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Virgil, an English Wricer, Hiftor lib.19% Møreover, that great Lawyer Paponins, Arrestatud, lib. 4. cap. 1. has left it on Record, (grounded, no doubt, upon fufficient Authorities,) SfThat "both Kings were prefent at that Clustily "when the Matter was almoft brought tofan open Rupture; by the Advice of the Nobles sc a General Convention of the People ands States was fummon'd: and the Kore of the Majority was, that the Kinfman; by the Father's hide ought to have the preferences and that the Cuftody of the Queen, then great with Child, "fhou'd be given to Kalos; to whom alfo the

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Kingdom was adjudged and derreed in cafe She "brought forth a Daughteris-ai Which Hiftory Froiffard, Vol. 1. cap. 22. Papin Arreft. lib. 4. cap. 1. Art. 2. and Gaguinus in Philippo Kalesið, have published. ; coimal or ilǝl onw blidə edi

The Year 1356, furnishes us with Ianother Examples; at which time King Fahn was del feated by the English at Poichiers; taked Prot ner, and carried into England Aftersfɑ

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great a Calamity, the only hopes left were

in the Authority of the Great Council. I there "fore immediately as Parliament was Sam"mon'd to meet at Pan And altho' King John's three Sons, Charles Dewis and fab

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were at hand, the eldest of which was of competent Age to governgayet other, Meff were chofen, to wit,bowelve approved Berfons out of each Order of the States, to whom the "Management of the Kingdom's Affairs was intrufted and there it was decreed, that ar "Embaffy thou'd be fent into England toAreas "of Peace with the English. noiffard, Wol. 1. cap. 170. Joannes Buchertas, lib. 4. fol.. 7181 Nich. Gillius in Chrof. Regis Joannis larel bur Authors.

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A third Inftance we have Anno 13.75, when the laft Will and Teftament of Charles the Fifth, Sirnamed the Wife, was produced: By which Will he had appointed his Wife's Brother, Philip Duke of Bourbon, to be Guardian to his Sons, and Lewis Duke of Anjou his own Brother, to be Adminiftrator of the Kingdom, till fuch time as his Son Charles fhou'd come of Age. But notwithstanding this, a Great Council was held at Paris, wherein (after declaring the Teftament to be void and null) it was decreed, that the Adminiftration of the Kingdom fhou'd be committed to Lewis, the Boy's Unckle: ce But upon this Condition, that he fhould be ruled "and governed in that Adminiftration, by the Advice of certain Perfons named and approv'd by the "Council. The Education and Tutelage of the Child was left to Bourbon; and at the fame time a Law was made, that the Heir of the Kingdom fhou'd be crown'd as foon as he fhou'd be full 14 years old, and receive the Homage and Oath of Fidelity from his Subjects.--Froiffard, Vol. 2. cap. 60. Buchett, lib. 4. fol. 124. Chro. Brit. Cap.

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A 4th Example we have in the Year 1392; at which time the fame Charles the Sixth was taken with a fudden Distraction or Madness, and was convey'd firft to Mans, and afterwards Paris; and there a General Council was held,' wherein it was decreed by the Authority of the States, that the Adminiftration of the Kingdom fhou'd be committed to the Dukes of Aquitain and Burgundy. Froiffard, Vol. 4. cap. 44. is our Author.

5. Neither muft we omit what Paponius (Arest. lib.5. tit. 1o. Art. 4.) teftifies to have been declared by the Parliament at Paris, within the com

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pass of almoft our own Memories, when Franci the First had a mind to alienate part of his Dominions viz. "That all Alienations of that kind, made by any of his Predeceffors, were "void and null in themselves; upon this very CC account, that they were done without the Aucc thority of the Great Council, and of the Three cc Eftates, as he calls them.

A 6th Example we have in the Year 1426, when Philip Duke of Burgundy, and Hanfred [Dux Cloceftria] were at mortal Enmity with each other, to the great detriment of the Commonwealth; and it was at laft agreed between them to determine their quarrel by single combat: For in that Contention the Great Council interpofed its Authority, and decreed that both fhou'd lay down their Arms, and fubmit to have their Controverfies judicially tryed before the Council, rather than difputed with the Sword. Which Hiftory is related at large by Paradinus, in Chron. Burgund. lib. 3. Anno 1426.

A 7th Example hapned in the Year 1484, when Lewis the Eleventh dying, and leaving his Son Charles, a Boy of 12 years old; a Council was held at Tours, wherein 'twas decreed, "The "Education of the Boy fhou'd be committed

to Anne, the King's Sifter; but the Administration of the Kingdom fhou'd be intrusted to certain Perfons Elected and approved by that Council; notwithstanding Lewis, Duke of Orleans, the next Kinfman by the Father's fide, demanded it as his Right. A Teftimony of which Tranfaction is extant in the Acts of that Council, printed at Paris; and in Joannes Buchettus 4th Book, folio 167.

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XVIII.

Of the Remarkable Authority of the Council againft Lewis the Eleventh.

HE Power and Authority of the Council and the Eftates affembled, appears by the foregoing Teftimonies to have been very great, and indeed (as it were) Sacred. But because we are now giving Examples of this Power, we will not omit a fignal Inftance of the Authority of this Council, which interpofed it felf in the Memory of our Fathers against Lewis the Eleventh, who was reputed more crafty and cunning than any of the Kings that had ever been before him. hate (!)

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In the Year 1460, when this Lewis governed the Kingdom in fuch a. manner, that in many cafes the Duty of a good Prince, and a Lover of his Country, was wanting; the People be gan to defire the Affiftance and Authority of the Great Council, that fome care might therein be taken of the Publick Welfare; and because it was fufpected thie King wou'd not fubmit himfelf to it, the Great Men of the Kingdom (ftirred up by the daily Complaints and Sollicitations of the Commons,) refolv'd to gather For cess and raise an Army; that (as Philip de Comines expreffes it) they might provide for "the Publick Good, and expofe the King's wicked Adminiftration of the Commonwealth. They therefore agreed to be ready prepared with a good Army, that in cafe the King hou'd prove refractory, and refufe to

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follow good Advice, they might compel him by Force: For which reafon that War was faid to have been undertaken for the Publick Good, and was commonly called the War du bien pub lic, Commines, Gillius, and Lamarc, have re"corded the Names of thofe Great Men who were the principal Leaders, the Duke of Bourbon, the Duke of Berry, the King's Brother; "the Counts of Dunois, Nevers, Armagnac, and Albret, and the Duke of Charolois, who was the CC Perfon moft concern'd in what related to the Government. Wherever they marched, they caufed it to be proclaimed, that their Undertakings were only defign'd for the Publick Good; they publifhed Freedom from Taxes CC and Tributes, and fent Ambaffadors with Letters to the Parliament at Paris, to the Ecclefiafticks, and to the Rector of the Univerfity, defiring them not to fufpect or imagine thofe Forces were rais'd for the King's "deftruction, but only to reclaim him, and make him perform the Office of a Good King, ແ as the prefent Neceffities of the Publick re"quired. Thefe are Gillius's Words, lib. 4.

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The Annals intituled the Chronicles of Lewis the Eleventh, Printed at Paris by Galliottus, fol. 27. have thefe words. ----- The firft and "chiefeft of their demands was, That a Convention of the Three States fhou'd be held; be"cause in all Ages it had been found to be the only proper Remedy for all Evils, and to have always “bad a force fufficient to heal fuch fort of mischiefs.→→ Again, Pag. 28. An Affembly was called on purpofe to hear the Ambaffadors of the Great Men, and met on the 24th day in the Town66 houfe at Paris; at which were prefent fome "Chofen

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