THE MINORITY OF St. Lewis.  
With the Politic Conduct of Affairs by his Mother Queen Blanch of Spain, during her Regency.  
BEING A Relation of what happened most Memorable under his Reign during the Year, 1226, 1227, 1228, and 1229.  
LONDON Printed for R. Bentley and S. Magnes, at the Posthouse in Russel-Street in Covent-Garden, 1685.   

To the most Illustrious Prince, HENRY DUKE of NORFOLK, Earl Marshal of England, Earl of Arundel, Surrey, Norfolk, and Norwich, Baron Mowbray, Howard, Seagrave, Bruse de Gower, Fitz-Allan, Clun, Oswaldestrey, Maltravers, Talbot, Verdon, Lovetot, Furnival, Strange, of Blackmere, and Howard of Castle Rysing, Constable and Governor of His Majesty's Royal Castle and Honour of Windsor, Lord Warden of Windsor Forrest, Lord Lieutenant of the Counties of Norfolk, Surrey and Berks, and of the City of Norwich and County of the said City, and Knight of the most noble Order of the Garter.  
MY LORD,  
I Should not have presumed to approach with an Address of so small importance, a Personage of your Dignity and Grandeur, in whose present station all the Honours, and in whose Person all the Virtues of your Illustrious Family so eminently shine, but for this consideration, that there is an obliging condescension which ever attends upon true Nobility and Native Greatness: But, my Lord, I have this moreover to plead, that in this so small a Volume there, are such Arcana Historiae, and such well weighed Characters of persons, that those even of the highest Sphere and Employment may, I judge, think a few hours not ill bestowed in the perusal of them. The last pretention I lay to your Grace's pardon, is, that I have taken care to give your Grace as little interruption as possible, to your more weighty affairs, in striving to express the ambition I have of paying my Mite of those honours and respects which you merit from all the world, and thereby of aspiring to the Title of  
MY LORD, Your GRACES most humble, most obedient, and most dutiful Servant. Edw. Philip's.   

The MINORITY OF St. Lewis. OR, A Relation of what happened of most Memorable, under his Reign, during the Years, 1226, 1227, 1228, and 1229.  
NEver any Christian Prince merited of History more solid, serious, and univerversal Praise than Lewis the 9th of that Name, King of France, firnamed the Saint; and consequently never any Christian Prince hath been so ill treated by the generality of Historians, both French and Foreigners, Ancient and Modern, Good and Bad, of all sorts of People, and of all Religions. The Heretics of latter times haply offended at the Reason he gave for refusing to go to see the Body of Christ become visible in the hands of a Priest, namely, that he had no need of ocular Testimony to convince him of a Truth, whereof he was already so well satisfied, have with that prejudice represented even the most Heroic of his actions, that, were their Credit valuable, this Prince could certainly be allowed no better a Character than any of the nine last Kings of the Merovingian Race; They will needs have that haughtiness wherewith he treated his Brother Charles of Anjou, who after he was crowned King of Naples and Sicily let lose the Reins to licence, pass for an Effect of secret Pride and Ambition; they brand with rashness and imprudence the two Expeditions he made against the Infidels, and will have the extraordinary Charge he was at in those Undertake, no other than Profuseness and Prodigality. That Majestic Air which he expressed in all his Actions, and which descended to him from the Queen his Mother, they interpret to be only a natural Surliness and Austerity of humour in him: and though more Covertly, they forbear not to censure his frequent Visitations, and regulations of Hospitals The plainness of his habit they attribute to a poorness of Spirit in him, and from his aptness to conceal and pass over all private Injuries offered him, they are ready to accuse him of Pusillanimity and Cowardice. His Conversation though obliging enough, they account too Reserved and Morose, considering the Familiarity and Freedom that had been allowed to Courtiers in those times.  
They cavil at the sincerity of his Answers both by word of mouth and in writing to foreign Ambassadors, in the Affairs he had to concert with the Crowns of England and Spain; they tax him of too much Severity in the Execution of his Laws, especially, against the Jews, and of too much adhering to particular Justice to the prejudice of the public in the renuntiations he made to the Duchy of Guien and Kingdom of Castille.  
Nor is this noble Prince and Saint King Lewis better dealt with by the Catholic Historians, though perhaps not with such an apparent and designed prejudice, and that by Reason (for a more probable cause cannot be guessed at) of that pragmatic Sanction which came forth under the Name of this Prince, occasioned by the quarrel he had with the Court of Rome. They looked upon as Criminal the zealous Concerns he had for the Rights of his Crown, and upon this pretence took upon them to bespatter all his actions without Limit or Distinction.  
Of this last sort of Writers some there are, who not daring to launch out into those high Intemperancies, have yet fallen into another default equally disadvantageous to the glory of this Royal Saint. They have a conceit forsooth that there is no extraordinary Sanctity to be found but in Monasteries, or at least that it is not to be attained but by such Mortifications of the body as are there in use, and upon this presupposal they carry on the main part of their design throughout all their Writings, so that they make it not so much their buisiness to represent this holy King Lewis such as really he was, but such as in their Opinion he ought to have been, that is to say, in stead of making him a great King as he was they set him forth a very Monk of the most reformed Order. Insomuch that in a Manuscript Embellished with curious Figures in Miniature which came to light about 12 years after his death, he is portrayed in several Exercises of Penitence, the most severe and bloody that were than practised in Cloisters. Moreover, one Richard a Monk of the Abbey of Enove de Votsge, describes him yielding to the Temptation of a certain Jacobin who urged him to take upon him the Order of St. Dominick, and from which nothing but the powerful and incessant Interposing of the Queen his Mother, Philip the Hardy his Son, and Charles of Anjou his Brother could have diverted him. Matthew Paris an English Benedictin, an Historian otherwise the most faithful and best informed of his Time, brings in our Princely St. Lewis at his restitution of Given to the English, uttering himself in a Speech no less void of Sense then Regal Authority, and gives him a very lame at least imprudent Character, when he tells us that without fear or respect of the Barons of his Realm he had given up to the English, those other Provinces which Philip the August his Grandfather, had alienated from them in the Reign of King John, and reunited to the Crown of France.  
But this is not all that hath been vented of unhandsome by these three above mentioned Authors, who all of them lived in the very Time of St. Lewis. 'Tis strange to consider how scant they are in recounting the Virtues of this Prince, as to his Quality and Estate, how they bury, if I may so say, in mysterious silence the great Care he took to acquit himself handsomely of all things that belonged to his Kingly Office? how they smother the best part of all his most glorious Actions, and speak openly of those only which were obscurely either begun or ended? never considering all this while that David in the midst of all his plenty, and keeping a Court not differing in outward Splendour from that of other Kings, was yet a man no less at least, if not more after Gods own heart than Racab, observing the utmost Severities of Life which the old Law required. In fine, as if this Prince were destined to be the Mark of all Injustice, the Modern Historians have almost all of them in this point followed the Example of the Ancients, whether it were that they only contented themselves to copy them out as it were, for want of the Originals by which they were to have been supplied and mended, or, that they chose rather to take upon Trust what they found in Print, than to bestow the pains and time to search and consult Manuscripts.  
The design therefore of this work is to rectify and turn to advantage the Mistakes of others, and to remove those Inconveniences that have ensued upon them, at least as far as can be done by touching upon them briefly, not having here time or place to represent all things in their full proportion; and I shall think myself very happy, if without being wounded I can handsomely make my way over so many Thorns, since doubtless there can be nothing more conducing to the Dolphin's Instruction than to be presented with a true Character of that person among all his Ancestors, whose Life next to that of the Incomparable Lewis, the 14th. it most imports him to contemplate; and if I should be so unhappy as not to succeed, I shall at least gain this Advantage that the Correction of my Errors will instruct others more dextrous to arrive at a safe Haven.  
St. Lewis came into the World the 25th. of April, in the Year, 1215: and those who relate him born of a barren Mother, and make his Birth a Miracle wrought by the Prayers of St. Dominick, are certainly ignorant that he had an Elder Brother called Philip, who died in his Minority. The Prince his Father lived till near 30 Years of Age a private Life, contenting himself with the King's Grace and Favour, and the hopes of succeeding him one day, when the Course of Nature and the Fundamental Law of the Land should call him to the Crown. He was named Lewis, and the astonishing fierceness of his Countenance in time of fight, which increased or diminished proportionally to the danger he was in procured him the Surname of Lion, however, he never resembled this Animal but when he was engaged in Military Affairs, being at other times the most obliging and complaisant of all men living; not to mention those his other Excellencies which will afford a noble Character to him that shall undertake to write his Life: but in Relation to what hath been said of him, one Instance of his Moderation cannot be omitted, since thereby was divulged upon the noblest Stage of Europe his readiness to perform the Command of God, who promiseth a Reward both in this Life and that to come, to those who give due Honour and Obedience to their Parents.  
King Philip the August after the death of Queen Isabel of Hainault his first Wife, by whom he had Prince Lewis, espoused Angelberge of Denmark, a Princess without Compare, the fairest and most virtuous Europe could boast of. But the Inconstancy of Man is never so deplorable as in such like Conjunctures, wherein he changes in a moment not only from excess of love to excess of hatred, but which is worse, from the excess of love to the utmost Indifference. Philip, the Morrow after his Nuptials with Angelberge, entertained a strange aversion for her. He first excluded her from his Bed, next from his House, He sued out a Process for the dissolution of the Marriage and found the Bishop's ready enough to comply with his Resolution upon pretext of an Imaginary kindred between the two Spouses: upon their Sentence immediately ensued another Marriage of the King with Agnes of Tullet, other wise called Mary Princess of Bohemia by whom he had several Children: Angelberge bore her Divorce with a Patience never enough to be applauded. She not only not opposed the King's design, but forbore to return into her own Country, for fear her. Presence should animate her Relations to Revenge the Affront she had received. All the favour she desired was that she might be permitted to reside in France, where she led so holy and retired a Life that all her Enemies, her Rival herself not excepted, could not but admire her, and pity her Condition.  
However, Canute King of Denmark thought himself obliged in honour, though she oftentimes conjured him to the contrary, to appear for his Sister Angelberge, and thereupon demanded justice in her behalf of Pope Celestin the 3d. insomuch that his Holiness remonstrated the whole Affair to the King by Cardinal Meilleur, who not being admitted to a favourable hearing, addressed himself to the Prelates that attended the Court, to little purpose God knows, for all the benefit he reaped of this Negotiation was a few insignificant Expressions of their Compassion for the Queen's Misfortune; and all his Eloquence, though he was accounted the best Orator of his time, could not obtain one step of advancement toward the reestablishment of this Princess. The Cardinal upon this finding none to second him, returned to Rome, from whence the Pope, pressed by the continual Importunities of the Danes, sent soon after into France as his Legate, Peter Cardinal of St. Mary with order to assemble the Prelates of France, and to put the Realm under an Interdict, in case the King did not within a time prefixed receive Angelberge again. The Cardinal executed this dangerous Commission with as much vigour as address; and the King not doubting to come off by those subterfuges that occur in formal Trials consented to the calling of a Council at Dijon, the Capital Town of Burgundy: the matter was examined to the bottom, and the justest cause became the strongest. Those Prelates of the Court Party who had pronounced the Marriage of Angelberge Null, either touched with remorse of Conscience, or finding their Number not strong enough to maintain it, revoked their Sentence, and the Council actuated by the Cardinal, thundered out an Interdiction, only with this Reserve that twenty day's respite should be allowed to the publication of their Decree,  
The King in stead of taking this limited Time to consider of a Concession, rather laid hold of an advantage, thereby to make his Appeal from the Determination of the Council, and to revenge himself of the Bishops who acted thus, as he pretended, with a malicious design of opposing his proceed; he seized upon their Temporals, and to prevent the Assistance they might receive from their Relations, for at that time the richest Benefices in France were in the hands of persons of highest quality, he possessed himself of the third part of gentlemen's Estates. In the next place, Angelberge was removed from her present place of Solitude, and confined to the Castle of Estampes, where she was sequestered from all Society, but only of such as were the Creatures of her Rival.  
There were at that time in France scarce fewer Malcontents than Natives, and though Prince Lewis could have no lawful cause for putting himself at the Head of them, yet never could he have had a fairer and more plausible pretext: He had yet neither Place of Trust nor Profit, neither Government of Town nor Province; all he had to subsist upon was an indifferent sum of Money which he received yearly out of Spain. He could not hope to make his Condition better while he kept himself in the Limits of due Obedience, whereas had he Headed the Malcontents, he might have assured himself of obtaining by Articles of Accommodation whatsoever he could have desired, for since those People would never have been reduced without him, the King must have been forced to have given them an entire Satisfaction, nor could he have avoided above all things the taking back of Angelberge.  
But all this while Prince Lewis remained firm and unshaken in that Faith and Duty which he knew to be owing to his Father, and his King, and owned himself bound in Honour and Conscience to adopt upon all accounts his Majesty's Interests as his own, and shown a more than ordinary Submission at a time when all the rest of his Subjects meditated a general Revolt; in short, he gave an Example of Fidelity not to be paralleled in the History of any Nation: Nor was this unexampled Loyalty of his long without a Recompense; for having so generously and virtuously refused an Illegal Power he was called to the Crown of England by the universal consent of the Estates of the Realm. Three Years he there peaceably reigned, and when at the end thereof, the Inconstancy of those that had called him in unworthily retracted that Allegiance which both their duty obliged them to, and his Virtue; Almighty God abundantly repaired that detriment to him two several ways, the one was a perpetual Establishment of the Crown of France upon his Posterity from his Eldest Son, the other an Accession of the Crowns of Naples and Sicily with the Earldom of Provence which fell contrary to all Expectation to the youngest of his Sons. But of the worldly Blessings that attended Prince Lewis there was none he made greater account of, or took higher Satisfaction in, than the Wife which God in his most especial Providence bestowed upon him, viz. Blanch of Spain, the Daughter of Alphonso King of Castille, Surnamed the Noble, a Princess who in that rude, heavy Age wherein she had the Misfortune to be born, possessed all those graces which were capable to draw admiration from the most accomplished Ladies of her time. And as none durst dispute the Prerogative of beauty with her, so it was absolutely taken for confessed on all hands that she infinitely surpassed them in a Noble and Gallant Mien. The young Age wherein she was Espoused to Lewis, for she was then scarce ripe for Marriage, rendered her so much the more pliant and flexible in conforming to the humours and manners of the French Nation; wherein she made so perfect an Improvement that she could not possibly have been distinguished from a French Woman, but for that grave Severity which was too Natural to be easily quitted by her, though at a time when she most resigned herself up to Complaisance and Familiarity, Her Air as Majestic as it was, had yet never any thing in it of disobliging, being ever attended with words and actions full of Spirit and Vivacity, and a Gaiety of humour that infinitely became her: She enjoyed so vigorous a health of body that till that sickness took her which ended her days, she never was troubled with any other distemper than a short quotidian Ague, which argued rather a strong Constitution than any Intemperature of humours. Her beauty was not impaired by Age, nor did the bringing of ten Children into the World any thing diminish the freshness or delicacy of her Complexion. But that which singularly recommends her above all that hath been said is the clear judgement and exalted wit which so qualified her for business, that she came not short of the most eminent Ministers of Spain, either for quick insight, or prudent forecast in the weightiest Affairs without the least of that heavy slowness and irresolution which hath been the fault of many, as she made appear by her management of those no less difficult Transactions that happened during her Regency, then have been known at any time; and with that Ease and dispatch that she was not observed to have the least trouble or perplexity of Spirit. Her Piety was neither superstitious, nor a Cloak for the carrying on of any Interest, and it was an excellent saying of hers to her Children when she had their Education under her Care; That she had rather see them buried than to abandon that purity of Life to which their Baptism had called them. Her Chastity was inviolable, however, that of all the rest of her Virtues was most disputed, both during her Life and after her death. The worst that hath been said of her in any of the most Satirical Pieces that have touched her in this tender point is, that she gave too much pretence to Calumny. She entertained indeed a Principle more dangerous than could well consist with a Lady's Honour, that is to say, that there are certain junctures which though rarely, might at some time or other happen, in which Ladies might lay aside the outward Formalities of Honour, provided they took care to preserve it inviolable in the Main. This I say, Queen Blanch held for a Fundamental Maxim of her Politics, for Example, that she might without scruple of Conscience endeavour to give Love to any Prince or Potentate that could not by any other means be gained to her Interest; especially, when it might prove a means to prevent or put an end to a War or any intestine broil, to make an Experiment whereof too many occasions will offer themselves in the Sequel of this History; But in the first place, Forasmuch as the Sentiments of the Queen in this matter were no way prejudicial to the Education of St. Lewis, it will he necessary before hand to show how singular and scrupulously exact she was in this matter.  
She undertook herself the Office of Nurse to this dear Son of hers, not thinking it safe, (for where most Love is, there is most jealousy and suspicion) he should suck of any other Milk than her own, upon this there happened a Rencounter, which being not elsewhere to be found, though perhaps purposely omitted as beneath the Gravity of History, cannot handsomely be here passed by. One day when she had a violent hot fit of an Ague upon her, which also lasted longer than Ordinary, a Lady of Quality who either to please her Majesty, or in imitation of her, had taken upon her to nurse her own Son, being then present, and seeing the little Infant cry for the Teat, took upon her the boldness to give him the Breast, the Queen when the fit was over, called for her Child, and offered him her own Breast, but the Infant put it by, either, because having sucked so lately he was fully satisfied, or, because the fresh Milk he had lately tasted, made him the more sensible of the burning heat of that which his Mother now offered him. The Reason was easy to be guessed, and the Queen herself suspected what had happened; She pretended an impatient desire of returning her thanks to the person who had obliged her by being so kind to her Child, during her Indisposition; The Lady hereupon expecting no doubt to be a Favourite, owned what she had done, and told the Queen that the crying of the Infant so sensibly touched her, that she could not forbear to give it what Relief was in her power. But the Queen, instead of returning her the thanks she expected, cast a most disdainful look upon her, and thrusting her singer into his mouth, forced him to give up all he hadreceived from her Breast. This violent Carriage of the Queen gave surprise to all that beheld it, whereupon, not to hold them long in suspense, the Queen told them they ought not to think strange of what they had seen, for that she could not possibly endure that any Woman alive should have a Right to dispute with her the Quality of a Mother; so steadfast her persuasion was that the nursing of Children is a great part of their Education.  
Other Particularities of the Education of St. Lewis are not known, only in general it is not unknown, how great Care was taken to place such persons about him as were most capable to instruct him; but however these persons were, it may without any injustice to them, be strongly presumed their Abilities were not sufficient for the high Province they were set in, it being in an Age when men of greatest Fame for Literature were but very indifferently learned, and in a Kingdom whose Nobility at time lay under the scandal of that gross Ignorance; besides, that St. Lewis came too soon to the Crown to have that leisure and opportunity which were necessary for a serious Application to study. He was not above twelve years, and about ten days over, of Age, when his Father King Lewis the 8th. who had not reigned in France above three years, resigned him his place by an accident, whose Circumstances have not been to this day sufficiently made known.  
The most potent Feudatary of the French Monarchy, next to the King of England, was at that time Tibault the third, who Matthew Paris calls Henry Earl of Champaign Brie, Chartres and Blois; the Sovereignty of which Estates had been in his Family above 400 Years, and it was no less than 300 Years since one of his Ancestors got himself immortal Fame by compelling the last King of Burgundy (for the putting a stop to the persecution then on foot) to resign his Crown to the Emperor Conrade. This Prince of all the Princes of Christendom of that time, had the greatest Alliances; his Mother being the Daughter and Heiress of the King of Navarre, his Grandmother Sister of Philip, the August King of France; his great Grandmother, Princess of England; and her Mother of the Imperial House of Suevia. He was of a large Stature, handsome, well made, valiant and active, Especially, at the Exercise of the Lance, which was then an Exercise and Divertisement much in use and Esteem; but withal, he was extremely subject to passions, which of all others are most incident to persons of his Quality and Grandeur, and that in so high a degree, that it was hard to distinguish which was most predominant. He was born a younger Brother, but waited not long before he became the Eldest, his Brother dying without Male Issue, the Orphan Princesses he left behind found their Uncle instead of a Protector the greatest Enemy and Persecutor they had; Nor had he accepted of the Tuition of them, but only to gain an opportunity thereby of invading their Estates, which he delayed no longer to do, then till he had made himself Master of all their strong holds. The pretence he made use of to palliate his Injustice, was too weak to have ever been made use of before in the like Case; Namely, that the Earldoms of Champaign, Brie, Chartres and Blois were Fiefs purely Masculine, that is to say, so firmly entailed upon the Martial, or Arm-bearing Sex, as not to admit of any Woman whatsoever, though Married to the General of an Army.  
No less Criminal was this Earl in his amorous Inclination, nor did this passion of his tend less to evil Consequences, the respect he owed to Lewis the 8th. his Sovereign, and the honour he had of being so nearly related to him, not restraining him from loving Queen Blanch beyond the Limits of honour and decency; and whether it were that he gave way to Presumption equally with Love, or, that his Passion was moreover degenerated into folly; or, that he had entertained an Opinion that Secrecy would more avail to the heighthning than suppressing of his Malady; or lastly, that the Queen's Virtue had driven him to despair; he not only took no care to hid the fury of his amorous Flame, but on the contrary sought all extravagant ways imaginable to proclaim it to the World; he spent a great part of his time in making Lovesongs, savouring more of a flashy wit than of a true Elegance, or Spirit of Poetry: these he made it his business to get presented to the Queen, he caused them to be composed to Music, and sung to all sorts of Instruments, and either to keep them from growing out of date, as it generally happens when the Novelty of a thing is over, or, that their Memory of them might survive both the Author and the Princess for whom they were made, he had them graved in Copper, and exposed to the sight of the whole world in the Galleries of his Palaces at Troy and Provence, as if he were afraid lest future Ages should be unacquainted with his folly, or the time he lived in should want a fit Subject for Satire. Such was the excessive height of his Imprudence, which the King was not then in a Condition to chastise, he thought it better to pretend Ignorance, than to manifest his weakness by unprofitable marks of Anger. The English were then in Arms for the recovery of those French Provinces which Philip the August had taken from them, and France could not have hindered, had the Forces which were raised to oppose them been disunited: He stood in need of the Aid of all his Feudataries; and the revolt of this Count alone had been enough to ruin the whole design. Thus was the King constrained to carry himself toward his Rival, as Criminal as he was, and the Event proved that his Majesty had taken, if not the most honourable, yet at least the most profitable Expedient. The Earl, who was a person sufficiently Valiant, had brought a considerable Addition to the French Army, of choice Troops, all consisting of his own Vassals, and fought like a true Lover of that Age, that is to say, he had the Vanity to expose himself to the greatest of dangers for the Love of his Lady; The English whom he was the forwardest to attaque, were driven to stand upon their defence; and the Towns of Niort, and St. John d'Angeli, which they had lately recovered, were again taken from them by force; the Town of Rochel, to avoid plundering, submitted to the French; so that at last the English, disheartened by so many misfortunes, were glad of a Truce. The King was the more willing to agree to it, as desirous to lose no occasion for the reuniting to his Realm the largest of those Provinces which had been dissevered from it ever since the declining of the second Race.  
Simon Earl of Monfort the greatest and most fortunate Captain of his Age, had gained Languedoc from several petty Albigensian Princes, who at that time had possessed it; but Amaureus his Son could not keep it, the Albigenses recovered again the best part of it, and Amaureus chose rather to give up the rest for the Constable's Staff of France, than to stand out till he was deprived of all without any Recompense. He had yielded up his Right to the most Christian King, and his Majesty being engaged in this War, as well for his own proper Interest, as those of Religion, had a Rendezvous in Berry of all the Forces he could bring together, as well his own as those of his Feudataries, with which he sat down before the Town of Avignon, where the Albigenses after they were forced to quit the Field, had brought the choice of all their Troops.  
There was no want in the Town either of Provision, or any warlike Accommodations which were then in use, nor were the French without Intelligence thereof, yet they desisted not from attacking the place, but by Reason of the death of the famous Guy Earl of St. Paul, to whom they had been obliged for the victory of Bovines, and of the wounding of 4000 of their men, besides, 2000 more slain in the ditches, they were forced to change the Siege into a Blockade.  
The Besieged for all this were soon brought to a Capitulation, and the King found therein the Keys of all the Albigensian Towns, except those of Tholouse; the Year was too far advanced and the Soldiers too much tired to begin a new Siege: Besides, it was impossible the French Cavalry could subsist about Tholouse in regard the Albigenses had ploughed all the Meadows thereabout. However, it was thought expedient not to lie at too great a distance from the place, for two several Reasons, the one, to hinder the Spaniards from drawing together those succours which they had promised to the Albigenses, the other, because the French Army consisting chief of those Troops which the Feudataries of the Crown had levied, had they been suffered to march home; the Spring and the best part of Summer (so tardy must their return have been by reason of the length of the way) would have been gone before, they could have turned to the Siege of Tholouse. Upon this account it was that the King resolved to take up his Winter Quarters in the Neighbouring Provinces to Languedoc, and had his Headquarters at Mont— a Castle situate upon the Frontiers of Auvergne. The design was new, there had scarce been any Example thereof, since the Reign of the third Race in France, however, it might have been the occasion of shrewd Inconveniences, and the Feudataries had infallibly opposed it, should the King have gone about to put it in execution, without having first obtained their consent in a Council of War.  
It was in a full Council that the King discoursed them concerning this Affair, but in such Terms as on the one side represented how absolutely necessary it was for the whole Army to quarter in those places, on the other side, testified the high Satisfaction he should take in gaining their Consents, he wanted but little of his desire, all the Feudataries gave their hands except the Earl of Champaign: the Queen then resided at Paris, and the Court was no longer able to endure her absence. He thought himself sure of seeing her within a very short time. And you may well imagine how it would relish with the most impatient of all men living, to meet with a fresh Rencounter, that should debar him the sight of his Mistress a whole Year longer. Thus nettled therefore as he was, I am not said he, in a full Council, against the Complaisance of the rest of the Feudataries, but for my own part, I think it just, to stand so far upon my Rights and Privileges, as to draw off my Troops into Brie.  
This Answer seemed to proceed from nothing but a haughty, proud Resolution, but the King was not so slow of apprehension as not to pierce into the true Reason. His Majesty had just cause enough of anger against him upon such an occasion, as had the rest followed his Example, might have proved of fatal Consequence, and left him abandoned of all; nor could he refrain from reproaching the Earl for this Affront, and threatening him, if he persisted longer in these Expressions, to fall into his Territories with Fire and Sword. The Earl who hated the King no less than he loved the Queen, pretended that his Majesty ought to have showed some kind of respect toward him, and have treated him rather as an Equal, than as a Vassal, since he was Heir to a Crown; that he ought to take notice of those Menaces as serious, and not words of Course, considering what extremity the King's obstinate humour had transported him to, he being too exact an observer of his word in such Cases. It was indeed above an Age since Brie and Champaign had been absolutely free from all the Calamities of War, and such was the plenty in general of the whole Country, that the French Army might have found very good Quarters there, had it stood with the Interest of the King's Affairs. This Crime was the most heinous of any the Earl had been yet taxed with, but it will appear by what hath been already said, that he was no Novice in committing the blackest of Enormities. Moreover, his imagination agitated by the different passions which had got the Mastery of him, began to entertain an Idea of Parricide as of absolute necessity at this time.  
He could not resolve upon attempting the King's Life by open force, at a time when he had all his Troops about him, nor was the way of Assassination much more safe; It was now many Ages since any of the French Monarches had been taken off by this way, so ready the Nobility had been to take part with them, and to revenge all designs whatsoever put in practice against. them.  
No way was left but poison, and the French, who from the very first beginning of the Monarchy, had had this practice in the greatest detestation, began insensibly to have an inclination to it, whether it were that they were of late grown more Ingenious in Malice, or that they had learned this way of giving their Enemies a dispatch, either from the Infidels against whom they had born Arms, or from the Greeks with whom they had of late been more than formerly conversant. What kind of poison it was that the Earl gave the King was never absolutely discovered, but sure enough, for the greater Secrecy of the matter, such a Dose was given him as caused a lingering distemper. The King dissembled for many days the violence of the  which inwardly consum'd him, nor did he to the very last so much resent the pain he endured, as the disturbances likely to ensue as to public Affairs; Jealousy for its greater Satisfaction finds out peculiar ways of taking Vengeance. The Earl had the pleasure before he parted to see the King languishing on his death bed, and to foresee that his leaving him in that Condition would augment his grief and vexation of Spirit. However, he had the confidence for all this to go and wait upon the Queen, as presupposing that she could hardly suspect the true cause of her Husband's Malady; or at least, if she should come to underit, she would be obliged to conceal her knowledge, because of the need she would have of his assistance in obtaining the Regency; Nor was it long  the King finding his end to draw near, made his Will, in which he appointed the Queen to be Governess of her Eldest Son, and Regent of the Kingdom. He died thesventh of November, 1226, in the 39th. Year of his Age, This last Will and Testament met with no opposition on; whether it were that the Princes of the Blood and Nobility of the Realm were wrought upon by those pathetical discourses which he made to them upon his death bed, to oblige them to pursue his Interests; or, that their wavering minds had not yet fixed upon those measures which were to be taken for a Revolt intended; or, had they indeed been ready for any such design, they were watched too narrowly by the Queen to bring it to Effect; For, notwithstanding she was left a Widow at a Conjuncture capable of disheartening a Princess, who, though of wit and spirit enough, yet wanted two qualifications which might render a woman's Government supportable to the French Nation, that is to say, Credit and Experience; however, she endeavoured by all means possible to inform herself of the Genius of a People she was to govern, and eafily apprehended that the best way to prevent what ever designs might happen to be broached in France, was to carry with all speed her Eldest Son St. Lewis to Reims, to be there anointed King; and that nothing would so much conduce as this Ceremony to keep within the bounds of their Allegiance a People, prepossessed with an opinion of his being hereby made a partaker in the Sovereign Power. The extraordinary haste that was made for the King's Journey into Champaign, hindered the Grandees and Nobles from accompanying the King with the Splendour and Magnificence usual upon such occasions, notice only was given, that the King was willing to dispense with the trouble and charge of those great preparations, expecting their Attendance in person only without any pompous Train, or numerous Retinue, which in such an Affair as this would be but troublesome and apt to breed disturbance. This Ceremony was performed in the beginning of December 1226, by the Ministry of the Bishop of Soissons, Premier Suffragan of the Archbishopric of Reims, whose seat was then vacant. But Philip of France, the King's Paternal Uncle, first Prince of the Blood, Earl of Boulogne and Clermont, whether it were that he took Exception to see himself preceded by the Peers of France, at the King's Inauguration, or, because the Regent had not confirmed the Augmentation of his Appenage, which was promised him when he gave his content to her being made Regent, what ever it were he repent him of what he had done when it was but just too late to revoke it; He was the first man that laboured to destroy his own work though no man was more concerned than himself to preserve it entire. He came short in deeds of Arms both of his Father and his Brother, but equalled them both in wit, and surpassed them in Vigour and Address: and though there were no other proofs than the Intrigues hereafter mentioned, they are sufficient to discover him the most subtle, and dextrous Prince of his Age. He represented, both by word of mouth and by writing, to all the Nobles of the Realm, how they had been circumvented, how that a Spanish Woman had found a way how to deprive them of the fruit of all their labours, and that notwithstanding those Conquests which had been gained by Philip the August in a War of 50 Years, to avoid falling under the English Power, and the coming off with so much glory in so difficult an Enterprise, they were now in danger of falling under that Yoke whereof in former times they had so universal a dread; That the Queen whom they had declared Regent, was indeed born in a Country which hitherto had neither any Antipathy nor Interest with France, but that she was in Effect English, and neither could, nor aught to be considered as others wise, though at a time when she took upon her the Government of the French. That she was the daughter of Eleanor, Princess of England, and Grandchild of a Queen of the same Name, who had detached Given from the Crown of France to unite it to England. That though she was the daughter of Alphonso (surnamed the Noble) King of Castille, yet she was not married to the late King Lewis as Infanta of Spain, but as Princess of the Royal House of England, where the Daughters are called to the Succession of the Crown for want of Issue Male. That this Marriage had been resolved on in a solemn Treaty with the English. That the King of England had endowed her with the Earldom of Eureux, and 30000 Marks of Silver, and therefore had reason to expect from her a Recompense proportionable to the establishment he had settled upon her. That nothing less could be expected but giving back the Provinces conquered from King John Lackland, which would be to the prejudice even of those Children which she had brought into the World.  
That it was the Regent's humour to desire rather to be accounted an ill natured than an ungrateful Person, that this only consideration was sufficient to render her unworthy of the administration of the French Monarchy; but that there was another also no less apparent, nor no less considerable which was this: The late King had formed a design, and put a good beginning to it of uniting Languedock to the Crown, the chief obstruction to which by reason of his Majesty's untimely death, would be the not taking of Tholouse; the Regent, besides, that she was uncapable of such an Enterprise, being too much concerned as a Native of Spain, in opposing by all means possible the growth of the French Monarchy on the Pirenean side, not to put off the Siege to another time, under pretence of the Minority of the King her Son, when ever she should be constrained to undergo the Importunities that must needs be made to her upon this account, that the only Remedy to prevent these two Inconveniences would be to depose the Queen from her Regency, and to put in her stead a Prince who on the one side should have no obligation to the English, and on the other side would be capable of commanding the Army designed for the taking of Tholouse.  
This Harangue which the Earl made use of in the Nature of a Manifesto, laid down nothing which in the main was not exactly true, but withal it was enfeebled by a contradiction too plain to be unperceived. In the beginning of his discourse, he presupposes her English, designing thereby to raise an Odium against her upon the account of the Aversion she must needs have for France, on the contrary, at the latter end, he will have her a Native of Spain on purpose to render her suspected, and uncapable of pursuing the Conquest of Languedock. However, this Oration had almost all the success the Earl could promise himself from it, since thereby he engaged to his Party the two sorts of People which were then of most Credit in France, that is to say, those who had a more than ordinary passion for the Grandeur of that Monarchy, and those who less soaring in Ambition, pleased themselves, with the thought that this would be a great means of rooting out the Heretics, and were carried on with wonderful Application toward the Conquest of Languedock, as imagining it another holy War; Of this number were the Duke of Burgundy, the Earls of March, St. Paul and Bar; whose Association was of great importance to the Earl of Boulogne, and so much the more for that they thought themselves tied to his Interests by the strongest of humane Bonds to wit, Zeal, no matter whether true orfalse.  
Having thus secured those who pretended to serve him out of pure inclination, he made it his next business to gain those who act in all things as humour or interest leads them: of this sort of persons the Earl of Champagne was the first he addressed himself to. This Prince found not that return of Love from the Queen which he thought his Services merited, nor was he very much surprised thereat, whether it were that he imputed the Queen's Insensibility to those impressions which the surviving Love of her deceased Husband had left in her heart, or that he believed the case of her Honour obliged her to keep within the bounds of exact decorum, at a time when she knew the Eyes of the whole world would be upon her: but he was more throughly convinced of the vanity of persisting in his Love, when he saw that the Queen, after she had taken upon her the Regency, treated him no otherwise than common Civility obliged her to, and that she neglect-him so far as not to make him a sharer in the Government by giving him a place in the Council of State: his impatient humour stirred him up to high complaints of her slighting Usage. Whereupon the Earl of Bologne who was neither ignorant of his Amours, nor his ill success therein, concluded the best way to draw him to a Revolt, would be to heighten his jealousy.  
The Pope had sent Legate into France, a Prelate altogether agreeable to that Court: he was called Romanor, being a Native of Rome of the lowest rank of the Populacy; nevertheless, he was endued with such qualities as made him appear a person of real Grandeur in all places wherever he came: he had an excellent shape of body, and for a gallant Mien was not equalled by any; his delicate and quick parts made him pass for a Miracle of wit, and the rather for that it was very rare in that Age. In fine, all Europe could not boast so complete a Courtier: to him France owed the Conquests that had been made in Languedock; for it was he that called the Council at Bourges, wherein the continuation of the war against the Albigenses was decreed; he that had disposed all the Nobility of the Realm to serve in this Expedition at their own Charge; he that had excommunicated anew the Earl of Tholouse; he that took off the Fathers of the Council from showing him any favour, when he came in as a penitent at a time when they least expected it. This induced the Queen to have a particular respect for the Legate, whether moved by the mere consideration of his Merits, or thinking herself obliged to treat with more than ordinary Civilities a Minister of the Court of Rome, and one whose assistance she mainly stood in need of to complete the Conquest of Languedock, and to keep the French in subjection and obedience during so long a Minority; She consulted him in all important affairs, followed his advice above all others, and of those passant Civilities he desired for any of his friends she denied him none; these things added so much to the count of Champaign's jealousy, that the Malcontents could have wished for no better opportunity to bring him over to their Party.  
The Earl of Boulogne represented to him that he ought in reason to disengage his heart from a Spanish woman, who had been so lavish of hers as to part with it to a Priest, and that he could not in honour have any other Sentiments for her, than those of abhorrence and revenge, for the injury she did to the Memory of her deceased Husband. There is nothing a man inclines to. more than to believe things areas he would have them.  
The Earl how ever was at a loss, and knew not what to think of her manner of treating him; he could not imagine that so young and fair as she was, she could confine herself all her life long to a languishing and disconsolate Widowhood, having an overture, which she might be glad to embrace, of enjoying in second Nuptials the Heir presumptive of the Crown of Navarre; ail this while he saw plainly that this Princess had no disposition to make him happy, though to her own advantage; and since he could not dive into the true cause, and was not satisfied with any of those he revolved in his mind; he fixed upon that which had been suggested to him, never examining the probability of it, or considering that it was infinitely more ridiculous than any thing he could imagine beside.  
Thus imputing the Queen's indifference for him, to the love which it was surmised she had for the Legate; upon this sullen supposition he resolved upon the suppressing of a passion, with which he was even ready to burst. Upon this he entered into the Earl of Boulogne's Party, and drew along with him his Brother of Arms, Hugo de Dampmartin, Count of Ponthieu, whose Eldest Brother was Renald, Count of Dampmartin, Auscon, Islebon, and Domfront. He having married the Niece of King Philip the August, took the boldness and Authority upon him, under pretext of this Alliance to besiege, and having taken it, to raze down to the ground a Castle belonging to the Bishop of Beauvais, a Prince of the blood, and Cousin German to the said Philip the August, who, glad of an occasion to bring down this Count of Dampmartin, whom he knew to be the most turbulent and dangerous person of his whole Realm, took speedy course with him, and confiscated all his Estate. The Earl thus reduced from his former height to a dependence upon others for maintenance, was forced at last to beg the King's pardon, but in vain; for all the Answer he could obtain of the King was, that though he had no obligation to give an account of his actions to any one whatsoever, yet nevertheless, he was content to remit the hearing of all matters in Controversy to the Chamber Royal, and the Barons of the Realm.  
But this proposal relished not at all with the Earl, for besides that he expected no other than to be condemned, if they should proceed to the utmost rigour against him; he knew well enough the power and credit his Majesty had in that Court where he was to plead. So that seeing no other remedy, he took part with the English, and had the misfortune to be taken with other Prisoners at the Battle of Bovines, where he had languished out a long Confinement, though in a spacious Prison, of about 22 Years, his Brother the Earl of Ponthieu not being able to procure his Releasement. And indeed the two last Kings, Philip the August, and Lewis the 8th. and after them the Regent, had ever held it as a sure Political Maxim, that it very much imported to keep in durance all his life time, that Vassal of theirs who was most potent and formidable, so long as there was any advantage to he taken without any absolute violation of Justice; so that there was no probability of this Earls deliverance but by force of Arms. The Earl of Boulogne promised Ponthieu to act with all the vigour requisite upon such an occasion for the setting his Brother free; and that if it were not done before the Overtures of a Treaty of peace, the said Treaty should never be concluded but upon Condition he were first released  
The Earl of Boulogne being thus assured of those Feudataries who were nearest about the heart of the French Monarchy, made it his next design to gain those who were more remote, and more especially addressed himself to Jane Countess of Flanders, and Hainault. This Princess was married to Ferdinand Infant of Portugal, and Eldest Son of King Sanchius, who according to the Custom of the Cadets of noble Families, had sought his Fortune in France, and behaved himself like one of those old Knights errand so renowned in Story; and in truth he lighted upon better fortune than ever he could have hoped for. Balduin Emperor of Constantinople dying without Issue Male, had left King Philip the August Tutor to his daughter Princess Jane, with power to marry her to whom he thought fit. The King having a good opinion of Ferdinand's Merit; or, else not willing to bestow her upon a French man, for fear of making him too potent, matched her to this Portuguess, who had not made his pretention to her, but as resolving to stand in Competition with any pretenders whatsoever, though their hopes were built upon never so much better a Foundation. But no sooner was Ferdinand by this Match become Master of two Estates, more considerable at that time than the Crown of Portugal itself, but he stained his Reputation by a most horrible Ingratitude. He suffered himself to be deluded by the same Renald de Dampmartin, whom we have already mentioned, so far as to bear Arms for the English against his Benefactor; for which deservedly he had the same fate, being likewise taken Prisoner at Bovines, after he had received six wounds in the body by the valiant Hugode Marevil, a Gentleman of Xaintogne. However, his being taken Prisoner, troubled him nothing near so much as the course they took with him afterwards; for the King, who knew him to be the proudest Prince of that Age, knew also what would most touch him to the quick, and bring down the pride of his haughty heart; he caused him to be led in Triumph through the Streets of Paris, in which disgraceful march he was saluted with such kind of Language as the Mobile commonly bestow upon persons of his Circumstance. After he had been kept for some time without any other hopes than of perpetual Imprisonment, it was thought fit to give him up a Freeman to the tears and submissions of his Wife, who was come to cast herself at the King's feet, and to let him live in peace, only all the strong places of Flanders and Hainault were to be razed to the ground. Hereupon, he was shortly to have been released upon Geoffry Son of the Earl of Brabant his standing surety for him; but whether it were that Geoffry refused to yield to that clause of the Treaty, or, that the King had taken fresh displeasure from any words Ferdinand had let fall since this Negotiation, he was still kept a Prisoner, and his Wife thus frustrated of her hopes of seeing him again at liberty, yielded to the first invitation made to her of entering into the League; The Earl of Boulogne encouraged by this so speedy and prosperous success, made his next Address to two Brothers Princes of the Blood, viz. Peter Duke of Bretaign, and Robert Earl of Dreux: As for the Duke of Bretaign, he was no less obliged to the Crown of France, than the Earl of Flanders, and his Ingratitude was of no less tendency to the violation of all Right and Justice.  
Now for the better understanding of an Entreague which hath not been sufficiently made known, neither in the History of France, nor of any other Nation, it is to be noted, that Rollando, the first Duke of Normandy, compelled by force of Arms, the first Earl of Bretaign, to do him Homage for his Earldom, in the same manner as the Dukes of Normandy have since done Homage for their Dutchies to the Kings of France, that is to say, Bretaign became an arrier-fief to the Crown of France. In this State it continued till the death of Covan— Earl of Bretaign, who left Issue only one daughter named Constance. This rich Heiress was courted by many, but Henry the second King of England pretended, as Duke of Normandy, the Right of Marriage, and partly, by his Authority, partly, by his Addresses of Courtship, obtained her, and had four Sons by her, Henry, Richard, Geoffry, and John. He designed to leave to Henry the Crown of England, to Richard the Provinces of Normandy, Main, Anjou, and Tourain, which fell to him by Succession from his Father and Mother, and the Provinces of Given, and Poictou, which he had in Marriage by his former Wife Eleanor. Between these two young Princes and the two daughters of the most Christian King Lewis the 7th. there was a solemn Treaty of Marriage, and the King of England had Interest enough to bring both to effect. John his 4th Son was designed for Ecclesiastical Preferment; so that a Match having been proposed between the Heiress of Bretaign, and the house of England, she must now of necessity be married, if to any, to Geoffry King Henry's third Son. In fine, the was married to him upon considerations merely Political, for his person was no way taking with the young Lady; but his death soon delivered her, and left her to a second Marriage more to her content; for she herself then made choice of Guy de Thovars, a Knight, the handsomest and bravest person of his Age, by whom she had but one daughter; her first Husband had left her big with Child of a Son named Arthur, whose death was the more unhappy, for that he was deprived thereby of such an accumulation of Successions; that of England and the French Provinces thereunto appendent, fell to him by the death without Issue of his Fathers two  Brothers; and Bretaign being his at the same time in Right of his Mother, he had doubtless in prospect, had he lived, the vastest Monarchy that had been known since the partage of the Imperial Dominion of Charles the Great; but John surnamed Lackland the only Uncle, who survived, procured his death to get his Estate, and by this means the daughter of Guy de Thovars, became sole Heiress of the Earldom of Bretaign. Philip the August, who taking advantage of the villainy of John Lackland, had reunited the Duchy of Normandy to the Crown of France, pretended that since Henry these con, King of England, had power as being Duke of Normandy, to dispose of the Mother, he both as Duke of Normandy, and King of France together, had so much the better Title to dispose of the daughter. The branch of Dreux was at that time the most proper branch of the Royal Family: his appennage was small, he had neither Office nor Government, his Alliances had not enriched him, and it was to be feared he might lose his Rank for want of Estate; as it happened some time since, to the branch of Cortenai, supposing his publihed Genealogy be altogether exact. This made Philip the August the more willing to give the Heiress of Bretaign to Peter de Dreux, with this Condition, that Bretaign should henceforth be immediately held of the Crown of France, that is to say, that it should no more do homage, to whoever should be Masters of Normandy, in case that Province should ever be again dismembered from the Crown. The Condition was advantageous to both the new married Parties, since their Estates were now no longer held in arrier fiefs; nor would depend for the time to come upon a single Duke of Normandy, but only upon the first of Christian Kings. Nor did any one receive prejudice by it, in regard Normandy was reunited to the Crown. No wonder then if Peter de Dreux and his Wife accepted gladly the Condition, and observed it in all particulars. But that soon befell the new Duke of Bretaign which is but too frequent with men of slender virtue, that is to say, he suffered himself to be drawn away, and transported by this flowing Tide of good fortune. The large Extent of this Country of Bretaign, and its advantageous Situation, gave it a very sufficient Title, and Merit in this Prince's opinion to an absolute and independent Sovereignty; besides, he was pleased to flatter himself with this conceit that his carrying on so high a design, as the shaking of the French yoke, would immortalize his Name to all Posterity: which great undertaking, the better to accomplish, he was really persuaded that his siding with the Earl of Boulogne, and his Party, was as fair an opportunity as he could have wished for, taking it for granted, that if the Earl succeeded, he could do no less than remit his homage of Bretaign in recompense of his declaring for him; In case he did not succeed, the Regent in revenge, that she might oblige those Princes of the blood, who had taken part with him, to desert him, would be glad to condescend to what ever they should demand of her. Thus the Duke of Bretaign turned Rebel upon false surmises, with which he fed his fancy; but the most cross and untoward occurrence in his Revolt, was his drawing in upon a quite contrary principle, his Brother Robert de Dreux.  
This Person had a Soul so sensible of all benefits, and so prone to grateful returns, that he thought he could not better testify the high obligation he had to the Duke of Bretaign, for having left entire to him the Apennage of their branch, than by serving him for, or, against whom soever he desired, except the King. Thus he put himself under the Banner of the Malcontents, by a Motive the most excusable that ever was, if any excuse can be admitted in matters of Treason.  
The last Prince of the blood that the Earl of Boulogne drew in to his Party, was Robert of Courtenay, whom he found the more pliable to his Temptations by discontent, because, the branch of the Dreux had been preferred before his by the Match of Bretaign, and to engage him the more deeply, he had opportunity given him to make himself Master of certain sums of the King's money.  
Raimond the 7th of that Name, Earl of Tholouse, surnamed the young, was before hand with the Malcontents, to whom without staying for any Invitation from them, he went and joined of his own accord, upon the first prospect he had of a civil war. His main inducement to this proceeding, for he had none of those pretences which the rest made use of, was only to save himself by fishing in other men's troubled waters. The Court of Rome, whose Thunders ruined without Exception all those petty Princes upon whom they lighted, was altogether inexorable toward this Prince, and would not quit him of those Ecclesiastical Censures which had been pronounced against him, though the refusal thereof was the greatest obstacle to the recovery of Languedoc, This Interdiction had so powerful an ascendant upon his Subjects minds, that they thought they might be very well excused from acknowledging him their Prince, with whom they were forbidden to have any Communication or Correspondence, insomuch, as all the relief and assistance he could get, was from those infected with the Albigensian Heresy. This sort of people were at that time not so numerous as the Catholics; and should the Regent take Tholouse, the Capital City of that Country, there would be no possibility of the Count's reestablishment. So that by thus engaging himself with the Malcontents, he thought on the one side let the worst come to the worst, he could not be more unfortunate than he was in that wretched Estate to which hehad been reduced; on the other side, the least success should attend his Party would conduce to the recovery of his lost Estate. The Earl of Provence, a Prince equally considerable, and his Cousin of the house of Catalogue, came in last of the French into the Earl of Bolognes' Party, led by Motives which only concerned him at a distance; for he had no reason to complain either of the most Christian Kings in general, or, of the Regent in particular, against whom he could be no otherwise incensed, than by those too deep reflections he made upon what might happen for the future, the French as he thought, bordered too near upon Provence, their Neighbourhood rendered them suspected to him; when the French had a victorious King at the head of them, his fear of being entangled in his Cousin's Ruin kept him back from aiding him against them; but after that this Warlike Prince was taken off by Death, he thought, that though he could not yet with safety pluck off his Vizard quite, and have recourse to open Arms in defence of the Earl of Tholouse, who was yet but half ejected, he might at least securely act underhand, so as to engage them the sooner in a Civil War, which was in a manner already begun, to the end, he might give Advantage to the said Earl to recover Languedoc, without being Obliged to any one but himself.  
The greatest part of the Princes and Nobility of France being thus corrupted by the Artifices , the Earl of Boulogne's Faction was in all appearance strong enough not to stand in need of the help of strangers, yet nevertheless it was resolved no Aids should be refused, of how little necessity soever; as if it were not enough for France to be torn in pieces by its own Hands, but it must also borrow those of the most Ancient and Formidable Enemy.  
King Henry the Third of England was a great Masterpiece of Fortune, that is to say, he was equally an Object of her favourS and her frowns; he had for his Father a Homicide, an Atheist, a Person dethroned, and under all Ecclesiastical Censures, which followed him so close he could neither get Food nor Harbour but in places and among People where he was not known: The Son had his share in all these Calamities, but they attended him no longer than during the Life of him who had drawn them upon his own Head. God, who, when he goes about to punish Crimes, hath an Eye upon the principal Actors, took pity on the House of England. As soon as this Monster which it brought forth was cut off, Providence was particularly concerned for Henry the Third, the Innocent Son of this so Criminal Father, and settled him in the Throne of England, when there was not the least likelihood he should ever ascend it; and this Affair, which seemed altogether impossible by all the Intrigues of Policy, was brought to pass almost in a moment, and that without either Trouble or Molestation, or Expense or Blood.  
There remained nothing now but to recover those Provinces of France which had been won from England by Philip the August: And Henry thought now to compass that, without striking a stroke, which he in vain attempted by force of Arms in the Reign of King Lewis the 8th. viz. the reuniting those Provinces to the Crown of England, and that by pretending to take part with the Seditious French, supposing the Regent finding it impossible to oppose him, and at the same time to defend herself from those that went about to degrade her, would immediately upon notice of his Landing in France with a puissant Army, seek for an Accommodation, and offer him all that had been taken from the English, on Condition he would turn those Arms against the Rebels which he had designed for their assistance. So that he had no sooner received the Earl of Boulogne's Message, which was merely to sift out of him, whether or no he inclined to concern himself in the bicker which were beginning in France, but he raised a far more puissant Army than any of his Predecessors had ever led against any of the most Christian Kings; moreover, under pretence of Obliging the Malcontents the more, he undertook to Command the Army in Person, and to be at all the Charges of Levying and Transporting sporting it; but the real truth is, his going in Person was rather to hinder them from Treating with him by Writing, choosing rather by his Personal presence to have an Ear open to such Propositions as he presumed the Regent would soon make to him. Behold here the whole Foundation of the League concerted under the Minority of St. Lewis, never was there any one so Potent, or so cunningly driven on since the establishment of the French Monarchy; nor can the Abilities of Queen Blanch be any way better understood or expressed, than by the recounting of those Intrigues by which she wound herself out of the most troublesome Exigences that ever Heroic Virtue was reduced to, and made a shift to preserve the Crown in all its lustre for the King her Son.  
The Malcontents had carried their Affairs with so much precaution and Secrecy, that the Court had not the least Intelligence of them, and all the suspicion the Regent had, was only grounded upon two actions, subject enough to a dubious construction; the one was the great care which the Earl of Bologne took to Fortify Calais, the Town of his Apennage, and the usual place of Landing for the English; The other was the re-inforcement of the Garrisons which the Duke of Bretaign had put, at the request of the late King, into the Castles of St. James, Beuron, and Belesm. As there was just reason to apprehend that these two Innovations happened not but upon some Mysterious account, the Regent took an occasion hereupon immediately to bethink herself of her own safety; and not knowing as yet either the number or the quality of those that had combined for her Destruction, all that her Prudence could suggest to her, was to give Order to those Military Officers who had most eminently testified their Fidelity to her Husband, to raise what possible Force they could. 'Tis hard to resolve, whether it were by Choice or good hap, that matters succeeded according to her wish, but this is certain, that they acquitted themselves like Men of Honour in the Commissions she gave them, and brought their Troops timely enough into the Field to save the State, by preventing the Earl of Bologne from seizing upon his Nephew the Young King, and by an Action so seasonable, even to finish the War as soon as it was begun.  
The Earl thus frustrated of his first Design, foresaw that it would not be so easy a matter as he first fancied to himself to Degrade his Sister-in-Law, wherefore the better to make sure of his Accomplices, he endeavoured by all means possible to make them irreconcilable with the Regent. He knew where the greatest part of the King's Treasure was kept, and there it was that he made his second Effort, accordingly he seized on it, and distributed it to those of his Party, with this Condition, that those who were nearest to him should have the greatest share. This done, he led them towards Calais, there to join the King of England, who following the measures he had taken from the Malcontents, was to make his Descent at that very time. But there is nothing so uncertain as the managing of great Erterprises, by reason of that general concourse of different Causes whereupon they depend for success.  
The Regent lost neither her Courage nor her Judgement at a conjuncture when on the one side she had little or nothing to hope for; and on the other, very much to fear. Never was there known to come out of her Mouth either Complaint or Reproach. She knew exactly the bad condition of her Affairs, and used all the Art of Dissimulation she was capable of to conceal what she thought, for fear of discouraging those faithful Persons she had remaining about her. She guessed at the Earl of Bologne's Design from the very moment he took his March, and wisely gained her Advantage by the needless stop he made in Eureux, for the hindering of his passage. Moreover, as she concluded that France was in all likelihood inevitably lost if the Malcontents should join the English, she had recourse to an Artifice which I cannot but stand astonished that no Historians ever yet made mention of. There was in England a Person named Hubert de Bourg, so considerable in all respects, that he was equalled by no Man, either in Favour or Merit; he had a Wit beyond the Common rate, and his shape was such as what Poets use to attribute to Heroes. He was at once both the most accomplished Cavalier and the most expert Captain of his Nation; and never was there Englishman a truer Lover, and more Zealous Patriot of his Country: He served both King and Kingdom to that degree, that both had an equal share of Obligation to him. It was by him that the Crown had been preserved in the Family of the Plantagenets, and that England had not been made a Province to the Crown of France. He defended to the utmost Normandy and Given against Philip the August, and had successively in the chief places of both these Provinces held out long Sieges, and by his obstinate Resistance ruined whole Armies, never yielding to come to Capitulation till such time as the very Horses were all eaten up. Even the French his Enemies both admiring and honouring him for his Valour, thought they could never enough commend him when they saw him here in England; and how just their Commendations were, he ceased not afterwards to give them fresh demonstrations, since he alone it was who snatched out of Prince Lewis his hands the Conquest of this Island. He it was who by his Gallantry recovered the Town of Dover, and Defended it with that perseverance, that all the French Forces sent against it, were not able to re-take it. He afterwards beat them twice, once at Lincoln, another time before Bedford. In fine, he it was, who having disposed the English to acknowledge him, set King Henry upon his Throne.  
And as the Obligation of this King Henry was very great, so His Majesty's care and study to recompense him was no less; he conferred upon him all the Principal Offices in the State, except that of High Admiral, for he was Grand Marshal, Lord High Treasurer, and Chief Justiciary all at one time. He bade the Charge of the Transportation of those Troops which were designed for France, which Trust while he was discharging with his ordinary care and vigilance, he received at that very juncture a Present of 5000 Marks of Silver with a Letter which neatly and wittily rallied upon his Vanity, by insinuating to him, that to make himself the most Illustrious Person that ever England bore, he who had lately settled the Crown of England upon the Head of Young King Henry his Master, maugre all the Force of France, ought now to make it his next business to set the Crown also upon the Head of the Young King of France, against all the united Forces both of his own Subjects, and of England.  
The weakness of Humane Nature never discovers itself more plainly than when in a moment it yields to lesser Temptations, when at other times it hath for a long while withstood greater. This was the Case of Du Bourg, who after he had been inflexible to the vast Offers of Philip the August and Lewis the 8th. suffered himself at last to be overcome with a petty Present and a poor frivolous bait of Vain glory offered him by a Foreign Princess. He Equipped forth but half the number of Ships necessary for the Transportation of the English Army; and when the Noblemen, who had almost all in general provided to attend the King personally in this Expedition, came to Dover to see their Goods disposed of on board the Ships, there was not room nor Convenience found for them; nor could it be doubted but that either the Knavery or Negligence of Du Bourg was the cause, whereupon immediately Complaint was carried to the King.  
Du Bourg was sent for to give an account to His Majesty, but when he came, he made so lame a Defence for himself, that the King incensed against him, called him Old Traitor, and drawing his Sword, had certainly run him through the Body, had not the Earl of Chester, an intimate Friend of Du Bourg, put by the thrust, and given Opportunity to other Persons interested in the Fortune of this Favourite, to interpose in his behalf, and to avert His Majesty's displeasure for the present. In the next place, they made him keep out of the way, till such time as they had made his Peace, which was not long; for the King, however touched in the most sensible and incurable part, namely, that of Ambition, yet in the end suffered himself to be convinced that the old Obligations he had to this his Favourite ought to weigh with him more than the injury lately committed. He gave him his Pardon freely, and in some time received him into his wont Grace and Faour.  
The Regent encouraged with the success of her first Project, namely, her obstructing with so much ease the passage of the English Army over into France, put in execution a second Design, as no less bold and difficult in appearance, so also no less advantageous in case it succeeded: She was not ignorant how strong and fervent a Passion she had raised in the Heart of the Earl of Champaign, and had a shrewd conjecture that the despite of seeing himself treated with so much indifference was the only cause which induced him to engage with the Malcontents, and accept of the Supreme Command of their Army. She had moreover too good an Opinion of her Charms, not to believe she could at any time when she pleased re-excite the Earls Love, and by never so small an expression of her Favour, call him back to his Devoir. It was now a fit time to make proof hereof, and the Regent resolved to put it in agitation her own way, that is to say, with an Air wherein to appear Obliging, she would nevertheless remit nothing of her wont reservedness.  
The Message she sent to this doubly Revolted Lover was only this in short, viz. That she should not be sorry to see him. And this Compliment, though the shortest and slenderest certainly that ever was in this kind, produced an effect the strangest that ever was heard of in the French History in matter of Love. It sufficed to tie the Earl more strongly than ever, to the Chains of his Passion and her Interests, and to make him forget in an instant all the Coldness she had ever showed toward him; he lost that acuteness of Wit which was so Natural to him, and conspired with the Regent to deceive himself. He fancied that all of a sudden she began to have a tenderness, though there were all appearances imaginable to the contrary; and this fancy of his was so strongly rooted, that he detached his Troops from the Rendezvous of those of the League, under pretence of going to beat up one of the Quarters of the King's Forces, and carried them to join the Army which he feigned he was going to set upon.  
His Desertion put the whole party of the Rebels into such a disturbance and confusion, that all the Princes and Grandees thereof were not able to compose it. The most expedient way by which they thought to Remedy it, was immediately to make choice of another General, and they had the good hap to agree unanimously upon a Person whom they judged worthy to take upon him so important a place; such an ascendent hath extraordinary Merit even upon the most Criminal minds. They all fixed their Eyes upon Enguerrand, the second of that Name, Lord of Couci, a Gentleman of Piccardy, of a Reputation too well received for any one not to submit to receive Orders from him. His Valour surmounted the common rate of Humane Actions, and the proofs he gave of it in the Wars of the Holy Land carried a greater semblance of Fable than of Truth, and might, though true, have better passed for Romance than what we read in the most Romantic stories. He had both Conduct and Honesty; and doubtless he had preserved the Empire of Constantinople in the French Line, had they promoted his Marriage with that Heiress, instead of Matching her imprudently, as they did, to Peter of Auxerre.  
For what reason he entered into the League against the Regent is not known, but certain it is he refused the Command of their Army, and that not either for want of Courage, or despairing of Success. All Men are not easily carried away to all sorts of Crimes; and Heroic Virtue may, like the Sun, be capable of some spots that may obscure it, but never be totally darkened, no more than this King of Stars can wholly lose its Light. Couci moreover knew the vast difference between barely being of a Party in a Revolt, and being the Head or Chief of the said Party; and his Honesty became awake, if I may so say, when it saw itself exposed to the most dangerous of Civil Temptations. He never throughly foresaw the Consequences of his Engagement till he was just upon the Precipice; that is to say, till he found that the Charge which the Confederates would have conferred upon him was designed to spur on his Ambition, by lifting him up to a higher pitch than ever he aspired to. Besides, he comprehended the sense of those Mysterious words, and the quality of Parricide which lay lurking underneath, startled him; he was afraid of losing, in his advanced Age, that Glory which he had acquired in his Youth; and was unwilling to survive himself, by suffering those Laurels to fade in France which he had gained in Palestine. He testified so great an aversion for the Generalship, that they durst not mention it to him a second time: And since the Memoirs which are extant of this great Personage make no further mention of him, it is to be supposed he quitted the League, and immediately retired to his Castle of Couci, there to spend the remnant of his days in a more innocent and quiet course of Life.  
His refusal augmented among the Rebels that Disorder which his acceptance would have composed, and in fine, shattered them all to pieces. The Earl of Tholouse, who had promised to take the Field, kept his Forces in their Quarters in the Town which bears that name, and the Earl of Provence forbore to declare himself till such time as he saw what Remedy could be applied to the making up of these Breaches. His keeping off was no less happy than prudent; for as much as the Earl of Bologne being now convinced that these Designs form against his Sovereign, could never succeed in the end, having so untoward a beginning, was the first who quitted that Work whereof he himself had laid the Foundation, and made an Accommodation apart with the Regent: What the Conditions were, is not known, but sure enough they were not very Advantageous, since on the one side his Apennage was not at all augmented, and on the other side, the Regent had no Money to give him. A little after, the Earl of Dreux returned to his Duty, obtaining only the confirmation of the partage made with his Brother the Duke of Bretaign.  
The falling off of so many Persons of the first Rank, one would think, had been enough to have broken the League, nevertheless there were Princes and Gentlemen enough still left to continue it, and the Regent knew well enough that there would be a Party of the Rebels still on foot, so long as there might with ease be sound a way to remove all pretext which should hinder them of a Retreat in Bretaign and the Low Countries, in case they should chance to be beaten in a Battle. It was a difficult matcer to remove all at once two such grand Refuges; and the Regent, after she had along time exercised the utmost of her Wit and Cunning, effected as yet but half of what she pretended to. The Duke of Bretaign remained still inflexible, and Threats wrought now no more upon him than Promises had done before, so that the Regent as much exasperated as wearied out with the Obstinacy of this Prince, turned more efficaciously her Policy another way.  
It was now about a dozen Years, that the Earls of Flanders and Dampmartin had lain languishing in Prison; and as these two Persons were very near both Criminal alike, it seemed but just that there should be as little difference put in the Favour which was to be shown them as there had been in their Gild, and was in their Punishment. But their Tempers were not equal; the Earl of Dampmartin was of a Humour so ill contrived, that it was not possible to have any kind of Indulgence for him which he would not be apt to abuse. The League wanted a Head, and that very thing was sufficient to obstruct his Deliverance; for had he been let out, he had certainly gone immediately and joined the Rebels. The Earl of Flanders had more of Honour in him, and was not irregular in matters of Generosity, except in such Rencounters where he distinguished it not sufficiently from those Vices which are designed to pass for it; he had in his Soul a fund of goodness, which facilitated his return to his Allegiance, however he had been carried away by Passion or Weakness. The Regent being informed of the strong part and the weak of this Portuguez Prince, resolved to give him that Liberty which she denied the Earl of Dampmartin; and as she never attracted so much Admiration as in matters of loud importance, so she particularly accompanied this with so many Obliging Circumstances for the Earl of Flanders, that he not only remained firm himself to the Interests of his Benefactress, but also accepted of the Leave given him to return to his Wife, merely upon this very account, that he might take her wholly off, as he did, from the League, and oblige her to call home those Troops which she had sent into the Rebels Camp.  
The Entreagues of Court were succeeded by the formalities of Justice; the Regent after she had disjointed the League, summoned the principal members to meet in Parliament at Chinon, and afterwards at Tours. The Members summoned appeared neither at the first, nor second Citation, but when they were commanded to appear the third time at Vendome, and had but twenty days time allowed them for their appearance; they consulted among themselves what they had best to do: The most furious of them were of opinion, that they might leave the matter to be judged by Foreclusion, and only bring it to a review when the war should be ended; but the wiser sort were of a contrary judgement, alleging that it was always a troublesome thing to be cast in Causes of what nature soever, and that an Arrest could not possibly come out against them without leaving a blot upon their memory; Hereupon they concluded, that it would be necessary to appear by Proxy, and if the Reasons they brought for the defence of their Cause, were not sufficient to satisfy her, they would at least serve to convince the People, that they were not so culpable as the Regent gave out; but neither the one, nor the other of these Councils were followed, and the resolution they took was like the way of all seditious Assemblies in this, that they chose the very worst of all Expedients proposed. It was carried by the plurality of voices, that the Princes and most eminent Lords of the League, should repair to Vendome, with a very small Train, to persuade the Regent that they had a sincere desire of a reconciliation with her, presuming, that the Regent deluded by this fair pretence, would not fail to bring along with her, or at least send, the King her Son, to Vendome, with a small guard, by reason that on the one side, the presence of this young Monarch would be absolutely necessary, on the other side, she would be cautious of giving the occasion of suspicion to a People, who testified with so much frankness their readiness to submit to their Sovereign, which would be obvious, in case they should see him attended with a greater number than was usual upon such like Ceremonies; that the Confederates who were Masters of Estampes and Corbeil, might without being perceied draw out of those two places, as many Forces as would be sufficient to carry off the King; and that the Regent having lost him, by whom she held her Authority, would be constrained to seek for an agreement with those whom she seemed before so much to slight.  
Who the Author was, of this pernicious Council, is not certainly known; some Historians say it was the Duke of Bretaign, others, the Earl of March; but from whose brain soever it proceeded, it was so exactly adjusted to the Conjuncture of Affairs at that time, that nothing but Divine Providence which took particular care of the preservation of St. Lewis, could have frustrated the design. The most sagacious wisdom of this world hath its Intervals, and sometimes commits such failings as folly itself could not be guilty of greater. Seldom are long administrations without some error, as if the government of States were a kind of Sea, where at one time or other there must needs be Shipwreck. The Regent had hitherto followed the Maxims of most exquisite prudence, and her Enemies, who felt the sharp Effects thereof, admired her no less than her friends, who had the advantage of it, but all was spoiled at one dash; For whether it were that she hoped suddenly to conclude a Peace, or, that she relied too much upon the judgements of her blind Counsellors; she sent the King her Son to Vendome with a very weak guard.  
Never were there civil wars in France, but had this inconvenience attending, namely, that the designs of one party, though never so secretly carried, were in a moment known to the other; The Earl of Champaign had excellent Spies in the Army of the League, and never failed of being informed from time to time of whatever designs were formed among them, in regard the chief of those who were most privy thereunto, held correspondence with him, consequently, he had immediately notice of all the particularities of the design laid for seizing the sacred person of the King. He advertised hereof the Regent who was then at Paris; for there the Council of State detained her, as supposing the presence of this Princess would discover the correspondences of the Rebels in that great Town.  
The Regent was not so much troubled, though hearty angry at herself, for her indiscretion, at the error she had committed, as in pain, till she had found out a way to remedy it, nor was it long  her admirable inventive wit prompted her to a way which answered her desires. She wrote to the King, who was in the Bourg de Chastres, to secure himself in the Castle of Montleher, till such time as she could send Forces sufficient to deliver him, and in regard the Army Royal was at too great a distance, she had recourse to the Citizens of Paris.  
The Queen assembled all the Colonels, and other Officers from their respective Quarters, and in a most pathetic thetick Speech represented to them the greatness of the danger the King was in, and the more effectually to move her audience, she gave frequent interruptions to her Speech with tears and sobs: and after she had thus mollified their hearts, she pricked them on with the thoughts of what immortal glory would attend them in being the Instruments of their Monarch's Preservation: Moreover, she gave them to understand how little hazard they would run, provided they made haste, since the Rebels who designed to seize upon the King, at the passage of Estampes, would fall into their mouths without going farther, the Colonels then having assured her that they would presently go, and get their Companies together, and hasten their March, she provided experienced under-Officers, to order and conduct them. The Parisians arrived at Montleher sooner, and with greater force than could have been imagined; and having drawn up in a large Battalion, they set the King in the midst of them, and brought him back along with them to their Town, before the Rebels had determined what measures were to be taken to oppose them: But by the same way that the Earl of Champaign came to know their design, they came to know that it was he who discovered it to the Regent. However, the extraordinary desire which they had to be revenged of him, did not yet so far blind them, but that they foresaw it would be incomparably more advantageous for them to make use of the natural inconstancy of this Prince, and to draw him once more over to their Party, than unseasonably to endeavour his present mischief. The Duke of Bretaign, who had no Children but one Daughter, whose beauty was charming enough to raise the drooping Spirits of an ill treated Lover, had she not been endowed besides with a Province of large Extent, offered the Earl of Champaign, provided he would take part with the League, to put into his possession the Princess of Bretaign, and to permit him either to espouse her himself, or to bequeath her to some other Prince of his house. This offer as advantageous as it was, the Earl refused, whether it were that he was not yet persuaded, that the Regent considered him no otherwise then as a property to be made use of, or, as hoping the two last Services he had rendered her, would produce at length the Effect which he had in vain expected, by all his former assiduities once more; he made his Love triumph over his Ambition, and all the fruit he drew from these Temptations, was to advertise the Regent thereof, to the end she should be sensible, that if he yielded not, she was the sole cause The Rebels more offended at his refusal, than they had been at his deertion, conceived so implacable a malice against him, that they left the Regent to her quiet and repose, and resolved to turn their Arms against Champaign; they conspire his ruin by a particular Treaty, and as they foresaw that the Regent was too much obliged to abandon him to people whom he had not quitted but for her; they found a pretext so plausible, that she durst not apparently assist him, without committing a notorious piece of Injustice.  
Divine Providence had not utterly abandoned the two Nieces of the Earl of Champaign, though defrauded of their Right, by their Uncle. The Eldest named Alice, had the fortune to be married to Hugo de Lusignan, the first of that Name, King of Cyprus; The goodness of Henry Father of this Princess, doubtless procured her this Match, and the Lord of Joinvile, the most credible of all the Historians that writ of St. Lewis, hath a passage concerning this matter, which it will not be from the purpose here to abbreviate: Henry Earl of Champaign, the Eldest Brother, and Predecessor of Thibault, was of so free and liberal a disposition, to give to all sorts of People, especially the poor, that he was thence surnamed the Large, that is to say, large hearted, or bountiful. He had no particular Favourite, only there was one Artaud a Citizen of Troy's, who had insinuated into his familiarity, whether it were, that there was some conformity in their humours, or, that the Earl had the more consideration, for Artaud, in regard he was the richest of his Subjects. One day when they were together at Church, a poor Gentleman presented his two daughters to the Earl, and besought him to bestow something upon them to marry them off. They were handsome, and of an Age so fully ripe for Marriage, that in case they stayed much longer unprovided for, it was to be feared their virtue might be in danger. Artaud knew well enough that the Prince his Exchequer was much exhausted, and brought low; and as he had many times taken upon him to answer for the said Earl, without being thought ill of for his pains, so upon this occasion he smartly told the Gentleman, that the Earls Liberality had already brought him so low, that he had hardly any thing left to give.  
There is nothing so ungrateful to the quality of a Prince as Poverty, and therefore nothing so ill to be brooked by them as the reproach thereof; The Earl now incensed at the too much liberty, or, to say better, sauciness of Artaud, told him he lied, and that he had yet enough to give, if it were but an Artaud; and at the instant of his pronouncing the word Artaud, he made signs to the Gentleman to seize upon the Citizen, and to demand what Ransom for him he pleased. The Gentleman accordingly took hold of him, carried him away to Prison, and there detained him till he had paid 500 Livres, which served for Portions for the two Damsels.  
The Rebels took hold of Count Henry's Liberality, to concern themselves in his behalf to their own advantage, maintaining, that it was a thing not to be endured, to see the Eldest Daughter of him who had relieved so many poor People kept out from her hereditary Estate; and accordingly offered their assistance toward her reestablishment. The Queen of Cyprus took them at their word, and the Champaigneses seeing them enter their Country with two Armies, one commanded by the Duke of Bourgogne, the other by Hugo de Lusignan, Earl of March, let open the gates of all their Towns, before Earl Thibault could bring up the Army Royal to their succour. The Rebel's success gave them opportunity to take new measures, they abandoned all the pretence they had formerly made use of against the Regent, and declared themselves her Majesty's most humble Servants, they protested they had taken Arms only to restore the Queen of Cyprus to that Estate she laid claim to, they offered to lay down their Arms, as soon as their most Christian Majesties should have beheld with satisfaction and approbation the reestablishment of this Princess, and to decide the difference between her and her Uncle, by a fair combat, presuming, there were no less than 300 Knights, as well on the one side, as the other. Their Majesties accepted the submission of the Rebels with this reserve, that they were to have the Sovereign decision of the affair in hand, after they had tried all ways which their prudence should suggest to them, to bring the Parties to agreement, but that above all things it was expected his most Christian Majesty should be invested with the Right of Sequestration, that is, should have the Title of all the Estates in Controversy deposited in his Royal hands.  
The Rebels who found that this Expedient would not turn to any account to them, rejected it, and the Regent sent Forces enough into Champaign, to dislodge the Earls Enemies. She foresaw in the end, that in pronouncing a definitive Sentence upon so nice a Process, her Authority and Reputation would be much exposed and brought into danger; for that if her Sentence were favourable to the Earl of Champaign, all the French would be ready to tax he of notorious Injustice, especially if she should make it her business in this affair, to serve her pretended Lover, all the Satirical wits would begin to let fly at her, with more fury than before: on the other side, if she should decree the Queen's reestablishment in her Estate, of the house of Champaign, she would be liable to be censured of Ingratitude toward Count Thibault, to whom she owed her Regency at least, if not her Life. In short, which way soever she gave her Sentence, all outward appearances conduce to this persuasion, that the Arrest would be subject to a review, because otherwise the Duke of Bretaign, and the rest of the revolted Peers, would not have been assistant in it; so that the business could not but go well on the fair one's side: and this the Regent brought the better about by a trick, which in brief was as followeth. She represented to the Queen of Cyprus, that the Rebels sending for her, was but to make her endure a long continuance of affliction, after a short flash of joy, for that no sooner should she be put into the possession of her Father's Estate by their means, but she would be driven out again, and that she plainly foresaw the Rebels would not be in a capacity of restoring her the second time; wherefore since her engaging with them would signify so little to her, there remained but one Expedient by which if she would take her advice, she might come off with honour. That she had but one Son, who in regard he was obliged to reside in Cyprus, would not be able to preserve the Inheritance of Champaign any long time, though she herself should leave the peaceable possession of it to him: that her daughters would never find Matches in Cyprus answerable to their quality, that therefore it would be much better for her by yielding to an accommodation with Count Thibault, to receive a present sum of money, and such a portion of Land in France, as would put her into a capacity of matching her daughters into Sovereign houses, than by standing out to be reduced to a Condition of having nothing to give them.  
The Queen of Cyprus was not without those failings which are usual with persons of little or no experience in the World; she despaired of ever bringing to pass those affairs, in which she was balked at first, and had too much impatience in the midst of ill fortune, to wait the turning of the Tide. She had entertained a belief that it was not the will of God she should ever be Countess of Champaign, because she had twice in vain made her pretensions to it, and in the heat of this persuasion, she consented to a Treaty, without communicating the affair to any of those that had been the occasion of sending for her over into France: She was contented to accept of 40000 Livres of ready money, and the Counties of Brienne and Joigni's, for all she pretended to of her Fathers and Mother's Estates.  
Earl Thibault was not so indiscreet to refuse an agreement which was of such advantage to him, but he wanted money, and the sum he was to raise was so considerable, that his Subjects harassed by the quartering of so great Forces as had lately been among them, were not able to furnish him, and no less unable to assist him, were the rest of the Feudataries his friends; so that if it were any where to be had, it must be had out of the King's Exchequer; but the Regent was too prudent to take any thing out from thence, but upon very good Terms, and what ever obligations she and the King, her Son, had to the Earl, when all things came to be weighed in the balance of Truth, it would easily appear that he had done them as much harm as good, having poisoned the Father of the one, and the Husband of the other. His power too great for any Vassal, gave him the boldness to commit this crime, and the only way to be revenged on him for it, was to reduce him to such a Condition, that his Successors should never dare to have any thoughts of the like attempts, as not being able to execute them with Impunity. In short, the design in hand was to weaken the house of Champaign, and this present occasion was too favourable to be neglected. The Regent waited the time when this Sum should be desired of her, and when the business was moved, she made answer she was ready to lend, provided such Security were given for the repayment thereof, as was fit to be accepted by a King's Mother, and Governess. The Earl offered her Majesty to engage those Counties he possessed in the heart of the Kingdom; but it was answered him, that this kind of Engagement would be subject to grand Inconveniences and hazards, both as to the repayment of Principal and Interest; and the care which was to be had to repair wastes, and make Improvements; that it became a Governess to avoid as much as possibly she could, all kind of Embarasments in the affairs of her Pupil: In fine, if the Earl had a mind to sell, she was willing rather to purchase than to lend money. The Earl saw well enough that they went about to ruin him, in so subtle a manner, as that he should have no certain foundation or pretence of complaint; he was a man of too much sense and spirit, not to be troubled to see himself thus dealt with, and to find by these proceed, that the Regent was far from ever having any inclination for him: but it was no time now to declare his resentment, and he foresaw that in case he refused to relinquish a part of his Inheritance, he should be sure to lose all; Upon which he consented to sell the King, his Earldoms of Charters, Blois, and Sancerre, and the Viscountship of Chateaudun; and out of the money of this sale, Her Majesty deducted 40000 Livres which she paid immediately to the Queen of Cyprus,  
The Rebels by this Transaction being frustrated of the pretence, they had of treating the Earl as an Enemy, and on the other side, not being able easily to resolve upon forgiving him, found out another Expedient, which was no less advantageous to their Party. They laid Treason to his Charge, impeaching him of the untimely death of his late Sovereign Lord King Lewis the 8th. by poison given him, and offered to undergo the severest penalties that could be inflicted upon false accusers, if they did not plainly prove him guilty of two Crimes, which rendered him unfit for humane Society, that is to say, of high Treason against his Sovereign Lord, and of being a Traitor against his Country. This they urged with Arms in their hands, and the danger which threatened the Crown, from their impetuous heat, was thought so considerable, that all the grand Ministers of the King's Council were of Opinion, that the best way would be to give, them some satisfaction. The Count himself was of the same Sentiment for quietness sake, and it was with his own consent, that the Queen upon Treaty with them, made the chief Condition of their laying down their Arms, to be the Earl of Champaign's taking upon him the Croisada, and setting out immediately for the holy Land, attended with a hundred Knights at least, to be maintained at his own Charge.  
This was a very notable Expedient, in regard it equally pleased both Parties; For on the one side, the Earl found it very advantageous to him, in regard, both his Crime met with a far gentler punishment than it really deserved, or he could have hoped for, had he been brought to Trial; and his Reputation was in a manner salved, by going in a crowd of so many innocent persons, as daily went upon this Expedition, upon no other motive than their most ardent zeal. On the other side, the Rebels also obtained what they desired; for, besides that they had a long time of deliverance from their Enemy, and the satisfaction of having put him upon an Expedition, from whence few valiant men live to return; If the accusation wherewith they branded him were not made out in full, it was at least in part, for admitting, there were among the Croisadoed Champions many innocent persons, there were also many culpable; and as divers Princes and Great men led Armies over into Palestine, merely for the accomplishing of those religious vows they had made for the recovery of the holy places, where Jesus Christ had been conversant, and died for the Salvation of mankind; So there were others, of no less grandeur, who undertook this Voyage, or rather Pilgrimage, as a penance enjoined, and to obtain absolution of those Ecclesiastical Censures, which they lay under. And this was the case of Henry the second, King of England, who, for his Assassination of St. Thomas of Canterbury, had this penitential Voyage enjoined him by Pope Alexander the third, which our Earl of Champaign so willingly accepts.  
Civil wars and the Defluctions of the body end much after the same manner, that is to say, by discharging themselves all at once upon the weakest part, and throwing on it a greater weight than it is able to bear. The French were almost brought to a right understanding, yet nevertheless would not easily consent to lay down their Arms; they earnestly pressed to be employed in prosecuting the design of Lewis the 8th. and there was reason to fear, lest the refusal of their demand might occasion new troubles. Never was there a fairer prospect of the Conquest of Languedoc; the longer the delay, the greater would be the difficulty, and the Interests of State were not to be neglected, so long as they were seconded by those of Religion. In order hereunto, the Regent resolved to drive the Earl of Tholouse to the utmost extremity; and the better to assure herself of the greatest advantage possible in all humane appearance, she made it her first business to deprive this Prince, whose ruin she designed, of the surest refuge he had to trust to.  
It hath been already observed that the Earl of Provence was his Cousin, and a Prince in like manner as himself, of the house of Catalogue. Languedoc had expectation of assistance more ways than one. Those of Provence were in a Condition to aid them, if not directly, yet at least indirectly, being at that time the most free from war of any people in France, and their Prince the most moneyed man of any Prince in Europe. Money was the main thing the Earl of Tholouse wanted, and but for the want of which he could not have wanted Soldiers, notwithstanding all the Excommunications thundered against him from the Court of Rome. Above all things therefore the Earl of Provence must of necessity be taken off; him the Regent knew to be a sincere man and a most punctual observer of his word; wherefore she represented to him, by secret Messengers, that he was now grown old, and could not, if he regarded his health, and considered his true Interest, engage himself in the Earl of Tholouse his quarrel, without drawing an inevitable war upon Provence, let him use all the faution he could. That he had only our daughters, and the Earl of Tholouse but one, so that since the house of Catalonia was drawing toward a period, he could not better consult for the honour and advantage of his Family, than by making an Alliance with that of France, which beyond all dispute, was the noblest in the world. That the Eldest of the Provencian Princesses could not be more happily matched than with the young King of France; that this proposal was not so much upon the account of her Estate, as of her matchless beauty, and the charming sweetness of her Nature; and to evince to the Earl that this Alliance was not in the least promoted, in reference to the uniting of his Estate to the Crown of France, there should be a renunciation made to any such pretention upon the contract of Marriage of the King, with his Eldest daughter, and free leave given him to divide all he had among his three younger daughters, or to give it to her of the three, whom he preferred before the rest. The Earl of Provence could never have been more easily tempted than by two such soft and obliging Proportions, as the concluding his Life in Tranquillity, and repose, and the liberty to dispose his Estate as he pleased; For besides that, he was much of the temper of those effeminate Princes, who hate nothing more than business: he was overtaken with the vice of those who happen to have Children in their old Age, that is to say, he loved the Princess Beatrice his youngest daughter better than any of the other three, to her he designed to leave Provence, and as a man is apt for the most part to give way to the belief of what he earnestly and constantly desires, he persuaded himself that in preferring the youngest, he should do no wrong to the three Elder daughters, since it was his intention to leave them his Treasures which he looked upon as triple the value of his Sovereignty.  
He fancied, if the King of France by marrying of his Eldest daughter, showed himself an approver of what he had determined, who ever should have the two next in Marriage, would not dare to gainsay it; and he had so great confidence in the Regent's word, that he doubted not in the least of her promise, however, she deferred the Nuptials for some years by reason of the minority of the young Couple. All these Considerations disposed him so perfectly to a Compliance, that he beheld the ruin of the Count of Tholouse with as much insensibility, as if he had been neither his Relation, nor his Neighbour. In fine, the Regent being well assured that the Albigenses could not receive any succours from Provence, and out of fear of any supply to come to them from Spain, in regard the Arragonians and Castilians were at wars together, sent the French Army into Languedoc under the Command of Imbert de Beaujeu, Constable of France, a Captain, whom Simon of Montfort first advanced in the war.  
The Earl of Tholouse did not all this while lie still; but whether it were that he perceived the League would not last long, or, whether he grew sensible of the error he had committed in not taking advantage of the perplexity the Regent had been involved in, to recover entirely what he had lost, he made haste to take the Field, and laid Siege to the Town of castle Saracen, the strongest next Avignon, of all that the French held in Languedoc; he found it well Garrisoned, and a place of too great strength, what ever he had fancied, for him easily to take, which was the principal cause of his utter ruin, since the unprofitable attempts he made to take it by Force cost him all his best Soldiers: and thinking it derogatory to his honour not to take it by Storm, he lost so much time in making his approaches and Batteries, that when at last he was driven to accept of it by Surrender, the besieged were scarce got out before the French Army returned into Languedoc.  
It was no less powerful than that which had been there before, under the Command of King Lewis the 8th; for besides that, scarce any one of the Feudataries was wanting, the Clergy resolving to pluck up Root and Branch, all that was remaining of Heresy in the Kingdom, thought it not enough to send those Soldiers which they were obliged to set out by the Fiefs they held of the Crown; their zeal carried them yet farther, and the opinion they had, that it was a holy war they were engaged in, because the Pope's Legate marched with the Cross at the Head of the Army, made them open their purses wider, and they doubled those Companies formerly raised. Nor was this their Liberality thought altogether enough to express their Devotion, some of the Prelates who were able to endure the hardships of war, put on Arms themselves, as Amelius Archbishop of Narbon, and Foulk Bishop of Tholouse.  
The Secular no less encouraged by this Example then by the plenary indulgence the holy See granted, flocked from all parts to take the Field, and added by their concourse so much strength and power to the Army, that the Earl of Tholouse was forced to quit the Field. The Albigensian Towns which risen against the French, at the first report of their divisions; seeing them afterwards so strong repent of their inconstancy, and endeavoured to prevent the universal desolation wherewith they were threatened; the extreme rigour which was exercised against the first that stood out, striking terror into the rest. The Constable no sooner appeared before any Town, but the Keys were immediately surrendered, even the Garrison of Castle Saracen made Proposal to the Burghers of the Town, to come to Capitulation before Summons sent; So that this strong Town which had before endured a long Siege, sent their Deputies to the French before they sat down before their Walls. All submitted but Tholouse, and this great Town whose Colonies had formerly peopled so many Countries of Europe and Asia, was now forced for its defence, to admit of a foreign aid, drawn from all the Neighbouring parts, even those most infected with Heresy. In the Siege of this place, the French who were become better instructed than formerly, by the Experience they had gained before Avignon, ordered their affairs with very much prudence and conduct: they designed, 'tis true, to take Tholouse by Storm, but it was by such Methods as Military Discipline taught them. They gained ground by degrees, and managed their Instruments of Battery with wonderful address; and by their incessant and impetuous playing made wider Breaches in the Wall than the besieged, though considerable in number, were able to repair: by which means the Town was reduced to inevitable danger of being lost: the Towns men remembered that the Town of Avignon had been given over to plunder and pillage, and that theirs had no reason to expect more favour, as being neither less rich, nor less criminal. Thus not coming to a clear sense of their misfortune, till at a time when it was too late to avoid the danger, they fancied it greater than really it was, and their disturbed Imagination caused them in a moment to lose that respect which till then they had preserved for their Sovereign, as Criminal and unfortunate as he was.  
They formed a Conspiracy, so much the more dangerous, by how much the better it was regulated. They sent Deputies to their Earl to advertise him, that if he would not that very day bestir himself effectually to treat in their behalf, they were resolved themselves to treat the next day without him. The Earls strength in Tholouse was at that time not very great; for though he had a little before the Siege brought into the Town a number of Albigenses out of the Neighbouring parts which were most devoted to him, upon the account that their Goods or Estates, being seized by the Catholics, their chiefest hopes were in him for redress. It was the fate of the greatest part of these Heretics to be slain either in the Sallies that were made for the burning of the battering Engines, or in defence of the Walls; so that the Townsmen who in the beginning of the Siege were the weakest part of the Defendants, were become in the end the strongest: and thus the Earl of Tholouse was constrained to take Laws from those to whom he had intended to have given Laws, and desired leave of the Constable to send to the Regent to assure her he was ready to receive what Conditions her Majesty should be pleased to impose upon him.  
The Constable's Interest preserved Tholouse from pillage, and all manner of violence, in regard he was promised the Government. His power extended so far, as to conclude a Cessation of Arms, and he signed the agreement after he had taken such Sureties as were requisite upon such like occasions. Here it is that a most proper opportunity offers itself to speak of Queen Blanche's Grand Master piece, in matter of Negotiation; and the Treaty here following, is held to have been one of the best managed Treaties that ever was concluded for the advantage of France, since it was first a Monarchy; however, it cannot be here represented entire, since the Regent had but one part in it, the Court of Rome, and the Court of France being both equally concerned; and the Pope's Interests being neither managed with less heat, nor taking up less time in debate than those of the King of France. The same Legate we have already mentioned, had here a great opportunity of showing his vast abilities, and the notable proficiency he had made in the knowledge of the Cabinet: here he laid the Foundation of those acquisitions, the holy See soon after gained, and to this day possesseth in France.  
The more particular mention of the Intrigues of this great Minister of State, will be best reserved for a discourse, wherein the Rights of the most Christian King to the Town of Avignon, and the Earldom of Venaisin shall come to be examined. Here we shall only observe, that the Regent was too prudent to assent to the Earl of Tholouse his Propositions offered in Council, or, to conclude an Accommodation with him in that haste he proposed. She was yet scarce disengaged from a civil war raised principally against her Authority; and she was too discreet to imagine, that the readiest way to oblige the remaining part of the Rebels to lay down their Arms, would be to determine the affair of Languedoc, the greatest affair that had been known in France, since the third Race, without the advice of the Barons of the Realm. It was therefore thought fit to invite the Barons to a Conference with the Deputies of Tholouse; and the Town of Meaux was made choice of for the place of Assembly, not only as being most commodious for the Feudataries, whose Residences were almost equally distant from it, but also in respect of its nearness to Paris, by which means the place would be the more easily supplied with such a quantity of Provisions as would be necessary for such an Assembly, and so great a Concourse of People.  
The pleasant Season of the Year viz. 1228. made the Resort of People the greater; and such as for their past faults feared the Courts displeasure, obtained of the Regent all necessary assurances both as to their coming, their stay, and their return; but it was no very easy matter to quiet their minds as for the time to come, and the Regent herself went about in vain to satisfy them by ordinary means. They went, or to say better, ran to the War of Languedoc, with a Transport of Zeal, which gave them not time to make such Reflections as concerned their own proper Conduct, till after such time as Heresy was almost subdued. They had considered the Earl of Tholouse as an Enemy to the Crown of France, so long as they had their Swords in their hands; but from that very moment that they laid down their Arms, their Aversion so totally ceased, that passed all at once, and without any Medium from the extremity of Vengeance, to extremity of pity. It was no extraordinary thing to them to see Rebel Vassals ruined, and the Reign of Philip the August had given sufficient Examples thereof. There was not any of those whose Estates they had seen confiscated, so culpable as the Earl of Tholouse, since besides the Crime of high Treason, both as to God and man, which he had more than once committed: he was, if not the Author of a very dangerous Heresy, yet, at least, the entertainer of it from the first broachers, and the cherisher of it, as I may so say, in his bosom: he thought it not enough to hinder Royal Justice from seizing on the Persons, and enquiring into the Crimes of those who taught it in his Province; but he himself became a Preacher thereof, contrary to the Genius of the French Nobility, who had at that time an Antipathy both for the Doctrine, and those who were engaged in it. He alone had perverted more Catholics than all the rest of the Albigenses, and to complete the measure both of his obdurate pravity of Nature, and of the misfortune that attended it, he relapsed into the same Heresy he had consented to abjure; which alone was enough to render the Court of Rome irreconcilable to him.  
There was now no place left for Excuse or Complaint, and there were such Circumstances in his Degradation, as have scarce been known in the Case of any other Criminal. He furvived a War which had been undertaken chief for his chastisement; he submitted himself before he was driven to the last Extremity: he came to Terms in a Town, wherein he might have held out a longer time by much: he pretended to no hopes of Favour, but in the Clemency of their Majesties.  
The Indulgences formerly used by the most Christian Kings, to the Natives of France, bred up in the same Principles, were now no less favourably applied to the Earl of Tholouse; for never were Fiefs seen to change their Family; and the Relations, especially the Descendants of Criminals, had always the Forfeitures of the Estates remitted to them, provided on the one side, they were never partakers with them in their Crimes, and on the other side, were capable of the Homage required. All this while the Earl of Tholouse, his Fief, was by the Female side; for it was well known that a Woman brought it into the house of Catalonia. The said Earl had only one daughter, who being but nine Years of Age, could not possibly be charged with the least concernment in any of her Father's Crimes. Languedoc had been possessed by his Ancestors for 22 Generations, and it would have been thought hard for the misdemeanour of the present possessor to ruin a Family, wherein 21 Persons successively have been free from all Tainture. In fine, if it were advantageous in one sense, for the Regent to augment her Authority, by reuniting to the Kings demeans the Estate of one of the most considerable Peers of France, it would be dangerous in another sense, since upon such an attempt as this, all the rest of the Feudataries of the said Crown, as well in general, as in particular, would be concerned to hinder it, for fear this one Spark kindled should raise a Flame great enough to catch hold of each of them in their turn, and give them such occasions of discontent, as must needs incite them to a Revolt; so that in the end the necessity of their punishment, would be an inevitable occasion of impairing that Grandeur, which at present gave lustre to the Crown.  
The French came off handsomely enough, in the declaring of what they had in their mind, and the Regent who had heard them more than once; found a way to satisfy them without neglecting in the main, the Interests of her Son. She agreed with the Earl of Tholouse his Deputies upon Conditions more advantageous than he could have hoped for: she consented that their Prince should be reestablished in the possession of Languedoc, upon Condition, only the Fortifications should be demolished: she permitted him the quiet possession of this large Province as long as he lived, and let him know withal, that she designed nothing less than to keep the Princess his daughter out of her hereditary possession: on the contrary, she would take care to preserve it entire to her Posterity. It was her opinion the Princess could not be better provided for, than by being espoused to Alphonso of France, Earl of Poitou, being of the same Age with her, neither did she demand any other Security for the Earls performance of his word, but that the Princess should be brought up at Court. She insisted indeed, to have the Articles of Marriage inserted in the Treaty of peace, and thereby handsomely took occasion to have this one Article slipped in, viz. that in Case both the young married Persons should die without Issue, Languedoc should be again united to the Crown of France, as indeed it happened. Her pretence for this Article was, that no person might receive any prejudice, since St. Lewis was to espouse the Eldest Daughter of the Earl of Provence, presumptive Heiress of the Princess of Tholouse; and in Truth, she in such fort concerted this great Affair, which gave jealousy to all the world, that no body could find any cause to murmur at it.  
The Earl of March by this means was gained, and his only daughter contracted to John of France, the King's youngest Brother.  
Thus the Earl of Bretaign was left alone in the League, whose obstinacy was, that he chose rather to be exposed the sole Mark of all the French Forces now united together, than to accept of those advantageous Conditions offered him by the Queen. The very Civilities she showed him at a juncture of time when all things seemed to conspire his ruin, exasperated the spirit of this Capricious Person; and because the Consciousness of his own guilt represented to him all kindnesses and good Offices done him as Counterfeit, he consequently fancied what the Regent did to oblige him, to be but mere Formality, and done only to draw him into a farther snare; and upon this false presumption, he instantly went and treated with England. The Regent was soon advertised hereof, and resolved to lose no time in driving on the business to a Head, the Winter began to come on very sharp, and the time was overpast for setting out the English Fleet to Sea, for the relief of Bretaign, which was now brought to do Homage to the King of England, the French encouraged by the presence of their most Christian Majesties, went directly, and after a short Siege took the Town of Angers, which King Lewis the 8th, having taken from the English, had put into the hands of the Bretons.  
The Queen had no sooner dispatched what she went about in Anjou, but with the same Expedition and Diligence as she had marched thither, she returned and laid close Siege to Belesme, the Capital City of Perch, and the strongest place the Enemy than had. It was thought impregnable, but the Rams and other Engines of Battery having at last thrown down the Walls, made it appear to be otherwise. The besieged came to Capitulation, but not till such time as the Besiegers were almost tired with continual labour, for they had as hard a task to defend themselves from the rigours of the Season, as from the Arms of the besieged. the extremity of Cold causing such a Paralytic Distemper among them, that those affected therewith, could hardly escape death, the only way was, to sit basking continually by a good fire side. Thus, through one, or other obstacle, their Majesties found it a difficult matter to march their Army into Bretaign, and this probably was the main Reason, why they sought out another Expedient for the putting an end to the War.  
The Regent sent to the Nobility of Bretaign, and represented to them, that their Lands would certainly be laid waste, if they did not immediately put themselves under the King's Protection, that the danger she warned them of, was very near at hand, and that their Duke would not be able to help them: then she made her Address to the Parliament of France, and required to have Bretaign put into the King's hands, the Parliament yielded to her demand, and acquitted this Province of their Homage to their Duke, who thereupon, was deprived of the principal Refuge he had to trust to, and his Troops now no longer consisting of such Gentlemen, as held of him by any Tenure of Land, dropped away by degrees, and were all dispersed in a short time; He was driven in fine to this Dilemma, either to keep himself shut up in some strong Town, or, to pass over into England: the first of these two extremes would infallibly bereave him of his Liberty, if not of Life also: the second, by forcing him to quit his Party, would reduce him to a private Condition. Those who by chance or accidentarrive to Sovereignty, more grievously resent a fall, than those whom a natural Title, and the Laws have invested with a power of Reigning. Thus straightened and perplexed, he resolved at a Venture to submit to whatever the Regent would impose upon him; and in Conclusion, came off with the Surrendry of the Lands, which the house of Bretaign possessed in France, besides, the Duchy; and giving in Security both for himself, and his Heirs, that the said Duchy should from that time forward, never hold of any but the Crown of France. The firname of Mauclerk stuck upon him to future Ages, for having so ill taken his measures with the French Rebels, and with the English, that in the end he was left alone to bear the whole bront of the Controversy. And now Queen Blanch had no more to trouble, or, obstruct the quiet administration of Her Regency, but through the vain Attempts of those that laboured to oppose Her, was so much the more strongly fixed and established therein.  
FINIS.   

A Catalogue of some Novels, and Plays Printed for R. Bentley, and S. Magnes.  

NOVELS.  
1 ZElinda, a Famed Romance.  
2 Happy Slave, in three Parts.  
3 Count Brion.  
4 Count Gabales.  
5 Hatag; or the Amours of the King of Tamaran.  
6 Madam Lavalier, and the King of France.  
7 Madam and the Duke of Guise.  
8 Madam Colonna's Memoires.  
9 Queen of Majork, two Parts.  
10 Don Sebastian King of Portugal.  
11 Heroine Musketeer.  
12 Princess of Cleves.  
13 Obliging Mistress.  
14 Fatal Prudence.  
15 Princess of Fez.  
16 Disorders of Love.  
17 Triumph of Love.  
18 Victorious Lovers.  
19 Almanzor and Almanzaida.  
20 Earl of Essex and Qu. Elizabeth.  
21 Neopolitan, or, the Defender of his Mistress.  
22 Nicostratis,  
23 Amorous Abbess.  
24 Homais Queen of Tunis.  
25 Pilgrim, in two Parts.  
26 Meroveus, Prince of the Blood Royal of France.  
27 Life of the Duke of Guise.  
28 Extravagant Poet.  
29 Memoires Gallant.  
30 Instruction for a Young Noble Man.   

PLAYS.  
1 Tartuff, or the French Puritan.  
2 Forced Marriage, or the Jealous Bridegroom.  
3 English Monsieur.  
4 All mistaken, or the Mad Couple.  
5 Generous Enemies, or the Ridiculous Lovers.  
6 The Plain-Dealer.  
7 Sertorius, a Tragedy.  
8 Nero, a Tragedy.  
9 Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow.  
10 Gloriana, or the Court of Augustus Caesar.  
11 Alexander the Great.  
12 Mithridates King of Pontus.  
13 Oedipus King of Thebes.  
14 Caesar Borgia.  
15 Theodosius, or the Force of Love.  
16 Madam Fickle, or the Witty False One.  
17 The Fond Husband, or the Plotting Sisters.  
18 Esquire Old-Sap, or the Night-Adventures.  
19 Fool turned Critic.  
20 Virtuous Wife, or Good Luck at last.  
21 The Fatal Wager.  
22 Andromache.  
23 Country Wit.  
24 Calisto, or the Chaste Nymph.  
25 Destruction of Jerusalem, in two Parts.  
26 Ambitious Statesman, or the Loyal Favourite.  
27 Misery of Civil War.  
28 The Murder of the Duke of Gloucester.  
29 Thyestes, a Tragedy.  
30 Hamlet Prince of Denmark, a Tragedy.  
31 The Orphan, or the Unhappy Marriage.  
32 The Soldiers Fortune.  
33 Tamerlain the Great.  
34 Mr. Limberham, or the Kind Keeper.  
35 Mistaken Husband.  
36 Notes of Morocco, by the Wits.  
37 Essex and Elizabeth, or the Unhappy Favourite.  
38 Virtue Betrayed, or Anna Bullen.  
39 King Leir.  
40 Abdellazor, or the Moor's Revenge.  
41 Town-Fop, or Sir Tim. Tawdery.  
42 Rare en tout, a French Comedy.  
43 Moor of Venice,  
44 Country Wife.  
45 City Politics.  
46 Duke of Guise.  
47 Rehearsal.  
48 King and no King.  
49 Philaster, or Love lies a Bleeding.  
50 Maid's Tragedy.  
51 Grateful Servant.  
52 Strange Discovery.  
53 Atheist, or the Second Part of the Soldiers Fortune.  
54 Wit without Money.  
55 Little Thief.  
56 Valiant Scot  
57 Constantine.  
58 Valentinian.  
59 Amorous Prince.  
60 Dutch Lovers.  
61 Woman Rules.  
62 Reformation.  
63 Hero and Leander.  
64 Love-Tricks.  
65 Julius Caesar.  
66 Fatal Jealousy.  
67 Monsieur Ragou.   
FINIS.