given him by the Pope that he was first to conquer it before he could 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 Lewis 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
See He received Pope Stephen the first into France and put down Adolphus King of the Lombards who persecuted the Pope But his Son Charlemagne raised the State of France more then any For he conquered great part of Italie upon the Lombards and quite destroyed them An. 774. overcame the Saxons and other Nations of Germany conquered part of Spain upon the Saracens and made himselfe master of most part of the old Empire of the West and so was crowned Emperour of the West An. 800. And three years after limits were set in Italy between the two Empires of East and West Nicephorus being then Emperour of the East And the bounds were the Rivers of Lyris now Garigliano and Aufidus now Lofanto both in the Kingdome of Naples So that excepting the farthest part of Italy part of Spain and the Brittanique Ilands divided between many petty Kings he was possest of the whole Empire of the West 6. These first Kings were very liberall to the See of Rome Pepin and Charlemagne gave them the Exarchat of Ravenna and other Lands which the Popes pretended to have been taken away from them by the Lombards Lewis the Meek who succeeded his Father Charlemagne confirmed and amplified that gift An. 817. the Charter whereof Baromus hath published taken from the Vatican as he affirmeth Lewis the Meek dying An. 840. left the State of France in a great height possest of the Gaules Germany Italy and part of Spain All other Princes compared to the French Kings were mean fellowes 7. Lewis the Meek left three Sons Lothaire and Lewis by his first wife and Charles the Bald from Judith his second wife These three Brothers for three years contended about their partage the law of the eldest being not then in use among them till that cruel battel of Fontenay near Auxerre was fought where above a hundred thousand men were slaine and especially much Nobility and Gentry whereby the State was weakned and the Brothers were forced to come to an arbitrement That Lothary the eldest should have all the Lands beyond the Rivers of Scaldis and Mosa as far as the Rhine namely the Provinces of the Low Countries Liege Treues Juliers Luxemburg Lorrain Alsatia and others Also that which lyeth beyond Saone and Rhosne namely Franch County Savoy Daulphine Provence Also as much of Italy as was left to the Emperour of the West by the partage with the Emperour of the East This was the share of Lothary the eldest who took with it the Title of Emperour Lewis the second Brother had all that their Father held in Germany and there was called Germanicus To the third Charles the Bald France was left much about as it is at this day inclosed within the narrow Seas of England Scaldis Mosa Saone Rhosne the coasts of Languedoc and the Pyrenees That partage of the three Sons of Lewis the Meek An. 843. is the most remarkable date of the French History Then was that great Monarchy cut in shreds and the greatness of France humbled the name of which remained onely to the proportion of a third part And from that time the French State thus clipt hath remained with little alteration Onely we have lost Flanders and Artois and many times the borders of the Kingdome have been changed towards Mosa and Scaldis But in recompence we have got Daulphine and Provence beyond the ancient bounds 8. As by this partage the State of France remained very much diminisht so the French Kings lost the name of Emperours which neverthelesse Charles the Bald took since But his Descent being fallen to idlenesse as the first Race the State of France thus shortned lingered among many civill broyles and misfortunes till the year 987. when that race ended having subsisted about 235 yeares 9 Hugh Capet head of the third Race was descended as it is thought from an ancient House of Saxony planted in France by Wittikind the Saxon of the race of that other Wittikind a Saxon Prince who so long made head against Charlemagne This third race began to raigne in the year 987. It is that which this day subsisteth and besides her ancient Nobility before she was Soveraign hath now held the soveraignty above 660 yeares and besides innumerable victories obtained over her neighbours made great Wars against the Infidels in the East and in Spain and against Heretiques in all the Provinces of Europe keeping still a great respect to the See of Rome All these wayes she hath maintained her selfe in the prerogative of precedence and glory above all others And although he that beares now the quality of Emperour go before the French Kings because he retaines the name and place of those great Monarchs of all the West yet he hath neither right nor pretence over the Kings of France yea Mr. de Breves in the Appendix of the Negotiation of the East added to the History of his voyage saith That in Henry the 4ths time he had the precedence before the Ambassadors of the Emperour Rudolphus at the Porta of the great Turk who judged that the precedences of Christian Princes in relation to the Church of Rome and the Popes were of no consideration at his Porta where the strongest and the most couragious finds most favour Also whereas the King of France was then in War with the House of Austria he would not give his enemy any advantage over him Neither do the Turks acknowledge the Emperour but as King of Vienna but have a great esteem for the French Kings But without insisting upon the History of their third Race now reigning or making Panegyricks of their glory we will say that next to the precedence which they give to the Emperour lawfully elected they have it over all the Soveraigns of Christendom Paragraphe II. Now to understand the Origine progresses and rising of the house of Austria we must observe 1. That the Empire which was left as we said unto Lothary the eldest Son of Lewis the Meeke subsisted though weakly in the house of Charlemagne till about the year 912. when Lewis the last of that race being dead there was a great contention betweene the German and Italian Princes whereby the Empire was in confusion above fifty years untill Otho the Great Duke of Saxony invested himselfe of that quality made himselfe Master of Germany and Italy the onely remaining pieces of the Empire in the year 963. and ruined all his competitors This Otho I. was Father of Otho II. and he of Otho III. after whose death the Germans assisted by Pope Gregory the V. who himselfe was a German took upon themselves the right of creating Emperours And from that time all that have peaceably reigned have been Germans because the Popes having made themselves Masters of a great part of Italy have done their utmost to expell the Emperours out of it and confine them to Germany 2. As in France by the idlenesse of the last Kings of the 2d Race the Governours of Provinces made themselves Masters of them
enow to ressent the wrongs offered to him by the Emperour made a Covenant with the King of Sueden for the defence of their common friends opprest the safety of the commerce upon the Sea the liberty of the States of the Empire The King of Sueden promist the assistance of his armes and his person and the King of France a million of livers per annum Hence followed the great victories of Gustavus till he was slaine at the battell of Lutzen in Novemb 1632. An. 1634. the Duke of Orleans leaveth Flanders and returnes to the King his brother III. Paragraphe From the Rupture of the peace till now These mutuall offences being accumulated in the end brake into open war It was declared by the French by a Herald in Flanders in May 1635. That declaration was grounded upon that old complaint that the Spaniard aspires to the universal Monarchy of Europe and to devoure all the Princes thereof and because the Spaniard vexed the confederates of France with wars but more particularly by reason of the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Treves who had put himselfe under the protection of King Lewis To all the complaints of the French the Spaniards have their answers and have enough on their part to complaine Howsoever this war hath produced many great exploits on both sides in Germany in Italy in Flanders in Spaine And though the fortune of war have alternative successes yet France had hitherto the advantage of that bloody game having stretcht her dominions beyond the Rhine united Lorraine to the French Crowne got many townes in Flanders and Artois Perpignan and the County of Roussillon and got a good footing in the Dutchy of Milan Besides Catalonia which hath submitted her self to the Soveraignty of France The greatest losse of the Spaniard is that of Portugal by the practices of France whereby the King of Spain hath lost Brasill and the East-Indies AN APPENDIX To the foregoing DISCOURSE Shewing the Dispute about the precedence at the Councell of Trent betweene the Embassadors of France and Spaine IT is certaine that before the formation of that great Colossus of the House of Austria about the year 1520. the Kings of France were acknowledged the first of Christendom next to the Emperours The pieces wherewith the greatnesse of Spain is made up are Provinces most of them feudatary of the Empire or of France or of the Pope all these lately gathered up But France is of an ancient entire and independent greatnesse The Embassadours of Charles the V. had the precedence every where before those of France because he was Emperour But in the year 1555. when he resigned that quality of Emperour to his Brother and his other qualities and states to his Son perceiving that his Son wanting the quality of Emperour could not keep that preheminence he used this artifice A little before his retirement from the world he recalled from Venice his Embassador Francisco de Vargas who being an Embassador of the Empire had a precedence before the French Embassador Then after the resignation of his States he sent the same Vargas to Venice again as Embassadour for himselfe and his Son joyntly although in effect Charles being devested of his dignities Vargas was Embassadour of his Son onely hoping thereby to deceive the Venetians and others by sending the same man Vargas demanded of the Senate of Venice the same precedence which he had before To which Dominique Bishop of Lodeva Embassadour of Henry the II of France made opposition representing to the Senate that Charles was no more considerable in the world that when the Embassadours of the Emperour Ferdinand should appear he would yield to them but that he would not yield to the Embassadour of Philip but in all occasions of audience ceremony visits and the like he would take the first place till the coming of the Imperiall Embassadors The Senate fearing some ill issue of this dispute gave order that the two Embassadours should not present themselves at the ceremonies of the Feast of St Mark and so the matter remained undecided all the year 1557 by the irresolution of that Common-wealth and the simplicity of the French Embassadour But in the year 1558. Francis de Novailles Bishop of Acs having succeeded that of Lodeva renewed the dispute and the Embassadours of the Emperour Ferdinand being come he demanded to be maintained in his Rights and to have the first place after the Emperours Embassadour and couragiously took it before Vargas who seeing that the policy of Charles who dyed at the same time took no effect and that he was confidered onely as Embassadour of Philip began to extoll his Masters greatness and number his States and Soveraignties which he possessed in farre greater number then the King of France Saying that these customs of honour and precedence must alter according to the time That his Master was the greatest King of the world farre more able to assist the Common-wealth with Arms Men and Money then the King of France The Bishop of Acs stoutly resisted him and obtained of the Senate an Order whereby the precedence was adjudged unto him above the Embassadour of Spain About which when the Spaniard expostulated very earnestly it was answered him that the Common-wealth would not undertake to examine the greatnesse of their Majesties but that they found in their Records that in all Acts both publique and private Ceremonies Visits and Audiences the Embassadours of France had preceded those of Spain and to that received custome they would keep This answer offended Philip who upon that called back his Embassadour But Micael Surriano the Venetian Embassadour in his Court defended the decree of the Senate of Venice and in some sort mitigated the displeasure of Philip who yet in all occasions renued that dispute His greatest effort was four years after in the Councill of Trent To understand the right of precedences of Ambassadours we must know that in the Councill there was three sorts of Assemblies particular Congregations generall Congregations and Sessions In the private Congregations the Doctors assisted with some Bishops examined the questions of Faith and Reformation and there no Ceremony of precedence was heeded In the general Congregation all the Prelates assembled the Legats were Presidents every one kept his place of honour It was a publique action where questions were resolved the Legates propounded that which was to be examined in the particular Congregations every Prelate had right to speak and to vote Embassadors of Princes had audience after their Commission was examined and that which was to be promulgated in the following Session was there concluded Embassadors kept their place there according to their rank The Session was the solemne day upon which after a Mass of the Holy Ghost and a Sermon of a Prelate or some eminent man upon the matter in question the Prelate officiating pronounced with a loud voyce the Decrees resolved which the Father 's approved with a Placet In these Sessions Embassadors had
enclosed within the Ocean the Med terranean 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 Sardima 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 seventeen 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 oother Princes The See of Rome hath great pretences upon the soveraignty of Arragon Heacknowledgerh 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 of 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 tolerated in the State The King of France is neighbouring upon Spain by the Pyrenean 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 Paragraphewe 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
inhabit them know more then this Author and therefore leave that little which he saith of them Paragraphe XII Being now come to the VVest we meet with the most considerable piece of Europe which is the Empire of Germany The Empire begun by Julius Caesar but founded by Augustus possest all the known Countries of the West But was greatly diminished about the year of our Lord 400. for then by the incursions of the Goths Ostrogoths Alans Huns Herules Vandales Frankes and others many States were founded And finally the Empire ceased in the West altogether in the year 445. by the death of Augustulus and the whole Empire of the West was divided into many States In the year 800. the Empire of the West begun afresh in the person of Charlemaigne who under that name possest all the Gaules part of Spain almost all Italie the great Germanie Hungary Slavonia part of Poland and Denmark and other Northern Countries But his posterity having degenerated that Empire went from his Family about the year 912. and after a long dispute about it between the Italian and German Princes Othe Duke of Saxony made himself Master of it And from that time that which remains of the Empire hath continued in the hands of German Princes That which is called the Empire at this day hath more shadow then substance I call a shadow all the pretences of the Emperour out of Germanie which are worn out with age and lost or remain with small vigour as the pretences of Soveraignty over the Princes of Italy and the Low-Countries Savoy Franche County Besancon and the like In Germany he hath some reall and effective power Germany at this time comprehends all that Country between the border of Hungary and Poland on the East the Baltique Sea and Denmark on the North the Germanique Sea and France on the West and the River of Rhine and the Alpes on the South Neither is the Emperour absolute every where or in the most part of that large space For it is divided into ten Circles or great Provinces which have a proper right to assemble themselves to look to their own businesses and send Deputies to the generall Diets of the Empire And in every one of these Circles there be many free Cities and many Secular and Ecclesiasticall Princes The chief are the seven Electours three Ecclesiastical the Archbishops of Mentz Collen and Treues four secular the Count Palatine the King of Bohemia the Duke of Saxony and the Marquesse of Brandenhurg And next to these the Duke of Banteres the Duke of Wirtenberg Luneburg Mechelburg Brunswick the Lantgrave of Hesse and many others But above all these houses that of Austria is considerable of which we must speak in the next Chapter for besides the title of Emperour by election now continued in their family for many descents they possesse their antient Patrimony Austria Stiria Carinthia Carnia Tirolis Elzas They hold also Bohemia and that little part of Hungary which remains unto the Christians All Germany is divided between Papists Lutherans and Calvinists These three and the Mahumetan and the Greek Religion are the principall Religions known in Europe CHAP. II. By what degrees the house of Austria is come to those great Estates which it possesseth IT is certain that among the Christian Princes the two most considerable Families are those of France and Austria And although it be known that the house of France hath all the Prerogatives of Antiquity Nobility and Glory above the other yet that of Austria is more powerfull for extent of Lands and multitude of People and is invested with a more eminent quality which is the Empire But because they hold it only by Election they have that preheminence but for a time so that the Family of Austria from a Soveraign may become a Subject which can never happen to the Soveraignes by succession but by the ruine of the State Now because these two Families draw to their motion the most part of our Christian Western world and that since one hundreth and fifty years the house of Austria hath taken a stupendious growth It will be to good purpose to examine in this Chapter her Birth Progresse and Greatnesse For we shall not need to speak of the greatnesse of France which is a grounded Monarchie of twelve hundred years standing But it is but of late that the house of Austria dareth claim equality with the house of France Paragraphe I. Yet so much we will say of the house of France 1. It is certain that this Kingdome was erected out of the ruines of the Roman Empire in the year 419. Pharamond was elected King by the Frankes beyond the Rhine in the Country of Sicambria which is Guelderland Uretcht Freeseland and other Countries thereabout But neither he nor his Son Clodion the Chevelu past ever into France for any thing that we read but sent forth their Armies to conquer it Merovee the third King was the first that came to Paris and took it and setled himself with the Frankes in Gauls From him was the first race of French Kings denominated and called the race of the Merovingians 2. Clouis the fifth King was converted to the Christian faith in the year of Christ 500. and brought the French State to great splendour by the expulsion of the reliques of the Romans near Soissons Laon and Reins by the Conquest of Gaule Aquitanique and by the defeat of Alaric and the Kingdome of the Goths The Sons of that Clouis about the year 527. conquered the state of the Burgundians or Bourguignons So that race of the Merovingians about the year of 530. was possest of all the Gaules yet divided into Tetrarchies by the children of Clouis and again by their descent That race with the Gauls held great part of Germany and having done great services to the Church and protected desolate Popes got from them the name of most Christians eldest Sons of the Church When that title was given them we cannot precisely tell yet Saint Gregory who lived in the year 600. saith that the King of France is as eminent above other Kings as every King is above his Subjects That first race kept long the fiercenesse of German-barbarousnesse and about the year 650. after the death of Dagobert they degenerated to idlenesse and so continued for a hundred years which gave occasion to the Mayres of the Palace to incroach upon the Soveraign Authority Among whom Charles Martel was most eminent who having defeated the Sarrasins near Tours and killed three hundred threescore and six thousand men and relieved the Pope against the Lombards raised much the honour of France and his own but to the destruction of the first Royal line which ended in the degradation of the unfortunate Chilperic in the year 752. having subsisted 333 years 5. The second race much more illustrious then the first began in the person of Pipin Son to that Charls Martel A valorous fortunate Prince devoutly addicted to the Roman
fulfilled Hee confirmed also that peace with Ferdinand which Lewis the XII had made a little before he died 2. His next work was the Conquest of the Dutchy of Milan He passeth into Italie and wins the battail of Marignan in Piemont against the Switzers who had undertaken to maintain Maximilian Sforza in his new possession of Milan which they had got for him He gets Milan Maximilian Sforza yields himself to him for a Pension of threescore thousand Crowns and retires himself into France This was the third time that the French had got Milan of the Sforzas 3. Francis and Charles being both young and ambitious it could not be expected that they should long live in peace because Charles being born a subject to France kept Navarra which the house of Albret had lost for adhering to France Then Ferdinand had expelled the French out of Naples wrongfully say they This Ferdinand died an 1516. and Charles inherited all these great States exalted to the height of greatnesse wanting nothing but the Empire and Austria which his Grandfather Maximilian left him by his death three years after In the birth of these two eminent powers which have cost so much blood and tears to the Christian world before they had conceived that great hatred which was between them after the Deputies of both sides met at Noyon and this was called the Treaty of Noyon an 1516 where it was concluded that Francis should yield all his rights in the Kingdom of Naples for a yearly pension of a hundred thousand Crowns 2. That Charls then called the Archiduke should marry Lovise the eldest daughter of Francis instead of Renee sister to the Queen Claude 3. That the Archduke should restore the Kingdome of Navarra to Henry Son to John d' Albret or in defect of it that he should otherwise content him within six months The King and the Archduke swore that Treaty and give the one to the other the order of Knighthood The King that of St. Michael the Archduke that of the Golden Fleece made an alliance for ever and to confirme it promist to have an interview at Cambray But Ferdinand being dead soon after Charles made hast to passe into Spain to take possession of his Estates and neglected the Articles of Noyon especially the restitution of Navarra 4. Yet for three years after nothing was stirred on either side because Martin Luther having alarmed all Europe with his Doctrine the Pope Leo the X procured a generall truce for five years among all Princes But Maximilian the Emperonr being dead an 1519. and Charles being increased with the inheritance of Austria and the Title of Emperour Francis the I. conceived a great indignation that a vassall of his should have been preferred before him to the Empire which he had been a suitour for with great earnestnesse which jealousie would never suffer these two Princes to agree 5. Each of them had a great Minister of State by their persons Francis had Artus Gouffier Sieur de Boissi Great Master of France Charles had been bred by Guillaume de Crovy Sieur de Ceures whom Lewis the XII had recommended to him These two foreseeing the misfortune which the ambition of these two Princes was drawing upon Christendom resolved to meet to make a peace and alliance for ever Montpelier was the place chosen for that meeting But as soon as Boissi was come and began to treat with Ceures he fell into a fever and died leaving that great work imperfect which no body since was able to finish Paragraphe III. From the death of Maximilian an 1519. to the Treaty of Madrid an 1525. By the death of the Emperour Maximilian Charles was made possessour of Austria and the Empire being possest before of the Inheritances of Burgundy Arragon and Castilia A greatnesse which swelled his mind and made him loose his respect to Francis Hee complained that Francis had taken Claude from him the eldest daughter of Lewis the XII which was promist to him Francis redemanded Navarra Naples and the homages for the Counties of Flanders and Artois which Charles took to be too low for the quality of an Emperour Charles also complained that the Dutchy of Burgundy the Patrimony of his Grandmother Mary was kept from him and the Dutchy of Milan belonging to the Sforzas and to the Empire The great fire of War which lasted forty years between these two houses brake out upon a very slender occasion Robert de la March Duke of Bovillon adjudgd by the Peers of his Dutchy which pretend themselves to be Soveraigns the Town of Hierges in Ardennes to the Prince of Chimay of the house of Crovi against the Lord d' Esmeries to whom the Emperour gave a writ of relief although Robert pretended the judgement of his Peeres to be Soveraign Robert incensed against the Emperonr made his addresse to Francis the I and offered him his service The King received him courteously yet forbad his subjects to assist him not willing to break with the Emperour But Robert proud to have the protection of France denounceth Warre to the Emperour who was then at Wormes to pacifie the troubles rising in Germany about Luther and attempts to surprise some places in Luxemburg But the Emperour presently seizeth upon the Estate of that little Prince and constrains him to ask him pardon reproaching Francis in an odious manner for receiving his rebellious subject About the same time Francis upon the inexecution of the Treaty of Noyon Charles refusing to make restitution of Navarra to Henry d' Albret took the quarrell of that dispossessed Prince and sent Andrew de Foix Lord de Esparre brother to Monsieur de Lautre into Navarra where the French did some exploit at the first but were soon repelled by the Spaniards Charles taketh that enterprise for an infraction of the peace between the two houses though it was but a succour given to a confederate of France to prosecute his rights He makes great preparatives of war makes Leo the X break w th France joyn with him promising that after the Conquest of Milan he would give to the Church the Townes of Parma and Placentia members of that Dutchy to which the Popes had some old pretence Such was the origine of the first War between Francis and Charles an 1521. The first three or four yeares there were great exploits in Champagne in Navarra in Provence and in the Dutchy of Milan In Tierasche the Emperour took Mouzon and besieged Mezieres which Anne de Mommorency who since was Constable of France and Chevalier Bayard defended bravely And Francis took Bapaume and Landrecy from the Emperour and gave him the Chase In Navarra the French had advanced but little in the years 1519. and 1520. But in the year 1521. the Admirall of Bonnivet besieged Fontarabie and took it and made Monsteur du Lude Governour of the same who being besieged a whole year by the Spaniards defended it with great valour till la Palisse since Marshall of France
another about Montferrat the Kings of France and Spain intervened to make them friends And this was done without prejudice to the peace betweene the two States Valteline is a vally seated between Germany the Venetians the Dutchy of Milan the Grisons It was in old time a part of the Dutchy of Milan or at least an appurtenance of the same And was engaged to the Grisons by Lewis the XII for foure hundred thousand pounds arrear due to them for their service in the conquest of Milan since which time it was subject to the Grisons But the differences of Religion intervening and the Grisons being turned Protestants for the most part Valtolina kept for the most part the Religion of Milan Which made them desire to shake the yoke of the Grisons and returne under the subjection of Milan invited to it by the Spaniards So that an 1619. the great revolt began and the Valtolins expell the Grisons their Masters Who had recourse to the protection of France by whom they held that Countrey King Lewis the XIII sends Monsieur de Bassompierre into Spaine to Philip the IV. for Philip the III. was lately dead who granted according to the Treaty of Madrid that all garrisons of strangers should depart out of Valtolina and that order should be taken for the maintaining of the Catholique Religion The Duke of Feria having refused to execute that command and the Valtolins unwilling to returne to the obedience of the Grisons King Lewis exhorted the Switzers and Grisons to maintaine their rights and sent them an Embassadour the Marquis de Coenures whom he made afterwards General of their army and Marshall of France known by the name of Marshall d'Estree Then did the French and the Spaniards fight yet without breaking the Treaty of Vervins because both acted for their confederates Pope Vrban the VIII having made himselfe Depositary of the principal places of Val olina sent his nephew Cardinal Barbarini into France an 1625. who not being able to make an accommodation as pretending to deliver Valtolina from the obedience of the Grisons war began in Italie by the aliance made betweene the French and the Duke of Savoy against Genoa which was assisted by the Spaniard Thus these quarrels upon the by came very neer to an absolute rupture betweene the two Nations For at the same time some Spanish ships passing from Barcetona to Genoa and driven upon the coasts of Marseille were arrested by the Duke of Guise Of which the Genoese complained to the King of Spaine whose Councel irritated with these wars and with the taking of many places about Genoa gave order that all French ships in the havens of Spaine should be arrested and all the goods of the French trafficquing in Spaine seized upon The Councell of France to bee even with them made two Edicts the one to forbid all traffick with Spaine the other to seize upon all ships of Spain Portugal Naples and other places of the Spanish dominions yet onely by right of represalls and for restitution of the goods taken from the French War continued in Piemont all that while till the winter of that yeare 1625 when the armies retired into garrisons That winter Du Fargis the French Emassadour in Spain began a Treaty which was called the Treaty of Monson in Arragon whereby without any Commission from his Master or his principall Minister of State the Cardinal de Richelieu as it was pretended he did greatly derogate to the right of the Grisons over Valtolina making the Valtolins well nigh Soveraines taking from the Grisons all power to refuse the Iudges and that forme of Government which the Valtolins would set up among themselves That Treaty was disavowed by King Lewis and the Cardinal who commanded the Embassadour to reforme it Wherein so much tedious protraction was used that Lewis was in the end constrained to take upon him the protection of the Valtolins and sent them the Duke of Rohan who there continued the war even after the rupture between the two Crownes In the yeare 1628 Vincent the II. Duke of Mantua being dead Charles Duke of Nevers the next heire male succeeded but the Emperour made some difficulty about it because he was borne in France and because he did not come personally to him to render his homage But besides his right of lapse for want of homage he set up the right of Duke Guastullo of the same house of Mantua which yet appeared at the first to be weake and of no force At the same time the Duke of Savoy renewed his rights to Montferrat So the new Duke of Mantua saw himselfe almost swallowed up by the Emperour the Spaniard and the Duke of Savoy Yea Don Gonzales de Cordova besieged Cazal the old apple of discord between the houses of Mantua and Savoy King Lewis resolved to maintaine his subject and confederate sends Bevron and Guron to defend Cazal Himselfe passeth into Italie forceth Le pas de Suze driveth the Spaniard from the siege of Cazal and compelleth the Duke of Savoy to let the Mantuan be in peace The Protestants in France being in armes Rochel besieged and their party brought low some say that the Duke of Rohan sent Clausel from Montpellier to Madrid to put the Protestant party under the protection of the King of Spain The History of Dupleix sets downe the whole Treaty betweene the King of Spain and the Duke of Rohan whereby the Spaniard promiseth to assist Rohan with men and money But Lewis returning victorious out of Italie suddenly overcame the Protestant party and forced them to receive peace The Spaniard thought he might as lawfully assist the Protestants of France as the French assisted those of Holland Whilst Lewis was busy about the pacification of his owne State the Duke of Savoy reneweth his pretence to Montferrat the Emperour sends Colalto against the Duke of Mantua and the Marquesse of Spinola besiegeth Cazal but in vaine being well defended by Toiras since Marshal of France Lewis repasseth into Italie makes himselfe Master of Savoy and Piemont The Imperial Army takes Mantua but all is pacified by the Treaty of Queyras an 1631. and the Duke of Mantua is setled in his Estate In that yeare 1631. Mary the Queene Mother of France retireth into Flanders The next yeare 1632. the Duke of Orleans her sonne doth the like Where getting some Dutch and German troopes he makes an inrode into France and in the yeare 1633. he makes a Treaty with the Spaniard to enter into France with an Army All this without absolute rupture betwixt the two Crownes Onely the Spaniard fomented the divisions of the Royal house of France Gustavus Adolphus King of Sueden after a long war against Poland comes into Germany an 1631. for the restitution of the Dukes of Meckelburg his kinsmen into their Estates out of which the Emperour had expelled them and to restore liberty to the Cities of Germanie Lewis jealous of the greatness of the house of Austria and having causes
in some other place out of the bench of the Embassadors To which the French answered that they were sent by their King not to judge causes or to decide of the Rights of King Philip who was a good friend brother in law to their King Charles the IX but if any would take their place they were resolved to stand for it against all sorts of persons which if the Councill denyed them they had order to withdraw with all the French Prelates and to protest of the nullity of the resolutions which should be taken in their absence To which the Legate answered nothing That declaration of the French though generous gave occasion to the affront which soon after was offered to them in the Councill for they are censured by posterity for not requiring absolutely that the Spaniards should sit under them An. 1563. The Legates fearing some division between the French and Spanish Doctors about their order in speaking gave order that without distinction of Nations every one should speak according to his seniority of Doctorship But because some among the French Divines had the seniority over the Spanish these made great complaints to the Legate pretending that this preference of the French would be a prejudice against the dispute which the Count de Luna was forming against the French Embassadours The Legats rebuked them shewing that the Doctors though sent by the Princes did not represent their persons as the Embassadors did and that the question was onely of the seniority of the degree not of the preference of the Nations Notwithstanding these satisfactory Reasons the Spaniards were angry and threatned the Councill of their Kings displeasure who should take off his protection from them The French seeing that the Spaniard stood upon points in such a clear business and that of Doctors they would make Embassadours did obstinate themselves also to have the preference even in the disputes of the Divines And because the Popes delegates spake first without contradiction the French asked to be admitted to speak next after them which the Legates were constrained to grant and it was decreed that after the Jesuite Salmeron the Popes Divine Nicolas Maillart Dean of the faculty of Paris should speak and that after that all should speak according to the seniority of their degree which was followed Yet to content the Spaniards it was enacted in the Register of the Councill that the French Doctor had spoken the first by the right of his seniority in the degree of Doctor not by the preference of his Nation The same year 1563. upon Easter-day the Count of Luna was received at Trent and in his entry mached between the Embassadors of the Emperour and of France This Ceremony past with much honour and civility between the two Nations And at the same time the Cardinal of Lorrain writ to the Emperour perour Ferdinand who was at Insprugh in the County of Tirol three dayes journey from Trent upon divers affaires of the Councill and in the end of the Letter desired him to find some temper to lay down the dispute about the preference between the two Crowns so that it might not appear in the Councill But his Country-men blamed him for it saying that he ought not to have taken notice of a dispute so ill grounded Or if he had spoken of it it should not have been to have desired a temper but to maintaine his Kings right The Emperour answered him that it belonged not to him to decide the disputes between the Kings of France and Spain but since he had desired him to speak his sense about it if your Embassadours said he maintaine their rank after mine and that none take that place from them what does it import you what place be assigned unto the Spaniards A verdict ill taken by the French who held it to be of a dangerous consequence For in an order of sitting who so leaveth his place say they is thought to despise it and to ask a higher which cannot be done without moving a dispute against those that sit in a higher seat The Count of Luna after that solemn entry was hidden forty dayes and appeared not in any ceremony of publique action being in great perplexity how to behave himself sometimes he had a mind to enter into the assembly in the midst of the two Embassadors of the Emperor who were injoyned to bear him company and after they had taken their place stand by them till his Commission had been verified by the Councill and then retire to his house But considering that this would not be a generous maintaining of his Masters honour he made means that the French Embassadors should be desired not to appeare in the Assemby that day which being denyed him he sent some Spanish Bishops to the Legates to propound unto them that the secular Embassadors of Princes should not enter into the generall Congregations but the day of their reception but should content themselves to be present at the Ceremony the day of the Session maintaining that it had been so observed in the Councells before But all the Embassadors of Princes having opposed that motion he could obtain nothing Again he caused some Bishops to propound some point to the Congregation at the discussion whereof the French ought not to be present as interessed parties for example to represent what damage would result to the whole Church by a peace of the King of France with the Hugonots or some such thing But all that being rejected and the Congregation being put off from day to day by his obstinacy in the end that the businesses of the Councell might not be retarded the Cardinall of Lorraine and the French Embassadors declared to the Legates that if they might keep their place immediately after the Emperours Embassadors they did not care what place the Embassador of Spain should take The French to this day exclaim against that action of the Cardinal and the French Embassadors saying that it was a great weaknesse and that they had betrayed their Masters honour Yea the Fathers of the Councell disliked it And when the Cardinal de la Bourdestere Resident for the King of France by the Pope complained to him of that Spanish ambition and novelty introduced against all ancient orders the Pope it was Pius the IV. answered that he should complaine to the French Embassadors whose weakness he condemned saying that although he had been solicited before and after the entry of Count de Luna into Trent to favour that designe he had remained constant and inflexible and that he wondred how the French had so easily yea so freely yielded The day of the Congregation being come and each Embassador having taken his place the Count of Luna enters stands over against the Legates some what far from the Embassadors seat presents his Orders and declares his Masters will Then he protested that although the first seat was due to him next to the imperiall Embassadors as representing the greatest Prince of Christendome
the greatest Prop of the Courch c. yet that he should bring no confusion to the affaires of the Councell he desisted from that right upon condition that this his protestation should be inserted into the Acts of the Councell so that they could not be printed nor otherwise publisht without it and that a Copy signed by the Legates should be given him by the Secretary of the Councill Having said these words he went to take his place appointed for him near the Table of the Secretary of the Councell The French Ambassadors sitting by the Imperial answered that if it was thought that the place where they sat was not the most honourable next to that of the Emperour as it had been acknowledged in all the Councell before the last of which were that of Constance and that of Lateran under Leo the X Or if the place assigned to Count de Luna might be a prejudice against them they desired the Councell to prevent it speedily by orders commands excommunications or other wayes practised in such a case without acception of persons But because none answered any thing and the Imperial Embassadors connived to that novelty although their interesse was to hinder it least their place should be once disputed they added That without injury to the honour of King Philip and the alliance betweene the two Crowns they protested against that proceeding as unjust requiring that their protestation should be inserted in the Acts of the Council and that a Copy of the same should be delivered unto them None of the Fathers spake one word upon these disputes And the silence was broken by a Spanish Doctor called Frontidon who made a Latin Oration in the name of Count de Luna whereby he exalted the greatnesse of the King of Spain his zeal towards the Church and Religion with such impertinent words so much contempt of other Princes that the Embassadors of the Emperour made great complaints about it to Count de Luna who had no other shift to excuse it than saying that the Oration had displeased him more then any The Promoter of the Councell having answered the Oration suddenly the Embassador of Spain went out of the Assembly not expecting the rising of the Legates to avoid a dispute with the French and the same he observed in the following Congregations sitting by himself and going out alone But that Order could not be kept in the Church the day of the Session because the manner of sitting there was not alike and some more precise ceremonies were used about the preference as that of the pax and the censer at the Masse Wherefore the Legats consulted the Pope before the Session and he being won by the Spaniards thinking that the French would again run into another weaknesse writ to the Legate that in the Session they should assign a place apart to the Spaniard and that the pax and the censer should be given to both the Ambassadours at the same time but that the businesse should be kept secret till the point of the action that the French might not storm at it The day of the Session being come which was Saint Peters day the 29. of June after the Bishop of Valdaosta in Savoy had begun the Masse of the Holy Ghost presently a Chair of black Velvet was brought out of the Vestry which was placed between the last Cardinall and the first Patriarck where Count de Luna sate The Cardinall of Lorrain with the French Ambassadours made a great noise about it and rose to withdraw when at the same time they heard the order given about it and for the Censer the Pax. But for fear of troubling the action they contented themselves to protest against it and to declare that their Masters right did not consist in the equality but in the precedence The Gospell being read whilst a Divine went up into the Pulpit to make a speech the Legats with the Cardinal of Lorrain and the other Cardinalls the Ambassadour of the Emperour and Ferrier one of the French Ambassadours went into the Vestry into which they called the Archbishop of Granada a Spaniard and two French Bishops to find some accommodation After many disputes and many goings and commings and messages to Luna it was concluded that the Masse should be ended without receiving the Censer and the pax After which Luna came out of the Church with his Spaniards triumphing for that first step so advantagious to his Master This action was very scandalous to the French and the Legats not able to bear the envy of it were constrained to produce the command which they had from Rome about it The injury was more resented because it was done to a King in his minority it was Charles the IX and one that was afflicted with Hugonots and entangled in a civill War The Cardinal of Lorrain writ very smart letters to the Pope about it yet without violating the respect due to him But Ferrier a violent and stout man cryed out every where that unlesse at the next publique Mass the preference of the Censer and the Pax was given to his Master he would protest aloud not against the Legats who had obeyed the Popes Orders nor against the Councel whose hands were manifestly bound nor against King Philip who took his advantage where he might nor against the Roman Church toward which he should never lose the due respect but against the very person of the Pope whom he would prove to have bought the pontificat and would appeal from him to a lawfull Pope and to a true and free Councel And that his Master would celebrate a Nationall Councel as numerous and as Generall at that of Trent It is certain that Ferrier Pibrac for Lansac was returned into France had prepared a most bloody speech against the Pope and against that innovation Ferrier was to pronounce it and at the same time command all the French Bishops and Doctors to leave the Councell with a promise to return whensoever God had given a lawfull Pope to his Church and restored to the Councels their antient and full liberty The speech was printed but not pronounced Ferrier spread it among the Fathers because Count de Luna boasted that the Legats had promist him that at the first Mass hee should be admitted to the equality of the Pax and Censer The Legates fearing lest this quarrell should come to some sad issue because the Ambassadour of Poland declared that if the King of France should depart from the obedience of the Councel the King of Poland would soon do the like and many other Princes The Legates I say and the wisest of the Council especially Madruvio Cardinal of Trent of the Imperial party thought it expedient that thereafter publique Masses should be said without the Pax and the Censer and made Count de Luna approve of it And the King of Spain hearing all this proceeding thought he had got a great advantage But the Pope lost by it for the affront done to