most bigotted Huguenots nor any bitter Enemy to the Catholiques But as he cou'd not believe after what had been done against him that he had reason to rely on these fair promises that he fear'd to fall to the Ground betwixt two Stools nay if once he was perceiv'd to Waver to be soon abandon'd by his party which already lean'd extremely towards the Prince of Condè who was Known to be a much better Protestant than himself and moreover that he thought himself secure of great Succours from the Germans he wou'd not lend an Ear to any of those Proposals and gave a quick dispatch to the King's Envoys with an answer worthy of his ingenuity and of his Courage That his Enemies desir'd nothing less than his Conversion because they took Arms for no other reason than to Exclude him from the Succession of the Crown and to cantonize the Realm amongst themselves under pretence of preserving the Catholique Religion which he wou'd maintain in it much better than themselves That he most humbly besought his Majesty to permit him to decide that Quarrel with the Princes of the League without his Majesty's giving himself the trouble to interpose in it and in three Months time he shou'd have Fifty thousand Men with which he hop'd Almighty God wou'd do him the favour to reduce the Leaguers in a short time to their Duty and to bring those Troublers of the publick Peace and those Rebels to the terms of Obedience which they ow'd their Sovereign This answer put the King into an extreme Agony of Spirit not knowing where to fix his Resolutions nor which of the three Parties he shou'd Espouse For in case he shou'd stand Neuter betwixt the King of Navarre and the League he ran the risque of being at the disposal of the Conquerour if he rang'd himself with the King of Navarre's Party against the League as some time after he was constrain'd to do he fear'd to pass for an Heretique or for a favourer of Heretiques as the League endeavour'd already to make it be believ'd by their Calumnies against him and in the sequel to draw upon himself the power of Spain and all the Thunderbolts of Rome which in that conjuncture he dreaded more than the League and the Spaniard put together Thus as he believ'd not himself to be singly strong enough to force both parties to Obedience that latter fear determin'd him though contrary to his Inclinations against the King of Navarre's Party as judging it to be the juster excepting onely their Religion which that Prince had solemnly protested was no ingredient of the present Quarrel Insomuch that following the advice of the Queen his Mother and some few of his Council who out of their hatred to Heresie were favourable to the League he joyn'd himself with those whom he regarded as his greatest Enemies to make War with his Brother-in-Law whose good intentions he well knew for the publique wellfare A War which drew from both parties both much Bloud and many Tears the various events of which will be the Subject of the following Book THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE LIB II. THE King according to his Custome pass'd the Winter of this Memorable Year 1587 partly in Feasts Gaming Ballets and Masquerades and such other divertisements and partly in his Processions his Fraternities his Retirements and his Penances among the Feuillants whom he had founded at the Fauxbourg St. Honore among the Capuchins and especially in his little Cells of the Monastery of Bois de Vincennes wherein he had plac'd the Ieronimites who were come from Spain and wherein afterwards were plac'd the Minimes But to his great grief at the beginning of the Spring he was forc'd to quit the Pleasures and Exercises of that sort of Life with which he was infinitely satisfied and rowze up himself to make War in conjunction with the League against the King of Navarre and the Germans who were coming to joyn their Forces with him To this effect the Duke of Guise who till that time had been making War with the young Duke of Bouillon la Mark without any considerable advantage return'd to the Court which was then at Meaux and after having assur'd the King that there was a great Army of Germans in readiness to take their March towards our Frontiers and demanded Forces which might be capable of stopping them he made great complaints of the Breach which he pretended to be made of some Articles in the Treaty of Nemours Those of the League maintain'd that these complaints were just the others on the contrary made it evident that they were altogether unreasonable He complain'd amongst other things that the Count of Brissac was not restor'd to his Government of the Castle of Anger 's But to that it was answer'd that the King had retaken it from the King of Navarre's Forces by whom Brissac who held it for the League against his Majesty's intentions had suffer'd it to be surpris'd He added that such as were his Dependants and in his interests were not treated so favourably at Court as others as if the King had been oblig'd not onely to forgive but also to bestow particular favours on those who had taken Arms against him and to reward them for having discharg'd their Cannon against his faithfull Servants as Francis de Balsac d' Entragues had done against the Duke of Montpensier whom his Majesty had sent to Orleans In conclusion he took it exceedingly ill that the temporal Estate of Cardinal Pellevè Archbishop of Sens had been seiz'd into the King's hands as if the World were not satisfi'd that this Prelate a Pensioner of Spain and who was a declar'd Enemy to the King was not then at Rome doeing him all manner of ill Offices with the Pope eternally decrying his conduct and blasting him with his sinister interpretations and venemous aspersions Nevertheless the King had the goodness not long time after to grant him Possession of his Revenues and that to gratifie His Holiness who had desir'd it of him by his Nuncio Morosini but at the same time he desir'd the Pope to admonish the Cardinal in private that he shou'd beware of relapsing into so hainous an Offence which if he shou'd he then hop'd his Holiness wou'd hold himself oblig'd to punish him with the same Severity as if the crime were committed against his own person For the present he was content to mollify the Duke of Guise with a parcel of fair words assuring him that he wou'd take such order that he shou'd have reason to be satisfi'd in all things After which having again exhorted him to make Peace with the King of Navarre and finding him still obstinate in the Negative he took at last the resolution to dispose of the Forces he had already on foot and of those he expected from the Catholique Cantons of Swisserland in such manner that he might find a way to make himself Master of all by weakning the King of Navarre and the League and by
pay him an entire Obedience and that he propos'd nothing to himself but that provision shou'd be made for the safety of Religion and of good Catholiques which were design'd to be oppress'd through the pernicious Counsells of such as held intelligence with Heretiques and projected nothing but the ruine of Religion and the State These Letters together with those which the Parisians wrote to the other Towns exhorting all men to combine with them for their common preservation in the Catholique Faith and those of the King which on the contrary were written in too soft a style and where there appear'd more of fear and of excuse than of resentment and just complaint for so sacrilegious an attempt had this effect that the greatest part of the people far from being scandalis'd at the Barricades approv'd them loudly praising the conduct of the Duke of Guise whom they believ'd to be full of Zeal for the Catholique Faith for the good of the Kingdom and for the Service of the King And as he desir'd nothing so much as to confirm them in that opinion he was willing that the body of the City shou'd send their Deputies to the King humbly to beseech his Majesty that he wou'd forget what was pass'd and return to his good Town of Paris where his most Loyal Subjects were ready to give him all the highest demonstrations of their Obedience and devotion to his Service He permitted that even processions shou'd be made in the Habit of Penitents to desire of God that he wou'd please to mollify the King's Heart and this was perform'd with so much ardour that there was one which went from Paris as far as Chartres in a most extraodinary Equipage under the conduct of the famous Fryar Ange. This honest Father was Henry de Ioyeuse Count of Bouchage and Brother to the late Duke He had given up himself to be a Capuchin about a year before this time having such strong impressions made upon him by the death and good example of his Wife Catharine de Nogaret Sister to the Duke of Espernon that he was inflam'd with a desire of repentance insomuch that neither the tears of his Brother nor the intreaties and favours of the King who lov'd him exceedingly nor the ardent solicitations of all the Court were able to remove him from the resolution he had taken of leading so austere a Life This noble Fryar having put a Crown of Thorns upon his head and carrying an overgrown Cross upon his Shoulders follow'd by his Fraternity and by a great number of Penitents and others who represented in their Habits the several persons of the Passion led on that procession singing Psalms and Litanies The march of these Penitents was so well manag'd that they enter'd the great Church of Chartres just as the King was there at Vespers As they enter'd they began to sing the Miserere in a very dolefull tone And at the same time two swindging Fryars arm'd with Disciplines laid on lustily poor Fryar Ange whose back was naked The application was not hard to make nor very advantageous to the Parisians for the charitable creature seem'd evidently to desire the King that he wou'd please to pardon them as Iesus Christ was willing to forgive the Iews for those horrible outrages which they had committed against him A Spectacle so surprising produc'd different effects in the minds of the standers by according to the variety of their tempers some of them were melted into compassion others were mov'd to Laughter and some even to indignation And more than all the rest the Marshal de Biron who having no manner of relish for this sort of devotion and fearing besides that some dangerous Leaguers might have crowded in amongst them with intention to Preach the people into a Mutiny counsell'd the King to clap them up in Prison every Mothers Son But that good Prince who notwithstanding all his faults had a stock of Piety at the bottom and much respect for all things that related to Religion rejected wholly this advice He listen'd to them much more favourably than he had heard all the Harangues of the former Deputies and promis'd to grant them the pardon they desir'd for the Town which he had so much favour'd on condition they wou'd return to their Obedience And truly 't is exceeding probable that he had so done from that very time if they had not afterwards given him fresh provocations by proposing the terms on which they insisted for the Peace which they desir'd For the Duke of Guise to whom all these fair appearances were very serviceable and cou'd be no ways prejudicial and who always pursu'd his designs in a direct line knew so well to manage the disposition of the Queen Mother who had seem'd at first to be much startled at his demands that he recall'd her with much dexterity into his interests by working on those two passions which were rooted in her Soul She desir'd to raise to the Throne after the death of the King her Son her Grandson Henry de Lorrain Marquis du Pont and believ'd that the Duke of Guise wou'd contribute to it all that was in his power But as cunning as she was she saw not into the bottom of that Prince who fed her onely with vain hopes of that Succession for another to which he personally aspir'd She infinitely hated the Duke of Espernon and believing he was the man who having possess'd himself of the King's Soul had render'd her suspected to him long'd to turn him out of Court promising her self by that means to be re-establish'd in the management of affairs from which the Favourites had remov'd her And the Duke of Guise who had as little kindness as her self for the Duke of Espernon concurr'd in the same design with at least as much earnestness but for a much different end for he desir'd to be absolute himself In this manner this subtle Prince always dissembling and artifically hiding the true motives by which he acted drew the Queen at last to consent to all that he desir'd and above all to give her allowance that a request shou'd be presented to the King in the name of the Cardinals the Princes the Peers of France the Lords the Deputies of Paris and the other Towns and of all the Catholiques united for the defence of the Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion This reqest which in the manner of its expressions was couch'd in most respectfull terms contain'd notwithstanding in the bottom of it certain Propositions at least as hard as the Artâ—cles of Nancy and even as those which not long before were propos'd to the Queen by the Duke of Guise For after a protestation in the beginning of it that in whatsoever had pass'd till that present time there had been nothing done but by a pure zeal for God's honour and for the preservation of his Church they demand of the King That he wou'd make War with the Huguenots and that he wou'd conclude no Peace till
believe we shall behold its ruine by the repentance of those who being deluded and held back by their Ministers continue still in their erroneous belief rather through ignorance than malice And this is it which when accomplish'd will surpass even all those other wonders which daily are beheld under your most auspicious Government Vndoubtedly Sir your Majesty has perform'd by your Victorious Arms your generous goodness and your more than Royal magnificence all those great and Heroique actions which will ever be the admiration of the World and infinitely above the commendations which future Ages in imitation of the present will consecrate to your immortal memory I presume not to undertake that subject because it has already drain'd the praises of the noblest Pens which yet have not been able to raise us to that Idea 〈◊〉 you which we ought justly to conceive I shall onely say that what you have done with so much Prudence Iustice and Glory by extending the French Monarchy to its ancient bounds and rendring it as it is at present as flourishing and as much respected by all the World as it ever has been under the greatest and most renown'd of all our Monarchs is not so great in the sight of God as what your Majesty performs daily with so much Piety Zeal and good success in augmenting the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and procuring the Conversion of our Protestants by those gentle and efficacious means which you have us'd This Sir is without exception the most glorious of all your Conquests and while you continue to enjoy on earth that undisputed glory which your other actions have acquir'd you is preparing an eternal triumph for you in the Heavens 'T is what is continually implor'd of God in his most ardent Prayers who enjoying the abundant favours of your Majesty lives at this day the most happy of Mankind under your most powerfull Protection and is most oblig'd to continue all his life with all imaginable Respect and Zeal Sir Your Majesty's most Obedient and most Faithfull Subject and Servant Louis Maimbourg THE AUTHOUR'S Advertisement to the READER SInce perhaps there are some who may think themselves concern'd in this History because they are the Grand-children or Descendants of those who are here mention'd I desire them to consider that Writing like a faithfull Historian I am oblig'd sincerely to relate either the good or ill which they have done If they find themselves offended they must take their satisfaction on those who have prescrib'd the Laws of History let them give an account of their own rules for Historians are indispensably bound to follow them and the sum of our reputation consists in a punctual execution of their orders Thus as I pretend not to have deserv'd their thanks in speaking well of their Relations so I may reasonably conclude that they ought not to wish me ill when I say what is not much to their advantage I faithfully relate what I find written in good Authours or in particular Memories which I take for good after I have throughly examin'd them I do yet more for considering that no man is bound to believe when I say in general that I have had the use of good Manuscripts on whose credit I give you what is not otherwhere to be had I sincerely and particularly point out the originals from whence I drew these truths and am fully convinc'd that every Historian who hopes to gain the belief of his Reader ought to transact in the same manner For if there were no more to be done than barely to say I have found such or such an extraordinary passag◠in an authentique Manuscript without giving a more particular account of it under pretence of being bound to Secrecy there is no kind of Fable which by this means might not be slurr'd upon the Reader for a truth An Authour might tell many a lusty lye but a Reader who were not a very credulous fool or a very complaisant Gentleman wou'd have a care of believing him 'T is for this reason that I have always mark'd in my margents the Books Relations and Memoires whether Printed or Manuscripts from whence I take the substance of my Relations One of those Writers of whom I have made most use is Monsieur Peter Victor Cayet in his Nine years Chronology containing the History of the Wars of Henry the Fourth Because he having always follow'd that Prince since he was plac'd in his service together with Monsieur de la Gaucherie who was his Preceptor 't is exceeding probable that he was better inform'd of the passages of those times of which he was an eye witness than others who had not that advantage For what else concerns him he was one of the most Learned and able Ministers which our Protestants have ever had and in that quality serv'd Madam Catharine the King's Sister till about two years after the Conversion of that great Prince he acknowledg'd the true Catholique Religion and made his Solemn abjuration of Heresie at Paris He also publish'd the motives of his Conversion in a Learned Treatise which was receiv'd with great applause both in France and in Foreign Countries and his example fortifi'd with the strong reasons of a man so able as he was to which no solid answer was ever given was immediately follow'd by the Conversion of a great number of Protestants who by his means came to understand the falshood of their Religion pretendedly reform'd This action so infinitely netled his former Brotherhood of Ministers that they grew outrageous against him They ran down his reputation with full cry and endeavour'd to blacken it with a thousand horrible calumnies with which they stuff'd their Libels and amongst others that which they have inserted into the Memoires of the League with the greatest villany imaginable taking no notice of the solid and convincing answers he made them Which proceeding of theirs is sufficient to discover the falsity of all they have Written to Defame him according to the Libelling genius of Presbytery For of all Heretiques none have been more cruel or more foul-mouth'd than the Calvinists none have reveng'd themselves of their pretended Enemies more barbarously either by open Arms or private mischiefs when the power was in their hands or more impudently with their Pens and by their Libels when they had no other way to shew their malice murthering their reputations with all sorts of injuries and impostures who have once declar'd themselves against their Party In effect what have they not said to defame the memory of Monsieur de Sponde Lieutenant General in Rochelle of Salette Counsellour to the King of Navarre of Morlas Counsellour of State and Superintendant of the Magazines of France as also of Du Fay Clairville Rohan and a hundred others of their most celebrated Ministers who after having been esteem'd amongst them for good men and look'd on as the Leaders of their Consistory are by a strange sort of Metamorphosis become on the sudden Profligate Wretches and the
of Navarre demanded of the term prescrib'd them for the surrender of those cautionary places which they had allow'd them for their security by the last Edict of Peace upon this pretence the Factious cast off all manner of respect to him They clamour'd publiquely on all occasions the Preachers from their Pulpits the Curats from their Desks the Confessours from their Seats the Professours in their Lectures and the Doctours in their Resolutions which they gave that they were oblig'd to oppose themselves with all their power against the King who supported the Navarrois and resolv'd that Heretical and stubborn as he was he shou'd nevertheless succeed to the Crown which ought never to be suffer'd they being assur'd that this Prince if ever he shou'd mount the Throne wou'd abolish the Catholique Religion in France This was that terrible machine of which they made use to stir up the people over whom there is nothing has so great a power as the motive of Religion when once they are perswaded that it will be forceably taken from them And to bind them inseparably to the interests and party of the Duke of Guise whom they believ'd to have no other aim in all his undertakings than the maintenance and defence of it against Heretiques and the favourers â— of Heresie But because that Prince who was extremely dextrous had no mind that it shou'd be perceiv'd he acted for himself under so specious a pretence besides that he believ'd not that it was safe for him as yet to attempt the exclusion of the other Princes of the bloud from the Succession they being good Catholiques he endeavour'd to draw subtilely into his party the good old Man Charles Cardinal of Bourbon And indeed having with great Presents gain'd the Sieur de Rubempre who absolutely govern'd him he perswaded him without much trouble that he being by one degree of kindred nearer to the King than was the King of Navarre his Nephew it was to him that the Kingdom belong'd of right in case the King shou'd dye without Children and that the whole Catholique League wou'd stand by him in his claim with all their power were it onely to hinder an Huguenot Prince from succeeding to the Crown There needed not more to shake a Soul so weak as was that of the Cardinal de Bourbon who devout as he was yet suffer'd himself to be seduc'd with the vain hopes of Reigning He was so much dazled with the false glittering of an imaginary Crown that without considering he had already one of Cardinalship that threescore and ten came fast upon him and that the King was not yet thirty five he quitted his Habit of Cardinal and appear'd in publique like the General of an Army which gave men occasion to believe that his great age had at least craz'd his understanding if it had not quite destroy'd it Yet this opinion of the world hinder'd him not from calling himself the Heir presumptive of the Crown nor from declaring himself openly the Head of the League against his Nephew the King of Navarre especially when he saw that party in which he thought himself already so firmly rooted become every day more powerfull and formidable by the conjunction of the particular League of the Parisians which caus'd such furious disorders under the famous name of the sixteen and which was fram'd in Paris about this time in that manner which I am â—ow going to relate After that by the vigilance of the â—â—rst President Christopher de Thou and some other Magistrates the course of the League was stopp'd at Paris where it had begun to make some impression after it had been sign'd by the Picards all things were in a peaceable condition there none daring to hold any secret Cabals against the State till such time as on occasion of the Conference betwixt the King of Navarre and the Duke d' Espernon in Guyenne a malicious report was rais'd that the King protected the Huguenots who so soon as their Head should mount the Throne which he pretended to be his right wou'd not fail to abolish the Catholique Religion in France For then it was that a mean Citizen of Paris call'd La Roche Blond a man rather weak and silly than wicked prejudic'd by the calumnies which the factious publish'd against the King got it into his head through a false zeal of Religion that the good Catholiques of Paris shou'd unite themselves together and oppose with all their force the King's designs who as it was imagin'd favour'd the Heretiques and hinder the King of Navarre from his Succession to the Crown To this purpose he address'd himself immediately to one Mr. Matthew de Launoy who having first been a Priest was afterwards the Minister of Sedan from whence he had escap'd in his own defence being there taken in Adultery and thereupon renouncing his Calvinism was made Canon of Soissons and at that time preach'd at Paris He also communicated his design to two noted Doctours and Curats the one of Saint Severin nam'd Iohn Prevost and the other of Saint Benet who was the famous Mr. Iohn Boucher one of the most follow'd Preachers of Paris but whose talent chiefly consisted in his extreme boldness which stretch'd even to impudence a man more proper as it appear'd to raise a great Sedition by his violent and furious declamations than to preach the Gospel of Iesus Christ which inspires onely humility obedience and submission to the higher Powers These men being united all four in the same opinion which the Spirit of Division and Rebellion disguis'd under the specious appearance of Zeal inspir'd into them communicated to each other the names of all their several acquaintance in Paris who were most proper to enter into Society with them and to lay the foundations of an Holy Union of Catholiques in that great City which without farther deliberation they coucluded to be of absolute necessity to preserve Religion in France and to extinguish Tyranny for by that name it was that those factious Bygots took the licence to call the Government But for fear of being too soon discover'd by their multitude as it had happen'd formerly in Paris when the project of the League was first broach'd they agreed each of them to name two Associats of the most conâ—iding men they knew to whom they shou'd communicate the whole secret of their enterprise Upon which La roche Blond chose the Sieur Lewis d' Orleans a famous Advocate and the Sieur Acarie Master of the Accompts who was afterwards ironically call'd the Lacquay of the League because that being lame he was one of those who went and came and acted with most earnestness for the interest of his party The same man who was Husband to that pious Mary of the Incarnation of whose good example he profited so ill The Curat of St. Benet nam'd Mignager an Advocate and Crucè a Procureur of Parlament He of St. Severin gave his voice for the Sieur de Caumont an Advocate and a Merchant call'd
Compan Matthew de Launoy who was not yet so well acquainted in Paris cou'd name but one which was the Sieur de Manaevre Treasurer of France of the House des Hennequins But to complete the number of eight they Associated with him the Sieur d' Essiat a Gentleman of Auvergne who was very well known to the Curat of St. Severin who made himself answerable for him These twelve as I may call them false Apostles were the Founders of the League in Paris who admirably counterfeiting zeal for the publick good and discoursing of nothing else amongst their friends in private but of the oppressions of the people of the avarice and insolence of the Favourites the correspondence which the King held with the Head of the Huguenots and the manifest danger in which they were of losing their Religion had immediately made many Churchmen Proselytes of their opinion as also Lawyers and Shop-keepers as for example Iohn Pelletier Curat of St. Iaques de la Boucherie Guincestre Curat of St. Gervase La Morliere a Notary Rolland a Collector of the King's Revenue the Commissary Louchard the Procureurs Emmonot and La Chapelle and Bussy Le Clerc the most Factious of all the Leaguers besides many others whose names are of little consequence to the History and who wou'd doe their posterity but small credit to be mention'd But to maintain at least some kind of order in a design which tended to the confusion and ruine of the State and to take care that their Conspiracy might take no vent there was immediately establish'd a Council of Ten who were selected out of that great number to meet together sometimes at one man's house sometimes at another's very secretly but most commonly they met at his lodgings who was the most desperate of them all and who during the greatest part of that time was the leading man in all deliberations I mean the Curat of St. Benet in his chamber at the College of Sorbonne and afterwards at the College of Forteret whither he retir'd and which afterwards on that account was call'd the Cradle of the League Out of these Ten there were appointed Six which were La Roche Blond Compan Cruce Louchart La Chapelle and Bussy amongst whom the sixteen Wards of Paris were distributed for them to observe in their respective Divisions all that occurr'd either to the furtherance or the disadvantage of their Plot and to pick up those whom they cou'd draw into their Faction with most ease as also there to put in execution by their Accomplices whatsoever they had resolv'd in their Cabal which not long after was inlarg'd to the number of Forty Men the most considerable amongst them 'T is upon this account that the first Union of the Parisians was call'd the Sixteen from the number not of the persons but of the Wards And since nothing spreads with so much ease and so suddenly especially amongst the Common-people as that disease which is taken by contagion so by the conversation which these men infected with the Spirit of Rebellion had by themselves and their Emissaries with the false Zealots the simple the Malecontents the factious the greatest part of the populace and the meanest sort of Citizens that evil which was infinitely contagious was multipli'd with ease and spread it self in little time through all the Quarters of the Town And it encrea'sd with so much vigour that those Mutineers who at their beginning durst not openly appear but held their meetings as privately as they cou'd out of their fear to be discover'd now believ'd themselves so formidably strong and so very numerous that none wou'd dare to make head against them They had even the boldness to send their Deputies into all the Provinces to invite into their new Association those who had declar'd for that of Peronne who sign'd at this time to a Paper more pernicious than the first For whereas in the other they promis'd by their second Article to employ their lives and fortunes for defence of King Henry the Third in his Authority and to cause due obedience to be render'd to him They swear in this other that they enter into the Union with the Parisians not onely to exterminate the Heretiques but also to destroy Hypocrisie and Tyranny that is to say in their execrable meaning to pull down the Authority of Henry the Third whom they accus'd of those two crimes with all injustice imaginable This is that which was call'd the League of Sixteen which after the former League was joyn'd to it by its secret Agents residing in Paris acknowledg'd in reality the Duke of Guise for their Head and the Cardinal of Bourbon onely in appearance In the mean time that Duke finding himself to be so powerfully supported and all things well dispos'd for his enterprise as he cou'd possibly desire resolv'd at last on execution To this effect being retir'd from Court into his Government of Champaign under pretence of some discontent he went to Ioinville where as matters had been laid before there met him at the same time the Envoyes of the King of Spain and those of the Cardinal of Bourbon who had taken on himself the quality of first Prince of the Bloud and Heir presumptive of the Crown And there the Duke acting for himself and for the Princes his Confederates was concluded a perpetual League both Offensive and Defensive for them their Allies and their Descendants by which it was covenanted That to preserve in France the Catholique Religion the Cardinal of Bourbon in case the King shou'd die without Children shou'd succeed him as nearest Heir to the Crown from which all the Heretique Princes shou'd for ever stand excluded as also such of them as were favourers of Heretiques and above all those who were relaps'd so that any of them who had ever made profession of Heresie or who had onely given toleration to it shou'd never be judg'd capable of Reigning That the Cardinal when King shou'd banish out of the Realm all those Heretiques shou'd cause all the Decrees of the Council of Trent to be observ'd and shou'd solemnly renounce the Alliance made with the Turk That the King of Spain shou'd furnish every month fifty thousand Pistoles for the charges of the War which by obligation was to be made against the Huguenots and against the King himself in case he shou'd not abandon them That also the Cardinal and the other Princes of the League shou'd mutually assist His Catholique Majesty with all their Forces in reducing his Rebellious Subjects of the Low Countries under his obedience and cause the Treaty of Cambray to be punctually observ'd After this the Duke receiving immediate payment of one half of the money stipulated for his Pension order'd some levies of Swisses and Reiters to be made by the Colonels Phiffer and Christopher de Bassompierre who were entirely at his Devotion But before he cou'd draw those Forces together the Deputies from the States of the Low Countries about the same
some secret practices amongst the Huguenots who began to be suspicious of his conduct and that by no means he shou'd permit any other but himself to be Head and Protectour of that Party Thus it was to have been hop'd that under favour of this Peace which had disarm'd the Huguenots they wou'd have been reduc'd insensibly if the Leaguers by taking up Arms to force the King as in effect they did to break the Peace which he had given them had not necessitated them to recommence the War which in the progress of it was favourable to them In the mean time amidst the many good Fortunes which happen'd to the League in the overture of the War they had the displeasure of failing in their endeavours to possess themselves of two very considerable Cities in the Kingdom and such as had render'd them absolute Masters of Provence and Guyenne The one was Marseilles which the second Consul feigning to have receiv'd Orders from the King to invade the Huguenots had put into commotion and was just ready to have deliver'd it into the hands of the Guisards but being circumvented and taken by some honest Citizens who had discover'd his Treason he was immediately hang'd and appeas'd by his death the Sedition which he had rais'd to have betray'd them Lodowick de Gonzaga Duke of Nevers was accus'd as Authour of that Enterprise in hope to have seis'd the Government of Provence but he most constantly deni'd it And as about that time he renounc'd the League the Duke of Guise his Brother-in-Law upbraided him that he had never done it but out of shame and vexation to have miss'd his blow He on the other side protested that he chang'd Parties onely for the satisfaction of his Conscience which oblig'd him so to doe On which Subject to justifie his procedure he affirm'd that he had never enter'd into the League but that it was confidently told him that the Pope had licens'd and approv'd of it But that having some reasons to suspect the contrary he had sent three several times to Pope Gregory the thirteenth to be satisfi'd of his doubts and nam'd the Messenger who was Father Claude Matthew a Iesuite call'd the Post of the League because he was in continual motion betwixt Rome and Paris employ'd in the Business of the Holy Union of which he was a most ardent and zealous Factour And that Duke positively affirm'd that after all he cou'd never draw from the Pope any kind of approbation not so much as by word of mouth much less in writing for he always answer'd that he cou'd never see into the depth of that affair and therefore wou'd not be ingag'd in it The other Town which the League miss'd of surprizing was Bourdeaux where the most zealous Catholiques who were enrag'd against the Huguenots endeavour'd to have made themselves Masters for the League and had already advanc'd their Barricades to the very Lodgings of Marshal de Matignon their Governour a faithfull Servant to the King and a declar'd Enemy to the Guises But that Lord equally Wise Valiant and Resolute knew so well by address to manage the minds of those Citizens that opening for himself a passage through the Barricades without other Arms than a Sword by his side and a riding Rod in his hand he seiz'd on one of the Gates through which causing some of his Troops to enter who were not far from thence he not onely assur'd himself of the Town but also got possession of Chateau Trompette after having seiz'd the Governour who was suspected by him and who was so very silly to come out of the Castle and take part of an Entertainment to which the Marshal had invited the chiefest of the Town To proceed at the same time when the League took Arms and began the War with surprizing by Strategem or taking by force so many places from the King they publish'd their Manifest under the name of the Cardinal de Bourbon who by the most capricious weakness that can be imagin'd had got into his head at the Age of threescore and so many years that he shou'd succeed a King who was yet in the flower of his Youth That Cardinal in that paper having bespatter'd the King and the King of Navarre with all the venom which the factious ordinarily threw upon those two Princes to make them odious to the people concludes that his party had taken Arms onely to preserve Religion exterminate Heresie to Banish from the Court those who abus'd the King's Authority and to restore the three Orders of the Realm to their primitive Estate The Proclamation of a King against his rebellious Subjects ought to be no other but a good Army which he may have in a readiness long before them and reduce them to reason e'er they have time and means to gather Forces sufficient to oppose their Sovereign This was what the King was advis'd to have done by his best Servants and especially by the Lord Iohn d' Aumont Count of Chateau-Rou and Marshal of France He whose inviolable fidelity in the Service of the Kings his Masters and his extraordinary Courage tri'd in so many actions joyn'd with a perfect knowledge of all that belongs to a great Captain have render'd him one of the most illustrious persons of that Age. This faithfull Servant not able to endure either the insolence of the Rebels or the too great mildâ—â—ess of his Master advis'd him resolutely that with his Guards and the old Regiments which he might suddenly form into an Army he shou'd immediately March into Champaign and there fall upon the Leaguers who were yet in no condition to oppose him And truly it appear'd but too plainly that this was the Counsell which ought to have been follow'd For at the beginning of this first War of the League the Duke of Guise to whom the Spaniards after such magnificent promises of so many thousand Pistoles had not yet paid one besides his Pension was not able with all his credit and his cunning to raise above five thousand men the greatest part of which were of Lorrain Troops who came stragling in by a File at a time and whom the King had there yet remain'd alive in his Soul but one spark of that Fire which once so Nobly animated him when being Duke of Anjou he perform'd so many gallant actions might have easily dispers'd with his Household Troops and such of the Nobility as were about him who had been immediately â—ollow'd by the bravest of the Nation had they once beheld him but on Horseback To this purpose Beavais Nangis who was infinitely surpris'd to find the Duke of Guise at Chaälons so thinly attended by his Troops having demanded of him what were his intentions in case the King shou'd fall upon him before he had assembled greater Forces he answer'd him coldly that then he had no other way to take but to retire into Germany with what speed he cou'd But the Queen Mother who held a Correspondence at that
that Roche-Mort being kill'd with a Musquet shot as he was looking through a Casement the Castle had been surrender'd two days since Notwithstanding this Misfortune which the greatest part of his Souldiers wou'd not believe having joyn'd fifteen hundred men whom Clermont d' Amboise a little before the Siege of Broüage was gone to raise for his service in Anjou he took a resolution to attaque the Suburbs But was vigorously repuls'd by the good Troups which the King had sent thither to assist the Citizens who had retrench'd themselves against the Castle which they held besieg'd After which intending to repass the River he found that not onely all the passages were guarded but that also he was ready to be compass'd round by the Troups of the King and of the League who were gathering together from all parts both on this side the Loyre and beyond it to inclose him Insomuch that not being able either to advance or to retreat without being taken or cut in pieces with all his men they were at length forc'd to disband and dividing themselves into small companies of Seven and Eight or Ten and Twelve together every man being willing to save one march'd onely by night through bye passages out of the common Road and through Woods for fear of being met with either by Souldiers or Peasants who kill'd as many of them as they cou'd find and pursued them as they wou'd so many Wolves when they caught them entring into a Sheepfold The Prince himself had much adoe to escape the tenth man and disguis'd into the Lower Normandy from whence he pass'd in a Fisher's Barque betwixt Auranche and St. Malo into the Isle of Guernsey and from thence aboard an English Vessel into England where he was very well receiv'd by Queen Elizabeth who sent him back to Rochelle the Year following with a considerable supply In the mean time St. Mesme who during this unhappy expedition of the Prince continued the Siege of Broüage â—inding himself too weak to resist the Marshal de Matignon who advanc'd by order from the King to force his Retrenchments with an Army of experienc'd Souldiers truss'd up his Baggage and retir'd with what speed he cou'd but in so much fear and disorder that he lost great numbers of his men in his hastyâ— march and particularly in passing the Charante where St. Luc Governour of Broüage who always shew'd himself as brave in War as he was agreeable at Court in Peace having charg'd him in the Reer cut it entirely off Thus the League and the Calvinism lost on that occasion the one the Castle of Anger 's wherein the King plac'd a Governour on whose fidelity he might rely and the other almost all its Forces which after that shock durst no longer keep the Field This furnish'd the King with an opportunity to publish new Ordinances by which he commanded the Goodâ— of Rebels to be seiz'd and particularly of those who had followed the Prince of Conde with promise nevertheless of restoring them when they shou'd return into the Catholique Church and give good security of remaining in it Ordaining farther in execution of the Edict of Iuly that all such shou'd be forc'd to depart the Realm who refus'd to make abjuration of Calvinism into the hands of the Bishops and it was enjoyn'd them to make it according to the Form which was compos'd by William Ruzè Bishop of Anger 's It was thus practis'd because it had been observ'd that the greatest part of the Huguenots had invented a trick neither to lose their Goods nor to leave the Kingdom but thought it was lawfull for them to accommodate themselves to the times and so deceive men by making a false profession of Faith onely for form sake and in external obedience to the Edicts which they express'd by these words Since it has so pleas'd the King with which they never fail'd to preface the Oath of Abjuration when they took it Now this prudent Bishop having observ'd that intolerable abuse which was follow'd by an infinite number of Sacrileges and most horrible profanation of the Sacraments which those false Converts made no scruple to receive betraying by that damnable imposture both the one Religion and the other wou'd admit none into the Communion of the Church who had not first made his profession of Faith according to his form which much resembled that of Pius the Fourth and which from that time forward was and is presented to be sign'd by all those who abjure Heresie 'T is most certain that these Edicts joyn'd with the extreme weakness in which the Huguenot party then was made in a little time many more converts true or false than had been made by the Massacre of St. Bartholomew But also on the other side they occasion'd the Protestants of Germany whom the King of Navarre cou'd never draw to his party against the Leaguers now to incline to his assistance Two years were almost past since that King who desir'd to shelter himself from the Conspiracy which the League had made principally against him with purpose to exclude him from the Crown against the fundamental Law of the Realm had solicited those Princes by the Sieur de Segur Pardaillan and de Clervant to raise an Army for his assistance and elsewhere by the intermission of Geneva he press'd the Protestant Cantons of Swisserland to make a Counter-League with the Germans for the same purpose Queen Elizabeth who besides the interest of her Protestant Religion had a particular esteem and love for that Prince the Duke of Boüillon a declar'd Enemy of the Lorrain Princes and the Count de Montbeliard Frederick de Wirtemburg a most zealous Calvinist used their utmost endeavours with those German Protestants to stir them up all which notwithstanding they were very loath to resolve on a War with the King of France their Allye saying always that they wou'd never engage themselves in it till it was clearly manifest that the War which was made against the Huguenots was not a War of the Government against its Rebels but purely and onely against the Protestant Religion which they intended to extirpate But when they saw before their eyes those Edicts and Ordinances of the King who was absolutely resolv'd not to suâ—â—er any other Religion beside the Catholique in his Kingdom and that otherways they had given them all the security they cou'd desire for the payment of their Army then they took a Resolution of Levying great Forces and of assisting the King of Navarre powerfully after sending a solemn Embassy to the King to demand of him the Revocation of his Edicts and an entire liberty of Conscience for the Protestants The King of Denmark the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburgh the Prince Palatine Iohn Casimir the Dukes of Saxony of Pomerania and of Brunswick the Landgrave of Hesse and Iohn Frederick Administrator of Magdeburg were the Princes who Asâ—ociated themselves with the Towns of Francford Vlmes Nuremberg and Strasburg to send this Embassy
all Heresies were rooted out That it wou'd please him to use the Service of the Duke of Guise in so just and holy an undertaking that he wou'd drive out of the Court and despoil of all their Offices all those who held a secret correspondence with the Huguenots and principally the Duke of Espernon and his Brother La Valette Against whom there are recited in that request all imaginable crimes that cou'd be thought most capable of rendring them odious and insupportable to the whole Kingdom That he wou'd deliver the Nation from the just apprehensions it had of falling one day under the power and dominion of Heretiques And that there might be given to the City of Paris a full assurance henceforth to enjoy a perfect tranquillity without fear of oppression he wou'd not onely please to confirm the new Provosts and Sheriffs but that also the â—aid City may have full and entire liberty for the future to make choice of such as shall succeed in those places and in those of City Colonels and Captains This request was extremely displeasing to the King who saw but too clearly that their intention was to give the Law to him hereafter whom they had first so haughtily affronted He therefore caus'd it to be examin'd in his Council where there was but small agreement because the Members of it were divided in their Interests There were but two methods to be taken on that subject either for the King to joyn with the League against the Huguenots as the request demanded or to make War against the League with all his Power in conjunction with the Huguenots for unless he espous'd one of these interests it was impossible for him to succeed Those of the Council who lov'd not the Duke of Espernon who were many and who fear'd that the acting of the King's Forces in combination with the Huguenots wou'd prove of great prejudice to his Reputation and of greater to Religion were for the former Proposition and Counsel that all differences shou'd be accommodated in the best manner they cou'd with the Duke of Guise which was also the deâ—ire of the Queen Mother But the rest who for the most part consisted of those persons whose disgrace and banishment was demanded in the Request insisted strongly on the second and gave their voice for a War to be made against the Duke to the uttermost fortifying their opinion by the number of Forces which the King might raise promiscuously both from Catholiques and Protestants because this was not a War of Religion but that the Sovereign onely 〈◊〉 himself to quell and chastise his rebellious Subjects It wou'd be a matter of much difficulty to tell precisely what was the true resolution which the King took betwixt the extremes of these different Counsels But it may be told for a certain truth that having a long time deliberated and that much more in his own breast than with his Council he seem'd at length all on the sudden to pitch upon the first whether it were that being as he was a good Catholique and hating the Huguenots he cou'd not yet come to a resolution of uniting himself to them or were it that he thought not himself at that time strong enough even with the King of Navarre's assistance to destroy the League which was grown more powerfull than ever since the Barricades and Headed by a man so able so bold and so successfull as the Duke of Guise or lastly as many have believ'd that being strongly perswaded he shou'd never be in safety nor be Master in his Kingdom while that 〈◊〉 whom he hated mortally was 〈◊〉 he took up from that very moment a resolution within himself to dispatch him out of the World and that he might draw him into the Net which he was spreading for him was willing to grant in a manner whatsoever he desir'd as if it were done in coâ—â—â—mplation of a Peace Whatsoever were his true motive for I desire not that random guesses shou'd be taken for truths 't is certain that though the King was highly exasperated against the League yet he answer'd their request with much gentleness and moderation assuring them that he wou'd assemble the three Estates at Blois in the Month of September there to advise of the means to give them satisfaction and to deliver them from the jealousie they had of falling one day under the dominion of a Huguenot Prince that for what related to the Duke of Espernon he wou'd doe them Justice like an Equitable King and wou'd make it manifest that he preferr'd the publique welfare before the consideration of any private person Accordingly in the first place that Duke was despoil'd of his Government of Normandy commanded to depart from Court and retire himself to Angouleme Not long time afterwards the King concluded a Treaty with the Lords of the League to whom besides the Places which they had already in possession the Towns of Montreuil Orleans and Bourges were given for six Years A publication of the Council of Trent was promis'd with provision against that part of it which was contrary to the liberties of the Gallicane Church â—There was given to the Duke of Guise instead of the title of Constable that of Head of the French Gendarmerie which signifies the same thing Two Armies were promis'd to be rais'd against the Huguenots one in Dauphinè under the command of Duke of Mayenne and the other in Saintonge and Poitou which â—hou'd be Commanded by a General of the King 's own choice For the New Constable under another name wou'd not be so far from Court lest his absence from thence might be of ill consequence to his Party In conclusion the King caus'd to be publish'd the famous Edict of Iuly which he commanded to be call'd the Edict of the Reunion where he did more in favour of the League than the League it self desir'd from him For after having declar'd in that Edict that he wou'd have all his Subjects united to himself that in like manner as their Souls are redeem'd with the same price by the Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ so also they and their posterity shou'd be one Body with him he swears that he will employ all his Forces without sparing his proper life to exterminate from his Realm all Heresies condemn'd by Councils and principally by that of Trent without ever making any Peace or Truce with Heretiques or any Edict in their favour He wills that all Princes Lords Gentlemen and Inhabitants of Towns and generally all his Subjects as well Ecclesiastical as Secular shou'd take the same Oath That farther they shou'd swear and promise for the time present and for ever after it shall have pleas'd God to dispose of his life without having given him Issue Male not to receive for King any Prince whatsoever who shall be a Heretique or a promoter of Heresie He declares Rebels and guilty of High Treason and to have forfeited all Privileges which have formerly been granted to
the contrary for when they saw by this Decree and by the taking of Dreux which the King had besieg'd and after carried by force during these Agitations that if they made not haste in their election of a King 't was very probable that it wou'd be out of their power to elect one afterwards they us'd their utmost Endeavours to have one chosen in the same manner as they had first propos'd it To put by this Blow the Duke of Mayennâ— who believ'd the Spaniards had been impowr'd only with general Instructions and not to name him whom they judg'd most proper for their Interests told them that of necessity they were to expect a more particular Order from their Master wherein he shou'd declare the individual Person whom he chose for his Son in law But he was much surpriz'd when they who in all appearance had many Blanks which were ready sign'd and which they cou'd fill up with any Name to serve their occasions show'd him before the Cardinal Legat and the principal Members of the Assembly at a meeting in his House that they were impowr'd in due form to name the Duke of Guise yet he strove in the best manner he cou'd to conceal his inward Trouble and Anxiety for this Nomination which his Wiâ—e the Dutchess was not able to endure but counseâ—l'd him rather to make a Peace with the King than to be so mean-spirited as to acknowledge that raw young Creature for so by way of contempt she call'd her Nephew for his King and Master But the Duke of Mayennâ— who at that time cou'd not bear any Master whomsoever took another course and requir'd eight days time to give in writing his Demands for his own indemnifying which the Spaniards allow'd him as fully as he cou'd desire And in the mean time he knew so well to manage the Minds of the greatest part of the Deputies the Lords and Princes and even of the Duke of Guise himself by making them comprehend how unseasonable it was to create a King before they had Forces sufficient to support him against a powerful and victorious Prince that in spight of all those who were of the Spanish Interest the Ministers of Spain were answer'd that the Estates were resolv'd to proceed no farther in their Election till they had receiv'd those great Supplies which had been promis'd them by the King their Master In this manner the Election was deferr'd by the Address of the Duke of Mayenne which Dr. Mauclere a great Leaguer most bitterly bewail'd in a Letter which he wrote from Paris to Dr. de Creil another stiff Leaguer then residing at Rome to manage the Interests of that Party and therein discov'rd the whole Secret which in effect overthrew all the Cabals of the Spaniards and the League and utterly destroy'd their whole Fabrick For many things afterwards happen'd which broke off all speech of an Election of which the first and most principal was the Conversion of the King which is next in order to be related Above 9 years were already past since he though Head of the Hugonots had been endeavouring the means of reuniting himself together with his whole Party to the Catholick Church For in the year 1584. a little before the Associated Princes of the League had taken Arms the late King having sent Monsieur de Bellievre to Pamiers to declare to him that he wou'd have the Mass re establish'd in the County of Foix and in all the other Countreys which he held under the Soveraignty of the Crown of France he caus'd one of the Ministers of his Family who was already well inclin'd to sound the Dispositions of the other Ministers of that Countrey and to try if there were any hope that they would use their Endeavours uprightly and sincerely to find the means of making a general Reunion with the Catholick Church They gave up without any great difficulty all the Points in Controversie excepting one which they laid to heart namely their Interest demanding such vast proportions of Maintenance as he was not then in a condition to give them saying with great simplicity these very words That they wou'd not go a begging for their Living or live upon charity like so many poor Scholars Many of his Counsel and amongst others the Sieur de Segur one of those in whom he most confided were of opinion nevertheless that he shou'd not give over that Undertaking and that he shou'd endeavour to bring it about quietly and without any bustle by gaining the leading men of his Party And he was so well inclin'd to do it that he cou'd not curb himself from protesting frequently after his coming to the Crown and particularly after the Battel of Ivry that he wish'd with all his heart they were reunited with that Church from which they had separated and that he shou'd believe that he had done more than any of his Predecessors if God wou'd one day enable him to make that Reunion which was so necessary that he might live to see all Frenchmen united under the same Faith as well as under the same King But there is great probability for us to hope that God had reserv'd that Glory for King Louis the Great his Grandson whose unbloody Victories which he daily obtains in full Peace over Heresie by his prudent management and his Zeal which have found the means of reducing the Protestants in crowds and without violence into the Church may under his Reign show us the final accomplishment of that great Work which his Grandfather so ardently desir'd It is also known that this Prince being then only King of Navarre at the time when he projected that Re-union of which I have spoken said one day in private to one of the Ministers That he cou'd see no manner of devotion in his Religion which all consisted in hearing a Sermon deliver'd in good French and that he had always an opinion that the Body of our Lord is in the holy Sacrament for otherwise the Communion was but an exterior Ceremony which had nothing real and essential in it 'T is in this place that I cannot hinder my self from rendring Justice to the merit of one of the greatest Men whom any of our Kings have imploy'd in their most important Negotiations and who most contributed to the infusing these good Inclinations into the King of Navarre namely Francis de Noailles Bishop of Acq's who has gain'd an immortal Reputation by those great Services which he perform'd for France during 35 years under four of our Kings in fifteen Voyages out of the Kingdom and four solemn Embassies into England Venice Rome and Constantinople In which last Employment he did so much for the interest of our Religion with Selim the Grand Signior the 2d of that Name and by travelling into Syria Palestine and Aegypt where he procur'd great Advantages and Comfort to the poor Christians that the greatest Princes of Christendom thought themselves oblig'd to make their thankful Acknowledgements of his labour to
to be Head of a League General of the Catholics 17 18 19 c. Treats with Don John d'Austria at Joinville ib. The occasion that caus'd him to begin the League Pag. ib. His Pourtrait 25 c. Takes Arms after the death of Monsieur 85 c. Makes use of the old Cardinal de Bouâ—bon as a Ghost whom he puts at the Head of the League 92 Treats at Joinville with the Agents of Spain and the Cardinal de Bourbon and the Conditions of the said Treaty 10â— 102 c. He begins the War with the sâ—â—prizing of divers places by himself and his Friends 104 c. Makes the Treaty at Nâ—mours very advantageous to the League 121 Goes and finds the King at Meaux and complains unjustly of divers matters 188 Undertakes with a very few Troops to defeat the Army of the Reyters 234 235 c. His honourable Retreat at Pont St. Vincent 246 247 c. He continually harrasses the Army of the Reyters 262 He attaques them and defeats one Party of them at Vimory 267 c. He forms a design to attaque them at Auneau and the execution of that Enterpriâ—e 277 278 c. He pursues the rest of the Reyters as far as Savoy 301 c. He let them plunder the County of Montbeliard Pag. ib. He receives from the Pope a consecrated Sword and from the Duke of Parma his Arms which they sent him as to the greatest Captain of his time 311 The refusing him the Admiralty for Brissac the which was given to Espernon his Enemy puts him on to determine it 312 c. He assembles the Princes of the House of Lorrain at Nancy and there resolves to present to the King a Request containing Articles against the Royal Authority 322 323 He resolves to relieve Paris 334 335 He goes to Paris notwithstanding the King's Orders which were sent him by M. de Bellievre ib. A description of his Entry into Paris where he was received with extraordinary transports of joy ib. c. His Interview with the King at the Louvre 343 In the Queens Garden 344 What he did at the Battel of the Barricades 356 He disarms the King's Soldiers and causes them to be reconducted to the Louvre 357 His real design at the Battel of the Barricades 358 c. His excessive demands 360 c. Makes himself Master of Paris and makes a Manifesto to justifie the Barricades 365 366 c. He dextrously draws the Queen Mother into his Interests Pag. 371 Causes a Request to be presented to the King containing Articles most prejudicial to his Authority 371 372 c. Has given him all the Authority of a Constable under another name 377 378 His Prosperity blinds him and is the cause that he sees not an hundred things to which he ought to give defiance 385 c. He is shock'd at the Speech the King made to the second Estates at Blois 386 387 He disposes of the Estates at his pleasure ib. c. Would have himself declar'd by the Estates Lieutenant General of the whole Realm independent from the King 391 392 Is advertis'd of the design form'd against him and consults thereupon with his Confidents ib. c. Is resolv'd to stay contrary to the Advice of the most part 396 c. The History of his Tragical Death 399 400 c. His Encomium 411 Lewis de Lorrain Cardinal de Guise presides for the Clergy at the Estates of Blois 388 The History of his Tragical Death 410 411 N. de Lorrain Duke de Guise escaping out of Prison comes to Paris where he 's receiv'd of the Leaguers with open Arms 835. he kills Colonel St. Paul 872 873 M. THE Marshal of Matignon Governor of Guyenne hinders the Leaguers from surprizing Bourdeaux Pag. 113 Breaks the Measures of the Duke of Mayenne dextrously 243 244 Gives good Advice to the Duke of Joyeuse which he follows not 203 Reduces Bourdeaux to Obedience 820 Father Claude Mathiu grand Leaguer solicits the Excommunication of the King of Navarre 182 Father Bernard de Montgaillard Surnam'd The Petit Feuillant a Seditious Preacher 428 His Extravagance in a Sermon 442 443 He retires into Flanders with the Spaniards after the reduction of Paris 943 Francis de Monthelon a famous Advocate is made Lord Keeper by Henry III. 384 Henry de Montmorency Marshal de Damville Head of the Politics or Malecontents for to maintain himself in the Government of Languedoc 9 Draws his Brothers and Friends to him ib. Ioins with the King of Navarre and Prince of Conde against the League 124 Protects the Catholic Religion and receives acknowledgments from the Pope 125 126 His Fidelity in the Service of the King 126 127 Is at last made Constable of France by Henry IV. Pag. ib. William de Montmorancy Sieur de Thore joins with the Malecontent Politics 9 Is defeated in conducting a Party of Duke Casimir's Reyters 25 26 Re-takes Chantilly from the League 483 The Sieur de Montausier fights most valiantly and insults agreeably over the Gascoins which were at the Battel of Courtras 217 The Sieur de Montigny enters and breaks the Squadron of the Gascoins at the Battel of Courtras 215 216 The Sieur de Morennes Curate of St. Merry labours to make the People return to the Obedience of their King 836 Cardinal Morosini Legat in France could not obtain Audience the day of the Duke of Guise's Massacre 406 407 His Conference with the King to whom he declares he had incurr'd the Censures because of the Murther of the Cardinal de Guise 414 415 He incurs the Pope's indignation for not having publish'd the Censures 417 His Conference with the Duke of Mayenne 474 4755 c. John de Morvillier Bishop of Orleans his Encomium and Pourtrait 68 69 c. He counsels the King to declare himself Head of the League ib. N. ANne d'Este Duchess de Nemours Mother of the Guises is arrested Prisoner at Blois Pag. 403 She treats by Letters with the Dukes of Nemours and Mayenne to reduce them to their Duty 441 442 The King sends her to Paris to appease the Troubles ib. The young Duke of Nemours is arrested Prisoner at Blois 403 Makes his Escape out of Prison 441 The Orders he gave for the Defence of Paris where he maintains the Siege with all the Conduct and Vigor of an old General 798 He offers the King to surrender Paris provided he will be made Catholick 809 810 He abandons his Brother and endeavours to make himself declar'd Head of the League in his place 485 486 c. Francis de Noailles Bishop of Acqs his Encomium his Ambassage and the part he had in the Conversion of Henry IV. 309 310 c. O. THE Order of the Holy Ghost and its true Origine 74 75 76 c. Lewis d' Orleans a famous Advocate a grand Leaguer 96 Author of the Seditious Libel Intituled The English Catholick Pag. 738. Is Advocate General for the League ib. The Colonel Alphonso d'Ornano
point of glory after the Battel of Dreux where it might be said that he was the safeguard of our Religion which depended on that day's success and that all the Council was fill'd with the applause of that Heroe for so memorable a Victory which he had in a manner gain'd singly after the defeat and taking of the Constable he believ'd he had found the favourable occasion he so ardently desir'd to satisfie his ambition to the full by â—aising his Brother to that degree of Honour in which he might enjoy a Supreme and Independent Authority equal to the power of the greatest Kings To this effect he was not wanting to represent to the Heads of that Assembly and by them to the Pope that for the support of Religion against which the Heretiques made so cruel War particularly in France there was no better means than to make a League into which shou'd enter all the Princes and great men whom they cou'd procure and above all the rest the King of Spain who was so powerfull and so zealous for the Catholique Faith He added that it was necessary for the Pope to declare himself the Protectour of it and to elect a Head of it in the Kingdom on whose Piety Prudence Valour and Experience all things might safely be repos'd and whom all Catholiques shou'd be under an obligation to obey till they had totally extirpated the Huguenots This proposal was receiv'd with great applause and as their minds in that juncture of time were wholly prepossess'd with a high character of the wise conduct the perpetual felicity and heroique vertues of the Victorious Duke of Guise there was not the least scruple remaining for them to conclude that he alone was fit to be the Head of â—o glorious an Undertaking But the sad news of his Death arriving in the very upshot of that project made this great design to vanish which the Cardinal who never lost the imagination of it nor the hope to make it succeed at some other time was not able to bring in play again till about ten or eleven years after that accident And then sound the young Duke of Guise Henry of Lorrain his Nephew both of age and of capacity and intirely dispos'd to its accomplishment For at that time he propos'd warmly the same design to the Pope and the King of Spain who both enter'd without difficulty into his opinion though upon motives very different The Pope out of the ardent desire he had to see Heresie altogether exterminated from this most Christian Kingdom and the Spaniard out of a longing appetite to make his advantage of our divisions and those great disorders which he foresaw the League must inevitably cause in France The Duke also on his side who had much more ambition and much less affection to the publique good than his Father embrac'd with all his Soul so fair an occasion as was thereby put into his hand of raising himself immediately to so high a degree of Power and Authority in becoming Head of a Party which in all appearance wou'd ruine all the others and give Law universally to France But the Death of his Uncle the Cardinal which happen'd at the same time broke once more the measures of his ambitious design which notwithstanding he never did forsake as being fully resolv'd to put it into execution on the first opportunity which shou'd be offer'd This he cou'd not find till two years afterwards when Don Iohn of Austria pass'd through France to take possession of his government of the Low Countries That Prince who travell'd incognito and had already made a secret correspondence with the Duke of Guise saw him at Ioinville where after some conferences which they had together without other witness than Iohn d' Escovedo Secretary to Don Iohn they made a Treaty of alliance offensive and defensive mutually to assist each other to their utmost Abilities with their Friends their Power and Forces to render themselves absolute the first in his government of the Neatherlands the second in that party which he always hop'd to form in France according to the project of his Uncle under pretence of maintaining the Catholique Religion in France against the Huguenots Though Historians are silent of this Treaty I suppose notwithstanding that it is undoubtedly true considering what Monsieur de Peiresc a name so celebrated by the learned has written concerning it in his memoires which was grounded on what was related to him by Monsieur du Vair who had it from Antonio Perez For that famous Confident of the Amours betwixt Philip the second and the fair Princess of Eboli acknowledg'd freely to President du Vair that to revenge himself of unfortunate Escovedo who at his return to Spain wou'd have ruin'd him in the favour of the King he gave him so well to understand that this Secretary of Don Iohn was intrusted with all his most secret designs against the State and that having discover'd the love of the King his Master he travers'd his amorous intrigue to serve the Prince of Eboli on whom he had dependance that Philip who made not the least scruple to rid himself of any one whom he suspected as having not spar'd even his Son Don Carlos made him be assassinated After which having seiz'd his Papers he there found this private Treaty together with the memoires and instructions containing the whole foundation and all the minutes of this project with the means which the Duke of Guise intended to make use of to make his Enterprise succeed of which that King who made advantage of every thing most dexterously serv'd himself long time after to engage the Duke so deeply in his Interests that he was never able to disentangle himself as the sequel will declare But in the mean time that Peace so advantageous to the Protestants being made in the manner above mention'd the Duke beleiv'd he had now a fair occasion to begin by making use of the discontents of the Catholiques the forming of that League of which he intended aâ—terwards to declare himself the Head How he manag'd that affair is next to be related Amongst the secret Articles of that Peace so favourable to the Huguenots there was one by which the Prince of Conde had granted to him the full possession of the Government of Picardy and besides it for his farther security the important City of Peronne the Garrison of which shou'd be maintain'd at the King's expence The Governour of Peronne at that time was Iaques Lord of Humieres Encre Bray and many other places who by other large possessions of his own and the Governments of Roye and of Montdidier added to Peronne was without dispute the most considerable the wealthiest and most powerfull Lord of all Picardy Besides that being of an illustrious Birth and Son of the Wise and Valiant Iohn d' Humieres who had been Lieutenant of the King in Piemont and Governour to King Henry the Second he was respected lov'd and obey'd in that Province where
In the third Article the Associates assume to themselves to be Masters of the State while under pretence of reforming it they ridiculously take upon them to abrogate the Laws observ'd by our Ancestours in the second and third race of our Kings and wou'd establish the customes and uâ—ances which were practis'd in the time of Clovis which is just the same thing that certain Enthusiasts sometimes have attempted in the Church who under the specious names of the Reform'd and Primitive Church endeavoured to revive some ancient Canons which now for many ages have not been observ'd and gave themselves the liberty to condemn the practices and customes authoriz'd by the Church of remisness and abuse since it belongs onely to the Church according to the diversity of times and of occasions to make new regulations in its Government and Discipline without touching the capital points that relate to the Essentials of Religion To conclude from the fourth Article to the twelfth there are visible all the marks and the foulest characters of a Rebellion form'd and undertaken against their Prince particularly where there is promis'd an exact obedience in all things to the Head whom they shall elect and that they will employ their lives and fortunes in his service that in all Provinces they will levy Souldiers and raise money for the support of the common cause and that all those who shall declare themselves against the League shall be vigorously prosecuted by the Associates who shall revenge themselves without exception of person which in the true meaning is no other thing than the setting up a second King in France in opposition to the first against whom they engag'd themselves to take Arms in these terrible words without exception of person in case he should go about to hinder so criminal an usurpation of his Royal Authority Such was the Copy of the League in those twelve Articles which were Printed and dispers'd through all Christendom as we are inform'd by an Authour who was contemporary to it and has given it at large in his History of the War under Henry the Fourth But being conceiv'd in certain terms which are too bold and which manifestly shock the Royal Majesty Monsieur d' Humieres a prudent man reduc'd them into a form incomparably less odious in which preserving the Essentials of the League of which he was Head in Picardy he appears notwithstanding to do nothing but by the authority and for the service of the King Now as it is extremely important to understand throughly this Treaty of Peronne from which the League had its beginning which is not to be found in any of our Authours and the Original of which I have as it was sign'd by almost two hundred Gentlemen and after them by the Magistrates and Officers of Peronne I thought I shou'd gratifie my Readers by communicating to them a piece so rare and so Authentique which has luckily fallen into my hands They will be glad to see in it the Genius the reach and the policy of that dextrous Governour and Lieutenant to the King who in declaring himself Head of the League in his Province and procuring it to be sign'd by so great a number of Gentlemen took so much care to make it manifest at least in appearance that he intended always to give to Caesar what belong'd to Caesar and that the Imperial rights should be inviolably preserv'd in that Treaty For they protest in all their Articles and that with all manner of respect in the most formal terms that nothing shall be done but with his good liking and by his Orders though in pursuance of this all things were manag'd to a quite contrary end But it frequently happens that men engage themselves with an honest meaning and are led by motives of true zeal in some aâ—fairs whereof they foresee not the dangerous consequences which produce such pernicious effects as never enter'd into their first imagination Behold then this Treaty in eighteen Articles together with the subscriptions of the Gentlemen and Officers whereof some are written in such awkward Characters and so little legible that I could never have unriddled them without the assistence of a person very skilfull in that difficult art of deciphering all sorts of ancient writing I mean Don Iohn Hericart an ancient man in Holy Orders of the Abbey of St. Nicholas aux Bois in Picardy who having labour'd to place in their due order and to copy out the Titles and Authentique piâ—câ—s of many ancient Monasteries applies himself at present by permission from my Lord Bishop of Laon his superiour to a work so necessary in the Treasury of Chartres and in the famous Library of the Abbey Royal of St. Victor of Paris where he has found wherewithall to exercise the talent of the most knowing on a great number of Titles of more than six hundred years standing and above three thousand Manuscripts of the rarest and most Ancient sort which compose the most pretious part of that excellent and renowned Library 'T is then to this man's industry that I am owing for this piece and to deal sincerely so as not to pass my conjectures on the Reader for solid truths I have left Blanks for two of their names because the letters which compos'd them cou'd never be certainly distinguish'd The Association made betwixt the Princes Lords Gentlemen and others as well of the State Ecclesiastique as of the Noblesse and third Estate Subjects and Inhabitants of the Countrey of Picardy IN the Name of the Holy Trinity and of the Communication of the pretious body of Jesus Christ. We have promis'd and sworn upon the Holy Gospels and upon our Lives Honours and Estates to pursue and keep inviolably the things herein agreed and by us subscribed on pain of being for ever declared forsworn and infamous and held to be men unworthy of all Gentility and Honour First of all it being known that the great practices and Conspiracies made against the honour of God the Holy Catholick Church and against tâ—e Estate and Monarchy of this Realm of France as well by some Subjects of the same as by Foreigners and the long and continual wars and Civil divisions have so much weakened our Kings and reduc'd them to such necessity that it is no longer possible for them of themselves to sustain the expence convenient and expedient for the preservation of our Religion nor hereafter to maintain us under their protection in surety of our persons families and fortunes in which we have heretofore received so much loss and damage We have judged it to be most necessary and seasonable to render in the first place the honour which we owe to God to the manutention of our Catholique Religion and even to shew our selves more affectionate for the preservation of it than such as are strayed from the good Religion are for the advancement of a new and false opinion And to this effect we swear and promise to employ our selves with all our
powers to restore and to maintain the exercise of our said Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion in which we and our Predecessours have béen educated and in which we resolve to live and die And we swear and promise also all obedience honour and most humble service to King Henry now reigning whom God has given us for our Sovereign King and Lord lawfully called by the Law of the Kingdom to the succession of his Predecessours and after him to all the Posterity of the House of Valois and others who after those of the said house of Valois shaâ—â— be called by the Law of the Realm to the Crown And upon the obedience and service which we are obliged by all manner of rights to render to our said King Henry now reigning we farther promise to employ our lives and fortunes for the preservation of his Authority and execution of such commandments as by him and his Lieutenant Generals or others having power from him shall be made to us as well for maintaining the onely exercise of the Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion in France as for bringing to reason and full submission his Rebellious Subjects without acknowledging any other whomsoever than himself and such as shall be by him set in command over us And forasmuch as by the goodness of our said King and Sovereign Lord it hath pleased him to doe so much good to all his Subjects of his Realm as to convoke them to a general Assembly of all the Orders and Estates of it thereby to vnderstand all the complaints and grievances of his said Subjects and to make a good and holy Reformation of the abuses and disorders which have continued of a long time in the said Realm hoping that God will give us some good resolutions by the means of so good and great an Assembly we promise and swear to employ our lives and fortunes for the entire performance of the Resolution of the said Estates in that especially which shall depend on the retention of our Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion the preservation of the greatness and authority of our King the good and quiet of our Countrey all of this notwithstanding without prejudice to our Liberties and ancient Franchises which we understand to be always maintain'd and preserv'd fully and entirely And farther to the effect abovesaid all of us who have hereunto subscrib'd promise to kéep our selves in a readiness well arm'd mounted and accompanied according to our Qualities immediately upon advertisement given us to put in Execution that which shall be commanded on the part of the King our said Sovereign Lord by his Lieutenant Generals or others having from him Power and Authority as well for the preservation of our Province as for going otherwhere if it be néedfull for the preservation of our said Religion and service of his said Majesty Without its being lawfull or permitted to Gentlemen to place themselves or take employment under other Cornets than those of the Head or the Baily-wéeks in which they shall be resident unless by permission and leave of the King or his Lieutenant or at least of the Head Elect of the said Association who is Monsieur de Humieres to whom we promise to render all honour and obedience To the Council or assistance of whom shall be be call'd and employ'd six of the Principal Gentlemen of the Province and others of quality and fidelity requisite with the advice of whom to provide for the execution of the said matters for the expence entertainment and other charges convenient and necessary for such effect according as the said Countrey can furnish and supply For which said Countrey we offer for such effect even to the number of four Cornets men on horseback well mounted and arm'd and eleven Ensigns of Foot as well for preservation of the said Province as to be otherwhere employed as néed shall be yet no ways comprehending the Companies of the old establishment in consideration that they are obliged to serve otherwhere So that for every of the said Companies be they Horse or Foot thrée Gentlemen of the Countrey men of valour and experience shall be named to the King's Lieutenant or to him who shall be impower'd for that purpose from his Majesty out of the said thrée to make election and choice of one And because such Levies cannot be made without great costs and expences and that it is most just in such an Emergency and necessity to employ all means which are in the power of any man there shall be levied and collected upon the Countrey the sums of money convenient and necessary for this by the advice of the King's Lieutenant or other empowered from his Majesty which he shall afterwards be petition'd to authorize and make valid as being for an occasion so holy and so express as is the service of God and that of his said Majesty in which levying of Money nevertheless no Gentlemen are or shall be meant to be comprehended considering that they will do personal service or set out Men with Horses and Arms according as it shall be ordain'd for them to doe by the Head of the League or by others deputed by him And for the more easie execution of the said employments there shall be in every Baily-wick or Seneschals Court of the said Countrey deputed one or two Gentlemen or others of capacity and fidelity requisite to give information of the means and understand particularly upon the places that which shall be néedfull to be done to report it afterwards and instruct coâ—cerning it those who shall be employed by the Governour or Lieutenant from the King or some other impower'd from him And if any of the said Catholiques of the said Province after having béen requir'd to enter into the present Association shall make difficulty or use delays considering that it is onely for the honour of God the service of the King the good and quiet of our Countrey he shall be held in all the Province for an Enemy of God and a Desertour of his Religion a Rebel to his King a betrayer of his Countrey and by common agréement and consent of all good men shall be abandon'd by all and left and expos'd to all injuries and oppressions which can come upon him without ever being receiv'd into company friendship and alliance of the underwritten Associats and Confederates who have all promis'd friendship and good intelligence amongst themselves for the manutention of their Religion service of the King and preservation of their Countrey with their Persons Fortunes and Families We promise farthermore to kéep one another under the obedience and authority of his Majesty in all surety and quiet and to preserve and defend our selves from all oppression of others And if there shall happen any difference or quarrel amongst us it shall be compos'd by the Lieutenant General of the King and those who by him shall be called who shall cause to be executed under the good plâ—asure and Authority of his said Majesty that
afterwards on the same day King of Poland and some time after King of France as Lewis of Tarento had receiv'd his two Crowns of Ierusalem and Sicily on the like day before he took a fancy to renew that Order four years after his Coronation But desiring to be esteem'd the Authour of it he chang'd the Collar where he plac'd certain Ciphers to which has been substituted in following times the Coat of Arms in manner of a Trophy as it is at present to be seen And after he had transcrib'd what best pleas'd him from the Statutes of that Order he commanded Monsieur de Chiverny to burn the Original thereby totally to extinguish the mâ—mory of it But that Minister though most faithfull to his Master believing not that he was bound to be the Executioner of that Order this rare piece descended to the Bishop of Chartres his Son from whom by succession of time it fell into the hands of the late President de Maisons as it is related by Monsieur le Laboreur who has given us the Copy at large in the second Tome of his Additions to the Memoires of Monsieur de Castelnau In this manner this famous Order was rather restor'd than instituted by King Henry the Third to combine a new Militia of Knights which he might oppose against the Leaguers who were much dissatisfi'd with the Peace which he had given to the Huguenots Nevertheless this Peace was not so well observ'd but that from time to time they created new disturbances which two or three years afterwards kindled the seventh War after the refusal they had made to surrender those cautionary Towns which had been granted them for a certain time which was then expir'd and by their surprisal of some other places But this War was ended in the second year after the conferences of Nerac and Fleix by a peace which lasted four or five years till the League which from the time wherein the King had made himself their Head had not dar'd to attempt any thing all on the sudden declar'd it self against him under another the occasion of which I am going to relate Immediately after the peace was made the Catholiques and Huguenots whom the Civil War had arm'd against each other joyn'd themselves to serve in the Army of the Duke d' Alanson who being declar'd Duke of Brabant by the States of the United Provinces of the Netherlands entred as it were in Triumph into Cambray after he had rais'd the Seige which the Duke of Parma had laid to it And after having been proclam'd a Sovereign Prince in Antwerp and been receiv'd at Bruges and Ghent in the same quality he continued the War assisted underhand by Succours from France and openly by the Queen of England that he might drive the Spaniard out of all the Low-Countries On the other side the Queen Mother who had pretentions to the Crown of Portugal had also sent a gallant Navy to the Tercera Islands under the Command of her Kinsman Philip Strozzi and openly protected Don Antonio who after having lost the Battail before Lisbonne was fled for refuge into France and yet ceas'd not to dispute that Crown against King Philip of Spain For which reason that Prince who follow'd the Steps of his Father and of Ferdinand his great Grandfather by the Mother's side in this as in all other things thought of nothing more than how to greaten himself at our expence and appli'd himself with his utmost vigour to foment new divisions amongst us to hinder us from giving him trouble in his own Estates To this effect he us'd his best endeavours and employ'd all his arts to ingage the King of Navarre and Damville who after the death of his elder Brother was now Duke of Montmorancy to break the peace and renew the War in favour of the Huguenots making not the least scruple on that occasion to act against the true interest of Religion at the same time when he upbraided for the same thing those who in reality made the war in Flanders out of no other consideration but the relief of an oppress'd people of which even the greatest part were Catholiques But seeing that design of his cou'd not possibly succeed for certain reasons which belong not to this History he turn'd his thoughts towards the Duke of Guise and gave orders to his Ambassadour Mendoza to omit nothing which might oblige him to make the League take Arms which was already exceeding powerfull and of which he might absolutely dispose as being the principal Authour and the very Soul of it The Duke who was intrepid and bold even to rashness when he had once resolv'd upon his Business was notwithstanding very subtile and clear-sighted wary and prudent enough to take just measures and not to ingage in any Enterprise of which he was not as much assur'd as man cou'd be to have all the means of making it succeed From thence it proceeded that he resisted for a long time the temptation of great Sums that were offer'd him and held out against the threatnings of the Ambassadour to discover the secret treaty he had made with Don Iohn of Austria the Original of which was in the King of Spain's possession nay even against the pressing solicitations of his Brothers and the rest of the Princes of his House who being more impatient and less discerning than he thought every minute an age till he declar'd himself But at last arriv'd the fatal moment in which after having well examin'd all matters he thought that every thing concurr'd not onely to favour the design he had always had to make himself Head of the Catholique League but also to carry his hopes much farther than his ambition vast as it was had yet led him to imagine In Effect on the one side the King was reduc'd to a lower condition than he ever was before his immense prodigality in a thousand things altogether unworthy of the Royal Majesty and of no profit to the State the pomp the pride and the insupportable insolence of his Favourites his fantastique way of living which hurri'd him incessantly from one extâ—eme into another from retirement and solitude to a City life from Debauchery into Devotion and such a Devotion as pass'd in the peoples minds for a mere Mummery into those Processions of Penitents habited in Sackcloth of several colours where he walk'd himself with his disciplining whip at his Girdle against the Genius of a Nation which loves to serve God in spirit and in truth these and a thousand such like things wholly contrary to our customs and to the use of his Predecessours had drawn upon him such a detestation and so great a contempt from the greatest part of his Subjects that against the ordinary practice of the French who adore their Kings there were given a thousand publique marks and principally in Paris of the aversion which they had for him On the other side all things conspir'd in favour of the Duke of Guise
to raise him to that high degree of power which seem'd to equal him with the King himself who in effect already look'd on him as his Rival and as such hated him without daring as yet to enterprise ought against him to prevent his designs or to shelter himself against the mischief which he apprehended from him The people united themselves to him as to their Protectour and the pillar of Religion Most of the great men at Court discontented at the Government threw themselves into his party the Ladies from whom the Minions cou'd hold nothing disclos'd to him all the secrets of the Cabinet to revenge themselves of the King whom they hated mortally for certain reasons not so fit to be divulg'd He was offer'd to have the Dukes of Lorrain and Savoy in his interests who both hop'd to draw great advantages from the League and principally so powerfull a Prince as the King of Spain who 〈◊〉 him two hundred thousand Livres of â—ension besides the Sums he wou'd furnish for the levying of his Troops These were indeed strong temptations to a Prince of his humour and who was inclin'd to throw at all But that which gave the last stroke to his determination was the death of Monsieur the King 's onely Brother who after his unsuccessfull Enterprise on Antwerp having been constrain'd to return dishonourably into France dy'd at Chateau de Thierry either of Melancholy or of his old Debauches or as the common report was of poison For about that time it was that believing the King wou'd have no Children and that the King of Navarre might be excluded with ease from the succession for more than one reason which he hop'd to make authentique rather by force of Arms than by the Writings of the Doctours of his Faction and that the Queen Mother who hated her Son-in-Law Navarre had the same inclination to exclude him thereby to advance her Grand-Child the Prince of Lorrain to the Kingdom he rais'd his imagination to higher hopes than what he had formerly conceiv'd when first the Cardinal of Lorrain his Uncle had drawn the platform of a Catholique League whereof he might make himself the Head And on these grounds without farther balancing the matter he resolv'd to take up Arms and to make War against the King But to make so criminal an enterprise more plausible there was yet wanting a pretence which in some sort might justifie his actions to the World And fortune produc'd it for him to as much advantage as he cou'd desire almost at the same time when he had taken up so strange a resolution As it was impossible that so great a Conspiracy shou'd be manag'd with such secrecy that the King shou'd not be advertis'd of it which in effect he was from many hands That Prince who had suffer'd his natural courage to be made effeminate by the laziness of a voluptuous retir'd Life was become exceeding timorous and incapable of coming to any resolution within himself to stifle in its birth so horrible a mischief by some generous action and some Master stroke had a desire to have near him his Brother-in-Law the King of Navarre whom he acknowledg'd according to the Salique Law for the Heir presumptive of the Crown and knew him to be the man who was most capable of breaking all the measures of the Duke of Guise But foreseeing that in order to this it was necessary that he who was Head of the Huguenots shou'd first renounce his Heresie and be reconcil'd to the Catholique Church he dispatch'd the Duke of Espernon to him in Guyenne to perswade him to a thing of so much consequence to the reeâ—tablishment of his fortune and his true interest both Spiritual and Temporal As that Prince had always protested with much sincerity that he was of no obstinate disposition and that he was most ready to embrace the truth when once it were made to appear such to him he receiv'd the Duke with exceeding kindness to whom he gave a private audience in his Closset in presence of the Lord of Roquelaure his Confident of a Minister of his own Religion and of the President Ferrier his Chancellour who had always lean'd to the opinion of the Huguenots of which at last he made profession in his extreme old age and some little time before his death In plain terms that Conference was not manag'd very regularly nor with extraordinary sincerity for Espernon and Roquelaure who were no great Doctours propos'd nothing but humanâ— reasons for his Conversion and alledg'd no stronger arguments than what were drawn from the Crown of France which they preferr'd incomparably beyond the Psalms of Marot the Lords Supper and all the Sermons of the Ministers But on the other side the Minister and the President who were much better vers'd in disputation than the two Courtiers to destroy those weak reasons of secular interest produc'd no motives but what they affirm'd to be altogether spiritual and Soul saving and the word of God which they expounded to their own meaning to which those Noble Lords who understood nothing of those matters had not the least syllable to answer Insomuch that the King of Navarre who piqu'd himself extremely upon the point of generosity looking on it as a most honourable action for him to undervalue so great a Crown at the rate of selling his Conscience and Religion for it the Duke was constrain'd to return as he came without having obtain'd any thing toward the satisfaction of the King But what was yet more displeasing in that affair was that Monsieur du Plessis Mornay a Gentleman of an ancient and illustrious Family a great wit whose Learning was extraordinary for a man of his Quality and who besides made use of his Pen as well as of his Sword but above all a most zealous Protestant put this conference into writing which he also publish'd in which having expos'd what was urg'd on both sides he pretends to manifest the advantage which his Religion had against the Catholique and that the King of Navarre being evidently convinc'd of the weakness of our cause was thereby more than ever confirm'd in his own opinion This was the reason why the Factious and the Catholiques who were heated with a false Zeal began to fly out immoderately against the King whom they charg'd with a thousand horrible calumnies publishing in all places that he kept Correspondence with the King of Navarre to whom he had sent Espernon not with intention of converting him but rather of confirming him in his Errours as it appear'd sufficiently by the proceedings of that conference where nothing was urg'd to the advantage of Religion but on the contrary all things in favour of Huguenotism And it hapning almost at the same time that the King in order to hinder the Huguenots from resuming their Arms against the Leaguers who had provok'd them by committing many outrages against them without punishment thought himself oblig'd to grant them that prolongation which the King
time coming to make tender of themselves to the King and pressing him extremely on behalf of their Superiours to accept the Sovereignty of those Provinces the Spaniards toward that fatal blow and to hinder him from sending a powerfull Army into Flanders against them resolving to make a present diversion oblig'd the Duke of Guise who by reason of his ingagement cou'd refuse them nothing to begin the War against the King Accordingly he began it with the surprise of Toul and of Verdun and possessing himself of Chaälon and Mezieres of the most considerable Towns of Picardy by his Cousin the Duke d' Aumale of Dijon and the greatest part of Bourgogne by the Duke of Mayenne his Brother of Orleans by the Sieur d' Entragues of many other places by his Dependants and of the City of Lyons it self by the Souldiers of Captain Le Passage whom the Duke of Espernon had plac'd there and who being corrupted by the Emissaries of the Guises turn'd out their Commander who held the Citadel which they themselves demolish'd and declar'd openly for the League saying maliciously in their own excuse what they had been taught by the Leaguers that they wou'd not be damn'd for serving the King who was a favourer of Heretiques and adding falsely that the Iesuits whom they had consulted upon that point had absolv'd them from the Oath which they had made him Now as all the Favourites and principally Espernon were as generally abhorr'd as the Duke of Guise was belov'd those two passions love and hatred joyn'd with hopes of raising themselves by Civil Wars ingag'd a great number of the most considerable and bravest of the Court to take part with the Leaguers And amongst others Charles de Cosse Count and afterwards Duke of Brissac Son to the great Marshal de Brissac Viceroy of Piedmont and Brother to the brave Timoleon Colonel of the French Infantry Claude de la Chastre Bailiff of Berry Francis d' Espinay de Saint Luc the Count of Randan the Marquis of Bois Dauphin the Marquis de Rane Claude de Baufremont Baron of Senecey who allur'd into it Anthony de Brichanteau Beavais Nangis his Brother-in-Law Son to the Valiant Marquis de Nangis Nicholas de Brichanteau Knight of the Order who died of his wounds receiv'd at the Battel of Dreux bravely fighting for his King and his Religion This generous Son of his having serv'd the King very gallantly both in Poland and in France having also been esteem'd by him and admitted into the favour of his Confidence was retir'd from Court because the Duke of Espernon after he had carri'd from him the Command of Colonel of the French Infantry which had been promis'd him by the King caus'd also to be taken from him that of Maistre de Camp of the Regiment of Guards in the just resentment of which injury he was not able to resist the pressing solicitations of those two Lords de Rane and de Senecey who to draw him along with them into the Duke of Guise's party made him a promise from the Duke which was never perform'd to him viz. that no peace shou'd be concluded but upon condition that Espernon his Enemy shou'd be turn'd out of Court and that his charge of Colonel of the French Infantry shou'd be restor'd farther assureing him that he shou'd exercise the same Command in the Army of the League Thus it may be seen how much the haughty and injurious proceeding of that Favourite was advantageous to the Duke of Guise Therefore whenone of his Captains who had heard him make great complaints of the Duke of Espernon offer'd himself to murther him as he pass'd through Chaälons in his return from Metz by no means reply'd he I shou'd be very sorry he were dead for he gives us many gallant men who wou'd never ingage in our party if the desire of revenging so many intolerable affronts as are daily put on the worthiest of the Court by that little Cadet of Gascony did not bring them over to us In this manner the Duke of Guise made himself every day more powerfull both by the peoples love to him and their hatred to the Favourites Insomuch that the King seeing so formidable a party arm'd against him was forc'd to answer the Low Country Deputies with tears in his Eyes that in his present condition he was not able to accept their offers as he wou'd certainly have done in a more favourable conjuncture which never afterwards befell him Observe now the first Exploit of the League which if it had never occasion'd any other mischief than this to have hinder'd the reuniting of the Low Countries to us which were the first Conquest of our Crown and the most ancient Patrimony of our Kings 't is most certain that for this onely reason it ought to be had in detestation by all good Frenchmen But that which ought to render it yet more odious is that they did not onely take up Arms in manifest Rebellion against their King but also tim'd it so unluckily and mischievously that far from exterminating the Huguenots which they made a show to desire they hinder'd by that War the ruine of Huguenotism which was mouldring insensibly by the Peace And truly all things were dispos'd in such a manner that had they continued never so little longer in that peaceable Estate they then enjoy'd there is hardly any doubt to be made but that Heresie which grew every day weaker wou'd in the end have crumbled into nothing Most certainly the King who mortally hated the Huguenots which appear'd but too visibly in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew and who was not able to destroy them by force had taken his measures so surely by changing that manner of proceeding that he had infallibly compass'd his ends by the Peace he gave them had it continu'd a while longer For at that very time when the Duke who was so long in demurring e'er he came to a resolution at last took Arms under pretence of abolishing Heresie in France 't is well known that there were not remaining above twenty Ministers in all the Provinces on this side the Loire none of them writ any thing against the Catholique Religion neither was there any Huguenot in Office or Employment The King of Navarre who was Head of that Party at that time was desirous of nothing more than to return into the King's favour and that he might deserve that Honour he had not long before advertis'd him that the same Philip King of Spain who affected to appear with so much ostentation the great Defender of the Catholique Faith against the Protestants had proffer'd him large Sums of money and promis'd to assist him in reducing Guyenne under his Command on condition that he wou'd break the Peace which the King had given to the Huguenots and cause them to resume their Arms to which he wou'd never give consent In like manner the King who held himself assur'd of him fail'd not to advise him that he shou'd beware of
time with the Guises and that fatal love which the King had to a lazy quiet life which he cou'd not quit without extreme repugnance and which immediately replung'd him into his pleasant dreams wherein he seem'd to be enchanted render'd fruitless so wholsome an advice Insomuch that he satisfied himself with making a feeble and timorous Declaration wherein answering the Conspiratours in a kind of a respectfull way as if he fear'd to give them any manner of offence he seem'd rather to plead his Innocence before his Judges than to speak awfully to his Rebels like a King and in the mean time gave leisure to the Duke of Guise to form a Body of Ten or twelve thousand Foot and about Twelve hundred Horse The King of Navarre at whom the Leaguers particularly aim'd did indeed make his Declaration which he address'd to the King and to all the Princes and Potentates of Christendom but he made it in a manner which was worthy of the greatness of his courage by the masculine and eloquent Pen of Du Plessis Mornay who particularly understood how to serve his Master according to his Genius For after having generously refuted the calumnies with which the Factious charg'd him he made protestation that he was no ways an Enemy to the Catholiques nor to their Religion which he was most ready to embrace whensoever he shou'd be instructed by another method than what was us'd to him after St. Bartholomew by holding the Dagger to his Throat After which he declar'd that all those who had the malice or the impudence to say that he was an Enemy to Religion and to the State and that he design'd to oppress either of them by an imaginary League which was â—alâ—ly suppos'd to have been made to that intent at Madgburg with respect to the King's Honour Lyed in their throats and above all others the Duke of Guise and humbly begg'd his Majesty's permission without regard to his being first Prince of the bloud that for once he might levell himself to an equality with him to the end that they might decide their quarrel by the way of Arms singly betwixt themselves or by a Duel two to two ten to ten or twenty against twenty to spare the effusion of so much bloud as must inevitably be shed in a Civil War But though he did his uttermost to excite in the King a generous resolution of Arming himself against his Rebels though he offer'd to Combat them in his own person and with all his Forces in conjunction with those Catholiques who were Enemies to the League and that he assur'd him of powerfull Succours from England and from Germany which had been promis'd yet cou'd he never strike more fire out of that irresolute soul than onely some faint sparks of a languishing and impotent anger which his fear and effeminacy soon quench'd like those weak motions which men seem to make in frightfull dreams when they rowze themselves a little but immediately yield to the force of sleep 'T is acknowledg'd that he made Edicts against them injoyning them to lay down Arms and commanding all his Subjects to ring the Larum Bells against them and to cut them in pieces if they disobey'd He summon'd the Nobility and Princes of the bloud to attend him he gave Commissions and issued out Orders to make a great Levy of Reiters and Swisses and commanded his Guards to be in a readiness to march to the rendesvouz which shou'd be appointed them But after all the insuperable passion which he had for quiet and the soft pleasures of the Cabinet and the fear of the League with which he was possess'd by the Queen Mother who held intelligence with the Duke of Guise and magnifi'd his Forces incomparably beyond the life together with the advice of some of his Council who had rather he shou'd arm against the King of Navarre his faithfull Subject than against Catholiques though Rebels brought the matter to that pass at length that he grew colder than ever and left all things to the management of his Mother to whom he gave full power of treating with the Associated Princes and even of concluding as soon as possibly she cou'd with them on what conditions she shou'd please Thus after a Conference begun at Epernay and afterwards finish'd at Nemours on the Seventh of Iuly 1585. a Peace was concluded with the Leaguers granting them whatsoever they cou'd demand either for Religion or for themselves For what concern'd Religion an Edict was made by which revoking all those that had formerly been granted in favour of the Huguenots all exercise of the pretendedly reform'd Religion was prohibited The Ministers were all commanded to depart the Kingdom a month after the publication of the Edict and all the King's Subjects enjoyn'd to make publique profession of the Catholique Faith within Six months on pain of banishment And for the interest of the Confederate Princes who affected above all things to have it believ'd that their principal aim was the preservation of the Catholique Faith a ratification was made of all which they had done as onely undertaken for the maintenance of Religion and service of the King and besides there was a promise made them that they shou'd command the Armies which were to put this Edict in Execution and to make War against the Huguenots in case they refus'd submission to it And for places of Caution besides Thoul and Verdun of which they had possess'd themselves at first there were granted them three Towns in Champaign Rheims Chaälons and St. Dizier Ruë in Picardy besides those of which they were already Masters in that Province which had declared first of all others for the League Soissons in the Isle of France in Bretagne Dinan and Concarneau and Dijon and Beaune in Bourgogne Yet more there was money given them to pay the Souldiers they had Levied and to the Cardinal of Bourbon to the Duke of Guise his two Brothers and their Couâ—ns the Dukes of Mercaeur of Aumale and of Elbeuf to each of them a Company of Arquebusiers or Dragoons on Horseback maintain'd for their Guard as if they resolv'd by so glaring a mark of honour to make ostentation of their triumph over the King against whom they had newly gain'd so great a victory without combate onely by the terrour of their Arms which contrary to the order of Nature made of a Master and a Sovereign the Slave and Executo rof the good will and pleasure of his Subjects Such was the Edict of Iuly which was extorted from the weakness of the King who immediately perceiv'd that instead of securing Religion and his own repose by granting all things to the League as he was made to believe he shou'd he had plung'd himself into a furious War which might have been extremely dangerous to Religion if the Huguenots had overcome the Catholiques 'T is what he himself took notice of when amidst the acclamations and cries of Vive le Roy which resounded from every part when he
went in Person to the Parliament to cause the Edict to be inroll'd he was not able to hold from saying to some about him with a sigh I much fear that in going about to destroy the Preachments we shall hazard the Mass which afterwards he repeated more than once upon several occasions And truly as he had foretold immediately upon the publication of the Edict the War was kindled throughout all France For when the King of Navarre had notice that the King had verified the Edict which was in reality a solemn declaration of War against him he united himself more firmly than ever with the Prince of Condè and the whole Huguenot Party in an Assembly which was held for that purpose at Bergerac And these two Princes going from Guyenne into Languedoc to the Marshal Duke of Montmorancy who was Governour of that Province gave him so well to understand that it was not onely his particular interest to oppose the Guises who lov'd him not but also for the service of the King whose Authority was struck at and for the preservation of the Monarchy whose foundations the Leaguers were undermining by open breach of the Salique Law that they brought him over into their Confederacy with the whole party of the Politiques who had ever acknowledg'd him their Head Thus instead of the Catholiques being united against the Huguenots as they had always been during the preceding Reigns under Henry the Third and his Successour they were divided into two parties whereof one was the Leaguers and the other the Politiques who by another name were call'd the Royalists And at that time it was manifestly visible that the War had no reference to Religion as those of the League pretended but was a War purely of State Interest since the Duke of Montmorancy Head of those Catholiques who were united with the Huguenots to maintain the Authority of the King and the Royal Family as was declar'd in their Manifest of the Tenth of August shew'd himself on all occasions a most zealous Defender of Religion therein following the example of the Great Constable his Father 'T is certain that he protected it so well in his Government that the King of Navarre cou'd scarcely bring the Huguenots to confide in him because he always oppos'd the progress of their designs in that Province He also extended his Zeal into the County of Avignon and hinder'd Heresie there from taking root For which Pope Gregory the thirteenth thought fit to make him great acknowledgments in many Letters It was not therefore with any design of ruining Religion that the King of Navarre as Head of the Huguenots being united with one part of the Catholiques made that War but for preservation of the King and State which the League endeavour'd to oppress as the King himself understood it to be not long time after declaring that he had not a better servant than the Marshal of Montmorancy And such indeed did he always continue so firm to the interest of that Prince and of his Successour the King of Navarre that the latter of them honour'd him as a Father by which name he first call'd him and afterwards being King of France made him Constable in recompence of his great deserts and service to the State And from that time forward that he might treat him with the same kindness which Henry the Second used to Anne de Montmorancy the Father of this Duke he never call'd him by any other name than that of Partner Thus by the joyning of those Forces which so great a Man brought over with him to the King of Navarre that generous Prince was in a condition to defend himself at least against the Party of the League who were not onely countenanc'd by the authority of the King whom they had as it were dragg'd into that War but also drew great advantages from those Spiritual thunderbolts which the Pope darted the same year against the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde Those of the League had more than once already employed their utmost interest with Pope Gregory the Thirteenth to obtain of him that he wou'd approve the Treaty of their Association a thing they passionately desir'd And being on the point of declaring themselves more openly than they had yet done and to take Arms after the death of the Duke of Alanson they renew'd their solicitations to his Holiness more earnestly than ever to obtain from him that Declaration thereby to authorize their attempts and insinuate themselves the more into the hearts of those people who were obedient to the Holy See To this effect they dispatch'd once more to Rome Father Claude Matthew who according to his custome fail'd not to apply himself to the Cardinal of Pellevè the most stiff Partisan which the League ever had and the Eternal Solicitour of their Cause in the Court of Rome This Cardinal was descended of an ancient and illustrious house in Normandy as 't is deliver'd to us by the Sieur de Brantome from whence are issued the Marquesses de Beury and the Counts de Flers Which ought to mortifie those hot Writers who in hatred to the League have traduc'd him as a man of mean Parentage who from a Scullion of a College came to be a Servitour or Sizer to the Cardinal of Lorrain 'T is true indeed that because there was not much to be had out of a Patrimony which was to be divided in shares amongst eight Brothers he put himself into the service of that Cardinal who made him Steward of his House But it is not to be inferr'd from thence as some have maliciously done that he was of low Extraction neither is it to be denied that he had many good qualities which being supported by the credit of the House of Guise to which he was entirely devoted gain'd him the esteem of Henry the Second who made him Master of Requests and bestow'd on him the Bishoprick of Amiens from whence sometime after he was translated to the Archbishoprick of Sens by the favour of Lewis Cardinal of Guise who also procur'd the Hat for him So many benefits receiv'd from that powerfull family bound him so firmly and with so blind a passion to the interest of the Guises that he us'd his utmost endeavours in favour of the League against Henry the Fourth even after the conversion of that Prince till seeing at Paris where he then resided the entry of that victorious King to the incredible joy of all the Parisians he di'd of anguish and despight Now this Cardinal and Father Matthew well hop'd that his Holiness seeing the League become so powerfull that it was in a condition of making War wou'd declare for it at that time On this expectation they renewed with great warmth the Solicitations which they had often before made to him and continued to ply him till his death which happen'd the same year without their obtaining from him any part of their pretensions He had for Successour that famous Cordelier Felix
to the King who not being resolv'd what to answer them for fear of provoking the League in case he shou'd grant them their demands or of drawing on himself the united Forces of almost all the Protestants of Germany in case of a refusal to gain time took a Progress as far as Lyons while the Deputies of those Princes were at Paris which caus'd the Count of Montbeliard and the Count of Isembourg who were the chief of that Embassy to return But so did not the rest as being obstinately set down to wait the King's return who was at last constrain'd being overcome by their extreme persistance whom he well hop'd to have tir'd first to give them the Audience which they demanded He who was spokesman for the rest loosing all manner of respect made a blunt and haughty Speech reproching him in certain terms which were but too intelligible that against his Conscience and his Honour he had violated his faith so solemnly given to his most faithfull Subjects of the Protestant Religion to whom he had promis'd the free exercise of it they remaining as since that time they had always done in that perfect obedience which is due from Subjects to their Sovereigns That Prince who at other times was but too meek and patient or rather too weak and timorous was so much offended at this brutal insolence that he was not able to curb himself from breaking out into choler on this occasion For he repli'd smartly to them with that air of Majesty and fierceness which he knew well to take up whensoever it pleas'd him that as he had not taken the liberty to give Laws to their Masters of ruling their Estates according to their own liking and changing the Civil and Religious constitution of their Government so neither on his side wou'd he suffer them to intermeddle in those alterations which he thought fit to make in his Edicts according to the diversity of times and of occasions for the good of his People of whom the greatest part depended on the true Roman Catholique Religion which the most Christian Kings his Predecessours had ever maintain'd in France to the exclusion of all others Afterwards retiring into his Cabinet where after he had revolv'd in his mind what had been said on either part he was of opinion that his Answer had not been sharp enough he sent them by one of the Secretaries of State a Paper written with his own hand which was read to them and in which he gave the Lie in formal terms to all those who said he had done against his Honour or violated his Faith in revoking the Edict of May by that of Iuly after which it was told them from him that they had no more to doe than to return home without expecting any farther Audience This was certainly an Answer worthy of a great Monarch had he maintain'd it by his actions as well as by his words and had he not shewn by his after conduct the fear he had of this irruption of the Germans For in order to prevent it he seem'd to descend too much from that high and Supreme Majesty of a King by treating almost upon terms of equality with the Duke of Guise and offering him besides whatever advantages he cou'd wish in Honours and in Pensions and many Towns for his security which had made him a kind of Independant Royalty in the Kingdome on this onely condition that he would be reconcil'd to the King of Navarre and give him leave to live in quiet as if it were the Duke and not the King who had the power of giving Peace Though these advantageous proffers were sufficient to have tempted the Duke's ambition nevertheless he wou'd not accept them because he hop'd to satisfie it much better by continuing the War in which he had engag'd the King who was not able to recall his promise besides he was not willing to destroy the opinion which the people had conceiv'd of him that he acted by no motive of self-interest but onely for the Cause of God and of Religion This expedient of Peace therefore failing the King who had ardently desir'd it he employ'd another which was to intreat Q. Katharine de Medices to confer with the King of Navarre her Son-in-Law to try if by her usual arts she cou'd induce him to some accommodation which might be satisfactory to the League and stop the Germans of whose Succours his peace once made that King wou'd have no farther use The Queen Mother who at that time desir'd the peace at least as much as he because she fear'd to be left at the discretion of either of the two parties by whom she was equally hated willingly accepted that Commission grounding her hopes on those tricks and artificial ways by which she had so often succeeded on the like occasions Having then advanc'd as far as Champigny a fair house belonging to the Duke of Montpensier she manag'd the matter in such sort by the mediation of that Prince who went to visit the King of Navarre from her that it was agreed there shou'd be a Conference After many difficulties which were rais'd concerning it and which with much canvasing they got over the place was appointed to be St. Brix a Castle near Cognac belonging to the Sieur de Fo rs who was of the King's party She came thither attended by the Dukes of Montpensier and of Nevers Marshal Biron and some other Lords who were no friends to the Guises or the Leaguers to the end that Conference might be the more amicable The King of Navarre came also thither with the Prince of Condè Vicount de Turenne and some others the most considerable of their Party It appear'd manifestly at this Enterview that the Queen held no longer that Authority which had been yielded to her in the former Conferences wherein she had carried all things according to her own desire by the wonderfull Ascendant which she had over their minds And she understood but too well from the very beginning that she had to doe with such as were distrustfull of her subtilties and who wou'd not suffer themselves to be surpris'd easily as some of them had been on St. Bartholomew's day whereof they had not yet worn out the remembrance For they wou'd never adventure themselves all three together in the Chamber appointed for the Conference when the King of Navarre was there the Prince and Vicount well accompanied made a guard at the door and when either of the other two enter'd the King of Navarre and the other did the like for him that they might not put themselves unwarily into her hands on whose word they had no reason to rely and who dar'd not to arrest any of them singly the two remaining being at liberty and in condition to give themselves satisfaction on the Aggressours Thus being too suspicious and their minds too much embitter'd to act calmly and reasonably in this Conference it went off in three Enterviews which were made in resenting
terms and mutual reproaches without coming to any amicable conclusion The Prince of Condè according to his lofty and severe humour spoke always more sharply than the other two rejecting all methods of reconciliation and saying with an air extremely fierce that there was no belief to be given to those who had so basely falsified their Faith in violating the Edicts of the King to satisfie the Seditious and the Rebels The King of Navarre of a temper much more sweet and complaisant though with a becoming noble boldness he gave the Queen to understand that he had no great reason to commend her proceedings in reference to himself yet he never forgot the respect which was due to her Character And upon occasion of her remonstrating to him that the peace of France depended on his conversion since the onely fear of falling under the dominion of an Huguenot Prince had made and arm'd the League which had no quarrel to His person but onely to his Heresie his answer was no more than this That Religion was onely a pretence â—hich the Authours of the League had taken up to cover their ambition which manifestly design'd the total ruine of the Royal family and as to his conversion he was always dispos'd to it on condition he might be instructed in the truth by a free Council which he had oftentimes demanded and in the definitive judgment of which both he and his party would wholly acquiesce He consented even to a Truce of twelve days during which the King 's good pleasure shou'd be consulted by proposing to him that condition though it was known beforehand that he wou'd never consent to it And in the mean time the Vicount of Turenne coming to wait on the Queen at Fontenay whither she was retir'd the Conference was resum'd for the last time For after they had amplifi'd their Forces on either side and both had set forth the advantages of their own party which cou'd not be done without some sharpness and even menaces the Queen losing patience and taking up that air of haughtiness and Majesty which she had often assum'd at the like Conferences in the Reigns precedent and at the beginning of this said in an imperious tone that there was no more room left for deliberation and that the King who wou'd be absolutely Master in his Realm had fix'd his positive resolution to have but one Religion in France 'T is well Madam repli'd the Vicount with a disdainfull kind of smile we joyn issue with you in the same resolution Let there be but one Religion provided it be ours if otherwise we must hack it out on both sides On which without staying for a reply he made a low bow and immediately withdrew Thus the Conference was ended to the extreme displeasure of the King who to gain covert from that Tempest of the Germans which he foresaw to be powring upon France had passionately desir'd a Peace which he cou'd neither obtain from the King of Navarre nor even from the League in whose quarrel he was engag'd to make War against that King For the Leaguers whose number was prodigiously incrâ—as'd especially in Paris grown jealous of those frequent Treaties with the king of Navarre let loose their tongues more brutally than ever against the King as if he had held a secret correspondence with the Huguenots and play'd booty with the League by a counterfeit shew of ruining its Enâ—mies There are those who have gone so far as to report that at this very time they had laid a terrible Plot against the King in which they engag'd the Duke of Mayenne who had made himself their Head in the absence of his Brother and that the Conspirators had resolv'd to put all the Guards of his Majesty to the Sword to seize his Royal Person and afterwards either to confine him to a Monastery or to imprison him in a Tower to cut the throats of the Chancellour the first President and all the Principal Officers to put others in their places and to create a new Council consisting wholly of their own party to possess themselves of the Bastille the Arsenal the Chastelets the Palace and the Temple to give entrance to the Spanish Armada which was then prepar'd against England by Boulogne and a hundred other partâ—cularities of that Conspiracy which the President de Thou thought fit to insert in his History upon the credit of one Nicholas Poulain Lieutenant in the Provostship of the Isle of France who having been of the Council of the League reveal'd as he relates himself the whole secret to the Chancellor de Chiverny Monsieur Villeroy chief Secretary of State and also to the King But besides that no credit ought in reason to be given to a man of double dealing who has betray'd both sides and who to set himself right with that party he had forsaken may affirm a thousand things which he cannot prove which is a crime that hath often brought the informer to the Gallows there is nothing of all this matter to be seen in those Papers which were written at that time either for or against the League especially in those of the Huguenots who wou'd be sure to omit nothing that cou'd possibly make against their Enemies or for themselves neither in the Memoires of the Chancellour de Chiverny nor of Monsieur de Villeroy who in all probability wou'd not have forgotten a thing of that importance if they had had it from the mouth of the Informer or indeed if they had believ'd it true And certainly there are many things so very improbable in that verbal process of Nicholas Poulain which I have most exactly read and even so many notorious falsities and those so opposite to the nature and genius of the Duke of Mayenne that it is a prodigious thing in Monsieur de Thou that he wou'd take the pains to transcribe it almost word for word in a History so elegant and serious as that of his This in reason shou'd give a caution to such as undertake the writing of a History not to trust all sorts of Writers and not ambitiously to swell their Works with all they find written in certain Unauthentique Memoires without giving themselves the leisure to examine their merit and their quality That which is certain in that affair is that the Leaguers of Paris interpreting maliciously and in the worst sense those Negotiations and Conferences which were made with the King of Navarre were not wanting to make the people understand that the King held intelligence with him and protected the Huguenots It was also in order to destroy that belief and false opinion which ran of him to his disadvantage among the people that the King renew'd with more apparent fervour and solemnity those extraordinary devotions which he practiss'd from time to time and above all his Processions of Penitents which far from serving his design render'd him yet more despicably odious As evil by the abuse of the best and most holy things
spoke the least harm of them cou'd not hold from open Laughter The most ridiculous part of them and which made a kind of Tragicomedy wherein there was matter of Mirth and Mourning was that the Lacquies of these Courtiers who in compliance to the King had inroll'd themselves in this Brotherhood of Penitents had the insolence to mimick it in derision of their Masters even in the Court of the Louvre making shew of lashing themselves lustily as if they had been Flagellants in earnest But the King having heard of it before the Farce was quite play'd out caus'd fourscore of them to be seiz'd whom they drew into the Cour des Cuisines where they were so well belabour'd with Whips that they were left in a way representing to the Life that condition into which the ancient Flagellants put their bodies by their bloudy penance This notwithsâ—anding hinder'd not others from doing somewhat much more criminal than the poor Lacquies had attempted For some malicious Wits there were amongst the Leaguers who had the impudence to expose publiquely a Picture where the King was seen cloath'd in his penitential Robes pulling the Honey combs out of an Hive saying these words which were written over his Head as the Motto of the Embleme Sic eorum aculeos evito 'T is thus I cover my self from their Stings As if they desir'd to be understood in this witty but very spightfull expression That as a man who intends to rob a Hive must cover his Face and Hands to avoid Stinging from the Bees who Associate themselves against the Thief So the King who drew the vital nourishment of his Kingdom to lavish it prodigally on his Minions and who endeavour'd to ruine Religion by the secret intelligence he held with the King of Navarre and the Huguenots disguis'd himself in this Habit of a Penitent to cheat the League and to shelter himself from the just indignation of the Catholiques united against him But they who were more clamorous than all the rest were certain Preachers of the League who profaneing their Sacred Function of Preaching the Gospel by their Seditious Tongues and dealing out a thousand impostures from the Chair of Truth declaim'd venemously against the Lord 's Annointed all whose actions they bespatter'd even those which were adorn'd with the greatest Piety Of all those Satyrists he who roar'd the most insolently against those Devotions of the King was Doctour Poncet Curate of St. Peter des Arsis who was accustom'd to relate blunderingly in his Sermons the sillyest things which the most violent Leaguers us'd to say and preach'd them without fear or wit to his Congregation as if they had been as true as Gospel 'T was not that he wanted good natural parts as once he made it sufficiently appear when the Duke of Ioyeuse the King's Favourite having told him that he was glad to know a man who had so noble a Talent as to divert the people and set them on the merry pin of Laughing at his Sermons He drily answer'd him 't is but reasonable that I shou'd make them laugh sometimes since you have made them cry so often for the extraordinary Subsedies which were impos'd for the defraying of the excessive charges of your sweet Marriage For the report went that the King had expended on them more than twelve hundred thousand Crowns Now this Seditious Preacher declaim'd so outragiously against those Processions and told so many scandalous lies of the King himself and the fraternity of Penitents whom he call'd the Brotherhood of Hypocrites and Atheists that the King clap'd him up in Prison for some days after which he set him at liberty thinking that this light Correction wou'd teach him better manners But it was to little purpose for the Fellow having heard it reported that he â—ad chaâ—â—â—â— his note after having smarted for it had the impudence to say publiquely in the Pulpit that he was no Parrot to be taught his Lesson and thereupon he fell to his old trade of railing more violently than ever Yet it was not long e'er he inflicted on himself the punishment which he had so well deserv'd As the Licence of speaking evil of the Higher Powers was now become the common practice of the Leaguers a certain Advocate of Poitiers call'd Le Breton who had lost his Suit at Poitiers and at Paris in pleading for a Widow enrag'd that the Duke of Guise and Mayenne the King of Navarre and the King himself to whom he had made his addresses going from one to the other and making so many fruitless Journies to complain of his hard Usage had always shaken him off and treated him like a Fool or Madman made a Libell full of Villanous reproaches and calumnies against the King and the Members of the Parlament The Writing having been seiz'd together with the Authour it was thought fit to make an example of him to stop the fury of that licentious way of Writing and of Speaking Upon which short work was made in the process of this audacious Advocate he had Justice roundly done him and was fairly hang'd before the Steps of the Palace None are so wretchedly fearfull and cowardly at the point of danger as those who are the most fool-hardy in railing when they believe they are out of reach When our noble Doctour Poncet was told of this Execution on the Lawyer and that he saw by this terrible example they were punish'd with death who dar'd to affront the Sovereign Majesty with Scandalous and Seditious Invectives he was taken so violently with a sudden fright and apprehension that it seiz'd on his Heart and stop'd the circulation of his Bloud he betook himself immediately to his Bed from whence this tongue Bravo did never rise for he died some few days after of pure imagination that the same distributive Justice wou'd reach him which had overtaken the miserable Advocate In the mean time the King who had always earnestly desir'd to have peace in his Kingdom made another attempt though without Success to oblige on one side the Duke of Guise to accommodate matters with the King of Navarre on Conditions more advantageous than he had yet offer'd him and on the other side to cause the King of Navarre to return into the Catholique Church promising him in case he wou'd to declare him Lieutenant General in all the Realm to impower him yet with more Authority than he himself had possess'd when he Commanded the Armies of the late King his Brother to make him President of the Council and even at last which that King most passionately desir'd to Disâ—olve his Marriage with Queen Margaret and to give him the Princess of Lorrain Grand-Daughter to the Queen Mother who was willing to consent to this Marriage which might one day make that Princess Queen of France whom she always lov'd with so much tenderness These undoubtedly were most advantageous offers and very capable of tempting a man of that King's Character who to say the truth was none of the
Carriage and was besides extremely brave but on the other side he had neither Authority nor experience enough to command so great an Army the greater part of whose Officers were commonly at variance amongst themselves and never willing to obey his Orders Thus to speak properly he was onely the General of the Reyters though the Lansquenets and Swissers acknowledg'd him for their Chief in the room of Prince Casimir But the young Duke of Bouillon was he whom the King of Navarre had nam'd for his Lieutenant and who had the Title of General of that Army Notwithstanding which he had no absolute Command over it because there was a Council compos'd of six French Officers and as many Germans joyn'd with him who together with the Baron of Dona decided all things by plurality of Voices which was the occasion of much disorder For the Germans seldom or never joyn'd in opinion with the French and on the other side the French were jealous both of them and of one another so that there cou'd be no good intelligence amongst them Besides all whâ—ch there were some of their number whom the Duke of Guise the most artfull of Mankind had gain'd into his Interests and who underhand gave him notice of all the resolutions which were taken in the Council For the rest after the Strangers had receiv'd some part of their Pay which the Queen of England had suppli'd after they had been assur'd of the remainder and also promis'd that the King of Navarre wou'd joyn them in a little time and that they shou'd have onely the League upon their hands and not the King who had Arm'd for no other purpose but to assist them in the destruction of the Guises they pass'd the Rhine about the twentieth of August and in the Plain of Strasburg found William Robert de la Mark Duke of Bouillon and his Brother Iohn Robert Count de la Mark who had waited there for their coming about fifteen days with two thousand Foot and between three and four hundred French Horse Thus this Army in the general review which was made of it near Strasburg was found to consist of thirty three thousand men effective all experienc'd Souldiers and well equipp'd without reckoning into the number the fifteen or sixteen hundred foot and two hundred Horse which the Count of Chastillon Son of the late Admiral brought thither in a small time after and about two thousand others who joyn'd them in their march Insomuch that when they enter'd France they were not less than forty thousand Men with eighteen or twenty pieces of Artillery which undoubtedly was sufficient to strike a terrour into those against whom they march'd in favour of the King of Navarre And indeed this distant thunderclap which was heard as far as Paris alarm'd the Council of Sixteen so teâ—ribly that to shelter themselves from the ensuing Storm they sent fresh instructions to the principal Cities of the Kingdom and a new form of Oath to unite them more straitly to themselves in their common defence endeavouring maliciously to make them believe that it was the King himself who had call'd in these Heretique Foreigners with intention of destroying those who defended the Catholique Religion and with design that hereafter Heresie it self and the Promoter of it shou'd Reign in France But the Duke of Guise whose undaunted heart was not capable of the least cowardise took ways much different from theirs in pursuance of the same design viz. the destruction of that formidable Army which menac'd him with inevitable ruine And he compass'd his intentions happily and gloriously by his admirable conduct readiness of wit and daring resolution performing one of the noblest actions which were ever done and which alone may justly rank him with the greatest Heroes of Antiquity He had almost nothing of all that had been promis'd him at Meaux when there was made the partition of the Forces which by appointment were to serve in the King's Army and in his Of twenty Troups of Men at Arms which were order'd him not one appear'd at the Rendesvouz that was assign'd at Chaumont there was neither Money nor Ammunition nor Cannon sent him so that having assembled at Vaucoleur on the twenty second of August all the forces he could get together by the means of his friends and partly by the money of the Parisians there were found no more than a body of three thousand Men that is to say about six hundred Cuirassiers of his own company and those of the Prince of Ioinville's his Son of the Count of Chaligny the Chevalier d' Aumale the Sieurs of La Chastre and D' Amblize three hundred Horse which were sent him from the Garrison of Cambray by Balagny who had made himself a Leaguer to change his Government into a Principality under protection of the League besides almost as many light Horsemen some Italians some Albanois which were sent him by the Duke of Parma Governour of the Low-Countries As for Infantry he had no more than the two Regiments of Captain St. Paul and of Iohannes on whom he very much rely'd With these inconsiderable Forces he went to joyn himself with those of Charles Duke of Lorrain who with the Succours which he had receiv'd out of Flanders under the conduct of the Marquis d' Avre and the Marquis de Varambon and all he cou'd Levy in Germany had no more than seven thousand Foot and about fifteen hundred Horse Insomuch that both in conjunction cou'd not make above twelve or thirteen thousand Men at most to oppose against thirty five thousand who were coming to fall on them The Duke of Lorrain who foresaw this Tempest had done what lay in him to provide against it and to put himself in a state of defence by fortifying the greatest part of his Towns And observing that Nancy his Capital City was of too little compass to receive those great numbers of Persons of Quality and Clergy-men who ran thither for refuge from every quarter some from their Countrey-houses others from their small Castles and unfortified Towns he took this opportunity to enlarge that great and beautifull part of it which is call'd the New Town on the Fortifications of which being without dispute the fairest and the strongest of that time he employ'd his Workmen with so much diligence that it was already in condition of making a stout defence against that Army which as numerous and as powerfull as it was had never thâ— courage to attempt it These two Armies being one of them on this side the Mountains of Vauge in Lorrain and the other beyond those Mountains in Alsace a Council was held in both of them at the same time and it so happen'd by an accident seldom known that the same resolution was taken by them both In the German Army the Duke of Bouillon and one part of the Council wou'd have it that the War shou'd be made in Lorrain to compass as they urg'd at one onely blow the ruine of that
and conceal his just indignation so far as even to flatter and cajoll them the Sixteen in sign of Triumph after so famous an exploit ordain'd that this day which was the third of September shou'd henceforth be call'd the happy day of St. Severin Now as they were become more insolent through the impunity of so great a crime and by the defeat of the Reyters their Preachers animated with the Spirit of Rebellion made it their business to inspire it more furiously than ever into the people shamelesly affirming in their publique Sermons that the King who had invited the Reyters into France being now grown desperate to see his design ruin'd by the Victories which the Duke of Guise had obtain'd over them had hinder'd the great Defender of their Religion from cutting in pieces the remainder of those Heretiques that the Duke of Espernon their known Patron and Protectour had snatch'd them out of his hands by order from his Master and by a Treaty which he had made with them to afford them the means of putting themselves in a condition of returning once more into France And the business went so far that the Spirit of Revolt which those Guides of Consciences those Confessours and Preachers ought to combat with all their force as being directly opposite to the Gospel which teaches nothing but Obedience and Submission to lawfull Powers was not onely inspir'd into the people in private discourses in confessions and in Sermons but also in some manner authoris'd by the Sorbonne I believe not that I can be taxed with any want of respect to that venerable Body because when occasion has been given me which has happen'd more than once in divers of my Works I have not been wanting in those due commendations which the truth it self to which I am entirely devoted has drawn from my Pen But by the same obligation which indispensibly binds me to the truth I must say that in so numerous a Company of young and old Doctours mix'd together 't is impossible but that there shou'd be form'd in troublesome conjunctures by the unhappiness of times some Factions deriv'd from certain mutinous and extravagant persons who deviate from the principles and practices of the more prudent And as we have beheld in our own days a party which in relation to a Book that was condemn'd was overcome by the greater number of Orthodox Doctours who now prevalent so during the League which had poison'd the minds of most in Paris there was one which carri'd it by their Caball over the more sound and better Divines who sigh'd at the deplorable blindness of their Brotherhood as shall be seen in the sequel of this History On the Subject of those Calumnies which the Preachers of the League and the Sixteen daily publish'd as so many indisputable truths that faction of corrupt Doctours being then assembled on the sixteenth of December made a decree in which it was declar'd lawfull for Subjects to take away the Government from a Prince who acted not for the good of Religion and of the State in the same manner as the administration of goods shou'd be taken from the Guardian of a Ward who might reasonably be suspected to abuse his trust This was doubtless no other than to decide on a most important Subject a case of Conscience from the false and pernicious principles of Morals the most corrupt that ever were Accordingly the King who after having expell'd the Strangers out of France made his entry into Paris in Arms was exrtemely surpris'd at the furious insolence and unbounded licence which was taken to decry his conduct in their Sermons and to stir up the people to Sedition But insâ—ead of resenting it like a Severaign Prince by punishing that attempt and making a terrible example of its Authours who well deserv'd it for that detestable Doctrine which tends to the subversion of all Monarchy he satisfi'd himself with acting like a Censor or to speak more properly like a Ghostly Father and a Guide of Consciences For all the punishment which he inflicted for such an ungodly and detestable an action was to make to those factious people and principally to Doctour Boucher the most seditious man amongst them in presence of the Deputies of Parliament whom he sent for to the Louvre a very pious and charitable remonstrance in which he taught them to comprehend the great enormity of their crime which merited eternal Damnation for having vilified their King with a thousand horrible impostures in the chair of truth which they had chang'd into a pestilential Pulpit full of lies and calumnies after which when they were come down they made no manner of scruple to goe immediately to the Altar and to offer there to God the Sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist before they had reconcil'd themselves to him whom they had so unworthily affronted He added that though he might justly treat them as Pope Sixtus had lately some Religious of his Order whom he had sent to the Gallies for presuming to speak irreverently of him in their Sermons yet notwithstanding he wou'd not at this time proceed in that manner against them but in case they shou'd once more commit a crime of the like nature he was resolv'd that his Parliament shou'd doe justice so exemplary and severe upon them that it might strike a terrour into all wicked and seditious persons who resembled them This was all the Vengeance which this too good and gracious King took upon those people who abusing his Clemency which they now despis'd grew day by day more insolent against him Which makes it demonstrable how extremely much it concerns a Prince so to temper the vertues which he ought to have that one of them may not destroy the other by its excess and consequently be dangerous to himself That his Justice and his Mercy may agree without the interfering of one in the others Province that by endeavouring to be too rigorously just he become not odious and by being too yielding he grow not contemptible to his Subjects In the mean while it was impossible that these excessive praises which were given to the Servant when at the same time they revil'd the Master with so much malice and indignity shou'd not create great jealousies and disquiets in him and that a just resentment shou'd not cause him to take up a resolution of revenging so many affronts as were given to the Royal Majesty and of putting the Leaguers and principally the Sixteen and their Head out of a condition of disputing any longer with their Severeign for the Mastery On the other side the Duke of Guise was puff'd up more than ever with such a series of Success and with those illustrious testimonies which Pope Sixtus and Alexander Prince of Parma had so solemnly render'd to his merit the one by sending him the consecrated Sword and the other his Arms as to him who amongst all Princes best deserv'd the glorious Title of a great Captain And as he was too clear
sighted not to discern the visible signs which the King in spight of his dissimulation cou'd not hinder often from breaking out and discovering the disdain and hatred which he had conceiv'd against him He resolv'd to fortify his party in such manner that he shou'd not onely have nothing to apprehend but also that he might hope for all things from his good fortune And he did it with so much the more ardour and resolution as he was then more than ever exasperated and almost driven to despair by a refusal which he had from the King which was given him in a most disobliging manner by preferring his Rival in Ambition before him which he esteem'd the most sensible affront that he cou'd receive and which afterwards put things out of a possibility of accommodation Thus it happen'd The Duke of Guise after the signal Service which he had perform'd to the Kingdom was of opinion that if he demanded some part of the Employments which had been possess'd by the late Duke of Ioyeuse Admiral of France and Governour of Normandy they cou'd not possibly be refus'd him And in order to obtain his request more easily he was content onely to ask the Admiralty and that not for himself nor any of the Princes of his Family but for the Count of Brissac whom the Nobility of his Birth and his great desert together with the services which France had receiv'd from the brave Timoleon de Cossé his Brother Colonel of the French Infantry and from his Father the great Marshal of Brissac Viceroy of Piedmont might raise without envy and with universal applause to that high command After the Duke had been held in hand and fed with fair promises and false hopes he not onely fail'd of obtaining the place which he requested but as if it had purposely been done to spight him it was conferr'd together with the Government of Normandy on the Duke of Espernon his declar'd Enemy whose Character I shall next give you Iohn Louis de Nogaret the youngest Brother of his House who was call'd when he came first to Court the young La Valette understood so well to gain the favour of the King particularly after Quelus one of those unhappy Minions who kill'd each other in Duel had recommended him to his Majesty at his death that immediately he grew up into the first rank of Favourites with the Duke of Ioyeuse over whom at length he carried it having had the cunning to insinuate into him the desire of Commanding an Army and by that artifice to remove him from his Master's sight There was no sort of Honour Wealth or Dignities which the King did not heap on this new Minion in favour of whom he erected Espernon into a Dutchy to make him Duke and Peer as well as Anne de Ioyeuse because he had taken upon him to make them equal in all circumstances having so great a tenderness for both of them I might say weakness unworthy of a King that he answer'd those who represented to him his great profusions and that he impoverish'd himself to inrich them that when he had married and settled his two Children for so he call'd them in his ordinary discourse he was then resolv'd to turn good husband Yet there was this difference betwixt them that Ioyeuse by his courtesie his civility his magnificence and by the winning way of his behaviour had attracted mens affections but on the contrary Espernon by reason of his rough imperious and haughty nature was hated not onely by the People and the Leaguers who made a thousand invective Satyrs on him but also by the great men of the Court whom he treated with contempt and insolence as if the favour of his Master which he abus'd had given him the privilege to affront even those whose vertue and desert was acknowledg'd and respected by the King For in this manner it was that amongst others he us'd Francis d' Espinac Archbishop of Lyons and Monsieur de Villeroy one of the most prudent and faithfull Ministers which our Kings have ever had a way of procedure not disadvantageous to the Duke of Guise who laid hold on that occasion to gain the Archbishop entirely to his interests Above all the rest there was an invincible Antipathy betwixt the Duke of Guise and this proud Favourite who whether it were to please his Master or to put an obligation upon the King of Navarre with whom he then held a private correspondence or were it out of the contrariety of their humours profess'd himself on all occasions his open enemy omitting no opportunity of rendring him suspected and odious to the King and of working him up still more and more to a greater height of hatred and indignation against him And in requital of those ill offices the Duke of Guise was not wanting on his side to animate the People of Paris against Espernon who one day ran the hazard in passing over the Pont Nostre Dame of being murther'd by the Citizens who running out of their Shops in multitudes went about to incompass him if he had not escap'd by speedy flight 'T is true that the Nuncio Morosini foreseeing the fatal consequences of this their enmity did all he was able by his prudent admonitions to extinguish it but though he smother'd it for a little time he cou'd not hinder it from blazing out immediately afterwards Insomuch that it grew to a greater height than ever when the King who either wou'd not or durst not refuse any thing to this Favourite united in his onely person what before had been shar'd betwixt him and Ioyeuse and conferr'd on him both the Government of Normandy and the Admiralty which the Duke of Guise had requested for Brissac The Ceremony was perform'd with great magnificence and the Attorney General in a long Harangue which he made at the Admission of the Duke of Espernon said pubâ—â—quely that the King who had made so worthy a choice was a great Saint and deserv'd to be Canoniz'd at least as well as Saint Lewis that the New made Admiral wou'd expiate for all the crimes of the late Admiral de Coligny and make the Catholique Religion once more to flourish in the Kingdom An insipid Panegyrique which is indeed no better than a base and fulsome flattery if the Author does not intend to fpeak by contraries shou'd no more be suffer'd by great men who are lovers of true glory than an affront or a Libel neither ought they to allow any commendations to be given them but such as are solid and establish'd on such known truths that their very enemies shall not be able to deny them That Speech which the King's Attorney made on this occasion did his Master and the Admiral more mischief than all the furious Libels of the League It drew upon them the contempt and railery of the people which sometimes make a man more uneasie than a Satyr which is but the impotent anger of a Scribler And it occasion'd that famous
Epigramm which concludes that Henry cannot be deni'd to be a great Saint and a worker of Miracles since of a little Valley he has in a moment made a mighty Mountain The Verses run thus Quis neget Henricum miracula prodere mundo Qui fecit montem qui modo vallis erat A Saint at least our Henry we account Who of a Vale so soon has made a Mount. An Allusion was made to his Sirname of La Valette by a kind of clenching Witticism much in fashion in those times but which is now exploded And an offer was likewise made at vilifying his birth not unlike what Busbequius the Emperour Rodolphus his Ambassadour to that King has written in one of his Letters perhaps with some little malignity and following the foolish reports of the rabble who commonly love to speak disgracefully of Favourites what we may receive for undoubted truth is this that this prodigious raising of the Duke of Espernon a declar'd Enemy to the Duke of Guise was the reason that he being furiously incens'd at the refusal which he had and at the greatning of a man who sought his ruine believ'd himself now authoriz'd to give the reins to his resentment and push his fortune as far as it wou'd go And from thence ensued all those dismal and tragical events the very remembrance of which strikes an horrour into my Soul and which nevertheless in performance of my duty I shall faithfully represent in the following Book THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE LIB III. IF I intended to follow the Example of Livy the Prince of Latine Historians who never suffers a Prodigy to escape him and describes it perhaps with as much superstition as exactness I shou'd here make long narrations how the Sun was obscur'd on the sudden without the interposition of any Cloud appearing in the Sky with a flaming Sword shooting out from the Centre of the Body palpable darkness like that of the Egyptians at noon-day extraordinary Tempests Earthquakes fiery Phantasms in the Air and an hundred other Prodigies which are said to have been produc'd and seen in this unhappy year of one thousand five hundred eighty eight and which were fansi'd to be so many ominous presages of those horrible disorders that ensued in it But because I am not of the opinion that much credit ought to be given to those sorts of Signs which are commonly the effects of natural causes though very often unknown to us nor to the predictions of Astrologers some of which verily believ'd they had found in the Stars that this year shou'd be the conclusion of the World I will onely say that the most sure presage of so many misfortunes then impending was the minds of men too much exasperated on both sides to live in peace with each other and not rather to be searching out for means of making sure of those whom they suspected and disposing of them according to their jealousies In order to this the Duke of Guise after he had made an end of ruining the County of Montbelliard took his way to Nancy whither he had invited all the Princes of his house to assemble in the Month of Ianuary there to take their resolutions in reference to the present condition of affairs and of that happy success which they had in the War against the Reyters Some of them there were as it is reported so swoln with that Victory and so blinded with their prosperity that they propos'd in this Conference the most dangerous and most violent expedients to which the Duke of Lorrain a moderate and wary Prince wou'd by no means listen Howsoever it were for I find nothing to confirm these relations not even in the Memoires of their greatest Enemies who have written most exactly of that Assembly 't is most undoubted that if they proceeded not so far as to those terrible extremities yet what was then concluded pass'd in the World for a most unjust and unlawfull undertaking and was condemn'd by all those who were not blindly devoted to the League It was that a Request shou'd be presented to the King containing Articles which under the ordinary pretence of their desire to preserve in France the Catholique Religion tended manifestly to despoil him of his Authority and Power and to invest the Heads of the League in both For those scandalous Articles bore this substance in them that for the service of God and the maintenance and security of Religion the King shou'd not onely be most humbly Petition'd but also summon'd to establish the Holy Inquisition in his Realm to cause the Council of Trent to be there Publish'd suspending nevertheless that Article which revokes the exemption pretended by some Chapters and Abbeys against the Bishops to continue the War against the Huguenots and to cause the goods both of them and of their Associates to be sold with which to defray the charges of that War and to pay the Debts in which the Heads of the League had been constrain'd to involve themselves for the prosecution of it To refuse quarter to all Prisoners who shou'd be taken in that War unless upon condition of paying the full value of their goods and giving caution of living afterwards like good Catholiques Behold here a most specious appearance of Zeal for Religion but in the next place observe the Venom which lies hidden under all these fair pretences That the King shall unite himself more cordially and more openly than before to this Holy League thereby to keep exactly all its Laws to which men are oblig'd by this the most solemn and most inviolable of all Oaths That besides the Forces which he shall be oblig'd to set on foot to wage that War against the Huguenots he shall maintain an Army on the Frontiers of Lorrain to oppose the German Protestants if they shou'd determine once again to enter France That besides those places which the Leaguers already held for their security there shou'd be deliver'd to them other Towns of more importance which shou'd be specifi'd to him where they might establish for Governours those of their Heads which they shall name with power of introducing such Garisons and making such Fortifications as they shall think fit at the charges of the Provinces in which they are situate And in conclusion to secure them that they shall be no more hindred as till this present they have always been in the executing of those things which have been promis'd them for the safety of Religion his Majesty shall displace from his Council and from the Court and shall deprive of their Governments and Offices those who shall be nam'd to him as Patrons of Heretiques and Enemies to Religion and the State These were those extravagant demands which began to open the eyes of many good Catholiques who had suffer'd themselves to be innocently seduc'd by the appearances of true zeal which being little illuminated was not according to knowledge as the Apostle speaks For they now more clearly saw into some of those
Souldiers found themselves so encompass'd on every side that they cou'd neither March forward nor retreat nor make the least motion without exposing themselves unprofitably to the inevitable danger of the Musquet shot which the Citizens cou'd fire upon them without missing from behind their Barricades or of being beaten down with a tempest of Stones which came powring upon their Heads from every Window The Marshals d' Aumont and Biron and Villequier the Governour of Paris gain'd little by crying out to the Citizens that they intended them no harm for they were too much enrag'd to give them the hearing and were possess'd with a belief of what Brissac Bois Dauphin and the other Creatures of the Duke of Guise had told them who roar'd out on purpose to envenom them against the Royalists that those Troups which were entred into Paris were sent for to no other end than to make a general Massacre of all good Catholiques who were members of the Holy Union and to give up to the Souldiers their Houses their Money and their Wives Upon this the Musquet shot and the Stones from above were redoubl'd on those miserable men and more especially upon the Swissers to whom the Citizens were most inexorable More than threescore were either slain or dangerously hurt as well in St. Innocents Church yard as below on the Place Maubert without giving Quarter till Brissac who with his Sword in his hand was continually pushing forward the Barricades arriving there and beholding those poor Strangers who cry'd out for mercy with clasp'd Hands and both Knees on the ground and sometimes making the sign of the Cross in testimony of their being Catholiques stop'd the fury of the Citizens and commanding them to cry out vive Guise which they did as loud as they cou'd for safeguard of their Lives he satisfi'd himself with leading them disarm'd and Prisoners into the Boucherie of the New Market by the Bridge of St. Michael which he had already master'd It cannot be deni'd but that this Count was he amongst all the Leaguers who acted with the most ardour against the Royalists on that fatal day As being infinitely exasperated because the King had refus'd him the Admiralty and refus'd it in a manner so disobliging as to say openly he was a man that was good for nothing either by Sea or Land accusing him at the same time that he had not done his Duty in the Battel of the Azores where the Navy of Philippo Strozzi was defeated by the Marquis of Santa-Cruz he burn'd inwardly with desire of Revenge And when he saw the Souldiers inclos'd on all sides by the Barricades which were of his raising and the Swissers at his mercy 't is reported that he cry'd out as insulting on the King with a bitter Scoff and magnifying himself at the same time At least the King shall understand to day that I have found my Element and though I am good for nothing either at Sea or Land yet I am some Body in the Streets In this manner it was that the people making use of their advantage still push'd their fortune more and more and seem'd to be just upon the point of investing the Louvre while the Duke of Guise by whose secret orders all things were regularly manag'd amidst that horrible conâ—usion was walking almost unaccompanied in his own House and coldly answering the Queen and those who came one on the neck of another with Messages to him from the King intreating him to appease the tumult that he was not Master of those wild Beasts which had escap'd the toyles and that they were in the wrong to provoke them as they had done But at last when he perceiv'd that all things were absolutely at his command he went himself from Barricade to Barricade with onely a riding switch in his hand forbidding the people who paid a blind obedience to him from proceeding any farther and desiring them to keep themselves onely on the defensive He spoke also very civilly to the French Guards who at that time were wholly in his power to be dispos'd of as he thought good for Life or Death Onely he complain'd to their Officers of the violent counsells which his Enemies had given the King to oppress his Innocence and that of so many good Catholiques who had united themselves on no other consideration than the defence and support of the ancient Religion After which he gave Orders to Captain St. Paul to reconduct those Souldiers to the Louvre but their Arms were first laid down and their Heads bare in the posture of vanquish'd men that he might give that satisfaction to the Parisians who beheld the spectacle with Joy as the most pleasing effect of their present Victory He also caus'd the Swissers to be return'd in the same manner by Brissac and gave the King to understand that provided the Catholique Religion were secur'd and maintain'd in France in the condition it ought to be and that himself and his Friends were put in safety from the attempts of their Enemies they wou'd pay him all manner of Duty and Service which is owing from good Subjects to their Lord and Sovereign This in my opinion makes it evident that the Duke had never any intention to seize the person of the King and to inclose him in a Monastery as that Nicholas Poulain who gave in so many false informations and many Writers as well of the one Religion as of the other have endeavour'd to make the World believe For if that had been his purpose what cou'd have hinder'd him from causing the Louvre to be invested as he might easily have done the same day by carrying on the Barricades close to it while the tumult was at the height and for what reason did he return the French Guards and Swissers to the King if his intention had been to have attacqu'd him in the Louvre This was not his business nor his present aim but to defend and protect his Leaguers with a high hand and to avail himself of so favourable an opportunity to obtain the thing which he demanded and which doubâ—less had put him into condition of mounting the throne after the King's decease and becoming absolute Master of all affairs even during his Life In effect the Queen having undertaken to make the reconcilement as believing that thereby she might reenter into the management of business from which the Favourites had remov'd her and having ask'd him what were his pretensions he propos'd such extravagant terms and with so much haughtiness and resolv'dness speaking like a Conquerour who took upon him to dispose at his pleasure of the Vanquish'd that as dextrous as she was in the art of managing Mens minds from the very beginning of the conference she despair'd of her success For inhancing upon the Articles of Nancy he demanded that for the Security of the Catholique Religion in this Realm the King of Navarre and all the Princes of the House of Bourbon who had follow'd him in these last Wars shou'd
than a bare conjecture and the impulse of his inborn generosity which his bloudy and lamentable death as things are commonly judg'd by their event has caus'd to pass in the World for an effect of the greatest rashness It ought not here to be expected that I shou'd dwell on an exact and long description of all the circumstances of that tragical action which has been so unfortunate to France and so ill receiv'd in the World Besides that they are recounted in very different manners by the Historians of one and the other Religion according to their different passions and that the greatest part of them are either false or have little in them worth observation the thing was done with so great facility and precipitation and withall in so brutal a manner that it cannot be too hastily pass'd over this then is the plain and succinct relation of it After that the Brave Grillon Mestre de Camp of the Regiment of Guards had generously refus'd to kill the Duke of Guise unless in single Duel and in an honourable way the King had recourse to Lognac the first Gentleman of his Chamber and Captain of the forty five who promis'd him eighteen or twenty of the most resolute amongst them and for whom he durst be answerable They were of the number of those whom the Duke of Guise who had always a distrust of those Gascons as creatures of the Duke of Espernon had formerly demanded that they might be dismiss'd from which request he had afterwards desisted Insomuch that it may be said he foresaw the misfortune that attended him without being able to avoid it For on Friday the twenty third of December being enter'd about eight of the Clock in the Morning into the great Hall where the King had intimated on Thursday night that he intended to hold the Council very early that he might afterwards go to Nostre dame de Clery some came to tell him that His Majesty expected him in the old Closset yet he was not there but in the other which looks into the Garden Upon this he arose from the fire side where finding himself somewhat indispos'd he had been seated and pass'd through a narrow Entry which was on one side the Hall into the Chamber where he found Lognac with seven or eight of the forty five the King himself having caus'd them to enter into that room very secretly before day-break the rest of them were posted in the old Closset and all of them had great Ponyards hid under their Cloaks expecting onely the coming of the Duke of Guise to make sure work with him whether it were in the Chamber or in the Closset in case he shou'd retire thither for his defence There needed not so great a preparation for the killing of a single man who came thither without distrust of any thing that was design'd against him and who holding his Hat in one hand and with the other the lappet of his Cloak which he had wrapt under his left Arm was in no condition of defence In this posture he advanc'd towards the old Closset saluting very civilly as his custome was those Gentlemen who made shew of attending him out of respect as far as the door And as in lifting up the Hangings with the help of one of them he stoop'd to enter he was suddenly seiz'd by the Arms and by the Legs and at the same instant struck into the Body before with five or six Ponyards and from behind into the Nape of the Neck and the Throat which hinder'd him from speaking one single word of all that he is made to say or so much as drawing out his Sword All that he cou'd do was to drag along his Murtherers with the last and strongest effort that he cou'd make strugling and striving till he fell down at the Beds-Feet where some while after with a deep Groan he yielded up his breath The Cardinal of Guise and Arch-Bishop of Lyons who were in the Council Hall rising up at the Noise with intention of running to his aid were made Prisoners by the Marshals D' Aumont and de Retz At the same time the Cardinal of Bourbon was also seiz'd in the Castle together with Anne d' Este Duchess of Nemours and Mother of the Guises and the Prince of Ioinville the Dukes of Elbeuf and Nemours Brissac and Boisdauphin with many other Lords who were Confidents of the Duke and Pericard his Secretary And in the mean time the Grand Prevost of the King's House went with his Archers to the Chamber of the third Estate in the Town-House and there arrested the President Neuilly the Prevost of Merchants the Sheriffs Compan and Cotte-Blanch who were Deputies for Paris and some other notorious Leaguers This being done the King himself brought the News of it to the Queen Mother telling her that now he was a real King since he had cut off the Duke of Guise At which that Princess being much surpris'd and mov'd asking him if he had made provision against future accidents he answer'd her in an angry kind of tone much differing from his accustom'd manner of speaking to her that she might set her heart at rest for he had taken order for what might happen and so went out surlily to go to Mass yet before he went he sent particularly to Cardinal Gondi and to the Cardinal Legat Morosini and inform'd them both of what had pass'd with his reasons to justify his proceedings Davila the Historian reports that before he went to Mass the King met the Legat and walking with him a long time gave him all his reasons for that action which he takes the pains to set down at large as if he had been present at that long Conference and that he had heard without loosing one single word all the King said to the Cardinal together with the Cardinal 's politique reflexions upon it and his reply to the King's discourse For he tells us that the Legat fearing to lesten Henry's affection to the Holy See assur'd him that the Pope as being a common Father wou'd listen favourably to his excuses and withall exhorted him to make War against the Huguenots that he might make demonstrations of his sincerity and that it might be evident he kill'd not the Duke of Guise the great Enemy of the Heretiques out of intention to favour the King of Navarre and that party He adds that the King promis'd him and confirm'd it with an Oath that provided the Pope wou'd joyn with him he wou'd proceed to make War against them with more eagerness than ever and wou'd not sufâ—er any other Religion but the Roman Catholique in his Kingdom That after this solemn Protestation the Legat judg'd it not expedient to proceed any farther in the Conference and that without saying any thing for the present in favour of the Prelates who were Prisoners he continued to treat with him in the same manner he had us'd formerly There are those also who are bold enough to affirm that by
they were thought at Rome and they believ'd themselves to stand on so sure Foundations for what they held that they wou'd not depart from it on any considerations whatever That in this particular Fact the King wou'd not want most Zealous Catholiques to maintain that not onely his Majesty who has an especial privilege to stand exempted from Excommunication but that also the meanest man can incur no censures for having done a thing which is of absolute necessity for the preservation of his liberty and of his Life And that which way soever it be determin'd yet his Majesty was absolv'd by the Authority of his Holiness himself in virtue of the Breviat which he had granted him To which the Pope made no other reply than this that it belong'd to him to interpret his own Breviat and that it ought onely to be understood of crimes committed before the Breviat was given and not of those which were committed afterwards But one of the most understanding Prelates of the Roman Court had the confidence to make it appear by a writing which was sent to the King that this Breviat being conceiv'd as it was in general terms without any restriction extended as well to the future as to the past In the mean time the Pope as it were by immediate inspiration changing his Humour on the sudden began to tell the Cardinal that he acknowledg'd the King had great provocations to doe what he had done that God had suffer'd the Cardinal of Guise and the Duke his Brother to die in that manner for their Sins That the League had ruin'd the affairs of France and even the Catholique Religion it self That it was at no time lawfull to take up Arms against the will of the Sovereign for it never succeeded happily That he call'd that very Cardinal to witness what he had formerly told him concerning this and that he had then prophesy'd what since had happen'd The Cardinal ravish'd with joy to hear the Pope speak after this manner gave him his most humble acknowledgments and earnestly besought him always to persist in so just an opinion without suffering himself to be impos'd on by the artifices of the Spaniards and the Leaguers But when he perceiv'd that after all this fair discourse the Pope according to the obstinacy of his temper which was never to be mov'd when once he had fix'd his resolution still continu'd to suspend all the expeditions till the King had sent to desire absolution he had the courage to tell him plainly that this suspension which was prejudicial to the service of God the salvation of Souls and even to the authority of the Holy See cou'd be laid to no other man's charge but the whole burthen of it wou'd fall on the Conscience of his Holiness And that all the evils which arise from the long vacancies of Churches wou'd be imputed to him onely not to the King who had done on his part what he ought by naming or presenting men to Bishopricks and Abbies according to the Concordat and that in mean time they who were thus presented to the Prelacy had wherewithall to comfort themselves easily in their disgrace by enjoying their Oeconomats a longer time without putting themselves to the trouble of providing and sending to Rome so much money for obtaining the Apostolical Provisions And after all it might well happen that the King mov'd by the remonstrances of the French Clergy and even of the Estates themselves which were still assembled at Blois and also because his nominations were refus'd at Rome might set all things again upon the Foundation of the ancient right in which case there wou'd be no more trudging from France to Rome but onely for the confirmation of three or four primacies and those too to be expedited gratis In fine this prudent and honest Cardinal concluded his long dispatches by the advice he gave the King that according to the opinion of the wisest men and those who meant him best the longer he delaid to send or write to his Holiness in case either of them were his intention the more satisfaction he shou'd receive provided that his affairs prosper'd at home For added he your Majesty has nothing more to hope or fear but onely from your own management and you are to expect that as matters go well or ill in France you shall be treated here accordingly So that to know how you stand in grace at Rome you will have no need to be inform'd by your Ambassadours dispatches or by mine you will find the truest Intilligence from day to day by your own success The event verifi'd his prediction for some time after Sixtus perceiving that the League grew exceeding powerfull and the King much weaker by the Revolt of the greatest part of France caus'd a thundering Monitory to be posted up at Rome against him in which he declares at the first dash that the King had incurr'd the Excommunication provided by the Canons for the Murther committed on the person of a Cardinal The death of the Duke of Guise was yet more ruinous to his affairs and produc'd an effect quite contrary to what he had expected from it He believ'd that having cut off the Head of the League it wou'd thenceforth be no more than a body without life or motion and that he shou'd then be absolute Master and truly a King as he had us'd to say But it was not long before he found how much he had deceiv'd himself His supposition may come to pass when a faction is weak in its beginning and that they who are enter'd into it are irresolute wavering betwixt their first fury which has hurri'd them into a Rebellion and their fear of a Master justly incens'd against them whom they also see well arm'd and in condition to take Vengeance on them as well as on their Head in case they prove obstinate in their revolt But here all things were in a contrary posture the League had taken root so deeply in the peoples Hearts that there was no probability it shou'd be torn out at one single pull and the faction was too strongly supported both within the Kingdom and without it to beget a reasonable hope that it wou'd easily be destroy'd On the other side that love and respect which the French have naturally for their Kings was almost wholly extinguish'd in the greater part of them in reference to Henry the third who was equally hated both by Huguenots and Leaguers and so very much despis'd especially by the last that he was not fear'd by any one Thus instead of arming himself as he ought in reason to have done after so terrible a blow as he had given and advancing towards Paris with all the Forces he either had in readiness or cou'd raise immediately without giving leisure to the Leaguers to recover from their first amazement and to provide themselves of a new Head against him He trifl'd away his time according to his custome in making specious Declarations
authorize that horrible revolt which they design'd was of opinion to propose to the College of Sorbonne not onely by a verbal request but by an Authentique Act which was sign'd by the Magistrate and Seal'd with the Town Seal these two important cases of Conscience the one was Whether the French were effectively discharg'd from the Oath of Allegiance and Faith which they had made to the King the other Whether in Conscience they might Arm and unite themselves and whether in order to it they might raise Money and Contributions for the defence and preservation of the Catholique Apostolique and Roman Religion in France in opposition to the detestable designs and endeavours of the King and all his Adherents since he had violated the publique Faith at Blois in prejudice of the Catholique Religion the Edict of the Holy Vnion and the natural liberty of the Estates On which occasion the Faculty assembling on the Seventh of Ianuary to the number of Seventy Doctors after a solemn Procession and a Mass of the Holy Ghost concluded for the affirmative on both the points by a common consent without so much as the opposition of one man as the Decree it self informs us and that this resolution shou'd be sent to the Pope to the end he might approve and confirm it by his Authority desiring that he wou'd have the goodness to succour the Gallicane Church which suffer'd under great oppressions To confess the truth this Decree gave great scandal and the Huguenots who were not wanting to report it word for word and to make an Examen of it in their Writings drew a great advantage from it to insult over our Divines of whom they had reason to say that both their Doctrine and their Morals in this respect are directly opposite to the word of God which teaches us the quite contrary But 't is easie to answer them by letting them know what is most true namely that this Decree was pass'd by a faction of seditious Doctours Boucher Prevost Aubry Bourgoin Pelletier and seven or eight old Doctors who were violent Leaguers and also of the Council of Sixteen drew after them by their Cabals and by their inveterate malice fifty or threescore Doctors the greatest part of whom were those young hot-headed and turbulent â—ellows whom we have already mention'd and the rest in fear of their lives if they shou'd dare to oppose them assented onely upon compulsion to this Decree which the Sorbonne it self at all times when it was free has held abominable and which Doctor Iohn Le Fevre at that time Dean of the Faculty resisted what he cou'd without gaining any thing upon that wretched faction which constrain'd him at last in spight of his opposition to Subscribe it with them In like manner the King who complain'd extremely of this proceeding having Assembled at Blois twenty Bishops and twelve Doctors of the Sorbonne who were of the number of the Deputies when that Decree was read to them they all concluded without the least hesitation that it was execrable and cou'd never have pass'd without compulsion and for safeguard of their lives from the rage and fury of the Parisian Leaguers In the mean time it must be acknowledg'd in what manner soever it were gain'd yet being of the Sorbonne whose name and authority were had in singular veneration through all Europe and particularly in France that Decree was the Trumpet to the general Revolt which was made in Paris and from thence in a short time after extended it self through the greatest part of all the Cities in the Kingdom For as soon as it was publish'd in that great Town by the most furious and giddy-brain'd Preachers of the League who exalted it to the People in their declamatory style they ran on the sudden into such horrible extremes and such transports of rage so contrary to the duty of Subjects to their lawfull Sovereign that though our Writers have made them publique yet I believe it more decent to suppress them than to profane my History by a Relation which wou'd render it unpleasant and even odious I shall onely say that at the same time when by virtue of this damnable Decree they bereft him of the title of King leaving him onely the bare name of Henry de Valois they heap'd upon him all sorts of outrages and villanies which the impotent fury of the Rabble cou'd produce They vented their rage against him in Satyrs Lampoons and Libels infamous Reports and Calumnies and those too in the fowlest terms of which the most moderate were Tyrant and Aposltate And that they might not be wanting to discharge their fury in the most brutal manner they cou'd invent they extended it even to his Arms his Statues and his Pictures which they tore in pieces or trampled under their feet or dragg'd about the Streets through the mire and dirt or burn'd them or cast them into the River with a volee of curses and imprecations against him in the mean adoring the Duke of Guise and his Brother the Cardinal as Martyrs and placing their Images upon Altars At last this blind fury went so far that after the Decree the Curats and Confessours of the Faction of Sixteen abusing the power which was given them by their Sacred Ministry of binding and loosing refus'd Absolution to those who acknowledg'd to them in Confession that their Conscience wou'd not suffer them to renounce Henry the third their lawfull King This impious practice was the first effect that was produc'd by the Decree of the Faculty the news of which was receiv'd by the King with much sadness at the same time when he was busied in paying his last duties to the Queen his Mother who deceas'd at the Castle of Blois on the fifth of Ianuary in the seventy second year of her age whether it were out of melancholy for the death of the Guises which was upbraided to her by the old Cardinal of Bourbon or of a Hectique Fever or a false Pleurisie Certain it is that there was no mean or moderation us'd either in praise or dispraise of that Princess who indeed has afforded sufficient matter to Historians to speak both good and ill of her and either of them in excess Both the one and the other are easie to be discern'd by what I have related of her in this History and in that of Calvinism I shall onely add this last touching to finish her picture that it cannot be deni'd but that she was endued with great perfections of mind and body a carriage extremely Majestical a certain air of Greatness and Authority worthy of her high Estate her Behaviour noble and engaging her Wit polite her Apprehension prompt her Judgment piercing a great talent for Business and Treaties and a singular address of managing and turning others to her own bent a Royal Magnificence Constancy and Fortitude of mind extraordinary in her Sex a masculine courage and greatness of Soul which naturally carri'd her to the highest undertakings In one
those were the Idols and the figures of those Devils to which Henry de Valois was accustom'd to Sacrifice in his retirement to Bois de Vincennes and that they had commanded him to murther the Duke of Guise the Protector of their Faith But that which gave the mortal blow to the Royal Authority and settled the Revolt in Absolute power by giving it a kind of regular form of a popular Government or rather of an Aristocracy against the fundamental law of the French Monarchy was the arrival of the Duke of Mayenne 'T is true that Prince was not endued with all those great and Heroique qualities which rais'd the admiration of the World in the person of his elder brother the late Duke of Guise but if we consider him in himself and without comparing him to the former whose merit being incomparably greater and his actions more glorious wou'd certainly obscure him it must be said if we will do him right that he had as much spirit as much courage wisedom moderation sincerity and probity as was necessary for him to maintain an honourable place amongst the great men of his time but not so much resolution constancy greatness of Soul vigour activity and good fortune as he ought to have had for the sustaining of so powerfull a party as that which he took upon himself to Head in opposition to two Kings On the one side he was strongly solicited by the Council of Sixteen and by the Dutchess of Montpensier his Sister to come and take the place of his dead Brother and to put himself at the head of those who were all in a readiness to obey his orders and to give up themselves to his command and on the other side he had receiv'd the King's Letters which assur'd him in most obliging terms that being as fully perswaded of his innocence as he was convinc'd of his Brother's crimes he was ready to give him all the part he cou'd desire both in his favour and his bounty provided that he still continu'd in that obedience and fidelity which he ow'd him But the extreme grief he had conceiv'd for the cruel treatment of his Brothers after so many promises and such solemn protestations that all past actions shou'd be forgotten the obligation which he thought his honour impos'd on him to revenge their death and more than all the distrust he had of the King which was insuperable in him whose fair words he took for no security after so horrible an action made him at last resolve to take up Arms though he was not naturally inclin'd to rashness and to precipitate himself blindfold into such an Abyss of hazards and confusions as are inseparable from Civil Wars He thought he shou'd â—ind much less security in the King's word and honour than in fortune unconstant and variable as she is and that he ran not so much hazard in declaring himself openly his Enemy as in trusting to his Promises and Oaths So that at the first it was neither hatred nor ambition but onely distrust which hurri'd him as it were by force into the Civil Wars and he had never expos'd himself to so manifest a danger of being ruin'd but that he imagin'd that by not hazarding himself he had been ruin'd In the mean time the beginning of his unhappy Enterprize was exceeding prosperous He march'd from Dijon with many Troups which he had drawn out of his Government of Bourgogâ—e and of Champaign which declar'd generally for the League excepting onely Chaälons the Magistrates of which place having receiv'd information of the Duke of Guise's death before the Sieur de Rone whom that Duke had there establish'd Governour constrain'd him immediately to depart out of it And as a River swells and enlarges its chanels the farther it flows from its Spring and the nearer it approaches to the Sea so the Forces of this new Head of the League increas'd on his march by the concourse of those whom his own reputation the memory of the late Duke his Brother the common hatred to the King the example of Paris the false Zeal of Religion and above all the Interest and desire which many had to make their advantage of these troubles drew to him in all the Countries through which he pass'd and all the Towns as it were in Emulation of each other open'd their Gates for his reception He was receiv'd at Troyes with the same Honours which are peculiar to Kings and he acted there as a Soveraign Prince from thence sending out his Commissions to the Creatures of the Duke of Guise and especially 〈◊〉 Rosne and St. Paul to whom he expedited his Orders for them to command in Champaign and Brye He â—ossess'd himself of Sens to which â—â—ace those of his party invited him 〈◊〉 things bent under his Authority â—heresoever he pass'd He enter'd like a Conquerour into Orleans where the fame alone of his coming constrain'd the Royalists to surrender the Cittadel to the Townsmen who besieg'd it He made himself Master of Chartres by the intelligence which he held there where the people changing on the sudden as it were by Enchantment were become quite another sort of creatures than they were formerly when the King retir'd thither after the Barricades and where they receiv'd him with wonderfull acclamations Thus cover'd with glory and now becoming much more haughty than his nature seem'd to allow by reason of so many prosperous events which appear'd like good Omens of the future he enter'd on the twelfth of February into Paris where as if the Duke of Guise had been rais'd from the dead in his person there was a loose given to all publique demonstrations of joy with so much transport and excess that they proceeded so far as even to expose his Picture Crown'd and to erect a Royal Throne for him and if he had had ambition and boldness enough to have accepted it he had found perhaps enow to have acknowledg'd him that they might have held under him those Governments which he cou'd have given them with the titles of Dutchies and Counties in homage as Hugh Capet had given him the example But whether it were that he durst not attempt it out of fear or wou'd not out of prudence as foreseeing in it insuperable difficulties which by his endeavouring to have risen higher had thrown him down from the steep of the Precipice certain it is that by refusing to accept that honour which yet in the sequel he desir'd not any other shou'd possess he sav'd the State and besides his present intention or rather against it preserv'd the Crown to the King of Navarre who was the rightfull presumptive Heir of it He satisfi'd himself then with establishing his own authority in the first place and with rendring himself more powerfull than the Council of the League compos'd of those famous forty amongst which were the most seditious Mutineers of the whole party who whatsoever protestation they made to obey him had carri'd all matters in Council against him
the Castle of Amboise and distributed them into several Prisons But the Duke of Mayenne who over-powr'd him in men was already upon the point of coming out from Paris with a strong Army with a resolution of preventing his designs and assaulting him in Tours And upon that consideration it was that he was forc'd to resolve upon the onely way which remain'd for his Shelter from the last extremities of Violence and for the preservation of his Crown and Person France at that time was in a most deplorable condition divided and as it were broken into three Parties which laid it waste That of the League the most powerfull of any by the Rebellion of so many Towns that of the King of Navarre which had greatly strengthen'd it self dureing the first troubles and that of the King which in a manner was reduc'd to his own Houshold and some very few depending Towns It was impossible for him in this condition to carry on the War which he had undertaken against the Huguenots and at the same time to maintain himself against the Army of the Leaguers It remain'd then that of necessity he must close with one of those Parties that by its assistance he might reduce the other to Obedience or at least that he might save himself from ruine which was inevitable if he stood single and expos'd to the violence of the other two Now the Leaguers wou'd neither admit of Peace nor Truce with him having Sworn in the Oath which was administer'd to them by the Duke of Mayenne that they wou'd prosecute their Vengeance to the extremity for the death of the two Guises 'T is manifest by consequence that he was indispensably oblig'd to unite himself with the King of Navarre and to accept the aid he offer'd him with so much frankness and generosity After the death of the Guises that Prince making his advantage of so favourable an opportunity while all things were in confusion amongst the Catholiques had much advanc'd the affairs of his Party by taking of Niort Saint Maxent Maillezais and some other Towns in Poitou since when upon his quick recovery from a dangerous Sickness whereof he was like to die he had push'd his conquests as far as the Frontiers of Touraine having made himself Master of Loudun Thouars Montreiuil Bellay Mirebeau Lisle Bouchard Chastelleraud Argenton and of Blanc in Berry At which time observing the wretched Estate to which the Kingdom was reduc'd by the three Parties which dismembred it he publish'd a Declaration on the fourth of March address'd to the three Estates of France therein exhorting them to Peace which was the onely remedy for so many distempers as afflicted the miserable Nation Then having clearly prov'd that it was impossible for the King to succeed in a Civil War to be prosecuted as some advis'd him at the same time against the Huguenots and Leaguers he offer'd him his Service and all the Forces of his Party not for bringing the Leaguers and the Revolted Towns to punishment but for reducing them to the terms of desiring Peace which he most humbly petition'd him to grant them and to pardon and pass by the injuries he had receiv'd after they had been subdu'd by the joint Forces of all good French-men both of the one Religion and the other marching under the conduct of his Majesty against Rebels After which he protested in the sight of God and ingag'd his Faith and Honour that forasmuch as that union of his most faithfull Servants as well Catholiques as Protestants was onely intended to restore the Royal Authority and Peace in France he wou'd never permit that the Roman Catholique Faith shou'd receive the least prejudice in consideration of it but that it shou'd always be preserv'd in such Towns as shou'd be taken without making any alteration of Religion in them This Declaration made way for the Treaty which was begun with great secrecy immediately after it in order to the Union of the two Kings There were some in the Council who endeavour'd to oppose that Negotiation as fearing that it wou'd much fortify the Party of the League by contributing to the belief of that report which was already spread by the Leaguers amongst the people that the King had always maintain'd a private Correspondence with the Huguenots besides that the Pope whose Friendship was necessary wou'd be scandalis'd at such an Union The King himself had a great repugnance to it and doubtless wou'd much rather have compounded his differences with the Princes of the League if it had been possible and thereby to have renew'd his Edict of Reunion a thing not unknown to the King of Navarre who easily perceiv'd that the Court wou'd never apply to him but for want of others In effect the King in the beginning of March had written to the Duke of Lorrain and had sent him very advantageous conditions for the Princes of his House with all manner of Security for them in case he cou'd prevail with them to receive the Peace and Treaty which he offer'd But being refus'd on that side those of his Council who were of opinion that the King of Navarre's propositions shou'd be accepted inforc'd so far their strongest Argument which was pure Necessity farther alledging the examples of so many Catholique Kings and Princes who like the great Emperour Theodosius made use of Inâ—idels and Heretiques against their Enemies that the King at last consented to set on foot the Treaty It was concluded at Tours on the third of April by the Sieur du Plessis-Mornay who capitulated on the King of Navarre's behalf on these conditions That the said King during the Truce which was made for one year shou'd serve the King with all his Forces That he shou'd have a passage on the Loyre which at length was declar'd to be the Town of Saumur after some difficulties which were remov'd concerning the trusting it in his hands That he shou'd therein have the free exercise of his Religion and in some other little Towns which were left to him by way of caution for his reimbursment of his charges in the War This Negotiation of Du Plessis cou'd not be transacted with so much Secrecy but that it was vented by the Legat Morosini who thereupon us'd his utmost endeavours in three vigorous Remonstrances to hinder that blow which he believ'd wou'd be fatal to Religion according to the false notions which he had of the King of Navarre And the King having told him that after having tri'd all ways of accommodation with the Duke of Mayenne which that Prince had always haughtily rejected necessity compell'd him to make use of the onely remaining means to defend his Life the Legat earnestly besought him to allow him ten days more that he might have opportunity of treating in person with that Duke whom he hop'd he shou'd be able to prevail with to accept those advantageous terms of Peace which were presented him Though the Treaty was not onely concluded but also sign'd as appears
by the Memoires of Du Plessis Mornay yet the King to make it evident that it was onely through necessity that he enter'd into this Union with the Huguenots against the League was consenting that before the publication of it there shou'd be made a last attempt on the inclinations of the Duke of Mayenne to induce him to a reconcilement To this effect he gave in writing to the Legat the same Articles which he had already propos'd to the Duke of Lorrain and which were as advantageous to his Family as he cou'd reasonably desire For there was offer'd to the Duke of Mayenne his Government of Burgundy with full power of placing such Governours in the Towns as he himself shou'd chuse of disposing all vacant Offices and levying on the Province forty thousand Crowns yearly To the young Duke of Guise his Nephew the Government of Champaigne with two Cities at his choice therein to keep what Garrisons he pleas'd twenty thousand Crowns of Pension and thirty thousand Livres of Income in Benifices for his Brother To the Duke of Nemours the Government of Lyons with a Pension of ten thousand Crowns to the Duke of Aumale the Government of Picardy and two Cities in that Province to the Duke of Elbeuf a Government and five and twenty thousand Livres of Pension and what was of greatest importance for that Family to the Marquis du Pont eldest Son of the Duke of Lorrain the Government of Toul Metz and Verdun with assurance that if his Majesty had no Issue Male those three Bishopricks shou'd remain to the Duke of Lorrain To all which the King caus'd this addition to be made that to remove all difficulties which might arise in the execution of this Treaty he wou'd remit himself to the Arbitration of his Holiness who might please to joyn in the Umpirage with him the Senate of Venice the great Duke of Thuscany the Duke of Ferrara and the Duke of Lorrain himself who had so great an interest in those Articles With these conditions the Legat went from Tours on the tenth of April towards the Duke of Mayenne who was already advanc'd with his Army as far as Chasteaudun He was receiv'd with all manner of respect and dureing the two days conference he had with the Duke employ'd the most powerfull considerations he cou'd propose to win his consent to a Peace so advantageous for all his House and so necessary to Religion and the publique welfare or at least to gain thus far upon him that if any thing were yet wanting to his entire satisfaction he wou'd remit his interests and those of his Party into the hands of the Pope as the King on his side was already dispos'd to refer his own But after all his endeavours he cou'd not work him to any condescension And whatever arguments he us'd he always answer'd with great respect as to the Pope and the person of the Legat but with extreme contempt for the King whom he perpetually call'd that Wretch that he and his wou'd ever be obedient to the Pope but that he was very well assur'd that his Holiness wou'd never lay his Commands upon him to make any agreement to the prejudice of Religion with a man who had none at all and who was united with the Huguenots against the Catholiques That he cou'd not bear the mention of a reconcilement with a perjur'd man who had neither Faith nor Honour and that he cou'd never trust his word who had Murther'd his Brothers so inhumanely and violated so perâ—idiously not onely the publique Faith but also the Oath which he had taken on the Evangelists at the most holy Sacrament of the Altar After this the Cardinal farther observing what he cou'd not otherways have believ'd that even more opprobrious terms than these were us'd of the King through all the Army and in every City which own'd the League where no man durst presume to give him the name of King wrote him word that he cou'd do him no Service with the Duke and himself not daring to be near his person while the King of Navarre continued with him went to Bourbonnois where he waited the Orders which he receiv'd from the Pope not long after to return to Rome and there to give an account of his Legation Thus after all hope was utterly lost of concluding any peace with the Leaguers the Treaty with the King of Navarre took place He was put into possession of Saumur the Government of which he gave to the Sieur du Plessis-Mornay who had so well succeeded in his Negotiation And it was from that very place that he publish'd his Declaration concerning his intended passage over the Loyre for the Service of his Majesty where he protests amongst other things that being first Prince of the Bloud whom his Birth oblig'd before all others to defend his King he holds none for Enemies but such as are Rebels forbidding most strictly all his Souldiers to commit any manner of offence against those Catholiques who were faithfull Subjects to his Majesty and particularly against the Clergy whom he takes into his protection The King also made his own at large wherein he declares the reasons that oblig'd him to joyn with the King of Navarre for the preservation of his person and the Estate without any prejudice which cou'd thence ensue to the Catholique Religion which he wou'd always maintain in his Kingdom even with the hazard of his Life But that which at length completed the Happiness of this Union betwixt the two Kings was their Enterview which was made in the Park of Plessis on the thirtieth day of April amidst the acclamations of a multitude of people there assembled and with all the signs of an entire confidence on both sides Though the old Huguenot Captains who had not yet forgot St. Bartholomew us'd their best endeavours that their Master shou'd not have put himself in the King's Power as he did with all frankness and generosity He did yet more for being gone back with his Guards and the Gentlemen who attended him to the Fauxbourgs of St. Simphorian beyond the Bridges on the next Morning which was the first of May he repaâ—s'd the River follow'd onely by one Page and return'd to Tours to be present at the King 's Levè who was infinitely pleas'd with this generous procedure and clearly saw by it that he had no occasion to suspect him and that he had reason to hope all things from a Prince who reli'd so fully on his word though he had broken it more than once to him by revoking the Edicts which he had made in favour of him onely to content the League In this manner they pass'd two days together and held a Council where the King of Navarre caus'd a resolution to be taken that for the speedy ending of the War they shou'd assemble their whole Forces with all possible diligence and March directly on to Paris which was the Head of the League and on which the body of it
whom he had commanded to stand at a distance that he might hear what the Traytour had to say to him in private it follows necessarily that either the one or the other of these two committed this detestable action if it were not Iaques Clement and the former of these two suppositions is what can never enter into the imagination of any reasonable man For which reason without losing my time either to destroy or leave doubtfull a truth so known and so generally agreed on by all the Writers of those times and confirm'd besides by so many authentique Witnesses I believe it safer to rest satisfi'd with the universal opinion of Mankind without the least daubing of the matter in regard of his profession which can reflect no manner of dishonour on the Iacobins For there is no dispute but all crimes are personal and there is no man of good sense who can think it reasonable to upbraid a whole Order with the guilt of one particular person in it and principally that of Saint Dominic which is always stor'd with excellent men renown'd for their Vertue their Learning and their Pious conversation Now though the wound was great and had pierc'd very deep yet the Chirurgeons at the first dressing were of opinion that the Knife had slipp'd betwixt the Bowels without entring into them and that therefore the King was not hurt to death of this they all assur'd him and thereupon he sent advice to the Princes his Allies that in ten days he shou'd be able to get on horseback But whether it were that the wound was not search'd to the bottom or that the knife was empoyson'd it was known not long after that the hurt was mortal Never Prince was less surpris'd than he at the certainty of death nor receiv'd it more calmly more Christianly or more devoutly He confess'd himself three several times to the Sieur de Boulogne the Chaplain of his Closet and being advertis'd by him that there was a Monitory out against him and exhorted to satisfie the Church in what was demanded of him before he cou'd have absolution given him I am answer'd he without the least hesitation the Eldest Son of the Roman Catholick Church and will die such I promise in the presence of God and before you all that I have no other desire than to content his Holiness in all he can require from me Upon which the Confessour being fully satisfi'd gave him Absolution All the remainder of the day he pass'd in his Devotions and in Contemplation of Holy things till the King of Navarre being arriv'd from his Quarters at Meudon it being now well onward in the night and throwing himself on his knees before him with his eyes full of tears and without being able to pronounce one word he rais'd himself up a little and leaning gently on his head declar'd him his lawfull Successour commanding all the Nobility who fill'd the Chamber to acknowledge and obey him as their King at the same time telling him that if he wou'd Reign peaceably it was necessary for him to return into the Church and to profess the Religion of all the most Christian Kings his Predecessours When he felt the approaches of death about two of the Clock in the Morning he confess'd himself once more after which he call'd for the holy Sacrament which Viaticum he receiv'd with incredible devotion After which he continu'd in all the most fervent actions of Faith Hope and Charity relying wholly on the infinite merits of the Passion of our Saviour Iesus Christ pardoning all his Enemies from the bottom of his heart and particularly those who had procur'd his death and thereupon he desir'd for the third time to receive Absolution beseeching God to forgive him all his Sins even as he forgave all the injuries which had been done him After this he began to say the Miserere which he was not able to finish having lost his Speech at these words And restore to me the joy of thy Salvation and having twice sign'd himself with the sign of the Cross he quietly gave up his breath about four of the clock in the morning on the second day of August and in the thirty ninth year of his Age. Thus died Henry the third King of France and Poland making it appear at his death that during his Life he had in his Soul a true foundation of Piety and that those extraordinary and odd actions which he did from time to time though they were not altogether regular nor becoming his Quality yet proceeded not from that unworthy principle of Hypocrisie with which the Leaguers have so ignominiously branded him As to the rest he was a Prince who being endu'd with all the Noble Qualities which I have describ'd in his Character in the beginning of this History had been one of the most excellent Kings who ever Reign'd if he cou'd have shewn them to the World after his assumption to the Crown with the same lustre in which they appear'd before it The Huguenots and Leaguers who agree'd in nothing but their common hatred to this Prince rejoyc'd equally at his Death and spoke of it as a kind of Miracle and as a stroke proceeding from the hand of God The Protestants have written that he was wounded and died afterwards in the same Chamber where he had procur'd the Massacre of St. Bartholomew to be resolv'd Notwithstanding which it is most certain that the House wherein the King was hurt to Death was not Built by the Sieur Ierome de Gondy till the year 1577 which was five years after the forefaid Massacre For which reason that imposture being manifest the Parliament upon the complaint which the Attorney General made concerning it ordain'd that this passage shou'd be rac'd out from the addition which was made by Monliard to the Inventaire of the History of France But the Zealots of Geneva have not been wanting to restore it entirely as it was before in the Impression which they made of that Book As for the Leaguers they proclaim'd their Joy so loudly and in so scandalous a manner that their Books cannot be read without an extreme abhorrence to the Writers They publish'd in their Narratives Printed at Paris and at Lyons that an Angel had declar'd to Iaques Clement that a Crown of Martyrdom was prepar'd for him when he had deliver'd France from Henry de Valois and that having communicated his Vision to a knowing man in Orders he had approv'd it assuring him that by giving this Stroke he shou'd make himself as well pleasing to God as Iudith was by killing Holophernes And because his Prior who was called Father Edm. Bourgoing was accus'd to be the man amongst all the Preachers of the League who was the most transported in the praises of this abominable Parricide his Subject Apostrophising to him in the Pulpit and calling him the blessed Child of his Patriarch and the Holy Martyr of Iesus Christ and also comparing him to Iudith It was not doubted but that
Prelates of the Kingdom that he shou'd restore the Exercise of the Catholique Religion in all places from whence it had been banish'd and remit the Ecclesiastiques into the full and entire Possession of all their Goods that he shou'd bestow no Governments on Hugonots and that this Assembly might have leave to depute some persons to the Pope to render him an account of their Proceedings This Accommodation was sign'd by all the Lords excepting only the Duke of Espernon and the Sieur de Vitry who absolutely refus'd their Consent to it Vitry went immediately into Paris and there put himself into the Service of the League which he believ'd at that time to be the cause of Religion As for the Duke of Espernon he had no inclination to go over to the League which had so often solicited his Banishment from Court But whether it were that being no longer supported since his Masters Death he fear'd the Hatred and Resentment of the greatest Persons about the King and even of the King himself whom he had very much offended during the time of his Favour in which it was his only business to enrich himself or were it that he was afraid he shou'd be requir'd to lend some part of that great Wealth which he had scrap'd together he very unseasonably and more unhandsomly began to raise Scruples and seem'd to be troubled with Pangs of Conscience which never had been thought any great grievance to him formerly so that he took his leave of the King and retir'd to his Government with 2 or 3000 Foot and 500 Horse which he had brought to the Service of his late Master This pernicious Example was follow'd by many others who under pretence of ordering their Domestick Affairs ask'd leave to be gone which the King dar'd not to refuse them or suffer'd themselves to be seduc'd by the Proffers and Solicitations of the League so that the King not being in a condition any longer to besiege Paris was forc'd to divide his remaining Troops comprehending in that number those which Sancy still preserv'd for his Use and Service Of the whole he form'd three little Bodies one for Picardy under the Command of the Duke of Longuevillâ— another for Champaigne under the Marshal d' Aumont and himself led the third into Normandy where he was to receive Supplies from England and where with that small Remainder of his Forces he gave the first Shock to the Army of the League which at that time was become more powerful than ever it had been formerly or than ever it was afterwards In effect those who after the Barricades had their eyes so far open'd as to discover that the League in which they were ingag'd was no other than a manifest Rebellion against their King seeing him now dead believ'd there was no other Interest remaining on their side but that of Religion and therefore reunited themselves with the rest to keep out a Heretick Prince from the Possession of the Crown And truly this pretence became at that time so very plausible that an infinite number of Catholiques of all Ranks and Qualities dazled with so specious an appearance made no doubt but that it was better for them to perish than to endure that he whom they believ'd obstinate in his Heresie shou'd ascend the Throne of St. Lewis and were desirous that some other King might be elected Nay farther there were some of them who took this occasion once more to press the Duke of Mayenne that he wou'd assume that Regal Office which it wou'd be easie for him to maintain with all the Forces of the united Catholiques of which he already was the Head but that Prince who was a prudent man fearing the dangerous consequences of so bold an Undertaking lik'd better at the first to retain for himself all the Essentials of Kingship and to leave the Title of it to the old Cardinal of Bourbon who was a Prisoner and whom he declar'd King under the Name of Charles the Tenth by the Council of the Union At this time it was that there were scatter'd through all the Kingdom a vast number of scandalous Pamphlets and other Writings in which the Authors of them pretended to prove that Henry of Bourbon stood lawfully excluded from the Crown those who were the most eminent of them were the two Advocates general for the League in the Parliament of Paris Lewis d'Orlâ—ans and Anthony Hotman The first was Author of that very seditious Libel call'd The English Catholique And the second wrote a Treatise call'd The Right of the Vncle against the Nephew in the Succession of the Crown But there happen'd a pleasant Accident concerning this Francis Hotman a Civilian and Brother to the Advocate seeing this Book which pass'd from hand to hand in Germany where he then was maintain'd with solid Arguments and great Learning The Right of the Nephew against the Vncle and made manifest in an excellent Book which he publish'd on this Subject the Weakness and false Reasoning of his Adversaries Treatise without knowing that it was written by his Brother who had not put his Name to it The League having a King to whom the Crown of right belong'd after Henry the Fourth his Nephew in case he had surviv'd him by this Pretence increas'd in Power because the King of Spain and the Duke of Lorrain and Savoy who during the Life of the late King their Ally durst not declare openly against him for his Rebellious Subjects now after his Death acknowledging this Charles the Tenth for King made no difficulty to send Supplies to the Duke of Mayenne insomuch that he after having publish'd through all France a Declaration made in August by which he exhorts all French Catholicks to reunite themselves with those who would not suffer an Heretique to be King had rais'd at the beginning of September an Army of 25000 Foot and 8000 Horse With these Forces he pass'd the Seine at Vernon marching directly towards the King who after he had been receiv'd into Pont del ' Arch and Diepe which Captain Rolâ—t and the Commander de Chates had surrendred to him made a show of besieging Rouen not having about him above 7 or 8000 Men. This so potent an Army of the Leaguers compos'd of French and Gâ—rmans Lorrainers and Walloons which he had not imagin'd cou'd have been so soon assembled and which was now coming on to overwhelm him constrain'd him to retire speedily towards Diepe where he was in danger to have been incompass'd round without any possibility of Escape but only by Sea into England if the Duke of Mayenne had taken up the resolution as he ought to have done from the first moment when he took the Field to pursue him eagerly and without the least delay But while he proceeding with his natural slowness which was his way of being wise trifled out his time in long deliberations when he shou'd have come to Action he gave leisure to the King to fortifie his Camp at Arques a League
that part of his Parliament which was established at Chaalons He had the happiness to be Son to a Counsellor who acquir'd so much reputation in the exercise of his Office that the Chancellor de l' Hospital has said of him in one of his Poems that he deserv'd the Court shou'd erect his Statue in the Temple of Justice and at this day after his death has the honour to be Grandfather to another Nicholas de Potier whom the Wisest and Greatest of all Kings who understands the merit of Men and understands also to reward it has plac'd at the Head of his Parliament of Peers All things then being well dispos'd by means of the Intelligence which was held with the President De Blanc Mesnil to make the Kings Enterprise succeed on All Saints day very early in the morning and under covert of a thick mist the Fortifications and the Head of the Fauxbourgs were attacqu'd at once in three several parts with so much vigor and resolution that they were all carryed by plain force in less than an hour Seven or Eight Hundred of the Defendants were slain in the Assault Thirteen Pieces of Cannon were taken and if the Kings Artillery had come up at the time which he design'd 't is certain that this great Prince who at Seven of the Clock entred the Fauxbourg of St. Iacques and was there receiv'd with the loud acclamations of Vive Le Roy had made himself Master of the Quarter of the University without much difficulty or hazard But the Sieur de Rosne who commanded at that time in Paris having had the leisure to fortifie the Gates by reason of that delay and the Duke of Mayenne to whom he had given notice of the Kings approach being entred into the Town the next morning with all his Forces the King satisfied himself with letting the Parisians know by what he had done that the News which was industriously spread amongst them of his defeat at Diepe was notoriously false And after having staid three long hours in Battalia before the Town as it were to reproach the weakness or cowardise of their Commanders who durst not venture without their Walls he went to retake during the Winter in Vandomois Tourain Anjou Mayne Perche and the Lower Normandy the greatest part of the Towns and Strong Places which held for the League which now began to destroy it self by the same means which were intended for its preservation In this following manner Those of the Vnion endeavour'd all they cou'd to oblige his Holiness and the King of Spain that they wou'd openly espouse their Party in which at length they succeeded through the protestations which were made by their Agents at Rome and at Madrid that in case they were not speedily and powerfully assisted by both of them they must of necessity make an Accommodation with the King of Navarre which neither the Pope nor King Philip cou'd bear with patience The First for fear that France shou'd fall under the Dominion of a Prince who was an Heretick And the Second because he was desirous to foment the divisions which were amongst us hoping to make his advantage of them either by reducing the whole Kingdom into his power or at least by dismembring a great part of it In this manner Pope Sixtus as intelligent as he was being deluded by the Commander of Diu and by his Partners who made him believe that the Navarrois cou'd not possibly escape from the hands of the Duke of Maâ—enne who had coop'd him up and surrounded him in a corner of Normandy sent Cardinal Cajetan his Legat into France who was born Subject to the King of Spain and was also a Spaniard in his Principles and by his Obligations who came to Paris in the beginning of Ianuary bringing with him Bills of Exchange for 300000 Crowns together with an Express Order to cause a Catholick King to be Elected On the other side Don Bernardin de Mâ—ndoza King Philip's Embassador being supported by the Faction of the Sixteen the Preachers of the League and the Monks of which the greatest part were intirely devoted to the Spaniard made in the General Council of the Vnion on the part of his Master very plausible and advantageous Propositions for the ease of the People with promise of assisting them with all the Forces of that Monarchy Protesting also that his King who was Master of so many Countries the Titles of which he haughtily set forth pretended not to that of France either for himself or for his Son and that in recompence of those great Succours which he intended to give the Catholicks he demanded nothing more than the honour to be solemnly declar'd The Protector of France Now this was in effect the very thing which most contributed to the ruin of the League and the safeguard of the State because this artificial Proposition joyn'd with the Instructions of the Legat fully opened the Duke of Mayenne's Eyes and gave him the means of discovering the intentions of the Spaniards whose design was to establish their Kings Authority on the ruins of his and consequently he took up a firm resolution of opposing their endeavours as he always did from that time forward by the advice of some honest men about him and particularly Monsieur de Villeroy That wise and able Minister of State who serv'd five of our Kings with so much Fidelity and Reputation having observ'd that by reason of some ill Offices which were done him to the Late King his Master he cou'd no longer remain with safety in the Towns which obeyed him nor at his own House during the War and that he had not been able to procure so much as a Passport for his departure out of the Kingdom was constrained to make his retreat to Paris with his Father and to enter into the Party of the Vnion But it may be truly said of him that he entred into it as did the Loyal and Wise Hushai into that of Absalom at Ierusalem there to destroy all the devices and pernicious Counsels of the wicked Achitophel which only tended to the total ruin of David the lawful King against whom the Capital City of his Kingdom was revolted In the same manner the Sieur de Villeroy embrac'd not out of pure necessity the Party of the League and plac'd not himself with the Duke of Mayenne in Paris who was in Actual War with his King but only to obtain the means by his good Counsels to undermine the purposes of the Spaniards who under pretence of endeavouring the preservation of Religion in France design'd the Subversion of the State And as David thought it fitting that Hushai shou'd continue at Ierusalem without leaving Absalom because he well knew that he would be more serviceable to him there than if he kept him near his Person in like manner Henry the Fourth who knew the dexterity and faithfulness of Monsieur de Villeroy wou'd not that he shou'd go out from Paris after the death of his
questionless they had many Inducements which contributed otheir obstinate Resolution of suffering so long and so contentedly The Examples of the Princesses and great Ladies who satisfy'd Nature with a very small Pittance of Oat Bread taught them to bear those Miseries with constancy of Mind which their Superiours of a more delicate and tender Sex supported with so much chearfulness of Spirit Add to this the great Care and Vigilance of their Heads to hinder Tumults and Seditions and the immediate Execution of Mutineers Then the Awe and Terrour which was struck into them by the Sixteen who had resum'd their first Authority in the Town and who commonly threw into the Seine without judicial Process or form of Law all such as were suspected to hold Intelligence with the King or to make the least mention of a Treaty But the most comfortable consideration was the great Alms which were daily distributed amongst the Poor by the Order and at the Charges of the Legat Cajetan the Archbishop of Lions the Spanish Embassador the Wealthiest of the City Companies and the Cardinal Gondy Bishop of Paris who voluntarily inclos'd himself within those Walls for the Relief and Ease of his poor Flock Besides they had no small Encouragement from the false Reports which the Dutchess of Montpensier who was very skilful in coining News caus'd dayly to be spread about Paris and the Assurances by Letters whether true or forg'd which she said she had receiv'd from her Brother the Duke of Mayenne from time to time of speedy Succours All which Considerations serv'd not a little to encourage the People and to inure them to that wonderful sufferance of their Miseries But after all it must be ingenuously acknowledg'd that the Cause which principally produc'd this great Effect was the Zeal of Religion which was easily inspirâ—d into the People of Paris and the great care which they took to perswade them as really they did that it was no less than to betray it and expose it to the inevitable danger of being utterly destroy'd as had happen'd in England if they shou'd submit themselves to a King who made an open Profession of Calvinism For in fine they omitted no manner of Arts and of Perswasions to make this Opinion be swallow'd by the Multitude and consequently to harden them against the fear of Death it self rather than endure the Dominion of a Prince who was an Heretique In the first place they made use of the Sorbonnists which as their Liberty was then oppress'd immediately made a new Decree on the seventh of May in which it is declar'd That Henry de Bourbon being a relaps'd Heretick and excommunicated personally by our Holy Father there was manifest danger that he wou'd deceive the Church and ruine the Catholique Religion though he shou'd obtain an exteriour Absolution and that therefore the French are oblig'd in Conscience to hinder him with all their Power from coming to the Crown in case King Charles the Tenth shou'd dye or even if he shou'd release his Right to him and that as all such who favour his Party are actually Deserters of Religion and continue in mortal Sin which makes them liable to eternal Damnation so also by the same reason all such as shall persevere to the Death in resistance of him as Champions of the Faith shall be rewarded with the Crown of Martyrdom On the occasion of this new Decree a General Assembly was held at the Town-House where all the Assistants were sworn to dye rather than to receive an Heretick King This Oath was renew'd yet more solemnly on the Holy Evangelists betwixt the Hands of the Legat at the foot of the great Altar of the Church of Nostredame after a general Procession at which besides the Clergy were present all the Princes and Princesses and all the Companies the Bishops and Abbots the Colonels and Officers and the Persons of Quality follow'd by vast Multitudes of People where the Reliques of all the Churches in Paris were carryed This Oath reduc'd into Writing was sent to every House by the Overseers of the several Wards who oblig'd all persons to take it After which the Parliament made an Ordinance prohibiting on pain of Death that any one shou'd speak of making a Composition with the King of Navarre and above all the rest the Preachers of the League and the famous Cordelier Panigarole Bishop of Ast with Bellarmine the Learned Jesuit who both acted in Conjunction with them the Divines of the Legat Cajetan who preach'd like the rest during the Siege encourag'd their Auditors to suffer all Miseries rather than subject themselves to an Heretick assuring them according to the Decree of the Sorbonne that if they shou'd loose their Lives for such a Cause they dy'd undoubtedly for the Faith and were to be esteem'd no less than Martyrs There also happen'd an Accident which as fantastical and ridiculous as it appear'd was yet of use to animate the People and to fortifie them in their Belief that it was their Duty to make opposition even to Death against the setting up an Heretick King For above twelve hundred Ecclesiasticks as well Seculars as Regulars amongst whom were the most reform'd and most austere of every Order such as were the Carthusians Minimes Capuchins and Feuillants made a kind of Muster marching in Rank and File through the Streets wearing over their ordinary Habits the Arms of Foot Soldiers having William Roze the Bishop of Senlis at their Head and the Figures of the Crucifix and the Blessed Virgin flanting in their Standard to make it appear that since Religion was the Matter in dispute their Profession as peaceable as it was gave them no Dispensation in that Case from hazarding their Lives in War like other Men and that they were all resolv'd to dye with their Brethren in the Defence of Faith All Paris ran to this Spiritual Show which was like to have prov'd fatal to the Legat for making a Stop with his Coach at the end of Pont Nostredame to behold this noble Spectacle of the Church Militant while they were giving a Salve in honour of him one of those good Fathers who had borrow'd his Musket from a Citisen and knew not that it was charg'd with Bullets let fly with no worse Intention than to show his Manhood and fairly kill'd one of his men who sate in the Boot which caus'd the Prelate who lik'd not that unchristian Proceeding very well to make haste away for his own Security But this made no other Impression in the Parisians than to confirm them in their Resolution For when they beheld their Confessours and Guides of their Consciences in that Warlike Posture they believ'd such men wou'd never have appear'd in Arms unless they were satisfy'd that it was for the Cause of God in which it was their common Duty both to live and dye But what most confirm'd them in this Belief was that the King whose hour of Conversion was not yet come wou'd never hear speak of
it in any Overtures which were made to no purpose for a Peace And though the Duke of Nemours whom he had invited by a kind Letter to Submission since he had already satisfy'd his Honour to the full had protested that he wou'd be the first to throw himself at his Feet and that he wou'd make it his Busines too that Paris shou'd acknowledge him provided he return'd into the Church he always rejected that Proposition On which account whatsoever solemn Promises he made that he wou'd maintain the Catholique Religion the Parisians to whom their Preachers who had an absolute Dominion over their Consciences still represented the Example of England cou'd never resolve to confide in him Thus being perswaded that it was impossible for them to surrender without giving up their Religion by the same Act they had the Courage in the midst of their Sufferings to expect the great Succours which the Duke of Parma brought to their Relief at the end of August And that excellent Commander without giving Battel to which the King who was constrain'd to retire with all his Forces from before Paris cou'd never force him so well he was retrench'd at Clay had the Glory to execute his own design and after his own manner by taking Lagny in the sight of the King and freeing Paris which was the end of his Undertaking It belongs to the general History of France to describe all the particular Passages of that famous Expedition I shall only say that I may omit nothing which precisely concerns my Subject that before the King had licens'd the Nobility and Gentry which attended him to depart and divided his Forces into several small Bodies as he afterwards did he wou'd needs make a last Attempt upon the Town To which effect on Saturday night the eighth of September he convey'd secretly three or four thousand chosen Soldiers into the Fauxbourgs St. Iacques and St. Marceau under the Leading of the Count de Chastillon to scale the Walls betwixt those two Gates after Midnight while the Town was buried as it were in the depth of Sleep For he believ'd not that the Parisians who knew that his Army was drawn up in Battalia on the Plain of Bondy all Saturday wou'd keep themselves upon their Guard on that side which he purpos'd to attaque But as some notice had been given of his Design and that besides his Troops cou'd not possibly enter those Fauxbourgs without noise the Allarm was immediately taken the Bells were rung and the Citizens in Crouds mounted the Ramparts especially where he meant to have planted his Ladders But at last when after a long Expectation no Enemy appear'd and that no more noise was heard because the Kings Soldiers who were cover'd by the Fauxbourgs made not the least motion and also kept a profound Silence it was taken only for a false Alarm The Bells ceas'd ringing and every man retir'd to his own Lodging excepting only ten Jesuites who being more vigilant than the rest continu'd all the remainder of that Night on the same Post which was not far distant from their Colledge In the mean time the Soldiers of Chastillon who were softly crept down into the Ditch began about four of the Clock in the Morning to set up their Ladders being favour'd by a thick Mist which hindred them from being discern'd The Design was well enough lay'd for there needed not above ten or twelve men to have got over into the Town who might have open'd the Gate of St. Marceau to their Fellows by means of a Correspondence which was held with a Captain belonging to that Quarter after which it had been easie to have possest themselves of the University and consequently both the Town and the City wou'd have submitted themselves to the King rather than have expos'd Paris as a Prey to two great Armies by admitting that of the Duke of Parma at the Gate of St. Martin But the Vigilance of the ten Jesuites broke all these Measures which were so justly taken for having heard a Noise in the Ditch which was made by thosâ— who were setting up their Ladders against the Walls they cry'd out as loud as they cou'd stretch their Voices to Arms to Arms. Notwithstanding which the Soldiers were still getting up and the first of them who was ready to leap upon the Rampart happen'd to show his Head just where one of those honest Fathers was plac'd who gave him such a lusty knock with an old Halbard which he had in his hand as he stood Centry that he broke it in two upon his Head and tumbled him down with the Blow into the Ditch The Companions of this valiant Jesuite did as muâ—h to two other Soldiers and a fourth who was already got up and held his Ladder with one Hand to descend into the Town and with the other a broad Curtle-axe to cleave the Head of the first who shou'd oppose him was stopp'd short by two of these Fathers who each of them with a Partizan so vigorously push'd him that notwithstanding all the Blows which he made in vain at too great a distance for fear of their long Weapons they forc'd him at the last to quit his Ladder and having hurt him in the Throat overturn'd him backward into the Ditch after his Fellows The two first Citizens who ran to their Relief were the Advocate William Balden and the famous Bookseller Nicholas Nivelle these two finding one of those Jesuites grappling with a Soldier who was getting up in spight of the poor Fathers weak resistance came into the rescue and lent him their helping Hands to kill him And the Advocate immediately turning himself to another who had already got upon the Ramparts discharg'd so terrible a Reverse upon his right hand with his Fauchion that he cut it sheer off and sent him headlong to the Bottom in the mean time the Alarm being once more warmly taken in the Town the Citizens and Soldiers made haste to Man the Walls especially on that side and heaps of kindled Straw were thrown down to light the Ditch and make discovery what was doing below whereupon the Kings Soldiers being easily discern'd left both their Ladders and their Attempt which now cou'd not possibly succeed and retir'd to the Body of their Army So little was there wanting to bring about so great an Enterprise For 't is most certain that if these ten Jesuits had done like the Townsmen and had gone back to take their rest in their College after the first Alarm which was held for false the King had that day entred Paris But the Divine Providence had reserv'd that happiness for a time more favourable to Religion and to that City into which the King being Victorious over the League was ordain'd to make a peaceable entrance after he had solemnly profess'd the Catholique Faith In the mean time the affairs of the League far from being advanc'd after this expedition which was so glorious to the Duke of Parma were soon
after reduc'd into a worse estate than formerly by reason of that horrible division which arose among their Party and by the prudent conduct of the King For perceiving that his hopes were frustrate of drawing them to a Battel who were now at their ease after the taking of Lagny and had their Quarters securely extended in La Brie he remanded one part of his Forces to refresh themselves in the Neighbouring Provinces and put another into Garrisons in such places as might serve to hinder the commerce with the Parisians and particularly in St. Denis which he had taken during the Siege of Paris and where the Chevalier d' Aumale who endeavour'd to retake it some small time afterwards was kill'd when he was almost in possession of the place Himself in the mean time with a flying Army beat the Field to cut off Provisions from Paris and from the Army of the Duke of Parma who having lost much time in taking Corbeil which was immediately retaken from the League was constrain'd to return into Flanders having always the King at his heels who perpetually harass'd him and put him to very great inconveniences and hardships during his march to the Frontiers of Artois for so far he took the pains to bring him on his Journy After which he made another attempt on Paris which he hop'd to have surpris'd by the Gate of St. Honorè with many Waggons loaden with Meal and driven by stout Soldiers disguis'd in the habits of Countrymen The stratagem not succeeding because there was some suspicion of the design he reassembled all his Forces and went to lay Siege to Chartres which after a vigorous defence of more than two months not being reliev'd by the Duke of Mayenne was constrain'd at last to come to a surrender It was particularly by the Valour Policy and Industry of the Brave Count of Chastillon Colonel of the French Infantry that this considerable place was taken For that young Lord who had as much understanding as courage and was very knowing especially in the Mathematicks invented a kind of wooden Bridge which he cast by a new sort of machine over the Ditch by means of which they cou'd pass under covert and without danger as far as the foot of a great breach which he had made on the side of Galardon After which Monsieur de la Bourdaisiere who had bravely defended himself till then seeing there was no longer a possibility of resistance made his capitulation which the King always generous and a great Lover of valour even in his Enemies granted him on very honourable terms This was the last action of Chastillon who having serv'd his Prince all along with so much gallantry ended his Life in the flower of his Age dying not long after at his House of Chastillon on the Loire of a disease which he had brought upon himself by his over-labour at a Siege wherein he had acquir'd so just a reputation and so much glory He was extremely lamented even by the Catholiques who had observ'd in him a great inclination to renounce his Calvinism in short time as he who already had begun to find out the falsities of that opinion tho' the Admiral de Coligny his Father who was a strong Huguenot had caus'd him to be carefully instructed in that way But that happiness which he liv'd not to enjoy was reserv'd for his younger Brother Monsieur d' Andelot who like another Iacob succeeded to the blessing which was denyed to the Elder Son He was happy also in his Posterity who by serving their King and the True Religion with great zeal have repair'd the mischiefs which have been done to both by the Admiral their Predecessor And certainly 't is one great sign of this good fortune that we have seen in our own days the Forces of the King commanded by the Count of Coligny for the assistance of the Emperor against the Turk obtain a glorious Victory over them at that memorable Battel of Raab the gaining of which preserv'd the Empire and deliver'd it from the imminent danger of being overrun by Infidels But to proceed This last piece of service which was perform'd by Chastillon for the King was of great importance to the happy success of his Affairs For having already in his hands the passages of all the Rivers which discharge themselves into the Seine for the supply of Paris and also being absolute Master of La Beauce by the reduction of Chartres and of the other small places of the same Province that great City was on the sudden as it were invested on all sides And about the same time he receiv'd intelligence of the great successes which his Commanders had in other places against the Leaguers Les diguieres in Dauphine where he was receiv'd in Grenoble La Valette in Provence the Mareschal of Matignon in Guyenne where Bourdeaux which had hitherto maintain'd it self in a kind of neutrality return'd to the Obedience of the King and the Dukes of Montpensier and of Nevers in Normandy and in Champaigne But that which in conclusion ruin'd the League which was already weakned by Arms was the furious division kindled amongst the Heads of it the occasion of which I shall next relate The Duke of Parma had sufficiently taken notice that the Duke of Mayenne of whose carriage he was not otherwise well satisfied had design'd to make use of the Spaniards in order to his support against the King but not to be of use to them in making them Masters at least of some part of France which was their intention or to assist them in the Election of a new King who shou'd absolutely depend on them now that the old Cardinal of Bourbon was deceas'd in Prison at Fontenay le Comte For which reason he fail'd not to give notice to King Philip that he ought not to build any assurance hereafter on that Prince who had besides lost much of his reputation by the ill success of his affairs and that it was much more expedient for him to get an interest in the Corporations of great Towns and above all in the Sixteen of Paris who to compass the restoration of their Authority which the Duke of Mayenne had once more taken from them wou'd easily consent to what he pleas'd The King of Spain follow'd this advice and the Sixteen who mortally hated the Duke of Mayenne seeing themselves supported by the Spaniards with whom they had entred into a strict League of Interest and Friendship openly enterpris'd what contempt soever he had of them in despight of him to re-establish themselves in their first Authority And that which rais'd their courage to a greater height and made them more boldly put their resolutions in practice was that Gregory the Fourteenth who was newly exalted to the Papacy had declar'd in â—avour of them imitating the Spaniards in that particular and going quite contrary to Sixtus the Fifth That Pope Sixtus who had so ill treated the King of Navarre by the thundring Bull which
that low Condition to which they were reduc'd unable by their own Power to resist the King or to procure their safety by any other means than obtaining from King Philip the Assistance of all his Forces to the end that they might be able to maintain that King who was to be elected in the States General which were to be assembled for that purpose each of them in his own Person pretending to that Honour yet none of them daring to own his Ambition openly for fear of drawing on himself the Hatred of his Rivals who wou'd certainly unite and band themselves together to exclude him The Person who was chosen to negotiate in Spain was the famous Peter Iannin President of the Parliament of Bourgogne a man of great Integrity exquisite Understanding rare Prudence and inviolable Fidelity which had caus'd the Duke of Mayenne to repose an absolute Confidence in him who for his own part in the Honesty of his well meaning Soul had follow'd him and the Party of the League with an implicit Faith that it was for the safety of Religion and of the State for on the one side he believ'd not that Religion couâ—d be preserv'd in France if the King were not a Catholique and therefore he argu'd that he ought to be such and on the other side being an honest French-man he wou'd like his Master make use of the Spaniards to compass his ends but not serve them by favouring their unjust Designs in the least circumstance to the prejudice of the State Being such as I have here describ'd him it was not hard for him to discover the Intentions of King Philip who holding himself assur'd of the Sixteen which he believ'd to be the prevailing Faction and much more powerful than in effect it was lay'd himself so open as to make his Intentions be clearly understood which the great Prudence and Policy whereon he so much valued himself shou'd have kept undiscover'd for a longer time in expectation of a fitting opportunity to make them known when all things were dispos'd and in a due readiness for the Execution of his Designs After the President had represented to him in his Audiences the weakness and necessities of the League the Forces and Progress of the King the extream danger in which Religion then was and the immortal glory which he might acquire by preserving it in the most Christian Kingdom by the Assistance which was expected from his Zeal and Power that Prince who was willing to sell his Aid at a higher Price than bare Glory without more advantage open'd his mind without any reserve after a most surprizing manner For he caus'd him to be told by his Secretary Don Iohn D' Idiaques that he had resolv'd to marry his only Daughter the Infanta Isabella to the Archduke Ernestus and to give him in Dowry the Low-Countries and since that for the Preservation of Religion in France it was necessary they shou'd have a Catholick King they cou'd not make a better Choice than of that Princess who being Neece to the three last Kings and Grand-daughter to Henry the Second was without contradiction more nearly related to them than the Bourbons that with her Person all the Low-Countries wou'd be re united to the Crown and that having besides these Advantages the whole Forces of the House of Aâ—stria in favour of her the Hereticks wou'd soon be exterminated and the Prince of Bearn expell'd from the Kingdom The President overjoy'd that he had wherewithal to disabuse the Duke of Mayenne by means of this strange Proposition and confirm him in those good Opinions which the Sieur de Villeroy had infus'd into him answer'd King Philip with great Prudence and no less Policy and faintly putting him in mind of the Salique Law on which he did not much insist seem'd rather to encourage than dash his Hopes in the prosecution of of his Purpose Insomuch that he drew him to a Promise of great Supplies both in Men and Money which he fail'd not to send with more speed than usual And the Duke being satisfy'd that according to that ambitious Design of the Spaniards he cou'd never pretend to the Kingdom us'd all his Endeavours for the future that the Election might not fall on any other not even on a Prince of his own Family who might marry the Infanta On the contrary the Sixteen who were altogether at the Devotion of the Spaniards by whom they were powerfully protected against him wrote to King Philip by one Father Matthew not the Jesuite of that Name a large Letter the Original of which being intercepted near Lyons was brought to the King in which after their humble Acknowledgments to his Catholick Majesty of the many Favours and Benefits which they had receiv'd from him they earnestly petition him that in case he shou'd refuse to accept the Crown of France he wou'd give them a King of his own Family or at least some other Prince whom he shou'd please to elect for his Son in Law 'T is farther observable that the Division which was betwixt the Duke of Mayenne and his nearest Relations exceedingly increas'd the Power and by consequence the Audacity and Insolence of those factious men For on one side the Duke of Nemours who was much incens'd that after he had so bravely defended Paris the Government of Normandy shou'd be refus'd him which Province he thought to have erected into a Principality like that of Bretagne of which the Duke of Mercoeur had made himself a Soveraign Prince was retir'd with a good part of the Forces into Lionnois and by the Correspondence which he held with the Sixteen did his best endeavours to supplant him and cause himself to be chosen Head of the Party on the other side the young Duke of Guise who had made his escape from the Castle of Tours where he was detain'd Prisoner having been receiv'd with great Acclamations by the Leaguers who believ'd that in his Person they had recover'd his dead Father their great Patron and Protector gave him much anxiety and fill'd his mind with jealous apprehensions especially when he observ'd that the great Name of Guise so much reverenc'd by the Parisians drew after it not only the Crowd of common People but also the Nobility and Gentlemen of the League But above all things it grated him that his Nephew had made a strict Alliance with the Faction of Sixteen who were overjoy'd to have him at their Head in opposition to his Uncle whom they hated All these Considerations put together swell'd them to so great an arrogance that they resolv'd to rid their hands of all such as were in a Condition of hindring them from being Absolute in Paris To this effect they bethought themselves of inventing a new kind of Oath which excluded from the Crown all the Princes of the Blood and presenting it to such whom they knew to be too well principled to sign it on their Refusal they made Seizure of their Estates and banish'd them In
but on condition that a Treaty shou'd be set on foot with the King provided he made himself a Catholick to which terms the Duke who plainly saw that he cou'd no longer pretend to the Crown had at length submitted On the other side the King found himself very uneasie and much perplext betwixt the Hugonots and Catholicks of his Party for the first perpetually apprehending that he wou'd escape out of their Possession kept close about him and growing more and more jealous of his Carriage were thinking to choose themselves another Protector And the greatest part of the Catholicks some of them really despighted and others seemingly that he delay'd too long to be instructed in the Catholick Religion and consequently converted to it form'd amongst themselves a new Union which they call'd by the Name of the third Party of which the young Cardinal of Bourbon was declar'd Head who expected that if the King shou'd continue obstinate in his Heresie those who had hitherto follow'd him only in hopes of his Conversion wou'd in conclusion abandon his Party and place him on the Throne And truly it might reasonably be fear'd that the Duke of Mayenne who was strongly solicited to have joyn'd that Party with his own in order to elect a King of the Royal House wou'd at length have consented to that Proposition rather than endure the Spaniards shou'd elect that Person who was to espouse their Infanta even though he were a Prince of his own Family Things being thus favourably dispos'd on both sides towards the conclusion of a Peace the Sieurs du Plessis Mornay and de Villeroy were chosen to labour in this Treaty which was to be kept exceeding private In the beginning of it there was started a great preliminary Difficulty which was of necessity to be surmounted before any thing cou'd be propos'd touching the Conditions and Articles of the Treaty it self For Villeroy was resolv'd not to enter upon it till in the first place the King gave assurance that he wou'd embrace the Catholick Faith immediately after he had been instructed in it and du Plâ—ssis remonstrated on the other side that this Proposal shock'd both his Honour and his Conscience because in case he held not both Religions to be indifferent to him and by that means wouâ—d pass for an Atheist he ought not to be oblig'd to make choise of one in particular before his Doubts were remov'd and his Conscience satisfy'd that it was the true Religion But in conclusion a temperament was found which was that the King without offending either his Honour or his Conscience shou'd cause himself to be instructed within six Months with a true desire to be converted that in the mean time he shou'd grant leave to the Catholick Princes and Lords of his Party to send a Deputation to the Pope to petition him that he wou'd confirm by his Authority this holy Resolution and that in expectation of its Accomplishment the treaty of Peace shou'd still proceed which being once concluded the King shou'd be acknowledg'd by the Princes of the League He consented without making any difficulties to these two preliminary Articles without which there was no entring into the Negotiation And with the same ease they came to an Agreement on the Articles which concern'd in general the Party of the League but when they proceeded to the particular Interests of the several Confederate Lords the Duke of Mayenne made such high and exorbitant Demands for himself and them as were manifestly tending to the dismembring of the State so that in conclusion seeing he wou'd abate nothing of them they were forc'd to break off the Conference after two Moneths that were spent in the Negotiation It procur'd notwithstanding this good effect that the King continued fixt in the Resolution which he had taken to cause himself to be instructed in good earnest and to permit his Catholique Lords to send their Deputies to the Pope who were the Cardinal de Gondy and the Marquess de Pisany Innocent the Ninth who had succeeded Gregorâ— the Fourteenth the year before had like him declar'd openly in favour of the League He had also created Cardinal Philippo Sega Bishop of Placentia and made him his Legat in France whom Cardinal Cajetan returning to Rome after the death of Sixtus Quintus had left at Paris in his place there to be serviceable to the League as in effect he was to the utmost of his power Clement the Eighth having succeeded this Pope who enjoy'd not the Papacy above two months at the beginning follow'd the steps of his two Predecessors and suffering himself to be prepossess'd by the Spaniards wou'd not so much as give Audience to those Deputies yet their Deputation as shall be manifest in due time fail'd not to produce those happy effects which were expected from it and which were fatal to the League In the mean time the King always pursuing his point went to retake the Town of Epernay after the Marshal de Biron who was set down before it and had begun to form the Siege was slain by the shot of a Falconet which took off his Head as he was going to observe the place In pursuance therefore of his design that he might make himself Master of all Brye he besieged and took in the space of three days the Town of Provins which is the Capital of that Country After which he built a Fortress in the Isle of Goâ—rnay betwixt Meaux and Paris within four Leagues of that great City thereby to hinder it from being any ways supplied by the Marne which brings into it a great part of the Commodities of La Brie and Champaign On the other side the Duke of Mayenne who having not strength sufficient to oppose this progress of the Kings success was unable to do any thing for the relief of Paris but only to take Crespy in Valois resolv'd at last to imploy that formidable machine against the King with which he had so long been threatned I mean the Assembly General of the States therein to proceed to the Election of a new King who shou'd be of the Catholick Religion of which all the Kings of France as Eldest Sons of the Church have made a constant profession since the time of Clovis the Great who after his Baptism deserv'd the glorious Surname of Most Christian which he has transmitted without the least interruption to all his Successors during the space of almost twelve hundred years from him to King Henry the Third deceas'd The Duke had solemnly oblig'd himself more than once to call this Assembly but he had always delay'd it with great Art both for the Interest of the State and for his own particular concernment For on the one side he always fear'd that the Spaniards who spar'd for nothing to gain the Deputies from him partly by Bribes and partly by the presence of a great Army which they intended yet once again to send into France under the Duke of Parma to protect the States as
they gave out at length shou'd compass their design which was to procure their Infanta to be Elected And on the other plainly foreseeing that he shouâ—d not be Elected himself because he cou'd not marry the Infanta he resolv'd no other shou'd be chosen that he might not lose that Sovereign Authority which he cou'd maintain no longer than till the States had made an Election of a new King But after all he cou'd no longer resist the pressing solicitations which the great Cities of his Party the Spaniards the Pope himself and his Legat made him continually putting him in mind of the promise he had so often given of calling that Assembly And that which fix'd him at last in this determination was that the Duke of Parma who was assembling his Forces to enter France for the third time dyed in the midst of these consulâ—ations on the fifth of December For he believ'd that the Spaniards having now no General who was any way comparable to the Genius of that great Man wou'd leave him the command of their Armies or at least not being able to make any great progress wou'd be no longer so formidable to him which fell out accordingly On which consideration he made no longer scruple to assemble the Deputies which already had been chosen in the Provinces and in the Towns not doubting but since he had for him besides a great part of those Deputies the Parliament the Town house the greatest part of the Colonels and the Faction of the Politiques that he shou'd be able with ease to break all the measures of the Spaniards and those few Malecontents which were yet remaining of the Sixteen whom he no longer regarded but as a sort of Rabble whose impotent fury he contemn'd And it was for this very reason that he at last resolv'd the Assembly shou'd be held at Paris notwithstanding all the Artifices of the Spaniards who endeavour'd that it shou'd be at Rheims or at Soissons where the Duke cou'd not secure to himself those great advantages which he had at Paris The Assembly then was appointed to be held in the Month of Ianuary And while the Deputies were coming to Paris the Duke of Mayenne publish'd an ample Declaration bearing date the fifth of Ianuary in which after he had justify'd the Arms of the League by all the most plausible reasons he couâ—d urge and principally by the great motive of Reliâ—ion which at last must give place to Heresie if an Heretick King shou'd be receiv'd he invited all the Princes Prelates Lords and Catholique Officers who were of the opposite party to meet the rest of that Assembly that they might all co-operate without other consideration than only the Glory of God and the publick good in choice of those means which shou'd be found most proper for the preservation of Religion and the State making his prâ—â—â—â—tation against such who shou'd refuse so reasonable a way that they were to be esteem'd the cause of all those mischiefs and misfortunes which from that time forward shouâ—d ensue The Legat made his Declaration apart but in a much more odious manner because instead of containing himself within the general terms of the good of Religion and the State as the Duke of Mayenne had done he invited the Catholiques to meet in the States for the Election of a King who shou'd be a Catholick in practice as well as in profession and who by his power was able to support Religion and the State By which words he seem'd evidently to point out the King of Spain It was not hard for the King to answer these two Declarations with solid Arguments and to make a like protestation against the Authors of them by an Edict of the same Month. And in the mean while the Deputies being almost all arriv'd they went in procession to the Church of Nostre-Dame where having receiv'd the holy Communion they heard a Sermon which was Preach'd to them by the famous Genebrard to the great scandal of all true Frenchmen and well-meaning people in that Congregation This Doctor was certainly one of the most able Men of the Age but especially in the knowledge of the holy Scriptures and the Hebrew Tongue whereof he was the Kings Professor at Paris But by that unhappy fatality or rather excess of immoderate Zeal which drew almost all the Doctors of Paris into the League he embrac'd it so passionately that he was always one of the most fiery and headstrong defenders of it which quality joyn'd to his profound Learning was the cause that Gregory the Fourteenth that great Protector of the League gave him the Archbishoprick of Aix after the death of Alexander Canigrany who dyed at Rome Now he being one of the principal Deputies for the Order of the Clergy and having acquir'd much Reputation and Authority by his rare knowledge was desir'd to Preach this Sermon In which instead of exhorting the Deputies according to Gods Word that they shou'd have nothing before their eyes in all their Debates and Consultations but only the preservation of the State and of Religion which is the strongest support of it he inforc'd himself to prove by weak sophistical reasons that their Assembly had power to change and abolish the Salique Law that is the fundamental Law of the Realm which has been always inviolably observ'd since the establishment of the French Monarchy even to this day As if the States who have no other power than that of representing by way of Petition what they believe to be necessary for the good and maintenance of the State had the authority of destroying it by ruining and undermining the foundations which support it and which preserve it from falling into the hands of strangers But the reason of this was that the Doctor being a true Leaguer and a false Frenchman as one who was devoted to the service of King Philip like the Sixteen in whose Faction he was ingag'd endeavour'd to incline the Minds of the Deputies to dispose of the Crown of France to the Infanta of Spain according to the intentions of the Spaniards who had given him instructions to Preach up this wicked and notoriously false maxim for sound Doctrin and for Gospel-Truth The Duke of Mayenne who notwithstanding that he was Head of the League had the Soul of a good Frenchman and was one who lov'd his Country as the King himself acknowledgâ—d had a much different prospect of things and without concerning himself at this idle discourse because he knew it was in his power to hinder it from taking effect open'd the States-General on the Twenty sixth of Ianuary in the Great Hall of the Louvre where all Ceremonies were punctually observ'd in the same manner as they are always practisâ—d in States which are lawfully Assembled And all that pleasant turn of Burlesque which is given to the description of it by the ingenious Author of the Catholicon of Spain is no other than pure invention of a great Wit who under those
are obvious to the most common capacities at the first glance The Proposition was made in the plainest and most intelligible terms without the least ambiguity in their meaning that there shou'd be a conference betwixt the Catholiques of the two Parties to consider of the safest ways which cou'd be found for the preservation of Religion and the State yet the Cardinal Legat consulting only the violent passion which he had to support the Faction of the Sixteen against the King and to exclude him from the Crown cry'd out that this Proposition of the Catholique Royalists was contrary to the Law of God who forbids any communication with Heretiques and the Doctors who were devoted to the League to whom that message was sent to be examin'd declar'd it to be schismatical and Heretical But the Duke of Mayenne who had another prospect of things than the Leaguers and Spaniards and who was resolv'd to hinder the election of a King manag'd that affair so dexterously that it was concluded in the States that the conference shou'd be accepted betwixt those only who were Catholiques of the two Parties in the same manner as it was propos'd Notwithstanding which it was not held till two months after at the end of April in the Burrough of Surenne because the Duke of Mayenne who desir'd only to gain time for the compassing his ends was gone before he return'd his answer to meet the Spanish Army which was commanded by Count Charles of Mâ—nsfield That Duke was of opinion that with their assistance he might take all the places on the Seine both above and below which inconvenienc'd Paris But the Army being so very weak that with his own Forces which were added to it there were not in all above 10000 Men all that he cou'd do was only to take Noyon which employed his time after which it was so much diminish'd by the protraction of that Siege which had cost so much blood that the Count was forc'd to return to Flanders As for the Conference though it was made with much more preparation and magnificence than all the former it had yet the same destiny attending it because the two Heads of the Deputation on either side Renaud de Beaunâ— Archbishop of Bourges for the Royalists and Peter d' Espinac Archbishop of Lyons for the League two of the most dextrous and eloquent men of that Age were both of them somewhat too well conceited of their own parts and maintain'd their opinions with too much wit and too great vehemence to come to an agreement in their disputations against each other The Archbishop of Bourges in the three Speeches which he made for the establishment of his Proposition and for the confirmation of it by refuting those answers which were made him omitted no force of Arguments which cou'd be drawn from Reason to induce those of the League to a belief of these three points which he maintain'd constantly and with great vigour to the end as Truths indubitable The First was That there is an indispensable obligation of Acknowledging and Honouring as King Him to whom the Crown belongs by the inviolable right of Lawful Succession without regard to the Religion he professes or to his way of Life And this he prov'd first by the Testimonies of Jesus Christ and his Apostles who command us to honour Kings and Higher Powers and to pay them that obedience which is due to them even though they shou'd be Unbelievers and wicked men declaring that every man ought to submit himself to the powers which are ordain'd by God and that to do otherwise is to resist his Will and trouble the order and tranquillity of the Publick Secondly By examples drawn from the Old Testament where we see that Zedekiah was sharply reprehended and punish'd by God for having revolted against the King of the Chaldeans that the People of Israel obey'd Nebuchadnezzar in the Babylonish Captivity by the Command of God and that the Prophets Ahijah and Elijah were content to reprove those Kings who believ'd not in God as Ieroboam and Ahab without ever revolting against them Thirdly By the Example of the Christians in all Ages who had suffer'd peaceably the dominion of Idolatrous Emperors Tyrants and Persecutors of the Church and had not refus'd to acknowledge for their Soveraigns those Emperors who had fallen into Heresie such as Constantius Valens Zeno Anastasius Hâ—raclius Constantine the Fourth and the Fifth Leo the Third and Fourth Theophilus and the Gothique Kings in Italy the Vandals in Affrica and the Visigoths in Spain and in Gaul though they were all of them Arians From thence passing to the second point he added That by a more convincing reason they were bound to obey the present King who by Gods Grace was neither Pagan nor Arian nor a Persecutor of the Church and of Catholiques whom he protected and maintain'd in all their Rights who believ'd with them in the same God the same Jesus Christ and the same Creed And though he was divided from them by some errors which he had suck'd in as we may say with his milk and which he had never renounc'd but by a forc'd conversion with the Dagger at his Throat yet this notwithstanding it cou'd not be said that he was confirm'd in them with that obstinacy which constitutes Heresie since he was wholly resolv'd to forsake them as soon as he shou'd be instructed in the truth which occasion'd him with all modesty to maintain that he ought not to pass with them for an Heretique That for the rest by Gods blessing there was great probability of hope that he wou'd suddenly be converted that he was already altogether inclin'd to it as appear'd by the permission which he had given to the Catholique Princes and Lords to send at his proper costs and charges the Marquess of Pisany to our Holy Father and to make this present Conference with them That he had even uncover'd his Head with great respect in beholding a Procession at Mante which pass'd by his Windows that not long before this time he had solemnly renew'd the promise which he had made to cause himself to be instructed and that he wou'd infallibly accomplish it with the soonest And upon this to acquit himself of what he had propos'd in the third place he set himself to adjure them with the strongest reasons and the most tender expressions he cou'd use that they wou'd joyn themselves with the Kings Party for the accomplishment of so good a work and bear their part in that Instruction and consequently Conversion of so great a King who receiving at their hands that duty to which they were oblig'd wou'd assuredly give them the satisfaction which they wish'd and which he was not in a capacity of giving â—hem at a time when they demanding it with Arms in their hands it wou'd have appear'd that he had done it only on compulsion On the other side the Archbishop of Lyons who was not endu'd with less Eloquence and Knowledge than the
Archbishop of Bourges answering in order to those three points which were propos'd by that Prelate said in the name of all his Colleagues That they acknowledg'd they ought to own for King Soveraign Lord and Head of the French Monarchy Him to whom the Kingdom belongâ—d by a lawful Succession But since Religion ought to be preferr'd before Flesh and Blood this Monarch of necessity must be a Most Christian King both in name and reality and that according to all Laws both Divine and Humane it was not permitted them to give obedience to an Heretique King in a Kingdom subjected to Jesus Christ by receiving and professing the Catholique Religion That God in the Old Testament had forbidden a King to be set up who was not of the number of the Brethren that is to say of the same Religion which constitutes a true Brotherhood That in prosecution of this order the Priests and Sacrificers of Israel had withdrawn themselves from the obedience of King Ieroboam as soon as he had renounc'd the worship of the true God That the Towns of and Libnah which were the portion of the Levites who were the best instructed in the Law of God had forsaken Ioram King of Iudah for the same reason That Amaziah and Queen Athaliah having abandon'd the Religion of their Forefathers had been depos'd by the general consent of all the Orders of the Kingdom and that the Macchabees were renown'd and prais'd through all the World as the last Heroes of the ancient Law because they had taken Arms against Antiochus their Soveraign Prince for the defence of their Religion That the people of the Iews did indeed obey the King of the Chaldeans but they had bound themselves by Oath so to do according to the express command which God had given them by his Prophets for pupunishment of their abominations for which reason he subjected them to the dominion of an Infidel But as for themselves they were so far from having entred into such an engagement that they had made one by the Authority of his Holiness quite to the contrary that they wou'd never acknowledge an Heretique for their King And as for the Christians who threw not off their obedience to their Emperors and Kings who were Heretiques 't is most certain that they obey'd only out of pure necessity and because they wanted power but that their Hearts and Affections had no part in it Witness the harshness with which the Holy Fathers have treated them in their Writings where they call them Wolves Dogs Serpents Tygers Dragons Lyons and Antichrists in conformity to the Gospel which wills that he who is revolted from the Church should be held and treated like a Pagan so far it is from authorising us to hold him for a King much less a Most Christian King For what remains besides the Councils receiv'd in France and the Imperial Laws which declare Heretiques to be unworthy of any kind of honour dignity or publick office much more of Royalty The Fundamental Law of the French Monarchy is most express in this particular by the Oath which the Most Christian Kings take at their Coronation to maintain the Catholique Religion and to exterminate all Heresies in consideration of which they receive the Oath of Allegiance from their Subjects and that the last States had decreed with the general applause of all good Frenchmen that they wou'd never depart from that Law which was accepted and sworn to solemnly as a fundamental of the State In fine to close up all which he had to say in relation to this first point he added That without this it was impossible to preserve Religion in France because an Heretique Prince wou'd not be wanting to establish Heresie in his States as well by his example which would be leading to his Subjects as by his authority which cou'd not long be resisted As it was too manifest in the Kingdom of Israel which Ieroboam turn'd to Idolatry and as it has since been seen in Denmark Sweden the Protestant States of Germany and in England where the people following the example of their Princes and bending under their authority have suffer'd themselves to be unhappily drawn into that Abyss of Heresies in which they are plung'd at this very day And thereupon passing to the other points of the Archbishop of Bourges his Speech he said in few words That it cou'd not be doubted but the King of Navarre was an obstinate Heretique and no way inclin'd to be converted since for so long a time he had continued to maintain Errors condemn'd for Heresies by General Councils and that he still favour'd the Huguenots more than ever and especially his Preachers that he had been often invited but still in vain to reconcile himself to the Church after which it wou'd be lost labour for them to exhort him particularly after being first acknowledg'd as he thought to be that therefore they wou'd never endeavour it and that they had all sworn not only not to acknowledge him but also to have no manner of commerce with him so long as he shou'd remain an Heretique Now when the Archbishop of Bourges who was pre-acquainted with the Kings secret purpose saw that after a strong reply which he had made to that noisy Harangue they still held fast to that one point from which it was impossible to remove them he was of opinion that by yielding it to them the business wou'd soon come to an happy conclusion For which reason having demanded time to consult thereupon the Princes and Lords by whom they were deputed as soon as he had receiv'd the answer which he knew before hand they wou'd make he told the Deputies of the League at the seventh Session which was the seventeenth of May That God had at the last heard their prayers and vows and that they shou'd have whatsoever they had requir'd for the safety of Religion and the State by the conversion of the King which they had been encourag'd to hope and which at present was assur'd to them since the King who was resolv'd to abjure his Heresie had already assembled the Prelates and the Doctors from whom he wou'd receive the instruction which ought to precede that great action which all good Catholiques of both Parties had so ardently desir'd for the reunition of themselves in a lasting peace And to the end that it might be to the satisfaction of every man in particular they might treat with them concerning the securities and other conditions which they shou'd demand for their interests Assuring them that in order to remove all occasion of distrust nothing shouâ—d be done on their side till the King had dâ—clar'd himself effectually to be a Catholique This Proposition which the Deputies of the Union little expected and which ruin'd all the pretensions of their Heads disorder'd them so much that after they had consulted amongst themselves for an Answer not being able to conclude on any they thought themselves bound to report it to the Assembly
our King Pope Gregory the 13th commanded his Nuncio himself to thank the Ambassador from him at his passage from Venice on his return to France and to desire him that he wou'd use his Interest with his Brother the Abbot of L' Isle who had succeeded him in many of his Negotiations and in that Embassy as he also did in the Bishoprick of Acq's that he wou'd follow the worthy Examples which he had given him 'T is true that Pope Pius the 5th Predecessor to Gregory thought it very strange at first that a Bishop shou'd be Ambassador for the most Christian King at the Ottoman Port. But besides that the Bishop of Agria a most prudent and vertuous Prelat had exercis'd that Charge during five years for the Emperor Maximilian the 2d without the least fault found with it he very much chang'd his opinion after the Bishop of Acq's by his credit with the Grand Signior had obtain'd from him that an express Prohibition shou'd be made to Piali Bassa General of his Navy of making any descent on the Territories of the Church in consideration of which Benefit his Holiness made him a promise to promote him to the highest Dignities with which a Pope can recompence the greatest Services that are render'd to the Church These were the Employments of that Bishop whose Deserts were not less eminent than those of his elder Brother Anthony de Noailles Head of that illustrious Family which is one of the most ancient and remarkable in Limousin who was Ambassador in England Governour of Bourdeaux and Lieutenant for the King in Guyenne where he serv'd the State and Religion with the same Zeal which appears at this day with so much Success and Glory in his Posterity It was then by the Motives of the same Zeal for Religion that Francis de Noailles after he had reduc'd 100 Hugonot Families which he found in Acq's at his coming to that Bishoprick to the number of 12 was not wanting to make use of so fair an opportunity as he had to work upon the King of Navarre's Inclinations which good advice in God's due time had the desir'd effect For having conferr'd with him at Nerac by the King's Orders twice or thrice with endeavours to procure from him the re-establishment of the Catholick Religion in Bearn when he found that new Difficulties were still started he laid aside that particular Point and coming to the Spring-head whereon all the rest depended he told him in the presence of Segur with all the sincerity of a faithful Minister That his Majesty cou'd not reasonably hope to support himself by that Party which how powerful soever it appear'd wou'd always be too weak to bear him up in spight of the Catholicks who were infinitely more strong to that pitch of heighth to which his Birth and Fortune might one day carry him that whatsoever Wonders his Valour might perform yet they wou'd never be of any advantage to him till he reconcil'd himself sincerely to the Catholick Church and that it was impossible they were his very words that he cou'd ever raise any thing that was durable for the establishment of his Fortune either within the Realm or without it unless he built on this Foundation This was what he said when he took his leave of the King of Navarre And some few days after this writing from Agen to the Sieur de Segur he protested to him That his Master cou'd never arrive to the possession of that Crown to which he might lawfully pretend if he made not his entrance by the Gate of the Catholick Religion and pray'd him therefore that he wou'd think seriously of that Matter for if he follow'd not his Counsel he shou'd one day speak to him in Petrarch 's Verse When Error goes before Repentance comes behind This Discourse startled Segur who had much power over his Masters Inclinations and it was principally on this account that he gave him the Counsel above-mention'd which consequently caus'd the King of Navarre to consider of the means of reuniting himself to the Catholicks But it happening that in the midst of these Agitations the Leaguers began openly to rebel and afterwards capitulating with Arms in their hands obtain'd an Edict by which the King oblig'd himself to make War with all his Power against the Hugonots Segur whom the King of Navarre had lately sent into Germany to desire assistance writ to him after he had obtain'd it that this was not a time to think of turning Catholick though he himself had formerly advis'd it and that since his Enemies wou'd make him change his Religion by force almost in the same manner as they had us'd him at the Massacre of St. Barthol'mew he ought to stand bent against them and defend his Liberty by Arms that it might not be said he was basely plyant to their will and that he might change freely with safeguard to his Honour at some other time which now he cou'd not without shame as being by constraint He follow'd this Advice which was also seconded by his Counsel He made the War and always appear'd at the Head of the Hugonots with the success which has already been related But being a man of a sprightly and piercing Wit he was not wanting in the mean time to instruct himself and that by a very artificial way Sometimes by proposing difficult Points to his Ministers or to speak more properly his own Doubts and Scruples in matters of Religion to understand on what Foundations their Opinions were built sometimes by conferring with knowing Catholicks and maintaining against them with the strongest Reasons he cou'd urge the Principles which had been infus'd into him by his Ministers on purpose to discover by their Answers which he compar'd with what had been told him on the other side what was real and solid truth betwixt them And he always continued in this manner of Instruction clearing and fathoming the principal Points of the Controversie and causing them to give in writing what they had to argue pro or con which produc'd this effect that the Hugonots never believ'd him to be sound at bottom and settled in their Religion but repos'd much greater confidence in the late Prince of Conde who was in reality a better Protestant than he And truly it appears exceeding credible that when at his coming to the Crown he made a promise to the Catholick Princes and Lords that he wou'd cause himself to be instructed within six months he was already resolv'd on his Conversion there remaining but very few things which he then scrupled and for which he demanded some longer time in order to his fuller satisfaction But as he afterwards acknowledg'd he thought himself oblig'd to defer that good action to some more convenient opportunity because the Hugâ—nots wou'd certainly have cantoniz'd themselves and set up under the protection of some powerful Foreigner whom they wou'd have chosen for their Head which must have occasion'd new Troubles in the Kingdom Besides which the Head
of the League was at that time too strong to think of submitting to him even though he had declar'd himself a Catholick and the People not being yet made sensible of the Extremities of War and their sufferings by reason of it were obstinately resolv'd to maintain it against him and consequently he cou'd not then compass what he so ardently desir'd which was to restore the Quiet of his Kingdom and to settle it in peace by embracing the Religion of his Predecessors But somewhat before the beginning of the Conference at Surenne after making a sober Reflection on the present estate of his Affairs he plainly saw that all things at that time concurr'd to oblige him not to defer his Conversion any longer For on the one side he was assur'd of the Leading men amongst the Hâ—gonots who had the power of raising new Disturbances many of whom and such as were men of the greatest Interest made no scruple to acknowledge that in good policy he ought to go to Mass and that the peaceable possession of a Great Kingdom was worth the pains it wou'd cost him in going Add to this that the Heads of the Union were so much weakned and so little united amongst themselves that they were in no condition of making any long resistance to his Arms though they shou'd refuse to acknowledge him And for the common people of the League they were so overburden'd by the War which wasted them that they desir'd nothing so much as Peace On the other side he observ'd the Spaniards us'd all imaginable means and did their utmost to perswade the States to create a Catholique King That there was great danger lest the Third Party which not long before had laid a Plot to have surpris'd him in Mante and carried him away now joyning with the Catholique Leaguers who were against the Spaniards shou'd elect a King on their side which wou'd be to embroyl France in worse confusions And to conclude that even they who were not of that Party and who had always serv'd him with inviolable faith now besought him to defer no longer his conversion and besought him in such a manner that they gave him easily to understand they wou'd forsake him in case he forsook not his false Religion All these Considerations put together by the Grace of God who makes use of second causes put an end to his delays and brought him to resolve on accomplishing what he had so long design'd by making a publick profession of the Catholique Faith Insomuch that when the Sieur Francis D O who of all the Court-Lords spoke to him with the greatest freedom went to press him somewhat bluntly on behalf of the Catholiques of his Party that he wou'd make good his promise to them He with great calmness gave him those three Reasons which I have already set down why he had till that time deferr'd his Conversion and afterwards gave him his positive word that within three months at the farthest when he had seen what the Conference of Surenne would produce he wou'd make an abjuration of Heresie after he had receiv'd the instruction of the Bishops and Doctors which according to the forms of the Church ought to precede so great an action farther ordering him to assure the Archbishop of Bourges of those his intentions before he went to that Conference being then on his departure And on that account it was that the Archbishop after having receiv'd the Answer which he well knew wou'd be sent from Mante where the Court then was spoke as he did at Surenne and believing that he had now brought the business to a conclusion on the seventeenth of May and at the seventh Session gave the Deputies of the League a full assurance of the Kings Conversion His Majesty also on his part having firmly resolv'd on that holy action fail'd not to write a Letter on the sixteenth of the same Month to many Prelates and Doctors both of his own side and of the League in which he invited them to be with him on the fifteenth of Iuly to the end he might receive those good instructions which he expected from them Assuring them in these very words That they shou'd find him most inclinable to be inform'd of all that belongs to a Most Christian King to know having nothing so lively engraven in his heart as the Zeal for Gods Service and the maintenance of his true Church In the mean time the Ministers and the old rigid Huguenots those false Zealots of their Sect fearing this blow wou'd be fatal to their pretended Religion made frequent Assemblies in private to invent some means of diverting him from this pious resolution And there were some of them who had the impudence to tell him publickly of it in their Sermons and to threaten him with a judgment from Heaven if he forsook the Gospel for it has pleas'd them to honour their Errors with that venerable Name This occasion'd him to assemble all the principal Lords of that new Religion together with their Preachers who were at that time in great numbers at the Court and who to the great grief of the Catholiques perpetually besieg'd him and to tell them plainly that he might free himself once for all from that troublesome persecution That after he had in the presence of Almighty God made all necessary reflections on an affair of that importance he had in conclusion resolv'd to return into the Catholique Church from which he ought never to have been separated And when La Faye the Minister had adjur'd him in the name of all his Brethren Not to suffer they are his very words that so great a scandal shou'd come to them If said he I shou'd follow your advice in a little time there wou'd be neither King nor Kingdom left in France I desire to give peace to all my Subjects and quiet to my own Soul and you shall have also from me all the provisions which you can reasonably desire Thus being without comparison the strongest and in much better condition than he had ever been formerly immediately after he had taken the Town of Dreux which the League though it was of great consequence to them yet durst never attempt to relieve he assign'd the place where he wou'd receive the Instruction which ought to precede the act of Abjuration to be at St. Denis on the twenty second of Iuly The Cardinal of Piacenza caus'd a Declaration to be publish'd in which taking upon him as Legat from the Holy See to pronounce that whatsoever shou'd be done in relation to that Conversion was to be accounted void and null he exhorted all Catholiques both of the one and the other Party not to suffer themselves to be deluded in an Affair of that consequence Prohibiting all men and especially the Ecclesiasticks on pain of Excommunication and privation of their Benefices from going to St. Denis and assisting at that Action But notwithstanding all these prohibitions which were thought to be made by the sollicitation of
from retiring which one wou'd have thought he shou'd have endeavour'd as being able to have done it without danger while the Enemies were employed either in fighting those who yet made resistance or in pursuing those who fled he march'd straight forward bearing his Sword aloft and calling by their names the most considerable Persons who attended him as the Duke of Elbeuf the Marquess of Pisany de Treinel de Roquelaure de Chasteau Vieux De Liencour de Montigny d' Inteville and de Mirepoix and inviting them to act like himself he made so furious a charge on those who believ'd themselves to be already in possession of the Victory that he stop'd them short and broke into them follow'd by all his brave Attendants whoafter his example fought like Lyons and push'd the Enemy with so much vigor that those six Squadrons fell back in confusion upon each other In the heat of this Combat he kill'd with his own hand the valiant Colonel Sanson who was using his uttermost endeavours though in vain to restore the Fight and being seconded by Biron who had rallyed about an hundred and twenty Horse and by the Duke of Trimouille who was come up to the Charge in the midst of the action with his Company of Gendarmes he pursu'd them at full spur as far as the great Body of Cavalry which the Duke of Mayenne commanded in the Vanguard And doubtless he had not fail'd to attaque him as he was very desirous to have done seeing his valour seconded with such good fortune if that gross had not been flank'd with two little Copses lin'd with Musqueteers and sustain'd by the whole Spanish Army which had certainly overwhelm'd him in case they had taken that critical opportunity In effect the Duke of Mayenne having observ'd during the Combat the extreme danger in which the King had involv'd himself which according to his heavy maxim might pass for inconsideration and rashness sent three or four times with all imaginable earnestness to the Constable to desire him not to let slip that favourable minute but to march as to a certain victory giving him to understand that the King having neither Foot nor Cannon cou'd not possibly escape either from being kill'd or at least from being taken But whether the Castillian fear'd the fortune of the King and much more apprehended that his whole Army was not far behind or were it the Hatred which the Spaniards bore the Duke who for his part hated them not less or perhaps the Vanity and Pride of the Constable who cou'd not endure to be taught his Duty 't is certain that he absolutely refus'd to move but only on his Retreat the same day to his Quarters at St. Seyne and the next morning to Grey The King who in the mean time had rallied all his Troops having still pursued him till he had repass'd the Saone Thus it may be said that in this famous Skirmish at Fontain Francoise the happy success of which is wholly to be attributed to the incomparable Valour of the King he perform'd an Action not unlike that of the great Macchabee who with 800 men durst bear up against a numerous Army with this difference notwithstanding that the Iewish Hero was lost in the too eager prosecution of his Victory but ours on the contrary return'd from the pursuit of his flying Enemies cover'd with Glory after he had driven a powerful Army out of his Kingdom with an handful of men not exceeding the number of 6 or 700. This was the last Enterprize of the League which was then gasping in the pangs of death and expir'd immediately after it For the Duke of Mayenne in despair to see himself abandon'd by the Constable with no hope of recovery in his Affairs was upon the point of taking a Journey into Spain and throwing himself into the Arms of King Philip with intention to inform him of the Malice and Cowardise of those whom he intrusted with the Command of his Armies when the King willing by an admirable effect of his Goodness to withdraw his vanquish'd Enemy from the steep of that Precipice where he was seeking his destruction let him understand that he was ready to receive him into Grace and grant him in that his low estate very advantagious Conditions that while the Treaty betwixt them was depending he might stay at Châ—lon on the Saone the only good Town remaining to him in Bourgogne and take his word for his security And the Duke to answer this Generosity as much as lay in him accepting this Offer gave immediate Order that the Castles of Dijon and Talant shou'd be surrendred But what was most admirable in this procedure of the King was that to save the Honour of that Prince who had engag'd himself by Oath not to acknowledge him till he had receiv'd Absolution from the Pope he deferr'd the conclusion of his Treaty till he had obtain'd it from his Holiness after which in the beginning of the year ensuing he made an Edict in his Favour It was not indeed so advantagious as it might have been if he cou'd have resolv'd to have accepted those Propositions sooner which were offer'd him more than once at a time when he might have treated not only for himself but for all that powerful Party which he hâ—aded Yet it was infinitely beyond what he cou'd reasonably have expected at that time for in consideration that he had always oppos'd the pernicious Designs of the Sixteen and of the Spaniards and that making War like a man of Honour he had constantly spoken of the King with great Respect as one who infinitely esteem'd his Person his Merit and his Quality the King who valued him exceedingly granted in his favour even against the opinion of the greatest part of his Counsel that Edict in which making very honourable mention of him and commending the Zeal which he always had for the preservation of the Catholick Religion and the Monarchy in its entire estate he granted him amongst other things besides an Amnesty of the past the re-establishment of himself and his Friends in all their Possessions the Towns of Soissons Sâ—urre and Chalon on the Saone for his security a Declaration importing that he had no Accusation either against himself or the Princes and Princesses of his Family touching the Parricide committed on the Persoâ— of the late King and that he bound himself and his Successors to the payment of all Debts which he had contracted as well without the Kingdom as within it to make War against him After this the Duke going to pay his Respects to him at Mâ—nceaux was receiv'd with great Honour and testimony of Affection and it happening that the King in walking with him at his ordinary rate which was very swift that poor Prince who was fat and unwieldy grew out of breath freely told him That he was quite spent and cou'd go no farther The King embracing him said only this For my oâ—n part Cousin I 〈◊〉 to you this
is all the 〈◊〉 I will ever take on you for all the 〈◊〉 you have done me when you were 〈◊〉 of the League Thus the Duke being charm'd with so much Generosity and Goodness which won upon his Nature devoted himself wholly to his service and serv'd him afterwards to his great advantage especially against the Spaniards in the retaking of La Fere and Amiens Now after this Agreement there remain'd no more towards the total extinguishment of that great Fire which had spread it self through all the Kingdom than the reduction of the Dukes of Mercaeur and of Ioyeuse who yet held for the League the one in Bretagne and the other in Languedoc For as to the Town of Marseilles which the Duke of Guise to whom the King had given that Government of Provence had retaken from the Rebels it being then under the dominion of two petty Tyrants who acknowledg'd neither the King nor the Duke of Mayenne and who wou'd have given it up to the Spaniards the History of its Deliverance belongs not to that of the League for the Duke of Ioyeuse three years were already past when after the death of his Brother who was drown'd in the Tarn when he had been forc'd in his Retrenchments at the Siege of Villemur he was return'd from Father Aâ—ge the Capuchin to be Duke of Ioyeuse and General of the League in Languedoc This change of his was made at the earnest Solicitations of the Faculty of Divines in Tholouse the Doctors who were consulted on this Case of Conscience and especially his Brother the Cardinal who after the death of the late King was enter'd into the Party of the League having declar'd to him that he was oblig'd under pain of mortal Sin to accept of that Employment for the good of Religion Yet he wou'd not take it without a Dispensation from the Pope who transferr'd him from the Order of St. Francis to that of St. Iohn of Ierusalem He had maintain'd till that time the Party of the Vnion in that Province as well as he was able but when he saw that the greatest part of the Towns made their voluntary submission after the Conversion of the King and that those few Officers of Parliament who were remaining at Tholouse were resolv'd in case he wou'd not accommodate himself to them that they wou'd joyn with the Members of their Company who during the Troubles were retir'd to Castle Sarazin and Besiers He made his Treaty and in Ianuary obtain'd from the â—inâ— in the same manner as the Duke of 〈◊〉 had done an Edict in favour of him by which he was made Marshal of France and Lieutenant of the King in Languedoc and Tholoâ—se and the other Towns of that Province which yet held for the League He liv'd for three years afterwards in the midst of the Pomps Pleasures and Vanities of the World But it caus'd a wonderful Surprize when after he had solemniz'd with great Magnificence the Marriage of his only Daughter Hâ—nrieâ—â—e Charâ—otte only Heir of that rich and illustrious House of Ioyeusâ— with Henry Duke of Montpâ—nsiâ—r it was told on the second Tuesday of Lent by the Capuchin who preach'd at St. Germain de l' Auxerrois that having for the second time renounc'd the World he was return'd the last night into the Cloister from whence he had departed eight or nine years before for the service of Religion as he believ'd but at the last his Mind having been enlighten'd by God's holy Spirit and being strongly wrought upon by the Impuâ—ses of his Grace he had resolv'd to do Justice on himself considering in the presence of God that the Motive on which the Pope had given him the Dispensation no longer subsisting it was his duty dealing sincerely with God who is not to be deceiv'd no longer to make use of it when the Causes which supported it were no more in being For which Reasons he piously resolv'd to resume his ancient Habit of Penitence in which after he had edified all Paris by his rare Vertues and his fervent Sermons he dy'd in our days a most religious Death All that now remain'd was to reduce the Duke of Mâ—rcaeur which was indeed to give the fatal Blow to the League and to cut off the last Head of that monstrous Hydra That Prince who was Son to the Count of Vaâ—demont and Brother of Queen Louise Wife to the late King being carried away with the furious Torrent of the League after the death of the Guises following the example of the other Princes of his Family had caus'd almost a general Revolt in his Government of Bretagne where he made War for almost ten years with Fortune not unlike that of the Duke of Mayenne but with much greater Obstinacy For not withstanding that in the declination of the League he had lost the greatest part of his Towns which were either taken from him or of their own accord forsook his Party yet he still fed his Imagination with flattering Hopes that this fair Dutchy to which he had some Pretensions in right of his Wife might at last remain in his possession by some favourable revolution of Fortune in case the War continued But when he saw the King approaching Bretagne with such Forces as there was no appearance of resisting he made his Applications to the Dutchess of Beaufort to whom he offer'd the Princess his only Daughter for the young Duke of Vandome her Son And it was in consideration of that Marriage that she obtain'd from the King an Edict yet more honourable and at least as advantagious as that which she had obtain'd for the Duke of Mayenne whom she desir'd to have in her Interests designing to make her self powerful Friends by whose assistance she might compass her high Pretensions which all vanish'd by her sudden Death in the year ensuing Thus ended the League by the reduction of the Duke of Mercaeur who had this advantage above all the Princes of that Party that his Accommodation was follow'd by an Employment wherein he obtain'd all the Glory that a Christian Hero cou'd desire and which has recommended his Name to late Posterity For the Emperor Rodolphus dissatisfy'd with his German Generals who had serv'd him ill against the Turks and being inform'd of the rare Merit of this Prince having entertain'd him with leave from the King and given him the Command of his Forces in Hungary he extended his Reputation through all Christendom by his wonderful Exploits in War particularly in the famous Retreat of Canisia with 1500 men before an Army of 60000 Turks at the taking of Alba Regalis and at the Battel wherein he defeated the Infidels who came to the relief of their men besiegâ—d in that City And being upon his return to France after so many heroick Actions it pleas'd God to reward him with another Crown of Glory infinitely surpassing that on Earth and to receive him into Heaven by means of a contagious Disease which took him from the World at
League with greater force opposing the undoubted Right of King Henry the Fourth and we see him in the end surmounting all these difficulties and triumphing over all these dangers God Almighty taking care of his own Anointed and the True Succession Neither the Papist nor Presbyterian Association prevailing at the last in their attempts but both baffl'd and ruin'd and the whole Rebellion ending either in the submission or destruction of the Conspirators 'T is true as my Author has observ'd in the beginning of his History that before the Catholick League or Holy Union which is the Subject of this Book there was a League or Combination of Huguenots against the Government of France which produc'd the Conspiracy of Amboise and the Calvinist Preachers as Mâ—zeray a most impartial Historian informs us gave their opinion that they might take up Arms in their own defence and make way for a free access to the King to present their Remonstrances But it was order'd at the same time that they shou'd seize on the Duke of Guâ—se and the Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother who were then Chief Ministers that they might be brought to Tryal by process before the States but he adds immediately who cou'd answer for them that the Prisoners shou'd not have been kill'd out of hand and that they wou'd not have made themselves Masters of the Queen Mother's Person and of the young King 's which was laid afterwards to their charge The conceal'd Heads of this Conspiracy were Lewis Prince of Condè and the famous Admiral de Coligny who being discontented at Court because their Enemies the Guises had the management of affairs under the Queen Regent to their exclusion and being before turn'd Calvinists made use of that Rebellious Sect and the pretence of Religion to cover their Ambition and Revenge The same Mezeray tells us in one of the next Pages That the name of Huguenots or Fidnos from whence it was corrupted signifies League or Association in the Swisse Language and was brought together with the Sect from Geneva into France But from whencesoever they had their name 't is most certain that pestilent race of people cannot by their principles be good Subjects For whatever inforc'd Obedience they pay to Authority they believe their Class above the King and how they wou'd order him if they had him in their power our Most Gracious Soveraign has sufficiently experienc'd when he was in Scotland As for their boast that they brought him in 't is much as true as that of the Calvinists who pretend as my Author tells you in his Preface That they seated his Grandfather Henry the Fourth upon the Throne For both French and English Presbyterians were fundamentally and practically Rebels and the French have this advantage over ours that they came in to the aid of Hâ—nry the Third at his greatest need or rather were brought over by the King of Navarrâ— their declar'd Head on a prospect of great advantage to their Religion whereas ours never inclin'd to the Kings Restauration till themselves had been trodden underfoot by the Independent Party and till the voice of three Nations call'd aloud for him that is to say when they had no possibility of keeping him any longer out of England But the beginning of Leagues Unions and Associations by those who call'd themselves Gods People for Reformation of Religious Worship and for the redress of pretended Grievances in the State is of a higher rise and is justly to be dated from Luther's time and the private Spirit or the gift of interpreting Scriptures by private Persons without Learning was certainly the Original Cause of such Cabals in the Reform'd Churches So dangerous an instrument of Rebellion is the Holy Scripture in the hands of ignorant and bigoted men The Anabaptists of Germany led up the Dance who had always in their mouths Faith Charity the Fear of God and mortifications of the Flesh Prayers Fastings Meditations contempt of Riches and Honours were their first specious practices From thence they grew up by little and little to a separation from other men who according to their Pharisaical account were less holy than themselves and Decency Civility neatness of Attire good Furniture and Order in their Houses were the brands of carnal-minded men Then they proceeded to nick-name the days of the Weeks and Sunday Monday Tuesday c. as Heathen names must be rejected for the First Second and Third Days distinguishing only by their numbers Thus they began to play as it were at cross purposes with mankind and to do every thing by contraries that they might be esteem'd more godly and more illuminated It had been a wonder considering their fanciful perfections if they had stopp'd here They were now knowing and pure enough to extend their private Reformation to the Church and State for Gods people love always to be dealing as well in Temporals as Spirituals or rather they love to be fingring Spirituals in order to their grasping Temporals Therefore they had the impudence to pretend to Inspiration in the Exposition of Scriptures a trick which since that time has been familiarly us'd by every Sect in its turn to advance their interests Not content with this they assum'd to themselves a more particular intimacy with Gods Holy Spirit as if it guided them even beyond the power of the Scriptures to know more of him than was therein taught For now the Bible began to be a dead Letter of it self and no virtue was attributed to the reading of it but all to the inward man the call of the Holy Ghost and the ingrafting of the Word opening their Understanding to hidden Mysteries by Faith And here the Mountebank way of canting words came first in use as if there were something more in Religion than cou'd be express'd in intelligible terms or Nonsence were the way to Heaven This of necessity must breed divisions amongst them for every mans Inspiration being particular to himself must clash with anothers who set up for the same qualification the Holy Ghost being infallible in all alike though he spoke contradictions in several mouths But they had a way of licking one another whole mistakes were to be forgiven to weak Brethren the failing was excus'd for the right intention he who was more illuminated wou'd allow some light to be in the less and degrees were made in contradictory Propositions But Godfathers and Godmothers by common consent were already set aside together with the observation of Festivals which they said were of Antichristian Institution They began at last to Preach openly that they had no other King but Christ and by consequence Earthly Magistrates were out of doors All the gracious Promises in Scripture they apply'd to themselves as Gods chosen and all the Judgments were the portion of their Enemies These impieties were at first unregarded and afterwards tolerated by their Soveraigns And Luther himself made request to the Duke of Saxony to deal favourably with them as honest-meaning men who were
let it be remembred that as the Duke of Guise and the Council of Sixteen forg'd a List of Names which they pretended to be of such as the King had set down for destruction so a certain Earl of blesed Memory caus'd a false report to be spread of his own danger and some of his Accomplices who were to be murder'd by the Papists and the Royal Party which was a design to endear themselves to the multitude as the Martyrs of their cause and at the same time to cast an odious reflection on the King and Ministers as if they sought their blood with unchristian cruelty without the ordinary forms of Justice To which may be added as an Appendix their pretended fear when they went to the Parlâ—ament at Oxford before which some of them made their Wills and shew'd them publickly others sent to search about the places where the two Houses were to sit as if another Gunpowder Plot was contriving against them and almost every man of them according to his quality went attended with his Guard of Janizaries like Titus So that what with their followers and the seditious Townsmen of that City they made the formidable appearance of an Army at least sufficient to have swallowed up the Guards and to have seiz'd the Person of the King in case he had not prevented it by a speedy removal as soon as he had Dissolv'd that Parliament I begin already to be tir'd with drawing after their deformities as a Painter wou'd be who had nothing before him in his Table but Lazars Cripples and hideous Faces which he was oblig'd to represent Yet I must not omit some few of their most notorious Copyings Take for example their Council of Six which was an imitation of the League who set up their famous Council commonly call'd Of the Sixteen And take notice that on both sides they pick'd out the most heady and violent men of the whole Party nay they consider'd not so much as their natural parts but heavy Blockheads were thrown in for lumber to make up the weight Their Zeal for the Party and their Ambition atton'd for their want of Judgment especially if they were thought to have any interest in the people Loud roarers of Ay and No in the Parliament without common sence in ordinary discourses if they were favourites of the Multitude were made Privy Counsellors of their Cabal and Fools who only wanted a parti-colour'd Coat a Cap and a Bawble to pass for such amongst reasonable men were to redress the imaginary Grievances of a Nation by murdering or at least seizing of the King Men of scandalous Lives Cheats and Murderers were to Reform the Nation and propagate the Protestant Religion And the rich Ideots to hazard their Estates and Expectations to forsake their Ease Honour and Preferments for an empty name of Heading a Party The wittiest man amongst them to encumber and vex his decrepit Age for a silly picque of revenge and to maintain his Character to the last of never being satisfied with any Government in which he was not more a King than the present Master To give the last stroke to this resemblance Fortune did her part and the same fate of division amongst themselves ruin'd both those Councils which were contriving their King's destruction The Duke of Mayenne and his Adherents who were much the most honest of the Leaguers were not only for a King but for a King of the Royal Line in case that Duke cou'd not cause the Election to fall on himself which was impossible because he was already marâ—ied The rest were some for this man some for another and all in a lump for the Daughter of Spain this disunited them and in the end ruin'd their conspiracy In our Council of Six some were for murdering and some for securing of the King some for a rising in the West and some for an Insurrection of the brisk Boys of Wapping In short some were for a mungrel kind of Kingship to the exclusion of the Royal Line but the greater part for a bare-fac'd Common-wealth This rais'd a division in their Counsel that division was â—omented into a mutual hatred of each other and the conclusion was that instead of one Conspiracy the Machines play'd double and produc'd two which were carry'd on at the same time A kind of Spread Eagle Plot was hatch'd with two Heads growing out of the same Body such twin Treasons are apt to struggle like Esau and Iacob in the Womb and both endeavouring to be first born the Younger pulls back the Elder by the Heel I promis'd to observe no order and am perâ—orming my word before I was aware After the Barricades and at many other times the Duke of Guise and Council of Sixteen amongst the rest of the Articles demanded of the King to cashier his Guards of the forty five Gentlemen as unknown in the times of his Predecessors and unlawful as also to remove his surest Friends from about his Person and from their Places both Military and Civil I leave any man to judge whether our Conspirators did not play the Second Part to the same Tune Whether his Majesties Guards were not alledg'd to be unlawful and a grievance to the Subjects and whether frequent Votes did not pass in the House of Commons at several times for removing and turning out of Office those who on all occasions behav'd themselves most Loyally to the King without so much as giving any other reason of their misdemeanors than publick same That is to say reports forg'd and spread by their own Faction or without allowing them the common justice of vindicating themselves from those calumnies and aspersions I omit the many illegal Imprisonments of free-born men by their own Representatives who from a Jury erected themselves into Judges because I find nothing resembling it in the worst and most seditious Times of France But let the History be search'd and I believe Bussy Le Clerc never committed more outrages in pillaging of Houses than Waller in pretending to search for Popish Reliques Neither do I remember that the French Leaguers ever took the evidence of a Iew as ours did of Faria But this I wonder at the less considering what Christian Witnesses have been us'd if at least the chief of them was ever Christned Bussy le Clerc 't is true turn'd out a whole Parliament together and brought them Prisoners to the Bastille and Bussy Oates was for garbling too when he inform'd against a worthy and Loyal Member whom he caus'd to be expell'd the House and sent Prisoner to the Tower But that which was then accounted a disgrace to him will make him be remembred with honour to Posterity I will trouble the Reader but with one Observation more and that shall be to show how dully and pedantically they have copied even the false steps of the League in Politicks and those very Maxims which ruin'd the Heads of it The Duke of Guise was always oftentatious of his power in the States
Arques 748 c. at the attacquing the Suburbs of Paris 752. at the Battel of Ivry 775. at the Siege of Roan 845. he is kill'd before Espernay 862. counsels the King to put Fryer Ange and his Penitents in Prison Pag. 369 367 The Baron of Biron at the Battel of Ivry 775. at the Battel of Fontan Francoise 946 947 The Sieur de Bois-Dauphin enters into the League 105 John Boucher Curate of St. Benets a grand Leaguer and his Character 95. his Chamber is call'd the Cradle of the League 99. causes the Alarm-Bell to be rung in his Parish Church at the Sergeants and Archers that would seize the Seditious 304. preaches against the King 431 432. retires into Flanders with the Spaniards after the reducing of Paris 943 The Duke of Bouillon la Mark General of the German Army 231 233 Charles Cardinal de Bouâ—bon put by the Duke of Guise as a Ghost at the Head of the League 92. his weakness and ridiculous pretension 93 102 114. his Manifesto or that of the League under his name 114. the King declares him to be the nearest of Blood and gives him the Prerogatives of the Presumptive Heir of the Crown 382. He presides over the Clergy at the Estates of Blois 388. is seiz'd Prisoner 403. is declar'd King by the Council of the Union 739. and proclaim'd by the Name of Charles X. 764 765. his death in Prison Pag. 821 Charles de Bourbon Count de Soissons joins with the King of Navarre at Monforeau 198. his Valour at the Battel of Coutras 221 222. at the attacquing the Suburbs of Paris 753 Henry de Bourbon Prince de Conde brings an Army of Germans into France 10. is excommunicated by Pope Sixtus Quintus 132. drives the Duke of Mercoeur from Poitou 146. the History of his unhappy Expedition upon Anger 's 145 146. espouses Charlotte Catharine de la Trimoille 147. quits the Siege of Brouage where he leaves his Infantry and marches with his Cavalry to relieve Anger 's where his Army is scatter'd and how 150. his firmness at the Conference of St. Brix 162 163. his Valour at the Battel of Coutras 207 c. his Death and Elogy 329 330 c. Henry XI de Bourbon Prince de Conde a grand Enemy to the Heresie of the Calvinists notwithstanding that he was born of a Calvinistical Father and Mother 148. his Elogy ib. c. Lovis de Bourbon Duke of Monpensier manages the Conference at St. Brix 162. joins with the Troops of the King's Army at Gien 260. his Valour at the Combat of Arques 748. at the Battel of Ivry 774. Andrew Brancas de Villars maintains the Siege of Roan with great honour 845. puts all the Camp in disorder 850 851. is made Admiral of the League Pag. 872 Anthony de Brichanteau Beauvais Nangis enters into the League and why 106 107 c. re-enters into the King's favour who gives him the Signet of Admiral of France 393 394 The President Brisson head of the Parliament of the League 450. secretly protests before Notari of the violence that he suffers ib. the Sixteen cause him to be hang'd 837 Peter Brulart sent to the King of Navarre to convert him 140 141 c. his Elogy and that of his House ib. his Banishment from Court 384 William Duke of Brunswick at the Battel of Ivry where he is slain 789 Bussy le Clerc a furious Leaguer 98. takes Arms to hinder de Prevost Curate of St. Severnes from being apprehended who had preach'd seditiously against the King 303 304. is made Governour of the Bastille after the Barricades 365. leads the Parliament to the Bastille how and under what pretext 444 445. is constrain'd to surrender the Bastille to the Duke of Mayenne 838. saves himself in Flanders where he dies miserable 839 840 C. CArdinal Cajetan sent Legat into France by Sixtus Quintus 758. hinders an Accommodation being made with the King though he should be converted 766. runs the risque of being kill'd at the Shew of the Ecclesiastics and Monks during the Siege of Paris Pag. 808 Queen Catharine de Medicis engages the King in the War against the Hugonots 7. concludes a Peace at the Court of the Religion 11 12 13. she hinders the King from opposing the League at first 60. she maintains it under-hand 80. she would exclude the King of Navarre from the Succession that the Prince of Lorrain her Grandson might reign 85. she holds a Correspondence with the Duke of Guise and hinders the King from arming himself against him 117. her Conference with the King of Navarre at St. Brix's 161. she carries the Duke of Guise to the Louvre and mollifies the King's anger 344. counsels the King to go out of Paris 362. she suffers her self to be amus'd by the Duke of Guise who enters very dextrously into her Interests 371 372. her surprize at the death of the Guises 403. her Death 437. 438. her Elogy and Portrait 438 439 c. Claude de la Chastre Bailiff of Beny 105. Mareschal of the Camp in the Duke â—f Guise's Army against the Râ—yters 246 250 266. marches the first to Montargis to surprize the Reyters at Vimory 266 267 268. his advance to Dourdan to surround them in Aunâ—au 279. what part he had in the defeat of the Reyters at Auneau 268. he preserves Berry and Orleans for the League 493. is made Mareschal of the League 872. he makes his Peace and re-enters into Obedience Pag. Pag. 936 The Count de Chastillon Son of the Admiral brings assistance to the Army of the Reyters 233 258. his brave reâ—reat in the middle of an infinite number of Enemies 298. repulses the Troops of the Duke of Mayenne before Tours 482. defeats the Troops of Sieur de Saveuse 491. his Valour at the Combat of Arques 742 748. he misses taking Paris by storm 812. he 's the principal cause of the happy success at the Siege at Chartres 817 818. his Death and Elogy ib. 819 Clement VIII Pope would not receive the Catholick Deputies of the Royal Party 861. nor the Duke of Nevers that went to render him Obâ—diâ—nce 933. after having a long time refus'd to give the King Absolution he gives it at last 934 The Combat and Retrâ—at at Pont St. Vincent 246 c. The Combat at Vimoroy 267 c. The Combat at Auneau where the Reyters were defeated Pag. 277 c. Combat at Fontain Francoise 947 The Conference of the Duke of Espernon with the King of Navarre about his Conversion 87 c. Conference at d'Espernay and de Meaux 121 The Conference of Sieur Lennoncour and President Brulart with the King of Navarre for his Conversion 140 141 c. The Conference at St. Brix between the Queen-mother and the King of Navarre the Prince of Conde and the Vicount de Turenne 161 162 c. The Conference at Nancy between the Princes of the House of Lorrain 184 c. The Conference of Henry III. with Cardinal
Joyeuse prodigiously 192 193 His smart and majestical Answer to the Ambassadors of the Protestant Princes of Germany that press'd him to revoke his Edicts against the Huguenots 158 159. His Confrery and Processions of Penitents 173 His close design in the War which he is constrain'd to make against his will 333 He puts himself at the Head of his Army at Gien upon Loir and opposes the passage of the Army of the Reyters 260 He testifies his too much weakness and his too much fear of the Seditious whom he durst not punish Pag. 305 He is contented to reprehend the seditious Doctors and Preachers in lieu of punishing them 308 He incenses the Duke of Guise in refusing him the Admiralty which he had ask'd for Brissac 312 313 Makes a resolution at last to punish the Leaguers 332 333 His irresolution when he sees the Duke of Guise at the Louvre 200 201 c. Makes the Guards and the Swisses enter Paris 208 209 The excessive Demands they made him at the Barricades 359 360 361 Goes from Paris in poor equipage and retires to Chartres 363 364 He favourably hearkens to them who with Frier Ange de Joyeuse went in Procession at Chartres to ask his pardon 367 368 369 His profound dissimulation 325 375 c. Causes the Edict of Re-union to be publish'd in favour of the League 378 379 Lets loose the marks of his choler and indignation which he would conceal 382 383 Opens the second Estates where be communicates with the Duke of Guise 385 386 His Oration which checks the Leaguers ib. 387 His extreme indignation by reason of the unworthy Resolutions which they took against his Authority in the Estates Pag. 392 393 Is resolved to have the Duke of Guise kill'd 394 c. Causes him to be kill'd in his Chamber 400 401 c. Causes the Cardinal de Guise to be kill'd 410 411 Writes to the Legat Morosini and gives him Audience three days after to declare to him his Reasons 413 Maintains that he hath incurr'd no Censure and has no need of Absolution 415 In lieu of arming he amuses himself in making Declarations which are slighted and contemn'd 425 Makes great offers to the Duke of Mayenne in vain 454 Takes rigorous courses but too late 464 465 How and why he treats with the King of Navarre 466 467 Offers very advantageous Conditions to the Princes of Lorrain 472 473 Publishes and causes to be executed his Treaty with the King of Navarre 477 His Conference with this King at Tours 478 Marches in the Body of the Army with the King of Navarre towards Paris 492 Receives and dissembles the News of the Monitory against him 494 Takes up his quarters at St. Clou and is unhappily kill'd 509 510 c. His most christian and most holy Death and Elogy 514 515 c. Henry de Bourbon King of Navarre protests against the first Estates at Blois Pag. 61 His Conference with the Duke d'Espernon about the Subject of his Conversion 86 87 c. His Fidelity towards Henry III. 109 His forcible Declaration against the Leaguers 117 118 Gives the Duke of Guise the Lye in writing and offers to fight him to save the French Blood ib. Draws the Marshal de Damville to his side against the League 124 He desir'd not the ruine of Religion but of the League to preserve the Monarchy 126 Causes his Protestation against Sixtus Quintus's Bull to be fixt upon the Gates of the Vatican in Rome 137 138 His Conference with the Queen Mother at St. Brix 161 162 His Exploits against the Army at Joyeuse 197 c. His Valour and good Conduct at the Battel of Courtras 202 204 c. His Clemency after his Victory 227 He knew not how to or would not make use of his Victory 228 Assembles the Estates on his side at Rochel at the same time that the Estates were held at Blois 390 His proceedings after the death of the Guises 467 His Declaration to all Frenchmen Pag. 468 He treats with and is united to the King 470 471 His Conference with the King at Tours 478 His march towards Paris 492 493 He succeeds Henry III. and is acknowledg'd for King of France by the Catholics of the Army upon certain conditions 734 Divides his Troops into three parts and carries one into Normandy 736 His Conduct and Valour at the Battel of Arques 741 c. Attaques and takes the Suburbs of Paris 752 c. Besieges Dreux 769 Gives and gains the Battel of Ivry 770 c. His Exploits after his Victory 795 c. Is repulsed before Sens. ib. Besieges Paris 796 Why he would not attaque it by Force 800 Rejects the Proposition which they made him to surrender Paris provided he would become Catholic 809 c. Pursues the Duke of Parma just to Artois 816 817 The two Attempts he made unsuccessfully to surprize Paris 811 816 c. He takes Noyen 844 Besieges Roan 845 His Combat and Retreat from Aumale 847 Raises the Siege of Roan and a little while after besieges the Duke of Parma's Army 852 c. His proceedings after the Retreat of that Duke Pag. 861 The History of his Conversion 900 c. The Points upon which he causes himself to be instructed 918 919 c. He makes his solemn Abjuration and receives Absolution at St. Denis 927 928 Sends the Duke of Nevers to Rome in Obedience and to ask the Pope's Absolution who after having long time deâ—err'd it at last gives it him 932 933 c. His happy entrance into Paris 938 939 His heroic Valour at the Combat of Fontain Francois 948 c. Grants a Treaty and very favourable Edict to the Duke of Mayenne 954 His rare bounty in receiving him at Monceaux 955 Anthony Hotman Advocate General for the League at the Parliament of Paris is Author of the Treaty of the Right of Uncle against the Nephew 738 c. Francis Hotman a Civilian Brother to the Advocate refutes his Book without knowing that it was his Brothers ib. The Huguenots have the advantage in the first War that Henry III. made against them 7 8 They become powerful by joining with the politick Party ib. They were the first that leagued themselves against the Kings 14 James de Humieres Governor of Peronne his Elogy and what made him begin the League in Picardy Pag. 22 23 Charles de Humieres Marquis d'Encre Governor of Campeigne for the King 486 Is the cause of gaining the Battel of Senlis ib. c. His Elogy ib. c. Carries a great supply of the Nobles of Picardy to the King at the Battel of Ivry 781 I. JAmes Clement the History of his abominable Parricide 508 509 c. The President Jeannin sent by the Duke of Mayenne into Spain 830 His Elogy ib. His prudent Negotiation with the King of Spain 833 Ten Jesuits save Paris which had been taken by scaling the walls if they had been asleep as all the rest were 813
be declar'd to have forfeited for ever their right of succeeding to the Crown That the Duke of Espernoâ— La Valeite his Brother Francis d' O. the Marshals of Retz and of Biron Colonel Alphonso d' Ornano and all others who like them were favourers of the Huguenots or were found to have held any correspondence with them shou'd be depriv'd of their Governments and Offices and banish'd from the Court without hope of ever being restor'd again That the spoils of all these shou'd be given to the Princes of his House and to those Lords who had ingag'd with him of whom he made a long List That the King shou'd casheer his Guard of five and forty as a thing unknown in the times of his Predecessours protesting that otherwise he cou'd place no manner of confidence in him nor ever dare to approach his person That it wou'd please his Majesty to declare him his Lieutenant General through all his Estates with the same Authority which the late Duke of Guise his Father had under the Reign of Francis the Second by virtue of which he hop'd to give him so good an account of the Huguenots that in a little time there shou'd remain no other but the Catholique Religion in all his Kingdom To conclude that there shou'd be call'd immediately an Assembly of the three Estates to sit at Paris where all this shou'd be confirm'd and to hinder for the future that the Minions who wou'd dispose of all things at their pleasure shou'd not abuse their favour that there shou'd be establish'd an unchangeable form of Government which it shou'd not be in the power of the King to alter 'T is most evident that Demands so unreasonable so arrogant and so offensive tended to put the Government and the power of it into the Duke's hands who being Master of the Armies the Offices and the Governments of the most principal Provinces in his own person by his Relations his Creatures and the Estates where he doubted not of carrying all before him especially at Paris wou'd be the absolute disposer of Affairs Insomuch that there wou'd be nothing wanting to him but the Crown it self to which 't is very probable that at this time he pretended in case he shou'd survive the King to the exclusion of the Bourbons whom he wou'd have declar'd incapable of succeeding to it For which reason the Queen seeing that he wou'd recede from no part of these Articles and beginning to fear that he wou'd go farther than she desir'd counsell'd the King to get out of Paris with all speed while it was yet in his power so to do And though some of his chief Officers as amongst others the Chancellour de Chiverny and the Sieurs of Villeroy and Villequier who were of opinion that more wou'd be gain'd by the Negotiation and who foresaw that the Huguenots and the Duke of Espernon whom they had no great cause to love wou'd make their advantage of this retreat so unworthy of a King endeavour'd to dissuade him from it yet a thousand false advertisements which came every moment that they were going to invest the Louvre and his accustom'd fear together with the diffidence he had of the Duke of Guise whom he consider'd at that time as his greatest Enemy caus'd him at the last to resolve on his departure Accordingly about noon the next day while the Queen Mother went to the Duke with propositions onely to amuse him the King making shew to take a turn or two in the Tuilleries put on Boots in the Stables and getting on Horse-back attended by fifteen or sixteen Gentlemen and by ten or twelve Lacqueys having caused notice to be given to his Guards to follow him went out by the Port Neuve riding always on full gallop for fear of being pursu'd by the Parisians till having gain'd the ascent above Challiot he stopt his Horse to look back on Paris 'T is said that then reproaching that great City which he had always honour'd and enrich'd by his Royal presence and upbrayding its ingratitude he Swore he wou'd not return into it but through a Breach and that he wou'd lay it so low that it shou'd never more be in a condition of lifting up its self against the King After this he went to Lodge that night at Trappes and the next morning arriv'd at Chartres where his Officers those of his Council and the Courtiers came up to him one after another in great disorder some on Foot others on Horse-back without Boots several on their Mules and in their Robes every man making his escape as he was best able and in a great hurry for fear of being stop'd in short all of them in a condition not unlike the Servants of David at his departure from Ierusalem travelling in a miserable Equipage after their distress'd Master when he fled before the Rebel Absalom The Duke of Guise who on the one side had been unwilling to push things to an extremity to the end he might make his Treaty with the King and that it might not be said he was not at liberty and on the other side not believing that he wou'd have gone away in that manner as if he fled from his Subjects who stopping short of the Louvre by fifty paces seem'd unwilling to pursue their advantage any farther was much surpris'd at this retreat which broke the measures he had taken but as he was endu'd with an admirable presence of mind and that he cou'd at a moments warning accommodate his resolutions to any accident how unexpected or troublesome soever he immediately appli'd himself to put Paris in a condition of fearing nothing to quiet all things there and restore them to their former tranquillity and withall to give notice to the whole Kingdom how matters had pass'd at the Barricades as much to his own advantage as possibly he cou'd To this effect he possess'd himself of the strongest places in the City of the Temple of the Palace of the Town-House of the two Chastelets of the Gates where he set Guards of the Arsenal and of the Bastille which was surrender'd to him too easily by the Governour Testu the Government of which he gave to Bussy Le Clerc the most audacious of the Sixteen He oblig'd the Magistrates to proceed in the Courts of Judicature as formerly He made a new Provost of Merchants and Sheriffs a Lieutenant Civil Colonels and Captains of the several Wards all devoted to the League in the room of those whom he suspected He retook without much trouble all the places both above and below on the River that the passages for Provisions might be free He writ at last to the King to the Towns and to his particular Friends and drew up Manifests or Declarations in a style which had nothing in it but what was great and generous while he endeavour'd to justify his proceedings and at the same time to preserve the respect which was owing to the King protesting always that he was most ready to
he was the person by whom this young man who was under his charge had been advis'd and was afterwards confirm'd in this his execrable resolution For which reason being taken with Arms in his hand three Months after at the assault of the Fauxbourgs of Paris his process was made and though he obstinately deny'd it to his Death which he suffer'd with a wonderfull resolution yet since he cou'd not convince the Witnesses of falsehood who Swore against him he was judg'd according to the forms of Justice as he himself acknowledg'd and drawn in pieces by four Horses according to the decree of the Parliament sitting at Tours Howsoever it were 't is certain that the greatest part of those outrageous Preachers of the League said altogether as much as what was alledg'd against the Prior for Monsieur Anthoine Loysel has left it Written in his Journal that on the very same day whereon the King was Wounded and before the news of it was come to Paris he heard at St. Merry the Sermon of Doctour Boucher who said by way of consolation to his Auditours that as on that day namely the first of August when the Feast of St. Peter in Prison is celebrated God had deliver'd that Apostle from the hands of Herod so they ought to hope he had the like mercy in store for them And immediately made no scruple to maintain this damnable proposition to them that it was an action of great merit to kill an Heretique King or a favourer of Heretiques The rest of the same fraternity of Preachers joyning in the Consort on the same day held forth in the Pulpits with more violence than ever against Henry de Valois and gave the people says the same undeniable Witness a hope almost in the nature of a certainty that God wou'd speedily deliver them which gave just occasion for many to believe that the devilish design of that Assasinate had been communicated to them And when it was known that the Blow was given it was order'd that publique Prayers shou'd be made in all the Churches of the City together with a solemn action of thanksgiving to Almighty God For a whole Week together they made Processions from all the Parishes to the Church of the Iacobins and exhorted the people to distribute their Alms liberally to the Religious of that Cloyster for the sake of Fryer Iaques Clement as also to extend their Charity to his poor Relations To conclude Doctour Roze Bishop of Senlis an old man and most outragious Leaguer Preach'd there according to the direction of the Council of Sixteen which was sent in Tickets to all the Preachers in the City on Sunday the sixth of August wherein they were appointed to insist particularly on three Heads which I will here set down as they are express'd in the Tickets themselves that it may be notorious with what an Egyptian blindness that infamous Cabal of the League was then struck Take them in their own Words 1. You are to justifie the action of the Iacobin because it is a parallel to that of Iudith so much magnifi'd in the Holy Scriptures For he who hears not the Church ought to be accounted as an Heathen or an Holofernes 2. Cry out against those who say that the King of Navarre is to be receiv'd in case he goes to Mass Because he can be but an Usurper of the Kingdom being Excommunicated and also standing excluded from that of Navarre 3. Exhort the Magistracy to publish against all those who shall maintain the King of Navarre that they are attainted of the crime of Heresie and as such to proceed against them But after all these doings this brutal joy of the Leaguers for the Death of Henry the Third was immediately after turn'd into sadness and at the last into despair by the wise management and incomparable valour of his Successour Henry de Bourbon to whom God had preordain'd the Glory of restoring the happiness of France by the utter destruction of the Leagâ—e which had laid it desolate The relation of which is the Business of the fourth and last part of my present History THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE LIB IV. THough Henry King of Navarre whom the deceas'd King had at his Death declar'd his Lawful Successor immediately took upon himself the Soveraign Title of King of France yet was he not acknowledg'd for such at the same time by the whole Army The Hugonots whom he had brought to the Assistance of his Predecessor were the first to render him Homage as no ways doubting but that the World was now their own and that Calvinism shou'd be the predominant Religion in France under a Protestant King But this very Consideration gave great trouble and anxiety of Mind to that prudent Prince who plainly saw that the Catholicks foreseeing this Misfortune of which they were extreamly apprehensive might possibly reunite themselves against him and that the Huguenots who were without Comparison the weaker Party cou'd never be able to support him on the Throne In effect there was during all that day and the whole night following a great Contestation of Opinions amongst the Catholique Lords of the Army in relation to this Affair Many of them who consider'd more their private Interest than the publique Good were deâ—irous to make advantage of a Juncture so favourable for the establishment of their Fortunes and to sell their Obedience at the highest Rate they cou'd by raising their Governments into Principalities which had been to cantonize the Monarchy There were great numbers of them led by different Motives some by a true Zeal for Religion others by the Aversion which they had for this new King which they disguis'd with a specious pretence of Zeal who wou'd absolutely have it that he shou'd instantly declare himself a Catholique which cou'd not possibly be done either with the Kings Honour or with Provision of security to the Catholiques because too much of Constraint was evident in such an Action Some there were also who maintain'd that since his Birth and the Fundamental Law of the Land had brought him to the Throne of which his Heroick Virtues had render'd him most worthy it was their Duty to acknowledge him and to obey him chearfully without imposing on him the least Conditions But this was it which the greatest part of them thought too dangerous to Religion which they were unwilling to hazard by such a Complement In conclusion after this important Affair had been throughly examin'd in the Kings Council and in the general Assembly of the Catholique Princes and Lords which was held in the Lodgings of Francis de Luxembourg Duke de Piney they came to an Agreement the next Morning by holding a just Temperament betwixt the two Extreams For without insisting on their private Interests that they might act frankly and like Gentlemen it was determin'd that the King shou'd be acknowledg'd but upon condition that he shou'd cause himself to be instructed within six months time by the most able