Chapter X: Part 10

Page 116. line 12. _Died._] By this must be meant Amadeus IX. count of Savoy, who succeeded his father Louis in 1465 and died this year. He was succeeded by his son Philibert I. who died 1476 without issue by Blanche of Milan his wife. Philibert was succeeded by his brother Charles I. who died in 1488 leaving issue by Blanche of Montferrat one son, Charles II, who died without issue in 1495, upon which Philip count of Bresse the brother of Amadeus the ninth, (mentioned before, vol. x. p. 158) succeeded to the dukedom, and died shortly after. See p. 35.

Page 117. line 8 from the bottom. _Count d'Eu._] Charles count d'Eu, the last prince of the blood of the line of Artois. His character is thus given by Du Clos. "Il avoit toutes les vertus solides, sans en affecter l'éclat; peu touché d'une fausse gloire, il pensoit que celle d'un prince qui n'est pas né sur le trone, est d'en être l'appui et trouva sa véritable gloire dans sa fidelité pour son roi, et ses services pour l'etat." It is a strange mistake to call the count de Nevers his brother, in which case there could have been no pretence for the king's giving away his honours and estates. The count de Nevers was his nephew, being the son of Bona of Artois and Philip count of Nevers her husband.

Page 120. line 16. _Years._] He died of a stroke of apoplexy brought on, as Platina says, by good living, suddenly in his chamber. This historian, (who, however, suffered from some persecution under his authority) is not very favourable to his memory. His luxury and pride he represents to have been inordinate. Among other stories told of him, it is said that he prided himself excessively on his comeliness of person and wished at his accession to have assumed the name of Formosus, but was deterred by some of his cardinals who, being more conversant in history than himself, reminded him of the miserable fate of the only pontiff who had borne that name. He then chose that of Paul, but could never afterwards esteem himself completely happy, from his wish in that important particular having been frustrated. It was reported of him that he used to paint his face like the ladies, whenever he appeared in public. He wished, at another time, to issue a papal bull ordaining that all cardinal's hats for the future should be made of silk: but in this also he was over-ruled by the common sense of those about him. He was at least as great an enemy to learning and learned men as his predecessor had been a promoter and encourager of both; but here again it is the _learned_ Platina who speaks. He was notorious for having one living witness at least of his amours, which became the subject of an epigram somewhat more pointed than is usual on such occasions.

Pontificis Pauli testes ne Roma requiras.
Filia quam genuit, sat docet, esse marem.
Sanctum non possum, patrem te dicere possum,
Cum video natam, Paule secunde, tuam.

Page 126. line 18. _Lord de Malicorne._] Guy de Sourches, lord of Malicorne.

Page 128. last line. _Butchers_] Audi alteram partem. "The duke of Burgundy sent a trumpet to the inhabitants of Nesle commanding them to open their gates to him. They ask a truce for a few days to consult concerning the terms of capitulation to be proposed. But leave being granted, while the business was still in agitation, they rise upon the duke's trumpeter and his companions and murder them when peaceably walking in the streets. Moved to excessive anger by this act of treachery, the duke commands the lady of Nesle to quit the place, and no sooner was she departed than he gave orders for a general massacre." Heuterus. Thus, though the historian of Burgundy admits the massacre, (stating at the same time a provocation by which it is almost justified) he says not a word about the violation of sanctuary, or about the savage expressions which the duke is here said to have uttered.

Page 130. line 11. _Lord de Crussol._] Charles de Crussol, seneschal of Poitou, grand pannetier, and knight of St Michael; one of the few servants of Louis who were faithful to the king without abusing their trusts. He was made governor of Dauphiné the ensuing year and died soon after. As grand pannetier he was succeeded by his son James de Crussol, and in his new government by John de Daillon seigneur du Lude. Du Clos. In Morery he is called Louis.

Page 145, line 6 from the bottom. _Lord de l'Escou._] Should be Odet Daidie, lord de Lescun. He has been mentioned before in the course of this work. As bailiff of the Cotentin he rendered considerable services to the crown in the wars of Charles VII. Among the sweeping changes made by Louis on his accession, Lescun was deprived of his office and retired into Bretagne where he was much in the confidence of the duke and also of the unfortunate duke of Guienne. But it does not appear that in a single instance he acted contrary to the interests of the crown. He has been charged by some writers with (and sometimes as an instrument, at others as a principal in) the supposed poisoning of the king's brother. But besides that there is no good reason to believe that this prince was poisoned at all, it is not consistent with any other action of Lescun's life to imagine him in any manner concerned in such an act of villainous iniquity. He was afterwards in favour with the king who gave him the county of Comminges on the death of the bastard d'Armagnac; and this, perhaps, was the only motive for the absurd suspicion.

Page 147. line 6 from the bottom. _Count d'Armagnac._] John V. count of Armagnac, whose life was but a tissue of crimes, of murder, incest, and treason. His sister he seduced, and afterwards pretended to make his wife, under circumstances of scandalous imposition. He was killed by a soldier named Gorgia whom the king afterwards promoted to the office of archer de la garde. A writer of the reign of Charles VIII. pretends that he was assassinated while the treaty was on foot; but the present account seems to contradict that report. See Du Clos.

Page 148. line 2 from the bottom. _John Joffroy then bishop of Alby._] Joffredy. See note, vol. x. p. 139.

Page 149. line 10 from the bottom. _Count d'Albret._] Charles d'Albret lord of St Basile, commonly called le cadet d'Albret. It seems there was sufficient proof of his guilt; but James de Lomagne lord of Montignac, the governor of Leitoure, though the principal person concerned in the same transactions, was pardoned in consideration of the testimony he could produce against others.

Page 153. line 6. _Duchy of Lorraine._] Nicholas, only son of John duke of Calabria (who died, greatly regretted for his princely virtues, three years before) and grandson of René king of Sicily. For some time before his death, this young prince had been in treaty with the duke of Burgundy, for a marriage with Mary his only daughter and presumptive heir to his vast dominions. This negotiation was most obnoxious to Louis; and the interruption of it by the young man's death just then when there appeared to be no farther obstacle to its accomplishment gave occasion to the suspicion of another poisoning which on some accounts seems to be attended with greater probability than that to which the death of the king's brother was attributed. By the death of this duke of Calabria, the male line of René became extinct and the inheritance of Lorraine passed to Iolante the daughter of René who by her marriage with Frederic count of Vaudemont (dead in 1470) had issue René count of Vaudemont and afterwards duke of Lorraine; whom the duke of Burgundy (probably enraged at the failure of his hope of uniting the duchies of Burgundy and Lorraine by the marriage of his daughter) imprudently as well as unjustly contrived to make prisoner as related in the text; but he was very shortly obliged to set him at liberty.

Page 154. line 6. _It._] The cause of this expedition was briefly as follows. Some years before, Adolphus the son of Arnold duke of Gueldres rebelled against his father, deposed and imprisoned him and took possession of his estates. Complaint of this outrage being made at the papal and imperial courts, the duke of Burgundy was appointed umpire and awarded to the old duke a portion only of the hereditary state for his maintenance, with which he seemed to be well satisfied. His son on the contrary swore "that he would rather throw the old man into a well and himself afterwards than acquiesce in such a sentence." Justly indignant at this monstrous ingratitude, the duke upon this deprived the unnatural villain of his estates which he thereupon purchased of the father at the price of 92,000 florins. Arnold died five years afterwards, having by his last will disinherited his son and confirmed his sale to the duke of Burgundy. The duke of Juliers however, had some claims to the succession which it was more difficult to compromise; and these, together with the opposition made by some of the towns of Guelderland and Zutphen to the duke's possession involved him in an expensive and sanguinary warfare. Du Clos.

Page 190. line 19. _Lord de L'isle._] Qu. William de l'Isle lord of Marivaux, &c. maître d'hôtel to the cardinal of Bourbon in 1484, who died in 1511.

Page 190. line 5 from the bottom. _Count de Joigny._] John de Châlons lord of Viteaux was second son of John, and brother of Louis prince of Orange. He married Jane sister and heir of Louis de la Tremouille, count of Joigny who died s. p. in 1467; and his eldest son by this lady had the title of count de Joigny in right of his mother.

Page 192. line 5. _Count of Savoy._] James, one of the youngest sons of Louis count of Savoy, was count of Romont. He married Mary daughter of Peter de St Pol and of Margaret of Savoy his sister. Philip de Comines exclaims against these incestuous marriages, which he says, were very common in the house of Savoy.

Page 199. last line. _Sir John Cheam and Chaney._] "Sir John Cheyney." Stowe.

Page 216. line 8. _Cordeliers._] The posterity of the constable de St Pol will be best understood by the following table.

{ Eldest son, 1 {Mary, countess of St Pol
{Peter II. married Margaret {who by her second marriage
{of Savoy, dowager {with Francis count
{of Montferrat and died in {of Vendôme, brought the
{1482. {county of St Pol, &c.
{ {into the house of Bourbon.
{ {
{ 2 {Frances, married to
{ {Philip of Cleves count of
{ {Ravenstein.
{
The { {By the first marriage.
CONSTABLE. { Second son, {
{Anthony, count of Brienne, {Philiberta, countess of
{and Roussy, married {Charny, married John
{Antoinette de Bauffremont {prince of Orange.
{countess of Chargny {
{and 2ndly, Frances de {By the second marriage.
{Croy daughter of the prince {
{of Chimay. {Charles count of Brienne,
{ {Ligny, Roussy, &c.
{ {died 1530. Ancestor of
{ {the house of Piney-Luxembourg.
{
{ Third son,
{Louis, count of Ligny,
{married Eleanor, princess
{of Altamura, and died
{in 1503, without issue.

Besides these three sons, who were temporal princes, the constable had two others, John his eldest, who was called count of Marle and Soissons, and killed at the battle of Morat, in the life-time of his father, and Charles bishop of Laon who died in 1509. His daughters were Jacqueline the wife of Philip de Croy, count of Porcien, Helen the wife of Janus of Savoy count of Geneva, Philippa abbess of Moncel, and Jane a nun. Of all these children, Louis and Jane were the offspring of his second marriage with Mary of Savoy, the sister of Margaret the wife of his eldest surviving son Peter. The constable had besides, a numerous illegitimate progeny--John bishop of Angouleme, Jane married to Anthony d'Ailly lord of Varennes, Margaret the wife of Philip d'Inchy castellan of Douay, &c. &c.

Page 229. line 11. _Obstinacy._] To explain the occasions and consequences of the several wars in which the duke of Burgundy was engaged down to the period of his death, would be to overload this meagre chronicle with a profusion of commentary which it hardly seems to deserve. It is better to refer generally to the histories of the times, especially to Comines, for all these particulars.

Page 233. line 10. _Life._] This is entirely a mistake. Queen Margaret had been set at liberty in November 1475 and on the 7th of March following, she renounced all her claims to the county in favour of the king. This was two months before the treaty with king René was concluded. Du Clos.

Page 249. line 8. _Lucerne._] The army of the duke of Lorraine is thus divided according to Du Clos. The infantry commanded by Guillaume Harfer, general of the Swiss, the cavalry by the count of Tierstein. The corps de Bataille consisted of 8000 infantry supported by 1500 horse on the right, and 500 on the left wing. The rear-guard was composed of only 800 foot. René commanded the whole army in person and had with him the counts of Linange and Salins, the lords of Bassompierre, Blamont, &c. &c.

Page 254. line 12. _Slain._] Among them the lords of Bievres, Contay, and la Viefville. The two bastards, Anthony and Baldwin, the counts of Nassau, Retel, Chimay, Oliver de la Marche, and others, were made prisoners.

Page 265. line 15. _Duke of Gueldres._] See note to page 154. The duke of Gueldres (Adolphus) had been confined a prisoner in the castle of Courtray ever since the events which are there mentioned. But, on occasion of the king's imprudent invasion of the duke of Burgundy's territory, the Flemings brought him out of his prison to command their forces and become the husband of their young sovereign Mary of Burgundy. His death put an end to this design; and the competitors for the hand of the heiress were then reduced to three, viz. the dauphin of France, John son of the duke of Cleves, and Maximilian son of the emperor Frederic and king of the Romans. The violent conduct of Louis towards the states of Burgundy blasted the expectations which he might otherwise have very reasonably entertained for his son. Mary is said to have felt a personal repugnance to the heir of Cleves, and an equal partiality for her imperial suitor. In his favour therefore the die was ultimately cast; and their marriage took place on the 18th of August in this same year, 1477.

Page 268. line 3. _Church._] This nobleman would have fallen unpitied had it not been for the execrable inhumanity which accompanied his execution, his children being brought to the scaffold and made to stand there in such a position that the blood of their father might sprinkle their bodies.

Mary of Anjou his wife, died in childbirth of the effects of the shock which she experienced on hearing of his captivity. Of his three sons, Louis only lived to the age of manhood. He was restored to his father's honours and fell at the battle of Cerignole on the 28th of April 1503. Of his daughters, Margaret was the wife of the mareschal de Gié, Catherine married John duke of Bourbon, and Charlotte, Charles de Rohan.

Page 281. line 19. _Expired._] This improbable story is, I believe, satisfactorily refuted and justly ridiculed by historians.

Page 287. last line. _With._] Heuterus relates a story, something similar, of a governor of a town under Charles duke of Burgundy, upon whom that prince afterwards caused exemplary punishment to be inflicted for his crime. The alleged crime of Kirke, is, I believe, now pretty generally admitted to be a fabrication, and was probably founded on the Burgundian anecdote by some anti-jacobite writer.

Page 313. line 19. _Brother._] Say rather, "Should have been charged with the murder of their brothers." The duke of Guienne is believed by the best historians to have died a natural death; and the earl of Mar (youngest brother of James III.) met his fate, according to the account adopted by Drummond of Hawthornden, in a manner merely accidental. The execution of George duke of Clarence, though it may well be said that the king ought to have pardoned his brother, yet, as it was the consequence of actual treason fully proved in the regular course of law, certainly does not merit the appellation of a murder.

Page 315. line 17. _King of Poulaine._] Who this imaginary personage may be intended for I cannot tell. If for Maximilian, it is entirely a mistake. He was not made prisoner. Nor was there any other prince or son of a king present at the engagement.

Page 332. line 10. _Niece to the duke of Bourbon._] Her death was occasioned by a fall from her horse while hunting. Maximilian was really much attached to her. But if he had not been so, his sorrow for her loss could scarcely have been the less sincere as the death of their natural sovereign left him with very little personal claim on the affections of the states of Flanders and other parts of her remaining dominions. Her only son was Philip of Austria duke of Burgundy who, by his marriage with Joanna the heiress of Castille and Arragon, transmitted the kingdom of Spain to his posterity. Her daughter Margaret was first affianced to the dauphin, but afterwards most imprudently rejected by him for Ann of Bretagne. She was then affianced to John prince of Spain; but he died before the solemnization of the nuptials. At last she found a husband in Philibert the fair, duke of Savoy, but had no children by him, and after his death (which happened within three years from the time of their union) she retired to the court of the emperor her father, and became, towards the end of her life, justly celebrated as the governess of the low countries. She died in 1532.

Page 337. line 15. _Sir William de la Mark._] Third son of John the first, count of Aremberg and brother of Robert de la Marck, first duke of Bouillon. He married Jane of Arschot baroness of Schonhouen, by whom he had John baron of Lumain who died 1526.

Page 339. line 16. _Thing._] Louis XI. is exculpated by Du Clos, in the account which he gives of this transaction, from any concern in the bishop's murder other than that of having furnished "the Wild Boar" with the means of raising a force for the purpose of securing a passage through the territories of Liege for the French armies in any future attempts to subdue the country of Brabant. When the bishop was so treacherously abandoned by his followers, "the Wild Boar" advanced directly to him and thus addressed him. "Louis of Bourbon, I have sought thy friendship and thou hast refused it to me." Saying this, he clove his head with a battle-axe and ordered his body to be thrown into the Meuse. The crime did not pass unpunished, the murderer being executed at Utrecht two years afterwards by order of Maximilian.

Page 349. line 3. _Lord d'Albret._] Alan, lord of Albret, father of John who was afterwards king of Navarre.

Page 355. last line. _Amen._] The only surviving children of Louis XI, were Charles VIII, Anne the wife of Peter de Bourbon lord of Beaujeu, and Jane the wife of Louis duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis XII.

Page 385. line 5 from the bottom. _Lord des Querdes._] Philip de Crevecoeur lord des Querdes marshal of France in 1483.

Page 386. line 7 from the bottom. _Lord de Baudricourt._] John de Baudricourt lord of Choiseul, marshal of France in 1418.

Page 386. line 5 from the bottom. _Lord d'Avaugour._] Francis bastard son of duke Francis the second of Bretagne, count of Vertus barons of Avaugour, lord of Clisson.

Page 386. line 5 from the bottom. _Rohan._] John viscount de Rohan married to Mary daughter of Francis I. duke of Bretagne.

Page 387. line 4 from the bottom. _Lord d'Orval._] John d'Albret, lord of Orval, who by his marriage with Charlotte daughter of John count of Nevers, and sister of Elizabeth duchess of Cleves acquired the county of Rethel in Champagne as her coparcenary share.

Page 390. line 9 _King of Romans._] Louis II. de la Tremouille, viscount Thouars and prince of Talmont, grandson of George count of Guisnes and Boulogne. He was killed at the battle of Pavia.

Page 390. line 14. _Lord d'Argenton._] Philip de Comines, the historian.

Page 320. line 20. _Lord de Montpensier._] Gilbert de Bourbon, lord of Montpensier, father of Charles duke of Bourbon and constable of France. He married the daughter of the marquis of Mantua and died in 1496.

Page 390. line 7 from the bottom. _Lord de Vendôme._] Francis de Bourbon count of Vendôme married to a daughter of the constable de St Pol. He died in 1496, and was father of Charles, and grandfather of Anthony, duke of Vendôme and king of Navarre.

Page 390. line 6 from the bottom. _Lord Angiliebert of Cleves._] Engilbert, second son of John duke of Cleves, and Elizabeth heiress of Nevers, afterwards called duke of Nevers.

Page 390. line 6 from the bottom. _Lord John Jacques._] John James Trivulzio, marquis of Vige-vano, one of the greatest generals of his age.

Page 390. line 5 from the bottom. _Prince of Salerno._] Anthony de San Severino prince of Salerno, son of the famous Robert de San Severino.

Page 390. line 3 from the bottom. _Marquis de Saluces._] Louis II. marquis of Saluces died in 1504.

Page 390. line 3 from the bottom. _De Vienne._] Vienne. This family was divided into so many branches that I cannot fix on the person here meant.

Page 390. line 2 from the bottom. _Marshal de Gié._] Peter de Rohan, lord of Gié, marshal of France, in 1475.

Page 390. line 2 from the bottom. _De Rieux._] John V. lord of Rieux and Rochefort, marshal of France.

Page 390. last line. _Seneschal of Beaucaire._] Stephen de Vers, seneschal of Beaucaire, chamberlain to the king, a native of Languedoc of mean extraction, through whose instigation principally, this extravagant expedition was undertaken. Brissonnet, another court favourite, afterwards a cardinal, was the second promoter of the enterprise. See Comines.

Page 390, last line. _Seneschal of Normandy._] Louis Després, lord of Montpezat, seneschal of Normandy.

Page 391. line 6. _De Bourdillon._] Qu. Imbert de la Platière, youngest son of Philibert de la Platière lord des Bordes? He was a great favourite with Francis I. and Henry II. and was mareschal of France in 1562. He died in 1567 s. p. But more probably this was his uncle or some other relation.

Page 391. line 6. _De la Palice._] James de Chabannes, lord of la Palice, marshal in 1515.

Page 391. line 16. _Perot de Beché._] Perron de Baschi, Maître d'hôtel to Charles VIII, one of the sons of Berthold de Baschi lord of Vitozzo, squire to king Louis III. of Sicily, and lineally descended from Hugolino de Baschi, sovereign lord of Orvieto, who in 1322 was driven from his seignory and afterwards entering into the service of the republic of Pisa, beat the Florentines at the battle of Bagno in 1363. The descendants of this family settling in France, became marquisses of Aubais in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Page 391. line 7 from the bottom. _Lord de la Brosse._] René de la Brosse, count of Penthievre, son of John count of Penthievre, and son-in-law to the historian Philip de Comines. He was killed at the battle of Pavia in 1524.

Page 392. line 3. _Duchess of Savoy._] Blanche, daughter of William the ninth marquis of Montferrat, and widow of Charles the first duke of Savoy, protectress of the dukedom for her son Charles the second, then an infant.

Page 398. note. _Frederic--was brother to Alphonso king of Naples._] But it is entirely a mistake that he died of the fright, since he outlived both his brother and his nephew, and enjoyed for a short time the title of king of Naples. He did not die before the year 1504.

Page 401. line 7. _Marquis of Montferrat._] Boniface the fifth, of the house of Palæologus, died in 1493, and was succeeded by his eldest son William IX. The marchioness, his widow, here mentioned, died at the age of 29, while these negotiations were going on; and upon her death the marquis of Saluces and Constantine prince of Servia, her brother, disputed the tutelage of the young marquis. Philip de Comines was sent to Casal for the purpose of accommodating this dispute; and his decision was in favour of Constantine. That prince is, in the text, erroneously called the second son of the marchioness, when in fact, he was her brother. John George, who was himself marquis of Montferrat after the death of William, was the only younger son of Boniface the fifth. See Guicciardini. lib. 2.

Page 405. line 4. _Pavia._] The king went to Pavia to visit the young duke of Milan, John Galease, who was then lying dangerously ill in the castle of that place. He had lately married Isabel of Arragon who (with her only child, Francis, then but a few months old) went out to meet the king as here mentioned. The death of the duke which happened before the king left him was universally attributed to poison, administered by Ludovico Sforza his uncle who had long governed the dukedom in his nephew's name, and upon his death assumed the title also of duke, in prejudice of the infant son of John Galease. See Guicciardini, lib. i.

Page 416. line 12. _Naples._] Q. Nepi, half way between Viterbo and Rome?

Page 416. line 14. _Lord Virgilio d'Orsini._] Count of Tagliacozzo, ancestor of the dukes of Bracciano. He was a general in the Neapolitan service and died in 1497.

Page 416. line 9 from the bottom. _Ligny._] Ligny. See note p. 109. vol. xii.

H. Bryer, Printer,
Bridge-street, Blackfriars, London.

Transcribers note: "Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_)." Original spelling has been retained.