for a kyng to graunt the people their willes by doing whereof sayde they he shoulde receyue lawe of them to whome he ought to gyue lawe and subiecte him selfe to them that ought to be subiecte to him but rather that he ought to make them knowe hym for their Prince and soueraigne Lorde whose office was to commaunde and theirs absolutely to obey Roboam folowing this opinion woulde needs lay great taxes and impositions on his people by reason whereof the most part of them that is to say tenne partes of twelue rebelled against him and raysed for their Kyng one Ieroboam Wherevpon the sayd Roboam prepared an armie of 80000. men for the repressing of those rebelles wherein he lost both his labour and time for Ieroboam continued King in peace And from that time forth that kingdome remained deuided in two King Lewes the eleuenth as fine subtil a prince as euer was in Fraunce at his comming to the crowne gouerned him selfe very yll in displacing and hindering of many good and ancient seruitours that had don great seruice to Charles the seuenth his father in the recouering of his realme the most part whereof the Englishmen long time enioyed Wherewith the nobles being discontented raysed against their sayde king a ciuill warre which they called the commoÌ„ welth To them many townes and commonalties also adioyned them selues by reason of the great impostes that the king put vpon them But the wise king knowing his faulte sought all the meanes possible for the appeasing of that warre therein folowing the aduice and councell of his good friend Fraunces Sforze the Duke of Millaine which councelled him for the obtaining of peace to deny nothing of their demaundes And in deede by graunting their requests he appeased those ciuil warres and was al his life after serued of those noblemen gentlemen that were against him in the same towards whom he neuer reserued so much as any desire of reueÌ„gement It may be sayd that what the king did herein was done vpon policie But howe so euer it was done the Frenchmen till these dayes were neuer so Italionated as to beare malice long in their heartes And this wise king woulde neuer hazarde his common wealth by giuing of battell vnto his people saying that he would not commit his estate which was so good and so great as the king of a royall Realme to the perill of so vncertaine a thing as a battell And after the peace made hee frankely confessed that hee sawe him selfe in great perill of loosing his kingdome and had determined in his mynd to haue saued him selfe at Millaine or else amongst the Switzers if Paris had not helde with him but bene wonne and possessed by his aduersaries Edwarde the seconde of that name King of Englande for the pleasure of Hugh Spencer his chiefe mynion made warre against his subiectes and put to death many of his Princes and nobles without anye order of iustice in so muche as Queene Isabell his wife with his sonne and hirs to shunne his furie and crueltie were fayne to flee into Fraunce who after returned agayne into Englande with hyr sayde sonne and a small force which she had gotten by the meanes of a meane Gentleman called syr Iohn of Henawd brother to the Earle of Henawd And being aryued in Englande founde all the people readie at hir commaundement as those that had taken a great displeasure agaynst the King by reason of his crueltie So as she besieged hir sayde husbande tooke him prysoner and bestowed him in the Tower of London Then caused she all the estates of the realme to be assembled by whome Kyng Edward the seconde for his crueltie committed agaynst his nobilitie was founde and pronounced vnworthy to be Kyng any longer and so was depriued of his dignitie And whyle he was yet aliue and prysoner in the sayde Tower of London the sayde estates crowned his sonne Edwarde the thyrde their Kyng of whome I haue spoken afore and shewed that he did the like to his mother Tarquine the proud a King of the Romanes was by his people driueÌ„ out of Rome as well for his gouerning ouer proudly as for suffering his sonne to violate a woman of honour named Lucrecia and being thence banished he sent his embassadours thither for the procuring of his peace and restablishement of his estate many gaue their consents to restore him and had he proceeded in gentle and tractable maner there had bene great likelyhoode of the recouerie of his kingdome But being vnable to maister his own pride he gathered together as many as he coulde get to take his part and with Porsena kyng of the Hetrurians whome he raysed vp to ayde him made warre againste the Romanes This war procured him such hatred of the Romanes which hadde bene his subiectes as they would neuer after returne vnder his obeysance in so much as both he and all his posteritie were depriued from off the kingdome and the estate of that Monarchie changed into a publike state And from that time forth the name of King was deadly hated and abhorred among the Romanes And no maruell though the name of King were so sore hated of the Romanes for one mans faulte that euen when the same state returned againe to a Monarchie vnder Iulius Caesar neither he nor his successours wold be called kings but Emperours For it hath happened so to dyuers other names The name of Tyrant which at this day soundeth so yll and is of euerie man hated was amongst our Elders an honourable name signified none other thing but lord insomuch that Virgil whose onely drift in his Aeneiadâ—s was to aduaunce the godlynesse vertue of his Aeneas calleth him Tyrant Likewise the name of Iudas which signifieth a Confessour was in times past reputed honourable and yet by reason of one mans faulte it is nowe taken for a traytour And before the Emperour Neroes time this name Neron which in the olde Sabin tong signifieth noble was esteemed as a glorious name especially after the days of Claudius Nero which ouercame Asdrubal Hannibals brother his 50000. men but for the offences of one only man the same is now taken for a tyrant So much may the wickednesse of one man do to the vtter defacing of a faire honorable name for euer God grauÌ„t that the vices of some of vs frenchmeÌ„ do not bespot the name of FreÌ„chman which hath heretofore bin esteemed and honored throughout al the world which thing I am sore afeard of if we mend not the soner for alreadie in Germanie they cal al frenchmen indifferently Schelmes Continuing our examples I will recite you one which is the more to be noted for that it was done by the way of iustice After the death of the great Herode king of Iudea Samaria Galile and Idumea there arose a strife and contention betweene Archelaus and Herodes Antipas his sonnes Archelaus would needs make wars against his subiectes vpon a verie slyght occasion in
suche wise as for the giuing of one blowe he caused three thousand persons to be slaine by his horsemen whome he made to trauerse and runne through the whole assembly of his people Wherevpon his brother Antipas sped him strayght vnto Rome where before Augustus Caesar he accused Archelaus for at that time welneere all the Kings of the world were subiect to the Romane Empire The Iewes also sente from Iudea to Rome fiftie Ambassadours to accuse hym before Augustus and to shewe how vnworthy he was to raigne that had vpon his people committed suche crueltie and that also there was no better curtesie to be loked for at his handes that woulde so soone after the death of his father and immediatly vpō hys entrie commit actes so cruell and vnnaturall In consideration wherof they besought Augustus to gyue them rather Antipas for their king Augustus Caesar tooke knowlege of this matter neuerthelesse for that hee bare some fauour and friendship to Archelaus be confirmed his succession in Iudea Samaria Idumea and assigned Galile to Antipas But therewith hee exhorted Archelaus to the gouerning of him selfe thencefoorth more mildly and gently towards his subiects Archelaus returning into his coūtrey with so good speede at Augustus hande behaued him selfe there more cruelly than before Wherevpon hee was agayne accused at Rome and there condemned by the Senate to whome Augustus had referred the examination of the matter in somuche that all his goodes were confiscate to the Emperour by sentence of the Senate and hee him selfe was banished to Vienna in Dauphine there to ende hys dayes as he miserably did After this iudgement Iudea Samaria and Idumea were ruled by suche gouernours as the Emperour did establishe as by Coponius and Annius Rufus in the raigne of Augustus Caesar and by Valerius Gratus and Pontius Pilate that cruell man whiche iudged our Sauiour to death during the dayes of Tiberius The conclusion is that Archelaus for his warring and ouerrigorous dealing with hys subiectes miserably ended his dayes and was the causer of the alteration of the state of hys countrie Vpon this matter of alteration of states I say by the way that it hath often fallen out and still dothe that when Monarchies haue bin excessiuely corrupted with vice they haue bin changed into common weales and likewise when the common weales haue once bin corrupted they also haue bin changed into Monarchies and kingdomes The example heereof was seene in the nation of the Iewes at whose beginning euen from the tyme of Moyses and Iosua that people was gouerned in the fourme of a Monarchie for those two were as chiefe gouernours one after another Afterwarde in the time of the Iudges was the same state chaunged to the fourme of a common weale for the people were gouerned by a chosen number of auncients except in time of warre when God alwayes raysed vp to them a Captayne which they called their iudge But againe in the dayes of Samuell it altered from a common wealth to a Monarchie at whiche time Saul was chosen king After that in the time of the Machabees it was changed from a Monarchie to a popular state howbeit that to say the truth it was a confused state whiche had no manner of forme of good gouernement and yet afterwarde it returned to the manner of a Monarchie in the raign of Herode the great and was lastly put into the forme of a prouince vnder the Romane Empire Likewise the estate of the Romanes was gouerned as a Monarchie frō the raigne of Romulus till the time of Tarquine the proud whose pride and euill gouernemente was the cause that the same state was changed into the forme of a common wealth In that state the Romanes continued vnto the dayes of Iulius Caesar at which time it was so corrupted with riot auarice ambition whereof the ciuil warres betweene Scilla and Marius and betweene Caesar and Pompei may be a witnesse that it could not but alter and come agayne to a Monarchie Since the which time that great Romane Monarchie hathe bene piteously wasted by the euill gouernmentes of many Emperours And of the wast of the same haue bin erected many common wealthes and great kingdomes as Fraunce Spayne Englande and other greater and smaller Monarchies To bee shorte these chaunges haue bene seene in the state of the Romane Empire in lesse than .1500 yeare France before the time of Iulius Caesar stood in the state of small common wealthes which gouerned themselues apart the one by the other by cōfederations that they had together to reuēge them vpon strangers as the Cantons do at this day But ambition made them bandie and make warre eache agaynste other to proue whiche shoulde be the greatest Of whome when they of Autun had gotten the vpper hand as the stronger those of Sequanois their neighbours feeling them selues the weaker called the Almaines to their succors against them of Autun The Almaines comming downe vnder the conduct of Arionistus serued them and occupied a good part of the countrie Sequanois for their wages They of Autun on the other syde demanded succor of the Romanes wherevppon Caesar came into France and vnder the colour to succour them of Autun and to chace Arionistus from the countrie that he occupied he wonne to himselfe the whole countrie of France So as it may truely be sayd that that change of the Frenche state happened through the diuision that then was in Frāce without the which deuision Caesar had neuer vanquished them what Caesar soeuer he had bin And truely we see by the histories that alwayes till then the Frenchmen had well canuassed the Romanes yea and taken and burned Rome In somuch that as sayth Salust the Romanes so feared them that alwayes when they hearde the Frenche to be in armes yong and old priestes and lay-men none excepted or excused amongst thē were commaunded to arme them Yea they would openly confesse that against all other nations they warred for the gaining of honor and glory but ageinst the French men for the preseruation of their liues But Caesar finding them in deuision added oyle to the flame of their furie partly by whiche policie and partly by his valiancie he set vppon them and ouercame them changed their state from sundry common wealthes to one only Monarchie Yea thus muche more hee did that as with the Romane power he vāquished the Frenchmen so with the French mens money he obteyned the Romane Empire another very good policie for with the money that he gate in Fraunce he corrupted the chiefe of Rome through the fauour of whome he was chosen Dictatour perpetual which is as much to say as Monarch of the Romanes So was the Realme of France by Caesar vnited to the Romane Empire from the whiche they often after soughte to cutte them selues off as in the ende they did In the tyme of the Emperour Tiberius one Iulius Sacrouir of Autun made parte of Fraunce to reuolt raysing certayne small
number about him and therin surely he did well Neuerthelesse the writers of histories find fault with him in this that he gaue too muche authoritie to his mother Mámea which otherwise had bin a good woman but that shee was not only greedy in gathering of goods from the poore people but also a couetous niggarde towards such as serued the Emperour hir sonne beside the which she was very ambitious aspiring altogether to the gouernement of the affayres euer sorie to see hir sonne so curteous gentle in his gouernemente for where hee was surnamed Seuerus hee tooke that aswell of his predecessor Septimius Seuerus as of his seuere obseruing of warlike discipline but otherwise he was the most affablest and geÌ„tlest prince in the world Neuerthelesse by his yeelding so much authoritie to his mother Mámea he so gate the euill will of hys gentlemen and men of warre as by way of a conspiracie they slew them both togyther Truely it was a spectacle very piteous to see this gentle yong Prince when the conspiratours entred the chamber to kill him runne and cast him selfe betweene the armes of his mother lamentably crying Ah mother mother you are heereof the cause So were they wretchedly flayne the one in the others armes to the greate damage of the Empire for the losse of so good and gentle a prince who in al other things gouerned him selfe aswell as might be possible through the good and wise aduises of such excellent personages as were of his priuie counsell Amongst whome the chiefe was doctor Vlpian a maÌ„ singularly learned in the ciuil law and very well practised in matters of the state and issued of the house and stocke of Alexander whome hee serued as his chanceler This maÌ„ was not an old doterd of a straÌ„ge nation ignorant of the lawes manners and customes of the countrie draweÌ„ out of Vulcans shop to deale with sealing he was one made of another manner of metall But in summe as I sayd the fault of this good Emperour Alexander in giuing his mother too much authoritie cost both him and hir theyr liues And truely that fault of his was not small For Alexander ought to haue considered what hee had learned of Heliogabalus his cosin and predecessor which Heliogabalus gouerning by his mother Semiamira without whose aduise nothing passed touching the common wealth was incontineÌ„tlye despised of all the worlde and after he had raigned not passing three yeeres was by certaine rebels slayne very yong and had his body togither with his sayde mothers drawen through the fylth of the riuer Tiber. And therevpon it was decreed by the Senate that neuer woman should enter into the counsel The gentle King Edward of England the thirde of that name gouerned himselfe farre otherwise He was sonne to Edward the seconde a cruell king that was depriued of his kingdome by his subiects and to the Lady Isabell daughter of Philip the fayre king of France This Lady Isabell Queene of England was the cause that hir sonne was crowned King by the estatâ—… of the Realme and therefore thought he should doe nothing but by hir councell as in very deede he dyd not for a tyme but gaue to hir the chiefe authoritie touching the gouernement of his realme But it happened that this good Queene mother to reuenge hir selfe of certayne of the nobilitie at hir pleasure caused hir sonne to committe certaine cruelties for the whyche hee was misliked and muche blamed of his subiectes Whiche when thys gentle King Edwarde perceiued iudging it best rather to loose the fauour of his mother than of his people he neyther woulde fall into like perill as did Nero and Alexander Seuerus nor yet put his mother to death as Nero did but made hir to be bestowed in a strong howebeit a very faire and pleasant castell of large circuite wherein there were many goodly courtes gardens and walkes inclosed with walles and appoynted hir a good companie of Ladies and gentlewomen with men of worship and honour to serue hir after hir state And bycause she was of the house of France and Queene mother of Englande he assigned hir a sufficient reuenue for the maintenance of hir estate And to honour hir as his mother hee went to visite hir twice or thrice a yeere But neyther woulde he euer suffer hir to passe out of the precinct of the castell nor to meddle any more with the gouernment of the realme And he was muche esteemed as well of strangers as of his subiects for his valiant and manly heart in that he would not submit himselfe vnder the rule of a woman But let vs returne againe to our former matter touching such Princes as haue vndone them selues by making warre against their subiectes The Emperour Vitellius ouerthrewe and made a great slaughter of the Romanes in his battell had against Otho his souldiers seeing so many deade bodyes in the fielde were therefore verie sorowfull but especially for that there was of them few or none that founde not amongst those deade bodies some of their parents friends for they were all Romanes whose death ministred to them muche cause of griefe vpon the which occasion they generally detested those ciuill warres had betweene Vitellius and Otho Vitellius one day walking through the field wher the dead bodies of that ouerthrow lay and seeing some stop their noses did as it were in mockage thereof and as one glad of the slaughter vtter this detestable saying the body of a slaine enimie hath a good sent but the body of a slain citizeÌ„ hath yet a better But not long after that tyrant which found so muche sweetnesse in the sauour of his slaine citizens was him selfe slaine as shamefully as he possibly might be For being taken and bound by suche as conspired against him he was brought into the market place with a halter about his necke all naked from the waste vpward his apparell all to torne and his handes fastned behinde him his chin also being vnderset with a bodkin to make him hold vp his head With which furniture hee was in derision harryed through the streetes not without dirt and filth flung in his face till he came to the coÌ„moÌ„ gibet where he was slaine and cut in peeces lastly cast into Tyber That was the rewarde that he reaped of his pleasure taken in the smel of the dead bodies of his citizens The Emperour Gallien made war against the inhabitants of Bizance his subiectes Bizance was then a goodly florishing citie which was after named Constantinople by Constantine the great This Gallien hauing gotten the possession of this goodly citie the townsmeÌ„ wherof had yelded themselues to his deuotion caused to be slain murthred contrary to his word al the inhabitantes of the same yong and olde without mercie none other escaping than such as he coulde not come by And he vsed like crueltie against many other good towns wherin his maner was to leaue no male vnkilled so bestly a
assemblies secretely in the Townes and exhorting the people no longer to suffer neyther the continuaunce of the tributes wherewith the Emperour oppressed them nor the pride and crueltie wherewith the Magistrates sente thyther from Rome ouerburdened them Also they reuolted vnder the Emperour Nero as well for his greate crueltie as for his ouercharging them wyth greate paymentes of money by mee before spoken of Lykewise vnder the Emperour Gallien for hys greate riot and whoredome as before I haue touched For the Frenchmen sayeth Pollio were in those dayes of suche disposition as they coulde not abide a vicious Prince And agayne after they reuolted from the Emperoures Probus Dioclesian and others tyll they hadde quite cut off them selues agayne from the Empyre and politiquely broughte their countrie into a self settled Monarchie the which the Lord long mayntayne Who soeuer woulde take vppon him the discouering of the infinite number of examples whiche touche the alterations that haue happened in publique estates from Monarchies into common weales and from common weales into Monarchies when corruption hadde once caughte them shoulde neuer make an ende but to mee it suffiseth to haue touched these fewe to the ende that youre Maiestie by youre wisedome myghte prouide that the corruptions whiche are nowe crept into France and are dayly like to creepe further bring not with them a change to the state which God forbid For truely there is nothing that more foresheweth the alteration of an estate than when corruption is seene to spread ouer farre into it I knowe well that men can not be without faultes neyther can Monarchies nor common wealthes bee so gouerned as there may not in the gouernement be found matter of reproofe but when al things in the fame are to be seene turned the vpside downe when vice is made vertue and vertue made vice when good men are hated and euill men aduanced in summe whē corruption hath recouered the highest degree that it may reache to then may it well bee sayd according as men do see continually that an exchange of state approcheth Wherwithall is to be noted that by the ordinarie course of worldly things no one state can endure for euer And syr seeing that your kingdome hath endured this twelue hundreth yeeres and more you ought so muche the rather to feare least in the state thereof some alteration shoulde happen And if in Iulius Caesars time the strangers drawen into Fraunce coulde fynde the way to winne the same it is not to bee doubted but if it may lye in their power they will nowe doe the lyke The Frenchmen when they sawe the euill dealing of Caesar repented their calling him into Fraunce but then it was too late Let vs therefore in tyme bee warned by the harmes of our auncestours so to prouide for our safeties as we be not ouertaken as were the Troyans whiche became wise but not til after such time as they were vtterly ouerthrowen The seconde point HItherto I haue I thinke sufficientlye spoken of the firste poynte of my treatie that is to saye that a Prince shall not fynde profitable his making of warres agaynste his subiects It foloweth now that I come to say somewhat of the seconde whiche entreateth of those miseries that ciuill warres do engender and the profit that a good peace might bryng to youre Crowne and poore Subiects Of the calamities that from ciuil warres do proceede we neede not to make any long discourse eache seeing and feeling the same in a thousand sortes of afflictions touchyng their persons losse of goodes and deathe of parents and friends and each knoweth that hath any iudgemente the mischiefes thereof to be such as wil if they continue bring the realme to vtter destruction For ther is none that seeth what we see and knoweth what wee knowe but may thinke that the ciuill warres enduring it will happē vnto France as it happened to the two fighting Frogges whiche when they had fought till they were weery were by the Kyte that came to parte them in eache foote one carried away And it is not to bee doubted but the straungers whiche to that warre encouraged vs are as gladde to see vs togither by the eares as was the Kyte soaring ouer the Frogges to see them fyght whose fyghting he meant to make a furderaunce to his pray as they hope ours shall one daye bee to theirs when wee shall bee vnable any longer to mayntayne warres And therefore it is that some on the one syde and some on the other to the proceeding on both sydes gyue so great encouragemente Ah Syr sayth one will you lose the glorious title of most Christian King heeretofore gotten by youre auncestours through their maineteyning of the Romane Churche Will you sir cryeth another suffer your Subiectes to prescribe lawes vnto you and to bring into youre Realme a newe Religion maugre youre will will not you perfourme the agreemēt of the holy league whiche is to abolishe whatsoeuer in fayth is contrary to the holy Church of Rome The Frenchmen haue aforetime had this honor to haue often passed the mountaynes and to haue made beyonde the seas many iourneyes for the defence of the catholique religion holy sea of Rome and must they now lose that glory Philip August king of France ouerthrew the Albegeois his subiects made of thē a great slauter for that they would haue intruded into their countrey a new kinde of Religion which by the executiō was put away abolished Why folow you not then the exāple of the good king your predecessour These such other proper deuises put forth by the Spanyards Popes Pencionaries to encourage you to the setting on fire the foure corners yea and middle parte of your Realme But in the meane season none dothe saye vnto you Sir you spyll and vtterly spoyle youre Realme in making warre against your subiects whych kind of warre no Prince did euer finde profytable There is none that sayth vnto you Sir you bring your selfe in hatred of youre neighbours the Almaines Englishmen Scots and Flemings from whom in time of neede more amitie might be drawen than may eyther from the Italians or Spaniardes None dare to you say Sir this cause of religion is not yet so broughte out of doubte that the gospellers be vanquished in the error of their fayth for they presented themselues at Poissi in the time of your late brother to mainteine the poyntes of their Religion but my maisters the Prelates were as then at no leysure to confute them so that whether in fayth they erre or not is as yet vndetermined And therefore you shoulde not be so greatly moued as to execute them before they were condemned And touchyng the councell of Trent they say it is as it were a determined sentence giuen of a selfwil and that they ought neuerthelesse to be hearde at the least in purging themselues of stubborne dealing as in deede they may well doe Besides this there are that beate downe the sayd
so to be deputed to entreate of the said matters And to those twelue by your sayde Maiestie to be chosen it shal be requisitâ—e that ye giue a strong and large commission for the hearing of all plaintes and griefes and the appeasing ending of the saiâ—e together with the deciding of all suche articles as shall to them by the Gospellers be preferred in suche manner as may be moste furthering to the sayd peace and the common wealâ— And that what so euer shall be so determined and agreed vpoÌ„ may be of like weight force and authority as if your self sir in proper person had decided and accorded it Which good and large commission being gyuen to those deputies it were requisite that a place of no side to be suspected to them were assigned to execute that coÌ„mission in As this good town of Frankford myght it please you to permit their comming thither is free from all suspition bycause bothe the Relygions Catholike and Euangelike are therin exercised yea the verie Iewes haue heere their place of safetie if not here at Ausburge where both Religions are lykewise vsed or at Strasbrough where both parties shal be welcome or else in some other good town wherâ— into may be safe sure accesse as wel for the commissioners as for all suche other as shall haue with them to doe The sayd commissioners also must by your fayde Maiestie be enioyned vpoÌ„ paine for euer to be banished the realme of Fraunce not to depart thence till suche time as they haue fully concluded vpon so much as shal be necessarie to the perfiting of a good perpetuall peace No more than may the Cardinall from the Conclaue when they those a Pope Nor the electors of the Empire when they elect an Emperour And it behoueth that it be further ordayned that suche of the same commissioners as discent from the rest be bound to yelde forth in writing the occasion or reason of their suche dissenting to the ende that if the treatie therethrough become ineffectuall as well strangers as those of the french nation may iudge and knowe in whome the default doth rest that the peace was not concluded and that then the reasons of both parties be to the world put foorth and published whereby it may be seene who is in the right or wrong by whiche meane all the worlde shall in the end come to iudge of both parties so iustly hate the obstinate opinion of them that by the letting of that good peace shall tumble Fraunce afresh into the miseries of warre And if by the grace of God it shall happen all the articles to be resolued concluded and agreed vpon by youre sayd commissioners and the same by both sortes in two coppies whereof they of each religion to haue one to be signed Let it then please your maiestie that vnder the name and authoritie of the same it be put foorth in fourme of a perpetuall Edict without altring any iot thereof and that the same Edict also bee stablished sworne and confirmed by your selfe first in your full priuie counsell then by all the princes and other councellours of the same and after by all the generall and perticular estates by the gouernours of prouinces towns and fortes their Lieuetenauntes by all the Parliamentes places of Presidentes Bayliffes Stewards and their Liefetenauntes with all other your officers and by the Cardinals Bishops Prelates Chapiters and Colledges of your Realme The fourme of which oth also to be that each promise and sweare before God and vpon payne of loasing their honours estates offices and dignities with the encurring of your displeasure as infringers of your peace and vnder the damnation of their soules as muche as in them is to obserue and cause to be obserued without fraude or guile all things contayned in the sayde Edict nothing therein altered by way of moderation declaration or otherwise other than suche declarations and modifications as were made by youre Edict in lyke manner and fourme as was the sayde Edict of peace The recordes of which othes chiefly those of the Lordes of youre priuie counsell the gouernours of prouinces and townes the Parliamentes places of presidentes and prouinciall estates ioyned to the sayd Edict togither with the actes of publication and establishment to be imprinted And that the sayd oth be yerely renued and giueÌ„ to all such as shall hereafter be enstalled in any office royall or take the charge of any other office in the common weale If it might please your Maiestie to think good of this platte layde for the bringing to passe of a perfect peace to be had in Fraunce mine opinion is that the Gospellers woulde well like thereof and thervnto agree though they be full and not without cause of mistrust suspition and dread to be deceyued al things welneere beeing to them suspect And to prooue that this way carieth with it some reason and no whit toucheth the derogation of your soueraigne authoritie experience teacheth it to be a thing almost ordinarie to all Kings and Princes when they are to deale with any matters of importaÌ„ce be it with strangers or others or when they will make any lawes or ordinaunces touchyng iustice or pollicie in theyr kingdoms or countries to commit the doing thereof to commissioners and legates When the late Kyngs of Fraunce youre predecessours haue made any good ordinaunces eyther of pollicie or for the execution of iustice within youre Realme wherein were contayned the formalitie of pleas the order of iudgemeÌ„ts the maner of making contracts and many decisions of rightes taken out of the lawyers hands it is very certaine that they were driuen in the same to vse as commissaries and Legates their chauncellours and other meete persons chosen out of theyr Parliamentes or priuie councels for they them selues neuer studied in the schooles nor proceeded Doctours of the lawes Ciuil nor Canon to the furtheraunce of their knowledges in the making of such ordinances but trusted their good and faithful deputies and authorised what their saide deputies founde good and profitable for the common wealth although suche resolutions proceeded not of their owne deuices neyther did they well vnderstand theÌ„ But when your predecessors would cause to be set downe in writing the customes payable within youre countries they did the same by the seruice of deputies and legates and suche customes as were by the saide deputies and legates assessed and written the Princes by a lawe authorised the perpetual payment therof And when the Romanes liked to haue lawes made to rule rightly their common wealth they appointed ten Legates which made a collection of all the lawes and ordinances that seemed to them profitable or necessary eyther for the vniuersall state or for perticular coÌ„modities Whiche said lawes they placed in twelue tables and had them in as great estimation as if all the people had made decided and established them For seeing they were made by the authoritie and commission of suche as then helde the soueraigntie it