their false winges that prognosticated so high long a fight will lead theÌ„ to the like end as Icarus And indeede ye Guizards the waies of your purposes are so surely shut vp that shortly you shall feele the saying of Iob Those that Iob. 4. plow iniquitie and sow malice shall reape the same Your pride hath kindled the torch of diuisioÌ„ in the bowels of France and you shall proue the saâ—ing of Salomon true Pride goeth before destruction and highnesse Prou. 16. of minde before desolation You haue lift vp your nose against the king and shall tast of the wise mans saying The wrath of the king is as the raging of the Lion Pro. 1. 20 and hee that displeaseth him sinneth against his owne soule You haue gone about to bring a whole storme of mischiefe vpon the king of Nauar and the prince of Conde and shall shortly to your costes learne this Prouerbe of Salomon He that casteth a stone Pro. 26. at an other it will light vpon him selfe You shall learne that you haue hasted to outrunne your shadowe and that against them you haue doone no more than he who vndertaking to slay Prometheus Plut. of taking profite of enimies the Thessalian thrust the sworde into his impostume which he pearced and so saued his life And for the conclusion of this tragedie you shall sooner be destroyed then fought withall and sooner fought withall then assaulted for they bee no pettie wretches like your selues ye Guizardes they be Princes yea the chiefe Princes of the lilly noble by birth rich in amitie husbandes of time resolute in all pointes of honour gentle and gracious in peace two thunderboultes in warre such as vse not vialles in steede of trompets a daunsing hall for a fighting fielde or gentlewomen in liew of couragious souldiers who neuer aske howe many the enemies be but where they be who were not Captaines before they were souldiers but souldiers vnder themselues the Captaines to be briefe who are such as the Egyptians pictured their great Mercury by a double Idoll of both an olde and a young man thereby shewing that a Prince must be both valiant and wise and yet O Frenchmen they goe about to defeate you of these two pearles of Europe of these two eyes of your body of these two lilly flowers but vnder what pretences These Leaguers do see that these two Princes and many other Lordes which doo stoppe the course of their enterprises doo liue in the same doctrine wherein they were first suckled vp to the ende therefore to sende discorde poast through out all partes of the realme and to aduance their ambition vnder the visarde of common wealth what doo these strangers They propound vnto vs the rooting our of heresie they arme themselues with the beautifull titles of Protectors of Saint Peter and pillers of the Church but it is not enough to haue the bare name but to haue it lawfully In France therefore of a priuate authoritie to take vpon them the protection of Christianitie is it not as much as to encroch vppon the rightes of the most Christian king Is it a lawefull vocation to be a title Neyther is it enough that the will be good vnlesse the meanes also to bring it to passe bee good otherwise as an ancient man sayde It is better to stay the execution of a good thing then to execute it amisseâ— yea it is not possible sayth Saint Austen for the counsaile to be good when the means are nought at the least that which is to be commended in the cause is to be reprooued in the effect Saule was desirous to knowe the issue of his warre with the Philistians this desire of it selfe was not to be misliked but the vnlawefull meanes that he vsed made it to stinke These Lorraines these great bucklers of the faith would cut vp the roote of Heresie this will is not badde but what meanes doo they vse The most Christian king hauing tryed all The Guisians first pretence industrie all force yea euen to the abandoning of his life to the hazarde of battayles for the cutting off the exercise of all religions except the Catholike Romaine in the end perceiuing that the restoring of the Church is a worke belonging to God and not to man did imitate the good Phisician who hauing vsed all sharpe remedies and profiting nothing hath recourse to the gentle and to the end to set his estate free from those miseries wherewith it was oppressed quenched the ciuill broyles with an edict of pacification not forcibly wrested from him but grounded vpon the onely consideration of coÌ„mon commoditie and vpholden by the solemne oth of his Maiestie the Queene his mother the Princes of his bloud the chiefe Officers of the crowne yea euen by the Guizes and ratified in all his courtes of Parliament This so solemne edict this so authenticall lawe ought not to haue bin plucked vp without the like soleÌ„nities wherwith it was planted for as saith Vlpian There is nothing so naturall as to disolue a thing with the same meanes wherewith it was conioyned And yet these frebrands of their own priuate authoritie haue trode it vnder foote to the great contempt of the king oppression of the people and destruction of this estate yea contrarie to their owne so solemne oth Is it then a good beginning to roote out heresies with infringing faith Must we be treacherous to our neighbours to bee true to God Doth the true spirit of religion counsaile vs to violate publike lawes to breake oths and to fill a whole estate with murder and bloud But what colour do not the suppostes of Satan finde to set a countenance vpon their actions The counsell of Constance say they commandeth vs to keepe no faith with the enemies of the faith by which decree Iohn Hus and Hierome of Prague were condemned to death and the Cardinall S. Tulian wâ— sent as legate into Hungarie to breake the treatie of peace made with the Turkes Surely they haue reason as if we should confound two seuerall questions the one of lawe the other of deede If we must breake promise with infidels it is a point of lawe for the decision whereof they alleage the decree of this Councell the execution of two poore Priestes and the breach of peace with the Turke as if God had not shewed the error of that decree by the tragicall effectes ensuing for the bloud of these two Doctors who vnder Sigismundes safeconduct came to that CouÌ„cel as to a schole of saluatioÌ„ the better to learne if better they might be taught did so cry for vengeance that Zischa a meane Gentleman lift vp his head against many Potentates a handfull of nouices in matter of warre against many thousands of old beateÌ„ souldiers whose courage surmounted the number On the other side the king of Turkes being certified of the breach of peace did put on Sigismundes spurres so neere that hauing giuen him sundrie notable checkes he finally built
agreement made the 21. of May 1420 Moreouer although in certaine cases our lawes do permit the father to disinherite his sonne yet doth this permission take no place in our kinges as being heyres not to them but to the crowne for by lawe the heyre is bound to all hereditarie actions whether actiue or passiue because as saith the lawyer L. Non minus ff de haered Instit Caius the inheritance representeth the person of the deceased And yet we holde that the king is not bound to the priuate agreementes and othes of his predecessors for when Philip the faire for the cōcluding of the marriage of his eldest sonne Lewes Hutin with Margaret of Burgūdy in February 1299 agreed that in case Lewes Hutin deceased before he came to the crowne of France leauing any heyres male euery younger brother should haue 20000. frankes of rent the sayde agreement bound not his successor Likewise when Charles the fift in October 1374. decreed that his seconde sonne Lewes of Fraunce should haue for his maintenance 12000. frankes of rent with the title of Earle and 40000. payd him at one payment this decree bound none but himself Also king Lewes the 12. answered those that demanded the artilerie that had beene lent to his predecessor Charles the 8. that he was not his heire to pay his debtes And king Frances the 2. in the yeare 1559. Ianuarie 19. writ thus to the Lords of the league Although we be not bound to the payment of our most honorable late lorde and fathers debtes for that we take not this crowne in title of his heyre but by the lawe and custome generally obserued in this realme euer since the first institution thereof yet wishing to discharge our sayde Lorde and fathers conscience wee are determined to pay so manie as we shall finde iustly to be dewe c. Thus sith the crowne commeth not by fatherly succession but by the lawe of the realme the king can not take it from him to whom the lawe giueth it Furthermore we are in farre better condition then the franchized Romaines who by the constitution of the Emperors Dioclesian and Maximian might chose to inherite where it pleased thē and the heyre as sayth Pomponius that was charged to set them free might not without their owne consent discharge themselues by an other much lesse then should any against our willes make vs to bow our neckes vnder the power of others then those that are appointed vs by succession which is of greater force then the last will of a testator And to say that the king of Nauarre by reason of his religion can not be sacred or receiue the oyle obserued according to custom by the Guizians saying euer since Clouis the 1. so consequently may not be k. of France is to go about to make the accessarie principall of the accident the essence for the sacring of a king is no part of the essence or else they might serue for a difference in the definition of a king euē as the definition thing defined ought to haue relatiō so should it follow that he that were annoynted and sacred shoulde be king and euerie king should be annoynted and sacred Which notwithstanding throughout the whole line of the Merouing ans the Chronicles make no mention of sacring or oyle Clouis the first by the testimonie of Gregorie of Tours after his baptisme was crowned and carryed about the campe vpon a Target likewise Sigebert in steede of Chilpericke that was besieged at Tournay And according to Aimoinus certaine Dukes hauing conspired against the kinges Gontran and Childebert did at Briue la galliard make Gondeuault their king with like ceremonies which were common to other Nations For Brinion was made Duke by the Kennemer landes as saith Tacitus Valentinian the first and Pliocas by the Romaine army as sayth Nicephorus and Hipatius as saith Cassiodore Who then seeth not that the enemies pretended reasons are but folly accompanied with deceipt Hereto I will adde that at the request of these Guizians this realme should be made electiue also besides the law reasons aforesaide the custome should be violated sith that by the testimony of Agathius a greeke writer who liued in the yeare 400. and of Cedrenius who liued in the time of Philip the first king of France the Frankes hauing chosen the best forme of common wealth had no king but by successiue lawe But what stone do those men let ly still that yaune after principalities The house of Bourbon say these firebrands are at this day passed the tenth degree of agnation from the Royall house and therefore by the ciuill lawe excluded from succession Marke here you French men how this young Alexander this beautifull branch of S. Lewes Henrie K. of Nauar is not alone the marke that the wretched purposes of these strangers aime at but also all the Princes of the house of Bourbon generallie are barked at But in what sort with some breach still in the realme which holdeth of none but God the sword They heere oppose against vs the lawes of the Romaines and we say they are a-bodie without a soule sauing so farre as they take life at the authoritie of our kings as appeareth by the priuiledges granted to the vniuersitie of Orleance in the yeare Du Tillet in his collection of the kings of France cap. titres grand 1312. by Philip the faire and the decree dated the 15. of Iuly 1351. wherein it was saide that the king might derogate from the Ciuill law which also Philip of Valois put in practise in the two wils that hee made anno 1347. and in his donation to the Queen anno 1330. the 21. of Nouember To cut thē therefore off short this realme is not hereditarie but in the family and the succession of our kings is not ruled by a written law but by custome her grounded lawes which doo transport the crowne to the next of the blood royall descending from the male yea were he in the thousand degree And yet notwithstanding al these reasons and nothing considering Liui. lib. 2 Dec. 3. the saying of Fabius Max. we may oftentimes make right sicke but kill it we cannot the Guisians meane to pluck away the crowne from those whom nature hath made kings yea euen to bring the king to such passe that he must be forced to nominate to them a successor Although as saith the wise man The height of the heauens the depth of the earth and the harts of kings ought not to be sounded The Coūcel also Prou. 25. of Tolete excommunicateth all those that enquire who shall raigne ouer them after him that ruleth the scepter for besides a vitious curiositie we may still suspect some practise against the king And in deede when in the yeare 1566. in the Parliament of England the estates solicited the Queene to nominate to them a successor to her crowne shee answered them that they digged her graue before shee were
vnto him in these termes Because thou thorough disloialtie aud periurie hast opened the gate of honor that the Church of God being tormented with thy newe inuentions as with a vehement storme fleeteth in danger and that thy life is tainted with manie villanies wee shake off the yoke of obedience that hitherto we haue lent thee and as openly thou giuest out that thou accountest none of vs to be bishops so doo not we take thee to be Apostolicall Besides this Councell the Emperor Henrie the fourth summoned another at Bresse anno 1080. wherein Gregorie the seuenth was againe deposed and Wigibert Archbishop of Rauenna substituted in his place The same Emperor also anno 1083. tooke Rome and Gregorie fledde to Salerne Platina in vitis Pontif. where hee died Shortly after namely anno 1111. the Emperor Henrie the fift seeing that Pope Pascall the second sought to intrude vpon the ancient rightes of the Empire concerning the inuestiture and collation of benefices kept him prisoner vntill he had by declaration confessed that hee had gone farther then hee ought Also by the aduice of the Germaine bishops Philip the son of Frederike Barbarossa raised an armie to bridle Pope Innocent the third who had wrongfullie excommunicated him and who ordinarely vsed to say that either Innocent should plucke the royall diademe from Philip or Philip the Abb. Vrsp in Philip. Apostolicall mitre from Innocent But in the end all was appeased by the Popes Nephewes marriage with the Emperors daughter In processe of time Fredericke the second to whome the Church was much bound as wel for raising an army anno 1222. against the Sarazens in Sicill Calabria and Pouille as also Abb. Vrsp in Fred. 2. for going about the conquest of the holie lande in anno 1228. was thrise by Pope Gregorie the ninth excommunicate viz. in the yeares 1223. 1237. 1238. So as he by the counsell of the Germaine Prelates fell vpon Italy seised vpon Verona spoiled the territories of Padua in whose time began the factions of Guelphes and Gibelines Againe about the Vit. Pâ—d yeare 1323. Lewes of Bauier against whome pope Iohn the 22. had opposed Frederike of Austrich did by the aduice of the Romaines elect a new pope called Peter of Cerberie whom he named Nicholas the fift who immediately created new cardinals and burned Pope Iohn in picture in the presence of the Emperor who moreouer in the yeare 1336. assembled a dyet at Francfort wherein by the decree of the Princes of the Empire Pope Iohns proceedings and excommunications were declared voide and of no force In the yeare 1415. Iohn the three and twentith flying from the Councell of Constance by the helpe of Fredericke Duke of Austrich and the Archbishop of Mayence was by the authoritie of the Councell and of the Emperor Du Tillet Sigismond deposed togither with Gregorie the twelft and Benedict the thirteenth Antipopes to whom in Nouember 1417. was Surrogate Ottho Cardinal of Columna afterward called Martin the fift These Popish insolencies had no better entertainement in France then in Germanie for in the yeare 1198. when this realme was by the Councell of Diion accursed because the king Philip Augustus reiecting Engelberge sister to Cain king of Denmarke had married Anne daughter to the D. of Morauia the king appealed to his swoords point and sharpely punished those that were assistant at that Councell so that the Pope perceiuing that so great a Monarch woulde not bee handled without a snafle endeuored to appease him and in the yeare 1201. called a Councell at Soissons where by orderly exhortations for bishoppes the king tooke againe his wife Engelberge But Philippe the faire proceeded farther for at that time when Pope Boniface the eight had accursed the realme and abandoned the same as a pray to the Emperor Albert of Austrich in the presence of his princes and councell he caused the Bull to be burned and sent into Italie Noguarel with an armie a decree of seizure of bodie by vertue wherof hee tooke the Pope prisoner Also Lewes the twelfth whose greatnesse the Priest of Rome had often bayed at but neuer could bite perceiuing that Iulius the second followed the traine of his predecessors insoleÌ„cies that hauing excommunicated him his subiects hee stirred vp the Englishmen Germaines Spaniards against him did openly by a decree of his Parliament rent the Bull of introduction and imprison the bringers thereof and then by the aduise of the French Bishops assembled at Tours about the yeare 1511. did resolue by armes to withstand the Popes tyrannie who since from time to time hath still practised some mischiefe against France and as Martin du Bellay in the second booke of his remembrances testifieth Pope Leo hearing that the French-men vnder the conduct of the Lorde of Lautree had lost Millanine anno 1521. conceiued such ioy thereof that he died suddenlie Oh glorious death of one of the Apostles successors O the holy father who doth not onely delight in the mischiefe that he committeth but also doth euen bathe himselfe in that harme that he doth not Since that this Popish ambition hath of ouerflowed all Christendome that the Church is at this present vtterlie disfigured witnesse the kingdomes of England Scotland Denmarke and Sueden the seculars of the holie Empire a great part of Poland and Boheme the chiefe Cantons of the Zwitzers and many great townes and communalties of Germany that haue played bankerout with the catholike romish religion what thinkest thou O thou Romish priest howe goest thou to wrecke and how corrupt is thy life Is thy holy water now turned to bloud Hast thou no other holy water stocke thaÌ„ poore France rent in peeces with so many mischiefes Is the knife the holy water sprinkle Be the harquebushes S. Peters kayes Is thy courtesie crueltie and thy peace warre dost thou saly for to heale dost thou scatter to gather togither againe dost thou prouoke to appease and pul down for to build againe My kingdome is not of this world sayth Christ and yet thou wilt lift vp thy crosse aboue scepters and thy miter ouer diademes Nourish sayth he peace and charitie and thou sendest thy bulles post abroad to sowe debate among those that be at one He sheweth thee the heauens but thou beholdest the earth he giueth thee the charge ouer soules but thou wilt master the bodie Thou hast beene hurt and yet seekest to refresh thy wound For if any heresie springeth vp in the worlde thou shouldest deale with the mind not with the goods neyther shouldest thou fight with kniues but with reason If we vse not to apply to the body the medicines fit for the soule why shouldest thou apply to the soule those that appertaine to the body like disease like medecine like wound like oyntment like occasion like remedie To bodily wounds belong bodily medicines and to spiritual diseases spirituall remedies To seeke therefore by force to root out heresies is to cure the soule by
wherefore most Christian king doo you authorize the hangmen of your people If good Princes doo feare for their subiectes and Tyrantes their subiectes why doo you O Prince take weapons in the middest of your subiectes or rather why doo you not arme your selfe for the defence of Frenchmen against strangers If sir there be no question of your owne remayning in your countrie onely but also that your countrie must dwell in it selfe as Camillus sayde to the Romaines will you suffer your France to be made a butcherie a graue and a wildernesse If as it was sayde to Denis the Tyrant of Siracuse tirannous domination is no beautifull monument to be buried in what braue sepulchre may a king haue in a lande all tainted with the bloud of his poore subiectes If as a certaine Romaine sayde Caesar fastened his images by raysing those of Pompey what footing may your estate take by authorising the nearest of your bloud If as sayde Iason the tyrant of Thessaly it be necessarie to doo wrong in retayle to the end to doo right in grosse what were it to redeeme publike peace with the life of two or three rebelles If a king ought rather to feare dooing euill then receiuing euill as the one beeing cause of the other and that hee dooth euill that hindereth not the doing of euill when he may will you Sir suffer so many bloudie murders to bee committed vnder your name and authoritie and which is more by those that clayme to them selues the branches of Charlemagne that doo euen by trompet sounde you a Tyrant and that doo turmoyle both heauen and earth to pull vppon you the hatred of the Clergie of the Nobilitie and of the people Shall it bee sayde that vnder your scepter these young harebraynes these lost children of fortune haue with incredible boldnesse troden downe your edictes violated your lawes strangeled the peace whereto you were so solemnely sworne and robbed and murdered your poore subiectes Can you without horrour heare of their bloudie slaughters without pittie of the destruction of your townes without teares of the desolation of your subiectes and without greeuous displeasure of that ease which the strangers doo reape in your trauayles Consider most mercifull king that they thrust the knife into your handes wherewith to shedde your owne bloud that the rigour of your weapons lighteth vpon your subiectes that getting the victorie ouer them you can not triumph but in your owne shame neyther gaine but in your owne losse that those are to bee feared that doo nothing but vpon necessitie that haue no hope but in dispaire that looke for no peace but in warre and that haue nothing left but weapons and courage That the destruction of the Princes of the bloud and of the members and subiectes of the estate can not be far from the ineuitable destruction of your crowne That extremitie changeth humanity into furie clemencie into dispaire and obedience into rebellion That there be certaine vertues that do openly fight against the enimies as force and valiancie but that those are best which do vndermine the aduersaries hearts as faith clemencie and mercie That the course of reason must stay the Princes power in imitating the same which when it is at the highest in the North part walketh more slowly and by slacknesse maketh his course more assured Consider that those whom with fire and sword they pursue are the same children to whome you are a father the sheepe to whom you are a sheepheard the seruants to whom you are a master the subiects to whom you are a king euen the same subiects to whome of late you pawned your faith And sith it is accounted among matters of fortune if a Prince breaketh promise sith it is a warrant to his subiects of their mutal oblagitions with farre greater reason is he debter to iustice in his owne deed Taint not therfore sir your so pure and cleaine faith neither make it a slaue to the passions of a few seditious persons The people beholdeth you as the sunne that shineth equally vpon al let your loue therefore be generall if you desire to be beloued for loue naturally wil begin at the most perfect of the true Prince to his subiectes of the true father to his children and by a certaine reflection the children do loue the father and the subiects the Prince If in your opinion any heresie buddeth foorth in France if there bee any maime in the Church let it please your maiestie to consider that the wounde lieth in the soules of the heretikes that the soule is a spirituall thing which neither fire nor water can bite that for obtaining the victorie thereof you must be armed with spiritual weapons that the disease is not cured by the disease that to lay a necessitie where God leaueth a libertie is to make a mortall wound in the conscience that onely rigor causeth not men to change aduice but for the most part maketh them more resolute and to perseuer That religion cannot be aduanced by the destruction of the estate and that the estate is scattered by the dissipation of the subiectes And if there be nothing vppon earth more greater or more religious then your maiestie it may please you to set before you the example of 300. bishoppes that were in the Councell of Nice 150. in the Councell of Constantinople 200. in the Councell of Ephesus and 630. in the Councell of Calcedon who all were of opinion to vse no other wepons thē Gods word against Arrius Macedonius Nestorius Eutiches monsters conuicted of heresie and blasphemy against the holy Trinitie Let your maiestie if it please you cast your view vpon the clemencie of Augustus toward the Iewes to whō hee sent his ordinary almes and sacrifices to Hierusalem vppon Theodoricke king of the Gothes who being a fauorer of the Arrians would not force the consciences of his subiects vppon the king of the Turkes who sent his almes to the Calogers Christian religious persons of mount Athos to the end they might pray to God for him vpon the Pope who suffereth the Iewes to set foote in Italie vppon the Emperor Charles the fift who by prouision at Ausbourge 1530. granted that peace which we call of the religion and in the yeare 1555. conuerted the saide prouision into a perpetuall edict vpon your realme of Poland and Boheme wherein sundrie religions do florish And yet onely in your realme of France shall they endeuour to plant faith by armes Other Princes do liue in peace and you sir are wrapped in continual wars After their example most courteous Prince then change the labors of your poore subiects into rest and their misfortunes into prosperitie And nowe that it seemeth God hath chosen your raigne to the end vnder the same to repaire the breaches of his church with both your hands seise vpon this heauenly gift prepare a councel a schoole of saluation wherein the blinde in faith may bee lightened the diseased consciences healed the darkenesse of heresies expelled and the truth may shine forth so shal God be serued of you you of your subiects and this realme set free from the miseries that doo now oppresse it This shal be the right felicitie of a good king FINIS