large kingdom of Europe, situated between 5° W. and 7° E. Long, and between 43° and 51° N. Lat, being bounded by the English channel and the Austrian Netherlands, on the north; by Germany, Switzerland, Savoy, and Piedmont, in Italy, on the east; by the Mediterranean sea, and the Pyrenean mountains, which separate it from Spain, on the south; and, by the bay of Biscay, on the west.

The kingdom of France was originally possessed by the Celts or Gauls. They were a very warlike people, and often checked the progress of the Roman arms; nor did they yield till the time of Julius Caesar, who totally subdued their country, and reduced it to the form of a Roman province*. The Romans continued in quiet possession of Gaul, as long as their empire retained its strength, and they were in a condition to repulse the incursions of the German nations, whom even in the zenith of their power they had not been able to subdue. But, in the reign of the emperor Valerian, the ancient Roman valour and discipline had begun to decline, and the same care was not taken to defend the provinces that had formerly been done. The barbarous nations, therefore, began to make much more frequent incursions; and among the rest the Franks, a German nation, inhabiting the banks of the Rhine, proved particularly troublesome. Their first irruption, we are told by Valesius, happened in the year 254, the second of Valerian's reign. At this time they were but few in number; and were repulsed by Aurelian, afterwards emperor. Not discouraged by this check, they returned two years afterwards in far greater numbers; but were again defeated by Gallienus, whom Valerian had chosen for his partner in the empire. Others, however, continued to pour in from their native country in such multitudes, that Gallienus, no longer able to drive them out by force of arms, made advantageous proposals to one of their chiefs,

whom he engaged to defend the frontiers against his countrymen as well as other invaders.

This expedient did not long answer the purpose. In 260 the Franks, taking advantage of the defeat and captivity of Valerian in Persia, broke into Gaul, and afterwards into Italy, committing everywhere dreadful ravages. Five years afterwards they invaded Spain; which they possessed, or rather plundered, for the space of 12 years; nor could they be driven out of Gaul till the year 275, when the emperor Probus not only gave them a total overthrow in that country, but pursued them into their own, where he built several forts to keep them in awe. This intimidated them so much, that none of their kings submitted to the emperor, and promised an annual tribute.—They continued quiet till the year 287; when, in conjunction with the Saxon pirates, they plundered the coasts of Gaul, carrying off an immense booty. To revenge this insult, the emperor Maximian entered the country of the Franks the following year, where he committed such ravages that two of their kings submitted to him; and to many of the common people who chose to remain in Gaul, he allowed lands in the neighbourhood of Treves and Cambrai.

The restless disposition of the Franks, however, did not allow them to remain long in quiet. About the year 293, they made themselves masters of Batavia, and part of Flanders; but were entirely defeated and forced to surrender at discretion, by Constantius the father of Constantine the Great, who transplanted them into Gaul. Their countrymen in Germany continued quiet till the year 306, when they renewed their depredations; but being overcome by Constantine the Great, two of their kings were taken prisoners, and thrown to the wild beasts in the shows exhibited on that occasion.

All these victories, however, as well as many others said to have been gained by the Romans, were not sufficient to prevent the incursions of this restless and turbulent nation; insomuch that, in the year 355, they had made themselves masters of 40 cities in the province of Gaul. Soon after, they were totally defeated by the emperor Julian, and again by count Theodosius father to the emperor of that name; but, in the year 388, they ravaged the province with more fury than ever, and cut off a whole Roman army that was sent against them. As the western empire was at this time in a very low state, they for some time found more interruption from other barbarians than from the Romans, till their progress was checked by Aetius.

When the war with Aetius broke out, the Franks were governed by one Pharamond, the first of their first kings of whom we have any distinct account. He is king, supposed to have reigned from the year 417 or 418, to the year 428; and is thought by archbishop Ulther, to have been killed in the war with Aetius. By some he is supposed to have compiled the Salique Laws, with the assistance of four sages named Wisegoff, Leogoff, Widagoff, and Selagoff. But Valesius is of opinion that the Franks had no written laws till the time of Clovis.

Pharamond was succeeded by his son Clodio, who likewise carried on a war against the Romans. He is said to have received a terrible overthrow from Aetius near the city of Lens; notwithstanding which, he advanced vance to Cambrai, and made himself master of that city; where for some time he took up his residence. After this he extended his conquests as far as the river Somme, and destroyed the cities of Treses and Cologne, Tournay and Amiens. He died in the year 448, and was succeeded by Merovius.

Authors are not agreed whether the new king was brother, or son, or any relation at all, to Clodio. It seems probable, indeed, that he was of a different family; as from him the first race of French kings were styled Merovingian. He was honoured and respected by his people, but did not greatly enlarge the boundaries of his kingdom. He died in 456.

Merovius was succeeded by his son Childebert; who being no longer kept in awe by Attila, made war on the Romans, and extended his conquests as far as the river Loire. He is said to have taken the city of Paris after a siege of five years, according to some, and of ten, according to others. The Roman power was now totally destroyed in Italy; and therefore Childebert, Clovis, or Louis, for his name is differently written, who succeeded Childebert, set himself about making an entire conquest of Gaul. Part of the province was still retained by a Roman named Syagrius, who probably had become sovereign of the country on the downfall of the Western empire in 476. He was defeated and taken prisoner by Clovis, who afterwards caused him to be beheaded, and soon after totally reduced his dominions.

Thus was the French monarchy established by Clovis in the year 487. He now possessed all the country lying between the Rhine and the Loire; which, though a very extensive dominion, was yet considerably inferior to what it is at present. In 493, he married Clotildis, niece to Gondebaud duke of Burgundy; and embraced the Christian religion. He reduced Armorica, or Brittany; and afterwards made war on the Burgundians, in which he had Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths for his ally. About this time; however, Alaric king of the Visigoths inhabiting Auvergne, made war upon Clovis; and a decisive battle ensuing, the former were entirely defeated, their king killed, and his dominions became a province of France.

Clovis after this destroyed all the petty kings or Christians among the Franks, which he did not accomplish without the vilest treachery; but, by that means his power became absolute throughout all his dominions. Having removed the seat of his government first from Tournay to Soissons, and then to Paris, he died in 511; and was buried in the church of Sts. Peter and Paul, now Genevieve, where his tomb is still to be seen.

After the death of Clovis, his dominions were divided among his four sons. Thier, or Theodoric, the eldest, had the eastern part of the empire; and, from his making the city of Metz his capital, is commonly called the king of Metz. Clodomir, the eldest son for Clotildis, had the kingdom of Orleans; Childebert, and Clotaire, who were both infants, had the kingdoms of Paris and Soissons, under the tutelage of their mother. The prudence of Clotildis kept matters quiet in all the parts of the empire for eight years; but, about the year 520, a numerous fleet of Danes arrived at the mouth of the Meuse; and their king Cochiliac, having landed his forces, began to destroy the country with fire and sword. Against him Thier sent his son Theodobert, who defeated the Danish army and navy, and killed their king, forcing the rest to retire with precipitation.

In 522, Hermanfroi king of Thuringia, having destroyed one of his brethren named Berthaire, and seized on his dominions, applied to Thier for alliance against his other brother Balderic, whom he intended to treat in the same manner. In this infamous enterprise Thier embarked, on condition that he should have one half of Balderic's dominions; but after the unhappy prince was overcome and killed in battle, Hermanfroi seized all his dominions. Thier had no opportunity of revenging himself till the year 531; when perceiving the power of the Ostrogoths, whom he much dreaded, to be considerably lessened by the death of king Theodoric, he engaged his brother Clotaire to assist him, and they accordingly entered Thuringia with two powerful armies. They joined their forces as soon as they had passed the Rhine, and were quickly after reinforced by a considerable body of troops under the command of Theodobert. The allies attacked the army of Hermanfroi, which was advantageously posted; and having totally defeated it, he was forced to fly from place to place in disguise. Soon after this the capital was taken, and Hermanfroi himself being invited to a conference by Thier was treacherously murdered; after which his extensive dominions became feudatory to Thier.

In the mean time, Clotildis had excited her children to make war on the Burgundians, in order to revenge the death of her father Chilperic, whom Gondebaud king of Burgundy had caused to be murdered. Gondebaud was now dead, and had left his dominions to his sons Sigifund and Godemar. Sigifund's forces were quickly defeated; and he himself was soon after delivered up by his own subjects to Clodomir, who caused him to be thrown into a pit, where he perished miserably. By his death Godemar became sole master of Burgundy. Clodomir marched against him, and defeated him; but pursuing his victory too eagerly, was surrounded by his enemies and slain. After the reduction of Thuringia, however, Childebert and Clotaire entered the kingdom of Burgundy at the head of a powerful army, and in 534 completed the conquest of it; in which, according to some, Godemar was killed; according to others, he retired into Spain, and from thence into Africa.

In 560 Clotaire became sole monarch of France. He had murdered the sons of Clodomir, who was killed in Burgundy as above related. Thier and his children were dead, as was also Childebert; so that Clotaire was sole heir to all the dominions of Clovis. He had five sons; and the eldest of them, named Chrammes, had some time before rebelled against his father in Auvergne. As long as Childebert lived, he supported the young prince; but on his death, Chrammes was obliged to implore his father's clemency. He was at this time pardoned; but he soon began to cabal afresh, and engaged the count of Bretagne to assist him in another rebellion. The Bretons, however, were defeated, and Chrammes determined to make his escape; but perceiving that his wife and children were surrounded by his father's troops, he attempted to rescue them. In this attempt he was taken prisoner, and with his family was was thrust into a thatched cottage near the field of battle; of which the king was no longer informed, than he commanded the cottage to be set on fire, and all that were in it perished in the flames.

Clothaire did not long survive this cruel execution of his son, but died in 562; and after his death the French empire was divided among his four remaining sons, Caribert, Gontran, Sigebert, and Chilperic.

The old king made no division of his dominions before he died, which perhaps caused the young princes to fall out sooner than they would otherwise have done. After his death, however, they divided the kingdom by lots when Caribert, the eldest, had the kingdom of Paris; Gontran, the second, had Orleans; Sigebert, had Metz, (or the kingdom of Austrasia); and Chilperic had Soissons. Provence and Aquitaine were possessed by all of them in common. The peace of the empire was first disturbed in 563, by an invasion of the Abaras; a barbarous nation, said to be the remains of the Huns. They entered Thuringia, which belonged to the dominions of Sigebert; but by him they were totally defeated, and obliged to repatriate the Rhine with precipitation. Sigebert pursued them close, but readily concluded a peace with them on their first proposals. To this he was induced, by hearing that his brother Chilperic had invaded his dominions, and taken Rheims and some other places in the neighbourhood. Against him, therefore, Sigebert marched with his victorious army, made himself master of Soissons his capital, and of the person of his eldest son Theodobert. He then defeated Chilperic in battle; and not only recovered the place which he had seized, but conquered the greater part of his dominions; nevertheless, on the mediation of the other two brothers, Sigebert abandoned all his conquests, for Theodobert at liberty, and thus restored peace to the empire.

Soon after this, Sigebert married Brunehaut daughter to Athanagilde king of the Vifigots in Spain; and in a little time after the marriage died Caribert king of Paris, whose dominions were divided among his three brethren. In 567 Chilperic married Galfwintha, Brunehaut's eldest sister, whom he did not obtain without some difficulty. Before her arrival, he dismissed his mistress called Fredegonde; a woman of great abilities and firmness of mind, but ambitious to the highest degree, and capable of committing the blackest crimes in order to gratify her ambition. The queen, who brought with her immense treasures from Spain, and made it her whole study to please the king, was for some time entirely acceptable. By degrees, however, Chilperic suffered Fredegonde to appear again at court, and was suspected of having renewed his intercourse with her; which gave such umbrage to the queen, that she desired leave to return to her own country, promising to leave behind her all the wealth she had brought. The king, knowing that this would render him extremely odious, found means to dissipate his wife's suspicions, and soon after caused her to be privately strangled, upon which he publicly married Fredegonde.

Such an atrocious action would not fail of exciting the greatest indignation against Chilperic. His dominions were immediately invaded by Sigebert and Gontran, who conquered the greatest part of them; after which they suddenly made peace, Chilperic contenting that Brunehaut should enjoy those places which on his marriage he had bestowed upon Galfwintha, viz. Bordeaux, Limoges, Cahors, Bigorre, and the town of Bearn, now called Lescar.

The French princes, however, did not long continue at peace among themselves. A war quickly ensued, in which Gontran and Chilperic allied themselves against Sigebert. The latter prevailed, and having forced Gontran to a separate peace, seemed determined to make Chilperic pay dear for his repeated perfidy and infamous conduct; when he was assassinated by a contrivance of Fredegonde, who thus saved herself and Chilperic from the most imminent danger. Immediately on his death, Brunehaut fell into the hands of Chilperic; but Gondechaud, one of Sigebert's best generals, made his escape into Austrasia with Childbert, the only son of Sigebert, an infant of about five years of age, who was immediately proclaimed king in room of his father. In a short time, however, Meroveus, eldest son to Chilperic, fell in love with Brunehaut, and married her without acquainting his father. Chilperic, on this news, immediately went to Rouen, where Meroveus and his consort were; and having seized them, sent Brunehaut and her two daughters to Metz, and carried Meroveus to Soissons. Soon after, one of his generals being defeated by Gontran, who espoused Brunehaut's cause, Chilperic in a fit of rage caused Meroveus to be shaved and confined in a monastery. From hence he found means to make his escape, and with great difficulty arrived in Austrasia, where Brunehaut would gladly have protected him; but the jealousy of the nobles was so strong, that he was forced to leave that country; and being betrayed into the hands of his father's forces, was murdered, at the instigation of Fredegonde, as was generally believed.

The French empire was at this time divided between Gontran king of Orleans, called also king of Burgundy, Chilperic king of Soissons, and Childbert king of Austrasia. Chilperic found his affairs in a very disagreeable situation. In 579, he had a dispute with Varoc count of Bretagne, who refused to do him homage. Chilperic dispatched a body of troops against him; who were defeated, and he was then forced to clap up a dishonourable peace. His brother and nephew lived in strict union, and had no reason to be very well pleased with him. His own subjects, being oppressed with heavy taxes, were miserably poor and discontented. His son Clovis, by a former queen named Andovera, hated Fredegonde, and made no secret of his aversion. To add to his embarrassment, the seasons were for a long time so unfavourable, that the country was threatened with famine and pestilence at the same time. The king and queen were both attacked by an epidemic disease which then raged. They recovered; but their three sons, Clodobert, Samson, and Dagobert, died; after which, the sight of Clovis became so disagreeable to Fredegonde, that she caused him to be murdered, and likewise his mother Andovera, left Chilperic's affection for her should return after the tragic death of her son.

In 583 Chilperic himself was murdered by some unknown assassins, when his dominions were on the point of being conquered by Gontran and Childbert, who had entered into a league for that purpose. After his death Fredegonde implored the protection of Gontran for herself and her infant son Clotaire; which he very readily readily granted, and obliged Childebert to put an end to the war. He found himself, however, greatly difficulted to keep Fredegonde and Brunehaut in awe; for these two princesses having been long rivals and implacable enemies, were continually plotting the destruction of each other. This, however, he accomplished by favouring sometimes Brunehaut and sometimes Fredegonde; so that, during his life, neither of them durst undertake anything against the other.

On the 28th of March 593, died Gontran, having lived upwards of 60, and reigned 32 years. Childebert succeeded to his dominions without opposition, but did not long enjoy them; he himself dying in the year 596, and his queen shortly after. His dominions were divided between his two sons Theodobert and Thierry; the first of whom was declared king of Austrasia, and the latter king of Burgundy. As Theodobert was only in the 11th year of his age, and Thierry in his 10th, Brunehaut governed both kingdoms with an absolute sway. Fredegonde, however, took care not to let slip such a favourable opportunity as was offered her by the death of Childebert, and therefore made herself mistress of Paris and some other places on the Seine. Upon this Brunehaut sent against her the best part of the forces in Austrasia, who were totally defeated; but Fredegonde died before the had time to improve her victory, leaving her son Clotaire heir to all her dominions.

For some time Brunehaut preserved her kingdom in peace; but in the end her own ambition proved her ruin. Instead of instructing Theodobert in what was necessary for a prince to know, she took care rather to keep him in ignorance, and even suffered him to marry a young and handsome slave of his father's. The new queen was possessed of a great deal of affability and good-nature; by which means she in a short time gained the affection of her husband so much, that he readily consented to the banishment of Brunehaut. Upon this disgrace she fled to Thierry king of Burgundy, in the year 599. By him she was very kindly received; and instead of exciting jealousies or misunderstandings between the two brothers, she engaged Thierry to attempt the recovery of Paris and the other places which had been wrested from their family by Fredegonde, procuring at the same time a considerable body of auxiliaries from the Visigoths. This measure was so acceptable to Theodobert, that he likewise raised a numerous army, and invaded Clotaire's dominions in conjunction with his brother. A battle ensued, in which the forces of Clotaire were totally defeated, and himself obliged soon after to sue for peace; which was not granted, but on condition of his yielding up the best part of his dominions.

This treaty was concluded in the year 600; but three years afterwards, it was broken by Clotaire. He was again attacked by the two brothers, and the war carried on with great vigour till the next spring. At this time Thierry having forced Landri, Clotaire's general, to a battle, gave him a total overthrow, in which the king's infant son Meroveus, whom he had sent along with Landri, was massacred; to gratify, as Clotaire pretended, the malice of Brunehaut. After this victory, Thierry marched directly to Paris; fully bent on the destruction of his cousin, which now seemed inevitable. This, however, was prevented by Theodobert; who no sooner heard of the victory gained by Thierry, than he became jealous of his success, and offered Clotaire such terms of peace as he gladly accepted. The latter having then nothing to fear on the side of Austrasia, quickly compelled Thierry to listen to terms of accommodation also.

This behaviour of Theodobert greatly provoked his brother; and his resentment was highly inflamed by Brunehaut, who never forgot her disgrace in being banished from his court. A war was therefore commenced between the two brothers in 605; but it was so highly disapproved of by the nobility, that Thierry found himself obliged to put an end to it. The tranquillity which now took place, was again disturbed in 607, by Theodobert's sending an embassy to demand some part of Childebert's dominions which had been added, by the will of that monarch, to those of Burgundy. The nobility of both kingdoms were so much averse to war, that they constrained their kings to consent to a conference, attended by an equal number of troops; but Theodobert, by a scandalous breach of his faith, brought double the number, and compelled his brother to submit to what terms he pleased. This piece of treachery instantly brought on a war; for Thierry was bent on revenge, and his nobility no longer opposed him. It was necessary, however, to secure Clotaire by a negotiation; and accordingly a promise was made of restoring those parts of his dominions which had formerly been taken from him, provided he would remain quiet. This treaty being finished, Thierry entered Theodobert's dominions, defeated him in two battles, took him prisoner, used him with the utmost indignity; and having caused an infant son of his to be put to death, sent him to his grandmother Brunehaut. By her orders he was first shaved and confined in a monastery; but afterwards, fearing lest he should make his escape, she caused him to be put to death.—Clotaire, in the mean time, thought that the best method of making Thierry keep his word was to seize on those places which he had promised to restore to him, before his return from the war with Theodobert. This he accordingly did; and Thierry no sooner heard of his having done so, than he sent him a message requiring him to withdraw his forces, and, in case of his refusal, declared war. Clotaire was prepared for this; and accordingly assembled all the forces in his dominions, in order to give him a proper reception. But before Thierry could reach his enemies, he was seized with a dysentery; of which he died in the year 612, having lived 26 years, and reigned 17.

On the death of Thierry, Brunehaut immediately caused his eldest son, named Sigibert, then in the 10th year of his age, to be proclaimed king. It is probable that she intended to have governed in his name with an absolute sway; but Clotaire did not give her time to discover her intentions. Having great intelligence in Austrasia and Burgundy, and knowing that the nobility in both kingdoms were disaffected to Brunehaut, he declared war against her; and she being betrayed by her generals, fell into the hands of her enemies. Clotaire gave her up to the nobles; who generally hated her, and who used her in the most cruel death-manner. After having led her about the camp, exposed to the insults of all who had the means to insult her, she was tied by the leg and arm to the tail of an untamed horse, which, setting off at full speed, quickly dashed out her brains. After this her mangled body was reduced to ashes, which were afterwards interred in the abbey of St Martin at Autun.

Thus Clotaire became sole monarch of France; and quietly enjoyed his kingdom till his death, which happened in the year 628. He was succeeded by Dagobert; who proved a great and powerful prince, and raised the kingdom of France to a high degree of splendor. Dagobert was succeeded by his sons Sigebert and Clovis; the former of whom had the kingdom of Austrasia, and the latter that of Burgundy. Both the kings were minors at the time of their accession to the throne, which gave an opportunity to the mayors of the palace (the highest officers under the crown) to usurp the whole authority. Sigebert died in 649, after a short reign of one year; leaving behind him an infant son named Dagobert, whom he strongly recommended to the care of Grimoald his mayor of the palace. The minister caused Dagobert to be immediately proclaimed king, but did not long suffer him to enjoy that honour. He had not the cruelty, however, to put him to death; but sent him to a monastery in one of the Western islands of Scotland; and then, giving out that he was dead, advanced his own son Childebert to the throne. Childebert was expelled by Clovis king of Burgundy; who placed on the throne Childebert, the second son of Sigebert. Clovis died soon after the revolution, and was succeeded in his dominions by his son Clotaire; who died in a short time, without issue. He was succeeded by his brother Childebert; who, after a short reign, was murdered with his queen, at that time big with child, and an infant son named Dagobert; tho' another, named Daniel, had the good luck to escape.

The affairs of the French were now in the most deplorable situation, without king, magistrates, or law of any kind; nor did this confusion end but with the total extinction of the family of Clovis. The princes of the Merovingian race were, in fact, deprived of their power by Pepin d'Heritall, who obliged Thierri king of Austrasia to receive him as mayor of the palace. He governed every thing in the most absolute manner; but, however, conducted matters with so much prudence, that the nation was very much respected during the time of his administration, which continued 28 years. He died in 711, and was succeeded in his post by his youngest son Theudobalde, at that time but six years old. In 717, Theudobalde was expelled by Charles Martel, Pepin's son by a former wife, who compelled the nominal king at that time to own him as mayor of the palace. He was attended with surprising success in all his undertakings; defeated the Arabs who invaded the kingdom; overthrew the Frisons, and killed their duke with his own hands. At last he was chosen by pope Gregory III. for his protector. He offered to shake off his dependence on the Greek emperor, and to make Charles consul at Rome, sending him at the same time the keys of the tomb of St Peter. But while this affair was in agitation, Charles Martel died, and was succeeded in his power by his sons Carloman and Pepin.

Though Charles had never assumed the title of sovereign, he divided the empire between his sons as if he had been actually king. In 746, Carloman being weary of his greatness, retired into a convent, and thus left Pepin absolute master of the empire; who, five years afterwards, resolved to assume the title of king, as he had long possessed the authority of one. This prince, surnamed le Bref, or the Short, was the first of the second race of French kings named Carolingian; Short, and was one of the greatest and most prudent monarchs that ever sat on the throne of France. He protected pope Stephen III. against Astolophus king of the Lombards, who had seized the exarchate of Ravenna, and insisted upon his being acknowledged king of Rome. Pepin conducted the pope, who had come to France, with an army back into Italy; besieged Astolophus in Pavia; and obliged him to renounce, not only all claim to the sovereignty of Rome, but also the exarchate of Ravenna, and all his other conquests in Italy. The exarchate he bestowed upon the pope; who, however, did not consider it as a gift from him, but only as the restoring to him a territory which was justly his right. Pepin was no sooner gone, than Astolophus broke the treaty he had concluded, and laid siege to Rome itself. However, the king of France very soon returned, and forced him to accept of a peace on vastly worse terms than before; after which he made a tour to Rome; but finding that his stay gave great uneasiness to the Greeks, as well as to the pope himself, he quickly left the city.

After his return to his own dominions, Pepin employed himself in regulating the national affairs; but was soon obliged to take the field against the duke of Aquitaine, which country he entirely reduced in the space of nine years. Soon after this, he died of a dropsy at St Denis, in the year 768, the 17th of his reign, and 54th of his life.

Pepin was succeeded by his two sons Charles and Carloman. The latter, who was the younger, died in 769, the year after their accession to the throne; and thus Charles became sole master of the French empire, the Great, which he enlarged farther than ever it was either before or since. His first expedition was against the Saxons, who had long been tributaries to France, but frequently revolted, and now thought they had a good opportunity, by the death of Pepin, of freeing themselves from that tribute, which they regarded as an intolerable grievance. Charles, however, entered their country with a great army; and having defeated them in a number of small engagements, advanced to their capital post of Eresbourg near Paderborn; where was the temple of their god Irminful, represented as a man completely armed, with a standard in one hand, placed on a column. The Saxons made an obstinate defence; but were at last obliged to yield; and Charles employed his army three days in demolishing the monuments of pagan superstition in this place. This disheartened them to such a degree, that they submitted to whatever terms he chose to prescribe; and which were rendered easier to them than, perhaps, they would have been, by the news which Charles now received from Italy.

Didier, king of the Lombards, having seized and frighted to death pope Stephen IV. endeavoured to the utmost of his power to reduce his successor Adrian I. to a state of dependence. The pope implored the assistance of Charles against his adversaries, and this Charles was very ready of himself to grant; but the nobility were so much averse to an Italian war, that he was obliged to act with the greatest circumspection. He sent; therefore, several embassies to Didier; in which, after expressing a great desire to preserve a strict harmony between the two nations, he at length offered him a large sum of money if he would restore the places he had taken from the pope. These offers being rejected, Charles at length obtained the consent of his nobility, and set out for Lombardy with a powerful army. Didier, however, had made such excellent dispositions, that all Charles's officers reckoned it would be impossible for him to force a passage. But Didier's troops being seized with a sudden panic, abandoned all their posts, and retired with precipitation. Charles pursued them with such impetuosity, that numbers were killed. Didier with one part of the troops took shelter in Pavia; the rest, under the command of his only son Adalgiso, threw themselves into Verona. Charles formed the siege of both places at once. Both of them were taken, after making a vigorous resistance. Didier fell into the hands of Charles, who carried him prisoner into France; but Adalgiso escaped to Constantinople; after which all the other places of strength in the country submitted to the conqueror, and thus Charles became master of the whole kingdom of the Lombards in a single campaign.

After this success the king set out for Rome, whence he was very soon recalled by the news of a fresh revolt of the Saxons. Then he quickly reduced; but was next year obliged to return into Italy, in order to subdue some of the Lombard lords who had set up for independent princes. While he was employed in subduing them, the Saxons revolted, so that Charles found himself again under a necessity of returning into Germany. They submitted in a short time, and promised to become Christians; and the king took care now to force them to keep their promises, by building forts in several parts of the country.

In 778, being invited by some Moorish lords, he made an expedition into Spain. Here he took Pompejana and Saragossa; after which, the emir of Huesca and Jacca voluntarily submitted to him, as did also the governor of Barcelona and Girona. Having taken all methods in his power to secure his new conquests, he set out on his return; but the Gascons, having attacked the rear of his army, cut off great numbers of his men. In 779 and 780, he was employed in quelling new insurrections in Saxony and Italy. The Saxons he treated with the utmost cruelty, causing 4500 prisoners to be beheaded at once, because they could not deliver up Witikind, one of their chiefs who had fled into Denmark. This piece of barbarity soon excited a general revolt; and it was not till the year 785, that Charles was able totally to reduce them. This, however, he at last accomplished, after having made terrible devastation.

All the endeavours of this great monarch, however, to keep his new subjects quiet, were ineffectual. He had no sooner finished this last conquest of the Saxons, than he was called into Italy to quiet some new insurrections which had taken place there. This was no sooner accomplished, than he was obliged to take the field against the Selavonians, who harassed some of his Germanic subjects. In the mean time the duchy of Bavaria was harassed by the Huns to such a degree, that after subduing the Selavonians, Charles found it necessary to turn his arms against them. But while he meditated this expedition the Saxons again revolted, and new troubles broke out in Italy. Charles behaved with the greatest prudence and resolution. In 794, he marched against the Saxons; and so great was their fear of him, that their army began to disband as soon as he entered the country. Upon this the Saxon chiefs sued for peace; which they could obtain upon no other terms than that they should receive the Christian clergy, and deliver up a third part of the army to be sent wherever he pleased. Hard as this last article was, they complied with it; and Charles distributed these Saxon troops on the coasts of Holland and Flanders, where they proved of great use in repelling the invasions of the Normans, who about this time began to be formidable. The war with the Abarca, or Huns, was conducted by Pepin son to Charles, whom he had appointed king of Italy, and who is said to have almost extirpated the nation. After this Charles himself returned into Italy; and having there quieted all disturbances, he proceeded to Rome, where he was solemnly crowned emperor of the West by pope Leo III. in the year 800. He continued to reign with uninterrupted prosperity till the year 813; when he died of a pleurisy on the 28th of January, leaving the empire to his only surviving son, Lewis, king of Aquitaine, whom he had before taken for his partner in the imperial dignity.

The good fortune of Charles did not descend to his children. Lewis, though a very mild and religious prince, was by no means fit for governing those turbulent nations with whom he had to do. His reign, therefore, was a continued scene of troubles. His own children conspired against him; and more than once made him prisoner, and treated him with the utmost indignity. Lothaire, the eldest, even pronounced a formal sentence of deposition against him. At last, however, this ungrateful prince was obliged to submit to his father, and ask his pardon in the most humble manner; who forgave him, and did not punish his associates with such severity as they deserved. This lenity produced a fresh cabal among his children; and before they could be reduced the emperor died, being worn out with sickness and grief for the unnatural conduct of his sons.

Lewis left behind him three sons: Lothaire, whom he had associated with himself in the empire; Lewis, king of Bavaria; and Charles, only 17 years of age, king of France, under the tuition of his mother. On the death of their father, however, Lothaire attempted to seize the whole empire for himself; but after a long and ruinous war with his two brothers, was forced to consent to a new division: by which Charles had Aquitaine and all the country between the Loire and the Meuse; Lewis had the whole of Germany; and Lothaire, besides Italy, had the whole tract of country lying within the rivers Rhone, Rhine, Saone, Meuse, and Scheld. The whole of what he held on this side of the mountains, was from him called Lutharingia, and by corruption Lotharingia; though this name is now given to a duchy which contains only a small part of that kingdom.

This division happened in the year 845; and the empire was now so much weakened by the civil wars which had preceded, that it became a prey to the barbarous nations, who invaded it in on all sides. The Spanish dominions were almost entirely lost; the Bretons revolted, and could not be subdued; and in 855, Lothaire thaire died, leaving his dominions among his three sons: so that, by the setting up of so many independent fo- vereigns, it was next to impossible that the empire could preserve its tranquility, which had been so dearly bought. In fact, for a long time the history of France affords nothing but an account of civil discords. Charles (furnished the Bald), king of France, by deceit got himself crowned emperor in preference to Lewis, who was his elder brother; and having made himself master of Italy, he thought it would be an easy matter to seize on all the dominions of his brother Lewis, who died about the year 876. In this, however, he was decei- ved; being defeated with great loss, and obliged totally to abandon the enterprise. Next year he himself was poisoned by a Jewish physician named Zedeckias; and died in the 34th year of his reign, and 54th of his age.

Charles the Bald was succeeded by his only son, na- med Lewis; and, from an impediment in his speech, furnished the Stammerer. He was a prince of no great abilities; and as he found the affairs of the kingdom in considerable disorder at the time of his accession, so it was not in his power to extricate them from it. He died on the 10th of April 879, while on a march to suppress some insurrections in Burgundy. He left his queen Adelaide pregnant; who some time after his death was delivered of a son, named Charles. After his death followed an interregnum; during which a fac- tion was formed for setting aside the children of Lewis the Stammerer, in favour of the German princes, sons to Lewis the brother of Charles the Bald. This scheme, however, proved abortive; and the two sons of the late king, Lewis and Carloman, were crowned kings of France. Another kingdom, however, was at that time erected by an assembly of the states, namely, the king- dom of Provence, which consisted of the countries now called Languedoc, Savoy, Dauphiny, Franche Comté, and part of the duchy of Burgundy; and this kingdom was given to duke Boso, brother-in-law to Charles the Bald. In 881, both kings of France died; Lewis, as was suspected, by poison; and Carloman of a wound he received accidentally while hunting. This produced a second interregnum; which ended with the calling in of Charles the Gros, emperor of Germany. His reign was more unfortunate than that of any of his prede- cessors. The Normans, to whom he had given leave to settle in Friesland, sailed up the Seine with a fleet of 700 ships, and laid siege to Paris. Charles, unable to force them to abandon their undertaking, prevailed on them to depart by a large sum of money. But as the king could not advance the money at once, he allowed them to remain in the neighbourhood of Paris during the winter; and they in return plundered the coun- try, thus amassing vast wealth besides the sum which Charles had promised. After this ignominious tran- saction Charles returned to Germany, in a very decli- ning state of health both as to body and mind. Here he quarrelled with his emperors; and being abandoned by all his friends, he was deposed, and reduced to such distress, that he would not even have had bread to eat, had not he been supplied by the archbishop of Mentz, out of a principle of charity.

On the deposition of Charles the Gros, Eudes count of Paris was chosen king by the nobility during the minority of Charles the son of Adelaide; afterwards named Charles the Simple. He defeated the Normans, and repressed the power of the nobility; on which ac- count a faction was formed in favour of Charles, who was sent for, with his mother, from England. Eudes did not enter into a civil war; but peaceably resigned the greatest part of the kingdom to him, and consented to do homage for the rest. He died soon after this agreement, in the year 888.

During the reign of Charles the Simple, the French government declined. By the introduction of fiefs, those noblemen who had got into the possession of gov- ernments, having these confirmed to them and their heirs for ever, became in a manner independent sovereigns; and as these great lords had others under them, and even these again had their vassals; instead of the easy and equal government which prevailed before, a vast num- ber of infupportable little tyrannies were erected. The Normans, too, ravaged the country in the most terrible manner, and defoliated some of the finest provinces in France. At last Charles ceded to Rollo, the king or captain of these barbarians, the duchy of Neustria; who thereupon became Christian, changed his own name to Robert, and that of his principality to Nor- mandy.

During the remainder of the reign of Charles the Simple, and the entire reigns of Lewis IV. furnished the Stranger, Lothaire, and Lewis V. the power of the Carolingian race continually declined; till at last they were supplanted by Hugh Capet, who had been created duke of France by Lothaire. This revolution happened in the year 987, and was brought about much in the same manner as the former one had been by Pepin. He proved an active and prudent monarch, and possessed such other qualities as were requisite for keeping his tumultuous subjects in awe. He died on the 24th of October 997, leaving his dominions in perfect quiet to his son Robert.

The new king inherited the good qualities of his fa- ther. In his reign the kingdom was enlarged by the death of Henry duke of Burgundy, the king's uncle, to whom he fell heir. This new accession of territory, however, was not obtained without a war of several years' continuance, on account of some preten- ders to the sovereignty of that duchy; and had it not been for the assistance of the duke of Normandy, it is doubtful whether the king would have succeeded.—As Robert was of opinion, that peace and tranquillity were preferable to wide extended dominions with a precarious tenure, he refused the kingdom of Italy and the imperial crown of Germany, both which were of- fered him. He died on the 20th of July 1030; hav- ing reigned 33 years, and lived 60.

Robert was succeeded by his eldest son Henry I. Henry I., who in the beginning of his reign met with great op- position from his mother. She had always hated him; and preferred his younger brother Robert, in whose fa- vour she now raised an insurrection. By the assistance of Robert duke of Normandy, however, Henry over- came all his enemies, and established himself firmly upon the throne. In return for this, he supported Wil- liam, Robert's natural son, and afterwards king of England, in the possession of the duchy of Normandy. Afterwards, however, growing jealous of his power, he not only supported the pretenders to the duchy of Nor- Normandy secretly, but invaded that country himself in their favour. This enterprise proved unsuccessful, and Henry was obliged to make peace; but no sincere reconciliation ever followed; for the king retained a deep sense of the disgrace he had met with, and the duke never forgave him for invading his dominions. The treaty between them, therefore, was quickly broken; and Henry once more invaded Normandy with two armies, one commanded by himself, and the other by his brother. The first was harassed by continual skirmishes, and the last totally defeated; after which Henry was obliged to agree to such terms as the duke thought proper: but the rancour between them never ceased, and was in reality the cause of that implacable aversion which for a long series of years produced perpetual quarrels between the kings of France and those of the Norman race in England.

Henry died in 1059, not without a suspicion of being poisoned; and was succeeded by his eldest son Philip, at that time in the eighth year of his age. Baldwin, earl of Flanders was appointed his guardian; and died in the year 1066, about the time that William of Normandy became king of England. After the death of his tutor, Philip began to show a very insincere, haughty, and oppressive disposition. He engaged in a war with William the Conqueror, and supported his son Robert in his rebellion against him*. But after the death of William, he assisted Robert's brothers against him, by which means he was forced to consent to a partition of his dominions.

In 1092, king Philip being wearied of his queen Bertha, procured a divorce from her under pretence of consanguinity, and afterwards demanded in marriage Emma daughter to Roger count of Calabria. The treaty of marriage was concluded; and the princess was sent over, richly adorned with jewels, and with a large portion in ready money; but the king, instead of espousing her, carried off from her husband the countess of Anjou, who was esteemed the handsomest woman in France. With her he was so deeply enamoured, that not satisfied with the illegal possession of her person, he procured a divorce between her and her husband, and prevailed upon some Norman bishops to solemnize his own marriage with her. The whole of these transactions, however, were so scandalous, that the pope having caused them to be revised in a council at Autun, in the year 1094, pronounced sentence of excommunication against Philip in case he did not part with the countess. On his repentance, the censure was taken off; but as the king paid no regard to his promises, he was, in 1095, excommunicated a second time. He again professed repentance, and was absolved; but soon after, living with the countess of Anjou as formerly, he was excommunicated a third time. This conduct, so unworthy of a prince, exposed him to the contempt of the people. Too many of the nobility followed his example, and at the same time despised his authority; not only making war upon each other, but spoiling and robbing his subjects with impunity.

In the year 1110, Philip prevailed on the court of Rome to have his affair reviewed in an assembly at Poitiers; where, notwithstanding his utmost efforts, sentence of excommunication was a fourth time pronounced against him. Yet, in spite of all these sentences, as queen Bertha was dead, and the count of Anjou offered, for a large sum of money, to give whatever assistance was requisite for procuring a dispensation, Philip at last prevailed, and the countess was proclaimed queen of France. But tho' the king's domestic affairs were now in some measure quieted, his negligence in government had thrown the affairs of the nation into the greatest disorder. He therefore associated with him in the government his eldest son Lewis. This prince was the very reverse of his father; and by his activity and resolution, keeping constantly in the field with a considerable body of forces, he reduced the rebellious nobility to subjection, and, according to the best historians, at this time saved the state from being utterly subverted.

For these services the queen looked upon the young prince with so jealous an eye, and gave him so much disturbance, that he found it necessary to retire for some time into England; where he was received by king Henry I. with the greatest kindness. He had not been long at court, before Henry received, by an express, a letter from Philip; telling him, that, for certain important reasons, he should be glad if he closely confined his son, or even dispatched him altogether. The king of England, however, instead of complying with this infamous request, showed the letter to Lewis, and sent him home with all imaginable marks of respect. Immediately on his return, he demanded justice; but the queen procured poison to be given him, which operated so violently that his life was despaired of. A stranger, however, undertook the cure, and succeeded; only a paleness remained in the prince's face ever afterwards, though he grew so fat that he was furred named the Gros.

On his recovery, the prince was on the point of revenging his quarrel by force of arms; but his father having caused the queen to make the most humble submissions to him, his resentment was at length appeased, and a perfect reconciliation took place.

Nothing memorable happened in the reign of king Philip after this reconciliation. He died in the year 1108, and was succeeded by his son Lewis the Gros. Lewis the Gros. The first years of his reign were disturbed by insurrections of his lords in different places of the kingdom; and these insurrections were the more troublesome, as they were secretly fomented by Henry I. of England, that by weakening the power of France his duchy of Normandy might be the more secure. This quickly brought on a war; in which Henry was defeated, and his son William obliged to do homage to Lewis for the duchy of Normandy. As the kings of England and France, however, were rivals, and exceedingly jealous of each other, the latter espoused the cause of William the son of Robert duke of Normandy, whom Henry had unjustly deprived of that duchy. This brought on a new war; in which Lewis, receiving a great defeat from Henry, was obliged to make peace upon such terms as his antagonist thought proper. This tranquillity, however, was but of short duration. Lewis renewed his intrigues in favour of William, and endeavoured to form a confederacy against Henry. In this, however, he was disappointed. Henry found means not only to dissipate this confederacy, but to prevail upon Henry V. emperor of Germany to invade France with the whole whole strength of the empire on one side, while he prepared to attack it on the other. But, Lewis having collected an army of 200,000 men, both of them thought proper to desist. Upon this the king of France would have marched into Normandy, in order to put William in possession of that duchy. His great vassals, however, told him they would do no such thing; that they had assembled in order to defend the territories of France from the invasion of a foreign prince, and not to enlarge his power by destroying that balance which arose from the king of England's possession of Normandy, and which they reckoned necessary for their own safety. This was followed by a peace with Henry; which, as both monarchs had now seen the extent of each other's power, was made on pretty equal terms, and kept during the life of Lewis, who died in 1137, leaving the kingdom to his son Lewis VII.

The young king was not endowed with any of those qualities which constitute a great monarch. From the superstition common to the age in which he lived, he undertook an expedition into the Holy Land, from whence he returned without glory. In this expedition he took his queen Eleanor along with him; but was so much offended with her gallantries during her stay there, as well as her behaviour afterwards, that he divorced her, and returned the duchy of Guineche which he received with her as a portion. Six weeks after this she married Henry duke of Normandy, count of Anjou and Maine, and heir apparent to the crown of England. This marriage was a very great mortification to Lewis; and procured him the surname of the Young, on account of the folly of his conduct. When Henry ascended the throne of England, some wars were carried on between him and Lewis, with little advantage on either side: at last, however, a perfect reconciliation took place; and Lewis took a voyage to England, in order to visit the shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury. On his return he was struck with an apoplexy; and though he recovered for that time, yet he continued ever after paralytic on the right side. After having languished for about a year under this malady, he died on the 18th of September 1180, leaving the kingdom to his son Philip.

This prince, surnamed The Gift of God, The Magnanimous, and The Conqueror, during his lifetime; and, as if all these titles had fallen short of his merit, styled Augustus after his death,—is reckoned one of the greatest princes that ever sat on the throne of France, or any other.—It doth not, however, appear that these titles were altogether well founded. In the beginning of his reign he was opposed by a strong faction excited by his mother. Them indeed he repressed with a vigour and spirit which did him honour; but his taking part with the children of Henry II. of England in their unnatural contests with their father, and his treacherous combination with John to seize his brother's kingdom when he was detained in prison by the emperor of Germany, must be indelible stains in his character, and for ever exclude him from the title of Magnanimous. As to military skill and personal valour, he was evidently inferior to Richard I. of England; nor can his recovering of the provinces held by the English in France, from such a mean and dastardly prince as king John, entitle him with any justice to

Philip died in 1223, and was succeeded by his son Lewis VIII.; and he, in 1226, by Lewis IX., afterwards styled St Lewis. This prince was certainly possessed of many good qualities, but deeply tinctured with the superstition of the times. This induced him to engage in two crusades. The first was against the Saracens in Egypt; in which he was taken prisoner by the Infidels, and treated with great cruelty; but at last obtained his ransom, on condition of paying a million of pieces of gold, and surrendering the city of Damietta. He no sooner regained his liberty, than he entered Syria with a view of doing something worthy of his rank and character. From this expedition he was obliged to return sooner than he intended, by the news of the decease of his mother queen Blanch, whom he had appointed regent in his absence, and who had managed the national affairs with the greatest prudence. The king, however, found many disorders in the kingdom upon his return; and these he set himself to reform with the utmost diligence. Having succeeded in this, he yielded to Henry III. of England, the Limousin, Querci, Perigord, and some other places; in consideration of Henry and his son prince Edward their renouncing, in the fullest manner, all pretensions to Normandy and the other provinces of France which the English had formerly possessed.

The reputation of this monarch for candour and justice was so great, that the barons of England, as well as king Henry III. consented to make him umpire of the differences which subsisted between them. But though he decided this matter very justly, his decision was not productive of any good effect. At last the king, having settled every thing relating to his kingdom in a proper manner, set out on another crusade for Africa; where he died of the plague, on the 25th of August 1270.

During the reigns of Philip the Hardy, Philip the Fair, Lewis Hutin or the Quarrelsome, Philip the Tall, and Charles the Fair, the French history affords no transactions which much affected the general state of the kingdom. The government, however, seems to have declined; the nation to have been in low circumstances; and the seeds of those disorders sown, which now brought it to the brink of ruin.

Charles the Fair died in 1328 without male issue, but leaving his queen pregnant. As it was necessary in this case to appoint a regent, Philip count of Valois offered himself. His title was founded on his being the late king's cousin-german, and his nearest heir-male descended from a male. This title was disputed by Edward III. of England; who insisted, that he, as nephew to the deceased king, was a nearer relation than Philip. He acknowledged indeed, that his own title came by a female; but though he owned that females were incapable of holding the crown of France for themselves, yet he maintained that this incapacity did not extend to their male descendants. The parliament of France, however, thought otherwise; and therefore sustained Philip's claim to the regency, in preference to that of Edward. Soon after, the queen dowager was delivered of a princess, and thus Philip became possessed of the crown; and his attaining it in this manner procured him the surname of the Fortunate.

Philip was crowned at Rheims on the 29th of April 1328; and next year Edward III. of England came over to France, in order to do homage for the territories he had in that country, and to lay claim to some lands in Guienne. Great disputes arose about the nature of the homage he was to pay: Philip, however, contented himself with receiving homage in general terms; and was afterwards to examine his own archives at leisure, in order to determine what the nature of it was. On these terms Edward did homage in the cathedral at Amiens, on the 6th of June; and very soon after returned to England.

After a reasonable delay, the king sent ambassadors into England, in order to explain the nature of the homage which Edward had done; and Edward being at that time embarrassed with his domestic affairs, found it requisite to own the homage to be of that nature which he knew to be agreeable to Philip. Soon after this, Edward again came over to France in order to settle some new disputes; and in a little time returned to England in perfect friendship with the French monarch. This disposition, however, was of no long duration. Philip having found it necessary to banish Robert de Artois his own brother-in-law, on account of some criminal practices, the latter fled to England; where being well received by Edward, he never ceased to incense him against Philip.

As both monarchs were possessed of great prudence and sagacity, they soon penetrated each other's designs. Philip, under pretence of taking the cross, began to make prodigious armaments, strengthening himself at the same time by alliances on every side; while Edward, determining to renew his claim to the crown of France, projected the conquest of Scotland. This, however, he could not accomplish; and in the meantime Philip, in order to favour the Scots, with whom he was in alliance, suffered his subjects to make irruptions into Guienne.

In 1337, the war broke out openly. Philip having detached a squadron of his fleet against the Infidels, employed the rest, consisting chiefly of Genoese vessels, against the English. As in this war it was of great importance which side was taken by the Flemings, these people were courted by both parties. Lewis count of Flanders declared for Philip, but his subjects were more inclined to king Edward. James Artois, a brewer, the most able and artful man in the country, governed them at that time as much as if he had been their prince; and, the advantages arising from the English commerce determining him in favour of Edward, that prince, at his request, embarked for Sluys with a numerous army. Here he landed in 1338; and on his first landing, it was resolved that the German princes in alliance with him should act against France. But for this a pretence was wanting. The vassals of the empire could not act by Edward's orders, or even as his allies, without directions from the emperor, and he was in league with France. This difficulty, however, was soon overcome: the French had made themselves masters of Cambrai, and the emperor resolved that it should be retaken. With this view he created Edward Vicar General of the Empire; an empty title, but which seemed to give him a right of commanding the services of the princes of Germany. The Flemings, who were vassals of France, likewise pretended scruples at invading the territories of their liege lord. To quiet these, Edward, by the advice of Arteville, assumed the title of king of France; and by virtue of this right, challenged their assistance for dethroning Philip de Valois, the usurper of his kingdom. This step, which he feared, would beget endless animosities and jealousies, he did not take without hesitation; and, according to Mr Hume, from this time we may date the commencement of that great animosity which the English have always borne to the French.

Edward's first attempt was upon the city of Cambrai, to which he laid siege; but in a short time he was prevailed upon by Robert de Artois, to raise the siege and march into Picardy. This country he entered with an army of near 50,000 men, composed mostly of foreigners. Philip came within sight of him with an army of near 100,000, composed chiefly of native subjects; and it was daily expected that a battle would ensue. But the English monarch was averse to engage against so great a superiority; and Philip thought it sufficient if he eluded the attacks of his enemy, without running any unnecessary hazard. The two armies faced each other for several days; mutual defiances were sent; and Edward at last retired into Flanders, and dispersed his army.

Such was the fruitless, and almost ridiculous conclusion of Edward's first expedition, which had plunged him into the greatest difficulties. He had contracted near 300,000 pounds of debt; he had anticipated all his revenue; he had pawned everything of value which belonged either to himself or his queen; nay, he was obliged in some measure even to pawn himself to his creditors, by deferring their permission to go over to England in order to procure supply, and by promising on his word of honour to return in person if he did not remit their money. On his arrival in England, however, he procured a large supply, sufficient to enable him to make all the necessary preparations for a new invasion; and so certain were the English that France would now be conquered, that the parliament, before Edward's departure, protested that they owed him no obedience as king of France, but that the two kingdoms must remain for ever distinct and independent.

The king of England set out on his second expedition with a fleet of 240 vessels. Philip had prepared a fleet of 400 vessels, manned with 40,000 men; which he stationed off Sluys, in order to intercept him in his passage. The two fleets met on the 13th of June 1340; but the English, either by the superior entirely abilities of Edward, or the greater dexterity of his seamen, gained the wind of the enemy, and had the sea in their backs; and with these advantages began the action. The battle was fierce and bloody: the English archers, whose force and address were now much celebrated, galled the French on their approach; and when the ships grappled together, the example of the king and the nobility who were with him so animated the seamen and soldiers, that they maintained everywhere a superiority over the enemy. The Flemings... mings, observing the battle, hurried out of their ports, and brought a reinforcement to the English; which, coming unexpectedly, had a greater effect than in proportion to its power and numbers. Two hundred and thirty French ships were taken; and 30,000 Frenchmen were killed, with two of their admirals; the loss of the English was inconsiderable, compared to the greatness and importance of the victory. None of Philip's courtiers, it is said, dared to inform him of the event; till his fool or jester gave him a hint, by which he discovered the loss he had sustained.

After this great victory, Edward landed his forces, and laid siege to Tournay. Philip marched to its relief with a very numerous army; but acted with so much caution, that Edward found himself in a manner blocked up in his camp; and the countess dowager of Hainault, sister to Philip, mother-in-law to Edward, and sister-in-law to Robert de Artois, coming out of a convent, to which she had retired, interposed with so much spirit and address, that she engaged all parties to agree to a truce for a year; and might perhaps have brought about a peace, if she had survived.

In 1341, however, Edward's ambition was once more excited by the invitation of the count de Montfort, who had possessed himself of the province of Brittany, and applied to Edward to second his claims. An offer of this kind entirely coincided with Edward's most sanguine desires. He was happy in the promised assistance of Montfort, an active and valiant prince, closely united to him by interest, and thus opening to him an entrance into the heart of France. These flattering prospects, however, were for a while damped by the imprisonment of Montfort; whose aims being discovered, he was besieged in the city of Nantz, and taken. But Jane of Flanders, his wife, soon made up for the loss of her husband. This lady courageously undertook to support the failing fortunes of her family. She assembled the inhabitants of Rennes, where she then resided; and carrying her infant son in her arms, deplored her misfortunes, and attempted to inspire the citizens with an affection for her cause. The inhabitants of Nantz instantly espoused her interests, and all the other fortresses of Brittany embraced the same resolution. The king of England was apprised of her efforts; and was intreated to send her succours with all possible expedition to the town of Hennebonne, in which place she resolved to sustain the attacks of the enemy. Charles de Blois, Philip's general, anxious to make himself master of so important a fortress as Hennebonne, and still more to take the countess a prisoner, sat down before the place with a large army, and conducted the siege with indefatigable industry. The defence was no less vigorous; several assaults were made by the garrison, in which the countess herself was still the most active, and led on to the assault. Observing one day that their whole army had quitted the camp to join in a general storm, she fell out by a postern at the head of 300 horse, set fire to the enemies tents and baggage, put their sutlers and servants to the sword, and occasioned such an alarm, that the French desisted from the assault, in order to cut off her communication with the town. Thus intercepted, she retired to Auray, where she continued five or six days; then returning at the head of 500 horse, she fought her way through one quarter of the French camp, and returned to her faithful citizens in triumph. But the besiegers had at length made several breaches in the walls; and it was apprehended that a general assault, which was hourly expected, would be fatal. A capitulation was therefore proposed, and a conference was already begun, when the countess, who had mounted on a high tower, and was looking towards the sea with great impatience, despaired some ships at a distance. She immediately exclaimed that succours were arrived, and forbid any further capitulation. She was not disappointed in her wishes; the fleet she discerned carried a body of English gentlemen, with 600 archers, whom Edward had prepared for the relief of Hennebonne, but who had been long detained by contrary winds. They entered the harbour, under the conduct of Sir Walter Manny, one of the most valiant commanders of his time. This relief served to keep up the declining spirits of the Bretons, until the time appointed by the late truce with Edward was expired, on which he was at liberty to renew the war in greater form.

He accordingly soon after landed at Morbihan, near Vannes, with an army of 12,000 men; and being master of the field, where no enemy dared to appear against him, he endeavoured to give lustre to his arms by besieging some of the most capital of the enemy's fortifications. The vigour of his operations led on to another truce, and this was soon after followed by a fresh infracture. The truth is, neither side observed a truce longer than it coincided with their interests; and both had always sufficient art to throw the blame of perfidy from themselves. The earl of Derby was sent by Edward to defend the province of Guienne, with instructions also to take every possible advantage that circumstances might offer. At first, therefore, his successes were rapid and brilliant; but as soon as the French king had time to prepare, he met with a very unexpected resistance; so that the English general was compelled to stand upon the defensive. One fortress after another was surrendered to the French; till at length nothing appeared but a total extinction of the power of England upon the continent. In this situation, Edward resolved to bring relief in person to his distressed subjects and allies; and accordingly embarked in 1346 at Southampton, on board a fleet of near 1000 sail, of all dimensions. He carried with him, besides all the chief nobility of England, his eldest son, the prince of Wales (afterwards surnamed the Black Prince); a youth of about 15 years old, and already remarkable both for understanding and valour above his age. His army consisted of 4000 men at arms, 10,000 archers, with an ar-10,000 Welsh infantry, and 6000 Irish; all which he landed safely at La Hogue, a port in Normandy, which country he determined to make the seat of the war.

The intelligence of Edward's landing, and the devastation caused by his troops, who dispersed themselves over the whole face of the country, soon spread universal consternation through the French court. The rich city of Caen was taken and plundered by the English, without mercy; the villages and towns, even up to Paris, shared the same fate; and the French had no other resource but by breaking down their bridges, to attempt putting a stop to the invader's career. In the mean time, Philip was not idle in making preparations to repress the enemy. He had stationed one of his gene- rals, Godemar de Faye, with an army on the opposite side of the river Somme, over which Edward was to pass; while he himself, at the head of 100,000 fighting men, advanced to give the English battle. Edward, thus unexpectedly exposed to the danger of being inclosed and starved in an enemy's country, published a reward to any that should bring him intelligence of a passage over the river Somme. This was discovered by a peasant of the country; and Edward had just time to get his whole army over the river, when Philip appeared in his rear.

As both armies had been for some time in sight of each other, nothing was so eagerly expected on each side as a battle; and although the forces were extremely disproportionate, the English amounting only to 30,000, the French to 120,000; yet Edward resolved to indulge the impetuosity of his troops, and put all to the hazard of a battle. He accordingly chose his ground, with advantage, near the village of Crecy; and there determined to wait with tranquillity the shock of the enemy. He drew up his men on a gentle ascent, and divided them into three lines. The first was commanded by the young prince of Wales; the second was conducted by the earls of Northampton and Arundel; and the third, which was kept as a body of reserve, was headed by the king in person. As his small army was in danger of being surrounded, he threw up trenches on his flank; and placed all his baggage in a wood behind him, which he also secured by an entrenchment. Having thus made the proper dispositions, he and the prince of Wales received the sacrament with great devotion; and all his behaviour denoted the calm intrepidity of a man resolved on conquest or death. It is said also by some, that he first made use of artillery upon this occasion; and placed in his front some pieces, which contributed not a little to throw the enemy into disorder.

On the other side, Philip, impelled by resentment, and confident of his numbers, was more solicitous in bringing the enemy to an engagement, than prudent in taking measures for the success of it. He was advised by some of his generals to defer the combat till the ensuing day, when his army would have recovered from their fatigue, and might be disposed into better order than their present hurry permitted them to observe. But it was now too late; the impatience of his troops was too great to be restrained; they pressed one upon the other, and no orders could curb their blind impetuosity. They were led on, however, in three bodies to oppose those of the English. The first line, consisting of 15,000 Genoese cross-bow men, were commanded by Anthony Doris. The second body was led by the count Alençon, brother to the king; and the king himself was at the head of the third.

About three in the afternoon, the famous battle of Crecy began, by the French king's ordering the Genoese archers to charge; but they were so fatigued with their march, that they cried out for a little rest before they should engage. The count Alençon, being informed of their petition, rode up and reviled them as cowards, commanding them to begin the onset without delay. Their reluctance to begin was still more increased by an heavy shower which fell that instant and relaxed their bow-strings, so that the discharge they made produced but very little effect. On the other hand, the English archers, who had kept their bows in cases, and were favoured by a sudden gleam of sun-shine, that rather dazzled the enemy, let fly their arrows so thick, and with such good aim, that nothing was to be seen among the Genoese but hurry, terror, and dismay. The young prince of Wales had presence of mind to take an advantage of their confusion, and to lead on his line to the charge. The French cavalry, however, commanded by count Alençon, wheeling round, sustained the combat, and began to hem the English round. The earls of Arundel and Northampton now came in to afflit the prince, who appeared foremost in the very shock; and, wherever he appeared, turning the fortune of the day. The thickness of the battle was now gathered round him, and the valour of a boy filled even veterans with astonishment; but, being apprehensive that some mischance might happen to him in the end, an officer was dispatched to the king, desiring that succours might be sent to the prince's relief. Edward, who had all this time, with great tranquillity, viewed the engagement from a wind-mill, demanded with seeming deliberation if his son were dead; but being answered that he still lived, and was giving astonishing instances of valour: "Then tell my generals," (cried the king), "that he shall have no affluence from me; the honour of this day shall be his; let him show himself worthy the profession of arms, and let him be indebted to his own merit alone for victory." This speech being reported to the prince and his attendants, it inspired them with new courage; they made a fresh attack upon the French cavalry; and count Alençon, their bravest commander, was slain. This was the beginning of their total overthrow; the French, being now without a competent leader, were thrown into confusion; the Welsh infantry rushed into the midst of the conflict, and dispatched those with their long knives who had survived the fury of the former onset. It was in vain that the king of France himself seemed almost singly to maintain the combat; he endeavoured to animate his few followers, both by his voice and example, but the victory was too decisive to be resisted; while he was yet endeavouring to face the enemy, John de Hainault seized the reins of his horse, and, turning him round, carried him off the field of battle. In this engagement, 30,000 of the French were killed upon tally defeat: and, among this number, were John king of Bohemia; James, king of Majorca; Ralph, duke of Lorraine; 9 counts, 24 bannerets, 1200 knights, 1500 gentlemen, and 4000 men at arms. There was something remarkable in the fate of the Bohemian king; who, though blind, was yet willing to share in the engagement. This unfortunate monarch, inquiring the fate of the day, was told that all was lost, and his son Charles obliged to retire desperately wounded; and that the prince of Wales bore down everything before him. Having received this information, blind as he was, he commanded his knights to lead him into the hottest part of the battle against the young warrior; accordingly, four of them rushed with him into the thickest part of the enemy, where they were all quickly slain.

The whole French army took to flight; and were put to the sword by the pursuers without mercy, till night stopped the carnage. The next morning was foggy; and a party of the militia of Rouen coming to join the French army, were routed by the English at the first onset; many more also were decoyed by some French standards, which the victors placed upon the mountains, and to which the fugitives retired, where they were cut in pieces without mercy. Notwithstanding the great slaughter of the enemy, the conquerors lost but one esquire, three knights, and a few of inferior rank. The crest of the king of Bohemia was three ostrich feathers, with this motto, *Ieh Dien*; which signifies, in the German language, "I serve." This was thought to be a proper prize to perpetuate the victory; it was accordingly added to the arms of the prince of Wales, and it has been adopted by all his successors.

Edward next laid siege to Calais, which was then defended by John de Vienne, an experienced commander, and supplied with every thing necessary for defence. It was at length taken, after a twelvemonth's siege, the defendants having been reduced to the last extremity by famine and fatigue. The obstinate resistance, made by the townsmen, was not a little displeasing to Edward; and he had often declared, that when put in possession of the place, he would take signal revenge for the numbers of men he had lost during the siege. It was with great difficulty, therefore, that he was persuaded to accept of their submission; and to spare their lives, upon condition, that six of the most considerable citizens should be sent to him, to be disposed of as he should think proper: but on these he was resolved to wreak his resentment; and he gave orders that they should be led into his camp, bare-headed and barefooted, with ropes about their necks, in the manner of criminals just preparing for instant execution. When the news of this fierce resolution was brought into the city, it spread new consternation among the inhabitants. Who should be the men, that were thus to be offered up as victims to procure the safety of all the rest, and by their deaths appease the victor's resentment? In this terrible juncture, one of the principal inhabitants, whose name was Euflace de St Pierre, walked forward, and offered himself as willing to undergo any tortures that could procure his fellow-citizens safety. Five more soon followed his noble example; and these, marching out like criminals, laid the keys of their city at Edward's feet: but no submissions seemed to appease his resentment; and they would in all probability have suffered death, had not the generosity of their conduct affected the queen, who interceded in their behalf, and with some difficulty obtained their pardon.

In 1350, a short truce, which had been concluded between Edward and Philip, was dissolved by the death of the latter, who was succeeded by his son John; and Edward, well pleased with the factions that then prevailed in France, was resolved to seize the opportunity of increasing its distresses. Accordingly, the Black Prince was sent into France with an army, on board a fleet of 100 sail; and landing in Gascony, carried his devastations into the heart of the country. At the same time, Edward himself made an irruption on the side of Calais, at the head of a numerous army, and ravaged all the open country. On the other hand, John, who was yet unprepared to oppose the progress of the enemy, continued a spectator of their insults; nor was it till the summer's campaign, in 1355, that he resolved to attack the Black Prince, whose army was by this time reduced to a body of about 12,000 men. With such a trifling complement of forces had this young warrior ventured to penetrate into the heart of France, with a design of joining the duke of Lancaster in Guienne. But he soon found that his scheme was impracticable: the country before him was too well guarded to permit his advancing further; and all the bridges behind were broken down, which effectually barred a retreat. In this embarrassing situation, his perplexity was increased, by being informed, that the king of France was actually marching at the head of 60,000 men to intercept him. He at first thought of retreating; but soon finding it impossible, he determined calmly to await the approach of the enemy; and, notwithstanding the disparity of forces, to commit all to the hazard of a battle.

It was at a place called Maupertuis, near Poitiers, that both armies came in sight of each other. The French king might very easily have starved the English into any terms he thought proper to impose; but such was the impatient valour of the French nobility, and such their certainty of success, that it might have been equally fatal to attempt repressing their ardour to engage. In the mean time, while both armies were drawn out, and expecting the signal to begin, they were stopped by the appearance of the cardinal of Perigord, who attempted to be a mediator between them. However, John, who made himself sure of victory, would listen to no other terms than the restitution of Calais; with which the Black Prince refusing to comply, the onset was deferred till the next morning, for which both sides waited in anxious suspense.

During this interval, the young prince strengthened his post by new entrenchments; and placed 300 men in ambush, with as many archers, who were commanded to attack the enemy in flank during the heat of the engagement. Having taken these precautions, he ranged his army in three divisions; the van was commanded by the earl of Warwick, the rear by the earls of Salisbury and Suffolk, and the main body by himself. In like manner, the king of France arranged his forces in three divisions; the first commanded by the duke of Orleans; the second by the Dauphin, attended by his younger brothers; while he himself led up the main body, seconded by his youngest and favourite son, then about 14 years of age. As the English were to be attacked only by marching up a long narrow lane, the French suffered greatly from their archers, who were posted on each side, behind the hedges. Nor were they in a better situation upon emerging from this danger, being met by the Black Prince himself, at the head of a chosen body of troops, who made a furious onset upon their forces, already in great disorder. A dreadful overthrow ensued: those who were as yet in the lane recoiled upon their own forces; while the French troops, who had been placed in ambush, took that opportunity to increase the confusion, and confirm the victory. The dauphin and the duke of Orleans were among the first that fled. The king of France himself made the utmost efforts to retrieve, by his valour, what his rashness had forfeited: but his single courage was unable to stop that consternation, which had now become general through his army; and his cavalry soon flying, he found himself exposed to the enemy's fury. At length, spent with fatigue, and despairing of success, he thought of yielding himself a prisoner; and frequently cried out, that he was ready to deliver himself to his cousin the prince of Wales. The honour of taking him, however, was reserved for a much more ignoble hand; he was seized by Dennis de Morbee, a knight of Arras, who had been obliged to fly his country for murder.

In April following, the prince conducted his royal prisoner through London, attended by an infinite concourse of people of all ranks and stations. His mode of conveyance upon this occasion was very remarkable: the king of France was clad in royal apparel, and mounted on a white steed distinguished by its size and beauty; while the prince himself rode by his side upon a mean little horse, and in very plain attire.

Notwithstanding all these succeds of the English, however, the conquest of France appeared very distant; nor could all the valour of the Black Prince afterwards accomplish any thing of moment. The dauphin, being created regent of France, collected all his forces; and, by acting on the defensive, prevented Edward from gaining any considerable advantage. All the considerable towns were put into a posture of defence, and everything valuable in the kingdom was secured in fortified places. It was therefore at last concluded, that king John should be restored to liberty upon paying a ransom of about a million and a half of our money. It was stipulated, that Edward should for ever renounce all claim to the kingdom of France; and should only remain possessed of the territories of Poitou, Xaintonge, l'Agenois, Perigord, the Limousin, Quercy, Rouergue, l'Angoumois, and other districts in that quarter, together with Calais, Guines, Montreuil, and the county of Ponthieu on the other side of France. Some other stipulations were made in favour of the allies of England, as a security for the execution of these conditions.

Upon John's return to his dominions, he found himself very ill able to ratify those terms of peace that had been just concluded. He was without finances, at the head of an exhausted state; his soldiers without discipline, and his peasants without subordination. These had risen in great numbers; and one of the chiefs of their banditti assumed the title of The Friend of God, and the Terror of Man. A citizen of Sens, named John Gouge, also got himself, by means of his robberies, to be acknowledged king; and he soon caused as many calamities by his devastations, as the real king had brought on by his misfortunes. Such was the state of that wretched kingdom, upon the return of its captive monarch; and yet, such was his absurdity, that he immediately prepared for a crusade into the Holy Land, before he was well replaced on the throne. Had his exhausted subjects been able to equip him for this chimerical project, it is probable he would have gone through with it; but their miseries were such, that they were even too poor to pay his ransom. This was a breach of treaty that John would not submit to; and he was heard to express himself in a very noble manner upon the occasion: "Tho' (says he) good faith should be banished from the rest of the earth, yet he ought still to retain her habitation in the breast of kings." In consequence of this declaration, he actually returned to England once more; and yielded himself a prisoner, since he could not be honourably free. It is said by some, that his passion for the countess of Salisbury was the real cause of his journey; but we want at this time the foundations for such an injurious report. He was lodged in the Savoy, the palace where he had resided during his captivity; and soon after he closed a long and unfortunate reign, by his death, which happened in the year 1384, about the 56th year of his age.

Charles, surnamed the Wise, succeeded his father on the throne of France; and this monarch, merely by the force of a finely conducted policy, and even though suffering some defeats, restored his country once more to tranquillity and power. He quelled and dissipated a set of banditti, who had associated themselves under the name of Compagnons, and who had long been a terror to the peaceable inhabitants. He had them enrolled into a body, and led them into the kingdom of Castile against Peter, surnamed the Cruel, whom his subjects had dethroned, and who, by means of an alliance with the English, endeavoured to get himself re-established upon the throne. In consequence of these alliances, the English and French again came to an engagement; their armies on the one side commanded by the Black Prince; on the other, by Henry of Trammarre, and Bertrand du Guéfelin, one of the most consummate generals and accomplished characters of the age in which he lived. However, the usual good fortune of the English prince prevailed; the French lost above 20,000 men, while only four knights and 40 private men on the side of the English were slain.

Nevertheless, these victories were attended with very bad success; few good effects. The English, by their frequent levies, had been quite exhausted, and were unable to continue an army in the field. Charles, on the other hand, cautiously forbore coming to any decisive engagement; but was contented to let his enemies waste their strength in attempts to plunder a fortified country. When they were retired, he then was sure to fall forth, and possess himself of such places as they were not strong enough to defend. He first fell upon Ponthieu; the citizens of Abbeville opened their gates to him; those of St Valois, Rue, and Crotot, imitated the example; and the whole country was, in a little time, reduced to total submission. The southern provinces were, in the same manner, invaded by his generals with equal success; while the Black Prince, destitute of supplies from England, and wasted by a cruel and consumptive disorder, was obliged to return to his native country, leaving his affairs in the south of France in a desperate condition.

In this exigence, the resentment of the king of England was excited to the utmost pitch; and he seemed resolved to take signal vengeance on his enemies of the continent. But the fortunate occasion was now elapsed; and all his succeeding designs were marked with ill success. The earl of Pembroke, and his whole army, were intercepted at sea, and taken prisoners by Henry king of Castile. Sir Robert Knolles, one of his generals on the continent, at the head of 30,000 men, was defeated by Bertrand du Guéfelin; while the duke of Lancaster, at the head of 25,000 men, had the mortification of seeing his troops diminished one half by flying parties, without ever coming to a battle. At last, the English affairs were totally ruined by the death of the Black Prince and king Edward. On receiving this news, the armies of Charles attacked the English on all sides. One, under the command of the duke of Burgundy, entered Artois; another entered Auvergne, under the command of the duke of Berry; that which acted in Guienne was commanded by the duke of Anjou; and the forces in Bretagne were under the constable Gueldin: the king himself had a powerful body of troops, that he might be able to repair any accident which should happen through the chance of war. The constable joined the duke of Burgundy, who found it difficult to oppose Sir Thomas Felton and the Seneschal of Bordeaux. Soon after his arrival, the constable attacked and defeated them, making both the commanders prisoners of war. This victory was so well pursued, that, at the close of the campaign 1377, Bayonne and Bordeaux, with the districts about them, and the fortress of Calais with its dependencies, were all the places left to England on the continent.

In 1379 the king died; and was succeeded by his son Charles VI. at that time 12 years old. During his minority, the public affairs fell into confusion, and the people were plundered by the nobility with impunity. In 1385, a prodigious armament was fitted out against England. A vast fleet was assembled in the harbour of Sluys, and a very numerous army in the neighbourhood. According to some writers, the armament consisted of 1200 ships, 20,000 foot differently armed, 20,000 cavalry, and 20,000 crossbowmen. There was besides a vast wooden edifice or floating-town, which was contrived for the protection of the soldiers when landed: but all these preparations were at last brought to nothing through the obstinacy of the duke of Berry; who, having been originally against this measure, carried on his part of the armament so slowly, that he did not arrive at Sluys till the middle of September, when the season was so far advanced, that no invasion was practicable. A storm that happened soon after, drove the greatest part of the fleet on shore, and beat the wooden edifice all to pieces; the remains of which the king bestowed on the duke of Burgundy, to whom he gave also the port of Sluys, which was then very commodious, and of the utmost importance.

In 1391, one P. Craon attempted to assassinate the new constable de Clifton; and, (after having, with a band of ruffians, given him 50 wounds, of all which, however, he recovered), fled to Bretagne, where he was protected by the duke of that country. The king demanded the assassin to be given up to him in chains; but the duke answered, that he knew nothing of him; to which the king giving no credit, marched with all his forces into his territories. When the army arrived at Mans, the king was seized with a low fever; but could not be prevailed upon to rest or take physic. On the 5th of August, having marched all day in the heat of the sun, a miserable, ragged, wild-looking fellow darted from behind a tree, and laying hold of the bridle of his horse, cried out, "Stop! where are you going, king? You are betrayed;" and immediately withdrew again into the wood. The king passed on, not a little disturbed; and soon after one of the pages, who rode behind and carried his lance, overcome with heat, fell asleep, and let it fall upon the helmet which was carried by the other. The king, hearing the noise, looked about; and perceiving the page lifting the lance, killed him immediately: then riding furiously with his sword drawn, he struck on every side of him, and at every person, till he broke his sword; upon which one of his gentlemen leaped up behind him and held his arm. He fell soon after, and lay as if he had been dead; so that being taken up and bound in a waggion, he was carried back to Mans, where he lay two days in a lethargy, after which he came a little to himself. From this time the king continued frantic at intervals, which gave occasion to the greatest disorders throughout the kingdom. The administration of affairs was disputed between his brother Lewis duke of Orleans, and his cousin-german John duke of Burgundy. Isabella, his queen, also had her party; and the king vainly attempted to secure one likewise in his favour. Each of these, as they happened to prevail, branded their captives with the name of traitors; and the gibbets were at once hung with the bodies of the accused and the accusers. This, therefore, was thought by Henry V. of England a favourable opportunity to recover from France those grants that had been formerly given up by treaty. But previously, to give his intended expedition the appearance of justice, he sent over ambassadors to Paris, offering a perpetual peace and alliance, on condition of being put in possession of all those provinces which had been ravished from the English during some former reigns, and of espousing Catharine, the French king's daughter, in marriage, with a suitable dowry. Though the French court was at that time extremely averse to war, yet the exorbitance of these demands could not be complied with; and Henry very probably made them in hopes of a denial. He therefore assembled a great fleet and army at Southampton; and having allured all the military men of the kingdom to attend him, from the hopes of conquest, he put to sea, and landed at Harfleur, at the head of an army of 6000 men at arms, and 24,000 foot, mostly archers.

His first operations were upon Harfleur; which being pressed hard, promised at a certain day to surrender, unless relieved before that time. The day arriving, and the garrison, unmindful of their engagement, still resolving to defend the place, Henry ordered an assault to be made, took the town by storm, and put all the garrison to the sword. From thence, the victor advanced farther into the country, which had been already rendered desolate by factions, and which he now totally laid waste. But although the enemy made a feeble resistance, yet the climate seemed to fight against the English; a contagious dysentery carrying off three parts of Henry's army. In this situation, he had recourse to an expedient common enough in that barbarous age, to inspire his troops with confidence in their general. He challenged the dauphin, who commanded in the French army, to single combat, offering to stake his pretensions on the event. This challenge, as might naturally be expected, was rejected; and the French, though disagreeing internally, at last seemed to unite, at the appearance of the common danger. A numerous army of 14,000 men at arms, and 40,000 foot, was by this time assembled under the command of count Albert, and was now placed to intercept Henry's weakened forces on their return. The English monarch, when it was too late, began to regret... pent of his rash inroad into a country, where disease and a powerful army everywhere threatened destruction; he therefore thought of retiring into Calais. In this retreat, which was at once both painful and dangerous, Henry took every precaution to inspire his troops with patience and perseverance; and shewed them in his own person the brightest example of fortitude and resignation. He was continually harassed on his march by flying parties of the enemy; and whenever he attempted to pass the river Somme, across which his march lay, he saw troops on the other side ready to oppose his passage. However, he was fortunate as to seize by surprise a passage near St Quintin, which had not been sufficiently guarded; and there he safely carried over his army.

But the enemy was still resolved to intercept his retreat; and after he had passed the small river of Terrois at Blangy, he was surprised to observe from the heights the whole French army drawn up in the plains of Azincourt; and so posted, that it was impossible for him to proceed on his march, without coming to an engagement. No situation could be more unfavourable than that in which he then found himself. His army was wasted by disease; the soldiers spirits worn down with fatigue; destitute of provisions, and discouraged by their retreat. Their whole body amounted but to 9000 men; and these were to sustain the shock of an enemy near ten times their number, headed by expert generals, and plentifully supplied with provisions. This disparity, as it depressed the English; so it raised the courage of the French in proportion; and so confident were these of success, that they began to treat for the ransom of their prisoners. Henry, on the other hand, though sensible of his extreme danger, did not omit any circumstance that could assist his situation. As the enemy were so much superior, he drew up his army on a narrow ground between two woods, which guarded each flank; and patiently expected, in that position, the attack of the enemy. The constable of France was at the head of one army; and Henry himself, with Edward duke of York, commanded the other. For a time both armies, as if afraid to begin, kept silently gazing at each other, neither being willing to break their ranks by making the onset; which Henry perceiving, with a cheerful countenance he cried out, "My friends, since they will not begin, it is ours to set them the example; come on, and the Blest Trinity be our protection." Upon this, the whole army set forward with a shout, while the French still continued to wait their approach with intrepidity. The English archers, who had long been famous for their great skill, first let fly a shower of arrows three feet long, which did great execution. The French cavalry advancing to repel these, 200 bow-men, who lay till then concealed, rising on a sudden, let fly among them, and produced such a confusion, that the archers threw by their arrows, and, rushing in, fell upon them sword in hand. The French at first repulsed the assailants, who were enfeebled by disease; but these soon made up the defect by their valour; and, resolving to conquer or die, burst in upon the enemy with such impetuosity, that the French were obliged to give way.

In the mean time a body of English horse, which had been concealed in a neighbouring wood, rushing out, flanked the French infantry, and a general disorder began to ensue. The first line of the enemy being routed, the second line began to march up to interrupt the progress of the victory. Henry, therefore, alighting from his horse, presented himself to the enemy with an undaunted countenance; and at the head of his men fought on foot, encouraging some and afflicting others. Eighteen French cavaliers, who were resolved to kill him, or die in the attempt, rushing from the ranks together, advanced; and one of them stunned the king with a blow of his battle-ax. They then fell upon him in a body; and he was upon the point of sinking under their blows, when David Gam, a valiant Welshman, aided by two of his countrymen, came up to the king's assistance, and soon turned the attention of the assailants from the king to themselves, till at length, being overpowered, they fell dead at his feet. Henry had by this time recovered his senses; and fresh troops advancing to his relief, the 18 French cavaliers were slain; upon which he knighted the Welshmen who had so valiantly fallen in his defence. The heat of the engagement still increasing, Henry's courage seemed also to increase; and the most dangerous situation was where he fought in person: his brother, who was stunned by a blow, fell at his feet; and while the king was endeavouring to succour him, he received another blow himself, which threw him upon his knees. But he soon recovered; and leading on his troops with fresh ardour, they ran headlong upon the enemy; and put them into such disorder, that their leaders could never after bring them to the charge. The duke of Alençon, who commanded the second line, seeing it fly, resolved by one desperate stroke to retrieve the fortune of the day, or fall in the attempt. Wherefore, running up to Henry, and at the same time crying aloud, "that he was the duke of Alençon," he discharged such a blow on his head, that it carried off a part of the king's helmet; while, in the mean time, Henry, not having been able to ward off the blow, returned it, by striking the duke to the ground, and he was soon killed by the surrounding crowd, all the king's efforts to save him proving ineffectual. In this manner, the French were overthrown in every part of the field; their number, being crowded into a very narrow space, were incapable of either flying, or making any resistance; so that they covered the ground with heaps of slain. After all appearance of opposition was over, the French English had leisure to make prisoners; and having advanced with uninterrupted success to the open plain, they there saw the remains of the French rear-guard, which still maintained a show of opposition. At the same time was heard an alarm from behind, which proceeded from a number of peasants, who had fallen upon the English baggage, and were putting those who guarded it to the sword. Henry, now seeing the enemy on all sides of him, began to entertain apprehensions from his prisoners, the number of whom exceeded even that of his army. He thought it necessary, therefore, to issue general orders for putting them to death; but on the discovery of the certainty of his victory, he dropped the slaughter, and was still able to save a great number.

This battle was very fatal to France, from the number of princes and nobility slain or taken prisoners. The killed are computed on the whole to have amounted to 10,000 men; and as the loss fell chiefly upon the ca- cavalry, it is pretended, that of these 8000 were gentlemen. The number of prisoners are computed at 14,000. All the English who were slain did not exceed 40; a number amazingly inconsiderable, if we compare the loss with the victory.

This victory, gained on the 25th of October 1415, how great soever it might have been, was attended with no immediate effects. Henry still continued to retreat after the battle of Azincourt, out of the kingdom; and carried his prisoners to Calais, and from thence to England. In 1517, he once more landed an army of 25,000 men in Normandy; and prepared to strike a decisive blow for the crown of France, to which the English monarchs had long made pretensions. That wretched country was now in a most deplorable situation. The whole kingdom appeared as one vast theatre of crimes, murders, injustice, and devastation. The duke of Orleans was assassinated by the duke of Burgundy; and the duke of Burgundy, in his turn, fell by the treachery of the dauphin. At the same time, the duke's son, desirous of revenging his father's death, entered into a secret treaty with the English; and a league was immediately concluded at Arras, between Henry and the young duke of Burgundy, in which the king promised to revenge the murder of the late duke; and the son seemed to insist upon no further stipulations. Henry, therefore, proceeded in his conquests, without much opposition from any quarter. Several towns and provinces submitted on his approach; the city of Rouen was besieged and taken; Pontoise and Gisors he soon became master of. He even threatened Paris by the terror of his power, and obliged the court to remove to Troye. It was at this city that the duke of Burgundy, who had taken upon him the protection of the French king, met Henry in order to ratify that treaty which was formerly begun, and by which the crown of France was to be transferred to a stranger. The imbecility into which Charles had fallen, made him passive in this remarkable treaty; and Henry dictated the terms throughout the whole negotiation. The principal articles of this treaty were, That Henry should espouse the princess Catherine; that king Charles should enjoy the title and dignity of king for life; but that Henry should be declared heir to the crown, and should be intrusted with the present administration of the government; that France and England should forever be united under one king, but should still retain their respective laws and privileges; that Henry should unite his arms with those of king Charles and the duke of Burgundy, to depose and subdue the dauphin and his partizans.

It was not long after this treaty, that Henry married the princess Catherine; after which he carried his father-in-law to Paris, and took a formal possession of that capital. There he obtained, from the estates of the kingdom, a ratification of the late compact; and then turned his arms, with success, against the adherents of the dauphin, who, in the mean time, wandered about a stranger in his own patrimony, and to his enemies successes only opposed fruitless expostulations.

Henry's supplies were not provided in such plenty as to enable him to carry on the war, without returning in person to prevail upon his parliament for fresh succours; and, upon his arrival in England, though he found his subjects highly pleased with the splendor of his conquests, yet they seemed somewhat doubtful as to the advantage of them. A treaty, which in its consequences was likely to transfer the seat of empire from England, was not much relished by the parliament. They therefore, upon various pretexts, refused him a supply equal to his exigencies or his demands; but he was resolved on pursuing his schemes; and, joining to the supplies granted at home, the contributions levied on the conquered provinces, he was able once more to assemble an army of 28,000 men, and with these he landed safely at Calais.

In the mean time, the dauphin, a prince of great prudence and activity, omitted no opportunity of repairing his ruined situation, and to take the advantage of Henry's absence from France. He prevailed upon the regent of Scotland to send him a body of 8000 men from that kingdom; and with these, and some few forces of his own, he attacked the duke of Clarence, who commanded the troops in Henry's absence, and gained a complete victory.

This was the first action which turned the tide of success against the English. But it was of short duration; for Henry soon after appearing with a considerable army, the dauphin fled at his approach; while many of the places, which held out for the dauphin in the neighbourhood of Paris, surrendered to the conqueror. In this manner, while Henry was everywhere victorious, he fixed his residence at Paris; and while Charles had a small court, he was attended with a very magnificent one. On Whitunday 1421, the two kings and their two queens with crowns on their heads dined together in public; Charles receiving apparent homage, but Henry commanding with absolute authority.

In the mean time, the dauphin was chased beyond the Loire, and almost totally dispossessed of all the northern provinces. He was even pursued into the south, by the united arms of the English and Burgundians, and threatened with total destruction. In this exigence, he found it necessary to spin out the war, and to evade all hazardous actions with a rival who had been long accustomed to victory. His prudence was everywhere remarkable; and, after a train of long persecutions from fortune, he found her at length willing to declare in his favour, by the death of the king of England.

Charles VI died a short time after; and Charles VII succeeded his father to a nominal throne. Nothing could be more deplorable than the situation of that monarch on assuming his title to the crown. The English were masters of almost all France; and Henry VI, though yet but an infant, was solemnly invested with regal power by legates from Paris. The duke of Bedford was at the head of a numerous army, in the heart of the kingdom, ready to oppose every insurrection; while the duke of Burgundy, who had entered into a firm confederacy with him, still remained steadfast, and seconded his claims. Yet, notwithstanding these favourable appearances, Charles found means to break the leagues formed against him, and to bring back his subjects to their natural interests and their duty.

However, his first attempts were totally destitute of success. Wherever he endeavoured to face the enemy he was overthrown, and he could scarcely rely on the friends... friends next his person. His authority was insulted even by his own servants; advantage after advantage was gained against him; and a battle fought near Verneuil, in which he was totally defeated by the duke of Bedford, seemed to render his affairs altogether desperate. But from the impossibility of the English keeping the field without new supplies, Bedford was obliged to retire into England; and, in the mean time, his vigilant enemy began to recover from his late consternation. Dunois, one of his generals, at the head of 1000 men, compelled the earl of Warwick to raise the siege of Montargis; and this advantage, slight as it was, began to make the French suppose that the English were not invincible.

But they soon had still greater reason to triumph in their change of fortune, and a new revolution was produced by means apparently the most unlikely to be attended with success. In the village of Domremi, near Vaucouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine, there lived a country-girl, about 27 years of age, called Joan of Arc. This girl had been a servant at a small inn; and in that humble station had submitted to those hard employments which fit the body for the fatigues of war. She was of an irreproachable life, and had hitherto testified none of those enterprising qualities which displayed themselves soon after. She contentedly fulfilled the duties of her situation, and was remarkable only for her modesty and love of religion. But the miseries of her country seemed to have been one of the greatest objects of her compassion and regard. Her mind inflamed by these objects, and brooding with melancholy thoughts upon them, began to feel several impulses, which she was willing to mistake for the inspirations of heaven. Convinced of the reality of her own admonitions, she had recourse to one Baudricourt, governor of Vaucouleurs, and informed him of her destination by heaven to free her native country of its fierce invaders. Baudricourt treated her at first with neglect; but her importunities at length prevailed; and willing to make a trial of her pretensions, he gave her some attendants, who conducted her to the court, which at that time resided at Chinon.

The French court were probably sensible of the weaknesses of her pretensions; but they were willing to make use of every artifice to support their declining fortunes. It was therefore given out, that Joan was actually inspired; that she had been able to discover the king among the number of his courtiers, although he had laid aside all the distinctions of his authority; that she had told him some secrets, which were only known to himself; and that she had demanded, and minutely described, a sword in the church of St Catharine de Fierbois, which she had never seen. In this manner, the minds of the vulgar being prepared for her appearance, she was armed cap-a-pie, and shown in that martial dress to the people. She was then brought before the doctors of the university; and they, tinctured with the credulity of the times, or willing to second the impudence, declared that she had actually received her commission from above.

When the preparations for her mission were completely blazoned, the next aim was to send her against the enemy. The English were at that time besieging the city of Orleans, the last resource of Charles, and everything promised them a speedy surrender. Joan undertook to raise the siege; and to render herself still more remarkable, girded herself with the miraculous sword, of which she before had such extraordinary notices. Thus equipped, she ordered all the soldiers to confess themselves before they set out; she displayed in her hand a consecrated banner, and assured the troops of certain success. Such confidence on her side soon raised the spirits of the French army; and even the English, who pretended to despise her efforts, felt themselves secretly influenced with the terrors of her mission. A supply of provisions was to be conveyed into the town; Joan, at the head of some French troops, covered the embarkation, and entered Orleans at the head of the convoy which she had safely protected. While she was leading her troops along, a dead silence and astonishment reigned among the English; and they regarded with religious awe that temerity, which they thought nothing but supernatural assistance could inspire. But they were soon roused from their state of amazement by a sally from the town; Joan led on the besieged, bearing the sacred standard in her hand, encouraging them with her words and actions, bringing them to the trenches, and overpowering the besiegers in their own redoubts. In the attack of one of the forts, she was wounded in the neck with an arrow; but instantly pulling out the weapon with her own hands, and getting the wound quickly dressed, she hastened back to head the troops, and to plant her victorious banner on the ramparts of the enemy. These successes continuing, the English found that it was impossible to relief troops animated by such superior energy; and Suffolk, who conducted the attack, thinking that it might prove extremely dangerous to remain any longer in the presence of such a courageous and victorious enemy, raised the siege, and retreated with all imaginable precaution.

From being attacked, the French now in turn became the aggressors. Charles formed a body of 6000 men, and sent them to besiege Jargeau, whether the English, commanded by the earl of Suffolk, had retired, with a detachment of his army. The city was taken; Suffolk yielded himself a prisoner; and Joan marched into the place in triumph, at the head of the army. A battle was soon after fought near Patay, where the English were worsted, as before; and the generals, Scales and Talbot, were taken prisoners.

The raising of the siege of Orleans was one part of the maid's promise to the king of France; the crowning him at Rheims was the other. She now declared, that it was time to complete that ceremony; and Charles, in pursuance of her advice, set out for Rheims at the head of 12,000 men. The towns thro' which he passed opened their gates to receive him; and Rheims sent him a deputation, with its keys, upon his approach. The ceremony of his coronation was there performed with the utmost solemnity; and the Maid of Orleans (for so she was now called) seeing the completion of her mission, desired leave to retire, alleging, that she had now accomplished the end of her calling. But her services had been so great, that the king could not think of parting with her; he pressed her to stay so earnestly, that she at length complied with his request.

A tide of successes followed the performance of this solemnity; Laon, Soifons, Chateau-Thierry, Pro- vins, and many other fortresses in that neighbourhood, submitted to him on the first summons. On the other hand, the English, discomfited and dispirited, fled on every quarter; not knowing whether to ascribe their misfortunes to the power of sorcery, or to a celestial influence; but equally terrified at either. They now found themselves deprived of the conquests they had gained, in the same manner as the French had formerly submitted to their power. Their own divisions, both abroad and at home, unfitting them entirely for carrying on the war; and the duke of Bedford, notwithstanding all his prudence, saw himself divested of his strong-holds in the country, without being able to stop the enemy's progress. In order, therefore, to revive the declining state of his affairs, he resolved to have Henry crowned king at Paris, knowing that the natives would be allured to obedience by the splendor of the ceremony. In 1430, Henry was accordingly crowned, all the vaunts that still continued under the English power swearing fealty and homage. But it was now too late for the ceremonies of a coronation to give a turn to the affairs of the English; the generality of the kingdom had declared against them, and the remainder only waited a convenient opportunity to follow the example.

An accident ensued soon after, which, though it promised to promote the English cause in France, in the end served to render it odious, and conduced to the total evacuation of that country. The duke of Burgundy, at the head of a powerful army, had laid siege to Compiegne; and the Maid of Orleans had thrown herself into the place, contrary to the wishes of the governor, who did not desire the company of one whose authority would be greater than his own. The garrison, however, were rejoiced at her appearance, and believed themselves invincible under her protection. But their joy was of short duration; for Joan having the day after her arrival headed a rally, and twice driven the enemy from their intrenchments, she was at last obliged to retire, placing herself in the rear, to protect the retreat of her forces. But in the end, attempting to follow her troops into the city, she found the gates shut, and the bridge drawn up by order of the governor, who is said to have long wished for an opportunity of delivering her up to the enemy.

Nothing could exceed the joy of the besiegers, in having taken a person who had been so long a terror to their arms. The service of Te Deum was publicly celebrated on this occasion; and it was hoped, that the capture of this extraordinary person would restore the English to their former victories and successes. The duke of Bedford was no sooner informed of her being taken, than he purchased her of the count Vendome, who had made her his prisoner, and ordered her to be committed to close confinement. The credulity of both nations was at that time so great, that nothing was too absurd to gain belief, that coincided with their passions. As Joan but a little before, from her successes, was regarded as a saint, she was now, upon her captivity, considered as a sorceress, forsaken by the demon who had granted her a fallacious and temporary assistance. Accordingly it was resolved in council to send her to Rouen to be tried for witchcraft; and the bishop of Beauvais, a man wholly devoted to the English interest, presented a petition against her for that purpose. The university of Paris was so mean as to join in the same request. Several prelates, among whom the cardinal of Winchester was the only Englishman, were appointed as her judges. They held their court in Rouen, where Henry then resided; and the Maid, clothed in her former military apparel, but loaded with irons, was produced before this tribunal. Her behaviour there noway disgraced her former gallantry; she betrayed neither weakness nor womanish submission; but appealed to God and the pope for the truth of her former revelations. In the issue, she was found guilty of heresy and witchcraft; and sentenced to be burnt alive, the common punishment for such offences.

But previous to the infliction of this dreadful sentence upon her, they were resolved to make her abjure her former errors; and at length so far prevailed upon her, by terror and rigorous treatment, that her spirits were entirely broken, by the hardships she was obliged to suffer. Her former visionary dreams began to vanish, and a gloomy distrust to take place of her late inspirations. She publicly declared herself willing to recant, and promised never more to give way to the vain delusions which had hitherto misled her, and imposed on the people. This was what her opprobria desired; and willing to shew some appearance of mercy, they changed her sentence into perpetual imprisonment, and to be fed during life on bread and water. But the rage of her enemies was not yet satiated. Suspecting that the female dress, which she had consented to wear, was disagreeable to her, they purposely placed in her apartment a suit of men's apparel, and watched for the effect of their temptation upon her. Their cruel artifices prevailed. Joan, struck with the sight of a dress in which she had gained so much glory, immediately threw off her penitent's robes, and put on the forbidden garment. Her enemies caught her equipped in this manner; and her imprudence was considered as a relapse into her former transgressions. No recantation would suffice, and no pardon would be granted. She was condemned to be burnt alive in the market-place of Rouen; and this infamous sentence was accordingly executed with most brutal severity.

One of the first misfortunes which the English felt after this punishment, was the defection of the duke of Burgundy; who had for some time seen the error of his conduct, and wished to break an unnatural connection, that only served to involve his country in ruin. A treaty was therefore begun, and concluded, between him and Charles, in which the former agreed to assist him in driving the English out of France. This was a mortal blow to their cause; and such was its effects upon the populace of London, when they were informed of it, that they killed several of the duke of Burgundy's subjects, who happened to be among them at the time. It might perhaps also have hastened the duke of Bedford's death, who died at Rouen a few days after the treaty was concluded; and the earl of Cambridge was appointed his successor to the regency of France.

From this period, the English affairs became totally irretrievable. The city of Paris returned once more to a sense of its duty. Lord Willoughby, who commanded it for the English, was contented to stipulate... for the safe retreat of his troops to Normandy. Thus ground was continually, though slowly, gained by the French; and notwithstanding their fields were laid waste, and their towns depopulated, yet they found protection from the weaknesses and divisions of the English. At length, both parties began to grow weary of a war, which, though carried on but feebly, was yet a burden greater than either could support. But the terms of peace inflicted upon by both were so wide of each other, that no hopes of an accommodation could quickly be expected. A truce, therefore, for twenty-two months, was concluded in 1443, which left everything on the present footing between the parties. No sooner was this agreed upon, than Charles employed himself with great industry and judgment in repairing those numberless ills to which his kingdom, from the continuance of wars, both foreign and domestic, had so long been exposed. He established discipline among his troops, and justice among his governors. He revived agriculture, and repressed faction. Thus being prepared once more for taking the field, he took the first favourable occasion of breaking the truce; and Normandy was at the same time invaded by four powerful armies; one commanded by Charles himself, a second by the duke of Brittany, a third by the count of Alençon, and a fourth by the count Dunois. Every place opened their gates almost as soon as the French appeared before them. Rouen was the only one that promised to hold out a siege; but the inhabitants clamoured so loud for a surrender, that the duke of Somerset, who commanded the garrison, was obliged to capitulate. The battle, or rather the skirmish, of Fourmigny, was the last stand which the English made in defence of their French dominions. However, they were put to the rout, and above a thousand were slain. All Normandy and Guienne, that had so long acknowledged subjection to England, were lost in the space of a year; and the English saw themselves entirely dispossessed of a country, which for above three centuries they had considered as annexed to their native dominions. Calais alone remained of all their conquests; and this was but a small compensation for the blood and treasure which had been lavished in that country, and only served to gratify ambition with a transient applause.

Charles having thus expelled the English, found himself involved in domestic troubles. His son Lewis rebelled against him, and neither the king's valour nor wisdom were sufficient to bring him back to a sense of his duty. The king died in 1461, of a very strange disorder. One of his old servants intimated to him that he would do well to be cautious, since there was reason to suspect a design to poison him: which affected the king to such a degree, that he obstinately refused all sustenance for several days; and being at length permitted to eat, it proved too late, for his bowels were collapsed, and nothing would pass. He died on the 22nd of July 1461, in the 60th year of his age, and 39th of his reign.

Lewis XI, who succeeded his father Charles, was reckoned one of the greatest politicians that ever existed. He managed all his affairs with his neighbours, indeed, in such a manner as always to have the advantage over them, though this was often very much to the detriment of his moral character. He united to the crown of France, Burgundy, Anjou, Maine, Bar, and Provence, the best part of the county of Artois, and some great towns in Picardy; together with the counties of Rouillon, Cerdagne, and Boulogne. He first used the title of Most Christian King constantly, which has since passed to his successors; and he seems likewise to have been the first French monarch treated with the title of Majesty, in addresses to him from foreigners, as well as from his own subjects. He died in 1483, in the 61st year of his age, and 23d of his reign.

His successor Charles VIII conquered Bretagne in the Charles year 1489. The duke of this country was in alliance with Henry VII, of England. It was the interest of this monarch to have exerted himself to prevent such a conquest; but as his predominant passion was the love of money, he could not bear the thoughts of embarking in such an expensive project, till it was too late. In 1491, the king of France annexed this duchy unwillingly to his crown, by marrying the young duchess, though she had been already contracted to the emperor Maximilian. By this piece of negligence, Henry suffered a great check on the power of the French monarchs to be removed; and ever since that time, England, even though united to Scotland, hath found it much harder to cope with France than before. After Bretagne was irreparably lost, however, the English monarch, urged by the clamours of his people, invaded France in 1492. He gave out that he had nothing less in view than an entire conquest of the country; nevertheless, on the third of November the same year, he made peace with Charles, on condition of his paying him 745,000 crowns, at that time, and a yearly pension of 25,000 crowns ever after.

The king of France agreed to these terms the more readily, that he was impatient to undertake an expedition into Italy, in order to conquer the kingdom of Naples, to which he claimed a right. Most of his counsellors were against the expedition; but the king was inflexible, even though Ferdinand king of Naples offered to do homage for his kingdom, and pay him a tribute of 50,000 crowns a-year. He appointed Peter duke of Bourbon regent, in his absence, after which he set out on his expedition with very few troops and very little money. By the way he fell ill of the smallpox, but in a short time recovered, and entering Italy with only 6000 horse and 12,000 foot, he was attended with the most surprising success, traversing the whole country in six weeks, and becoming master of the kingdom of Naples in less than a fortnight. Such extraordinary good fortune seemed miraculous, and he was reckoned an instrument raised up by God to destroy the execrable tyrants with which Italy was at that time infested. Had Charles made use of this possession in his favour, and acted up to the character generally given him, he might have raised his name as high as any hero of antiquity. His behaviour, however, was of a very different nature. He amused himself with feats and shows; and leaving his power in the hands of favourites, they abandoned it to whoever would purchase titles, places, or authority, at the rates they imposed; and the whole force he proposed to leave in his new conquered dominions amounted to no more than 4000 men.

But while Charles was thus losing his time, a league was concluded against him at Venice; into which entered tered the pope, the emperor Maximilian, the archduke Philip, Ludovic Sforza, and the Venetians. The confederates assembled an army of 40,000 men, commanded by Francis, marquis of Mantua; and they waited for the king in the valley of Farnova, in the duchy of Parma, into which he descended with 9000 men. On the 6th of July 1495, he attacked the allies; and, notwithstanding their great superiority, defeated them, with the loss of only 80 of his own men. Thus he got safe to France; but his Italian dominions were lost almost as soon as he departed. Some schemes were proposed for recovering these conquests; but they were never put in execution, and the king died of an apoplexy in 1498.

Lewis XII., duke of Orleans, succeeded to the throne of France; and on his accession found the face of affairs in Italy very much changed to his advantage. The pope, Alexander VI., was very much in his interests, from the hopes of getting his son Cesar Borgia provided for; he had conciliated the friendship of the Venetians by promising them a part of the Milanese; he concluded a truce with the archduke Philip; and renewed his alliances with the crowns of England, Scotland, and Denmark. He then entered Italy with an army of 20,000 men; and, being assisted by the Venetians, quickly conquered one part of the duchy, while they conquered the other, the duke himself being obliged to fly with his family to Innsbruck. He then attacked Ferdinand of Spain with three armies at once, two to act by land, and one by sea; but none of these performing any thing remarkable, he was obliged to evacuate the kingdom of Naples in 1504.

In 1506, the people of Genoa revolted; drove out the nobility; chose eight tribunes; and declared Paul Nuova, a silk-dyer, their duke; after which they expelled the French governor, and reduced a great part of the Riviera. This occasioned Lewis's return into Italy; where, in 1507, he obliged the Genoese to surrender at discretion; and, in 1508, entered into the league of Cambrai, with the other princes who at that time wanted to reduce the overgrown power of the Venetians. Pope Julius II., who had been the first contriver of this league, very soon repented of it; and declared, that if the Venetians would restore the cities of Faenza and Rimini, which had been unjustly taken from him, he would be contented. This was refused; and in 1509, the forces of the republic received such an entire defeat from Lewis, that they agreed to restore not only the two cities demanded by pope Julius, but whatever else the allies required.

The pope now, instead of executing his treaties with his allies, made war on the king of France without the least provocation. Lewis called an assembly of his clergy; where it was determined, that in some cases it was lawful to make war upon the pope; upon which the king declared war against him, and committed the care of his army to the Marshal de Trivulce. He soon obliged the pope to retire into Ravenna; and in 1511, Gaston de Foix, duke of Nemours, gained a great victory at Ravenna, but was himself killed in the engagement. After his death the army disbanded for want of pay; and the French affairs in Italy, and everywhere else, fell into great confusion. They recovered the duchy of Milan, and lost it again in a few weeks. Henry VIII., of England invaded France, and took Terrasne and Tournay; and the Swiss invaded Burgundy with an army of 25,000 men. In this desperate situation of affairs the queen died, and Lewis put an end to the opposition of his most dangerous enemies by negotiating marriages. To Ferdinand of Spain, he offered his second daughter for either of his grandsons, Charles or Ferdinand; and to renounce, in favour of that marriage, his claims on Milan and Genoa. This proposal was accepted; and Lewis himself married the princess Mary, sister to Henry VIII., of England with land. This marriage he did not long survive, but died Mary of on the 2nd of January 1514; and was succeeded by England, Francis I., count of Angouleme, and duke of Bretagne and death, and Valois.

The new king was no sooner seated on the throne, Francis I., than he resolved on an expedition into Italy. In this invasion he was at first successful, defeating the Swiss at Marignano, and reducing the duchy of Milan. In 1518, the emperor Maximilian dying, Francis was very ambitious of being his successor, and thereby restoring to France such a splendid title, which had been so long lost. But Maximilian, before his death, had exerted himself so much in favour of Charles V. of Spain, that Francis found it impossible to succeed; and from that time an irreconcilable hatred took place between the two monarchs. In 1521, this ill-will produced a war; which, however, might perhaps have been terminated if Francis could have been prevailed upon to restore the town of Pontarabia, which had been taken by his admiral Bonivet; but this being refused, hostilities were renewed with greater vigour than ever; nor were they concluded till France was brought to the very brink of destruction. The war was continued with various success, till the year 1524; when Francis, having invaded Italy, and laid siege to Pavia, he was utterly defeated before Defeated that city, and taken prisoner on the 24th of February, and taken prisoner.

This disaster threw the whole kingdom into the utmost confusion. The Flemish troops made continual inroads; many thousand boors assembled in Alsace, in order to make an invasion from that quarter; Henry VIII. had assembled a great army, and threatened the kingdom on that side also; and a party was formed in the kingdom, in order to dispossess the duchess of the regency, and confer it upon the duke de Vendome. This prince, however, who, after the constable, was the head of the House of Bourbon, went on purpose to Lyons, where he assured the regent that he had no view but for her service, and that of his country; upon which he formed a council of the ablest men of the kingdom, and of this he made him president. The famous Andrew Doria sailed with the French galleys to take on board the remains of the French troops under the duke of Alva, whom he landed safely in France. Those who escaped out of the Milanese also made their way back again as well as they could. Henry VIII., under the influence of cardinal Wolsey, resolved not to oppress the oppressed; he therefore assured the regent that she had nothing to fear from him; and at the same time advised her not to consent to any treaty by which France was to be dismembered. To the emperor, however, he used another language. He told him, that the time was now come when this puissant monarchy lay at their mercy; and therefore, that so favourable an opportunity should not be let slip; that, for his part, he should be content with Normandy. dy, Guienne, and Gascony, and hoped the empire would make no scruple of owning him king of France; adding, that he expected the emperor would make a right use of his victory, by entering Guienne in person, in which case he was ready to bear half the expenses of the war. He foresaw what fell out: the emperor was alarmed at these conditions, and did not care to have him for a neighbour; for which reason he agreed to a truce with the regent for six months. In Picardy the Flemings were repulsed; and the count de Guise, with the duke of Lorraine, had the good fortune, with a handful of troops, to defeat and cut to pieces the German peasants.

In the meantime, Francis was detained in captivity in Italy: but being wearied of his confinement in that country, and the princes of Italy beginning to cabal for his deliverance, he was carried to Madrid; where, on the 14th of January 1525, he signed a treaty, the principal articles of which were, That he should resign to the emperor the duchy of Burgundy in full sovereignty; that he should desist from the homage which the emperor owed him for Artois and Flanders; that he should renounce all claim to Naples, Milan, Alt, Tournay, Lisle, and Hefdin, &c.; that he should persuade Henry d'Albret to resign the kingdom of Navarre to the emperor, or at least should give him no assistance; that within 40 days he should restore the duke of Bourbon and all his party to their estates; that he should pay the king of England 500,000 crowns which the emperor owed him; that when the emperor went to Italy to receive the Imperial crown, he should lend him 12 galleys, four large ships, and a land-army, or instead of it 200,000 crowns.

All these articles the king of France promised on the word and honour of a prince to execute; or, in case of non-performance, to return prisoner into Spain. But, notwithstanding these professions, Francis had already protested before certain notaries and witnesses in whom he could trust, that the treaty he was about to sign was against his will, and therefore null and void. On the 21st of February, the emperor thought fit to release him from his prison, in which he had been closely confined ever since his arrival in Spain; and after receiving the strongest assurances from his own mouth, that he would literally fulfil the terms of the treaty, sent him under a strong guard to the frontiers, where he was exchanged for his two eldest sons, who were to remain as hostages for his fidelity.

When the king returned to his dominions, his first care was to get himself absolved by the Pope from the oaths he had taken; after which he entered into a league with the pontiff, the Venetians, the duke of Milan, and the king of England, for preserving the peace of Italy. In the month of June, he publicly received remonstrances from the states of Burgundy; in which they told him, without ceremony, that by the treaty of Madrid he had done what he had no right to do, in breach of the laws and his coronation-oath; adding, that if he persisted in his resolution of throwing them under a foreign yoke, they must appeal to the General States of the kingdom. At these remonstrances the viceroy of Naples and the Spanish ministers were present. They perceived the end which the king aimed at, and therefore expostulated with him in pretty warm terms. At last the viceroy told him, that he had now nothing left but to keep his royal word in returning to the castle of Madrid, as his predecessor John had done in a like case. To this the king replied, that king John acted rightly; that he returned to a king who had treated him like a king; but that at Madrid he had received such usage as would have been unbecoming to a gentleman; that he had often declared to the emperor's ministers, that the terms they extorted from him were unjust and impracticable; but, that he was still willing to do all that was fit and reasonable; and to ransom his sons, at the rate of two millions of gold, in lieu of the duchy of Burgundy.

Hitherto the treaty for the tranquillity of Italy had been kept secret, in hopes that some mitigation of the treaty of Madrid would have been obtained; but now it was judged expedient to publish it, though the viceroy of Naples and the Spanish lords were still at the French court; and the emperor was to be admitted into it, provided he accepted the king's offer of two millions for the release of his children, and left the duke of Milan and other Italian princes in quiet possession of their dominions. It is the common misfortune of all leagues, that the powers who enter into them keep only their own particular interests in view, and thus defeat the general intention of the confederacy. This was the case here. The king's great point was to obtain his children upon the terms he had proposed; and he was desirous of knowing what hopes there were of that, before he acted against the monarch who had them in his power. Thus the duke of Milan and the Pope were both sacrificed. The former was obliged to surrender to the duke of Bourbon, and the latter was surprised by the Colonnas; both of which disasters would have been prevented if the French succours had entered Italy in time. See Italy.

According to an agreement which had been made between Francis and Henry, their ambassadors went into Spain, attended each of them by a herald, in order to summon the emperor to accept the terms which had been offered him; or, in case of refusal, to declare war. It seems the emperor's answer was foreseen in the court of France; and therefore, the king had previously called together an assembly of the notables; that is, persons of the several ranks of his people in whom he could confide. To them he proposed the great question: Whether he was bound to perform the treaty of Madrid; or, Whether, if he did not perform it, he was obliged in honour to return to Spain? To both these questions, the assembly answered in the negative: they said, that Burgundy was united to the crown of France, and that he could not separate it by his own authority; that his person also was the property of the public, of which therefore he could not dispose; but for the two millions, which they looked upon as a just equivalent, they undertook that it should be raised for his service. When the ambassadors delivered their propositions, Charles treated the English herald with respect, and the French one with contempt; which produced a challenge from Francis to the emperor. All differences, however, were at last adjusted; and a treaty was concluded at Cambrai, on the 5th of August 1528. By this treaty, instead of the possession, the emperor contented himself with reserving his rights to the duchy of Burgundy, and the two two millions of crowns already mentioned. Of these he was to receive 1,200,000 in ready money; the prince's lands in Flanders belonging to the House of Bourbon, were to be delivered up; these were valued at 400,000 more: and the remaining 400,000 were to be paid by France in discharge of the emperor's debt to England. Francis was likewise to discharge the penalty of 500,000 crowns which the emperor had incurred, by not marrying his niece the princess Mary of England; and to release a rich fleur de lys which had been many years before pawned by the house of Burgundy for 50,000 crowns. The town and castle of Héldin were also yielded; together with the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois, and all the king's pretensions in Italy. As for the allies of France, they were abandoned to the emperor's mercy, without the least stipulation in their favour; and Francis himself protested against the validity of the treaty before he ratified it, as did also his attorney general before he registered it in parliament; but both of them with the greatest secrecy imaginable.

Nothing farther of much consequence happened during the remainder of the reign of Francis I. The war was soon renewed with Charles, who made an invasion into France, but with very bad success; nor was peace fully established but by the death of Francis, which happened on the 3d of March, 1547. He was succeeded by his son Henry II, who ascended the throne that very day on which he was 29 years of age. In the beginning of his reign, an insurrection happened in Guienne, owing to the oppressive conduct of the officers who levied the salt tax. The king dispatched against the insurgents two bodies of troops; one commanded by the duke of Aumale son to the duke of Guise, the other by the constable. The first behaved with the greatest moderation, and brought back the people to their duty without making many examples; the other behaved with the utmost haughtiness and cruelty; and though the king afterwards remitted many of his punishments, yet from that time the constable became odious to the people, while the family of Guise were highly respected.

In 1548, the king began to execute the edicts which had been made against the Protestants, with the utmost severity; and, thinking even the clergy too mild in the prosecution of heresy, erected for that purpose a chamber composed of members of the parliament of Paris. At the queen's coronation, which happened this year, he caused a number of Protestants to be burned, and was himself present at the spectacle. He was, however, so much shocked, that he could never forget it; but complained, as long as he lived, that, at certain times, it appeared before his eyes, and troubled his understanding.

In 1549, a peace being concluded with England, the king purchased Boulogne from the latter, for the sum of 400,000 crowns; one half to be paid on the day of restitution, and the other a few months after. Scotland was included in the treaty, and the English restored some places they had taken there. This was the most advantageous peace that France had hitherto made with England; the vast arrears which were due to that crown being in effect remitted; and the pension, which looked so like tribute, not being mentioned, was in fact extinguished. The earl of Warwick himself, who had concluded the peace, was so sensible of the disgrace suffered by his nation on this occasion, that he pretended to be sick, in order to avoid setting his hand to such a scandalous bargain.

This year, an edict was made to restrain the extravagant remittances which the clergy had been in use of making to the court of Rome, and for correcting some other abuses committed by the papal notaries. With this edict pope Julius III. was highly displeased; and the following year (1550), war was declared by the king of France against the pope and the emperor. The pretence was, that Henry protected Ochavio Farnese duke of Parma, whom the pope was desirous of depriving of his dominions. In this war the king was threatened with the censures of the church, more especially when it was known that he had entered into an alliance with the Turks, and a Turkish fleet entered the Mediterranean, where they threatened the Isle of Gozo, and made descents upon Sicily. Henry, however, strongly denied any such connection, and insisted that the emperor had given them sufficient provocation; but, be this as it will, the emperor soon found himself in such danger from these new enemies, that he could not support the pope as he intended, who on that account was obliged to sue for peace. After this, the king continued the war against the emperor with success; reducing the cities of Toul, Verdun, Metz. He then entered the country of Alsace, and reduced all the fortresses between Haguenau and Wissenburg. He failed, however, in his attempt on Strasbourg; and was soon after obliged by the German princes and the Swiss to desist from further conquests on that side. This war continued with very little interruption, and as little success on the part of the French, till the year 1557, when a peace was concluded; and soon after, the king was killed at a tournament by one count de Montgomery, who was reckoned one of the strongest knights in France, and who had done all he could to avoid this encounter with the king.

The reign of his successor Francis II. was remarkable only for the persecution of the Protestants; which became so grievous, that they were obliged to take up arms in their own defence. This occasioned several civil wars, the first of which commenced in the reign of Charles IX., who succeeded to the throne in 1560. This first war continued till the year 1562, when a peace was concluded, by which the Protestants were to have a free pardon, and liberty of conscience. In 1565, the war broke out anew, and was continued with very little interruption till 1569, when peace was again concluded upon very advantageous terms for the Protestants. After this, king Charles, who had now taken the government into his hands, cared for the Protestants in an extraordinary manner. He invited to court the admiral Coligni, who was the head of the Protestant party; and cajoled him so, that he was lulled into a perfect security, notwithstanding the many warnings given him by his friends, that the king's fair speeches were by no means to be trusted; but he had soon reason to repent his confidence. On the 22d of August 1571, as he was walking from the court to his lodgings, he received a shot from a window; which carried away the second finger of his right hand, and wounded him grievously in the left arm. This lie himself ascribed. ascribed to the malice of the duke of Guise, the head of the Catholic party. After dinner, however, the king went to pay him a visit, and amongst others made him this compliment, "You have received the wound, but it is I who suffer;" deeming at the same time, that he would order his friends to quarter about his house, and promising to hinder the Catholics from entering that quarter after it was dark. This satisfied the admiral of the king's sincerity; and hindered him from complying with the desires of his friends, who would have carried him away, and who were strong enough to have forced a passage out of Paris if they had attempted it.

In the evening, the queen-mother, Katherine de Medicis, held a cabinet-council to fix the execution of the massacre of the Protestants, which had been long meditated. The persons of which this council was composed, were, Henry duke of Anjou, the king's brother; Gonzague duke of Nevers; Henry of Angoulême, grand prior of France, and bastard brother of the king; the marshal de Tavasques; and Albert de Gondi, count de Rhetz. The direction of the whole was given to the duke of Guise, to whom the administration had been entirely confided during the former reign. The guards were appointed to be in arms, and the city-officers were to dispose the militia to execute the king's orders, of which the signal was the ringing of a bell near the Louvre. Some say, that when the hour approached, which was that of midnight, the king grew indetermined: that he expressed his horror at shedding so much blood, especially considering that the people whom he was going to destroy were his subjects, who had come to the capital at his command, and in confidence of his word; and particularly the admiral, whom he had detained so lately by his carelessness. The queen-mother, however, reproached him with his cowardice, and represented to him the great danger he was in from the Protestants; which at last induced him to consent. According to others, however, the king himself urged on the massacre; and when it was proposed to him to take off only a few of the heads, he cried out, "If any are to die, let there not be one left to reproach me with breach of faith."

As soon as the signal was given, a body of Swiss troops, of the Catholic religion, headed by the duke of Guise, the chevalier d'Angoulême, accompanied by many persons of quality, attacked the admiral's house. Having forced open the doors, the foremost of the assassins rushed into his apartment; and one of them asked if he was Coligny? To this he answered that he was; adding, "Young man, respect these grey hairs!" to which the assassin replied by running him through the body with his sword. The duke of Guise and the chevalier, growing impatient below stairs, cried out to know if the business was done; and being told that it was, commanded that the body should be thrown out at the window. As soon as it fell on the ground, the chevalier, or (as some say) the duke of Guise, wiping the blood off the face kicked it with his foot. The body was then abandoned to the fury of the populace; who, after a series of indignities, dragged it to the common gallows, to which they chained it by the feet, the head being cut off and carried to the queen-mother; who, it is said, caused it to be embalmed and sent to Rome. The king himself went to see the body hang upon the gibbet; where, a fire being kindled under it, part was burnt, and the rest scorched. In the Louvre the gentlemen belonging to the king of Navarre and the prince of Conde were murdered under the king's eye. Two of them wounded, and pursued by the assassins, fled into the bed-chamber of the queen of Navarre, and jumped upon her bed, beseeching her to save their lives; and as she went to ask this favour of the queen-mother, two more, under the like circumstances, rushed into the room, and threw themselves at her feet. The queen-mother came to the window to enjoy these dreadful scenes; and the king, seeing the Protestants who lodged on the other side of the river, firing for their lives, called for his long gun, and fired upon them. In the space of three or four days, many thousands were destroyed in the city of Paris, by the most cruel deaths which malice itself could invent. Peter Ramus, professor of philosophy and mathematics, after being robbed of all he had, his belly being first ripped open, was thrown out of a window. This so much affected Denis Lambin the king's professor, that, though a zealous Catholic, he died of terror. The first two days, the king denied it was done by his orders, and threw the whole blame on the house of Guise; but, on the 28th of August, he went to the parliament, avowed it, was complimented upon it, and directed a process against the admiral, by which he was stigmatized as a traitor. Two innocent gentlemen suffered as his accomplices in a pretended plot against the life of the king, in order to set the crown on the head of the prince of Conde. They were executed by torch-light; and the king and the queen-mother (with the king of Navarre and the prince of Conde by force), were spectators of this horrid fact; and they also assisted at the jubilee to thank God for the execution of such an infamous design.

This massacre was not confined to the city of Paris alone. On the eve of St Bartholomew, orders had been sent to the governors of provinces to fall upon the Protestants themselves, and to let loose the people upon them; and though an edict was published before the end of the week, affording them of the king's protection, and that he by no means designed to exterminate them because of their religion, yet private orders were sent, of a nature directly contrary; in consequence of which, the massacre, or (as, in allusion to the Sicilian vespers*, it was now styled) the Matins of Paris,* See Silly, were repeated in Meaux, Orleans, Troyes, Angers, Thoulouse, Rouen, and Lyons; so that in the space of two months 30,000 Protestants were butchered. The next year Rochelle, the only strong fortress which the Protestants held in France, was besieged, but was not taken without the loss of 24,000 of the Catholics who besieged it. After this a pacification ensued on terms favourable to the Protestants, but to which they never trusted.

This year the duke of Anjou was elected king of Poland, and soon after set out to take possession of his new kingdom. The king accompanied him to the frontiers of the kingdom; but during the journey was seized with a slow fever, which from the beginning had a very dangerous appearance. He lingered for some time under the most terrible agonies both of body and mind; and at last died on the 30th of May 1572, ha- ving lived 24 years, and reigned 13. It is said, that after the deadly massacre abovementioned, this prince had a fierceness in his looks and a colour in his cheeks which he never had before. He slept little, and never found. He walked frequently in agonies, and had soft music to compose him again to rest.

During the first years of the reign of Henry III., who succeeded his brother Charles, the war with the Protestants was carried on with indifferent success on the part of the Catholics. In 1575, a peace was concluded, called by way of eminence the Edict of Pacification. It consisted of no fewer than 62 articles; the substance of which was, that liberty of conscience, and the public exercise of religion, were granted to the reformed, without any other restriction than that they should not preach within two leagues of Paris or any other part where the court was: Party-chambers were erected in every parliament, to consist of equal numbers of Catholics and Protestants, before whom all judgments were to be tried: The judgments against the admiral, and, in general, all who had fallen in the war or been executed, were reversed; and eight cautionary towns were given to the Protestants.

This edict gave occasion to the Guises to form an association in defense, as was pretended, of the Catholic religion, afterwards known by the name of the Catholic League. In this league, though the king was mentioned with respect, he could not help feeling that it struck at the very root of his authority: for, as the Protestants had already their chiefs, so the Catholics were, for the future, to depend entirely upon the chief of the league; and were, by the very words of it, to execute whatever he commanded, for the good of the cause, against any, without exception of persons. The king, to avoid the bad effects of this, by the advice of his council declared himself head of the league; and of consequence recommenced the war against the Protestants, which was not extinguished as long as he lived.

The faction of the duke of Guise, in the mean time, took a resolution of supporting Charles cardinal of Bourbon, a weak old man, as presumptive heir of the crown. In 1584, they entered into a league with Spain, and took up arms against the king: and tho' peace was concluded the same year, yet, in 1587, they again proceeded to such extremities, that the king was forced to fly from Paris. Another reconciliation was soon after effected, but it is generally believed that the king from this time resolved on the destruction of Guise. Accordingly, finding that this nobleman still behaved towards him with his usual influence, the king caused him to be stabbed, as he was coming into his presence, by his guards, on the 23d of December 1587. The king himself did not long survive him; being stabbed by one James Clement, a Jacobite monk, on the 1st of August 1588. His wound at first was not thought mortal: but his frequent swooning quickly discovered his danger; and he died next morning, in the 39th year of his age, and 16th of his reign.

Before the king's death, he nominated Henry Bourbon king of Navarre for his successor on the throne of France; but as he was a Protestant, or at least one who greatly favoured their cause, he was at first owned by very few except those of the Protestant party.

He met with the most violent opposition from the members of the Catholic league; and was often reduced to such straits, that he went to people's houses under colour of visits, when in reality he had not a dinner in his own. By his activity and perseverance, however, he was at last acknowledged throughout the whole kingdom, to which his abjuration of the Protestant religion contributed not a little. As the king of Spain had laid claim to the crown of France, Henry no sooner found himself in a fair way of being firmly seated on the throne, than he formally declared war against that kingdom; in which he at last proved successful, and in 1597 entered upon the quiet possession of his kingdom.

The king's first care was to put an end to the religious disputes which had so long distracted the kingdom. For this purpose, he granted the famous Edict of Nantes, dated at Nantes, April 13th 1598. It re-established, in a most solid and effectual manner, all the favours that had ever been granted to the reformed by other princes; adding some which had not been thought of before, particularly the allowing them a free admission to all employments of trust, profit, and honour; the establishing chambers in which the members of the two religions were equal; and the permitting their children to be educated without constraint in any of the universities. Soon after, he concluded peace with Spain upon very advantageous terms. This gave him an opportunity of restoring order and justice throughout his dominions; of repairing all the ravages occasioned by the civil war; and abolishing all those innovations which had been made, either to the prejudice of the prerogatives of the crown, or the welfare of the people. His schemes of reformation, indeed, he intended to have carried beyond the boundaries of France. If we may believe proposals to the duke of Sully, he had in view no less a design than the new-modelling of all Europe. He imagined that the European powers might be formed into a kind of Christian republic, by rendering them as nearly as possible of equal strength; and that this republic might be maintained in perpetual peace, by bringing all their differences to be decided before a senate of wise, disinterested, and able judges: and then, he thought, it would be no difficult matter to overturn the Ottoman empire. The number of these powers was to be 15, viz. the Papacy; the empire of Germany; France, Spain; Hungary; Great Britain; Bohemia; Lombardy; Poland; Sweden; Denmark; the Republic of Venice; the States-General; the Swiss Cantons; and the Italian commonwealth, which was to comprehend the States of Florence, Genoa, Lucca, Modena, Parma, Mantua, and Monaco. In order to render the States equal, the empire was to be given to the duke of Bavaria; the kingdom of Naples to the pope; that of Sicily to the Venetians; Milan to the duke of Savoy, who, by this acquisition, was to become king of Lombardy; the Austrian Low Countries were to be added to the Dutch republic; Franche Comté, Alsace, and the country of Trent, were to be given to the Swiss. With a view, it is now thought, of executing this grand project, but under pretence of reducing the exorbitant power of the House of Austria, Henry made immense preparations both by sea and land; but if he really had such a design, he was prevented by death from On the death of Henry IV., the queen-mother assumed the regency. Ravillac was executed, after suffering horrid tortures. It is said that he made a confession, which was so written by the person who took it down, that not one word of it could ever be read, and thus his instigators and accomplices could never be discovered. The regency, during the minority of Lewis XIII., was only remarkable for cabals and intrigues of the courtiers. In 1617, the king assumed the government himself, banished the queen-mother to Blois, and caused her favourite marshal d'Ancre to be killed. In 1620, a new war broke out between the Catholics and Protestants, which was carried on with the greatest fury on both sides; and we may judge of the spirit which actuated both parties, by what happened at Negrépilfe, a town in Quercy. This place was besieged by the king's troops, and it was resolved to make an example of the inhabitants. The latter, however, absolutely refused to surrender upon any terms. They defended themselves, therefore, most desperately; and the city being at last taken by storm, they were all massacred, without respect of rank, sex, or age, except ten men. When these were brought into the king's presence, he told them they did not deserve mercy: they answered, that they would not receive it; that the only favour they asked, was to be hanged on trees in their own gardens; which was granted, and the place reduced to ashes. Both parties soon became weary of such a destructive war; and a peace was concluded in 1621, by which the edict of Nantes was confirmed. This treaty, however, was of no long duration. A new war broke out which lasted till the year 1628, when the edict of Nantes was again confirmed, only the Protestants were deprived of all their cautionary towns, and consequently of the power of defending themselves in time to come. The next year, the king was attacked with a slow fever which nothing could allay, an extreme depression of spirits, and a surprising swelling in his stomach and belly. The year after, however, he recovered, to the great disappointment of his mother, who had been in hopes of regaining her power. She was arrested; but found means to escape into Flanders, where she remained during the rest of this reign. The king died in 1633, having carried on a long war with Spain with indifferent success.

Lewis XIV., surnamed Le Grand, succeeded to the throne when he was only five years of age. During his minority, the cardinal Mazarine, to whom the administration was wholly intrusted, procured a revocation of the edict of Nantes, and rendered the government absolute. This monarch brought the glory of France to the highest pitch, for which he was indebted to the famous generals who commanded his armies, the viscount Turenne, the prince of Conde, &c.; an account of whose exploits is given under the articles Spain, Germany, Italy, United Provinces, &c. At last the immeasurable ambition of Lewis occasioned a general confederacy of the states of Europe against him. At the head of this confederacy was William III., king of England; but as long as he had the command of the allied army, the arms of Lewis proved successful. On his death, the war was renewed; and the allies, under the command of the duke of Marlborough and prince Eugene, reduced France to the lowest ebb*. When the British forces were withdrawn, it became necessary for the other contending powers to conclude a peace; which was done at Utrecht, in 1713.

Lewis XIV. died on the 1st of September 1715; and Lewis XV. was succeeded by his son Lewis XV.: at that time only six years of age. He maintained two bloody wars with Great Britain, an account of which is given under the article Britain. After a reign of 59 years, he died in 1774; and was succeeded by his son Lewis XVI., the present king of France.

The kingdom of France, according to Mr Templeman, is divided into the following provinces.

| Countries Names | Square miles | Length | Breadth | Chief Cities | |-----------------|-------------|--------|---------|-------------| | Orleans | 22,050 | 230 | 180 | Orleans | | Guienne | 12,800 | 216 | 20 | Bordeaux | | Gascong | 8,800 | 125 | 90 | Aux or Augh | | Languedoc | 13,175 | 200 | 15 | Thoulouse | | Lyonnais | 12,500 | 175 | 130 | Lyons | | Champagne | 10,000 | 140 | 110 | Rheims | | Bretagne | 9,100 | 170 | 50 | Rennes | | Normandy | 8,200 | 155 | 85 | Rouen | | Provence | 6,800 | 95 | 92 | Aix | | Burgundy | 6,700 | 150 | 86 | Dijon | | Dauphine | 5,820 | 107 | 90 | Grenoble | | Isle of France | 5,200 | 100 | 85 | Paris | | French Compte | 4,000 | 100 | 60 | Besançon | | Picardy | 3,650 | 120 | 87 | Amiens | | Rouillon | 1,400 | 50 | 44 | Perpignan |

Total—131,095

To these may be added several fine provinces, which, since the Reformation, have been annexed to this overgrown kingdom by marriage, purchase, or conquest, viz. part of the Netherlands, which will be found under the article Netherlands; the duchy of Lorraine; the countries of Alfaice, Lower Navarre, and the island of Corfica: but the city of Avignon, with the Venaissin, was, in 1774, ceded to the pope.

The air is pure, healthy, and temperate. The kingdom is so happily seated in the middle of the temperate zone, that some make it equal to Italy, with regard to climate, &c., the delightfulness of the landscapes, and the fertility of the soil; however, it is certainly much more healthful. The soil produces corn, wine, oil, and flax, in great abundance; and they have very large manufactures of linen, woollen, silk, and lace. They have a foreign trade to Spain, Italy, Turkey, and to the East and West Indies. They themselves reckon that the number of the inhabitants is 20,000,000. This kingdom contains 21 universities; 18 archbishopricks; 12 parliaments; 12 boards of accounts; 12 courts of aids; 2 courts, and 30 mints, for coining money; 2 supreme councils, besides the grand council; and 31 governors. The king has the title of Most Christian; and is an absolute prince, to whom his subjects are extremely devoted, though he rule them ever so severely. The politeness of the inhabitants is well known; but most people think them too ceremonious. In general, they are men of bright parts; and have so high an opinion of themselves, that they look upon other nations nations with contempt; however, they are of a very reflex disposition, and engaged in war more than any other country in Europe; for which reason they are gen- erally poor, though they might certainly be very rich, if they could let their neighbours live in quiet, without attempting continually to enlarge their domi- nions. They are such ill observers of treaties, that French faith is now become a proverb; for they are bound by no ties, and never fail beginning a war when they think it is for their advantage. The king's revenue is large, his army very numerous, and he has 10,000 men always about his person. The kingdom is water- ed by a great number of rivers; of which the four prin- cipal are, the Loire, the Seine, the Rhone, and the Garonne, or Gironde. The parliaments have little or no share in the government; and their business now is, to pass the arrears or laws which the king is pleased to send them; however, they do not always pay a blind obedience to the king, for we have recent instances of their making a noble stand. In civil causes these par- liaments are still the last resort, provided the court does not interpose. That of Paris is the most considerable, where the king often comes in person to see his royal acts recorded. It consists of the dukes and peers of France, besides the ordinary members, who purchase their places; and they only take cognizance of causes belonging to the crown. The revenues of the crown arise from the taille or land-tax, and the aids which proceed from the customs and duties on all merchan- dize except salt, for the tax upon that commodity is called the gabelle; besides these, there are other taxes; as, the capitulation or poll-tax; the tenths of all estates, offices, and employments; besides the 15th penny, from which neither the nobility nor clergy are exempt- ed. Add to these, the tenths and free-gifts of the clergy, who are allowed to tax themselves; and lastly, crown-rents, fines, and forfeitures, which bring in a considerable sum. All these are said to amount to 15,000,000 Sterling a-year. But the king has other resources and ways of raising money, whenever neces- sity obliges him. The army, in time of peace, is said to consist of 200,000 men, and in time of war of 400,000; among which are many Swiss, Germans, Scots, Irish, Swedes, and Danes. There is no reli- gion allowed in France but the Roman Catholic, ever since the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685; though they are not so devoted to the Pope as other nations of that communion, nor have they any inqui- sition among them.

the Ille et, a province of France, so called, because it was formerly bounded by the river Seine, Marne, Oise, Aisne, and Ourque. It comprehends, besides Paris, the Beauvaisis, the Valois, the county of Senlis, the Vexin, the Hurepoix, the Gatinois, the Multien, the Goele, and the Mantois. Paris is the capi- tal.