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THis Henry the fourth, surnamed the Great, King of Navarre, as first of the Bourbon line, being descended from Robert, the last sonne of
St. Lewis, succeeded to the Crowne of France by consent and assistance of the Nobility, and Army of the late Henry, by whose deplored death it was disper∣sed, retired himselfe to Dieppe, where he was besieged by the Duke of Mayenne with a potent Army, which by this King was routed, with a small number of Arques the 21. of September, Anno Domini 1589. And from thence pursu∣ed his victory even to Paris, taking the Suburbs thereof upon All-Hallows Eve. Afterwards hee recovered Vendosm le Mans and Falaise.
The fourteenth of March 1590, hee obtained the famous victory of Yury, after which hee blocked up Paris and St. Denis, and reduced them to such an extremity of famine, that in July fol∣lowing St. Denis yeelded it selfe to his power, and Paris also was upon the point of surrender. April, 1591. the City of Chartres after a long siege was yeelded up also to him.
Ianuary, 1593. began the Estates of the Ligue at Paris, and the Truce of Sa∣resne followed, which being in dispute the King tooke the City of Dreux, and shortly after he was instructed in the Ro∣man Faith, whereof hee made a pub∣lique and solemne profession at St. De∣nis, the 25. of July. August following the generall Truce began, and conti∣nued untill the first day of the yeare 1594, which being expired, the King caused himselfe to be crowned at Char∣tres by the Bishop of that See, the 27. of February. Hereupon ensued the submis∣sion of Meaux, Lyons, Orleance, Bourges, Rouen and Paris, where the King was most magnificently entertained.
A while after the City of Laon was besieged, and yeelded up to the King, and upon that Champagne and Picardy also submitted, yea, and the Duke of Guise. The King being returned to Pa∣ris, was stabbed in the face with a knife by a young desperate Student
called John Chastel, who for that fact was deservedly torne in pieces with wilde Horses the 29. of December.
The King being recovered of his hurt, made Knights of the Holy Ghost, in January, 1595. After the City of Dijon submitted, and in a manner all Burgun∣dy. Also the second generall Truce was published, and in the interim the re∣conciliation of the Duke of Mayenne was wrought, together with those of the Dukes of Toyeuse and Espernon.
In the beginning of the yeare 1596, the City of Marsilles was surrendred to the King, and to the Duke of Guise, Governour of Provence: Hee also after eight Moneths siege, tooke the Towne of La Fere in Picardy about mid May, notwithstanding the resistance of the Spanish forces then under the Conduct of the Arch-Duke of Austria, who came purposely out of Flanders to raise that siege.
At Rouen in a generall assembly of the
Peeres of France, the Alliance betweeen him and Queene Elizabeth of England was renewed by Embassages extraordi∣nary in October, when the King recei∣ved from her the Order of St. George, (aliàs) the Garter, as, not long before, the Order of the Chevalry or Knight∣hood of France was sent unto the Queen of England, by Monsieur the Marshall of Bouillon.
Anno Domini 1599. the King made ordinary Knights of the Holy Ghost at Rouen, which was never there done be∣fore, at any other place than at Paris.
Not long after, the Towne of Ami∣ens was taken by the Spaniards, and cruelly pillaged for the space of 5. daies, and the French beaten out. The King resolved upon a revenging siege, and to that end caused it to be encompassed by Monsieur the Marshall of Biron and his Troops for the impeachments of all manner of supplies: and the King in person the 21. of May marched towards
the said siege of Amiens, which after many furious assaults, Sallies, and Skir∣mishes, was surrendred upon composi∣tion upon Thursday the 25. of Septem∣ber, notwithanding that the Cardinall of Austria came even to the Trenches with an Army of 18000. foot, and 2000 Horse, with 18. Cannons for Battery, but was valiantly beaten backe, and in∣tercepted of his designe of relieving the City, and enforced to a shamefull re∣treate, with the losse of a great part of his men.
The same yeare the Marriage of the King with Madam Margaret of France for many strong and lawfull causes was annulled and made void, and by the Authority of Pope Clement the eight, was so published.
The yeare 1600. the Marriage of the King was treated, and concluded with the Lady Mary of Medicis, Princesse of Florence, Daughter of the late Great Duke of Tuscany, Francis of Medicis,
and of Joane of Austria, Daughter of the Emperour Ferdinand, and in May shee in her owne Countrey was proclai∣med Queene of France.
The 13. of June 1602. Charles Duke of Biron, and Lord High Marshall of France, being come to Fontainbleau, was arrested upon high Treason by the Kings command, and from thence conveyed to the Bastile at Paris. Hee was convicted by his Peeres for at∣tempts against the Kings Person and State, and upon the Munday before, being the 29. of July, hee was adjudged to lose his head, with the confiscation of his goods, and the land of Biron de∣prived for ever of being a Dutchy and Pairy of France, and was reunited to the Crowne.
It was pleaded against him, Qui nec virtute nec fide prodest, prosit exemplo: He that can never profit by his vertue, nor his loyalty, must profit by his example; and thereupon he was condemned, and
put into the said Bastile, whither the Chancellour comming to pronounce the sentence of death against him, hee shaked the Chancellour by the Arme, saying, You have judged me, and God will absolve me; hee will lay open their iniquities, which have shut their eyes, because they would not see my innocen∣cy: You my Lord shall answer for this injustice before him, whither I doe summon you within a yeare and a day. I goe before by the judgment of men, but those that are the cause of my death, shall come after by the judgment of God. Afterward he said, I see well that I am not the most wicked, but I am the most unfortunate. Those that have done worse than I would have done, are favoured, the Kings Clemency is dead for me. He doth not imitate Caesar nor Augustus, or those great Princes, who not onely pardoned the intention of doing ill, but the Act; and wherein can the King shew himselfe greater than in
pardoning? Clemency is a Kingly ver∣tue; every one may give Death, but it belongs onely to Soveraignty to give life: But the Chancellour told him, that a condemned man must not dispute a∣gainst his Judgment, whereupon the Duke of Biron delivered up the Kings order. Afterward the Chancellour said that hee had brought two Divines to comfort him, and prepare him for death, but the Duke said, That he was already prepared, and that his soule was in such tranquillity, as the night before hee had spoken with God. Within few daies after he was beheaded, and his body in∣terred by night in the Church of S. Paul.
The yeare 1604. the King was adver∣tised that one Nicholas l' Hoste, Secreta∣ry of State, discovered to the King of Spaine, (from whom he received an an∣nuall Pension to that end) the secrets and affaires of the State: upon the no∣tice taken L' Hoste put himselfe in flight for his owne safety, but he was so closely
followed and pursued, that he was en∣forced to hide himselfe in the River of Marne, where he dyed through cold and feare. His body being found, was con∣demned to bee drawne in peeces with wilde horses, and the foure quarters to be set upon foure wheeles at foure gates of Paris. The yeare 1610. there were taken out of the Arsenal of Paris Fifty great Gunnes, with store of Munition of powder and shot, and great numbers of Souldiers were leavied.
The King intended shortly after to enter into his Army, but he would first see his Queene should bee crowned at St. Denis, which was performed with great solemnity. But the next day af∣ter this Magnificence and pompe of the Queenes Coronation, this great King was on Friday the 14. of May, 1610. a∣bout foure in the afternoone most tray∣terously murthered in his Caroch with two stabbs with a knife neare the region of his heart, passing in the Streete of the
Ferronery, neare the Charnells of the Innocents Church-yard, by Francis Ra∣vaillac, borne in Angolesme. His Obse∣quies were performed the three dayes following, the 21, 22, 23. of June, with infinite teares and lamentations: and af∣ter many funebriall solemnities, his Corps was conducted to St. Denis, where it remaineth interred.
He lived fifty sixe yeares, and thirty one daies. Hee reigned in Navarre Thirty seven yeares, eleaven moneths, or thereabout; and in France Twenty yeares, nine moneths, and thirteene dayes.