E. (Tale XVII., Page 195.)
Brantome, in the Thirtieth Discourse of his _Capitaines Etrangers_,writes of Furstemberg as follows:--
"Count William von Furstemberg was accounted a good and valiant captain,and would have been more highly esteemed had he not been deficient infaith, over greedy and too much addicted to pillage, as he showed oncein France, when he passed along with his troops; for after his passagethere was nothing left. He served King Francis for the space of six orseven years [not more than six.--Ed.] with some five companies alwaysnumbering from six to seven thousand men; however, after this long termof services, or rather ravages and pillage, he was suspected of havingdesigns against the King's person, as I have elsewhere related, andthose who would learn more of the matter will find the story inthe hundred tales of Queen Margaret of Navarre, wherein the valour,generosity and magnanimity of that great King are clearly shown. Theother, in great fear, left his service and entered that of the Emperor(Charles V.). If he had not been related to Madame la Regente (Louiseof Savoy), through the House of Saxony, whence sprang that of Savoy,he would possibly have met with the fate he merited, had the Kingbeen minded to it; but on this occasion the King wished to show hismagnanimity rather than have him put to death by the officers ofjustice. Again the King pardoned him when, on the arrival of the Emperorat St. Dizier in Champagne, he was taken, sounding the river Marne, (2)which he had on other occasions well reconnoitred, in coming to or onleaving France with his troops. He was on this occasion merely sent tothe Bastille, and got quit for a ransom of 30,000 crowns. Some greatcaptains said and opined that he ought not to have been thus treated asa prisoner of war but as a real vile spy, for he had professedly actedas such; and they said, moreover, that he got off too cheaply at sucha ransom, which did not represent the smallest of the larcenies that hehad perpetrated in France."--Lalanne's _OEuvres de Brantome_, vol. i.pp. 349-50.
Prior to this affair Furstemberg apparently showed some regret for hisearlier schemes against Francis I., for Queen Margaret, writing to herbrother in 1536, remarked:--
"Count William has asked me to write and tell you that there is a greatdifference between the shameful purgatory of Italy and the gloriousparadise of this camp, (3) and he spoke to me of his past misdeeds,which I would rather he should speak of to you," &c.--Genin's _Lettresde Marguerite_, p. 321.
2 This occurred in September 1544. From an unpublished MS. in the public library at Rheims it appears that Furstemberg was wearing a disguise when captured. The Emperor had sent him forward expressly to sound the river. Another unpublished MS. at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (_anc. fol._ 8561. f. 22), gives some particulars of his operations about this time.--Ed.
3 That of Avignon. See vol. i. p. liv.--Ed.
In a poetic epistle sent by Margaret to Francis I. in January 1543, tocelebrate the New Year, there is an allusion to a "Conte Guillaume,"whom Messrs. de Lincy and Montaiglon conjecture to be Furstemberg,though other commentators think that the Queen refers to William Poyet,the dishonest chancellor, who was sent to the Bastille in 1542 forpeculation. We share, however, the opinion of Messrs. de Lincy andMontaiglon, as in various contemporary MSS. which we have referred to,we have frequently found Furstemberg alluded to as "Conte" and"Comte Guillaume," without any mention of his surname. The passage inMargaret's epistle alluded to above may be thus rendered in prose:--
"God, fighting for the King in every spot, curses his enemies and bringsthem to shame and ruin, so that none hold them of account; as witness'Compte ["Conte" in the MS.] Guillaume,' who, in serving the King andthe kingdom, became rich, feared and highly esteemed. Now, however, afugitive, poor and contemned, he may well meditate as to whence came hishonours, who it was that maintained him wealthy, happy and feared;and thus it is that all the King's enemies are cursed by God inParadise."--_Les Marguerites de la Marguerite_, 1873, vol. ii. p. 203.
Apropos of Furstemberg the following entry occurs in M. de Laborde's_Comptes des Batiments du Roi_ (vol. ii. p. 229):--
"Paid to Francis de Cadenet, doctor to Count William of Furstemberg,as a gift and favour for his services, 30 crowns, value 67 livres 10sols."--L., M. and Ed.
END OF VOL. II.
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