of his Office. On the other side, the Protestants began to stir notably,
having on their part many Princes, as that of _Condé_, of _Porcien_,
_Gaspard_, of _Coligny_, Admiral of _France_, d’_Andelot_, and the
Cardinal of _Chastillon_ his brothers, _Magdalene_ of _Mailly_, their
Sister, Lady of _Roye_, the King of _Navarre_. All these discontented
persons, and the Protestants made a great conspiracy under pretence of
Religion, and of freeing the King from the tyranny of the _Guisians_.
They did by _Choler_, the Protestants because they had been so ill
used, in the time of _Francis_ I. and _Henry_ II. and lately by the
_Guisians_. And the discontented, for to pull down their power, it was
also by an _intestine hatred_, because the Constable could not brook to
be dispossessed of his Office of great Master, which was given to the
Duke of _Guise_; and the others to see themselves from the management of
Affairs, and the Protestants by the spirit of a contrary Religion.
Their _conspiracy_ tended to expel the _Guisians_, and to seise upon the
Queen, the King, and his Brothers.
To compass their end, they secretly sent some trusty persons of their
own, who nevertheless feigned to be their Enemies; insomuch that the King
of _Navarre_ sent them word, that he would be always of their party,
though apparently he took the Courts part.
But _the Old his own_, saith the fourth Verse, that is to say, the Kings
old friends shall raise _Sedition_ against them, which happened in the
year 1650. when the _Guisians_ having discovered the conspiracy that was
made at _Nantes_, the 1. of _February_ 1560. whose chief Ring-leader was
the Lord _La Renaudie_; they presently got the King out of _Blois_, and
carryed him to _Amboise_, caused the Town to be fortified, and set strong
Guards upon all the passages.
The day appointed for the execution of the conspiracy at _Blois_, was the
10th of _March_: But the King being got to _Amboise_, the Conspirators
went thither in such great numbers, and under such specious pretences,
that had they not been betrayed, no body would have suspected them.
All the Suburbs and the Countrey Towns thereabouts were full of them.
The Prince of _Condé_, the Admiral, d’_Andelot_, and his Brother the
Cardinal, were all there.
Then the _Guisians_ began to fall to work, and to set upon the
Conspirators on all sides.
Abundance were taken, some in the City, some in the Suburbs, others in
the Countrey round about.
Most of these were slain before they could come to Town, or be carried
to Prison. And their process was so short that they were hanged in their
Boots and Spurs.
The Scouts did every where kill those they met withall. To conclude, it
proved a very Bloody Tragedy.
_La Renaudie_ the Chief of the Conspirators, was met with by the Lord
_Pardaillan_ a _Gascon_. At the first approach _La Renaudie_ killed him;
but himself was killed by _Pardeillan_’s Servant, and his dead body
brought and hanged at _Amboise_.
The second History is concerning _England_, which palpably makes this
Prophecie good, if we make reflection upon what hath happened in this
last Century of years, concerning banished people that have conspired
against their King and Countrey, as we may see through all the Life of
Queen _Elizabeth_, and by that famous Plot of the Gun-powder-Treason in
King _James_’s time, which must be understood here by the _Mine_.
XIV.
French.
De gens esclave, chansons, chants, & requestes,
Captifs par Princes, & Seigneurs aux prisons,
A l’advenir par Idiots sans testes,
Seront receus par divins oraisons.
English.
From slavish people, Songs, Tunes and requests,
Being kept Prisoners by Princes and Lords,
For the future by headless Idiots,
Shall be admitted by divine prayers.
ANNOT.
This is a prognostication of the beginning and increase of the
Protestants in _France_, who began to sing their Psalms in _French_, and
from time to time presented their request for tolleration. The Author
being a zealous Papist calleth them _Idiots_, and that notwithstanding
the persecution that should be against them, being put in Prison by
_Princes_ and _Lords_, they should at last be admitted by reason of their
often praying to God.
XV.
French.
_Mars_ nous menace par la force bellique,
Septante fois fera le sang respandre,
Auge & ruine de l’Ecclesiastique,
Et par ceux qui d’eux rien ne voudront entendre.
English.
_Mars_ threatneth us of a Warlike force,
Seventy times he shall cause blood to be shed,
The flourishing and ruine of the Clergy,
And by those that will hear nothing from them.
ANNOT.
The Author having premonished us in his Preface, that God having imparted
to him the knowledge of many future things, he was curious to know if
his Divine Majesty had written the same thing in the Cœlestial Book,
as concerning the States, Empires, Monarchies, Provinces and Cities,
and he found that it was even so as it had been revealed to him, so
that the Book of Heaven, written with Gods own hand, in so many shining
Characters, might serve to studious men for a light and a Torch to
discover very near the common estate of the world.
He then having learned from God in his solitariness, the prosperities
and afflictions of the Clergy, from the beginning of the year 1555. to
the end of the world; he found that there was an agreement between his
prophetical Knowledge, and the motion of the Heavenly Bodies; because
having made the Systeme of the years after 1550. he found that _Mars_ was
in a dangerous Aspect to the Ecclesiastical estate, and found that this
Planet by its position did presage a long, bloody and horrid Catastrophe
in the world, by which the Ecclesiastical estate should suffer much.
To make good this prediction, the Author doth assure us in his Preface,
that he had considered the disposition of this Planet, not only in the
year 1555. but also in the years following, and joyning together all
that he had found in his Ephemerides, he found that this Planet did on
all sides presage most bloody actions. Although, saith he, the Planet
of _Mars_ maketh an end of its course, and is come to its last Period:
nevertheless it will begin it again, but some gathered in _Aquarius_ for
many years, and others by long and continual years.
As if he would say that his prediction ought not to be rejected; because
_Mars_ ended his course, and cometh to its late period; for it would take
again its Exaltation and Dominion with a worse conjunction, having his
Astronomical dignities, with the Conjunction of other Planets in the Sign
of _Aquarius_ during many years, and in the Sign of _Cancer_ for many
years more.
Which maketh the Author conclude, that within the space of 177. years,
three months and eleven dayes, the world shall be afflicted with Wars,
Plagues, Famines and Innundations, that scarce any body shall be left to
Till the Ground. By which prediction we learn that those evils began in
the year 1555. the first of _March_, which is the date of the Authors
Book, and shall last till the second of _June_ 1732. abating the ten days
of the Gregorian Calender.
During which time, he saith, that _Mars_ threatneth us with bloody Wars
that shall be reiterated 70 times.
This word seventy doth not signifie a determinate number, but a great
number indeterminated according to the Phrase of the Scripture, which
by the number of seven signifieth many times, and by that of seventy
incomparably many times more. Thus the Scripture saith, that the just man
falleth seven times in one day, that is many times, and our Saviour saith
to St. _Peter_, that we ought to forgive our Enemies, not only seven
times, but seventy times seven; that is innumerable times.
We have found the truth of this Prophecie to this very day. 1. In
_France_, by the Wars between _Henry_ II. and _Charles_ V. and _Philip_
II. 2. By the Wars of _Charles_ IX. against the Protestants, wherein
so much blood was spilt on both sides. 3. By _Henry_ III. against
the same Protestants, and factions of his time, and then against the
_Parisians_ and others of their league. 4. Between _Henry_ IV. and
those of the league in his revolted Kingdom. 5. By the Wars of _Lewis_
XIII. against the Protestants, against the Duke of _Savoy_, in the
_Valteline_, in _Piemont_, in _Lorrain_, in _Alsatia_, in _Catalonia_, in
_Franche-Conty_, in _Flanders_, and for the defence of _Portugal_, which
have been continued by his successor _Lewis_ XIV. now Reigning.
_Italy_ did also find the truth of this prophecie, by the Wars between
_Paul_ IV. and the _Spaniard_, between _Pius_ V. and the _Turks_, between
_Clement_ VIII. and the Duke of _Ferrara_, between the Emperour and the
Duke of _Mantua_, between _Urban_ VIII. and the Duke of _Parma_, between
the _Venetians_ and the _Florentines_, by the revolt of the Kingdom of
_Naples_, under the conduct of the Duke of _Guise_.
_England_ hath had its share of it under Queen _Elizabeth_, by the revolt
of _Yorkshire_, and some other Provinces, by the _Spanish_ fleet of 88.
By the death of Queen _Mary_, by the revolt of the Kingdom against
_Charles_ I. And by the horrid perfidiousness of _Cromwel_.
_Germany_ hath made it good by the War against the _Turks_, the
Protestants and the _Swedes_.
_Poland_ hath done the same against the _Russians_, _Tartars_, _Turks_,
_Cassaks_ and _Swedes_.
And _Venice_ against the _Turk_, for the Islands of _Cyprus_ and
_Candia_, the Battle of _Lepanto_, and the Wars of _Dalmatia_.
This _Mars_ besides presageth two contrary things, one is the _Auge_
or Exaltation, the other the _ruine of the Clergy_: where it is to be
observed, the _Auge_ in tearms of Astrology signifieth mounting or
ascending, and cometh from the Latin _verbe augere_, which signifieth to
augment or increase. This augmentation and ruine of the _Clergy_ is made
good by the several changes that have been in the Ecclesiastical estate,
in _France_, _England_, Low-Countreys, _Denmark_, _Swede_, _Poland_,
_Hungary_, _Valachia_, _Transylvania_, _Moldavia_, _Dalmatia_, _Geneva_,
_Switzerland_, &c.
The fourth Verse saith. By those that will hear nothing from them: that
is, by the Protestants that will hear nothing from the _Roman_ Catholicks.
XVI.
French.
Faux a l’Estang, joint vers la _Sagittaire_,
En son haut _Auge_ de l’Exaltation,
Peste, Famine, mort de main Militaire,
Le Siecle approcher de renovation.
English.
The Sith to the Fish-pond, joyned to _Sagittarius_,
In the highest _Auge_ of the Exaltation,
Plague, Famine, Death by a Military hand,
The age groweth near to its renovation.
ANNOT.
The sense of all this is, that when a Meadow that was a _Fish-pond_
before, shall be Mowed, the Sign of _Sagittarius_ being in its _Auge_ or
ascendant, then shall _Plague_, _Famine_, and _War_ Reign, and that age
(which a Century of years shall be near its end and renovation _viz._ of
another Century.)
XVII.
French.
Par quarante ans l’Iris n’apparoistra,
Par quarante ans tous les jours sera veu,
La Terre aride en siccité croistra,
Et grand deluge quand sera apparceu.
English.
During fourty years the Rainbow shall not appear,
During fourty years it shall be seen every day.
The parched Earth shall wax dryer and dryer,
And great Flouds shall be when it shall appear.
ANNOT.
The Interpretation of this is easie, and signifieth nothing else but that
during 40. years the _Rainbow_ shall not be seen, and during that time
there shall be an exceeding great drought upon the Earth, and that for
40. years after the _Rainbow_ shall be seen every day, which shall cause
great flouds and innundations.
XVIII.
French.
Par la discorde, negligence _Gauloise_,
Sera passage a _Mahomet_ ouvert,
De sang trempé la Terre & Mer _Senoise_,
Le Port _Phocen_ de Voiles & Nefs couvert.
English.
Through the discord and negligence of the _French_,
A passage shall be opened to _Mahomet_,
The Land and Sea of _Sienna_ shall be bloody,
The _Phocen_ Haven shall be covered with Sails and Ships.
ANNOT.
In the year 1559. _Sultan Solyman_ called _Leonclavius_, according to the
alliance made between him and _Francis_ I. King of _France_, was desired
by _Henry_ II. his Son to send him some succours: Whereupon he sent
some of his Gallies to scour the _Tyrrhenean_ Sea (otherwise the Sea of
_Tuscany_) to give a diversion to the _Spanish_ forces in _Italy_, while
the King by the means of the Marshal of _Brissac_, should continue his
Conquests in the _Piemont_ and _Milanese_.
All what this _Turkish_ Fleet did, was to plunder and over-run the
Island of _Elbe_, and to attempt _Piombino_ without effect; and because
these places were seated upon the Sea of _Sienna_, called in Latin _Mare
Tirrhenum_, the Author saith that both the Land and Sea of _Sienna_ shall
be died with Blood, and at that time the Haven of _Marseilles_, which
was called by the Ancients, Port-_Phocen_ was full of Sales and Ships,
as well to go into the Island of _Corse_, as for other designs. This
History makes good that _Stanza_ which saith, that through the _discord_
and _negligence_ of the _French_, a passage shall be opened to _Mahomet_,
wherein it is to be observed that the Marshal of _Brissac_ doing wonders
for the King in _Piemont_, his virtue got him abundance of enviers and
enemies in the Kings Councel, which was the cause of a great discord
among them, by the diversity of opinions, and this diversity was the
cause of a prodigious negligence in sending to him relief, as _Turpin_
witnesseth in his History of _Naples_, and _Paradin_ in the continuation
of his History.
By this discord and negligence, _a passage was opened to Mahomet_, his
Fleet going freely upon the _Mediterranean_ Sea near the Coasts of
_France_. And the reason of it was, because this discord and negligence
did compel _Henry_ the II. to ask succours of _Solyman_, that the
_Spaniard_ might be compelled to divide his Forces in sending some to the
Sea-Towns, and so should not be so strong in _Piemont_; and thus must be
understood the _French discord and negligence_, in the first and second
Verse. As for the many Sails and Ships that were then in the Haven of
_Marseilles_, to go into the Island of _Corsica_, the following Stanza’s
are full of predictions concerning it.
XIX.
French.
Lors que Serpens viendront circuir l’Air,
Le sang _Troien_ versé par les _Espagnes_,
Par eux: grand nombre en sera fait tare,
Chef fuit, caché aux Marets dans les saignes.
English.
When Serpents shall come to encompass the Are,
The _Trojan_ blood shall be vexed by _Spain_,
By them, a great number shall perish,
Chief runneth away, and is hid in the rushes of the Marishes.
ANNOT.
By the _Serpents_, the Author being a Roman Catholick, meaneth the
Protestants, who then began to appear numerous in the Reigns of _Francis_
the I. and _Henry_ the II. in whose time the Admiral _Coligny_ was the
chief among them, for his great feats in War.
These Serpents or Protestants begun to encompass the _Are_, that is to
say, the Church and the Altar, which in Latin is called _Ara_.
And that happened when _the Trojan-blood was vexed by Spain_. By the
_Trojan-blood_, the Author meaneth the _French_ blood, according to the
vulgar opinion, that the _French_ are descended from the _Trojans_.
The _French_ were then vexed by the _Spaniards_, at the Battle of St.
_Laurence_, and at the taking of St. _Quentin_, and other places in the
Year 1557.
The third Verse saith _by them_, that is, by the Protestants _a great
number shall perish_, that is to say, a great number of _French_. Among
whom the Admiral of _Chatillon_ having done what was possible to be done
at the defence of St. _Quentin_, and seeing the Town taken, run away
with three more, and hid himself among the Rushes that are in the Boggs
about the Town, where he was found, and carried Prisoner to the Duke of
_Savoy_, who received him very honorably, according to his valour and
deserts.
Observe that the word _Saignes_ here signifieth in old _Provencal_ a
_Marish_.
XX.
French.
_Tours_, _Orleans_, _Blois_, _Angers_, _Renes_ & _Nantes_,
Cités vexées par soudain changement,
Par Langues estranges seront tendues Tentes,
Fleuves, Darts, Rennes, Terre & Mer tremblement.
English.
_Tours_, _Orleans_, _Blois_, _Angers_, _Renes_, and _Nantes_,
Cities vexed by a sudden change,
By strange Languages Tents shall be set up,
Rivers, Darts, _Rennes_, Land, and Sea shall quake.
ANNOT.
All the Cities mentioned in the first Verse are seated by the River
of _Loire_, and are threatned here of a sudden change, and that some
strangers shall set up their Tents against them, and chiefly at _Rennes_,
there shall be an Earth-quake felt both by Sea and Land.
XXI.
French.
Profonde argile blanche nourrit rocher,
Qui d’un abysme istra l’acticineuse,
En vain troublez ne l’oseront toucher,
Ignorant estre au fond terre argileuse.
English.
A deep white clay feedeth a Rock,
Which clay shall break out of the deep like milk,
In vain people shall be troubled not daring to touch it,
Being ignorant that in the bottom there is a milky clay.
ANNOT.
It is a Rock in the middle of the Sea, whose Roots are fed by a white
clay, which is at the foot of this Rock, in the bottom of the Sea, and
therefore called deep.
This clay being softned, and dissolved by the Sea-water, shall appear
upon the superficies of it like milk about the Rock. Those that shall see
this wonder, _being ignorant that in the bottom there is a milky clay_,
shall in vain be troubled at it, and shall not dare to touch it.
XXII.
French.
Ce qui vivra & n’aura aucun sens,
Viendra le Fer a mort son artifice,
_Autun_, _Chalons_, _Langres_ & les deux _Sens_,
La Guerre & la Glasse fera grand malefice.
English.
That which shall live, and shall have no sence,
The Lion shall destroy the art of it,
_Autun_, _Chalons_, _Langres_, and both _Sens_,
The War and the Ice shall do great harm.
ANNOT.
This is a great Riddle, which was never found out till now; and had I not
been born in the Countrey where the History did happen, it might have
been unknown to this day, and buried in oblivion.
[Sidenote: _The History of a λιθοπαίδιον or petrified child_.]
In the year of the Lord 1613. which was that of my Birth. There was in
the Town of _Sens_ a Taylors Wife named _Columba Chatry_, who presently
after her marriage conceived, and for the space of 28. years persuaded
her self to be with Child, had all the signs of it in the beginning of
her impregnation, and having gone her compleat time, she begun to feel
the pains of a woman in Labour, with great gripings in the Guts. The
Urine was suppressed for a while, but at last it broke out with a strong
current. This quantity of water not coming so much out of the Bladder as
was supposed, as from the womb, by the breaking of the Membrane, called
_Amnion_, seeing that with those serous excrements, she avoided some
conjealed blood. After that her breast begun to fall, and the Child had
little or no motion, her pains being less than they were, which caused
no small admiration to the Midwifes, who expected a safe deliverance.
For the space of three years after, this woman kept her Bed, and was
brought to Deaths door, complaining of gripings and a hard swelling,
which she desired all the Physitians and Chyrurgeons to feel, having
lost all appetite, but that little which she recovered by the use of
sharp things, as Verjuice, Lemmons, _&c._ she was wont to say to her
Neighbours, that she bare a Child that should be the cause of her death.
After she was dead, her Husband got two experienced Chyrurgeons to open
her body, who having opened the belly, and taken away the _Peritonæum_,
saw the Womb of several colours, as the flesh that is about the head and
neck of a Turky-cock, but as it were of a Horny substance. They begun to
make an incision in it with a Rasour, but finding it resisted the edge,
they begun to use their Incision knives with all their strength; at last
one of them by chance hit the Scull, and after that some Ribs, and then
the Shoulder bone, by which, knowing that there was bones contained in
that lump, with greater strength they made a deeper incision, and having
parted the edges of the womb, saw in the bottom of the womb a Child,
wrapped in the membrane, called _Allantoides_; at which the Chyrugeons
wondering, sent for the Physitians to have their opinion in a thing that
is almost beyond belief; in the mean time people flocking thither from
all parts, and troubling the Chyrurgeons in their operation; they thought
good to take away with their Instruments all that Lump, as a Tree from
its Roots, and to carry it home, that they might with more time and
leasure examine the whole Anatomy of it. In that hasty pulling out of the
Child, they had no time to observe what Chorion it had, what umbilical
Vessels, and what connexion there was of the Allantoides with the Womb,
and with the Child, chiefly about the right hip, the Buttocks, and the
Back-bone being all grown solid together.
The scituation of the Child was almost _Spherical_, the face leaning upon
the breast, and the Nostrils upon the Knees; the bones of the Head were
but thin, but very hard, and shining like Horn; the skin of the Head
was hairy in many places; the head did hang so much upon the left arm,
that the Ear, and part of the skull had given way to the Shoulder-bone;
the Elbow was bent towards the Shoulder stretching only his hand, which
was so close shut, and the fingers sticking so fast to the Palm of it,
that although they did appear distinct one from another, nevertheless it
was all but one and the same stone; the right arm did stretch its hand
towards the Navel, which unadvisedly was broken by the wrist, and left
in the Mothers Belly; the left Thigh, Knee and Leg were on the top of
the right ones, with which they were so entangled, that the left heel,
and the sole of the foot were planted upon the right foot, who seemed
to have given place to them, and were almost inseparably joyned; for all
such hardness of the matter, the body was not less than that of other
Children of the same age, but kept a perfect fulness and proportion
all the internal parts, as the Brains, the Heart, the Liver, had their
natural shape, and were not altogether so hard as the external parts, so
that to this very day this little body defieth all kind of corruption.
This Child was kept in my time by one Mr. _Michel_ a Chirurgion of
_Sens_, who kindly shewed it to all the strangers that came far and near
to see it. The Fame of it was so great, that Doctor _Mayerne_ coming from
_Switzerland_ to _England_, took his way through _Sens_ to see it, and
would have perswaded King _Charles_ I. to buy it, as himself told me;
since that I hear it was fallen into the hands of the _Venetians_. In
this History there is two observable wonders. One, that the Child dying
in the Womb, did not corrupt, and so cause the death of its Mother. The
other, by what vertue or power of the body this child was petrified,
seeing that the Womb is a hot and moist place, and therefore more subject
to putrifaction. Those that will satisfie themselves with the reasons of
it, and the truth of the History, may read _Johannes Alibosius_ Physician
of _Sens_, who was an eye witness of it, and _Sennertus_ in his book of
Sympt. _quam feminis in utero accidant_.
Now this accident being so rare, and without parallel, our Author
thought fit to foretel it, and to cover it in abscure tearms, that he
might not appear ridiculous in so admirable an event. When therefore he
saith, _That which shall live and shall have no Sense_, he meaneth this
λιθοπαίδιον or child petrified, which had a Life while it was in the
Mothers belly, being tied to it by the several Vessels and connexions,
known to Anatomists, and yet was senseless in that it was petrified. When
in the second verse he saith, _The Iron shall destroy the art of it_, he
meaneth that it should be spoiled by the rasour, in the two last verses
he saith, that the Towns of _Autun_, _Chalons_, _Langres_, and _Sens_ the
Town in which this did happen should that same year suffer much damage by
Hail and Ice, which did come to pass, as many persons may justify in that
Countrey, that are alive to this day.
XXIII.
French.
Au mois troisiesme se levant le Soleil,
Sanglier, Leopard, aux champs _Mars_ pour combatre,
Leopard lassé au Ciel esttend son œil,
Un Aigle autour du Soleil voit sesbatre.
English.
In the third month at the rising of the Sun,
The Boar and Leopard in _Marth_ camp to fight;
The Leopard weary, lift his eyes to Haven,
And seeth an Eagle playing about the Sun.
ANNOT.