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| May 1. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
709. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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Mons. de La Chapelle (Sciapella) has returned from Angers, and reports that Monsieur has promised to go to Flanders whenever the Flemings decide to give up to him two additional places, namely, Cambrai and Arras, and he was waiting the return of La Roche for the final answer, which is to the effect that the States are willing not only to give up these two places, but also promise to make the Duke master of the country, and to pay the people who are to accompany him, and who they say will be followed by Casimir and the other Princes of Germany who are Huguenots; but the greatest hope which we have here is that the Flemings by negotiating the peace in this way are merely endeavouring to avail themselves of a pretext to improve their condition; and in addition to this, we hear from England by letter of the 25th ultimo, written by the Ambassador Gondi, that the Queen has positively promised to impede this negotiation and also to give the States an additional hundred thousand crowns, and to allow her subjects to enter their service, provided that they do not call
Frenchmen to their assistance. The King does not fail to use every mode to dissuade Monsieur from this enterprise. Although it is true that Monsieur appears to be somewhat irresolute in the matter, many think it a lesser evil that he should go to Flanders than make some disturbance in this Kingdom. Don Juan de Vargas, who represents the Catholic King in this Court, and also Don Alonso de Soto Mayor, who has been sent hither by Don John of Austria, have had important communications with these Majesties, and have been hitherto satisfied; but they greatly distrust Monsieur, whom they know to be very angry with Spain, because he has been unable to obtain for wife one of the Spanish Princesses; and indeed the Spanish Ministers know the hostility against them of Bussy, who governs Monsieur absolutely, and is a youth who, while he has nothing to lose, is so hairbrained that if he had, as it is said, a world in his hand, he would cast it to the ground to break it in pieces. |
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A circumstance happened the day before yesterday which though evil in itself may tend to great good, namely, that six principal gentlemen, who are favourites of the King and no friends to Monsieur, fought a duel about women ; on one side three were killed, one fled, and the other two were roughly handled, and particularly Mons. de Quelus (Chelu), who was the principal in the affair, and who, having received eighteen wounds, is not expected to live ; and as these gentlemen are now out of the way, it is thought that the anger of Monsieur, which was very violent against them, may subside. I hear that the Queen-Mother has determined to go and see Monsieur, who is now arming for Flanders, where a suspension of arms for twenty days between Don John and the States is said to have taken place by order of the Catholic King. |
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Paris, 1st May 1578. |
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[Italian.] |
| May 11. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
710. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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The King has just said to me, laughingly, that the Queen of England, in order the more effectually to break off this negotiation, had given the Flemings to understand, besides her other offers, that Monsieur would surely take for wife a daughter of the King of Spain, and would then forthwith declare in favour of Spain and against them, and that thus they were nourishing a serpent in their bosom. |
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Paris, 11th May 1578. |
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[Italian.] |
| May 20. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
711. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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Signor Hieronimo Gondi has returned from England. He tells me that at the commencement of his embassy he was greatly suspected and disliked, but that in the second audience he obtained all the information which he required, and the desired results, and
also permission to speak subsequently with the Queen of Scotland, who now enjoys greater liberty, and is allowed to go into the gardens and in the boats of the castle where she is detained, and has had her ladies and servants restored to her. This has been done because she had disproved the genuineness of the letters which she was alleged to have written to the Pope and to the King of Spain, and whereby she was said to have promised, when liberated, to marry Don John of Austria, and to make him King of Scotland and England; and, finally, she has appealed to the courts to decide that she shall no longer be bound to produce these letters and to be put to death, or declared incapable to succeed to the Crown and kept a perpetual prisoner in the Tower of London. |
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The Queen of England has used her utmost endeavours with the States to induce the States and the Prince of Orange not to accept Monsieur, the brother of this King, [as ruler] in Flanders, but it is very well understood that although she does not desire to see the French in the Low Countries, yet she is pleased at seeing them make a move in that direction, because her object is to foment greater distrust and even war, if possible, between the French and the Spaniards, for she greatly fears the Kings of those countries when they are at peace. |
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Paris, 20th May 1578. |
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[Italian.] |
| May 27. Original Despatch, Venetian Archives. |
712. Hieronimo Lippomano, Venetian Ambassador in France, to the Signory. |
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The day before yesterday a gentleman arrived from Monsieur, who was then resident fifty leagues from Paris, urging the King not to interfere with his prospects of aggrandisement. A Cabinet Council was consequently held at the house of Marshal Montmorency, who was ill of the gout, when it was decided that it was not expedient either to assist Monsieur or to oppose him openly, but to do all that was possible to throw difficulties in his way by negotiation and diplomatic action. Hopes of a successful result are increased by the vigorous action of the Queen of England. A gentleman accredited by her Majesty arrived here yesterday and had an audience of these Majesties to-day, whom he has informed on the part of his mistress that if ever Monsieur should go to Flanders she could not support him, as she was resolved to assist the King of Spain by every means in her power, and that he was instructed to inform the Prince of Orange and the States to this effect, and was about to proceed to Monsieur to inform him likewise. The King and the Queen-Mother answered that so far as they were concerned, they were doing everything they could to impede Monsieur, and could not do more because the whole blame lay with the Flemings. Two gentlemen have arrived from the States to ascertain whether the King approved of his brother going to their assistance, and whether his Majesty would also assist him; but his Majesty, having heard the proposals, has given these gentlemen to understand, without receiving them personally, that he does
not intend to interfere in this affair because he desires that Monsieur should live in tranquillity; and the gentlemen then immediately departed, and it is believed that the project has greatly cooled down. |
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Paris, 27th May 1578. |
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[Italian.] |
