Paragraphe I.

EUrope, the least of the three parts of the world known to the ancient Geogra­phers, and the most Northerly, but the most populous, and that within which almost all Christendom is comprehended, hath on the South the Mediterranean Sea, and part of the Ocean, and begins at the Cap St. Vincent, in the extremity of Portugal, in the Kingdom of Algarba, near the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea begins, which takes several names, as it toucheth upon severall Provinces, as Spain, France, Italy, Sicily, Greece. The Isle of Candie is the utmost of Europe that way, and it is divided from Africa by the Me­diterranean Sea.

Eastward ascending to the North, Europe is bounded again by the Mediterranean Sea, under the names of the Aegean Sea, called now Archipelago, Hellospont now Burdanelles, or the Strait of Gallipoli, Propontis now Mar de Marmora, Bosphorus, Thracius now the Strait of Constantinople, Pontus Euxinus now the black Sea, or Mar major. Higher it is bounded by Meotides Paludes, and the River Tanais, now [Page 8] Don, remounting to its spring. And thence­forward a line is imagined drawne to the North, butting either at the Golph of St. Ni­cholas, or some such other place thereabout, in the great Duke of Moscovia's Country: for that nothern Tract unknown to ancient Geo­graphers is yet so little knowne, that the li­mits of Europe that way, could never be well assigned.

On all the East-side, Europe neighboureth upon the great Asia, and is Occidentall to it.

On the North-side, ancient Geographers have set no limits to Europe, but have com­prehended these Nothern extremities either under the name of Hyperborean hills, although there be no hills in that Tract; or under the name of Mare Glaciale or the frozen Sea, which we may take from the Golph of St. Ni­col [...]s; or the mouth of the River Oby, unto the Sea which is about Norway and Finmarch, and so towards the Isles of Freezland and Island. On that side, Europe buts upon the Pole, and is not near any considerable Lands, some few Ilands onely, ill inhabited, as Nova Zembla, and Niewland.

On the West-side, Europe hath the great Ocean, from the Iles of Freesland and Is-land, to the Cap of St. Vincent, which is the extre­mity of Portugal. And that Ocean takes di­vers [Page 9]names according to the divers Coun­tries that it toucheth; as the Britannique I­lands, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Ze­land, Flanders, the Strait of Calais, the coasts of Normandy, Brittain, Poitou, Saintonge, Gui­enne, the golph of Bayonne, the coasts of Biscay, Gallicia, Portugal, Algerke, to the Cap St. Vin­cent.

These are the limits, and as it were the four walls which inclose all that is comprehend­ed under the name of Europe. The length whereof may be taken from the Cap St. Vin­cent, to the golph S. Nicholas, or the mouth of the River Oby, which is two thousand French common leagues, or as far north-ward as one will. The breadth, from Morea, towards the Isle Cythera, to the North towards Finmarch and Lapland, which is twelve of fifteen hun­dred leagues.

A more exact description of the Topogra­phy of each Country is not for this place. Here only we will enumerate the States, con­tained within that extent, and that but in the great; as much as is necessary to understand that which belongs to the two Houses of France and Austria, the most considerable of Europe, of Christendom at least.

We shall be begin that enumeration by the West, and from thence passing to the East, we shall turn to the North, and there end.

Paragraphe II.

The first Prince on the West of Europe, is the King of Spain, who beares the name of the House of Austria, besides that which he hath in Africa, and in the East and West Indies. Be­sides a number infinite of Ilands, Caps, & Ha­vens, from the Isles Azores, to the Cap of good hope, and from that Cap to the extremity of the East, towards the Molukes and Philippine Ilands.

1. That which he holds in Europe, is com­prehended in that Peninsula enclosed within the Ocean, the Med terranean Sea, and the Pyrenean hills under several names of King­domes, as we shall say in the following Chap­ter. And these distinguisht into three general Jurisdictions, of Castilia, Arragon, and Portu­gal. It is true that since the late Wars, the revolts of Portugal and Catalonia, have clipt so much of his Domtnions, and the French have taken from him the County of Roussillon.

2. Upon the coasts of Spain, he possesseth the two Baleares, Mallorca, and Minorca, and the two Ilands in old time called Ophiusae, now Ivica and Fromentera.

3. In Italy, he hath all the Kingdom of Na­ples, which is almost the half of it; and the most Easterly part from Cajeta or Fondi, to the golph of Tarento, and the Strait of Messina.

4. In the same Italy, he hath the Dutchy of Milan, with the territories of Pavia, Tortona, Cremona, &c.

5. Upon the coasts of the Tuscan Sea, he hath Final, Piombino, Porto Hercule, and Orbi­tello. Of late, the Prince of Monaco hath sha­ken off his yoak. In Toscana, the great Duke of Florence doth him homage for the Com­mon-wealth of Siena, and oweth him ser­vice.

6. In that Sea about Italy, he hath the Isles of Sardima, and Sicily, and is soveraign of the Isle of Malta (which the old Geographers reckon among the African Ilands). The great Master of that Iland, oweth him some ho­mage for it.

7. In the Celtique Gaule he hath the Franche County, or the County of Burgundy; and in the Dutchy of Burgundy, he hath the County of Charrolois.

8. In the Belgique Gaule, he hath possest, till the end of the last age, all that was com­prehended under the name of the seventeen Provinces. He keeps to this day the Dutchies of Luxemburg & Limburg, the Dutchy of Bra­bant, but pared about by the losse of Mae­stritcht, the Bose Breda and Bergupzom; part of the Dutchy of Guelders, the Counties of Na­mur, Hainant, Artois, and Flanders, all maim­ed with the losse of some limbs, by our late [Page 12]Wars. Also the Marquisat of the holy Empire, which is Antwerp, and the Principality of Mechlen: The remnant of these seventeen Provinces, is in the hand of the States of the united Provinces, besides that which the King of France hath taken.

In all that large extent of Lands, the Spa­niard suffereth the exercise of no Religion but the Roman. Though he go for a great sove­raign, yet many of his Lands depend from o­other Princes. The See of Rome hath great pretences upon the soveraignty of Arragon: Heacknowledgerh without contradiction, the soveraignty of the Church over his Kingdom of Naples: Yet it is pretended that he oweth the same homage for Sicily. For the Dutchy of Milan, and other Lands, which he holds in Italy, he must acknowledge the Empire, from which he hath received the investiture of the same. Franche County, is an imperiall fee; as also the Provinces of Netherland not depending of France, did owe homage to the Empire: And in the year 1608. when the truce was made between Spain and Holland; these two States disputing of their soveraign­ty in the first Article, the Emperour Rodol­phus framed an opposition against that Ar­ticle, and claimed the soveraignty as belong­ing to the Empire, but the Treaty past without any reflection to that claim. Finally, although [Page 13]the Spaniard acknowledge our Kings no more, neither for Flanders nor for Artois, it is not well resolved yet, by what right he hath shaken off the yoak; and the French pretend that the Treaties of Madrid, Cambray, and Crespy in Va­lois, which contain that cession, have not been authorized by the generall States of France.

The King of Spain being possessor of such a great extent of Lands, is a neighbor to most of the Christian Princes, as will be shewed more at large in the second Chapter, and hath alwaies some difference with them. The now King of Spain, is Phillip the IV. of the Roman Religion.

Paragraphe III.

Here we will look upon the King of France, whose state is comprehended in the old Gal­ly, Narbonensis, Aquitanica, Celtica, and Bel­gica; yet doth he not possess them all: the whole Narbonensis belongs to him, excep­ting Avignon, Nice, Savoy, Geneva, and Orenge. The whole Aquitanica is his, since the small principality of Bearn (which with small rea­son hath been pretended to be soveraign in her Rights and Customs) hath been united to the Crown, and began to have the same Prince, by the coming of Henry the fourth to the Crown. The whole Celtica belongs like­wise to the King of France, excepting onely [Page 14]the Franch County, and the imperial Town of Besancon.

Of the Belgica, the King of France hath the least part, The Ile of France, Pays de Caux Bou­lonnois, Picardi, Beau-voisis Champagne, Brie; And by good or bad title, the Towns of Mets, Thoul, and Verdun; of which in the first inva­sion, he declared himselfe Protector onely. By the late Wars, he hath made himself Ma­ster of most part of Lorrain, of the Town of Brisach, and of other Towns of Alsatia, beyond the Rhine.

The subjects of the King of France, are commonly Roman Catholiques, yet Prote­stants are tolerated in the State.

The King of France is neighbouring upon Spain, by the Pyrenean hills. On that side the French and the Spaniards have not much trou­bled one another but of late yeares, in which the French have unfortunately attempted Spain about Fontarabie; but fortunately about Roussillon and Catalonia. But about the Low Countries, and Franche County, which lie open to both the Nations, there hath been much stir and action.

On the side of Provence and Daulphine, the Duke of Savoy is neighbour to France; for Savoy and Piemont joyn to the foresaid Pro­vinces. The County of Avignon belonging to the Pope, is inclosed within Provence. By [Page 15] Daulphine, the French touch the Common­wealth of Geneva. By the Country of Bresse, and the Bailliages of Gez and Verromey, they enter within Switzerland, into the Canton of Berne. By Champagne they have the Duke of Lorraine for their neighbour; but now they are possest of his Country. So all their neigh­bours are weak, the King of Spain excepted. The present King of France, is Lewis the XIV. of the Roman profession.

Paragraphe IV.

In this Paragraphewe will set downe all the Princes contained within the ancient Gaules, besides the King of France.

1. In Gallia Narbonensis, the Duke of Savoy holds the Dutchie of Savoy, the Countries of Chablais and Tarantaise, and the Towne of Chambery; and upon the Sea coast neare the River of Var, the Town and County of Nice, which was sometimes a member of Provence, and being upon the River of Var, it is partly in France, partly in Italy.

2. The Pope holds the County of Venaissyn or Avignon, an ancient member of Provence, with the four Bishopricks belonging to it, A­vignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon, and Vezon. There also is Orenge, belonging to the House of Nassau.

3. The City of Geneva with her Territory, [Page 16]made her selfe a soveraign Common-wealth about the year 1535. when the Duke of Sa­voy, the Bishop of Geneva, and the City being in contention about their right, the Citizens changed Religion, forced the Bishop to fly, and shut their Gates against the Duke of Sa­voy. But indeed that Towne, and all the o­ther States, were pieces depending from the Empire. But the Emperours power being by succession of time confined within Germany onely, retain almost nothing out of it, but the shade of their ancient authority.

4. In the Celtique Gaule, Franch County be­longs to the King of Spain,

5. The City of Besancon, inclosed within Franch County, is an imperial City.

6. Then many little soveraign Princes; the chiefe of them, the thirteen Cantons of the Suitzers, inclosed within the Alpes, between Franch County and the Rhine. Of them, four are Protestants; Berne (which alone is almost as large as all the others) Basel, Zurick, and Schaffouse, which is a Town beyond the Rhine. Seven Catholique (as they style them­selves) two greater, Friburg and Soleurre, and the five little Cantons, Uri, Switz, Underwall, Lucerne; and Zough, and two halfe Catholick, half Protestants, Glaris and Appenzel. All these Common-wealths making one body of State, have their Associates; the Abbot of Saint [Page 17]Gall, the commonalties of Valley, and the Bi­shop of Sion, with some other Towns, and be­yond the Rhine, the three Leagues of the Gri­sons.

7. To these adde many pieces about the Rhine, which are held to be parts of Germany, as the County of Montbeliard, which the Kings of France have bought of late years of the Dukes of Wirtinberg. Alsatia beyond the Rhine, which did belong to the House of Au­stria, and consisteth of imperial Towns, and other Towns which the King of France now holds. Then the Palatinate on this side of the Rhine, which is now partly in the hands of the Spaniards, partly in that of the King of France and the Protestants.

8. The Dutchy of Lorrain, which before ac­knowledged the Duke, is now almost altoge­ther in the King of Frances his hands.

9. The principality of Liege, is depending from the Bishoprick thereof.

10. The Dutchy of Juliers, and great part of the Dutchy of Cleves, now divided be­tween the Dukes of Newburg, and the Mar­quess of Brandenburg.

11. The Arch-bishoprick of Treues on both sides of the River of Mosella.

12. The seventeen Provinces of Netherland, four of which are Dutchies, Brabant, Luxem­bourg, Limbourg, and Guelderland. They be­long [Page 18]to the Spaniard, part of Guelderland ex­cepted, and some Towns of Brabant; the Mar­quisat of the holy Empire, which is the Town of Antwerp. Seven Counties, Namur, Hainault, Artois, Flanders. These four are in the hands of the Spaniard, excepting that which the French hold in Artois and Hainault; and the sluce and other places which the Hollanders hold in Flanders. The three other Counties are, Zeland, Holland, and Zutphen. There are five Lordships more, Mechlen which the Spa­niard holds, and Utrecht, Overissell, West-Fries­land, and Groning, which are possest by the Hollanders. All these are commonly called the seventeen Provinces of Netherlands, and the Belgique Gaule, although some of them be out of the extent of Gaule, and beyond the Rhine, as Overissel, Friesland, Groning, and part of Guelderland. All these estates contain­ed within the extent of Gaule, are of no great importance, neither are they able to resist the French, excepting those that are in the hand of the Spaniard, or protected by the Empire. To these, Cambray must be added, an Imperial and Archi-episcopal Town held by the Spa­niard.

Paragraphe V.

Here let us enumerate all the Princes con­tained in that great Peninsula called Italy, be­tween [Page 19]the golph of Venice, the coasts of Genoa, Toscana, Naples, the golph of Tarento, the Jonique Sea, and the Alpes. Within that extent there are many Princes; the most considerable are six.

1. The King of Spain holds the Kingdome of Naples, the Dutchy of Milan, with some places upon the Sea coast, and the soveraign­ty of the Town of Siena.

2. The Pope with the Church of Rome, be­sides the soveraignty over Naples and Parma, holds in proper dominion above three hun­dred miles in length, and a hundred in breadth, beginning from Caieta to Ferrara, and to the Country of the Venetians. He posses­seth the whole Latium, commonly call'd Cam­pagna di Roma, where the City of Rome stands, part of Toscana, with the Territory of St Pe­ter, the Towns of Perousa, Viterbo, Orvietta, the Dutchy of Spoleto, where Marca d' Ancona is seated; the Dutchy of Urbin, lately devol­ved to the See of Rome, by the extinction of the family of the Roveros which held it in fee; the Towns of Bolonia and Ravenna, the Dut­chy of Ferrara, returned to the Church un­der Pope Clement the VIII. an. 1598. by the extinction of the lawfull males of the fami­ly of Est. Also in the Kingdom of Naples, the Dutchy and Towne of Benevent. In these Countries there is above fifty Bishopricks, [Page 20]and above a million and a halfe of inhabi­tants.

3. The Common-wealth of Venice posses­seth (besides the city of Venice seated within the Marshes of the Mediterranean Sea) with­in the continent of Italy, Histria, a Peninsula; the Countries of Friuli, called in old time Forum Julii, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Brixia, Ber­gumo; and out of Italy from Histria, to the Common-wealth of Ragousa, almost all that is on that coast of the golph of Venice, where the Towns of Zara Sebennico, Spalaro, Cataro. And every were Venice bordereth upon the House of Austria, and shareth with it the Countries of Dalmatia and Slavonia. In the Mediterra­nean sea, Venice holds the Iles of Corfou, Zan­te, Cephalenia, Cerigo, and the great Iland of Candy, now disputed to them by the Turk, and even before the Turks invasion, Candy cal­led it self a soveraign Common-wealth, ac­knowledging for their head Francisco Erizzo, of an ancient family. In the year 1470. one of his Ancestors being Governour of the Isle of Negrepont, was taken by the Turks, and sawed in two, contrary to the faith given to him.

8. The great Duke of Toscana is possest with the estate of three ancient Commonwealths, Pisa, Florence, and Siena; his Territories run along the coasts of the Toscan Sea, where he [Page 21]hath also the Isle of Elva. The now Duke is Ferdinand II.

9. The Common-wealth of Genoa, pos­sesseth almost all that which is comprehended under the name of Riviera di Genoa, and Li­guria. They hold also the Iland of Corsica.

6. The Prince of Piemont is the same as the Duke of Savoy; He holds in Italy, Valdosta, Vercellois, Piemont, the Marquisat of Salluces. The now Duke is Charles Emanuel.

Besides these six considerable Princes, there are some of a lower forme.

The Duke of Mantua, whose Country is compast by the Venetians on the one side, and the Dutchy of Milan, and the River of Po on the other.

The Duke of Modena and Rhegio, which is an imperial Fee, held by the remnants of the family of Est or A [...]estini.

The Duke of Parma and Placentia, who be­sides that Fee of which he was invested by Pope Paul the III. hath, or claimeth as a pro­per inheritance of the house Farnesi, the Dut­chy of Castro in Tescana near Rome, out of which he was lately expelled by the Pope.

The County of Mirandola, held by the fa­mily of Pici.

The Dutchy of Montferrat, sometimes the patrimony of the house of the Paleologi, is at this time in the hands of the Duke of Man­tua. [Page 22]There stands Cazal of St. Vaast, the so much disputed place.

The small Common-wealth of Luca in Toscana, between the two States of Florence and Genoa.

Besides these, two estates are attributed to Italy, though far from it; the one is the Com­mon-wealth of Ragousa in Slavonia, upon the Golph, in old time called Epidaurus. It is sove­raign, yet payeth to the Turk her next neigh­bour, a tribute of fifteen thousand Sequins yearly.

The other Estate is Malta, with the next Iland Goza, possest by the Religion of Saint John of Jerusalem. But that Prince hath but the shade of a Soveraigne, being as for his person a Religious depending of the Pope, and punishable by the Pope, and the Iland of Malta, acknowleding the King of Spain as a dependance of Sicily.

In all these States of Italy, there is no ex­ercise of any Religion but the Roman.

Although all these Princes will be acknow­ledged Soveraign, there is none properly so but the Pope, the Venetians, and the Com­mon-wealth of Genoa. All the others are ei­ther Imperial Lands, as Mantua, Milan, Mont­ferrat, Piemont, Modena, Mirdndula, Florence, or depend of the Pope, as Naples, Sicily, Par­ma, and Placentia.

Paragraphe VI.

In the end of the Golph of Venice East­ward, lyeth Greece, possest by the Turk, who holds all that was comprehended in the names of Peloponnesus, Achaia, Epirus, Macedo nia, Thracia, with the great City of Constanti­nople. Nearer to the River of Danubius, and above the mountaines of Thracia, he hold Bulgaria and Servia, which were the ancient Misiae, Bossena, great part of Hungary, as farre as Gran, or Strigonium, near the Towne of Commorra, and part of Slavonia and Dalmatia. By those more Occidentall Countries, he toucheth the Lands of the Venetians, and the the House of Austria. Beyond Danubius, he is acknowledged by the three Vaivodes, or Prin­ces of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Walachia.

The Turk holds also all the Ilands of the Mediterranean Sea, from Candia to Pontus Euxinus. Beyond the mouth of Danubius, and the coast of Pont Euxin, he holds as farre as the River Tyrus or Niestra; And higher in Taurica Chersonesus, the Town of Cafa, in old time Theodosia. His Dominion on that side buts upon the River Tanais, where his Fron­tier is the Town of Assou, taken about ten years ago upon the Muscovite. In all that Tract, though the Turk and the Ma­hometan Religion govern, most part of his [Page 24]People profess the Religion of Christ under the Patriarch of Constantinople. Yet there are many of the Roman Religion in Hungary, Bos­sena, and Servia. Transylvania is Protestant.

Paragraphe VII.

Above Pont Euxin towards Meotides Palu­des, there is a great extent of Countries bor­dering upon Podolia and Muscovia. And with­in that Sea is that Peninsula, sometimes called Taurica Chersonesus, now Precops. All that Tract is called Tartaria Precopensis, or the Crim Tartar; or about four hundred years ago, a Herd, for Army of Yartars, invaded that Country. It is now one of the conside­rable States of Europe, possest by a Mahume­tan Prince, named Cantemiro. It bordereth upon the Turks towards Pont Euxin, and is in league with them. Westward it joyns with Poland, Northwards with Muscovia, and hath War almost continually with these two Na­tions.

Paragraphe VIII.

Beyond the dominions of Poland, there is a River called Danambra, in old time Borysthe­nes, which severeth Sarmatia, (now called Po­land) from the old Scythia Europea, which comprehends that large tract of Land be­tween Borysthenes and Tanais, and North­ward [Page 25]unto the frozen Sea. This is that great Estate of Muscovia, denominated from the Capitall City Mosko; The Prince, the great Duke of Moscovia, besides that part of Eu­rope, stretcheth his Dominion very far into great Asia. He that reigned when the Au­thor writ this Book, which was in the year 1644. was Michael Fedorowitz, who was e­lected in the year 1612. In the confusion of Civil Wars after the extinction of the anti­tient Royall Family. That People is Christi­an, but of the rudest sort, acknowledging the Patriarch of Constantinople. Westward they join with Poland, Southward with the Crim Tartar, and with each of them have alwaies some war.

Paragraphe IX.

All the Country from the River of Odera, in Germanie, or at least from the River of Vi­stula, or Weissell, as far as Borysthenes, and Northward as far as the point of the Baltique Sea above Livonia; All that Country, I say, called antiently Sarmatia, containeth now the Kingdom of Poland, consisting of the greater and lesser Poland; Russia alba, the Country of the Cossacks; Podolia, and other Provinces with the great Dutchy of Lituania near Bo­rysthenes. That State of Poland, whose capital City is Cracovia, joyneth Southward with [Page 26]the Lands of the Empire, and Hungary so much as belongs to the House of Austria, and with Transylvania and Moldavia; East­ward it joines with the Tartar and Moscovite. The Court of Poland hath been of the Roman Religion hitherto: What it will be hereafter the successe of the present Warrs will shew. That State tolerates all sorts of Religions. Livonia or Liefland in the Baltick Sea is ac­counted as an appurtenance of Poland. Yet, because three Estates meet there, Poland on the South, Muscovia on the East, and North, and Sweden on the West; it is alwaies dispu­ted between these three Crowns, and is the occasion of great Warrs, which were appea­sed in some part by the peace between Poland and Sweden, An. 1635. but newly revived.

Paragraphe X.

By an arm of the great Ocean, that Medi­terranean Sea of the North is formed, which is called the Baltique Sea: There the Domini­ons of Sweden and Denmark are seated, two considerable States.

The Kingdom of Sweden comprehends great part of the antient Gotthia, the Town and Dutchy of Stockholm, the great Dutchy of Finland, and Northward Botnia, Scrifinia, and other unknown Countries. The present King is Carolus Gustavus, by the cession of his [Page 27]Cosen- German, Christina Daughter to the fa­mous Gustavus Adolphus. The whole Kingdom of Sweden is Lutheran: Yet in the North, there is some remnant of the antient Idolatry of Pagans.

The other State is that of Denmark, com­posed of the Hanse Teutonique, called antient­ly Cimbrica-Chersonesus, which is a corner of great Germany, containing the Dutchy of Holstein, Juitland, and Schleswick. A second part of that Estate lyeth in Ilands, the chiefe of them Zeland, where Coppenhagen is seated, the Capitall City of the Kingdom. The third part is in the Peninsula of the Baltique Sea, and herein the Kingdom of Norway and Fin­march. To that State also belong the Ilands of Friesland and Island, far in the North. They are all Lutherans. The strength and wealth of that Kingdom, lieth in the passage of the Sund, which makes it considerable to all that traffick to or from the Baltique Sea.

Paragraphe. XI.

From thence sailing Westward, one comes to the great Brittanique Ilands, of which we that inhabit them, know more then this Au­thor; and therefore leave that little which he saith of them.

Paragraphe XII.

Being now come to the VVest, we meet with the most considerable piece of Europe, which is the Empire of Germany. The Empire begun by Julius Caesar, but founded by Au­gustus, possest all the known Countries of the West. But was greatly diminished about the year of our Lord 400. for then by the incur­sions of the Goths, Ostrogoths, Alans, Huns, Herules, Vandales, Frankes, and others; many States were founded. And finally, the Em­pire ceased in the West, altogether in the year 445. by the death of Augustulus, and the whole Empire of the West was divided into many States.

In the year 800. the Empire of the West be­gun afresh in the person of Charlemaigne, who under that name, possest all the Gaules, part of Spain, almost all Italie, the great Germa­nie, Hungary, Slavonia, part of Poland and Denmark, and other Northern Countries. But his posterity having degenerated, that Empire went from his Family about the year 912. and after a long dispute about it, be­tween the Italian and German Princes, Othe Duke of Saxony made himself Master of it: And from that time, that which remains of the Empire, hath continued in the hands of German Princes.

That which is called the Empire at this day, hath more shadow then substance. I call a shadow all the pretences of the Emperour out of Germanie, which are worn out with age and lost, or remain with small vigour, as the pretences of Soveraignty over the Prin­ces of Italy and the Low-Countries, Savoy, Franche County, Besancon and the like. In Ger­many he hath some reall and effective power. Germany at this time comprehends all that Country between the border of Hungary and Poland on the East, the Baltique Sea and Den­mark on the North, the Germanique Sea and France on the West, and the River of Rhine. and the Alpes on the South. Neither is the Emperour absolute every where, or in the most part of that large space. For it is divi­ded into ten Circles, or great Provinces, which have a proper right to assemble them­selves to look to their own businesses, and send Deputies to the generall Diets of the Empire. And in every one of these Circles, there be many free Cities, and many Secular and Ecclesiasticall Princes.

The chief are the seven Electours, three Ec­clesiastical, the Archbishops of Mentz, Collen, and Treues, four secular, the Count Palatine, the King of Bohemia, the Duke of Saxony, and the Marquesse of Brandenhurg. And next to these the Duke of Banteres, the Duke of [Page 30] Wirtenberg, Luneburg, Mechelburg, Brunswick, the Lantgrave of Hesse, and many others. But above all these houses, that of Austria is con­siderable, of which we must speak in the next Chapter; for, besides the title of Emperour by election, now continued in their family for many descents; they possesse their antient Patrimony, Austria, Stiria, Carinthia, Carnia, Tirolis, Elzas. They hold also Bohemia and that little part of Hungary, which remains unto the Christians. All Germany is divided between Papists, Lutherans, and Calvinists. These three and the Mahumetan, and the Greek Religion, are the principall Religions known in Europe.

Paragraphe I.

Yet so much we will say of the house of France.

1. It is certain that this Kingdome was e­rected out of the ruines of the Roman Em­pire, in the year 419. Pharamond was elected King by the Frankes, beyond the Rhine, in the [Page 32]Country of Sicambria, which is Guelderland, Uretcht, Freeseland, and other Countries thereabout. But neither he, nor his Son Clo­dion the Chevelu, past ever into France for any thing that we read; but sent forth their Ar­mies to conquer it. Merovee the third King, was the first that came to Paris and took it, and setled himself with the Frankes in Gauls. From him was the first race of French Kings denominated, and called the race of the Me­rovingians.

2. Clouis the fifth King, was converted to the Christian faith in the year of Christ 500. and brought the French State to great splen­dour, by the expulsion of the reliques of the Romans, near Soissons, Laon, and Reins, by the Conquest of Gaule, Aquitanique, and by the defeat of Alaric, and the Kingdome of the Goths. The Sons of that Clouis about the year 527. conquered the state of the Burgundians, or Bourguignons: So that race of the Merovin­gians, about the year of 530. was possest of all the Gaules, yet divided into Tetrarchies by the children of Clouis, and again by their descent.

That race with the Gauls held great part of Germany, and having done great services to the Church, and protected desolate Popes, got from them the name of most Christians, & eldest Sons of the Church. When that title was given [Page 33]them, we cannot precisely tell; yet Saint Gregory who lived in the year 600. saith, that the King of France is as eminent a­bove other Kings, as every King is above his Subjects.

That first race kept long the fiercenesse of German-barbarousnesse, and about the year 650. after the death of Dagobert, they degene­rated to idlenesse, and so continued for a hundred years, which gave occasion to the Mayres of the Palace, to incroach upon the Soveraign Authority. Among whom Charles Martel was most eminent, who having defea­ted the Sarrasins near Tours, and killed three hundred threescore and six thousand men, and relieved the Pope against the Lombards; raised much the honour of France and his own, but to the destruction of the first Royal line, which ended in the degradation of the unfortunate Chilperic, in the year 752. having subsisted 333 years.

5. The second race much more illustrious then the first, began in the person of Pipin, Son to that Charls Martel. A valorous & fortunate Prince, devoutly addicted to the Roman See. He received Pope Stephen the first into France, and put down Adolphus King of the Lombards, who persecuted the Pope. But his Son Char­lemagne raised the State of France more then any. For he conquered great part of Italie up­on [Page 34]the Lombards, and quite destroyed them An. 774. overcame the Saxons, and other Na­tions of Germany, conquered part of Spain up­on the Saracens, and made himselfe master of most part of the old Empire of the West, and so was crowned Emperour of the West, An. 800. And three years after, limits were set in Italy, between the two Empires of East and West; Nicephorus being then Emperour of the East. And the bounds were the Rivers of Ly­ris now Garigliano, and Aufidus now Lofan­to, both in the Kingdome of Naples. So that excepting the farthest part of Italy, part of Spain, and the Brittanique Ilands, divided between many petty Kings, he was possest of the whole Empire of the West.

6. These first Kings were very liberall to the See of Rome. Pepin, and Charlemagne, gave them the Exarchat of Ravenna, and other Lands which the Popes pretended to have been taken away from them by the Lombards. Lewis the Meek, who succeeded his Father Charlemagne, confirmed and amplified that gift An. 817. the Charter whereof Baromus hath published, taken from the Vatican, as he affirmeth. Lewis the Meek dying An. 840. left the State of France in a great height, pos­sest of the Gaules, Germany, Italy, and part of Spain. All other Princes compared to the French Kings, were mean fellowes.

7. Lewis the Meek left three Sons, Lothaire and Lewis by his first wife, and Charles the Bald from Judith his second wife. These three Brothers for three years contended about their partage, the law of the eldest being not then in use among them, till that cruel bat­tel of Fontenay near Auxerre was fought, where above a hundred thousand men were slaine, and especially much Nobility and Gentry whereby the State was weakned, and the Brothers were forced to come to an arbi­trement; That Lothary the eldest, should have all the Lands beyond the Rivers of Scaldis and Mosa, as far as the Rhine, namely the Pro­vinces of the Low Countries, Liege, Treues, Ju­liers, Luxemburg, Lorrain, Alsatia, and others. Also that which lyeth beyond Saone and Rhosne, namely, Franch County, Savoy, Daul­phine, Provence. Also as much of Italy as was left to the Emperour of the West, by the par­tage with the Emperour of the East. This was the share of Lothary the eldest, who took with it the Title of Emperour. Lewis, the se­cond Brother, had all that their Father held in Germany, and there was called Germani­cus. To the third, Charles the Bald, France was left, much about as it is at this day, inclosed within the narrow Seas of England, Scaldis, Mosa, Saone, Rhosne, the coasts of Languedoc, and the Pyrenees. That partage of the three [Page 36]Sons of Lewis the Meek, An. 843. is the most remarkable date of the French History. Then was that great Monarchy cut in shreds, and the greatness of France humbled, the name of which remained onely to the proportion of a third part. And from that time, the French State thus clipt hath remained with little alteration. Onely we have lost Flanders and Artois, and many times the borders of the Kingdome have been changed towards Mosa and Scaldis. But in recompence we have got Daulphine and Provence, beyond the an­cient bounds.

8. As by this partage the State of France remained very much diminisht, so the French Kings lost the name of Emperours, which ne­verthelesse Charles the Bald took since. But his Descent being fallen to idlenesse as the first Race; the State of France thus shortned, lin­gered among many civill broyles and misfor­tunes, till the year 987. when that race end­ed, having subsisted about 235 yeares.

9 Hugh Capet, head of the third Race, was descended as it is thought, from an ancient House of Saxony planted in France, by Witti­kind the Saxon of the race of that other Wit­tikind, a Saxon Prince who so long made head against Charlemagne. This third race began to raigne in the year 987. It is that which this day subsisteth, and besides her ancient [Page 37]Nobility before she was Soveraign, hath now held the soveraignty above 660 yeares, and besides innumerable victories obtained over her neighbours, made great Wars against the Infidels in the East, and in Spain, and a­gainst Heretiques in all the Provinces of Eu­rope, keeping still a great respect to the See of Rome. All these wayes she hath maintained her selfe in the prerogative of precedence and glory above all others. And although he that beares now the quality of Emperour, go before the French Kings, because he retaines the name and place of those great Monarchs of all the West, yet he hath neither right nor pretence over the Kings of France; yea, Mr. de Breves, in the Appendix of the Negotiation of the East, added to the History of his voy­age, saith, That in Henry the 4ths time, he had the precedence before the Ambassadors of the Emperour Rudolphus, at the Porta of the great Turk, who judged that the prece­dences of Christian Princes, in relation to the Church of Rome, and the Popes, were of no consideration at his Porta, where the stron­gest and the most couragious finds most fa­vour. Also whereas the King of France was then in War with the House of Austria, he would not give his enemy any advantage o­ver him. Neither do the Turks acknowledge the Emperour but as King of Vienna, but [Page 38]have a great esteem for the French Kings. But without insisting upon the History of their third Race now reigning, or making Pane­gyricks of their glory; we will say that next to the precedence which they give to the Em­perour lawfully elected, they have it over all the Soveraigns of Christendom.

Paragraphe II.

Now to understand the Origine, progresses, and rising of the house of Austria, we must observe,

1. That the Empire which was left (as we said) unto Lothary, the eldest Son of Lewis the Meeke, subsisted (though weakly) in the house of Charlemagne, till about the year 912. when Lewis the last of that race being dead, there was a great contention betweene the German and Italian Princes, whereby the Em­pire was in confusion above fifty years, untill Otho the Great, Duke of Saxony invested him­selfe of that quality, made himselfe Master of Germany and Italy, the onely remaining pieces of the Empire, in the year 963. and ruined all his competitors. This Otho I. was Father of Otho II. and he of Otho III. after whose death the Germans assisted by Pope Gregory the V. who himselfe was a German, took upon themselves the right of creating [Page 39]Emperours. And from that time all that have peaceably reigned have been Germans, because the Popes having made themselves Masters of a great part of Italy, have done their utmost to expell the Emperours out of it, and confine them to Germany.

2. As in France, by the idlenesse of the last Kings of the 2d Race, the Governours of Pro­vinces made themselves Masters of them, and became Dukes and Earles. Likewise the idlenesse of the successors of Charlemagne in the Empire, and the confusions risen in Ger­many, after the extinction of that Race, gave a beginning to so many Fees both Secular and Ecclesiasticall which are now in Germany, the Governours having made themselves Lords, and laid the foundation of the great Houses now in being. Which neverthelesse have gone through many changes, some fa­milies being extinct, and some Fees sold, transported, or confiscated. Among these fa­milies, one of the chiefe, and indeed the most remarkable at this time, is that of Austria.

3. The French Kings of the first Race, pos­sessing a Kingdom of vast extent, which they divided into Ostrick and Westrick. Ostrick which by corruption and French termination, was called Austrasie, was the Eastern part, and comprehended the Countries towards the River Msa, and beyond the Rhine, and as far [Page 40]as Hungarie, Westrick, which by corruption was called Neustria, comprehended the We­stern part, from Mosa towards Britain. These names were long preserved, even to the age of Charlemagne, and being lost by the new par­tage between the Children of Lewis the meek; yet the name of Neustria stuck long to the Western part, which is now called Norman­die (for Brittain was a State by it selfe.) The name of Ostrick being lost by the same par­tage, remain'd nevertheless to the most Ea­stern part, and the next to Hungary, and is that which we call Austria, a word corrupt­ed from Ostrick and Ostenrick, and is that Pro­vince seated upon Danubius, where the Ca­pitall City of Vienna stands.

4. In that Country Otho the III. about the year 1000 establisht Leopold a Marquis, that is a keeper of those Marches against the or­dinary excursions of the Hungarians. That Leopold is the head of the first House of Mar­quisses since Dukes of Austria which con­tinued, till a certain Friderick who went to the War of Naples against Charles brother of St. Lewis, and being taken with Conradin a competitor of that Kingdom, was beheaded with him.

By his death without Children, Austria returned to the Empire. But Wenceslaus King of Bohemia, sought to joyne it to his State, and [Page 41]sent thither his Sonne Ottocarus, who having conspired against the Empire with the Hun­garians, was degraded and put to death by the Emperour Rudolphus, of whom we are now to speak.

5. By the death of the Emperour Friderick the Second, the great enemy of Popes, which was about the year 1231. the factions were so great about a new election, that there was an Anarchy of twenty years and above, un­der these titular Emperours, William Earl of Holland, Richard of England, and Alphonsus of Spain. In the end, after many assemblies and contentions, the Electors gave their Votes to Rudolphus Earl of Habsburg, who was acknowledged by the whole Empire. That E­lection was in the year 1255. five years after the death of St. Lewis. Philip le Hardy then raigning in France.

6. Between Basel and Soleurre, Cantons of Switzerland, there is Triestein Castle, the Lords whereof had the Title of Counts, and by the women inherited the County of Habsburg, and took the Title of the same. Of that House was this Rodolphus (before whom there is no certainty of the History of their House) who by his virtue was elected Emperour, An. 1275. and dyed in the 1291. The Dutchy of Austria being then vacant, and Ottocarus the Bohemian having invaded it, and made a [Page 42]league with the Hungarians against the Em­pire, Rodolphus divested him of it, and slew him; and An. 1282. invested his Son Albert in the same. In that Albert we must take the birth of the house of Austria. And although that Albert was also Emperour from the year 1298. till 1308; yet his descent return­ed not to that quality, but 130. years after, and went for Princes of the Empire, as other Imperial Families; Onely in the time of Pope John 22. there was a great contention for the Empire, between Friderick of Austria, and Lewis of Bavieres. The whole Pedegree of that house, is to be seen in the Tables of Bertius, from the Creation of Rudolphus of Habsburg, An. 1275. to the year 1438. when the Em­pire entred so into that hause, that it did not come out since.

Paragraphe III.

So much is known then, that the house of Austria by the death of Albert the first, lost the Empire and fell back into the State of a pri­vate principality; and that lesse considerable then the houses of Saxonie, Bavieres, and Lux­emburg, which furnished many Emperours, and so it continued till the Emperour Albert the II.

Sigismond the Emperour, of the house of Luxemburg, was Son to Charles the IV. Em­perour [Page 43]and Grand-child to John King of Bohe­mia. And that Charles the IV. was he that made the golden Bull, and establisht a certain form of Imperial elections. This Charles was Grand-child to the Emperour, Henry the VII. head of the house of Luxemburg. Sigismond had no male issue, and gave his onely Daugh­ter Elizabeth to Albert of Austria; who after the death of his Father in law, was elected Emperour, An. 1438. and this house hath e­ver since kept the Empire.

From that year these Emperours reigned. Albert the II. who reigned two years, Fride­rick the III. his Cozin who reigned 53 years. Maximilian Son of Friderick, who reigned 26 years. Charles the V. who reigned 36 years. Ferdinand I. brother to Charles, who reigned 9 years. Maximilian Son of Fer­dinand, who reigned 12 years. Rodolphus II. Son of Maximilian, who reigned 36 years. Matthias brother to Adolphus, who reigned 7 years, Ferdinand II. Cozin to the two precedent Em­perours, who reigned 19 years. To him suc­ceeded his Son Ferdinand III. who is the tenth of that house from the year 1438. To which if you adde the Three of antient date, there have been thirteen Emperours of the house and name of Austria.

That house may be considered, either in her Patrimonial estate which she held in [Page 44] Germany before her greatnesse; Or in her great rising, which sprung out of three heads.

1. The mariage of Maximilian with Mary, the Inheritrix of the seventeen Provinces of Netherlands. Franche County, and the goods, not masculine, of the house of Burgundy.

2. The mariage of Philip, Son of Maximilian, and Mary of Burgundy, with Jane the Inheri­trix of Spain, and by consequent of Sicily, Na­ples, and the West Indies, and soon after of Por­tugal, and the East Indies.

3. The mariage of Ferdinand, brother to Charles the V. with Anne the Inheritrix of the Kingdomes of Bohemia and Hungaria. The great estate of that house being accrew­ed to them by these waies: We will speak here of the Patrimonial Dominions of the house of Austria, reserving the rest for the following Paragraphes.

The Patrimony of the house of Austria wholly seated in Germany, and upon the Ri­ver Danubius; hath on the South the Moun­tains of Tirolis, and towards the Rhine Alsatia, Bounded Eastward with Hungary and Poland, Southward by the Venetians, Westward by the Switzers, and Northward by many Princes of Germany. That Estate is composed with many pieces, which were u­nited in one body as it followeth.

1. The Emperour Rodolphus of Habsburg, [Page 45]having overcome and slain Ottocarus, Son of Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, gave to his Son Albert the Dutchie of Austria, where Vienna stands, the Dutchie of Stiria, where the Town of Gratz stands, the Lordships of Carniola and Windismark; otherwise the March of Sla­vonia, and Portenan in the Country of Friuli, wherein the house of Austria is a neighbour to the Venetians. This is the first Patrimony of the house of Austria, of which Albert was invested by his Father at Ausburg, by the consent of the Generall States of Ger­many.

2. In the year 1283. Henry Marquesse of Burgan in Suevia, between Ʋlm and Ausburg, being dead without Children, the same Em­perour Rudolphus gave that Marquisat to his Son.

3. Albert the III. Duke of Austria, Grand­child to the first Albert, was made Heir with his brothers of the Dutchy of Carinthia, and the Dutchy of Tirol within the Alpes neare Italy; by Margaret, Daughter to Duke Henry as her nearest kinsman, by their Grandmo­ther Elizabeth, Sister to the said Henry, and Wife to Albert the first; and because the house of Bavieres laid a claim to the County of Tirol, the said house renounced it by agree­ment, Ann. 1362.

4. The County of Ferretta, is a little [Page 46]Country above the French County, near Ba­sel, and on this side of the Rhine. It came to the house Austria, by Jane Wife to Albert the II. Duke of Austria, Daughter and Heir of Ulrich, Earl of Ferretta, about the year 1358.

5. Leopold Duke of Austria, bought of Agon Count of Friburg, in Brifgau, towards Alsa­tia, the Signory of that Town, and some other towards the Grisons.

6. Friderick the third, in the year 1458. af­ter the death of Ulrich Count of Cibey, dead without Children, seized upon that Coun­ty, and united it with the Dutchie of Stiria.

7. Maximilian the First, in the year 1501. seized upon the County of Goricia, vacant by the death of Count Leonard. So all these pieces make up the antient Patrimony of Au­stria, which hath many times been distracted and divided, for to make Portions to the youngest. And yet at this time the County of Burgau is in the hands of a Branch of that house which bears the Title of Marquesses of Burgau. And the County of Tirol belongs to the children of the late Archduke, Leopold, brother to the Emperour Eerdinand the II.

Paragraphe IV.

To make up the greatnesse of Austria, six of the gr [...]test houses of Europe have met in one; Aus [...]ia, Burgundy, Castilia, Arragon, Hun­gary and Portugal.

1. Of that of Austria, we have spoken be­fore.

2. The house of Burgundy was founded in the person of Philip, fourth Son to King John of France, who dying in the year 1363. left to his Son Philip the Dutchy of Burgundy. He and his three Successours, John, Philip the Good, and Charles slain before Nancy, gathe­red many Provinces by Marriages, Purcha­ses, Gifts, and Usurpations; whence that great Estate of the house of Burgundy was fra­med, four main pieces whereof depended from the Soveraignty of France: Namely, the Dutchy of Burgundy, the County of Flanders, with the Towns of Lilo, Doway, and Orches, the County of Artois, and that of Charalois. The rest he held from the Empire, Franch County, the four Dutchies of Netherlands, Luxemburg, Limburg, Brabant, and Gueldres. The Coun­ties of Hainault, Namur, Holland, Zealand, Zutfen, Mechlen, West-Fresland, Over-Issel, and Groninghen. And in the year 1528. the Bp. of Utrecht yielded to the Emperour, Charles the V. the Lordship of Utrecht, and his claim in [Page 48] Over-Issel, because he was not strong enough to maintain it against the Duke of Guelders his Enemy.

After the death of Charles, killed before Nancy, Mary his onely Daughter, p [...]etended to his whole succession; But Lewis the XI. King of France, seized upon the Dutchy of Burgun­dy, pretending that it was a masculin fee, gi­ven by King John to his Son Philip le Hardy, for him and his Heirs Male; for the reasons which we shall represent in the following Chapter. All the rest by right remained with Mary of Burgundy, even the County of Charo­lois almost inclosed within the Dutchy of Burgundy, although the French would have it to be a fee of the same Nature, as the Dutchy. Yet because it was found that it had been purchased from the house of Armagnae, by the Dukes of Burgundy, it was left to Ma­ry; And since that time, during the civill con­fusions, and the Wars with Spain, the French having seized upon it; yet they restored it to the house of Austria, by the Treaty of Ver­vins, Ann. 1598. saving onely the resort and dependance upon the Parlament of Dijon

3. The house of Castilia is an offspring of that of Navarra: For Sanchez King of Navar­ra, divided all that he held in Spain to his three children. Garcias the eldest had Navar­ra; [Page 49]Sanchez King of Navarra, divided all that he held in Spain to his three Children, Garci­as the eldest had Navarra; Ferdinand, Castilia; and Ramires, Arragon. Of these Kings, the lives and actions must be seen in the History of Spain. In the year 1472. that House fell to Isabella, sister to Henry the IV. called the Impotent. Isabella was married to Ferdinand King of Arragon. From that marriage issued Joane the second Daughter and Heir, which brought all these Estates to the House of Au­stria by her marriage with Archiduke Philip. These Estates contained the two Castilia's, Gallicia, Leon, Asturia, Biscay, Mursia, Cordo­va, Andalusia, Estremadura. Since that time an. 1492. under the conduct of Christophorus Columbus, the Castilians discovered many I­lands of West-Indies, Hispaniola, Cuba, Jai­maica, and others. Americus Vespucius, disco­vered the Western continent, an. 1500. Fer­nando Cortez, subdued the great State of Mex­ico, an. 1518. and Francis Pizarro the Perou, an. 1525. All that, is comprehendedunder the name of Castilia, and is fallen to the House of Austria by that marriage.

4. As for Arragon, many Kings reigned in it of the line of the foresaid Ramires; and that family past through many changes. In the end that estate fell into the hands of Fer­dinand the Catholique, at the same time that [Page 50]the Kingdom of Castilia fell to Isabella whom he married. So his estate came to consist of four parts. 1. Of the patrimoniall inheri­tance of his House, Arragon, Catalonia, Rous­sillon, Valentia, Marjorca, Minorea, Ivica, Fromentera, Sardinia, and Sicily. 2. The King­dom of Naples, which he tooke from the French, An. 1503. as we shall say afterwards. 3. The Kingdom of Granada, which he and his wife Isabella got from the Saracens, Anno 1494. 4. The Kingdome of Navarra, out of which he dispossest John of Albret, An. 1512. All these Estates fell to his Daughter, mar­ried with Philip Arch-duke of Austria. 5. Hungary had her Kings, well known in the Histories, especially since the year 1000. the time of King St. Steven. That family fell to that of the Kings of Naples, descended from the Royall House of France, by the marriage of the inheritrice of Hungary with Charles the Lame, Son to Charles, brother to St. Lewis. Fi­nally, after many great changes, that Crown fell to Lewis the last King of Hungary and Bo­hemia, slain by the Turks in the battel of Mo­hats, An. 1526. He dying without Children, the Crowne fell to his sister Anne, whom Charles the V. her brother in law presently caused to be married to his brother Ferdi­nand. So the two Kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary entred into the House of Austria. [Page 51]To Bohemia were annext also Moravia, Silesia, and the two Lusatia's. Under the name of Hungary, was contained also Transylvania, with part of Bulgaris, Croatia, Slavonia, Dal­matia. But the greatest part of these is now in the hand of the Turks.

6. The State of Portugal began about the year 1090. in the person of Henry, a French Prince of the House of Burgundy, and con­tinued among many changes to the death of King Sebastian, An. 1579. after whom in the raign of his great Uncle Cardinal Henry, there was a dispute between many contenders for the succession. But Philip the II. King of Spain, got it by Arms, An. 1580. claiming right to it by his Mother Isabella, Daughter to King Emanuel, for the reasons which we shal speak of in the next Chapter. From that Kingdom depends that of Algarba, the Towns of Ceuta, Tanger, and Marsagan in Africa. An infinite number of Ilands and Caps, from the Cap of good Hope, the Kingdoms of Congo, Angola, Bresia; And beyond the Cap of good Hope, an infinite number of Towns, Isles, Countries, and Forts, as far as China, and the extremity of the East. All that is comprehended under the name of East-Indies, discovered at seve­rall times since. Vasco Gamma, a Gentleman of Portugal past the Cap of good Hope, An. 1497. under Emanuel King of Portugal. It is [Page 52]then by the right of Isabella, wife to the Em­perour Charles the V. that the great Estate of Portugal was devolved to the House of Au­stria. To which Estate they have since added several pieces by conquest or otherwise.

Charles the V. got the Lordship of Utrecht from the Bishop, as we said before. The so­veraignty of Flanders and Artois, was appro­priated to them (as they pretend) by the Treaties of Madrid, An. 1525. Of Cambray, An. 1529. Of Crespy, An. 1544. The same Charles got the Town of Mastricht, An. 1530. although the Bishop of Liege pretended the halfe of it to belong to his jurisdiction. In the year 1530. he invested Ludovic Sforza with the Dutchy of Milan, upon condition that if he dyed childlesse, Philip the II. King of Spain should succeed him, which happened five years after, An. 1536. he got the Dutchy of Guelders, the County of Zutfen, and the Lord­ship of Groning, by a Treaty with Charles, the Duk of Guelders, who dyed an. 1538. An. 1543. he made himselfe Master of the Town of Cambra, as Protector of that Imperiall Town, which being since got by the French, and lost again, was confirmed to the Spaniards by the Treaty of Vervins.

An. 1538. the same Charles having got the Town of Siena, gave it to Cosmo Duke of Flo­rence, to be an homage for it to the King of [Page 53] Spain, paying six thousand Ducats of entry at every change of Duke.

Philip the II. King of Spain, took from the Turks, an. 1554. the Fort of Fignon, Veles, and Gomera, in Africa. An. 1571. he wrested the Marquisat of Final from the House of Car­reto. Philip the III. took from the Moores in Africa, the Townes of Arrach and Mamora. These are the principal pieces of that great State of vast extent. And I think one may truly say, that the House of Austria holds more ground then ever any Prince did: But these pieces being scattered, that State is not strong, glorious, and form dable according to its extent.

That House of Austria was divided into two branches, the Spanish and the German, between Charles and Ferdinand brothers, and successively Emperours, Sons to Archiduke Philip, and Jane of Spain. Charles was the head of the Spanish branch, which holds in Euro­pa, and out of it all that we said before. Fer­dinand, brother of Charles, was the head of the German branch which now holds the Empire. To him Charles yeelded the ancient patrimo­nial Estate of the House of Austria, within the limits of Germany. The same Ferdinand by his marriage with Anne, inheritrix of Hunga­ry and Bohemia, united those two Crowns to his States. These two Branches at this pre­sent [Page 54]hold these Estates, saving that which Gustavus the King of Sweden hath taken from them, and what the French have got in these Warres from the Spaniard. In the Low Countries, Hesdin, Arras Bapaume, Landrecy, Thionville, Quesnoy, &c. Towards Spain the County of Roussillon and Perpignan. Then the Catalonians have revolted and given them­selves to the French. Portugal also hath sha­ken the yoak, and chosen a King of the House of Braganza, Of elder date, part of the Low­Countries have cantonned themselves, and are now Soveraigns. The Turk hath got the most part of Hungary; and Transylvania acknow­ledgeth no more the House Austria.

Paragraphe I. From the Treaty of Arras an. 1435. to the marriage of Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy.

In all that time, which was not yet the time of the greatnesse of Austria, the French Kings had nothing to do with that Family, which in that period of years, enjoyed the Empire in the persons of Albert, and Fride­rick the III. They had also little to do with the Kings of Castilia and Arragon, which were then two severall States. But much they had to do with the Dukes of Burgundy, foun­ders of that greatnesse of Austria. Of which this is the summary.

1. Philip le Bon after he had brought the State of France into great distresse, and given [Page 147]it for a prey to the English, to avenge the death of his Father John, slain at Montereau Fautyonne, an. 1419; Finally being ill satisfy­ed with the English, was forced to agree with Charls the VII, who had killed his Father, which he did by the Treaty of Arras, an. 1435. whereby Charles gave to Philip what we said before, Peronne, Montdidier, and Roye, the County of Artois, the enjoying of the County of Bullen for his life, also all the Towns of the River of Somme, redeemable with four hundred thousand Crownes, and promist to join to the Dutchy of Burgundy, the Counties of Mascon, Chalons, Langres, Bar sur Siene, and Auxerre for ever, reserving the re­sort of these jurisdictions to the Parliament of Paris. This Treaty raised very much the house of Burgundy. After which, Philip was a loyall friend and servant unto Charles, and helped him to expell the English out of France. Neither did he meddle with the first falling out of Charles with his Son Lewis the Dolphin (who was since Lewis the XI.) which division was called, La Ligue de la Praguerie. And all the reigne of Charles nothing confi­derable hapned between these two houses but that towards the end of Charles, Lewis the Dolphin, having withdrawn himself discon­tented from the Court, and lived a while in Daulphiné, When the King his Father would [Page 148]have apprehended him by the Count of Damp­martin, he fled into Flanders, where he was received with great honour by Duke Philip, who assigned him the Town of Guenep in Bra­bant, to keep his Court, where he lived six or seaven years, till the death of his Father, an. 1461.

2. Now comes the reign of Lewis the XI, who had so much to do with the house of Burgundy, but nothing with that of Austria, and little with that of Arragon and Castilia. Historians observe, that Philip Duke of Bur­gundy, and his Son Charles Count of Charrolois accompanied Lewis into France, and were present at his coronation. And that Lewis at the first was very great with the Count of Charrolois; but that soon after that friendship was separated, by reason of the great antipa­thy of their humours, and because while Lewis was retired into Flanders, they had been too much acquainted with one anothers con­ditions, which brought them to a mutuall contempt. Also, because Charles had a suspi­cion that Lewis had plotted against his life, and because Lewis would have brought the Gabell (or impost of salt) into Burgundy, which the Duke did oppose. Then the suddain re­deeming of the Towns of the River of Somme, for which Lewis payed the four hundred thousand Crowns, incens'd the Count of Cha­rolois [Page 149]very much. These were the causes of the great hatred between these two houses, which the house of Austria inherited together with the Estate. Hardly indeed could these two Princes agree; for Lewis the XI was ma­licious, disobliging, and dissembled; and Charles Count of Charolois was peevish and arrogant, and followed no Law but his own will. That hatred brought forth the War of the publick good, as they called it, in which Charles had the better. That War ended in the Treaty of Conflans, whereby it was cove­nanted that the King should restore to Charles all the Towns of the River of Somme, redeem­ed not long before, to enjoy them all his life, and that he should have the County of Guines for himself and his Heirs for ever.

3. John King of Arragon; was assisted by Lewis the XI, and the said John sold or pawn­ed unto him the County of Roussillon for three hundred thousand Crownes. This is the ground of the claime of the French to that County.

4. Henry the IV, King of Castilia, and John King of Arragon being in War, because Hen­ry maintained the people of Arragon against their King, and about some Towns, Lewis the XI was chosen Umpire, and went to Bayonne, where he saw the Castilian on this side of the River of Vodazo, and upon the Lands of [Page 150] France. That enterview made them despise one another, for Henry was an ill favoured and ill behaved man, of little wit, and was altogether governed by the Count of Lodesme. Lewis used a short and coorse habit, and wore a little leaden, Our Lady, at his hat. The va­nity of the Count of Lodesme seemed ridicu­lous to the French. He crost the River in a boat, with a sail of golden cloath, and wore pomps garnisht with precious stones. Ever since that enter view, the two Nations have despised one another.

5. After the peace of Conflans, the divisi­ons were renewed between Lewis and the Count of Charolois, because Lewis cozened his brother Charles, gave him Normandy, and pre­sently took it from him, banisht him into Gui­enne, far from the other Princes, with whom he was in League, and gave him a little Country under the specious Title of Duke of Guienne. This angred the Count of Charrolois, and increased his jealousies. Philip Duke of Burgundy dieth an. 1467. Charles succeeds him.

6. This new Duke of Burgundy is much considered in France, by reason of his great Lands, and turbulent spirit. All his time hee was in Wars with the King, and brought the English into France. The King also did raise him Enemies, which his own rashnesse did [Page 151]multiply. He was defeated by the Switzers at Granson and Morat, and killed before Nan­cy, an. 1477.

7. After his death, Lewis took the Dutchy of Burgundy, and Provinces annext to it, gi­ven by Charles the VII, to Philip le Bon, as a masculin apanage, with the Towns upon the River of Somme, which Charles was to hold all his life, not leave it to his heirs. He seized also upon the Town of Arras, upon which he pretended a right. He did his utmost to catch Mary the inheritrix of Charles, and de­sired the people of Gant to deliver her into his hand, or make her marry Charles the Dolphin, but they protected her, and soon after Maxi­milian of Austria married her.

8. In Spain, after the enterview of the two King, Lewis of France, and Henry of Castilia, and the sale or pawning of the County of Rous­sillon, King John of Arragon, seeing that Lewis had arbitrated in favour of the Castilian, and had sent John Duke of Calabria for the con­quest of Arragon, took his time when the leagues in France were strongest against the King, to make Perpignan revolt against the French. The Garrison retired into the Citadel, and made it good till the Town was besieged by Lewis, and constrained to return to his obedience.

Paragraphe II. From the marriage of Maximilian with Mary, unto his death.

This period of forty yeares comprehends four reigns of the French Kings, the end of Lewis the XI, Charles the VIII, Lewis the XII. and the beginning of Francis the I: in which space the greatnesse of the House of Austria was founded by her union with that of Bur­gundy, and then with Castilia and Arragon.

Paragraphe III. From the death of Maximilian, an 1519. to the Treaty of Madrid an. 1525.

By the death of the Emperour Maximili­an, Charles was made possessour of Austria, and the Empire, being possest before of the In­heritances of Burgundy, Arragon, and Castilia. A greatnesse which swelled his mind, and made him loose his respect to Francis. Hee complained that Francis had taken Claude from him, the eldest daughter of Lewis the XII, which was promist to him. Francis re­demanded Navarra, Naples, and the homages for the Counties of Flanders and Artois, which Charles took to be too low for the quality of an Emperour. Charles also complained that the Dutchy of Burgundy, the Patrimony of his Grandmother Mary was kept from him, and the Dutchy of Milan belonging to the Sforzas, and to the Empire.

The great fire of War which lasted forty years between these two houses, brake out upon a very slender occasion. Robert de la March Duke of Bovillon, adjudgd by the Peers of his Dutchy, which pretend themselves to be Soveraigns, the Town of Hierges in Ar­dennes [Page 166]to the Prince of Chimay, of the house of Crovi, against the Lord d' Esmeries; to whom the Emperour gave a writ of relief, although Robert pretended the judgement of his Peeres to be Soveraign. Robert incensed a­gainst the Emperonr, made his addresse to Francis the I, and offered him his service. The King received him courteously, yet for­bad his subjects to assist him, not willing to break with the Emperour. But Robert, proud to have the protection of France, denounceth Warre to the Emperour, who was then at Wormes to pacifie the troubles rising in Germa­ny about Luther, and attempts to surprise some places in Luxemburg. But the Emperour presently seizeth upon the Estate of that lit­tle Prince, and constrains him to ask him par­don; reproaching Francis in an odious man­ner for receiving his rebellious subject. About the same time, Francis upon the inexecution of the Treaty of Noyon ( Charles refusing to make restitution of Navarra to Henry d' Al­bret) took the quarrell of that dispossessed Prince, and sent Andrew de Foix, Lord de Es­parre, brother to Monsieur de Lautre into Na­varra, where the French did some exploit at the first, but were soon repelled by the Spa­niards. Charles taketh that enterprise for an infraction of the peace between the two hou­ses, though it was but a succour given to a [Page 167]confederate of France, to prosecute his rights. He makes great preparatives of war, makes Leo the X, break w ^th France, & joyn with him promising that after the Conquest of Milan, he would give to the Church the Townes of Parma and Placentia, members of that Dutchy, to which the Popes had some old pretence.

Such was the origine of the first War be­tween Francis and Charles, an. 1521. The first three or four yeares there were great ex­ploits in Champagne, in Navarra, in Provence, and in the Dutchy of Milan. In Tierasche the Emperour took Mouzon, and besieged Mezie­res, which Anne de Mommorency, who since was Constable of France, and Chevalier Bayard defended bravely. And Francis took Bapaume and Landrecy from the Emperour, and gave him the Chase.

In Navarra the French had advanced but little in the years 1519. and 1520. But in the year 1521. the Admirall of Bonnivet be­sieged Fontarabie and took it, and made Mon­steur du Lude, Governour of the same, who being besieged a whole year by the Spani­ards, defended it with great valour, till la Palisse since Marshall of France made them forsake the Siege. But Frauget an old Captain being made Governour instead of Lude, he de­livered it basely to the Spaniards, for which he was degraded of Nobility. With this the French lost all Navarra, and never came into it since.

For Milan, Francis having given the Go­vernment of it to the Constable Charles de Bourbon, he removed him and gave it to Lau­tree, of the house of Foix, a great Captain in the field, but an ill Politician in a State. Hee so misused the people of Milan, both by him­self and by his brother the Marshall de Les­cun, and together was so ill assisted with mo­ney from the Court, that the Emperour had an easie entry into the Country. Milan is ta­ken, and plundered by the league of the Pope and the Emperour; and the French expel­led out of the Dutchy. At which they say, that the Pope died for joy, an. 1621. Soon after the battell of la Bicoque was fought, which the French lost by the stubbornesse of the Switzers. Lautree being returnd into France, the Admiral de Bonnivet was sent to Milan, where hee did no better, and was forced to forsake all. In that retreat Chevalier Bayard was killed, an. 1523. These prosperities of the Emperour were much helpt, by the revolt of the Consta­ble of Bourbon, 1522, who was incensed by the little account that Francis made of him, the incroaching of the Duke of Alanson, and the Marshall of Bonivet upon his Office of Constable, by the Kings favour; the hatred of Lovise the Kings mother, and the Chancel­lour du Prat against him; and the small justice which hee expected in a suit which [Page 169]concerned almost his whole Estate. Being turned to the Emperours party, he helped him to conquer Milan, and to give the chase to the Admiral of Bonivet, past into Provence with the Imperiall Army, besieged Marseille, where he is repulsed by Renso de Cera a Ro­man Baron, and Philip de Chabot that kept it for the King. He repasseth the Alpes, and the King after him, who comming to Milan, re­covereth presently the whole Dutchy, Pavia only accepted.

While Francis is besieging Pavia defen­ded by Antonio de Leva, Charles de Bourbon brings Troops out of Germany to relieve it. The battell of Pavia is fought, where the victory being already on the Kings side, he would fol­low in person the Enemy which was retiring, and had no sooner overtaken them, but hee was taken by them, an. 1524. upon Saint Mathias day. Francis having been kept a while in the Castle of Pissigi [...]un, is carried into Spain, and there kept Prisoner. His Kingdom labours for his deliverance & for peace. This brought forth the Treaty of Madrid, an. 1525, where Gatinara Chancellour to the Empe­rour, and John de Selva first President of Paris, who were the two learned among the Depu­ties, disputed at severall times the rights of their Masters. Selva claimed Naples, Navarra, and the Soverainties of Flanders and Artois. [Page 170]Gatinara claimed the Dutchy of Burgundy, and the Dutchy of Milan which the Empe­rour then possest. In the end, the Treaty of Madrid was made, where among other things it was concluded Febr. 14. 1525,

1. That within the 20. day of the month of June next, the King will put the Durchy of Burgundy into the Emperours hands, with all the appurtenances and dependances thereof, and all that he holds of the Franch County.

2, That he shall renounce the Soveraignty of that Dutchy and County, and of the Counties of Flanders and Artois.

3. That he shall renounce all his claim to the Kingdom of Naples, the Dutchy of Milan, Genoa, Ast, Doway, L'Isle, Tournay, and Hesdin.

4. That the King with all his power shal pro­cure that Henry d' Albret, forsake his claim to Navarra in the Emperours behalf; or if Henry refuse it, that the King shall not assist him with his forces.

5. That the Emperour shall likewise dis­claim all his right to the Counties of Pon­thieu, Bullen, and Guines, and to the Townes of Montdidier, Roye, Peronne, and other Towns and Lordships of Picardy.

Paragraphe. IV. From the Treaty of Madrid, to that of Cambray.

That period containes but four or five years, in which many considerable things did happen.

1. The King is delivered out of prison, gi­ving his two Sons for Ostages, the Dolphin Francis, and Henry Duke of Orleans, goeth to Bayonne and Bordeaux, stayeth at Angou­lesme and Cognae, accompanied with Charles de Lanoy, Viceroy of Naples, to be present at the execution of the Treaty. But that Vice­roy saw in short time three actions repugnant unto it.

1. The first that the King having caused the Articles to be read in presence of the States of his Kingdom, they told him that they were unjust, contrary to the fundamen­tall Lawes of the State; and that he was not obliged to observe them, although the King did protest of his willingnesse to see them ob­served.

Two things made these Articles unjust; 1. The right of Nations, whereby all Treaties made by one kept in prison, are accounted void as extorted by violence. 2. The funda­mentall [Page 172]Lawes of the State, by which the King is alwayes a Minor, as for the alienation of the royal patrimony.

The second opposition to the Treaty in the presence of the Viceroy of Naples, was that the Deputies of the Dutchy of Burgundy pro­tested before the King, that he could not alie­nate them without their consent, and refused to submit themselves to the Emperour.

The third, That he saw a league made at Cognac, for the expelling of the Emperour out of Italy.

The Emperour having made himselfe for­midable to all Princes, to the Italians especi­ally, and going about to devest Francesco Sfor­za from Milan, which he had conferred upon him after the battel of Pavia, the Pope Cle­ment the VII, King Francis, the Venetians, the Switzers, the Florentines, make a league which was called the Sacred league, to deliver Italy from oppression, without naming the Empe­rour, who also in a scorn was invited to make one in it, upon condition that he should re­store the two Sons of France, suffer the Duke Sforza to live in peace, and give over the siege of the Castle of Milan. By that league the War was to be maintained with common charges. And because the Italian Princes might be afraid of the power of the French in Italy, no lesse then of that of the Empe­rour; [Page 173]King Francis was to renounce his right to the Dutchy of Milan in favour of Sforza, for a pension which should be arbitrated by the Pope and the Venetians, not under fifty thousand Ducats. That the County of Ast should remaine to the King, with the Sove­raignty of Genoa, under the Government of Antonio d' Adornas, with the title of Duke, if he would subscribe to that league. The Kingdom of Naples was to be put into the Popes hands, he paying for it sixty thousand Ducats of yearly pension. That league was publisht and proclaimed at Cognac, in pre­sence of Lanoy, to whom the King made ex­cuses for the inexecution of the Treaty of Madrid, shewing how he was disabled and declared Minor by the State.

3. Lanoy being returned into Spain, pre­sently the War of the league begins in Italy, at Milan, at Rome, and at Naples. At Milan, the Duke of Bourbon Generall of the imperi­al Army, besieged Francis Sforza, whom the league had taken in her protection. Sforza is constrained to surrender the Castle and re­tire into the Army of the league, the Gene­rall whereof was Francesco Maria, Duke of Urbin. The Duke of Bourbon having taken Milan, goeth straight to Rome, takes it, and is killed in the assault. The Cardinalls are im­prisoned and ransomed.

At the same time Lautree was at Naples with an Army, and laid a strait siege to it by Land. And Andrew Doria with the Gallies of France besieged it by Sea. Yea, he won a battel by Sea, in which Moncado Viceroy of Naples was slaine. But being ill satisfied of King Francis, who denyed him the ransome of Prisoners, and used him with contempt, he turned to the Emperour, and relieved Na­ples with victualls by Sea. And Lautree pre­sently after happening to die, the French lost all in Italy, and the Emperour settled him­selfe in it with more power. He restored the Dutchy of Milan to Sforza, and made him marry his neece Christina, daughter to the King of Denmark. Yet he cut off from that Dutchy the Commonwealth of Genoa, which was made Soveraign at the request of Andrew Doria. He confirmed also Parma and Placen­tia to the Popes.

4. While this War was in Italy, King Fran­cis made a league with Henry the VIII. of England, and both declared War against the Emperour, who having said to the Herald of France, that his Master was not in a conditi­on to declare Warre against him, till he had disingaged his faith and fulfilled his promi­ses, which if he repented of, that he should return into prison to make a new Treaty.

King Francis exasperated with these words, [Page 175]declared in presence of all the Court, that he would satisfie the Emperour by a Duel, and sent him a challenge, saying, that the Em­perour lied, if he said that he had broken his word. The Emperour, though he made a shew to answer the challenge, kept himself still to his answer, that King Francis was not in a condition to require satisfaction of him, till he had discharged his promise. So all these threatnings vanisht into smoak.

5. While these Princes were thus con­tending, two great Princesses, Lovise the Kings Mother, and Margaret the Emperours Aunt, were labouring for an accommodati­on. By their meanes the Treaty of Cambray was made, which therefore was called the Treaty of Ladies, it was in the year 1529. By that Treaty a marriage was concluded be­tween King Francis and Eleanor the Empe­rours sister, widow to the King of Portugal; and it was agreed that King Francis should pay two millions of Gold for the ransome of his Sons. And that he should disclaim all his rights to the Counties of Flanders and Artois, and to the Dutchy of Milan, and (as some adde) to whole Italy, which is like enough, since the Treaty of Cambray changed nothing in that of Madrid, but that there was no mention of the Dutchy of Burgundy.

Paragraphe V. From the Treaty of Cambray, an. 1529. to that of Crespy, an. 1544.

By the Treaty of Cambray, War ceased be­tween these two Princes, but not the jealou­sies and hatred: Yet they kept peace till the year 1533. when Merville an Italian Gentle­man, the Kings servant, was condemned and executed at Milan, because some of his ser­vants had killed a man. But the secret and true reason was, that the Emperour had com­plained to Duke Sforza, that this Merville was at Milan as a Spy for the French, which was true; yea he was a secret Embassadour, and Sforza had desired that he should not o­penly take the title of Embassadour, for fear of offending the Emperour. That murther of Merville broke the peace; for the King ta­king Armes to chastise Sforza, the Emperour also took arms to defend him. It was at that time that King Francis instituted a new form of Militia, which was called Legionary.

The Emperour also was incensed by the alliance which the King had made with the German Princes Protestant (though perhaps that name was not yet in fashion) who being persecuted by the Emperour for their Religi­on [Page 177]had their refuge to the French King, as the antient confederate of the Princes of Ger­many, for the defence of the Rights and Liber­ties of the Empire. These Princes were the Dukes of Saxony, the Palatine, the Duke of Ba­vier, the Duke of Wertenberg, the Lantgrave of Hesse. Yea, he lent a hundred thousand Crowns to the Duke of Virtenberg, who en­gaged to him the County of Montbeliard. But that engagement was simulate, and Francis did very willingly assist the Enemies of Charles. These were the motives and occasi­ons of this War. Of which, these were the chief passages.

1. Francis to passe to Milan, demands of Charles Duke of Savoy, passage through his Country. The Duke denies it by the instiga­tion of Beatrix of Portugal his wife, sister in law to the Emperor, & very partial for him. That deniall cost the Duke the losse of all his Lands, both of Savoy and Fiemont, which the King took, and kept them till the Treaty of Chasteau in Cambresis, an. 1559. The pre­tence of that invasion was the right which Francis pretended in these States from his Mother Lovise of Ravoy. A little before that invasion, the Emperour seeing that thick cloud threatning Milan, himself returning from Tunis with a weary and broken Army, sends to the K. propositions of peace, & many [Page 178]fair words. Yet he stood so stiffely upon the Treaties before, very advantageous for him, that the King would not hearken to him, per­ceiving that ne would only protract the time till he had recrewted his Army. Besides Fran­cis Sforza being dead without children, at the same time the Emperour had seized upon the Dutchy of Milan. And it was reported, that he intended to bestow it upon a Sonne of Portugal, his wives brother. For these reasons these two Princes fall to action. The King conquereth Savoy and Piemont, and the Empe­rour fortifies himself at Milan.

2. The Emperour passeth into Italy, visits the Pope, Paul III, an. 1536, and in prefence of the Conclave, inveighs against Francis, rela­ting all that past between them ever since they came to their States, reproaching him especially for joining with the Princes of contrary Religion in Germany: And offereth three conditions to the King to choose which he would. The first was to give the Dutchy of Milan to the Kings third Son, the Duke of Angoulesme, not willing to give it either to the Dolphin, or to the Duke of Orleans, for fear (said he) of giving jealousie to the Italian Princes, if persons so near the Crown grew so powerfull in Italy, especially the Duke of Orleans, who had lately married Catherine de Medicis, which had some pretences upon [Page 179] Florence and Urbin. If the King accepted that condition, he desired to know what assistance he would give him against the Turk and the Heretiques. The Emperours second offer was, to fight a Duell with the King, either upon the Land or in a Boat. That he left to the King the choice of the Armes; That the van­quished should give all his forces to secure the sitting of a Council, and to make War a­gainst the Heretiques and Infidells. That the King should deposite the Dutchy of Burgun­dy, and himself that of Milan to be the price of the Victory. The third offer was, that if the King refused these two conditions, he de­clared mortall War unto him, till one of the two was made the poorest gentleman of his Kingdom. The King purged himself to the Pope by letters of all the Emperours accusa­tions.

The War grows hot in Piemont, an. 1536. Many exploits are done, Fossan is besieged by Antonio de Leva for the Emperour, and taken. The Marquis of Saluees leaves the Kings ser­vice and turns to the Emperour, who enters into Provence, and besiegeth Marseille, but in vain, being defended by the Kings presence, and by the generosity of Ann de Montmorency, who since was Constable of France. The Em­perour is beaten out of Provence. At the same time the Count of Nassan makes some ex­ploits [Page 180]in Picardy for the Emperour, takes Guise, besiegeth Peronne, but is repulsed.

4. Jean Capell the Kings Atturney General, moveth the Parliament that a proces be made against Charles as Felon, and Traitor against his Soveraign, of whom he held the Counties of Flanders, Artois, and Charolois, in fee. The Court of Peers hereupon assembled decree, that Charles should be cited with sound of Trumpet, upon the frontier of his States, to appear before them. And he not appearing, he was condemned, and his Dominions de­pending from the Crown were confiscated. Presently after, the King tooke many places in Artois.

An. 1538. the Pope Paul the III. comes to Nice, where both the Emperour and the King met also; the Pope communing separately with each of them, for hee could not obtaine of them that they should see one another. Yet they concluded a truce for ten years. That meeting being ended, the King returnes into France, the Emperour into Spain, but seeth the King by the way at Acquesmortes; They confirme the truce, and are civill one to a­nother. Shortly after, the City of Ghent being revolted, and having killed their Magi­strates, Charles desireth Francis to give him passage through his Lands, which the King granted him. In that passage the Emperour [Page 181]received all the royall honours. The King went to meet him at Chastellerant. In that en­terview, the Emperour gave the King some hope to give him satisfaction about the Dut­chy of Milan.

6. An. 1641. the King sent Antony Rincot, a Spaniard that had taken sanctuary in France, to the Turk, and Caesar Fregosa to the Venetians. Both were slain upon the River of Po, going to Venice by Boat. This murder was done by the order of the Marquess du Guast Gover­nour of Milan, who hoped thereby to get their Papers and Instructions, but they had been sent to Venice another way. The Mar­quess was accused and convicted of the fact by those that executed it, who were taken at Venice. Upon this the King breaks the truce of tens years. The Dolphin, who was since Henry the II, falls upon the Roussillon, besie­ged Perpignan, but is repulsed with losse. Charles Duke of Orleans, seizeth upon Lut­zenburg. The Emperour on the other side makes a league with the King of England, en­ters Picardie, besiegeth Landrecy, but Francis relieveth it, and driveth the Emperour from the siege: Barbarossa the Turk comes by Sea to the Kings help, takes the Town of Nice, wasteth those coasts of the Mediterranean sea, goeth away having done little good to the French, and ill satisfied of them, having [Page 182]given a great matter of obloquy against Fran­cis, to the Christian Princes.

In Piemont, after many exploits on both sides, the famous battel of Cerisoles was fought an. 1544. and won by the French, the French Generall being the Duke of Anguien, the Spa­niard, the Marquess du Guast.

At this time Ferdinand King of the Ro­mans, brother to Charles the Emperour, being sore prest by the Turk in Hungary, sends a Dominican Fryer, his Confessor to Charles to exhort him to peace; Charles is perswaded to it, and Francis also. Their Deputies meet at St. John des Vignes, in the Suburbs of Soissons, and begin a Treaty which soon after was concluded at Crespy in Valois, of which these were the chiefe conditions.

That Charles Duke of Orleans, the Kings se­cond Son, should marry the Emperours Daughter, or that of Ferdinand King of the Romans, at the Emperours choice within six yeares; and for her portion, that the Em­perour should invest the said Duke with the Dutchy of Milan, or the County of Flanders, or Charolois, or Franch County, at the Empe­rours choyce likewise. And that upon his in­vestiture with one of these, the King should renounce all his claim to all the rest, and to the Kingdom of Naples. That till there were Children born by that marriage, if the Em­perour [Page 183]had before assigned the Dutchy of Milan for the Ladies portion, he should re­tain in his power the Castles of Milan and Cremona.

That the King should restore to Charles Duke of Savoy, all that he had taken from him on both sides of the Alpes; yet that he might retain the Citadels as long as the Em­perours kept the Castles of Milan and Cre­mona.

That both the Emperour and the King should restore all that they had taken the one from the other, since the truce made at Nice by the Popes mediation. This Treaty beares date of Octob. 18. 1544. and was executed, but the King restored many more places then the Emperour.

Paragraphe VI. From the Treaty of Crespy 1544, to that of Chasteau en Cambresis, an. 1559.

Francis out-lived three years the Treaty of Crespy, all which time he had no War with Charles, who had retired himself to Bruxelles. Francis being dead, his Son Henry the II. suc­ceeded him, who also had no War with the Emperour till the year 1550. Two accidents made the old jealousie to break into open War.

1. The Pope, Paul the III. had invested his Bastard, Peter Lewis, Farnesio, with the Towns of Parma and Placentia, which the Emperour had yieled to the Church upon the claime of Leo the X. without much examining the Popes right, onely because it had been so co­venanted when the Pope and the Emperour united themselves to expell the French out of Italy, an. 1521. That investiture troubled Charles afterwards, who pretended, either that these Towns should remaine united to the patrimony of the Church, or that in case of alienation they should return to the Dut­chy of Milan. Now this Peter Lewis, Farne­sio, having made himselfe odious to his sub­jects, by his cruelty and impudicity, was slain by the people of Placentia, who put them­selves under the Emperours protection. At the same time Paul the III, being dead, Jules the III, that succeeded him, maintained at the first Octavio, Son to Peter Lewis, in the in­vestiture of Parma and Placentia. But soon af­ter repenting of that donation which he saw to be displeasing to the Colledge of Cardi­nals, joyned with the Emperour for the dis­possessing of Octavio, who put himself in Henry the II, his protection; and that King power­fully assisted him both against the Pope and the Emperour, and was at such odds with the Pope, as to prohibit the bringing of any [Page 185]money out of France to Rome. At which the Pope amazed, desired peace of the King, and desisted to oppose Octavio, yea and caused the Emperour to restore Placentia to Octavio, since which time Octavio and his successours have enjoyed Parma and Placentia. At the same time the King protected also the Prince of Miran­dola, whom the Pope would oppresse.

Before that time, an. 1545. the Emperour got a great victory over the Protestant Prin­ces of Germany. Their two chiefe men, Fri­derick Elector of Saxony, and Philip Lantgrave of H [...]sse were taken prisoners. Whereby the Protestant party was so humbled, that in the year 1550. they implored the help of Henry the II, of France, who past into Germany to relieve them.

The Constable of Montmorency in his way seized upon the Townes of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, upon the Rights which we have set down in the third Chapter. That enterpize of Henry in favour of the Protestants, made the Emperour conclude a peace with them in haste. So that the King being come to Stras­burg, was desired by them to return, because they were agreed with the Emperour. Retur­ning from Germany, he took many Towns in Lutzenburg, Rochemars, Danvilliers, Ivoy, Bo­villon. And the Emperour towards the end of the year 1551. besiegeth Metz, so well [Page 186]defended by Francis Duke of Guise, that the siege was raised the first day of the year 1552 Terrovenne is taken and razed by the Empe­rour.

The people of Siena fearing lest that Cos­mo de Medicis, Duke of Florence, should make himself Master of their Commonwealth, had put themselves into the Emperours hands ho­ping that he would bring them in their liber­ty. But seeing that he would bring them un­der the subjection of Cosmo, they called Henry the II, to their help, who gave them Blaise de Montlue for their Governour, who since was Marshal of France; in his Commentaries he hath described how that City was besieged. But in the end they were forced to submit to the Florentine.

In the year 1555. the Emperour Charles resigned the Imperial Crown to his brother Ferdinand, and all his other Estates to his Son Philip the II. A Treaty of Peace betweene Henry and Philip, was moved near Ardres, and perfected near Cambray, an. 1556. for ten yeares, and sworne by the two Kings Feb. 6.

But presently after the death of Jule the III. and the Pontificat of Marcel the II. which lasted but two and twenty dayes, the peace was broken upon the Election of Paul the IV. a Neapolitan of the house of Caraffa, allied to that of Melpha, which had alwayes been of [Page 187]the French faction, and was odious to the Spaniards, who used all their power to hin­der his election; And when in spite of them he was elected, they raised two powerfull Families of Rome against him, the Columna's and the Vitelli's, who revolted against the Pope, being assisted by Philip. The King sends help to the Pope, so the Truce is bro­ken. Many exploits of Arms were done a­bout Rome. But, Octob. 14. 1557, the Pope and the Spaniard agreed, and Henry called his Army back.

But at the same time Philip having marri­ed Queen Mary of England, made his wife declare War to Henry by a Heralt of Arms, who spoke to the King himself at Reims, whence followed many various effects of war in Picardie and Champagne, till the me­morable battell of Saint Guintin lost by the French, an. 1557. where the Constable was taken. But Francis Duke of Guise, newly re­turned from Italy, revived the sad condition of France by the taking of Calais, Guines, the Land of Oye, and the Town of Thion­ville.

The two Armies of these two Princes be­ing both in sight one of another in Picardy, near the River of Somme, the Constable of France and the Marshall Saint Andrew, both Prisoners of the Spaniard, the Popes Nuntio [Page 188]and Christina Dowagar of Lorrain, Cosen-ger­man to Philip, manage a peace which was concluded at Chasteau in Cambresis, in Febru­ary 1559. By the first Article of that Treaty the French King was to execute religiously all the Treaties made between Charles the V, and Francis the I. (whereby they understood the cessions made of Naples, Milan, Flanders, and Artois) unlesse the present Treaty did contradict it; but that Treaty mentioned one­ly the restitutions of the Towns taken on both sides, and the rendition of the States of Savoy and Piemont to Philibert Emanuel, Duke of Savoy. Also by that Treaty a marriage was agreed on between Philip, then newly a Wi­dower by the death of Queen Mary of Eng­land, and Elizabeth daughter to Henry the II. which for that reason was called the Queen of Peace. In the celebration of that marriage, Henry the II was slain.

Paragraphe V. From the peace of Chasteau in Cambresis, 1559. to the death of the Duke of Alenson, 1584.

There was no open war between the two Crownes all that time which comprehends [Page 189]the reign of Francis the II, Charles the IX, and great part of that of Henry the III. But by the vertue of that Queen of peace, the Union was so great, that the troubles of Religion being risen in France, Philip assisted the French Kings with his Armes.

Paragraphe VIII. From the death of the Duke d'Alanson, 1584. to the Treaty of Ver­vins, 1598.

This date comprehends the end of Henry the III. and the beginning of Henry the IV.

Paragraphe I. From the Treaty of Vervins to the death of Henry the IV.

After the Treaty of Vervins, the two States kept reasonable good intelligence. Philip the II. died in the time of the Treaty.

The first difference between Henry and Philip the III King of Spain, was about the Marquesat of Saluces, which Henry redeman­ded of the Duke of Savoy, who did nothing but by the order of the Councell of Spain; And [Page 204]the Spaniard would not suffer the French to possesse any thing in Italy. An exchange then was made of Bresse for the Marquesat. Herein Philip did nothing against the alliance. For the Duke having broken his word with Henry, Philip refused to assist him, and to be a favou­rer of his perfidiousnesse, although the Count of Fuentes raised great forces to assist him.

In the year 1602. was the conspiracy of the Duke of Biron. It was believed that the King of Spain had a share in his designes. But the depositions of the witnesses against him, speak only of Treaties and Intelligences with the Duke of Savoy, and of the sharing of the State of France among the conspira­tours. Yet they said that Biron should have had the Dutchy of Burgundy, Franch County, and Bresse under the protection of the King of Spain. Fontanelles a Gentleman of Britain, who was convicted to have been one of the con­spiratours, for which he was put to death, was accused to have treated with the Spani­ard to deliver the Ile of Tristan in Britain into his hands. But Henry, who had no mind to break with Spaniard, would take no notice of that treachery.

The Spaniards pretence for these secret plots against France, was that Henry assisted the Rebells of Holland with men and money. Which the Spanish Embassadour having [Page 205]complained of, he answered that the money which he sent to the Hollanders was to pay his debts, for monies lent to him during the civil Wars.

As for the French Souldiers that served the Hollanders, he could not hinder his subjects to take party where they listed; and that some of them also served the Archiduke. Howsoever that assistance was so resented by the Spaniards, that they lost no occasion to stir disorders in France.

Many things hapned in the yeares 1605. and 1606. which shewed the enmity of the Spaniard against France. As the Treason of Loste, Secretary to Mr. De Villeroy, who had intelligence with the Ministers of Spain, and let them know all the secrets of the Ca­binet Councell. He was discovered by one Rassis a Frenchman, that had taken Sanctuary in Spain. Loste ran away, and in his flight was drowned in the River of Marne, so no more could be known of that Treason.

Then the Lady Marquesse of Vernuiel ill sa­tisfied of King Henry, whom she accused to have broken his promise to her, treates with the Spaniard, and inveigleth into her treason her Father d' Antragues, and her brother the Count of Auvergne, since Duke of Angoulesm. Their design was to retire to the Spaniard, and to make one day that Ladies Son a stone [Page 206]of scandall unto France. Being discovered, all three were convicted and condemned to death. But the King gave them their grace.

In the year 1605. the reliques of Birons conspiracy appeared in the Provinces of Peri­gort Limousin and Quercy. All was done under the name of the Duke of Bovillon. Whether the Spaniard had a hand in it or no, it was not known.

At the same time Mairargues a Gentleman of Provence treated with the Spaniard to yeild Marseille unto him. He was dis­covered and taken conferring with the Secre­tary of the Spanish Embassadour, and put to death. This passage was near to have caused a breach between the two Crowns, for the Embassadour of Spain expostulated with the French King, because against the Law of Na­tions his Secretary had been taken and com­mitted to prison. The King justified the fact, saying, that he was found monopolizing a­gainsthis State. Nevertheless all was suddenly appeased: Although at the same time another Treason was discovered, a plot upon Laucate by two brothers Luquisses, who had been won by the Governour of Perpignan.

In the year 1608. Henry the IV. mediated a truce between the King of Spain and the Hollanders. At the same time the Morisco's of [Page 207] Spain secretly implored his aide against the oppression of the Spaniards. But he sent them back, saying, that he would not be the first that should break peace, but that if he was compelled to make War, he might make use of their proffers.

Paragraphe II. From the death of Henry the IV. to the rup­ture betweene the two Crownes an. 1635.

A yeere before the Kings death an. 1609. John William Duke of Cleves and Juilliers being dead without issue left his succession dis­putable betweene the Emperour Rodolphus who said it was devolved to the Empire, and the children of foure sisters of that Duke married in the houses of Brandenburg, Newburg, Deuxponts, and Burgan. It was thought that the great Army which Henry had prepared a little before his death was intended to assist these Princes against the Emperour. It seemes the Queene Regent knew so much, for when the Archiduke Leopold had seized upon Juilliers after the Kings death She sent Marshall de la Castre to assist these Princes, to whom he caused luilliers to be surrendred. There the French had to doe with the house of Austria, of the German branch.

In the year 1612. the two Crownes were allied by the marriages, of Lewis the XIII. with Anne daughter to Philip the III, and of Philip Prince of Spaine (who is now Phi­lip the IV) with Elizabeth eldest daughter of Henry the IV. And in the yeare 1615. these marriages were accomplisht at Bour­deaux. The world was full of hope that this double alliance would strengthen the peace betweene the two Crownes.

An. 1616 the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua being in War one against another about Montferrat, the Kings of France and Spain intervened to make them friends. And this was done without prejudice to the peace betweene the two States.

Valteline is a vally seated between Germany, the Venetians, the Dutchy of Milan, & the Grisons. It was in old time a part of the Dutchy of Milan, or at least an appurtenance of the same. And was engaged to the Grisons by Lewis the XII. for foure hundred thousand pounds arrear, due to them for their ser­vice in the conquest of Milan, since which time it was subject to the Grisons. But the differences of Religion intervening and the Grisons being turned Protestants for the most part, Valtolina kept for the most part the Religion of Milan. Which made them desire to shake the yoke of the Grisons and [Page 209]returne under the subjection of Milan, in­vited to it by the Spaniards. So that an. 1619. the great revolt began, and the Valtolins expell the Grisons their Masters. Who had recourse to the protection of France, by whom they held that Countrey. King Lewis the XIII. sends Monsieur de Bassompierre into Spaine to Philip the IV. (for Philip the III. was lately dead) who granted accord­ing to the Treaty of Madrid that all garrisons of strangers should depart out of Valtolina, and that order should be taken for the maintaining of the Catholique Religion. The Duke of Feria having refused to execute that command, and the Valtolins unwilling to returne to the obedience of the Grisons. King Lewis exhorted the Switzers and Grisons to maintaine their rights, and sent them an Embassadour the Marquis de Coenures whom he made afterwards General of their army and Marshall of France, known by the name of Marshall d'Estree Then did the French and the Spaniards fight, yet without breaking the Treaty of Vervins because both acted for their confederates.

Pope Vrban the VIII. having made him­selfe Depositary of the principal places of Val olina, sent his nephew Cardinal Barbarini into France an. 1625. who not being able to make an accommodation, as pretending [Page 210]to deliver Valtolina from the obedience of the Grisons, war began in Italie by the ali­ance made betweene the French and the Duke of Savoy against Genoa which was as­sisted by the Spaniard. Thus these quarrels upon the by, came very neer to an absolute rupture betweene the two Nations. For at the same time some Spanish ships passing from Barcetona to Genoa and driven upon the coasts of Marseille were arrested by the Duke of Guise. Of which the Genoese complained to the King of Spaine, whose Councel irri­tated with these wars, and with the taking of many places about Genoa, gave order that all French ships in the havens of Spaine, should be arrested, and all the goods of the French trafficquing in Spaine, seized upon. The Councell of France to bee even with them made two Edicts; the one to for­bid all traffick with Spaine, the other to seize upon all ships of Spain, Portugal, Na­ples and other places of the Spanish domi­nions; yet onely by right of represalls and for restitution of the goods taken from the French.

War continued in Piemont all that while, till the winter of that yeare 1625, when the armies retired into garrisons. That winter Du Fargis the French Emassadour in Spain began a Treaty which was called the [Page 211]Treaty of Monson in Arragon, whereby with­out any Commission from his Master or his principall Minister of State the Cardinal de Richelieu (as it was pretended) he did great­ly derogate to the right of the Grisons over Valtolina, making the Valtolins well nigh Soveraines, taking from the Grisons all po­wer to refuse the Iudges and that forme of Government which the Valtolins would set up among themselves. That Treaty was disavowed by King Lewis and the Cardinal who commanded the Embassadour to re­forme it. Wherein so much tedious pro­traction was used, that Lewis was in the end constrained to take upon him the pro­tection of the Valtolins, and sent them the Duke of Rohan who there continued the war, even after the rupture between the two Crownes.

In the yeare 1628 Vincent the II. Duke of Mantua being dead, Charles Duke of Nevers the next heire male succeeded; but the Emperour made some difficulty about it because he was borne in France, and because he did not come personally to him to render his homage. But besides his right of lapse for want of homage, he set up the right of Duke Guastullo of the same house of Mantua, which yet appeared at the first to be weake and of no force.

At the same time, the Duke of Savoy re­newed his rights to Montferrat. So the new Duke of Mantua saw himselfe almost swal­lowed up by the Emperour, the Spaniard, and the Duke of Savoy. Yea Don Gonzales de Cordova besieged Cazal, the old apple of discord between the houses of Mantua and Savoy. King Lewis, resolved to maintaine his subject and confederate, sends Bevron and Guron to defend Cazal. Himselfe passeth into Italie, forceth Le pas de Suze, driveth the Spaniard from the siege of Cazal, and com­pelleth the Duke of Savoy to let the Mantuan be in peace.

The Protestants in France being in armes, Rochel besieged, and their party brought low, some say that the Duke of Rohan sent Clausel from Montpellier to Madrid, to put the Protestant party under the pro­tection of the King of Spain. The History of Dupleix sets downe the whole Treaty be­tweene the King of Spain and the Duke of Rohan, whereby the Spaniard promiseth to assist Rohan with men and money. But Lewis returning victorious out of Italie, suddenly overcame the Protestant party, and forced them to receive peace. The Spaniard thought he might as lawfully assist the Protestants of France, as the French assisted those of Holland.

Whilst Lewis was busy about the pacifi­cation of his owne State, the Duke of Savoy reneweth his pretence to Montferrat, the Emperour sends Colalto against the Duke of Mantua; and the Marquesse of Spinola be­siegeth Cazal, but in vaine, being well defended by Toiras, since Marshal of France. Lewis repasseth into Italie, makes himselfe Master of Savoy and Piemont. The Imperial Army takes Mantua, but all is pacified by the Treaty of Queyras an. 1631. and the Duke of Mantua is setled in his Estate.

In that yeare 1631. Mary the Queene Mo­ther of France retireth into Flanders. The next yeare 1632. the Duke of Orleans her sonne doth the like. Where getting some Dutch and German troopes he makes an in­rode into France; and in the yeare 1633. he makes a Treaty with the Spaniard to enter into France with an Army. All this without absolute rupture betwixt the two Crownes; Onely the Spaniard fomented the divisions of the Royal house of France.

Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sueden, after a long war against Poland comes into Germa­ny an. 1631. for the restitution of the Dukes of Meckelburg his kinsmen into their Estates, out of which the Emperour had expelled them, and to restore liberty to the Cities of Germanie. Lewis jealous of the greatness of [Page 214]the house of Austria, and having causes enow to ressent the wrongs offered to him by the Emperour, made a Covenant with the King of Sueden for the defence of their common friends opprest, the safety of the commerce upon the Sea, & the liberty of the States of the Empire. The King of Sueden promist the assistance of his armes and his person, and the King of France a million of livers per annum. Hence followed the great victories of Gustavus, till he was slaine at the battell of Lutzen in Novemb 1632.

An. 1634. the Duke of Orleans leaveth Flanders and returnes to the King his bro­ther.

III. Paragraphe. From the Rupture of the peace till now.

These mutuall offences being accumula­ted, in the end brake into open war. It was declared by the French by a Herald in Flan­ders in May 1635. That declaration was grounded upon that old complaint, that the Spaniard aspires to the universal Monarchy of Europe, and to devoure all the Princes thereof; and because the Spaniard vexed the confederates of France with wars, but more particularly by reason of the imprisonment of the Archbishop of Treves who had put him­selfe under the protection of King Lewis. To all the complaints of the French, the Spani­ards [Page 215]have their answers, and have enough on their part to complaine. Howsoever this war hath produced many great exploits on both sides, in Germany, in Italy, in Flan­ders, in Spaine. And though the fortune of war have alternative successes, yet France had hitherto the advantage of that bloody game, having stretcht her dominions be­yond the Rhine, united Lorraine to the French Crowne, got many townes in Flan­ders and Artois, Perpignan and the County of Roussillon, and got a good footing in the Dutchy of Milan. Besides Catalonia, which hath submitted her self to the Soveraignty of France. The greatest losse of the Spaniard is that of Portugal by the practices of France, whereby the King of Spain hath lost Brasill, and the East-Indies.