his Heart failed him and he either repented or durst not proceed in this Design Queen Catharine was already weary of the Insolence of the Guises and desirous to save the House of Bourbon as a Curb upon them to this purpose she gave order to the Chancellor to put what Rubs he could in their way The Guises in the mean time hastned the Tryal of Conde as much as was possible esteeming all Delays dangerous to them The sixteenth of November the King being abroad to hunt Francis II dies was taken extream ill which caused Montmorency to make the more haste to Court. The twenty sixth of that Month the Kings Disease grew very great and hopeless This turned the Rage and Fury of the Guises into Fear and Consternation when they considered what they should lose in the Death of that Prince Thereupon they began to work upon Queen Catharine by other Methods to flatter and crouch to her and to represent the King of Navarr and Prince of Conde as exasperated to that height by their late Sufferings that without doubt they would seek her Ruine but they for their Parts would stand by her and serve her with great Fidelity They desired therefore Navarr might be committed as well as his Brother had been before the King dyed The Chancellor prevented this by shewing in a grave Oration That it would certainly involve France in a Civil War. The fifth of December the King dyed having lived seventeen years and ten Months and reigned one Year five Months and twenty Days His Youth and the shortness of his Reign makes it uncertain whether he ought to be ranged with the Good or Bad Princes and the more because not he but the Guises governed This Accident changed the state of things and saved the Life of Conde Charles IX succeeds or rather the House of Bourbon Charles IX his Brother succeeded him and Navarr of a Prisoner became the second Person in that Kingdom Queen Catharine having adjusted all things with him before the late King died She sent Letters also to Montmorency who was not yet arrived at Orleans to hasten his coming to the new King because she was desirous to use his Counsel and Advice When he came to Orleans he asked the Centinels By whose Orders they were placed there and for what End and commanded them to be gone or he would hang them The Guards presently disappeared and then it was visible that the Guises and not the King needed them Though Conde was freed the same moment the King died The Prince of Conde fre'd yet he would not go out of his Prison till he knew his Accusers and Prosecutors to which the Guises replyed It was by the late King's Order and would explain the Mystery no further About twelve Days after he went to the Castle of Hane in Picardy and there attended the Orders of the new King. Francis the Second was buried with small State and less Expence to the great hatred of the Guises who in the mean time were very busie to revive the Differences between Queen Catharine and the King of Navarr who wisely prevented their Design by offering the first Place to the Queen and reserving the second to himself as President of the Kingdom This passed into a Decree the twenty first of December The Protestant Religion The Protestant Religion breaks out in the Netherlands which had got such footing in France that it seemed not possible to root it out without the Ruine of that Kingdom began this Year to shew it self more openly in Flanders and the Netherlands the Nobility espousing it in great numbers together with the rest of the States Nor could Margaret their Governess under King Philip obtain the continuance of the Taxes for the maintenance of the Spanish Forces Nor would they of Zealand acquiesce tho the Pay was sent from other Places till these Troops were sent into Spain Nor would they grant any Supplies to be disposed of by the Governess but reserved that to themselves that the Soldiers in the Frontier Towns might be certainly and regularly paid This was vigorously opposed by the new Bishops instituted by Paul IV as tending to the remitting the Reins of the Ecclesiastical Government as well as the Civil Bartholomeo Caranza The Archbishop of Toledo suspected to be a Lutheran Archbishop of Toledo in Spain was also suspected to incline to the Protestant Religion and on that account was imprisoned by the Inquisition and his Revenues were brought into the King's Treasure By an Appeal to Rome he saved his Life but was never able to recover his See again but died many Years after at Rome in a Private State. Thuanus saith He knew him and that his Learning Integrity and the Holiness of his Conversation was such as made him worthy of that Dignity The great Progress of the Protestant Religion in all Places A General Council desired by many and opposed by the Pope made all Good Men saith Thuanus desire that the General Council which had been intermitted might be reassumed and carried on but Pope Pius IV had the same Fears of it his Predecessors had lest his own Power should be abated And therefore though he judged this the only means to root out Heresies and very necessary yet he delayed it and unless he were compelled by Force or some present Danger it was apparent he would never admit it But having resolved on the other side right or wrong by Force or Fraud to accomplish his own Desires and hoping to reap great Advantages from the Ruine of the Caraffa's though he had been much assisted by them in the obtaining of the Papacy he applied himself to this with great Application and Industry But prosecutes the Caraffa's to ruine and under the Mask of Friendship And having laid his Plot he committed Charles Caraffa the Cardinal and his Kinsman the Cardinal of Naples to the Castle of S. Angelo But Anthony Marquess de Monte Bello being then not at Rome though cited also escaped the Danger and fled for his Life Though daily Accounts came to Rome of the Tumults and Disorders of France the Pope took no notice of them Though the Duke of Florence who was great with him for he pretended to be descended of that Family did very much urge his Holiness to consider the State of Affairs in France and Scotland And told him It was Uncharitable to see so many thousands of Souls Lost and Impolitick to necessitate Princes by the despair of a General Council to betake themselves to National Synods This was much inforced by the Noise the Speech of the Chancellor of France had made in the late Assembly which was then very hot in Italy He had among other things assured the French Clergy That if the Pope would not hold a General there should very speedily be a National Council assembled in France and had exhorted all the Bishops to prepare themselves for it To this the Pope answered with great anxiety seeking
Pretences of Delay and pretending he was going to Ancona and that by the way he would speak with the Duke of Florence who was a wise Prince and his Kinsman and regulate that Affair by his Advice Cosâ—us Duke of Florence The Duke of Florence come to Rome perceiving that this Journey of the Pope to Ancona was a Sham and being invited by the Pope to Rome resolved to go thither to promote this and some other Private Business he had with the Pope Before this King Philip having heard of the National Council designed in France had sent Anthony de Toledo to advise the King and Council in this and lay before them the inevitable Danger of a Schism which would follow upon it On the other side Ferdinand the Emperour insisted That seeing the Council was begun on the account of the Germans it should be renewed in Germany and all that was already determined should be re-debated anew Others thought it reasonable That seeing the French were now equally concerned with the Germans the Council should be assembled in some City in the Confines of France and the Empire as at Constance or if the Germans would agree to it at Besanzon The Pope was rather inclined to have it at Trent or rather to bring it deeper into Italy and had some Thoughts of Vercelli a City in the Borders of France though he could not yet resolve certainly to hold it any where for he good Man was more desirous that Geneva which had much infected France and Germany should be reduced by a War than that the Controversies of Religion should be committed to the peaceable Determination of a Council And to that end he had persuaded the Duke of Savoy to make a War upon the Vaudois his Subjects Whilst the Pope was in this incertainty in October the Duke of Florence came to Rome and persuaded the Pope by his Arguments to resolve on the calling of a Council the next Year that he might provide a General Remedy for a General Disease He shewed him That there was no Danger such a Council would pass any severe Sentence on the Manners and Abuses of the Court of Rome And that it was fit he should desire the Discipline and Corrupt Manners of the Church of Rome should be reformed That he ought sincerely to promote it His Arguments for a General Council and cause select Divines to be assembled out of all Christian Kingdoms and to hear them favourably that so the Peace of Christendom might be restored which was now torn in Pieces by Diversity of Opinions About the same time the Death of Francis II the Advancement of the King of Navarr and the great Kindness Queen Catharine on his account shewed to the Protestants very much terrified the Pope and compelled him to entertain the Thoughts of a Council in good earnest which till then had been talked of with no great sincerity The Pope thereupon sent Lawrence Lenzi Bishop of Firmo to King Philip With other concurrent Accidents at last prevail'd John Manriquez to the Duke of Florence and Angelo Guicciardin to the Queen of France who was to condole the Death of her Son to comfort her and to entreat her to undertake the Protection of the Religion she was brought up in and that she would not open a Door to the growing Schism nor seek any Remedy for the Disorders of France from any but the Church of Rome And to assure her The Pope's Ambassadors to thee Christian Princes That in a short time all their Desires should be gratified by the Calling of a General Council and therefore they prayed her to take Care That the flourishing Kingdom of France might not make a Defection from the Ancient Religion during her Government nor any Prejudices be raised against the Remedies which might justly be expected from it The Pope at the same time appointed Hercules Gonzaga Hierome Seripand and Stanislaws Hosio three of his Cardinals to be his Legates in the Council and sent Zachary Delfino Bishop of Zant and Francis Commendone into Germany to invite the Protestant Princes to it Canobbio was sent into Poland on the same Errant and had Orders to go on into Russia to exhort that Prince who was of the Greek Communion to send his Bishops and Divines to the Council but there being a War between the Russ and Poles at this time this Journey was prevented The Twenty ninth of September this Year died Gustavus King of Sweden Gustavus King of Sweden dies which was the Founder of the Line which now reigns in that Kingdom he was succeeded by Eriek his eldest Son. This Prince reigned Thirty eight Years with great Prudence and Commendation being only noted for a little too great Severity in his Taxes which was necessary in a Prince that was to Found a Family but he was otherwise a Prince of great Vertues and the Reformer of the Church of Sweden The same Year died Philip Duke of the hither Pomerania and Albert Count of Mansfield a great Favourer of the Reformation he died the Fifth of March in the Seventieth year of his Age and Sixtieth of his Government The same Year died the Cardinal du Bellay the Great Patron of John Sleidan a Person of great Merit and employed by Francis I in many Embassies He was a great and hearty Desirer of the Reformation of the Church and without all doubt shew'd our Author the right way to it though he miss'd it himself The Nineteenth of April died also Philip Melancthon at Wittemberg He was born at Brett a Town in the Palatinate of the Rhine and was the great Companion and Friend of Martin Luther but was more moderate and a great hater of Contentions and Disputes and a lover of Peace By which Vertues he won the Love and Respects of both Parties in those troublesom days on which account he was sent for into France by Francis I. The Celebration of the States of France was interâ—â—â—tted by the sudden Death of Fracis II. But there being great Discontents at the numerous Assemblies of the Protestants in many Places which were now openly held the finding out a Remedy for this hastned the opening that Convention The Thirteenth of December was appointed for that Purpose and the Chancellor began the Affair with an Elegant and Pious Discourse In which having shewn the Use of these Assemblies and exhorted all degrees to Peace and Concord and shewn 'em the common Causes of Sedition and Rebellion he tells them That in their times a new Cause that of Religion had been added to all the former As if saith he Religion could or ought to be the cause of a Civil War which is the greatest Mischief that can befall a Kingdom and contains all others in it But then God is not the Author of Dissention but of Peace and other Religions because false may be founded and preserved by Force and Fraud but the Christian Religion which is the only true is only to be established by
A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION To the End of the COUNCIL OF TRENT In the Year 1563. Collected and Written by E. B. Esq LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXXIX A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK I. The CONTENTS The Introduction The Revolt of Transylvania The Siege and brave Defence of Sigeth a Town in Hungary Charles V resigns the Empire He goes to Spain John Sleidan 's Death and Character Paul III a Furious Prince The War between him and King Philip in Italy The Peace between them The Affairs of England The Dyet of Ratisbonne The Death of Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Order of Jesuites And of Albert Marquess of Brandenburg The unsuccessful Conference at Wormds between the Romish and Protestant Divines The War between France and Spain The Siege Battle and Taking of S. Quintin Charles V his Letter to his Son. The Spanish Army disperse and the French increase A Persecution in France The Siege and Loss of Calais The Situation and Form of that Town Guines taken A Turkish Fleet land in many Places in Italy and carry many into Captivity The Dauphin Married to Mary Queen of Scotland The first Overtures for a Peace between the Kings of France and Spain Andelot Marshal of France ruined by the Arts of the Duke of Guise Thionville Besieged and Taken by the French. The Defeat of the French near Graveling An unsuccessful Expedition of the English against France The Treaty of Cambray began The Parliament of England meet and Queen Mary Dies The German Affairs the Death and Character of Charles V. The Succession of Queen Elizabeth The Scotch Affairs and the first setling of the Reformation in that Kingdom IT was the Misfortune of this Great Man John Sleidan to die in that nick of Time when the Fates of the two contending Religions and of all Christendom were just upon the setling It is true The Introduction he lived to see the Augustane Confession setled in the Dyet of Ausburg and perhaps he might hear of the Resignation of the Empire by Charles V to his Brother Ferdinand but then Death surprized him before he could give any account of it for with it he designed to have begun the next Book in all probability and to have filled up this with some other Accidents such as a large account of the Revolt of Transylvania and the Siege of Sigeth would have afforded him But then had he lived till the Year 1563 he should have seen the Death of Queen Mary Henry II of France and Charles V and the setling of the Roman Catholick Religion by the Determination of the Council of Trent contrary to the Expectation of all Men which seems to be the first Period of the Reformation and absolutely necessary to give the Reader a clear Prospect and full View of the first Joynt of this great Revolution I have therefore persuaded the Stationer to add a Suppliment to this Version for that purpose and because I am a Member of the Religion by Law established and not willing to offend them of the other Persuasions I resolve to advance nothing in it but from Authors who lived and dyed in the Communion of the Church of Rome shewing the matter of Fact with great Brevity and making few or no Reflections of my own That so the Reader may be left entirely to himself to think what he Please and God shall direct him I will begin with the Business of Transylvania John the last King of Hungary dyed of Joy for the birth of his Son year 1556 in the Year 1539 His Son being left thus an Infant The Revolt of Transylvania his Mother the Queen Regent put him under the Protection of Solyman Emperour of the Turks to secure him from the Violence of Ferdinand who claimed that Kingdom and thereupon a sharp War ensued which ended in the advancement of the Turkish Interest and the loss of both those Princes the Turk taking Quinque Ecclesiae Gran and Albaregalis in the Year 1544 Temeswar Lippa and some others in the Year 1548 Whereupon Ferdinand finding himself too weak to deal with that potent warlike Prince in the Year 1549 offered him 30000 Ducats of yearly Tribute for Transylvania But this Design failing in the Year 1551 he forced the Queen of Hungary to resign Transylvania to whom in lieu of it he gave Cassovia and a Pension of 100000 Ducats yearly And in the Year 1552 he made Stephen Dobus who had performed great Services for him against the Turks this Year in the Defence of Agria Vaivode of Transylvania He continued quietly in the Possession of it till the Year 1556 and then another Disturbance arose in this Principality which is shortly hinted at by King Ferdinand in his Letter to the Dyet at Ratisbonne Among other things Ferdinand had promised That he would not burthen Transylvania with any Garrisons of Foreigners But whether out of Necessity or for fear of the Turks he had kept a strong Guard of Spanish Soldiers there who had done great Injuries to the Inhabitants whereupon one Peter Petrowic underhand dealt with Solyman for supplies and began a Revolt in favour of one John whose Family is not known who then aspired to this miserable Principality and hoped by drawing the Turks into Hungary to gain the greatest part of that Kingdom for himself and had called a Dyet at Thorda in March 1555 which was disappointed by the Spaniards The Turks were not without their Complaints too for tho' Ferdinand had sent Ambassadours to treat a Peace yet Solyman being engaged in a War with the Persians he was not at leisure or perhaps not much inclined to make a Peace with Ferdinand but kept his Ambassadours two Years at Constantinople to little or no Purpose and Ferdinand being thus held in Suspense was forced to keep great Garrisons in his Frontier Towns and among them the Heyducks were imployed who having no Pay made frequent inroads into the Turkish Quarters towards Quinque Ecclesiae and often surprized the Turkish Boats as they passed upon the Rivers nor was it in Ferdinand's power to restrain them as things then stood Hereupon the Turks began a War with the Town of Kaposwar which was treacherously resigned to them by the Garrison and after it Babotz and passing on they attempted Sigeth and came within Cannon-shot of it but Ladislaus Kerezen the Governour gave them such a warm Entertainment that the Bassa's Tent being pierced with a Cannon-shot he was forced to remove farther off and three hundred of his Men being slain in two Sallies and Winter coming on he was fain to Withdraw This passed in the Year 1555. In the beginning of the next Year Sigeth besieged and most bravely defended by the Germans Solyman sent Haly an Albanian whom he had recalled from the Wars of Persia to be Visier of Buda but with a Command not to enter that City till he had taken Sigeth He coming to Sirmish sent a Messenger to demand Sigeth
on the Island who were all slain by the Islanders and Natives This Year also the Reformation of Religion was much agitated tho not effected in Scotland Scotland begins to entertain the Reformation Alexander Somervill Archbishop of S. Andrews with the assistance of the rest of the Churchmen condemned one Walter Mills an old Priest to be burnt for Heresie and banished one Paul Mefan hoping thereby to restore their lost Authority and curb the People but it had a quite contrary effect the patient and chearful Martyrdom of Mills incensing the People to that height that they spoke very freely or as my Author has it Licentiously and Seditiously of the Church-men and a Solemn Procession being made on the first day of September in memory of S. Eugenius or S. Gile's at Edenburgh of which he was Patron whose Image was then carried about with great Pomp the People tore it out of the Hands of those that bore it and threw it into the common Drought having first broke off the Head Hands and Feet of this Wooden Saint the Monks and the rest of his Friends fleeing and leaving him to shift for himself The Clergy seeing their Authority thus sinking assembled in a Synod the ninth of November to try if the seting a good Face and pretending great Considence would retrieve their sinking Cause But they of the Reformed Party on the contrary of all Degrees exhorted one another to persevere in the Truth and not to suffer themselves to be oppressed by a small and weak number of Men For if say they these Men proceed by Legal Courses we shall be too hard for them if they make use of Force we are a Match for them They drew up an Address also to the Queen Regent which they sent unto her by one James Sandelands an Honourable Baron and of great account in it desiring That the Publick Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments might be in the Vulgar Tongue and that the Ministers might be elected by the People The Regent tho' a zealous Catholick yet fearing a Tumult commanded the Priests to say the Prayers in the Scotch Language The same Demands were made by the Nobility of the Synod then assembled at Edinburgh Who replyed That they must abide by the Orders of the Canon-Law and the Decrees of the Council of Trent The Nobility perceiving them thus averse to a Reformation sent one John Aresken of Dundee a learned Man to appease them who with great respect besought them At least to grant the People the use of the publick Prayers in their Mother Tongue The Clergy would nevertheless abate nothing of their former Severity and the Queen regent by their Persuasion soon recalled what had been extorted from her But the Death of Queen Mary of England and the Succession of Queen Elizabeth which happened this Month soon turned the Scales and gave her Cause to repent her too great obstinacy The Learned Spotiswood observes That this Mills was the last Martyr that dyed in Scotland for Religion That Patrick Lermoth Bailiff of the Regality absolutely refused to pass Sentence of Death as a Judge upon him after the Bishop had delivered him up to the Secular Power that in the whole City of S. Andrews a Cord was not to be had for Money so that they were forced to take one of the Cords of the Archbishop's Pavilion to tie him to the Stake It had been good Prudence to have desisted when they saw the whole Body of the People thus bent against them but they were hurried on to their Ruine by a blind Rage The People of Scotland were no less incensed on the other Side and resolved openly to profess the Reformed Religion binding themselves by Promise and Subscription to an Oath That if any should be called in question for matters of Religion at any time hereafter they would take Arms and joyn in defence of their Religion and Brethren against the Tyranny and Persecution of the Bishops The principal Men who joyned in this Bond were Archibald Earl of Argile Alexander Earl of Glencarne James Earl of Morton Archibald Lord of Lorne Sir James Sandelands of Calder John Erskin of Dun and William Maitland of Lethington To this Bond vast numbers throughout the Kingdom subscribed so that they found their numbers were at least equal to those that opposed them A CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION BOOK II. The CONTENTS The Deaths and Characters of Frederick I and Christian II Kings of Denmark Frederick II conquereth Dietmarsh The Affairs of Italy New Bishopricks erected in the Low-Countries King Philip desirous of a Peace with France that he might be at leisure to extirpate Heresie That Design discovered to the Prince of Orange The Diet of Germany Conditions proposed in it by the Protestants for a Council The Emperor confirms the Peace of Passaw The French Ambassadors come to the Dyet The Life and Death of David George a famous Impostor The Treaty of Cambray produces a Peace at last The Peace occasioneth a Persecution in France The King goes to the Parliament of Paris to awe it into a Compliance Yet some retain their Freedom at the Price of their Lives The King's Answer A French Synod held by the Protestant Ministers The Protestant Princes of Germany write to the King of France in the behalf of the Persecuted A Commission issued to Try the suspected Members of Parliament Du Bourg first Tried The sad condition of France during the Persecution Henry II slain The various Characters of that Prince Francis II succeeds him a Lad of Sixteen Years of age The Persecution goes on Slanders against the Protestants Du Bourg Condemn'd Minart a Persecutor Assassinated Du Bourg Executed His Character The rest of the Members of Parliament restored King Philip prepares for Spain He takes Ship at Flushing Arrives in Spain Raiseth a great Persecution there The Death of Pope Paul IV. The Deaths of several other Princes Pius IV Elected Scotch Affairs The English Affairs relating to Scotland and France The Scotch Complaints against the French. The War against the French in Scotland The Death and Character of Mary Queen Regent of Scotland The French Expelled thence A Conspiracy in France The King of Navar Conde Coligni suspected to be in it An Assembly of the Princes of France A Decree passed for an Assembly of the three Estates The Protestants of France encrease Francis II dies A General Council desired and obtain'd by the Duke of Florence Gustavus King of Sweden dies The Estates of France open'd The Persecution of Piedmont which occasioneth a War. THE First day of January Frederick I King of Denmark who was Elected by the Dyat of that Kingdom in the Year 1523 instead of Christian II year 1559 deposed by his Subjects for his Cruelty died at Koldingen a Town in the Dukedom of Sleswick when he had lived Fifty six Years The Death of Frederick I King of Denmark Three Months and Twenty Days and reigned Thirty four Years He was
dishonour and disquiet which too at last ended in the Ruine of those she most desired to Promote as it always happens in Breach of Faith. She would often say That if her own Counsel might take Place she doubted not but to compose all the Dissention within that Kingdom and to settle the same in a perfect Peace upon good Conditions Soon after her Death or as Thuanus saith The French forced to leave Scotland a little before it Embassadors from France and England came to Edinburg who sending for the Scoth Nobility began to treat about the sending the French out of Scotland which was at last agreed and the Sixteenth of July the French embark'd on the English Fleet for France and the English Army the same day began their march by Land for Berwick and the Fortifications of Leith and Dunbar were dismantled but sixty Frenchmen were left to keep the Castle of Dunbar and the same number the Isle of Inchkeeth until the States should find means to maintain the said Forts upon their own Charges from all Peril of Foreign Invasion In August the Parliament met A Parliament in Scotland which established a Confession of Faith contrary to the Roman Religion and pass'd three other Acts one for Abolishing the Pope's Jurisdiction and Authority another for Repealing the Laws formerly made in favour of Idolatry and a third for the Punishing the Hearers and Sayers of Mass and with these Acts Sir James Sandelands was sent into France for the Royal Assent of the King and Queen which was refused and he severely treated for undertaking that Embassy by the Guises The Oppression of the Princes of the Blood in France by the House of Guise A Conspiracy in France and of the Protestants by the Roman Catholicks caused a dreadful Conspiracy which drew in all the desperate People of that once most Fourishing Kingdom to the great hazard of its Ruine The concealed Head of this Conspiracy was Lewis Prince of Conde the apparent Godfrey de la Barre Sieur de Renaudie a Young Gentleman of an Ancient and Noble Family of Perigort who falling into a long and ruinous Suit for a Living which his Uncle had intercepted and detained from him in Angoumois had not only been overthrown by his Opposite but had also for some fraud in the management been severely Fin'd and Banish'd for some time he at Lausanne and Geneva had contracted a Friendship with some others of his Country who had fled thither on the account of Religion by whom he had been brought over to that Persuasion and after returning into France in disguise he had wandred over a great part of the Kingdom and made many Friends of that Religion and being a Stout Subtil Man and exasperated by the things he had suffered he undertook this dangerous Employment willingly as a means to revenge the Wrongs he had undergon The Conspirators met the First of February The Conspiracy of Blois formed at Nantes at Nantes in great numbers on diverse Pretences and there form'd the fatal Design of Blois for the Surprizing the King and the Court the Fifteenth of March and the bringing the Guises to a Tryal for all their Encroachments on the French Privileges and Abuses of the Royal Authority The whole Design is so well expressed in Davila his History of the Civil Wars of France that I shall rather refer the Reader thither for his Satisfaction in it than attempt to reduce it into a Dark and scarce perhaps Intelligible Compendium It was very extraordinary Thuanus his Reflection on this Conspiracy that before ever this Kingdom had in the least been shaken by any Commotion the Majesty of the King the Authrity of the Governors and Magistrates being all in their former vigor that such great numbers of Men in all Parts of the Kingdom should enter into so unheard so dangerous a Design But such was the Hatred they bore to the House of Guise and the Detestation that all Men began to entertain of the bloody Practises against the Protestants that though so very many were engaged in it yet they all kept Faith each to other and conceal'd the Secret so that the Guises had notice of it from Italy year 1559 Spain and Germany before any of their Spies in the Kingdom scented or suspected it At last one Pierre Avanelles an Advocate of the Parliament of Paris The discovery of the Conspiracy and a Protestant out of pure Conscience for the preventing so great a Scandal and Mischief discovered this Conspiracy to Stephen L'Allemont Sieur de Vouzay Secretary to the Cardinal of Lorain he having got knowledge of it from La Renaudie the Chief Agent in it who lodged in his House The King was then gone from Blois to Ambois which was a small and strong Town which had also a great and a very strong Castle and easily to be defended Here de Vouzay acquainted the King and the Council with it and was immediately Imprison'd to be produced as a Witness against the Conspirators if it proved to be true and to be treated as an Impostor Andelot and Coligny come to Court on an Invitation if it happened otherwise The Guises were very desirous that Andelot and Coligni the Admiral should be invited to Court fearing or hoping rather that they too were in the Plot. And they accordingly came presently to the Queen-Regent and Coligni in a Discourse before Oliver the Chancellor inveighed sharply against the violent Proceedings in Matters of Religion which had exasperated a great part of the People against the Government and concluded That he believed the granting Liberty of Conscience and suspending the Severity of the Laws till the Controversies of Religion were composed by a Lawful and Free Council would very much appease and quiet them Oliver who desired a Reformation Oliver the Chancellor of France hated the Persecution and desired a Reformation and hated the bloody Methods then in use was glad of this Proposition and recommended to the Guises the granting of a general Pardon and Liberty of Conscience till a Free Counsel could be had as an excellent Remedy of these Evils Which was presently granted excluding notwithstanding those who under pretence of Religion had conspired against the King his Mother Brothers or Ministers Which was published the Twelfth of March in the Parliament of Paris which yet never shock'd the Conspirators who were well resolv'd The same day Renaudie came to Carreliere in Vendosmois not far from Ambois and appointed the rest to meet him the Seventeenth of the same Month the King having changed his Abode they were forced to change the Day That day Deligneris another of the Conspirators and a Captain repenting the Undertaking discovered it to Queen Catherine The Guises had by this time got a good Body of the Nobility about the King and a Party of the Conspirators being met in Arms near Tours the Inhabitants of that City would not endeavour to take them but suffered them to escape
his care That the King could not neglect the cause of this sorrowful Widow and her Orphan and Children who appeal'd to his fidelity and the Memory of his Ancestors who had in all times of affliction succoured the Princes of Germany Spain and England That Philip the Bold the Son of St. Lewis had with a potent Army defended an Orphan-Queen of Navarr and brought her into France where she was after Married to Philip the Fair from whom Joan the present Queen of Navarr was lineally descended And that John Labrett the Grandfather of this Queen being in like manner persecuted by one of the Popes and driven out of a part of his Kingdom the rest had been defended and preserved by Lewis the Twelfth and his Successors That the Popes themselves have heretofore fled to the French for protection when they have been expelled out of their Sees who had often restored them defended and enriched them with the grant of many Territories That this Queen was so near a Neighbour and such an Allie to the Crown of France that no War could be made upon her without the great damage of France That all Princes were Interested in the Friendship and Peace of their Neighbours and obliged to keep all Wars at a distance from them for the preservation of their own quiet and security Since therefore his Majesty saw by this Bull that there was a design to deprive his Ancient Allies of their Dominions and at pleasure to set up others in their stead he had just reason to fear that as the Spaniards had heretofore on such pretences possess'd themselves of all the Countries to the Pyrenaean Hills so that in time they might pass them too and descend into the Plains of France and so a dismal and destructive War might be rekindled between these powerful Princes to the great hazard and ruin of Christendom Lastly the Queen of Navarr being a Feuditary of the Crown of France and having great Possessions in that Kingdom was under the Protection of the Laws of it and could not be drawn out of it to Rome either in Person or by Proxy no Subject of France being bound to go to Rome but if the Pope had any cause against them he was obliged to send Judges to determine upon the place even in those Cases that came before him by Appeal That therefore this Citation was against the Majesty Law and Security of the Crown of France and tended to the diminishing of the esteem of that King and Kingdom That if the Form of this Proceeding were considered what could be more contrary to the Civil Law than to force a man out of his proper Court and condemn him in another without any hearing For there are Laws That no accused person shall be cited out of the Limits of the Jurisdiction in which he lives and that the Citation shall not be obscure and perfunctory but declared to the proper person or to his family And the Constitution of Pope Boniface the Eighth That Citations set up in certain places of Rome should be of force was recall'd by Clement the Fifth and the Council of Venna as hard and unjust or at least mitigated and it was decreed that they should not be used but when there was no safe coming to the person accused But in France where the Queen of Navarr resides it cannot be pretended that there is no safe coming to her And what can be more contrary to Natural Equity than to condemn unheard It is forbidden by the Canons and Decrees of Councils and there is a noble example of this in Ammianus Marcellinus where Pope Liberius being urged by Constantius to condemn Athanasius chose rather to be banished than to sentence him without hearing And in the Judgment against Sixtus the Third who was accused of Incest Valentinian the Emperor observed the same method and made him appear and answer in a Synod before Fifty Bishops For the same reason the Sentence of Nicholas the First against Lotharius the Son of St. Lewis for having two Wives was thought void and null Nor was this Sentence against the Queen of Navarr of better force because she was absent and unheard That the Popes have always shewn that respect to Crown'd heads as to admonish them by their Legates before they decreed ought against them So Alexander the Third sent two Cardinals to Henry the Second into England when he was accused of the Death of Thomas a Becket A.B. of Canterbury That he might purge himself before them of this crime So of late Clement the Seventh did the like in the case of Henry the Eighth to whom he sent Cardinal Campeius And if it were granted that the Judgment were rightly passed how could the Dominions of the Queen be exposed for a prey and given to the first Invader they belonging to the King as Lord of the Fee Therefore the King believes that the Pope is deceived by false reports and instigated by the craft of his Ministers who not regarding the publick peace have drawn him from his natural goodness to Counsels which are dishonourable to his Holiness and destructive to his Authority and to that of the See of Rome tending to the alienating of the hearts of his friends from him and the disturbing of the Peace of Christendom And his Majesty is the more perswaded of the truth of this because his Holiness so earnestly espoused the Interest of Anthony the Husband of this Queen in his life-time and endeavoured to perswade King Philip to restore to him the Kingdom of Navarr or at least to give him the Island of Sardinia as an Equivalent But then there is nothing more offends the King than the considering that whereas so many Kings Princes and Free States above Forty years since have defected from the See of Rome and committed the offence charged upon the Queen and so by the rule of Justice ought to be first punished as first offending yet the Pope has not proceeded in the same way or with equal severity against any of them so that from hence it is clear that an occasion is sought by her enemies to oppress and ruin her by surprize whilest she is a Widow her Children Orphans the King of France who ought to protect her being a Minor and disturbed by Civil Wars and for this reason the King is the more obliged to defend her from injury and himself from contempt seeing without acquainting him with it they have begun this Process against a Queen so nearly related to him That if this Accusation had been made on the account of Religion and for the Glory of God the Pope ought in the first place to have shewn his care of her soul and from the Word of God to have administred fitting Remedies and not to have proscribed her Kingdoms and Dominions The Deposing of Princes and disposing of their Dominions the cause of great Calamities and given them for a prey to the first Invader The Pope has a Supremacy given him That he
gap would be opened to demand the Abrogation of all positive Ecclesiastical Constitutions by which only the Prerogative given by Christ to the Church of Rome is preserved for by those which are of Divine appointment no profit doth arise but that which is spiritual So that the Princes who expected any redress from them were in a fine case Camden in his History of Queen Elizabeth assures us The French Affairs after the Peace till the end of the Council the true reason why the Prince of Conde clapt up this Peace upon such easie and disadvantageous terms was because he had been deluded by the Queen with the vain hopes of succeeding his Brother the King of Navarr as General of all the Forces of France and that he should marry the Queen of Scotland too which he afterwards refused The English were then possess'd of Havre de Grace The Siege of Havre de Grace and had a Garrison in it and now both the Protestants and the Roman Catholicks united their Forces to deprive them of it without repaying any of the Money the Queen had expended in the War or considering what need they might after have of that Princess's protection and assistance Both parties on the contrary protest That if the English do not forthwith restore that place they should forfeit their Right to Calais which was reserved to them by the Treaty of Cambray and when this would not do they proclaimed a War against the English in France the 7th of July which was return'd them by the English till they should restore Calais The Earl of Warwick who was then Governour of Havre de Grace finding the French well disposed to betray the English in that Town into the hands of their Country-men and that they had entered into a Conspiracy to that purpose with the Rhinegrave who lay not far off with some German Forces He thereupon turn'd all the French both Protestants and Papists out of the Town without any difference and seized upon all their Ships The French thereupon without ever reflecting on their own Conspiracy against the English began a loud complaint That the English came not to protect the French in their distresses but to get the possession of the Town dealing with them not as with Brethren but as Foreigners And hereupon the French resolved to take this place upon any terms from the English and the King sent a Trumpet to the Governour to demand the Town who returned for an Answer That if the King of Spain would pass his word that Calais should be restored according to the Treaty of Cambray at the time by it appointed and that the King of France the Queen-Mother and the Princes of the Blood Royal would confirm the same by their Oaths and Register it in all the Parliaments of France and then give them Hostages of the Prime Nobility of France he would then deliver up the Town This being rejected the 22d of July Montmorency the Constable took the field all things being by that time prepared to reduce it by force The next day they summon'd the Town again Warwick replied he would suffer death rather than deliver up the place without the Queen's knowledge The Protestants fight against the English His Messenger whom he sent with this Answer happened to meet one Monie a Protestant French Captain with whom he had been familiarly acquainted in the Siege of Roan to whom he said He much wondred to see the Protestants of France who were of the same Religion with the English and for whose relief they came into France in the Camp against them Le Monie replied As you fight for your Queen so we for our King the contest is now for our Country and Religion is no way concern'd The business of Religion is now determin'd and setled by the King's Edict once for all and therefore you Sir are not to wonder if of Friends we are suddenly become your Enemies and resolved to destroy you if you do not deliver up the place to the King. When the Earl of Warwick heard this he sent presently into England for Supplies There was then a Plague in the Town which discouraged the English more than all their Enemies without There came some Ships with Relief from Eugland but the Plague continuing the Queen to preserve so many brave men gave order to the Earl of Warwick to surrender the place upon as Honourable Terms as he could get The 28th of July the Articles were Signed the next day there came sixty Ships and 1800 men to the Relief of the place but it was too late so the English that remain'd Havre de Grate surrendred to the French. were sent on Board the Fleet who had the misfortune to carry this Plague with them into England and within one year there died in London only A Plague in London 21530 persons of this Disease There was so much joy in France for the recovery of this small place that the Chancellor of France said openly That now the most malicious must needs confess That the granting Liberty of Conscience had at once delivered France from a most destructive Civil War united the Princes of the Blood Royal and enabled them to recover too what had been seized by their Enemies during the War and that chiefly by the help of the Protestants who before were so dreadful to them whilest they fought for their Religion The Queen to cut off all pretences to the Guardianship of the King by the advice of the Chancellor Charles the Ninth declared out of His Minority by the Parliament of Roan resolved to have him declared out of his Minority by the Parliament of Roan pursuant to a Constitution of Charles the Fifth King of France made in the year 1373 tho' he had then entered only into the Fourteenth year of his age which was accordingly done the 19th of August when he declared again That he was resolved not to suffer his Edicts to be disputed by his Subjects as had been done during his Minority and especially the last for the peace of Religion which he was resolved to make all his Subjects obey till it was otherwise setled by a Council This Decree met with some opposition from the Parliament of Paris which pretends to be the Supreme Court of that Kingdom and said they ought to have had the honour of declaring the King of Age and no other which was soon over-rul'd The desire I had to prosecute the Affairs of France The Scotch Affairs in 1562. and the Story of the Council of Trent has kept me from mentioning Scotland and its Affairs so that I am behind hand with that Kingdom two years In the beginning of the year 1562 Mary Queen of the Scots took her Progress towards the North At Sterling she was Petition'd by certain Commissioners of the Church for the Abolishing of the Mass and other Superstitious Rites of the Roman Religion the punishing Blasphemy the contempt of the Word of God the Profanation
one Horse for his own use having reserved an hundred thousand Crowns for his Subsistence which was not over well paid neither spending his Time in the innocent Arts of Grafting Gardning and Reconciling the Differences of his Clocks which yet he could never make to strike together and therefore ceased to wonder He had not been able to make Men agree in the Nicities of Religion Here he first heard of the breach of Truce between his Son and the King of France and though he was something concerned at it Thuanus yet he concluded the Rashness of the Old doating Pope and the Perfidy of the Caraffa's would end in the Ruine of the Prosperity of France as it came afterwards to pass The last Day of October saith the great Thuanus John Sleidan John Sleidan's Death and Character when he had brought down his History to that time with an exact Faith and Diligence dyed of the Plague at Strasburg in the one and fiftieth Year of his Age. He was born at Sleidan a Town in the Dukedom of Juliers near Dueren and from thence he took his Name a Person who for his Learning and great Experience in Affairs was much esteemed by that Age He had spent the greatest part of his Youth in France and being entertained in the Family of Bellay had both learned and done great things in the Service of Cardinal John Du Bellay but a sharp Persecution arising in France against those that were suspected of Lutheranisme he went and lived at Strasburg and served that Free City and being by his own Employments much enformed of the Carriage of Affairs he added to what he had seen what he had learned from Men worthy of Credit and wrote his Book of Commentaries Paul IV had succeeded Marcellus a short lived Pope the twenty sixth of May Natura iracundus pene implacabilis Natalis Comes Paul IV a furious Hare-brained Prince in the Year 1555 as John Sleidan has set forth in his last Book he was a Man of a Furious and unquiet temper and made it his great Design to raise the See of Rome to its former Greatness and Authority but not considering the present state of things mistook his Measures The Submission of England had raised in him extravagant Hopes of Reducing Germany too under his Obedience but then the Peace of Religion appeared so contrary to that Design that it irritated him to the utmost and he threatned the King of the Romans and the Emperour That in a short time he would make them know to their Sorrow how much they had offended him if they did not prevent it by revoking and disallowing the things they had granted That he might have no occasion to proceed as he intended to do not only against the Lutherans but even against them too as Abettors of them But all this Ranting Zeal missing its due Effect he began his Revenges on King Philip the Son of the Emperour who was the best Friend that See had then in Christendom by denying to admit him to the Kingdom of Naples Marc Antony Colonna a Favorite of Philip King of Spain had about this time dispossessed Ascanius his Father who was a Subject of the Popes but had a great Estate in the Kingdom of Naples of all that lay in that Kingdom upon pretence that he was infected with Heresie that he favoured the French Interest against the Emperour and that he lived a dissolute Life And the Accusation had been countenanced and encouraged by King Philip to that height that the Father as much as in him lay at his Death disinherited his Son giving his Estates in the Papacy to the See of Rome and those in the Kingdom of Naples to Victoria his Daughter the Wife of Garzia de Toledo This was made the Pretence of the ensuing War between the Pope and the King of Spain into which the French and English were drawn too and all Christendom almost imbroiled again The Pope however considering that he was not able to deal alone with so Potent a Prince as King Philip under pretence of sending Cardinal Caraffa into France to congratulate the five Years Truce imployed his Interest with the King of France to persuade him to break his Faith so lately given and to renew the War with Philip The Pope had before upon several Pretences clapt up the leading Cardinals and great Men of the Spanish Faction And when the King with all the Respect his Zeal for that See could inspire him with by his Ambassadour desired the Discharge of these Prisoners and the Restitution of Marc Antony Colonna to his Fathers Estate and Castles in the Papacy the angry Pope Replyed That he had Authority and Right to punish his Subjects for their Offences And commanded his Ambassadour to write to his Master not to meddle with what did not belong to him and that he should permit him as Pope to exercise his Soveraignty freely on his own Subjects And accordingly he seized all Colonna's Castles and Estates in the Dominions of the Church pretending to revenge the Wrongs he had done to Ascanius his innocent Father with the consent of his Mother who was also severely treated by the Pope and not contented with all this he declared the Kingdom of Naples forfeited to the See of Rome because King Philip had neglected the Payment of eight thousand Crowns due as a yearly Tribute for that Kingdom He annexes the Kingdom of Naples to the See of Rome and now many Years in Arrear whereupon his Holiness published an Edict by which he annexed that Kingdom as forfeited to the See of Rome and began to fortifie Paliano a City of Champagna di Roma thirty miles from Rome to the East and put a thousand French into it for a Garrison which the more exasperated the King of Spain The Duke de Alva who was then Vice-roy of Naples did all that was possible to mitigate the Pope The Duke de Alva begins a a War upon the Papacy but his Submissions and Protestations more incensed him his Flatterers persuading him they proceeded more from Fear than a Reverence of the Holy See which he so much pretended Whereupon the Vice-roy raised twelve thousand Foot and fifteen hundred Horse and entring the Popes Territories he took Ponte Corvo upon the River Garigliano one of the Pope's Towns in the Borders of Terra di Lavoro without resistance and after that Frusilione the Pope's Forces flying out of it in the Night Hereupon the Pope also levied ten thousand Italian Foot and seven hundred Horse to which he added two thousand Gascoigners which were old Soldiers sent him by the King of France and imprisoned one Lofredo who was sent by the Duke de Alva to persuade the Pope to a Peace before the War was begun and staid at Rome for the Pope's Answer The Duke de Alva hearing this presently marched to Anagni another City in the same Province Anagni taken which the Pope had made his Magazine but here
much dispirited and weakned France And the Duke de Montmorancy who from the beginning had a great Aversion for this War which he foresaw would end in the Ruin of France was more intent in levying Soldiers to defend the Borders of the Netherlands than in prosecuting the War against King Philip and Invading his Dominions In the mean time Queen Mary of England Queen Mary joyns with Spain being over-persuaded by King Philip her Husband and disposed to it by the Arts of Dr. Wotton who was then her Embassadour in France and by his Nephew who found the French were well disposed to a Rupture with England if Calice might be the Prince of it she I say entred into the War too and sent an Herald to the French Court with a Declaration to that purpose who deliver'd it the Seventh of June The French King took no less care to raise a War between England and Scotland by way of Diversion Mary the Queen of Scotland being before this sent into France to be married to the Dauphin his Eldest Son. So that he thought he had now a Right to Command that Nation to espouse his Quarrel but the Scotch Nobility thought otherwise and would not Engage in a War against England when they had no interest of their own to do it The Spaniards were all this while intent in providing Men and Arms and the Twenty fifth of July attack'd the Fort of Rocroy in the Borders of Champagne and Hainalt four Leagues from Maribourg to the South but finding there a greater Resistance than they expected they marched away towards Picardy with an Army of Thirty five thousand Foot and Twelve thousand Horse The Body of the French Army being but Eighteen thousand Foot and Five thousand Horse and for the most part both Sides Germans so that the French thought it their Interest to coast along by the Enemy and defend their Borders and cover their Towns which was all they could safely do in this inequality of Forces There was then a very small Garrison in St. Quintin The Siege of St. Quintin under the Command of Charles de Teligny Captain of the Troop of Guards belonging to the Dauphin but the Army coming suddenly before it the Sieur de Coligny the President of Picardy put himself into the place with some few Forces and sent to Montmorancy to come up and succour him This was disapproved by those about him as Dangerous and if things succeeded not Dishonourable In the beginning of the Siege Teligny was slain in a Sally by Engaging imprudently beyond his Orders who was a Person of great Courage and Strength Industry and Fidelity and an Experienc'd Commander And Andelot The Battel of St. Quintin who was sent by Coligny to bring Two thousand Foot into the Town was by a mistake of his Guides misled and falling into the Trenches of the Besiegers he was slain and most of his Men cut off and Montmorancy attempting to relieve the same place was beaten also and lost Two thousand five hundren Men and himself was taken Prisoner This Battel had a fatal effect upon France for it made the Life of Henry II ever after Unfortunate and reducing France to the necessity of a dishonourable Peace it became the occasion of the Civil Wars which followed to the great hazard of the Ruin of that Potent Kingdom and may serve as an Example to Princes not to violate their Faith whoever dispense with it Montmorancy was from the beginning averse to this War Montmorancy ruin'd by being taken Prisoner and foretold the ill Consequences of it as he was an old experienc'd wise Commander and a great Lover of his Country so till then he had lived in great Power and enjoyed the Favour of his Prince but now when his good Fortune left him he lost the good Esteem and Regards of all Men which from thence forward were conferred upon the Duke of Guize who employ'd them to the damage of France The News of this Victory fill'd France with Terror and Sorrow and the Netherlands with Joy and Courage The Duke of Nevers and some others of the principal French Commanders however escaped If the Victorious Army had forthwith marched to Paris they might have taken it but King Philip was resolved to hazard nothing but commanded his Army to go on with the Siege of St. Quintin and the King of France leaving Compeigne where he then was and going to Paris so quieted the Minds of the People by his Presence and good Words that things began to settle and the fear in a short time to abate Coligny kept the Townsmen of St. Quintin two days in Ignorance of this Loss and when they came to hear of it though he saw the Town would at last be taken yet he persuaded them to hold it out to the last that so the King might have time to recollect his Forces and be in a condition to oppose the Victorious Enemy Another of the Andelot's got into the Town with about Five hundred Chosen Men and some few Volunteers of the Nobility but when all was done King Philip coming in Person into the Camp and the Siege being carried on with great diligence the Town was taken by Storm the 27th of August The Day of the Battel and Coligny and Andelot became Prisoners too and the latter was wounded At this Siege there was Eight thousand English employed who did great Service but finding themselves ill used after the Town was taken they returned to Calis St. Quintin taken by Storm There were above Four hundred French Soldiers slain in this Town and Three hundred taken Prisoners and more had perished if King Philip who was present had not entred the City and by Proclamation restrain'd the fury of his own Soldiers to whom he granted the Plunder of the Town which was great and took particular care that those who had not been concern'd in the danger of the Storming the Town might have no share in the Plunder of it Soon after this Victory King Philip sent an Express to the late Emperor Charles his Father who was then in his private Retirement in Spain desiring him to send his Advice how to proceed the wise and good Prince return'd him an Answer to this purpose as the Great Thuanus relates it A Letter of Charles V to his Son Philip. Though this Retreat gives me the utmost security yet I received the Account of your Victory with a joyful and a pleased Mind and I congratulate the happy and fortunate Beginnings of my beloved Sons Reign and I render to God Almighty my humblest and devoutest Thanks and Praises who hath not suffer'd the Persidy of his Enemies to go long unpunished but has thus suddenly chastised the Truce-breakers both in Italy and on the Borders of the Netherlands For though my mind foretold me it would come so to pass and I comforted my self with that hope yet I was vex'd that just at that time when I had restored Christendom
a Prince of great Moderation and Justice he overthrew the united Army of Christopher Duke of Oldenburg and of the City of Lubeck who had invaded his Inheritance near Alsens a City of Fionia with a great slaughter of their Forces Having by this Victory obtain'd a Peace he caused the holy Scriptures to be translated into the Danish Tongue and open'd an University and a Library at Coppenhagen Not long before his Death he visited his deposed Uncle who was then in Prison and having discours'd very friendly with him a great while they mutually forgave each other By his Queen Dorothy Daughter of Magnus Duke of Saxony he had five Children Frederick II who succeeded him in his Kingdom Magnus Bishop of Vpsal in Livonia Joane Ann married to Augustus Elector of Saxony and Dorothy married to Henry Duke of Lunenburg Christian II King of Denmark dies The Twenty third of the same Month Christian his Predecessor in that Kingdom followed him being in the Seventy seventh year of his Age he had lived in Prison ever since the Year 1532 having given saith my Author Thuanus this Lesson to all Princes That if they will Reign well and happily they must govern their Affections and not out of a violent lust of insulting over their Subjects give up themselves to the conduct of their Passions and that they ought to assure themselves that God is a severe Revenger always ready and delighting to pluck off their Thrones the most Proud and Insolent who shall abuse that Power he has intrusted them with Frederick I being dead who was a Prince utterly averse from war and neither moved by Ambition nor Covetousness to invade what was anothers Frederick II conquereth Diermarsh his Son Frederick began a War upon the Inhabitants of Dietmarsh who had heretofore been subject to the Dukes of Holstein the Bishop of Breme and the Kings of Denmark successively and had often regain'd their Liberty with great Loss and Dishonour to those Princes that had attempted to reduce this small Province but now their time was come and Adolph Duke of Holstein this year made a final Conquest of them for Frederick King of Denmark in the space of one Month. In the beginning of this Year was a great change of Affairs at Rome The Affairs of Italy The Kindred of the Pope had already made themselves hated by all Christendom and now the Pope himself too fell out with them they had engaged the Pope in the War with Spain which had brought so much Loss and Shame upon that See and its Dominions In the time of those Confusions they had acted many things with great Rapacity Intemperance and Insolence without the Pope's knowledge who finding his Treasure exhausted had by their Advice raised great and extraordinary Taxes upon his People and besides all this had sold the Places of the Criminal and Civil Judges suppressed the monthly Payments of his Officers and seized many of the Lands belonging to the Religious Orders and had levied two Tenths upon all the Benefices The War with King Philip being ended and the Pope having with a calm and dispassionate mind heard the Complaints made against his Relations by one Jeremiah a Fryer of the Theatin Order and especially against the Cardinal of Caraffa began more nearly to inspect his own Affairs and the Lives of his Relations About the same time Cosmus Duke of Florenee made great Complaint also of the Caraffa's because not content with the extorting what they pleas'd from the Hospitals Monasteries and Clergy within the Pope's Dominions which they lookt upon as their own they had also by their private Authority done the same Wrongs in the Dukedom of Florence and indeed all over Italy He thereupon order'd Bongianni Gianfigliacci his Resident at Rome to complain of this to the Pope but then the Caraffa's had prevented him from having any Audience whereupon Cosmus wrote a Letter to the Pope which was by the means of Cardinal Vitelli an Hater of their Insolence deliver'd to the Pope He having read it sent presently for his old Monitor Jeremiah and by him ordered Vitelli to give him a more exact account of their Misdemeanors There was nothing more incensed the Pope against them who was Imperious and Jealous of his Papal Power to the utmost degree than that the Cardinal had agreed without his knowledge or consent with the Duke de Alva that his Brother should accept of a Compensation from King Philip instead of Paliani which Place the Pope had designed to unite to his See. Whereupon he presently commanded the Cardinal to leave the Vatican and not to come any more into his Presence The Twenty seventh of January the Pope summon'd a great Consistory and in it discharged him of the Prime Ministry of Affairs and of the Government of Bononia He took also from the Duke of Paliani his Brother the Command of the Forces of the Ecclesiastick State and of the Gallies and deprived the Marquess di Monte Belli of the Custody of the Vatican Palace declaring against them with that fury that some of the Cardinals attempted to appease him and among them Ranutio Cardinal of Farness To whom he replied That your Grandfather had done much better if like me he had sacrificed his private Affections to his Pastoral Office and having severely chastised your Father's abominable Lusts and Villanies had thereby prevented the scandal the Impunity of them hath given to the whole World. So that nothing that could be said or done could reduce the old Man from his Resolves against them but tended rather to the encreasing of his Fury And hereupon he forthwith abolish'd some Imposts pretending they were exacted without his knowledge By all which he hoped to obtain the repute of a Just and Upright Prince and to cast the Odium of the ill things which had been done in his Popedom upon his Relations After this he betook himself wholly to the promoting the Inquisition which he call'd the most Holy Tribunal and here he shewed a very great severity bringing not only Men suspected of Heresie but of some other Crimes within their Jurisdiction Then commanding all Monks and Nuns to their several Houses he Imprison'd some and sent others to the Gallies for not presently obeying him His Rigour was so great in this last that many left his State and went and setled in the State of Venice He spent Fifty thousand Crowns in Corn to relieve the Poor in a time of Scarcity and setled Bishops at Malacha and Cochin two Cities belonging to the Portuguese in the East-Indies and made the Bishop of Goa an Archbishop exempting him from the Jurisdiction of the Bishoprick of Lisbon He also erected many new Sees in the Low-Countries at the request of Philip King of Spain to the Diminution of the Jurisdiction and Diocesses of many French and German Bishops These Sees were setled at Mechlen Antwerp Harlem Daventrie Leewarden Groningen Midleburg Bosleduc New Bishopricks erected in the Low-Countries Namur St.
his Goods they seiz'd to the Publick Treasure adding That if any Person presum'd to blame this their Decree he should be liable to the same Punishment His Body was found very perfect so that it might be known by his yellow Beard from another Man's though he had been buried two Years and six Months and was accordingly burnt in a vast concourse of Men. In the beginning of February the Ambassadours met again The Treaty of Cambray produces a Peace at last at the Castle of Cambray to conclude the Treaty which was broke up upon the Death of Mary Queen of England Queen Elizabeth who succeeded her Sister Mary a Princes of a Masouline Soul and of a Prudence above her Sex fearing if she relied upon the Spaniard she might either be deserted or dishonoured by his Protection had in the mean time made a separate Peace with France After which she changed the Religion of England in her first Parliament abolishing all the Laws made by her Sister Mary and reviving those made by her Brother Edward VI and rejecting all Obedience to the Pope of Rome This Peace with France did much facilitate the Treaty of Cambray In which among other things these Princes promised to do their utmost that a General Council should be held as soon as was possible to the Glory of God and the pacifying Men's Consciences This last Clause by the perverse Counsels of these Princes in a short time raised a War in the Low-Countries and France which was more lasting and more fatal than any former Wars This Treaty was signed at Cambray April 3. These two Kings having thus regained their Peace The Peace occasions a Persecution in France and disburthened themselves of the Cares which the War brought upon them they betook themselves solely to the Care of Religion which in France had been under consideration the two foregoing Years and was then omitted on account of the War and Treaty but was now reassumed in the heat of a Marriage-Feast There was one Diana Dutchess of Valentinois a Court-Lady and one of the King's Mistresses who used to beg the Estates of all such as suffered for any Crime And the Duke of Guise who were the Promoters of this Persecution the latter aiming at nothing but Popular Applause These two insinuated this Belief into the King That the Venome of Heresie was much spread in France and that in truth he was not King of those Provinces in which that prevailed That the Impudence of those who imbraced it was so great that they did not whisper it as heretofore in the Ear but preached it openly and boldly throughout the Kingdom by which the name of God was blasphemed and his Majesties Royal Authority was endangered for when the Law of God was once confounded who can Question say they but that all Human Laws will soon be subverted And that they might the more easily prevail they employed Giles Maistre president of the Parliament Jean de S. Andre Anthony Minart and Giles Bourdin the King's Attorney and principally the first of these who was a Man of a fierce Disposition and Temper to incense the King's Mind against the Sectaries he being no way inclined to such Severities To this end they tell him That there would little be gained by the Peace if a more cruel War was fomented and carried on at Home For that the Disease had already got such Strength that if his Majesty dissembled a little longer the Sword of the Magistrate and the Laws of the Land would not be able to suppress it but he must levy Armies and himself take the Field against them as had been done in the case of the Albingenses That what had hitherto been done had not had its desired effect because all the severity had been spent upon the populace and the mean people the hatred and detestation of which had affected all Men but very few had taken example by it That now it was fit to begin with the Judges many of which had imbraced their Doctrin secretly or favoured them on other accounts and by their connivance nourished the Distemper suffering this Offence either to go unpunished or very lightly corrected This they said was the very Root of the Evil and that all labour was in vain till it were pulled up Not long after this the King was prevailed * The King goes to the Parliament of Paris to aw it into a Compliance upon to come into the Parliament in Person whilst the Members were debating about the Punishment of the Sectaries June 14. He-seemed rather to labour to conceal his Anger than to have come with a calm Mind Among other things he told the Parliament That having made a Peace he hoped it would turn to the general Good but he was much concerned that the business of Religion which was one of the principal Cares of a good Prince had been during the War tumultuously and seditiously treated by some That therefore he desired for the future more care might be taken of the Christian Religion And because he heard that affair was this Day to be debated by them he was come thither and he admonished them to proceed in it with Freedom saying It was God's Cause who knew all our Hearts and Thoughts Tho' the Members of the Parliament knew the King was brought thither to deprive them of their Liberty Yet some retained their Freedom at the Price of their Lives yet there were some who resolved to retain their ancient Freedom at the price of their Lives and having declaimed against the Manners of the Court of Rome and its ill Customes which had degenerated into most pernicious Errors and given occasion to the rise of many Sects they thence inferred That the Penalties of Heresie were to be mitigated and the Severities of the Law abated till the differences of Religion were composed by the Authority of a General Council and the Discipline of the Church reformed And this was the Opinion of all the good Men in the Parliament Arnold du Ferrier President of the Criminal Court an honest and a wise Person and the best Lawyer in France was the first who proposed this Method and was followed by many others among which was Lewis du Faur a Man of great Sense and of a generous Temper who added That all were agreed that the Differences in Religion had occasioned great Disturbances but then said he we ought carefully to enquire Who caused these Disorders lest as Elijah answered Ahab when he reproached him as the Troubler of Israel it might be said to us It is thou that hast troubled Israel Then Anna du Bourg beginning with a Discourse of the Eternal Providence of God to which all things are subject when he came to the Question proposed said There were many Sins and Crimes committed by Men which the Laws had already forbidden and yet the Gallows and Tortures which were imployed had not been able to prevent the frequent Perjuries Adulteries profuse Lusts and Profane
Du Bourg being interrogated by Saint Andre refused to answer None of the Members of that Court being to be Tryed but by the whole Court. Whereupon Bourdin obtained a new Commission from the King commanding Du Bourg to plead before these Delegated Judges and if he refused that they should take him for Convicted and Guilty of Treason He being thus deprived of his Priviledge lest he might seem to despise the King's Authority and making a Protestation to save the Priviledge of others the third Day after answered in such manner to all the Questions proposed that he seemed to differ very little from the Lutherans and Calvinists so without any other Witnesses produced he was by the Bishop of Paris declared an Heretick judged unworthy of the Sacerdotal Character and delivered up to the Secular Power From which Sentence he Appealed to the Archbishop of Sens. Whilst these miserable Men were thus persecuted for their Religion The sad Condition of France during the Persecution and their Favourers Friends and such as had presumed to speak freely were by Informers also brought in Question there was a sad Face of Affairs in France and a sullen silence The Court in the interim was never more Jolly the Preparations for a great Marriage filling it with Mirth and Bravery which in a short time too had as lamentable a Conclusion Among other things there was a Tilt prepared and a Yard made for that purpose not far from the Bastile in which the Members of the Parliament were then imprisoned Some Days being spent in this Divertisement June 29. the King would needs run against the Count of Mongomery and they breaking their Lances the Sight of the King's Helmet by accident flying up Henry II of France slain he received a Wound in the Eye and falling from his Horse was latched by some of his Servants and carried into a Tower belonging to the Bastile It is said whilst they carried him thither he looked up and remembring the Members of Parliament which he had committed there said He feared he had done wrong to those Innocent Men. The Cardinal of Lorrain who was present angry at it reply'd That Thought was put into his Mind by the Devil the Enemy of Mankind That he ought to be careful of his Motions and continue constant in his Faith. Whether this were so or no I will not affirm saith Thuanus my Author because I am resolved to write nothing without good Authority The Physicians saying too That in these kinds of Wounds the Speech is lost At the Report of this Accident Andrew Vesale a Famous Physician was presently sent from Brussels by King Philip that he might however shew his Good-will to this Prince But he came too late the King dying July 2. when he had lived forty Years three Months and eleven Days and reigned twelve Years and three Months The Marriage between Margaret his Sister and Philbert Duke of Savoy was hereupon hasted that it might be finished before his Death and Celebrated it was without any Pomp or Magnificence There was great variety of Opinions some extolling his Life beyond Reason The various Characters of Henry II of France as Martial and Brave and his Conquests by which he had enlarged his Kingdom adding to it a great part of Italy Scotland and Corsica That having obtained a Victory against Charles V at Renty he had reduced that Great Prince to the Thoughts of a Retreat to a Private Life That out of his rare Respect to the Church of Rome not regarding his Oath he had renewed the War and succoured Paul IV. That recalling his Army out of Italy he had been able to defend France against the united Forces of King Philip and Mary of England and at last had ended the War at least by an useful Treaty and by the Marriages of his Daughter and Sister had secured the Publick Peace Others said he had violated the Glory of his Just Arms by breaking the Truce and involved himself by the Fault of others in an unjust and unprosperous War spent vast Treasures and lost the Flower of his Kingdom That the Peace was Desirable but very Dishonourable and the Marriage only a Covering for the infamy of the Concessions And that as he delighted too much in War so he perished dishonourably like a common Soldier His Misses who reigned rather than he his Prodigality and Luxury were not forgotten And the abundance of Poets then in France was taken for an Instance of the Corruptions of the Times To speak freely without Love or Hatred he was a Warlike Prince and too little affected to the Arts of Peace but then he was soft and easie and governed too much by others Wise Men then thought there would follow a War his Children being very yong his Wife Ambitious and the Court divided by Faction And this accordingly came to pass and brought forty Years of great Calamity upon France But I shall for the future be very short in the French Affairs referring the Reader to Davila and other Writers of the Civil Wars of France The Reader may be pleased to know That I have in all this followed Thuanus abridging him in some Places and in others transcribing him at large The King being crowned Francis II a Lad of sixteen Years of Age succeeds him And the Persecution goes on and the Dominion of the Queen Dowager as Guardian and of the Guises as Prime Ministers established to the great Dissatisfaction of the Princes and Nobility of France the next Care was to carry on the Persecution against the Protestants Oliver the Chancellor was imployed against the Members of the Parliament which were imprisoned at the time of the King's Death and S. Andre and Anthony de Mouchy against the rest of the People who that they might spread the terror of their Names over the whole Nation thought fit to begin with Paris Their principal Blood-hounds were Russanges and Claude David two Mechanicks and one George Renard a Taylor who had all three professed the Reformed Religion and were now imployed as best acquainted with these Men. They drew in two Apprentices shortly after who had deserted their Masters And these to gain the greater Applause Slaunders against the Protestants confessed not only that they had Nocturnal Meeting but which saith Thuanus was a notorious Lie that they at them used promiscuous Conjunctions after the Candles were put out And this Impudent Story created a great Detestation of the Protestants in the Minds of the deluded Catholicks whose Ears were open to these kinds of Misrepresentations This lye was carried on with great Industry and these two Wretches were led first to the Cardinal of Lorrain and then to the Queen to communicate this rare Secret no Man daring to contradict it The Queen who was never a Friend to the Protestants from henceforth was more than ever enraged against them But Oliver the Chancellor suspecting the Story examined these Lads separately and by their Varying and
Advantage upon the Banks of a small River by Mr. James Halleburton Provost of Dundee a Man of good Experience and Valour and therefore made General that day made so formidable an Appearance that the Regent durst not hazard a Battel against them By this time she saw to her Cost how necessary it was for Princes not to break their Faith. For when she would have gladly come to Peace there could no reliance be made upon her Promise and she had nothing else to engage And when they demanded the French might be sent away she said that she could not do it without order from the King of France So she was desired to withdraw the Garrison out of St. John's Town which when she refused the Protestants marched thither the Twenty fourth of June and in a few days took it From thence they march'd to the Abbey of Scone and took and sack'd it and being informed the Regent designed to put a French Garrison into Sterling they went in the night from St John's-Town thither and surprized it and ruined all the Monasteries Images and Altars They also changed the Religion at Lithgo Linlithgow in the way to Sterling and wheresoever they prevail'd The Regent and the French in the mean time retired from Edinburg to Dunbar expecting till this Storm should blow over and here they heard of the Death of Henry II of France The Protestants rejoyced at it as a thing that tended to their Safety but had like to have made it the occasion of their Ruine by withdrawing from the Army The Regent thereupon marched with her Forces to Edinburg and in the way had a fair opportunity to have fought and overthrown the remainder of their Army which was prevented by the Duke of Hamilton and James Earl of Dowglass The Twenty fourth of July a Truce was made to last till the Tenth of January which the Regent observed so much the more exactly because she found by Experience that the former breach of Promise had involved her in greater Difficulties and Distresses Yet even here she could not totally lay aside her old wont but broke Faith as far as she durst It is necessary here to Transcribe some of our English Affairs which relate to Scotland The English Affairs relating to Scotland that we may see how far and upon what Provocations Queen Elizabeth was concern'd Henry II of France had no sooner ended his War with King Philip but he began to cast an Eye upon England as very convenient for the Dauphin King his Son and Mary Queen of the Scots and on that Account refused to recall the French Forces out of Scotland as by the last Treaty he had promised but instead of that he sent more thither by stealth and was very earnest with the Pope to declare Queen Elizabeth an Heretick and Illegitimate and Mary the Lawful Heir of England which yet was diligently but under-hand oppos'd by the Imperial and Spanish Agents at Rome However the Guises never left exciting the credulous and ambitious Hopes of that Prince of Uniting the Crown of England to that of France by the means of Queen Mary their Heir till at last they prevail'd on him to assert openly the Pretences of his Son and Daughter-in-Law and to consent they might use this Title Francis and Mary by the Grace of God King and Queen of Scotland England and Ireland and to quarter the Arms of England with those of Scotland upon their Plate and on the Walls of their Palaces and the Coats of their Heraulds The English Embassador complain'd of this but to no purpose as tending to the great Injury of his Mistress with whom they had lately made a Peace they having never done it in the Life of Queen Mary though there was a War between the Nations That there were great numbers of Soldiers Listed in France and Germany to be Transported into Scotland upon the same Continent with England So that Queen Elizabeth had just reason to suspect the Intentions of the French who now breathed nothing but Blood and Death against the Protestants but that Prince's Designs whatever they were perished with him to the great Advantage of Queen Elizabeth who had otherwise been attack'd by all the Forces of France and Scotland both as Illigitimate and an Heretick Yet she ordered his Exequies to be celebrated at St. Paul's with great Solemnity and by Charles Son to the Lord Howard of Effingham her Envoy condol'd his Death congratulated the Succession of Francis his Son and promis'd to observe the Peace between them religiously Yet Francis the new King Fradcis II of France claims England in the Right of Mary his Wife and Mary his Wife the Queen of the Scots by the Advice of the Guises who now had got the Government of France in a manner into their Hands still continued the Claim of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the use of the Arms thereof more openly And when Throgmorton the English Embassadour in ordinany a Wise and Stout Man severely expostulated the Business They replyed Queen Mary might assume the Arms of England with some small Distinction to shew her near Relation to that Royal Blood. But he denyed this could be done by the Laws of Heraldry if the Person using the Arms of another Family was not derived from a certain Heir After this they pretended They only used these Arms to force the Queen to lay aside the use of the Arms of France To which he answered That twelve Kings of England as Dr. Woton shewed in the Treaty of Cambray had worn the Arms of France with so undoubted a Right that no opposition had been made to it in any Treaty between France and England At last by the Interposition of Montmorancy who was no Friend to the Guises he prevailed and the Title of England and Ireland and the use of the Arms of those Kingdoms was laid aside because that great Man thought It was not for the Honour of France to have any other Title or Arms assumed or engraven on their Seal than that of the King of France That this one Title was as good as many And he also shewed That the former Kings used no other tho' they claimed the Dutchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples But however from this Use of the Title and Arms of England imposed on this young Queen by the Arts of the Guises and the Ambition of Henry II as from a Fountain sprung all those Calamities which afterwards ruined her For from this Time Queen Elizabeth was a declared Enemy to the Guises and a concealed one to the Queen of Scots which last enmity was by the Malice of cunning Men a growing Emulation and new Occasions which every day sprung up so improved that at last it ended in her Death For Princes will endure no Rival and Majesty is very sensible of Affronts The French by the Treaty were to give four Hostages for the Restitution of Calais within eight Years but when it was
to be done they would give but three The French Provocations against the English The English Merchants were ill used in France A Servant of Throcmorton's the Embassadour was sent by Francis Grand Prior of France the Brother of Guise publickly to the Gallies A Pistol was discharged against the Embassadour in his own Lodgings And he had no Plate allowed him for his Table but what had the Arms of England engraven on it in contempt Du Brossay was also sent with Supplies of French into Scotland And the Gallies of France were brought from Marseille in the Mediterrancan into the British Seas This was the State of Affairs between France and England The Scotch Complaints against the French. when the Troubles of Scotland broke out and the Lords of the Articles sent William Maitland their Secretary who made a deplorable Representation of the State of that Kingdom to Queen Elizabeth setting forth That since the Marriage of their Queen to the Dauphine of France the Government of Scotland had been charged the French Soldiers laid all waste The principal Employments were given to Frenchmen their Forts and Castles put into their Hands and their Money adulterated to their Advantage That the Design was apparently to possess themselves of Scotland if the Queen should happen to die without Issue Cecil who was the Queens Prime Minister imployed Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland to find out what the Lords of the Articles designed and what Means they had to attain their Ends and upon what Terms they expected Succours from England They said They desired nothing but the Glory of Jesus Christ the sincere Preaching of the Word of God the extirpation of Superstition and Idolatry the Restraint of the Fury of Persecution and the Preservation of their ancient Liberties That they knew not for the present how to effect this but they hoped the Divine Goodness which had begun the Work would bring it to its desired End with the Confusion of their Enemies That they earnestly desired to enter into a Friendship with the Queen of England to the Preservation of which they would Sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes The Consideration of these things was not warmly entertained in England Queen Elizabeth holds off at first but be cause the Scots had little Money and were not over-well cemented among themselves so they were only advised Not to enter rashly into a War. But as soon as the English knew that the Marquess of Elboeuf the Queen of Scots Unkle was listing Men in Germany by the Rhinegrave for a War in Scotland That Cannons were sent to the Ports and Preparations made to conquer that Kingdom and that in greater Quantities than seemed necessary to reduce a few unarmed Scots That the French to draw the Danes into this War had proffered That the Duke of Lorrain should renounce his Right to Denmark And that they were renewing their Solicitations with the Pope To give a declaratory Sentence for the Queen of Scot against the Queen of England Thereupon Sir Ralph Sadler a wise Man was sent to the Earl of Northumberland and Governour of the middle Marches on the Borders of Scotland at last is forced to unite with the Protestants of Scotland Reasons assigned for the driving the French out of Scotland to assist him and Sir James Croft Governour of Berwick The English Council could not see whither all this tended unless the French designed to invade the Kingdom of England as well as assume the Title and Arms of it Upon this the Council of England began to consider in good earnest and with great Application of the Scotch Affairs it was thought a thing of very ill and dangerous Example that one Prince should undertake the Protection of the Subjects of another Prince who were in Rebellion But then it was thought impious not to assist those of the same Religion when persecuted for it And it was certainly a great Folly to suffer the French the sworn Enemies of England when they challenged the Kingdom of England too and were at Peace with all the rest of the World to continue armed in Scotland which lay so near and convenient for the Invasion of England on that side which had the greatest number of Roman Catholicks both of the Nobility and Commons This was thought a betraying the Safety and Quiet of the whole Nation in a very cowardly manner And therefore it was concluded It was no Time now for lazy Counsels but that it was best to take up their Arms and as the English Custom was To prevent their Enemies and not stay till they should begin with us It was always as lawful to Prevent an Enemy as to repel him and to defend our selves the same way that others Attack us That England could never be Safe but when it was Armed and Potent and that nothing could contribute more to this End than the securing it against Scotland That in order to this the Protestants of Scotland were to be protected and the French Forces driven out of it and this was not to be done by Consultations but by Arms. That the neglect of these Methods had not long since lost Calais to our great Hindrance and Shame That a little before whilst the French pretended to preserve the Peace with great Fidelity they had surprized the Fort of Ambleteul and some other Places near Bologne and by that means forced the English to surrender that important Place That we must expect the same Fate would attend Berwick and the other Fronteer Garrisons if they did not forthwith take Arms and not rely any longer on the French Pretences of maintaining the Peace which were never to be believed their Counsels being secret their Ambition boundless and their Revenues immense so that it was then a Proverb in England France can neither be Poor nor Quiet three Years together And Queen Elizabeth was used to say that Expression of Valentinean the Emperour was good The War resolved Francum amicum habe at non vicinum Let a Frank be thy Friend but not thy Neighbour So that upon the whole it was concluâ—â—d That it was Just Honest Necessary and our Interest to drive the French as soon as was possible out of Scotland Hereupon William Winter Master-Gunner in the Fleet The War begun was sent with a Fleet to Edinburgh Frith who to the great terror of the French fell upon their Ships of War on that Coast and their Garrison in the Isle of Inchkeith The Duke of Norfolk then Lieutenant of the North was also sent towards Scotland William Lord Grey who had well defended Guines against the French tho unsuccessfully was made Governour of the Eastern and Middle Marches and Thomas Earl of Sussex who had been Lieutenant of Ireland in the Reign of Queen Mary was sent thither again with the same Character and commanded to have a particular care the French did not excite the barbarous and superstitious Irish to a Rebellion under the Pretence of Religion The French in
and Recalling the Princes of the Blood and Montmorancy to their former Stations The Twenty first of August An Assembly of the Princes of France the Assembly of the Princes and Notable Men of France was Opened at Founain-bleau The Chancellor in his Speech among other things complained That the Hearts of the People of France were incensed against the King and his Principal Ministers but the Cause of it was not known and therefore it was so difficult to find out and apply a fitted Remedy For That the greatest part of the Men of this Kingdom being weary of what is present fearful of what is to come divided by different Religions and desirous of Change are willing to imbroil the Kingdom And therefore their principal Business was to find out the cause of this Discase and apply a fitting Remedy to this Sickly Body Coligni the Admiral who was present the next day Coligni delivers a Petition from the Protestants to the King. presented a Petition to the King which had been given him whilst he was in Normandy by a vast number of his Subjects desiring that the Severity of the Laws against them might be mitigated till their Cause had been duly considered and determined That they might have Publick Places assigned them for the Exercise of their Religion lest their Private Meetings should be suspected by the Government And they invoked God to bear Witness That they had never entertained any disloyal Thought against his Majesty nor would do so But on the contrary they offered up to God most devout Prayers for the Preservation and Peace of his Kingdom The Bishop of Valence a Learned Grave and Experienced Person The Bishop of Valence seconds it confirmed this Opinion shewing the great Corruptions in the Church had given Birth and promoted these Divisions in the Minds of Men which were rather exasperated than extirpated by harsh means and bloody Persecutions Then he shewed the great Use of General Councils for the composing the Differences in the Church And adviseth the King to call a National Council And therefore he said He wondred how the Pope could quiet his Conscience one Hour whilst he saw so many thousand Souls perish which God without doubt would require at his Hands But if said he a General Council cannot be had the King ought to follow the Examples of Charles the Great and S. Lewis his Ancestors and call a National Council of France commanding the Teachers of the Sectaries to be present in it and to enter into Conference with the Divines concerning the Points in Controversie c. That the Sectaries were worthy of Blame for their Rebellion and the Roman Catholicks for having been too Bloody and Cruel in the Prosecution of them which had only served to irritate the Minds of Men and make them enquire more greedily into the Opinions of those they saw suffer so patiently That the ancient Fathers imployed no other Arms against the Arians Macedonians and Nestorians but the Word of God and the Princes then did only banish Hereticks The Archbishop of Vienne represented the great Difficulties that hindred the obtaining a General Council For said he there is none of us who doth not know what great pains Charles V took to procure a General Council and what Arts and Stratagems the Poples imployed to defeat that commendable hope this pious Prince had entertained The Disease is of too acute a Nature to attend long Delays which are very uncertain and therefore the best way was to call a National Council which the King had already promised and the urgent Necessities of the Church would not suffer him to delay any longer Having shewn how this had been constantly practised from the Times of Clovis to Charles the Great and so downward to the times of Charles VIII He concluded That the Necessity being Great they ought to delay no longer nor to regard the Oppositions the Pope would make against this Method For the appeasing the Civil Dissentions of France he advised the calling an Assembly of the three Estates The third day Coligni discoursed of the Petition he had presented and being asked why it was not subscribed He said There was above fifty thousand Men in the Nation ready to subscribe it Concluding That there was nothing more calamitous than for a Prince to fear his Subjects And they to be at the same time afraid of him That the House of God the Church was to be forthwith reformed the Army to be dishanded and an Assembly of the three Estates called as soon as might be The Cardinal of Lorrain was so inraged with Coligni's Speech The Cardinal of Lorrain replies to Coligni that he made a sudden reply to it That the whole scope of ill Men was to deprive the King of his military Guards that they might the more easily oppress him That the late Conspiracy was against the King and not against his Ministers as was pretended That as to what concerned Religion he would submit to Learned Men But then he protested That no Councils should be of that Authority with him as to depart in any thing from the Customs of his Ancestors and especially in the most sacred Mystery of the Lord's Supper And as to an Assembly of the States he submitted that intirely to the King. He concluded The Sectaries were a Seditious Proud sort of Men and that the Gospel and Faith of Christ was made an occasion of Tumults and Seditions by them and therefore they were to be severely prosecuted Yet he was for mitigating the Severity of the Laws towards such as met peaceably without Arms who were to be reduced to their Duty by more gentle Methods more than by Force To which purpose he would freely spend his Life That the Bishops and Curates should by their presence redeem the Time they had lost and the Governours of the Provinces be forced to do their Duties But then since there was nothing under Debate but want of Discipline and Corruption of Manners it seemed very unnecessary that either a General or a National Council should be called The free Confession of this Cardinal is the Opinion of the whole Party and though the name of a General Council makes a great noise yet we very well know how they have treated the ancientest and best Councils when they have in any thing crossed their Humors or Interests and from thence may conclude They will never submit to any that shall not be conformable to their Wills. The twenty sixth of August A Decree passed for an Assembly of the three Estates and the suspension of the Laws against Hereticks A design upon Lyons a Decree was past that an Assembly of the three Estates should meet before the tenth of December in the City of Meaux And that if a General Council could not be had a National Council should be assembled And in the mean time all Severities in matters of Religion should be omitted Thus saith Thuanus my Author the Protestant Religion which
before was so much hated began by degrees to grow up and get Strength with the tacit Consent of its greatest Enemies Thus ended the Assembly of the Princes and Notable Men of France About this time Ferrieres Maligni one of the Conspirators of Amboise escaping out of Prison had a Design to surprize Lyons and had formed so great a Party in the Town as might have done it but remitting the execution of his Project to a more convenient time by order of the King of Navarr the thing was discovered and many of his Partizans taken but yet such was the constancy of the Party that though many were tortured yet nothing could be found out to prove the King of Navarr or Prince of Conde concerned in this Attempt Yet were they invited to Court by the King to purge themselves of the Suspicion upon a Promise they should receive no Injury But this they wisely refused as not Reasonable This and several other such alarms procured an Edict That no Prince or other person of what condition soever should provide Money Soldiers Arms or Horses and if any Person did otherwise it should be taken for High-Treason The Cardinal of Bourbon was also imployed to bring the Princes of his Family to Court by passing his Faith to them That nothing should be done against them The three Estates in the interim meeting at Meaux were from thence adjourned to Orleans and the Marshal de Thermes was sent to Poictiers with two hundred Horse to watch the Motions of the King of Navar if he came to the Assembly The Protestants in France having obtained a little respite from the Pressures of the Persecution by the late Edicts The Protestants of France increase wonderfully during the Peace In some places they grow insolent encreased and there were great Assemblies of them in all Parts of the Kingdom especially in Dauphine At Valence which was an University much celebrated for the Study of the Law the fear of the Laws being now removed there succeeded in its stead a lawless Boldness and Petulance so that some of the Young Students forcibly seized the Franciscan's Church for the holding their Assemblies At Montelimard they had also their Publick Sermons and at Romans And which was yet more insufferable they met armed and were very injurious and rude to the Roman Catholick Which as to Valence was soon after revenged with equal Cruelty and perfidy by one Maugiron who was sent for that purpose by the Duke of Guise At Romans about sixty were taken and committed to Prison And at Montelimard the King's Faith was by Maugiron pawned and forfeited again and the Town taken and plundered The number of the Protestants encreased very greatly also in Bretagne and Normandy and they had their Publick Sermons in many Cities in those Provinces which were managed with greater Modesty than those in Dauphine Though the Guises had given many Testimonies of their small regard to their Faith The King of Navarâ— and Prince of Conde promise to come to the Assembly of the States The Archbishop of Vienne dies yet the King of Navarr and Prince of Conde had now passed their Promise to the Cardinal of Bourbon That they would present themselves in the next Convention of the States and that Cardinal had given the King Assurance of it being then at Paris and the King of Navarr was already on the Road. The Archbishop of Vienne falling sick about this time by a Letter signified to the Dutchess of Monpensier his great Confident That he certainly knew That if the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde came to Court they would be committed to Prison and that Bourbon would not be able to make good his Promise to them who was only imployed to deceive his Brothers That Montmorancy was laid at too and one la Sague a Villain had been examined against him and had confessed a Treaty with the Queen of England That so soon as the War in Scotland was ended the Soldiers would be imployed in France Soon after this venerable Prelate died of Grief and Vexation He was a learned and an honest Man not infected with the Leprosie of Flattery year 1560 and therefore not very grateful to the Court And being extremely desirous of a Reformation was suspected to be a Lutheran The eighteenth of October the King entred Orleans The States meet at Orleans attended by a terrible Guard of Soldiers which made that City more like a Garrison than the seat of an Assembly of the States Navarr arrived the thirtieth of the same Month with a small Retinue and unarmed and quickly found how little the Guises did regard their Faith or Promise by the little Respect was shewn to him and his Brother at his Entry and in their first appearance before the King Navarr and Conde secured And Conde was presently committed to Prison declaiming against the breach of Faith made by the King and the Guises and the Credulity of his Brother the Cardinal of Bourbon which had betrayed the whole Family into their Enemies Hands The King of Navarr seemed to have more Liberty but was under the restraint of a Guard deprived of the Attendance of his own Servants and watched by Men who had order to observe his Looks and Motions and his Secretary and all his Letters were seized The thirteenth of November the Prince of Conde was examined by the Chancellor and others in Prison Who told them It belonged not to them to try or examine the Princes of the Blood but to the Parliament of Paris and the Peers of France and the whole Body of the States Bourdin the Attorney General at last told him That if he declined the Judgment of these Delegates he should be taken for convict and Sentence accordingly pronounced against him as guilty of High Treason and the Witness should be examined elsewhere Perceiving by this the head-longhast of the Guises his Lady delivered a Petition to the King for learned Council which was granted him But his Servants were taken from him and he was denied a Conference with his Brother of Navarr and the Cardinal though he desired some of the Kings Ministers might be present These Hardships created him much Compassion in the Minds of Men and they thought he was hardly used which made his Enemies yet more hated They on the other hand despised the Thoughts of Men and bent all their Thoughts how they might destroy the King of Navarr for they thought they were secure of Conde Among other ways they intended to have assassinated him in the King's Chamber of which an account was given him by some of Guise his Creatures Upon which he resolved to draw his Sword and dye fighting if he were thus attacked and desired an old Friend to take care to preserve his Bloody Cloaths and shew them to his Son. When he had thus done he went unsent for into the King's Chamber and taking the King by the Hand so by his Looks prevailed upon him that
Peace which is disliked by Coligni THIS Year there began a sharp Persecution against all that were suspected to favour the Reformation in the Netherlands year 1561 and for the greater terror they burnt the Houses of all those they Convicted for holding private Meetings Perrenot Bishop of Arras A Persecution in the Low-Countries and Cardinal Granvel hoping by this means to prevent the spreading of a Religion in that Country which had made such progresses in Germany and France They that imbraced this Religion were no less scandalized by the multiplying the Bishopricks and thereupon drew up a Confession of their Faith to be exhibited to King Philip beseeching him in the end of it that he would put a stop to the bloody Executions which destroyed so many of his innocent People This Confession was the same in substance with that published by the French Protestants and amongst other things they took particular care to insert That the Civil Magistrate was the Ordinance of God and therefore was to be obeyed Their Tributes to be duly paid and all manner of Respect and Reverence to be shewed to them and that Prayers were to be made to God for their preservation In the month of February The French Affair the new King of France left Orleans and went to Fontainbleau where the Prince of Conde waited upon him and being introduced into the Privy Council asked the Chancellor if there were any Accusation depending against him and was told by him and the whole Council they were intirely satisfied of his innocence and leave was given him to demand an Acquital in the Parliament of Paris And a Decree was made to that purpose and Published by the Order of the Council March 13. after which he went to Paris to prosecute his Discharge before that Court. In the mean time Queen Catharine Queen Catharine favoureth the Protestants the Regent of France seemed very much to favour the Protestant Party and by her Arts and Dissimulation so far prevailed upon the spirit of the King of Navarre who was their Head that he told the Danish Ambassador he did not doubt but he should see the Reformed Religion settled in France within one year The Queen on the other side told Montmorency That she counived at them for the present that she might the more easily elude the designs of the King of Navarre by seeming to comply with him But then she said he and the other great Men of that Kingdom ought to oppose them and to complain that the Religion of their Ancestors was every where violated and despised She designed by this First To divide the great Men in the Point of Religion Secondly To weaken the Interest of the King of Navarre And thirdly To preserve the Romish Religion in France But Montmorency who was her Instrument designed only the last yet he was very active in it The Queen in the interim carried her dissimulation so far that she ordered Jean de Monluc Bishop of Valence who was a great favourer of the Reformation and no Enemy to the Protestants Doctrine to Preach frequently at Court and She and the King were sometimes present at his Sermons He would sometimes speak very freely against the Corruptions that were in the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church and obliquely tax the Papal Authority The favour the Queen shewed to this Bishop made Montmorency suspect that in her Heart she had a kindness for the Protestant Party and that underhand she and Navarre had one and the same design And thereupon he deserted her and joyned with the Guises his till then Mortal Enemies the Duchess de Valentois procuring the Reconciliation Magdalen of Savoy Wife to Montmorency was also an implacable enemy to the Reformation and hated Coligni the Admiral for that and other causes and therefore she perpetually stimulated him against the Protestants Francis Montmorency The younger Montmorency's Advice to his Father Son of the Constable was a person of great Prudence and he wisely advised his Father not to lose the least of his friends in so necessary a time for he foresaw a Tempest would arise in France of what Religion soever they were that it did not become a wise Man to endeavour to gain new friends with the loss of his old ones and to prefer the uncertain friendship of reconciled enemies before the tried affections of his old Acquaintances That if he rejected Conde Coligni and Rochefoucault on the Account of Religion he would deprive his Family of the affistance of three great Men and perhaps the Queen would think never the better of him therefore his advice to his Father was to sit still and let Coligni and the Guises fight it out without taking part on either side and in all probability Guise would be worsted and he would become the Arbitrator of the two contending Religions And in the mean time it was most certain there were many great Errors by length of time crept into the Church which he ought not to defend because they were injurious to the Majesty of God. The good old Gentleman was much moved at this Advice from his Son but made no other answer to it than That he certainly knew that if the Religion were changed the Civil Government would be changed too That he cared not what became of him if his little Masters did well and the Actions of Henry II. might not be called in question who was a wife Prince and his good Master So he perished in his first resolves believing he was obliged to defend the Cause of Religion against his best and most ancient and tried friends The Pope seeing his Jurisdiction and Authority decline so fast in Germany year 1560 England and France The pretended Submission of the Cophthites greedily embraced a pretended Overture made by one Abraham a Syrian Impostor who pretended he was sent by the Copthites an Eastern Sect of Christians to make a submission to the Holy See whereupon he sent Christopher Roderick and John Baptista Elianus two Jesuits to them who gained nothing by this Mission but an exact Account of the Opinions of these Cophthites and a certainty of the Frauds of this pretended Ambassador Abraham who had feign'd this Mission to the Pope for his own Ends. This Mortification was soon after attended by another Livonia falls off from the See of Rome not less afflictive to his Holiness for Gothard Ketler Master of the Teutonick Order in Livonia intirely submitted to Sigismond King of Poland which put an end to that Order when it had flourished there 357 years He was thereupon made Duke of Gurland and Semigallen and Governor of Livonia and Marrying a Wife withdrew himself and his Subjects from the See of Rome The Archbishoprick of Riga was also about the same time changed into a Dukedom John Kothewick ☜ ☜ the last Archbishop of that See embracing the Augustane Confession put himself under the Protection of the Crown of Poland and was by Sigismond made Duke
Martinego The English reject the Council who was sent to Treat with Queen Elizabeth for the same end as I have said already came into Flanders and from thence according to the ancient Custom sent for Leave to come into England but was denied it the Council of England not thinking it fit to admit a Nuncio from the Pope when there were so many Roman Catholicks in the Nation who being brought up in that Religion would be apt upon such an Encouragement to Imbroil our Affairs at home and abroad The Bishop of Viterbo the Popes Legate at Paris thereupon began to Treat with Throcmorton our Ambassador in that Court That Queen Elizabeth would be pleased to send her Ambassadours to the Council in which he was seconded by Letters from the Kings of France Spain and Portugal and the Cardinal of Portugal and the Duke de Alva To which she replied That from her Heart she desired a General Council but she would have nothing to do with a Papa That she would have nothing to do with the Pope neither whose Authority was banished out of England by the consent of the Three Estates That it belonged not to him but to the Emperour to call a Council and that she acknowledged no greater Authority in him than in any other Bishop The Twenty fifth of July Erirk King of Sweden was Crown'd with great Pomp at Stockholme upon the Baltick Sea. Erick King of Sweden Crown'd The Cardinal of Caraffa Hanged Charles Cardinal of Caraffa and Nephew of the last Pope was strangled the Sixth of March in the Castle of St. Angelo upon pretence That he had Exasperated Paul IV. his Uncle with his false Stories and put him upon a War That he had caused the Truce between France and Spain to be broken had entered underhand Treaties with the Protestant Princes of Germany and also with the Turk the Enemies of Christianity but in reality because the Pope was much offended with the sharp Answers the Cardinal made after he was imprison'd The Pope being thereupon made sensible that the Cardinal was a Person of great Spirit and Interest and if ever he were dismiss'd he would at one time or other Revenge the Quarrel upon the Popes Relations so that his Holiness contrary to his first Intentions found it was needful to cut him off though against Law as his own Canonists generally said The Count de Paliani Brother of the Cardinal of Carafsa had the same fate but on other pretences In France all that desired the Peace of the Church and the Reformation of Religion A National Council defired in France concluded the Pope would not hold a Council whatever he pretended and therefore urged the having of a National Council which was opposed by the Guises and their Faction for fear the Protestant Party should prevail in it against the Catholick They did whatever they could to perswade the King and Council from it and procured the Pope to perswade Philip King of Spain to interest himself in it who sent Anthony Bishop of Toledo to perswade the Queen to send the French Clergy to the Council of Trent and that in the mean time to prevent a Schism the thoughts of a National Council should be laid aside He had Orders also as occasion offered to threaten those who favoured the Protestants and to give assurances of his Masters readiness to support the young King which was ill taken in France as a kind of usurping a Right to interpose their Spanish Pride in the French Affairs Toledo died in France and Maurice his Successor for became very importunate with the Queen to begin a Persecution against the Protestants which was as stiffly opposed by the King of Navar year 1560 who demanded his Kingdom The King of Navar drawn over to the Popish Party by the King of Spain's Arts. and interrupted all the Spanish Proceedings by his frequent Complaints to the young King. King Philip finding to his Cost that this Princes Power was greater in France than he imagin'd began a Design upon him to make him more pliant to his Desires This was to reject his Wife and Marry Mary Queen of the Scots and then declaring himself Head of the Catholicks in France the King of Spain was to give him Sardinia for Navar and to help him to Conquer England and so two Heretical Queens were for Heresie to be laid aside and the Pope was to Consecrate and Bless the Business The King of Navar detesting the Project of Repudiating his Queen the Exchange of Sardinia was driven on with more eagerness pretending it was the greatest Island in the Mediterranean Sea next Sicily and the most fruitful rich and populous and situate very conveniently for a Conquest of Barbary This Project being also seconded by the Popes Nuncio the Cardinal of Ferrara prevented the calling of a National Council which Wise Men thought was the only thing that could have prevented the Civil War which after broke out to the almost total Ruine of France Though the Edict of July had forbidden all Meetings of the Protestants year 1561 yet their Number daily increasing and with it their Confidence A new invented Convention for the Regulating matters of Religion in France not only Sermons were openly made but the Priests were in many places forcibly expell'd and the Churches seized for the use of the Ministers which gave being to the Edict of the 3d of November for the Restitution of those Churches upon pain of Death which by the Perswasion of the Ministers themselves was obeyed throughout the Kingdom But when notwithstanding Men seem'd rather enraged than appeased by the Edict of July and the Conference of Poissy was broken up without any effect there being every day news brought of new Commotions they began to think of some more effectual Remedy which that it might meet with the greater approbation and by consequence be the more universally executed the Presidents and some chosen Members of all the Parliaments of France were summon'd before the King to St. Germain by whose Advice it was to be drawn and Moddel'd Upon which the Cardinal of Lorrain and the Duke of Guise left the Court conceiving the thing would do it self now Montmorancy and the King of Navar had espoused that Interest About the same time there was a dreadful Tumult at Dijon A Tumult aâ— Dijon whil'st the Protestants were assembled at their Sermon the Rabble thought fit to make themselves the Executioners of the Edict of July and having procured a Drum to beat before them they marched against the Huguenots but the Meeters made use of their Weapons and repell'd Force with Force The Rabble thereupon turn'd their fury against the Private Families and plundered several Houses There were also some Tumults at Paris on the same score and towards the end of the year all things tended to a general Revolution Having thus represented the State of Religion in all the rest of Christendom Scotch Affairs as shortly and as
it ought and would prove destructive to the Kingdome of France and having brought over Navar to their Party tho' they foresaw they should meet with great and almost insuperable Difficulties yet they thought they should at last gain their Ends. The Duke of Guise went therefore to his Country House and his Brother Charles the Cardinal soon after followed him thither So they both went to Zaberen a Town belonging to the Bishop of Strasburg where Christopher Duke of Wirtemberg met him on pretence he came to visit a Lady that was his Kinswoman bringing with him John Brent and James Andrea two eager defenders of the Augustane Confession against the Zuinglians whose Doctrine was generally followed by the Protestants in France here they conferred together three days The Cardinal of Lorrain pretended to have a great affection for the Duke of Wirtemberg and the rest of the German Princes he said also That since the Conference of Poissi he had a good opinion of the Augustane Confession and that he had often persuaded the Protestants to subscribe it and they had ever refused it because they did not so much desire the Reformation of Religion and of the Church Discipline as the spreading lewd and monstrous Opinions which tended to the filling France and Germany with new Tumults That the King of Denmark wisely foresaw this who congratulating by his Ambassador the attempt to reform the Church expressed at the same time his fear that they should embrace the Zuinglian and Geneva Confession instead of the Augustane and thereupon carefully advised the King of Navar to consider this That the Duke of Wirtemberg and the other Princes of Germany ought to fear the same thing if they desired the Peace of Germany or that of the Church For that as Germany and France were near each other so their Interests were so interwoven that the Good or Evil would be common to them That as they were derived from one of the Illustrious Families of Germany and enjoyed one of the principal Stations in France so they had left that Kingdom to confer with him the Duke of Wirtemburg and to settle by mutual Consent what might be useful and salutary to both these States and that they might conjointly oppose the Endeavours of the Zuinglians and their Doctrine They pretended they did not do this with intention to hinder the Reformation of Religion and the Worship of God For that they desired above all things but that they sought to prevent that Tempest which these Sectaries were raising both in France and Germany And therefore they desired the Duke to interpose his Authority with the Princes of Germany and to induce them to have a good Opinion of their Designs The Duke of Wirtemburg having consulted with Brent and Andrea his two Divines who were very desirous the Helvetian Confession should not be entertained in France commended the Cardinals affections towards himself and the Empire and said he approved of his Counsel for the hindering the Reception of that Confession in France which without doubt would cause great Commotions But then he said this was upon condition that the Reformation should be carried on in France in the mean time and that no Severities or Proscriptions should be employed against those who had made defection from the See of Rome The Cardinal was thought to have said this to the intent to dispose the German Protestant Princes to send Supplies against the French Protestants when it should come to a War or at least to make them less apt to succour the Prince of Condé and the Protestants Thus that Conference ended The Duke of Guise The Duke of Guise called to Court by the King of Navar The Massacre of Vassy happen'd accidentally in that â—ourny and the Cardinal returned to Joinville in Champaigne where soon after he received a Letter from the King of Navar that he should come to Court as fast as was possible whither he forthwith went. In the Borders of Champaigne there is a Town called Vassy which has high Walls and is the Capital of a Prefecture The Protestants had a Meeting-place in this Town able to contain twelve Hundred persons in which at times they preached and administred Sacraments after their way because they had as yet no setled Minister but procured one from Troyes The Bishop of which place was a favourer of them But now there was one Leonard Morel come from Geneva to settle there which was ill taken by Claude de Sainctes the Governour of the Town and by the Prior Curate and Neighbours who had frequently complained of it to Jerome de Burgos Bishop of Chaalon sur Marne in Champaigne under whom the place was The year before the Bishop came thither and had a disorderly Dispute with the Minister about imposition of Hands managed by one of his Divines which he brought with him before the People Governour and Bishop which had no good effect Antonia de Bourbon the Mother of the Guises a zealous Roman Catholick was also much offended with the nearness of this place and desired very much to be rid of it and she reproached her Son for his over-great patience in a thing wherein the Glory of God her own Honour and the Religion of his Ancestors was concerned Hereupon the first of March he went to Vassy with Lewis the Cardinal his Brother Du Brossay and his Son and a great Retinue designing rather to suppress and dissipate this Conventicle by his Presence than to offer Violence to any private person As he went he heard a Bell ring at an unusual time and asking the reason of it was told It was to call the Protestants to their Meeting Hereupon his Foot-men began to make a Noise as if there had been a Military Enterprize but the Duke went on and entred Vassy where there were 60 Horse ready to receive him and he was to dine that day at Sclaron The Curate and Prior were very earnest with him to go by the Conventicle but whilst he delayed them and seemed unwilling to do it the meaner part of his Attendants ran thither and began to call the Protestants who were there assembled Dogs and Rebels to God and the King. The Protestants also return'd their reproaches upon them and so at last they fell from words to flinging stones after which those that were on Horseback lighted and broke into the place where the Meeting was which was a Granary and was for some time defended by those within but they at last prevailing drew their Swords and began to stab and wound the Protestants A great Cry arising Guise was forced to go thither to put a stop to the Massacre but he by Accident receiving a small Wound this so inraged his Retinue that he could not restrain them in this Tumult about 60 persons were kill'd and 200 wounded amongst which last was Morell who was sent Prisoner to Disier Though this Tumult happened against his will and contrary to his expectation yet the Duke of Guise to excuse
Conde comes up towards Fontain-bleau Conde was coming to Court as the Queen had ordered him and was at Pont Sainct Clou within two Miles of Fontain-bleau which when the Queen heard all things were put into Confusion as if a Siege had been expected the Populace running into disorder and the Magistrates conniving at it Nor was the disorder less in the Court. The Queen fearing not without cause that some mischief would ensue if Conde came up the Confederates being in possession of the King and resolving to carry him and the Queen to Paris The Queen would gladly have stood Neuter but the Confederates told her plainly they knew Conde was come to get the King into his Power The Tyiumvirate seize the King. and they were resolved to carry him to Paris and if she pleased she might follow him and so they carried him to Melun not giving her any time to consider of it The Queen followed and took such Lodgings as they assigned her in the Castle Here she would have made her Escape with the King if the Jealousie of the Confederates had not prevented it They knowing this would give a great Reputation to the Party that could gain it and make the opposite Party look like Rebels Next Morning the Queen fell to flatter the Confederates to get them to go back to Fontainbleau and that she might speak with Conde But the Duke of Guise disappointed all her Projects and carried the King and his Brother to the Castle de Vincennes within two Miles of Paris the King weeping as if he had been carried into Captivity by force The next Morning Montmorancy entred Paris pull'd up the Seats and Pulpit of the Protestant Meeting-House near Port St. Jean in the Suburbs and burnt them publickly the people rejoycing greatly at it And in the Afternoon did the same thing without Port de St. Antoine to another such House but here the Fire took the next Houses which abated the Joy though there was at last too much bestowed on so ridiculous an Enterprize Upon this many good Men were injured by the Rabble in the Streets as being suspected in the Point of Religion yet it came not to Blood. The next day after Montmerancy appears very zealous against the Protestants at Paris the King and the Queen were brought up to the Louvre the Confederates pretending they were not safe elsewhere And here they began to talk of Declaring a War against the Prince of Conde which was opposed by the Chancellor whose Judgment was slighted by Montmorancy because he was a Gown-man But he replied That tho he was no Soldier yet he knew very well when War was fit and when not but the violence of the Confederates at last excluded him from that Consultation The Prince of Conde was coming towards the Court but hearing that the Queen out of levity or fear was joyned with the Triumvirate and was gone to Paris The Prince of Conde betrayed by the Queen into a disadvantageous War. he seeing the Enemy in possession of the King's Person concluded they had got a great Advantage over him and yet that the Die being cast it was too late to go back so he went to Orleans to meet d' Andelott and sent to Coligni the Admiral to come thither to him Innocent Tripier de Monterud was then Governour of Orleans for Charles de Bourbon Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon he in the beginning had been very favourable to the Protestants and had equally imployed them with the Catholicks in the Guard of the City but seeing the Queen was now joyned with the Confederate Catholick Lords he changed his Mind and took in more Forces by stealth that he might thereby over-power the Protestants But Andelott entering the place with a small Attendance quickly got together 300 of the Protestants Orleans surprized by the Prince of Conde and seized St. John's Gate and immediately sent to the Prince of Conde to come up so that though Mon. de Monterud endeavoured to recover this Post yet it was in vain and the Town fell into the Hands of the Prince of Conde and Monterud was forced to obtain the Prince's Leave to be gone The Seventh of April the Prince of Conde sent a Letter to all the Protestant Churches and Nobility in France Conde Justifies the War. to bring to him all the Forces and Moneys they were able to raise for the Rescuing of the King out of Captivity and the delivering him out of the Hands of some great Men who had first violated the Laws or Edicts of France and then seizing the Person of the King by force Abused his Authority to the breaking the Peace of that Kingdom The next day he put out a Manifesto wherein he largely unfolded the Truth that the bottom of their Design was to deprive the Protestants of France of that Liberty which had been granted them by the King's Edict The Catholicks begin the War to deprive the Protestants of the Liberty granted them by the Edict of January which he proved amongst other things by the Massacre of Vassy which he said was design'd for a Signal to the whole Nation to do the like He call'd God to Witness his only Intentions were to restore the King and his Brothers and the Queen and the Council to their Liberty to preserve the Veneration due to the Royal Edicts and especially that solemn Edict of January last and to prevent the Moneys given by the States in the last Assembly for the payment of the Debts of the Crown from being mispent or turned to other uses for as for him and his they would manage this War at their own Charges He desired that whilest the King was in their Power no Credit should be given to any Edict Warrant or Commission though under the great Seal or Signed by the King. As for his Brother the King of Navar he should pay him always the Respect that was due to his Character and Place but he desired the Duke of Guise and his Brothers and Montmorancy should lay down their Arms restore the King and his Council to their liberty and suffer the Edict of January to continue in force till the King were of Age and then he would lay down his Arms and he and his would return to their own homes If they refused these just and equal Conditions and attempted any thing with force against him he said he would not bear it but would rescue the King and his People from their violence and they should answer for all the Calamities and Miseries which should follow The Prince of Conde and the Ministers write to the Princes of Germany He wrote two days after this to the Princes of Germany and ordered the Ministers to do so too that the greater Credit might be given to his to the same purpose And in the Conclusion desired they would not be wanting to the King Queen and Kingdom at a time of so much need nor suffer themselves to be prejudiced by
added to them James Simoneta and Mark Sitico Bishop of Altemberg in Transylvania who had orders to open the Council again the Eighteenth of January 1562. That those things might be therein treated of which the * Proponentibus Legatis Legates should propose and in the same Order for the taking away the Calamities of these Times the appeasing the Controversies of Religion the Restraining deceitful Tongues the Correcting the Abuses of depraved Manners and the obtaining a True and Christian Peace by such means as the Holy Council should approve of The French Clergy insisted That mention should be made of a Free and General Council to be call'd for the Quieting of their Differences because their Protestants would never submit to the Determinations of the former Sessions On the contrary the Spaniards professed they would only continue the former Council and therefore they used a middle way and decreed A Council should be Celebrated The Spanish Bishops were as much dissatisfied because all the Power of proposing was given to the Legates and taken from the other Bishops and complained of it to King Philip who Ordered his Ambassador to treat the Pope about it that the Council might be free The Pope Answered the Ambassador That he was not at leisure to dispute about Ablative Cases Positive and the Genders of Words and that he had something else to do And in private he spoke of the Calamities and Dangers of France with the same unconcernedness For when one of the French Cardinals deplored the Danger the See of Rome was in of losing that Kingdom he replied What then if as long as I am Bishop of this City I shall not be forced to abate any thing of the Greatness of my Table and the Magnificence of my Buildings And when they insisted to have the Manners of Men and the Discipline of the Church throughly Reform'd he said In that Particular he would satisfie France to the full and take such Care in it that they should all of them Repent that they had mentioned a Reformation Adding That he foresaw that the Kingdom would be divided on the account of Religion but he did not value the loss of it a Farthing All which Expressions saith Thuanus Are in the Letters of the French Ambassador that was then at Rome out of which I have faithfully Transcribed them and the Letters are now in my Hands The History of this Council is so well described by Petro Soave Polano a Venetian which is in English that I need the less insist upon it but I shall however remark some few things from Thuanus and others for the Enlarging or Confirming the Credit of that History which is much cryed down by the Roman Catholicks as certainly they have good Reason to be offended with that Author who with so much Truth and Impartiality has discovered the Artifices of that Assembly for the keeping up the Grandeur of the Court of Rome and the Suppression and Baffling that Reformation which the most Learned of the Church of Rome then so much desired and panted after The Second Session was held the Twenty sixth of February The Prohibition of Books taken into consideration in which a Decree pass'd against Reading Books suspected of Heresie and a safe Conduct and an Invitation was given to all that would come to the Council Seventeen Bishops were by Name appointed to bring in a Catalogue of such Books as were intended or thought fit to be Prohibited Polano observes that they carried this so high as to deprive Men of that Knowledge which was necessary to defend them from the Vsurpations of the Court of Rome by which means its Authority was maintained and made Great For the Books were Prohibited and Condemned in which the Authority of Princes and Temporal Magistrates is defended from the Vsurpations of the Clergy and of Councils and Bishops from the Vsurpations of the Court of Rome in which their Hypocrisies or Tyrannies are manifested by which the People under pretence of Religion are deceived In summ a better Mystery was never found out than to use Religion to make Men insensible However this may help to keep those in their Church which they now have it doth certainly by Experience render them very Contemptible to all others and unable to defend their Religion which is especially true of their Laity The Fourth of March the business of the Safe Conduct was dispatched in a Congregation A debate whether Episcopacy and Residence are of Divine Right and a Debate was raised and pursued with great Heat by the Spanish Bishops That Episcopacy was instituted by God without any Medium and that Residence and their Pastoral Deligence in feeding their Flock was of Divine Right which they desired might be Confirmed by the Decree of the Council But because this tended to the Establishing the Authority of the Bishops and the Abating that of the Pope his Holiness was much concern'd at it and having consulted the Cardinals about it they by common consent Delayed and by ambiguous Answers deluded the Fathers at Trent and at last totally baffled them in this Point The Second Session was appointed to be the Twelfth of April which was then prorogued to the Fourth of June and from thence to the Fifteenth of the same Month. In the mean time the King of France sent Lewis de Sanct Gelais Sieur de Lanssac The French Ambassadors Arrival Arnold de Ferrier Presiders of Paris and Guy du Faur Sieur de Pibrac his Ambassadors to the Council who arrived at Trent the Nineteenth of May. Lanssac soon after wrote a Letter to give an Account of their being come to the French Resident at Rome in which he said he thought they ought in the first Place to take care that an Event contrary to their Expectation might not attend the Council that the Pope should Order his Legates to shew great patience to those who spake proceed slowly in all things attend the Arrival of those Bishops who were coming and allow a Liberty without condition to all that were to Vote or Speak and not fall under the old Reproach of having the Holy Ghost sent them from Rome in a Portmanteau and lastly that they should take care that what was Decreed at Trent to the Glory of God should not be malignantly Interpreted and Traduced or it may be Corrupted at Rome by a Company of Idle Men He desired therefore he would endeavour to obtain these things of the Pope as he did but the Pope took this Liberty very ill and desired That no Prejudice might be done to his Authority by the French Bishops Adding That he reserved the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Discipline and of the Court of Rome to himself and that he might with greater Convenience attend this and the Transactions at Trent he intended to go to Bononia The pretence of this Journey was the Crowning of the Emperor in that City who was said to be coming thither for that purpose But the reality was
may consult the Salvation of Souls and the repose of Christendom and not that he may deprive Princes of their Kingdoms and dispose of their possessions at his pleasure which the former Popes have never been able to do in Germany and other places without bringing great reproach and dishonour on the Church and disturbances upon the World. That therefore the King desired with the greatest humility that he could or ought that the Sentence against the Q. of Navarr should be revok'd and all the Pope's Ministers should be inhibited from proceeding in this cause by a publick Act and if this were not done the King should be forced against his will to make use of the same remedies his Ancestors had imployed in the like cases according to the Laws and Rights of his Kingdom But before all things he protested he should do this unwillingly and therefore they only should bear the blame who by their rashness had forced him to use the power God had given him in so just a cause and to implore the assistance of his friends against them There was at the same time distinct Memorials and larger Instructions sent to the French Ambassador for the Defence of the Bishops The Bishops defended by the King also and D'Oysel who was an active Minister prevail'd upon the Pope to have the Proceedings against the Bishops stopt and the Sentence against the Queen of Navarr revok'd and abolished So that at this day it is not to be found amongst the Constitutions of Pope Pius the Fourth The 18th of May there having been no consideration had of the XXXIII Articles put into the Council the 4th of January The Queen complains of the Proceedings of the Council the Queen wrote to Lanssac her Ambassador complaining very bitterly of the delays and shifts which had been made in this business and said that the hope good men had hitherto had of the success of this Council and the opinion of their sincerity who met in it would both vanish without any fruit and their dissimulation and connivance would more and more inflame the wrath of God against us who had now made it manifest unto all men that the affairs of the Church needed a Reformation and a severe correction and to that purpose had invited and brought together from all parts of the Earth so many men famous for their Piety and Learning to this Council and if after all this he shall see us still stubbornly resist his will he will be necessitated to punish those men who have hindred so good a work and so necessary to the peace of the Church That therefore the King had wrote to the Cardinal of Lorrain to assemble a Congregation of the French Clergy and after a mature deliberation had amongst themselves to demand earnestly of the Fathers of the Council that these things might be considered and determin'd as soon as was possible But the Cardinal was by this time won over to the Pope's side The Pope gained the Cardinal of Lorrain to his side and was willing to sacrifice the safety of France and the King's Will to the Interest of the former In order to this he delayed the Execution of his Orders from day to day and at last that he might totally disappoint them asked leave of the King to go to Rome believing the Kings Ambassadors would do nothing in his absence And not long after Lanssac obtained leave to return into France Who went to Rome The Cardinal of Lorrain went from Trent towards Rome the 18th of September and with him five of the French Bishops But the other French Ambassadors did nevertheless insist stoutly to have the Articles considered by the Council who that they might elude this pursuit made some Decrees which had some respect to those things the French had desired but which aimed at the granting a Liberty and Immunity to the Clergy against all the Laws Privileges Liberties and Jurisdictions and Lawful Authorities of all Kingdoms States and Princes which being seen by La Ferriere and Du Faur the King's Ambassadors at Trent they by their Master's Order opposed the said Decrees The 27th of September the King by a Letter having commanded his Ambassadors to insist upon their first Demands and to assure the Council that as none of the Christian Princes should exceed him in the fervor of true Piety and a desire to promote the Affairs of the Council so if they still went on to cure the desperate wounds of the Church with a light hand or rather to plaster them over and conceal than cure them whilest they omitted the proper and most necessary remedies and instead of considering the Reformation of the Church turn'd the edge of their Authority against the Power of Princes and the Decrees of Councils he would not have the Presence of his Ambassadors add Authority to such unjust Decrees to the great prejudice of his Royal Dignity and to the Damage of the Liberties of his Kingdom He said also that he had been informed that the Council had entertain'd a design to declare the Marriage of Anthony de Bourbon King of Navarr and Joan his Queen unlawful and to declare Henry his Son a Bastard and he commanded them not to be present at any such Act. Lastly he commanded them to repeat their former demands and if the Fathers of the Council would not grant them then to leave Trent and go to Venice and stay there till they had further Orders from him He told them also that his principal desire was by a serious Reformation of Church-affairs and manners the corruptions in which had caused so many to make defection from the Church of Rome by the Authority of a General Council to unite the divided minds of men in the matters of Religion That his Ambassadors and Proctors had often treated with the Pope and the Fathers of the Council about this and to that end had exhibited the said XXXIV Articles to which no satisfactory return had been made but on the contrary they having lightly touched the business of Reformation had exercised an Authority which belonged not to them against the Rights The Council has no Authority over Princes Liberties and Power of Soveraign Princes That they neither could nor ought to inquire into the Civil Administration which was not subject to their Court nor to derogate from those Constitutions and Customs which had been long enjoyed by Princes nor to Anathematize Kings all which things tended to Sedition and the interruption of the publick Peace That he would not suffer that Authority which he had received from his Ancestors to be weakned by their unjust censures Yea he commanded them to tell the Fathers That if they presumed any more to undermine the Authority of Kings and the Prerogatives of their Betters that they should then also protest against their proceeding and leave Trent Advising the Bishops and Divines of France who were in the Council to promote the Reformation of Religion as much as was
possible for the good of his divided Kingdom and to that end to stay still at Trent But then the King did trust to their wisdom and conscience that they would not approve of by their presence or consent to any thing which was prejudicial to the Royal Authority Prerogative or Dignity of the King or Kingdom of France But however the Council still persisting in their former Methods La Ferriere came into the Council and made a sharp Oration against the Pope and the Council Polano * Pag. 721. in his History of the Council of Trent has the sum of this Oration and Thuanus saith it was pronounced the 22d of September But however I will not trouble the Reader with it here because of its great length this Oration pleased none of the Fathers the French themselves not excepted because he set Princes as the Ministers of God above the Anathema's of the Clergy and made both their persons and revenues subject to the Laws and Authority of Kings telling them too plainly of their great prevarications obstinacy and unwillingness to reform or be reformed But however all the Fathers could do was to bring the Faith of the Ambassadors in question which they soon discuss'd by producing their Instructions This failing they cavell'd at the parts of the Oration and endeavoured to pervert the sense and meaning of it so that Ferriere was forced to publish an Apology for it And soon after this they mended the matter by a sharper Oration in which amongst other things they told the Council plainly The Ambassadors of France put a severet Protestation into the Council That Hadrian the Sixth was in the right when he told the world That what care soever was taken of the lower members of the Church that body could not be restored to its health if the Head also the Pope were not reformed Towards the end they said They protested only against Pius the Fourth They Venerated the Apostolick See the great Pontiff the Holy Church of Rome for the increase of whose Dignity their Ancestors had so often shed their blood and of late had fought in France but it was against the Soveraignty of Pius the Fourth that they protested all whose Decrees and Sentences they refused and despised and seeing there was nothing done at Trent but all was dispatched at Rome and what was here published was rather the Dictates of Pius the Fourth than the Decrees of a General Council they denounced and testified That whatever was decreed in that Convention or should hereafter be decreed or published they being only the Decrees moved by Pius the Fourth they should not be approved by the Most Christian King nor the French nor be taken for the Acts of a General Council And then commanded all their Archbishops Bishops Abbots and Divines to return into France till God should restore to the Catholick Church the ancient form and liberty belonging of right to General Councils and to the Most Christian King his just Rights Thuanus saith he can hardly believe this Oration was made tho' he finds it Printed in the Commentaries of Jacques de Bourdin Secretary of State. But however it shews the sense great men had of the Council of Trent at that time when it was best understood A little before this time the Emperor being about leaving Inspruck The Emperor opposeth the intended Proceedings of the Council against Queen Elizabeth discovered that they consulted at Rome and Trent about proceeding against Queen Elizabeth of England and he wrote to the Pope and the Legates that if the Council would not yield that fruit which was desired that they might see an Union of Catholicks to reform the Church yet at least they should not give occasion to Hereticks to unite themselves more which they would do in case they proceeded against the Queen of England For undoubtedly they would then make a General League against the Catholicks which would be the cause of great Inconveniences We may see by this how hardly this Holy Council was kept from giving the world a Cast of its office in deposing Princes and disposing of their Dominions and absolving their Subjects from their Allegiance tho' we are now told this is none of the Doctrines of that Church but however it is undoubtedly her practice This Admonition was so effectual that the Pope desisted at Rome and revoked the Commission given to that purpose to the Legates at Trent When the French Ambassadors had put these two Rubs in the way of the Council The French Ambassadors leave Trent and go to Venice they retired as the King their Master had before commanded them to Venice and gave an account of what they had done to the Cardinal of Lorrain at Rome and to the King of France this last approved it but the former having made his private Market with the Pope who extremely flattered this proud turbulent vain-glorious Prelate was very much displeased with what the French Ambassadors had done in his absence at Trent But when he came there and found the Ambassadors were supported by the King and that there was no fetching them back from Venice till the things proposed by the Council were revoked he perswaded the Legates to compound the difference and the Infallible Council laid by these Decrees which displeased the Crown of France and passed only a general Decree against the Violaters of the Ecclesiastical privileges and Immunities in the Twenty fifth Session This was the last Session of this Council The last Seffion of the Council of Trent and was held the fifth and sixth of December In it was determin'd the points concerning Purgatory the Invocation of Saints the Worship of Images and Reliques the Prohibition of Duels and all that pertain'd to the Reformation of the Manners of the Clergy All that had been done under Paul the Third Julius the Third and two Years before this in this Convention were then also ratified and confirmed And the Pope was desired to approve the same and so the Council was dismissed with Acclamations The Pope made a grave Oration in a Conclave of the Cardinals and giving God unfeigned thanks that the Council was ended he commended the Emperor the Apostolick Legates and the Bishops and said Tho' he was tree from the obligation of all Laws yet he would cause these to be exactly and inviolably preserved and if any thing was omitted he would supply it The Protestant Ministers of Germany at the same time put out a Protestation against this Council subscribed by many of them Thus ended the Council of Trent The censure of the Council which was desired and procured by Godly men to reunite the Church which began to be divided but hath so established the Schism and made the parties so obstinate that the discords are become irreconcileable And being intended by Princes for the reformation of the Ecclesiastical Discipline hath caused the greatest corruption and deformation that ever was since Christianity began The Bishops hoped to