[1546] Coll. des autographes, 1844, No. 104, Charles IX to the duke of Longueville, November 4, 1572.
[1547] C. S. P. For., No. 640, November 13, 1572; cf. No. 637; Archives de la maison d’Orange-Nassau, IV, 38-39, letter of Brunynck, secretary to the prince of Orange, to John of Nassau, December, 1572.
[1548] C. S. P. For., Nos. 667, 673, §§17-20 (1572).
[1549] C. S. P. For., Nos. 683 and 755, Worcester to the Queen, February 5, 1573.
[1550] This petition is a remarkable compound of current politics and biblical history. In it the inhabitants of La Rochelle, her “tres obeissains fidelles subjects,” beg that she will consider and follow the example of Constantine, who broke off all alliance with his friend Licinius to whom he had given his sister in marriage, on account of his tyranny practiced on the Christians of the East. They remind her also of the evil done by Herod in keeping his rash oath. She ought not therefore to keep the league with those who wish to exterminate her people in Guyenne, which belongs to her, and whose arms she bears. If she will succour them they will willingly expose their lives and goods in order to acknowledge her as their sovereign and natural princess (ibid., No. 682, 1572).
[1551] Ibid., No. 800, February 28, 1573; No. 948, May 3, 1573; Chroniques Fontenaisiennes, 166, 167.
[1552] See Claude Haton, II, 710, 711, 717, 718, 722-25, 726, 729, 731. The government sent out inspectors to make an inventory of the grain still available. Much of it was confiscated for the use of the army at an established price, and a maximum price fixed for the sale of the remainder.
[1553] Ibid., 715, 716 (see a discourse upon the extreme dearth in France and upon the means to remedy it, in Arch. cur., VI, 423). The dearness of all things, according to the writer, probably Bodin, is the result of the excessive luxury which prevails among the higher classes and the combination made by the merchants to raise prices. He proposes the establishment of public granaries and that the government price be made obligatory for all dealers.
[1554] C. S. P. For., No. 800, February 28, 1573.
[1555] Ibid., No. 1,000, May 31, No. 1,027, June 9, 1573.