The declarations as vvell of the French King, as of the King of Nauarre Concerning the truce agreed vpon betwene their Maiesties: and touching the passage of the riuer of Loire.

THE KING OF NA∣VARRES DECLARATION AT THE PASSAGE OF THE RIVER of Loire for the seruice of his Maiestie the 18. of Aprill. 1589.

HEnry by the grace of God king of Nauarre, &c. To all those to whom these presents shall come, gréeting. As it hath pleased God to cause vs to be borne first Prince of the bloud, and chief Péer of Fraunce: whom nature hath taught to defend his king, law and due∣tie do bind to maintaine the Estate of this Realm: and that it may be apparant by the effects knowē to euery one, that the disturbers whatsoeuer pretence they take, shot at no o∣ther thing but his Maiesties life and Crowne, neither pur∣pose any other then the dissipation and vsurping of this Estate, whereof can ensue no other then the confusion of all things both deuine and humane, the extinguishing of all or∣der pollicie and iustice, and the vtter ruine of each one in particular and of all the good subiects of this Realme in ge∣nerall, euen such as euery one doth foresée and in hart be∣waile, yea and the most part do in effect already féele it in their goods, liues, honours and liberties.

For this cause, wee being called of God, nature and lawe, to so necessary a worke, haue resolued with our sel∣ues to employ our liues, goods and abilities vpon the resta∣blishment of the king our soueraigne Lordes authoritie, the restauration of this Realme, the preseruation and deliue∣rance

(so farre as in vs may lye) of all the good subiects of the same against those who so openly haue attempted against the person of his Maiestie, and dared to enterprise the vsur∣pation of his Realme, and brought almost to the point of in∣euitable ruine so many poore people, which God of his grace hath vnited & preserued in so many ages vnder the sacred and inuiolable lawes of this Realme.

We declare that we haue not, neither will hold for ene∣mies any other then those who by their effects haue proclai∣med & openly declared themselues enemies to this Realme: who haue so much as in them lyeth, extinguished and blot∣ted out the name of the king, of the soueraigne Magistrate giuen vs of God, heretofore sacred to our nation, disgraded his Parliaments and soueraigne Courts, so farre forth as to haue cruelly slaine the principall personages, against whose dignitie and life, whether for their Estate, or for their deserts, no théeues or barbarous people or vtter enemies to mankind would haue enterprised: to haue broken & defa∣ced the seales of the Realme, the sacred instruments of so∣ueraigne iustice, violating and profaning, so farre as they might, euen iustice it selfe: and to be brief, so cōfounding all things that wheresoeuer their power taketh place there re∣steth nothing but sacke, bloud, furie and insolencie, desola∣tion among the people, carcases in the townes, mourning and lamentation in all families, and combustion and vni∣uersall horror among all sortes. Against these persons do we oppose our iust weapons: against these do wo denounce warre with all rigour, and against these do we inuite and adiure all good Frenchmen the kings faithfull seruaunts, louers of their countrey and defenders of the good lawes thereof to assist vs with their vowes, weapons and wealth: as being resolued and assured that GOD will blesse vs and giue vs grace vnder the kings authoritie to chastise them according to their desert, and that he will no longer suffer so many mischiefs vnpunished, mischiefs committed vnder a false semblant of goodnesse, sacriledges and impie∣ties

vnder the sacred names of pietie and iustice. Neuer∣thelesse in as much as we are not ignorant, but that many may haue bene entangled in these enormities, some being transported by furie, others ouercome by a iust feare, and the most part rather suborned by subtletie, then lead by their owne mallice: as also we can not thinck that Fraunce is so degenerated as maliciously of set purpose to renounce her fidelitie and loyaltie to her naturall Prince, that is to say, to the inheritance and patrimonie of her fathers.

We, vpon a desire to separate, so farre as lieth in vs, the innocent from the guiltie, and with all discretion to vse the iust sword that God hath put into our hand for the seruice of our soueraigne Lord the king, & the preseruation of his subiects, doe signifie to all Prouinces, townes, commu∣nalties, clergie men, nobilitie, and men of law, captains of men of warre, citizens, burgesses, and all other persons of whatsoeuer condition, estate, or calling, that with all spéede they retire from all communication and felowship with the said enemies, disturbers of this estate, and reunite them∣selues vnder his Maiesties obedience, geuing him assurance of their fidelitie and seruice. In so doing, as also being by them duely certified, we will carefully preserue them ac∣cording to such order as we haue from him, and doo desire to employ vnder his commandements: otherwise, in case they shew themselues either obstinate or carelesse, we denounce against them all the mischiefe that may incurre by the ri∣gor of armes, as worthie to participate in the iust punish∣ments of those, to whose iniustice and violence they shal mi∣nister either consent or countenance. We doe consequently entend to preserue and maintaine all the good subiects and seruants of our soueraigne Lord the king: also, those that shall (as is aforesaid, reunite themselues vnto him) in their goods, liues, honors, liberties, religion & consciences, without exception or acception whatsoeuer: especially those of the Clergie, of whom we wil the rather take care, because they are more commonly opposed to the extremitie of warre.

Prouided also, that for their partes they remember to loue peace, and modestly to conteyne themselues within their boundes, whereas some of them, to the great reproch of their vocation, are become the instruments of these disorders.

We doe expresly forbid all our men of warre, and other our adherents in this our pursuite, not to attempt or enter∣prise any thing against the kings said good subiects and ser∣uants, and others to him reconciled as aforesaid of whatsoe∣uer state or condition: namely against the said clergimen, or the places appointed to the vse of their ecclesiasticall ser∣uice, wherein we will not that they be any whit molested, vnder paine to the infringers of these Presents, of punish∣ment and correction according to the exigence of the case and the rigor of our martiall lawes. As also, we do most straightly commaund our lieutenants generall, gouernors, officers of our armie, heads and captains, and all other per∣sons of commaund, diligētly to set to their hands euery one in his calling: vnder paine to the said heads and captaines, through whose negligēce or winking at causes any mishap may fall, to answere therfore in their own names & persōs. Neuerthelesse, admonishing the said good subiects and ser∣uants of the king our soueraigne Lord, of all degrées & cal∣lings, & all that are to him recōciled as is aforesaid, to helpe to distinguish the good from the bad, & to preuent the incon∣ueniēces which may more easilie be stopped then amended, also in time to retire to vs, and to our said lieutenants, go∣uernors and officers, to the end to be furnished of pasports, warrants, and necessarie dispatches: intending neuerthe∣lesse, that our soueraigne Lord the Kings warrants, made since the date of these presents, shalbe inuiolably kept & ob∣serued, vnder paine of rigorous punishment to the brea∣kers of the same.

We do here beséech all states & degrées of this Realme to set before their eyes the dommage that hath and con∣sequently will more and more ensue in euery of them by their confusions. The Clergie to consider how pietie is sti∣fled

among weapons, Gods name blasphemed, & Religion contemned, euery one practising to play with the sacred name of faith, when they sée the greatest take it for a pre∣tence to shadow the most execrable infidelitie that may be. The Nobilitie to note what a fall their order hath lately had, when armes, either the badges of hereditary Nobilitie or the rewards of vertue, are as it were trailed through the mire, committed to a communalties hands, who from liber∣tie will passe to licence, & from licence will giue themselues ouer to all insolencie, without further respect (as hath bene sene already) of desert or calling. The Magistrates, what théeuery is crept in at the gate of common weale, when in the chamber of the Péers of this Realme, where the greatest vpō reuerence to iustice, do leaue of their swords, an Attur∣ney shall enter in armes accompanied with twentie rascals & cary his sword to the throat of the Parliament of France, and in triumph lead it away in red robes to the Bastille: when a chief Presidēt shalbe murthered, trailed about, and hanged at Tholouze (one that was a zelous follower of his Religion, if euer there were any, and the most formall ene∣my of the contrary) by the conspiracie of a Bishop: and with what shew of heresie? Oh monsters of furie, crueltie and barbarousnesse, who neuerthelesse can not liue long, vnlesse peraduenture by some shamefull memory to this world & to the nation that hath borne and doth support them, dete∣stable wheresoeuer it commeth to the posteritie. The third Estate, who at the least were to take profite of these do∣mages, let them looke whether they be eased of their taxes & subsidies, whether they be discharged of the men of warre, whether their shoppes in the townes, or their farmes in the countrey be in better case, whether the treasury be better husbanded then aforetime: nay contrariwise whether de∣uourings be not doubted, whether the grasse groweth not before their gates, whether for one hand that was wont to grope in y^e treasury there be not thrée: whether it that they call husbāding be not the sacking of good houses giuen to por∣ters,

and the ransoming of good men that grone vnder these disorders: A matter that can not continue many dayes, which expired, the communaltie being fleshed in the spoyle of those whom they terme Politicks, as wolues vpon carrion, and their booties failing them, wil cruelly & without respect fall vpon all that be of any countenance. Let those townes that haue taken their parte remember in what state they were before, and in what they be now: The traffick (who so list to séeke it) in the midst of a forrest? Iustice, in y^e dungeōs of the Bastill? Learning, where barbarousnesse possesseth all? yet be these the meanes that haue brought them to so great glorie and wealth: yea euen the meanes that onely could therein enterteine them: At this day it is heresie to be a Politick: but the pollicie that had brought them to their flower is runne to contempt: Shortly it will be an vnpar∣donable trespasse to be ritch. Moreouer if they haue any gar∣rison their libertie perisheth, and the lickerousnesse of this word hath made them lose it: If they haue no garrison, then are they a pray, oppressed with gardes and badly kept, at euery moment in daunger of surprise: and thus behold an imaginary libertie in stead of a prison. Neither shall the fields haue any better bargaine, if this mischief continue. A king cannot abide to be disgraded by his subiectes: Rigour must be set against rigour, and force against force: The li∣centiousnesse, excesse and disorders of these perturbers will draw on others: Against the vsurpation of a straunger his Maiesty must be succoured by straungers: against the Spa∣niardes drifts with Suitzers and Germaines: our fieldes shall become forrests, & our warres yong springs, a disease common to the laborer and the burgesse, to the Gentleman and the Clergie: a disease that will multiply robberies in the fieldes and rages in the townes: then woe to the auctors and fauorers of these miseries: the people will conuert this fury against them, and with their bloud will redéeme their abolition, their owne peace and life, and to their costes they shall sée what it is to wrest the scepter from the soueraigne,

and the sword from the Magistrate therewith to arme and authorise the licentiousnesse of the people.

Marke their imaginations, after they haue plucked the king out of his throne, they haue left the place empty: aske then whom in conscience they will place therein: the Duke of Mayenne? What prince is there in Christendome that will not withstand it? that knoweth not himselfe to be hurt in this example? Of our nobilitie, how many families be there that will not obey the house of Lorraine? much lesse the varlet of varlets? ye houses honored with the alliance of our kings and princes about vs, who also haue this arti∣cle aboue the rest. That they are borne French and haue perseuered in their birth, what a hart breaking will it be for such to stoupe vnder so weake a yooke? to sée their liues and honours at the discretion of these vpstarts? whom na∣ture hath made their equals, whose sworde the law of the Realme hath measured with the same foot, whom God hath no way preferred before them saue onely in that he hath geuen them ouer to their owne presumption. How ma∣ny princes of the house of Bourbon must they pierce before they come there? Princes I say armed with right, with cou∣rage and with credite against this imaginatiue Chimere of vsurpation, for whose bloud the nobilitie wil hazard theirs: the Nobilitie which in like alterations findeth it selfe still buried with the Monarchie: Nobility, whose honour and degrée is tied to that of our kings: Nobility which to be briefe can not hope to kéepe that degrée ouer the commons which God hath giuen it, when it shall sée their soueraigne, him of whō it holdeth the sword cast headlong from his. Let euery man hold his peace: let vs suffer them at leasure to do what they list. If they will ground their vsurpation vpō Charlemains pretēses, how will they agrée with the Duke of Lorraine and his children? how? albeit they will agrée with the braunch of Vaudemont? Againe if they thinke the crowne due to the deserts, to the labours & to the vertues, that is to say, to the late Duke of Guises Monopoles, how

can they frustrate his heyre? but who doubteth that all the varlets of the house pretend not a share, that is, that they are not resolued to rent asunder the state and to share out the péeces?

O Frenchmen, imagine what your estate shall then be. These chaunges out of one extremity into an other are ne∣uer made without a most violent ouerthrow: the house wherein we are now lodged cānot be ouerthrowen but we shall be oppressed therein. Our bodies turne not to wormes and serpents before death catcheth hold: these serpents can not be borne, neither procéede out of the body of this estate before it be dissolued, perished and rotten, and that wée all which do not liue, other then in it, must runne to ruine. It is very easie to desire a crowne: it is very easie for a people moued and passionate against their Prince, to thinke vpon the alteration of the Estate. Betwéene an ambitious desire and the accomplishment thereof, betwéene your hasty chol∣lers, and your reuenges so far of, how many daies workes and battels? what plenty of bloud, sacke and misery? the ages of the world will not suffise to decide this quarrell: the sonne will take the fathers place, and the brother the bro∣thers: you shall make a perpetuall confusion to the poste∣ritie which shall curse the memory of your madnesse.

And how much more conuenient for you were it to a∣bridge so many calamities with a peace? a peace which out of the darke Chaos wherein you haue plunged your selues, might reduce you into the light, which might restore you to your selues, to your nature & to your sences, which might deliuer you out of these disquietnesses wherein you are, frō this labyrinth wherinto you are entered, which you do wel déeme you can not get out of, & whereof in the meane while you sée not the end: a peace which might replant euery one in that he loueth: might restore to y^e husbandmā his plough, to the artificer his shop, to the marchant his traffick, to the countrie assurance, to the townes gouernment, & to all men indifferently vpright iustice: a peace that might returne you

the kings fatherly loue, to him the obedience & fidelitie that you owe him: to be briefe, a peace that might render to this estate both soule and body: the body which through these ambitious is haled in a thousand péeces: the soule, I meane the good order that hath preserued it, which from the highest degrée to the lowest runneth all to confusion.

These things considered, euery one sounding the very bottome, whether it be the euil that he doth himselfe, or that he is to suffer: in these confusions we assure our selues that they who hitherto haue persisted in their dueties to his Ma∣iestie, will double their affections and courage to serue him from good to better against his enimies: that they who vn∣der simplicity haue let themselues run into their practises, would not be instruments of their owne destruction, by vn∣dermining the foundation of this estate to pull it vpō their owne heads, but will rather abandon so bad a faction, & haue recourse to his Maiesties clemency, who still kéepeth the gate open to all that séeke it.

As for such as obstinately shall persist enemies to the king, to this Realme & to their owne good, as they shall most iustly purchace Gods wrath & the hatred of man, so are they to expect no other but a fearefull iudgement from aboue worthy their merites, which God for his mercy hasten vpon the obstinate, to the abridging of so many mischiefs and mi∣series, & to the weale, peace, & quiet of so many poore people.

In respect of our selfe, we protest that ambition armeth vs not: sufficiētly haue we shewed that we do despise it, & it is honour enough to vs to be that we are, neither can y^e ho∣nour of this Estate perish but we must decay. And so litle, (God is our witnesse) are we lead by reuēge that none hath receaued more wrongs & iniuries thē we, neither hath any hitherto made lesse pursuite: neither shal any be more libe∣rall to forgiue the enemies, if they amend, in any case that may cōcerne the tranquilite & peace of France. That which afflicteth vs, which we can neither sée nor foresée without teares, is that this Estate shalbe brought to that point that

its harme is so growen and stubburne, that it can not be holpen without great mischief.

From these mischiefes doo we protest against the wound and those that made it: he that made the wound is guiltie of the fire, the corosiue, the incisions, and the griefes that ne∣cessarilie they make. It sufficeth, and euery one may sée it, that in that little which we may, we bring the care of the good surgeon that loueth the patient. The enemies in deede that loue the disease, will, besides the iron, bring both hatred & fraud, as they that cā haue no contentatiō but in their am∣bition ouer this estate, neither can they content thmselues but in her sinall death, a death which we will redéeme with the price of our life and all our goods. But rather (as we trust in God the preseruer of kings and kingdoms) we shal shortly as the fruite of our labours, sée the king in his due authority, whereto he is borne, and the Realme in like force and dignitie as heretofore, to the contentment of all good Frenchmen, the comfort of such numbers of poore people, & the hart breaking of such as doe couet the ruine thereof.

We doe therefore beséech the Lordes of the Courtes of Parlement, all gouernors, lieutenants generall of the prouinces, chambers of accompts, courts of aides, trea∣sourers generall of Fraunce, prouostes, bailiffes, sene∣schalles, iudges, maiors, sheriffes, iurats, consuls, headbo∣roughs, bodies and communalties of townes, and all other iustices and officers my Lord the Kings subiectes, to assist, fauour, & leane vnto vs, for the benefite of his affaires and seruice: For such is our desire.

Giuen at Saulmur, the eighteenth of Aprill, 1589.

Thus signed HENRIE.

By the king of Nauarre, first Prince of the bloud, and chiefe Peere of Fraunce.
DEVICOSE.

FINIS.