shall be remov'd he shall go and present himself before His Holiness submitting in all humility to what he shall reasonably ordain Now 't is most manifest they say that there are three sorts of Canonical Hindrances which dispence the King from going and consequently from sending to Rome to desire Absolution from the Pope The first is the manifest danger wherein he is continually of losing his Life in so many Battels and Sieges where he is forc'd to expose it daily for the preservation of the Crown which is devolv'd to him by the invioable Right of Succssion according to the fundamental Law of the Kingdom and which one half of his Subjects who are in Rebellion against him do their utmost to take away A Danger of this nature and many of the same which are included under it as that of Conspiracies Enmities Robbers a long Voyage by Sea are esteem'd according to right Reason and by the Doctors to be of that number which is comprehended in what we call the Article of Death which is not to be understood alone of that fatal moment when we give up our Breath but also of any another time when we are visibly expos'd to Death And it is on these occasions as in the Article of Death that not only the Bishops but also all Priests can give Absolution from all Sins and Ecclesiastick Censures with this Proviso that he shall afterwards present himself before the Pope if there be not some other Hindrance as for example that which follows And that is the greatness and dignity of the Persons excommunicated and particularly of Soveraign Princes who cannot leave the People whom they govern to go to Rome without manifest prejudice to their Crown For if a Father of a Family or suppose an ordinary Servant may be dispenc'd with from going thither in case his absence would inconvenience his Family much more strongly may it be concluded in the Person of a great King whose presence is always necessary or at least wise very advantagious to his Kingdom Therefore it ought to be presum'd that Persons of that eminent Dignity are perpetually hindred from leaving their Countrey and taking such a Journey In conclusion the third Hindrance which the Doctors call Periculum in morâ the danger of delay is the great hazard which the Nation might run For by deferring that Absolution so long till it were given at Rome a thousand ill Accidents might intervene and the happy opportunity be lost of preserving in France our Religion the State and the fundamental Laws of the Kingdom by the conversion of the King For all these Reasons it was concluded in that Assembly that they not only might but ought also to absolve him and afterwards send a solemn Embassy to Rome to desire the fatherly Benediction of the Pope and the Approbation of what had been so justly done in France in relation to his Conversion It being resolv'd in this manner the publick and solemn Act of this Conversion which was so much the wish of all good men was perform'd on the Sunday following being the 25th of Iuly with Magnificence worthy of so great an Action and of the Majesty of him who made it The King cloath'd all in white excepting only his Cloak and Hat which were black came forth from his Lodgings betwixt the hours of 8 and 9 in the morning preceded by the Swiss the French and the Scottish Guards and the Officers of his House with beat of Drum accompanied by the Princes the Crown Officers and those of the Soveraign Courts the Bishops and Prelats and all those who had assisted at his Instruction twelve Trumpets going before him and five â—r six hundred Gentlemen following him all magnificently cloath'd the Streets were hung with Tapissery and the Pavements strow'd with Flowers and Greens there were present an infinite multitude of People and principally of Parisians who notwithstanding all the Prohibitions of the Legat and the Duke of Mayenne were come in Crowds to St. Denis and joyn'd heartily with the rest in the loud Cries of Vive le Roy while his Majesty walk'd through the midst of them to the Church Porch of St. Denis There he found the Archbishop of Bourges who was to perform the Ceremony sitting on a great Chair in his pontifical Habit. Immediately he ask'd the King according to the form Who he was and what he wou'd have To which Questions the King having answer'd I am the King who desire to be receiv'd into the bosom of the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church He fell upon his Knees and presented the Confession of his Faith sign'd with his Hand to the Archbishop saying these words I swear and protest before the Face of Almighty God that I will live and die in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church that I will protect and defend it with the hazard of my Blood and Life renouncing all Heresies which are contrary to it After which he receiv'd from that Prelat an Absolution from the Censures which he had incurr'd immediately the whole Church resounded with the often repeated Cryes of Vive le Roy and he was conducted by the Bishops before the great Altar where he renew'd his Oath upon the holy Evangelists and after having confess'd himself to the Archbishop behind the Altar while they were singing the Te Deum he heard High Mass which was celebrated by the Bishop of Nantes and then the Musick sang Vive le Roy with several repetitions of it At which the Parisians who were present in great numbers at that triumphal Ceremony breaking out into tears drown'd the voices of the Musicians with their Cryes of Vive le Roy which makes it evident that the People of Paris excepting only the Rabble of the Faction were only Leaguers by reason of that invincible Aversion which they have always had for Hugonotism For so soon as they saw the King converted they no longer call'd him the Bearnois or the King of Navarre but plainly the King whom already they desir'd to see in Paris as appear'd not long afterwards by the peaceable reduction of that capital City of the Kingdom Truly after this day which by the Effects it produc'd may properly be call'd the last day of the League when the Piety of the King was observ'd at Mass at Vespers at the Archbishop's Sermon and after it in the Visit which he made to the Tombs of the Martyrs at Montmartre all which Actions were well known to proceed from the Sincerity of a Soul which was too great to be capable of Hypocrisie the People did but laugh at what the Spaniards the remainders of the Sixteen their Preachers and above all others the fiery Doctor Boucher publish'd in their Libels and in their Sermons which were but Libels against this Conversion which they labour'd in vain to decry by many impudent and forg'd Defamations 'T was almost every mans business as secretly as he cou'd to make Peace with the King and deliver up the Towns without noise
Le Saige Dudel F. de La Motte Le Fevre Register Whatsoever Resolution was taken to keep this Treaty secret it was impossible to be long conceal'd being sign'd by so many men who were desirous to have Copies of it Accordingly there were found some both amongst the Catholiques and Protestants who were not wanting to answer it publiquely endeavouring to make appear in their Writings the injustice which they said was couch'd under those fair and specious protestations which they demonstrate particularly in this that without the King's privity there was made a Confederation and Association of many persons of all the Orders of the States who combine themselves to reform the Abuses of it That another Head of it was chosen and not the King That they bind themselves by a new invented Oath to that Head and that they take upon them to make Levies of men and money 'T is without all manner of dispute they say that this directly strikes at the foundation of the Monarchy if done without the express permission of the King to whom onely it belongs to give out those orders which he judges to be necessary for the safety of the State and the well being of his Subjects Moreover as great evils are commonly contagious and that a dangerous Conspiracy is like Poison which beginning from any little part if Sword and Fire and violent Remedies be not immediately apply'd and if the Scorpion be not crush'd upon the place which he has envenom'd spreads it self swiftly through the whole body thus the example of the Picards for want of immediate acting with force and vigour against the Authours of that tendency to Rebellion was quickly follow'd in all the Provinces of the Kingdom by many persons of all ranks and conditions who under the fair pretence of Religion inroll'd themselves covertly in the League But he who most openly declar'd for it was the Lord Louis de Trimoüille who was afterwards Governour of Poitou and the Païs d' Aunis For as he was most extremely incens'd against the Huguenots who because he was not favourable to them took all occasions of revenge upon him and by frequent inrodes had made spoil of his Estate and was on very ill terms with the Count de Lude Governour of that Province and a faithfull Servant of the King He fail'd not to take advantage of the occasion which was offer'd him to be head of a powerfull party against them and to declare himself for the League into which he caus'd a great part of the Towns and Nobility both of Touraine and of Poitou to enter Thus was the League fram'd and became in a short time exceeding powerfull while the King who cou'd not possibly be ignorant of the designs and practices or the dangerous consequences of it either durst not or wou'd not oppose it whether it were that fatal drowsiness which oppress'd him plung'd as he was in his delights or the laziness of an unactive efâ—eminate way of living averse from labour and application to business or were it that the Queen Mother who at that time was no other ways link'd to the Guises than by her hatred to the Huguenots who had endeavour'd to ruine her made the King believe that he ought to serve himself of that League to infeeble and abase them by taking from them all those great advantages which they had not obtain'd but through compulsion in the last Peace so odious and insupportable to the Catholiques 'T is what was driven at and done in the first Estates which were held at Bloys which began in the month of November the same year 1576. The Protestants had importunately demanded them when the last Treaty was concluded not at all doubting as they were in conjunction with the Politiques but that they should be the strongest and that consequently they shou'd procure the Edict of May to be confirm'd which was so favourable to them But they were deceiv'd in their expectations for it was found that by the management of the Queen Mother and the Guises and by the Money which was distributed in the particular Assemblies of the Provinces not onely that almost all the Deputies were Catholiques but that also the greatest part of them were of the League Insomuch that without regard to the protestations of the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde against the States and after the refusal which those two Princes and the Marshal d' Amville Head of the Politiques had made to assist in them to which they had vigorously been solicited by a solemn deputation the Edict of May was finally revok'd and prohibition made to all exercise of the pretended Reformation and all the Ministers and Directours were banish'd out of the Realm by a new Edict till such time as they shou'd be converted Behold in what manner the Protestants who as yet were not apprehensive of the League found by experience that it was stronger than their party in the Estates according as the King had hop'd it wou'd be But on the otherside that Prince immediately perceiv'd that it acted not with less artifice and vigour to wâ—aken his own authority than to pull down the party of the Huguenots For they had the impudence to demand of him that the Articles which shou'd be approv'd by the three Estates shou'd pass into inviolable Laws which it shou'd not be in his power to alter and that for other Articles concerning which the States cou'd not agree amongst themselves his Majesty might be permitted to ordain conformably to what shou'd be found just and reasonable by the advice of the Princes of the bloud and twelve of the Deputies Which to speak properly was to devest the King of his Sovereign Power in making Ordinances and Laws and to transfer it to the States according to the project of the League This undoubtedly surpriz'd the King but he was yet much more amaz'd when at the same time there was shewn him the Memoires of one David an Advocate which contain'd certain propositions the most villanous and detestable that can possibly be imagin'd For that Fellow who was onely a pitifull wretched Advocate a Defender of the worst Causes and such as were given for quite lost lays down at the first for an undoubted Principle That the Benediction of Popes and principally that of Stephen the Second was bestow'd on the Race of Charlemain alone and not extended to that of Hugh Capet an Usurper of the Crown And that on the contrary he by that Usurpation has drawn on his Descendants those Curses the deplorable effects of which have been seen in so many Heresies and above all others in that of the Calvinists who have laid waste the Kingdom by Civil Wars which after the fruitless Victories gain'd against them have been succeeded by a Peace most advantageous to those Heretiques that this notwithstanding God Almighty whose property it is to draw good out of evil has made use of that extreme horrour which all good Catholiques have conceiv'd for that unhappy Peace
be declar'd to have forfeited for ever their right of succeeding to the Crown That the Duke of Espernoâ— La Valeite his Brother Francis d' O. the Marshals of Retz and of Biron Colonel Alphonso d' Ornano and all others who like them were favourers of the Huguenots or were found to have held any correspondence with them shou'd be depriv'd of their Governments and Offices and banish'd from the Court without hope of ever being restor'd again That the spoils of all these shou'd be given to the Princes of his House and to those Lords who had ingag'd with him of whom he made a long List That the King shou'd casheer his Guard of five and forty as a thing unknown in the times of his Predecessours protesting that otherwise he cou'd place no manner of confidence in him nor ever dare to approach his person That it wou'd please his Majesty to declare him his Lieutenant General through all his Estates with the same Authority which the late Duke of Guise his Father had under the Reign of Francis the Second by virtue of which he hop'd to give him so good an account of the Huguenots that in a little time there shou'd remain no other but the Catholique Religion in all his Kingdom To conclude that there shou'd be call'd immediately an Assembly of the three Estates to sit at Paris where all this shou'd be confirm'd and to hinder for the future that the Minions who wou'd dispose of all things at their pleasure shou'd not abuse their favour that there shou'd be establish'd an unchangeable form of Government which it shou'd not be in the power of the King to alter 'T is most evident that Demands so unreasonable so arrogant and so offensive tended to put the Government and the power of it into the Duke's hands who being Master of the Armies the Offices and the Governments of the most principal Provinces in his own person by his Relations his Creatures and the Estates where he doubted not of carrying all before him especially at Paris wou'd be the absolute disposer of Affairs Insomuch that there wou'd be nothing wanting to him but the Crown it self to which 't is very probable that at this time he pretended in case he shou'd survive the King to the exclusion of the Bourbons whom he wou'd have declar'd incapable of succeeding to it For which reason the Queen seeing that he wou'd recede from no part of these Articles and beginning to fear that he wou'd go farther than she desir'd counsell'd the King to get out of Paris with all speed while it was yet in his power so to do And though some of his chief Officers as amongst others the Chancellour de Chiverny and the Sieurs of Villeroy and Villequier who were of opinion that more wou'd be gain'd by the Negotiation and who foresaw that the Huguenots and the Duke of Espernon whom they had no great cause to love wou'd make their advantage of this retreat so unworthy of a King endeavour'd to dissuade him from it yet a thousand false advertisements which came every moment that they were going to invest the Louvre and his accustom'd fear together with the diffidence he had of the Duke of Guise whom he consider'd at that time as his greatest Enemy caus'd him at the last to resolve on his departure Accordingly about noon the next day while the Queen Mother went to the Duke with propositions onely to amuse him the King making shew to take a turn or two in the Tuilleries put on Boots in the Stables and getting on Horse-back attended by fifteen or sixteen Gentlemen and by ten or twelve Lacqueys having caused notice to be given to his Guards to follow him went out by the Port Neuve riding always on full gallop for fear of being pursu'd by the Parisians till having gain'd the ascent above Challiot he stopt his Horse to look back on Paris 'T is said that then reproaching that great City which he had always honour'd and enrich'd by his Royal presence and upbrayding its ingratitude he Swore he wou'd not return into it but through a Breach and that he wou'd lay it so low that it shou'd never more be in a condition of lifting up its self against the King After this he went to Lodge that night at Trappes and the next morning arriv'd at Chartres where his Officers those of his Council and the Courtiers came up to him one after another in great disorder some on Foot others on Horse-back without Boots several on their Mules and in their Robes every man making his escape as he was best able and in a great hurry for fear of being stop'd in short all of them in a condition not unlike the Servants of David at his departure from Ierusalem travelling in a miserable Equipage after their distress'd Master when he fled before the Rebel Absalom The Duke of Guise who on the one side had been unwilling to push things to an extremity to the end he might make his Treaty with the King and that it might not be said he was not at liberty and on the other side not believing that he wou'd have gone away in that manner as if he fled from his Subjects who stopping short of the Louvre by fifty paces seem'd unwilling to pursue their advantage any farther was much surpris'd at this retreat which broke the measures he had taken but as he was endu'd with an admirable presence of mind and that he cou'd at a moments warning accommodate his resolutions to any accident how unexpected or troublesome soever he immediately appli'd himself to put Paris in a condition of fearing nothing to quiet all things there and restore them to their former tranquillity and withall to give notice to the whole Kingdom how matters had pass'd at the Barricades as much to his own advantage as possibly he cou'd To this effect he possess'd himself of the strongest places in the City of the Temple of the Palace of the Town-House of the two Chastelets of the Gates where he set Guards of the Arsenal and of the Bastille which was surrender'd to him too easily by the Governour Testu the Government of which he gave to Bussy Le Clerc the most audacious of the Sixteen He oblig'd the Magistrates to proceed in the Courts of Judicature as formerly He made a new Provost of Merchants and Sheriffs a Lieutenant Civil Colonels and Captains of the several Wards all devoted to the League in the room of those whom he suspected He retook without much trouble all the places both above and below on the River that the passages for Provisions might be free He writ at last to the King to the Towns and to his particular Friends and drew up Manifests or Declarations in a style which had nothing in it but what was great and generous while he endeavour'd to justify his proceedings and at the same time to preserve the respect which was owing to the King protesting always that he was most ready to
the Spaniards the Princes the Officers of the Crown the principal Members of the Parliaments the Lords of the Court the Bishops and many Doctors not only of the Royal Party but also of the League went thither and amongst others three famous Curats of Paris Rene Benoist of St. Eustache Charignac of St. Sulpice and Morennes of St. Merry who far from being tainted with the seditious principles of their fellows the Curats of St. Severin St. Cosme St. Iaques St. Gervais St. Nicholas in the Fields and St. André who had ran riot in their scandalous Satyrs as I may call them more properly than Sermons against the Person of the King had the honour of bearing their parts in the Conversion of so Great a Prince Being therefore arriv'd at St. Denis from Mante on the twenty second of Iuly the next morning he entred into Conference and held close at it from six in the Morning to one in the Afternoon with the Archbishop of Bourges and seven or eight Bishops amongst whom was Monsieur du Perron nominated to the Bishoprick of Evreux Many Doctors of great reputation were present in that Assembly with the three Curats of Paris and Father Oliver Beranger a Learned Iacobin Chaplain in Ordinary to the late King The Instruction was made particularly touching three points concerning which the King propos'd some scruples The first was on the Invocation of Saints to know if it were absolutely necessary for us to pray to them On which point they easily satisfied him by giving him to understand the Doctrine of the Church concerning it viz. That as it is profitable for us to recommend our selves to the prayers of our living Brethren without derogating thereby from the Office of Jesus Christ our Mediator in like manner it is very advantageous for us to have recourse to Saints and pray them to intercede for us to the end we may obtain benefits and favour from God by Jesus Christ God imparting to them the knowledge of our necessities and of our prayers by some way best pleasing to himself as he makes known to the Angels according to the Scripture what is done here below and foretels to the Prophets future things though they are more particularly reserv'd to his own knowledge The second was concerning Auricular Confession And it was clearly prov'd to him That Jesus Christ having given commission to his Ministers in general terms of binding and of loosing sins that power cou'd not be restrain'd only to publick sins and by consequence it was necessary that Penitents shou'd give the Priests full knowledge of all the sins they had committed to the end they may make a just distinction betwixt those offences which they ought to remit and those they ought not The third Particular in which he desir'd to be throughly instructed was concerning the Authority of the Pope To which he submitted without difficulty after it was made out to him that according to the Gospels the Councils and the Holy Fathers it extended no farther than to things that were purely spiritual and nothing relating to temporals not at all interfering with the Rights and Prerogatives of Kings or the Liberties of Kingdoms When they wou'd have proceeded from this to the Point of the real Presence of Christ's Body in the Holy Sacrament which of all other Articles is the most contested betwixt Catholicks and Huguenots and in which they never come to an agreement he stopp'd the Bishops by telling them that he was intirely perswaded of that Truth that he had no manner of scruple concerning it and that he always had believ'd it 'T is also said that having appointed a Conference betwixt the Doctors and the Ministers when one of the Huguenot Preachers had yielded that Salvation might be had in the Church of Rome for at that time they granted it he said with great reason There is then no longer deliberation to be us'd I must of necessity be a Catholique and take the surest side as every prudent man wou'd do in a business of so great importance as that of Salvation Since according to the joynt opinion of both Parties I may be sav'd being a Catholique and if I still continue a Huguenot I shall be damn'd according to the opinion of the Catholiques But whether this be true indeed or only a report 't is certain that being perfectly instructed and well assur'd of all points of belief which are held by the Roman Church they drew up a form of the Profession of Faith which was sign'd by him After which there remain'd no more but only to make his profession solemnly according to the custom of the Church and to receive Absolution from his Heresie and from the sentence of Excommunication which had been given against him But it was first to be examin'd anew in a regular Conference which wou'd make the Decision more authentick whether the Bishops had power to absolve him in France of the Excommunication which he had incurr'd in a Case reserv'd by the Popes to the Holy See For not only the Legat and those Doctors who were devoted to the League and above all others the Archbishop of Lyons as he had made appear at the Conference of Surenne but also the Cardinal of Bourbon who had much ado to part with his imaginary Headship of a third Party maintain'd openly and boldly that the Pope alone had power to absolve him and that all other Absolution wou'd be null because the Pope had solely and positively made a reservation of that Power to the Holy See Notwithstanding which in a great Assembly of Bishops and learned Doctors which was held for the resolving of this Case the contrary opinion pass'd nemine contradicente in spight of the Remonstrances of that Cardinal who was indeed no very able man The Curat of St. Eustache himself René Benoist who was afterwards Bishop of Troyes Monsieur de Morennes Curat of St. Merry who dy'd Bishop of Seâ—z those I say who had been of the League till that very time and some other knowing Doctors gave an account to the Publick in their printed Writings of the Reasons on which they grounded their opinion and they are reducible to this ensuing Argumentation which the Reader will not be unwilling to understand as I have extracted it from their Books without interposing my own Judgement in the Matter because I write not as a Divine who declares and maintains a Doctrine but as an Historian who makes a faithful Relation of Actions done as he finds them in the best Accounts 'T is indubitable say these Doctors according to the most knowing Canonists that he who is excommunicated for a Case reserv'd to the Holy See if he have any Canonical hindrance that is to say express'd and approv'd by the Canons which permits him not to go and present himself before the Pope may be absolv'd by some other without being bound to send to Rome for his Absolution provided nevertheless that when the hindrance if it endures not always