714 ERA 
river Ame his ardotir precipitated him atnidft the thickeft 
of thb enemy, and he mud either have perifiied, or fur- 
rendered to the multitude that furrounded him, had he 
not been difbngaged by the active gallantry of count 
Biron, fon to the marefchal ; yet his danger, inftead of 
depreffing, feemed only to inflame his enterprifihg fpirit. 
The length of the march, the badnefs of the roads, and 
the advanced feafon of the year, all contributed to fecond 
his attempts, and to increafe the diftrefs of the enemy ; 
yet every obltacle vanifhed before the prince of Parma ; 
and, without any confiderable lofs, he triumphantly con¬ 
ducted his troops into the province of Hainanlt. 
The mortification of Henry at beholding his rival thus 
elcape with impunity, was increafed by the fuccefs of the 
duke of Savoy in Provence, and by the death of pope 
Sixtus V. The former had reduced Frejusand Antibes, 
and entered Aix in triumph ; the latter expired at the 
moment that he had determined to break with the Spa¬ 
niards, and to urge by arms the claim of the court of 
Rome to the kingdom of Naples; Urban V 1 T. his tran- 
flent fuccelfor, within a few months funk alfo into the 
grave; and the vacant apoftolical chair was filled with 
Gregory XIV. by birth a Spaniard, and the mod impla¬ 
cable enemy of Henry. He inftantly declared that mo¬ 
narch an heretic, abfolved his fubjefts from their alle¬ 
giance, and involved them in the cenfures of the church, 
unlefs they quitted the impious party they had efpoufed. 
But the magnanimity of Henry feemed to rife in propor¬ 
tion to the difficulties that prefented themfelves ; and he 
dill maintained his fuperiority in the field. His forces 
had been fwelled by fixteen thoufand Germans led by the 
vifeount Turenne, and by four thoufand Englifli com¬ 
manded by the earl of EU'ex; and with an army of nearly 
thirty thoufand horfe and foot, in 1591, Henry laid fiege 
to Rouen, the capital of Normandy. That city was de¬ 
fended with the highed intrepidity by the fieur de Villars ; 
but there was little probability that he would be long 
able to refill fo formidable a force, directed by fo able a 
commander as Henry. The duke of Mayenne, alarmed 
at the danger of this important place, folicited the aflift- 
ance of the king of Spain ; and the prince of Parma was 
again deftined to enter France, and to relieve Rouen. 
The aiStive fpirit of the Spanifh general foon enabled 
him to join the duke of Mayenne ; and their united forces 
confided of twenty-five thoufand infantry, and fix thou¬ 
fand cavalry. Henry, unwilling to relinquifh his hopes 
of a city which he daily expected would capitulate, left 
his foot to profecute the fiege, and with his horfe lie ad¬ 
vanced to meet the enemy. But his ardour on this occa- 
tion precipitated him into a danger the mod lively and 
imminent ; having with four hundred horfe outflripped 
the red of his army, he fell in with the van of the Spa¬ 
niards, near the town of Aum.de, Thcfe he charged 
and repulfed ; and purfued his advantage till he deeply 
engaged himielf with the adverfe ranks; for fome time 
he continued fighting defperaiely; till, wounded in the 
loins, and the greater part of his companions killed by his 
fide, he effected a retreat, which it would have been im- 
poffible for him to have accomplidied, had not the prince 
of Parma, fulpicious of an ambufeade, called back his 
troops. The forces of the confederates entered Rouen, 
and Henry retired from tiie inaufpjcious walls. The 
prince of Parma, after relieving Rouen, in 1592, led his 
army “againfl Caudbec, fituated in the peninfula Caux, 
formed by the Seine on the weft, and the fea and the river 
d’Eu on the north and eaft. Henry was no fuoner in¬ 
formed that the prince had entangled his forces within 
the narrow limits of the peninfula, than he prepared to 
efface by a fignal revenge the memory of his former dis¬ 
appointments. His army was increafed to feventeen thou¬ 
fand foot and eight thoufand horfe ; he already poffetftd 
the towns of Eli, Arques, and Dieppe, which commanded 
the eaftern entrance into the peninfula ; and after Several 
fliarp encounters, he occupied the defiles to the foiith by 
which the Spaniards had entered. With more than ufual 
N C E. 
precaution he fortified bis camp againft the defpair of the 
enemy ; and the prince of Parma had no fodner recon- 
noitered the pofition of the royalifts, than lie was con¬ 
vinced no other expedient remained than to tranfport bis 
troops acrofs the Seine. To pafs the broad and rapid 
ftream of that river with fo confiderable an army, incum¬ 
bered with artillery and baggage, and in fight of a vigi¬ 
lant and powerful adverfary, appeared to the duke of 
Mayenne and the moft experienced officers, utterly im¬ 
practicable ; but no difficulties could deprefs the bold 
and inventive genius of the prince of Parma. He col¬ 
lected from Rouen a number of boats and rafts ; he 
cleared by his cannon the Seine of the Dutch fhips which 
occupied it; he availed himfelf of the rifing ground be¬ 
tween his camp and the royalifts, which Screened their 
motions from the fight of Henry ; he feized the favour¬ 
able moment of a thick miff, and, while his cavalry 
threatened a Serious attack on the works of Henry, his 
infantry, with the artillery and baggage, fafely crofted 
the river ; they were rapidly followed by the horfe ; and 
the rear was Secured from lofs or infult by two mafqued 
batteries which he had moft judiciopfly ereCted. 
Henry had for feveral days flattered himfelf with the 
moft fanguine hopes of gaining a decifive victory, and his 
mortification was in proportion to the confidence of his 
former expectations. His rival had again eluded his ef¬ 
forts, and poffeffed himfelf in his retreat to the Nether¬ 
lands of Epernai, while the duke of Mayenne with a 
part of his forces had entered Rouen. The exhaufted 
ftate of the king’s finances had compelled him to difband 
the majority of his army; on the frontiers of Anjou the 
prince of Conti was defeated by the duke of Mercosur, 
a zealous leaguer, and a younger branch of the houfe of 
Lorrain; Epernai was indeed lecovered by the royalifts, 
but the acquisition was attended with the death of the 
marefchal Biron, whofe career of military glory was ter¬ 
minated by a cannon ball. On the other hand, in Dati- 
phine, Lefdaguieres, who had firmly attached himfelf to 
the fortunes of Henry, vanquifhed the duke of Savoy, 
and purfued him to the gates of Turin ; and the duke of 
Joyeufe, who commanded in Languedoc an army of feven 
thoufand men in the fervice of the league, was routed by 
the royal troops under Themines, and miferably perifiied 
with the gteateft part of his followers in the waters of 
the Tarn. To thefe misfortunes of the leaguers followed 
the death of the prince of Parma, by which the king of 
Spain was deprived of his moft renowned general. 
Philip had hitherto lavifhed his treafures and the blood 
of his fubjeCts to keep alive the flame of war in France ; 
but the progrefs of his arms had as yet been attended 
witli no permanent advantage to himfelf, and he now en¬ 
deavoured by negociation to fecure in his family the 
crown of France, the only objeCt of his ambition. His 
importunity had prevailed on the duke of Mayenne to 
affemble the dates at Paris ; and the duke of Feria, the 
Spanifh ambaffador, endeavoured to perfuade the deputies 
to place Ifabella, the daughter of his royal mafter, on 
the throne. Though even the moft bigotted catholics ab 
horred a meafure which mil ft have rendered France a mere 
province of Spain, yet fenfible that they were unable fo 
contend with Henry unlefs fupported by Philip, they ftu- 
dioufly concealed their averfion, and expreffed an affeCted 
folicitude in regard to the perfon whom the king of 
Spain might name for his daughter’s confort. The arch¬ 
duke of Auftria they unanimoufly rejected, and declared 
that they never would fubmit to her union with a foreign 
prince. The young duke of Guife, the next object of 
Philip’s choice, was endeared to them by the name and 
popularity of his father; but the duke of Mayenne be¬ 
held with fecret difguft his nephew preferred before his 
fon ; while outwardly lie proieffed the higheft fatisfac- 
tion at the propofal, lie privately determined to traverfe 
it; and infifted, both for the honour of the king of 
Spain, and for the fafety of the duke of Guife, that the 
election of Ifabella fhould be deferred till an army was 
'iffentbldd 
