of East Gothia and would always approve himself a faithful Subject if any Person that was better able to govern the Realm than himself in such Troublesom times as these Charles therefore after so many shews of declining the Crown which were never thought to be sincere accepted it at last It was ever setled on his Heirs Male and not to devolve to John but for want of such Issue Male of the Body of Charles The States being moreover sensible that Queen Catherine Jagellon was the chief Promotress of the Troubles and Difficulties that King John her Husband and her Son Sigismond had brought the Protestant Religion under decreed that their King might be only Marry'd to a Protestant The New King without any more adoe writ to Sigismond Mercure Francois 1607 1608. and to the Common-wealth of Poland to give them notice of his Accession to the Crown and to make them an offer of renewing former Alliances betwixt both Kingdoms The States of Swedeland writ to the same purpose to the Senate of Poland in particular Charles was presently after Crown'd at Vpsal together with Christina his Wife overjoyed to see her self now above Sigismond's disdain The King of Poland did not vouchsafe to make any Answer to his Uncle's Letter looking on him to be no better than an Usurper The Senate writ only to the States of Swedeland The Polanders took upon 'em to tax the Swedes after an insultting way with Disloyalty towards Sigismond they protested they would own no other as lawful King of Poland saving him They inveighed bitterly against the cunning Tricks made use of as they pretended by Charles to strip his Nephew of the Crown The States of Swedeland replied to this Letter by a Manifesto directed to the Senate of Poland wherein they did justifie their own Conduct all
His Discourse ended in earnest Prayers to her Majesty for this speedy prevention of the Mischief which this forward undertaking of the Parlement was making said he against Religion Mary de Medicis gave the Nuncio good words But it was not sufficient to have Circumvented a Woman not so clear-sighted Superstitious to the utmost degree and absolutely depending upon the Pope for the Ministers of State and the principal Men in Parlement were to be brought over The Queen was not in a capacity to do any thing without them upon this occasion The Nuncio sent first his Auditor to the Ministers of State 's Houses There he made a great noise Is it then come to this pass saith this Italian that the Kings Advocates General believe they have right to propose in Parlements Questions which respect the administration of Sacraments Doth this Assembly pretend to be the Sovereign Judges of them If the Edict which it hath set forth did only oblige the Jesuits to follow the Doctrine received in ev'ry Church or at least what the Prelats of the Gallican Church profess to believe the Matter might have been born withal but when a Parlement shall constrain them to conform to what is not taught but in so small a Corporation as Sorbonne the Pope must needs condemn so unsufferarable a procedure Then the Auditor insisted from the Nuncio that the Kings Privy Council might make void the Edict of Parlement or at least Suspend the Execution of it The Nuncio's Railing against the Advocate General Servin Then the Master on his part bawl'd and ask'd if the Sorbonne pretended to make a Schism in the Church by the Adoption of a Doctrine which was contrary to any received in all other Universities If this continue saith he the Pope will be obliged to call a National Council in France in order to have the Sorbonne Doctrine Condemned there as Rash False and Erroneous In the mean time his Holiness shall proceed by way of Ecclesiastical Censure against those Doctors who shall subscribe the Articles which the Parlement proposes to the Jesuits As for Servin added this Italian Minister all the World knows how he is a downright Hugonot and a Pentioner to the King of England His Office ought to be taken from him or he for the future be prohibited to speak any thing that concerns Religion the Pope the Court of Rome and the Immunities of the Church This Man infects the young Lawyers with his evil Sentiments he strives to serve the Hugonot Party by breaking the good intelligence betwixt the Court of France and the Holy Chair and by sowing Jealousie and Distrust betwixt the Pope and the most Christian King The Nuncio maintain'd further that the Clergy of France ought to Excommunicate the Advocate General If Humane respect he added stop the Bishops from doing this the Pope himself shall proceed against a Man who meddles with making of New Articles of Faith and Condemns for Heresie Doctrines conformable to the Truth which the Catholick Church teacheth Paul the 5th could he have dared to undertake the Excommunication of the principal Magistrates of France for having stood up for the Interests of the King and State Would to God this bold Pope had undertaken it One might have seen then how the Gallican Church would have defended this great Article of its Liberties viz. That a Magistrate cannot be Excommunicated for any thing that regards the exercise of his Office I question whether Paul the 5th could have got rid of this Affair as well as of his Interdiction fulminated against the Republick of Venice The Nuncio complain'd chiefly of the Article touching the Seal of Confession as it refers to ill Attempts upon the Persons of Kings and the State he spoke of this as if 't was nothing less than Impiety and Sacrilege This Doctrine said he is against the Security of the Persons of Princes This is Surprizing for the Parlement intended to do the King good Service in Establishing that the Confessor is obliged to Reveal what he knows of ill Attempts upon the Person of the Prince and State Observe here how the Popes Minister argued Should this be received he continued Those who conceive such black Designs will never come to Confession a Priest will be no longer able to disswade his Penitent from the execution of his wicked Enterprize When such sorts of Practices are made known by way of Confession it s permitted to give the Prince or Magistrate notice of them in general Terms without Naming or describing the Persons but to use such a way of dissuasion Discourageth Men from Confession of the Crime they intend and deprives their Confessors of the means to do this good Service for the Publick What Vbaldini said against the Article touching the Popes Superiority over the Council was more Malitious and more capable to affright the Queen Regent The same Arguments said he aloud which the Sorbonne use to establish this Doctrine prove likewise that the States General of the Kingdom are above the King The Hugonots or at least the troublesom Catholicks will be able to appeal to a future Council from the Sentence of Divorce which Clement VIII hath pronounced betwixt the Deceased King and Queen Margaret The Birth of the King is not certain according to these Principles and that Man is in the Right who provides against the Queen's Regency This is that which Servin aims at He 's a declared Enemy to the Queen and her Council This great bustle rais'd through the Nuncio's means was the reason why Mary de Medicis and her Ministers resolved to appease the Italian But the Grandees and Ministers of State could not well agree amongst themselves about the Expedients which ought to be taken The Grandees were for the Queen 's Suspending the Execution of the Parlement's Edict for the calling of this Affair to her Counsel and that the Advocate General should receive a sound Reprimand and be advised never to engage the Queen again to such Difficulties The Ministers of State were not of the Grandees mind They were afraid least this high dealing should provoke the Parlement Prudence required they should handle this Matter much more discreetly in a time of the King's Minority than at any other time T' was found at last more convenient to hinder the Sorbonne with soft words from explaining themselves upon the four Articles and to engage the Parlement it self to Limit the Edict and not to receive any more New Petitions against the Jesuits The Nuncio's tampering with the Members of Parliament to get this Sentence Mitigated Conchini was ordered to speak to the Presidents of Parlement from the Queen and inform them that her Majesty wisht their Edict were Limited The Chancellor Sileri and Villeroy were further employ'd for the obtaining the same from the Magistrates This Resolution did not at all please the Nuncio He sees himself sent back to the Parlement to Limit an Edict by a Negotiation with them which might not be to
rather the Risque of yielding to Force and Injustice than augment the hatred they already have against our Reformation by giving our Enemies a new Pretension of accusing us of Rebellion What Crime can they upbraid me withal I don't fear their Scrutinies or their Informations what have they to find fault with me I have no part in Mr. Rohan's Concerns Set upon me for Religion This would be to set the whole Kingdom on Fire Du Plessis resolv'd not to stir He was contented to let the Ministers of State know the troublesome Consequence of the ill Counsels which were given her Majesty and to exhort them to let the Reformed enjoy peaceably the Repose which the deceas'd King had granted them with so much Justice and Prudence It had been better to have hearkned to the good Counsels Du Plessis gave if the Enemies which the Duke of Rohan had amongst those of his own Religion had not obstructed it In the mean time whether the Regent gave any heed to what the King of England had answer'd to the Marshal Bouillon upon the Subject Matter of the Protestants in France or that she fear'd many Provinces declaring for the Duke of Rohan a Civil War might break out in France her Majesty at last acknowledged that if the Duke of Rohan had withstood her Orders with too much Haughtiness she likewise had too easily given way for the King's Authority to be undermined There was sought then some way to accommodate Matters Themines Seneschal of Querci was sent to St. John d' Angeli to bring back the Duke Du Plessis Mornai had given him wise Counsel to yield willingly and fairly as if the Queen was in the Right provided he kept his Government in the same Condition as it was before The Negotiation was set on foot on that Condition The former Major was again put into the Exercise of his Office and the Subaltern Officers whom the Duke of Rohan would not suffer to be in the Town entred there again But in few Days after there was a new Election and the Regent gave other Employments to those whom the Duke did not at all approve of The Reformed Protestants after this held a National Synod at Privas in Vivarets They agreed there That the Division of the greatest Persons of their Communion was going to make Destruction of the Reformation in France The Synod was resolv'd to make a Reconcilement amongst them efficaciously They wrote to Du Plessis Mornai to join all his Earnestness and Diligence to that of the Commissaries which the Company had nominated to agitate in this important Affair The Marshals Bouillon and Lesdiguieres not content with the Court easily consented to the Re-union This made them more formidable to the Regent and her Ministers The Princes of the Blood with whom they were lately confederated should have had more Consideration for Persons who were capable of bringing the Huguenot Party well united on their side In the Act of Reconciliation prepar'd by consent with Du Plessis Mornai the Reform'd Lords mutually promis'd to forget all that had past to love one another to give one another reciprocal Testimonies of their Amity as far as Religion and their bounden Faith to the King would give them leave to labour jointly for the Advancement of God's Kingdom and the Repose of their Brethren to do nothing which might prejudice the Union and Conformity of the Doctrine and Discipline establish'd in the Reformed Churches of France The Dukes de Rohan and de Sulli the Marshals Bouillon and Lesdigueres Chatillon Soubize La Force and Du Plessis Mornai signed the Writing They agreed further that the Governours of places of Security and Gentlemen distinguish'd in the Provinces should be ask'd to subscribe the same The Protestation which the National Synod of Privas publish'd in the Name of all the Reformed Churches in France made a great noise in the World See here the Occasion The Regent in her Letter to the General Assembly at Saumur had enjoin'd the Deputies to retire into their Provinces and there make report of the good Intentions of her Majesty The Reform'd seeing at last that this Assembly was oblig'd to break up before they had time to examine the Answer made to their Address of Complaints and Demands thought to remedy this Misfortune by convening Provincial Assemblies The Regent seem'd to suffer these by ordering the Deputies to make their Report in their Provinces They assembled then for this Effect without that the Court could find any thing to say against them The King's Lieutenants had themselves call'd some and the Presidents of the Sovereign Court were present at others The Regent had her self given order to the Commissioners sent to examin the Contravention made against the Edict of Nants That they should repair to the Provinces before any Assembly was held They were present upon certain Occasions One can't say then that these were held without the Knowledge and Sufferance of her Majesty She thought that she had so fully allow'd them as her Commissioners had had Orders to assist there in Person and her Officers with the Magistrates were present there likewise The Deputies of the Eight Provinces being come afterwards to Paris with design to finish what the Assembly at Saumur was not able to perform and to sollicite more favourable Answers to the Remonstrance which they had presented the Regent found her self in a Perplexity she had not foreseen It is to be confess'd that the way of the Reformed upon this Occasion was not ill contriv'd This was a Means to hinder their secret and profess'd Enemies from gaining so great Advantages from the Separation of the Assembly of Saumur There was much likelihood that the Duke of Rohan had furnish'd them with this Expedient for to cross the Marshal Bouillon who had deserv'd much at Court by having manag'd so well Affairs in the Assembly at Saumur as the Regent could not from thence expect a more favourable Issue These Deputations put the Regent and her Council at a stand which was as troublesom as if the General Assembly had continued And the Marshal Bouillon did not now seem to have done such great Feats It concern'd him to save his Reputation by seeking some Remedy for this new Inconvenience A better could not be found out than to send back the Deputies of the Provinces as being sent from People who were assembled against the King's Will or at least without his Permission And for the Court should not scruple this by reason of the Discontentment that the refusal to hear the Deputies might raise the Marshal Bouillon took all the Blame upon himself that might ensue They went yet further The Regent had put forth a new Declaration which forbid the Reform'd to hold for the future these Provincial Assemblies Consistories Colloquies Provincial and National Synods were only allow'd them upon Condition that none should be there besides Ministers and Elders and that they should treat of nothing but what concern'd the Doctrine and Discipline of
the Reformed Churches in France The Assemblies held since the Separation of that at Saumar were in very mild Terms declared unlawful And to the end that they who had been present there might not be disquieted the King pardoned them this pretended Crime and forbid his Officers from prosecuting any of them His Majesty suppos'd they went thither with downright Intentions and that they had no Thoughts of disobeying the deceased King's Orders The Reformed were extremely surpris'd they should be pardon'd a Fault which they pretended to have in no wise committed Their Deputies General presented a Petition to the Parlements for opposing the registring of this Declaration They protested that being far from requiring any such Pardon their Churches look'd upon it as injurious and reflecting and that none of the Reformed intended to make use of it This Opposition stopp'd the Registring of it But the Court having got over some of the Reform'd under pretence that they had need of it for their own Security the Declaration was registred and approved of in Forms This Affair made a great noise in the National Synod of Privas 'T was resolv'd there to draw up a publick and solemn Protestation that the Provincial Assemblies had not been held against the King's Will and that the Reform'd look'd upon the Pardon which his Majesty had granted them upon this Occasion as a Reflection which they had not deserv'd They declar'd at the end of the Act that they would never make use of the Pardon which the King pretended to grant 'em and downright disavow'd those amongst the Protestants who sought for it As this caus'd great Stirs in some Provinces so the Court design'd to appease them by another Declaration put forth in Form to explain the former His Majesty acknowledg'd therein to be very well satisfied with the Fidelity and Obedience of his Protestant Subjects but at the bottom he did not remedy the Mischief t'other Declaration had done The Provincial Assemblies remained forbidden And this is all that the Court now delivered from the Deputies Sollicitations intended The Arrival of the Duke of Pastranâ—… at Paris was of great use to diminish the Troubles which all these Affairs had given the Queen He was receiv'd in all the Towns he pass'd through with extraordinary Honours The Dukes of Nevers and Luxemburgh went to meet him out of the Gates of Paris accompanied with four oâ—… five hundred Horse He made a Magnificent Entry He had a splendid Equipage and abundance of Men in his Retinue very well cloath'd Don Francis and Doâ—â— Diego de Sylva his Brothers and many other Spanish Lords were come with him The King gave him his first Audience the 6th of August The Princes of the Blood the Grandees and the Cardinals Sourdis and Bonzi were invited to this Ceremony These endeavour'd to be excus'd under pretence their Dignities would not suffer them to be beneath the Princes of the Blood Ridiculous and insupportable Pretension These Gentlemen to speak properly are no better than Priests and Deacons of the particular Church of Rome Since they have been suffer'd insolently to put on Purple they believe themselves not to be inferiour to crown'd Heads Mary de Medicis who had had a mind the Spaniards should see the Court of France in all its Splendour wish'd that the Cardinals were present at the Audience They were told from her That there should be no distinction of Places and that every one should sit as he came The Princes of the Blood strait took their Seats on the Right Hand of the King The Cardinals excluded from this place â—…ut themselves on the side of the Queen They did not tarry there long The Prinâ—…ess Dowager of Condé wou'd not suffer â—…hem above her and the Regent fearâ—…ng to cross the Princes of the Blood â—…ho wou'd not fail to maintain the Right â—…f the Princess let the Cardinals go out â—…ith Confusion with their sottish deserv'd â—…mbition There was another difference which made more noise on the King's side The Duke de Nevers had plac'd himself on the Bench of the Princes of the Blood The Count de Soissons busied in speaking with the Prince of Conti his Brother was not aware that Nevers had seated himself immediately after him As soon as the Prince of Condé who sat above his two Uncles perceiv'd it he jogs Conti and he did as much to Soissons who fail'd not to push at the Duke of Nevers with all his strength I don't know said he then why you croud me after this manner Because this here is none of your place replied disdainfully the Prince of Condé There were interchang'd on one side and 'tother sharp biting Words We will explain our selves better in another place said at last the Prince of Condé giving a Wink upon him to follow him The Marshal Bouillon run hastily to stop the Prince who in passing by the Duke made him understand that this was a Challenge The Quarrel was presently made up by Order of the King and the Regent blam'd the Duke of Nevers because he had seated himself in a Place which was not design'd but for the Princes of the Blood The Guises had no â—â—mtest aboâ—â— their Places The Duke and his Brotheâ—… were to go and conduct the Duke 〈◊〉 Pastrana to his Audience After the Ambassador had made his Compliments and presented to the King and Queen his Catholick Majesty's Letters he was conducted to Madam Elizabeth design'd for the Prince of Spain and from thence to the Duke of Anjou's Apartment to Salute the Prince and his other two Sisters Daughters of France Articles of Marriage sign'd between the Prince of Spain and Eldest Daughter of France The 25th day of August the Festival of St. Lewis was appointed for Sealing the Articles of Marriage between Madam Elizabeth and the Prince of Spain The Duke de Pastrana and Don Innigo de Cardenas King Philip's Ambassador in ordinary into France sign'd them as the Fathers and Sons Proxies immediately after the King and the Queen his Mother Madam Elizabeth and Queen Margarite The Nuncio and Ambassador of Tuscany as representing the two Mediators set their Names after those of the Princes of the Blood Elizabeth's Dowry was 500000. Crowns in Gold They were to be paid down the Night before the Consummation of Marriage The Princess renounc'd all the Rights she could pretend to in the Succession of her Father Mother and Brothers without excepting the States which are not Fief-Males into which the Daughters may Succeed This Clause had an Eve upon the Rights in the Kingdom of Navarre and Principality of Bearn which Henry the IV. held in right of his Mother The Duke of Pastrana tarried yet some days at Paris He was regal'd with all Divertisements possible upon such an occasion Having got to Bourde aux in his return to Spain he found there the Duke of Mayenne who came back from Madrid He had been gone thither to Sign likewise the Articles of Marriage between Lewis XIII King of
death of his Son whose Court having for some time been fuller than his made him Jealous This was clear enough from a word that fell from him What will they bury me alive An expression which the World reflected on when the Prince of Wales came to die a little while after The occasion of so many Diversions and Festival Solemnities in England was the Marriage of the Princes Elizabeth the Kings Daughter with Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine This Alliance pleased the English extreamly and all the Protestants Mercure Francois 1613. The House of Austria took a great deal of pains to Traverse it And the Queen whom the Court of Madrid had took Care to make their Friend did her best to dissuade the King from it But he concluded it notwithstanding the Intrigues of the Spanish Faction James conferred the Honour of the Order of the Garter upon the Elector before the Solemnity of the Wedding The Illustrious Prince Maurice of Orange was Received into the same Noble and Ancient Society at the same time with his Nephew The Chapter of the Order was Convened at Windsor Castle the 14th of February this Year The Ceremony was performed with all the Solemnity imaginable The Elector Palatine who was himself in England to Negotiate his Marriage Received the Order in Person and Maurice being absent Received it by Count William of Nassau his Proxy Ten days after Frederick was publickly Married to the Princess Elizabeth Before and after their Wedding day the King Entertained the People with Plays and magnificent Spectacles Holland also was well pleased and joyful for a great while Prince Maurice Received in the Presence of the States General of the United Provinces the Garter which the Herald of the Order had brought thither and there was nothing omitted which might contribute to the Glory of the Ceremony The wise Barnavelt Pensionary of the Province of Holland Returned thanks in the Name of the States General to the English Ambassador who had presented the Garter in the Name of the King his Master to Prince Maurice The New Electoress having past from England into Holland in the Month of May following to go to Heydelberg she was Received almost in every City of the Province and particularly at Amsterdam with a Magnificence answerable to their Wealth and the Memory which they retained of the great assistances which their Infant-Republick had received formerly from the Crown of England The Protestants were in hopes that the Marriage of the Elector Palatine with the Princess of Great Britain would be very advantageous to their Religion But there was yet one thing which they wisht for And that was that King James would abondon his Design of Marrying his Heir to a Princess of the Popish Communion A Marriage talkt of between Charles Pr. of Wales Christiana of France But althô his Majesty did not stick publickly to say that the Pope was Antichrist yet he never had a sincere and fervent Zeal for the Establishment of the Reformation As soon as Prince Henry was in his Grave James proposed the Marriage of Charles his Second Son now Prince of Wales with Christina Siri Memoire recondite To. III. p. 44.45 c. Second Daughter of France The Regent frankly received the Memoires which the Ambassador of England delivered touching this Affair to Villeroy Secretary of State She hoped that the Protestants of France and elsewhere allarmed with the double Marriage concluded with Spain would be calmed when they saw that nevertheless the Crown of France was not set at such a distance from an Alliance with Protestants but that it still designed a strict Union with them in giving the younger Sister of the King to the Heir of the most powerful Prince of their Communion Althô the Conduct of Maria de Medicis in this Negociation was full of Artifice and Dissimulation the Court of Rome was Jealous and the Pope used all his Power to dissuade the Regent from listening to the offers of his Brittannick Majesty The Pope plainly told Breves the King 's Ambassador that he took it ill that there should be any design of mingling the Blood Royal oâ—… France with that of an Heretick Princeâ—… Breves took the liberty to represent to the Pope that the welfare of the Kingdom and of Religion it self required that the Proposals of the King of England should not be rejected The Old Man being devoted to Spain did not regard him He insisted to conjure the Regent not to enter into a Negociation so disadvantageous to the Church which is really as much as to say so little conducible to the Interests of the Court of Rome The Nuncio Vbaldini very much bestirred himself in France Ibid. p. 50.51 c. he tired the Queen with his Remonstrances he exhausted himself in finding out the most pressing motives of Piety and Religion at length he heated the Cabals of Devotees which are always numerous and powerful in an ignorant and superstitious Court. Said this Italian Prelate to the Queen Is it possible Madam that your Majesty should be so little sensible of the particular kindness of God to you 'T is to distrust his Providence to have recourse to the Alliance of Hereticks as a thing necessary for the Repose and Conservation of the Dominions of the King your Son Your Ministers think it convenient that you should hear the Proposals of an Heretick Prince Your Majesty agrees with them but that is not sufficient to clear you before God and all those who detest this sort of Politicks You should rather listen to the Voice of your Conscience and the good Advice of the Pope than the vain speculations of a Council that govern themselves by the maxims of the wisdom of the Children of this World rather than by those of Religion This Prelate advanced at that time a Principle of his particular Gospel which deserves to be related He declares that these pretended good People whom he would make the Queen afraid of entertain this piece of corrupted Morality that the Princes of their Communion are not obliged to observe Treaties made with those whom they are pleased to call Hereticks if the Terms appear to them to be never so little contrary to their Religion that is to the Court of Rome This Nuncio said moreover It is true Madam that promises made against the interest of God don't in any wise oblige and that we ought not to keep them But consider that your Majesty will hereafter find it more difficult to break your promise with the King of England than it is now to reject his Proposals Your Affairs are thanks be to God in a better Posture than they have been since the death of the King your Husband The Kingdom is in a peaceful State without the assistance of such an Alliance The time of your Administration will shortly Expire What a comfort will it be to you to deliver up to the King your Son France in a better Condition than you
both Conde would have had them removed from Court if he could have had any advantage against them and the Duke de Guise would have done his endeavour to have remov'd them as soon as he should have been at the head of the King's Army The Duke d'Epernon angry that his advice to oppose the Malecontents with an open force was not followed resolved not to assist at any Treaties which they should afterwards hold with the Prince and the united Lords where the King was to buy of his Subjects a short liv'd Peace at a shameful Rate The Circular Letter of the Regent upon Retreat of the Prince de Conde and the Lords of his Party When the Duke de Vantadour and Boissise were gone to the Prince de Conde in Berri the Regent wrote a Circular Letters dated the 13th February to all the Parlements of the Kingdom to the Governors of Provinces and other Places to the Provost of the Merchants to the Mayors and Sheriffs of the Cities to exhort them to remain faithful to the King and not suffer themselves to be surpriz'd by the Prince de Conde and his Party If you will believe Mary de Medicis Mercure Francoise 1614. These Gentlemen had no just ground of Complaint neither with relation to their own private Interest nor to the Administration of the publick Affairs Her Majesty had Treated this Prince and those Lords with all the Respect imaginable she had heap'd as many Favours on them as they could reasonably desire and had taken no Step of any consequence without their Advice The Kingdom was in as flourishing and quiet a Condition the Dignity of the Crown of France as well Supported the People as easie and happy as ever To write the History of a Reign from Manifesto's from prefaces of Edicts and Declarations from Letters and other Papers published under the King's Name is to have but very bad Authority for what one writes In the mean time to amuse the People with the hopes of a better Government the Regent declared in a Letter that her Majesty resolv'd to call as they speak in France an Assembly des Notables of all Orders in the Kingdom in which they should consult together for the publick Welfare The Duke de Nevers seizes on the Cittadel de Mezieres in Champagne Ventadour and Boissise had Intelligence upon the Road that the Prince de Conde was gone from Chateauroux and designed â—…o pass the Loir accompanied by 30 or â—…o Horse They sent one of their Comâ—…any to inform him of their Commissiâ—â— and to know where they might meet â—â—m Mercure Francoise 1614. Conde refused to receive the King's â—…eputies and went immediately into â—…hampagne where the Duke de Nevers â—â—ceived him The Prince was immediâ—…ely Conducted to Chalons from thence â—â—vers and he went to Mezieres Descuâ—…es Commanded there in the absence of â—â—e Marquiss de la Vieuville There â—â—ing a good understanding between him and the Duke de Nevers Descuroles made as if he would shut the Gates of the Cittadel and defend it according to the Order which he had received from Vieuville But the Prince and the Duke de Nevers threatning to attack it if he did not shew express Orders from her Majesty to Resist them Descuroles received the Prince and Duke into the Place Nevers wrote afterwards to the Queen to complain of the Marquiss of Vieuville to desire that Justice might be done him for the resistance that had been made him who was the Governor of the Province Was not this to Affront the Queen under pretence of paying I know not what respect to the Majesty of a Sovereign The Prince de Conde wrote to the Regent a Letter in Form of a Mà nifesto Mercure Francois 1614. The Prince de Conde the Dukes de Nevers de Maìenne de Longueville and some others of the chief of the Party being met at Mezieres Conde wrote a long Letter to the Queen in form of a Manifesto He expresseth there an extraordinary Zeal for the publick Good and offers to Restore the Pensions and Gratifications which he had Received from the King to her Majesty's hand when all the States shall be assembled and Act with entire Liberty In a Word he speaks much like the Ancient Greeks and Romans of whose Impartial Justice we read of in History If he had a mind to impose upon the World he should have taken care that his Actions did not contradict his Words In truth the Complaints which the Prince de Conde and those of his Party made concerning the wasting of the Treasury the giving the highest Employments to People unworthy of them the too great Authority of the Ministers the little Respect that was paid to the Princes and Peers of the Realm the Officers of the Crown the Obstacles which the Parlement found in exercising of their Power the Ruine of the Nobles the excessive Price of the Places of Judicature the Oppression of the People neglecting to Assemble the States of the Kingdom the Haste with which they had concluded the Marriage of the King before his Majority all these Complaints I say were well founded In the mean time what ever Protestations the Prince of Conde made that he had no other design but to procure an effectual Remedy for these heavy Grievances yet the World could never firmly believe the integrity of his Intentions nor the sincerity of his Words He added to these Three or Four Demands which were not less Reasonable the Assembling of the States of the Kingdom within Three months at farthest the Suspending the Marriage of the King and his Sister till after the sitting of the States and the placing near her Majesty Persons of known Honesty and Integrity Conde at the same time wrote to the Prince of Conti his Uncle to the Dukes Peers and Officers of the Crown to the Parlements to Cardinals and he sent them a Copy of the Letter he had sent to the Queen In that to the Parlement of Paris he Stiled them the Chief Guardian of the Kingdom He was willing to give them an account of his Actions he desired their Advice and Concurrence in this Laudable undertaking of his to Reform the Government Thus it is that Kings and Princes and great Lords have used to play with a Senate The weakness of the Parlement of Paris on this occasion the Chief Members whereof being Ambitious and Slaves to the Court take no care to maintain its Reputation and Authority When there are hopes that the Parlement of Paris will be of any use to impose upon the People they bestow upon it magnificent Titles and Treat it with the greatest Honour and Respect imaginable but when these Considerations cease they despise and ridicule it The Parlement upon this occasion gave a Proof of its Weakness They would not open the Letter which the Prince de Conde sent them Two of their Members were deputed to carry it to the Queen who sent them to the Chancellor
a Sum of Money in requital Rohan whose great Design was to be Head of those of his own Religion whom he was willing to Defend and to maintain the Reputation which he had gotten by his Zeal and Probity in Poitou in Guienne and Languedoc where he had very well Supported the Interest of the Reformed Party against the Connestable Governor of the Province Rohan I say was not concerned to keep his Post near the King A Sum of Money was very welcome to him in the present posture of Affairs Bassompierre is made Collonel General of the Swisses in the Room of the Duke of Rohan The business was to get a Man devoted to the Queen and agreeable to the Swisses She proposed Bassompierre in the Council But Villeroy who favour'd the Duke of Longueville whose Family he was a great Friend to told her Majesty that the Place of Colonel General of the Swisses had always been fill'd by a Prince and that the late King promised to give it to no Person but one of that Rank when he renew'd his Ancient Alliance with the Thirteen Cantons The Duke of Rohan said Villeroy was afterwards chosen as a Prince of the Blood of Navarre and Scotland Several of the Ancestors of the Duke of Longueville have Commanded the Swisses The offering him this Post of his Forefathers will be a likely way to draw him off from the Party of the Male-contents Mary did not approve of trusting a young Lord who declared against her and who had often quarrelled with the Mareschal d' Ancre about the Execution of their Offices Longueville was Governor of Picardy and Conchini of the City and Castle of Amiens Because Bassompierre was excluded by the Treaty with the Swisses Mary de Medicis proposed the Chevalier du Guise who unhappily died a little after Villeroy interposed a Second time by saying that this would open the mouths of the Male-contents more than ever who complained of the too high preferments of the House of Guise 'T was happy for Bassompierre that they did not come to a resolution then After he understood from the Queen her self that he was excluded from the Office of Collonel General of the Swisses because he was not one of the Princes he used all his endeavours to take away this obstacle One of the Montmorenci's having had this Employ with the consent of the Helvetick Nation Galatis a Friend of Bassompierre's undertook after all to obtain for him the consent of the Cantons He acquainted the Queen with this who gave him Three Weeks to try what might be done Galatis went directly to Switzerland where he obtained leave to raise Six thousand Men and the Consent of the Thirteen Cantons in favour of Bassompierre And thus this Lorain Gentleman became a Collonel General of the Swisses The sooner to bring this advantageous business to an Issue he paid out of his own Estate the Money promised to the Duke of Rohan But her Majesty afterwards re-embursed him Bassompierre was afraid that if the Duke of Rohan was not paid presently he might have some contrivance to prevent him from an Employ that was likely to be a Step to higher preferment The Conduct of the Reformed in France in the Affair of the prince of Conde The better to Engage the Prince of Conde and his Party to Rise against the Government the Mareschal de Bovillon flattered them with hopes that the Reformed Churches would declare for them He had taken care to discover this Project to the most intimate Friends of the Duke of Rohan Memoires of the Duke of Rohan whether it were that the cunning Mareschal had a mind to make the Prince believe that Rohan would readily join him or whether he had a mind to raise yet greater suspicions in the Court against a Person whom he had a mind to Ruine and make himself more necessary to the Regent Conde seem'd so well persuaded of the favourable Inclinations of the Huguenot Party that he wrote to the Deputy Generals of the Reformed Churches to let them know the Obligations he had laid upon them in not forgetting the Interests of the Protestants in the Manifesto which he had Addressed to the Queen But the Wise du Plessis-Mornai had the precaution to prevent the Deputy Generals from interesting themselves in this Affair and to prescribe to them the Conduct which they were to observe in this Conjuncture After having reflected upon the Steps of the Prince and the measures which he had taken with the Male-contented Lords du Plessis said very aptly that they which Halt at the Threshold are not like to go far And when he had read the Prince of Conde's Letter to the Queen he said Judiciously to the Ambassador of the States General of the Vnited-Provinces to the Queen that he could not imagine what was the Principle of that Charity which the Prince of Conde and his Party pretended to the Reformed Churches These Gentlemen added he are no less at the Devotion of the Pope than the Queen her self of whom they Complain Thâ—… Court of Rome will interpose to reconcile them and his Emissaries will not fail to make us more odious if we imprudently Side with those who hate us in reality and sollicite us only with hopes thereby to obtain better Terms for themselves The wisdom of du Plessis Mornai Villarnoux came to visit du Plessis his Father-in-Law upon the first report of the Rising of the Prince of Conde He sent him immediately back to Paris with Orders to admonish the Deputy-Generals that they should take Care not to draw the Reproach upon themselves of Rising upon any other account but the obtaining of the liberty of their Conscience That would be to wrong their good Cause to mix with it Interests purely Civil and that those of the Religion as they were Reformed Christians ought not to meddle with the Reformation of the State Altho' added he we should think it our Duty to joyn witih them as French-men who desire it of us the Opportunity is not Inviting the design of the Prince according to all appearance will not succeed His Retreat will be look'd upon as an effect of his Discontent or as a desire to Embroil the State The Queen will easily break all their Measures by promising to assemble the States of the Kingdom and to defer the Marriage of the King To what purpose do they think to meet together in a Corner of France Those People which the King can Attack without making any great diversion of his Forces will not continue long before they are reduc'd to beg his Mercy The Event justified this right Guess of this able Old Man Conde could not have drawn himself out of the Intrigue so safely if the Mareschal de Ancre had not apprehended that the Duke de Guise would have been too powerful if he should have had the Command of the Royal Army When the Mareschal de Bovillon had joined the Prince of Conde in Champagne The
de Coeuvres was informed before his departure from Italy that the Prince of Conde and the Regent were upon the point of Agreement This News unravelled the Designs of the Duke of Savoy He flatterr'd himself he should have time to make good his pretensions to Monferrat in spight of the King of Spain whilst his Catholick Majesty should be busied in Supporting the Authority of Mary de Medicis shaken by a Civil War rais'd by the Prince of Conde in France The Treaty which the Regent was about to Conclude at St. Meneboud in Champagne Memoires de la Regence de Marie de Medicis with the Malecontents was not so Binding but that the Prince de Conde held still a great Correspondence with Savoy Mercure Francois 1614. and there was still great Confusions in France These Considerations gave Charles Emanuel some hopes of being in a Condition to make the Governor of Milan know that his Catholick Majesty was not powerful enough to be absolute Master of all the Affairs in Italy Before we relate this new Quarrel which the Duke of Savoy had with the Marquiss of Inojosa or rather with the Court of Madrid it is necessary to look back on the Course of the Affairs in France and to give an account of the Negociation of the Duke of Ventadour and the other Commissioners of the King of France with the Prince of Conde and the Lords of his Party at the Conference of Soissons The latter came thither attended by Six or Seven hundred Horse and Four thousand Foot The Duke de Mayenne Governor of the Isle of France had put a strong Garrison into Soissons for the Security of the Prince and the Lords that came with him The 14th April they assembled in the Castle of Soissons After the Prince of Conde and the Malecontented Lords had protested that they had no other Design but to Serve his Majesty and to secure the Peace of France they desired Three things of the Regent that the States of the Kingdom should be Conven'd as soon as possible that the double Marriage with Spain should be Superseded and that both Sides should lay down their Arms. Hitherto things went very smoothly they pretended to design nothing but the publick Good But they reserv'd a Power to Treat not only concerning the Liberty and Security of the Assembly of the States of the Kingdom but also concerning the particular Interests of each of the Lords The Convocation of the States were granted without any difficulty The Regent had offered that in her Answer to the Prince de Conde's Manifesto There was a dispute about the Second Article They demanded a Suspention of the double Marriage till the End of the Assembly of the States The Commissioners of the Court had only Orders to grant it till the Majority of the King And to save the Authority of the Regent in an Affair which she had Negociated and solemnly Concluded with Spain the Court would not allow that this Article should be inserted in the publick Treaty They offered a particular Letter of the Regent to the Prince in which her Majesty would engage her self to defer the double Marriage till the Majority of the King The thing was accepted of with this modification There was only a formality wanting The day appointed for the opening of the Assembly of the States falling out before the Majority the double Marriage could not be Celebrated before the end thereof The Prince de Conde retires from Soissons and goes into Champagne The proposals which the Prince de Conde and the Lords of his Party made with Relation to their particular Interests raised great disputes in the Council of Mary de Medicis under a pretence of providing for their own Security The Prince and the other Malecontents demanded that they would put some important Place into their Hands and grant them several things for their own convenience 'T was necessary to send Couriers to Court Memoirs de Bassompierre Mercure Francois 1614. and to receive Instructions concerning these Affairs Thus the King's Army gained time to reinforce it self considerably Galati brought Six thousand Swisses which he had Commission to Levy Memoires de la Regence de Marie de Medicis Bassompierre their New Collonel General went to receive them at Troies in Champagne from thence he Conducted them to Vitri where Praslain was gathering together the King's Army These motions made the Prince de Conde Jealous who immediately left Soissons He had written to the Queen before to thank her for the Three Articles which she had consented too and to Advertise her Majesty that the Duke de Maierne and the Mareschal de Bovillon remained at Soissons with full power to Treat of those other Conditions which his Highness and the Lords of the Party had demanded Conde had a mind to seize Vitri with his little Army which he led towards Sedan But the Kings Troops prevented him He made amends for this by assisting the Duke of Nevers to make himself Master of St. Menehoud When the particular Demands of the Prince and the Malecontented Lords were proposed in the Queen's Council their Opinions were divided The Dukes de Guise d' Epernon de Bellegarde The Regents Council divided about the demands which the P. of Conde the Malecontents make with relation to their particular Interests the Cardinal de Joieuse and Villeroi Secretary of State cried out upon them as unworthy Conditions which the Queen could not grant with Honour and without parting with too much of her Authority Guise and Epernon said boldly that if the Regent granted Places of Security to their Enemies they likewise would demand the same and that they would look for Assistance out of the Kingdom This was plainly to threaten Siri Meme recondite Tom. III. p. 238 239 c. that they would join themselves with the Crown of Spain This appeared so much the more a contriv'd Design because the Ministers of Philip declar'd that the King their Master would not send the Infanta his Daughter into France as long as the Enemies of the House of Austria were there the Strongest Mary de Medicis began to be shaken by their Reasons who were of Opinion that she should suppress the Prince of Conde by Force The Parliaments the greater part of the military Officers in a word almost the whole Kingdom were at her Majesties disposal The Hugonots did not Rise only the Duke of Rohan was perhaps tempted to join with the Prince of Conde But Rohan did not eare to embark himself without having a prospect what was like to be the Success However 't was easie to stop him by giving some Satisfaction to the Reformed Churches concerning the Edicts of Pacification and above all in not accepting the assistance which the King of Spain offer'd and of which the Regent had no need Her Majesty did not want Money she had a good Army Conde and the Lords of his Party lying in the extreame parts of
the Kingdom without hope of Foreign Succour were not furnished with any necessaries to maintain a War The Intrigue of the Marschal de Ancre to dissuade the Regent from going to War with the P. de Conde Mary de Medicis would have followed this Advice the most advantageous to her Reputation and her Authority if the Mareschal d' Ancre and the Chancellor de Silleri had not dissuaded her Not content to alledge their Reasons in the Council that it was the best way to grant the Prince of Conde and those of his Party Siri Memo. recondite Tom. III. p. 241. almost all their Pretensions they Intrigued in the Parlement they excited the People of Paris earnestly to demand the conclusion of the Peace They engage likewise the Deputies General of the reformed Churches to say That if the Regent gave the Command of the Army to the avowed Enemies of their Religion they should think they had very good reason to take care of their own preservation by uniting with the Prince of Conde The Mareschal de Lesdiguieres represented that the War would be lookt upon as a revival of the Ancient Quarrels between the Guises and the Bourbons In this diversity of Opinions the Queen thought that to save her self from the Reproaches which might be hereafter thrown upon her 't was necessary to assemble an extraordinary Council and to Summon thither the Presidents of the Parliament and the chief Magistrates of Paris All these Gentlemen of the Robe being prepossess'd by the Chancellor favoured a Peace The Cardinal de Joieuse seeing that their Advice would not carry it went out of the Assembly Guise Epernon Villeroy and some others who had spoke for the War were afraid to oppose the Torrent therefore they approv'd the continuation of the Treaty begun at Soissons Viguier was dispatch'd by the Regent to the Prince of Conde who was retired to St. Menehoud This new Agent had Orders to persuade his Highness to agree that the Duke de Maienne and the Mareschal de Bovillon should conclude the Treaty with the King's Commissioners who remained at Soissons notwithstanding the Retreat of the Prince with some other Lords Conde having answerd by Viguier that things would sooner come to an Issue if the Duke de Ventadour and his Collegues would advance as far as Rhetel to Treat with himself her Majesty sent an express Commission to her Deputies to make an end of the Negociation The Regent sent likewise a particular Letter to the Prince She there promis'd a Suspension of the double Marriage till the Majority of the King her Son The reasons of the Pope's Nuncio about the resolution taken to make a Peace with the P. of Conde The Pope's Nuncio was troubled at the Resolutions which Mary de Medicis had taken to come to an agreement with the Prince of Conde upon Terms so disadvantageous to her Royal Authority he was afraid that this Treaty would make the First Prince of the Blood too powerful and put him into a capacity of pushing his attempts much farther Conde said this Minister of the Pope hath a design to break the double Marriage How must he Effect it 'T is necessary then that he Support the Hugonot Party that he favour the continual Vsurpations of the Parliaments upon the Jurisdiction of the Church that he make Creatures in the Sorbonne by fomenting the Richeriste Party who endeavour to Ruine the Authority of the Holy See in France and if the Pope hath not Power to dispense with Canons as he thinks fit how can the Divorce of the late King from Marguerite his first Wise stand good This Prince of Conde hath but one Step more to make to Ascend the Throne The Italian Politicians Siri Memo. recondite Tom. III. p. 241. oftentimes carry their Reasonings beyond all Bounds The Author which relates these Speculations of the Nuncio adds that the fear of this Minister would have been very well grounded in any other Country besides France The Genius of the Nation is so changeable they take different measures every day The examination of a politick reflection of a Venetian Author concerning the Treaty with the Prince of Conde so contrary one to the other that one can moke no certain Conjectures about the several Commotions there The Reflection is not amiss and indeed we must agree with him But this Author should have added that Conde was a Man of so faint a Temper so little capable of any Resolution that he would never have done the Regent much mischief thô she had granted him Conditions yet more advantageous A Noble Venetian speaking of the same Affair in the History of his own Republick says that France did Recompense those Actions Nani Historia Veneta Lib. I. 1614. which elsewhere they Punish by the hands of the Hangman I approve no more than he that which hath often happenned in France in these Leagues which the Princes and great Lords have often made under the Honourable pretence of the publick good they more design'd their own Interest than those of the People But why does this Senator affirm so boldly that the Prince of Conde and the Lords of his Party ought to have their heads cut off for this Enterprize This is done in other Places I grant it in those Countrys where the Government is Tyrannical One would be surprized to hear a Republican speak at this rate if we did not know that the Government of Venice is rather an absolute Domination of a small number of Noblemen than a free Administration of publick Affairs by a well-compos'd Senate This Decemvirate which is always standing is as good an Invention to maintain Tyranny as ever was It keeps both the People and Nobility equally in awe They study and pursue the Maxims of Matchiavel in Venice as much as in any part of Italy The undertaking of the Prince of Conde was neither Honest nor Prudent enough But in what was it so Criminal This Man must be well seasoned in the Tyrannical principles of his Matchiavel to maintain that a first Prince of the Blood and the Lords of the first Rank in a Kingdom who Demand the Re-establishment of good Laws the general Assembly of the States of the Kingdom the Suspension of a marriage concluded during the Minority of the King against the true Interest of his Crown to maintain I say that these who only make use of that Priviledge which their Birth and Dignity gives them and which desire some Security for their Persons against a Regent and suspected Ministers deserve to die upon a Scaffold The Prince of Conde is not to be blamed for Combining with some other Lords to Demand those things of which he speaks in his Manifesto But he did not take the Right way to do any good His Designs did not appear Sincere nor Disinterested The Parlement and the Magistrates of Paris were very Wise in advising a Peace A Civil War might have been fatal to France and in making a Peace
they were sure of a speedy Convention of the States The well-meaning Men would have endeavoured at a Reformation of the Government if they had been better Seconded and the Prince of Conde had had more Wisdom and Sincerity A Treaty concluded at St. Menehoud between the Regent and the Prince of Conde He concluded at last his Treaty with the Regent at St. Menehoud in Champagne the 15th of May. The Duke de Ventadour and his Colleagues were there I will not recite all the Articles The Castle of Amboise was to be put into the Prince's hands until the meeting of the States The Duke de Nevers had St. Menehoud Mercure Francoise 1614. Memoires de Duc de Rohan de la Regence de Marie de Medicis say some Authors thô it is not mentioned in the Treaty These gave him besides a Sum of Money to satisfie him for pulling down his House to make way for the Fortifications of Mezieres which were part of them to be demolished Blavet and the other Places that were Fortified a little before in Bretagne by the Duke de Vendome being Dismantled He was restored to his Government and all his Places This was all that was agreed upon for Vendom He highly complained that the Prince oâ—… Conde had abandoned him in this Negociation As for the Mareschal de Bovillon it was easie to satisfie him The Money which the Regent Ordered to be paid him was thought by him a sufficient Recompence See said the Duke of Rohan who had more Integrity in him than all the rest that made such a noise see saith he how Mens private Interest make them forget the publick welfare of the Kingdom The Prince de Conde the Dukes de Nevers de Longueville de Maienne and the Mareschal de Bovillon who signed the Treaty very readily performed their Conditions Mary de Medicis was not less punctual of her Side The Dukes de Longueville and de Maienne were the first that return'd to Court Conde retired to his House of Vallery where Descures Governor of Amboise went to resign that Place into his hands His Highness came sometime after to pay his Devoirs to their Majesties That Restless Temper that was Natural to him would not suffer him to stay long at Court. Being vext that his late Design had lessened the Respect due to his high Quality instead of increasing it as he had flattered himself it would This Prince was again tempted to raise new Troubles before the meeting of the States But having taken no better Measures than he did before he was forced to let the Regent alone who was endeavouring to reduce the Duke de Vendom who refused to agree to the Treaty of St. Menehoud The Decree of the Parlement of Paris against a Book of Suarez the Jesuit Mercure Francoise 1614. It is a great while since we have had occasion to speak of the Jesuits But we shall now see them appear again upon the Stage upon the account of a Book published by Suarez a famous Divine of that Society in Spain The Book is Intituled The Defence of the Catholick and Apostolick Faith against the Errors of the English Hereticks There are always a certain sort of Men at Paris who narrowly observe all the Actions of these Good Fathers and will not forgive-them if they do amiss This new Book of Suarez being come to France Abstracts of it were presently made and brought to the King's Officers in the Parliament of Paris The Sollicitor General look'd upon it as a Book so dangerous that he thought it his Duty to desire the Condemnation of it The Parliament met upon the 26th of June and Condemn'd the Book to be burnt by the Hands of the Common Hangman as containing Seditious Principles tending to the Subversion of Kingdoms and to perswade the Subjects of Kings and Princes to attempt their Sacred Persons They ordered besides That certain former Decrees of the Faculty of Paris which condemn'd the Doctrine of Suarez should be Read every year on the 4th day of June not only in thâ—… Schools of Sorbonne but also in those in the Colledge of Clermont and of the Mendicant Friers The greatest mortification to the Society was this that the Parlement Decreed that the Fathers Armand the Rector of the Society Cotton the late King's Confessor Fronton le Duc and Sirmond two Persons very famous for their Learning should appear the next day before the Parlement When they came thither the first President told them in the Name of the Court that the Book of Suarez their Brother Jesuit was contrary to a Declaration they had made and to a Decree of their General in the Year 1610. They commanded them afterward to write to Rome for a Revival and Publication of that Decree and to get from thence an Order in Six Months to prevent the Members of that Society from writing any more in their Books such damnable and pernicious Doctrine and to Command them to Preach to the People Doctrines contrary to those of Suarez or else the Parlement would proceed against such Offenders as Guilty of High Treason and disturbers of the publick Peace Paul V. complains of the proceedings of the parlement against Suarez his Book The Court of France foresaw very well that the Proceedings of the Parlement of Paris against the Book of Suarez would make a great noise at Rome for indeed the Book was writ by Order of the Pope But the Regent to whom the Parlement had been very Serviceable in the Affair of the Prince of Conde would not oppose their Zeal which they expressed against these pernicious Opinions Siri Memo. recondite Tom. III. p. 256 257. 270. Her Majesty had more need than ever to keep fair with the Parlement by reason of the approaching Assembly of the States As soon as Paul V. had notice of the Decree of the Parlement against Suarez his Book he sent the Bishop of Foligni to the Marquiss of Trenel who succeeded Breves in his Embassy at Rome This Prelate had Orders to complain in the Name of the Pope of the proceedings of the Magistrates of Paris by which they Encroached on the Rights of the Holy See His Holiness said he to the Ambassadour is the more surpriz'd because he expected nothing less than a grateful acknowledgement of his kindness to the Queen of France Her Majesty cannot be Ignorant of that Affection that he has always shewed to her and the King her Son All the World is witness of that Zeal which his Holiness has discovered for the prosperity of France T is not long since he offered his good Offices to the Queen to appease the Troubles of the Kingdom And they are no sooner ended but the Parlement of Paris makes a Decree injurious to the Holy See If Suarezs Book contains any Positions contrary to the Sovereignty of the most Christian King her Majesty might have complained to the Pope He would have censur'd the Doctrine of the Author and
punished him severely he would have made him left out what was of ill tendency in the Book Since the death of Henry IV. many French Authors have published several satyrical Libels against the Holy See and the Person of the Pope They have endeavoured to Ruine his Authority at that time when he employed it for the Interest of the King and for the Prosperity of France The Bishop of Folìgni charged the Ambassador to inform the Regent that the Pope complained of the violent Proceedings of the Parlement and to desire her Majesty to get the Decree revok'd The Discourse between the Pope and the F. Ambassador about the Parlements Decree The Marquiss de Trenel having an Audience of the Pope sometime after he represented to his Holiness how impossible it was to obtain what he desired of the Queen who in the present juncture of Affairs could not fall out with the Parlement of Paris Her Majesty said the Ambassador to the Pope will always retain a remembrance of those kindnesses which you have done her but she will be concerned to understand that your Holiness gives protection to a Book the Author of which is so far from incouraging Subjects to Obey their Sovereigns as be is obliged by his Profession to do that he laies down Maxims to stir them up to Rebellion and make an attempt on the Lives of their Princes France still bewails the Bloody death of Henry IV. Her Parlements will never fail to oppose those Authors whose pernicious Doctrine Struck the Knife in the Breast of so good a King The Magistrates will never cease to employ their utmost Care for the preservation of the Person of his Son without being defective in that Respect that they owe to your Holiness and the Apostolick See Accordingly the Parlement of Paris hath taken all possible Care that their Decree might not violate the Lawful Authority of the Successors of St. Peter These Remonstrances did not at all affect a proud and angry Pope If the King of France replied he will not revoke the Decree of Parlement as to those Points which concern the Rights of the Holy See I will follow the light and dictates of my Conscience You must not imagine that the fear of a Rupture will be any restraint upon me in this matter In case Her Majesty refuses to give me the satisfaction that I desire I 'le endeavour to do my self justice and follow the examples of my Predecessors Must I maintain â—…a Nuncio at Paris to be there the Spectator of the outrages that are done me and the Indignity with which they there trample under their Feet the Authority of the Holy See Is it so hard a matter to stop the proceedings of the Parlement I know the Chancellor well enough Maxims of Politicks are more pleasing to him than truths of Religion The Ambassador was not at all dismaied He desired the Pope to reflect upon the reasons which the Parlement had to Condemn Suarez his Book I have heard say added he like a Gentleman that Divinity is a holy Science It is therefore inconsistent with an Opinion which allows the murder of Kings The Parlemenâ—… is indispensably obliged to take care of the preservation of good Divinity in the Kingdom of the Authority and Person of the King They have a Book brought before them which maintains that in some cases a particular Person may attempt with a safe Conscience the Life of his Prince Caâ—… any one desire that the Magistrate should be Silent when Two Kings have been successively murdered by Fanaticks who have imbibeâ—… this damnable Divinity Paul replied that the matter in dispute was not about the killing of declared Tyrants I have forbid my self said he the teaching such Doctrines and I do not know but that I have complied too much in that matter Many approved Authors in the Church are of the Opinion But I complain of the Condemnation of certain passages recited in thâ—â— Decree which speak only of the Prerogativeâ—â— of the Holy See And what were these They were those where Suarez affirms that the Pope may depose Princes when they become Tyrants That which Paul Vâ—â— acknowledges deserves to be remarkâ—… He pretends to be very favourable to Kings in forbidding any to teach that iâ—… was lawful to kill them with a safe Conscience in any Case what ever But with a moderation altogether worthy of the Successor of St. Peter he reserves to himself the Right of Deposing them when ever he should judge that their Government is degenerated into Tyranny Trenel replied very aptly that Princes were not so much obliged to him and that it was his Holiness's own Interest that such a Doctrine should be banished all Christian Communions For says he the Protestants hold that the Popes are Hereticks Tyrants and Antichrist and if the Opinion which allows the attempting the Lives of Tyrants be once Established among Christians It is not impossible but a Fanatick Hugonot may take a fancy to do a brave Action and kill the Pope Paul V. was enraged instead of being pacified He said again with a threatning and angry Air that nothing should hinder him from defending the Rights of the Holy See if the King would not revoke the Decree of Parlement I wish your Holiness replied the Ambassador in a submissive manner would have the goodness to offer some Expedient that you would write to your Nuntio and would send Orders â—…o the Cardinals which are in France to consult with him about some means of accommodation the Queen will agree to any thing that she can do with Honour As for Revoking of the Decree it is not a thing possible to be done at present Trenel's design was only to hold him in play that so the hot and haughty Old Gentleman might have time to grow cool and reflect upon the Consequences of his Threatnings After some farther discourse he took a resolution to write to the Nuncio and to send to the Cardinals de Joieuse du Perron and de la Rochefoucault to enjoin them to confer with the Nuncio about the Satisfaction which his Holiness should Demand in the present posture of affairs in France In reciting these particulars Two things seem equally Surprising to me The arrogance of the pretended Vicar of Jesus Christ who will not endure that Crowned Heads should make use of their Authority to support their Sovereign and Independant Power or to preserve their Lives from Assasins They must humbly desire of the Pope the Condemnation of a Jesnit who allows attempts upon their Lives They must be content with his publishing throughout their Dominions that the Pope hath a Right to examine their Conduct and to Depose them when he thinks they Tyrancically abuse their Power The other thing which does not less amazâ—… me is the mean and low-spirited Superstition of the Princes of the popish Communion What good Reason did he alledge to oblige them blindly to submit to the arrogance and pride of the Bishop of Rome which grosily
was extremly troubled when he understood that their Majesty's were at Orleans and that the Troops were on their March Uncertain which way to take he sometimes made a shew of going to the Duke de Rohan at St. Jean d' Angeli But what Assistance could he expect from the Huguenots They were never disposed to stir in the favour of a wavering Prince that was imprudent in all his Steps I don't see says du Plessis Mornai of what advantage the Prince's Journey to St. Jean d' Angeli will be to him If he goes there with a few Men he will be despised if with a great many it will be troublesome to Mr. de Rohan to Entertain them can one imagine that the People of St. Jean d' Angeli will Expose themselves to the danger of having all the King's Forces upon their backs by giving Reception to a Prince who has no Inclination for a Religion which his Ancestors have Defended and is not capable of doing any great Service to our Churches Conde was very sensible he would never have Reputation enough to draw after him the Huguenot Party as long as du Plessis Mornai persisted to perswade the Reformed from having any hand in their Commotions The Prince wrote therefore to du Plessis to ask Advice of him But his real Design was to make the Reformed afraid of their Majesties March This Journey said he in his Letter was not undertaken but for one of these Three Reasons Is there not a Design to take away from those of your Religion that which the late King hath granted them Some think that they are going to receive the Infanta and to accomplish the King's Marriage For my own part I believe they come to Ruine me here Pray tell me added Conde what is in your Opinion best for me to do in this Juncture Du Plessis easily perceived that under a pretence of asking Advice he solicited him to appear for him He answered the Prince that the King's Journey did not at all allarm the Reformed Churches We are perswaded said he that the Queen is very sensible she would put the whole Kingdom into a Flame if she should suffer those of our Religion to be injured I confess some People have given it out that the Queen is going to Receive the Infanta But should a Prince take his Measures from common Rumour Are there any Vessels ready in the Ports of Spain Are there any Gallys fitted out at Barcelona The Infanta can't come any other way than by Sea The Spaniards are too Proud Don't think they 'l ever send their King's Eldest Daughter to us Incognito She will never come away before the Court of Madrid is sure that she will be received as Queen before ever she sets Foot in France I doubt not but her Majesty is either coming into Bretagne against Mr. de Vendome who has not consented to the Treaty of St. Menehoud or at lest to Poitiers Her presence seems absolutely necessary there For this reason your Highness can't do better than make an handsome Retreat from Poitiers It concerns your Hignesse's Reputation not to stay till you are forced to it The Duke of Maienne was at that time at Chateleraut He went there with the Consent of the Court and urged Conde forthwith to Submit to her Majesty The Prince had no other Course to take From this last foolish Design he got nothing but the shame of being forced to hide himself in Chateauroux in Berri He did not dare to Return to his New Government of Amboise Those which Commanded for him in that Place of Security which he had so earnestly desired had so little Respect for him that they Presented the Keys to the New Queen when she came there a little while after Her Majesty seemed to despise the vain Efforts of the Prince in letting him have a Place which she could recover at pleasure without any Resistance The Remonstrances of du Plessis Mornai to the Queen Regent The Regent used her endeavours to take away the Suspicions which the Prince of Conde and his Emissaries had â—…nspired the Reformed Churches with concerning their Majesty's Journey As â—…oon as the Court was arrived at Orleans Mary de Medicis dispatch'd a Gentleman â—…o Saumur with Credential Letters Vie de M. du Plessis Mornai Liv. III. He was to assure du Plessis that the King's Army should not Advance into those â—…rovinces which lie on the other side of â—…he River Loire Lettres memoires du Meme 1614. That the Queen had no â—â—oughts of Concluding the double Marriage with Spain before the Meeting of the States of the Kingdom and that they only designed to Reduce the Duke of Vendome who every day raised new difficulties against the Treaty of St. Menehoud although the Marquiss de Coeuvres had already made two Journeys into Bretagne to persuade him to comply The Court moved from Orleans to Tours Her Majesty invited du Plessis to come thither They gave it out the King and Queen his Mother would not pass by Saumur in their Journy to Bretagne They don't care said some to be at the discretion of the most Zealous Hugonot in France These Discourses troubled du Plessis He resolved to complain of them to the Queen Madam said this Genâ—…leman whose Virtue exceeded even that of Cato and Aristides I don't give any credit to what I hear But if it should be proposed in your Majesties Council that the King's Person would not be safe at Saumur I should look upon it as the greatest Injury that could be done me The Government of Saumur was committed to me as a Reward of the Treaty which I had managed between the late King and hiâ—… Predecessor That Negotiation which 〈◊〉 brought to a happy Conclusion made way for the late King to sit upon the Throne oâ—… his Ancestors God forbid that that Placâ—… which he entrusted me with should ever bâ—… suspected by the King his Son This generosity pleased the Queen She lookeâ—… upon it as a handsome Invitation to go to Saumur Du Plessis had several private Audiences of Mary de Medicis during her stay at Tours Her Majesty discoursed very freely to him concerning the present Condition of the Affairs of the Kingdom He on his Side undertook frequently to inculcate upon the Regent the necessity of avoiding a Civil War Nothing said he does more weaken the Authority of a Prince I have heard it several times said to the late King That he never was really King till the end of the Civil Wars Whatsoever they may say to your Majesty against those of our Religion believe Madam that you have no such faithful Subjects as those who obey from a Principle of Conscience We have at least this Advantage above our Adversarys that we acknowledge no power under God Superiour to his Majesty The fundamental Maxims of our Religion will not allow us to hold any Commerce with Foreigners who would Encroach upon the Kingdom or the King's Authority Suffer me
Consequences of the great Power the Court of Madrid usurpt to themselves Entreated the Senate to reflect seriously upon all the Steps his Catholick Majesties Ministers had proceeded At last this long Harangue tended to Declare that Charles Emmanuel who gloried to be the Eldest Son of the Republick threw himself into the Arms of the Senate a Protector of Oppressed Princes whom his Highness did earnestly Entreat to assist him with their Advices and stand by him as a Father As the Venetians had some cause to Complain of the Duke's Irruption into Montferrat spight of their Remonstrances so his Envoy had Orders to appease 'em by offering to make them Arbitrators of the Duke's Difference with the House of Mantua The Venetian Writers Embellish with all the Art they are able these Actions in their History One would say that they were going to Insinuate into us that Sovereigns have the same Respect for their Senate the same Honour which mighty Kings had heretofore for the Senate of Old Rome I grant to the Senate of Venice all that is their due but I find them far beneath the Senate of Rome after she had extended her Dominions into Africa Spain Greece and Asia The Romans besides Scofft at those Kings who basely Crept to them And I don't know if the Quality of being Eldest Son of St. Mark which Charles Emmanuel took upon him be not as unworthy of the Duke of Savoy as to be a free Citizen of Rome is unworthy of a Sovereign Possest of a fair Kingdom A Prince who intends to make himself distinguisht thrô all Europe by upholding so bravely his Dignity against the King of Spain does it become him to Creep after this manner to the Nobles of Venice whose Original is not very Illustrious nor their Independence so Ancient The Ambassador whom the King of Spain had at that time at Venice will know at some time or other how to prove this to them He was the famous Marquiss of Bedmar whose Name will be odious to the Venetians for more than one reason When this Minister as jealous as any other would be of the Glory of his Prince had understood what Piscina had said to the Senate from the Duke of Savoy he Demanded to be heard in his Turn The Spaniard spoke briskly of Philip's good Intentions for the Conservation of the repose of Italy of the Money he had disburst and of the pains he had taken every day to this purpose The King my Master said Bedmar was in the right to make use of the most efficacious and rigorous means he could for bringing the Duke of Savoy to the reasonable Conditions which have been so often offered him The fear which his Majesty hath of creating too great a Jealousie in the Princes of Italy hath been the only means of keeping him back in this Occasion We have had all the Patience imaginable All Expedients have been set on Foot that were judged the most proper to end the difference that hath lasted so long a time betwixt the Houses of Savoy and Mantua If the sweet Temper and Clemency of my Master are of no other Service than to render the Duke of Savoy more Proud and Daring can any one think it strange that his Majesty should threaten him to use at this time the Power God hath put into his Hands and that he should Protect with the force of his Arms the Duke of Mantua who is Attackt with great Injustice The Proceedings of the Duke of Savoy are sufficiently known in the World and now he sees himself brought to that pass as that he must be contented with the equitable Conditions granted him and break up his Troops which his Restlesness and Ambition had rais'd to his vast Expences he laies Intrigues endeavours to Surprise unawares the Princes of Italy with a design to stave off the Composition offered him and avoid the shame of disarming after so great a Bustle The Senate hath insight and pries narrowly into Affairs They know from a long Experience the Humour and Dissimulation of the Duke of Savoy And this is sufficient to prevent their being blinded by the Artificial Discourse of his New Envoy Thô the Venetians were more favourable to Charles Emmanuel than to the King of Spain's Ministers the Senate avoided the making of any Engagement with the Duke of Savoy They excused themselves from medling with the Affair of Montferrat and the reciprocal Pretensions of the Houses of Savoy and Mantua the Arbitration of these things being referred to the Emperor and King of Spain His Highness was Exhorted to make an Agreement with the Cardinal Duke to give Some satisfaction to the Catholick King to yield to the strongest as far as the Quality of a Sovereign Prince would permit him At length the Senate endeavoured to comfort him with their promise of doing him all the good Turns they could upon this Occurrency and not to suffer him to be Opprest The Spaniards took it ill that Savoy's Envoy had so favourable an Audience at Venice The Governor of Milan who had conceived Anger against the Republick loudly Complained of it Mistrust encreased on both Sides insomuch as the Senate ordered New Levies and kept themselves on their Guard in Case there should happen an open Rupture betwixt Spain and Savoy The Venetians however affected to shew outwardly a perfect Neutrality They discours'd like common Friends who strive rather to be Mediators than embrace one Party before another Yet what ever care they took to hide and dissemble their true Sentiments the Court of Spain would not trust them 'T was well enough perceived that they would never suffer the Duke of Lerma to bring about his Designs which he had contriv'd for the Duke of Savoy's Ruine and to put the Princes of Italy into an entire dependance on the Catholick King 's will The Spaniards Jealousies and Suspicions were hereupon more awaken'd Charles Emmanuel had sent his Chief Minister's Son to Venice in Quality of Ordinary Ambassador and the Senate nominated Renier Zeno to be Resident with the Duke of Savoy whilst his Highness openly maintains a War against Spain The Marquiss of Rambovillet is nominated Ambassador Extraordinary from France into Italy Charles Emmanuel relied upon the Officers and French Soldiers who would never fail to Run into his Service as soon as the Governor of Milan should make a shew of being willing to attack Piedmont His Highness kept a strickt Correspondence with the Mareschal Lesdiguieres who was Governor in Dauphiny and the Spaniards did not question but this Old Friend of the Duke of Savoy Siri Memo. Recondite Tom. III. p. 263. 264. would willingly give him Succours These Considerations Engaged Inigo de Cardenas the Spanish Ambassador in France to go for Nantes where the Regent was at that time He had received Orders to Complain to her Majesty of the Duke of Savoy's obstinacy and to secure France Memoires de la Regence de Marie de Medicis in case the Catholick King
was afterwards Confirmed in all its Articles in the Orders and Acts which were made and lastly in every thing that was since agreed to either in the Interpretation of it or in its Execution which they would as 't was said inviolably keep and observe After having forbid his Subjects to enter into any Leagues contrary to the Well-being of the State with foreign Princes and to receive any secret Pensions from 'em the King confirm'd his Father's Edicts against Duels and the Ordinances of his Predecessors against Swearing and Blasphemy I should not refuse to give so pious and just a Declaration in all appearance its just Praises if the Son of him who made it had not declared Solemnly that neither his Father or his Grandfather had ever any Intention to continue such an Edict which they had promised so many times to maintain as a Perpetual and Irrevocable Law How then Were these Two Kings who had the magnificent Sirnames conferred upon them of Great and Just by the Confession of their Son Men without Conscience and Probity Will Posterity ever believe a thing of this Nature As for my self I shall always preserve a better Opinion of Henry IV. and Lewis XIII I can't be persuaded that they were so bad as Lewis XIV represents them to us The K. takes his Seat of Justice in the Parlement at Paris The next Morning being the Second day of October the King went to take his Seat of Justice in the Parlement at Paris as he was going and in his Seat he was accompanied with all imaginable Pomp and Splendour Mary de Medicis made a short Discourse there Mercure Francois 1614. in which her Majesty declared That she put the Administration of Affairs into her Son's hands who for some days had been in his Majority Lewis greatly thank't his Mother and ended in declaring that he was willing that his Mother should always continue to take Care of him and Govern the State and this is what the good Princess had discreetly brought about with a great deal of diligence She preserved her Authority without making her self Responsible for what should be done hereafter Too happy If the Favourite who began already to insinuate himself into the young King had not banisht her from the Court and the Chief Minister of State whom shâ—… her self had Establisht in the place of the deceased Favourite had not drove her away out of the Kingdom Sileri Chancellour and Verdun Chief President made Speeches upon the Majority of the Kings of France Servin the Advocate General 's Discourse was more remarkable for the prudent and Religious Remonstrances he made to the young King There 's only this one thing I have to find fault with that so grave a Magistrate was himself ensnared with this base flattery which was introduc'd then into the Parlement and is since establisht there so shamefully Servin heap'd up upon Mary de Medicis excessive Praises for her Administration of the Government Amongst the good Counsels he gave Lewis with a Christian and French liberty ought he to have inserted that he should behave himself as his Mother should Advise who rather aimed at the maintaining of her Authority and the Advancement of her Creatures and Favourites than at the Instruction of her Son in Religion and Virtue and the making of his People happy and satisfied in her Administration of the Government The Ceremony ended with reading and registring a Declaration despatcht the day before Searching as carefully as 't was possible for me what regarded the History of Lewis XIII in his Minority I oftentimes wondered to find so little matter touching the young King's Education His Father had made Gilles de Souvrè his Governor But it seems that upon this occasion Henry IV. less thought of choosing a Gentleman who had the Qualities which this important Employment required than of Recompensing the faithfulness of an old Servant I can find out that Souvrè bestirr'd himself to settle his Family and procure his Son the Marquiss of Courtenvaux a considerable Office But I could never learn what he did to give Lewis a Royal Education Souvrè's Family which this Prince hath made Illustrious did not continue long after his death The Heiress carried all the Means away into another Person 's House who was a Minister of State and whose Father of an obscure Birth was advanc'd to the chief Dignity of the long Robe Memoires de la Regence de Maried Medicis Melanges d'Histoire de Litte-rature par Vigneul-Marville Vanquelin des Ivetaux was the King's first Tutour A Person of Quality whose Memoires we have saith that Vanquelin was a Man of great Merit and very capable to Instruct a Prince But the Character which a Modern Author gives us of the exâ—â—vagant and romantick Amours and of the Epicurean Life and Death of this Man is a certain proof that Henry IV. did not well distinguish Men of Worth The Cardinal Perron used many Intrigues to get his Brother into the place of being his Tutour He offered himself to take the care and directions of the Dauphin's Studies Yet Henry IV. of his own Inclination chose Vanquelin He did not long continue in the Employment The envy and jealousie of some caused him to be removed from it in a years time after the death of Henry IV. Nicholas le Fevre succeeded him This was a Person noted for his Knowledge and Piety The late King had sent him to the Prince of Conde who was willing to Recompense le Fevre in being a means to procure Vanquelin's place in which he behaved himself with much approbation Le Fevre died the year after and Fleurance Rivant an able Mathematician as 't is said rose from the Office of being Sub-Tutour to be Tutour in Chief A Youth who passeth through so many different hands doth not usually become a Man of Abilities Bernard Historie de Louis XIII Liv. 1. Lewis XIII learnt very little Latin Falconry and the exercise of Hunting pleased him more than Study he lookt very well after Hawks and became in Hunting the greatest Rider in his Kingdom His Majesty saith an Historian called to his Dogs in Perfection Had it not been much more to the purpose to have taught him how to speak to Men 'T was likewise observed that Lewis was no bad Gunner and that he very well understood Fortification These Qualifications which might be of some use to a younger Brother of the Nobility who is to seek and make out his own Fortune are not in any wise fit for a King if you except from hence understanding and knowledge in Fortifications He may for his diversion Hunt and flie his Hawks but he ought to Employ his time in something that 's better than to be expert in Falcons and Hounds I should have nothing to say against Lewis's having some knowledge in Artillery which is necessary for a King who ought to make himself capable of Commanding his Armies when the publick-good requires it But is not this ridiculous that he is suffer'd to burden his Memory with the names and use of the smallest things in Artillery They ought to have been constantly instilling into his Head Precepts useful and important to one who intends to Govern well In a Pack of Hounds he could call every one of them by their Names But t is a business more worthy of a Prince to learn the knowledge of Men to distinguish from others those who are more capable of Places of greatest Dignitiy in the State and to Reward those who are of good Use and Service to the Publick Lewis XIII had always good Inclinations and Principles in him of Virtue and Equity Courtiers dared not speak any thing of obscenity or Swear in his Presence He feared God loved Justice and was willing to do good to his People If Souvrè and others had been diligent to Instruct and Cultivate what God had given him of Judgement and Integrity they might have done considerable Service to their Prince and Country Lewis then might not have been in the unhappy necessity of leaving all to a Favourite or Minister of State who did not think of any thing but the better Establishment of their Credit and Fortunes in raising to day a Civil War and to morrow a Foreign one The End of the First Tome Books Printed for and Sold by T. Cockerill at the Three Legs in the Poultry ANnotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Pool in Two Volumes Folio The Works of the Reverend and Learned Divine Stephen Charnock B. D. in Two Volumes in Folio Historical Collections by John Rushworth Esq the Third Part in Two Volumes in Folio Sermons Preached on several occasions by John Conant D. D. in Three Volumes in Octavo A Discourse against customary Swearing by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq Geography Anatomized or the Compleat Geographical Grammar being a short and exact Analysis of the whole Body of Modern Geography after a new and curious Method by Patrick Gordon M. A. and Fellow of the Royal Society The private Christian's Witness for Christianity in Octavo A Preservative against Deism by N. 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