|
| Aug. 4. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
678. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
|
Although the Roisters, at the Diet which they lately held, separated without coming to any determination, because up to that time no money had arrived either from England or from other places, yet they nevertheless confirmed a convention, the articles of which, communicated to me from a trustworthy source, I have in substance enclosed herein. They will hold another Diet on the 1st September next for a final decision, the principal points for discussion being the question of money, and their desire to have a Prince of the blood to command them. |
|
Poitiers, 4th August 1577. |
|
[Italian.] |
|
679. Convention with the Roisters; copy, enclosed in the preceding. |
|
That during the whole month of September 1577, Casimir, the Marquis of Anspach, and the Landgrave of Hesse, are all or some of them to be bound to come with 12,000 horse, besides such infantry as they may be able to muster, to France, to aid the King of Navarre and the other confederates, who have agreed to the terms undermentioned. |
|
To furnish two payments for the levy, amounting to 200,000 crowns, together with chiefs and other officers; of which sum the Queen of England will contribute one moiety, and the King of Navarre and the Prince of Condé the remainder. |
|
That a Prince of the blood is to go to meet them with forces, and to accompany them on all occasions, both on their arrival and on their return. |
|
That peace is not to be negotiated, nor made, without their knowledge and consent, while they shall be in the kingdom. |
|
That the Queen of England is to show herself hostile to France, or at least to give assistance as if she were the open enemy of France. |
|
That peace is not at any time to be concluded without ceding to the Empire the three cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, nor without paying to the Roisters their arrears, amounting to 4,000,000 francs. |
|
At the same time the city of Calais is to be surrendered to the Queen of England, if she thinks fit to demand it. |
|
The Prince of Orange promises to give assistance by sea to La Rochelle, or wherever required. |
|
[Italian.] |
| Aug. 4. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
680. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
|
A spy has been seized in the house of the High Chancellor. He had in his possession letters from La Rochelle, addressed to individuals at this Court, with the information that the Queen of England had invited the Prince of Condé to repair to her, and had promised to find means to convey him to the Prince of Orange, in order that he might then proceed to Germany to command and lead the Roisters to France. Advices have also been received that four English vessels have arrived at La Rochelle, having on board a powerful Lord, a strong force, and provisions; and it is rumoured that when these vessels return, Condé will accompany them; but other persons take a different view on account of the many debts which he had contracted in Germany when there, and which would make him fear arrest unless they were paid by the Queen of England, who has lately reviewed all the forces of her Kingdom, both horse and foot, her Ambassador alleging that as all France is in a state of war, and as Flanders may come into the same condition, his mistress had determined to be well provided at home against what might happen. It is also believed that another
Ambassador from Don John of Austria has been to the Queen upon a mission similar to that which was sent to this Court. |
|
Poitiers, 4th August 1577. |
|
[Italian.] |
| Aug. 10. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
681. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
|
News has arrived that the King's fleet has completely defeated and routed the enemy at La Rochelle. Mons. de Lansac has informed me that his son, who is the captain of the King's ships in those seas, having received intelligence that the Prince of Condé had disembarked, left his ships at anchor within gunshot of La Rochelle, and attacked the Prince of Condé's ships with such vigour that he put them all to flight, sank the flagship and three other vessels, and captured the second in command. Four other vessels, with an armed force on board, and the remainder of the fleet to the number of twenty vessels, including the four English vessels which I have already mentioned, all went ashore. A gentleman has arrived from the spot bringing the flags which have been captured from the enemy and which the King has ordered to be placed in the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, in this city. The Queen of England, having learned the indignation of this King and the complaints which he has made against her, has instructed her Ambassador resident here [Paulet] to make most ample excuses, and to endeavour to induce these Majesties to make peace according to the terms set forth in the enclosed despatch, which is translated from the French, and which came into my hands by a very secret channel. I have deemed it very necessary that your Excellency should see the document since it concerns negotiations of State most important to this kingdom, the preservation of which I know that you earnestly desire. (See enclosure.) |
|
I understand that the King has answered very seriously and prudently, saying that he well knew all that bad hitherto been said and done, and it was useless to deny it, but if for the future the Queen of England desired to be his friend without seeking to sow discord, he would forget the past, but she must not say one thing and do another, because in fact there was nothing, however secret, that did not come to light, and any prince who under the pretence of friendship endeavoured to injure another, might reasonably expect to receive punishment both from God and man. |
|
His Majesty desired to thank the Queen for her exhortations to peace, but said she should consider what she would do if her vassals and kinsfolk desired to cast off their allegiance to her and the crown from her head, and also what she had herself done under similar circumstances. The Queen-Mother then spoke to the Ambassador in a more haughty tone, saying that to deny matters which were evidently true was only to aggravate the crime, and that his Queen would repent her mode of proceeding; and she dismissed the Ambassador from her presence with disdain almost openly expressed. |
|
Poitiers, 10th August 1577. |
|
[Italian.] |
|
682. Protest of [Sir Amyas Paulet] the Ambassador from England, made to the most Christian King; copy, enclosed in preceding. |
|
Sire, the Queen my mistress has been informed by your Ambassador in England [Mauvissière], and by myself, of the dissatisfaction which your Majesty felt on hearing from many quarters that her Majesty is favouring the Huguenots, and that she had advanced sixty thousand angel ducats to the Germans to commence hostilities against this kingdom, and, in short, that she was fomenting in every possible way warlike operations and tumults in this and in other countries. Your Ambassador has further made two demands of the Queen: 1st, that she should not give faith too easily to all the representations which others make, but reserve only one ear to hear them; and, 2ndly, that she should give neither aid nor succour to those in France who profess the new religion, nor permit any of her subjects to do so, proceedings which the Ambassador declared to be repugnant to her honour, and to the good friendship which had been observed between both their Majesties. |
|
And now, Sire, I am instructed by my mistress to inform you that she marvels greatly that your Majesty should give credence to the report published by her enemies, that she takes delight in and profits by the troubles of her neighbours, because if her advice had been listened to, the affairs both of France and Flanders would not now be in their present condition; and, truly, whoever will consider the small benefit which she has received by these disorders, and the opportunities which she has had of augmenting her own dominions, must confess that her Majesty has not allowed herself to be controlled either by prospect of gain or by ambition. |
|
But if it should be urged that by the prolongation of these troubles she has sought to insure her own tranquillity, such an argument can have no foundation, because whoever might pretend to make a justifiable war against her would have but small reason, seeing that she governs an empire and is invested with a crown freely granted to her by the late King, her father. She does not demand the rights of others. She rules by justice. She maintains her subjects in peace. She fears no other princes. She trusts in God, who is the author of justice, and who will defend her against all evil-doers. In conclusion, she prays God that such other princes who may have given your Majesty this information, with the hope of acquiring riches and aggrandisement by your Majesty's losses, may not wish you greater evils than she does. |
|
Now, if it should be reported that any vessels or people are proceeding from England to join the Prince of Condé, either at La Rochelle or any other port of France, your Majesty must learn that these persons are simply traders, who have loaded provisions and merchandise for the sake of profit; and if amongst them any soldiers should be found, the latter are foreigners and exiles, whom the Queen cannot prohibit from undertaking such a voyage. Nevertheless she affirms that she has not sent them, and that she is not about to furnish any sum of money to Germany for a levy of Roisters. And of these things your Majesty may be as certain as of anything which
exists in this world; and her Majesty will assure you further that she will never do any act which may be contrary to her honour or the reciprocal friendship which exists between both parties. With reference to what your Ambassador has requested of her Majesty, that she would not easily give faith to what may be said to her, but always reserve an ear as requested, her Majesty has commanded me to tell you that she is by her own nature so much inclined to justice that she would never refuse justice to any person, however humble and of low estate, and certainly not therefore in a negotiation which is of. such importance and which concerns a Prince who has continued for such a length of time in good friendship with her, and she hopes that your Majesty will respond and deign to do the like by her. And in order that your Majesty may fully understand the excellent will and disposition which impel her Majesty towards peace and tranquillity, she prays you to listen to what I have further to urge, and to give the same your mature consideration. |
|
I hold a commission to tell you, in the name of the Queen, my mistress, that she was greatly displeased, as on previous occasions I have informed you, with the pernicious advice which your Estates held at Blois (Bles) gave to your Majesty to revoke the Edict for peace and to prohibit all exercises of religion except according to the Roman rite, because it clearly appears that this determination has raised a new war fraught with most dangerous consequences, especially considering the nature of war itself, the nature of civil war, the persons against whom this war has to be waged, and, finally, the present state of the kingdom of France. With regard to the first consideration it is plain that, while the result of war is uncertain, its evils, miseries, and calamities are more than certain; and the cost being so great, it follows that Princes who are wise and well advised will never take up arms unless from necessity or by force, just as anyone who is dangerously ill has recourse to medicine. |
|
With regard to civil war, it is unnecessary to adduce reasons, because your Majesty can yourself bear witness by what has happened in your own kingdom during the last wars, and no one better than yourself can perceive the consequences on account of the great experience which you have had of these troubles. A sick person, having escaped the danger of disease, does not easily subject himself to a return of his former danger ; for there is no constitution so robust which being subjected to continual maladies does not succumb at last. If, therefore, foreign wars be so pernicious, how much the more so are civil wars, and particularly those in your kingdom, where by the continual ruin which has followed them, mutual hatred has so increased that the combat is not only against the ruling Powers, but against all who live. We learn by experience that external diseases engender pain rather than injury, but internal diseases are for the most part dangerous and mortal. |
|
To come to the third point, and to consider against whom your Majesty is levying war, your Majesty should be aware that it is an odious thing, and contrary to nature, that the head should do
violence to the members, when its duty is to preserve and defend them in every way, and the office in charge of a good Prince is to preserve and maintain his subjects and not to ruin and destroy them, especially when this cannot be done without endangering those whom he most values; and you, Sire, should recollect that the greatest reputation and grandeur of a Prince consist in his kingdom being populous. There may be nothing more useful or more satisfactory in foreign wars than victory, but in civil war victory itself results in grief and discontent. |
|
With regard to the last consideration, which concerns the Estates of the kingdom of France, your Majesty's Ambassador has said that the principal cause which moved the Estates to demand a revocation of the Edict was the sight of the extreme poverty and misery to which your kingdom had been reduced by the continuation of the civil war, but it would seem a ridiculous proposal to remedy old grievances by finding a new occasion to make new wars, rather than to preserve peace and remove all causes for war, and particularly in this kingdom, which is in the position which I have represented. The Estates cited, as an example, the Queen of England and her kingdom, wishing to infer that because there is in England only one religion all the inhabitants live together in tranquillity, but to understand the true scope of this argument the circumstances must be considered. It is true that no one in England has demanded nor devised another religion, and I can affirm to your Majesty that if the Queen had granted to her subjects the exercise of another religion, she would not have failed to do what was becoming, from the great desire she has to maintain her subjects in peace and tranquillity, and because she is most religiously observant of her promises. |
|
It was said that the Estates had met to consider the disorders of this kingdom, which has been so long afflicted, and it was hoped that their deliberations might tend to this end, but as the contrary has happened, we are obliged to believe that your Majesty has nominated these Estates rather for private than for general purposes, and because they would appear to have been moved and governed by private considerations only. It was thought that after the loss of the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour it would be unnecessary to speak about religion any longer in France ; but experience has shown that it is not one battle which gives entire supremacy, nor can the events be forgotten which followed the death of the Admiral and of the nobles who were massacred in Paris ; and if foreign examples are to have any effect, your Majesty should recall the present position of the Low Countries, where from the continuation of civil wars matters are reduced to such extremity that the King of Spain has to depend upon the devotion of his subjects whether he is to remain their master or not. |
|
Consider, Sire, I beseech you, that you have to deal with the first personages of your kingdom, who are greatly esteemed and united together by necessity, which is the true bond of concord, so that victory against them is not so certain as human probability might suggest. Thus you may consider and be sure that whoever may
give you these counsels and advice, whether Pope or Prince, foreigner or subject, he thinks more of the private advantage to be derived from these wars than what your Majesty may obtain by fortune. |
|
[Italian.] |
| Aug. 30. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
683. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
|
The capture of Brouage is considered to have been of great consequence, and in particular because it is believed that the Huguenots were treating to surrender it to the Queen of England with all the salt which has been collected there for the last three years, as security for the money which the Queen of England is advancing for the engagement of the Roisters; and it is therefore hoped that the journey of the Prince of Condé to England, and from thence to Germany, and the coming of the Roisters themselves, may consequently be hindered. Six hundred soldiers and two hundred wounded came out of Brouage, in addition to five hundred others who died in its defence. When the Brouage garrison arrived at La Rochelle they had great difficulty in obtaining admission, because they had surrendered sooner than they ought to have done, for if they had held out only two days longer they would have been relieved by the Prince of Condé The Rochellese, therefore, in order to make an example, decided to decimate them, and consequently one chosen by lot out of every ten was put to death. |
|
Poitiers, 30th August 1577. |
|
[Italian.] |
| Aug. 31. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
684. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
|
Advices have been received from England that the principal Lords of the kingdom desire urgently that the Queen should consider, in her Council, the question of the succession, but the Queen has not hitherto given her consent, saying that she will not yet name her successor, because the sun is adored more readily when it rises than when it sets; and it is believed that if she adheres to this determination some great risings may take place which will no doubt be fomented from other sources. |
|
Poitiers, 31st August 1577. |
|
[Italian.] |
