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| March 4. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
453. Giovanni Correr, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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I hear from England that the Queen has never yet given audience to the Ambassador who came from the Duke of Alva, and that she has caused him to be informed that if he does not bear a commission from the Catholic King himself she will decline to hear him; she has moreover ordained that he shall not speak with the Spanish Ambassador resident, and both he and the Ambassador resident are kept under guard separately. Her Majesty lays the whole blame of this misunderstanding upon the Ambassador resident, and accuses him of having written many falsehoods, and in particular by a letter addressed to the Duke of Alva, wherein he wrote that God would some day provide for the affairs of the kingdom, and rescue from affliction many persons both of high and low rank, who were all now very dissatisfied with the present government. The English also show a copy of another letter which was written by him to one of his friends after his arrest, and which he gave open to one of the gentlemen who is always with him, in order, by the permission of the Queen, that it might be forwarded to Flanders; and in this letter he wrote that he was not surprised at being imprisoned, because England was the island of enchantments of Amadis, that Archelaus was still living, and that he himself was the prisoner of the Queen Oriana. This letter has greatly displeased the Queen, because its romantic allusion and reference to love affairs appear to her to show a want of respect to her and an offence to her dignity. She has written with her own hand to the Catholic King, and has sent her letters to her Ambassador resident here, in order that he may despatch them to Spain, and from what the Ambassador has told me I infer that his Catholic Majesty will have reason to be satisfied. |
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The Ambassador has also shown me a printed document wherein the Queen of England justifies herself against a rumour which is current in Scotland, namely, that she had come to an agreement with the Bastard to surrender to her the infant Prince to be brought up in England, and to deliver into her hands all the fortresses of the kingdom, on condition that he should thereupon be declared by the Queen eligible for the Crown in the event of the decease of the Prince without issue; and that if he did succeed, he was then to acknowledge the kingdom to be a feud of the English Crown, and to render obedience accordingly. |
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The Queen declares that no such matter as this has ever been negotiated or even thought of, although she admits that the Earl of Lennox, the father of the late King, and his wife had made some proposal to the effect that the Prince would be brought up more safely in England rather than in Scotland, where persons were still to be found who had assassinated his father. |
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Metz, 4th March 1569. |
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[Italian.] |
| March 15. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
454. Giovanni Correr, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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The news is confirmed that the Duke of Deux-Ponts has with him eight thousand horse, nine thousand infantry, and also twenty
pieces of artillery; but it is said that he has not paid more than three thousand of his cavalry, and is in difficulty how to find money for the rest; still it is nevertheless believed that he will be provided with the means after all. Fifty thousand crowns in silver which have arrived, and which were believed to have come from England, appear now to have been supplied by the Count Palatine, Duke Augustus of Saxony, and other German Princes, and not by the Queen of England. |
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Last night Monsieur de Loscia [Luzy?] arrived from the camp, and gave great cause for rejoicing to his Majesty and all others, so that they rose from their beds to proceed to the principal church, to cause the Te Deum to be sung, and to render grateful thanks to the Lord God for the victory which his Majesty's brother [the Duke of Anjou] had obtained over his enemies. |
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The battle took place at the Castle of Château Neuf, where there is a bridge over the Charent, on Saturday, the 12th inst., and the Prince of Condé was taken prisoner and slain with an archibuse shot in his breast, although he offered two hundred thousand crowns to have his life spared. |
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The Scotchman of the house of Stuart who killed the Constable on the day of St. Denis was taken and brought to his Highness [the Duke of Anjou], and his Highness said to him, “So you are here, you traitor, you who have frequently boasted that you wished to kill the Queen, my mother ; now you shall receive your deserts.” At that moment the Marquis de Villars appeared, and with his own hands was the first person to execute vengeance for the Constable, his brother-in-law. |
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His Highness writes, “I have here in my lodging the body of the Prince de Condé; I am informed that the Admiral has been wounded by an arquebus shot in the arm, and that Montgomery and La Rochefoucault are both dead, but I cannot confirm this intelligence.” |
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The battle took place between Jarnac and Château Neuf, and the enemy's force might have been ten thousand infantry, two thousand cavalry, and four pieces of artillery. |
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Metz, 15th March 1569. |
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[Italian.] |
| March 27. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
455. Giovanni Correr, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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The gentleman who went to England to communicate the news of this victory at Château Neuf states that he had been very ill received there, that his report was not credited, and that the Queen answered him that she could not congratulate the King upon having lost a Prince of his own blood, who was so greatly honoured ; also that his Majesty had been very ill advised to declare this war, and that he would do well to put a stop to it, to which end she would willingly co-operate if she thought she could do any good. The Queen further spoke at great length to the effect that every foreign Prince considered her an idiot because she had let slip an excellent opportunity like the present for revenging herself for the
wrongs which she had received from the French; but still she gave little heed to this report, and, according to her promise, desired to continue friendly and prove herself to be a good sister to his Majesty, notwithstanding that she had been told that his Majesty, though secure in his own kingdom, had come to an understanding with the Pope and the Catholic King to act to her detriment; but to this matter also she gave no thought, because she would never lack either forces or friends to resist those who attempted to trouble her. |
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This gentleman reports that the Court were somewhat anxious lest the Catholics, upon the news of this victory, might make some disturbance, and therefore put forth that the report was not true, and caused the houses of the Catholics to be watched during the night. |
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This gentleman was not permitted to visit the Spanish Ambassador, nor to go to see the Queen of Scotland, concerning whom it is said that the Duke of Châtellerault, the chief of her party, had come to terms with the Bastard, whereby the Duke was to take part in the government, with an understanding that if the infant Prince should die, he was to succeed to the Crown, to the exclusion of the Queen, who was to receive an allowance for her maintenance if she remained without the kingdom; and thus both parties had mutually laid down their arms. |
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Verdun, 27th March 1569. |
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[Italian.] |
| May 4. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
456. Giovanni Correr, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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Twenty English vessels have arrived at La Rochelle, and it is believed that they have brought money and munitions of war. Notwithstanding this, the Queen of England persists in assuring their Majesties that she desires to be their good sister, but she makes no attempt to put a stop to the practices referred to above. We hear from Scotland that on the 10th of April a parliament was to be summoned to confirm the agreement which has been come to between the Bastard and the Duke of Châtellerault, but the Earls of Argyle and Huntley and other chief personages had declined to attend, and would not be parties to the above agreement; and hence it was generally believed that they would have recourse to arms. |
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Bar-le-duc, 4th May 1569. |
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[Italian.] |
