tihvavy of trhe trheolojical ^tmimry 
 
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 PRESENTED BY 
 
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 SiOGWM 81^ 
 
 fiDemoirs of flDarguerite be IDalote ^ ^ 
 
 QUEEN OF NA VARRE, WRITTEN BY 
 HERSELF 
 
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 NEW YORK 
 
EDITION DE GRAND LUXE 
 
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 This volume of the Historic Memoir Series will, it 
 is confidently anticipated, prove to be of an interest 
 at least equal to that of any of its predecessors. These 
 Letters first appeared in French, in 1628, just thir- 
 teen years after the death of their witty and beautiful 
 authoress, who, whether as the wife for many years 
 of the great Henri of Prance, or on account of her 
 own charms and accomplishments, has always been 
 the subject of romantic interest. 
 
 The letters contain many particulars of her life, 
 together with many anecdotes hitherto unknown or 
 forgotten, told with a saucy vivacity which is charm- 
 ing, and an air vividly recalling the sprightly, arch 
 demeanour, and black, sparkling eyes of the fair 
 Queen of Navarre. She died in 1615, aged sixty- 
 three. 
 
 These letters contain the secret history of the 
 Court of France during the seventeen eventful years 
 1565-82. 
 
 The events of the seventeen years referred to are 
 of surpassing interest, including, as they do, the Mas- 
 sacre of St. Bartholomew, the formation of the League, 
 
vi PUBLISHER'S NOTE. 
 
 the Peace of Sens, and an account of the religious 
 struggles which agitated that period. They, besides, 
 afford an instructive insight into royal life at the 
 close of the sixteenth century, the modes of travel- 
 ling then in vogue, the manners and customs of the 
 time, and a picturesque account of the city of Liege 
 and its sovereign bishop. 
 
 As has been already stated, these Memoirs first 
 appeared in French in 1628. They vrere, thirty 
 years later, printed in London in English, and were 
 again there translated and published in 1813. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 The Memoirs, of which a new translation is now 
 presented to the public, are the undoubted composi- 
 tion of the celebrated princess whose name they bear, 
 the contemporary of our Queen Elizabeth, — of equal 
 abilities with her, but of far unequal fortunes. Both 
 Elizabeth and Marguerite had been bred in the school 
 of adversity ; both profited by it, but Elizabeth had 
 the fullest opportunity of displaying her acquirements 
 in it. Queen Elizabeth met with trials and diffi- 
 culties in the early part of her life, and closed a long 
 and successful reign in the happy possession of the 
 good-will and love of her subjects. Queen Mar- 
 guerite, during her whole life, experienced little else 
 besides mortification and disappointment ; she was 
 suspected and hated by both Protestants and Catho- 
 lics, with the latter of whom, though, she invariably 
 joined in communion, yet was she not in the least 
 inclined to persecute or injure the former. Elizabeth 
 amused herself with a number of suitors, but never 
 submitted to the yoke of matrimony. Marguerite, 
 in compliance with the injunctions of the Queen her 
 mother, and King Charles her brother, married Henri, 
 
viii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 King of Navarre, afterwards Henri IV. of France, 
 for whom she had no inclination ; and this union 
 being followed by a mutual indifference and dislike, 
 she readily consented to dissolve it ; soon after which 
 event she saw a princess, more fruitful but less pru- 
 dent, share the throne of her ancestors, of whom she 
 was the only representative. Elizabeth was polluted 
 with the blood of her cousin, the Queen of Scots, 
 widow of Marguerite's eldest brother. Marguerite 
 saved many Huguenots from the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew's Day, and, according to BrantSme, the life 
 of the King, her husband, whose name was on the 
 list of the proscribed. To close this parallel, Eliza- 
 beth began early to govern a kingdom, which she 
 ruled through the course of her long life with sever- 
 ity, yet gloriously, and with success. Marguerite, after 
 the death of the Queen her mother and her brothers, 
 though sole heiress of the House of Valois, was, by 
 the Salic law, excluded from all pretensions to the 
 Crown of France ; and though for the greater part 
 of her life shut up in a castle, surrounded by rocks 
 and mountains, she has not escaped the shafts of 
 obloquy. 
 
 The Translator has added some notes, which give 
 an account of such places as are mentioned in the 
 Memoirs, taken from the itineraries of the time, but 
 principally from the " Geographic Universelle " of 
 Vosgien ; in which regard is had to the new division 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. ix 
 
 of France into departments, as well as to the ancient 
 one of principalities, archbishoprics, bishoprics, gener- 
 alities, ch^tellenies, balliages, duchies, seigniories, etc. 
 
 In the composition of her Memoirs, Marguerite has 
 evidently adopted the epistolary form, though the 
 work came out of the French editor's hand divided 
 into three (as they are styled) books ; these three 
 books, or letters, the Translator has taken the liberty 
 of subdividing into twenty-one, and, at the head of 
 each of them, he has placed a short table of the con- 
 tents. This is the only liberty he has taken with the 
 original Memoirs, the translation itself being as near 
 as the present improved state of our language could 
 be brought to approach the unpolished strength and 
 masculine vigour of the French of the age of Henri 
 lY. 
 
 This translation is styled a new one, because, after 
 the Translator had made some progress in it, he found 
 these Memoirs had already been made English, and 
 printed, in London, in the year 1656, thirty years 
 after the first edition of the French original. This 
 translation has the following title : " The grand Cab- 
 inet Counsels unlocked ; or, the most faithful Trans- 
 action of Court Affairs, and Growth and Continuance 
 of the Civil Wars in France, during the Reigns of 
 Charles the last, Henry III., and Henry IV., com- 
 monly called the Great. Most excellently written, 
 in the French Tongue, by Margaret de Valois, Sister 
 
X TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 to the two first Kings, and Wife of the last. Faith- 
 fully translated by Robert Codrington, Master of 
 Arts ; " and again as " Memorials of Court Affairs," 
 etc., London, 1658. 
 
 The Memoirs of Queen Marguerite contained the 
 secret history of the Court of France during the space 
 of seventeen years, from 1565 to 1582, and they end 
 seven years before Henri III., her brother, fell by the 
 hands of Clement, the monk ; consequently, they take 
 in no part of the reign of Henri IV. (as Mr. Codring- 
 ton has asserted in his title-page), though they relate 
 many particulars of the early part of his life. 
 
 Marguerite's Memoirs include likewise the history 
 nearly of the first half of her own life, or until she 
 had reached the twenty-ninth year of her age ; and as 
 she died in 1616, at the age of sixty-three years, there 
 remain thirty-four years of her life, of which little is 
 known. In 1598, when she was forty-five years old, 
 her marriage with Henri was dissolved by mutual 
 consent, — she declaring that she had no other wish 
 than to give him content, and preserve the peace of 
 the kingdom ; making it her request, according to 
 Brant^me, that the King would favour her with his 
 protection, which, as her letter expresses, she hoped 
 to enjoy during the rest of her life. Sully says she 
 stipulated only for an establishment and the payment 
 of her debts, which were granted. After Henri, in 
 1610, had fallen a victim to the furious fanaticism 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xi 
 
 of the monk Ravaillac, she lived to see the kingdom 
 brought into the greatest confusion by the bad govern- 
 ment of the Queen Regent, Marie de' Medici, who suf- 
 fered herself to be directed by an Italian woman she 
 had brought over with her, named Leonora Galligai. 
 Tliis woman marrying a Florentine, called Concini, 
 afterwards made a marshal of France, they jointly 
 ruled the kingdom, and became so unpopular that 
 the marshal was assassinated, and the wife, who had 
 been qualified with the title of Marquise d'Ancre, 
 burnt for a witch. This happened about the time 
 of Marguerite's decease. 
 
 It has just before been mentioned how little has 
 been handed down to these times respecting Queen 
 Marguerite's history. The latter part of her life, 
 there is reason to believe, was wholly passed at a con- 
 siderable distance from Court, in her retirement (so 
 it is called, though it appears to have been rather her 
 prison) at the castle of Usson. This castle, rendered 
 famous by her long residence in it, has been demol- 
 ished since the year 1634. It was built on a moun- 
 tain, near a little town of the same name, in that part 
 of France called Auvergne, which now constitutes 
 part of the present Departments of the Upper Loire 
 and Puy-de-D6me, from a river and mountain so 
 named. These Memoirs appear to have been com- 
 posed in this retreat. Marguerite amused herself 
 likewise, in this solitude, in composing verses, and 
 
xii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 there are specimens still remaining of her poetry. 
 These compositions she often set to music, and sang 
 them herself, accompanying her voice with the lute, 
 on which she played to perfection. Great part of her 
 time was spent in the perusal of the Bible and books 
 of piety, together with the works of the best authors 
 she could procure. BrantSme assures us that Margue- 
 rite spoke the Latin tongue with purity and elegance ; 
 and it appears, from her Memoirs, that she had read 
 Plutarch with attention. 
 
 Marguerite has been said to have given in to the 
 gallantries to which the Court of France was, during 
 her time, but too much addicted ; but, though the 
 Translator is obliged to notice it, he is far from 
 being inclined to give any credit to a romance en- 
 titled, " Le Divorce Satyrique ; on, les Amours de la 
 Reyne Marguerite de Valois," which is written in the 
 person of her husband, and bears on the title-page 
 these initials : D. R. H. Q. M. ; that is to say, " du 
 Roi Henri Quatre, Mari." This work professes to 
 give a relation of Marguerite's conduct during her 
 residence at the castle of Usson ; but it contains 
 so many gross absurdities and indecencies that it is 
 undeserving of attention, and appears to have been 
 written by some bitter enemy, who has assumed the 
 character of her husband to traduce her memory.^ 
 
 * " Le Divorce Satyrique " is said to have been -written by Louise Mar- 
 guerite de Lorraine, Princesse de Conti, who ia likewise the reputed 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xiii 
 
 M. Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brant6me, 
 better known by the name of Brantome, wrote the 
 Memoirs of his own times. He was brought up 
 in the Court of France, and lived in it during the 
 reigns of Marguerite's father and brothers, dying at 
 the advanced age of eighty or eighty-four years, but 
 in what year is not certainly known. He has given 
 anecdotes^ of the life of Marguerite, written during 
 her before-mentioned retreat, when she was, as he 
 says (" fille unique maintenant rest^e, de la noble 
 maison de France"), the only survivor of her illus- 
 
 author of " The Amours of Henri IV.," disguised under the name of 
 Alcander. She was the daughter of the Due de Guise, assassinated at 
 Blois in 1588, and was boru the year her father died. She married Fran- 
 9ois, Prince de Conti, and was considered one of the most ingenious 
 and accomplished persons belonging to the French Court in the age of 
 Louis XIII. She was left a widow in 1614, and died in 1631. 
 
 1 The author of the " Tablettes de France," and " Anecdotes des Rois de 
 France," thinks that Marguerite alludes to Brantome's " Anecdotes " in 
 the beginning of her first letter, where she says : " I should commend 
 your work much more were I myself not so much praised in it." (Accord- 
 ing to the original: "Je louerois davantage votre oeuvre, si elle ne me 
 louoit tant.") If so, these letters were addressed to Brantome, and not 
 to the Baron de la Chataigneraie, as mentioned in the Preface to the 
 French edition. In Letter I. (page 33) mention is made of Madame de 
 Dampierre, whom Marguerite styles the aunt of the person the letter is 
 addressed to. She was dame cVhonneur, or lady of the bedchamber, to 
 the Queen of Henri III., and Brantome, speaking of her, calls her his aunt. 
 Indeed, it is not a matter of any consequence to whom these Memoirs were 
 addressed ; it is, however, remarkable that Louis XIV. used the same words 
 to Boileau, after hearing him read his celebrated epistle upon the famous 
 Passage of the Rhine; and yet Louis was no reader, and is not supposed 
 to have adopted them from these Memoirs. The thought is, in reality, 
 fine, but might easily suggest itself to any other. " Cela est beau," said 
 the monarch, " et je vous louerois davantage, si vous m'aviez moins lou^." 
 (The poetry is excellent, and I should praise you more had you praised me 
 less.) 
 
xiv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 trious house. Brantome praises her excellent beauty 
 m a long string of laboured hyperboles. Ronsard, 
 the Court poet, has done the same in a poem of con- 
 siderable length, wherein he has exhausted all his wit 
 and fancy. From what they have said, we may col- 
 lect that Marguerite was graceful in her person and 
 figure, and remarkably happy in her choice of dress 
 and ornaments to set herself off to the most advan- 
 tage ; that her height was above the middle size, her 
 shape easy, with that due proportion of plumpness 
 which gives an appearance of majesty and comeliness. 
 Her eyes were full, black, and sparkling; she had 
 bright, chestnut-coloured hair, and a complexion fresh 
 and blooming. Her skin was delicately white, and her 
 neck admirably well formed ; and this so generally 
 admired beauty, the fashion of dress, in her time, 
 admitted of being fully displayed. 
 
 Such was Queen Marguerite as she is portrayed, 
 with the greatest luxuriance of colouring, by these 
 authors. To her personal charms were added readi- 
 ness of wit, ease and gracefulness of speech, and great 
 affability and courtesy of manners. This description 
 of Queen Marguerite cannot be dismissed without ob- 
 serving, if only for the sake of keeping the fashion of 
 the present times with her sex in countenance, that, 
 though she had hair, as has been already described, 
 becoming her, and sufficiently ornamental in itself, yet 
 she occasionally called in the aid of wigs. BrantSme's 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xv 
 
 words are : " I'artifice de perruques bien gentiment 
 fa9onnees." ^ 
 
 I shall conclude this Preface with a letter from 
 Marguerite to BrantSme ; the first, he says, he re- 
 ceived from her during her adversity (son adversitS 
 are his words), — being, as he expresses it, so ambi- 
 tious (presomptiieux') as to have sent to inquire con- 
 cerning her health, as she was the daughter and sister 
 of the Kings, his masters. (" D'avoir envoyd sgavoir 
 de ses nouvelles, mais quoy elle estoit fille et sceur de 
 mes roys.") 
 
 The letter here follows : " Par la souvenance que 
 vous avez de moy (qui m'a est^ bien moins nouvelle 
 qu'agrdable) , je connois que vous avez bien conserve 
 1' affection qu'avez tousjours cue a nostre maison, a ce 
 pen qui reste d'un miserable naufrage, qui en quelque 
 estat qu'il puisse estre, sera tousjours dispose de vous 
 servir, me sentant bien heureuse que la fortune n'ait 
 pu effacer mon nom de la memoire de mes plus an- 
 ciens amis, comme vous estes. J' ay sqeu que, comme 
 
 1 Ladies in the days of Ovid wore periwigs. That poet says to 
 Corinna : 
 
 " Nunc tibi captivos mittet Germania crines ; 
 Culta triumphatae munere gentis eris." 
 
 (Wigs shall from captive Germany be sent ; 
 'Tis with such spoils your head you ornament.) 
 
 These, we may conclude, were flaxen, that being the prevailing coloured 
 hair of the Germans at this day. The Translator has met with a further 
 account of Marguerite's head-dress, which describes her as wearing a 
 velvet bonnet ornamented with pearls and diamonds, and surmounted 
 with a plume of feathers. 
 
xvi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 moi, vous avez choisi la vie tranquille, en la quelle 
 j'estime heureux qui s'y peut maintenir, comme Dieu 
 m'en a fait la grace depuis cinq ans, m'ayant log^e en 
 une arche de salut, ou les orages de ces troubles ne 
 peuvent, Dieu mercy, me nuire, a la quelle s'il me 
 reste quelque moyen de pouvoir servir a mes amis, et 
 a Tous particuli^rement, vous m'y trouverez entiere- 
 ment dispos^e et accompagn^e d'une bonne volonte." 
 
 That is to say : " From the attention and regard you 
 have shown me (which to me appears less strange 
 than it is agreeable), I find you still preserve that 
 attachment you have ever had to my family, in a rec- 
 ollection of these poor remains which have escaped 
 its wreck. Such as I am, you will find me always 
 ready to do you service, since I am so happy as to 
 discover that my fortune has not been able to blot out 
 my name from the memory of my oldest friends, of 
 which number you are one. I have heard that, like^ 
 me, you have chosen a life of retirement, which I 
 esteem those happy who can enjoy, as God, out of 
 His great mercy, has enabled me to do for these last 
 five years ; having placed me, during these times of 
 trouble, in an ark of safety, out of the reach, God be 
 thanked, of storms. If, in my present situation, I am 
 able to serve my friends, and you more especially, I 
 shall be found entirely disposed to it, and with the 
 greatest good- will." 
 
 There is such an air of dignified majesty in the 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xvii 
 
 foregoing letter, and, at the same time, such a spirit 
 of genuine piety and resignation, that it cannot but 
 give an exalted idea of Marguerite's character, who 
 appears superior to ill-fortune and great even in her 
 distress. If, as I doubt not, the reader thinks the 
 same, I shall not need to make an apology for con- 
 cluding this Preface with it. 
 
 The following Latin verses, or call them, if you 
 please, epigram, are of the composition of Barclay, or 
 Barclaius, author of " Argenis," etc. 
 
 Neither has George Buchanan been wanting in 
 paying Marguerite the tribute of some Latin verses. 
 An epigram is to be found amongst his Latin poems. 
 See p. 407, ed. London, 1686. See likewise pp. 416 
 and 430. 
 
xviii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 DE MARGARETA VALESIA, 
 
 NAVARRE REGINA. 
 
 O patria, O arces, O dulcia tecta parentum, 
 Unde fvus, unde pater, tres unde ex ordine fratres 
 Sceptra tulere mei, mene O agnoscitis arces ? 
 lUa ego sum, cui vos cunabula cara dedistis, 
 Et patrio ingentem cuitu jactastis alumnam; 
 Stirpe Deas, et fronte Deas et sidera vultu 
 Cum premerem, amborum spes ambitiosa procorum. 
 Nunc conjux vidua, et vani cum nomine regni, 
 Rupibus e nudis, longique e carcerc montis 
 Excedo. Bed et hie causas infesta dolendi 
 Disponit fortuna mihi, monstratque colendam 
 Quae mihi successit, quique, ah, de corpore nostro 
 Debuit esse pu.r. Nee jam contendere promptum 
 Damnavit dudum miseram fecitque nocentem 
 Cum tali certasse viro. Jam credere divis 
 Felicesque sequi juvat, et subscribere fate. 
 O dolor ! an potui victos inflectere vultus 
 Despectosque orasse viros ? Ne credite, vivam. 
 Jamdudum perii, jamdudum extincta supersum; 
 Et vivo, et morior toties ; me f unere longo 
 Nempe mori decuit, quae tot per secula clamm 
 Induce tumulis suprema Valesia nomen. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 Tr\fC 
 
 ON MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, 
 
 QUEEN OF NAVARRE. 
 
 Deax native land 1 and you, proud castles I say 
 
 (Where grandsire,^ fatlier,^ and three brothers' lay, 
 
 Who each, in turn, the crown imperial wore), 
 
 Me will you own, your daughter whom you bore ? 
 
 Me, once your greatest boast and chiefest pride, 
 
 By Bourbon and Lorraine,* when sought a bride ; 
 
 Now widowed wif e,^ a queen without a throne, 
 
 Midst rocks and mountains® wander I alone. 
 
 Nor yet hath Fortune vented all her spite. 
 
 But sets one up,'^ who now enjoys my right, 
 
 Points to the boy,^ who henceforth claims the throne 
 
 And crown, a son of mine should call his own. 
 
 But ah, alas 1 for me 'tis now too late ^ 
 
 To strive 'gainst Fortune and contend with Fate ; 
 
 Of those I slighted, can I beg relief ? i** 
 
 No ; let me die the victim of my grief. 
 
 And can I then be justly said to live ? 
 
 Dead in estate, do I then yet survive ? 
 
 Last of the name, I carry to the grave 
 
 All the remains the House of Valois have. 
 
 » Fran90is I. 2 Henri II. s Fran90is II., Charles IX., and Henri m. 
 
 * Henri, King of Navarre, and Henri, Due de Guise. 
 
 » Alluding to her divorce from Henri IV. * The castle of Usson. 
 
 ' Marie de' Medici, whom Henri married after his divorce from Mar- 
 guerite. 8 Louis XIII., the son of Henri and his queen, Marie de' Medici. 
 
 9 Alluding to the differences betwixt Marguerite and Henri, her hus- 
 band. 
 
 1" This is said with allusion to the supposition that she was rather 
 incUned to favour the suit of the Due de Guise and reject Henri for a 
 husband. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction. — Anecdotes of Marguerite's Infancy 
 
 Endeavours Used to Convert Her to the New Relig- 
 ion. — She Is Confirmed in Catholicism. — The Court 
 on a Progress. — A Grand Festivity Suddenly Inter- 
 rupted. — The Confusion in Consequence . . .27 
 
 LETTER IL 
 
 Message from the Due d'Anjou, Afterwards Henri III., 
 to King Charles His Brother and the Queen-mother. 
 
 — Her Fondness for Her Children. — Their InterAdew. 
 
 — Anjou's Eloquent Harangue. — The Queen-mother's 
 Character. — Discourse of the Due d'Anjou with Mar- 
 guerite. — She Discovers Her Own Importance. — En- 
 gages to Serve Her Brother Anjou. — Is in High 
 Favour with the Queen-mother . . . . .37 
 
 LETTER in. 
 
 Le Guast His Character. — Anjou Affects to Be Jeal- 
 ous of the Guises. — Dissuades the Queen-mother from 
 Reposing Confidence in Marguerite. — She Loses the 
 Favoui" of the Queen-mother and FaUs Sick. — Anjou's 
 Hypocrisy. — He Introduces De Guise into Margue- 
 rite's Sick Chamber Marguerite Demanded in Mar- 
 riage by the King of Portugal. — Made Uneasy on 
 That Account. — Contrives to Relieve Herself. — The 
 Match vrith Portugal Broken off 45 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Death of the Queen of Navarre. — Marguerite's Marriage 
 with Her Son, the King of Navarre, Afterwards Henri 
 
xxii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IV. of France. — The Preparations for That Solemni- 
 sation Described. — The Circumstances Which Led to 
 the Massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's 
 Day 53 
 
 LETTER V. 
 The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day . . . .61 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Henri, Due d'Anjou, Elected King of Poland, Leaves 
 France. — Huguenot Plots to Withdraw the Due 
 
 d'Alengon and the King of Navarre from Court 
 
 Discovered and Defeated by Marguerite's Vigilance. 
 
 — She Dravs Up an Eloquent Defence, Which Her 
 Husband Delivers before a Committee from the Court 
 of Parliament. — Alengon and Her Husband, under a 
 Close Arrest, Regain Their Liberty by the Death of 
 Charles IK 67 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 Accession of Henri HI A Journey to Lyons Maj- 
 
 guerite's Faith in Supernatural Intelligence . . 72 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 What Happened at Lyons 76 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 itesh Intrigues. — Marriage of Henri III. — Bussi Ar- 
 rives at Court and Narrowly Escapes Assassination . 84 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Bnssi Is Sent from Court. — Marguerite's Husband At- 
 tacked with a Fit of Epilepsy. — Her Great Care of 
 Him. — Torigni Dismissed from Marguerite's Service. 
 
 — The King of Navarre and the Due d'Alengon Se- 
 cretly Leave the Court 92 
 
CONTENTS. xxiii 
 
 PAOK 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Queen Marguerite under Arrest. — Attempt on Torigni's 
 Life. — Her Fortunate Deliverance .... 101 
 
 LETTER Xn. 
 The Peace of Sens betwixt Henri HI. and the Huguenots 107 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 The League. — War Declared against the Huguenots. — 
 Queen Marguerite Sets out for Spa .... 117 
 
 LETTER XrV. 
 
 Description of Queen Marguerite's Equipage. — Her Jour- 
 ney to Liege Described. — She Enters with Success 
 upon Her Mission. — Striking Instance of Maternal 
 Duty and Affection in a Great Lady. — Disasters near 
 the Close of the Journey 129 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 The City of Liege Described. — Affecting Story of Made- 
 moiselle de Tournon. — Fatal Effects of Suppressed 
 Anguish of Mind 148 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 Queen Marguerite, on Her Return from Lifege, Is in 
 Danger of Being Made a Prisoner. — She Arrives, after 
 Some Narrow Escapes, at La Fere . . . .156 
 
 LETTER XVn. 
 
 Good Effects of Queen Marguerite's Negotiations in Flan- 
 ders She Obtains Leave to Go to the King of 
 
 Navarre Her Husband, but Her Journey Is Delayed. 
 — Court Intrigues and Plots. — The Due d'Alengon 
 Again Put under Arrest 171 
 
XXIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LETTER XVm. 
 
 The Brothers Reconciled. — Alen^on Restored to His 
 Liberty 182 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 The Due d'Alengon Makes His Escape from Court 
 
 Queen Marguerite's Fidelity Put to a Severe Trial . 193 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Queen Marguerite Permitted to Go to the King Her Hus- 
 band Is Accompanied by the Queen-mother Mar- 
 guerite Insulted by Her Husband's Secretary. — She 
 Harboui's Jealousy. — Her Attention to the King Her 
 Husband during an Indisposition. — Their Reconcil- 
 iation The War Breaks Out Afresh. — Affront Re- 
 ceived from Mar^chal de Biron . . . . „ 203 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Situation of Affairs in Flanders Peace Brought About 
 
 by Due d'Alengon's Negotiation. — Mar^chal de Biron 
 Apologises for Firing on N^rac. — Hem-i Desperately 
 in Love with Fosseuse. — Queen Marguerite Discovers 
 Fosseuse to Be Pregnant, Which She Denies. — Fos- 
 seuse in Labour Marguerite's Generous Behavioui* 
 
 to Her. — Marguerite's Return to Paris . . .219 
 
 History of the House of Valois 233 
 
HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Introduction. — Anecdotes of Marguerite's Infancy. — En- 
 deavours Used to Convert Her to the New Religion. — 
 She Is Confirmed in Catholicism. — The Court on a 
 
 Progress. — A Grand Festivity Suddenly Interrupted 
 
 The Confusion in Consequence. 
 
 I SHOULD commend your work much more were I 
 myself less praised in it; but I am unwilling to do 
 so, lest my praises should seem rather the effect of 
 self-love than to be founded on reason and justice. I 
 am fearful that, like Themistocles, I should appear to 
 admire their eloquence the most who are most for- 
 ward to praise me. It is the usual frailty of our sex 
 to be fond of flattery. I blame this in other women, 
 and should wish not to be chargeable with it myself. 
 Yet I confess that I take a pride in being painted 
 by the hand of so able a master, however flattering 
 the likeness may be. If I ever were possessed of the 
 
28 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 graces you have assigned to me, trouble and vexation 
 render them no longer visible, and have even effaced 
 them from my own recollection. So that I view my- 
 self in your Memoirs, and say, with old Madame de 
 Rendan, who, not having consulted her glass since 
 her husband's death, on seeing her own face in the 
 mirror of another lady, exclaimed, " Who is this ? " 
 Whatever my friends tell me when they see me now, 
 I am inclined to think proceeds from the partiality of 
 their affection. I am sure that you yourself, when 
 you consider more impartially what you have said, 
 will be induced to believe, according to these lines 
 of Du Bellay : 
 
 " C'est chercher Rome en Rome, 
 Et rien de Rome en Rome ne trouver." 
 
 ('Tis to seek Rome, in Rome to go. 
 And Rome herself at Rome not know.) 
 
 But as we read with pleasure the history of the Siege 
 of Troy, the magnificence of Athens, and other splen- 
 did cities, which once flourished, but are now so en- 
 tirely destroyed that scarcely the spot whereon they 
 stood can be traced, so you please yourseK with de- 
 scribing these excellences of beauty which are no 
 more, and which will be discoverable only in your 
 writings. 
 
 If you had taken upon you to contrast Nature and 
 Fortune, you could not have chosen a happier theme 
 
MARGUERITE DE. VALOIS. 29 
 
 upon which to descant, for both have made a trial of 
 their strength on the subject of your Memoirs. What 
 Nature did, you had the evidence of your own eyes to 
 vouch for, but what was done by Fortune, you know 
 only from hearsay ; and hearsay, I need not tell you, 
 is liable to be influenced by ignorance or malice, and, 
 therefore, is not to be depended on. You will for 
 that reason, I make no doubt, be pleased to receive 
 these Memoirs from the hand which is most inter- 
 ested in the truth of them. 
 
 I have been induced to undertake writing my Mem- 
 oirs the more from five or six observations which I 
 have had occasion to make upon your work, as you 
 appear to have been misinformed respecting certain 
 particulars. For example, in that part where men- 
 tion is made of Pan, and of my journey in France ; 
 likewise where you speak of the late Marechal de 
 Biron, of Agen, and of the sally of the Marquis 
 de Camillac from that place. 
 
 These Memoirs might merit the honourable name 
 of history from the truths contained in them, as I 
 shall prefer truth to embellishment. In fact, to em- 
 bellish my story I have neither leisure nor ability ; I 
 shall, therefore, do no more than give a simple nar- 
 ration of events. They are the labours of my even- 
 ings, and will come to you an unformed mass, to 
 receive its shape from your hands, or as a chaos on 
 which you have already thrown light. Mine is a his- 
 
80 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 tor J most assuredly worthy to come from a man of 
 honour, one who is a true Frenchman, born of illus- 
 trious parents, brought up in the Court of the Kings 
 my father and brothers, allied in blood and friend- 
 ship to the most virtuous and accomplished women 
 of our times, of which society I have had the good 
 fortune to be the bond of union. 
 
 I shall begin these Memoirs in the reign of Charles 
 IX., and set out with the first remarkable event of 
 my life which fell within my remembrance. Herein 
 I follow the example of geographical writers, who, 
 having described the places within their knowledge, 
 tell you that all beyond them are sandy deserts, coun- 
 tries without inhabitants, or seas never navigated. 
 Thus I might say that all prior to the commencement 
 of these Memoirs was the barrenness of my infancy, 
 when we can only be said to vegetate like plants, or 
 live, like brutes, according to instinct, and not as 
 human creatures, guided by reason. To those who 
 had the direction of my earliest years I leave the task 
 of relating the transactions of my infancy, if they 
 find them as worthy of being recorded as the infan- 
 tine exploits of Themistocles and Alexander, — the 
 one exposing himself to be trampled on by the horses 
 of a charioteer, who would not stop them when re- 
 quested to do so, and the other refusing to run a race 
 unless kings were to enter the contest against him. 
 Amongst such memorable thino-s might be related 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 31 
 
 the answer I made the King my father, a short time 
 before the fatal accident which deprived France of 
 peace, and our family of its chief glory. I was then 
 about fom* or five years of age, when the King, 
 placing me on his knee, entered familiarly into chat 
 with me. There were, in the same room, playing and 
 diverting themselves, the Prince de Joinville, since 
 the great and unfortunate Due de Guise, and the 
 Marquis de Beaupr^au, son of the Prince de la 
 Roche -sur- Yon, who died in his fourteenth year, 
 and by whose death his country lost a youth of 
 most promising talents. Amongst other discourse, 
 the King asked which of the two Princes that were 
 before me I liked best. I replied, " The Marquis." 
 The King said, " Why so ? He is not the handsom- 
 est." The Prince de Joinville was fair, with light- 
 coloured hair, and the Marquis de Beauprdau brown, 
 with dark hair. I answered, " Because he is the 
 best behaved ; whilst the Prince is always making 
 mischief, and will be master over everybody." 
 
 This was a presage of what we have seen happen 
 since, when the whole Court was infected with heresy, 
 about the time of the Conference of Poissy. It was 
 with great difficulty that I resisted and preserved my- 
 self from a change of religion at that time. Many 
 ladies and lords belonging to Court sti'ove to convert 
 me to Huguenotism. The Due d'Anjou, since King 
 Henri III. of France, then in his infancy, had been 
 
32 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 prevailed on to change his religion, and he often 
 snatched my " Hours " out of mj hand, and flung 
 them into the fire, giving me Psalm Books and books 
 of Huguenot prayers, insisting on my using them. I 
 took the first opportunity to give them up to my gov- 
 erness, Madame de Curton, whom God, out of his 
 mercy to me, caused to continue steadfast in the Cath- 
 olic religion. She frequently took me to that pious, 
 good man, the Cardinal de Tournon, who gave me 
 good advice, and strengthened me in a perseverance 
 in my religion, furnishing me with books and chaplets 
 of beads in the room of those my brother Anjou took 
 from me and burnt. 
 
 Many of my brother's most intimate friends had 
 resolved on my ruin, and rated me severely upon my 
 refusal to change, saying it proceeded from a childish 
 obstinacy ; that if I had the least understanding, and 
 would listen, like other discreet persons, to the ser- 
 mons that were preached, I should abjure my unchar- 
 itable bigotry ; but I was, said they, as foolish as my 
 governess. My brother Anjou added threats, and said 
 the Queen my mother would give orders that I should 
 be whipped. But this he said of his own head, for 
 the Queen my mother did not, at that time, know 
 of the errors he had embraced. As soon as it came 
 to her knowledge, she took him to task, and severely 
 reprimanded his governors, insisting upon their cor- 
 recting him, and instructing him in the holy and 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 33 
 
 ancient religion of his forefathers, from which she her- 
 self never swerved. When he used those menaces, 
 as I have before related, I was a child seven or eight 
 years old, and at that tender age would reply to him, 
 *' Well, get me whipped if you can ; I will suffer 
 whipping, and even death, rather than be damned." 
 
 I could furnish you with many other replies of the 
 like kind, which gave proof of the early ripeness of 
 my judgment and my courage ; but I shall not trouble 
 myself with such researches, choosing rather to begin 
 these Memoirs at the time when I resided constantly 
 with the Queen my mother. 
 
 Immediately after the Conference of Poissy, the 
 civil wars commenced, and my brother Alengon and 
 myself, on account of our youth, were sent to Amboise, 
 whither all the ladies of the country repaired to us. 
 With them came your aunt, Madame de Dampierre, 
 who entered into a firm friendship with me, which 
 was never interrupted until her death broke it off. 
 There was likewise your cousin, the Duchesse de Rais, 
 who had the good fortune to hear there of the death 
 of her brute of a husband, killed at the battle of 
 Dreux. The husband I mean was the first she had, 
 named M. d'Annebaut, who was unworthy to have for 
 a wife so accomplished and charming a woman as 
 your cousin. She and I were not then so intimate 
 friends as we have become since, and shall ever re- 
 main. The reason was that, though older than I, she 
 
34 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 was yet young, and young girls seldom take much 
 notice of children, whereas your aunt was of an age 
 when women admire their innocence and engaging 
 simplicity. 
 
 I remained at Amboise until the Queen my mother 
 was ready to set out on her grand progress, at which 
 time she sent for me to come to her Court, which I 
 did not quit afterwards. 
 
 Of this progress I will not undertake to give you 
 a description, being still so young that, though the 
 whole is within my recollection, yet the particular 
 passages of it appear to me but as a dream, and are 
 now lost. I leave this task to others, of riper years, 
 as you were yourself. You can well remember the 
 magnificence that was displayed everywhere, particu- 
 larly at the baptism of my nephew, the Due de Lor- 
 raine, at Bar-le-Duc ; at the meeting of M. and Madamp 
 de Savoy, in the city of Lyons ; the interview at 
 Bayonne betwixt my sister, the Queen of Spain, the 
 Queen my mother, and King Charles my brother. In 
 your account of this interview you would not forget 
 to make mention of the noble entertainment given by 
 the Queen my mother, on an island, with the grand 
 dances, and the form of the salon, which seemed 
 appropriated by nature for such a purpose, it being a 
 large meadow in the middle of the island, in the shape 
 of an oval, surrounded on every side by tall spreading 
 trees. In this meadow the Queen my mother had 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 35 
 
 disposed a circle of niches, each of them large enough 
 to contain a table of twelve covers. At one end a 
 platform was raised, ascended by four steps formed of 
 turf. Here their Majesties were seated at a table 
 under a lofty canopy. The tables were all served by 
 troops of shepherdesses dressed in cloth of gold and 
 satin, after the fashion of the different provinces of 
 France. These shepherdesses, during the passage 
 of the superb boats from Bayonne to the island, were 
 placed in separate bands, in a meadow on each side 
 of the causeway, raised with turf ; and whilst their 
 Majesties and the company were passing through the 
 great salon, they danced. On their passage by water, 
 the barges were followed by other boats, having on 
 board vocal and instrumental musicians, habited like 
 Nereids, singing and playing the whole time. After 
 landing, the shepherdesses I have mentioned before 
 received the company in separate troops, with songs 
 and dances, after the fashion and accompanied by 
 the music of the provinces they represented, — the 
 Poitevins playing on bagpipes; the Proven^ales on 
 the viol and cymbal ; the Burgundians and Cham- 
 pagners on the hautboy, bass viol, and tambourine ; 
 in like manner the Bretons and other provincialists. 
 After the collation was served and the feast at an 
 end, a large troop of musicians, habited like satyrs, 
 was seen to come out of the opening of a rock, well 
 lighted up, whilst nymphs were descending from the 
 
36 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 top in rich habits, who, as they came down, formed 
 into a grand dance, — when, lo ! fortune no longer 
 favouring this brilliant festival, a sudden storm of 
 rain came on, and all were glad to get off in the 
 boats and make for town as fast as they could. The 
 confusion in consequence of this precipitate retreat 
 afforded^ as much matter to laugh at the next day as 
 the splendour of the entertainment had excited admi- 
 ration. In short, the festivity of this day was not 
 forgotten, on one account or the other, amidst the 
 variety of the like nature which succeeded it in the 
 course of this progress. 
 
LETTER II. 
 
 Message from the Due d'Anjou, Afterwards Henri III., to 
 King Charles His Brother and the Queen-mother. — Her 
 Fondness for Her Children. — Their Interview. — Anjou's 
 Eloquent Harangue. — The Queen-mother's Character. — 
 Discourse of the Due d'Anjou with Marguerite. — She 
 Discovers Her Own Importance. — Engages to Serve Her 
 Brother Anjou. — Is in High Favour with the Queen- 
 mother. 
 
 At the time my magnanimous brother Charles 
 reigned over France, and some few years after our 
 return from the grand progress mentioned in my last 
 letter, the Huguenots having renewed the war, a 
 gentleman, despatched from my brother Anjou (after- 
 wards Henri III. of France), came to Paris to inform 
 the King and the Queen my mother that the Hugue- 
 not army was reduced to such an extremity that he 
 hoped in a few days to force them to give him battle. 
 He added his earnest wish for the honour of seeing 
 them at Tours before that happened, so that, in case 
 Fortune, envying him the glory he had already 
 achieved at so early an age, should, on the so much 
 looked-for day, after the good service he had done 
 his religion and his King, crown the victory with his 
 death, he might not have cause to regret leaving this 
 
 37 
 
38 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 ■world without the satisfaction of receiving their ap- 
 probation of his conduct from their own mouths, — 
 a satisfaction which would be more valuable, in his 
 opinion, than the trophies he had gained by his two 
 former victories. 
 
 I leave to your own imagination to suggest to you 
 the impression which such a message from a dearly 
 beloved son made on the mind of a mother who doted 
 on all her children, and was always ready to sacrifice 
 her own repose, nay, even her life, for their happiness. 
 
 She resolved immediately to set off and take the 
 King with her. She had, besides myself, her usual 
 small company of female attendants, together with 
 Mesdames de Rais and de Sauves. She flew on the 
 wings of maternal affection, and reached Tours in 
 three days and a half, A journey from Paris, made 
 with such precipitation, was not unattended with acci- 
 dents and some inconveniences, of a nature to occa- 
 sion much mirth and laughter. The poor Cardinal de 
 Bourbon, who never quitted her, and whose temper of 
 mind, strength of body, and habits of life were ill 
 suited to encounter privations and hardships, suffered 
 greatly from this rapid journey. 
 
 We found my brother Anjou at Plessis-les-Tours, 
 with the principal officers of his army, who were the 
 flower of the princes and nobles of France. In their 
 presence he delivered a harangue to the King, giving 
 a detail of his conduct in the execution of his charge, 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 39 
 
 beginning from the time he left the Court. His 
 discourse was framed with so much eloquence, and 
 spoken so gracefully, that it was admired by all pres- 
 ent. It appeared matter of astonishment that a youth 
 of sixteen should reason with all the gravity and pow- 
 ers of an orator of ripe years. The comeliness of 
 his person, which at all times pleads powerfully in 
 favour of a speaker, was in him set off by the laurels 
 obtained in two victories. In short, it was difficult to 
 say which most contributed to make him the admira- 
 tion of all his hearers. 
 
 It is equally as impossible for me to describe in 
 words the feelings of my mother on this occasion, 
 who loved him above all her children, as it was for 
 the painter to represent on canvas the grief of 
 Iphigenia's father. Such an overflow of joy would 
 have been discoverable in the looks and actions of 
 any other woman, but she had her passions so much 
 under the control of prudence and discretion that 
 there was nothing to be perceived in her countenance, 
 or gathered from her words, of what she felt inwardly 
 in her mind. She was, indeed, a perfect mistress of 
 herself, and regulated her discourse and her actions 
 by the rules of wisdom and sound policy, showing that 
 a person of discretion does upon all occasions only 
 what is proper to be done. She did not amuse her- 
 self on this occasion with listening to the praises 
 which issued from every mouth, and sanction them 
 
40 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 ■with her own approbation; but, selecting the chief 
 points in the speech relative to the future conduct of 
 the war, she laid them before the Princes and great 
 lords, to be deliberated upon, in order to settle a plan 
 of operations. 
 
 To arrange such a plan a delay of some days was 
 requisite. During this interval, the Queen my mother 
 walking in the park with some of the Princes, my 
 brother Anjou begged me to take a turn or two with 
 him in a retired walk. He then addressed me in the 
 following words : " Dear sister, the nearness of blood, 
 as well as our having been brought up together, nat- 
 urally, as they ought, attach us to each other. You 
 must already have discovered the partiality I have 
 had for you above my brothers, and I think that I 
 have perceived the same in you for me. We have 
 been hitherto led to this by nature, without deriving 
 any other advantage from it than the sole pleasure of 
 conversing together. So far might be well enough 
 for our childhood, but now we are no longer children. 
 You know the high situation in which, by the favour 
 of God and our good mother the Queen, I am here 
 placed. You may be assured that, as you are the 
 person in the world whom I love and esteem the most, 
 you will always be a partaker of my advancement. 
 I know you are not wanting in wit and discretion, 
 and I am sensible you have it in your power to do 
 me service witb the Queen our mother, and preserve 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 41 
 
 me in my present employments. It is a great point 
 obtained for me, always to stand well in her favour. 
 I am fearful that my absence may be prejudicial to 
 that purpose, and I must necessarily be at a distance 
 from Court. Whilst I am away, the King my brother 
 is with her, and has it in his power to insinuate him- 
 self into her good graces. This I fear, in the end, 
 may be of disservice to me. The King my brother is 
 growing older every day. He does not want for cour- 
 age, and, though he now diverts himself with hunting, 
 he may grow ambitious, and choose rather to chase 
 men than beasts ; in such a case I must resign to him 
 my commission as his lieutenant. This would prove 
 the greatest mortification that could happen to me, 
 and I would even prefer death to it. Under such an 
 apprehension I have considered of the means of pre- 
 vention, and see none so feasible as having a confi- 
 dential person about the Queen my mother, who shall 
 always be ready to espouse and support my cause. I 
 know no one so proper for that purpose as yourself, 
 who will be, I doubt not, as attentive to my interest 
 as I should be myself. You have wit, discretion, and 
 fidelity, which are all that are wanting, provided you 
 will be so kind as to undertake such a good office. In 
 that case I shall have only to beg of you not to neg- 
 lect attending her morning and evening, to be the first 
 with her and the last to leave her. This will induce 
 her to repose a confidence and open her mind to you. 
 
42 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 To make her the more ready to do this, I shall take 
 every opportunity to commend yom- good sense and 
 understanding, and to tell her that I shall take it kind 
 in her to leave off treating you as a child, which, I 
 shall say, will contribute to her own comfort and sat- 
 isfaction. I am well convinced that she will listen to 
 my advice. Do you speak to her with the same con- 
 fidence as you do to me, and be assured that she will 
 approve of it. It will conduce to your own happiness 
 to obtain her favour. You may do yourself service 
 whilst you are labouring for my interest ; and you 
 may rest satisfied that, after God, I shall think I 
 owe all the good fortune which may befall me to 
 yourself." 
 
 This was entirely a new kind of language to me. 
 I had hitherto thought of nothing but amusements, 
 of dancing, hunting, and the like diversions ; nay, I 
 had never yet discovered any inclination of setting 
 myself off to advantage by dress, and exciting an 
 admiration of my person and figure. I had no am- 
 bition of any kind, and had been so strictly brought 
 up under the Queen my mother that I scarcely durst 
 speak before her ; and if she chanced to turn her 
 eyes towards me I trembled, for fear that I had 
 done something to displease her. At the conclusion 
 of my brother's harangue, I was half inclined to reply 
 to him in the words of Moses, when he was spoken to 
 from the burning bush : " Who am I, that I should go 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 43 
 
 unto Pharaoh ? Send, I praj thee, by the hand of hun 
 whom thou wilt send." 
 
 However, his words inspired me with resolution 
 and powers I did not think myself possessed of be- 
 fore. I had naturally a degree of courage, and, as 
 soon as I recovered from my astonishment, I found 
 I was quite an altered person. His address pleased 
 me, and wrought in me a confidence in myself ; and 
 I found I was become of more consequence than I 
 had ever conceived I had been. Accordingly, I re- 
 plied to him thus : " Brother, if God grant me the 
 power of speaking to the Queen our mother as I have 
 the will to do, nothing can be wanting for your ser- 
 vice, and you may expect to derive all the good you 
 hope from it, and from my solicitude and attention 
 for your interest. With respect to my undertaking 
 such a matter for you, you will soon perceive that 
 I shall sacrifice all the pleasures in this world to 
 my watchfulness for your service. You may per- 
 fectly rely on me, as there is no one that honours 
 or regards you more than I do. Be well assured 
 that I shall act for you with the Queen my mother 
 as zealously as you would for yourself." 
 
 These sentiments were more strongly impressed 
 upon my mind than the words I made use of were 
 capable of conveying an idea of. This will appear 
 more fully in my following letters. 
 
 As soon as we were returned from walking, the 
 
44 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Queen my mother retired with me into her closet, 
 and addressed the following words to me : " Your 
 brother has been relating the conversation you have 
 had together ; he considers you no longer as a child, 
 neither shall I. It will be a great comfort to me to 
 converse with you as I would with your brother. For 
 the future you will freely speak your mind, and have 
 no apprehensions of taking too great a liberty, for it 
 is what I wish." These words gave me a pleasure 
 then which I am now unable to express. I felt a 
 satisfaction and a joy which nothing before had ever 
 caused me to feel. I now considered the pastimes of 
 my childhood as vain amusements. I shunned the 
 society of my former companions of the same age. I 
 disliked dancing and hunting, which I thought beneath 
 my attention. I strictly complied with her agreeable 
 injunction, and never missed being with her at her 
 rising in the morning and going to rest at night. 
 She did me the honour, sometimes, to hold me in con- 
 versation for two and three hours at a time. God 
 was so gracious with me that I gave her great satis- 
 faction ; and she thought she could not sufficiently 
 praise me to those ladies who were about her. I 
 spoke of my brother's affairs to her, and he was 
 constantly apprised by me of her sentiments and 
 opinion; so that he had every reason to suppose I 
 was firmly attached to his interest. 
 
LETTER III. 
 
 Le Guast His Character Anjou Affects to Be Jealous of 
 
 the Guises. — Dissuades the Queen-mother from Reposing 
 Confidence in Marguerite. — She Loses the Favour of the 
 
 Queen-mother and Falls Sick. — Anjou's Hypocrisy He 
 
 Introduces De Guise into Marguerite's Sick Chamber 
 
 Marguerite Demanded in Marriage by the King of Portu- 
 gal Made Uneasy on That Account Contrives to Re- 
 lieve Herself. — The Match with Portugal Broken off. 
 
 I CONTINUED to pass mj time with the Queen my 
 mother, greatly to my satisfaction, until after the 
 battle of Moncontour. By the same despatch that 
 brought the news of this victory to the Court, my 
 brother, who was ever desirous to be near the Queen 
 my mother, wrote her word that he was about to lay 
 siege to St. Jean d'Angely, and that it would be 
 necessary that the King should be present whilst it 
 was going on. She, more anxious to see him than he 
 could be to have her near him, hastened to set out on 
 the journey, taking me with her, and her customary 
 train of attendants. I likewise experienced great joy 
 upon the occasion, having no suspicion that any mis- 
 chief awaited me. I was still young and without ex- 
 perience, and I thought the happiness I enjoyed was 
 
46 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 always to continue ; but the malice of Fortune pre- 
 pared for me at this interview a reverse that I little 
 expected, after the fidelity with which I had dis- 
 charged the trust my brother had reposed in me. 
 
 Soon after our last meeting, it seems, my brother 
 Anjou had taken Le Guast to be near his person, who 
 had ingratiated himself so far into his favour and con- 
 fidence that he saw only with his eyes, and spoke but 
 as he dictated. This evil-disposed man, whose whole 
 life was one continued scene of wickedness, had per- 
 verted his mind and filled it with maxims of the most 
 atrocious nature. He advised him to have no regard 
 but for his own interest ; neither to love nor put trust 
 in any one ; and not to promote the views or advan- 
 tage of either brother or sister. These and other 
 maxims of the like nature, drawn from the school of 
 Machiavelli, he was continually suggesting to him. 
 He had so frequently inculcated them that they were 
 strongly impressed on his mind, insomuch that, upon 
 our arrival, when, after the first compliments, my 
 mother began to open in my praise and express the 
 attachment I had discovered for him, this was his 
 reply, which he delivered with the utmost coldness : 
 " He was well pleased," he said, " to have succeeded 
 in the request he had made to me ; but that prudence 
 directed us not to continue to make use of the same 
 expedients, for what was profitable at one time might 
 not be so at another." She asked him why he made 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 47 
 
 that observation. This question afforded the oppor- 
 tunity he wished for, of relating a story he had fab- 
 ricated, purposely to ruin me with her. 
 
 He began with observing to her that I was grown 
 very handsome, and that M. de Guise wished to marry 
 me ; that his uncles, too, were very desirous of such a 
 match ; and, if I should entertain a like passion for 
 him, there would be danger of my discovering to him 
 all she said to me ; that she well knew the ambition 
 of that house, and how ready they were, on all occa- 
 sions, to circumvent ours. It would, therefore, be 
 proper that she should not, for the future, communi- 
 cate any matter of State to me, but, by degrees, 
 withdraw her confidence. 
 
 I discovered the evil effects proceeding from this 
 pernicious advice on the very same evening. I re- 
 marked an unwillingness on her part to speak to me 
 before my brother ; and, as soon as she entered into 
 discourse with him, she commanded me to go to bed. 
 This command she repeated two or three times. I 
 quitted her closet, and left them together in conversa- 
 tion ; but, as soon as he was gone, I returned and en- 
 treated her to let me know if I had been so unhappy 
 as to have done anything, through ignorance, which 
 had given her offence. She was at first inclined to 
 dissemble with me ; but at length she said to me 
 thus : " Daughter, your brother is prudent and cau- 
 tious; you ought not to be displeased with him for 
 
48 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 \»* 
 
 what he does, and you must believe what I shall tell 
 you is right and proper." She then related the con- 
 versation she had with my brother, as I have just 
 written it ; and she then ordered me never to speak 
 to her in my brother's presence. 
 
 These words were like so many daggers plunged 
 into my breast. In my disgrace, I experienced as 
 much grief as I had before joy on being received 
 into her favour and confidence. I did not omit to 
 say everything to convince her of my entire ignorance 
 of what my brother had told her. I said it was a 
 matter I had never heard mentioned before ; and 
 that, had I known it, I should certainly have made 
 her immediately acquainted with it. All I said was 
 to no purpose ; my brother's words had made the 
 first impression ; they were constantly present in her 
 mind, and outweighed probability and truth. When 
 I discovered this, I told her that I felt less uneasiness 
 at being deprived of my happiness than I did joy when 
 I had acquired it ; for my brother had taken it from 
 me, as he had given it. He had given it without 
 reason ; he had taken it away without cause. He 
 had praised me for discretion and prudence when I 
 did not merit it, and he suspected my fidelity on 
 grounds wholly imaginary and fictitious. I con- 
 cluded with assuring her that I should never forget 
 my brother's behaviour on this occasion. 
 
 Hereupon she flew into a passion and commanded 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 49 
 
 me not to make the least show of resentment at his 
 behaviour. From that hour she gradually withdrew 
 her favour from me. Her son became the god of her 
 idolatry, at the shrine of whose will she sacrificed 
 everything. 
 
 The grief which I inwardly felt was very great and 
 overpowered all my faculties, until it wrought so far 
 on my constitution as to contribute to my receiving 
 the infection which then prevailed in the army. A 
 few days after I fell sick of a raging fever, attended 
 with purple spots, a malady which carried off num- 
 bers, and, amongst the rest, the two principal physi- 
 cians belonging to the King and Queen, Chappelain 
 and Castelan. Indeed, few got over the disorder 
 after being attacked with it. 
 
 In this extremity the Queen my mother, who partly 
 gTiessed the cause of my illness, omitted nothing that 
 might serve to remove it ; and, without fear of conse- 
 quences, visited me frequently. Her goodness con- 
 tributed much to my recovery; but my brother's 
 hypocrisy was sufficient to destroy all the benefit I 
 received from her attention, after having been guilty 
 of so treacherous a proceeding. After he had proved 
 so ungrateful to me, he came and sat at the foot of 
 my bed from morning to night, and appeared as 
 anxiously attentive as if we had been the most per- 
 fect friends. My mouth was shut up by the com- 
 mand I had received from the Queen our mother, so 
 
60 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 that I only answered his dissembled concern with 
 sighs, like Burrus in the presence of Nero, when he 
 was dying by the poison administered by the hands 
 of that tyrant. The sighs, however, which I vented 
 in my brother's presence, might convince him that I 
 attributed my sickness rather to his ill oflSces than to 
 the prevailing contagion. 
 
 God had mercy on me, and supported me through 
 this dangerous illness. After I had kept my bed a 
 fortnight, the army changed its quarters, and I was 
 conveyed away with it in a litter. At the end of each 
 day's march, I found King Charles at the door of my 
 quarters, ready, with the rest of the good gentlemen 
 belonging to the Court, to carry my litter up to my 
 bedside. In this manner T came to Angers from St. 
 Jean d'Angely, sick in body, but more sick in mind. 
 Here, to my misfortune, M. de Guise and his uncles 
 had arrived before me. This was a circumstance 
 which gave my good brother great pleasure, as it 
 afforded a colourable appearance to his story. I 
 soon discovered the advantage my brother would 
 make of it to increase my already too great mortifi- 
 cation; for he came daily to see me, and as con- 
 stantly brought M. de Guise into my chamber with 
 him. He pretended the sincerest regard for De 
 Guise, and, to make him believe it, would take fre- 
 quent opportunities of embracing him, crying out 
 at the same time, " Would to God you were my 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 51 
 
 brother ! " This he often put in practice before me, 
 which M. de Guise seemed not to comprehend ; but I, 
 who knew his malicious designs, lost all patience, yet 
 did not dare to reproach him with his hypocrisy. 
 
 As soon as I was recovered, a treaty was set on 
 foot for a marriage betwixt the King of Portugal and 
 me, an ambassador having been sent for that purpose. 
 The Queen my mother commanded me to prepare 
 to give the ambassador an audience ; which I did 
 accordingly. My brother had made her believe that 
 I was averse to this marriage ; accordingly, she took 
 me to task upon it, and questioned me on the subject, 
 expecting she should find some cause to be angry 
 with me. I told her my will had always been guided 
 by her own, and that whatever she thought right for 
 me to do, I should do it. She answered me, angrily, 
 according as she had been wrought upon, that I did 
 not speak the sentiments of my heart, for she well 
 knew that the Cardinal de Lorraine had persuaded 
 me into a promise of having his nephew. I begged 
 her to forward this match with the King of Portugal, 
 and I would convince her of my obedience to her 
 commands. Every day some new matter was re- 
 ported to incense her against me. All these were 
 machinations worked up by the mind of Le Guast. 
 In short, I was constantly receiving some fresh mor- 
 tification, so that I hardly passed a day in quiet. On 
 one side, the King of Spain was using his utmost 
 
62 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 endeavours to break off the match with Portugal, 
 and M. de Guise, continuing at Court, furnished 
 grounds for persecuting me on the other. Still, not 
 a single person of the Guises ever mentioned a word 
 to me on the subject; and it was well known that, 
 for ^ore than a twelvemonth, M. de Guise had been 
 paying his addresses to the Princesse de Porcian ; 
 but the slow progress made in bringing this match 
 to a conclusion was said to be owing to his designs 
 upon me. 
 
 As soon as I made this discovery I resolved to 
 write to my sister, Madame de Lorraine, who had 
 a great influence in the House of Porcian, begging 
 hereto use her endeavours to withdraw M. de Guise 
 from Court, and make him conclude his match with 
 the Princess, laying open to her the plot which had 
 heen concerted to ruin the Guises and me. She 
 readily saw through it, came immediately to Court, 
 and concluded the match, which delivered me from 
 the aspersions cast on my character, and convinced the 
 Queen my mother that what I had told her was 
 the real truth. This at the same time stopped the 
 mouths of my enemies and gave me some repose. 
 
 At length the King of Spain, unwilling that the 
 King of Portugal should marry out of his family, 
 broke off the treaty which had been entered upon for 
 my marriage with him. 
 
LETTER lY. 
 
 Death of the Queen of Navarre. — Marguerite's Marriage 
 with Her Son, the King of Navarre, Afterwards Henri IV. 
 of France. — The Preparations for That Solemnisation 
 Described. — Tlie Circumstances Which Led to the Mas- 
 sacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew's Day. 
 
 Some short time after this a marriage was projected 
 betwixt the Prince of Navarre, now our renowned 
 King Henri IV., and me. 
 
 The Queen my mother, as she sat at table, dis- 
 coursed for a long time upon the subject with M. de 
 Meru, the House of Montmorency having first proposed 
 the match. After the Queen had risen from table, 
 he told me she had commanded him to mention it 
 to me. I replied that it was quite unnecessary, as I 
 had no will but her own ; however, I should wish she 
 would be pleased to remember that I was a Catholic, 
 and that I should dislike to marry any one of a con- 
 trary persuasion. 
 
 Soon after this the Queen sent for me to attend 
 her in her closet. She there informed me that the 
 Montmorencys had proposed this match to her, and 
 that she was desirous to learn my sentiments upon it. 
 
 53 
 
54 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 I answered that my choice was governed by her 
 pleasure, and that I only begged her not to forget 
 that I was a good Catholic. 
 
 This treaty was in negotiation for some time after 
 this conversation, and was not finally settled until 
 the arrival of the Queen of Navarre, his mother, at 
 Court, where she died soon after. 
 
 Whilst the Queen of Navarre lay on her death-bed, 
 a circumstance happened of so whimsical a nature 
 that, though not of consequence to merit a place 
 in the history, it may very well deserve to be related 
 by me to you. Madame de Nevers, whose oddities 
 you well know, attended the Cardinal de Bourbon, 
 Madame de Guise, the Princesse de Conde, her sisters, 
 and myself to the late Queen of Navarre's apart- 
 ments, whither we all went to pay those last duties 
 which her rank and our nearness of blood demanded 
 of us. We found the Queen in bed with her curtains 
 undrawn, the chamber not disposed with the pomp 
 and ceremonies of our religion, but after the simple 
 manner of the Huguenots ; that is to say, there were 
 no priests, no cross, nor any holy water. We kept 
 ourselves at some distance from the bed, but Madame 
 de Nevers, whom you know the Queen hated more 
 than any woman besides, and which she had shown 
 both in speech and by actions, — Madame de Nevers, 
 I say, approached the bedside, and, to the great 
 astonishment of all present, who well knew the en- 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 55 
 
 mitj subsisting betwixt them, took the Queen's hand^ 
 with many low curtseys, and kissed it ; after which, 
 making another curtsey to the very ground, she 
 retired and rejoined us. 
 
 A few months after the Queen's death, the Prince 
 of Navarre, or rather, as he was then styled, the King, 
 came to Paris in deep mourning, attended by eight 
 hundred gentlemen, all in mourning habits. He was 
 received with every honour by King Charles and the 
 whole Court, and, in a few days after his arrival, our 
 marriage was solemnised with all possible magnifi- 
 cence ; the King of Navarre and his retinue putting 
 off their mourning and dressing themselves in the 
 most costly manner. The whole Court, too, was 
 richly attired ; all which you can better conceive 
 than I am able to express. For my own part, I was 
 set out in a most royal manner ; I wore a crown on 
 my head with the coet^ or regal close gown of ermine, 
 and I blazed in diamonds. My blue-coloured robe 
 had a train to it of four ells in length, which was sup- 
 ported by three princesses. A platform had been 
 raised, some height from the ground, which led from 
 the Bishop's palace to the Church of Notre-Dame. It 
 was hung with cloth of gold ; and below it stood the 
 people in throngs to view the procession, stifling with 
 heat. We were received at the church door by the 
 Cardinal de Bourbon, who officiated for that day, and 
 pronounced the nuptial benediction. After this we 
 
66 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 proceeded on the same platform to the tribune which 
 separates the nave from the choir, where was a 
 double staircase, one leading into the choir, the other 
 through the nave to the church door. The King of 
 Navarre passed by the latter and went out of church. 
 
 But fortune, which is ever changing, did not fail 
 soon to disturb the felicity of this union. This was 
 occasioned by the wound received by the Admiral, 
 which had wrought the Huguenots up to a degree of 
 desperation. The Queen my mother was reproached 
 on that account in such terms by the elder Pardaillan 
 and some other principal Huguenots, that she began 
 to apprehend some evil design. M. de Guise and 
 my brother the King of Poland, since Henri III. of 
 France, gave it as their advice to be beforehand 
 with the Huguenots. King Charles was of a contrary 
 opinion. He had a great esteem for M. de La Roche- 
 foucauld, Teligny, La None, and some other leading 
 men of the same religion ; and, as I have since heard 
 him say, it was with the greatest difficulty he could 
 be prevailed upon to give his consent, and not before 
 he had been made to understand that his own life and 
 the safety of his kingdom depended upon it. 
 
 The King having learned that Maurevel had made 
 an attempt upon the Admiral's life, by firing a pistol 
 at him through a window, — in which attempt he 
 failed, having wounded the Admiral only in the shoul- 
 der, — and supposing that Maurevel had done this at 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 57 
 
 the instance of M. de Guise, to revenge the death of 
 his father, whom the Admiral had caused to be killed 
 in the same manner by Poltrot, he was so much in- 
 censed against M. de Guise that he declared with an 
 oath that he would make an example of him ; and, 
 indeed, the King would have put M. de Guise under 
 an arrest, if he had not kept out of his sight the 
 whole day. The Queen my mother used every argu- 
 ment to convince King Charles that what had been 
 done was for the good of the State ; and this be- 
 cause, as I observed before, the King had so great a 
 regard for the Admiral, La None, and Teligny, on 
 accoimt of their bravery, being himself a prince of a 
 gallant and noble spirit, and esteeming others in 
 whom he found a similar disposition. Moreover, 
 these designing men had insinuated themselves into 
 the King's favour by proposing an expedition to Flan- 
 ders, with a yIgw of extending his dominions and 
 aggrandising his power, propositions which they well 
 knew would secure to themselves an influence over 
 his royal and generous mind. 
 
 Upon this occasion, the Queen my mother repre- 
 sented to the King that the attempt of M. de Guise 
 upon the Admiral's life was excusable in a son who, 
 being denied justice, had no other means of avenging' 
 his father's death. Moreover, the Admiral, she said, 
 had deprived her by assassination, during his minority 
 and her regency, of a faithful servant in the person of 
 
58 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Charri, commander of the King's body-guard, which 
 rendered him deserving of the like treatment. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the Queen my mother spoke 
 thus to the King, discovering by her expressions and 
 in her looks all the grief which she inwardly felt on 
 the recollection of the loss of persons who had been 
 useful to her ; yet, so much was King Charles inclined 
 to save those who, as he thought, would one day be 
 serviceable to him, that he still persisted in his deter- 
 mination to punish M. de Guise, for whom he ordered 
 strict search to be made. 
 
 At length Pardaillan, disclosing by his menaces, 
 during the supper of the Queen my mother, the evil 
 intentions of the Huguenots, she plainly perceived that 
 things were brought to so near a crisis, that, unless 
 steps were taken that very night to prevent it, the 
 King and herself were in danger of being assassinated. 
 She, therefore, came to the resolution of declaring to 
 King Charles his real situation. For this purpose she 
 thought of the Marechal de Rais as the most proper 
 person to break the matter to the King, the Marshal 
 being greatly in his favour and confidence. 
 
 Accordingly, the Marshal went to the King in his 
 closet, between the hours of nine and ten, and told 
 him he was come as a faithful servant to discharge 
 his duty, and lay before him ,the danger in which 
 he stood, if he persisted in his resolution of punishing 
 M. de Guise, as he ought now to be informed that the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 59 
 
 attempt made upon the Admiral's life was not set on 
 foot by him alone, but that his (the King's) brother 
 the King of Poland, and the Queen his mother, had 
 their shares in it ; that he must be sensible how much 
 the Queen lamented Gharri's assassination, for which 
 she had great reason, having very few servants about 
 her upon whom she could rely, and as it happened 
 during the King's minority, — at the time, moreover, 
 when France was divided between the Catholics and 
 the Huguenots, M. de Guise being at the head of the 
 former, and the Prince de Gonde of the latter, both 
 alike striving to deprive him of his crown ; that 
 through Providence, both his crown and kingdom had 
 been preserved by the prudence and good conduct of 
 the Queen Regent, who in this extremity found herself 
 powerfully aided by the said Gharri, for which reason 
 she had vowed to avenge his death ; that, as to the 
 Admiral, he must be ever considered as dangerous to 
 the State, and whatever show he might make of affec- 
 tion for his Majesty's person, and zeal for his service 
 in Flanders, they must be considered as mere pre- 
 tences, which he used to cover his real design of 
 reducing the kingdom to a state of confusion. 
 
 The Marshal concluded with observing that the orig- 
 inal intention had been to make away with the Admiral 
 only, as the most obnoxious man in the kingdom ; but 
 Maurevel having been so unfortunate as to fail in his 
 attempt, and the Huguenots becoming desperate enough 
 
60 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 to resolve to take up arms, with design to attack, not 
 only M. de Guise, but the Queen his mother, and 
 his brother the King of Poland, supposing them, as 
 well as his Majesty, to have commanded Maurevel to 
 make his attempt, he saw nothing but cause of alarm 
 for his Majesty's safety, — as well on the part of the 
 Catholics, if he persisted in his resolution to punish 
 M. de Guise, as of the Huguenots, for the reasons 
 which he had just laid before him. 
 
LETTER Y. 
 
 The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. 
 
 King Charles, a prince of great prudence, always 
 paying a particular deference to his mother, and being 
 much attached to the Catholic religion, now convinced 
 of the intentions of the Huguenots, adopted a sudden 
 resolution of following his mother's counsel, and put- 
 ting himself under the safeguard of the Catholics. It 
 was not, however, without extreme regret that he 
 found he had it not in his power to save Teligny, La 
 Noue, and M. de La Rochefoucauld. 
 
 He went to the apartments of the Queen his mother, 
 and sending for M. de Guise and all the Princes and 
 Catholic officers, the " Massacre of St. Bartholomew " 
 was that night resolved upon. 
 
 Immediately every hand was at work ; chains were 
 drawn across the streets, the alarm-bells were sounded, 
 and every man repaired to his post, according to the 
 orders he had received, whether it was to attack the 
 Admiral's quarters, or those of the other Huguenots. 
 M. de Guise hastened to the Admiral's, and Besme, a 
 gentleman in the service of the former, a German . by 
 birth, forced into his chamber, and having slain him 
 
 61 
 
62 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 with a dagger, threw his body out of a window to his 
 master. 
 
 I was perfectly ignorant of what was going for- 
 ward. I observed every one to be in motion : the 
 Huguenots, driven to despair by the attack upon 
 the Admiral's life, and the Guises, fearing they 
 should not have justice done them, whispering all 
 they met in the ear. 
 
 The Huguenots were suspicious of me because I 
 was a Catholic, and the Catholics because I was 
 married to the King of Navarre, who was a Hu- 
 guenot. This being the case, no one spoke a syllable 
 of the matter to me. 
 
 At night, when I went into the bedchamber of the 
 Queen my mother, I placed myself on a coffer, next 
 my sister Lorraine, who, I could not but remark, 
 appeared greatly cast down. The Queen my mother 
 was in conversation with some one, but, as soon as 
 she espied me, she bade me go to bed. As I was 
 taking leave, my sister seized me by the hand and 
 stopped me, at the same time shedding a flood of 
 tears : " For the love of God," cried she, " do not 
 stir out of this chamber ! " I was greatly alarmed 
 at this exclamation ; perceiving which, the Queen my 
 mother called my sister to her, and chid her very 
 severely. My sister replied it was sending me away 
 to be sacrificed ; for, if any discovery should be made, 
 I should be the first victim of their revenge. The 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 63 
 
 Queen my mother made answer that, if it pleased 
 God, I should receive no hurt, but it was necessary 
 I should go, to prevent the suspicion that might arise 
 from my staying. 
 
 I perceived there was something on foot which I 
 was not to know, but what it was I could not make 
 out from anything they said. 
 
 The Queen again bade me go to bed in a peremp- 
 tory tone. My sister wished me a good night, her 
 tears flowing apace, but she did not dare to say a 
 word more ; and I left the bedchamber more dead 
 than alive. 
 
 As soon as I reached my own closet, I threw 
 myself upon my knees and prayed to God to take 
 me into his protection and save me ; but from whom 
 or what, I was ignorant. Hereupon the King my 
 husband, who was already in bed, sent for me. I 
 went to him, and found the bed surrounded by thirty 
 or forty Huguenots, who were entirely unknown to 
 me ; for I had been then but a very short time 
 married. Their whole discourse, during the night, 
 was upon what had happened to the Admiral, and 
 they all came to a resolution of the next day de- 
 manding justice of the King against M. de Guise ; 
 and, if it was refused, to take it themselves. 
 
 For my part, I was unable to sleep a wink the 
 whole night, for thinking of my sister's tears and 
 distress, which had greatly alarmed me, although I 
 
64 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 had not the least knowledge of the real cause. As 
 soon as day broke, the King my husband said he 
 would rise and play at tennis until King Charles 
 was risen, when he would go to him immediately 
 and demand justice. He left the bedchamber, and 
 all his gentlemen followed. 
 
 As soon as I beheld it was broad day, I appre- 
 hended all the danger my sister had spoken of was 
 over; and being inclined to sleep, I bade my nurse 
 make the door fast, and I applied myself to take 
 some repose. In about an hour I was awakened by 
 a violent noise at the door, made with both hands 
 and feet, and a voice calling out, "Navarre! Na- 
 varre ! " My nurse, supposing the King my hus- 
 band to be at the door, hastened to open it, when 
 a gentleman, named M. de Teian, ran in, and threw 
 himself immediately upon my bed. He had received 
 a wound in his arm from a sword, and another by 
 a pike, and was then pursued by four archers, who 
 followed him into the bedchamber. Perceiving these 
 last, I jumped out of bed, and the poor gentleman 
 after me, holding me fast by the waist. I did not 
 then know him ; neither was I sure that he came 
 to do me no harm, or whether the archers were in 
 pursuit of him or me. In this situation I screamed 
 aloud, and he cried out likewise, for our fright was 
 mutual. At length, by God's providence, M. de 
 Nan^ay, captain of the guard, came into the bed- 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 65 
 
 chamber, and, seeing me thus surrounded, though 
 he could not help pitying me, he was scarcely able 
 to refrain from laughter. However, he reprimanded 
 the archers very severely for their indiscretion, and 
 drove them out of the chamber. At my request he 
 granted the poor gentleman his life, and I had him 
 put to bed in my closet, caused his wounds to be 
 dressed, and did not suffer him to quit my apartment 
 until he was perfectly cured. I changed my shift, 
 because it was stained with the blood of this man, 
 and, whilst I was doing so, De Nangay gave me an 
 account of the transactions of the foregoing night, 
 assuring me that the King my husband was safe, and 
 actually at that moment in the King's bedchamber. 
 He made me muffle myself up in a cloak, and con- 
 ducted me to the apartment of my sister, Madame 
 de Lorraine, whither I arrived more than half dead. 
 As we passed through the antechamber, all the doors 
 of which were wide open, a gentleman of the name of 
 Bourse, pursued by archers, was run through the 
 body with a pike, and fell dead at my feet. As if 
 I had been killed by the same stroke, I fell, and was 
 caught by M. de Nan9ay before I reached the ground. 
 As soon as I recovered from this fainting-fit, I went 
 into my sister's bedchamber, and was immediately 
 followed by M. de Mioflano, first gentleman to the 
 King my husband, and Armagnac, his first valet de 
 chamhre, who both came to beg me to save their 
 
66 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 lives. I went and threw myself on my knees before 
 the King and the Queen my mother, and obtained 
 the lives of both of them. 
 
 Five or six days afterwards, those who were en- 
 gaged in this plot, considering that it was incomplete 
 whilst the King my husband and the Prince de Cond^ 
 remained alive, as their design was not only to dis- 
 pose of the Huguenots, but of the Princes of the blood 
 likewise ; and knowing that no attempt could be made 
 on my husband whilst I continued to be his wife, de- 
 vised a scheme which they suggested to the Queen 
 my mother for divorcing me from him. Accordingly, 
 one holiday, when I waited upon her to chapel, she 
 charged me to declare to her, upon my oath, whether 
 I believed my husband to be like other men. "Be- 
 cause," said she, " if he is not, I can easily procure 
 you a divorce from him." I begged her to believe 
 that I was not sufficiently competent to answer such 
 a question, and could only reply, as the Roman lady 
 did to her husband, when he chid her for not inform- 
 ing him of his stinking breath, that, never having 
 approached any other man near enough to know a 
 difference, she thought all men had been alike in that 
 respect. " But," said I, " Madame, since you have 
 put the question to me, I can only declare I am con- 
 tent to remain as I am ; " and this I said because I 
 suspected the design of separating me from my hus- 
 band was in order to work some mischief against him. 
 
LETTER VI. 
 
 Henri, Due d'Anjou, Elected King of Poland, Leaves France. 
 — Huguenot Plots to Withdraw the Due d'Alengon and 
 the King of Navarre from Court. — Discovered and De- 
 feated by Marguerite's Vigilance. — She Draws Up an 
 Eloquent Defence, Which Her Husband Delivers before a 
 Committee from the Court of Parliament. — Alengon and 
 Her Husband, under a Close Arrest, Regain Their Liberty 
 by the Death of Charles IX. 
 
 We accompanied the King of Poland as far as 
 Beaumont. For some months before he quitted 
 France, he had used every endeavour to efface 
 from my mind the ill offices he had so ungrate- 
 fully done me. He solicited to obtain the same 
 place in my esteem which he held during our in- 
 fancy; and, on taking leave of me, made me con- 
 firm it by oaths and promises. His departure from 
 France, and King Charles's sickness, which happened 
 just about the same time, excited the spirit of the two 
 factions into which the kingdom was divided, to form 
 a variety of plots. The Huguenots, on the death of 
 the Admiral, had obtained from the King my hus- 
 band, and my brother Alen9on, a written obligation 
 to avenge it. Before St. Bartholomew's Day, they 
 
68 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 had gained my brother over to their party, by the 
 hope of securing Flanders for him. They now per- 
 suaded my husband and him to leave the King and 
 Queen on their return, and pass into Champagne, 
 there to join some troops which were in waiting to 
 receive them. 
 
 M. de Miossans, a Catholic gentleman, having re- 
 ceived an intimation of this design, considered it so 
 prejudicial to the interests of the King his master, 
 that he communicated it to me with the intention of 
 frustrating a plot of so much danger to themselves 
 and to the State. I went immediately to the King 
 and the Queen my mother, and informed them that 
 I had a matter of the utmost importance to lay before 
 them ; but that I could not declare it unless they 
 would be pleased to promise me that no harm should 
 ensue from it to such as 1 should name to them, 
 and that they would put a stop to what was going 
 forward without publishing their knowledge of it. 
 Having obtained my request, I told them that my 
 brother Alen9on and the King my husband had an 
 intention, on the very next day, of joining some 
 Huguenot troops, which expected them, in order to 
 fulfil the engagement they had made upon the Ad- 
 miral's death ; and for this their intention, I begged 
 they might be excused, and that they might be pre- 
 vented from going away without any discovery being 
 made that their designs had been found out. All 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 69 
 
 this was granted me, and measures were so prudently 
 taken to stay them, that they had not the least sus- 
 picion that their intended evasion was known. Soon 
 after, we arrived at St. Germain, where we stayed 
 some time, on account of the King's indisposition. 
 All this while my brother Alen^on used every means 
 he could devise to ingratiate himself with me, until 
 at last I promised him my friendship, as I had before 
 done to my brother the King of Poland. As he had 
 been brought up at a distance from Court, we had 
 hitherto known very little of each other, and kept 
 ourselves at a distance. Now that he had made the 
 first advances, in so respectful and affectionate a man- 
 ner, 1 resolved to receive him into a firm friendship, 
 and to interest myself in whatever concerned him, 
 without prejudice, however, to the interests of my 
 good brother King Charles, whom I loved more than 
 any one besides, and who continued to entertain a 
 great regard for me, of which he gave me proofs as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 Meanwhile King Charles was daily growing worse, 
 and the Huguenots constantly forming new plots. 
 They were very desirous to get my brother the Due 
 d'Alen9on and the King my husband away from 
 Court. I got intelligence, from time to time, of their 
 designs ; and, providentially, the Queen my mother de- 
 feated their intentions when a day had been fixed on 
 for the arrival of the Huguenot troops at St. Germain. 
 
7jO HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 To avoid this visit, we set off the night before for Paris, 
 two hours after midnight, putting King Charles in a 
 litter, and the Queen my mother taking my brother and 
 the King my husband with her in her own carriage. 
 
 They did not experience on this occasion such mild 
 treatment as they had hitherto done, for the King 
 going to the Wood of Vincennes, they were not per- 
 mitted to set foot out of the palace. This misunder- 
 standing was so far from being mitigated by time, 
 that the mistrust and discontent were continually 
 increasing, owing to the insinuations and bad advice 
 offered to the King by those who wished the ruin and 
 downfall of our house. To such a height had these 
 jealousies risen that the Marechaux de Montmorency 
 and de Cossd were put under a close arrest, and La 
 Mole and the Comte de Donas executed. Matters 
 were now arrived at such a pitch that commissioners 
 were appointed from the Court of Parliament to hear 
 and determine upon the case of my brother and the 
 King my husband. 
 
 My husband, having no counsellor to assist him, 
 desired me to draw up his defence in such a manner 
 that he might not implicate any person, and, at the 
 same time, clear my brother and himself from any 
 criminality of conduct. With God's help I accom- 
 plished this task to his great satisfaction, and to the 
 surprise of the commissioners, who did not expect to 
 find them so well prepared to justify themselves. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. Tl 
 
 As it was apprehended, after the death of La Mole 
 and the Comte de Donas, that their lives were likewise 
 in danger, I had resolved to save them at the hazard 
 of my own ruin with the King, whose favour I entirely 
 enjoyed at that time. I was suffered to pass to and 
 from them in my coach, with my women, who were 
 not even required by the guard to unmask, nor was 
 my coach ever searched. This being the case, I had 
 intended to convey away one of them disguised in a 
 female habit. But the difficulty lay in settling betwixt 
 themselves which should remain behind in prison, they 
 being closely watched by their guards, and the escape 
 of one bringing the other's life into hazard. Thus 
 they could never agree upon the point, each of them 
 wishing to be the person I should deliver from con- 
 finement. 
 
 But Providence put a period to their imprisonment 
 by a means which proved very unfortunate for me. 
 This was no other than the death of King Charles, 
 who was the only stay and support of my life, — a 
 brother from whose hands I never received anything 
 but good ; who, during the persecution I underwent at 
 Angers, through my brother Anjou, assisted me with 
 all his advice and credit. In a word, when I lost King 
 Charles, I lost everything. 
 
LETTER VII. 
 
 Accession of Henri III. — A Journey to Lyons. — Marguerite's 
 Faith in Supernatural Intelligence. 
 
 After this fatal event, which was as unfortunate 
 for France as for me, we went to Lyons to give the 
 meeting to the King of Poland, now Henri III. of 
 France. The new King was as much governed by Le 
 Guast as ever, and had left this intriguing, mischie- 
 vous man behind in France to keep his party together. 
 Through this man's insinuations he had conceived the 
 most confirmed jealousy of my brother Alen9on. He 
 suspected that I was the bond that connected the 
 King my husband and my brother, and that, to dis- 
 solve their union, it would be necessary to create a 
 coolness between me and my husband, and to work up 
 a quarrel of rivalship betwixt them both by means of 
 Madame de Sauves, whom they both visited. This 
 abominable plot, which proved the source of so much 
 disquietude and unhappiness, as well to my brother as 
 myself, was as artfully conducted as it was wickedly 
 designed. 
 
 Many have held that God has great personages 
 more immediately under his protection, and that 
 minds of superior excellence have bestowed on them 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 73 
 
 a good genius, or secret intelligencer, to apprise them 
 of good, or warn them against evil. Of this number 
 I might reckon the Queen my mother, who has had 
 frequent intimations of the kind ; particularly the 
 very night before the tournament which proved so 
 fatal to the King my father, she dreamed that she 
 saw him wounded in the eye, as it really happened ; 
 upon which she awoke, and begged him not to run a 
 course that day, but content himself with looking on. 
 Fate prevented the nation from enjoying so much 
 happiness as it would have done had he followed her 
 advice. Whenever she lost a child, she beheld a bright 
 flame shining before her, and would immediately cry 
 out, "God save my children!" well knowing it was 
 the harbinger of the death of some one of them, which 
 melancholy news was sure to be confirmed very shortly 
 after. During her very dangerous illness at Metz, 
 where she caught a pestilential fever, either from the 
 coal fires, or by visiting some of the nunneries which 
 had been infected, and from which she was restored to 
 health and to the kingdom through the great skill 
 and experience of that modern ^Esculapius, M. de 
 Castillan, her physician — I say, during that illness, 
 her bed being surrounded by my brother King Charles, 
 my brother and sister Lorraine, several members of 
 the Council, besides many ladies and princesses, not 
 choosing to quit her, though without hopes of her 
 life, she was heard to cry out, as if she saw the 
 
74 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 battle of Jarnac : " There ! see how they flee ! My 
 son, follow them to victory ! Ah, my son falls ! O 
 my God, save him ! See there ! the Prince de Cond^ 
 is dead ! " All who were present looked upon these 
 words as proceeding from her delirium, as she knew 
 that my brother Anjou was on the point of giving 
 battle, and thought no more of it. On the night 
 following, M. de Losses brought the news of the bat- 
 tle ; and, it being supposed that she would be pleased 
 to hear of it, she was awakened, at which she ap- 
 peared to be angry, saying : " Did I not know it 
 yesterday ? " It was then that those about her 
 recollected what I have now related, and concluded 
 that it was no delirium, but one of those revelations 
 made by God to great and illustrious persons. Ancient 
 history furnishes many examples of the like kind 
 amongst the pagans, as the apparition of Brutus and 
 many others, which I shall not mention, it not being 
 my intention to illustrate these Memoirs with such 
 narratives, but only to relate the truth, and that with 
 as much expedition as I am able, that you may be 
 the sooner in possession of my story. 
 
 I am far from supposing that I am worthy of these 
 divine admonitions ; nevertheless, I should accuse 
 myself of ingratitude towards my God for the benefits 
 I have received, which I esteem myself obliged to 
 acknowledge whilst I live ; and I further believe 
 myself bound to bear testimony of his goodness 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 75 
 
 and power, and the mercies he hath shown me, so 
 that I can declare no extraordinary accident ever 
 befell me, whether fortunate or otherwise, but I re- 
 ceived some warning of it, cither by dream or in some 
 other way, so that I may say with the poet — 
 
 " De mon bien, ou mon mal, 
 Mon espi'it m'est oracle." 
 
 (Whate'er of good or ill befell, 
 My mind was oracle to tell.) 
 
 And of this I had a convincing proof on the arrival 
 of the King of Poland, when the Queen my mother 
 went to meet him. Amidst the embraces and com- 
 pliments of welcome in that warm season, crowded 
 as we were together and stifling with heat, I found a 
 universal shivering come over me, which was plainly 
 perceived by those near me. It was with difficulty 
 I could conceal what I felt when the King, having 
 saluted the Queen my mother, came forward to salute 
 me. This secret intimation of what was to happen 
 thereafter made a strong impression on my mind at 
 the moment, and I thought of it shortly after, when 
 I discovered that the King had conceived a hatred of 
 me through the malicious suggestions of Le Guast, 
 who had made him believe, since the King's death, 
 that I espoused my brother Alen9on's party during 
 his absence, and cemented a friendship betwixt the 
 King my husband and him. 
 
LETTER YIII. 
 
 What Happened at Lyons. 
 
 An opportunity was diligently sought by my ene- 
 mies to effect their design of bringing about a mis- 
 understanding betwixt my brother Alengon, the King 
 my husband, and me, by creating a jealousy of me 
 in my husband, and in my brother and husband, on 
 account of their mutual love for Madame de Sauves. 
 
 One afternoon, the Queen my mother having retired 
 to her closet to finish some despatches which were 
 likely to detain her there for some time, Madame de 
 Nevers, your kinswoman, Madame de Rais, another 
 of your relations, Bourdeille, and Surgdres asked me 
 whether I would not wish to see a little of the city. 
 Whereupon Mademoiselle de Montigny, the niece of 
 Madame Usez, observing to us that the Abbey of 
 St. Pierre was a beautiful convent, we all resolved 
 to visit it. She then begged to go with us, as she 
 said she had an aunt in that convent, and as it was 
 not easy to gain admission into it, except in the com- 
 pany of persons of distinction. Accordingly, she went 
 with us; and there being six of us, the carriage was 
 crowded. Over and above those I have mentioned. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. - 77 
 
 there was Madame de Curton, the lady of my bed- 
 chamber, who always attended me. Liancourt, first 
 esquire to the King, and Camille placed themselves 
 on the steps of Torigni's carriage, supporting them- 
 selves as well as they were able, making themselves 
 merry on the occasion, and saying they would go and 
 see the handsome nuns, too. I look upon it as ordered 
 by Divine Providence that I should have Mademoiselle 
 de Montigny with me, who was not well acquainted 
 with any lady of the company, and that the two 
 gentlemen just mentioned, who were in the confidence 
 of King Henri, should likewise be of the party, as 
 they were able to clear me of the calumny intended 
 to be fixed upon me. 
 
 Whilst we were viewing the convent, my carriage 
 waited for us in the square. In the square many 
 gentlemen belonging to the Court had their lodgings. 
 My carriage was easily to be distinguished, as it was 
 gilt and lined with yellow velvet trimmed with silver. 
 We had not come out of the convent when the King 
 passed through the square on his way to see Quelus, 
 who was then sick. He had with him the King my 
 husband, D'O , and the fat fellow Ruff^. 
 
 The King, observing no one in my carriage, turned 
 to my husband and said : " There is your wife's coach, 
 and that is the house where Bid^ lodges. Bid^ is 
 sick, and I will engage my word she is gone upon a 
 visit to hun. Go," said ho to Ruff^, " and see whether 
 
78 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 she is not there." In saying this, the King addressed 
 himself to a proper tool for his malicious purpose, for 
 this fellow Ruff^ was entirely devoted to Le Guast. 
 I need not tell you he did not find me there; how- 
 ever, knowing the King's intention, he, to favour it, 
 said loud enough for the King my husband to hear 
 him : " The birds have been there, but they are now 
 flown." This furnished sufficient matter for conver- 
 sation until they reached home. 
 
 Upon this occasion, the King my husband displayed 
 all the good sense and generosity of temper for which 
 he is remarkable. He saw through the design, and 
 he despised the maliciousness of it. The King my 
 brother was anxious to see the Queen my mother 
 before me, to whom he imparted the pretended dis- 
 covery, and she, whether to please a son on whom she 
 doted, or whether she really gave credit to the story, 
 had related it to some ladies with much seeming 
 anger. 
 
 Soon afterwards I returned with the ladies who 
 had accompanied me to St. Pierre's, entirely igno- 
 rant of what had happened. I found the King my 
 husband in our apartments, who began to laugh on 
 seeing me, and said : " Go immediately to the Queen 
 your mother, but I promise you you will not return 
 very well pleased." I asked him the reason, and 
 what had happened. He answered : " I shall tell you 
 nothing ; but be assured of this, that I do not give the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 79 
 
 least credit to the story, which I plainly perceive to 
 be fabricated in order to stir up a difference betwixt 
 us two, and break off the friendly intercourse between 
 your brother and me." 
 
 Finding I could get no further information on the 
 subject from him, I went to the apartment of the 
 Queen my mother. I met M. de Guise in the ante- 
 chamber, who was not displeased at the prospect of a 
 dissension in our family, hoping that he might make 
 some advantage of it. He addressed me in these 
 words : " I waited here expecting to see you, in order 
 to inform you that some ill office has been done you 
 with the Queen." He then told me the story he had 
 
 learned of D'O , who, being intimate with your 
 
 kinswoman, had informed M. de Guise of it, that he 
 might apprise us. 
 
 I went into the Queen's bedchamber, but did not 
 find my mother there. However, I saw Madame de 
 Nemours, the rest of the princesses, and other ladies, 
 who all exclaimed on seeing me : " Good God ! the 
 Queen your mother is in such a rage ; we would advise 
 you, for the present, to keep out of her sight." 
 
 " Yes," said I, " so I would, had I been guilty of 
 what the King has reported ; but I assure you all I 
 am entirely innocent, and must therefore speak with 
 her and clear myself." 
 
 I then went into her closet, which was separated 
 from the bedchamber by a slight partition only, so 
 
80 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 that our whole conversation could be distinctly heard. 
 She no sooner set eyes upon me than she flew into a 
 great passion, and said everything that the fury of 
 her resentmen,t suggested. I related to her the whole 
 truth, and begged to refer her to the company which 
 attended me, to the number of ten or twelve persons, 
 desiring her not to rely on the testimony of those more 
 immediately about me, but examine Mademoiselle Mon- 
 tigny, who did not belong to me, and Liancourt and 
 Camille, who were the King's servants. 
 
 She would not hear a word I had to offer, but con- 
 tinued to rate me in a furious manner ; whether it 
 was through fear, or affection for her son, or whether 
 she believed the story in earnest, I know not. When 
 I observed to her that I understood the King had 
 done me this ill office m her opinion, her anger 
 was redoubled, and she endeavoured to make me 
 believe that she had been informed of the circum- 
 stance by one of her own valets de chambre, who had 
 himself seen me at the place. Perceiving that I gave 
 no credit to this account of the matter, she became 
 more and more incensed against me. 
 
 All that was said was perfectly heard by those in 
 the next room. At length I left her closet, much 
 chagrined ; and returning to my own apartments, I 
 found the King my husband there, who said to me : 
 " Well, was it not as I told you ? " 
 
 He, seeing me under great concern, desired me not 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 81 
 
 to grieve about it, adding that " Liancourt and Camille 
 would attend the King that night in his bedchamber, 
 and relate the affair as it really was ; and to-morrow," 
 continued he, " the Queen your mother will receive 
 yotf in a very different manner." 
 
 " But, monsieur," I replied, " I have received too 
 gross an affront in public to forgive those who were 
 the occasion of it ; but that is nothing when compared 
 with the malicious intention of causing so heavy a mis- 
 fortune to befall me as to create a variance betwixt 
 you and me." 
 
 " But," said he, " God be thanked, they have failed 
 in it." 
 
 " For that," answered I, " I am the more beholden 
 to God and your amiable disposition. However," con- 
 tinued I, " we may derive this good from it, that it 
 ought to be a warning to us to put ourselves upon our 
 guard against the King's stratagems to bring about 
 a disunion betwixt you and my brother, by causing a 
 rupture betwixt you and me." 
 
 Whilst I was saying this, my brother entered the 
 apartment, and I made them renew their protestations 
 of friendship. But what oaths or promises can pre- 
 vail against love ! This will appear more fully in 
 the sequel of my story. 
 
 An Italian banker, who had concerns with my 
 brother, came to him the next morning, and invited 
 him, the King my husband, myself, the princesses, 
 
82 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 and other ladies, to partake of an entertainment in 
 a garden belonging to him. Having made it a con- 
 stant rule, before and after I married, as long as I 
 remained in the Court of the Queen my mother, to 
 go to no place without her permission, I waited on 
 her, at her return from mass, and asked leave to be 
 present at this banquet. She refused to give any 
 leave, and said she did not care where I went. I 
 leave you to judge, who know my temper, whether 
 I was not greatly mortified at this rebuff. 
 
 Whilst we were enjoying this entertainment, the 
 King, having spoken with Liancourt, Camille, and 
 Mademoiselle Montigny, was apprised of the mis- 
 take which the malice or misapprehension of Ruffd 
 had led him into. Accordingly, he went to the 
 Queen my mother and related the whole truth, en- 
 treating her to remove any ill impressions that might 
 remain with me, as he perceived that I was not defi- 
 cient in point of understanding, and feared that I 
 might be induced to engage in some plan of revenge. 
 
 When I returned from the banquet before men- 
 tioned, I found that what the King my husband 
 had foretold was come to pass ; for the Queen my 
 mother sent for me into her back closet, which was 
 adjoining the King's, and told me that she was now 
 acquainted with the truth, and found I had not de- 
 ceived her with a false story. She had discovered, she 
 said, that there was not the least foundation for the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 83 
 
 report her valet de cJtamhre had made, and should 
 dismiss him from her service as a bad man. As she 
 perceived by my looks that I saw through this dis- 
 guise, she said everything she could think of to per- 
 suade me to a belief that the King had not mentioned 
 it to her. She continued her arguments, and I still 
 appeared incredulous. At length the King entered 
 the closet, and made many apologies, declaring he 
 had been imposed on, and assuring me of his most 
 cordial friendship and esteem; and thus matters were 
 set to rights again. 
 
LETTER IX. 
 
 Fresh Intrigues. — Marriage of Henri III Bussi Arrives at 
 
 Court and Narrowly Escapes Assassination. 
 
 After staying some time at Lyons, we went to 
 Avignon. Le Guast, not daring to hazard any fresh 
 imposture, and finding that my conduct afforded no 
 ground for jealousy on the part of my husband, 
 plainly perceived that he could not, by that means, 
 bring about a misunderstanding betwixt my brother 
 and the King my husband. He therefore resolved to 
 try what he could effect through Madame de Sauves. 
 In order to do this, he obtained such an influence over 
 her that she acted entirely as he directed ; insomuch 
 that, by his artful instructions, the passion which 
 these young men had conceived, hitherto wavering 
 and cold, as is generally the case at their time of life, 
 became of a sudden so violent that ambition and 
 every obligation of duty were at once absorbed by 
 their attentions to this woman. 
 
 This occasioned such a jealousy betwixt them that, 
 though her favours were divided with M. de Guise, 
 Le Guast, De Souvray, and others, any one of whom 
 she preferred to the brothers-in-law, such was the in- 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 86 
 
 fatuation of these last, that each considered the other 
 as his only rival. 
 
 To carry on De Guast's sinister designs, this 
 ■woman persuaded the King my husband that I was 
 jealous of her, and on that account it was that I 
 joined with my brother. As we are ready to give ear 
 and credit to those we love, he believed all she said. 
 From this time he became distant and reserved 
 towards me, shunning my presence as much as pos- 
 sible ; whereas, before, he was open and communica- 
 tive to me as to a sister, well knowing that I yielded to 
 his pleasure in all things, and was far from harbour- 
 ing jealousy of any kind. 
 
 What I had dreaded, I now perceived had come to 
 pass. This was the loss of his favour and good 
 opinion ; to preserve which I had studied to gain his 
 confidence by a ready compliance with his wishes, 
 well knowing that mistrust is the sure forerunner 
 of hatred. 
 
 I now turned my mind to an endeavour to wean 
 my brother's affection from Madame de Sauves, in 
 order to counterplot Le Guast in his design to bring 
 about a division, and thereby to effect our ruin. I 
 used every means with my brother to divert his 
 passion; but the fascination was too strong, and my 
 pains proved ineffectual. In anything else, my brother 
 would have suffered himself to be ruled by me ; but 
 the charms of this Circe, aided by that sorcerer, Le 
 
86 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Guast, were too powerful to be dissolved by my advice. 
 So far was be from profiting by my counsel that he 
 was weak enough to communicate it to her. So blind 
 are lovers ! 
 
 Her vengeance was excited by this communication, 
 and she now entered more fully into the designs of 
 Le Guast. In consequence, she used all her art to 
 make the King my husband conceive an aversion iot 
 me ; insomuch that he scarcely ever spoke with me. 
 He left her late at night, and, to prevent our meeting 
 in the morning, she directed him to come to her at 
 the Queen's levee, which she duly attended ; after 
 which he passed the rest of the day with her. Mj' 
 brother likewise followed her with the greatest assidu- 
 ity, and she had the artifice to make each of them 
 think that he alone had any place in her esteem. 
 Thus was a jealousy kept up betwixt them, and, in 
 consequence, disunion and mutual ruin ! 
 
 We made a considerable stay at Avignon, whence 
 we proceeded through Burgundy and Champagne to 
 Rheims, where the King's marriage was celebrated. 
 From Rheims we came to Paris, things going on in 
 their usual train, and Le Guast prosecuting his designs 
 with all the success he could wish. At Paris my 
 brother was joined by Bussi, whom he received with 
 all the favour which his bravery merited. He Avas 
 inseparable from my brother, in consequence of which 
 I frequently saw him, for my brother and I were 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 87 
 
 always together, his household being equally at my 
 devotion as if it were my own. Your aunt, remark- 
 ing this harmony betwixt us, has often told me that 
 it called to her recollection the times of my uncle, 
 M. d'Orl^ans, and my aunt, Madame de Savoie. 
 
 Le Guast thought this a favourable circumstance 
 to complete his design. Accordingly, he suggested to 
 Madame de Sauves to make my husband believe that 
 it was on account of Bussi that I frequented my 
 brother's apartments so constantly. 
 
 The King my husband, being fully informed of all 
 my proceedings from persons in his service who 
 attended me everywhere, could not be induced to lend 
 an ear to this story. Le Guast, finding himself foiled 
 in this quarter, applied to the King, who was well 
 inclined to listen to the tale, on account of his dislike 
 to my brother and me, whose friendship for each other 
 was unpleasing to him. 
 
 Besides this, he was incensed against Bussi, who, 
 being formerly attached to him, had now devoted 
 himself wholly to my brother, — an acquisition which, 
 on account of the celebrity of Bussi's fame for parts 
 and valour, redounded greatly to my brother's honour, 
 whilst it increased the malice and envy of his enemies. 
 
 The King, thus worked upon by Le Guast, men- 
 tioned it to the Queen my mother, thinking it would 
 have the same effect on her as the tale which was 
 trumped up at Lyons. But she, seeing through the 
 
88 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 whole design, showed him the improbability of the 
 story, adding that he must have some wicked people 
 about him, who could put sucji notions in his head, 
 observing that I was very unfortunate to have fallen 
 upon such evil times. " In my younger days," said 
 she, " we were allowed to converse freely with all the 
 gentlemen who belonged to the King our father, 
 the Dauphin, and M. d'OrMans, your uncles. It was 
 common for them to assemble in the bedchamber of 
 Madame Marguerite, your aunt, as well as in mine, 
 and nothing was thought of it. Neither ought it to 
 appear strange that Bussi sees my daughter in the 
 presence of her husband's servants. They are not 
 shut up together. Bussi is a person of quality, and 
 holds the first place in your brother's family. What 
 grounds are there for such a calumny ? At Lyons 
 you caused me to offer her an affront, which I fear 
 she will never forget." 
 
 The King was astonished to hear his mother talk 
 in this manner, and interrupted her with saying: 
 " Madame, I only relate what I have heard." 
 
 " But who is it," answered she, " that tells you all 
 this ? I fear no one that intends you any good, but rath- 
 er one that wishes to create divisions amongst you all." 
 
 As soon as the King had left her she told me all 
 that had passed, and said : " You are unfortunate to 
 live in these times." Then calling your aunt, Madame 
 de Dampierre, they entered into a discourse concern- 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 8^ 
 
 ing the pleasures and innocent freedoms of the times 
 they had seen, when scandal and malevolence were 
 imknown at Court. 
 
 Le Guast, finding this plot miscarry, was not long 
 in contriving another. He addressed himself for this 
 purpose to certain gentlemen who attended the King 
 my husband. These had been formerly the friends 
 of Bussi, but, envying the glory he had obtained, 
 were now become his enemies. Under the mask of 
 zeal for their master, they disguised the envy which 
 they harboured in their breasts. They entered into a 
 design of assassinating Bussi as he* left my brother to 
 go to his own lodgings, which was generally at a late 
 hour. They knew that he was always accompanied 
 home by fifteen or sixteen gentlemen, belonging to 
 my brother, and that, notwithstanding he wore no 
 sword, having been lately wounded in the right arm, 
 his presence was sufficient to inspire the rest with 
 courage. 
 
 In order, therefore, to make sure work, they re- 
 solved on attacking him with two or three hundred 
 men, thinking that night would throw a veil over the 
 disgrace of such an assassination. 
 
 Le Guast, who commanded a regiment of guards, 
 furnished the requisite number of men, whom he dis~ 
 posed in five or six divisions, in the street through 
 which he was to pass. Their orders were to put out 
 ^the torches and Jlamheaux, and then to fire their 
 
90 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 pieces, after which they were to charge his company, 
 observing particularly to attack one who had his right 
 arm slung in a scarf. 
 
 Fortunately they escaped the intended massacre, and, 
 fighting their way through, reached Bussi's lodgings, 
 one gentleman only being killed, who was particularly 
 attached to M. de Bussi, and who was probably mistaken 
 for him, as he had his arm likewise slung in a scarf. 
 
 An Italian gentleman, who belonged to my brother, 
 left them at the beguming of the attack, and came 
 running back to the Louvre. As soon as he reached 
 my brother's chamber door, he cried out aloud: 
 " Bussi is assassinated ! " My brother was going out, 
 but I, hearing the cry of assassination, left my cham- 
 ber, by good fortune not being undressed, and stopped 
 my brother. I then sent for the Queen my mother to 
 come with all haste in order to prevent him from go- 
 ing out, as he was resolved to do, regardless of what 
 might happen. It was with difficulty we could stay 
 him, though the Queen my mother represented the 
 hazard he ran from the darkness of the night, and 
 his ignorance of the nature of the attack, which might 
 have been purposely designed by Le Guast to take 
 away his life. Her entreaties and persuasions would 
 have been of little avail if she had not used her au- 
 thority to order all the doors to be barred, and taken 
 the resolution of remaining where she was until she 
 had learned what had really happened. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 91 
 
 Bussi, whom God had thus miraculously preserved, 
 with that presence of mind which he was so remark- 
 able for in time of battle and the most imminent dan- 
 ger, considering within himself when he reached home 
 the anxiety of his master's mind should he have re- 
 ceived any false report, and fearing he might expose 
 himself to hazard upon the first alarm being given 
 (which certainly would have been the case, if my 
 mother had not interfered and prevented it), immedi- 
 ately despatched one of his people to let him know 
 every circumstance. 
 
 The next day Bussi showed himself at the Louvre 
 without the least dread of enemies, as if what had 
 happened had been merely the attack of a tourna- 
 ment. My brother exhibited much pleasure at the 
 sight of Bussi, but expressed great resentment at such 
 a daring attempt to deprive him of so brave and valu- 
 able a servant, a man whom Le Guast durst not attack 
 in any other way than by a base assassination. 
 
LETTER X. 
 
 Bussi Is Sent from Court Marguerite's Husband Attacked 
 
 with a Fit of Epilepsy. — Her Great Care of Him To- 
 
 rigni Dismissed from Marguerite' s Service. — The King 
 of N.^'Varre and the Due d'Alengon Secretly Leave the 
 Court. 
 
 The Queen my mother, a woman endowed with the 
 greatest prudence and foresight of any one I ever knew, 
 apprehensive of evil consequences from this affair, and 
 fearing a dissension betwixt her two sons, advised my 
 brother to fall upon some pretence for sending Bussi 
 away from Court. In this advice I joined her, and, 
 through our united counsel and request, my brother 
 was prevailed upon to give his consent. I had every 
 reason to suppose that Le Guast would take advantage 
 of the rencounter to foment the coolness which already 
 existed betwixt my brother and the King my husband 
 into an open rupture. Bussi, who implicitly followed 
 my brother's directions in everything',' departed with a 
 company of the bravest noblemen that were about the 
 latter's person. 
 
 Bussi was now removed from the machinations of 
 Le Guast, who likewise failed in accomplishing a 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 93 
 
 design he had long projected, — to disunite the King 
 mj husband and me. 
 
 One night my husband was attacked with a fit, and 
 continued insensible for the space of an hour, — occa- 
 sioned, I supposed, by his excesses with women, for I 
 never knew anything of the kind to happen to him 
 before. However, as it was my duty so to do, I 
 attended him with so much care and assiduity that, 
 when he recovered, he spoke of it to every one, declar- 
 ing that, if I had not perceived his indisposition and 
 called for the help of my women, he should not have 
 survived the fit. 
 
 From this time he treated me with more kindness, 
 and the cordiality betwixt my brother and him was 
 again revived, as if I had been the point of union at 
 which they were to meet, or the cement that joined 
 them together. 
 
 Le Guast was now at his wit's end for some fresh 
 contrivance to breed disunion in the Court. 
 
 He had lately persuaded the King to remove from 
 about the person of the Queen-consort, a princess of 
 the greatest virtue and most amiable qualities, a 
 female attendant of the name of Changi, for whom the 
 Queen entertained a particular esteem, as having been 
 brought up with her. Being successful in this meas- 
 ure, he now thought of making the King my husband 
 send away Torigni, whom I greatly regarded. 
 
 The argument he used with the King was, that 
 
94 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 young princesses ought to have no favourites about 
 them. 
 
 The King, yielding to this man's persuasions, spoke 
 of it to my husband, who observed that it would be a 
 matter that would greatly distress me ; that if I had 
 an esteem for Torigni it was not without cause, as she 
 had been brought up with the Queen of Spain and 
 me from our infancy ; that, moreover, Torigni was a 
 young lady of good understanding, and had been of 
 great use to him during his cofinnement at Yincennes ; 
 that it would be the greatest ingratitude in him to 
 overlook services of such a nature, and that he remem- 
 bered well when his Majesty had expressed the same 
 sentiments. 
 
 Thus did he defend himself against the performance 
 of so ungrateful an action. However, the King lis- 
 tened only to the arguments of Le Guast, and told 
 my husband that he should have no more love for 
 him if he did not remove Torigni from about me the 
 very next morning. 
 
 He was forced to comply, greatly contrary to his 
 will, and, as he has since declared to me, with much 
 regret. Joining entreaties to commands, he laid his 
 injunctions on me accordingly. 
 
 How displeasing this separation was I plainly dis- 
 covered by the many tears I shed on receiving his 
 orders. It was in vain to represent to him the injury 
 done to my character by the sudden removal of one 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 95 
 
 who had been with me from my earliest years, and 
 was so greatly in my esteem and confidence ; he could 
 not give an ear to my reasons, being firmly bound by 
 the promise he had made to the King. 
 
 Accordingly, Torigni left me that very day, and 
 went to the house of a relation, M. Chastelas. I was 
 so greatly offended with this fresh indignity, after so 
 many of the kind formerly received, that I could not 
 help yielding to resentment; and my grief and con- 
 cern getting the upper hand of my prudence, I exhib- 
 ited a great coolness and indifference towards my 
 husband. Le Guast and Madame de Sauves were 
 successful in creating a like indifference on his part, 
 which, coinciding with mine, separated us altogether, 
 and we neither spoke to each other nor slept in the 
 same bed. 
 
 A few days after this, some faithful servants about 
 the person of the King my husband remarked to him 
 the plot which had been concerted with so much arti- 
 fice to lead him to his ruin, by creating a division, 
 fi.rst betwixt him and my brother, and next betwixt 
 him and me, thereby separating him from those in 
 whom only he could hope for his principal support. 
 They observed to him that already matters were 
 brought to such a pass that the King showed little 
 regard for him, and even appeared to despise him. 
 
 They afterwards addressed themselves to my 
 brother, whose situation was not in the least mended 
 
96 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 since the departure of Bussi, Le Guast causing fresh 
 indignities to be offered him daily. They represented 
 to him that the King my husband and he were both 
 circumstanced alike, and equally in disgrace, as Le 
 Guast had everything under his direction; so that 
 both of them were under the necessity of soliciting, 
 through him, any favours which they might want 
 of the King, and which, when demanded, were con- 
 stantly refused them with great contempt. Moreover, 
 it was become dangerous to offer them service, as it 
 was inevitable ruin for any one to do so. 
 
 " Since, then," said they, " your dissensions appear 
 to be so likely to prove fatal to both, it would be 
 advisable in you both to unite and come to a deter- 
 mination of leaving the Court; and, after collecting 
 together your friends and servants, to require from 
 the King an establishment suitable to your ranks." 
 They observed to my brother that he had never yet 
 been put in possession of his appanage, and received 
 for his subsistence only some certain allowances, which 
 were not regularly paid him, as they passed through 
 the hands of Le Guast, and were at his disposal, to 
 be discharged or kept back, as he judged proper. 
 They concluded with observing that, with regard to 
 the King my husband, the government of Guyenne 
 was taken out of his hands ; neither was he permitted 
 to visit that or any other of his dominions. 
 
 It was hereupon resolved to pursue the counsel now 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS: 97 
 
 given, and that the King my husband and my brother 
 should immediately withdraw themselves from Court. 
 My brother made me acquainted with this resolution, 
 observing to me, as my husband and he were now 
 friends again, that I ought to forget all that had 
 passed ; that my husband had declared to him that 
 he was sorry things had so happened, that we had 
 been outwitted by our enemies, but that he was re- 
 solved, from henceforward, to show me every atten- 
 tion and give me every proof of his love and esteem, 
 and he concluded with begging me to make my hus- 
 band every show of affection, and to be watchful for 
 their interest during their absence. 
 
 It was concerted betwixt them that my brother 
 should depart first, making off in a carriage in the 
 best manner he could ; that, in a few days afterwards, 
 the King my husband should follow, under pretence 
 of going on a hunting party. They both expressed 
 their concern that they could not take me with them, 
 assuring me that I had no occasion to have any appre- 
 hensions, as it would soon appear that they had no 
 design to disturb the peace of the kingdom, but 
 merely to ensure the safety of their own persons, and 
 to settle their establishments. In short, it might well 
 be supposed that, in their present situation, they had 
 reason to apprehend danger to themselves from such 
 as had evil designs against their family. 
 
 Accordingly, as soon as it was dusk, and before 
 
98 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 the King's supper-time, mj brother changed his cloak, 
 and concealing the lower part of his face to his nose 
 in it, left the palace, attended by a servant who was 
 little known, and went on foot to the gate of St. Ho- 
 nor^, where he found Simier waiting for him in a 
 coach, borrowed of a lady for the purpose. 
 
 My brother threw himself into it, and went to a 
 house about a quarter of a league out of Paris, where 
 horses were stationed ready ; and at the distance of 
 about a league farther, he joined a party of two or 
 three hundred horsemen of his servants, who were 
 awaiting his coming. My brother was not missed till 
 nine o'clock, when the King and the Queen my mother 
 asked me the reason he did not come to sup with 
 them as usual, and if I knew of his being indisposed. 
 I told them I had not seen him since noon. There- 
 upon they sent to his apartments. Word was brought 
 back that he was not there. Orders were then given 
 to inquire at the apartments of the ladies whom he 
 was accustomed to ^dsit. He was nowhere to be 
 found. There was now a general alarm. The King 
 flew into a great passion, and began to threaten me. 
 He then sent for all the Princes and the great officers 
 of the Court; and giving orders for a pursuit to be 
 made, and to bring him back, dead or alive, cried out : 
 " He is gone to make war against me ; but I will 
 show him what it is to contend with a king of my 
 power." 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 9^ 
 
 Many of the Princes and officers of State remon- 
 strated against these orders, which they observed 
 ought to be well weighed. They said that, as their 
 duty directed, they were willing to venture their lives 
 in the King's service ; but to act against his brother 
 they were certain would not be pleasing to the King 
 himself; that they were well convinced his brother 
 would undertake nothing that should give his Majesty 
 displeasure, or be productive of danger to the realm ; 
 that perhaps his leaving the Court was owing to some 
 disgust, which it would be more advisable to send 
 and inquire into. Others, on the contrary, were for 
 putting the King's orders into execution ; but, whatever 
 expedition they could use, it was day before they set 
 off ; and as it was then too late to overtake my brother, 
 they returned, being only equipped for the pursuit. 
 
 I was in tears the whole night of my brother's 
 departure, and the next day was seized with a vio- 
 lent cold, which was succeeded by a fever that con- 
 fined me to my bed. 
 
 Meanwhile my husband was preparing for his de- 
 parture, which took up all the time he could spare 
 from his visits to Madame de Sauves; so that he 
 did not think of me. -He returned as usual at two 
 or . three in the morning, and, as we had separate 
 beds, I seldom heard him ; and in the morning, be- 
 fore I was awake, he went to my mother's levde, 
 where he met Madame de Sauves, as usual. 
 
100 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 This being the case, he quite forgot his promise to 
 my brother of speaking to me ; and when he went 
 away, it was without taking leave of me. 
 
 The King did not show my husband more favour 
 after my brother's evasion, but continued to behave 
 with his former coolness. This the more confirmed 
 him in the resolution of leaving the Court, so that 
 in a few days, under the pretence of hunting, he 
 went away. 
 
LETTER XI. 
 
 Queen Marguerite under Arrest. — Attempt on Torigni's Life. 
 — Her Fortunate Deliverance. 
 
 The King, supposing that I was a principal instru- 
 ment in aiding the Princes in their desertion, was 
 greatly incensed against me, and his rage became at 
 length so violent that, had not the Queen my mother 
 moderated it, I am inclined to think my life had been 
 in danger. Giving way to her counsel, he became 
 more calm, but insisted upon a guard being placed 
 over me, that I might not follow the King my hus- 
 band, neither have communication with any one, so 
 as to give the Princes intelligence of what was going 
 on at Court. The Queen my mother gave her con- 
 sent to this measure, as being the least violent, and 
 was well pleased to find his anger cooled in so great 
 a degree. She, however, requested that she might be 
 permitted to discourse with me, in order to reconcile 
 me to a submission to treatment of so different a kind 
 from what I had hitherto known. At the same time 
 she advised the King to consider that these troubles 
 might not be lasting; that everything in the world 
 bore a double aspect; that what now appeared to 
 
102 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 him horrible and alarming, might, upon a second 
 view, assume a more pleasing and tranquil look; 
 that, as things changed, so should measures change 
 with them ; that there might come a time when he 
 might have occasion for my services; that, as pru- 
 dence counselled us not to repose too much confidence 
 in our friends, lest they should one day become our 
 enemies, so was it advisable to conduct ourselves in 
 such a manner to our enemies as if we had hopes 
 they should hereafter become our friends. By such 
 prudent remonstrances did the Queen my mother re- 
 strain the King from proceeding to extremities with 
 me, as he would otherwise possibly have done. 
 
 Le Guast now endeavoured to divert his fury to an- 
 other object, in order to wound me in a most sensitive 
 part. He prevailed on the King to adopt a design for 
 seizing Torigni, at the house of her cousin Chastelas, 
 and, under pretence of bringing her before the King, 
 to drown her in a river which they were to cross. 
 The party sent upon this errand was admitted by 
 Chastelas, not suspecting any evil design, without the 
 least difficulty, into his house. As soon as they had 
 gained admission they proceeded to execute the cruel 
 business they were sent upon, by fastening Torigni 
 with cords and locking her up in a chamber, whilst 
 their horses were baiting. Meantime, according to 
 the French custom, they crammed themselves, like 
 gluttons, with the best eatables the house afforded. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 103 
 
 Chastelas, who was a man of discretion, was not dis- 
 pleased to gain time at the expense of some part of 
 his substance, considering that the suspension of a 
 sentence is a prolongation of life, and that during this 
 respite the King's heart might relent, and he might 
 countermand his former orders. With these consid- 
 erations he was induced to submit, though it was in 
 his power to have called for assistance to repel this 
 violence. But God, who hath constantly regarded 
 my afflictions and afforded me protection against the 
 malicious designs of my enemies, was pleased to order 
 poor Torigni to be delivered by means which I could 
 never have devised had I been acquainted with the 
 plot, of which I was totally ignorant. Several of 
 the domestics, male as well as female, had left the 
 house in a fright, fearing the insolence and rude treat- 
 ment of this troop of soldiers, who behaved as riot- 
 ously as if they were in a house given up to pillage. 
 Some of these, at the distance of a quarter of a league 
 from the house, by God's providence, fell in with 
 Fert^ and Avantigni, at the head of their troops, in 
 number about two hundred horse, on their march to 
 join my brother. Ferte, remarking a labourer, whcnn 
 he knew to belong to Chastelas, apparently in great 
 distress, inquired of him what was the matter, and 
 whether he had been ill-used by any of the soldiery. 
 The man related to him all he knew, and in what 
 state he had left his master's house. Hereupon Fert^ 
 
104 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 and Avantigni resolved, out of regard to me, to effect 
 Torigni's deliverance, returning thanks to God for 
 having afforded them so favourable an opportunity 
 of testifying the respect they had always entertained 
 towards me. 
 
 Accordingly, they proceeded to the house with all 
 expedition, and arrived just at the moment these sol- 
 diers were setting Torigni on horseback, for the pur- 
 pose of conveying her to the river wherein they had 
 orders to plunge her. Galloping into the courtyard, 
 sword in hand, they cried out : " Assassins, if you 
 dare to offer that lady the least injury, you are dead 
 men ! " So saying, they attacked them and drove 
 them to flight, leaving their prisoner behind, nearly 
 as dead with joy as she was before with fear and ap- 
 prehension. After returning thanks to God and her 
 deliverers for so opportune and unexpected a rescue, 
 she and her cousin Chastelas set off in a carriage, 
 under the escort of their rescuers, and joined my 
 brother, who, since he could not have me with him, 
 was happy to have one so dear to me about him. She 
 remained under my brother's protection as long as 
 any danger was apprehended, and was treated with as 
 much respect as if she had been with me. 
 
 Whilst the King was giving directions for this 
 notable expedition, for the purpose of sacrificing 
 Torigni to his vengeance, the Queen my mother, 
 who had not received the least intimation of it. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 105 
 
 came to my apartment as I was dressing to go 
 abroad, in order to observe how I should be received 
 after what had passed at Court, having still some 
 alarms on account of my husband and brother. I 
 had hitherto confined myself to my chamber, not 
 having perfectly recovered my health, and, in reality, 
 being all the time as much indisposed in mind as in 
 body. 
 
 My mother, perceiving my intention, addressed me 
 in these words : " My child, you are giving yourself 
 minecessary trouble in dressing to go abroad. Do 
 not be alarmed at what I am going to tell you. Your 
 own good sense will dictate to you that you ought not 
 to be surprised if the King resents the conduct of your 
 brother and husband, and as he knows the love and 
 friendship that exist between you three, should sup- 
 pose hat you were privy to their design of leaving the 
 Court. He has, for this reason, resolved to detain 
 you in it, as a hostage for them. He is sensible how 
 much you are beloved by your husband, and thinks he 
 can hold no pledge that is more dear to him. On this 
 account it is that the King has ordered his guards to 
 be placed, with directions not to suffer you to leave 
 your apartments. He has done this with the advice 
 of his counsellors, by whom it was suggested that, if 
 you had your free liberty, you might be induced to 
 advise your brother and husband of their delibera- 
 tions. I beg you will not be offended with these 
 
106 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 measures, which, if it so please God, may not be of 
 long continuance. I beg, moreover, you will not be 
 displeased with me if I do not pay you frequent visits, 
 as I should be unwilling to create any suspicions in 
 the King's mind. However, you may rest assured 
 that I shall prevent any further steps from being 
 taken that may prove disagreeable to you, and that 
 I shall use my utmost endeavours to bring about a 
 reconciliation betwixt your brothers." 
 
 I represented to her, in reply, the great indignity 
 that was offered to me by putting me under arrest; 
 that it was true my brother had all along communi- 
 cated to me the just cause he had to be dissatisfied, 
 but that, with respect to the King my husband, from 
 the time Torigni was taken from me we had not 
 spoken to each other ; neither had he visited me dur- 
 ing my indisposition, nor did he even take leave of me 
 when he left Court. " This," says she, " is nothing at 
 all ; it is merely a trifling difference betwixt man and 
 wife, which a few sweet words, conveyed in a letter, 
 will set to rights. When, by such means, he has 
 regained your affections, he has only to write to you 
 to come to him, and you will set off at the very first 
 opportunity. Now, this is what the King my son 
 wishes to prevent." 
 
LETTER XII. 
 
 The Peace of Sens betwixt Henri III. and the Huguenots. 
 
 The Queen my mother left me, saying these words. 
 For my part, I remained a close prisoner, without 
 a visit from a single person, none of my most intimate 
 friends daring to come near me, through the appre- 
 hension that such a step might prove injurious to their 
 interests. Thus it is ever in Courts. Adversity is 
 solitary, while prosperity dwells in a crowd ; the object 
 of persecution being sure to be shunned by his nearest 
 friends and dearest connections. The brave Grillon 
 was the only one who ventured to visit me, at the 
 hazard of incurring disgrace. He came five or six 
 times to see me, and my guards were so much aston- 
 ished at his resolution, and awed by his presence, that 
 not a single Cerberus of them all would venture to 
 refuse him entrance to my apartments. 
 
 Meanwhile, the King my husband reached the 
 States under his government. Being joined there by 
 his friends and dependents, they all represented to him 
 the indignity offered to me by his quitting the Court 
 without taking leave of me. They observed to him 
 
108 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 that I was a princess of good understanding, and that 
 it would be for his interest to regain my esteem ; that, 
 when matters were put on their former footing, he 
 might derive to himself great advantage from my 
 presence at Court. Now that he was at a distance 
 from his Circe, Madame de Sauves, he could listen to 
 good advice. Absence having abated the force of her 
 charms, his eyes were opened ; he discovered the plots 
 and machinations of our enemies, and clearly perceived 
 that a rupture could not but tend to the ruin of us 
 both. 
 
 Accordingly, he wrote me a very affectionate letter, 
 wherein he entreated me to forget all that had passed 
 betwixt us, assuring me that from thenceforth he 
 would ever love me, and would give me every dem- 
 onstration that he did so, desiring me to inform him 
 of what was going on at Court, and how it fared with 
 me and my brother. My brother was in Champagne 
 and the King my husband in Gascony, and there had 
 been no communication betwixt them, though they 
 were on terms of friendship. 
 
 I received this letter during my imprisonment, and 
 it gave me great comfort under that situation. Al- 
 though my guards had strict orders not to permit me 
 to set pen to paper, yet, as necessity is said to be the 
 mother of invention, I found means to write many 
 letters to him. 
 
 Some few days after I had been put under arrest. 
 
MARGUERITE DE V ALOIS. 109 
 
 my brother had intelligence of it, which chagrined 
 him so much that, had not the love of his country 
 prevailed with him, the effects of his resentment 
 would have been shown in a cruel civil war, to which 
 purpose he had a sufficient force entirely at his de- 
 votion. He was, however, withheld by his patriotism, 
 and contented himself with writing to the Queen my 
 mother, informing her that, if I was thus treated, he 
 should be driven upon some desperate measure. She, 
 fearing the consequence of an open rupture, and 
 dreading lest, if blows were once struck, she should be 
 deprived of the power of bringing about r. reconcil- 
 iation betwixt the brothers, represented the conse- 
 quences to the King, and found him well disposed to 
 lend an ear to her reasons, as his anger was now 
 cooled by the apprehensions of being attacked in 
 Gascony, Dauphiny, Languedoc, and Poitou, with all 
 the strength of the Huguenots under the King my 
 husband. 
 
 Besides the many strong places held by the Hugue- 
 nots, my brother had an army with him in Champagne, 
 composed chiefly of nobility, the bravest and best in 
 France. The King found, since my brother's de- 
 parture, that he could not, either by threats or re- 
 wards, induce a single person among the princes and 
 great lords to act against him, so much did every one 
 fear to intermeddle in this quarrel, which they con- 
 sidered as of a family nature ; and after having ma- 
 
110 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 turely reflected on his situation, he acquiesced in my 
 mother's opinion, and begged her to fall upon some 
 means of reconciliation. She thereupon proposed go- 
 ing to my brother and taking me with her. To the 
 measure of taking me, the King had an objection, as 
 he considered me as the hostage for my husband and 
 brother. She then agreed to leave me behind, and 
 set off without my knowledge of the matter. At 
 their interview, my brother represented to the Queen 
 my mother that he could not but be greatly dissatis- 
 fied with the King after the many mortifications he 
 had received at Court ; that the cruelty and injustice 
 of confining me hurt him equally as if done to him- 
 self ; observing, moreover, that, as if my arrest were 
 not a sufficient mortification, poor Torigni must be 
 made to suffer ; and concluding with the declaration 
 of his firm resolution not to listen to any terms of 
 peace until I was restored to my liberty, and i-epara- 
 tion made me for the indignity I had sustained. The 
 Queen my mother being unable to obtain any other 
 answer, returned to Court and acquainted the King 
 with my brother's determination. Her advice was to 
 go back again with me, for going without me, she 
 said, would answer very little purpose ; and if I went 
 with her in disgust, it would do more harm than 
 good. Besides, there was reason to fear, in that case, 
 I should insist upon going to my husband. " In 
 short," says she, " my daughter's guard must be re- 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. Ill 
 
 moved, and she must be satisfied in the best way we 
 can." 
 
 The King agreed to follow her advice, and was 
 now, on a sudden, as eager to reconcile matters be- 
 twixt us as she was herself. Hereupon I was sent 
 for, and when I came to her, she informed me that 
 she had paved the way for peace ; that it was for the 
 good of the State, which she was sensible I must be 
 as desirous to promote as my brother ; that she had 
 it now in her power to make a peace which would be 
 as satisfactory as my brother could desire, and would 
 put us entirely out of the reach of Le Guast's machi- 
 nations, or those of any one else who might have an 
 influence over the King's mind. She observed that, 
 by assisting her to procure a good understanding be- 
 twixt the King and my brother, I should relieve her 
 from that cruel disquietude under which she at pres- 
 ent laboured, as, shcTuld things come to an open 
 rupture, she could not but be grieved, whichever 
 party prevailed, as they were both her sons. She 
 therefore expressed her hopes that I would forget the 
 injuries I had received, and dispose myself to concur 
 in a peace, rather than join in any plan of revenge. 
 She assured me that the King was sorry for what had 
 happened ; that he had even expressed his regret to 
 her with tears in his eyes, and had declared that he 
 was ready to give me every satisfaction. I replied 
 that I was willing to sacrifice everything for the good 
 
112 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 of my brothers and of the State ; that I wished for 
 nothing so much as peace, and that I would exert 
 myself to the utmost to bring it about. 
 
 As I uttered these words, the King came into the 
 closet, and, with a number of fine speeches, endeav- 
 oured to soften my resentment and to recover my 
 friendship, to which I made such returns as might 
 show him I harboured no ill-will for the injuries I 
 had received. I was induced to such behaviour rather 
 out of contempt, and because it was good policy to let 
 the King go away satisfied with me. 
 
 Besides, I had found a secret pleasure, during my 
 confinement, from the perusal of good books, to which 
 I had given myself up with a delight I never before 
 experienced. I consider this as an obligation I owe 
 to fortune, or, rather, to Divine Providence, in order 
 to prepare me, by such efficacious means, to bear up 
 against the misfortunes and calamities that awaited 
 me. By tracing nature in the universal book which 
 is opened to all mankind, I was led to the knowledge of 
 the Divine Author. Science conducts us, step by step, 
 through the whole range of creation, until we arrive, 
 at length, at God. Misfortune prompts us to summon 
 our utmost strength to oppose grief and recover tran- 
 quillity, until at length we find a powerful aid in the 
 knowledge and love of God, whilst prosperity hurries 
 us away until we are overwhelmed by our passions. 
 My captivity and its consequent solitude afforded me 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 113 
 
 the double advantage of exciting a passion for study, 
 and an inclination for devotion, advantages I had 
 never experienced during the vanities and splendour 
 of my prosperity. 
 
 As I have already observed, the King, discovering 
 in me no signs of discontent, informed me that the 
 Queen, my mother was going into Champagne to have 
 an interview with my brother, in order to bring about 
 a peace, and begged me to accompany her thither 
 and to use my best endeavours to forward his views, 
 as he knew my brother was always well disposed to 
 follow my counsel ; and he concluded with saying 
 that the peace, when accomplished, he should ever 
 consider as being due to my good offices, and should 
 esteem himself obliged to me for it. I promised to 
 exert myself in so good a work, which I plainly per- 
 ceived was both for my brother's advantage and the 
 benefit of the State. 
 
 The Queen my mother and I set off for Sens the next 
 day. The conference was agreed to be held in a gentle- 
 man's ch£iteau, at a distance of about a league from that 
 place. My brother was waiting for us, accompanied 
 by a small body of troops and the principal Catholic 
 noblemen and princes of his army. Amongst these 
 were the Due Casimir and Colonel Poux, who had 
 brought him six thousand German horse, raised by the 
 Huguenots, they having joined my brother, as the King 
 my husband and he acted in conjunction. 
 
114 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 The treaty was continued for several days, the con- 
 ditions of peace requiring much discussion, especially 
 such articles of it as related to religion. With respect 
 to these, when at length agreed upon, they were too 
 much to the advantage of the Huguenots, as it ap- 
 peared afterwards, to be kept ; but the Queen my 
 mother gave in to them, in order to have a peace, and 
 that the German cavalry before mentioned might be 
 disbanded. She was, moreover, desirous to get my 
 brother out of the hands of the Huguenots ; and he 
 was himself as willing to leave them, being always a 
 very good Catholic, and joining the Huguenots only 
 through necessity. 
 
 One condition of the peace was, that my brother 
 should have a suitable establishment. My brother 
 likewise stipulated for me, that my marriage portion 
 should be assigned in lands, and M. de Beauvais, 
 a commissioner on his part, insisted much upon 
 it. My mother, however, opposed it, and persuaded 
 me to join her in it, assuring me that 1 should ob- 
 tain from the King all I could require. Thereupon 
 I begged I might not be included in the articles 
 of peace, observing that I would rather owe what- 
 ever I was to receive to the particular favour of 
 the King and the Queen my mother, and should, 
 besides, consider it as more secure when obtained 
 by such means. 
 
 The peace being thus concluded and ratified on 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 115 
 
 both sides, the Queen my mother prepared to return. 
 At this instant I received letters from the King my 
 husband, in which he expressed a great desire to see 
 me, begging me, as soon as peace was agreed on, to 
 ask leave to go to him. I commmiicated my husband's 
 wish to the Queen my mother, and added my own 
 entreaties. She expressed herself greatly averse to 
 such a measure, and used every argument to set me 
 against it. She observed that, when I refused her 
 proposal of a divorce after St. Bartholomew's Day, 
 she gave way to my refusal, and commended me for 
 it, because my husband was then converted to the 
 Catholic religion ; but now that he had abjured 
 Catholicism, and was turned Huguenot again, she 
 could not give her consent that I should go to him. 
 When I still insisted upon going, she burst into a 
 flood of tears, and said, if I did not return with her, it 
 would prove her ruin ; that the King would believe 
 it was her doing ; that she had promised to bring me 
 back with her ; and that, when my brother returned 
 to Court, which would be soon, she would give her 
 consent. 
 
 We now returned to Paris, and found the King well 
 satisfied that we had made a peace ; though not, how- 
 ever, pleased with the articles concluded in favour of 
 the Huguenots. He therefore resolved within himself, 
 as soon as my brother should return to Court, to find 
 some pretext for renewing the war. These advan- 
 
116 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 tageous conditions were, indeed, only granted the 
 Huguenots to get my brother out of their hands, 
 who was detained near two months, being employed 
 in disbanding his German horse and the rest of his 
 army. 
 
LETTER Xm. 
 
 The League War Declared against the Huguenots. — 
 
 Queen Marguerite Sets out for Spa. 
 
 At length my brother returned to Court, accom- 
 panied by all the Catholic nobility who had followed 
 his fortunes. The King received him very graciously, 
 and showed, by his reception of him, how much he 
 was pleased at his return. Bussi, who returned with 
 my brother, met likewise with a gracious reception. 
 Le Guast was now no more, having died under the 
 operation of a particular regimen ordered for him by 
 his physician. He had given himself up to every kind 
 of debauchery ; and his death seemed the judgment of 
 the Almighty on one whose body had long been per- 
 ishing, and whose soul had been made over to the 
 prince of demons as the price of assistance through 
 the means of diabolical magic, which he constantly 
 practised. The King, though now without this in- 
 strument of his malicious contrivances, turned his 
 thoughts entirely upon the destruction of the Hugue- 
 nots. To effect this, he strove to engage my brother 
 
118 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 against them, and thereby make them his enemies ; 
 and that I might be considered as another enemy, he 
 used every means to prevent me from going to the 
 King my husband. Accordingly he showed every 
 mark of attention to both of us, and manifested an 
 inclination to gratify all our wishes. 
 
 After some time, M. de Duras arrived at Court, 
 sent by the King my husband to hasten my departure. 
 Hereupon, I pressed the King greatly to think well of 
 it, and give me his leave. He, to colour his refusal, 
 told me he could not part with me at present, as I 
 was the chief ornament of his Court; that he must 
 keep me a little longer, after which he would accom- 
 pany me himself on my way as far as Poitiers. With 
 this answer and assurance, he sent M. de Duras back. 
 These excuses were purposely framed in order to 
 gain time until everything was prepared for declar- 
 ing war against the Huguenots, and, in consequence, 
 against the King my husband, as he fully designed 
 to do. 
 
 As a pretence to break with the Huguenots, a report 
 was spread abroad that the Catholics were dissatisfied 
 with the Peace of Sens, and thought the terms of it 
 too advantageous for the Huguenots. This rumour 
 succeeded, and produced all that discontent amongst 
 the Catholics intended by it. A league was formed 
 in the provinces and great cities, which was joined by 
 numbers of the Catholics. M. de Guise was named 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 119 
 
 as the head of all. This was well known to the 
 Kmg, who pretended to be ignorant of what was 
 going forward, though nothing else was talked of at 
 Court. 
 
 The States were convened to meet at Blois. Pre- 
 vious to the opening of this assembly, the King called 
 my brother to his closet, where were present the 
 Queen my mother and some of the King's counsellors. 
 He represented the great consequence the Catholic 
 league was to his State and authority, even though 
 they should appoint De Guise as the head of it ; that 
 such a measure was of the highest importance to them 
 both, meaning my brother and himself; that the 
 Catholics had very just reason to be dissatisfied with 
 the peace, and that it behoved him, addressing him- 
 self to my brother, rather to join the Catholics than 
 the Huguenots, and this from conscience as well as 
 interest. He concluded his address to my brother 
 with conjuring him, as a son of France and a good 
 Catholic, to assist him with his aid and counsel in this 
 critical juncture, when his crown and the Catholic 
 religion were both at stake. He further said that, in 
 order to get the start of so formidable a league, he 
 ought to form one himself, and become the head 
 of it, as well to show his zeal for religion as to pre- 
 vent the Catholics from imiting under any other 
 leader. He then proposed to declare himself the 
 head of a league, which should be joined by my 
 
120 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 brother, the princes, nobles, governors, and others 
 holding offices under the Government. Thus was my 
 brother reduced to the necessity of making his Majesty 
 a tender of his services for the support and main- 
 tenance of the Catholic religion. 
 
 The King, having now obtained assurances of 
 my brother's assistance in the event of a war, which 
 was his sole view in the league which he had formed 
 with so much art, assembled together the princes 
 and chief noblemen of his Court, and, calling for 
 the roll of the league, signed it first himself, next 
 calling upon my brother to sign it, and, lastly, upon 
 all present. 
 
 The next day the States opened their meeting, 
 when the King, calling upon the Bishops of Lyons, 
 Ambrune, Vienne, and other prelates there present, 
 for their advice, was told that, after the oath taken at 
 his coronation, no oath made to heretics could bind 
 him, and therefore he was absolved from his engage- 
 ments with the Huguenots. 
 
 This declaration being made at the opening of the 
 assembly, and war declared against the Huguenots, 
 the King abruptly dismissed from Court the Hugue- 
 not, Genisac, who had arrived a few days before, 
 charged by the King my husband with a commis- 
 sion to hasten my departure. The King very sharply 
 told him that his sister had been given to a Catho- 
 lic, and not to a Huguenot ; and that if the King my 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 121 
 
 husband expected to have me, he must declare him- 
 self a Catholic. 
 
 Every preparation for war was made, and nothing 
 else talked of at Court ; and, to make my brother still 
 more obnoxious to the Huguenots, he had the com- 
 mand of an army given him. Genisac came and 
 informed me of the rough message he had been 
 dismissed with. Hereupon I went directly to the 
 closet of the Queen my mother, where I found the 
 King. I expressed my resentment at being deceived 
 by him, and at being cajoled by his promise to accom- 
 pany me from Paris to Poitiers, which, as it now ap- 
 peared, was a mere pretence. I represented that I did 
 not marry by my own choice, but entirely agreeable to 
 the advice of King Charles, the Queen my mother, 
 and himself ; that, since they had given him to me for 
 a husband, they ought not to hinder me from partak- 
 ing of his fortunes ; that I was resolved to go to him, 
 and that if I had not their leave, I would get away 
 how I could, even at the hazard of my life. The King 
 answered : " Sister, it is not now a time to importune 
 me for leave. I acknowledge that I have, as you say, 
 hitherto prevented you from going, in order to forbid 
 it altogether. From the time the King of Navarre 
 changed his religion, and again became a Huguenot, 
 I have been against your going to him. What the 
 Queen my mother and I are doing is for your good. 
 I am determined to carry on a war of extermination 
 
122 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 until this wretched religion of the Huguenots, which 
 is of so mischievous a nature, is no more. Consider, 
 my sister, if you, who are a Catholic, were once in 
 their hands, you would become a hostage for me, and 
 prevent my design. And who knows but they might 
 seek their revenge upon me by taking away your life ? 
 No, you shall not go amongst them ; and if you leave 
 us in the manner you have now mentioned, rely upon 
 it that you will make the Queen your mother and me 
 your bitterest enemies, and that we shall use every 
 means to make you feel the effects of our resentment ; 
 and, moreover, you will make your husband's situa- 
 tion worse instead of better." 
 
 I went from this audience with much dissatisfac- 
 tion, and, taking advice of the principal persons of 
 both sexes belonging to Court whom I esteemed my 
 friends, I found them all of opinion that it would be 
 exceedingly improper for me to remain in a Court 
 now at open variance with the King my husband. 
 They recommended me not to stay at Court whilst 
 the war lasted, saying it would be more honourable 
 for me to leave the kingdom under the pretence of 
 a pilgrimage, or a visit to some of my kindred. The 
 Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon was amongst those I con- 
 sulted upon the occasion, who was on the point of 
 setting off for Spa to take the waters there. 
 
 My brother was likewise present at the consultation, 
 and brought with him Mondoucet, who had been to 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 123 
 
 Flanders in quality of the King's agent, whence he 
 was just returned to represent to the King the dis- 
 content that had arisen amongst the Flemings on 
 account of infringements made by the Spanish Gov- 
 ernment on the French laws. He stated that he was 
 commissioned by several nobles, and the municipalities 
 of several towns, to declare how much they were in- 
 clined in their hearts towards France, and how ready 
 they were to come under a French government. Mon- 
 doucet, perceiving the King not inclined to listen to 
 his representation, as having his mind wholly occu- 
 pied by the war he had entered into with the Hugue- 
 nots, whom he was resolved to punish for having joined 
 my brother, had ceased to move in it further to the 
 King, and addressed himself on the subject to my 
 brother. My brother, with that princely spirit which 
 led him to undertake great achievements, readily lent 
 an ear to Mondoucet's proposition, and promised to 
 engage in it, for he was born rather to conquer than 
 to keep what he conquered. Mondoucet's proposition 
 was the more pleasing to him as it was not unjust, — 
 it being, in fact, to recover to France what had been 
 usurped by Spain. 
 
 Mondoucet had now engaged himself in my brother's 
 service, and was to return to Flanders under a pre- 
 tence of accompanying the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon 
 in her journey to Spa; and as this agent perceived 
 my counsellers to be at a loss for some pretence for 
 
124 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 my leaving Court and quitting France during the war, 
 and that at first Savoy was proposed for my retreat, 
 then Lorraine, and then Our Lady of Loretto, he sug- 
 gested to my brother that I might be of great use to 
 him in Flanders, if, under the colour of any complaint, 
 I should be recommended to ^drink the Spa waters, 
 and go with the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon. My 
 brother acquiesced in this opinion, and came up to 
 me, saying : " Oh, Queen ! you need be no longer at 
 a loss for a place to go to. I have observed that you 
 have frequently an erysipelas on your arm, and 
 you must accompany the Princess to Spa. You 
 must say your physicians had ordered those waters 
 for the complaint; but when they did so, it was 
 not the season to take them. That season is now 
 approaching, and you hope to have the King's leave 
 to go there." 
 
 My brother did not deliver all he wished to say at 
 that time, because the Cardinal de Bourbon was pres- 
 ent, whom he knew to be a friend to the Guises and to 
 Spain. However, I saw through his real design, and 
 that he wished me to promote his views in Flanders. 
 
 The company approved of my brother's advice, and 
 the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon heard the proposal 
 with great joy, having a great regard for me. She 
 promised to attend me to the Queen my mother when 
 I should ask her consent. 
 
 The next day I found the Queen alone, and repre- 
 
MARGUERITE DE V ALOIS. 125 
 
 sented to her the extreme regret I experienced in 
 finding that a war was inevitable betwixt the King 
 my husband and his Majesty, and that I must con- 
 tinue in a state of separation from my husband ; that, 
 as long as the war lasted, it was neither decent nor 
 honourable for me to stay at Court, where I must be 
 in one or other, or both, of these cruel situations : 
 either that the King my husband should believe that 
 I continued in it out of inclination, and think me de- 
 ficient in the duty I owed him ; or that his Majesty 
 should entertain suspicions of my giving intelligence to 
 the King my husband. Either of these cases, I ob- 
 served, could not but prove injurious to me. I there- 
 fore prayed her not to take it amiss if I desired to 
 remove myself from Court, and from becoming so 
 impleasantly situated ; adding that my physicians had 
 for some time recommended me to take the Spa waters 
 for an erysipelas — to which I had been long sub- 
 ject — on my arm ; the season for taking these waters 
 was now approaching, and that if she approved of it, 
 I would use the present opportunity, by which means 
 I should be at a distance from Court, and show my 
 husband that, as I could not be with him, I was un- 
 willing to remain amongst his enemies. I further 
 expressed my hopes that, through her prudence, a 
 peace might be effected in a short time betwixt the 
 King my husband and his Majesty, and that my hus- 
 band might be restored to the favour he formerly 
 
126 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 enjoyed ; that whenever I learned the news of so joy- 
 ful an event, I would renew my solicitations to be 
 permitted to go to my husband. In the meantime, I 
 should hope for her permission to have the honour of 
 accompanying the Princesse de Eoche-sur-Yon, there 
 present, in her journey to Spa. 
 
 She approved of what I proposed, and expressed 
 her satisfaction that I had taken so prudent a reso- 
 lution. She observed how much she was chagrined 
 when she found that the King, through the evil per- 
 suasions of the bishops, had resolved to break through 
 the conditions of the last peace, which she had con- 
 cluded in his name. She saw already the ill effects 
 of this hasty proceeding, as it had removed from the 
 King's Council many of his ablest and best servants. 
 This gave her, she said, much concern, as it did like- 
 wise to think I could not remain at Court without 
 offending my husband, or creating jealousy and sus- 
 picion in the King's mind. This being certainly what 
 was likely to be the consequence of my staying, she 
 would advise the King to give me leave to set out on 
 this journey. 
 
 She was as good as her word, and the King dis- 
 coursed with me on the subject without exhibiting the 
 smallest resentment. Indeed, he was well pleased 
 now that he had prevented me from going to the 
 King my husband, for whom he had conceived the 
 greatest animosity. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 127 
 
 He ordered a courier to be immediately despatched 
 to Don John of Austria, — who commanded for the 
 King of Spain in Flanders, — to obtain from him the 
 necessary passports for a free passage in the coun- 
 tries under his command, as I should be obliged 
 to cross a part of Flanders to reach Spa, which 
 is in the bishopric of Liege. 
 
 All matters being thus arranged, we separated in a 
 few days after this interview. The short time my 
 brother and I remained together was employed by 
 him in giving me instructions for the commission I 
 had imdertaken to execute for him in Flanders. The 
 King and the Queen my mother set out for Poitiers, 
 to be near the army of M. de Mayenne, then besieg- 
 ing Brouage, which place being reduced, it was in- 
 tended to march into Gascony and attack the Eang 
 my husband. 
 
 My brother had the command of another army, 
 ordered to besiege Issoire and some other towns, 
 which he soon after took. 
 
 For my part, I set out on my journey to Flanders 
 accompanied by the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon, Ma- 
 dame de Tournon, the lady of my bedchamber, 
 Madame de Moiiy of Picardy, Madame de Chaste- 
 laine, De Millon, Mademoiselle d'Atric, Mademoiselle 
 de Tournon, and seven or eight other young ladies. 
 My male attendants were the Cardinal de Lenon- 
 court, the Bishop of Langres, and M. de Moiiy, 
 
128 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Seigneur de Picardy, at present father-in-law to 
 the brother of Queen Louise, called the Comte de 
 Chalingy, with my principal steward of the house- 
 hold, my chief esquires, and the other gentlemen 
 of my establishment. 
 
LETTER XIV. 
 
 Description of Queen Marguerite's Equipage. — Her Journey 
 to Liege Described. — She Enters with Success upon Her 
 Mission. — Striking Instance of Maternal Duty and Affec- 
 tion in a Great Lady. — Disasters near the Close of the 
 Journey. 
 
 The cavalcade that attended me excited great curi- 
 osity as it passed through the several towns in the 
 course of my journey, and reflected no small degree 
 of credit on France, as it was splendidly set out, and 
 made a handsome appearance. I travelled in a lit- 
 ter raised with pillars. The lining of it was Spanish 
 velvet, of a crimson colour, embroidered in various 
 devices with gold and different coloured silk thread. 
 The windows were of glass, painted in devices. The 
 lining and windows had, in the whole, forty devices, 
 a,ll different and alluding to the sun and its effects. 
 Each device had its motto, either in the Spanish or 
 Italian language. My litter was followed by two 
 others ; in the one was the Princesse de Roche-sur- 
 Yon, and in the other Madame de Tournon, my lady 
 of the bedchamber. After them followed ten maids 
 of honour, on horseback, with their governess; and, 
 
130 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 last of all, six coaches and chariots, with the rest of 
 the ladies and all our female attendants. 
 
 I took the road of Picardy, the towns in which 
 province had received the King's orders to pay me all 
 due honours. Being arrived at Le Catelet, a strong 
 place, about three leagues distant from the frontier 
 of the Cambresis, the Bishop of Cambray (an ecclesi- 
 astical State acknowledging the King of Spain only 
 as a guarantee) sent a gentleman to inquire of me at 
 what hour I should leave the place, as he intended 
 to meet me on the borders of his territory. 
 
 Accordingly I found him there, attended by a num- 
 ber of his people, who appeared to be true Flemings, 
 and to have all the rusticity and unpolished manners 
 of their country. The Bishop was of the House of 
 Barlemont, one of the principal families in Flanders. 
 All of this house have shown themselves Spaniards at 
 heart, and at that time were firmly attached to Don 
 John. The Bishop received me with great politeness 
 and not a little of the Spanish ceremony. 
 
 Although the city of Cambray is not so well built 
 as some of our towns in France, I thought it, not- 
 withstanding, far more pleasant than many of these, 
 as the streets and squares are larger and better dis- 
 posed. The churches are grand and highly orna- 
 mented, which is, indeed, common to France ; but 
 what I admired, above all, was the citadel, which 
 is the finest and best constructed in Christendom. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 131 
 
 The Spaniards experienced it to be strong whilst my 
 brother had it in his possession. The governor of 
 the citadel at this time was a worthy gentleman 
 named M. d'Ainsi, who was, in every respect, a polite 
 and well-accomplished man, having the carriage and 
 behaviour of one of our most perfect courtiers, very 
 different from the rude incivility which appears to be 
 the characteristic of a Fleming. 
 
 The Bishop gave us a grand supper, and after 
 supper a ball, to which he had invited all the ladies 
 of the city. As soon as the ball was opened he with- 
 drew, in accordance with the Spanish ceremony ; but 
 M. d'Ainsi did the honours for him, and kept me 
 company during the ball, conducting me afterwards 
 to a collation, which, considering his command at the 
 citadel, was, I thought, imprudent. 1 speak from 
 experience^ having been taught, to my cost, and contrary 
 to my desire, the caution and vigilance necessary to he 
 observed in keeping such places. As my regard for 
 my brother was always predominant in me, I con- 
 tinually had his instructions in mind, and now thought 
 I had a fair opportunity to open my commission and 
 forward his views in Flanders, this town of Cambray, 
 and especially the citadel, being, as it were, a key 
 to that country. Accordingly I employed all the 
 talents God had given me to make M. d'Ainsi a friend 
 to France, and attach him to my brother's interest. 
 Through God's assistance I succeeded with him, and 
 
132 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 so much was M. d'Ainsi pleased with my conversation 
 that he came to the resolution of soliciting the Bishop, 
 his master, to grant him leave to accompany me as 
 far as Namur, where Don John of Austria was in 
 waiting to receive me, observing that he had a great 
 desire to witness so splendid an interview. This 
 Spanish Fleming, the Bishop, had the weakness to 
 grant M. d'Ainsi's request, who continued following 
 in my train for ten or twelve days. During this time 
 he took every opportunity of discoursing with me, 
 and showed that, in his heart, he was well disposed 
 to embrace the service of France, wishing no better 
 master than the Prince my brother, and declaring 
 that he heartily despised being under the command 
 of his Bishop, who, though his sovereign, was not his 
 superior by birth, being born a private gentleman like 
 himself, and, in every other respect, greatly his 
 inferior. 
 
 Leaving Cambray, I set out to sleep at Valen- 
 ciennes, the chief city of a part of Flanders called 
 by the same name. Where this country is divided 
 from Cambr^sis (as far as which I was conducted 
 by the Bishop of Cambray), the Comte de Lalain, M. 
 de Montigny his brother, and a number of gentlemen, 
 to the amount of two or three hundred, came to meet 
 me. 
 
 Valenciennes is a town inferior to Cambray in 
 point of strength, but equal to it for the beauty of its 
 
MAHGUERITE DE VALOIS. 133 
 
 squares, and churches, — the former ornamented with 
 fountains, as the latter are with curious clocks. The 
 ingenuity of the Germans in the construction of their 
 clocks was a matter of great surprise to all my attend- 
 ants, few amongst whom had ever before seen clocks 
 exhibiting a number of moving figures, and playing 
 a variety of tunes in the most agreeable manner. 
 
 The Comte de Lalain, the governor of the city, 
 invited the lords and gentlemen of my train to a ban- 
 quet, reserving himself to give an entertainment to 
 the ladies on our arrival at Mons, where we should 
 find the Countess his wife, his sister-in-law Madame 
 d'Aurec, and other ladies of distinction. Accordingly 
 the Count, with his attendants, conducted us thither 
 the next day. He claimed a relationship with the King 
 my husband, and was, in reality, a person who carried 
 great weight and authority. He was much dissatis- 
 fied with the Spanish Government, and had conceived 
 a great dislike for it since the execution of Count 
 Egmont, who was his near kinsman. 
 
 Although he had hitherto abstained from entering 
 into the league with the Prince of Orange and the 
 Huguenots, being himself a steady Catholic, yet he 
 had not admitted of an interview with Don John, 
 neither would he suffer him, nor any one in the in- 
 terest of Spain, to enter upon his territories. Don 
 John was unwilling to give the Count any umbrage, 
 lest he should force him to unite the Catholic League 
 
134 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 of Flanders, called the League of the States, to that 
 of the Prince of Orange and the Huguenots, well 
 foreseeing that such a union would prove fatal to the 
 Spanish interest, as other governors have since expe- 
 rienced. With this disposition of mind, the Comte 
 de Lalain thought he could not give me sufficient 
 demonstrations of the joy he felt by my presence ; 
 and he could not have shown more honour to his 
 natural prince, nor displayed greater marks of zeal 
 and affection. 
 
 On our arrival at Mons, I was lodged in his house, 
 and found there the Countess his wife, and a Court 
 consisting of eighty or a himdred ladies of the city 
 and country. My reception was rather that of their 
 sovereign lady than of a foreign princess. The Flem- 
 ish ladies are naturally lively, affable, and engaging. 
 The Comtesse de Lalain is remarkably so, and is, 
 moreover, a woman of great sense and elevation of 
 mind, in which particular, as well as in air and coun- 
 tenance, she carries a striking resemblance to the 
 lady your cousin. We became immediately intimate, 
 and commenced a firm friendship at our first meet- 
 ing. When the supper hour came, we sat down to a 
 banquet, which was succeeded by a ball ; and this 
 rule the Count observed as long as I stayed at Mons, 
 which was, indeed, longer than I intended. It had 
 been my intention to stay at Mons one night only, but 
 the Count's obliging lady prevailed on me to pass a 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 135 
 
 whole week there. I strove to excuse myself from so 
 long a stay, imagining it might be inconvenient to 
 them ; but whatever I could say availed nothing with 
 the Count and his lady, and I was under the necessity 
 of remaining with them eight days. The Countess 
 and I were on so familiar a footing that she stayed in 
 my bedchamber till a late horn*, and would not have 
 left me then had she not imposed upon herself a task 
 very rarely performed by persons of her rank, which, 
 however, placed the goodness of her disposition in the 
 most amiable light. In fact, she gave suck to her 
 infant son ; and one day at table, sitting next me, 
 whose whole attention was absorbed in the promotion 
 of my brother's interest, — the table being the place 
 where, according to the custom of the country, all are 
 familiar and ceremony is laid aside, — she, dressed 
 out in the richest manner and blazing with diamonds, 
 gave the breast to her child without rising from her 
 seat, the infant being brought to the table as superbly 
 habited as its nurse, the mother. She performed this 
 maternal duty with so much good humour, and with 
 a gracefulness peculiar to herself, that this charitable 
 office — which would have appeared disgusting and 
 been considered as an affront if done by some others 
 of equal rank — gave pleasure to all who sat at table, 
 and, accordingly, they signified their approbation by 
 their applause. 
 
 The tables beinq- removed, the dances commenced 
 
136 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 in the same room wnerein we had supped, which was 
 magnificent and large. The Countess and I sitting 
 side by side, I expressed the pleasure I received from 
 her conversation, and that I should place this meet- 
 ing amongst the happiest events of mj life. " In- 
 deed," said I, " I shall have cause to regret that it 
 ever did take place, as I shall depart hence so unwill- 
 ingly, there being so little probability of our meeting 
 again soon. Why did Heaven deny our being born 
 in the same country ! " 
 
 This was said in order to introduce my brother's 
 business. She replied : " This country did, indeed, 
 formerly belong to France, and our lawyers now 
 plead their causes in the French language. The 
 greater part of the people here still retain an affec- 
 tion for the French nation. For my part," added the 
 Countess, " I have had a strong attachment to your 
 country ever since I have had the honour of seeing 
 you. This country has been long in the possession 
 of the House of Austria, but the regard of the people 
 for that house has been greatly weakened by the 
 death of Count Egmont, M. de Home, M. de Mon- 
 tigny, and others of the same party, some of them our 
 near relations, and all of the best families of the 
 country. We entertain the utmost dislike for the 
 Spanish Government, and wish for nothing so much 
 as to throw off the yoke of their tyranny ; but, as the 
 country is. divided betwixt different religions, we are 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 137 
 
 at a loss how to effect it If we could unite, we 
 should soon drive out the Spaniards ; but this division 
 amongst ourselves renders us weak. Would to God 
 the King your brother would come to a resolution 
 of reconquering this country, to which he has an 
 ancient claim ! We should all receive him with open 
 arms." 
 
 This was a frank declaration, made by the Countess 
 without premeditation, but it had been long agitated 
 in the minds of the people, who considered that it 
 was from France they were to hope for redress from 
 the evils with which they were afflicted. I now found 
 I had as favourable an opening as I could wish for 
 to declare my errand. I told her that the King of 
 France my brother was averse to engaging in for- 
 eign war, and the more so as the Huguenots in his 
 kingdom were too strong to admit of his sending any 
 large force out of it. " My brother Alen9on," said 
 I, " has sufficient means, and might be induced to 
 undertake it. He has equal valour, prudence, and 
 benevolence with the King my brother or any of 
 his ancestors. He has been bred to arms, and is 
 esteemed one of the bravest generals of these times. 
 He has the command of the King's army against 
 the Huguenots, and has lately taken a well-fortified 
 town, called Issoire, and some other places that were 
 in their possession. You could not invite to your 
 assistance a prince who has it so much in his power 
 
138 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 to give it ; being not only a neighbour, but having 
 a kingdom like France at his devotion, whence he 
 may expect to derive the necessary aid and succour. 
 The Count your husband may be assured that if he 
 do my brother this good office he will not find him 
 ungrateful, but may set what price he pleases upon 
 his meritorious service. My brother is of a noble 
 and generous disposition, and ready to requite those 
 who do him favours. He is, moreover, an admirer of 
 men of honour and gallantry, and accordingly is fol- 
 lowed by the bravest and best men France has to 
 boast of. I am in hopes that a peace will soon be 
 reestablished with the Huguenots, and expect to find 
 it so on my return to France. If the Count your 
 husband think as you do, and will permit me to 
 speak to him on the subject, I will engage to bring 
 my brother over to the proposal, and, in that case, 
 your country in general, and your house in particular, 
 will be well satisfied with him. If, through your 
 means, my brother should establish himself here, you 
 may depend on seeing me often, there being no 
 brother or sister who has a stronger affection for 
 each other." 
 
 The Countess appeared to listen to what I said 
 with great pleasure, and acknowledged that she had 
 not entered upon this discourse without design. She 
 observed that, having perceived I did her the honour 
 to have some regard for her, she had resolved within 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 139 
 
 herself not to let me depart out of the country with- 
 out explaining to me the situation of it, and begging 
 me to procure the aid of France to relieve them from 
 the apprehensions of living in a state of perpetual 
 war or of submitting to Spanish tyranny. She there- 
 upon entreated me to allow her to relate our present 
 conversation to her husband, and permit them both 
 to confer with me on the subject the next day. To 
 this I readily gave my consent. 
 
 Thus we passed the evening in discourse upon the 
 object of my mission, and I observed that she took a 
 singular pleasure in talking upon it in all our succeed- 
 ing conferences when I thought proper to introduce 
 it. The ball being ended, we went to hear vespers 
 at the church of the Canonesses, an order of nuns of 
 which we have none in France. These are young 
 ladies who are entered in these communities at a 
 tender age, in order to improve their fortunes till 
 they are of an age to be married. They do not all 
 sleep under the same roof, but in detached houses 
 within an enclosure. In each of these houses are 
 three, four, or perhaps six young girls, under the care 
 of an old woman. These governesses, together with 
 the abbess, are of the number of such as have never 
 been married. These girls never wear the habit of 
 the order but in church ; and the service there ended, 
 they dress like others, pay visits, frequent balls, and 
 go where they please. They were constant visitors 
 
140 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 at the Count's entertainments, and danced at his 
 balls. 
 
 The Countess thought the time long until the night, 
 when she had an opportunity of relating to the Count 
 the conversation she had with me, and the opening 
 of the business. The next morning she came to me, 
 and brought her husband with her. He entered into 
 a detail of the grievances the country laboured under, 
 and the just reasons he had for ridding it of the 
 tyranny of Spain. In doing this, he said, he should 
 not consider himself as acting against his natural 
 sovereign, because he well knew he ought to look for 
 him in the person of the King of France. He ex- 
 plained to me the means whereby my brother might 
 establish himself in Flanders, having possession of 
 Hainault, which extended as far as Brussels. He 
 said the difficulty lay in securing the Cambr^sis, 
 which is situated betwixt Hainault and Flanders. 
 It would, therefore, be necessary to engage M. d'Ainsi 
 in the business. To this I replied that, as he was 
 his neighbour and friend, it might be better that 
 he should open the matter to him; and I begged he 
 would do so. I next assured him that he might 
 have the most perfect reliance on the gratitude and 
 friendship of my brother, and be certain of receiving 
 as large a share of power and authority as such a 
 service done by a person of his rank merited. Lastly, 
 we agreed upon an interview betwixt my brother and 
 
JUARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 141 
 
 M. de Montigny, the brother of the Count, which was 
 to take place at La Fere, upon my return, when this 
 business should be arranged. During the time I 
 stayed at Mons, I said all I could to confirm the 
 Count in this resolution, in which I found myself 
 seconded by the Countess. 
 
 The day of my departure was now arrived, to the 
 great regret of the ladies of Mons, as well as myself. 
 The Countess expressed herself in terms which showed 
 she had conceived the warmest friendship for me, and 
 made me promise to return by way of that city. I 
 presented the Countess with a diamond bracelet, and 
 to the Count I gave a riband and diamond star of 
 considerable value. But these presents, valuable as 
 they were, became more so, in their estimation, as I 
 was the donor. 
 
 Of the ladies, none accompanied me from this place, 
 except Madame d'Aurec. She went with me to 
 Namur, where I slept that night, and where she 
 expected to find her husband and the Due d'Arscot, 
 her brother-in-law, who had been there since the peace 
 betwixt the King of Spain and the States of Flanders. 
 For though they were both of the party of the States, 
 yet the Due d'Arscot, being an old courtier and having 
 attended King Philip in Flanders and England, could 
 not withdraw himself from Court and the society 
 of the great. The Comte de Lalain, with all his 
 nobles, conducted me two leagues beyond his govern- 
 
142 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 ment, and until he saw Don John's company in the 
 distance advancing to meet me. He then took his 
 leave of me, being unwilling to meet Don John; 
 but M. d'Ainsi stayed with me, as his master, the 
 Bishop of Cambray, was in the Spanish interest. 
 
 This gallant company having left me, I was soon 
 after met by Don John of Austria, preceded by a great 
 number of running footmen, and escorted by only 
 twenty or thirty horsemen. He was attended by a 
 number of noblemen, and amongst the rest the Due 
 d'Arscot, M. d'Am-ec, the Marquis de Varenbon, and 
 the younger Balengon, governor, for the King of Spain, 
 of the county of Burgundy. These last two, who are 
 brothers, had ridden post to meet me. Of Don John's 
 household there was only Louis de Gonzago of any 
 rank. He called himself a relation of the Duke of 
 Mantua ; the others were mean-looking people, and 
 of no consideration. Don John alighted from his 
 horse to salute me in my litter, which was opened 
 for the purpose. I returned the salute after the 
 French fashion to him, the Due d'Arscot, and M. 
 d'Aurec. After an exchange of compliments, he 
 mounted his horse, but continued in discourse with 
 me until we reached the city, which was not before 
 it grew dark, as I set off late, the ladies of Mons 
 keeping me as long as they could, amusing themselves 
 with viewing my litter, and requiring an explanation 
 of the different mottoes and devices. However, as 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 143 
 
 the Spaniards excel in preserving good order, Namur 
 appeared with particular advantage, for the streets 
 were well lighted, every house being illuminated, 
 so that the blaze exceeded that of daylight. 
 
 Our supper was served to us in our respective 
 apartments, Don John being unwilling, after the 
 fatigue of so long a journey, to incommode us with 
 a banquet. The house in which I was lodged had 
 been newly furnished for the purpose of receiving 
 me. It consisted of a magnificent large salon, with 
 a private apartment, consisting of lodging rooms and 
 closets, furnished in the most costly manner, with 
 furniture of every kind, and hung with the richest 
 tapestry of velvet and satin, divided into compart- 
 ments by columns of silver embroidery, with knobs 
 of gold, all wrought in the most superb manner. 
 Within these compartments were figures in antique 
 habits, embroidered in gold and silver. 
 
 The Cardinal de Lenoncourt, a man of taste and 
 curiosity, being one day in these apartments with the 
 Due d'Arscot, who, as I have before observed, was an 
 ornament to Don John's Court, remarked to him that 
 this furniture seemed more proper for a great king 
 than a young unmarried prince like Don John. To 
 which the Due d'Arscot replied that it came to him 
 as a present, having been sent to him by a bashaw 
 belonging to the Grand Seignior, whose son she had 
 made prisoners in a signal victory obtained over the 
 
144 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Turks. Don John having sent the bashaw's sons back 
 without ransom, the father, in return, made him a 
 present of a large quantity of gold, silver, and silk 
 stuffs, which he caused to be wrought into tapestry 
 at Milan, where there are curious workmen in this 
 way ; and he had the Queen's bedchamber hung with 
 tapestry representing the battle in which he had so 
 gloriously defeated the Turks. 
 
 The next morning Don John conducted us to chapel, 
 where we heard mass celebrated after the Spanish 
 manner, with all kinds of music, after which we par- 
 took of a banquet prepared by Don John. He and 
 I were seated at a separate table, at a distance of three 
 yards from which stood the great one, of which the 
 honours were done by Madame d'Aurec. At this 
 table the ladies and principal lords took their seats. 
 Don John was served with drink by Louis de Gonzago, 
 kneeling. The tables being removed, the ball was 
 opened, and the dancing continued the whole after- 
 noon. The evening was spent in conversation betwixt 
 Don John and me, who told me I greatly resembled 
 the Queen his mistress, by whom he meant the late 
 Queen my sister, and for whom he professed to have 
 entertained a very high esteem. In short, Don John 
 manifested, by every mark of attention and politeness, 
 as well to me as to my attendants, the very great 
 pleasure he had in receiving me. 
 
 The boats which were to convey me upon the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 145 
 
 Meuse to Liege not all being ready, I was under the 
 necessity of staying another day. The morning was 
 passed as that of the day before. After dinner, we 
 embarked on the river in a very beautiful boat, sur- 
 rounded by others having on board musicians playing 
 on hautboys, horns, and violins, and landed at an 
 island where Don John had caused a collation to be 
 prepared in a large bower formed with branches of 
 ivy, in which the musicians were placed in small re- 
 cesses, playing on their instruments during the time 
 of supper. The tables being removed, the dances 
 began, and lasted till it was time to return, which I 
 did in the same boat that conveyed me thither, and 
 which was that provided for my voyage. 
 
 The next morning Don John conducted me to the 
 boat, and there took a most polite and courteous leave, 
 charging M. and Madame d'Aurec to see me safe to 
 Huy, the first town belonging to the Bishop of Lifige, 
 where I was to sleep. As soon as Don John had 
 gone on shore, M. d'Ainsi, who remained in the boat, 
 and who had the Bishop of Cambray's permission to 
 go to Namur only, took leave of me with many protes- 
 tations of fidelity and attachment to my brother and 
 myself. 
 
 But Fortune, envious of my hitherto prosperous 
 journey, gave me two omens of the sinister events of 
 my return. 
 
 The first was the sudden illness which attacked 
 
146 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Mademoiselle de Tournon, the daughter of the lady of 
 my bedchamber, a young person, accomplished, with 
 every grace and virtue, and for whom I had the most 
 perfect regard. No sooner had the boat left the 
 shore than this young lady was seized with an alarm- 
 ing disorder, which, from the great pain attending it, 
 caused her to scream in the most doleful manner. 
 The physicians attributed the cause to spasms of the 
 heart, which, notwithstanding the utmost exertions of 
 their skill, carried her off a few days after my arrival 
 at Lidge. As the history of this young lady is re- 
 markable, I shall relate it in my next letter. 
 
 The other omen was what happened to us at Huy, 
 immediately upon our arrival there. This town is 
 built on the declivity of a mountain, at the foot of 
 which runs the river Mouse. As we were about to 
 land, there fell a torrent of rain, which, coming down 
 the steep sides of the mountain, swelled the river 
 instantly to such a degree that we had only time to 
 leap out of the boat and run to the top, the flood 
 reaching the very highest street, next to where I was 
 to lodge. There we were forced to put up with such 
 accommodation as could be procured in the house, as 
 it was impossible to remove the smallest article of 
 our baggage from the boats, or even to stir out of the 
 house we were in, the whole city being under water. 
 However, the town was as suddenly relieved from this 
 calamity as it had been afflicted with it, for, on the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 147 
 
 next morning, the whole inundation had ceased, 
 the waters having run off, and the river being confined 
 within its usual channel. 
 
 Leaving Huy, M. and Madame d'Aurec returned to 
 Don John at Namur, and I proceeded, in the boat, 
 to sleep that night at Lidge. 
 
LETTER XV. 
 
 The City of Liege Described. — Affecting Story of Mademoi- 
 selle de Tournon. — Fatal Effects of Suppressed Anguish 
 of Mind. 
 
 The Bishop of Liege, who is the sovereign of the 
 city and province, received me with all the cordiality 
 and respect that could be expected from a personage 
 of his dignity and great accomplishments. He was, 
 indeed, a nobleman endowed with singular prudence 
 and virtue, agreeable in his person and conversation, 
 gracious and magnificent in his carriage and behaviour, 
 to which I may add that he spoke the French lan- 
 guage perfectly. 
 
 He was constantly attended by his chapter, with 
 several of his canons, who are all sons of dukes, 
 counts, or great German lords. The bishopric is 
 itself a sovereign State, which brings in a considerable 
 revenue, and includes a number of fine cities. The 
 bishop is chosen from amongst the canons, who must 
 be of noble descent, and resident one year. The city 
 is larger than Lyons, and much resembles it, having 
 the Meuse running through it. The houses in which the 
 canons reside have the appearance of noble palaces. 
 
 148 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 149 
 
 The streets of the city are regular and spacious, the 
 houses of the citizens well built, the squares large, 
 and ornamented with curious fountains. The churches 
 appear as if raised entirely of marble, of which there 
 are considerable quarries in the neighbourhood ; they 
 are all of them ornamented with beautiful clocks, and 
 exhibit a variety of moving figures. 
 
 The Bishop received me as I landed from the boat, 
 and conducted me to his magnificent residence, orna- 
 mented with delicious foimtains and gardens, set off 
 with galleries, all painted, superbly gilt, and enriched 
 with marble, beyond description. 
 
 The spring which affords the waters of Spa being 
 distant no more than three or four leagues from the 
 city of Liege, and there being only a village, consist- 
 ing of three or four small houses, on the spot, the 
 Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon was advised by her phy- 
 sicians to stay at Liege and have the waters brought 
 to her, which they assured her would have equal 
 efficacy, if taken after sunset and before sunrise, as 
 if drmik at the spring. I was well pleased that she 
 resolved to follow the advice of the doctors, as we 
 were more comfortably lodged and had an agreeable 
 society ; for, besides his Grace (so the bishop is styled, 
 as a king is addressed his Majesty, and a prince his 
 Highness), the news of my arrival being spread about, 
 many lords and ladies came from Germany to visit 
 me. Amongst these was the Countess d'Aremberg, 
 
150 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 who had the honour to accompany Queen Elizabeth 
 to Mezidres, to which place she came to marry King 
 Charles my brother, a lady very high in the estima- 
 tion of the Empress, the Emperor, and all the princes 
 in Christendom. With her came her sister the 
 Landgravine, Madame d'Aremberg her daughter, M. 
 d'Aremberg her son, a gallant and accomplished 
 nobleman, the .perfect image of his father, who 
 brought the Spanish succours to King Charles my 
 brother, and returned with great honour and addi- 
 tional reputation. This meeting, so honourable to 
 me, and so much to my satisfaction, was damped 
 by the grief and concern occasioned by the loss of 
 Mademoiselle de Tournon, whose story, being of a 
 singular nature, I shall now relate to you, agreeably 
 to the promise I made in my last letter. 
 
 I must begin with observing to you that Madame 
 de Tournon, at this time lady of my bedchamber, had 
 several daughters, the eldest of whom married M. de 
 BaleuQon, governor, for the King of Spain, in the 
 county of Burgundy. This daughter, upon her mar- 
 riage, had solicited her mother to admit of her taking 
 her sister, the young lady whose story I am now 
 about to relate, to live with her, as she was going to 
 a country strange to her, and wherein she had no 
 relations. To this her mother consented ; and the 
 young lady, being universally admired for her modesty 
 and graceful accomplishments, for which she certainly 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 151 
 
 deserved admiration, attracted the notice of the Mar- 
 quis de Varenbon. The Marquis, as I before men- 
 tioned, is the brother of M. de Balen^on, and was 
 intended for the Church ; but, being violently enam- 
 oured of Mademoiselle de Tournon (whom, as he 
 lived in the same house, he had frequent opportunities 
 of seeing), he now begged his brother's permission to 
 marry her, not having yet taken orders. The young 
 lady's family, to whom he had likewise communicated 
 his wish, readily gave their consent, but his brother 
 refused his, strongly advising him to change his reso- 
 lution and put on the gown- 
 Thus were matters situated when her mother, Ma- 
 dame de Tournon, a virtuous and pious lady, thinking 
 she had cause to be offended, ordered her daughter to 
 leave the house of her sister, Madame de Balengon, 
 and come to her. The mother, a woman of a violent 
 spirit, not considering that her daughter was grown 
 up and merited a mild treatment, was continually 
 scolding the poor young lady, so that she was for 
 ever with tears in her eyes. Still, there was noth- 
 ing to blame in the young girl's conduct, but such 
 was the severity of the mother's disposition. The 
 daughter, as you may well suppose, wished to be from 
 under the mother's tyrannical government, and was 
 accordingly delighted with the thoughts of attending 
 me in this journey to Flanders, hoping, as it happened, 
 that she should meet the Marquis de Yarenbon some- 
 
152 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 where on the road, and that, as he had now abandoned 
 all thoughts of the Church, he would renew his pro- 
 posal of marriage, and take her from her mother. 
 
 I have before mentioned that the Marquis de 
 Varenbon and the younger Balengon joined us at 
 Namur. Young Balengon, who was far from being 
 80 agreeable as his brother, addressed himself to the 
 young lady, but the Marquis, during the whole time 
 we stayed at Namur, paid not the least attention to 
 her, and seemed as if he had never been acquainted 
 with her. 
 
 The resentment, grief, and disappointment occa- 
 sioned by a behaviour so slighting and unnatural was 
 necessarily stifled in her breast, as decorum and her 
 sex's pride obliged her to appear as if she disregarded 
 it ; but when, after taking leave, all of them left the 
 boat, the anguish of her mind, which she had hitherto 
 suppressed, could no longer be restrained, and, labour- 
 ing for vent, it stopped her respiration, and forced from 
 her those lamentable outcries which I have already 
 spoken of. Her youth combated for eight days with 
 this uncommon disorder, but at the expiration of that 
 time she died, to the great grief of her mother, as 
 well as myseK. I say of her mother, for, though she 
 was so rigidly severe over this daughter, she tenderly 
 loved her. 
 
 The funeral of this unfortunate young lady was 
 solemnised with all proper ceremonies, and conducted 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 163 
 
 in the most honourable manner, as she was descended 
 from a great family, allied to the Queen my mother. 
 When the day of interment arrived, four of my gentle- 
 men were appointed bearers, one of whom was named 
 La Boessiere. This man had entertained a secret pas- 
 sion for her, which he never durst declare on account 
 of the inferiority of his family and station. He was 
 now destined to bear the remains of her, dead, for 
 whom he had long been dying, and was now as near 
 dying for her loss as he had before been for her love. 
 The melancholy procession was marching slowly 
 along, when it was met by the Marquis de Varenbon, 
 who had been the sole occasion of it. We had not 
 left Namur long when the Marquis reflected upon his 
 cruel behaviour towards this unhappy young lady ; 
 and his passion (wonderful to relate) being revived 
 by the absence of her who inspired it, though scarcely 
 alive while she was present, he had resolved to come 
 and ask her of her mother in marriage. He made no 
 doubt, perhaps, of success, as he seldom failed in en- 
 terprises of love ; witness the great lady he has since 
 obtained for a wife, in opposition to the will of her 
 family. He might, besides, have flattered himself that 
 he should easily have gained a pardon from her by 
 whom he was beloved, according to the Italian prov- 
 erb, " Che la forza d'amore non riguarda al delitto '* 
 (Lovers are not criminal in the estimation of one 
 another). Accordingly, the Marquis solicited Don 
 
154 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 John to be despatched to me on some errand, and 
 arrived, as I said before, at the very instant the corpse 
 of this ill-fated young lady was being borne to the 
 grave. He was stopped by the crowd occasioned by 
 this solemn procession. He contemplates it for some 
 time. He observes a long train of persons in mourn- 
 ing, and remarks the coffin to be covered with a white 
 pall, and that there are chaplets of flowers laid upon 
 the coffin. He inquires whose funeral it is. The 
 answer he receives is, that it is the funeral of a young 
 lady. Unfortunately for him, this reply fails to sat- 
 isfy his curiosity. He makes up to one who led the 
 procession, and eagerly asks the name of the young 
 lady they are proceeding to bury. When, oh, fatal 
 answer! Love, willing to avenge the victim of his 
 ingratitude and neglect, suggests a reply which had 
 nearly deprived him of life. He no sooner hears the 
 name of Mademoiselle de Tournon pronounced than he 
 falls from his horse in a swoon. He is taken up 
 for dead, and conveyed to the nearest house, where 
 he lies for a time insensible ; his soul, no doubt, 
 leaving his body to obtain pardon from her whom he 
 had hastened to a premature grave, to return to taste 
 the bitterness of death a second time. 
 
 Having performed the last offices to the remains of 
 this poor young lady, I was unwilling to discompose 
 the gaiety of the society assembled here on my ac- 
 count by any show of grief. Accordingly, I joined 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 155 
 
 the Bishop, or, as he is called, his Grace, and his 
 canons, in their entertainments at different houses, 
 and in gardens, of which the city and its neighbour- 
 hood afforded a variety. I was every morning at- 
 tended by a numerous company to the garden, in 
 which I drank the waters, the exercise of walking 
 being recommended to be used with them. As the 
 physician who advised me to take them was my own 
 brother, they did not fail of their effect with me ; and 
 for these six or seven years which are gone over 
 my head since I drank them, I have been free from 
 any complaint of erysipelas on my arm. From this 
 garden we usually proceeded to the place where we 
 were invited to dinner. After dinner we were amused 
 with a ball ; from the ball we went to some convent, 
 where we heard vespers ; from vespers to supper, and 
 that over, we had another ball, or music on the river. 
 
LETTER XYI. 
 
 Queen Marguerite, on Her Return from Liege, Is in Danger 
 of Being Made a Prisoner. — She Arrives, after Some Nar- 
 row Escapes, at La Fere. 
 
 In this manner we passed the six weeks, which is 
 the usual time for taking these waters, at the expira- 
 tion of which the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon was de- 
 sirous to return to France ; but Madame d' Aurec, who 
 just then returned to us from Namur, on her way to 
 rejoin her husband in Lorraine, brought us news of an 
 extraordinary change of affairs in that town and prov- 
 ince since we had passed through it. 
 
 It appeared from this lady's account that, on the 
 very day we left Namur, Don John, after quitting 
 the boat, mounted his horse under pretence of tak- 
 ing the diversion of hunting, and, as he passed the 
 gate of the castle of Namur, expressed a desire of 
 seeing it; that, having entered, he took possession 
 of it, notwithstanding he held it for the States, agree- 
 ably to a convention. Don John, moreover, arrested 
 the persons of the Due d'Arscot and M. d' Aurec, and 
 also made Madame d' Aurec a prisoner. After some 
 remonstrances and entreaties, he had set her husband 
 
MARGUERITE DE V ALOIS. 157 
 
 and brother-in-law at liberty, but detained her as a 
 hostage for them. In consequence of these measures, 
 the whole country was in arms. The province of Na- 
 mur was divided into three parties: the first where- 
 of was that of the States, or the Catholic party of 
 Flanders; the second that of the Prince of Orange 
 and the Huguenots ; the third, the Spanish party, of 
 which Don John was the head. 
 
 By letters which I received just at this time from 
 my brother, through the hands of a gentleman named 
 Lescar, I found I was in great danger of falling into 
 the hands of one or other of these parties. 
 
 These letters informed me that, since my departure 
 from Court, God had dealt favourably with my brother, 
 and enabled him to acquit himself of the command of 
 the army confided to him, greatly to the benefit of the 
 King's service; so that he had taken all the towns 
 and driven the Huguenots out of the provinces, agree- 
 ably to the design for which the army was raised ; 
 that he had returned to the Court at Poitiers, where 
 the King stayed during the siege of Brouage, to be 
 near to M. de Mayenne, in order to afford him what- 
 ever succours he stood in need of ; that, as the Court 
 is a Proteus, forever putting on a new face, he had 
 found it entirely changed, so that he had been no 
 more considered than if he had done the King no ser- 
 vice whatever ; and that Bussi, who had been so gra- 
 ciously looked upon before and during this last war, had 
 
158 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 done great personal service, and had lost a brother at 
 the storming of Issoire, was very coolly received, and 
 even as maliciously persecuted as in the time of Le 
 Guast; in consequence of which either he or Bussi 
 experienced some indignity or other. He further 
 mentioned that the King's favourites had been prac- 
 tising with his most faithful servants, Maugiron, La 
 Yalette, Mauleon, and Hivarrot, and several other 
 good and trusty men, to desert him, and enter into 
 the King's service ; and, lastly, that the King had 
 repented of giving me leave to go to Flanders, and 
 that, to counteract my brother, a plan was laid to 
 intercept me on my return, either by the Spaniards, 
 for which purpose they had been told that I had 
 treated for delivering up the country to him, or by 
 the Huguenots, in revenge of the war my brother 
 had carried on against them, after having formerly 
 assisted them. 
 
 This intelligence required to be well considered, as 
 there seemed to be an utter impossibility of avoiding 
 both parties. I had, however, the pleasure to think 
 that two of the principal persons of my company stood 
 well with either one or another party. The Cardinal 
 de Lenoncourt had been thought to favour the Hugue- 
 not party, and M. Descarts, brother to the Bishop of 
 Lisieux, was supposed to have the Spanish interest at 
 heart. I communicated our difficult situation to the 
 Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon and Madame de Tournon, 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 159 
 
 who, considering that we could not reach La Fere in 
 less than five or six days, answered me, with tears 
 in their eyes, that God only had it in his power to 
 preserve us, that I should recommend myself to his 
 protection, and then follow such measures as should 
 seem advisable. They observed that, as one of them 
 was in a weak state of health, and the other advanced 
 in years, I might affect to make short journeys on 
 their account, and they would put up with every in- 
 convenience to extricate me from the danger I was in. 
 
 I next consulted with the Bishop of Lidge, who 
 most certainly acted towards me like a father, and 
 gave directions to the grand master of his household 
 to attend me with his horses as far as I should think 
 proper. As it was necessary that we should have a 
 passport from the Prince of Orange, I sent Mondoucet 
 to him to obtain one, as he was acquainted with the 
 Prince and was known to favour his religion. Mon- 
 doucet did not return, and I believe I might have 
 waited for him until this time to no purpose. I was 
 advised by the Cardinal de Lenoncourt and my first 
 esquire, the Chevalier Salviati, who were of the same 
 party, not to stir without a passport; but, as I sus- 
 pected a plan was laid to entrap me, I resolved to set 
 out the next morning. 
 
 They now saw that this pretence was insufficient to 
 detain me ; accordingly, the Chevalier Salviati pre- 
 vailed with my treasurer, who was secretly a Hugue- 
 
160 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 not, to declare he had not money enough in his hands 
 to discharge the expenses we had incurred at Liege, 
 and that, in consequence, my horses were detained. 
 I afterwards discovered that this was false, for, on 
 my arrival at La Fere, I called for his accounts, and 
 found he had then a balance in his hands which would 
 have enabled him to pay the expenses of my family 
 for six or seven weeks. The Princesse de Roche-sur- 
 Yon, incensed at the aiTront put upon me, and seeing 
 the danger I incurred by staying, advanced the money 
 that was required, to their great confusion ; and I took 
 my leave of his Grace the Bishop, presenting him with 
 a diamond worth three thousand crowns, and giving 
 his domestics gold chains and rings. Having thus 
 taken our leave, we proceeded to Huy, without any 
 other passport than God's good providence. 
 
 This town, as I observed before, belongs to the 
 Bishop of Liege, but was now in a state of tumult and 
 confusion, on account of the general revolt of the Low 
 Countries, the townsmen taking part with the Nether- 
 landers, notwithstanding the bishopric was a neutral 
 State. On this account they paid no respect to the 
 grand master of the Bishop's household, who accom- 
 panied us, but, knowing Don John had taken the 
 castle of Namur in order, as they supposed, to inter- 
 cept me on my return, these brutal people, as soon as 
 I had got into my quarters, rang the alarm-bell, drew 
 up their artillery, placed chains across the streets, and 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 161 
 
 kept us thus confined and separated the whole night, 
 giving us no opportunity to expostulate with them on 
 such conduct. In the morning we were suffered to 
 leave the town without further molestation, and the 
 streets we passed through were lined with armed men. 
 
 From there we proceeded to Dinant, where we in- 
 tended to sleep ; but, unfortunately for us, the towns- 
 people had on that day chosen their burghermasters, 
 a kind of officers like the consuls in Gascony and 
 France. In consequence of this election, it was a day 
 of tumult, riot, and debauchery ; every one in the town 
 was drunk, no magistrate was acknowledged. In a 
 word, all was in confusion. To render our situation 
 still worse, the grand master of the Bishop's household 
 had formerly done the town some ill office, and was 
 considered as its enemy. The people of the town, 
 •when in their sober senses, were inclined to favour 
 the party of the States, but under the influence of 
 Bacchus they paid no regard to any party, not even 
 to themselves. 
 
 As soon as I had reached the suburbs, they were 
 alarmed at the number of my company, quitted the 
 bottle and glass to take up their arms, and immedi- 
 ately shut the gates against me. I had sent a gentle- 
 manbefore me, with my harbinger and quartermasters, 
 to beg the magistrates to admit me to stay one night 
 in the town, but I found my officers had been put un- 
 der an arrest. They bawled out to us from within, to 
 
162 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 tell us their situation, but could not make themselues 
 heard. At length I raised myself up in my litter, 
 and, taking off my mask, made a sign to a townsman 
 nearest me, of the best appearance, that I was desirous 
 to speak with him. As soon as he drew near me, I 
 begged him to call out for silence, which being with 
 some difficulty obtained, I represented to him who I 
 was, and the occasion of my journey ; that it was far 
 from my intention to do them harm ; but, to prevent 
 any suspicions of the kind, I only begged to be ad- 
 mitted to go into their city with my women, and as 
 few others of my attendants as they thought proper, 
 and that we might be permitted to stay there for one 
 night, whilst the rest of my company remained within 
 the suburbs. 
 
 They agreed to this proposal, and opened their 
 gates for my admission. I then entered the city with 
 the principal persons of my company, and the grand 
 master of the Bishop's household. This reverend per- 
 sonage, who was eighty years of age, and wore a beard 
 as white as snow, which reached down to his girdle, — 
 this venerable old man, I say, was no sooner recog- 
 nised by the drunken and armed rabble than he was 
 accosted with the grossest abuse, and it was with diffi- 
 culty they were restrained from laying violent hands 
 upon him. At length I got him into my lodgings, 
 but the mob fired at the house, the walls of which 
 were only of plaster. Upon being thus attacked, I 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 163 
 
 inquired for the master of the house, who, fortunately, 
 was within. I entreated him to speak from the win- 
 dow, to some one without, to obtain permission for my 
 being heard. I had some difficulty to get him to 
 venture doing so. At length, after much bawling 
 from the window, the burghermasters came to speak 
 to me, but were so drunk that they scarcely knew 
 what they said. I explained to them that I was 
 entirely ignorant that the grand master of the Bishop's 
 household was a person to whom they had a dislike, 
 and I begged them to consider the consequences of 
 giving offence to a person like me, who was a friend 
 of the principal lords of the States, and I assured 
 them that the Comte de Lalain, in particular, would 
 be greatly displeased when he should hear how I had 
 been received there. 
 
 The name of the Comte de Lalain produced an 
 instant effect, much more than if I had mentioned all 
 the sovereign princes I was related to. The principal 
 person amongst them asked me, with some hesitation 
 and stammering, if I was really a particular friend 
 of the Count's. Perceiving that to claim kindred with 
 the Count would do me more service than being 
 related to all the Powers in Christendom, I answered 
 that I was both a friend and a relation. They then 
 made me many apologies and conges, stretching forth 
 their hands in token of friendship; in short, they now. 
 behaved with as much civility as before with rudeness. 
 
164 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 They begged my pardon for what had happened, and 
 promised that the good old man, the grand master of 
 the Bishop's household, should be no more insulted, 
 but be suffered to leave the city quietly, the next 
 morning, with me. 
 
 As soon as morning came, and while I was prepar- 
 ing to go to hear mass, there arrived the King's agent 
 to Don John, named Du Bois, a man much attached 
 to the Spanish interest. He informed me that he had 
 received orders from the King my brother to conduct 
 me in safety on my return. He said that he had pre- 
 vailed on Don John to permit Barlemont to escort me 
 to Namur with a troop of cavalry, and begged me to 
 obtain leave of the citizens to admit Barlemont and 
 his troop to enter the town that; they might receive 
 my orders. 
 
 Thus had they concerted a double plot ; the one to 
 get possession of the town, the other of my person. 
 I saw through the whole design, and consulted with 
 the Cardinal de Lenoncourt, communicating to him 
 my suspicions. The Cardinal was as unwilling to fall 
 into the hands of the Spaniards as I could be; he 
 therefore thought it advisable to acquaint the towns- 
 people with the plot, and make our escape from the 
 city by another road, in order to avoid meeting Barle- 
 mont's troop. It was agreed betwixt us that the 
 Cardinal should keep Du Bois in discourse, whilst I 
 consulted the principal citizens in another apartment. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 165 
 
 Accordingly, I assembled as many as I could, to whom 
 I represented that if they admitted Barlemont and his 
 troop within the town, he would most certainly take 
 possession of it for Don John. I gave it as my advice 
 to make a show of defence, to declare they would not 
 be taken by surprise, and to offer to admit Barlemont, 
 and no one else, within their gates. They resolved 
 to act according to my counsel, and offered to serve 
 me at the hazard of their lives. They promised to 
 procure me a guide, who should conduct me by a road 
 by following which I should put the river betwixt me 
 and Don John's forces, whereby I should be out of 
 his reach, and could be lodged in houses and towns 
 which were in the interest of the States only. 
 
 This point being settled, I despatched them to give 
 admission to M. de Barlemont, who, as soon as he 
 entered within the gates, begged- hard that his troop 
 might come in likewise. Hereupon, the citizens flew 
 into a violent rage, and were near putting him to 
 death. They told him that if he did not order his 
 men out of sight of the town, they would fire upon 
 them with their great guns. This was done with 
 design to give me time to leave the town before they 
 could follow in pursuit of me. M. de Barlemont and 
 the agent, Du Bois, used every argument they could 
 devise to persuade me to go to Namur, where they 
 said Don John waited to receive me. 
 
 I appeared to give way to their persuasions, and, 
 
166 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 after hearing mass and taking a hasty dinner, I left 
 my lodgings, escorted by two or three hundred armed 
 citizens, some of them engaging Barlemont and Du 
 Bois in conversation. We all took the way to the 
 gate which opens to the river, and directly opposite 
 to that leading to Namur. Du Bois and his colleague 
 told me I was not going the right way, but I continued 
 talking, and as if I did not hear them. But when we 
 reached the gate I hastened into the boat, and my 
 people after me. M. de Barlemont and the agent 
 Du Bois, calling out to me from the bank, told me I 
 was doing very wrong and acting directly contrary 
 to the King's intention, who had directed that I should 
 return by way of Namur. 
 
 In spite of all their remonstrances we crossed the 
 river with all possible expedition, and, during the two 
 or three crossings which were necessary to convey 
 over the litters and horses, the citizens, to give me the 
 more time to escape, were debating with Barlemont 
 and Du Bois concerning a niunber of grievances and 
 complaints, telling them, in their coarse language, that 
 Don John had broken the peace and falsified his en- 
 gagements with the States ; and they even rehearsed 
 the old quarrel of the death of Egmont, and, lastly, 
 declared that if the troop made its appearance before 
 their walls again, they would fire upon it with their 
 artillery. 
 
 I had by this means sufficient time to reach a secure 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 167 
 
 distance, and was, by the help of God and the assist- 
 ance of my guide, out of all apprehensions of danger 
 from Barlemont and his troop. 
 
 I intended to lodge that night in a strong castle, 
 called Fleurines, which belonged to a gentleman of 
 the party of the States, whom I had seen with the 
 Comte de Lalain. Unfortunately for me, the gentle- 
 man was absent, and his lady only was in the castle. 
 The courtyard being open, we entered it, which put 
 the lady into such a fright that she ordered the bridge 
 to be drawn up, and fled to the strong tower.^ Noth- 
 ing we could say would induce her to give us entrance. 
 In the meantime, three hundred gentlemen, whom 
 Don John had sent off to intercept our passage, and 
 take possession of the castle of Fleurines, judging that 
 I should take up my quarters there, made their ap- 
 pearance upon an eminence, at the distance of about 
 a thousand yards. They, seeing our carriages in the 
 courtyard, and supposing that we ourselves had taken 
 to the strong tower, resolved to stay where they were 
 that night, hoping to intercept me the next morning. 
 
 In this cruel situation were we placed, in a court- 
 yard surrounded by a wall by no means strong, and 
 shut up by a gate equally as weak and as capable of 
 being forced, remonstrating from time to time with 
 the lady, who was deaf to all our prayers and 
 entreaties. 
 
 1 In the old French original, dongeon, whence we have duugeon. 
 
168 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Through God's mercy, her husband, M. de Fleurines, 
 himself appeared just as night approached. We then 
 gained instant admission, and the lady was greatly 
 reprimanded by her husband for her incivility and in- 
 discreet behaviour. This gentleman had been sent 
 by the Comte de Lalain, with directions to conduct 
 me through the several towns belonging to the States, 
 the Count himself not being able to leave the army 
 of the States, of which he had the chief command, 
 to accompany me. 
 
 This was as favourable a circumstance for me as I 
 could wish ; for, M. de Fleurines offering to accom- 
 pany me into France, the towns we had to pass 
 through being of the party of the States, we were 
 everywhere quietly and honourably received. I had 
 only the mortification of not being able to visit Mons, 
 agreeably to my promise made to the Comtesse de 
 Lalain, not passing nearer to it than Nivelle, seven 
 long leagues distant from it. The Count being at 
 Antwerp, and the war being hottest in the neighbour- 
 hood of Mons, I thus was prevented seeing either of 
 them on my return. I could only write to the Count- 
 ess by a servant of the gentleman who was now my 
 conductor. As soon as she learned I was at Nivelle, 
 she sent some gentlemen, natives of the part of Flan- 
 ders I was in, with a strong injunction to see me safe 
 on the frontier of France. 
 
 I had to pass through the Cambr^sis, partly in 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 169 
 
 favour of Spain and partly of the States. Accordinglj, 
 I set out with these gentlemen, to lodge at Cateau- 
 Cambrdsis. There they took leave of me, in order 
 to return to Mons, and by them I sent the Countess a 
 gown of mine, which had been greatly admired by her 
 when I wore it at Mons ; it was of black satin, curi- 
 ously embroidered, and cost nine hundred crowns. 
 
 When I arrived at Cateau-Cambresis, I had intelli- 
 gence sent me that a party of the Huguenot troops 
 had a design to attack me on the frontiers of Flanders 
 and France. This intelligence I communicated to a 
 few only of my company, and prepared to set off an 
 hour before daybreak. When I sent for my litters 
 and horses, I found much such a kind of delay from 
 the Chevalier Salviati as I had before experienced at 
 Liege, and suspecting it was done designedly, I left 
 my litter behind, and mounted on horseback, with 
 such of my attendants as were ready to follow me. 
 By this means, with God's assistance, I escaped being 
 waylaid by my enemies, and reached Catelet at ten in 
 the morning. From there I went to my house at La 
 Fdre, where I intended to reside until I learned that 
 peace was concluded upon. 
 
 At La Fere I found a messenger in waiting from 
 my brother, who had orders to return with all expe- 
 dition, as soon as I arrived, and inform him of it. 
 My brother wrote me word, by that messenger, that 
 peace was concluded, and the King returned to Paris ; 
 
ITO HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 that, as to himself, his situation was rather worse 
 than better ; that he and his people were daily receiv- 
 ing some affront or other, and continual quarrels were 
 excited betwixt the King's favourites and Bussi and 
 mj brother's principal attendants. This, he added, 
 had made him impatient for my return, that he might 
 come and visit me. 
 
 I sent his messenger back, and, immediately after, 
 my brother sent Bussi and all his household to 
 Angers, and, taking with him fifteen or twenty at- 
 tendants, he rode post to me at La Fere. It was 
 a great satisfaction to me to see one whom I so 
 tenderly loved and greatly honoured, once more. I 
 consider it amongst the greatest felicities I ever 
 enjoyed, and, accordingly, it became my chief study 
 to make his residence here agreeable to him. He 
 himself seemed delighted with this change of situa- 
 tion, and would willingly have continued in it longer 
 had not the noble generosity of his mind called him 
 forth to great achievements. The quiet of our Court, 
 when compared with that he had just left, affected 
 him so powerfully that he could not but express the 
 satisfaction he felt by frequently exclaiming, " Oh, 
 Queen ! how happy I am with you. My God ! your 
 society is a paradise wherein I enjoy every delight, 
 and I seem to have lately escaped from hell, with all 
 its furies and tortures ! " 
 
LETTER XYII. 
 
 Good Effects of Queen Marguerite's Negotiations in Flanders. 
 — She Obtains Leave to Go to the King of Navarre Her 
 Husband, but Her Journey Is Delayed. — Court Intrigues 
 and Plots. — The Due d'Alengon Again Put under Arrest. 
 
 We passed nearly two months together, which 
 appeared to us only as so many days. I gave him 
 an account of what I had done for him in Flanders, 
 and the state in which I had left the business. 
 He approved of the interview with the Comte de La- 
 Iain's brother in order to settle the plan of operations 
 and exchange assurances. Accordingly, the Comte 
 de Montigny arrived, with four or five other leading 
 men of the county of Hainault. One of these was 
 charged with a letter from M. d'Ainsi, offering his 
 services to my brother, and assuring him of the 
 citadel of Cambray. M. de Montigny delivered his 
 brother's declaration and engagement to give up 
 the counties of Hainault and Artois, which included 
 a number of fine cities. These offers made and 
 accepted, my brother dismissed them with presents 
 of gold medals, bearing his and my effigies, and 
 
 171 
 
172 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 every assurance of his future favour ; and they re- 
 turned to prepare everything for his coming. In the 
 meanwhile my brother considered on the necessary 
 measures to be used for raising a sufficient force, for 
 which purpose he returned to the King, to prevail 
 with him to assist him in this enterprise. 
 
 As I was anxious to go to Gascony, I made ready 
 for the journey, and set off for Paris, my brother 
 meeting me at the distance of one day's journey. 
 
 At St. Denis I was met by the King, the Queen 
 my mother, Queen Louise, and the whole Court. It 
 was at St. Denis that I was to stop and dine, and 
 there it was that I had the honour of the meeting^ 
 I have just mentioned. 
 
 I was received very graciously, and most sump- 
 tuously entertained. I was made to recount the 
 particulars of my triumphant journey to Liege, and 
 perilous return. The magnificent entertainments I 
 had received excited their admiration, and they re- 
 joiced at my narrow escapes. With such conversation 
 I amused the Queen my mother and the rest of the 
 company in her coach, on our way to Paris, where, 
 supper and the ball being ended, I took an oppor- 
 tunity, when I saw the King and the Queen my 
 mother together, to address them. 
 
 I expressed my hopes that they would not now 
 oppose my going to the King my husband ; that 
 now, by the peace, the chief objection to it was 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 1T3 
 
 removed, and if I delayed going, in the present situa- 
 ation of afTairs, it might be prejudicial and discredit- 
 able to me. Both of them approved of my request, 
 and commended my resolution. The Queen my 
 mother added that she would accompany me on 
 my journey, as it would be for the King's service that 
 she did so. She said the King must furnish me with 
 the necessary means for the journey, to which he 
 readily assented. I thought this a proper time to 
 settle everything, and prevent another journey to 
 Court, which would be no longer pleasing after my 
 brother left it, who was now pressing his expedition 
 to Flanders with all haste. I therefore begged the 
 Queen my mother to recollect the promise she had 
 made my brother and me as soon as peace was agreed 
 upon, which was that, before my departure for Gas- 
 cony, I should have my marriage portion assigned 
 to me in lands. She said that she recollected it well, 
 and the King thought it very reasonable, and prom- 
 ised that it should be done. I entreated that it 
 might be concluded speedily, as I wished to set off, 
 with their permission, at the beginning of the next 
 month. This, too, was granted me, but granted after 
 the mode of the Court ; that is to say, notwithstand- 
 ing my constant solicitations, instead of despatch, 
 I experienced only delay ; and thus it continued for 
 five or six months in negotiation. 
 
 My brother met with the like treatment, though he 
 
174 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 ■was continually urging the necessity for his setting 
 out for Flanders, and representing that his expedition 
 was for the glory and advantage of France, — for its 
 glory, as such an enterprise would, like Piedmont, 
 prove a school of war for the young nobility, wherein 
 future Montlucs, Brissacs, Termes, and Bellegardes 
 would be bred, all of them instructed in these wars, 
 and afterwards, as field-marshals, of the greatest ser- 
 vice to their country ; and it would be for the advan- 
 tage of France, as it would prevent civil wars ; for 
 Flanders would then be no longer a country wherein 
 such discontented spirits as aimed at novelty could 
 assemble to brood over their malice and hatch plots 
 for the disturbance of their native land. 
 
 These representations, which were both reasonable 
 and consonant with truth, had no weight when put 
 into the scale against the envy excited by this ad- 
 vancement of my brother's fortune. Accordingly, 
 every delay was used to hinder him from collecting 
 his forces together, and stop his expedition to Flan- 
 ders. Bussi and his other dependents were offered a 
 thousand indignities. Every stratagem was tried, by 
 day as well as by night, to pick quarrels with Bussi, 
 — now by Quelus, at another time by Grammont, — 
 with the hope that my brother would engage in them. 
 This was unknown to the King ; but Maugiron, who 
 had engrossed the King's favour, and who had quitted 
 my brother's service, sought every means to ruin him, 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 175 
 
 as it is usual for those who have given offence to hate 
 the offended party. 
 
 Thus did this man take every occasion to brave 
 and insult my brother ; and relying upon the coun- 
 tenance and blind affection shown him by the King, 
 had leagued himself with Quelus, Saint-Luc, Saint- 
 Maigrin, Grammont, Mauleon, Hivarrot, and other 
 young men who enjoyed the King's favour. As those 
 who are favourites find a number of followers at 
 Court, these licentious young courtiers thought they 
 might do whatever they pleased. Some new dispute 
 betwixt them and Bussi was constantly starting. 
 Bussi had a degree of courage which knew not how 
 to give way to any one ; and my brother, unwilling to 
 give umbrage to the King, and foreseeing that such 
 proceedings would not forward his expedition, to 
 avoid quarrels and, at the same time, to promote his 
 plans, resolved to despatch Bussi to his duchy of 
 Alengon, in order to discipline such troops as he 
 should find there. My brother's amiable qualities 
 excited the jealousy of Maugiron and the rest of his 
 cabal about the King's person, and their dislike for 
 Bussi was not so much on his own account as because 
 he was strongly attached to my brother. The slights 
 and disrespect shown to my brother were remarked 
 by every one at Court; but his prudence, and the 
 patience natural to his disposition, enabled him to 
 put up with their insults, in hopes of finishing the 
 
176 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 business of his Flemish expedition, which would re- 
 move him to a distance from them and their machi- 
 nations. This persecution was the more mortifying 
 and discreditable as it even extended to his servants, 
 whom they strove to injure by every means they 
 could employ. M. de la Chastre at this time had a 
 a lawsuit of considerable consequence decided against 
 him, because he had lately attached himself to my 
 brother. At the instance of Maugiron and Saint-Luc, 
 the King was induced to solicit the cause in favour 
 of Madame de S^netaire, their friend. M. de la 
 Chastre, being greatly injured by it, complained to 
 my brother of the injustice done him, with all the 
 concern such a proceeding may be supposed to have 
 occasioned. 
 
 About this time Saint-Luc's marriage was cele- 
 brated. My brother resolved not to be present at it, 
 and begged of me to join him in the same resolution. 
 The Queen my mother was greatly uneasy on account 
 of the behaviour of these young men, fearing that, if 
 my brother did not join them in this festivity, it 
 might be attended with some bad consequence, espe- 
 cially as the day was likely to produce scenes of 
 revelry and debauch ; she, therefore, prevailed on the 
 King to permit her to dine on the wedding-day at 
 St. Maur, and take my brother and me with her. 
 This was the day before Shrove Tuesday ; and we 
 returned in the evening, the Queen my mother having 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 177 
 
 well lectured my brother, and made him consent to 
 appear at the ball, in order not to displease the King. 
 But this rather served to make matters worse than 
 better, for Maugiron and his party began to attack 
 him with such insolent speeches as would have of- 
 fended any one of far less consequence. They said he 
 needed not to have given himself the trouble of dress- 
 ing, for he was not missed in the afternoon ; but now, 
 they supposed, he came at night as the most suitable 
 time ; with other allusions to the meanness of his fig- 
 ure and smallness of stature. All this was addressed 
 to the bride, who sat near him, but spoken out on 
 purpose that he might hear it. Mv brother, perceiv- 
 ing this was purposely said to provoke an answer and 
 occasion his giving offence to the King, removed from 
 his seat full of resentment; and, consulting with M. 
 de la Chastre, he came to the resolution of leaving 
 the Court in a few days on a hunting party. He still 
 thought his absence might stay their malice, and 
 afford him an opportunity the more easily of settling 
 his preparations for the Flemish expedition with the 
 King. He went immediately to the Queen my mother, 
 who was present at the ball, and was extremely sorry 
 to learn what had happened, and imparted her resolu- 
 tion, in his absence, to solicit the King to hasten his 
 expedition to Flanders. M. de Villequier being pres- 
 ent, she bade him acquaint the King with my brother's 
 intention of taking the diversion of hunting a few 
 
178 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 days ; which she thought very proper herself, as it 
 would put a stop to the disputes which had arisen 
 betwixt him and the young men, Maugiron, Saint- 
 Luc, Quelus, and the rest. 
 
 My brother retired to his apartment, and, consider- 
 ing his leave as granted, gave orders to his domestics 
 to prepare to set off the next morning for St. Ger- 
 main, where he should hunt the stag for a few days. 
 He directed the grand huntsman to be ready with the 
 hounds, and retired to rest, thinking to withdraw 
 awhile from the intrigues of the Court, and amuse 
 himself with the sports of the field. M. de Yillequier, 
 agreeably to the command he had received from the 
 Queen my mother, asked for leave, and obtained it. The 
 King, however, staying in his closet, like Rehoboam, 
 with his council of five or six young men, they sug- 
 gested suspicions in his mind respecting my brother's 
 departure from Court. In short, they worked upon 
 his fears and apprehensions so greatly, that he took 
 one of the most rash and inconsiderate steps that was 
 ever decided upon in our time ; which was to put my 
 brother and all his principal servants under an arrest. 
 This measure was executed with as much indiscretion 
 as it had been resolved upon. The King, under this 
 agitation of mind, late as it was, hastened to the 
 Queen my mother, and seemed as if there was a gen- 
 eral alarm and the enemy at the gates, for he ex- 
 claimed on seeing her : " How could you, Madame, 
 
MARGUERITE DE V ALOIS. 179 
 
 think of asking me to let my brother go hence ? Do 
 you not perceive how dangerous his going will prove 
 to my kingdom ? Depend upon it that this hunting 
 is merely a pretence to cover some treacherous de- 
 sign. I am going to put him and his people under 
 an arrest, and have his papers examined. I am sure 
 we shall make some great discoveries." 
 
 At the time he said this he had with him the Sieur 
 de Coss^, captain of the guard, and a number of Scot- 
 tish archers. The Queen my mother, fearing, from 
 the King's haste and trepidation, that some mischief 
 might happen to my brother, begged to go with him. 
 Accordingly, undressed as she was, wrapping herself 
 up in a night-gown, she followed the King to my 
 brother's bedchamber. The King knocked at the 
 door with great violence, ordering it to be immedi- 
 ately opened, for that he was there himself. My 
 brother started up in his bed, awakened by the noise, 
 and, knowing that he had done nothing that he need 
 fear, ordered Cang^, his valet de chambre, to open the 
 door. The King entered in a great rage, and asked 
 him when he would have done plotting against him. 
 " But I will show you," said he, " what it is to plot 
 against your sovereign." Hereupon he ordered the 
 archers to take away all the trunks, and turn the va- 
 lets de chambre out of the room. He searched my 
 brother's bed himself, to see if he could find any 
 papers concealed in it. My brother had that evening 
 
180 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 received a letter from Madame de Sauves, which he 
 kept in his hand, unwilling that it should be seen. 
 The King endeavoured to force it from him. He 
 refused to part with it, and earnestly entreated the 
 King would not insist upon seeing it. This only ex- 
 cited the King's anxiety the more to have it in his / 
 possession, as he now supposed it to be the key to 
 the whole plot, and' the very document which would 
 at once bring conviction home to him. At length, the 
 King having got it into his hands, he opened it in 
 the presence of the Queen my mother, and they were 
 both as much confounded, when they read the con- 
 tents, as Cato was when he obtained a letter from 
 Caesar, in the Senate, which the latter was unwilling 
 to give up ; and which Cato, supposing it to contain a 
 conspiracy against the Republic, found to be no other 
 than a love-letter from his own sister. 
 
 But the shame of this disappointment served only 
 to increase the King's anger, who, without condescend- 
 ing to make a reply to my brother, when repeatedly 
 asked what he had been accused of, gave him in 
 charge of M. de Coss^ and his Scots, commanding 
 them not to admit a single person to speak with him. 
 
 It was one o'clock in the morning when my brother 
 was made a prisoner in the manner I have now 
 related. He feared some fatal event might succeed 
 these violent proceedings, and he was under the great- 
 est concern on my account, supposing me to be under 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 181 
 
 a like arrest. He observed M. de Coss^ to be much 
 affected by the scene he had been witness to, even to 
 shedding tears. As the archers were in the room he 
 would not venture to enter into discourse with him, 
 but only asked what was become of me. M. de Coss^ 
 answered that I remained at full liberty. My brother 
 then said it was a great comfort to him to hear that 
 news ; " but," added he, " as I know she loves me so 
 entirely that she would rather be confined with me 
 than have her liberty whilst I was in confinement, I 
 beg you will go to the Queen my mother, and desire 
 her to obtain leave for my sister to be with me." He 
 did so, and it was granted. 
 
 The reliance which my brother displayed upon this 
 occasion in the sincerity of my friendship and regard 
 for him conferred so great an obligation in my mind 
 that, though I have received many particular favours 
 since from him, this has always held the foremost 
 place in my grateful remembrance. 
 
 By the time he had received permission for my 
 being with him, daylight made its appearance. See- 
 ing this, my brother begged M. de Coss^ to send one 
 of his archers to acquaint me with his situation, and 
 beg me to come to him. 
 
LETTER XVin. . 
 
 The Brothers Reconciled. — Alengon Restored to His Liberty. 
 
 I WAS ignorant of what had happened to my brother, 
 and when the Scottish archer came into my bed- 
 chamber, I was still asleep. He drew the curtains 
 of the bed, and told me, in his broken French, that 
 my brother wished to see me. I stared at the man, 
 half awake as I was, and thought it a dream. After 
 a short pause, and being thoroughly awakened, I 
 asked him if he was not a Scottish archer. He 
 answered me in the affirmative. " What ! " cried I, 
 " has my brother no one else to send a message by ? " 
 He replied he had not, for all his domestics had been 
 put under an arrest. He then proceeded to relate, 
 as well as he could explain himself, the events of the 
 preceding night, and the leave granted my brother for 
 my being with him during his imprisonment. 
 
 The poor fellow, observing me to be much affected 
 by this intelligence, drew near, and whispered me to 
 this purport : " Do not grieve yourself about this 
 matter ; I know a way of setting your brother at 
 liberty, and you may depend upon it, that I will do 
 it; but, in that case, I must go oif with him." I 
 
 182 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 183 
 
 assured him that he might rely upon being as amply 
 rewarded as he could wish for such assistance, and, 
 huddling on my clothes, I followed him alone to my 
 brother's apartments. In going thither, I had occa- 
 sion to traverse the whole gallery, which was filled 
 with people, who, at another time, would have pressed 
 forward to pay their respects to me ; but, now that 
 Fortune seemed to frown upon me, they all avoided 
 me, or appeared as if they did not see me. 
 
 Coming into my brother's apartments, I found him 
 not at all affected by what had happened ; for such 
 was the constancy of his mind, that his arrest had 
 wrought no change, and he received me with his 
 usual cheerfulness. He ran to meet me, and taking 
 me in his arms, he said : 
 
 " Queen ! I beg you to dry up your tears ; in my 
 present situation, nothing can grieve me so much as 
 to find you under any concern; for my own part, I 
 am so conscious of my innocence and the integrity 
 of my conduct, that I can defy the utmost malice of 
 my enemies. If I should chance to fall the victim of 
 their injustice, my death would prove a more cruel 
 punishment to them than to me, who have courage 
 sufficient to meet it in a just cause. It is not death I 
 fear, because I have tasted sufficiently of the calamities 
 and evils of life, and am ready to leave this world, 
 which I have found only the abode of sorrow ; but 
 the circumstance I dread most is, that, not finding 
 
184 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 me sufficiently guilty to doom me to death, I shall be 
 condemned to a long, solitary imprisonment ; though 
 I should even despise their tyranny in that respect, 
 could I but have the assurance of being comforted by 
 your presence." ^ 
 
 These words, instead of stopping my tears, only 
 served to make them stream afresh. I answered, 
 sobbing, that my life and fortune were at his devotion ; 
 that the power of God alone could prevent me from 
 affording him my assistance under every extremity ; 
 that, if he should be transported from that place, and 
 I should be withheld from following him, I would 
 kill myself on the spot. 
 
 Changing our discourse, we framed a number of 
 conjectures on what might be the probable cause 
 of the King's angry proceedings against him, but 
 found ourselves at a loss what to assign them to. 
 
 Whilst we were discussing this matter the hour 
 came for opening the palace gates, when a simple 
 young man belonging to Bussi presented himself for 
 entrance. Being stopped by the guard and questioned 
 as to whither he was going, he, panic-struck, replied 
 he was going to M. de Bussi, his master. This an- 
 swer was carried to the King, and gave fresh grounds 
 for suspicion. It seems my brother, supposing he 
 should not be able to go to Flanders for some time, 
 and resolving to send Bussi to his duchy of Alen^on 
 as I have already mentioned, had lodged him in the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 185 
 
 Louvre, that he might be near him to take instruc- 
 tions at every opportunity. 
 
 L'Archant, the general of the guard, had received 
 the King's commands to make a search in the Louvre 
 for him and Simier, and put them both under arrest. 
 He entered upon this business with great unwilling- 
 ness, as he was intimate with Bussi, who was accus- 
 tomed to call him " father." L'Archant, going to 
 Simier's apartment, arrested him ; and though he 
 judged Bussi was there too, yet, being unwilling to 
 find him, he was going away. Bussi, however, who 
 had concealed himself under the bed, as not knowing 
 to whom the orders for his arrest might be given, 
 finding he was to be left there, and sensible that he 
 should be well treated by L'Archant, called out to him, 
 as he was leaving the room, in his droll manner : 
 
 " What, papa, are you going without me ? Don't 
 you think I am as great a rogue as that Simier ? " 
 
 " Ah, son," replied L'Archant, " I would much 
 rather have lost my arm than have met with you ! " 
 
 Bussi, being a man devoid of all fear, observed that 
 it was a sign that things went well with him ; then, 
 turning to Simier, who stood trembling with fear, he 
 jeered him upon his pusillanimity. L'Archant re- 
 moved them both, and set a guard over them ; and, in 
 the next place, proceeded to arrest M. de la Chastre, 
 whom he took to the Bastille. 
 
 Meanwhile M. de I'Oste was appointed to the com- 
 
186 HISTORIC COURT IMEMOIRS. 
 
 mand of the guard which was set over my brother. 
 This was a good sort of old man, who had been ap- 
 pointed governor to the King my husband, and loved 
 me as if I had been his own child. Sensible of the 
 injustice done to my brother and me, and lamenting 
 the bad counsel by which the King was guided, and 
 being, moreover, willing to serve us, he resolved to 
 deliver my brother from arrest. In order to make 
 his intention known to us he ordered the Scottish 
 archers to wait on the stairs without, keeping only 
 two whom he could trust in the room. Then taking 
 me aside, he said : 
 
 " There is not a good Frenchman living who does 
 not bleed at his heart to see what we see. I have 
 served the King your father, and I am ready to lay 
 down my life to serve his children. I expect to have 
 the guard of the Prince your brother, wherever he 
 shall chance to be confined ; and, depend upon it, at 
 the hazard of my life, I will restore him to his lib- 
 erty. But," added he, " that no suspicions may arise 
 that such is my design, it will be proper that we be 
 not seen together in conversation ; however, you may 
 rely upon my word." 
 
 This afforded me great consolation ; and, assum- 
 ing a degree of courage hereupon, I observed to 
 my brother that we ought not to remain there with- 
 out knowing for what reason we were detained, as 
 if we were in the Inquisition; and that to treat us 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 187 
 
 in such a manner was to consider us as persons of 
 no account. I then begged M. de I'Oste to entreat 
 the King, in our name, if the Queen our mother was 
 not permitted to come to us, to send some one to ac- 
 quaint us with the crime for which we were kept in 
 confinement. 
 
 M. de Combaut, who was at the head of the young 
 counsellors, was accordingly sent to us ; and he, with 
 a great deal of gravity, informed us that he came 
 from the King to inquire what it was we wished to 
 communicate to his Majesty. We answered that we 
 wished to speak to some one near the King's person, 
 in order to our being informed what we were kept 
 in confinement for, as we were unable to assign any 
 reason for it ourselves. He answered, wijth great 
 solemnity, that we ought not to ask of God or the 
 King reasons for what they did ; as all their actions 
 emanated from wisdom and justice. We replied 
 that we were not persons to be treated like those 
 shut up in the Inquisition, who are left to guess at 
 the cause of their being there. 
 
 We could obtain from him, after all we said, no 
 other satisfaction than his promise to interest himself 
 in our behaH, and to do us all the service in his power. 
 At this my brother broke out into a fit of laughter ; 
 but I confess I was too much alarmed to treat his 
 message with such indifference, and could scarcely 
 refrain from talking to this messenger as he deserved. 
 
188 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Whilst he was making his report to the King, the 
 Queen my mother kept her chamber, being mider great 
 concern, as may well be supposed, to witness such pro- 
 ceedings. She plainly foresaw, in her prudence, that 
 these excesses would end fatally, should the mildness 
 of my brother's disposition, and his regard for the wel- 
 fare of the State, be once wearied out with submitting 
 to such repeated acts of injustice. She therefore 
 sent for the senior members of the Comicil, the chan- 
 cellor, princes, nobles, and marshals of France, who all 
 were greatly scandalised at the bad counsel which had 
 been given to the King, and told the Queen my mother 
 that she ought to remonstrate with the King upon the 
 injustice of his proceedings. They observed that what 
 had been done could not now be recalled, but matters 
 might yet be set upon a right footing. The Queen 
 my mother hereupon went to the King, followed by 
 these counsellors, and represented to him the ill con- 
 sequences which might proceed from the steps he had 
 taken. 
 
 The King's eyes were by this time opened, and he 
 saw that he had been ill advised. He therefore 
 begged the Queen my mother to set things to rights, 
 and to prevail on my brother to forget all that had 
 happened, and to bear no resentment against these 
 young men, but to make up the breach betwixt Bussi 
 and Quelus. 
 
 Things being thus set to rights again, the guard 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 189 
 
 which had been placed over my brother was dismissed, 
 and the Queen my mother, coming to his apartment, 
 told him he ought to return thanks to God for his 
 deliverance, for that there had been a moment when 
 even she herself despaired of saving his life ; that 
 since he must now have discovered that the King's 
 temper of mind was such that he took the alarm at 
 the very imagination of danger, and that, when once 
 he was resolved upon a measure, no advice that she 
 or any other could give would prevent him from put- 
 ting it into execution, she would recommend it to him 
 to submit himself to the King's pleasure in everything, 
 in order to prevent the like in future ; and, for the 
 present, to take the earliest opportunity of seeing 
 the King, and to appear as if he thought no more 
 about the past. 
 
 We replied that we were both of us sensible of God's 
 great mercy in delivering us from the injustice of our 
 enemies, and that, next to God, our greatest obligation 
 was to her ; but that my brother's rank did not admit 
 of his being put in confinement without cause, and 
 released from it again without the formality of an 
 acknowledgment. Upon this, the Queen observed 
 that it was not in the power even of God himself to 
 undo what had been done ; that what could be effected 
 to save his honour, and give him satisfaction for the 
 irregularity of the arrest, should have place. My 
 brother, therefore, she observed, ought to strive to 
 
190 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 mollify the King by addressing him with expressions 
 of regard to his person and attachment to his service ; 
 and, in the meantime, use his influence over Bussi to 
 reconcile him to Quelus, and to end all disputes 
 betwixt them. She then declared that the principal 
 motive for putting my brother and his servants under 
 arrest was to prevent the combat for which old Bussi, 
 the brave father of a brave son, had solicited the 
 King's leave, wherein he proposed to be his son's 
 second, whilst the father of Quelus was to be his. 
 These four had agreed in this way to determine the 
 matter in dispute, and give the Court no further 
 disturbance. 
 
 My brother now engaged himself to the Queen that, 
 as Bussi would see he could not be permitted to de- 
 cide his quarrel by combat, he should, in order to 
 deliver himself from his arrest, do as she had com- 
 manded. 
 
 The Queen my mother, going down to the King, 
 prevailed with him to restore my brother to liberty 
 with every honour. In order to which the King came 
 to her apartment, followed by the princes, noblemen, 
 and other members of the Council, and sent for us by 
 M. de Villequier. As we went along we found all the 
 rooms crowded with people, who, with tears in their 
 eyes, blessed God for our deliverance. Coming into 
 the apartments of the Queen my mother, we found 
 the King attended as I before related. The King 
 
MARGUERITE DE V ALOIS. 191 
 
 desired my brother not to take anything ill that had 
 been done, as the motive for it was his concern for the 
 good of his kingdom, and not any bad intention 
 towards himself. My brother replied that he had, as 
 he ought, devoted his life to his service, and, there- 
 fore, was governed by his pleasure ; but that he most 
 humbly begged him to consider that his fidelity and 
 attachment did not merit the return he had met with ; 
 that, notwithstanding, he should impute it entirely to 
 his own ill-fortune, and should be perfectly satisfied 
 if the King acknowledged his innocence. Hereupon 
 the King said that he entertained not the least doubt 
 of his innocence, and only desired him to believe he 
 held the same place in his esteem he ever had. The 
 Queen my mother then, taking both of them by 
 the hand, made them embrace each other. 
 
 Afterwards the King commanded Bussi to be 
 brought forth, to make a reconciliation betwixt him 
 and Qu^lus, giving orders, at the same time, for the 
 release of Simier and M. de la Chastre. Bussi com- 
 ing into the room with his usual grace, the King told 
 him he must be reconciled with Qu^lus, and forbade 
 him to say a word more concerning their quarrel. 
 He then commanded them to embrace. " Sire," said 
 Bussi, " if it is your pleasure that we kiss and are 
 friends again, I am ready to obey your command ; " 
 then, putting himself in the attitude of Pantaloon, he 
 went up to Quelus and gave him a hug, which set all 
 
192 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 present in a titter, notwithstanding they had been 
 seriously affected by the scene which had passed just 
 before. 
 
 Many persons of discretion thought what had been 
 done was too slight a reparation for the injuries my 
 brother had received. When all was over, the King 
 and the Queen my mother, coming up to me, said it 
 would be incumbent on me to use my utmost endeav- 
 ours to prevent my brother from calling to mind 
 anything past which should make him swerve from 
 the duty and affection he owed the King. I replied 
 that my brother was so prudent, and so strongly 
 attached to the King's service, that he needed no 
 admonition on that head from me or any one else ; 
 and that, with respect to myself, I had never given 
 him any other advice than to conform himself to the 
 King's pleasure and the duty he owed him. 
 
LETTER XIX. 
 
 The Due d'AlenQon Makes His Escape from Court Queen 
 
 Marguerite's Fidelity Put to a Severe Trial. 
 
 It was now three o'clock in the afternoon, and no 
 one present had yet dmed. The Queen my mother 
 was desirous that we should eat together, and, after 
 dinner, she ordered my brother and me to change our 
 dress (as the clothes we had on were suitable only to 
 our late melancholy situation) and come to the King's 
 supper and ball. We complied with her orders as far 
 as a change of dress, but our countenances still 
 retained the impressions of grief and resentment 
 which we inwardly felt. 
 
 I must inform you that when the tragi-comedy I 
 have given you an account of was over, tlie Queen 
 my mother turned round to the Chevalier de Seurre, 
 whom she recommended to my brother to sleep in his 
 bedchamber, and in whose conversation she some- 
 times took delight because he was a man of some 
 humour, but rather inclined to be cynical. 
 
 " Well," said she, " M. de Seurre, what do you 
 think of all this ? " 
 
 198 
 
194 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 " Madame, I think there is too much of it for earn- 
 est, and not enough for jest." 
 
 Then addressing himself to me, he said, but not 
 loud enough for the Queen to hear him : " I do not 
 believe all is over yet ; I am very much mistaken if 
 this young man "(meaning my brother)" rests satisfied 
 with this." 
 
 This day having passed in the manner before re- 
 lated, the wound being only skinned over and far 
 from healed, the young men about the King's person 
 set themselves to operate in order to break it out 
 afresh. 
 
 These persons, judging of my brother by them- 
 selves, and not having sufficient experience to know 
 the power of duty over the minds of personages of ex- 
 alted rank and high birth, persuaded the King, still 
 connecting his case with their own, that it was impos- 
 sible my brother should ever forgive the affront he 
 had received, and not seek to avenge himself with the 
 first opportunity. The King, forgetting the ill-judged 
 steps these young men had so lately induced him to 
 take, hereupon receives this new impression, and 
 gives orders to the officers of the guard to keep strict 
 watch at the gates that his brother go not out, and 
 that his people be made to leave the Louvre every 
 evening, except such of them as usually slept in his 
 bedchamber or wardrobe. 
 
 My brother, seeing himself thus exposed to the 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 195 
 
 caprices of these headstrong young fellows, who led 
 the King according to their own fancies, and fearing 
 something worse might happen than what he had yet 
 experienced, at the end of three days, during which 
 time he laboured under apprehensions of this kind, 
 came to a determination to leave the Court, and 
 never more return to it, but retire to his principality 
 and make preparations with all haste for his expedi- 
 tion to Flanders. 
 
 He communicated his design to me, and I approved 
 of it, as I considered he had no other view in it than 
 providing for his own safety, and that neither the 
 King nor his government were likely to sustain any 
 injury by it. 
 
 When we consulted upon the means of its accom- 
 plishment, we could find no other than his descending 
 from my window, which was on the second story and 
 opened to the ditch, for the gates were so closely 
 watched that it was impossible to pass them, the face 
 of every one going out of the Louvre being curiously 
 examined. He begged of me, therefore, to procure 
 for him a rope of sufficient streng-th and long enough 
 for the purpose. This I set about immediately, for, 
 having the sacking of a bed that wanted mending, 
 I sent it out of the palace by a lad whom I could 
 trust, with orders to bring it back repaired, and to 
 wrap up the proper length of rope inside. 
 
 When all was prepared, one evening, at supper 
 
196 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 time, I went to the Queen my mother, who supped 
 alone in her own apartment, it being fast-day and the 
 King eating no supper. My brother, who on most 
 occasions was patient and discreet, spurred on by the 
 indignities he had received, and anxious to extricate 
 himself from danger and regain his liberty, came 
 to me as I was rising from table, and whispered to 
 me to make haste and come to him in my own apart- 
 ment. M. de Matignon, at that time a marshal, a 
 sly, cunning Norman, and one who had no love for 
 my brother, whether he had some knowledge of his 
 design from some one who could not keep a secret, or 
 only guessed at it, observed to the Queen my mother 
 as she left the room (which I overheard, being near 
 her, and circumspectly watching every word and 
 motion, as may well be imagined, situated as I was 
 betwixt fear and hope, and involved in perplexity) 
 that my brother had undoubtedly an intention of 
 withdrawing himself, and would not be there the next 
 day ; adding that he was assured of it, and she might 
 take her measures accordingly. 
 
 I observed that she was much disconcerted by this 
 observation, and I had my fears lest we should be 
 discovered. When we came into her closet, she drew 
 me aside and asked if I heard what Matignon had 
 said. 
 
 I replied : " I did not hear it, Madame, but I observe 
 that it has given you uneasiness." 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 197 
 
 " Yes," said she, " a great deal of uneasiness, for 
 you know I have pledged myself to the King that 
 your brother shall not depart hence, and Matignon 
 has declared that he knows very well he will not be 
 here to-morrow." 
 
 I now found myself under a great embarrassment ; 
 I was in danger either of proving unfaithful to my 
 brother, and thereby bringing his life into jeopardy, 
 or of being obliged to declare that to be truth which 
 I knew to be false, and this I would have died rather 
 than be guilty of.* 
 
 In this extremity, if I had not been aided by God, 
 my countenance, without speaking, would plainly have 
 discovered what I wished to conceal. But God, who 
 assists those who mean well, and whose divine good- 
 ness was discoverable in my brother's escape, enabled 
 me to compose my looks and suggested to me such 
 a reply as gave her to understand no more than I 
 wished her to know, and cleared my conscience from 
 making any declaration contrary to the truth. I an- 
 swered her in these words : 
 
 " You cannot, Madame, but be sensible that M. de 
 Matignon is not one of my brother's friends, and that 
 he is, besides, a busy, meddling kind of man, who is 
 sorry to find a reconciliation has taken place with us ; 
 and, as to my brother, I will answer for him with my 
 life in case he goes hence, of which, if he had any 
 design, I should, as I am well assured, not be igno- 
 
198 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS, 
 
 rant, he never having yet concealed anything he 
 meant to do from me." 
 
 All this was said by me with the assurance that, 
 after my brother's escape, they would not dare to do 
 me any injury ; and in case of the worst, and when 
 we should be discovered, I had much rather pledge 
 my life than hazard my soul by a false declaration, 
 and endanger my brother's life. Without scrutinising 
 the import of my speech, she replied : " Remember 
 what you now say, — you will be bound for him on 
 the penalty of your life." 
 
 I smiled and answered that such was my intention. 
 Then, wishing her a good night, I retired to my own 
 bedchamber, where, undressing myself in haste and 
 getting into bed, in order to dismiss the ladies and 
 maids of honour, and there then remaining only my 
 chamber-women, my brother came in, accompanied 
 by Simier and Cange. Rising from my bed, we made 
 the cord fast, and having looked out at the window to 
 discover if any one was in the ditch, with the assist- 
 ance of three of my women, who slept in my room, 
 and the lad who had brought in the rope, we let down 
 my brother, who laughed and joked upon the occasion 
 without the least apprehension, notwithstanding the 
 height was considerable. We next lowered Simier 
 into the ditch, who was in such a fright that he had 
 scarcely strength to hold the rope fast ; and lastly 
 descended my brother's valet de chambre, Cang^. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 199 
 
 Through God's providence my brother got off undis- 
 covered, and going to Ste. Genevieve, he found Bussi 
 waiting there for him. By consent of the abbot, a 
 hole had been made in the city wall, through which 
 they passed, and horses being provided and in waiting, 
 they mounted, and reached Angers without the least 
 accident. 
 
 Whilst we were lowering down Cang^, who, as I 
 mentioned before, was the last, we observed a man 
 rising out of the ditch, who ran towards the lodge 
 adjoining to the tennis-court, in the direct way lead- 
 ing to the guard-house. I had no apprehensions on 
 my own account, all my fears being absorbed by those 
 I entertained for my brother ; and now I was almost 
 dead with alarm, supposing this might be a spy placed 
 there by M. de Matignon, and that my brother would 
 be taken. Whilst I was in this cruel state of anxiety, 
 which can be judged of only by those who have expe- 
 rienced a similar situation, my women took a pre- 
 caution for my safety and their own, which did not 
 suggest itself to me. This was to burn the rope, that 
 it might not appear to our conviction in case the man 
 in question had been placed there to watch us. This 
 rope occasioned so great a flame in burning, that it 
 set fire to the chimney, which, being seen from with- 
 out, alarmed the guard, who ran to us, knocking \'io- 
 lently at the door, calling for it to be opened. 
 
 I now concluded that my brother was stopped, and 
 
200 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 that we were both undone. However, as, by the 
 blessing of God and through his divine mercy alone, 
 I have, amidst every danger with which I have been 
 repeatedly surrounded, constantly preserved a presence 
 of mind which directed what was best to be done, and 
 observing that the rope was not more than half con- 
 sumed, I told my women to go to the door, and speak- 
 ing softly, as if I was asleep, to ask the men what 
 they wanted. They did so, and the archers replied 
 that the chimney was on fire, and they came to 
 extinguish it. My women answered it was of no 
 consequence, and they could put it out themselves, 
 begging them not to awake me. This alarm thus 
 passed oif quietly, and they went away ; but, in two 
 hours afterward, M. de Coss^ came for me to go to 
 the King and the Queen, my mother, to give an 
 account of my brother's escape, of which they had 
 received intelligence by the Abbot of Ste. Gene\deve. 
 
 It seems it had been concerted betwixt my brother 
 and the abbot, in order to prevent the latter from 
 falling under disgrace, that, when my brother might 
 be supposed to have reached a sufficient distance, the 
 abbot should go to Court, and say that he had been 
 put into confinement whilst the hole was being made, 
 and that he came to inform the King as soon as he 
 had released himself. 
 
 I was in bed, for it was yet night; and rising 
 hastily, I put on my night-clothes. One of my women 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. , 201 
 
 was indiscreet enough to hold me round the waist, 
 and exclaim aloud, shedding a flood of tears, that she 
 should never see me more. M. de Cosse, pushing her 
 away, said to me : " If I were not a person thoroughly 
 devoted to your service, this woman has said enough 
 to bring you into trouble. But," continued he, " fear 
 nothing. God be praised, by this time the Prince 
 your brother is out of danger." 
 
 These words were very necessary, in the present 
 state of my mind, to fortify it against the reproaches 
 and threats I had reason to expect from the King. 
 I foimd him sitting at the foot of the Queen my 
 mother's bed, in such a violent rage that I am inclined 
 to believe I should have felt the effects of it, had he 
 not been restrained by the absence of my brother and 
 my mother's presence. They both told me that I had 
 assured them my brother would not leave the Court, 
 and that I pledged myself for his stay. I replied that 
 it was true that he had deceived me, as he had them ; 
 however, I was ready still to pledge my life that his 
 departure would not operate to the prejudice of the 
 King's service, and that it would appear he was only 
 gone to his own principality to give orders and for- 
 ward his expedition to Flanders. 
 
 The King appeared to be somewhat mollified by 
 this declaration, and now gave me permission to 
 return to my own apartments. Soon afterwards he 
 received letters from my brother, containing assur- 
 
202 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 ances of his attachment, in the terms I had before 
 expressed. This caused a cessation of complaints, but 
 by no means removed the King's dissatisfaction, who 
 made a show of affording assistance to his expedition, 
 but was secretly using every means to frustrate and 
 defeat it. 
 
LETTER XX. 
 
 Queen Marguerite Permitted to Go to the King Her Hus- 
 band. — Is Accompanied by the Queen-mother. — Mar- 
 guerite Insulted by Her Husband's Secretary. — She 
 Harbours Jealousy. — Her Attention to the King Her 
 Husband during an Indisposition. — Their Reconciliation. 
 — The War Breaks Out Afresh. — Affront Received from 
 Mar6chal de Biron. 
 
 I NOW renewed my application for leave to go to 
 the King my husband, which I continued to press on 
 every opportunity. The King, perceiving that he 
 could not refuse my leave any longer, was willing I 
 should depart satisfied. He had this further view in 
 complying with my wishes, that by this means he 
 should withdraw me from my attachment to my 
 brother. He therefore strove to oblige me in every 
 way he could think of, and, to fulfil the promise made 
 by the Queen my mother at the Peace of Sens, he 
 gave me an assignment of my portion in territory, 
 with the power of nomination to all vacant benefices 
 and all offices ; and, over and above the customary 
 pension to the daughters of France, he gave another 
 out of his privy purse. 
 
204 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 He daily paid me a visit in my apartment, in which 
 he took occasion to represent to me how useful his 
 friendship would be to me ; whereas that of my 
 brother could be only injurious, — with arguments of 
 the like kind. 
 
 However, all he could say was insufficient to pre- 
 vail on me to swerve from the fidelity I had vowed 
 to observe to my brother. The King was able to 
 draw from me no other declaration than this : that it 
 ever was, and should be, my earnest wish to see my 
 brother firmly established in his gracious favour, 
 which he had never appeared to me to have forfeited ; 
 that I was well assured he would exert himself to the 
 utmost to regain it by every act of duty and merito- 
 rious service ; that, with respect to myself, I thought 
 I was so much obliged to him for the great honour he 
 did me by repeated acts of generosity, that he might 
 be assured, when I was with the King my husband 
 I should consider myself bound in duty to obey all 
 such commands as he should be pleased to give me ; 
 and that it would be my whole study to maintain the 
 King my husband in a submission to his pleasure. 
 
 My brother was now on the point of leaving 
 Alengon to go to Flanders ; the Queen my mother 
 was desirous to see him before his departure. 1 
 begged the King to permit me to take the opportunity 
 of accompanying her to take leave of my brother, 
 which he granted ; but, as it seemed, with great un- 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 205 
 
 willingness. When we returned from Alengon, I 
 solicited the King to permit me to take leave of him- 
 self, as I had everything prepared for my journey. 
 The Queen my mother being desirous to go to 
 Gascony, where her presence was necessary for the 
 King's service, was unwilling that I should depart 
 without her. When we left Paris, the King accom- 
 panied us on the way as far as his palace of Dolinville. 
 There we stayed with him a few days, and there we 
 took our leave, and in a little time reached Guienne, 
 which belonging to, and being under the government 
 of the King my husband, I was everywhere received 
 as Queen. My husband gave the Queen my mother 
 a meeting at R^olle, which was held by the Huguenots 
 as a cautionary town ; and the country not being suf- 
 ficiently quieted, she was permitted to go no further. 
 
 It was the intention of the Queen my mother to 
 make but a short stay ; but so many accidents arose 
 from disputes betwixt the Huguenots and Catholics, 
 that she was under the necessity of stopping there 
 eighteen months. As this was very much against 
 her inclination, she was sometimes inclined to think 
 there was a design to keep her, in order to have the 
 company of her maids of honour. For my husband 
 had been greatly smitten with Dayelle, and M. de 
 Thurene was in love with La Vergne. However, T 
 received every mark of honour and attention from 
 the King that I could expect or desire. He related 
 
206 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 to me, as soon as we met, the artifices which had 
 been put in practice whilst he remained at Court to 
 create a misunderstanding betwixt him and me ; all 
 this, he said, he knew was with a design to cause a 
 rupture betwixt my brother and him, and thereby 
 ruin us all three, as there was an exceeding great 
 jealousy entertained of the friendship which existed 
 betwixt us. 
 
 We remained in the disagreeable situation I have 
 before described all the time the Queen my mother 
 stayed in Gascony ; but, as soon as she could re- 
 establish peace, she, by desire of the King my hus- 
 band, removed the King's lieutenant, the Marquis de 
 Villars, putting in his place the Mar^chal de Biron, 
 She then departed for Languedoc, and we conducted 
 her to Castelnaudary ; where, taking our leave, we 
 returned to Pan, in Beam ; in which place, the 
 Catholic religion not being tolerated, I was only 
 allowed to have mass celebrated in a chapel of about 
 three or four feet in length, and so narrow that it 
 could scarcely hold seven or eight persons. During 
 the celebration of mass, the bridge of the castle was 
 drawn up to prevent the Catholics of the town and 
 country from coming to assist at it ; who having 
 been, for some years, deprived of the benefit of fol- 
 lowing their own mode of worship, would have gladly 
 been present. Actuated by so holy and laudable a 
 desire, some of the inhabitants of Pan, on Whit- 
 
MARGUERITE BE VALOIS. 207 
 
 Sunday, found means to get into the castle before the 
 bridge was drawn up, and were present at the cel- 
 ebration of mass, not being discovered until it was 
 nearly over. At length the Huguenots espied them, 
 and ran to acquaint Le Pin, secretary to the King my 
 husband, who was greatly in his favour, and who 
 conducted the whole business relating to the new 
 religion. Upon receiving this intelligence, Le Pin 
 ordered the guard to arrest these poor people, who 
 were severely beaten in my presence, and afterwards 
 locked up in prison, whence they were not released 
 without paying a considerable fine. 
 
 This indignity gave me great offence, as I never 
 expected anything of the kind. Accordingly, I com- 
 plained of it to the King my husband, begging him 
 to give orders for the release of these poor Catholics, 
 who did not deserve to be punished for coming to my 
 chapel to hear mass, a celebration of which they had 
 been so long deprived of the benefit. Le Pin, with 
 the greatest disrespect to his master, took upon him 
 to reply, without waiting to hear what the King had 
 to say. He told me that I ought not to trouble the 
 King my husband about such matters ; that what 
 had been done was very right and proper ; that those 
 people had justly merited the treatment they met 
 with, and all I could say would go for nothing, for it 
 must be so ; and that I ought to rest satisfied with 
 being permitted to have mass said to me and my 
 
208 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 servants. This insolent speech from a person of his 
 inferior condition incensed me greatly, and I entreated 
 the King my husband, if I had the least share in his 
 good graces, to do me justice, and avenge the insult 
 offered me by this low man. 
 
 The King my husband, perceiving that I was 
 offended, as I had reason to be, with this gross indig- 
 nity, ordered Le Pin to quit our presence immedi- 
 ately ; and, expressing his concern at his secretary's 
 beha"^aour, who, he said, was overzealous in the cause 
 of religion, he promised that he would make an ex- 
 ample of him. As to the Catholic prisoners, he said 
 he would advise with his parliament what ought to be 
 done for my satisfaction. 
 
 Having said this, he went to his closet, where he 
 found Le Pin, who, by dint of persuasion, made 
 him change his resolution ; insomuch that, fearing I 
 should insist upon his dismissing his secretary, he 
 avoided meeting me. At last, finding that I was 
 firmly resolved to leave him, unless he dismissed Le 
 Pin, he took advice of some persons, who, having 
 themselves a dislike to the secretary, represented that 
 he ought not to give me cause of displeasure for the 
 sake of a man of his small importance, — especially 
 one who, like him, had given me just reason to be 
 offended ; that, when it became known to the King 
 my brother and the Queen my mother, they would 
 certainly take it ill that he had not only not resented 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 209 
 
 it, but, on the contrary, still kept him near his 
 person. 
 
 This counsel prevailed with him, ani' he at length 
 discarded his secretary. The King, however, con- 
 tinued to behave to me with great coolness, being in- 
 fluenced, as he afterwards confessed, by the coubsel of 
 M. de Pibrac, who acted the part of a double dealer, 
 telling me that I ought not to pardon an affront 
 offered by such a mean fellow, but insist upon his 
 being dismissed ; whilst he persuaded the King my 
 husband that there was no reason for parting with a 
 man so useful to him, for such a trivial cause. This 
 was done by M. de Pibrac, thinking I might be in- 
 duced, from such mortifications, to return to France, 
 where he enjoyed the offices of president and King's 
 counsellor. 
 
 I now met with a fresh cause for disquietude in my 
 present situation, for, Dayelle being gone, the King 
 my husband placed his affections on Rebours. She 
 was an artful young person, and had no regard for 
 me ; accordingly, she did me all the ill offices in her 
 power with him. In the midst of these trials, I put 
 my trust in God, and he, moved with pity by my 
 tears, gave permission for our leaving Pan, that " little 
 Geneva ; " and, fortunately for me, Rebours was taken 
 ill and stayed behind. The King my husband no 
 sooner lost sight of her than he forgot her ; he now 
 turned his eyes and attention towards Fosseuse. She 
 
210 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 was much handsomer than the other, and was at that 
 time young, and really a very amiable person. 
 
 Pursuing the road to Montauban, we stopped at a 
 little town called Eause, where, in the night, the King 
 my husband was attacked with a high fever, accom- 
 panied with most violent pains in his head. This 
 fever lasted for seventeen days, during which time he 
 had no rest night or day, but was continually removed 
 from one bed to another. I nursed him the whole 
 time, never stirring from his bedside, and never put- 
 ting off my clothes. He took notice of my extraordi- 
 nary tenderness, and spoke of it to several persons, 
 
 and particularly to my cousin M , who, acting the 
 
 part of an affectionate relation, restored me to his 
 favour, insomuch that I never stood so highly in it 
 before. This happiness I had the good fortune to 
 enjoy during the four or five years that I remained 
 with him in Gascony. 
 
 Our residence, for the most part of the time I have 
 mentioned, was at N^rac, where our Court was so 
 brilliant that we had no cause to regret our absence 
 from the Court of France. We had with us the 
 Princesse de Navarre, my husband's sister, since mar- 
 ried to the Due de Bar ; there were besides a number 
 of ladies belonging to myself. The King my husband 
 was attended by a numerous body of lords and gen- 
 tlemen, all as gallant persons as I have seen in any 
 Court ; and we had only to lament that they were 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 211 
 
 Huguenots. This difference of religion, however, 
 caused no dispute among us ; the King my husband 
 and the Princess his sister heard a sermon, whilst I 
 and my servants heard mass. I had a chapel in the 
 park for the purpose, and, as soon as the service of 
 both religions was over, we joined company in a beau- 
 tiful garden, ornamented with long walks shaded with 
 laurel and cypress trees. Sometimes we took -a walk 
 in the park on the banks of the river, bordered by an 
 avenue of trees three thousand yards in length. The 
 rest of the day was passed in innocent amusements ; 
 and in the afternoon, or at night, we commonly had a 
 ball. 
 
 The King was very assiduous with Fosseuse, who, 
 being dependent on me, kept herself within the strict 
 bounds of honour and virtue. Had she always done so, 
 she had not brought upon herself a misfortune which 
 has proved of such fatal consequence to myself as well 
 as to her. 
 
 But our happiness was too great to be of long con- 
 tinuance, and fresh troubles broke out betwixt the 
 King my husband and the Catholics, and gave rise to 
 a new war. The King my husband and the Mar^chal 
 de Biron, who was the King's lieutenant in Guienne, 
 had a difference, which was aggravated by the Hugue- 
 nots. This breach became in a short time so wide 
 that all my efforts to close it were useless. They 
 made their separate complaints to the King. The 
 
212 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 King my husband insisted on the removal of the Ma- 
 r^chal de Biron, and the Marshal charged the King 
 my husband, and the rest of those who were of the 
 pretended reformed religion, with designs contrary to 
 peace. I saw, with great concern, that affairs were 
 likely soon to come to an open rupture ; and I had no 
 power to prevent it. 
 
 The Marshal advised the King to come to Guienne 
 himself, saying that in his presence matters might be 
 settled. The Huguenots, hearing of this proposal, sup- 
 posed the King would take possession of their towns, 
 and, thereupon, came to a resolution to take up arms. 
 This was what I feared ; 1 was become a sharer in 
 the King my husband's fortune, and was now to be 
 in opposition to the King my brother and the religion 
 I had been bred up in. I gave my opinion upon this 
 war to the King my husband and his Council, and 
 strove to dissuade them from engaging in it. I 
 represented to them the hazards of carrying on a 
 war when they were to be opposed against so able 
 a general as the Mardchal de Biron, who would not 
 spare them, as other generals had done, he being their 
 private enemy. I begged them to consider that, if the 
 King brought his whole force against them, with in- 
 tention to exterminate their religion, it would not be 
 in their power to oppose or prevent it. But they were 
 so headstrong, and so blinded with the hope of suc- 
 ceeding in the surprise of certain towns in Languedoc 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 213 
 
 and Gascony, that, though the King did me the hon- 
 our, upon all occasions, to listen to my advice, as did 
 most of the Huguenots, yet I could not prevail on 
 them to follow it in the present situation of affairs, 
 until it was too late, and after they had found, to 
 their cost, that my counsel was good. The torrent 
 was now burst forth, and there was no possibility 
 of stopping its course until it had spent its utmost 
 strength. 
 
 Before that period arrived, foreseeing the conse- 
 quences, I had often written to the King and the 
 Queen my mother, to offer something to the King 
 my husband by way of accommodating matters. Cut 
 they were bent against it, and seemed to be pleased 
 that matters had taken such a turn, being assured 
 by Mar^chal de Biron that he had it in his power 
 to crush the Huguenots whenever he pleased. In 
 this crisis my advice was not attended to, the dis- 
 sensions increased, and recourse was had to arms. 
 
 The Huguenots had reckoned upon a force more 
 considerable than they were able to collect together, 
 and the King my husband found himself outnmnbered 
 by Mar^chal de Biron. In consequence, those of the 
 pretended reformed religion failed in all their plans, 
 except their attack upon Cahors, which they took with 
 petards, after having lost a great number of men, — 
 M. de Yezins, who commanded in the town, disputing 
 their entrance for two or three days, from street to 
 
214 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 street, and even from house to house. The King my 
 husband displayed great valour and conduct upon the 
 occasion, and showed himself to be a gallant and 
 brave general. Though the Huguenots succeeded 
 in this attempt, their loss was so great that they 
 gained nothing from it. Marechal de Biron kept 
 the field, and took every place that declared for 
 the Huguenots, putting all that opposed him to the 
 sword. 
 
 From the commencement of this war, the King my 
 husband doing me the honour to love me, and com- 
 manding me not to leave him, I had resolved to share 
 his fortune, not without extreme regret, in observing 
 that this war was of such a nature that I could not, 
 in conscience, wish success to either side ; for if the 
 Huguenots got the upper hand, the religion which I 
 cherished as much as my life was lost, and if the 
 Catholics prevailed, the King my husband was un- 
 done. But, being thus attached to my husband, by 
 the duty I owed him, and obliged by the attentions 
 he was pleased to show me, I could only acquaint the 
 King and the Queen my mother with the situation to 
 which I was reduced, occasioned by my advice to them 
 not having been attended to. I, therefore, prayed 
 them, if they could not extinguish the flames of war 
 in the midst of which I was placed, at least to give 
 orders to Marechal de Biron to consider the town I 
 resided in, and three leagues round it, as neutral 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 215 
 
 ground, and that I would get the King my hus- 
 band to do the same. This the King granted me 
 for Nerac, provided my husband was not there ; 
 but if he should enter it, the neutrality was to 
 cease, and so to remain as long as he continued 
 there. This convention was observed, on both sides, 
 with all the exactness I could desire. However, 
 the King my husband was not to be prevented 
 irom often visiting Nerac, which was the residence 
 of his sister and me. He was fond of the society 
 of ladies, and, moreover, was at that time greatly 
 enamoured with Fosseuse, who held the place in his 
 affections which Rebours had lately occupied. Fos- 
 seuse did me no ill offices, so that the King my 
 husband and I continued to live on very good terms, 
 especially as he perceived me unwilling to oppose his 
 inclinations. 
 
 Led by such inducements, he came to Nerac, once, 
 with a body of troops, and stayed three days, not being 
 able to leave the agreeable company he found there. 
 Marechal de Biron, who wished for nothing so much 
 as such an opportunity, was apprised of it, and, under 
 pretence of joining M. de Cornusson, the seneschal of 
 Toulouse, who was expected with a reinforcement for 
 his army, he began his march ; but, instead of pursu- 
 ing the road, according to the orders he had issued, he 
 suddenly ordered his troops to file off towards Nerac, 
 and, before nine in the morning, his whole force was 
 
216 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 drawn up within sight of the town, and within cannon- 
 shot of it. 
 
 The King my husband had received intelligence, the 
 evening before, of the expected arrival of M. de 
 Cornusson, and was desirous of preventing the junc- 
 tion, for which purpose he resolved to attack him and 
 the Marshal separately. As he had been lately joined 
 by M. de La Rochefoucauld, with a corps of cavalry 
 consisting of eight hundred men, formed from the 
 nobility of Saintonge, he found himself sufficiently 
 strong to undertake such a plan. He, therefore, set 
 out before break of day to make his attack as they 
 crossed the river. But his intelligence did not prove 
 to be correct, for De Cornusson passed it the evening 
 before. My husband, being thus disappointed in his 
 design, returned to Nerac, and entered at one gate just 
 as Marechal de Biron drew up his troops before the 
 other. There fell so heavy a rain at that moment 
 that the musketry was of no use. The King my hus- 
 band, however, threw a body of his troops into a 
 vineyard to stop the Marshal's progress, not being able 
 to do more on account of the unfavourableness of the 
 weather. 
 
 In the meantime, the Marshal continued with his 
 troops drawn up in order of battle, permitting only 
 two or three of his men to advance, who challenged 
 a like number to break lances in honour of their mis- 
 tresses. The rest of the army kept their ground, to 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 217 
 
 mask their artillery, which, being, ready to play, they 
 opened to the right and left, and fired seven or eight 
 shots upon the town, one of which struck the palace. 
 The Marshal, having done this, marched off, despatch- 
 ing a trumpeter to me with his excuse. He ac- 
 quainted me that, had I been alone, he would on no 
 account have fired on the town ; but the terms 
 of neutrality for the town, agreed upon by the 
 King, were, as I well knew, in case the King my 
 husband should not be found in it, and, if other- 
 wise, they were void. Besides which, his orders 
 were to attack the King my husband wherever he 
 should find him. 
 
 I must acknowledge on every other occasion the 
 Marshal showed me the greatest respect, and appeared 
 to be much my friend. During the war my letters 
 have frequently fallen into his hands, when he as con- 
 stantly forwarded them to me unopened. And when- 
 ever my people have happened to be taken prisoners 
 by his army, they were always well treated as soon as 
 they mentioned to whom they belonged. 
 
 I answered his message by the trumpeter, saying 
 that I well knew what he had done was strictly agree- 
 able to the convention made and the orders he had 
 received, but that a gallant officer like him would know 
 how to do his duty without giving his friends cause of 
 offence ; that he might have permitted me the enjoy- 
 ment of the King my husband's company in N^rac for 
 
218 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 three days, adding, that he could not attack him, in 
 my presence, without attacking me ; and concluding 
 that, certainly, I was greatly offended by his conduct, 
 and would take the first opportunity of making my 
 complaint to the King my brother. 
 
LETTER XXI. 
 
 Situation of Affairs in Flanders Peace Brought About by 
 
 Due d'Alengon's Negotiation. — Mar^chal de Biron Apolo- 
 gises for Fii'ing on N^rac. — Henri Desperately in Love 
 with Fosseuse. — Queen Marguerite Discovers Fosseuse to 
 
 Be Pregnant, Which She Denies. — Fosseuse in Labour 
 
 Marguerite's Generous Behaviour to Her. — Marguerite's 
 Return to Paris. 
 
 The war lasted some time longer, but with disad- 
 vantage to the Huguenots. The King my husband at 
 length became desirous to make a peace. I wrote on 
 the subject to the King and the Queen my mother; 
 but so elated were they both with Mar^chal de Biron's 
 success that they would not agree to any terms. 
 
 About the time this war broke out, Cambray, which 
 had been delivered up to my brother by M. d'Ainsi, 
 according to his engagement with me, as I have before 
 related, was besieged by the forces of Spain. My 
 brother received the news of this siege at his castle of 
 Plessis-les-Tours, whither he had retired after his 
 return from Flanders, where, by the assistance of 
 the Comte de Lalain, he had been invested with 
 the government of Mons, Valenciennes, and their 
 dependencies. 
 
220 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 My brother, being anxious to relieve Cambray, set 
 about raising an army with all the expedition possible ; 
 but, finding it could not be accomplished very speedily, 
 he sent forward a reinforcement under the command 
 of M. de Balagny, to succour the place until he arrived 
 himself with a sufficient force to raise the siege. 
 Whilst he was in the midst of these preparations this 
 Huguenot war broke out, and the men he had raised 
 left him to incorporate themselves with the King's 
 army, which had reached Gascony. 
 
 My brother was now without hope of raising the 
 siege, and to lose Cambray would be attended with 
 the loss of the other countries he had just obtained. 
 Besides, what he should regret more, such losses 
 would reduce to great straits M. de Balagny and the 
 gallant troops so nobly defending the place. 
 
 His grief on this occasion was poignant, and, as his 
 excellent judgment furnished him with expedients 
 under all his difficulties, he resolved to endeavour to 
 bring about a peace. Accordingly he despatched a 
 gentleman to the King with his advice to accede to 
 terms, offering to undertake the treaty himself. His 
 design in offering himself as negotiator was to prevent 
 the treaty being drawn out to too great a length, as 
 might be the case if confided to others. It was 
 necessary that he should speedily relieve Cambray, 
 for M. de Balagny, who had thrown himself into the 
 city as I have before mentioned, had written to him 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 221 
 
 that he should be able to defend the place for six 
 months ; but, if he received no succours within that 
 time, his provisions would be all expended, and he 
 should be obliged to give way to the clamours of the 
 inhabitants, and surrender the town. 
 
 By God's favour, the King was induced to listen to 
 my brother's proposal of undertaking a negotiation 
 for a peace. The King hoped thereby to disappoint 
 him in his expectations in Flanders, which he never 
 had approved. Accordingly he sent word back to my 
 brother that he should accept his proffer of negotiating 
 a peace, and would send him for his coadjutors, M. de 
 Yilleroy and M. de Bellievre. The commission my 
 brother was charged with succeeded, and, after a stay 
 of seven months in Gascony, he settled a peace and 
 left us, his thoughts being employed during the whole 
 time on the means of relieving Cambray, which the 
 satisfaction he found in being with us could not 
 altogether abate. 
 
 The peace my brother made, as I have just men- 
 tioned, was so judiciously framed that it gave equal 
 satisfaction to the King and the Catholics, and to the 
 King my husband and the Huguenots, and obtained 
 him the affections of both parties. He likewise 
 acquired from it the assistance of that able general, 
 Marechal de Biron, who undertook the command of 
 the army destined to raise the siege of Cambray. 
 The King my husband was equally gratified in the 
 
222 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Marshal's removal from Gascony and having Mar^chal 
 de Matignon in his place. 
 
 Before my brother set off he was desirous to bring 
 about a reconciliation betwixt the King my husband 
 and Mar^chal de Biron, provided the latter should 
 make his apologies to me for his conduct at N^rac. 
 My brother had desired me to treat him with all dis- 
 dain, but I used this hasty advice with discretion, 
 considering that my brother might one day or other 
 repent having given it, as he had everything to hope, 
 in his present situation, from the bravery of this 
 officer. 
 
 My brother returned to France accompanied by 
 Mar^chal de Biron. By his negotiation of a peace he 
 had acquired to himself great credit with both parties, 
 and secured a powerful force for the purpose of rais- 
 ing the siege of Cambray. But honours and success 
 are followed by envy. The King beheld this acces- 
 sion of glory to his brother with great dissatisfaction. 
 He had been for seven months, while my brother and 
 I were together in Gascony, brooding over his malice, 
 and produced the strangest invention that can be 
 imagined. He pretended to believe (what the King 
 my husband can easily prove to be false) that I insti- 
 gated him to go to war that I might procure for my 
 brother the credit of making peace. This is not at 
 all probable when it is considered the prejudice my 
 brother's affairs in Flanders sustained by the war. 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 223 
 
 But envy and malice are self-deceivers, and pretend 
 to discover what no one else can perceive. On this 
 frail foundation the King raised an altar of hatred, 
 on which he swore never to cease till he had accom- 
 plished my brother's ruin and mine. He had never 
 forgiven me for the attachment I had discovered for 
 my brother's interest during the time he was in 
 Poland and since. 
 
 Fortune chose to favour the King's animosity ; for, 
 during the seven months that my brother stayed in 
 Gascony, he conceived a passion for Fosseuse, who 
 was become the doting piece of the King my husband, 
 as I have already mentioned, since he had quitted 
 Rebours. This new passion in my brother had in- 
 duced the King my husband to treat me with cold- 
 ness, supposing that I countenanced my brother's 
 addresses. I no sooner discovered this than I remon- 
 strated with my brother, as I knew he would make 
 every sacrifice for my repose. I begged him to give 
 over his pursuit, and not to speak to her again. I 
 succeeded this way to defeat the malice of my ill- 
 fortune ; but there was still behind another secret 
 ambush, and that of a more fatal nature ; for Fos- 
 seuse, who was passionately fond of the King my 
 husband, but had hitherto granted no favours incon- 
 sistent with prudence and modesty, piqued by his 
 jealousy of my brother, gave herself up suddenly to 
 his will, and unfortunately became pregnant. She 
 
224 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 no sooner made this discovery, than she altered her 
 conduct towards me entirely from what it was before. 
 She now shunned my presence as much as she had 
 been accustomed to seek it, and whereas before she 
 strove to do me every good office with the King my 
 husband, she now endeavoured to make all the mis- 
 chief she was able betwixt us. For his part, he 
 avoided me ; he grew cold and indifferent, and since 
 Fosseuse ceased to conduct herself with discretion, 
 the happy moments that we experienced during the 
 four or five years we were together in Gascony were 
 no more. 
 
 Peace being restored, and my brother departed for 
 France, as I have already related, the King my hus- 
 band and I returned to Nerac. We were no sooner 
 there than Fosseuse persuaded the King my husband 
 to make a journey to the waters of Aigues-Caudes, in 
 Bdarn, perhaps with a design to rid herself of her 
 burden there. I begged the King my husband to 
 excuse my accompanying him, as, since the affront 
 that I had received at Pau, I had made a vow never 
 to set foot in B^arn until the Catholic religion was 
 reestablished there. He pressed me much to go with 
 him, and grew angry at my persisting to refuse his 
 request. He told me that his little girl (for so he 
 affected to call Fosseuse) was desirous to go there 
 on account of a colic, which she felt frequent returns 
 of. I answered that I had no objection to his taking 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 225 
 
 her with him. He then said that she could not go 
 unless I went ; that it would occasion scandal, which 
 might as well be avoided. He continued to press me 
 to accompany him, but at length I prevailed with him 
 to consent to go without me, and to take her with 
 him, and, with her, two of her companions, Rebours 
 and Yille-Savin, together with the governess. They 
 set out accordingly, and I waited their return at 
 Baviere. 
 
 I had every day news from Rebours, informing me 
 how matters went. This Rebours I have mentioned 
 before to have been the object of my husband's pas- 
 sion, but she was now cast off, and, consequently, was 
 no friend to Fosseuse, who had gained that place in 
 his affection she had before held. She, therefore, 
 strove all she could to circumvent her ; and, indeed, 
 she was fully qualified for such a purpose, as she was 
 a cunning, deceitful young person. She gave me to 
 understand that Fosseuse laboured to do me every 
 ill office in her power ; that she spoke of me with the 
 greatest disrespect on all occasions, and expressed 
 her expectations of marrying the King herself, in case 
 she should be delivered of a son, when I was to be 
 divorced. She had said, further, that when the King 
 my husband returned to Bavidre, he had resolved to 
 go to Pau, and that I should go with him, whether 
 I would or not. 
 
 This intelligence was far from being agreeable to 
 
226 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 me, and I knew not what to think of it. I trusted 
 in the goodness of God, and I had a reliance on the 
 generosity of the King my husband ; yet I passed the 
 time I waited for his return but uncomfortably, and 
 often thought I shed more tears than they drank 
 water. The Catholic nobility of the neighbourhood 
 of Baviere used their utmost endeavours to divert my 
 chagrin, for the month or five weeks that the King 
 my husband and Fosseuse stayed at Aigues-Caudes. 
 
 On his return, a certain nobleman acquainted the 
 King my husband with the concern I was under lest 
 he should go to Pan, whereupon he did not press 
 me on the subject, but only said he should have been 
 glad if I had consented to go with him. Perceiving, 
 by my tears and the expressions I made use of, that 
 I should prefer even death to such a journey, he 
 altered his intentions and we returned to N^rac. 
 
 The pregnancy of Fosseuse was now no longer a 
 secret. The whole Court talked of it, and not only 
 the Court, but all the country. I was willing to pre- 
 vent the scandal from spreading, and accordingly 
 resolved to talk to her on the subject. With this 
 resolution, I took her into my closet, and spoke to 
 her thus : " Though you have for some time es- 
 tranged yourself from me, and, as it has been reported 
 to me, striven to do me many ill offices with the 
 King my husband, yet the regard I once had for 
 you, and the esteem which I still entertain for those 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 22T 
 
 honourable persons to whose family you belong, do 
 not admit of my neglecting to afford you all the as- 
 sistance in my power in your present unhappy situ- 
 ation. I beg you, therefore, not to conceal the truth, 
 it being both for your interest and mine, under whose 
 protection you are, to declare it. Tell me the truth, 
 and I will act towards you as a mother. You know 
 that a contagious disorder has broken out in the 
 place, and, under pretence of avoiding it, I will go to 
 Mas-d'Agenois, which is a house belonging to the 
 King my husband, in a very retired situation. I will 
 take you with me, and such other persons as you shall 
 name. Whilst we are there, the King will take the 
 diversion of hunting in some other part of the coun- 
 try, and I shall not stir thence before your delivery. 
 By this means we shall put a stop to the scandalous 
 reports which are now current, and which concern 
 you more than myself." 
 
 So far from showing any contrition, or returning 
 thanks for my kindness, she replied, with the utmost 
 arrogance, that she would prove all those to be liars 
 who had reported such things of her ; that, for my part, 
 I had ceased for a long time to show her any marks 
 of regard, and she saw that I was determined upon 
 her ruin. These words she delivered in as loud a 
 tone as mine had been mildly expressed ; and, leaving 
 me abruptly, she flew in a rage to the King my hus- 
 band, to relate to him what I had said to her. He 
 
228 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 was very angry upon the occasion, and declared he 
 would make them all liars who had laid such things 
 to her charge. From that moment until the hour of 
 her delivery, which was a few months after, he never 
 spoke to me. 
 
 She found the pains of labour come upon her about 
 daybreak, whilst she was in bed in the chamber where 
 the maids of honour slept. She sent for my physi- 
 cian, and begged him to go and acquaint the King my 
 husband that she was taken ill. We slept in separate 
 beds in the same chamber, and had done so for some 
 time. 
 
 The physician delivered the message as he was 
 directed, which greatly embarrassed my husband. 
 What to do he did not know. On the one hand, he 
 was fearful of a discovery ; on the other, he foresaw 
 that, without proper assistance, there was danger of 
 losing one he so much loved. In this dilemma, he 
 resolved to apply to me, confess all, and implore my 
 aid and advice, well knowing that, notwithstanding 
 what had passed, I should be ready to do him a pleas- 
 ure. Having come to this resolution, he withdrew 
 my curtains, and spoke to me thus: "My dear, I 
 have concealed a matter from you which I now con- 
 fess. I beg you to forgive me, and to think no more 
 about what I have said to you on the subject. Will 
 you oblige me so far as to rise and go to Fosseuse, 
 who is taken very ill ? I am well assured that, in 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 229 
 
 her present situation, you will forget everything and 
 resent nothing. You know how dearly I love her, 
 and I hope you will comply with my request." I 
 answered that I had too great a respect for him to be 
 offended at anything he should do, and that I would 
 go to her immediately, and do as much for her as if 
 she were a child of my own. I advised him, in the 
 meantime, to go out and hunt, by which means he 
 would draw away all his people, and prevent tattling. 
 
 I removed Fosseuse, with all convenient haste, from 
 the chamber in which the maids of honour were, to 
 one in a more retired part of the palace, got a physi- 
 cian and some women about her, and saw that she 
 wanted for nothing that was proper in her situation. 
 It pleased God that she should bring forth a daughter, 
 since dead. As soon as she was delivered I ordered 
 her to be taken back to the chamber from which she 
 had been brought. Notwithstanding these precau- 
 tions, it was not possible to prevent the story from 
 circulating through the palace. When the King my 
 husband returned from hunting he paid her a visit, 
 according to custom. She begged that I might come 
 and see her, as was usual with me when any one of 
 my maids of honour was taken ill. By this means 
 she expected to put a stop to stories to her prejudice. 
 The King my husband came from her into my bed- 
 chamber, and found me in bed, as I was fatigued and 
 required rest, after having been called up so early. 
 
230 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 He begged me to get up and pay her a visit. I told 
 him I went according to his desire before, when she 
 stood in need of assistance, but now she wanted no 
 help ; that to visit her at this time would be only 
 exposing her more, and cause myself to be pointed at 
 by all the world. He seemed to be greatly displeased 
 at what I said, which vexed me the more as I thought 
 I did not deserve such treatment after what I had 
 done at his request in the morning ; she likewise 
 contributed all in her power to aggravate matters 
 betwixt him and me. 
 
 In the meantime, the King my brother, always well 
 informed of what is passing in the families of the 
 nobility of his kingdom, was not ignorant of the trans- 
 actions of our Court. He was particularly curious 
 to learn everything that happened with us, and knew 
 every minute circumstance that I have now related. 
 Thinking this a favourable occasion to wreak his 
 vengeance on me for having been the means of my 
 brother acquiring so much reputation by the peace 
 he had brought about, he made use of the accident 
 that happened in our Court to withdraw me from the 
 King my husband, and thereby reduce me to the state 
 of misery he wished to plunge me in. To this pur- 
 pose he prevailed on the Queen my mother to write 
 to me, and express her anxious desire to see me after 
 an absence of five or six years. She added that a 
 journey of this sort to Court would be serviceable to 
 
MARGUERITE DE VALOIS. 231 
 
 the affairs of the King my husband as well as my 
 own ; that the King my brother himself was desirous of 
 seeing me, and that if I wanted money for the jour- 
 ney he would send it me. The King wrote to the 
 same purpose, and despatched Manique, the steward 
 of his household, with instructions to use every per- 
 suasion with me to undertake the journey. The 
 length of time I had been absent in Gascony, and 
 the unkind usage I received on account of Fosseuse, 
 contributed to induce me to listen to the proposal 
 made me. 
 
 The King and the Queen both wrote to me. I re- 
 ceived three letters, in quick succession ; and, that I 
 might have no pretence for staying, I had the sum of 
 fifteen hundred crowns paid me to defray the expenses 
 of my journey. The Queen my mother wrote that she 
 would give me the meeting in Saintonge, and that, if 
 the King my husband would accompany me so far, 
 she would treat with him there, and give him every 
 satisfaction with respect to the King. But the King 
 and she were desirous to have him at their Court, as 
 he had been before with my brother ; and the Mar^- 
 chal de Matignon had pressed the matter with the 
 King, that he might have no one to interfere with 
 him in Gascony. I had had too long experience of 
 what was to be expected at their Court to hope much 
 from all the fine promises that were made to me. I 
 had resolved, however, to avail myself of the oppor- 
 
232 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 tunity of an absence of a few months, thinking it 
 might prove the means of setting matters to rights. 
 Besides which, I thought that, as I should take Fos- 
 seuse with me, it was possible that the King's passion 
 for her might cool when she was no longer in his 
 sight, or he might attach himself to some other 
 that was less inclined to do me mischief. 
 
 It was with some difficulty that the King my hus- 
 band would consent to a removal, so unwilling was 
 he to leave his Fosseuse. He paid more attention 
 to me, in hopes that I should refuse to set out on this 
 journey to France ; but, as I had given my word in 
 my letters to the King and the Queen my mother 
 that I would go, and as I had even received money 
 for the purpose, I could not do otherwise. 
 
 And herein my ill-fortune prevailed over the reluc- 
 tance I had to leave the King my husband, after the 
 instances of renewed love and regard which he had 
 begun to show me. 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 
 
 Charles, Comte de Yalois, was the younger brother 
 of Philip the Fair, and therefore uncle of the three sov- 
 ereigns lately dead. His eldest son Philip had been 
 appointed guardian to the Queen of Charles IV.; and 
 when it appeared that she had given birth to a daughter, 
 and not a son, the barons, joining with the notables of 
 Paris and the good towns, met to decide who was 
 by right the heir to the throne, " for the twelve peers 
 of France said and say that the Crown of France is of 
 such noble estate that by no succession can it come 
 to a woman nor to a woman's son," as Froissart tells 
 us. This being their view, the baby daughter of 
 Charles IV. was at once set aside ; and the claim 
 of Edward III. of England, if, indeed, he ever made 
 it, rested on Isabella of France, his mother, sister of the 
 three sovereigns. And if succession through a female 
 had been possible, then the daughters of those three 
 kings "had rights to be reserved. It was, however, 
 clear that the throne must go to a man, and the crown 
 was given to Philip of Valois, founder of a new house 
 of sovereigns. 
 
 233 
 
234 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 The new monarch was a very formidable person. 
 He had been a great feudal lord, hot and vehement, 
 after feudal fashion ; but he was now to show that he 
 could be a severe master, a terrible king. He began 
 his reign by subduing the revolted Flemings on behalf 
 of his cousin Louis of Flanders, and having replaced 
 him in his dignities, returned to Paris and there held 
 high state as King. And he clearly was a great sover- 
 eign ; the weakness of the late King had not seriously 
 injured France ; the new King was the elect of the 
 great lords, and they believed that his would be a 
 new feudal monarchy ; they were in the glow of their 
 revenge over the Flemings for the days of Courtrai ; 
 his cousins reigned in Hungary and Naples, his sisters 
 were married to the greatest of the lords ; the Queen 
 of Navarre was his cousin ; even the youthful King of 
 England did him homage for Guienne and Ponthieu. 
 The barons soon found out their mistake. Philip VI., 
 supported by the lawyers, struck them whenever he 
 gave them opening; he also dealt harshly with the 
 traders, hampering them and all but ruining them, till 
 the country was alarmed and discontented. On the 
 other hand, young Edward of England had succeeded 
 to a troubled inheritance, and at the beginning was 
 far weaker than his rival ; his own sagacity, and the 
 advance of constitutional rights in England, soon 
 enabled him to repair the breaches in his kingdom, 
 and to gather fresh strength from the prosperity and 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 235 
 
 good-will of a united people. While France followed 
 a more restricted policy, England threw open her ports 
 to all comers ; trade grew in London as it waned in 
 Paris ; bj his marriage with Philippa of Hainault, 
 Edward secured a noble queen, and with her the hap- 
 piness of his subjects and the all-important friendship 
 of the Low Countries. In 1336 the followers of Philip 
 VI. persuaded Louis of Flanders to arrest the English 
 merchants then in Flanders ; whereupon Edward retal- 
 iated by stopping the export of wool, and Jacquemart 
 Tan Arteveldt of Ghent, then at the beginning of his 
 power, persuaded the Flemish cities to throw off all 
 allegiance to their French-loving Count, and to place 
 themselves under the protection of Edward. In return 
 Philip VI. put himself in communication with the 
 Scots, the hereditary foes of England, and the great 
 wars which were destined to last 116 years, and to 
 exhaust the strength of two strong nations, were now 
 about to begin. They brought brilliant and barren 
 triumphs to England, and, like most wars, were a waste- 
 ful and terrible mistake, which, if crowned with ulti- 
 mate success, might, by removing the centre of the 
 kingdom into France, have marred the future welfare 
 of England, for the happy constitutional development 
 of the country could never have taken place with a 
 sovereign living at Paris, and French interests becom- 
 ing ever more powerful. Fortunately, therefore, while 
 the war evoked by its brilliant successes the national 
 
236 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 pride of Englishmen, by its eventual failure it was pre- 
 vented from inflicting permanent damage on Engld!nd. 
 
 The war began in 1337 and ended in 1453 ; the 
 epochs in it are the Treaty of Bretigny in 1360, the 
 Treaty of Troyes in 1422, the final expulsion of 
 the English in 1453. 
 
 The French King seems to have believed himself 
 equal to the burdens of a great war, and able to carry 
 out the most far-reaching plans. The Pope was 
 entirely in his hands, and useful as a humble instru- 
 ment to curb and harass the Emperor. Philip had 
 proved himself master of the Flemish, and, with help 
 of the King of Scotland, hoped so to embarrass Edward 
 III. as to have no difficulty in eventually driving him 
 to cede all his French possessions. While he thought 
 it his interest to wear out his antagonist without any 
 open fighting, it was Edward's interest to make vig- 
 orous and striking war. France therefore stood on 
 the defensive ; England was always the attacking 
 party. On two sides, in Flanders and in Brittany, 
 France had outposts which, if well defended, might 
 long keep the English power away from her vitals. 
 Unluckily for his side, Philip was harsh and raw, and 
 threw these advantages away. In Flanders the 
 repressive commercial policy of the Count, dictated 
 from Paris, gave Edward the opportunity, in the end 
 of 1337, of sending the Earl of Derby, with a strong 
 fleet, to raise the blockade of Cadsand, and to open 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 237 
 
 the Flemish markets by a brilliant action, in which 
 the French chivalry was found powerless against the 
 English yeoman-archers ; and in 1338 Edward crossed 
 over to Antwerp to see what forward movement could 
 be made. The other frontier war was that of Brit- 
 tany, which began a little later (1341). The openings 
 of the war were gloomy and wasteful, without glory. 
 Edward did not actually send defiance to Philip till 
 1339, when he proclaimed himself King of France, 
 and quartered the lilies of France on the royal shield. 
 The Flemish proved a very reed ; and though the 
 French army came up to meet the English in 
 the Vermando country, no fighting took place, and 
 the campaign of 1339 ended obscurely. Norman and 
 Genoese ships threatened the southern shores of Eng- 
 land, landing at Southampton and in the Isle of 
 Wight unopposed. In 1340 Edward returned to Flan- 
 ders ; on his way he attacked the French fleet which lay 
 at Sluys, and utterly destroyed it. The great victory 
 of Sluys gave England for centuries the mastery of 
 the British channel. But, important as it was, it 
 gave no success to the land campaign. Edward 
 wasted his strength on an unsuccessful siege of 
 Tournia, and, ill-supported by his Flemish allies, could 
 achieve nothing. The French King in this year seized 
 on Guienne ; and from Scotland tidings came that 
 Edinburgh castle, the strongest place held by the 
 English, had fallen into the hands of Douglas. Neither 
 
238 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 from Flanders nor from Guienne could Edward hope 
 to reach the heart of the French power ; a third inlet 
 now presented itself in Brittany. On the death of 
 John III. of Brittany, in 1341, Jean de Montfort, his 
 youngest brother, claimed the great fief, against his 
 niece Jeanne, daughter of his elder brother Guy, 
 Comte de Penthievre. He urged that the Salic law, 
 which had been recognised in the case of the crown, 
 should also apply to this great duchy, so nearly an 
 independent sovereignty. Jeanne had been married 
 to Charles de Blois, whom John III. of Brittany had 
 chosen as his heir ; Charles was also nephew of King 
 Philip, who gladly espoused his cause. Thereon Jean 
 de Montfort appealed to Edward, and the two Kings 
 met in border strife in Brittany. The Bretons sided 
 with John against the influence of France. Both the 
 claimants were made prisoners ; the ladies carried on 
 a chivalric warfare, Jeanne de Montfort against Jeanne 
 de Blois, and all went favourably with the French party 
 till Philip, with a barbarity as foolish as it was scan- 
 dalous, tempted the chief Breton lords to Paris and 
 beheaded them without trial. The war, suspended by a 
 truce, broke out again, and the English raised large 
 forces and supplies, meaning to attack on three sides 
 at once, — from Flanders, Brittany, and Guienne. 
 The Flemish expedition came to nothing; for the 
 people of Ghent in 1345 murdered Jacques van 
 Arteveldt as he was endeavouring to persuade them to 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 239 
 
 receive the Prince of Wales as their count, and 
 Edward, on learning this adverse news, returned to 
 England. Thence, in July, IS-iG, he sailed for Nor- 
 mandy, and, landing at La Hogue, overran with ease 
 the country up to Paris. He was not, however, strong 
 enough to attack the capital, for Philip lay with a 
 large army watching him at St. Denis. After a short 
 hesitation Edward crossed the Seine at Poissy, and 
 struck northwards, closely followed by Philip. He 
 got across the Somme safely, and at Cr^cy in Ponthieu 
 stood at bay to await the French. Though his num- 
 bers were far less than theirs, he had a good position, 
 and his men were of good stuff ; and when it came to 
 battle, the defeat of the French was crushing. Philip 
 had to fall back with his shattered army ; Edward 
 withdrew unmolested to Calais, which he took after a 
 long siege in 1347. Philip had been obliged to call 
 up his son John from the south, where he was observ- 
 ing the English under the Earl of Derby ; thereupon 
 the English overran all the south, taking Poitiers and 
 finding no opposition. Queen Philippa of Hainault 
 had also defeated and taken David of Scotland at 
 Neville's Cross. 
 
 The campaign of 1346-1347 was on all hands dis- 
 astrous to King Philip. He sued for and obtained a 
 truce for ten months. These were the days of the 
 " black death," which raged in France from 1347 to 
 1349, and completed the gloom of the country, vexed 
 
240 HISTORIC COUHT MEMOIRS. 
 
 by an arbitrary and grasping monarch, by unsuccess- 
 ful war, and now by the black cloud of pestilence. In 
 1350 King Philip died, leaving his crown to John of 
 Normandy. He had added two districts and a title to 
 France : he bought Montpellier from James of Aragon, 
 and in 1349 also bought the territories of Humbert, 
 Dauphin of Vienne, who resigned the world under 
 influence of the revived religion of the time, a conse- 
 quence of the plague, and became a Carmelite friar. 
 The fief and the title of Dauphin were granted to 
 Charles, the King's grandson, who was the first per- 
 son who attached that title to the heir to the French 
 throne. Apart from these small advantages, the 
 kingdom of France had suffered terribly from the 
 reign of the false and heartless Philip VI. Nor was 
 France destined to enjoy better things under John 
 *' the Good," one of the worst sovereigns with whom 
 she has been cursed. He took as his model and ex- 
 ample the chivalric John of Bohemia, who had been 
 one of the most extravagant and worthless of the 
 princes of his time, and had perished in his old age 
 at Cr^cy. The first act of the new King was to take 
 from his kinsman, Charles " the Bad " of Navarre, 
 Champagne and other lands ; and Charles went over 
 to the English King. King John was keen to fight ; 
 the States General gave him the means for carrying 
 on war, by establishing the odious " gabelle " on salt, 
 and other imposts. John hoped with his new army 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 241 
 
 to drive the English completely out of the country. 
 Petty war began again on all the frontiers, — an 
 abortive attack on Calais, a guerilla warfare in Brit- 
 tany, slight fighting also in Guienne. Edward in 1335 
 landed at Calais, but was recalled to pacify Scotland ; 
 Charles of Navarre and the Duke of Lancaster were 
 on the Breton border ; the Black Prince sailed for 
 Bordeaux. In 1356 he rode northward with a small 
 army to the Loire, and King John, hastily summoning 
 all his nobles and fief-holders, set out to meet him. 
 Hereon the Black Prince, whose forces were weak, 
 began to retreat; but the French King outmarched 
 and intercepted him near Poitiers. He had the Eng- 
 lish completely in his power, and with a little patience 
 could have starved them into submission ; instead, he 
 deemed it his chivalric duty to avenge Crecy in arms, 
 and the great battle of Poitiers was the result (19th 
 September, 1356). The carnage and utter ruin of 
 the French feudal army was quite incredible ; the 
 dead seemed more than the whole army of the Black 
 Prince ; the prisoners were too many to be held. The 
 French army, bereft of leaders, melted away, and the 
 Black Prince rode triumphantly back to Bordeaux 
 with the captive King John and his brave little son 
 in his train. A two years' truce ensued ; King John 
 was carried over to London, where he found a fellow 
 in misfortune in David of Scotland, who had been for 
 eleven years a captive in English hands. The utter 
 
242 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 degradation of the nobles, and the misery of the coun- 
 try, gave to the cities of France an opportunity which 
 one great man, Etienne Marcel, provost of the traders 
 at Paris, was not slow to grasp. He fortified the 
 capital and armed the citizens ; the civic clergy made 
 common cause with him ; and when the Dauphin 
 Charles convoked the three Estates at Paris, it was 
 soon seen that the nobles had become completely dis- 
 credited and powerless. It was a moment in which a 
 new life might have begun for France ; in vain did the 
 noble order clamour for war and taxes, — they to do 
 the war, with what skill and success all men now 
 knew, and the others to pay the taxes. Clergy, how- 
 ever, and burghers resisted. The Estates parted, leav- 
 ing what power there was still in France in the hands 
 of Etienne Marcel. He strove in vain to reconcile 
 Charles the Dauphin with Charles of Navarre, who 
 stood forward as a champion of the towns. Very 
 reluctantly did Marcel entrust his fortunes to such 
 hands. With help of Lecocq, Bishop of Laon, he 
 called the Estates again together, and endeavoured 
 to lay down sound principles of government, which 
 Charles the Dauphin was compelled to accept. Paris, 
 however, stood alone, and' even there all were not 
 agreed. Marcel and Bishop Lecocq, seeing the critical 
 state of things, obtained the release of Charles of Na- 
 varre, then a prisoner. The result was that ere long 
 the Dauphin-regent was at open war with Navarre 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 243 
 
 and with Paris. The outbreak of the miserable peas- 
 antry, the Jacquerie, who fought partly for revenge 
 against the nobles, partly to help Paris, darkened the 
 time ; they were repressed with savage bloodshed, and 
 in 1358 the Dauphin's party in Paris assassinated the 
 only great man France had seen for long. With Eti- 
 enne Marcel's death all hope of a constitutional life 
 died out from France ; the Dauphin entered Paris and 
 set his foot on the conquered liberties of his country. 
 Paris had stood almost alone ; civic strength is want- 
 ing in France ; the towns but feebly supported Mar- 
 cel ; they compelled the movement to lose its popular 
 and general character, and to become a first attempt 
 to govern France from Paris alone. After some in- 
 sincere negotiations, and a fear of desultory warfare, 
 in which Edward III. traversed France without meet- 
 ing with a single foe to fight, peace was at last agreed 
 to, at Bretigny, in May, 1360. By this act Edward 
 III. renounced the French throne and gave up all he 
 claimed or held north of the Loire, while he was se- 
 cured in the lordship of the south and west, as well 
 as that part of Northern Picardy which included 
 Calais, Guines, and Ponthieu. The treaty also fixed 
 the ransom to be paid by King John. 
 
 France was left smaller than she had been under 
 Philip Augustus, yet she received this treaty with 
 infinite thankfulness ; worn out with war and weak- 
 ness, any diminution of territory seemed better to her 
 
244 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS, 
 
 than a continuance of her unbearable misfortunes. 
 Under Charles, first as Regent, then as King, she 
 enjoyed an uneasy rest and peace for twenty years. 
 King John, after returning for a brief space to 
 France, went back into his pleasant captivity in Eng- 
 land, leaving his country to be ruled by the Regent 
 the Dauphin. In 1364 he died, and Charles V., " the 
 "Wise," became King in name, as he had now been for 
 some years in fact. This cold, prudent, sickly prince, 
 a scholar who laid the foundations of the great library 
 in Paris by placing 900 MSS. in three chambers in 
 the Louvre, had nothing to dazzle the ordinary eye ; 
 to the timid spirits of that age he seemed to be a 
 malevolent wizard, and his name of " Wise " had in 
 it more of fear than of love. He also is notable for 
 two things : he reformed the current coin, and recog- 
 nised the real worth of Du Guesclin, the first great 
 leader of mercenaries in France, a grim fighting-man, 
 hostile to the show of feudal warfare, and herald of a 
 new age of contests, in which the feudal levies would 
 fall into the background. The invention of gunpowder 
 in this century, the incapacity of the great lords, the 
 rise of free lances and mercenary troops, all told that 
 a new era had arrived. It was by the hand of Du 
 Guesclin that Charles overcame his cousin and name- 
 sake, Charles of Navarre, and compelled him to peace. 
 On the other hand, in the Breton war which followed 
 just after, he was defeated by Sir John Chandos and the 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 245 
 
 partisans of Jean de Montfort, who made him pris- 
 oner ; the Treaty of Guerande, which followed, gave 
 them the dukedom of Brittany ; and Charles Y., un- 
 able to resist, was fain to receive the new duke's 
 homage, and to confirm him in the duchy. The King 
 did not rest till he had ransomed Du Guesclin from 
 the hands of Chandos ; he then gave him commission 
 to raise a paid army of freebooters, the scourge of 
 France, and to march with them to support, against 
 the Black Prince, the claims of Henry of Trastamare 
 to the Crown of Castile. Successful at first by help 
 of the King of Aragon, he was made Constable of 
 Spain at the coronation of Henry at Burgos. Edward 
 the Black Prince, however, intervened, and at the 
 battle of Najara (1367) Du Guesclin was again a 
 prisoner in English hands, and Henry lost his throne. 
 Fever destroyed the victorious host, and the Black 
 Prince, withdrawing into Gascony, carried with him 
 the seeds of the disorder which shortened his days. 
 Du Guesclin soon got his liberty again ; and Charles 
 v., seeing how much his great rival of England was 
 weakened, determined at last on open war. He allied 
 himself with Henry of Trastamare, listened to the 
 grievances of the Aquitanians, summoned the Black 
 Prince to appear and answer the complaints. In 
 1369, Heniy defeated Pedro, took him prisoner, and 
 murdered him in a brawl ; thus perished the hopes of 
 the English party in the south. About the same time 
 
246 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Charles V. sent open defiance and declaration of war 
 to England. Without delay, he surprised the English 
 in the north, recovering all Ponthieu at once ; the 
 national pride was aroused ; Philip, Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, who had, through the prudent help of Charles, 
 lately won as a bride the heiress of Flanders, was 
 stationed at Rouen, to cover the western approach to 
 Paris, with strict orders not to fight ; the Aquita- 
 nians were more than half French at heart. The 
 record of the war is as the smoke of a furnace. We 
 see the reek of burnt and plundered towns ; there 
 were no brilliant feats of arms ; the Black Prince, 
 gloomy and sick, abandoned the struggle, and re- 
 turned to England to die ; the new governor, the Earl 
 of Pembroke, did not even succeed in landing: he 
 was attacked and defeated oE Rochelle by Henry of 
 Castile, his whole fleet, with all its treasure and 
 stores, taken or sunk, and he himself was a prisoner 
 in Henry's hands. Du Guesclin had already driven 
 the English out of the west into Brittany ; he now 
 overran Poitou, which received him gladly ; all the 
 south seemed to be at his feet. The attempt of Ed- 
 ward III. to relieve the little that remained to him in 
 France failed utterly, and by 1372 Poitou was finally 
 lost to England. Charles set himself to reduce Brit- 
 tany with considerable success; a diversion from 
 Calais caused plentiful misery in the open country ; 
 but, as the French again refused to fight, it did nothing 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS, 247 
 
 to restore the English cause. By 1375 England held 
 nothing in France except Calais, Cherbourg, Bayonne, 
 and Bordeaux. Edward III., utterly worn out with 
 war, agreed to a truce, through intervention of the 
 Pope ; it was signed in 1375, In 1377, on its 
 expiring, Charles, who in two years had sedulously im- 
 proved the state of France, renewed the war. By sea 
 and land the English were utterly overmatched, and 
 by 1378 Charles was master of the situation on all 
 hands. Now, however, he pushed his advantages too 
 far; and the cold skill which had overthrown the 
 English, was used in vain against the Bretons, whose 
 duchy he desired to absorb. Languedoc and Flanders 
 also revolted against him. France was heavily bur- 
 dened with taxes, and the future was dark and threat- 
 ening. In the midst of these things, death overtook 
 the coldly calculating monarch in September, 1380. 
 
 Little had France to hope from the boy who was 
 now called on to fill the throne. Charles YI. was not 
 twelve years old, a light- witted, handsome boy, under 
 the guardianship of the royal Dukes his uncles, who 
 had no principles except that of their own interest 
 to guide them in bringing up the King and ruling 
 the people. Before Charles VI. had reached years 
 of discretion, he was involved by the French nobles 
 in war against the Flemish cities, which, under guid- 
 ance of the great Philip van Arteveldt, had over- 
 thrown the authority of the Count of Flanders. The 
 
248 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 French cities showed ominous signs of being inclined 
 to ally themselves with the civic movement in the 
 north. The men of Ghent came out to meet their 
 French foes, and at the battle of Roosebek (1382) 
 were utterly defeated and crushed. Philip van Arte- 
 veldt himself was slain. It was a great triumph of 
 the nobles over the cities ; and Paris felt it when the 
 King returned. All movement there and in the other 
 northern cities of France was ruthlessly repressed ; 
 the noble reaction also overthrew the " new men " 
 and the lawyers, by whose means the late King had 
 chiefly governed. Two years later, the royal Dukes 
 signed a truce with England, including Ghent in it ; 
 and Louis de Male, Count of Flanders, having per- 
 ished at the same time. Marguerite his daughter, wife 
 of Philip of Burgundy, succeeded to his inheritance 
 (1384.) Thus began the high fortunes of the House 
 of Burgundy, which at one time seemed to over- 
 shadow Emperor and King of France. In 1385, 
 another of the brothers, Louis, Due d'Anjou, died, 
 with all his Italian ambitions unfulfilled. In 1386, 
 Charles YL, under guidance of his uncles, declared 
 war on England, and exhausted all France in prepa- 
 rations ; the attempt proved the sorriest failure. The 
 regency of the Dukes became daily more unpopular, 
 until in 1388 Charles dismissed his two uncles, the 
 Dukes of Burgundy and Berri, and began to rule. 
 For a while all went much better ; he recalled his 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 249 
 
 father's friends and advisers, lightened the burdens 
 of the people, allowed the new ministers free hand in 
 making prudent government; and learning how bad 
 had been the state of the south under the Due de 
 Berri, deprived him of that command in 1390. Men 
 thought that the young King, if not good himself, 
 was well content to allow good men to govern in 
 his name ; at any rate, the rule of the selfish Dukes 
 seemed to be over. Their bad influences, however, 
 still surrounded him ; an attempt to assassinate Olivier 
 de Clisson, the Constable, was connected with their in- 
 trigues and those of the Duke of Brittany ; and in set- 
 ting forth to punish the attempt on his favourite the 
 Constable, the unlucky young King, who had sapped 
 his health by debauchery, suddenly became mad. The 
 Dukes of Burgundy and Berri at once seized the reins 
 and put aside his brother the 'young Due d'Orl^ans. 
 It was the beginning of that great civil discord be- 
 tween Burgundy and Orleans, the Burgundians and 
 Armagnacs, which worked so much ill for France in 
 the earlier part of the next century. The rule of the 
 uncles was disastrous for France; no good govern- 
 ment seemed even possible for that unhappy land. 
 An obscure strife went on until 1404, when Duke 
 Philip of Burgundy died, leaving his vast inherit- 
 ance to John the Fearless, the deadly foe of Louis 
 d'Orleans. Paris was with him, as with his father 
 before him ; the Duke entered the capital in 1405, 
 
250 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 and issued a popular proclamation against the ill- 
 government of the Queen-regent and Orleans. Much 
 profession of a desire for better things was made, 
 with small results. So things went on until 1407, 
 when, after the Due de Berri, who tried to play the 
 part of a mediator, had brought the two Princes 
 together, the Due d'Orl^ans was foully assassinated 
 by a Burgundian partisan. The Duke of Burgundy, 
 though he at first withdrew from Paris, speedily re- 
 turned, avowed the act, and was received with plaudits 
 by the mob. For a few years the strife continued, 
 obscure and bad ; a great league of French princes and 
 nobles was made to stem the success of the Burgun- 
 dians ; and it was about this time that the Armagnac 
 name became common. Paris, however, dominated by 
 the " Cabochians," the butchers' party, the party of 
 the " marrowbones and cleavers," and entirely devoted 
 to the Burgundians, enabled John the Fearless to hold 
 his own in France ; the King himself seemed favour- 
 able to the same party. In 1412 the princes were 
 obliged to come to terms, and the Burgundian 
 triumph seemed complete. In 1413 the wheel went 
 round, and we find the Armagnacs in Paris, rudely 
 sweeping away all the Cabochians with their profes- 
 sions of good civic rule. The Due de Berri was 
 made captain of Paris, and for a while all went 
 against the Burgundians, until, in 1414, Duke John 
 was fain to make the first Peace of Arras, and to 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 251 
 
 confess himself worsted in the strife. The young 
 Dauphin Louis took the nominal lead of the national 
 party, and ruled supreme in Paris in great ease and 
 self-indulgence. 
 
 The year before, Henry V. had succeeded to the 
 throne of England, — a bright and vigorous young 
 man, eager to be stirring in the world, brave and 
 fearless, with a stern grasp of things beneath all, 
 — a very sheet-anchor of firmness and determined 
 character. Almost at the very opening of his reign, 
 the moment he had secured his throne, he began a 
 negotiation with France which boded no good. He 
 offered to marry Catharine, the King's third daughter, 
 and therewith to renew the old Treaty of Bretigny, if 
 her dower were Normandy, Maine, Anjou, not with- 
 out a good sum of money. The French Court, on the 
 other hand, offered him her hand with Aquitaine and 
 the money, an offer rejected instantly ; and Henry 
 made ready for a rough wooing in arms. In 1415 
 he crossed to Harfleur, and while parties still fought in 
 France, after a long and exhausting siege, took the 
 place ; thence he rode northward for Calais, feeling 
 his army too much reduced to attempt more. The 
 Armagnacs, who had gathered at Rouen, also pushed 
 fast to the north, and having choice of passage over 
 the Somme, Amiens being in their hands, got before 
 King Henry, while he had to make a long round be- 
 fore he could get across that stream. Consequently, 
 
252 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 when, on his way, he reached Azincourt, he found the 
 whole chivahy of France arrayed against him in his 
 path. The great battle of Azincourt followed, with 
 frightful ruin and carnage of the French. With a 
 huge crowd of prisoners the young King passed on 
 to Calais, and thence to England. The Armagnacs' 
 party lay buried in the hasty graves of Azincourt ; 
 never had there been such slaughter of nobles. Still, 
 for three years they made head against their foes ; 
 till in 1418 the Duke of Burgundy's friends opened 
 Paris's gates to his soldiers, and for the time the 
 Armagnacs seemed to be completely defeated ; only 
 the Dauphin Charles made feeble war from Poitiers. 
 Henry V. with a fresh army had already made another 
 descent on the Normandy coast ; the Dukes of Anjou, 
 Brittany, and Burgundy made several and independent 
 treaties with him ; and it seemed as though France 
 had completely fallen in pieces. Henry took Rouen, 
 and although the common peril had somewhat silenced 
 the strife of faction, no steps were taken to meet him 
 or check his course ; on the contrary, matters were 
 made even more hopeless by the murder of John, 
 Duke of Burgundy, in 1419, even as he was kneel- 
 ing and offering reconciliation at the young Dauphin's 
 feet. The young Duke, Philip, now drew at once to- 
 wards Henry, whom his father had apparently wished 
 with sincerity to check ; Paris, too, was weary of the 
 Armagnac struggle, and desired to welcome Henry of 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 253 
 
 England ; the Queen of France also went over to the 
 Anglo-Burgundian side. The end of it was that on 
 May 21, 1420, was signed the famous Treaty of Troyes, 
 which secured the Crown of France to Henry, by the 
 exclusion of the Dauphin Charles, whenever poor 
 mad Charles VI. should cease to live. Meanwhile, 
 Henry was made Regent of France, promising to 
 maintain all rights and privileges of the Parliament 
 and nobles, and to crush the Dauphin with his Ar- 
 magnac friends, in token whereof he was at once 
 wedded to Catharine of France, and set forth to 
 quell the opposition of the provinces. By Christ- 
 mas all France north of the Loire was in English 
 hands. All the lands to the south of the river re- 
 mained firmly fixed in their allegiance to the Dauphin 
 and the Armagnacs, and these began to feel them- 
 selves to be the true French party, as opposed to 
 the foreign rule of the English. For barely two 
 years that rule was carried on by Henry V. with in- 
 flexible justice, and Northern France saw with amaze- 
 ment the presence of a real king, and an orderly 
 government. In 1422 King Henry died ; a few weeks 
 later Charles VI. died also, and the face of affairs 
 began to change, although, at the first, Charles VII. 
 the " Well-served," the lazy, listless prince, seemed 
 to have little heart for the perils and efforts of his 
 position. He was proclaimed King at Mehun, in 
 Berri, for the true France for the time lay on that 
 
254 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 side of the Loire, and the Regent Bedford, who took 
 the reins at Paris, was a vigorous and powerful 
 prince, who was not likely to give way to an idle 
 dreamer. At the outset Charles suffered two de- 
 feats, at Crevant in 1423, and at Verneuil in 1424, 
 and things seemed to be come to their worst. Yet he 
 was prudent, conciliatory, and willing to wait ; and as 
 the English power in France — that triangle of which 
 the base was the sea-line from Harfleur to Calais, and 
 the apex Paris — was unnatural and far from being 
 really strong; and as the relations between Bedford 
 and Burgundy might not always be friendly, the man 
 who could wait had many chances in his favour. Be- 
 fore long, things began to mend ; Charles wedded Marie 
 d'Anjou, and won over that great house to the French 
 side ; more and more was he regarded as the nation's 
 King; symptoms of a wish for reconciliation with 
 Burgundy appeared ; the most vehement Armagnacs 
 were sent away from Court. Causes of disagreement 
 also shook the friendship between Burgundy and 
 England. 
 
 Feeling the evils of inaction most, Bedford in 1428 
 decided on a forward movement, and sent the Earl of 
 Salisbury to the south. He first secured his position 
 on the north of the Loire, then, crossing that river, laid 
 siege to Orleans, the key to the south, and the last 
 bulwark of the national party. All efforts to vex or 
 dislodge him failed ; and the attempt early in 1429 to 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 255 
 
 stop the English supplies was completely defeated at 
 Bouvray ; from the salt fish captured, the battle has 
 taken the name of " the Day of the Herrings." Dunois, 
 Bastard of Orleans, was wounded; the Scots, the 
 King's body-guard, on whom fell ever the grimmest of 
 the fighting, suffered terribly, and their leader was 
 killed. All went well for Bedford till it suited the 
 Duke of Burgundy to withdraw from his side, carry- 
 ing with him a large part of the fighting power of the 
 besiegers. Things were already looking rather gloomy 
 in the English camp, when a new and unexpected 
 rumour struck all hearts cold with fear. A virgin, 
 an Amazon, had been raised up as a deliverer for 
 France, and would soon be on them, armed with mys- 
 terious powers. 
 
 A young peasant girl, one Jeanne d'Arc, had been 
 brought up in the village of Domr^my, hard by the 
 Lorraine border. The district, always French in 
 feeling, had lately suffered much from Burgundian 
 raids ; and this young damsel, brooding over the 
 treatment of her village and her country, and filled 
 with that strange vision-power which is no rare phe- 
 nomenon in itself with young girls, came at last to 
 believe with warm and active faith in heavenly appear- 
 ances and messages, all urging her to deliver France 
 and her King. From faith to action the bridge is 
 short ; and ere long the young dreamer of seventeen 
 set forth to work her miracle. Her history is quite 
 
256 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 unique in the world ; and though probably France 
 would ere many years have shaken off the English 
 yoke, for its strength was rapidly going, still to her is 
 the credit of having proved its weakness, and of hav- 
 ing asserted the triumphant power of a great belief. 
 All gave way before her; Charles VII., persuaded 
 doubtless by his mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, 
 who warmly espoused her cause, listened readily to 
 the maiden's voice ; and as that voice urged only what 
 was noble and pure, she carried conviction as she 
 went. In the end she received the King's commission 
 to undertake the relief of Orleans. Her coming was 
 fresh blood to the defence ; a new spirit seemed to be 
 poured out on all her followers, and in like manner 
 a deep dejection settled down on the English. The 
 blockade was forced, and in eight days the besiegers 
 raised the siege and marched away. They withdrew 
 to Jargeau, where they were attacked and routed with 
 great loss. A little later Talbot himself, who had 
 marched to help them, was also defeated and taken. 
 Then, compelling Charles to come out from his in- 
 glorious ease, she carried him triumphantly with her 
 to Rheims, where he was duly crowned King, the Maid 
 of Orleans standing by, and holding aloft the royal 
 standard. 
 
 She would gladly have gone home to Domr^my now, 
 her mission being accomplished ; for she was entirely 
 free from all ambitious or secondary aims. But she 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 25T 
 
 was too great a power to be spared. IS orthern France 
 was still in English hands, and till the English were 
 cast out her work was not complete ; so they made 
 her stay, sweet child, to do the work which, had there 
 been any manliness in them, they ought to have found 
 it easy to achieve for themselves. The dread of her 
 went before her, — a pillar of cloud and darkness to 
 the English, but light and hope to her countrymen. 
 Men believed that she was called of God to regenerate 
 the world, to destroy the Saracen at last, to bring in 
 the millennial age. Her statue was set up in the 
 churches, and crowds prayed before her image as 
 before a popular saint. 
 
 The incapacity and ill-faith of those round the King 
 gave the English some time to recover themselves ; 
 Bedford and Burgundy drew together again, and steps 
 were taken to secure Paris. When, however, Jeanne, 
 weary of courtly delays, marched, contemptuous of 
 the King, as far as St. Denis, friends sprang up on 
 every side. In Normandy, on the English line of 
 communications, four strong places were surprised ; 
 and Bedford, made timid as to his supplies, fell back 
 to Rouen, leaving only a small garrison in Paris. 
 Jeanne, ill -supported by the royal troops, failed in her 
 attack on the city walls, and was made prisoner by 
 the Burgundians ; they handed her over to the Eng- 
 lish, and she was, after previous indignities, and such 
 treatment as chivalry alone could have dealt her, 
 
258 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 condemned as a witch, and burnt as a relapsed heretic 
 at Rouen in 1431. Betrayed by the French Court, 
 sold by the Burgundians, murdered by the English, 
 unrescued by the people of France which she so much 
 loved, Jeanne d'Arc died the martyr's death, a pious, 
 simple soul, a heroine of the purest metal. She saved 
 her country, for the English power never recovered 
 from the shock. The churchmen who burnt her, the 
 Frenchmen of the unpatriotic party, would have been 
 amazed could they have foreseen that nearly 450 year& 
 afterwards, churchmen again would glorify her name 
 as the saint of the Church, in opposition to both the 
 religious liberties and the national feelings of her 
 country. 
 
 The war, after having greatly weakened the no- 
 blesse, and having caused infinite sufferings to France, 
 now drew towards a close ; the Duke of Burgundy at 
 last agreed to abandon his English allies, and at a 
 great congress at Arras, in 1435, signed a treaty with 
 Charles VII. by which he solemnly came over to 
 the French side. On condition that he should get 
 Auxerre and Macon, as well as the towns on and near 
 the river Somme, he was willing to recognise Charles 
 as King of France. His price was high, yet it was 
 worth all that was given ; for, after all, he was of the 
 French blood royal, and not a foreigner. The death 
 of Bedford, which took place about the same time, 
 was almost a more terrible blow to the fortunes of 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 25^ 
 
 the English. Paris opened her gates to her King in 
 April, 1436 ; the long war kept on with slight move- 
 ments now and then for several years. 
 
 The next year was marked by the meeting of the 
 States General, and the establishment, in principle at 
 least, of a standing army. The Estates petitioned 
 the willing King that the system of finance in the 
 realm should be remodelled, and a permanent tax 
 established for the support of an army. Thus, it was 
 thought, solidity would be given to the royal power, 
 and the long-standing curse of the freebooters and 
 brigands cleared away. No sooner was this done 
 than the nobles began to chafe under it ; they scented 
 in the air the coming troubles ; they took as their 
 head, poor innocents, the young Dauphin Louis, who 
 was willing enough to resist the concentration of 
 power in royal hands. Their champion of 1439, the 
 leader of the " Praguerie," as this new league was 
 called, in imitation, it is said, of the Hussite move- 
 ment at Prague, the enthusiastic defender of noble 
 privilege against the royal power, was the man who 
 afterwards, as Louis XL, was the destroyer of the 
 noblesse on behalf of royalty. Some of the nobles 
 stood firmly by the King, and, aided by them and by 
 an army of paid soldiers serving under the new con- 
 ditions, Charles VII., no contemptible antagonist when 
 once aroused, attacked and overthrew the Praguerie ; 
 the cities and the country people would have none of 
 
260 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 it; they preferred peace under a king's strong hand. 
 Louis was sent down to the east to govern Dauphiny ; 
 the lessons of the civil war were not lost on Charles ; 
 he crushed the freebooters of Champagne, drove the 
 English out of Pontois in 1441, moved actively up and 
 down France, reducing anarchy, restoring order, resist- 
 ing English attacks. In the last he was loyally sup- 
 ported by the Dauphin, who was glad to find a field 
 for his restless temper. He repulsed the English at 
 Dieppe, and put down the Comte d'Armagnac in the 
 south. During the two years' truce with England 
 which now followed, Charles VII. and Louis drew off 
 their free-lances eastward, and the Dauphin came into 
 rude collision with the Swiss not far from Basel, in 
 1444. Some sixteen hundred mountaineers long and 
 heroically withstood at St. Jacob the attack of several 
 thousand Frenchmen, fighting stubbornly till they all 
 perished. 
 
 The King and Dauphin returned to Paris, having 
 defended their border-lands with credit, and having 
 much reduced the numbers of the lawless free-lances. 
 The Dauphin, discontented again, was obliged once 
 more to withdraw into Dauphiny, where he governed 
 prudently and with activity. In 1449, the last scene 
 of the Anglo-French war began. In that year English 
 adventurers landed on the Breton coast; the D :ke 
 called the French King to his aid, Charles did not 
 tarry this time; he broke the truce with England, 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 261 
 
 sent Dunois into Normandy, and himself soon fol- 
 lowed. In both duchies, Brittany and Normandy, 
 the French were welcomed with delight : no love 
 for England lingered in the west. Somerset and 
 Talbot failed to defend Rouen, and were driven from 
 point to point, till every stronghold was lost to them. 
 Dunois then passed into Guienne, and in a few months 
 Bayonne, the last stronghold of the English, fell into 
 his hands (1451). When Talbot was sent over to 
 Bordeaux with five thousand men to recover the 
 south, the old English feeling revived, for England 
 was their best customer, and they had little in com- 
 mon with France. It was, however, but a last flicker 
 of the flame ; in July, 1453, at the siege of Castillon, 
 the aged Talbot was slain and the war at once came 
 to an end ; the south passed finally into the kingdom 
 of France. Normandy and Guienne were assimilated 
 to France in taxation and army organisation ; and all 
 that remained to England across the Channel was 
 Calais, with Havre and Guines Castle. Her foreign 
 ambitions and struggles over, England was left to 
 consume herself in civil strife, while France might 
 rest and recover from the terrible sufferings she had 
 undergone. The state of the country had become ut- 
 terly wretched. 
 
 With the end of the English wars new life began 
 to gleam out on France ; the people grew more tran- 
 quil, finding that toil and thrift bore again their whole- 
 
262 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 some fruits ; Charles VII. did not fail in his duty, and 
 took his part in restoring quiet, order, and justice in 
 the land. 
 
 The French Crown, though it had beaten back the 
 English, was still closely girt in with rival neighbours, 
 the great dukes on every frontier. All round the 
 east and north lay the lands of Philip of Burgundy ; 
 to the west was the Duke of Brittany, cherishing a 
 jealous independence ; the royal Dukes, Berri, Bour- 
 bon, Anjou, are all so many potential sources of danger 
 and difhculty to the Crown. The conditions of the 
 nobility are altogether changed ; the old barons have 
 sunk into insignificance ; the struggle of the future 
 will lie between the King's cousins and himself, rather 
 than with the older lords. A few non-royal princes, 
 such as Armagnac, or Saint-Pol, or Brittany, remain 
 and will go down with the others ; the " new men " 
 of the day, the bastard Dunois or the Conn^tables Du 
 Guesclin and Clisson, grow to greater prominence ; it 
 is clear that the old feudalism is giving place to a 
 newer order, in which the aristocracy, from the King's 
 brothers downwards, will group themselves around the 
 throne, and begin the process which reaches its un- 
 happy perfection under Louis XIV. 
 
 Directly after the expulsion of the English, troubles 
 began between King Charles VII. and the Dauphin 
 Louis ; the latter could not brook a quiet life in 
 Dauphiny, and the King refused him that larger sphere 
 
HISTORY OF THE IIGUSE OF VALOIS. 263 
 
 in the government of Normandy which he coveted. 
 Against his father's will, Louis married Charlotte of Sa- 
 voy, daughter of his strongest neighbour in Dauphiny ; 
 suspicion and bad feeling grew strong between father 
 and son ; Louis was specially afraid of his father's 
 counsellors ; the King was specially afraid of his son's 
 craftiness and ambition. It came to an open rupture, 
 and Louis, in 1456, fled to the Court of Duke Philip of 
 Burgundy. There he lived at refuge at Geneppe, 
 meddling a good deal in Burgundian politics, and 
 already opposing himself to his great rival, Charles of 
 Charolais, afterwards Charles the Bold, the last Duke 
 of Burgundy. Bickerings, under his bad influence, 
 took place between King and Duke ; they never burst 
 out into flame. So things went on uncomfortably 
 enough, till Charles YII. died in 1461 and the reign 
 of Louis XI. began. 
 
 Between father and son what contrast could be 
 greater ? Charles VIL, " the Well-served," so easy- 
 going, so open and free from guile ; Louis XL, so shy 
 of counsellors, so energetic and untiring, so close and 
 guileful. History does but apologise for Charles, and 
 even when she fears and dislikes Louis, she cannot 
 forbear to wonder and admire. And yet Louis en- 
 slaved his country, while Charles had seen it rescued 
 from foreign rule ; Charles restored something of its 
 prosperity, while Louis spent his life in crushing its 
 institutions and in destroying its elements of indepen- 
 
264 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 dence. A great and terrible prince, Louis XI. failed 
 in having little or no constructive power ; he was 
 strong to throw down the older society, he built little 
 in its room. Most serious of all was his action 
 with respect to the district of the River Somme, at 
 that time the northern frontier of France. The towns 
 there had been handed over to Philip of Burgundy by 
 the Treaty of Arras, with a stipulation that the Crown 
 might ransom them at any time, and this Louis suc- 
 ceeded in doing in 1463. The act was quite blameless 
 and patriotic in itself, yet it was exceedingly unwise, 
 for it thoroughly alienated Charles the Bold, and 
 led to the wars of the earlier period of the reign. 
 Lastly, as if he had not done enough to offend the 
 nobles, Louis in 1464 attacked their hunting rights, 
 touching them in their tenderest part. No wonder 
 that this year saw the formation of a great league 
 against him, and the outbreak of a dangerous civil 
 war. The " League of the Public Weal " was nomi- 
 nally headed by his own brother Charles, heir to the 
 throne ; it was joined by Charles of Charolais, who 
 had completely taken the command of affairs in the 
 Burgundian territories, his father the old duke being 
 too feeble to withstand him ; the Dukes of Brittany, 
 Nemours, Bourbon, John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, 
 the Comte d'Armagnac, the aged Dunois, and a host 
 of other princes and nobles flocked in ; and the King 
 had scarcely any forces at his back with which to 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 265 
 
 withstand them. His plans for the campaign against 
 the league were admirable, though they were frus- 
 trated by the bad faith of his captains, who mostly 
 sympathised with this outbreak of the feudal nobility. 
 Louis himself marched southward to quell the Due 
 de Bourbon and his friends, and returning from that 
 task, only half done for lack of time, he found 
 that Charles of Charolais had passed by Paris, which 
 was faithful to the King, and was coming down south- 
 wards, intending to join the Dukes of 'Berri and Brit- 
 tany, who were on their way towards the capital. The 
 hostile armies met at Montleheri on the Orleans road ; 
 and after a strange battle — minutely described by 
 Commines — a battle in which both sides ran away, 
 and neither ventured at first to claim a victory, the 
 King withdrew to Corbeil, and then marched into 
 Paris (1465). There the armies of the league closed 
 in on him ; and after a siege of several weeks, Louis, 
 feeling disaffection all around him, and doubtful how 
 long Paris herself would bear for him the burdens of 
 blockade, signed the Peace of Conflans, which, to all ap- 
 pearances, secured the complete victory to the noblesse, 
 " each man carrying off his piece." Instantly the 
 contented princes broke up their half-starved armies 
 and went home, leaving Louis behind to plot and con- 
 trive against them, a far wiser man, thanks to the 
 lesson they had taught him. They did not let him 
 wait long for a chance. The Treaty of Conflans had 
 
266 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 given the duchy of Normandy to the King's brother 
 Charles ; he speedily quarrelled with his neighbour, the 
 Duke of Brittany, and Louis came down at once into 
 Normandy, which threw itself into his arms, and the 
 whole work of the league was broken up. The Comte 
 de Charolais, occupied with revolts at Dinan and Liege, 
 could not interfere, and presently his father, the old 
 Duke Philip, died (1467), leaving to him the vast 
 lordships of the House of Burgundy. 
 
 And now the " imperial dreamer," Charles the 
 Bold, was brought into immediate rivalry with that 
 royal trickster, the " universal spider," Louis XL 
 Charles was by far the nobler spirit of the two : his 
 vigour and intelligence, his industry and wish to raise 
 all around him to a higher cultivation, his wise re- 
 forms at home, and attempts to render his father's 
 dissolute and careless rule into a well-ordered lord- 
 ship, — all these things marked him out as the lead- 
 ing spirit of the time. His territories were partly 
 held under France, partly under the empire : the 
 Artois district, which also may be taken to include 
 the Somme towns, the county of Rhetel, the duchy of 
 Bar, the duchy of Burgundy, with Auxerre and 
 Nevers, were feudally in France ; the rest of his lands 
 under the empire. He had, therefore, interests and 
 means of interference on either hand ; and it is clear 
 that Charles set before himself two different lines of 
 policy, according as he looked one way or the other. 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 267 
 
 At the time of Duke Philip's death a new league 
 had been formed against Louis, embracing the King 
 of England, Edward IV., the Dukes of Burgundy 
 and Brittany, and the Kings of Aragon and Castile. 
 Louis strained every nerve, he conciliated Paris, struck 
 hard at disaffected partisans, and in 1468 convoked 
 the States General at Tours. The three Estates were 
 asked to give an opinion as to the power of the 
 Crown to alienate Normandy, the step insisted upon 
 by the Duke of Burgundy. Their reply was to the 
 effect that the nation forbids the Crown to dismember 
 the realm ; they supported their opinion by liberal 
 promises of help. Thus fortified by the sympathy 
 of his people, Louis began to break up the coalition. 
 He made terms with the Due de Bourbon and the 
 House of Anjou ; his brother Charles was a cipher ; 
 the King of England was paralysed by the antagonism 
 of Warwick ; he attacked and reduced Brittany ; Bur- 
 gundy, the most formidable, alone remained to be 
 dealt with. How should he meet him ? — by war or 
 by negotiation ? His Court was divided in opinion ; 
 the King decided for himself in favour of the way 
 of negotiation, and came to the astonishing conclu- 
 sion that he would go and meet the Duke and win 
 him over to friendship. He miscalculated both his 
 own powers of persuasion and the force of his an- 
 tagonist's temper. The interview of Peromie fol- 
 lowed; Charles held his visitor as a captive, and in 
 
268 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 the end compelled him to sign a treaty of peace, on 
 the basis of that of Conflans, which had closed the 
 War of the Public Weal. And as if this were not 
 sufficient humiliation, Charles made the King accom- 
 pany him on his expedition to punish the men of 
 Li^ge, who, trusting to the help of Louis, had again 
 revolted (1469). This done, he allowed the degraded 
 monarch to return home to Paris. An assembly of 
 notables of Tours speedily declared the Treaty of Pe- 
 ronne null, and the King made some small frontier 
 war on the Duke, which was ended by a truce at 
 Amiens, in 1471. The truce was spent in preparation 
 for a fresh struggle, which Louis, to whom time was 
 everything, succeeded in deferring from point to point, 
 till the death of his brother Charles, now Due de 
 Guienne, in 1472, broke up the formidable combina- 
 tion. Charles the Bold at once broke truce and made 
 war on the King, marching into northern France, 
 sacking towns and ravaging the country, till he 
 reached Beauvais. There the despair of the citizens 
 and the bravery of the women saved the town. 
 Charles raised the siege and marched on Rouen, 
 hoping to meet the Duke of Brittany ; but that Prince 
 had his hands full, for Louis had overrun his territo- 
 ries, and had reduced him to terms. The Duke of Bur- 
 gundy saw that the coalition had completely failed ; 
 he too made fresh truce with Louis at Senlis (1472), 
 and only deferred, he no doubt thought, the direct 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 269 
 
 attack on his dangerous rival. Henceforth Charles 
 the Bold turned his attention mainly to the east, and 
 Louis gladly saw him go forth to spend his strength 
 on distant ventures ; saw the interview at Treves with 
 the Emperor Frederick III., at which the Dujve's plans 
 were foiled by the suspicions of the Germans and the 
 King's intrigues ; saw the long siege of the Neusz wear- 
 ing out his power ; bought off the hostility of Edward 
 IV. of England, who had undertaken to march on Paris ; 
 saw Charles embark on his Swiss enterprise ; saw the 
 subjugation of Lorraine and capture of Nancy (1475), 
 the battle of Granson, the still more fatal defeat of 
 Morat (1476), and lastly the final struggle of Nancy, 
 and the Duke's death on the field (January, 1477). 
 
 While Duke Charles had thus been running on his 
 fate, Louis XI. had actively attacked the larger nobles 
 of France, and had either reduced them to submission 
 or had destroyed them. 
 
 As Duke Charles had left no male heir, the King 
 at once resumed the duchy of Burgundy, as a male fief 
 of the kingdom ; he also took possession of Franche 
 Comt^ at the same time ; the King's armies recovered 
 all Ficardy, and even entered Flanders. Then Mary of 
 Burgundy, hoping to raise up a barrier against this 
 dangerous neighbour, offered her hand, with all her 
 great territories, to young Maximilian of Austria, and 
 married him within six months after her father's death. 
 To this wedding is due the rise to real greatness of 
 
270 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 the House of Austria ; it begins the era of the larger 
 politics of modern times. 
 
 After a little hesitation Louis determined to con- 
 tinue the struggle against the Burgundian power. 
 He secured Franche Comt^, and on his northern 
 frontier retook Arras, that troublesome border city, 
 the " bonny Carlisle " of those days ; and advancing 
 to relieve Therouenne, then besieged by Maximilian, 
 fought and lost the battle of Guinegate (1479). The 
 war was languid after this ; a truce followed in 1480, 
 and a time of quiet for France. Charles the Dauphin 
 was engaged to marry the little Margaret, Maximilian's 
 daughter, and as her dower she was to bring Franche 
 Comtd and sundry places on the border line disputed 
 between the two princes. In these last days Louis 
 XL shut himself up in gloomy seclusion in his castle 
 of Plessis near Tours, and there he died in 1483. A 
 great king and a terrible one, he has left an indel- 
 lible mark on the history of France, for he was the 
 founder of France in its later form, as an absolute 
 monarchy ruled with little regard to its own true wel- 
 fare. He had crushed all resistance ; he had enlarged 
 the borders of France, till the kingdom took nearly its 
 modern dimensions ; he had organised its army and 
 administration. The danger was lest in the hands of 
 a feeble boy these great results should be squandered 
 away, and the old anarchy once more raise its head. 
 
 For Charles VHL, who now succeeded, was but 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 271 
 
 thirteen years old, a weak boy whom his father had 
 entirely neglected, the training of his son not appear- 
 ing to be an essential part of his work in life. The 
 young Prince had amused himself with romances, but 
 had learnt nothing useful. A head, however, was 
 found for him in the person of his eldest sister Anne, 
 whom Louis XI. had married to Peter II., Lord of 
 Beaujeu and Due de Bourbon. To her the dying 
 King entrusted the guardianship of his son ; and for 
 more than nine years Anne of France was virtual 
 King. For those years all went well. 
 
 With her disappearance from the scene, the con- 
 trolling hand is lost, and France begins the age of 
 her Italian expeditions. 
 
 When the House of Anjou came to an end in 1481, 
 and Anjou and Maine fell in to the Crown, there fell in 
 also a far less valuable piece of property, — the claim 
 of that house descended from Charles, the youngest 
 brother of Saint Louis, on the kingdom of Naples and 
 Sicily. There was much to tempt an ambitious prince 
 in the state of Italy. Savoy, which held the passage 
 into the peninsula, was then thoroughly French in sym- 
 pathy ; Milan, under Lodovico Sforza, " il Moro," was 
 in alliance with Charles; Genoa preferred the French 
 to the Aragonese claimants for influence over Italy ; 
 the popular feeling in the cities, especially in Florence, 
 was opposed to the despotism of the Medici, and 
 turned to France for deliverance ; the misrule of the 
 
272 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Spanish Kings of Naples had made Naples thoroughly 
 discontented ; Venice was, as of old, the friend of 
 France. Tempted by these reasons, in 1494 Charles 
 VIII. set forth for Italy with a splendid host. He 
 displayed before the eyes of Europe the first example 
 of a modern army, in its three well-balanced branches 
 of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. There was nothing 
 in Italy to withstand his onslaught ; he swept through 
 the land in triumph ; Charles believed himself to be a 
 great conqueror giving law to admiring subject-lands ; 
 he entered Pisa, Florence, Rome itself. Wherever he 
 went his heedless ignorance, and the gross misconduct 
 of his followers, left behind implacable hostility, and 
 turned all friendship into bitterness. At last he en- 
 tered Naples, and seemed to have asserted to the full 
 the French claim to be supreme in Italy, whereas 
 at that very time his position had become completely 
 untenable. A league of Italian States was formed 
 behind his back ; Lodovico il Moro, Ferdinand of 
 Naples, the Emperor, Pope Alexander VI., Ferdinand 
 and Isabella, who were now welding Spain into a great 
 and united monarchy, all combined against France ; 
 and in presence of this formidable confederacy Charles 
 VIII. had to cut his way home as promptly as he 
 could. At Fornovo, north of the Apennines, he de- 
 feated the allies in July, 1495 ; and by November 
 the main French army had got safely out of Italy. 
 The forces left behind in Naples were worn out by war 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 273 
 
 and pestilence, and the poor remnant of these, too, 
 bringing with them the seeds of horrible contagious 
 diseases, forced their way back to France in 1496. 
 It was the last effort of the King. His health was 
 ruined by debauchery in Italy, repeated in France ; and 
 yet, towards the end of his reign, he not merely intro- 
 duced Italian arts, but attempted to reform the State, 
 to rule prudently, to solace the poor ; wherefore, when 
 he died in 1498, the people lamented him greatly, 
 for he had been kindly and affable, brave also on 
 the battle-field ; and much is forgiven to a king. 
 
 His children died before him, so that Louis d'Or- 
 leans, his cousin, was nearest heir to the throne, 
 and succeeded as Louis XII. By his accession in 
 1498 he reunited the fief of Orleans County to the 
 Crown ; by marrying Anne of Brittany, his predeces- 
 sor's widow, he secured also the great duchy of 
 Brittany. The dispensation of Pope Alexander VL, 
 which enabled him to put away his wife Jeanne, 
 second daughter of Louis XL, was brought into 
 France by Caesar Borgia, who gained thereby his 
 title of Duke of Valentinois, a large sum of money, 
 a French bride, and promises of support in his great 
 schemes in Italy. 
 
 His ministers were men of real ability. Georges 
 d'Amboise, Archbishop of Rouen, the chief of them, 
 was a prudent and a sagacious ruler, who, however, 
 unfortunately wanted to be Pope, and urged the King 
 
274 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 in the direction of Italian politics, which he would 
 have done much better to have left alone. Louis 
 XII. was lazy and of small intelligence ; Georges 
 d'Amboise and Caesar Borgia, with their Italian am- 
 bitions, easily made him take up a spirited forei^ 
 policy which was disastrous at home. 
 
 Utterly as the last Italian expedition had failed, 
 the French people were not yet weary of the adven- 
 ture, and preparations for a new war began at once. 
 In 1499 the King crossed the Alps into the Milanese, 
 and carried all before him for a while. The duchy at 
 first accepted him with enthusiasm ; but in 1500 it 
 had had enough of the French and recalled Lodovico, 
 who returned in triumph to Milan. The Swiss mer- 
 cenaries, however, betrayed him at Novara into the 
 hands of Louis XII., who carried him off to France. 
 The triumph of the French in 1500 was also the 
 highest point of the fortunes of their ally, Caesar 
 Borgia, who seemed for a while to be completely suc- 
 cessful. In this year Louis made a treaty at Granada, 
 by which he and Ferdinand the Catholic agreed to 
 despoil Frederick of Naples ; and in 1501 Louis made 
 a second expedition into Italy. Again all seemed 
 easy at the outset, and he seized the kingdom of 
 Naples without difficulty ; falling out, however, with 
 his partner in the bad bargain, Ferdinand the Catholic, 
 he was speedily swept completely out of the peninsula, 
 with terrible loss of honour, men, and wealtii. 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 275 
 
 It now became necessary to arrange for the future 
 of France. Louis XII. had only a daughter, Claude, 
 and it was proposed that she should be affianced to 
 Charles of Austria, the future statesman and emperor. 
 This scheme formed the basis of the three treaties of 
 Blois (1504). In 1500, by the Treaty of Granada, 
 Louis had in fact handed Naples over to Spain ; now 
 by the three treaties he alienated his best friends, the 
 Venetians and the papacy, while he in fact also 
 handed Milan over to the Austrian House, together 
 with territories considered to be integral parts of 
 France. The marriage with Charles came to noth- 
 ing ; the good sense of some, the popular feeling in 
 the country, the open expressions of the States General 
 of Tours, in 1506, worked against the marriage, which 
 had no strong advocate except Queen Anne. Claude, 
 on intercession of the Estates, was affianced to 
 FrauQois d'Angouleme, her distant cousin, the heir 
 presumptive to the throne. 
 
 In 1507 Louis made war on "Venice ; and in the fol- 
 lowing year the famous Treaty of Cambrai was signed 
 by Georges d'Amboise and Margaret of Austria. It 
 was an agreement for a partition of the Venetian ter- 
 ritories, — one of the most shameless public deeds in 
 history. The Pope, the King of Aragon, Maximilian, 
 Louis XII., were each to have a share. The war was 
 pushed on with great vigour : the battle of Agnadello 
 (14th May, 1509) cleared the King's way towards 
 
276 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Venice ; Louis was received with open arms by the 
 North Italian towns, and pushed forward to within 
 sight of Venice. The other Princes came up on 
 every side ; the proud " Queen of the Adriatic " was 
 compelled to shrink within her walls, and wait till 
 time dissolved the league. This was not long. The 
 Pope, Julius II., had no wish to hand Northern Italy 
 over to France ; he had joined in the shameless league 
 of Cambrai because he wanted to wrest the Romagna 
 cities from Venice, and because he hoped to entirely 
 destroy the ancient friendship between Venice and 
 France. Successful in both aims, he now withdrew 
 from the league, made peace with the Venetians, and 
 stood forward as the head of a new Italian combina- 
 tion, with the Swiss for his fighting men. The strife 
 was close and hot between Pope and King ; Louis 
 XII. lost his chief adviser and friend, Georges d'Am- 
 boise, the splendid churchman of the age, the French 
 Wolsey ; he thought no weapon better than the dan- 
 gerous one of a council, with claims opposed to those 
 of the papacy ; first a National Council at Tours, 
 then an attempted General Council at Pisa, were 
 called on to resist the papal claims. In reply Julius 
 11. created the Holy League of 1511, with Ferdinand 
 of Aragon, Henry VIII. of England, and the Vene- 
 tians as its chief members, against the French. Louis 
 XII. showed vigour ; he sent his nephew Gaston de 
 Foix to subdue the Romagna and threaten the Vene- 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 277 
 
 tian territories. At the battle of Ravenna, in 1512, 
 Gaston won a brilliant victory and lost his life. 
 From that moment disaster dogged the footsteps of 
 the French in Italy, and before winter they had 
 been driven completely out of the peninsula; the 
 succession of the Medicean Pope, Leo X., to Julias 
 II., seemed to promise the continuance of a policy 
 hostile to France in Italy. Another attempt on 
 Northern Italy proved but another failure, although 
 now Louis XII., taught by his mishaps, had secured 
 the alliance of Venice ; the disastrous defeat of La 
 Tremoille, near No vara (1513), compelled the French 
 once more to withdraw beyond the Alps. In this 
 same year an army under the Due de Longueville, 
 endeavouring to relieve Therouenne, besieged by the 
 English and Maximilian, the Emperor-elect, was caught 
 and crushed at Guinegate. A diversion in favour of 
 Louis XII., made by James IV. of Scotland, failed com- 
 pletely ; the Scottish King was defeated and slain at 
 Flodden Field. While his northern frontier was thiis 
 exposed, Louis found equal danger threatening him 
 on the east; on this side, however, he managed to 
 buy off the Swiss, who had attacked the duchy of 
 Burgundy. He was also reconciled with the papacy 
 and the House of Austria. Early in 1514 the death 
 of Anne of Brittany, his spouse, a lady of high am- 
 bitions, strong artistic tastes, and humane feelings 
 towards her Bretons, but a bad Queen for France, 
 
278 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 cleared the way for changes. Claude, the King's 
 eldest daughter, was now definitely married to Fran- 
 cois d'Angouleme, and invested with the duchy of 
 Brittany ; and the King himself, still hoping for a 
 male heir to succeed him, married again, wedding 
 Mary Tudor, the lovely young sister of Henry VIII. 
 This marriage was probably the chief cause of his 
 death, which followed on New Year's day, 1515. His 
 was, in foreign policy, an inglorious and disastrous 
 reign ; at home, a time of comfort and material pros- 
 perity. Agriculture flourished, the arts of Italy came 
 in, though (save in architecture) France could claim 
 little artistic glory of her own ; the organisation of 
 justice and administration was carried out ; in letters 
 and learning France still lagged behind her neighbours. 
 The heir to the crown was Francois d'Angouleme, 
 great-grandson of that Louis d'Orl^ans who had 
 been assassinated in the bad days of the strife between 
 Burgundians and Armagnacs, in 1407, and great- 
 great-grandson of Charles Y. of France. He was 
 still very young, very eager to be king, very full of 
 far-reaching schemes. Few things in history are 
 more striking than the sudden change, at this moment, 
 from the rule of middle-aged men or (as men of fifty 
 were then often called) old men, to the rule of 
 youths, — from sagacious, worldly-prudent monarchs 
 to impulsive boys, — from Henry YII. to Henry YIIL, 
 from Louis XII. to Frangois I., from Ferdinand to 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 279 
 
 Charles. On the whole, Francois I. was the least 
 worthy of the three. He was brilliant, " the king of 
 culture," apt scholar in Renaissance art and immoral- 
 ity ; brave, also, and chivalrous, so long as the chivalry 
 involved no self-denial, for he was also thoroughly 
 selfish, and his personal aims and ideas were mean. 
 His reign was to be a reaction from that of Louis 
 
 xn. 
 
 From the beginning, Francois chose his chief officers 
 unwisely. In Antoine du Prat, his new chancellor, 
 he had a violent and lawless adviser ; in Charles de 
 Bourbon, his new constable, an untrustworthy com- 
 mander. Forthwith he plunged into Italian politics, 
 being determined to make good his claim both to 
 Naples and to Milan ; he made most friendly arrange- 
 ments with the Archduke Charles, his future rival, 
 promising to help him in securing, when the time 
 came, the vast inheritances of his two grandfathers, 
 Maximilian, the Emperor-elect, and Ferdinand of Ara- 
 gon ; never was a less wise agreement entered upon. 
 This done, the Italian war began ; Frangois descended 
 into Italy, and won the brilliant battle of Marignano, 
 in which the French chivalry crushed the Swiss 
 burghers and peasant mercenaries. The French then 
 overran the north of Italy, and, in conjunction with 
 the Venetians, carried all before them. But the 
 triumphs of the sword were speedily wrested from 
 him by the adroitness of the politician ; in an inter- 
 
280 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 view with Leo X. at Bologna, Francois bartered tlie 
 liberties of the Gallican Church for shadowy advan- 
 tages in Italy. The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, 
 which now for nearly a century had secured to the 
 Church of France independence in the choice of her 
 chief officers, was replaced by a concordat, whereby 
 the King allowed the papacy once more to drain the 
 wealth of the Church of France, while the Pope 
 allowed the King almost autocratic power over it. 
 He was to appoint to all benefices, with exception of 
 a few privileged offices ; the Pope was no longer to 
 be threatened with general councils, while he should 
 receive again the annates of the Church. 
 
 The years which followed this brilliantly disastrous 
 opening brought little good to France. In 1516 the 
 death of Ferdinand the Catholic placed Charles on 
 the throne of Spain; in 1519 the death of Maximilian 
 threw open to the young Princes the most dazzling 
 prize of human ambition, — the headship of the Holy 
 Roman Empire. Fran9ois I., Charles, and Hepry YIII. 
 were all candidates for the votes of the seven electors, 
 though the last never seriously entered the lists. The 
 struggle lay between Fran9ois, the brilliant young 
 Prince, who seemed to represent the new opinions in 
 literature and art, and Charles of Austria and Spain, 
 who was as yet unknown and despised, and, from his 
 education under the virtuous and scholastic Adrian of 
 Utrecht, was thought likely to represent the older 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 281 
 
 and reactionary opinions of the clergy. After a long 
 and sharp competition, the great prize fell to Charles, 
 henceforth known to history as that great monarch 
 and emperor, Charles Y. 
 
 The rivalry between the Princes could not cease 
 there. Charles, as representative of the House of 
 Burgundy, claimed all that had been lost when 
 Charles the Bold fell ; and in 1521 the war broke 
 out between him and Fran9ois, the first of a series of 
 struggles between the two rivals. While the King 
 wasted the resources of his country on these wars, his 
 proud and unwise mother, Louise of Savoy, guided by 
 Antoine du Prat, ruled, to the sorrow of all, at home. 
 The war brought no glory with it: on the Flemish 
 frontier a place or two was taken ; in Biscay Fonta- 
 rabia fell before the arms of France ; in Italy Frangois 
 had to meet a new league of Pope and Emperor, and 
 his troops were swept completely out of the Milanese. 
 In the midst of all came the defection of that great 
 prince, the Conn^table de Bourbon, head of the younger 
 branch of the Bourbon House, the most powerful feudal 
 lord in France. Louise of Savoy had enraged and of- 
 fended him, or he her ; the King slighted him, and in 
 1523 the Constable made a secret treaty with Charles 
 V. and Henry VIII. , and, taking flight into Italy, 
 joined the Spaniards under Lannoy. The French, who 
 had again invaded the Milanese, were again driven out 
 in 1524 ; on the other hand, the incursions of the im- 
 
282 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 perialists into Picardy, Provence, and the southeast 
 were all complete failures. Encouraged by the repulse 
 of Bourbon from Marseilles, Fran9ois I. once more 
 crossed the Alps, and overran a great part of the val- 
 ley of the Po ; at the siege of Pavia he was attacked 
 by Pescara and Bourbon, utterly defeated and taken 
 prisoner (24th February, 1525) ; the broken remnants 
 of the French were swept out of Italy at once, and 
 Francois I. was carried into Spain, a captive at Madrid. 
 His mother, best in adversity, behaved with high pride 
 and spirit ; she overawed disaffection, made prepara- 
 tions for resistance, looked out for friends on every 
 side. Had Frangois been in truth a hero, he might, 
 even as a prisoner, have held his own ; but he was un- 
 able to bear the monotony of confinement, and longed 
 for the pleasures of France. On this mean nature 
 Charles V. easily worked, and made the captive mon- 
 arch sign the Treaty of Madrid (January 14, 1526), 
 a compact which Frangois meant to break as soon as 
 he could, for he knew neither heroism nor good faith. 
 The treaty stipulated that Frangois should give up the 
 duchy of Burgmidy to Charles, and marry Eleanor of 
 Portugal, Charles's sister; that Francois should also 
 abandon his claims on Flanders, Milan, and Naples, and 
 should place two sons in the Emperor's hands as hos- 
 tages. Following the precedent of Louis XI. in the 
 case of Normandy, he summoned an assembly of no- 
 bles and the Parliament of Paris to Cognac, where 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 288 
 
 thej declared the cession of Burgundy to be impossi- 
 ble. He refused to return to Spain, and made alli- 
 ances wherever he could, with the Pope, with Venice, 
 Milan, and England. The next year saw the ruin of 
 this league in the discomfiture of Clement VII., and 
 the sack of Rome by the German mercenaries under 
 Bourbon, who was killed in the assault. The war 
 went on till 1529, when Frangois, having lost two 
 armies in it, and gained nothing but loss and harm, 
 was willing for peace ; Charles V., alarmed at the 
 progress of the Turks, was not less willing ; and in Au- 
 gust, 1529, the famous Treaty of Cambrai, "-the Ladies' 
 Peace," was agreed to by Margaret of Austria and 
 Louise of Savoy. Though Charles V. gave up all 
 claim on the duchy of Burgundy, he had secured to 
 himself Flanders and Artois, and had entirely cleared 
 French influences out of Italy, which now became 
 firmly fixed under the imperial hand, as a connecting 
 link between his Spanish and German possessions. 
 Frangois lost ground and credit by these successive 
 treaties, conceived in bad faith, and not honestly car- 
 ried out. 
 
 No sooner had the Treaty of Cambrai been effectual 
 in bringing his sons back to France, than Frangois 
 began to look out for new pretexts and means for war. 
 Affairs were not unpromising. His mother's death 
 in 1531 left him in possession of a huge fortune, which 
 she had wrung from defenceless France ; the powers 
 
284 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 which were jealous of Austria, the Turk, the EnglisTi 
 King, the members of the Smalkald league, all looked 
 to Frangois as their leader ; Clement VII., though hi& 
 misfortunes had thrown him into the Emperor's hands, 
 was not unwilling to treat with France ; and in 1533 
 by the compact of Marseilles the Pope broke up the 
 friendship between Frangois and Henry YIII., while 
 he married his niece Catherine de' Medici to Henri, 
 the second son of Frangois. This compact was a real 
 disaster to France ; the promised dowry of Catherine 
 — certain Italian cities — was never paid, and the 
 death of Clement YII. in 1584 made the political alli- 
 ance with the papacy a failure. The influence of 
 Catherine affected and corrupted French history for 
 half a century. Preparations for war went on ; Fran- 
 9ois made a new scheme for a national army, though 
 in practice he preferred the tyrant's arm, the foreign 
 mercenary. From his day till the Revolution the 
 French army was largely composed of bodies of men 
 tempted out of other countries, chiefly from Switzer- 
 land or Germany. 
 
 While the Emperor strove to appease the Protestant 
 Princes of Germany by the Peace of Kadan (1534), 
 Frangois strengthened himself with a definite alliance 
 with Soliman ; and when, on the death of Francesco 
 Sforza, Duke of Milan, who left no heirs, Charles 
 seized the duchy as its overlord, Fran9ois, after some 
 bootless negotiation, declared war on his great rival 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OP VALOIS. 285 
 
 (1536). His usual fortunes prevailed so long as he 
 was the attacking party : his forces were soon swept 
 out of Piedmont, and the Emperor carried the war 
 over the frontier into Provence. That also failed, 
 and Charles was fain to withdraw after great losses 
 into Italy, The defence of Provence — a defence 
 which took the form of a ruthless destruction of all 
 its resources — had been entrusted to Anne de Mont- 
 morency, who henceforward became Constable of 
 France, and exerted great influence over Fran9ois I. 
 Though these two campaigns, the French in Italy and 
 the imperialist in Provence, had equally failed in 
 1536, peace did not follow till 1538, when, after the 
 terrible defeat of Ferdinand of Austria by the Turks, 
 Charles was anxious to have free hand in Germany. 
 Under the mediation of Paul III. the agreement of 
 Nice was come to, which included a ten years' truce 
 and the abandonment by Francois of all his foreign 
 allies and aims. He seemed a while to have fallen 
 completely under the influence of the sagacious Em- 
 peror. He gave way entirely to the Church party 
 of the time, a party headed by gloomy Henri, now 
 Dauphin, who never lost the impress of his Spanish cap- 
 tivity, and by the Conn stable Anne de Montmorency ; 
 for a time the artistic or Renaissance party, repre- 
 sented by Anne, Duchesse d'Etampes, and Catherine 
 de' Medici, fell into disfavour. The Emperor even 
 ventured to pass through France, on his way from 
 
286 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Spain to the Netherlands. All this friendship, how- 
 ever, fell to dust, when it was found that Charles 
 refused to invest the Due d'Orleans, the second son 
 of Frangois, with the duchy of Milan, and when the 
 Emperor's second expedition against the sea-power 
 of the Turks had proved a complete failure, and 
 Charles had returned to Spain with loss of all his 
 fleet and army. Then Frangois hesitated no longer, 
 and declared war against him (1541), The shock 
 the Emperor had suffered inspirited all his foes ; the 
 Sultan and the Protestant German Princes were all 
 eager for war ; the influence of Anne de Montmorency 
 had to give way before that of the House of Guise, 
 that frontier family, half French, half German, which 
 was destined to play a large part in the troubled 
 history of the coming half-century. Claude, Due 
 de Guise, a veteran of the earliest days of Frangois, 
 was vehemently opposed to Charles and the Austro- 
 Spanish power, and ruled in the King's councils. 
 This last war was as mischievous as its predecessors : 
 no great battles were fought ; in the frontier affairs 
 the combatants were about equally fortunate ; the 
 battle of CerisoUes, won by the French under Enghien 
 (1544), was the only considerable success they had, 
 and even that was almost barren of results, for the 
 danger to Northern France was imminent ; there a 
 combined invasion had been planned and partly exe- 
 cuted by Charles and Henry VHI., and the country, 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 287 
 
 almost undefended, was at their mercy. The two 
 monarchs, however, distrusted one another; and 
 Charles Y., anxious about Germany, sent to Frangois 
 proposals for peace from Crespy Couvrant, near Laon, 
 where he had halted his army ; Fran9ois, almost in 
 despair, gladly made terms with him. The King 
 gave up his claims on Flanders and Artois, the 
 Emperor his on the duchy of Burgundy ; the King 
 abandoned his old Neapolitan ambition, and Charles 
 promised one of the Princesses of the House of Aus- 
 tria, with Milan as her dower, to the Due d' Orleans, 
 second son of Francois. The Duke dying next year, 
 this portion of the agreement was not carried out. 
 The Peace of Crespy, which ended the wars between 
 the two great rivals, was signed in autumn, 1544, 
 and, like the wars which led to it, was indecisive and 
 lame. 
 
 Charles learnt that with all his great power he 
 could not strike a fatal blow at France ; France ought 
 to have learnt that she was very weak for foreign 
 conquest, and that her true business was to consoli- 
 date and develop her power at home. Henry VHl. 
 deemed himself wronged by this independent action 
 on the part of Charles, who also had his gi'ievance& 
 with the English monarch ; he stood out till 1546, 
 and then made peace with Francois, with the aim of 
 forming a fresh combination against Charles. In the 
 midst of new projects and much activity, the marrer 
 
288 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 of man's plots came on the scene, and carried off in 
 the same year, 1547, the English King and Frangois 
 I., leaving Charles Y. undisputed arbiter of the affairs 
 of Europe. In this same year he also crushed the 
 Protestant Princes at the battle of Miihlberg. 
 
 In the reign of Francois I. the Court looked not 
 unkindly on the Reformers, more particularly in the 
 earlier years. 
 
 Henri II., who succeeded in 1547, " had all the 
 faults of his father, with a weaker mind;" and as 
 strength of mind was not one of the characteristics 
 of Frangois I., we may imagine how little firmness 
 there was in the gloomy King who now reigned. 
 Party spirit ruled at Court. Henri II., with his an- 
 cient mistress, Diane de Poitiers, were at the head of 
 one party, that of the strict Catholics, and were sup- 
 ported by old Anne de Montmorency, most unlucky 
 of soldiers, most fanatical of Catholics, and by the 
 Guises, who chafed a good deal under the stern rule 
 of the Constable. This party had almost extinguished 
 its antagonists ; in the struggle of the mistresses, the 
 pious and learned Anne d'Etampes had to give place 
 to imperious Diane. Catherine, the Queen, was con- 
 tent to bide her time, watching with Italian coolness 
 the game as it went on ; of no account beside her 
 rival, and yet quite sure to have her day, and ready 
 to play parties against one another. Meanwhile, she 
 brought to her royal husband ten sickly children, 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 289 
 
 most of whom died young, and three wore the crown. 
 Of the many bad things she did for France, that was 
 perhaps among the worst. 
 
 On the accession of Henri II. the duchy of Brit- 
 tany finally lost even nominal independence ; he next 
 got the hand of Mary, Queen of Scots, then but five 
 years old, for the Dauphin Francois ; she was carried 
 over to France; and being by birth half a Guise, by 
 education and interests of her married life she became 
 entirely French. It was a great triumph for Henri, 
 for the Protector Somerset had laid his plans to se- 
 cure her for young Edward YI. ; it was even more a 
 triumph for the Guises, who saw opened out a broad 
 and clear field for their ambition. 
 
 At first Henri 11. showed no desire for war, and 
 seemed to shrink from rivalry or collision with Charles 
 V. He would not listen to Paul III. , who, in his anx- 
 iety after the fall of the Protestant power in Germany 
 in 15-47, urged him to resist the Emperor's trium- 
 phant advance ; he seemed to show a dread of war, 
 even among his neighbours. -After he had won his ad- 
 vantage over Edward VI., he escaped the war which 
 seemed almost inevitable, recovered Boulogne from 
 the English by a money payment, and smoothed 
 the way for peace between England and Scotland. 
 He took much interest in the religious question, 
 and treated the Calvinists with great severity; he 
 was also occupied by troubles in the south and 
 
290 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 west of France. Meanwhile, a new Pope, Julius 
 III., was the weak dependent of the Emperor, and 
 there seemed to be no head left for any movement 
 against the universal domination of Charles Y. His 
 career from 1547 to 1552 was, to all appearance, a tri- 
 umphal march of unbroken success. Yet Germany was 
 far from acquiescence ; the Princes were still discon- 
 tented and watchful ; even Ferdinand of Austria, 
 his brother, was offended by the Emperor's anx- 
 iety to secure everything, even the imperial crown 
 for his son Philip ; Maurice of Saxony, that great 
 problem of the age, was preparing for a second 
 treachery, or, it may be, for a patriotic effort. 
 These German malcontents now appealed to Henri 
 for aid; and at last Henri seemed inclined to come. 
 He had lately made alliance with England, and in, 
 1552 formed a league at Chambord with the Ger- 
 man Princes ; the old connection with the Turk 
 was also talked of. The Germans agreed to allow 
 him to hold (as imperial vicar, not as King of 
 France) the " three bishoprics," Metz, Verdun, and 
 Toul ; he also assumed a protectorate over the spirit- 
 ual princes, those great bishops and electors of the 
 Rhine, whose stake in the Empire was so important. 
 The general lines of French foreign politics are all 
 here clearly marked ; in this Henri II. is the fore- 
 runner of Henri IV. and of Louis XIV.; the imperial 
 politics of Napoleon start from much the same lines; 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 291 
 
 the proclamations of Napoleon III. before the Franco- 
 German war seemed like thin echoes of the same. 
 
 Early in 1552 Maurice of Saxony struck his great 
 blow at his master in the Tyrol, destroying in an in- 
 stant all the Emperor's plans for the suppression of 
 Lutheran opinions, and the reunion of Germany in 
 a Catholic empire ; and while Charles V. fled for his 
 life, Henri II. with a splendid army crossed the fron- 
 tiers of Lorraine. Anne de Montmorency, whose op- 
 position to the war had been overborne by the Guises, 
 who warmly desired to see a French predominance 
 in Lorraine, was sent forward to reduce Metz, and 
 quickly got that important city into his hands ; Toul 
 and Verdun soon opened their gates, and were se- 
 cured in reality, if not in name, to France. Eager 
 to undertake a protectorate of the Rhine, Henri II. 
 tried also to lay hands on Strasburg; the citizens, 
 however, resisted, and he had to withdraw ; the same 
 fate befell his troops in an attempt on Spires. Still, 
 Metz and the line of the Vosges mountains formed a 
 splendid acquisition for FrancCo The French army, 
 leaving strong garrisons in Lorraine, withdrew through 
 Luxemburg and the northern frontier ; its remaining 
 exploits were few and mean, for the one gleam of good 
 fortune enjoyed by Anne de Montmorency, who was 
 unwise and arrogant, and a most inefficient commander, 
 soon deserted him. Charles Y., as soon as he could 
 gather forces, laid siege to Metz, but, after nearly 
 
292 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 three months of late autumnal operations, was fain 
 to break up and withdraw, baffled and with loss of 
 half his army, across the Rhine. Though some suc- 
 cess attended his arms on the northern frontier, it 
 was of no permanent value ; the loss of Metz, and the 
 failure in the attempt to take it, proved to the worn- 
 out Emperor that the day of his power and oppor- 
 tunity was past. The conclusions of the Diet of 
 Augsburg in 1555 settled for half a century the 
 struggle between Lutheran and Catholic, but settled 
 it in a way not at all to his mind ; for it was the safe- 
 guard of princely interests against his plans for an 
 imperial unity. Weary of the losing strife, yearning 
 for ease, ordered by his physicians to withdraw from 
 active life, Charles in the course of 1555 and 1556 re- 
 signed all his great lordships and titles, leaving Philip 
 his son to succeed him in Italy, the Netherlands, and 
 Spain, and his brother Ferdinand of Austria to wear 
 in his stead the imperial diadem. These great changes 
 sundered awhile the interests of Austria from those 
 of Spain. 
 
 Henri endeavoured to take advantage of the check 
 in the fortunes of his antagonists ; he sent Anne de 
 Montmorency to support Gaspard de Coligny, the 
 Admiral of France, in Picardy, and in harmony with 
 Paul lY., instructed Francois, Due de Guise, to enter 
 Italy to oppose the Duke of Alva. As of old, the 
 French arms at first carried all before them, and 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 293 
 
 Guise, deeming himself heir to the crown of Naples 
 (for he was the eldest great-grandson of Rene II., 
 titular King of Naples), pushed eagerly forward as far 
 as the Abruzzi. There he was met and outgeneraled 
 by Alva, who drove him back to Rome, whence he 
 was now recalled by urgent summons to France ; for 
 the great disaster of St. Quentin had laid Paris itself 
 open to the assault of an enterprising enemy. With 
 the departure of Guise from Italy the age of the 
 Italian expeditions comes to an end. On the northern 
 side of the realm things had gone just as badly. 
 Philibert of Savoy, commanding for Philip with Span- 
 ish and English troops, marched into France as far as 
 to the Somme, and laid siege to St. Quentin, which was 
 bravely defended by Amiral de Coligny. Anne de 
 Montmorency, coming up to relieve the place, man- 
 aged his movements so clumsily that he was caught 
 by Count Egmont and the Flemish horse, and, with 
 incredibly small loss to the conquerors, was utterly 
 routed (1557). Montmorency himself and a crowd 
 of nobles and soldiers were taken ; the slaughter was 
 great. Coligny made a gallant and tenacious stand 
 in the town itself, but at last was overwhelmed, 
 and the place fell. Terrible as these mishaps were to 
 France, Philip II. was not of a temper to push an 
 advantage vigorously ; and while his army lingered, 
 Francois de Guise came swiftly back from Italy ; and 
 instead of wasting strength in a doubtful attack on 
 
294 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 » 
 
 the allies in Picardy, by a sudden stroke of genius he 
 assaulted and took Calais (January, 1558), and swept 
 the English finally off the soil of France. This un- 
 expected and brilliant blow cheered and solaced the 
 afflicted country, while it finally secured the ascend- 
 ency of the House of Guise. The Duke's brother, 
 the Cardinal de Lorraine, carried all before him in the 
 King's councils ; the Dauphin, betrothed long before, 
 was now married to Mary of Scots ; a secret treaty 
 bound the young Queen to bring her kingdom over 
 with her ; it was thought that France with Scotland 
 would be at least a match for England joined with 
 Spain. In the same year, 1558, the French advance 
 along the coast, after they had taken Dunkirk and 
 Nieuport, was finally checked by the brilliant genius 
 of Count Egmont, who defeated them at Gravelines. 
 All now began to wish for peace, especially Mont- 
 morency, weary of being a prisoner, and anxious to 
 get back to Court, that he might check the fortunes of 
 the Guises ; Philip desired it that he might have free 
 hand against heresy. And so, at Cateau-Cambr^sis, a 
 peace was made in April, 1559, by which France re- 
 tained the three bishoprics and Calais, surrendering 
 Thionville, Montmddy, and one or two other frontier 
 towns, while she recovered Ham and St. Quentin ; 
 the House of Savoy was reinstated by Philip, as a re- 
 ward to Philibert for his services, and formed a solid 
 barrier for a time between France and Italy; cross 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 295 
 
 marriages between Spain, France, and Savoy were 
 arranged ; and finally, the treaty contained secret 
 articles by which the Guises for France and Granvella 
 for the Netherlands agreed to crush heresy with a 
 strong hand. As a sequel to this peace, Henri II. 
 held a great tournament at Paris, at which he was 
 accidentally slain by a Scottish knight in the lists. 
 
 The Guises now shot up into unbounded power. 
 On the Guise side the Cardinal de Lorraine was 
 the cleverest man, the true head, while Frangois, the 
 Duke, was the arm ; he showed leanings towards 
 the Lutherans. On the other side, the head was the 
 dull and obstinate Anne de Montmorency, the Con- 
 stable, an unwavering Catholic, supported by the 
 three Coligny brothers, who all were or became Hu- 
 guenots. The Queen-mother Catherine fluctuated 
 uneasily between the parties, and though Catholic 
 herself, or rather not a Protestant, did not hesitate 
 to befriend the Huguenots, if the political arena 
 seemed to need their gallant swords. Their noblest 
 leader was Coligny, the admiral ; their recognised 
 head was Antoine, King of Navarre, a man as foolish 
 as feerless. He was heir presumptive to the throne 
 after the Valois boys, and claimed to have charge of 
 the young King. Though the Guises had the lead at 
 first, the Huguenots seemed, from their strong aris- 
 tocratic connections, to have the fairer prospects be- 
 fore them. 
 
296 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Thirty years of desolate civil strife are before us, 
 and we must set it all down briefly and drily. The 
 prelude to the troubles was played by the Huguenots, 
 who in 1560, guided by La Renaudie, a Perigord 
 gentleman, formed a plot to carry off the young King ; 
 for Fran9ois II. had already treated them with con- 
 siderable severity, and had dismissed from his councils 
 both the princes of the blood royal and the Conn^- 
 table de Montmorency. The plot failed miserably 
 and La Renaudie lost his life ; it only secured more 
 firmly the authority of the Guises. As a counter- 
 poise to their influence, the Queen-mother now con- 
 ferred the vacant chancellorship on one of the wisest 
 men France has ever seen, her Lord Bacon, Michel de 
 L'HSpital, a man of the utmost prudence and moder- 
 ation, who, had the times been better, might have 
 won constitutional liberties for his country, and ap- 
 peased her civil strife. As it was, he saved her from 
 the Inquisition ; his hand drew the edicts which 
 aimed at enforcing toleration on France ; he guided 
 the assembly of notables which gathered at Fontaine- 
 bleau, and induced them to attempt a compromise 
 which moderate Catholics and Calvinists might ac- 
 cept, and which might lessen the power of the Guises. 
 This assembly was followed by a meeting of the 
 States General at Orleans, at which the Prince de 
 Cond^ and the King of Navarre were seized by the 
 Guises on a charge of having had to do with La Re- 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 297 
 
 naudie's plot. It would have gone hard with them 
 had not the sickly King at this very time fallen ill 
 and died (1560). 
 
 This was a grievous blow to the Guises. Now, as in 
 a moment, all was shattered ; Catherine de' Medici rose 
 at once to the command of affairs ; the new King, 
 Charles IX., was only ten years old, and her position 
 as Regent was assured. The Guises would gladly 
 have ruled with her, but she had no fancy for that ; 
 she and Chancellor de L'HQpital were not likely to ally 
 themselves with all that was severe and repressive. 
 It must not be forgotten that the best part of her 
 policy was inspired by the Chancellor de L'HSpital. 
 
 Now it was that Mary Stuart, the Queen-dowager, 
 was compelled to leave France for Scotland ; her de- 
 parture clearly marks the fall of the Guises ; and it 
 also showed Philip of Spain that it was no longer 
 necessary for him to refuse aid and counsel to the 
 Guises ; their claims were no longer formidable to 
 him on the larger sphere of European politics ; no 
 longer could Mary Stuart dream of wearing the 
 triple crown of Scotland, France, and England. 
 
 The tolerant language of L'HSpital at the States 
 General of Orleans in 15.61 satisfied neither side. 
 The Huguenots were restless; the Bourbon Princes 
 tried to crush the Guises, in return for their own 
 imprisonment the year before ; the Constable was of- 
 fended by the encouragement shown to the Huguenots ; 
 
298 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 it was plain that new changes impended. Montmo- 
 rency began them by going over to the Guises ; and 
 the fatal triumvirate of Fran9ois, Due de Guise, Mont- 
 morency, and St. Andr^j the marshal, was formed. 
 "We find the King of Spain forthwith entering the field 
 of French intrigues and politics, as the support and 
 stay of this triumvirate. Parties take a simpler form at 
 once, — one party of Catholics and another of Hugue- 
 nots, with the Queen-mother and the moderates left 
 powerless between them. These last, guided still by 
 L'Hopital, once more convoked the States General at 
 Pontoise : the nobles and the Third Estate seemed 
 to side completely with the Queen and the moderates ; 
 a controversy between Huguenots and Jesuits at 
 Poissy only added to the discontent of the Catholics, 
 who were now joined by foolish Antoine, King of 
 Navarre. The edict of January, 1562, is the most 
 remarkable of the attempts made by the Queen-mother 
 to satisfy the Huguenots ; but party-passion was al- 
 ready too strong for it to succeed ; civil war had 
 become inevitable. 
 
 The period may be divided into four parts : (1) 
 the wars before the establishment of the League 
 (1562-1570) ; (2) the period of the St. Bartholomew 
 (1570-1573) ; (3) the struggle of the new Politique 
 party against the Leaguers (1573-1589) ; (4) the 
 efforts of Henri IV. to crush the League and reduce 
 the country to peace (1589-1598). The period can 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 299 
 
 -also be divided by that series of agreements, or peaces, 
 which break it up into eight wars. 
 
 1. The war of 1562, on the skirts of which Philip 
 of Spain interfered on one side, and Queen Elizabeth 
 with the Calvinistic German Princes on the other, 
 showed at once that the Huguenots were by far 
 the weaker party. The English troops at Havre 
 enabled them at first to command the lower Seine 
 up to Rouen ; but the other party, after a long siege 
 which cost poor Antoine of Navarre his life, took that 
 place, and relieved Paris of anxiety. The Huguenots 
 had also spread far and wide over the south and west, 
 occupying Orleans ; the bridge of Orleans was their 
 point of junction between Poitou and Germany. 
 While the strength of the Catholics lay to the east, 
 in Picardy, and at Paris, the Huguenot power was 
 mostly concentrated in the south and west of France. 
 Cond^, who commanded at Orleans, supported by 
 German allies, made an attempt on Paris, but finding 
 the capital too strong for him, turned to the west, 
 intending to join the English troops from Havre. 
 Montmorency, however, caught him at Dreux ; and 
 in the battle that ensued, the Marshal of France, Saint- 
 Andre, perished ; Cond^ was captured by the Catho- 
 lics, Montmorency by the Huguenots. Coligny, the 
 admiral, drew off his defeated troops with great skill, 
 and fell back to beyond the Loire ; the Due de Guise 
 remained as sole head of the Catholics. Pushing on 
 
300 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 his advantage, the Duke immediately laid siege to 
 Orleans, and there he fell by the hand of a Huguenot 
 assassin. Both parties had suffered so much that 
 the Queen-mother thought she might interpose with 
 terms of peace ; the Edict of Amboise (March, 1563) 
 closed the war, allowing the Calvinists freedom of 
 worship in the towns they held, and some other scanty 
 privileges. A three years' quiet followed, though all 
 men suspected their neighbours, and the high Catholic 
 party tried hard to make Catherine sacrifice L'H6pital 
 and take sharp measures with the Huguenots. They 
 on their side were restless and suspicious, and it was 
 felt that another war could not be far off. Intrigues 
 were incessant, all men thinking to make their profit 
 out of the weakness of France. The struggle between 
 Calvinists and Catholics in the Netherlands roused 
 much feeling, though Catherine refused to favour either 
 party. She collected an army of her own ; it was 
 rumoured that she intended to take the Huguenots by 
 surprise and annihilate them. In autumn, 1567, their 
 patience gave way, and they raised the standard of 
 revolt, in harmony with the heroic Netherlanders. 
 Cond^ and the Ch^tillons beleaguered Paris from the 
 north, and fought the battle of St. Denis, in which 
 the old Constable, Anne de Montmorency, was killed. 
 The Huguenots, however, were defeated and forced 
 to withdraw, Cond^ marching eastward to join the 
 German troops now coming up to his aid. No more 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 301 
 
 serious fighting- followed ; the Peace of Longjumeau 
 (March, 1568), closed the second war, leaving mat- 
 ters much as they were. The aristocratic resistance 
 against the Catholic sovereigns, against what is often 
 called the " Catholic Reaction," had proved itself 
 hollow ; in Germany and the Netherlands, as well 
 as in France, the Protestant cause seemed to fail ; it 
 was not until the religious question became mixed 
 up with questions as to political rights and freedom, 
 as in the Low Countries, that a new spirit of hope 
 began to spring up. 
 
 The Peace of Longjumeau gave no security to the 
 Huguenot nobles ; they felt that the assassin might 
 catch them any day. An attempt to seize Cond^ and 
 Coligny failed, and served only to irritate their party ; 
 Cardinal Chatillon escaped to England ; Jeanne of 
 Navarre and her young son Henri took refuge at 
 La Rochelle ; L'Hopital was dismissed the Court. The 
 Queen-mother seemed to have thrown off her cloak of 
 moderation, and to be ready to relieve herself of the 
 Huguenots by any means, fair or foul. War accord- 
 ingly could not fail to break out again before the end 
 of the year. Cond^ had never been so strong ; with 
 his friends in England and the Low Countries, and the 
 enthusiastic support of a great party of nobles and 
 religious adherents at home, his hopes rose ; he even 
 talked of deposing the Yalois and reigning in their 
 stead. He lost his life, however, early in 1569, at 
 
302 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 the battle of Jarnac. Coligny once more with diffi- 
 culty, as at Dreiix, saved the broken remnants of the 
 defeated Huguenots. Conde's death, regarded at the 
 time by the Huguenots as an irreparable Cflamity, 
 proved in the end to be no serious loss ; for it made 
 room for the true head of the party, Henri of Na- 
 varre. No sooner had Jeanne of Navarre heard of 
 the mishap of Jarnac than she came into the Hugue- 
 not camp and presented to the soldiers her young son 
 Henri and the young Prince de Conde, a mere child. 
 Her gallant bearing and the true soldier-spirit of Co- 
 ligny, who shone most brightly in adversity, restored 
 their temper ; they even won some small advantages. 
 Before long, however, the Due d'Anjou, the King's 
 youngest brother, caught and punished them severely 
 at Moncontour. Both parties thenceforward wore 
 themselves out with desultory warfare. In August, 
 1570, the Peace of St. Germain-en-Laye closed the 
 third war and ended the first period. 
 
 2. It was the most favourable Peace the Huguenots 
 had won as yet ; it secured them, besides previous 
 rights, four strongholds. The Catholics were dissatis- 
 fied ; they could not sympathise with the Queen-mother 
 in her alarm at the growing strength of Philip II., 
 head of the Catholics in Europe ; they dreaded the 
 existence and growing influence of a party now begin- 
 ning to receive a definite name, and honourable nick- 
 name, the Politiques. These were that large body of 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 303 
 
 French gentlemen who loved the honour of their coun- 
 try rather than their religious party, and who, though 
 Catholics, were yet moderate and tolerant. A pair of 
 marriages now proposed by the Court amazed them 
 still more. It was suggested that the Due d'Anjou 
 should marry Queen Elizabeth of England, and Henri 
 of Navarre, Marguerite de Valois, the King's sister. 
 Charles IX. hoped thus to be rid of his brother, whom 
 he disliked, and to win powerful support against 
 Spain, by the one match, and by the other to bring 
 the civil wars to a close. The sketch of a far- 
 reaching resistance to Philip II. was drawn out ; so 
 convinced of his good faith was the prudent and 
 sagacious William of Orange, that, on the strength of 
 these plans, he refused good terms now offered him 
 by Spain. The Due d'Alengon, the remaining son 
 of Catherine, the brother who did not come to the 
 throne, was deeply interested in the plans for a war in 
 the Netherlands ; Anjou, who had withdrawn from 
 the scheme of marriage with Queen Elizabeth, was at 
 this moment a candidate for the throne of Poland; 
 while negotiations respecting it were going on, Mar- 
 guerite de Valois was married to Henri of Navarre, 
 the worst of wives to a husband none too good. Co- 
 ligny, who had strongly opposed the candidature of 
 Anjou for the throne of Poland, was set on by an 
 assassin, employed by the Queen-mother and her 
 favourite son, and badly wounded ; the Huguenots 
 
304 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 were in utmost alarm, filling the air with cries and 
 menaces. Charles showed great concern for his 
 friend's recovery, and threatened vengeance on the 
 assassins. What was his astonishment to learn that 
 those assassins were his mother and brother ! Cath- 
 erine worked on his fears, and the plot for the great 
 massacre was combined in an instant. The very next 
 day after the King's, consent was wrung from him, 
 24th August, 1572, the massacre of St. Bartholomew's 
 day took place. The murder of Coligny was com- 
 pleted ; his son-in-law Teligny perished ; all the chief 
 Huguenots were slain ; the slaughter spread to coun- 
 try towns ; the Church and the civil power were at 
 one, and the victims, taken at unawares, could make no 
 resistance. The two Bourbons, Henri and the Prince 
 de Cond^, were spared ; they bought their lives by a 
 sudden conversion to Catholicism. The chief guilt of 
 this great crime lies with Catherine de' Medici ; for, 
 though it is certain that she did not plan it long be- 
 fore, assassination was a recognised part of her way 
 of dealing with Huguenots. 
 
 A short war followed, a revolt of the southern 
 cities rather than a war. They made tenacious and 
 heroic resistance ; a large part of the royal forces 
 sympathised rather with them than with the League ; 
 and in July, 1573, the Edict of Boulogne granted 
 them even more than they had been promised by the 
 Peace of St. Germain. 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 305 
 
 3. We have reached the period of the " Wars of 
 the League," as the four later civil wars are often 
 called. The last of the four is alone of any real 
 importance. 
 
 Just as the Peace of La E-ochelle was concluded, 
 the Due d'Anjou, having been elected King of Po- 
 land, left Prance ; it was not long before troubles 
 began again. The Due d'Alen^on was vexed by his 
 mother's neglect ; as heir presumptive to the crown 
 he thought he deserved better treatment, and sought 
 to 'give himself consideration by drawing towards the 
 middle party ; Catherine seemed to be intriguing 
 for the ruin of that party ; nothing was safe while 
 she was moving. The King had never held up his 
 head since the St. Bartholomew ; it was seen that 
 he now was dying, and the Queen-mother took the 
 opportunity of laying hands on the middle party. 
 She arrested Alen^on, Montmorency, and Henri of 
 Navarre, together with some lesser chiefs ; in the 
 midst of it all Charles IX. died (1574), in misery, 
 leaving the ill-omened crown to Henri of Anjou, King 
 of Poland, his next brother, his mother's favourite, 
 the worst of a bad breed. At the same time the 
 fifth civil war broke out, interesting chiefly because 
 it was during its continuance that the famous League 
 was actually formed. 
 
 Henri IH., when he heard of his brother's death, 
 was only too eager to slip away like a culprit from 
 
306 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Poland, though he showed no alacrity in returning to 
 France, and dallied with the pleasures of Italy for 
 months. An attempt to draw him over to the side of 
 the Politiques failed completely ; he attached himself 
 on the contrary to the Guises, and plunged into the 
 grossest dissipation, while he posed himself before 
 men as a good and zealous Catholic. The Politiques 
 and Huguenots therefore made a compact in 1575, at 
 Milhaud on the Tarn, and chose the Prince de Condd 
 as their head ; Henri of Navarre escaped from Paris, 
 threw off his forced Catholicism, and joined them. 
 Against them the strict Catholics seemed powerless ; 
 the Queen-mother closed this war with the Peace of 
 Chastenoy (May, 1576), with terms unusually favour- 
 able for both Politiques and Huguenots : for the 
 latter, free worship throughout France, except at 
 Paris ; for the chiefs of the former, great governments, 
 — for Alen^on a large central district, for Condd, 
 Picardy, for Henri of Navarre, Guienne. 
 
 To resist all this the high Catholic party framed 
 the League they had long been meditating ; it is said 
 that the Cardinal de Lorraine had sketched it years 
 before, at the time of the later sittings of the Council 
 of Trent. Lesser compacts had already been made 
 from time to time ; now it was proposed to form one 
 great League, towards which all should gravitate. 
 The head of the League was Henri, Due de Guise 
 the second, " Balafr^," who had won that title in 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 307 
 
 fighting against the German reiters the year before, 
 when they entered France under Cond^. He cer- 
 tainly hoped at this time to succeed to the throne of 
 France, either by deposing the corrupt and feeble 
 Henri III., " as Pippin dealt with Hilderik," or by 
 seizing the throne, when the King's debaucheries 
 should have brought him to the grave. The Catho- 
 lics of the more advanced type, and specially the 
 Jesuits, now in the first flush of credit and success, 
 supported him warmly. The headquarters of the 
 movement were in Picardy ; its first object, opposition 
 to the establishment of Conde as governor of that 
 province. The League was also very popular with 
 the common folk, especially in the towns of the north. 
 It soon found that Paris was its natural centre ; 
 thence it spread swiftly across the whole of France; 
 it was warmly supported by Philip of Spain. The 
 States General, convoked at Blois in 1576, could bring 
 no rest to France ; opinion was just as much divided 
 there as in the country ; and the year 1577 saw 
 another petty war, counted as the sixth, which was 
 closed by the Peace of Bergerac, another ineffectual 
 truce which settled nothing. It was a peace made 
 with the Politiques and Huguenots by the Court ; it is 
 significant of the new state of affairs that the League 
 openly refused to be bound by it, and continued 
 a harassing, objectless warfare. The Due d'Anjou 
 (he had taken that title on his brother Henri's 
 
308 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 accession to the throne) in 1578 deserted the Court 
 party, towards which his mother had drawn him, and 
 made friends with the Calvinists in the Netherlands. 
 The southern provinces named him " Defender of 
 their liberties ; " they had hopes he might wed Ehz- 
 abeth of England ; they quite mistook their man. In 
 1579 " the Gallants' War " broke out ; the Leaguers 
 had it all their own way ; but Henri III., not too 
 friendly to them, and urged by his brother Anjou, to 
 whom had been offered sovereignty over the seven 
 united provinces in 1580, offered the insurgents easy 
 terms, and the Treaty of Fleix closed the seventh war. 
 Anjou in the Netherlands could but show his weak- 
 ness ; nothing went well with him ; and at last, hav- 
 ing utterly wearied out his friends, he fled, after the 
 failure of his attempt to secure Antwerp, into France. 
 There he fell ill of consumption and died in 1584. 
 
 This changed at once the complexion of the succes- 
 sion question. Hitherto, though no children seemed 
 likely to be born to him, Henri III. was young and 
 might live long, and his brother was there as his heir. 
 Now, Henri III. was the last Prince of the Valois, and 
 Henri of Navarre in hereditary succession was heir pre- 
 smnptive to the throne, unless the Salic law were to 
 be set aside. The fourth son of Saint Louis, Robert, 
 Comte de Clermont, who married Beatrix, heiress of 
 Bourbon, was the founder of the House of Bourbon. 
 Of this family the two elder branches had died out: 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 309 
 
 John, who had been a central figure in the War of the 
 Public Weal, in 1488 ; Peter, husband of Anne of 
 France, in 1503 ; neither of them leaving heirs male. 
 Of the younger branch Fran9ois died in 1525, and the 
 famous Conn^table de Bourbon in 1527. This left as 
 the only representatives of the family, the Comtes de La 
 Marche ; of these the elder had died out in 1438, and 
 the junior alone survived in the Comtes de VendSme. 
 The head of this branch, Charles, was made Due 
 de VendQme by Francois I. in 1515 ; he was father of 
 Antoine, Due de Vend6me. who, by marrying the he- 
 roic Jeanne d'Albret, became King of Navarre, and 
 of Louis, who founded the House of Conde ; lastly, 
 Antoine was the father of Henri IV. He was, there- 
 fore, a very distant cousin to Henri III ; the Houses of 
 Capet, of Alengon, of Orleans, of Angouleme, of Maine, 
 and of Burgundy, as well as the elder Bourbons, had to 
 fall extinct before Henri of Navarre could become 
 heir to the crown. All this, however, had now hap- 
 pened ; and the Huguenots greatly rejoiced in the 
 prospect of a Calvinist King. The Politique party 
 showed no ill-will towards him ; both they and the 
 Court party declared that if he would become once 
 more a Catholic they would rally to him ; the Guises 
 and the League were naturally all the more firmly set 
 against him ; and Henri of Navarre saw that he 
 could not as yet safely endanger his influence with 
 the Huguenots, while his conversion would not dis- 
 
310 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 arm the hostility of the League. They had before 
 this put forward as heir to the throne Henri's uncle, 
 the wretched old Cardinal de Bourbon, who had all the 
 faults and none of the good qualities of his brother 
 Antoine. Under cover of his name the Due de Guise 
 hoped to secure the succession for himself; he also 
 sold himself and his party to Philip of Spain, who 
 was now in fullest expectation of a final triumph over 
 his foes. He had assassinated William the Silent; 
 any day Elizabeth or Henri of Navarre might be 
 found murdered ; the domination of Spain over Europe 
 seemed almost secured. The pact of Joinville, signed 
 between Philip, Guise, and Mayenne, gives us the 
 measure of the aims of the high Catholic party. 
 Paris warmly sided with them ; the new development 
 of the League, the " Sixteen of Paris," one represen- 
 tative for each of the districts of the capital, formed 
 a vigorous organisation and called for the King's 
 deposition ; they invited Henri, Due de Guise, to 
 Paris. Soon after this Henri HI. humbled himself, 
 and signed the Treaty of Nemours (1585) with the 
 Leaguers. He hereby became nominal head of the 
 League and its real slave. 
 
 The eighth war, the " War of the Three Henries," 
 that is, of Henri III. and Henri de Guise against 
 Henri of Navarre, now broke out. The Pope made 
 his voice heard ; Sixtus excommunicated the Bour- 
 bons, Henri and Conde, and blessed the Leaguers. 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 311 
 
 For the first time there was some real life in one of 
 these civil wars, for Henri of Navarre rose nobly 
 to the level of his troubles. At first the balance of 
 successes was somewhat in favour of the Leaguers ; 
 the political atmosphere grew even more threatening, 
 and terrible things, like lightning flashes, gleamed 
 out now and again. Such, for example, was the exe- 
 cution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, in 1586. It 
 was known that Philip II. was preparing to crush 
 England. Elizabeth did what she could to support 
 Henri of Navarre ; he had the good fortune to win 
 the battle of Coutras, in which the Due de Joyeuse, 
 one of the favourites of Henri III., was defeated and 
 killed. The Due de Guise, on the other hand, was 
 too strong for the Germans, who had marched into 
 France to join the Huguenots, and defeated them at 
 Vimroy and Auneau, after which he marched in 
 triumph to Paris, in spite of the orders and opposi- 
 tion of the King, who, finding himself powerless, 
 withdrew to Chartres. Once more Henri III. was 
 obliged to accept such terms as the Leaguers chose 
 to impose ; and with rage in his heart he signed the 
 " Edict of Union " (1588), in which he named the 
 Due de Guise lieutenant-general of the kingdom, 
 and declared that no heretic could succeed to the 
 throne. Unable to endure the humiliation, Henri 
 III., that same winter, assassinated the Due and the 
 Cardinal de Guise, and seized many leaders of the 
 
312 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 League, though he missed the Due de Mayenne. 
 This s'candalous murder of the " King of Paris," as 
 the capital fondly called the Duke, brought the 
 wretched King no solace or power. His mother did 
 not live to see the end of her son ; she died in this 
 the darkest period of his career, and must have been 
 aware that her cunning and her immoral life had 
 brought nothing but misery to herself and all her 
 race. The power of the League party seemed as 
 great as ever ; the Due de Mayenne entered Paris, 
 and declared open war on Henri III., who, after some 
 hesitation, threw himself into the hands of his cousin 
 Henri of Navarre in the spring of 1589. The old 
 Politique party now rallied to the King ; the Hugue- 
 nots were stanch for their old leader ; things looked 
 less dark for them since the destruction of the Span- 
 ish Armada in the previous summer. The Swiss, 
 aroused by the threats of the Duke of Savoy at 
 Geneva, joined the Germans, who once more en- 
 tered northeastern France ; the Leaguers were unable 
 to make head either against them or against the 
 armies of the two Kings ; they fell back on Paris, 
 and the allies hemmed them in. The defence of the 
 capital was but languid ; the populace missed their 
 idol, the Due de Guise, and the moderate party, 
 never extinguished, recovered strength. All looked 
 as if the royalists would soon reduce the last strong- 
 hold of the League, when Henri HI. was suddenly 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 313 
 
 slain by the dagger of a fanatical half-witted priest. 
 The King had only time to commend Henri of 
 Navarre to his courtiers as his heir, and to exhort 
 him to become a Catholic, before he closed his eyes, 
 and ended the long roll of his vices and crimes. 
 And thus in crime and shame the House of Yalois 
 went down. For a few years, the throne remained 
 practically vacant : the heroism of Henri of Navarre, 
 the loss of strength in the Catholic powers, the want 
 of a vigorous head to the League, — these things all 
 sustained the Bourbon in his arduous struggle ; the 
 middle party grew in strength daily, and when once 
 Henri had allowed himself to be converted, he became 
 the national sovereign, the national favourite, and the 
 high Catholics fell to the fatal position of an unpa- 
 triotic faction depending on the arm of the foreigner. 
 4. The civil wars were not over, for the heat of 
 party raged as yet unslaked ; the Politiques could not 
 all at once adopt a Huguenot King, the League party 
 had pledged itself to resist the heretic, and Henri at 
 first had little more than the Huguenots at his back. 
 There were also formidable claimants for the throne. 
 Charles II., Due de Lorraine, who had married 
 Claude, younger daughter of Henri H., and who was 
 therefore brother-in-law to Henri IIL, set up a vague 
 claim ; the King of Spain, Philip II., thought that the 
 Salic law had prevailed long enough in France, and 
 that his own wife, the elder daughter of Henri II., 
 
314 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 had the best claim to the throne ; the Guises, though 
 their head was gone, still hoping for the crown, pro- 
 claimed their sham-king, the Cardinal de Bourbon, as 
 Charles X., and intrigued behind the shadow of his 
 name. The Due de Mayenne, their present chief, 
 was the most formidable of Henri's opponents ; his 
 party called for a convocation of States General, which 
 should choose a King to succeed, or to replace, their 
 feeble Charles X. During this struggle the high 
 Catholic party, inspired by Jesuit advice, stood for- 
 ward as the admirers of constitutional principles ; they 
 called on the nation to decide the question as to the 
 succession ; their Jesuit friends wrote books on the 
 sovereignty of the people. They summoned up troops 
 from every side ; the Due de Lorraine sent his son to 
 resic:t Henri and support his own claim ; the King of 
 Spain sent a body of men ; the League princes brought 
 what force they could. Henri of Navarre at the 
 same moment found himself weakened by the silent 
 withdrawal from his camp of the army of Henri III.; 
 tho Politique nobles did not care at first to throw in 
 their lot with the Huguenot chieftain ; they offered to 
 confer on Henri the post of commander-in-chief, and 
 to reserve the question as to the succession ; they let 
 him know that they recognised his hereditary rights, 
 and were hindered only by his heretical opinions ; if 
 he would but be converted they were his. Henri tem- 
 porised ; his true strength, for the time, lay in his 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 315 
 
 iluguenot followers, rugged and faithful fighting men, 
 whose belief was the motive power of their allegiance 
 and of their courage. If he joined the Politiques at 
 their price, the price of declaring himself Catholic, 
 the Huguenots would be offended if not alienated. 
 So he neither absolutely refused nor said yes ; and the 
 chief Catholic nobles in the main stood aloof, watch- 
 ing the struggle between Huguenot and Leaguer, as 
 it worked out its course. 
 
 Henri, thus weakened, abandoned the siege of 
 Paris, and fell back ; with the bulk of his forces he 
 marched into Normandy, so as to be within reach of 
 English succour ; a considerable army went into Cham- 
 pagne, to be ready to join any Swiss or German help 
 that might come. These were the great days in the 
 life of Henri of Navarre. Henri showed himself a 
 hero, who strove for a great cause — the cause of 
 European freedom — as well as for his own crown. 
 
 The Due de Mayenne followed the Huguenots down 
 into the west, and found Henri awaiting him in a 
 strong position at Arques, near Dieppe ; here at bay, 
 the " B^arnais " inflicted a heavy blow on his assail- 
 ants ; Mayenne fell back into Picardy ; the Prince of 
 Lorraine drew off altogether ; and Henri marched 
 triumphantly back to Paris, ravaged the suburbs and 
 then withdrew to Tours, where he was recognised as 
 King by the Parliament. His campaign of 1589 had 
 been most successful ; he had defeated the League in a 
 
316 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 great battle, thanks to his skilful use of his position 
 at Arques, and the gallantry of his troops, which 
 more than counterbalanced the great disparity in num- 
 bers. He had seen dissension break out among his 
 enemies ; even the Pope, Sixtus, had shown him some 
 favour, and the Politique nobles were certainly not 
 going against him. Early in 1590 Henri had secured 
 Anjou, Maine, and Normandy, and in March defeated 
 Mayenne, in a great pitched battle at Ivry, not far 
 from Dreux. The Leaguers fell back in consternation 
 to Paris. Henri reduced all the country round the 
 capital, and sat down before it for a stubborn siege. 
 The Duke of Parma had at that time his hands full 
 in the Low Countries ; young Prince Maurice was 
 beginning to show his great abilities as a soldier, and 
 had got possession of Breda ; all, however, had to be 
 suspended by the Spaniards on that side, rather than 
 let Henri of Navarre take Paris. Parma with great 
 skill relieved the capital without sti'iking a blow, and 
 the campaign of 1590 ended in a failure for Henri. 
 The success of Parma, however, made Frenchmen feel 
 that Henri's was the national cause, and that the 
 League flourished only by interference of the foreigner. 
 Were the King of Navarre but a Catholic, he should 
 be a King of France of whom they might all be proud. 
 This feeling was strengthened by the death of the old 
 Cardinal de Bourbon, which reopened at once the 
 succession question, and compelled Philip of Spain to 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF V ALOIS. 317 
 
 show his hand. He now claimed the throne for his 
 daughter Elisabeth, as eldest daughter of the eldest 
 daughter of Henri II. All the neighbours of France 
 claimed something ; Frenchmen felt that it was either 
 Henri lY. or dismemberment. The " Bearnais " grew 
 in men's minds to be the champion of the Salic law, 
 of the hereditary principle of royalty against feudal 
 weakness, of unity against dismemberment, of the 
 nation against the foreigner. 
 
 The middle party, the Politiques of Europe, — the 
 English, that is, and the Germans, — sent help to 
 Henri, by means of which he was able to hold his own 
 in the northwest and southwest throughout 1591. 
 Late in the year the violence of the Sixteen of Paris 
 drew on them severe punishment from the Due de 
 Mayenne; and consequently the Duke ceased to be 
 the recognised head of the League, which now looked 
 entirely to Philip II. and Parma, while Paris ceased 
 to be its headquarters ; and more moderate counsels 
 having taken the place of its fierce fanaticism, the 
 capital came under the authority of the lawyers and 
 citizens, instead of the priesthood and the bloodthirsty 
 mob. Henri, meanwhile, who was closely beleaguering 
 Rouen, was again outgeneralled by Parma, and had to 
 raise the siege. Parma, following him westward, was 
 wounded at Caudebec; and though he carried his 
 army triumphantly back to the Netherlands, his career 
 was ended by this trifling wound. He did no more, and 
 died in 1592. 
 
318 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 In 1593, Mayenne, having sold his own claims to 
 Philip of Spain, the opposition to Henri looked more 
 solid and dangerous than ever ; he therefore thought 
 the time was come for the great step which should 
 rally to him all the moderate Catholics. After a 
 decent period of negotiation and conferences, he de- 
 clared himself convinced, and heard mass at St. Denis. 
 The conversion had immediate effect; it took the 
 heart out of the opposition ; city after city came in ; 
 the longing for peace was strong in every breast, and 
 the conversion seemed to remove the last obstacle. 
 The Huguenots, little as they liked it, could not op- 
 pose the step, and hoped to profit by their champion's 
 improved position. Their ablest man, Sully, had even 
 advised Henri to make the plunge. In 1594, Paris 
 opened her gates to Henri, who had been solemnly 
 crowned, just before, at Chartres. He was welcomed 
 with immense enthusiasm, and from that day onwards 
 has ever been the favourite hero of the capital. By 
 
 1595 only one foe remained, — the Spanish Court. 
 The League was now completely broken up ; the Par- 
 liament of Paris gladly aided the King to expel the 
 Jesuits from France. In November, 1595, Henri 
 declared war against Spain, for anything was better 
 than the existing state of things, in which Philip'a 
 hand secretly supported all opposition. The war in 
 
 1596 was far from being successful for Henri ; he was 
 comforted, however, by receiving at last the papal 
 
HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF VALOIS. 319 
 
 absolution, which swept away the last scruples of 
 France. 
 
 By rewards and kindliness, — for Henri was always 
 willing to give and had a pleasant word for all, — 
 most of the reluctant nobles, headed by the Due de 
 Mayenne himself, came in in the course of 1596. Still 
 the war pressed very heavily, and early in 1597 the 
 capture of Amiens by the Spaniards alarmed Paris, 
 and roused the King to fresh energies. With help of 
 Sully (who had not yet received the title by which 
 he is known in history) Henri recovered Amiens, and 
 checked the Spanish advance. It was noticed that 
 while the old Leaguers came very heartily to the King's 
 help, the Huguenots hung back in a discontented and 
 suspicious spirit. After the fall of Amiens the war 
 languished ; the Pope offered to mediate, and Henri 
 had time to breathe. He felt that his old comrades, 
 the offended Huguenots, had good cause for com- 
 plaint; and in April, 1598, he issued the famous 
 Edict of Nantes, which secured their position for 
 nearly a century. They got toleration for their opin- 
 ions ; might worship openly in all places, with the 
 exception of a few towns in which the League had 
 been strong ; were qualified to hold office in financial 
 posts and in the law; had a Protestant chamber in 
 the Parliaments. 
 
 Immediately after the publication of the Edict of 
 Nantes, the Treaty of Yervins was signed. Though 
 
820 HISTORIC COURT MEMOIRS. 
 
 Henri by it broke faith with Queen Elizabeth, he 
 secured an honourable peace for his country, an undis- 
 puted kingship for himself. It was the last act of 
 Philip II., the confession that his great schemes were 
 unfulfilled, his policy a failure. 
 
 THE END. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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