The right, and prerogatiue of kings against Cardinall Bellarmine and other Iesuites. Written in French by Iohn Bede, aduocate in the court of Parliament of Paris, and published by authority. Translated by Robert Sherwood.

The Conclusion directed by the Authour to the French King Lewis the 13. (Book author to French king, Louis XIII)

THE most ancient author of prophane History (mighty So∣ueraigne) reporteth that Croesus being in danger to bee slaine in the warre, his son, who had till that time bene dumbe seeing his father in that estate, cryed out, O man kill not Croesus: which re∣presenteth vnto vs the effect of a na∣turall affection, forcing natures de∣fect, and causing a man discharge the duty by his birth imposed vpon him. Hitherto, though according to my small ability, I haue omitted no occa∣sion by word and deed to testifie the seruice I owe your Maiesty; Yet haue

I euer remained dumbe, not daring to represent vnto your Maiesty by mouth the true feeling I haue had of my duty: And I should for euer haue bene silent, had I not feared to bee re∣puted to giue consent to the perniti∣ous effects of a certaine damnable errour, Canonized of late; which would still remaine vnder the ashes of such decrees, if it had not bene disco∣uered by some incendiaries come forth thence, who with the firebrands and bellowes of some controuersies in religion, haue caused the fires that haue since fifty yeares bene seene in France. And whilst good French-men were busied, wearied, and weakned in quenching these flames, these men haue taken opportunity, and endea∣uoured to seize vpon the State; and done all they could to roote out the Royall race, and to trans-ferre the Crowne vnto strangers: Vnto which not being able to attaine by maine force, hauing so powerfull an enemy as King Henry the great and his Prin∣ces, they haue aduised themselues of

the most vnnaturall and abominable meanes that euer was practised a∣mongst the most barbarous and Infi∣del Nations, hauing blow vpon blow, after infinite attempts, laid violent hands vpon the sons of the most high the Lords annoinced.

These detestable actes make mee cry out, O man of sinne kill no more our Kings. If I should bee silent I were worthy to be condemned to dye: for if the subiect that heareth in wordes some complot against the safety of his Prince, makes himselfe guilty if he declare it not vnto him: how could he excuse himselfe which by reading of bookes, and discourse of reason perceiueth whence such vnnaturall attempts do proceed, if hee contri∣bute not his speach, his industry and the perill of his life, to auert and pre∣uent such outrages in time to come?

But seeing it is lost labour to cry vnto this euill spirit; who is not ruled by the military discipline of Cyrus, to giue ouer the slaughter at the sound of retraite; I will turne my selfe to

your Maiesty, aduising to take heed to your selfe; for our our peace depen∣deth on yours, we will haue no other Temporall King, but Lewis: suffer him not to publish in your Kingdome, that there is a power aboue yours, that your command is limited by the will of a stranger, that the fidelity of the oath of your subiects may be slacked by his dispensation, and your life at his worde giuen ouer to murderous at∣tempts. Vse againe the remedies, which your Predecessor Phillip, Lew∣is, and Henry haue done, before these new garrisons of strangers were brought into the land, who take an oath of blind obedience to a forraine power out of the Kingdome, a fourth vow vnknowne to other orders: who creepe in and insinuate themselues with a wonderfull violence into the capitall Cities and best families, yea euen into the Metropolitane City of the Realme, who augment and make greater the presumptuous boldnesse of them that would precede Princes, be equall with Parliaments, and de∣spise

the function whereunto they are called. Whence commeth it else, that in former ages in the time of Phillip the Faire, and other succeding Kings, no French-man reuolted from the obedience of his Prince, for feare of a friuolous excommunication? and that in this latter age, that illusion hath retained so long time in obstina∣cy so many peoples? And how is it, that King Francis the Great, threatned Charles the fifth, with the number and fidelity of his Schollers? and that in the time of the barricadoes there was whole companies of them set forth to besiege the King in the Louvre?

And who was it instructed and fa∣shioned Barriere but Ʋarade a Priest of the new society, ministring to him the holy Communion for saluation? And who was it but a Scholler of these new Doctors, that thrust his parricide knife into the mouth of King Henry the Great your father? Yea, who was it murthered him? My Lord, I cannot hold my peace, I haue horrour of what is past, and feare yet

more what may come, I will not bee a preuaricator in the cause of my King neither will I liue after him. O! it hath bene, it hath bene those vn∣cleane Spirits whereof Saint Iohn spea∣keth in his Reuelation,* 1.1 which repent not of their murthers, of their witch-crafts, of their fornications, nor of their thefts: which worke miracles, and go vnto the Kings of the earth, to assemble them to the battle of that great day. &c. These he ter∣meth also Frogges, Amphibia creatures that liue as well in water as on land, in the State and in the Church, and can vse both the sword and the penne. These are they that imprinted in the minde of that monstrous parracide,* 1.2 that the King intended to make warre against the Pope, and that to make warre against him was to make warre against God; for saith that prodigious murtherer; God is the Pope, and the Pope is God. Further there was found about him a Character, with a heart of Cotten hung about his necke; hee shewed to the Iesuite D'Aubinie, (who confessed him and heard his

visions of Hosties) a knife whereon was grauen a Heart and a Crosse: and with what sort of mē were the prisons filled after this fact, but with such as were infected with heresies preiudici∣able to the State and to the Church? I beseech your Maiesty pardon my zeale grounded vpon that I know, as one of your faithfull seruants; pardon the iust griefe of a subiect, passioned against the parricide committed on two of his Kings. Giue mee leaue my Lord to shedde true teares for the death of your Royall Father; suffer me to lament for my Abimelec,* 1.3 of whom I said in my heart, I will liue amidst the nations vnder his shadow, vnder his E∣dict; by whose benefite seeing I haue permission to speake and write the truth, I haue presented it to your owne hands, not to renew sorrowes passed, but to preuent them that are to come. For iudge (I beseech you) how much it importeth to make apparant vnto your Maiesty that Popes are not Gods: that they may erre: that they forget themselues against God & the

King, to the end that in discouering the cause of this euill, I may leaue vn∣to your Maiesties wisedome to reme∣dy the same, when time and age shall inuite you thereto. Meane while, till that time of perfect cure doth come, these two preseruatiues seeme necessa∣ry, for the two members, which this disease would seize on and corrupt; namely Piety, and Iustice, the Pillars of State. For to what end would they cause the prudent Counsell of the Se∣nate to bee despised, but because they thinke to ouerthrow the State, after the example of Rehoboams new Coun∣sellours? What arrogant presumpti∣on, to censure the Sentences of that great Senate, Iudge of the Empire, & sometime Arbiter of Europe? and to what other end do they procure, with so great importunity, delayes of so holy iudgements? And wherefore else hinder they the en-registring of the decrees of the Sorbonne, so Canoni∣call? Why do they terrifie and amerce the Preachers that speake the truth? Courage ye good and loyall seruants

that hide not but vse your Talent; Serue God and the King,* 1.4 and you shall enter into the ioy of your Lord; For my part (which is all I can doe for you) I would engraue you in this memorial, if your modesty did suffer it, and that the hatred to which I expose my selfe, were not cōmunicated to you. For as for vs,* 1.5 God hath not giuen vs the Spirit of feare, but of strength, and of loue, and of a setled mind.

And if a Souldier for being praised of his Captaine, will runne against the points of pikes, cast himselfe into the trench, and despise the fury of Canons: what would a Frenchman, Burgesse of the capitall City doe, on so high a stage of Europe, fighting for the honour of God and the seruice of his King? Abeant questus, discede timor, vitae est auidus, quisquis non vult mundo secum pereunte mori.

Now, my Lord, letting iustice bee administred, as you doe, according to her ordinary course, your Maiesty shall bee the better serued, and shall not incurre enuy in your person, not

being of age to employ your priuate authority, in giuing extraordinary commandements: and the Queene shall euer bee better obeyed, gouer∣ning herselfe, as shee doth, by the an∣cient Lawes of the State and ordina∣ry course of iustice; whereas if she let herselfe bee carried away with im∣portunities, many inconueniences would ensue. For these men get ground of vs, and go by degrees, ha∣uing bene first refused of all the or∣ders and estates: after that, receiued with modification; and now would driue out them that oppose themselues to their designes. And if for the instal∣ling of these new Doctors, this rea∣son bee found good, not to displease him that sendeth them: what will not be done vpon this ground? must wee renounce the most faithfull confede∣rates of France, who haue expelled & cast them off, neuer to receiue them more into their States and Common-wealthes? must wee renew warre, against them that acknowledge not this new power; and not keepe our

faith with them any longer, then it shall please that Spirit of discord? And if it bee thought vnfit to bring vs to such a misery, wherefore do some counsell to repeale the causes? Yea ra∣ther wee should resist the beginning: And because that vnder pretence of maintaining Religion, such men slily infect weake soules, with maximes against the State.

The second remedy is taken from the other pillar of the State, to wit,* 1.6 Piety, that must be aided & strengthe∣ned in the body of the Vniuersity, which is not destitute of learned men, as some calumniate.

This Vniuersity hath bene euer cal∣led in France,* 1.7 the keeper of the key of Christianity: And it was the same that appealed from the Bull of Pope Pius the second, and caused their protesta∣tions to bee en-registred in the Court of the Chastelet: And Maister Iohn de S. Romain, the Kings Attorney ge∣nerall, did the same actions, as your Maiesty seeth done by your Aduocate generall, Maister Sernin, a man both

learned, couragious, and incorrupti∣ble in iustice, and in the seruice of his Prince.

Out of this Vniuersity King Lewis the twelfth tooke sixe Doctors for Counsellours of Estate: It was this Vniuersity that ceased the massaker stirred vp by the Duke of Burgundy, proclaimed through the streetes, peace good people, vnder the raigne of King Charles the sixt. Out of this body were taken the sixe Doctors, that decided the question (now againe brought to be discussed of in Court) Whether it be iust, to assist the confederates of France, against the will of the Pope, when Pope Iulius excommunicated Alfon∣sus Duke of Ferrara, whom King Lew∣is the twelfth assisted, by the aduise of the Gallicane Church, assembled in Councell at Tours, in the month of September, Anno. 1510.

And although King Henry the Great followed onely the steppes of his Predecessours, and the decisions of Catholicke Doctors, neuerthelesse wee haue perceiued with an extreme

mischiefe, the effects of a pernitious doctrine, & the obstacles they would haue brought against the succour pro∣mised to the confederates of the Crowne: for remedy whereof, it see∣meth that the exhortation of the Curates your Maiesties seruants, and of the Doctors of Sorbonne, will bee very necessary, together with the wri∣tings of the most learned, whom your Maiesty shall please to chuse: for although armes bee seemely neere about your Maiesty; yet is it no lesse profitable, to prepare the affections of the subiects in such sort, that armes may bee more for ornament, then ne∣cessary for the safety of the Prince: and that such men may bee employed herein, as haue in their mindes an An∣tidote against this moderne poyson. For not onely great and learned Cap∣taines, as Alexander, and Caesar, haue attained to the Empires of the world: but also Generals of warre haue profitably vsed the Counsell of learned men, for to execute great de∣signes: To this purpose Pyrrus said,

hee wanne more Citties by the in∣dustry of his Orator Cineas,* 1.8 then hee tooke by force of armes. Yea a sillie Scholler following Regilianus, profi∣ted him to obtaine the Empire, by meanes of his declining Rex Regis, making allusion to the name of Regi∣lianus:* 1.9 for the Souldiers which were in the Campe, taking that for good presage, proclaimed him Empe∣rour.

Such men Alphonsus, the Phenix of the Spanish Kings, vsed; calling vn∣learned Princes, Golden Flecees, & ad∣ded that the dumbe were his best Counsellours, meaning bookes, that flattered not Kings, but told them the truth: and reprouing the opinion of one of his Predecessors, who thought it vnbeseeming a noble and generous minde, to haue learning, saith: It was the voyce of a brute beast, rather then a man.

The want of which register, hath caused that the most generous actions of our ancient Gaules, haue remained buried in obliuion, or haue bene much

lessened by the writings of such as enuied their greatnesse. For military actions are renowned to posterity, ac∣cording as the penne of hystory hath extolled the same: thus are Achilles and Aeneas made famous by Homer and Virgil, and Caesar himselfe by his true testimony. And contrariwise they that haue had learning for aduer∣sary, remaine in opprobry to poste∣rity.

Thus the iniury that the Vniuersity of the Athenians receiued by the cruel imposition of foureteene chil∣dren, sent to the King of Creta, though otherwise he were in such re∣putation of iustice, that antiquity made him a Iudge in the Elizium; yet could hee not obtaine against pen and inke, weake instruments in apparance,* 1.10 but that hee was dishonoured in his bed, and his children Icarus and Mi∣notaure: the one an example of vani∣ty, the other a prodigious monster, and himselfe taxed in his person, as pe∣rishing miserably.

It is a worke worthy your Ma∣iesty

to establish the Kings Colledge, the building vp whereof, God hath reserued vnto your Maiesty, as hee did the building of the Temple to wise Salomon: and doubt not, my Lord, but that there will bee found Regents sufficiently capable, honour nourisheth Artes, they haue not hi∣therto appeared, because the Muses could not bee heard during the noise of the Trumpet, and sound of the Drumme. The nurse-children of the Muses, shut vp themselues in the caues of Parnassus, and come not at the Court vnlesse they bee sent for: But, my Lord, seeing it is a matter of peopling a royall Colledge, there should not bee any Doctors not roy∣all, or not for the King, nor any that haue taken oath of blind vow to any out of the Kingdome: for (saith the Gospell) No man can serue two Mai∣sters.

And why should the King main∣taine at his charge, Professours that will corrupt the syncerity of the affe∣ctions of his subiects, by the poyson

of the new Canons, of which wee haue quoted some.

By these two meanes, euermore profitable for the State, the State shall be preserued, till it please God to en∣crease your Maiesty in age, and in all sorts of Spirituall and Temporall blessings, that you may gouerne the same in person, and remoue away the cause of this euill, which I hope for (by Gods grace) so much the more assuredly, as your Maiesty is a liuely purtraiture of those great Kings, that haue commanded the peo∣ple of God; succeeding as a yong Iosias, to a father murthered by the disloyaltie of some of his subiects; as a Salomon to triumphing Dauid his father; as a Saint Lewis vnder the Re∣gency of his mother: God grant that your Maiesty may accomplish the po∣sie of King Lewis the twelth your pre∣decessour, Perdam Babylonis nomen,* 1.11 seeing that they now renew the like attempts, as they did then vnder his raigne. To the end that as the most high Monarch of heauen and earth,

would not employ to such a worke, the mighty arme of flesh, Henry the Great your father, no more then hee did that of Dauid, whom hee had de∣stinated vnto battels; your Maiesty as a Salomon his sonne, by the workes of peace may restore the Gallicane Church; by the common voyce of which, with bended knees, hands lif∣ted vp to heauen, and heart to God, your Maiesty heareth the like blessing as the Queene of Sheba gaue to Salo∣mon.* 1.12 Blessed be the Lord thy God, which loued thee, to set thee on his throne as King, to execute iudgement and iustice.

And let the Prophesy of Nathan, in the highest heauen, bee ratified in your Maiesty:* 1.13 I will stablish the throne of his Kingdome for euer: I will bee vnto him a father, and hee shall bee my sonne, Amen.

* 1.14Prima tuo gerito pro Ioue bella puer.

FINIS.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Apoc. 16.12. & 9.16.
• * 1.2

  These blasphe∣mies are read in the arraigne∣ment of Rauillac, & in his con∣frontation with D'Aubinie the Iesu∣ite.
• * 1.3

  Ier. 4.20.
• * 1.4

  Mat. 15.14. Luk. 19.
• * 1.5

  2. Tim. 1.7.
• * 1.6

  The Vni∣uersity.
• * 1.7

  Du Tillet of the li∣berties of the Church.
• * 1.8

  Plutar. in Pyrrhus.
• * 1.9

  Trebel. Pollio in Regill.
• * 1.10

  Quaesitor Minos vnam mo∣uet.
• * 1.11

  That is I will de∣stroy the name of Babylon.
• * 1.12

  2. Chron. 9.8.
• * 1.13

  2. Sam. 7.13.14.
• * 1.14

  Mart. 9.104.