There ruled once in France, Brunechild, Widow of King Sigebert, and Mother of Childebert. This woman had for her Adulterer a certain Italian, called Protadius, whom She advanced to great Honours: She bred up her two Sons, Theodebert and Theodorick, in such a wicked and profligate Course of Life, that at last they became at mortal Enmity with each other: And after having had long Wars, fought a cruel single Combat. She kill'd with her own Hands her Grandson Meroveus, the Son of Theodebert: She poysoned her Son Theodorick. What need we say more? Date frænos (as Cato says) impotenti naturæ, & indomito animali; & sperate illas modum licentiæ facturas. She was the Occasion of the Death of Ten of the Royal Family: And when a certain Bishop reproved her, and exhorted her to mend her Life, She caused him to be thrown into the River. At last, a Great Council of the Franks being summoned, She was judged, and condemned, and drawn in Pieces by wild horses, being torn Limb from Limb. The Relators of this Story are, Greg. Turonensis, [lib. 5. cap. 39.] and [lib. 8. cap. 29.] And Ado [Ætat. 6.] Otto Frising. [Chron. 5. Cap. 7.] Godfridus Viterbiensis [Chron. parte 16.] & Aimoinus [lib. 4. cap. 1.] Also the Appendix of Gregory of Tours, [lib. 11.] whose Words are these: "Having convicted her of being the Occasion of the Death of Ten Kings of the Franks; to wit, of Sigebert, Meroveus, and his Father Chilperick; Theodebert, and his Son Clothair; Meroveus, the Son of Clothair, Theodorick, and his three Children, which had been newly killed, they order'd her to be placed upon a Camel, and to be tortured with divers sorts of Torments, and so to be carried about all the Army; afterwards to be tied by the Hair of the Head, one Leg and one Arm to a Wild Horse's Tail; by which being kick'd, and swiftly dragg'd about, She was torn Limb from Limb."
Let us instance in some others: Plectrudis got the Government into her Hands; a Widow not of the King, but of Pipin, who ruled the Kingdom whilst Dagobert the Second bore the empty Title of King. This Plectrudis having been divorced by her Husband Pipin, because of her many Adulteries and flagitious Course of Life; as soon as her Husband was dead, proved the Incendiary of many Seditions in France. She compell'd that gallant Man Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace, to quit his Employment, and in his Place put one Theobald, a most vile and wicked Wretch; and at last She raised a most grievous Civil War among the Franks, who in divers Battels discomfited each other with most terrible Slaughters. Thus, says Aimoinus, [lib 4. cap. 50. & cap sequen.] Also the Author of a Book called, The State of the Kingdom of France under Dagobert the Second, has these Words: "When the Franks were no longer able to hear the Fury and Madness of Plectrude, and saw no Hopes of Redress from King Dagobert, they elected one Daniel for their King, (who formerly had been a Monk) and called him Chilperick." Which Story we have once before told you.
But let us proceed. The Queen-Mother of Charles the Bald, (whose Name was Judith) and Wife of Lewis the Pious, who had not only been King of Francogallia, but Emperor of Italy and Germany, got the Government into her Hands. This Woman stirred up a most terrible and fatal War between King Lewis and his Sons, (her Sons in Law) from whence arose so great a Conspiracy, that they constrained their Father to abdicate the Government, and give up the Power into their Hands, to the great Detriment of almost all Europe: The Rise of which Mischiefs, our Historians do unanimously attribute, for the most Part, to Queen Judith in a particular Manner: The Authors of this History are the Abbot of Ursperg, Michael Ritius and Otto Frising. [Chron. 5. cap. 34.] "Lewis (says this last) by reason of the Evil Deeds of his Wife Judith, was driven out of his Kingdom." Also Rhegino [in Chron. ann. 1338.] "Lewis (says he) was deprived of the Kingdom by his Subjects, and being reduced to the Condition of a private Man, was put into Prison, and the Sole Government of the Kingdom, by the Election of the Franks, was conferr'd upon Lotharius his Son. And this Deprivation of Lewis was occasioned principally through the many Whoredoms of his Wife Judith."
Some Ages after, Queen Blanch, a Spanish Woman, and Mother to St. Lewis, ruled the Land. As soon as She had seized the Helm of Government, the Nobility of France began to take up Arms under the Conduct of Philip Earl of Bologn, the King's Uncle, crying out (as that excellent Author Joannes Joinvillæus writes) [cap. histor. 4.] "That it was not to be endured that so great a Kingdom shou'd be governed by a Woman, and She a Stranger." Whereupon those Nobles rejecting Blanch, chose Earl Philip to be Administrator of the Kingdom: But Blanch persisting in her Purpose, sollicited Succours from all Parts, and at last determined to conclude a League with Ferdinand King of Spain. With Philip joyned the Duke of Brittany, and the Count de Eureux his Brother. These, on a sudden, seiz'd on some Towns, and put good Garisons into them. And thus a grievous War was begun in France, because the Administration of the Government had been seized by the Queen-Mother: It hapned that the King went (about that Time) to Estampes, being sent thither by his Mother upon Account of the War: To that Place the Nobles from all Parts hastily got together, and began to surround the King not with an Intention (as Joinville says) to do him any Harm, but to withdraw him from the Power of his Mother. Which She hearing, with all Speed armed the People of Paris, and commanded them to march towards Estampes. Scarce were these Forces got as far as Montlebery, when the King (getting from the Nobles) joyned them, and returned along with them to Paris. As soon as Philip found that he was not provided with a sufficient force of Domestick Troops, he sent for Succours to the Queen of Cyprus, (who at the fame Time had some Controversy depending in the Kingdom) She entring with a great Army into Champagn, plunder'd that Country far and near; Blanch however continues in her Resolution. This constrains the Nobility to call in the English Auxiliaries, who waste Aquitain and all the Maritime Regions; which Mischiefs arose thro' the Ambition and unbridled Lust of Rule of the Queen-Mother, as Joinvillæus tells us at large, [cap.7, 8, 9, 10.]
And because many of our Countrymen have a far different Opinion of the Life and Manners of Queen Blanch, occasioned (as 'tis probable) by the Flattery of the Writers of those Times; (For all Writers either thro' Fear of Punishment, or, by Reason of the Esteem which the Kings their Sons have in the World, are cautious how they write of Queen-Mothers:) I think it not amiss to relate what Joinville himself records [cap 76.] viz. That She had so great a Command over her Son, and had reduced him to that Degree of Timidity and Lowness of Spirit, that She would very seldom suffer the King to converse with his Wife Margaret, (her Daughter-in-Law) whom She hated. And therefore whenever the King went a Journey, She ordered the Purveyors to mark out different Lodgings, that the Queen might lie separate from the King. So that the poor King was forced to place Waiters and Doorkeepers in Ambush whenever He went near his Queen; Ordering them, that when they heard his Mother Blanch approach the Lodgings, they shou'd beat some Dogs, by whose Cry he might have Warning to hide himself: And one Day (says Joinville) when Queen Margaret was in Labour, and the King in Kindness was come to visit her, on a sudden Queen Blanch surprized him in her Lodgings: For altho' he had been warned by the howling of the Dogs, and had hid himself (wrapp'd up in the Curtains) behind the Bed; yet She found him out, and in the Presence of all the Company laid Hands on him, and drew him out of the Chamber: You have nothing to do here (said She) get out. The poor Queen, in the mean Time, being not able to bear the Disgrace of such a Reproof, fell into a Swoon for Grief; so that the Attendants were forced to call back the King to bring her to her self again, by whose Return She was comforted and recover'd. Joinville tells this Story [cap. hist. 76.] in almost these same Words.
Again, Some Years after this, Isabella, Widow of Charles the 6th, (Sirnamed the Simple) got Possession of the Government: For before the Administration of the Publick Affairs cou'd be taken care of by the Great Council, or committed by them to the Management of chosen and approved Men, many ambitious Courtiers had stirr'd up Contentions: Six Times these Controversies were renewed, and as often composed by Agreement. At last Isabella being driven out of Paris betook her self to Chartres: There, having taken into her Service a subtle Knave, one Philip de Morvilliers, She made up a Council of her own, with a President, and appointed this Morvilliers her Chancellor; by whose Advice She order'd a Broad-Seal, commonly called, a Chancery-Seal, to be engraven: On which her own Image was cut, holding her Arms down by her Sides: and in her Patents She made use of this Preamble. "Isabella, by the Grace of God, Queen of France: who, by Reason of the King's Infirmity, has the Administration of the Government in her Hands, &c."— But when the Affairs of the Commonwealth were reduced to that desperate Future, that all Things went to Rack and Ruin, She was by the Publick Council banished to Tours, and committed to the Charge of Four Tutors, who had Orders to keep her lock'd up at Home, and to watch her so narrowly, that She shou'd be able to do nothing; not so much as to write a Letter without their Knowledge. A large Account of all this Transaction we have in Monstrellet's; History. [cap. 161 & cap. 168.]
CHAP. XXI.
Of the Juridical Parliaments in France.
Under the Capevingian Family there sprung up in Francogallia a Kind of Judicial Reign, [Regnum Judiciale] of which (by Reason of the incredible Industry of the Builders up and Promoters of it, and their unconceivable Subtilty in all subsequent Ages), we think it necessary to say something. A Sort of Men now rule every-where in France, which are called Lawyers by some, and Pleaders or Pettyfoggers by others: These Men, about 300 Years ago, managed their Business with so great Craft and Diligence, that they not only subjected to their Domination the Authority of the General Council, (which we spoke of before) but also all the Princes and Nobles, and even the Regal Majesty it self: So that in whatever Towns the Seats of this same Judicial Kingdom have been fix'd, very near the third Part of the Citizens and Inhabitants have applied themselves to the Study and Discipline of this wrangling Trade, induced thereunto by the vast Profits and Rewards which attend it. Which every one may take Notice of, even in the City of Paris, the Capital of the Kingdom: For who can be three Days in that City without observing, that the third Part of the Citizens are taken up with the Practice of that litigious and Pettyfogging Trade? Insomuch, that the General Assembly of Lawyers in that City (which is called the Robed Parliament) is grown to so great a Heighth of Wealth and Dignity, that now it seems to be (what Jugurtha said of old of the Roman Senate) no longer an Assembly of Counsellors, but of Kings, and Governors of Provinces. Since whoever has the Fortune to be a Member of it, how meanly born soever, in a few Years Time acquires immense and almost Regal Riches: For this Reason many other Cities strove with Might and Main to have the like Privilege of Juridical Assemblies: So that now there are several of these famous Parliaments, to wit, those of Paris, Tholouse, Rouen, Grenoble, Bourdeaux, Aix, and Dijon: All which are fix'd and sedentary; besides an Eighth, which is ambulatory and moveable, and is called the Grand Council.