And the first shall be, what hapned in the Year 1328.  When Charles the Fair dying without Issue Male, and leaving a Posthumous Daughter behind him; Edward King of England, and Son to Isabella, Sister of Charles, claimed the Kingdom of France as belonging to him of Right.  Now there could be no Trial of greater Importance, nor more illustrious, brought before the Publick Council, than a Controversy of this Kind.  And because it was decided there, and both Kings did submit themselves to the Judgment and Determination of the Council, ’tis an irrefragable Argument, that the Authority of the Council was greater than that of both Kings.  This Fact is recorded not only by all our own Historians, but by Polydore Virgil an English Writer, Histor. lib 19.  Moreover, that great Lawyer Paponius, Arrestorum, lib. 4. cap.  I. has left it on Record, (grounded, no doubt, upon sufficient Authorities,) “That both Kings were present at that Council, when the Matter was almost brought to an open Rupture; by the Advice of the Nobles, a General Convention of the People and States was summon’d:  and the Vote of the Majority was, that the Kinsman, by the Father’s Side, ought to have the Preference; and that the Custody of the Queen, then great with Child, shou’d be given to Valois; to whom also the Kingdom was adjudged and decreed in Case she brought forth a Daughter.”—­Which History Froissard, Vol.  I. Cap. 22. Paponius Arrest. lib. 4. cap.  I. Art. 2. and Gaguinus in Philippo Valesio, have published.

The Year 1356, furnishes us with another Example; at which Time King John was defeated by the English at Poictiers; taken Prisoner, and carried into England.—­“After so great a Calamity, the only Hopes left were in the Authority of the Great Council; therefore immediately a Parliament was summon’d to meet at Paris.  And altho’ King John’s Three Sons, Charles, Lewis and John, were at Hand, the eldest of which was of competent Age to govern; yet other Men were chosen, to wit, twelve approved Persons out of each Order of the States, to whom the Management of the Kingdom’s Affairs was intrusted; and there it was decreed, that an Embassy shou’d be sent into England to treat of Peace with the English.” Froissard, Vol.  I. cap. 170. Joannes Buchettus, lib. 4. fol. 118. Nich.  Gillius in Chron. Regis Joannis, are our Authors.