seen in order Henry the III being stabbed an 1589. after he had seen the revolt of most part of his Kingdome Henry the IV succeeded him and is acknowledged by the Protestants and part of the Papists The Duke du Maine who kept Paris receiveth Baptista Taxis and others for the King of Spain who raise parties for the degrading of the House of Bourbon and the advancing of the League In March 1590. Philip publisheth an Edict whereby he exhorteth all Catholique Princes to joyne with him for the deliverance of Charles the X meaning the Cardinall of Bourbon whom the League had made King to the exclusion of the rest of the House of Bourbon The same yeare 1590. King Henry besiegeth Paris Philip sends the Duke of Parma out of Flanders with a great Army who takes Lagny and raiseth the siege of Paris The next yeare after the Cardinall of Bourbon being dead the Leaguers consult about the election of a King Many of the Seize that is of the sixteen men that governed Paris affected to the Spanish party vote for Philips Daughter Clara Eugenia Isabella of which claime we have spoken before But the Duke du Maine who desired rather to have the Crown either for himselfe or for some of his house protracted that businesse and turned it over to the States Generall of the League And in the mean while sent President Jannin into Spain unto whom Philip promist all assistance to the League upon condition that his Daughter should be acknowledged Queen either alone or with such a Husband as she should chuse That President returned much offended with Philips proceeding especially because speaking of the Towns of France he would say My City of Paris My city of Orleans and ever since solicited the Duke du Maine to reconcile himselfe with the King An. 1591. King Henry the IV besiegeth and presseth Roven very sore The Duke of Parma returneth and maketh him raise the siege Before the Duke of Parma came into France he propounded two conditions to the Duke du Maine the one that he should put the Town of La Fere into his hands which he did and the Parmezan put a Garrison in it of four hundred Spaniards The other that he should press the assembly of the States of the League to declare the Infanta Queen of France Du maine promist him to move the Assembly about it and gave him hope that King Philip should be contented In January 1593. was the opening of the States of the League where the Duke of Feria extraordinary Embassador of Spain declared his Masters zeal for the defence of Religion desired them to chuse a Catholique King and to preserve unto the Infanta of Spain the right she had to the Crown of France Upon which that famous Arrest or sentence was given by the Parliament for the maintaining of the Salique Law And though afterwards the Spaniards proposed the marriage of the Infanta with the Duke of Guise or with Ernestus brother to the Emperour Rodolphus they were rebuked by the States as making a proposition contrary to the Salique Law When they prest againe that the Infanta should be acknowledged Queen with such a Prince as Philip should name within two months they were answered that when the States had chosen a Catholique Prince if he was not married they would consent that he should marry the Infanta But the hope which Henry gave at the same time to the party of the League that he would come to their Religion destroyed all these designes of the Spaniard and he was anointed King at Chartes in the beginning of the year 1594 and soon after entred into Paris whence the Duke of Feria departed with the Spanish Garrison The same year The Duke du Main having lost Paris and seeing the League falling to pieces went to Bruxelles and asked succour of Ernest of Austria Governour of the Country who sent Charles Count of Mansfeld into France Mansfeld takes la Capelle and returns into Flanders But Henry having laid the Siege to Laon Mansfeld returns and in vain endeavoureth to make him raise the siege The King takes Laon passeth to Cambray an Imperiall Town which Balagni held with the Title of Prince since the first voyage of the Duke of Alanson The King confirmeth that principality to him under the protection of France Towards the end of the year 1594. Henry having broken most part of the League declareth War to the Spaniard by the counsell of the Duke of Bovillon by reason of Philips open enmity against him and the assistance which he had given to the League and because he held from him La Fere and La Capelle That Declaration being made to the Archduke Ernest he answered that he would send word of it to King Philip and a delay of two months being granted War was proclaimed by a Herald The War begins The Duke of Bovillon hath ill successe in Lutzemburg King Henry passeth into Burgundy makes his entry into Dijon notwithstanding the resistance of the Duke du Main and wins the battell of Fontaine Francoise in Burgundy against the Duke du Maine and the Constable of Castilia The Count of Fuentes takes from him Catelet Dourlans and Han and Cambray from Balagni Marshall d' Aumont opposeth the Spaniards in Britain into which they were let in by the Duke of Mercoeur Governour of Britain for the League who had delivered Blaâ—et into their hands An. 1595. King Henry got his absolution from Pope Clement the VIII The Spaniards opposed it representing Henry to the Pope as relapsed and impenitent but Du Perron and d' Ossat since made Cardinalls overcame that party In the year 1596. Charles de Casaut and Lovis d' Aix Viguier of Marseille treat with the Spaniard to deliver the City into his hands But Peter Liberta kept it in the obedience of his Soverain Henry and killed Casaut with his own hand The same year Albert Cardinall of Austria Governour of Netherlands takes Calais and Ardres and Henry retakes la Fere. He makes alliance with Queen Elizabeth of England with the States of Holland and with the Princes of Germany In the year 1597. Ferdinand Teil a Spanish Captain surpriseth Amiens which suddenly is retaken by Henry Cardinal Albert in vain attempted to relieve it The year before the Cardinal of Medicis who since was Leo the XI being in France to procure the execution of the Articles promist by the King when he received his absolution from the Pope had been preparing his mind towards a peace with Philip the II. who seeing himself very old and drooping to the grave sought to leave his Dominions peaceable to his Son who was but weak in body and mind Henry also desired to give peace to his subjects tired and exhausted with continuall Wars forty yeares together So that Cardinall with the Generall of the Franciscans Bonaventure Calatagirona a Sicilian disposed both the parties to a Treaty The place was chosen for it at Vervins in February 1598. where a perpetuall peace was
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
expelled by the Pope The County of Mirandola held by the family of Pici. The Dutchy of Montferrat sometimes the patrimony of the house of the Paleologi is at this time in the hands of the Duke of Mantua There stands Cazal of St. Vaast the so much disputed place The small Common-wealth of Luca in Toscana between the two States of Florence and Genoa Besides these two estates are attributed to Italy though far from it the one is the Common-wealth of Ragousa in Slavonia upon the Golph in old time called Epidaurus It is soveraign yet payeth to the Turk her next neighbour a tribute of fifteen thousand Sequins yearly The other Estate is Malta with the next Iland Goza possest by the Religion of Saint John of Jerusalem But that Prince hath but the shade of a Soveraigne being as for his person a Religious depending of the Pope and punishable by the Pope and the Iland of Malta acknowleding the King of Spain as a dependance of Sicily In all these States of Italy there is no exercise of any Religion but the Roman Although all these Princes will be acknowledged Soveraign there is none properly so but the Pope the Venetians and the Common-wealth of Genoa All the others are either Imperial Lands as Mantua Milan Montferrat Piemont Modena Mirdndula Florence or depend of the Pope as Naples Sicily Parma and Placentia Paragraphe VI. In the end of the Golph of Venice Eastward lyeth Greece possest by the Turk who holds all that was comprehended in the names of Peloponnesus Achaia Epirus Macedo nia Thracia with the great City of Constantinople Nearer to the River of Danubius and above the mountaines of Thracia he hold Bulgaria and Servia which were the ancient Misiae Bossena great part of Hungary as farre as Gran or Strigonium near the Towne of Commorra and part of Slavonia and Dalmatia By those more Occidentall Countries he toucheth the Lands of the Venetians and the the House of Austria Beyond Danubius he is acknowledged by the three Vaivodes or Princes of Transylvania Moldavia and Walachia The Turk holds also all the Ilands of the Mediterranean Sea from Candia to Pontus Euxinus Beyond the mouth of Danubius and the coast of Pont Euxin he holds as farre as the River Tyrus or Niestra And higher in Taurica Chersonesus the Town of Cafa in old time Theodosia His Dominion on that side buts upon the River Tanais where his Frontier is the Town of Assou taken about ten years ago upon the Muscovite In all that Tract though the Turk and the Mahometan Religion govern most part of his People profess the Religion of Christ under the Patriarch of Constantinople Yet there are many of the Roman Religion in Hungary Bossena and Servia Transylvania is Protestant Paragraphe VII Above Pont Euxin towards Meotides Paludes there is a great extent of Countries bordering upon Podolia and Muscovia And within that Sea is that Peninsula sometimes called Taurica Chersonesus now Precops All that Tract is called Tartaria Precopensis or the Crim Tartar or about four hundred years ago a Herd for Army of Yartars invaded that Country It is now one of the considerable States of Europe possest by a Mahumetan Prince named Cantemiro It bordereth upon the Turks towards Pont Euxin and is in league with them Westward it joyns with Poland Northwards with Muscovia and hath War almost continually with these two Nations Paragraphe VIII Beyond the dominions of Poland there is a River called Danambra in old time Borysthenes which severeth Sarmatia now called Poland from the old Scythia Europea which comprehends that large tract of Land between Borysthenes and Tanais and Northward unto the frozen Sea This is that great Estate of Muscovia denominated from the Capitall City Mosko The Prince the great Duke of Moscovia besides that part of Europe stretcheth his Dominion very far into great Asia He that reigned when the Author writ this Book which was in the year 1644. was Michael Fedorowitz who was elected in the year 1612. In the confusion of Civil Wars after the extinction of the antitient Royall Family That People is Christian but of the rudest sort acknowledging the Patriarch of Constantinople Westward they join with Poland Southward with the Crim Tartar and with each of them have alwaies some war Paragraphe IX All the Country from the River of Odera in Germanie or at least from the River of Vistula or Weissell as far as Borysthenes and Northward as far as the point of the Baltique Sea above Livonia All that Country I say called antiently Sarmatia containeth now the Kingdom of Poland consisting of the greater and lesser Poland Russia alba the Country of the Cossacks Podolia and other Provinces with the great Dutchy of Lituania near Borysthenes That State of Poland whose capital City is Cracovia joyneth Southward with the Lands of the Empire and Hungary so much as belongs to the House of Austria and with Transylvania and Moldavia Eastward it joines with the Tartar and Moscovite The Court of Poland hath been of the Roman Religion hitherto What it will be hereafter the successe of the present Warrs will shew That State tolerates all sorts of Religions Livonia or Liefland in the Baltick Sea is accounted as an appurtenance of Poland Yet because three Estates meet there Poland on the South Muscovia on the East and North and Sweden on the West it is alwaies disputed between these three Crowns and is the occasion of great Warrs which were appeased in some part by the peace between Poland and Sweden An. 1635. but newly revived Paragraphe X. By an arm of the great Ocean that Mediterranean Sea of the North is formed which is called the Baltique Sea There the Dominions of Sweden and Denmark are seated two considerable States The Kingdom of Sweden comprehends great part of the antient Gotthia the Town and Dutchy of Stockholm the great Dutchy of Finland and Northward Botnia Scrifinia and other unknown Countries The present King is Carolus Gustavus by the cession of his Cosen German Christina Daughter to the famous Gustavus Adolphus The whole Kingdom of Sweden is Lutheran Yet in the North there is some remnant of the antient Idolatry of Pagans The other State is that of Denmark composed of the Hanse Teutonique called antiently Cimbrica-Chersonesus which is a corner of great Germany containing the Dutchy of Holstein Juitland and Schleswick A second part of that Estate lyeth in Ilands the chiefe of them Zeland where Coppenhagen is seated the Capitall City of the Kingdom The third part is in the Peninsula of the Baltique Sea and herein the Kingdom of Norway and Finmarch To that State also belong the Ilands of Friesland and Island far in the North. They are all Lutherans The strength and wealth of that Kingdom lieth in the passage of the Sund which makes it considerable to all that traffick to or from the Baltique Sea Paragraphe XI From thence sailing Westward one comes to the great Brittanique Ilands of which we that
Moore out of Barcellona and put a French Garrison in it not long after he gave it to Bernard who was the first Count of Catalonia and was a powerfull and considerable man in the Court of Lewis the Meek and the Counts of that Province who then were but Goverours were a long time ordinary Courtiers and Attendants of the French Kings But by the idlenesse of the last descent of Charlemagne the Governours of Provinces and of this among the rest made themselves Masters About the beginning of the third Race of the French Kings the Family that ruled in Catalonia was that of the Beringers And that County was alwayes separate from the Kingdom of Arragon till the yeare 1131 when Don Alphonso King of Arragon surnamed the Bellador because he fought twenty two battels being dead without issue the people of Arragon tooke Ramires out of the Cloister of St. Pontius of Tomieres where he had lived forty yeares a Monk because he was of the Royal blood and Son to Sanchez Ramires King of Arragon He was married by a dispensation of Anaclet the II Pope or rather Anti-pope and had a Daughter named Petronilla married to Raymond Berenger Count of Catalonia So Arragon and Catalonia were united and never separated since James King of Arragon an 1320. by the advice of the State of the Land made the Law of union of the three Provinces Arragon Valentia and Catalonia not to be possest separately any more Together with that Law Catalonia agreed with the King of Arragon that she should have her forces and priviledges apart and that the Kings of Arragon who took only the title of Counts of Catalonia should oblige themselves by oath to observe that condition This precaution of the Catalans hath justified their laterevolt which the most conscionable among them have yeelded unto acknowledging that their King had violated that Treaty It is a constant truth that all that time from the conquest of Charlemagne Catalonia was a Fee depending from France Charlemagne made the first Counts of it who were his Courtiers The first upon whom it was settled as a French Fee was Geffery le Velu invested by Charles le Gros an 885. And Bera Count of Catalonia being accused of felony before Lewis le Begue offered to purge himselfe by a Duell after the manner of the time in which being overcome he was deprived of his Fee and another invested with it All that time also all the publique Acts of Notaries in Catalonia were done in the name of the Kings of France which is an undoubted mark of Supremacy and all the Kings of Arragon Counts of Catalonia did homage for it to the Kings of France till the yeare 1181. and in the beginning of Philip the Conquerour when Alphonsus King of Arragon called a Councill at Tarracona a Town of Catalonia where under colour of conscience and respect to Religion he caused an Order to be made that from thenceforth the yeares of the French Kings should no more be put in the Deeds and Contracts of Catalonia but the yeares of Christ And the same King having neglected that homage to the Kings of France that right was lost under Philip Auguste Lewis the VIII and St Lewis the claim onely remaining In which consideration likely the Princes of Arragon were educated in the Court of France one of them was James who lived in the time of St. Lewis and had been educated with Philip le Hardy who being come to visit that King and having given him his sister Isabella to wife the Spaniards say that by reason of that match and the cession which James made to Philip of the Town of Monpellier and of some other Lands which he possest in Languedoc the said King Philip quitted all his right of supremacy over Arragon and Catalonia That Treaty was an 1270 by which the Spaniards conceive that they have shaken the yoak of French Soveraignty But whether that Treaty be valid or no either for the fact or the right that cession being above 380 years old it seems authenticall and the French have given over that claim But they have another of latter date For by reason of the massacre made in the Siclian Vespers an 1281. Peter King of Arragon Count of Catalonia was excommunicated his Lands put in interdict and given to Philip le Hardy by Martin the IV Pope or to his Son Count of Valois but that right being the same as the right which the French claime or did claim upon Arragon of which we spake lately we will not here repeat So the French rights over Catalonia are reduced to these two heads The first is taken from the conquest of Charlemagne the estabishing of Counts and Governours in the same the homage done to the Kings of France the years of their reign ascribed in their deeds both private and publique The other is the same as is pretended upon Arragon Of both the French make no great account Onely because of late years Catalonia hath shaken the yoke of the Kings of Arragon and Castilia and have given themselves to the French it may be disputed whether the French King may use any of these old stale Titles or whether he must ground the justice of his possession upon the donation which the Catalans have made to him holding themselves free from the obedience of the Spaniard by reason of the infraction of their priviledges Certainly in all particular Treaties the unobservation of the conditions freeth the parties from the obligations of the contract But as for Soveraignties and the mutual obligations of Kings and Subjects many will reason otherwise saying that although the obligation be mutual as for the conscience yet as for the retrocession and the penalty attending the breach of the obligation it doth not reach to Kings whose actions are not censurable by the people not by the nature of the contract which is mutuall and reciprocall but for the danger of the consequence which might authorize revolts Others also will say that a Country giving her selfe to a Prince what priviledges soever the people reserve to themselves by contract they are all lost when they enter into subjection which by its nature makes a man subject to another man without any exception when the publique good is concerned that those priviledges by that subjection passe into the nature of meer liberties and concessions of Princes which they may stretch diminish and over-throw according to their discretion Certainly in all these contentions between the people and the Soveraign passion and interests bear a great sway make conscience plead on both sides But any reason will passe when there is strength to back it Paragraphe VI. Of the County of Roussillon and Sardinia That little Country at the foot of the Pyrenees and near the golph of Leon was antiently part of Languedoc and for a long time past through the same fortunes and changes It was for a great while part of the County of Beziers and Dutchy of Narbon Then
Minor by the State 3. Lanoy being returned into Spain presently the War of the league begins in Italy at Milan at Rome and at Naples At Milan the Duke of Bourbon Generall of the imperial Army besieged Francis Sforza whom the league had taken in her protection Sforza is constrained to surrender the Castle and retire into the Army of the league the Generall whereof was Francesco Maria Duke of Urbin The Duke of Bourbon having taken Milan goeth straight to Rome takes it and is killed in the assault The Cardinalls are imprisoned and ransomed At the same time Lautree was at Naples with an Army and laid a strait siege to it by Land And Andrew Doria with the Gallies of France besieged it by Sea Yea he won a battel by Sea in which Moncado Viceroy of Naples was slaine But being ill satisfied of King Francis who denyed him the ransome of Prisoners and used him with contempt he turned to the Emperour and relieved Naples with victualls by Sea And Lautree presently after happening to die the French lost all in Italy and the Emperour settled himselfe in it with more power He restored the Dutchy of Milan to Sforza and made him marry his neece Christina daughter to the King of Denmark Yet he cut off from that Dutchy the Commonwealth of Genoa which was made Soveraign at the request of Andrew Doria He confirmed also Parma and Placentia to the Popes 4. While this War was in Italy King Francis made a league with Henry the VIII of England and both declared War against the Emperour who having said to the Herald of France that his Master was not in a condition to declare Warre against him till he had disingaged his faith and fulfilled his promises which if he repented of that he should return into prison to make a new Treaty King Francis exasperated with these words declared in presence of all the Court that he would satisfie the Emperour by a Duel and sent him a challenge saying that the Emperour lied if he said that he had broken his word The Emperour though he made a shew to answer the challenge kept himself still to his answer that King Francis was not in a condition to require satisfaction of him till he had discharged his promise So all these threatnings vanisht into smoak 5. While these Princes were thus contending two great Princesses Lovise the Kings Mother and Margaret the Emperours Aunt were labouring for an accommodation By their meanes the Treaty of Cambray was made which therefore was called the Treaty of Ladies it was in the year 1529. By that Treaty a marriage was concluded between King Francis and Eleanor the Emperours sister widow to the King of Portugal and it was agreed that King Francis should pay two millions of Gold for the ransome of his Sons And that he should disclaim all his rights to the Counties of Flanders and Artois and to the Dutchy of Milan and as some adde to whole Italy which is like enough since the Treaty of Cambray changed nothing in that of Madrid but that there was no mention of the Dutchy of Burgundy Paragraphe V. From the Treaty of Cambray an 1529. to that of Crespy an 1544. By the Treaty of Cambray War ceased between these two Princes but not the jealousies and hatred Yet they kept peace till the year 1533. when Merville an Italian Gentleman the Kings servant was condemned and executed at Milan because some of his servants had killed a man But the secret and true reason was that the Emperour had complained to Duke Sforza that this Merville was at Milan as a Spy for the French which was true yea he was a secret Embassadour and Sforza had desired that he should not openly take the title of Embassadour for fear of offending the Emperour That murther of Merville broke the peace for the King taking Armes to chastise Sforza the Emperour also took arms to defend him It was at that time that King Francis instituted a new form of Militia which was called Legionary The Emperour also was incensed by the alliance which the King had made with the German Princes Protestant though perhaps that name was not yet in fashion who being persecuted by the Emperour for their Religion had their refuge to the French King as the antient confederate of the Princes of Germany for the defence of the Rights and Liberties of the Empire These Princes were the Dukes of Saxony the Palatine the Duke of Bavier the Duke of Wertenberg the Lantgrave of Hesse Yea he lent a hundred thousand Crowns to the Duke of Virtenberg who engaged to him the County of Montbeliard But that engagement was simulate and Francis did very willingly assist the Enemies of Charles These were the motives and occasions of this War Of which these were the chief passages 1. Francis to passe to Milan demands of Charles Duke of Savoy passage through his Country The Duke denies it by the instigation of Beatrix of Portugal his wife sister in law to the Emperor very partial for him That deniall cost the Duke the losse of all his Lands both of Savoy and Fiemont which the King took and kept them till the Treaty of Chasteau in Cambresis an 1559. The pretence of that invasion was the right which Francis pretended in these States from his Mother Lovise of Ravoy A little before that invasion the Emperour seeing that thick cloud threatning Milan himself returning from Tunis with a weary and broken Army sends to the K. propositions of peace many fair words Yet he stood so stiffely upon the Treaties before very advantageous for him that the King would not hearken to him perceiving that ne would only protract the time till he had recrewted his Army Besides Francis Sforza being dead without children at the same time the Emperour had seized upon the Dutchy of Milan And it was reported that he intended to bestow it upon a Sonne of Portugal his wives brother For these reasons these two Princes fall to action The King conquereth Savoy and Piemont and the Emperour fortifies himself at Milan 2. The Emperour passeth into Italy visits the Pope Paul III an 1536 and in prefence of the Conclave inveighs against Francis relating all that past between them ever since they came to their States reproaching him especially for joining with the Princes of contrary Religion in Germany And offereth three conditions to the King to choose which he would The first was to give the Dutchy of Milan to the Kings third Son the Duke of Angoulesme not willing to give it either to the Dolphin or to the Duke of Orleans for fear said he of giving jealousie to the Italian Princes if persons so near the Crown grew so powerfull in Italy especially the Duke of Orleans who had lately married Catherine de Medicis which had some pretences upon Florence and Urbin If the King accepted that condition he desired to know what assistance he would give him against the Turk and the Heretiques
Princesse was to be delivered to Philip upon the 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 little before Melander a Spanish Captaine had 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 Hands held 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 League 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 VVarred against him But these things must be
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
the French in that Councel hindred the publication of it in France Shortly after the Cardinal of Lorrain retired to Rome and Ferrier declaimed in a general Congregation against abuses and disorders crept into the Church and spared no body The Pope was much displeased at it and to allay that heat sent the Cardinal of Lorrain to Rome with full authority to regulate all with the Legats He was present at the 24th Session held November 11. 1563. which is of the Sacrament of marriage And having received order from France to return without delay with all the French Bishops the Legates hasted to make an end of the Councel and held the 25th Session which was the last upon the 3d. and 4th of December in which Session as in the precedent the Ambassadours kept their place Luna sate by the Secretary of the Councel In the publique Masses neither Pax nor Censer was used So the Council of Trent ended the 4th of Decem. 15 63. the Cardinal Moron at that time the first President giving his blessing to the Fathers told them Post gratias Deo actas Reverendissimi Patres Ite in pace And all answered Amen But because it was the custom at the end of the Council to make acclamations to bless the Popes that had assembled it the Fathers that had held it and the Princes that had assisted it and protected the Church the Cardinall of Lorrain took himself the care to make them and to pronounce them also Which he was blamed for as taking upon him that care which less becoming his Eminency and more fitting for Deacons Promotors Secretaries and Masters of Ceremonies Especially he was blamed because in the acclamation made for the secular Princes he forgot to name expresly the King of France which had been observed in the Bull of the Indiction as we said before and the omission whereof in the calling again of the Council by Pius the IV had caused so much discontent and expostulation Of this the Cardinal could not be ignorant nor pretend forgetfullnesse since those acclamations were meditated and written down There was two acclamations the first for the memory of the dead in which the Cardinal forgot to expresse the names of Francis the I. and Henry the II who had contributed their care and their zeal for the good of the Council The second was for the Princes living where he forgat Charles the IX who had sent his Ambassadours his Bishops to Trent So he forgot both the dead and the living That omission was objected to the Cardinal in the Kings Councel He excused himself upon the fear he had to make a division between the two Crowns King Charles being yet in minority in danger of a civil War and of the disorder which Germany was fallen into upon the quarrell of Religion Whereby the King might have need of Philip whom therefore he would not provoke or incense against France Thus that weakness which the Cardinal and the French Ambassadours shewed in the Congregations Sessions and Acclamations having not with vigour enough defended the right of their Masters was defended by them with plausible reasons but in effect they opened the gate to the pretences which the Spaniards form at every meeting of publique Assemblies Processions and Ceremonies against the French Ambassadours who hitherto have stoutly defended their right At least they have kept the two essential points of precedence which are first never to have left their place either second when the Ambassadours of the Pope and the Emperour were present or first when they were absent The other never to have suffered or done any action which may be interpreted to give an equality to the Spaniard with them As for the order of sitting which should oblige the Spaniard to sit under the French one can not take him by the hand to bring him to an Assembly when he pretends sicknesse or businesse But if he appear in a publique meeting the French suffers him not to use any action either of preference or equality Since the Councell of Trent the most famous meeting of the two Kings in the persons of their Ambassadours or rather the only was that of Vervins an 1598. where the French had the precedence as we shewed before FINIS