enjoy the gift Great Wars he had against Manfred bastard of Friderick the II. Emperour and against Conradin the Emperours Grandchild whom he took in battel and beheaded him A bloody execution which caused much animosity and Wars between that house of France and the reliques of the house of Suaben which was Constantia daughter to Manfred wife to Peter King of Arragon who to avenge the death of that King Conradin his wives Cosin to repress the insolence of the French was the Author of the bloody Sicilian Vespers whereby the French were utterly expelled from Sicily An. 1261. and Sicily remained in the power of the house of Arragon and since although many Wars and Treaties have intervened to reunite these two States they have alwaies been separated till the house of Arragon hath got the Dominion of Naples Wherefore we will speak no more of Sicily which the French lost in effect in that massacre and since quitted their right to it by severall Treaties 4. But as for the Kingdom of Naples that French Family of Charles d' Anjou was setled in it from the year 1264 untill the death of Jane the II An. 1435. in all 171. yeares We intend not to relate that History but only to observe these things which concern our present purpose First that Charles the Lame the second King and Son to that first Charles married Mary inheritrice of Hungary and so these two Kingdomes were united Of their Children the eldest Charles surnamed Martel had Hungary for his portion and from him some Princes of Hungary are descended The second Son was Lewis who would be a Franciscan Fryer and was Bishop of Toulouse The third Sonne Robert inherited the Kingdome of Naples There were more brothers who had severall apanages But it was not this Robert that continued the line of the Kings of Naples He was Father to Prince Charles who dying before his Father left a Daughter that famous or rather infamous Queen Jane the First that ruled that State almost forty years Next it must be known that this wicked Jane lascivious and cruel so farre as to strangle her Husband Andrew a young Prince of that other Branch of Hungary filled her Kingdome with great troubles by her wickednesse Towards the end of her reigne an 1378. hapned the great Schisme of the Church when Urban the VI being made Pope by violence many Cardinals elected in his stead Robert Cardinall of Geneva who took the name of Clement the VII Queen Jane being an enemy to Urban who was born her subject declared her self for Clement Her crim whereby she had put her Husband to death had been long covered by an accomodation made by Clement the VI who appeased Lewis the great King of Hungary Brother to Andrew whom Jane had strangled But Pope Urban the VI to be avenged of Jane stirred again the House of Hungary against her and a Prince of that House named Charles de Duras came and besieged her in Castello del Ovo at Naples took her and strangled her an 1382. in the same place as some say where she had strangled her first husband 3. But the same Princess seeing that Urban invited the house of Hungary to the conquest of Naples called to her help King Charles the VI of France an 1380. by the advice of Pope Clement And by his leave for he bore himselfe for her Soveraign she adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V of France and head of the second house of Anjou He was at that time Regent of France in the minority of King Charles the VI. From that adoption the French fetch their right in the Kingdome of Naples for from the off-spring of that Lewis the French Kings have inherited 4. Charles de Duras after he had strangled Queen Jane seized upon the Kingdome and reigned in her stead and after him his two Children first Ladislaus whom the French Historians call Lancelot and Jane the Second They three held the State 53. yeares from the yeare 1382. till the yeare 1436. But because Jane the first a little afore her death had adopted Lewi Duke of Anjou that house of Duras had continuall War with the house of Anjou Lewis the I. came to Naples and there dyed Lewis the II his Son had great Wars with Ladislaus and for a time was Master of the Kingdome That Ladislaus being dead without issue an 1414. his sister Queen Jane the Second succeeded him as bad a woman as the first Jane for impudicity and extravagancy She being degraded by the Pope Martin the V. and Lewis the III Grandchild of the first Lewis of Anjou named by him to reign in her place she adopted Alphonsus King of Arragon and Sicily for her Son with whom that Lewis the III had great Warres and had sometimes the better sometimes the worst But Jane being of an inconstant spirit despised Alphonsus being altogether governed by her favorite John Carraciolo which Alphonsus not able to beare made himselfe Master of the City of Naples Upon which she cancelled her will made in favour of Alphonsus and instead of him adopted Lewis the IV. of Anjou who before was her enemy That adoption made an 1422. is the second ground of the claime of the French to Naples and the seed of so many Wars and Calamities and of the greatest divisions between the Houses of France and Spain The Spaniards maintaining the first adoption as valid because Alphonsus though accused by Jane of ungratefulnesse upon which she grounded the disanulling of his adoption did nothing as they say against the respect due to his adoptive Mother but onely went about to represse the extravagancies of that light-brained woman to have that part in her affaires which by right belonged to him and especially curb the insolency of Carraciolo who kept a scandalous familiarity with that woman The French say that the second adoption is of more validity That the cause of ungratefulnesse is sufficient to break an adoption That Alphonsus misused his adoptive Mother seized upon the City of Naples besieged her and kept her shut up and did all acts of Soveraign to her contempt and disgrace 5. This Lewis the IV. Duke of Anjou having recovered Naples enjoyed it with some peace together with Jane but dyed before her an 1434. Because he left no issue she adopted his Brother René Duke of Anjou and her selfe soon after dyed But René being then kept prisoner by the Duke of Burgundy he could not go to receive his inheritance His wife Elizabeth went but too late though at the first she got some advantage In the end Alphonsus remained Master and the party of Anjou was quite expelled out of the Land Onely René kept the possession of Provence which was an appurtenance of that State for since the first adoption of Lewis the I Duke of Anjou by Queen Jane the I. that second house of Anjou had kept the possession of Provence Neither did Charles de Duras nor his Children nor
Mother thus composed the difference Ferdinand the usurper of Castilia over Blanch and St Lewis was Father of Alphonsus the X. King of Castilia and Leon against whom St Lewis having an Action for Castilia one of the two Kingdoms married his Daughter Blanch Grand-daughter of Blanch the inheritrice of Castilia an 1267. with Ferdinand surnamed De la Cerda eldest Son to that Alphonsus the X. By the contract of marriage it was agreed that S. Lewis yielded all his rights over Castilia to his Daughter Blanch and her Children after her upon which conditions performed France lost her claime upon that Kingdome but that Ferdinand de la Cerda dyed before his Father Alphonsus and his younger Brother Sanchez usurped the Crown depriving his Nephews Sons to Ferdinand and Blanch of their right From that usurper Sanchez all the Kings of Spain to this day are descended From the dispossest Children of Ferdinand and Blanch of France is descended the House of the Dukes of Medina Coeli who retaining still the memory of that degradation and of their birth-right over the family of Sanchez make their protestations at every change of State that if the family now reigning should fail they might enter upon their right Out of that discourse four things doe result for our purpose 1. That after the death of Henry King of Castilia all the right of the Kingdome belonged to his sister Blanch and after her to her Son St Lewis and that Berengera the younger sister of Blanch and her Son Ferdinand were usurpers 2. That St Lewis indeed yeelded his rights by the contract of marriage between Ferdinand de la Cerda and his Daughter Blanch. One might say that it was more then he could doe for the rights of the Crown cannot be alienated But they had not then such absolute maxims and were not so jealous as now of preserving the union of States which in those dayes were often divided exchanged bought and sold And St Lewis sufficiently perceived the impossibility of governing the French and the Castilians together 3. But that Cession was conditionall requiring that the Children of Ferdinand and Blanch should inherit the Crown That condition having been violated by the usurpation of Sanchez younger Brother to Ferdinand and the poor Princes Children to Ferdinand and Blanch being disinherited and proscribed that cession of St Lewis becomes void by right and the claim of the French might be good if it was not somewhat too old 4. At least all that Right of St Lewis remaines with the descendants of Ferdinand and Blanch the Dukes of Medina Coeli for they have double right the one from Ferdinand as elder Brother to Sanchez the other from Blanch to whom her Father St Lewis had conferred his right And if the House of Medina Coeli would prosecute it they should be well grounded and the French Kings might defend their claim very justly as their successors and fetching their right from them Paragraphe II. Of the Kingdome of Portugal Portugal a part of the old Lusitania is one of the Provinces of Spain near the great Ocean cean under Gallicia between the Rivers of Duerno Minio and Tajo To which also belongs a little State called the Kingdom of Algarba which is the point of the Cap St Vincent next to the Isle of Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraliar That Country was wasted and conquered by the Saracens as the rest of Spain by that great inundation of those barbarous Nations an 713. All the Christian Princes and all the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdomes of the West even after the time of Charlemagne and Lewis the Meek who were there in person very willingly went to make Warre in Spain against these Saracen Moores Especially an 1090. a little before the enterprise of the holy Warre Philip the I. reigning in France Alphonsus the VIII in Spain many Princes and Noblemen consederated themselves and went into Spain against them The most eminent was Henry of the first Royal House of Burgundy for although there hath been much dispute about his Origine now all Historians acknowledge that he was Grand child to Robert Brother to King Henry the I who had Burgundy given him for his apanage This Henry of Burgundy having done great exploits against the Moores married Teresa naturall Daughter of Alphonsus who gave her for her portion the Townes of Coimbra Braga and others in Portugal with forces to conquer the rest of which he quitted himself so well that he expelled the Infidels from great part of Portugal of which he was called Comes or Count and no other title did he bear all his life time He dyed an 1112. and left a Son named Alphonsus who took Lisbone and much Country besides and was called the first King of Portugal an 1139. From that Alphonsus is descended the whole House of Portugal till the death of Henry the Cardinall King an 1580. at which time Portugal was united with Spain The great difficulty about the succession of that Kingdom whether it belong to the house of Spain or to that of Braganza or to that of Parma is nothing to this purpose It hath wearied the reasoning of the greatest Polititians for threescore yeares and finally hath ended in a generall revolt of Portugal and a bloody War Certainly although such as are most jealous of the growth of Spaine will vote for the House of Braganza and that of Parma the question is not without difficulty But France hath a further pretence to the Kindom of Portugal for which we must remount higher Alphonsus the II King of Portugal had two Sons Sanchez the II surnamed Capel and Alphonsus Sanchez raigned after his Father but with small vigour and was despised by his subjects Alphonsus living then in the Court of St Lewis where he received much honour as being his kinsman by Blanch of Castilia the Kings Mother By his meanes he married Mahaut of Dampmartin Widow to a Prince of the blood an 1235. and by her had Children The people of Portugal weary of their King Sanchez desired Alphonsus to come home and take the tuition of the State which he did leaving his wife Mahaut in France And his Brother being degraded and himselfe made King he forgot his wife and children in France and married Beatrix naturall Daughter of Alphonsus the IX King of Castilia who gave her for her portion the Kingdom of Algarba Because his first wife was living that 2d marriage was accounted unlawful yea Alphonsus was excommunicated for it by Pope Alexander the IV. and hated by all the Princes and Mahaut coming into Spain made a heavy complaint against him Who was so hardened in that sin that he protested that if a hundred wives would have him he would marry them all Yet being a great Warriour and a wise and prosperous King he maintained himself by the love of his subjects insomuch that Mahaut being dead the Bishops of Portugal obtained his absolution of Urban the IV. and the confirmation of that second marriage
frontiers of Spain the Duke de l' Infantasqua and the Cardinall of Burgos came to receive her in the Abbey of Roncevaux which was in Navarra There King Antony protested that the Queen was not delivered upon the frontires of Spain but in the heart of his own Kingdom that none should believe hereafter that Roncevaux did belong to the King of Spain Under Charles the IX All this reign past among civill confusions about Religion and scarce any dispute was between the two Crowns Yea Philip furnisht Charles many times with Forces to subdue his Protestant subjects Only these things are to be remembred for our purpose 1. After the first peace with the Protestants an 1564 Charles made a progress about his Kingdom and saw his sister Elizabeth Queen of Spain at Bayonne There the Queen-mother had an earnest and secret conference with the Duke of Alba. It is thought they agreed about a mutuall assistance between the two Crowns against the Protestants of France and Netherlands for in that year 1565. they began to stir in those Dominions of the Spaniard Philip assisted Charles with some Troops which kindness Charles could not return the fire being kindled in all the parts of his Kingdom 2. An. 1566. two things were near to have made a breach between the two States Bertrand de Montlue whom his Father in his Commentaries calleth Captaine Peyrot seeing peace in France undertakes to make some conquest upon the Sea comes to the Isle of Madera subject to Portugal and desiring to take water is repulsed with Canon-shot upon which he makes a descent into the Iland with strong hand besiegeth the Town takes it but is slain in that exploit A complaint is made of this to Philip as Uncle to the King of Portugal as an infraction of the Treaty in which Portugal was comprehended Philip incenseth Charles against his own subjects about this but the Admiral appeaseth Charles shewing that it was but a mis-understanding among private persons Another businesse of that nature was that of Gourgues Dominique de Gourgues was a Captain of Gascony who in the Wars of Italy had been taken by the Spaniards and ill used in prison To be avenged of them he went to Florida in the West-Indies besieged the Fort which the Spaniards kept there takes it by force kills or hangs all the Souldiers then returnes into France Of this Philip makes high complaint unto Charles and Gourgues was in great danger of his life but he was protected by the Admirall of Chastillon a Protestant and an enemy to the Spaniards He represented unto the King that it was an Act of private revenge Also that a llttle before Melander a Spanish Captaine nad expelled out of the same Fort in Florida John Rebaut of Diepe with five hundred French-men whom he had killed or hanged every man with this inscription Not as to French-men but as to Lutherans The wisest French Historians affirm and so did Gourgues himselfe That not any private revenge but the desire to punish that horrible treachery and murther upon his Country-men made him undertake and atchieve that high enterprise An. 1570. Charles married Elizabeth daughter to the Emperour Maximilian a vertuous Princess much beloved of her Husband Shortly after Philip married another daughter of the same Emperour This double affinity did confirm the friendship betwixt the two Crowns Under Henry the III. Henry the III. returning out of Poland an 1574. passeth through Vienna where he is wel received by the Emperour Maximilian although one of his Sons had been Henries competitor for the Crown of Poland Yea the Emperour gave him wholsome counsels for settling peace in his State An. 1577. The Protestants of Netherlands being opprest by the Spaniard and little helped by Matthias brother to the Emperour Rodolphus whom both Papists and Protestants had chosen for the expulsion of the Spaniard the States of those Provinces called Francis Duke of Alanson the French Kings brother who in his way thither made himselfe Master of the City of Cambray but being ill used by the Dutch he returned home without doing any thing But in the yeare 1583. he came againe with the title of Duke of Brabant and Count of Flanders but he made no long stay there having made a malicious attempt upon Antwerp and other Towns and returning full of shame he dyed at Chasteau Thierry an 1584. These enterprises of the Duke of Alanson bred great jealousies between the two Crowns and were taken for a breach of the peace Wherfore also Philip assisted the League of France against the Royal house with great eagernesse An. 1579. Sebastian King of Portugal being dead in Africa Philip King of Spain got the Kingdom an 1580. Among his Competitors was Antony bastard of Lewis Prince Constable of Portugal but pretending himselfe a lawfull Son as legitimated by the Pope Antony expelled by Philip retired into England where finding no countenance he passeth into France agreeth with Katherine the Queen-mother who as I shewed in the third Chapter had great pretences to the Crown of Portugal and for some Lands in Portugal which he promiseth her she gives him helpe and raiseth an Army of French-men under Peter Strozzi They go to the Terceras where some Ilands hold for Antony where they had very ill success That enterprise exasperated Philip very much so that he was one of the first that signed the League Some think it began at the death of the Duke of Alanson when none remained of all the house of Valois but Henry the III who had no Children and was not like to have any and the house of Bourbon saving onely the old Cardinall of Bourbon was Protestant or favourer of Protestants This encouraged the Spaniard to trouble the State of France and the house of Guise to set up for themselves under pretence of zeal of Religion Paragraphe VIII From the death of the Duke d'Alanson 1584. to the Treaty of Vervins 1598. This date comprehends the end of Henry the III. and the beginning of Henry the IV. Under Henry the III. Without examining the severall designes of the Beague this onely we must know that after the death of the Duke of Alanson the Duke of Guise having formed the League made a Treaty with Philip the II of Spain at Joinville whereby Philip promist him a monthly pension of fifty thousand Crowns to foment the League which being not openly against the King but after the killing of the Guises at Blois and the King himselfe having entred into the League under the title of Holy league against the Heretiques the animosities and designes of the King of Spain against the State of France were not plainly detected under this raigne Under Henry the IV. Here the League did rage and civill War was in all parts of France In these troubles Philip had a great hand and Henry being once acknowledged King was eeven with him and powerfully Warred against him But these things must be seen in order Henry the III being stabbed an
A VIEW Of the Differences between FRANCE AND SPAIN IN Which is Shown THE PRESENT POSTURE OF THE Affaires OF EUROPE English't by a Person of Honour LONDON Printed for H. Herringman and Sold by Jos Knight and Far. Saunders at the Blew Anchor in the Lower-Walk of the New-Exchange 1684. A CHARACTER OF this Worke. THis is the Map of the present interesses of Princes the quintessence of the History of five or six Ages and of as many Kingdoms the State-resolve of a deep and consummate Polititian perfected by the perusing of many Volums of Histories and by the experience of many years I am inclined to believe that these were private Notes of some great Statesman gathered for readiness in his publique employments And that they were publisht without his name makes me suspect that they came out without his leave Howsoever this is a Treasure for all that desire to know the world and penetrate into the infide of businesses a help of memory for them that have read many Histories and an ease of labour for such as want leisure to read them The true case of the businesses which are at this time between the two Houses of France and Austria PREFACE THe two Houses of France and Austria are the greatest and most important of Christendom and such as draw to their motion all the other Crowns Between these two Houses there hath been many Warres Alterations Treaties Truces and Peaces since the rising of that of Austria of which we may assigne the beginning at the marriage of Maximilian Son to the Emperor Frideric 3. with Mary the inheritrice of Charles the last Duke of Burdundy Prince of the seventeen united Provinces of Netherland dead before Nancy in the year 1477. For the intellience of all their Divisions Truces and Alliances I frame this discourse which shall consist of five Chapters In the first The whole state of Europe shall be set down the severall Princes thereof their Religion and what neighbourhood and dependance they have among themselves In the second It shall be examined by what degrees the House of Austria is entred into the Empire and into all those great estates which she now enjoyeth by her two Branches of Spain and Germany In the third The differences between the two Crowns shal be discuss'd what right the House of France hath in Catalonia Portugal Navarra Naples Milan c. Also what claim the House of Austria hath to Burgundy Brittain Provence c. These are those disputable Rights which have begot so many Divisions and Wars between the Princes and an unreconcilable hatred between the Nations In the fourth Chapter The businesses shall be presented which past between the two Kingdoms from the Treaty of Arras in the year 1435. to the Treaty of Vervins in 1598. Wars Battels Treaties Truces and Peaces The fifth shall relate all that past from the Treaty of Vervins till now CHAP. I. The Princes that govern Europe Paragraphe I. EUrope the least of the three parts of the world known to the ancient Geographers and the most Northerly but the most populous and that within which almost all Christendom is comprehended hath on the South the Mediterranean Sea and part of the Ocean and begins at the Cap St. Vincent in the extremity of Portugal in the Kingdom of Algarba near the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea begins which takes several names as it toucheth upon severall Provinces as Spain France Italy Sicily Greece The Isle of Candie is the utmost of Europe that way and it is divided from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea Eastward ascending to the North Europe is bounded again by the Mediterranean Sea under the names of the Aegean Sea called now Archipelago Hellospont now Burdanelles or the Strait of Gallipoli Propontis now Mar de Marmora Bosphorus Thracius now the Strait of Constantinople Pontus Euxinus now the black Sea or Mar major Higher it is bounded by Meotides Paludes and the River Tanais now Don remounting to its spring And thenceforward a line is imagined drawne to the North butting either at the Golph of St. Nicholas or some such other place thereabout in the great Duke of Moscovia's Country for that nothern Tract unknown to ancient Geographers is yet so little knowne that the limits of Europe that way could never be well assigned On all the East-side Europe neighboureth upon the great Asia and is Occidentall to it On the North-side ancient Geograhpers have set no limits to Europe but have comprehended these Nothern extremities either under the name of Hyperborean hills although there be no hills in that Tract or under the name of Mare Glaciale or the frozen Sea which we may take from the Golph of St. Nicolas or the mouth of the River Oby unto the Sea which is about Norway and Finmarch and so towards the Isles of Freezland and Island On that side Europe buts upon the Pole and is not near any considerable Lands some few Ilands onely ill inhabited as Nova Zembla and Niewland On the West-side Europe hath the great Ocean from the Iles of Freesland and Is-land to the Cap of St. Vincent which is the extremity of Portugal And that Ocean takes divers names according to the divers Countries that it toucheth as the Britannique Ilands Norway Denmark Germany Holland Zeland Flanders the Strait of Calais the coasts of Normandy Brittain Poitou Saintonge Guienne the golph of Bayonne the coasts of Biscay Gallicia Portugal Algerke to the Cap St. Vincent These are the limits and as it were the four walls which inclose all that is comprehended under the name of Europe The length whereof may be taken from the Cap St. Vincent to the golph S. Nicholas or the mouth of the River Oby which is two thousand French common leagues or as far north-ward as one will The breadth from Morea towards the Isle Cythera to the North towards Finmarch and Lapland which is twelve of fifteen hundred leagues A more exact description of the Topography of each Country is not for this place Here only we will enumerate the States contained within that extent and that but in the great as much as is necessary to understand that which belongs to the two Houses of France and Austria the most considerable of Europe of Christendom at least We shall be begin that enumeration by the West and from thence passing to the East we shall turn to the North and there end Paragraphe II. The first Prince on the West of Europe is the King of Spain who beares the name of the House of Austria besides that which he hath in Africa and in the East and West Indies Besides a number infinite of Ilands Caps Havens from the Isles Azores to the Cap of good hope and from that Cap to the extremity of the East towards the Molukes and Philippine Ilands 1. That which he holds in Europe is comprehended in that Peninsula enclosed within the Ocean the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenean hills under several names of
Kingdomes as we shall say in the following Chapter And these distinguisht into three general Jurisdictions of Castilia Arragon and Portugal It is true that since the late Wars the revolts of Portugal and Catalonia have clipt so much of his Domtnions and the French have taken from him the County of Roussillon 2. Upon the coasts of Spain he possesseth the two Baleares Mallorca and Minorca and the two Ilands in old time called Ophiusae now Ivica and Fromentera 3. In Italy he hath all the Kingdom of Naples which is almost the half of it and the most Easterly part from Cajeta or Fondi to the golph of Tarento and the Strait of Messina 4. In the same Italy he hath the Dutchy of Milan with the territories of Pavia Tortona Cremona c. 5. Upon the coasts of the Tuscan Sea he hath Final Piombino Porto Hercule and Orbitello Of late the Prince of Monaco hath shaken off his yoak In Toscana the great Duke of Florence doth him homage for the Common-wealth of Siena and oweth him service 6. In that Sea about Italy he hath the Isles of Sardinia and Sicily and is soveraign of the Isle of Malta which the old Geographers reckon among the African Ilands The great Master of that Iland oweth him some homage for it 7. In the Celtique Gaule he hath the Franche County or the County of Burgundy and in the Dutchy of Burgundy he hath the County of Charrolois 8. In the Belgique Gaule he hath possest till the end of the last age all that was comprehended under the name of the seventeen Provinces He keeps to this day the Dutchies of Luxemburg Limburg the Dutchy of Brabant but pared about by the losse of Maestritcht the Bose Breda and Bergupzom part of the Dutchy of Guelders the Counties of Namur Hainant Artois and Flanders all maimed with the losse of some limbs by our late Wars Also the Marquisat of the holy Empire which is Antwerp and the Principality of Mechlen The remnant of these seventeer Provinces is in the hand of the States of the united Provinces besides that which the King of France hath taken In all that large extent of Lands the Spaniard suffereth the exercise of no Religion but the Roman Though he go for a great soveraign yet many of his Lands depend from oâ— other Princes The See of Rome hath great pretences upon the soveraignty of Arragon He acknowledgerh without contradiction the soveraignty of the Church over his Kingdom of Naples Yet it is pretended that he oweth the same homage for Sicily For the Dutchy of Milan and other Lands which he holds in Italy he must acknowledge the Empire from which he hath received the investiture of the same Franche County is an imperiall fee as also the Provinces of Netherland not depending of France did owe homage to the Empire And in the year 1608. when the truce was made between Spain and Holland these two States disputing of their soveraignty in the first Article the Emperour Rodolphus framed an opposition against that Article and claimed the soveraignty as belonging to the Empire but the Treaty past without any reflection to that claim Finally although the Spaniard acknowledge our Kings no more neither for Flanders nor for Artois it is not well resolved yet by what right he hath shaken off the yoak and the French pretend that the Treaties of Madrid Cambray and Crespy in Valois which contain that cession have not been authorized by the generall States of France The King of Spain being possessor of such a great extent of Lands is a neighbor to most of the Christian Princes as will be shewed more at large in the second Chapter and hath alwaies some difference with them The now King of Spain is Phillip the IV. of the Roman Religion Paragraphe III. Here we will look upon the King of France whose state is comprehended in the old Gally Narbonensis Aquitanica Celtica and Belgica yet doth he not possess them all the whole Narbonensis belongs to him excepting Avignon Nice Savoy Geneva and Orenge The whole Aquitanica is his since the small principality of Bearn which with small reason hath been pretended to be soveraign in her Rights and Customs hath been united to the Crown and began to have the same Prince by the coming of Henry the fourth to the Crown The whole Celtica belongs likewise to the King of France excepting onely the Franch County and the imperial Town oâ— Besancon Of the Belgica the King of France hath the least part The I le of France Pays de Caux Boulonnois Picardi Beau-voisis Champagne Brie And by good or bad title the Towns of Mets Thoul and Verdun of which in the first invasion he declared himselfe Protector onely By the late Wars he hath made himself Master of most part of Lorrain of the Town of Brisach and of other Towns of Alsatia beyond the Rhine The subjects of the King of France are commonly Roman Catholiques yet Protestants are tolerared in the State The King of France is neighbouring upon Spain by the Pyrencan hills On that side the French and the Spaniards have not much troubled one another but of late yeares in which the French have unfortunately attempted Spain about Fontarabie but fortunately about Roussillon and Catalonia But about the Low Countries and Franche County which lie open to both the Nations there hath been much stir and action On the side of Provence and Daulphine the Duke of Savoy is neighbour to France for Savoy and Piemont joyn to the foresaid Provinces The County of Avignon belonging to the Pope is inclosed within Provence By Daulphine the French touch the Common-wealth of Geneva By the Country of Bresse and the Bailliages of Gez and Verromey they enter within Switzerland into the Canton of Berne By Champagne they have the Duke of Lorraine for their neighbour but now they are possest of his Country So all their neighbours are weak the King of Spain excepted The present King of France is Lewis the XIV of the Roman profession Paragraphe IV. In this Paragraphe we will set downe all the Princes contained within the ancient Gaules besides the King of France 1. In Gallia Narbonensis the Duke of Savoy holds the Dutchie of Savoy the Countries of Chablais and Tarantaise and the Towne of Chambery and upon the Sea coast neare the River of Var the Town and County of Nice which was sometimes a member of Provence and being upon the River of Var it is partly in France partly in Italy 2. The Pope holds the County of Venaissyn or Avignon an ancient member of Provence with the four Bishopricks belonging to it Avignon Carpentras Cavaillon and Vezon There also is Orenge belonging to the House of Nassau 3. The City of Geneva with her Territory made her selfe a soveraign Common-wealth about the year 1535. when the Duke of Savoy the Bishop of Geneva and the City being in contention about their right the Citizens changed Religion forced the Bishop to
fly and shut their Gates against the Duke of Savoy But indeed that Towne and all the other States were pieces depending from the Empire But the Emperours power being by succession of time confined within Germany onely retain almost nothing out of it but the shade of their ancient authority 4. In the Celtique Gaule Franch County belongs to the King of Spain 5. The City of Besancon inclosed within Franch County is an imperial City 6. Then many little soveraign Princes the chiefe of them the thirteen Cantons of the Suitzers inclosed within the Alpes between Franch County and the Rhine Of them four are Protestants Berne which alone is almost as large as all the others Basel Zurick and Schaffouse which is a Town beyond the Rhine Seven Catholique as they style themselves two greater Friburg and Soleurre and the five little Cantons Uri Switz Underwall Lucerne and Zough and two halfe Catholick half Protestants Glaris and Appenzel All these Common-wealths making one body of State have their Associates the Abbot of Saint Gall the commonalties of Valley and the Bishop of Sion with some other Towns and beyond the Rhine the three Leagues of the Grisons 7. To these adde many pieces about the Rhine which are held to be parts of Germany as the County of Montbeliard which the Kings of France have bought of late years of the Dukes of Wirtinberg Alsatia beyond the Rhine which did belong to the House of Austria and consisteth of imperial Towns and other Towns which the King of France now holds Then the Palatinate on this side of the Rhine which is now partly in the hands of the Spaniards partly in that of the King of France and the Protestants 8. The Dutchy of Lorrain which before acknowledged the Duke is now almost altogether in the King of Frances his hands 9. The principality of Liege is depending from the Bishoprick thereof 10. The Dutchy of Juliers and great part of the Dutchy of Cleves now divided between the Dukes of Newburg and the Marquess of Brandenburg 11. The Arch-bishoprick of Treues on both sides of the River of Mosella 12. The seventeen Provinces of Netherland four of which are Dutchies Brabant Luxembourg Limbourg and Guelderland They belong to the Spaniard part of Guelderland excepted and some Towns of Brabant the Marquisat of the holy Empire which is the Town of Antwerp Seven Counties Namur Hainault Artois Flanders These four are in the hands of the Spaniard excepting that which the French hold in Artois and Hainault and the sluce and other places which the Hollanders hold in Flanders The three other Counties are Zeland Holland and Zutphen There are five Lordships more Mechlen which the Spaniard holds and Utrecht Overissell West-Friesland and Groning which are possest by the Hollanders All these are commonly called the seventeen Provinces of Netherlands and the Belgique Gaule although some of them be out of the extent of Gaule and beyond the Rhine as Overissel Friesland Groning and part of Guelderland All these estates containâ—ed within the extent of Gaule are of no great importance neither are they able to resist the French excepting those that are in the hand of the Spaniard or protected by the Empire To these Cambray must be added an Imperiaâ— and Archi-episcopal Town held by the Spaniard Paragraphe V. Here let us enumerate all the Princes contained in that great Peninsula called Italy between the golph of Venice the coasts of Genoa Toscana Naples the golph of Tarento the Jonique Sea and the Alpes Within that extent there are many Princes the most considerable are six 1. The King of Spain holds the Kingdome of Naples the Dutchy of Milan with some places upon the Sea coast and the soveraignty of the Town of Siena 2. The Pope with the Church of Rome besides the soveraignty over Naples and Parma holds in proper dominion above three hundred miles in length and a hundred in breadth beginning from Caieta to Ferrara and to the Country of the Venetians He possesseth the whole Latium commonly call'd Campagna di Roma where the City of Rome stands part of Toscana with the Territory of St Peter the Towns of Perousa Viterbo Orvietta the Dutchy of Spoleto where Marca d' Ancona is seated the Dutchy of Urbin lately devolved to the See of Rome by the extinction of the family of the Roveros which held it in fee the Towns of Bolonia and Ravenna the Dutchy of Ferrara returned to the Church under Pope Clement the VIII an 1598. by the extinction of the lawfull males of the family of Est Also in the Kingdom of Naples the Dutchy and Towne of Renevent In these Countries there is above fifty Bishopricks and above a million and a halfe of inhabitants 3. The Common-wealth of Venice possesseth besides the city of Venice seated within the Marshes of the Mediterranean Sea within the continent of Italy Histria a Peninsula the Countries of Friuli called in old time Forum Julii Padua Vicenza Verona Brixia Bergumo and out of Italy from Histria to the Common-wealth of Ragousa almost all that is on that coast of the golph of Venice where the Towns of Zara Sebennico Spalato Cataro And every were Venice bordereth upon the House of Austria and shareth with it the Countries of Dalmatia and Slavonia In the Mediterranean sea Venice holds the Iles of Corfou Zante Cephalenia Cerigo and the great Iland of Candy now disputed to them by the Turk and even before the Turks invasion Candy called it self a soveraign Common-wealth acknowledging for their head Francisco Erizzo of an ancient family In the year 1470. one of his Ancestors being Governour of the Isle of Negrepont was taken by the Turks and sawed in two contrary to the faith given to him 8. The great Duke of Toscana is possest with the estate of three ancient Commonwealths Pisa Florence and Siena his Territories run along the coasts of the Toscan Sea where he hath also the Isle of Elva The now Duke is Ferdinand II. 9. The Common-wealth of Genoa possesseth almost all that which is comprehended under the name of Riviera di Genoa and Liguria They hold also the Iland of Corsica 6. The Prince of Piemont is the same as the Duke of Savoy He holds in Italy Valdosta Vercellois Piemont the Marquisat of Salluces The now Duke is Charles Emanuel Besides these six considerable Princes there are some of a lower forme The Duke of Mantua whose Country is compast by the Venetians on the one side and the Dutchy of Malan and the River of Po on the other The Duke of Modena and Rhegio which is an imperial Fee held by the remnants of the family of Est or Atestini The Duke of Parma and Placentia who besides that Fee of which he was invested by Pope Paul the III. hath or claimeth as a proper inheritance of the house Farnesi the Dutchy of Castro in Toscana near Rome out of which he was lately expelled by the Pope The County of Mirandola held by the family of Pici.
comprehended indeed all the West and herein the Gaules That Empire was made up of the ruine of many Nations by right or wrong Howsoever long prescription and the consent of Nations with the extinction of the royall Families made up a reasonable right which continued in the Roman Emperours till the year of Christ 400 when by the inundation of many Northern Nations Goths Vandales Franks and others the whole Empire was dismembred and the severall Conquerors of each part made themselves Soveraign So did the Franks in Gaules A beginning not to be excused of violence and usurpation But the ruine of the Romans prescription and the consent of the conquered people did since authorize their dominion and towards the end of the first age of these invasions they were all justified and the Conquerours remained just possessours especially when the Roman Empire ended in Augustulus An. 475. And when Charlemagne restored the Western Empire an 800. that promotion did not alter the former Title he had to the Kingdome of France It was but a Title of honour which he and after him his Sonne Lewis the Meek possest with that of King of France Afterwards by the partage made An. 843. between the Sons of Lewis the Meek each of the three brothers had his portion independent from the others and Lothary the Eldest who had the Title of Emperour pretended no right over Charles the Bald who had France for his Portion much as it is now Since which time all that would ascribe any Superiority to the Emperours over the Princes of Christendom that are acknowledged Soveraign have with good reason bin hissed out as ridiculous Only the precedence was left to the Emperour as the eldest among the brethren But the subjection which he yields to the Pope and the small right which he retains over the Lands and Princes of the Empire weaken his authority very much and make it unworthy of that precedence over all the Princes of Christendom Wherefore he doth not stir those antient pretences over all the Kingdomes of the West 2. Some Germane Historians as Trithemius Lazius Munster Fiesdorpius make the house of Habsburg which is that of Austria to descend from the first race of the French Kings a fable invented since 120. years and newly taken up again by the flatterers of that house Especially by Fiesdorpius a name either true or forged by the Spaniards To understand this we must know that the Kingdom of France was often divided into Tetrarchies under the first race Kings of Paris of Orleans of Soissons and Mets. In the last of these Brunehault reigned with great power that abominable woman so much renowned in our Histories which confounded and destroyed that house by her ordinary murthers That State of Mets being fallen into the hands of two brothers Thierry and Theodebert who contended for it Therry joyning with his Grandmother Brunchault overcame Theodebert in battell and put him cruelly to death And by Brunehaults order the two Sons of Theodebert were slain in her presence This Tragedy was acted An. 617. But these Historians to flatter the house of Austria say that of these two Sons of Theodebert the one called Sigebert escaped the hands of his great Grandmother and fled into Germany to Godfrey and Genebald Dukes of Franconie his Uncles by the Mother by whose intercession he obtained of Lothary King of France his Cosin some lands in Switzerland upon condition that he should renounce all his rights to the Crown of France That he or his Son or one of his more remote descent built the Castle of Habsburg and founded that family And upon that account the house of Austria descends from that of France That relation is a blind tale for all antient Historians affirm that both the Sons of Theodebert and he had no more were slain by Brunehault And the first that mentions that escape of Sigebert is Trithemius who lived about six score yeares ago And as it is false it is ridiculous in the ordinary vicissitude of the affairs of the world and the continuall changes of Possessions to set up Titles after an interruption of a thousand years For upon that account there is no Prince in Europe but may be degraded and no mean man but may be intitled to some principality It is with great reason that the Title of prescription is every where preferred before all Titles And though the tale were a true story that Rodolphus of Habsburg the head of the house of Austria was descended from the Family of Habsburg by the women his masculine extraction was from the house of Tiestein So this pretence is so ridiculous that it is not worth speaking 3. The branch of the house of Valois hath continued from male to male from Pphilip de Valois who came to the Crown An. 1328 to the death of Henry the Third An. 1589. males failing in that branch the Crown by the fundamental laws of the Land was to pass to the next branch of the Males which was that of Bourbon and so did in the end A Title so known to all the French that even in the heat of the War of the League against the house of Bourbon as professing a contrary Religion yet they crowned the Cardinal of Bourbon and called him Charles the Tenth In these confusions Philip the Second King of Spain seeing the party of the League inclined to the Election of a King claimed the Kingdom for his Daughter Clara Eugenia Isabella as Daughter of Elizabeth of France his third wife sister and Heir of the three last Kings Francis II. Charles IX and Henry III. and of Francis Duke of Alenson the eldest of three Sisters of which the Second was Claude married to Charles Duke of Lorrain and the third was Queen Margaret wife to Henry the Fourth then only titular King of Navarra He alleadged then that representation being a good Title by the Laws of France his Daughter entred into all the rights of her Mother Elizabeth which should have inherited of her brothers and that her right extended even to the Crown as the Patrimony of her Family That the pretended Salique Law of the French was imaginary yea and against Nature against Humanity and the right of Political successions which require that all Inheritances may go to the next Heirs And though that Law had force among the French that his Daughter being not a subject nor borne in France could not be tied by these municipall Laws That between Soveraigns the Law of Nature not the particular Laws of Nations should be the rule That all Laws of Nature reject this principle that the successions should be for males only as though females were unreasonable creatures or the excrements and sweepings of mankind and no part of human society When the States of the League were assembled in Paris An. 1593. some unadvised anâ— rash heads moved the Election of a King and the excluding of the house of Bourbon whicâ— stirred the Parliament to make that famouâ— Arrest
for the maintaining of the Saliqu◠Law to which the wisest of the League yielded Philip the II. of Spain in that Assembl◠of the States set up his Daughters Title an◠presented her to be Queen But presently perceiving the weaknesse of that Title and th◠aversion of the French from the Government of a woman he offered to marry her either with a Prince of the house of Austria or with one of the House of Lorraine Whos◠imaginary rights were at the same tim◠pleaded And to strengthen all these rights he said that the Election by the State would supply all defects in the Right o◠succession It appeared that Philip acknowledged th◠weaknesse of his Daughters right since h◠presented her to be elected The Salique Law is fundamentall in France wisely instituted and observed twelve hundred years together As for Philips allegation that Princes are not to be tied by municipall Laws but by th◠Laws of Nature it is utterly false For in th◠discussion of the rights of all Soveraigns the municipall Lawes are alwaies examined and none can have right to an Estate from which he is excluded by the Law of the Land The decision of all suits for Estate is taken out of the customes of the Land where the Estate lyeth but where those customes written or unwritten are wanting the case is to be decided by reason onely The French think they have both Law and Reason on their side Howsoever that Isabella in whose favour that Right was set up dyed childlesse an 1633. Whose right if she had any should be devolved since to the Children of her second sister Katherine wife to Charles Emanuel Duke of Savoy from whom all the House of Savoy that now is is descended 4. Besides these imaginary Rights to the whole Kingdom the Empire hath a weake pretended right to some parts of it Whereupon we must observe That by the partage between the Sons of Lewis the Meek 843. all the Countries that lye between the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone and the Alpes viz. Provence Daulphine Savoy and Franch County remained Imperial Lands And the French Kings in the second Race yea and very far in the third Race pretended nothing to them till Daulphine came to them in the time of Philip de Valois and Provence in the time of Lewis the XI And that part of the Empire being held by Lothary the eldest Son of Lewis the Meek and after him by his Son Lewis the Young who dyed without Heirs Male a State was erected in favour of his Daughter Hermengard between these two Rivers and the Alpes which was called the Kingdom of Arles or the second Kingdome of Burgundy which continued under its proper Kings whose pedegree was fully described by the Historian Du Chesne unto the death of Rodolphus the last King who dying without issue an 1036. left his Estate to the Emperour Conrad the II surnamed the Salique who had married his sister Grisel or as some say was his Nephew by her By that gift besides the antient pretence of the Empire upon that Kingdome at least for the soveraignty the Emperours became Masters of the same both by soveraignty and propriety and annext it to the Empire At which time the Arch-bishop of Treves tooke the name of Chancellor per regnum Arelatense But the Authority of the Emperours coming to a great decay out of Germany especially during the Warres betweene the Emperour Henry the IV. and the Popes four Principalities were framed in that Kingdom of Arles of the Counts of Provence the Dolphins of Viennois the Counts of Moriurre called since Dukes of Savoy and the Counts of Burgundy which without question depended from the Empire as long as there was any vigour in it But time hath worne out that title and prescription is past upon it not to be broken and the old title revived unless the Emperour will together question most part of the Principalities of Italy and the East and North Gaules Of these four Principalities that of Savoy subsisteth to this day Franch County is fallen to the House of Flanders and so to the house of Austria Daulphiné was given to Philip de Valois by Imbert Dolphin about the yeare 1343. And Provence to Lewis the XI an 1482. by Charles Count of Maine Heir to René King of Naples and Duke of Anjou All these changes and gifts as for the propriety only the Soveraignty being still pretended by the Emperours which they may well be accounted to have lost by weaknesse desertion and by prescription as many other Principalities at this side of the Rhine Besides the French Histories relate that in the year 1377. the Emperour Charles the IV being come into France to visit King Charles the V gave to his God-son Charles who since was Charles the VI the right which the Emperours pretended in Daulphiné which was no great gift And Theodorick à Niem an Historian of that age saith That the same Emperour being come to Avignon to visit the Pope gave to Lewis Duke of Anjou brother to Charles the V. of France the whole Kingdome of Arles which had been under the jurisdiction of the Empire in recompence of the magnificent entertainment which the said Lewis gave him at Villeneufue near Avignon So all these Rights of the Empire are lost either by prescription or donation These are all the rights that can be imagined to be pretended by the Emperours and the House of Austria upon the Soveraignty of France Paragraphe II. Of the Rights pretended upon Provence Let us now examine some pretences of the House of Austria upon some Dutchies and other Dominions in France beginning at Provence 1. I shewed before how Provence before the partage betweene the Sons of Lewis the Meek a fundamental and famous Date in our History was part of the Kingdome of France And when it was divided into Tetrarchies it was a member of the Kingdom of Mets Austrasia or Burgundy But when before that famous division all France was reunited in the second Race under these two great Princes Pepin and Charlemagne Provence was a part of it 2. By the partage betweene the Sonnes of Lewis the Meek Provence with all that was beyond the Rivers of Rhosne and Saone was cut off from the portion given to Charles the Bald and was since called the Kingdome of Arles All these pieces given to Lothary the eldest brother were called the Empire and Imperial grounds and to this day the Lands beyond the Rhone towards Italy are called Terres d' Empire Lands of the Empire and the Lands at this side Terres de France French Lands Since that partage the Emperours have alwayes pretended a Soveraignty to those Countries a right strengthened by the donation made of the propriety of it to the Emperour Conrad the Salique by his Uncle or Brother in law Rodolphus the last King of Burgundy 3. Lewis the II. Emperour Son to that Lothary left but one Daughter called Hermengarda which being incapable of the Title of
be disputed since the consent of the whole Province did intervene and that in all publique businesses all private rights must bow and yield to the publique good Salus populi suprema lex esto 3. Besides ever since John of Montford by the battell of Auray An. 1364. remained Master of the Dutchy and excluded Jane his Gosen-German Wife to Charles de Blois objecting that she was a woman and that women vvere not capable Heirs of Estates of that nature Since that time I say it may be affirmed that Females were excluded from the succession of Britain And that if Anne Wife to the two Kings Charles the VII and Lewis the XII was admitted to it it was by toleration For by right after the death of Francis the last Duke the Dutchy was devolved to the Crown And truly Francis the last Duke by his great revolts had given sufficient cause to the Kings of France his Soveraigns to deprive him of his Estate 4. The French also may here set up the right of Aubeine which excludeth strangers admitted none but regnicolae inhabitants of the Kingdom to successions Which must especially be observed in great Estates and most of all in those that owe a liedge homage For whereas the Duke of Britain did owe personal service to the King how can a woman born in Spain tyed with blood and interesse unto a house alwaies jealous and often declared Enemy of the State of France perform that part of her duty to the Crown a duty absolutely necessary for the preservation of the body of the State unto which the establishing of all Fees must have regard 6. The French may deale besides with the house of Austria by right of represals For since that house withholds so many Dutchies and Counties from the Crown of France without any recompence or satisfaction they think not themselves bound to give ear to their pretences upon so little ground Second Point Of the third Chapter The pretences of the house of France upon that of Austria A Book was publisht An. 1634. intituled Inquisition of the rights of the King and Crown of France upon the Kingdoms Dutchies Countries Towns and Countries usurped by forraign Princes upon the most Christian Kings composed by Cassan the Kings Advocate in the Presidial of Beziers wherein all that we have to say of this matter is fully and curiously set down Which though we will but summarily relate yet we hope to adde somthing to it both for order and matter Wee will stand here only upon those rights which are disputed against the house of Austria and the Empire both because it is our present businesse and because all other claims are stale and of small importance All the pretences of the French upon the possessions of the house of Austria are either antient and almost worn out as the pretences upon Castilia Portugal Arragon Catalonia or later and important upon Dominions to which they maintaine their rights and claim them from time to time to hinder a prescription joyning to their claim active prosecution by armes Though I might omit those first pretences as too stale yet I will here set them down among the rest for the information of curious Readers All the pretences either new or old of the French upon the Spaniard are either within or without Spain In that Peninsula called Spain inclosed within the great Ocean the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees since the invasion of the Saracens an 713. there hath been a great number of petty States under the Title of Kingdomes Dutchies Counties c. into which that great Province was divided either by the Moores when they conquered the Land or by the Christians when they reconquered it and it is but a hundred and fifty yeares since there was yet five remarkable distinct soveraignties in Spain Castilia Arragon Navarra Portugal and Granada four of which Castilia Arragon Navarra and Granads were united by Ferdinand the Catholique Portugal came to the House of Austria an 1580. under Philip the II. for here I speake not yet of the revolt of the Portugais and Catalans which hath cut off two considerable limbs of that great body of which we will say more before we have done This is not a fit place to examine how these severall States were founded and how united as they are now We consider onely that there be six pieces within Spain upon which the French have pretences Castilia Portugal Navarra Arragon Catalonia and the County of Roussillon And out of Spain they claim a right to the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily the Dutchie of Milan the Common-wealth of Genoa and the Counties of Flanders and Artois Paragraphe I. Of the Kingdome of Castilia The Saracens Moores having invaded Spain an 713 were manfully opposed by two Catholique Princes Inigo Imenes surnamed Arista Count of Bigorre who conquered upon them part of the Pyrenees and founded the little Kingdom of Suprarba called afterward Navarra The other Prince was Don Pelagus Uncle or Cousin to King Rodriguez dispossest before by the Saracens This Prince founded a Kingdom towards Asturia called Gallicia or Leon or the Kingdom of Oviedo He and his Descendants and people stretching themselves towards the plains recovered the Country as farre as the Strait of Gibralter and built many Castles upon their Frontier to keepe out the Saracens Whence the Country was called Gastilia which remained under the subjection of the Kings of Oviedo till the year 896. when the Castilians incensed against their King Frocla who had usurped the State of his Nephews cantonned themselves and chose two soveraign Judges The two first were Nugno Rasuro and Flavio Galvo But about 40 years after an 939. Sanchez King of Oviedo and Leon made himselfe Master of Castilia and reunited it unto the Kingdom of Oviedo where it remained till Dom Sanchez surnamed the Great King of Navarra who had Castilia by his Wife made that famous partage between his three Sons giving Navarra to Garcias his eldest Son to Ferdinando Castilia and Leon and to Ramires his bastard Arragon That partage was about the yeare 1036. which is the date of the birth and distinction of those three States in Spain From that Ferdinand King of Castilia descended long after Alphonsus the IX the Father of three Children one Son called Henry and two Daughters Blanch and Berengera Henry reigned after his Father and dyed without issue Blanch was married to Lewis the VIII King of Frances and was mother of St Lewis Berengerae was married to Alphonsus the IX King of Leon After the death of Henry Blanch as the eldest was the undoubted Heir of Castilia and Beringera had no right to it being the yongest Yet because Beringera was within the Country and Blanch lived in France very sarre she seized upon the state and with it invested her Son Ferdinand although many of the Grandees opposed it standing for the right of Blanch which caused great troubles till St. Lewis to whom Castilia belonged after his
of which he had Children One of them and his successour was Denis Alphonsus being dead an 1279. From that Denis are descended all the Kings of Portugal to this day Some of the French Historians affirme that Mahaut had two Sons by Alphonsus in France the one that dyed young the other Robert from whom the whole House of the Counts of Bullen is descended which fell to Magdalen de la Cour wife to Laurens of Medicis by whom came Katherine de Medicis mother of the three late French King Francis the II. Charles the IX and Henry the III after whose death by the substitution set downe before in the contract betweene her and Henry the II the inheritance of Katherine came to her Daughter Queen Margaret first Wife to Henry the IV. That Queen made the Dolphin of France her Heir who since was Lewis the XIII When the dispute for the succession of Portugal was open after the death of Henry the Cardinal King an 1530 Katherine Queen of France among other pretenders to that Crown set forth her claim by Belloy Advocate Generall in the Parliament of Toulouse who pleaded that from the marriage of Alphonsus and Mahaut a Son was born called Robert and had succeeded in all his rights that Beatrix was the Concubine not the wile of Alphonsus and that the Pope could not legitimate Denis born of adultery to the prejudice of Robert the true Heir of Alphonsus Also that all the Kings that had reigned since Denis for three hundred years made no prescription because there can be no prescription for the right of Kingdoms That right being propounded to the Estates of Portugal was found too old and stale and injurious to all their Kings neither did they make any account of it Besides the Spanish Historians affirm that Alphonsus had no issue by Mahaut and that among the protestations which Mahaut made in Portugal against Alphonsus there is not one word of the injury which he did to her children which she would not have forgot if she had had any Yet that right may be defended by the testimony of the French Historians and by this true allegation that neither a bastard nor his Descent can prescribe against the lawfull Heirs Paragraphe III. Of the Kingdom of Navarra An. 713. when the Saracens invaded Spain Inigo Ximenes Arista Count of Bigorre gave a beginning to the little Kingdome of Suprarba within the Pyrenees which a while after having spread into the vales tooke the name of Navarra or Navierras which in old Spanish signifieth plain grounds It is certain that two generous Princes and great Catholiques resisted the Saracens in the very beginning of their invasion Pelagius towards the Astures which are Leon and Gallicia and this Ximenes Arista towards the Pyrenees though the date of the Conquests of this Ximenes be not so certain some Historians make him latter Upon which one may read the History of Navarra written by Favin 2. These Kings of Navarra in their beginings made many Conquests over the Saracens and that Family continued to Sanches the great who about the year 1035. shared all his Estates among his three Sons of whom the eldest Garcias had Navarra to whom many Kings succeeded till that State fell to the house of France by the marriage of Philip le Bel with Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Countesse of Campagn and Brie to whom Lewis Hutin King of France and Navarra succeeded in her Estates But he having no child but a daughter called Jane which could not be Queen of France he left her Navarra and so that State was soon separated from that of France That Jane married Philip of the Royall branch of Eureux 3. By that marriage the house of Navarro became a Royall French house but the nature of that Crown being to fall to women as the other States of Spain it passed not long after into the Family of Arragon by marriage and so again into the Family of Castilia and again into the Family of Foix after this manner 4. Charles the III. King of Navarre Grandchild to that Jane daughter to Lewis Hutin had one onely daughter called Blanch married to John Prince and afterwards King of Arragon From that marriage came Charles Prince of Viana who got a great but an ill renown in the Histories of Spain for making War to his Father and maintaining himself against him in his State after his mothers death That Prince of great learning and courage died a batchelour The two other children of John of Arragon and Blanch of Navarra were two daughters The eldest Blanch of Arragon who having been married with Henry the IV. King of Castilia surnamed the Impotent was separated from him by reason of his impotency and died without issue The other was Eleanor wife to Gaston the IV. Count of Foix who after the death of her Father Mother Brother and Sister succeeded to the Kingdom of Navarra and united it to the house of Foix. She enjoyed it but two months and a half and died An. 1469. Her eldest Son Gaston Prince of Viana being already dead and having left by his wife Magdalen daughter to Charles the VII of France two children Francis Phoebus who succeeded his Grandfather in the Kingdome of Navarra but enjoyed it but four years and died unmarried and Catherine de Foix who succeded him and married John d' Albret Son to Alen d' Abret a man of great note in Gascony but not of a soveraign house yet descended from that Amani d' Albret who in the time of Charles the V. of France married Magaret of Bourbon Sister to Jane Queen of France and raised his house to a great splendour by that royal alliance advanced much the party of the French against the English 5. John of Albret and Catherine de Foix had a Son called Henry who was King of Navarra and married Margaret Sister to Francis the first of France by whom he had Jane Inheritrix of Navarra Jane being married to Antony of Bourbon was by him Mother of Henry the IV. of France Father to Lewis the XIII and Grandfather to Lewis the XIV Thus that house of Navarra was united with two great houses in France yet not Royal that of Foix and that of Albret and after to the Royal house of Bourbon and became so powerfull in France that her possessions from these three houses much exceeded the Kingdome of Navarra Hence it is manifest how the last Kings of Navarra by the interesse of their Alliance and Estate were obliged to follow the party of France Now it hapned An. 1510. after that Lewis the XII had humbled the Venetians by the victory of Aignadel and brought terrour among all the Princes of Italy that Pope Julius the II. fell out with Lewis and prosecuted the quarrell with such animosity Lewis on the other side being as fierce as he that the contention grew almost into a Schism Julius excommunicated all that took part with Lewis and put an interdict as they call it upon
their Estates Lewis maintained himself against his fulminations both by an Assembly of his Prelates at Tours who cleared the obligations of the Kings conscience as his History speaks and especially by armes whereby he represt all the invaders of his State and put them to the defence of their own But John d' Albret and Catherine of Navarra were expelled from their State by Ferdinand the Catholique who making a shew to passe into Guienne to join with the English and seize upon the Kingdom of France by vertue of the Papall interdict suddenly turned upon Navarra and took it An. 1512. both because John d' Albret was united with the French King who was a rebell against the Church and an Enemy to the English with whom Ferdinand had alliance also because the Spaniards hold that there was a tacit agreement between the Kings of Spain not to suffer that any of the Spanish Crowns should fall into forrain hands or into houses not soveraign as those of Foix and Albret As the reason and pretence of that invasion was leight and groundlesse the French stand to their right to this day against that manifest invasion and hinder the prescription by arms Treaties and Protestations Paragraphe IV. Of the Kingdome of Arragon Cassan in his Book of the rights of the Crown of France with more zeal than judgement will ground those rights upon conquests 800. years old and antient expeditions of the French Kings into Spain where they took some Towns of Navarra Arragon and Catalonia not considering the many changes of successions in so many years The Conquests of Catalonia and Arragon by Charlemagne give to the French no more right there in these times than those of Caesar in France to the now Emperours The rights of the French over Arragon Catalonia Roussillon which have some ground may be reduced to two heads The first is how Charles Count of Anjou Brother to Saint Lewis was invested with the Kingdome of the two Sicilies against the children of the Emperour Friderick the II. Peter King of Arragon who had married Constance daughter to Manfred bastard of Frederick claiming that Kingdome from his wife made those bloody Sicilian Vespers An. 1281. An action which did incense the whole Christendome against that Peter well surnamed the cruell Pope Martin the IV. especially a Frenchman by Birth and affection who excommunicated Peter and put his Kingdome in interdict Not only by the general maxime of the Popes that in certain cases they have power over the temporals of Kings but because Arragon hath been of great antiquity a Fee of the Church of Rome So the Pope dealt with that perfidious King as Soveraign of Arragon To that purpose he sent a Legat into France which offered the Kingdome of Arragon to King Philip le Hardy for his Son Charles Count of Valois Whereupon Philip assembled the States Generall at Paris accepted the Popes gift and undertook the War against Peter took Arragon Gatalonia Valentia and invested his Son Charles with these Kingdomes paying five hundred Livers yearly to the See of Rome It is true that after these Conquests King Philip as he returned into France dyed at Perpignan and the French soon after lost all that Country Yet their right if they had any by the donation of the Pope remained as good as before But the Spaniards contradict that right saying that in the time of the greatest confusions about that quarrel a marriage was made between that Charles de Valois pretended King of Arragon and Margaret daughter to Charles the II King of Naples To which Margaret the Counties of Anjou and Maine were given for her portion which had been in the possession of Charles brother to St Lewis and by him united to the Kingdome of Naples with this proviso That though Margaret should die without issue Charles should possess these Counties yeelding all his right and claim to the Kingdome of Arragon which Charles did and so that great difference was ended The second head whence the claim of the French upon Arragon doth arise regards the second House of Anjou The second Son of King John of France was Lewis who was invested with the Dutchy of Anjou A Prince well known in Histories as he that was made regent of France in the Minority of Charles the VI. and after invested with the Kingdome of Naples by Queen Jane the first a right which he prosecuted and perisht in the prosecution But he left the title to his Children His Son Lewis the II married Yoland daughter to John the I. King of Arragon and of Yoland of Bar his wife The eldest sister of that Yoland wife to Lewis the II of Anjou which was Jane Countess of Foix being dead without issue and no childe remaining of John of Arragon but that Yoland Dutchess of Anjou she was the undoubted Heir of that State but her Uucle Martin Duke of Montblant seized upon it Lewis sent the Bishop of Couserans to represent his right And when after the death of Martin he would dispute his right by the sword he was perswaded to put the businesse to an arbitrement for the Peers and people of the Kingdome of Arragon had chosen arbitrators to umpire the businesse between Lewis and Martin and examine the claimes of other pretenders And though the Umpires were almost all Arragones they would not pronounce any thing so that quarrel remained undecided And after the death of two Martins Father and Son the Arbitration being renewed nine Arbitrators deferred the Kingdome to Ferdinand Brother to Henry the III. King of Castilia That sentence was confirmed by the Anti-pope Benedict the XIII who being forsaken almost by all the world had taken sanctuary in Arragon Against the nullity of that sentence the Children of Yoland Lewis the III of Anjou and René did protest Yea the Children of René make War in Arragon to recover it in the time of Lewis the XI of France but they were constrained to forsake all and Arragon remained with the usurpers unto this day Yet I see not that the French urge much that claim being somewhat too old to be now revived Paragraphe V. Of Catalonia The like may be said of Catalonia which is a great Province of Spain bounded on the East and South with the Mediterranean Sea and on the other sides with Valentia Arragon and Roussillon It was both before the Romans and under them part of Hispania Tarraconensis as Arragon and other Countries near the River of Ebro Since which time being conquered by the Gotths and Alans together it was called by them Gottalania which name was since corrupted to Catalaunia It was under the Kings of the Gotths till the invasion of the Saracens an 713. who made themselves Masters of it as of most part of Spain But Charlemagne took it from them and all the Country near the River of Ebro about the year 800. expelling Zaron the Moore out of Barcellona and put a French Garrison in it not long after he
the Counts of Catalonia How and in what time precisely I find not Onely I find that in the time of St Lewis Alphonsus his Brother Count of Toulouse and the King of Arragon being in suit about the County of Roussillon St Lewis was chosen Umpire as bearing himselfe for Soveraign of both who therefore ought to be their Judge and he did adjudge it to the King of Arragon against his own Brother It seems that holy King acknowledged the justice of their possession For as that County was united with that of Barcelonia it was held also by the same right Since the union of these with the Crown of Arragon it ran the same fortune with Arragon and was conquered by Philip le Hardy by vertue of the Interdict of Pope Martin the IV. Philip died at Perpignan and soon after all was lost and quited by Charles de Valois his second Son But of that right all the pretences of the house of Anjou upon Roussillon as upon Arragon and Catalonia the French themselves make no great account But upon Roussillon the French have a Title altogether singular John King of Arragon that lived in the time of Lewis the XI of France being in War with his subjects of Arragon and Catalonia as maintainers of his Son Charles Prince of Vienna and the true Heir of Navarra against him and finding his Subjects too hard for him as assisted by Henry King of Castilia desired Lewis the XI to assist him which he did with great might having sent him a good Army under the conduct of Charles d' Armagnao Duke of Nemours who confirmed the Crown to John and composed the difference between him and his Subjects At which time John engaged the County of Roussillon and the Town of Perpignan unto Lewis the XI for three hundred thousand Crownes which he borrowed of him Lewis notwithstanding many treacheries and attempts of the Arrogenese maintained himself in that Country and Charles the VIII his Son after him untill the design of the Conquest of Naples It was in the year 1492. that Charles the VIII began the enterprise of Naples And fearing least Ferdinand King of Arragon Son to that John would assist the house of Naples which was a branch of that of Arragon or should enter into France in his absence he returned unto him that County of Roussillon gratis not quitting but not demanding the three hundred thousand Crowns the King of Arragon having promist and sworn upon the holy Crosse and upon the Gospels that hee would serve the King against all his Enemies in that expedition of Italy The Governour of Perpignan did not yield but after many iterated commands seeing the importance of that restitution and fearing the infidelity of Arragon The French Historians blame James Maillert a Franciscan Frier Confessour to Charles the VIII saying he was won by Ferdinand to perswade the King to that restitution But Ferdinand instead of helping Charles in his expedition of Italy helped his Enemies in Italy and disturbed his enterprise of Naples Since which time the French have often redemanded that County as not redeemed with the three hundred thousand Crownes and represented that they were circumvented by Ferdinand but in vain till finally the sword hath done what reason and justice could not Perpignan being besieged and taken by Lewis the XIII of late years Thus of those six rights which the French pretend within the limits of Spain Those of Castilia Portugal and Arragon are old and stale That of Navarra is in its full force by their ordinary protestations That of Catalonia and Roussillon are no more pretended rights the French having the real possession of them Paragraphe VII Of the Kingdom of Naples Out of the limits of Spain the French have three great pretences upon the house of Austria 1. Upon the Kingdom of Naples 2. Upon the Dutchy of Milan and the Common-wealth of Genoa 3. Upon the Counties of Flanders Artois Because they pretend that these rights are in their full force they must be exactly examined Wee will begin at Naples 1. That part of Italie which is beyond Capagna de Roma and comprehends these antient Provinces Samnium Appulia Hydruntum Magna Graecia Campania Calabria and others all these I say which is well nigh one half of Italie make up the Kingdome of Naples Compania now Terra di Lavoro the River of Aufidus now Ofanto in Puglia and the River of Liris now Cantigliano near Capua were made the limits between the Empires of the East and West An. 803. Nicephorus then being the Emperour of the East and Charlemagne of the West So that part of the Kingdom of Naples and all that is on this side of the two Rivers remained with the Empire of the West The part beyond them with the Iland of Sicily remained with the Emperour of the East Not long after the Saracens invaded Italie The height of their fury was about the year 850. and in the parts about Sicily and Sicily it self where they setled themselves And for many Ages those Countries were the sad stage where the Latins on the one side and the Greekes on the other and the Saracens enemies to both acted a bloody Tragedy 2. About the year 1000 forty Norman Gentlemen returning from the Pilgrimage of the Holy Land gave a powerfull assistance to the Christians of the Kingdome of Naples against the Saracens and being returned home undertook not long after an expedition to Naples with more might under the conduct of Tristan Cistel a Norman These gave the beginning to the State of Naples partly by conquest partly by marriage under the names of the Counts of the Crosse of Puglia and Dukes of Calabria and in time advancing their conquests as far as Sicily they were crowned Kings of the same To that Family of Normans succeeded that of the Germans in the persons of Henry the VI. and Friderick the II Emperours and Kings of Naples That Friderick being fallen into the hatred of the See of Rome which is Soveraign of that Fee he was deprived of that State After his death his Son Conrard and his bastard Manfred and Conradin Son of Conrard having laboured to maintain himself in it finally the house of France was called to it after this manner about the year 1262. 3. By the falling out of all these Princes with the Popes great confusions happened in Italie The Pope Innocent the IV weary of the German race presented the Kingdome to Saint Lewis for his brother Charles Count of Anjou and Provence who was reputed a great Warriour And two years after Vrban the IV invested them with it An. 1264. That Country which he held from the Church contained the Kingdom of Naples and the great I le of Sicily and was called Sicilia ultra extra Farum because of the Far or Streight of Messina which separates the I le from the Continent But that Country was so given him by the Pope that he was first to conquer it before he could
was Francesco Gonzaga Marquess of Mantua who gave battel to the King at Fornova which the King won with great glory Being returned into France he prepared to return into Italy but dyed in that preparation Whilst Charles was about the conquest of Naples Lewis Duke of Orleans who soon after was King of France stayed in his County of Ast and renewed his claim to the Dutchy of Milan possest by the usurper Ludovick Sforza the murtherer of his two nephews As long as Ludovick kept good intelligence with the King Lewis Duke of Orleans durst not attempt any thing against him But after that Ludovick had made himself one of the league against the King Lewis possest himselfe of Novaerae a Town of the Dutchy which presently was besieged by Ludovick and recovered excepting the Castle Under Lewis the XII In sixteen yeares that Lewis reigned he had Wars with Philip of Austria Ferdinand King of Arragon Ludovick Duke of Milan and the Kings of Naples of the Bastard branch of Arragon 1. An. 1499. Philip Arch-duke of Austria did homage at Arras in the hands of Guy de Rochford Chancellor of France for the Counties of Flanders Artois and Charolois a solemn action done with great pomp and many formalities 2. In the years 1499. and 1500. Lewis conquereth the Dutchy of Milan from Ludovick loseth it by the returne of Ludovick out of Germany regaines it by taking and imprisoning Ludovick and by the chase which he gave to his Sons Maximilian and Francis 3. From thence he goeth to Naples conquers it from Friderick the last King of the Bastard branch of Arragon who puts himselfe into the Kings hands The King recompenceth him with the Dutchy of Anjou a pension of thirty thousand Crowns and the first place in the Councell Ferdinand King of Arragon seeing that bastard branch falled reneweth his pretences to Naples Lewis compounds with him and they share the Kingdom The King of Arragon hath for his part Calabria Puglia the rest remains to the French But soone after upon some differences which arose between the French and the Spaniards for the confines of the Country of Abruzzo and some Salt-pits the grand Capitan Gonsalvo de Cordova takes arms and expells the French an 1503. 4. The Emperour Maximilian after the yeare 1593. seeing the house of Sforzas degraded from Milan but two Sons remaining threatneth Lewis of the Imperial Ban. Lewis appeaseth him and obtaines the investiture of the yeare 1505. and promiseth his daughter Claud to Charles Duke of Luxemburg who since was Emperour But soon after Lewis who loved dearly Francis d' Angoulesme his Cosin and first Prince of his blood made him marry Claud by the counsel of the great men of his Kingdom notwithstanding the promise made to Maximilian This angred very much Philip Father to Charles who would have taken a revenge of that wrong had he not been prevented with death an 1506. He had married Jane the great inheritrix of Spain by whom he had many children 5. Yet Philip before he dyed reconciled himselfe with Lewis yea and recommended to him the tuition of his Son Charles which Lewis accepted and gave him Antony de Ceures Lord of Crovy for his Governour a wise Knight who formed that young spirit to great businesses in which Charles excelled afterwards 6. An. 1507. the City of Genoa which had been conquered with the Dutchy of Milan and where Lewis had made a glorious entry revolted from him Lewis passeth into Italy and brings her to subjection It was at that time that Ferdinand of Arragon returning from his new conquest of Naples saw Lewis the XII at Savone a Town of the Territory of Genoa In that enterview Ferdinand who was then King of two little Kingdoms onely both depending from the See of Rome refused alwayes the honour and the precedence which Lewis would give him as it is usuall to do to strangers when one is at home even to inferiours He would salute Lewis at his rising and attended him going to Mass Lewis whensoever he gave to Ferdinand the precedence made him understand that he did it out of civi lity not out of duty Go before said he to him for if I were at your house and in your Country I would in the like case doe what you would desire of me but because you are in my Country you shall do so for it is my will and I beseech you so to doe That might be done then without prejudice when the House of Arragon was farre under the splendor of that of France and was not so arrogant as now How such another encounter should be ordered in these dayes in point of civility it is more then I can determine An. 1508. the league of Cambray was made of Pope Jule the II. the Emperour Maximilian Lewis King of France and Ferdinand King of Arragon and Naples to beat down the arrogancy of the Venetians who during the confusions of Italy had incroacht upon all their Estates the patrimony of the Church the Empire Milan and Naples Whence followed the battel of Aignadel which Lewis won of the Venetians which made him so glorious that the Popes and the Princes of Italy grew jealous of him Ferdinand leaveth the alliance of Lewis who had restored unto him all the Towns which the Venetians held in the Kingdom of Naples and made war against him Lewis wins the battel of Ravenna against the Pope and the Spaniards an 1512. 8. Pope Jule the II being declared enemy to Lewis and all his adherents among whom was John d'Albret King of Navarra Ferdinand invaded Navarra an 1512. The Switzers set on by the Pope expell the French from the Dutchy of Milan and set up Maximilian Sforza Son to Ludovic The English and Maximilian being confederate come into France and besiege Terovenne Lewis comes to helpe and gives the battel which was called of the Spurres because though the French at the first resisted manfully yet they were put to the worst and forced to make more use of their Spurres then Swords Finally although Lewis had won the battel of Ravenna an 1512. he saw himselfe expelled out of all Italy and the House of the Sforzas restored at Milan before he dyed which was an 1515. Vnder Francis the I. In the beginning of his reign he found the House of Austria in the hands of Charles then of the age of fifteen years who possest all the Low Countries by his Father Philip of Austria and the Kingdom of Castilia from his Mother Jane of Arragon Maximilian was yet living enjoying the Arch-dutchy of Austria His other Grand-father Ferdinand was King of Arragon and Naples both very old and broken Charles was their Heir apparent 1. Francis the I. comming to the Crown received the homage of the Count of Nassau in the name of Charles Count of Flanders and Artors to whom he promist Renee second daughter to Lewis the XII But that marriage was not fulfilled Hee confirmed also that peace with Ferdinand which Lewis