Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	king_n	prince_n	subject_n	3,995	5	6.4954	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49221	The French king's decree against Protestants, prohibiting them the exercise of their religion, &c. to which is added a brief and true account of the cruel persecution and inhumane oppressions of those of the reformed religion to make them abjure and apostatize : together with the form of abjuration the revolting Protestants are to subscribe and swear to, and a declaration of his Electoral Highness of Brandenburgh ... : also a letter from Father La Chese ... to Father Petre ... / newly translated from the French.; Edit de révocation de l'Edit de Nantes. English	France.; Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, 1620-1688.; La Chaise, François d'Aix de, 1624-1709.; Louis XIV, King of France, 1638-1715.	1689 (1689)	Wing L3117; ESTC R2440	33,019	41

Council for Authorizing and Establishing of the said places for Exercise notwithstanding III. We likewise Prohibit all Lords of what condition soever they may be to have any Publick Exercise in their Houses and Fiess of what quality soever the said Fiess may be upon penalty to all Our said Subjects who shall have the said Exercises performed in their Houses or otherwise of Confiscation of Body and Goods IV. We do strictly Charge and Command all Ministers of the said Pretended Reformed Religion who are not willing to be Converted and to embrace the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion to depart out of our Kingdom and Countries under our Obedience 15 days after the Publication hereof so as not to continue there beyond the said term or within the same to Preach Exhort or perform any other Ministerial Function upon pain of being sent to the Galleys V. Our Will and Pleasure is That those Ministers who shall be Converted do continue to enjoy during their Lives and their Widows after their Decease as long as they continue so the same Exemptions from Payments and Quartering of Souldiers which they did enjoy during the time of their Exercise of the Ministerial Function Moreover We will cause to be paid to the said Ministers during their Lives a Pension which by a third part shall exceed the appointed Allowance to them as Ministers the half of which Pension shall be continued to their Wives after their Decease as long as they shall continue in the state of Widow-hood VI. And in case any of the said Ministers shall be willing to become Advocates or to take the Degree of Doctors in Law we Will and Understand that they be dispensed with as to the three Years of Study which are prescribed by our Declarations as requisite in order to the taking of the said Degree and that after they have pass'd the ordinary Examinations they be forthwith received as Doctors paying only the Moiety of those dues which are usually paid upon that account in every University VII We Prohibit any particular Schools for Instructing the Children of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion and in general all other things whatsoever which may Import a Concession of what kind soever in favour of the said Religion VIII And as to the Children which shall for the future be Born of those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion Our Will and Pleasure is That henceforward they be Baptized by the Curates of our Parishes strictly charging their respective Fathers and Mothers to take care they be sent to Church in order thereto upon Forfeiture of 500 Livres or more as it shall happen Futhermore Our Will is That the said Children be afterwards Educated and brought up in the Catholick Apostolick and Roman Religion and give an express Charge to all Our Justices to take care the same be performed accordingly IX And for a Mark of our Clemency towards those of our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion who have retired themselves out of our Kingdom Countries and Territories before the Publication of this our present Edict Our Will and Meaning is That in case they return thither again within the time of four Months from the time of the Publication hereof they may and it shall be lawful for them to Re-enter upon the Possession of their Goods and Estates and enjoy the same in like manner as they might have done in case they had always continued upon the place And on the contrary that the Goods of all those who within the said time of four months shall not return into our Kingdom Countries or Territories under our Obedience which they have forsaken remain and be Confiscated in pursuance of our Declaration of the 20th of August last X. We most expresly and strictly forbid all our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion them their Wives or Children to depart out of our said Kingdom Countries Territories under our Obedience or to Transport thence their Goods or Effects upon Penalty of the Gally for Men and Confiscation of Body and Goods for Women XI Our Will and Meaning is That the Declaration made against those who shall relapse be Executed upon them according to their Form and Tenor. ☞ Moreover those of the said Pretended Reformed Religion in the mean time till it shall Please God to enlighten them as well as others may abide in the several respective Cities and Places of our Kingdoms Countries and Territories under our Obedience and there continue their Commerce and enjoy their Goods and Estates without being any way molested upon account of the said Pretended Reformed Religion upon condition nevertheless as aforementioned that they do not use any publick Religious Exercise nor assemble themselves upon the account of Prayer or Worship of the said Religion of what kind soever the same may be upon forfeiture above specified of Body and Goods Accordingly We Will and Command our Trusty and Beloved Counsellors the people holding our Courts of Aids at Paris Bayliffs Chief Justices Provosts and other our Justices and Officers to whom it appertains and to their Lieutenants that they cause to be Read Published and Registred this Our present Edict in their Courts and Jurisdictions even in Vacation time and the same keep punctually without contrevening or suffering the same to be contrevened for such is Our Will and Pleasure And to the end to make it a thing firm and stable we have caused Our Seal to be put to the same Given at Fountainbleau in the Month of October in the Year of Grace 1685 and of Our Reign the XLIII Signed LEWES Le Tellier VISA This signifies the Lord Chancellors Perusal Sealed with the Great Seal of Green-wax upon a Red and Green string of Silk REgistred and Published the King's Attorney General requiring it in order to their being Executed according to Form and Tenor and the Copies being Examined and Compared sent to the several Courts of Justice Bailywicks and Sheriffs Courts of each District to be there Entred and Registred in like manner and charge given to the Deputies of the said Attorney General to take care to see the same Executed and put in Force and to certifie the Court thereof At Paris in the Court of Vacations the 22th of October 1685. Signed De la Baune A Letter of the French KING to the Elector of Brandenburgh Sept. 6. 1666. Brother I Would not have discoursed the Matter You write to Me about on the behalf of My Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion with any other Prince besides Your Self But to shew You the particular Esteem I have for You I shall begin with telling You that some Persons disaffected to my Service have spread Seditious Pamphlets among Strangers as if the Acts and Edicts that were Pass'd in favour of My said Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion by the Kings My Predecessors and Confirm'd by My Self were not kept and executed in My Dominions which would have been contrary to My Intentions for I take care that they

THE French King's DECREE AGAINST Protestants Prohibiting them the Exercise of their Religion c. To which is added A Brief and True Account of the Cruel PERSECVTION and inhumane Oppressions of those of the Reformed Religion to make them Abjure and Apostatize Together with the Form of Abjuration the Revolting Protestants are to Subscribe and Swear to And a Declaration of his Electoral Highness of Brandenburgh in favour of those of the Reformed Religion who shall think fit to settle themselves in any of his Dominions Also a Letter from Father la Chese Confessor to the French King to Father Petre Jesuit and Great Almoner to the King of England upon the Method or Rule he must observe with His Majesty for the Conversion of His Protestant Subjects in England c. Newly Translated from the French. Licensed January 18. 1688 9. London Printed for the Author and Sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1689. A Decree of the King Prohibiting all Publick Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion in his Kingdom wherein he Recalls and totally Annuls the perpetual and irrevocable Edict of King Henry IV his Grandfather given at Nantes full of most gracious Concessions to Protestants LEWES by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre to all present and to come Greeting King Henry the Great Our Grand-Father of Glorious Memory desiring to prevent that the Peace which he had procured for his Subjects after the great Losses they had sustained by the long continuance of Civil and Foreign Wars might not be disturbed by occasion of the Pretended Reformed Religion as it had been during the Reign of the Kings his Predecessors had by his Edict given at Nantes in the Month of April 1598. regulated the Conduct which was to be observed with Respect to those of the said Religion the Places where they might publickly exercise the same appointed extraordinary Judges to administer Justice to them And lastly also by several distinct Articles provided for every thing which he judged needful for the maintenance of Peace and Tranquility in his Kingdom and to diminish the Aversion which was between those of the One and Other Religion and this to the end that he might be in a better condition for the taking some effectual Course which he was resolved to do to re-unite those again to the Church who upon so slight Occasions had withdrawn themselves from it And forasmuch as this intention of the King Our said Grand-Father could not be effected by reason of his sudden and precipitated Death and that the Execution of the foresaid Edict was interrupted during the Minority of the late King Our most Honored Lord and Father of glorious Memory by reason of some new Enterprizes of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion whereby they gave occasion for their being deprived of several Advantages which had been granted to them by the aforesaid Edict notwithstanding the King Our said late Lord and Father according to his wonted Clemency granted them another Edict at Nismes in the Month of July 1629 by means of which the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom being now again Re established the said late King being animated with the same Spirit and Zeal for Religion as the King Our said Grand-Father was resolved to make good Use of this Tranquility by endeavouring to put this Pious Design in Execution but Wars abroad coming on a few years after so that from the Year 1635. to the Truce which was concluded with the Princes of Europe in 1684. the Kingdom having been only for some short Intervals altogether free from Troubles it was not possible to do any other thing for the Advantage of Religion save only to diminish the number of Places permitted for the Exercise of the Pretended Reformed Religion as well by the Interdiction of those which were found Erected in prejudice to the Disposal made in the said Edict as by suppressing the Mixt Chambers of Judicature which were composed of an equal number of Papists and Protestants the Erecting of which was only done by Provision and to serve the present Exigency Whereas therefore at length it hath pleased God to grant that Our Subjects enjoying a perfect Peace and We Our selves being no longer taken up with the Cares of Protecting them against our Enemies are now in a Condition to make good Use of the said Truce which we have on purpose facilitated in order to the applying our selves entirely to the searching out of Means which might successfully effect and accomplish the Design of the Kings Our said Grand-father and Father and which also hath been * Our Intention ever since we came to the Crown We see at present not without a just Acknowledgment of what We owe to God on that Account that Our Endeavours have attained the End We propos'd to Our selves for as much as the greater and better part of Our Subjects of the said Pretended Reformed Religion have already embraced the Catholick and since by means thereof the Execution of the Edict of Nantes and of all other Ordinances in favour of the said Pretended Reformed Religion is become useless We judge that We can do nothing better towards the entire effacing of the Memory of those Troubles Confusions and Mischief which the Progress of that false Religion have been the cause of in Our Kingdom and which have given occasion to the said Edict and to so many other Edicts and Declarations which went before it or were made since with reference thereto than by a Total Revocation of the said Edict of Nantes and the particular Articles and Concessions granted therein and whatsoever else hath been Enacted since in favour of the said Religion I. We make known that We for these and other Reasons Usthereto moving and of Our certain Knowledge full Power and Authority Royal have by the present Perpetual and Irrevocable Edict Suppressed and Annulled do Suppress and Annul the Edict of the King Our said Grand-Father given at Nantes in April 1598. in its whole extent together with the particular Articles ratified May 2. next following and Letters Patent granted thereupon as likewise the Edict given at Nismes in July 1629. declaring them null and void as if they had never been Enacted together with all the Concessions granted in them as well as other Declarations Edicts and Arrests to those of the Pretended Reformed Religion of what Nature soever they may be which shall all continue as if they never had been And in pursuance hereof We Will and it is Our Pleasure That all the Churches of those of the Pretended Reformed Religion scituate in Our Kingdom Countries Lands and Dominions belonging to Us be forth with demolish'd II. We forbid our Subjects of the Pretended Reformed Religion to Assemble themselves for time to come in order to the Exercise of their Religion in any Place or House under what pretext soever whether the said Places have been granted by the Crown or permitted by the Judges of particular places any Arrests of Our

be maintained in all the Priviledges which have been Granted them and be as kindly us'd as My Other Subjects To this I am Engaged both by My Royal Word and in Acknowledgment of the Proofs they have given Me of their Loyalty during the late Troubles in which they took up Arms for My Service and did vigorously Oppose and successfully Overthrow the ill Designs which a Rebellious Party were contriving within My own Dominions against My Authority Royal. I pray God c. BROTHER c. A short Account of the Violent Proceedings and unheard of Cruelties which have been Exercised upon those of Montauban and which continue to be put in Practice in other Places against those of the Reformed Religion in France for to make them Renounce their Religion ON Saturday the 18 ●th of August 1685. the Intendant of the Upper Guienne who Resides at Montauban having Summoned the Principal Protestants of the said City to come before him represented unto them That they could not be ignorant that the Absolute Will and Pleasure of the King was to Tolerate but One Religion in his Kingdom viz. The Roman Catholick Religion and therefore wished them readily to comply with the same And in order thereto advised them to Assemble themselves and consider what Resolution they would take To this Resolution some answer'd That there was no need of their Assembling themselves upon that Account for a smuch as every one of them in particular were to Try and Examine themselves and be alwaies in a readiness to give a reason of the Faith which was in them The next Day the Intendant again commanded them to Meet together in the Town House which he ordered should be left free for them from Noon till Six of the Clock in the Evening Where meeting accordingly they Unanimously resolved as they had Lived so to persist till Death in their Religion Which Resolution of theirs there were some Deputed by them to declare to the Intendant who presenting themselves before him he who was appointed Spokesman began to Address himself to the Intendant in these Words My Lord We are not unacquainted how we are menaced with the greatest Violence Hold there said the Intendant interrupting him No Violence After this the Protestant continued But whatever Force or Violence may be put upon us Here the Intendant interrupting him again said I forbid you to use any such Words Upon which Second Interruption he contented himself to assure him in few Words That they were all resolved to Live and Die in their Religion The Day after the Battalion of La Ferre consisting of 16 Companies entred the City and were followed by many more The testants all this while dreaming of no other Design they had against them but that of ruining their Estates and Impoverishing them had already taken some Measures how to bear the said Tryal they had made a Common Purse for the Relief of such who should be most burthen'd with Quartering and were come to a Resolution to possess what they had in Common But Alas how far these poor Souls were mistaken in their Accounts and how different the Treatment they received from the Dragoons was from what they had expected I shall now Relate to you First therefore in order to their Executing the Design and Project they had formed against them they made the Souldiers take up their Quarters in one certain place of the City but withal appointed several Corp de Guards to cut off the Communication which One part of the City might have with the Other and possess'd themselves of the Gates that none might make their Escape Things being thus ordered the Troopers Souldiers and Dragoons began to practise all manner of Hostilities and Cruelties wherewith the Devil can Inspire the most In human and Reprobate Minds They mar●'d and defac'd their Houshold stuff broke their Looking-Glasses and other like Utensils and Ornaments they let their Wine run about their Cellars cast abroad and spoil'd their Corn and other Alimentary Provisions And as for those things which they could not break and dash to pieces as the Furniture of Beds Hangings Tapistry Linnen Wearing Apparel Plate and Things of the like Nature these they carried to the Market-place where the Jesuits bought them of the Souldiers and encouraged Roman Catholicks to do the like They did not stick to Sell the very Houses of such who were most resolute and constant in their Profession It is supposed according to a Moderate Calculation that in the time of four or five daies the Protestants of that City were the poorer by a Million of Money than they were before the entring of these Missionaries There were Souldiers who demanded Four hundred Crowns apiece of their Hosts for spending-Money and many Protestants were forced to pay down Ten Pistols to each Souldier upon the some Account In the mean time the outrages they committed upon their Persons were most detestable and Barbarous I shall only here set down some few of which I have been particularly inform'd A certain Taylor called Bearnois was bound and drag'd by the Souldiers to the Corp de Guard where they Boxed and Buffetted him all Night all which blows and Indignities he suffered with the greatest constancy Imaginable The Troopers who Quartered with Monsieur Solignac made his Dining Room a Stable for their Horses tho the Furniture of it was Valued at 10000 Livres and forc'd him to turn the Broach till his Arm was near burnt by their continual casting of Wood upon the Fire A Passenger as he went through the said City saw some Souldiers beating a poor Man even to Death for to force him to go to Mass whilst the constant Martyr to his last Breath cryed He would never do it and only requested they would Dispatch and make an end of him The Barons of Caussade and De la Motte whose Constancy and Piety might have inspired Courage and Resolution to the rest of the Citizens were sent away to Cahors Monsieur D' Alliez one of the prime Gentlemen of Montanban being a Venerable Old Man found so ill Treatment at their hands as it 's thought he will scarcely escape with Life Monsieur De Garrison who was one of the most considerable Men of that City and an intimate Friend of the Intendant went and cast himself at his Feet imploring his Protection and conjuring him to rid him of his Souldiers that he might have no force put upon his Conscience adding That in Recompence of the Favour he beg'd of him He would willingly give him all he had which was to the Value of about a Million of Livres but by all his Entreaties and Proffers he could not in the least prevail with the Intendant who gave order that for a Terror to the meaner sort he should be worse used than the rest by dragging him along the Streets The Method they most commonly made use of for to make them Abjure their Religion and which could not be the product of any thing but Hell was this

Neither is it any great wonder if amidst these sore Tryals vast numbers of those who made Profession of the Gospel do now Renounce and forsake it We know that all have not Faith and it is more than probable that they who do not follow Christ but because they Thrive by it and for the Loaves will cease to be of his Retinue when he is about to oblige them to bear his Cross and deny themselves But that which seems Inconceivable to me is that our Enemies should pitch upon such strange ways and methods to destroy us as they have done and that in so doing they should meet with a success so prodigious and doleful I shall as briefly as I can endeavour to give you an account of so much as I have understood of it All those thundring Declarations and destructive Arrests which continually were Sued for and obtain'd against us and which were Executed with the Extremity of Rigour were scarce able to move any one of us The forbidding of our Publick Exercises the demolishing of our Churches and the severe Injunction that not so much as Two or Three of us should dare to Assemble in order to any thing of Divine worship had no other effect upon the far greater part of us than to Inflame our Zeal instead of abating it obliging us to Pray to God with greater Fervor and Devotion in our Closets and to Meditate of his Word with greater Application and Attention And neither the great wants to which we were reduced by being depriv'd of our Offices and Imploys and all other means of Living and by those insupportable charges with which they strove to over-whelm us as well by Taxes as the Quartering of Souldiers both which were as heavy as could be laid upon us nor the continual trouble we were put to by Criminal or other matters of Law which at the Suit of one or other were still laid to our charge tho upon the most frivolous and unjust pretences imaginable I say all these were not able to wear out our Patience which was hardned against all Calam●ties insomuch as the design of forcing us to abandon the Truth of the Gospel would Infallibly have been Ship-wrack'd if no other means had been taken in hand for this purpose But Alas Our Enemies were too Ingenious to be bank'd so and had taken out Ruine too much to Heart not to study for means effectual and proper to bring-about their desires They call'd to mind what Prodigious success a new kind of Persecution had had of late Years in Pocton Aunix and Xaintonge which the Intendants of those places had bethought themselves of and they made no difficulty to have Recourse to the same as to a means Infallible and not to be doubted of I must tell you Sir That we had not the least thought that ever such violent Methods as these would have been pitched upon as the means of our Conversion We were always of Opinion that none but Dennuieux's and Marillacs could be fit Instruments for such like Enterprizes neither could we ever have Imagin'd that Generals of Armies who account it a Shame and Reproach to Attack and take some paultry Town or Village should ever debase themselves to Besiege Old Men Women and Children in their own Houses or that ever Souldiers who think themselves ennobled by their Swords should degrade themselves so far as to take up the Trade of Butchers and Hangmen by tormenting poor Innocents and inflicting all sorts of Punishments upon them Moreover we were the less in expectation of any such thing because at the self-same time they Treated us in this manner they would needs perswade us That the King's Councel had disapproved the Design And indeed it seem'd very probably to us that all Reasons whether taken from Humanity Piety or Interest would have made them disavow and condemn a Project so Inhumane and Barbarous Yet now by Experience we find it but too true that our Enemies are so far from rejecting the said Design that they carry it on with an unparell'd Zeal and Application without giving themselves any further trouble to effectuate their Desires than that of doing these two things The First of which was to Lull us asleep and to take away from us all matter of Suspition of the mischief they were hatching against us which they did by permitting some of our Publick Exercises of Religion by giving way to our Building of some Churches by settling Ministers in divers places to Baptize our Children and by publishing several Arrests and Declarations which did intimate to us that we had reason to hope we should yet Subsist for some Years Such was that Declaration by which all Ministers were ordered to change their Churches every three years The other was to secure all the Sea-Ports of the Kingdom so as none might make their escape which was done by renewing the Antient Prohibitions of departing the Kingdom without leave but with the addition of far more severe Penalties After these precautions thus taken they thought themselves no longer oblig'd to keep any measures but immediately lift up the hand to give the last blow for our Ruine The Intendents had order to represent to us That the King was resolved to suffer no other Religion in his Kingdom besides his own and to Command us all in his Name readily to Embrace the same without allowing us any longer respite to consider what we had to do than a few days nay hours threatning us That if we continued obstinate they would force us to it by the extremity of Rigour and presently Executing these their Menaces by filling our Houses with Souldiers to whom we were to be left for a Prey and who not content with entirely Ruining of us should besides exercise upon our Persons all the Violence and Cruelty they could possibly devise And all this to overcome our Constancy and Perseverance Four Months are now past and gone since they began to make use of this strange and horrible way of Converting People worthy of and well becoming its Inventors The Country of Bearne was first set upon as being one of the most considerable Out-parts of the Kingdom to the end that this mischievous enterprize gaining strength in its passage might soon after over-whelm and as it were deluge all the other Provinces in the same Sea of the uttermost calamity Monsieur Foucaut the Intendant went himself in Person to all the places where we were in any numbers and commanded all the Inhabitants that were of the Protestant Religion under the Penalty of great amercements to Assemble themselves in those places he appointed to them where being accordingly met together he charged them in the Kings Name to change their Religion allowing them only a day or two to dispose themselves for it He told them The great numbers of Souldiers were at hand to compel those that should refuse to yield a ready obedience and this threatning of his being immediately followed by the Effect as Lightning is by Thunder