Charles par la grâce de Dieu etc. Savoir faisons à tous présens et advenir, Nous avons receu l’umble supplication de Daniel de Croix Escuyer filz de Geraerd Seigneur de Wambrechies, jeusne homme à marier, contenant que ledit suppliant s’est, à certain jour passé, trouvé avecq George Giselin Seigneur de Bouzebecque Jacques de Sauch et autres en la ville de Comines vers le Seigneur de Halewyn. Lesquelz ilz ont servi en leur jonesse. Or est que à certain jour de feste du soir que lors on s’estoit esbatu au chasteau du dit lieu, entre huyt et neuf heures du soir, le dit Seigneur de Hallewyn avec le Seigneur de Croisille se retirèrent au dit chastel pour eulx coucher. Et quant au dit suppliant, George Giselin et Jacques de le Sauch, ilz se retirèrent vers le marchié avec Jehan Homme, Bailli du dit lieu, et les sievoit feu alors vivant Charlot Desrumaulx, joueur du luut, qui démonstroit avoir assez fort beu, et en allant leur chemin, l’un d’entre eulx mist en bouche aux autres d’aller bancquetter à la maison d’ung nommé maistre Franche Barbier demourant auprès dudit marchié, à quoy ilz saccordèrent et allèrent tous ensemble celle part, où ilz furent syevis par le dit Charlot sans y estre appellé. Que lors les dits suppliant et de le Sauch, qui alloient devant vers la dite maison, le dit Suppliant ayant son esprivier sur son poing, prièrent au dit Charlot, obstant qu’il estoit noyseulx après boire, qu’il se retirast et allast couchier, et qu’ilz ne le voloient point avoir, ce qu’il ne voloit faire, mais entra en la dicte maison, parquoy le dit Suppliant le print par le col et le poussa hors de la dite maison à l’ayde du dit Jacques, dont il se courroucha et se mist en tous debvoirs de tyrer son306 baston pour les villonner, mais il fut empesché par le dit Jacques, et soubit survint le dit bailli qui le print au corps, mais finablement soubz promesse qu’il fist de soy partir et aller couchier, le dit bailli à la requeste des assistans le laissa aller, et lui estant hors des mains du dit bailli se tyra d’un lez oudit marchié contre une maison ou sur ung bancq, il mist son luut et desvesty sa robbe tira sa dagge et proféra plusieurs haultaines langaiges sentans menaces disant, ou parolles en substance, qu’il estoit homme pour respondre au plus hardy de eulx tous. Et craindant par le dit Daniel, suppliant le débat appant contre lui bailla son oiseau à son homme, et ainsi qu’il estoit sur le marchié, il veyt ledit deffunct qui continuoit du dit langaiges haultains au deshonneur de lui et des autres. Disant qu’il estoit homme pour le plus hardy, ayant sa dage nue marcha vers lui comme aussi fist le dit deffunct. Que lors le dit Suppliant ayant son sang meslé, et mémoratif que lui qui estoit josne noble homme sievant les armes, se il se retiroit pour ung menestrel de basse condition ce lui seroit à toujours reproché en villonnie entre tous nobles hommes. En ceste chaleur, non puissant de la refrener ayant aussi son baston nud, frappèrent l’un après l’autre aucuns cops et fut attaint par le dit deffunct sur l’espaule, et du cop que icellui suppliant rua, il attaindit ledit deffunct en la mesmelle, dont brief après il termina vie par mort. Pour lequel cas le dit suppliant a esté appellé à noz droiz au siège de notre gouvernance de Lille, en lui donnant tiltre tel qu’il s’enssuit. Daniel de Croix, escuyer, vous estez appellé aux droiz du Roy Catholicque, nostre Seigneur, Archiduc d’Austrice, Duc de Bourgogne, Conte de Flandres, pour et sur ce que en la ville de Comines, avez allé en la maison de maistre France Barbier avec Jaquet de le Sauch à l’intention de bancquetter, là ou vous auroit sievy, sans y estre appellé, feu lors vivant, Charlot Desrumaulx, lequel auroit par vous et le dit de le Sauch esté bouté dehors, pourquoy il s’estoit courrouchié, et de faict auroit en partie desgainié son espée, et ce voyant par Jehan Homme, bailli de la dite ville le auroit prins au corps, et finablement eslargi soubz promesse par lui faicte de aller couchier, et lui venu au bout du marchié, et laissant vous, Daniel, le dit de le307 Sauch avec George Ghiselin, escuyer, Seigneur de Bousebecq et autres, auroit desgaignié sa dite dagge et proféré aucunes parolles deshonnestes, incitant le plus hardy à venir vers luy. Lesquelles parolles vous Daniel seriez marchié vers le dit feu ayant desgaigné vostre rapière, et à l’aborder entre vous et le feu y ont aucuns cops ruez, et entre autres de votre rapière donnast au dit feu ung cop d’estocq au dessus de la mammelle dextre, du quel cop brief aprez le dit feu termina vie par mort sans confession. Qui est cas de souveraineté et privéligié au Roy notre Seigneur, et querra la darraine tierchaine le iiie d’aoust xvexix. Sie est ainsi signé. A Cuvillon.
Obstant lequel cas le dit Suppliant, doubtant rigueur de justice, s’est absenté de notre chastellenie de Lille, et n’y oseroit retourner, hanter ne converser combien qu’il ayt fait pays et satisfaction à partie, se de notre grâce ne lui est, sur ce, impertie. Dont actendu ce que dit est, mesmement les services qu’il nous a faiz en estat d’homme d’armes, soubz la charge et compaignie de notre amé et féal cousin, le Seigneur de Fiennes, aussi que en autres choses, il est bien famé et renommé, il nous a très humblement supplié et requis. Pour ce est-il, que nous les choses dessus dites considérées audit Suppliant inclinans à sa dite requeste, et lui voulans en ceste partie préférer grâce à rigueur de justice, Avons au cas dessus quicté, remis et pardonné, quictons, remectons et pardonnons de grâce espécial par ces présentes, le cas de homicide dessus déclairé, ensemble toute paine et amende corporelle et criminelle en quoy pour raison et à l’occasion dudit cas et les circunstances et deppendances il peult avoir mesprins, offencé et est encouru envers nous et justice. En rappelant et mectant au néant tous appeaulx, deffaulx, contumaces et procédures pour ce contre lui faiz et ensuyz, et l’avons quant à ce remis et restitué, remectons et restituons à ses bonne fame et renommée à nostre dite chastellenie de Lille, et tous noz autres pays et seigneuries, ensemble à ses biens non confisquiez, saucuns en a, tout ainsi qu’il estoit avant l’advenue du cas dessus dit. En imposant sur ce scillence perpétuelle à nostre procureur général et tous noz autres officiers quelzconcques, satisfaction toutesvoyes faicte à partie interressée se faicte n’est et elle y chiet civilement, tant seullement et moyennant qu’il l’amendra aussi civillement envers nous selon l’exigence du cas et la faculté de ses biens. Et avec ce, aussi qu’il sera tenu payer et respondre les mises et despens de justice, Pour ce faiz et ensuyz à l’arbitraige et tauxation de nostre Gouverneur de Lille ou son lieutenant que commectons à ce. Si donnons en mandement à notre dit Gouverneur de Lille ou son dit lieutenant que appellez ceulx qui pour ce seront à appeller, il procède bien et deuement à la vérification de ces dites présentes et à l’arbitraige et taxation desdites amende civille et mises de justice, ainsi qu’il appartiendra. Et ce fait et les dites amende civille et mises de justice tauxées et payées ainsi qu’il appartiendra, de laquelle amende cellui de noz recepveurs ou autre notre officier cuy ce regarde sera tenu faire recepte et rendre compte et reliqua à notre prouffit avecq les autres deniers de sa recepte. Il et tous aultres noz officiers quelzconques présens et advenir facent seuffrent et laissent le dit suppliant de noz preséntes grâce, remission et pardon, selon et par la manière que dit est, plainement paisiblement et perpétuellement joyr et user sans lui mectre, faire ou donner ne souffrir estre faict mis ou donné aucun arrest, destourbier ou empeschement au contraire en corps ne en biens en manière quelconque. Ains se son corps ou aucuns de ses biens non confisquiez sont ou estoient pour ce prins saisiz, arrestez ou empeschiez, les mectent ou facent mectre incontinent et sans delay à playne et entière délivrance. Car ainsi nous plaist-il. Et affin que ce soit chose ferme et estable a tousjours nous avons fait mectre nostre scel à ces présentes, saulf en autres choses, notre droit et l’autruy en toutes.
Donné en nostre ville de Malines, ou mois de novembre l’an de grâce mil chincq cens et dix neuf, et de nostre règne le iiiie.
Ainsi signé par le Roy en son conseil.
Desbarres.
Chambre des comptes de Lille. Registre des chartes de l’audience B. 1730, fo. 104.
Phelippe, Roy de Castille, d’Arragon, &c., Comte de Flandre, &c., sçavoir faisons à tous présens et à venir. Nous avons receu l’humble supplication et requeste de Jehan Dael, contenant, que le 23e Septembre dernier, ayant esté convocqué au bancquet de nopces de l’enfant de Michel Dael, son frère, en la paroisse de Halluin, y seroit aussy esté appellé Guillibert du Mortier, lequel voiant la table couverte et la pluspart des convives y assisse, seroit ingéré de vouloir faire ung présent à la compaignie avec quelque peu de vau mis sur deux plats dans lesquels il avait enclos deux grenouilles, vulgairement appellées ronnes, lesquelles à l’ouverture d’iceulx plats, ont sauté sur la table et viandes, ce que auroit causé ung tumulte, et qui le tout auroit esté culbuté, ce qui auroit despleu fort audict remonstrant, tant à cause que les viandes estoient partie gastées et contaminées, comme aussy à raison de ce que la perte en resultant estoit assez de consideracion pour son dit frère qui est honneste homme, et bien qui le dit Guillebert debvoit endurer la reprinse de son faict, neanmoings au contre, il auroit injurié du mot ——298 deux de la compagnie, et notamment le dit remontrant, ce quy l’occasionna de luy dire: Quy at il tant à (dire comme cela). A quoy il auroit respondu: Je te —— aussy, advienne. A quoi luy fut reparty par ledit remontrant en ces termes, ou en substance, Je pauleroy bien à toy, ce qu’entendu par le dit Guillebert auroit tiré son coustel et s’approché le remontrant, quy l’obleige de tirer pareillement le sien, et se mectre en deffence, du quel il en auroit donné un coup au dict Guillebert vers le dos, dont 310environ xii jours aprez il seroit allé de vie à trespas, au grand regret dudit remonstrant. C’est à quoy il a prins son recours vers nous, suppliant humblement qu’il nous pleust luy pardonner le dit cas et homicide luy en accordant et faisant depescher nos lettres patentes de remission en forme.
Pour ce est-il que nous, les choses susdites considérées, et sur icelles eu l’advis de noz chers et féaux les lieutenant et autres officiers de nostre gouvernance de Lille, voulans en ceste partie préférer au dit Jehan Dael, suppliant, grâce et miséricorde, ut in forma.
Interrinement de la dite gouvernance de Lille, &c.
Donné en nostre ville de Bruxelles, le 27e de janvier l’an 1643, signé Robiano, de nos regnes xxiieme.
Au bas estoit, pour le Roy en son conseil et ceste visue.
Chambre des comptes de Lille, Registre des chartes de l’audience. B. 1817, fo. 11.
1 Albert III., Duke of Bavaria, married in 1546 Anne, daughter of Ferdinand, and had by her two sons, William, the hereditary Prince, his successor, and Ferdinand.
2 For details of these negotiations, see Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic Part IV., ch. iii.
3 See Motley, Dutch Republic, Part IV., ch. ii. The siege was eventually raised on October 3rd.
4 In the original the place is given as ‘Augustæ’ = Augsburg; but from the first line of the letter it appears it was written at Speyer. ‘Augustæ’ is probably a mistake caused by ‘Augusti’ following immediately.
5 Nearly twelve years have elapsed since we parted company with Busbecq on his return from Turkey. A sketch of his life during this interval will be found in vol. i. pp. 59-64. We there expressed some doubt as to whether there was any trustworthy authority for his visit to Spain in attendance on the younger Archdukes; we have, however, since obtained evidence of it in the Archduke Albert’s decree, creating the Barony of Bousbecque. In it are recited Busbecq’s services, and amongst them this visit is mentioned. The date of the decree is September 30, 1600, and it states that the visit took place twenty-five years before. This is obviously an error, as we can account for his time from August 1574 to February 1576; in all probability the true date of the visit lies between the years 1570, when Albert and Wenceslaus went to Spain with their sister Anne on her marriage to Philip II., and 1572, when we find Busbecq residing at Vienna. See vol. i. p. 62.
7 For an account of this interesting lady, who was at this time barely twenty years of age, see note to Letter XXXVI.
8 After Henry III.’s flight from Poland, he stayed some time at Vienna, where Maximilian, through Pibrac, made overtures to him, offering the hand of his daughter, the widowed Queen. Henry was under such great obligations to Maximilian, that he was disinclined to give a downright refusal. Thuanus, iii. p. 8. The following quotation from an account of Busbecq’s Queen will show what these obligations were. ‘Or, estant veufve, plusieurs personnes d’hommes et dames de la Court, des plus clair voyans que je sçay, eurent opinion que le Roy, à son retour de Pologne, l’espouseroit, encore qu’elle fust sa belle sœur; car il le pouvoit par la dispense du Pape, qui peut beaucoup en telles matieres, et sur tout à l’endroit des grands, à cause du bien public qui en sort. Et y avoit beaucoup de raisons que ce mariage se fist, lesquelles je laisse à deduire aux plus hauts discoureurs, sans que je les allegue. Mais, entre autres, l’une estoit pour recognoistre par ce mariage les obligations grandes que le Roy avoit reçeues de l’Empereur à son retour et depart de Pologne; car il ne faut point douter que, si l’Empereur eust voulu luy donner le moindre obstacle du monde, il n’eust jamais peu partir ny passer ny se conduire seurement en France. Les Polonnois le vouloient retenir s’il ne fust party sans leur dire adieu; car les Allemans le guettoient de toutes parts pour l’attrapper (comme fut ce brave roy Richard d’Angleterre, retournant de la Terre Saincte, ainsi que nous lisons en nos chroniques), et l’eussent tout de mesme arresté prisonnier et faict payer rançon, ou possible pis; car ils luy en vouloient fort, à cause de la feste de la Sainct Barthelemy, au moins les princes protestans.’—Brantôme, v. 298-299.
9 Henry of Navarre is generally spoken of in these letters as the
Duke of Vendôme, or at most, the titular King of Navarre. The greater
part of the kingdom had been seized by Ferdinand the Catholic in 1515,
and has ever since been held by the Kings of Spain. Henry’s power
was derived from his position as a great French noble, the first Prince of
the blood after the King’s brother, and from his vast possessions in
France, and not from the fragment of Navarre from which he derived
his title. Subjoined is a short sketch of his family:—
| Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Vendôme, descended from the sixth son of Louis IX. |
||||
| │ | (Saint Louis) | |||
| ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┐ |
||||
| Anthony, Duc de Vendôme | = Jeanne d’Albret, │ Queen of Navarre │ │ │ |
Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, killed at Jarnac, 1569 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ |
Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, set up as King by the League after Henry III.’s death under the title of Charles X. | |
| ┌────────┐ |
||||
| Henry Duc de Vendôme afterwards Henry IV. |
Catherine = | Henri, Duc de Bar, eldest son of the Duke of Lorraine | ||
| ┌──────────┬──────┬────────┐ |
||||
| Henri, born 1552, Prince de Condé. |
François, Prince de Conti, born 1558. | Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, born 1562. | Several other children. | |
10 Montmorency, the eldest son of the famous Constable Anne de Montmorency, and himself Duc de Montmorency and Marshal of France. He was born in 1530, and fought at St. Quentin, and at the taking of Calais. He and Cossé were suspected of being implicated in the rising of Shrove-Tuesday, 1574, concerted between Alençon and the Huguenots, and were imprisoned in the Bastille. His wife was a natural daughter of Henry II. by Diane de Poitiers, who had been legitimated. He died without issue in 1579. His four brothers were, Damville, Monsieur de Montbéron, killed at the battle of Dreux in 1562, Monsieur de Méru, and Monsieur de Thoré. See note page 11, and also note page 16.
Cossé took part in Guise’s famous defence of Metz in 1552, was appointed surintendant des finances in 1563, and Marshal in 1567. He fought at St. Denis and Moncontour, but was defeated by Coligny at Arny-le-Duc in 1570. He died in 1582, aged 70. According to Brantôme (ii. 434), he remarked on his imprisonment: ‘Je ne sçay pas ce que M. de Montmorency peut avoir faict, mais quant à moy, je sçay bien que je n’ay rien faict pour estre prisonnier avec luy, sinon pour luy tenir compagnie quand on le fera mourir, et moy avec luy; que l’on me fera de mesmes que l’on faict bien souvent à de pauvres diables, que l’on pend pour tenir compagnie seulement à leurs compagnons, encor qu’ilz n’ayent rien meffaict.’
11 ‘Le peuple de la ville, n’agueres partisan de cette famille, les reçeut avec injures et contribua 800 harquebusiers de garde tant que leur prison dura.’—Aubigné, Histoire, vol. ii. bk. ii. ch. vi.
12 By Nove Busbecq probably means the town which d’Aubigné (Histoire, vol. ii. bk. ii. ch. ix.) calls Nonnai, now Annonay, 24 French miles from Lyons. D’Aubigné says the distance is nine leagues, which roughly corresponds with Busbecq’s twelve miles. See note, vol. i. page 80. Annonay was a town in the Vivarais, one of the districts which were the strongholds of the Protestant cause, and was itself a Protestant town. For an account of the sieges it underwent, and of the civil war in the Vivarais, see Poncer, Mémoires sur Annonay. On this occasion the town was summoned on October 22nd, and blockaded till December 8th, so the news in the text was premature. Dr. Dale, the English representative at the French Court, mentions the raising of the siege of ‘Noue,’ in a letter dated December 23rd.—Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, 1572-74, p. 583.
13 Louis de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, born in 1513, was descended from a branch of the Bourbon-Vendôme family, and on his mother’s side was nephew to the Constable de Bourbon. He served as a volunteer at St. Quentin, where he was made prisoner. He was a bitter enemy to the Huguenots. ‘Quand il prenait les heretiques par composition,’ says Brantôme (iii. 364), ‘il ne la leur tenait nullement, disant qu’à un heretique, on n’estoit nullement obligé de garder sa foy.’ He distinguished himself at Jarnac and Moncontour. He took a prominent part in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. From 1574 to 1576 he commanded in Poitou and Saintonge, and died in 1582. By his first wife, Jacqueline de Longwy, who was a Protestant, he had a son and four daughters, one of whom, Charlotte, married the Prince of Orange. See Letter XIX. and note. His son—who, till he succeeded to the title of Montpensier, on his father’s death, was known as the Prince Dauphin d’Auvergne—is frequently mentioned in Busbecq’s letters to Rodolph. Fontenay is a town, nearly due west of Poitiers, and about fifty-five English miles from it.
14 Guy du Faur, Seigneur de Pibrac, was born at Toulouse, in 1529. He became member of the Parliament there, and was one of the French ambassadors at the Council of Trent in 1562. In 1565, at the recommendation of the Chancellor l’Hôpital, he was appointed Avocat-Général to the Parliament of Paris. He accompanied Henry to Poland as Chancellor, and was in great danger during the precipitate flight of the King. After his return to Paris he sold his office of Advocate. He was again despatched to Poland, to persuade the Diet to allow Henry to retain the crown, but his mission proved unsuccessful. He was afterwards Chancellor of the Queen of Navarre, with whom he was supposed to be in love. He went with Alençon to Flanders, as his Chancellor, and died in 1584. He was celebrated for his eloquence.
15 The Comte de Damville was second son of the Constable, and brother to the Duc de Montmorency (see page 8). He was born in 1534, and was made Governor of Languedoc in 1563, which he held for nearly fifty years, almost as an independent sovereign. He was the leader of the moderate Roman Catholic party, known as the Politiques, and after the death of Henry III. adhered to the cause of Henry IV., who on December 8th, 1593, created him Constable. He succeeded to the Dukedom of Montmorency on his brother’s death in 1579. He died in 1614.
16 The Castle of Lusignan was the original seat of the famous family of Lusignan, which gave kings to Jerusalem and Cyprus. In the keep of the château was a fountain, said to be haunted by the fairy Melusine, the ancestress and tutelary genius of the family. According to the legend, the founder of the family first met her by a forest spring. Before she became his wife she exacted a promise from him that he would not attempt to see her on the Saturday in every week, or to find out where she had gone. For a time all went on well, but unfortunately the husband was at last persuaded to peep into the room to which Melusine had retired. To his horror he discovered that on every Saturday half her body was transformed into a serpent. Finding the secret was no longer hers, she thrice flew round the château, and then vanished. She was believed to appear at times on the keep of the château, and whenever she was seen it was said to presage a death, either in the Lusignan family or in the Royal family of France.
Lusignan is situated about fourteen English miles south-west of Poitiers. De l’Estoile, i. 49, gives some details of the siege and capitulation. “Le mardy, 25e janvier, la ville et chasteau de Lusignan furent rendus par les Huguenos à M. de Montpensier, chef de l’armée du Roy en Poictou, soubs condition de vies et bagues sauves, et d’estre conduits seurement à la Rochelle: de quoi furent baillés ostages pour seureté de ladite capitulation, encores que la foy de M. de Montpensier ne peust ni ne deust estre suspecte aux Huguenos, lesquels furent assiégés trois mois et vingt et un jours, durant lesquels furent tirés de sept à huict mil coups de canon.” If Brantôme does not belie Montpensier (see note 2, page 9), the besieged had good reason for the precautions they took.
17 Published September 10th at Lyons.
18 The Seigneur de Rambouillet was sent by the Queen Mother, and the Seigneur d’Estrées by Alençon, to Henry on June 4th, to congratulate him on his accession.—De l’Estoile, i. 5. ‘Rambouillet, that was aforetime captain in one of the guards, and his three brothers, has left the Court, because the King has given away an office, that one of the Rambouillets looked for.’—Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, 1572-74, p. 560.
19 These towns had been retained by the French when the rest of the possessions of the Duke of Savoy were restored to him, partly after the treaty of Cateau Cambrésis, in 1559, and partly by Charles IX. in 1562. With the exception of the Marquisate of Saluzzo, they were the last remains of the French conquests beyond the Alps. The Duchess of Savoy was Margaret, daughter of Francis I., and therefore aunt to Henry III. She was born in 1523, married in 1559, at the conclusion of peace, to Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and died September 14th, 1574. The indignant protest of the Duc de Nevers against the surrender of these towns may be found in the compilation known as his Mémoires, vol. i. page i.
20 Frederic III. was Elector Palatine from 1559 to 1576. He was the first important German prince who embraced Calvinism, and was the head of that sect in Germany. His Court was the asylum of the French and Flemish exiles. When Henry III. passed through Germany on his way to Poland, he visited Heidelberg at the Palatine’s invitation. He found the gates of the town guarded, the streets lined with soldiers, match in hand, and no one to receive him at the Castle except armed men. Halfway up the stairs he was met by the Rhinegrave, attended by two of the survivors of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. The Rhinegrave asked him on the Elector’s behalf to excuse his coming down, on account of indisposition. Henry found him at the entrance of the room supported by a gentleman, in the attitude of a man who finds it a great effort to stand upright. ‘On n’y pouvoit entrer sans jetter la veüe sur un grand Tableau de la mort de l’Admiral, et des principaux Seigneurs tués à Paris. Voyant que le Roi portoit sa veüe de ce costé, il poussa un grand souspir, et dit tout haut, “Ceux qui les ont fait mourir sont bien malheureux, croyez qu’ils estoient gens de bien et grands Capitaines.” Le Roy respondit doucement, “Qu’ils estoient capables de bien faire s’ils eussent voulu.” Ce Prince sentoit un grand contentement en son ame de pouvoir faire esclatter l’excez de sa passion en la presence du Roy, il en fit voir les effets en diverses façons, lui donna à souper, et le servit de poisson, mais il n’eut pour Gentilhomme que ceux qu’on luy dit avoir eschappé le jour de Saint Barthelemy, qu’il appelloit “La boucherie et le massacre de Paris.”’ The next day the Count took more than thirty turns with the King up and down the great hall of the Castle, with a firm step and in perfect health, so as to show that his indisposition of the previous evening had been entirely feigned.—Matthieu, Histoire de France, i. p. 363. The Palatine’s second son, John Casimir, born in 1543, is a prominent figure in the religious wars of the time. He was one of the military adventurers who hoped in the general confusion to win themselves a throne by their sword. He conducted several expeditions to the aid of the French Protestants, and was one of the many princes suggested as a husband for Queen Elizabeth. At her instigation he was given the command of the German army which entered the Netherlands in 1578. For an estimate of his character see Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic. Part V. ch. v. He died in 1592.
21 The two sons of the Constable were his two youngest sons, de Méru and de Thoré. While the Marshal and Damville, their elder brothers, remained Catholics, they became Protestants. The reason of their flight to Germany was that they had been implicated in the rising of Shrove Tuesday, 1574, and the conspiracy to seize Charles IX. at St. Germain. ‘Les cousins [du Prince de Condé] de Thoré et de Méru se rendent à Geneve, où le Seingneur de Thoré se déclare et fait profession de la Religion et là est arresté et retenu, et son frère de Méru mis hors ladite ville, pour ne vouloir faire semblable profession.’—De l’Estoile, i. 22.
22 François de Foix de Candale, Bishop of Aire, in Gascony, third son of Gaston de Foix, Comte de Candale, Captal de Buch, &c. His father’s sister Anne married Ladislaus, King of Hungary and Bohemia, by whom she had two children—Louis, King of Hungary, killed at Mohacz in 1526, and Anne, who married the Emperor Ferdinand, and was the mother of the Emperor Maximilian. The Bishop was one of the most learned men of his time, especially in mathematics and natural philosophy. Besides the works mentioned in the text, he translated Euclid into Latin. He invented various mathematical instruments, and founded a chair of mathematics in the College of Aquitaine at Bordeaux. He died in 1594, aged eighty-four according to Thuanus, but eighty-one according to his monument. D’Aubigné, in his Mémoires under the year 1580, relates the following anecdote of him and Henry IV. ‘Le roi de Navarre, passant un jour à Cadillac, pria le grand François de Candale, de lui faire voir son excellent cabinet, ce qu’il vouloit bien faire, à condition qu’il n’y entreroit pas d’ignares. “Non, mon oncle,” dit mon maître, “je n’y mènerai personne qui ne soit plus capable de le voir et d’en connoître le prix que moi.” La compagnie s’amusa d’abord à faire lever le poids d’un canon par une petite machine qu’un enfant de six ans tenoit entre ses mains. Comme elle étoit fort attentive à cette operation, je me mis à considérer un marbre noir de sept pieds en quarré, qui servoit de table au bon Seigneur de Candale; et ayant apperçu un crayon, j’écrivis dessus pendant qu’on raisonnait sur la petite machine, ce distique latin:—
Cela fait, je recouvris le marbre et rejoignis la compagnie, qui étant arrivée à ce marbre, M. de Candale dit à mon maître, “Voici ma table;” et ayant ôté la couverture et vu ce distique, il s’écria, “Ah! il y a ici un homme.” “Comment,” reprit le roi de Navarre, “croyez-vous que les autres soient des bêtes? Je vous prie, mon oncle, de deviner à la mine qui vous jugez capable d’avoir fait ce coup.” Ce qui fournit matière à d’assez plaisans propos.’
23 He was killed February, 1573, in an attack on the château of Soumiere, in Languedoc.—Mezeray, Histoire de France, iii. 282.
24 The Egyptian deity Thoth, was identified with the Greek Hermes, and was considered the real author of everything produced or discovered by the human mind. Being thus the source of all human knowledge and thought, he was termed τρὶς μέγιστος, or Thrice Greatest. A variety of works are preserved, of which he is the reputed author. The most probable opinion as to their real origin is that they were forgeries of Neo-Platonists in the third or fourth century of our era. The most important of them is the Ποιμάνδρης, the book translated by the Bishop. It is written in the form of a dialogue, and treats of nature, the creation of the world, the nature and attributes of the deity, the human soul, &c.
25 In the Vivarais. It cut off Lyons from communicating with Marseilles by water. See Mezeray, iii. 360.
26 It is impossible within the compass of a note to give more than the briefest outline of the principal events in the life of this famous Breton chief. He was born in 1531, and became a Protestant in 1558. In 1561 he was one of the French nobles who escorted Marie Stuart to Scotland. Brantôme was another of the suite. In 1570 he was wounded by a musket-shot at the siege of Fontenay; gangrene set in, and it was found necessary to amputate his left arm; Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre, held the shattered limb during the operation. This arm was replaced by one of iron, whence he obtained the famous sobriquet, by which he is best known, Bras de fer. In 1573 Charles IX. sent him to La Rochelle in the hope he would be able to effect some compromise with the citizens, and he was for some time regarded with suspicion by both sides; but he appears to have always acted an honest and straightforward part in a very delicate position. When he found a reconciliation was impossible, he placed his sword once more at the service of the French Protestants. He fought for the Protestant cause not only in France but also in the Netherlands, was Count Louis of Nassau’s right-hand man at the surprise and subsequent siege of Mons in 1572, and at one time, in 1579, occupied Bousbecque and the places in the neighbourhood, Menin, Comines, Wervicq, &c. He was mortally wounded at the siege of Lamballe, in Brittany, and died on August 4, 1591. Thuanus (v. p. 180) calls him ‘a truly great man, who for bravery, prudence, and military knowledge deserved to be compared with the greatest generals of the time, and for the purity of his life, his moderation, and his justice to be preferred to most of them.’ For a further account of him see Letters to Rodolph, IX. and LIV., note.
27 This report was correct. See Mezeray, iii. 360, where an interesting account is given of the siege.
28 The second Edict, of October 23. The purport of it was, that no person should be troubled on religious grounds.
29 The Comte de Fiesco was chevalier d’honneur to the Queen. The Fieschi were Counts of Lavagna, and one of the four principal families of Genoa. The conspiracy of the Fieschi in 1547 is one of the most famous incidents of Genoese history. The object of the conspirators was to overthrow the power of Andrew Doria, and to detach Genoa from the Imperialists, and bring the republic into close connection with France. The conspiracy miscarried, owing to its leader, Count John Louis Fiesco, falling from the planks by which he was boarding a galley, and being drowned. Owing to the darkness of the night the accident was not discovered till it was too late to assist him. His brothers were executed except Scipio, the youngest, who escaped to France, and is the person mentioned in the text. In 1568 he was Ambassador to the Court of Maximilian. He was afterwards chevalier d’honneur to Louise de Vaudemont, the Queen of Henry III., and one of the original knights of the Order of the Holy Ghost.—Lippomano, Ambassadeurs Vénitiens, ii. 413. He married Alphonsina Strozzi, who is the Countess mentioned by Busbecq. She was originally dame d’honneur to Catherine de Medicis.
30 The Sorbonne was ‘a society or corporation of Doctors of Divinity settled in the University of Paris, and famous all over Europe. It was founded by the French King St. Lewis, and Ralph de Sorbonne, his confessor, a Canon of the Church of Paris, who gave it its name from the village of Sorbonne, near Lyons, which was the place of his nativity.’—World of Words.
Their determination, dated July 2, 1530, is given by Holinshed, Chronicles, iii. 924. It is to the effect that ‘the foresaid marriage with the brother’s wife, departing without children, be so forbidden both by the law of God and of nature, that the Pope hath no power to dispense with such mariages, whether they be contract or to be contract.’ It was read to the House of Commons with the decisions of the other Universities, March 30, 1531.
31 Leonhard or Lamoral von Thurn and Taxis succeeded his father in 1554 as Postmaster-General in the Netherlands, and in 1595 was appointed Postmaster-General of the Holy Roman Empire. He died in 1612, aged upwards of 90. He was brother of J. B. Taxis or Tassis, the well-known Spanish Ambassador. See Letters to Rodolph, XLIII., and note.
32 Sebastian, grandson of Charles V., became King of Portugal in 1557, when he was only three years old. At the time Busbecq wrote he was a gallant young man of twenty, dreaming of great exploits as a Crusader. Four years later he attempted to put his ideas into practice, and invaded Africa with a large force. His army was annihilated in the battle of Alcazar (August 4th, 1578), and the brave young King perished on the field. His romantic end produced a deep impression on his subjects. ‘It may be mentioned,’ says the Times (December 1825), ‘as a singular species of infatuation, that many Portuguese residing in Brazil, as well as in Portugal, still believe in the coming of Sebastian, the romantic king, who was killed about the year 1578, in a pitched battle with the Emperor Muley Moluc. Some of these old visionaries will go out wrapped in their large cloaks, on a windy night, to watch the movements of the heavens, and frequently, if an exhalation is seen flitting in the air, resembling a falling star, they will cry out, “There he comes!”’ For a curious story of a hoax played on one of these fanatics, see Hone’s Everyday Book, vol. ii. page 88.
33 In this and some other letters, passages referring to arrangements connected with the dower have been curtailed or altogether omitted. It is sufficient to state that Elizabeth’s dower had been fixed at 60,000 francs per annum, and that Busbecq’s object was to see that it was properly secured.
34 Pierre de Gondi, see note, page 39.
35 John Evelyn made the same expedition by water from Lyons to Avignon, some seventy years later. A full account of his voyage is given in his Diary (p. 69, Chandos edition). Like Busbecq he stopped at Valence. ‘We then came to Valence, a capital Citty carrying the title of a Dutchey, but the Bishop is now sole lord temporal of it and the country about it. The towne having an University famous for the study of the civil law, is much frequented; but the Churches are none of the fairest, having been greatly defaced in the time of the warrs.’
36 Jean de Montluc, Bishop of Valence, was one of the most successful diplomatists of his day; he had been ambassador at Constantinople in 1537, on which occasion he received the pot of balsam, which he afterwards lost in Ireland (see vol. i. p. 387). Henry III. owed his Polish Crown to his exertions and diplomatic skill. He was father of that bold and unscrupulous adventurer, Balagny.
His career is thus sketched by a contemporary:—
‘Il avoit esté de sa premiere profession jacobin, et la feue royne de Navarre Margueritte, qui aymoit les gens sçavans et spirituels, le cognoissant tel, le deffrocqua et le mena avec elle à la Court, le fit cognoistre, le poussa, luy ayda, le fit employer en plusieurs ambassades; car je pense qu’il n’y a guieres pays en l’Europe où il n’ayt esté ambassadeur et en negotiation, ou grande ou petite, jusques en Constantinople, qui fut son premier advancement, et à Venize, en Polongne, Angleterre, Escosse et autres lieux. On le tenoit Lutherien au commencement, et puis Calviniste, contre sa profession episcopalle; mais il s’y comporta modestement par bonne mine et beau semblant; la reyne de Navarre le deffrocqua pour l’amour de cela.’—Brantôme, iii. 52.