misled But in the end when by these specious pretences they had gather'd strength they who had before concluded that Christ was the only King on Earth and at the same time assum'd to themselves that Christ was theirs inferr'd by good consequence that they were to maintain their King and not only so but to propagate that belief in others for what God wills man must obey And for that reason they entred into a League of Association amongst themselves to deliver their Israel out of Egypt to seize Canaan and to turn the Idolaters out of possession Thus you see by what degrees of Saintship they grew up into Rebellion under their Successive Heads Muncer Phifer Iohn of Leyden and Knipperdolling where what Violences Impieties and Sacriledges they committed those who are not satisfied may read in Sleydan The general Tradition is that after they had been besieg'd in Munster and were forc'd by assault their Ringleaders being punish'd and they dispers'd two Ships-lading of these precious Saints was disembogu'd in Scotland where they set up again and broach'd anew their pernicious Principles If this be true we may easily perceive on what a Noble stock Presbytery was grafted From Scotland they had a blessed passage into England or at least arriving here from other parts they soon came to a considerable increase Calvin to do him right writ to King Edward the Sixth a sharp Letter against these People but our Presbyterians after him have been content to make use of them in the late Civil Wars where they and all the rest of the Sectaries were joyn'd in the Good Old Cause of Rebellion against His Late Majesty though they cou'd not agree about dividing the Spoyls when they had obtain'd the Victory And 't is impossible they ever shou'd for all claiming to the Spirit no Party will suffer another to be uppermost nor indeed will they tolerate each other because the Scriptures interpreted by each to their own purpose is always the best weapon in the strongest hand Observe them all along and Providence is still the prevailing Argument They who happen to be in power will ever urge it against those who are undermost as they who are depress'd will never fail to call it Persecution They are never united but in Adversity for cold gathers together Bodies of contrary Natures and warmth divides them How Presbytery was transplanted into England I have formerly related out of good Authors The Persecution arising in Queen Mary's Reign forc'd many Protestants out of their Native Country into Foreign parts where Calvinism having already taken root as at Francfort Strasburg and Geneva those Exiles grew tainted with that new Discipline and returning in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reign spread the contagion of it both amongst the Clergy and Laity of this Nation Any man who will look into the Tenets of the first Sectaries will find these to be more or less embued with them Here they were supported underhand by Great Men for private interests What trouble they gave that Queen and how she curb'd them is notoriously known to all who are conversant in the Historiâ—s of those times How King Iames was plagu'd with them is known as well to any man who has read the Reverend and Sincere Spotswood And how they were baffled by the Church of England in a Disputation which he allowed them at Hampton-Court even to the Conversion of Dr. Sparks who was one of the two Disputants of their Party and afterwards writ against them any one who pleases may be satisfied The Agreement of their Principles with the fiercest Jesuits is as easie to be demonstrated and has already been done by several hands I will only mention some few of them to show how well prepar'd they came to that solemn Covenant of theirs which they borrow'd first from the Holy League of France and have lately copied out again in their intended Association against his present Majesty Bellarmine as the Author of this History has told you was himself a Preacher for the League in Paris during the Rebellion there in the Reign of King Henry the Fourth Some of his Principles are these following In the Kingdoms of Men the Power of the King is from the People because the People make the King Observing that he says In the Kingdoms of Men there is no doubt but he restrains this Principle to the subordination of the Pope For his Holiness in that Rebellion as you have read was declar'd Protector of the League So that the Pope first Excommunicates which is the Outlawry of the Church and by virtue of this Excommunication the People are left to their own natural liberty and may without farther Process from Rome depose him Accordingly you see it practis'd in the same Instance Pope Sixtus first thunderstruck King Henry the Third and the King of Navarre then the Sorbonne make Decrees that they have successively forfeited the Crown the Parliament verifies these Decrees and the Pope is petition'd to confirm the sence of the Nation that is of the Rebels But I have related this too favourably for Bellarmine for we hear him in another place positively affirming it as matter of Faith If any Christian Prince shall depart from the Catholick Religion and shall withdraw others from it he immediately forfeits all Power and Dignity even before the Pope has pronounc'd Sentence on him and his Subjects in case they have power to do it may and ought to cast out such an Heretick from his Soveraignty over Christians Now consonant to this is Buchanan 's Principle That the People may confer the Government on whom they please And the Maxim of Knox That if Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are releas'd from their Oath of Obedience And Goodman 's That when Magistrates cease to do their Duties God gives the Sword into the Peoples hands evil Princes ought to be depos'd by inferior Magistrates and a private man having an inward Call may kill a Tyrant 'T is the work of a Scavenger to rake together and carry off all these Dunghills they are easie to be found at the Doors of all our Sects and all our Atheistical Commonwealths men And besides 't is a needless labour they are so far from disowning such Positions that they glory in them and wear them like Marks of Honour as an Indian does a Ring in his Nose or a Souldanian a Belt of Garbidge In the mean time I appeal to any impartial man whether men of such Principles can reasonably expect any Favour from the Government in which they live and which Viper-like they wou'd devour What I have remark'd of them is no more than necessary to show how aptly their Principles are suited to their Practices The History it self has sufficiently discover'd to the unbiass'd Reader that both the last Rebellion and this present Conspiracy which is the mystery of Iniquity still working in the three Nations were originally founded on the French League that was their Model according to
of the League was at that time too strong to think of submitting to him even though he had declar'd himself a Catholick and the People not being yet made sensible of the Extremities of War and their sufferings by reason of it were obstinately resolv'd to maintain it against him and consequently he cou'd not then compass what he so ardently desir'd which was to restore the Quiet of his Kingdom and to settle it in peace by embracing the Religion of his Predecessors But somewhat before the beginning of the Conference at Surenne after making a sober Reflection on the present estate of his Affairs he plainly saw that all things at that time concurr'd to oblige him not to defer his Conversion any longer For on the one side he was assur'd of the Leading men amongst the Hâ—gonots who had the power of raising new Disturbances many of whom and such as were men of the greatest Interest made no scruple to acknowledge that in good policy he ought to go to Mass and that the peaceable possession of a Great Kingdom was worth the pains it wou'd cost him in going Add to this that the Heads of the Union were so much weakned and so little united amongst themselves that they were in no condition of making any long resistance to his Arms though they shou'd refuse to acknowledge him And for the common people of the League they were so overburden'd by the War which wasted them that they desir'd nothing so much as Peace On the other side he observ'd the Spaniards us'd all imaginable means and did their utmost to perswade the States to create a Catholique King That there was great danger lest the Third Party which not long before had laid a Plot to have surpris'd him in Mante and carried him away now joyning with the Catholique Leaguers who were against the Spaniards shou'd elect a King on their side which wou'd be to embroyl France in worse confusions And to conclude that even they who were not of that Party and who had always serv'd him with inviolable faith now besought him to defer no longer his conversion and besought him in such a manner that they gave him easily to understand they wou'd forsake him in case he forsook not his false Religion All these Considerations put together by the Grace of God who makes use of second causes put an end to his delays and brought him to resolve on accomplishing what he had so long design'd by making a publick profession of the Catholique Faith Insomuch that when the Sieur Francis D O who of all the Court-Lords spoke to him with the greatest freedom went to press him somewhat bluntly on behalf of the Catholiques of his Party that he wou'd make good his promise to them He with great calmness gave him those three Reasons which I have already set down why he had till that time deferr'd his Conversion and afterwards gave him his positive word that within three months at the farthest when he had seen what the Conference of Surenne would produce he wou'd make an abjuration of Heresie after he had receiv'd the instruction of the Bishops and Doctors which according to the forms of the Church ought to precede so great an action farther ordering him to assure the Archbishop of Bourges of those his intentions before he went to that Conference being then on his departure And on that account it was that the Archbishop after having receiv'd the Answer which he well knew wou'd be sent from Mante where the Court then was spoke as he did at Surenne and believing that he had now brought the business to a conclusion on the seventeenth of May and at the seventh Session gave the Deputies of the League a full assurance of the Kings Conversion His Majesty also on his part having firmly resolv'd on that holy action fail'd not to write a Letter on the sixteenth of the same Month to many Prelates and Doctors both of his own side and of the League in which he invited them to be with him on the fifteenth of Iuly to the end he might receive those good instructions which he expected from them Assuring them in these very words That they shou'd find him most inclinable to be inform'd of all that belongs to a Most Christian King to know having nothing so lively engraven in his heart as the Zeal for Gods Service and the maintenance of his true Church In the mean time the Ministers and the old rigid Huguenots those false Zealots of their Sect fearing this blow wou'd be fatal to their pretended Religion made frequent Assemblies in private to invent some means of diverting him from this pious resolution And there were some of them who had the impudence to tell him publickly of it in their Sermons and to threaten him with a judgment from Heaven if he forsook the Gospel for it has pleas'd them to honour their Errors with that venerable Name This occasion'd him to assemble all the principal Lords of that new Religion together with their Preachers who were at that time in great numbers at the Court and who to the great grief of the Catholiques perpetually besieg'd him and to tell them plainly that he might free himself once for all from that troublesome persecution That after he had in the presence of Almighty God made all necessary reflections on an affair of that importance he had in conclusion resolv'd to return into the Catholique Church from which he ought never to have been separated And when La Faye the Minister had adjur'd him in the name of all his Brethren Not to suffer they are his very words that so great a scandal shou'd come to them If said he I shou'd follow your advice in a little time there wou'd be neither King nor Kingdom left in France I desire to give peace to all my Subjects and quiet to my own Soul and you shall have also from me all the provisions which you can reasonably desire Thus being without comparison the strongest and in much better condition than he had ever been formerly immediately after he had taken the Town of Dreux which the League though it was of great consequence to them yet durst never attempt to relieve he assign'd the place where he wou'd receive the Instruction which ought to precede the act of Abjuration to be at St. Denis on the twenty second of Iuly The Cardinal of Piacenza caus'd a Declaration to be publish'd in which taking upon him as Legat from the Holy See to pronounce that whatsoever shou'd be done in relation to that Conversion was to be accounted void and null he exhorted all Catholiques both of the one and the other Party not to suffer themselves to be deluded in an Affair of that consequence Prohibiting all men and especially the Ecclesiasticks on pain of Excommunication and privation of their Benefices from going to St. Denis and assisting at that Action But notwithstanding all these prohibitions which were thought to be made by the sollicitation of
I Write found all things sufficiently dispos'd to the execution of his enterprise For he found the Catholiques provok'd to his hand by those advantages which newly were granted to the Huguenots the people dissatisfi'd and weary of the Government not able to endure that the wealth of the Nation shou'd be squander'd on the King's Favourites whom they called the Minions the genius of Queen Catharine pleas'd with troubles and even procuring them to render her self necessary to the end that recourse might be had to her for Remedies the Princes of the bloud become suspected and odious to the three orders of the Kingdom either for favouring the Huguenots or for being publiquely declar'd Calvinists thereby renouncing the Catholique faith as the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde had openly done the King faln into the contempt of his Subjects after having lost their love himself on the contrary lov'd and ador'd by the people worship'd by the Parisians follow'd by the Nobility indear'd to the Soldiers having in his Interests all the Princes of his Family powerfull in Offices and Governments the multitude of his Creatures whom his own generosity and that of his Father had acquir'd him the favour of the Pope the assistance of the Spaniard ready at hand to bear him up and above all the seeming Justice of his cause which he industriously made known to all the world to be that of Religion alone whereof in the general opinion he was the Protectour and the Pillar and for the maintenance of which it was believ'd that he had devoted himself against the Huguenots who had enterpriz'd to abolish it in the Kingdom But the last motive which fix'd his resolution was the extreme rancour he had against the King one of whose intimate Confidents he had been formerly and who had now abandon'd him by changing on the sudden the whole manner of his Conduct and giving himself entirely up to his Minions who omitted no occasion of using the Duke unworthily For disdain which is capable of hurrying to the last extremities the greatest Souls and the most sensible in point of Honour made hatred to succeed his first inclinations against him whom already he despis'd and hatred and contempt being joyn'd with Ambition incessantly push'd him forwards to make himself the head of a Party so powerfull as that of the League which pass'd for Holy in the minds of the people and to avail himself of so fair an opportunity to form it For this effect he immediately caus'd a project to be formally drawn which his Emissaries shou'd endeavour to spread about the Kingdom amongst those Catholiques who appear'd the most zealous and most simple and those who were known to be the most addicted to the House of Guise in this Breviate which they were oblig'd to subscribe they promis'd by Oath to obey him who shou'd be elected head of that holy Confederacy which was made for maintaining of the Catholique Religion to cause due obedience to be render'd to the King and his Successours yet without prejudice to what shou'd be ordain'd by the three Estates and to restore the Kingdom to its original Liberties which it enjoy'd under the Reign of Clovis At the first there were found few Persons of Quality and substantial Citizens of Paris who wou'd venture to subscribe to that Association because it was not precisely known who wou'd dare to declare himself the Head of it besides that by the vigilance of the first President Christopher de Thou it was first discover'd then dissipated and at last dissolv'd with ease with all those secret Assemblies which were already held in several quarters of the Town for entring such persons into that infant League whom either their Malice their false Zeal or their Simplicity cou'd ingage But the Duke of Guise having sent his project to the Sieur d' Humieres of whom he held himself assur'd that Lord who besides his obligation to the House of Guise had also his particular interest and that of no less Consequence than the maintaining himself in his Government of Peronne which was taken from him by the Edict of May and that important place order'd to be put into the hands of the Prince of Conde manag'd the affair so well by the credit he had in that Province that as the Picards have always been zealous for the ancient Religion he ingag'd almost all the Towns and all the Nobility of Picardy to declare openly that they wou'd not receive the Prince of Conde because as it was urg'd in the Manifesto which was publish'd to justifie their refusal of him that they certainly knew he was resolv'd to abolish the Catholique Faith and establish Calvinism throughout all Picardy 'T is most certain that they wou'd never be induc'd to receive that Prince into Peronne or any other part of that Government and that to maintain themselves against all those who wou'd undertake to oblige them by force to observe that Article of the Peace which they never wou'd accept the Picards were the first to receive by common agreement and to publish in Peronne tâ—e Treaty of the League in twelve Articles in which the most prudent of the Catholiques themselves together with the Illustrious President Christopher de Thou observ'd many things which directly shock'd the most Holy Laws both Divine and Humane For 't is obvious in the first Article that the Catholique Princes Lords and Gentlemen invoking the name of the Holy Trinity make an Association and League offensive and defensive betwixt themselves without the permission privity or consent of their King and a King who was a Catholique as well as they which is directly opposite to the Law of God who ordains that Subjects should submit themselves and be united to their Sovereign as members to their Head even though he shou'd exceed his bounds and be a Tyrant provided that there be no manifest sin in what they are commanded to obey In the second they refuse to render obedience to the King unless it be conformable to the Articles which shall be presented to him by the States which it shall not be lawfull for him to contradict or to act any thing in prejudice of them 'T is evident that this overthrows the constitution of the Monarchy to establish in its place a certain kind of Aristocracy against one of our fundamental Laws which ordains that the States shou'd have onely a deliberative voice for the drawing up of their Petitions into Bills and then to present them with all humility to the King who examines them in his Council and afterwards passes what he finds to be just and reasonable They give not Law to him who is their Master and their Head as the Electours of the Empire by certain capitulations do to the Emperours of Germany who are indeed the Heads but not the Masters of the Empire but on the contrary they receive it from their King to whom they onely make most humble Addresses in the Bills which they present to him
pay him an entire Obedience and that he propos'd nothing to himself but that provision shou'd be made for the safety of Religion and of good Catholiques which were design'd to be oppress'd through the pernicious Counsells of such as held intelligence with Heretiques and projected nothing but the ruine of Religion and the State These Letters together with those which the Parisians wrote to the other Towns exhorting all men to combine with them for their common preservation in the Catholique Faith and those of the King which on the contrary were written in too soft a style and where there appear'd more of fear and of excuse than of resentment and just complaint for so sacrilegious an attempt had this effect that the greatest part of the people far from being scandalis'd at the Barricades approv'd them loudly praising the conduct of the Duke of Guise whom they believ'd to be full of Zeal for the Catholique Faith for the good of the Kingdom and for the Service of the King And as he desir'd nothing so much as to confirm them in that opinion he was willing that the body of the City shou'd send their Deputies to the King humbly to beseech his Majesty that he wou'd forget what was pass'd and return to his good Town of Paris where his most Loyal Subjects were ready to give him all the highest demonstrations of their Obedience and devotion to his Service He permitted that even processions shou'd be made in the Habit of Penitents to desire of God that he wou'd please to mollify the King's Heart and this was perform'd with so much ardour that there was one which went from Paris as far as Chartres in a most extraodinary Equipage under the conduct of the famous Fryar Ange. This honest Father was Henry de Ioyeuse Count of Bouchage and Brother to the late Duke He had given up himself to be a Capuchin about a year before this time having such strong impressions made upon him by the death and good example of his Wife Catharine de Nogaret Sister to the Duke of Espernon that he was inflam'd with a desire of repentance insomuch that neither the tears of his Brother nor the intreaties and favours of the King who lov'd him exceedingly nor the ardent solicitations of all the Court were able to remove him from the resolution he had taken of leading so austere a Life This noble Fryar having put a Crown of Thorns upon his head and carrying an overgrown Cross upon his Shoulders follow'd by his Fraternity and by a great number of Penitents and others who represented in their Habits the several persons of the Passion led on that procession singing Psalms and Litanies The march of these Penitents was so well manag'd that they enter'd the great Church of Chartres just as the King was there at Vespers As they enter'd they began to sing the Miserere in a very dolefull tone And at the same time two swindging Fryars arm'd with Disciplines laid on lustily poor Fryar Ange whose back was naked The application was not hard to make nor very advantageous to the Parisians for the charitable creature seem'd evidently to desire the King that he wou'd please to pardon them as Iesus Christ was willing to forgive the Iews for those horrible outrages which they had committed against him A Spectacle so surprising produc'd different effects in the minds of the standers by according to the variety of their tempers some of them were melted into compassion others were mov'd to Laughter and some even to indignation And more than all the rest the Marshal de Biron who having no manner of relish for this sort of devotion and fearing besides that some dangerous Leaguers might have crowded in amongst them with intention to Preach the people into a Mutiny counsell'd the King to clap them up in Prison every Mothers Son But that good Prince who notwithstanding all his faults had a stock of Piety at the bottom and much respect for all things that related to Religion rejected wholly this advice He listen'd to them much more favourably than he had heard all the Harangues of the former Deputies and promis'd to grant them the pardon they desir'd for the Town which he had so much favour'd on condition they wou'd return to their Obedience And truly 't is exceeding probable that he had so done from that very time if they had not afterwards given him fresh provocations by proposing the terms on which they insisted for the Peace which they desir'd For the Duke of Guise to whom all these fair appearances were very serviceable and cou'd be no ways prejudicial and who always pursu'd his designs in a direct line knew so well to manage the disposition of the Queen Mother who had seem'd at first to be much startled at his demands that he recall'd her with much dexterity into his interests by working on those two passions which were rooted in her Soul She desir'd to raise to the Throne after the death of the King her Son her Grandson Henry de Lorrain Marquis du Pont and believ'd that the Duke of Guise wou'd contribute to it all that was in his power But as cunning as she was she saw not into the bottom of that Prince who fed her onely with vain hopes of that Succession for another to which he personally aspir'd She infinitely hated the Duke of Espernon and believing he was the man who having possess'd himself of the King's Soul had render'd her suspected to him long'd to turn him out of Court promising her self by that means to be re-establish'd in the management of affairs from which the Favourites had remov'd her And the Duke of Guise who had as little kindness as her self for the Duke of Espernon concurr'd in the same design with at least as much earnestness but for a much different end for he desir'd to be absolute himself In this manner this subtle Prince always dissembling and artifically hiding the true motives by which he acted drew the Queen at last to consent to all that he desir'd and above all to give her allowance that a request shou'd be presented to the King in the name of the Cardinals the Princes the Peers of France the Lords the Deputies of Paris and the other Towns and of all the Catholiques united for the defence of the Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion This reqest which in the manner of its expressions was couch'd in most respectfull terms contain'd notwithstanding in the bottom of it certain Propositions at least as hard as the Artâ—cles of Nancy and even as those which not long before were propos'd to the Queen by the Duke of Guise For after a protestation in the beginning of it that in whatsoever had pass'd till that present time there had been nothing done but by a pure zeal for God's honour and for the preservation of his Church they demand of the King That he wou'd make War with the Huguenots and that he wou'd conclude no Peace till
they were thought at Rome and they believ'd themselves to stand on so sure Foundations for what they held that they wou'd not depart from it on any considerations whatever That in this particular Fact the King wou'd not want most Zealous Catholiques to maintain that not onely his Majesty who has an especial privilege to stand exempted from Excommunication but that also the meanest man can incur no censures for having done a thing which is of absolute necessity for the preservation of his liberty and of his Life And that which way soever it be determin'd yet his Majesty was absolv'd by the Authority of his Holiness himself in virtue of the Breviat which he had granted him To which the Pope made no other reply than this that it belong'd to him to interpret his own Breviat and that it ought onely to be understood of crimes committed before the Breviat was given and not of those which were committed afterwards But one of the most understanding Prelates of the Roman Court had the confidence to make it appear by a writing which was sent to the King that this Breviat being conceiv'd as it was in general terms without any restriction extended as well to the future as to the past In the mean time the Pope as it were by immediate inspiration changing his Humour on the sudden began to tell the Cardinal that he acknowledg'd the King had great provocations to doe what he had done that God had suffer'd the Cardinal of Guise and the Duke his Brother to die in that manner for their Sins That the League had ruin'd the affairs of France and even the Catholique Religion it self That it was at no time lawfull to take up Arms against the will of the Sovereign for it never succeeded happily That he call'd that very Cardinal to witness what he had formerly told him concerning this and that he had then prophesy'd what since had happen'd The Cardinal ravish'd with joy to hear the Pope speak after this manner gave him his most humble acknowledgments and earnestly besought him always to persist in so just an opinion without suffering himself to be impos'd on by the artifices of the Spaniards and the Leaguers But when he perceiv'd that after all this fair discourse the Pope according to the obstinacy of his temper which was never to be mov'd when once he had fix'd his resolution still continu'd to suspend all the expeditions till the King had sent to desire absolution he had the courage to tell him plainly that this suspension which was prejudicial to the service of God the salvation of Souls and even to the authority of the Holy See cou'd be laid to no other man's charge but the whole burthen of it wou'd fall on the Conscience of his Holiness And that all the evils which arise from the long vacancies of Churches wou'd be imputed to him onely not to the King who had done on his part what he ought by naming or presenting men to Bishopricks and Abbies according to the Concordat and that in mean time they who were thus presented to the Prelacy had wherewithall to comfort themselves easily in their disgrace by enjoying their Oeconomats a longer time without putting themselves to the trouble of providing and sending to Rome so much money for obtaining the Apostolical Provisions And after all it might well happen that the King mov'd by the remonstrances of the French Clergy and even of the Estates themselves which were still assembled at Blois and also because his nominations were refus'd at Rome might set all things again upon the Foundation of the ancient right in which case there wou'd be no more trudging from France to Rome but onely for the confirmation of three or four primacies and those too to be expedited gratis In fine this prudent and honest Cardinal concluded his long dispatches by the advice he gave the King that according to the opinion of the wisest men and those who meant him best the longer he delaid to send or write to his Holiness in case either of them were his intention the more satisfaction he shou'd receive provided that his affairs prosper'd at home For added he your Majesty has nothing more to hope or fear but onely from your own management and you are to expect that as matters go well or ill in France you shall be treated here accordingly So that to know how you stand in grace at Rome you will have no need to be inform'd by your Ambassadours dispatches or by mine you will find the truest Intilligence from day to day by your own success The event verifi'd his prediction for some time after Sixtus perceiving that the League grew exceeding powerfull and the King much weaker by the Revolt of the greatest part of France caus'd a thundering Monitory to be posted up at Rome against him in which he declares at the first dash that the King had incurr'd the Excommunication provided by the Canons for the Murther committed on the person of a Cardinal The death of the Duke of Guise was yet more ruinous to his affairs and produc'd an effect quite contrary to what he had expected from it He believ'd that having cut off the Head of the League it wou'd thenceforth be no more than a body without life or motion and that he shou'd then be absolute Master and truly a King as he had us'd to say But it was not long before he found how much he had deceiv'd himself His supposition may come to pass when a faction is weak in its beginning and that they who are enter'd into it are irresolute wavering betwixt their first fury which has hurri'd them into a Rebellion and their fear of a Master justly incens'd against them whom they also see well arm'd and in condition to take Vengeance on them as well as on their Head in case they prove obstinate in their revolt But here all things were in a contrary posture the League had taken root so deeply in the peoples Hearts that there was no probability it shou'd be torn out at one single pull and the faction was too strongly supported both within the Kingdom and without it to beget a reasonable hope that it wou'd easily be destroy'd On the other side that love and respect which the French have naturally for their Kings was almost wholly extinguish'd in the greater part of them in reference to Henry the third who was equally hated both by Huguenots and Leaguers and so very much despis'd especially by the last that he was not fear'd by any one Thus instead of arming himself as he ought in reason to have done after so terrible a blow as he had given and advancing towards Paris with all the Forces he either had in readiness or cou'd raise immediately without giving leisure to the Leaguers to recover from their first amazement and to provide themselves of a new Head against him He trifl'd away his time according to his custome in making specious Declarations
that he might advise the King no longer to delay the time in fruitless Treaties which were still counsell'd him by some and were so agreeable to his lazy and unactive genius and to let him know that it was now high time to put in execution a more generous design which was to attaque the Enemy in their chiefest strength by besieging Paris He resolv'd on this at last but first he was desirous of getting Orleans into his power which if he cou'd compass he shou'd thereby deprive Paris of the great supplies which might be drawn from thence To effect this having in the beginning of Iune pass'd his Army over the Bridge of Baugency in La Sologne he caus'd Gergeau to be assaulted the Governour of which place who had the confidence to stay till the Cannon had made a breach which he was not able to defend was taken and hang'd for an example Those of Gien terrifi'd by this just severity made haste to surrender before the Artillery had play'd and the Inhabitants of La Charité put themselves immediately into the King's hands of their own accord so that his Majesty excepting onely Nantz was Master of all the passages on the Loire both above and below Orleans which he invested on all parts of it The Sieur de la Chastre who after the death of the Guises had promis'd fidelity to the King and not long afterwards had declar'd a second time for the League in his Government of Berry put himself into that Town with all the Forces he cou'd make and the Inhabitants encourag'd by his presence refus'd with great scorn those advantageous propositions which were made them by the King laugh'd at his threatnings and took up a resolution of defending themselves to the last extremity Insomuch that it being concluded it was but loss of time to undertake that Siege the first design of going directly on to Paris was resum'd For which reason they repass'd the Loire and upon the March without much trouble took in the Towns of Pluviers Dourdan and Estampes at which last place the King receiv'd the unwelcome news of the Monitory which Pope Sixtus had publish'd against him and this was the occasion of it Not long after the death of the Guises the King who clearly saw by the Remonstrations which the Legat Morosini had made him that the absolution which he had receiv'd by virtue of his Breviat wou'd not be receiv'd at Rome had sent thither Claude d' Angennes Bishop of Mans to intercede for another notwithstanding all the discouraging Letters which had been written him by his friends from thence to disswade him from it or at least to delay a submission of this nature which might prove prejudicial to him In farther prosecution of this the Marquis de Pisany his Ambassadour and the Cardinal de Ioyeuse acting in joint commission with the Bishop by his order had represented to Pope Sixtus the most powerfull reasons they cou'd urge to procure this favour from him to which the Pope who was grown inflexible on that point had answer'd them ruggedly according to his nature that he was willing to take no cognisance of the Duke of Guise's death because he was the King's Subject but the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Arch-bishop of Lyons whom he held Prisoners not being his Subjects since none but the Pope had a Soveraign Power over Cardinals and Bishops he wou'd never grant him absolution before he had restor'd them to their liberty or at least put them into the hands of his Legat that they might be sent to Rome where himself wou'd execute justice on them in case he found them guilty On the other side the Commander of Diu the Sieur Coquelaire Counsellor in Parliament Nicholas de Piles Abbot of Orbais and the Sieur Frison Dean of the Church of Rheims who were Deputies for the League at Rome to hinder the Pope from giving this Absolution not onely oppos'd it with all their force but also us'd their best endeavours to perswade him that he wou'd publish the Excommunication which he himself had said was incurr'd by the King for the murther of the Cardinal of Guise and amongst other arguments which they alledg'd to carry him to this extreme severity against a most Christian King they fail'd not to urge the Authority of the Decrees of the Sorbonne and principally that of the fifth of April In that Decree the Faculty declare that Henry de Valois ought not to be pray'd for in any Ecclesiastique Prayer much less at the Canon of the Mass in regard of the Excommunication which he had incurr'd and that these words Pro Rege nostro ought to be taken out of the Canon lest it shou'd be believ'd that they pray'd for him even though the Priest by directing his intention otherwise shou'd call down the effect of those Prayers on the present Governours or on him to whom God Almighty had reserv'd the kingdom The same Decree wills that instead of them there shou'd be said at Mass three Prayers which are not in the Canon Pro Christianis Principibus nostris which were Printed and remain at this day to be seen Lastly it adds that all such who will not conform to this Decree shall be depriv'd of the Prayers and other rights of the Faculty from which they shall be driven out like Excommunicated Persons and this was approv'd by the general consent of all the Doctors 'T is most certain that these Decrees together with what was continually buzz'd in the Pope's ears that the King's party was absolutely ruin'd contributed not a little to the resolution which he took of prosecuting the King by the ways of rigour and without fear But that which put the last hand to his determination was the Manifesto of the two Kings who were now in conjunction against the League For being a man of an haughty temper he was not able to endure that the King shou'd be united with a person whom he had excommunicated as a relaps'd Heretique by a thundring Bull which he had caus'd to be inserted in the Bullary reprinted by him for that onely purpose he easily believ'd whatever reports were rais'd by the Leaguers to the disadvantage of the King's party or his cause and accordingly set up in Rome his Monitory against him In which he commands him to set at full liberty the Cardinal of Bourbon and the Arch-bishop of Lyons within ten days after the publication of his Monitory at the Gates of two or three of six Cathedral Churches which are nam'd and which are those of Poitiers Orleans Chartres Meaux Agen and Mans and to give him assurance of it within thirty days by an Authentique Act. In default of which he pronounces from that present time and for the future that he and all his Accomplices in the murther of the Cardinal of Guise and the imprisonment of the other Prelates have damnably incurr'd the greater Excommunication and the other Ecclesiastical censures denounc'd by the Bull In Coena Domini
from which they can never be absolv'd except onely in the article of death by giving security that they will obey the Mandats of the Church Farthermore he cites them to make their appearance within two months before his Tribunal the King himself in person or by his Proctor and the rest personally to give in their reasons why they believe they have not incurr'd the censures and why the King's Subjects are not absolv'd from their Oath of Allegiance and in fine invalidates all Privileges to the contrary which the King himself or his Predecessours have formerly obtain'd from the Holy See This Monitory was posted up at Rome on the twenty fourth of May and the Leaguers Printed it at Paris and publish'd it with all the formalities accustom'd at Paris Chartres and Meaux on the twenty third of Iune and I have seen the Acts of it which were Printed immediately after at Paris with the Monitory by Nicholas Nivelle and Rolin Thierry Stationers and Printers for the Holy Union with the Privilege of the Body of the Council General of the same Holy Union Signed by Senault their Secretary It was then at Estampes that the King receiv'd this information that he was prosecuted in this manner both at Rome and in France by the Arms of the Church at the same time when the Rebels assaulted him with theirs to pull him from the Throne It was told him indeed that there were contain'd in that Monitory many heads which were nullities in their own nature and which consequently made the whole invalid even though it were against a private person But when notwithstanding all these reasons he still answer'd that it gave him exceeding trouble the King of Navarre who desir'd nothing more than speedily to prosecute the design of besieging Paris told him pleasantly as well as truly that he had found out a sure expedient for him And Sir said he with his accustom'd quickness 't is onely this that we overcome and the sooner the better for if we succeed you may assure your self of your Absolution but in case we are beaten we shall be still Excommunicated over and over and damn'd with three pil'd curses on our heads This saying was much of a piece with what the Bishop of Mans had written to the King from Rome that if he were desirous of the Absolution which was refus'd him in that Court he had no more to doe but to make himself the strongest in his own Kingdom Thus the King thinking it his best course to dissemble his knowledge of the Monitory never own'd that he had seen or heard of it but march'd still forward to pass the Seine at the Bridge of Poissy which he forc'd after which having taken Pontoise which was surrender'd on the 25th of Iuly after a fortnights siege having been vigorously defended by the Sieur d' Alincour who was there grievously wounded and the Sieur de Hautefort who lost his life he went to Constans and there receiv'd the Army of the Swisses which was conducted to him by Nicholas de Harlay Sieur de Sancy who by performing so great and seasonable a service to the King his Master has deserv'd the praise of all posterity At the beginning of this War there being a Council held wherein were propos'd the most speedy and efficacious means that cou'd be found to carry it on the King being then reduc'd to a very low condition Sancy who had been formerly his Ambassadour in Swisserland maintain'd that there was no better expedient than to treat with the Cantons who to defend themselves from the Arms of Savoy which threatned Geneva and design'd to shut it up on the side of France wou'd willingly permit a great Levy of their Subjects to be made in favour of the King who might hereafter be in a condition to succour them in case they shou'd be driven to extremity But because the Exchequer was wholly drain'd and No Money no Swisse was the common Proverb his proposition was turn'd into ridicule and he was ask'd if he knew the man who wou'd undertake to raise an Army without any other ingredient than Pen and Paper Then Sancy who though he was of the long Robe had a Souldiers heart for at that time he was onely a Master of Requests Since said he not one of all those who have been enrich'd by the King's bounty will make offer of himself to serve him I declare that I will be the man And thereupon accepted a very ample Commission which was given him by the King but without a penny to bear his charges to treat with the Swisses and Germans for the raising of an Army To go through with his business he Mortgag'd all he had and took up what he coud procure upon his Credit and in sequel acted with so much fortune and such good management with the Magistrates of Bern of Basile of Soleure and of Geneva that after having taken from the Duke of Savoy the Baily-wicks of Gex and Thonon the Fort of Ripaille and some other places thereby to employ him for some time and to hinder him from molesting of his neighbours he put himself at the head of the Royal Army compos'd of ten or twelve thousand Foot Swisses Grisons and Genevians with near two thousand Reyters and twelve pieces of Cannon With these Forces he travers'd all the Countrey from Geneva by Swisserland as far as the County of Montbelliard from whence crossing the French County and passing the Saone towards Ioinville he came to Langres which held for the King and thence to Chastillon on the Seine to joyn the Duke of Longueville and La Noüe From whence marching through Champaigne all three in company with twenty thousand men they passed the Seine at Poissy and in conclusion arriv'd happily at the King's Army His Majesty receiv'd Sancy with tears in his eyes and protested in presence of all the Officers of his Army that he wept for joy and grief together that he had not wherewithall at present to reward the greatest service which a Subject cou'd perform to his King and that what he had done for him in making him Colonel of the Swisses was nothing in comparison of what he intended him being resolv'd that one day he wou'd make him so great that there shou'd not be a man in his Kingdom who might not have occasion to envy him But fortune which is pleas'd with persecuting of vertue dispos'd quite otherwise of the matter by that deplorable accident which happen'd three days after and by the misery which his own noble heartedness had drawn upon him For instead of those large recompences which he might reasonably expect after having done so worthy an action he was reduc'd so low that he was constrain'd at last to sell all he had therewith to pay the debts which he had contracted by Levying at his own charges that gallant Army which put the King in a condition of conquering his Rebels and by consequence of triumphing over the League In effect after the
Archbishop of Bourges answering in order to those three points which were propos'd by that Prelate said in the name of all his Colleagues That they acknowledg'd they ought to own for King Soveraign Lord and Head of the French Monarchy Him to whom the Kingdom belongâ—d by a lawful Succession But since Religion ought to be preferr'd before Flesh and Blood this Monarch of necessity must be a Most Christian King both in name and reality and that according to all Laws both Divine and Humane it was not permitted them to give obedience to an Heretique King in a Kingdom subjected to Jesus Christ by receiving and professing the Catholique Religion That God in the Old Testament had forbidden a King to be set up who was not of the number of the Brethren that is to say of the same Religion which constitutes a true Brotherhood That in prosecution of this order the Priests and Sacrificers of Israel had withdrawn themselves from the obedience of King Ieroboam as soon as he had renounc'd the worship of the true God That the Towns of and Libnah which were the portion of the Levites who were the best instructed in the Law of God had forsaken Ioram King of Iudah for the same reason That Amaziah and Queen Athaliah having abandon'd the Religion of their Forefathers had been depos'd by the general consent of all the Orders of the Kingdom and that the Macchabees were renown'd and prais'd through all the World as the last Heroes of the ancient Law because they had taken Arms against Antiochus their Soveraign Prince for the defence of their Religion That the people of the Iews did indeed obey the King of the Chaldeans but they had bound themselves by Oath so to do according to the express command which God had given them by his Prophets for pupunishment of their abominations for which reason he subjected them to the dominion of an Infidel But as for themselves they were so far from having entred into such an engagement that they had made one by the Authority of his Holiness quite to the contrary that they wou'd never acknowledge an Heretique for their King And as for the Christians who threw not off their obedience to their Emperors and Kings who were Heretiques 't is most certain that they obey'd only out of pure necessity and because they wanted power but that their Hearts and Affections had no part in it Witness the harshness with which the Holy Fathers have treated them in their Writings where they call them Wolves Dogs Serpents Tygers Dragons Lyons and Antichrists in conformity to the Gospel which wills that he who is revolted from the Church should be held and treated like a Pagan so far it is from authorising us to hold him for a King much less a Most Christian King For what remains besides the Councils receiv'd in France and the Imperial Laws which declare Heretiques to be unworthy of any kind of honour dignity or publick office much more of Royalty The Fundamental Law of the French Monarchy is most express in this particular by the Oath which the Most Christian Kings take at their Coronation to maintain the Catholique Religion and to exterminate all Heresies in consideration of which they receive the Oath of Allegiance from their Subjects and that the last States had decreed with the general applause of all good Frenchmen that they wou'd never depart from that Law which was accepted and sworn to solemnly as a fundamental of the State In fine to close up all which he had to say in relation to this first point he added That without this it was impossible to preserve Religion in France because an Heretique Prince wou'd not be wanting to establish Heresie in his States as well by his example which would be leading to his Subjects as by his authority which cou'd not long be resisted As it was too manifest in the Kingdom of Israel which Ieroboam turn'd to Idolatry and as it has since been seen in Denmark Sweden the Protestant States of Germany and in England where the people following the example of their Princes and bending under their authority have suffer'd themselves to be unhappily drawn into that Abyss of Heresies in which they are plung'd at this very day And thereupon passing to the other points of the Archbishop of Bourges his Speech he said in few words That it cou'd not be doubted but the King of Navarre was an obstinate Heretique and no way inclin'd to be converted since for so long a time he had continued to maintain Errors condemn'd for Heresies by General Councils and that he still favour'd the Huguenots more than ever and especially his Preachers that he had been often invited but still in vain to reconcile himself to the Church after which it wou'd be lost labour for them to exhort him particularly after being first acknowledg'd as he thought to be that therefore they wou'd never endeavour it and that they had all sworn not only not to acknowledge him but also to have no manner of commerce with him so long as he shou'd remain an Heretique Now when the Archbishop of Bourges who was pre-acquainted with the Kings secret purpose saw that after a strong reply which he had made to that noisy Harangue they still held fast to that one point from which it was impossible to remove them he was of opinion that by yielding it to them the business wou'd soon come to an happy conclusion For which reason having demanded time to consult thereupon the Princes and Lords by whom they were deputed as soon as he had receiv'd the answer which he knew before hand they wou'd make he told the Deputies of the League at the seventh Session which was the seventeenth of May That God had at the last heard their prayers and vows and that they shou'd have whatsoever they had requir'd for the safety of Religion and the State by the conversion of the King which they had been encourag'd to hope and which at present was assur'd to them since the King who was resolv'd to abjure his Heresie had already assembled the Prelates and the Doctors from whom he wou'd receive the instruction which ought to precede that great action which all good Catholiques of both Parties had so ardently desir'd for the reunition of themselves in a lasting peace And to the end that it might be to the satisfaction of every man in particular they might treat with them concerning the securities and other conditions which they shou'd demand for their interests Assuring them that in order to remove all occasion of distrust nothing shouâ—d be done on their side till the King had dâ—clar'd himself effectually to be a Catholique This Proposition which the Deputies of the Union little expected and which ruin'd all the pretensions of their Heads disorder'd them so much that after they had consulted amongst themselves for an Answer not being able to conclude on any they thought themselves bound to report it to the Assembly
from retiring which one wou'd have thought he shou'd have endeavour'd as being able to have done it without danger while the Enemies were employed either in fighting those who yet made resistance or in pursuing those who fled he march'd straight forward bearing his Sword aloft and calling by their names the most considerable Persons who attended him as the Duke of Elbeuf the Marquess of Pisany de Treinel de Roquelaure de Chasteau Vieux De Liencour de Montigny d' Inteville and de Mirepoix and inviting them to act like himself he made so furious a charge on those who believ'd themselves to be already in possession of the Victory that he stop'd them short and broke into them follow'd by all his brave Attendants whoafter his example fought like Lyons and push'd the Enemy with so much vigor that those six Squadrons fell back in confusion upon each other In the heat of this Combat he kill'd with his own hand the valiant Colonel Sanson who was using his uttermost endeavours though in vain to restore the Fight and being seconded by Biron who had rallyed about an hundred and twenty Horse and by the Duke of Trimouille who was come up to the Charge in the midst of the action with his Company of Gendarmes he pursu'd them at full spur as far as the great Body of Cavalry which the Duke of Mayenne commanded in the Vanguard And doubtless he had not fail'd to attaque him as he was very desirous to have done seeing his valour seconded with such good fortune if that gross had not been flank'd with two little Copses lin'd with Musqueteers and sustain'd by the whole Spanish Army which had certainly overwhelm'd him in case they had taken that critical opportunity In effect the Duke of Mayenne having observ'd during the Combat the extreme danger in which the King had involv'd himself which according to his heavy maxim might pass for inconsideration and rashness sent three or four times with all imaginable earnestness to the Constable to desire him not to let slip that favourable minute but to march as to a certain victory giving him to understand that the King having neither Foot nor Cannon cou'd not possibly escape either from being kill'd or at least from being taken But whether the Castillian fear'd the fortune of the King and much more apprehended that his whole Army was not far behind or were it the Hatred which the Spaniards bore the Duke who for his part hated them not less or perhaps the Vanity and Pride of the Constable who cou'd not endure to be taught his Duty 't is certain that he absolutely refus'd to move but only on his Retreat the same day to his Quarters at St. Seyne and the next morning to Grey The King who in the mean time had rallied all his Troops having still pursued him till he had repass'd the Saone Thus it may be said that in this famous Skirmish at Fontain Francoise the happy success of which is wholly to be attributed to the incomparable Valour of the King he perform'd an Action not unlike that of the great Macchabee who with 800 men durst bear up against a numerous Army with this difference notwithstanding that the Iewish Hero was lost in the too eager prosecution of his Victory but ours on the contrary return'd from the pursuit of his flying Enemies cover'd with Glory after he had driven a powerful Army out of his Kingdom with an handful of men not exceeding the number of 6 or 700. This was the last Enterprize of the League which was then gasping in the pangs of death and expir'd immediately after it For the Duke of Mayenne in despair to see himself abandon'd by the Constable with no hope of recovery in his Affairs was upon the point of taking a Journey into Spain and throwing himself into the Arms of King Philip with intention to inform him of the Malice and Cowardise of those whom he intrusted with the Command of his Armies when the King willing by an admirable effect of his Goodness to withdraw his vanquish'd Enemy from the steep of that Precipice where he was seeking his destruction let him understand that he was ready to receive him into Grace and grant him in that his low estate very advantagious Conditions that while the Treaty betwixt them was depending he might stay at Châ—lon on the Saone the only good Town remaining to him in Bourgogne and take his word for his security And the Duke to answer this Generosity as much as lay in him accepting this Offer gave immediate Order that the Castles of Dijon and Talant shou'd be surrendred But what was most admirable in this procedure of the King was that to save the Honour of that Prince who had engag'd himself by Oath not to acknowledge him till he had receiv'd Absolution from the Pope he deferr'd the conclusion of his Treaty till he had obtain'd it from his Holiness after which in the beginning of the year ensuing he made an Edict in his Favour It was not indeed so advantagious as it might have been if he cou'd have resolv'd to have accepted those Propositions sooner which were offer'd him more than once at a time when he might have treated not only for himself but for all that powerful Party which he hâ—aded Yet it was infinitely beyond what he cou'd reasonably have expected at that time for in consideration that he had always oppos'd the pernicious Designs of the Sixteen and of the Spaniards and that making War like a man of Honour he had constantly spoken of the King with great Respect as one who infinitely esteem'd his Person his Merit and his Quality the King who valued him exceedingly granted in his favour even against the opinion of the greatest part of his Counsel that Edict in which making very honourable mention of him and commending the Zeal which he always had for the preservation of the Catholick Religion and the Monarchy in its entire estate he granted him amongst other things besides an Amnesty of the past the re-establishment of himself and his Friends in all their Possessions the Towns of Soissons Sâ—urre and Chalon on the Saone for his security a Declaration importing that he had no Accusation either against himself or the Princes and Princesses of his Family touching the Parricide committed on the Persoâ— of the late King and that he bound himself and his Successors to the payment of all Debts which he had contracted as well without the Kingdom as within it to make War against him After this the Duke going to pay his Respects to him at Mâ—nceaux was receiv'd with great Honour and testimony of Affection and it happening that the King in walking with him at his ordinary rate which was very swift that poor Prince who was fat and unwieldy grew out of breath freely told him That he was quite spent and cou'd go no farther The King embracing him said only this For my oâ—n part Cousin I 〈◊〉 to you this