& - ' ' HISTORY OF THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS VOLUME II. HISTORY OF THE HENRY M. BAIRD, PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. FROM THE EDICT OF JANUARY (1562), TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES THE NINTH (-574). HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXX. Hall, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury. m \ V CONTEXTS VOLUME SECOND. BOOK II. CHAPTER XIII. 1562-1563. Page THE FIRST CIVIL, WAR 3 Unsatisfactory Character of the Edict of January .... 3 Huguenot Leaders urge its Observance ...... 3 Seditious Sermons .......... 5 Opposition of Parliaments 6 New Conference at St. Germain . 7 Defection of Antoine of Navarre, and its Effects 9 He is cheated with Vain Hopes 10 Jeanne d'Albret constant . . 10 Immense Crowds at Huguenot Preaching . . . . . . 11 The Canons of Sainte-Croix . . . 12 The Guises meet Christopher of Wiirtemberg at Saverne . . 1.3 Their Lying Assurances 15 The Guises deceive Nobody 17 Throkmorton' a Account of the French Court . . . . .17 The Massacre of Vassy 19 The Huguenots call for the Punishment of the Murderers ... 23 The Pretence of Want of Premeditation 24 Louis of Conde appeals to the King ....... 26 Bera's Remonstrance ......... 27 An Anvil that had worn out many Hammers 28 Guise enters Paris 28 The Queen Mother takes Charles to Melun 80 Her Letters imploring Condc's Aid ....... 31 Revolutionary Measures of the Triumvirs 32 IV CONTENTS. Page Conde retires to Heaux La Noue justifies his Prudence ........ 33 The Huguenot Summons ......:.. 34 Admiral Coligny's Reluctance to take up Arms ... 34 Guise and Navarre seize the King and bring him to Paris . . 36 Montmorency's Exploit at the " Temples " ... . 37 He earns the Title of " Le Capitaine Brulebanc " .... 37 Conde throws himself into Orleans ... .... 38 His " Justification " 39 Stringent Articles of Association 40 The Huguenot Nobles and Cities 41 Can Iconoclasm be repressed ? 42 An Uncontrollable Impulse 43 It bursts out at Caen . . . . .- . . .44 The " Idol " of the Church of Sainte-Croix 45 Massacre of Huguenots at Sens . . ..... .46 Disorders and War in Provence and Dauphiny . 47 William of Orange and his Principality ...... 48 Massacre by Papal Troops from Avignon 49 Merciless Revenge of the Baron des Adrets . . . .50 His Grim Pleasantry at Mornas 51 Atrocities of Blaise de Montluc . . . . . . . .51 . The Massacre at Toulouse , 52 The Centenary celebrated 53 Foreign Alliances sought 54 Queen Elizabeth's Aid invoked . 55 Cecil's Urgency and Schemes ........ 56 Divided Sympathies of the English 56 Diplomatic Manreuvres 57 Conde's Reply to the Pretended "Petition" 59 Third National Synod of the Protestants 61 Interview of Catharine and Conde at Toury ..... 62 The " Loan " of Beaugency 63 Futile Negotiations . . 64 Spasmodic Efforts in Warfare 65 Huguenot Discipline 66 Severities of the Parisian Parliament 68 Military Successes of the " Triumvirs " at Poitiers and Bourges. . 71 Help from Queen Elizabeth 73 Siege of Rouen 76 Ferocity of the Norman Parliament 80 Death of Antoine, King of Navarre - 81 The English in Havre 84 Conde takes the Field and appears before Paris 85 Dilatory Diplomacy 90 The Battle of Dreux 93 CONTENTS. V Page Montmorency and Conde Prisoners 94 Riotous Conduct of the Parisians ........ 96 Orleans Invested .......... 98 Coligny again in Normandy 99 Huguenot Reverses .......... 101 Assassination of Duke Francois de Guise . . . . . .103 Execution of Poltrot ...... .... 1 05 Beza and Coligny accused 106 They vindicate Themselves . ....... 10(5 Estimates of Guise's Character . . . . . . . . 109 Renee de France at Montargis . ....... 110 Deliberations for Peace . . . . . . . . . 11!> The '* Noblesse " in favor of the Terms the Ministers against them 114 The Edict of Pacification 115 Remonstrance of the English Ambassador . . . . . .116 Coligny's Disappointment . . . 1 1 (5 Results of the First Civil War 118 It prevents France from becoming Huguenot 119 Huguenot Ballads and Songs 120 CHAPTER XIV. 1563-1567. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE AND THE BAYONNE CONFERENCE . . . 126 Charles demands Havre of the English ... 126 The Siege 127 How the Peace was received . .... ... 128 Vexatious Delays in Normandy ........ 121) The Norman Parliament protests and threatens .... 130 A Rude Rebuff 131 Commissioners to enforce the Edict 132 A Profligate Court alienated from Protestantism .... 132 Profanity a Test of Catholicity 134 Admiral Coligny accused of Guise's Murder . ..... 135 His Defence espoused by the Montmorencies 13"> Petition of the Guises .......... 13G The King adjourns the Decision ....... 137 Embarrassment of Catharine 137 Charles's Majority proclaimed ........ 138 The King and the Refractory Parisian Parliament .... 139 The Pope's Bull against Princely Heretics 141 Proceedings against Cardinal Chatillon 141 The Queen of Navarre cited to Rome 141 Spirited Reply of the French Council , 142 VI CONTENTS. Page Catharine seeks to seduce the Huguenot Leaders . . . . 144 Weakness of Conde . ....... 145 Recent Growth of Protestantism . ... 146 Milhau-en-Rouergue : 147 Montpellier Beam 148 Jeanne d'Albret's Reformation . . . . . ' . . . 148 Attempt to kidnap her ......... 150 Close of the Council of Trent 152 Cardinal Lorraine's Attempt to secure the Acceptance of its Decrees 154 His Altercation with L'Hospital . 155 General Plan for suppressing Heresy . . . . . 156 " Progress " of Charles and his Court 157 Calumnies against the Huguenots 159 Their Numbers 159 Catharine's New Zeal Citadels in Protestant Towns . . . 160 Interpretative Declarations infringing upon the Edict . . . .160 Assaults upon Unoffending Huguenots No Redress . . . 162 Conde appeals to the King ......... 163 Conciliatory Answers to Huguenot Inhabitants of Bordeaux and Nantes 164 Protestants excluded from Judicial Posts . . . . . .165 Marshal Montmorency checks the Parisian Mob . . . . 166 His Encounter with Cardinal Lorraine 166 The Conference at Bayonne 167 What were its Secret Objects ? 168 No Plan of Massacre adopted 169 History of the Interview 170 Catharine and Alva 172 Catharine rejects all Plans of Violence 175 Cardinal Granvelle's Testimony 176 Festivities and Pageantry 176 Henry of Beam an Actor . 177 Roman Catholic Confraternities 179 Hints of the Future Plot of the " League " 180 The Siege of Malta and French Civilities to the Sultan . . .181 Constable Montmorency defends Cardinal Ch&tillon . . . 182 The Court at Moulins 183 Feigned Reconciliation of the Guises and Coligny . . . . 184 L'Hospital's Measure for the Relief of the Protestants . . . 185 Another Altercation between Cardinal Lorraine and the Chancellor . 186 Progress of the Reformation at Cateau-Cambresis .... 187 Insults and Violence ... V 192 Huguenot Pleasantries. ......... 192 Alarm of the Protestants 193 Attempts to murder Coligny and Porcien ...... 194 Alva sent to the Netherlands - . 195 CONTENTS. Vll Page The Swiss Levy 196 Conde and Coligny remonstrate 197 Discredited Assurances of Catharine 198 " The very Name of the Edict employed to destroy the Edict itself" 199 The Huguenot Attempts at Colonization in Florida . . . .199 The First and Second Expeditions (1562, 1564) .... 199 Third Expedition (1565) 200 Massacre by Menendez ......... 200 Indignation of the French Court 201 Sincere Remonstrances . 201 Sanguinary Revenge of De Gourgues 202 CHAPTER XV. 1567-1568. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR AND THE SHORT PEACE .... 203 Coligny's Pacific Counsels . 203 Rumors of Plots to destroy the Huguenots 203 D'Andelot's Warlike Counsels prevail 204 Cardinal Lorraine to be seized and King Charles liberated . . . 205 The Secret slowly leaks out ........ 206 Flight of the Court to Paris 207 Cardinal Lorraine invites Alva to France 208 Conde at Saint Denis . 209 The Huguenot Movement alienates the King . . . "T . 210 Negotiations opened .210 The Huguenots abate their Demands 211 Montmorency the Mouthpiece of Intolerance ..... 211 Insincerity of Alva's Offer of Aid 212 The Battle of St. Denis (Nov. 10, 1567) 213 Constable Montmorency mortally wounded ..... 215 His Character 216 The Protestant Princes of Germany determine to send Aid . . 217 The Huguenots go to meet it 219 Treacherous Diplomacy ......... 220 Catharine implores Alva's Assistance 221 Conde and John Casimir meet in Lorraine 222 Generosity of the Huguenot Troops 223 The March toward Orleans 223 The " Michelade " at Nismes 224 Huguenot Successes in the South and West 226 La Rochelle secured for Conde 226 Spain and Rome oppose the Negotiations for Peace . . . 228 Santa Croce demands Cardinal Chatillou's Surrender . . 229 Vlll CONTENTS. Pap* A Rebuff from Marshal Montmoreney 229 March of the " Viscounts " to meet Conde 230 Siege of Chartres 231 Chancellor L'Hospital's Memorial ....... 232 Edict of Pacification (Longjumeau, March 23, 1568) ... 234 Conde for and Coligny against the Peace ...... 235 Conde's Infatuation 235 Was the Court sincere ? 236 Catharine short-sighted 238 Imprudence of the Huguenots 238 Judicial Murder of Rapin at Toulouse ..'... 2o9 Seditious Preachers and Mobs 240 Treatment of the Returning Huguenots 241 ' Expedition and Fate of De Cocqueville 242 Garrisons and Interpretative Ordinances ... ... 244 Oppression of Royal Governors 245 " The Christian and Royal League " 246 Insubordination to Royal Authority 247 Admirable Organization of the Huguenots 247 Murder runs Riot throughout France . 248 La Rochelle, etc. , refuse Royal Garrisons 250 Coligny retires for Safety to Tanlay, Conde to Noyera . . .251 D'Andelot's Remonstrance 252 Catharine sides with L' Hospital's Enemies 254 Remonstrance of the three Marshals 255 Catharine's Intrigues 255 The Court seeks to ruin Conde and Coligny 256 Teligny sent to remonstrate 256 The Oath exacted of the Huguenots 257 The Plot Disclosed 259 Intercepted Letter from Spain ....... 209 Isabella of Spain her Husband's Mouthpiece Charles begs his Mother to avoid War Her Animosity against L'Hospital Another Quarrel between Lorraine and the Chancellor . . . Fall of Chancellor L'Hospital The Plot Marshal Tavannes its Author Conde's Last Appeal to the King Flight of the Prince and Admiral Its Wonderful Success The Third Ciril War opens The City of La Rochelle and its Privileges 270 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER XVI. 1568-1570. Page TriE THIRD CITIL WAR 274 Relative Advantages of Huguenots and Roman Catholics . . 274 Enthusiasm of Huguenot Youth 274 Enlistment of Agrippa d' Aubigne ....... 275 The Court proscribes the Reformed Religion 275 Impolicy of this Course ......... 277 A " Crusade " published at Toulouse 278 Fanaticism of the Roman Catholic Preachers 279 Huguenot Places of Refuge ........ 280 Jeanne d'Albret and D'Andelot reach La Rochelle .... 281 Successes in Poitou, Angoumois, etc. ....... 282 Powerful Huguenot Army in the South ...... 284 Effects a Junction with Conde's Forces ...... 284 Huguenot Reprisals and Negotiations ...... 287 William of Orange tries to aid the Huguenots ..... 288 His Declaration in their behalf . ... . . . . 290 Aid sought from England . . . . . . . . .291 Generously accorded by Clergy and Laity ..... 292 Misgivings of Queen Elizabeth ........ 294 Her Double Dealing and Effrontery ....... 295 Fruitless Sieges and Plots ......... 297 Growing Superiority of Anjou's Forces ...... 298 The Armies meet on the Charente 299 Battle of Jarnac (March 13, 1569) 301 Murder of Louis, Prince of Conde ....... 302 The Prince of Navarre remonstrates against the Perfidy shown . 305 Exaggerated Bulletins 307 The Pope's Sanguinary Injunctions 308 Sanguinary Action of the Parliament of Bordeaux . . . .310 Queen Elizabeth colder 310 The Queen of Navarre's Spirit 311 The Huguenots recover Strength 313 Death of D'Andelot 312 New Responsibility resting on Coligny 314 The Duke of Deux Pouts comes with German Auxiliaries . . .315 They overcome all Obstacles and join Coligny . . . . . 31 7 Death of Deux Ponts 318 Huguenot Success at La Roche Abeille 319 Furlough of Anjou's Troops ........ 320 Huguenot Petition to the King ....... 320 Coligny's Plans overruled 32^1 Disastrous Siege of Poitiers 324 Z CONTENTS. Page Cruelties to Huguenots in the Prisons of Orleans .... 326 Montargis a Safe Refuge 327 Flight of the Refugees to Sancerre 3^ The " Croix de Gastines " 320 Ferocity of Parliament against Coligny and Others .... 330 A Price set on Coligny's Head 330 The Huguenots weaker 332 Battle of Moncontour (Oct 3, 1569) 333 Coligny wounded 334 Heavy Losses of the Huguenots 335 The Roman Catholics exultant 336 Mouy murdered by Maurevel 337 The Assassin rewarded with the Collar of the Order .... 338 Fatal Error committed by the Court 338 Siege of St. Jean d'Angely 340 Huguenot Successes at Vezelay and Nismes 344 Coligny encouraged 347 Withdrawal of the Troops of Dauphiny and Provence . . . 348 The Admiral's Bold Plan 348 He Sweeps through Gnyenne 349 "Vengeance de Rapin" . 351 Coligny pushes on to the Rhone . 351 His Singular Success and its Causes 351 He turns toward Paris 353 His Illness interrupts Negotiations 353 Engagement of Arnay-le-Duc 354 [ Coligny approaches Paris 356 Progress of Negotiations 356 The English Rebellion affects the Terms offered 358 Better Conditions proposed 360 Charles and his Mother for Peace 360 The War fruitless for its Authors 361 Anxiety of Cardinal Chatillon 363 The Royal Edict of St. Germain (Aug. 8, 1570) .... 363 Dissatisfaction of the Clergy ........ 365 " The Limping and Unsettled Peace " 366 CHAPTER XVII. 1570-1572. THE PEACE OP ST. GERMAIN . " 367 Sincerity of the Peace ......... 367 The Designs of Catharine de' Medici 369 Charles the Ninth in Earnest 370 Tears out the Parliament Record against Cardinal Chatillon . . 371 CONTENTS. XI Page His Assurances to Walsingham 371 Gracious Answer to German Electors ....... 372 Infringement on Edict at Orange 373 Protestants of Rouen attacked 374 The " Croix de Gastines " pulled down 375 Projected Marriage of Anjou to Queen Elizabeth of England . . 377 Machinations to dissuade Anjou ....... 379 Charles indignant at Interference . ..... 379 Alenijon to be substituted as Suitor ...... 380 Anjou's new Ardor 380 Elizabeth interposes Obstacles ....... 381 Papal and Spanish Efforts 382 Vexation of Catharine at Anjou's fresh Scruples .... 383 Louis of Nassau confers with the King ...... 384 Admiral Coligny consulted ........ 386 Invited to Court 387 His Honorable Reception 389 Disgust of the Guises and Alva 390 Charles gratified 391 Proposed Marriage of Henry of Navarre to the King's Sister . . 392 The Anjon Match falls through 396 The Praise of Alenqon 398 Pius the Fifth Alarmed 400 Cardinal of Alessandria sent to Paris 400 The King's Assurances 400 Jeanne d'Albret becomes more favorable to her Son's Marriage . . 403 Her Solicitude 403 She is treated with Tantalizing Insincerity 404 She is shocked at the Morals of the Court ..... 405 Her Sudden Death 407 Coligny and the Boy-King ........ 408 The Dispensation delayed 410 The King's Earnestness 411 Mons and Valenciennes captured . . . . . . . .412 Catharine's Indecision 413 Queen Elizabeth inspires no Confidence 414 Rout of Genlis 415 Determines Catharine to take the Spanish Side ..... 416 Loss of the Golden Opportunity ....... 416 The Admiral does not lose Courage 417 Charles and Catharine at Montpipeau . . . . . . 418 Rumors of Elizabeth's Desertion of her Allies 419 Charles thoroughly cast down 420 Coligny partially succeeds in reassuring him . . . . ,421 Elizabeth toys with Dishonorable Proposals from the Netherlands . 422 Fatal Results 423 Xll CONTENTS. Page The Memoires inedits de Michel de la Huguerye .... 423 His View of a long Premeditation ....... 423 Studied Misrepresentation of Jeanne d'Albret ..... 424 CHAPTER XVIII. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAT .... 426 The Huguenot Nobles reach Paris ....... 420 The Betrothal of Henry of Navarre to Margaret of Valois . . 427 Entertainment in the Louvre ........ 429 Coligny's Letter to his Wife 430 Festivities and Mock Combats ........ 431 Huguenot Grievances to be redressed ...... 432 Catharine and Anjou jealous of Coligny's Influence over the King . 433 The Duchess of Nemours and Guise 434 Was the Massacre long premeditated ? ...... 435 Salviati's Testimony ......... 435 Charles' Cordiality to Coligny ........ 436 Coligny wounded .......... 437 Agitation of the King 439 Coligny courageous . 440 Visited by the King and his Mother ....... 441 Catharine attempts to break up the Conference .... 443 Charles writes Letters expressing his Displeasure .... 444 The Vidame de Chartres advises the Huguenots to leave Paris . 445 Catharine and Anjou come to a Final Decision . . . . 446 They ply Charles with Arguments .447 The King consents reluctantly ........ 449 Few Victims first selected ........ 450 Religious Hatred ........... 452 Precautionary Measures ......... 452 Orders issued to the Prevot des Marchanda 454 The First Shot and the Bell of St. Germain 1'Auxerrois . . . 4.').", Murder of Admiral Coligny ......... 456 His Character and Work 460 Murder of Huguenot Nobles in the Louvre ...... 465 Navarre and Conde spared ........ 468 The Massacre becomes general ........ 470 La Rochefoucauld and Teligny fall ....... 470 Self-defence of a few Nobles 471 Victims of Personal Hatred 472 Adventures of young La Force 472 Pitiless Butchery 474 Shamelessness of the Court Ladies . ... 476 CONTENTS. Xlll Page Anjou, Montpensier, and others encourage the Assassins . . 476 Wonderful Escapes 477 Death of the Philosopher Ramus 478 President Pierre de la Place ........ 479 Regnier and Vezins 480 Escape of Chartres and Montgomery 481 Charles himself fires on them ........ 482 The Massacre continues ......... 484 Pillage of the Rich 485 Orders issued to lay down Arms 487 Little heeded 487 Miracle of the " Cimetiere des Innocents" 488 The King's First Letter to Mandelot 490 Guise throws the Responsibility on the King 491 Charles accepts it on Tuesday morning 492 The " Lit de Justice " 492 Servile Reply of Parliament 493 Christopher De Thou 493 Ineffectual Effort to inculpate Coligny 495 His Memory declared Infamous ........ 496 Petty Indignities 496 A Jubilee Procession 498 Charles declares he will maintain his Edict of Pacification . . 498 Forced Conversion of Navarre and Conde" . 499 CHAPTER XIX. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES, AND THE RECEPTION OP THE TIDINGS ABROAD . . . . 501 The Massacre in the Provinces 501 The Verbal Orders 502 Instructions to Montsoreau at Saumur ...... 503 Two Kinds of Letters 504 Massacre at Meaux . 505 At Troyes 507 The Great Bloodshed at Orleans 508 At Bourges 511 At Angers ........... 512 Butchery at Lyons 513 Responsibility of Maudelot 517 Rouen 519 Toulouse 521 Bordeaux 522 Why the Massacre was not Universal , . 524 XIV CONTENTS. Page Policy of the Guises 50.") Spurious Accounts of Clemency . . . . . . . 52.*i Bishop Le Hennuyer, of Lisieux 525 Kind Offices of Matignon at Caen and Alenqon .... 52t? Of Longueville and Gordes ......... 526 Of Tende in Provence .... ..... 527 Viscount D'Orthez at Bayonne 52 S The Municipality of Nantes ........ 529 Uncertain Number of Victims ........ 530 News of the Massacre received at Eome 530 Public Thanksgivings 532 Vasari's Paintings in the Vatican . 533 French Boasts count for Nothing . 535 Catharine writes to Philip, her son-in-law 536 The Delight of Philip of Spain 537 Charles instigates the Murder of French Prisoners .... 539 Alva jubilaat, but wary 540 England's Horror 541 Perplexity of La Motte Fenelon 541 His Cold Reception by Queen Elizabeth ...... 543 The Ambassador disheartened 546 Sir Thomas Smith's Letter 543 Catharine's Unsuccessful Representations 547 Briquemault and Cavaignes hung for alleged Conspiracy . . 548 The News in Scotland 550 In Germany 550 In Poland 552 Sympathy of the Genevese ........ 554 Their Generosity and Danger 557 The Impression at Baden 553 Medals and Vindications 559 Disastrous Personal Effect on King Charles 560 How far was the Roman Church Responsible ? 562 Gregory probably not aware of the intended Massacre . . . 5(U Paul the Fifth instigates the French Court 5(14 He counsels exterminating the Huguenots 565 A New Account of the Massacre at Orleans 569 CHAPTER XX. 1572-1574. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE, TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES THE NINTH 572 Widespread Terror 572 CONTENTS. XV Pairr La Rochelle and other Cities in Huguenot Hands .... 573 Nismes and Montauban 573 La Rochelle the Centre of Interest 576 A Spurious Letter of Catharine 577 Designs on the City 577 Mission of La Noue 579 He is badly received . - 580 The Royal Proposals rejected 581 Marshal Biron appears before La Rochelle 582 Beginning of the Fourth Religious War 582 Description of La Rochelle 582 Resoluteness of the Defenders 583 Their Military Strength 584 Henry, Duke of Anjou, appointed to conduct the Siege . . . 585 The Besieged pray and fight 585 Bravery of the Women ......... 586 La Noue retires Failure of Diplomacy ... . 587 English Aid miscarries 588 Huguenot Successes in the South 589 Sommieres and Villeneuve . 589 Beginning of the Siege of Sancerre 589 The Incipient Famine 590 Losses of the Army before La Rochelle 591 Roman Catholic Processions 592 Election of Henry of Anjou to the Crown of Poland .... 593 Edict of Pacification (Boulogne, July, 1573) 593 Meagre Results of the War 594 The Siege and Famine of Sancerre continue 595 The City capitulates 597 Reception of the Polish Ambassadors 598 Discontent of the South with the Terms of Peace .... 599 Assembly of Milhau and Montauban 600 Military Organization of the Huguenots ...... 600 Petition to the King 601 " Les Fronts d'Airain " 603 Catharine's Bitter Reply 604 The Huguenots firm 604 Decline of Charles's Health 605 Project of an English Match renewed 606 Intrigues with the German Princes 608 Death of Louis of Nassau 610 Anjou's Reception at Heidelberg 610 Frankness of the Elector Palatine 611 Last Days of Chancellor L' Hospital 613 The Party of the u Politiques" 615 Hotman's " Franco-Gallia " 615 XVi CONTENTS. Page Treacherous Attempt on La Rochelle ....... 616 Huguenots re-assemble at Milhau 617 They complete their Organization 618 The Duke of AlenQon 619 Glandage Plunders the City of Orange 620 Montbrun's Exploits in Dauphiny 621 La Rochelle resumes Arms (Beginning of the Fifth Religious War) . 622 Diplomacy tried in Vain ...... . 623 The " PoUtiques " make an Unsuccessful Rising . .... 625 Flight of the Court from St. Germain 626 Alengon and Navarre examined ...... . . 627 Execution of La Mole and Coconnas 628 Conde retires to Germany 629 Reasons for the Success of the Huguenots ..... 630 Montgomery lands in Normandy . . ...... 631 He is forced to Surrender ........ 632 Delight of Catharine 632 Execution of Montgomery ........ 633 Last Days of Charles the Ninth ........ 635 Distress of his Young Queen 636 Death and Funeral Rites of Charles 638 Had Persecution, War and Treachery Succeeded ? . . . . 639 BOOK SECOND. FROM THE EDICT OF JANUARY (1562) TO THE DEATH OF CHARLES THE NINTH (1574). CHAPTER XIII. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR THE Edict of January was on its very face a compromise, and as such rested on no firm foundation. Inconsistent with itself, inc.insisten- & f ully satisfied neither Huguenot nor Roman Catho- 'otjan- lie. The latter objected to the toleration which the edict extended ; the former demanded the unrestricted freedom of worship which it denied. If the existence of two diverse religions was compatible with the welfare of the state, why ignominiously thrust the places of Protestant worship from the cities into the suburbs? If the two were irreconcilable, why suffer the Huguenots to assemble outside the walls ? Yet there was this difference between the attitude assumed by the rival parties with reference to the edict: while the Huguenot Roman Catholic leaders made no secret of their t^ d oteer^ce intention to insist upon its repeal, 1 the Huguenot of the edict. j ea( j er8 were urgent in their advice to the churches to conform strictly to its provisions, restraining the indis- 1 The nuncio alone seems to have thought that the edict would work so well, that "in six months, or a year at farthest, there would not be a single Huguenot in France ! " His ground of confidence was that many, if not most of the reformed, were influenced, not by zeal for religion, but by cupidity. Santa Croce to Card. Boiromeo, Jan. 17, 1562, Aymon, i. 44; Cimber et Danjou, vi. 30. 4 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. creet zeal of their more impetuous members and exhibiting due gratitude to Heaven for the amelioration of their lot. To the people it was, indeed, a bitter disappointment to be com- pelled to give up the church edifices, and to resort for public service to the outskirts of the town. Less keen was the regret experienced by others not less sincerely interested in the prog- ress of the purer doctrines, who, on account of their apprecia- tion of the violence of the opposition to be encountered, had not been so sanguine in their expectations. And so Beza and other prominent men of the Protestant Church, after obtaining from Chancellor L'Hospital some further explanations on doubt- ful points, addressed to their brethren in all parts of France a letter full of wholesome advice. "God," said they, "has deigned to employ new means of protecting His church in this kingdom, by placing those who profess the Gospel under the safeguard of the king, our natural prince, and of the magistrates and governors established by him. This should move us so much the more to praise the infinite goodness of our Heavenly Father, who has at length answered the cry of His children, and lovingly to obey the king, in order that he may be induced to aid our just cause." The provisional edict, they added, was not all that might yet be hoped for. As respected the surrender of the churches, those Huguenots who had seized them on their own individual authority ought rather to acknowledge their former indiscretion than deplore the necessity for restitution. In fine, annoyance at the loss of a few privileges ought to be forgotten in gratitude for the gain of many signal advantages. 1 The letter produced a deep impression, and its salutary advice was followed scrupulously, if not cheerfully, even in southern France, where the Huguenots, in some places, outnumbered the adherents of the Romish Church. The papal party was less ready to acquiesce. The Edict of January was, according to its representative writers, the most pernicious law for the kingdom that could have been devised. By forbidding the magistrates from interfering with the Protes- 1 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., i. 428, 429. The letter is followed by an exam- ination of the edict, article by article, as affecting the Protestants. Ib. i. 429-431. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR O tant conventicles held in the suburbs, by permitting the royal officers to attend, by conferring upon the ministers full liberty of officiating, a formal approval was, for the first time, given to the new sect under the authority of the royal seal. 1 The pulpits resounded with denunciations of the government. The King seditious ser- ^ ^avarre and the queen mother were assailed under scriptural names, as favoring the false prophets of Baal. Scarcely a sermon was preached in which they did not figure as Ahab and Jezebel.* A single specimen of the spirited discourses in vogue will suffice. A Franciscan monk one Bar- rier the same from whose last Easter sermon an extract has already been given s after reading the royal ordinance in his church of Sainte-Croix, in Provins, remarked: "Well now, gentlemen of Provins, what must I, and the other preachers of France, do ? Must we obey this order ? What shall we tell you ? What shall we preach ? ' The Gospel,' Sir Huguenot will say. 1 Abbe Bruslart, Mem. de Conde. i. 70. Barbaro spoke the universal senti- ment of the bigoted wing of the papal party when he described " the decree " as "full of concealed poison," as ''the most powerful means of advancing the new religion," as " an edict so pestiferous and so poisonous, that ib brought all the calamities that have since occurred." Tommaseo, Eel. des Amb. Ven., ii. 72. - Claude Haton, 211. "Et longtemps depuis ne faisoient sermon qu'ilz Acab et Hiesabd et leurs persecutions ne fussent mis par eux en avant," etc. In fact, Catharine seemed fated to have her name linked to that of the infa- mous Queen of Israel. A Protestant poem, evidently of a date posterior to the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, is still extant in the National Library of Paris, in which the comparison of the two is drawn out at full length. The one was the ruin of Israel, the other of France. The one maintained idola- try, the other papacy. The one slew God's holy prophets, the other has slain a hundred thousand followers of the Gospel. Both have killed, in order to obtain the goods of their victims. But the unkindest verses are the last even the very dogs will refuse to touch Catharine's li carrion." " En fin le jugement fut tel Que les chiens mengent Jhesabel Par une vangeance divine ; Mais la charongne de Catherine Sera differente en ce point, Car les chiens ne la vouldront point." Appendix to Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 1,110. s Ante, i. 477. 6 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIIL And pray, stating that the errors of Calvin, of Martin Luther, of Beza, Malot, Peter Martyr, and other preachers, with their erroneous doctrine, condemned by the Church a thousand years ago, and since then by the holy oecumenical councils, are worth- less and damnable is not this preaching the Gospel ? Bidding you beware of their teaching, bidding you refuse to listen to them, or read their books ; telling you that they only seek to stir up sedition, murder, and robbery, as they have begun to do in Paris and numberless places in the realm is not this preach- ing ' the Gospel ? ' But some one may say : * Pray, friar, what are you saying ? You are not obeying the king's edict ; you are still talking of Calvin and his companions ; you call them and those who hold their sentiments heretics and Huguenots you will be denounced to the courts of justice, you will be thrown into prison yes, you will be hung as a seditious person.' I answer, that is not unlikely, for Ahab and Jezebel put to death the prophets of God in their time, and gave all freedom to the false prophets of Baal. ' Stop, friar, you are saying too much, you will be hung.' Very well, then there will be a gray friar himg ! Many others will therefore have to be hung, for God, by His Holy Spirit, will inspire the pillars of His church to uphold the edifice, which will never be overthrown until the end of the world, whatever blows may be struck at it." ' The parliaments exhibited scarcely less opposition to the edict than did the pulpits of the Roman Catholic .churches. One the Parliament of Diion never registered it at all : * Opposition of >-,-, < -r -11 -> i i i the pariia- while that of Paris instituted a long and decided resist- ance. " Nonpossumus, nee debemus? " nonpossumus, nee delemus pro conscientia" were the words in which it replied when repeatedly pressed to give formal sanction. 8 The coun- sellors were equally displeased with the contents of the edict, and with the irregularity committed in sending it first to the provincial parliaments. Even when the king, yielding to their importunity, by a supplementary " declaration," interpreted the provision of the edict relative to the attendance of royal officers 1 Mem. de Claude Haton, 211, 212. 8 Hist, eccles. des egL ref., i. 431. 3 Abbe Bruslart, Mem. de Conde, i. 70, 71. 156i THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 7 upon the reformed services, as applicable only to the bailiffs, seneschals, and other minor magistrates, and strictly prohibited the attendance of the members of parliament and other high judicatories,' the counsellors, instead of proceeding to the regis- try of the obnoxious law, returned a recommendation that the intolerant Edict of July be enforced ! * It was not possible until March to obtain a tardy assent to the reception of the January Edict into the legislation of the country, and then only a few of the judges vouchsafed to take part in the act.' The delay served to inflame yet more the passions of the people. Scarcely had the edict which was to adjust the relations of the two religious parties been promulgated, when a new attempt was made to reconcile the antagonistic beliefs by the old, but New confer- ever unsuccessful method of a conference between theologians. On the twenty-eighth of January a se- lect company assembled in the large council-chamber of the r< >yal palace of St. Germain, and commenced the discussion of the first topic submitted for their deliberation the question of pictures or images and their worship. Catharine herself was present, with Antoine of Navarre and Jeanne d'Albret, Michel de 1'Hospital, and other members of the council. On the papal side appeared the Cardinals of Bourbon, Tournon, and Fer- rara, and a number of less elevated dignitaries. Beza and Marlorat were most prominent on the side of the reformed. The discussion was long and earnest, but it ended leaving all the disputants holding the same views that they had entertained at the outset. Beza condemned as idolatrous the practice of admitting statues or paintings into Christian churches, and urged their entire removal. The Inquisitor De Mouchy, Fra Giustiniano of Corfu, Maillard, dean of the Sorbonne, and others, attempted to refute his positions in a style of argument which 1 Declaration of Feb. 14, 1561, Du Mont, Corps diplomatique, v. 91, 92. ' And, indeed, with modifications which were to render it still more severe. Letter of Beza to Calvin, Feb. 26, 1562, Baum, iL, App., 167. 3 The registry took place on Friday, March 6th. Isambert, xiv. 124 ; La Fosse, 45, who says " Ledict edict fut public en la salle du palaia en ung ven- dredy, 5' [6 e ] de ce moys, Id &d il y cut Men peu de conseiliers et le president Baittet qui tsigncrcnt." THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XHI. exhibited the extremes of profound learning and silly conceit. Bishop Montluc of Valence,' and four doctors of theology Salignac, Bouteiller, D'Espense, and Picherel not only admit- ted the flagrant abuses of image-worship, but drew up a paper in which they did not disguise their sentiments. They recom- mended the removal of representations of the Holy Trinity, and of pictures immodest in character, or of saints not recog- nized by the Church. They reprobated the custom of decking out the portraits of the saints with crowns and dresses, the cele- bration of processions in their honor, and the offering of gifts and vows. And they yielded so far to the demands of the Protestants as to desire that only the simple cross should be permitted to remain over the altar, while the pictures should be placed high upon the walls, where they could neither be kissed nor receive other objectionable marks of adoration. 3 It was a futile task to reconcile views so discordant even among the Ro- man Catholic partisans. Two weeks were spent in profitless discussion, and, on the eleventh of February, the new colloquy was permitted to dissolve without having entered upon any of the more difficult questions that still remained upon the pro- gramme marked out for it. s The cardinals had prevailed upon Catharine de' Medici to refer the settlement to the Council of Trent. 4 The joy of De Mouchy, the inquisitor, and of his companions, knew no bounds when Chancellor L'Hospital de- clared the queen's pleasure, and requested the members to retire to their homes, and reduce their opinions to writing for future use. They were ready to throw themselves on Beza's neck in 1 The same prelate to whom Cardinal Lorraine doubtless referred in no com- plimentary terms, when, at the assembly of the clergy at Poissy, he said, " qu'il estoit contrainct de dire, Duodecim sumus, sed unus ex nobis Diabolus est, et passant plus outre, qu'il y avoit ung evesque de la compagnie .... qui avoit revele ce qui se faisoit en laditte assemblee," etc. Journal de Brus- lart, Mem. de Conde, i. 50. s See the document in Schlosser, Leben des Theodor de Beze, App. , 359- 361 ; Hist, eccles. des egl. rcf., i. 436, 437. 3 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref. , i. 436-450 ; Baum, iL 512-545. In connection with Prof. Baum's long and thorough account of the colloquy, Beza's corre- spondence, printed in the appendix, is unusually interesting. 4 " Cardinalium intercessione ac precibus mox soluta sunt oiunia." Beza to Bullinger, March 2, 1562. Baum, ii., App., 1G9. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 9 their delight at being relieved of the necessity of debating with him ! ' But, in truth, the time for the calm discussion of theological differences, the time for friendly salutation between the cham- pions of the rival systems of faith, was rapidly drawing to a close. If some rays of sunshine still glanced athwart the land- scape, conveying to the unpractised eye the impression of quiet serenity, there were also black and portentous clouds already rising far above the horizon. Those who could read the signs of the times had long watched their gathering, and they trem- bled before the coming of the storm. Although they were mer- cifully spared the full knowledge of the overwhelming ruin that would follow in the wake of that fearful war of the elements, they saw the angry commotion of the sky, and realized that the air was surcharged with material for the most destructive bolts of heaven. And yet it is the opinion of a contemporary, whose views are always worthy of careful consideration, that, had it not been for the final defection of the King of Navarre at this critical juncture, the great woes impending over France might still have been delayed or averted. 2 That unhappy prince seemed determined to earn the title of the " Julian Defection of. MPITI -r-/> T Antoine and Apostate or the J rench Reformation. Plied by the arts of his own servants, D'Escars (of whom Mezeray pithily remarks that he was ready to sell himself for money to anybody, save his master) and the Bishop of Auxerre ; flattered by the Triumvirate, tempted by the Spanish Ambassador, Car- dinal Tournon, and the papal legate, he had long been playing a hypocritical part. He had been unwilling to break with the Huguenots before securing the golden fruit with which he was lured on, and so he was at the same time the agent and the " Nihil hoc consilio gratius accidere potuit nostris adversariia quibus iste ludus minime placebat, adeo ut ipse Demochares .... pene sui oblitus in meos amplexus rueret, et ejus sodales honorifice me salutarent ! " Beza to Calvin, Feb. 26, 1562, ibid., 165. The Venetian Barbaro represents this second conference as an extremely efficient means of spreading heresy: "Laqual [in San Germano] apporto un grandissimo scandalo e pregiudizio alia religion nostra, e diede alia loro, reputazione e fomento maggiore." Eel. des Amb. Ven., ii. 74. Hist, eccles. des egl. rcf., i. 43:2. 10 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XHL object of treachery. Even after he had sent in his submission to the Pope by the hands of D'Escars, he pretended, when remonstrated with by his Protestant friends, that "he would take care not to go so far that he could not easily extricate himself ." ' He did not even show displeasure when faithfully rebuked and warned. 2 Yet he had after long hesitation com- pletely cast in his lot with the papal party. He was convinced at last that Philip was in earnest in his intention to give him the island of Sardinia, which was depicted to him as a terres- trial paradise, " worth four Xavarres." 3 It was widely believed that he had received from the Holy See the promise of a divorce from his heretical consort, which, while permitting him to retain the possessions which she had justly forfeited by her spiritual rebellion, would enable him to marry the youthful Mary of Scots, and add a substantial crown to his titular claims. 4 But we would fain believe that even Antoine of Bourbon had not sunk to such a depth of infamy. Certain it is, however, that he now openly avowed his new devotion to the Romish Church, and that the authority of his name became a bulwark of strength to the refractory parliament in its endeavor to prevent the exe- cution of the edict of toleration. 6 But he was unsuccessful in constancy of dragging with him the wife whom he had been the instrument of inducing first to declare herself for the persecuted faith of the reformers. And when Catharine de' Medici, who cared nothing for religion, tried to persuade her to arrange matters with her husband, " Sooner," she said, " than ever go to mass, had I my kingdom and my son in my hand, I would cast them both into the depth of the sea, that they might 1 "Qu'il ne s'y mettroit si avant qu'il ne a'en post aisement tirer." Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ubi supra. 5 See the frank letter of Calvin, written to him about this time, in Bonnet, Lettres franc. , ii. 441 ; Calvin's Letters, Amer. ed. , iv. 247. 3 " That pestilent yle of Sardigna ! " exclaimed Sir Thomas Smith, a clever diplomatist and a nervous writer, ".that the pore crowne of it should entei so farre into the pore Navarrian hed (which, I durst warraunt, shall never ware it), [as to] make him destroy his owen countrey, and to forsake the truth knowen ! " Forbes, State Papers, ii. 164. 4 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ubi supra ; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxviii.), 96-99. 5 Letter of Beza to Calvin, Teb. 1, 1562, Baum, ii., App., 163. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 11 not be a hinderance to me." ' Brave mother of Henry the Fourth ! Well would it have been, both for her son and for France, if that son had inherited more of Jeanne d'Albret's devotion to truth, and less of his fathers lewdness and incon- stancy ! As early as in February, Beza was of the opinion that the King of Navarre would not suffer him to remain longer in the realm to which he himself had invited him so earnestly only six months before. At all events, he would be publicly dis- missed by the first of May, and with him many others. "With this disquieting intelligence came also rumors of an alliance between the enemies of the Gospel and the Spaniard, which could not be treated with contempt as baseless fabrications. 8 But meanwhile the truth was making daily progress. At a immense single gathering for prayer and preaching, but a few HagMMt days before, twenty-five thousand persons, it was preathmg. computed, had been in attendance, representing all ranks of the population, among whom were many of the no- bility.' In the city of Troyes, a few weeks later, eight or nine thousand persons assembled from the neighboring country to celebrate the Lord's Supper, and the number of communicants was so great that they could not all partake on a single day ; so the services were repeated on the morrow.* Elsewhere there 1 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., i. 433. J Letter to Calvin, Feb. 26, 1562, apud Baum, iL, App., 167, 168. 3 Ibid., ubi supra. * Recordon, Le protestantisrne en Cljampagne (Paris, 1863), from MSS. of Nicholas Pithou, p. 105. This learned jurist, the equal of his more celebrated brothers in ability, and their superior in moral courage, has left his testi- mony respecting the beneficent influence of the reformed doctrines upon his fellow-citizens : " A la verite la ville de Troyes en general fit une perte in- croyable en la rupture de cette figlise. Car c'etait une grande beaute et chose plus que emerveillable de la voir si bien fleurie. II se voyoit en la jeu- nesse, touchee par la predication de la parole de Dieu, qui auparavant etait si depravee que rien plus, un changement si subit et si etrange que les catho- liques memes en etoient tout etonnes. Car, tela qni an precedent se lais- saient aller du tout a leurs voluptez et s'etaient plongez en gourmandises, yvrogneries et jeux defendus, tellement qu'ils y passaient la plus grande et meilleure partie du temps, et faisaient un fort mauvais menage, depuis qu'ils etaient entres dans 1'Eglise quittaient du tout leur vie passce et la detestaient, 12 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. was equal zeal and growth. Indeed, so rapid was the advance of Protestantism, so pressing the call for ministers, that the large and nourishing church of Orleans, in a letter written the last day of February, proclaimed their expectation of establish- ing a theological school to supply their own wants and those of the adjacent regions; and it is no insignificant mark of the power with which the reformatory movement still coursed on, that the canons of the great church of Sainte Croix The canons . - . . f -t of sainte had given notice or their intention to attend the lec- tures that were to be delivered ! l In such an encour- aging strain did " the ministers, deacons, and elders " of the most Protestant city of northern France write on the day before that deplorable massacre of Vassy, which was to be the signal for an appeal from argument to arms, upon which the newly enkindled spirit of religious inquiry was to be quenched in par- tisan hatred and social confusion. Within less than two months the tread of an armed host was to be heard in the city which it had been hoped would be thronged by the pious students of the gospel of peace, and frenzied soldiers would be hurling upon the floors of Sainte Croix the statues of the saints that had long occupied their elevated niches. We must now turn to the events preceding the inauspicious occurrence the fruits of which proved so disastrous to the French church and state. Having at length made sure of the co-operation of the King of Navarre in the contest upon which they had now resolved with the view of preventing the execution of the Edict of Janu- ary, the Guises desired to strengthen themselves in the direction of Germany, and secure, if not the assistance, at least the neu- trality of the Protestant princes. Could the Protestants on the other side of the Rhine be made indifferent spectators of the se rangeant et se soumettant allegrement a la discipline ecclesiastique, ce qui etait si agreable aux parents de teJs personnages, que, quoiqu'ils fussent catholiques, ils en louaient Dieu." - Ibid., pp. 107, 108. 1 " Nous avons esperance que non seuleraent la jeunesse d'icy se fa(jonnera par la main d'un si excellent ouvrier qui nous est venu ; mais que les cha- noines mesmes de Sainte-Croix le yiendront ouyr en ses lecons, ce qu'ils ont desja declare. De quoy sortiront des fruicts surmontant toute expectation." Gaberel, Hist de 1'cgl. de Geneve, i., Pieces justificatives, 1GS. 15C2. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 13 Struggle, persuaded that their own creed resembled the faith of the Roman Catholics much more than the creed of the Hu- guenots ; could they be convinced that the Huguenots were uneasy and rebellious radicals, whom it were better to crash than to assist ; could, consequently, the " reiters " and " lans- quenets " be kept at home it would, thought the Guises, be easy, witli the help of the German Catholics, perhaps of Spain also, to render complete the papal supremacy in France, and to crush Conde and the Chatillons to the earth. Accordingly, the Guises extended to Duke Christopher of "Wiirtemberg an invitation to meet them in the little town of Saverne (or Zabern, as it was called by the Germans), in Alsace, not far from Strasbourg. 1 The duke came as he was requested, ac- companied by his theologians, Brentius and Andrea ; and the interview, beginning on the fifteenth of February," lasted four days. Four of the Guises were present: but the The O' * meet the conversations were chiefly with Francis, the Duke of cmberg at Guise, and Charles, the Cardinal of Lorraine ; the Cardinal of Guise and the Grand Prior of the Knights of St. John taking little or no active part. Christopher and Francis had been comrades in arms a score of years back, for the former had served several years, and with no little distinc- tion, in the French wars. This circumstance afforded an oppor- 1 The archives of Stuttgart contain the instructive correspondence which the Duke of Guise had, ever since the previous summer, maintained with the Duke of Wiirtemberg. From the letters published in the Bulletin of the French Protestant Historical Society (February and March, 1875), we see that Francois endeavored to alienate Christopher from the Huguenots by repre- senting the latter as bitter enemies of the Augsburg Confession, and as speak- ing of it with undisguised contempt (Letter of July 2, 1561, Bull., xxiv. 72.) Christopher made no reply to these statements, but urged his corre- spondent to a candid examination of religious truth, irrespective of age or prescription, reminding him (letter of Nov. 22, 1561) that our Lord Jesus Christ "did not say 'I am the ancient custom,' but 'I am the Truth. 1 " (Ibid., xxiv. 114.) And he added, sensibly enough, that, had the pagan ancestors of both the French and the Germans followed the rule of blind obedience to custom, they would certainly never have become Christians. Guise's original invitation was for Saturday, January 31st, but Christopher pleaded engagements, and named, instead, Sunday, Feb. 15th. (Ibid., xxiv. 11C. 117.) 14 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. tunity for the display of extraordinary friendship. And what did the brothers state, in this important consultation, respect- ing their own sentiments, the opinions of the Huguenots, and the condition of France ? Happily, a minute account, in the form of a manuscript memorandum taken down at the time by Duke Christopher, is still extant in the archives of Stuttgart.' Little known, but authentic beyond the possibility of cavil, this document deserves more attention than it has received from historians ; for it places in the clearest light the shame- less mendacity of the Guises, and shows that the duke had nearly as good a claim as the cardinal, his brother, to the reputation which the Venetian ambassador tells us that Charles had earned " of rarely tetting the truth." Duke Christopher made the acquaintance of Charles of Lor- raine as a preacher on the morning after his arrival, when he heard him, in a sermon on the temptation in the wilderness, demonstrate that no other mediators or intercessors must be sought for but Jesus Christ, who is our only Saviour and the only propitiation for our sins. That day Christopher had a long conversation with Guise respecting the unhappy condi- tion of France, which the latter ascribed in great part to the Huguenot ministers, whose unconciliatory conduct, he said, had rendered abortive the Colloquy of Poissy. Wiirtemberg cor- rected him by replying that the very accounts of the colloquy which Guise had sent him showed that the unsuccessful issue was owing to the prelates, who had evidently come determined to prevent any accommodation. He urged that the misfortunes that had befallen France were much rather to be ascribed to the cruel persecutions that had been inflicted on so many guilt- less victims. " I cannot refrain from telling you," he added, " that you and your brother are strongly suspected in Germany of having contributed to cause the death, since the decease of Henry the Second and even before, in his lifetime of several thousands of persons who have been miserably executed on account of their faith. As a" friend, and as a Christian, I must 1 The relation was first noticed and printed by Sattler, in his Geschichte von Wiirtemberg unter den Herzogen. I have used the French translation by M. A. Muntz, in the Bulletin, iv.. (1856) 184-196. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. . 15 warn you. Beware, beware of innocent blood ! Otherwise the punishment of God will fall upon you in this life and in the next." " He answered me," writes Wiirtemberg, " with great sighs : ' I know that my brother and I are accused of that, and Lying assur- of many other things also. But we are wronged, 1 as we shall both of us explain to you before we leave.' " The cardinal entered more fully than his brother into the doc- trinal conference, talking now with Wiirtemberg, now with his theologian Brentius, and trying to persuade both that he was in perfect accord with them. While pressing his German friends to declare the Zwinglians and the Calvinists heretics which they carefully avoided doing and urging them to state the punish- ment that ought to be inflicted on heretics, there seemed to be no limit to the concessions which Lorraine was willing to make. He adored and invoked only Christ in heaven. He merely vener- ated the wafer. He acknowledged that his party went too far in calling the mass a sacrifice, and celebrating it for the living and the dead. The mass was not a sacrifice, but a commemoration of the sacrifice offered on the altar of the cross (" non sacrificium, sed memoria sacrificii praestiti in ara crucis"). He believed that the council assembled at Trent would do no good. When the Romish hierarchy, with the Pope at its head, as the pre- tended vicar of God on earth, was objected to, he replied that that matter could easily be adjusted. As for himself, "in the absence of a red gown, he would willingly wear a black one." He was asked whether, if Beza and his colleagues could be brought to consent to sign the Augsburg confession, he also would sign it. " You have heard it," he replied, " I take God to witness that I believe as I have said, and that by God's grace I shall live and die in these sentiments. I repeat it: I have read the Confession of Augsburg, I have also read Luther, Melanchthon, Brentius, and others; I entirely ap- 1 In a letter of Wiirtemberg to Guise, written subsequently to the massacre of Vassy, he reminds him of the advice he had given him, and of Guise's assurances : "Vous savez aussi avec quelle asseurance vous m'avez respondu que Pon wusfaisoit grand tort de ce que Ton vous vouloit imposer estre cause et autheur de la mort de tant de povres chrestiens qui ont espandu leur sang par ci-devant," etc. Memoires de Guise, 494. 16 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIH. prove their doctrines, and I might speedily agree with them in all that concerns the ecclesiastical hierarchy. But I am com- pelled stitt to dissemble for a time, that I may gain some that are yet weak in the faith." A little later he adverted to Wur- temberg's remarks to Guise. " You informed my brother," he said, " that in Germany we are both of us suspected of having contributed to the execution of a large number of innocent Christians during the reigns of Henry and of Francis the Sec- ond. Well ! I swear to you, in the name of God my Creator, and pledging the salvation of my soul, that I am guilty of the death of no man condemned for religion's sake. Those who were then privy to the deliberations of state can testify in my favor. On the contrary, whenever crimes of a religious character were under discussion, I used to say to King Henry or to King Francis the Second, that they did not belong to my depart- ment, that they had to do with the secular power, and I went away." 1 He even added that, although Du Bourg was in orders, he had begged the king to spare him as a learned man. " In like manner," says Wiirtemberg, " the Duke of Guise with great oaths affirmed that he was innocent of the death of those who had been condemned on account of their faith. 'The attempt,' he added, ' has frequently been made to kill us, both the cardinal and myself, with fire-arms, sword, and poison, and, although the culprits have been arrested, I never meddled with their punishment.' " And when the Duke of Wiirtemberg again " conjured them not to persecute the poor Christians of France, for God would not leave such a sin unpunished," both the 1 There are some characters with whom mendacity has become so essen- tial a part of their nature, that we cease to wonder at any possible extreme of lying. It was, however, no new thing with the cardinal to assume immacu- late innocence. Over two years before this time, at the beginning of the reign of Francis II. , when bloody persecution was at its height, Sir Nicholas Throkmorton wrote to Queen Elizabeth, Sept. 10, 1559: "I am enformed that they here begin to persecute againe for religion more than ever they did ; and that at Paris there are three or .four executed for the same, and diverse greate personages threatened shortly to be called to answer for their religion. Wherin the Cardinal of Lorraine having beiie spoken unto, within these two daies, hathe said, that it is not hisfaulte; and that there is no man that more, hateth extremites, then he dothe; and yet it is knowne that it is, notwith- standing, atttogither by his occasion*" Forbes, State Papers, i. 226, 207. 1502. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 17 cardinal and the Duke of Guise gave him their right hands, promising on their princely faith, and by the salvation of their souls, that they would neither openly nor secretly persecute the partisans of the " new doctrines ! " Such were the barefaced impostures which this "par nobile fratrum " desired Christo- pher of Wiirtemberg to publish for their vindication among the Lutherans of Germany. But the liars were not believed. The shrewd Landgrave of Hesse, on receiving Wurtem- ThcGnisPs - , J eno bergs account, even before the news or the massacre of Vassy, came promptly to the conclusion that the whole thing was an attempt at deception. Christopher himself, in the light of later events, added to his manuscript these words : " Alas ! It can now be seen how they have kept these promises ! DCILS sit ultor doli et perjurii, cujus namque res agitur. " ' Meanwhile events of the greatest consequence were occurring at the capital. The very day after the Saverne conference be- gan, Sir Nicholas Throkmorton wrote to Queen Elizabeth an ac- count of " the strange issue " to which affairs had come at the French court since his last despatch, a little over a fortnight before. His letter gives a vivid and accurate view of the impor- Throkmor tant crisis in the first half of February, 1562, which octtetaw* wc present very nearly in the words of the ambas- sador himself. "The Cardinal of Ferrara," says Throkmorton, "has allured to his devotion the King of Na- varre, the Constable, Marshal St. Andre, the Cardinal of Tour- non, and others inclined to retain the Romish religion. All these are bent to repress the Protestant religion in France, and to find means either to range [bring over to their side] the Queen of Navarre, the Prince of Conde, the Admiral, and all others who favor that religion, or to expel them from the court, with all the ministers and preachers. The queen mother, fear- ing this conspiracy might be the means of losing her authority (which is as dear to her as one religion or the other), and mis- trusting that the Constable was going about to reduce the man- 1 Bulletin, iv. 196. DC Thou's account of the Saverne conference (iii. (liv. xxix.) 127, 128) is pretty accurate so far as it goes, but has a more decidedly polemic tone than the Duke of Wurteraberg's memorandum. VOL. II. 2 18 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. agement of the whole affair into the King of Navarre's hands, and so into his own, has caused the Constable to retire from the court, as it were in disgrace, and intended to do the like with the Cardinal of Tournou and the Marshal St. Andre. The King of Navarre being offended with these proceedings, and imputing part of her doings to the advice of the Admiral, the Cardinal Chatillon, and Monsieur D'Andelot, intended to com- pel those personages to retire also from the court. In these garboils [commotions] the Prince of Conde, being sick at Paris, was requested to repair to the court and stand her [Catharine] in stead. In this time there was great working on both sides to win the house of Guise. So the Queen Mother wrote to them they being in the skirts of Almain to come to the court with all speed. The like means were made [use of] by the King of Navarre, the Cardinal of Ferrara and the Constable, to ally them on their part. During these solicitations the Duke D'Aumale arrived at the court from them, who was requested to solicit the speedy repair to the court of the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine. " The Prince of Conde went from hence in a horse litter to the court of St. Germain, where he found the Protestant preachers prohibited from preaching either in the King's house or in the town, and that the King of Navarre had solemnly vowed to retain and maintain the Romish religion, and had given order that his son should be instructed in the same. The Prince, finding the Queen of Navarre and the house of Chatil- lon ready to leave the court, fell again dangerously sick. Never- theless his coining so revived them, as by the covert aid of the Queen Mother, they attempted to make the Protestant preach- ers preach again at the town's end of St. Germain, and were entreated to abide at the court, where there is an assembly which is like to last until Easter. The Cardinal of Ferrara assists daily at these disputes. The King of Navarre persists in the house of Chatillon retiring from the court, and it is believed the Queen of Navarre, and they, will not tarry long there." ' Such was the picture drawn by the skilful pencil of the Eng- 1 Throkmorton to the Queen, Paris, Feb. 16. 1562. State Paper Office. I have followed closely the condensation in the Calendars. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 19 lish envoy. It was certainly dark enough. Catharine and Na- varre had sent Lansac to assure the Pope that they purposed to live in and defend the Roman Catholic religion. Sulpice had gone on a like mission to Spain. It was time, Throkmorton plainly told Queen Elizabeth, that she should show as great readiness in maintaining the Protestant religion as Ferrara and his associates showed in striving to overthrow it. And in a private despatch to Cecil, written the same day, he urged the secretary to dissuade her Majesty from longer retaining candles and cross on the altar of the royal chapel, at a time when even doctors of the Sorbonne consented to the removal of images of all sorts from over the altar in places of worship. 1 From Saverne the Cardinal of Lorraine returned to his arch- bishopric of Rheims, while the duke, accompanied by the Cardi- nal of Guise, proceeded in the direction of the French capital. On his route he stopped at Joinville, one of the estates of the family, recently erected in their favor into a principality. Here he was joined by his wife, Anne d'Este ; here, too, he listened to fresh complaints made by his mother, Antoinette of Bourbon, against the insolence of the neighboring town of Vassy, where a considerable portion of the inhabitants had lately had the audacity to embrace the refonned faith. Yassy, an important town of Champagne though shorn of much of its influence by the removal of many of its dependen- vassy in c * es to mcrease tne dignity of Joinville and one of champagne. ^} ie places assigned to Mary of Scots for her mainte- nance, had apparently for some time contained a few professors of the "new doctrines." It was, however, only in October, 1561, after the Colloquy of Poissy, that it was visited by a Protestant minister, who, during a brief sojourn, organized a church with elders and deacons. Notwithstanding Origin of the -i j j c i i e i Huguenot the disadvantage of having no pastor, and of having Church. ... . , . ,\ notoriously incurred the special hatred of the Guises, the reformed community grew with marvellous rapidity. For the Gospel was preached not merely in the printed sermons read from the pulpit, but by the lips of enthusiastic converts. 1 Same to Cecil, of same date. State Paper Office. 20 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XIII. When, after a short absence, the founder of the church of Yassy returned to the scene of his labors, he came into collision with the Bishop of Chalons, whose diocese included this town. The bishop, unaccustomed to preach, set up a monk in opposition ; but no one would come to hear him. The prelate then went himself to the Protestant gathering, and sat through the " sing- ing of the commandments" and a prayer. But when he at- tempted to interrupt the services and asserted his episcopal au- thority, the minister firmly repelled the usurpation, taking his stand on the king's edict. Then, waxing warm in the discus- sion, the dauntless Huguenot exposed the hypocrisy of the pre- tended shepherd, who, not entering the fold by canonical elec- tion, but intruding himself into it without consulting his charge, was more anxious to secure his own ease than to lead his sheep into green pastures. The bishop soon retired from a field where he had found more than his match in argument : but the common people, who had come to witness his triumph over the Huguenot preacher, remained after his unexpected discomfiture, and the unequal contest resulted in fresh accessions to the ranks of the Protestants. Equally unsuccessful was the Bishop of Chalons in the attempt to induce the king to issue a commission to the Duke of Guise against the unoffending inhabitants, and Yassy was spared the fate of Merindol and Cabrieres. At Christmas nine hundred communicants, after profession of their faith, par- took of the Lord's Supper according to the reformed rites ; and in January, 1562, after repeated solicitations, the church ob- tained the long-desired boon of a pastor, in the person of the able and pious Leonard Morel. Thus far the history of Yassy differed little from that of hundreds of other towns in that age of wonderful awakening and growth, and would have attracted little attention had not its proximity to the Lorraine princes se- cured for it a tragic notoriety. 1 1 Discours entier de la persecution, et cruaute exercee en la ville de Vassy, par le due de Guise, le 1. de mars, 1563; reprinted in Memoires de Conde, iii. 124-149, and Cimber et Danjou, iv. 123-15G. This lengthy Huguenot narra- tive enters into greater details respecting the early history of the church of Vassy than any of the other contemporary relations. The account bears every mark of candor and accurate information. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 21 On the twenty-eighth of February, Guise, with two hundred armed retainers, left Joiriville. That night he slept at Dom- martin-le-Franc. On Sunday morning, the first of Approach of _ _ , , . t i IITI i the nuke of March, lie continued his journey. >V nether by acci- dent or from design, it is difficult to say, he drew near to Vassy about the time when the Huguenots were assembling for worship, and his ears caught the sound of their bell while he was still a quarter of a league distant. The ardor of Guise's followers was already at fever-heat. They had seen a poor artisan apprehended in a town that lay on their track, and sum- marily hung by their leader's order, for the simple offence of having had his child baptized after the reformed rites. When Guise heard the bell of the Vassy church, he turned to his suite to inquire what it meant. " It is the Huguenots' preaching,*' some one replied. V Par la mort-Dieu" broke in a second, " they will soon be huguenotted after another fashion ! " Others began to make eager calculations respecting the extent of the plunder. A few minutes later an unlucky cobbler was espied, who, from his dress or manner, was mistaken for a Huguenot minister. It was well that he could answer the inquiries of the duke, before whom he was hurried, by assuring him that he was no clergyman and had never studied ; otherwise, he was told, his case had been an extremely ugly one. ' On entering Yassy Guise repaired to the monastery chapel to hear mass said. lie was followed by some of the gentlemen of his suite. Meantime, their valets found their way to the doors of the building in which the Protestants were worshipping, scarcely more than a stone's throw distant. This motley crowd was merely the vanguard of the Papists. Soon two or three gentlemen sent by Guise, according to his own account, to ad- monish the Huguenot assembly of their want of due obedience, entered the edifice, where they found twelve hundred persons quietly listening to the word of God. They were politely invi- ted to sit down ; but they replied by noisy interrup- tion and threats. " Mort-Dieu, they must all be kill- ed ! " was their exclamation as they returned to report to Guise J " Quc son caa cstoit bicn sale s'il eust estc ministre." 22 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. what they had seen. The defenceless Huguenots were thrown into confusion by these significant menaces, and hastened to secure the entrance. It was too late. The duke himself was approaching, and a volley from the arquebuses of his troop speedily scattered the unarmed worshippers. It is unnecessary to describe in all its details of horror the scene that ensued. The door of the sheep-fold was open and the wolf was already upon his prey. All the pent-up hatred of a band of fanatical and savage soldiers was vented upon a crowd of men, women, and children, whose heterodoxy made them pleasing victims, and whose unarmed condition rendered victory easy. No age, no sex was respected. It was enough to be a Huguenot to be a fit object for the sword or the gun. To escape from the doomed building was only possible by running the gauntlet of the troops that lay in wait. Those who sought to climb from the roof to the adjacent houses were picked off by the arquebuses of the be- sieging party. Only after an hour and a half had elapsed were the soldiers of Guise called off by the trumpet sounding a joy- ful note of victory. The evidence of their prowess, however, remained on the field of contest, in fifty or sixty dead or dying men and women, and in nearly a hundred more or* less danger- ously wounded. 1 In a few hours more Guise was resuming his journey toward Paris. He was told that the Huguenots of Yassy had forwarded their complaints to the king. " Let them go, let them go ! " he exclaimed. " They will find there neither their Admiral nor their Chancellor." a 1 The ' ' Destruction du Saccagement " has preserved the names of forty- five persona who died by Tuesday, March 3d; the " Discours entier" has a complete list of forty-eight that died within a month, and refers to others be- sides. A contemporary engraving is extant depicting in quaint but lively style the murderous affair. Montfaucon reproduces it. So does also M. Horace Gourjon in a pamphlet entitled ' ' Le Massacre de Vassy " (Paris, 1844). He gives, in addition, an exterior view of the barn in which the Huguenots were worshipping. 1 Besides a brief Latin memoir of minor importance, there were published two detailed accounts of the massacre written by H uguenots. The one is en- titled ' ' Destruction du Saccagement, exerce cruellement par le Due de Guise et sa cohorte, en la ville de Vassy, le premier jour de Mars, 1561. A Caens. M.D.LXII. ," and having for its epigraph the second verse of the 79th psalm 1 ");.'. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 23 Upon whose head rests the guilt of the massacre of Yassy ? This was the question asked by every contemporary so soon as lie realized the startling fact that the blow there struck was a signal that called every man to take the sword, and stand in defence of his own life. It is the question which history, more calm and dispassionate, because farther removed from the agita- tions of the day, now seeks to solve, as she looks back over the dreary torrents of blood that sprang from that disastrous source. The inquiry is not an idle one for justice ought to find such a vindication in the records of past generations as may have been denied at the time of the commission of flagrant crimes. The Huguenots declared Guise to be a murderer. Theodore Beza, in eloquent tones, demanded the punishment of the butcher in Marot's poetical version, " The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth." (The year 1562, it will be remembered, did not com- mence in France until Easter Sunday, March 29th.) The account seems to have been composed on the spot and within a very few days of the occurrence. This may be inferred from the list of those who died being given only up to Tuesday, March 3d. The other narrative : " Discours entier de la persecution et cruaute exercee en la ville de Vassy," etc., enters into much greater detail, and is preceded by a full account of the early history of the Church. It was written and published a little later in the spring of 1562. Both memoirs are re- printed in the invaluable Archives curieuses of Messrs. Cimber et Danjou, iv. 103-110, and 123-156, as well as in the MemoiresdeConde,iii. 111-115, 124-149 (the former document with the title " Relation de 1'occasion"), etc. Another contemporary account was written in Guise's interest, and contains a long ex- tract of a letter of his to the Duke of Wiirtemberg : " Discours au vray et en abbrege" de ce qui est dernierement aduenu a Vassi, y passant Monseigneur le Due de Guise. A Paris. M.D.LXII. . . . Par priuilege expres dudict Seigneur." (Cimber, iv. 111-122; Mem. de Conde*, iii. 115-122). To these authorities must be added Guise's vindication in parliament (Cimber, iv. 157, etc., from Reg. of Parl. ; Mem. de Guise, 488, etc.), and his letter and that of the Cardinal of Lorraine to Christopher of Wiirtemberg, March 22 (Ib. 491, 492). Compare J. de Serres, De statu rel. et reip. (1571), il 13-17 ; De Thou, iii. 129, etc. ; Jehan de la Fosse, 45. Davila, bk. iii in init., is more accurate than Castelnau, iii., c. 7. Claude Baton's account (Memoires, i. 204- may be classed with the curiosities of literature. This veracious chroni- cler would have it that a crowd of Huguenots, with stones in their hands, and singing at the top of their voices, attempted to prevent the passage of the duke and his company through the outskirts of Vassy, where they were ap- parently worshipping in the open air ! Of course they were the aggressors. 24 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. of the human race. So imposing was the cry for retribution that the duke himself recognized the necessity of entering a formal defence, which was disseminated by the press far and wide through France and Germany. He denied that the mas- sacre was premeditated. He averred that it was merely an unfor- tunate incident brought about by the violence of the Protestants of Vassy, who had provided themselves with an abundant supply of stones and other missiles, and assailed those whom he had sent to remonstrate courteously with them. He stated the deaths at only twenty-five or thirty. Most of these had been occasioned by the indignant valets, who, on seeing their masters wounded, had rushed in to defend them. So much against his will had the affair occurred, that he had repeatedly but ineffectually commanded his men to desist. When he had himself received a slight wound from a stone thrown by the Huguenots, the sight of the blood flowing from it had infuriated his devoted fol- lowers. The Duke's plea of want of premeditation we may, perhaps, accept as substantially true so far, at least, as to suppose that he had formed no deliberate plan of slaughtering the inhabitants of Vassy who had adopted the reformed religion. 1 It is diffi- cult, indeed, to accept the argument of Brantome and Le La- boureur, who conceive that the fortuitous character of the event is proved by the circumstance that the deed was below the courage of Guise. Nor, perhaps, shall we give excessive credit to the asseverations of the duke, repeated, we are told, even on his death-bed. For why should these be more worthy of belief than the oaths with which the same nobleman had declared to Christopher of Wtlrtemberg that he neither had persecuted, nor would persecute the Protestants of France ? But the Duke of Guise admits that he knew that there was a growing commu- nity of Huguenots at Yassy " scandalous, arrogant, extremely 1 And yet there is great force in M. Sismondi's observation (Hist, des Fran- f Switzerland, to Savoy, to the Pope. Philip, after the abun- dant promises with which he had encouraged the French papists to enter upon the war, was not quite sure whether he had better answer the calls now made upon him. He was by no means con- fident that the love of country of the French might not, after all, prove stronger than the discord engendered by their religious differences, and their hatred of the Spaniard than their hatred of their political rivals.* "Those stirrings," writes Sir Thomas Chaloner from Spain, " have here gevyn matter of great consul- tation day by day to this king and counsaile. One wayes they devise howe the Gwisans may be ayded and assisted by them, canopy, the red robes, and the members of parliament pressing behind the university, the seneschal, the bourgeoisie, and finally a company of soldiers. " But the French government, not agreeing with the prelate in the propriety of perpetuating the reminiscence, forbade the procession and all out-door solem- nities, and declared " the celebration of a jubilee of the 16th to the 23d of May next, enjoined by the Archbishop of Toulouse, to be nothing less than the commemoration of a mournful and bloody episode of our ancient religious discords." See a letter from a correspondent of the New York Evening Post, Paris, April 10, 1862. 1 Papal brief of April 23, 1562 : " Ista sunt vere catholico viro digna opera, ista haud dubie divina sunt beneficia. Agimns omnipotenti Deo gratias, qui tarn praeclaram tibi mentem dedit," etc. Soldan, ii. 61. * De Thou, iii. 149-151. Ibid., iii. 143, April 7th. * Catharine de' Medici stated to Sir Harry Sydney, the special English en- voy, in May, 1562, that her son-in-law, .the King of Spain, had offered Charles thirty thousand foot and six thousand horse " payd of his owne charge," be- sides what the Duke of Savoy and others were ready to furnish. Letter of Sidney and Throkmorton to Queen Elizabeth. May 8, 1562, MSS. State Paper Office. Due d'Aumale, Princes de Cond6, Pieces justif., i. 363. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 65 esteming for religion sake that the prevaylment of that syde importithe them as the ball of theire eye. Another wayes they stand in a jelousie whither theis norabers thus assembled in Fraunce, may not possibly shake hands, and sett upon the Lowe Countries or Navarre, both peecs, upon confidence of the peace, now being disprovided of garisons. So ferfurthe as they here repent the revocation of the Spanish bands owt of Flanders. . . . . So as in case the new bushops against the people's nivnd shall need be enstalled, the Frenche had never such an opertunyte as they perchauns should fynd at this instant." ' To the Duke of Wiirtemberg the Guises had induced Charles and Catharine to write, throwing the blame of the civil war entirely upon Conde ; * but Christopher, this time at least, had his eyes wide open, and his reply was not only a pointe'd refusal to join in the general crusade against the Calvinists, but a noble plea in behalf of toleration and clemency.* The Huguenots, on the other hand, had rather endeavored to set themselves right in public estimation and to prepare the way for future calls for assistance, than made any present beth's aid in- requisitions. Elizabeth's ambassador, Throkmorton, had been carefully instructed as to the danger that overhung his mistress with all the rest of Protestant Christen- dom. He wrote to her that the plot was a general one, includ- ing England. " It may please your Majesty the papists, within these two days at Sens in Normandy, have slain and hurt two hundred persons men and women. Your Majesty may per- ceive how dangerous it is to suffer papists that be of great heart and enterprise to lift up their crests so high." * In another des- patch lie warned her of her danger. " It standeth your Majesty upon, for the conservation of your realm in the good terms it is in (thanks be to God), to countenance the Protestants as much as you may, until they be set afoot again, I mean in this realm ; for here dependeth the great sway of that matter." ' 1 Sir T. Chaloner, ambassador in Spain, to Sir Nicholas Throkmorton, May 1. ir>fi2, Haynes, State Papers, 382, 383. April 17th. Mem. de Cond4, iii. 281-284. 3 May loth and 16th, Mem. de Conde, iii. 284-287. 4 Froude, History of England, vii. 404. 5 Throkmorton to the queen, April 1, 1562, State Paper Office. 56 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. Cecil himself adopted the same views, and urged them upon Elizabeth's attention. Kot succeeding in impressing her accord- ing to his \vish, he resorted to extraordinary measures Cecil'anr- . _ T . , r , J . . gencyand to compass the end. He instructed Mundt, his agent in Germany, to exert himself to induce the Protestant princes to send " special messengers " to England and persuade Elizabeth to join in " a confederacy of all parts professing the Gospel." In fact, the cunning secretary of state went even far- ther, and dictated to Mundt just what he should write to the queen. He was to tell her Majesty "that if she did not at- tempt the furtherance of the Gospel in France, and the keeping asunder of France and Spain, she would be in greater peril than any other prince in Christendom," for " the papist princes that sought to draw her to their parts meant her subversion" a truth which, were she to be informed of by any of the German princes, might have a salutary effect. 1 But the vacillating queen could not be induced as yet to take the same view, and needed the offer of some tangible advantages to move her. No wonder that Elizabeth's policy halted. Every occurrence across the channel was purposely misrepresented by the emissa- Dividedsym- . -^ r r * . J pathiesofthe ries or Philip, and the open sympathizers or the Ko- inan Catholic party at the English court were almost more numerous than the hearty Protestants. A few weeks later, a correspondent of Throkmorton wrote to him from home: " Here are daily bruits given forth by the Spanish ambassador, as it is thought, far discrepant from such as I learn are sent from your lordship, and the papists have so great a voice here as they have almost as much credit, the more it is to be lamented. I have not, since I came last over, come in any company where almost the greater part have not in reasoning defended papistry, allowed the Guisians' proceedings, and seemed to deface the prince's quarrel and design. How dangerous this is your lord- ship doth see." * The Swiss Protestant cantons were reluctant to appear to countenance rebellion. Berne sent a few ensigns to Lyons at the request of the Protestants of that city, but wished 1 Cecil to Mundt, March 22, 1562, State Paper Office. Wm. Hawes to Throkmorton, July 15, 1562, State Paper Office. 156a THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 57 to limit them strictly to the defensive, and subsequently she yield- ed to the urgency of the Guises and recalled them altogether. 1 But as yet no effort was made by Conde to call in foreign assist- ance. The reluctance of Admiral Coligny, while it did honor to the patriotism which always moved him, seems to have led him to commit a serious mistake. The admiral hoped and believed that the Huguenots would prove strong enough to succeed with- out invoking foreign assistance ; moreover, he was unwilling to set the first example of bringing in strangers to arbitrate con- cerning the domestic affairs of France. 1 And, indeed, had his opponents been equally patriotic, it is not improbable that his expectation would have been realized. For, if inferior to the enemy in infantry, the Huguenots, through the great preponder- ance of noblemen and gentlemen in their army, were at first far superior in cavalry. The beaten path of diplomatic manoeuvre was first tried. Four times were messengers sent to Conde, in the king's name, Diplomatic requiring his submission. Four times he responded manoeuvres. jj^ j ie COU J^ not ] ay (J own hjg arms lm til GuiSC should have retired from court and been punished for the massacre of Yassy, until the constable and Saint Andre should have returned to their governments, leaving the king his personal liberty, and until the Edict of January should be fully re-established. 3 These demands the opposing party were unwilling to concede. It is true that a pretence was made of granting the last point, and, on the eleventh of April, an edict, ostensibly in confirmation of that of January, was signed by Charles, by the advice of Catharine, the King of Navarre, the Cardinals of Bourbon and Guise, the Duke of Guise, the constable, and Aumale. But there was a glaring contradiction between the two laws, for Paris was ex- 1 Hist, eccles., iii. 143-145 ; De Thou, iii. 233, 234. 9 Almost all the members of Conde's council favored a call upon the German Protestant princes for prompt support. But ' ' the admiral broke off this plan of theirs, saying that he would prefer to die rather than consent that those of the religion should be the first to bring foreign troops into France. " It was, therefore, concluded to send two gentlemen to Germany, to remain there until the conclusion of the war, in order to explain the position of the Hugue- nots. Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 23. 3 Mem. de Conde, i. 79, 80. Cf. Baum, ii., App., 177. 58 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. pressly excepted from the provisions. In or around the capital no exercises of the reformed religion could be celebrated. 1 Such was the trick by which the triumvirs hoped to take the wind out of the confederates' sails. Though the concession could not be accepted by the Protestants, it might be alleged to show foreigners the unreasonableness of Conde and his supporters. Meantime, in reply to the prince's declaration as to the causes for which he had taken up arms, the adherents of Guise pub- lished in their own vindication a paper, wherein they gravely asserted that, but for the duke's timely arrival, fifteen hundred Huguenots, gathered from every part of the kingdom, would have entered Paris, and, with the assistance of their confed- erates within the walls, would have plundered the city.* The month of May witnessed the dreary continuation of the same state of things. On the first, Conde wrote to the queen mother, reiterating his readiness to lay down the arms he had assumed in the king's defence and her's, on the same conditions as before. On the fourth, Charles, Catharine, and Antoine replied, refusing to dismiss the Guises or to restore the Edict of January in reference to Paris, but, at the same time, inviting the prince to return to court, and promising that, after he should have submitted, and the revolted cities should have been restored to their allegiance, the triumvirs would retire to their governments.' On the same day two petitions were presented to Charles. Both were signed by Guise, Montmorency, and Saint Andre. In the first they prayed his Majesty to interdict the exercise of every other religion save the " holy Apostolic and Roman," and require that all royal officers should conform to that religion or forfeit their positions ; to compel the heretics to restore the churches which had been destroyed ; to punish the sacrilegious ; to declare rebels all who persisted in retaining arms without 1 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref. , ii. 14 ; Mem. de Conde, i. 81-83, and iii. 25G ; De Thou, iii. 143. 3 "Que sans sa venue a Paris, il fust arrive vers les Pasques, plus de quinze centz chevaulx de tous costez du royaume, pour saccager la ville," etc. Re- sponse a la Declaration que faict le Prince de Conde, etc. Mem. de Conde, iii. 242. 8 Mem. de Conde, iii. 388-391 ; Hist, eccles. des 6gl. ref., ii. 30, 31 ; Jean de Series, ii. 63 ; De Thou, iii 152. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 59 permission of the King of Navarre. Under these conditions they would consent, they said, to leave France nay, to go to the ends of the world. In the second petition they demanded the submission of the confederates of Orleans, the restitution of the places which had been seized, the exaction of an oath to observe the royal edicts, both new and old, and the enforcement of the sole command of Navarre over the French armies. 1 Conde's reply (May twentieth) was the most bitter, as well as the ablest and most vigorous paper of the initiatory stage of reply tue war - ^ we ^ deserves a careful examination. The pretended petition, Louis of Bourbon wrote to the queen mother, any one can see, even upon a cursory perusal, to be in effect nothing else than a decree concocted by the Duke of Guise, Constable Montmorency, and Marshal Saint Andre, with the assistance of the papal legate and nuncio and the ministers of foreign states. Ambition, not zeal for the faith, is the motive. In order to have their own way, not only do the signers refuse to have a prince of the blood near the monarch, but they intend removing and punishing all the worthy members of the royal privy council, beginning with Michel de Tllospital, the chancellor. In point of fact, they have already made a ridiculous appointment of six new counsellors. The queen mother is to be banished to Chenonceaux, there to spend her time in laying out her gardens. La Roche-sur-Yon will be sent elsewhere. Xew instructors are to be placed around the king to teach him riding, jousting, the art of love anything, in short, to divert his mind from religion and the art of reign- ing well. The conspiracy is more dangerous than the conspiracy of Sulla or Caesar, or that of the Roman triumvirs. Its authors point to their titles, and allege the benefits they have conferred ; but their boasts may easily be answered by pointing to their insatiable avarice, and to the princely revenues they have ac- cumulated during their long connection with the public admin- istration. They speak of the present dangerous state of the country. What was it before the massacre of Yassy ? After the publication of the Edict of January universal peace prevailed. 1 J. de Serres, ii 112-117; Hist, eccles. des 6gl. r^f., ii. 27-29 ; MSm. de Conde, iii. 392, 393 ; De Thou, iii. 153, 154. 60 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. That peace these very petitioners disturbed. What means the coalition of the constable and Marshal Saint Andre ? What mean the barbarities lately committed in Paris, but that the peace was to be broken by violent means ? As to the obedience the petitioners profess to exhibit to the queen, they showed her open contempt when they refused to go to the provinces which they governed under the king's orders ; when they came to the capital contrary to her express direction, and that in arms ; when by force they dragged the king, her son, and herself from Fon- tainebleau to the Louvre. They have accused the Huguenots of treating the king as a prisoner, because these desire that the decree drawn up by the advice of the three estates of the realm should be made irrevocable until the majority of Charles the Kinth ; but how was it when three persons, of whom one is a foreigner and the other two are servants of the crown, dictate a new edict, and wish that edict to be absolutely irrevocable ? There is no need of lugging the Roman Catholic religion into the discussion, and undertaking its defence, for no one has thought of attacking it. The demand made by the petitioners for a com- pulsory subscription to certain articles of theirs is in opposition to immemorial usage ; for no subscription has ever been exacted save to the creed of the Apostles. It is a second edict, and in truth nothing else than the introduction of that hateful Spanish inquisition. Ten thousand nobles and a hundred thousand sol- diers will not be compelled either by force or by authority to affix their signatures to it. But, to talk of enforcing submission to a Roman Catholic confession is idle, so long as the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine do not retract their own adhesion to the Augsburg Confession lately given in with such protestations to a German prince. The charge of countenan- cing the breaking of images the prince would answer by point- ing to the penalties he has inflicted in order to repress the irreg- ularity. And yet, if it come to the true desert of punishment, what retribution ought not to be meted out for the crimes per- petrated by the petitioners, or under their auspices and after their examples, at Yassy, at Sens, at Paris, at Toulouse, and in so many other places 2 For the author of the petition should have remembered that it is nowhere written that a dead image 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. Gl ever cried for vengeance ; but the blood of man God's living image demands it of heaven, and draws it down, though it tarry long. As for the accusation brought against Conde and the best part of the French nobility, that they are rebels, the prince hopes soon to meet his accusers in the open field and there decide the question whether a foreigner and two others of such a station as they are shall undertake to judge a prince of the blood. To allege Navarre's authority comes with ill-grace from men who wronged that king so openly during the late reign of Francis the Second. Finally, the Prince of Conde would set over against the petition of the triumvirate, one of his own, con- taining for its principal articles that the Edict of January, which his enemies seek to overturn, shall be observed inviolate ; that all the king's subjects of every order and condition shall be main- tained in their rights and privileges ; that the professors of the reformed faith shall be protected until the majority of Charles ; that arms shall be laid down on either side ; above all, thai for- eign arms, which he himself, so far from inviting to France, has, up to the present moment, steadfastly declined when voluntarily offered, and which he will never resort to unless compelled by his enemies, shall be banished from the kingdom. 1 While the clouds of war were thus gathering thick around Orleans, within its walls a synod of the reformed churches of Third NS- France had assembled on the twenty-fifth of April, to tionai synod, deliberate of matters relating to their religious in- terests. Important questions of discipline were discussed and settled, and a day of public fasting and prayer was appointed in view of the danger of a declared civil war.* 1 Jean de Serres, ii. 118-150; Mem. de Conde, iii. 395-416; Hist ecck'g. des egl. ref., ii. 32-46 ; De Thou, iii. 154-157. It is incredible that, as De Thou suggests, this answer should have been penned by Montluc, Bishop of Valence. On the other hand, it bears every mark of having proceeded from the pen of that learned, eloquent, and sprightly writer, Theodore Beza. As a literary production it fully deserves the warm encomium passed upon it by Professor Baum : " It is a masterpiece in respect both to the arrangement and to the treatment of the matter ; and, with its truly Demosthenian strength, may, with confidence, be placed by the side of the most eloquent passages to which the French language can point." Baum, Theodor Beza, ii. 643. - J. de Serres, ii. 93, etc. j De Thou, iii. 158. See the acts of the third Na- 62 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XHI. The actual war was fast approaching. The army of the Guises, under the nominal command of the King of Navarre, was now ready to march in the direction of Orleans. Before setting out, however, the triumvirs resolved to make sure of their hold upon the capital, and royal edicts (of the twenty-sixth and twenty- seventh of May) were obtained ordering the expulsion from Paris of all known Protestants. 1 Then, with an army of four thousand foot and three thousand horse, the King of Navarre marched toward the city of Chateaudun. 3 On hearing of the movement of his brother's forces, the Prince of Conde advanced to meet him at the head of six thousand foot and two thousand horse. There were those, however, who still believed it to be possible to avert a collision and settle the matters in dispute by amicable discussion. Of this number was Catharine de' Medici. Hastily leaving the castle of Yincennes, she hurried to the front, and at the little town of Toury, between the two armies, Interview of * /~< i i Catharine she brought about an interview between Conde, the King of Navarre, and herself. Such was the imbit- tered feeling supposed to animate both sides, that the escorts of the two princes had been strictly enjoined to avoid approaching each other, lest they should be tempted to indulge in insulting remarks, and from these come to blows. But, to the great sur- prise of all, they had no sooner met than papist and Huguenot rushed into each other's arms and embraced as friends long separated. While the principals were discussing the terms of union, their followers had already expressed by action the accord reigning in their hearts, and the white cloaks of Conde's attend- ants were to be seen indiscriminately mingled with the crim- son cloaks of his brother's escort. Yet, after all, the interview came to nothing. Neither side could accept the only terms the other would offer, and Catharine returned disappointed to Paris, to be greeted by the populace with the most insulting language tional Synod in Aymon, Tons les Synodes, i. 23-31. The Second National synod had been held at Poitiers, on the tenth of March, 1561. Its acts are in Aymon, i. 13-22. 1 J. de Serres, ii. 170; De Thou, iii. 160; Jehan de la Fosse, 50; Hist, eccles. des gl. ref . ii. 47. s De Thou, iii 160. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 63 for imperilling the orthodoxy of the kingdom.' Xot, however, altogether despairing of effecting a reconciliation, Conde ad- dressed a letter to the King of Navarre, entreating him, before it should be too late, to listen to his brotherly arguments. The answer came in a new summons to lay down his arms. 2 Yet, while they had no desire for a reconciliation on any such terms as the Huguenots could accept, there were some substan- tial advantages which the Roman Catholic leaders hoped to reap uii'ler cover of fresh negotiations. All the portion of the valley of the Loire lying nearest to Paris was in the hands of the con- federates of Orleans. It was impossible for Xavarre to reach the southern bank, except by crossing below Amboise, and thus exposing the communications of his army with Paris to be cut off at any moment. To attain his end with less difficulty, An- toine now sent word to his brother that he was disposed to con- clude a peace, and proposed a truce of six days. Meanwhile, he requested Conde to gratify him by the " loan " of the town The "loan" ^ Bcaugency, a few miles below Orleans, where he of Beaugency. m ight be more comfortably lodged than in his pres- ent inconvenient quarters. The request was certainly suffi- ciently novel, but that it was granted by Conde may appear even more strange. This was not the only act of folly in which the Huguenot leaders became involved. Under pretence of showing their readiness to contribute their utmost to the re-establishment of peace, the constable, Guise, and Saint Andre, after obtaining a declaration from Catharine and Antoine that their voluntary retreat would do no prejudice to their honor,' retired from the r< yal court, but went no farther than the neighboring city of Chateaudun. The Prince of Conde, swallowing the bait, did not hesitate a moment to place himself, the very next day, in the hands of the queen mother and his brother, and was led more like a captive than a freeman from Beaugency to Talsy, 1 Journal de Bruslart, Memoires de Conde, i. 87 ; Claude Haton, i. 284 ; Hist, eccles. des cgl. ref. ii. 48. s See the prince's affectionate letter to Antoine, June 13th, Hist, eccles. des 6gL ref. ii. 49 ; De Thou, ubi supra f J, de Serres, ii. 156. 3 Mem. de Guise, 495. 64 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XIII. where Catharine was staying. Becoming alarmed, however, at his isolated situation, he wrote to his comrades in arms, and within a few hours so goodly a company of knights appeared, with Coligny, Andelot, Prince Porcien, La Rochefoucauld, Ro- han, and other distinguished nobles at their head, that any treacherous plans that may have been entertained by the wily Italian princess were rendered entirely futile. She resolved, Futile ngo- therefore, to entrap them by soft speeches. With that utter disregard for consistency so characteristic both of her actions and of her words, Catharine publicly ' thanked the Huguenot lords for the services they had rendered the king, who would never cease to be grateful to them, and recognized, for her own part, that her son and she herself owed to them the preservation of their lives. But, after this flattering preamble, she proceeded to make the unpalatable proposition that they should consent to the repeal of the edict so far as Paris was concerned, under the guarantee of personal liberty, but without permission to hold public religious worship. The prince and his associates could listen to no such terms. Indeed, carried away by the fervor of their zeal, they protested that, rather than surrender the rights of their brethren, they would leave the kingdom. " We shall willingly go into exile," they said, " if our absence will conduce to the restoration of public tranquillity." This assurance was just what Catharine had been awaiting. To the infinite surprise of the speakers themselves, she told them that she appreciated their disinterested motives, and accepted their offer ; that they should have safe-conducts to whatever land they desired to visit, with full liberty to sell their goods and to receive their incomes ; but that their volun- tary retirement would last only until the king's majority, which would be declared so soon as he had completed his fourteenth year ! * It needs scarcely be said that, awkward as was the pre- 1 It was in the presence of seven knights of the order of St. Michael, of the secretaries of state, etc. See Conde's long remonstrance against the judgment of the Parisian parliament, Aug. 8, 1562. Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 71 ; Mem. de Conde, iii. 587. 8 Unlucky Bishop Montluc has received the doubtful credit of having laid this pretty snare for the Huguenot chiefs, but with what reason it is beyond 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 65 licament in which they had placed themselves, the prince and his companions had little disposition to follow out Catharine's plan. On their return to the Protestant camp, the clamor of the soldiers against any further exposure of the person of their leader to peril, and the opportune publication of an intercepted letter said to have been written by the Duke of Guise to his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, on the eve of his departure for Chateaudun, and disclosing treacherous designs, 1 decided the Huguenot leaders to break off the negotiations.' The long period of comparative inaction was now succeeded bv a spasmodic effort at energetic conduct. The six days' truce had scarcely expired when the prince resolved to throw himself unexpectedly npon the neighboring camp of the Roman Catho- lics, before Montmorency, Guise, and Saint Andre had resumed their accustomed posts. One of those nocturnal attacks, which, under the name of camisades, figure so frequently in the mili- tary history of the period, was secretly organized, and the Prot- estant soldiers, wearing white shirts over their armor, in order that they might easily recognize each other in the darkness of the night, started with alacrity, under D'Andelot's command, on the exciting adventure. But their guides were treacherous, or unskilful, and the enterprise came to naught. 3 Disappointed in this attempt, and unable to force the enemy to give battle, ray ability to conjecture. The same brain could scarcely have indited the bit- ter reply to the petition of the triumvirs, and devised the cunning project of entangling their opponents. Evidently the Bishop of Valence has received some honors to which he is not entitled. 1 Mem. de Guise, 494; Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 59. "Conclusion," says the duke in his confidence in the success of his project, " la religion re- formce, en nous conduisant et tenant bon, comme nous ferons jusques au bout, s'en va aval 1'eau, et les admiraux, mal ce qui est possible : toutes nos forces entierement demeurent, les lenrs rompues, les villes rendues sans par- ler d'edits ne de presches et administration de sacremens a leur mode." A memorandum of eight articles from the triumvirs to Xavarre, seized at the same time, showed the intention to arrest the Prince of Conde. Ib. , ii. GO. * J. de Serres, ii. 170-180; Hist, eccli'-s. des cgl. r:'f., vbisvpra; De Thou, iii. 164-168. Harangue of Bishop Spifame to the emperor, Le Laboureur, Add. aux Mem. deCastelnau, ii. 28-38. Memoires de Jchande 1'Archevesque, Sieur do Sonbise, Bulletin, xxiii. (1874) 460, 481. 3 La Noue, c. v., p. 597 ; De Thou, iii. 168, 169, etc. VOL. II 5 66 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. Conde turned his attention to Beaugency, wliich the King of Navarre had failed to restore, and carried it by storm. He would gladly have followed up the advantage by laying siege to Blois and Tours, which the triumvirate had taken and treated with the utmost cruelty ; but heavy rains, and the impossibility of carrying on military operations on account of the depth of the mud, compelled him to relinquish his project, and reduced the main army to renewed inactivity. 1 The protracted delays and inexcusable sluggishness of the leaders had borne their natural fruits. Many of the Protestant gentlemen had left the camp in disgust at the mistakes commit- ted ; others had retired to their homes on hearing that their families were exposed to the dangers of war and stood in need of their protection ; a few had been corrupted by the arts of the enemy. For it was a circumstance often noticed by con- temporaries, that no envoy was ever sent from Orleans to the court who did not return, if not demoralized, yet so lukewarm as to be incapable of performing any good service in future/ Yet the dispersion of the higher rank of the reformed soldiers, and the consequent weakening of Conde's army in cavalry, were attended with this incidental .advantage, that they contributed greatly to the strengthening of the party in the provinces, and necessitated a similar division of the opposing forces. 3 Never, perhaps, was there an army that exhibited such ex- cellent discipline as did the army of the Protestants in this the Huguenot ^ r8 * s ^ a g e of its warfare. Never had the morals and discipline. religion of soldiers been better cared for. It was the testimony of a soldier, one of the most accomplished and philo- sophical writers of his times the brave " Bras de Fer " that the preaching of the Gospel was the great instrument of imbu- 1 J. de Serres, ii. 180 ; Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 61, 62. s Hist, eccles. des egl. ref. , ii. 62 ; La Noue, c. iv. 8 La Noue, c. vii., p. 600. " Ledict seigneur prince de Conde," says Jean Glaumeau of Bourges, in his journal, " voyant qu'il ne pouvoit avoir raison avec son ennemy et qu'il ne le pouwit.rencontrer, uyant une annee de viron trente ouquarante milles hommes, de peur qu'ilz n'adurassent (endurassent) fain ou soif, commence a les separer et envoya en ceste ville de Bourges, tant de gheval que de pied, yiron quatre milles, et y arriverent le samedi xi e jour de juillet." Bulletin, v. (1857) 387. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 67 ing the army with the spirit of order. Crimes, he tells us, were promptly revealed; no blasphemy was heard throughout the camp, for it was universally frowned upon. The very imple- ments of gambling dice and cards were banished. There were no lewd women among the camp-followers. Thefts were unf requent and vigorously punished. A couple of soldiers were hung for having robbed a peasant of a small quantity of wine.' Public prayers were said morning and evening ; and, instead of profane or indelicate songs, nothing was heard but the psalms of David. Such were the admirable fruits of the careful disci- pline of Admiral Coligny, the true leader of the Protestant party ; and they made a deep impression upon such enthusiastic youths as Fra^ois de la None and Teligny. Their more expe- rienced author, however, was not imposed upon by these flatter- ing signs. " It is a very fine thing," he told them, " if only it last; but I much fear that these people will spend all their goodness at the outset, and that, two months hence, nothing will remain but malice. I have long commanded infantry, and I know that it often verifies the proverb which says : ' Of a young hermit, an old devil! ' If this army does not, we shall give it a good mark." a The prediction was speedily realized ; for, although the army of the prince never sought to rival the papal troops in the extent of its license, the standard of sol- dierly morality was far below that which Coligny had desired to establish. 3 So far as cruelty was concerned, everything in the con- duct of their antagonists was calculated to provoke the Protes- tants to bitter retaliation. The army of Guise was merciless. If the infuriated Huguenots selected the priests that fell into their hands for the especial monuments of their retribution, it 1 Hist eccles. des egl ref., ii. 61. s " Si celle-cy y faut, nous ferons la croix a la cheminee." Mem. de la Noue, c. vi. 598, 599. 3 The author of the Hist, eccles. des egl. ref.. iL 61, regards the failure of the confederates promptly to put to the death as Admiral Coligny and others had insisted upon their doing a Baron de Courtenay, who had out- raged a village girl, and their placing him under a guard from which he suc- ceeded in making his escape, as " the door, so to speak, through which Satan entered the camp. " 68 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. was because the priesthood as a body had become the instiga- tors of savage barbarity, instead of being the ministers of peace ; because when they did not, like Ronsard the poet, themselves buckle on the sword, or revel in blood, like the monks of Saint Calais, 1 they still fanned, as they had for years been fanning, the flame of civil war, denouncing toleration or compromise, wield- ing the weapons of the church to enforce the pious duty of ex- terminating heresy and heretics, repeating and exaggerating every foul calumny invented to the disadvantage of the reform- ers. No wonder, then, that the ecclesiastical dress itself be- came the badge of deadly and irreconcilable hostility, and that in the course of this unhappy war many a priest was cut down without any examination into his private views or personal his- tory. Parliament, too, was setting the example of cruelty by reckless orders amounting almost to independent legis- Severitieaof _ - f . the paraa- lation. l>y a series oi " arrets succeeding each other rapidly in the months of June and July, the door was opened wider and wider for popular excess. When the churches of Meaux were visited by an iconoclastic rabble on the twenty- sixth of June, the Parisian parliament, on the thirtieth of June, employed the disorder as the pretext of a judicial " dec- laration" that made the culprits liable to all the penalties of treason, and permitted any one to put them to death with- out further authorization. The populace of Paris needed no fuller powers to attack the Huguenots, for, within two or three days, sixty men and women had been killed, robbed, and thrown into the river. Parliament, therefore, found it convenient to terminate the massacre by a second order restrict- ing the application of the declaration to persons taken in the very act." A few days later (July, 1562), other arrets empowered all inhabitants of towns and villages to take up 1 De Thou, iii. 171. 8 Abbe Bruslart, Mem. de Conde, i. 90 ; Hist, eccles. des cgl. ref., ii. CO ; Journal de Jehan de la Fosse, 52. The-^atter erroneously calls it an edict " de par le roi ; " but certainly gives the essence of the order according to the pop- ular estimate when he says ' ' qu'il estoit permis au peuple de tuer tout hugue- not qu'il trouveroit, d'ou vint qu'il y en eust en la ville de Paris plusieurs tucs et jetes en 1'eau." 15C1 THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 69 arms against those who molested priests, sacked churches, or " held conventicles and unlawful assemblies," whether public or secret ; and to arrest the ministers, deacons, and other ecclesi- astical functionaries for trial, as guilty of treason against God as well as man. 1 Not content with these appeals to popular pas- sion, 3 however, the Parisian judges soon gave practical exempli- fications of their intolerant principles ; for two royal officers the " lieutenant general " of Pontoise, and the " lieutenant " of Senlis were publicly hung; the former for encouraging the preaching of God's word "in other form than the ancient church " authorized, the latter for " celebrating the Lord's Sup- per according to the Genevese fashion." These were, according to the curate of St. Barthelemi, the first executions at Paris for the simple profession of " Iluguenoterie " since the 'pardon pro- claimed by Francis the Second at Amboise.* A few days later, 1 Mem. de Conde, L 91. Text of arret of July 13th, ib., iii. 544 ; of arret of July 17th, ib., iii. 547. Hist, eccles. des egl. ref.,.W supra; Recordon, p. 108. * Nicholas Pithou has left in his MSS., which, unfortunately, have not yet been published entire, a thrilling narrative of the savage excesses commit- .ted partly by the authorities of Troyes, partly by the soldiers and the rabble, under their eyes and with their approval. There is nothing more abominable in the annals of crime than what was committed at this time with the conni- vance of the ministers of law. The story of the sufferings of Pithou's sister, Madame de Yalentigny, will be found of special interest. See Recordon, 107- 129. * Mem de Conde, i. 91, and Hist, eccles. des egl. ref. , ubi supra. J. de la Fosse, 53, 54, "pour huguenoterye." Even with these judicial executions the people interfered, cutting off the heads of the victims, using them for foot- balls, and finally burning them. The contemptuous disobedience of the people of Paris and their cruelty are frequent topics touched upon in Throkmorton's correspondence. He acknowledges himself to be afraid, because of ' ' the daily despites, injuries, and threatenings put in use towards him and his by the insolent, raging people." He sees that "neither the authority of the king, the queen mother, or any other person can be sanctuary " for him ; for they " daily most cruelly kill every person (no age or sex excepted) whom they take to be contrary to their religion, notwithstanding daily proclama- tions under pain of death to the contrary." He declares that the king and his mother are, " for their own safety, constrained to lie at Bois de Vincennes, not thinking good to commit themselves into the hands of the furious Pari- sians; " and that the Chancellor of France, "being the most sincere man of this prince's council," is in as great fear of his life as Throkmorton himself, being lodged hard by the Bois de Vincennes, where he has the protection of 70 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XHI. a new and more explicit declaration pronounced all those who had taken up arms, robbed churches and monasteries, and com- mitted other sacrilegious acts at Orleans, Lyons, Rouen, and va- rious other cities mentioned by name, to be rebels, and deprived them of all their offices. Yet, by way of retaliation upon Conde for maintaining that he had entered upon the war in order to defend the persons of the king and his mother, unjustly de- prived of their liberty, parliament pretended to regard the prince himself as an unwilling captive in the hands of the confederates ; and, consequently, excepted him alone from the general attain- der. 1 But the legal fiction does not seem to have been attended with the great success its projectors anticipated." The people could scarcely credit the statement that the war was waged by the Guises simply for the liberation of their mortal enemy, Conde, especially when Conde himself indignantly repelled the attempt to separate him from the associates with whom he had entered into common engagements, not to add that the reputa- tion of the Lorraine family, whose mouth-piece parliament might well be supposed to be, was not over good for strict adherence to truth. Meanwhile the triumvirs were more successful in their mili- tary operations than the partisans of the prince. Their auxil- iaries came in more promptly, for the step which Conde now saw himself forced to take, in consequence of his opponents' course, they had long since resolved upon. They had received reinforcements from Germany, both of infantry and cavalry, the king's guards ; and yet even there he has been threatened with a visit from the Parisians, and with being killed in his own house. See both of Throk- morton's despatches to the queen, of August 5, 1562, State Paper Office. One of them is printed in Forbes, ii. 7, etc. 1 Mem. de Conde, i. 91-93 ; Hist, eccles. des 6gl. ref., ubi supra; De Thou, iii. 192, 193 ; J. de La Fosse, 54. 3 It appears from a letter of the Nuncio Santa Croce (April 29th), that, as early as two months before, the court flattered itself with the hope of deriving great advantages from excluding Conde from the ban, and affecting to regard him as a prisoner (Aymon, i. 152, and Cimber et Danjou, vi. 91). ''Con che pensano," he adds, "di quietar buona parte del popolo, che non sentendo parlar di religione, e parendoli ancora che la guerra ei faccia per la liberatione del Principe de Conde, stara a vedere." 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 71 under command of the Rhinegrave Philip of Salm and the Count of Rockendorf ; while Conde had succeeded in detaching 1 mt few of the Lutheran troopers by a manifesto in which he endeavored to explain the true nature of the struggle. Soldiers from the Roman Catholic cantons had been allowed a free passage through the Spanish Franche-Comte by the regent of the Low Countries, Margaret of Parma. The Pope himself contributed liberally to the supply of money for paying the troops. 1 But the Protestant reinforcements from the Palatinate and Zweibriicken (Deux-Ponts), and from Hesse, which D'An- delot, and, after him, Gaspard de Schomberg, had gone to hasten, were not yet ready ; while Elizabeth still hesitated to listen to the solicitations of Briquemault and Robert Stuart, the Scotchman, who had been successively sent to her court." After effecting the important capture of the city of Poitiers, Marshal Saint Andre, at the head of a Roman Catholic army, had marched, about the middle of August, toward Military sue- _ . ~ ,;.f the IJourges, perhaps the most important place held by the Protestants in central France. Beneath the walls of this city he joined the main army, under Navarre's nominal command, but really led by the Duke of Guise. The siege was pressed with vigor, for the king was present in person with the " Guisards." To the handful of Huguenots their assailants appeared to be " a marvellous army of French, Germans, reiters, Spaniards, and other nations, numbering in all eighty or a hundred thousand men, with the bravest cavalry that could be seen." ! And, when twenty or twenty-five cannon opened upon Bourges with balls of forty or fifty pounds' weight, and when six hundred and forty discharges were counted on a sin- gle day, and every building in the town was shaken to its very foundations, the besieged, numbering only a few hundred 1 " The bysbopp off Rome hathe lent these hys cheampions and f rends on hundrethe thousand crowns, and dothe pay monthely besyda six thousand sowldiers." Throkmorton to the Council, July 27, 1562, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 5. 2 De Thou, iii. 191, etc. ; Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 64, etc. s The number was, in fact, only about 15,000 foot and 3,000 horse, accord- ing to De Thou, iii. 198. 72 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. men, would have been excusable had they lost heart. Instead of this, they obstinately defended their works, repaired the breach by night, and inflicted severe injury on "the enemy by nocturnal sallies. To add to the duke's embarrassment, Admi- ral Cqligny, issuing from Orleans, was fortunate enough to cut off an important convoy of provisions and ammunition coming from Paris to the relief of the besiegers. 1 Despairing of taking the city by force, they now turned to negotiation. Unhappily, M. d'lvoy, in command of the Huguenot garrison, was not proof against the seductive offers made him. Disregarding the remonstrances of his companions in arms, who pointed to the fact that the enemy had from day to day, through discourage- ment or from sheer exhaustion, relaxed their assaults, he con- Fan of sented (on the thirty-first of August) to surrender Bourges to the army that had so long thundered at its gates. D'lvoy returned to Orleans, but Conde, accusing him of open perfidy, refused to see him; while the Protestants of 1 Although Coligny captured six cannon and over forty wagons of powder, he was compelled reluctantly to destroy, or render useless, and abandon mu- nitions of war of which he stood in great need ; for the enemy had taken the precaution to kill or drive away the horses, and the wagons could not be dragged to Orleans, a distance of over twenty miles. It happened that Sir Nicholas Throkmorton, whose instructive correspondence furnishes so lucid a commentary upon the events from 1559 to 1563, was travelling under escort of the royal train, to take leave of Charles IX. at Bourges. In the unexpected assault of the Huguenots he was stripped of his money and baggage, and even his despatches. Under these circumstances he thought it necessary to accompany Coligny to Orleans. Catharine, who knew well Throkmorton's sympathy with the Protestants, and hated him heartily (" Yt is not th'' Am- bassador of Englande," he had himself written only a few days earlier, ' ' which ys so greatlye stomackyd and hatyd in this countreye, but yt ys the persone of Nicholas Throkmorton," Forbes, ii. 33), would have it that he had purposely thrown himself into the hands of the Huguenots. His confi- dential correspondence with Queen Elizabeth does not bear out the charge. Despatch from Orleans, Sept. 9, 1562, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 36, etc. Catharine assured Sir Thomas Smith, on his arrival at court as English am- bassador, that she wished he had been sent before, instead of Throkmorton, " for they took him here to be the author of all these troubles," declaring that Throkmorton was never well but when he was making some broil, and that he was so "passionate and affectionate" on the Huguenots' side, that he cared not what trouble he made. Despatch of Smith, Rouen, Nov. 7, 1562, State Paper Office. 136a THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 73 Bourges shared the usual fate of those who trusted the pro- mises of the Roman Catholic leaders, and secured few of the religious privileges guaranteed by the articles of capitulation. 1 With the fall of Bourges, the whole of central France, as far as to the gates of Orleans, yielded to the arms of Guise. Every- where the wretched inhabitants of the reformed faith were compelled to submit to gross indignities, or seek safety in flight. To many of these homeless fugitives the friendly castle of Montargis, belonging to the Duchess of Ferrara, to which reference will shortly be made, afforded a welcome refuge. 1 The necessity of obtaining immediate reinforcements had at length brought Conde and the other great Huguenot lords to acquiesce in the offer of the only terms upon which Elizabeth of England could be persuaded to grant them actual support. As the indispensable condition to her interference, she demanded that the cities of Havre and Dieppe should be placed in her hands. These would be a pledge for the restoration of Calais, that old English stronghold which had fallen into the power of the French during the last war, and for whose restoration within eight years there had been an express stipulation in the treaties Cateau-Cambresis. This humiliating concession the Help from _ . . Qm-L-n Eliza- Huguenots reluctantly agreed to make. Elizabeth in turn promised to send six thousand English troops (three thousand to guard each of the cities), who should serve 1 Histoire eccles., ii. 296-306 (the terms of capitulation, ii. 304, 30o); Mem. de Castelnau, liv. iii. , c. xi. (who maintains they were implicitly ob- served) ; Throkmorton, in Forbes, State Papers, ii. 41; Davila, bk. iii., p. 71 ; De Thou, iii. 198, 199. " Bituriges turpiter a duce prsesidii proditi sese dediderunt, optimis quidem conditionibus, sed quas biduo post perfidiosissi- inus hostis infregit." Beza to Bullinger, Sept. 24, 1562, Baum, ii., Appen- dix, 194. M. Bourquelot has published a graphic account of the capture of Bourges in May, by the Huguenots, under Montgomery, and of the siege iii August, from the MS. Journal of Jean Glaumeau, in the National Library (Bulletin de 1'hist. du prot. fr., v. 387-389). M. L. Lacour reprints in the same valuable periodical (v. 516-518) a contemporary hymn of some merit, ' Sur la prise de Bourges." We are told that a proverb is even now cur- rent in Berry, not a little flattering to the Huguenot rule it recalls : " L'an mil cinq cent soixante et deux Bourges n'avoit pretres ny gueux." (Ibid., v. 389.) ! Jean de Serres, De statu relig. et reip. , ii 258, 259. 74 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. under the command of Conde as the royal lieutenant, and pledged her word to lend the prince and his associates one hun- dred and forty thousand crowns toward defraying the expenses of the war. 1 On the twentieth of September the Queen of England published to the world a declaration of the motives that led her to interfere, alleging in particular the usurpation of the royal authority by the Guises, and the consequent danger impending over the Protestants of Normandy through the vio- lence of the Duke of Aumale. 2 The tidings of the alliance and of some of its conditions had already reached France, and they rather damaged than furthered the Protestant cause. As the English queen's selfish determina- tion to confine her assistance to the protection of the three cities became known, it alarmed even her warmest friends among the French Protestants. Conde and Coligny earnestly begged the queen's ambassador to tell his mistress that " in case her Majesty were introduced by their means into Havre, Dieppe, and Rouen with six thousand men, only to keep those places, it would be unto them a great note of infamy." They would seem wantonly to have exposed to a foreign prince the very flower of Normandy, in giving into her hands cities which they felt themselves quite able to defend without assistance. So clearly did Throkmorton foresee the disastrous consequences of this course, that, even at the risk of offending the queen by his presumption, he took the liberty to warn her that if she suffered the Protestants of France 1 This conclusion was arrived at as early as Aug. 29th. Froude, Hist, of England, vii. 433. Seventy thousand crowns were to be paid to the prince's agents at Strasbourg or Frankfort so soon as the news should be received of the transfer of Havre, thirty thousand more within a month thereafter. The other forty thousand were in lieu of the defence of Rouen and Dieppe, should it seem impracticable to undertake it. Havre was to be held until the Prince should have effected the restitution of Calais and the adjacent territory ac- cording to the treaties of Cateau-Cambresis, although the time prescribed by those treaties had not expired, and until the one hundred and forty thou- sand crowns should have been repaid without interest. The compact, signed by Queen Elizabeth at Hampton Court, Sept. 20, 1562, is inserted in Du Mont, Corps Diplomatique, v. 94, 95, and in Forbes, State Papers, ii., 48-51. 2 See the declaration in Hist, eccles. des e"gl. rcf. , ii. 415, 416; and Forbes, State Papers, ii. 79, 80. J. de Serres, ii. 261, etc. Cf. Forbes, State Papers, ii. 60, 69-79. l.ra. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. to succumb, with minds so alienated from her that they should consent to make an accord with the opposite faction, the posses- sion of the cities would avail her but little against the united forces of the French. lie therefore suggested that it might be quite as well for her Majesty's interests, "that she should serve the turn of the Huguenots as well as her own." ' Truly, Queen Elizabeth was throwing away a glorious opportunity of display- ing magnanimous disinterestedness, and of conciliating the affec- tion of a powerful party on the continent. In the inevitable struggle between Protestant England and papal Spain, the pos- session of such an ally as the best part of France woidd be of inestimable value in abridging the contest or in deciding the result. But the affection of the Huguenots could be secured by no such cold-blooded compact as that which required them to appear in the light of an unpatriotic party whose success would entail the dismemberment of the kingdom. To make such a demand at the very moment when her own ambassador was writing from Paris that the people "did daily most cruelly use and kill every person, no age or sex excepted, that they took to be contrary to their religion," was to show but too clearly that not religious zeal nor philanthropic tenderness of heart, so much as pure selfishness, was the motive influencing her." And yet the English queen was not uninformed of, nor wholly in- sensible to, the calls of humanity. She could in fact, on occa- , herself set them forthwith force and pathos. Nothing 1 Throkmorton to the queen, Sept. 24, 1562, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 64, 65. 9 Froude, ubi supra. In fact, Elizabeth assured Philip the Second and there is no reason to doubt her veracity in this that she would recall her troops from France so soon as Calais were recovered and peace with her neighbors were restored, and that, in the attempt to secure these ends, she expected the countenance rather than the opposition of her brother of Spain. Queen Elizabeth to the King of Spain, Sept. 22, 1562. Forbes, State Papers, ii. 55. It is not improbable, indeed, that there were ulterior designs even against Havre. " It is ment," her minister Cecil wrote to one of his intimate correspondents, "to kepe Newhaven in the Queue's possession untill Cal- lice be eyther delyvered, or better assurance of it then presently we have." But he soon adds that, in a certain emergency, " I think the Queue's Majestic nead not be ashamed to utter her right to Newhaven as parcell of the Duchie of Normaudy." T. Wright, Queen Elizabeth and her Times (London, 1838), L 96. 76 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. could surpass the sympathy expressed in her autograph letter to Mary of Scots, deprecating the resentment of the latter at Elizabeth's interference a letter which, as Mr. Froude notices, was not written by Cecil and merely signed by the queen, but was* her own peculiar and characteristic composition. " Far sooner," she wrote, " would I pass over those murders on land ; far rather would I leave unwritten those noyades in the rivers those men and women hacked in pieces ; but the shrieks of the strangled wives, great with child the cries of the infants at their mothers' breasts pierce me through. "Wliat drug of rhu- barb can purge the bile which these tyrannies engender ? " ' The news of the English alliance, although not unexpected, produced a very natural irritation at the French court. When Throkmorton applied to Catharine de' Medici for a passport to leave the kingdom, the queen persistently refused, telling him that such a document was unnecessary in his case. But she significantly volunteered the information that "some of his nation had lately entered France without asking for passports, who she hoped would speedily return without leave-taking ! " Meanwhile the English movement rather accelerated than retarded the operations of the royal army. After the fall of Bourges, there had been a difference of opinion in the council whether Orleans or Rouen ought first to be attacked. Orleans was the centre of Huguenot activity, the heart from which the currents of life flowed to the farthest extremities of Gascony and Languedoc ; but it was strongly fortified, and would be de- fended by a large and intrepid garrison. A siege was more likely to terminate disastrously to the assailants than to the citizens and Protestant troops. The admiral laughed at the attempt to attack a city which could throw three thousand men into the breach. 3 Rouen, on the contrary, was weak, and, if attacked before reinforcements were received from England, 1 Fronde, History of England, vii. 460, 461. 8 Catharine to Throkmorton, Etampes, Sept. 21, 1562, State Paper Office. 8 Mem. de la None, c. viL ; De Thou, iii. 206, 207 (liv. xxxi). Throkmorton is loud in his praise of the fortifications the Huguenots had thrown up, and esti- mates the soldiers within them at over one thousand horse and five thousand loot soldiers, besides the citizen militia. Forbes, ii. 39. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 77 but feebly garrisoned. Yet it was the key of the valley of the Seine, and its possession by the Huguenots was a Ron, oc- perpetual menace of the capital.' So long as it was in their hands, the door to the heart of the kingdom lay wide open to the united army of French and English Prot- estants. Very wisely, therefore, the Roman Catholic generals abandoned their original design * of reducing Orleans so soon as Bourges should fall, and resolved first to lay siege to Rouen. Great reason, indeed, had the captors of such strongholds as Marienbonrg, Calais, and Thionville, to anticipate that a place so badly protected, so easily commanded, and destitute of any fortification deserving the name, would yield on the first alarm. 3 It was true that a series of attacks made by the Duke of Aumale upon Fort St. Catharine, the citadel of Rouen, had been signally repulsed, and that, after two weeks of fighting, on the twelfth of July he had abandoned the undertaking. 4 But, with the more abundant resources at their command, a better result might now be expected. Siege was, therefore, a second time laid, on the twenty-ninth of September, by the King of Navarre. The forces on the two sides -were disproportionate. Xavarre, 1 Cuthbert Vaughan appreciated the importance of this city, and warned Cecil that " if the same, for lack of aid, should be surprised, it might give the French suspicion on our part that the queen meaneth but an appearance of aid, thereby to obtain into her hands such things of theirs as may be most profitable to her, and in time to come most noyful to themselves." Forbes, ii. 90. Unfortunately it was not Cecil, but Elizabeth herself, that restrained the exertions of the troops, and she was hard to move. And so, for lack of a liberal and hearty policy, Rouen was suffered to fall, and Dieppe was given up without a blow, and Warwick and the English found themselves, as it were, besieged in Havre. Whereas, with those places, they might have commanded the entire triangle between the Seine and the British Channel. See Throk- morton's indignation, and the surprise of Conde and Coligny, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 193. 199. 2 In a letter to Lanssac, Aug. 17, 1562, Catharine writes: "Nous nous acheminons a Bourges pour en deloger le jeune Genlis . . . L'ayant levc de la, comme je n'y espere grande difficulte, nous tonrnerons vers Orleans pour faire le semblable de ceux qui y sont." Le Laboureur, i. 820. " Mom. de Francois de la Noue, c. viii. (p. 601.) 4 Hist, eccles. des cgl. rcf., ii. 375, 370, 383; J. de Serres, ii. 181; DC Thou, iii. 179-181. 78 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. Montmorency, and Guise were at the head of sixteen thousand foot and two thousand horse, in addition to a considerable num- ber of German mercenaries. Montgomery, 1 who commanded the Protestants, had barely eight hundred trained soldiers. 2 The rest of the scanty garrison was composed of those of the citizens who were capable of bearing arms, to the number of perhaps four thousand more. But this handful of men instituted a stout resistance. After frequently repulsing the assailants, the double fort of St. Catharine, situated near the Seine, on the east of the city, and Rouen's chief defence, was taken rather by surprise than by force. Yet, after this unfortunate loss, the brave Hu- guenots fought only with the greater desperation. Their num- bers had been reinforced by the accession of some five hundred Englishmen of the first detachment of troops which had landed at Havre on the third of October, and whom Sir Adrian Poyn- ings had assumed the responsibility of sending to the relief of the beleaguered capital of Kormandy. 3 With Killigrew of Pendennis for their captain, they had taken advantage of a high tide to pass the obstructions of boats filled with stone and sand that had been sunk in the river opposite Caudebec, and, with the exception of the crew of one barge that ran ashore, and eleven of whom were hung by the Roman Catholics, " for having entered the service of the Huguenots contrary to the will of the Queen of England," they succeeded in reaching Rouen. 4 These, however, were not the only auxiliaries upon whom the Huguenot chief could count. The women were inspired 1 It was undoubtedly a Roman Catholic fabrication, that Montgomery bore on his escutcheon a helmet pierced by a lance (un heaume perce d'une lance), in allusion to the accident by which he had given Henry the Second his mortal wound, in the joust at the Tournelles. Abbe Bruslart, Mem. de Conde, i. 97, who, however, characterizes it as " chose fort dure a croire." ^ Mem. de la Noue, c. viiL 3 When Lord Robert Dudley began to break to the queen the disheartening news that Rouen had fallen, Elizabeth betrayed " a marvellous remorse that she had not dealt more frankly for it," and instead of exhibiting displeasure at Poynings's presumption, seemed disposed to blame him that he had not sent a thousand men instead, for his fault would have been no greater. Dud- ley to Cecil, Oct. 30, 1562, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 155. 4 De Thou, iii. 328 ; Froude, vii. 436 ; Sir Thomas Smith to Throkmorton, Paris, Oct. 17, 1562, Forbes, State Papers^ ii. 117. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 79 with a courage that equalled, and a determination that surpassed, that of their husbands and brothers. They undertook the most arduous labors ; they fought side by side on the walls ; they helped to repair at night the breaches which the enemy's can- non had made during the day ; and after one of the most san- guinary conflicts during the siege, it was found that there were more women killed and wounded than men. Yet the courage of the Huguenots sustained them throughout the unequal strug- gle. Frequently summoned to surrender, the Rouenese would listen to no terms that included a loss of their religious liberty. Rather than submit to the usurpation of the Guises, they pre- ferred to fall with arms in their hands. 1 For fall they must. D'Andelot was on his way with the troops he had laboriously collected in Germany ; another band of three thousand English- men was only detained by the adverse winds ; Conde himself was reported on his way northward to raise the siege but none could arrive in time. The King of Navarre had been severely wounded in the shoulder, but Guise and the constable pressed the city with no less decision. At last the walls on the side of the suburbs of St. Ililaire and Martainville were breached by the overwhelming fire of the enemy. The population of Rouen and its motley ^garrison, reduced in numbers, worn out with toils and vigils, and disheartened by a combat which ceased on one day only to be renewed under less favorable circumstances on the next, were no longer able to continue their heroic and almost superhuman exertions. On Monday, the twenty-sixth of October, the army of the triumvirate forced its way over the rubbish into Rouen, and the richest city of France, outside of Paris, fell an FallofRonen. J , unresisting prey to the cupidity of an insubordinate soldiery. Rarely had so tempting a prize fallen into the hands of a conquering army ; rarely were the exactions of war more remorscly inflicted." But the barbarities of a licentious army 1 "But thei will have there preaching still Thei will have libertie of their religion, and thei will have no garrison wythin the towne, but will be masters therof themselves : and upon this point thei stand." Despatch of Sir Thomas Smith, Poissy, Oct. 20, 1562, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 12:;. 8 The plundering lasted eight days. While the Swiss obeyed orders, and 80 THE RISE OP THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIIL were exceeded in atrocity by the cooler deliberations of the The Norman Norman parliament. That supreme court, always parliament. i n i m i ca i to fa e p ro testants, had retired to the neigh- boring city of Louviers, in order to maintain itself free from Huguenot influence. It now returned to Rouen and exercised a sanguinary revenge. Augustin Marlorat, one of the most dis- tinguished among the reformed ministers of France, and the most prominent pastor of the church of Rouen, had been thrown into prison ; he was now brought before the parliament, and with others was sentenced to death as a traitor and a disturber of the public repose, then dragged on a hurdle to the place of execution and ignominiously hung. 1 The ferocity of the ^Norman parliament alarming the queen mother, she interfered to secure the observance of the edict of amnesty she had recently prepared. But serious results fol- lowed in the case of two prominent partisans of Guise who had fallen into Conde's hands, and were in prison when ihe tidings reached Orleans. On the recommendation of his council, the prince retaliated by sending to the gallows Jean Baptiste Sapin, a member of the Parisian parliament, and the Abbe de Gasti- nes, who had been captured while travelling in company with an envoy whom the court were sending to Spain. 2 promptly desisted, "the French suffered themselves to be killed rather than quit the place whilst there was anything left." Castelnau, liv. iii., c. 13. The cure of Meriot waxes jocose over the incidents of the capture : " Tout ce qui fut trouve en armes par les rues et sur les murailles f ut passe par le fil de 1'espee. La ville fat mise au pillage par les soldatz du camp, qui se firent gentis compaignons. Dieu scait que ceux qui estoient mal habtilez pour leur yver (hiver) ne s'en aUerent sans robbe neufve. Les huguenotz de la ville furent en tout maltraictez," etc. Mem. de Claude Haton, i. 288. 1 On the siege of Rouen, see the graphic account of De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxiii.) 328-335 ; the copious correspondence of the English envoys in France, Forbes, State Papers, vol. ii.; the Hist eccles. des egl. ref., it 389-396 (and Marlorat's examination and sentence in extenso, 398-404) ; J. de Serres, ii 259 ; La If oue, c. viii. ; Davila (interesting, and not so inaccurate here as usual, per- haps because he had a brother-in-law, Jean de Hemery, sieur de Villers, in the Roman Catholic army, but who greatly exaggerates the Huguenot forces), ch. iii. 73-75 ; Castelnau, liv. iii., c. 13. 5 It is to be noted, however, that the order of the Prince of Conde", in the case of Sapin (November 2, 1562), makes no mention of the judicial murder of Marlorat, but alleges only his complicity with parliament in imprisoning 15G2. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 81 The fall of Rouen was followed within a few weeks by the death of the King of Navarre. His painful wound was not, perhaps, necessarily mortal, but the restless and vainglorious of An P rmce would not remain quiet and allow it to heal. lie toine de BOIU:- i ns i s ted on being borne in a litter through the breach bon. King of . Navarre. in to the city which had been taken under nis nomi- nal command. It was a sort of triumphal procession, marching to the sound of cymbals, and with other marks of victory. But the idle pageant only increased the inflammation in his shoul- der. Even in his sick-room he allowed himself no time for se- rious thought ; but, prating of the orange-groves of Sardinia which he was to receive from the King of Spain, and toying with Rouhet, the beautiful maid of honor by whom Catharine had drawn him into her net, lie frittered away the brief rem- nant of an ignoble life. When visibly approaching his end, he is said, at the suggestion of an Italian physician, to have con- fessed himself to a priest, and to have received the last sacra- ments of the Romish Church. Yet, with characteristic vacilla- tion he listened, but a few hours later, with attention and appa- rent devoutness, to the reading of God's Word, and answered the remonstrances of his faithful Huguenot physician by the assurance that, if he recovered his health, he would openly es- pouse the Augsburg Confession, and cause the pure Gospel to be preached everywhere throughout France. 1 His death occurred the king, his mother, and the King of Navarre, in annulling royal edicts by magisterial orders, in constraining the king's officers to become idolaters, in declaring knights of the Order of St. Michael and other worthy gentlemen rebels, in ordering the tocsin to be rung, and inciting to assassination, etc. Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 115, 116. See Bruslart, Mem. de Cond6, i. 100. When Conde was informed that the Parisian parliament had gone in red robes to the " Sainte Chapelle," to hear a requiem mass for Counsellor Sapin, he laughed, and said that he hoped soon to multiply their litanies and kyrie eleysons. Hist. ecc!6s., ubi supra. 1 As early as October 27th, Navarre sent a gentleman to Jeanne d'Albret, then at Pau in Beam, u desiring to have her now to cherish him, and do the part of a wife ; " and the messenger told Sir Thomas Smith, with whom he dined that day in Evreux, " that the king pretendeth to him, that this pun- ishment [his wounds] came to him well-deserved, for his unkindness in for- saking the truth." Forbes, State Papers, ii 167. The authenticity of the story of Antoine of Navarre's death-bed repentance is sufficiently attested by VOL. II. 6 82 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. on the seventeenth of November, 1562, at Les Andelys, a village on the Seine. He had insisted, contrary to his friends' advice, upon being taken by boat from Rouen to St. Maur-des-Fosses, where, within a couple of leagues of Paris, he hoped to breathe a purer air; but death overtook him before he had completed half his journey. 1 Had Antoine embraced with sincerity and steadfastly main- tained either of the two phases of religious belief which divided between them the whole of western Christendom, his death would have left a void which could have been filled with diffi- culty. He was the first prince of the blood, and entitled to the regency. His appearance was prepossessing, his manners cour- teous. He was esteemed a capable general, and was certainly not destitute of administrative ability. If, with hearty devo- tion, he had given himself to the reformed views, the authority of his great name and eminent position might have secured for their adherents, if not triumph, at least toleration and quiet. But two capital weaknesses ruined his entire course. The love of empty glory blinded him to his true interests ; and the love of sensual pleasure made him an easy dupe. He was robbed of his legitimate claims to the first rank in France by the promise of a shadowy sceptre in some distant region, which every sensi- ble statesman of his time knew from the first that Philip the Second never had entertained the slightest intention of confer- ring ; while, by the siren voices of her fair maids of honor, Catharine de' Medici was always sure of being able to lure the letter written, less than a year later (August, 1563), by his widow, Jeanne d'Albret, to the Cardinal of Armagnac : "Ousont ces belles couronnes que TOUS luy prometties, et qu'il a acquiaes a combattre centre la vraye Religion et sa conscience; comme la confession derniere qu'il en a faite en sa mort en est seur tesmoignage, et les paroles dites a la Royne, en protestation de faire prescher les ministrea par tout s'il guerissoit." Pierre Olhagaray, Histoire de Foix, Beam, et Navarre (Paris, 1609), p. 546. See also Brantome (edi- tion Lalanne), iv. 367, and the account, written probably by Antoine's physi- cian, De Taillevis, among the Dupuy MSS. of the Bibliotheque nationale, ibid., iv. 419. 1 Lestoile (Collection Michaud et Poujoulat), 15 ; Hist, eccles. des 6gl. ref., ii. 397, 406-408 ; De Thou, 336, 337 ; Relation de la mort du roi de Navarre, Ciinber et Danjou, iv. 67, etc. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 83 him on to the most humiliating concessions. Deceived by the emissaries of the Spanish king and the Italian queen mother, Antoine would have been an object rather of pity than of dis- gust, had he not himself played false to the friends who sup- ported him. As it was, he passed off the stage, and scarcely left a single person to regret his departure. Huguenots and papists were alike gratified when the world was relieved of so signal an example of inconstancy and perfidy. 1 Antoine left behind him his wife, the eminent Jeanne d'Albret, and two children a son, the Prince of Beam, soon to appear in history as the leader of the Huguenot party, and, on the extinction of the Valois line, to succeed to the throne as Henry the Fourth ; and a daughter, Catharine, who inherited all her mother's signal virtues. The widow and her children were, at the time of Antome's death, in Jeanne's dominions on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees, whither they had retired when he had first openly gone over to the side of the Guises. There, in the midst of her own sub- jects, the Queen of Tsavarre was studying, more intelligently than any other monarch of her age, the true welfare of her peo- ple, while training her son in those principles upon which she hoped to see him lay the foundations of a great and glorious career. The sagacity of the enemy had been well exhibited in the vigor with which they had pressed the siege of Rouen. Conde, with barely seven thousand men, had several weeks before shut himself up in Orleans, after despatching the few troops at his 1 I am convinced that the historian De Thou has drawn of this fickle prince much too charitable a portrait (iii. 337). It seems to be saying too much to affirm that " his merit equalled that of the greatest captains of his age ; " and if " he loved justice, and was possessed of uprightness," it must be confessed that his dealings with neither party furnish much evidence of the fact. (I retain these remarks, although I find that the criticism has been anticipated by Soldan, ii. 78). Recalling the earlier relations of the men, it is not a little odd that, when the news of Navarre's death reached the "holy fathers" of the council then in session in the city of Trent, the papal legates and the presidents paid the Cardinal of Lorraine a formal visit to condole with him on the decease of his dear relative ! (Acta Cone. Tridentini, apud Martene ef Durand, Amplissima Collectio, torn. viii. 1299). The farce was, doubtless, well played, for the actors were of the best in. Christendom. 84 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. disposal for the relief of Bourges and Rouen, and could do noth- ing beyond making his own position secure, while impatiently awaiting the long-expected reinforcements from England and Germany.' The dilatoriness that marked the entire conduct of the war up to this time had borne its natural fruit in the grad- ual diminution and dispersion of his forces, in the loss of one important city after another, and almost of entire provinces, and, worst of all, in the discouragement pervading all classes of the Huguenot population.* ]S r ow, however, he was on the eve of obtaining relief. Two days after the fall of Rouen, on the twenty-eighth of October, a second detachment of the English fleet succeeded in overcoming the contrary winds that had de- tained them ten days in crossing the channel, and landed three The English th ousan d troops at the port of Havre. 3 D'Andelot in Havre. } ia( j finally been able to gather up his German " rei- ters " and " lansquenets," * and was making a brilliant march through Alsace, Lorraine, Burgundy, and Champagne, skilfully avoiding the enemy's forces sent out to watch and intercept him. 6 1 Letter of Beza to Bullinger, Sept. 1, 1562, Baum, iii., App., 190. The Huguenots had sustained a heavy loss also in the utter defeat and dispersion by Blaise de Montluc of some five or six thousand troops of Gascony, which the Baron de Duras was bringing to Orleans. 8 The sentiments of well-informed Huguenots are reflected in a letter of Cal- vin, of September, 1562, urging the Protestants of Languedoc to make col- lections to defray the expense entailed by D'Andelot's levy. "D'entreren question ou dispute pour reprendre les faultes passees, ce n'est pas le temps. Car, quoy qu'il en soit, Dieu nous a r^duicts a telle extremite que si vous n'estes secourus de ce coste-la, on ne voit apparence selon les hommes que d'une piteuse et horrible desolation." Bonnet, Lettrea fraii?., ii. 475. 3 Hist, eccles. , ii. 421. 4 See " Capitulation des reytres et lansquenetz levez pour monseigneur le prince de Conde, du xviii. d'aoust 1562," Bulletin, xvL (1867), 116-118. The reiters came chiefly from Hesse. 6 Claude Haton, no friend to Catharine, makes the Duke d'Aumale, in com- mand of eight or nine thousand troops, avoid giving battle to D'Andelot, and content himself with watching his march from Lorraine as far as St. Florentin, in obedience to secret orders of the queen mother, signed with the king's seal. Memoires, i. 294, 295. The fact was that D'Andelot adroitly .eluded both the Duke of Nevers, Governor ot Champagne, who was prepared to resist his passage, and Marshal Saint Andre, who had advanced to meet him with thirteen companies of " gens-d'armes " and some foot soldiers. Da- vila, bk. iii. 76 ; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxiii.) 356. 1502. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. OO On the sixth of November, he presented himself before the gates of Orleans, and was received with lively enthusiasm by the prince and his small army. 1 Now at length, on the seventh of November, Conde could leave the walls which for seven months had sheltered him in almost complete inaction, and within which a frightful pesti- lence had been making havoc among the flower of the chivalry of France ; for, whilst fire and sword were everywhere laying waste the country, heaven had sent a subtle and still more de- structive foe to decimate the wretched inhabitants. Orleans had not escaped the scourge. The city was crowded with refugees from Paris and from the whole valley of the Loire. Among these strangers, as well as among the citizens, death found many victims. In a few months it was believed that ten thousand persons perished in Orleans alone; while in Paris, where the disease raged more than an entire year, the number of deaths was much larger.* 'With the four thousand lansquenets and the three thousand reiters brought him from Germany, 3 Conde was able to leave a __,._. force, under command of D'Andelot, sufficient to de- ( ontlo takes the field. f en d the city of Orleans, and himself to take the field with an army of about fifteen thousand men. 4 " Our enemies," 1 Hist, cedes, des t'gl. ref., ii. 114, 115. The writer ascribes the fall of Rouen to the delay of the reiters in assembling at their rendezvous. Instead of being ready on the first of October, it was not until the tenth that they had come in sufficient numbers to be mustered in. 9 Eighty thousand, according to the Hist, eccles. des egL ref., ii. 91, 93; twenty-five thousand, according to Claude Haton, Memoires, 332, 333. 3 Letter of Beza to Bullinger, Sept. 1st, Baum, ii., App., 191 ; Hist, ecelea. des 6gL ref., ii. 114, 115 ; Davila, bk. iiL, 77 ; De Thou, iii. 355. 356. 4 Letter of Beza to Calvin, Dec. 14, 1563, Baum, ii., App.. 196. The au- thority of Beza, who had recently returned from a mission on which he had been sent by Conde to Germany and Switzerland and who wrote from the camp, is certainly to be preferred to that of Claude Haton, who states the Huguenot forces at 25,000 men (Memoires, i. 298). The prince's chief captains Coligny, Andelot, La Rochefoucauld, and Mouy Haton rates as the best warriors in France after the Duke of Guise. According to Throkmorton's despatches from Conde's camp near Corbeil, the departure from Orleans took place on the 8th of November, and the prince's French forces amounted only to six thousand foot soldiers, indifferently armed, and about two thousand horse. Forbes, State Papers, ii 195. But this did not include the Germans 86 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIII. he said, " have inflicted two great losses upon us in taking our castles " meaning Bourges and Rouen " but I hope that now we shall have their knights, if they move out upon the board." ' As he was leaving Orleans, he was waited upon by a deputation of fifty reformed ministers, who urged him to look well to the discipline and purity of the army. They begged him, by salu- tary punishment, to banish from the camp theft and rapine, and, above all, that more insidious and heaven-provoking sin of licentiousness, which, creeping in, had doubtless drawn down upon the cause such marked signs of the Lord's displeasure, that, of all the congregations in France, only the churches of a few islands on the coasts, and the churches of Montauban, Havre, Orleans, Lyons, and of the cities of Languedoc 2 and Dauphiny, continued to rear their heads through the storm that had pros- trated all the rest; and, to this end, they warned him by no means to neglect to afford his soldiers upon the march the same opportunities of hearing God's Word and of public prayer which they had enjoyed in Orleans. 3 some seven thousand five hundred men more. Ibid., ii. 196. Altogether, he reckons the army at " 6,000 horsemen of all sorts and nations, and 10,000 footmen." Ibid., ii. 202. 1 Mem. -de La Noue, c. viiL, p. 602. 8 The Protestants of Languedoc held in Nismes (Nov. 2-13, 1562) the first, or at least one of the very first, of those ' ' political assemblies " which be- came more and more frequent as the sixteenth century advanced. Here the Count of Crussol, subsequently Duke d'Uzes, was urged to accept the office of "head, defender, and conservator" of the reformed party in Languedoc. To the count a council was given, and he was requested not to find the sug- gestion amiss that he should in all important matters, such as treaties with the enemy, consult with the general assembly of the Protestants, or at least with the council. By this good office he would demonstrate the closeness of the bond uniting him as head to the body of his native land, besides giving greater assurance to a people too much inclined to receive unfounded impres- sions (" ung puple souvent trop meticulleux et de legiere inpression "). Pro- ces-verbal of the Assembly of Nismes, from MS. Bulletin, xxii. (1873), p. 515. 3 Hist eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 117; De Thou, iii. 357. Calvin's, or the Geneva liturgy, was probably used but in part. Special prayers, adapted to the circumstances of the army, had been composed, under the title of " Prieres ordinaires des soldatz de I'arme'e conduicte par Monsieur le Prince de Cond6, accomodees selon 1' occurrence du temps." Prof. Baum cites a sim- ple, but beautiful evening prayer, which was to be said when the sentinels were placed on guard for the night. Theodor Beza, ii. G24, note. 1501. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 87 The Huguenot army directed its course northward, and the different divisions united under the walls of Pluviers, or Pithi- viers, a weak place, which surrendered after six hours of can- nonading, with little loss to the besieging party. The greater part of the garrison was dismissed unharmed, after having been compelled to give up its weapons. Two of the officers, as guilty of flagrant breach of faith and other crimes, were sum- marily hung.' And here the Huguenot cause was stained by an act of cruelty for which no sufficient excuse can be found. Several Roman Catholic priests, detected, in spite of their dis- guise, among the prisoners, were put to death, without other pretext save that they had been the chief instigators of the re- sistance which the town had offered. Unhappily, the Hugue- not regarded the priest, and the Roman Catholic the reformed minister, as the guilty cause of the civil war, and thought it right to vent upon his head the vengeance which his own reli- gion should have taught him to leave to the righteous retribu- tion of a just God. After the fall of Pithiviers, no resistance was attempted by fitampes and other slightly garrisoned places of the neighborhood, the soldiers and the clergy taking refuge, before the approach of the army, in the capital. The prince was now master of the country to the very gates of Paris, and it was the opinion of many, including among them the reformer, Beza, that the city itself might The prince , ' , , , / , appears be- be captured b\' a sudden advance, and the war thus fore Paris. ended at a blow.* They therefore recommended that, without delay, the army should hasten forward and attack the terrified inhabitants before Guise and the constable should liave 1 Throkmorton (Forbes, ii. 195, 197) represents the executions as more general, and as an act of severity, "chiefly in revenge of the great cruelty exercised by the Duke of Guise and his party at Rouen against the soldiers there, but specially against your Majesty's subjects." Throkmorton was convinced of the practicability of capturing Paris by a rapid movement even from before Corbeil : " The whole suburbes on this syde the water is entrenched, where there is sundry bastions and cavaliers to plante th' artillerye on, which is verey daungerous for th' assay Ian tes. Never- theles, if the Prince had used celeritie, in my opinion, with little losse of men and great facilitie he mi^ht have woon the suburbes ; and then the towne coulde not longe have holden, somme parte of the sayd suburbes havingc domination therof ." Forbes, ii. 217. THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. time to bring the army and the king back from Normandy, where they still lingered. The view was so plausible, indeed, that it was adopted by most of the reformed historians, and, being indorsed by later writers, has caused the failure to march directly against the capital to be regarded as a signal error of Conde in this campaign. But it would certainly appear hazard- ous to adopt this conclusion in the face of the most skilful strategists of the age. It has already been seen that Frangois de la None, one of the ablest generals of whom the Huguenots could ever boast, regarded the idea of capturing Paris at the beginning of the struggle, with the comparatively insignificant forces which the prince could bring to the undertaking, as the most chimerical that could be entertained. Was it less absurd now, when, if the Protestant army had received large acces- sions, the walls of Paris could certainly be held by the citizens for a few days, until an army of fully equal size, under expe- rienced leaders, could be recalled from the lower Seine ? Such, at least, was the conclusion at which Admiral Coligny, the com- manding spirit in the council-chamber and the virtual head of the Huguenot army, arrived, when he calmly considered the perils of attacking, with twelve or fifteen thousand men and four pieces of artillery, the largest capital of continental Europe a city whose population amounted to several hundred thou- sand souls, among whom there was now not a single avowed Protestant, and whose turbulent citizens were not unaccustomed to the use of arms. He resolved, therefore, to adopt the more practicable plan of making the city feel the pressure of the war by cutting off its supplies of provisions and by ravaging the surrounding country. Thus, Paris " the bellows by whose blasts the war was kept in flames," and " the kitchen that fed it " would at last become weary of sustaining in idleness an insolent soldiery, and of seeing its villages given over to de- struction, and compel the king's advisers to offer just terms of peace, or to seek a solution of the present disputes on the open field. 1 1 Memoires de Franqois de la Noue, c. ix., p. 603 (Collection Michaud et Poujoulat). See also Davila (bk. iii. 77), who represents the advice of the admiral rather to have been to employ the army in recapturing the places 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR But, whatever doubt may be entertained respecting the pro- priety of the plan of the campaign adopted by the Prince of Conde, there can be none respecting the error committed in not promptly carrying that plan into execution. The army loitered about Etampes instead of pressing on and seizing the bridges across the Seine. Over these it ought to have crossed, and, en- tering the f raitf ul district of Brie, to have become master of the O 7 rivers by which the means of subsistence were principally brought to Paris. With Corbeil and Lagny in his possession, Conde would have held Paris in as deadly a grasp as Henry the Fourth did twenty-eight years later, when Alexander of Parma was forced to come from Flanders to its assistance. 1 When, at last, the Huguenot army took the direction of Corbeil, commanding one of the bridges, the news arrived of the death of Antoine of Na- varre. And with this intelligence came fresh messengers from Catharine, who had already endeavored more than once by similar means to delay the Huguenots in their advance. She now strove to amuse Conde with the hope of succeeding his brother as lieutenant-general of the kingdom during Charles's minority.' In vain did the soldiers chafe at this new check upon their en- along the Loire, while Conde insisted on trying to become master of Paris. De Thou, iii. 358. Beza, in his letter of Dec. 14th, says : " Quum enim urbs repentino impetu facile capi posset, etc." So also the Hist, eccles. des egL ref., ii. 118. 1 See Motley, United Netherlands, iii. 59. 1 " The Prince of Conde and his campe having approched the towne of Cor- beille, and being ready to batter the same, the queene mother sente her princi- pal escuyer, named Monsieur de Sainte-Mesme, with a lettre to the sayd prince, advertisinge him of the deathe of the kinge, his brother. The sayd de Sainte-Mesme had also in credence to tell the prince from the queene, that she was verey desirous to have an ende of theise troubles : and also that she was willinge that the sayd prince should enjoy his ranke and aucthorite due unto him in this realme. . . . This the queene mother's lettre and sweete words bathe empeached the battrye and warlyke procedings against Corbeill ; the prince therby beeing induced to desist from using any violence against his ennemyes. I f eare me, that this delaying will tome much to the prince's dis- advantage ; and that there is no other good meaning at this time in this faire speeche. then there was in the treaty of Bogeancy (Beaugency) in the monethe of July last." Throkmorton to the queen, from Essonne, opposite Corbeil, Nov. 22, 1563, Forbes, ii. 3C9. 90 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIIL thusiasm, in vain did prudent counsellors remonstrate. There was a traitor even in the prince's council, in the person of Jean de Hangest, sieur de Genlis (brother of D'lvoy, the betrayer of Bourges), whose open desertion we shall soon have occasion to notice, and this treacherous adviser was successful in procuring a delay of four days. 1 The respite was not thrown away. 'Be- fore the Huguenots were again in motion, Corbeil was reinforced and rendered impregnable against any assaults which, with their feeble artillery, they could make upon it. Repulsed from its walls, after several days wasted in the vain hope of taking it, the prince moved down the left bank of the Seine, and, on the twenty-eighth of November, encamped opposite to Paris in the villages of Gentilly and Arcueil. 2 New proffers came from Catharine; there were new delays on the road. At Port a 1' Anglais a conference with Conde had been projected by the queen mother, resulting merely in one between the constable and his nephew Coligny as fruitless as any that had preceded ; for Montmorency would not hear of tolerating in France another religion besides the Roman Catholic, and the Admiral would rather die a thousand deaths than abandon the point. 3 Under the walls of Paris new conferences took place. The Parisians worked night and day, strengthening their defences, and making those preparations which are rarely completed except under the spur of an extraordinary emergency. Mean- while, every day brought nearer the arrival of the Spanish and Gascon auxiliaries whom they were expecting. At a windmill near the suburb of St. Marceau, the Prince of Conde, Coligny, Genlis, Grammont, and Esternay met the queen mother, the Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon, the constable, his son Marshal Montmorency, and Gonnor, at a later time known as Marshal Cosse. On both sides there were professions of the most ardent desire for peace, and " Huguenot " and " papist " embraced each other cordially at parting. But the dangerous intimacy soon bore the bitter fruit of open treachery. A camisade had been secretly planned by the Huguenots, and the attack was about to 1 Letter of Beza to Calvin, Dec. 14th, Baum, ii., App., 197. * Ib., ubi supra. 3 Hist, eccles. des cgl. r6f., ii. 120; De Thou, iii. o,j9. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 91 be made on the enemy's works, when word was brought that one of the chiefs intrusted with the knowledge of all their plans the same Genlis, who had been the principal advocate of the delays upon the route had gone over to the enemy, and the enterprise was consequently abandoned. 1 The deliberations being set on foot by the one party, at least, only in order to gain time, it is not surprising that they accom- plished nothing. The court would concede none of the import- ant demands of the prince. It was resolved to exclude Protest- antism not only from Paris, but from Lyons, from all the seats of parliaments, from frontier towns, and from cities which had not enjoyed the right of having preaching according to the Edict of January. The exercises of the reformed worship could not be tolerated in any place where the court sojourned a cun- ning provision which would banish from the royal presence all the princes and high nobility, such as Renee of France, Conde, and the Chatillons, since these could not consent to live without the ordinances of their faith for themselves and their families and retainers. The triumvirs would not aoree to the recall of o those who had been exiled. They were willing to have all pro- ceedings against the partisans of Conde suspended; but they would neither consent that all edicts, ordinances, and sentences framed against the Huguenots be declared null and void, nor assent to the restoration of those dignities which had been taken from them. In other words, as the prince remarked, the Pro- testant lords were to put a halter about their own necks for their enemies to tighten whenever the fancy should take them so to do.* At last the Parisian defences were completed, and the Span- ish and Gascon troops, to the number of seven thousand men, arrived. Then the mask of conciliation was promptly laid 1 Hist, ecclcs. des egl. rf.. ii. 132; De Thou, iii. 361 ; Mem. de Castelnau, liv. iv.. c. iv. ; Forbes, ii. 227, 228. Even in September, the English ambassa- dor wrote from Orleans, " there is greate practise made by the queene mother and others to winne Monsieur de Janlis and Monsieur de Grandmont from the prince." Forbes, ii. 41. 3 " Pax ce moyen, un chacun de nous tminera son licol, jusques a ce que les dessusdits le serrent a leur appetit." Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. K'f!. The details of the conferences, with the articles offered on either side, are given at great length, pp. 121-136. 92 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIII. aside. Two weeks of precious time had been lost, the capital was beyond doubt impregnable, and the unpleasant fact stared the prince in the face that, after leaving a sufficient force to garrison it, the constable and Guise might still march out with an army outnumbering his own.' On the tenth of December the Huguenot army broke up its encampment, and moved in the direction of Chartres, hesitating at first whether to lay siege to that city or to press on to Normandy in order to obtain the needed funds and support of the English. The decision was made in a few days to adopt the latter course, and Conde had proceeded as far as the vicinity of Dreux on the river Eure, when he found himself confronted by the enemy, who, enjoying the advantage of possessing the cities and bridges on the route, could advance with greater ease by the principal roads. The triumvirs, so lately declining battle in front of Paris, were now as eager as they had before been reluctant to try their fortunes in the open field. No longer having the King of Navarre behind whose name and authority to take shelter, they desired to cover their designs by the queen mother's instructions. So, before bringing on the first regular engagement, in which two armies of Frenchmen were to undertake each other's destruction, they had sent Michel de Castelnau, the well-known historian, on the fifteenth of December, to inquire of Catharine de' Medici whether they should give the Huguenots battle. But the queen was too timid, or too cunning, to assume the weighty responsi- bility which they would have lifted from their own shoulders. 1 " The qaeene mother and hyr councelours," wrote Throkmorton to Eliza- beth, four or five days later (Dec. 13, 1562), '* have at the length once agayne showed, howe sincerely they meane in their treatyes. For when their force out of Gascoigne together with two thousand five hundred Spainardes were arrived, and when they had well trenched and fortefyed the faulxbourges and places of advantage of Paris ; espienge, that the prince coulde remayne no longer with his campe before Paris for lack of victuaill and fourrage, having abused him sufficiently with this treaty eight or ten dayes : the sayd queene mother .... refused utterly the condicions before accorded." Forbes, State Papers, ii. 226. It is not strange that the ambassador, after the meagre results of the past five weeks, ' ' could not hope of any great good to be done, until he saw it; " although he was confident that "if matters were handled stoutly and roundly, without delay," the prince might constrain his enemies to accord him favorable conditions. 1562. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 93 "Nurse," she jestingly exclaimed, when Castelnan announced his mission, calling to the king's old Huguenot foster-mother who was close at hand, "the generals have sent to ask a woman's advice about fighting ; pray, what is your opinion ? " And the envoy could get no more satisfactory answer than that the queen mother referred the whole matter to themselves, as experienced military men. 1 On the nineteenth of December, 1562, the armies met. The enemy had that morning crossed the Eure, and posted himself The battle of with sixteen thousand foot and two thousand horse, ramberwT %&& wi tn twenty-two cannon, between two villages covering his wings, and with the city of Dreux and the village of Treon behind him as points of refuge in case of defeat. The constable commanded the main body of the army. Guise, to rebut the current charge of being the sole cause of the war, affected to lead only his own company of horse in the right wins:, which was under Marshal Saint Andre. The o* prince's army was decidedly inferior in numbers ; for, although he had four thousand horse,* his infantry barely amounted to seven thousand or eight thousand men, and he had only five pieces of artillery. Yet the first movements of the Huguenots were brilliant and effective. Conde, with a body of French horse, fell upon the battalion of Swiss pikes. It was a furious onset, long remembered as one of the most magnificent cavalry charges of the age. 3 Nothing could stand before it. The solid phalanx was pierced through and through, and the German reiters, pouring into the way opened by the French, rode to and fro, making havoc of the brave but defenceless mountaineers. They even penetrated to the rear, and plundered the camp of the enemy, carrying off the plate from Guise's tent. Meanwhile Coligny was even more successful than the prince. With a part of the Huguenot right he attacked and scattered the troops 1 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. iv., c. iv. 9 Five thousand, according to the Duke d'Aumale ( Les Princes de Condi; , i. 190). 3 " Quatre-vingtz salades .... lesquels sembloient estre quatre-vingtz si. VOL. II. 7 98 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIIL turecl by Conde on his march to Paris. Meantime, Coligny had taken a number of places in the vicinity of Orleans, and his "black riders" had become the terror of the papists of Sologne. 1 oueans in- -^ ot ^ on o ^ Gr Guise's approach, fearing that his de- vested. gjg n was to besiege the city of Orleans, Coligny threw himself into it. His stay was not long, however. His German cavalry could do nothing in case of a siege, and would only be a burden to the citizens. Besides, he was in want of funds to pay them. He resolved, therefore, to strike boldly for Nor- mandy. 2 Having persuaded the reiters to dispense with their heavy baggage-wagons, 3 which had proved so great an incum- brance on the previous inarch, he started from Orleans Tctnms to on the first of February with four thousand troopers, leaving liis brother D'Andelot as well furnished as practicable to sustain the inevitable siege. The lightness of his army's equipment precluded the possibility of pursuit; its strength secured it an almost undisputed passage. 4 In a few days it had passed Dreux and the scene of the late battle, and at Dives, on the opposite side of the estuary of the Seine from Havre, had received from the English the supplies of money which they had long been desirous of finding means to convey 1 " Black devils," Guise calls them in a letter of Jan. 17th. " ML de Cha- tillon et ces diables noirs sont a Jerjuau." Mem. de Guise, 502. * Coligny had notified the English court of his intention early in January, and Cecil entertained high hopes of the result : " A gentleman is arryved at Rye, sent from the Admyrall Chastillion, who assureth his purpose to prose- cute the cause of God and of his contrey, and meaneth to joyne with our power in Normandy, which I trust shall make a spedy end of the whole. " Letter to Sir T. Smith, January 14th, Wright, Q. Eliz., i. 121. 3 How important a matter this was, may be inferred from the fact that the Admiral took pains to dwell upon it, in a letter to Queen Elizabeth, written two or three days before his departure : " Advisant au reste vostre Majeste, Madame, que j'ay faict condescendre les reistres a laisser tous leur bagages et empechemens en ceste ville (chose nan auparavant ouye): de sorte que de- dans le dix ou douziesme de ce moys de Febvrier prochain au plus tard, aveo 1'aide de Dieu, nous serons bien prez du Havre de Grace," etc. Letter from Orleans, Jan. 29, 1563, Forbes, ii. 319. 4 " En cest equipage, nous faisions telle diligence, que souvent nous preye- nions la renommee de nous mesmes en plusieurs lieux ou nous arrivions." Mem de la Noue, c. xi. La Noue states the force at two thousand reiters, five hundred French horse, and one thousand mounted arquebusiers. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 99 to the Huguenots. 1 The only considerable forces of the Guise faction in Normandy were on the banks of the river, too busy watching the English at Havre to be able to spare any troops to resist Coligny. Turning his attention to the western shores of the province, he soon succeeded in reducing Pont-l'Evi-que, Caen, Bayeux, Saint Lo, and the prospect was brilliant of his soon be- ing able, in conjunction with Queen Elizabeth's troops, to bring all Normandy over to the side of the prince. 3 Meanwhile, how- ever, there were occurring in the centre of the kingdom events destined to give an entirely different turn to the relations of the Huguenots and papists in France. To these we must now direct our attention. Fran9ois de Guise, relieved of the admiral's presence, had begun the siege of Orleans four days after the departure of the latter for Normandy (on the fifth of February), and manifested the utmost determination to destroy the capital city, as it might be regarded, of the confederates. Indeed, when the court, then sojourning at Blois, in alarm at the reports sent by Marshal de Brissac from Rouen, respecting Coligny's conquests and his own impotence to oppose him, ordered Guise to abandon his undertaking and employ his forces in crushing out the flames that had so unexpectedly broken forth in Normandy, the duko declined to obey until lie should have received further orders, and gave so cogent reasons for pursuing the siege, that the king and his council willingly acquiesced in his plan. 3 From his in- dependent attitude, however, it is evident that Guise was of Pasquier's mind, and believed he had gained as much of a victory in the capture of the constable, his friend in arms, but dangerous rival at court, taken by the Huguenots at Dreux, as 1 "The 8th of that moneth" (February), says Stow, "the said Admirall came before Hunflew with six thousand horsemen, reisters and others of his owne retinues, beside footmen, and one hundred horsemen of the countries thereabout, and about sixe of the clocke at night, there was a great peale of ordinance shot off at Newhaven (Havre) fora welcome to the sayd Admirall." Annals (London, 1631), 653. The passage is inaccurately quoted by Wright, Queen Eliz., L 125, note. 9 Hist, des egl. rt'f. , ii. 156, 157; Mem. de Castelnau, liv. iv., c. vii. and viii. 3 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. iv., c. ix. 100 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. by the capture of the Prince of Conde, his enemy, who had fallen into his hands in the same engagement. 1 The city of Orleans, on the north bank of the Loire, was protected by walls originally of no great worth, but considerably strengthened since the outbreak of the civil war. On the oppo- captnre of site side of the river, a suburb, known as the Porte- the Portereau. Te(m ^ was fortified by weaker walls, in front of which two large bastions had recently been erected. The suburb was connected with Orleans by means of a bridge across the Loire, of which the end toward the Portereau was defended by two towers of the old mediaeval construction, known as the " tou- relles," and that toward the city by the city wall and a large square tower. 8 Against the Portereau the duke directed the first assault, hoping easily to become master of it, and thence attack the city from its weakest side. His plan proved success- ful beyond his expectations. While making a feint of assailing with his whole army the bastion held by the Gascon infantry, he sent a party to scale the bastion guarded by the German lansquenets, who, being taken by surprise, yielded an entrance almost without striking a blow. In a few minutes the Porte- reau was in the hands of Guise, and the bridge was crowded with fugitives tumultuously seeking a refuge in the city. Or- leans itself was nearly involved in the fate of its suburb ; for the enemy, following close upon the heels of the fleeing host, was at the very threshold of the " tourelles," when D'Andelot, called from his sick-bed by the tumult, posting himself at the entrance with a few gentlemen in full armor, by hard blows beat back the troops, already sanguine of complete success. 3 A few days later the " tourelles " themselves were scaled and taken.* After so poor a beginning, the small garrison of Orleans had sufficient reason to fear the issue of the trial to which they 1 (Euvres (Ed. Feugere), ii. 254; and again, ii. 257. s Davila, bk. iii., p. 85. 3 Castelnau (liv. iv., c. be.), who was present, gives a less graphic acconnt than Davila (bk. iii., pp. 85, 86), who -was not. Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 159-161 ; La None, c. xi. 607-609. 4 -Feb. 9th the day before Sir Thomas Smith reached Blois. Letter to Privy Council, Feb. 17, 1563, State Paper Office; Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 160. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 101 were subjected. But, so far from abandoning tlieir courage, they applied themselves with equal assiduity to their religious and to their military duties. "In addition to the usual sermons and the prayers at the guard-houses, public extraordinary prayers were made at six o'clock in the morning ; at the close of which the ministers and the entire people, without excep- tion, betook themselves to work with all their might upon the fortifications, until four in the evening, when every one again attended prayers." Everywhere the utmost devotion was mani- fested, women of all ranks sharing with tlieir husbands and brothers in the toils of the day, or, if too feeble for these active exertions, spending their time in tending the sick and wounded. 1 IS'ot only did the Huguenots, when they found their supply of lead falling short, make tlieir cannon-balls of bell-metal of the churches and monasteries were doubtless the source and of brass, but they turned this last material to a very terrible use till now, it would appear, unheard of. " I have learned this day, the fifteenth instant, of the Span- iards," wrote the English ambassador from the royal court, which was at a safe distance, in the city of Blois, " that they of Orleans shoot brass which is hollow, and so devised within that when it falls it opens and lireaks into many pieces with a great fire, and hurts and kills all who arc about it. Which is a new device and very terrible, for it pierces the house first, and breaks at the last rebound. Every man in Portereau is fain to run away, they cannot tell whither, when they see where the shot f alls." * It could not, however, be denied that there was much reason for discouragement in the general condition of the Protestant Husruenotre- cause throughout tlie country. Of the places so brilliantly acquired in the spring of the preceding year, the greater part had been lost Normandy and Langue- 1 Hist, eocles. des egl. r(>f ., ii. 162. a Sir Thomas Smith to the Privy Council, Feb. 15th and 17th, 1563, State Paper Office, Calendar, pp. 108, 141. It is now known, of course, that bombs had been occasionally used long before 1/563, by the Arabs in Spain, and others. But this kind of missile was practically a novelty, and was not adopted in ordinary warfare till near a century later. 102 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. doc were the only bright spots on the map of France. Lyons still remained in the power of the Huguenots, in the south- east ; but, though repeated assaults of the Duke of Nemours had been repulsed, it was threatened with a siege, for which it was but indifferently prepared. 1 Des Adrets, the fierce chief- tain of the lower Rhone, had recently revealed his real character more clearly by betraying the cause he had sullied by his bar- barous advocacy, and was now in confinement. 8 Indeed, every- thing seemed to point to a speedy and complete overthrow of an undertaking which had cost so much labor and suffering, 3 when an unexpected event produced an entire revolution in the 1 It was at a most trying moment when M. de Soubise, the Protestant governor, found that only two weeks' provisions remained in the city, and therefore felt compelled to issue an order to force some 7,000 non -combat- ants women, children, and the poor to leave Lyons, that Viret, the Hugue- not pastor, had an opportunity to display the great ascendency which his emi- nent piety and discretion had secured him over all ranks in society. According to the newly published Memoirs of Soubise, Viret boldly remonstrated against an act which was equivalent to a surrender of thousands of defenceless per- sons to certain butchery, and declared that the ordinary rules of military necessity did not apply to a war like this, "in which the poorest has an interest, since we are fighting for the liberty of our consciences," adding his own assurance that help would come from some other quarter. Finally the governor yielded, saying : " Even should it turn out ill and my reputation suffer, as though I had not done my duty as a captain, yet, at your word, I will do as you ask, being well assured that God will bless my act." Bulletin, xsiii. (1874), 497. It will be remembered that Pierre Viret had been the able coadjutor of Farel in the reformation of Geneva, twenty-eight years before. The siege of Lyons was made the subject of a lengthy song by Antoine Du Plain (reprinted in the Chansonnier Huguenot, 220 seq.), containing not a few historical data of importance. 2 "Nous venons maintenans d'estre advertyz de Lion par M. de Soubize, comme le Baron des Adrez, ayant este practique par M. de Nemours, avoit complete* de faire entrer quelque gendarmerie et gens de pied de M. de Ne- mours dedans Rommans, ville du Daulphine : dont il a estc empesche par le sieur de Mouvans, et par la noblesse du pays ; qui se sont saisiz de sa per- sonne, et le ont mene" prisonnier a Valence, pour le euvoyer en Languedoc devers mon frere, nagueres cardinal de Chastillon, et Monsieur de Crussol (qui ont presque delivre tout le diet pays de Languedoc de la tyrannie des cnnemys de Dieu et du Roy) a fin de le faire punir, et servir d'exemple aux autres deserteurs de Dieu, de leur debvoir, et de la patrie." Admiral Coliguy to Queen Elizabeth, Orleans, January 29, 156|, Forbes, ii. 320. s The gloomy picture is painted by Henri Martin, x. 158, etc. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 103 attitude of the contending parties and in the purposes of the leaders. This event w.i? the MMflBatttfton of Frangois de Guise. On the evening of the eighteenth of February, 1563, in company with a gentleman or two, he was riding the round of AwnRsirmtion , . of Franks Ins works, and arranging for a general attack on the morrow. So confident did he feel of success, that he had that morning written to the queen mother, it is said, that within twenty-four hours he would send her news of the cap- ture of Orleans, and that he intended to destroy the entire population, making no discrimination of age or sex, that the very memory of the rebellious city might be obliterated. 1 At a lonely spot on the road, a man on horseback, who had been lying in wait for him, suddenly made his appearance, and, after dis- charging a pistol at him from behind, rode rapidly off, before the duke's escort, taken up with the duty of assisting him, had had time to make any attempt to apprehend the assassin. Three balls, with which the pistol was loaded, had lodged in Guise's shoulder, and the wound, from the first considered dangerous, proved mortal within six days. The murderer had apparently made good his escape ; but a strange fatality seemed to attend him. During the darkness he became so confused that, after riding all night, he found himself almost at the very place where the deed of blood had been committed, and was compelled to rc?t himself and liis jaded horse at a house, where he was ar- rested on suspicion by some of Guise's soldiers. Taken before their superior officers, he boldly avowed his guilt, and boasted of what he had done. His name he gave as Jean Poltrot, and he claimed to be lord of Merey, in Angoumois; but he was better known, from his dark complexion and his familiarity with the Spanish language, by the sobriquet of " L'Espagnolet" 1 This statement does not rest upon any documentary proof that I am aware of. It is, however, vouched for by the Hist, eccles. des cgl. ref., ii. 162. Moreover, Admiral Coligny, in his later defence, expressly states, li on the testimony of men worthy of belief," that Guise " was accustomed to boast that, on the capture of the city, he would spare none of the inhabitants, and that no respect would be paid to age or sex. " Jean d~ Serres, iit 29 ; Mem. de Coude, iv. 348. 104 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIII. He was an excitable, melancholy man, whose mind, continually brooding over the wrongs his country and faith had experienced at the hands of Guise, had imbibed the fanatical notion that it was his special calling of God to rid the world of " the butcher of Vassy," of the single execrable head that was accountable for the torrents of blood which had for a year been flowing in every part of France. After having been a page of M. d'Aubeterre, father-in-law of the Huguenot leader Soubise, Merey, at the beginning of the civil war, had been sent by the daughter of D'Aubeterre to her husband, then with Conde at Orleans. Subsequently he had accompanied Soubise on his adventurous ride with a few followers from Orleans to Lyons, when the latter assumed com- mand in behalf of the Huguenots. Soubise appears to have valued him highly as one of those reckless youths that court rather than shun personal peril, while he shared the common impression that the lad was little better than a fool. True, for years ever since the tumult of Amboise, where his kinsman, La Renaudie and another relative had been killed Merey had been constantly boasting to all whom he met that lie would kill the Duke of Guise ; but those who heard him " made no more account of his words than if he had boasted of his intention to obtain the imperial crown." ' He had given expression to his purpose at Lyons, in the pres- ence of M. de Soubise, the Huguenot governor, and again to Admiral Coligny before lie started on his expedition to Nor- mandy. But the Huguenot generals evidently imagined that there was nothing in the speech beyond the prating of a silly braggart. Soubise, indeed, advised him to attend to his own duties, and to leave the deliverance of France to Almighty God; but neither the admiral nor the soldiers, to whom he often repeate^ the threat, paid any attention to it. In short, he was regarded as one of those frivolous characters, of whom there is an abundance in every camp, who expect to acquire a cheap notoriety by extravagant stories of their past or prospective achievements, but never succeed in earning more, 1 Mem. de Soubise, Bulletin, xxiii. (1874) 499. 1503. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 105 with all their pain?, than the contempt or incredulity of their listeners. Still, Poltrot was a man of some value as a scout, and Coligny had employed him ' for the purpose of obtaining information respecting the enemy's movements, and had fur- nished him at one time with twenty crowns to defray his ex- penses, at another with a hundred, to procure himself a horse. The spy had made his way to the Roman Catholic camp, and, ly pretending to follow the example of others in renouncing his Huguenot associations, had conciliated the duke's favor to such an extent that he excited no suspicion before the commis- sion of the treacherous act. But, if Poltrot was a fanatic, he was not of the stuff of which martyrs are made. "When questioned in the presence of the Execution of qneen and council to discover his accomplices, his constancy wholly forsook him, and he said whatever was suggested. In particular he accused the admiral of having paid him to execute the deed, and Beza of having instigated him by holding forth the rewards of another world. La Roche- foucauld, Soubise, and others were criminated to a minor degree. During his confinement in the prisons of the Parisian parlia- ment, to which he was removed, he continually contradicted himself. But his weakness did not save him. He was con- demned to be burned with red-hot pincers, to be torn asunder by four horses, and to be quartered. Before the execution of this frightful sentence, he was, by order of the court, put to torture. But, instead of reiterating his former accusations, he retracted almost every point.* To purchase a few moments' reprieve, he 1 Not without some hesitation, however. So little confidence in his good judgment did his frivolous appearance inspire, that Coligny observed: "I would not trust him, without knowing him better than I do, had not Mon- sieur de Soubise sent him to me." Mem. de Soubise, Bulletin, xxiii. (1874) 502. - The Proces verbal of Poltrot's examination just before his death, March 18th, is inserted in the Hist eccles. des egL ref .. ii. 187-198. In this he de- clares that his first testimony vraafaUe and extorted by the fear of death, and exculpates Soubise, Beza, Coligny, etc. , from having instigated him. He says that when put to torture he will say anything the questioners want him to. Accordingly, when so tortured, he accuses them, and when released a moment after the horses have begun to rend him in pieces, he conjures up a plot of the Huguenots to sack Paris, etc. May it not properly be asked, what such 106 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII sought an interview with the first president of the parliament, Christopher de Thou ; and we have it upon the authority of that magistrate's son, the author of an imperishable history of his times, that, entering into greater detail, Poltrot persisted constantly in exculpating Soubise, Coligny, and Beza. A few minutes later, beside himself with terror and not knowing what he said in his delirium, he declared the admiral to be innocent ; then, at the very moment of execution, he accused not only him, but his brother, D'Andelot, of whom he had said little or noth- ing before. 1 Coligny heard in Normandy the report of the atrocious charges that had been wrung from Poltrot. Copies of the assassin's Beza and GO- confession were industriously circulated in the camp, ligny are ac- . , , , .-i.il .1 cud. but and he thus became acquainted with the particulars themselves, of the accusation. "With Beza and La Rochefoucauld, who were with him at Caen, he published, on the twelfth of March, a long and dignified defence. The reformer for himself declared, that, although lie had more than once seen persons ill- disposed toward the Duke of Guise because of the murders per- petrated by him at Yassy, lie had never been in favor of pro- ceeding against him otherwise than by the ordinary methods of law. For this reason he had gone to Monceaux to solicit justice of Charles, of his mother, and of the King of Navarre. But the hopes which the queen mothers gracious answer had excited were dashed to the earth by Guise's violent resort to arms. Holding the duke to be the chief author and promoter of the present troubles, he admitted that he had a countless num- ber of times prayed to God that lie would either change his heart or rid the kingdom of him. But he appealed to the tes- timony of Madame de Ferrare (Reiiee de France, the mother- in-law of Guise), and all who had ever heard him, when he said testimony as this is worth ? For or against Coligny, volumes of it would not affect his character in our estimation. 1 The direct testimony of Jacques Auguste de Thou, on a matter with which he was evidently intimately acquainted through his father, is unimpeachable, and- will outweigh with every unprejudiced mind all the stories of Davila, Castelnau, etc., founded on mere report. De Thou, Histoire univ. (liv. xxxiv.), iii. 403. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 107 that never had lie publicly mentioned the duke by name. As for Poltrot himself, he had never met him. The admiral himself was not less frank. Ever since the massacre of Vassy he had regarded Guise and his party as com- mon enemies of God, of the king, and of the public tranquillity ; but never, upon his life and his honor, had he approved of such attacks as that of Poltrot. Indeed, he had steadfastly employed his influence to deter men from executing any plots against the life of the duke; until, being duly informed that Guise and Saint Andre had incited men to undertake to assassinate Conde, D'Andelot, and himself, he had desisted from expressing his opposition. The different articles of the confession he pro- ceeded to answer one by one ; and he forwarded his reply to the court with a letter to Catharine do' Medici, in which he ear- nestly entreated her that the life of Poltrot might be spared until the restoration of peace, that he might be confronted with him, and an investigation be made of the entire matter before unsuspected judges. " But do not imagine," he added, " that I speak thus because of any regret for the death of the Duke of Guise, which I esteem the greatest of blessings to the realm, to the Church of God, to myself and my family, and, if improved, the means of giving rest to the kingdom." ' The admiral's frankness was severely criticised by pome of his friends. He was advised to suppress those expressions that were liable to be perverted to his injury, but he declared his resolution to abide by the consequences of a clear statement of the truth. And indeed, while the worldly wisdom of Coligny's censors lias received a species of justification in the avidity with which his sincere avowals have been employed as the basis of graver accusations which he repelled, the candor of his defence has set upon his words the indelible impress of ve- racity which following ages can never fail to read aright. That t'uthariiie recognized his innocence is evident from the very 1 Poltrot's pretended confession of Feb. 26th, at Camp Saint Hilaire, near Saint Mesmin, with the replies signed by Coligny, la Rochefoucauld, and Beza to each separate article, is inserted in full in Mem. de Conde, iv. 285-303, and the Hist, eccles. des egl. re*f. , ii. 176-186. Coligny's letter to Catharine, ibid., ii. 186, 187, Mem. de Conde, iv. 303. 108 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. act by which she endeavored to make him appear guilty. lie had begged that Poltrot might be spared till after the conclu- sion of peace, that he might himself have an opportunity to vindicate his innocence by confronting him in the presence of impartial judges. It was Catharine's interest, she thought, to confirm her own power by attaching a stigma to the honor of the Chatillons, and so depriving them of much of their influ- ence in the state. 1 Accordingly, on Thursday, the eighteenth of March, Poltrot was put to death and his mouth sealed for- ever to further explanations. The next day the Edict of Pacifi- cation was signed at Amboise? After all, it is evident that Coligny's innocence or guilt, in this particular instance, must be judged by his entire course and his well-known character. If his life bears marks of perfidy and duplicity, if the blood of the innocent can be found upon his skirts, then must the verdict of posterity be against him. But if the careful examination of his entire public life, as well as the history of his private relations, reveals a character not only above reproach, but the purest, most beneficent, and most patriotic of all that France can boast in political stations in the sixteenth century, the confused and contradictory allegations of an enthusiast who had not counted the cost of his daring attempt allegations wnmg from him by threats and torture will not be allowed to weigh for an instant against Coligny's simple denial.* 1 That Catharine de' Medici was no very sincere mourner for Guise is suf- ficiently certain ; and it is well known that there were those who believed her to have instigated his murder (See Mem. de Tavannes, Pet. ed., ii. 394). This is not surprising when we recall the fact that almost every great crime or casualty that occurred in France, for the space of a generation, was ascribed to her evil influence. Still the Viscount de Tavannes makes too great a draft upon our credulity, when he pretends that she made a frank admission of gTiilt to his father. " Depuis, au voyage de Bayonne, passant par Dijon, elle dit au sieur de Tavannes: ' Ceux de Guise se vouloient faire roys, je les en ay bien garde devant Orleans. ' " The expression ' ' devant Orleans " can hardly be tortured into a reference to anything else than Guise's assassination. 5 1 entirely agree with Prof. Baum- (Theodor Beza, ii. 719) in regarding " this single circumstance as more than sufficient to demonstrate both the in- nocence of Coligny and his associates, and the consciously guilty fabrication of the accusations." 3 Besides the authorities already referred to, the Journal of Bruslart, Mem. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 109 r Of the Duke of Guise the estimates formed by his contempo- raries differed as widely as their political and religious views. With the Abbe Bruslart he was " the most virtuous, Various o=ti- , . - . . _, mates of lieroic, and magnanimous prince in Europe, who for his courage was dreaded by all foreign nations." To the author of the history of the reformed churches his am- bition and presumption seemed to have obscured all bis virtues.' The Roman Catholic preachers regarded his death as a stu- pendous calamity, a mystery of Divine providence, which they could only interpret by supposing that the Almighty, jealous of the confidence which His people reposed rather in His creature than in Himself, had removed the Duke of Guise in order to take the cause of His own divinity, of His spouse the Church, of the king and kingdom, under Ilis own protection. 2 The Bishop of Biez wrote and published a highly colored account of the duke's last words and actions, in the most approved style of such posthumous records, and introduced edifying specimens of a theological learning, which, until the moment of his wounding, Guise had certainly never possessed, making him, of course, persist to the end in protesting his innocence of the guilt of Vassy." The Protestants, while giving him credit for some compunctions of conscience for his persecuting career, and willingly admitting that, but for his pernicious brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, he might have run a far different course, were compelled to view his death as a great blessing to France.* de Conde", i. 123, 124; Davila, bk. iii. 86," 87; Claude Haton, L 322, etc. ; J. de Serres, ii. 343-345 ; and Pasquier, Lettres (CEuvres choisiea), ii. 258, may be consulted with advantage. Prof. Baum's account is, as usual, vivid, accurate, and instructive (Theodor Beza, ii. 706, etc.}. Varillas, Anquetil, etc., are scarcely worth examining. There is the ordinary amount of blundering about the simplest matters of chronology. Davila places the wounding of Guise on the 24th of February, his death three days later, etc. 1 Mem. de Conde, i. 124; Hist, eccles. des 6gL ref., ii. 164. Claude Ilaton, i. 325, 326. 3 See Riez's letter to the king, reprinted in Mem. de Conde, iv. 243-265, and in Cimber and Danjou's invaluable collection of contemporary pamphlets and documents, v. 171-204; Hist eccles. des cgl. ref., ii. 164. 4 Hist, eccles. des 6gl. ref. ubi supra. There is extant an affecting letter from the aged Renee of Ferrara to Calvin, in which she complains with deep feeling of the reformed, and especially their preachers, for the severity with 110 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. X11I. * A famous incident, illustrating the perils to which the Hugue- nots of the central provinces were subjected during the siege, is too characteristic to be passed over in silence. More than once, in the course of the war, the town and castle of Mon- "at targis, the Duchess of Ferrara's residence, had been threatened on account of the asylum it afforded to defenceless Protestants flocking thither from all quarters. When the minds of the Roman Catholics had become exasperated by nine or ten months of civil war, they formed a settled determi- nation to break up this " nest of Huguenots." Accordingly the Baron de la Garde Captain Poulain, of Merindol memory- brought an order, in the king's name, from the Duke of Guise, at that time before the walls of Orleans, commanding Rene'e to leave Montargis, which had become important for military pur- poses, and to take up her abode at Fontainebleau, St. Germain, which even after his death they attacked the memory of her son-in-law, and even spoke of his eternal condemnation as an ascertained fact. " I know," she said, " that he was a persecutor; but I do not know, nor, to speak freely, do I believe that he was reprobated of God ; for he gave signs to the con- trary before his death. But they want this not to be mentioned, and they desire to shut the mouths of those who know it. " Cimber et Danjou, v. 399, etc. Calvin's reply of the 24th of January, 1564, is admirable for its kind, yet firm tone (Bonnet, Lettres frang. de Calvin, ii. 550. etc., Calvin's Letters, Am. edit., iv. 352, etc.). He freely condemned the beatification of the King of Navarre, while the Duke of Guise was consigned to perdition. The for- mer was an apostate ; the latter an open enemy of the truth of the Gospel from the very beginning. Indeed, to pronounce upon the doom of a fellow- sinner was both rash and presumptuous, for there is but one Judge before whose seat we all must give account. Yet, in condemning the authors of the horrible troubles that had befallen France, and which all God's children had felt scarcely less poignantly than Renee herself, sprung though she was from the royal stock, it was impossible not to condemn the duke " who had kindled the fire." Yea, for himself, although he had always prayed God to show Guise mercy, the reformer avowed, in almost the very words of Beza, that he had often desired that God would lay His hand upon the duke to free His Church of him, unless He would convert him. "And yet I can protest," he added, " that but for me, before the war, active and energetic men would have exerted themselves to destroy him from the face of the earth, whom my sole exhortation restrained." Some of the composers of Huguenot ballads were bitter enough in their references to Guise's death and pompous funeral ; see, among others, the songs in the Chansonnier Huguenot, pp. 253 and 257. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. Ill or Yincennes. The duchess replied that it was idle to say that so weak a place as Montargis could, without extensive repairs, be of any military importance ; and that to remove to any place in the vicinity of Paris would be to expose herself to assassination by the fanatical populace. She therefore sent Poulain back to the king for further instructions. Meantime, Poulain was fol- lowed by Malicorne, a creature of the duke's, at the head of some partisan troops. This presumptuous officer had the im- pertinence to demand the immediate surrender of the castle, and went so far as to threaten to turn some cannon against it, in case of her refusal. But he little understood the virile courage of the woman with whom he had to do. " Malicorne," she answered him, " take care what you undertake. There is not a man in this kingdom that can command me but the king. If you attempt what you threaten, I shall place myself first upon the breach, that I may find out whether you will be audacious enough to kill a king's daughter. Moreover, I am not so ill- connected, nor so little loved, but that I have the means of making the punishment of your temerity felt by you and your offspring, even to the very babes in the cradle." The upstart captain was not prepared for such a reception, and, after alleg- ing his commission as the excuse for the insolence of his con- duct, delayed an enterprise which the wound and subsequent death of Guise entirely broke off. 1 Montargis continued during this and the next civil wars to be a safe refuge for thousands of distressed Protestants. A great obstacle to the conclusion of peace was removed by 1 Hist, ecclea des 4gl. ref., ii. 285, 286. The story is well told in Memo- rials of Renee of France, 215-217. De Thou (liv. xxx), iii. 179, has incor- rectly placed this occurrence among the events of the first months of the war. During the second war Brantome once stopped to pay his respects to Ren6e, and saw in the castle over 300 Huguenots that had fled there for security. In a letter of May 10, 1563, Calvin speaks of her as " the nursing mother of the poor saints driven out of their homes and knowing not whither to go," and as having made her castle what a princess looking only to this world would regard almost an insult to have it called " God's hostelry " or " hospital " (ung hostel-Dieu). God had, as it were, called upon her by these trials to pay arrears for the timidity of her younger days. Lettres frang., ii. 514 (Amer. trans., iv. 314). 112 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. Guise's death. There was no one in the Roman Catholic camp to take his place. The panegyric pronounced upon the duke by the English ambassador, Sir Thomas Smith, may perhaps be esteemed somewhat extravagant, but has at least the merit of coming from one whose sympathies were decidedly adverse to him. "The papists have lost their greatest stay, hope, and comfort. Many noblemen and gentlemen did follow the camp and that faction, rather for the love of him than for any other zeal or affection. He was indeed the best captain or general in all France, some will say in all Christendom ; for he had all the properties which belong [to], or are to be wished in a general : a ready wit and well advised, a body to endure pains, a courage to forsake 110 dangerous adventures, use and experience to con- duct any army, much courtesy in entertaining of all men, great eloquence to utter all his mind. And he was very liberal both of money and honor to young gentlemen, captains, and soldiers ; whereby he gat so much love and admiration amongst the nobility and the soldiers in France, that I think, now he is gone, many gentlemen will forsake the camp ; and they begin to drop away already.. Then lie was so earnest and so fully persuaded in his religion, that he thought nothing evil done that maintained that sect; and therefore the papists again thought nothing evil bestowed upon him ; all their money and treasure of the Church, part of their lands, even the honor of the crown of France, they could have found in their hearts to have given him. And so all their joy, hope, and comfort one little stroke of a pistolet hath taken away ! Such a vanity God can show men's hope to be, when it pleaseth Him.'' ' Of the four generals on the Eoman Catholic side under whose auspices the war began, three were dead and the fourth was in captivity. The treasury was exhausted. The interest of old debts was left unpaid ; new debts had been contracted. 1 Despatch to the queen, Blois, February 26, 156$, Forbes, State Papers, ii. 340. "Of the thre things that did let this realme to come to unity and accorde," adds Smith, " I take th' one to be taken away. How th' other two wil be now salved th' one that the papists may relent somwhat of their per- tinacie, and the Protestants have som affiaunce or trust in there doengs, and so th' one live with th' other in quiet, I do not yet se. " 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 113 Less than half the king's revenues were available on account of the places which the Huguenots held or threatened. The alienation of one hundred thousand livres of income from eccle- siastical property had been recently ordered, greatly to the annoyance of the clergy. The admiral's progress had of late been so rapid that but two or three important places of lower Xormandy remained in friendly hands. After the reduction of these he would move down through Maine and Anjou to Or- leans, with a better force than had been marshalled at Dreux ; ' the English would gain such a foothold on French soil as it would be difficult to induce them to relinquish. And where could competent generals be secured for the prosecution of hos- tilities ? The post of lieutenant-general, now vacant, had, in- deed, been offered to the Duke Christopher of Wiirtemberg; but what prospect was there that a Protestant would consent to conduct a war against Protestants ? a Catharine was urgent for an immediate conclusion of peace. For the purpose of fixing its conditions, Conde was brought, Deliberations under a strong guard, to the camp of the army before for pecc. Orleans, an d, on the small " Isle aux Bouviers " in the middle of the Loire, he and the constable, released on their honor, held a preliminary interview on Sunday, the seventh of March, 1563. 3 At first there seemed little prospect of harmo- nizing their discordant pretensions ; for, if the question of the removal of the triumvirs had lost all its practical importance, the old bone of contention remained in the re-establishment of the Edict of January. On this point Montmorency was in- flexible, lie had been the prime instrument in expelling Prot^ 1 Mem. de Castelnaa, liv. iv. , c. xii. ; Davila, bk. iii. 88 ; Journal de Brus- lart, Mem. de Conde, i. 124 ; Letter of Catharine to Gonnor, March 3d, ibid. , iv. 278; Hist eccl s., ii. 200. 8 Rascalon, Catharine's agent, proffered the dignity in a letter of the 13th of March, and the duke declined it on the 17th of the same month. At the same time he gave some wholesome advice respecting the observance of the Edict, etc. Hist, eccles., ii. 165-168. 3 " La Royne . . . y a si vivement precede, que ayant ordonne que sur la foy de Tun et de 1'autre nous nous entreveorions en 1'Isle aux Bouviers. joignant presque les murs de ceste ville. dimenche dernier cela fut execute." Conde to Sir Thomas Smith, Orleans, March 11, HG3, Forbes, ii. 355. VOL. II. 8 114 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIII. estantism from Paris, and had distinguished himself by burning the places of worship. It could hardly be expected that he should rebuild what he had so laboriously torn down. And, whatever had been his first intentions, Conde proved less tena- cious than might have been anticipated from his previous pro- fessions. The fact was, that the younger Bourbon was not proof against the wiles employed with so much success against his elder brother. Flattered by Catharine, he was led to suppose that after all it made little difference whether the full demands of the Huguenots were expressly granted in the edict of pacifica- tion or not. The queen mother was resolved, so he was assured, to confer upon him the dignity and office of lieutenant-genera], left vacant by Navarre's death. When this should be his, it would be easy to obtain every practical concession to which the Huguenots were entitled. So much pleased was the court with the ardor he displayed, that he was at last permitted to go to Orleans on his own princely parole, in order to consult his con- federates. The Huguenot ministers whose advice he first asked, seeing his irresolution, were the more decided in opposing any terms that did not expressly recognize the Edict of January. Seventy- two united in a letter (on the ninth of March, 1563), in which they begged him not to permit the cause to suffer disaster at his hands, and rather to insure an extension, than submit to an abridgment of the liberty promised by the royal ordinance. 1 From the ministers, however, Condd went to the Huguenot " noblesse," with whom his arguments of expediency had more weight, and who, weary of the length and privations of the war, and content with securing their own privileges, readily accepted the conditions reprobated by the ministers. The pacification was accordingly agreed upon, on the twelfth of March, and 1 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 170, 171. Coupled with demands for the res- titution of the edict without restriction or modification, the prohibition of in- sults, the protection of the churches, the permission to hold synods, the re- cognition of Protestant marriages, and that the religion be no longer styled " new," "inasmuch as it is founded on the ancient teaching of the Prophets and Apostles," we find the Huguenot ministers, true to the spirit of the age, insisting upon "the rigorous punishment of all Atheists, Libertines, Anabap- tists, Servetists, and other heretics and schismatics." 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 115 officially published in the form of a royal edict, dated at Am- boise, on the nineteenth of March, 1563. Charles the Ninth, by advice of his mother, the Cardinal of Bourbon, the Princes of Conde and La Roche-sur-Yon, the Dukes of Montmorency, Aumale, and Montpensier Edicfof P.ici- , > * i cation, March and other members of his privy council, grants, in this document, to all barons, chatellains, and gentlemen possessed of the right to administer " haute justice," permission to celebrate in their own houses the worship of " the religion which they call ref ormed " in the presence of their families and retainers. The possessors of minor fiefs could enjoy the same privilege, but it extended to their families only. In every bail- iwick or senechaussee, the Protestants should, on petition, re- ceive one city in whose suburbs their religious services might be held, and in all cities where the Protestant religion was exer- cised on the seventh of March of the present year, it should continue in one or two places inside of the walls, to be desig- nated hereafter by the king. The Huguenots, while secured in their liberty of conscience, were to restore all churches and ec- clesiastical property which they might have seized, and were forbidden to worship according to their rites in the city of Paris or its immediate neighborhood. The remaining articles of the peace were of a more personal or temporary interest. Foreign troops were to be speedily dismissed ; the Protestant lords to be fully reinstated in their former honors, offices, and possessions ; prisoners to be released ; insults based upon the events of the war to be summarily punished. And Charles declared that he held his good cousin, the Prince of Conde, and all the other lords, knights, gentlemen, and burgesses that had served under him, to be his faithful subjects, believing that what they had done was for good ends and for his service. 1 Such was the Edict of Amboise a half-way measure, very dif- ferent from that which was desired on either side. The English ambassador declared he could find no one, whether Protestant or 1 The text of the edict of Amboise is given by Isambert. Recueil dee anc. lois frang., xiv. 135-140 ; J. de Serres, ii. 347-357 ; Hist, eccles. des egl. rSf., ii. 172-176; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. (liv. iii.) 193-195. See Pasquier, Lettrea (CEuvres choisies), ii. 260. 116 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE Cn. XIII. papist, that liked the " accord," or thought it would last three weeks. And he added, by way of warning to Coligny smith-s i and Conde : " What you, who are the heads and rulers, do, I cannot tell ; but every man thinketh that it is but a traine and a deceipt to sever the one of you from another, and all of you from this stronghold [Orleans], and then thei will talke with you after another sorte." ' He urged the Huguenots to learn a lesson from the fate of Bourges, Rouen, and other cities which had admitted the " papists," and to consider that these fine articles came from the queen mother, the Cardinals of Bourbon, Ferrara, and Guise, and others like them, who de- sired to take the Protestants like fish in a net. And he gave D'Andelot the significant hint very significant it was, in view of what afterwards befell his brother Gaspard that the report spread by the enemy respecting Poltrot's confession was only a preparation that, in case any of the Huguenot noblemen should l)e assassinated, it might be said that the deed had been done in just revenge by the Guises, who. would not hesitate to sacrifice them either by force or by treason. 4 Of the other party, Catharine de' Medici alone was jubilant over the edict. On the contrary, the Roman Catholic people of Paris regarded it as an approval of every sort of impiety and wicked action, and the parliament would register it only after repeated commands (on the twenty-seventh of March), and then with a formal declaration of its reluctance. 3 But no one was coiigny's di- so mucn disappointed as the admiral. .Hastening appointment, from Xormandy to Orleans, he reached that city on the twenty-third of March, only to find that the peace had been fully concluded several days before. In the council of the con- federates, the next day, he spoke his mind freely. He remind- ed Conde that, from the very commencement of hostilities, the 1 Smith to the queen, April 1, 1563, in Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, i. Documents, 439. 2 Smith to D'Andelot, March 13, 1563, State Paper Office. 8 Journal de Bruslart, Mem. de Conde, i. 125 : " de expresso Regis mandato iteratis vicibus facto. " Claude Haton is scarcely more complimentary than Bruslart : " elle (la paix) estoit faicte du tout au desavantage de 1'honneur de Dieu, de la religion catholicque et de 1'authorite du jeuae roy etrepos public de son royaume." Memoires, i. 327, 328. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 117 triumvirs had offered the restoration of the Edict of January with the exclusion of the city of Paris ; and that never had af- fairs stood on a better footing than now, 1 when two of the three chief authors of the war were dead, and the third was a prisoner. But the poor had surpassed the rich in devotion ; the cities had given the example to the nobles. In restricting the number of churches to one in a bailiwick, the prince and his counsellors had ruined more churches by a single stroke of the pen than all the forces of their enemies could have overthrown in ten years. Coligny's warm remonstrance was heard with some regret for the precipitancy with which the arrangement had been made ; but it was too late. The peace was signed. Besides, Conde was confident that he would soon occupy his brother's place, when the Huguenots would obtain all their demands. But while the prince refused to draw back from the articles of peace to which he had pledged himself, he consented to visit the queen mother in company with the admiral, and endeavor to remove some of the restrictions placed upon Protestant wor- ship. And Catharine was too well satisfied with her success in restoring peace, to refuse the most pressing of the admiral's re- quests. However, she took good care that none of her promises should be in writing, much less be incorporated in the Edict of Pacification. " The prince and the admyrall," wrote the special envoy Middlemore to Queen Elizabeth, " have bene twice with the queue mother since my cornmynge hyther, where the admi- rall hath bene very earnest for a further and larger lybertye in the course of religion, and so hath obtayned that there shall be 1 Elizabeth of England was herself, apparently, awakening to the impor- tance of the struggle, and new troops subsidized by her would soon have entered France from the German borders. " This day," writes Cecil to Sir Thomas Smith, ambassador at Paris, Feb. 27, 156f, "commission passeth hence to the comte of Oldenburg to levy eight thousand f ootemen and four thousand horse, who will, I truste, passe into France with spede and corradg. He is a notable, grave, and puissant captayn, and fully bent to hazard his life in the cause of religion." Th. Wright, Queen Elizabeth and her Times, L 125. But Elizabeth's troops, like Elizabeth's money, came too late. Of the latter, Admiral Coligny plainly told Smith a few weeks later: "If we could have had the money at Newhaven (Havre) but one xiii dates sooner, we would have talked with them after another sorte, and would not have bene contented with this accord." Smith to the queen, April 1, 1563, in Due d'Aumale, i. 439. 118 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. Cn. XHI. preachings within the townes in every balliage, wheras before yt was accordyd but in the suburbs of townes only, and that the gen- tylmen of the visconte and provoste of Parys shall have in theyr houses the same libertye of religion as ys accordyd elzwhere. So as the sayd admyrall doth now seanie to lyke well inoughe that he shewyd by the waye to mislyke so muche, which was the harde articles of religion concluded upon by the prince in his absence." ' On Sunday, the twenty-eighth of March, 1563 the anniver- sary of that Sunday which they had kept with so much solem- nity at Meaux, on the eve of their march to Orleans the Huguenot nobles and soldiers celebrated the Lord's Supper, in the simple but grand forms of the Geneva liturgy, within the walls of the church of the Holy Rood, long since stripped of its idolatrous ornaments, and on the morrow began to disperse to the homes from which for a year they had been separated. 2 The German reiters, at the same time, set out on their march toward Champagne, whence they soon after retired to their own country. The war that had just closed undoubtedly constituted a turn- ing-point in the Huguenot fortunes. The alliance between the Results of persecuted reformers, on the one hand, and the princes of the blood and the nobility of France, on the other, had borne fruit, and it was not altogether good fruit. The pa- tient confessors, after manfully maintaining their faith through an entire generation against savage attack, and gaining many a convert from the witnesses of their constancy, had grasped the sword thrust into their handa by their more warlike allies. In truth, it would be difficult to condemn them ; for it was in self- defence, not against rightful authority, but against the tyranny of a foreign and hostile faction. Candidly viewing their circum- 1 Letter from Orleans, March 30, 1563, MSS. State Paper Office, Due d'Au- male, i. 411. 2 Hist, eccles. des egl. ref . , ii. 203. Theodore Beza was the preacher on this occasion, and betrayed his own disappointment by speaking of the liberty of religion they had received as 4i not so ample, peradventure, as they would wish, yet such as they ought to thank God for." Smith to the queen, March 31, State Paper Office. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR 119 stances at the distance of three centuries, we can scarcely see how they could have acted otherwise than as they did. Yet there was much that, humanly speaking, was unfortunate in the conjunc- ture. War is a horrible remedy at any time. Civil war super- adds a thousand horrors of its own. And a civil war waged in the name of religion is the most frightful of all. The holiest of causes is sure to be embraced from impure motives by a host of unprincipled men, determined in their choice of party only by the hope of personal gain, the lust of power, or the thirst for re- venge a class of auxiliaries too powerful and important to be altogether rejected in an hour when the issues of life or death are pending, even if by the closest and calmest scrutiny they could be thoroughly weeded out a process beyond the power of mortal man at any time, much more in the midst of the tumult and confusion of war. The Huguenots had made the attempt at Orleans, and had not shrunk from inflicting the severest pun- ishments, even to death, for the commission of theft and other heinous crimes. They had endeavored in their camp to realize the model of an exemplary Christian community. But they had failed, because there were with them those who, neither in peace nor in war, could bring themselves to give to so strict a moral code any other obedience than that which fear exacts. Such was the misery of war. Such the melancholy alternative to which, more than once, the reformed saw themselves reduced, of perishing by persecution or of saving themselves by exposing their faith to reproach through alliance with men of as little religion or morality as any in the opposite camp. The first civil war prevented France from becoming a Hu- guenot country. This was the deliberate conclusion of a Vene- it prevents tian ambassador, who enjoyed remarkable opportuni- S^Sn f r m ti es f r observing the history of his times. 1 The aot- practice of the Christian virtue of patience and sub- mission under suffering and insult had made the reformers o an incredible number of friends. The waging of war, even in self-defence, and the reported acts of wanton destmction, of cruelty and sacrilege it mattered little whether they were true 1 Relazione di Correro, 1569. Rel. des Amb. Vun., ii. 118-120. 120 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIIL or false, they were equally credited and produced the same re- sults turned the indifference of the masses into positive aver- sion. It availed the Huguenots little in the estimate of the people that the crimes that were almost the rule with their opponents were the exception with them; that for a dozen such as Montluc, they were cursed with but one Baron des Adrets ; that the barbarities of the former received the appro- bation of the Roman Catholic priesthood, while those of the latter were censured with vehemence by the Protestant minis- ters. Partisan spirit refused to hold the scales of justice with equal hand, and could see no proofs of superior morality or devotion in the adherents of the reformed faith. Besides their psalms, hallowed by so many thrilling associations, the Hu- guenots possessed a whole cycle of song. The meagre portion of this that has come down to us is among the most valuable of the monuments illustra- tive of their modes of thought and their religious and political Huguenot aspirations. At the same time it brings vividly before us the ballads and . ,... -, TT T. -, , , songs. great crises of their history. M. Henri Bordier has done a ser- vice not easily estimated at its full worth, by the publication of a considerable collection of the popular songs of the Protestants, under the title, " Le Chansonnier Huguenot du XVI e Siecle " (Paris, 1871). These songs are grouped in four divisions : religious Bongs, polemic and satirical songs, songs of war, and songs of martyrdom. The three oldest Huguenot songs known to exist belong to the first two divisions, and have been saved from destruction by the enemies of their authors, in the very attempt to secure their suppression. They have recently been found upon the records of the Parliament of Paris, where they obtained a place, thanks to the zeal of the " lieutenant general " of Meaux in endeavor- ing to ferret out the composers of anti-papal ballads. They were entered, without regard to metre, as so much prose. A stanza or two of the song en- titled Chanson n&uvette sur le chant: " N' aUez plus au bois jouer" and evi- dently adapted to the tune of a popular ballad of the day, may suffice to indi- cate the character of the most vigorous of these compositions. It is addressed to Michel d'Arande, a friend of Farel, whom Bishop Bri9onnet had invited to preach the Gospel in his diocese of Meaux, and begins : Ne preschez plus la verit6, Maistre Michel 1 Contenue en 1'Evangille, II y a trop grand danger D'estre mene Dans la Conciergerie, Lire, lire, Jironfa. 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 121 II y a trop grand danger D'estre mene Dans la Conciergerie Devant les chapperons fourrez Mai infonnez Par gens plains de menterie. Lire, lire, lironfa. The " chants religieux," of which M. Bordier's collection reproduces twen- ty-five, are partly poetical paraphrases of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, etc. , and partly original compositions on a variety of themes, such as patient endurance of insult, etc. They display great familiarity with the Holy Scriptures, and sometimes not a little poetic fire. The " chants polemiques " treat of a number of subjects, prominent among which are the monks and nuns, and the doctrines of the papal church. In one the expiring papacy is represented as summoning to her bedside cardi- nals, bishops, and other members of the clergy, to witness her last struggles. In another the Sorbonne is held up to ridicule, in company with all the medi- aeval doctors of theology. In a third the poet more seriously combats the belief in purgatory as unscriptural. But it is the mass that bears the brunt of attack. The Host figures under the designation, current in the literature of the sixteenth century, 1 of Le Dieu de Pdte, or Le Dieu de Farine. The pompous and complicated ceremonial, with its repetitions devoid of meaning for the illiterate spectator, is, on the whole, the favorite object of satire. In strict accordance with the spirit of the rough controversy of the times, little mercy is shown to religions antagonists. There is a good specimen of this style of treatment in an interesting song dating from about 1564, enti- tled " Noel nouveau de la description ou forme et maniere de dire la Messe, surce chant: Hari, bouriquet." Of the fifteen stanzas of which it is com- posed, two or three may serve as samplea The preliminary service over, the priest comes to the consecration of the wafer : Un morceau de paste II fait adorer ; Le rompt de sa patte Pour le devorer, Le gourmand qu'il est. Hari, hari 1'asne, le gourmand qu'il est, Hari bouriquet ! Le Dieu qu'il faict faire, La bouche le prend ; Le co3ur le digere, Le ventre le rend, Au fond du retrait ! Hari, hari 1'asne, au fond du retrait, Hari bouriquet ! 1 It appears at least as early as in Farel's Epistre & tous Seigneurs, writ- ten in 1530, p. 166 of Pick's edition. 122 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIIL Le peuple regarde L'yvrongne pinter Qui pourtant n'a garde De luy presenter A boire un seul traict. Hari, hari 1'asne, a boire un seul traict, Hari bouriquet ! Acheve et despouille Tous ses drapeaux blancs, En sa bourse fouille Et y met six blancs. C'est de peur du f rais. Hari, hari 1'asne, c'est de peur du frais, Hari bouriquet ! A somewhat older song (written before 1555) purports to be the dirge of the Mass uttered by itself Desolation de la Messe expirant en chantant. The Mass in perplexity knows not how to begin the customary service : Spiritus, Salve, Requiem, Je ne sgay si je diray bien. Quel Introite, n' Oremus Je prenne ; Sancti, Agimus. Feray-je des Martyrs ou Vierges ? De venire ad te damamus ! Sonnez la, allumez ces cierges : Y a-t-il du pain et du vin ? Ou est le livre et le calice Pour faire 1'office divin ? 9a, cest autel, qu'on le tapisse 1 Helas, la piteuse police. Ame ne me vient secourir. Sans Chapelain, Moine, Novice, Me faudra-il ainsi perir ? Pope and cardinals are summoned in vain. No one comes, no one will bring reliquary or consecrated wafer. The Mass must finally resign all hope and dio : Helas chantant, brayant, virant, Tant que le crime romp et blesse Puis que voy tost 1'ame expirant, Dites au moins adieu la Messe. A tous faisant mainte promesse Ore ai-je tout mon bien quitte Veu qu'a la mort tens et abaisse Ite Missa est ; done It e, J.te Missa est^ 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. 123 The " chants de guerre " furnish a running commentary upon the military events of the last forty years of the sixteenth century, which is not devoid of interest or importance. The hopeful spirit characterizing the earlier ballads is not lost even in the latest ; but the brilliant anticipations of a speedy tri- umph of the truth, found before the outbreak of the first civil war, or im- mediately thereafter, are lacking in other productions, dating from the close of the reign of Henry the Third. In a spirited song, presumably belonging to 1562, the poet, adopting the nickname of Huguenots given to the Protestants by their opponents, retaliates by applying an equally unwelcome term to the Roman Catholics, and forecasting the speedy overthrow of the papacy : Vous appellez Huguenots Ceux qui Jesus veullent suivre, Et n'adorent vos marmots De boys, de pierre et de cuyvre. Hau, Hau, Papegots, Faictes place aux Huguenots. Nostre Dieu renversera Vous et vostre loy romaine, Et du tout se mocquera De vostre entreprise vaine. Hau, Hau, Papegots, Faictes place aux Huguenots. Vostre Antechrist tombera Hors de sa superbe place Et Christ partout regnera Et sa loy pleine de grace. Hau, Hau, Papegots, Faictes place aux Huguenots. The current expectation of the Protestants is attested in a long narrative ballad by Antoine Du Plain on the siege of Lyons (1563;, in which Charles the Ninth figures as another Josiah destined to abolish the idolatrous mass : Ce Roy va chasser 1'Idole Plain de dole Cognoissant nn tel f orf ait : Selon la vertu Royale, Et loyale, Comme losias a fait. It is noticeable that the words " va chasser 1'Idole " are an anagram of the royal title Charles de Valois an anagram which gave the Huguenots no little comfort. The same play upon words appears with a slight variation in a " Huictain au Peuple de Paris, sur ranagrammatisme du nom du tres-v-iires- tien Roy de France, Charles de Valois IX. de ce nom " (Recueil des Choses Memorables, 1565, p. 367), of which the last line is, " Gentil Roy qni chassa leur idole," 124 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIII. But after the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day the hopes of the Hugue- nots were blighted. If the king is not referred to by name, his mother figures as the guilty cause of all the misfortune of France. She is a second Helen born for the ruin of her adopted country, according to Etienne de Haisonfleur. Helene femme estrangere Fut la seule mesnagere Qui ruina II ion, Et la reine Catherine Est de France la mine Par 1'Oracle de Leon. "Leon" is Catharine's uncle, Pope Leo the Tenth, who was said to have predicted the total destruction of whatever house she should be married into. See also the famous libel "Discours merveilleux de la vie de Catherine de Medicis" (Ed. of Cologne, Pierre du Marteau, 1693), p. 609. The massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day naturally contributes a consider- able fund of laments, etc. , to the Huguenot popular poetry of the century. A poem apparently belonging to a more remote date, discovered by Dr. Roullin, and perhaps the only Breton song of the kind that has come down to us, is as simple and unaffected a narrative as any of the modern Greek mosrologia (Vaurigaud, Essaie sur 1'hist. des eglisea ref. de Bretagne, 1870, i. 6). It tells the story of a Huguenot girl betrayed to the executioner by her own mother. In spite of a few dialectic forms, the verses are easily understood. Yonlz-vous ouir 1'histoire D'une fille d'espit Qui n'a pas voulu croire Chose que Ton lui dit Sameredit: "Ma fille, A la messe aliens done ! " " Y aller a la messe, Ma mere, ce n'est qu'abus. Apportez-moi mes livres Avec mes beaux saluts. J'aimerais mieux etre brulee Et vantee au grand vent Que d'aller a la messe En faussant mon serment" Quand sa tres-chere mere Eut entendu c' mot la, Au bourreau de la ville Sa fille elle livra. 41 Bourreau, voila ma fille ! Fais a tea volontes ; 1563. THE FIRST CIVIL WAR. Bourreau, fais de ma fille Comme d'un meurtrier." Quand. elle fut sur 1'echelle, Trois rollons ja montee, Elle voit sa m&re Qiii chaudement pleurait. " Ho ! la cruelle mfire Qui pleure son enfant Apres 1'avoir livree Dans les grands feux ardents. Vous est bien fait, ma mere, De me faire mourir. Je vois Jesus, mon pere, Qui, de son beau royaume, Descend pour me querir. Son royaume EOT terre Dans pen de temps viendra, Et cependant mon ame En paradis ira." 125 126 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. CHAPTER XIY. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE, AND THE BAYONNE CONFERENCE. SCARCELY had the Edict of Amboise been signed when a de- mand was made upon the English queen for the city of Havre, placed in her possession by the Huguenots, as a pledge tion of Havre for the restoration of Calais in accordance with the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, and as security for the repayment of the large sums she had advanced for the mainte- nance of the war. But Elizabeth was in no favorable mood for listening to this summons. Instead of being instructed to evac- uate Havre, the Earl of Warwick was reinforced by fresh sup- plies of arms and provisions, and received orders to defend to the last extremity the only spot in France held by the queen. A formal offer made by Conde to secure a renewal of the stipu- lation by which Calais was to be given up in 1567, and to re- munerate Elizabeth for her expenditures in the cause of the French Protestants, was indignantly rejected; and both sides prepared for open war. 1 The struggle was short and decisive. The French were a unit on the question of a permanent occupa- tion of their soil by foreigners. Within the walls of Havre itself a plot was formed by the French population to betray the city into the hands of their countrymen ; and Warwick was forced to expel the natives in order to secure the lives of his own 1 Fronde, Hist, of England, vii. 519. Seethe courteous summons of Charles, April 30, 1563, Forbes, State Papers, ii.404, 405, and Elizabeth's answer, May 7th, ibid., ii. 409-411 ; Conde's offer in his letter of June 26, 1563, Forbes, ii. 442. See also the extended correspondence of the English envoys, in the inedited documents published by the Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, i. 433-500. 1562. THE PEACE OF AMBOLSE. 127 troops. 1 But no vigilance of the besieged could insure the safety of a detached position on the borders of so powerful a state as France. Elizabeth was too weak, or too penurious, to afford the recruits that were loudly called for. And now a new and frightful auxiliary to the French made its appearance. A contagious disease set in among the English troops, crowded into a narrow compass and deprived of their usual allowance of fresh meat and wholesome water. The fearful mortality attending it soon revealed the true character of the scourge. Few of those that fell sick recovered. Gathering new strength from day to day, it reigned at length supreme in the fated city. Soon the daily crowd of victims became too great to receive prompt sepulture, and the corpses lying unburied in the streets furnished fresh fuel for the raging pestilence. Seven thousand English troops were reduced in a short time to three thousand, in a few days more to fifteen hundred men." The hand of death was upon the throat of every survivor. At length, too feeble to man their works, despairing of timely succor, unable to sustain at the same moment the assault of their opponents and the fearful visitation of the Almighty, the English consent- ed to surrender : and, on the twenty -eighth of July, a Fall of Havre. _ J . J ' capitulation was signed, in accordance with which, on the next day, Havre, with all its fortifications and the ships of war in its harbor, fell once more into the hands of the French. 1 1 Froude, vii. 520 ; Castelnau, liv. v. , c. ii. Compare Forbes, ii. 422. s ' ' The plage dothe increace here dayly, wherby our nombrea are decayde within these fowr days in eoche sorte, as we have not remayning at this pres- ent (in all our judgements) 1500 able men in this towne. They dye nowe in bothe these peces upon the point of 100 a daye, BO as we can not geyt men to burye theym," etc. Warwick to the Privy Council, July 11, 1563. Forbes, ii. 458. 8 De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 417-420; Mem. de Castelnan, liv. v., c. ii and iii. ; Cimber et Danjou, v. 229; Stow's Annals (London, 1631), 655, 656; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. iv., c. ii. (i. 198-200) ; Davila, bk. iii. (Eng. trans., London, 1678), p. 89; Froude, vii. 519-528. Consult especially Dr. Patrick Forbes, Full View of the Public Transactions in the Reign of Queen Eliza- beth (London, 1741), vol ii. pp. 373-500. This important collection of letters, to which I have made such frequent reference under the shorter title of " State Papers," ends at this point. Peace was definitely concluded between France and England by the treaty of Troyes, April 11, 15G4 (Mem. de Conde, 128 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. The pacification of Amboise, a contemporary chronicler tells us, was received with greater or less cordiality in different lo- calities of France, very much according; to the num- How the *" peace was her of Protestants they had contained before the war. " This edict of peace was very grievous to hear pub- lished and to have executed in the case of the Catholics of the peaceable cities and villages where there were very few Hugue- nots. But it was a source of great comfort to the Catholics of the cities which were oppressed by the Huguenots, as well as of the neighboring villages in which the Catholic religion had been intermitted, mass and divine worship not celebrated, and the holy sacraments left unadministered as in the cities of Lyons and Orleans, and their vicinity, and in many other cities of Poitou and Languedoc, where the Huguenots were masters or superior in numbers. As the peace was altogether advantageous to the Huguenots, they labored hard to have it observed and published." * But to secure publication and observance was not always pos- sible.* Not unfrequently the Huguenots were denied by the illiberality of their enemies every privilege to which they were entitled by the terms of the edict. At Troyes, the Roman Catholic party, hearing that peace had been made, resolved to v. 79, 80). Sir Nicholas Tbrokmorton, who had long been a prisoner, held to be exchanged against the hostages for the restitution of Calais, given in ac- cordance with the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, now returned home. Before leaving, however, he had an altercation with his colleague, Sir Thomas Smith, of which the latter wrote a full account. Sir Nicholas, it seems, in his heat applied some opprobrious epithets to Smith, and even called him ''traitor" a charge which the latter repudiated with manly indignation. " Nay, thou liest, quoth I ; I am as true to the queen as thou any day in the week, and have done her Highness as faithful and good service as thou." Smith to Cecil, April 13, 1564, State Paper Office. 1 M6m. de Claude Haton, i. 356, 357. 9 See the order of the fanatical Parliament of Toulouse, which it had the audacity to publish with, or instead of, the king's edict. It contains this clause : " Ce que estant veu par nous, avons ordonne et ordonnons que, en la ville de Thoulouse ni aultres du ressort du parlement d'icelle, ne se fera pub- licquement ni secrettement aulcun exercice de la nouvelle pretendue religion, en quelque sorte que ce soit, sous peine de la hart. Item, que tous ceux qui vouldront faire profession de laditte pretendue religion reformee ayent a se retirer," etc. Mem. de Claude Haton, i. 358, 359. 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISR 129 employ the brief interval before the edict should be published, and the major of the city led the populace to the prisons, where all the Huguenots that could be found were at once murdered.' The vexatious delays, and the actual persecution still harder to be borne, which were encountered at Rouen, have layTiiTNor -*" been duly recorded by an anonymous Roman Catho- lic contemporary, as well as in the registers of the city hall and of the Xorman parliament, and may serve as an indica- tion of what occurred in many other places. From the chapter of the cathedral and the judges of the supreme provincial court, down to the degraded rabble, the entire population was deter- mined to interpose every possible obstacle in the way of the peaceable execution of the new law. Before any official com- munication respecting it reached them, the clergy declared, by solemn resolution, their intention to reserve the right of prose- cuting all who had plundered their extensive ecclesiastical domain. The municipality wrote at once to the king, to his mother, and to others at court, imploring that Rouen and its vicinity might be exempted from all exercise of the "new religion." Parliament sent deputies to Charles the Xinth to remonstrate against the broad concessions made in favor of the Protestants, and, even when compelled to go through the fonu of a registration, avoided a publication of the edict, in order to gain time for another fruitless protest addressed to the royal government. When it came to the execution of the law, the affair assumed a more threatening aspect. The Roman Catholics had resolved to resist the return of the " for-issites," or fugitive Huguenots. At first they excused their opposition by alleging that there were bandits and criminals of every kind in the ranks of the exiles. Next they demanded that a preliminary list of their names and abodes should be furnished, in order that their arms might be taken away. Finally they required, with equal perverseness, that, in spite of the express stipulation of the king's rescript, the " for-issites " should return only as private individuals, and should not venture to resume their former 1 Recordon, Le Protestantisms en Champagne, 132, 1U3. VOL. II. 9 130 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. offices and dignities. Meantime the " for-issites," driven to desperation by the flagrant injustice of which they were the victims, began to retaliate by laying violent hands upon all objects of Roman Catholic devotion in the neighboring country, and by levying contributions upon the farms and villas of their malignant enemies. The Rouenese revenged themselves in turn by wantonly murdering the Huguenots whom they found within the city walls. The embittered feeling did not diminish at once after the more intrepid of the Huguenots had, under military compul- sion, been readmitted into Rouen. There were daily com- plaints of ill-usage. But the insolence of the dominant party rose to a still higher pitch when there appeared a royal edict whether genuine or forged has not as yet been settled by which the cardinal demands of the Huguenots were granted. The alleged concessions may not strike us as very extraordinary. They consisted chiefly in disarming the Roman Catholics equally with the adherents of the opposite creed, and in erecting a new chamber in parliament to try impartially cases in dispute be- tween the adherents of the two communions. 1 This was cer- tainly decreeing but a small measure of the equality in the eye of the law which the Protestants might claim as a natural and indefeasible right. The citizens of the Norman capital, how- ever, regarded the enactment as a monstrous outrage upon so- ciety. Charles the Ninth happened at this time to be passing 1 M. Floquet, in his excellent history of the Norman Parliament (ii. 571), repudiates as " une de ces exagerations familieres a De Beze," the statement of the Histoire eccles. des eglises ref ormees, ' ' that in the Parliament of Rouen, whatever the cause might be, whoever was known to be of the (reformed) re- ligion, whether plaintiff or defendant, was instantly condemned." Yet he quotes below (ii. 571, 573. 574), from Chancellor de 1'Hospital's speech to that parliament, statements that fully vindicate the justice of the censure. ' ' Vous pensez bien faire d'adjuger la cause a celuy que vous estimez plus homme de bien ou meilleur chrestien ; comme s'il estoit question, entre les parties, lequel d'entre eux est meilleur poete, orateur, peintre, artisan, et enfin de Tart, doctrine, force, vaillance, ou autre quelconque suffisance, non de la chose qui est amenee en jugement." And after enumerating other complaints: " Ne trouvez point estrange ce que je vous en dy : car souvent sont apportez au roy de vos jugements qui semblent, de prime face, fort esloignez de toute droic- ture ct equite." 156S. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 131 through Gaillon, a place some ten leagues distant from Rouen, on his wav to the siege of Havre: and Damours, Protcstofthe .,**'. , , . j . , i . Norman par the advocate-general, was deputed to bear to him a protest drawn up by parliament. The tone of the paper was scarcely respectful to the monarch ; it was positively insulting to the members of the royal council who professed the Protestant faith. It predicted the possible loss of Normandy, or of his entire kingdom, in case the king pursued a system of toleration. The Xormans, it said, would not submit to Protes- tant governors, nor to the return of the exiles in arms, nor to their resumption of their former dignities. If the " f or-issites " continued their excesses, they would be set upon and killed. The Roman Catholic burgesses of Rouen even proclaimed a conditional loyalty. Should the king not see fit to accede to their demands, they declared themselves ready to place the keys of their city in his hands to dispose of at his pleasure, at the same time craving permission to go where they pleased and to take away their property with them. ' Truly the spirit of the "Holy League" was, already born, though the times were not yet ripe for the promulgation of such tenets. The advocate-general was a fluent speaker, and he had been attended many a weary mile by an enthusiastic escort. Parliamentary counsellors, municipal officers, clergy, an immense concourse of the lower stratmn of the population all were at Gaillou, ready to applaud his well-turned sentences. But he had chosen an unlucky moment for his oratorical dis- play. His glowing periods were rudely interrupted by one of the princely auditors. This was Louis of Conde now doubly important to the court on account of the military undertaking that was on foot who complained of the speaker's insolent words. So powerful a nobleman could not be despised. And so the voluble Damours, with his oration but half delivered, instead of meeting a gracious monarch's approval and A rude rebuff. returning home amid the plaudits of the multitude, was hastily taken in charge by the archers of the royal guard and carried off to prison. The rest of the Rouenese disappeared more rapidly than they had come. The avenues to the city were filled with fugitives as from a disastrous battle. Even 132 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XIV. the grave parliament, which the last winter had been exhibiting its august powers in butchering Huguenots by the score, begin- ning with the arch-heretic Augustin Marlorat, lost for a mo- ment its self-possession, and took part in the ignominious flight. Shame, however, induced it to pause bofore it had gone too far, and, putting on the gravest face it could summon, it reappeared ere long at Gaillon with becoming magisterial gravity. Xever had there been a more thorough discomfiture. 1 A few days later the Marshal de Bourdillon made his entry into Rouen with a force of Swiss soldiers sufficient to break down all resistance, the " for-issites " were brought in, a new election of municipal officers was held, and comparative quiet was restored in the turbulent city." So far as a character so undecided could frame any fixed pur- pose, Catharine de' Medici was resolved to cement, if possible, a stable peace. The Chancellor, Michel de 1'Hospital, still re tained his influence over her, and gave to her disjointed plans somewhat of the appearance of a deliberate policy. That pol- icy certainly seemed to mean peace. And to prove Commission- , . .. 1 t j i ' T ers to enforce this, commissioners were despatched to the more dis- tant provinces, empowered to enforce the execution of the Edict of Amboise.* Yet never was the court less in sym- pathy with the Huguenots than at this moment. If shameless profligacy had not yet reached the height it subsequently attained under the last Yalois that sat upon the a profligate throne of France, it was undoubtedly taking rapid strides in that direction. For the giddy throng of courtiers, living in an atmosphere that reeked with corruption, 4 1 Chron. MS. du xvi. siecle, Registres, etc., apud Floquet, Hist, du parle- inent de Xormandie, ii. 525-547. s lbid., ii. 548. 3 The father of Agrippa d'Aubigne was, as his son informs ns, one of the commissioners sent on this occasicn to Guyenne. Memoires d'A. d'Aubigue, ed. Buchon, 474. 4 What else can be said, in view of such well authenticated statements as the following? On his progress through France, to which reference will soon be made, Charles the Ninth stopped with his court at Troyes, where no expense was spared in providing tournaments and games for his amusement. Just as he was about to leave the city, and was already booted for his journey, 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 133 the stern morality professed by the lips and exemplified in the lives of Gaspard de Coligny and his noble brothers, as well as by many another of nearly equal rank, could afford but few- attractions. Many of these triflers had, it is true, exhibited for a time some leaning toward the reformed faith. But their evanescent affection was merely a fire kindled in the light straw: the fuel was soon consumed, and the brilliant flame which had given rise to such sanguine expectations died out as easily as it sprang up. 1 When once the novelty of the simple worship in the rude barn, or in the retired fields, with the psalms of Marot and Beza sung to quaint and stirring melodies, had worn off; when the black gown of the Protestant minister had become as familiar to the eye as the stole and chasuble of the officiating priest, and the words of the reformed confession of sins as familiar to the ear as the pontifical litanies and prayers, the " assemblee " ceased to attract the curious from the salons of St. Germain and Fontainebleau. Besides, it was one thing to listen to a scathing account of the abuses of churchmen, or a violent denunciation of the sins of priest and monk, and quite another to submit to a faithful recital of the iniquities of the court, and hear the wrath of God denounced against the pro- fane, the lewd, and the extortionate. There were some inci- dents, occurring just at the close of the war, that completed the alienation which before had been only partial. The Huguenots had attempted by stringent regulations to banish swearing, robbery, and other flagrant crimes from their army. They had he was detained for a little while that he might witness a novel entertainment. He was taken to a garden where a number of young girla, selected for their extraordinary beauty and entirely nude, executed in his presence the most obscene dances. It was two churchmen that are said to have provided the boy-king with this infamous diversion Cardinal Charles of Bourbon and Car- dinal Louis of Guise. Recordon, 143. 1 " II est notoire qu'au temps du colloque de Poissy la doctrine evangelique y fut proposed en liberte; ce qui causa que plusieurs, tans grands que petite, prindrent goust & icelle. Mais, tout ainsi qu'nn feu de paille fait grand' llamme, et puis s'esteint incontinent d'autant que la matiere defaut. apres qne ce qu'ils avoient receu comme une nouveauto se fut un peu envieilly en leur ccenr, les affections s'amortirent, et la pluspart retourna a 1'ancienne cabale de la cour, qui est bien plus propre pour faire rire et piaffer, et pour s'en- richir." 116m. de Fran. de la Noue, c. ii. (Ed. Mich, et Pouj., 591). 134 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. punished robbery in many instances with death. They had succeeded so far in doing away with oaths, that their opponents had paid unconscious homage to their freedom from the despi- cable vice. In those days, when in the civil struggle it was so difficult to distinguish friends from foes, there was one proof of unimpeachable orthodoxy that was rarely disputed. Profanity J J a test of He must be a good Catholic who could curse and Catholicity. _. T c swear. Ihe Huguenot soldier would do neither. So nearly, indeed, did the Huguenot affirmation approach to the simplicity of the biblical precept, that one Koinan Catholic partisan leader of more than ordinary audacity had assumed for the motto on his standard the blasphemous device : " ' Double 's death' has conquered 'Verily.'"" But the strictness with which theft and profanity were visited in the Huguenot camp produced but a slight impression, compared with that made by the punishment of death inflicted by a stern judge at Orleans, just before the proclamation of peace, on a man and woman found guilty of adultery. Almost the entire court cried out against the unheard-of severity of the sentence for a crime which had never before been punished at all. The greater part of these advocates of facile morals had even the indiscretion to confess that they would never consent to accept such people as the Huguenots for their masters. 3 Even after the publication of the Edict of Amboise, there was one matter left unsettled that threatened to rekindle the flames of civil war. It will be remembered that the murderer 1 " Quelque chose qu'il sut dire avec blasphemes horribles moyen ordinaire a telles gens pour prouver leur religion." Hist, eccles. des eglises reformees, ii. 458. To stuff leaves torn from French Bibles into the mouths or wounds of dying or dead Huguenots, as we have seen, was a diversion not unknown to their opponents. Of course, there is nothing astonishing in the circumstance that the invocation of Calvin's liturgy " Notre aide soit au nom de Dieu qui a fait le ciol et la terre " should have been a favorite formula for the begin- ning of a game of chance, or that the doxology " Louange a Dieu de tous ses biens" [" Praise God from whom all blessings flow."] should have been esteemed a fitting ejaculation for the winner. Ibid., ii. 310, 431. ! '"Double mort Dieu' a vaincu ' Certes' ; entendant par ce dernier mot ceux de la religion qui condamnent ces juremens et blasphemes." Hist, eccles. des egl. ref., ii. 507. 3 De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 409. 156a THE PEACE OF AMBOT^E. of the Duke of Guise, overcome by terror in view of his fate^ Admiral Co- h a d cliarged Gaspard de Coligny with having insti- Hgny accused. g a t e d the perpetration of the foul crime ; that, as soon as he heard the accusation, the admiral had not only answered the allegations, article by article, but had written, earnestly begging that Poltrot's execution might be deferred until the return of peace should permit him to be confronted with his accuser. This very reasonable demand, we have seen, had been rejected, and the miserable assassin had been torn into pieces by four horses, upon the Place de Greve, on the very day pre- ceding that which witnessed the signing of the Edict of Am- boise. If, however, the queen mother had hoped to diminish the difficulties of her position by taking this course, she had greatly miscalculated. In spite of his protestations, and of a second and more popular defence which he now made, 1 the Guises persisted in believing, or in pretending to believe, Co- ligny to be the prime cause of the murder of the head of their family. His very frankness was perverted into a proof of his complicity. The admiral's words, as an eminent historian of our own day observes, bear the seal of sincerity, and we need go for the truth nowhere else than to his own avowals. 5 But they did not satisfy his enemies. The danger of an open rupture wa> imminent. Coligny was coming to court from his castle of Chatillon-sur-Loing, with a strong escort of six hundred gen- tlemen ; but so inevitable did a bloody collision within the walls of Paris seem to the queen, that she begged Conde to dissuade him for the present from carrying out his purpose. Meantime, Conde and the two Montmorencies the constable His defence i i . i t -, i /-, i espoused by and his son, the marshal espoused Coligny s cause as t M 't ' their own, by publicly declaring (on the fifteenth of morencies. . ' *. r . J .! May) his entire innocence, and announcing that any blow aimed at the Chatillons, save by legal process, they would regard and avenge as aimed at themselves.' Taking excuse 1 Declaration dated Chatillon-sur-Loing, May 5, 1563. Mem. de Conde, iv. 339-349 ; and Jean de Serres, iii. 15-29. * Martin, Hist, de France, x. 104. 3 De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.), 415, 416. Catharine had been the involuntary instrument of renewing the old friendship between the constable and his 186 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. from the unsettled relations of the kingdom with England and at home, the privy council at the same time enjoined both parties to abstain from acts of hostility, and adjourned the judi- cial investigation until after arms had been laid down. 1 At length, on the twenty-sixth of September two months after the reduction of Havre the Guises renewed their demand Petition of with great solemnity. Charles was at Meulan (on ses ' the Seine, a few miles below Paris), when a proces- sion of mourners entered his presence. It was the family of Guise, headed by the late duke's widow, his mother, and his children, coming to sue for vengeance on the murderer. All were clad in the dress that betokened the deepest sorrow, and the dramatic effect was complete. 2 They brought a petition couched in decided terms, but making no mention of the name of Coligny, and signed, not only by themselves, but by three of the Bourbons the Cardinal Charles, the Duke of Montpensier, and his son and by the Dukes of Longueville and Xemours. 3 Under the circumstances, the king could not avoid granting their request and ordering inquisition to be made by the peers in par- liament assembled. 4 But the friends of the absent admiral saw in the proposed investigation only an attempt on the part of his enemies to effect through the forms of law the ruin of the most prominent Huguenot of France. It was certain, they urged, that he could expect no justice at the hands of the presi- dents and counsellors of the Parisian parliament. Kor did they find it difficult to convince Catharine that to permit a nephews, when, on Guise's death, she conferred the office of grand master npon his young sou, instead of restoring it to Anne de Montmorency, to whom the dignity had formerly belonged. Three months later (Aug. 30, 1563) Conde drew up another paper, assuming the entire responsibility for all the acts of the Chiitillon brothers during the war : ' ' Acte par lequel M. le prince de Conde declare que tout ce que M. 1'amiral de Coligny et M. D'Andelot son frere ont fait pendant les troubles, ils ont fait a sa requisition et par ses ordres." Mem. de Conde, iv. 651. 1 See Martin, x. 174, 175. 2 Davila, bk. iii. 92, and D'Aubigne, .liv. iv., c. iii. (i. 201), both of whom mistake the place of the occurrence, supposing it to have been Paris. 3 Copie de la requeste presentee au Roy tres-chrestien par ceulx dy la mayson de Guyse, etc. Mem. de Conde, iv, 667, 663. 4 Ibid., iv. 668. 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISR 137 public trial would be to reopen old sores and to risk overturn- ing in a single hour the fabric of peace which for six months she had been laboring hard to strengthen. 1 The king was therefore induced to evoke the consideration of the complaint of the Guises to his own grand council. Here again new diffi- culties sprang up. The Duchess of Guise was as suspicious of the council as Coligny of the parliament, and challenged the greater number of its members as too partial to act as judges. In fact, it seemed impossible to secure a jury to settle the mat- ter in dispute. After months spent to no purpose in wran- gling, Charles determined to remove the question both from the parliament and from the council, and on the fifth of January, 1564, reserved for himself and his mother the duty of adjudi- cation. At the same time, on the ground that the importance of the case demanded the deliberations of a prince of greater age and of more experience than he as yet possessed, and that its discussion at present might prove prejudicial to the tranquillity of the kingdom, he adjourned it for three full years, or until such other time as he might hereafter find to be convenient.* The feud between the Chatillons and the Guises was not, however, the only embarrassment which the government found itself compelled to meet. Catharine was in equal Embarrass- , . . , , 113 ment of cath- perplexity with respect to the engagements she had entered into with the Prince of Conde. It was part of the misfortune of this improvident princess that each new intrigue was of such a nature as to require a second intrigue to bolster it up. Yet she was to live long enough to learn by bit- ter experience that there is a limit to the extent to which plau- sible but lying words will pass current. At last the spurious coin was to be returned discredited to her own coffers. Catha- rine had enticed Conde into concluding a peace much less 1 '' C'est un vray moyen pour destruire et gaster en une heure tout le fonde- ment de ce qu'elle a prins grand' peine de bastir depuis six mois." Memoire prcsente a la Reine-mcre, pour empecher que la maison de Guyse n'allat de- mand er justice au parlement de Paris, de 1'assassinat de Franqois due de Guise. Mem. de Conde. iv. 493-495. - Arivt du conseil du Roy, par lequel il evoque a sa personne le procfis meu entre les maisons de Guyse et de Chastillon, etc. Mem, de Condo, iv. 493. 138 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. favorable to the Huguenots than his comrades in arms had expected in view of the state of the military operations and the pecuniary necessities of the court, by the promise that he should occupy the same controlling position in the government as his brother, the King of Navarre, held at the time of his death. We have seen that he was so completely hoodwinked that he assured his friends that it was of little consequence how scanty were the concessions made in the edict. He would soon be able, by his personal authority, to secure to " the religion " the largest guarantees. If we may believe Catharine herself, he went so far in his enthusiastic desire for peace as to threaten to desert the Huguenots, if they declined to embrace the oppor- tunity of reconciliation. 1 How to get rid of the troublesome obligation she had as- sumed, was now the problem ; since to f ulfil her promise hon- estly was, for a person of her crooked policy and inordinate ambition, not to be thought of for an instant. The readiest solution was found in abolishing the office of lieutenant-general. This could be done only by declaring the termination of the minority of Charles. For this an opportunity presented itself, when, on the seventeenth of August, 1563," the queen The majority ' ,.,,. of charies and her children, with a brilliant retinue, were in the proclaimed. j T city or Kouen, on their return from the successful campaign against Havre. That day Charles the Ninth held a " lit de justice " in the palace of the Parliament of Normandy. Sitting in state, and surrounded by his mother, his younger brothers, and a host of grandees, he proceeded to address the assembled counsellors, pronouncing himself of full age, and, in the capacity of a major king, delivered to them an edict, signed the day before, ordering the observance of his Edict of Am- boise and the complete pacification of his kingdom by a univer- 1 " Ne parlez encore a personne," writes Catharine to M. de Gonnor (March 12, 1563), " des conditions, car j'ay toujours peur qu'ils ne nous trompent; encore qne le Prince de Conde leur a declare que s'ils n'acceptent ces condi- tions et s'ils ne veulent la paix, qu'il s'eu viendra avec le Roy mon fils, et se declarera leur ennemy, chose que je trouve tres-bonne." Le Laboureur, ii. 241. * Not September 15th, as Davila states, nor September 24th, as D'Aubigne seems to assert ; but his narrative is confused. 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 139 pal laying down of arms.' True, Charles was but a few days more than thirteen years of age ; but his right to assume the full powers of government was strenuously maintained by Chan- cellor I/Hospital, upon whom devolved the task of explaining more fully the king's motives and purposes. Then Catharine, the author of the pageant, rising, humbly approached her son's throne, and bowed to the boy in token that she resigned into his hands the temporary authority she had held for nearly three years. Charles, advancing to meet her, accepted her homage, saying, at the same time, in words that were but too significant and prophetic of the remainder of his reign : " Madame ma mere, you shall govern and command as much or more than ever." a The Parliament of Rouen, flattered at being selected for the instrument in so important an act, published and registered the edict of Charles's majority, notwithstanding some unpalatable provisions. Kot so the Parliament of Paris. The counsellors of the capital were even more indignant at the slight put upon their claim to precedence, than at the proposed disarming of the Homan Catholics a measure particularly distasteful to the riotous population of Paris.' The details of their opposition need not, however, find a record here. In the end the firmness and of the king, or of his advisers, triumphed. At Man- tes 4 Charles received a deputation from the recalci- trant judges, with Christopher de Thou, their first president, at its head. After hearing their remonstrances, he replied to the delegates that, although young and possessed of little experience, he was as truly king of France as any of his predecessors, and that he intended to make himself obeyed as euch. To prove, however, that he had not acted inconsiderately 1 The two documents address and edict in Mem. de Conde, iv. 574-581. 3 Floquet, Hist, du parlement de Normandie, ii. 584. The entire scene is very vividly portrayed, ibid., ii. 561-586. Bruslart, Mem. de Conde, i. 132; De Thou, iii (liv. mv.) 421-424 ; Jean de Serres, iii. 33 ; Mem. de Castel- nau, liv. v., c. iv., etc.; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., liv. iv., c. iii. (i. 200- 202) ; Davila, bk. iii. 90. 3 " Les Parisiens furent fort presses qu'ils eussent a mettres les armes bas," eays the metropolitan curate, Jean de la Fosse, under date of May, 1563, " mais Us n'en volurent jamais rien faire." Mem. d'un cure ligueur, 63, 64. 4 A town on the left bank of the Seine, four leagues beyond Meulan. 140 TEE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. in the premises, he called upon the members of his council who were present to speak ; and each in turn, commencing with Car- dinal Bourbon, the first prince of the blood, declared that the edict of Amboise had been made with his consent and advice, and that he deemed it both useful and necessary. Whereupon Charles informed the parliamentary committee that he had not adopted this course because he was under any obligation to render to them an account of his actions. " But," said he, " now that I am of age, I wish you to meddle with nothing beyond giving my subjects good and speedy justice. The kings, my predecessors, placed you where you are, in order that they might unburden their consciences, and that their subjects might live in greater security under their obedience, not in order to constitute you my tutors, or the protectors of the realm, or the guardians of my city of Paris. You have allowed yourselves to suppose un- til now that you are all this. I shall not leave you under the delusion ; but I command you that, as in my father's and grand- father's time you were accustomed to attend to justice alone, so you shall henceforth meddle with nothing else." He professed to be perfectly willing to listen to their representations when modestly given ; but he concluded by threatening them that, if they persisted in their present insolent course, he would find means to convince them that they were not his guardians and teachers, but his servants. 1 These stout words were shrewdly suspected to come from " the shop of the chancellor," 2 whose popularity they by no means augmented. But Charles was himself in earnest. A fresh delegation of counsellors was dis- missed from the royal presence with menaces, 3 and the parlia- 1 Mem. de Conde (Bruslart), Sept., 1563, i. 133-135. * Ibid., ubi supra. " Ces parolles la sont venues de la boutique de Mon- sieur le Chancellier et non du Roy." *Ibid., i. 136. Even after Charles's lecture and a still more intemperate address of Montluc, Bishop of Valence, when parliament came to a vote there was a tie. To please Catharine, whose entire authority was at stake, the royal council of state gave the extraordinary command that the minute of this vote should be erased from the records of parliament, and the edict instantly registered. This last was forthwith done. De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 426, 427. Bruslart (ubi suprd, i. 136) denies that the erasure was actually made as Charles had commanded. 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 141 merit and people of Paris were both finally compelled to suc- cumb. Parliament registered the edict ; the people surrendered their arms the poor receiving the estimated value of the wea- pons, the tradesmen and burgesses a ticket to secure their future restoration. As a matter of course, the nobles do not appear at all in the transaction, their immemorial claim to be armed even in time of peace being respected. Pope Pius the Fourth had been as indignant as Philip the Second himself at the conclusion of peace with the Huguenots. The pipe's He avenged himself as soon as he received the tidings, by publishing, on the seventh of April, 1563, a bull conferring authority upon the inquisitors general of Christendom to proceed against heretics and their favorers even to bishops, archbishops, patriarchs and cardinals and to cite them before their tribunal by merely affixing the summons to the doors of the Inquisition or of the basilica of St. Peter. Should they fail to appear in person, they might at once be con- demned and sentenced. The bull was no idle threat. Without delay a number of French prelates were indicted for heresy, and summoned to come to Rome and defend themselves. The list cardinal was headed by Cardinal Odet de Chatillon, Coligny's lon ' eldest brother, who had openly espoused the reformed belief, and St. Remain, Archbishop of Aix. Caraccioli, who had resigned the bishopric of Troyes and had been ordained a Prot- estant pastor, Montluc of Valence, and others of less note, figured among the suspected. 1 As they did not appear, a num- ber of these prelates were shortly condemned." Not content with this bold infraction of the Gallican liberties, the Roman pontiff went a step farther, and, through the Congregation of the Inquisition, cited Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, to appear at Rome within six months, on pain of being held at- tainted of heresy, and having her dominions given in possession to the first Catholic occupant.' 1 De Thou, iii. (liv. xixv.) 441, etc. 9 Letter of Card, de la Bourdaisiere, Rome, Oct. 23, 1563, in which sentence is said to have been pronounced, the day before, on the Archbishop of Aix, and tho bishops of Uzes, Valence, Oleron, Lescar, Chartres, and Troyes. L Lrxboureur, L 863, 864. ;i Jlonitorium et citatio officii sancteo Inquisitionis contra illustrissimam et 142 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. In other words, not only Beam, the scanty remnant of her titular monarchy, but all the lands and property to which the Huguenot queen had fallen heir, were to follow in the direction the kingdom of Xavarre had taken, and go to swell the enor- mous wealth and dominion of the Spanish prince, 1 who foimd his interest to lie in the discord and misfortunes of his neigh- bors. Surely such an example would not be without signifi- cance to princes and princesses who, like Catharine, were wont occasionally to court the heretics on account of their power, and whose loyalty to the papal church could scarcely be supposed, even by the most charitable, to rest on any firmer foundation than self-interest. Nor was the lesson thrown away. Catha- rine and Michel de 1'Hospital, and many another, read its im- port at a glance. But, instead of breaking down their opposi- tion, the papal bull only forearmed them. They saw that Queen Jeanne's cause was their cause the cause of any of the Yalois who, whether upon the ground of heresy or upon any other pretext, might become obnoxious to the See of Rome. The The conncn royal council of state, therefore, promptly took the Enl* the matter in hand, in connection with the recent trial of papal buii. tne French prelates, and replied to the papal missive by a spirited protest, which D'Oisel, the French ambassador at Kome, was commissioned to present. In his monarch's name he was to declare the procedure against the Queen of Navarre to be not only derogatory to the respect due to the royal dignity, which that princess could claim to an equal degree with the other monarchs of Christendom, but injurious to the rights and honor of the king and kingdom, and subversive of civil society. serenissimam dominam Joannam Albretiam, reginam Navarrae, Mem. de- Conde, iv. 669-679 ; and Vauvilliers, Histoire de Jeanne d'Albret, iii. Pieces justif., 221-340. It is dated Tuesday, September 28, 1563. De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 442. The Card, de la Bourdaisiere (ubi supra) merely says : " Tout le monde dit a Rome, que la Reine de Navarre fut aussi privee audit Consifitoire, mais il n'en est rien, bien est-elle citee." Mem. de Castelnau, liv. v., c. ix. 1 It needed no very extraordinary penetration to read " Philip " under the words of the monitorium : " Ita ut in casu contra ventionis (quod Deus avertat) et contumaciae, regnum, principatus, ac alia cujuscunque status et dominia hujuscemodi, dentur et dari possint cuilibet ilia occupanti, vel itti aut iUis quibus Sanctitati sues et successoribus suis dare et concedere magis placuerit." 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 143 It was unjust, for it was dictated by the enemies of France, who j;ht to take advantage of the youth of the king and his em- barrassments arising from civil wars, to oppress a widow and orphans the widow and orphan children, indeed, of a king for whom the Pope had himself but recently been endeavoring so zealously to secure the restoration of Xavarre. The malice was apparent from the fact that nothing similar had been undertaken by the Holy See against any of the monarchs who had revolted from its obedience within the last forty years. Sovereign power had been conferred upon the Pope for the salvation of souls, not that he might despoil kings and dispose of kingdoms according to his caprice an undertaking his predecessors had engaged hi hitherto only to their shame and confusion. Finally, the King of France begged Pius to recall the sentence against Queen Jeanne, otherwise he would be compelled to employ the reme- dies resorted to by his ancestors in similar cases, according to the laws of the realm. 1 Kot content with this direct appeal, Catharine wrote to her son's ambassador in Germany to interest the emperor and the King of the Romans in an affair that no less vitally affected them. 2 So vigorous a response seems to have frightened the papal court, and the bull was either recalled or dropped at least no trace is said to be found in the Consti- tutions of Pius the Fourth and the proceedings against the bishops were indefinitely suspended.* 1 Summary of the protest in De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv. ) 441-447 ; and Vau- villiera, ii. 7-17 ; in full in Mem. de Conde, iv. 680-684. "Quant au fait de la Reine de Navarre, qui est celuy qui importe le plus, ledit sieur d'Oysel aura charge de luy faire bien entendre," says Catharine in a long letter to Bishop Bochetel (ubi infra), " qu'il n'a nnlle autorite et jurisdiction sur ceux qui portent titre de Roy ou de Reine, et que ce n'est a luy de donner leur estata et royaumes en proye au premier conquerant." * See the interesting letter of Catharine to Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes, French ambassador at Vienna, Dec. 13, 1563, in which the papal assumption is stigmatized as dangerous to the peace of Christendom. " De nostre part nous sommes delibercz de ne le permettre ny consentir," she says, and she is persuaded that neither Ferdinand nor Maximilian will consent. Le Laboureur, i. 783. 3 De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 447. Castelnan (liv. v., c. ix.) gives a wrong im- pression by his assertion that " the Pope could never be induced to reverse the sentence against the Queen of Navarre." 144 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OP FRANCE. Cn. XIV. But while Catharine felt it necessary, for the maintenance of her own authority and of the dignity of the French crown, to enter the lists boldly in behalf of the Queen of Navarre, she was none the less bent upon confirming that authority by ren- dering it impossible for the Huguenots ever again to take the field in opposition to the crown. A war for the sake of princi- ple was something of which that cynical princess could not con- ceive. The Huguenot party was strong, according to her view, only because of the possession of powerful leaders. The reli- gious convictions of its adherents went for nothing. Let the Condes, and the Colignies, and the Porciens, and the La Roche- foucaulds be gained over, and the people, deprived of a head, would subordinate their theology to their interest, and unity would be restored under her own rule. It was the same vain belief that alone rendered possible a few years later such a stupendous crime and folly as the St. Bartholomew's Day mas- sacre. Many an obscure and illiterate martyr, who had lost his life during her husband's reign, might have given her a far juster estimate of the future than her Macchiavellian education, with all its fancied shrewdness and insight into human character and motives, had furnished her. To overthrow the political influence of the Huguenots she must seduce their leaders. Of this Catharine was sure. With whom, then, should she commence but with the brilliant attempt to RC- Conde ? The calm and commanding admiral, indeed, from the was the true head and heart of the late war never more firm and uncompromising than after defeat as reluctant to renounce war without securing, beyond question, the religious liberty he sought, as he had been averse to take up the sword at all in the beginning. Of such a man, however, little hope could be entertained. But Louis of Bourbon was cast in another mould. Excessively small in stature and de- formed in person, he was a general favorite ; for he was amia- ble, witty, and talkative. 1 Moreover, he was fond of pleasure 1 Le Labourenr, ii. 610, 611 ; Braritome, Homines illustres (CEuvres, ix. 259). We cannot accept, without much caution, the portraits drawn of the prince by the English while they were still smarting with resentment against him for concluding peace with the king without securing the claims of Eliza- 1564. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 145 to an extent that attracted notice even in that giddy court, and as open to temptation as any of its frivolous denizens. 1 For such persons Catharine knew how to lay snares. Never did queen surround herself with more brilliant enticements for the unwary. Her maids of honor were at once her spies and the instruments of accomplishing her designs. As she had had a fair Rouhet to undermine the constancy of Antoine, so she had now an Isabeau de Limueil to entrap his younger brother. Nor did Catharine's device prove unsuccessful. Conde became involved in an amorous intrigue that shook the confidence of his Huguenot friends in his steadfastness and sincerity ; while the silly girl whom the queen had encouraged in a course that led to ruin, as soon as her shame became notorious, was ignominiously banished from court for no one could surpass Catharine in the personation of offended modesty.* Yet, not- withstanding a disgraceful fall which proved to the satisfaction of a world, always sufficiently sceptical of the depth of religious convictions, that ambition had much more to do with the prince's conduct than any sense of duty, Conde was not wholly lost to right feelings. The tears and remonstrances of his wife the true-hearted Eieonore de Roye dying of grief at his incon- stancy, are said to have wrought a marked change in his char- beth upon Calais. " The Prince of Conde," wrote Sir Thomas Smith, April 13, 1563, " is thought .... to be waxen almost a new King of Navarre. So thei which are most zelous for the religion are raarvelously offendid with him ; and in great feare, that shortly all wil be worse than ever it was. Et quia nunc prodit causam religionis, as they say, 8wk rfyv faBvidav aurov *ol tyvXP^rw 1 *pbs TtL KoAa, and begynnes even now yvvcunoii.a.vf'iv, as the other did ; they thinke plainly, that he will declare himself, ere it be long, unkiend to God, to us, and to himself ; being won by the papists, either with reward of Balaam, or ells with Cozbi the Midianite, to adjoigne himself to Baal-peor." Forbes, State Papers, ii. 385. 1 " Le bon prince," says Brantome, " estoit aussi mondain qu'un autre, et aimoit autant la f emme d'autruy que la sienne, tenant fort du natnrel de ceux de la race .de Bourbon, qui ont este fort d'amonreuse complexion." Homines illustres, M. le Prince de Conde*. Granvelle wrote to the Emperor Ferdinand from Besan^on (April 12, 1564), that word had come from France, " que le prince de Condt) y entendoit au service des dames plus qu'en aultre chose, et assez froid en la religion des huguenotz." Papiere d'etat, vii. 467. * See Bayle's art on Isabeau de Limueil ; J. de Serres, iii. 45, 46 ; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 42. VOL. II. 10 146 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. acter. 1 From that time Catharine's power was gone. In vain did she or the Guises strive to gain him over to the papal party by offering him, in second marriage, the widow of Marshal Saint Andre, with an ample dower that might well dazzle a prince of the blood with but a beggarly appanage ; 2 or even by proposing to confer upon him the hand of the yet blooming Queen of Scots, 3 the Prince of Conde remained true to the cause he had espoused till his blood stained the fatal field of Jarnac. But while the queen mother was plying the great with her seductions, while the Roman Catholic leaders were artfully in- stilling into the minds of the people the idea that the Edict of Amboise was only a temporary expedient, 4 while royal governors, or their lieutenants, like Damville the constable's younger son at Pamiers, were cruelly abusing the Protestants whom they ought to have protected, 5 there was much in the tidings that came especially from southern France to encourage the reform - Huguenot crs. In the midst of the confusion and carnage of war the leaven had yet been working. There were even to be found places where the progress of Protestantism had rendered the application of the provisions of the edict nearly, if not quite impossible. The little city of Milhau, in Rouergue, 6 is a striking and very interesting instance. 1 Jean de Serres, iii. 50, 51 ; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 412, 413. Cf. Bolwil- ler to Cardinal Granvelle, Sept. 4, 1564, Papiers d'etat du cardinal de Gran- velle, viii. 305. See, however, the statements in chapter xvi. of this history. 2 His revenue from his county of Soissons was not 1,000 crowns a year, and he had little from his other possessions (Le Laboureur, ii. 611). Secretary Courtewille, in his secret report (Dec., 1561), states that the Huguenot no- bles of the first rank were in general poor Vendome, Conde, Coligny, etc. and that were it not for a monthly sum of 1,200 crowns, which the Huguenota furnished to Conde, and 1,000 which the admiral received in similar man- ner, they would hardly know how to support themselves. Papiers d'etat du card, de Granv. , vi. 440. 3 Mary herself, however, writing to her aunt, the Duchess of Aerschot (Nov. 6, 1564), represents the offer of marriage as made by Conde, both to her grand- mother and to her uncle the cardinal : "a qui il a fait toutes les belles offrea du monde." Papiers d'etat du card, de Granv., viii. 481. 4 Jean de Serres, iii. 32, 33. 6 Ibid., iii. 45, 46; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 414; D'Aubigne, Hist, univ., i. 197. 6 On the upper Tarn, in the modern department of the Aveyron. 1503. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. The edict had expressly directed that all churches should be restored to the Roman Catholics, and that the Protestants should resort for worship to other places, either in the suburbs, or in the case of cities which the Huguenots had held on the seventh Miihan-cn- of March, 1563 within the walls. But, soon after Kouergtie. fa Q res toration of peace, the consuls and inhabitants of Milhau presented a petition to Charles the Ninth, in which they make the startling assertion that the entire population has become Protestant (" de la religion ") ; that for two years or thereabouts they have lived in undisturbed peace, whilst other cities have been the scene of disturbances ; and that, at a recent gathering of the inhabitants, they unanimously expressed their desire to live in the exercise of the reformed faith, under the royal permission. By the king's order the petition was referred for examination to the commissioners for the execution of the edict in the province of Guyenne. All its statements were found to be strictly correct. There was not one papist within the city ; not one man, woman, or child expressed a desire for the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic ceremonial. The monks had renounced the cowl, the priests their vestments. Of their own free will, some of the friars had married, some had taken up useful trades. The prior had voluntarily resigned the greater part of his revenues ; retaining one-third for his own support, he had begged that the remainder might be devoted to the preaching of God's "Word and the maintenance of the poor. The two churches of the place had for eighteen months been used for Protestant worship, and there were no other conveni- ent places to be found. Indeed, had the churches been given up, there would have been no one to take possession. A care- ful domiciliary examination by four persons appointed by the royal judge had incontestably established the point. Over eight hundred houses were visited, constituting the greater part of ' the city. The occupants were summoned to express their pref- erences, and the result was contained in the solemn return of the commission : " We have not found a single person who de- sired or asked for the mass ; but, on the contrary, all demanded the preaching of the Word of God, and the administration of His holy sacraments as instituted by Himself in that Word. 148 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. And tlms we certify by the oath we have taken to God and to the king." ' From other places the cry of the churches for ministers to be sent from Geneva was unabated. In one town and its environs, The cry for so inadequate was a single minister to the discharge ministers. o ki s p as t ora i duties, that the peasants of the vicinity were compelled to baptize one another's children, or to leave them unbaptized.* At Montpellier it is the consuls that beg that their corps of ministers may be doubled ; their two pastors cannot preach eveiy day and three times upon Sunday, and yet visit the neighboring villages.* Nowhere, however, was the advance of Protestantism so hopeful as in the principality of Beam, whither Jeanne d'Al- Esubiish- bret had retired, and where, since her husband's death, tefomation she had been dividing her cares between the edu- m B6&rn. cation of her son, Henry of Navarre, and the establish- ment of the Reformation. A less courageous spirit than hers * 1 The very important documents which exhibit these facts at great length are in the archives of the " Mairie " of Milhau and in the Bibliotheqne na- tionale, and were inedited until printed in the BulletLa, ix. (1860) 382-392. Among the names of the Huguenots of Milhau figuring here is that of Benoit Ferragut, apothecary. * Graignan, pour 1'eglise de Someyre, a la Venerable Compagnie, 19 jnin, 1563, Gaberel, Hist, de 1'eglise de Geneve, i., Pieces justificatives, 153. " Et pourtant, je ne peux pas suffire a tout. Les paysans se baptisent les enfants les ungs les autres, on sont contraincts de les laisser a baptiser." 3 Les consuls de Montpellier a la Ven. Comp. , 30 Janvier, 1563 (1564), ibid., i., Pieces just., 179. 4 I know of no more beautiful monument of Jeanne's courage and piety than the letter she wrote to the Cardinal of Armagnac, in reply to a letter of the cardinal, dated August 18, 1563, intended to frighten her into a return to the papal church. It was sent by the same messenger who had brought the letter of Armagnac, and it has every mark of having been Jeanne's own com- position. Both letters are given in full by Olhagaray, Hist de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, 536-543, and 544-551 ; a summary in Vauvilliera, L 347-362. The Queen of Navarre boldly avowed her sentiments, but declared her policy to be pacific : " Je ne fay rien par force; il n'y a ny mort ny emprisonnement, ny condemnation, qui sont les nerfs de la force." But she refused to recog- nize Armagnac who was papal legate in Provence, Guyenne, and Languedoc as having any such office in Beam",- proudly writing : " Je ne recognois en Beam que Dieu auquel je dois rendre conte de la charge qu'il m'a baillee dc son peuple." The publication of these letters produced a deep impression favorable to the Reformation. 1563. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 149 might well have succumbed in view of the difficulties in her way. Of the nobility not one-tenth, of the magistracy not one-fifth, were favorable to the changes which she wished to introduce. The clergy were, of course, nearly unanimous in opposition. 1 She was, however, vigorously and wisely seconded in her efforts by the eminent reformed pastor, Merlin, formerly almoner of Admiral Coligny, whom Calvin had sent from Geneva at her request.* But when, contrary to his advice, the Queen of Na- varre had summoned a meeting of the estates of her small ter- ritory, she detected unexpected symptoms of resistance. She accordingly abstained from broaching the unwelcome topic oi reformation. But the deputies of the three orders themselves introduced it. Taking occasion from a prohibition she had issued against carrying the host in procession, they petitioned her to maintain them in the religion of their ancestors, in ac- cordance with the promise which the princes of the country were accustomed to make." Fortunately a small minority was found to offer a request of an entirely opposite tenor; and Jeanne d'Albret, with her characteristic firmness, declared in reply " that she would reform religion in her country, whoever might oppose." So much discontent did this decision provoke that there was danger of open sedition.* 1 Letter of Jehan Reymond Merlin to Calvin, Pan, July 23, 1563, printed for the first time in the Bulletin, xiv. (1865) 233, 234. 4 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 535 ; Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, i. 319. 3 Letter of Merlin, ubi supra, 237, 238 ; Vauvilliers, L 320. * Ibid., 238. " Dont plusieurs, voire des grands, s'en allerent fort mal con tens, et eingulierement quelques-uns qu'elle rabroua plus rudement que je n'eusse dfisireV' Merlin adds that all now saw the excellence of his advice, for, had it been followed, " il y auroit apparence que la reformation enst este faite en ce pays par 1'authorite des estats ; maintenant U faut qu'elle se fasse de seule puissance absolue de la royne, voyre avec danger." In other parts of France, as well as in Beam, Jeanne's reformatory movements were looked upon with great disfavor. Upon a glass window at Limoges (made about the year 1564, and still in existence, I believe) she is represented, by way of de- rision, as herself in the pulpit, and preaching to a congregation of eight Hu- guenots seated. Underneath is the bitter couplet, " Mal sont les gens endoctrines Quand par femme sont sermone's." 150 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. These internal obstacles were, however, by no means the only difficulties. The court of Pau was disturbed by an unin- terrupted succession of rumors of trouble from without. Now it was the French king that stood ready to seize the scanty remnants of Navarre, or the Spaniard that was all prepared for an invasion from the south ; anon it was Montluc from the side of Guyenne, or Damville from that of Languedoc, who were meditating incursions in the interest of the Roman Catholic Church. " In short," excalims her indefatigable coadjutor, Raymond Merlin, " it is wonderful that this princess should be able to persist with constancy in her holy design ! " l Then came the papal citation, and the necessity to avoid the aliena- tion of the French court which would certainly result from suddenly abolishing the papal rites, especially in view of the circumstance that Catharine de' Medici had several times begged the Queen of Navarre by letter to refrain from taking that de- cided step. 8 It speaks well for the energy and intrepidity of Jeanne d'Al- bret, as well as for the wisdom of some of her advisers, that she was able to lay in these troublous times such broad founda- tions for the Protestant system of worship and government as we shall shortly have occasion to see her laying ; for she was surrounded by courtiers who beheld in her bold espousal of the Reformation the death-blow to their hopes of advancement at Paris, and were, consequently, resolute in their opposition. An incident occurring some months later demonstrates that the perils from her treacherous neighbors were not purely imagi- A plan to Hd- nary. This event was nothing less than the discovery Sid hw chu- of a plan to kidnap the Queen of Navarre and her young son and daughter, and to give them over into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. Shortly after Antoine's M. Hennin, Monuments de 1'hist. de France, Paris, 1863, tome ix. (1559-1589) 76. The statement that this and a somewhat similar representation, also described in this work, came from an old abbey, whose monks thus revenged themselves upon the queen for removing their pulpit, seems to be a mistake. 1 Letter of Merlin, ubi supra, 239 : '' Brief c'est merveille que ceste prin- cesse puisse persister constamment en son sainct vouloir." Cf. letter of same, Dec. 25, 1563, 245. 1 Letter of Merlin, Dec. 25, 1563, ubi supra, 245. 15C4. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 151 death, her enemies in France among whom, despite his sub- sequent denial, it is probable that Blaise do Montluc was one had devised this plot as a promising means of promoting their interests. They Imd despatched a trusty agent to prepare a few of their most devoted partisans in Guyenne for its execu- tion ; he was then to pass into Spain, to confer with the Duke of Alva. The latter part of his instructions had not been ful- filled when the assassination of Guise took place. Nothing daunted by this mishap, the conspirators ordered their agent to carry out the original scheme. Alva received it with favor, and sent the Frenchman, with his own approval of the under- taking, to the Spanish court, where he held at least three mid- night interviews with Philip. No design was ever more dear to that prudent monarch's heart than one which combined the rare attractions of secrecy and treachery, particularly if there were a reasonable hope in the end of a little wholesome blood- letting. Fortunately, however, the messenger had not been so careful in his conversation but that he disclosed to one of Isabella's French servants all that was essential in his commis- sion. The momentous secret soon found its way to the Spanish queen's almoner, and finally to the queen herself. The blow impending over her cousin's head terrified Isabella, and melted her compassionate heart. She disclosed to the ambassador of Charles the Ninth the astounding fact that some of the Span- ish troops then at Barcelona, on their way to the campaign in Barbary, were to be quietly sent back from the coast to the interior. Thence, passing through defiles in the Pyrenees, under experienced guides, they were to fall upon the unsus- pecting court of the Queen of Navarre at Pan. In such a case, to be forewarned was to be forearmed. The private secretary of the French envoy was despatched to inform Jeanne d'Albret of her peril, and to notify Catharine de' Medici of the intended incursion into the French territories. The premature disclosure occasioned the abandonment of the plan ; but it is said that Philip the Second never forgave his unfortunate wife her part in frustrating its execution.' 1 " Rccit d'une entreprise faite en 1'an 1565 centre la Reine de Navarre et messeigneurs les enfans," etc. , etc. ; Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, 152 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. The mouth of December, 1563, witnessed the close of that cele- brated convocation, the Council of Trent. This is not the place for the discussion of its extraordinary history, yet it is The Council of .** i . Trent closes worth while to note the conclusion of an assembly its sessions. . - , _ which exerted so weighty an influence in establishing the dogmas of the papal church. Resumed after its long sus- pension, on the eighteenth of January, 1562, the council from whose deliberations such magnificent results of harmony had been expected, began its work by rendering the breach between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant worlds incurable. For- tunately for the Roman See, all the leading courts in Christen- dom, although agreed in pronouncing for the necessity of reform, were at variance with one another in respect to the particular objects to be aimed at. It was by a skilful use of this circum- stance that the Pope was enabled to extricate himself creditably from an embarrassing situation, and to secure every essential advantage. At the reopening of the council, the French and German bishops were not present, and the great majority of the members being poor Italian prelates dependent almost for their daily bread upon the good pleasure of the pontiff, it is not sur- prising that the first step taken was to concede to the Pope or his legates the exclusive right to introduce subjects for discus- sion, as well as the yet more important claim of sitting as judge and ratifying the decisions of the assembled Fathers before they became valid. Notwithstanding this disgraceful surrender of their independence and authority, the Roman See was by no means sure as to the results at which the prelates of the Council of Trent would arrive. France and the empire de- manded radical reforms in the Pope and his court, and some concessions to the Protestants the permission of marriage for the priesthood, the distribution of the wine to the laity hi the eucharistic sacrament, and the use of the vernacular tongue in a vi. 281-295. The year should be 1564. The best authority is, however, that of De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxvi.) 496-499. who states that he simply gives the account as he had it from the lips of Secretary Rouleau, who brought the tidings to France, and from the children of the domestic of Isabella who detected the conspiracy. See, also, Leon Feer, in Bulletin, xxvi. (1877), 207, etc., 279, etc. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 153 portion, at least, of the public services. The arrival of the Car- dinal of Lorraine and other bishops, in the month of November, 1562, to reinforce the handful of French prelates in attendance, enhanced the apprehensions of Pius. For, strange as it may ap- pear to us, even Pius suspected Charles of favoring innovation so far had the arch-hypocrite imposed on friend as well as foe by his declaration of adhesion to the Augsburg Confession ! The fact was that there was no lack of dissimulation on any side, and that the prelates who urged reforms were among the most insincere. They had drawn up certain articles without the slightest expectation, and certainly without the faintest desire, to have them accepted. Their sole aim seemed to be to shift the blame for the flagrant disorders of the Church from their own shoulders to those of the Pope. If their suggestions had been seriously entertained and acted upon, no men would have had more difficulty than they in concealing their chagrin. 1 The monarchs and it was their ambassadors who, with the papal legates, directed all the most important conclusions were at heart equally averse to the restoration of canonical elections, and to everything which, by relieving the ecclesiastics of their servile dependence upon the crown, might cut off that perennial fountain for the payment of their debts and for defraying the expenses of their military enterprises, which they had discovered in the contributions wrung from churchmen's purses. Thus, in the end, by a series of compromises, in which Pope and king each obtained what he was anxious to secure, and sacrificed little for which he really cared, the council managed to confirm the greater number of the abuses it had been expected to 1 Michel de 1'Hospital frankly told Santa Croce that the misfortunes of France came exclusively from the French themselves, " e della vita dei preti, molto sregolata, i quali non vogliono esser riformati, e principalmente quelli del Concilio, e poi nelle loro lettere rejiciunt cnlpam in Papam." "loso," adds the nuncio himself, " che sono loro che non vogliono esser riformati, e hauno mandati di qua certi articoli che hanno parimente mandati a Roma, circa gli quali io vi posso dir che se Sua Santita li accordasse, conf onnamente alle loro petition!, sariano i piti malcontent! del mondo ; ma no le hanno f atte ad altro fine che per haver occasione di mostrar di qua, che il Papa d quello che non vuole, mentre che sono loro che non vogliono quella riformatione del clero." Santa Croce to Borromeo, March 28, 1563, Aymon, i. 230, 231 ; Cimber et Danjou, vi. 138. 154 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. remove, and to render indelible the line of demarcation between Roman Catholic and Protestant, which it was to have effaced. The Cardinal of Lorraine returning to France, after the con- clusion of the council (the fourth of December, 1563), made it his first object to secure the ratification of the Triden- rane Returns tine decrees. lie had now thrown off the mask of moderation, which had caused his friends such need- less alarms, and was quite ready to sacrifice (as the nuncio had long since prophesied he would sacrifice) ' the interests of France to those of the Roman See. But the undertaking was beyond his strength. On Lorraine's arrival at court, then stopping at St. Maur-sur- Marne (January, 1564), Catharine answered his request that the king should approve the conclusions of Trent by say- oMrfuflTMeki ing that, if there was anything good in them, the king of "the decras would gladly approve of it, even if it were not decreed of Trent. . * ., rr . , , . , , by the council. And, at a supper, to which he was invited the same evening at the quarters of the Cardinal of Bourbon, he had to put up with a good deal of rough jesting from Conde and his boon companions, who plied him with pun- gent questions respecting the Pope and the doings of the holy Fathers.' A few weeks later Lorraine made a more distinct effort to secure recognition for the late council's work. Several of the presidents of parliament, the avocat-general, and the procureur du roi had been summoned to court which, meanwhile, had removed to Melun (February, 1564) to give their advice to the privy council respecting this momentous question. The cardi- wnm le be- na ^' 8 proposition met with little favor. Chancellor rhf e n and r L'Hospital distinguished himself by his determined i/HospitaL opposition, and boldly refuted the churchman's argu- ments. The cardinal had long been chafing at the intractability 1 " H quale (Cardinal di Lorreno) con la morte del suo fratello, haveraman- co spiriti, e credo io che terra piu contq della satisfattione di Sua Santita che di qua." Santa Croce to Borromeo, Blois, March 28, 1563, shortly after Guise's death. Aymon, i. 233 ; Cimber et Danjou, vi. 140. 9 " Sed hae nugas ipsi nequaquam placebant." Languet, letter of Feb. 3, 1564, Epist. seer., ii. 283. 1564. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. of the lawyer, who owed his early advancement to the influence of the house of Guise, and now could no longer contain his anger. He spoke in a loud and imperious tone, and used taunts that greatly provoked the illustrious bystanders. " It is high tune for you to drop your mask," he said to L'Hospital, " for, as for myself, I cannot discover what religion you are of. In fact, you seem to have no other religion than to injure as much as possi- ble both me and my house. Ingrate that you are, you have for- gotten all the benefits you have received at my hands." The chancellors answer was quiet and dignified. " I shall always be ready, even at the peril of my life, to return my obligations t- > you. I cannot do it at the expense of the king's honor and welfare." And he added the pointed observation that the car- dinal was desirous of effecting, by intrigue, what he had been unable to effect by force of arms. Others took up the debate, the old constable himself disclaiming any intention of disputing respecting doctrines which he approved, but expressing his sur- prise that Lorraine should disturb the tranquillity of the king- dom, and take up the cause of the Roman pontiff against a king through whose liberality he was in the enjoyment of an annual revenue of three or four hundred thousand francs. Catharine, as usual, did her best to allay the irritation ; but the cardinal, greatly disappointed, retired to Rheims. 1 A few months after the scene at Melun, the most eminent of French jurists, the celebrated Charles Du Moulin, published an unanswerable treatise, proving that the Council of Trent had 1 Letter of Santa Croce to Borromeo, Melun, Feb. 25, 1564, Aymon, i. 258, 259 ; Letter of Beza to Bullinger, Geneva, March 6, 1564, Simler ColL (Zu- rich) MSS. ; Languet, March 6, 1564, Epist. seer., ii. 286, 287. There has been great confusion respecting this altercation between Lorraine and L'Hos- pital. According to Henri Martin (Histoire de France, x. 194), it took place " & propos d'un nouvel edit qui accordait aux re formes quelques facilities pour I'enseignement et 1'exercise de leur religion en maisons privees dans les villes oft le culte public leur etait interdit." M. Jules Bonnet has kindly made search for me in the Zurich and Paris libraries, and obtained corroborative proof of what I already suspected, that M. Martin and others had confounded the scene at Melun in February, 1564, with another quarrel between the same persons in March, 1566, at Moulina. See the documents, including the letter of Beza referred to above, published together with my inquiries, in the Bul- letin de la Soc. du prot. fr., xxiv. (1875) 409-415. 156 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. none of the characteristics of a tme oecumenical synod, and that ... , its decrees were null and void. 1 And the Parliament Opposition of DU Moniin. O f Paris, although it ordered the seizure of the book and imprisoned the author for some days, could not be in- duced to consent to incorporate in the legislation of the coun- try the Tridentine decrees, so hostile in spirit to the French legislation." Evidently parliament, although too timid to say so, believed, with Du Moulin, that the acceptance of the decrees in question " would be against God and against the benefit of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, against the ancient councils, against the majesty of the king and the rights of his crown, against his recent edicts and the edicts of preceding kings, against the lib- erty and immunity of the Gallican Church, the authority of the estates and courts of parliament of the kingdom, and the secular jurisdiction." * It was shortly before this time that the report gained cur- rency that Charles the Ninth had received an embassy from Philip of Spain and the Duke of Savoy, inviting him, it was said, to a conference with all other " Christian " princes, to be held on the twenty-fifth of March (1564), to swear submission in common to the decrees of Trent and devise means for the repression of heresy. But neither Charles nor his mother, still very much under the influence of the tolerant chancellor, was disposed to enter upon the path of persecution marked out for them. The conference was therefore, we are told, gracefully, but firmly declined. 4 The story was but an idle rumor, the absurdity of which is clearly seen from this one fact among many, that Philip had not at this time himself accepted and published the Tridentine decrees ; * while, from various docu- 1 " Ctmseil BUT le fait du Concile de Trente," etc. Mem. de Conde\ v. 81- 129. The dedication to Prince Porcien is dated May 29, 1564. See De Thou, iiL (liv. xxxvi.) 501. * Du Moulin was ordered by a royal letter to be set at large, Lyons, June 24, 1564. 3 Conclusion of " Conseil," etc. Mem. de Conde, v. 129. 4 De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxvi.), 499, 500; Ag. d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., i. 203 (liv. iv., c. iv.) ; Mem. de Castelnau, liv. v., c. vi. 6 Prof. Soldan has discussed the matter at great length. Gesch. des Prot. in Frank. , ii. 197, etc. 15&L THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 157 ments that have come down to us, it appears that Catharine de' Medici had for some months ' been projecting a trip that should enable her son to meet several of the neighboring princes, for the purpose of cultivating more friendly relations with them. From this desire, and from the wish, by displaying the young monarch to the inhabitants of the different provinces, to revive the loyalty of his subjects, seriously weakened during the late civil war, apparently arose the project of that well-known " progress " of Charles the Nmth through the greater part of France, a progress which consumed many successive months. Whether the Cardinal of Lorraine had any direct part, as was commonly reported, in bringing about the journey of the king, is uncertain. He himself wrote to Granvelle that ress " of he had neither advocated nor opposed it : " but the Charles TX, character of the man has been delineated to little purpose in these pages if the reader is disposed to give any weight to his assertion. Certain, however, it is that the Hu- guenots looked upon the project with great suspicion, and that its execution was accepted as a virtual triumph of their oppo- nents. Conde and Coligny could see as clearly as the cardinal the substantial advantages which a formal visit to the elder branch of the Lorraine family might secure to the branch of the family domiciled in France ; and they could readily imagine that under cover of this voyage might be concealed the most nefari- ous designs against the peace of their co-religionists. It is not surprising that many Huguenot nobles accepted it as a mark of the loss of favor, and that few of them accompanied the court in its wanderings.' The English ambassador, noting this im- 1 As early as Dec. 13, 1563, the queen mother had announced to the French ambassador in Vienna her son's expected journey, toward the end of February or the beginning of March, to visit his sister, the Duchess of Lorraine, and her infant son. Letter to Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes, Le Lnbonreur, L 784. See, too, Languet's letter of Nov. 16, 1563, Epist. seer., ii. 268. 9 Lorraine to Granvelle, ubi infra. The progress was resolved upon, it will be seen, before Lorraine's return from Trent. J " I am going to meet their Majesties at Chalons," wrote the Cardinal of Lorraine from Tou-sur-Marne, between Rheims and Chalons, April 20, 1564 ; ' thence they are to leave for Bar, where they will, I think, remain no more than four or five days. I hope that the voyage will be honorable and profit- 158 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. portant fact, made, on his own account, an unfavorable deduc- tion from what he saw, as to the design of the court. " They carry the king about this country now," he observed, " mostly to see the ruins of the churches and religious houses done by the Huguenots in this last war. They suppress the losses and hurts the Huguenots have suffered." ' On the other hand, the Roman Catholic party received their success as a presage of speedy restoration to full power, and entertained brilliant hopes for the future. 4 The queen mother was beginning to make fair promises to the papal adherents, and the influence of the admiral and his brothers seemed to be at an end. Leaving the palace of Fontainebleau, the court passed through Sens and Troyes to the city of Bar-sur-Seine, where Charles acted as sponsor for his infant nephew, the son of the Duke of Lorraine. The brilliant fetes that accompanied the arrival of the king here and elsewhere could not, however, hide from the world one of the chief results, if not designs, of the journey. It was a prominent part of the queen mother's plan to seize the opportunity for carrying out the system of repression toward the Huguenots which she had already begun. While there is no reason to suppose that as yet she felt any disposition to lend an ear to the suggestions of Spanish emissaries, or of Philip him- able for our house. ... As to our court, it was never so empty of per- sons belonging to the opposite religion as it is now. The few that are there show very great regret at this voyage, in which I can assure you that I have not meddled at all, either to further or to retard it ; only a short time after my return from Trent, I succeeded in having Nancy changed for Bar." Papiers d'etat du card, de Granvelle, vii. 511. 1 Smith to Cecil, Tarascon, Oct. 21, 1564, State Paper Office, Calendar. 8 " Assuredly, sir," wrote the cardinal in the letter just cited, " the queen my mistress shows, daily more and more, a strong and holy affection. This evening I have heard, by the Cardinal of Guise, my brother, who has reached me, many holy intentions of their Majesties, which may God give them grace to put into good execution." Ibid., ubi supra. In a somewhat similar strain Granvelle about this time wrote: " I am so strongly assured that religion is going to take a favorable turn in France, that I know not what to say of it. The world in that quarter is so light -and variable, that no great grounds of confidence can be assumed. But it is at any rate something that matters are not growing worse." Letter to Bolwiller, April 0, 1564, Papiers d'etat, etc., vii. 461. 1554. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 159 self, for a general massacre, or at least an open war of extermi- nation, she was certainly very willing by less open means to preclude the Protestants from ever giving her trouble, or becoming again a formidable power in the state. The most unfavorable reports, in truth, were in circulation against the Huguenots. At Lyons they were accused of poisoning the wells, or, according to another version of the story, the kitchen-pots, in order to give the impression that the plague was in the city, and so deter the king from coming. 1 Catharine had no need, however, of crediting these calumnious tales in order to be moved to hostile action. Her desire was unabated to reign under her son's name, untrammelled by the restraint of the jealous love of liberty cherished by the Huguenots. Their numbers were large though not so large as they were then supposed to be. Even so intelligent a historian as Gamier regards them as constituting nearly one-third of the kingdom. 3 M. Lacretelle is undoubtedly much more correct in estimating them at fifteen or sixteen hundred thousand souls, or barely one-tenth of the entire popu- lation of France a country at that time much more sparsely inhabited, and of which a much larger part of the surface was in inferior cultivation, or altogether neglected, than at present. 5 Hut, however small their number in proportion to the papists, the Huguenots, from their superior industry and intelligence, from the circumstance that their strength lay in the sturdy middle class and in the nobility, including little of the rabble of the cities and none of that of Paris, 4 were a party that naturally awakened the jealousy of the queen. We need make little account of any exasperation in consequence of such silly devices as the threatening letter said to have been put in 1 Letter of Granvelle to the Emperor Ferdinand, May 8, 1564, Papiere d'etat, vii 613 ; also 622, 631. * "Les r6formes qni formoient presque le tiers du royaume." Gamier, Hist, de France, xxx. 453. 3 " On pent presumer qu'il n'y cut jamais en France pins de quinze on seize cent mille rufonnes. ... La France possedait a peine quinze millions d'habitans. Ainsi les protestans n'en formaient guere que le dixithne." Lacretelle, Histoire de France pendant les guerres de religion, ii. 169, 170. The entire passage is important. 4 Giov. Michiel, Rel. des Amb. Yen., i. 412. 160 THE RISE OP THE HUGUEXOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV, Catharine's bed-room, warning her that if she did not drive the papists from about her, " she and her L'Aubespine " (secretary of state) would feel the dagger. 1 She was too shrewd not to know that a Roman Catholic was more likely to have penned it than a Huguenot. In furtherance of the policy to which she had now com- mitted herself, she caused the fortifications of the cities that had been strongholds of the Protestants during the late war to be levelled, and in their place erected citadels whereby the Huguenots might be kept in subjection. 2 As Easter approached, Catharine's Catharine revealed the altered tone of her mind by new zeai. notifying her maids of honor that she would suffer none to remain about her but those who were good Catholics and submitted to the ordinary test of orthodoxy. There is said to have been but a single girl who declined to go to mass, and preferred to return to her home. 8 Well would it have been if the queen had been as attentive to the morals 4 as to the ortho- doxy of these pleasure-seeking attendants. But, to belong to the " religion ancienne et catholique " was a mantle large enough to cover a multitude of sins. More direct infringements upon the liberty guaranteed by the Edict of Amboise had already been' made or were yet in store. The legislation which could not conveniently be repealed by for- e nial enactment could be rendered null by interpreta- upon " ti ye declarations. Charles was made to proclaim that the Edict, k v ^ e Edict ne na( j no t intended to permit preaching in places previously belonging to the patrimony of the Church, 1 Capefigue, from MS., Hist, de la reforme, de la ligue, etc., ii. 408. 2 Jean de Series, iii. 47, 48 ; De Thou, iii. , liv. xxxvi. 504 ; Mem. de Castel- nau, 1. v., c. x.; Pasquier, Lettres, iv., 22, ap. Capefigue, ii. 410. 3 Granvelle to the Emperor Ferdinand, April 12, 1564, Pap. d'etat, vii 467. 4 Of solicitude on this score, the only evidence I have come across is fur- nished by the following passage of one of the " Occurrences in France," under date of April 11, 1565, sent to the English Government. "Orders are also taken in the court that no gentleman shall talk with the queen's maid., except it is in the queen's presence, or in that of Madame la Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon, except he be married.; and if they sit upon a form or stool, he may sit by her, and if she sit upon the ground he may kneel by her, but not lie long, as the fashion was in this court." State Paper Office, Calendar, 331. 1584. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. 161 or held as benefices. This was aimed at snch prelates of doubtful catholicity as Saint Eomain, Archbishop of Aix, or the Cardinal Bishop of Beauvais, Odet de Chatillon. He was made to say, that by the places where Protestant worship could be held within the walls, by virtue of its having been exercised on the seventh of March, 1563, were meant only those that had been garrisoned by Protestants, and had undergone a successful siege. This stroke of the pen cut off several cities in which Protestantism had been maintained without conflict of arms. The Huguenot counsellors of the parliament were deprived of the enjoyment of their right to attend the " assemblee," or " Protestant con- gregation," by a gloss which forbade the inhabitants of Paris from attending the reformed worship in the neighboring districts. When the court reached Lyons, a city which, as we have seen, had been among the foremost in devotion to the Protestant cause, a fresh edict, of the twenty-fourth of June, prohibited the re- formed rites from being celebrated in any city in which the king might be sojourning. Five or six weeks later, at the little town of Roussillon, a few miles south of Vienne, on the Rhone, another Declaration and more flagrant violation of the letter and spirit of m n- the edict of pacification was incorporated in a decla- ration purporting to remove fresh uncertainties as to the mean- ing of its provisions. It forbade the noblemen who might possess the right to maintain Protestant services in their castles, to permit any persons but their own families and their vassals to be present. It prohibited the convocation of synods and the collection of money, and enjoined upon ministers of the gospel not to leave their places of residence, nor to open schools for the instruction of the young. But the most vexatious and unjust article of all was that which constrained all priests, monks, and nuns, who during or since the troubles had for- saken their vows and had married, either to resume their mon- astic profession and dismiss their consorts, or to leave the king- dom. As a penalty for the violation of this command, the men were to be sentenced to the galleys for life, the women to close confinement in prison. I omit in this list of grievances suffered by the Huguenots some minor annoyances such as that which compelled the artisan to desist from working in hid VOL. IL 11 162 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. shop with open doors on the festivals of the Roman Catholic Church. 1 These legal infractions were not all. Everywhere the Hu- guenots had to complain of acts of violence, committed by Assaults u n their papist neighbors, at the instigation of priests Hu ffe enote g an( ^ bishops, and not infrequently of the royal gov- ernors. Little more than a year had passed since peace was restored, and already the victims of religious assassi- nation rivalled in number the martyrs of the days of open per- secution. At Crevant the Protestants were attacked on their way to their " temple ; " at Tours they were attacked while en- gaged in worship. At Mans the fanatical bishop was the chief instigator of a work of mingled murder and rapine. At Yen- dome it was the royal governor himself, Gilbert de Curee, who fell a victim to the hatred of the Roman Catholic noblesse, and was treacherously killed while hunting. 2 If anything more was needed to render the violence insupportable, it was found in the fact that any attempt to obtain judicial investigation and redress resulted not in the condemnation of the guilty, but in the personal peril of the complainant. 8 Smarting under the repeated acts of violence to which at every moment they were liable, and under the successive in- fringements upon the Edict of Amboise, the Huguenots urged .the Prince of Conde to represent their grievances to the mon- arch, in the excellence of whose heart they had not yet lost con- conde appeals fidcnce. The Protestant leader did not repel the trust, for redress. jjjg a pp ea l to Charles and to the queen mother was urgent. He showed that, even where the letter of the edict 1 Edict of Vincennes, June 14, 1653, and Declarations of Paris, Dec. 14, 1563 ; of Lyons, June 24, 1564 ; and of Roussillon, Aug. 4, 1564. Isambert, Recueil des anc. lois. franc., xiv. 141, 159, 170-172, and Drion, Hist, chronol., i. 102-108. See Jean de Serres, iii. 35-41, 55-63, and after him, De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxv.) 411, 412, 504, 505. 2 Jean de Serres, iii. 54, 55, 64, 65, etc. De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxvi.) 503, etc. 3 Ibid. , ubi supra. There are no similar cases of assassination on the part of Huguenots at this period. That of Gharry at court seems to have resulted partly from revenge for personal wrongs, partly from mistaken devotion on the part of one of D'Andelot's followers to his master's interests. See Lan- guet, letter of Feb. 3, 1564, Epist. eecr., ii. 284. 1.-.C4. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. was observed, its spirit was flagrantly violated. The edict pro- vided for a place for preaching in each prefecture, to be select- ed by the king. In some cases no place had yet been desig- nated. In others, the most inconvenient places had been as- signed. Sometimes the Huguenots of a district would be com- pelled to go t>''i/tf>/ <>,< tir,nty-jwe leagues in order to attend divine worship. The declaration affecting the monks and nuns who had forsaken their habit was a violation of the general liberty promised. So also was the prohibition of synods, which, though not expressly mentioned, were implied in the toleration of the religion to which they were indispensably ne- cessary. But it was the prejudice and ill-will, of which the Huguenots were the habitual victims at the hands of royal gov- ernors and other officers, which moved them most deeply. The evident desire was to find some ground of accusation against them. The ears of the judges were stopped against their appeals for justice. It was enough that they were accused. Decrees of confiscation, of the razing of their houses, of death, were promptly given before any examination was made into the truth of their culpability. On a mere rumor of a commotion in the Protestant city of Montaubaii, an order was issued to de- molish its walls. The case was far otherwise with turbulent Roman Catholic towns. The people were encouraged to acts of violence toward the Huguenots by the impunity of the per- petrators of similar crimes, and by the evident partiality of those who were set to administer justice. Out of six or seven score murders of Protestants since the peace, not two of the abominable acts had been punished. Under such circumstances it would not be surprising if the victims of inordinate cruelty should at length be driven in desperation to take their defence into their own hands. 1 The king, or his ministers, fearful of a commotion during his absence from Paris, answered the letter of the prince with tolerable courtesy, and even made a pretence of desiring to 'Jean de Serres, iii. 65-82; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxvi.) 505; Lettres de Monseigneur le Prince de Conde a la Roine Mere du Roy, avec Advertissemens depuis donnez par ledit Seigneur Prince a leurs Majestez, etc. (Aug. 31, 1504, etc.), Mem. de Conde, v. 201-^14. 164 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. secure justice to his Protestant subjects ; but the attempt really effected very little. Thus, for instance, while soiourn- Conciliatory reply of the ing in the city of Valence (on the fifth of September, 1564), Charles received a petition of the Huguenots of Bordeaux, setting forth some of the grievances under which they were groaning, and gave a favorable answer. He permit- ted them, by this patent, to sing their psalms in their own houses. He declared them free from any obligation to furnish the "pain benit," and to contribute to the support of Ro- man Catholic fraternities. The Protestants were not to be mo- lested for possessing or selling copies of the Bible. They must not be compelled to deck out their houses in honor of religious processions, nor to swear on St. Anthony's arm. They might work at their trades with closed doors, except on Sundays and solemn feasts. Magistrates were forbidden to take away the children of Huguenots, in order to have them baptized accord- ing to Romish rites. Protestants could be elected to municipal offices equally with the adherents of the other faith. 1 In a similar tone of conciliation the king published an order from Roussillon, remitting the fines that had been imposed upon the Huguenots of Nantes for neglecting to hang tapestry before their houses on Corpus Christ! Day, and permitting them hence- forth to abstain from an act so offensive to their religious con- victions. 2 Such local concessions were, however, only the decoys by 1 "Articles respondas par le Roy en son Conseil prive, sur la requeste pre- sentee par plusieurs habitans de la ville de Bourdeaux," etc. The signature ot the secretary, Robertet, was affixed Sept. 5, 1564 ; but such was the obsti- nacy of the judges of Bordeaux, that the document was not published in the parliament of that city until nearly eight months later (April 30, 1565). Mem. de Conde, v. 214-224. Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, vi. 271-278. The Protestants petitioned for another town in place of St. Macaire, which had been assigned them for their religious worship the most inconve- niently situated in the entire " senechausse'e. " They desired a city which they could go to and return from on the same day. They stated that ' : la plus grande partie des plus notables families de la ville de Bourdeaux est de la religion r^forme'e." This part of their request the king referred to the judg- ment of the governor. 5 Ordonnance du roi Charles EX., 6 aout, 1564, Nantes MS., Bulletin, xiii. (1884), 203, 204. 1564. THE PEACE OF AMBOISE. which the queen mother intended to lure the Huguenots on to a fatal security. A few months later, at Avignon, Catharine caused an ordinance to be published in the king's name, which Cardinal Santa Croce characterized as an excellent excluded from one. It excluded Protestants from holding judicial judicial posts. /^i.i_ .L-I-I..I .1.1 - n seats. Catharine told the nuncio that her counsellors had been desirous of extending the same prohibition to all other charges under government, but that she had deterred them. It would have driven the Huguenots to desperation, and might have occasioned disturbances. " "We shall labor, however," she said, " to exclude them little by little from all their offices." At the same time she expressed her joy that everything was suc- ceeding so well, and privately assured the nuncio " that people were much deceived in her." ' And yet such are the paradoxes of history, especially in this age of surprises, that, at the very moment the king was depriving his own Protestant subjects of their rights, he was negotiating in behalf of the Protestant subjects of his neighbors ! The king would not leave Avignon so wrote the English envoy without reconciling the inhabitants of the Comtat Venaissin and the principality of Orange, whom diversity of religion had brought into collision. And, by the articles of pacification which the ambassador enclosed, the king was seen " to have had a care for others also, having provided a certain liberty of religion even to the Pope's own subjects, which he had much difficulty in obtaining." a While the queen mother, under cover of her son's authority, followed the new policy of opposition to the Huguenots upon which she had now entered, an incident occurred at Paris show- 1 Aymon, L 277, 278, and Cimber et Danjou, Archives cur., vL 167. As by this time both Papists and Huguenots knew Catharine de' Medici to be a woman utterly devoid of moral principle, it may fairly be considered an open question whether there was any one in France more deceived than she was in supposing that she had deceived others. * Sir Thomas Smith to the queen, from Tarascon (near Avignon), Oct. 21, 1564, enclosing " Articles of pacification for those of the religion in Venaissin and Avignon agreed to by the ministers of the Pope and those of the Prince of Orange, Oct. 11, 1564." Signed by the vice-legate, Bishop of Fermo, and Fubrizio Serbellone, State Paper Office, 166 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. ing that even the Roman Catholics were not unanimous in their support of the Guises and their plan of exterminating heresy. Marshal The governor of the metropolis was Marshal Mont- heck?the ncy morency, the most worthy of all the constable's sons. Parisian mob. jj e na( | vigorously exerted himself ever since the king's departure to protect the Huguenots in accordance with the provisions of the treaty. A Protestant woman, who during the war had been hung in effigy for " huguenoterie," but had returned from her flight since the conclusion of peace, died and was secretly buried by friends, one Sunday night, in the " Cime- tiere des Innocents." The next morning a rabble, such as only Paris could afford, collected with the intention of disinterring the heretic. And they would have accomplished their design, had not Marshal Montmorency ridden in, sword in hand, and resolved to hang the culprits that very day. " He would assist the Huguenots," he is reported to have been in the habit of say- ing, " because they were the weaker party." * On Monday, the eighth of January, 1565, the Cardinal of Lorraine approached the city in full ecclesiastical dress, with the intention of entering it. 1 He was attended by his young nephew, the Duke of Guise, and by an escort of armed men, whom Catharine had permitted him to retain in spite of the general prohibition, because of the fears he undoubtedly felt for his personal safety. As he neared Paris he was met by a messenger sent by the governor, com- manding him to bid his company lay down their arms, or to exhibit his pretended authority. The cardinal, accustomed to domineer over even such old noble families as the Hia encounter _. . 1-11.1 i i with cardinal Montmorencies, would do neither, and- attempted to ride defiantly into the city. But the marshal was no respecter of persons. With the troops at his command he met and dispersed the cardinal's escort. Lorraine fled as for his life into a shop on the Rue Saint Denis. Thence he was secretly con- 1 Journal d'un cure ligueur (Jehan de la Fosse), 55, 56, 68. 5 " Lundi passe, yiii" du present moiSj ung peu avant les trois heures apres midy, monsieur le reverendissime cardinal de Lorraine, vesta du robbon et chap- peau, . . . . est entre en Paris." Account written two days after the occurrence by Del Rio, attached to the Spanish embassy in Paris. Papiers d'etat du card, de Granvelle, viiL 600-603. THE CONFERENCE OP BAYONXE. 1G7 veyed to his own palace, and shortly after he left the city in utter discomfiture, but breathing dire threats against the mar- shal. 1 The latter, calling into Paris his cousin the admiral, had no difficulty in maintaining order. Great was the consternation of the populace, it is true, for the absurd report was circulated that Coligny was come to plunder the city, and to seize the Parliament House, the Cathedral, and the Bastile ; J and even the first president, De Thou, begged him, when he came to the parliament, to explain the reasons of his obeying his cousin's summons, and to imitate the prudence of Pompey the Great when he entered the city of Rome, where Caesar's presence ren- dered a sedition imminent. The admiral, in reply, gracefully acknowledged the honor which parliament had done him in likening him to Pompey, whom he would gladly imitate, he said, because Pompey was a patriot. Still he saw no appositeness in the comparison, " as there was no Caesar in Paris." ' Early in the month of June, 1565, Charles the Ninth and his court reached the neighborhood of the city of Bayonne, where, The confer- n the very confines of France and Spain, a meeting on^e, a jm h a d been arranged between Catharine and her daugh- ter Isabella, wife of Philip the Second. Catharine's first proposal had been that her royal son-in-law should himself be present. She had urged that great good to Christendom might flow from their deliberations. Philip the Prudent, how- ever, and his confidential adviser, the Duke of Alva, were sus- 1 Mem. de Castelnau. liv. vi., c. iii. ; Jean de Serres, iii. 85, 86 ; De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxvii.) 533-537; Mem. de Claude Haton, i 381-383,; Journal de Jehan de la Fosse, 70-72; Conde MSS., in Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, i. 518 ; Le Livre des Marchands (Ed. Pantheon) 424, 425, where the ludicrous features of the scene are, of course, most brightly colored. " J'espere bien aussi m'en resentir ung jour," wrote the cardinal himself, a few weeks later, from Joinville. Pap. d'etat du card, de Granvelle, viii. 681. ' Jehan de la Fosse, 72. * Harangue de 1' Admiral de France a Messieurs de la Cour de Parlement de Paris, du 27 Janvier 1565, avec la reponse. Papiers d'etat du card, de Gran- velle, viii. 655-657. M. de Crussol, in a letter of February 4, 1565, alludes to the admiral's flattering reception by the clergy and by the Sorbonne, " qui aont alle le visiter et offert infiny service ; " and states that both parties were gratified by the interview. Conde MSS. , in Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, pieces inedite, L 520. 168 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. picious of the design. Alva was convinced that Catharine had only her own private ends in view. 1 Granvelle observed that little fruit came of these interviews of princes but discord and confusion, and judged that, had not the queen mother strenu- ously insisted upon improving perhaps the only opportunity which she and her daughter might enjoy of seeing each other, even the interview between the two queens would have been declined. 2 As it was, however, Philip excused himself on the plea of engrossing occupations. Such were the circumstances under which the Bayonne con- ference took place a meeting which Cardinal Granvelle assured his correspondents was a simple visit of a daughter to her mother, 3 but to which contemporaries, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, ascribed a far deeper significance. At this meeting, according to Jean de Serres, writing only four or five years after the event, 4 a holy league, as it was called, was formed, by the intervention of Isabella, for the purpose of re- establishing the authority of the ancient religion and of extir- pating the new. France and Spain mutually promised to render each other assistance in the good work; and both pledged themselves to the support of the Holy See by all the means in their power. Philip himself was not present, either, it was con- jectured, in order that the league might the better be kept secret, or to avoid the appearance of lowering his dignity before that of the French monarch. 5 The current belief until recently 1 Philip II. to Alva, Dec. 14, 1563, Pap. d'etat du card, de Granvelle, vii. 269; Alva to Philip II., Dec. 22, 1563, ib., vii 286, 287. 1 Granvelle to the Baron de Bolwiller, March 13, 1565, ib., ix. 61, 62. 8 Ibid., ubi supra. " Je voua asseure, comme il est veritable, qu'il n'y a aultre chose en cecy que simple visitation de fille a mere." 4 Prof. Kluckholn, strangely enough, speaks of Jean de Serres's Commen- tarii de statu relig., etc., as " zuerst im Jahre, 1575, erschienen" (Zur Ge- schichte des angeb. Biindnisses von Bayonne, Abhand. der k. bayer. Akademie, Miinchen, 1868, p. 151). I have before me the earlier edition of 1571, con- taining verbatim the passage he quotes, with a single unimportant exception ' ecclesiarum " instead of " religiosorum." 6 J. de Serres, Comment, de etatu reipublicae et religionis in Gallia regno, Carolo IX. rege (1571), iii. 92. The Prince of Conde, in his long petition sent to Charles, Aug. 23, 1568, at the outbreak of the Third Civil War, says ex- pressly in reference to events a year preceding the Second War ; " Quando- 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYOXNE. 169 almost the uni verbal belief of historians goes farther, and al- leges that in this mysterious conference Catharine and Alva, who accompanied his master's wife, concocted the plan of that famous massacre whose execution was delayed by various cir- cumstances for seven years. Alva was the tempter, and the words with which he recommended his favorite method of dealing with heresy, by destroying its chief upholders, were embodied in the ignoble sentence, " Better a salmon's head than ten thousand frogs." ' In fact, a general impression that the conference had led to the formation of a distinct plan for the universal destruction of Protestantism gained ground almost immediately. Within about a month after the queen mother and her daughter had ended their interview, the English ambassador wrote to Leices- ter and Cecil that "they of the religion think -that there has been at this meeting at Bayonne some complot betwixt the Pope, the King of Spam, and the Scottish queen, by their am- i'lors, and some say also the Papists of England." 2 Fortunately, however, we are not left to frame by uncertain conjecture a doubtful story of the transactions of this famous interview. The correspondence of the Duke of Alva himself with Philip the Second has been preserved among the manu- scripts of Simancas, to dispel many inveterate misapprehensions. These letters not only prove that no plan for a massacre of quidem ego et alii Religionis reformat viri fuerimus jampridem admoniti de inito Baiouze consilio cum Hispano, ad eos omnes plane delendos atque externnuandos qui Religionem reformatam in tuo regno profiteantur. " Ibid., iii. 200. 1 The remark is said to have been accidentally overheard by Henry of Na- varre, afterward Henry the Fourth, of whose presence little account was taken in consequence of his youth. (He was just eleven years and a half old.) But his intimate follower, Agrippa d'Anbigne, would have been likely to give him as authority, had this been the case. He only says: "Les plus licentieuz faisoient leur profit d'un terme du Due d'Alve a Baionne, que dix mille gre- nouilles ne valloient pas la teste d'un saumon." Hist, univ., liv. iv., c. v. (i. 20G). Jean de Serres, ubi supra, iii. 125, gives the expression in nearly the same words : " Satius esse unicum salmonis caput, quam mille ranarum capita habere." 2 Smith to Leicester and Cecil, July 2-29, 13G3, State Paper Office, Calen- dar, 4JJ. 170 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. the Huguenots was agreed upon by the two parties, but that Alva did not even distinctly declare himself in favor massacre of such a plan. They furnish, however, an instruc- agreed upon. ... , 11 n i , j tive view, such as can but rarely be so well obtained, of the net of treacherous intrigue which the fingers of Philip and his agents were for many years busy day and night in cau- tiously spreading around the throne of France. On Thursday, the fourteenth of June, the young Spanish queen, with her brilliant train of attendant grandees, crossed the narrow stream forming the dividing line between the two kingdoms, and was conducted by her mother, her brothers and sister, and a crowd of gallant French nobles, to the neighboring town of Saint Jean de Luz. On Friday, Cath- arine and Charles rode forward to make their solemn June 15th. . _. . . . entry into Bayonne, where they were to await their guests' arrival. Before they started, Alva had already been at work complimenting such good Catholics as the constable, Cardinal Bourbon, and Prince La Roche-sur-Yon, flattering Cardinal Guise (his brother of Lorraine was absent from court, not yet being fully reinstated in favor), the Duke of Montpen- sier, and vain old Blaise de Monti uc. Nor were his blandish- ments thrown away. Poor weak Guise the "cardinal des bouteilles " he was called, from the greater .acquaintance he had with wine and good living than with religious or political af- fairs ' was overcome with emotion and gratitude, and begged Alva to implore the Catholic king, by the love of God, to look in pity upon an unhappy kingdom, where religion was fast going to ruin. Montpensier threw himself into Alva's arms, 1 " On apelloit ce bon prelat ' le cardinal des bouteilles,' " says Lestoile, u pource qu'il les aimoit fort, et ne se mesloit gueres d'autres affaires que de celles de la cuisine, ou il se connoissoit fort bien, et les entendoit raieux que cellesde la religion et de 1'estat." In chronicling the death of Louis, Cardinal of Guise, at Paris, March 29, 1578, he records the suggestive fact that " he was the last of the six brothers of the house of Guise ; yet died he young, at the age of forty-eight years." Journal de Henri III., p. 96 (edit. Michaud). So closely is the scriptural warning fulfilled, that " bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." Cardinal Guise (not Cardinal Lorraine, .13 Mr. Henry White seems to suppose, Massacre of St. Bartholomew, Am. edit., 187, 188) was the abettor of the massacre of Vassy. 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 171 and told him that Philip alone was the hope of all the good in France, declaring for himself that he was willing to be torn in pieces in his behalf, and maintaining the meanwhile, that, should that pleasant operation be performed, " Philip " would be found written on his heart. To Blaise de Montluc's self-conceit Alva laid siege in no very covert manner, assuring him that his master had not given his consent to Catharine's plan for an interview until he had perused a paper written by the grim old warrior's hand, in which he had expressed the opinion that the conference would be productive of wholesome results. The implied praise was all that was needed to induce Montluc to explain himself more fully. He was opposed to the exercise of any false humanity. He ascribed the little success that had attended the Roman Catholic arms in the last struggle to the half-way measures adopted and the attempt to exercise the courtesies of peace in time of war. The combatants on either side addressed their enemies as " my brother " and " my cou- sin." As for himself, he had made it a rule to spare no man's life, but to wage a war of extermination. To this unburdening of his mind Alva replied by giving Montluc to understand that, as a good Roman Catholic, it should be his task to discover the means of inducing Charles and his mother to perform their duty, and, if he failed in this, to disclose to Philip the course which he must pursue, " since it was impossible to suffer mat- ters to go on, as they were going, to their ruin." What the duty of the French king was, in Philip's and Alva's view, is evidenced by the advice of the " good " Papists which the minister reports to his master with every mark of approbation. It was, in the first place, to banish from the king- dom every Protestant minister, and prohibit utterly any exer- cise of the reformed religion. The provincial governors, whose orthodoxy in almost every case could be relied upon, were to be the instruments in the execution of this work. 1 But, besides this, it would be necessary to seize a few of the leaders and cut off their heads. Five or six, it was suggested, would be all the 1 Cartes que el Duque de Alba scrivio, etc. Papicrs d'etat du cardinal de Granvelle, ix. 296. 172 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. victims required. 1 It was, in fact, essentially the plan of opera- tions with which Alva undertook a year or two later the reduc- tion of the Netherlands to submission to Spanish tyranny and the Papal Church. Treacherous imprisonments of the most sus- pected, which could scarcely have been confined within such narrow numerical limits as Alva laid down, together with a " blood council " to complete the work, or with a massacre in which the proprieties of judicial investigation would be less nicely observed such was the scheme after Philip's own heart. But this scheme suited the present frame of mind neither of Charles nor of Catharine. When the crafty Spaniard, cau- tiously feeling his way, begged the young king to be very care- ful of his life, " for God, he was convinced, was reserving him to execute a great work by his hands, in the pimishment of the offences which were committed in that kingdom," 2 Charles briskly responded : " Oh ! to take up arms does not suit me. I have no disposition to consummate the destruction of my king- dom begun in the past wars." ! The duke clearly saw that the king was but repeating a lesson that had been taught him by others, and contemptuously dismissed the topic. 4 Catharine was not less determined than her son to avoid a resort to arms. It was with difficulty that Alva could get her to broach the subject of religion at all. Isabella having, at his suggestion, pressed her mother to disclose the secret communi- cation to make which she had sought this interview, Catharine referred, with some bitterness, to the distrust of Charles and of herself evidently entertained by Philip, which would be likely 1 " Con no mas personaa que con cinco 6 Beys que son el cabo de todo esto, los tomasen a su mano y les cortasen las cabe9as," etc. Ibid. , ix. 298. s " Que mirase mucho por su salud, pues que della dependia todo el bien de la christiandad, y creya que le tenia Dios guardado para venir por su mano un gran servicio, que era el castigo de las offensas que en este su reyno se le ha- zian." Cartas que el Duque de Alba scrivio a su Magestad .... que con- tienen las vistas en Bayona, etc. Papiers d'etat du card, de Granvelle, ix. 291. 3 " Salto luego con dezirme : ' 6, el tomar las armas no conviene, que yo de- struya mi reyno como se comengo a hazer con las guerras passadas.' " Ibid., ubi supra. 4 "Como es, descubri lo que le tenian pedricado ; passe a, otras materias," etc. Ibid., ubi supra. 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 173 to lead in the end to a renewal of war between France and Spain. And she reproached Isabella with having so soon allow- ed herself to become " Hispaniolized " ' a charge from which her daughter endeavored to clear herself as best she could. Catharine When at last Alva succeeded in bringing up the sub- and Aiva. ]ect, which was, ostensibly at least, so near what Philip called his heart, Catharine's display of tact was such as to elicit the profound admiration of even so consummate a master in the art of dissimulation as the duke himself. Her circumspection, he declared, he had never seen equalled. 11 She maintained that there was no need of alarm at the condition of religion in France, for everything was going on better than when the Edict of Paci- fication was published. " It is your satisfaction at being freed from war that leads you to take so cheerful a view," urged Alva. u My master cannot but require the application of a more effi- cient remedy, since the cause is common to Spain ; for the dis- ease will spread, and Philip has no inclination to lose his crown, or, perhaps, even his head." Catharine now insisted upon Alva's explaining himself and disclosing his master's plan of action. This Alva declined to do. Although Philip was as conversant with the state of France as she or any other person in the kingdom, yet he preferred to leave to her to decide upon the precise nature of the specific to be administered. Catharine pressed the inquiry, but Alva continued to parry the question adroitly. He asks if, since the Edict of Toleration, ground has been gained or lost. Decidedly gained, she replies, and pro- ceeds to particularize. But Alva is confident that she is deceiv- ing herself or him : it is notorious that things are becoming worse every day. "Would you have me understand," interrupts Catharine, " that we must resort to arms again ? " " I see no present need of assuming them," answers Alva, " and my master would not advise you to take them up, unless constrained by other necessity than that which I now see." 1 "Qne veniamny Espanola." Ibid., ix. 300. 8 " Ella comenqo cierto la platica con el mayor tiento que yo he visto tener jamas a nadie en cosa," Ibid., be. 303. 174 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. "What, then, would Philip have me do?" asks Catharine. " Apply a prompt remedy," answers Alva ; " for sooner or later your enemies will, by their own action, compel you to accept the wager of war, and that, probably, under less favorable cir- cumstances than at present. All Philip's thoughts are intent upon the expulsion of that wretched sect of the Huguenot?, and upon restoring the subjects of the French crown to their ancient obedience, and maintaining the queen mother's legiti- mate authority." "The king, my son," responds Catharine, " publishes whatever edicts he pleases, and is obeyed." " Then, if he enjoys such authority over his vassals," breaks in Isa- bella, "why does he not punish those who are rebels both against God and against himself ? " That question Catharine did not choose to answer. Instead of it she had some chimerical schemes to propose a league be- tween France, Spain, and Germany, that should give the law to the world, and a confirmation of the bonds that united the royal houses of France and Spain by two more marriages, viz. : of Don Carlos to Margaret, her youngest daughter, and of the Duke of Anjou to the Princess of Portugal. Alva, however, making light of such projects, which could, according to his view, effect nothing more than the bond already connecting the families, was not slow in bringing the conversation back to the religious question. But he soon had reason to complain of Catharine's coldness. She had already expressed her mind fully, she said ; and she resented, as a want of the respect due to her, the hint that she was more indifferent than previously. She would not fail to do justice, she assured him. That would be difficult, rejoined Alva, with a chancellor at the head of the judiciary who could not certainly be expected to apply the remedy needed by the unsound condition of France. " It is his personal enemies," promptly replied Catharine, "who, out of hatred, accuse L'Hospital of being a bad Catholic." "Caii you deny that he is a Huguenot ? " asked the Spaniard. " I do not regard him as such," calmly answered the French queen. " Then you are the only person in the kingdom who is of that opinion ! " retorted the duke. " Even before I left France, and during the lifetime of my father. King Henry," said Isabella, 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNR 17.") interrupting with considerable animation, " your Majesty knows that that was his reputation ; and you may be certain that so long as he is retained in his present office the good will always be kept in fear and in disfavor, while the bad will find him a sup- port and advocate in all their evil courses. If he were to be con- fined for a few days only in his own house, you would at once dis- cover the truth of my words, so much better would the interests of religion advance." 1 But this step Catharine was by no means willing to take. Nor, when again pressed by Alva, who dwelt much on the importance to Philip of knowing her inten- tions as to applying herself in earnest to the good work, so as to be guided in his own actions, would she deign to give any clearer indications. Yet she avowed greatly shocking the or- thodox duke thereby * that she designed, instead of securing the acceptance of the decrees of Trent by the French, to convene a council of " good prelates and wise men," to settle a number of matters not of divine or positive prescription, which the Fathers of Trent had left undecided. Alva expressed his extreme as- tonishment, and reminded her of the Colloquy of Poissy the source, as he alleged, of all the present disgraceful situation of France.' But Catharine threw the whole blame of the failure of that conference upon the inordinate conceit of the Cardinal of Lorraine/ and persisted in the plan. The Spaniard came to the conclusion that Catharine's only design was to avoid hav- ing recourse to salutary rigor, and indulged in his correspon- dence with his master in lugubrious vaticinations respecting the future. 6 So far, then, was the general belief which has been adopted 1 Cartas que el Duque de Alba scrivio, etc. Papiera d'etat da card, de Granvelle, ix. 315. 9 " Yo me altere terriblemente de oirselo, y le dixe que me maravillava mucho." Ibid., ix. 317. " La junta passada de adonde comencaron todas las desverguemjaa que al presente ay en este reyno. " Ibid., ix. 317. 4 " En la otra el cardenal de Lorena havia sido el que avia hecho todo el dano, pensando poder persuadir a los ministros." Ibid., ubi supra, 5 " Parecenos que quiere con esta semblea (i. e., assemblee), que ellos Ha- inan, remendar lo que falta en el rigor neceusario al remedio de BUS vasallos, y plega a Dios no sea," etc. Ibid., ix 31b. 176 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH XIV. by the greater number of historians up to our own days from being correct the belief that Catharine framed, at the Catharine re- -~ . , A , , . IP J3ayonne conference, with Alva s assistance, a plan tor the extermination of the Protestants by a massacre such as was realized on St. Bartholomew's Bay, 1572 that, on the contrary, the queen mother refused, in a peremptory man- ner that disgusted the Spanish fanatics, every proposition that looked like violence. That we have not read the correspondence of Alva incorrectly, and that no letter containing the mythical agreement of Catharine ever reached Philip, is proved by the tone of the letters that passed between the great agents in the work of persecution in the Spanish Netherlands. Cardinal Granvelle, who, in his retreat at Besan9on, was kept fully in- Granveiie's formed by the King of Spain, or by his chief minis- ters, of every important event, and who received copies of all the most weighty documents, in a letter to Alonso del Canto expresses great regret that Isabella and Alva should have failed in their endeavor to induce Catharine de' Medici to adopt methods more proper than she was taking to remedy the religious ills of France. She promised marvels, he adds, but was determined to avoid recourse to arms, which, indeed, was not necessary, if she would only act as she should. He was persuaded that the plan she was adopting wpuld entail the ruin of religion and of her son's throne. 1 While the policy of two of the most important nations on the face of the globe, in which were involved the interests, temporal and eternal, of millions of men, women, and children, formed the topic of earnest discussion between two women a mother and her daughter, the mother yet to become infamous for her participation in a bloody tragedy of which she as yet little dreamed and a Spanish grandee doomed to an equally un- enviable immortality in the records of human suffering and Festivities ana human crime, the city of Bayonne was the scene of paeewitry ' an ephemeral gayety that might well convey the im- pression that such merry-making was not only the sole object of the conference, but the great concern of life. 2 Two nations, 1 Letter of Granvelle, Aug. 20, 1565, Papiers d'etat, ix. 481. * " Depuis 1'arrivee n'y eust mention que de festins, recreations et passe- 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 177 floundering in hopeless bankruptcy, yet found money enough to lavish upon costly but unmeaning pageants, while many a no- ble, to satisfy an ostentatious display, made drafts which an im- poverished purse was little able to honor. The banquets and jousts, the triumphal arches with their flattering inscriptions, the shows in which allegory revelled almost to madness all have been faithfully narrated with a minuteness worthy of a loftier theme. 1 This is, however, no place for the detailed de- scription which, though entertaining, can be read to advantage only on the pages of the contemporary pamphlets that have come down to us. Yet, in the discussion of the more serious concerns of a great religious and political party, we may for a moment pause to gaze at a single show, neither more magnificent nor more dig- nified than its fellows ; but in which the youthful figure of a Bearnese destined to play a first part in the world's drama, but temps de diverges manieres." Relation da voyage de la reine Isabella d'Espagne a Bayonne, MSS. Belgian Archives, Compte Renda de la com- mission royale d'histoire, seconde se*rie, ix. (1857) 159. This paper was drawn up by the Secretary of State Courtewille, and sent to President Vigliua. 1 Over the first triumphal arch was a representation of Isabella (or Eliza- beth) trampling Mars under foot, with the mottoes Sacer hymen pacem nobis contuiit and Deus nobis hcec otia fecit, and below the lines : Elizabeth, de roy fille excellente, Vous avez joint ung jour deux rois pnissans ; France et 1'Espaigne, en gloire pennanente, Extolleront voz ages triumphans, etc. Over a second arch at the palace gate, which was reached b a street hnng with tapestry and decorated with the united arms of France and Spain, was suspended a painting of Catharine with her three sons and three daughters, and the inscription : C'est a 1'entonr de royalle couronne Que le jardin hesperien floronne : Ce sont jardins de si belle feconde. Qui aujourd'huy ne trouve sa seconde ; Ce sont rameaux vigoureux et puissans ; Ce sont florons de vertu verdissans. Royne sans per (paire), de grace decoree, Vous surmontez Pallas et Cythe'ree. Catharine's portraits scarcely confirm the boast of her panegyrist that she surpassed Venus, however well she might match Minerva in sagacity. VOL. II. 12 178 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. up to this time living a life of retirement in his ancestral halls, first makes his appearance among the pomps to which as yet he has been a stranger. The pride of the grandfather whose name he bore, Henry of Navarre had been permitted, at that whim- sical old man's suggestion, to strengthen an already vigorous constitution by athletic sports, and by running barefoot like the poorest peasant over the sides of his native hills. " God de- signed," writes a companion of his later days who never re- kindles more of his youthful fire than when descanting upon his master's varied fortunes, " to prepare an iron wedge wherewith to cleave the hard knots of our calamities/' ' Later in child- hood, when both father and grandfather were dead, he was the object of the unremitting care of a mother whose virtues find few counterparts or equals in the women of the sixteenth cen- tury ; and Jeanne d'Albret, in a remarkable letter to Theodore Beza, notes with joy a precocious piety, 2 which, there is reason to fear, was not hardy enough to withstand the withering atmos- phere of a court like that with which he was now making his first acquaintance. One evening there was exhibited in a large hall, well lighted by means of blazing torches, a tournament in which the knights fought on foot. 8 From a castle where they held an enchanted lady captive, the knights challengers issued, and " received all comers with a thrust of the pike, and five blows with the sword." Each champion, on his arrival, endeavored to enter the castle, but was met at the portal by guards " dressed very fantastically in black," and repelled with " lighted instruments." Not a few of the less illustrious were captured here. The more exalted in rank reached the donjon, or castle-keep, but as they thought to set foot within it, a trap-door opened and they too found 1 Agrippa d'Aubigne, Histoire universelle, i. 1. * " Le feu bon homme Monsieur de La Gaucherie y marchoit en rondeur de conscience, et mesme mon filz lui doibt et aux siens cette rasine (racine) de piete qui lui est, par la graase de Dieu, si bien plantee au cueur par bonnes admonitions, qne maintenant, dont je loue ce bon Dieu, elle produit et branches et fruitz. Je lui suplie qu*il luy fasse ceste grasse qu'il continue de bien en mieulx." Letter of Dec. 6, 1566, MSS. Geneva Library, Bulletin de la Soc. de Phist. du prot. fran9ais, xvi. (1867) 65. 3 " Ung tournoy a pied." 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONXE. 179 themselves prisoners. It fared better with the princes ; for the success of each champion was measured by a rigid heraldic- scale. These passed the donjon, but, on a bridge leading to the tt >wer where slept the enchanted lady, a giant confronted them, and in the midst of the combat the bridge was lowered, and they were taken, as had been their predecessors. " The Duke of Yendome, 1 son of the late duke, whom they call in France the Prince of Navarre a boy apparently ten or eleven years of age crossed the bridge, and the giant pretended to surrender ; but he too was afterward repulsed like the rest." The Duke of Orleans whom the reader will more readily recognize under the title of Duke of Anjou, which he, about this time, received next entered the lists. Naturally he penetrated further than liis namesake of Navarre, and " the giant showed more fear of him than of the other ; " but a cloud enveloped them both, and * thus the duke vanished from sight." King Charles was the last to fight, and for his prowess it was reserved for him to defeat the giant and deliver the lady. 2 The author of the pompous show had made a serious mistake. The giant "League," before whom so many a champion failed, it was the lot not of Charles, nor of Henry of Valois, but of the other Henry, of Navarre, to overcome. That giant was already in existence, although still in his infancy. For some time past the The contra- zealous papists, impatient of the sluggish devotion of the court, had been forming " conf reries," or fraterni- ties, whose members, bound together by a common oath, were pledged to the support of the Roman Catholic religion. 3 The plan was a dangerous one, and it shortly excited the apprehen- 1 It will be remembered that the Spaniards never acknowledged the claim of Antoine or his wife to the title of sovereigns of Navarre. In all Spanish documents, therefore, such as that which we are here following, their son Henry is designated only by the dukedom of Bourbon- Vendome which he in- herited from his father. * Relation du voyage de la reine Isabelle a Bayonne, MSS. Belgian Archives, ubi supra, ix. 161, 162. 3 See Jean de Serres, iii., 53, for the fraternities of the Holy Ghost in Bur- gundy. Blaise de Montluc's proposition of a league with the king as its head had been declined ; the monarch needed no other tie to his subjects than that which already bound them together. Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., liv. iv., c. v. (i. 206.) ISO THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. sion of the king and his mother. " I am told," Charles wrote in July, 1565, to one of his governors, " that in a number of places in my realm there is a talk of establishing an association amongst my subjects, who invite one another to join it. I beg you to take measures to prevent that any be made for any pur- pose whatsoever ; but keep my subjects so far as possible united in the desire to render me duty and obedience." ' And to prove the sincerity of his intentions, the French king ordered the late Edict of Pacification again to be proclaimed by public crier in the streets of the seditious city of Paris a feat which was success- fully performed under Marshal Montmorency's supervision, by the city provost, accompanied by so strong a detachment of archers and arquebusiers, as effectually to prevent popular dis- turbance. 1 Already there were restless spirits that saw in another civil war fresh opportunity for the advancement of their selfish interests. Months ago YiUegagnon, the betrayer of the Brazilian colony of Coligny, had written to Cardinal Granvelle, telling him that he had resigned his dignities and offices in the French court, and had informed Catharine de' Medici, "that until Charles was the declared enemy of the enemies of God and of His church, he would never again bear arms in his service." ' The vice-admiral, of whom modesty was never a conspicuous virtue, went so far as to draw a flattering portrait of himself as a second Hannibal, vowing eternal enmity to the Huguenots. 4 And Nicole de St. Remy, whose only claim to honorable mention was found in her oft-paraded boast that, as a mistress of Henry the Second, she had borne him a son, and who held in France the congenial post of a Spanish spy, suggested the marriage of the Cardinal of Bourbon in view of the possible 1 Letter of Charles IX. toM. de Matignon, July 31, 1565, a/pud Capefigue, Hist, de la R6f orme, de la Ligne, etc. , ii 419, 430. The same letter stipulated for the better protection of the Protestants by freeing them from domiciliary visits, etc. * Maniquet to Gordes, August 1, 1565, Conde MSS. in Aumale, i. 528. * Letter of Villegagnon to Granvelle, May 25, 1564, Papiers d'etat, vii. 660. The Huguenots figure as " les Aygnos, c'est-a-dire, en langue de Suisse, rebelles et conjures centre leur prince pour la liberteV 4 Letter of May 27, 1564, Ibid., vii., 666. 1565. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 181 contingency of the death of all Catharine's sons. 1 The centre of all intrigue, the storehouse from which every part of France was supplied with material capable of once more enkindling the flames of a destructive civil war, was the house of the Spanish resident envoy, Frances de Alava, successor of the crafty Chan- tonnay, the brother of Granvelle. It was he that was in con- stant communication with all the Roman Catholic malcontents in France.* Catharine endeavored to check this influence, but to no purpose. The fanatical party were bound by a stronger tie of allegiance to Philip, the Catholic king, than to her, or to the Very Christian King her son. Catharine had particularly enjoined upon the Cardinal of Lorraine to have no communica- tion with Granvelle or with Chantonnay, but the prelate's rela- tions with both were never interrupted for a moment. 1 The fact was that, so far from true was it that a cordial under- standing existed between the courts of France and Spain, such as siege of Malta, ^ e mythical league for the extirpation of heresy pre- tt^HtteTto supposes, the distrust and hostility were barely veiled the suitan. under the ordinary conventionalities of diplomatic courtesy. While Catharine and Philip's queen were exchanging costly civilities at Bayonne, the Turks were engaged in a siege of Malta, which has become famous for the obstinacy with which it was prosecuted and the valor with which it was repelled. Spain had sent a small detachment of troops to the assistance of the grand master, Jean de la Valette, and his brave knights of St. John, and the Pope had contributed ten thousand crowns to their expenses. 4 Yet at this very moment an envoy of the Sul- 1 Letter of N. de St. Remy, June 5, 1564. Ibid., viii. 24, 23. " Lepeuple Paymeroit trop mieulx pour roy que nul aultre de Bourbon," 5 Catharine never forgave Ambassador Chantonnay for having boasted that, with Throkmorton's assistance, he could overturn the State. "Jusqu'adire que Trokmarton, qui estoit ambassadeur d'Angleterre au commencement de ces troubles, pour 1' intelligence qu'il a avec les Huguenots, et luy pour celle qu'il a avec les Catholiques de ce royaume, sont suffisans pour subvertir cet Estat." Letter to the Bishop of Rennes, Dec. 13, 1563, La Laboureur, L 784. 3 Granvelle to Philip II., July 15, 1565. Papiera d'etat, ix. 399, 402, etc. 4 See Alex. Sutherland's Achievements of the Knights of Malta (Phila ., 1346), ii. 121, which contains an interesting popular account of this memora- ble leaguer. 182 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. tan was at the court of the Very Christian King of Franco, greatly to the disgust of the Spanish visitors and pious Catho- lics in general, 1 and only waited for the departure of Isabella and Alva to receive formal presentation to the monarch and his mother.* Meantime, although the queen mother continued her policy of depriving the Huguenots of one after another of the privi- leges to which they were entitled, and replaced Protestant gov- ernors of towns and provinces by Roman Catholics, her efforts at repression seemed, for the time at least, to produce little effect. " The true religion is so rooted in France," wrote one who accompanied the royal progress, " that, like a fire, it kindles daily more and more. In every place, from Bayonne hither, and for the most part of the journey, there are more Huguenots than papists, and the most part of men of quality and mark be of the religion." If the writer, as is probable, was over-san- guine in his anticipations, he could not be mistaken in the size of the great gathering of Protestants full two thousand for the most part gentlemen and gentlewomen, which he witnessed with his own eyes, brought together at Nantes to listen to the preaching of the eloquent Perucel. 3 And it was not an insig- nificant proof of the futility of any direct attempt to crush the Huguenots, that Constable Montmorency pretty plainly intima- ted that there were limits which religious proscription must not transcend. The English ambassador wrote from France, late in November, that the Pope's new nuncio had within two days de- manded that the red cap should be taken from the Cardinal of Chatillon. But the latter, who chanced to be at court, replied that "what he enjoyed he enjoyed by gift of the crown of The constable France, wherewith the Pope had nothing to do." The diSachjSr ld constable was even more vehement. " The Pope," um<. defence. 8ai( j ^ u fa s often troubled the quiet of this realm, hut I trust he shall not be able to trouble it at this time. I am myself a papist ; but if the Pope and his ministers go about 1 Papiers d'etat dn card, de Granvelle, ix. 545, etc. 8 Giovambatista Adriani, Istoria de' suoi tempi (Ed. of Milan, 1834), ii. 221. 3 Sir Thomas Smith to Cecil, Nantes, Oct. 12, 1565, State Paper Office, Calendar. 1566. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 183 again to disturb the kingdom, my sword shall le Huguenot. My nephew shall leave neither cap nor dignity which he has for the Pope, seeing the edict gives him that liberty." ' Early in the following year, Charles the Ninth convoked in the city of Moulins, in Bonrbonnais, near the centre of France, an assembly of notables to deliberate on the interests u. he court at / Mouiius. o f t] ie kingdom, which had not yet fully recovered from the desolations of the first civil war. The extensive jour- ney, which had occupied a large part of the two preceding years, had furnished him abundant evidence of the grievances under which his subjects in the various provinces were laboring, and he now summoned all that was most illustrious in France, and especially those noblemen whom he had dismissed to their gov- ernments when about to start from his capital, to assist him in discovering the best mode of relief. If the Florentine Adriani could be credited, there were other and sinister designs in the mind of the court, or, at least, in that of Catharine. According to this historian, the plan of the second " Sicilian Vespers," re- solved upon at Bayonne, was to have been put into execution at Moulins, which, from its strength, was well suited for the scene of so sanguinary a drama; but, although the Huguenot chiefs assembled in numbers, their actions betrayed so much suspicion of the Roman Catholics, and it seemed so difficult to include all in the blow, that the massacre was deferred until the arrival of a more propitious time, which did not come until St. Bartholo- mew's Day, 1572." I need not stop to refute a story which pre- supposes the adoption of resolutions in the conference of Bay- onne, which we now know, from documentary evidence, were never for a moment entertained by Catharine and her son the king. So far from having any such treacherous design, in point of fact the assembly of Moulins was intended in no small degree to serve as a means of healing the dissensions existing among 1 Sir Thomas Smith to Leicester, Nov. 23, 1565, State Paper Office. 1 " Al qual tempo si riservo tale esecuzione per alcuni sospetti, che appari- vano negli Ugonotti, e per difficolta di condurvegli tutti, e ancora perche piii sicuro luogo era Parigi che Molino." Giovambatista Adriani, Istoria de' auoi tempi (lib. decimottavo), ii. 221. 184 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. the nobles. The most serious breaches were the feud between the Chatfllons and the Guises on account of the suspected com- plicity of Admiral Coligny in the murder of the late duke, and that between Marshal Montmorency and the Cardinal of Lor- raine, arising out of the affray in January, 1565. Both quar- rels were settled amicably in the king's presence, with as much sincerity as generally characterizes such reconciliations. Co- ligny declared on oath, in the royal presence, that he was guilt- less of Guise's murder, neither having been its author nor having consented to it ; whereupon the king declared him innocent, and ordered the parties to be reconciled. The corn- Feigned rec- mand was obeyed, for Anne d'Este, Guise's widow, ' and Cardinal Charles of Lorraine in turn embraced oiigny. ^.j^ admirg^ j n token of renewed friendship. How much of meaning these caresses contained was to be shown six years later by the active participation of the one in the most famous massacre which the annals of modern history present, and by the exultant rejoicings in which the other indulged when he heard of it. Young Henry of Guise, less hypocritical than his mother and his uncle, held aloof from the demonstra- tion, and permitted the beholders to infer that he was quietly biding his time for vengeance. 1 An event of principal importance that occurred during the stay of the court at Moulins was a fresh altercation between Lorraine and L'Hospital. A tolerant but apparently unauthorized act of the chancellor furnished the occasion. The Edict of Pacification had made provision for the worship of the Huguenots in but a small number of places through the kingdom. If living out of reach of these more favored localities, what were they to do, that they might not be compelled to exist without the restraints of religion during their lifetime, and to die without its conso- lations, nor leave their children unbaptized and uninstructed in the articles of their faith ? L'Hospital proposed to remedy the evil by permitting the Protestants, in such cases, to insti- tute a species of private worship, in their houses, and had pro- 1 De Thou, iii. (liv. xxiix.) 660-664; Castelnau, liv. vi, c. ii.; Jehan de la Fosse, 76 ; Davila, bk. iii. 98. 1566. THE CONFERENCE OP BAYONNE. 185 cured the royal signature to an edict permitting them to call The chancel- "^ as occasion might require, ministers of the Gospel ior introduces fr Om other cities where their regular ministrations a measure were tl erate( l by the law of Amboise. 1 This edict he had sent forthwith to the different parliaments for registration. The Parliament of Dijon, in Burgundy, however, instead of obeying, promptly despatched two counsellors with a remonstrance to the king. 7 On arriving at court, the delegation at first found it impossible to gain the royal ear. In such awe did the " maitres de requetes " to whom petitions were cus- tomarily entrusted stand of the grave and severe chancellor that venerable old man with the white beard, whom Brantome likened to another Cato that none was found bold enough to present the Burgundian remonstrance. At last the delegates went to the newly-arrived cardinal, and Lorraine readily under- took the task. Appearing in the royal council he introduced the matter by expressing " his surprise that the Catholics had no means of making themselves heard respecting their grievan- ces." The objectionable edict was read, and all the members of the council declared that they had never before seen or heard of 1 The edict, of course, is not to be found in Isambert, or any other collec- tion of French laws ; but a letter in Lestoile (ed. Michaud, p. 19), to whom we are indebted for most of our knowledge of the event, refers to the very wording of the document (" ce sont les mots de 1'edict"). The letter is en- titled " Memoire d'un differend meu a Moulins en 1566, entre le Cardinal de Lorraine et le Chancellier de 1'Hopital," and begins with the words: "Je vous advise que dujour (Tkier" etc. M. Bonnet has discovered and published, in the Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. franc., xxiv. (1875) 412-415, a second and fuller account, dated Moulins, March 16, 1566 (MS. French Nat. Library, Dupuy, t. bcxxvl, f. 158). As was seen above (p. 155), this alterca- tion has been generally confounded with that of two years earlier. The let- ter given by Lestoile (see above) is also published in Mem. de Conde, v. 50, but is referred to the wrong event by the editor. Prof. Soldan (Gesch. dea Prot. in Fr. . ii. 199), follows the Mem. de Conde in the reference. Not many months before this occurrence a guest at the Prince of Orange's table told Montigny that there were no Huguenots in Burgundy meaning the Spanish part, or Franche-Comte. " If so," replied the unfortunate noble- man, "the Burgundians cannot be men of intelligence, since those who have much mind for the most part are Huguenots ; " a saying which, reported to Philip, no doubt made a deep impression on his bigoted soul. Pap. d'etat du card, de Granvelle, vii. 187, 188. The Burgundians of France were equally intolerant of the reformed doctrines. 186 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. it. Cardinal Bourbon was foremost in his anger, and declared that if the chancellor had the right to issue such laws on his own responsibility, there was no use in having a council. " Sir," said L'Hospital, turning to the Cardinal of Lorraine, " y u are already come to sow discord among us ! " the chancellor. j am not come to sow fascord, but to prevent you from sowing it as you have done in the past, scoundrel that you are ! " was the reply. 1 " Would you prevent these poor people, whom the king has permitted to live with freedom of conscience in the exercise of their religion, from receiving any consolation at all ? " asked L'Hospital. " Yes, I intend to prevent it," answered the cardinal, " for everybody knows that to suffer such things is to tolerate secret preaching ; and I shall prevent it so long as I shall have the power, in order to give no oppor- tunity for the growth of such tyrannical practices. And," con- tinued he, " do you, who have become what you now are by my means, dare to tell me that I come to sow discord among you ? I shall take good care to keep you from doing what you have done heretofore." The council rose in anger, and passed into the adjoining apartment, where Catharine, who had not recov- ered from a temporary illness, strove to appease them as best she could. Charles ordered a new meeting, and, after hearing the deputies from Dijon, the king, conformably to the advice of the council, revoked the edict, and issued a prohibition of all exercise of the Protestant religion or instruction in its doc- trines, save where it had been granted at Amboise. The chan- cellor was strictly enjoined to affix the seal of state to no papers relating to religious affairs without the consent of the royal council. For several years the Protestants in the northern provinces of France had been busily communicating the religious views protestantism they had themselves embraced to their neighbors in on the north- > . era frontier. Artois, Flanders, and Brabant. This intercourse be- came exceedingly close about the beginning of the year 1566 ; " Je ne suis venu pour troubler; mais pour empescher que ne troubliez, comme avez faict par le passe, belistre que vous estes." Lestoile and Mem. de Conde, ubi supra. 15C6. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYOXNE. 187 and its result was a renunciation of the papal church and its worship, which was participated in by such large numbers, and effected so instantaneously, that the friends and the foes of the new movement were almost equally surprised. The story of this sudden outburst of the reformatory spirit in Valenciennes, Tonrnay, and other places, accompanied as are all movements that take a strong hold upon the popular feel- ings with a certain amount of lawlessness, which expended itself, however, upon inanimate images and held sacred the lives and honor of men and women, has been well told in the histo- ries of the country whose fortunes it chiefly affected. 1 I may be permitted, therefore, to pass over these indirect results of Huguenot influence, and glance at the fortunes of a border town within the present bounds of France, and closely connected with the history of France in the sixteenth century, of which little or no notice has been taken in this connection. 1 Cateau-Cam- bresis, famous for the treaty by which Henry the Progress of j . -, . J the reforma- becond bartered away extensive conquests for a few tui-cam- paltry places that had fallen into the hands of the bresis enemy, was, as its name Chastel, Chateau or Ca- teau imports, a castle and a borough that had grown up about it, both of them on lands belonging to the domain of Maximilian of Bergen, Archbishop and Duke of Cambray, and Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. It was smaller, but relatively far more important three hundred years ago than at the present day. For several years a few " good burgesses," with their families, had timidly studied the Holy Scriptures in secret, restrained 1 See Prescott, Philip II., and Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic. * M. Charles L. Frossard, of Lille, discovered the MSS. on which the fol- lowing account is wholly based, in the Archives of the Department du Nord, preserved in that city. As these papers appear to have been inedited, and are referred to, so far as I can learn, by no previous historian, I have deemed it proper to deviate from the rule to which I have ordinarily adhered, of re- lating in detail only those events that occurred within the ancient limits of the kingdom of France. However, the reformation at Cateau-Cambresis re- ceived its first impulses from France. Mr. Frossard communicated the papers to the Bulletin de la Societe de 1'histoire du protestantisme francais, iii. (1854), 255-2G4, 396-417, 535-538. They are of unimpeachable accuracy and authen- ticity. 188 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. from making an open profession of their faith by the terrible executions which they saw inflicted upon the Protestants in the Netherlands. But, encouraged by the toleration prevailing in France, they began to cross the frontier, and to frequent the Huguenot " assemblies " at Crespy, Tupigny, and Chauny. The distance was not inconsiderable, and the peril was great. The archbishop had not only written a letter, which was read in every parish church, forbidding the singing of Marot's psalms and the frequenting of French conventicles, but he had sent his spies to the conventicles to discover cases of disobedience. The Huguenots of Gateau multiplied in spite of these precautions. " The eyes of the aforesaid spies," writes a witness of the events, " were so holden that they did not even recognize those with whom they conversed." Yet, although the Huguenots met at home to read the Bible and to " sing the psalms which were most appropriate to the persecution and dispersion of the chil- dren of God," the town was as quiet as it had ever been. A slight incident, however, revealed the intensity of the fire se- cretly burning below the surface. A Huguenot minister was discovered on Whitsunday, in an adjoining village, and brought to Gateau. His captors facetiously told the suspected Protes- tants whom they met, that they had brought them a preacher, and that they would have no further occasion for leaving the town in quest of one. But the joke was not so well appreciated as it might have been by the adherents of the reformed faith, who seem by this time to have become extremely numerous. The excitement was intense. When the bailiff of Cambre'sis was detected, not long after, stealing into the place by night, accompanied by some sixty men, with the intention of carrying the preacher off to Cambray, he met with unexpected resistance. A citizen, on his way to his garden outside the walls, was the first to notice the guard of strange arquebusiers at the gate, and ran back to give the alarm. The tocsin was rung, and the in- habitants assembled in arms. It was now the turn of the bailiff to be astonished, and to listen humbly to the remonstrances of the people, indignant that he should have presumed to seize their gates and usurp the functions of the local magistrates. However, the intruders, after being politely informed that, ac- 1566. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 189 cording to strict justice, the whole party might have been sum- marily put to death, were suffered to beat a hasty retreat ; not that so perfect a control could be put upon the ardor of some, but that they " administered sundry blows with the flat of their swords upon the back of the bailiff and a few of his soldiers." The incident itself was of trilling importance, for the Hugue- not minister was promptly given up to the baron of the village where he had been captured, and was taken by his orders to Cambray. But it led to serious consequences. Threatened by the archiepiscopal city, the Protestants of Cateau, afraid to go to the French preaching-places, sent for Monsieur Philippe, minister of Tupigny, and held the reformed services just out- interference side of their own walls. Alarmed at the progress of bish b o e p1>f ch ~ Protestant doctrines in his diocese, the Archbishop cmmbray. convened the estates of Cambray, and, on the eigh- teenth of August, 1566, sent three canons of the cathedral to persuade his subjects of Cateau to return to the Papal Church, and to threaten them with ruin in case of refusal. Neither argument nor menace was of any avail. The Protestants, who had studied their Bibles, were more than a match for the priests, who had not ; and, as for the peril, the Huguenots quaintly replied : " Rather than yield to your demand, we should prefer to have our heads placed at our feet." When asked if they were all of this mind, they reiterated their deter- mination : " Were the fires made ready to burn us all, we should enter them rather than accede to your request and return to the mass." These were brave words, but the sturdy Hugue- nots made them good a few months later. Scarcely a week had passed before the news reached Cateau (on the twenty-fifth of August) that the " idols" had been broken in all the churches of Valenciennes, Antwerp, Ghent, Tournay, and elsewhere. Although stirred to its very depths by the exciting intelligence, the Protestant population still contained itself, and merely consulted convenience by celebrating Divine worship within the city walls, in an open cemetery. Unfortu- nately, however, the minister whom the reformed had obtained was ill-suited to these troublous times. Monsieur Philippe, unlike Calvin and the great majority of the ministers of the 190 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. French Protestant church, was rash and impetuous. Early the next morning he entered the church of St. Martin, in The images i i p and pictures company with three or tour other persons, and coin- overthrown. ,, 1 p 1 4 1 menced the work of destruction. Altars, statues, pictures, antiphonaries, missals, graduals all underwent a com- mon fate. From St. Martin's the iconoclasts visited in like manner the other ecclesiastical edifices of the town and its suburbs. Upon the ruins of the Romish superstition the new fabric arose, and Monsieur Philippe preached the same day in the principal church of Gateau, to a large and attentive audi- ence. And now began an animated interchange of proclamations on the one hand, and of petitions on the other. The archbishop demanded the unconditional submission of his subjects, and gave no assurances of toleration. The Protestants declared themselves ready to give him their unqualified allegiance, as their temporal sovereign, but claimed the liberty to worship God. Maximilian referred to the laws and constitutions of the Empire of which they formed an integral part. The burgesses The Protes- answered by showing that they had always been gov- tant claims. erne( j m accO rdance with the "placards" issued by the King of Spain for his provinces of the ^Netherlands, and that, whenever they had appealed in times past to the chamber of the Empire, as for example at Spires, they 'had not only been repelled, but even punished for their temerity. 1 They claimed, therefore, the benefit of the " Accord " made by the Duchess of Parma at Brussels a few days previously, guaranteeing the exercise of the reformed religion wherever it had heretofore been practised ; * while the archbishop, when forced to declare himself, plainly announced that he would not suffer the least 1 Lille MSS., ubi supra, 403. s " De aorte qn'ila esperent que lesdita de la requeate et du compromia lea adsisteront suyvant leur promease, a ce qu'ils puisaent jouyr de la mesme Iibert6 accordez a Bruxellea, aacjavoir, que 1'exerciae de la religion aye lieu par tout ou il a eate uaite auparavant, comrae cenlx du Chaatel en Cambresia ont cue auaay, et ce aeulement par maniere de provision, juaquea a ce que aultrement il y aoict ponrveu par le Roy avec I'advia dea eatatz, eatimanB que le Roy ne aouffrira rien en son paya qui ne soict conf orme ausdites ordon- nancea de 1'empire." Lille MSS., ubi supra. 1566. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 191 deviation from the Roman Catholic faith. In their perplexity, the Protestants had recourse to the Count of Horn, at Tournay, by whom they were received with the utmost kindness. The count even furnished them with a letter to the archbishop, en- treating him to be merciful to them. 1 But nothing was further from the heart of Maximilian than mercy. He was the same blind adherent of Cardinal Granvelle and his policy, whom, a year or two before, Brederode, Hoogstraaten, and their fellow-revellers had grievously insulted at a banquet given to Egmont before his de- parture for Spain ; the same treacherous, sanguinary priest who wrote to Granvelle respecting Valenciennes : " We had better push forward and make an end of all the principal heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will be entirely ruined by such a course." a On Monday, the twenty- fourth of March, 1567, the troops of the archbishop appeared before Gateau, and the same day the place was surrendered by the treachery of some of the inhabitants. At once Gateau be- came a scene of bloody executions. All that had taken part in the Protestant worship were brought before a tribunal, which often tried, condemned, and punished with death upon one and the same day. Monsieur Philippe, the rash preacher, and one of his deacons seem to have been the first victims. There was no lack of food for the gallows. To have been present at the "preachings," to have partaken of the communion, to have maintained that the Protestant was better than the Roman Catholic religion, to have uttered a jest or drawn a caricature reflecting upon the Papal Church and its ceremonies any of these was sufficient reason for sending a man to be hung or be- headed. The duchess's " moderation " had effected thus much, that no one seems to have been burned at the stake. And so, at last, by assiduous but bloody work, the Reformation was com- pletely extirpated from Gateau Cambresis. It was, at least, a source of mournful satisfaction that scarce one of the sufferers failed to exhibit great constancy and pious resignation in view of death. 8 1 Letter of P. de Montmorency, Sept. 11, 1566, Lille MSS., ubi supra. 5 Motley, Dutch Republic, i. 458-402. 3 Lille MSS., ubi supra. 192 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIV. Let TIS return from the Flemish borders to France proper, where, notwithstanding attempts at external reconciliation, the breach between the Protestants and their Roman Catholic neigh- bors was daily widening, where, in fact, the elements of a new war were gathering shape and consistency. It was becoming more and more difficult especially for a government of tempo- rary shifts and expedients to control the antagonistic forces incessantly manifesting themselves. The idea of toleration was understood bv neither party. The Roman Catholics The idea 01 * ta ^ I* 1 " ^ 118 vrere so slow to comprehend the liberty of conscience and religious profession of which the Hu- guenots had wrung a concession in the last edict by force of arms, that they undertook to prosecute the Protestants for eat- ing roast lamb and capons during Lent. With little more ap- preciation of the altered posture of affairs, the Archbishop of Sens (Cardinal Guise) initiated a trial against a heretical curate of Courtenay, according to the rules of canon law, and the latter might have stood but a poor chance to recover his freedom had not the Huguenot lord of Courtenay seized upon the archbish- op's " official " as he was passing his castle, and held him as a hostage to secure the curate's release. 1 It would be asserting too much to say that the Protestants were innocent of any infraction upon the letter or spirit of the Edict of Amboise. They would have been angels, not men, had they been proof against the contagious spirit of raillery that infected the men of the sixteenth century. Where they dared, Huguenot tne J not uufrequently held up their opponents to ridi- pieasantries. qule in the coarse style so popular with all classes. 3 Thus a contemporary Roman Catholic recounts with indignation 1 Memoires de Claude Haton, L 416, 417. s The satirical literature of the period would of itself fill a volume. The Huguenot songs in derision of the mass are particularly caustic. See M. Bor- dier, Le Chansonnier Huguenot, and the note to the last chapter. The Bul- letin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot, fran?., x. (1861), 40, reprints a "dizain" commencing " Nostre cure est un"fin boulanger, Qui en son art est sage et bien appris : II vend bien cher son petit pain leger, Combien qu'il ait le froment a bon prix." 1566-C7. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 193 how Prince Porcicn held a celebration in Normandy, and among the games was one in which a " paper castle " was assaulted, and the defenders, dressed as monJcs^ were taken prisoners, and were afterward paraded through the streets on asses' backs. 1 But these buffooneries were harmless sallies contrasted with the in- sults with which the Protestants were treated in every town where they were not numerically preponderating ; nor were they anything more than rare occurrences in comparison with the lat- ter. This page of history is compelled to record no violent commotion on the part of the reformed population, save in cases where, as at Pamiers (a town not far south of Toulouse, near the foot of the Pyrenees), they had been goaded to madness by the government deliberately trampling upon their rights of worship, at the instigation of the ecclesiastical authorities. 1 A trifling accident might then, however, be sufficient to cause their inflamed passions to burst out ; and in the disturbances that were likely to ensue, little respect was usually paid to the churches or the monasteries. Such are wont to be the unhappy effects of the denial of justice according to the forms of estab- lished law. They would have been a hundred-fold more fre- quent had it not been for the persistent opposition interposed by the Huguenot ministers many of them with Calvin carrying the doctrine of passive submission to constituted authority al- most to the very verge of apparent pusillanimity. From month to month the conviction grew upon the Pro- testants that their destruction was agreed upon. There was no Ala of the doubt with regard to the desire of Philip the Second ; nu- for his course respecting his subjects in the Nether- lands showed plainly enough that the extermination of heretics was the only policy of which his narrow mind could conceive as pleasing in the sight of heaven. The character of Catharine 1 " Chose indigne d'un prince tel qu'il se disoit." Journal d'un cure 1 ligueur (Jehan de la Fosse), 73. 8 See the moderate account of the dispassionate Roman Catholic De Thou, iii. (liv. xxxix.) 666-G70. Also Agrippa d'Anbigne, liv. iv., c. vi. (i. 208), and Discours des troubles advenus en la ville de Pamiers, le 5 juin 1566, Archives curieuses (Cimber et Danjou' , vi. 309-343. The massacre of Protestants at Foix was caused by an exaggerated and false account of the commotion at Pamiers, carried thither by a fugitive Augustinian monk. VOL. IL 13 194 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XIV. stealthy, deceitful, regardless of principle was equally well un- derstood. Between such a queen and the trusted minister of such a prince, a secret conference like that of Bayonne could not be otherwise than highly suspicious. It is not strange that the Huguenots received it as an indubitable fact that the court O from this time forward was only waiting for the best opportu- nity of effecting their ruin ; for even intelligent Roman Catho- lics, who were not admitted into the confidence of the chief ac- tors in that celebrated interview, came to the same conclusion. Those who knew what had actually been said and done might assure the world that the rmnors were false ; but the more they asseverated the less they were believed. For it is one of the penalties of insincere and lying diplomacy, that when once ap- preciated in its true character as it generally is appreciated in a very brief space of time it loses its persuasive power, and is treated without much investigation as uniform imposture. 1 With a suspicious vigilance, bred of the very treachery of which they had so often been the victims, the Huguenots saw signs of dangers that perhaps were not actually in preparation for them. And certainly there was enough to alarm. Not many months after the assembly of Moulins a cutthroat by the Attempts to r T-V - T IT i i murder the name of Du May was discovered and executed, \vho admiral and nll i -i i AI--I/-IT t Prince por- had been hired to murder Admiral Coligny, the most indispensable leader of the party, near his own castle of Chatillon-sur-Loing. 11 The last day of the year there was hung 1 The good policy of straightforward dealing on the part of an ambassador is set forth in a noble letter of Morvilliers, Bishop of Orleans, from which I permit myself to quote a few sentences : " II y en a toutesfois qui pen- sent que, pour estre habille homme, il fault tousjours aller masque", laquelle opinion j'estime du tout errone'e. et celluy qui la suit grandement deceu. Le temps m'a donne quelque experience des choses ; mais je n'ay jamais veu homme, suivant ces chemins obliques, qui n'ait embrouille les affaires de son maistre, et, luy, perdre beaucoup plus qu'acquerir de reputation; et au con- traire ceux, qui se sont conduits prudemment avec la verite, avoir, pour le moins, rapporte de leur negotiation ce fruict et 1'honneur d'y avoir faict ce que les hommes, avec le sens et jugement humain, peuvent faire." Correspon- dance diplomatique de Bertrand de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon, vii. 97. 2 Journal de Jehan de la Fosse, 79, 80 ; Vie de Coligny (Cologne, 1686), 321-323 ; Gasparis Colinii Vita, 1575, 55 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., 1, 207. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 195 a lackey, who pretended that the Cardinal of Lorraine had tried to induce him to poison the Prince of Porcien ; and, although he retracted his statements at the time of his " amende hono- rable," ' his first story was generally credited. The rumor was current that in December, 1566, Charles received special envoys from the emperor, the Pope, and the King of Spain, warning him that, unless he should revoke his edict of toleration, they would declare themselves his open enemies. 8 This was certainly suf- ficiently incredible, so far as the tolerant Maximilian was con- cerned; but stranger mutations of policy had often been no- ticed, and, as to Pius the Fifth and Philip, nothing seemed more probable. "\Vith the opening of the year 1567 the portentous clouds of coming danger assumed a more definite shape. In the neigh- boring provinces of the Netherlands, after a long period of pro- crastination, Philip the Second had at length determined to strike a decisive blow. The Duchess of Parma was to be super- Aiva in the se ded in the government by a man better qualified than Netherlands. an y o ther in Europe for the bloody work assigned him to do. Ferdinando de Toledo, Duke of Alva, in his sixtieth year, after a life full of brilliant military exploits, was to under- take a work in Flanders such as that which, two years before, he had recommended as the panacea for the woes of France a work with which his name will ever remain associated in the annals of history. The " Beggars " of the Low Countries, like the Huguenots in their last war, had taken up arms in defence of their religious, and, to a less degree, of their civil rights. The "Beggars" complained of the violation of municipal privileges and compacts, ratified by oath at their sovereign's ac- cession, as the Huguenots pointed to the infringement upon edicts solemnly published as the basis of the pacification of the country ; and both refused any longer to submit to a tyranny 1 Journal d'un cure ligueur (Jehan de la Fosse), 81. 9 " December (1566. ) Au commencement vinrent plusieurs ambassades a Paris, tant de la part de 1'Empereur, que du Pape, que du roy d'Espagne, lesquels manderent au roy de France, qu'il eust a faire casser 1'esdict de Jan- vier, ou autrement qu'ils se declareroient ennemys." Ibid., 80. The fanatical party affected to regard the Edict of Amboise, March, 1563, as a mere re- establishment of the edict of January 17, 1562. 196 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. that had, in the name of religion, sent to the gallows or the stake thousands of their most pious and industrious fellow-citi- zens. The cause was, therefore, common to the Protestants of the two countries, and there was little doubt that should the enemy of either prove successful at home, he would soon be im- pelled by an almost irresistible impulse to assist his ally in com- pleting his portion of the praiseworthy undertaking. It is true that the Huguenots of France were not now in actual warfare with the government ; but, that their time would come to be at- tacked, there was every reason to apprehend. Hence, when the Duke of Alva, in the memorable summer of 1567, set out from Piedmont at the head of ten thousand veterans, to thread his way over the Alps and along the eastern frontiers of France, through Burgundy and Lorraine, to the fated scene of his bloody task in the Netherlands, the Protestants of France saw in this neighboring demonstration a new peril to themselves. In the first moments of trepidation, their leaders in the royal council are said to have acquiesced in, if they did not propose, The Swiss *k e levy of six thousand Swiss troops, as a measure of levy. defence against the Spanish general ; and Coligny, the same contemporary authority informs us, strongly advocated that they should dispute the duke's passage. 1 Even if this statement be true, they were not long in detecting, or believing that they had detected, proofs that the Swiss troops were really in- tended for the overthrow of Protestantism in France, rather than for any service against the Duke of Alva. Letters from Rome and Spain were intercepted, we learn from Fra^ois de la Noue, containing evidence of the sinister designs of the court. 8 The 1 Memoires de Castelnau, liv. vi., c. ii. Castelnau was certainly in a favor- able position for learning the truth respecting these matters ; and yet even he speaks of the "holy league," formed at Bayonne, as of something beyond controversy. According to a treaty and renewal of alliance between Charles the Ninth and the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland, entered into Dec. 7, 1564, for Charles's lifetime, and seven years beyond, the Swiss were to furnish him, when attacked, not less than six nor more than sixteen thousand men for the entire war. The success of the negotiation occasioned great re- joicing at Paris, and corresponding annoyance in the Spanish dominions. Du Mont, Corps diplomatique, v. 129-131 ; Jehan de la Fosse, 70 ; Papiers d'etat du card, de Granvelle, viii. 599. * Mem. de Fr. de la Nouc, c. xi. 1567. THE CONFERENCE OF BAYONNE. 197 Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon, a prince of the blood, a short time before his death, warned his cousin of Conde of the ini- peiidign danger.' Conde, who, within the past few months, had repeatedly addressed the king and his mother in terms of remonstrance and petition for the redress of the oppression under which the Huguenots were suffering, but to no purpose, again supplicated the throne, urging in particular that the levy of the Swiss be countermanded, since, if they should come, there would be little hope of the preservation of the peace ; a while Admiral Coligny, who found Catharine visiting the constable, his uncle, at his palace of Chantilly, with faithful boldness ex- posed to them both the impossibility of retaining the Protes- tants in quiet, when they saw plain indications that formidable preparations were being made for the purpose of overwhelming them. To these remonstrances, however, they received only what they esteemed evasive answers excuses for not dismissing the Swiss, based upon representations of the danger of some Spanish incursion, and promises that the just requests of the Huguenots should receive the gracious attention of a monarch desirous of establishing his throne by equity.' " The queene returned answer by letters," wrote the English 1 He did more than this, according to the belief of the times, as expressed by Jean de Serres ; for, " having been present at the Bayonne affair," he brought him irrefragable proof of the " holy league entered into by the kings of France and Spain for the ruin of the religion." Comment, de statu, rel. et reip., iii. 126. s Yet so much were intelligent observers deceived respecting the signs of the times, that only a little over two months before the actual outbreak of the second civil war (July 4, 1567), Judge Truchon congratulated France on the edifying spectacle of loving accord which the court furnished. " I have this very day," he writes, "seen the king holding, with his left hand, the head of my lord, the prince [of Conde], and with his right the head of my lord the Cardinal of Bourbon, &n&. playfully trying to strike their foreheads to- gether. The Duke d'Aumale was paying his attentions to Madame la Mares- chale [de Montmorency. ] . . . . The Cardinal of Chatillon was not far off. In short, all, without distinction, seemed to me to be so harmonious that I wish there may never be greater divisions in France. It was a fine ex- ample for many persons of lower rank," etc. Letter to M. de Gordes, MS. in Archives de Conde, Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, i. 540, Pieces inedites. 3 Jean de Serres, iii. 138, 129. See, also, Conde'a letter of Aug. 23, 1568. Ibid., iii. 201. IDS THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XIV. ambassador, jSTorris, to Elizabeth, "assuringe him" Conde " by the f aythe of a princesse et cPune femme de bien (for so she termed it), that so long as she might any waies prevayle with the Ivinge, her sonne, he should never breake the sayd edicte, and therof required him to assure himselfe ; and if he coulde come to the courte, he shoulde be as welcome as his owne harte could devise ; if not, to passe the tyme without any suspect or jealousie, protesting that there was nothing ment that tended to his indempnitie, what so ever was bruted abrode or conceyved to the contrary, as he should perceyve by the sequele erst it were long." ' Shall we blame those sturdy, straightforward men, so long fed upon unmeaning or readily-broken promises of redress, if they gave little credit to the royal assurances, and to the more honeyed words of the queen mother ? Perhaps there existed no sufficient grounds for the immediate alarm of the Hugue- nots. Perhaps no settled plan had been formed with the con- nivance of Philip no " sacred league " of the kind supposed to have been sketched in outline at Bayonne no contemplated massacre of the chiefs, with a subsequent assembly of notables at Poitiers, and repeal of all the toleration that had been vouchsafed to the Protestants. 2 All this may have been false; but, if false, it was invested with a wonderful verisimilitude, and to Huguenots and Papists it had, so far as their actions were con- cerned, all the effect of truth. At all events the promises of the king could not be trusted. Had he not been promising, again and again, for four years ? Had not every restrictive ordinance, every interpretation of the Edict of Amboise, every palpable 1 Norris to Queen Elizabeth, Aug. 29, 1567, State Paper Office, Due d'Au- male, Pieces inedites, i. 559. 2 " Sed ne frustra laborare viderentur, de Albani consilio, ' Satius esse unicum aalmonis caput, quam mille ranarum capita habere,' ineunt rationes de inter- cipiendis optimatum iis, qui Religionem sequerentur, Condaeo, Amiralio, An- delotio, Rupef ocaldio aliisque primoribus viris. Ratio videbatur prsesentissi- ma, ut a rege accerserentur, tanquam consulendi de iis rebus quse ad regnum constituendum facerent," etc. Jean de Serres, iii. 125. It will be remem- bered that this volume was published the year before the St. Bartholomew's massacre. The persons enumerated, with the exception of those that died before 1572, were the victims of the massacre, 15f,T. THE HUGUENOT EXPEDITIONS TO FLORIDA. 139 infringement upon its spirit, if not upon its letter, been pre- faced by a declaration of Charles's intention to maintain the edict inviolate ? In the words of an indignant contemporary, '* the VITV name of the edict was employed to destroy the edict itself." 1 * The Huguenot expeditions to Florida have been so well sketched by Ban- croft and Parkman, and so fully set forth by their latest historian, M. Paul Gaffarel, that I need not speak of them in detail. In fact, they notttempts belong more intimately to American than to French history. at colonization They owed their origin to the enlightened patriotism of Coligny, who was not less desirous, as a Huguenot, to provide a safe refuge for his fellow Protestants, than anxious, as High Admiral of France, to secure for his native country such commercial resources as it had never enjoyed. " I am in my house," he wrote in 1565, " studying new measures by which we may traffic and make profit in foreign parts. I hope shortly to bring it to pass that we shall have the best trade in Christendom " (Gaffarel, Histoire de la Floride franqaise, Paris, 1875, pp. 45, 40). But, although the project of Huguenot emigration was conceived in the brain of the great Protestant leader, apparently it was heartily approved by Catharine de' Medici and her son. They certainly were not averse to be relieved of the presence of as many as possible of those whom their religious views, and, still more, their political tendencies, rendered objects of -suspicion. "If wishing were in order," Catharine (Letter to Forquevaulx, March 17, 1566, Gaffarel. 428) plainly told the Spanish ambassador, on one occasion, " I would wish that all the Huguenots were in those regions" (" si c'estoit soueter, ie voudrois que touts les Huguenots fussent en ce pais-l"). In the discussion that ensued between the courts of Paris and Madrid, the queen mother never denied that the colonists went not only with her knowledge, but with her consent. In fact, she repudiated with scorn and indignation a suggestion of the possibility that such considerable bodies of soldiers and sailors could have left her son's French dominions without the royal privity (Ibid., 427). The first expedition, under Jean Ribault. in 1562. was little more than a voyage of discovery. The main body promptly returned to France, the same year, finding that country rent with civil war. The twenty-six or twenty -eight men left behind to hold ; ' Charlesfort " (erected probably near the month of the South Edisto river, in what is now South Carolina), disheartened and famishing, nevertheless succeeded in constructing a rude ship and recrossing the Atlantic in the course of the next year. A second expedition (1564), under Rene de Laudonniere, who had taken part 1 " Ita Edicti nomen nsurpabatur, dum Edictum rtvera pessundaretur." Jean de Serres, iii. 60. 200 THE RISE OF "THE HUGUENOTS OF FRAXCE. Cn. XIV. in the first, was intended to effect a more permanent settlement. A strong earthwork was accordingly thrown up at a spot christened ' Caro- line," in honor of Charles the Ninth, and the colony was inaugu- rated tinder fair auspices. But improvidence and mismanagement soon bore their legitimate fruits. Laudonniere saw himself constrained to build ships for a return to Europe, and was about to set sail when the third expedition unexpectedly made its appearance (August 28, 1565), under Ribault, leader of the first enterprise. Unfortunately the arrival of this fresh reinforcement was closely followed by the approach of a Spanish squadron, commanded by Pedro ilenendez, or Melendez, de Abila, sent by Philip the Second expressly to destroy the Frenchmen who had been so presumptuous as to settle in ter- ritories claimed by his Catholic Majesty. Nature seemed to conspire with their own incompetency to ruin the French. The French vessels, having gone out to attack the Spaniards, accomplished nothing, and, meeting a terrible storm, were driven far down the coast and wrecked. "Caroline" fell into the hands of Menendez, and its garrison was mercilessly put to death. The same fate befell the shipwrecked French from the fleet. Those l^dez. y who declared themselves Roman Catholics were almost the onlj persons spared by their pitiless assailants. A few women and children were granted their lives; also a drummer, a hornblower, and a few carpenters and sailors, whose services were valuable. Laudonniere and a handful of men escaped to the woods, and subsequently to Europe. About two hundred soldiers, who threatened to entrench themselves and make a for- midable resistance, were able to obtain from Menendez a pledge that they should be treated as prisoners of war, which, strange to say, was observed. The rest many hundreds were consigned to indiscriminate slaughter ; Ribault himself was flayed and quartered ; and over the dead Huguenots was suspended a tablet with this inscription : " Hung, not as Frenchmen, but as Lutherans" (Gaffarel, 229; De Thou, iv. 113; Ag. d'Aubigne, i. 248). Spain and Rome had achieved a grand work. The chaplain Mendoza could piously write: " The greatest advantage from our victory, certainly, is the triumph our Lord grants us, which will cause His Holy Gospel to be introduced into these regions " (Mendoza, apud Gaffarel, 214). The report of these atrocities, tardily reaching the Old World, called forth an almost universal cry of horror. Fair-minded men of both communions stigmatized the conduct of Menendez and his companions as sheer murder ; for had not the French colonists of Florida been attacked before being sum- moned to surrender, and butchered in cold blood after being denied even such terms as were customarily accorded to Turks and other infidels? Among princes, Philip alone applauded the deed, and seemed only to regret that faith had been kept with any of the detested Huguenots (Gaffarel, 234, 245). It has been commonly supposed that whatever indignation was shown by Catharine de' Medici and her son, was merely assumed in deference to the popular clamor, and that but a feeble remonstrance was really uttered. This supineness would be readily explicable upon the hypothesis of the long pre- meditation of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, If the treacherous CH. XIV. THE HUGUENOT EXPEDITIONS TO FLORIDA. 201 murder of Admiral Coligny and the other great Huguenot leaders had indeed been deliberately planned from the time of the Bayonne conference in IDGo, and would have been executed at Moulins in 1566, but for unforeseen circum- stances, no protests against the Florida butchery could have been sincere. On the other hand, if Catharine de' Medici was earnest and persistent in her demand for the punishment of Menendez, it is not conceivable that her mind should have been then entertaining the project of the Parisian matins. The extant correspondence between the French queen mother and her envoy at the court of Madrid may fairly be said to set at rest all doubts respecting her attitude. She was indignant, determined, and outspoken. So slowly did news travel in the sixteenth century, that it was not until the eighteenth of February, 1566, that Forquevaulx, from Madrid, de- spatched to the King of France a first account of the events that had oc- curred in Florida nearly five months before. The ambassador seems to have expressed becoming indignation in the interviews he sought with the Duke of Alva, repudiating with dignity the suggestion that the blame should be laid upon Coligny, for having abused his authority as admiral to set on foot a piratical expedition into the territories of a friendly prince ; and holding forth no encouragement to believe that Charles would disavow Coligny's acts. He told Alva distinctly that Menendez was a butcher rather than a good soldier (" plus digne bourreau que bon soldat," Forquevaulx to Charles IX., March 16, 1566, Gaffarel, 425). He declared to him that the Turks had never exhibited such inhumanity to their prisoners at Castelnovo or at Gerbes in fact, never had barbarians displayed such cruelty. As a Frenchman, he assured the Spaniard that he shuddered when he thought of so execrable a deed, and that it appeared to him that God would not leave it unpunished (Ibid., 426). Catharine's own language to the Spanish ambassador, Don Francez de Alava, was not less frank. " A3 their common mother," she said, "I can but have an incredible grief at heart, when I hear that between princes so closely bound as friends, allies, and relations, as these two kings, and in so good a peace, and at a time when such great offices of friendship are observed be- tween them, so horrible a carnage has been committed on the subjects of my son, the King of France. I am, as it were, boside myself when I think of it, and cannot persuade myself that the king, your master, will refue us satis- faction" (Catharine to Forquevaulx, Moulins, March 17th, Gaffarel, 427). Not content with this plain talking to Alava, she "prayed and ordered" Forquevaulx to make Philip himself understand her desires respecting " the reparation demanded by so enormous an outrage." He was to tell his Catho- lic Majesty that Catharine would never rest content until due satisfaction was made ; and that she would feel " marvellous regret " should she not only find that all her pains to establish perpetual friendship between the two kings had been lost, but one day be reproached by Charles for having suffered such a stain upon his reputation " (" que . . . j'aye laisso faire une telle escorne a sa reputation." Gaffarel, 429). Forquevaulx fulfilled his instructions to the very letter, adding, on his own account, that W fortyon.e years of military service he had never known so 202 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIV. execrable an execution. He seems also to have disposed effectually of the Spanish claim to Florida through right of ancient discovery, by emphasizing the circumstance that Menendez, after his victory, thought it necessary to take formal possession of the land. He informed Philip that no news could be more welcome to the Huguenots than that the subjects of Charles had been murdered by those very persons who were expected to strengthen him by their friendship and alliance (Forquevaulx to Catharine, April 9th, Gaffa- rel, 432). His words had little effect upon any one at the Spanish court, save the young queen, who felt the utmost solicitude lest her brother and her husband should become involved in war with each other. (" Me sembla qu'il tint a peu qu'elle ne pleurast son soul de crainte qu'il ne survienne quelque alteration. " Forquevaulx, ubi upra, 430.) But, although no progress was made toward obtaining justice, the French government did not relax its efforts. Charles wrote from Saint JIaur, May 12, 1566, that his will was that Forquevaulx should renew his complaint and insist with all urgency upon a reparation of the wrong done him. " You w ill not cease to tell them," said the king, " that they must not hope that I shall ever be satisfied until I see such a reparation as our friendship demands." (Gaffarel, 437.) The French ambassador continued to press his claim, and, in particular, to demand the release of the French prisoners, even up to near the time when a private citizen, Dominique de Gourgues, undertook to avenge his country's wrongs while satisfying his thirst for personal revenge. De Gourgues was not, as has usually been supposed, a Huguenot ; he had even revenge of been an adherent of Montluc and of the house of Guise (Gaffarel, ^5). But, having been captured in war by the Spaniards, in 1566, he had been made a galley-slave. From that time he had vowed irreconcilable hatred against the Catholic king. He obtained a long- deferred satisfaction when, in April, 1568, he surprised the fort of Caroline, slew most of the Spanish soldiers, and placed over the remainder spared only for the more ignominious punishment of hanging upon the same trees to which Huguenots had been suspended the inscription, burned with a hot iron on a pine slab : " I do this not as to Spaniards, nor as to seamen, but as to traitors, robbers, and murderers." (The words are given with slight variations. See " La Reprinse de la Floride par le Cappitaine Gourgue," reprinted by Gaffarel, 483-515 ; Agrippa d'Aubignc, i. 354-356 ; De Thou, iv. 123-126.) 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. CHAPTER XT. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR AND THE SHORT PEACE. A TREACHEROUS peace or an open war was now apparently the only alternative offered to the Huguenots. In reality, however, they believed themselves to be denied even the unwelcome choice between the two. The threatening preparations made for the purpose of crushing them were indications of coming war, if, indeed, they were not properly to be regarded, accord- ing to the view of the great Athenian orator in a somewhat similar case, as the first stage in the war itself. The times called for prompt decision. Within a few weeks three confer- ences were held at Valery and at Chatillon. Ten or twelve of the most prominent Huguenot nobles assembled to discuss with the Prince of Conde and Coligny the exigencies of the hour. Twice was the impetuosity of the greater number restrained by the calm persuasion of the admiral. Convinced that the sword , g is a fearful remedy for political diseases a remedy cific ooanauis. that should never be applied except in the most des- perate emergency Coligny urged his friends to be patient, and to show to the world that they were rather forced into war by the malice of their enemies than drawn of their own free choice. But at the third meeting of the chiefs, before the close of the month, they were too much excited by the startling reports reaching them from all sides, to be controlled even by Coligny's prudent advice. A great friend of " the religion " at court had Rumors of 8ent * ^ e P rmce aQ d the admiral an account of a secret stro 8 - l the^ meeting of the royal council, at which the imprison- Huguenota. ment of the former and the execution of the latter was agreed upon. The Swiss were to be distributed in equal de- 204 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XV. tachments at Paris, Orleans, and Poitiers, and the plan already indicated the repeal of the Edict of Toleration and the procla- mation of another edict of opposite tenor was at once to be car- ried into effect. " Are we to wait," asked the more impetuous, " until we be bound hand and foot and dragged to dishonora- ble death on Parisian scaffolds ? Have we forgotten the more than three thousand Huguenots put to violent deaths since the peace, and the frivolous answers and treacherous delays which have been our only satisfaction ? " And when some of the leaders expressed the opinion that delay was still preferable to a war that would certainly expose their motives to obloquy, and entail so much unavoidable misery, the admiral's younger brother, D'Andelot, combated with his accustomed vehemence D'Andolot's i i i it MI warlike coun- a caution which he regarded as pusillanimous, and sels prevail. . ,., i i i n i pointedly asked its advocates what all their innocence would avail them when once they found themselves in prison and at their enemy's mercy, when they were banished to foreign countries, or were roaming without shelter in the forests and wilds, or were exposed to the barbarous assaults of an infuriated populace. 1 His striking harangue carried the day. The admi- ral reluctantly yielded, and it was decided to anticipate the at- tack of the enemy by a bold defensive movement. Some ad- vocated the seizure of Orleans, and counselled that, with this refuge in their possession, negotiations should be entered into with the court for the dismissal of the Swiss ; others that the party should fortify itself by the capture of as many cities as possible. But to these propositions the pertinent reply was made that there was no time for wordy discussions, the contro- versy must be settled by means of the sword ; 3 and that, of a 1 The most authentic account of these important interviews is that given by Francois de la Noue in his Memoires, chap. xi. It clearly shows how much Davila mistakes in asserting that " the prince, the admiral, and Andelot per- suaded them, without further delay, to take arms." (Eng. trans., London, 1678, bk. iv., p. 110.) Davila's careless remark has led many others into the error of making Coligny the advocate, instead of the opposer, of a resort to arms. See also De Thou, iv. (liv. xlii.) 2-7, who bases his narrative on that of De la Noue, as does likewise Agrippa d'Aubigne, 1. iv., c. vii. (i. 209), who uses the expression : " L'Amiral voulant endurer toutes extremitez et se con- fier en 1'innocence." * " Ains avec le fer." 15T.T. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 205 hundred towns the Protestants held at the beginning of the last war, thev had found themselves unable to retain a Cardinal Lor- J . rainetobe dozen until its close, r mallv, tlie prince and his seized and . ,. i i i . Kinp Charles companions resolved to make it the great object of their endeavors to drive the Cardinal of Lorraine from court and liberate Charles from his pernicious influence. This object was to be attained by dispersing the Swiss, and by con- ducting hostilities on a bold plan rather by the maintenance of an army that could actively take the field,' than by seizing any cities save a few of the most important. On the twenty- ninth of September, the feast-day of St. Michael, the Hugue- nots having suddenly risen in all parts of France, Conde and Coligny, at the head of the troops of the neighboring provinces, were to present themselves at the court, which would be busy celebrating the customary annual ceremonial of the royal order. They would then hand to the king a humble petition for the redress of grievances, for the removal of the Cardinal of Lor- raine, and for the dispersion of the Swiss troops, which, instead of being retained near the frontiers of the kingdom which they had ostensibly come to protect, had been advanced to the very vicinity of the capital. 2 It might be difficult to prevent the enterprise from wearing the appearance of a plot against the king, in whose immediate vicinity the cardinal was; but the event, if prosperous, would demonstrate the integrity of their purpose. 3 The plan was well conceived, and better executed than such schemes usually are. The great difficulty was to keep so impor- 1 " Une armee gaillarde." La None, ubi supra. * Mem. de Castelnau, liv. vL, c. iv., c. v. ; La None, c. xi. ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xlii.) 5, 6. Da vila, L iv., p. 110, alludes to the accusation, extorted from Protestant prisoners on the rack, that " the chief scope of this enterprise was to murder the king and queen, with all her other children, that the crown might come to the Prince of Conde," but admits that it was not generally credited. The curate of Saint Barthelemi is less charitable : describing the ris- ing of the Protestants, he says : " En ung vendredy 27 e se partirent de toutes les villes de France les huguenots, sans qu'on lenr eust dit mot, mais ils craig- noient que si on venoit au dessein de leur entreprise qni estoit de prendre ou tuer le roy Charles neuvieme, qu'on ne les saccagea cs villes." Journal d'un cure ligueur (J. de la Fosse), 85. 3 La Noue, and De Thou, ubi supra. 206 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. tant a secret. It was a singular coincidence that, as in the case of the tumult of Amboise, over seven years before, the first intimations of their danger reached the Guises from the Netherlands. 1 But the courtiers, whose minds were taken up with the pleasures of the chase, and who dreamed of no such movement, were so far from believing the report, that Constable Montmorency expressed vexation that it was imagined that the Huguenots could get together one hundred men in a corner of the kingdom not to speak of an army in the immediate vicinity of the capital without the knowledge of himself, the head of the royal military estab- lishment ; while Chancellor de 1'Hospital said that " it was a capital crime for any servant to alarm his prince with false intelligence, or give him groundless suspicions of his fellow- subjects." * The news, however, being soon confirmed from other sources, a spy was sent to Chatillon-sur-Loing to report upon the admi- ral's movements. He brought back word that he had found Ooligny at home, and apparently engrossed in the labors of the vintage so quietly was the affair conducted until within forty- eight hours of the time appointed for the general uprising. 3 It was not until hurried tidings came from all quarters that the roads to Chatillon and to Rosoy a small place in Brie, where the Huguenots had made their rendezvous were swarming with men mounted and armed, that the court took the alarm. It was almost too late. The Huguenots had possession of 1 The historian, Michel de Castelnan, sieur de Mauvissiere, had been sent as a special envoy to congratulate the Duke of Alva on his safe arrival, and the Duchess of Parma on her relief. As he was returning from Brussels, he received, from some Frenchmen who joined him, a very circumstantial ac- count of the contemplated rising of the Huguenots, and, although he regarded the story as an idle rumor, he thought it his duty to communicate it to the king and queen. Memoires, liv. vi, c. iv. 8 Mem. de Castelnau, ubi supra. It is probable that the French court par- took of Cardinal Granvelle's conviction, expressed two years before, that the Huguenots would find it difficult to raise money or procure foreign troops for another war, not having paid for those they had employed in the last war, nor holding the strongholds they then held. Letter of May 7, 1565, Papiers d'etat, ix. 172. 3 Mem. du due de Bouillon (Ancienne Collection), xlvii. 421. 1567 THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 207 Lagny and of the crossing of the river Marne. The king and queen, with their suite, at Meaux, were almost entirely unpro- tected, the six thousand Swiss being still at Chateau-Thierry, night of the thirty miles higher up the Marne. Instant orders court to Pans. were sen ^ O b rm g them forward as quickly as possi- ble, and the night of the twenty-eighth of September witnessed a scene of abject fear on the part of the ladies and not a few of the gentlemen that accompanied Charles and his mother. At three o'clock in the morning, under escort of the Swiss, who had at last arrived, the court started for Paris, which was reached after a dilatory journey that appeared all the longer be- cause of the fears attending it. 1 The Prince of Conde, who had been joined as yet only by the forerunners of his army, engaged in a slight skirmish with the Swiss ; but a small band of four or five hundred gentlemen, armed only with their swords, could do nothing against a solid phalanx of the brave mountaineers, and he was forced to retire. Meanwhile Marshal Montmorency, sent by Catharine to dissuade the prince, the admiral, and Cardinal Chatillon from prosecuting their enter- prise, had returned with the message that " the Iluguenots were determined to defeat the preparations made to destroy them and their religion, which was only tolerated by a conditional cdirt, revocable by the king at his pleasure." 1 The Cardinal of Lorraine did not share in the flight of the court to Paris. Xever able to boast of the possession of over- much courage, he may have feared for his personal safety ; for it was not impossible that he might be sacrificed by a queen rarely troubled with any feelings of humanity, to allay the stonn raging about the ship of state ; or he may have hoped to be of greater service to his party away from the capital.* However this may be, the Cardinal betook himself in hot haste to the city of Rheims, but reached his palace only after an almost 1 La Fosse, p. 86, represents Charles as exclaiming, when he entered the Porte Saint Denis : " Qu'il estoit tenu a Dieu, et qu'il y avoit quinze heures qu'il estoit a cheval, et avoit east trois alarmes." s Mem. de Castelnau, lir. vi., c. v. ; La Noue, c. riii. (Anc. ColL, xlvii. 180- 185 ; De Thou, iv. 8 ; J. de Series, iii. 129-131 ; La Fosse, 86 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., i. 210. 1 "Ravi d'avoir allume le feu de la uerre,"8ays De Thou, iy. 9. 208 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. miraculous escape from capture by his enemies. 1 Once in safety, lie despatched two messengers in rapid succession 2 to Brussels, and begged Alva to send him an agent with whom he might communicate in confidence. The proposals made when that personage arrived at Rheims were sufficiently startling ; for, after calling attention to Philip's rightful claim to the throne of France, in case of the death of Charles and his brothers, he offered in a certain contingency to place in the Spanish monarch's hands some strong places that might prove valuable in substan- tiating that claim. In return, the Cardinal wished Philip to assume the defence of the papal church in France, and particu- carainai Lor- l ar ly desired him to undertake the protection of his AWa* ^i^ 8 brothers and of himself. The message was not un- vade France. W elcome either to Alva or to his royal master. They were willing, they said, to assist the King of France in combat- ing the Huguenots, 3 and they made no objection to accepting the cities. At the worst, these cities would serve as pledges for the repayment of whatever sums the King of Spain might ex- pend in maintaining the Roman Catholic faith in France. "With respect to the propriety of Philip's becoming the formal guardian of the Guises, Alva felt more hesitation, for who knew how matters might turn out ? And Philip, never quite ready for any important decision, praised his lieutenant's delay, and inculcated further procrastination. 4 But the succession to the throne of France was worthy of deep consideration. As Alva intimated, the famous Salic law, under which Charles's sister Isabella was excluded from the crown, was merely a bit of pleasantry, and force of arms would facilitate the acknoMiedgment of her claims.* 1 De Thou, ubi supra. 5 The circumstance of two messengers, each bearing letters from the same person, while the letters made no allusion to each other, following one another closely, struck Alva as so suspicious, that he actually placed the second messenger under arrest, and only liberated him on hearing from his own agent on his return that the man's credentials were genuine. 3 Alva proposed to detach 5,000 men to prevent the entrance of German auxiliaries into France, and protect the Netherlands. 4 Letter of Alva to Philip, Nov. 1, 1567, Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., i., 593. 5 " Que la ley salica, que dizien, es baya, y las annas la allanarian." Ibid, L 594. 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR 209 The blow which the Huguenots had aimed at the tyrannical government of the Cardinal of Lorraine had missed its mark, through premature disclosure ; but they still hoped to accom- plish their design by slower means. Shut up in Paris, the court might be frightened or starved into compliance before the Roman Catholic forces could be assembled to relieve the capital. With this object the Prince of Conde moved around to the north side of the city, and took up his quarters, on the second of October, in the village of Saint Denis. With the lower Seine, which, in one Cond6 at ^ * ts serpentine coils, here turns back upon itself, and saint Denis. re treats from the direction of the sea, in his imme- diate grasp, and within easy striking distance of the upper Seme, and its important tributary the Marne the chief sources of the supply of food on which the capital depended the Prince of Conde awaited the arrival of his reinforcements, and the time when the hungry Parisians should compel the queen to submit, or to send out her troops to an open field. At the same time he burned the windmills that stretched their huge arms on every eminence in the vicinity. It was an ill-advised measure, as are all similar acts of destruction, unless justified by urgent necessity. If it occasioned some distress in Paris, 1 it only embittered the minds of the people yet more, and enabled the municipal autho- rities to retaliate with some color of equity by seizing the houses of persons known or suspected to be Huguenots, and selling their goods to defray part of the expense incurred in defending the city. 1 The attempt " to seize the person of the king " for such the movement was understood to be by the Roman Catholic party was even more unfortunate. It produced in Charles an alienation ' 1 The price of wheat, Jehan de la Fosse tells us (p. 86) advanced to fifteen francs per " septier." 8 Journal d'un cure ligueur (J. de la Fosse), 86. 3 In one of Charles's first despatches to the Lieutenant-Govemor of Dau- phiny, wherein he bids him restrain, and, if necessary, attack any Huguenots of the province who might undertake to come to Condi's assistance, there oc- curs an expression that smacks of the murderous spirit of St. Bartholomew's Day: " You shall cut them to pieces," he writes, " without sparing a single person; for the more dead bodies there are, the less enemies remain (car tant plus de mortz, moins d'ennemys ! )" Charles to Gordes, Oct. 8, 1567, MS. in Condo Archives, D'Aumale, i. 563. VOL. IL 14 210 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. which the enemies of the Huguenots took good care to prevent u e- from ever completely forgetting. They repre- notmoye- gcnted the undertaking of Meaux as aimed, not at ment alien- ates the king. the counsellors of the monarch, but at the "Sacred Majesty" itself, and Conde and Coligny, with their associates, were pictured to the affrighted eyes of the fugitive boy-king as conspirators who respected none of those rights which are so precious in the view of royalty. Meantime Catharine was not slow in resorting to the arts by which she was accustomed to seek either to avert the evil con- sequences of her own short-sighted policy, or to gain time to defeat the plans of her opponents. 1 The Huguenots received a deputation consisting of the chancellor, the Marshal de Yieille- ville, and Jean de Morvilliers three of the most influential and Negotiations moderate adherents of the court through whom 116 Charles demanded the reason of the sudden uprising which causelessly threatened his own person and the Qds ' peace of the realm. The Huguenot leaders replied by denying any evil design, and showing that they had armed themselves only in self-defence against the manifested malice of their enemies. 1 Subsequent interviews between Conde and the envoys of Charles seemed to hold forth some hopes of peace. The king declared himself ready to furnish the Protestants with proofs of the uprightness of his intentions, and L'Hospital even exhibited the draft of an edict in which their rights should be guaranteed. As this proved unsatisfactory, the prince, at the chancellor's suggestion, submitted the requests of his associates. These related to the banishment of the foreign troops, the per- mission to come and present their petitions to the king, the con- firmation and maintenance of the past edicts, with the repeal of all restrictive interpretations, the assembling of the states gen- 1 Davila (i. 113) makes the latter her distinct object in the negotiations : "The queen, to protract the time till supplies of men and other necessary provisions arrived, and to abate the fervor of the enemy, being constrained to have recourse to her wonted arts, excellently dissembling those so recent injuries, etc." * Of course " Sieur Soulier, pretre lf -sees nothing but perversity in these grounds. " Us n'allegnerent que des raisons frivollee pour excuser leur arme- ment." Histoire dea 6dits de pacification, 64 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 211 eral, and the removal of the burdensome imposts under which the people groaned, and which were of advantage only to the crowd of Italians and others enjoying extraordinary credit at court. 1 If the first of these demands were sufficiently bold, the last demand was little calculated to conciliate Catharine, who naturally conceived herself doubly insulted by the covert allu- sion to her own prodigality and by the reference to her coun- trymen. She found no difficulty in inducing Charles to answer through a proclamation sent by a herald to the confederates, com- manding Conde, Coligny, D'Andelot, La Kochefoucauld, Genlis, and the other leaders, by name, to lay down the arms which they had taken up without his consent. 8 Perceiving the mis- take they had committed in making requests which, although just and appropriate, were in part but ill-suited to the times, the Protestants began to abate their demands. Confining themselves to the matter of religion, they now petitioned only for an un- restricted liberty of conscience and worship, confirmed by the repeal of all ordinances or parliamentary decisions conflicting with it. Their moderation inspired fresh hopes of averting the resort to arms, and a new conference was held, between the Hu- guenot position and the city of Paris, at the hamlet of La Cha- pelle Saint Denis. It was destined to be the last. Constable Montmorency, the chief spokesman on the Roman Constable /~, i i . i i i i 11 i Montmorency Catholic side, although really desirous of peace, could the mouth- . J , ' . piece of intoi- not be induced to listen to the only terms on which peace was possible. " The king," he said, " will never consent to the demand for religious toleration throughout France without distinction of persons or places. He has no intention of permanently tolerating two religions. His edicts in favor of the Protestants have been intended only as tempo- rary measures ; for his purpose is to preserve the old faith by all possible means. He would rather be forced into a war with his subjects than avoid it by concessions that would render him an object of suspicion to neighboring princes." * 1 Davila is certainly incorrect in stating that the Huguenots demanded " that the queen mother should have nothing to do in the government " (p. 113). * October 7th, Soulier, Hist, des edits de pacification, 65. 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. xlii.) 10-15; Jean de Serres, iii. 131, 132 ; Davila, bk. 212 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. The simultaneous rising of the Huguenots in every quarter of the kingdom, and the immediate seizure of many important cities, had surprised and terrified the court ; but it had also stimulated the Roman Catholic leaders to put forth extraordi- nary efforts to bring together an army superior to that of their opponents. Besides the Parisian militia and the troops that flocked in from the more distant provinces, it was resolved to call for the help repeatedly promised by Philip of Spain and his minister, the Duke of Alva, when urging Charles Insincerityof ' ' & Aiva's offers to break the compacts he had entered into with his reformed subjects. But the assistance actually fur- nished fell far short of the expectations held forth. When Castelnau, after two efforts, the first of which proved unsuc- cessful, 1 reached Brussels by a circuitous route, he found Alva lavish of good wishes, and urgent, like his master, that no arrangement should be made with the rebels before they had suffered condign punishment. But the envoy soon convinced himself that all these protestations meant little or nothing, and that the Spaniards were by no means sorry to see the French kingdom rent by civil war. Ostensibly, Alva was liberal above measure in his offers. He wished to come in person at the head of five thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot, and make short work of the destruction of Conde and his followers a proposi- tion which Castelnau, who knew that Catharine was quite as jeal- ous of Spanish as of Huguenot interference in her schemes, felt himself compelled politely to decline ; especially as the very brief- est term within which Alva professed himself ready to move was a full month and a half. For seven or eight days the duke persisted in refusing the Spanish troops that were requested, 2 iv 113-115; Agrippad'Aubigne, Hist, universelle, 1. iv., c. 6, 7 (i. 211, 212); Castelnau, 1. vi, c. 6. 1 So closely was Paris invested on the north, that, although accompanied by an escort of sixty horse, Castelnau was driven back into the faubourgs when making an attempt by night to proceed by one of the roads leading in this direction. He was then forced to steal down the left bank of the Seine to Poissy, before he could find means to avoid the Huguenot posts. Me- moirea, 1. vi., c. 6. 8 Castelnau was instructed to ask for three or four regiments of Spanish or Italian foot, and for two thousand cavalry of the same nations. 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR and in insisting upon his own offer precious time which, had it been husbanded, might have changed the face of the impend- ing battle before the walls of Paris. When, at length, pressed by the envoy for a definite answer or for leave to return, the duke offered to give him, in about three weeks' time, a body of four or five thousand German lansquenets troops that would have been quite useless to Charles, who already had at his dis- position as many pikemen as he needed, in the six thousand Swiss. All that Castelnau was finally able to bring home was an auxiliary force of about seventeen hundred horse, under Count Aremberg. Even now, however, the officer in command was bound by instructions which prevented him from taking the direct road to the beleaguered capital of France, and com- pelled him to pass westward by Beauvais and Poissy. 1 The impatience of the Parisians, who for more than a month had been inactive spectators, while their city was besieged by an insignificant force and they were deprived of the greater part of their ordinary supplies of food, could scarcely be re- strained. They were the more anxious for battle since they had received encouragement by the recapture of a few points of some military importance along the course of the lower Seine. Unable to resist the pressure any longer, Constable Anne de Montmorency led out his army to give battle to the Huguenots on the tenth of November, 1567. Rarely Battle of , .... ' J saint Denis, has such an engagement been willingly entered into, Nov. 10, 1567. t i I- _,.- u A* wiiere the disproportion between the contending par- ties was so considerable. The constable's army consisted of sixteen thousand foot soldiers (of whom six thousand were 1 I have deemed it important to go into these details, in order to exhibit in the clearest light the insincerity of Philip the Second a prince who could not be straightforward in his dealings, even when the interests of the Church, to which he professed the deepest devotion, were vitally concerned. My principal authority is the envoy, Michel de Castelnau, liv. vL , c. 6. Alva's letter to Catharine de' Medici, Dec., 1567, Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe IL, i. 608, 609, sheds some additional light on the transactions. I need not say that, where Castelnau and Alva differ in their statements, as they do in some essential points, I have had no hesitation in deciding whether the duke or the impartial historian is the more worthy of credit. See, also, De Thou, iii. (liv. xli.) Too. 214 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. Swiss, and the remainder in part troops levied in the city of Paris) and three thousand horse, and was provided with eigh- teen pieces of artillery. To meet this force, Conde had barely fifteen hundred hastily mounted and imperfectly equipped gen- tlemen, and twelve hundred foot soldiers, gathered from various quarters and scarcely formed as yet into companies. He had not a single cannon. Of his cavalry, only one-fifth part were provided with lances, the rest having swords and pistols. The greater number had no defensive armor; and not a horse was furnished with the leathern barbe with which the knight continued, as in the middle ages, to cover his steed's breast and sides. The constable had wisely chosen a moment when the prince had weakened himself by detaching D'Andelot, with five hundred horse and eight hundred arquebusiers, to seize Poissy and intercept the Count of Aremberg. 1 In the face of such a disparity of numbers and equipment, the Hugue- nots exhibited signal intrepidity.* With Coligny thrown for- ward on the right, in front of the village of Saint Ouen, and Genlis on the left, near Aubervilliers, they opened the attack upon the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, who descended from higher ground to meet them. Marshal de Montmorency, the constable's eldest son, commanding a part of the royal army, alone was successful, and had the valor of his troops been imitated by the rest, the defeat of the Huguenots would 1 Mem. de Fr. de la Noue, c. xiv. (Ancienne coll., xlvii. 189) ; Davila, bk. iv. 116 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, universelle, I 212, 213 ; De Thou, iv. 22 ; Martin, Hist, de France, x. 246. There is some discrepancy in numbers. There is, however, but little doubt that those given in the text are substan- tially correct. D'Aubigne blunders, and more than doubles the troops of the constable. * Agrippa d'Aubigne relates an incident which has often been repeated. Among the distinguished spectators gathered on the heights of Montmartre, overlooking the plain, was a chamberlain of the Turkish sultan, the same envoy who had been presented to the king at Bayonne. When he saw the three small bodies of Huguenots issue in the distance from Saint Denis, and the three charges, in which so insignificant a handful of men broke through heavy battalions and attacked the opposing general himself, the Moslem, in his admiration of their valor, twice cried- out : " Oh, that the grand seignior had a thousand such men as those soldiers in white, to put at the head of each of his armies I The world would hold out only two years against him." Hist, univ., j, 217, 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAH. 215 have been decisive; but the "Parisian regiment," despite its gilded armor, 1 yielded at the first shock of battle and fled in confusion to the walls of Paris. Their cowardice uncovered the position of the constable, and the cavalry of the Prince penetrated to the spot where the old warrior was still fighting hand to hand, with a vigor scarcely inferior to that which he had displayed more than fifty years earlier, in the first Italian campaign of Francis the First. 5 A Scottish gentle- Theconste- . bie is mortal- man, according to the most probable account tor the true history of the affair is involved in unusual obscurity Robert Stuart by name, rode up to Montmorency and demanded his surrender. But the constable, maddened at the suggestion of a fourth captivity,' for all reply struck Stuart on the mouth, with the hilt of his sword, so violent a blow that he broke three of his teeth. At that very moment he received, whether from Stuart or from another of the Scottish gentle- men is uncertain, 1 a pistol-shot that entered his shoulder and inflicted a mortal wound. At a few paces from him, Conde, with his horse killed under him, nearly fell into the hands of the enemy. At last, however, his partisans succeeded in rescu- ing him, and, while he retired slowly to Saint Denis, the dying constable was carried to Paris, whither the Roman Catholic army returned at evening.* 1 "Autant de volontaires Parisians bien armez et dorez comme ealices." Agrippa d' Aubigne", L iv. , c. 8 (i. 213). " Tenans la bataille desja achevee, tout ce gros si bien dore print la fuitte." (Ibid., L 215.) * At Marignano, in 1515. J He was taken prisoner by the Emperor Charles V. at Pavia, in company with Francis I. ; at the battle of Saint Quentin, in 1557 ; and in 1562, at the battle of Dreux, by the Huguenots. It was rather hard that the story should have obtained currency, according to the cure of Meriot, that Constable Montmorency was shot by a royalist, who saw that he was purposely allow- ing himself to be enveloped by the troops of Conde, in order that he might be taken prisoner, " comme telle avoit ja este sa coustnme en deux bataillea ! " Mem. de Claude Haton, L 458. 4 Even Henry of Navarre, in a letter of July 12. 1569, published by Prince Galitzin (Lettres inedites de Henry IV., Paris, 1860, pp. 4-11) states that he is unable to say whether it was Stuart, " pour n'en scavoir rien ; " but as- serts that " il est hors de doubte et assez commung qu'il fut blesse en pleine bataille et combattant, et non de sang froid." 5 Memoires de Fr. de la Noue, c. xiv. ; Jean de Serres, iii. 137, 138 ; De 216 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. The battle of Saint Denis was indecisive, and the victory was claimed by both sides. The losses of the Huguenots and the Roman Catholics were about equal between three and four hundred men although the number of distinguished Huguenot noblemen killed exceeded that of the slain belonging to the same rank in the royal army. If the possession of the field at the end of the day, and the relief of Paris, be taken as sufficient evidence, the honor of success belonged to the Roman Catholic army. But the loss of their chief commander far more than counterbalanced any advantage they may have gained. Kot that Anne de Montmorency was a general of remarkable abili- ties. Although he had been present in a large number of important engagements ever since the reisrn of Louis Character of r _ i & & Anne de Mont- the Iwelfth, and had proved himself a brave man in all, he was by no means a successful military leader. The late Duke of Guise had eclipsed his glory, and in a much briefer career had exhibited much more striking tactical skill. The battle of Saint Denis, it was alleged by many, had itself been marred by his clumsy disposition of his troops. Proud and overbearing in his deportment, he alienated even those with whom his warm attachment to the Roman Catholic Church ought to have made him popular. Catharine de' Medici, we have seen, had long been his enemy. In like manner, even the bigoted populace of Paris forgot the pious exploits that had earned him the surname of " le Capitaine Brulebanc," and remembered only his suspicious relationship to Cardinal Cha- tillon, Admiral Coligny, and D'Andelot, those three intrepid brothers whose uncompromising morality and unswerving devo- tion to their religious convictions made them, even more than the Prince of Conde, true representatives of the dreaded Huguenot party. 1 Thou, iv. 22, etc. ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., i. 214-217 ; Castelnau, liv. vi. , c. 7 ; Claude Haton, i. 457 ; Jean de la Fosse, 88, 89 ; Charles IX. to Gordes, Nov. 11, 1567, Conde MSS., D'Aumale, i. 564 " La mort dudit connestable fut plaincte de peu de gens du party des catholicques, a cause dela huguenotterie de 1' admiral, du card, de Chastillon, et d'Andelot, sea nepveux, qui estoient, apres le Prince de Conde, chefz des rebelles huguenotz francoys et des plus meschant ; et avoient plusieurs person- nes ceate oppinion da connestable, qu'il lea eust bien retirez de ceste rebellion 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 217 But the loss of the principal general at this important junc- ture in military affairs dealt a severe blow to the Roman Catholic cause. There was no other leader of sufficient prominence to put forth an indisputable claim to succeed him. Catharine, not sorry to be relieved of so formidable a rival, was resolved that he should have no troublesome successor. Accordingly she induced the king to leave the office of constable vacant, and to confer upon her second surviving son, Henry, Duke of Anjou, whose unscrupulous character had already made him her favorite, the supreme command of the army, with the less ambitious title of royal lieutenant-general. 1 The death of the constable, who survived his wound only a single day, and the subsequent divisions of the court, furnished the Prince of Conde with an immunity from attack, of which, in view of his great inferiority in number of troops, he deemed it most prudent to take advantage by promptly retiring from his exposed position. Besides this, he had now an imperative summons to the eastern frontier of the kingdom. At the very commencement of the war the Protestants had sent a deputation to the German princes to solicit their support The protw- ^ a struggle in which the adherents of the Augsburg Confession were no less vitally interested than the re f orme( l. But Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes, the Kumota. envoy of Charles the Ninth, had so skilfully misrep- resented the true character of the contest, that the Landgrave of Hesse, and the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, per- suaded that political motives, rather than zeal for religion, were the occasion of the revolt, had refused to assist the Huguenots, while permitting William of Saxony and the Marquis of Baden to levy troops for the king. To the Elector Palatine, Frederick the Third, surnamed " the Pious," who from a Lutheran had become a Calvinist, a special ambassador was despatched in the person of M. de Lansac. This gentleman, by more than usually reckless misstatements, sought to persuade the elector to abandon s'il east voulu, attendu que tons avoient este avancez en leurs estate par le feu roy Henry, par son moyen." Claude Baton, i. 458. 1 Charles IX. to Gordes, Nov. 17, 1567, Conde MSS., Due d'Aumale, i. 5G3. 218 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. the enterprise of assistance which he had intended to intrust to his second son, John Casimir. But his falsehoods were refuted by the straightforward expose of the prince's agents, 1 and Lansac was only so far successful that the elector consented to delay the departure of the troops until he had sent a messenger to France to acquaint himself with the true state of the case. It needed no more than this to determine him ; for the minister whom the elector had intrusted with the commission, after visiting successively the court of the king and the camp of the prince of Conde, returned with certain proofs that the representations of Bochetel and of Lansac were altogether false. 4 Consequently the army which John Casimir had gathered was speedily de- spatched to furnish Conde the support the Huguenots so much needed. In the letter which the elector palatine sent about the same time to the King of France, the motives of this apparently in- imical action are vividly set forth. His envoy, the Councillor Zuleger, says the elector, has made a careful examination. Lan- sac and his companion have industriously circulated throughout Germany the report that the Edict of Toleration is kept entire, that Conde and the Protestants have no other object in view but a horrible rebellion against Charles to deprive him of his crown, and that the prince has had money struck as if he were king himself. 3 But Zuleger has, on the contrary, reported that when, 1 This expose, committed to writing by the elector palatine's request, and translated for Frederick's convenience into German, is published by Prof. A. Kluckholn, in a monograph read before the Bavarian Academy of Sciences : " Zur Geschichte des angeblichen Biindnisses von Bayonne, nebst einem Originalbericht iiber die Ursachen des zweiten Religionskriegs in Frankreich." (Abhandlungen, iii. Cl., xi. Bd., i. Abth.) Munich, 1868. The Huguenot envoys were Chastelier Pourtaut de Latour and Francour. The document is prob- ably from the pen of the former (p. 13). 8 De Thou, iv. 28, 29; Castelnau, liv. vi., c. 8; Jean de Serres, iii. 144, 146. Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., i. 217, 218. Wenceslaus Zuleger's Re- port is printed in full by F. W. Ebeling, Archivalische Beitrage, 48-73, and by A. Kluckholn, Zwei pfalzische Gesandtschaftsberichte,etc. Abhandl.der Bayer. Akad., 1868, 189-205. 3 It is needless to say that no authentic coins or medals bearing Conde' s head, with the designation of "Louis XIII.," have ever been found. After the direct contradiction by Catharine de' Medici, no other testimony is neces- 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 219 in the presence of the royal council, he asked for proofs of Conde's intention to make himself king, Catharine de' Medici replied that it was a " mockery," and that, though Conde had struck money, both in the late and in the present troubles, it was with the king's inscription and arms, and not as though he were himself king. So far from that, Zuleger declares that, during the eleven days of his stay in the prince's camp, he heard prayers offered morning and night for the preservation of the state and for the king's safety. As to the maintenance of the edict, the constable before his death openly affirmed that Charles would not permit a free exercise of religion, and never intended the Edict of Orleans to be other than provisional. Indeed, the queen-mother remarked to Zuleger that it is a privilege of the French monarchs never to make a perpetual edict ; to which Charles, who was present, promptly responded, "Pourquoi non ? " ' It was to form a junction with the force brought by John Casimir that the prince now raised the siege of Paris, two or three days subsequently to the battle of Saint Denis, 1 and after that D'Andelot, disappointed in having had no share in the engagement, had scoured the field, driving back into Paris an advanced guard of the enemy, and burning, by way of bravado, some windmills in the very suburbs.* The purpose of the Huguenot leaders could not be mistaken, and Catharine was determined to frustrate it. The chief object at which all her intrigues now aimed was to delay the Prot- sary. The Jesuits, however, impudently continued to speak of Conde's trea- son as an undoubted truth, and even gave the legend of the supposed coin as "Ludovicus XIII., Dei gratia, Francornm Rex primus Christianus." See " Plaidoye de Maistre Antoine Arnauld. Advocat en Parlement, pour 1'Uni- versite de Paris .... centre les Jesuites, des 12 et 13 Juillet, 1594." Me- moires de la ligue, 6, 164. Arnauld stigmatizes the calumny as " notoirement fausse." 1 Frederick, Elector Palatine, to Charles IX., Heidelberg, Jan. 19, 1568. Printed in full in F. W. Ebeling, Archivalische Beitrage, 74-82. 8 Agrippa d'Aubigne, vbi tupra. 1 November 13th, " Hier au soyr,vers les sept heures," says Charles to Gordes, Nov. 14, 1567, MS. Conde Arch., D'Aumale, L 565. The king naturally repre- sents the movement as confused " une bonne fuyte " and confidently state-, that he will follow, and, by a second victory, put a speedy end to the war. THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. estant army in its march toward Lorraine, until the Duke of Anjou, at the head of a force which was daily gain- r- ing new accessions of strength from the provinces, mana - should be able to overtake Conde and bring on a general and decisive action. From Saint Denis the Huguenots had first followed the course of the upper Seine to Montereau. Crossing the stream at this point, Coligny, as usual command- ing the vanguard, had, at Pont-sur-Yonne, received a powerful detachment, under the Count of La Rochefoucauld, which had made its way from the provinces of Poitou, Saintonge, and Guyenne, across the valley of the Loire, to reinforce the Prince of Conde's army. 1 Having effected a junction, the united body had changed its course, recrossed the Seme, and counter- marched to the river Marne, at Epernay and Chalons. Co- ligny's skilful manoeuvre had disappointed the queen's plan, and she resorted to her accustomed arts of negotiation. So flatter- ing, indeed, were her promises, that Conde, had he not been restrained by the more prudent counsels of his associates (among whom the Yidame of Chartres was most urgent in his protests against so suicidal a policy), would instantly have relaxed the TreacheroM Bmews ^ ^'^' A petty act of treachery served to diplomacy, open his eyes, and to prevent the Protestants from involving themselves in more serious disaster ; for the Count de Brissac took advantage of a three days' armistice to fall unex- pectedly upon an outpost of the prince's army and gain an advantage, which was duly magnified by report at Paris into a brilliant victory. 1 Unabashed by this incident, Catharine soon 1 Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. iv., c. 11 (i. 219). 5 Ibid., i. 219, 220. 3 La Noue, c. xiv.; De Thou, iv. 37; Jehan de la Fosse, 89, 90; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 227. Davila, bk. iv., pp. 119, 120, represents Brissac's attack (which, according to him, was not made till after the expiration of the trace) as a part of a projected general assault. Anjou's main body failed to come up, and so Conde was saved. The blame was thrown on Marshal Gonnor (Cosse) and on M. de Carnavalet, the king's tutor, whom some suspected of unwillingness to allow so much noble blood to be shed. Others accused the one of too much friendship with the .Chatillons, the other of a leaning to heresy (" de eentir le fagot") Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 227. See also CL Haton, i. 503. These two noblemen were accused of advocating other designs which were very obnoxious to the Roman Catholic party. " La verite est," 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 221 after renewed her seductive offers (on the twentieth of Decem- ber, 1567). She invited a conference with the Cardinal of Chatillon and other Protestant leaders, and herself went so far as Chalons to meet them. Thence the scene of the negotiations was transferred to Vincennes, in the vicinity of Paris, and for a time the prospect of reconciliation was bright and encouraging. The king's envoys consented to the re-establishment of the Edict of Amboise, without any past or future restrictions, until the decision of the religious question by that mythical assembly which, like a mirage of the desert, ever and anon arose to en- trance and disappoint the longing eyes of thoughtful men in this century a free, universal, and legitimate council of the Church. But the hopes founded on these promises were as illusory as any previously conceived. Instead of a formal and unambiguous ratification of the terms by Charles himself, the Cardinal of Chatillon was treated only to complaints about the causeless rising of the Protestants, and expressions of astonish- ment that Conde had not instantly countermanded the approach of the German auxiliaries on receiving the king's gracious prof- fers. 1 Meantime Catharine was not idle in soliciting foreign aid. The Duke d'Aumale who had also marched to Lorraine, in order to meet the Germans coming to the assistance of the Roman Catholics, under command of the Marquis of Baden not being strong enough to block the passage of Conde's troops, Catharine wrote to Alva, begging him to send to the Catharine im- ,,.,,. , , . piores Aiva's duke, in this emergency, two thousand arquebusiers. She warned him that if, through the failure to pro- cure them, the German reiters of John Casimir should be per- mitted to enter the kingdom, she would hold herself exonerated, in the sight of God and of all Christian princes, from the blame that might otherwise attach to her for the peace which she saya Jehan de la Fosse, in his journal, p. 90, under date of December, 1567, " que anlcuns grands seigneurs entre lesquels on nomme Conor [et] Carna- vallet donnoient a entendre que si Monsieur, frere du roy, voloit prendre une partie de ces gens et lea joindre aveo le camp des huguenots, qui [qu'ils] le feroient comte de Flandre." 1 De Thou, iv. 37-41 ; Castelnau, liv. vi., c. 8 j La Fosse, 91. 222 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. would be compelled to make with the heretics. 1 Alva, in reply, declined to send the Spanish arquebusiers, who, he said, were needed by him, and could do little good in France ; but he added that, if Aumale, who was a soldier, would guarantee with this accession to stop the reiters, he would let them go, useful as they were in the Netherlands. As to the accommodation Aiva'sview with the Huguenots, which Catharine suggested, he fetfe2*ith viewed it as a frightful evil, and exclaimed " that it was better to have a kingdom ruined in preserving it for God and the king, than to retain it whole, but without religion, for the advantage of the devil and his partisans, the heretics." 2 About the beginning of the new year the foot-sore Huguenot army, after nearly two months of tedious marches through a hostile country, and no less tedious negotiations, reached Lor- raine, only to find that their German allies had not yet arrived. Sick at heart, with a powerful enemy hanging on their rear, and seeking only an opportunity to make a sudden descent upon them, many of the Huguenots were disposed to take advantage of the proximity of the German cities to disperse and find a refuge there. But Conde, with his never-failing vivacity and cheerfulness, and Coligny, with his " grave words," succeeded in checking their despondency until the welcome news of John Cond6 and Casimir's approach was announced. He brought six mJrt tal^ thousand five hundred horse, three thousand foot, and raine - four cannon of moderate size. His arrival did not, however, prove an occasion of unmingled satisfaction. The reiters, serving from purely mercenary motives, demanded the immediate payment of one hundred thousand crowns, promised as a first instalment on account of their wages, and were re- solved to go no farther without receiving it. The Prince of Conde had but two thousand crowns to meet the engagement. In this new perplexity the Huguenots, from the leaders down to the very lowest, gave a noble illustration of devotion to their 1 Catharine de' Medici to Alva, Dec. 4, 1567, Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., i. 607. ! Alva to Catharine de' Medici, Dec., 1567, Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., i. 608, 609. 1568. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR 223 religion's cause. Conde and Coligny set the example by giving up their plate to replenish the empty coffers of the army. The captains urged, the ministers of the gospel preached, Generosity of * . , r r the Huguenot a generous sacrince or property in the common inter- est. Their exhortations did not fall upon dull ears. Money, gold chains, silver, articles of every description, were lavishly contributed. An unpaid army sacrificed its own pri- vate property, not only without a murmur, but even joyfully. The very camp-servants vied with their masters, and put them to shame by their superior liberality. 1 In a short time a sum was raised which, although less than what had been pledged, contented the reiters, who declared themselves ready to follow their Huguenot fellow-soldiers into the heart of the kingdom. 1 Well might an army capable of such heroic contempt for per- sonal gain or loss be deemed invincible ! And now, with feelings widely different from those which had possessed them in the journey toward Lorraine a move ment too nearly akin to a flight to inspire anything toward or- but disgust the Huguenot soldiers, over twenty llMllj. 1 /. thousand strong, turned their faces once more west- ward. Their late pursuers, no longer seeking an engagement where the result might be worse than doubtful, confined them- selves to watching their progress from a safe distance. As all the cities upon their route were in the hands of the Roman Catholics, the Huguenots were forced to take more circuitous and difficult paths through the open country. But the dispo- sitions made by Coligny are said to have been so thorough and 1 It is told of one lackey that he contributed twenty crowns. 5 The scene is described in an animated manner by Francis de la None, c. xv. (Ancienne Collection, xlvii. 199-201} ; De Thou, iv. 41. " Marque le lec- teur," writes Agrippa d'Aubigne, in his nervous style, " un trait qui n'a point d'exemple en 1'antiquite, que ceux qui devoient demander paye et inunnurer pour n'en avoir point, puissent et venillent en leur extreme pau- vrete contenter une armee avec 100,000 livres a quoi se monta cette brave gueuserie ; argument aux plus sages d'aupres du roi pour preacher la paix ; tenons pour invincible le parti qui a la passion pour difference, et pour soldo la necessite." Hist, univ., L 228. D'Aubigne is mistaken, however, in making the army contribute the entire 100,000. Davila and D Thou say they raised 30,000 ; La None, over 80,000. 224 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XV. masterly, that they travelled safely and in comfort. 1 Kot that the soldiers, dispersed at night through the villages, were freed from the necessity or the temptation to pillage ; * for the poor farmers, robbed of the fruits of their honest toil, frequently had good reason to complain that those who had recently dispensed their own treasure with so liberal a hand were even more lavish of the property of others. But they were far more merciful and considerate toward their enemies than the Roman Catho- lic army to its friends. Even a curate of Brie no very great lover of the Huguenots, who relates with infinite gusto the violation of Huguenot women by Anjou's soldiers 8 ad- mits that, excepting in the matter of the plundering of the churches and the distressing of priests, the Roman Catholics were a little worse than the heretics. 4 Leaving the Huguenot army on its march toward Orleans, let us glance at the operations of the party in other quarters of the kingdom. Southern France, where the Protestants were most numerous, and where the excitable character of the peo- ple disposed them more easily than elsewhere to sudden out- breaks, was not behind the north in rising at the ap- ade" at " pointed time (September, 1567). At Nismes, indeed, Nismea. r . 5 V 1 4. .0, Tlf U 1 a furious commotion broke out the famous " Michel - ade," as it was called, because it immediately followed the feast- day of St. Michael a commotion whose sanguinary excesses gave it an unenviable notoriety, and brought deep disgrace upon the Protestant cause. Here the turbulent populace was encour- aged by the report that Lyons was in friendly hands, and mad- dened by the intelligence that, besides the common dangers im- pending over all the Huguenots of France, the Huguenots of Js ismes had more particular occasion for fear in the troops of 1 Mem. de Fr. de la None, a xv. * Ibid., ubi supra. 3 Memoires de Claude Haton, i. 500^503. 4 Ibid., ii. 517. " Et des lore fut le pillage mis sus par les gens de guerre des deux partis ; et firent tons a qni mieux pilleroit et ran^onneroit son hoste, jugeant bien en eux que qui plus en pilleroit plus en auroit. Les gens de guerre du camp catholicque, excepte "le pillage des eglises et saccagemens des prebstres, estoient au reste aussi meschans, et quasi plus que les hugue- not?..'' 1567. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 22i5 the neighboring Com tat Yenaissin. These troops, it was said, had been summoned by the bishop and chapter of the cathedral of Nismes. The mob accordingly took possession of the city, closing the gates, and imprisoning a large number of persons consuls, priests, and other obnoxious characters. That night the cathedral and the chapter-house witnessed a wild scene of de- struction. Pictures of the saints, and altars, including every- thing associated with Roman Catholic worship, were ruthlessly destroyed. l>ut the most terrible event occurred in the episco- pal palace. The bishop was saved from capture and certain death by the intervention of a courageous man, himself a Pro- testant ; but others were less fortunate. No fewer than eighty prisoners, brought in detachments to the court of the palace, were butchered in rapid succession, and their corpses thrown promiscuously into a well. The next morning the Protestant pastors and elders assembled, and, sending to the ringleaders a minister and a deacon, begged them to discontinue their horri- ble work. Already, however, had returning shame made every- body unwilling to avow his complicity in the crime. Quiet was restored. The Protestant seneschal and council released such prisoners as had escaped the fate of their comrades, and the bishop himself was sent away under an escort to a place of safety, by order of the very judge whom the clergy had, a year before, sought to deprive of his office as a heretic. 1 Nismes re- mained in the hands of the Protestants through the war. Meanwhile more important movements took place. Rene of Savoy, son of the Count de Tende, but better known as Cipierre, 1 Menard, Hist, de Nismes, apud Cimber et Danjou, vii. 481, etc. ; Bouche, Histoire gen. de Langnedoc, v. 276, 277. Prof. Soldan, Geschichte des Pro- testantismus in Frankreich, ii. 274-276, whose account of an event too gene- rally unnoticed by Protestant historians is fair and impartial, calls attention to the following circumstances, which, although they do not excuse in the least its savage cruelties, ought yet to be borne in mind : 1st, That no woman was killed ; 2d, that only those men were killed who had in some way shown themselves enemies of the Protestants ; and, 3d, that there is no evi- dence of any premeditation. To these I will add, as important in contrast- ing this massacre with the many massacres in which the Huguenots were the victims, the fact that the Protestant ministers not only did not instigate, but disapproved, and endeavored as soon as possible to put an end to the murders. VOL. II. 15 226 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. was Conde's agent in assembling the Huguenots of Provence ; but Paul de Mouvans, whom we have met with be- Huguenot successes in f ore j n this history, was the real hero of the region. the south J ' ~ and west. j n Bauphiny, Montbrun commanded. In Bourbon- nais and the neighboring provinces west of the Rhone, Parcenac and Verbelai raised three thousand foot and five hundred horse, but sustained so severe a loss while passing through Forez, that the number was soon reduced to barely twelve hundred. Nearer the Pyrenees, seven thousand men were assembled, known as " the army of the viscounts," to which further reference will shortly be made. Lyons, one of the Huguenot strongholds in the first war, the Protestants failed to capture. 1 But Orleans was secured by the skill of Fra^ois de la Noue, a young cham- pion whose name was destined long to figure in the most bril- liant deeds of arms of his party, both in France and in the Low Countries.* In the west, too, the Huguenots made the La Rochelle ' ' . & . secured for most important gam or the war in the city or La Rochelle, for the next half-century and more their secure refuge on approach of danger. This place, strong by nature, surrounded by low, marshy grounds, rendering it almost unapproachable from the land side, save by the causeways over which the roads ran, with a large and convenient harbor and with easy access to the sea, was already rich and populous. The citizens of La Rochelle were noted for their independent spirit, engendered or fostered by their maritime habits. Although the great importance of the city dates from the civil wars, when its wharves received the commerce driven from older ports, and when its privateers swept the shores of Brittany and the bosom of the English channel, it had long boasted extraordinary privileges, among which the most highly prized was the right to refuse admission to a royal garrison. 3 Besides this, the citizens were accustomed to choose 1 De Thou, iv. 33-35. 9 Agrippa d'Anbigne, i. 211. 3 Henri Martin (Histoire de France, x. 255), on the authority of Coustureau, Vie du due de Montpensier, states that the Rochellois had, after the peace of 1563, bought from Catharine de' Medici, for 200,000 francs, the suppression of the garrison placed in their city by the Duke of Montpensier, and remarks: " Ces 200,000 francs couterent cher ! " The authority, however, is very slen- 1568. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 227 three candidates for the office of major, from whom the king or the royal governor made his selection ; and the magistrate thus appointed enjoyed an authority which the Rochellois would scarcely concede to their monarch. 1 La Rochelle whose former orthodoxy Father Soulier attempts to establish by instancing the sentence which the "presidial" of the city pronounced in 1552 against some Protestants, condemning them to be dragged on a hurdle with a fagot of sticks bound to their backs, and afterward to be burned, one of them alive * had been so far affected by the progress of the Reformation, that it was perhaps only the fear of losing its trade and privileges that prevented it from openly siding with Conde in the first religious war. 3 By this time, however, Protestantism had struck such deep roots, that one of the three candidates for the mayoralty, at the Easter elections of 1567, was Truchares, a political Huguenot. The king wa-=. indeed, warned of his sentiments ; but the royal governor, M. de Jarnac, supported his claims, and Tmchares received the requi- site confirmation.* Still La Rochelle hesitated to espouse the Protestant side. It was not until midwinter, 6 that Conde, re- der in the absence of all corroborative evidence, and Arcdre, more than a cen- tury ago, showed (Histoire de la Rochelle, i. 625) how improbable, or, rather, impossible the story is. If any gift was made to Catharine by the city, it must have been far less than the sum, enormous for the times and place, of 200,000 crowns ; and, at any rate, it could not have been for the purchase of a privilege already enjoyed for hundreds of years. See the illustrative note at the end of this chapter. 1 Agrippa d' Anbigne, i. 218. ' ' Plus absolument et avec plus d'obeisance que les Rochellois, qui depuis ont tonsjonrs tenn le parti reforme, n'en ont vouln deferer et rendre anx princes mesmes de leur parti, centre lesquels ils se sont souvent picquez, en resveillant et conservant curieusement leurs privi- leges." * Others were beaten and banished, and suffered the other penalties de- nounced by the Edict of Chateaubriant, as Sonlier goes on to show with much apparent satisfaction. Hist des edits, etc., 67, 68. The text of the joint sentence of Couraud, Constantin, and Monjaud is interesting. It is given by Delmas, L'Eglise reformee de la Rochelle (Toulouse, 1870), pp. 19-25. 1 Martin, Hist, de France, x. 254. 4 Agrippa d'Aubigne, ubi supra ; Davila, bk. iv. 122; De Thou, iv. 27 seq.; Soulier, 69. According to Arcere, Hist, de la Rochelle, i. 352, the mayor's correct name was Pontard, Sieur de Trneil-Charays. * The commission was dated from Montigny-sur-Aube, January 27, 1568, 228 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. turning from Lorraine, commissioned M. de Sainte-Hermine to assume command of the city in his name ; and on the tenth of February, 1568, the mayor and echevins of La Rochelle opened their gates to their new friends, with protestations of their purpose to devote their lives and property to the advancement of the common cause. " The sequel proved only too clearly," writes a Roman Catholic historian, " that they were very sincere in their promises; for, having soon after demolished all the churches, they employed the materials to fortify this city in such a manner that it served from this time forward as a citadel for the Protestants, and as a secure retreat for all the apostates and malcontents of the kingdom until it was reduced by Louis the Thirteenth." l Meantime the irresolute queen mother, always oscillating between war and peace, had again begun to treat with the Huguenots. Between the fifth and twentieth of January she held repeated interviews with Cardinal Chatillon, D'Esternay, and Teligny. The bigots took the alarm. The Papal Nuncio and the ambassadors of Spain and Scotland did their Home oppose utmost " to impeach the accord." A post arrived tions for from Philip the Second, offering a hundred thousand crowns of gold if Charles would continue the The doctors of the Sorbonne remonstrated. All united in a common cry that " it was impossible to have two religions in one realm without great confusion." Poor Charles was so moved by the stale falsehood, as well as by the large promises made him, that he sent the Protestant envoys word that he would treat no further unless Conde and his "complices" would send the reiters back to Germany, and, wholly disarm- ing, come to him with their ordinary retinues to purge them- selves of the attempt made at Meaux. Even this amount of complaisance on the part of the weak monarch, however, did not satisfy Cardinal Santa Croce, who, on one occasion entering the council chamber (on the twentieth Soulier, 70. De Thou's expression (ubi supra), " peu do temps apres," is therefore unfortunate. 1 Soulier, Hist des edits de pacification, TO. 1568. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 229 of January), boldly demanded the fulfilment of the queen mo- thers promise to surrender Cardinal Chatillon into the Pope's hands. Catharine did not deny the prom- a- isc, but interposed the plea that the present was a very unsuitable time, since Chatillon had come to court upon the king's safe-conduct. To this the churchman replied that no respect ought to be had toward the Cardinal, for he was " an excommunicate person," condemned of schism, and dead in the eyes of the law. Up to this point the Duke de Montmorency, who was present, had kept silence ; but now, turning to the queen mother, he is reported by the English ambassador to have made a pungent address. " But, madam," he said, " is it possible that the Cardinal Chatillon's Marshal Mont- delivery should come in question, being warranted by the king and your Majesty to the contrary, and I myself being made a mean therein ? "Wherefore this matter is odious to be talked of, and against the law of arms and all good civil policy ; and I must needs repute them my enemies who go about to make me falsify my promise once made." After these plain words Santa Croce " departed without attaining his most cruel request." ' During the first few months after the assumption of arms, the Huguenots of southern France, surrounded by domestic enemies, had confined themselves to attempting to secure their own safety and that of their neighbors, by taking the most im- portant cities and keeping in check the forces of the provincial governors an undertaking in which they met with more suc- cess in the districts bordering upon the Mediterranean than in those adjoining the Bay of Biscay. These events, although in themselves important and interesting, would usurp a dispropor- 1 Xorris to Queen Elizabeth, January 23, 1568, State Paper Office. I re- tain the quaint old English form in which Norris has couched the marshal's speech. It is plain, in view of the perfidy proposed by Santa Croce, even in the royal council, that Conde was not far from right in protesting against the proposed limitation of Cardinal Chatillon 1 a escort to twenty horse, insisting " que la qualite de mondict sieur le Cardinal, qui n'a acoustume de marcher par pai's avecques pi peu de train, ny son cage (age) ne permectent pas main- tenant de commencer." Conde to the Duke of Anjou, Dec. 27, 1567, MS. BibL nat., Aumale, Prince de Conde, i. 563. 230 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. tionate place in this history. While Conde was absent from the vicinity of the capital, however, a body of six thousand troops, drawn from the army of the viscounts, under Moovana and other experienced southern leaders, undertook a March of the . IF TA i -i viscounts to hazard ous march from Dauphin v. intending to loin meet Conde. . .. _ i mi i the prince s army at Orleans. Ihe cities were in the possession of the enemy, the fords were carefully guarded, the entire country was hostile. But the perils which might have deterred less resolute men only enhanced the glory of the suc- cess of the gallant Huguenots. Abandoned by a considerable number of their comrades, who preferred a life of plunder to a fatiguing journey under arms, they met (on the eighth of Jan- uary, 1568) and defeated, with a force consisting almost exclu- sively of infantry, the cavalry which the governor of Auvergne and the local nobility had assembled near the village of Cognac* to dispute their passage. Continuing their march, they reached Orleans in time to relieve that city, to whose friendly protection against the Roman Catholic bands of Martinengo and Richelieu that infested its neighborhood and threatened its capture Conde and the other Huguenot leaders of the north had entrusted their wives and children.' Having stopped a brief tune to rest the soldiers after the pro- tracted march, the viscounts turned their victorious arms against the city of Blois. After the surrender of this place, they had J The " seven viscounts " often referred to about this period were the viscounts of Bourniquet, Monclar, Paulin, Caumont, Serignan, Rapin, and Montagut, or Montaigu. They headed the Protestant gentry of the provinces Rouergue, Quercy, etc. , as far as to the foot of the Pyrenees. Mouvans held an analogous position in Provence, Montbrun in Dauphine, and D'Acier, younger brother of Crussol, in Languedoc. Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 220, 221 ; De Thou, iv. 33 ; Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde\ i. 327. When " the viscounts " consented, at the earnest solicitation of the second Princess of Conde, to part with a great part of their troops, they confided them to Mouvans, Rapin, and Poncenac. 8 The village of Cognac, or Cognat, near Gannat, in the ancient Province of Anvergne (present Department of Allier), must not, of course, be confounded with the important city of the same name, on the river Charente, nearly two hundred miles further west. 3 Jean de Serres, iii. 140, 147 ; De Thou, iv. 48-51 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 22Q. 156a THE SECOND CIVIL WAR. 231 proceeded down the valley of the Loire, and were about to take Montrichard, on the Cher, when recalled by Conde. The prince had by forced marches anticipated the army of Anjou, resolving to strike a blow which should be felt at the hostile capital itself, Biefte of an d had selected Chartres, an important city about chartres. f tv m ji es j n a south-westerly direction from Paris, as the most convenient place to besiege. 1 Rapid, however, as had been his advance and a part of his army had travelled sixty miles in two days the enemy had sufficient notice of his inten- tion to throw into the city a small force of soldiers ; and when Conde arrived before the walls (on the twenty-fourth of February, 1568), he found the place prepared to sustain an attack, in which the courage of the assailants was equalled by the skill and reso- lution of the defenders. As usual, the Huguenots were badly off for artillery ; the united armies could only muster five siege- pieces and four light culverines. " For, although the Catholics esteem the Huguenots to be ' fiery ' men," says a quaint old writer, who was as ready with his sword as with his pen, " they have always been poorly provided with such implements. Nor have they, like the former, a Saint Anthony, who, they say, presides over the element in question." * The operations of the siege of Chartres were interrupted by fresh negotiations for peace. Half a year had the flames of war been desolating the fairest parts of France ; yet the court was no nearer the attainment of its ends than at the outbreak of hostilities. If the Roman Catholic forces had been swollen to about forty thousand men, they were confronted by a Huguenot army of twenty-eight or thirty thousand men in the very neighborhood of the capital. The voice of prudence 1 Opinions differed respecting the propriety of the movement. According to La None, Chartres in the hands of the Hnguenote would have been a *' thorn in the foot of the Parisians ; " while Agrippa d'Aubigne makes it " a city of little importance, as it was neither at a river crossing, nor a sea-port ; " " but," he adds, " in those times places were not estimated by the standard now in vogue." 8 " Car encore que les Catholiques estiment les Huguenots estre gens dfeu, gi sont-il toujours mal pourveus de tels instrumens," etc. Me"m. de la None, c. xviii. For the siege of Chartres, besides La Noue, see Jean de Serres, iii. 148 ; De Thou, iv., 51-53 ; Agrippa d'Aubigng, L 229-232. 232 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. dictated an immediate settlement of the dispute before more lives were sacrificed, more towns and villages destroyed, more treasure squandered. Catharine, reigning supreme under her son's name, with her usual inconstancy of purpose, was ready to exchange the war, into which she had plunged France by lend- ing too willing an ear to the suggestions of Philip of Spain, as they came to her through the Cardinal of Lorraine and others, and which had produced only bloodshed, devastation of the kingdom, and deeper depression of the finances, for the peace to which Michel de 1'Hospital, her better genius, was constantly urging her by every consideration of policy and justice. In a paper, wherein about this time the chancellor committed to writing the arguments he had often ineffectually employed chancellor ^ P ersua de the king and his mother, he combats with rHo^itak patriotic indignation the flimsy pretexts of which the memorial. priests and the Spaniard made use in pressing the continuance of hostilities. " t The king has more men than the Huguenots.' True, but we find twice as many battles on record gained by the smaller as by the greater number ; in con- sequence of which fact all princes and nations have recognized the truth that victory is the gift of God. ' The king's cause is the more just.' Grant it yet God makes use of such instru- ments as He wills to punish our iniquities the Babylonians, for instance, of old, the Turks in our own days. The Huguenots have thus far succeeded beyond all expectation. They have little money, but what they have they use well, and they can get more. Their devotion to their cause is conspicuous. They are not a rabble hastily gotten together, which has risen impru- dently, in disorder, without a leader, without discipline. They are experienced, resolute, desperate warriors, with plans formed long ago men ready to risk everything for the attainment of their matured designs. Necessity and despair render them docile and wonderfully subject to discipline ; and with this co- operates the high esteem they have conceived of their leaders, whose ambition is restrained, whose union is cemented by the same necessity which the ancients, called ' the bond of concord.' On the contrary, the king's camp is rent by quarrels, envy, and rivalry ; ambition is unbridled, avarice reigns supreme. With 15GS. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR 233 the termination of so wretched a war, there will shine forth a joyous and blessed peace, which I can justly term a 'precious conquest,' since it will render his Majesty redoubtable to all Europe, which has learned the greatness of the two powers which the king will restore to his own subjection. " The true method of breaking up the leagues of the Hugue- nots is to remove the necessity for forming them. This must be done by treating the Huguenots no longer as enemies, but as friends. For, if we examine carefully into the matter, we shall find that hitherto they have been dealt with as rebels ; and this has compelled them to resort to all means of self-preservation. This has placed arms in their hands ; this has engendered the horrible desolation of France. For the intrigues set on foot against them in all quarters were conducted with so little attempt at secrecy the disfavor was so evident, the disdain was so ap- parent, the threats of the rupture of the Edict of Pacification and of the publication of the decrees of the Council of Trent were so open, and the injustice of their handling was so mani- fest, that they had been too dull and stupid, had they not avoided the treachery in store for them. 1 Even brute beasts perceive the coming of the storm, and seek the covert ; let us not find fault if men, perceiving it, arm themselves for the encounter. Our menaces have been the messengers of our plots, as truly as the lightning is the messenger of the thunderbolt. We have shown them our preparatives ; let us, therefore, cease to wonder that they stand ready to start on the first intimation of danger. 1 When they see that they have no longer anything to fear, they will certainly return to their accustomed occupa- tions." ' 1 " Ha eussent este par trop loords et stupides, s'ils n'en eussent evite la feste." ~* ' Cessons done de nous esbahir s'ils ont on pied en 1'air et 1'oeil en la campagne." 3 The whole of this remarkable memorial is inserted in the older Collection universelle de memoires, xlv. 224-260. Its importance is so great, as reflect- ing the views of a mind so impartial and liberal as that of Chancellor L'Hos- pital, that I make no apology for the prominence I have given to it. Besides the omission of much that might be interesting, I have in places rather re- capitulated than translated literally the striking remarks of the original. 234 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. L'Hospital was right. The Huguenots wanted nothing but security of person and conscience the latter even more than the former. And they were ready to lay down their arms so soon as the court could bring itself to concede the restoration of the Edict of Amboise, without the restrictive ordinances and interpretations which had shorn it of most of its value. On this basis negotiations now recommenced. The more prudent Huguenots suggested that the party ought to receive at the king's hands some of the cities in their possession, to be held as pledges for the execution of the articles of the compact. But Charles and his counsellors resented the proposal as insulting to the dignity of the crown, 1 and the Huguenots, not yet fully appreciating the fickleness or treachery of the court, did not press the demand a fatal weakness, soon to be atoned for by the speedy renewal of the war on the part of the Roman Catholics. 2 After brief consultation the terms of peace were agreed upon, and were incorporated in the royal edict cification, of the twenty-third of March, 1568, known, froni the March as, ' name of the place where it was signed, as the " Edict K of Longjumeau." The cardinal provisions were few : they re-established the supremacy of the Edict of Amboise, ex- pressly repealing all the interpretations that infringed upon it ; and permitted the nobles, who under that law had been allowed to have religious exercises in their castles, to admit strangers as well as their own vassals to the services of the reformed worship. Conde and his followers were, at the same time, recognized as good and faithful servants of the crown, and a general amnesty was pronounced covering all acts of hostility, levy of troops, coining of money, and similar offences. On the other hand, the Huguenots bound themselves to disband and lay down their arms, to surrender the places they held, to renounce foreign alliances, and to eschew in future all meetings other than those religious 1 La None, c. xviii. 5 Castelnau, who was behind the scenes, assures us that had " the Hugue- nots insisted upon keeping some places in their own hands, for the perform- ance of what was promised, it would have been granted, and, in all probability, have prevented the war from breaking out so soon again," etc. Mem., liv. vl . c. 11. 1568. THE SECOND CIVIL WAR 235 gatherings permitted tinder the last peace. The new edict was not a final and irrevocable law, but was granted " until, by God's grace, all the king's subjects should be reunited in the profes- sion of one and the same religion." ' The Huguenots gained by this peace all their immediate demands, and so far the edict might be deemed satisfactory. But what better security had they for its observance more than they had had for the observance of that which had preceded it ? Coligny, prudent and far-sighted, had shown himself as averse to concluding it without sufficient guarantees for its faithful execu- Cond6 favors tion, as he had been opposed to beginning the war a opl^s^e half-year before. The peace, he urged, was intended peace- by the court only as a means of saving Chartres, and of af tenvard overwhelming the reformers ; " and he attempted to prove his assertions by the signal instances of bad faith which had provoked the recourse to arms. But Conde was impatient. If we may believe Agrippa d'Aubigne, his old love of pleasure was not without its influence ; 3 but he covered his true motives under the specious pretext afforded him by the Huguenot nobles, who, fatigued with the incessant toils of the campaign, reduced to straits by a warfare which they had carried on at their own expense, and longing to revisit homes which had been repeatedly threatened with desolation, had abandoned their standards and scattered to their respective provinces at the first mention of peace. 4 Fra^ois de la Noue, more charitable to the prince, regards the universal desire for peace, without much concern respecting its conditions, as the wild blast of a hurricane which the Huguenot captains could not resist if they would. 5 When M'hole cornets of cavalry started without leave, before the siege of Chartres was actually raised, what could generals, deserted 1 Jean de Serres, iii 149-154 ; De Thou, iv. 54, 55 ; Davila, bk. iv. 124 ; Castelnau, ubi supra ; Agrippa d'Aubigne', i. 260, etc. * '* L'Amiral maintenoit et remonstroit que cetfce paix n'estoit que pour sauver Chartres, et puis pour assommer separez ceux qu'on ne pourroit vaincre unis." Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 232. 1 "Le Prince de Conde plus facile, desireux de la cour, oil il avoit laisse quelque semence d'amourettes, ee servit de ce que plusieurs quittoient 1'armee," etc. Ibid., ubi supra, 4 La Noue, c. xviii * La Noue, c. xix. 236 THE RISE OP THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. by volunteers who had come of their own accord and had served for six months without pay, expect to accomplish ? "Was the peace of Longjumeau "the patched-up peace," or " the short peace," as it was called ; that " wicked little peace," as La Noue styles it ' a compact treacherously entered into by was the court the court ? This is the old, but constantly recurring sincere? question respecting every principal event of this un- happy period ; and it is one that rarely admits of an easy or a simple answer. So far as the persons who had been chiefly instrumental in forwarding the negotiations which ended in the peace of Longjumeau were concerned, they were Chancellor L'Hospital and the Bishops of Orleans and Limoges the most moderate members of the royal council, 2 whose fair spirit was so conspicuous that for years they had been exposed to insult and open hostility as supposed Huguenots. Nothing is clearer than that the purpose of these men was the sincere and entire re-establishment of peace on a lasting foundation. The argu- ments of L'Hospital which I have laid before the reader furnish sufficient proof. This party had, through the force of circum- stances, temporarily obtained the ascendancy in the council, and now had the ear of the queen mother. But there were by the side of its representatives at the council-board men of an entirely different stamp advocates of persecution, of extermi- nation ; a few, from conscientious motives, preferring, with Alva, a kingdom ruined in the attempt to root out heresy, to one flourishing, with heresy tolerated ; a larger number and Cardinal Lorraine, who had now resumed his seat and his influ- ence, must be classed with these counting upon deriving per- sonal advantage from the supremacy of the papal faction. It is equally manifest that this party could have acquiesced in the 1 " La paix fourree," Soulier, Histoire des edits de pacification, 73. " Ceste meschante petite paix," La Noue, c. xix. Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, uni- verselle, i. 260, and, following him, Browning, Hist, of the Huguenots, i. 220, and De Felice, Hist, of the Protestants of France, 190, say that this peace was wittily christened " La paix boiteuse et mal-assise; " but, as we shall see, this designation belongs to the peace of Saint Germain- en-Laye, in 1570, con- cluding the third religious war. * Leopold Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (New York, 1853), 231 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 237 peace, which again formally acknowledged the principle of religious toleration, only with the design of embracing the first favorable opportunity for crushing the Huguenots, when scat- tered and disarmed. Their desires, at least, deceived no one of ordinary perspicacity. Indeed, the peace came near failing to go into effect at all, in consequence of the discovery of the fact that a " privy council " had been held in the Louvre, to which none but sworn enemies of the Huguenots were admitted, " wherein was conspired a surprise of Orleans, Sois- ous plot de sons, Rochelle, and Auxerre," to be executed by four kine iidig- designated leaders, while the Protestants were laying down their anns. In an age of salaried spies, it is not astonishing that by ten o'clock the next morning the whole plot was betrayed to Cardinal Chatillon, who immediately sent word to stay the publication of the peace. When Charles heard of it, we are told that he swore, by the faith of a prince, that, if there had been any such conspiracy, it had been formed wholly without his knowledge, and, laying his hand on his breast, said: "This is the cardinal and Gascoigne's practice. In spite of them, I will proceed with the peace ; " and, com- manding pen and ink to be brought, he wrote Conde a letter promising a good and sincere observance of the articles agreed upon. 1 But, besides the two parties, and wavering between them fluctuating in her own purposes, as false to her own plans as she was to her promises, with no principles either of morality or of government, intent only on grasping power, the enemy of every one that stood in the way of this, even if it were her son or her daughter was that enigma, Catharine de' Medici, whose secret has escaped so many simply because they looked for something deep and recondite, when the solution lay almost upon the very surface. Was Catharine sincerely in favor of peace ? She was never sincere. Her Macchiavellian training, the enforced hypocrisy of her married life, the trimming policy she had thought herself compelled to pursue during the minori- ty of the kings, her two sons, had eaten from her soul, even to 1 Norris to Cecil, Paris, March 30, 1568, State Paper Office. 238 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. its root, truthfulness that pnre plant of heaven's sowing. Loving peace only because it freed her from the fears, the em- barrassments, the vexations of war not because she valued human life or human happiness she embraced it as a welcome expedient to enable her to escape the present perplexities of her position. It is improbable that Catharine distinctly premedi- tated a treacherous blow at the Huguenots, simply because she rarely premeditated anything very long. I am aware that this estimate of the queen is quite at variance with the views which have obtained the widest currency ; but it is the estimate which history, carefully read, seems to require us to adopt. Catharine's plans were proverbially narrow in their Short-right- J . ednesspf scope, never extending much beyond the immediate present. After the catastrophe, which had perhaps been the result of the impulse of the moment, she was not, however, unwilling to accept the homage of those who deemed it a high compliment to her prudence to praise her consum- mate dissimulation. She probably entered upon the peace of Longjumeau without any settled purpose of treachery unless that state of the soul be in itself treachery that has no fixed intention of upright dealing. But she had not, in adopting the advice of Chancellor de 1'Hospital, renounced the policy of the Cardinal of Lorraine, in case that policy should at some future time appear to be advantageous ; and it was much to be feared that the contingency referred to would soon arrive. Catharine, not less than Charles himself, resented " the affair of Meaux " of the preceding September. It was studiously held up to their eyes by the enemies of the Huguenots as an attempt upon the honor, and indeed even upon the personal liberty and life of their Majesties. Might not Catharine and Charles be tempted to retaliate by trying the effect of a surprise upon the Hugue- nots themselves ? The Huguenots had certainly been grossly imprudent in put- ting themselves at the mercy of a woman whom they had greatly offended, and whose natural place, according to those Imprudence . i . i P oftheHu- mysterious sympathies which bind men of similar innate natures, was with their adversaries. They had been warned by their secret friends at court, some of them by Koman 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 239 Catholic relatives. 1 But the caution was little heeded. It was not long a before those who had been the most strenuous advo- cates of peace began to admit that the draught they had put to their own lips, and now must needs drink, was likely to prove little to their taste. 3 The parliaments made serious objections to the reception of the edict. Toulouse was, as usual, pre-eminent for its intoler- ance. The king sent Rapin, a Protestant gentleman Judicial mur- -,-,-, -,..,-,... d.-rof Rapin, who had served with distinction under Conde in Lan- at Toulouse. guedoc, to carry the law to the parliament, and re- quire its official recognition. The choice was unfortunate, for it awakened all the hatred of a court proverbial for its hostility to the Reformation. An accusation of matters quite foreign to his mission was trumped up against Rapin, and, contrary to all the principles of justice, and notwithstanding the privileged character he bore as the king's envoy, he was arrested, con- demned to death, and executed. So atrocious a crime might perhaps have been punished, had not the new commotions to which we shall soon be obliged to pay attention, intervened and screened the culprits from their righteous retribution. 4 Not 1 La None, c. xviii. (Anc. coll. , 214). s A fortnight had not elapsed since the date of the Edict of Pacification when Conde was compelled to call the king's attention to a flagrant outrage committed by Foissy, a royalist, against the Sieur d'Esternay. After having burned Esternay's residence at Lamothe during the preliminary truce, Foissy subsequently to the conclusion of peace returned and completed his work of devastation. Conde to Charles IX., April 5, 1568, MS., Archives du dep. du Nord, apud Due d'Aumale, i. 572. * "Nous avons fait la folie, ne trouvons done estrange si nous la beuvons. Toutefois il y a apparence que le breuvage sera amer." La Noue, ubi supra. * De Thou, iv. 55, 56; Jean de Serres, Comm. de statu, etc., iii. 160; Conde's petition of Aug. 23d, ibid., iii. 218; Mem. de Claude Haton, i. 357- 359, who, however, makes the singular blunder of placing the incident of Rapin's death after the peace of Amboise in 1563. The cure's description of the zeal of the Toulouse parliament for the Roman Catholic Church confirms everything that Protestant writers have said on the subject : " Laditte court de parlement avoit tousjours resiste a laditte pretendue religion et faict exe- cuter ceux qui en f aisoient profession, nonobstant edict a ce contraire faict en faveur d'iceux huguenotz." See also Raoul de Cazenove, Rapin-Thoyras, sa famille, sa vie, et ses ceuvres (Paris, 1866), 47-49 a truly valuable work, and a worthy tribute to a distinguished ancestry. 240 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. content with murdering Kapin, the Parliament of Toulouse still refused to register the edict, and not less than four successive orders were sent by the king before his refractory judges yielded an unwilling consent, even then annexing restrictive clauses which they took care to insert in their secret records. 1 Again Roman Catholic pulpits resounded, as they did when- ever any degree of toleration was accorded the Protestants, with denunciations of Catharine, of Charles, of all in the Seditions ' ' . . preachers and council who had advocated sucli pernicious views. Again Ahab and Jezebel appear ; but while Catharine is always Jezebel, it is Charles that now figures, in place of poor Antoine of Navarre, as Ahab. 3 Again, in the struggle of royalty with priests and monks breathing sedition, it is the churchman who by his arrogance carries off the victory with the common people, while from the sensible he receives merited contempt. 3 So fine a text as the edict afforded for spirited Lenten discourses did not present itself every day, and the clergy of France im- proved it so well that the passions of their flocks were inflamed to the utmost. 4 Except where their numbers were so large as to command respect, the Protestants scarcely dared to return to their homes. The very mention of the peace, with its favorable terms for the Protestants, was enough to stir up the anger of the ignorant populace. When the Parliament of Rouen, after agreeing to the Edict of Longjumeau in private session, threw open its doors 1 " Edictum promulgant, hac addita exceptione, Reservatis clausulis qua secreto Senatus commentario continentur." J. de Serres, iii. 160, 161 ; De Thou, ubi supra. See the petition of Conde of Aug. 23d. J. de Serres, iii. 220, etc. 8 Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 527, etc. "Sire," said a nobleman, after listening to the arguments against the peace made by some of the remonstrants, and to Charles's replies, "it is too much to undertake to dispute with these canting knaves ; it were better to have them strapped in the kitchen by your turnspits." Ibid., ii. 530. 4 Playing upon the chancellor's name, Sainte Foy, one of the court preachers, exclaimed in the pulpit : " Be not astonished if the Huguenots demolish the churches, for they have turned all France into a hospital instead " "don- nant a entendre que par le chancelier nomme Hospital, la France estoit pauvre, ponrtant qu'il a par trop encore de douceur pour les huguenots qui ont ruine le pais de France." Jehan de la Fosse, 93, 91. 1563. THE SHORT PEACE. 241 (on the third of April, 1568) to give it official publication, a Riot when the ra bble that had come purposely to create a tumult, ^hwi is at pul> interrupted the reading with horrible imprecations Rouen. against the peace, the Huguenots, the edicts, the " pre- ches," and the magistrates who approved such impious acts. The presidents and counsellors fled for their lives. The popu- lace, as though inspired by some evil spirit, raged and com- mitted havoc in the " palais de justice." The mob opened the prisons and liberated eight or ten Roman Catholics; then flocked to the ecclesiastical dungeons and would have massacred the Protestants that were still confined there, had these not found means to ransom their lives with money. It was not until six days later that the royal edict was read, in the presence of a large military force called in to preserve order. 1 In spite of the provisions of the edict, the Huguenots wan- dered about in the open country, avoiding the cities where they were likely to meet with insult and violence, if not Treatment of ' the returning death. Ihe Protestants of Cogent, Provins, and Huguenots. . i -. i >ray hesitated for three months, and then we are told tfiat each man watched his opportunity and sought to enter when his Roman Catholic friends might be on guard to defend him from the insolence of others. But the sufferings of the Huguenot burgess were not ended when he was once more in his own house. He was studi- ously treated as a rebel. Every movement was suspicious. A Roman Catholic chronicler, who has preserved in his voluminous diary many of the details that enable us to restore something of its original coloring to the picture of the social and political con- dition of the times, vividly portrays the misfortunes of the un- fortunate Huguenots of Provins. They were not numerous. One by one, thirty or forty had stealthily crept into town, experiencing no other injury than the coarse raillery of their former neighbors. Thereupon the municipal government met and deliberated upon the measures of police to be taken " in order to hold the Huguenots in check and in fear, and to avoid any treachery they might intend to put into prac- 1 Floquet, Hist, du parlement de Normandie, iii. 36-42. VOL. II. 1G 242 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. tice by the introduction of their brother Huguenots into the city to plunder and hold it by force." The determination arrived at was that each of the four captains should visit the Huguenot houses of his quarter, examine the inmates, and take all the weapons he found, giving a receipt to their owners. This was not the only humiliation to which the Protestants were subjected. A proclamation was published forbidding them from receiving any person into their houses, from meeting together under any pretext, from leaving their houses in the evening after seven o'clock in summer, or five in winter, from walking by day or night on the walls, or, indeed, from approaching within two arquebuse shots' distance of them all upon pain of death ! They could not even go into the country without a passport from the bailiff and the captain of the gate, the penalty of transgressing this regulation being banishment. No wonder that the Huguenots were irritated, and that most of them wished that they had not returned. 1 . Since, however, a royal ordinance of the nineteenth of May expressly enjoined upon all fugitive Huguenots to re-enter the cities to which they belonged, and in case of refusal commanded the magistrates to raise a force and attack them as presumptive robbers and enemies of the public peace, 2 they were perhaps quite as safe within the walls as roaming about outside of them. Early in the summer an event occurred on the northern frontier, which, although in itself of little weight, augmented the suspicions which the Protestants began to enter- Expedition & ami fate of DC tain of the Spanish tendencies of the government. One Seigneur de Cocqueville, with a party of French and Flemish Huguenots, had crossed the northern boundary and invaded Philip's Netherland provinces. He had, however, been driven back into France. As he was believed to have acted under Conde's instructions, that prince was requested by Charles to inform him whether Cocqueville were in his service. When Conde disavowed him, and declined all responsibility for the 1 Memoires de Claude Haton, ii. 533, 534. Similar regulations were made in many other places " cumplurimis in locia." Jean de Serres, iii. 156. Jean de Serres, iii. 158. 159. 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 243 movement, Marshal Cosse was directed to march against Cocque- ville, and, on the eighteenth of July, the Huguenot chieftain was captured at the town of Saint Valery, in Picardy, where he had taken refuge. Of twenty-five hundred followers, barely three hundred are said to have been spared. In order to please Alva, the Flemings received no quarter. The leaders, Coc- queville, Vaillant, and Saint Amand, were brought to Paris and gibbeted on the Place de Greve. 1 The central government itself gave the gravest grounds for fear and suspicion. The Huguenots had promptly disbanded. They had lost no time in dismissing their German allies, who, Attitude of retiring with well-filled pockets to the other side of menfs^ th e Rhine, seemed alone to have profited by the in- testine commotions of France.* On the contrary, the Roman Catholic forces showed no disposition to disarm. It is true that, in the first fervor of the ascendancy of the peace party, Catharine countermanded a levy of five thousand Saxons, much to the annoyance of Castelnau, who had by his unwearied dili- gence brought them in hot haste to Rethel on the Aisne, only to learn that the preliminaries of peace were on the point of being concluded, and that the troopers were expected to retrace their steps to Saxony.' But the Swiss and Italian soldiers, as well as the French gens-d'armes, were for the most part retained. To Humieres, who commanded for the king in Peronne, Charles wrote an explanation of his course: "Inasmuch as there are sometimes turbulent spirits so constituted that they neither can 1 De Thou, iv. 77, 78 ; Castelnau, L vii.. c. 1 ; D'Aubigne, i 260 ; La Fosse, 97 ; Motley, Dutch Republic, ii. 184. 5 Charles was, however, near experiencing trouble with the reiters of Duke Casimir. He had, by the terms of the agreement with the Huguenots, under- taken to advance the 900,000 francs which were due, and on failing to fulfil his engagements his unwelcome guests threatened to turn their faces toward Paris. Mem. de Castelnau, liv. vi, c. 11. At last, with promises of payment at Frankfort, the Germans were induced to leave France. Du Mont, Corps diplomatique, v. 164, gives a transcript of Casimir's receipt, May 21, 1568, for 460,497 livres, etc. 1 Memoires de Castelnau, liv. vi., c. 9, c. 10. Duke John William of Saxe- Weimar was even more vexed at the issue of his expedition than Castelnau himself. It was with difficulty that he could be persuaded to accept an invi- tation to make a visit to the French court. 244 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. nor desire to accommodate themselves so soon to quiet, it has appeared to me extremely necessary to anticipate this difficulty, and act in such a manner that, force and authority remaining on my side, I may be able to keep in check those who might so far forget themselves as to set on foot new disturbances and be the cause of seditious uprising." l Large garrisons GarrisonRand . r . & ' interpretative were thus provided tor those towns which had ren- dered themselves conspicuous in the defence of the Huguenots during the late war, and the sufferings of the Prot- estants, upon whom, in preference to their Roman Catholic neighbors, the insolent soldiers were quartered, were terrible beyond description." The horrors of the " dragonnades " of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth were rivalled by these earlier military persecutions. Multitudes were despoiled of their goods, hundreds lost their lives at the hands of their cruel guests. France assumed the aspect of a great camp, with sentries posted everywhere to maintain it in peace against some suspected foe. The sea-ports, the bridges, the roads were guarded ; the Hugue- nots themselves were placed under a species of surveillance. Nor were the old resorts of the court forgotten. Again inter- pretative ordinances were called in to abrogate a portion of the law itself. Charles declared in a new proclamation that he had not intended by the Edict of Longjumeau to include Auvergne, nor any district belonging as an appanage to his mother, to Anjou, Alen9on, or the Bourbon princes, in the toleration guaranteed by the edict. And thus a very considerable number of Protestants were by a single stroke of the pen stripped 1 Paris MS., apud Soldan, Gesch. des Prot. in Frankreich, ii. 300. Rumor, as is usual in such cases, outstripped even the unwelcome truth, and Norris wrote to Queen Elizabeth that the king had sent secret letters to two hundred and twelve places, charging the governors " to runne uppon them [the Hugue- nots] and put them fco the sword." " Your Majestie will judge," adds Norris, " ther is smale place of surety for them of the Religion, either in towne or felde." Letter of June 4, 1568, apud D'Aumale, Les Princes de Conde, ii. 363, Pieces inedites. * When the Protestants at Rouen begged protection, the king sent four companies of infantry, which the citizens at first refused to admit. At last they were smuggled in by night, and quartered upon the Huguenots. Floquet, Ilist. du parlement de Normandie, iii. 43. 1568. THE SHORT PEACR 245 of the privileges solemnly accorded to them but a few weeks before. 1 Other pledges were as shamelessly broken. The Huguenot gentlemen whom the court had attempted to punish by declaring them to have forfeited their honors and dignities, were not reinstated according to the terms of the edict. 2 The conduct of individual governors furnished still greater occasion for complaint and alarm. The Duke of Nemours, who, in marrying Anne of Este, Guise's widow, two Oppression - ' by royai years before, seemed also to have espoused all the governors. , i i i 1 T r > p T\ hatred which the Lorrames felt for Protestantism, and for the family of the Chatillons, its most prominent and faithful defenders, was governor of the provinces of Lyonnais and Dauphiny. This insubordinate nobleman loudly proclaimed his intention to disregard the Edict of Longjumeau, as opposed to the Roman Catholic Church and to the king's honor. In vain did the Protestants, who were numerous in the city of Ly- ons, demand to be allowed to enjoy the two places of worship they had possessed, before the late troubles, within the city walls. The duke would not listen to their just claims, and the court, in answer to their appeals, only responded that the king did not approve of the holding of Protestant services inside of cities, and that a place would shortly be assigned for their use in the vicinity.* Unrebuked by the queen or her son for his flagrant disobedience, Nemours received nothing but plaudits from the fanatical adherents of the religion he pretended to maintain, and was honored by the Pope, Pius the Fifth (on the fifth of July, 1568), with a special brief, in which he was praised for being the first to set a resplendent example of resistance to the execution of an unchristian peace. 4 Marshal Tavannes, in Burgundy, earned equal gratitude for his opposition to the concession of Protestant rights. Not con- tent with remonstrance respecting a peace which had excited every one " to raise his voice against the king and Catharine," and with dark hints of the danger of handling so carelessly a 1 Jean de Serres, iii. 157, 158. s Ibid. , vbi supra. 3 Jean de Serres, iii. 101 ; Soldan, ii. 303. 4 Soldan. ii. 30G. 246 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. border province like Burgundy, 1 he openly favored the revival of those " Confraternities of the Holy Ghost " which Charles had so lately condemned and prohibited. Being himself de- tained by illness, two of his sons were present at a meeting of one of these seditious assemblages, held in Dijon, the pro- vincial capital, where, before a great concourse of people, the most inflammatory language was freely uttered. 3 At Troyes, the capital of Champagne, a similar association assumed the designation of " the Christian and Royal League." The document, containing the oath taken by the clergy tian andRoyai whom the king's lieutenant had associated with the nobility and the provincial estates in the " holy " bond, is still extant, with the signatures .of the bishop, the deans, canons, and inferior ecclesiastics appended.* The pri- mary object was the maintenance of " the true Catholic and Roman Church of God ; " and after this the preservation of the crown for the house of Yalois was mentioned. It was to be sustained " against all persons, without excepting any, save the persons of the king, his sons and brothers, and the queen their mother, and without regard to any relationship or alliance," and " so long as it might please God that the signers should be governed according to the Roman and Apostolic Church." * In less public utterances the spirit of insubordination to the re- gal authority made itself understood even more clearly. When the formation of such associations was objected to, on the ground of the king's prohibition, the response given by those 1 Letter to Catharine, April 27, 1568, MS., apud Soldan, ii. 303. 5 Jean de Series, iii. 163, 164. Petition of Conde of Aug. 23d. Ibid., iii. 215, etc. 3 MS. BibL nat., apud Mem. de Claude Haton. ii. App., 1152, 1153. Less correctly given in Lestoile's Memoires. The title is "Sermens des Associez de la Ligue Chrestienne et Roiale," and the date is Jane 25, 1568. 4 Prof. Soldan is certainly right (ii. 305) in his interpretation of the pas- sage, "tant et si longuement qu'il plaira a Dieu qne nous serons par en.r regis en nostredicte religion apostolique et romaine," which Ranke (Civil Wars and Monarchy, p. 236), and, following him. Von Polenz (Gesch. des franz. Calvinismus, ii. 361), have construed as referring to ''la maison de Valois." Involved as is the phraseology, 1 do not see how the word "eux" can designate any other person or persons than "ledit s r - lieutenant avec mesditz sieurs de la noblesse de cedit gouvernement et autres aesociez." 15G8. THE SHORT PEACE. who pretended to be better informed than the rest was that the Cardinal of Lorraine could make the matter agreeable to his Majesty. Others more boldly announced the intention of the Roman Catholic party, in case Charles should re- Insubordina- . ' , . tion to royai f use to sanction its course, to send nun to a monastery for the rest of his days, and elect another king in his place. Three months' time was all that these blatant boasters allowed for the utter destruction of the Huguenots in France. An end would be made of them as soon as the harvest and vintage were past. 1 If the Roman Catholics had resolved upon a renewal of the war, they certainly had reason to desire a better combination of their forces than they had effected in the late contest. They had been startled and amazed at the rapidity with which, al- though embracing but an inconsiderable minority of the pop- illation, the Huguenots had succeeded in massing an army that held at bay that of the king. They ad- mired the completeness of the organization which enabled the Prince of Conde and the admiral to summon the gentry of the most distant provinces, and bring them to the very vicinity of the court before the movement was suspected even by Constable Montmorency, who believed himself to be kept advised of the most trifling occurrences that took place in any part of France. The triumph of the Huguenots for was it not a triumph which they had achieved in securing such terms as the Edict of Longjumeau conceded ? was a disgrace to the papists, who had not known how to use their overwhelm- ing preponderance in numbers. Never had a more signal ex- ample been given of the superiority of united and zealous sym- pathy over discordant and soulless counsels. 1 While their 1 Jean de Series, iii. 164. - "Den Erfolg des letzten Krieges," well observes Prof. Soldan, "batten die Hugenotten nicht ihrer Anzahl, sondern der Organisation nnd dem Geiste ihres Gemeindewesens zu verdanken. Diese bewegliche, weitverzweigte, aus einem festen Mittelpunkte gleichmassig gelenkte und von Eifer f iir die ge- meinsame Sache belebte Vereinsgliederung hatt iiber den lahinen und stock - enden Mechanismus vielfaoh grosserer, aber in sich selbst uneiniger Krafte einen beschamenden Triumph erlangt." Geschichte des Protestantismus in Frankreich, ii. 303. 248 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. enemies, with nothing in common but their hatred of Protes- tantism, were hampered by the want of concert between their leaders, or cheated of their success by their positive jealousies and quarrels, the Huguenots had in their common faith, in their well-ordered form of church government, combining the advantages of great local efficiency with those of a representa- tive union, and in their common danger, the instruments best adapted to secure the ends they desired. " They were so closely bound together by this order and by these objects," wrote the Venetian ambassador Correro, " that there resulted a concor- dant will and so perfect a union that it made them prompt in rendering instant obedience and in forming common designs, and most ready to execute the commands of their superiors." l With such associations as " the Confraternities of the Holy Ghost," and " the Christian and Royal League " springing up in various parts of France, under the express sanction Murder runs . , ... , 11 i i . not through- of the provincial governors, and publishing as their out France. ...... , . & ... c , ,. , chief, aim the extirpation or heresy from the realm ; with priests and monks, especially those of the new order of Jesus, inflaming the passions of the people by seditious preach- ing, and persuading their hearers that any toleration of heretics was a compact with Satan, it is not strange that murder held high carnival wherever the Protestants were not so numerous as to be able to stand on the defensive. The victims were of every rank and station, from the obscure peasant to the distin- guished Cipierre, son of the Count de Tende and a relative of the Duke of Savoy, the orders for whose assassination were confidently believed to have issued from the court. 5 At Auxerre, 1 Relations des Amb. Ven., ii. 116. * Cipierre, a young nobleman only twenty-two years of age, was returning, with a body-guard of about thirty-five men, from a visit to his cousin, the duke, at Nice, where he had been treated with great honor. When approach- ing Frejus he perceived signs of treachery in a body of men lurking under cover of a grove, and betook himself for safety into the city, now, since his father's death, a part of the province of which his eldest brother was royal governor. The tocsin was rung, and his enemies, originally a band of three hundred men, being swollen by constant accessions to four times that num- ber, the house in which Cipierre had taken refuge was assailed. After a heroic defence the small party of defenders surrendered their arms, on assur- ance that their opponents would at once retire. The papists, however, 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 249 which bad been given up by tbe Huguenots in accordance with the provisions of the peace, one hundred and fifty Protestants paid with their lives the price of their good faith. Their bodies were thrown into the public sewers. In the city of Amiens one hundred and fifty persons were slaughtered at one time. Instead of punishment, the rioters obtained their object: the reformed worship was forbidden in Amiens, or within three leagues of the city. 1 At Clennont the assassins, after plunder- ing the wares of a wealthy merchant, who had refused to hang tapestry before his house at the time of the procession on Cor- pus Christi Day La Fete-Dieu buried him in a fire made of furniture taken from his own house." At Ligny, in Champagne, a Huguenot was pursued into the very bed-chamber of a royal officer, and there killed. Troyes, Bourges, Rouen, and a host of other places, witnessed the commission of atrocities which it would be rather sickening than profitable to narrate. 1 In Paris itself the murders of Huguenots were frequent. " On Sunday last," wrote Xorris, the English envoy, to his royal mistress, " the Prince of Conde sent a gentleman to the king, to beseech his Majesty to administer justice against such as murder them of the religion, and as he entered into the city there were five slain in St. Anthony's street, not far from my lodging." * The aggregate of homicides committed within the brief compass of this so-called peace was enormous. Jean de Serres and Agrippa d'Aubigne may possibly go somewhat beyond the mark when scarcely made a pretence of fulfilling their compact, for they speedily returned and massacred every one whom they found in the house. Cipierre himself was not among the number. To secure him a new breach of faith was neces- sary. The captain of the murderers pledged his own word to the magistrate that if Cipierre would come forth from his hiding-place he would spare hit, life. He discharged the obligation, so soon as Cipierre presented himself, by plunging a dagger into his breast. J. de Serres, iii. 166-168 ; Agrippa d'Au- bigne, i. 262. 1 Petition of Conde. Aug. 23, 1568, J. de Serres, iii. 210, 211. 8 Vie de Coligny (Cologne, 1686), 349, 350 ; J. de Serres, iii. 166. 3 Ibid., iii. 165; Recordon, from MSS. of X. Pithou, 155-157; MS. Mem. historiques des Antiquitcs de Troyes, by Duhalle, apud Bulletin de 1'hist. du prot. fr., xvii. (1868) 376. Of the royal edicts guaranteeing the Protestants, the last author remarlcs that " ils firent plus de bruit que de fruit" 4 Due d'Aumale, Princes de Condc, ii. 364, Pieces justificatives. 250 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. they state the number of victims in three months April, May, and June, 1568 at over ten thousand ; ' but they are substan- tially correct in saying that the number far exceeded that of the armed Huguenots slain during the six months of the pre- ceding war ; a for the Yenetian ambassador, who certainly had no motive for exaggeration, asserts that " the principal cities of the kingdom, notwithstanding the conditions of the peace, re- fused to readmit ' the preachings ' to their territories, and slew many thousands of Huguenots who dared to rise and com- plain." ' While the majority of the cities held by the Protestants had, as we have seen, promptly opened their gates to the king, a number, perceiving the dangers to which they were exposed, alarmed by the attitude of the Roman Catholics, and doubtful of the good faith of the court, declined to allow the garrisons Bocheiie and to enter - This was the case with La Rochelle, which fS^t^2i7e defended its course by appealing to its privileges, and arri80n8 - with Montauban, Albi, Milhau, Sancerre, Castres, Vezelay, and other less important towns. 4 The events of a few 1 J. de Serres, iii. 168 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, L 262. 8 Jean de Serres does not expressly state that he refers to the combatants, but I presume this to be his meaning. s Relazione di Correro, Rel. des Amb. Ven., ii. 120. 4 "MoDtauban, etc., faisoient conter les clouxde leurs portes aux garnisons qn'on leur envoyoit." Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 261. It was the garrisons only that were refused ; the royal governors were promptly accepted. M. de Jar- nac, for instance, had no difficulty in securing recognition at La Rochelle ; but he was not permitted to introduce troops to distress and terrify the citi- zens. See the letters of the "Maire, Echevins, Conseilliers et Pairs," of La Rochelle to Charles the Ninth, April 21st, June 6th and 30th, etc. Le Labour- enr, Add. aux Mem. de Castelnau, ii. 547-551. They deny the slanderous accu- sation that the Roman Catholics have not been permitted to return since the peace, asserting, on the contrary, that they have greeted them as brethren and fellow-citizens. They appeal to M. de Jarnac himself for testimony to the good order of La Rochelle. " Meanwhile," they say, " we are preserv- ing this city of yours in all tranquillity, and maintain it, under your obedience, with much greater security, devotion, affection, fidelity and loyalty, such as we have received from our predecessors, than would do all others who were strangers and mercenaries, and not its natural subjects and inhabitants." Norris to Queen Elizabeth, June 23, 1568: "The towne of Rochelle hathe now the thirde time bin admonished to render itself to the king." State Pa- per Office, Due d'Aumale, ii. 367. 15G8. THE SHORT PEACE. 201 weeks had amply vindicated the wisdom and justice of their re- fusal. La Rochelle even began to repair its fortifications, confi- dent that the papal faction would never rest until it had made the attempt to destroy the great Huguenot stronghold in the west. Evidently there was no safety for a Protestant under the aegis of the Edict of Longjumeau. The Prince of Conde dared not resume the government of the province CondSand . . Coiigny re- nominally restored to Ins charge, and retired to Is oyers, a small town in Burgundy, belonging to his wife's dower, where he would be less exposed than in the vicinity of Paris to any treacherous attempt upon his person. Admiral Coiigny was not slow in following his example. He abandoned his stately manor of Chatillon-sur-Lomg, where, with a heart saddened by recent domestic affliction, 1 he had been compelled to exercise a princely hospitality to the crowds that daily thronged to consult with him and to do him honor," and took 1 His wife. Charlotte de Laval, whose brave Christian injunctions, as we have seen, decided the reluctant admiral to take up arms in the first religious war (see ante, chapter xiii., p. 35), lay dying of a disease contracted in her indefatigable labors for the sick and wounded soldiers at Orleans, whilst the admiral was at the siege of Chartres. On the conclusion of the peace he hastened to her, but was too late to find her alive. In a touching letter, writ- ten to her husband after all hope of seeing him again in this world had fled, a letter the substance of which is preserved by one of his biographers (Vie de Coiigny, Cologne, 1686, p. 342), she lamented the loss of a privilege that would have alleviated the sufferings of her last hours, but consoled herself with the thought of the object for which he was absent. She conjured him, by the love he bore her and to her children, to fight to the last extremity for God and religion ; warning him, lest through his habitual respect for the king a respect which had before made him reluctant to take up arms he should forget the obligations he owed to God as his first Master. She begged him to rear the children she left him in the pure religion, that they might one day be capable of taking his place ; and, for their sakes, implored him not to hazard his life unnecessarily. She bade him beware of the house of Guise. "I do not know," she added, "whether I ought to say the same thing of the queen mother, as we are forbidden to judge evil of our neighbor; but she has given so many marks of her ambition that a little distrust is ex- cusable." The earlier biographer of Coiigny (Gasparis Colinii Vita. 1575, p. 63, etc.) gives an affecting picture of the deep sorrow and pious resignation of the admiral. Somewhat hyperbolically, the biogrnpher of the admiral (Vie de Coiigny. p. 346) says that the concourse at Chatillon and Noyers was so great that the 252 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. up his abode in the castle of Tanlay, belonging to his brother D'Andelot, and within a few miles of the prince's retreat. 1 D'Andelot himself had recently started for Brittany, where his first wife, Claude de Kieux, had held extensive possessions. 3 , J , t , Before leaving, however, he had written to Catha- D Anaelot s 7 remonstrance. rme fei Medici, a letter of remonstrance full of noble sentiments. The occasion was the murder of one of his gentle- men, whom he had sent to the neighboring city of Auxerre ; but his letter embraced a complete view of " the calamitous state of the poor kingdom," whose misery "was such as to cause the hair of all that heard to stand on end." " Not only," said D'Andelot, " can we feel no doubt that God will not leave unpunished so much innocent blood, which continues to cry be- fore Him for vengeance, as well as so many violations of women and maidens ; so many robberies ; so much oppression in one word, every species of iniquity. But, besides this, we can look for nothing else than the near-approaching desolation and rain of this state : for no one that has read sacred and profane his- tory will be able to deny that such tilings have always preceded the overthrow of empires and monarchies. I am well aware, Louvre was a desert in comparison ! When ten gentlemen left by one gate, twenty entered by another. The churches raised a purse of 100,000 crowns, one-half of which was to go to him, and the other half to the Prince of Conde ; but, though nearly ruined by the enormous expenses of his hospi- tality, he declined to receive his portion. 1 Noyers and Tanlay are ten or twelve miles from each other, in the modern department of the Yonne. J Jean de Serres, ubi supra. Cf. De Thou, iv. 142 ; Bulletin de la Soc. de rhist. dn prot. fr. (1854), iil 239. This valuable periodical is mistaken in stating, vii. (1858) 120, that " D'Andelot s'etait retire dans ses terres de Bretagne a la conclusion de la paix. " He did not leave Tanlay until after writing the letter referred to below, and shortly before Coligny's arrival : "partant de chez lui, pour se rendre chez son frere Andelot, il trouva qu'il etoit alle en Bretagne." Vie de Coligny, 350. D'Andelot was in Brittany at the outbreak of the third war. His adventures in escaping to La Rochelle will be narrated in the next chapter. Mr. Henry White is, of course, equally wrong when he says (Massacre of St. Bartholomew, New York, 1868, p. 291) : "The admiral had gone to this charming retreat [Tanlay], to consult Aviih hw brother, to whom it belonged, and who had joined him there," and when he mentions D'Andelot as in the suite of Conde and Coligny in their cele- brated flight (p. 292) ; "besides which, he (the prince) was accompanied by the admiral and his family, by Andelot and his wife," etc. 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 253 madam, that there will be those who, on seeing this letter, ridicule me, and will say that I am playing the part of prophet or preacher. I am neither the one nor the other, since God has not given me this calling. But I will yet say, with truth, that there is not a man in the kingdom, of any rank or quality, who loves his king and his kingdom better than I do, or who is more grieved at seeing those disorders that I see, which can, in the end, result only in general confusion. I know full well that I shall be met with the taking up of arms, in which I participated, with so many others, on the eve of last St. Michael's Day, as if we had intended to attack the persons of your Majesties, or any- thing belonging to you, or this state, as was published wherever it was possible, and as is still daily asserted. But, not to under- take other justification, I will only say that, if such wickedness had entered into my heart, though I might conceal it from men, I could not hide it from God, from whom I never have asked forgiveness for it, nor ever shall I." D'Andelot proceeded to show that the movement in question had been caused by abso- lute necessity, and that this was rendered evident to all men by that which was now occurring in every part of France. He told her that it was sufficiently manifest that this universal op- pression was only designed to provoke " those of the religion " to such a point that they would lose patience, and to obtain a pretext for attacking and exterminating them. He reminded her that he had often insisted " that opinions in matters of re- ligion can be changed neither by fire nor by force of arms, and that those deem themselves very happy who can lay down their lives for the service of God and for His glory." He warned her of those who, unlike the Huguenots, would sacrifice the inter- of the state to their own individual ends of ambition or re- venge. In conclusion, after alluding to a recent sudden death which much resembled a mark of the divine displeasure upon the murderous assault that had called forth this letter, he exclaimed : " I do not mean to be so presumptuous as to judge the dealings of God ; but I do mean to say, with the sure testimony of His word, that all those who violate public faith are punished for it." ' 1 Lettre de Frangoia d'Andelot a la Royne mere du Boy, de Tanlay, co 8 m juillet, loGS. MS. Library of Berne. This letter has been twice printed 254 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. That salutary warning had been rung in Catharine's ears more than once, and was destined to be repeated again and again, with little effect : " All those who violate public faith are punished for it." L'Hospital had but a few months before been urging to a course of political integrity, and pointing out the rock on which all previous plans of pacification had split. There was but one way to secure the advantages of permanent peace, and that was an upright observance of the treaties formed with the Huguenots. But Catharine was takes side slow to learn the lesson. Crooked paths, to her dis- withthe . . 111 chancellor's torted vision, seemed to be the shortest way to suc- cess. Her Italian education had taught her that de- ceit was better, under all circumstances, than plain dealing, and she could not unlearn the long-cherished theory. Whether L'Hospital's views were originally the chief motives that influ- enced her in consenting to the peace of Longjumeau, or whether she had acquiesced in it as a cover to treacherous designs, certain it is that she now began to side openly with the chancellor's ene- mies,' and that the Cardinal of Lorraine regained his old influence in the council. The fanatical sermons that had been a premoni- tory symptom of the previous wars were again heard with com- placency in the court chapel ; for, about the month of June, the king appointed as his preachers four of the most blatant advocates of persecution : Vigor, a canon of Kotre Dame ; De Sainte Foy ; the gray friar, Hugonis ; and Claude de Sainctes, whose acquaintance the reformers had made at the Colloquy of Poissy. 1 There had been a desperate struggle in the royal council ever since the conclusion of the peace. The extreme Roman Catho- lics, recognizing the instability of Catharine, had long since in the Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. da prot. franqais, iv. (1856) 329-331, and vii. (1858) 121-123. The first reproduction is in one important part more cor- rect than the second. It is not impossible, after all, that the author of the letter was not D'Andelot, but his brother, Admiral Coligny himself ; for M. J. Tessier mentions (Bulletin, xxii. (1873) 47, that it exists in manuscript in the Paris National Library (MSS. Vc. Colbert, 24, f. 161), in the admiral's own handwriting, and signed with his usual signature, ChastiUon. The whole tone, I must confess, seems rather to be his. 1 Journal d'*n cure ligueur (Jehan de la Posse), 96. [568. THE SHORT PEACE. 255 begun to base their hopes upon Henry of An j oil's influence. Their opponents accepted the issue, and resolved to circum- scribe the duke's inordinate powers. Three of the marshals of Remon- France Montmorency, his brother Damville, and the'three* Vieilleville presented themselves at a meeting of the marshals. royal coiuicil held in the queen mother's sick-cham- ber (on the second of May, 1568), to remonstrate against An- jou's retaining the office of lieutenant-general. Even Cardinal Bourbon supported their movement, and, sinking for the time his extreme religious partisanship, threatened to leave the court, and give the world to understand how much he had at heart the honor of his house and the welfare of his friends. The object of the marshals could not be mistaken : it was nothing less than the overthrow of the Cardinal of Lorraine, who sought supreme power under cover of Anjou's name. The end of the war, remarked the ambassador, Sir Henry Norris, had brought no end to the mortal hatred between the houses of Guise and Montmorency. The prospect of permanent peace was dark. The king was easy to be seduced, his mother bent upon main- taining these divisions in the court, and Anjou so much under the cardinal's influence that it was to be feared that the Hugue- catharine'B n ts would in the end be forced to have recourse itnguea. once more to arms JQ the midst of these perils, the queen mother had been exercising her ingenuity in playing off one party against the other; now giving countenance to the Guises, now to the Montmorencies. At one time she used Limoges, at another Morvilliers or Sens, in her secret intrigues. Presently she resorted to Lorraine, and, when jealous of his too great forwardness, would turn to the chancellor himself, " un- doing in one day what the cardinal had intended long afore." Besides these prominent statesmen, she had not scrupled to take up with meaner tools men whose elevation boded no good to the commonwealth, and with whom she conferred about the imposition of those onerous taxes which had cost her the forfeiture of the good-will of the people. To add to the confusion, the jealousy between the king and his brother Anjou had reappeared, and the chancellor had lost his characteristic courage and avowed h.is utter despair of being able to stem 2,">6 THE RISE OP THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. the fierce tide of human selfishness and passion. Cardinal Lorraine was realizing his long-cherished hope : " for this one man's authority had been the greatest countermand of his de- vices." 1 The Huguenot leaders had entered into engagements to re- pay to the king the nine hundred thousand francs advanced by The court him to the German reiters of Count Casimir. This aSdeumi n smn a large one for the times Charles now called npon Conde and Coligny to refund, and he expressly commanded that it should not be levied upon the Protestant churches, but be raised by those who had taken up arms in the late contest. 1 It was a transparent attempt to array the masses that had suffered little pecuniarily in the war against the brave men who had not only impoverished themselves, but hazarded their lives in defence of the common cause. Nothing less than the financial ruin of the prince and the admiral, who had volun- tarily become sureties, seemed likely to satisfy their enemies. The Prince of Conde despatched young Teligny to carry his spirited reply to this extraordinary demand, and, not confining himself to the exhibition of its flagrant iniustice, he T6hgny sent . i -i . /. to carry a recapitulated the daily multiplying infractions upon the edict. The Protestants were treated as enemies, he said, and were safe neither at home nor abroad. An open war could not be more bitter. 3 Besides countless general mas- sacres, he complained of the recent assassination of two of his own dependants, and of the surveillance exercised over all the great noblemen " of the religion," who were closely watched in their castles by the commanders of neighboring forces. Against 1 Norris to Queen Elizabeth, May 12, 1568, State Paper Office. 3 Jean de Serres, iii. 170 ; Davila, bk. iv. 128 ; Conde to the king, Noyers, June 11, 1568, MS. Paris Lib., apud D'Aumale, ii. 351-353. 1 As the prince had described the state of affairs in a letter to the king, of July 22, 1568 : " Nous nous voions tuez, pillez, saccagez, les femmes forcees, lea filles ravies des mains de leurs p&res et meres, les grands mis hors de leurs charges," etc. All this injustice had been committed with complete impunity. In fact, to use his own forcible words, were the king to attempt to punish the outrages done to the Protestants, " the trees in France would have more men than leaves upon them'' " tous les arbres seroient plus couvertz d'hommes que de feuilles." MS. Paris Lib., apud D'Aumale, ii. 355, 356. 1568. THE SHORT PEACR 257 himself the unparalleled insult had been shown of placing a garrison in the palace of a prince of the blood. Nay, he had arrested a spy caught in the very act of measuring the height of the fortifications of 2s overs, and sounding the depth of the moat, with a view to a subsequent assault, and the capture not only of the prince, but of the admiral, who frequently came there to see him. lie rehearsed the grounds of just alarm which the Protestants had in the threats their indiscreet enemies were daily uttering, and in " the confraternities of the Holy Ghost," defiantly instituted with the approval of the king's own governors. What safety was there for the Huguenots when a counsellor of a celebrated parliament had lately asserted, in the presence of an assembly of three thousand persons, " that he had commands from the leading men of the royal council admonishing the Catholics that they ought to give no credence to any edicts of the king unless they contained a peculiar mark of authenticity." And he was induced to believe him right, by- noticing the fact that, since the establishment of peace, no one had obeyed the royal letters. Finally, in decided but respectful language, he remonstrated against the pernicious precedent which the court was allowing to become established, when the express commands of the monarch were set at naught with impunity. 1 As the time approached for the blow to be struck that should forever put an end to the exercise of the reformed faith in France, the conspirators began to betray their anxiety lest their nefarious designs might be anticipated and rendered futile by such a measure of defence as that which the Huguenots had taken on the eve of Michaelmas. They resolved, therefore, if possible, to bind their victims hand and foot ; and no more con- venient method presented itself than that of involving !r the them in obligations of implicit obedience which would r\ta embarrass, if they did not absolutely preclude, any ex- ercise of their wonderful system of combined action. About the beginning of August, Charles despatched to all parts of his dominions the form of an oath which was to be demanded of every Protestant subject, and the royal officers and magistrates 1 J. de Serres, iii. 171-173 ; Davila, bk. iv. 138. VOL. II. 17 An oath to be BOM Huguenots. 258 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XV. were directed to make lists of those who signed as well as of those who refused to sign it. 1 " We protest before God, and swear by His name" so ran the oath "that we recognize King Charles the Ninth as our natural sovereign and only prince .... and that we will never take up arms save by his express command, of which he may have notified us by his letters patent duly verified ; and that we will never consent to, nor assist with counsel, money, food, or anything else whatso- ever, those who shall arm themselves against him or his will. "We will make no levy or assessment of money for any purpose without his express commission ; and will never enter into any secret leagues, intrigues, or plots, nor engage in any underhand practices or enterprises, but, on the contrary, we promise and ewear to notify him or his officers of all that we shall be able to learn and discover that is devised against his Majesty . . . . Moreover, we protest that we will not leave the city, whatever necessity may arrive, but will join our hearts, our wills, and our abilities with our fellow-citizens in defence of that city, to which we will always entertain the devotion of true and faithful citizens, whilst the Catholics will find in us sincere and fraternal affection : awaiting the time when it may please God to put an end to all troubles, to which we hope that this reconciliation will be a happy prelude." * The trap was not ill contrived, and its bars were strong enough to hold anything that might venture within. Fortunately, however, the bait did not conceal the cruel design lurking behind it. Why, it might be asked, this new test ? Was Conde, whom the king had only four or five months ago recognized by solemn edict as his " dear cousin and faithful servant and subject," a friend or a foe ? Had peace been concluded with the Hugue- 1 The Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. francais, ix. (1860) 217-219, published from MSS. in the Library of the British Museum, the letter of Charles the Ninth to the first president of the Parisian parliament, dated ' ' du chateau de Bolongne, ce premier jour d'aoust," enclosing the formula. The pretext is "afin d'oster tout ce doubte et differend qui regne aujourd'huy parmi nos subjectz." The president is to associate with himself the seigneur de Nantouillet, provost of the city, and the seigneur de Villeroy, "prevot des marchands." 5 Bulletin, etc., ix. (1860) 218, 219 ; Jean de Serres, iii. 175, etc. 156& THE SHORT PEACE. 259 notsonly that they might anew be treated as rebels and enemies ? What had become of the prescribed amnesty ? "Was it at all likely that private citizens would bury in oblivion their former dissensions and abstain from mutual insults, when the monarch officially reminded them that there was one class of his subjects whose past conduct made them objects of grave suspicion ? While, therefore, the Huguenots professed themselves ready to give the king all possible assurances of their loyal devotion, they declined to swear to a form that bore on its face the proof that it was composed, not in accordance with Charles's own ideas, but by an enemy of the crown and of public tranquillity. They requested that it might receive such modifications as would per- mit them to sign it with due regard to their own self-respect and to their religious convictions, and they entreated Charles to con- firm their liberty of conscience and of religious observance; for, without these privileges, which they valued above their own existence, they were ready to forsake, not only their cities, but their very lives also. 1 At this critical moment the destiny of Franco was wavering in the balance, and the decision depended upon the answer to be given to the question whether Chancellor L'llospital or Car- dinal Lorraine should retain his place in the council. The tol- erant policy of the former is too well understood to need an ex- planation. The designs of the latter are revealed by an intercepted letter that fell into the hands of the Huguenots about this time. It was written (on the ninth of August) at the little country-seat named Madrid, 1 whose ruins are still pointed out, near the banks of the Seine, on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, and not far from the walls of the city of Paris. The writer, evidently a devoted partisan of the house of Guise, had been entrusted by the Cardinal of Lorraine * with a glimpse at the designs of the party of which the latter 1 Jean de Serres (Comm. de statu rel. et reipublicae, iii. 174-183) inserts the reply of the Protestants to the proposed oath, article by article. s Built by Francis I., and so named because constructed on the plan of the palace in which he lived when a captive in Spain. 3 It is true the writer carefully avoids mentioning the cardinal's name, but there is no difficulty ia discovering that he is intended. 260 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. was the declared chief . A proclamation was soon to be made in the king's name, through Marshal Cosse, to the Protestant nobles, assuring them of the monarch's intention to deal kindly and peaceably with them, to preserve their religious liberties, and to treat them as his faithful subjects ; and explaining the design of the movement which he was now setting on foot to be merely the reduction of the inhabitants of some insolent cities (those that, like La Rochelle, had refused to admit garrisons) to his authority. This announcement, the cardinal proceeded to say, might disturb some good Catholics, who would think that their labors and the dangers they had undergone were all in vain. In reality, however, it was only intended to secure the power in the hands of the king, and to take away from the Protestant leaders all occasion for assembling, until, being re- duced to straits, that rabble, so hostile to the king and the king- dom, should be wholly destroyed. Thus the very remnants would be annihilated ; for the seed would assuredly spring up again, unless the same course should be pursued as that of which the French had resplendent examples shown them by their neighbors. 1 Meanwhile, until these plans could be carried into effect, as they would doubtless be within the present month, the Protestant nobles must be carefully diverted, as some were already showing signs of security, and others of falling into the snare prepared for them. The cardinal, so he informed the writer, was confident, with God's favor, of an easy and most certain victory over the enemies of the faith. 1 Such were the cardinal's intentions as expressed by himself and reported almost word for word ' in a letter to which I shall 1 " Uti nimirum detur opera ut vires penes Regem sint, primoresque reli- gionis illius occupentur, omnes conveniendi rationes illis demantur : ut ad illas angustias redacti, quemadmodum facillimum erit, possit hujusmodi colluvies regi regnoque adversaria, plane pesstmdari, omnesque adeo reliquiae profligari : quoniam semen profecto esset in dies egenninaturum, nisi ea ratio observa- retnr, cujus a vicinis nostris adeo luculenta exempla demonstrentur." Jean de Serres, iii. 187. 1 The letter is given entire, with the exception of some matters of no general interest, in the valuable chronicle of this period, by Jean de Serres (s. 1. 1571), iii. 185-190. " Haec sunt propemodum ipsa illius verba, quse conatua sum memorise 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 201 presently have occasion again to direct the reader's attention. It was the policy advocated persistently both by Pius the Fifth and by Philip the Second, and embodied in counsel which would have been resented by a court possessed of more self-respect than the French court, as impertinent advice. For, in the report made to Catharine by one of her servants at the Spanish capital, there is a wonderful similarity in the language employed to that used at the conference of Bayonne. Isabella of France is again Isabella of the speaker, though much suspected of uttering rather h^h^tamrs the sentiments of Philip, her husband, who was mouth piece, pj-gggu^ 1 than her own. Again, after expressing the most vehement zeal for the welfare of her native country, she advocated rigorous measures against the Huguenots, in phrases almost identical with those which, as the Duke of Alva relates, she had addressed to her mother three years before. "She told me among other things," says the queen's agent, " that she would never believe that either the king her brother, or you, will ever execute the design already entered into between you (although, by your command, I had notified the king [Philip] and herself of your good-will respecting this matter), until she saw it performed ; for you had often before made them the same promises, but no result had ever followed. She feared that your Majesties might be dissuaded from action by the smooth speeches of certain persons in your court, until the enemy gamed the opportunity of forming new designs, not only against the king's authority, but even against yourselves. The appre- hension kept her in a constant state of alarm. " * But, although Catharine had now given in her adhesion to the Spanish and Lorraine party, the success of that party was as yet incomplete. L'Hospital was still in the privy council, and Charles himself greatly preferred the conciliation and peace ad- raandare, ut possem ad te de rerum omnium statu certiua perecribere." Ib., iiL 188. 1 " Et quoniam tune vehementins quam assuevisset, rem illam mihi com- memoravit, et f ortasse regie domini sni, qui ibi tune erat, mandatu, volui hac de causa te istarum rerum facere certiorem." * This letter, which was also intercepted by the Huguenots, is preserved by Jean de Serres, iii. 184, 185. It bears unmistakable marks of authenticity. 269 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CE. XV. vocated by the chancellor. The same letter from the pleasure- palace of " Madrid," on the banks of the Seine, whose contents have already occupied our attention, makes important disclo- sures respecting the attitude of the unhappy prince, of whom it may be questioned whether his greatest misfortune was that he had so unprincipled a mother, or that he had not sufficient strength of will to resist her pernicious designs. " I observed," wrote this correspondent still further in reference to the Cardi- nal of Lorraine, " that he was very much excited on account of a conversation which the king had recently had with the queen, and which he believed to have been suggested to him by others. King Charles For the king entreated his mother, almost as a suppli- mo t th! S to 18 ant, ' to take the greatest care lest war should again ayoid war. break ou t, and that the edict should everywhere be observed : otherwise he foresaw the complete ruin of his king- dom.' ' And when the queen alleged the rebellion of the in- habitants of La Rochelle, he replied, as he had been instructed beforehand, ' that the Rochellois only desired to retain their ancient privileges. Their demand was not unreasonable ; and even if it were, it was better to make a temporary sacrifice to the welfare of the realm than to plunge in new turmoil. As to the nobles, he was persuaded that they would live peaceably if the edict were properly executed. In short, he was earnestly desirous that matters should be restored to their best and most quiet state.' The queen and very many other illustrious per- sons have but one object of fervent desire, and that is to see the kingdom of France return to the condition it was in under Francis and Henry. The queen mother knows that this speech was dictated to him by certain men, and she owes the authors of it no good-will. So much the more anxiously does she desire, in common with a vast multitude of good Catholics, to prove to 1 Cond6 himself alludes to these words of Charles the Ninth to his mother, in his letter of August 23d. Referring to the king's aversion to a resort to violence, he says: "Quod mihi repetitis literis saepissime demonstrasti, et nuper quidem Reginae matri, ex eo sermone quern cum ilia habebas, quo sig- nificabas quantum odiosa tibi esset turbarnm renovatio . cum nimirum illam orabas, daret operam ut omnia pacificarentur, efficeretque ne rursus ad bella civilia rediretur, quae non possent non extremum exitium afferre." Jean de Serres, iii. 193. 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 2o3 the king that whatever is done in this affair has for its sole ob- ject to liberate him from servitude and make him a king in reality, and to expel the pestilence and those infected by it a result utterly unattainable in any other way." * Catharine could not doubt that it was Michel de 1'Hospital that had infused into Charles his own just and pacific spirit. Catharine's From the moment she had come to this conclusion SS.rt lty the chancellor's fall was inevitable. The particular L Hospital. occas i on of it, however, seems to have been the oppo- sition which he offered to the reception of a papal bull. To relieve the royal treasury, the court had applied to Rome for permission to alienate ecclesiastical possessions in France yield- ing an income of fifty thousand crowns (or one hundred and fifty thousand francs), on the plea that the indebtedness had been incurred in defence of the Roman Catholic faith. Pius the Fifth granted the application, but in his bull of the first of August, 1568, he not only made it a condition that the funds should be exclusively employed under the direction of a trust- worthy person and as such he named the Cardinal of Lorraine in the extermination of the heretics of France, or their recon- ciliation with the Church of Rome, but he ascribed to Charles in making the request the declared purpose of continuing a work for which his own means had proved inadequate. The reception of the document was in itself an act of bad faith, and the chancellor resisted it to the utmost of his power, urging that the pontiff should be requested to alter its objectionable form.' Another of those painful scenes occurred in the privy coun- cil (on the nineteenth of September), of which there had Another quar- been so many within the past four or five years. Lorrti^nd Again the disputants were the Cardinal of Lorraine the chancellor. and the c h anc ellor. The former angrily demanded the reason why L'Hospital had refused to affix his signature to the bull; whereupon the latter alleged, among many other 1 Letter apvdJ. de Serres, iii. 188-190. * De Thou, iii. 130 ; Castelnau, liv. vii., c. 1, where the sum is erroneously trebled; Davila, bk. iv., p. 130. See also Soldan, ii. , 324, and You Polenz, ii. 303. 264 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. grounds, that to revoke the Edict of Pacification, as demanded by the Pope, " was the direct way to cause open wars, and to bring the Germans into the realm." The cardinal was " much stirred." He called L'Hospital a hypocrite ; he said that his wife and daughter were Calvinists. " You are not the first of your race that has deserved ill of the king," he added. " I am sprung from as honest a race as you are," retorted the other. Beside himself with fury, Lorraine " gave him the lie, and, ris- ing incontinently out of his chair," would have seized him by the beard, had not Marshal Montmorency stepped in between them. " Madam," said the cardinal, " in great choler," turning to the queen mother, in whose presence the angry discussion took place, " the chancellor is the sole cause of all the troubles in France, and were he in the hands of parliament his head would not tarry on his shoulders twenty-four hours." " On the contrary, Madam," rejoined L'Hospital, "the cardinal is the original cause of all the mischiefs that have chanced as well to France, within these eight years, as to the rest of Christendom. In proof of which I refer him to the common report of even those who most favor him." ' But the chancellor accomplished nothing. Catharine had overcome her weak son's partiality for the grave old counsellor The chancel- by persuading him that, as the chancellor's wife, his daughter, his son-in-law, and indeed his entire house, were avowedly Huguenots, it was impossible but that he was himself only restrained from making an open profession of Protestantism by the fear of losing his present position. 8 Find- ing himself not only stripped of all influence, and compelled to witness the enactment of measures repugnant to his very nature, but an object of hatred to his associates, Michel de 1'Hospital withdrew from a council board where, as he asserted, even Charles himself did not dare to express his opinions freely. 1 Subsequently retiring altogether from the court to his country- seat of Vignai, not far from Etampes, he surrendered his insig- 1 Norris, in a letter to Cecil, Sept. 25, 1568, gives almost the very words of the angry contestants. State Paper Office. * Davila, bk. iv. 130; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 136. * Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, 236, 237. 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 265 nia of office to a messenger of Catharine, who came to recom- mend him, in the king's name, to take that rest which his advanced years demanded. Monsieur de Morvilliers succeeded him, with the title of keeper of the seals, but the full powers of chancellor. 1 In quiet retirement, the venerable judge and legislator lingered more than four years, unhappy only in being spared to see the melancholy results of the rejection of his pru- dent counsels, the desolation of his native land, and the transfor- mation of an amiable king into a murderer of his own subjects. Few days in this eventful reign were more lasting in their con- sequences than that which beheld the final removal from all direct influence upon the court of the only leading politician or statesman who could have forestalled the horrors of a generation of inhuman wars. The crisis now rapidly approached. The Huguenot chiefs were widely separated from each other Montgomery in Nor- mandy, Genlis and Mouy in Picardy, Rochefoucauld at Angouleme, D'Andelot in Brittany, Conde and Coligny in Burgundy. The royal court, now entirely in the interest of the Guises, resolved to execute the plan which the Roman Catholic nobles of this faction had sketched to Alva three years before at Bayonne, by the seizure of five or six of the leaders, as a measure preliminary to the total suppression 1 Davila and De Thou, t/M supra. De Thou seems certainly to be wanting in his accustomed accuracy when he represents iv. (liv. xliv. ) 136, 137 the submission of the test-oath to the Protestants as posterior to, and consequent upon the fall of L'Hospital : "La reine d61ivre"e du Chancelier, et n'ayant plus personne qui s'opposAt a ses volonts, ne songea plus qu'a brouiller les affaires, etc." I have shown that the papal bull which L'Hoepital opposed was dated at Rome on the same day (August 1, 1568) on which Charles sent his orders to the president of the Parisian parliament to administer the oath to the Protestants of the capital. Yet, as early as on the 12th of May, 1568, the English ambassador, Norris, wrote to Cecil that Anjon, a cruel enemy of the Protestants, had a privy council of which Cardinal Lorraine was the " chief est" member, and his own chancellor, who sealed everything submitted to him, " which thing he [the good olde chauncelor of the Kingee] bathe so to harte as he is retirid him to his owne house in the towne of Paris ; and wheras the King's chauncelor I meane, who nether for love nor dread wolde seal eny- thing against the statutes of the realme, or that might be prejudiciall to the same, this of Sir. d'Anjon's refuaithe nothing that is proferid to him." State Paper Office, Due d'Auinale, ii 360. 266 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. of Protestantism in France. Gaspard de Tavannes was en- trusted with the execution of the most important part of the scheme the arrest of the prince and the admiral. Fourteen companies of gens-d'armes and as many ensigns of infantry- stood under his orders, and Noyers was closely beset on all sides. 1 It was at this moment, when secrecy was all important to the success of the plot, that the tidings of the threatening storm reached its destined victims. It has long been believed and reported that Tavannes, unwilling to lend him- Marshal Ta- . . Minnes its sell to unworthy machinations whose execution would author. , i * t i -i i i -i have wounded his soldierly pride, took measures to warn Conde and Coligny of their danger. Unfortunately, the story rests on no better authority than his " Memoires," writ- ten by a son who has often shown a greater desire to vindicate his father's memory than to maintain historical truth, and who, writing under the rule of the Bourbons, had in this case, as in that of the pretended deliverance of Henry of Navarre and Henry of Conde, at the great Parisian massacre four years later, sufficient inducements for endeavoring to represent the reigning family as indebted to his father for its preservation. 2 Brantome is consistent with the entire mass of contemporary documents in representing Tavannes as the author of the whole scheme ; and certainly one who was so deeply implicated in the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day cannot have been too hu- mane to think of capturing, or even assassinating, two nobles, although one of them was a prince of the blood. A more probable story is that Tavannes was the unintentional in- strument of the disclosure, a letter of his having fallen into Huguenot hands, containing the words : " The deer is in the 1 Jean de Serres, iii. 191 ; Davila, bk. iv. , p. 128. 5 See Soldan, Gesch. des Prot. in Frankreich, ii. 327, note 63. Yet Cond6 himself, shortly before the flight from Noyers, expressed himself in striking- ly confident terms as to Tavannes's probity. In a letter to the king, com- plaining of the treacherous plots formed against himself, July 22, 1568, the prince says he is sure that Tavannes is not privy to these designs, " car je le cognois de trop longue main ennemy de ceulx qui ne veullent qu'entretenir les troubles. Parquoy je croy que cecy se faict a son desceu." MS. Paris Lib., apud D'Aumale, iL 356. 1568. THE SHORT PEACE. 267 net ; the game is ready." ' But, in point of fact, the Hugue- nots needed no such hints. With their perfect organization, in the face of so treacherous a foe, after so many violations as they had of late witnessed of the royal edict, they were already on their guard, and the hostile preparations had not escaped their notice. When the news first reached him that the troops sent ostensi- bly to besiege La Rochelle were recalled, Conde, alarmed by what he heard from every quarter, had begged his mother- in-law, the Marchioness de Rothelin, to go to the court and entreat the king, in his name, to maintain the sanctity of his engagements, confirmed by repeated oaths. Scarcely had she departed, however, before he received fresh and reiterated warnings that his safety depended upon instant escape. He determined, nevertheless, to make a last attempt to Condi's last i i . i c appeal to the avert the horrid prospect of a war which, from the malignant hatred exhibited by all classes of Roman Catholics, he rightly judged would exceed the previous contests both in duration and in destructiveness. He addressed to his young sovereign a letter explaining the necessity of the step he was about to take, accompanied by a long appeal, of which it would be impracticable to give even a brief summary. Every point in the multitudinous grievances of which the Huguenots complained was recapitulated. Every counter-charge with which the court had endeavored to parry the force of previous remonstrances was satisfactorily answered. In eloquent terms the prince indicted Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, as the enemy alike of the royal dignity and of the liberties of the people, as the author of all the troubles of France, and the advocate and defender of robbers and murderers. 1 He reminded the king of 1 " Le cerf est aux toiles, la chasse est preparee." See Anquetil, Esprit de la ligue, i. 278. ' Turbarum causas imputamus advereario illi tuo ac tuae dignitatis hosti Cardinal! Lotharingo et sociis. quorum nimirum pravia consiliia et arcta ne- cessitudine et familiuritate quam cum Hispauo habent, disaensioues et siniul- tates inter tuos subjectos ab hinc sex annis continnantur, et misere foventur atque aluntur per caedes atque strages, quae ipsorum nutu quotidie ubique perpetrantur. " Jean de Serres, iii. 194. " Impurusne Presbyter, tigris. tyran- nus," etc.. ibid., iii. 196. " Cardinalis Lotharingus, quasi sicarioruui ac pras- dorum patronua," etc., ibid., iii., 210. 268 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. the declaration of Maximilian, the present Emperor of Ger- many, in a letter written before his election to Charles himself : " All the wars and all the dissensions that are to-day rife among the Christians have originated from two cardinals Granvelle and Lorraine." ' And he closed the long and elo- quent document by protesting, in the sight of God and of all foreign nations, that the Huguenot nobles sought the punish- ment of Lorraine and his associates alone, as the guilty causes of all the calamities that portended destruction to the French crown, and would pursue them as perjured violators of the public faith and capital enemies of peace and tranquillity. He therefore hoped that no one would be astonished if he and his allies should henceforth refuse to receive as the king's com- mands anything that might be decided upon by the royal coun- cil, so long as the cardinal might be present at its sessions, but should regard them as fabrications of the cardinal and his fel- lows. The causes of the misfortunes that might arise must be attributed, not to himself and his Huguenot allies, but to the cardinal and his Roman Catholic confederates.* Having despatched " this testimony of the innocence, integ- rity, and faith " of himself and of his associates, " to be trans- mitted to posterity in everlasting remembrance," the the prince ana Prince of Conde set out on the same day (the twenty- third of August) from Noyers. Coligny had joined him, bringing from Tanlay his daughter, the future bride of Teligny and, after that nobleman's assassination on St. Barthol- omew's Day, of William of Orange, the hero of the revolt of the Netherlands and his young sons, as well as the wife and 1 " Quodnam item de illo judicinm talent Csesar Maximilianus hodie im- perans, cum ad te prescripsit, omnia bella et omnes dissensiones, quae inter Christianos hodie vagantur, proficisci a Granvellano et Lotharingo Cardinal!- bus." Jean de Serrea, iii. 234. * This petition or protestation of Conde is among the longest public papers of the period, occupying not less than forty-three pages of the invaluable Commentarii de statu religlonis et reipublicae of Jean de Serres. It well repays an attentive perusal, for it contains, in my judgment, the most im- portant and authentic record of the sufferings of the Huguenots during the peace. The reader will notice that I have made great use of its authority in the preceding narrative. 156S. THE SHORT PEACE. 269 infant son of his brother D'Andelot. Conde was himself accompanied by his wife, who was expecting soon to be confined, and by several children. His own servants and those of the admiral, with a few noblemen that came in from the neighbor- hood, swelled their escort to about one hundred and fifty horse. 1 "With such a handful of men, and embarrassed in their flight by the presence of those whom their age or their sex disqualified for the endurance of the fatigues of a protracted journey, Conde and Coligny undertook to reach the friendly shelter of the walls of La Rochelle. It was a perilous attempt. The journey was one of several hundred miles, through the Proves won J * rm-i- a i derfuiiysuc- very heart or r ranee. 1 he cities were garrisoned by their enemies. The bridges and fords w r ere guarded. The difficulties, in fact, were apparently so insurmountable, that the Roman Catholics seem to have expected that any attempt to escape would be made in the direction of Germany, where Casimir, their late ally, would doubtless welcome the Protestant leaders. This mistake was the only circumstance in their favor, for it diminished the number and the vigilance of the opposing troops. The march was secret and prompt. Contrary to all expecta- tion, an unguarded ford was discovered not far from the city of Sancerre, 3 by which, on a sandy bottom, the fugitive Hugue- nots crossed the Loire, elsewhere deep and navigable as far as Roanne.' If the drought which had so reduced the stream as to render the passage practicable was justly regarded as a pro- vidential interposition of Heaven in their behalf, the sudden 1 Jean de Serres. iii 241. 5 The place is sufficiently designated by Ag. d'Aubigne (Hist, univ., i. 263) "a Bonni pres Sancerre ; " by Jean de Serres (iii. 242) "ad Sangodoneum vicum (Saint Godon) qui tribus fenne milliaribns distat ab ea fluminis parte, qua transiit Condaeus ; " by Hotman, Gasparis Colinii Vita, 1575 (p. 68), " ad flumen accessit, quo Sancerrani collis radices alluuntur," and by the " Vie de Coligny" (p. 351), "vis avis de Sancerre." It will surprise no one accustomed to the uncertainties and perplexities of historical investigation, that while one author, quoted by Henry White (Mass, of St. Bartholomew, 292), puts the crossing " near les Hosiers, four leagues below Saumur," Davila (p. 129) places it at Roanne. The two spots are, probably, not less than 230 miles apart in a straight line. 3 See De Thou, etc. 270 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV. rise of the river immediately afterward, which baffled their pursuers, was not less signal a blessing. 1 Other dangers still confronted them, but their prudence and expedition enabled them to escape them, and on the eighteenth of September * the weary travellers, with numbers considerably increased by rein- forcements by the way, entered the gates of La Rochelle amid the acclamations of the brave inhabitants. The escape of the prince and the admiral rendered useless all The third further attempt at the concealment of the treacherous civil war opens. designs of the papal party; and the third religious war dates from this moment. The city of La Rochelle, said to have become a walled place about 1126, had received many tokens of favor at the hands of its successive masters before the accession of Queen Alienor, or Eleonore, last Duchess of La Rochelle Aquitaine. It was by a charter of this princess, in 1199, that the anditsprivi- municipality, or " commune," was established. (Arcere, Hist, de la Rochelle, ii, Preuves, 660, 661.) The terms of the charter are vague; but, as subsequently constituted, the "commune" consisted of one hundred prominent citizens, designated as " pairs," or peers, in whom all power was vested. The first member in dignity was the " maire " or mayor, selected by the Seneschal of Saintonge from the list of three candidates yearly nominated by his fellow-members. The historian of the city compares him, for power and for the sanctity attaching to his person, to the ancient tribunes of Rome. Next were the twenty -four " echevins," or aldermen, one-half of whom on alternate years assisted the mayor in the administration of justice. Last of all came seventy-five "pairs" having no separate designation, who took part in the election of the mayor, and voted, on important occasions, in the "assemblee generate." (See a historical discussion, Arcere, i. 193-199.) From King John Lackland, of England, the Rochellois are said to have received express exemption from the duty of marching elsewhere in the king's service, without their own consent, and from admitting into their city any troops from abroad. (P. S. Callot, La .Rochelle protestante, 1863, p. 6.) When, in 1224, after standing a siege of three weeks, La Rochelle fell into the hands of Louis VIII. of France, its new master engaged to maintain all its privileges a promise which was well observed, for not only did the city lose 1 Recueil des choses mem. (Hist, des Cinq Rois), 336. The Life of Coligny (1575), p. 68, states that the rise took place within three hours after the Hu- guenots crossed. * Jean de Serres, iii. 192, and DeThou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 140. The dates of Conde's departure from Tanlay and arrival at La Rochelle are, as usual, given differently by other authorities. CH. XV. THE PRIVILEGES OF LA ROCHELLE. 271 nothing, but it actually received new favors at the king's hands. (Arcere, i. 212; Callot, 6.) In 13(50, the disasters of the French, consequent upon the battle of Poitiers, compelled the monarch to surrender the city of La Rochelle to his captors in order to regain his liberty. The concession was reluctantly made, with the most flattering testimony to the past fidelity of the inhabi- tants (see letters of John II. of France, to the Rochellois, Calais, Oct., 1360, Arcere, ii. , Preuves, 761), and it was with still greater reluctance that the latter consented to carry it into effect. " They made frequent excuses," says Froissard, "and would not, for upwards of a year, suffer any Englishman to enter their town. The letters were very affecting which they wrote to the King of France, beseeching him, by the love of God, that he would never liberate them of their fidelity, nor separate them from his government and place them in the hands of strangers ; for they would prefer being taxed every year one-half of what they were worth, rather than be in the hands of the English." (Froissard, i. c. 214, Johnes's Trans. ) When compelled to yield, it was with the words : " We will honor and obey the English, but our hearts shall never change." Edward the Third had solemnly confirmed their privi- leges (Callot, 8). But La Rochelle's unwilling subjection to the English crown was of brief duration. By a plot, somewhat clumsily contrived, but happily executed (Aug., 1372), the commander of the garrison, who did not know how to read, was induced to lead his troops outside of the castle wall for a review. The royal order that had been shown him was no forgery, but had been sent on a previous occasion, and the attesting seal was genuine. At a preconcerted signal, two hundred Rochellois rose from ambush, and cut off the return of the English. The latter, finding their antagonists reinforced by two thousand armed citizens under the lead of the mayor himself, soon came to terms, and, withdrawing the few men they had left behind in the castle, accepted the offer of safe transportation by a ship to Bordeaux. (See the entertaining ac- count in Froissard, i. c. 311.) The wary Rochellois took good care, before even admitting into their city Duguesclin, Constable of France, with a paltry escort of two hundred men-at-arms, to stipulate that pardon should be ex- tended to those who immediately after the departure of the English had razed the hateful castle to the ground, and that no other should ever be erected ; that La Rochelle and the country dependent upon it should henceforth form a particular domain under the immediate jurisdiction of the king and his par- liament of Paris ; that its militia should be employed only for the defence of the place ; and that La Rochelle should retain its mint and the right to coin both "black and white money." (Froissard, ubi supra, corrected by Arcere, i. 260.) Not only did the grateful monarch readily make these concessions, and confirm all La Rochelle's past privileges, but, for its " immense services," by a subsequent order he conferred nobility upon the " mayor," " echevins" and " conseillers" of the city, both present and future, as well as upon their children forever. (Letters of January 8, 137$, Arcere, ii., Preuves, 673-675.) The extraordinary prerogatives of which this was the origin were recog- nized and confirmed by subsequent monarchs, especially by Louis the Eleventh, Charles the Eighth, Louis the Twelfth, and Francis the First. (Callot, 11.) 272 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XV. The resistance of the inhabitants to the exaction of the obnoxious " gabelle," or tax upon salt, did indeed, toward the end of the reign of the last-named king (1542), bring them temporarily under his displeasure ; but, with the exception of a modification in their municipal government, made in 1580, and revoked early in the reign of Henry the Second, the city retained its quasi-independ- ence without interruption until the outbreak of the religious wars. As we have seen (ante, p. 227), La Rochelle was in 1552 the scene of the judicial murder of at least two Protestants. The constancy of one of the suf- ferers had been the means of converting many to the reformed doctrines, and among others Claude d'Angliers, the presiding judge, whose name may still be read at the foot of their sentence. (Aroere, i. 329. ) So rapidly had those doctrines spread, that on Sunday, May 31, 1562, the Lord's Supper was cele- brated according to the fashion of Geneva, not in one of the churches, but on the great square of the hay-market, in a temporary enclosure shut in on all sides by tapestries and covered with an awning of canvas. More than eight thousand persons took part in the exercises. But if the morning's services were remarkable, the sequel was not less singular. "As the disease of image- breaking was almost universal," says an old chronicler, "it was communicated by contagion to the inhabitants of this city, in such wise that, that very after- noon about three or four o'clock, five hundred men, who were under arms and had just received the same sacrament, went through all the churches and dashed the images in pieces. Howbeit it was a folly conducted with wisdom, seeing that thia action passed without any one being wounded or injured." (P. Vincent, apud Callot, 34, and Delmas, 61.) As usual, the whole affair was condemned by the ministers. Although La Rochelle had steadily refused, during the earlier part of the first religious war, to declare for*the Prince of Conde, and had maintained a kind of neutrality, the court was in constant fear lest the weight of its sympathies should yet draw it in that direction. It was therefore a matter of great joy when, in October, 1562, the Duke of Montpensier succeeded, by a ruse meriting the designation of treachery, in throwing himself into La Rochelle with a large body of troops. With his arrival the banished Roman Catholic mass returned, and the Protestant ministers were warned to leave at once. (Arcere, i. 339.) For two months after the restoration of peace, the Huguenots of La Ro- chelle, embracing almost the entire population, held their religious services, in accordance with the terms of the Edict of Pacification, in the suburbs of the city. But, on the 9th of May, 1563, Charles the Ninth was prevailed to give directions that one or two places should be assigned to the Huguenots within the city. This gracious permission was ratified with greater solemnity in letters patent of July 14th, in which the king declared the motive to be the representations made to him of ' ' the inconveniences and eminent dangers that might arise in our said city of La Rochelle, if the preaching and exercise of the pretended reformed religion should continue to be held outside of the said city, being, as it is, a frontier city in the direction of the English, ancient enemies of the inhabitants of that city, where it would be easy for them, by this means, to execute some evil enterprise." (Commission of Charles IX., to M. de Jarnac. Thia valuable MS., with other MSS., carried to Dublin at CH. XV. THE PRIVILEGES OF LA ROCHELLE. the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, by M. Elie Bouherean, and placed in the Marsh Library, has recently been restored to La Rochelle, in accordance with M. Bouhereau's written directions. Delmas, 369. ) Two years later, Charles and his court, returning from their long progress through France, came to La Rochelle, and spent three days there (Sept., 1565). A noteworthy incident occurred at his entry. The jealous citizens had not forgotten an immemorial custom which was not without significance. A silken cord had been stretched across the road by which the monarch was to enter, that he might stop and promise to respect the liberties and franchises of La Rochelle. Constable Montmorency was the first to notice the cord, and in some anger and surprise asked whether the magistrates of the city intended to refuse their sovereign admission. The symbolism of the pretty custom was duly explained to him, but for all response the old warrior curtly observed that "such usages had passed out of fashion," and at the same instant cut the cord with his sword. (Arcere, L 349 ; Delmas, 80, 81.) Charles himself refused the request of the mayor that he should swear to maintain the city's privileges. After so inauspicious a beginning of his visit, the inhabitants were not surprised to find the king, during his stay, reducing the " corps-de-ville " from 100 to 24 members, under the presidency of a governor invested with the full powers of the mayor ; ordering that the artillery should be seized, two of the towers garrisoned by foreign troops, and the magistrates enjoined to prosecute all ministers that preached sedition ; or banishing some of the most prominent Protestants from La Rochelle. It was characteristic of the government of Catharine de' Medici always destitute of a fixed policy, and consequently always recalling one day what it had done the day before that scarcely two months elapsed before the queen mother put everything back on the footing it had occupied before the royal visit to La Rochelle. VOL. II. 18 274 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. CHAPTER XVI. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. HAVING narrowly escaped falling into the hands of their treacherous enemies, and finding themselves compelled once more to take up arms in defence of their own lives vantages of and the liberties of their fellow-believers, the Prince cathoiias a and of Conde and Admiral Coligny resolved to institute Unguenote. . A i i . ^i . . a vigorous contest. A single glance at the situation, the full dangers of which were now disclosed by the tidings coming from every quarter, was sufficient to convince them that in a bold and decided policy lay their only hope of suc- cess. The Roman Catholics had, it is true, enjoyed rare oppor- tunities for maturing a comprehensive plan of attack ; although the sequel seemed to prove that they had turned these opportu- nities to little practical use. But the Huguenots possessed countervailing advantages, in close sympathy with each other, in fervid zeal for their common faith, as well as in an organiza- tion all but perfect. Simultaneously with their flight from Noyers, the prince and the admiral had sent out a summons ad- dressed to the Protestants in all parts of the kingdom, and this was responded to with enthusiasm by great numbers of those who had been their devoted followers in the two previous wars. Multitudes of young men, also, with imaginations inflamed by the recital of the exploits of their fathers and friends, burned __. to enroll themselves under such distinguished leaders. Enthusiasm ^Huguenot Many were the stratagems resorted to by these aspi- rants for military honors. Among others, the eminent historian, Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne", has left an amusing account of the adventures he passed through in reaching the 15C8. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 27f> Huguenot recruiting station. His prudent guardian had taken the precaution to remove Agrippa's clothes every evening, in order to prevent him from carrying out his avowed purpose of entering the army ; but one night, on hearing the report of the arquebuse which a number of his companions, bent Enlistment * , , , ,, , , . . of AKi-ippa on the same course, had fired as a signal near his place of confinement the youth boldly lowered him- self to the ground by the sheets of his bed, and, with bare feet and no other clothing than a shirt, made his way to Jon- zac. There, after receiving an outfit from some Protestant captains, he jotted down at the bottom of the receipt which he gave them in return, the whimsical declaration " that never in his life would he blame the war for having stripped him, since he could not possibly leave it in a sorrier plight than that in which he entered it." l The resolution and enthusiasm of the Huguenots were greatly augmented by the imprudent course of the court. Notwith- standing their own guilty designs, Catharine and the Cardinal of Lorraine were taken by surprise when the news reached them that Conde and Coligny had escaped, and that the Hugue- nots were everywhere arming. So sudden an outbreak had not been expected ; and, while awaiting the muster of that portion of the troops that had been dismissed, but was now summoned to assemble at Staples on the 10th of September," it was thought best to quiet the agitated minds of the people. A declaration was accordingly published, assuring all the adher- ents of the reformed faith who remained at home and fur- nished no assistance to the enemy, of the royal protection, Charles promising, at the same time, to give a gracious hearing to their grievances. 3 But, as soon as the Roman Catholic forces began to collect in large numbers, and the apprehen- 8 i n ^ a sudden assault by the Huguenots died away, the court threw off the mask of conciliation, and Charles was made to sign two laws unsurpassed for intolerance. The first purported to be " an irrevocable and perpetual edict." 1 M&noires d'Aprippa d'Aubigne (Ed. Buchon), 475. 8 Jean de Serres, iii. 247. 3 Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 541 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 145. 276 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. It rehearsed the various steps taken by Charles the Ninth and his brother Francis in reference to the " so-called reformed re- ligion," from the time of the tumult of Amboise. It alluded to the edicts of July and of January the latter adopted by the queen mother, by advice of the Cardinals of Bourbon and Tour- non, of the constable, of Saint Andre, and others, because less objectionable than an edict tolerating the worship of that re- ligion within the walls of the cities. None of these conces- sions, it asserted, having satisfied the professors of the new faith, who had collected money and raised troops with the in- tent of establishing another government in place of that which God had instituted, the king now repealed the edicts of tolera- tion, and henceforth prohibited his subjects, of whatever rank and in all parts of his dominions, on pain of confiscation and death, from the exercise of any other religious rites than those of the Roman Catholic Church. All Protestant ministers were ordered to leave France within fifteen days. Quiet and peace- able laymen were promised toleration until such time as God should deign to bring them back to the true fold ; and pardon was offered to all who within twenty days should lay down their arms. 1 The second edict deprived all Protestant magis- trates of the offices they held, reserving, however, to those who did not take part in the war, a certain portion of their former revenues. 2 In order to give greater solemnity to the transaction, Charles, clothed in robes of state and with great pomp, repaired to the parliament house, to be present at the publication of the new edicts, and with his own hands threw into the fire and burned up the previous edicts of pacification. "Thus did his Royal Highness of France," writes a contemporary German pam- 1 The text of the edict is given by Jean de Serres, iii. 272-281. See also De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 145, 146 ; Castelnau, liv. vii., c. ii. La Fosse (Jour- nal d'un cure ligueur, 98), gives the correct date : " Septembre. La reille du Saint Michel (i. e., Sept. 28th) fut rompu 1'esdict de Janvier, et publie dedans le palais esdict au contraire ; " while the ambassador La Mothe-Fenelon alludes to it in a despatch to Catharine as " votre edict du xxx e de Septembre." Correspondance diplomatique, i. 28. * J. de Serres, iii. 281, 282 ; De Thou and Castelnau^ ubi supra, Kecordon, Le protestantisme en Champagne, 158, 159. 156a THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 277 phleteer with intense satisfaction, " as was seemly and becoming to a Christian supreme magistrate, pronounce sentence of death, upon all Cahinistic and other heresies." ' Nothing devised by the papal party could have been better adapted to further the Huguenot cause than the course it had impolicy of adopted. The wholesale proscription of their faith this course. un j te( j t ne Protestants, and led every able-bodied man to take up arms against a perfidious government, whose disre- gard of treaties solemnly made was so shamefully paraded be- fore the world. " These edicts," admits the candid Castelnau, " only served to make the whole party rise with greater expedi- tion, and furnished the Prince of Conde and the admiral with a handle to convince all the Protestant powers that they were not persecuted for any disaffection to the government, but purely for the sake of religion." " Efforts were not spared by the Guisard party to make capital abroad out of the new prescriptive measures. Copies of the edicts, translated from the French, were put into circulation beyond the Rhine, accompanied by a memorial em- Attempts to , , . , . J make capital bodying the views presented by an envoy of Charles scriptive to some of the Roman Catholic princes of the empire. measures. mi ,. . . i Ihe king herein justified himself for his previous clemency by declaring that he had entertained no other idea than that of allowing his subjects of the " pretended " reformed faith time and opportunity for returning to the bosom of the only true church. Lovers of peace and good order among the Germans were warned that they had no worse enemies than the insubordinate and rebellious Huguenots of his Very Christian Majesty's dominions, while the adherents of the Augsburg Confession were distinctly given to understand that Lutheranism was safer with the Turk than where Calvin's doctrines were professed.' 1 Zway Edict, u. B. w. , ubi in/ra, p. 38. * Castelnau, ubi supra. s I have before me this interesting publication, of which the first lines of the title-page (inordinately long and comprehensive, after the fashion of the times) run as follows : ' ' Zway Edict, sampt einer offnen Patent der Konig- lichen Warden in Franckreich, durch welche alle auffrurische Predigten, ver- 278 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. To influence the princes the offices of skilled diplomatists were called into requisition, but to no purpose. When Blandy requested the emperor, in Charles's name, to prevent any succor from being sent to Conde from Germany, Maximilian replied by counselling his good friend the king to seek means to restore concord and harmony among his subjects, and professing his own inability to restrain the levy of auxiliary troops. And from Duke John "William, of Saxony, the same envoy only ob- tained expressions of regret that the war so lately suppressed had broken out anew, and of discontent on the part of the Ger- man princes at the rumor that Charles had been so ill advised as to join in a league made by the Pope and the King of Spain, with the view of overwhelming the Protestants. 1 On the other hand, the new direction taken by Catharine met with the most decided favor on the part of the fanatical populace, and the pulpits resounded with praise of the complete abrogation of all compacts with heresy. The Roman Catholic party in Toulouse acted so promptly, anticipating even the or- ders of the royal court, as to make it evident that they had been long preparing for the struggle. On Sunday, the preached at twelfth of September, a league for the extermination Toulouse of heresy was published, under the name of a crusade. A priest delivered a sermon with the consent of the Par- liament of Toulouse. Kext day all who desired to join in the bloody work met in the cathedral dedicated to St. Stephen the Christian protomartyr having, by an irony of history, more than once been made a witness of acts more congenial to the spirit of his persecutors than to his own and prepared them- selves for their undertaking by a common profession of their faith, by an oath to expose their lives and property for the maintenance of the Roman Catholic religion, and by confession and communion. This being done, they adopted for their motto the words, " Eamus nos, moriamur cum Christo," and attached to their dress a white cross to distinguish them from samblungen unnd ubung der newen unchristlichen Secten und vermainten Religion gantz und gar abgeschafft und allain die Romische und Bapstische CathoUsche ware Religion gestattet werden Bollen. .... 1568." 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 1GO, 161. 1568. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 279 their Protestant fellow-citizens. Of success they entertained no misgivings. Had not Attila been defeated, with his three hundred thousand men, not far from Toulouse ? Had not God so blessed the arms of "our good Catholics" in the time of Louis the Eighth, father of St. Louis, that eight hundred of them had routed more than sixty thousand heretics ? "So that we doubt not," said the new crusaders, " that we shall gain the victory over these enemies of God and of the whole human race ; and if some of us should chance to die, our blood will be to us a second baptism, in consequence of which, without any hinderance, we shall pass, with the other martyrs, straight to Paradise." ' A papal bull, a few months later (on the fifteenth of March, 1569), gave the highest ecclesiastical sanction to the crusade, and emphasized the complete extermination of the heretics. 2 The faithful, but somewhat garrulous chronicler, who has left us so vivid a picture of the social, religious, and political condi- Fanaticism tion of the city of Provins during a great part of the cnthoite man second half of this century, describes a solemn proces- i.reachere. g j on ^ h onor o f the publication of the new ordinance, which was attended by over two thousand persons, and even by the magistrates suspected of sympathy with the Protestants. Friar Jean Barrier, when pressed to preach, took for his text the song of Moses : "I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath tri- umphed gloriously : the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." His treatment of the verse was certainly novel, although the exegesis might not find much favor with the criti- cal Hebraist. The Prince of Conde was the horse, on whose 1 " Notre sang nous sera ung secong baptfime, par quoy sans aucun em- peschement, nous irons avec les autres martyrs droit en paradis." Publication dc la croisade, Hist, de Languedoc, v. (Preuves) 216, 217. See the account, ibid., v. 290. s Ibid., v. (Preuves) 217. The laborious author of the Hist, de Languedoc, v. 290, makes a singular mistake in saying " that this bull is dated March 15th, of the year 1568, which proves that the project had been formed several months before its execution." The date of the bull is, indeed, given as stated at the close of the document; but the addition, " pontificatus nostri anno quarto" furnishes the means for correcting it. Pius V. was not created Pope until January 7, 15G6. See De Thou, iii (liv. xxxix.) G22. 280 THE RISE OF TECE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVL back -were mounted the Huguenot ministers and preachers the riders who drove him hither and thither by their satanic doc- trine. Although they were not as yet drowned, like Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, France had great reason to rejoice and praise God that the king had annulled the Edict of Janu- ary, and other pernicious laws made during his minority. As for himself, said the good friar, he was ready to die, like another Simeon, since he had lived to see the edicts establishing " the Huguenotic liberty " repealed, and the preachers expelled from France. 1 Similar rejoicings with similar high masses and sermons by enthusiastic monks, were heard in the capital 8 and elsewhere. But the jubilant strains were sounded rather prematurely ; for the victory was yet to be won. The Huguenot nobles, votpi^S 6 ' invited by Conde, were flocking to La Rochelle ; the Protestant inhabitants of the towns, expelled from their homes, were generally following the same impulse. But others, reluctant, or unable to traverse such an expanse of hos- tile territory, turned toward nearer places of refuge. Happily they found a number of such asylums in cities whose inhab- itants, alarmed by the marks of treachery appearing in every quarter of France, had refused to receive the garrisons sent to them in the king's name. It was a wonderful providence of God, the historian Jean de Serres remarks. The fugitive Huguenots of the centre and north found the gates of Vezelay and of Sancerre open to them. Those of Languedoc and Guy- enne were safe within the walls of Montauban, Milhau, and Castres. In the southeastern corner of the kingdom, Aubenas, Privas, and a few other places afforded a retreat for the women and children, and a convenient point for the muster of the forces of Dauphiny. 3 Meantime, the Queen of Navarre, with young Prince Henry and his sister Catharine, started from her dominions near the Pyrenees. The court had in vain plied her with conciliatory letters and messages sent in the king's name. Gathering her 1 M6moires de Claude Haton, ii. 541, 542. s Jehan de la Fosse, 99. 8 Jean de Series, iii. 249. 15Ca THE THIRD CIVIL WAR -- 1 troops together, and narrowly escaping the forces despatched ed'Ai ^0 intercept her, she formed a junction with a very bretandP-An- considerable body of troops raised in Perigord, Au- delot reach J r 5 ' vergnc, and the neighboring provinces, under the Seigneur de Piles, the Marquis de Montamart, and others, and, after meeting the Prince of Conde, who came as far as Cognac to receive her, found safety in the city of La Rochelle. 1 From an opposite direction, Fra^ois d'Andelot, whom the outbreak of hostilities overtook while yet in Brittany, was warned by Conde to hasten to the same point. With his ac- customed energy, the young Chatillon rapidly collected the Protestant noblemen and gentry, not only of that province, but of Kormandy, Touraine, Maine, and Anjou, and with such ex- perienced leaders as the Count of Montgomery, the Vidame of Chartres, and Fra^ois de la Xoue, had reached a point on the Loire a few miles above Angers. It was his plan to seize and hold the city and bridge of Saumur, and thus secure for the Huguenots the means of easy communication between the two sides of the important basin intervening between the smaller basins of the Seine and the Garonne. His expectations, how- ever, were frustrated principally by the good fortune of M. de Martigues, who succeeded in making a sudden dash through D'Andelot's scattered divisions, and in conveying to the Duke of Montpensier at Saumur so large a reinforcement as to render it impossible for the Huguenots to dream of dislodging him.* For a time D'Andelot was in great peril. With only about fifteen hundred horse and twenty-five hundred foot,* he stood on the banks of a river swollen by autumnal rains and supposed 1 Jean de Series, iii. 255, 256 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xlix.) 141. De Serres (iii. 256-266) gives interesting extracts of the letters which Jeanne wrote to Charles, to his mother, to the Duke of Anjou, and to her brother-in-law, the Cardinal of Bourbon. She urged the latter, by every consideration of blood and honor, to shake off his shameful servitude to the counsels of the Car- dinal of Lorraine, whom she openly accused of having conspired to murder Bourbon, with Marshal Montmorency and Chancellor L'Hospital, during a recent illness of the queen. 3 Jean de Serres, iii 267-269 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 142, 143 ; D'Aubigne, liv. v., c. 2, 3 (i. 264-268). * J. de Serres, ubi supra, 282 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. to be utterly impassable, and in the midst of a country all whose cities were in the hands of the enemy. He had even formed the desperate design of retiring twenty or thirty miles north- ward, in hope of being able to entice Montpensier to f ollow him so incautiously that he might turn upon him, and, after winning a victory, secure for himself a passage to the sources of the Loire or to his allies in Germany. At this moment the joyful announce- ment was made by Montgomery that a ford had been discovered. The news proved to be true. The crossing was safe and easy. Not a man nor a horse was lost. The interposition of heaven in their behalf was so wonderful, that, as the Huguenot troopers reached the southern bank, the whole army, by common and irresistible impulse, broke forth in praise to Almighty God, and sang that grand psalm of deliverance the seventy-sixth. 1 Never had those verses of Beza been sung by more thankful hearts or in a nobler temple.* Full of courage, the exultant troops of D'Andelot now pressed southward. First the city of Thouars fell into their hands ; then the more important Partenay surrendered itself poitou. An- to the Huguenots. Here, according to the cruel rules of warfare of the sixteenth century, they deemed themselves justified in hanging the commander of the place, who had thrown himself into the castle, for having too obstinately insisted upon standing an assault in a spot incapable of defence, 1 " C'est en Judee proprement Que Dieu s'est acquia un renom ; C'eat en Israel voirement Qu'on voit la force de son Nom : En Salem est son tabernacle, En Sion son sainct habitacle." I quote from an edition of the unaltered Huguenot psalter (1638). 8 Jean de Serres, iii. 270 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 144, 145 ; Agrippa d'Au- bign6, Hist. univ. liv. v., c. 4 (i. 269) states the circumstance that the river fell a foot and a half during the four hours consumed in the crossing, and then rose again as opportunely : " Mais il s'en fust perdu la pluspart sans un heur nompareil ; ce fut que la riviere s'estant diminuee d'un pied et demi durant le passage de quatre heures, se r'enfla sur la fin ; " adding in one of those nervous sentences which constitute a principal charm of his writings : " Nous dirions avec crainte ces courtowes de Loire, si nous n'avions tous ceux qui ont escrit pour garimeat." 156a THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 283 together with some priests w r ho had shared his infatuation.' Admiral Coligny now met his brother, and the united army, with three cannon brought from La Rochelle, forming his en- tire siege artillery, demanded and obtained the surrender of Niort, the size and advantageous position of which made it a bulwark of La Rochelle toward the east. Angouleme, Blaye, Cognac, Pons, and Saintes, were still more valuable acquisitions. In short, within a few weeks, so large a number of cities in the provinces of Poitou, Angoumois, and Saintonge had fallen under the power of the Protestants, that they seemed fully to have retrieved the losses they had experienced through the treacherous peace of Longjumeau. "In less than two months," writes La Is oue of his fellow-soldiers, " from poor vagabonds that they were, they found in their hands sufficient means to continue a long war." a And the veteran Admiral Coligny, amazed at the success attending measures principally planned by himself, was accustomed to repeat with heartfelt thankfulness the exclama- tion attributed to Themistocles : " I should be lost, if I had not been lost ! " * Meantime, in the south-eastern part of France, the provinces of Dauphiny, Provence, and Lower Languedoc, the Huguenots Affaire in ^ad not been slow in responding to the call of the p^ u ven!and P rince of Conde. The difficulty was rather in Languedoc. assembling their soldiers than in raising them; for there was little lack of volunteers after the repeal of the royal edicts in favor of the Protestants. "With great trouble the contingents of Dauphiny and Provence were brought across the Rhone, and at Alais the Baron d'Acier * mustered an army to go to the succor of the Prince of Conde at La Rochelle. A Roman Catholic historian expresses his profound astonishment that the Huguenots of this part of the kingdom, when surprised 1 Jean de Series, iii. 270, 271; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 147; Agrippa d'Au- bigne, L 269. * La Noue, c. xx. 3 Ibid., ubi supra ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 150. 4 Jacques de Crussol, Baron d'Acier (or, Assier), afterwards Duke d'Uzds, lieutenant-general of the royal armies in Languedoc, etc. According to the Abbe Le Laboureur (iii. 56-60), it was interest that induced him, a few yeara later, to become a Roman Catholic. 284 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. by the vicdation of the peace, should so speedily have been able to mass a force of twenty-five thousand men, well furnished and equipped, and commanded by the most excellent Powerful Hn- * */ -r i -r -r- guenot army captains of the age Montbrun, Mouvans, Inerre- Gourde, and others. 1 The abbe's wonder was doubt- less equalled by the consternation which the news spread among the enemies of the Huguenots. The Roman Catholics could bring no army capable of preventing the junction of D'Acier's troops with those of Conde ; but the Duke of Montpensier suc- ceeded, on the twenty-fifth of October, in inflicting a severe loss upon one of the divisions at Messignac, near Perigueux. Mou- vans and Pierre-Gourde, who were distant from the main body, were attacked in their quarters, by a force under Brissac, which they easily repulsed. D'Acier, suspecting the design of the enemy, had commanded the Huguenot captains to make no pursuit, and to await his own arrival. But brave Mouvans was as impatient of orders as he was courageous in battle. Disre- garding the authority which sat so lightly upon him, he fell into an ambuscade, where he atoned for his rashness by the loss of his own life and the lives of more than a thousand of his companions. After this disaster, D'Acier experienced It effects a junction with no further opposition, and, on the first of November, Cond6's forces. . . ' , he met the advancing army of Conde at Aubeterre, on the banks of the Dronne." With the new accessions to his anny, the prince commanded 1 Le Labourenr, Add. aux Mem de Castelnau, ii. 588. The same author elsewhere (ii. 56-60) states the army as only 20,000. Jean de Serres, iii. 284, 285, and De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 150-152, give an account of the difficulties encountered in bringing these troops to the place of rendezvous, and enumer- ate the leaders and contingents of the three provinces. According to the latter, the total was 23,000 men. See Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c. 5 (I 271). * Jean de- Serres, iii. 286, 291, 292; DeThou, iv. (liv. xliv), 153, 154; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ubi supra; Davila, bk. iv., p. 132, 133; Le Laboureur, ii. 588, 589. It is more than usually difficult to ascertain the loss of the Huguenots at Messignac. Jean de Serres, who states it at 600, and Davila, who says that it amounted to 2,000 foot and more than 4,000 horse, are the extremes. De Thou sets it down at more than 1,000 ; D'Aubigne at 1,000 or 1,200; Castelnau at 3,000 foot and 300 horse ; and Le Laboureur, following him, at over 3,000 men. 1568. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 285 a force very considerably larger than any he had led in the pre- vious wars. Among the conflicting statements, we may find it difficult to fix its numbers. Agrippa d'Aubigne says that, after the losses consequent upon the defeat of Messignac and those resulting from camp diseases, Conde's army consisted of only seventeen thousand foot soldiers, and two thousand five hundred horsemen. 1 A Huguenot bulletin, sent from La Rochelle for the information of Queen Elizabeth and the Protestants of England, may have given somewhat too favorable a view of the prince's prospects, but was certainly nearer the truth, in assign- ing him twenty-five thousand arquebusiers and a cavalry force of five or six thousand men. a On the other hand, Henry of Anjou, who had been placed in nominal command of the Roman Catholic army, had not yet been able to assemble a much supe- rior, probably not an equal, number of soldiers. The large forces which, according to his ambassador at the English court, Charles the ]S~inth could call out,* existed only on paper. The younger Tavannes, whose father was the true head of the royal army, gives it but about twenty thousand men.* It was already nearly winter when the armies were collected, and their operations during the remainder of the campaign were indecisive. In the numerous skirmishes that occurred the Huguenots usually had the advantage, and sometimes in- flicted considerable damage upon the enemy. But the Duke of Anjou, or the more experienced leaders commanding in his name, studiously avoided a general engagement. The instruc- tions from the court were to wear out the courage and enthnsi- 1 Hist, univ., liv. v., c. 6 (L 273). * "Discours envoye de la Rochelle," accompanying La Mothe Fe'nSlon's despatch of January 20, 1569. Correspondance diplomatique, L 137, 133. Another letter of a later date gives even larger figures 30,000 foot (25,000 of them arquebusiers) and 7,000 or 8,000 horse, besides recruits expected from Montauban. Ibid. , i. 147. 3 Upwards of 23,000 horse and 200 ensigns of foot (which we may perhaps reckon at 40,000 men). Despatch of La Mothe Pension, Dec. 5, 1568, Corresp. diplomatique, i. 29. 4 Memoires de Tavannes, iii. 38. De Thou, iv. 154, assigns 18.000 foot and 3,000 horse to Conde ; and 12,000 foot and 4,000 horse, exclusive of the Swiss (who, according to Tavannes, numbered 6,000), to Anjou. 286 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. asm of Conde's adherents by protracting a tame and monoto- nous warfare. 1 The prince's true policy, on the contrary, lay in decided action. His soldiers were inferior to none in France. The flower of the higher nobility and the most substantial of the middle classes had flocked to his standard so soon as it was unfurled. But, without regular commissariat, and serving at their own costs, these troops could not long maintain themselves in the field.* The nobles and country gentlemen, never too provident in their habits, soon exhausted their ready funds, with their crowd of hungry retainers, and became a more pitia- ble class than even the burgesses. The latter, whom devotion to their religious convictions, rather than any thirst for personal distinction, had impelled to enter the service, could not remain many months away from their workshops and counting-rooms without involving their families in great pecuniary distress. It was not, however, possible for Conde and Coligny to bring about a combat which the duke was resolved to decline, and the un- paralleled severity of the season suspended, at the same time, their design of wresting from his hands the city of Saumur, a convenient point of communication with northern France. Early in December the vines were frozen in the fields, 3 disease broke out in either camp, and the soldiers began to murmur at a war which seemed to be waged with the elements rather than with their fellow-men. While Anjou's generals, therefore, drew off their troops to Saumur, Chinon on the Vienne, and Poitiers, Conde's army went into winter quarters a little farther west, at Montreuil-Bellay, Loudun and Thouars, but afterward removed, for greater commodity in obtaining provisions, to Partenay and Kiort. 4 It was while the Huguenots lay thus inactive that their leaders deliberated respecting the best means of providing for their sup- 1 Jean de Serres, iii. 295, 296. ' ' Resolution qui sembloit la plus necessaire aux Ref ormez, pource que difficilement pouvoient-ils maintenir une telle troupe sans solde et sans magazins reglez." Agrippa d'Aubigne", liv. v., c. 6 (i. 273). 3 See "Tableau des ph6nomenes meteorologiques, astronomiques, etc., mentionnes dans les Memoires de Claude Haton." 4 Jean de Serres, iii. 304, 305 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 159. 1568. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 287 port during the coming campaign. Jeanne d'Albret, whose masculine vigor ' had never been displayed more con- Hngnenotre- . . . . . . i.risais and no- spicuously than during this war, was present, and assist- ed by her sage counsels. It was determined, in view of the cruelties exercised upon the Protestants in those parts of the kingdom where they had no strongholds, and of the con- fiscation of their property by judicial decisions, to retaliate by selling the ecclesiastical possessions in the cities that were now under Huguenot power, and applying the proceeds to military life's. The order of sale was issued under the names of the young Prince of Navarre, of Conde, Coligny, D'Andelot and La Rochefoucauld, and a guarantee was given by them. As a reprisal the measure was just, and as a warlike expedient nothing could be more prudent ; for, while it speedily filled the coffers of the Huguenot army, it cut off one great source of the revenues of the court, which had been authorized both by the Pope and by the clergy itself to lay these possessions under contribution.* Already the temper of the Protestant leaders had been sounded by an unaccredited agent of Catharine de' Medici, who found Conde at Mirebeau, and entreated him to make those advances toward a peace which would comport better with his dignity as a subject than with that of Charles as a king. But the prince, who saw in the mission of an irresponsible mediator only a new attempt to impede the action of the con- federates, had dismissed him, after declaring, in the presence of a large number of his nobles, that he had been compelled to resort to arms in order to provide for his own defence. The war was, therefore, directed not against the king, but against those capital enemies of the crown and of the realm, the Cardi- nal of Lorraine and his associates. All knew his own vehement desire for peace, of which his late excessive compliance was a sufficient proof ; but, since the king was surrounded by his ene- 1 " Cette Roine, n'aiant de femme que It sexe. Tame eutiere aux choses virilea, 1' esprit puissant aux granda affaires, le coeur invincible aux adver- eitz." Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 8. 5 Jean de Series, iii. 306, 307. 288 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. inies, he intended, with God's favor, to come and present his petitions to his Majesty in person. 1 Abroad the Huguenots had not been idle in endeavoring to secure the support of advantageous alliances. So early as in the month of August, after the disastrous defeat of Louis of Nassau at Jemmingen, the Prince of Orange had William of . . , ,, ' - , - orange at- contemplated the formation of a league for common th^H^gS^ 1 defence with the Prince of Conde and Admiral Co- ligny. A draft of such an agreement has been pre- served ; but it is unsigned, and may be regarded rather as indi- cative of the friendly disposition of the French and Dutch patriots than as a compact that was ever formally adopted. 2 That same autumn William of Orange had undertaken an expe- dition intended to free the Netherlands from the tyranny of Alva. He had been met with consummate skill. The duke refused to fight, but hung remorselessly on his skirts. The inhabitants of Brabant extended no welcome to their liber- ator. The prince's mercenaries, vexed at their reception, an- noyed by the masterly tactics of their enemy, and eager only to return to their homes, clamored for pay and for plunder. Orange, outgeneralled, was compelled to abandon the campaign, and would gladly have turned his arms against the oppressors of his fellow-believers in France ; but his German troops had enlisted only for the campaign in the Netherlands, and peremp- torily declined to transfer the field of battle to another coun- try. However, the depth of the Meuse, which had become 1 Jean de Series, iii. 296, 297 ; Relation sent from La Rochelle, La Mothe Pension, i. 173. The Prince of Conde had also made a solemn protestation in writing, and before a large assembly, before entering upon any belligerent acts. The substance of these frequent documents is so similar that I have deemed it unnecessary to do more than refer to it. See J. de Serres, iii. 249, 250. The Huguenot soldiers had, at the same time, taken an oath to support the cause until the achievement of a peace securing the undisturbed enjoyment of life, honors and religious liberty, and to submit to a careful military discipline. Ibid., iii. 251, 252-255, where the oath and a summary of the rules of discipline are inserted. " Pro jet d' alliance du Prince d'Orange avec 1'Amiral de Coligny et le Prince de Cond pour obtenir entiere liberte de conscience dans les Pays-Bas et en France. Le aout 1'an 1568." Groen Van Prinsterer, Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, iii. 282-286. isea THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 289 unfordable, furnished more persuasive arguments than could be brought forward by Genlis and the Huguenots who with him had joined the Prince of Orange, and the army of the patriots was forced to direct its course southward and to cross the French frontier. Great was the consternation at the court of Charles. Paris trembled for its safety, and vigorous were the efforts made to get rid of such dangerous guests. Marshal Cosse, who com- manded for his Majesty on the Flemish border, was J V viraTonjit too weak to copy successfully the tactics of Alva ; but he employed the resources of diplomacy. His secre- tary, the Seigneur de Favelles, not content with remonstrating against the prince's violation of the territory of a king with whom he was at peace, endeavored to terrify him by exaggerating the resources of Charles the Ninth and by fabricating accounts of Huguenot reverses. Conde, he said, had been forced to recross the river Vienne in great confusion ; and there was a flattering prospect that he would be compelled to shut himself up in La Rochelle ; for " Monseigneur the Duke of Anjou " had an irre- sistible army of six thousand horse and twenty-five or thirty thousand foot, besides the forces coming from Provence under the Count de Tende, the six thousand newly levied Swiss brought by the Duke d'Aumale, and other considerable bodies of troops. 1 Gaspard de Schomberg * was despatched on a simi- lar errand by Charles himself, and offered the prince, if he came merely desiring to pass in a friendly manner through the country, to furnish him with every facility for so doing. In reply, William of Orange, although the refusal of his soldiers to fight against Charles' left him no alternative but to embrace the 1 Letter of Favelles (Dec., 1568), Groen Van Prinsterer, Archives, etc., iii. 312-316. s He was not a " marechal," as Mr. Motley inadvertently calls him (Dutch Republic, ii. 261), but a very prominent and successful negotiator, whose eulogy M. de Thou, an intimate friend, has pronounced in the 122d book of his history (ix. 285) . Henry, the first Count of Schomberg made Marshal of France, was not born until 1583. * It was generally believed that Schomberg, gaining access to the Germans through one of the principal officers, to whom he was related, was the occa- sion of their disaffection. Jean de Serres, iii. 298. " U mesnagea si bien VOL. IL 19 290 THE AISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. course marked out for him, did not disguise his hearty sympathy with his suffering brethren in France. In view of the e'priJTce attempts made, according to his Majesty's edict of Sep- tember last, to constrain the consciences of all who belonged to the Christian religion, and in view of the king's avowed determination to exterminate the pure Word of God, and to permit no other religion than the Roman Catholic a thing very prejudicial to the neighboring nations, where there was a free exercise of the Christian religion the prince declared his inability to credit the assertions of his Majesty, that it was not his Majesty's intention to constrain the conscience of any one. He avowed his own purpose to give oppressed Christians every- where all aid, comfort, counsel, and assistance ; asserting his conviction that the men who professed " the religion " de- manded nothing else than the glory of God and the advance- ment of His Word, while in all matters of civil polity they were ready to render obedience to his Majesty. He averred, more- over, that if he should perceive any indications that the Hu- guenots were pursuing any other object than liberty of con- science and security for life and property, he would not only withdraw his assistance from them, but would use the whole strength of his army to exterminate them. 1 After this declara- tion, the prince prosecuted his march to Strasbourg, where he disbanded his troops, pawning his very plate and pledging his principality of Orange, to find the means of satisfying their demands. Great was the delight of the royalists, great the disappointment of the Huguenots, on hearing that the expedi- tion had vanished in smoke. " The army of the Prince of Orange," wrote an agent of Conde in Paris, " after having thrice returned to the king's summons a sturdy answer that it would never leave France until it saw religion re-established, la plus part des capitaines," says Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 340, " que quand le Prince leur parla d'aller joindre le Prince de Conde, il lea trouva tons bans Hieologiens et mauvais partisans ; discourans de la justice des armes, sans oublier le droit des rois et les affaires qu'ils avoient en leur pai's. Schomberg s'en revint aiant re<;eu quelques injures par Genlis." 1 Letter of December 3, 1568, Cissonne, in Motley, Iliae of the Dutch Re- public, ii. 261, 262. 156a THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 291 lias retreated, in spite of our having given it notice of your intention to avow it. I know not the cause of this sudden movement, for which various reasons are alleged." ' William the Silent had not, however, relinquished the intention of going to the assistance of the Huguenots, whose welfare, next to that of his own provinces, lay near his heart. Retaining, therefore, twelve hundred horsemen whom he found better disposed than the rest, he patiently awaited the departure of the new ally of the French Protestants, "Wolfgang, Duke of Deux-Ponts (Zwei- briicken), in whose company he had determined to cross France with his brothers Louis and Henry of Nassau. 2 The Prince of Conde received more immediate and substan- tial assistance from beyond the Channel. When Tavannes Aid uonght undertook to capture Conde and Coligny at Xoyers, it bom England. wag in conte mplation to seize Odet, Cardinal of Cha- tillon, the admiral's elder brother,' in his episcopal palace at Beauvais. He received, however, timely warning, and made his escape through Normandy to England, where Queen Eliza- beth received him at her court with marks of distinguished favor.* His efforts to enlist the sympathies and assistance of 1 News-letter from Paris, from the Huguenot physician of the Duke of Jar- nac, discovered in the gauntlet of the Prince of Cond6, and sent by Anjou, with other papers found on his dead body, to King Charles. Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, Pieces ined., ii. 391. * Jean de Serres, iii. 299 ; Groen Van Prinsterer, Archives, etc.. iiL 316 ; Motley, Dutch Republic, ii. 263 ; Ag. d'Aubigne", liv. v., c. 26 (i. 340). 1 M. Froude falls into a very natural error, in calling him (History of Eng- land, Am. edit., ix. 334) " the younger Chatillon." With the exception of a brother who died in early youth, he was the oldest of the family ; but his quiet and more sluggish character inclined him to accept the cardinal's hat, when offered to him by his uncle, the constable ; and, rich with the revenues of bishoprics and abbeys, he subsequently renounced all his rights as eldest son to his brother Gaspard. Froude is, however, in good company. Even the usually accurate Tytler-Fraser says of Cardinal Chatillon: "This high-bom ecclesiastic was in most things the reverse of his elder brother D'Andelot." England under Edward VI. and Mary, i. 36. 4 Lodged by Elizabeth in Sioii House, not far from Hampton Court, he was accorded more honor than usually fell to the lot of an envoy of royalty. Never, says Florimond de Raemond, did the queen meet him but she greeted him with a kiss, and it became a popular saying that Conde's ambassador was a much more important personage than the envoy of the King of France. Do ortu, progressu, et ruina haereseon (Cologne, 1614), ii. 284 (1. vi., c. 15). 292 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. the English monarch in behalf of his persecuted countrymen were seconded by Cavaignes, who soon arrived as an envoy from Conde. Cavaignes was instructed to ask material aid money to meet the engagements made with the Duke of Deux-Ponts, and ships with their armaments to increase the small flotilla of privateersmen, which the Protestants had, for the first time, sent out from La Kochelle. Soon after appeared the vice- admiral, Chastelier-Pourtaut de Latour, under whose command the flotilla had been placed, bearing a letter from the Queen of Navarre to her sister of England, in which she was entreated to espouse a quarrel that had arisen not from ambition or insub- ordination, but from the desire, in the first place, to defend religion, and, next, to rescue a king who was being hurried on to ruin by treacherous advisers. 1 To these reiterated appeals, and to the solicitations for aid addressed to them by other refugees from papal violence who had found their way to the shores of Generous re- Great Britain, the subjects of the queen returned a E^iuh ^ 6 more gracious answer than the queen herself. The exiled Huguenot ministers were received with open arms by men who regarded them as champions of a common Christianity,* and some Protestant noblemen had in a few 1 The letter of Jeanne to Elizabeth, Oct. 15, 1568, is inserted in Jean de Serres, iii. 288-291. 8 There were many English clergymen with whom the diversity of order in public worship created no prejudice against the reformed churches of France. Of this number was William Whittingham, Dean of Durham, who, when he accompanied the Earl of Warwick, upon the occupation of Havre in 1562, con- formed the service of the English garrison to that of the resident Protestants. Understanding that some of his countrymen had made "frivolous" com- plaints of his action, the Dean justified himself by Saint Augustine's counsel in such matters, and by alleging the disastrous consequences a different course would have produced on the minds of the French Protestants, who, he said, " as they had conceived evil of the infinity of our rites and cold proceedings in religion, so if they should have seen us (but in form only, though not in substance), to use the same or like order in ceremonies which the papists had a little afore observed (against whom they now venture goods and body), they would to their great grief have suspected our doings as not sincere, and have feared in time the loss of that liberty which after a sort they had purchased with the bloodshedding of many thousands. " And the dean maintains the wisdom of the course pursued, having "perceived that it wrought here a marvellous conjunction of minds between the French and us, and brought 1568. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 293 weeks after their arrival raised for their relief, the sum con- siderable for those days of one hundred pounds sterling. Not only the laity, but even the clergy of the Church of England, took a tender pride in receiving the " few servants of God "- some three or four thousand whom Providence had thrown upon their shores. They welcomed them to their cities, and resented the attempts of Pope and king to secure their extradi- tion. Could the Pope, who harbored six thousand usurers and twenty thousand courtesans in his own city of Rome, ei's nobie call upon the Queen of England to deny the right of asylum to " the poor exiles of Flanders and France, and other countries, who either lost or left behind them all that they had goods, lands, and houses not for adultery, or theft, or treason, but for the profession of the Gospel ? " " It pleased God," wrote Bishop Jewel, "here to cast them on land: the queen of her gracious pity hath granted them harbor. Is it become so heinous a thing to show mercy ? " " They are our brethren," continued their noble-minded advocate, "they live not idly. If they have houses of us, they pay rent for them. They hold not our grounds but by making due recompense. They beg not in our streets, nor crave anything at our hands, but to breathe our air, and to see our sun. They labor truly, they live sparef ully. They are good examples of virtue, travail, singular comfort to all our people. " The Bishop of London seems to have concurred in these views, as well as Cuthbert Vaughan, and probably War- wick himself. Whittingham to Cecil, Newhaven (Havre), Dec. 20, 1562, State Paper Office. It ought to be added that Whittingham, in this letter, expresses in fact a preference for the French forms to the English, as " most agreeable with God's Word, most approaching to the form the godly Fathers used, best allowed of the learned and godly in these days, and according to the example of the best reformed churches." Dean Whittingham, who had married the sister of John Calvin, was a leader of the Puritan party in the Church of England, and the editor and principal translator of the "Genevan" version of the English Bible. His opponents maintained that he was " a man not in holy orders, either according to the Anglican or the Presbyterian rite." (His- tory of the Church of England, by G. G. Perry, Canon of Lincoln, New York, 1879, p. 303.) But a commission appointed by the queen to look into the matter, after the dean had been excommunicated by the Archbishop of York, reported that "William Whittingham was ordained in a better sort than even the archbishop himself." (Historic Origin of the Bible, by Edwin Cone Bissell, New York, 1873, p. 57.) 294 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. faith, and patience. The towns in which they abide are happy, for God doth follow them with His blessings." l Queen Elizabeth was less decidedly in their favor. Her court swarmed with creatures of the Spanish king, who openly gloried in the victories of the Guises. The ambas- sadors of Charles and Philip strove to the utmost to render the Huguenots odious to her mind, and to give a false coloring to the war raging in France. Her jealousy of the royal prerogative was appealed to, by the re- peated declaration that the Protestants of France were turbu- lent men, who, for the slightest occasion and upon the most slender suspicion, were ready to have recourse to arms enthu- siasts, who could not be dissuaded from rash enterprises ; secta- ries, who employed their consistories and their organized form of church government to levy men, to collect arms, munitions of war, and money rebels, in fine, who could at any moment rise within an hour, and surprise his most Christian Majesty's cities and provinces. The abrogation of religious liberty was, therefore, not merely advisable, but absolutely necessary. Eliza- beth was reminded, also, of her own intolerant measures toward the Roman Catholics of her dominions ; and she was assured that her fears of a combined attack on all the Protestants were devoid of foundation that Charles had neither taken up arms, nor revoked the edicts of toleration at the desire of any other prince, still less because of the instance of any private individuals, but of his own free will, in order to secure his kingdom. 8 These arguments, if they did not convince Eliza- beth, gave her a fair excuse for trying to maintain an appear- ance of non-intervention, which the perilous position of Eng- land seemed to her to dictate. With the problem of Scotland and Mary Stuart yet unsolved with a very considerable part of the lords and commons of her own kingdom scarcely con- 1 " A view of a seditious bull sent into England from Pius Quintus, Bishop of Rome, 1569," etc. Works of Bishop Jewel, edited by R. W. Jelf, vii. 263- 205. - Despatch of La Mothe F6ne"lon, Dec. 5, 1568, detailing the justification of Charles, which he had made in an interview with Queen Elizabeth, Corre- spondance diplomatique, i. 28-33. 156a THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 295 cealing their affection for the Romish faith she deemed it hazardous to provoke too far the enmity of Philip the Second, her brother-in-law, and a late suitor for her hand. As if any better way could be found of warding off from her island the assaults of Philip than by rendering efficient aid to Conde and Orange ! As if England's dissimulation and refusal to support the "Huguenots" and the "Gueux" in any other than an underhand way were likely to retard the sailing of the great expedition that was to turn the Pope's impotent threats against the "bastard of England" into fearful realities! As if Prot- estantism, everywhere menaced, could hope for glorious suc- cess in any other path than a bold and combined defence ! ' Unfortunately Elizabeth was fairly launched on a sea Her double- r i T i i /-i-i dealing and oi deceittul diplomacy, and not even Cecil could hold her back. She gave La Mothe Fenelon, the French envoy, assurances that would have been most satisfactory could he have closed his eyes to the facts that gave these assu- rances the lie direct. At one time, with an appearance of sin- cerity, she told the Spanish ambassador, it is true, that she could not abandon the family of Chatillon, who had long been her friends, whilst she saw the Guises, the declared enemies of her person and state, in such authority, both in the council and the lield ; that she could not feel herself secure, especially since a member of the French council had inadvertently dropped the hint that, after everything had been settled at home, Charles would turn his arms against England. She had rather, con- sequently, anticipate than be anticipated. 1 But to La Mothe Fenelon himself she maintained unblushingly that, so far from helping the French Protestants, "there was nothing in the world of which she entertained such horror as of seeing a body 1 Yet no one could speak more courageous words than Elizabeth in her own interests. In December, 1560, she requested the ambassador of Francis II. " to write to his master frankly what she was about to say. viz., that she meant to do her best to defend herself : that she was not of such poverty, uor so void of the obedience of her subjects, but she trusted to be able to do this. She came of .the race of lions, and therefore could not sustain the person cf a sheep." Communication with the French Ambassador, December 13, 15GO, State Paper Office. - Despatch of La Mothe Fenelon, Dec 21, 1563, Corresp. dipl., i. 55, 56. 296 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVL rising in rebellion against its head, and that she had no notion of associating herself with such a monster." ' And again and again she protested that she was not intriguing in France that she had sent the Huguenots no assistance. 2 At the same time Admiral Winter had been despatched with four or five ships of war and a fleet of merchantmen, to carry to La Rochelle, in answer to the request of Conde and of the Queen of Kavarre, 100,000 "angelots" and six pieces of cannon and ammuni- tion. 1 When the ambassador was commissioned to lay before the queen a remonstrance against this flagrant breach of neutrality, and to demand an answer, within fifteen days, respecting her intentions, 4 Elizabeth, in declaring for peace, had the effronte- ry to assert that the assistance in cannon and powder (for she denied that any money was left at La Rochelle) was involun- tary, not only with her, but even with the admiral himself. Having dropped into the harbor to obtain the wine and other commodities with which his fleet of merchantmen were to be freighted, Admiral Winter was approached by the governor of the city, who so strongly pressed him to sell or lend them some pieces of artillery and some powder, which they could not do without, that, considering that he, as well as the ships, were in their power, he thought it necessary to comply with a part of their requests, although it was against his will.* Such were the > 1 "Qu'elle n'avoit rien en si grand horreur, ence monde, que de voir ung corps s'esmouvoir centre sa teste, et qu'elle n'avoit garde de s'adjoindre a ung telmonstre." Ibid., i. 60. 1 Ibid., i. 36-130. 8 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. viL, c. 2; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v.. c. 10 (i. 283) ; De Thon, iv. (liv. xliv.) 160. La Mothe Fenelon's despatch of January 24, 1569 (Coir. dipl. i. 153, 154), states the assistance at 6 cannon and furniture, 300 barrels of powder, 4,000 balls, and 7,000. 4 Despatch to La Mothe Fene'lon, March 8, 1569, and "Articles presantez a la royne d'Angleterre par le S r de la Mothe, etc," Corresp. diplom., L 224, 237-241. 6 "Considerant luy-mesmes et toute la flotte des marchands estre en lenr pouvoir, il trouva necessaire pour luy de condescendre en partie a leurs de- mandes, combien guv cefut contre sa volonte." Coppie du messaige qui a este declaire par la Majeste de la Royne et son conseil, par parolle de bonche, a 1'amb. du Roy de France, par Jehan Somer, clerc du signet de sa Majejte le III- jour de mars, 1568. Corresp. diplom., i. 243-251. 150S. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 297 paltry falsehoods to which Elizabeth's insincere course naturally and directly led. La Mothe Fenelon was well aware that Ad- miral Winter, besides his public commission, had been fur- nished with a secret order, authorizing him to assist La Ro- chelle, signed by Elizabeth's own hand, without which the wary old seaman absolutely refused to go, doubtless fearing that he might be sacrificed when it suited his mistress's crooked policy. What the order contained was no mystery to the French envoy. 1 Neither party in this solemn farce was deceived, but both wanted peace. Catharine would have been even more vexed than surprised had Elizabeth confessed the truth, and so necessitated a resort to open hostilities.* As the honor of the government was satisfied, even by the notoriously false story of Winter's compulsion, there was no necessity for pressing the question of its veracity to an inconvenient length. The cold winter of 1568-1569 pasaed without signal events, excepting the great mortality among the soldiers of both camps from an epidemic disease consequent upon exposure to the extraordinary severity of the season and the fruitless siege of the city of Sancerre by the Roman Catholics. Five sieges and weeks were the troops of Martinengo detained before the walls of this small place, whose convenient prox- imity to the upper Loire rendered it valuable to the Huguenots, not only as a means of facilitating the introduction of their expected German auxiliaries into central France, but still more as a refuge for their allies in the neighboring provinces. The bravery of the besieged made them superior to the forces sent to dislodge them. They repulsed, with great loss to their enemies, two successive assaults on different parts of the works, and, at last, gaining new courage from the advantages they had obtained, assumed the offensive, and forced Martinengo and the captains by whom he had been reinforced to retire humiliated from the 1 Despatch of Dec. 5, 1568, Corresp. diplom., t 32, 33. s In his despatch of March 25, 1569, La Mothe Fenelon admits to Catharine his great perplexity as to how he should act, so as neither to show too little spirit nor to provoke Elizabeth to such a declaration as would compel the king, his master, to declare war at so inopportune a time. Corresp. diplom., 1281. 298 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XVI. hopeless undertaking. 1 Meantime, in not less than three im- portant cities which the Huguenots hoped to gain without striking a blow, the plans of those who were to have admitted the Protestants within the walls failed in the execution ; and Dieppe, Havre, and Lusignan remained in the power of the Koman Catholic party. 8 At the opening of the spring campaign the Prince of Cond found his position relatively to his opponents by no means so . favorable as at the close of the previous year. His Growing BU- " pe^ority of i osg ^y disease equalled, his loss by desertion exceeded, forces. that; of the Duke of Anjou ; for it was impossible for troops serving at their own expense, however zealous they might be for the common cause, to be kept together, especially during a season of inaction, so easily as the forces paid out of the royal treasury. Besides this, the Duke of Anjou had received con- siderable reinforcements. Two thousand two hundred German reiters, under the Rhinegrave and Bassompierre, had arrived in his camp. They were the first division of a force of five thousand six hundred men who had crossed the Rhine, near the end of December, under Philibert, Marquis of Baden, and others. The young Count de Tende brought three thou- sand foot soldiers from Provence and Dauphiny, and smaller bodies came in from other parts of France. 3 Conde, on the contrary, had received scarcely any accessions to his troops. The " viscounts," whose arrival had turned the scale at the con- clusion of the last war, lingered in Guyenne, with an army of six thousand foot soldiers and a well-appointed cavalry force, prefer- ring to protect the Protestant territories about Montauban and Castres, and to ravage the lands of their enemies, as far as to the gates of Toulouse, rather than leave their homes unprotected and join Conde. A dispute respecting precedence had not been with- out some influence in causing the delay, and M. de Piles, who had been twice sent to urge them forward, had only succeeded in 1 Jean de Series, iii. 307, 308; De Thou, iv. (liv. xlv.) 109, 170; Castel- nau, liv. vii., c. 3. * De Thou, iv. 171, 172 ; Castelnau. ubi supra. * Jean de Serres, iii. 302, 309 ; Du Thou, iv. 161 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 277. 1.569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 299 bringing a corps of one thousand two hundred arquebusiers and two hundred horse. 1 It was now expected, however, that real- izing the vital importance of opposing to Anjou a powerful Prot- estant army, the viscounts would abandon their short-sighted policy ; and it was the intention of Conde and Coligny, after effecting a junction, to march with the combined armies to meet the Duke of Deux-Ponts. Anticipating this plan, the court had despatched the Dukes of Aumale and of Xemours to guard the entrance into France from the side of Germany. There seemed to be danger that the precaution would prove ineffectual through the jealousy existing between the two leaders ; but this danger Catharine attempted to avert by removing the royal court to Metz, where she could exert her personal influence in reconciling the ambitious rivals.* In order to prevent the threatened union of Conde and the viscounts, the Duke of Anjou now left his winter quarters upon the Loire and moved southward. On the other hand, the Prince of Conde left Kiort, and, pursuing a course nearly parallel, passed through St. Jean d'Angely to Saintes, thence diverging to Cognac, on the Charente.' The Charente, although by no means one of the largest rivers of France, well deserves to be called one of the most capricious. For about a quarter of its length it runs in a north- meet on the westerly direction. At Civray it abruptly turns south- Chftrente. j j .a j * A ward and flows in a meandering course as far as An- gouleme, receiving on the way the waters of the Tardouere (Tardoire), and with it almost completely inclosing a consider- able tract of land. At Angouleme, the old whim regaining 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. xlv.) 174, 175. The Earl of Leicester gives Charles a more direct part in the war. "The king bathe bene these two monethes about Metz in Lorrayne, to empeachs the entry of the Duke of Biponnte, who is set forward by the common assent of all the princes Protestants in Germany, with twelve thousand horsemen, and twenty-five thousand footemen, to assiste the Protestants in France, and to make some final end of their garboyles." Letter to Randolph, ambassador to the Emperor of Muscovy, May 1, 1569, Wright, Queen Elizabeth, L 813. The facilities, even for diplomatic correspondence, with so distant a country as Muscovy, were very scanty. Leicester's despatch is accordingly an inter- esting resume of the chief events that had occurred in Western Europe during thf past sixty days. 3 Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 277 ; De Thou, iv. 172, etc. 300 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. supremacy, the Charente again bends suddenly westward, and finally empties into the ocean below Rochefort, through a nar- row arm of the sea known as the Pertuis d'Antioche. The tract of country included between the river and the shores of the Bay of Biscay, comprising a large part of the provinces of Aunis and Saintonge, was in the undisputed possession of the Hugue- nots. They held the right bank of the river, and controlled the bridges. Here they intended to await the arrival of the vis- counts. Jarnac, an important town on this side, a few miles above Cognac, Admiral Coligny with the advance guard of the prince's army had wrested from the enemy. They had also re- covered Chateauneuf, a small place situated higher up, and midway between Jarnac and Angouleme. In pursuance of his plan, the Duke of Anjou, after crossing the Charente near Ruffec, had moved around to the south side, determined to prevent the junction of the two Huguenot armies. Once more Chateauneuf fell into his hands ; but the garrison, after retreating to the opposite bank, had destroyed the bridge behind them. This bridge the Roman Catholics set themselves at once to repair. At the same time they began the construc- tion of a bridge of boats in the immediate vicinity. While these constructions were pushed forward with great vigor, the royal army marched down as far as Cognac and made a feint of attack, but retired after drawing from the walls a furious can- nonade. It was now that prudence demanded that the Protes- tant army should withdraw from its advanced position with only the Charente between its vanguard and the far superior forces of the enemy. This was the advice of Coligny and of others in the council of war. But Conde prevented its prompt execution, exclaiming: "God forbid that it should ever be said that a Bourbon fled before his enemies ! " l The bridges being now practicable, almost the whole army of Anjou was thrown across the Charente under cover of the dark- 1 " Ja Dieune plaise qu'on die jamais que Bourbon ait fuyt devant sea en- nemis." Lestoile, 21. It is probably to this circumstance that the Earl of Leicester alludes, when he says that " the Prince of Conde, through his over- mnche hardines and little regard to follow the AdmiralTs advise had his arme broken with a courrire shotte," etc. Wright, Queen Elizabeth, i. 313, 314 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 301 ness, during the night of the twelfth and thirteenth of March, only a small force remaining on the left bank to protect Chateauneuf and the passage. So skilfully was this movement effected that it escaped the observation even of those divisions of the Protestant army that were close to the point of crossing. When at length the admiral was advised that the enemy were in force on the northern bank, he at once issued the order to fall back toward Conde and the main body of the Huguenots. Un- fortunately, the divisions of Coligny's command were scattered ; some had been discontented with the posts assigned them, and had on their own responsibility exchanged them for others that better suited their fancy. The very command to concentrate was obeyed with little promptness, and the afternoon was more than half spent before Coligny, and D'Andelot, who was with him, could begin the retreat. Is ever was dilatoriness more ill- timed. The handful of men with the admiral, near the abbey and hamlet of Bassac, fought with desperation, but Battle of Jar- nac. March could not ward off the superior numbers of the enemy. 13 156'J La Koue, in command of the extreme rear, with great courage drove back the foremost of the Roman Catholics, but was soon overpowered and taken prisoner. His men were thrown in disorder upon D'Andelot, who, by an almost super- human eifort, not only sustained the shock, but retook and for a short time held the abbey. D'Andelot was, however, in turn forced to yield the ground. . Meantime Coligny had called upon Conde for assistance, and the prince, leaving his infantry to follow, had hurried back with the few horse that were within reach, and now took position on the left. But it was imDossible for so unequal a struggle to continue long. The Hugnenots were outflanked and almost en- closed between their adversaries and the Charente. It was a time for desperate and heroic venture. Coligny's forces had lost the ground which they had been contesting inch by inch about a raised causeway. Conde himself had but three hundred knights. One of his arms he carried in a sling, because of a recent injury. To render his condition yet more deplorable, his thigh had just been broken, as he rode up, by a kick from the unmanageable 302 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. horse of his brother-in-law, La Kochefoucauld. The prince was no coward. Turning to his little company of followers, he ex- claimed: "My friends, true noblesse of France, here is the opportunity we have long wished for in vain ! Our God is the God of Battles. He loves to be so called. He always declares Himself for the right, and never fails to succor those who serve Him. He will infallibly protect us, if, after having taken up arms for the liberty of our consciences, we put all our hope in Him. Come and let us complete what the first charges have begun ; and remember in what a state Louis of Bourbon entered into the combat for Christ and for his native land! 3 ' Thus having spoken, he bent forward, and, at the head of his devoted band, and under an ensign bearing for device the figure of the Roman hero Marcus Curtius and the singularly appropriate motto, "Doux le peril pour Christ 'et le Pays," he dashed upon a hostile battalion eight hundred strong. 1 The conflict was, in the judgment of that scarred old Hugue- not warrior, Agrippa d'Aubigne, the sharpest and most obstinate in all the civil wars. 4 At last Conde's horse was killed under him, and the prince was unable to extricate himself. The day was evidently lost, and Conde, calling two of the enemies' knights with whom he was acquainted, and the life of one of whom he had on a former occasion saved, raised his visor, made himself known, and surrendered. His captors pledged him their word that his life should be spared, and respectfully en- deavored to raise him from the ground. Just at that moment another horseman rode up. It was Montesquieu, captain of Anjou's guards, who came directly from his master, and was charged so it was said with a secret commission. He drew a o pistol as he approached, and, without inquiring into *u. prince the terms of the capture, shot Conde in the back. The shot penetrated between the joints of his armor, and caused almost instantaneous death. 1 Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., liv. v., c. 8 (i. 280) ; De Thou. iv. 175. 1 D'Anbigne\ ubi supra. A Huguenot patriarch, named La Vergne, was noticed by Agrippa himself fighting iff the midst of twenty-five of his nephews and kinsmen. The dead bodies of the old man and of fifteen of his followers fell almost on a single heap, and nearly all the survivors were taken prisoners. 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 303 So perished a prince even more illustrious for his courage and intrepidity than for his exalted rank a prince who had conscientiously espoused the reformed faith, and had felt him- self constrained by his duty to his God and to his fellow- believers to assert the rights of the oppressed Huguenots against illegal persecution. " Our consolation," wrote Jeanne d'Albret a few weeks later, " is that he died on the true bed of honor, both for body and soul, for the service of his God and his king, and the quiet of his fatherland." ' So magnanimous a hero could not be insensible to the invasion of his claims as the represen- tative of the family next in the succession to the Valois ; but I cannot agree with those who believe that, in his assumption of arms in three successive wars, he was influenced solely, or even principally, by selfish or ambitious motives. His devotion to the cause which he had espoused was sincere and whole-souled. If his love of pleasure was a serious blot upon his character, let charity at least reflect upon the fearful cormption of the court in which he had been living from his childhood, and remem- ber that if Conde yielded too readily to its fascinations, and fell into shameful excesses, he yet bore with meekness the pointed remonstrances of faithful friends, and in the end shook off the chains with which his enemies had endeavored to bind him fast. 1 As a soldier, no one could surpass Conde for bra- 1 Jeanne d'Albret to Marie de Cleves, April, 1569, Rochambeau, Lettres d'Antoine de Bourbon et de Jehanne d'Albret (Paris, 1877), 297. s I regret to say that the current representations as to the termination of Conde' s dishonorable attachment to Isabeau de Limueil are proved by contem- porary documents to be erroneous. The tears and remonstrances of his wife Eleonore de Roye (see ante, chapter xiv.) may have had some temporary effect. But an anonymous letter among the Simancas MSS., written March 15, 1565 (and consequently more than six months after leonore's death, which occurred July 23, 1564), portrays him as " hora piu che mai passionate per la sua Lirno- lia." Due d'Aumale, Pidces justif., L 552. Just as Calvin (letter of Septem- ber 17, 1563, Bonnet, Lettres franQ., ii. 539) had rebuked the prince with his customary frankness, warning him respecting his conduct, and saying that " les bonnes gens en seront offensez, les malins en feront leur risee," so now Coligny and the Huguenot gentlemen of his suite united with the Protestant ministers in begging him to renounce his present course of life, and contract a second honorable marriage. The latter held up to him ' ' il pericolo et iufamia propria, et il scandalo commune a tutta la relligione per esserne lui capo ; " the former threatened to leave him. I have seen no injurious reports 804 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVI. very. 1 If his abilities as a general wore not of the very first order, he had at least the good sense to adopt the plans of Gas- pard de Coligny, the true hero of the first four civil wars. The relations between these two men were well deserving of admira- tion. On the part of Conde there was an entire absence of jeal- ousy of the resplendent abilities and well-earned reputation of the admiral. On the part of Coligny there was an equal free- dom from desire to supplant the prince either in the esteem of his followers or in military rank. Coligny was inflexible in his determination to accept no honors or distinctions that might appear to prejudice the respect due by a Chatillon to a prince of royal blood.* The Prince of Conde was, unfortunately, not the only Hu- guenot leader murdered in cold blood at the battle of Jarnac. Chastelier-Pourtaut de Latour, who, having lately brought his flotilla back in safety to La Rochelle, had hastened to take the field with the Protestants, was recognized after his capture as the same nobleman who, five years before, had killed the Sieur de Charry at Paris, and was killed in revenge by some of Gharry's friends. Robert Stuart, the brave leader descended from the royal house of Scotland, who was said to have slain Constable Montmorency in the battle of St. Denis, was assas- sinated after he had been talking with the Duke of Anjou, within hearing and almost in sight of the duke, by one of the constable's adherents. 3 These flagrant violations of good faith incurred severe ani- affecting Conde's morals after his marriage, November 8, 1565, to Francoise Marie d'Orleans Longueville. Due d'Aumale, Princes de Conde, L 263-278. 1 Long the idol of the Huguenots, both of high or of low degree, he enjoyed a popularity perpetuated in a spirited song ("La Chanson du Petit Homme "), current so far back as the close of the first war, 1563, the refrain of which, alluding to the prince's diminutive stature, is: " Dieu garcC de mal le Petit Homme ! " Chansonnier Huguenot, 250, etc. 8 The author of the Vie de Coligny (Cologne, 1686) gives more than one instance of a deference on the part of the subject of his biography which may seem to the reader excessive, but which alone could satisfy the chivalrous feeling of the loyal knight of the sixteenth century. 3 Brantome (Hommes illustres, (Euvres, viii. 163, 164) relates that Honorat de Savoie, Count of Villars, begged the Duke of Anjou to have Stuart given over to him, and, having gained his request, murdered him. 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 305 madversion. A letter is extant, written by yonng Prince Henry of Navarre, or in his name, to Henry of Anjou, on Navarre re- tlie twelfth of July, 1569, about four months after the apaiiU the battle of Jarnac. He begins by answering the asper- sions cast upon his mother and himself, and by assert- ing that, if his age (which, however, is not much less than that of Anjou) disqualifies him from passing a judgment upon the present state of affairs, he has lived long enough to recognize the instigators of the new troubles as the enemies of the public weal. It is not Henry of Navarre, whose honors and dignities are all dependent upon the preservation of France, who seeks the ruin of the kingdom ; but, rather, they seek its ruin who, in their eagerness to usurp the crown, have gone the length of making genealogical searches to prove their possession of a title superior to that of the Valois, " and have learned how to sell the blood of the house of France against itself, 1 constraining the king, as it were, to make use of his left arm to cut off his right, so as more easily to wrest his sceptre from him after- ward." In reply to the statement of Anjou that Stuart alone was killed in cold blood, Henry of Xavarre affirms that he can enumerate many others.* " But I shall content myself with merely reminding you of the manner in which the late Prince of Conde was treated, inasmuch as it touches you, Sir, and because it is a matter well known and free of doubt. For his death has left to posterity an example of as noted treachery, bad faith and cruelty as was ever shown, seeing that those, Sir, who murdered him could not be deterred from the perpetration of so wicked an act by the respect they owed to the greatness of your blood, to which he had the honor of being so nearly 1 ' ' Qui par artifices merveilleusement subtils ont bien sceu vandre le sang de la maison de France centre soy-mesmes." The Earl of Leicester wrote to Randolph: "Robert Stuart. Chastellier, and certaine other worthy gentlemen, to the number of six, were lykewise taken and slayne, as the Frenche tearme it, de sang froid." Wright, Queen Elizabeth, L 314. See also Cardinal Chatillon's letter to the Elector Pala- tine, June 10, 1.1(59. in which the writer declares significantly of Conde'g murder by Montesquieu, " ce qu'il n'eust ose entreprendre sans en avoir commandement des plus grand*." Kluckholn, Brief e Friedrich des From- men, ii. 336. VOL. IL 20 306 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. related, and that they dealt with him as they would have done with the most miserable soldier of the whole army." ' The Huguenot loss in the battle of Jarnac was surprisingly small in the number of men killed. It is probable that, includ- ing prisoners, they lost about four hundred men, or about twice as many as the Roman Catholics.' But the loss was in effect much more considerable. The dead and the prisoners were the flower of the French nobility. Among those that had fallen into the enemy's hands were the bastard son of Antoine of Navarre, Frangois de la Roue, Soubise, La Loue, and others of nearly equal distinction. Of infantry the Huguenot army lost but few men, as the regiments, with the exception of that of Pluviaut, did not enter the engagement at all. Coming up too late, and finding themselves in danger of falling into the hands of the enemy's victorious cavalry, they evacuated Jamac, crossed to the left bank of the Charente, and, after breaking down the bridge, retreated leisurely toward Cognac. Admiral Coligny, meantime, upon whom the command in chief now devolved, diverged to the right, and conducted the cavalry in safety to Saintes. The Roman Catholic army, apparently satisfied with the success it had gained, made no attempt at pursuit. The Duke of Anjou entered Jarnac in triumph. "With him was brought the corpse of the Prince of Conde, tied to an ux-'s back, to be afterward exposed by a pillar of the house where Anjou lodged the butt of the sneers and low wit of the sol- 1 Letter of Henry of Navarre to the Duke of Anjou, " escript au Camp d'Availle le xii e jour de juillet 1569." Lettres inedites de Henry IV. re- cueillies par le Prince Augustin Galitzin (Paris. 1860), 4-11. 4 The Huguenot loss is given by Jean de Serres (iii. 310) at 200 killed and 40 taken prisoners. Agrippa d'Aubigne states it at 140 gentilhommes (Hist. univ., i. 280). The Earl of Leicester's words are : "In which conflicte was slayne on both sydes, as we heare, not above f cure hundred men " (Wright, Queen Elizabeth, i. 313, 314). Castelnau speaks of over a hundred Huguenot gentlemen slain and an equal number taken prisoners (liv. vii. , c. 4). The "Ad viz donne par M r Norrys, ambassadeur pour la royne d'Angleterre, prins de ses lettres, envoyees de Metz, le 18 d'Avril " (La Mothe Fenelon, i. 3G2), agrees with Leicester, but is unique in making Anjou's loss greater than that of the Huguenots. De Thou makes'the Protestants lose 400. The untruth- ful Davila says, " the Huguenots lost not above seven hundred men, but they were most of them gentlemen and cavaliers of note." 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 307 diers.' In the first glow of exultation over a victory, the real credit of which belonged to Gaspard de Tavannes, 3 Anjou con- templated erecting a chapel on the spot where Conde fell. The better counsels of M. de Carnavalet, however, induced him to abandon a design which would have confirmed all the sinister rumors respecting his complicity in the assassination.* The prince's dead body was given up for interment to the Prince of Navarre, and found a resting-place in the ancestral tomb at Vendome. 4 Henry of Anjou was not inclined to suffer his victory to pass . . unnoticed. Almost as soon as the smoke of battle had Exasperated imik-uns. cleared away, a careful description of his exploit was prepared for circulation, and it was no fault of the compiler if 1 Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 281. La Fosse and others have preserved one of the good Catholic stanzas composed on this occasion : L'an mil cinq cent soixante et neuf Entre Congnac et Chateauneuf Fust apporte sur Tine anesse Le grand ennemi de la messe. (Journal d'un cure ligueur, 104.) 5 "On donna 1'honneurde cette defaicte a M. de Tavannes." La Fosse, 104. s De Thou, iv. (liv- xlv.) 177. Claude de Sainctes, afterward Bishop of Evreur, who, it will be remembered, figured at the colloquy of Poissy, is credited with the suggestion of the chapel. 4 The principal authorities consulted for the battle of Jarnac, or of Bassac, as it is also frequently called, from the abbey near which it raged, are : Jean de Serres, iii. 309-315 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xlv.) 173-176 ; Castelnau, liv. vii, c. 4 ; Ag. d'Anbigne, i. 278-281 ; Le vray discours de la bataille donnee par monsieur le 13. iour de Mars, 1569, entre Chasteauneuf et Jarnac. etc. , avee privilege (Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, vi. 365, etc.) ; Discours de la bataille donnee par Monseigneur, Due d' Anjou et de Bourbonnoys, . . . centre les rebelles . . . entre la ville d'Angoulesme et Jarnac, pres d'une maison nominee Vibrac appartenant a la Dame de Mezieres ; an inaccurate official account, drawn up at Metz by Neufville on the first reception of the news, and sent by the Spanish ambassador, Alava, to Philip II. ; La Mothe Fenelon, Corr. dip., vii 3-11; Davila, bk. iv. ; the "Relation originate " in Documents inedits tires des coll. MSS. de la bibliotheque royale (Fr. gov.), iv. 483, etc. Compare the excellent narratives of the Due d'Aumale and Prof. Soldan. The Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fr., i. (1853) 429, gives a representation of a monument, in the form of an obelisk, about eleven feet in height, erected by the Department of the Charente. in 1818, on the spot where Conde fell. A somewhat similar monument, raised in 1770 by the Count de Jarnac, was destroyed daring the first French revolution. 308 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVL the account he gave was not sufficiently nattering to the young prince's vanity. Conde's body had not been four days in the hands of the Roman Catholics, before Anjou wrote to his brother, the King of France, announcing the fact that he had already despatched messengers with the precious document to the Pope and the Duke of Florence, to the Dukes of Savoy, Ferrara, Parma, and Urbino, to the Republic of Venice and the Duke of Mantua, and to Philip of Spain ; while copies were also under way, intended for the French ambassadors in England and Switzerland, for the Parliaments of Paris, Bordeaux, and Toulouse, the " prevot des marchands," and the " echevins " of the capital, and others. 1 The exaggerated bulletins of the Duke of Anjou were received with great demonstrations of joy by all the Roman Catholic allies of France. Pope Pius the Fifth in particular sent warm congratulations to the "Most Christian King" and to Catharine de' Medici. But he was very careful to couple his sanguinary expressions of thanks with an earnest recommenda- tion to pursue the work so auspiciously begun, even to the extermination of the detested heretics. " The more kindly God has dealt with you and us," he promptly wrote to Charles, " the more vigorously and diligently must you make use of the present victory to pursue and destroy the remnants of the enemy, and wholly tear up, not only the roots of an evil so great and which had gathered to itself such strength, but even the vei*y fibres of the roots. Unless they be thoroughly extirpated, they will again sprout and grow up (as we have so often heretofore seen happen), where your Majesty least expects it."' Pius pledged his word that Charles would succeed in his undertaking, " if no respect for men or for human considerations should be powerful enough to induce him to spare God's enemies, who had spared neither God nor him." " In no other way," he added, " will you be able to appease God, than by avenging the injuries done to God with the utmost severity, by the merited punishment of most accursed men." And he set as a warning before the 1 Anjou to Charles IX., March 17, 1569, Due d'Aumale, Les Princes de Conde, iL 399. 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 309 eyes of the French monarch the example of King Saul, who, when commanded by God, through Samuel the Prophet, so to smite the Amalekites, an infidel people, that none should escape, neither man nor woman, neither infant nor suckling, incurred the anger and rejection of the Almighty by sparing Agag and the best of the spoil, instead of utterly destroying them. 1 Two weeks later the pontiff received the unwelcome tidings that some of the Huguenot prisoners taken in the battle of Jarnac had been spared. La Xoue, Soubise, and other gentle- men had actually been left alive, and were likely to escape with- out paying the forfeit due to their crimes. At this dreadful intelligence the righteous indignation of Pius was kindled. On one and the same day (the thirteenth of April) he wrote long letters to Catharine, to Anjou, to the Cardinal of Lorraine, to the Cardinal of Bourbon, as well as to Charles himself. 1 Of all these letters the tenor was identical. Such slackness to execute vengeance would certainly provoke God's patience to anger; the king must visit condign punishment upon the enemies of God and the rebels against his own authority. To the victor of Jarnac he was specially urgent, supplicating him to coun- teract any leanings that might be shown to an impious mercy. ' Your brother's rebels have disturbed the public tranquillity of the realm. They have, so far as in them lay, subverted the Catholic religion, have burned churches, have most cruelly slain the priests of Almighty God, have committed numberless other crimes; consequently they deserve to receive those extreme penalties (supplicia) that are ordained by the laws. And if any of their number shall attempt, through the intercession of your nobles with the king your brother, to escape the penalties they deserve, it is your duty, in view of your piety to God and zeal for the divine honor, to reject the prayers of all that intercede for them, and to show yourself equally inexorable to all." ' "NYas it in consequence of the known desire of the occupant of the Holy See that the policy of the French courts of justice 1 Apostolicarum Pii Quinti, P. M. , Epistolanuu libri quinque. AnUerpiae, 1640. 152. 8 Pii Quinti Epist, 107-166. 3 Ibid., 100, 101. 310 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. CH. XVL became more and more sanguinary ? We can scarcely doubt that the Pope's ini unctions had much to do with these in- The sanffuina- . r > . -n>f>{\ J.T- ry action of creasing severities. Bee-inning in March, 1569, the the Parlia- - , . J r T> j l ' C A ment of EOT- parliament or Bordeaux issued a series 01 decrees condemning a crowd of Protestants to death. The names that appear upon the records within the compass of one vear number not less than twelve hundred and seventeen. The v victims were taken out of all grades of society from noblemen, military men, judges, priests and monks, down to humble mechanics and laborers. The lists made out by their enemies prove at least one fact which the Huguenots had long main- tained : that they counted in their ranks representatives of the first families of the country, as well as of every other class of the population. Happily sentence was pronounced generally upon the absent, and the barbarous punishment of beheading, quartering, and exposing to the popular gaze, remained unexe- cuted. But the incidental penalty of the confiscation of the property of reputed Huguenots, which, so far from being a mere formal threat, was in fact the principal object contempla- ted by the prosecution, proved to be sober reality, and the goods of the banished Protestants afforded rich plunder to the in- formers. 1 Upon Elizabeth of England the first effect of the reported victory at Jarnac was clearly marked. Her favorite, the Earl of Leicester, assured the French ambassador that, al- Queen Eliza- beth becomes though the queen was sorry to see those professing her religion maltreated, yet, as queen, she would arm in behalf of Charles when fighting against his own subjects. 2 Her own declarations, however, were not so strong, or perhaps, after a little reflection, she took a more hopeful view of the fortunes of the Huguenots. For, although she exhibited cu- riosity to hear the " true " account, which a special messenger from Charles the Kinth was commissioned to bring her, and re- ceived the tidings in a manner satisfactory to the French am- 1 Boscheron des Fortes, Hist, du Parlement de Bordeaux (Bordeaux, 1877), L 214, 216. As the Huguenots were condemned, not for heresy, but for re- bellion, sacrilege, etc., the learned author finds no mention of fagot and flame. * La Mothe Fenelon, L 288-294. 15fi9. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 311 bassador, she would not rejoice at the death of Conde, whom she held to be a very good and faithful servant of his Majt- crown, and deplored a war which, whether victory inclined to one side or the other, must lead to the diminution of Charles's best forces and the ruin of his noblesse. 1 In point of fact, however, the defeat which the royalists had flattered themselves would terminate the war, and over which they had sung Te Deums, weakened the Huguenots very little. 1 The Queen of Navarre, on hearing the intelligence, Spirit of the Queen of hurried to Cognac, where she presented herself to the army, and reminded the brave men who heard her voice that, although the Prince of Conde, their late leader, was dead, the good cause was not dead ; and that the cour- age of such good men ought never to fail. God had pro- vided, and ever would provide, fresh instruments to up- hold His own chosen work. Her brief address restored the flagging spirits of the fugitives. "When she returned to La Rochelle, to devise new means of supplying the necessities of the army, she left behind her men resolved to retrieve their recent losses. They did not wait long for an opportunity. The Roman Catholics, advancing, laid siege to Cognac, confi- dent of easy success. But the garrison, which included seven thousand infantry newly levied, received them with determina- tion. Sallies were frequent and bloody, and when, at last, the siege was raised, the army of Anjou had sacrificed nearly as many men before the walls of a small provincial city as the Huguenots had lost on the much vaunted field of Jarnac.' The events of the next two or three months certainly ex- hibited no diminution in the power or in the spirit of the 1 Despatch of April 12, 1569, ibid., i. 303. s It i3 evident that the results of the battle were designedly exaggerated by the Roman Catholics at the time, and have been overrated ever since. Agrippa d' Aubigne alleges that, oat of 128 cornets of cavalry in the Hugue- not army, only fifteen were engaged ; and that of over 200 ensigns of in- fantry, barely six those under Pluviaut came within a league of the battle- field. Hist, univ., ubi supra. 3 Jean de Serres, iii. 317, 318 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. xlv.) 178, 179. De Thou reckons the losses of the Roman Catholics before Cognac at more than 300 men. 312 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVL Huguenots. St. Jean d'Angelj, into which Count Montgomery had thrown himself, defied the entire army of An- nots recover jou, and the siege was abandoned. Angouleme, an equally tempting morsel, he tried to obtain, but failed. At Mucidan, a town somewhat to the southwest of Perigueux, he was more successful. But he effected its capture at the expense of the life of Brissac, one of his bravest officers a loss which he attempted to avenge by murdering the garri- son, after it had surrendered on condition that life and property should be spared. 1 "Within a month or two after the battle of Jarnac the Protestants at La Rochelle wrote, for Queen Eliza- beth's information, that they were more powerful than ever, that Piles had brought them 4,000 recruits, that D'Andelot was soon to bring the viscounts with a large force. 3 But the course of that indefatigable warrior was now run. D'Andelot's excessive labors and constant exposure had brought on a fever to which his life soon succumbed. There were not wanting those, it is true, who ascribed his sudden death, like most of the deaths of important personages in the latter part of Death of this century, to poison ; and Huguenot and loyal D-Andeiot. pamphleteers alike laid the crime at the door of Catharine de' Medici. 3 But there is no sufficient evidence to 1 De Thou, iv. 180, 181 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 282 ; J. de Series, iii. 318, 319. 5 La Mothe Fenelon, i. 367. And now, to the insulting quatrain already quoted a propos of Conde's death, the Huguenot soldiers of Angoumois re- plied in rough verses of their own : Le Prince de Conde 11 a etc tuS ; Mais Monsieur 1'Amiral Est encore a cheval, Avec La Rochefoucauld Pour achever tous oes Papaux. V. Bujeaud, Chronique proteatante de rAngoumois, 40. 3 Discours merveilleux de la vie de Catherine de Medicis (Cologne, 1683), 645. See the atrocious letter to Catharine, which the queen found upon her bed, Nov. 8, 1575. and which purports to have been written from Lausanne. In the copy published by Le Laboureur (ii. 42.5-429), it is signed u Grand Champ ; " in that which the editor of Claude Haton gives in an appendix (p. 1111-1115) the name is " Einille Dardani." The date is doubtful. Le Labou- 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 313 substantiate the accusation, and we must not unnecessarily ascribe this base act to a woman already responsible for too many undeniable crimes. 1 The death of so gallant and true- hearted a nobleman, a faithful and unflinching friend of the Reformation from the time when it first began to spread exten- sively among the higher classes of the French population, and who had amply atoned for a momentary act of weakness, in the time of Henry the Second, by an uncompromising profession of his religion on every occasion during the reigns of that mon- arch's two sons, was deeply felt by his comrades in arms. Aa " colonel-general of the French infantry," he had occupied the first rank in this branch of the service, 2 and his experience was as highly prized as his impetuous valor upon the field of battle. The brilliancy of his executive abilities seemed to all beholders indispensable to complement the more calm and de- liberative temperament of his elder brother. It was natural, therefore, that the admiral, while pouring out his private grief for one who had been so dear to him, in a touching letter to D'Andelot's children,* should experience as deep a sorrow for reur is apparently more correct in giving it as " le troisieme mois de la qua- trieme annee apres la trahison " (St. Bartholomew's Day). 1 The Vie de Coligny (Cologne, 1680), p. 360, 361, says nothing to indicate that the author regarded D'Andelot's death as other than natural But Hot- man's Gasparis Colinii Vita (1575), p. 75, mentions the suspicion, and considers it confirmed by the saving attributed to Birague, afterward chancellor, that "the war would never be terminated by arms alone, but that it might be brought to a close very easily by cooks." Cardinal Chatillon, in a letter to the Elector Palatine, June 10, 1569, alludes to his brother's having died of poison as a well-ascertained fact, " comme il est apparent tant par 1'anatomie," etc. Kluckholn, Briefe Frederick des Frominen, ii. 336. * Since the outbreak of the present war, the court had undertaken to deprive D'Andelot of his rank, and had divided his duties between Brissac and Scrozzi. Brissac had been killed, and Strozzi was now recognized by the court as colonel-general. 3 The letter written from Saintes, May 18, 1569, is inserted in Gasparis Colinii Vita (1575) pp. 75-78, the author remarking, ''quam ipsius manum, atque chirographuin prae manibus jam habeo." The possession of so many family manuscripts on the part of the anonymous writer of this valuable contempo- rary account, is explained by the fact that he was no other than the distin- guished Francis Hotman, in whose hands the admiral's widow. Jaqueline d'En- tremont, or Autremont, had placed all the documents she possessed, entreating him to undertake the pious task of compiling a life of her husband. In a re* 314 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVI. the loss of his wise and efficient co-operation. lie might be pardoned a little despondency as he recalled the prophetic words that had dropped from D'Andelot's lips during a brief respite from his burning fever : " France shall have man y woes to suffer with you, and then without you ; but all will in the end fall upon the Spaniard ! " ' The prospect was not bright. Peace was yet far distant peace, which Coligny preferred a thousand times to his own life, but would not purchase dis- honorably by the sacrifice of civil liberty and of the right to worship his God according to the convictions of his heart and conscience. The burden of the defence of the Protestants had appeared sufficiently heavy when Conde, a prince of the blood, was alive to share it with him. But now, with the entire charge of maintaining the party against a powerful and determined enemy, who had the advantage of the possession of the person of the king, and thus was able to cloak his ambitious designs with the pretence of the royal authority, and deprived of a brother whom the army had appropriately suruamed " le cheva- lier sans peur," a the task might well appear to demand herculean strength. Henry of Navarre had, indeed, just been recognized as general-in-chief, and he was accompanied by his cousin, Henry rf of Conde ; but Navarre was a boy of little more than U al- v fifteen, and his cousin was not much older. Nothing could f or the present be expected from such striplings ; and the public, ever ready to look upon the comical side of even the most serious matters, was not slow in nicknaming them the " admiral's two pages." * Coligny, however, was not crushed by the new responsibility which devolved upon him. No longer markable letter which has but lately come to light, dated January 15, 1573 (new style 1573), after an exordium full of those classical allusions of which the age was so fond, she writes: " Ne trouvez etrange, je vous supplie, si j'ai essaye de reveiller vostre plume pour laisser a la posterite autant de temoignages de la vertu de feu monseigneur et mari, que nos ennemis la veulent designer," etc. Bulletin, vi. 29. 1 " La France aura beaucoup de maux avec vous, et puis sans vous ; mais eu fin tonttombera sur 1'Espagnol." Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 283. 3 Agrippa d'Aubigne, ubi supra. J Berger de Xivrey, Lettres missives de Henri IV. (Paris, 1843), i. 7. 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 315 hampered by the authority of one whose counsels often verged ' on foolhardiness, he soon exhibited his consummate abilities so clearly, that even his enemies were forced to acknowledge that they had never given him the credit he deserved. " It was soon perceived,'' observes an author by no means friendly to the Huguenots, " that the accident (of Conde's death) had happened only in order to reveal in all its splendor the merits of the Admiral do Chatillon. The admiral had had during his entire life very difficult and complicated matters to unravel, and, nevertheless, he had never had any that were not far be- low his abilities, and in which, consequently, he had no need of exerting his full capacity. Thus those qualities that were rarest, and that exalted him most above others, remained hid- den, through lack of opportunity, and would apparently have remained always concealed during the lifetime of the Prince of Conde, because the world would have attributed to the prince all those results to whose accomplishment it could not learn that the admiral had contributed more than had the former. But, after the battle of Jarnac had permitted the admiral to exhibit himself fully on the most famous theatre of Europe, the Cal- vinists perceived that they were not so unhappy as they thought, since they still had a leader who would prevent them from noticing the loss they had experienced, so many singular quali- ties had he to repair it." ' Wolfgang, Duke of Deux Fonts, had at length entered France, and was bringing to the Huguenots their long-expected succor. He had seven thousand five hundred reiters from Deux Fonts lower Germany, six thousand lansquenets from upper carman am- Germany, and a body of French and Flemish gentle- men, under "William of Orange and his brother, Mouy, Esternay and others, which may have swelled his army to about 1 Histoire de Charles IX. parle sieur Varillas (Cologne, 1686). ii. 161, 162. I am glad to embrace this opportunity of quoting a historian in whose state- ments of facts I have as seldom the good fortune to concur as in his general deductions of principles. M. de Thou (iv. 182) remarks in a similar spirit : " II fit voir a la France (et ses ennemis meme en convinrent) qu'il e"toit capable de soutenir lui seul tout le parti Protestant dont on croyoit auparavant qu'il ne soutenoit qu'une partie. " 316 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Ca. XVI. seventeen thousand men in all.' In vain did his cousin, the Duke of Lorraine, attempt to dissuade him, offering to reim- burse him the one hundred thousand crowns he had already spent upon the preparations for the expedition. Even Conde's death did not discourage him. lie came, he said, to fight, not for the prince, but for "the cause."* When about entering his Most Christian Majesty's dominions, he had published the reasons of his coming to assist the Huguenots. In this paper he treated as pure calumnies the accusations brought by their enemies against Conde, Coligny, and their associates, and proved his position by quoting the king's own express declaration, in the recent edicts of pacification, " that he recognized everything they had attempted as undertaken by his orders and for the good of the kingdom." ' The point was certainly well taken. Charles's various declarations were not remarkably consistent. In one, Conde was " his faithful servant and subject," and his acts were prompted by the purest of motives. In the next, he and his fellow-Huguenots were incorrigible rebels, with whom every method of conciliation had signally failed. But Charles did not trouble himself to attempt to smooth away these contradictions. He is even said to have replied to the envoy whom Deux Pouts sent him (April, 1569), demanding the restitution of the Edict of January and the payment of thirty thousand crowns due to Prince Casimir, that " Deux Ponts was too insignificant a per- sonage (trop petit compagnori) to undertake to dictate laws to him, and that, as to the money, he would deliberate about that when the duke had laid down his arms." * 1 Ranke (Civil Wars and Monarchy), 241 ; the statement of Jean de Serrea, iii. 325, would make the total number a little larger ; the accounts of Agrippa d'Aubign6, i. 285, and De Thou, iv. 185, make it somewhat smaller. Adviz, etc., La Mothe Fenelon, L 363. 3 De Thou, iv. 184 ; Jean de Serres, iii. 320-323. This was in February. It was the more natural for Wolfgang to defend his course, as he was himself an ancient ally of the King of Spain. In the Papiers d'etat du card, de Granvelle, ix. 567, we have the text of a compact formed Oct. 1, 1565 : " Lettres de Ser- vice accordees par le roi d'Espagne a Wolfgang, comte Palatin et due de Deux Ponts." According to this document, the duke was bound for three years to obey Philip's summons, although he refused to pledge himself * do anything directly or indirectly against the Augsburg Confession or ita supporters. 4 Journal d'un cure ligueur (Jehan de la Fosse), 104. 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR. 317 The secret of this arrogant demeanor is found in the fact that the court believed it impossible for the Germans to join Coligny. Even so late as the middle of May, when Deux Fonts had penetrated to Autun in Burgundy, Charles regarded the attempt as well nigh hopeless. The fortunes of the Huguenots were desperate. " There remains for them as their last resort," he wrote to one of his ambassadors, " but the single hope that the Duke of Deux Fonts will venture so far as to go to find them where they are. But there is little likelihood that an army of strangers, pursued by another of about equal strength an army destitute of cities of its own, without means of passing the rivers, favored by no one in my kingdom, dying of hunger, so often harassed and put to inconvenience should be able to make so long a journey without being lost and dissipated of itself, even had I no forces to combat it." " The duke," con- tinued the king, "will soon repent of his mad project of enter- ing France, and attempting to cross the Loire, where such good provision has been made to obstruct him." l Charles had not exaggerated the difficulties of the under- taking ; but Deux Fonts, under the blessing of Heaven, sur- Theyover- mounted them all. The discord between Aumale S^fesand" and Nemours rendered weak and useless an army that jom coiigny. jj^g}^ i n the hands of a single skilful general, have checked or annihilated him. 5 Mouy and his French comrades were good guides. The Loire was reached, while Aumale and Nemours followed at a respectful distance. Guerchy, an officer lately belonging to Coligny's army, discovered a ford by which a part of the Germans crossed. The main body laid siege to the town of La Charite, which was soon reduced (on the twentieth of May), the Huguenots thus gaining a bridge and stronghold that proved of great utility for their future operations. Six days 1 Letter of Charles IX. to La Mothe Fenelon, May 14, 1569, Corresp. dipl. , vii. 20. 21. The same incredulity respecting the possibility of Deux Ponts's enterprise is expressed by the anonymous author of a memorandum of a journey through France, in Documents inedits tires des MSS. de la bibl. royale, iv. 493. It is alluded to in the "Remonstrance" of the Protestant princes presented after the junction of the armies. Jean de Serres, iii. 337. * Castelnau, liv. vii. , c. 5. 318 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVL after the king had demonstrated the impossibility of the enter- prise, Deux Ponts was on the western side of the Loire. 1 Mean- time, Coligny and La Rochefoucauld were advancing to meet him with the elite of their army and with all the artillery they had. On approaching Limoges on the Vienne, they learned that the Germans had crossed the river and were but two leagues distant. Coligny at once took horse, and rode to their encampment, in order to greet and congratulate their leader. lie was too late. The general, who had conducted an army Death of fi y e hundred miles through a hostile country, was in Deux Fonts. ^ j agt a g On i es o f death, and on the next day (the eleventh of June) fell a victim to a fever from which he had for some time been suffering. " It is a thing that ought for all time to be remarked as a singular and special act of God," said a bul-. letin sent by the Queen of Navarre to Queen Elizabeth, " that He permitted this prince to traverse so great an extent of coun- try, with a great train of artillery, inf antry, and baggage, and in full view of a large army ; and to pass so many rivers, and through so many difficult and dangerous places, of such kind that it is not in the memory of man that an army has passed through any similar ones, and by which a single wagon could not be driven without great trouble, so that it appeal's a dream to those who have not seen it ; and that being out of danger, and having arrived at the place where he longed to be, in order to assist the churches of this realm, God should have been pleased, that very day, to take him to Himself ; and, what is more, that his death should have produced no change or com- motion in his army." * Duke "Wolfgang of Deux Ponts was quietly succeeded in the command of the German troops by Count Wolrad of Mansfeld. A day later the two armies met with lively demonstrations of joy. In honor of the alliance thus cemented a medal was struck, bearing on the one side the names and portraits of Jeanne and Henry of Navarre, and on the other the significant words, " Pax 1 De Thou, iv. 185-188 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 285 ; Anquetil, Esprit de la ligue, i. 297. s Discours envoye de La Rochelle a la Royne d'Angleterre. La Mothe Fe- nelon, ii. 158, etc. 1569. THE THIRD CIVIL WAR 319 certa, riduria 'int< a ^ ew leagues north of Paris, sent orders the clrdi- to Christopher de Thou, the first president, to wait nai chatuion. upon him with the parliamentary records. Aware of the king's object, De Thou, pleading illness, sent four of his counsellors instead; but these were ignominiously dismissed, and the presence of the chief judge was again demanded. When De Thou at last appeared, Charles greeted him roughly. " Here you are," he said, " and not very ill, thank God ! Why do you go counter to my edicts ? I owe our cousin, Cardinal Bour- bon, no thanks for having applied for and obtained sentence against the house of Chatillon, which has done me so much ser- vice, and took up arms for me" Then calling for the records, he ordered the president to point out the proceedings against the admiral's brother, and, on finding them, tore out with his own hand three leaves on which they were inscribed ; and on having his attention directed by the marshal, who stood by, to other places bearing upon the same case, he did not hesitate to tear these out also. 1 To all with whom he conversed Charles avowed his steadfast purpose to maintain the peace inviolate. He called it his own peace. He told Walsinsrham. "he willed him to Hisassnr- . ' noes to wai- assure her Majesty, that the only care he presently had was to entertain the peace, whereof the Queen of Navarre and the princes of the religion could well be witnesses, as also generally the whole realm." * And the shrewd diplo- matist be.ieved that the king spoke the truth ; ' although, when 1 The only account of this striking occurrence which I have seen ia given by Jehan de la Fosse, p. 122. 1 Walsingham and Norris to Elizabeth, Jan. 29, 1571, Digges, 24. 3 " The best ground of continuance," he writes to Leicester, " that I can learn, by those that can best judge, is the king's own inclination, which ia thought sincerely to be bent that way." Jan. 28, 1571, Digges, 23. 372 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVII. lie looked at the adverse circumstances with which Charles was surrounded, and the vicious and irreligious education he had received, there was room for solicitude respecting his stability. 1 There was, indeed, much to strengthen the hands of Charles in his new policy of toleration. On the twenty-sixth of November he married, with great pomp and amid the display of the pop- ular delight, Elizabeth, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian the Second. This union, far from imperilling the permanence of the peace in France, 3 was likely to render it more lasting, if the bridegroom could be induced to copy the conciliatory and politic example of his father-in-law. Not long after Charles received at Villers-Cotterets an embassy sent by the three Gracious an- Protestant electors of Germany and the other power- ^mandeo- ^ princes of the same faith. They congratulated him upon the suppression of civil disorder in France, and entreated him to maintain freedom of worship in his do- minions such as existed in Germany and even in the dominions of the Grand Turk ; lending an ear to none who might attempt to persuade him that tranquillity could not subsist in a kingdom where there was more than one religion. Charles made a gra- cious answer, and the German ambassadors retired, leaving the friends of the Huguenots to entertain still better hopes for the recent treaty.* It cannot be denied, however, that the Huguenots could see much that was disquieting and calculated to prevent them from laying aside their suspicions. There were symptoms of the old constitutional timidity on the part of Catharine de' Medici. She showed signs of so far yielding to the inveterate enemies of the Huguenots as to abstain from insisting upon the concession of public religious worship where it had been accorded by the Edict of St. Germain. No wonder that the Huguenots, on their side, warned her, with friendly sincerity and frankness, that, should she refuse to 1 " Thus, sir, you see, for that he is not settled in religion, how he is car- ried away with worldly respects, a common misery to those of his calling." Ibid., 30". 1 Walsingham to Leicester, Aug. 29, 1570, Digges, 8. 3 De Thou, iv. 330-333. See Digges, 30. 1571. THE PEACE OP SAINT GERMAIN. 373 entertain their just demands, the present peace would be only a ljri<-f truce, the prelude to a relentless ciml war. " We will all die," was their language, " rather than forsake our God and our religion, which we can no more sustain without public exercise than could a body live without food and drink." ' Not only did the courts throw every obstacle in the way of the formal recognition of the law establishing the rights of the Huguenots, but the outbreaks of popular hatred asrainst the ad- Infrinpement . . c i . -, on the edict herents of the purer faith were alarming evidence that the chronic sore had only been healed over the surface, and that none of the elements of future disorder and bloodshed were wanting. Thus, in the little city and princi- pality of Orange, the Roman Catholic populace, taking advan- tage of the supineness of the governor and of the consuls, intro- duced within the walls, under cover of a three days' religious festival, a large number of ruffians from the adjoining Comtat Yenaissin. This was early in February, 1571. Now began a scene of rapine and bloodshed that might demand detailed mention, were it not that at the frequent repetition of such ghastly recitals the stoutest heart sickens. Men, and even mere boys, of the reformed faith were butchered in their homes, in the arms of their wives or their mothers. The goods of Prot- estants were plundered and openly sold to the highest bidder. 1 Letter of the Queen of Navarre to the queen mother, Dec. 17, 1570, Rochambeau, Lettres d'Antoine de Bourbon et de Jehanne d'Albret (Paris, 1877), 306. A few lines of this admirable paper (which is, however, much mutilated) may be quoted as having an almost prophetic significance : " Et vous diray, Madame, les larmes aus yeulx, avecq une afection pure et en- tiere que, s'il ne plaist an Roy et a vous nous aseurenr nos tristes demandes, que je ne puis esperer qu'une treve . . . en ce royaulme par ceste guerre siville, car nous y mourrons tous plustost que quiter nostre Dieu et nostre religion, laquelle nous ne pouvons tenir sans exersise, non plus qu'un corps ne saure vivre sans boire et manger. . . . Je vous en ay dit le seul moyen ; ayes pitie de tant de sang repandu, de tant d'impietes commises en la . . . de ceste guerre et que vous ne pourrez bien d'un seul mot faire cesser." "Et sur cella, Madame, je supliray Dieu qui tient les cueurs des Roys en sa main disposer celui du Roi et le voetre a mectre le repos en ce royaulme a sa gloire et contentement de Vos Majestes, maugre le complot de M. le Cardinal de Lorrayne, dont il a descouvert la trame a Villequagnon," etc. 374 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV IT. Of many, a ransom was exacted for their safety. The work went on for two weeks. At last a deputy from Orange reached the Huguenot princes and the admiral at La Rochelle, and Count Louis of Nassau, who was still there, wrote to Charles with such urgency, in the name of his brother, the Prince of Orange, that measures were taken to repress and punish the disorder. 1 A much more serious infringement upon the protection granted to the Protestants by the edict, took place at Rouen The Protea- about a month later. Unable to celebrate their wor- wJ*edf uen ship within the city walls, the Protestants had gone out March 4, is?!. Qne j un( j a y morning to the place assigned them for this purpose in the suburbs. Meantime a body of four hundred Roman Catholics posted themselves in ambush near the gates to await their return. When the unsuspecting Huguenots, de- voutly meditating upon the solemnities in which they had been engaged, made their appearance, they were greeted first with imprecations and blasphemies, then with a murderous attack. Between one hundred and one hundred and twenty are said to have been killed or wounded. The punishment of this audacious violation of the rights of the Protestants was at first left by parliament to the inferior or presidial judges, and the investi- gation dragged. The judges were threatened as they went to court : "Si 1'on S9avoit que vous eussiez informe, on vous crev- eroit les yeux ; si vous y mectez la main, on vous coupera la gorge ! " The people broke into the prisons and liberated the accused. The civic militia refused to interfere. It was evident that no justice could be obtained from the local magistrates. The king, however, on receiving the complaints of the Huguenots, displayed great indignation, and despatched Montmorency to Rouen with twenty-seven companies of soldiers, and a commis- sion authorized to try the culprits. The greater part of these, however, had fled. Only five persons received the punish- ment of death ; several hundred fugitives were hung in effigy. Montmorency attempted to secure the Protestants against fur- 1 Discours du massacre fait a Orange, from the Me"m. de 1'etat de France sous Charles IX., Archives curieuses, vi. 459-470 ; De Thou, iv. 483. 1571. THE PEACE OF SAIXT GERMAIN. 375 ther aggression by disarming the entire population, with the exception of four hundred chosen men, and by compelling the parliament, on the fifteenth of May, to swear to observe the Edict of Pacification precautions whose efficacy we shall be able to estimate more accurately by the events of the following year.' The strength of the popular hatred of the Huguenots was often too great for even the government to cope with. The rabble of the cities would hear of no upright execution of the provisions respecting the oblivion of past injuries, and resisted with pertinacity the attempt to remove the traces of the old conflict. The Parisians gave the most striking evi- The" Croix . ii-t to dissuade lady. Henry of Anjou was the head of the Roman Catholic party in France. Charles's orthodoxy might be suspected ; there was no doubt of his brother's. His intimacy with the Guises, his successes as general of the royal forces in what was styled a war in defence of religion, were guarantees of his devotion to the papal cause. All his prestige would be lost if he married the heretical daughter of Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn. Hence desperate efforts were made to deter him efforts which did not escape the Argus-eyed Walsingham. " The Pope, the King of Spain, and the rest of the confederates, upon the doubt of a match between the queen, my mistress, and monsieur, do seek, by what means they can, to dissuade and draw him from the same. They offer him to be the head and chief executioner of the league against the Turk, a thing now newly renewed, though long ago meant ; which league is thought to stretch to as many as they repute to be Turks, although better Christians than themselves. The cause of the Cardinal of Lorraine's repair hither from Rheims, as it is thought, was to this purpose." a Charles the Ninth was indignant at this interference, and said : " If this matter go forward, it behooveth me to make some counter-league." having his eye npon the German Charles indig- ._ .' ? TW i-AlTfr* -J mint at the m- Protestant princes and Elizabeth. .besides, there were at this juncture other reasons for displeasure, especially with Spain. Charles and his mother had received a rebuff from Sebastian of Portugal, to whom they had offered Margaret of Valois in marriage. The young king had replied, 1 And with a freedom which might be mistaken for Arcadian simplicity, did we not know that innocence was no characteristic of either court in that age. " J'en cognoissoys ung," he told her, " qui estoit nay a tant de sortes de vertu, qu'il ne failloit doubter qu'elle n'en fut fort honnoree et singulidrement bien aymee, et dont j'espererois qu'au bout de neuf moia apres, elle se trouveroit mere d'ung beau filz." etc. La Mothe Fenelon, iii. 439, 454, 455. * Despatch to Cecil, Jan. 28, 1571, Digges, 20. 3 Ibid., 27. 380 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVII. through Malicorne, " that they were botli young, and that there- fore about eight years hence that matter might be better talked of," " which disdainful answer," the English ambassador wrote from the French court, " is accepted here in very ill part, and is thought not to be done without the counsel of Spain." l With Henry of Anjou, however, much to the disgust and dis- appointment of his mother, the " league " succeeded too well. Scarcely had a month passed, before Catharine was compelled to write to the envoy in England, telling him that Henry had heard reports unfavorable to Elizabeth's character, and posi- tively declined to marry her.* In her extreme perplexity at xien on to be * n ^ 8 unexpected turn of events, the queen mother 8m b wr tuted M 8U gg es ted to La Mothe Fenelon that perhaps the Duke of Alen9on would do as well, and might step into the place which his brother had so ungallantly abandoned. 3 Now, as this Alen9on was a beardless boy of sixteen, and, unlike Charles and Henry, small for his age, it is not surprising that La Mothe declared himself utterly averse to making any men- tion of him for the present, lest the queen should come to the very sensible Conclusion that the French were " making sport of her." ' But there was at present no need of resorting to substitution. For a time the ardor of Anjou was rekindled, and rapidly in- Anjon'snew creased in intensity. Catharine first wrote that Anjou " condescended " to marry Elizabeth ; 5 presently, that " he desired infinitely to espouse her." ' A month or two later he declared to Walsingham : " I must needs confess that, through the great commendation that is made of the queen your mis- tress, for her rare gifts as well of mind as of body, being (as even her very enemies say) the rarest creature that was in 1 Digges, 27. 1 Catharine to La Mothe Fenelon, Feb. 2, 1571, Corresp. diplom., vii. 179 ; and Walsingham to Cecil, Feb. 18, 1571, Digges, 43. * Catharine, ubi supra. 4 La Mothe Fenelon, March 6, 1571, ibid., iv. 11, 12. The ambassador exhibits his own incredulity respecting the stories circulated to the queen's disadvantage. 1 To La Mothe Fe^lon, Feb. 18, 1571, ibid., vii. 183. 6 To the same, March 2, 1571, ibid., vii. 190. 1571. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 381 Europe these five hundred years ; my affection, grounded upon so good respects, hath now made me yield to be wholly hers." ' On the other hand, Elizabeth began to exhibit such coldness that her most intimate servants doubted her sincerity in the entire transaction. With more candor than courtiers usually exhibit in urging a suit which they suspect to be distasteful to their sovereign, Lord Burleigh, the Earl of Leicester, and Sir Francis Walsingham used every means of persuading the queen to decisive action. " My very good Lord," wrote Walsingham, on the fourteenth of May, 1571, " the Protestants here do so earnestly desire this match ; and on the other side, the papists do so earnestly seek to impeach the same, as it maketh me the more earnest in furthering of the same. Besides, when I par- ticularly consider her Majesty's state, both at home and abroad, so far forth as my poor eyesight can discern ; and how she is beset with foreign peril, the execution whereof stayeth only upon the event of this match, I do not see how she can stand if this matter break off." * Lord Burleigh, in perplexity on ac- count of Elizabeth's conduct, exclaimed that " he was not able to discern what was best ; " but added : " Surely I see no continu- ance of her quietness without a marriage, and therefore I remit the success to Almighty God." ' The situation of Elizabeth's servants was, indeed, extremely embarrassing. Their mistress had laid an insuperable obstacle in the way. She did Elizabeth -11 . i . _* i iim-rpoaes not, indeed, require Anjou to abjure his faith, but her demands virtually involved this. Not only did she refuse to grant the duke, by the articles of marriage, public or even private worship for himself and his attendants, according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, but she wished to bind him to make no request to that effect after marriage. 4 In vain did Catharine protest that this was to require him to become an 1 Walsingham to Burleigh, May 25, 1571, Digges, 101. 1 Digges, 96. 3 Ibid., 55. 4 " So it doth appear, if he would omit that demand, and put it in silence, yet will her Majestic straitly capitulate with him, that he shall in no way demand it hereafter at her hands. Which scruple, I believe, will utterly break off the matter ; wherefore I am in small hope that any marriage will grow this way." Leicester to Walsingham. July 7, 1571, Digges, 116. 382 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XV1L atheist, and her own advisers solemnly warn her that this could but lead to an entire rupture of the negotiations. Under the pretence of excluding all exercise of Popery from England, the queen disappointed the ardent hopes of thousands of sincere and thorough Protestants in France and of many more in Eng- land, who viewed the marriage as by far the most advisable cure far better than a simple treaty of peace for the ills of both kingdoms. " If you find not in her Majesty," wrote AVal- singham to Leicester, "a resolute determination to marry a thing most necessary for our staggering state then were it expedient to take hold of amity, which may serve to ease us for a time, though our disease requireth another remedy ; " and again, a few days later (on the third of August, 1571) : " My lord, if neither marriage nor amity may take place, the poor Protestants here do think then their case desperate. They tell me so with tears, and therefore I do believe them. And surely, if they say nothing, beholding the present state here, I could not but see it most apparent." l The fears of the Protestants were not baseless. As the mar- riage, and the consequent close friendship with England, seemed to insure the growth and spread of the reformed splmistTef- faith, 4 the failure of both was an almost unmistakable portent of the triumph of the opposite party and of the renewal of persecution and bloodshed. And so also the fanatical Roman Catholics read the signs of the times, and again they plied Anjou with their seductions. " Great prac- tices are here for the impeachment of this match," wrote the English ambassador, near the end of July, 1571. " The Papal Kuncio, Spain, and Portugal, are daily courtiers to dissuade this match. The clergy here have offered Monsieur a great pension, to stay him from proceeding. In conclusion, there is nothing left undone, that may be thought fit to hinder." * 1 Digges, 119, 120. * A league with France, Walsingham maintained, would be an advance- ment of the Gospel there and everywhere, and " though it yieldeth not so much temporal profit, yet in respect of the spiritual fruit that thereby may insue, I think it worth the unbracing." Ibid., p. 121. 3 Digges, 120. 1571. THE PEACE OP SAINT GERMAIN. 383 And these intrigues were not fruitless. Anjou now declared to his mother that he would not go to England without public assurances that he should enjoy the liberty to exercise his own religion. He was unwilling even to trust the queen's word, as vexation of Catharine and Charles would have wished him to do. An'jou'B'frJsh Catharine meantime expressed her vexation in her scruples. despatches to La Mothe Fenelon. 1 "We strongly suspect," she said, " that Yillequier, Lignerolles, or Sarret, or possibly all three, may be the authors of these fancies. If we succeed in obtaining some certainty respecting this matter, I assure you that they will repent of it." a But she added that, should the negotiation unfortunately fail, she was resolved to put forth all her efforts in behalf of her son Alen9on, who would be more easily suited. 3 In fact, while Anjou was indifferent, or perhaps disgusted at the obstacles raised in the way of the marriage, and was un- willing to sacrifice his attachment to the party in connection with which he had obtained whatever distinction he possessed ; and while Elizabeth, who was by no means blind, saw clearly enough that she was likely to get a husband who would regard his bride rather as an incumbrance than as an acquisition, 4 there were 1 Anjou's humor, she told him, " me faict bien grande peyne." Letter of July 25, 1571, Corresp. diplom., viL 234. s Ibid., ubi supra. This expression deserves to be noticed particularly, inasmuch as it effectually disposes of the story which can scarcely be re- garded otherwise than as a fable that the assassination of Lignerolles, a little over four months later (December, 1571), was compassed by Charles IX. and his mother, because they discovered that he had become possessed of the secret of the projected massacre of St. Bartholomew. If these royal person- ages had anything to do with the murder, which is very improbable, they hated Lignerolles for marring the plan of the English match, which they so much desired. 3 " Je suis resolue de faire tous mes efforts pour reheussir pour mon fils d'Alenqon, qui ne sera pas si difficile." Ibid., vii. 235. 4 It must be admitted that some indignation on Queen Elizabeth's part was pardonable, if, as we learn from La Mothe Fenelon (despatch of May 2, 1571), ehe had heard that a certain person of high rank in the French court had recommended Anjou to marry the Fjnglish ''granny" "ceste vieille " and administer to her, under some pretext, a " French potion" "un breuvage de France " so as to become a widower within six months of the wedding day. Then he might marty Mary, Queen of Scots, and reign with her peace- 384 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIL two persons who were as eager as Elizabeth's advisers, or the Huguenots themselves, to see the match effected. These were Charles the Ninth and Catharine de' Medici, both of whom just now gave abundant evidence of their disposition to draw closer to England and to the Huguenots of France and the Gueux of Holland, while suffering the breach between France and Spain to become more marked. Count Louis of Nassau, ever since the conclusion of peace, had remained with the Huguenots within the walls of La Rochelle. At the repeated solicitations of his brother, sau confers the Prince of Orange, he had entered into correspon- with the king. , . , , , . c , , , . , dence with the king, and urged him to embrace an opportunity such as might never return, to endear himself to the Netherlander, and add materially to the extent and power of France by espousing the cause of constitutional rights. His advances were so favorably received that he now came in dis- guise, accompanied by La Noue, Teligny, and Genlis, to confer with Charles upon the subject. They met at Lumigny-en-Brie, whither the king had gone to indulge in his favorite pastime of the chase, and on several consecutive days held secret confer- ences. 1 Louis was a nobleman whose history and connections entitled him to respect ; but his frank and sincere character was a still more powerful advocate in his behalf.* He proved to the king how justly he might interfere in defence of the Low Countries, where Philip was seeking " to plant, by inquisition, the foundation of a most horrible tyranny, the overthrow of all ably over the whole island ! Correspondance diplomatique, iv. 84. However sincere or zealous Elizabeth may have been previously, I doubt whether she ever forgave the suggestion, or the fair princess whose charms were thus ex- alted above her own. 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. L) 492. * " I would your lordship knew the gentleman," enthusiastically writes Walsingham (August 12th, 1571) to the Earl of Leicester. " For courage abroad and connsell at home they give him here the reputation to be another [name in cipher] . He is in speech eloquent and pithy ; but which is chief est, he is in religion, as religions in life as he is sincere in profession. I hope God hath raised him up in these days, to serve for an instrument for the ad- vancement of His glory." Digges, 128. In another letter, without date, the ambassador speaks of him as "surely -the rarest gentleman which I have talked withal since I came to France." Ibid., 178. 157L THE PEACE OF SAINT GEEMADf. 385 freedom? and liberties." He traced the course of events since the humiliating treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, and added : " If you think in conscience and honor you may not become the protector of this people, you should do well to forbear, for otherwise the success cannot be gained. If you think you may, then weigh in policy how beneficial it will be for you, and how much your father would have given, to have had the like oppor- tunity offered unto him that is now presented unto you gratis ; which, if you refuse, the like you must never look for." Both Charles and his mother appeared well pleased with the proposal, and the king, who had listened attentively to the recital of the follies into which Philip had fallen in consequence of listening to evil advice, exclaimed : " Similar counsellors, by violating my edict, well-nigh brought me into like terms with my subjects, wherefrom ensued the late troubles ; but now, thank God, He has opened my eyes to discern what their mean- ing was." Next, Louis showed that success was not difficult. The Roman Catholics and the Protestants in the Netherlands equally detested the tyranny of the Spaniards. The towns were ready to receive garrisons. Philip had not in the whole country over three thousand troops upon whose fidelity he could rely. The addition of a dozen ships to those already possessed by the patriots would enable them effectually to prevent the landing of Spanish reinforcements. In short, the Netherlands were ripe for a division which would amply recompense France and the German princes, as well as Queen Elizabeth, should she, as was hoped, consent to take part in the enterprise : for the provinces of Flanders and Artois, which had once belonged to the French crown, would gladly give themselves up to Charles ; Brabant, Gelderland, and Luxemburg would be re- stored to the empire ; and Holland, Zealand, and the rest of the islands would fall to the share of the queen. 1 So favorably did Charles and his mother, with those coun- sellors to whom the secret was intrusted, receive the count's advances, that it was clearly advisable to bring them into com- 1 The substance of Louis of Nassau's secret interviews is best given by Walsingham in a long communication, of August 12, 1571, to Lord Burleigh, Digges, 123-127. VOL. II. 55 336 THE RISE OP THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVII. munication with Admiral Coligny, to whose conduct the enter- prise, if adopted, must be confided, and for whom the Admiral Co- r , . T iwmycon- young king expressed great esteem, indeed, so ur- gently was the admiral invited, and so intimately did the success or failure of the attempt to enlist France in the Flemish war seem to be dependent upon his personal influ- ence, that Gaspard de Coligny, despite the ill-concealed so- licitude of many of his more suspicious friends, consented to trust himself in the king's hands. As for himself, the admiral had little desire to leave the secure retreat of La Hochelle. Here he was surrounded by friends. Here his happiness had been enhanced by two marriages which promised to add greatly to the wealth and influence he already possessed. Jacqueline d'Entremont, the widow of a brave officer killed in the civil wars, had long entertained an admiration, which she made no attempt to disguise, for the bravery and piety of the stern leader of the Huguenots. Possessed of very extensive estates in the dominions of the Duke of Savoy, she had also the qualities of mind and disposition which fitted her to become the wife of so upright and magnanimous a man. The proposals of marriage are said to have come from her rela- tives, nor did the lady herself hesitate to express the wish be- fore her death to become the Marcia of the new Cato. 1 The nuptials were celebrated with great pomp at La Rochelle, whither Jacqueline, after having been married by proxy,* was escorted by a goodly train of Huguenot nobles. Great were the rejoicings of the people, but not less great the anger of the Duke of Savoy, who, as Jacqueline's feudal lord, claimed the right to dispose of her hand, and had peremptorily forbidden her to marry the admiral. The barbarous revenge which Em- manuel Philibert too soon found it in his power to inflict upon 1 " Centre les deffences et proscriptions de son due, qui a plat avoit refuse" le Eoi de souffrir ce manage, elle s'en vint a la Rochelle pour avoir nom avant de mourir (ainsi qu'elle disoit) la Martia de Caton." Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 5. 1 " A quoi sea ennemis trouverent a redire, pnbliant qu'il n'apartenoit qu'aux princes d'epouser par procurateur. Mais ceux qui parloient des chosea Bans passion, imputoient ces sortes de discours a medisance, soutenant de leur cote qu'il ne pouvoit faire autrenrent. puiscm'il n'y avoit pas de surete pour lui a Taller epouser," etc. Vie de Coligny, 3b(i. 1571. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 387 the unfortunate widow of Coligny forms the subject for one of the darkest pages of modern history. 1 Under no less auspicious circumstances was consummated the union of Coligny's daugh- ter, Louise de Chutillon, to Te'ligny, a young noble whose skill as a diplomatist seemed to have destined him to hold a fore- most rank among statesmen. Scarcely less unhappy, however, than her step-mother, Louise was to behold both her father and her husband perish in a single hour by the same dreadful catastrophe. "Was it foolish rashness or overweening presumption that led the admiral to leave the new home he had made within the strong defences of La Rochelle ; or was he moved solely by a conscientious persuasion that he had no right to con- invitation sider personal danger when the great interests of his country and his faith were at stake? The former view has not been without its advocates, some of whom have gloried in finding the proofs of a judicial blindness sent by Heaven to hasten the self -induced destruction of the Hugue- nots. A more careful consideration of all the circumstances of the case, illustrated by a better appreciation of Coligny's charac- ter, rather induces me to adopt the opposite conclusion. Cer- tainly the noble language of Coligny in reply to the warnings of his friends, both now and later, when he was about to venture within the walls of Paris, displayed no unconsciousness of the perils by which he was environed. " Better, however, were it," he said, " to die a thousand deaths, than by undue solicitude for life to be the occasion of keeping up distrust throughout an en- tire kingdom." About the beginning of September, 1571, Charles and his court repaired to Blois, on the banks of the Loire. 2 The avowed 1 A very interesting account of the long imprisonment of Coligny's widow is to be found in Count Jules Delaborde's monograph, "Jacqueline d'Entre- mont," apud Bulletin de la Societe de 1'hist. du prot. fr., rvi (1867) 220-246. 2 A few months before the admiral's departure from La Rochelle, there had been held in this Huguenot asylum a convocation of historical impor- tance. The sessions of the seventh national synod, lasting from the second to the eleventh of April, 1571, were consumed in important deliberations re- specting the doctrines and discipline of the reformed church (see Aymon, Tous les synodes, i. 98-111). The Queen of Navarre, the Princes of Navarre THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVII. object of the movement was to meet Coligny and the Protes- tant princes. " There are many practices (intrigues) to over- throw this journey," wrote Walsingham, about the middle of the preceding month, " but the king sheweth himself to be very resolute. I am most constantly assured that the king con- ceiveth of no subject that he hath, better than of the admiral, and great hope there is that the king will use him in matters of greatest trust ; for of himself he beginneth to see the insuf- ficiency of others some, for that they are more addicted to others than to himself ; others, for that they are more Spanish than Erench, or else given more to private pleasures than public. There is none of any account within this realm, whose as well imperfections as virtues, he knoweth not. Those that do love him, do lament that he is so much given to pleasure : they hope the admiral's access unto the court will yield some redress in that case. Queen mother, seeing her son so well affected towards him, laboreth by all means to cause him to think well of her. She seemeth much to further the meeting." ' and Conde, Count Louis of Nassau, and Admiral Coligny were present. At the request of the synod, they added their signatures to those of the min- isters and elders, upon three copies of the Confession of Faith, engrossed on parchment, which were to be kept at La Rochelle, in Beam, and at Gene- va respectively (see the eighth general article). The moderator on this occasion was Theodore Beza, who had been specially invited to France. The reformer was certainly not destitute of courage, for he could not have for- gotten the dangers to which he had been exposed on previous visits to France. They were even greater than Beza himself probably knew. In June, 1563, after the conclusion of the first civil war, there was a rumor at Brussels that Beza could not return to Geneva, because of a quarrel he had had with Cal- vin. Thereupon, the Duchess of Parma, Regent of the Netherlands, suspect- ing that he might be tempted to come through the Spanish dominions, issued secret orders that the frontiers should be watched, and offered a reward of one thousand florins to any one who should bring him, dead or alive. He was described as ' ' homme de moi'enne stature, ayant barbe a demy blanche, et le visage hault et large." Letters of the Duchess of Parma, June llth and 25th, 1563, apud Charles Paillard, Histoire des troubles religieux de Valenciennes (Paris and Brussels, 1875, 1876), iii. 339, 340, 356. 1 Walsingham to Burleigh, Aug. 12, 1571, Digges, 122. The ambassador informs Elizabeth, in this letter, of the intense desire of the French Protes- tants that she should express to the French envoy her approval of the invita- tion extended to the princes and Coligny, and should say " that so rare a subject as the admiral is was not to be suffered to live in such a corner as 157L THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 389 Nothing could surpass the honorable reception of the admiral, when, on the twelfth of September, he arrived with a small His honorable retinue at court in the city of Blois. On first com- recepuon. -^ ^ Q fa e royal presence, he humbly kneeled, but Charles graciously lifted him up, and embraced him, calling him his father, and protesting that he regarded this as one of the happiest days of his life, since he saw the war ended and tranquillity confirmed by Coligny's return. " You are as wel- come," said he, " as any gentleman that has visited my court in twenty years." And in the same interview, he expressed his joy in words upon which subsequent events placed a sinister construction, but which nevertheless appear to have been uttered in good faith : " At last we have you with us, and you will not leave us again whenever you wish." ' Xor was Catharine behind her son in affability. She surprised the courtiers by honoring the Huguenot leader with a kiss. And even Anjou, who chanced to be indisposed, received him in his bedchamber with a show of friendliness. More substantial tokens of favor followed. The same person, who, as the principal general of the rebels, had been attainted of treason, his castle and possessions being confiscated or destroyed by decree of the first parliament of France, and a reward of fifty thousand gold crowns being set upon his head, now received from the king's private purse the unsolicited gift of one hundred thousand livres, to make good his losses during the war. Moreover, he was presented with the revenues of his lately deceased brother, the Cardinal Odet de Chatillon, for the space of one year, and was intrusted with the lucrative office of guardian of the house of Laval during the minority of its heir. Indeed, throughout his stay at Blois, which was protracted through several weeks, Coligny was the favored confidant of Charles, who sometimes even made him preside in the royal council. 1 Rochelle." It was thought that her commendations would greatly advance his credit with the king. 1 I know not on what authority Miss Freer states (Henry III. of France, his Court and Times, i. 70) that " even Coligny was startled at the ominous sig- nificance of these words ; the shadow, however, vanished before the warmth and frankness of Charles's manner." Compare Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. r>. Walsingham's account in a letter of La Mothe Fenelon (Corresp. dipL, iv. 390 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cii. XVII. Moreover, it was doubtless at Coligny's suggestion that the king at this time wrote to the Duke of Savoy interceding for those Waldenses who in the recent wars had aided the French Protestants in arms, and who since their return to the ducal do- minions had experienced severe persecution on that account. " I desire," he says in this letter, " to make a request of you, a re- quest of no ordinary character, but as earnest as you could pos- sibly receive from me that, just as for the love of me you have treated your subjects in this matter with unusual rigor, so you would be pleased, for my sake, and by reason of my prayer and special recommendation, to receive them into your benign grace, and reinstate them in the possessions which have for this cause been confiscated." He added that he desired not only to ex- hibit to his Protestant subjects his intention to execute his edict, but to extend to their allies from abroad the same love and protection. 1 These and other marks of honorable distinction shown to the acknowledged head of the Huguenots, must have been excessive- ly distasteful both to the Guises and to the Spaniard. Disgust of the I * Guises and of The former now retired from court, and left Charles completely in the hands of the Montmorencies and the admiral. 2 Earlier in the year, the Duke of Alva had met with a signal rebuff at the hands of the French, when, in return for the aid furnished to Charles by his Catholic Majesty during the late wars, he requested him to supply him with German reiters, to allow him to levy in France troops to serve against the Prince of Orange, and to detain the fleet which was said to be preparing for the prince at La Rochelle. The first two demands were peremptorily refused, while the ships, it was re- 245, 246), its accuracy being vouched for by a letter of Charles IX. himself (ibid., vii. 268); Tocsain centre les massacreurs, Cimber et Danjou, vii. 34, 35; De Thou, iv. (liv. L) 493. 1 Charles IX. to Emmanuel Philibert, Blois, Sept. 28, 1571, apud Leger, Hist. gen. des eglises vaudoises (Leyden, 1669), i. 47, 48. * "Durant ce moys, Gaspard de Coligny, remis par IVdit de pacification en 1'estat d'admiral. fut mande par le roy et vint de la Rochelle trouver le Roy a Bloys, et se retira hors de la cour toute .la maison de Guise, de sorte que le Roy estoit gouverne par ledit admiral et Montmorency." Jehan de la Fosse, Journal d'un cure ligueur, 132. 1571. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 391 plied, were intended merely to make reprisals upon the Span- iards, who had taken some Protestant vessels, drowned a part of their crew in the ocean, and delivered others into the power of the Inquisition, and could not be interfered with. 1 The Spanish ambassador had borne with the offensiveness of this answer ; but the favor with which the Huguenots were now received, and the openness with which the Flemish war was discussed, ren- dered his further stay impossible. It is true that the interviews of Louis of Nassau with the king were held with great secrecy, and that Charles even had the effrontery to deny that he had met the brother of Orange at all. 1 It was impossible to deny that Philip's subjects were despoiled by vessels which issued with impunity from La Rochelle. But, although the ambas- sador declared that these grievances must be redressed, or war would ensue, he was bluntly informed by Charles that " Philip might not look to give laws to France." Catharine partook of her son's indignation, the more so as she seems at this time to have shared in the current belief that her daughter Elizabeth had been poisoned by her royal husband.* At last, in Novem- ber, the ambassador withdrew from court, without taking leave of the king, after having, in scarcely disguised contempt, 4 given away to the monks the silver plate which Charles had presented to him. "Wliile the new policy of conciliation and toleration thus dis- gusted one, at least, of those foreign powers which had spurred charie on the government to engage in suicidal civil contests, gratified. ft WRg a jj, ome producing the beneficent results hoped for by its authors. Charles himself appeared to be daily more 1 Walsingham to Cecil, March 5, 1571. Digges, 48, 49. * " And as for conference had with the Count Lewis of Nassau, he told him, that he was misinformed ; " first letter of Walsingham to Bnrleigh, of Aug. 12th, Digges, 122. Yet the second letter of the same date gives a de- tailed account of this conference. It must be admitted that the diplomacy of the sixteenth century was sufficiently barefaced in its impostures. Louis of Nassau told Walsingham of an enterprise of Strozzi against Spain, determined upon by Charles IX. "onely to amaze the king there;" but, as to Strozzi, "the king here meaneth notwithstanding to disallow [him] openly." Ibid., 125. Di-ges, 1C2. 4 Jchan de la Fosse, 134. 392 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVII. convinced of its excellence. In a letter to President Du Ferrier, the French envoy at Constantinople, written during the admiral's stay at Blois, he exposed for the sultan's benefit the reasons for the mutation in his treatment of the Huguenots, and for the cor- dial reception he had given Coligny at his court. " You know," he said, " that this kingdom fell into discord and division, in which it still is involved. I forgot no prescription which I thought might cure it of this ulcerous wound ; at one time try- ing mild remedies, at others applying the most caustic, without sparing my own person, or those whom nature made most dear to me. . . . But, having at length discovered that only time could alleviate the ill, and that those who were at the windows were very glad to see the game played at my expense J I had recourse to my original plan, which was that of mildness ; and by good advice I made my Edict of Pacification, which is the seal of public faith, under whose benign influence peace and quiet have been restored." And referring to Coligny's arrival, he added : " You know that experience is dearly bought and is worth much. I must therefore tell you that the chief result which I hoped from his coming begins already to develop, inasmuch as the greater part of my subjects, who lately lived in some distrust, have by this demonstration gained such assur- ance of my kindness and affection, that all partisan feeling and faction are visibly beginning to fade away." a Besides the Flemish project, an important domestic affair engaged the attention of the king and his counsellors at the time of Coligny's visit. This was the proposed mar- marriage of riage of young Henry, the Prince of Beam, and after Henry of Na- ^ *J revis, who married Bertha, the King of Almain's daughter, was so little to her, that he is standing in Aquisgrave, or Moguerre, a church in Al- main, she taking him by the hand, and his head not reaching to her girdle ; and yet he had by her Charlemain, the great Emperor and King of France, which is reported to be almost a giant's stature." 1 It was not so easy to dispose of the disparity in years, 5 and perhaps still less of Alen9on's disfigurement by small-pox ; for that unlucky prince added this to the long cata- logue of his misfortunes. The course of the treaty for mutual defence was, happily, somewhat smoother than that of the match- making. On the eighteenth of April the treaty was formally concluded, 3 and shortly after, Marshal Montmorency and M. de Foix were despatched to administer the oath to Queen Eliza- beth. This solemn ceremony was performed on Sunday, the fif- teenth of June. The deputies were received with every mark of distinction, and the marshal was publicly presented by the 1 Despatch of March 22, 1572, Digges, 197. 5 Unless by means of La Mothe Fenelon's arithmetic, who, in conversation with Queen Elizabeth, maintained that, since her majesty was at least nine years younger in her disposition, and Alenqon eight years older in manly vigor, both parties were of precisely the same age, namely, twenty-seven ! Corresp. diplom., v. 91, etc. 3 La Mothe Fenelon, vii. 289 ; Dumont, Corps diplomatique, v. , 211-215. It cannot but be regarded as a singular instance of Elizabeth's irresolution and of that perversity with which she was wont to try the patience of her council almost beyond endurance, that she gravely proposed to include in the treaty an article providing for the protection of the King of Spain a stipulation against which Walsingham earnestly protested as the climax of folly, since it was certain "that the end of this league is onely to bridle his greatness." Digges, 175. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 399 queen with the insignia of the Order of the Garter.' The com- mission of the French envoys instructed them to press upon Elizabeth the Alei^on marriage as a powerful means of cement- ing the alliance ; and it empowered them to expend money to the extent of ten or twelve thousand crowns in buying the con- sent of those lords who had hitherto opposed the union. The Earl of Leicester, whose straightforwardness may have been suspected, was to be tempted by the special offer of some French heiress in marriage, the name of Mademoiselle de Bourbon being suggested. 2 But the marriage was not destined to be accomplished, although the negotiations were kept up until the very time of the massacre, and Elizabeth sent to Catharine de' Medici her hearty acknowledgment of the honor she had done her in offering her aU her sons successively* At the very mo- ment when the fearful blow fell which was to render any such marriage impossible, Catharine was planning and proposing an interview between Elizabeth on the one side, and herself and Alen9on on the other. That the dignity of neither party might be compromised, it was suggested that the meeting might take place some calm day on the water between Dover and Boulogne.* Elizabeth had reconsidered her partial refusal, and encouraged the project ; the nobles, the ladies of the court, the council, all favored it ; and in a letter written four days after the streets of Paris flowed with blood, but before the appalling intelligence had reached him, the French ambassador wrote to Catharine : " All who are well affected cry to us, ' Let my Lord the Duke come!"" It cannot be supposed that such a leaning could be manifested toward the Huguenot party, and such amity concluded with the Protestant kingdom of England, without arousing grave soli- 1 " The like hath not been seen in any man's memory," wrote Lord Burleigh. Montmorency received "a Cupboard of Plate Gilt," "a greut cup of gold of 111 ounces," etc. Digges, 218 ; De Thou, IT. (liv. 1L)537, 538. * La Mothe Fenelon, vii. 292. 'Ibid., v. 13. 4 Ibid., vii. 317-319. * " Que Monseigueur leDuc vienne ! " Despatch of Aug. 28, 1872. Corresp. diplonx, v. 111. 400 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVII. citude on the part of the Pope and other Roman Catholic sov- ereigns of Europe. Pius the Fifth determined, if the Fifth possible, to deter Charles from permitting the hateful marriage between his sister and the heretical Prince of ^Navarre. He therefore promptly despatched his nephew, the Cardinal of Alessandria, 1 first to Sebastian of Portugal, The cardinal whom he f ound no great difficulty in persuading again dri^^uto to entertain the project of a marriage with Mar- paris. garet of Yalois, and thence, with the utmost haste, to the court of Charles the Ninth. 3 The legate, when admitted to an audience, unfolded at great length the grievances of the pontiff the mission of a heretic, formerly a bishop, as envoy to Constantinople, the rumored opposition of the king to the Holy League against the Turk, but especially the contemplated nuptials of a daughter of France with the son of Jeanne d'Al- bret. Charles replied to these charges in the most politic man- The king's ner - ^ e prayed that the earth might open and swal- assurances. j ow fa m ^ ra ther than that he should stand in the way of so illustrious and holy league as that against the infidel. As to his zeal for the Christian faith, he demonstrated it albeit some might object that the fraternal affection which was reported to subsist between the parties hardly rendered this argument convincing by the fact of his having exposed, in its 1 Pius the Fifth Saint Pius, for his name is commemorated in the prayers of the Church on the 5th of May was, we are told by his biographer, a model of severity to his own kindred ; and, if the fact that he elevated his grand- nephew, Michael Bonelli, to the sacred college should be alleged as casting some doubt upon this characteristic of his, we must hasten to add that he did so, we are assured, only in consequence of the urgent solicitations of Cardi- nal Farnese and others. He deserves the credit, however, of yielding to their persuasions with reasonable promptness, for the nomination of his nephew took place within two months of the Pope's accession. Michael, being like his uncle a native of the vicinity of Alessandria, in Piedmont, naturally succeeded to the designation of "il cardinale Alessandrino," which Pius relinquished on assuming the tiara. Gabutius, Vita Pii Quinti Papas, apud Acta Sanctorum (Bolandi) Maii, 48, p. 630. 5 The Guises, in the same spirit, had at one time proposed as a candidate for Margaret's hand the Cardinal of Este, for whom they hoped easily to ob- tain from the Pope a dispensation from his vow of celibacy. Walsingham to Cecil, Feb. 18, 1571, Digges, 42. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIX. 401 defence, his dearest brother, the Duke of Anjou, to all the perils of war. By civil war the resources of his kingdom had been so weakened that they barely sufficed for its protection. He justified the Xavarrese marriage by alleging the remarkable traits which made Henry superior to any other prince of the Bourbon family, and by the great benefit which religion would gain from his conversion. In short, Charles was profuse in protestations of his sincere determination to maintain the Catholic faith ; and, drawing a valuable diamond ring from his finger, he presented it to the legate as a pledge, he said, of his unalterable fidelity to the Holy See, and a token that he would more than redeem his promises. The cardinal legate, however, declined to receive the gift, saying that he was amply satisfied with the plighted word of so great a king, a security more firm than any other pledge that could be given to him. 1 Such seem to have been the assurances given by Charles on this celebrated occasion, vague and indefinite, but calculated to allay to a cer- tain extent the anxiety of the head of the papal church.* There is good reason to believe that the king's intention of fulfilling them, not to say his plan for doing so, was equally undefined ; although, so far as his own faith was concerned, he had no thought of abandoning the church of his fathers. The expres- sions by means of which Charles is made to point with nnmis- takable clearness to a contemplated massacre,* of which, how- 1 Capilupi, Lo stratagema di Carlo IX., 1573, Orig. edit., p. 11 ; Gabutius, Vita Pii Quinti, ubi supra, 244-246, p. 670. * So also says Tavannes : "II est renvoye avec paroles generates que Sa Majeste ne feroit rien au prejudice de 1'obeissance de Sa Sainctete." Me- moirea (ed. Petitot), iii. 198. Tavannes is explicit in his declarations that the massacre was not premeditated. " Tant s'en faut que Ton pensast faire la Sainct Barthelemy a ces nopces, que sans Madame, fille du Roy, qni y avoit inclination, il se deslioit" (iii. 194). ' ' L'entreprise de la Sainct Barthelemy, qui n'estoit pas settlement pourpensee, et dont la naissance vint de 1'impru- dence huguenotte." Ibid., iii. 198. 3 E. g. : " Si j'avois quelque autre moyen de me vanger de mes ennemis, je ne ferois point ce manage ; mais je n'en ai point d' autre moyen qne cetui-ci." Cardinal D'Ossat's letter of Sept 22, 1599, to Villeroy, Lettres (ed. of 1698), ii. 100. It must be noticed that D'Ossat had a particular purpose in produc- ing testimony to show that Charles IX. constrained his sister to marry, as it would assist him in obtaining a divorce for Henry IV. If, as D'Ossat affirms, the Cardinal of Alessandria exclaimed, on hearing of the massacre, "God be VOL. IL 26 402 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIL ever the case may stand with respect to his mother, it is all but certain that he had at this time no idea, can only be regarded as fabulous additions of which the earliest disseminators of the story were altogether ignorant. The fact that the cardinal legate's rejection of the ring was publicly known 1 seems to be a sufficient proof that it was offered simply as a pledge of the king's general fidelity to the Holy See, not of his intention to violate his edict and murder his Protestant subjects. The gov- ernment made the attempt in like manner to quiet the people, whom even the smallest amount of concession and favor to the Huguenots rendered suspicious ; and the words uttered for praised ! The King of France has kept his word to me," this would agree equally well with the supposition that Charles IX. had contented himself with general promises. 1 " The foolish cardinal" wrote S'ir Thomas Smith, English ambassador at the French court during Walsingham's temporary absence (March 3, 157^), ' ' went away as wise as he came ; he neither brake the marriage with Navarre, nor got no dismes of the Church of France, nor perswaded the King to enter into the League with the Turk, nor to accept the Tridentine, or to break off Treaty with us; and the foolishest part of all, at his going away, he refused a diamond which the King offered Jiim of 600 crowns, yet he was here highly feasted. He and his train cost the King above 300 crowns a day, as they said." Digges, 193. Gabutius adds that after the death of Pius V. proba- bly after the massacre Charles IX. sent the ring to the cardinal with this inscription upon the bezel : " Non minus hsec solida est pietas, ne pietas pos- sit mea sanguine solvi." Vita Pii Quinti, ubi supra, 246, p. 676. The in- scription had doubtless been cut since the first proffer of the ring. It appears to me most probable that the ring was offered by Charles to the cardinal with the idea that its acceptance would bind him to support the king in his suit for a dispensation for the marriage of Henry and Margaret, and that the prudent churchman declined it for the same reason. Subsequently, with the same view, Charles sent it to his ambassador at Rome, M. de Ferralz, instructing him to give it to the Cardinal of Alessandria. But Ferralz, on consultation with the Cardinal of Ferrara and others in the French interest, came to the conclusion that the gift would be useless, and so retained it, at the same time notifying his master. The reason may have been either that Alessandria had too little influence, since his uncle's death, to effect what was desired, or that the matter was of less consequence when once Charles had resolved to go on with the marriage without waiting further for the dispensation. So I under- stand Charles's words to Ferralz (Aug. 24, 1572) : " J'ai aussi sceu par vostre dicte memoire, que par 1'avis de mon cousin le cardinal de Ferrare, wus avez retenu le diamant que je vous avois envoye pour le donner de ma part au car- dinal Alexandrin, puisque mon diet cousin et mes autres ministres trouvent que le don seroit inutile et perdu." Mackintosh, iii. , App. C. , p. 348. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 4<">3 this purpose were often so flattering to the Roman Catholics, that, in the light of subsequent events, they seem to have a ref- erence to acts of treachery to which they were not intended to apply. The doubt propounded by Jeanne d'Albret to the reformed ministers, respecting the lawfulness of a mixed marriage, hav- ing been satisfactorily answered, and the devout queen Jeanne d'Al- *? . i i /. i.ivt becomes beuig convinced that the union or Henry and Marea- more favorm- . rf bie to her son's ret would rather tend to advance the cause to which she subordinated all her personal interests, than re- tard it by casting reproach upon it, the project was more warmly entertained on both sides. Yet the subject was not without serious difficulty. Of this the religious question was the great cause. To the English ambassadors, Walsingham and Smith, Jeanne declared (on the fourth of March, 1572) in her own forcible language, " that now she had the wolf by the ears, for that, in concluding or not concluding the marriage, she saw danger every way ; and that no matter (though she had dealt in matters of consequence) did so much trouble her as this, for that she could not tell how to resolve." She could neither bring herself to consent that her son with his bride should re- side at the royal court without any exercise of his own religion a course which would not only tend to make him an atheist, but cut off all hope of the conversion of his wife nor that Margaret of Yalois should be guaranteed the permission to have mass celebrated whenever she came into Jeanne's own domains in Beam, a district which the queen "had cleansed of all idolatry." For Margaret would by her example undo much of that which had been so assiduously labored for, and the Roman Catholics who had remained would become " more unwilling to hear the Gospel, they having a staff to lean to." l It was this uncertainty about Margaret's course, and the con- Her solid- sequent gain or loss to the Protestant faith, that tude. rendered it almost impossible for Jeanne d'Albret to master her anxiety. " In view," she wrote to her son, " of Mar- 1 Despatch of March 29, 1572, Digges, 182, 183. It must be noticed that the permission to have mass celebrated in Beam had been purposely left out in the original basis. 404 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIL garet'e judgment and the credit she enjoys with the queen her mother and the king and her brothers, if she embrace 'the religion,' I can say that we are the most happy people in the world, and not only our house but all the kingdom of France will share in this happiness. ... If she remain obsti- nate in her religion, being devoted to it, as she is said to be, it cannot be but that this marriage will prove the ruin, first, of our friends and our lands, and such a support to the papists that, with the goodwill the queen mother bears us, we shall be ruined with the churches of France." It would almost seem that a prophetic glimpse of the future had been accorded to the Queen of Navarre. " My son, if ever you prayed God, do so now, I beg you, as I pray without ceasing, that He may assist me in this negotiation, and that this marriage may not be made in His anger for our punishment, but in His mercy for His own glory and our quiet." l But there were other grounds for solicitude. Catharine de' Medici was the same deceitful woman she had always been. She would not allow Jeanne d'Albret to see either Charles or Margaret, save in her presence. She misrepresented the queen's words, and, when called to an account, denied the report with the greatest effrontery. She destroyed all the hopes Jeaniie had entertained of frank discussion. "You have great reason to pity me," the Queen of Kavarre wrote to her faithful subject in Beam, " for never was I so disdainfully treated at court as I now am. The Queen of _, t t i -i -, -, Kavan-e is Everything that had been announced to me is changed. treated with rrn i i i tantalizing I hey wish to destroy all the hopes with which they brought me."* Catharine showed no shame when detected in open falsehood. She told Jeanne d'Albret that her son's governor had given her reason to expect that Henry would consent to be married by proxy according to the Romish cere- monial. But when she was hard pressed and saw that Jeanne did not believe her, she coolly rejoined : " Well, at any rate, he told me something." " I am quite sure of it, madam, but it was 1 Jeanne d'Albret to Henry of Navarre, Tours, Feb. 21, 1572, Rochambeau, Lettres d'Antoine de Bourbon et de Jehanne d'Albret (Paris, 1877), 340. 1 Jeanne d'Albret to M. de Beauvoir, Blois, March 11, 1572, ibid., 345. 1573. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 405 something that did not approach that ! " " Thereupon," writes Jeanne in despair, " she burst out laughing ; for, observe, she never speaks to me without trifling." l But it was particularly the abominable immorality of the royal court that alarmed the Queen of Navarre for the safety of her only son, should he be called to sojourn there. The lady Margaret, she wrote and her words deserve the more notice on account of the infamy into which the life as yet ap- Sheia shocked ., , , , . . . , at the morau parently so guileless was to lead " is handsome, mod- est, and graceful ; but nurtured in the most wicked and corrupt society that ever was. I have not seen a person who does not show the effects of it. Your cousin, the marquise, is so changed in consequence of it, that there is no appearance of religion, save that she does not go to mass ; for, as for her mode of life, excepting idolatry, she acts like the papists, and my sister the princess still worse. ... I would not for the world that you were here to live. It is on this account that I want you to marry, and your wife and you to come out of this corruption ; for although I believed it to be very great, I find it still greater. Here it is not the men that solicit the women, but the women the men. Were you here, you would never escape but by a remarkable exercise of God's mercy. ... I abide by my first opinion, that you must return to Beam. My son, you can but have judged from my former letters, that they only try to separate you from God and from me ; you will come to the same conclusion from this last, as well as form some idea re- specting the anxiety I am in on your account. I beg you to pray earnestly to God ; for you have great need of His help at all times, and above all at this time. I pray to Him that you 1 " ' II m'a done dit quelque chose. ' ' Je croy bien qu'ouy, Madame, mais c' est quelque chose qui n' approche point de cela.' Elle se prist a rire, car nottez qu'elle ne parle a moy qu'en badinant." Same letter, ibid., 348. How keenly Jeanne felt this treatment may be inferred from a characteristic sentence : " Je vous diray encores que je m'esbahis comme je peux porter les traverses que j'ay, car Fon me gratte, Von me picque, Fon meflatte, Fon me brave, Von me veult tirer les vers du nez, sans se laisser aller, bref je n'ay qne Martin seul qv\ marche droict, encores qu'H ait la goutte, et M. le comte (Nassau) qui me f aict tous les bons offices qu'il pent." Same letter, ibid., 358. 406 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE Ca XVII. may obtain it, that He may give you, my son, all your de- sires." ' Such were the anxieties of the Queen of Xavarre in behalf of a son whom she had carefully reared, hoping to see in him a pillar of the Protestant faith. She was to be spared the sight both of those scenes in his life which might have flushed her cheek with pride, and of other scenes which would have caused her to blush with shame. At length the last diffi- culties in the way of Henry of Xavarre's marriage, so far as the court and the queen were concerned, were removed. 3 Charles and Catharine no longer insisted that Margaret should be allowed the mass when in Beam ; while Jeanne reluctantly abandoned her objections to the celebration of the marriage ceremony in the city of Paris. Accordingly, about the middle of May the Queen of Kavarre left Blois and came to the capi- tal for the purpose of devoting her attention to the final ar- rangements for the wedding. She had not, however, been long in Paris before she fell sick of a violent fever, to which it be- came evident that she must succumb. "We are told by a writer who regards this as a manifest provocation of Heaven, that one of her last acts before her sudden illness had been a visit to the Louvre to petition the king that, on the approaching festival of Corpus Christi (Fete-Dieu), the " idol," as she styled the wafer, might not be borne in solemn procession past the house in which she lodged ; and that the king had granted her request.' During the short interval before her death she exhibited the same devotion as previously to the purer Christianity she had embraced, mingled with affectionate solicitude for her son and daughter, so soon to be left orphans. Her constancy 1 The letter is inserted entire in La Labourenr, Additions aux Mem. de Castelnau, L 859-861. There is much in this letter that lends probability to Miss Freer's view (Henry III. , i. 89) that Catharine had at this time begun to be opposed to an alliance which she feared might result in the diminution of her influence at court, and that she therefore " sought, by denying all that had before been conceded, and by proposing in lieu conditions which she knew Jeanne could not accept, to throw the odium of a rupture on the Queen of Navarre." * The contract of marriage was signed at Blois, April 1 1 th, 3 Jehan de la Fosse (Journal d'un cure ligueur), 143, 144. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 407 and fortitude proved her worthy of all the eulogies that Dsathof were lavished upon her. 1 On Monday, the ninth of bret| n jun^9, June, she died, sincerely mourned by the Huguenots, who felt that in her they had lost one of their most able and efficient supports, the weakness of whose sex had not made her inferior to the most active and resolute man of the party. Even Catharine de' Medici, who had hated her with all her cowardly heart, made some show of admiring her vir- tues, now that she was no longer formidable and her straight- forward policy had ceased to thwart the underhanded and shift- ing diplomacy in which the queen mother delighted. Yet the report gained currency that Jeanne had been poisoned at Cath- arine's instigation. She had, it was said, bought gloves of Monsieur Rene, the queen mother's perfumer 5 a man who boasted of his acquaintance with the Italian art of poisoning and had almost instantly felt the effects of some subtle powder with which they were impregnated. To contradict this and other sinister stories, the king ordered an examination of her remains to be made ; but no corroborative evidence was discov- ered. It is true that the physicians are said to have avoided, ostensibly through motives of humanity, any dissection of the brain, where alone the evidence could have been found. 1 Be this as it may, the charge of poisoning is met so uniformly in the literature of the sixteenth century, on occasion of every sudden death, that the most credulous reader becomes sceptical as to its truth, and prefers to indulge the hope that perhaps the 1 See an interesting account of the Queen of Navarre's last days, her will, etc., in Vauvilliers. Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, iii. 179-188. s He is said already to have obtained the surname of " I'empoisonneur da la reine." Vauvilliers, iii. 193. * Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, ubi supra. Unfortunately for the "glove" theory, the Reveille-Matin des Massacreura, written within the next year (see p. 172, Cimber and Danjou, " du mois d'aoust dernier passe"\ makes Jeanne to have died in consequence of a drink (un boucon) given her at a festival at which Anjou was present. So in the Eusebii Philadelphi Dialogi, 1574 (the same book virtually 1 ), Jeanne dies, " veneno in quibusdam epulis propinato, quibus Dux Andegavensis intererat, ut quidem mihi a do- mestico ipsius aliquo narratum est," i. 25. 26. The testimony of the physi- cians, who seem to have been unprejudiced, is given in a note in Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, vii. 170, 171. 408 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVII. age may not have been quite so bad as it was represented by contemporaries. The Prince of Beam now became King of Xavarre ; and, as the court went into mourning for the deceased queen, his nup- tials with Margaret of Valois were deferred until the month of August. Admiral Coligny, instead of returning to La Rochelle after his friendly reception at the court at Blois, had gone to Chatil- coiignyand l n > where his ruined country-seat and devastated the boy king. p} an t a tions had great need of his presence. 1 Here he was soon afterward joined by his wife, travelling from La Rochelle with a special safe-conduct from the king, the pream- ble of which declared Charles's will and intention to retain Coligny near his own person, " in order to make use of him in his most grave and important affairs, as a worthy minister, whose virtue is sufficiently known and tried." J Coligny was not left long in his rural retirement. Charles expressed, and probably felt, profound disgust with his former advisers, and knew not whom to trust. On one occasion, about this time, he held a conversation with Teligny respecting the Flemish war. Teligny had just entreated his Majesty not to mention to the queen mother the details into which he entered a promise which Charles readily gave, and swore with his ordinary pro- fanity to observe. And then the poor young king, with a des- peration which must enlist our sympathy in his behalf, under- took to explain to Coligny's son-in-law his own solitude in the 1 It is said that Charles IX. suggested to him the propriety of this visit, accompanying the suggestion by the words : "I know that you are fond of gardening " a sly reference to the occasion when Coligny, just before the explosion of the second civil war, was found by the royal spies busily engaged in his vineyards, pruning-hook in hand, and, by his apparent engrossment in the labors of the field, dispelled the suspicions of a Huguenot rising. It was ominous, according to these writers, that Charles should at this moment re- call the circumstances of that narrow escape at Meaux from falling into the hands of the Huguenots. Agrippa d'Anbigne, Hist, univ., ii. 6. * " Estant nostre vouloir et intention le retenir pres de nous pour nous ser- vir de luy en nos plus graves et importans affaires, comme ministre digne, la vertu duquel est assez cogneue et experimentee." MS. passport dated Sep- tember 24, 1571, Biblioth. nat., apud Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fran9ais, xvi. (1867) 220. 1573. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 409 midst of a crowded court. There was no one, he said, upon whom he could rely for sound counsel, or for the execution of his plans. Tavannes was prudent, indeed ; but, having been An j ou's lieutenant, and almost the author of his victories, would oppose a war that threatened to obscure his laurels. Yieille- ville was wedded to his cups. Cosse was avaricious, and would sell all his friends for ten crowns. Montmorency alone was good and trustworthy, but so given to the pleasures of the chase that he would be sure to be absent at the very moment his help was indispensable. 1 It is not strange, under these circum- stances, that Charles should have turned with sincere respect, and almost with a kind of affection, to that stern old Hugue- not warrior, upright, honorable, pious, a master of the art of war, never more to be dreaded than after the reverses which he accepted as lessons from a Father's hands. As for Coligny himself, his task was not one of his own seek- ing. But he pitied from his heart the boy-king still more boyish in character than in years as he pitied and loved France. Above all, he was unwilling to omit anything that might be vitally important for the progress of the Gospel in his native land and abroad. His eyes were not blind to his danger. "When, at the king's request, he came to Paris, he received letters of remonstrance for his imprudence, from all parts of France. He was reminded that other monarchs before Charles had broken their pledges. Huss had been burned at Constance notwith- standing the emperor's safe conduct, and the maxim that no faith need be kept with heretics had obtained a mournful currency. 8 To these warnings Admiral Coligny replied at one moment with some annoyance, indignant that his young sovereign should be so suspected ; at another, with more calmness, magnanimously dis- missing all solicitude for himself in comparison with the great ends he had in view. When he was urged to consider that 1 Le Tocsain centre les massacreurs (orig. ed., Rheims, 1579), 77. * Le Reveille-Matin des Francois et de leurs voisins. Compose par Eusebe Philadelphe Cosmopolite, en forme de Dialogues. A Edinbourg, de 1'impri- merie de Jaques James. Avec permission. 1574. Apvd Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, vii. 171. Dialog! Euseb. Philadelphi. Edimburgi, 1574, i. 26. 410 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIL other Huguenots, less hated by the papists than he was, had been treacherously assassinated as was the general opinion then Andelot, Cardinal Chatillon, and lately the Queen of Navarre his reply was still the same : " I am well aware that it is against me principally that the enmity is directed. And yet how great a misfortune will it be for France, if, for the sake of my indivi- dual preservation, she must be kept in perpetual alarm and be plunged on every occasion into new troubles ! Or, what benefit will it be to me to live thus in continual distrust of the king \ If my prince wishes to slay me, he can accomplish his will in any part of the realm. As a royal officer, I cannot in honor refuse to comply with the summons of the king, meantime committing myself to the providence of Him who holds in his hand the hearts of kings and princes, and has numbered my years nay, the very hairs of my head. If I succeed in going in arms to the Low Countries, I hope that I may do signal service, and change hatred into good-will. But, if I fall there, at least the enmity against me will cease, and perhaps men will live in peace, without its being needful to set a whole world in commo- tion for the protection of the life of a single man." ' The juncture was critical, although the future still looked auspicious. Charles was resolved that the marriage of his sister should go forward, and seemed almost as resolute, when he had thus secured peace at home between Papist and Huguenot, to embark in a war against Spain the natural enemy of French The dispensa- repose and greatness. Gregory the Thirteenth for tion delayed, p^ ^ Y ^^ j^ d j ed Qn ^ firgt Qf M -^^ although his maxims and his counsels were unhappily still alive, and endowed with a mischievous activity refused to grant the dispensation for the marriage except on impossible conditions. 2 1 Le Tocsaia contre les massacreurs, 40 (Archives curieuses). So Jean de Tavannes a writer certainly not prejudiced in Coligny's favor gives him credit for preferring to hazard his life rather than renew the civil war. Yet he adds : u II ne voyoit ny ne prevoyoit ce qui n'estoit pour lors, d'autant plus qu'il n'y avoit encor rien de resolu contre luy, quoy que les ignorans des affaires d'estat ayent escrit ou dit." Memoires de Gaspard de Tavannea (Ed. Petitot), iiL 257. * These were four in number : that Navarre should make a secret profes- sion of the Catholic faith, express a desire for the dispensation, restore eccle- 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 411 But Charles was too impatient to await his caprice. " My dear The kind's aunt," he once said to the Queen of Navarre, a short earnestness. time Before j^r death, " I honor you more than the Pope, and I love my sister more than I fear him. I am not indeed a Huguenot, but neither am I a blockhead ; and if the Pope play the fool too much, I will myself take Margot," his common nickname for his sister, " by the hand, and give her away in marriage in full preche." ' Charles was apparently equally in earnest in his intention to maintain his edict for the advantage of the Huguenots. Accord- ingly he published a new declaration to this effect, and sent it to his governors, accompanied with a letter expressive of his great gratification that the spirit of distrust was everywhere giving place to confidence, a proof of which was to be found in the recent restitution of the four cities of La Rochelle, Montauban, La Charite, and Cognac, by those in whose hands they were intrusted by the edict of St. Germain. 2 And Charles's corre- spondence shows still further that the projects urged by Coligny, Louis of Nassau, and other prominent patriots, had made a deep impression upon his imagination, now that for the first time the prospect of a truly noble campaign opened before him. In carrying out the extensive plan against the Spanish king, it was indispensable so thought the wisest politicians of the time to secure the co-operation of the Turk. The extent of Philip's dominions in the Old and the New "World, the prestige of his successes, the enormous treasure he was said to derive yearly from his colonial establishments in the Indies, all gave him a reputation for power which a more critical examination would have dissipated ; but the time for this had not yet arrived. siastical property In his domains, and marry Margaret before the Church. Charles IX. to Ferralz (Ferroils), July 31, 1572, apud Mackintosh, iiL, Appen- dix III.; Fr. von Raumer, Brief e ans Paris (Leipsic, 1831), i. 292. 1 Journal de Lestoile, p. 24 ; Le Reveille- Matin des Fran support. Meanwhile, Catharine, from whose Argus- indeciaion. eyed inspection nothing that was debated in the royal presence, openly or secretly, ever escaped notice, awaited with 1 be Thou, iv. 674 ; Motley, Dutch Republic, ii. 369, etc. 1 " Thence with great celerity the Count Lodovick should send 500 horse to Bruxels under the conduct of M. de la Nue (None), where if he hap to find the Duke of Alva, it will grow to short wars, in respect of the intelligence they have with the town, who undertook with the aid of 100 soldiers to take the duke prisoner. If he retires to Antwerp, as it is thought he wil, then it is likely that all the whole country will revolt. I the rather credit this news for that it agreeth with the plot laid by Count Lodovick, before his departure hence," etc. Walsingham to Burleigh, Paris, May 29, 1572, Digges, 201. 414 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Ce. XVII. her accustomed irresolution Elizabeth's decision, before herself deciding whether to throw her influence into the scale with Coligny (of whose growing favor with her son she had begun to entertain some suspicion), or with Anjou and the Span- iards. But Elizabeth was as ever a riddle, not only to her allies, but even to her most confidential advisers. Certainly beth inspires she was no friend to Philip and Alva ; yet she would ' not abruptly enter into war against them. She could not help seeing that the interests of her person and of her king- dom, to say nothing of her Protestant faith, were bound up in the success of the Prince of Orange, who was about to cross the Rhine with twenty -five thousand Germans for the relief of Mons, now invested by Alva. For the duke wisely regarded the recapture of this place as the first step in extricating himself from his present embarrassments. In such a strife as that upon which Elizabeth must before long enter, whether with or with- out her consent, the cordial alliance of France would be valuable beyond computation. And yet, with a fatal perversity, she dallied with the proposal of marriage. One day she would not hear of Alen9on, alleging that his age and personal blemishes placed the matter out of all consideration. On another she gave hopes, and agreed to take a month's consideration. 1 Thus she tantalized her suitor. Thus she convinced the cunning Italian woman who, although she made no present show of holding the reins of power in France, was ready at any moment to resume them, that there was no reliance to be placed on Eng- land's promise of support against Philip.* The golden opportunity was in truth fast slipping away. Alva had struck promptly at that opponent whose thrust was likely to be most deadly. Mons must soon fall. A French Huguenot force, under command of Jean de Hangest, Sieur de 1 Queen Elizabeth to Walsingham, July 23, 1572, Digges, 226-230. * " More tremendous issues," Mr. Fronde forcibly remarks, " were hang- ing upon Elizabeth's decision than she knew of. But she did know that France was looking to her reply was looking to her general conduct, to ascertain whether she would or would not be a safe ally in a war with Spain, and that on her depended at that moment whether the French government would take its place once for all on the Bide of the Reformation." History of England, x. 370. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 41 Genlis, was sent forward to relieve it. But the Frenchman was no match for the cooler prudence of his antagonist,' and Boot of suffered himself, on the march, to be surprised (on the nineteenth of July) and taken prisoner bj Don Frederick of Toledo and Chiappin Vitelli. Of his army, barely one hundred foot soldiers found their way into the beleaguered town. Twelve hundred were killed on the field of battle almost in sight of Mous and a much larger number butchered by the peasantry of the neighborhood.* A handful of officers and men, scarcely more fortunate, shared the captivity of their commander, and were destined to have their fortunes depend for a considerable time upon the fluctuating interests of two un- principled courts.' The rout of Genlis was not in itself a decisive event. "While Coligny could bring forward a far more numerous army, and Orange was in command of a considerable German force, the loss of this small detachment was but one of those many re- verses that are to be looked for in every war. But, happening under the peculiar circumstances of the hour, it was invested with a consequence disproportioned to its real importance. The f;ite of the French Huguenots was quivering in the balance. The papal party was known to be bitterly opposed to the war against Spain, and to be merely awaiting an opportunity to strike a deadly blow at the heretics whom the royal edict still protected. Catharine was undecided ; but, with her, indecision was the ordinary prelude to the sudden adoption of some one of many conflicting projects, which had been long brooded over, but between which the choice was, in the end, the result rather 1 In fact, he was acting in violation of the instructions of Louis of Nassau, by whom he had been despatched for aid to France. Apprehending danger, Nassau repeatedly bid him avoid the direct road to Mons, and make a circuit through the territory of Cambray, and effect a junction with the Prince of Orange. Genlis justified his neglect of these directions by alleging the orders of Admiral Coligny. De Thou, iv. 680. Motley, Dutch Republic, ii. 383, 384 ; De Thou, iv. 680, etc. 3 It may be noted, by way of anticipation, that Genlis, after an imprison- ment of over a year, was secretly strangled by Alva's command, in the castle of Antwerp. With characteristic mendacity, the duke spread the report that the prisoner had died a natural death. Ibid. , vbi supra. 416 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVII. of accident, caprice, or temporary impressions, than of calm deliberation. This reverse at Mons, limited in its extent as it was, would be likely, so the Huguenot leaders of France foresaw and they it determines ^Gre not mistaken to determine Catharine to take Ske the e w tue Spanish side. With the queen mother in favor Spanish side. o gp am an d intolerance, experience had taught them that there was little to expect from her weak son's intentions, however good they might be. The only ground of hope for Orange and the Netherlands, and the only pros- pect for security and religious toleration at home, lay in the success of the Flemish project at Paris; and of this but a single chance seemed to remain in Elizabeth's finally espous- ing their cause with some good degree of resolution. " Such of the religion," wrote Walsingham to Lord Burleigh, inclosing the particulars of the disaster of Genlis, " as before slept in security, begin now to awake and to see their danger, and do therefore conclude that, unless this enterprise in the Low Coun- tries have good success, their cause groweth desperate." l To the Earl of Leicester "Walsingham was still more Loss of the ,....,. . ,, rn-i i < i golden oppor- explicit m his warnings : " I he gentlemen or the religion, since the late overthrow of Genlis, weighing what dependeth upon the Prince of Orange's overthrow, have made demonstration to the king, that, his enterprise lacking good success, it shall not then lie in his power to maintain his edict. They therefore desire him to weigh whether it were better to have foreign war with advantage, or inward war to the ruin of himself and his estate." The king being not here, his answer is not yet received. They hope to receive some such resolution as the danger of the cause requireth. In the mean- 1 Walsingham to Burleigh, July 26, 1572, Digges, 225. * It was such arguments as these that afterward, when everything that might be so employed as to justify or palliate the atrocity of Coligny's assas- sination was eagerly laid hold of, were construed as threats of a Huguenot rising, in case Charles should refuse to engage in the Flemish war. Compare, . ^., the unsigned extract found by Soldan (ii. 433) in the National Library of Paris, No. 8702, fel. 68. But does it need a word to prove that the reference was to a papal rising, or, at least, papal compulsion to violate the edict of toleration ? 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 417 time, the marshal (Montmorency) desired me to move your lordship to deal with her Majesty to know whether she, upon overture to be made to the king, cannot be content to join with him in assistance of this poor prince." And the faithful am- bassador did not forget to remind his mistress that the success of Philip in Flanders was still more dangerous for Elizabeth than for Charles.' Meantime, Admiral Coligny, although disappointed at the rout of the vanguard of the expedition which was to have been fitted out for the liberation of the ^Netherlands, The admiral . . , , . , . ins and yet more at the coolness which it had occasioned courage. , . . among those who up to this moment had been not unfriendly, did not yield to despondency, but labored all the more strenuously to engage Charles in an undertaking fitted to call forth the nobler faculties of his soul, and to free him from the thraldom under narrow-minded and interested counsellors to which he had been subject all his life long. Even before Genlis's defeat (in June, 1572), the admiral had presented an extended paper, wherein the justice and the fair prospects of the war had been set forth with rare force and cogency. 5 It may be that now, under the influence of a sincere and unselfish devotion that took no account of per- sonal risks, the admiral distinctly told his young master that he could never be a king in the true sense until he should emancipate himself from his mother's control, and until he should find, outside of France, some occupation for his brother Henry of Anjou, such as the vacancy of the Polish throne 1 Walsingham to Leicester, July 26, 1572, Digges. 225. 226. 9 This document was written by the illustrious Philippe du Plessis Mornay, then a youth twenty-three years of age, and bears the impress of his vigorous mind. De Thou gives an excellent summary (iv., liv. li. . r>l:>-.V>4) ; and it may be found entire in the Memoires de Du Plessis Mornay (ii. 2037). Mor- villiers, Bishop of Orleans, and keeper of the seals until Birague's appoint- ment in January, 1571, was requested by the king to prepare the answer of the opposite party in the royal council a task which he discharged with great ability. Summary in De Thou, iv. (liv. li. ) 555-063. and Agrippa d'Au- bigne, ii. 0. 10. Jean de Tavannes's memoirs of his father contain argu- ments of Marshal Tavannes and of the Duke of Anjou. dictated by the mar- shal, against undertaking the Flemish war, as both unjust and impolitic. VOL. II. 27 418 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVII. seemed to offer. 1 Such frankness would have been patriotic and timely, although a politician, influenced only by a regard for his own safety, would have regarded it as foolhardy in the extreme. This advice, promptly and faithfully reported to Catharine by the spies she kept around the king's person, 3 was the last drop in the cup of Coligny's offences. Charles, at the time of her discovery of this fact, was absent from court, seeking a few days' recreation at Montpipeau. Thither his mother, now Catharine at really alarmed for the continuance of her influence, pursued him in precipitate haste. 3 Shutting herself up with him apart from his followers, she burst into tears and plied Charles with an artful harangue. For this woman, who had a masculine will and a heart as cold and devoid of pity as the most utter scepticism could make it, had the ability to counterfeit the feminine tenderness which she did not possess. " I had not thought it possible," she said amid her sobs to her son, who trembled like a culprit detected in his crime, " I had not thought it possible that, in return for my pains in rearing you in return for my preservation of your crown, of which both Huguenots and Catholics were desirous of robbing you, and after having sacrificed myself and incurred such risks in your behalf, you would have been willing to make me so miser- able a requital. You hide yourself from me, your mother, and take counsel of your enemies. You snatch yourself from my arms that saved you, in order to rest in the arms of those who wished to murder you. I know that you hold secret deliber- ations with the admiral. You desire inconsiderately to plunge into a war with Spain, and so to expose your kingdom, as well 1 Jlemoires de Tavannes (Ed. Petitot), iii. 290. 1 In this case the chief spy, according to the Tocsain centre les massa- creors, p. 78, and the younger Tavannes, was Phizes, sieur de Sauve, the king's private secretary for the Flemish matter ; and Tavannes is certainly correct in making a chief element in Catharine's influence, " la puissance que ladicte Royne a sur ses enfans par ses creatures qu'elle leur a donne pour ser- viteurs dez leur enfance." llemoires, 290, 291. 3 In fact. Catharine, who spared neither herself nor her attendants in her furious driving in her "cache" on such occasions, lost one or more of the horses, which dropped dead. Tocsain centre les massacreurs, p. 73. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 419 as yourself and us, a prey to ' those of the religion.' If I am so miserable, before compelling me to witness such a sight, give me permission to withdraw to ray birthplace, 1 and send away your brother, who may well style himself unfortunate in having employed his life for the preservation of yours. Give him at least time to get out of danger and from the presence of ene- mies made in your service the Huguenots, who do not wish for a war with Spain, but for a French war and a subversion of all estates, which will enable them to gain a secure footing/' * Such was a portion of the queen mother's crafty speech. But there was another point upon which she doubtless touched, and which she used to no little purpose. A report had reached Rumors of h er fi'oni England to the effect that Queen Elizabeth desi-nkmof had decided to issue a proclamation recalling the English who had gone to Flushing to assist the patri- ots. The story was false ; so the secretary, Sir Thomas Smith, subsequently assured Walsingham. Elizabeth neither had done so, nor intended anything of the kind.* But it was wonderfully like the usual practice of Henry the Eighth's daughter, and Catharine believed it, and looked with horror at the precipice before which she stood. Deserted by her faithless ally, France was entering single-handed a contest of life or death with the world-empire of Spain. In fact, the English ambassador ascribed to the receipt of this intelligence alone both the queen mother's tears and entreaties at Montpipeau and the king's altered policy. 1 Or, only to her estates in Auvergne, according to the Tocsain, pp. 78, 79. It will be remembered that Catharine's mother was a French heiress of the famous family of La Tour d' Auvergne. 8 The younger Tavannes, in the memoirs of his father (Edit. Petitot). iii. 291, 202, gives the most complete summary of this remarkable conversation ; but it is substantially the same as the briefer sketch in the Tocsain centre lea massacreurs ue France, Rheims 1579, pp. 78, 79 a treatise of which the pre- face (L'Imprimeur aux lecteurs, dated June 25, 1577) shows that it was written before the death of Charles IX., but the publication of which was from time to time deferred in the vain hope that the authors of the inhuman massacre might yet repent. The new and " more detestable perfidy, fury, and impetu- osity" of which the Huguenots were the victims in the first years of Henry III.'s reign, finally brought it to the light. The Archies curicuym contain only a part of the treatise. 3 Smith to Walbinjrham, Aug. 23, 1572, Digges, 236. 420 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVII. " Touching Flemish matters," he wrote to Lord Burleigh, " the king had proceeded to an open dealing, had he not received ad- vertisement out of England, that her Majesty meant to revoke such of her subjects as are presently in Flanders ; whereupon such of his council here as incline to Spain, have put the queen mother in such a fear, that the enterprise cannot but miscarry without the assistance of England, as she with tears had dis- suaded the king for the time, who otherwise was very resolute." ' Catharine had not mistaken her power over the feeble intellect and the inconstant will of her son. Terrified less by the prospect of a Huguenot supremacy which she held forth, than by the menace of her withdrawal and that of Anjou, Charles, who was but too well acquainted with their cunning and ambition, ad- mitted his fault in concealing his plans, and promised obedience for the future." It was a sore disappointment to Admiral Coligny. The young king had, until this time, shown himself so favorable, that " commissions were granted, readv to have been Charles thor- . J . oughiycast sealed, tor the levying ot men in sundry provinces. But he had now lost all his enthusiasm, and spoke coldly of the enterprise. 3 Gaspard de Coligny did not, however, even now lose courage or forsake the post of duty to which God and his country evidently called him. In truth, the superi- ority of his mental and moral constitution, less evident in pros- perity, now became resplendent, and chained the attention of every beholder. " How perplexed the admiral is, who f ore- seeth the mischief that is like to follow, if assistance come not 1 Walsingham to Burleigh, Aug. 10, 1572, Digges, 233. This news and the interview, which must have taken place about the first week of August, are the burden of three letters written by Walsingham on the same day. " Herein nothing prevailed so much as the tears of his mother," he wrote to Leicester, "who without the army of England cannot consent to any open dealing. And because they are, as I suppose, assured by their ambassadors that her Majesty will not intermeddle, they cannot be induced to make any overture " (p. 233). Walsingham was disheartened at the loss of so critical an opportunity. " Pleasure and youth will not suffer us to take profit of ad- vantages, and those who rule under [over] us are fearfull and irresolute.'' * Mom. de Tavannes, iii. 291. 3 Walsingham to Leicester, Aug. 10, 1572, Digges, 233. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 421 from above," wrote Walsmgham, full of admiration, to the Earl of Leicester, " your lordship may easily guess. And surely to say truth, he never showed greater magnanimity, nor never was better followed nor more honored of those of the religion than now he is, which doth not a little appal the enemies. In this storm he doth not give over the helm. He layeth before the king and his council the peril and danger of his estate, and though he cannot obtain what he would, yet doth he obtain somewhat from him.'' ' So wrote that shrewd observer, Sir Francis Walsingham, just two weeks before the bloody Sunday of the massacre, and eight days before the marriage of Navarre, little suspecting, in spite of his anxiety, the flood of misery which was so soon to burst upon that devoted land. To all human foresight there was still hope that Charles, weak, nerveless, addicted to pleasure, but not yet quite lost to a sense of honor, might yet be induced to adopt a policy which would place France among the foremost cham- pions of intellectual and civil liberty, and transfer to the north of the Pyrenees the prosperity which the Spanish monarchs had misused and had employed only as an instrument of oppression coiigny par- and degradation. And, indeed, Coligny was partially ce a <)dsin C reas- successful ; for the impression made upon Charles by irrng hun> his mothers complaints and menaces at Montpipeau gradually wore away, and again he listened with apparent inter- est to the manly arguments of the great Huguenot leader. Could Elizabeth at this moment have brought herself to a more noble course, could she for once have forgotten to " deal under hand," and help secretly while in public she disavowed could she, in short, have realized for a single instant her re- sponsibility as a great Protestant princess, and been willing to expose even her own life to peril in order to secure to the Reformation a chance of fair play, it might not even now have been too late. But what was she doing at this very moment ? According to the admission of her own secretary, she was en- gaged in detaining volunteers from the Netherlands, on the pre- 1 " I am requested to desire your lordship to hold him excused in that he writeth not," he adds, " for that at this time he is overwhelmed with affairs." \Valsingham to Leicester, Aug. 10, 1572, Digges, 234. 422 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVII. text of " fearing too much disorder there through lack of some good head;" and "gently answering with a dilatory and doubt- ful answer " the Duke of Alva, when he demanded the revoca- tion of the queen's subjects in Netherlands. 1 Was she project- ing anything still more dishonorable ? The Spanish envoy in England, Anton de Guaras, affirms it, in a letter of the thirtieth of June to the Duke of Alva ; and we have no means of dis- proving his assertions. In his account of a private audience Elizabeth granted him by Queen Elizabeth, the ambassador ho y norawe dis ~ writes : " She told me that emissaries were coming fromTethcr- every day from Flushing to her, proposing to place the town in her hands. If it was for the sen-ice of his Majesty, and if his Majesty approved, she said that she would accept their offer. With the English who were already there, and with others whom she would send over for the pur- pose, it would be easy for her to take entire possession of the place, and she would then make it over to the Duke of Alva or to any one whom the duke would appoint to receive it.*' 3 Guaras can scarcely be suspected of misrepresenting the con- versation upon sp important a topic and in a confidential com- munication to the Spanish Governor of the Netherlands. The most charitable construction of Elizabeth's words seems to be that they were a clumsy attempt to propitiate the duke " with a dilatory answer," as Sir Thomas Smith somewhat euphemistic- ally expresses it, and that she had no intention of making good her engagements. But it was a sad blunder on her part, and 1 Sir Thomas Smith's plea in her behalf is interesting and plausible, but will not receive the sanction of any one who takes into account the vast dif- ference in the positions of Elizabeth and Charles, or considers the principles of which the former was, or should have been, the advocate. The good secretary, I need not remind my reader, was never reluctant to parade LIB Latinity : " If you there [in France] do tergicersari and work tarn timide and underhand with open and outward edicts, besides excuses at Rome and r.t Venice by your ambassadors, you. I say, which have Regem expertem otii, laboris amantem, cujus gens bellicosa jampridem assueta est casdibus tarn exterioris quam vestri sanguinis, quid faciemus gens otiosa et paci assueta. quibus imperat Regina, et ipsa pacis atque quietis amantissima.'' Smith to Walsingham, Aug. 22, 1572, Digges, 237. 9 Puntos de Cartaa de Anton de Guaras al Duque de Alva, June 3Cth : MS, Simancas, apud Froude, x. 383. 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMAIN. 423 likely to be rninous to her friends, the French Protestants. Alva was not slow in concluding that Elizabeth's offer was of greater value as documentary proof of her untrustworthy char- acter, than as a means of recovering Flushing. " There is no positive proof," remarks the historian to whom we are indebted for an acquaintance with the letter of Guaras, " that Alva com- municated Elizabeth's offers to the queen mother and the King of France, but he was more foolish than he gave the world reason to believe him to be if he let such a weapon lie idle in his writing-desk." 1 And so that inconstant, unprincipled Italian woman, on whose fickle purpose the fate of thousands Fatal results. . - , r r , ., , was more completely dependent than even her con- temporaries as yet knew, at last reached the definite persuasion that Elizabeth was preparing to play her false, at the very mo- ment when Coligny was hurrying her son into war with Spain. Even if France should prove victorious, Catharine's own influ- ence would be thrown into perpetual eclipse by that of the admiral and his associates. This result the queen mother re- solved promptly to forestall, and for that purpose fell back upon a scheme which had probably been long floating dimly in her mind. The Nemoires inedits de Michel de la Hugverye, of which the first volume was recently published (Paris, 1877), under the auspices of the National His- . torical Society, present some interesting points, and deserve a Michel de la special reference. At first sight, the disclosures, with which the Huguerye. au thor tells us he was favored, would seem to establish the bad faith of the court in entering upon the peace of St. Germain, and the long premeditation of the succeeding massacre. A closer examination of the facts, assuming La Huguerye's thorough veracity, shows that this is a mistake. La Huguerye may, indeed, have been informed by companions on the way to Italy, who supposed him to be a partisan of the Guises, that a great blow would be struck at the Huguenots when the proper time arrived ; and La Huguerye may have been confident that he was telling the truth, when, about Martinmas (November llth), 1570, he stated to De Briquemault, that "the king, seeing that he could not attain his object by way of arms without greatly weakening nay, endangering his kingdom, had resolved upon taking ' Froude, x. 385. 424 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIL another road, by which, in a single day. he would cleanse his whole state." He may have been assured, on what he deemed good authority, that the Pope was in the plot, and would keep the King of Spain from doing anything that might interfere with the execution, and have inferred that, the peace being a treacherous one, the only hope of the Huguenots lay in skilfully en- listing Charles in its maintenance, contrary to his original purpose. S?o he was confirmed in his belief by the contents of the despatches of the Spanish ambassador at the French court, treacherously submitted to the Huguenots by an unfaithful agent of the envoy. But the former statements were, at most, little better than rumors, to which the circumstances of the hour gave color. The air was full of dark hints ; but, apparently, they had no more solid foundation than the fact that, in an age abounding in perfidious schemes, the Protestants had already placed themselves partially in the power of their great enemies, and were likely soon to be more completely in their hands. The information received by La Huguerye was a very different thing from an authoritative avowal of a concealed purpose made by Catharine or by Charles himself. On the other hand, the assurances in the Spanish despatches were just of the same general nature as others with which the French government endeavored to quiet Philip, Alva, and the Roman pontiff himself. The only other peculiarity of La Huguerye to which 1 shall allude is his studied misrepresentation of the character of Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Na- varre. Contrary to the uniform portraiture given by contemporaries of both religions parties, she here appears as "an inconsiderate woman (femme l%ere\ with little forethought," " known to be jealous of the authority of the admiral," " whom she thwarted by her authority as much as was possible, at whatever cost or danger it might be." She had " intermeddled with affairs in the last war, unsolicited and of her own accord, not so much for con- science' sake, as because of the hatred her house bore to the popes, sole cause of the loss of the kingdom of Navarre, and especially through jealousy of the late Prince of Conde, whom she saw to be in the enjoyment of such credit, and to be so well followed, that she suspected great injury might result to her son in the event of his succession to the throne." She was, consequently, "not very sorry" to hear of Conde's death at Jarnac. Having been disap- pointed in securing for her son the sole (nominal) command of the Huguenots, sne vented her vengeance upon Coligny, whom she held responsible for the association of the young Conde in the leadership with his cousin. From that time forward she took every opportunity to cross the admiral, with the view of compelling him to retire in disgust from the management of affairs. In one of the speeches Sallustian, I suspect in which the Memoires abound, Count Louis of Nassau is represented as lamenting: "It is a great pity to have to do with a woman who has no other counsel than her own head, which is too little and light (lgere) to contain so many reasons and precautions, and who is of such weight in matters of so great consequence. And the mis- chief is that she has such an aversion to the admiral through foolish jealousy," etc. At last the admiral is goaded on to unpardonable imprudence. In the ppring of 1572 he yields to the importunities of Marshal Cosse, and goes from La Rochelle to the royal court at Blois : " weary of being near this princess, 1572. THE PEACE OF SAINT GERMALY. he exposed himself to the evident peril, of which he had had advices and arguments enough." To all this misrepresentation, the remarks of La Huguerye's editor, the Baron de Ruble, are a sufficient answer : No other historian of the period, Catholic or Huguenot, has accused the Queen of Navarre of so much jealousy, frivolity, aud spite. To the calumnies of La Huguerye we should oppose the verdict which every impartial judge can pronounce respecting this princess, in accordance with the letters published by the Marquis ds Rochambeau and the testimony of contemporaries." 426 THE HISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FKANCE. Cn. XVilL CHAPTER XVIII. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. THE marriage of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Yalois had been delayed in consequence of the death of the bride- groom's mother, but could now no longer be deferred. TheHngne- ?. not nobles The young queen of Charles the .Ninth was soon to become a mother, and it was desirable that she should have the opportunity to leave the crowded and unhealthy capital as soon as possible. Jeanne d'Albret's objection to the celebration of the wedding in Paris had been overruled. The bride herself, indifferent enough, to all appearance, on other points, was resolute as to this matter she would have her nuptials celebrated in no provincial town. Accordingly, the King of Navarre, followed by eight hundred gentlemen of his party, as well as by his cousin the Prince of Conde, and the admiral, made his solemn entry into the city, which so few of his adherents were to leave alive. Although still clad in mourn- ing for the loss of the heroic Queen of Navarre, they bore no unfavorable comparison with the gay courtiers, who, with Anjou and Alen9on at their head, came out to escort them into Paris with every mark of respect. 1 The betrothal took place in the palace of the Louvre, on Sun- day the seventeenth of August. Afterward there was a supper and a ball : and when these came to an end, Margaret Betrothal of ' Henry and was conducted by her mother, her brothers, and a MarKaret. - . * , . 1*11 stately retinue, to the episcopal palace, on the He de la Cite, adjoining the cathedral, there, according to the imme- morial custom of the princesses of the blood, to pass the night 1 Memoires de Marguerite de Talois, 23, 26. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 427 before her -wedding. Ko papal dispensation had arrived. Gregory XIII. was as obstinate as his predecessor in the ponti- fical chair, in denying the requests of the French envoys to Rome. 1 But Charles was determined to proceed ; and, in order to silence the opposition of the Cardinal of Bourbon, who still refused to perform the ceremony without the pope's approval, a forged letter was shown to him, purporting to come from the Cardinal of Lorraine, or the royal ambassador at Rome, and announcing that the bull of dispensation had actually been sealed, and would shortly arrive. 2 Preparations had been made for the wedding in a style of magnificence extraordinary even for that age of reckless expen- diture. To show their cordial friendship and fidelity, Charles and his brothers, Anjou and Alen9on, and Henry and his cousin of Conde, assumed a costume precisely alike a light yellow satin, covered with silver embroidery, and enriched with pearls and precious stones. Margaret wore a violet velvet dress with fleurs-de-lis. Her train was adorned with the same emblems. She was wrapped in a royal mantle, and had upon her head an imperial crown glittering with pearls, diamonds, and other gems of incalculable value. The queens were resplendent in cloth of gold and silver.' A lofty platform had been erected in front of the grand old pile of Notre Dame. Hither Margaret was brought in great pomp, from the palace of the Bishop of Paris, escorted by the king, by Catharine de' Medici, by the Dukes of Anjou and Alen9on, and by the Guises, the marshals, and 1 Xo dispensation was ever granted until after the marriage, and after Henry of Navarre's simulated conversion to Roman Catholicism. Then, of course, there was no need of further hesitation, and the document was granted, of which a copy is printed in Documents historiques inedits. i. 713-715. The bull is dated Oct. 27, 1572. There is, then, no necessity for Mr. Henry White's uncertainty (Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 370) : " The new pope, Gregory XIII., appears to have been more compliant, or the letter stating that a dis- pensation was on the road must have been a forgery." De Thou, iv. (liv. lii. 1 , 569; Lo stralagema di Carlo IX. re di Francia, contro gli Ugonotti, rebelli di Dio e suoi ; descritto dal signer CamilloCapilupi, e mandate di Roma al signer Alfonzo Capilupi. Ce stratageme est cy apres mis en Francois avec un avertissement au lecteur. l."4. Oriir. ed.,p. 22. 3 Memoires de 1'estat de France sous Charles IX. (Cimber et Danjou, 428 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. other great personages of the realm. Upon the platform she met lieniy of JS'avarre, with his cousins Conde and Conty, Admiral Colignj, Count de la Rochefoucauld, and a numerous train of Protestant lords from all parts of the kingdom. In the sight of an immense throng, the nuptial ceremony was per- formed by the Cardinal of Bourbon, Henry's uncle, according to the form which had been previously agreed upon. 1 The bridal procession then entered the cathedral by a lower platform, which extended through the nave to the choir. Here Henry, having placed his bride before the grand altar to hear mass, himself re- tired with his Protestant companions to the episcopal palace, and waited for the service to be over. "\Vhen notified of its conclusion by Marshal Damville, Henry and his suite returned to the choir, and with his bride and all the attending grandees soon sat down to a sumptuous dinner in the episcopal palace. Among those who had been admitted to the choir of Xotre Dame after the close of the mass, was the son of the first presi- dent of parliament, young Jacques Auguste de Thou, the f utnre historian. Happening to come near Admiral Coligny, he looked with curious and admiring gaze upon the warrior whose virtues and abilities had combined to raise the house of Chatillon to its present distinction. He saw him point out to his cousin Dam- ville the flags and banners taken from the Huguenots on the fields of Jarnac and Moncontour, still suspended from the walls of the cathedral, mournful trophies of a civil contest. " These will soon be torn down," De Thou heard Coligny say, " and in their place others more pleasing to the eye will be hung up." The words had unmistakable reference to the victories which he hoped soon to win in a war against Spain. It is not strange, however, that the malevolent endeavored to prove that they con- tained an allusion to the renewal of a domestic war, which it is certain that the admiral detested with his whole heart.* 1 " Avec certain f ormulaire que les uns et lea autres n'improuvoyent point." Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra, vii. 79. 8 As De Thou here speaks as an eye-witness of the marriage, I follow his description very closely. Histoire univ., iv. (liv. lii.) 469, 470. Agrippa d'Au- bigne was not in Paris (Memoires, edit. Pantheon, p. 478), and his account is meagre and deficient in originality. Hist, univ., ii. 12 (liv. i, c. 3). It is quite in keeping with the brave Gascon's character, that, having come to 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 423 Later in the day, a magnificent entertainment was given by Charles in the Louvre to the municipality of Paris, the members of parliament, and other high officers of justice, mem in the Supper was succeeded by a short ball, and this in turn by one of those allegorical representations in which French fancy and invention at this period ran wanton. Through the great vaulted saloon of the Louvre a train of won- derful cars was made slowly to pass. Some were rocks of silver, on whose summits sat in state the king's brothers, Xavarre, Conde, the prince dauphin, Guise, or Angouleme. On others sea-monsters disported themselves, and the pagan gods of the water, somewhat incongruously clothed in cloth of gold or vari- ous colors, serenely looked on. Charles himself rode in a chariot shaped like a sea-horse, the curved tail of which sup- ported a shell holding Xeptuue and his trident. "\Vhen the pageant stopped for a moment, singers of surpassing skill enter- tained the guests. Etienne le Roy, the king's especial favorite, distinguished himself by the power and beauty of his voice. 1 The entertainment was prolonged far into the night; but Ad- miral Coligny, before giving himself repose, snatched from sleep Paris some days before, in order to obtain a commission to command a com- pany of soldiers which he had raised for the war in Flanders, he had been obliged to leave almost instantly upon his arrival, because he had acted as the second of a friend in a duel, and wounded in the face an archer who endeavored to arrest him. Tavannes makes Coligny suggest the removal of the ensigns taken from the Protestants as " marques de troubles," and playfully claim for himself the 50,000 crowns promised to any one who should bring the admiral's head. M'Jmoires, ed. Petitot, iii. 293. 1 Memoires de 1'Etat, ubi supra, pp. 79, 80; De Thou, ubi supra. I have not deemed it out of place to describe some of the diversions with which the French court occupied itself on the eve of the massacre. The connection between reckless merriment and cold-blooded cruelty is often startlingly close. Besides this, the finances of the country were so hopelessly involved, as tho consequence of the late civil wars, that this lavish expenditure was particn larly ill-timed. If old Gaspard de Tavannes was as blunt as his son represents him to have been, he gave Charles some good, but, like most good, unheeded advice. '' Sire," said he, a propos of the extravagance of the court at Guise's marriage in 1570, u you should make a feast, and instead of the singers who are brought in artificial clouds, you should bring those who would tell you this truth : ' You are dolts ! You spend your money in festivals, in pomps and masks, and do not pay your men-at-arms nor your soldiers ; foreigners will beat you ! ' " Memoires, ed. Petitot, iii. 183. 430 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIIL a few minutes to write a letter to his wife, whom he had left in Chatillon. It is the last which has been preserved, and is other- wise important because of the light it throws upon the hopes and fears of the great Huguenot at this critical time. " My darling," he said, " I write this bit of a letter to tell you that to-day the marriage of the king's sister and the King of coiieny'siet- Navarre took place. Three or four days will be spent ter to huswife. j n festivities, masks, and mock combats. After that the king has assured me and given me his promise, that he will devote a few days to attending to a number of complaints which are made in various parts of the kingdom, touching the infrac- tion of the edict. It is but reasonable that I should employ myself in this matter, so far as I am able ; for, although I have infinite desire to see you, yet should I feel great regret, and I believe that you would likewise, were I to fail to occupy myself in such an affair with all my ability. But this will not delay so much the departure from this city, but that I think that the court will leave it at the beginning of next week. If I had in view only my own satisfaction, I should take much greater pleasure in going to see you, than in being in this court, for many reasons which I shall tell you. But we must have more regard for the public than for our own private interests. I have many other things to tell you, when I am able to see you, for which I am so anxious that you must not think that I waste a day or an hour. "What remains for me to say is that to-day, at four o'clock after noon, the bride's mass was said. Meanwhile, the King of Navarre walked about in a court with all those of the religion who accompanied him. Other incidents occurred which I will reserve to relate to you ; but first I must see you. And meantime I pray our Lord, my darling, to keep you in His holy guard and protection. From Paris, this eighteenth day of August, 1572. Mandcz-moy comme se porte le petit ou petite. . . . I assure you that I shall not be anxious to attend all the festivities and combats that are to take place during these next days. Your very good husband and friend, CHATILLON." l 1 I had translated this letter from the copy given by the Mcmoires de 1'estat de France (apud Archives curieuses, vii. 80, 81), which agrees substantially with, and was probably derived i'roui, the version s;iveu in liotman's Gasparia 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 431 The festivities and combats so distasteful to a statesman who recognized the critical condition of French affairs, and re- garded this merry-making as ill-timed pursued their Festivities * and mock uninterrupted course through Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of that eventful week. But the de- scription of most of the elaborate pageants would contribute little to the value of our conceptions of the character of the age. An exception may perhaps be made in favor of an inge- nious tournament that took place on Wednesday in the Hotel Bourbon. Here the Isles of the Blessed, the Elysian Fields, and Tartarus were represented by means of costly mechanisms. Charles and his brothers figured as knights defending Paradise, which Navarre and others, dressed as knights-errant, endeavored to enter by force of arms, but were repulsed and thrust into Tartarus. After some time the defeated champions were res- cued from their perilous situation by the compassion of their victors, and the performance terminated in a startling, but harm- less display of fireworks. 1 As the assailants were mostly Prot- estants, the defenders Iloman Catholics, it was not strange that a sinister interpretation was soon put upon the strange plot ; Colinii Vita (1575), 106. 107. On comparing it, however, with the transcript of the original autograph in the remarkable collection of the late Col. Henri Tronchin. given by M. Jules Bonnet in the Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. francais, i, (1803), 369, I discover extraordinary discrepancies, and find that, in addition to a different phraseology in every (sentence, one clause is inserted by Hotman of which there is not a trace in the Tronchin MS. I refer to the words: "Soyez asseuree de ma part que, parmi ces festins et passe-temps, je ne donneray fatcherie a personne" which would, of course, point to the prevailing fears of a collision between the admiral and the young Duke of Guise, or his retainers, whose hatred of Coligny was so well known that Charles IX. had issued a special injunction to the parties to keep the peace. The letter contains at the commencement of the postscript a playful allusion to the hope of his wife soon to be a mother. 1 Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra, 88, 89 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. Hi.) 570. The me- chanical part of these exhibitions was well executed. In the "en/er" there were " un grand nombre de diablts et petis diabloteaux faisans innnies sin- genes et tintamarres avec one grande roue tournant dedans ledit enfer, toute euvironnee de clochettes." The singer, Etienne le Roy, was again the " deus ex machina," coming from heaven and returning thither, in the character of Mercury mounted upon a gigantic bird. The final explosion inspired so much consternation among the spectators, that it effectually cleared the hull. 432 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIIL but, unless we are to suppose the authors of the massacre, whose success depended upon the surprise of the victims, so infatuated as to wish to forewarn them of their fate, it is scarcely credible that they intended to prefigure the ruin of the reformed faith in France. The time that had been allotted to pleasure was fast passing. The king was soon to meet Coligny, according to his promise, for the transaction of important business relating grievances to both to the internal and to the foreign affairs of be redressed. _ ,. . France. Ihere were religious grievances to be re- dressed. The admiral was particularly anxious to bring to the king's notice the flagrant outrage recently perpetrated in Troyes, where a fanatical Roman Catholic populace, indignant that the Huguenots, through the kindness of Marie de Cleves, the be- trothed of the Prince of Conde, 1 had been permitted to hold their worship so near the city as her castle of Isle-au-Mont, scarcely three leagues distant,* had met the Protestants on their return from service with aggravated insult, and had killed in the arms of its nurse an infant that had just been baptized ac- cording to the reformed rites. 3 Catharine and her son Anjou 1 They were married at Blandy, a castle belonging to the Marquise de Rothelin, near Melun, where its ruins are still to be seen (Saiot-Fargeau. Diet, des communes de France, s. v.), about a week before the marriage of Navarre, August 10, 1572. Tocsain centre les massacreurs (Arch, curieuses), vii. 42). Marie of Cleves was a daughter of the Duke of Nevers, and sister of Catharine of Cleves, Prince Porcien's widow, whom Henry of Guise had married in Sept., 1570. Journal de Jehan de la Fosse, 146. It is astonishing to see what considerable distances the Protestants were obliged to go in order to enjoy any religious privileges, and what fatigue they willingly underwent in order to avail themselves of them. In 1563, im- mediately after the close of the first civil war, instead of being assigned a place for worship in the suburbs, according to the terms of the edict, the Protestants of Troyes were told to go to Ceant-en-Othe full eight leagues, or about twenty-four miles ; nor could they obtain justice by any remonstrances with the court ! As they went to Ceant, in spite of its inconvenient distance, and of the death of several children taken thither to be baptized, the Roman- ists, in 1570, actually proposed to remove the Protestant preche still farther off, to Villenauxe, thirteen leagues from Troyes! Happily, after a while, they availed themselves of the hospitality of a feudal lord nearer by. Recordou, Le protestantisme en Champagne (MSS-. of N. Pithou), 136, etc., 149, 163. 3 Ibid., pp. 168, 169. The Roman Catholics of Troyes sent, about the 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 433 saw with consternation that the impression made by the " tears of Montpipeau " was already in a great degree obliterated, and feared the complete destruction of their influence if Charles were longer permitted to have intercourse with Coligny. In that case a Flemish war woidd be almost inevitable. Charles's anger against the Spaniards had kindled anew when he heard of Alva's inhumanity to Geulis and his fellow-prisoners. But, when he was informed that Alva had put French soldiers to the torture, in order to extract the admission of their monarch's complicity in the enterprise, his passion was almost ungovern- able, as he asked his attendants again and again : " Do you know that the Duke of Alva is putting me on trial ? " ' It seems to have been at this juncture that Catharine and her favorite son came to the definite determination to put the great Huguenot out of the way. Henry of Anjou is here his own accuser. In that strange confession which he made to his phy- sician, Miron," shortly after his arrival in Cracow a confession made under the influence, not so much of remorse, as of the annoyance occasioned by the continual reminders of the massa- cre which were thrown in his way as he travelled to assume- the throne of Poland he gives us a partial view of the devel- opment of the murderous plot. Several times had Anjou and Catharine perceived that, when- jeaiousy of ever Charles had conversed in private with the ad- and Anjou. iniral, his demeanor was visibly changed toward them. He no longer exhibited his accustomed respect for his middle of August, two deputies to get the Protestant place of worship re- moved from Isle-au-Mont, who were present at the massacre. 1 Baschet, La diplomatic venitienne, p. 540. 1 This confession exists in manuscript in the National Library of Paris (Fonds de Bouhier, 59), under the heading: "Discours du Roy Henry troisiesme a un personnage d'honneur et de qualite estant pres de sa ma- jeste, sur lea causes et motifs de la St. Barthelemy." It is printed in an ap- pendix to the Memoires de Villeroy (Petitot ed., xliv. 496-510). Its authen- ticity is vouched for by Matthieu. the historiographer of Louis XIII., and is corroborated by its remarkable agreement with what we can learn from other sources. Cf., especially, Soldan, Frankreich und die Bartholomausnacht, 224-226. Some suppose that M. de Souvre, and not Miron, was the person with whom the conversation at Cracow was held. Martin, Hist, de France, x. 315. VOL. II. 28 434 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIII. mother or his wonted kindness for his brother. Once, in particular and it was, so Anjou tells us, only a few days be- fore St. Bartholomew's Day Henry happened to enter the room just after Coligny had gone out. Instantly the king's countenance betrayed extreme anger. He began to walk furi- ously to and fro, taking great strides, and keeping his eyes fixed upon his brother with an expression that boded no good, but without uttering a word. Again and again he placed his hand on his dagger, and Anjou expected nothing less than that his brother would attack him. At last, taking advantage of an opportunity when Charles's back was turned, lie hastily re- treated from the room. This circumstance led Catharine and Anjou to compare their observations and their plans. " Both of us," says Henry, " were easily persuaded, and became, as it were, certain that it was the admiral who had impressed some evil and sinister opinion of us upon the king. We resolved from that moment to rid ourselves of him, and to concert the means of doing so with the Duchess of Nemours. To her alone we believed that we might safely disclose our purpose, on account of the mortal hatred which we knew that she bore to The pnchess him." ' The Duchess of Nemours was born of an M^HeMyof excellent mother ; for she was Anne d'Este, daughter of Renee of France, the younger child of Louis the Twelfth. In her youth, at the court of her father, the Duke of Ferrara, and in society with that prodigy of feminine pre- cocity, Olympia Morata, she had shown evidences of extraor- dinary intellectual development and of a kindly disposition.* Although she subsequently married Francis of Guise, the lead- ing persecutor of the Protestants, she had not so lost her sym- pathy with the oppressed as to witness without tears and re- monstrances the atrocious executions by which the tumult of Amboise was followed. But the assassination of her husband turned any affection or compassion she may have entertained for Protestantism into violent hatred. Against Coligny, whom, in spite of his protestations, she persisted in believing to be the 1 Discours du Roy Henry III.", Mem. de Villeroy, 499, 500. 3 See J. Bonnet, Vie d'Olympia Morata (Paris, 1850), 20, etc. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 435 instigator of Poltrot's crime, she bore an implacable enmity ; and now, having so often failed in obtaining satisfaction from the king by judicial process, she eagerly accepted the opportu- nity of avenging herself by a deed more dastardly than that which she laid to the charge of her enemy. Entering heartily into the project which Catharine and Anjou laid before her, the Duchess of Nemours enlisted the co-operation of her son, Henry of Guise, and her brother-in-law, the Duke of Aumale, and herself arranged the details of the plan, which was at once to be put into execution. 1 Such was the germ of the massacre as yet not resolved upon, which, rapidly developing, was to involve the murder of thou- WBP the mas- sands of innocent persons throughout France. In ^emediti opposition to the opinion that became almost univer- sal among the Protestants, and gained nearly equal currency among the Roman Catholics that the butchery had long been contemplated, and that Charles was privy to it and notwithstanding the circumstances that seem to give color to this opinion,* I am compelled to acquiesce in the belief ex- saiviati's pressed by the Papal Nuncio, Salviati, who, in his tesumcmy. despatches, written in cipher to the cardinal secretary of state, could certainly have had no motive to disguise his real sentiments, mid whom it is impossible to suppose ignorant of any scheme for the general extirpation of the Protestants, had such a scheme existed for anv considerable length of time: * c? As to all the statements that will be made respecting the fir- ing upon the admiral and his death, different from that which I have written to you, you will in time find out how true they are. Madame the regent, having come to be at variance with him [the admiral], and having decided upon this step a few 1 Discours du Roy Henry III., ibid., p. 501. The nuncio, Salviati, informs us that young Guise urged his mother herself to kill Coligny. 8 The article on the massacre in the North British Review for October, 1869 an article to which I shall have occasion more than once to refer brings forward a number of passages in the diplomatic correspondence, espe- cially of the minor Italian states, pointing in this direction. They can all, I am convinced, be satisfactorily explained, without admitting the conclusion, to which the writer evidently leans, of a distinct, though not a long premedi- tation. 436 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. days before, caused him to be fired upon. This was without the knowledge of the king, but with the participation of the Duke of Anjou, the Duchess of Nemours, and her son, the Duke of Guise. If the admiral had died at once, no others would have been slain. But, inasmuch as he survived, and they apprehended that some great calamity might happen should he draw closer to the king, they resolved to throw aside shame, and to have him killed together with the rest. And this was put into execution that very night." l As the hour approached, Coligny exhibited no apprehension of special danger. Others, however, more suspicious, or pos- sessed of less faith in Heaven, felt alarm ; and some acted upon The king's their fears. The very " goodness " of the king terri- cordiauty. e( j one> Another said that he had rather be saved with fools than perish with the wise, and hastily forsook the capital. Dark hints had been thrown out by courtiers such surmises were naturally bred by the defenceless position of the Protestants in the midst of a population so hostile to their faith as the population of. Paris that more blood than wine would be spilled at this wedding. And there were rumors of some mysterious enterprise afloat ; so, at least, it was said after the occurrence. But Coligny moved not from the post which he believed had been assigned to his keeping. On "Wednesday 1 "Mad. la Regente venuta in differenza di lui, risolvendosi pochi giorni prima, gli la fece tirare, e senza saputa del Re, ma con participatione di M. di Angiu, di Mad. de Nemours, e di M. di Guisa suo figlio ; e se moriva subito non si ammazzava altri," etc. Salviati, desp. of Sept. 22, 1572, apud Mack- intosh, Hist, of England, vol. iii., Appendix K. It will be remembered that these despatches were given to Sir James Mackintosh by M. de Chateaubriand, who had obtained them from the Vatican. I need not say how much more trustworthy are the secret despatches of one so well informed as the nuncio, than the sensational "Stratagema" of Capilupi, which pretends (ed. of 1574, p. 26) that Charks placed Maurevel in the house from which he shot at Co- ligny, on discovering that the admiral had formed the plan of firing Paris the next night. To believe these champions of orthodoxy, the Huguenots were born with a special passion for incendiary exploits. It does not seem to strike them that burning and pillaging Paris would not be likely to appear to Coligny a probable means of furthering the war in Flanders. Besides, what need is there of any such Huguenot plot, even according to Capilupi's own view, since he carries back the premeditation of the massacre on the part of Charles at least four years ? 1372. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 437 Charles figured him, with laughing countenance, that if the admiral would but give him four days more for amusement, he would not stir from Paris until he had contented him ; ' and the sturdv old Huguenot made no objection when the king, in order to prevent any disturbance which the partisans of Guise might occasion in seeking a quarrel with the followers of the house of Chatillon, proposed to introduce a considerable force of soldiers into the city. " My father,'' said Charles, with his usual appearance of affection, " you know that you have prom- ised not to give any cause of offence to the Guises so long as you remain here ; and they have in like manner promised to respect you and all yours. I am fully persuaded that you will keep your word ; but I am not so well assured of their good faith as of yours ; for, besides the fact that it is they that would avenge themselves, I know their bravadoes and the favor this populace bears to them." * On Friday morning, the twenty-second of August, Admiral Coligny went to the Louvre, to attend a meeting of the royal council, at which llenrv of Aniou presided. It was , ,111 i. between ten and eleven o clock, when, according to AugustlS. ..., i i i i r i the more primitive hours then kept, he left the palace to return home for dinner.' Meeting Charles just coming out 1 Le Reveille-Matin des Francois, etc., Archives curieuses. vii. 173 ; Eusebii Philadelphi Dialog! (1574), i. 33. It has been customary to interpret this lan- guage and similar expressions as covertly referring to the massacre which was then four days off. But this seems absurd. Certainly, if Charles was privy to the plan for Coligny's murder, he must have expected him to be killed on Friday that is, within less than two days. If so, what peculiar significance in the four days? For, if a general massacre had been at first contemplated, no interval of two days would have been allowed. Everybody must hare known that if the arquebuse shot had done its work, and Coligny had been killed on the spot, every Huguenot would have been far from the walls of Paris long before Sunday. As it was. it was only the admiral's confidence, and the impossibility of moving him with safety, that detained them. 8 Capilupi, Lo stratagema di Carlo IX., l.~74. Orig. ed., pp. 24". 25. and the concurrent French version, pp. 42, 43. This version is incorporated ver- batim in the Mnnoires de Testat de France sous Charles IX. (Archives curi- euses), vii. s{>. DO. In like manner the " Memoires," which are in great part a mere compilation, take page after page from the " Reveille-Matin." 3 ' Ainsi qu'il sortoit prt- sentement du Louvre, pour aller disner en son logis." Charles's letter of the same day to La Mothe Fc-nclon, Corresp. dipl., vii. 322. 438 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIII. of a chapel in front of the Louvre, he retraced his steps, and accompanied him to the tennis-court, where he left him playing with Guise, against Teligny and another nobleman. Accom- panied by about a dozen gentlemen, he again sallied forth, but had not proceeded over a hundred paces when from behind a lattice an arquebuse was fired at him. 1 The admiral had been walking slowly, intently engaged in reading a petition which had just been handed to him. The shot had been well aimed, and might have proved fatal, had not the victim at that very moment turned a little to one side. As it was, of the three balls with which the arquebuse was loaded, one took off a finger of his right hand, and another lodged in his left arm, making an ugly wound. Supported by De Guerchy and Des Pruneaux, between whom he had previously been walking, Coligny was carried to his house in the little Rue de Bethisy, a only a few steps farther on. As he went he pointed out to his friends the house from which the shot had been fired. To a gentleman who expressed the fear that the balls were poisoned, he replied with composure : " Nothing will happen but what it may please God to order." ' The attempted assassination had happened in front of the cloisters of St. Germain 1'Auxerrois. The house was recognized as one belonging to the Duchess Dowager of Guise, in which Villemur, the former tutor of young Henry of Guise, had lodged. 1 It is of little moment whether the assassin at his window was screened by a lattice, or by a curtain, as De Thou says, or by bundles of straw, as Capi- lupi states. I prefer the account of the " Reveille-Matin." as the author tella us that he was one of the twelve or fifteen gentlemen in Coligny's suite "entre lesquels j'estoy " (p. 174). So the Latin ed., Euseb. Philad. Dialogi, i. 34. 5 The Rue de Bethisy was the continuation of the Rue des Fosses Saint Germain 1'Auxerrois, through which he was walking when he was shot. In the sixteenth century the street bore the former name, beginning at the Rue de 1'Arbre Sec, at the corner of which Coligny appears to have lodged. In later times the name was confined to the part east of Rue de Roule. Dulaure, Histoire de Paris, iv. 259. The extension of the Rue de Rivoli, under the auspices of Napoleon III., has not only destroyed the house in which Coligny was murdered, but obliterated the Rue de Bethisy itself. 3 " Qu'il n'aviendroit que ce qu'il plairoit a Dieu." Reveille-Matin, 175; Euseb. Philad. Dialogi (1574), i. 35 ; Memoires de 1'estat, 94. 1573. THE MASSACRE OP ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 439 The door was found locked ; but the indignant followers of Coligny soon burst it open. They found within only a woman and a lackey. The assassin, after firing, had fled to the rear of the house. There he found a horse awaiting him ; this he exchanged at the Porte Saint Antoine for a fresh Spanish jen- net. He was out of Paris almost before pursuit was fairly undertaken. Subsequent investigation left no doubt as to his identity. It was that same Maurevel of infamous memory, who during the third civil war had traitorously shot De Mouy, after insinuating himself into his friendship, and sharing his room and his bed. The king's assassin, " le tueur du roi " a designation he had obtained when Charles or his advisers gave a special reward for that exploit ' had been selected by Cath- arine, Anjou and the Guises, as possessing both the nerve and the experience that were requisite to make sure of Coligny's death. It was found that he had been placed in the house by De Chailly, " niaitre d'hotel " of the king, and that the horse by means of which he effected his escape had been brought to the door by the groom of the Duke of Guise. 3 Charles was still in the tennis-court, when De Piles came in, sent by Coligny, to inform him of the bloody infraction of the Aeration of Edict of Pacification. On hearing the intelligence, the king was violently agitated. Throwing down his racket, he exclaimed : " Am I, then, never to have peace ? What! always new troubles ?" and retired to his room in the Louvre, with a countenance expressive of great dejection. 1 And when, later in the day, the King of Navarre, the Prince of Conde, and La Rochefoucauld, after seeing Coligny's wounds dressed, came to the palace and begged him for permission to leave a city in which there was no security for their lives, 1 See ante, chapter xvi. 8 Reveille-Matin, ubi sup., 175 ; and Euseb. Philad. Dialogi, L 34, 35 ; M- moires de 1'estat, ubi sup., 93, etc. ; Jean de Serres (1575), iv. fol. 25; Toc- saiu centre les Massacreurs (orig. ed.), 113, etc. ; Begistres du Bureau de la ville de Paris (Archives curieuses, vii. 211) ; despatch of Salviati of Aug. 22. App. F to Mackintosh. Hist, of England, iii. 354 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. Hi.) 574; Jehan de la Fosse, 147, 148; Baschet, La diplomatic venit., 548. 3 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi sup., 94 ; Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fola. 25, 26 ; Reveille-Matin, ITU ; Euseb. Phiiad. Dial., i. Co ; De Thou, iv. (liv. Iii.) 574. 440 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL Charles swore to them, with his accustomed profanity, that he would inflict upon the author and abettors of the crime so sig- nal a punishment that Coligny and his friends would be satisfied, and posterity have a warning example. Coligny had received the wound, he said, but the smart was his. Catharine, who was present, chimed in, and declared the outrage so flagrant, that just retribution must speedily be meted out, or insolence would be pushed so far as that the king would be attacked in his own palace. 1 Meantime the admiral bore his sufferings with serenity, and, far from needing any comfort his friends could give him, him- coiigny se lf administered consolation to the noblemen around courageous. his bed _ His sufferings were acute. AmboisePare, the famous surgeon of the king, himself a Huguenot, was called in ; but the instruments at hand were dull, and it was not until the third attempt that he could satisfactorily amputate the wounded finger. "My friends," said Coligny to Merlin, his minister, and to other friends, " why do you weep ? As for me, I think myself happy in having received these wounds for the name of God." And when Merlin exhorted him " to thank God for His mercy in preserving his mental faculties sound and entire, and to continue to divert his thoughts and feelings from his assassin and his wounds, and to turn them, as he was doing, from all things else to God, since it was from His hands that he had received them," the admiral's reply was, that sincerely and from the heart he forgave the person who had wounded him, and those who had instigated him, holding it for certain that it was beyond their power to injure him, since, should they even kill him, death would be an assured passage to life. 2 Thus, with quiet submission, and with edifying prayers which it would be too long to insert, the Admiral de Coligny passed those hours which his enemies subsequently, in their desperate attempts to justify or palliate the most abominable of crimes, represented as given up to infamous plots against king and state. 1 Tocsain centre les massacceurs, Archives cur. , vii. 45 ; Reveille-Matin, 177; Memoires de 1'estat, 98. 1 Gasparis Colinii Vita (1574\ lOS-UCT; Memoires de 1'estat de Charles IX., M supra, 94-98. The two accounts are evidently from the same hand. 15721 THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 441 That afternoon, between two and three o'clock, Charles visited the wounded man, at the suggestion of Teligny and He is visited Damville ; for Coligny had expressed a desire to see by the king ^ Q monarch, that he might communicate certain and his mother. matters which concerned him greatly, but of which he feared there was no one else that would inform him. 1 The king came, accompanied by his mother, his brothers, the Duke of Montpensier, Cardinal Bourbon, Marshals Damville, Tavannes and Qosse, Count de Retz, and the younger Montmorencies, Thore and Meru. 9 The interview was kind and reassuring. The admiral, who lay npon his bed, heartily thanked the king for the honor he had deigned to do him, and for the measures he had already taken in his behalf. And Charles praised the patience and magnanimity exhibited by Coligny, and bade him be of good courage. Then more important topics were intro- duced. There were three points respecting which the admiral wished to speak to Charles. The first was his own loyalty, which, however much it had been maligned by his enemies, he desired now solemnly to reaffirm, in the presence of Him before whose bar he might soon be called to stand, and he declared that the sole cause of the hostility he had aroused was his attempt to set bounds to the fury of those who presumed to violate royal edicts. Next, he commended to the king the Flemish project. Is ever had any predecessor of Charles enjoyed so splendid an opportunity as now offered, when several cities of the Netherlands had declared their desire for his favor and protection. But these advances were openly derided by some of the courtiers about the king ; while state secrets were so badly kept, that "one could not turn an egg, nor utter a word in the 1 Memoires de 1'estat, vbi supra, 98. 1 Daraville, Meru and Thore, were sons of the constable. Their eldest brother, Marshal Francis de Monttnorency. whose greatest vice was his slug- gishness and his devotion to his ease, had left Paris a few days before, on the pretext of going to the chase. His absence at the time of the massacre was supposed to have saved not only his life, but that of his brothers. The Guises would gladly have destroyed a family whose influence and superior antiquity had for a generation been obnoxious to their ambitious designs ; but it was too hazardous to leave the head of the family to avenge his murdered brothers. 442 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL council, but it was forthwith reported to the Duke of Alva." And, indeed, what else could be expected, since those who were present, and even his own brothers, communicated to foreigners and enemies the king's most confidential deliberations ? He earnestly begged Charles to apply a prompt remedy to this matter in future. The last point was the observance of the Edict of Pacification. "What opinion would foreign nations form of the king, if he suffered a law solemnly made, and frequently confirmed by oath, to be openly trampled upon ? In proof of this assertion, he alleged the recent attack upon the Protestants of Troyes returning from their place of worship, the tragic ter- mination of which has already been noticed. To that part of Coligny's remarks which related to the war in Flanders, it is said that Charles made no direct reply ; but he declared that he had never suspected the admiral's loyalty, and that he accounted him a good man, and a great and gener- ous captain. There was not another man in the kingdom whom he would prefer to him. And he again asseverated his intention to enforce a religious observance of his edicts ; for which pur- pose, indeed, he had recently despatched commissioners into all the provinces, as the queen could inform him. " That is true, Monsieur 1'amiral," said Catharine, " and you know it." " Yes, madam," he replied, "commissioners have been sent, among whom are some that condemned me to be hung, and set a price of fifty thousand crowns on my head." " Then," rejoined Charles, " we must send others who are open to no suspicion." Again he promised with his accustomed oath to see that the attempt upon the admiral's life should be so punished that the retribution would be forever remembered; 1 after which he inquired whether Coligny were satisfied with the judges whom he had appointed to conduct the investigation. Coligny replied that he committed himself in this matter to the king's prudence, but suggested that Cavaignes, the recently appointed maitre de requetes, and two other Huguenots be added to the commission. 1 There was no need of going far, Coligny responded, to discover the author. " Qu'on en demand e a Monsieur de Guise, il dira qui est celuy qui m'a preste une telie charite ; mais Dieu ne me soit jamais en aide si je demande ven- geance d'un tel outrage." Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra, 104, 105. 1573. THE MASSACRE OP ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 443 The king and De Retz both endeavored to persuade the ad- miral to permit himself to be transported, for safety's sake, to the Louvre ; but Coligny's friends would not consent to a re- moval which might endanger his life. Charles requested, before he left, to see the ball extracted from the wounded arm, and ex- amined it with apparent curiosity. Catharine took it next, and said that she was glad that it had been removed, for she remem- bered that, when the Duke of Guise was shot, the physicians repeatedly said that, even if the ball were poisoned, there was no danger to be apprehended when once the ball was taken out. Many afterward regarded it as a significant circumstance that the queen mother's mind should have reverted on this occasion to the murder of which the Lorraine family still persisted in ac- cusing Coligny of having been the instigator. 1 Such was, according to the solitary Huguenot who was present by Coligny's bed, and who survived the subsequent massacre, the substance of the conversation at this celebrated interview. But, if we may credit the account which purports to have been given by Henry of Anjou, there was an incident which he failed to mention. At a certain point in the conversation Coligny asked to be allowed to speak to the king in private, a request which Charles willingly granted, motioning Henry and Catharine to withdraw. They accordingly retired to the middle of the room, where they remained standing during the suspicious colloquy. Meanwhile their apprehensions were awakened as they noticed that there were more than two hundred gentlemen and captains of the admiral's party in this and an adjacent room and below stairs. The sad looks of the Huguenots, their gestures expres- sive of discontent, their suppressed whispers, as they passed to and fro, before and behind the queen and her favorite son, with less respect than the latter thought was due to them, impressed cathanne at- them with the idea that they were objects of distrust. br'cakup the Catharine afterward admitted to Henry that never coufereuce. m j^,. ijf e was gh e gQ g] a( j t o g^ ou t o f any other place. Her impatience soon impelled her to cut short the con- 1 Gasparis Colinii Vita, 114-121 ; Memoirea de 1'estat, ubi tupra, 102-106. The two accounts agree almost word for word. There is a briefer narrative in Reveille-Matin, 178, 179 ; and Euseb. Philad. Dialogi, i. 37. 444 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. ference between Charles and Coligny much to the regret of Charles on the pretext that longer conversation might retard the sick man's recovery. Scarcely had the royal party left the admiral's lodgings, when Catharine began to ply Charles with questions respecting Co- ligny's private communication. Several times he absolutely re- fused to satisfy her curiosity. But at last, losing all patience, he roughly answered her with an oath : " What the admiral told me was true : kings are recognized as such in France only so far as they have the power to reward or punish their subjects and ser- vants ; and this power and the management of the affairs of the entire state have insensibly slipped into your hands. But this authority of yours, the admiral told me, may some day become highly prejudicial both to me and to my whole kingdom, and I ought to look upon it with suspicion, and to be on my guard. Of this he had desired, as one of my best and most faithful subjects, to warn me before he died. Well then, mon Dieu, since you will know it, this is what the admiral was telling me." " This was uttered," Anjou subsequently said, " with so much passion and fury, that the speech cut ns to the heart. We con- cealed our emotion as best we could, and vindicated ourselves. This discourse we pursued from the admiral's lodgings to the Louvre. There, after having left the king in his own room, we retired to that of the queen, my mother, who was nettled and offended in the highest degree by this language of the ad- miral to the king, and still more by the credit the king seemed to give it, fearing that this might occasion some change in our affairs and in the conduct of the state. To be frank, we found ourselves so unprovided with counsel and understanding, that, being unable to come to any determination at that time, we separated, deferring the matter until the morrow." l Meantime, Charles, not content with closing all the gates of Charles Paris, save two, which were to be strictly guarded, is anc ^ with ordering a speedy judicial investigation, de- gpatclied, on the very day of the attempt on Coligny's life, a circular letter to all the governors of the provinces, and 1 Discours du roy Henry III., ubi supra, 502-505. 1372. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 445 a similar letter to his ambassadors at foreign courts, declar- ative of his profound displeasure at this audacious crime. In the former he said : " I am at once sending in every direction in pursuit of the perpetrator, with a view to catch him and inflict such punishment upon him as is required by a deed so wicked, so displeasing, and, moreover, so inconvenient ; for the reparation of which I wish to forget nothing." And lest any persons, whether Protestants or Roman Catholics, should be aroused by this news to make a disturbance of the peace, he called upon all the governors to explain the full circumstances of the case. " Assure every one," he wrote, " that it is my inten- tion to observe inviolate my edict of pacification, and so strictly to punish those who contravene its provisions, that men may judge how sincere is my will." ' In a similar strain he wrote to his ambassador in England, that he was '" infinitely sorry " (inliniinent marry), and that he desired him to acquaint Queen Elizabeth with his determination to cause such signal justice to be executed, that every one in his realm might take example therefrom. " Monsieur de la Mothe Fenelon," he added in a postscript, " I must not forget to tell you that this wicked act proceeds from the enmity between his [the admiral's] house and the Guises. I shall know how to provide that they involve none of my subjects in their quarrels ; for I intend that my edict of pacification be observed in all points." * Not long after the king had left Coligny's room, the admiral was visited by Jean de Ferrieres, Vidame de Chartres, a leading Huguenot, who came to condole with him. He also The Vi.iame f> de chartres bad a more practical object in view. In a conference Huguenots to of the great nobles of the reformed faith, held in the leave Paris. ',... , i-n-i i room adjoining the admirals, he advocated the in- stant departure of the Protestants from Paris, and urged it at considerable length. He saw in the event of the day the first act of a tragedy whose catastrophe could not be long deferred. The Huguenots had thrust their head into the very jaws of the lion ; it were prudent to draw it out while it was yet tune. But 1 Le roi a Mandelot, 22 aout, Correspondance du roi Charles IX. et du sieur de Mandelot (Paris, 1830), 36, 37. * Corresp. dipl. de La Mothe Fenelon, vii. 322, 323. 446 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. this sensible advice, based less upon any distinct evidence of a plot for their destruction than upon the obvious temptation which their defenceless situation offered to a woman prover- bially unscrupulous, was overruled by the majority of those present. Teligny, in particular, the accomplished and amiable son-in-law of Coligny, opposed a scheme which not only might endanger the admiral's life, but would certainly displease the king, by betraying distrust of his ability or his inclination to defend his Protestant subjects. 1 Saturday morning came, and with it a report from Coligny's physicians, announcing that his wounds would not prove serious. Meanwhile the investigation into the attempted assassination was pursued, and disclosed more and more evidence of the com- plicity of the Guises. The young duke and his uncle Aumale, conscious of the suspicion in which they were held, and fearful perhaps of the king's anger, should the part they had taken be- come known, prepared to retire from Paris, and came to Charles to ask for leave of absence, telling him at the same time that they had long noticed that their services were not pleasing to him. Charles, with little show of courtesy, bade them depart. Should they prove guilty, he said, he would find means to bring them to justice. 2 And now the time had arrived when Catharine and the Duke of Anjou must come to a final decision respecting the means of Catharine and extricating themsel ves f rom their present embarrass- to n afiiMie- ments. MaureveVs shot had done no execution. Co- ligny was likely to recover, to be more than ever the idol of the Huguenots, to become more than ever the favorite of the king. In that case the influence of Catharine and her younger son would be irretrievably lost ; especially if the ju- dicial investigation now in progress should reveal the fact that they were the prime movers in the plan of assassination. Cer- tainly neither Henry of Guise nor his mother would consent to bear the entire responsibility. More than that, the Huguenots were uttering loud demands for justice, which to guilty con- sciences sounded like threats of retribution. 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra,- 106, 107. Ibid., 108. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 447 ~\Ve must here recur to Henry of Anj oil's own account of this critical period ; for that strange confession throws the only gleam of light upon the process by which the young king was moved to the adoption of a course whereby he earned the repu- tation of which it will be difficult to divest him of a monster of cruelty. " I went," says Anj on, " to see my mother, who had already risen. I was filled with anxiety, as also she was on her side. We adopted at that time no other determina- tion than to despatch the admiral by whatever means possible. As artifice and cunning could no longer be employed, we must proceed by open measures. But, to do this, we must bring the king to this same resolution. We decided that we would go in the afternoon to his private room, and would bring in the Duke of Kevers, Marshals Tavannes and Retz, and Chancellor Bi- rague, solely to obtain their advice as to the means we should employ in executing the plan upon which my mother and I had already agreed. " As soon as we had entered the room in which the king my brother was, my mother began to represent to him that the party of the Huguenots was arming against him on chnries "with account of the wounding of the admiral, the latter having sent several despatches to Germany to make a levy of ten thousand horse, and to the cantons of Switzerland for another levy of ten thousand foot ; that most of the French captains belonging to the Huguenot party had already left in order to raise troops within the kingdom ; and that the time and place of assembling had been fixed upon. Let so powerful an army as this once be joined to their French troops a thing which was only too practicable and the king's forces would not be half sufficient to resist them, in view of the intrigues and leagues they had, inside and outside of the kingdom, with many cities, communities, and nations. Of this she had good and cer- tain advices. Their allies were to revolt in conjunction with the Huguenots under pretext of the public good ; and for him (Charles), being weak in pecuniary resources, she saw no place of security in France. And, indeed, there was besides a new consequence of which she wished to warn him. It was that all the Catholics, wearied by so long a war, and vexed by so many 448 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIII. sorts of calamities, were determined to put an end to them. In case he refused to follow their counsel, they also had determined among themselves to elect a captain-general to undertake their protection, and to form a league offensive and defensive against the Huguenots. Thus he would remain alone, enveloped in great danger, and without power or authority. All France would be seen armed by two great parties, over which he would have no command, and from which he could exact just as little obedience. But, to ward off so great a danger, a peril impending over him and his entire state, so much ruin, and so many calam- ities which were in preparation and just at hand, and the murder of so many thousands of men to avert all these misfortunes, a single thrust of the sword would suffice the admiral, the head and author of all the civil wars, alone need be put to death. The designs and enterprises of the Huguenots would perish with him ; and the Catholics, satisfied with the sacrifice of two or three men, would remain obedient to him (the king)." Such arguments, and many more of a similar character, does Henry tell us that he and his wily mother addressed to the un- happy Charles. At first their words irritated him, and, without convincing, drove him into a frenzy of excitement. A little later, giving credit to the oft-repeated assertions of his false ad- visers, and his imagination becoming inflamed by the picture of the dangers surrounding him which they so skilfully painted, lie would, nevertheless, hear nothing of the crime to which he was urged, but began anxiously to consult those who were present whether there were no other means of escape. Each man gave his opinion in succession ; and each supported Catha- rine's views, until it came to the turn of Retz, who, contrary to the expectation of the conspirators, gave expression to more noble sentiments. 1 If any one were justified in hating Coligny and his faction, he said, it was himself, maligned, as he had 1 There is here, however, a direct contradiction, which I shall not attempt to reconcile, between the account of Henry and that of the younger Tavannes, who represents Retz as one of the most violent in his recommendations. Ac- cording to Tavannes, it was his father, Marshal Tavannes, that advocated mod- eration. In other respects the two "accounts are strongly corroborative of each other. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 449 been, both in France and abroad; but he was unwilling, in avenging private wrongs, to involve France and its royal family in dishonor. The king would justly be taxed with perfidy, and all confidence in his word or in public faith would be lost. Henceforth it would be impossible to treat for terms of peace in those new civil wars in which the French must be involved, and of which their children would not see the end. These wholesome words at first struck speechless the advo- cates of murder. Then they undertook, by repeating their arguments, to destroy the effect of the prophetic warn- The king con- . c , . , > i > t T > rm wmtsreiuc- ing to which the king had just listened. They suc- ceeded but too well. " That instant," says Henry of Anjou, " we perceived a sudden change, a strange and wonder- ful metamorphosis in the king. He placed himself on our side, and adopted our opinion, going much beyond us and to more criminal lengths ; since, whereas before it was difficult to per- suade him, now we had to restrain him. For, rising and ad- dressing us, while imposing silence upon us, he told us in anger and fury, swearing by God's death that, ' since we thought it good that the admiral should be killed, he would have it so ; but that with him all the Huguenots of France must be killed, in order that not one might remain to reproach him hereafter ; and that we should promptly see to it.' And going out furi- ously, he left us in his room, where we deliberated the rest of the day, during the evening, and for a good part of the night, and decided upon that which seemed advisable for the execution of such an enterprise." ' This is the strange record of the change by which Charles, from being the friend of Admiral Coligny, became the accom- plice in his murder and in countless other assassinations throughout France. The admission of his guilt by one of the principal actors in the tragedy is so frank and undisguised that we find it difficult to believe that the narrative can have em- anated from his lips. But the freaks of a burdened conscience are not to be easily accounted for. The most callous or reticent criminal sometimes is aroused to a recognition of his wicked- 1 Discours du roy Henry III. , 505-508. VOL. IL 29 450 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL ness, and burns to communicate to another the fearful secret whose deposit has become intolerable to himself. And fortu- nately the confession of the princely felon does not stand alone. The son of another of the wretches who persuaded Charles to imbrue his hands in the blood of his subjects has given us the account which he undoubtedly received from his father shortly before his death, and we find the two statements to be in sub- stantial agreement. Tavannes says : " The king notified (of the attempt upon Coligny's life), is offended, and threatens the Guises, not knowing whence the blow came. After a while, he is appeased by the queen, assisted by the sieur de Retz. They make his Majesty angry with the Huguenots a vice peculiar to his Majesty, who is of choleric humor. They induce him to believe that they have discovered an enterprise of the Hugue- nots directed against him. He is reminded of the designs of Meaux and of Amboise. Suddenly gained over, as his mother had promised herself that he would be, he abandons the Hu- guenots, and remains sorry, with the rest, that the wound had not proved mortal." ' Aiid now, the assassination of the admiral having received the king's approval, it only remained to decide upon the number of Protestants who should be involved with him in a common destruction, and to perfect the arrangements for the execution of the murderous plot. How many, and who were Few victims , .. , n i t n mi selected at the victims whose sacrmce was predetermined ? I his is a question which, with our present means of infor- mation, we are unable to answer. Catharine, it is true, used to declare in later times that she contemplated no general massa- cre ; that she took upon her conscience the blood of only five or six persons ; ' and, although the unsupported assertion of so perfidious a woman is certainly not entitled to any great con- sideration, we can readily see that the heads of half a dozen leaders might have fully contented her. She was not seeking 1 Memoires de Gaspard de Saulx, seigneur de Tavannes, by his son, Jean de Saulx, vicomte de Tavannes (Petitot edition), iii. 293, 294. ! " Reginam quidem certum est dictitare solitam, edita strage, ' se tantum ex hominum interfectorum sanguinem in suam conscientiam recipere.'" Jean de Serres (ed. of 1575), iv., fol. 29. The whole passage is interesting. -.7-'. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY 451 for revenge so much as paving the way for her ambition. There were few Huguenots who were apparently so powerful as to in- terfere with her projects. Coligny, their acknowledged head ; the Count of Montgomery, personally hated as the occasion of the death of her husband, Henry the Second, in the ill-fated tournament ; the Vidame of Chartres ; and La Rochefoucauld these were doubtless of the number. "Would she have desired to include the King of Xavarre and the Prince of Conde ? Not the former, on account of his recent marriage with her daugh- ter. Yet to whom the Bourbons were indebted for the omis- sion of their names from the proscriptive roll we cannot tell. After the accession of Henry the Fourth, it became the interest of all the families concerned to put the conduct of their ances- tors in the most favorable light. Thus, Jean de Tavannes states that his father saved the life of the Bearaese in that infamous conclave ; but so little did the latter believe him, that, on the contrary, he persistently refused to confer upon him the mar- shal's baton, which he would otherwise have received, on the ground that Gaspard de Tavannes was an instigator of the mas- sacre. 1 Thus much must be held to be clearly established : that fan- cied political exigencies demanded the assassination of only very few persons ; that personal hatred, on the part of the principal or of the minor conspirators, added many more ; that a still greater number were murdered in cold blood, simply that their spoils might enrich the assassins. What part must be assigned to religious zeal ? a To any true outgrowth of religion, none at all ; but much to the malice and the depraved moral teachings 1 " Le roy Henry quatriesme disoit que ce qu'il ne m'avoit tenu promesse estoit en vengeance des services faicts par le sieur de Tavannes mon pere aux batailles de Jarnac et Montcontour, raais le principal, parce qu'il 1'accusoit d'avoir conseille la Sainct Bartheletny ; ce qu'il disoit a ses familiers, et & tort, parce qne ledict sieur de Tavannes en ce temps-la fut cause qu'il ne courust la mesme fortune que le sieur admiral de Coligny." Memoires de Tavannes (Petitot edit.), iii. 2:22. * To ascribe the conduct of Catharine de' Medici herself to any such mo- tive is the extreme of absurdity. Even the author of the " Tocsain centre les massacreurs '' rejects the supposition without hesitation. (Original edi- tion, p. 157.) Catharine was certainly a free-thinker, probably an atheist. 452 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIII. of its professed representatives. The hatred of Protestantism, Religions engendered hi the minds of the people by long years devoted to traducing the character and designs of the reformers, now bore fruit after its own kind, in revolting crimes of every sort ; while the lesson, sedulously inculcated by priests, bishops, and monks, that obstinate heretics might right- eously be, and ought to be exterminated from the face of the earth, permitted many a Parisian burgess to commit acts from which any but the most diabolic nature would otherwise have recoiled in horror. But of the measure of the responsibility of the Roman pontiff and his clergy for this stupendous crime, it will be necessary to speak in the sequel. In devising the plan for the destruction of the Huguenots, the queen mother and her council were greatly assisted by the course pursued by the Huguenots themselves, and by the very precaution- circumstances of the case. Under pretence of taking ary measures. me asures to secure the safety of the Protestants, the " quarteniers " could go, without exciting suspicion, from house to house, and make a complete list of all belonging to the re- formed church. 1 The same excuse served to justify the court in posting a body of twelve hundred arquebusiers, a part along the river, a part in the immediate neighborhood of Coligny's residence.* And now the Protestants themselves, startled by the unusual commotion which they noticed in the city, and by the frequent passage to and fro of men carrying arms, sent a gentleman to the Louvre to ask the king for a few guards to protect the dwelling of their wounded leader. The request was only for five or six guards ; but Charles, feigning astonish- ment and deep regret that there should be any reason for such apprehensions, insisted, at the suggestion of his brother Anjou, who stood by, upon despatching fifty, under command of Cos- seins. So well known was the captain's hostility to Coligny and the Protestants, that Thore, Montmorency's brother, whis- pered to the Huguenot messenger as he withdrew : " You could not have been given in guard to a worse enemy;" but the royal direction was so positive that no remonstrance seemed 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 108. 2 Ibid., 109. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 453 possible. Accordingly, Cosseins and his arqnebusiers took pos- session, in the king's name, of two shops adjoining Coligny's abode. 1 AVith as little ceremony, Rambouillet, the " marechal des logis," turned the Roman Catholic gentlemen out of the lodgings he had previously assigned them in the Rue de Be- thisy, and gave the quarters to the Protestant gentlemen in- stead.' The reason assigned for this action was that the Hu- guenots might be nearer to each other and to the admiral, for mutual protection ; the real object seems to have been to sweep them more easily into the common net of destruction. And yet the majority of the Huguenot leaders were not alive to the dangers of their situation. In a second conference O held late on Saturday, the Vidame of Chartres was almost alone in urging instant retreat. Navarre, Conde, and others thought it sufficient to demand justice, and the departure of the Guises, as possessing dangerous credit with the common people. Teligny again dwelt upon the wrong done to Charles in distrusting his sincerity, and deprecated a course that might naturally irritate him. One Bouchavannes was noticed in the pouference a professed Protestant, but suspiciously intimate with Catharine, Retz, and other avowed enemies of the faith, lie said nothing, but listened attentively. So soon as the meeting was over, Bouchavannes went to the Louvre and re- lated the discussion to the queen mother." The traitor's re- port, doubtless grossly exaggerated, is supposed to have decided Catharine to prompt action. It is certain, at least, that the calumnious perversion of the speeches and resolutions of the Huguenot conference was employed to inflame the passions of the mob, as well as to justify the atrocities of the morrow in the eyes of the world. It was now late in the evening of Saturday, the twenty-third of August. Coligny had been writing to his friends throughout France, recommending them to be quiet, and inf onning them of the investigations now in progress. God and the king, he said, would do justice. His wounds were not mortal, thank God. If 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ttbi tupra, 110, 111. ' Ibid., Ill ; Gasparis Colinii Vita (1575), 124. 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 112. 454 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. his arm was wounded, his brain was yet sound. 1 Meantime, the original framers of the murderous plot had called in the Guises, who in reality had not left Paris." It had been arranged that the execution should be intrusted to them, in conjunction with the Bastard of Angouleme, Charles's natural brother, and Marshal Tavannes. And now at last we emerge from the mist that envelops many of the preliminaries of the night of horrors. The records of the Hotel de Ville contain the first documentary evidence of the coming massacre. There is no longer any doubt, unfortunately, of Charles's approval and complicity. "This day, the twenty-third day of August, very late in the evening," orders issued Charles sends for Charron, "prevot des marchands," l^dw n^- t come t the Louvre. Here, in the presence of the chands. queen mother, the Duke of Anjou and other princes and lords, his Majesty " declares that he has received intelli- gence that those of the new religion intend to make a rising by conspiracy against himself and his state, and to disturb the peace of his subjects and of his city of Paris ; and that this very night some great personages of the said new religion and rebels have conspired against him and his said state, going to such lengths as to send his Majesty some arrogant messages which sounded like menaces." Consequently, in order to protect himself and the royal family, Charles directs the prevot to seize the keys of all the gates of the city, and to keep them carefully closed, in order to prevent any one from entering or leaving Paris. He also commands him to remove all the boats moored along the Seine, so as to prevent any one from crossing the river ; and to put under arms all captains, lieutenants, ensigns, and burgesses capable of doing military duty.* The orders were faithfully and promptly obeyed. Long before morning dawned they had been transmitted successively to the lower municipal officers, quarteniers, dizainiers, etc. ; the wherry-men had been stopped, and the troops and burgesses of Paris having armed themselves as best they could, were assembled ready for action 1 Reveille-Matin, ubi supi'a, 179; Memoires de 1'estat, ubi sup.. 113. * Capilupi, 30, 31 ; Mem. de 1'estat, ubi sup.. 107, 108. 3 Extrait des Registres et Croniques du Bureau de la ville de Paris, Archives curieuses, vii. 213. 1573. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 455 in front of the Hotel de Yille, on that famous Place de Greve, so often drenched in martyr's blood. 1 To the guilty plotters that was a sleepless night. Unable to rest quietly, at a little before dawn, Catharine with her two elder sons found her way to the portal of the Louvre, adjoining the tennis court. There, in a chamber overlooking the " bassecour,'' they sat down to await the beginning of their treacherous enter- prise. If we may believe Henry of Anjou, none of them as yet realized its full horrors ; but as they quietly watched in that hour of stillness for the first signs of the coming outbreak, the The first shot report of a pistol-shot reached their ears. Instantly 1" 'oerr^fn 01 ^ wroll g nt a marvellous revulsion in their feelings. i-Auxerrois. "Wliether the shot wounded or killed any one, they knew not ; but it brought up vividly to their imaginations the results of the terrible deluge of blood whose flood-gates they had raised. Hastily they send a servant to the Duke of Guise, and countermand the instructions of the evening, and bid him do no injury to the admiral. It is too late ! The messenger soon returns with the tidings that Coligny is already dead, that the work is about to begin in all the rest of the city. This news produces a fresh change. With one of those fluctuations which are so easy for souls that have no firm or established principles, but shift according to the deceptive, ever-varying tide of appa- rent interest, the mother and her sons return heartily to their former purpose. The die is cast, the deed is half done ; let it be fully and boldly consummated. Iso room now for pity or regret.* It was a Sunday morning, the twenty -fourth of August a day sacred in the Roman calendar to the memory of Saint Barthol- omew. Torches and blazing lights had been burning all night in the streets, to render the task easy. The houses in which Protestants lodged had been distinctly marked with a white cross. The assassins themselves had agreed upon badges for mutual recognition a white cross on the hat, and a handkerchief tied about the right arm. The signal for beginning was to be 1 The successive orders are given in the Archives curieuses, vii. 215-217. * Discours du roy Henry III. , 509. 456 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL given by the great bell of the " Palais de Justice " on the island of the old " cite." ' The preparations had not been so cautiously made but that they attracted the notice of some of the Huguenots living near Coligny. Going out to inquire the meaning of the clash of arms, and the unusual light in the streets, they received the answer that there was to be a mock combat in the Louvre a pleasure castle was to be assaulted for the king's diversion.' But, as they went farther and approached the Louvre, their eyes were greeted by the sight of more torches and a great number of armed men. The guards, full of the contemplated plot, could not refrain from insults. It soon came to blows, and a Gascon soldier wounded a Protestant gentleman with his halberd. It may have been at this time that the shot was fired which Catha- rine and her sons heard from the open window of the Louvre. Declaring that the fury of the troops could no longer be re- strained, the queen now gave orders to ring the bell of the neigh- boring church of St. Germain 1'Auxerrois. 3 Meantime Henry of Guise, Henry of Yalois, the Bastard of Angouleme, and their attendants, had reached the admiral's Murder of Ad- house. The wounded man was almost alone. Could miraicohgny. fl iere j^ an y clearer proof of the rectitude of his pur- pose, of the utter falsity of the charges of conspiracy with which his enemies afterward attempted to blacken his memory? 4 Guerchy and other Protestant gentlemen had expressed the desire to spend the night with him ; but his son-in-law, Teligny, full of confidence in Charles's good intentions, had declined 5 Tocsain centre les massacreurs, 121 ; Mem. de 1'estat, ubisup,, 116; Jean de Serres, iv. (1575), fol 31. 2 Jean de Serres, iv. (1575), fol. 30. 3 Mem. de 1'estat, ubi sup., 117, 118 ; Jean de Serres (1575), iv. 32. 4 The startling inconsistency evidently struck Capilupi very strongly, for he tries to reconcile it, but succeeds only poorly. According to him, it was either a ruse to throw Charles IX. off his guard by a pretence of confidence in his good faith, or an act of consummate folly. Any way, great thanks are due to Heaven ! " Et sia stato fatto questo da lui, 6 con arte, per dimostrar di non dubitare della fede del Re, per tanto pift assicurar sua Maesta, fin che fosse in termine d'effettuar i diabolici suoi pensieri ; 6 vero scioccamente, non diffidando veramentedi coea alcuna ; in tutti modi si ha da riconoscer da gra- tia particolare di Dio," etc. Lo stratagema di Carlo IX., 1574, 80. 1572. THE MASSACRE OP ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 457 their offers, and had, indeed, himself gone to his own lodgings, not far off, in the Rue St. HonoreV With Coligny were Merlin, his chaplain, Pare, the king's surgeon, his ensign Cornaton, La Bonne, Yolet, and four or five servants. In the court below there were five of Navarre's Swiss guards on duty.' Coligny, awakened by the growing noise in the streets, had at first felt no alarm, so implicitly did he rely upon the protestations of Charles, so confident was he that Cosseins and his guards would readily quell any rising of the Parisians.' But now some one knocks at the outer door, and demands an entrance in the king's name. Word is given to La Bonne, who at once descends and unlocks. It is Cosseins, followed by the soldiers whom he com- mands. No sooner does he pass the threshold than he stabs La Bonne with his dagger. Next he seeks the admiral's room, but it is not easy to reach it, for the brave Swiss, even at the risk of their own lives, defend first the door leading to the stairs, and then the stairs themselves. And now Coligny could no longer doubt the meaning of the uproar. He rose from his bed, and, wrapping his dressing-gown about him, asked his chaplain to pray ; and while Merlin endeavored to fulfil his request, he himself in audible petitions invoked Jesus Christ as his God and Saviour, and committed to His hands again the soul he had received from Him. It was then that the person to whom we are indebted for this account and he can scarcely have been another than Cornaton rushed into the room. When Pare asked him what the disturbance imported, he turned to the admiral and said : " My lord, it is God that is calling us to Himself ! The house has been forced, and we have no means of resistance ! " To whom the admiral, unmoved by fear, and even, as all who saw him testified, without the least change of countenance, replied : " For a long time have I kept myself in readiness for death. As for you, save yourselves, if you can. 1 The topography of the massacre is made the subject of a paper, entitled: 41 Lea victimes de la Saint-Barthdemy," Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fr., ix. (1860) 34-44 ' G. Colinii Vita (1575), 127. Mem. de 1'estat, vbisup., 114. 3 Mom. de 1'estat, 118, 119; Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fol. 32 ; ReveiUe- Matin, 180; Euseb. Philad. Dialogi (1574 , 39, 40. 4.58 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. It were in vain for you to attempt to save my life. I commend my soul to the mercy of God." Obedient to his directions, all that were with him, save Nicholas Muss or de la Mouche, his faithful German interpreter, fled to the roof, and escaped under cover of the darkness. One of Coliguy's Swiss guards had been shot at the foot of the stairs. When Cosseins had removed the barricade of boxes that had been erected farther up, the Swiss in his own company, whose uniform of green, white, and black, showed them to belong to the Duke of Anjou, found their countrymen on the other side, but did them no harm. Cosseins following them, however, no sooner saw these armed men, than he ordered his arquebusiers to shoot, and one of them f ell dead. It was a German follower of Guise, named Besme, who first reached and entered Coligny's chamber, and who for the exploit was subsequently rewarded with the hand of a natural daughter of the Cardinal of Lorraine. Cosseins, Attin, Sarlaboux, and others, were behind him. " Is not this the admiral ? " said Besme of the wounded man, whom he found quietly seated and awaiting his coming. " I am he," Coligny calmly replied. " Young man, thou oughtest to have respect for my old age and my feebleness ; but thou shalt not, nevertheless, shorten my life." ' There were those who asserted that he added : " At least, would that some man, and not this blackguard, put me to death." But most of the murderers and among them Attin, who confessed that never had he seen any one more assured in the presence of death affirmed that Coligny said nothing beyond the words first mentioned. 2so sooner had Besme heard the admiral's reply, than, with a curse, he struck him with his sword, first in the breast, and then on the head.' The rest took part, and quickly despatched him. 1 Job. Wilh. von Botzheim, in his narrative, gives several versions of the words. According to one they were : " Behem ' N'est tu pas Admiral ?' Ad- miralius ' Ouy, je le suis. Mais vous estes bien un jeune souldat pour parler ainsi avec un vieil capitaine, pour le moins au respect de ma vielesse.' BeTiem ' Je suis assez aage (age) por te faire ta reste.' " Cyclopica ilia atque inaudita hactenus detestanda atque execranda laniena, quae facta est Lutetia, Au- reliis, etc., published in F. W. Ebeling, Archivalische Beitrage zur Geschichte- Frankreichs unter Carl IX. (Leipsic, 1872). 107, 108. 2 Capilupi puts in Besme's month the words : " Now, traitor, restore to me 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 459 In the court below, Guise was impatiently waiting to hear that his mortal enemy was dead. " Besme," he cried out at last, " have you finished ? " " It is done," the assassin replied. " Monsieur le Chevalier (the Bastard of Angouleme) will not believe it," again said Guise, " unless he sees him with his own eyes. Throw him out of the window ! " Besme and Sarlaboux promptly obeyed the command. When the lifeless remains lay upon the pavement of the court, Henry of Guise stooped down and with his handkerchief wiped away the blood from the ad- miral's face. " I recognize him," he said ; " it is he himself ! " Then, after ignobly kicking the face of his fallen antagonist, he went out gayly encouraging his followers : " Come, soldiers, take courage ; we have begun well. Let us go on to the others, for so the king commands ! " And often through the day Guise repeated the words, " The king commands ; it is the king's pleasure ; it is his express command ! " Just then a bell was heard, and the cry was raised that the Huguenots were in arms to kill the king. 1 As for Admiral Coligny's body, after the head had been cut off by an Italian of the guard of the Duke de Nevers, the trunk was treated with every indignity. The hands were cut off, and it was otherwise mutilated in a shameless manner. Three days was it dragged about the streets by a band of inhuman boys.' the blood of my master, which thou didst impiously take away from me 1 " It is not at all improbable that he used some such expression. Lo stratagema di Carlo IX., 34. 1 Jean de Serres, De statu reipnb. et rel. (1575), iv., fols. 32, 33; Me'moires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 119-122; Vita Gasparis Colinii Castellonii, magni quon- dam Francise Amirallii (sine loco, 1575), pp. 127-131 ; 178-180. These latter accounts, which agree perfectly, are the best. Reveille-Matin, ubi sup., 182, and Euseb. Philad. Dialog! (1574), i. 39, 40 ; Toosain centre les maasacreurs (Rheims, 1579), 121-123; Capilupi, Lo stratagema di Carlo IX. (1574), 33, etc. ; Journal d'un cure ligueur ( Jehan de la Fosse), 148, 149 ; Relation of Olaegui, secretary of D. de Cufiiga, Spanish ambassador at Paris ; Particularites inedites 6ur la St. Barthelemi, Gachard in Bulletins de 1' Academic royale de Belgique, xvi. (1*49), 252. 253; Alva's bulletin prepared for distribution, ibid., ix. (1842), 563. Both are very inaccurate. De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 584, 585; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 16 (liv. L, c. 4). 9 " Le lundy d'apres, ayant la teste ostee et les parties honteuses conpeea par les petits e?ifans, fut d'iceulx petits enfans qui estoient jusques au nombre de 2 ou 300, traine, le ventre en haut, par my les ruisseaux de la ville de Paris." 460 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL Meantime the head had been carried to the Louvre, where, after Catharine and Charles had sufficiently feasted their eyes on the spectacle, it was embalmed and sent to Kome, a grateful present to the Cardinal of Lorraine and Pope Gregory the Thirteenth. 1 It has been questioned whether the ghastly trophy ever reached its destination. Indeed, the French court seems to have be- come ashamed of its inhumanity, and to have regretted that so startling a token of its barbarous hatred had been allowed to go abroad. Accordingly, soon after the departure of the courier, a second courier was despatched in great haste to Mandelot, gover- nor of Lyons, bidding him stop the first and take away from him the admiral's head. He arrived too late, however ; four hours be- fore Mandelot received the king's letter, " a squire of the Duke of Guise, named Pauli," had passed through the city, doubtless carrying the precious relic. 2 That it was actually placed in the hands of the Cardinal of Lorraine at Rome, need not be doubted. Gaspard de Coligny was in his fifty-sixth year at the time of his death. For twelve years he had been the most prominent man in the Huguenot party, occupying a position se- characterand cured to him not more by his resplendent abilities as a general than by the respect exacted by high moral principles. With the light and frivolous side of French charac- ter he had little in common. It was to a sterner and more se- vere class that he belonged a class of which Michel de 1'Hospital might be regarded as the type. Men who had little affinity with them, and bore them still less resemblance, but who could not fail to admire their excellence, were wont to liken both the great Huguenot warrior and the chancellor to that Cato whose grave demeanor and imposing dignity were a perpetual censure upon the flippancy and lax morality of his countrymen. Although not above the ordinary height of men, his appearance was dig- nified and commanding. In speech he was slow and deliberate. Jehan de la Fosse, 149. See the long account in Von Botzheim's narration, ubi supra, 113. 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 122. * Letter of Mandelot to Charles IX., Sept 5, 1572, Correspondance dn roi Charles IX. et du sieur de Mandelot (Edited by P. Paris, Paris, 1830), 5G-58. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 4G1 His prudence, never carried to the extreme of over-caution, was signalized on many occasions. Success did not elate him ; re- verses did not dishearten him. The siege of the city of St. Quentin, into which he threw himself with a handful of troops, and which he long defended against the best soldiers of Spain, displayed on a conspicuous stage his military sagacity, his in- domitable determination, and the marvellous control he main- tained over his followers. It did much to prevent Philip from reaping more substantial fruits from the brilliant victory gained by Count Egmont on the feast-day of St. Lawrence. 1 It was, however, above all in the civil wars that his abilities shone forth resplendent. Equally averse to beginning war without absolute necessity, and to ending it without securing the objects for which it had been undertaken, he was the good genius whose wholesome advice was frequently disregarded, but never without subsequent regret on the part of those who had slighted it. We have seen, in a former chapter,' the touching account given by Agrippa d'Aubigne of the appeal of the admiral's wife, which alone was successful in moving him to overcome his almost in- vincible repugnance to taking up arms, even in behalf of a cause which he knew to be most holy. I find a striking confirmation of the accuracy of the report in a passage of his will, wherein he defends himself from the calumnies of his enemies. 1 " And f or- 1 Of this memorable enterprise Coligny has left " Memoires" which are con- tained in the collection of Petitot, etc. It is the only military treatise we possess coining from the admiral's hand, and it enters into the subject with technical minuteness. The destruction by his royal murderers of the admi- ral's papers (including diaries that would have thrown great light upon the transactions of the last two years of his life), see Vita Gasparis Colinii (1575), i 138, was an irretrievable loss to history. We are told also of a much more recent act of vandalism, not even palliated by the miserable excuse of political expediency : " In 1810. an inhabitant of Chatillon having discovered in the solitary remaining tower of the old castle a walled chamber wherein were the archives of the Coligny family and of the family of Luxemburg, burned all the papers from motives of private interest. Some fragments that escaped this conflagration, and which are preserved in the mairie, prove that a corre- spondence between Catharine de' Medici and Coligny had been laid away in this repository." Bulletin de la Societe de 1'histoire du prot. fran<;ais, iii. (1854) 351. 5 Ante, chapter xiii. 1 Testament olographe de 1'amiral Coligny, Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. da 4G2 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIIL asmuch as I have learned that the attempt has been made to impute to me a purpose to attack the persons of the king, the queen, and the king's brothers, I protest before God that I never had any such will or desire, and that I never was present at any place where such plans were ever proposed or discussed. And as I have also been accused of ambition in taking up arms with those of the reformed religion, I make the same protestation, that only zeal for religion, together with fear for my own life, compelled me to assume them. And, indeed, I must con- fess my weakness, and that the greatest fault which I have always committed in this respect has been that I have not been sufficiently alive to the acts of injustice and the slaughter to which my brethren were subjected, and that the dangers and the traps that were laid for myself were necessary to move me to do what I have done. But I also declare before God, that I tried every means in my power, in order so long as possible to maintain peace, fearing nothing so much as civil disturbances and wars, and clearly foreseeing that these would bring after them the ruin of this kingdom, whose preser- vation I have always desired and labored for to the utmost of my ability." To Coligny's strategy too much praise could scarcely be ac- corded. The Venetian ambassador, Contarini, in the report of his mission to the senate, in the early part of the year 1572, expressed his amazement that the admiral, a simple gentleman with slender resources, had waged war against his own power- ful sovereign, who was assisted by the King of Spain and by a few German and several Italian princes ; and that, in spite of many battles lost, he preserved so great a reputation that the reiters and lansquenets never rebelled, although their wages were much in arrears, and their booty was often lost in adverse combats. He was, in fact, said the enthusiastic Italian, entitled to be held in higher esteem than Hannibal, inasmuch as the Carthaginian general retained the respect of foreign nations by prot. fran^ais, i. (1852) 263, etc. The authenticity of this document, though called in question on historical grounds, has been conclusively established by M. Jules Bonnet, Bulletin, xv. (1875) 332-335. 1.-T2. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 4CJ being uniformly victorious ; but the admiral retained it, although bis cause was almost always unsuccessful. 1 But all Coligny's military achievements pale in the light of his manly and unaffected piety. It is as a type of the best class among the Huguenot nobility that he deserves everlasting remembrance. From his youth he had been plunged in the engrossing pursuits of a soldier's life ; but he was not ashamed, so soon as he embraced the views of the reformers, to acknowl- edge the superior claims .of religion upon his time and his alle- giance. He gloried in being a Christian. The influence of his faith was felt in every action of his life. In the busiest part of an active life, he yet found time for the recognition of God ; and, whether in the camp or in his castle of Chatillon- eur-Loing, he consecrated no insignificant portion of the day to devotion. Of the ordinary life of Admiral Coligny, the anony- mous author of his Life, who had himself been an inmate in his house, has left an interesting description, derived from what he himself saw and heard : " As soon as he had risen from bed, which was always at an early hour, putting on his morning-gown, and kneeling, as did those who were with him, he himself prayed in the form which is customary with the churches of France. After this, while waiting for the commencement of the sermon, which was de- livered on alternate days, accompanied with psalmody, he gave audience to the deputies of the churches who were sent to him, or devoted the time to public business. This he resumed for a while after the service was over, until the hour for dinner. "When that was come, such of his domestic servants as were not prevented by necessary engagements elsewhere, met in the 1 Alberi, Relazioni Yenete, vol. iv., 1st series, apud Baschet, La diplomatie venitienne, i. 536, 537. There is, however, the greatest improbability in the story that Coligny advanced such claims in his own behalf as his admirers made for him. We may reject as apocryphal for they stand in palpable contradiction with the whole tenor of his utterances the words ascribed by Lord Macaulay to the great Huguenot hero (History of England, New York, 1879, iv. 488) : " 'In one respect,' said the Admiral Coligni, 'I may claim superiority over Alexander, over Scipio, over Cfesar. They won great bat- tles, it is true. I have lost four great battles ; and yet I show to the enemy a more formidable front than ever.'" Cf. Davila, bk. v., p. 179. 464 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. hall where the table was spread, standing by which, with his wife at his side, if there had been no preaching service, he engaged with them in singing a psalm, and then the ordinary blessing was said. " On the removal of the cloth, rising and standing with his wife and the rest of the company, he either returned thanks himself or called on his minister to do so. Such, also, was his practice at supper, and, finding that the members of his house- hold could not, without much discomfort, attend prayers so late as at bedtime an hour, besides, which the diversity of his occupations prevented from being regularly fixed his orders were that, so soon as supper was over, a psalm should be sung and prayer offered. It cannot be told how many of the French nobility began to establish this religious order in their own families, after the example of the admiral, who used often to exhort them to the practice of true piety, and to warn them that it was not enough for the father of a family to live a holy and religious life, if he did not by his example bring all his people to the same rule. " On the approach of the time for the celebration of the Lord's Supper,' calling together all the members of his house- hold, he told them that he had to render an account to God, not only of his own life, but also of their behavior, and recon- ciled such of them as might have had differences. Moreover, he regarded the institution of colleges for youth, and of schools for the instruction of children, a singular benefit from God, and called the school a seminary of the church and an apprenticeship of piety ; holding that ignorance of letters had introduced into both church and state that thick darkness in which the tyranny of the Pope had had its birth and in- crease. . . . This conviction led him to lay out a large sum in building a college at Chatillon, and there he maintained three very learned professors of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, respectively, and a number of students. " There could not be a stronger proof of his integrity, and of the moderation of his desires with respect to the possession of property, than that, notwithstanding the high offices he held, and the opportunities they afforded, as is usual with courtiers, 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAT. 465 of attending to his own interests and acquiring great wealth, he did not increase his patrimonial estates by a single acre ; and, although he was an excellent economist, yet the number of persons of high rank, and, indeed, of all conditions, that came to consult him on public affairs from all parts of France, obliged him to draw largely on the savings effected by his good man- agement ; so that he left to his heirs not less than forty thou- sand livres of debts, besides six thousand livres of interest which he paid annually to his creditors." ' Such was the Christian hero whom his enemies represented as breathing out menaces upon the bed on which Maurevel's arquebuse had laid him, and as exclaiming : " If my arm is wounded, my head is not. If I have to lose my arm, I shall get the head of those who are the cause of it. They intended to kill me ; I shall anticipate them." Such was the disinter- ested patriot whom, in the infatuation of their lying fabrica- tions, the murderers of Paris, their hands still reeking with the blood of thousands of women and children incontestably inno- cent of any crime laid to the charge of their husbands or fathers, pictured as plotting the wholesale assassination of the royal family even to the very Henry of Navarre whose wed- ding he had come to honor by his presence that he might place upon the throne of France that stubborn heretic, the Prince of Conde ! a "While the murder of Coligny was in course of execution, or but shortly after, a tragedy not less atrocious was enacted in the Murder of royal palace itself. A number of Huguenot gentlemen SS^the f the highest distinction were lodged in the Louvre. Charles, after the admiral's wound, had suggested to the King of Xavarre that he would do well to invite some of his friends to act as a guard against any attack that might be made upon him by the Duke of Guise, whom he characterized 1 Vita Gasparis Colinii (1575), pp. 133-137, translated by D. D. Scott, under the title, " Memoirs of the Admiral de Coligny," 183-187. I have abridged the account by omitting some less important particulars. 2 Discours sur lea causes de l'ext : cution faicte es personnes de ceux qtii avoient conjure contre le Roy et son estat. A Paris, a 1'olivier de P. 1'Huil- Her, rue St. Jacques. 1572. Avec privilege. (Archives curieuses, vii. 231- 249.) Capilupi, Lo stratagenaa di Carlo IX., 1574, p. 26. VOL. IL 30 466 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVHI. as a " mauvois gar9on." ' Late on Saturday night, as Margaret of Yalois informs us in her Memoirs, and long after she and her husband had retired, these Huguenot lords, gathered around Henry of Navarre's bed to the number of thirty, had discussed the occurrences of the last two eventful days, and declared their purpose to go to the king on the morrow and demand the pun- ishment of the Guises. Margaret herself had been purposely kept in ignorance of the plan for the extirpation of the Prot- estants. For, if the Huguenots suspected her, because she was a Roman Catholic, the papists suspected her equally because she had married a Protestant. On parting with her mother for the night, her elder sister Claude, Duchess of Lorraine, who hap- pened to be on a visit to the French court, had vainly attempted to detain Margaret, expressing with tears the apprehension that some evil would befall her. But Catharine had peremptorily sent her to bed, assuring her with words which, seen in the light of subsequent revelations, approach the climax of profanity: " That, if God pleased, she would receive no injury." " So deep was the impression of impending danger made upon Margaret's mind, that she remained awake, she tells us, until morning, when her husband arose, saying that he would go and divert him- self with a game of tennis until Charles should awake. After his departure, the Queen of Kavarre, relieved of her misgivings, as the night was now spent, ordered her maid to lock her door, and composed herself to sleep. 8 Meantime the Protestant gentlemen who accompanied Na- varre, and all the others who lodged in the Louvre, had been disarmed by Kan9ay, captain of the guard. In this defenceless condition ten or twelve of their number were conducted, one by one, to the gate of the building. Here soldiers stood in readiness, and despatched them with their halberds as they suc- cessively made their appearance. Such was the fate of the 1 Memoirs de 1'estat, ubi supra, 123; Jean de Series (1575), iv., fol. 30; Reveille-Matin, 182 ; Eusebii Philadelphi Dialogi, i. 40. 9 " La Royne ma mere respond, que s'il plaisoit a Dieu je n'auroit point de mal ; mais quoy qne ce fust, il f alloit que j'allasse, de peur de leur faire eoup<;onner quelque chose qui empeschast 1'effect." 1 Memoires de Marguerite de Valois, 32, 33. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 407 brave Pardaillan, of St. Martin, of Boursis, of Beanvais, former tutor of Henry of Kavarre, and of others ; some of whom in a loud voice called upon Charles, whom they saw at a window, an approving spectator of the butchery, to remember the solemn pledges he had given them. M. de Piles that brave Hugue- not captain, whose valor, if it did not save St. Jean d'Angely in the third civil war, had at least detained the entire Roman Catholic army for seven weeks before fortifications that were none of the best, and rendered Moncontour a field barren of substantial fruits' was the object of special hatred, and his conduct was particularly remarked for its magnanimity. Observ- ing among the bystanders a Roman Catholic acquaintance in whose honor he might perhaps confide, he stripped himself of liis cloak, and would have handed it to him, with the words : " De Piles makes you a present of this ; remember hereafter the death of him who is now so unjustly put to death !" "Mon capitaine," answered the other, fearful of incurring the enmity of Catharine and Charles, " I am not of the company of these persons. I thank you for your cloak ; but I cannot take it upon such conditions." The next moment M. de Piles fell, pierced 1 iy the halberd of one of the archers of the guard. " These are the men," cried the murderers at their bloody work, " who re- sorted to violence, in order to kill the king afterward." * One of the victims marked out for the slaughter escaped the death of his fellows. Margaret of Yalois had not been long asleep, when her slumbers were rudely disturbed by loud blows struck upon the door, and shouts of " Xavarre ! IS'avarre ! " Her attendant, supposing it to be Henry himself, hastily opened the door ; when there rushed in instead, a Huguenot nobleman, the Viscount de Leran,' wounded in the arm by sword and halberd, and pursued by four archers. In his terror he threw himself on Margaret's bed, and when she jumped up, in doubt of what could be the meaning of this strange incident, he clung to her 1 See ante, chapter xvi. 1 316 moires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 123, 124; Jean de Serrea (1575), iv., foL 34; Reveille-Matin, 182; Eusebii Philadelphi Dialogi, i. 40; Tocsain contre les massacreurs, 125, 126. ' Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18 (liv. i, c. 4). 468 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL night-dress which was drenched with his blood. Nai^ay angrily reproved the indiscretion of his soldiers, and Margaret, leaving the Huguenot in her room to have his wounds dressed, suffered herself to be conducted to the chamber of her sister, the Duchess of Lorraine. It was but a few steps ; but, on the way, a Hu- guenot was killed at three paces' distance from her, and two others the first gentleman of the King of Navarre, and his first valet-de-chambre ran to her imploring her to save their lives. She sought and obtained the favor on her knees before Catha- rine and Charles. 1 A few other Huguenots who were in the Louvre were ready to purchase their lives at any price, even to that of abjuring their faith. They obtained pardon on promis- ing the king to comply with all his commands ; and this, we are told, " the more easily, as Charles very well knew that they had little or no religion." 8 The King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were spared, although there were not wanting those who would gladly have Nararr* and seen the ruin of the family of Bourbon. Navarre cond6 spared. wag brother-in-law of Charles, and Conde of the Duke of Nevers ; this may have guaranteed their safety. Both of the young princes, however, were summoned into the king's presence, where Charles, acknowledging the murder of Coligny, the great cause of disturbances, and the similar acts then perpe- trated throughout the city, as sanctioned by his authority, sternly told the two youths that he intended no longer to tolerate two religious in his dominions. He desired them, therefore, to con- form to that creed which had been professed by all his prede- cessors, and which he intended to uphold. They must renounce the profane doctrines they had embraced, and return to the Catholic and Roman religion. If they refused, they must ex- pect to suffer the treatment which had just been experienced by BO many others.' 1 Me'moires de Marguerite de Valois, 345. 9 Reveille-Matin, ubi supra, 183; Euseb. Philad. Dialogi, i. 40; Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra, 126. Charles was not generally so complaisant. Ferva- ques in vain interceded for his friend Captain Moneins. Tocsain, 126. 3 Mem. de 1'estat, ubi sup., 124; Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fol. 35; Re- veille-Matin, 182; Euseb. Philadelphi Dial., i. 40 ; De Thou, iv. (liv.lii) 590. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 469 The replies of the two princes were singularly unlike. Henry of Navarre, bold enough where only physical bravery was de- manded, exhibited for the first time that lamentable absence of moral courage which was to render his life, in its highest rela- tions, a splendid failure. His countenance betrayed agitation and faint-heartedness. 1 With great " humility " almost whin- ing, it would appear he begged that his own life and the life of Conde might be spared, and reminded Charles of his prom- ised protection. " He would act,'' he said, " so as to satisfy his Majesty ; yet he besought him to remember that conscience was a great thing, and that it was hard to renounce the religion in which one had been brought up from infancy." On the other hand, Henry of Conde, in no way abashed,' declared " that he could not believe that his royal cousin intended to violate a promise confirmed by so solemn an oath. As to fealty, he had always been an obedient subject of the king, and would ever be. Touching his religion, if the king had given him the exercise of its worship, God had given him the knowledge of it ; and to Him he must needs give up an account. So far as his body and his possessions were concerned, they were in the king's hands to dispose of as he might choose. Yet it was his own de- termination to remain constant in his religion, which he would always maintain to be the true religion, even should he be com- pelled to lay down his life for it." So stout an answer kindled the anger of Charles, who was in no mood to meet with oppo- sition. He called Conde " a rebel," " a seditious man," and ' the son of a seditious father," and warned him that he would lose his head, if, within three days, he should not think better of the matter.' And now the great bell of the " Palais de Justice " pealed forth the tocsin. About the Louvre the work of blood had 1 " Avec nne contenance fort esmeue et abatue." Mem. de 1'estat. " Hu- milissimo ammo et consternate ore." Jean de Serres, ubi supra. * Jean de Serres' s " cvnuternatiori tamen animo " is an evident misprint for " constantiori tamen animo." 3 Memoires de 1'estat, 124. 125 ; Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 35 verso; Reveille- Matin. 183; Eusebii Philad. Dial. (1574), i. 40; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.)590; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., ii. 19 (liv. i., c. 4). 470 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIH. begun when Catharine, impatient, and fearful lest Charles's res- olution should again waver at the last moment, gave The massacre , . . , .-.,.. becomes gen- orders to anticipate the appointed time by ringing the bell of the neighboring church of St. Germain I'Auxerrois. But now the loud and unusual clangor from the tower of the parliament house carried the warning far and wide. All Paris awoke. The conspirators everywhere recognized the stipulated signal, and spread among the excited townsmen the wildest and most extravagant reports. A foul plot, formed by the Huguenots, against the king, his mother, and his brothers, had come to light. They had killed more than fifteen of the royal guards. The king, therefore, commanded that quarter should not be given to a single Huguenot. 1 Kothing more was needed to inflame the popular hatred of the Huguenots, nor to prepare the rabble for an indiscriminate slaughter of the Protestants. Among the earliest victims of this day of carnage was Count de la Rochefoucauld. This witty and lively young noble had been in the Louvre until a late hour on Saturday La Rochefon- . . i t_ * cauia and night, diverting himself with the kinsr, with whom he Teligny fall. & =>' . was a great favorite. Apparently in his anxiety to save La Rochefoucauld's life, Charles invited, and even urged him, to spend the night in the royal " garde-robe ; " but the count, suspecting no danger, insisted on returning to his lodgings, 1 Eusebii Phil. Dialogi, i. 40,41; Reveille-Matin, ubi sup., 183, copied verbatim in Mem. de 1'estat, 126. The Reveille -Matin removes the apparent contradiction between the various accounts respecting the bell that gave the signal for the massacre by showing that both bells were rung. So also Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 16 (liv. i. , c. 4), after mentioning how Catharine, for the time being, removed Charles's hesitation by alleging the necessity of cut- ting off the corrupt members in order to save the Church, the Bride of Christ, and citing the saying: "Che pieta lor ser crudele. Che crudelta lor ser pie- tosa," adds : " Le roi se resout, et elle avance le tocsain du Palais, en faisant sonner une heure et demie devant celui de Sainct Germain de I'Auxerrois." By neglecting the clue thus given, the chronological order of the events of the day has been lost by a number of historians. It will be noticed that the number of the royal guards reported to have been slain was, strangely enough, derived from that of the Huguenot gentlemen butchered in the Louvre by those very guards. The story may have been perpetuated by misapprehension of the facts ; it could have arisen only from wilful falsehood. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 471 while the king reluctantly abandoned his boon companion to his fate, rather than betray his secret. Early awakened from his sleep at his lodgings by loud knocking at the door and by de- mands for admission in the king's name, and seeing a band of masked men enter, he recalled Charles's threat at parting, that he would come and administer to him a whipping. The practi- cal joke would not have been unlike many of the mad antics of the royal jester, and La Rochefoucauld, addressing himself to the person whom he supposed to be his Majesty in disguise, begged him to treat him with humanity. His deception was not long continued ; for the maskers, after rifling his trunks, drew him from his place of concealment and murdered him. His lifeless body was dragged through the streets of Paris. 1 Teligny was, perhaps, even more unfortunate than the rest, because he awoke too late to the fact that his own blind confid- ance in the word of a faithless prince had been a chief instru- ment of involving his father-in-law and his friends in destruc- tion. He was among the first to pay the penalty of his credulity. More than one of the parties sent to destroy him, it is said, overcome by compassion for his youth and manly beauty, or by respect for his graceful manners and extraordinary learning, left their commission unexecuted. To avoid further peril, he ascended to the roof, from which he made his way to an adjoin- ing house ; but he had not gone far before he was seen and shot with an arquebuse by one of the Duke of Anjou's guards. 1 The Huguenots, attacked in the midst of their slumbers by self-defence of the courtiers and the soldiers of the royal guard,* a few nobles. amon g wnom were prominent the Swiss of Charles or his brother, or by the people of Paris, who every moment swelled 1 Tocsain centre les massacreurs Rheiras. 1579), 124, 125 ; Reveille-Matin, 126 ; Eusebii Philadelphi Dialogi, i. 41 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 586. 1 Tocsain centre les massacreurs. 125 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne", ii. 18 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 586 ; Euseb. Philad. Dialogi, ubi supra. 3 " The courtiers and the soldiers of the royal guard were the executioners of this commission on the (Huguenot) noblesse, terminating, they said, by the sword and general disorder, those processes which pens and paper and the order of justice had hitherto failed to bring to an issue." Reveille-Matin, ubi supra, 184; Eosebii Philad. Dialogi, I 41 ; Memoires de 1'estat, 127. 472 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. the ranks of the assassins, were too much taken by surprise to offer even the slightest resistance. Guerchy, the same gentle- man who had offered his services to Coligny the night before, is almost the only man reported to have fought for his life. "With his sword in his right hand, and winding his cloak around his left arm, he defended himself for a long time, though the breast- plates of his enemies were proof against his blows. At last, he fell, overborne by numbers. 1 The Lieutenant de la Mareschaus- see, if not more determined, was better prepared for the combat. All day long, with a single soldier as his comrade, he defended his house against the assailants, expecting at every moment to be relieved from his perilous situation by the king. But, far from meriting such confidence on the part of his subjects, Charles was indignant at his prolonged resistance, and sent a powerful detachment of guards, with orders to bring him the lieutenant's head. The brave Huguenot, however, still main- tained the unequal siege, and fought till his last breath. The eoldiers had only the poor satisfaction of pillaging his house, of dragging his sick daughter naked through the streets until she died of maltreatment, and of wounding and imprisoning his wife." Personal hatred, jealousy, cupidity, mingled with religious and political zeal, and private ends were attained in fulfilling victims of per- the king's murderous commands. Bussy d'Amboise, "**' meeting his Protestant cousin, the Marquis de Renel (half-brother of the late Prince of Porcien), by a well-directed blow with his poniard rid himself of an unpleasant suit at law which Renel had come to Paris to prosecute. The case of Caumont de la Force was still more revolting. His daughter, Madame de la Chataigneraie, in accordance with the shameless code of morals in vogue at the French Adventure of i young La court, had taken for her lover Archan, captain of the guard of Henry of Anjou ; and it was to gratify her covetousness that Archan obtained from the Duke the order to despatch La Force and his two sons. The plan was successfully executed so far as the father and his elder son were concerned. 1 Agrippa d'Aubign6, ii. 18. 8 Tocsain centre les massacreurs, 130, 137. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 473 The second, a boy of twelve, escaped by his remarkable pres- ence of mind and self-control. Certain that his youth would excite no pity in the breast of his inhuman assailants, when his father and his brother fell at his side and he perceived himself covered with their blood, he dropped down with the exclama- tion that he was dead. So perfectly did he counterfeit death, all that long day, that, although his body was examined by suc- cessive bands of plunderers, and deprived not only of every valuable, but even of its clothing, he did not by a motion betray that he was alive. Most of these persons applauded the crime. It was well, they said, to kill the little wolves with the greater. But, toward evening, a more humane person came, who, while engaged in drawing off a stocking which had been left on the boy's foot, gave expression to his abhorrence of the bloody deed. To his astonishment the boy raised his head, and whispered, " I am not dead." The compassionate man at once commanded him not to stir, and went home ; but as soon as it was dark he returned with a cloak, which he threw about young La Force's shoulders, and bade him follow. It was no easy matter to thread the streets unmolested ; but his guide dispelled the sus- picions of those who questioned him respecting the boy by de- claring that it was his nephew whom he had found drunk, and was going to whip soundly for it. In the end the young noble- man reached the arsenal, where his relative, Marshal Biron, was in command. Even there, however, the avarice of his unnatural sister pursued him. Vexed that, on account of his preservation, she must fail to secure the entire inheritance of the family, Madame de la Chataigneraie tried to effect herself what she had not been able to do by means of another ; she visited the marshal in the arsenal, and, after expressing great joy that her brother had been saved, begged to be permitted to see and care for him. Biron thought it necessary, in order to preserve the boy's life, to deny her request. 1 1 Reveille-Matin, ubi supra, 184, 185; Eusebii Philad. Dial., i. 42; Mem. de 1'estat, 127 ; Jean de Serres (1575), iv. 38 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 588 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 18. The minor details of the story are given, with variations, by different authors. D'Aubigne" gives us Biron's answer to the commands and menaces with which Madame de la Chataigneraie sought to 474 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. The frenzy that had fallen upon Paris affected all classes alike. Every feeling of pity seemed to have been blotted out. Piaiess Natural affection disappeared. A man's foes were butchery. those of his own household. On the plea of religious zeal the most barbarous acts were committed. Spire Xiquet, a poor bookbinder, whose scanty earnings barely sufficed to sup- port the wants of his seven children, was half -roasted in a bon- fire made of his own books, and then dragged to the river and drowned. 1 The weaker sex was not spared in the universal carnage, and, as in a town taken by assault, suffered outrages that were worse than death. Matron and maiden alike wel- comed as merciful the blow that liberated them from an exist- ence now rendered insupportable. Women approaching mater- nity were selected for more excruciating torments, and savage delight was exhibited in destroying the unborn fruit of the womb. Nor was any rank respected. Madame d'Yverny, the niece of Cardinal Bri^onnet, was recognized, as she fled, by the costly underclothing that appeared from beneath the shabby habit of a nun which she had assumed ; and, after suffering every indignity^ upon her refusal to go to mass, was thrown from a bridge into the Seine and drowned. 7 Occasionally the women rivalled the cruelty of the men. A poor carpenter, of advanced age, with whom the author of the " Tocsam centre les massacreurs " was personally acquainted, had been taken by night and cast into the river. He swam, however, to a bridge, and succeeded in climbing up by its timbers, and so fled naked to the house of a relative near the " Cousture Sainte Catherine," gain possession of young La Force : " I would certainly intrust him in the hands of his relative, in order to take care of him, but not in the hands of his next heir, who took too great care of him yesterday morning," ii. 21. It must be noted, however, that the " Memoires authentiqnes de Jacques Nom- par de Caumont, Due de la Force, Marechal de France, recueillis par le Mar- quis de la Grange " (Paris. 1843), i. 2-37, so far from accusing the sister of La Force, ascribe the persistent attempts to secure his death solely to Archan (or Larchant), who had married this sister; and they state that, at her death, she left her property, including what she had inherited from her hus- band, to her brother. 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 146. * Mem. de 1'estat, 146 ; Tocsain centre les massacreurs, 129. 130 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. lu.) 592 ; Claude Haton, ii. 678; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 20. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 475 where his wife had taken refuge. But, instead of welcoming him, his wife drove him away, and lie was soon recaptured and killed.' It is related that the daughter of one Jean de Cou- 1< >irne, a mercer of the " Palais," betrayed her own mother to death, and subsequently married one of the murderers. 3 The very innocence of childhood furnished no sufficient protection so literally did the pious Catholics of Paris interpret the oft- repeated exhortations of their holy father to exterminate not only the roots of heresy, but the very fibres of the roots.' Two infants, whose parents had just been murdered, were carried in a hod and cast into the Seine. A little girl was plunged naked in the blood of her father and mother, with horrible oaths and threats that, if she should become a Huguenot, the like fate would befall her. And a crowd of boys, between nine and ten years of age, was seen dragging through the streets the body of a babe yet in its swaddling-clothes, which they had fastened to a rope by means of a belt tied about its neck/ The bodies of the more inconspicuous victims lay for hours in whatever spot they happened to be killed ; but the court re- quired ocular demonstration that the leaders of the Huguenots who had been most prominent in the late wars were really dead. Accordingly the naked corpses of Soubise, of Guerchy, of Beau- dine, d'Acier's brother, and of others, were dragged from all quarters to the square in front of the Louvre. There, as an in- dignant contemporary writes, extended in a long row, they lay exposed to the view of the varlets, of whom when alive they had 1 Tocsain, 136. * M6m. de 1'estat, 146. z " Radices, atque etiam radicum fibras, funditus evellas." Pii Quinti Epis- tolae. 111. See ante, chapter xvi., p. 308. 4 Mem. de 1'estat, 147. The children of other cities emulated the example of those of Paris. In Provins, in the month of October, 1572, a Huguenot, Jean Crespin, after having been hung by the officers of justice, was taken down from the gallows by '' les petis enfans de Provins, de Cage de douze ans et au dessoubz," to the number of more than one hundred. By these mimic judges he was declared unworthy to be dragged save by his feet, and, his punishment by hanging being reckoned too light, he was roasted in a fire of straw, and presently thrown into the river. Numbers of older persons looked on, approv- ing and encouraging the children ; a few good Catholics were grieved to see such cruelty practised on a dead body. Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 704-70G. 476 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. been the terror. 1 Cruelty and lust are twin sisters : when the one is at hand, the other is generally not far distant. The court of Catharine de' Medici was noted for its impurity, as ness of the it was infamous for its recklessness of human life. It court ladies. ~ , . .,, ., , .. was not out of keeping with its general reputation that toward evening a bevy of ladies among them the queen mother tripped down the palace stairs to feast their eyes upon the sight of the uncovered dead." Indeed, the king, the queen mother, and their intimate friends seemed to be in an ecstasy of joy. They indulged in boisterous laughter 3 as the successive reports of the municipal authorities, from hour to hour, brought in tidings of the extent of the massacre. 4 " The war is now ended in reality," they were heard to say, " and we shall hence- forth live in peace." * The Duke of Anjou took a more active part. In the street and on the Pont de Notre Dame he was to be seen encouraging the assassins." The Duke of Mont- Anjcm encour- . . . . , . , ages the as- pensier was surpassed by no one in his zealous advocacy of the murderous work. " Let every man exert himself to the utmost," he cried, as he rode through the streets, " if he wishes to prove .himself a good servant to the king." 7 Tavannes, if we may believe Brantome's account, endeavored to rival him, and, all day long, as he rode about amid the carnage, amused himself by facetiously crying to the people : " Bleed ! Bleed ! The doctors say that bleeding is as good in the month of August as in May." 8 Of the Duke of Alen9on it was noticed that, alone of Catha- 1 Mem. de Pestat, ubi supra, 128. 8 " On en remarqua qui avoient les yeux attaches sur le corps du Baron du Pont, pour voir si elles y trouveroient quelque cause ou quelque marque de Timpuissance qu'on lui reprochoit." De Thou. iv. (liv. lii.) 587. See Euseb. Philadelphi Dial., i. 45, and Jean de Serres (1575) iv., fol. 39. 3 " Le Roy, la Royne mere, et leurs courtisans, rioyent a gorge desployee." Mem. de 1'estat. ubi supra, 132. 4 The preVot, echevins, etc., " du tout, auroient, d'henre en heure, rendn compte et tesmoignage a sadicte Majeste." Extrait des registres et cro- niques du bureau de la ville de Paris, Archives curieuses, vii. 215. * Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra. Tocsain centre les massacreurs, Rheims, 1579, p. 140. 1 Ibid., ubi supra. 8 Brantome, Homines illustres franqais, M. de Thavannes. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 477 rine's sons, lie took no part in the massacre. The Protestants even regarded him as their friend, and the rumor was current that the pity he exhibited excited the indignation of his mother and brothers. Indeed, Catharine, it was said, openly told him that, if he ventured to meddle with her plans, she would put him in a sack and throw him into the river. 1 Of the pastors of the Church of Paris, it was noticed as a remarkable circumstance that but two Buirette and Desgorris wonderful were killed ; for it was certain that no lives were more eagerly sought than theirs. 1 But several Prot- estant pastors had wonderful escapes. The celebrated D'Espine the converted monk who took part in the Colloquy of Poissy was in company with Madame d'Yverny when her disguise was discovered, but he was not recognized. 1 In the case of Merlin, chaplain of Admiral Coligny, the divine interposition seemed almost as distinct as in that of the prophet Elijah. After reluctantly leaving Coligny, at his earnest request, and clambering over the roof of a neighboring house, he fell through an opening into a garret full of hay. Not daring to show him- self, since he knew not whether he would encounter friends or foes, he remained for three days in this retreat, his sole food an egg which a hen daily laid within his reach. 4 The future minister of Henry the Fourth, Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of Sully, at this time a boy of twelve and a student in the college of Burgundy in Paris, has left us in his " Economies royales " a thrilling account of his escape. Awa- kened, about three o'clock in the morning, by the uproar in the streets, his tutor and his valet-de-chainbre went out to learn the 1 " Declarant (Alenqon) qu'il ne pouvoit approuver vn tel desordre, ny qu'on rompit si ouvertement la foy promise, qui fut cause que sa mere luy dit en termes clairs que s'il bougeoit elle le feroit ietter dans vn sac aual 1'eau." Tocsain contre les uiassacreurs, 141. 'Id., 133. 3 De Thou, iv. 592. 4 His son, Jacques Merlin, at a later time pastor at La Rochelle, although he does not mention the particulars of his father's escape, in the journal pub- lished for the first time by M. Gaberel in an appendix to the second vol. of his Histoire de 1'eglise de Geneve, pp. 153-207, alludes to it "fut deliure par une grace de Dieu speciale " (p. 155). 478 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL occasion of it, and never returned. They were doubtless among the first victims. Sully's trembling host a Protestant who consented through fear to abjure his faith now came in, and advised the youth to save his life by going to mass. Sully was not prepared to take this counsel, and, so putting on his scholars gown, he ventured upon the desperate step of trying to reach the college. A horrible scene presented itself to view. Every- where men were breaking into houses, or slaughtering their captives in the public streets, while the cry of " Kill the Hu- guenots ! " was heard on all sides. Sully himself owed his pres- ervation to two thick volumes of " Heures " Romish books of devotion which he had the presence of mind to take under his arm, and which effectually disarmed the suspicions of the three successive bands of soldiers that stopped him. At the college, after with difficulty gaining admission, he incurred still greater danger. Happily the principal, M. Du Faye, was a kind-hearted man. In vain was he urged, by two priests who were his guests, to surrender the Huguenot boy to death, saying that the order was to massacre even the very babes at the breast. Du Faye would not consent ; and after having secretly kept Sully locked up for three days in a closet, he found means to restore him to his friends. 1 No loss was more sensibly felt by the scientific world than that of the learned Pierre de la Ramee, or Ramus, a philosopher sec- Death of the on( * to none ^ ki s day. The professor might possibly philosopher t have escaped if his only offence had been his Prot- Ramus. . estant views ; but Ramus had had the temerity to attack Aristotle, and to attempt to reform the faulty pronun- ciation of the Latin language. For these unpardonable sins he was tracked to the cellar in which he had hidden, by a band of robbers under the guidance of Jacques Charpentier, a jealous rival, with whom he had had acrimonious discussions. After being compelled to give up a considerable sum of money, he was despatched with daggers, and thrown from an upper window into the court of his college. Never was philosophic hetero- doxy more thoroughly punished ; for if the whipping, dragging 1 MSmoires de Sully (London, 1748), i pp 29, 30. I57a THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 479 through the filthy streets, and dismembering of a corpse by in- dignant students with the approval of their teachers, could atone for such grave errors, the anger of the illustrious Stagirite must have been fully appeased. If anything can clearly exhibit the depth of moral degradation to which Roman Catholic France had fallen, it is the fact that Charpentier unblushingly accepted the praise which was liberally showered upon him for his par- ticipation in this disgraceful affair. 1 Scarcely less signal a misfortune to France was tlie murder of Pierre de la Place, president of the Cour d' Aides, whose excellent " Commentaries on the State of Religion and Pierre dei the Republic " constitute one of our best guides Place through the short reign of Francis the Second and the early part of the reign of Charles the Ninth. This eminent jurist, even more distinguished as a writer on Christian morals than as a historian, had first embraced the Reformation at a time when the recent martyrdom of Anne du Bourg served as a significant reminder of the perils attending a profession of Protestant views. President de la Place had been visited in his house early in the morning, on the first day of the massacre, by Captain Michel, an arquebusier of the king, who, entering boldly with his weapons and with the white napkin bound on his left arm, informed him of the death of Coligny, and the fate in reserve for the rest of the Huguenots. The soldier pretended that the king wished to exempt La Place from the general slaughter, and bade him accompany him to the Louvre. How- ever, a gift of a thousand crowns induced the fellow instead to lead the president's daughter and her husband to a place of safety in the house of a Roman Catholic friend. But La Place himself, after having applied at three different houses belonging to persons of his acquaintance and been denied admission, was compelled to return to his home and there await his doom. A day passed, during which La Place and his wife were subjected to constant alarms. At length new orders came in the king's 1 Tocsain centre lea massacreurs, 131 ; Mem. de 1'estat, iibi supra, 142, etc. De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 592, 593. Strange to say. Von Botzbeim was so far misinformed, that he makes Charpentier weep for the fate of Ramns ! Archi- \al. Beitrage, p. 117. 480 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL name, enjoining upon him "without fail to repair instantly to the palace. The meaning was unmistakable ; it was the road to death. But neither the Huguenot's piety nor his courage failed him. He gently raised his wife, who had fallen on her knees to beg the messenger to save her husband's life, and re- minded her that she should have recourse to God alone, not to an arm of flesh. And he sternly rebuked his eldest son, who, in a moment of weakness, had placed a white cross on his hat, in the hope of saving his life. " The true cross we must wear," he said, " is the trials and afflictions sent to us by God as sure pledges of the bliss and eternal life He has prepared for His own followers." It was with unruffled composure that he bade his weeping friends farewell. His apprehensions were soon realized ; he was despatched by murderers who had been waiting for him, and before long his body was floating down the Seine toward the sea. 1 From such instances of inhumanity it is a relief to turn to one of a few incidents wherein the finer feelings triumphed Regnier and over prejudice, difference of religious tenets, and even personal hatred. There were in Paris two gen- tlemen, named Vezins and Regnier, of good families in the province of Quercy in southern France. Both were equally distinguished for their valor ; but their dispositions were singu- larly unlike, for while the Huguenot Regnier was noted for his gentle manners, the Roman Catholic Vezins, who was lieutenant of the governor, the Viscount of Villars, had acquired unenvi- able notoriety because of his ferocity. Between the two there had for some time existed a mortal feud, which their common friends had striven in vain to heal. While the massacre was at its height, Regnier was visited by his enemy, Vezins. The latter, after effecting an entrance into the house by breaking down the door, fiercely ordered the Huguenot who, well assured that his last hour was come, had fallen upon his knees to im- 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 596; Memoires de 1'estat de France sous Charles IX. (Cimber et Danjou, vii. 137-142, and in M. Buchon's biographical notice prefixed to the ' Commentaires "). An appreciative chapter on Pierre de la Place and his works may be read in Victor Bujeaud, Chronique protestante de rAngoumoia (Angouleme, 1860), 50-66. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 481 plore the mercy of God to rise and follow him. A horse stood saddled at the door, upon which Regnier was told to mount. In his enemy's train he rode unharmed through the streets of Paris, then through the gates of the city. Still Yezins, without vouchsafing a word of explanation, kept on his way toward Cahors, the capital of Quercy, whither he had been despatched by the government. 1 For many successive days the journey lasted. The prisoner was well guarded, but he was also well lodged and fed. At last the party reached the very castle of Regnier, and here his captor broke the long silence. " As you have seen," eaid he, " it would have depended only on myself to take advan- tage of the opportunity which I have long been seeking ; but I should be ashamed to avenge myself in this way upon a man so brave as you. In settling our quarrel I desire that the danger shall be equal. Be well assured that you will find me as ready to decide our dispute in a manner becoming gentlemen, as I have been eager to save you from inevitable destruction." It need scarcely be said that the Huguenot could not find words sufficiently strong to express his gratitude ; but Yezins merely replied : " I leave it to you to choose whether you wish me to be your friend or your enemy ; I saved your life only to enable you to make your election." "With these words he abruptly left him and rode away, nor would he ever consent even to take back the horse upon which he had brought Regnier in safety so many leagues. 1 A number of the Huguenot noblemen were lodged on the southern side of the Seine, outside of the walls, in the Faubourg Saint Germain. Count Montgomery, the Vidame of Escape of ^, _ i ~v i -i-n Montgomery Cliartres, Beauvoir la JN ocle, and P rontenay, a member of the powerful Rohan family, were among the most distinguished. After the admiral, there were certainly no Hu- guenots whom Catharine was more anxious to destroy than Montgomery and Chartres. Accordingly the massacre, which began near the Louvre, was to have been executed simultane- ously upon them, and the work was intrusted to M. de Maugi- 1 Cahors is over 300 miles in a straight line from Paris, more than 4CO miles 153 leagues by the roads. s "De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 594, 595 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., ii. 23. VOL. II. 31 482 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. ron. But the delay of the Roman Catholics saved them. Marcel, the former prevot des marchands, who had been in- structed to furnish one thousand men, was not ready in time ; and Dumas, who was to have acted as guide, overslept the appoint- ed hour. About five o'clock in the morning a Huguenot suc- ceeded in swimming across the river, and carried to Montgomery the first tidings of the events of the last two hours. The count at once notified his comrades, but, although there were among them those who had been most urgent to leave Paris immedi- ately after Maurevel's attack upon Coligny, few of the nobles would harbor the thought that Charles was so lost to honor as to have plotted the assassination of his invited guests. They preferred to believe that the king was himself in danger through a sudden commotion occasioned by the Guises. Acting upon this theory, the Huguenots proceeded in a body toward the Seine, intending to cross and lend assistance to the royal cause ; but, on reaching the river's bank, they were speedily undeceived. They saw a band of two hundred soldiers of the royal guard coming toward them in boats, and discharging their arquebuses, with cries of " Tue ! Tue ! " " Kill ! Kill ! " Charles himself Charles him- was descried at a window of the Louvre, looking with thanfcom 4 approval upon the scene. There is good authority the Louvre. Q\ BO ^ f or the story that, in his eagerness to exterminate the Huguenots, Charles snatched an arquebuse from the hand of an attendant, and fired at them, exclaiming, " Let us shoot, mort Dieu, they are fleeing ! " 1 The incident of Charles IX. 'a firing upon the Huguenots has been of late the subject of much discussion. M. Founder and M. Mery have denied the existence, in 1572, of the pavilion at which tradition makes the king to have stationed himself. See Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. francais, v. (1857) 332, etc. It has, I think, been conclusively shown that they are mistaken. The pavilion was in existence. But, besides, there is no reason why an incident should be deemed apocryphal because of a popular mistake in assigning the spot of its occurrence. The ' ' Reveille-Matin ' ' and the Eusebii Philadelphi Dia- logi, published in 1574, are the earliest documents that refer to it. They place Charles at the window of his own room. So does Brantome, writing considerably later. Jean de Serres (in the fourth vol. of his Commentaria de statn, etc. (fol. 37), published in 1575) says : " Regem quoque ex hypaethrio (i.e., from a covered gallery) aiunt, adhibitis, ut s'olebat, diris contenta voce conclamare, et tormento etiam ipsum ejaculari. " Agrippa d'Aubigne alludes to it not only in 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 483 Montgomery and his companions had by this time recognized their mistake, and hesitated no longer to flee from the perfidious capital. They promptly took to horse, and rode hard to reach Normandy and the sea. This part of the prey was, however, too precious to be permitted to escape. Accordingly, Guise, Aumale, the Bastard of Angouleme, and a number of " gentilhomrnes tueurs," started in pursuit. But an accident prevented them from overtaking the Huguenots. When Guise and his party reached the Porte de Bussy ' the gate leading from the city into the faubourg in which the Protestants had been lodging which was closed in accordance with the king's orders, they found that they had been provided by mistake with the wrong key, and the delay experienced in finding the right one afforded Montgomery an advantage in the race, of which he made good use." his Histoire nniverselle (ii. 19, 21), but in his Tragiques (Bulletin, vii. 185), a poem which he commenced as early as in 1577 (See Bulletin, x. 202). M. Henri Bordier has been so fortunate as to discover and has reprinted a contemporary engraving of the massacre, in which Charles is represented as excitedly looking on the slaughter from a window in the Louvre, while behind him stand two hal- berdiers and several noblemen (Bulletin, x. 106, 107). The question is dis- cussed in an able and exhaustive manner by MM. Fournier, Ludovic Lalanne, Bernard, Berty, Bordier, and others, in the Bulletin, v. 332-340 ; vi 118-126 ; vii. 182-187; x. 5-11, 105-107, 199-204. 1 The Porte de Bussy, or Bncy, was the first gate toward the west on the southern side of the Seine. During the reign of Francis I. and his successors of the house of Valois, the walls of Paris were of small compass. In this quar- ter their general direction is well marked out by the Rue Mazarine. The cir- cuit started from the Tour de Nesle, which was nearly opposite the eastern front of the Louvre the short Rue de Bussy fixes the situation of the gate where Guise was delayed. A little west of this is the abbey church of St. Germain-des-Pres, which gave its name to the suburb opposite the Louvre and the Tuileries. This quaint pile the oldest church, or, indeed, edifice of any kind in Paris after being built in the sixth century, and injured by the Normans in the ninth, was rebuilt and dedicated in 1163 A.D., by Alexander III. in person. On that occasion the Bishop of Paris was not even permitted by the jealous monks to be present, on the ground that the abbey of St. Ger- main-des-Pres was exempt from his jurisdiction. The pontiff confirmed their position, and his sermon, instead of being an exposition of the Gospel, was devoted to setting forth the privileges accorded to the abbey by St. Germain, Bishop of Paris, in 886. Dulaure, Histoire de Paris, ii. 79-84. * Tocsam centre les massacreura, 138, 139 ; Reveille-Matin, 186-188 ; Mim. de 1'estat, 120-131. 484 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIII. The carnival of blood, which had been BO successfully ushered in on that ill-starred Sunday of August, was maintained on the The mass* succeeding days with little abatement of its frenzied ere continues, excitement. Paris soon resembled a vast charnel- house. The dead or dying lay in the open streets and squares, they blocked the doors and carriage-ways, they were heaped in the courtyards. When the utmost that impotent passion could do to these lifeless remains was accomplished, the Seine became the receptacle. Besides those Huguenots whom their murderers dragged to the bridges or wharves to despatch by drowning, both by day and by night wagons laden with the corpses of men and women, and even of young children, were driven down to the river and emptied of their human freight. But the current of the crooked Seine refused to carry away from the capital all these evidences of guilt. The shores of its first curve, from Paris to the bridge of St. Cloud, were covered with putrefying remains, which the municipality were compelled to inter, through fear of their generating a pestilence. And so we read, in the registers of the H6tel-de-Ville, of a payment of fifteen livres tournois, on the. ninth of September, for the burial of the dead bodies found near the Convent of Chaillot, and of a second pay- ment of twenty livres on the twenty-third, for the burial of eleven hundred more, near Chaillot, Auteuil, and St. Cloud. 1 The massacre was not in its origin a popular outbreak. It sprang from the ambition and vindictive passions of the queen Not a popular motner > an( i others, whom the ministers of a corrupt movement, religion had long accustomed to the idea that the extermination of heretics is not a sin, but the highest type of piety. The people were called in only as assistants. Probably the first intention was only to hold the municipal forces in readi- ness to overcome any resistance which the Protestants might offer. But the massacre succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectations of the conspirators. Very few of the victims de- fended themselves or their property; scarcely one Roman Catholic was slam. And now the populace, having had a taste of blood, could no longer be restrained. "Whether the plunder 1 See Henry White, Massacre of St. Bartholomew, p. 460. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 485 of the Protestants entered into the original calculations of Catha- rine and her advisers, may perhaps be doubted. But there is no question as to the turn which the affair soon took in the luinds of those engaged in it. Pillage was not always counte- . , nanced bv church and state : as a violation of the second Plunder 01 / table of the Law, it was, under ordinary circumstances, atoned for by penance and ecclesiastical censures ; as a breach of the royal edicts, it was likely to be punished with hanging or still more painful modes of execution. Consequently, when by furnishing arms the civil power authorized the most severe measures against those whom it accused of foul conspiracy against the king, and when the professed minister of Christ and His gospel of peace blessed the work of exterminating God's enemies and the king's, there was no lack of men will- ing to profit by the rare and unexpected opportunity. Nor did the courtiers disdain dishonest gain. The Duke of Anjou was known to have enriched himself by the plunder of the shop of Baduere, the king's jeweller.' Noblemen, besides robbing their victims of money, extorted from them, in return for a pro- mise to spare their lives, deeds of valuable lands, or papers resigning in their favor high offices in the government. It was frequently the case that, after giving such presents, the Hugue- not was put out of the way at once, in order to prevent him from ever retracting. Thus, Martial de Lomenie, a secretary of the king, was murdered in prison, after having resigned his office in favor of Marshal Retz, and sold to him his estate of Versailles, at such a price as the latter chose to name, in the 1 Valued at from 100,000 to 200.000 crowns, Reveille-Matin, 190 ; Mem. de 1'estat, 151. The interesting anonymous letter from Heidelberg, Dec. 22, 1573, published first by the Marquis de Noailles in his " Henri de Valois et la Po- logne en 1572 " (Paris, 1867), iii. 533. from the MSS. of Prince Czartoryski, alludes to the costly jewels which Henry, now king-elect of Poland, made to the elector palatine, his host, and remarks : ' ' Fortasse magna haec f uisse vide- bitur liberalitas et rege digna, at parva certe vel nulla potius f uit, si vel sump- tibus quos illustrissimus noster princeps in deducendo et excipiendo hoc hos- pite sustinuit conferamus, vel si unde haec dona sint profecta expendamus. Ipse siquidem rex (Henry) ne teruncium pro iis solvisse, Bed ex taberna cujus- dam praedivitis aurifabri Parisiensis, quara scelerati sui ministri in etrage ilia nobilium ut alias multas diripuerunt, accepisse ea fertur." 486 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. vain hope that this would secure him liberty and life. 1 The extent to which robbery -was carried on the occasion of the massacre is reluctantly conceded in the pamphlet, which was published immediately after, as an apology of the court for the hideous crime ; and an attempt is made to justify it, which is worthy of the source from which it drew its inspiration : " Now this good-will of the people to sustain and defend its prince, to espouse his quarrel, and to hate those who are not of his reli- gion, is very praiseworthy ; and if in this execution [the massacre] some pillaging has taken place, we must excuse the fury of a people impelled by a worthy zeal a zeal hard to be restrained and bridled when once excited." J But, despite panegyrists, the massacre had not been in prog- ress many hours before the very magistrates of the city appear to have become apprehensive lest the movement might assume dangerous dimensions. It was only about eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, as the registers of the Hotel de Yille inform us, when Charles was waited upon by the prevot des marchands and the echevins. They came to inform him that " a number of persons, partly belonging to the suite of his Majesty, partly to that of the princes, princesses, and lords of the court gentle- men, archers of the king's body-guard, soldiers of his suite, as well as all sorts of people mingled with them and under their authority were plundering and pillaging many houses and kill- ing many persons in the streets." This was certainly no news to Charles ; but as he desired, now that the massacre had begun, not to enrich the Roman Catholic inhabitants of Paris, but to fill his own coffers, he deemed it best to prohibit any further 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 150. Versailles, which thus passed into the hands of the family of Marshal Retz the Gondi family was an old castle situ- ated in the midst of an almost unbroken forest. The Gondi family sold it to Louis XIII., who built a hunting lodge, afterward transmuted by Louis XIV. into the magnificent palace, which, for more than a century, was the favorite residence of the most splendid court in Europe. The mode in which the title was acquired did not augur well for the justice or the morality which was to reign there. M. L. Lacour has contributed an animated sketch, " Versailles et les protestants de France," to the Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fr., viii. (1859) 352-367. 8 Diacours sur les causes de 1'execution, ubi supra, 249. 1572 THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 487 action on their part, and to leave the rest of the work to his own commissioned servants. Accordingly the municipal au- thorities were directed to ride through the city with all the troops at their disposal, and to see to it, both by JuTdown day and night, that the bloodshed and robbery should cease. "Sir William Guerrier" thus runs one of the commissions to the " quarteniers " issued from the central bureau of the city, in pursuance of these directions "give commandment to all burgesses and inhabitants of your quarter, who to-day have taken up arms according to the king's order, to lay them down, and to retire and remain quietly in their houses, . . . according to the king's command conveyed to us by my Lord of Xevers." And this document is accompanied with another, of the same date, applying to soldiers of the guard or others, who should pillage or maltreat Protestants, and threatening them with punishment. Such a proclamation, it is well known, was made by trumpet at about five o'clock that afternoon. The registers tell us that the instructions were so well carried out that all disorder " was at once appeased and ceased." They contain, however, a distinct refutation of this falsehood, in the frequent repetition of similar orders and the variety of forms in which the same statements are made on Little heed subsequent days. Again and again does the king given to them. di re ct that soldiers be placed at the head of every street to prevent robbery and murder ; ' the guards either were never posted, or, as is more likely, became foremost in the work which they were sent to repress. Indeed, the instructions given on Monday to visit all the houses in the city and its suburbs where there were any Protestants, and obtain their names and surnames, 1 afforded an opportunity which was not permitted to slip by unimproved, for the exaction of heavy bribes, as well as for more open plunder and violence. So notorious was it, nearly a week after the butchery began, that the massacre had only abated in intensity, that, on the thirtieth of August, meas- 1 Royal orders of Aug. 25th, Aug. 27th. etc. Order of the Pre'vot des mar- chands, Aug. 30th. Registres du bureau de la ville, Archives curieusea, v;L 2-J2-230. Euaeb. Philadelphi Dialog., i. 45. * Registres du bureau de la ville, pp. 222, 223. 488 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIIL ures were adopted to prevent any wrong from being done to foreign merchants sojourning in Paris, and especially to the German, English, and Flemish students of the university. 1 The smile of Heaven, it was said by the Roman Catholic clergy, rested upon the effort to extirpate heresy in France. Miracle of the They convinced the people of the truth of their de8inn t " re assertion by pointing to an unusual phenomenon which they declared to be evidently miraculous. In the Cimetiere des Innocents and before a small chapel of the Virgin Mary, there grew a white hawthorn, which, according to some accounts, had for several years been to all appearance dead. Great then was the surprise of those who, on the event- ful St. Bartholomew's Day, beheld the tree covered with a great profusion of blossoms as fragrant as those flowers which the hawthorn usually puts forth in May. It was true that no good reason could be assigned why the wonder might not with greater propriety be explained, as the Protestants afterward sug- gested, rather as a mark of Heaven's sympathy with oppressed innocence. But no doubts entered the minds of the Parisian ecclesiastics. They spread abroad the fame of the prodigy. They rang the church-bells in token of joy, and invited the blood-stained populace to witness the sight, and gain new cour- age in their murderous work. It may well be doubted whether either the hawthorn or the virgin of the neighboring chapel wrought the wonderful cures recorded by the curate of Me'riot* But certainly the reported intervention of Heaven setting its seal upon treacherous assassination prolonged the slaughter of Hu- guenots. " It seemed," says Claude Haton, reflecting the popu- lar belief, " that God, by this miracle, approved and accepted as well-pleasing to Him the Catholic uprising and the death of His great enemy the admiral and his followers, who for twelve years had been audaciously rending His seamless coat, which is ' Ibid., p. 227. 5 ' ' Aucuns malades languissans, ayant ouy ce miracle, se firent porter audit cymetiere pour veoir laditte espine ; lesquelz, estans la avec ferme f oy, firent leur priere a Dien en rhonneur de nostre dame la vierge Marie et devant son ymage qui est en laditte chapelle, pour recouvrer leur sante, et, apres leur oraison f aicte, s'en retournerent en leurs maisons sains et guaris de leur mala- die, chose tres-v6ritable et bien approuvee." Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 682. 1572. THE MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 489 His trne Chnrch and His Bride." ' And so, what with the en- couragement afforded by the wonderful thorn-tree of the Cime- tiere des Innocents what with the continuous fair weather, which was interpreted after the same manner, the task of extir- pating the heretical Huguenots was prosecuted with a persever- ance that never flagged. It is tme that the greater part of the work was done in the first three or four days ; but it was not terminated for several weeks, and many a Huguenot, corning out of his place of concealment with the hope that time might have caused the passions of his enemies to become less violent, was murdered in cold blood by those who -coveted his prop- erty. Several thousand persons were butchered in Paris alone during the first few days, besides these later victims; pre- cisely how many, it is useless and perhaps impossible to fix with certainty. 2 Meantime it became necessary to explain to the world the extraordinary tragedy which had been enacted on so conspicu- ous a stage. Each of the different parties to the nefarious com- pact, with that easy faith which characterizes great criminals, had expected to satisfy its own resentment at the sole expense of the honor and reputation of the others. The king and his mother, while securing the death of Coligny and a few other personal enemies, were not unwilling to have the world believe 1 Ibid., ubi supra; Tocsain centre les massacreurs, 146; Reveille-Matin, 193, 194; Mem. de 1'estat, 155; Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 41 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. Hi.) 596. 5 Dr. White (Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 459) has tabulated the esti- mates, nine in number, afforded by twenty-one distinct authorities. The lowest estimate 1,000 victims is that of the Abbe" Caveyrac, whose undis- guised aim was to place the number as low as possible, so as to palliate the atrocity of the massacre. Being based apparently upon the number of the 7,9. 4 Tocsain centre les massacreurs. Rheims, 1579. p. 143. It has been well remarked by a writer in the Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. francais (iii. 346) as one of the paradoxes of history, that Coligny's mangled remains, "after being carefully subjected to the most ignominious treatment, were saved from/the annihilation to which they appeared to be infallibly condemned, and have been transmitted from place to place, and from hand to hand, until our own days, and better preserved for three centuries than many other illus- trious corpses carefully laid up in costly mausoleums ! " Marshal Montmo- rency placed the admiral's body in a lead coffin in his castle of Chantilly, whence he sent it to Montauban. Francois de Coligny brought it back to Chutillon-sur-Loing, when, in 1599, the sentence of parliament was formally rescinded. In 1786 it was taken to Maupertuis and placed in a black marble sarcophagus. Since 1851 it has been resting in its new tomb under the ruins of that part of the castle of Chatillon where Coligny was probably bom. Bul- letin, iii. 346-3.11. VOL. II. 32 498 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XVIII. Xot content with the public admission of his responsibility for the massacre which he had made before the parliament, A jubilee pro- Charles with his court participated two days later (Thursday, the twenty-eighth of August) in the cele- bration of a jubilee, and walked in a procession through the streets of Paris ; at successive " stations " rendering thanks to Heaven, with fair show of devotion, for the preservation of his own life, and the lives of his brothers and of the King of Navarre. It would have served greatly to give a color of plausibility to the report of the conspiracy of the Huguenots, could Navarre and Conde have been prevailed upon to appear in the king's company on this occasion. But it must be mentioned to their honor, that they were proof against the persuasions as well as the threats of Charles. 1 The same day a royal declaration was published, reiterating the allegations made in the Palais de Justice, but protesting that the king was determined to main- charies de- tain life edict of pacification. As, however, the Prot- wiii e mainLin estants were forbidden for the present from holding any public or private assemblies for worship, it must be admitted that they were not far wrong in regarding the dec- laration as only 'another part of the trap cunningly devised for their destruction. 2 Although the conversion of the young King of Xavarre and Forced con- ^ s cousm > the Prince of Conde, did not occur until vareand *** some weeks later, it may be appropriately mentioned cond6. here. !No means were left untried to gain them over to the Roman Catholic religion. The sophistries of monks 1 Tocsain centre les Massacrenrs, 146; Reveille-Matin, 195; Euseb. Phila- delphi Dial., i. 51 ; Mem. de 1'estat, 161 ; Jean de Series, iv., foL 44 verso. - The text of the declaration is to be found in the Memoires de Claude Haton, ii. 683-685, in the Recueil des anciennea lois franchises (Isambert), xiv. 257, etc., and in the Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 162-164. See De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 600. The Reveille-Matin calls attention (p. 196) to the circumstance that in the first copies of the document the name of Navarre did not occur; but that in the next issue the admiral's unhappy and detes- table conspiracy was represented as directed against iv la personne dudit sieur roy et centre son estat, la royne sa mere, messieurs Res freres, le roy de Nnvarre, princes et seigneurs estans pres d'eulx." The policy of introducing Navarre, and, by implication, Conde, among the proposed victims of the Huguenots, was certainly sufficiently bold and reckless. See ante, p. 490. 1572. THE .MA.-SACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. were supplemented by the more dangerous persuasions of a rene- gade Protestant minister, llngues Sureau du Itosier, formerly one of the pastors of the church of Orleans. 1 Whatever excuse his arguments may have furnished by covering their renuncia- tion of their faith with the decent cloak of conviction, ft ar was certainly the chief instrument in effecting the desired change in the Huguenot princes. There is no room for doubt that the character of Charles underwent a marked change, as we shall see later, from the time that he consented to the massacre. He became more sullen, more violent, more impatient of contradic- tion or opposition. It is not at all unlikely that a mind never fully under control of reason, and now assuredly thrown from its poise by a desperation engendered of remorse for the fearful crime he had reluctantly approved, at times formed the resolu- tion to kill the obstinate King of Navarre and his cousin. On one occasion Charles is said to have been deterred by the sup- plications of his young wife from going in person to destroy them. 2 At length, when the alternative of death or the Bastile was the only one presented, the courage of the Bourbons began to falter. Navarre was the first to yield, and his sister, the excellent Catharine de Bourbon, followed his example. On the thirteenth of September the ambassador Walsingham wrote : u They prepare Bastile for some persons of quality. It is thought that it is for the Prince of Conde and his brethren." ' But three days later (the sixteenth of September) he wrote again : " On Sunday last, which was the fourteenth of this month, the young Princess of Conde was constrained to go to mass, being threatened otherwise to go to prison, and so consequently to be made away. The Prince of Conde hath also yielded to hear mass upon Sunday next, being otherwise threatened to go to the Bastile, where he is not like long to serve." * Such conver- sions did not promise to prove very sincere. They were accepted, however, by the king and his mother ; although both Navarre and Conde were detained at court rather as prisoners than as ; See De Thou, iv. (liv. liii.). 630; Jean de Serres, iv., fols. 53, 54. 5 Easeb. Philadelphi Dial., i. 52. 3 Digges, 239, 240. Ibid., 245 500 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XVIII. free princes. Pope Gregory the Thirteenth received the submis- sion of both cousins to the authority of the See of Rome, recog- nized the validity of their marriages, and formally admitted them to his favor, by a special bull of the twenty-seventh of October, 1572. 1 In return for these concessions Henry of Navarre repealed the ordinances which his mother had made for the government of Beam, and re-established the Roman Catholic worship." 1 Documents historiques inedits, i. 713-715. 9 Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., ii. 30; Jean de Serrea (1575), iv. , fol. 55. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 01 CHAPTER XIX. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES, AND THE RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. THE massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day would have been terrible enough had it been confined to Paris, for its victims in that single city were to be reckoned by thousands. in thTp^T * Charles the Ninth himself, on the third day, admitted in a letter to Mondoucet, his envoy in the Netherlands, that " a very great number of the adherents of the new religion^ who were in this city had been massacred and cut to pieces." ' But this was little in comparison with the multitudes that were yet to lose their lives in other parts of France. Here, however, the enterprise assumed a different character. Not only did it not commence on the same day as in the capital, but it began at different dates in different places. It is evident that there had been no well-concerted plan long entertained and freely com- municated to the governors of the provinces and cities. On the contrary, the greatest variety of procedure prevailed all tending, nevertheless, to the same end of the total destruction of the Protestants. And this was intended from the very moment the project of the Parisian butchery was hastily and inconsiderately adopted by the king. Charles meant to be as good as his word when he announced his determination that not a single Huguenot should survive to reproach him with what he had done. More frightful than his most passionate outburst of bloodthirsty frenzy is the cool calculation with which he, or the minister 1 Charles IX. to Mondoucet. August 26th, Compte readu de la com. roy. d'histoire, Brussels, 1852, iv. 344. 502 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XIX. who wrote the words he subscribed, predicts the chain of suc- cessive murders in provincial France, scarcely one of which had as yet been attempted. " It is pi*obdble" he said, in the same letter of the twenty-sixth of August, that has just been cited, " that thefirethus kindled will go coursing through all the cities ofmij kingdom, which, following the example of what has been done in this city, will assure themselves of all the adherents of the said religion." x Ko mere surmise, founded upon the probable effects of the exhibition of cruelty in Paris, led to the penning of this sen- tence. Charles had purposely fired the train which was to ex- plode with the utmost violence at almost every point of his wide dominions. " As it has pleased God," he wrote to Mondoucet, " to bring matters to the state in which they now are, I do not intend to neglect the opportunity not only to re-establish, if I shall be able, lasting quietness in my kingdom, but also to serve Christendom." 11 Accordingly, secret orders, for the Verbal orders ' most part verbal, had already been sent in all direc- tions, commanding the provinces to imitate the example set by Paris. The reality of these orders does not rest upon conjec- ture, but is attested by documentary evidence over the king's own hand. As we have seen in the last chapter, Charles pub- lished, on the twenty-eighth of August, a declaration of his motives and intentions. This was despatched to the governors of the provinces and to other high officers, in company with a circular letter, of which the final sentence deserves particular notice. " Moreover," says the king, " whatever verbal com- mand I may have given to those whom I sent to you, as well as to my other governors and lieutenants-general, at a time when I had just reason to fear some inauspicious events, from having discovered the conspiracy which the admiral was making against 1 "Estant croiable que ce feu ainsy allume ira courant par tontea les villea de mon royaume, lesquelles, a I'^xemple de ce qui s'estfaict en cestedite ville, s'assureront de tous ceulx de ladite religion." Charles to Mondoucet, Aug. 26th, ubi supra, iv. 345. 2 ' ' Car puisqu'il a pleu a Dieu conduire les choses es termes oil elles sont, je ne veulx negliger 1'occasion, non seulement pour remectre, s'il m'est possi- ble, ung perpetuel repoa eu mon royaume, mais aussy servir a la chrestiente." 1372. THE MASSACRE IX THE PROVIN< 503 me, I have revoked and revoke it completely, intending that nothing therein contained be put into execution by you or by others ; for such is my pleasure." ' What was the import of these orders? The manuscripts in the archives of Angers seem to leave no room for doubt. This city was the capital of the Duchy of Anjou, given in appanage to Henry, the king's brother, and was, consequently, under his special government. On Tuesday, the twenty-sixth to Montsoreau of August, the duke sent to the Governor of Saumur a short note running thus : " Monsieur de Montso- reau, I have instructed the sieur de Puigaillard to write to you respecting a matter that concerns the service of the king, my lord and brother, as well as my own. You will, therefore, not fail to believe and to do whatever he may tell you, just as if it were I myself." In the same package with these credentials Montsoreau * received a letter from Puigaillard, like himself a knight of the royal order of St. Michael, which reveals only too clearly the purpose of the king and his brother. " Monsieur mon compagnon, I will not fail to acquaint you with the fact that, on Sunday morning the king caused a very great execu- tion to be made against the Huguenots ; so much so that the admiral and all the Huguenots that were in this city were killed. And his Majesty's will is that the same be done wherever there are any to be found. Accordingly, if you desire ever to do a service that may be agreeable to the king and to Monsieur (the Duke of Anjou), you must go to Saumur with the greatest pos- sible number of your friends, and put to death all that you can 1 ' Au surplus, quelque comruandement verbal que j'aye peu faire a ceulx que j'aye envoye tant devera vous que autres gouverneurs j'ay revocque et revocque tout cela, ne voulant que par vous ne autres en soit aucune chose execute." Charles IX. to Mandelot, Governor of Lyons, Cor- respondance, etc. (Paris, 1830), 53, 54; the same to the Mayor of Bourges, Mein. de 1'estat (Archives curieuses), vii. 313. The variations of language are trifling. s He seems at this time to have been at hia castle of Montsoreau, situated six or seven miles above Saumur, on the left bank of the Loire, and within a short distance of Candes. M. de Montsoreau himself is described as " gentil- hoinme de Poictou fort renorame pour beaucoup de pillages et violences, qui finalement luy ont fait perdre la vie, ayanc estii tue depuis eu qualite de meur- trisr." Mom. 1'estat, IMO. 504 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. find there of the principal Huguenots. . . . Having made this execution at Saumur, I beg you to go to Angers and do the same, with the assistance of the captain of the castle. And you must not expect to receive any other command from the king, nor from Honseigneur, for they will send you none, inas- much as they depend upon what I write you. You must use diligence in this affair, and lose as little time as possible. I am very sorry that I cannot be there to help you in putting this into execution." l The statement of the author of the Memoires de 1'estat de France is, therefore, in full agreement with the ascertained TWO kinds of facts of the case. He informs us that, soon after the Parisian massacre commenced, the secret council by which the plan had been drawn up despatched two widely dif- fering kinds of letters. The first were of a private character, and were addressed to governors of cities and to seditious Ro- man Catholics where there were many Protestants, by which they were instigated to murder and rapine ; 2 the others were public, and were addressed to the same functionaries, their ob- ject being to amuse and entrap the professors of the reformed faith. And in addition to the double sets of written instruc- tions, the same author says that messengers were sent to various points, to give orders for special executions. 3 "We shall not find it very difficult to account for the rapidity with which the mas- 1 These letters, and some others relating to the massacre at Angers, con- tained in the archives of the municipality, are printed in the Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. frangais, xi. (1862) 120-124. 9 I know, however, of no letters of this kind signed by Charles IX. himself. They all seem to have been written by his inferior agents, such as Puigaillard in the case of Saumur, or Masso and Rubys in that of Lyons. The advantage of this course was apparent. The king could not be proved to have ordered any massacre ; he could throw off the responsibility upon others. On the other hand, such politic governors as Mandelot were naturally reluctant to act upon instructions which could at any moment be disavowed. The verbal messages of Charles himself would seem, from the Mandelot correspondence, to have been less definite perhaps going to no greater lengths than to order the arrest of the persons and the sequestration of the effects of the Hugue- nots. May we not naturally suppose that the king and his council counted upon such subsequent massacres of the imprisoned Protestants as occurred in many places ? * Memoires de 1'estat, 132, 133. Compare De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 601. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. C * sacre spread to the provincial towns of which the secretary of the Spanish ambassador, in his hurried journey from Paris to Madrid, was an eye-witness ' if we bear in mind the previous ripeness of the lowest classes of the Roman Catholic population for the perpetration of any possible acts of insult and injury toward their Protestant fellow-citizens. The time had come for the seed sown broadcast by monk and priest in Lenten and Advent discourses to bear its legitimate harvest in the piti- less murder of heretics. Meaux was naturally one of the first of smaller cities to catch the contagion from the capital. Not only was it the nearest The massacre city that contained any considerable body of Ilugue- ai Meaux. no t 5) but, if we may credit the report current among them, Catharine, in virtue of her rank as Countess of Meaux, had placed it first upon the roll. It is not impossible that the circumstance that this was the cradle of Protestantism in France may have secured it this distinction. About the middle of Sunday afternoon a courier reached Meaux, and at once made his way to the residence of the procureur-du-roi, one Cosset. The nature of the message he bore may be inferred from the fact that secret orders were at once given to those persons upon whom Cosset thought that he could relv, to be in readiness about V ' nightfall. So completely had every outlet from Paris been sealed, that it had proved almost impossible for a Protestant to find the means of escaping to carry the tidings abroad. Conse- quently the adherents of the reformed faith were yet in igno- rance of the impending catastrophe. At the time appointed, Cosset and his followers seized the gates of Meaux. It was the hour when the peaceable and unsuspecting people were at supper. The Protestants could now easily be found, and few escaped arrest, either that evening or on the succeeding day. Happily, however, a large number of Huguenots resided in a quarter of Meaux known as the " Grand Marche," and separated from the main part of the town by the river Marne. The inhab- itants of the Grand Marche received timely warning of their 1 Relation of Olaegui, Simancas MSS., Bulletins de 1'acadJmie royale de BeJgique, xvi. (ISl'J) 254, 253. 506 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. danger ; and the men fled by night for temporary refuge to the neighboring villages. It was scarcely dawn on Monday morn- ing when the work of plunder begun. By eight o'clock little was left of the goods of the Huguenots on this side of the Marne, and the pillagers crossed the bridge to the Grand Marche. Finding only the women, who had remained in the vain hope of saving their family possessions, the papists wreaked their fury upon them. About twenty-five of these unhappy persons were murdered in cold blood ; l others were so severely beaten that they died within a few days ; a few were shamefully dishonored. In most cases, if not in all, outward acquiescence in the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church would have saved the lives of the victims, but the Huguenot women were constant and would yield no hypocritical consent. One poor woman, the wife of " Nicholas the cap-maker," was being dragged to mass, when her bold and impolitic expressions of detestation of the service so enraged her conductors, that, being at that moment upon the bridge which unites the two portions of the city, they stabbed her and threw her body into the river. In a short time the Grand Marche, which the precise chronicler tells us contained more than four hundred houses, was robbed of everything which could be removed, for not the most insig- nificant article escaped the cupidity of the Roman Catholic populace. 2 These were but the preliminaries of the general massacre. The prisons were full of Huguenots, whom it was necessary to put out of the way. Late in the day, on Tuesday the twenty-sixth, Cosset and his band made their appearance. They were provided with a list of their destined victims, more than two hundred in number. Of a score or two the names have been preserved, with their respective avocations. They were merchants, judicial officers, industrious artisans in short, the representatives of the better class of the population of Meaux. Not one escaped. The murderous band were stationed in the courtyard of the prison, 1 The names of nine are given. Archives curieuses, vii. 264 5 The procureur Cosset did not neglect his own interests, if, as we are in- formed, his house and courtyard were so full of stolen furniture that it was scarcely possible to enter the premises. 1573. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 507 while Cosset, armed with a pistol in either hand, mounted the steps, and by his roll summoned the Protestants to the slaughter awaiting them below. The bloody work was long and tedious. The assassins adjourned awhile for their supper, and, unable to complete the task before weariness blunted the edge of their ferocity, reserved a part of the Protestants for the next day. N"ne the less was the task accomplished with thoroughness, and the exultant cutthroats now had leisure to pursue the fugi- tives of the Grand Marche to the villages in which they had taken refuge. 1 The news of the Parisian massacre reached Troyes, the flour- ishing capital of Champagne, on Tuesday, the twenty-sixth of The massacre August, and spread great alarm among the Prot- at Troyes. estants, who, with the recent disturbances * still fresh in their memories, apprehended immediate death. But their enemies for the time confined themselves to closing the gates to prevent their escape. It was not until Saturday, the thirtieth, that the " bailli," Anne de Vaudrey, sieur de St. Phalle, sent throughout the city and brought all the Protestants to the prisons. Meantime one of the most turbulent of the Roman Catholics, named Pierre Belin, had been in Paris, having been deputed, some weeks before, to endeavor to procure the removal of the place of worship of the reformed from the castle of Isle- au-Mont, two or three leagues from the city, to some more distant and inconvenient spot. He remained in the capital un- til the Saturday after the massacre, and started that day for Troyes, with a copy of the declaration of Thursday forbidding injury to the persons and goods of unoffending Protestants, and ordering the release of any that might have been imprisoned. It was believed, indeed, that he was commissioned to give the declaration to the bailli for publication. On Wednesday, the third of September, he reached Troyes. As he rode through the streets, he inquired again and again whether the Hugue- nots at Troyes were all killed as they were elsewhere. When in- terrogated by peaceable Roman Catholics respecting a rumor 1 Meinoires de 1'estat, apud Archives curieuses, vii. 261-270. 8 See ante, chapter xviii., p. 432. 508 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. that the king had revoked his sanguinary orders, he boldly de- nied its truth, accompanying his words with oaths and impre- cations. Finding the bailli, he had no difficulty in persuading him to suppress the royal order, and to convene a council, at which Belin was introduced as the bearer of verbal instructions, and a bishop was brought forward to confirm them. Belin and the bishop maintained that the royal pleasure was that the heretics of Troyes should all be murdered on the following Sat- urday night, without distinction of rank, sex, or age, and their bodies be exposed in the streets to the sight of those who should on the morrow join in a solemn procession to be held in honor of the achievement. A writing attached to the neck of each was to contain the words : " Seditious persons and rebels against the king, who have conspired against his Majesty.'' The task of butchering the helpless Huguenots in the prison was first proposed to the public hangman. He refused to take any part in it : this, he said, was no duty of his office, and he would consent to perform it only when all the forms of law should have been observed. Other persons were found more pliable, and, under the leadership of one Perremet, the bloody scenes of the prison of Meaux were re-enacted, on Thursday, the fourth day of September, in that of Troyes. How many were the victims we know not ; we have, however, the names of over thirty, ap- parently the most prominent of the number. Others were as- sassinated in the streets. At last, when all had been done that malice could effect, the king's declaration, which promised pro- tection to the Huguenots, was published on Friday, the fifth of September. 1 In Orleans, a city once the headquarters of the Huguenots, where their iconoclastic assaults upon the churches during the first civil war had left permanent memorials of their bloodshed at former supremacy, the massacre assumed the largest Orleans. . r J ' - , . , , & . proportions. One of the kmg^s court preachers, Ar- nauld Sorbin, better known as M. de Sainte Foy, had written from Paris letters instigating the inhabitants of Orleans to imi- 1 Recordon, le Protestantisms en .Champagne (from the MSS. of N. Pithou, seigneur de Chamgobert;, Paris, 1863, 174-102 ; 31 am. de 1'estat, Archives curieuses, vii. 271-292. 1572. THE MASSACRE IX THE PROVINCES. 509 tate the example of the capital, and the letters came to hand with the earliest tidings of the Parisian massacre. The fir?t murder took place on Monday. M. de Champeaux, a royal counsellor and a Protestant, who as yet was in ignorance of the events of St. Bartholomew's Day, received late on Monday the visit of Tessier, surnamed La Court, the leader of the assassins of Orleans, and some of his followers. Imagining it to be a friendly call for they were acquaintances Champeaux re- ceived them courteously, and invited them to sup with him. The meal over, his guests recounted the story of the tragic oc- currence at Paris, and, before he was well over his surprise and horror, asked him for his purse. The unhappy host, still mis- taking the character of those whom he had entertained, at first regarded the demand as a pleasantry ; but when he had been convinced of his error and had complied, his treacherous visitors instantly stabbed him to death in his very dining-room. 1 The general butchery began on Tuesday night, in the neighborhood of the ramparts, where the Protestants were most numerous, arid from Wednesday to Saturday there was no intermission in the slaughter. Here, more even than elsewhere, the murderers dis- tinguished themselves by their profanity and their undisguised hatred of the Protestant faith and worship. " Where is your God \ " " Where are your prayers and your psalms 1 " " Wliere is the God they invoke so much 1 Let Him save, if He can." Such were the expressions with which the blows of the assas- sin were interlarded. At times he thought to aggravate his victim's sufferings by singing snatches of favorite psalms from the Huguenot psalm-book. It might be the forty-third, so ap- propriate to the condition of oppressed innocence, in its quaint old French garb : Revenge-moi, pren la querelle De moi. Seigneur, de ta merci, Centre la gent fausse et cruelle : De 1'homme rempli de cautelle, Et en sa malice endurci, Delivre moi aussi. 1 Dr. Henry White, besides mistaking the Huguenot for the Papist, has in- correctly stated the circumstances. Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 450. See Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra, 295, and De Thou, iv. (liv. liL) 601. 510 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. Or it might be the fifty -first the words never more sincerely accepted, even when chanted to all the perfection of choral music, in the Sistine Chapel or in St. Peter's, than when, in the ears of constant sufferers for their Christian faith, ribald voices contemptuously sang or drawled the familiar lines : Misericorde au povre vicieux, Dieu tout-puissant, selon ta grand' clemence. 1 " These execrable outrages," adds the chronicler who gives us this interesting information, " did not in the least unnerve the Protestants, who died with great constancy ; and, if some were shaken (as were some, but in very small numbers), this in no wise lessened the patience and endurance of the rest." * The number of the killed was great. The murderers themselves boasted of the slaughter of more than twelve hundred men and of one hundred and fifty women, besides a large number of children of nine years old and under. And there was a dreary uniformity in the method of their death. They were shot with pistols, then stripped, and dragged to the river, or thrown into the city moat. 3 But it is, after all, not the numbers of name- less victims whose honorable deaths leave no distinct impression upon the mind, but the individual instances of Christian hero- ism, teaching lessons of imitable human virtues, that speak most directly to the sympathies of the reader of an age so long posterior. The records of French Protestantism are full of these, and one or two of the most striking that occurred in Orleans deserve mention. M. de Coudray whom the Roman Catholics had in vain endeavored on previous occasions to shake seeing his house beset and no prospect of deliverance, himself opened the door of his dwelling to the murderers, tell- ing them, with wonderful assurance of faith : " You do but hasten the coming of that blessedness which I have long been expecting." 4 Whereupon they killed him, in the midst of his 1 Memoires de 1'estat, ubi supra, 295. " Le mesme fut fait a Paris et en d'autres lieux aussi," writes the same historian. * Ibid. , ubi supra. > Ibid., 296. 4 Memoires de 1'estat de France, ubi supra, 297. l.-,72. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 511 invocation of his God. Another Huguenot, De St. Thoma?, a schoolmaster, died uttering words as courageous as ever fell from lips of early Christian martyrs: "Why! do you think that you move me by your blasphemies and acts of cruelty \ It i> not within your power to deprive me of the assurance of the grace of my God. Strike as much as you please ; I fear not y< ur blows." ' Sometimes the dying men were allowed a few moments to utter a final prayer ; but, if their zeal led them too far, their impatient murderers cut short their devotions with oaths and curses, and exclaimed : " Here are people that take a great while to pray to their God ! " * Of resistance there was little, so far were the Huguenots from having collected arms and prepared for such a conspiracy as was imputed to them. If a Huguenot teacher of fencing killed one or two of his as- sailants, or if a few gentlemen at different places kept them at 1 1 ay awhile with stones or other missiles, this, so far from prov- ing their evil intentions, on the contrary, furnishes undeniable proof of the very different results that might have ensued had their means of defence been equal to their courage. For fifteen days after the principal massacre the work went on more quietly, the dead bodies being still thrown into the ditch where wolves, which in the sixteenth century abounded in the valley of the Loire, were permitted to feed upon them undis- turbed or into the river, of whose fish, fattened upon this human carrion, the people feared to eat.' At Bourges the news of the massacre was received late on Tuesday. Meantime, some of the more sagacious of the Hu- icawacreat guenots (among others, the celebrated Francis Hot- man, at this time a professor of law in the University of Bourges), alarmed by the wounding of Admiral Coligny, had fled from the city. Even after the news came, the massacre was but partial. Although the mayor, Jean Joupitre, had re- ceived sealed orders (lettres de cachet) instructing him as to the part he was to take, the municipal officers, knowing the ill-will 1 Mem. de 1'estat, 298, 299. ' Ibid., 299, 300. 3 A horrible story is told of the discovery of some human relics several weeks later. Ibid. , 305. 512 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. the Guises had always borne to the Huguenots, were in doubt how far the king countenanced the bloody work. But the royal letter of the thirtieth of August, accompanying the decla- ration of the twenty-eighth, to which reference was made above, 1 so far from putting an end to the disorder, only rendered it more general. Bourges became the scene of another of those butcheries of Huguenots first gathered in the public prisons, of which there are so many similar instances that it seems impos- sible to avoid the conclusion that the orders to effect them emanated from a single source at court. 3 We have already been admitted to the secret of the instruc- tions sent by the Duke of Anjou, through Puigaillard, to M. de Montsoreau, for the destruction of the Huguenots of Saumur and Angers. Certainly there was on his part no lack of readiness to fulfil his sanguinary commission ; but the local officers were less zealous, and many of the Protes- tants were merely thrown into prison. Montsoreau's first ex- ploit at Angers deserves particular mention. M. de la Riviere, the first reformed pastor of Paris, of whom I have spoken in a previous chapter, was at this time residing in Angers, and Montsoreau seems to have been acquainted with him. Going straight to his house, the governor met the pastor's wife, whom, according to the gallant custom prevailing, especially among the French courtiers, he first kissed, and then inquired for her husband. He was told that he was walking in his garden, and thither his hostess led him. After courteously embracing him, Montsoreau thus abruptly disclosed the object of his visit : " Monsieur de la Riviere, do you know why I am come ? The king has ordered me to kill you, and that at once. I have a special commission to this effect, as you will know from these letters." While saying this he exhibited a pistol which he held in his hand. " I know of no crime that I have done," calmly replied De la Riviere ; and then, after obtaining per- mission to offer a brief prayer to God, he fearlessly presented his breast to the cowardly assassin. Montsoreau did not com- plete the extermination of the Huguenots of Angers, and Pui- ' See ante, p. 502. Mem. de 1'estat, 309-315. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 513 gaillard soon after arrived to prosecute it ; but the Protestant prisoners whom he was to have murdered knew his venal dis- position, and found little difficulty in purchasing their libera- tion. 1 The important city of Lyons, inhabited by a population in- tensely hostile to the Reformation, had for its governor M. de Butche at Mandelot, a decided partisan of the Roman Catholic Lyons. faction. The municipal authorities, however, either surpassed him in zeal, or, as is more probable, were less appre- hensive of the dangers to be incurred by assuming the respon- sibility of a massacre ; for of all the *' echevins," only two opposed the violent measures of their associates. The written protest which they insisted upon entering on the official records is still extant. 1 The first tidings of the wounding of Coligny by Maurevel reached Lyons on Wednesday morning, the twenty- seventh of August, in a letter from Charles the Ixinth to Governor Mandelot, similar in tenor to those which were de- spatched to every other part of France. 3 Although the king spoke only of displeasure at the outrage, and of his determina- tion to avenge it, the populace interpreted the event according to their wishes, and instantly circulated reports of the murder of the admiral and all his adherents. The Roman Catholics, long discontented with the toleration extended to those who dis- sented from the creed of the dominant church, were jubilant and menacing ; the Protestants were disheartened, but exhibited a self-control only to be accounted for by the long years of oppression which had wellnigh broken their spirit. The next 1 Mem. de 1'estat, vbi supra, 349-351. " Pnigaillard .... homme au reste indigne de vivre pour 1'acte detestable par luy coramis en la personne de sa premiere femme tuee a sa sollicitation pour en espouser une autre qu'il entretenoit." (P. 351.) 8 Registres consulaires, apvd " La Saint-Bartht-lemy a Lyon et le gouver- neur Mandelot," by M. Puyroche, p. 311. This monograph which I quote from the Bulletin de la Soc. de Thist. du prot francais. in which it first appeared (vol. xviii.. 1,^(39, pp. 305-323, 353-367, and 4U1-42U , is by far the most accu- rate and complete treatise on this subject, and contains a fund of fresh infor- mation based upon unpublished manuscripts, especially the local records. 3 Charles IX. to Mandelot, Aug. 22. 1572. Correspondance du roi Charles IX. et du sieur de Mandelot, published by P. Paris, lb3U (,pp. 36, 37). A por- tion of this letter has already been given. VOL. II. 33 514 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. day came the news of the events of Sunday, and, in the after- noon, letters from Masso and Rubys, prominent citizens of Lyons then at Paris, M'ho said that they had been instructed by the king to order the authorities to copy the example of the capital. The fanatical party was now clamorous ; but Mandelot, cautious and politic, would act on no such instructions, although he had taken the precaution of closing the gates, and of command- ing the Protestants, on pain of imprisonment, to remain in their houses. Friday morning came, and with it the arrival of Sieur du Peyrat from court, bearing the royal letter written on the day of the massacre, in which it was represented as the exclusive work of the Guises, and the king strenuously enjoined the maintenance of the Edict of Pacification. 1 These were tliQpttUia instructions sent to Mandelot ; but they were not all. There is a suspicious little postscript to the letter : " Monsieur de Mande- lot, you will give credit to the bearer respecting the matter which I have charged him to tell you." * What these verbal orders were which the king, not venturing to commit to paper, commissioned Du Peyrat to communicate, the reply of the governor himself distinctly reveals ; it was the arrest of the Protestants and the confiscation of their property.' Still more perplexed as to what course to pursue, Mandelot held a long private conference with the messenger, while the echevins im- patiently awaited its conclusion. The governor now called in the municipal officers for consultation, and with them agreed to order the immediate imprisonment of the Huguenots. He was not, however, even yet fully convinced of the propriety of this step, for scarcely had he given the order when he recalled it. 4 Fearing that the troops at his disposal might prove insufficient, 1 Charles IX. to Mandelot, Aug. 24, 1572, Correspondance, etc., 39-42. * "Monsieur de Mandelot, vous croirez le present porteur de ce que je luy aydonne charge de vous dire." Ibid., 42. 3 ' Suivant icelles (the king's letters of Aug. 22d and 24th) et ce que le sieur du Perot m'auroit diet de sa part, je n'auroit failly pourveoir par toutz moyens a la seurete de ceste ville : sy bien, Sire, que et les cars (corps) et les biens de ceulx de la relligion auroient este saisiz et mis soubz wire main, sans aucun tu- multe ny scandale." Mandelot to Charles IX., Sept. 2, 1572, Correspondance, etc.. 45. 4 Puyroche, 319. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. and dreading with good reason lest the employment of the city militia for this purpose might lead to scenes of disorder which he would find himself powerless to control, he preferred to send for such reinforcements as the neighboring noblemen of the province could furnish. 1 Meantime, the commotion throughout Lyons had rapidly increased. On Thursday and Friday nights nuiiiv members of the Reformed Church had been dragged from their houses as if to prison, but most of them had been barba- rously despatched by the way. Among others, one of the minis- ters, Monsieur Jacques 1'Anglois, was stabbed and thrown into the river. On Saturday morning Mandelot, seeing the confusion hourly increasing, deemed it impolitic to wait any longer for the troops he was expecting, and resolved upon effecting his purpose by ruse. He therefore published a proclamation by sound of trumpet, bidding all the Huguenots to assemble at his house to hear the good pleasure of the king. The Huguenots, deceived by the professions of his Majesty, came in great num- bers ; but no sooner had they all arrived, than they were seized by the soldiers and hurried away to prison. The common prison, " La Roanne," being too contracted to contain so large a multitude, three hundred or more were placed in that of the Archbishop's palace, and others in the cloisters of the Celestine Monks and the Gray Friars. At the same time an inventory was being made of all the goods belonging to Protestants through- out the city. These measures, instead of allaying, only inflamed the pas- sions of the populace the more. That night the murders sur- passed those of the previous nights in number and atrocity, and when Sunday morning dawned the people were ready for still greater exi-osi-s. At about eight o'clock they entered unopposed the Gray Friars, and butchered every Huguenot they found. Two hours later, assuming the forms of law, a self -constituted commission, headed by Andre Mornieu, one of the echevins or aldermen, presenting themselves successively at the archiepis- copal prison and at the Roanne, summoned the inmates to abjure their faith and go to mass. Only thirty persons in the one, and 1 "II n'etait pas d'avis." dit-il, "que tout le peuple s'en melat, craignant quelque desordre, memement un sac." Puyroebe, 320. 516 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. about twenty in the other, consented. These were sent to the Celestine monastery and afterward released. Of the others a careful list was drawn up. Their fate was sealed ; but an un- expected difficulty arose. The public hangman refused to exe- cute the sentence of an unauthorized tribunal. So did the sol- diers. At last assassins were obtained from the ranks of the turbulent inhabkants. About three o'clock that afternoon the archbishop's prison was visited. To describe with minuteness the scene of horror that ensued would scarcely be possible. Two hundred and sixty-three persons, 1 of the very best and most industrious part of the population of Lyons," called by name according to the roll previously made, were murdered in rapid succession. Xever was there an exhibition of more piti- less cruelty. Meanwhile, where was the governor ? He had gone, in company with the commandant of the citadel, to sup- press a threatened disturbance in the Faubourg de la Guillotiere, on the left bank of the Ehone. He returned only in time to find the deed done, and to disperse those who had gone to the Koanne to repeat it there. His demonstrations of anger were loud, and a liberal reward was offered for the detection of any that had participated in the slaughter. 3 But this did not pre- vent the same body of cutthroats from visiting the Roanne, soon after nightfall, and despatching all the Protestants that were there, to the number of about seventy. Many of them, by an excess of barbarity, the assassins tied together by a single rope, and threw, while yet alive, into the water. On the f ollow- 1 " Quelques deux cens," says Mandelot to Charles IX., Sept. 2d; but he was anxious to make the number as small as possible. Jean de Masso, " receveur general " (Sept. 1st), says, " sept a huit vingt," and sieur Talaize (Sept. 2d), " deux cent soixante et trois." So also Coste (Sept. 3d). Puy- roche, 365, 36G. s Mandelot tells Charles IX. (Sept. 17th) that he had Bent all the poorer Huguenots to other prisons ; that he had left here only the rich and those who had borne arms for the Protestant cause. To exhibit his own incorrup- tibility, he added that there were among them, of his own certain knowledge, at least twenty who would have paid a ransom of thirty thousand or even forty thousand crowns, "qui estoit assez," he significantly adds, " pour tenter ung homme corruptible." Correspondance du roi Charles IX. et du Sieur de Mandelot, 71, 72. 3 Correspondance, etc., p. 4.G, 47. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 517 ing day the bodies which had not yet found a watery grave were carried to the other side of the Saone, where, stripped and mangled, they were about to be buried in the cemetery of the Abbaye d'Esnay, when the monks refused them admission into the consecrated ground, and pointed to the Rhone as a more fitting destination. Even now they were not spared further mutilation ; for an apothecary of Lyons, having initiated the murderers into the valuable properties of human fat as a medi- cinal substance, the miserable remains were put to new use be- fore being consigned to the river. Down to the Mediterranean these ghastly witnesses of the ferocity of the passions of the Lyonnese .Roman Catholics carried fear and disgust, and for weeks the inhabitants of Aries and other places carefully ab- stained from drinking the water of the polluted stream. 1 The part which Mandelot took in this awful tragedy has been very differently estimated, but I am inclined to think that the Responsibility governor is not chargeable with any direct responsi- bility for the butcher>- in the prisons of Lyons. Cer- tainly this seems to be established by his letter to the king, written in the morning of the day on which it occurred ; for he would scarcely have expressed his great desire and hope to be 1 Puyroche, La Saint-Barthelemy a Lyon et le gonverneur Mandelot, ubi rupra ; Mem. de 1'estat, ubi supra, 321-343 ; Crespin, Hist, des martyrs, 1582, p. 725, etc., apud Epoques de 1'eglise de Lyon (Lyon, 1827), 173-185; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 602-604, etc.; Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fol. 45, etc. The number of Huguenots killed is variously estimated, by some as high as from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred (Crespin, ubi supra). It must have been not less than seven hundred or eight hundred ; for private letters written immediately after the occurrence by prominent and well-informed Roman Catholics state it at about seven hundred, and they would certainly not be inclined to exaggerate. The rumor at Paris even then set it at twelve hun- dred. See the letters in Puyroche, 365-367. Among the one hundred and twenty-three names that have been preserved, the most interesting is that of Claude Goudimel, who set Marot's and Beza's psalms to music, and who was killed by envious rivals. At the time of his death he was engaged in adapt- ing the psalms to a more elaborate arrangement, according to a contemporary writer: "Excellent musicien, et la memoire duquel sera perp6tuelle pour avoir heureusement besogne les psaumes de David en frangais, la plupart des- quels il a mis en musique en forme de motets a quatre, cinq, six et huit par- ties, et sans la mort cut tot apres rendu cette oeuvre accomplie. ' ' Sommaire et vrai discours de la Fclonie, etc, Puyroche, 403. 518 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. able to prevent any outbreak, if he had planned, or even fore- seen, the events of the evening. 1 The story must therefore be apocryphal, that Mandelot, in commissioning one of the chief .-sins to execute the bloody work, blasphemously said : "I intrust the whole to you, and, as Jesus Christ said to Saint Peter, whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and Avhatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 2 It was, however, no conscientious scruple that deterred the governor from actively taking part. Mande- lot was scandalously anxious to obtain his part of the plunder, and was not ashamed to appear as a suppliant for the confis- cated property of the Huguenots almost before their bodies were cold. 3 But he was unwilling, without the express orders of his sovereign, written with his own hand, to commit an act which, the more successful it might be, was the more certain to be disavowed and punished. He was right : a subordinate could not be too careful in dealing with so treacherous a court. Few cities were so ripe for the massacre of the Protestants as the capital of Koriuandy. There the passions of the Roman 1 " Faisant cependarit contenir ce peuple par toutes les remontrances et raisons que je puis leur persuader de ne s'emouvoir a aucune sedition ni tu- multe, comme je m'apercois qu'il y en peut avoir quelque danger auquel toutea fois j'espere prevenir." Mandelot to Charles IX.. Aug. 31, 1572, Puyroche, 356. This letter is not contained in Paulin Paris, Correspondance de Charles IX. et du sieur de Mandelot. 2 MJm. de 1'estat, 330; De Thou, iv. (liv. lii.) 603. 3 " Je ne veulx estre le premier a en demander a votre Majeste ; m'assen- rant que si elle a commence par quelques autres, elle me faict tant d'honneur de ne m'oblier (oublier)." Mandelot to Charles IX., September 2, 1572, Cor- respondance, p. 49. I find the clearest evidence both of Mandelot's having had no hand in the massacres of August 31st, and of his utter want of princi- ple, in the craven apology he makes, in his letter of September 17th. for not having done more, on the ground that he only knew his Majesty's pleasure as it were in a shadow, and very late, and that he had rather feared the king would be angry at what the people had done, than that so little had been clone ! "La pouvant asseurer sur ma vie que si elle n'a este satisfaitte en ce faict icy, je n'en ay aucune coulpe, n'ayant sceu quelle estoit sa volunte que par umbre, encores bien tard et a demy ; et ay craint, Sire, que votre Majeste fust plustost courroucee de ce que le peuple auroit faict, que de trop pen, d'aultant que par toutes les autres provinces circonvoysines il ne s'ast rieu louche." Correspoadance, etc., 72, 73. 1573. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 519 Catholics, inflamed by the civil war?, had not been suffered to The massacre t'oul. Even in the provincial parliament the papists atKouen. cou i(j hardly submit to receive into their delibera- tions again the five or six Huguenot counsellors who had been expelled or had fled at the outbreak of hostilities, but whom the Edict of Pacification restored to their ancient functions and dig- nity ; and the secret registers, among other unfortunate scenes, chronicle particularly a violent discussion, degenerating into angry altercation between President Vialard and the Huguenot member Maynet. 1 The bloody assault of the populace of Rouen upon the reformed in March, 1571, mentioned in a previous page, 8 had been but slightly punished. Few of the guilty failed t> escape from the city, and the sole penalty suffered had been an execution in effigy. These turbulent men had ever since that time been watching an opportunity to return. They were now burning with a desire to signalize their advent by bloody reprisals. Monsieur de Carouge, governor of the city, was, however, a just and upright man, 3 and they could not hope for countenance in their plans from him. In fact, the contempo- rary accounts inform us that he received from the king repeated orders to exterminate the Huguenots of Rouen, 4 which he could not bring himself to execute, and that he sent messengers to re- monstrate with his Majesty who returned without succeeding in shaking his determination ; and hereupon the governor found himself obliged to shut himself up in the castle, and permit the work which had been intrusted to others also, to take its course.* The secret records of parliament, however, reveal the fact that Carouge received from Paris the order to leave Rouen and visit other portions of Normandy, in order to restore the quiet and peace which had been much disturbed of late. The real, 1 It is given word for word, from the MS. registers of the parliament, by Floquet, Hist, du parlement de Xormandie, iii. 81-85. 9 Ante, chapter xvii., p. 374. s '' Encor qu'il se soit tousjours monstre fort peu amy de telles inhuma- nitez. " Memoires de 1'estat, 871. 4 "Receut lettres du Roy qui lay mandoit et commandoit expreesement d'exterminer tous ceux qui faisoyent profession de la religion audit lien, sans en excepter aucun." Mom. de 1'estat. Arch. cur., vii. 370. 5 Ibid., 371. 520 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. though perhaps not the ostensible object of this commission was to rid the city of the presence of a magistrate whose well known integrity might render it futile to attempt a massacre of the in- nocent. The records also show that, contrary to the current re- port, both the municipal authorities and the parliament, greatly alarmed at the danger menacing Rouen in case of his departure, implored him to remain ; l but that the king's peremptory com- mands left him no discretion, and he was obliged to leave the unhappy city to its fate. The able historian of the Xorman Parliament has rightly observed that the governor, whether he left Rouen because he could not consent to execute the bar- barous injunctions that were sent him, or because his character was so well known that the court was unwilling to intrust them to him, is equally deserving of praise ; and not without reason does this writer claim similar respect for the judicial body which manifested its desire to save everything, by retaining him at Rouen. 2 Here, as elsewhere, a great part of the Protestants had been arrested and placed in the prisons, to shield them from popular violence. The governor believed this to be the safest place for them ; and at least one instance is known of a father who was so convinced of it that he brought thither his Hugue- not sou, whom he might have sent out of the city. 3 The storm, so long delayed, broke out at last on "Wednesday, the seventeenth of September, and lasted four entire days. The gates were closed, and the organized bands of murderers, under the leadership of Laurent de Maromme, one of the most san- guinary of the turbulent men who had returned from banish- ment, and of a priest, Claude Montereul, curate of the church of St. Pierre, had undisputed possession of the city. First they slaughtered like sheep the prisoners in the spacious "concier- gerie " of the parliament house and in the other prisons of tho city. Kext they burst into the houses, and nearly every atrocity " II n'y a aultre que vous," said they, " qui puiase commander aux armes ceans, contenir le peuple en 1'obeissance au roy, et la ville en paix." Reg. seer, du parlement, 9 Septembre, 1572, apud Floquet, 120. See also Reg. de 1'hotel-de-ville de Rouen, 7 Septembre, ibid. " Floquet, 122. * Mem. de 1'estat, apud Archives curieuses, vii. 373. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 521 which history is compelled at any time reluctantly to chronicle, was perpetrated on unresisting men, on tender women, on un- offending children. Not less than five hundred persons, and per- haps even more, perished in a butchery, whose details I gladly pass over in silence. 1 Grim humor and charity were incongru- ously mingled with the most brutal inhumanity. The assassins jocularly denominated their work one of "accommodating" their victims ; * and the clothes of the Protestants whose bodies were buried in great ditches outside of the Porte Cauchoise after having been carefully washed, were piously distributed among the poor. 3 The tragedy finished, the farce of an inves- tigation was instituted by the officers of justice, but no punish- ment was ever inflicted upon any Roman Catholic, other than that which could be recognized in the retributive judgments befalling a few of the most notable, and especially the cruel Maromme, at the hand of God. 4 The previous character of Toulouse, as among the most san- guinary cities of France, was already sufficiently well established. If behind some of the rest on this occasion in the number of victims, Toulouse was inferior only because its previous massacres had rendered it a suspicious place of sojourn in the eyes of the Huguenots. Here, too, notwithstand- ing deceitful proclamations guaranteeing safety and protection, the Protestants were gathered into the public prisons and jails attached to monasteries ; and after having been reserved for several weeks, on receipt of orders from Paris were butchered 1 Memoires de 1'estat, apud Arch, curieuses, vii. 372; Floquet, iii. 127. Floquet is incorrect in stating that the names of only about a hundred are known. We have (Mem. de 1'estat. Archives curieuses, vii. 372-378) a partial list of 186 men, whose names and trades are generally given, and of 33 women that is 219, besides a reference to many others whose names the writer did not obtain. * ' ' Les autres estoyent aceommodez a coups de dague. Les masRacreurs usoyent de ce mot accommoder, 1'accommodans a leur bestiale et diabolique cruaute." Mem. de 1'estat, ubi sup., 372. 3 Mem. de 1'estat, ubi sup., 378. 4 Ibid., 379. The story of the massacre is well told in the Mem. de 1'estat, and by M. Floqnet, whose original sources of information throw a flood of light upon the transactions ; also by De Thou, iv. (liv. Iii. ) 606 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 27; Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fol. 50. 022 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. to the number of two or three hundred. Among others, some Protestant members of parliament were hung in their long red gowns to the branches of a great elm growing in the court of the parliament house. 1 The miscreants that voluntarily assumed the functions of executioners were in this case drawn in great part from the more unruly class of the law students of the uni- versity. 2 It is needless to add that here, as elsewhere, the op- portunity for plunder was by no means neglected. The procedure in Bordeaux was so extraordinary, and is so authentically related in a letter of a prominent judicial officer who was present, as well as in the records of the Par- At Bordeaux. % ,1,1 r , hament of Guyenne, that the story of its massacre must be added to the notices already given. At first the city was quiet, and the friends of order congratulated themselves that their efforts had been successful in removing the stigma which previous transactions had affixed to its escutcheon. Mean- time this policy, united to the fear of a fate similar to that which had befallen their fellow-believers elsewhere, is said to have led to a great number of conversions to the Roman Catholic Church. 3 But there were those who were unwilling that their prey should BO easily escape them. On the fifth of September, M. de Mont- f errand, Governor of Bordeaux, affecting to have information of a general plot on the part of the Huguenots of the city, had sought and obtained permission of the parliament to introduce three hundred soldiers from abroad. He had thereupon for- bidden the celebration of Protestant worship, hitherto held at a distance of three leagues from Bordeaux, on the plain between 1 One of them, Jean Coras, had committed an unpardonable offence. When passing in 1562 with the Protestant army through Roquemadour, in the pro- vince of Quercy, he had taken advantage of the opportunity to examine the relics of St. Amadour, of whom the monks boasted that they possessed not only the bones, but also some of the flesh. He was never forgiven for having exhibited the close resemblance of the holy remains to a shoulder of mutton. De Thou, iv. 606, note. 8 Mem. de Testat, Archives curieuses, vii. 381-385; De Thou, iibi supra ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 27, 28 (liv. i., c. 5); Jean de Serres (1575), iv., fol. 50. 3 President Lagebaston even says that, had this been suffered to go on a week longer BO rapidly were the Protestants flocking to the mass there would not have been eight Huguenots in town. 1573. THE MASSACRE IX THE PROVINCES. 523 the Garonne and the Jalle. 1 Meantime the churches resounded with the violent denunciations of a famous preacher, Friar Ed- raond Auger or Augier, " a great scourge for heresy," as his partisans styled him. He exhorted his hearers to imitate the example of Paris, and accused the royal officers of indolence and pusillanimity. At this juncture the governor received a visit from Monsieur de Montpezat, son-in-law of Villars, the newly appointed admiral. AVhat the latter told him is unknown. But, on the third of October, Montferrand having given out that he had received from the king a roll of names of forty of the chief men of the place, whom he was commissioned to put to death without judge or trial, set about his bloody work. Persistently refusing to exhibit his warrant, for three days the governor butchered the citizens at will. 2 One member of parliament, against whom he bore a personal grudge, he stabbed with his own hand. The murderers wore red bonnets supplied by one of the ''jurats " or aldermen of the city. They executed their commission so thoroughly that the number of the slain was reported as two hundred and sixty -four persons, all Protestants. If any one lie mercifully inclined to regard this statement as an c-.xairgeration, and to base upon this instance a general theory that throughout France the number of the victims has been grossly over-estimated, let him read the following entry made in the records of the Parliament of Bordeaux, and recently brought to light ; he will learn from this not only the approxi- mate number of the slain as given by the chief agent in the 1 Registers of Parliament, in Boscheron des Fortes, Hist, du parl. de Bor- deaux (Bordeaux, 1877), i. 241. * Letter of President Lagebaston to Charles IX., October 7, 1572, Mackin- tosh. Hist, of England, iii., App. E, 351-353. See also De Thou, iv. 651,602, and Agrippa d'Aubigne. ii. 27. Lagebaston was " first president " of the Bordalese parliament, but, so far from being able to prevent the massacre, received information that his own name was ou Montf errand's list, and fled to the castle of Ha. whence he wrote to the king. His remonstrances against a butchery based upon a pretended order which was not exhibited, his delin- eation of the impolitic and disgraceful work, and his reasons why an execu- tion, that might have been necessary to crush a secret conspiracy at Paris, was altogether unnecessary in a city " six or seven score leagues distant." where there could be no thought of a conspiraey, render his letter very inter- esting. 526 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. to be shed ; on the contrary, I find there that he is bound to pour out his own blood and give his own life for them. Take the order back, for it shall never be executed so long as I live." ' Fortunately, there are other instances on record which are not apocryphal. Monsieur de Matignon seems to have saved Kind offices Caen and Alen9on from becoming the scenes of gen- at c a a en g and Gr ^- massacres, and thus to have endeared himself to Aienon; the p rotes t an ts of both places.' The Duke of Longue- ville prevented the massacre from extending to his province ofLongue- of Picardy. 3 Gordes, Governor of Dauphin v, who ville and L " Gordes; had obtained advancement by the assistance of the Montmorency influence, excused himself, when repeatedly urged to kill the Huguenots, on the plea that Montbrun and others of their leaders were alive and out of his reach, and that any attempt of the kind would only lead to still greater difficulties. He therefore waited for more direct in- structions. When, in his letter of the fifth of September, in reference to a clause in the king's letter just received, he stated that he had received no verbal orders, but merely his letters of the twenty-second, twenty-fourth, and twenty-eighth of August, Charles replied bidding him give himself no solicitude as to them, as they were addressed only to a few persons who hap- 1 De Felice, Hist, of the Protestants of France (New York, 1850), 214, and Henry White, 455, from Maimbourg, Histoire du Calvinisme, 486. I refer the reader to Mr. L. D. Paumier's exhaustive discussion of the story in his paper, " La Saint-Barthelemy en Normandie," Bulletin de la Soc. de I'hisfc. du prot. francais, vi. (1858), 466-470. Mr. Paumier has also completely de- molished the scanty foundation on which rested the similar story told of Sigognes, Governor of Dieppe, pp. 470-474. See also M. C. Osmont de Courtisigny's monograph, " Jean Le Hennuyer et les Huguenots de Lisieux en 1572," in the Bulletin, xxvi. (1877) 145, etc. 2 Tocsain contre les massacreurs. 156 ; Odolant Desnos, Memoirea his- toriques sur la ville d'Alenqon, ii. 285, apud Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. francais, viii. (1859), 68. The truth of the story as to AlenQon seems to be proved by the circumstance that when, in February, 1575, Matignon marched against Alencon, in order to suppress the conspiracy which the duke, Charles's youngest brother, had entered into to prevent Henry of An- jou from succeeding peaceably to the throne of France, the grateful Protes- tants at once opened their gates to him. Ibid., <305, Bulletin, ubi supra. 1 Tocsain, 156. 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 527 pened to be near him, 1 and enjoined upon him to enforce the royal " declaration," and cause all murder and rapine to cease in his government. Yet even here a number of Huguenots were imprisoned, and a few lost their lives at .Romans." The manly boldness of the Cornte de Tende is said in like manner to have saved the Protestants of Provence. Receiving of Tende in f foui the hands of La Mole, a gentleman of Aries and Provence. se rvant of the Duke of Alen9on, a letter from the secret council ordering him to massacre all the Huguenots in his province, the governor replied : " I do not believe that such commands have emanated from the king's free will ; but some of the members of his council have usurped the royal authority in order to satisfy their own passions. I need no more conclu- sive testimony than the letters which his Majesty sent me a few days ago, by which he threw upon the Guises the blame for this massacre of Paris. I prefer to obey these first letters, as more befitting the royal dignity. Besides, this last order is so cruel and barbarous, that even were the king himself in person to command me to put it into execution, I would not do it." The magnanimity of the count spared Provence the horrors of a repetition of the massacres of Merindol and Cabrieres. but per- haps cost him his own life, for he soon after died at Avignon, and rumor ascribed his death to poison. The infamous Count de Retz, Catharine's favorite, succeeded him as governor.' Saint He'ran, Governor of Auvergne, is said to have replied in very similar words ; but as he managed to induce a great part of the Protestants within his jurisdiction to apostatize, less notice was taken of his insubordination/ 1 " Par lesquellea vous me mandez n'avoir receu aucun commanderaent verbal de moy, ains seulement meslettres du 22, 24 et 28 du passe, dont ne vous mettrez en aucune peine, car elles s'adressoyent seulement a quelques- uns qui s'estoyent trouvez pr6s de moy." Charles IX. to Gordes, Sept. 14, 1572, Archives curieuses, vii. 36o, !30G. 'Ibid., 367, 38. 3 Mo moires de 1'estat, Archives curieuses. vii. 306, 367 ; De Thou. iv. 605. The Tocsain centre lea massacreurs, however, p. 156, gives credit instead to M. de Carces. 4 Dr. White has shown some reasons for doubting the accuracy of the story. Among the Dulaure MSS. is preserved a full account of the manner in which a Protestant, fleeing from Paris, fell in with the messenger who was carrying 528 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. Perhaps the most striking instance of a magnanimous refusal to comply with the bloody mandate of the Parisian court, was that of Viscount D'Orthez, 1 Governor of Bayonne. Vi.=oount mi . . _ D-orthez at Ihis nobleman was not only of a violent and imperious Bayonne. , , . . , . temper, but on other occasions so severe in his treat- ment of the Protestants of the border city, that the king was obliged to write to him to moderate his rigor. When, however, the messenger from Paris (who on his way had caused an indis- criminate slaughter to be made of all the men, women and chil- dren who had taken refuge in the prisons of Dax) delivered his orders to the viscount, the latter returned the following laconic answer : "Sire, I have communicated your Majesty's commands to your faithful inhabitants and warriors in the garrison. I have found among them only good citizens and brave soldiers, but not one hangman. For this reason they and I very humbly beg your Majesty to employ our arms and our lives in all things pos- sible, however hazardous they may be, as we are, so long as our lives shall last, your very humble, etc." * the order to St. Herein or Heran, and robbed him of his instructions. The Protestant hastened on to warn his brethren of their danger, while the mes- senger could only relate to the governor the contents of the lost despatch. Notwithstanding this, eighty Huguenots were murdered in one city (Aurillac) of this province. Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 454, 455. 1 Adiram d'Aspremont. 5 Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, tmiv., ii. 28 (liv. i, c. 5). The authenticity of this letter has been much disputed, partly because of the Viscount's severe and cruel character (which, however, D'Aubigne himself notices when he tells the story), partly because it rests on the sole authority of D'Aubigne. It is to be observed, however, that although he alone relates it, he alludes to it in several of his works, as e. g., in hits Tragiques. But the truth of the incident is apparently placed beyond all legitimate doubt by its intimate and necessary connection with an event which D'Aubigne narrates considerably later in his history, and from personal knowledge. Hist, univ., ii. 291, 292 (liv. iii., c. 13). In 1577, D'Aubigne. having lost much of Henry of Navarre's favor through his fidelity or his bluntness (see Mem. de d'Aubigne. ed. Panth., p. 486), retired from Nerac to the neighboring town of Castel-jaloux, of which he was in com- mand. Making a foray at the head of a small detachment of Huguenot sol- diers, he fell in with and easily routed a Roman Catholic troop, consisting of a score of light horsemen belonging to Viscount D'Orthez, and a number of men raised at Bayonne and Dax. who were conducting three young ladies condemned at Bordeaux to be beheaded. The vanquished Roman Catholics 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 520 Nor were the municipal authorities in some places behind the royal governors in their determination to have no part in the nefarious designs of the court. At Nantes, the mavor, The munici- , . . ' . J ' paiityof echevins, and judges received from raris, on the eighth of September, a letter of the Duke of Mont- pensier-Bourbon, Governor of Brittany, in which, after nar- rating the discovery of the pretended conspiracy of Coligny and his adherents, and their consequent assassination, he added: " By this his Majesty's intention respecting the treatment which the Huguenots are to receive in the other cities is sufficiently evident, as well as the means by which some assured rest may be expected in our poor Catholic Church." ' But the muni- cipal and judicial officers of Nantes, instead of following the bloody path thus marked out for them by the governor of their province, " held a meeting in the town hall, and swore to main- threw themselves on the ground and sued for mercy. On hearing who they were, D'Aubigne called to him all those who came from Bayonne and then cried out to his followers to treat the rest in memory of the massacre in the prisons of Dax. The Huguenots needed no further reminder. It was not long before they had cut to pieces the twenty -two men from Dax who had fallen into their hands. On the other hand they restored to the soldiers of Bayonne their horses and arms, and, after dressing their wounds in a neigh- boring village, sent them home to tell their governor, Viscount D'Orthez, ' that they had seen the different treatment the Huguenots accorded to soldiers and to hangmen." A week later, a herald from Bayonne arrived at Castel-jaloux, with worked scarfs and handkerchiefs for the entire Huguenot band. Nor did the exchange of courtesies end here. The mad notion seized Henry of Navarre to accept an invitation to a feast extended to him by the Bayonnese. Six Huguenots accompanied him, of whom D'Aubigne was one. The table was sumptuous, the presents were rare and costly. D'Aubigne being recognized, was overwhelmed with thanks, " his courtesy being much more liberally repaid than he had deserved ; " while the King of Navarre and his Huguenots, at the table, ''at the expense of the rest of France, extolled to heaven the rare and unexampled act and glory of the men of Bayonne." It is certainly an easier supposition that D'Aubigne has faithfully reproduced D'Orthez's letter to Charles IX., than that he has manufactured so long and consistent a story. The discussion in the Bulletin de la Soc. de I'histoire du prot. franc, is full. xi. 13-15, 116. etc., xii. 240. 1 Letter of Louis de Bourbon. Duke of MontpenRier, Aug. 26th (it should evidently be the 25th ; for the Duke speaks of Coligny as killed '* ledit jour d'hier," and the mythical Huguenot plot was to have been executed "hier ou aujourd'hui"). Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fr., i. (1852) 60, and Soldan, Geschichte des Prot. in Frankreich, ii. , App., 599. VOL. II. 34 528 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. Cn. XIX. Perhaps the most striking instance of a magnanimous refusal to comply with the bloody mandate of the Parisian court, was that of Viscount D'Orthez, 1 Governor of Bayonne. D-orthez at This nobleman was not only of a violent and imperious Bayonne. , , . . . . temper, but on other occasions so severe in his treat- ment of the Protestants of the border city, that the king was obliged to write to him to moderate his rigor. "When, however, the messenger from Paris (who on his way had caused an indis- criminate slaughter to be made of all the men, women and chil- dren who had taken refuge in the prisons of Dax) delivered his orders to the viscount, the latter returned the f ollowing laconic answer : "Sire, I have communicated your Majesty's commands to your faithful inhabitants and warriors in the garrison. I have found among them only good citizens and brave soldiers, but not one hangman. For this reason they and I very humbly beg your Majesty to employ our arms and our lives in all things pos- sible, however hazardous they may be, as we are, so long as our lives shall last, your very humble, etc." " the order to St. Herein or Haran, and robbed him of his instructions. The Protestant hastened on to warn his brethren of their danger, while the mes- senger could only relate to the governor the contents of the lost despatch. Notwithstanding this, eighty Huguenots were murdered in one city (Aurillac) of this province. Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 454, 455. 1 Adiram d'Aspremont. s Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist, univ., ii. 28 (liv. L, c. 5). The authenticity of this letter has been much disputed, partly because of the Viscount's severe and cruel character (which, however, D'Anbigne himself notices when he tells the story), partly because it rests on the sole authority of D'Aubigne. It is to be observed, however, that although he alone relates it, he alludes to it in several of his works, as e. g., in his Tragiques. But the truth of the incident is apparently placed beyond all legitimate doubt by its intimate and necessary connection with an event which D'Aubigne narrates considerably later in hia history, and from personal knowledge. Hist. univ. , ii. 291, 292 (liv. iii., c. 13). In 1577, D'Aubigne, having lost much of Henry of Navarre's favor through his fidelity or his bluntness (see Mem. de d'Aubigne. ed. Panth., p. 486), retired from Nerac to the neighboring town of Castel-jaloux, of which he was in com- mand. Making a foray at the head of a small detachment of Huguenot sol- diers, he fell in with and easily routed a Roman Catholic troop, consisting of a score of light horsemen belonging to Viscount D'Orthez, and a number of men raised at Bayonne and Dax, who were conducting 1 three young ladies condemned at Bordeaux to be beheaded. The vanquished Roman Catholics 1572. THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES. 529 Nor were the municipal authorities in some places behind the royal governors in their determination to have no part in the nefarious designs of the court. At Nantes, the mavor, The munici- , . f J J r> ^ paiityof ecnevms, and judges received from lans, on the eighth of September, a letter of the Duke of Hont- pensier-Bourbon, Governor of Brittany, in which, after nar- rating the discovery of the pretended conspiracy of Coligny and his adherents, and their consequent assassination, he added: " By this his Majesty's intention respecting the treatment which the Huguenots are to receive in the other cities is sufficiently evident, as well as the means by which some assured rest may be expected in our poor Catholic Church." ' But the muni- cipal and judicial officers of Nantes, instead of following the bloody path thus marked out for them by the governor of their province, " held a meeting in the town hall, and swore to main- threw themselves on the ground and sued for mercy. On hearing who they were, D'Aubigne called to him all those who came from Bayonne and then cried out to his followers to treat the rest in memory of the massacre in the prisons of Dax. The Huguenots needed no further reminder. It was not long before they had cut to pieces the twenty-two men from Dax who had fallen into their hands. On the other hand they restored to the soldiers of Bayonne their horses and arms, and, after dressing their wounds in a neigh- boring village, sent them home to tell their governor, Viscount D'Orthez, "that they had seen the different treatment the Huguenots accorded to soldiers and to hangmen." A week later, a herald from Bayonne arrived at Castel-jaloux, with worked scarfs and handkerchiefs for the entire Huguenot band. Nor did the exchange of courtesies end here. The mad notion seized Henry of Navarre to accept an invitation to a feast extended to him by the Bayonnese. Six Huguenots accompanied him, of whom D'Aubigne was one. The table was sumptuous, the presents were rare and costly. D'Aubigne being recognized, was overwhelmed with thanks. " his courtesy being much more liberally repaid than he had deserved ; " while the King of Navarre and his Huguenots, at the table, ''at the expense of the rest of France, extolled to heaven the rare and unexampled act and glory of the men of Bayonne." It is certainly an easier supposition that D'Aubigne has faithfully reproduced D'Orthez's letter to Charles IX., than that he has manufactured so long and consistent a story. The discussion in the Bulletin de la Soc. de Thistoire du prot. frang. is full. xi. 13-15, 116, etc., xii. 240. 1 Letter of Louis de Bourbon. Duke of Montpensier, Aug. 26th (it should evidently be the 25th; for the Duke speaks of Coligny as killed " ledit jour d'hier." and the mythical Huguenot plot was to have been executed "hier ou aujourd'hui "). Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fr., i. (1802) 60, and Soldan, Geschichte des Prot. in Frankreich, ii. , App., 599. VOL. II. 31 530 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. tain their previous oath not to violate the Edict of Pacification published in favor of the Calvinists, and forbade the inhabitants from indulging in any excess against them." * Such are the general outlines and a few details of a massacre the full horrors of which it is outside of the province and be- yond the ability of history to relate. !Xor is it even Uncertain ., , , , number of the possible to set down figures that may be relied upon victims. . r*i as expressing the true number of those who were un- justly put to death. The difficulty experienced by a well in- formed contemporary, has not been removed ; notwithstanding the careful investigations of those who earnestly desired " that posterity might not be deprived of what it needed to know, in order that it might become wiser at the expense of others." 5 We shall be safe in supposing that the number of Huguenot victims throughout France was somewhere between twenty thousand, as conjectured by De Thou and La Popeliniere, and thirty thousand, as stated by Jean de Serres and the Me'moires de 1'estat de France, rather than in adopting the extreme views of Sully and Perefixe, the latter of whom swells the count of the slain to one hundred thousand men, women, and children.* It can scarcely have been much less than the lower number I have suggested. While the massacre begun on St. Bartholomew's Day was spreading with the speed of some foul contagion to the most News of the distant parts of France, the tidings had been carried MivedTt"" beyond its boundaries, and excited a thrill of delight, Kome. Qr a crv Q execra tion, according to the character and sympathies of those to whom they came. Nowhere was the sur- prise greater, nor the joy more intense, than at Rome. Pope Gregory, like his predecessor, had been very sceptical respecting the pious intentions of the French court. Xuncios and legates brought them, it is true, a great profusion of brilliant assurances, on the part of Catharine and Charles, of devotion to the Roman 1 The words are those of an inscription of the seventeenth or the early part of the eighteenth century, in the Hotel de Ville of Nantes. Bulletin, i. (1852) 61. 8 Mem. de 1'estat, Archives cur., vit. 385, 386. J See a table ia White, Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 461. ' 1572. RECEPTION OP THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 531 Church, and to the interests of the Pontifical See, but accom- panied by lugubrious vaticinations of their own, based upon the tolerant course on which the king, under Coligny's guidance, had entered. The Cardinal of Alessandria had made little ac- count of the ring offered him by Charles as a pledge of his sin- cerity, and preferred to wait for the proof which the sequel might exhibit. The last defiant act of the French monarch, in marrying his sister to a professed heretic, and within the degrees of consanguinity prohibited by the Church, without obtaining the Pope's dispensation, served to confirm all the sinister sus- picions entertained at Rome. Under these circumstances the papal astonishment and rejoicing can well be imagined, when couriers sent by the Guises brought the intelligence of the mas- sacre to the Cardinal of Lorraine, and when letters from the King of France and from the Nuncio Salviati in Paris to the Pope himself confirmed its accuracy. Salviati's letters having been read in the full consistory, on the sixth of September, the pontiff and the cardinals resolved to go at once in solemn pro- cession to the church of San Marco, there to render thanks to God for the signal blessing conferred upon the Roman See and all Christendom. A solemn mass was appointed for the suc- ceeding Monday, and a jubilee published for the whole Christian world. In the evening the cannon from the Castle of San An- gelo, and firearms discharged here and there throughout the city, proclaimed to all the joy felt for so signal a victory over the enemies of the Church. For three successive nights there was a general illumination. Cardinal Orsini, who seems to have been on the point of starting for France as a special legate to urge the court to withdraw from the course of toleration, now received different instructions, and was commissioned to con- gratulate Charles, and to encourage him to pursue the path upon which he had entered. Charles of Lorraine, as was natural, distinguished himself for his demonstrations of joy. He made a present of one thousand crowns to the bearer of such glad tidings. 1 Under his auspices a brilliant celebration of the event 1 Narrative appended to Capilupi, Stratagema di Carlo IX. (1574). The cardinal's adulatory letter to Charles IX., on receipt of the king's missive, is strongly corroborative of the view to which everything forces us, that the 532 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. took place in the church of San Luigi de' Frances!, wliich -was Public thanks- ' fn ^g n ^ cen ^y decorated for the occasion. Gregory himself, attended by his cardinals and bishops, by princes, foreign ambassadors, and large numbers of nobles and of the people, walked thither under the pontifical canopy, and high mass was said. The Cardinal of Lorraine had affixed above the entrance a pompous declaration, in the form of a congratulatory notice from Charles the Xinth to Gregory and the " sacred college of cardinals," wherein the Very Christian King renders thanks to Heaven that, " inflamed by zeal for the Lord God of Hosts, like a smiting angel divinely sent, he had suddenly destroyed by a single slaughter almost all the heretics and enemies of his kingdom." The latinity of the placard might not be above reproach ; but it is certain that its senti- ments received the cordial approval of the assembled prelates. 1 Set forth in golden characters, and decorated with festive leaves and ribbons, 2 it proclaimed that the hierarchy of the Roman Church had no qualms of conscience in indorsing the traitorous deed of Charles and Catharine. But still more unequivocal proofs were not wanting. A well known medal was struck in honor of the event, bearing on the one side the head of the Pope massacre was not long definitely premeditated. "Sire," he said, "estant arrive le sieur de Beauville avecques lettres de Vostre Majeste, qui confir- moyent les nouvelles des tres-crestiennes et heroicques deliberation et exe- quntions faictes non-seulement a Paris, mais aussi partout voz principale?, villes, je m'asseure qu'il vous plaira bien me tant honorer .... que de vous asseurer que entre tons voz tres humbles subjects, je ne suis le dernier a an (en) louer Dieu et a me resjouir. Et veritablement, Sire, c'est tout ie myeus (mieux) que j'eusse ose jamais desirer ni esperer. Je me tienz asseure que des ce commencement les actions de Vostre Majeste accroistront chacung jour a la gloire de Dieu et a 1'immortalite de vostre nom," etc. Card. Lor- raine to the king, Rome. Sept. 10, 1572, MSS. Nat. Library, apud Lestoile, ed. Michaud et Poujoulat, 25, 26, note. 1 Conjouissance de M r . le Cardinal de Lorraine, au nom du Roy, faicte au Pape, le vij e jour de sept. 1572, sur la mort de 1' Admiral et ses complices. Correspondance diplom. de La Mothe Fenelon, vii. 341, 342. Also Jean de Serres (1575) iv. , fol. 56, and in a French translation appended to Capilupi, Lo stratagema di Carlo IX. (1574), 111-113, and reproduced in Mem. de 1'estat, Arch, cur., vii. 360. * " Literis romanis aureis majusculis descriptum, festa fronte velatum, ac lemniscatunij et supra limen aedis Sancti Ludovici Romas affixum." 1573. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 533 and the words "Gregorius XIII. Pont. Max. An. I.," and on the other an angel with cross and sword pursuing the heretics, and the superscription, " Ugonottorum strages, 1572." ' By the order of the Pope, the famous Vasari painted in the Sala Kegia of the Vatican palace several pictures representing different scenes in the Parisian massacre. Upon one Paintinps by ... -, , , . , vawu-i m the an inscription was placed which tersely expressed the true state of the case : " Pontifex Colinii necem pro- bat." ' The paintings may still be seen in the magnificent room which serves as antechamber to the Sistine Chapel. 1 1 The genuineness of this medal, in spite of the clumsy attempts made to discredit it, is established beyond all possible doubt. The Jesuit Bonanni, in his "Numismata Pontificum " (2 vols. foL, Rome, 1689), has figured and described it as No. 27 of the medals of Gregory XIII. A translation of his account and a facsimile of the medal may be seen in the Bulletin de la Societe de 1'hist. du prot. francais, i. (1852) 240-242. It is also admirably represented in the Tresor de Numismatique (Delaroche, etc., Paris, 1839), Medailles dee papes, plate 15, No. 8. The late Alexander Thomson, Esq., of Banchory, Aberdeenshire, purchased at the papal mint in the city of Rome, in 1828 or 1829, among other medals for which he applied, not less than seven copies of this medal, six of them struck off expressly for him from the original die still in possession of the mint. See his own account, given in his Memoir by Profes- sor Smeaton, and reproduced in the New York Evangelist of October 17, 1872. * Recueil des lettres missives de Henri IV. , i. 36. 3 See Pistolesi, II Museo Vaticano descritto ed illustrate (Roma, 1838) vol. viii. 97. There are three paintings, of which the first represents " the King of France sitting in parliament, and approving and ordering that the death of Gaspard Coligny, Grand Admiral of France, and declared to be head of the Huguenots, be registered." " The mischance of Coligny is delineated in the following picture in a spacious square, among many heads of streets (capi- strade) and f agades of temples. The admiral, clothed in the French costume of that period, is carried in the arms of several military men ; although life- less (estinto, read rather,/aif), he still preserves in his countenance threat- ening and terrible looks." The third is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day itself, in which the beholder scarcely knows which to admire most, the artistic skill of the painter, or his success in bringing into a narrow compass eo many of the most revolting incidents of the tragedy the murder of men in the streets, the butchery of helpless and unoffending women, the throwing of Coligny's remains from the window of his room, etc. Dr. Henry White gives a sketch of this painting, taken from De Potter's Lettres de Pie V. Of the fresco representing the wounding of Coligny there is an engraving in Pis- tolesi, ubi supra, voL viii. plate 84. By an odd mistake, both the text and the index to the plates, make this belong to the reconciliation of Frederick 534 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. To the French ambassador, M. de Ferralz, Gregory expressed in the most extravagant terms his satisfaction, and that of the college of cardinals, not only with the events of Paris, but with the news daily coming to Rome of similar massacres in progress in different cities of France. He convinced Ferralz that no more delightful tidings could have reached the pontifical court. The battle of Lepanto could not compare with it. " Tell your master," said he to the envoy at the conclusion of his audience, "that this event has given me a hundred times more pleasure than fifty victories like that which the League obtained over the Turk last year." In the excess of his joy he did not forget to enjoin on every one he spoke to, especially all Frenchmen, to light bonfires in honor of the massacre, hinting that whoever should fail to do so must be unsound in the faith. 1 A few weeks later, the pontiff shocked even some devout Roman Catholics by allowing Cardi- nal Lorraine and the French ambassador to present to him Maurevel, the assassin who had fired the arquebuse shot at Ad- miral Coligny. 2 " The pontiff," says his countryman, the historian Adriani, "and all Italy universally rejoiced greatly, and forgave the king and queen their previous dissimulation." ! For the French at Rome now pretended that the massacre had long been planned by their monarch, and that every favor to the Huguenots for the past two years had been shown to them merely for the purpose Barbarossa and the pontificate of Alexander III. on what grounds it is hard to imagine. The character of the wound of the person borne in the arms of his companions, indicated by the loss of two fingers of his rigJit hand, from which the blood is seen to be dropping, leaves no doubt that he is the Admiral Coligny. Unfortunately, Pistolesi's splendid work is disfigured by other blunders, or typographical errors, equally gross. In describing other paintings of the same Sala Regia (pp. 95, 96), he assigns, or is made by the types to assign, various events in the quarrel of Barbarossa and Adrian IV. and Alexan- der III. , to the years 1554, 1555, 1577, etc. 1 Ferralz to Charles IX., Rome, Sept. 11, 1572, apud North British Review, Oct., 1869, p. 31. * Proapero Count Arco to the emperor, Rome, Nov. 15, 1572, tibi supra. "II pontefice, e universalmente tutta d'ltalia grandemente se ne rallegro, facendo pardonare cotale eflfetto al Re e alia Reina, che molte cose avevano sostenuto di fare in benefizio di quella parte." G. B. Adriani, Istoria de' suoi tempi, ii. 378. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 535 of lulling them into a false security. The Pope accepted the plea without troubling himself much whether it were true or not, satisfied as he was with the event. But not so the Spanish French boagts env 7 at the Roman court, Don Juan de Cufiiga. BO for nothing. " The French wish to give the impression," he wrote to his master, "that the king meditated this blow from the time he made peace with the Huguenots ; and, in order that it may be believed that he was capable of preparing it and conceal- ing it until the proper time for the execution, they attribute to him stratagems which do not seem allowable even against here- tics and rebels. I deem it certain that, if the shooting of the arquebuse at the admiral was a thing projected a few days beforehand, and authorized by the king, all the rest was inspired by circumstances." ' Equally positive, though not at all doubt- ful respecting the morality of the transaction, and more jubilant, was the Xuncio Salviati, in Paris. While desiring that the cardi- nal secretary " should kiss the feet of his Holiness in his name," and " rejoicing with him in the bowels of his heart at the blessed and honorable commencement of his pontificate," " while declar- ing that, despite his previous belief that the court of France would not much longer tolerate the admiral's arrogance, he would never have imagined the tenth part of what he now saw with his own eyes, he also stated he could not bring himself to believe that, had the admiral been killed by Maurevel's shot, so much would have been done by a great deal.' Now, however, ' the queen intended not only to revoke the Edict of Pacifica- tion, but by means of justice to restore the ancient observance of the Catholic faith." There was another monarch whose joy was not less sincere than Gregory's. This was Philip of Spain. Catharine had 1 Cufiiga to Philip, Sept. 8th, Simancas MSS. Gachard, Bull, de 1'acad. de Bruxelles, xvi. 249, 250. * " A. N. 8. mi faccia gratia di basciar i piedi in nome mio, col qnale mi rallegro con le viscere del cuore che sia piaciuto alia Dva. Msa. d'incaminar, nel principio del BUO pontificate, si felicemente e honoratamente le cose di quee- to regno." Salviati to Card. sec. of State, Aug. 24, Mackintosh, iii., App. G., p. 355. 8 " Non si risolvo a credere che si fusse fatto tanto a un pezzo." Ibid., ubi supra. 536 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XTX not delayed writing to her royal son-in-law. In her endeavor to make capital out of the massacre she betrayed great satisfac- tion at her supposed masterly stroke of policy. Her letter a misspelled scrawl furnishes a fresh illustra- Bon-in-iw. ^ on o t ke act t ^at singular shrewdness in planning and executing criminal projects is not incompatible with a trust, amounting almost to fatuity, in the unsuspecting credulity of others. Catharine actually imagined that she could, by her counterfeit piety, impose upon one who knew her character so well as Philip of Spain. Therefore she was lavish of the use of the name of the Deity to cover her own villainy. " Mon- sieur my son," she wrote, " I entertain no doubt that you will appreciate, as we do, the happiness God has conferred upon us in giving the king, my son, the means of ridding himself of his subjects, rebels against God and himself, and [rejoice] that it has pleased Him graciously to preserve him and us all from the cruelty of their hands. For this we are assured that you will praise God with us, as well on our account as for the advan- tage that will accrue to all Christendom, and to the service, and honor, and glory of God. This, we hope, will soon be made known, and the fruit thereof be perceived. 1 By this event we afford the testimony of our good and upright inten- tions, which have never tended but to His honor. And I re- joice still more that this occasion will confirm and augment the friendship between your Majesty and the king your brother which is the thing I desire most of all in this world." * Philip had good reason to be glad. To all human appear- The delight ancc it had depended only upon the word of Charles of Philip the j , - J , . , , , second. to secure, at once and forever, the independence from the Spanish tyranny of the provinces on the lower Khine, 1 " De quoy nous aseurons que en leoures Dieu aveques nous, tant ponr nostre particulier coment pour le bien qui en reviendre a toute la cretiente et au service et honeur et gloyre de Dieu," etc. 1 " Et randons par cet ayfect le temognage de nos bonnes et droyctes yntantions, cor ne les avons jeames eu aultre que tendant a son honneur," etc. Letter of Catharine de' Medici to Philip II., Aug. 28, 1572, in Mnsee des archives nationales ; documents originaux de 1'hist. de France, exposes dans 1'Hotel Soubise '.published by the Gen. Directory of the Archives, 1872), p. 392. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 537 which, under "William of Orange, were battling for religious and civil freedom. True, Genlis and his small forces had been captured or destroyed ; but what were they in comparison with the men whom the French king could have marshalled under the command of Coligny, La Noue, and other experienced lead- ers ? And now Charles, at a single stroke, had cut off all pros- pect of obtaining the sovereignty of the Netherlands or of any part, had assassinated his own generals in their beds, had butch- ered in cold blood those who would gladly have marched as sol- diers to achieve his conquests, and had freed Philip from all fear of French interference in behalf of the Dutch patriots. No won- der then, that, when a courier, sent by the Spanish ambassador at Paris, with tidings of the events of St. Bartholomew's Day, reached Madrid, on the evening of Saturday, the seventh of September so slowly did news travel in those days Philip was almost beside himself with joy. 1 " He showed so much gayety, contrary to his native temperament and custom," the French envoy, St. Goard, wrote to his master, " that he was evidently more delighted than with all the pieces of good fortune that had ever befallen him ; and he called to him his familiars to tell them that he knew that your Majesty was his good brother, and that he saw that there was no one else in the world that deserved the title of * Very Christian.' " Not content with gloating over the bloody bulletin with his cronies, he promptly sent his secretary, Cayas, to congratulate the French ambassador, and to inform him that " the king his master was 1 Philip had evidently no intimation that a massacre was in contemplation. When Mr. Motley says (United Netherlands, i. 15): "It is as certain that Philip knew beforehand, and testified his approbation of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, as that he was the murderer of Orange," the statement must be interpreted in accordance with that other statement in the same author's earlier work (Rise of the Dutch Republic, ii. 388) : " The crime was not com- mitted with the connivance of the Spanish government. On the contrary, the two courts were at the moment bitterly opposed to each other," etc. As the eminent historian can scarcely be supposed to contradict himself on so important a point, we must understand him to mean that Philip had, indeed, long since instigated Catharine and her son to rid themselves of the Hugue- not leaders by some form of treachery or other, but was quite ignorant of, and unprepared for, the particular means adopted by them for compassing the end. 538 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. going that very hour to St. Jerome, to render all manner of thanks to God, and to pray that in matters of so great impor- tance his Majesty might be sustained by His hand." When, the next morning, St. Goard had been very graciously admitted to an audience, he tells us that Philip the man who rarely or never gave a hearty or manly expression to his feelings " began to laugh, and, with demonstrations of extreme pleasure and satisfaction, praised your Majesty as having earned your title of ' Very Christian,' telling me there was no king that could claim to be your companion, either in valor or in prudence." It was natural that Philip should chiefly extol Charles's alleged dis- simulation, and dwell on the happiness of Christendom saved from a frightful war. It was equally politic for St. Goard to chime in, and echo his master's praise. But there was sound truth in the concluding remark he made to Philip : " However this may be, Sire, you must confess that you owe your Netlier- lands to his Majesty, the King of France" ' "We have also more direct testimony to Philip's delight at the Parisian massacre, in the form of a letter from the monarch to the Duke of Alva. In this extraordinary communication, worthy of the depraved source from which it emanated, the bloodthirsty king does not attempt to conceal the satisfaction with which he has received the tidings of Charles's " honorable and Christian resolution to rid himself of the admiral and other important personages," both for religion's sake and because the King of France will now be a firmer friend to the Spanish crown since neither the German Protestants nor Elizabeth will 1 St. Goard to Charles, Sept. 12th, Bodel Nijenhuis, Supplement to Groen van Prinsterer, Archives de la maison d'Orange Nassau, 124-126. St. Goard was not deceived by Philip's pious congratulations. " Ce faict," he writes to Catharine, a week later (ibid., pp. 126, 127), " a este aussi bien pris de se (ce) Roy comme on le peult penser, pour luy estre tant profitable pour ses affaires ; toutesfois, comme il est le prince du monde qui s<;ait et faict le pins profes- sion de dissimnler toutes choses. si n'a il sfeu celler en ceste-cy le plaisir qu'il en a refeu, et encores que je infere touts ses mouvements procedder du bien que en recepvoient ses affaires, lesquelles il voioit pour desplorer sans ce seul remedde, si a il faict croire a tout le monde par ces aparens (apparences) que c'estoit pour le respect du bon succez que voz Majestez avoient eu en si haultes entreprises, tantost louant le filz d'avoir une telle mere, 1'aiant si bien garde," etc. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 539 trust him any longer a circumstance which will have a decided influence upon the restoration of his authority in the Nether- lands. Another matter upon which he touches, places in the clearest light the infamy to which Charles and his council had sunk, and the hypocrisy of Philip the Catholic himself. Until the very moment of the Ma^arre of St. Bartholomew's Day, Charles had been earnestly desirous of saving the lives of the French Huguenots who had been taken prisoners with Genlis near Mons ; while, by the most barefaced assumptions of inno- cence, he endeavored to induce the Spaniard to believe that he was in no way responsible for Genlis's undertaking. 1 Now, however, it is Charles himself who, by his envoys at Madrid and Charles insti- Brussels, begs from Philip the murder of his own JK'iKh" French subjects, lest they return to do mischief in prisoners. F rance . Kot only the soldiers taken with Genlis, but the garrison of Mons, if that city, as now seemed all but cer- tain, should fall into Alva's hands, must be put to death.* " If AJva object," he wrote to Mondoucet, " that your request is the same thing as tacitly requiring him to kill the prisoners and cut to pieces the garrison of Mons, you will tell him that that is precisely what he ought to do, and that he will inflict a very great wrong upon himself and upon all Christendom if he shall do otherwise." * Drawing his inspiration from the same source, St. Goard said to Philip himself : " One of the greatest services that can be done for Christendom, will be to capture Mons and put everybody to the edge of the sword." * And so Philip thought too ; for he not only wrote to Alva that the sooner the 1 See the Mondoucet correspondence, Compterendu de la commission royale d'histoire, second series, iv. (Brux., 1852), 340349, pub. by M. EmileGaohet, especially the letter of Charles IX. of Aug. 12th, 1572. " El dicho embaxador me propuso .... con grande instancia, que sin dilacion se devia executar la justicia en Janlis (Genlis) y en los otros sus complices que hay estan presos, y en los que se tomassen en Mons." Philip to Alva, Sept. 18th. Simancas MSS. Gachard. Particularites inedite sur la St. Barthelemy, Bulletin de 1'academie royale de Belgique, xvi. (1849), 2o6. 3 Charles IX. to Mondoucet, Aug. 31st, Mondoucet correspondence, p. 349 ; see also another letter of the same date, p. 348. 4 "Estant Pun plus grands services qne se puisse faire pour la Chrestiente, que de la prendre et passer tout aufil de fespee.'" St. Goard to Charles IX^ Sept. 19th, Supp. to Archives de la maison d'Orange Nassau, 127. 540 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XLS. earth were freed of such bad plants, the less solicitude would be necessary in future, but he scribbled with his own hand on the draft of the letter : " I desire, if you have not already rid the world of them, you should do it at once and let me know, for I see no reason for delay." ' The more clear-headed Alva, how- ever, saw reasons not only for delay, but for extending to some of the prisoners a counterfeit mercy ; for he soon The Duke of .. . r . . . *' ,. .. Alva jubilant replied to his master, that " he was not at all of opin- ion that it was best to cut off the heads of Genlis and the other French prisoners, as the King of France asked him to do. He had resolved to do so before the admiral's death, but now things had changed. Charles must know that Philip has in his power men capable of giving him great trouble." * None the less, however, did Alva communicate the glad tidings to all parts of the Netherlands, and cause solemn Te Deums to be sung in the churches.* " These occurrences," he wrote to Count I3ossu, Governor of Holland, " come so marvellously apropos in this conjunction for the affairs of the king our master, that nothing could be more timely. For this we cannot sufficiently render thanks to the Divine goodness." 4 Philip promptly sent the Marquis d'Ayamonte to congratulate Charles and the queen mother.* Alva had already a special envoy at the French court, who returned soon after the massacre to Brussels. On asking Catharine what reply he should carry back, the Italian princess, intoxicated with her success, impiously said : " I do not know that I can make any other answer than that which Jesus Christ gave to St. John's disciples, ' Go and show again those things which ye have seen and heard the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.' " " And do not forget," she added, " to say to the Duke of Alva, 'Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in 1 Philip to Alva, ubi supra. * Alva to Philip, Oct. 13th, Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II. (Brux. , 1848), ii 287. * Mondoucet to Charles IX. , Aug. 29th, Bull, de 1'acad. roy. de Brux. Bulletin de 1'acad. roy. de BruxeHes, ix. (1843), 561. * Philip to Alva, ubi supra. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD." 541 me.' " ' Such was the new gospel of blood and rapine with which it was proposed to replace the Bible in the vernacular, and the Psalms of David translated by Marot and Beza ! But Spain and Rome were only exceptions. From almost every part of the civilized world there arose a loud and unani- mous cry of execration. It was natural, however, that the feel- ing of horror should be deepest in the neighboring Protestant countries, whose religion and liberties seemed to be menaced England's with destruction by the treacherous blow. Above all, in England with whose queen a matrimonial treaty had for months been pending, the abhorrence of the crime and its perpetrators was the more intense because of the violence of the revulsion. Resident Frenchmen were startled at the sudden change. The warmest friends of France became its open ene- mies, loudly reproaching the broken faith of the king, and pouring curses upon the people that had exercised such indig- nities upon unoffending citizens. If we may believe La Mothe Fe'nelon, the men who customarily wore arms indulged in much insulting bravado and in threats directed against any one that dared to gainsay them. 7 The French ambassador has himself left on record the description of a remarkable interview which he had with Queen Elizabeth. Rarely had a diplomatic agent Perplexity ot been placed in a more embarrassing position. His ambl^ador letters and despatches from home were of the most at London, contradictory character. Scarcely had he, with pro- testations of sincerity and truthfulness, published the account of events in Paris which was sent him, when new instructions arrived recalling, modifying, or contradicting the former. First, with the startling news of the disturbance of the peace, by Ad- miral Coligny's wounding, came a letter from the king, express- ing " infinite displeasure " at the " bad " and " unhappy " act, and a resolution to inflict " very exemplary justice." To which tliis postscript was appended : " Monsieur de la Mothe Fe'nelon, I will not forget to tell you that this wicked act proceeds from 1 Bulletin of Alva from the report of his agent, the Seigneur de Gomicourt, published by M. Gachard, from MSS. of Mons, in Bull, de 1'acad. de Brux- ellos. ix. (1842), 560, etc. 8 Despatch of Sept 14, 1572, Correspondance diplomatique, v. 121. 542 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. the enmity between the admiral's house and the Guises, and that I have taken steps to prevent their involving my subjects in their quarrels, for I intend that my edict of pacification shall be observed in every point." ' Two days later Charles wrote again, communicating intelligence of the massacre, beginning with the murder of Coligny, in almost the identical words of the circular he was sending to Mandelot and other gover- nors of provinces and important cities.' Still it is the work of the Guises, and he himself has had enough to do in protecting his own person in the castle of the Louvre. He wishes Queen Elizabeth to be assured that he has no part in the deed, 3 and, in fact, that all should know that he entertains great displeasure for what has so unfortunately happened, and that it is the thing which he detests more than anything else.* And he adds in a tone of well counterfeited innocence: "I have near me my brother the King of Navarre, and my cousin the Prince of Conde, to share in the same fortune with me." * After receiving and spreading abroad these explanations, what must have been the unfortunate ambassador's perplexity and annoyance, when he received, but too late, a brief letter written on Monday, the day after the massacre began, containing these words : " As we are beginning to discover the conspiracy which the adherents of the pretended reformed religion had entered into against me, my mother and my brothers, you will not speak of the particu- lars of the disturbance, nor of its occasion until you receive fuller and more certain intelligence from me ; for, by to-night or to-morrow morning, I hope to have cleared up the whole matter." ' No wonder the courier to whom the last letter was intrusted was bidden ride with all speed to overtake the other ; nor that La Mothe Fenelon hardly knew how to extricate him- self from the dilemma in which the king his master had placed 1 Charles IX. to La Mothe Fenelon, Aug. 22, 1572, Corresp. dipl., vii. 322, 323. See ante, chap, xviii., p. 490. " Ni que j'y aye aucune volonte." "C'est bien la chose que je deteste le plus." Despatch of Aug. 24th, Corresp. diplom., vii. 324, 325. Charles IX. to La Mothe Fenelon, Aug. 25, 1572, ibid., 325, 326. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 543 him. Had not Charles, by throwing all the blame, in his first letter, upon the Guises and by positively denying any participa- tion of his own, unambiguously proclaimed his ignorance up to that moment of any Huguenot conspiracy ? How, then, could the French envoy go to the same Englishmen to whom he had made known the contents of this despatch, and tell them that the king was the author of the deed he had stigmatized as most detestable, and that the motive that had impelled him reluc- tantly to order the slaughter of the Huguenots was a conspiracy which he did not discover until a day or two after he gave the order ? Yet this was the contradictory story which was sketched in the letter of the twenty-fifth of August, and more fully elab- orated in subsequent despatches. 1 The crestfallen ambassador is said and the authority for the disputed statement is no less than that of the members of the queen's council, Burleigh, Leicester, Knowles, Thomas Smith, and Croft to have exclaimed bitterly " that he was ashamed to be counted a Frenchman." " At first he believed that an audience would be denied him ; and when the queen at last vouchsafed to see him at Woodstock, it was only after he had waited three days in Oxford, while Elizabeth and her council met frequently to deliberate upon the contents of Walsingham's HIS coid r* despatches. He was admitted to the private apart- oSSm&- ments of the queen, where he found her Majesty sur- rounded by the lords of the council and the principal ladies of the court, awaiting his coining in profound silence. Elizabeth advanced to meet him, and greeted him with a coun- tenance on which sorrow and severity were mingled with more kindly feelings. Drawing the ambassador aside to a window, she began the discourse with a dignity which few sovereigns have ever known better how to assume. She gave particular expression to the regret she felt in hearing such tidings from a prince in whom she had had more confidence than in any other 1 Charles IX., Aug. 26th and 27th, Corresp. dipl., vii. 331, etc., and a jus- tificatory " Instruction a M. de la Mothe Fenelon." 5 Letter of Burleigh, etc., Sept. 9th, to Walsingham, Digges, 247. The truth of the statement is called in question by M. Cooper, editor of La Mothe Fenelon's Correspondance diplomatique. ;">44 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. living monarch. And when the ambassador had stammered out the lying excuse based upon " the horrible ingratitude and per- verse intentions of the Huguenots " against his master, and had tragically recounted the sorrow of Charles at being constrained to cut off an arm to save the rest of the body, she replied that she hoped that if the informations against the admiral and his were confirmed by investigation, the king " might be excused in some part, both toward God and the world, in permitting the admiral's enemies by force to prevent his enterprises." But she would not admit that even then the cruelty of the mode of punishment was capable of defence, most of all in the case of Coligny, who, "being in his bed, lamed both on the right hand and left arm, lying in danger under the care of chymrgions, being also guarded about his private house with a number of the king's guard, might have been, by a word of the king's mouth, brought to any place to have answered when and how the king should have thought meet." But she preferred to ascribe the fault, not to Charles, but to those around him whose age and knowledge " ought in such case to have foreseen how offenders ought to be justified with the sword of the prince, and not with the bloody swords of murderers, being also the mortal enemies of the party murdered." ' Elizabeth's council was even more outspoken. " Doubtless," said they, " the most heinous act that has occurred in the world, since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is that which has been recently committed by the French ; an act which the Italians and the Spaniards, ardent as they are, are far from applauding in their heart, since it was a deed too full of blood, for the greater part innocent, and too much suspected of fraud, which had vio- lated the pledged security of a great king, and disturbed the serenity of the royal nuptials of his sister, insupportable to be heard by the ears of princes, and abominable to all classes of subjects, perpetrated contrary to all law, divine or human, and without a parallel among all acts ever undertaken in the pres- 1 The interview is described both by La Mothe Fenelon (Corresp. diplom., v. 122-126), and by the English council, despatch of Sept. 9th to Walsing- ham (Digges, 247-249). Hume has a graphic account, History of England, chap. xl. 157:2. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. f>4.") of any prince, and which 1ms even rather involved the King of France in danger than rescued him from it." ' The success of the French ambassador, therefore, was not flattering. The most that he could do was to correct the im- pression that the massacre was only a part of a more general plan for the extirpation of Protestantism everywhere. But when the news came of the barbarous butchery of Huguenots in Lyons and elsewhere ; when Villiers, Fuguerel, and other Protestant ministers escaping from France, brought to London the report that one hundred thousand victims to religious intol- erance had fallen since St. Bartholomew's Day ; * when English merchants who had witnessed the scenes of horror at Rouen returned, bringing a true account of what had occurred ; when they overturned the audacious assertion that religion had noth- ing to do with the deed, by declaring that the Huguenots whose lives were spared were constrained to go to mass ; that numbers had lost their lives who might have saved them by consenting to take part in services which they regarded as idolatrous ; that there were instances of children taken from their parents, and forcibly rebaptized ; when, in short, every assertion of La Mothe Fenelon was disproved, the irritation of the English grew deeper. And at last the French ambassador was forced to confers that they would believe neither him nor the despatches that he occasionally produced, saying that the event, which is wont to give the lie to words and letters, showed them what they had to fear.' The life of Mary, Queen of Scots, was in 1 This striking, and, certainly, somewhat undiplomatic speech is reported by the ambassador himself in his despatches (Corresp. dipl., v. 127). It looks as it the holiest Frenchman was not sorry to let the court know some of the severe criticisms that were uttered respecting a crime with which he had no sympathy. La Mothe Fenelon tells of the impression, proved erroneous by the king's letter, ' ' qu'ilz avoient que ce f ut ung acte projects de longtemps. et que vous heussiez accorde" avecques le Pape et le Roy d'Espaigne de faire servir les nopces de Madame, vostre seur, avec le Roy de Navarre, a une telle execution pour y atraper, a la foys, toutz les principaulx de la dicte religion assembles." La Mothe Fenelon to Charles, Sept. 2, 1572, ubi svpra, v. 116. 5 La Mothe Fenelon endeavored, he says, to persuade the English that there were not over five thousand, and that Catharine and Charles were sorry that one hundred could not have answered. Corr. diplom., v. 155. 3 See the despondent despatch of October 3d, Corresp. diplom., v., 155-16-. VOL. II. 35 546 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. danger. There were many who regarded it as a measure of self-defence to put to death so open a sympathizer with the work of persecution. La Mothe Fenelon, disheartened, prom- ised Catharine de' Medici to do all that he could to dor disheart- promote the interests of France, but the chief influ- ence must come from the king and herself. " Other- wise," he said, " your word will come to be of no authority, and I shall become ridiculous in everything that I tell them or promise them in your name." ' About the same time one of the most acute statesmen, one of the most vigorous writers of the age, Sir Thomas Smith, him- self a former ambassador at the French court, correctly and eloquently expressed the universal feeling of true Letter of Sir _. * . r _, , . ' , . Thomas Protestants m England, in a letter to \Valsingham which has become deservedly famous. " What war- rant can the French make, now seals and words of princes being traps to catch innocents and bring them to the butchery ? If the admiral and all those murdered on that bloody Bartholo- mew day were guilty, why were they not apprehended, impris- oned, interrogated, and judged, but so much made of as might be, within two hours of the assumation ? Is that the manner to handle men either culpable or suspected? So is the jour- neyer slain by the robber ; so is the hen of the fox ; so is the hind of the lion; so Abel of Cain; so the innocent of the wicked ; so Abner of Joab. But grant they were guilty they dreamt treason that night in their sleep ; what did the innocent men, women, and children at Lyons ? What did the sucking children and their mothers at Roan (Rouen) deserve ? at Cane (Caen)? at Rochel? . . . Will God, think you, still sleep? Will not their blood ask vengeance; shall not the earth be accursed that hath sucked up the innocent blood poured out like water upon it ? ... I am glad you shall come home, and would wish you were at home, out of that country so contaminate with innocent blood, that the sun can- not look upon it but to prognosticate the wrath and vengeance of God. The ruin and desolation of Jerusalem could nut 1 La Mothe Fen6lon to Catharine, ibid., v. 1G-L 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. E ' come till all the Christians were either killed there or expelled thence." ' Neither Catharine nor Charles was insensible to the impres- sion made upon the English court by the French atrocities. It Catharine's became important to furnish, if possible, some more repre C JSiu- ul convincing proofs of the existence of a Huguenot plot, siiu-e the assurances of both monarch and ambas- sador had lost all weight. The papers of the admiral, both in Paris and in his castle of Chatillon-sur-Loing, had been searched in vain for anything which, even after the murder, might seem to justify the king in violating his pledged word and every principle of law and right. Not a scrap of a letter could be found inculpating him. Not the slightest approach to a hint that it would be well to make way with the king or any of the royal family. The most private manuscripts of the admiral, unlike those of many courtiers even in our own day, contained not a disrespectful expression, nothing that could be twisted into a mark of disaffection or treason. Catharine could lay her hand upon nothing that suited her purpose better than the paper, which, as stated in a former chapter, 2 she showed to "Walsing- ham, wherein he advised Charles to keep Elizabeth and Philip as low as he could, as a thing that tended much to the safety and maintenance of his crown." But the finesse of the queen mother failed of accomplishing its object ; for neither Elizabeth nor "Walsingham would think less of Coligny for proving him- self faithful to his own sovereign's interests. Elizabeth's in- credulity was, doubtless, enhanced by the hypocritical pretence of Catharine that her son intended to maintain his edict of pacification in full force.' " The king's meaning is," the queen 1 Letter of Sept. 26th. Digges, 263. 1 See ante, chapter xviii. , p. 495. 1 As well as by the queen mother's assurances respecting the massacre in the provinces too heavy a draft upon the credulity of her royal sister. ' ' Pour ce qu'ilz disent que, voyant les meurtres qui ont este f aictz en plusieurs villes de ce royaume par les Catholiques contre les Hupuenotz, Us ne se peu- vent asseurer de 1'iutantion et volonte du Roy, qu'ilz n'en voyent quelque punission et justice et ses tdictz mieui observes, die cognoistra bientost que ce qui est advenu es autret lieux que en ceate viUe, a ette entierement contre la wlonte du Roy, mon diet sieur et filz, lequel a dulibcro d'en faire faire telle 548 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. mother once said to the English envoy, " that the Huguenots shall enjoy the liberty of their conscience." "What, Madam,'' observed Walsingham, " and the exercise of their religion too ? '' " No," Catharine replied, " my son will have exercise but of one religion in his realm." "Then, how can it agree, that the* observation of the edict, whereof you willed me to advertise the queen my mistress, that the same should continue in his former strength?" interposed Walsingham. To that Catharine an- swered " that they had discovered certain matters of late, that they saw it necessary to abolish all exercise of the same." " Why, Madam," said the puzzled and somewhat pertinacious diplomatist, " will you have them live without exercise of reli- gion ? " " Even," quoth Catharine, who fancied that she had dis- covered a pertinent retort, " even as your mistress suffereth the Catholics of England." But the ambassador could not be so easily silenced. Parrying the home thrust, and trenching on an uncourtly bluntness of speech, he quietly called attention to a distinction which her Majesty had not perhaps observed. " My mistress did never promise them anything by edict : if she had. she would not fail to have performed it." After that, there was plainly nothing more to be said, and Catharine resorted to the usual refuge of worsted argument, and said : " The queen your mistress must direct the government of her own country, and the king my son his own." ' Some victims were needed to be immolated upon the altar of justice to atone for the alleged Huguenot conspiracy. They were found in Briquemault and Cavaignes, two dis- Bnqnomault ' ' andcavai- tinguished Protestants. The former, a knight of the Knes hung for 1111 11 i < ' i alleged con- royal order, had, contrary to all rules or international law, been forcibly taken from the house of the Eng- lish ambassador, whither he had fled for refuge. 3 It was not difficult for the court to obtain what was desired from the cowardly parliament over which Christopher de Thou presided. pugnition et y establir bientost ting si bon ordre que ung chascun cognoistrn quelle a este en cest endroit son intantion." Catharine to La Mothe Fenclon, Cor. dipl., vii 377. 1 Walsingham to Sir Thomas Smith. "Sept. 14th, Digges, 212. * Tocsain centre les massacreurs, 150. 1573. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 549 Convicted by false testimony, and complaining that even their own words were falsified by their partial judges, the two Prot- estants were publicly hung on the Place de Greve. It was noticed that they both died exhibiting great fortitude,' and pro- testing to the last that they had neither taken part in, nor even heard of any plot against the king or the state. Charles, hardened by the sight of so much blood, wished to witness in person this new spectacle also, and not only looked on from a neighboring window, but, as it was too dark to see the sufferers distinctly, ordered torches to be lighted, and diverted himself with great laughter in observing their expiring agonies. The King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde were likewise forced to be present, in order to give color to the absurd story that one or both had been included among those whom Coligny and the Huguenots had intended to murder. An hour after, and the Parisian populace cut down the bodies, .dragged them in con- tumely through the streets, and amused themselves by stabbing them, shooting at them, and maiming them. It was an addi- tional aggravation of the judicial crime and the king's ill-timed merriment, that the execution took place on the evening of the day upon which the young Queen of France gave birth to Charles's only legitimate child a daughter, whom the Salic law excluded from the succession to the throne. Still unconvinced of Coliguy's guilt, even by the conviction and death of Brique- 1 It is true that when their sentences were read to them, and particularly that portion which branded with infamy their innocent children, the courage of the old man of seventy, Briquemault, momentarily failed, and he conde- scended to offer to do great services to the king in retaking La Rochelle whose fortifications he had himself begun ; and when this proposal was rejected, it is said that he made more humiliating advances. But the constancy and pious exhortations of his younger companion, who sustained his own courage by repeating many of the psalms in Latin, recalled Briquemault to himself, and from that moment ' ' he had nothing but contempt for death." De Thou uv. 646), a youth of nineteen, who was present in the chapel when the sentence was read, remembered the incident well. Cf . Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 32 (bk. i., c. 0). Walsingham, when he says in his letter of Nov. 1, 1572, that "Cavannes (Cavaignes) showed himself void of all magnanimity, etc.," has evidently confused the persons. Here is an instance where the later account of an eye-witness De Thou is entitled to far more credit than the contem- porary statement of one whose means of obtaining information were not so good. 550 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. mault and Cavaignes, Queen Elizabeth very frankly expressed to La Mothe Fenelon her deep regret that her brother, the French king, had profaned the day of his daughter's birth by the sanguinary spectacle he had that evening gone to behold. 1 In Scotland, when the news of the massacre arrived, the aged reformer, John Knox, summoned all his remaining energy to The news in preach a last time before the regent and the estates. Scotland; j n t j ie j^^st of his sermon, turning to Du Croc, the French ambassador, who was present, he sternly addressed to him these prophetic words : " Go tell your king that sentence has gone out against him, that God's vengeance shall never depart from him nor his house, that his name shall remain an execration to the posterities to come, and that none that shall come of his loins shall enjoy that kingdom unless he repent." The indignant ambassador called upon the regent " to check the tongue which was reviling an anointed king ; " but the regent refused to silence the minister of God, and suffered Du Croc to leave Edinburgh in anger." Monsieur de Vulcob, the French ambassador at the court of the Emperor of Germany, was equally unsuccessful in con- vincing that monarch of the truth of the story con- in Germany ; . _ ., 1 . . _ -r* mi tamed in his despatches from Pans. The emperor did not disguise his great disappointment and sorrow, nor his belief that the murderous project had been known for weeks before at Rome.* It need scarcely be said that the negotiations of Schomberg, who had been sent to procure an offensive and defensive alliance between the Protestant princes of Germany 1 " N'ayant regret sinon que vous ayez voulu profaner le jour de sa naysi sence par ung si fascheus espectacle qu'allastes voir en greve." Corresp. diplom. de la Mothe Fe'nelon, v. 205 ; Tocsain centre les massacreurs, 151, 152 j Reveille-Matin, Arch, cur., vii. 206; Walsingham to Smith, Nov. 1, 1572, Digges, 278, 279. s Froude, x. 444, 445. 3 " Entre autres choses. il me dist qu'on luy avoit escript de Rome, n'avoit que trois semaines ou environ, sur le propos des noces du Roy de Navarre en ces propres termes : ' que a ceste heure que tons les oyseaux estoient en cage, on les pouvoit prendre tous ensemble.' " M. de Vulcob to Charles IX., Pres- hurg, Sept. 26th, apud De Noailles, Henri de Valois et la Pologne en 1573 (Paris, 1867), iii., Pieces just., 214. 1"2. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 651 and the crown of France, were rendered abortive by the advent of tidings of the treacherous massacre at Paris. Like the rest of the diplomatists sent out from France, the able envoy to Germany had been left in profound ignorance of the blow that was to disturb all his calculations. He had even been empowered to promise that Charles would assume toward the enterprise of William of Orange the same position that the princes would take ; and he seemed likely to be successful in inducing the princes to make common cause with his master. To Schomberg, as to the rest, there had been despatched, on the very day that Coligny was wounded, a narrative of that event to be laid before the Protestant princes a narrative wherein the occurrence was deplored ; wherein Charles stated that he had taken just such measures for the apprehension of the perpetrator of the crime as he would have taken had the victim been one of his own brothers ; wherein he promised to spare neither diligence nor trouble, and to inflict condign pun- ishment, " in order that all men might know that no greater misdeed could have been committed in his kingdom, nor more displeasing to himself ; " wherein he protested his unalterable determination to maintain completely and sedulously his edict of pacification. 1 But to Schomberg, as to the other French ambassadors, there had come subsequent tidings and despatches giving the lie to all these assurances. And now, as he wrote home with some bitterness, " all his negotiations had ended in smoke." ' Their Highnesses " could not get it out of their heads " that the events of St. Bartholo- mew's Day were premeditated, with the view of enabling the Duke of Alva to make way with the forces of the Prince of Orange. So high did feeling run, that the rumor prevailed that Schomberg had been thrown into prison as an accomplice 1 See in Kluckholn, Briefe Friedrich des Frommen, ii. 482, a short letter of Charles IX. to the elector palatine, Aug. 22. 1572, referring him for details to the account which Schomberg would give him verbally; and, ibid., ii. 483, 484, the narrative signed by Charles IX. and Brulart, secretary of state, in a translation evidently made at the time for the elector's use. * " Toute ma negociation s'en estoit allee en fumee." Schomberg to M. de Limoges, Nov. 8th, De Noailles, iii. 300. 552 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cii. XIX. in the perfidy, and that Coligny's death was about to be avenged upon him. 1 Instead of forming an alliance with Charles, the Landgrave of Hesse and the three Protestant electors began instantly to concert measures of defence against what they verily believed to be a general war of extermination, set on foot by the Pope and his followers, in pursuance of the resolutions of the Coun- cil of Trent. "The princes of the Augsburg Confession," wrote Landgrave William to the Electors of Saxony and Bran- denburg, " can see in this inhuman incident, as in a mirror, how the papists are disposed toward all the professors of the pure doctrine. The Pope and his party follow even at this day the rule which they followed respecting John Huss in the Council of Constance. When it is their interest so to act, they do not deem themselves bound to keep any faith with heretics. . . . Last year the Pope and his followers obtained a glorious victory over the Turk. It is of the very nature of victories that they commonly make the victors more insolent." To Frederick the Pious, elector palatine, the landgrave wrote a day later : " There is nothing better for us Germans than to have nothing to do with them ; for neither credit nor confidence can be reposed in them." " I marvel greatly," he added, " that the admiral and the other Huguenot gentlemen, although they, too, had doubtless studied Macchiavellfs 'II Principe' the Italian lible " should have been so trustful, and should not have been too much upon their guard to suffer themselves to be enticed unarmed into so suspicious a place." * Montluc, Bishop of Valence, had just been sent to Poland to endeavor to secure the vacant throne for Henry of Anjou. His ultimate success and its consequences will be seen in In Poland. i -i -! another place. But now the attempt seemed desperate. The bishop, who was the most wily and experienced negotiator 1 A large number of Schomberg's despatches are inserted in De Noailles, iii. 286, etc. * " Als die sender zweifel die wdsclw bibd 'El principe Macchiavelli ' auch etudirt. " 3 Landgrave William to the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg, Cassel, Sept. 5, 1572 ; same to Frederick, elector palatine, Seot. Cth. A. Kiuckholn, Briefe Friedrich des Fremmen, ii. 49U-498. 1572. RECEPTIOX OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. the French court possessed, and was fully conscious of his rare qualifications, was vexed almost beyond endurance at the stu- pidity of the king and queen who had employed him. " By the despatch I send the king, and by what the Dean of Die will tell you,'' he wrote (on the twentieth of Xovember) to one of the secretaries of state, " you will learn how this unfortunate blast from France has sunk the ship which we had already brought to the mouth of the harbor. You may imagine how well pleased the person who was in command of it has reason to be when he sees that by another's fault he loses the fruit of his labors. I say another's fault, for, since a desire was felt for this kingdom, the execution which has been made might and ouirht to have been deferred." 1 Again and again Montluc ^ O O begged that there might be no repetition of such cruelties, sug- gesting that an edict, guaranteeing that no one's conscience should be constrained, might be made or fabricated. If the king had no intention of carrying it into eifect, he could at least send it to the governors, with private orders to make such disposition of it as he pleased. 3 But, above all, there must be no fresh outrages done to the Protestants. " If between this and the day of the election there were to come the news of some cruelty/' he wrote in midwinter, "we could do nothing, even had we here ten millions in gold with which to gain men over. The king and the Duke of Aiijoii will have to consider whether a purpose of revenge is of more moment to them than the acquisition of a kingdom." * 1 Bp. of Valence to M. Brulart, Konin, Nov. 20th, Colbert MSS. apud DC Noaillea, iii. 218. 'Montluc to Charles IX., January 22, 1573, De Xoailles, iii. 220. Does not the frank suggestion furnish a clue to the method which was sometimes practised in other cases ? 3 Montluc to Brulart, Jan. 20, 1573, De Xoailles, iii. 223. The worthy bishop, who was certainly at any time more at home in the cabinet than in the church, did not intermit his toil or yield to discouragement. If we may believe him, he ''had not leisure so much as to say his prayers." The panegyrists of the massacre, and especially Charpentier, had done him good service by their writings, and at one time he greatly desired that the learned doctor might be sent to his assistance, particularly as (to use his own words) " all the suite of Monsieur de I'lsle and myself do not know enough of Latin to admit a deacon to orders, even at Puy in Auvergne." Ubi supra. 554 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRAXCE. Cn. XIX. The ministers of Geneva, somewhat removed from the mists that prevented the greater part of the Huguenot leaders from svmpath of descrying the perils environing them, had long fore- the oenevese. seen ^g C0 ming catastrophe, and had in vain implored Admiral Coligny, in particular, to have a greater care for his safety. " How often have I predicted it to him ! How of ten. have I warned him ! " exclaimed Theodore Beza, in the first paroxysm of grief at the assassination of his noble friend. 1 The city government, participating in the same apprehensions, early in the fatal month of August, 1572, instructed some of the reformed ministers who had occasion to revisit their native land on private business, to hasten out of a country where they were exposed to the treachery of a Florentine woman. 2 Their solici- tude was only too well grounded. On Saturday, the thirtieth of August, some merchants arrived in Geneva from Lyons, with the appalling intelligence that their Protestant countrymen were everywhere the victims of unparalleled cruelty. From the inn they went on without delay to the city hall, and narrated to the magistrates the revolting atrocities of which they had been eye- witnesses. They besought the city to prepare hospitable shelter and food for the throng of refugees who would soon make their appearance, having scarce escaped the bloody snares in which their brethren in great numbers had lost their lives." " The frightful news," writes the historian of the Genevan church, describing the scene, " courses through the city with the speed of lightning : the shops are closed, and the citizens assemble on the public squares. They know, by past experience, the burdens and sacrifices that await men of good-will. Within doors., the women get in readiness an abundance of clothing, of medicines, and of food. The magistrates send wagons and litters to the villages of the district of Gex ; and the peasants with their pastors take their station upon the border, to obtain intelligence and to render assistance to the first that may arrive. They have not long to wait. On the first of September a few travellers 1 Beza to Thomas Tilius, Sept. 10, 1572, Bulletin, vii. 16. 5 Registres de la compagnie, ler ao&t, 1572, apud Gaberel, Histoire de 1'eglise de Geneve, ii. 320. * Reg. du conseil, 30 aoilt, 1572 ; Reg. de la compagnie, Gaberel, ii. 321. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 555 make their appearance, pale, worn out with fatigue, scarcely answering the greeting they receive. They cannot credit the reality of their deliverance. For days death has been lying in wait for them at the threshold of every village. Soon their numbers increase. The wounded uncover the wounds they have carefully concealed, that they might not be taken for reformers. They declare that, since the twenty-sixth of August, the country and the cities have been deluged with the blood of their brethren." ' Nobly did the citizens of the little commonwealth welcome the scarred and bleeding confessors of their faith, contending with magnanimous rivalry for the most cruelly mangled, and carrying them in triumph into their homes and to their frugal boards. Not one refugee was suffered to find his way to the city hall ; and there was no need of any public distribution of alms.' "\Vithin a few days twenty-three hundred families of French Protestants were gathered in the hospitable inclosure of Geneva. Besides those that subsequently returned to France, on the arrival of more propitious times, more than two hundred of these families yet remain, comprising the most honorable citizens of the republic.' A solemn fast was instituted. In the presence of the remark- able assembly gathered in the old cathedral of Saint Pierre, no word of threatening, no prayer for vengeance was uttered. But a firm conviction of the power and goodness of God seemed to dwell in every heart, and was uttered in impressive words by Theodore Beza since Calvin's death, eight years before, the leading theologian of Geneva. " The hand of the Lord is not shortened," said the reformer. " He will not suffer a hair of our head to fall to the ground without His will. Let us not, therefore, be at all affrighted because of the plot of the men who have unjustly devised to put us all to death with our wives and our children. Let us rather be assured, that, if the Lord 1 Gaberel, ii. 321, 311. s lbid.,ii. 322. s Ibid., iL 307. See also in the Pieces justificatives, pp. 213-217 : " Liste des refngies de la St. Barthelemy dont les families existent de nos jours a Geneve." 556 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. has ordained to deliver all or any of us, none shall be able to resist Him. If it shall please Him that we all die, let us not fear; for it is our Father's good pleasure to give us another home, which is the heavenly kingdom, in which there is no change, no poverty, no want, no tear, no crying, no mourning, no sorrow, but, on the contrary, eternal joy and blessedness. It is far better to be lodged with the beggar Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, than with the rich man, with Cain, with Saul, with Herod, or with Judas, in hell. Meanwhile, we must drink the cup which the Lord has prepared for us, each according to his portion. We must not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ, nor be loth to drink the gall of which He has first drunk : knowing that our sorrow shall be turned into joy, and that we shall laugh in our turn, when the wicked shall weep and gnash their teeth." l Twenty Huguenot pastors from France were among the refugees, and were kindly invited to take part in the honorable office of preaching in the churches. They preferred, however, to sit among the hearers, and listen to the sermons of Beza and his venerated colleagues.* Heaven smiled on the generous hospitality of the little re- public. The plague, which had been raging in Geneva, dis- appeared simultaneously with the arrival of the fugitives from 1 Gaberel, ii. 325. The author of the really able and learned article on the massacre, in the North British Review for October, 1869, conveys an altogether unfounded and cruel impression, not only with regard to Beza, but respecting his fellow Protestants, in these sentences : " The very men whose own brethren had perished in France were not hearty or unanimous in execrating the deed. There were Huguenots who thought that their party had brought ruin on it- self, by provoking its enemies and following the rash counsels of ambitious men. This was the opinion of their chief, Theodore Beza, himself," etc. The belief of Beza that the French Protestants had merited even so severe a chastisement as this at the hands of God, by reason of the ambition of some and the unbelief or lack of spirituality of others, was a very different thing from failing to execrate the deed with heartiness. If the words of Bullinger to Hotman, quoted in support of the first sentence ("sunt tamen qui hoc fac- tum et excusare etdefendere tentant") really referred to Protestants at all, it can only have been to an insignificant number who took the position from a love of singularity, and who were below contempt. The execration of the deed was pre-eminently unanimous and hearty. Gaberel, ii, 320. 1573. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 5.~7 France. 1 Still the burden which their hosts had assumed was by no means light. They were not rich, and the o?ityand rigorous winter that followed would have reduced them to great straits even without this additional drain upon their resources. Besides, they had incurred the dangerous enmity of the King of France. While professing deep gratitude to the Genevese for the advice they had given to the Protestants of Xismes to liberate the agents of the royal court, who had been sent to procure their destruction, but had been discovered and incarcerated, Charles the Ninth was in secret plotting the ruin of the city which furnished an asylum to so many of his persecuted subjects. At one time the danger was imminent. The Duke of Savoy was reported to have col- lected an army of eighteen thousand men near Chambery and Annecy, while rumors of domestic treachery took so definite a form, that it was said that two hundred papal soldiers in the disguise of Protestant refugees were lurking in Geneva itself. On the other hand, the Roman Catholic cantons of Fribourg and Soleure, when on the point of joining Berne and Zurich in sending assistance, undertook to stipulate for the reinstatement of the mass within the walls of Geneva ; and the Genevese, who, whatever other faults they might possess, were no cowards, de- clined an alliance upon such conditions.* But the threatened contest of arms never came. By one of those strange turns of affairs, which, from their frequent recurrence in the history of Geneva, an impartial beholder can scarcely interpret otherwise than as interpositions of providence in behalf of a city that was destined for ages to be a safe refuge for the oppressed confess- ors of a purer faith, the storm was dissipated as rapidly as it had gathered. The bodily ailments of Charles the Kinth were, humanly speaking, the salvation of Geneva.' In other parts of Switzerland the King of France made great 1 Bezato T. Tilius, Dec. 3, 1572, Bulletin de la Soc. de 1'hist. du prot. fr., Tii. 17. 8 Gaberel. ii. 330-3::". 3 Nearly four years later, on the 8th of June. 1576, Monsieur de Chandieu received the news of the publication of Henry III. 'a edict of peace permitting the refugees to return home. All the Protestants who had not adopted Switzerland as their future country congregated at Geneva. A solemn re- THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. efforts to counteract the injurious influence upon his interests which the intelligence of the massacre could but exert. Almost immediately after the events of the last week of August, the royal ambassador, Monsieur de la Fontaine, and the treasurer whom the French monarch was accustomed to keep in Switzer- land, were instructed to write out an account for the benefit of his Majesty's " best and perfect friends," " the magnificent seig- niors," wherein among the numerous falsehoods with which they attempted to feed the unsophistical mountaineers, was at least a single truth : " This young and magnanimous prince, since his accession to the throne, has, so to speak, reaped only thorns in place of a sceptre." l A little later M. de Bellievre, his special envoy at the diet of Baden, was profuse in assurances to the effect that the deed was impression at not premeditated, but had been rendered necessary by the machinations of the admiral " a wretched man, or rather, not a man, but a furious and irreconcilable beast who had lost all fear of God and man." He particularly defended the king from all responsibility for the excesses that had been committed, insisting that it was the people that " had taken the bit in its teeth," while Charles, Anjou, and Alen9on, did their best to check its mad impetuosity, and Catharine felt " unspeak- able regret." 2 But the envoy had little reason to congratulate ligions service was held in the church of Saint Pierre, where French and Genevese united in that favorite Huguenot psalm (the 118th) La voici 1'heureuse journee Que Dieu a faite a plein desir the same which the soldiers of Henry IV. set up on the field of Coutras (Agrippa d'Aubigne, iii. 53). M. de Chandieu then rendered thanks in tender and affectionate terms to all the departments of government, exclaiming : 41 We shall always regard the Church of Geneva as our benefactress and our mother ; and from all the French reformed churches will arise, every Sunday, words of blessing, in remembrance of your admirable benefits to us. " The next day the refugees started for their homes, accompanied, as far as the border, by a great crowd of citizens. Gaberel, ii. 337, 338. 1 Les ambassadeurs de Charles IX. aux cantons suisses protestants, Bulletin, iii. 274-276. A copy was sent by Beza to the consuls of Montauban, together with a letter, Oct. 3. 1572. Also Mem. de 1'estat (Arch. cur., vii. 158-161.) Harangue de M. de Bellievre aux Suisses a la diette tenue a Baden, Mackintosh, Hist, of England, iii. , Appendix L. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 559 himself upon his success. " Sire," he wrote with some disgust to his master, " it is all but impossible to get it out of the heads of the Protestants, that your Majesty's intention is to join the rest of the Catholic princes, in order by force to put (the decrees of) the Council of Trent into execution in their countries." They would not be satisfied entirely by Bellievre's plausible ex- planations. " Simple and rude people are violently excited by such things, and are very difficult to be reassured." ' Charles the Ninth stood convicted in the eyes of the world of a great crime. No elaborate vindications, by their sophistry, or by barefaced misstatements of facts, could clear him, in the judg- ment of impartial men of either creed, from the guilt of such a butchery of his subjects as scarcely another monarch on record had ever perpetrated. Medals were early struck in honor of MedaiB and the event, upon which " valor and piety " the king's nations. mo ^ o we re represented as gloriously exhibited in the destruction of rebels and heretics. 11 But the wise regarded it as " a cruelty worse than Scythian," and deplored the realm where " neither piety nor justice restrained the malice and sword of the raging populace." " The Protestants of all countries and they were his natural allies against Spanish ambition for world-em- pire had forever lost confidence in the honor of Charles of Valois. Multis minatur, qui uni facit, injuriam. " If that king be author and doer of this act," wrote the Earl 1 Bellievre to Charles EX., Baden, Dec. 15, 1572, Mackintosh, App. L, p. 360. De Thou, iv. (liv. liii.) 642. * As early as September 3d the superintendent of the mint submitted speci- mens of two kinds of commemorative medals : the one bearing the devices, ' ' Virt us in RebeHes " and ' 'Pietas excilavit Jwtitiam ; " and the other, ' ' Chark IX. dompteur de RebeUes, k 24 aoust 1572." The Mem. de 1'estat (Archives cur. , vii. 355-357) contain the elaborate description furnished by the designer, accompanied with comments by the Protestant author. The Tresor de Nu- mismatique, etc. (Paul Delaroche, etc.), Med. frangaises, pt. 3d, plate 19, Nos. 3, 4, and 5, gives facsimiles of three medals, the first two mentioned above, and a third on which Charles figures as Hercules armed with sword and torch confronting the three-headed Hydra of heresy. The motto ia, " Ne ferrum temnat. simul ignibus obsto." 3 Smith to Walsingham, Digges, 252. SCO THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. of Leicester, expressing the common judgment of the civilized world, " shame and confusion light upon him ; be he never so strong in the sight of men, the Lord hath not His power for naught. ... If he continue in confirming the fact, and allowing the persons that did it, then must he be a prince de- tested of all honest men, what religion soever they have ; for as his fact was ugly, so was it inhumane. For whom should a man trust, if not his prince's word ; and these men he hath put to slaughter, not only had his word, but his writing, and not pub- lic, but private, with open proclamations and all other manner of declarations that could be devised for the safety, which now being violated and broken, who can believe and trust him ? " ! Upon the king himself the results of the fearful atrocities which he had been induced by his mother and brother to sanc- tion, were equally lasting and disastrous. The change Disastrous u J elects of the was startling even to those who were its chief cause : massacre on _ 1111-11 r Charles him- from a gentle boy he had become transformed into a morose and cruel man. " The king is grown now so bloody-minded," writes one who enjoyed good opportunities of observing him, " as they that advised him thereto do repent the same, and do fear that the old saying will prove true, " Malum consilium consultori pessimum" '' The story of the frenzy of Charles who, on one occasion, seemed to be resolved to take the lives of Navarre and Conde, unless they should instantly recant, and was only prevented by the entreaties of his young wife, may be exaggerated. 3 But certain it is that the unhappy king was the victim of haunting memories of the past, which, while con- tinually robbing him of peace of mind, sometimes drove him to the borders of madness. Agrippa d'Aubigne tells us, on the often repeated testimony of Henry of Navarre, that one night, a week after the massacre, Charles leaped up in affright from 1 Leicester to Walsingham, Sept. llth, Digges, 251. 8 Walsingham to Smith, Nov. 1, Digges, 279. The politic Montluc, Bishop of Valence, seems to allude to the same alteration in his master : " Au diable eoyt la cause qui de tant de maux est cause, et qui d'nng bon roy et humain, s'il en fust jamais, 1'ont contrainct de mectre la main au sang, qui est nn morceau si f riant, que jamais prince u'en tasta qu'U n'y voulust revenir." De Noailles. iii. 223, 224. 3 Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 29, 30. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 501 his bed, and summoned his gentlemen of the bedchamber, as well as his brother-in-law, to listen to a confused sound of cries of distress and lamentations, similar to that which he had heard on the eventful night of the butchery. So convinced was he that his ears had not deceived him, that he gave orders that the new attack which he fancied to be made upon the partisans of Montmorency should at once be repressed by his guards. It was not until the soldiers returned with the assurance that every- thing was quiet throughout the city, that he consented to retire to his rest again. For an entire week the delusive cries seemed to return at the self-same hour.' These fancies the creations of his fevered brain may soon have left him, not to return until the general closing in at the death-bed. But there were marks of the violence of the passions of which he was the victim in his altered mien and deportment. Even before the event that has fixed upon him an infamous notoriety, he acted at times like a madman in the indulgence of his whims and coarse tastes. Sir Thomas Smith, five months before the fatal St. Bartholomew's Day, wrote of "his inordinate hunting, so early in the morning and so late at night, without sparing frost, snow or rain, and in so desperate doings as makes her (his mother) and them that love him to be often in great fear." 1 But now the picture, as faithfully drawn by the friendly hand of the Venetian ambassador, early in the year 1574, is stili more pitiful. Ilis countenance had become sad and forbidding. AVhen obliged to give audience to the representatives of foreign powers, as well as in his ordinary interviews, he avoided the glance of those who addressed him. He bent his head toward the ground and shut his eyes. At short intervals he would open them with a start, and in a moment, as though the effort caused him pain, he would close them again with no less sudden- ness. " It is feared," adds the writer, " that the spirit of ven- geance has taken possession of him; formerly he was only severe, now his friends dread lest he will become cruel." He must at all hazards tind hard work to do. He was on horse- back for twelve or fourteen consecutive hours, and pursued the 1 Agrippa d'AubignS, ii. 29 (liv. i., c. 6). Letter of May 22, 157$, Digges, 193. VOL. II. CG 562 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XIX. same deer for two or three days, stopping only to take nourish- ment, or snatch a little rest at night. His hands were scarred and callous. When in the palace, his passion for violent exer- cise drove him to the forge, where for three or four hours he would work without intermission, with a ponderous hammer f ashioning a cuirass or some other piece of armor, and exhibit- ing more pride in being able to tire out his gentle competitors, than in more royal accomplishments. 1 "We have no means of tracing accurately the influence of the massacre upon others. The Abbe Brantome, however, early pointed out the remarkable fact that of those who took a principal part in the work of murder and rapine many soon after met with violent deaths, either at the siege of La Rochelle or in the ensuing wars, and that the riches they had so iniquitously accumulated profited them little." Before dismissing the consideration of the stupendous crime for which Divine vengeance to use the words of Sully " made France atone by twenty-six consecutive years of disas- ter, carnage, and horror," 3 it is at once interesting and impor- tant to glance at a historical question which still agitates the HOW far was world, and for a correct and impartial solution of ch e u rch m re n which we are, perhaps, more favorably situated than sponsitie? were even the contemporaries of the event. I allude to the inquiry respecting the extent to which the Roman Church, and the Pope in particular, must be held responsible for the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. 1 Relation of Sigismondo Cavalli. I follow the resume of Baschet, La diplomatie venitienne, 556, 562. 5 "Leurs butins et richesses ne leur proffitarent point, non plus qu'a plu- sieurs massacreurs, sacquemens, pillardz et paillards de la feste de Sainct- Barthelemy que j'ay cogneu, au moins des principaux, qui ne vesquirent guieres longtemps qu'ils ne fussent tuez au siege de la Rochelle, et autres guerres qui vindrent empres, et qui furent aussi pauvres que devant. Aussi, comme disoient les Espagnolz pillards, ' Que el diablo les ama dado, el diablo les ama Uevado.' 1 " CEuvres, i. 277 (Ed. of Hist. Soc. of Fr., 1864). I need only refer to the fate of the famous assassin who boasted of having killed four hundred men that day with his own arm, and who afterward, having embraced a her- mit's life, was finally hung for the crime of murdering travellers (Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 20) ; and to that of Coconnas, put to death for the part he took in the conspiracy of which I shall shprtly have to speak. * M.-moires de Sully, i. 28, 29, 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 5C3 So far as Queen Catharine was concerned (and the same is true of some of her advisers), it is admitted by all that no zeal for reli- gion controlled her conduct. A dissolute and ambitious woman, and, moreover, almost an avowed atheist, she could not have acted from a sincere but mistaken belief that it was her duty to exterminate heresy. But among the inferior agents it can scarcely be doubted that there were some who believed them- selves to be doing God service in ridding the world of the ene- mies of His church. Had not the preachers in their sermons ex- tolled the deed as the most meritorious that could be performed, and as furnishing an unquestionable passport to paradise ? The number, however, of these religious assassins if so we may style them could be but small in comparison with the multi- tude of those to whom religion served merely as a pretext, while cupidity or partisan hatred was the true motive ; men who, nevertheless, derived their incentive from the lessons of their spiritual guides, and who would never have dreamed of giving loose rein to their passions, but for the suggestions of these sanguinary teachers. At the bar of history the priesthood that countenanced assassination must be held no less accountable for the actions of this class than for the deeds of more sincere devotees. It is immaterial to the question of the responsibility of the Papal Church, whether the queen mother and the king's minis- ters were honest, or were Roman Catholics, or, indeed, Christians only in name. If the Pope had for years, by letter and by his accredited agents, been insinuating that the life of a heretic was a thing of little value ; if he systematically advocated a war of extermination, and opposed every negotiation for peace, every truce, ever)' edict of pacification that did not look to the anni- hilation of the Huguenots ; if lie had familiarized the minds of king and queen with the thought of justifiable massacre, it is of little importance to ascertain whether his too ready pupils executed the injunction from a pure desire to further the in- terests of the Papal See, or with more selfish designs. Un- fortunately for humanity and for religion, the course I have indicated was that which had been consistently and mdefatiir- ably pursued during the entire pontificate of Pius the Fifth, 564 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. and during the few months that had elapsed since the election of his successor. Contrary to the firm persuasion of the Protestants who wrote contemporary accounts of the massacre, we must in all proba- bility, as we have already seen, 1 acquit Gregory the Thirteenth Greporyprob- of any knowledge of the disaster impending over of tbente w n a d r - e the admiral and the Huguenots. It was what he ed massacre. w ig] ie( J f or an( J pra yed for, bllt with little llOpe of seeing the accomplishment. In fact, he was brought to the verge of despair in respect to the hold of the papacy upon the kingdom of France. !N uncio Salviati, at Paris, had, indeed, con- ceived the hope that some disaster would befal the Huguenots in consequence of Coligny's imprudence and the desperation of the queen mother and of the Roman Catholic party at finding the authority slipping from their hands. But his astonishment and that of the pontiff at the general massacre of the Protes- tants was surpassed only by their common delight. The frag- ments of the despatches from Salviati to the Roman secretary of state, which have been suffered to find their way into print, seem to settle this point beyond all controversy. "We have in previous chapters seen the Pope assisting Charles with money and troops in the prosecution of the last two wars Pius h Fft a amst tne Huguenots. But this aid was accompanied instigates the with perpetual exhortations to do the work thoroughly, French court. , J i_ 1 11 and not to repeat the mistakes committed by his pre- decessors. " That heresy cannot be tolerated in the same kingdom with the worship of the Catholic religion," writes Pius the Fifth to Sigismund Augustus of Poland, "is proved by that very example of the kingdom of France, which your Majesty brings up for the purpose of excusing yourself. If the former kings of France had not suffered this evil to grow by neglect and indul- gence, they would easily have been able to extirpate heresy and secure the peace and quiet of their realm." 3 Of all the leaders of the day, the Duke of Alva alone earned, by his unrelenting 1 See ante, p. 530-532. 2 Apostolicarum Pii Quinti Epistolarum libri quinque. Letter of March 26, 1508, p. 73. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 565 destruction of heretics, the unqualified approval of the pontiff. "When the tidings of the successes of the " Blood Coun- the cruelties cil " reached Rome, Pius could not contain himself for joy. He must congratulate the duke, and spur him on in a course upon which the blessing of Heaven so manifestly rested. " Nothing can occur to us," said he, u more glorious for the dignity of the Church, or more delightful to the truly paternal disposition of our mind to all men, than when we perceive that warriors and very brave generals, such as we previously knew you to be and now find you in this most perilous war, consult not their own interest, nor their own glory alone, but war in be- half of that Almighty God who stands ready to crown His soldiers contending for Him and His glory, not with a corruptible crown, but with one that is eternal and fadeth not away." ' With this express indorsement of Alva's merciless cruelty before us, it is not difficult to understand what Pius demanded of Charles of France. Early in 1569, while sending the Duke of He repeatedly Sforza with auxiliaries, he wrote to the king: "When minadn/thf" God shall by His kindness have given to you and to us, as we hope, the victory, it will be your duty to punish the heretics and their leaders with all severity, and thus justly to avenge not only your own wrongs, but those of Almighty God : in order that, by your execution of the righteous judgment of God, they may pay the penalty which they have deserved by their crimes." 11 After the battle of Jarnac and Conde's death, we have seen that Pius wrote promptly, bidding Charles u pursue and destroy the remnants of the enemy, and wholly tear up not only the roots of an evil so great and which had gathered to itself such strength, but even the very fibres of the roots." He begged him not to spare those who had not spared God nor their king. 3 To Catharine and to the Duke of Anjou, to the Cardinal of Bourbon, and to the Cardinal of Lor- raine, the same language was addressed. Again and again the Pi'pe held up the example of Saul, who disregarded the com- mands of the Lord through Samuel and spared the Amalekites, 1 Pii Quinti Epistolse, 111. Ibid., 150. 3 Ibid., 152. See ante, chapter xvi., p. COS. 566 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XIX. as a solemn warning against disobedience. To the queen mother he said : " Under no circumstances and from no con- siderations ought the enemies of God to be spared. 1 If your Majesty shall continue, as heretofore, to seek with right purpose of mind and a simple heart the honor of Almighty God, and shall assail the foes of the Catholic religion openly and freely even to extermination, 2 be well assured that the Divine assist- ance will never fail, and that still greater victories will be pre- pared by God for you and for the king your son, until, when all shall have been destroyed, the pristine worship of the Catho- lic religion shall be restored to that most illustrious realm." J The Duke of Anjou was urged to incite his brother to punish the rebels with great severity, and to be inexorable in refusing the prayers of all who would intercede for them/ Charles was given to understand that if, induced by any motives, he should defer the punishment of God's enemies, he would certainly tempt the Divine patience to change to anger. 5 The victory of Moncontour furnished an occasion for fresh exhortations to the king not to neglect to inflict upon the ene- mies of Almighty God the punishments fixed by the laws. " For what else would this be," said Pius, " than to make of no eifect the blessing of God, namely, victory itself, whose fruit indeed consists in this, that by just punishment the execrable heretics, common enemies, having been taken away, the former peace and tranquillity should be restored to the kingdom. And do not allow yourself, by the suggestion of the empty name of pity, to be deceived so far as to seek, by pardoning Divine injuries, to obtain false praise for compassion ; for nothing is more cruel than that pity and compassion which is extended to the impious and those who deserve the worst of torments." * The 1 "Nullo modo, nullisque de causis, hostibus Dei parcendum est." 5 " Catholicae religionis hostes aperte ac libere ad internecionem usque oppugnaverit." Ibid., 155. 3 " Deletis omnibus," etc. Ibid., 155. 4 Ibid., 160, 161. 5 Ibid., 166. * "Nee vero, vano pietatis nomine objecto, te eo usque decipi sinas, ut con- donandis divinis injuriis falsara tibi misericordise laudem quasras: nihil est enim ea pietate misericordiaque crudelius, quse in impios et ultima supplicia meritos confertur." Ibid., 242. 1572. RECEPTION OF THE TIDINGS ABROAD. 567 work begun by victories in the field was, therefore, to be com- pleted by the institution of inquisitors of the faith in every city, and the adoption of such other measures as might, with God's help, at length create the kingdom anew and restore it to its former state.' As often as rumors of negotiations for peace reached him, Pius was in anguish of soul, and wrote to Charles, to Catharine, to Anjou, to the French cardinals, in almost the same words. He protested that, as light has no communion with darkness, so no compact between Catholics and heretics could be other than feigned and full of treachery." As the prospect of peace grew more distinct, his prognostications of coming disaster grew darker, and sounded almost like threats. Even if the heretics, in concluding the peace, had no intention of laying snares, God would put it into their minds as a punishment to the king. " Now, how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, who is wont not only to chastise the corrupt manners of men by war, but, on account of the sins of kings and people, to dash kingdoms in pieces, and to transfer them from their ancient masters to new ones, is too evident to need to be proved by examples." ' When at last the peace of Saint Germain was definitely concluded, the Pope did not cease to lament over " a pacification in which the conquered heretics imposed upon the victorious king conditions so horrible and so pernicious that he could not speak of them without tears." And he expressed at the same time his paternal fears lest the young Charles and those who had consented to the unholy compact would be given over to a reprobate mind, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not hear. 4 To his last breath Pius retained the same thirst for the blood of the heretics of France. He violently opposed the marriage of the king's sister to Henry of Navarre, and instructed his envoy at the French court to bring up again that " matter of 1 " Haereticae pravitatis inquisitores per singulas civitates constituere." Ibid., 242. 1 Letter of Jan. 29, 1570, ibid., 267. 3 Letter of April 23, 1570, ibid., '2i:>. 4 Letter to Cardinal Bourbon, Sept. 23, 1570, ibid.. 282, 283. 568 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cu. XIX. conciliation so fatal to the Catholics." ' His last letters are a:; sanguinary as his first. Meanwhile his acts corresponded with his words, and left the King of France and riis mother in no doubt respecting the value which the pretended vicegerent of God upon earth, and the future saint," set upon the life of a heretic ; for, when the town of Mornas was on one occasion captured by the Roman Catholic forces, and a number of pris- oners were taken, Pius " such," his admiring biographer in- forms us, " was his burning zeal for religion " ransomed them from the hands of their captors, that he might have the satis- faction of ordering their public execution in the pontifical city of Avignon ! 3 And when the same holy father learned that Count Santa Fiore, the commander of the papal troops sent to Charles's assistance, had accepted the offer of a ransom for the life of a distinguished Huguenot nobleman, he wrote to him complaining bitterly that he had disobeyed his orders, which were that every heretic that fell into his hands should straight- way be put to death. 4 As, however, Pius wanted not Hugue- not treasure, but Huguenot blood, with more consistency than 1 Letter to Charles IX., January 25, 1572, ibid., 443. 5 Saint Pins V. is, I believe, the only pope that has been canonized since Saint Celestine V. , near the end of the thirteenth century. 3 " Qui autem a militibus captivi ducebantur, eos Pius pretio redemptos, in jusque sibi vindicates, atque Avenionem perductos, publico supplicio affici- endos pro ardenti suo rdigionis studio decrevit." Gabutius, Vita Pii Quinti, Acta Sanctorum Maii, 97, p. 642. 4 " Id Pius ubi cognovit, de Comite Sanctze Florae conquestus est, quod jussa non fecisset, dudum imperantis, necandos protinus es-te hareticos omites quoscumque Ule capere potuisset." Ibid.. 125. It must not be forgotten that, in holding these sentiments, Pius V. did not stand alone ; his prede- cessors on the pontifical throne were of the same mind. We have seen the anger of Paul IV., in 1558, upon learning that Henry II. had spared D'Andelot (see ante, chapter viii. , vol. i., p. 320). Paul was for instantaneous execu- tion, and did not believe a heretic could ever de converted. He told the French ambassador ' ' que c'estoit abus d'estimer que un heretique revint jarnais ; que ce n'estoit que toute dissimulation, et que c'estoit un mal on il ne falloit que le feu, et soubdain ! " The last expression is a clue to the attitude of the Roman See to heresy under every successive occupant of the papal throne. Letter of La Bourdaisiere to the constable, Rome, Feb. 25, 150 ( J, MS. Nat. Lib. Paris, Bulletin, xxvii. (1378) 105, 15?a THE MASSACRE AT ORLEANS. 569 at first appears, he ordered the captive nobleman whose head had been spared to be released without ransom.' "With such continual papal exhortations to bloodshed, before us, with such suggestive examples of the treatment which here- tics ought, according to the pontiff, to receive, and in the light of the extravagant joy displayed at Rome over the consumma- tion of the massacre, we can scarcely hesitate to find the head of the Roman Catholic Church guilty if not, by a happy acci- dent, of having known or devised the precise mode of its execution, at least of having long instigated and paved the way for the commission of the crime. "Without the teachings of Pius the Fifth, the conspiracy of Catharine and Anjou would have been almost impossible. Without the preaching of priests and friars at Lent and Advent, the passions of the low popu- lace could not have been inflamed to such a pitch as to render it capable of perpetrating atrocities which will forever render the reign of Charles the Xinth infamous in the French annals. One of the most vivid accounts of the massacre in any city outside of Paris is the contemporary narrative of Johann Wilhelm von Botzheim, a young Ger- man, who was at the time pursuing his studies in Orleans. It A German ac- , ., , , , - ., . . count of the forms the sequel to the description of the Parisian massacre, to massacre at which reference has already been made several times, and was 1 )t.i n:.-. * first published by Dr. F. W. Ebeling, in his " Archivalische Bei- trage zur Geschichte Frankreichs unter Carl IX." (Leipsic, 1872), 129-189. It was also translated into French by M. Charles Read, for the number of the Bulletin de la Societe de 1'histoire du protestantisme fran72. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 573 But when the storm had spent its first fury, and it became once more possible to look around and measure its frightful La Rochciie effects, it was found that the devastation was not uni- cu?efin e rrot- versal. A few cities held for the Huguenots. La eant hands. R oc } ie ii e an d Sancerre the former on the western coast, the latter in the centre of France with Montauban, Isismes, Milhau, Aubenas, Privas, and certain other places of minor importance in the south, closed their gates, and refused to receive the royal governors sent them from Paris. 1 K.-t that there were wanting those, even among the Protestants, who interposed conscientious scruples, and denied the right of resistance to the authority of the king ; * but with the vast ma- jority the dictates of self-preservation prevailed over the slavish doctrine of unquestioning submission. The right to worship God as lie commands cannot, they argued, be abridged even by the legitimate sovereign ; and in this case there is even the greatest probability that he acts under constraint, or that wily courtiers forge his name, since the most contradictory orders emanate ostensibly from him. Such wa? the attitude assumed by the brave inhabitants of Kismes. Here the Roman Catholics had displayed a more charitable disposition than in many other places. The " juge mage," on receipt of secret orders to mas- sacre the Protestants, instead of complying, gave directions for assembling the extraordinary council, consisting of the magis- trates and most notable citizens. By this council, upon his recommendation, it was unanimously resolved to close all the gates of Kismes, with the exception of one. This was to be guarded in turn by the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. All the citizens were directed to take a common oath that they would assist each other without distinction of creed, and main- that many Huguenots of little courage, who at first apostatized, afterward returned to their old faith. Thus, the edition of 1575 reads (iv. 51 v. ) : " Vix enim dici possit, qnam multi ad primum ilium impetum a Religione resilue- rint, mortis amittendarumque facultatum metu, quorum plerique etiamnum haerent in luto." The words I have italicized are omitted in the edition of 1577, as quoted by Soldan. ii 473. 1 Jean de Serres. iv., fol. 61. * Ib., ubi supra. 574 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. tain order and security, in obedience to the king's authority, and according to the provisions of his edict of pacification. It was a solemn scene when all those present in the great muni- cipal meeting, the vicar-general of the diocese among the num- ber, with uplifted hands called upon God to witness their en- gagement.' The oath was well observed. The Viscount of Joyeuse, acting as lieutenant-governor of Charles in Languedoc, at first approved the compact ; for the king's early letters, as we have seen, expressed indignation at Coligny's murder, and ascribed it to the personal enmity of the Guises. But the vis- count took a different view of the matter when the monarch, throwing off the mask, himself accepted the responsibility. Joyeuse now called on the citizens of Nismes to lay down their arms, to expel all the refugees, and to receive a garrison. But the Nismois firmly declined the summons, grounding their re- fusal partly on their duty to themselves, partly on the manifest inhumanity of surrendering their fellow-citizens to certain butchery. As was true in more than one instance, it was the people that, by their decision, saved the rich from the inevita- ble results of their own timid counsels. Most of the judges of the royal court of justice, and most of the opulent citizens, ad- vocated a surrender of Nismes to Joyeuse, which must have been the prelude to a fresh and perhaps indiscriminate massa- cre.' Scarcely less important to the Protestants of southern France was the refuge they found in Montauban. Regnier, the same Huguenot gentleman who had himself been rescued Montauban. . r> u <. rrom slaughter at Fans by the magnanimity or Vezins,' was the instrument of its deliverance. On finding himself safe, his first impulse was to hasten to Montauban and urge his brethren to adopt instant measures for self-defence. But despair had taken possession of the inhabitants. They had heard that the dreaded black cavalry of the ferocious Montluc, 1 Borrel, Histoire de 1'eglise reformee de Nfmcs (Toulouse, 1856), pp. 77, 78, from Archives of the Hotel -de-ville. J. de Serres, iv. , f ols. 68-70 ; Borrel, Hist, de 1'egL re"f. de Nimes, 78, 79 ; De Thou, iv. 663. " See ante, chapter xviii., p. 480. 1572. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 570 the men-at-arms of Fontenille, and other troops, were on the march against them. Their enemies were already reported to be so near the city as Castel-Sarrasin. Not a gate, therefore, w< mid the panic-stricken citizens close ; not a sword would they draw. Nothiiif was left but for Resriiier, with the little band O O * of less than forty followers he had gathered, to abandon the de- voted place. As he was wandering about the country, uncertain whither to betake himself, he unexpectedly fell in with the very enemy before whom Montauban was quailing. Neither Regnier nor his handful of followers hesitated. It was a glorious oppor- tunity for the display of heroism in a good cause, for there were ten Roman Catholics to one Protestant. Happily the ground was favorable to the display of individual prowess ; a river and a tributary brook rendered the field so contracted that only a few men could fight abreast. " Brethren and comrades,'' cried Regnier, " whether for life or for combat, there is no other road than this." Then putting forward a detachment of ten horsemen headed by an experienced leader, when he saw the enemy pause to put on their helmets, he seized the opportunity in true Huguenot fashion to act as the minister of his followers, and uttered a brief prayer, devout and courageous. Next came the charge, such as those men of iron determination knew well how to make. The van of the enemy made no attempt to resist them ; the cavalry in the centre was driven back in confusion upon the mounted arquebusiers of the rear. The fight became in a few minutes a disgraceful rout, and for a whole league the handful of Huguenots continued the pursuit. Of nearly four hundred royalists, eighty were killed and fifty captured. When luirnier, returning to Montauban, brought the flags of the enemy and a body of prisoners outnumbering his own band, the citizens renounced their fears, accepted the omen as a pledge of Divine assistance, and cast in their lot with their brethren of La Rochelle. 1 1 Agrippa d'Aubigm : . Hist, univ., ii. 38 (liv. i., c. 8). Neither De Thou, iv. (liv. liii.) 059, nor J. de Serres (either in his Coramentaria de statu rel. et reip., iv. 68, or in his Inventaire general de 1'histoire de France, Geneve, 1619), makes any allusion to Reamer's combat, while the former expressly, and the latter by implication, refer to his ag-ency in persuading the inhabitants of C76 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. For La Rochelle had now become the centre of interest, and Montauban, Kisines, and even Sancerre, whose brave and obsti- nate siege will soon occupy us, were for the time La Rochelle i n T . i > the centre of almost whollv dismissed from consideration. The interest. , ., ". _ strongly lortmed Protestant town, the only point upon the shores of the ocean which during the former civil wars had defied every assault of the papal leaders, was now the safe and favorite refuge of the Huguenots, and the coveted prey of the enemy. Within a very short time after the massacre, a stream of fugitives set in toward La Rochelle. It was not long before her hospitable walls sheltered fifty of the Protestant nobles of the neighboring provinces, fifty-five ministers, and fifteen hundred soldiers, chiefly, from Saintonge, Aunis, and Poitou. Among the new-comers were not a few who had with difficulty escaped from the bloody scenes at Paris. 1 All were inspired with the same courage, all possessed by the same de- termination to sell their lives as dear as possible ; for the suc- cessive accounts of the cruelties perpetrated in all parts of France left no doubt respecting the fate of the Rochellois should they too succumb. And there were not wanting circumstances of an alarming nature. At Brouage, then a flourishing port some twenty- five miles south of La Rochelle, a considerable body of troops had been gathered under Philip Strozzi, the chief officer of the French infantry, while a fleet was in course of preparation under the well-known Baron de la Garde. This occurred previously to the massacre. The force, it was given out, was intended for a secret expedition against the Spaniards. "While the Hugue- nots of Coligny, forming a junction with the troops of "William of Orange, should attack Alva in Flanders, Strozzi and La Garde were to make a diversion upon the coasts of Spain itself. But the inhabitants of La Rochelle gave little credit to this explana- tion, and even the personal assurances of the admiral had not entirely removed their fears that their own destruction was in- Montaubau to espouse the Protestant cause in arms. I incline to think, nevertheless, that D'Aubigne has neither misplaced nor exaggerated a bril- liant little affair which was certainly to his taste. 1 J. de Serres, De statu, etc., iv. , fol. Co ; De Thou, iv. (liv. liii.) 047. 1572. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 577 tended. It is not strange, therefore, that they accepted the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day as a complete demonstra- tion of the correctness of their suspicions, and at once took measures for protecting their city against surprise or open as- sault. Nor is it altogether easy to ascertain how far their ap- prehensions were unfounded. There were intelligent and well- informed contemporary writers, who felt no doubt that Strozzi was waiting with sealed orders for the coming of the fatal twenty-fourth of August. Two months before, they say, there had been sent him by Catharine de' Medici a packet which he was strictly forbidden to open until that day. It tero""atha- e proved to be a letter of instruction couched in these "'words: "Strozzi, I notify you that this day, the twenty-fourth of August, the admiral and all the Huguenots who were with him here have been slain. Consequently, take diligent measures to make yourself master of La Rochelle, and do to the Huguenots who shall fall into your hands the same that we have done to those who were here. Take good heed that you fail not, insomuch as you fear to displease the king my son, and myself. CATHARINE.'' ' If, as I can but believe, this letter be spurious, none the less may it serve to indicate how firmly the persuasion was fixed in the minds of the Protestants that insidious designs were cherished against La Rochelle. It was not long before those designs began to develop. Strozzi, to whom the inhabitants had sent a deputation, avow- Designgupon edlj to obtain explanations respecting the circum- stances of the massacre, but in reality to discover the plans of the government, graciously offered some companies of his soldiers for their protection. But the Rochellois with equal politeness declined to accept such help. Meanwhile, they set themselves vigorously at work, and not only organized the in- habitants and refugees into companies for military defence, but repaired and manned the fortifications, and introduced a great abundance of provisions and munitions of war into the city.* A 1 Reveille-Matin, 200; Eusebii Philadelphi Dialog (1574), i. 57. * Arcere, Histoire de la Rochelle, i. 405. Tbe records of the customs showed that 30,000 casks of wine were brought in. An ample supply of pow- VOL. IL 37 578 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OP FRANCE. Cn. XX. few days later, letters were received from Charles himself, which, while endeavoring to calm the minds of the inhabitants respecting recent occurrences, promised them full protection in their religious rights, proclaimed the king's unaltered determina- tion to maintain his edict, and called upon them to receive with due submission M. de Biron, whom he sent them to be their governor. Ko better choice could have been made among the Roman Catholics ; for Biron, it was currently reported, so far from approving of severity, had himself narrowly escaped being involved in the massacre, and had owed his safety mainly to the fact that he was in command at the arsenal. The shrewd Hochellois, however, while they greeted the king's assurances with all outward show of credit, were not willing to be duped. They listened respectfully to the king's envoys, and professed themselves his most devoted subjects ; but they begged to be excused from receiving Marshal Biron as their governor until the troops of Strozzi should have been removed from their dangerous proximity to the city, and until the fleet should have set sail from Brouage. Xor, indeed, could Biron himself obtain better conditions, when, having sought an interview with the deputies of La Rochelle outside of the walls, he entreated them, with sincere or well-feigned emo- tion, to forestall the ruin impending over them. 1 In vain did he humor their claim, dating from regal concessions and long prescription, that La Rochelle need receive no garrison but of her own municipal militia. 8 In vain did he offer to make his entry with but one or two followers, and promise that, when they had duly submitted, he would secure them from injury at the hands of the royal troops, and would relieve them of the presence of a fleet. The citizens were inflexible. The experi- ence of Castres, where lately the credulous inhabitants had in- der was also secured by offering a bonus of ten per cent, to all that imported it from abroad. 1 Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 65; De Thou, iv. G49. 8 "Affirmabant vero haudquaquam se facere contra officium et antiqua sua privilegia, per quze illis tribueretur exemptio ab omni praeterquam ex sua civi- tate delecto ab ipsis prsesidio, et facultas sese suis armis custodiendL" Such was the claim of the Rochellois in answer to Strozzi's summons. Jean de Serres, iv. 03. 1572. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 579 considerately admitted a governor sent them by the king, and had paid for their folly with their lives, confirmed them in the resolution rather to die with sword in hand than to be slaugh- tered like sheep. 1 Two months (September and October) passed in fruitless negotiations precious time, which the citizens put to good service in preparing for the inevitable struggle. It was not until the eighth of November that the first skirmish took place, in which one of two royal galleys sent to reconnoitre the situa- tion of La Rochelle was captured and brought into harbor by some Huguenot boats that had sailed out intending to secure the neighboring lie de Re for the Protestant cause.* Meantime the court, reluctant to undertake an enterprise so formidable as the regular siege of La Rochelie seemed likely to ., of prove, resorted to pacific measures, and resolved to La >oue. employ for the purpose a person the most unlikely to be selected by Roman Catholics. This was none other than the famous Frai^ois de la None, a Protestant leader not less re- markable for generalship than for literary ability, of whose ''Political and Military Discourses," written during a later captivity, it has been said with justice that, in perspicuity, force, and good judgment, they are not inferior to the most celebrated commentaries of antiquity.* La None was with Louis of Nassau in the city of Mons when the news of Admiral Coligny's murder, and of the consequent failure of the promised support of France, reached him. Mons soon after surrendered to the Duke of Alva, and La None scarcely knew whither to turn for refuge, when he received from his old friend, the Duke of Longueville, Governor of Picardy, a cordial invitation to return to France. Not without many misgivings, he visited Paris, where, contrary to his expectations, Charles greeted him very graciously, and even restored to him the confiscated prop- erty of his wife's murdered brother, Teligny. Taking advan- 1 Arcere, i. 412. Ibid, I 423; De Thou, iv. (liv. liii.) 654 ; J. de Serres, iv., fola. 73, 76. 3 Delraas, figlise ref. de la Rochelle, 105, 106. The same author cites Henry IV.'s eulogy : " II etait grand homme de guerre, et plus grand homme de bien." See also De Thou' a strong expressions, viii. (liv. cii.) 8. 580 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. tage of the moment, the king now requested La Xoue to under- take the task of mediating between the government and La Rochelle, and thus preventing the outbreak of a new civil war and the effusion of more blood. At first La Xoue positively declined the appointment ; but the king was urgent, and the arguments which he adduced coincided with the Huguenot's own impressions of the hopelessness of a struggle undertaken by a single city against the united forces of the most powerful kingdom of Christendom. It was only after the most solemn protestations of Charles, that he would not make use of him as an instrument to deceive and ruin his Protestant brethren, that La Noue reluctantly consented to accept a commission from which he was more likely to reap embarrassment than glory. And certainly his first reception by the Rochellois was far from flattering. In a conference with the deputies of the city, He is badiy m the suburban village of Tadon ' for La Xoue was {^i^ by not permitted to enter the walls the burghers clearly revealed the suspicion with which they viewed him. They bluntly told him, after listening to the propositions he brought from the king, " that they had come to confer with M. de la Isoue, but that they did not recognize him in the person before them. The brave warrior so closely bound to them in former years, and who had lost an arm in their defence, had a different heart, never came to them with vain hopes, nor, under the guise of friendship, invited them to conferences destined only to betray them."' But, in spite of this somewhat uncour- teous reception, the well-known and trusted integrity of the great Huguenot captain soon broke through the thin crust of coolness, which, after all, was rather assumed than really felt. La None was suffered to enter the city, and at the echevinage, or city hall, was permitted to lay before the general assembly, or municipal government, as well as the other citizens, the full extent of the king's concessions. Amnesty for the past, con- 1 See the detailed " Carte du Pays d'Aulnis, avec les Isles de Re, d'Oleron, et Provinces voisines. dressee en 1750," prefixed to the first volume of Arcere, Histoire de la Rochelle. 8 Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 34, 35 (liv. i. . c. 6) ; De Thou, iv. (liv. liiu) 655- 656 ; Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 75; Arcere, i. 427^29. 1572. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 581 Urination of the city's privileges, passports for any who might wish to remove to England or Germany, safe return for those whom fear had banished, free exercise of the Protestant reli- : in two quarters of the city, with three ministers to be chosen l>y the people and approved by the governor all this he offered. On the other hand, a new church must be built for the Roman Catholics, the strangers who had lately come must remove elsewhere, and, of course, the governor must be admitted, although the king kindly consented to let them desig- nate any other sufficiently distinguished and capable person, if they preferred to do so.' Neither the exposition of the terms of the royal clemency, nor the dark picture drawn of the ruin overhanging the city, shook the constancy of its brave advocates. They replied The royal J . J r . proposals that they would consent to receive neither garrison nor royal governor, and they exhibited to La Noue their charters granted by Charles the Fifth, and ratified both by Louis the Eleventh and by the reigning monarch. They added, " that, with God's help, they hoped not to be caught in their beds as their brethren had been at the Parisian matins." " Yet, even after this conference, the Rochellois were so far from losing their respect for La Xoue, that they made him three propositions: either he might remain in La Rochelle as a private citizen; or he might assume the military command, as their commander-in-chief ; or, if he should prefer so to do, he might pass over into England in one of their vessels. La Noue went to consult with Marshal Biron and others, and shortly returned. With their full concurrence he accepted the military command the unparalleled anomaly being thus exhibited of a general of great experience and high reputation voluntarily given by the besiegers to the besieged, because of the confidence they entertained that by his moderation and pacific inclination he would restrain the excesses of the mob and hasten the return of peace. 1 1 Arccre, i. 429, partly on MS. authority. 1 Ibid., i. 430. 8 The attitude of the Huguenot general had been and yet was one of the strangest. That he was able in the end to extricate himself without a stain C82 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. And now the siege, which the court had long hesitated to undertake, began in earnest. On the fourth of December, Marshal Biron approached La Rochelle with seven Marshal Biron . - . i i . c r i appears before ensigns or horse and eighteen companies or toot, and LaBochelle. . i Tr *S_ A two larger cannon. Meantime the most strenuous efforts were put forth to collect an adequate besieging force. When milder measures failed to secure prompt obe- the fourth re- dience, recourse was had to threats, and the nobles were summoned on pain, in case of disobedience, of losing their privileges, and being reduced to the rank of " roturiers." The menace had its effect, and in the month of January, 1573, the force under Biron had swollen to sixty com- panies of foot, with not less than thirty-seven large cannon a considerable provision of artillery for that period. 1 The city of La Rochelle occupies the head of a deep bay, stretching in a north-easterly direction from the ocean, and Description of serving at present as the large and convenient harbor LaRocneiie. f or jt s extensive commerce. The old town, whose origin is lost in the mists of antiquity, covered only a small part of the area since inclosed by walls. A narrow peninsula, protected on the one side by a sheet of water and on the other by marshes, offered a tempting site, and was first occupied. The larger inlet on the west was the old, and probably for a long time the only haven ; but long before the middle of the sixteenth century the action of the tide, which washes in great quantities of sand, combining with the gradual deposit of alluvium made by the neighboring springs, had converted this inlet into a marsh " les Marais Salans " intersected by ditches and used only in the manufacture of salt. The marsh itself has since been en- tirely reclaimed. The " new " harbor, as the smaller inlet was still called, at the period of which I am speaking, was of much attaching to his honor is still more remarkable. Both king and Protestants understood full well that he would counsel nothing which was not for the interest of both ; and it was, therefore, no violation of his duty as envoy of Charles, if, as Jean de Serres informs us, when urging an amicable arrange- ment, he privately advised the Rochellois to admit no one into the city in the king's name, before receiving ample provisions for their security. Commen- tarii de statu religionis et reipublicae, iv., fol. 75. 1 Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 76. Ibid., iv., fol. 81. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. fS3 inferior capacity, and was included within the circuit of the walls.' A chain, extended between the two towers guarding its narrow entrance, effectually precluded the passage of hostile vessels. For considerably more than one-half of their circuit, the walls of La Rochelle were inaccessible to the land forces ; and the deep foss skirting them was full of water, except on the north and north-east. The fortifications, everywhere formidable, had, therefore, been constructed with extraordinary care in these directions ; fur it was here that the brunt of the attack must be borne. With Puritan simplicity and faith, the reformed inhab- itants of La Rochelle had named the strong work at the north- wt -stern angle of the circuit the " Bastion de 1'Svangile," or the " Bastion of the Gospel." It was appropriately supported on the right by the " Cavalier de TEpitre." Other forts, such as that of Cognes at the north-eastern angle, were but little in- ferior in importance ; it was evident, however, that upon the ability of the Rochellois to defend the Bastion de 1'Evangile must depend the salvation of the city." But the chief strength of the city was to be found in the manly resolution of the inhabitants to secure for themselves and their children the right to worship God according Resoluteness r oftheEochei- to the purer faith, or perish in the attempt. An lois. ... '. i . . incident occurring about this time served to illustrate and to confirm their courage. A short distance in advance of the Bastion de 1'Svangile there stood a solitary windmill, which, on account of its advantageous position, the Rochellois were anxious to retain. The captain to whose guard it was intrusted, recognizing the ease with which he might be surprised and cut off, took the precaution to draw off at dusk the small detach- ment which he had placed there by day, leaving but a single soldier to act as sentry. Meantime, Strozzi had determined to capture the mill. This he attempted to do, taking advantage of 1 See the very clear account in the " Description chorographique de 1'Aul- nis." by Arcere. prefixed to his history of La Rochelle, i. 97, etc. 5 Compare Arcere, i. 418. etc., and, especially, his plan of the city in 1573. See also Jean de Serres. iv., foL 83; De Thou, iv. (liv. Iv.) 739-761 ; D'Au- bigne, ii. 36, 37 (liv. i., c. 7). 584 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. a moonlight night. To the two culverines brought to play upon him, the solitary defender could answer only with his arquebuse ; but so briskly did he fire, and so well did he counterfeit the voices of others, that the assailants believed an entire company to be present. At last, when he no longer could hold out, the soldier only surrendered after stipulating for the life of himself and his entire band. Notwithstanding his promise, Strozzi, when once his astonishment at the appearance of the single actor who had played so many parts had given place to anger at the deceit practised upon him, was in favor of hanging the Hugue- not for his audacity. But Biron would only consent to have him sent to the galleys, a punishment which he escaped by find- ing means to slip away from the hands of the royalists. 1 The entire military force of the besieged comprised about thirteen hundred regular troops, besides two thousand citizens, Their military w ell armed and drilled, and under competent cap- tains. There was an abundance of powder, of wine, biscuit, and other provisions, although of wheat there was but little.* Meantime assistance was anxiously expected from Eng- land, and the courage of the common people, incited by the exhortations of the ministers, did not flag, notwithstanding the feebler spirit of the rich and the actual desertion of a few leaders. 8 The besiegers were not idle. Besides occupying positions north, east, and south of the city, which effectually cut off com- munication from the land side, they built forts on opposite sides of the outer harbor, and stranded at the entrance a large carack, which was made firm in its position with stones and sand. The work, when provided with guns and troops, commanded the passage, and was christened " le Fort de 1' Aiguille." In vain did the Rochellois attempt to destroy or capture it ; the carack, while it proved unavailing to prevent the entrance of an occa- sional vessel laden with grain or ammunition, remained the most formidable point in the possession of the enemy. In order to give her favorite son a new opportunity to acquire 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. Iv.) 765 ; Arcere, i. 436. 3 De Thou. iv. 761 ; Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 68. * E. g., of Virolet, Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 76. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 585 military distinction, the queen mother now persuaded Charles to permit the l)uke of Anjou to conduct the siege. U ap. lie arrived before La Rochelle about the middle of ronductthe February, 1 with a brilliant train of princes and nobles, among whom were Alen9on, Guise, Aumale, and Montluc, besides Henry of Navarre and his cousin Conde, who, as they had to sustain the role of good Roman Catholics, could scarcely avoid taking part in the campaign against their former brethren. In the ordinances soon after published by Anjou, he seems to have hoped to weaken the Huguenots by copying their o\vn strictness of moral discipline. The very Catholic practice of profane swearing, in which his Majesty was so proficient, was prohibited on pain of severe punishment ; and it was pre- scribed that a sermon should daily be preached in the camp. 2 A good round oath none the less continued to be received by the soldiers, in all doubtful cases, as a sufficient proof of loyalty to Mother Church, nor did they cease because of the ordinance from ridiculing the idea that such good Christians as they needed preaching, which was well enough for unevangelized pagans." In view of the impending peril, the Protestants had recourse, as their custom was, to prayer and fasting. The sixteenth and The besieged eighteenth of February were days of public humilia- pray and fight. t j on . From their knees the Huguenots went with redoubled courage to the ramparts. The crisis had at length arrived. A series of furious assaults were given, directed prin- pally against the northern wall and the Bastion de 1'Evangile. It was in one of these attacks, on the third of March, that the Duke of Aumale was killed. By the besieged the death of so eminent a member of the house of Lorraine was interpreted as a signal judgment of God upon the most cruel member of a persecuting family another presage that the sword should never depart from the princely stock which had begun the war, 1 Feb. 15th, according to J. de Serres, iv., foL 83. Arcere (L 452) saya Feb. 12th. 8 Arcere, i. 458. 3 So, at least, Brantome expressed himself. He was with the army before La Iluchelle. 586 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. until it should be altogether destroyed. The royalists, on the other hand, found in it a great source of regret ; while Catha- rine, terrified at the danger to which her son might be exposed, wrote one of her ill-spelt letters to Montpensier, entreating him and the other veterans not to suffer any of the princes to go im- prudently near the walls. 1 It does not enter into the plan of this history to detail the progress of the siege. Let it suffice to say that the enemy was met at every point and repulsed. Not content with simply de- fending their walls, the Huguenots made sorties, in which many of Anjou's followers were slain. Sometimes dressing in the uniform of those they had killed or taken prisoners, they re- turned and penetrated into the hostile camp, learned the plans of the assailants, and cut ofE more than one man of note. The Bravery of presence of women among them became an element the women. o gfrength ; for these, surmounting the weakness of their sex, did good service in the mines, or, donning armor, de- fended the breach and drove the enemy into the ditch. 2 It was remarked that, as the supply of fresh provisions diminished, the lack was in some degree compensated by such an abun- dance of cockles on the sands as had never before been known. If the Protestants regarded this incident as a providential in- terposition in their behalf, 3 the Roman Catholics sought to account for it by supposing that the operations of the siege had permitted the fish to multiply undisturbed. 4 However this might be, the women of La Rochelle sallied forth to 1ms- 1 Letter of Catharine, March 17th, Arcere. i. 466. 9 De Thou, iv. (liv. Ivi.) 789; Arcere, i. 489, 490 ; Jean de Serres, iv., foL 99, etc. 3 The poor, according to Jean de Serres, came to use the shell-fish in lieu of bread. If, as he assures us on the authority of men deserving credit, the supply ceased almost on that precise day upon which the royal army left the neighborhood, after the conclusion of peace, the reformed may be pardoned for regarding the fact as a miracle little inferior to that of the manna which never failed the ancient Israelites until they set foot in Canaan. Commentarii de statu religionis et reipublicae. iv. 104 verso. " Dont lez re- formez ont encores les tableaux en leurs maisons pour memoire comme d'un miracle," writes Agrippa d'Aubigne, about forty years later (Hist, universelle, 1616, ii. 53). 4 Arcere, i. 504, 505. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 587 hand this new resource: but their imprudence in straying beyond the range of the guns was rewarded with insolent out- rage on the part of such of the enemy as were in the vicin- ity. Even this circumstance the Huguenots knew how to turn to advantage. Disguising themselves in feminine attire, a troop of Huguenot soldiers, a day or two later, issued from the city when the tide was out, apparently bent on the same errand. It was not long before the royalists undertook to re- peat a diversion which seemed to offer little danger to them. Scarcely, however, had they approached when the clumsy cos- tume was hastily thrown aside, and the assailants discovered too late the trap into which they had fallen. Many a hot- headed soldier of Anjou atoned for his temerity with his life. 1 The ordinary wiles of Catharine were not left untried ; but she effected little or nothing by negotiation. The people were not so easily cajoled and duped as their leaders had often been, and would accept no terms except such as the court ut- terly refused to offer the restoration of the privileges con- ferred by the edict, its confirmation by oath, and the interchange of hostages, to be kept in some neutral state in Germany, with entire liberty of worship and exemption from royal garrison in and around La Rochelle, Montauban, Nismes, and Sancerre.* Even Fran9ois de la Xoue became impatient at the excessive La xoue re- caution which the Huguenots seemed to him to dis- J^Tofdipi't play, and, redeeming the promise he had given the king before he took command, retired from the city (on the eleventh of March) when all hope of reconciliation had apparently disappeared. "With wonderful prudence he had managed to forfeit the confidence of neither party. Yet on some occasions, it must be admitted, his self-control was sorely tried. For example, at one time a minister not long after deposed from the sacred office so far forgot himself in the heat of angry discussion as to give La None a sound box upon the ear. Even then the great captain refused to order the of- fender's punishment, and confined himself to sending him, 1 Arcere, ubi tupra. * Arccre, i. 477, 480. 588 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. under guard, to his wife, with directions to keep him carefully until he should recover his reason. 1 The assistance which La Rochelle had counted upon receiving from England never came. Count Montgomery was a skilful English aid negotiator. If he was unable to prevail upon Eliza- imscarries ' beth to give open countenance to the Huguenots, on account of the league recently entered into, which Retz had been specially sent by Charles to confirm, he at least succeeded in obtaining a sum of forty thousand francs from various English, French, and Flemish sympathizers, with which he was per- mitted, notwithstanding protests from Paris, to fit out a fleet. Elizabeth, indeed, so far overcame her scruples as to allow a large vessel of her own to follow. But when Montgomery's squad ron reached the roads of La Rochelle, the fifty-three ships of which it was composed, and which carried eighteen hundred or two thousand men, were so small and badly-appointed in short, so inferior in strength to the fewer vessels of the king standing off the entrance that they avoided corning to close quarters, stood off to Belle Isle, and finally returned to England. Queen Elizabeth, at all times very doubtful respecting the pro- priety of assisting subjects against their monarch, had mean- time disowned the enterprise as piratical, and expressed the hope the culprits might be destroyed. It was not, in this case, merely her customary dissimulation. The plundering by some French and Netherland sailors of the vessel on which the Earl of Worcester was proceeding, in the queen's name, to stand as sponsor at the baptism of Charles's infant daughter, had greatly incensed her." Kot, however, that Elizabeth lost any of that remarkable interest which she had always taken in Count Mont- gomery, or felt at all inclined to give him up to the French government for his breach of the peace. For when, a little later, a demand was made for the culprit, she assured the am- bassador of Charles that she could swear she was ignorant that the count was in her dominions. " But," she added, " were he 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. Ivi.) 780; Arcere, i. 477; D'Aubigne, ii. 45 (liv. L, c. 9). 9 Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 102 ; Agrippa d'Aubign6, ii. 48 (liv. i, c. 9) ; De Thou, iv. 767, 786, 787, etc. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 589 to come, I would answer your master as his father answered my sister, Queen Mary, when he said, ' I will not consent to be the hangman of the Queen of England.' So his Majesty, the King of France, must excuse me if I can no more act as executioner of those of my religion than King Henry would discharge a sim- ilar office in the case of those that were not of his religion." ' In other parts of France it had fared no better with the attempt to crush the Huguenots. Montauban and Nismes still held out. Various places in the south-east fell into ^esinthe Huguenot hands. The siege of Sommieres, near Nismes, by the Roman Catholics, was so obstinate, and the garrison capitulated on such favorable terms, that the Protestants were rather elated than discouraged. Marshal Dam- ville had assailed it only in order to save his credit, and the little town detained him nearly two months, from the eleventh of February to the ninth of April. Every device was employed to retard his success. Streams of boiling oil were poured upon the heads of the assailants, and red-hot hoops of iron were dexterously tossed over their shoulders. In the end the garrison marched out with all the honors of war.* The Huguenots surprised Yilleneuve, near the Rhone, by effect- ing an entrance, much as they had entered Nismes in 1569, through the grated opening by which the waters of a sewer issued from the walls. 1 But it was Sancerre which, next to La Rochelle, occasioned the court the greatest annoyance, both because of its central position * and because of its comparative proximity to Paris. Here the Protestants of Berry and the adiacent prov- Beginning of . J J the siege of inces had found a welcome refuge. Citizens and refugees refused to admit a royal garrison, and foiled the attempt to capture the place by escalade. Treachery was at 1 La Mothe Fenelon to Charles EX., June 3, 1573. Corresp. diplom., v. 339. 1 Jean de Serree (iv., fol. 87) states the length of the siege of Sommieres as four months, and the loss of men as five thousand killed. The Recueil des choses memorables, 1598 (p. 485), ascribed to the same author, reduces the loss one-half. Cf. De Thou, iv. 746-748. 3 Jean de Serres, iv., fols. 88, 89 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. Ivi.) 749, 750. 4 " In ipso regni umbilico." Jean de Serres, iv., foL 92. 590 THE RISE OF THE HUGUKN'OTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. work, and, as usual, it was most rife among the richer class. By their connivance the citadel or castle was surprised by the troops sent by the governor of the province, M. de la Chastre ; but it was retaken on the same day. 1 Notwithstanding this warning, the people of Sancerre took none of the precautions which their situation demanded, apparently unable to believe that, when such a city as La Rochelle was in revolt, the king would undertake to subdue so small a place as Sancerre. There were no stores of provisions, and the buildings in proximity to the walls, from which an enemy could incommode the city, had not been torn down, when, between the third and ninth of January, 15 73, a force of five thousand foot and five hundred horse, under La Chastre, besides many nobles and gentlemen of the vicinage, made its appearance before the walls. The inhabitants now discovered their capital mistakes, but it was too late to remedy them. Hunger began almost immediately to make itself felt, while the places they had neglected to destroy or preoccupy proved very convenient to the royalists for the next two or three months, during which it was attempted to take Sancerre by assault. Yet the direct attack proved a failure, and, on the twentieth of March, the siege was changed to a blockade. Forts were erected in the most advantageous spots, and a wide trench was dug around the entire city. 8 Sancerre was to be tried by the severe ordeal of hunger ; and certainly the most frightful among ancient sieges can scarcely be said to have surpassed in horror that of this small city. 3 Did not the sufferings of the heroic inhabitants claim our sympathy, we might read with entertainment the singular The incipient devices they resorted to in grappling with a terrible famine - foe whose insidious advances were more difficult to oppose than the open assaults of the enemy. For the famine of Sancerre boasts of a historian more copious and minute than Josephus or Livy. In reading the narrative of the famous Jean 1 Ibid., iv., tola. 72, 77, 79 ; Ag. d'Aubigne, ii. 40, 41 ; De Thou, iv. (liv. liv.) 660-663. * Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 93, 94. "Ut lerosolymitanse, Samaritanae.-Saguntinae famis meraoriam exaequare, nisi et exsnperare videatur." Ibid., iv., fol. 92. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. O91 de Lory ' the same writer to whom we are indebted for an authentic account of Villegagnon's unfortunate scheme of American colonization we seern to be perusing a great patho- logical treatise. Xever was physician more watchful of his patient's symptoms than Lery with his hand upon the pulse of famishing Sancerre. It would almost seem that the restless Huguenot, who united in his own person the opposite qualifica- tions of clergyman and soldier, desired to make his little work a useful guide in similar circumstances, for a portion of it, at least, has been appropriately styled " a cookery book for the besieged." ' Early in the siege, not without some qualms, the inhabitants made trial of the flesh of a horse accidentally killed. Next an ass, and then the mules, of which there was a considerable number, were brought to the shambles. The butchers were now ordered to sell this new kind of meat, and a maximum price was fixed. For a fortnight the supply of cats held out, after which rats and mice became the chief staple of food. Dog-flesh was next reluctantly tasted, and found, as our conscientious chronicler observes, to be somewhat sweet and insipid/ And so the spring of 1573 passed away, and summer came ; but no succor arrived for the beleaguered city. On the contrary, there came the dis- heartening tidings from the west that a peace had been con- cluded by the Huguenots of La Rochelle, in which no mention was made of Sancerre. So successful had been the defence of the citadel of Protes- tantism on the shores of the ocean, so unexpectedly large the Losses of the royal losses, that the court was only waiting for a brfore a !S y decent pretext to abandon the unfortunate siege. Pestilence added its victims to those of the sword, and it was currently reported that forty thousand of the be- 1 " Discours de 1'extreme famine, cherte de vivre, chairs, et autres choses non acoustumees pour la nourriture de 1'horame, dont lesassiegez dans la villa de Sancerre out etc affligez." 1574. Reprinted in Archives curieuses, viii. 19-82. Edward Smedley, History of the Reformed Religion in France (London, 1834), ii. 88. 3 " Fade et douceastre," p. 34. 692 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. giegers were swept away by their combined assaults. 1 A more careful enumeration, however, shows that, while the Rochellois, out of thirty-one hundred soldiers, lost thirteen hundred, in- cluding twenty-eight " pairs," the king, out of a little more than forty thousand troops, had lost twenty-two thousand, ten thousand of whom died in the breach or in engagements else- where. Nor was the loss of officers trifling two hundred had died, including fifty of great distinction, and five " maitres de camp." a And, with all this expenditure of life, and with the heavy drafts upon the public treasure, little or nothing had been accomplished. Meanwhile, in other parts of France there existed a scarcity of food amounting almost to a oiic proces- famine ; nor had the solemn processions to the shrines of the saints processions for the most part rendered contemptible by the irreverent conduct both of the clergymen and the laity that took part in them 3 averted the wrath of heaven. The poor suffered extremely. Selfishness gained such ascendancy in some towns, that cruel ruses were adopted to remove the destitute that had taken refuge within their walls. It was not strange that the extraordinary mortality which soon fell upon the well-to-do burghers was viewed by many as a direct punishment sent by the Almighty. 4 The event which came just in tune to free the court from its embarrassment was the election of Henry of Anjou to the vacant throne of Poland. We have already witnessed the per- plexity of Bishop Montluc when the tidings of the massacre 1 De Thou, iv. (liv. Ivi.) 796. As early as on the twelfth of April, such was the discouragement felt in Paris, that orders were published to make ' ' Paradises " in each parish, and to institute processions, to supplicate the favor of heaven, in view of the repulses experienced by the Roman Catholics before La Rochelle. Journal d'un cure ligueur (Jehan de la Fosse), p. 158. ! Histoire du siege de La Rochelle par le due d' Anjou en 1573, par A. Genet, capitaine du genie ; apud Bulletin de la Societe de 1'histoire du prot. franc.ais, ii. (1854) 96, 190. * Memoires de Claude Haton, ii. 722. 4 At Troyes, for instance, where the poor who had flocked to the city were invited to meet at one of the gates, to receive each a loaf of bread and a piece of money. This done, they saw the gates closed upon them, and were informed from the ramparts that they must go elsewhere to find their living until the next harvest. Claude Haton, ii. 729. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 593 first reached him. 1 If he could have denied its reality, he would have done so. This being impossible, he was forced Election of ,.,-.,. . . Henr. to content himself with misrepresenting the origin of Anjon to the ,. , . , , . .-, ,.-,,, ^ovmofpo- the slaughter, slandering the admiral and the other victims, and circulating the calumnies of Charpentier and others who prated about a Huguenot conspiracy. A judi- cious distribution of French gold assisted his own eloquent sophistry ; and the Duke of Anjou, portrayed as a chivalric prince and one who was not ill-affected to religious liberty, was chosen king over his formidable rivals. Charles and Catharine were alike delighted. The former could scarcely find words to express his joy* at the prospect of being freed from the pres- ence of a brother whom he feared, and perhaps hated ; while the queen mothers gratification was even more intense at the peaceful solution of the prophecy of Nostradamus, than at the elevation of her favorite son. The peace between the king and the Rochellois was con- cluded in June, and was formally promulgated in July, 1573, Edict of pad- m a royal edict from Boulogne. The chief provision SSTjS! 1 " was tliat tne P rotestants in tne cities of La Rochelle, Montauban, and Xismes should enjoy entire freedom of public worship, while their brethren throughout the kingdom should have liberty of conscience and the right to sell their prop- erty and remove wherever they might choose, whether within or without the realm. Only gentlemen and others enjoying high jurisdiction, who had remained constant in their faith, and had taken up arms with the three cities, were to be allowed to collect their friends to the number of ten to witness their marriages and baptisms, according to the custom of the Ee- formed Church. Even this privilege could not be exercised within the distance of two leagues from the royal court or from 1 Antt, chapter xix., p. 552. 5 Here is his letter to Henry : " Mon frere. Dieu nous a fait la grasse que vous estes ellu roy de Poulogne. J'en suis si ayse que je ne scay que YOUS mander. Je loue Dieu de bon coeur ; pardonnes moy, 1'ayse me garde d'escrire. Je ne sceay que dire. Mon frere. je avons receu vostre lestre. Je suis vostre bien bon frere et amy, CHAKLES." MS. Bibliotheque nationale, apud Haton, ii. 733. VOL. II. 33 594 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. the city of Paris ; nor did the edict confer the right to preach or celebrate the Lord's Supper. 1 La Rochelle, Nismes, and Montauban gained their point, and were to be exempted from receiving garrisons or having citadels built, with the condition that they should for two years constantly keep four of their principal citizens at court as pledges of their fidelity. All promises of abjuration were declared null and void. Amnesty was proclaimed, and, to cap the climax of absurdity, the brave Huguenots who had defended their homes for months against Charles were solemnly declared to be held the king's " good, loyal, and faithful subjects and servants." The results of the war on the king's side were certainly very meagre. To have fought for the greater part of a year with the miserable Huguenots that had escaped the massa- suits of the ere of St. Bartholomew's Day, and then to conclude the war by such a peace, was certainly ignominious enough for Charles and his mother. For the Huguenot party was now, more than ever, a recognized power in the state, with three strongholds one in the west and two in the south. Into no one of these could a royal garrison be introduced. La Ro- chelle, in particular, having repulsed every assault of the best army that could be brought against it, was acknowledged invin- cible by the exemptions accorded to it in common with Nismes and Montauban. It was hardly by such expectations that Charles had been prevailed upon to throw down the gage of war to his subjects of the reformed faith. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Sancerre, not even named in the edict, 2 had been sustained under appalling difficulties by the 1 The edict says expressly (Art. 5th) : " Et y faire settlement les baptesmes et manages a leur fafon accoustumee sans plus grande assemblee, outre les parens, parrins et raarrines, jusques au nombre de dix." Text in Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 98, etc., and Haag, France protestante, x. (Documents) 110- 114. Jean de Serres (iv., fol. 107, etc.) and Von Polenz (Gesch. des Franz. Calvinismus, ii. 632) give a correct synopsis ; but Soldan is wrong in includ- ing among the concessions "den Hausgottesdienst " (ii. 536), and De Thou still more incorrect when he speaks of " les preches et la Cene " (iv., liv. Ivi. 796). 9 According to Davila, Sancerre was not comprehended in the terms made with the Rochellois, u because it was not a free town under the king's abso- 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. confident hope of assistance from the south. But the hope The siege was ^ on & deferred, and they grew sick at heart. The was already dark enough, when, on the unue. second of June, a Protestant soldier, who had made his way into the city through the enemy's lines, brought the de- pressing announcement that no aid must be expected from Lan- guedoc for six weeks. As but little wheat remained in Sancerre, the immediate effect of the intelligence was that liberty was given to some seventy of the poor to leave the city walls. At the same time the daily ration was limited to half a pound of grain. A week later it was reduced to one-quarter of a pound. Not long after only a single pound was doled out once a week, and by the end of the month the supply entirely gave out. The beginning of July reduced the besieged to the necessity of task- ing their ingenuity to make palatable food of the hides of cattle, next of the skins of horses, dogs, and asses. The stock of even this unsavory material soon became exhausted ; whereupon, not very unnaturally, parchment was turned to good account. Man- uscripts a good century old were eaten with relish. Soaked for a couple of days in water, and afterward boiled as much longer, when they became glutinous they were fried, like tripe, or pre- pared with herbs and spices, after the manner of a hodge-podge. The writer who is our authority for these culinary details, in- forms us that he had seen the dish devoured with eagerness while the original letters written upon the parchment were still legible. 1 But the urgent necessities of their situation did not suffer the half-famished inhabitants to stop here. "With the proverbial ingenuity of their nation, they turned their attention to the parchment on old drums, and subjected to the skilful hands of cooks the discarded hoofs, horns, and bones of animals, the harness of horses, and even refuse scraps of leather. There seemed to be nothing they could not lay under contribution to furnish at least a little nutriment. And yet ghastly hunger little by little tightened her relentless embrace. Almost all the children under twelve years of age lute dominion as the rest, bat under the seigniory of the Counts of Sancerre." London trans, of 1678, 193. 1 Jean de Lery, Discours de 1'extreme famine, etc., 25-27. 596 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. died. In the universal reign of famine there were at last found those who were ready to repeat the horrible crime of feeding upon the flesh of their own kindred. It was discovered that a husband and wife, with a neighboring crone, had endeavored to satisfy the gnawings of hunger by eating a newly dead child. Their guilt came speedily to light, and was punished according to the severe code of the sixteenth century. The father was sentenced by the council to be burned alive ; his wife to be strangled and her body consigned to the flames; while the corpse of the old woman who had instigated the foul deed but had meanwhile died, was ordered to be dug up and burned. But the feeling of the great majority of the besieged was far removed from that despair which prompts to. an inhuman dis- regard of natural decency and affection. Kear the close of July a boy of barely ten years, as he lay on his death-bed, said to his weeping parents: "Why do you weep thus at seeing me die of hunger ? I do not ask bread, mother ; I know you have none. But since God wills that I die thus, we must accept it cheerfully. "Was not that holy man Lazarus hungry ? Have I not so read in the Bible ? " ' The catastrophe could not much longer be deferred. "Within the city speedy death stared every man in the face. Permission had, we have seen, been accorded to the poor, early in June, to go forth from the city walls ; but the besieging force had mer- cilessly driven them back when they attempted to gain the open country, lumbers, unwilling to accept a second time the fatal hospitality of the city, preferred to remain in their exposed situ- ation, miserably dragging out a precarious existence by subsisting upon snails, buds of trees and shrubs even to the very grass of the field. Happily for Sancerre, the political exigencies of the royal court insured for the besieged Protestants, in the inevitable capitulation, more favorable terms than they might otherwise have obtained. As early as the eighteenth of July, Lery had been informed at a parley, by a former acquaintance on the Roman Catholic side, that a general peace had been concluded, 1 Jean de Lery, 38. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 597 and that Henry of Anjou had been elected to the throne of Poland. This first intimation was discredited by the cautious Protestants, not unused to the wiles of the enemy. But when. some twenty days later (on the sixth of August), the statement sunccrre was confirmed, and the Sancerrois received the addi- cai-imiates. ^j oua } assurance that they would be mildly treated, their surprise knew no bounds. The terms of surrender were easily arranged. A ransom of forty thousand livres was to be exacted from the city. On the thirty-first of August, H. de la Chastre made his solemn entry into Sancerre, accompanied by a band of Homan Catholic priests chanting a Te Deum over his success. As was too frequently the case, the promise of immu- nity to the inhabitants was but poorly kept. Scarcely had two weeks passed before the " bailli " Johanneau, 1 summoned from his house by the archers of the prevot, on the plea that M. de la Chastre desired his presence, was treacherously murdered on the way to the governor's house. Besides assassination, other infractions of the capitulation were committed ; the gates of the city were burned, the walls dismantled, many of the houses torn down. In fact, so unmercifully was Sancerre harried, partly by the troops, partly by the peasantry of the neighborhood, and by the " bailli " of Berry, that the reformed church of this place seems to have been, for the time, completely dispersed. 1 Thus ended a siege which had lasted some eight months. The besieged had lost only eighty-four men by the direct effects 1 Styled also, in the articles of capitulation, "fo gouvernevr par election de ladite ville." He was an able and influential magistrate, who had been elected to the governorship of his native city at the time of the former trou- bles. Lery, 78-80. * Agrippa d'Aubign6 (Hist, univ., ii. 104) distinctly represents La Chastre as desirous of destroying the entire city ; while Lery (p. 77) and Davila p. 193) are in doubt whether Johanneau's murder was not effected by his orders. Yet Lery himself records a conversation he held about this time with La Chastre (p. 67), in which the latter protested that he was not, as commonly reported, of a sanguinary disposition, and appealed for corroboration to his merciful treat- ment of some Huguenot prisoners that fell into his hands in the third civil war. whom he refused to surrender to the Parisian parliament when formally summoned to do so. Claude de la Chastre's noble letter to Charles IX.. of January 21. 1570 (Bulletin, iv. 28), seems to be a sufficient voucher for his veracity. See ante, chapter xvi., p. 345. D98 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. of warfare ; but more than five hundred persons perished during the last six weeks of sheer starvation. 1 Sancerre owed its release from the horrors of the siege in great part to the same causes that had powerfully contributed to the conclusion of the peace. The Polish ambassadors, coming to proffer the crown to the king's brother, Henry of Anjou, were about to reach the French court. They were already not a little surprised at the discovery that the statements and prom- ises made in the king's name by that not over-scrupulous nego- tiator, Montluc, Bishop of Valence, were impudent impostures, fabricated for no other purpose than to secure at all hazards the success of the French candidate for the Polish throne. To ex- hibit to them at this critical juncture the edifying spectacle of a royal governor of the province of Berry engaged in the reduc- tion of a city the only crime of which was its desire to enjoy religious liberty this would have been a dangerous venture. Consequently it was no fortuitous coincidence that Sancerre capitulated the very day the Polish ambassadors made their appearance. ^Ve shall not dwell upon the pomp attending their reception. The banquet held in the new palace of the Tuileries was bril- liant. In the pageant succeeding it was displaved a Reception of . r & . & "v the Polish massive rock of silver, with sixteen nymphs in as ambassadors. . , . , . * . * _, . many niches, personating the provinces or the r rench kingdom. "When, after some verses well sung but indifferently composed, these nymphs descended from their elevation, and took part in an intricate maze of dance, the Polish spectators remarked, in the excess of their admiration, that the French ballet was something that could be imitated by none of the kings of the earth. "I would rather," dryly adds a contem- porary historian, " that they had said as much respecting our armies." * 1 Jean de Lery, 42. 1 Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 104. It would be a great relief could we believe that inordinate fondness for the dance was the chief vice of the French court. Unfortunately the moral turpitude of the king and his favorites rests upon less suspicious grounds than the revolting stories told on hearsay by the un- friendly writer of the Eusebii Philade'lphi Dialogi (Edinburgh, 1574), ii. 117, 118. The "Affair of Xantouillet, '' occurring just about the time of the 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 599 The Protcptants of Southern France had been included in the Edict of Pacification. In fact, Nismes and Montauban were as D -Content of distinctly referred to byname as La Rochelle. 1 But the te^Tf th the terms of peace were not to the taste of the enter- prising and self-reliant Huguenots of Languedoc and Gnyenne. They had learned, during the last ten years, to dis- trust all assurances emanating from the court, even when claim- ing the authority of the king's name. Experience had taught them that previous edicts were framed simply to secure the de- struction of those whom open warfare had failed to destroy.* Without, therefore, either definitely accepting or rejecting the terms offered them, the Protestants of JS'ismes applied to Mar- shal Damville, who, at the conclusion of the peace, found him- self with the royal troops at the hamlet of Milhaud, a league or Polish ambassadors' arrival in Paris, is only too authentic. The "Prevot de Paris," M. de Nantouillet (Cf. ante, chapter xv., page 258, note), grandson of Cardinal du Prat, Chancellor of France under Francis I., offended Anjou by somewhat contemptuously declining the hand of the duke's discarded mis- tress. Mademoiselle de Chateauneuf. The lady easily induced her princely lover to avenge her wounded vanity. One evening Charles IX., the new king of Poland, the King of Navarre, the Grand Prior of France, and their attend- ants, presented themselves at the stately mansion of Nantouillet, on the southern bank of the Seine, opposite the Louvre, and demanded that a ban- quet be prepared for them. Though the royal party was masked, the unwill- ing host knew his guests but too well, and dared not deny their peremptory command. In the midst of the carousal, at a preconcerted signal, the king's followers began to ransack the house, maltreating the occupants, wantonly destroying the costly furniture, appropriating the silver plate, and breaking open doors and coffers in search of money. The next day even Paris itself was indignant at the base conduct of its king. To the first president of par- liament, who that day visited the palace and informed Charles of the current rumors respecting his having been present and conniving at the pillage, the despicable monarch denied their truth with his customary horrible impreca- tion. But when the president expressed his great satisfaction, and said that parliament would at once institute proceedings to discover and punish the guilty, Charles promptly responded: "By no means. You will lose your trouble ; " and he added a significant threat for Nantonillet, that, should he pursue his attempt to obtain satisfaction, he would find that he had to do with an opponent infinitely his superior. Euseb. Phil. Dialogi, ii.'ll?. 118 ; Jean de Serres, iv. , fol. 114, verso ; D'Aubigne. ii. 104; De Thou, iv. ^liv. Ivi.) 821. 1 Article 4th. Text in Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 98. '-' J. de iSerres, iv., fol. 112. 600 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. two from their gates, 1 for a fortnight's suspension of hostilities. The request being granted, a truce was established which was extended by successive prolongations beyond the beginning of the next year. 1 Meantime the Protestants, notified by the Duke of Anjou of the conclusion of the peace, sent messengers to his camp re- questing that as the matter was one vitally affecting the entire Protestant population, they might receive permission to meet, under protection of the royal authority, and deliberate respecting it. The king's consent having been obtained, Protestant depu- ties from almost all parts of the kingdom came to- n!ih!Tua^d gether, late in the month of August, 15T3, in the city of Milhau-en-Rouergue, from which they shortly transferred their sessions to Montauban. This important assembly resolved to accept no peace unless based upon equitable terms and secured by ample guarantees. In view of the possibility of the recurrence of war, provision Military or- was made for a complete military organization of the tSTHu^fe- * Huguenot resources in the south of France. For this purpose Languedoc was divided into two " generalites " or governments the government of Xismes, or Lower Langue- doc, placed under command of M. de Saint Remain, and that of Upper Languedoc, with Montauban for its chief city, to which the Viscount de Paulin was assigned as military chief. Both governments were in turn subdivided into dioceses or particular governments, each furnished with a governor and a deliberative assembly. It was provided that in Kismes and Montauban re- spectively a council should be convened consisting of deputies from all the dioceses of the government, and that to this council, together with the governor, should be intrusted the administra- tion of the finances, with authority to impose taxes alike upon Protestants and Roman Catholics. The organization, it was estimated, could readily place twenty thousand men in the field.* 1 This hamlet must not be confounded with the important town of Milhaud, or Milhau-en-Rouergue, mentioned below, nearly seventy miles farther west. * Histoire du Languedoc, v. 321. 3 Jean de Serres, iv., fols. 113, 114; De Thou, v. (liv. Mi.) 12, 13; 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 601 Such were the first attempts to perfect a system of warfare forced upon the Huguenots by the treacherous assaults of their enemies a fatal necessity of instituting a state within a state, forehoding nothing but ruin to France. One of the chief results of the deliberations at Moritauban was the preparation of a petition to be laid before the king. Petition to This paper, which has come down to us with the sig- theking. natures of the viscounts, barons, and other adherents of the Huguenot party, was intended to be an expression not only of their own individual views, but also of the sentiments of the churches they represented. 1 The language is sharp and inci- sive, the demands are unmistakably bold. For a sufficient justi- fication of their recent words and actions, the Huguenots of Guy- enne point the monarch to his own letter of the twenty-fourth of August, 1572, by which constraint was laid upon them to as- sume arms. They call upon Charles, in accordance with the promise contained in that letter, to follow up the traces there alleged to have been found regarding the murder of Gaspard de Coligny, to appoint impartial judges for this .purpose, and to execute exemplary justice upon the guilty. Not satisfied with claiming the annulling of all judicial proceedings, the destruc- tion of all monuments erected to perpetuate the memory of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, and the abolition of pro- cessions instituted by the parliaments of Paris and Toulouse with the same end in view, they call on Charles to make a dec- Agrippa d'Aubigne", ii. 107 ; Histoire du Languedoc, v. 322. It ought to be noted that the Montauban assembly in reality did little more than confirm the regulations drawn up by previous and less conspicuous political assemblies of the Huguenots held at Anduze in February, and at Realmont, in May, 1573. This clearly appears from references to that earlier legislation contained iu the more complete " organization " adopted four months later at Milhau. See the document in Haag, France Protestante, x. (Pieces justificatives) 124, 125. M. Jean Loutchitzki has published in the Bulletin, xxii. (1873) 507-511, a list of the political assemblies much fuller than given by any previous writer. 1 As it is of interest to fix the geographical distribution of the provinces represented, I give the list contained in the preamble : " Cayenne, Vivaretz, Gevaudan, Seneschauasee de Toloze, Auvergne, haute et basse Marche, Quercy, Perigord, Limosin, Agenois, Armignac, Cominges. Coustraux, Bigorre, Albret, Foix, Lauraguay, Albigeois, pai's de Castres et Villelargue, Mirepoix, Carcassonne, et autres pa'is et provinces adiacentes." 602 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. laration " that justly and for good reasons have ' those of the religion ' taken arms, resisting and warring in these last troubles, as constrained thereto by the violent acts with which they have been assailed and driven to distraction." They next demand those concessions which alone can make the position of the Protestants in France secure and endurable freedom of wor- ship and church discipline established by perpetual provision, irrespective of place or time ; the right of honorable burial ; immunity from taxation for the support of Roman Catholic ceremonies ; admission to schools and colleges ; just regulations as to marriage; amnesty; the power to hold civil office, etc. They request permission to levy a sum of one hundred and twenty thousand livres among themselves to pay off the in- debtedness incurred by them in past wars. And they go so far as not only to stipulate that the King of France shall re- nounce all leagues he may have contracted with the enemies of his Protestant subjects for their destruction, but even to pro- pose that he shall conclude a defensive alliance with the Prot- estant states of Germany, Switzerland, England, and Scotland. Meanwhile, in order to prevent the recurrence of " a conspiracy and Sicilian Yespers," of which the Huguenots would be the victims, they ask to be permitted to hold forever the guard of those cities which they now have in their possession, and in addition some other cities in each of the provinces of the realm. The Protestant cities, it is stipulated, shall retain their walls and munitions, and the royal governors shall enter them ac- companied only by a small retinue. The observance of these articles the Huguenots insist shall be solemnly sworn in privy and public council, and by the inhabitants of all places, the oath to be renewed every five years. 1 Such stout demands did the Protestants of the south and south-west address to Charles the Ninth on the first anniversary of the fatal matins of Paris. They were, it must be admitted, somewhat different from what might have been expected, a brief year before, from the fugitives who made their escape 1 Requete de I'asseinblee de Montauban, in Haag, La France Protestante, . (Pieces just.) 111-121. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 603 from the bloody sword of their enemies. Moreover, the terms laid down by the Huguenots of Lower Languedoc and Nisines were conceived in the same brave language, and their demands were virtually identical. Huguenot troops, paid by the king, to garrison both the cities now in the hands of the Protestants, and two cities in each of the sixteen provinces required for additional protection ; free worship irrespective of place ; new parliaments in all the provinces, with Protestant judges to administer justice to Protestants ; liberty to levy tithes for the support of reformed churches ; punishment of the insti- gators and perpetrators of the atrocities of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, as robbers and disturbers of the public peace. 1 The Tiers fitat of Provence and Dauphiny added to the demands of Languedoc and Guyenne an urgent petition in favor of the reduction of the onerous imposts under which the country was groaning. 2 The bearers of these demands were well able to give them forcible and fearless enunciation Yolet, Philippi, Chavagnac, Les tronte and others of the men known by the expressive desig- nation of " Les fronts d'airain." * Assuredly a brow of brass was not out of place, when the Protestant deputies, after a delay of some weeks, were reluctantly admitted to an audience. Charles the Ninth and his court were at this time at Villers-Cotterets, on their way to the eastern frontiers of France, accompanying the newly elected King of Poland as he slowly and unwillingly journeyed toward the capital of a kingdom regarded by him in the light of a detestable place of exile. Contemporary writers inform us that Yolet and his companions were in no degree overawed by the splendor of the scene, and made no weak abatement in the terms they had been in- structed to propose. Charles heard them through with patient attention. He was not a little astonished at the extent of their demands, we may be certain ; but he made no comment upon the courageous assertion of Protestant rights. Not so with the queen mother. When the deputies had at length finished their 1 Jean de Serres, iv., fols. 113, 114 ; De Thou, v. (liv. Ivii.) 12, 13 ; Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 106. Histoire du Languedoc, v. 322. * Agrippa d'Aubigne, vbi supra. 604 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. harangue, Catharine could no longer contain her indignation. Catharine's " ~Wh}V sne exclaimed with marked bitterness of bitter reply, ^one, "if your Conde himself were alive and in the heart of the kingdom with twenty thousand horse and fifty thousand foot, and held the chief cities in his power, he would not make half so great demands ! " ' Despite the unwelcome character of the claims of the Hugue- not deputies, some answer must be given. It was found im- Hague- possible to induce the envoys to modify them. They denied that they had the power, even if they had the inclination, to alter the action of those who had sent them. They were therefore dismissed with expressions of good-will and the assurance that two royal commissioners, the Due d'Uzes and the Chevalier de Caylus, would be sent to treat with the delegates whom the Huguenots might choose. Marshal Dam- ville, governor of the province, was to participate in the nego- tiations and to appoint some city in the vicinity of Montauban where they might be held. Charles was to hear the result of their conference on his return from the German borders. Meanwhile he promised to instruct Damville to put an end to all hostilities, provided the Huguenots should desist from every- thing tending to provoke retaliation. 2 The Tiers tat received the answer to their petition more promptly. It was naturally to the effect that a return to the meagre scale of imposts under Louis XI. was utterly impracticable, in view of the burdens of the treasury arising from recent wars and the pensions yearly payable to various members of the royal family. 3 It would be out of place to describe here at any length the 1 Jean de Serres, iv. (lib. xii.)fol. 114 ; D'Aubigne and De Thou, ubi supra. See also Languet (Epistolas secretas, i. 216), who, writing November 14, 1573, considers the Huguenots to be virtually demanding the re-enactment of the edict of January, 1562. * De Thou and D'Aubigne, ubi supra. Hist, du Languedoc, v. 322 : " pourvu que lesdits de la religion donnent ordre de leur part, qu'il ne soifc entrepris aucune chose au contraire, comme il est avenu ces jours passes, ce que je leur defens tres-expressement. " Charles IX. to Damville, Oct. 18, 1573. Unfortunately, neither the promise nor the condition was observed over scrupulously. 3 The king's aunt, the Duchess of - Savoy, his mother, and his brothers cf Anjou and Alencon. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRR slow progress of the French court as it escorted the King Progress of of Poland to the borders of the realm. To none the border of of the principal personages taking part was it the oc- casion of much satisfaction. Catharine was as reluc- tant to part from Henry, her favorite son, as he was himself averse to exchange the pleasures of the Louvre and Saint Ger- main for the crown of an unruly and half-civilized kingdom. As for Charles, the gratification he could not conceal at the prospect of being soon freed from the presence of a Decline of * * I-I-ITTII , r -, the h.-aith of brother whom he both disliked and feared was more than counterbalanced by the rapid decline of his own health. The boy of eleven, whom the Venetian ambassador had described about the time of his accession to the throne as handsome, amiable, and graceful in appearance, quick, viva- cious, and humane in short, as possessing every quality from which a great prince and a great king might be expected, 1 was now a man of twenty-three. But his constitution, never robust, had gained nothing. The violent exercises to which he had been addicted even as a child, and which, though princely, had been pronounced dangerous by the ambassador, had been inces- santly practised the ball, horsemanship, arms and bodily fee- bleness, not strength, had been the result. Other excesses had contributed to hasten the catastrophe. More than all, if we may believe the testimony of those who were familiar with the young monarch's later life, the mental and moral experience of the last eighteen months left their impress on his physical system. Charles, witli the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, had lost all the elasticity of youth. Remorse for complicity in the crime then perpetrated co-operated with the persua- sion of the uselessness and complete failure of the attempt to exterminate the Huguenots, and the consciousness of having incurred the indelible mark of hatred and detestation of an im- partial posterity. Even in his sleeping hours the curse of the murdered victims pursued him and disturbed his rest. Neither by day nor by night could he banish the remembrance of the time when blood ran so freely in the streets of Paris. 1 Relazione di Giov. ilichiel, 15C1, Toinraaseo, i. 418-420. 606 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. Cn. XX. No attentive observer could doubt that the end was drawing near. The court had gone no farther on its way to Lorraine than the little town of Vitry-le-Fran^ais, on the river Marne, when Charles fell so seriously ill as to be unable to prosecute his journey. As was usual in such cases, while the physicians alleged as a sufficient explanation of the attack the king's im- moderate exercise in the chase and in blowing the trumpet, the more suspicious frequenters of the court and the credulous peo- ple did not hesitate to invent the story that he had been poi- soned. But by whom the crime had been committed was not settled. Some ascribed it to Catharine, others to Henry of Anjou, while others still laid the guilt at the door of a person of less note, whose honor the licentious king had offended. 1 Meanwhile, neither the monarch's feeble health, nor the journeying of the court, interrupted the prosecution of those diplomatic intrigues from which Catharine still looked for valuable results. The election of Henry to the Polish crown left but one of her sons upon whom the regal dignity had not been conferred. The prophecy of Nostradamus might have its complete fulfilment if only a kingdom could be found for Alen9on. s Otherwise the superstitious queen mother did not doubt that she was fated to see not only Charles, but Henry also die, to make place for her youngest child on the throne of France. La Mothe Fenelon was therefore instructed to put forth every exertion to bring Queen Elizabeth to the Project of an . _ . & English match point or consenting definitely to wed a prince her ju- nior by about a score of years. Nor did the negotia- tions appear altogether hopeless. The suitor was, indeed, we have seen, as insignificant in body as he was contemptible in in- tellectual ability. Moreover, the deep traces left on his face by the small-pox rendered him sufficiently ungainly. The blemish was said to be increasing, instead of diminishing, with his years. 3 But the French courtiers might perhaps have overcome this impediment had Elizabeth been able to see it to be her interest 1 De Thou, v. (liv. Ivii.) 18. 5 Of this Queen Elizabeth reminded La Mothe Fe"nelon in a conversation re-, ported by him June 3, 1573, Corr. dipl., v. 345, 346. 3 La Mothe Fenelon to Charles IX., July 2G, 1573, Corr. dipl., v. 382. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 60? to contract such close relations with her neighbors across the channel. As it was, an agreement was actually made that Alen9on should visit England and press his suit in person ; but when the time arrived for him to cross to Dover, Catharine justified the despatch of Marshal de Retz in his place, on the plea of her son's illness. The excuse may have contained some truth, 1 for, albeit Francis of Alen9on had received the baptismal name of Hercules, he was a puny weakling, from whom no labors could ever be expected, but rather a dull existence of sloth and imbecility. It was, however, a stretch even of dip- lomatic assurance, for La Mothe Fenelon to suggest to the virgin queen of England, as he deliberately reports that he did, that Ale^on's malady was probably due to his disappointment at Elizabeth's failure to reciprocate his honest affection ! 2 Possibly his mother and his brother the king may about this time have begun to realize how impolitic it would be to strengthen over- much the personal consideration of the young prince. Disgusted with the subordinate position assigned him at court, and espe- cially with the failure of his efforts to obtain the appointment of lieutenant-general of the kingdom, lately held by Henry of An j on, Alen9on was even now drifting into an association with the political and religious malcontents whose existence could not altogether be ignored. The French ambassador at the English court was, however, instructed by no means to let the projected marriage drop.' AVith the patriots in the Low Countries and with the Protes- tant princes of Germany, the French agents were in even more active conference. In the Netherlands there was a possibility of securing some high position for Anjou or Alen9on, in Germany ; The story was certainly not invented by his mother, ' ' comme il estoit sorty de sa derniere maladye aussyjaune que cuyvre, tout bouffy, dfffigure, bien fort petit et mince." No wonder that Leicester, while expressing the hope that the account might be false, hinted that it operated against the proposed marriage. La Mothe Fenelon to Charles IX. , November 11, 1573, Correspon- dance diplomatique, v. 443. * Despatch of Aug. 20, ibid., v. 394. 3 The correspondence of La Mothe Fenelon, as preserved, is not destitute of interest. See volumes v. and vi. , passim ; as also Le Laboureur, Additions a Castelnau, vol. iii. , pp. 350, seq. 608 THE RISE OF THE HUGUEXOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. a chance to divert the imperial crown from the Hapsburg to the Yalois family. It may reasonably be doubted whether the pro- ject was ever distinctly entertained, as the historian De Thou asserts, 1 of conferring upon Anjou the command in chief of the confederates in Flanders, where it was expected that he would have a well equipped fleet at his disposition ; for the correspon- dence of Gaspard de Schomberg, the French agent, contains no allusion to the proposal. Certainly, however, France was, at least, anxious that England should gain no advantage over her in this part of Europe. In fact, nothing but the natural fear entertained of the great power and apparently limitless resources of Spain deterred both Elizabeth and Charles from attempting to secure the sovereignty of the revolted Nether- lands. In Germany the field for intrigue was more open. The imperial dignity had not yet become purely hereditary. In choosing a new King of the Romans, the presumptive Intrigues with . _, the German heir or the German Empire, the three Protestant Electors, if they could but secure the concurrence of one of the four Roman Catholic Electors, might have it in their power to correct the mistake committed by Frederick the Wise of Saxony, a half-century earlier, in declining the crown in favor of Charles of Spain. Schomberg was therefore instructed to recommend to the Protestants of Germany and the Low Countries, that one of their own number should be placed in the line of succession to the Empire, or, if they could find no Ger- man Protestant prince sufficiently powerful to oppose the Haps- burgs, that the dignity should be offered to the King of France. This was a somewhat startling suggestion to emanate from a king who, but a brief twelvemonth before had been butchering his Protestant subjects by tens of thousands. But the sixteenth century furnishes not a few paradoxes equally remarkable. Both Protestants and Roman Catholics often found it conve- nient to have very short memories. In this case, however, the proposal to set aside the son of the tolerant Maximilian the Second in behalf of a son of Catharine de' Medici met with 1 De Thou, v. 12. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRR C09 little favor at the hands of one at least of the Protestant leaders. The Landgrave of Hesse declared he would have nothing to do with a project intended solely to sow divisions in the empire. The French, since the successful issue of their intrigues in Po- land, he said, had become so arrogant that they thought they nmst be nothing less than masters of the whole world. 1 As for himself, he was quite satisfied with the present emperor, whom he prayed that God might long preserve, and then graciously provide them in his place with a pious Christian leader who should rule the empire well and faithfully. 1 At Blamont, in the duchy of Lorraine, Catharine took leave of the King of Poland. Here the old ally of the Huguenots, Louis of Jsassau, accompanied by Duke Christopher, younger son of the elector palatine, met them. Louis had been unre- mitting in his efforts to obtain French assistance in the desper- ate struggle in which he and his brother were engaged. If words and assurances could be of any worth, he was successful. Catharine promised in Charles's name that France would not be behind the German Protestant princes in rendering assistance to the Dutch patriots. Louis was so cordially received by the queen mother, and especially by Alen9on, that he departed greatly encouraged with the prospect. Alen9on had pressed the Dutch patriot's hand, and whispered in his ear : " I now have the government, as my brother, the King of Poland for- merly had it, and I shall devote myself wholly to seconding the efforts of the Prince of Orange." ' The promised succor from France Kassau never received. Four months later (on the four- 1 "Achten's dafiir dieweil es den Franzosen gelungen das sie das Konig- reich Polen aim sich practicirt, das sie darvou so hochmiithig wordenn das sie miissen nun Hern der game weltt werdenn." 9 Letters of Landgrave William, Sept. 8th, Oct. 17th and Nov. 6th, 1573, Groen van Prmsterer, iv. 116*. 118*, 123*. See also Soldan, ii. 552-556, who, as usnal, is very full and satisfactory in everything bearing upon the relations of France to Germany. Rudolph, Maximilian's son. who succeeded his father three years later, was unfortunately far from embodying the excellences desired by the landgrave. It may be questioned whether the Protestants of Germany would have fared worse even under a Vaiois than under this de- generate Hapsburger. 3 Louis of Nassau to William of Orange, December, 1573. Groen van Prins- terer, iv. 278-281. VOL. II. 39 610 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. teenth of April, 1574) the brave young count, in company with his friend and comrade, Duke Christopher, lost his count Louis life in the fatal battle of Mook, on the banks of the Meuse. 1 Xot the Prince of Orange nor Holland alone, but the entire Protestant world deplored the untimely death of one of the boldest and most unselfish of the champions of religion and liberty. With the details of the journey of Henry of Anjou to take possession of his new kingdom, we cannot here concern our- selves. One incident, however, naturally connects itself with the fortunes of the French Huguenots. After traversing Alsace, Henry and his suite presented them- selves, unwelcome guests, at Heidelberg, capital of the palati- nate. The Elector, Frederick the Third, and his sub- An jon's re- . . IIT-IJI ceptionat iects were, perhaps, equally displeased at the arrival Heidelberg. J ?* *V IT C*. T> -^ 1 of the prime mover in the Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew's Day. But, while the people felt some freedom in the expression of their disgust, motives of state policy prevented their prince from openly displaying his antipathy. However, he neither could nor would conceal the lively remembrance in which the events of August, 1572, were still held by him. It was on Friday, the eleventh of December, that the French party, under the escort of a large body of soldiers sent out to do them honor, ascended to the castle, then as now occupying a commanding site overlooking the valley of the ^eckar." The King of Poland was somewhat surprised when, on entering the portal, instead of the elector, the rhinegrave, with two French refugees escaped from the massacre, came to escort him to the 1 Motley, Rise of the Dutch Republic, ii. 534-538. J. de Serres, iv., foL 134, gives the date as April 17th. This volume of Serres was published in the succeeding year, 1575. : The writer of an anonymous letter (now in the library of Prince Czar- toryski). who saw Henry as he rode into Heidelberg, with Louis of Nassau on his right hand, and Duke Christopher, the elector's son, on his left, thus describes his personal appearance: "Homo procera statura, corpore gracili, facie oblonga pallida, oculis paululum prominentibus, vultu subtruculento, indutus pallio holoserico rubri colons." Heidelberg letter " de transitu Hen- rici," etc., Dec. 22, 1573, apud Marquis de Noailles, Henri de Yalois et la Pologne (Paris, 1867), iii. (Pieces justil), 532. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 611 rooms prepared for his reception. Frederick had directed the rhinegrave to request Henry to excuse this apparent discourtesy on the ground of his feeble health. It is more probable that the true motive was the elector's desire to avoid incurring, by too great complaisance, the displeasure of the emperor, who was naturally much irritated at the success of the French in- trigues in Poland. When, later, Frederick made his tardy appearance, it was only to greet Anjou in a brief address, re- serving for the morrow their more extended conference. On Saturday the elector politely conducted his guest through his extensive picture gallery. Pausing before one painting the face of which was protected from sight, he ordered an attendant to draw aside the curtain. To his astonishment, Henry found himself confronted with a life-like portrait of Gaspard de Co- ligny. To the question, " Does your Royal Highness recognize the subject? " Henry replied with sufficient composure : " I do ; it is the late Admiral of France." "Yes," rejoined Frederick, "it is the admiral a man whom I have found, of all the French nobles, the most zealous for the glory of the French name ; and I am not afraid to assert that in him the king and all France have sustained an irreparable loss." Elsewhere Henry's attention was directed to a large painting representing the very scenes of the massacre, and he was asked whether he could distinguish any of the victims. Nor did Frederick con- fine himself to these casual references. In pointed Frankness of .-^ . , the elector terms he exposed to the young valois both the sm I>alatine. . -i / -i < and the mistaken policy of the events of a twelve- month since. The slaughter of the admiral and of so many other innocent men and women had not only provoked the Divine retribution, but had diminished not a little the reputa- tion and influence of the French with all orders of persons in Germany. 1 Henry listened with commendable patience to the 1 Germany seems to have been full of blind rumors of treacherous designs on the part of its French neighbors. I have before me a pamphlet of little historical value, and evidently intended for popular circulation, entitled " Entdeckung etlicher heimlichen Practicken, so jetzund vorhanden wider unser geliebtes Vatterland, die Teutsche Nation, was man giintzlich willens uud ins werck zubringen, gegea den Evangelischen fiirgenommen babe, durch 612 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. old elector's denunciations, alleging by way of excuse that the French court had been under the influence of the passions then running high, and readily promised great caution and tolerance in future. 1 He did, indeed, strike on his breast and begged Frederick to believe him that things had occurred otherwise than had been reported. But his auditor dryly remarked that he was fully informed of what had taken place in France. 2 As the elector also took occasion to remind Anjou of sundry miser- able deaths of notorious persecutors, such as Herod the Great, Herod Agrippa, and Maxentius ; as he openly ridiculed the absurd suggestion that Coligny, a wounded man, with both arms disabled in consequence of Maurevel's shot, planned on his bed an attack on the king ; and as, furthermore, he plainly denounced the shocking immorality of Catharine de' Medici's court ladies it must be confessed that Frederick the Pious, on the present occasion, made more of a virtue of frankness than of diplomacy.* On Sunday the French left Heidelberg, with little regret on then- own part or on that of their hosts. INot to speak of their treatment by the elector, which even the historian De Thou regarded as scarcely comporting with the dignity with which Henry was invested,* the followers of the Polish king met with frequent insults, both in coming and in going. One of them re- lates how he heard cries of " Those dogs from Lorraine ! Those Italian traitors!" And a German eye-witness of the scenes einen gnthertzigen und getrewen Christen unsenn Vatterland zu giitem an tag geben. M. D. LXXIII. " 1 De Thou, v. (liv. Ivii.), 22 ; Mem. de Pierre de Lestoile (ed. Miohaud et Poujoulat;, i. 27. 1 ' Was sich in Franckreich zugetragen, weiss man auch." 1 The minute of the conversation drawn up by the elector palatine with his own hand, and printed by Lalanne in the appendix to the fourth volume of his edition of Brantome's Works (411-418), is by far the most trustworthy source of information we possess. On the last count of the elector's indict- ment, Anjou's defence was certainly very lame : " Dass ich selbst an seines Altvatters Hof gesehen que p'a ete une Cour fort dissolite, aber seines Brudern und Frau Mutter Hof demselbigen bey weitem nicht zu vergleichen." Ibid., 414. " C'est ce qui fit croire a bien des gens, que 1'Electeur n'avoit pas recu un hote comme Henri aussi poliment qu'il le devoit " De Thou, v. (liv. Ivii.) 22. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 613 expresses it as his opinion that the French nobles would not have been safe had they not been escorted by the palatine troops. The sight of " that notable cut- throat, the Duke of ^severs," of the Marshal de Retz, of Captain Du Gast, and " very many others of that band of villains who so cruelly 1 iiitchered the admiral and other nobles in Paris," provoked the populace almost beyond endurance. The very diamonds and jewels presented by Henry on his departure, to the elector and to the ladies of his court, aroused the popular indignation; for they were known, as we have already seen, to have constituted a part of the plunder of a certain rich Huguenot jeweller, whose shop had been robbed at the time of the Parisian matins. 1 There were not wanting those who would even have counselled the worthy elector to follow the course indicated by the Span- ish grandee, who informed Charles the Fifth that he intended to burn his castle to the ground so soon as the traitorous Con- stable de Bourbon had relieved it of his polluting presence.' Meantime, within the borders of France all was ferment and disquiet. The Roman Catholic element, comprising the over- whelming majority of the people, had become split into two factions, both animated by inextinguishable hatred, and each resolved to compass the destruction of the other. Of concilia- tory measures there was a dearth. Among the men of wide influence there was no one to take the place of the virtuous Michel de 1'Hospital. That truly great statesman had chancenorde died nine months before (on the thirteenth of March, 1573). The storm of war at that moment raging about La Rochelle was a fit expression of the utter failure of the aged chancellor's policy. For a dozen years there had not been a candid and sincere effort made to restore tranquillity to France which had not either originated with him or received his cordial support. But of the sanguine hopes of ultimate suc- cess entertained in the earlier stages of his political career, he retained little toward its close. The last years of his presence at court witnessed an uninterrupted struggle between the chan- 1 Heidelberg letter of Dec. 22, 1573, Czartoryski MSS., De Noailles, Pieces justif., iii. 533. See ante, p. 485. 2 Heidelberg letter, ubi supra, iii. 534. 614 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. cellor and that family of Guise which he had come to regard as the prime cause of the misery afflicting the kingdom. More than once the latent personal hostility had broken out in an open quarrel between L'Hospital and the Cardinal of Lorraine. Two or three exciting scenes of recrimination, which the tact of Catharine de' Medici was scarcely able to allay, have met us in this history. At length, when the third civil war burst forth, L'Hospital, seeing himself altogether powerless to resist the more violent counsels then in the ascendant, had received per- mission to retire from the royal court to his estate in the vicinity of Etampes. 1 It was none the less an exile that it wore the ap- pearance of a voluntary withdrawal. Birague discharged the real functions of the chancellor's office. Finally, after barely escaping a violent death in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, the chancellor received, in January, 1573, the formal order to give up the guardianship of the seals, which for more than four years had been only nominally under his control. His touching reply to the royal summons is the last production of the chancellor's pen that has come down to us. Interposing no obstacle to the execution of the king's will, the writer invoked the testimony of the queen mother that, in all things pertaining to the royal interests, " he had been forgetful rather of his own advantage than of the king's service, and had always followed the great royal road, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, and giving himself to no private faction." " And now," he added, " that my maladies and my age have rendered me useless to do you service, just as you have seen the old galleys in the port of Marseilles, which, though dismantled, are yet re- garded with pleasure, so I very humbly beg you to view me both in my present state and my past, which shall be an instruction and an example to all your subjects to do you good service. God give you grace to choose servants and counsellors more com- 1 Jeande Serres (edit. 1571), iii. 284; A. d'Anbigne, i. 264, "Pource que le Chancelier de 1'Hospital ne pouvoit travailler de coeur en mesme temps aux violentes depesches de Thavanes, de Montluc et autres, et aux douceurs du Mareschal de Cosse, il ne fallut qu'un souspir de probite pour lui faire oster les sceaux ; ce que fit la Roine en le relegant en sa raaison pres Estampes jus- ques a la fin de ses jours." See also Languet's letter of September 20, 1568. 157a THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 615 petent than I have been, and as affectionate and devoted to your service as I am." The closing words were characteristic of the life-long advocate of toleration : a recommendation of gentleness and clemency, in imitation of a long-suffering and pardoning God. 1 Two months later Michel de 1'Ilospital ended his eventful life. France could ill afford to lose at this juncture a magistrate* so upright a statesman who " had the lilies of France in his heart." 1 Since the siege of La Rochelle, or more properly since the day of the massacre, a new party had been forming, of those who could not bring themselves to approve the cruel acts ?h h /"p?il of the court, or who, for any reason, were jealous of the faction now in power. As opposed to the Italian counsellors by whom the queen mother had surrounded the throne, it was pre-eminently a French or patriotic party. It de- manded the expulsion of Florentines and of Lorrainers from the kingdom, or at least from the management of public affairs. The Malcontents," or " Politiques," as they now began to be called, 4 demanded a return to the former usages of the kingdom, in accordance with which the most important decisions were never made without consulting the States General. Two books appearing about this time made a deep impression. In an anonymous treatise entitled " Franco-Gallia," the au th O rship of which was speedily traced to the emi- nent jurist Francis Hotman, attention was drawn to the origi- nal constitution of the kingdom ; and the writer showed by ir- refragable proofs that the regal dignity was not hereditary like a private possession, but was a gift of the people, which they could as lawfully transfer from one to another, as originally con- fer. The participation of women in the administration of the 1 Chancellor de 1'Hospital to Charles IX., January 12, 1573, copy discovered in the MSS. of the National Library, Paris, by Prof. Soldan, and printed in Appendix XI. of his history. * Ante, chapter xv. , p. 264. note. J " M. le chancelier de 1'Hospital qui avoit les fleurs de lys dans le coeur." Journal de Lestoile, p. 16. 4 "Politici (novum enim hoc noraen ex novo negotio sub hoc tempos na- tum)." Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 132. 616 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. government was declared to be abhorrent to the ideas of the founders of the French monarchy. 1 In another work appearing not long after, the principle was enunciated that an unbounded obedience is due to the Almighty alone, while obedience to hu- man magistrates is hi its very nature subject to limitations and exceptions. The supreme authority of kings and other high magistrates was explained to be of such a nature " that if they violate the laws, to the observance of which they have bound themselves by oath, and become manifest tyrants, giving no room for better counsels, then it is lawful for the inferior mag- istrates to make provision both for themselves and for those committed to their charge, and oppose the tyrant." 3 The cir- cumstance is not without significance that hi a Huguenot work, published early hi the succeeding year, the guilty king who authorized the butchery of his innocent subjects on St. Bar- tholomew's Day, is for the first time distinctly designated as the " tyrant." * The lesson that no trust could be reposed in Charles and his court was one which the world had learned pretty thoroughly before this ; and the events at La Kochelle during the attempt on month of December, 1573, were well calculated to pre- La Rochelle. vent it from being forgotten. The definite peace, made five months before, guaranteed the safety of the Protestants, and secured to them the free exercise of their religious rights. Kone the less was a project set on foot to introduce a royal gar- rison into the city by treachery. M. de Biron and other captains had been unable to conceal their disgust at the abandonment of the siege of La Rochelle, when, as they pretended, it must very shortly have fallen into the king's hands, and Biron had been soundly berated by Anjou for his pains. He had not, however, I Jean de Serres, iv., fols. 115-117. The dedication of Hotman's Franco- Gallia to the elector palatine is dated August 21, 1573. II Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 122. Serres gives an extended summary of the work, whose author is unknown to him, fols. 119-128. 3 Eusebii Philadelphi Dialog., ii. 117, et passim. See also the Tocsain centre les massacreurs, which, although published as late as 1579, was written before the death of Charles the Ninth (see the address of the printer, dated June 25, 1577), where the king is directly compared to the Emperor Nero. Archives curieuses, vii. 162. 1573. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 617 given up the notion of making himself master of the Huguenot stronghold, and there were others in the royal army intent upon the same end. A scheme to smuggle soldiers through the gates, in wagons covered with branches of trees, was so freely talked of that it reached the citizens' ears, and only augmented their suspicions. A more serious plot was set on foot, in accord- ance with which one Jacques du Lyon, Seigneur de Grandfief, prominent in the late defence of La Rochelle, was to gain pos- session of one of the city gates, and admit Puigaillard, who, for this purpose, had massed considerable numbers of royal soldiers at Isuaille, on the east, and at Saint- Vivien, on the south of La Rochelle. Happily the treacherous design was itself betrayed by an accomplice. Grandfief was killed while defending himself against those who had been sent to arrest him. Several of the supposed leaders ' were condemned to be broken on the wheel, and the barbarous sentence was executed. The papers discovered in the house of Grandfief clearly proved that the plot had received the full approval not only of Biron, but of the queen mother herself. After inflicting summary vengeance on the miserable instruments of perfidy, the Rochel- lois, therefore, addressed their complaints to the French court. It need not surprise us, however, to learn that they received in reply letters from Charles not only disowning the conspiracy, but assuring them that he heartily detested it, and approved the rigorous measures adopted. 1 Shortly before the discovery of the conspiracy at La Rochelle, the Huguenots had again assembled at Milhau-en-Rouergue. The delegates, about one hundred in number, repre- The Hngne- ' , , nou reassem- scnted very f ullv the gentry and tiers etat of the south bleatMilhau. . -rT i ., F and south-west of France, while a few names from the central and northern provinces indicated the weaker hold gained by Protestantism in that portion of the kingdom.* 1 They had, however, generally retracted their admissions of complicity made on the rack. * Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 118 ; De Thou, v. (liv. Ivii.) 19, 20; Arcere, His- toire de la ville de la Rochelle, i. 533-540 ; Languet, Letter of Feb. 8, 1574, i. 229. 3 See the list of members in the protocol of the proceedings first published in the Bulletin de la Societe de 1'hist du prot. fran^ais, x. (18C2j 351-353. 618 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. Ostensibly meeting, with the royal permission, to receive the report of the commissioners sent to the king, and to entertain the terms proposed by Marshal Damville, the Huguenots availed themselves of the opportunity to perfect the organiza- Theycomplete . rr J * ? their organiza- tion of their party which had been sketched in pre- vious political assemblies. Accepting it as notorious that, whether in time of peace, or of open war, or of truce, the Protestants were in peril from the daily intrigues and assaults of their enemies, all tending to their complete ruin, the Hugue- not assembly renewed and swore to maintain a permanent union comprising all their brethren of the same faith not only in France proper, but in the papal Comtat Yenaissin, the princi- pality of Orange, and other districts less closely united to the crown. To this end they determined that the " States General," composed of a delegate from the nobility, the tiers etat, and the magistracy of each " generalite " or government, should meet every six months ; while the particular assemblies of the gov- ernments should be convened at least as often as once in three months. The functions of the generals and their councils were expressly limited to the military and financial concerns of the Huguenots, with other matters of public interest. They were strictly forbidden from intermeddling, under any pretext, with the discharge of civil or criminal justice. This last function was to be referred to the royal courts, save that, instead of ap- pealing to the parliaments, known to be too hostile to Protestant- ism to afford hope of obtaining justice, arbitrators were to be chosen by the Protestants among themselves. 1 Xot forgetting their common religious bond, the Huguenots at Milhau declared it to be the duty of the ministers of God's word and of the consistories to keep watch over criminal and dissolute behavior, and denounce it for punishment to the civil magistrate. At the same time, in order that the ministers might be the better able to devote themselves to their sacred functions, it was directed that 1 In this, as in other particulars, the political assembly of Milhau merely re-enacted the provisions of the assembly of Realmont. For the dates of the early political assemblies of the Huguenots, which must of course be carefully distinguished from their synods or ecclesiastical assemblies, see the list in the Bulletin, etc., xxii. (1873) 508. 1573-74. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 619 they be regularly paid from the common funds " without mak- ing any further use of notices (billettes) or other unworthy and illusory methods, as has been done heretofore, to the great scan- dal of all good people." The levy of imposts and the creation of loans were made the exclusive right of the particular states, while the administration of the funds arising from the royal revenues was to be intrusted to the provincial councils. 1 Such were the chief features in a plan for organization evi- dently looking to the speedy renewal of the warfare temporarily suspended by virtue of the truce. While the revelation of the treacherous attempt of the royal party upon La Rochelle proved to the Politiques, or Malcontents, the impossibility of relying upon the assurances given in the name of Charles the Ninth, the resolutions of the Huguenots in Milhau encouraged them in their project to remove the pres- ent advisers of the king. In the absence of any better leader, The Duke of tne j looked to the Duke of Alen9on as their head. He alone of the royal family was guiltless of the Mas- sacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. His antagonism to Anjou and to his mother was well known. It was even reported that he had himself been exposed to serious danger by reason of his avowed sympathy with the imprisoned King of Navarre and his cousin of Conde. In fact, he was himself little better than a captive at the court of Charles eyed with suspicion, unable to obtain favors for his friends, and vainly suing to be appointed to the office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom. It was perhaps not strange that, in looking about for a nominal head, the Politiques should have settled upon Alen9on, who received their overtures with undisguised satisfaction and large promises of support. And yet there could scarcely have been a more unhappy selection. Of the feeble children of Catharine de' Mfdici, he was undoubtedly the feeblest. He possessed neither the courage to undertake nor the fortitude to prosecute any 1 Text of the document embodying the resolutions of the political assembly of Milhau, in Haag, La France protestante (voL x.}, Pieces justificatives, 121- 126. The correct date seems to be Dec. 17th, instead of 16th ; Bulletin, as above, x. 351. Cf. also Leonce Anquez, Histoire des assemblies politiquea des reformes de France (1573-1622), Paris, 1859, 7-11. 620 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. really bold enterprise. All who had the misfortune at any time to credit his plighted word discovered in their own cases a fresh and pointed application of the warning against putting trust in princes. Of him Busbec, the emperor's ambassador, gave a life-like delineation when he characterized him as " a prince who allowed himself to be ensnared by the bad counsels of un- skilful ministers, who could not distinguish friends from flat- terers, nor a great from a good reputation ; ready to undertake, still more ready to desist; always inconstant, restless, and frivolous ; always prepared to disturb the best established tran- quillity." ' Circumstances almost beyond their control seemed now to be forcing the Huguenots to make common cause with the Malcon- tents. Yet there were not wanting those who looked upon the alliance as more likely to retard than to advance their true in- terests, and who pointed with convincing force to the disastrous results of a similar union in the time of the tumult of Amboise, fourteen years before. The cloak of the reformed name, they argued, would certainly be assumed by men having no desire for a reformation of manners or morals men whose lives would only dishonor the cause with which they were supposed to be identified. Nor was the fear an idle one, as was shown by an incident that occurred about this very time. The truce which had been made for Languedoc did not extend to the Comtat Venaissin. Naturally enough, there were many in the Hugue- not ranks who, remembering past injuries received at the hands of the troops of the Pope, were not unwilling to turn their arms in this direction. But their leader was no Huguenot. M. de Glandage, a gentleman of Dauphiny, was a sol- piunders the dier of f ortune, and would doubtless have fought with ' ' as little reluctance against the Protestants as for them, had it been to his advantage to enlist under the papal standard. As it was otherwise, he made himself master of the city of Orange, with the assistance of a party of citizens, and expelled Berchon, who, in the name of William the Silent, had strictly abstained from acts of hostility against the neighboring pontifi- ' Lettres d' Auger Gislen, seigneur de Busbec, amb. de Temp. Rodolphe II. aupres de Henri III. Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, x. 115. 1574. THE SEQUEL OF THE MASSACRE. 621 cal towns. Xot so with the new governor of Orange. The city became the starting-point for a continuous series of incur- sions. It was not war, but open rapine. The very traders were plundered of their wares when they fell into his hands. One might have fancied that a mediaeval robber-baron had reappeared on the banks of the Rhone. It was true that Glan- dage, making a virtue of bluntness, was wont to say that " there was nothing Huguenot about him but the point of his sword." None the less did his violent acts bring discredit upon the Huguenots. 1 Although war had not yet been formally resumed, there were parts of France in which it already raged, or rather where peace had never been restored. This was the case in particular on both banks of the Rhone, in Dauphiny and in Yivarez and the adjoining districts. So rapid had been the movements Montbrun's . TT i /- i j exploits in or the veteran Huguenot chief Montbrun, and so suc- cessful every blow he struck, that terror spread far and wide. Important towns fell into his hands ; a rich abbey but a few miles from Grenoble was plundered, and the silent monks of St. Bruno, in the secluded retreat of the Grande Char- treuse the mother house of their order were glad to summon troops to defend their rich fields from a similar fate. 9 From Lyons to Avignon the Huguenots were stronger than the king's forces.' But the time for hollow truce and a desultory and irre- gular warfare was rapidly passing away. It was but little more than a month after the beginning of the new year before the conflagration again burst forth. The Protestants of all parts of the kingdom were at length of one mind ; there was no ' ' Dictitabat se Religionem ref ormatam minime probare ; crisis tantum sui mucronem esse Religiosum : id est, se non Religionis doctrinam, Bed Re- ligiosorum causam sequi. Hujusmodi exemplis magnae offensiones adversus Religiosoa conflabantur." Jean de Serree, iv., fol. 118. The reader needs perhaps to be reminded that Rdigiosi here stands as the equivalent for the French designation of the Huguenots as " ceux de la Religion." 5 Agrippa d'Aubigne. ii. 113, 114 (liv. ii., c. 4); Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 117. Of "La Grande Chartreuse," which lies ten miles north of Grenoble, see a good account in R. Topffer, Voyages en Zigzag, seconde serie. 3 Languet, Epistolas secretae, i. 214, etc. C22 THE RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. room for doubt that any hopes offered them had as their sole object to sow discord among the adherents of the reformed faith. If anything had been wanting to prove this, it was made clear by the refusal of the court to extend the benefits of the Edict of Pacification of July, 1573, to the whole of France. The limitation of the liberty of worship by the provisions of that edict to La Rochelle, Montauban, and Nismes. was evidently intended to render the inhabitants of the three strongest Hugue- not cities selfishly indifferent to the injustice done to their brethren in other parts of France. In fact, this result was par- tially effected in the first of the cities named. The Rochellois were at first very reluctant to resume hostilities, and began to plead conscientious scruples forbidding them to break the com- pact made with the king. Happily their hesitation was removed by Fran9ois de la Koue, who, returning in a capacity entirely different from that in which he had last appeared, used all the arts of persuasion to induce the Huguenot stronghold by the sea to become again the rallying-point for the Protestants of the west. It was not difficult to show the citizens, when once they would listen to reason, that the starving of San- La Rochelle J resumes arms, cerre and numberless murders of adherents of the the fifth reii- reformed doctrine throughout France were violations of the peace quite sufficient to justify its formal abro- gation by the injured party. The fears dictated by apparent weakness were dispelled by pointing to the signal success that had crowned the arms of Montbrun in Dauphiny, 1 while the reluctance of loyal subjects to rise in arms against their lawful sovereign, even in order to redress great wrongs, unless author- ized by the leadership of a prince of the blood, was answered by the assurance that they would have a head of much higher rank than any under whose protection the Huguenots had here- tofore taken the field." It was clear that the personage thus hinted at could be no other than the king's brother. R"o wonder that the Rochellois yielded to La Noue's arguments, for almost 1 E. Amaud, Histoire des protestants du Dauphine aux xvi e , xvii et xviii 8 siecles, Paris, 1875, i. 277-281 ; Ch. Charronet, Les guerres de religion et la eociete protestante dans les Hautes-Alpes (1560-1789), Gap., 1861, p. 75, etc. * Agrippa d'Aubigne, ii. 113 ; De Thou, v. (liv. Ivii.), 30. 1574. THE SEQUEL OP THE MASSACRE. 623 every Roman Catholic whose hands were clean of the blood shed in the massacre applauded the justice of the new uprising. 1 The city of La Rochelle began again to repair its shattered walls, and La Noue was unanimously appointed to the chief command of the Huguenots in Saintonge and the adjacent regions. In the effort next made to prevent the great Protes- tant leader from espousing the side of his brethren, and to per- suade the city of La Rochelle to rest content with the guarantees offered by the edict of 1573, and remain neutral in the coming con- flict, Catharine and her advisers signally failed. The royal envoys Biron, Strozzi and Pinart were, indeed, courteously treated by La None, Frontenay, and Mirambeau,who repeatedly came out to meet them at the village of Ernandes. But the Huguenots, in Diplomacy re pb' * their reiterated request, declined absolutely to tried in Tain, abate a single important point in their demands. They would not hear the suggestion that by the Edict of Boulogne, in 1573, previous ordinances had been repealed, but persisted in as- suming that Charles had always intended that the edict of 1570 should remain in force, and, in proof of this, they alleged one of the king's own declarations after the massacre. They insisted that the privileges accorded to the three privileged cities of La Rochelle, Montauban, and Xismes, should be extended to the Protestant nobility throughout the kingdom ; and when Biron and his companions reluctantly consented that the right to have baptism and marriage celebrated in their houses be conceded to all Protestant noblemen who enjoyed the right of "haute jus- tice," and who had always remained constant in their religious opinions, La Noue protested against the restriction to baptism and marriage. " We desire to worship God freely," he said, " and you give only a part of what we need for the exercise of our religion. "What you offer is a snare to catch us again and expose us to greater peril than we were ever in before. But we would much rather die with arms in our hands than be involved again in such disasters." " Fere omnes qui non fuerunt participes caedis Amiralii et aliorum, dicunt. Hnguenotos merito compere arms ad tutandam suam salutem, cum nihil ob- Bervetux eorum qnae hactenns fuerunt ipsis promissa." Languet, letter of April 14, 1574, Epistolae secretae, i. 23 endeavored to ward off the stroke of Heaven by young queen, solemn processions. For nine successive days, laying aside all tokens of her royal rank, simply clad, and with un- covered face, she walked barefooted, and accompanied by a large number of poor boys and girls, from the wood of Vincennes, where the court still lingered, to the city of Paris. After 1 Memoires de Pierre de Lestoile (ed. Michaud et Poujoulat), i. 31. * De Thou, v. 48 ; text in Isambert, Eecueil des anc. lois fr., xiv. 262. 1574. THE DEATH OF CHARLES IX. 637 devoutly praying for the king's recovery at the Sainte-Chapelle and at the shrine of Notre Dame, she returned from her pilgrimage in the same painful and humble manner, her ladies and the officers of her court following at a respectful distance.' Upon Sorbin, the king's confessor, devolved the duty of administering to Charles the last rites of religion Sorbin, who was accustomed to speak of the perfidy and cruelty of the massacre as true magnanimity and gentleness. It has been well remarked that, in all the dark drama of guilt and retribution upon which the curtain was about to fall, no part is more tragic than the scene in which the last words preparing the soul for judgment were spoken by such a confessor as Sorbin to such a penitent as Charles. 1 Under such spiritual guidance the un- happy boy-king may possibly have expressed the sentiment which the priest ascribes to him at the hour of death : that his greatest regret was that he had not seen the Reformation wholly crushed. 1 On Sunday, May the thirtieth, 1574, the festival of Pentecost, Charles died, late in the afternoon. 4 Almost his last words had been of congratulation that he left no son to inherit the throne, since he knew very well that France had need of a man, and that under a child both king and kingdom were wretched. 5 The general usage was not violated in the present instance. Charles, like a host of prominent princes and statesmen of the sixteenth century, was currently reported to have fallen a victim t" the poisoner's art, then in its prime. Nor did the examina- 1 Memoires de Claude Haton, ii. 764. 1 North British Review, Oct., 1869, p. 27. 3 Or, as Sorbin expressed it, " qu'il voyoit 1'idole Calvinesque n'estre encores du tout chassee." Le vray resveille-matin des Calvinistes, 88, ibid., ubi tupra. The expression, it will be noticed, contains a distinct reference to the anagram upon the name of "Charles de Valois" "va chasser 1'idole," upon which the Huguenots had founded brilliant hopes. See ante, chapter xiii., p. 123. On the other hand, since the massacre, some Huguenot had discovered that from the same name could be obtained the appropriate words " chasseur d&oyal." Recueil des choses memorables (1598), 506. 4 Languet, ii. 16. 6 Agrippa D'Aubigne, ii. 129 ; De Thou, v. (liv. Mi.) 50. Charles left but one legitimate child, a daughter, born Oct. 27, 1572, who died in her sixth year. 638 THE RISE OP THE HUGUENOTS OF FRANCE. CH. XX. tion made after his death, though clearly proving that the event had a natural cause, suffice to clear away the unhappy impres- sion. 1 The Huguenots had, perhaps, more reason than others to regard the circumstances attending it as strange, if not mirac- ulous. That the king, whose guilty acquiescence in the mur- derous scheme of Catharine, Anjou, and Guise, had deluged hi? realm in blood, should himself have perished of a malady that caused blood to exude from every pore in his body, 1 was cer- tainly sufficiently singular to arrest the attention of the world. Death of '^ ie phenomenon has been shown beyond all question charies. to have many parallels in the annals of medicine. 3 But the coincidence was so remarkable that we scarcely wonder that, in the eyes of many, it partook of a supernatural character. Thus perished, in the twenty-fourth year of his age, a prince whom fair natural endowments seemed to have destined to play a creditable, if not a resplendent part in the history of his period ; but whom the evil counsels and examples of his mother, and the corrupt education which, designedly or through an un- fortunate accident, she had given him, had so depraved, that his morals were regarded with disgust and reprobation by an age by no means scrupulously pure. 4 The forty days' funeral rites were performed in honor of the deceased king with all the detail of pomp customary on such The funeral occasions. For f orty days, on a bed of cloth of gold, rites. i av m state the life-like effigy of Charles of Yalois, dressed in crimson and blue satin, and in ermine, with a jewelled 1 Claude Haton, never more himself than when recounting the circumstances of a case of murder, whether by sword or by poison, fully credits the story ; but the letter of Catharine to M. de Matignon, written on the 31st of May, gives an intelligible account of the results of the medical examination estab- lishing the pulmonary nature of the king's disease. 8 Jean de Serres, Comment de statu, etc. , iv. , f ol. 137. 3 See examples given by White (Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 480) and others. 4 De Thou and others ascribe to Albert de Gondy, Count of Retz, one of Charles's early instructors and a creature of Catharine de' Medici, the unen- viable credit of having taught the young monarch never to tell the truth, and to use those horrible imprecations which startled even the profane when coming from the lips of a dying man. De Thou, v. 47, etc. See also Jean de Serres, iv., fol. 137, and Brantome, Le roy Charles IX*. 1574. THE DEATH OF CHARLES IX. 639 crown upon its head, and with sceptre and other emblems of royalty at its side. For forty days the service of the king's table remained unchanged, and the pleasing fiction was maintained that the monarch was yet alive. The gentlemen in waiting, the cupbearer, the pantler, the carver, and all the retinue of servants who, as in feudal times, appeared at the royal meals, discharged each his appointed office with punctilious precision. Courses of viands were brought on in regular succession, and as regularly removed from the board. A cardinal or prelate blessed the table before the empty show of a meal, and rendered thanks at its conclusion. Only at the close, by the sad repetition of the De profundis, and other psalms appropriate to funeral occasions, did the pageant differ materially from many a scene of convivial entertainment in which Charles had taken part. "When the prescribed term of waiting was at length over, the miserable show ended, the effigy was replaced by the bier, funeral decora- tions took the place of festive emblems, and the body of the late king was laid in its last resting-place. 1 The courtiers had already turned their eyes from the dead monarch to the successor whose speedy return from Poland all eagerly awaited. Henry the Third had already precipitately fled from Cracow, and was on his way to assume his ancestral throne. He was to find the kingdom plunged in disquiet, a Had pereecn- prey to internal discord fostered by foreign princes. tr"ache" : su<2 Neither Huguenot nor Koman Catholic was satisfied. A full half -century from the first promulgation of the reformed doctrines by Lefevre d'Etaples found the friends of the purer faith more resolute than ever in its assertion, despite fire, massacre, and open warfare. No candid beholder could deny that the system of persecution had thus far proved an utter failure. It remained to be seen whether the new king would choose to repeat a dangerous experiment. 1 See the contemporary pamphlet, " Le Trespas et Obseques du tres-chres- tien roy de France, Charles IX'. de ce Nom ; " reprinted in Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieusee. INDEX. INDEX, A. Abasement of people, fruits of the, i. 15. .mmodating" the Huguenots of Rouen, ii. 521. " Accord," the Protestants of Cateau- Cambre'sis claim the benefit of the, ii. 190. Acier, Baron d' (Jacques de Crussol), ii. 283, 335. Acier, D', younger brother of Crussol, iL note. Adrets, Francois de Beaumont, Baron des. a merciless general of the Huguenots, ii. 4'.t ; his vindication of his course, ii. 50, note ; his cruelty, ii. 50, 51 ; deserts the Huguenots, ii. 103. Adrian!, Giovambatista, the historian, his assertion that a plan for " Sicilian Ves- pers " was to have been executed at Moulins, ii. 183 ; on the rejoicing in Italy over the Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew's Day, ii. 534. ASCII, in Guyenne, persecution at, i. Agenois, Protestantism i0, i. 428. "Agimus a gagne' Pere Eternel," mean- ing of the expression, L It45. Aiguillon, ii. 350. Airvault, ii. 33(5. Aix, Parliament of, i. 19 ; iniquitous order respecting the Waldenses or Vaudois, i. 235. See Vaudois of Provence. Alava, Frances de, Spanish ambassador at Paris, ii. 181. Albi, refuses to admit a garrison, ii. 250. Albigenses, L 61 ; accused of Manichae- ism, i. '>.'. Albret, Jeanne d'. See Navarre, Queen of. Aleander, papal nuncio, his hopes re- specting Lefevre d'Etaples, i. U4. Alen<;on, city of, saved from becoming a scene of massacre by M. de Matignon, ii. 5-36. Alencon, Francis of, fourth son of Henry II.. baptized Hercules, i. 415; to be substituted for Anjou, as a suitor for the hand of Queen Elizabeth, ii 880 ; his praise, ii o'.l^ ; he takes no part in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew s Day, and is threatened by his mother, ii. 4?*., 477 ; his reply to her attempt to estrange him from the admiral, ii 495 ; La Mothe Fe'nelon instructed to press his suit with Queen Elizabeth, ii. 606 ; his disfigure- ment, ii. 607 ; he is offered as candidate for election as King of the Romans, ii 608 ; the proposal is declined, ii 609 ; chosen by the party of the " Politiques '' as their head, ii 619 ; his untrustworthy character, ii 619, 620 ; his irresolution, ii 625. Alessandria, the Cardinal of, despatched as legate to Paris, ii. 400 ; Charles IX. 's assurances to him, ii. 400-403, 531. Alexander IIL dedicates the abbey of St. Germain-des-Pres. ii 483, note. Alienor, or Elconore, last Duchess of Aquitaine, her charter given to La Rochelle in 1199, ii 270. Aliens, M. d', i 238. Alva, Duke of, is one of the ambassadors of Philip II., and a hostage for the ex- ecution of the treaty of Cateau-Cam- bresis, i. 325; declines the joint expe- dition proposed by Henry II. for the destruction of Geneva, i 327; is sus- picious of the proposed conference at Bayonne, ii. 16S (see Bayonne, Confer- ence of) ; sent to Netherlands, ii 195 ; alarm caused by his march, ii. 196 ; he is invited by Cardinal Lorraine to enter France, ii 208 ; he procrastinates, ib. ; insincerity of his offers, ii 212; sends a few troops under Count Aremberg, ii 213; is again called upon for aid, ii. 221 ; his view of accommodations with heretics, ii. 222; opposes the peace of Saint Germain, ii. :-!$: he receives a signal rebuff from Charles IX., ii 8'JO, 391 ; exults over the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, but hesitates from policy to put the Huguenot prisoners to death, ii 540; earns the approval of Pius V. by his butcheries, ii 56J, 505, 644 INDEX. Amboise, the peace of. March 19, 15G3, terminating the first civil war, ii. 115 ; its terms condemned, ii. 110, 128; Co- ligny's disappointment at, ii 116, 117; the terms in many places not observed, ii. 128 ; commissioners sent out to en- force the execution of the edict, ii. 132 ; the Parliament of Paris sternly reproved by the king for its failure to record the edict, ii. 139, 140; the edict infringed upon by interpretative declarations, ii. 160. Amboise, the Tumult of, causes of the, i. 375, seq. ; Assembly of Nantes, L 300 ; chronology of the Tumult, L 381 ; the plot betrayed, i. 382; dismay of the royal court, i 387; bloody executions following, i. 391. "Amende honorable," L 172. Amiens, one hundred and fifty Huguenots murdered at, ii. 249. Amnesty, the Edict of, March, 1560, i. 385 ; its terms ostensibly extended, but explained away, i. 390, 391. Anagram of Charles de Valois (Charles IX.), ii. 123. Andelot, Francois d\ younger brother of Admiral Cohgny, favors the Reforma- tion, i. 313 ; denounced as a heretic by Cardinal Granvelle, i 316 ; his visit to Brittany, ib. ; he is summoned by Henry II., before whom he makes a manly de- fence of his faith, i 317, 318 ; is im- prisoned, L 318; his temporary weak- ness, i. 319; disappointment of the Pope at his escape from the stake, i. 320, note; is consulted by Catharine de' Medici, i 383 ; throws himself into Orleans, ii. 39 ; returns with reinforce- ments from Germany, ii. 84 ; is left in Orleans by Conde, ii. 85; his warlike counsels at the outbreak of the second civil war prevail, ii. 204 ; sent to inter- cept Count of Aremberg, ii. 214; spirit- ed remonstrance (ascribed to him) ad- dressed to Catharine de' Medici, ii. 252, 253; his escape from Brittany to La Rochelle, ii. 281 ; his death, ii. 312 ; his character and exploits, ii. 313, 314. Ange, L\ orator for the tiers ttat in the States General of Orleans, i. 458. Angers, massacre of, ii. 512, 513. Arglois, Jacques 1\ a Protestant minis- ter, murdered at Rouen, ii. 515. Augouleme, ii. 283. Angouleme, Bastard of, ii. 456, 459, 483. Angouleme, Margaret of, afterward Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I., i. 74, 8>i; birth and studies, i. 104; personal appearance, L 105; political influence, i. 100; married first to Duke of Alen- con, ib.; goes to Spain to visit her cap- tive brother, ib. ; marriage to Henry } King of Navarre, i. 107 ; corresponds with Bishop Briconnet, i. 10S ; her Hep- tameron, i. 119 ; her sanguine hopes, i. 133 ; her correspondence with Count von Hohenlohe, ib.; favors Protestant preachers, i. 151 ; attacked in the Col- lege of Navarre, i. 153 ; her ' " Miroir de Tame pecheresse," ib. ; fruitless inter- cessions in the matter of the placards of 1534, L 168 ; she yields to the influ- ence of the "Libertines," i. l',5. 2','i> ; her address to the Parliament of Bor- deaux, i. 226. " Annats," L 25. Anjou, Henry, Duke of (afterward Henry III., see Henry of Valois) ; he is ap- pointed by Charles IX. lieutenant-gen- eral, and placed in supreme command of the army, ii. 217 ; endeavors to prevent the junction of Conde' and the Germans, ii. 220 ; his forces at the be- ginning of the third civil war, ii. 2S5 ; his army goes into winter quarters, ii. 286 ; his growing superiority in num- bers, ii. 298 ; endeavors to prevent the southern Huguenots from reinforcing Conde', ii. 299; throws his troops in front of Conde, ii. 300 ; obtains a vic- tory at Jarnac, March 13, ioO'J, ii. 301, 302 ; sends off exaggerated bulletins from the battle-field, ii. 307, 308: re- ceives congratulations and sanguinary injunctions from Pius V., ii. 30'J; he furloughs his troops, ii. 320; relieves Poitiers, ii. 325 ; his army strengthened, ii. 332 ; defeats the Huguenots at Mon- contour, ii. 332-336 ; loses the advan- tages gained, through the mistake com- mitted at St. Jean d'Angely, ii. 340, seq. ; disbands a great part of his army, ii. 343 ; leaves the remainder in the prince dauphin's hands, ib. ; his pro- jected marriage to Queen Elizabeth, ii. 377, seq.; machinations to dissuade him, ii. 379 ; indignation of Charles at, ib. ; his new ardor, ii. 881 ; papal and Spanish efforts, ii. 3S2 ; the match aban- doned, ii. 396 ; his confession respect- ing the origin of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 433 ; his jeal- ousy of Coligny's influence, ib. ; he and his mother resolve upon the death of the admiral, ii. 4o4 ; they call in the help of the Duchess of Nemours and Henry of Guise, ib.; he visits the wounded admiral, ii. 441 ; plies Charles IX. with arguments to frighten him into authorizing a massacre of the Hu- guenots, ii. 447, 448 ; he rides through the streets of Paris encouraging the as- sassins, ii. 472; enriches himself from the plunder of the jeweller Baduere, ii 485; helps to persuade Charles IX. to assume the responsibility of the massa- cre, ii. 491 ; his letter to Muutsoreau, INDEX. Governor of Sanmur, ii. 503 ; sent to assume command of the army besieging La Rochelle, ii. oN r > ; issues stringent ordinances after the example of the Huguenots, ib. ; he is elected King of Poland, ii. 593 ; his reception at Heidel- berg by the Elector Palatine, Frederick the Pious, ii. CIO, seq.; his personal ap- pearance, ii. 610, note ; his lying asser- tions and the electors frank remon- strance, ii. till, Gl~. Antoine de Bourbon-Vendome, King of Navarre. See Navarre, Antoine, King of. Aosta, story of Calvin's lalx>rs at, L 207. Arande, Michel d', i. 74, % ; his reply to Farel, i. 97. Aremberg, Count, sent by Alva to France, ii. 21o, 214. Arnay-le-Duc, battle of, June 25, 1570, ii. 354, seq. Arras, Bishop of. See Granvelle, Car- dinal. Arras, execution of Yaudois at, i. 63. Artois and Flanders, i. (it); ii. 186. Assembly, a political, of the Huguenots, held in Nismrs, Nov., 1562. ii Ni; a military organization of the Huguenots provided for by the assembly of Mon- tauban, Aug., 1573, iL 600; previous assemblies, ii. 601, note ; the organiza- tion perfected in the assembly of Mil- hau. Dec. 17, 1573, ii. 017-619. Astrology, popular belief in, i 47. Aubenas, a Huguenot place of refuge, iL Aubigne', Agrippa d', at Amboise, i. 392 ; his lather's exclamation, i. 31*3 : his tes- timony as to Chancellor L'HospitaTs complicity with the conspirators of Amboise, L 412: his father appointed a commissioner for the execution of the edict of pacification of Amboise, ii. 132 ; { his enlistment in the Huguenot army, ' ii. 275 ; on the firing of Charles IX. on > the Huguenots at the massacre, iL 483 ; on the magnanimous reply ot the Vis- count D'Orthez to the king, ii. 528, : note ; on the effect of the massacre on the king himself, ii. 560, 561 ; his ac- count or Regnier's deliverance of Mon- tauban, iL 575 ; of the death of Count Montgomery, ii. CM. t>3.">. note. Aubigne', Merle d'. See Merle. Audeberie, Anne, her martvrdom, L 278. Auger, or Augit r, Edmond. his violent sermons at Bordeaux, ii. 523. Aumale, Claude, Duke of, L 209 ; marries a daughter of Diana of Poitiers, L 273 ; his jealousy of the Duke of Nemours, ' ii. 317; pursues the Huguenots, i; helps arrange the plan for assassinating Colitrny, ii. 435 ; receives a rough an- , s\vet from Charles IX., ii. 440; pursues Montgomery, ii. 4S2; is killed before La Rochelle", March 3, 1573, iL 585. Aurillac, ii. Autun, the "mice" of, L 238. Auxerre, assassination of Huguenots at, ii. L'49. Avenelles, Des, betrays the designs of La Renaudie to the Guises, i. "Aven tuners," i. 44. Avignon, i. 2 ; popes at, i. 2^. Ayamonte, Marquis d', sent by Philip H. to congratulate Charles IX. on the mas- sacre of the Huguenots, ii. 540. " Aygnos," for Huguenots, ii. 180. B. "Babylonish captivity." L 28. Baden, Marquis of, ii. 298, 334 Baden, the Swiss Diet of, ii. 558. Baduere, a rich jeweller in Paris and a Huguenot, great plunder obtained by the Duke of Anjou from his shop, ii. 485, 613. Ballads, Hugnenot, iL 120-125. Balue, Cardinal, L 34. Barbaro, a Venetian ambassador, regards the conference of Saint Germain as an efficient means of spreading heresy, iL 9 ; on Catharine de' Medici, ii. 370. Barrier, a Franciscan monk and curate at Provins, his remarks to the people when ordered to make proclamation of the king's tolerant order, i. 477, note ; his seditious sermon on the edict of Janu- ary, ii. 5, 6; at the beginning of the third civil war, ii. 27'J. Bassompierre, iL 298. Battle of Pavia, Feb. 24, 1525, i. 122 ; of Saint Quentin, Aug. 10, 1557, i 302 ; of Dreux, Dec. 19, 1562, ii. 93 ; of Saint Denis, Nov. 10, 1567, ii. 213-215; of Jarnac, March 13, 1569, iL 301, 302; of La Roche Abeille, iL 319; of Moncon- tour, Oct. 3, 15G9, iL 332-336 ; of Ar- nay-le-Duc, June 25 and 26, 1570, ii. 354. Baum, Professor, on the reply of Cond5 to the '' petition" of the Triumvirs, ii. 61. Bayonne, Conference of, June, 1565, ii. 167, seq. ; proposed by Catharine de' Medici, ib. ; looked upon with suspicion by Philip II. and Alva, iL 167, 168; current misapprehensions respecting its object, ii. 168, 169: what was actually proposed, iL 171; Charles declares him- self against war, ii. 172 ; the discussion between Alva, Catharine, and Isabella, iL 172-175; no plan of extermination adopted or even proposed, iiL 176; fes- tivities and pageantry, ii. 176-179; the assertion of Adriani that the " Sicilian Vespers " projected at Bayonne were t j have bytn, executed ut iloulia?, ii. 183 ; 646 INDEX. some of the appointed victims, ii. 19S, note. Beam, i. 108 ; establishment of the Refor- mation in, ii. 148, seq. ; Montgomery takes a great part of, ii 323. Beaudine', ii. 352, 475. Beaugency (> loaned" by Conde to the King of Navarre, ii. 63 ; retaken by the Huguenots, ii. 66. Beauvais, riot at, occasioned by the sus- pected Protestantism of Cardinal Cha- tillon, bishop of the city, i. 474, seq. Beauvoir-la-Nocle, a Huguenot negoti- ator, ii. 357, 359, 363 ; escapes from the massacre, ii. 481-483, 625. Be'canis, Vidal de, an inquisitor, L 289. Beda, or Bedier, Natalis, i. 23, 71, 151. Belin, an agent in the massacre of Troyes, ii 507, 508. Bellay, Guillaume dn, i. 150; labors for conciliation, i. 160 ; his representations at Smalcald to the German princes, 188 ; makes, in the name of Francis I., a Protestant confession, i 189 ; is in- structed to investigate the history and character of the Waldenses of Me'rindol, i 239 ; his favorable report, i. 240. Bellay, Jean du, Bishop of Paris, leans to the reformed doctrine, i. 156. Bellievre, his lying representations to the Swiss respecting the admiral, the mas- sacre, etc., ii. 558, 559. Berchon, Governor of Orange, expelled, ii 620. Berne, canton of, intercedes for the rela- tives of Farel, but receives a rough an- swer from Francis I.,- i. 156; again ap- plies to him, with similar results, i. 192; intercedes for the Five Scholars of Lausanne, i. 284 ; other intercessions, i. 286, 309, 310; sends troops to the aid of the Huguenots, but afterward re- calls them, ii. 56. Berquin, Louis de, i. 44 ; his character, i 128 ; becomes a reformer, i. 129 ; prose- cuted and imprisoned, but released by order of the king, i. 130 ; becomes ac- quainted with Erasmus, ib. ; his second imprisonment, i. 131, and release, i. 132 ; intercessions of Margaret of Angouleme, i 132 ; his third arrest, i. 143, seq. ; his execution, i. 145 ; elegies on, i. 157. Berthault, an evangelical preacher, i 151. Be'thisy, rue de, ii. 438, note. Beza, or De Beze, Theodore, efforts in be- half of the persecuted Protestants of Paris, i. 309 ; consulted as to revolu- tion, i. 377 ; dissuades the French Prot- estants from armed resistance, i 378; his comment upon the edict of amnesty, i. 386 ; invited by Antoine of Bourbon to Norac, i. 431 ; he returns to Geneva, i 435 ; he is invited to the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 494 ; urged by the Protestants of Paris to come, i. 4% ; his hesitation, but final consent, i. 497 ; he reaches St. Germain, ib.; his previous history, i. 497, 498 ; he has a nattering reception, i. 502 ; distrusts Chancellor L'Hospital, ib. ; has a discussion with Cardinal Lor- raine, who professes to be satisfied, i. 503. 504 ; his diffidence, i. 512 ; his re- tort to the sneer of a cardinal, i. 514 ; his prayer and address, i. 514-521 ; he is interrupted by an outcry of the theo- logians of the Sorbonne, i. 519 ; his bril- liant success, 523 ; his frankness justi- fied, i 524 ; he asks a hearing to answer Cardinal Lorraine, i. 529; his reply, i. 532, 533 ; he skilfully parries the cardi- nal's demand that he should subscribe to the Augsburg Confession, ib.; his remarks on Romish u vocation," i 534, and a proper and amicable conference, i. 535 ; he excites the anger of the pre- lates, i. 536 ; replies to Lainez, i. 537 ; at the conference of Saint Germain, i 539, seq. ; is begged by Catharine de' Medici, Conde and Coligny to remain in France, i. 559 ; his anxiety to restrain the Protestants from violence, i. 565 ; urges the Huguenots to obey the edict of January, ii. 4 ; he demands the pun- ishment of the authors of the massacre of Vassy, ii. 27 ; his noble answer to the King of Navarre, ii 28 ; he is the probable author of Conde's reply to the "petition " of the Triumvirs, ii. 61 ; Ma view of the practicability of taking Paris, ii. 88 ; he is accused by Poltrot of having instigated the murder of the Duke of Guise, ii. 105 ; he vindicates his innocence, ii. 106 ; he is moderator of the seventh national synod, ii. 388, note; a price set on his head by the Duchess of Parma, ib. ; his remarks on Coligny's death, ii. 554 ; his sermon on the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 555; his lively sympathy with the persecuted Huguenots, ii 556, note. Bible, old translations of, unfaithful, i. 77, 78; translation of Lefevre, i. 78; eagerly bought, i 79 ; sale of French translations, i. 219 ; translated by Oli- vetanus, i. 233. Birague at the blood council, ii. 447. Biron pursues the Huguenots after the battle of Moncontour, ii. 336 ; negoti- ates with Coligny, ii. 359, 363 ; carries to the Queen of Navarre the proposal of the marriage of Henry of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, ii. 394; in the Mas- sacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 473 ; sent to La Rochelle as governor, ii. 578 ; is not received, ib.; ii. 581, 582, 616, 617; his new negotiations before La Rochelle, ii. 621, 622. Blainont, ii, GUI), INDEX. 047 Blasphemous taunts addressed to the Hu- guenots at Orleans in the massacre, u. 509. See also, ii. 570, 571. Blaye. ii. - Blondel, executed at Toulouse, for sing- ing e profane hymn of Marot at Corpus Christi. i. 2'.i7. " Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes, his false rep- resentations to the German princes re- specting the Huguenots, ii. ~1 7. Boissiere, Claude de la, a minister at the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 509. Bombs, used by the Protestant garrison of Orleans, iL 101. Boniface VIII., Pope, L "J7. Book-pedlers from Switzerland, i. 281. Books, war upon, L 280 ; not to be sold by pedlers, i. 2>1. Bordeaux, Parliament of, i. 1 9 ; sangui- nary action of, after the battle of Jar- nac, ii. 310. Bordeaux, the boldness of the "Luther- ans" of, according to the archbishop of the city, i. 2','1 ; oppression to which the Protestants were subjected, ii. 1(54 ; massacre of, Oct., 157:.', ii. 522-524. Boscheron des Portes, President, gives credit to an alleged admission of dis- loyal intentions on the part of La Re- naudie, i. 394-396. Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. his admiration of the sagacity of the Cardinal of Lor- raine, i. 546. Botzheim, Johann Wilhelm von, his ac- count of the massacre at Orleans, ii. seq. Bouchavannes, ii. 453. Bouchet, Jean, his " Deploration," i. 65. Bouillon, Due de, i Boulogne, edict of pacification of, July, 157o, ii. r. Bouquin, Jean, a minister at the Collo- quy of Poissy, i. 509. Bourbon, Antoine of. See Antoine, King of Navarre. Bourbon, Cardinal, his speech to the no- tables. L 136; exhorts Francis to prove himself " Very Christian, " i. 137; he is made governor of Paris in place of Mar- shal Montmorency. ii. :*J ; his anger at L' Hospital's action in behalf of the scattered Protestants, ii. 186. Bourg, Anne du, a learned and upright , member of the Parliament of Paris, makes an eloquent plea for religious liberty in the " mercuriale," i. 334 ; his arrest, i. 335; his trial and successive appeals, i. 368 ; his officious advocate, i. : his message to the Protestants of Paris, ib.; his deportment in the Bas- tile, i. 370; intercession of the Elector Palatine in his behalf, ib. ; his pathetic and eloquent speech, i. 371 ; his death, i. o72 ; a disastrous blow to the estab- lished church, i. 373 ; account of Flori- mond de Raemond, i. 373, 374. Bourg, Jean du, a wealthy draper, exe- cuted, i. 172. Bourges, captured by Marshal Saint Andre', ii. 71, 72; violence at, ii. 249; unsuccessful attempt upon, ii. 344 , massacre of Protestants at, ii. 511, 51:2. Bourges, council of, i. 29 ; provincial council of, L 139. Bourniquet, Viscount of, ii. 230, note. Bourry, a Protestant captain, ii. 329. Bonteiller, Abb^, confers -vith the Prot- estants at Poissy, i. 538 ; his doctrinal views, L 548. Brandenburg, the Elector of, declines to help the Huguenots, ii. 217. Brantome, the Abbe de, his eulogy of Rene'e de France, i. 206 ; on the massa- cre of Vassy, ii. 24 ; on the firing of Charles IX. on the Huguenots, ii. 482, note ; on the chief actors in the Massa- cre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 562. Brazil, a Protestant colony sent to, under Villegagnon, i. 291 ; fails through Ville- gagnon's hostility to Protestantism, i. 294. Bresse, i. 3, 66. Bretagne, Jacques, " vierg " of Antun, his able speech for the ' ' tiers e'tat " at the States General of Pontoise, L 489. Brifonnet, Guillaume, Bishop of Meaux, i. 72 ; invites Lefevre and Farel, L 73 ; his warning, i. 77 ; his weakness, L 79, 80, 81 ; his synodal decree, i. 80 ; cited before parliament, i. 82 ; becomes the jailer of the " Lutherans," i. 92 ; his correspondence with Margaret of An- gouleme, i, 108. Briquemault, execution of, Oct. 27, 1572, for alleged complicity in a Huguenot conspiracy against the king, ii. 548, 549. Brouage, ii. 576. Browning, W. S., his- error as to the au- thorship of the "Vie de Coligny," L 418, note. Brngiere, execution of, i. 276. Bude, Guillaume, i. 144. Burgundians, their intolerance of the Reformation, ii. 185. Burleigh, Lord (see also Cecil), promotes the match between the Duke of Anjou and Queen Elizabeth, ii. 381. Busbec, his delineation of the character of the Duke of Alenfon, ii. f.20. Bossy, or Bucy, Porte de, ii. 483. Bussy d'Arnboise murders the Marquis de Renel, ii. 472. c. Cabrieres, destruction of, i. 248. Caen, in Normandy, Protestant assem- blies in, L 406 ; iconoclasm at, ii. 44 ; 648 INDEX, saved from becoming a scene of massa- cre, by M. de Matignon, ii. 526. Caillaud", President, exceptional fairness of, i. 219. Calais, captured by Francis, Duke of Guise, i. 312. Calvin, John, the real author of Rector Cop's address, i. 154 ; hia flight from Paris, i. 155 ; his language respecting Francis L and Charles V., L 195; be- comes the apologist of the Protestants, L 198; his birth and training, ib.; stu- dies at Paris, Orleans, and Bourges, i. 199 ; is a pupil of Melchior \Volmar, ib. ; translates Seneca '' De dementia," i. 200 : his flight to Angouleme, i. 201 ; traditions respecting his preaching, ib. ; he resigns his benefices, ib. ; reaches Basle, L 201 ; writes his " Christian In- stitutes," i. 202 ; the original edition in Latin, ib.; the preface, i. 203, 204; it has no effect in allaying persecution, but achieves distinction for its author, i 204 ; he revises the Bible of Oliveta- nus, i. 205 ; he visits Italy, ib.; said to have labored at Aosta, L 207 ; passing through Geneva, is detained oy the urgency of Farel, L 208; becomes the head of the commonwealth, L 210 ; his views respecting church and state, ib. ; respecting the punishment of heresy, L 211 ; approves of the execution, but not the burning of Servetus, i. 212 ; his fault the fault of the age, ib. ; he shuns no- toriety, i. 213 ; his character and nat- ural endowments, i. 214 ; he is consult- ed by Protestants in every quarter of Europe, ib. ; his constant toils, ib.; he encounters bitter opposition, but ob- tains the support of the people,J. 215; estimate of his character by Etienne Pasqnier, L 216; his great influence, according to the Venetian Michiel, ib. ; writes against the Nicodemites and Libertines, i 225; consoles Protestant Church of Paris, L 308; and writes to stir up intercession in behalf of the prisoners, ib.; his liturgy, i. 342, seq. ; pseudo-Roman edition of, i. 275, 344 ; consulted as to revolution, i. 377 ; dis- suades from armed resistance, foresee- ing civil war, i. 378; endeavors to repress the tendency to iconoclasm, L 487 ; why he was no_t invited to the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 494; his letter to Rne'e de France respecting the Duke of Guise, ii. 110. Cambray, the Archbishop of, ii. 187, 189, 190 ; his vengeance upon Cateau-Cam- bresis, ii. 191. "Camisade." attempted, ii. 65. Capilupi, author of "Lo stratagema," ii. 436. etc. Caraffa, Cardinal, nephew of Paul IV.,' I negotiates the breaking of the truce of Vaucelles, i. 2 ( .iS ; his character, ib. Carnavalet, M. de, ii. 22U. Caroli, Pierre, wearies out Beda, L 118. Caroline, a strong earthwork thrown up by the Huguenots in Florida, ii. 200. Carouge, M. de, at Rouen, ii. 519, seq. 'Cartier, ii. 326. Castelnau, Baron de, treacherous capture of, L 388. i Castelnau, Michel de, Sieur de Mauvis- siere, the historian, sent by the Trium- virs to Catharine before the battle of Dreux, ii. 92 ; sent by Charles IX . to congratulate Alva, ii. 206, note; ii. 212, 213 ; his sketch of Coligny's plan of march, ii. 348, 356. Castel-Sarrasin, ii. 575. Castres refuses to admit a garrison, in 156S, ii. 250 ; a Huguenot place of ref- uge, ii. 280, 578. Cateau-Cambre'sis, the peace of, April 3, 1559, i. 322 ; its disgraceful and disas- trous conditions, i. 323 ; a secret treaty for the extermination of the Protes- tants supposed, without sufficient rea- son, to have been drawn up at the same time, i. 324-326 ; the Reformation in, ii. 187-191 ; iconoclasm at, ii. 190 ; the Protestants claim the benefit of the " Accord," ib. Cathari, i. 61, 62. Catharine de' Medici, i. 41 ; credits the predictions of Nostradamus, i. 47 ; her marriage to Henry of Orleans, after- ward Henry IL , i. 148 ; dissatisfaction of French people, ib. ; her dream the night before Henry IL is mortally wounded, i. 339 ; assumes an important part in the government, i. 348; her timidity and dissimulation, L 349 ; she dismisses Diana of Poitiers, ib.; her alliance with the Guises, i 350 ; asks aid of Philip II. , and receives promises, i. 358 ; is appealed to by the persecuted Protestants, i. 362 ; she encourages them, L 363; her favorite psalm, ib.; she receives a second and more urgent appeal, i 364; her indignation at the stories of the orgies in "la petite Ge- neve," i. 365 ; she declares that the Prot- estants are men of their word, i. 383 ; she consults Coligny at the time of the Tumult of Amboise, and receives good advice, i. 383, 3S4; receives a letter from the Huguenots signed Theophilus, i. 409; consults Regnier de la Planche, i. 410; rejects the advances of the Guises, just before the death of Fran- cis II., i. 443 ; and makes terms with Navarre, who yields the regency with- out a struggle, i. 444 ; her adroitness in tho management of Navarre, i. 4">2 ; the difficulties confronting her, i. 453 ; her INDEX. letter to her daughter Isabella, i. 454 ; her determination to hold the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 499 : her excuses to the Pope and Philip II., i. 500; warns her ion Charles against gross superstition and against innovation, ib., note ; her letter to Pius IV. , i. 500, 501 ; its effect at Rome, i. 501 ; she is much pleased with the results of the first interview between Beza and Cardinal Lorraine, i. 504 ; she consents that the prelates shall not act as judges in the colloquy at Poissy, but will not have the decree put in writing, i. 507 ; she is resolute that the colloquy should be held, i. 508 ; refuses Cardinal Tournon's request to interrupt it, i. 522 ; her premature de- light at the reported accord in the Con- ference of Saint Germain, i. 541 ; her financial success with the prelates, L 54:> ; her crude notion of a conference, i. 547; is compared by Roman Catholic preachers to Jezebel, ii. 5 ; causes the retirement of Constable Montmorency, ii. 18 ; sends for the Guises, ib. ; after the massacre of Vassy, orders the Duke of Guise to enter Paris, but invites him to come to court with a small suite, ii. 27 ; her anxiety, ii. 29; she removes with the king from Mcmceaux to Melun, ii. 30 ; and thence to Fontainebleau, ii. 31 ; Soubise's account of her painful in- decision, ib.; her letters to Conde im- ploring his help, ii. 31, 32 ; is brought back to Paris, ii. 36 ; Tavannes's view of her inclination to the Huguenots, ii. 39 ; her terror, ii. 47 ; unites in a decla- ration that the king is not in duress, ii. 54 ; confers with Conde, with a view to peace, ii. 62 ; her crafty negotiations, ii. 64 ; her speech to Throkmorton re- specting the English in Normandy, ii. 75 ; delays Conde by negotiations be- fore Paris, ii. 89 ; her reply when con- sulted by the Triumvirs as to the pro- priety ot engaging the Huguenots, iL '.ij, ( .i:j ; her exclamation on receiving t tilings from the battle of Dreux, ii. '.til; h-r promises to Conde' at the peace of Amboise, ii. 117 ; Huguenot songs respecting, ii. 124 ; her embar- rassment in respect to the fulfilment of her promises, ii. 137 ; resolves to de- clare the majority of Charles IX., iL . she endeavors to seduce Conde' from the Huguenots, ii. 144 ; her alien- ation from the Huguenots, ii. 159, 160; commands her maids of honor to go to mass, ii. 160 ; her regulation respecting the deportment of gentlemen, ii. 160, note ; proposes the conference at Bay- onne, ii. 167 (see Bayonne, Conference of) ; she opposes violent measures, ii. 172-176; 1't 'i-!'i ..;.s C;;r0, i. 449; transfer of power consequent upon, i. 450 ; financial embarrassment and re- ligious dissension, i. 453 ; he writes to the magistrates of Geneva to stop the coming of Protestant ministers, i. 4( ; 3 ; their prompt and complete vindication, i. 464; he issues a new and tolerant order, i. 476 ; which is opposed by par- liament, i. 477; publishes the ''Edict of July," by which all Protestant con- venticles are still prohibited, i. 483 ; his conversation with his mother about su- perstition and innovation, i. 500, note ; orders the restitution of churches, i. 544 ; hopes entertained by the Protes- tants respecting him, i. 557 ; his curios- ity as to the mass, i. 558 ; his health, ib., note ; issues an order favorable to the Huguenots, i. 560 ; publishes the "Edict of January,'' in accordance with which the Huguenots cease to be outlaws, i. 57(i, 577 ; retires from Mon- ceaux to Melun, ii. 30; and thence to Fontainebleau, ii. 31 ; is hurried back to Paris by Navarre and Guise, ii. 36 ; his declaration that he is not held in duress, ii. 54; his edict of April 11, 1562, ostensibly re-enacting, but really annulling the edict of January, ii. 57 ; receives reinforcements from Germany and Switzerland, ii. 70, 71 ; issues his edict of pacification, Amboise, March 19, 1563, terminating the first civil war, ii. 115; demands of Queen Elizabeth the restoration of Havre, ii. 126; he proclaims his own majority, Rouen, Aug. 17, 1563, ii. 138 ; he sternly re- proves the refractory Parliament of Paris, ii. 139, 140; his ''progress'' through France, ii. 157, seq. ; his in- terpretative edicts and declarations in- fringe upon the edict of pacification, ii. 161, 162; to Conde''s appeal, ii. 162, he makes a conciliatory reply, ii 164; he reconciles the inhabitants of Or- ange and the Comtat Venaissin, ii. 165 ; he reaches Bayonne, ii. 167 (see Bay- onne, Conference of) ; forbids the for- mation of confraternities, ii. 180 ; his edict obtained by Chancellor L'Hos- pital, for the relief of the scattered Huguenots, ii. 1 S4, 1 *v> ; he is reported to have been threatened by Philip II. and the Pope, ii. 195 ; his flight from Meaux to Paris, at the outbreak of the second civil war, ii. 207 ; his sanguinary injunctions to Gordes, ii. 209, note ; he is alienated from the Huguenots by the attempt of Meaux, ii. ~'1U; is moved by Spain, Rome, and the Sorbonne. to de- cline further negotiations with Coade, INDEX. 651 ii. 228 ; he issues the edict of pacifica- tion. Longmmeau, March 2:>, l.ViS, ter- minating the sri'ond <-ivil war. ii his indignation at a treacherous plan formed to violate the peace, ii. 237; his proclamation that he had not, in the edict of Longjumeau, intended to in- clude Auvergne, etc., ii. 244; entreats his mother to avoid war, ii. 202; his edicts of St-:-'.. I'.tJS proscribing the reformed religion, ii. 27o, 2?'l : impolicy of this action, ii. 277; attempt to make capital out of them, ib. ; receives con- gratulations and sanguinary injunctions from Pope Pius V., after the battle of Jarnac, ii. 308 ; treats the Duke of Deux-Ponts" declaration with con- tempt, ii. 316 ; rewards Maurevel for the murder of De Mouy with the collar of the order, ii. 008 ; his letter, ib. ; offers the Huguenots impossible terms, ii. So?. :;~> x : i -comes strongly inclined to peace, ii. 360 ; he issues the edict of pacification, Saint Germain, Aug. 2, 1570, terminating the third civil war, ii. -eq. ; his earnestness as to the peace, ii. ".TO; he tears out the record of pro- ceedings against Cardinal Chatulon from the parliamentary registers, ii. 371 ; his assurances to Walsingham, ib.; his gracious answer to the German princes, ii. 372; he orders the "Croix de Gastines " to be taken down, ii. 375, 37i> ; indignant at the attempts to dis- suade Anjou from marrying Queen Elizabeth, ii. 379 ; and at the affront received from Sebastian of Portugal, ib. ; his gracious reception of Coligny at Blois, ii. :;->'.': he intercedes with "the Duke of Savoy in behalf of the Wal- denses of Piedmont, ii. 390 ; he denies that he has seen Louis of Nassau at all, ii. :;'.'! : fxi>iv~ses gratification at the progress of conciliation in his domin- ions, ii. 392 ; enters into a treaty of amity with Queen Elizabeth, April 18, lot'.', ii. :; c .s ; his assurances to the Cardinal of Alessandria, ii. 400-403; he expresses to TY-lignv his disgust with his present counsellors, ii. 409 ; his earnestness respecting the Navarre marriage, ii. 411; publishes anew the edict of pacification, ib. ; the Flemish project inflames his imagination, ii. 411. 412 ; the more after the capture of Valenciennes and Mons, ii. 412 ; his mother, following him to Montpipeau, by her tears succeeds in breaking down his resolution, ii. 41S-420; he is thor- oughly cast down, ii. 420 ; Coligny par- tially succeeds in reassuring him, ii. 421 ; his anger at hearing that Alva had pot MUM French 'he torture. ii. 4o3; his menacing deportment to- ward Anjou, ii. 434 ; he gives Coligny assurances that he will soon attend to Protestant grievances, ii. 437 ; his agi- tation on learning of Coligny's wound, ii. 439; his promise of punishment, ii. 440; he visits Admiral Coligny, ii. 441 ; his private conference, ii. 44'o; he re- veals its character to the queen mother, ii. 444 ; he writes to his governors and ambassadors expressing his extreme dis- pleasure at the infraction of his edict, ii. 445; he is plied with arguments to frighten him into authorizing the mas- sacre of the Huguenots, ii. 447, 448 ; he reluctantly consents, ii. 449 ; but stip- ulates that not one Huguenot shall be spared to reproach him, ib. ; sends Cos- seins to guard Coligny, ii. 452 ; issues orders to the prevot des marchands to seize the keys of the gates, and the boats upon the Seine, ii. 454; he commands Navarre and Conde to abjure Prot- estantism, ii. 468 ; fires an arquebuse at the fleeing Huguenots, ii. 482 ; he is waited upon by the municipal officers, ii. 486; his first letter to Mandelot throwing the blame for the massacre upon the Guises, ii. 490 ; assumes the responsibility for the massacre, ii. 492 ; his speech at the "lit de justice," ib. ; his words at Montfaucon, ii. 497 ; he de- clares that he will maintain the edict of pacification, ii. 498 ; change in his character after the massacre, ii. 499; his letter of Aug. 26, 1572, to Mondou- cet, predicting the massacre in the pro- vinces, ii. 502 ; the verbal orders, ib. ; his declaration of Aug. 28, ib. ; his letter to Mandelot of Aug. 28, ii. 502, 503 ; the double set of letters, ii. 504 ; in- stigates the murder of French prisoners by the Duke of Alva, ii. 539 ; his letters to La Mothe Fe'nelon, ii. 542, 543 ; he profanes the day of his daughter's birth by witnessing the execution of Brique- mault and Cavaignes, ii. 549 ; plots the destruction of Geneva, ii. 557 ; his guilt in the eyes of the world, ii. 559 ; disas- trous effects of the massacre on the king himself, ii. 560, 561 ; sends La Noue to treat with the Rochellois, ii. 579 ; his joy at the election of Aniou as King of Po- land, ii. 593 ; issues his edict of pacifi- cation, Boulogne, July, 1573, terminat- ing the fourth civil war, ii. 593, 594 ; takes part in the disgraceful ''affair of Nantouillet," ii. 598, 599 ; decline of his health, ii. 605 ; his illness at Vitry-le- Francais, ii. 606 ; his last days, ii. 638 ; distress of his young queen, ii. 636; representations of Sorbin, his confessor, 7 ; his death. May oO, 1574, ii. 637, 638 ; his funeral rites, ii. 638, 639. Charles, Duke of Orleans, youngest son of 652 INDEX. Francis L, represents himself to the German princes as favoring the Refor- mation, i. 227, 228 ; his death, 259. Charlesfort, ii. 199. Charpentier, Jacques, instigates the mur- der of his rival professor, Pierre de la Ramee, or Ramus, ii. 478. Charpentier, Pierre, a Protestant jurist, I who escapes from the Massacre of St. j Bartholomew's Day, bribed by the king to write a justification of the massacre for circulation abroad, ii. 553, 593. Chartres, besieged by the Huguenots un- der the Prince of Conde, ii. 231. Chartres, Francois de Vendome, Vidame of, thrown into the Bastile, i. 425. Chartres, Jean de Ferrieres, Vidame of, ii. 220, 377 ; advises the Huguenots to leave Paris, ii. 445, 451, 453; escapes from the massacre, ii. 481 -482. Chartreuse, La Grande, ii. 621. Chassane'e, Barth. de, on church of the Virgin "pariturae," i. 59; he declares " Lutheranism " in France suppress- ed, i. 137; his defence of the "mice of Autun," L 238; his clemency to the Waldenses, ib. ; his definition of " haute justice," ii. 364, note. Chassetiere, La, ii. 359. Chastelier-Pourtaut de Latour, ii. 218, 292 ; treacherously murdered at Jarnac, 304. Chastres, M. de la, Governor of Berry, his noble letter to the king, refusing to put to death some captured Huguenots, ii. 844, 345, note ; ii. 597, note ; lays siege to Sancerre, ii. 590 ; his character, ii. 597, note. Cbltaigneraie, Madame de la, ii. 472, 474, note. Chateaubriand, edict of, June 27, 1551, i. 279 ; its effects, i. 282. Chatellain, Jean, of Metz, i. 114 ; his trial and execution, i. 115, 116. Chatellerault taken by the Huguenots, ii. o23. Chatillon, Odetde, Cardinal, elder brother of Admiral Coligny, appointed by Paul IV. one of the three inquisitors-general, i. 299 ; his Protestant proclivities, ib. ; riot at Beauvais in consequence of the suspicion that he is a Protestant, i. 474, seq. ; his communion under both forms, i. 499 ; he is cited by the Pope, ii. 141 ; the papal nuncio demands that the red cap be taken from him, ii. 182 ; the constable assumes his defence, ii. 182, 183 ; treats with Catharine, ii. 221 ; Cardinal Santa Croce, the papal nuncio, claims the fulfilment of Catharine de' Medici's promise to surrender him to the Pope, ii. 229 ; his escort of twenty horse, ib., note; his reception by Queen Eliza- beth, ii. 291 ; his anxiety respecting" the peace, ii. 363 ; Charles IX. tears out the record against him from the parliamen- tary registers, ii. 371, 377 ; death of, ii. 389. Chatillon-sur-Loire, ii. 328. Chavagnac, ii. 6(J3. Christaudins, a nickname for the French Protestants, L 330. Christopher, Duke, younger son of the elector palatine, ii. 609, 610. Churches, order for the restitution of the, i. 544 ; the surrender of, urged by Beza, ii. 4. Cipierre (Rene' of Savoy, son of the Count of Tende), ii. 225 ; murder of, ii. 248, 249. Cities, privileges of, i. 9. Clemangis, Nicholas de, i. 23, 63. Clemency, spurious account of, ii. 525. Clement VII., Pope, his brief and bull indorsing the Inquisitorial Commission, i. 126, seq. ; gives lands of heretics to first comer, i. 128 ; meets Francis L at Marseilles, i. 148; proposes to him a crusade, i. 149. Clergy, wealth and power of, i. 51 ; plu- rality of benefices, ib. ; non-residence, i. 52 ; revenues, ib. ; morals of, i. 53 ; before the concordat, i, 54, 55 ; have no regard for the spiritual wants of the people, i. 53 ; aversion to use of the French language, i. 56 ; ignorance of the Bible, i. 57 ; sad straits of, i. 459 ; alone, make no progress, i. 460. Clerici, Nicholas, Dean of the Sorbonne, i. 256. Clermont, murder at, ii. 249. Cle'ry, violence of the iconoclasts at, ii. 44. Cleves, Marie of, daughter of the Duke of Nevers, marries Henry of Conde', ii. 4:J:_', note ; permits the Protestants of Troyes to worship at Isle-au-Mont, ib. Coconnas, a leading actor in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, his fate, ii. 562; he is executed on the Place de Greve, ii. 628, 629. Cocqueville, expedition of, into Flanders, and its fate, ii. 242, 243. Coct, Anemond de, i. 83. Cognac, ii. 283, 299, 300. Cognat, or Cognac, village in Auvergne, near which the u Viscounts " defeat the forces collected to oppose them, ii. 230. Coin, a strange, i. 59. Coligny, Gaspard de, Admiral of France, sends a Protestant colony to Brazil, i. 291 ; when converted to Protestantism, i. 292 ; opposes the breaking of the truce of Vaucelles, i. 297 : is consulted by Catharine de' Medici at the time of the Tumult of Amboise, and gives her sound advice, i. 383, 384 ; presents two Huguenot petitions at Fontaineblwiu. i. 416, 417 ; his speech, i. 421 ; Quintin INDEX. 653 forced to apologize to. i. 400 : he pre- sents a Huguenot petition to ih> General of Orleans, i. 461 ; : his defence espoused liy Conde and the Montmorencies, ii. 1 :*) \ the petition of the Guises aimed at him, ii. lo'.">. note ; his daily life, ii 463 ; a patron of learning, ii. 464 ; his integrity, ii. 4t'o ; the attempt of Cath- arine to inculpate him, ii. 495; his memory declared infamous, his castle razed, etc., ii 496 ; indignities to his remains, 496, 497 ; his burial-place, ii. 497; note; Walsingham defends his memory, ii. 547. Colle'ge Royal, founded, i 43 ; opposed by the Sorbonne, i. 44. Colloquy of Poissy. See Poissy, Collo- quy of. IXDEX. Commission to try Lutherans, i. 124 ; a new form of inquisition, i. 125 ; its powers, L 126; indorsed and enlarged by the Pope, ib. Compiegne, edict of July 24, 1557, L 301. Comtat Venaissin, i. 4 ; history of, i. 231 : Montbrun in, i. 414 ; the inhabitants of, reconciled by Charles IX. to those of Orange, ii. 1 65 ; included in the Hu- guenot scheme of organization, ii 618. Concordat of Leo X. and Francis L, i 35, 36 ; excites dissatisfaction, i. 37 ; opposed by parliament, ib. ; reluctantly registered, i. 39 ; opposed by the uni- versity, ib.; advantageous to the crown, i. 41. Cdnde', Henry, Prince of, son of Louis : he and his cousin, Henry of Navarre, are recognized as generals-in-chief of the Huguenots, ii. 314 ; nicknamed "one of the admiral's pages," ib.; at Moncontpur, ii. 334 ; at Paris, ii. 428, 439 ; he is commanded by the king to abjure Protestantism, and threatened, ii. 468 ; his brave reply, ii. 469 ; his forced conversion, ii 498, 499 ; he es- capes to Germany, ii. 629, 630. Conde, Louis de Bourbon, Prince of, favors the Reformation, i. 313 ; his peril after the Tumult of Amboise, i. 393; he is summoned by Francis II., ib.; his defiance and Guise's offer, i 394 ; pres- sure upon him to come to Orleans, i. 432 ; his infatuation, i 435 ; is arrested on his reaching court, i. 436; his re- mark to big brother the Cardinal of Bourbon, ib.; his courage, i 437; his wife repulsed, i 438 ; he is tried by a commission and is sentenced to death, i. 439, 440 ; he is cleared by parliament, i 465 ; and reconciled to Guise, i. 466 ; revives th_e courage of the Protestants at court, ii. 18 ; he demands the pun- ishment of the author of the massacre of Vassy, ii 26, 27 ; meets Guise enter- ing Paris, ii. 29; receives letters from Catharine imploring his help, ii 31, 32 ; retires from Paris to Meaux, ii. 33 ; his course justified by La Noue, ib.; he is too weak to anticipate the Triumvirs at Fpntaineblean, ii. 36 ; throws him- self into Orleans, ii 38, 39 ; publishes a justification of his assumption of arms, ii 40; his measures to repress iconoclasm, ii. 43, 45 ; replies to the petition of the Triumvirs, ii. 59-61 ; eloquence of the reply, ii 61 ; holds an interview with Catharine de' Medici, ii. 62 ; " loans " Beangency to the King of Navarre, ii. 63 ; he retakes it, and fur- loughs a part of his army, ii 60 ; he takes the field, ii. 85 ; is urged by the Protestant ministers to enforce morality in the army, ii 86 ; captures Pithiviers, ii 87; appears before Paris, ib. ; his delay, ii 89 ; suffers himself to be amused with fruitless conferences, ii. 90, 91 ; engages the enemy at Dreux, ii. 93 ; is taken prisoner, ii. 94 ; settles with the constable the terms of peace, ii. 113 ; is deceived by the assurances of Catharine de' Medici, ii. 117; he com- plains of the insolent speech of Da- mours, ii 131 ; he espouses the defence of Coligny against the Guises, ii. 135; he is enticed by Catharine de' Medici, ii. 144; his amorous intrigue with Isa- beau de Limueil, ii. 145 ; death of his wife, Eleonore de Rove, ib.; he disap- points Catharine by remaining stead- fast to the Huguenot cause, ii. 146; remonstrates with the government just before the outbreak of the second civil war, ii. 197 ; at St. Denis, ii 209 ; gives the battle of St. Denis. Nov. 10, 1567, ii 213 ; he is exonerated by Catharine de' Medici from the charge of disloyal acts and intentions, ii. 219; goes "to meet the Germans, ii. 219, 220 ; meets John Casimir and his army, ii. 22'J; marches towards Orleans, ii. 223 ; fa- vors the peace of Longjumeau, ii. 235; retires to Noyers, ii. 251 ; attempt of court to ruin, ii. 256 ; his answer, ii 257; plot to seize, ii. 265; his last ap- peal, ii. 267 ; his flight to La Rochelle, ii. 268 ; his forces, ii. 285 ; goes into winter quarters, ii 286; endeavors to join the auxiliaries from the south, ii. 299 ; is wounded and treacherously killed in the battle of Jarnac, March 13, 1569, ii 301, 302 ; his character, ii. 303, 304 ; his body treated with igno- miny, ii 306, 307. Conference, rumored, between Roman Catholic princes, for the extirpation of heresy, ii 156. Confession of faith of the French Prot- estant churches, i. 335. Confraternities, institution of, ii. 1 79 ; forbidden by Charles IX., ii 180 ; Ta- vannes favors the revival of, ii. 246 ; the "Christian and Royal League " formed at Troyes, ib. Contarini, a Venetian ambassador, his es- timate of Admiral Coligny as a general, ii 462, 463. Controversial pamphlets against the Prot- estants, i 311, 312. Conty. ii. 428. Cop, Rector, his extraordinary address before the university, i. 153 ; his threat- ened arrest and flight, i. 154. Coras, Jean, a Protestant member of the Parliament of Toulouse, put to death, ii. 522. Cornu, Pierre, his remark on Pauvan's speech, i. 92. INDEX. 655 Correro, Venetian ambassador, on the number of Huguenots murdered during the short peac<-, ii. 250 ; on Catharine de' Medici, ii. 370. Cosse, Marshal, ii. 20, 289, 334 ; engages Coligny at Arnay-le-Duc, ii. 354 ; ne- gotiates for peace, ii. 356 ; the king's estimate of, ii. 409 ; thrown into the Bastil.;, ii. N& Cosseins sent with fifty guards ostensibly for Coligny's protection, ii. 452. Cosset, an agent in the massacre at Meaux, ii. 51.15-507. Coucy, declaration of, July 16, 1535, ex- tends a partial forgiveness, i. 170. Coudray, M. de, his courageous and pioug death, ii. 510. Courault, an evangelical preacher, i. 151. Court of France, change in its sentiments respecting the Reformation, i. 195; fatal error of, ii. 339; flight from Saint Germain, ii. tW. Courtenay, the Sieur de, ii. 19. Courtene, Baron de, decapitated, ii. 330. Courteville, or Courtewille, secretary of Philip II., sent on a secret mission, i. B6& "Cramp-rings," their use, i. 100. Crevant, the Protestants of, attacked, ii. 169. Croc, Du, French ambassador in Scot- land, ii. 550. Croquet, Nicholas, put to death at Paris, for celebrating the Lord's Supper, ii. :;.".!. Crusade, a, preached at Toulouse, ii. 278 ; is indorsed by a papal bull, ii. 279. Crussol, Antoine de. Count, appointed by a political assembly at Nisines, head and conservator of the reformed party in Languetloc, ii. >>G ; cf. ii. 2s;. Crussol, Madame de, her remark to Car- dinal Lorraine, i. 505. Cuniga, Don Juan de, Spanish envoy at Rome, denies the premeditation of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 535. Curee, royal governor of Vendome, killed by the Roman Catholic noblesse, ii 162. Damonrs, advocate-general in the Parlia- ment of Rouen, makes a violent and seditious speech before Charles IX. at Gaillon, ii. 131 ; on Conde's complaint he is arrested, ib. Damville, Marshal, ii. 255, 428, 441, 599, 604. r,2s. Dauphin, Prince, name given to the son of the Duke of Montpensier, ii. 843. Dauphiny. orders for the extermination of the Huguenots in, sent out in the name of Francis II., I 400; disorders and bloodshed in, ii. 47 ; troops of, with- draw from the west, ii. 348 ; Gordes re- fuses to massacre the Protestants of, ii. 520; demands of the tiers e'tat of, ii. 603; exploits of Montbrun in, ii 621, 622. Dax, massacre in the prisons of, ii. 528, note. Decemvirate, the bloody, i 321. Declarations, royal. See Edicts. Dehors, a merchant of Rouen, hung for reproving the seditious populace, i. 445. Demochares, or De Mouchy, a doctor of the Sor bonne and an inquisitor of the faith, his controversial pamphlet, i. 311. I Desire, Artus, despatched by the Sor- bonne to invoke the aid of Philip II. , i 467, 468. Deux Fonts, reinforcements to the Hu- guenots from, ii. 71 ; the Duke of, comes with German auxiliaries, ii 315 ; his declaration treated with contempt by Charles IX., ii 316; succeeds in penetrating France, and bringing to Co- ligny reinforcements, ii. 317 ; his death, ii. 318, 364. Diana of Poitiers, Duchess of Valentinois, i. 261, 262 ; the infatuation of Henry II. for her, 262 ; undertakes to silence a poor tailor arrested as a Protestant, i. 277 ; instigates persecution in order to secure the confiscated property of the Protestants, i. 282 ; is dismissed from court on the accession of Francis II., i 349. Dieppe, Protestant assemblies in, i. 408 ; great Protestant " temple " destroyed, ib. "Dieu de Pate," an opprobrious desig- nation of the Roman Catholic host, ii 121. Domfront, ii. 632. Douen, O., author of Cle'ment Marot et le Psautier huguenot, ii. 347. u Dragonnades," ii. 244. Dreux, the battle of, Dec. 19, 1562, ii. 93, seq. ; mistakes of both sides at, 95, note. Du Chesne, or Quercu, i. 23, 50. Duprat, Cardinal, i 109, 123. E. Ebeling, F. W., ii. 569. Ecclesiastical discipline adopted by the French Protestant churches, i. 336. ficouen, the magnificent seat of the Mont- morencv family, i 353. Edicts, Declarations, and Ordinances, Royal : Edict of Francis I. , January 13, 1535, abolishing the art of printing, i. 169 ; declaration of Coucy, July 16, 1535, extending partial forgiveness, i. 179 ; edict of Lyons, May 31, 1536, i 656 INDEX. 193; edict of Fontaineblenu. June 1, 1540, cutting off appeal, i. 218 ; letters patent of Lyons, August 30, 1542, en- joining vigilance, i. 220; ordinance of Paris, July 23, 1543, defining the pro- vinces of tiie lay and ecclesiastical judges, and making heresy punishable as sedition, i. 221, 222; Henry II.'s edict of Fontainebleau, Dec. 11, 1547, against books from Geneva, i 275; edict of Paris, Nov. 19, 1549, conferring power of arrest for heresy npon the ecclesiastical judges, i. 278 ; edict of Chateaubriand, June 27, 1551, removing appeal from the presidial judges, i. 279 ; edicts establishing the Spanish Inquisi- tion in Prance, 1555 ; i. 287, 288 ; edict of Compiegne, July 24, 1557, confirming the papal appointment of three inquisi- tors-general, i. 300, 312; Francis II. 's edict of amnesty, Ambpise, March, 1560, t 385; restrictive edict of March 22, 1560, L 390 ; edict of Romorantin, May, 156 J, continuing the persecution, i. 410, 411 ; Charles IX. 's letters-patent, Fon- tainebleau, April 19, 1561, enjoining toleration and permitting the return of exiles, i. 476, 477; "Edict of July," July 11, 1561, forbidding conventicle*, etc. , L 483 ; edict for the restitution of the churches, Oct. 18, 1561, i. 544 ; royal letters interpreting previous edicts, i. 561 ; " Edict of January," January 17, 1562, recognizing Huguenot rights, i. 576, 577; declaration of the king that he is not in duress, ii. 54 ; edict of April 11, 1562, ostensibly re-enacting, but really annulling the edict of January, ii. 57 ; edict of pacification, Amboise, March 19, 1563, terminating the first civil war, ii. 115; restrictive declara- tions infringing upon the edict of Am- boise, ii 160, 161 ; declaration of Rous- Billoa, Aug. 4, 1564, ii. 161, 162 ; other declarations, ii. 162, note ; edict, in 1566, for the relief of the scattered Hu- guenots, ii. 184, 185 : edict of pacifica- tion, Longjumeau, Mar9h 23, 1568, ter- minating the second civil war, ii. 234 ; Charles IX. throws the edicts of pacifi- cation into the fire, ii. 276 ; prescriptive edicts of Sept., 1568, ib.; edict of paci- fication, Saint Germain, Aug. 8, 1570, terminating the third civil war, ii. 363- 365 ; edict of pacification, Boulogne, July, 1573, terminating the fourth civil war, ii. 593, 594. Edward ILL, of England, confirms the privileges of La Rochelle, ii. 271. Eidgenossen, explanation of name of Hu- guenots, i. 397. Elbeuf, Marquis of, i. 269. Elector Palati ne, Frederick III. , the Pious, intercedes tor Anne du Bourg, and de- sires to make him professor of law in the University of Heidelberg, i. 371 ; sends theologians to France, who come too late for the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 544 ; sends his son, John Casimir, to help the Huguenots in the second civil war, ii. 21S ; he previously sends Zule- ger to see the state of affairs in France, ii. 218, 219 ; receives Henry of Anjou, king elect of Poland, at Heidelberg, ii. 610. Elizabeth, Queen, of England, her help invoked, ii 55, 71 ; her hard conditions, ii. 73 ; her declaration, Sept. 20, 1562, ii. 74 ; her aid rather damages than fur- thers the Protestant cause, ib. ; her let- ter to Mary of Scots, ii. 76 ; her tardy recognition of the importance of the Huguenot struggle, ii. 117 ; she is sum- moned to restore Havre, ii. 126 ; her misgivings as to helping the Huguenots in the third civil war, ii. 294 ; her double-dealing and effrontery, ii. 2'.I5- 207 ; her coldness after the Huguenot defeat at Jarnac, ii. 310 ; projected marriage with the Duke of Anjou, ii. 377, seq. ; proposition to substitute Alencon, ii. 380 ; Anjou's new ardor, ib. ; she interposes obstacles, ib. ; the Anjou match abandoned, 396 ; Alen- con suggested in his place and duly lauded, ii. 398 ; enters into a treaty of amity with France, April 18, 1572, ii. 398 ; her perversity, ib., note ; she in- spires the French with no confidence, ii. 414 ; rumors that she means to de- sert her allies, ii. 419, 420 ; she toys with dishonorable proposals from the Netherlands, ii. 422 ; her cold reception of La Mothe Fenelon after the massa- cre, ii. 543 ; declaration of her council, ii 544; she censures Charles IX. for profaning the day of his daughter's birth by witnessing the execution of Briquemault and Cavaignes, ii 549, 550 ; she secretly sends assistance to La Rochelle, ii. 588 ; she disowns the enter- prise of Montgomery after its failure, ib. ; she refuses to become executioner for the King of France, ii. 589. England, divided sympathies of the Eng- lish, ii. 56 ; generous response of the English people, ii. 292 ; its horror at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 541 ; great irritation in, ii. 545. English rebellion, the, encourages the French court in the war against the Huguenots, ii. 358. Entremont, Jacqueline d', marries Admi- ral Coligny, ii. 386. Epilepsy cured by kings and queens of England, i 100. Escars, D', a treacherous servant of An- toine, King of Navarre, ii. 9. INDEX. C57 Esnay, the inhumanity of the monks of, ii. 517. Espeiise, Claude d', speech of, at the Col- loquy of Poissy, i. 5o2 ; confers with the Protestants, i. 538. Espine. Jean de I 1 , a converted Carmelite monk, and a minister at the Colloquy of Poissy, L 509, 510 ; in the Conference of Saint Germain, 539 ; his escape on St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 477. Essarts, in Poitou, persecution at, i. 216. Este, Anne d', daughter of Ren6e de France, married successively to the Duke of Guise and the Duke of Ne- mours, at the hollow reconciliation at Moulins, ii. 1S4 ; she enters readily into the plan for assassinating Admiral Co- li.u'iiy, ii. 434, 48o. Esternay, M. d', his residence burned, ii. 239 ; comes to the help of the Hugue- nots, ii. 315. Estrange, L', encourages Coligny, ii. 347. Estrapade, an ingenious contrivance for prolonging the torture of Protestant , martyrs, i. 177, 178. Etampes captured by Conde, ii. 87 ; re- taken by Guise, ii. 97. Etienue, or Stephens, Robert, on the igno- rance of the Bible on the part of the clergy, i. 57. Expiatory procession, the great, of Janu- ary 21, 15o5, i. 173-176'. F. Faculty of Arts, its displeasure at the proceedings against the rectpr, Nicholas Cop, i. 154. Farel, Guillaume, i. 68; his devotion, i. I'i9; invited to Meaux, i. 73; goes to Dauphiny, L 83 ; at Montb61iard, i. 117; intercession of Berne for his rel- atives, i. 156 ; probably not the author of the placard of lf>34. i. 104; labors in Geneva, i. 197; urges Calvin to remain at Geneva, i. 208 ; his recollections, i. X!09; his efforts for the persecuted at Paris, i. 309 ; his liturgy, i 342. "Fashion of Geneva," the, i. 341, seq. Fat. human, put to a new use by an apothecary of Lyons, ii. 517. Faur, Du, his speech in the " mercuriale " of 1559, L 334 ; his arrest, i. 335. Ferralz, M. de, ii. 534. Ferrara, Duchess of. See Renee de France. Ferrara, Ippolito d'Este, Cardinal of, sent as legate to France, L 548 ; his charac- ter, i. 550 ; his reception by the French people, i. 550, 551 ; Chancellor L'Hos- pital opposes his recognition, i. 551, 55:2 ; his intrigues and success, L 552, 553; ii. 17. Feudal system, decline of, L 5. You IL 43 Fiefs, absorbed in royal domain, i. 8. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, writes against Lefcvre, i. 71. Five scholars of Lausanne, the, martyr- dom of, i. 283, seq. Florida, the Huguenot attempts to colo- nize, ii. 199; the first expedition, 1562, ii. 199; the second expedition, 1564, ii. 199, 200 ; the third expedition and its disastrous close, ii. 200; efforts of the French government to obtain satisfac- tion from Philip II. , ii. 201, 202; san- guinary revenge of Dominique de Gour- gues, ii. 202. Florimond de Rsemond, his remarks on the effects of the execution of Du Bourg and others, i. 373, 374. Foix, Catharine de, her remark to John d'Albret, i. 107. Foix, M. de, ii. W$. Foix, progress of Protestantism in, i. 5fi2. Folion, Nicholas, a minister at the Col- loquy of Poissv, i. 509. Fontaine, M. de la, writes a lying account of the French massacre, in order to de- ceive the Swiss, ii. 558. Fontainebleau, the assembly of notables, August 21, 1560, i. 415; speech of Chancellor L'Hospital, i. 416 ; Admiral Coligny presents two petitions for the Huguenots, i 416, 417 ; speeches of Montluc, i. 418; of Marillac, i. 420; of Coligny, i 421 ; rejoinder of Guise, L 422 ; speech of Cardinal Lorraine, i 423; the results, L 424; the States General to be convened, and, meantime, all punishment for the matter of re- ligion to cease, ib. Fontainebleau, edict of, given by Francis L, June 1. 1540, i. 218; by Henry II. , Dec. 11, 1547, i. 275; letters-patent of, by Charles IX., April 19, 1561, i. 477. Fontenay, ii. 361. Fontenille, ii 575. Fool, court, sensible remark of the, i. 351. Forquevaulx, French ambassador at Mad- rid, insists upon satisfaction for the murder of the Huguenot colonists in Florida, ii. 201. Fosse, Vore' de la, sent on a mission to M elan eh then, i. 182. France, at accession of Francis I. , i. 3 ; territorial development, i 4; subdivi- sion in tenth century, i. 5 ; foremost kingdom of Christendom, i. 6 ; contrast with England, i. 7 ; assimilation of lan- guage, etc. , i. 8 ; military resources, L 10; infested by highwaymen, i. 44; changes in boundaries during the six- teenth century, i. OH ; population of in the sixteenth century, ii. 159. Francis I., his reply to Charles V., i. 14; and to Montmorency, i. 15 ; his concor- 658 INDEX. dat with the Pope, i. 35 ; haughty de- meanor toward the parliament, L 38, and university, i. 39 ; his acquirements overrated, i. 42 ; patronage of art, ib. ; founds the College Royal, i. 43; inter- feres for Lef evre, L 72 ; his personal appearance, i. 99 ; character and tastes, i 100, 101 ; he is said miraculously to cure the king's evil, ib. ; contrasted with Charles V., i. 101 ; his religious con- victions, and fear of innovation, i. 102; loose morals, i. 103, 104; anxiety for papal support, i. 104; at Madrid, abdi- cates in favor of the dauphin, i 107; his captivity, i. 122; he violates his pledges to Charles V., L 134; his pecu- niary straits, i. 135 ; assembles the notables, ib. ; promises to prove him- self " Very Christian," i. 137 ; treats with the Germans, 147, and with Henry VIII., i. 148; his interview with Cle- ment VII. , ib. ; declines the Pope's pro- posal of a crusade, i. 149; rejects the intercession of the Bernese, i. 155 ; his letter to the Bishop of Paris ordering him to authorize two counsellors of par- liament to proceed against the " Lu- therans,"!. 156; favorably impressed by Melanchthon's plan of reconciliation, i. 162 ; his anger when a copy of the pla- card of 1534 is posted on his bedchamber door, i. 167 ; which is enhanced by po- litical considerations, i 108 ; his dis- graceful edict abolishing the art of printing, i. 169; the edict suspended, i. 170 ; orders an expiatory procession, i. 173 ; he takes part' in it with great ap- parent devoutness, i. 175 ; his memo- rable speech in the episcopal palace, i. 176 ; his declaration of Coucy, July 16, 1 535, extending a partial forgiveness, L 179; is said to have been begged by Paul III. to moderate his cruelty, i. 180; his clemency dictated by policy, i. 181 ; his letter to the German princes in extenuation of his conduct, i. 1S2 ; formally invites Melanchthon, i. 184 ; acquiesces in the Sorbonne's condem- nation of Melanchthon's articles, i. 188; his representations through Du Bellay to the German princes at Smalcald, i. 188 ; Du Bellay makes, in his name, a Protestant confession, i 189 ; he does not deceive the Germans, i. 190; his edict of Lyons, May 31, 1586, i. 192; rejects the intercession of Strasbourg, Zurich, and Berne, ib. ; his orthodoxy no longer questioned, L 194; how viewed by the reformers in his later days, i. 1115 ; issues the edict of Fontainebleau, June 1, 1540, cutting off appeal, i. 218; his letters-patent from Lyons, August 30, 1542, i. 220 ; his declaration at An- gouleme, respecting " sacramen tart- ans," i. 221 ; his ordinance of Paris, July 23, 1543, making heresy punish- able as treason, i. 221 ; gives force of law to the Sorbonne's Twenty-five Ar- ticles, i. 224 ; sends a letter of pardon to the Waldenses of Provence, L 241 ; delays the execution of the Arret de Merindol, i. 243 ; is led by calumnious accusations to revoke his order, i. 244 ; his death, i. 258 ; impartial estimates of his character, ib. ; his three sons, i. 2o9 ; contirms the privileges of La Rochelle, ii. 271. Francis, the dauphin, son of Francis I. , his death, i. 259. Francis II., eldest son of Henry II., and husband of Mary, Queen of Scots : his accession, i. 347 ; his edict of amnesty, L 385 ; makes the Duke of Guise his lieutenant-general, with absolute power, i. 389, 390; extends the terms of the amnesty, i. 390 ; but explains it away by another edict, i. 390, 391; he is visibly affected by the executions of Amboise, i. 392; he is made to order the extermination of the Huguenots of Dauphiny, L 406 ; issues the edict of Romprantin, i. 410 ; universal commo- tion in his kingdom, i. 413, 414 ; he con vokes the notables at Fontainebleau, i. 415 ; declares that he takes Coliguy's presentation of the Huguenot petition* in good part, i. 417 ; is urged to star Antoine, King of Navarre, but cannot muster courage to do it, i. 440, 441 ; sends for Navarre and Conde', i. 425; orders the arrest and trial of Conde', i. 436 ; further designs for the extermina- tion of the Huguenots before the ter- mination of his reign, i. 444, 442 ; his failing health, i. 442 ; his death, i. 444, saves the Huguenots, i. 449 ; recognized as a direct answer to their prayers, L 450; his mean funeral obsequies, "the enemy of the Huguenots being buried like a Huguenot," ib. " Franco-Gallia," by Francois Hotman, a book touching on the royal authority, ii. 615. Francour, Francoeur, or Francourt, goes with Beza to demand punishment for the massacre of Vassy, ii. 27, 218. Frederick III., the Pious. See Elector Palatine. Freer, Miss, on Coligny's reception at Blois, and his alleged alarm, ii. 389, note. French language, aversion of clergy fur, i. 56. Fribourg, the canton of, ii. 557. " Fribours," a nickname for the Protes- tants, i. 398. Froissy, his outrageous conduct toward M. d'Esternay, ii. 2t>9. INDEX. 659 Froment, the reformer, labors in Geneva, i. I'.'T. Frontenay, or Fontenay, M. de, escapes from the massacre, ii. 4S1-4S3 ; negoti- ates with Biron, ii. t>2:>. " Fronts d'airain," ii. 603. Froude, James Anthony, mistakes in his account of the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 4U7, note ; his singularly inaccurate ac- count of French affairs about thu time of the massacre of Vassy, ii. 25, :.(! ; his error respecting Cardinal Chatillon, ii. 291, note ; his remarks on the fatal policy of Queen Elizabeth, ii. 42o. 0. Gaillard, Captain, his blasphemy and fury at the massacre in Orleans, ii. 570, 571. Gallars, Nicholas des, a minister at the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 509 ; takes part in the Conference of Saint Germain, i. 689. Gallioaii liberties, the, i. 25. Garde, Baron de la. See Poulain. Gamier, M. , incorrectly estimates the Huguenots as constituting nearly one- third of the population of France, ii. 159. Garrisons in Huguenot towns, ii. 244. Gastines, Abbe de, executed by order of Conde', by way of retaliation, ii. 80. " Gastines, Croix de," ii. 329 ; erected on the site of the house of the Gastines, put to death for having celebrated the Lord's Supper, ib. ; character of the elder Gastines, ii. 330 ; the cross taken down by order of the king, ii. 375, 376. Geneva becomes the centre of Protestant activity, i. 196; secures its indepen- dence with the assistance of Francis I. and the Bernese, i. 197 ; according to the Venetian Suriano, "the mine from which the ore of heresy is extracted," i. 214 ; war upon books from, i. 280 ; the "Five from Geneva" executed at Chambe'ry, i. 297 ; clanger menacing the city, i. 32ti ; a joint expedition against it proposed by Henry II., but declined by the Duke of Alva, i. 327 ; character and influence of the ministers from, i. 402 ; their numbers, i. 403 ; books from, destroyed, i. 42 s * ; the children in Lan- guedoc, according to Villars, all know the Geneva catechism by heart, i. 429; Charles IX. writes to the magistrates of Geneva to stop the coming of Proteetant ministers, i. -i<3; their answer, i. 4C4 , sympathy of the citizens for the Hugne- nots escaped from the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. ii. 554, seq.; a fast appointed at, ii. 555 ; its hospitality and danger, ii. 557; good ads-ice given to Nismes. ib. ; the city saved by the illness of Charles IX., ib. Geneva, Little, a part of Paris so called from the number of Protestants in- habiting it, i. oOl ; pretended orgies in, i. 365. Genlis, a knight of the Order, forsakes Conde' and goes over to the enemy, ii. 90,91. Genlis, Jean de Hangest, Seigneur de, ii. 384; rout of, July 19, 1572, ii. 415; he is taken prisoner, ib. ; his death, ib., note. German Protestant princes are not de- ceived by Du Bellay's representations in the name of Francis I. , i. 190 ; nor by those of the Duke of Orleans, i. 2x.N ; intercede for the Vaudois of Provence, i. 242 ; for the persecuted Protestants, i. 313, 314; their aid invoked by the Huguenots in the second civil war, ii. 217 ; intercession of the, ii 362 ; after the massacre, ii. 551, seq. German troops, insubordination of, ii. 332. Germany, rumors of treacherous designs on the part of France, after the Mas- sacre or St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. till, note. Gerson, John, i. 23, 64. Giustiniano, Marino, the Venetian am- bassador reports the reasons Francis I. had assigned to him for abating the severity of the persecution of the Prot- estants, i. 181. Glandage, ML de, plunders the city of Orange, ii. 620 ; declares that only the point of his sword is Huguenot, ii. 621. Gondy, Albert de. See Retz. Gordes, Governor of Dauphiny, refuses to allow the Protestants to be massacred, ii. :>20. Goudimel, an excellent musician, sets the psalms of Marot and Beza to music in several parts, ii. 517, note ; he is mur- dered, ib. Governors, royal, oppression of Protes- tants bv, ii. 245. Grandfief, M. de, ii. 617. Grand Marche, a part of Meaux inhabited by Huguenots, massacre at, ii. 505-507. Granvelle, Cardinal, his conference with the Cardinal of Lorraine, i. 315. Gravelines, the rout of, i. 881. Gregory XIII., Pope, receives the sub- mission of the King of Navarre and the Prince of Conde', recognizes the validity of their marriages, and admits them to his favor, by a bull of Oct. 27, 1572, ii. 500; his incredulity as to the "pious" intentions of Charles IX. and Catharine de' Medici, ii. 530, 564; orders public rejoicings at Rome over the news of the massacre of the Protestants, ii. 531, 532 ; commemorative medals, ii. 532 ; 660 INDEX. commemorative paintings by Vasari, ii. 533 ; his extravagant expressions of joy, ii. 534 ; gives audience to Maurevel, ib. Grignan, Count de, Governor of Provence, i. 245. Grimaudet, Francois, representative of the tiers e'tat of Anjou, his scathing ex- posure of the morals of the clergy, i. 430. Gualtieri, Sebastiano, Bishop of Yiterbo, nuncio to France, L 548 ; bis despond- ency and recall, i. 548, 549 ; hated by Catharine de' Medici, on account of his boorish ways, L 552. Guerchy, ii. 317, 438 ; he defends himself on St. Bartholomew's Day, but is over- powered and killed, ii. 472, 475. Guilloche, Jean de, a Protestant member of the Parliament of Bordeaux, killed, ii. 524. Guillotiere, Faubourg de la, at Lyons, ii. 516. Guise, the family of, i 266 ; warning of Francis I. against, ib. Guise, Claude, Duke of, L 266; his six sons, i. 268. Guise, Francis, Duke of, i. 261 ; his great credit with Henry IL, L 268, 269; his character, i. 269 ; captures the city of Calais, L 312 ; his great power on the accession of Francis II., i. 351, 352 ; in- dignation against him and his brother, i. 375 ; their confidence before the Tu- mult of Amboise, i. 382; the Duke is made lieutenant-general of the king- dom, i. 389, 390 ; 'his perplexity, i. 413 ; his angry rejoinder to Coligny at the assembly of Fontainebleau, i. 422 ; he and Lorraine make advances to Catha- rine de' Medici, which she refuses, i. 443 ; their alarm on the accession of Charles IX., i. 450; with Montmorency and St. Andre' forms the Triumvirate, i. 470, 471 ; his exultation over the ' ' Edict of July," i. 484 ; goes with his brothers to meet the Duke of Wiirtemberg at Sa- verne, ii. 13 ; his lying assurances, ii. 15 ; he proceeds to Vassy, ii. 21 ; where a bloody massacre takes place, ii. 22 ; pamphlets respecting the massacre, ii. 22, 23 ; he attempts to vindicate him- self from being the author of the mas- sacre, ii. 24 ; is forbidden by Catharine de' Medici to enter Paris, but is invited to come with a small suite to court, ii. 27 ; makes a triumphal entry into Paris, ii 28 ; meets Conde' and the Protes- tants going to a "preche," ii. 29; brings Charles IX. and Catharine de' Medici back to Paris, ii. 30 ; sends for foreign aid, ii. 54 ; reply of his adher- ents to Conde''s declaration, ii. 5^ ; ;ui intercepted letter of, ii. 65, note ;' his good generalship at Dreux, ii. 94 ; re- takes Pithiviers and Etampes, ii. 97 ; lays siege to Orleans, ii. 99 ; captures the Portereau, ii. 100 ; is shot by Poltrot, Feb. 18, 1563, ii. 103; Beza and Co- ligny, accused of having instigated the murder, vindicate themselves, ii. 105, seq.; his character, ii. 109, 110, 112. The petition of bis family aimed at Co- ligny, ii. 136 ; the settlement of the feud delayed, ii. 137 ; the hollow recon- ciliation at Houlins, ii. 184. See Tri- umvirs. Guise, Henry, Duke of, son of Francis, throws himself into Poitiers, ii. 324 ; marries Catharine of Cleves, widow of Prince Porcien, ii. 4S2 ; his aid called in by Catharine de' Medici and Anjou in the assassination of Coligny, ii. 434 ; he comes to take leave of Charles, and re- ceives a rough answer, ii. 446 ; goes with a band to assassinate Coligny, ii. 456 ; kicks the dead body of the admiral, ii. 459 ; pursues Montgomery and his com- panions, ii. 483 ; throws the responsi- bility of the massacre upon the king, ii. 491 ; policy of, in rescuing a few Huguenots, ii. 491, note ; in making his province of Champagne an excep- tion to the massacre, ii. 525. Guise, Louis. Cardinal of, younger brother of the Cardinal of Lorraine, i. 269 ; at Saverne, ii. 13 ; author of the massa- cre of Sens, ii. 46; at the Bayonne con- ference, ii. 170; tries a heretical curate, ii.192. Guitry, M. de, ii. 625. II. Hans, Jean de, a seditious preacher, i. 567. Haton, Claude, on morals of clergy, i. 53, 54; on their non -residence and plurality, i. 457 ; complains of Huguenot boldness, i. 570; his singular account of the mas- sacre of Vassy, ii. 23 ; on the miracle of the Cimetiere des Innocents, ii 488 ; on the rosaries in the hands of Huguenot ladies, ii. 525. " Haute justice," ii. 364, note. Havre, the English in, ii. 84; surrender of, demanded of Queen Elizabeth, ii. litf ; fall of, July 29, 1563, ii. 127. Heidelberg, reception of Henry of Anjou at, 610. Hennuyer, Le, Bishop of Lisieux, apocry- phal speech ascribed to, ii. 525. Henry of Orleans, afterwards Henry II., married to Catharine de'Medici, i. 1 -1 > ; ascends the throne, March 31, 1547, L 258 ; his insubordination, i. 259 ; his great bodily vigor, ib.; his character, i. 260 ; his inordinate love of pleasure, ib.; is ruled by Diana of Poitiers, Con- INDEX. 661 stable Montmorency, and Cardinal Lor- ' raine, ib. ; his court, according to Dr. ; Wotton, i. 2'>1 ; rapacity of the cour- tiers, i. 272, 273 ; is persuaded to perse- j cute the Protestants to atone for his immoral lite. i. 274 ; publishes an edict, Foutainbleau, Dec. 11, 1547, against . books from Geneva, etc. , i. 275 ; wit- | losses the execution of a poor tailor of the Rue St. Antoine, L 277 ; his edict ! conferring power of arrest for heresy j upon ecclesiastical judges, Paris. Nov. 19, 1549. i. 278; he issues the edict of i Chateaubriand, June 27, 1551, removing | appeal from the decisions of presidial judges, 279; his more than papal strict- ness, i. 286 ; makes repeated attempts to introduce the Spanish Inquisition, L 2-7, 2"*, 2'.> , he breaks the truce of Vaucelles at the solicitation of Pope Paul IV., and renews war with Philip II.. i. 297, issues the edict of Com- piegne, July 24, 1557, i. 3uO ; rejects the --; intercession after the affair of the Rue St. Jacques, i. 310; compels par- liament to register the inquisition edict, i. 312; his indignation at the psalm- singing on the Pre aux Clercs, i. 315 ; summons Francois d'Andelot, whom he orders to be imprisoned, L 317. 318 ; desperate schemes to obtain money, i. 321 : makes the treaty of Cateau-Cam- brt-sis with Philip of Spain and Mary of England, i. 322 ; communicates to William, Prince of Orange, his own de- signs and those of Philip II. against the Protestants, L 325 ; proposes a joint French and Spanish expedition against Geneva, L 327 ; attends a merciiriale of the Parliament of Paris, L 332 ; orders the arrest of Du Bourg and other coun- sellors, i. 3'55 ; marriage festivities for his daughter, i. 338 , is mortally wounded by Montgomery in the tour- nament. June 30, 15o9, i 339 ; his death, July 10, 155 ( ., i. 340; epigrams upon the event, i. 346. Henry of Valois, third son of Henry II., afterward king of France as Henry III., baptized tirst Edward Alexander, i. 415; is made Duke of Anjou. See Anjou, Duke of. Heptameron of the Queen of Navarre, i. 119, seq. HiTfsy, views of Calvin respecting the punishment of, i. 21 1 ; made punishable as treason by Francis I., i. 222. Herminjard, M., on Bri<,-onnet's defection, i. 81. Hesse, the Landgrave of, his opinion of the representations of the Guises, ii. 17 ; declines to help the Huguenots, ii. 217 ; his distrust after the Slassacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 552; will have nothing to do with the candidature of Alenron for King of the Romans, ii. 609. Hen, Gaspard de, his judicial assassina- tion, i. 379. 380. Hospital, Michel de 1', Chancellor, i. 13 ; rebukes Parliament of Bordeaux, i. 19 ; his character, 412 ; little good expected of him, ib..; one of the original con- spirators of Amboise, ib. ; speech at the Assembly of Fontainebleau, i. 4HJ ; re- fuses to sign the sentence of the Prince of Cpnde, i. 440 ; his address at the opening of the States General of Or- leans, i. 455 ; declares the co-existence of two religions impossible, ib. ; and that names of factions must be abol- ished, i. 456; his strange representation of the character of previous persecu- tions, ib. , note ; he is distrusted by Beza, i. 502 ; his speech at the opening of the Colloquy of Poissy, L 512 ; he opposes the ratification of the plenary powers of the papal legate, i. 552 ; his speech to the notables at Saint Ger- main, i. 574 ; entreats Catharine to throw herself into the arms of the Hu- genots, ii. 31 ; his danger from the fury of the Paris populace, ii. 69 ; his cen- sure of the Norman parliament, ii. 130, note; his language to Santa Croce re- specting the lives of French priests, ii. 1">3, note; he is attacked by Cardinal Lorraine in the royal council at Melun, Feb., 1564. ii. 154, 155 ; sends out, with- out the authority of the council, an edict for the relief of the scattered Hu- guenots, ii. 184, 185 ; his altercation at Moulins with Cardinal Lorraine, 1. 186 ; envoy to the Huguenots, iL 210; his striking memorial counselling just and pacific treatment of the Huguenots, ii. 2 :!2, 233; Catharine de' Medici sides with his enemies, ii. 254 ; her animosity against him, because she suspects him of having prompted Charles IX. to en- treat her to avoid war, ii. 263 ; another quarrel of L'Hospital and Lorraine re- specting the chancellor's refusal to affix his signature to a papal bull, ii. 2C>o, 2'>4 ; his fall from power, iL 264 ; he re- tires to Vignai, iL 264, 265; his last days, 613 ; his farewell letter to the king, iL 614; his death, ii. 615. Host, reverence for, i. 50. Hotman, Francois, author of the "Vita Gasparis Colinii," L 418; also of the " Epistre au Tigre de la France," i. 446 ; his escape from the massacre of Bourges, ii. oil ; his " Francc-Gallia," ii. 615. Hugh Capet, Count of Paris, i. 4. Hugonis, a violent Roman Catholic preacher, iL 254. 662 INDEX. Huguenots, various explanations of the origin of the designation, i. 397-899 ; message of the escaped prisoners of Tours, i. 399 ; they petition Francis IL at Fontainebleau for liberty of worship, i. 417 ; general plans of extermination formed by their enemies before the death of Francis, i. 441, 442 ; the Spanish ambassador, Chantonnay, alarmed at the intemperance and violence of the scheme, i. 441, note ; return of Hugue- not exiles, i. 463 ; popular curiosity to hear their psalms and sermons, i. 468 ; their growing boldness, i. 478 ; they are said to have 2,150 churches, i. 560; diffi- culty of restraining their impetuosity, i. 561 ; Romish complaints of their bold- ness, i. 570 ; immense crowds at the precbes, ii. 11 ; massacred at Vassy, ii. 22 ; summoned to Meaux, ii. 34 ; they seize Orleans, which becomes their centre during the first civil war, ii. 39 ; they justify their assumption of arms, ii 40; their stringent articles of asso- ciation, ii. 40, 41 ; nobles and cities that espouse their cause, ii. 41 ; their strict discipline, ii. 66 ; cruelty at Pithi- viers, ii. 87; reverses of, ii. 101, 102; their ballads and songs, ii. 120-125 ; they lose favor at court, ii. 132, 133, 158 ; progress of, ii. 146 ; they are ac- cused of poisoning the wells in Lyons, ii. 159 ; number of Huguenots in France, ib.; assaults upon unoffending Hugue- nots at Crevant, Tours, Mans, and Ven- dome, ii. 162; no redress obtained, ib. ; various acts of oppression, ii. 163 ; ex- cluded from judicial posts, ii. 165 ; prog- ress of, ii. 1S1 ; Huguenot pleasantries, ii 192 ; they suspect treacherous de- signs, ii. 193 ; alarmed by the march of Alva and the Swiss levy, ii. 196, 203 ; they plan to seize Cardinal Lorraine and liberate Charles IX., ii. 205; the sudden rising, ii. 206 ; they abate their demands at the outbreak of the second civil war, ii. 210 ; admiration of the sultan's envoy for their bravery at the battle of St. Denis, ii. 214, note ; they solicit the help of the German princes, ii. 217 ; they are exonerated by Catha- rine de' Medici from the charge of dis- loyalty, ii. 219 ; their generous sacri- fices, ii. 223 , their imprudence in con- cluding the peace of Longjumeau with- out guarantees, ii 238 ; treatment of returning Huguenots, ii. 241; deprived of their rights by interpretative ordi- nances, etc. , ii. 244 ; admirable organi- zation of, ii. 247 ; oath to be exacted of, ii. 257 ; the plot against them disclosed by an intercepted letter, ii. 259; advan- tages at the beginning of the third civil war, ii 274 ; enthusiasm of their youth, ib. ; the Protestant religion proscribed, ii. 275 ; their places of refuge, ii. 2SU ; great successes in Poitou, Angoumois, etc. , ii. 282 ; the great army collected in southern France joins Conde', ii. 284 ; negotiations and reprisals, ii. 287 ; they suffer defeat at Jarnac, ii. 301, seq. ; they recover strength, ii. 312; their success at La Roche Abeille, ii. 319; they send a petition to the king, ii. 320, 322, 323; their single purpose, ii. 321, 322 ; they commit a serious blunder in laying siege to Poitiers, ii. 324 ; flight of refugees from Montargis, ii. 328 ; de- feated at Moncontour, ii. 332-334 ; their heavy losses, ii. 335 ; their terms of peace, ii 357 ; their successes compen- sate for their defeats, ii. 361 . The Hu- guenot nobles flock to Paris to attend the marriage of Henry of Navarre, ii. 426 ; many alarmed by the king's cor- diality, ii. 436 ; their constancy in the massacre at Orleans, ii. 510, 511, etc.; return of many who had apostatized, ii. 573, note ; discontent of the Huguenots of the south with the terms on the edict of pacification of Boulogne, ii. 599 ; they obtain a truce from Marshal Damville, ib. ; military organization of, provided for in the political assembly of Milhau and Montauban, ii 600 ; their bold de- mands contained in a petition to the king, ii. 601, 602 ; demands of Lower Languedoc and Nismes, ii. 603 ; those of the tiers e'tat of Provence and Dau- phin y, ib. ; indignation of Catharine de' Medici at their boldness, ii. 604 ; they remain firm, ib. ; they reassemble at Milhau, and perfect their organization, Dec. 17, 1573, ii. 617-619; injury to their cause, arising from their alliance with the "Politiqnes," or Malcontents, ii. 620 ; the Huguenots resume arms, 1574, undertaking the fifth civil war, ii. 622 ; failure of the conferences between Biron and the Huguenots, ii. 623, 624 ; their stout demands, ii. 624 ; some rea- sons of their military successes, ii. 630, 631 ; failure of persecution, war, and treachery, of which they had been the victims, ii. , 639. See Coligny, Conde', etc. Huguerye, Michel de la, his Me'moires int'-dits, ii. 423 ; his assertions as to the premeditation of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ib.; his misrepre- sentation of the character of Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, ii. 424. I. Iconoclasm at Paris, i. 141, 143; by a monk at Troyes, for a " pious " object, i, 160 ; in various parts of France, i INDEX. 663 470; at Montauban, i. 4S5. 4*0; can it be repressed ? li. 4'J ; stringent but in- effectual measures against, ii. 43 ; at Caen, ii. 44 ; at Orleans, ii. 45 ; at Va- lenciennes, etc., ii. 189; at Cateau- Cambre'sis, ii. 190. Images, whimsical defence of, ii . 43. Impatience with "public idols," i. 487; repressed by Calvin, ib. Inconsistency of the laws and practice of the courtg, i. 4S1. Indiscreet partisans of reform, i. 1C2. Informers against the Protestants, i. 301. Inquisition, the, is jealously watched in France, i. 125 (see Commission to try Lutherans) ; also, i. 288. Inquisition, Spanish, proposition to in- troduce into France, i. ~*7 ; opposed by parliament and withdrawn, i. ~. v ^ ; ;i second attempt, ib. ; manly speech of President Se'giiier against it, i. 289; a third attempt, i. :l'.^. ~".i9 ; the Pope appoints three inquisitors-general, i. L'H'.i; the papal bull confirmed by Henry II.. i. 300; the inquisition edict regis- tered by Henry in a " lit de justice," i. 312. Insubordination to royal authority, ii. 247. Interpretative ordinances, ii. 244". Isabella, or Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. of France and Catharine de' Medici, born April '.', l.~>45, married to Philip II. of Spain, June, 1559, i. 338; discloses the plot to kidnap Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, ii. 151 ; her discus- sion with her mother in the Bayonne conference, ii. 172-175; again her hus- band's mouthpiece, ii. 201. "Italian Bible," the, Macchiavelli'a II Principe, ii. 552, note. Ivoy, M. d', surrenders Bourges, ii. 72 ; treachery of his brother before Paris. ii.90. J. January, the Edict of, by Charles IX. (January 17, 1562), a celebrated ordi- nance, i. 57C ; marks the termination of the period of persecution according to the forms of law, i. 577 ; inconsisten- cies of, ii. 3 ; the Huguenot leaders urge its observance, ib.; opposition of the papal party, ii. 4. Jarnac, battle of, March 13, 1569, ii. 301, 302 ; the loss small in numbers, ii. 306 ; exaggerated bulletins of, ii. 307, 308. " Jerusalem," temple de, one of the Prot- estant places of worship at Paris, de- stroyed by Constable Montmorency, ii. 37. Jewel, Bishop, on the French Protestant refugees, ii. _".):;. John Oasimir, son of the elector pala- tine, conies to the assistance of the Huguenots and meets Conde in Lor- raine, ii. 'J22 ; letter of the princes as- sembled at his marriage, ii. 302. John Lackland, King of England, confers upon the inhabitants of La RocheMe exemption from the duty of inarching elsewhere or receiving a garrison from abroad, ii. ~'70. Joupitre, Jean, mayor of Bourges, ii. 511. Joyeuse, Viscount of, ii. 574. Julius II., Pope, his bull giving Navarre to the first comer, believed to be a forgery, i. 107. Julius III, Pope, his bnll permitting the use of eggs, butter, and cheese, to be eaten during Lent, condemned and burned by order of Henry IL and par- liament, i. 286. July, the Edict of, by Charles IX. (July 11, 1501), a severe measure, prohibiting conventicles for preaching or celebrat- ing the sacraments, i. 483 ; exultation of Guise, i. 484 ; Admiral Coligny de- clares that it cannot be executed, ib.; disappointment of Protestants, ib. Jumieges, at the fair of, a friar pulled from the pulpit, and another preacher put in his place, i. 430. Jurieu, Pierre, his remarks respecting the origin of the name " Huguenot," i. 398. Justice, abuses in administration of, i. 19. K. Killigrew of Pendennis reaches Ronen, ii. 78. King, the "fons omnis jurisdictionis," i. 122 ; emperor in his own dominions, ib. King's authority, checks upon, i. 15. King's evil, cured by the touch of the French monarchs, i. 100. Knox, John, on the affair of the Rue St. Jacques, i. 303, 307, 308; his sermon on the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, and his denunciation of Charles IX., ii. 550. La Court, ii. 509. Lacretelle, M., estimates the Huguenots as numbering 1 500,000 souls, or one- tenth of the population of France, ii. 159. La Force, Jacques Nompar de Caumont, Duke of. his wonderful escape in the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 472, 473. Lagebaston, President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, ii. 523. Lainez, second general of the Order of Jesus, makes an intemperate speech at Poissy, i. 536 ; compares the Protestant ministers to apes and foxes, i. 537. 664 INDEX. Lambert, Francois, first monk converted, i. 112; his history, i. 113; his impru- dent appeals, i. 114 ; his marriage and his death, ib. Langtiedoc, fifteen cities in this province receive Protestant ministers, i. 429; the children learn religion only from the Geneva catechism, ib.; of twenty-two bishops in Languedoc, all but five or six non-residents, ib. Languet, Hubert, his description of the persecution under Francis II. , i. 366 ; of the confusion after the Tumult of Amboise, i. 397. Lansac, a special envoy of Charles IX. to Germany, his unscrupulous misrepre- sentations, ii. 217, 218. " Lansquenets," i. 11. Laschene, a Protestant nobleman, decap- itated at Paris, ii. 330. Laudonniere, Rene de, leads the second colonial expedition to Florida, ii. 1 99 ; escapes from the massacre of the Hu- guenots, and succeeds in returning to Stance, ii. 200. Lausanne, the "Five scholars of," ar- rested, i. 283 ; tried and executed, L 284, 285. Leclerc, Jean, a wool-carder of Meaux, tears down a papal bull, i. 87 ; he is branded, i. 88, and burned alive at Metz, i. 89. Leclerc, Pierre, a minister and martyr at Meaux, i. 253, 255. Le Coq, his evangelical sermon, i. 151. " Le Dieu le Fort," ii. 341. Lef evre d'Etaples, Jacques, i. 44, 67 ; re- stores letters to France, L 68 ; his studies, ib. ; devotion, i. 69 ; his com- mentary on the Pauline epistles, i. 70 ; foresees the Reformation, ib. ; contro- versy with Beda, i. 71 ; invited to Meaux, i. 73 ; spiritual progress of, i. 75 ; trans- lates the New Testament, i. 77 ; his ex- ultation, i. 79 ; retires to Strasbourg, L 84-93 ; tutor of the Duke of Orleans, i. 94 ; librarian at Blois, ib. ; hopes en- tertained by Aleander respecting, i. 94 , mental sufferings and death, 95, 96. Leicester, Earl of, ii. 381, 397 ; it is pro- posed to offer him the hand of Made- moiselle de Bourbon, ii. 399 ; on Charles IX. and the massacre, ii. 559, 560. Le Laboureur, on the massacre of Vassy, ii.24. Lent, the Pope's bull permitting eggs, butter, and cheese to DC eaten during the fast, condemned by parliament, ana publicly burned, i. 286 ; negligent ob- servance of, in court of Charles IX., i. 468. Leo X., his concordat, i. 35. 36. L-ran, Viscount de, wounded and pur- sued into the room of Margaret of Valois, on St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 467. Lory, Jean, goes to Brazil with Villega- gnon, and, on his return, writes a his- tory of the expedition, i. 2J>'~ : ii. 345. note ; his account of the siege of San - cerre, ii. 590, 591, 594-598. ! " Lettres de cachet," ii. 511. Lhomme, or Lhommet, Martin, a book- seller, hung for having a copy of the " Tigre " in his possession, i. 445. Libertine party, the, i. 195, 2i5. Lieutenant de la Mareschausse'e, his inef- fectual defence and death on St. Bar- tholomew's Day, ii. 47x3. Ligny, violence at, ii. 249. Limousin, Protestantism in, i. 428. Limueil, Isabeau de, her amorous intrigue with the Prince of Conde', ii. 145, 303. " Lit de justice," i. 18, 312 ; ii. 492. Liturgies of Fareland Calvin, i. 275, 276, 341, seq., 515. Livry, the hermit of, i. 92. Lome'me, Martial de, a secretary of the king. Marshal Rctz obtains his office and his estate of Versailles, and then causes him to be murdered, ii. 485. Longjumeau, edict of pacification of, March 23, 15C8, ii. 234 ; the peace op- posed by Coligny, and favored by Conde, ii. 235 ; discussion of the ques- tion of the sincerity of the court, ii. 236, 237 ; the edict thrown into the fire by Charles IX. in the parliament house, ii. 276. Longjumeau, Sieur de, assault upon his house, i. 476. Longueville, Duke of, prevents the mas- sacre of the Protestants from extending to Picardy, ii. 526. Lorraine, Charles, Cardinal of, i. 261 ; he exchanges the title of Cardinal of Guise for that of Cardinal of Lorraine, i. 269 ; various estimates of his charac- ter, i. 270, 271 ; his servility toward Diana of Poitiers, i. 273 ; hypocrisy to the Swiss envoys, L 310 ; his conference with Cardinal Granyelle, i. 315 ; his great power on the accession of Francis II., i, 351 ; indignation of the people against him and his brother, i. 375 ; message he receives from the escaped Huguenot prisoners of Tours, i. 399 ; perplexity of, i. 413; his politic speech at Fon- tainebleau, i. 422 ; his hypocritical as- surances to Throkmorton, i. 424, note ; pasquinade against, i. 447 ; a virulent pamphlet against him, entitled ''Epis- tre au Tigre de la France," i. 409, 444- 448 ; effrontery of, in offering to repre- sent the three orders at the States Gen- eral, i. 457 ; favors the holding of the Col- loquy of Poissy, i. 495 ; he meets Kv/.a and professes to be well satisfied, i. 503, INDEX. 665 504 ; but subsequently boasts that he overthrew Beza in the first interview. i. 505 ; his speech in reply to Beza, i. he demands of the Huguenot j ministers subscription to the Augsburg Confession, i. 533 ; retires in disgust from Saint Germain, i. 555; goes with | his brothers to meet the Duke of Wiir- temburg at Saverne, ii. lo ; his lying i assurances, ii. 15, 16 ; he declares him- ! self, on oath, guiltless of the death of any man for religion's sake, ii. 16 ; he returns to France from the Council of Trent, and unsuccessfully seeks the ap- proval of the decrees, ii. 154 : his wran- gle at Melun. Feb.. 15T4, with Chancel- lor L'Hospital, ii. 154, 155 ; his encoun- ter with Marshal Montmorency in Paris, ii. 106 ; forbidden by Catharine to hold communication with Granvelle and Chantonnay, ii. 181 ; he disregards the prohibition, ib. ; his altercation with L'Hospital at Moalins, ii. 186; the Huguenots plan to seize him, ii. 205 ; his flight to Rheims, ii. 207 ; he invites Alva to enter France, ii. 208; his plot revealed, ii. 259, 200 ; makes another attack upon L'Hospital, and is prevent- ed by Marshal Montmorency from mak- ing a bodily assault, ii. 264 ; his jealousy of Anjon, ii. 339 : retires from court at the peace of Saint Germain, ii. 368 ; his rejoicing at Rome over the news of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. s;n. Lorraine, John, first Cardinal of, i. 267 ; his many ecclesiastical benefices, ib. Lorraine, Mary of, married to James V. of Scotland, i. 268. Loue, La. taken prisoner at Jarnac, ii. 306, 351 ; killed near Montpellier, ii. 352. Louis VIII., of France, con firms the privi- leges of La Rochelle, ii. ~71. Louis IX., St. Louis, disliked in Pe'rigord, i. 6 ; his Pragmatic Sanction, i. 26. Louis XI., his aversion to assembling the States General, i. 12 ; consents to ab- rogate the Pragmatic Sanction, i. K : subsequently re-enacts it, i. 33 ; con- firms the privileges of La Rochelle, ii. 271. Louis XII., re-enacts thePragmatic Sanc- tion, i. 35 ; his motto, ib. ; confirms the the privileges of La Rochelle, ii. 'J71 . Louise de Savoie, mother of Francis I., i. 50, 60 ; encourages reformed preachers, i. 74: regent, i. 109; change in her at- titude, i. 110, 123. Lude, Count of, ii. 324. Luns, Philippine de, a young lady of wealth ana rank, strangled and burned at Paris, i. 3'C. Lusipnan. " la pucelle," taken by the Hu- guenots, ii. LS3. Luther, his teachings condemned by the Sorbonne, L 108; wide circulation of his works, i. 112; his books proscribed, ib. ; his letters respecting Melanchthon's projected visit to France, i. 185, 186. "Lutherans," rage of populace of Paris against, i. 302. Lyon, Jacques du. Seigneur de Grandfief, plots to surrender La Rochelle, ii. 617. Lyons, frontier town at accession of Francis I., i. 3; council of, 140; in- spection of books at great fairs of, i. 2>1 ; in the hands of Maligny, i. 4'J7 ; besieged, ii. 102 ; Huguenots accused of poisoning wells in, ii 159 ; massacre at, ii. 513, seq. H. Macanlay, Lord, a remark ascribed by him to Admiral Coligny, ii. 463, note. Macchiavelli's II Principe, "the Italian Bible," ii. 552, note. Mackintosh, Sir James, receives from M. de Chateaubriand important docu- ments bearing upon the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 4J6. Macon. persecution at, i. 217. Madrid, a royal country-seat, ii. 259. Madrid, treaty of, declared null, L 136. Magic, resort to, i. 43. Maigret, Friar Aimc, preaches at Lyons, i. 118. Malassise, M. de, Henry de Mesmes, ii. 359, 363, 366. Maligny seizes Lyons, but, not being sup- ported, fails to" keep the place, i. 427. Malot, Jean, a minister at the colloquy of Poissy, L 509. Malta, siege of, by the Turks, in 1565, ii. isi. Mandelot, M. de, Governor of Lyons, ii. 513 ; his perplexity, ii. 514 ; his respon- sibility for the massacre in Lyons, ii. 517; a suppliant for the spoils of the Huguenots, ii. 518. Mangin, a martyr at Meanx, i. 254, 255. Mans, Protestants of, plundered or killed. ii. 162. Mansfeld, Count of. See Wolrad. Marcel, prevot des marchands, ii. 482, etc. Marche'-aux-pourceaux, i. 46. Marcourt, Antoine, probable author of the placard of 1534, i. 164. " Mardi Gras," the rising of, i: Margaret of Valois, youngest daughter of Henry II., born May 14, 1552, h<.r hand declined by Sebastian of Portugal, ii. 379; proposed marriage to Henry of Xavarre, ii. o92 ; the proposal comes from the Montmorencies, ii. 394 ; ab- surdity of the story of a romantic attach- ment of Margaret, in 1571, to Henry of Guise, ii. 395, note ; she is said to be at 666 INDEX. first indifferent, afterward anxious to marry Henry of Navarre, ii. 395, o96 , described by Jeanne d'Albret, ii. 405 ; the betrothal, ii. 426 ; the marriage, ii. 427 ; the entertainment in the Louvre, ii. 429 ; on the morning of St. Bartholo- mew's Day, ii. 466. Marillac, Bishop of Vienne, i. 418; his speech at Fontainebleau, i. 420, 421. Marlorat, Augustin, a prominent Hu- guenot minister at the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 509; in the Conference of Saint Germain, i. 539 ; he is hung by order of the Parliament of Rouen, ii. 80. Maromme, Laurent de, a leader of the murderers at Rouen, ii. 520, 521. Marot, Clement, i. 43 ; his flight to Fer- rara, i. 179. Marsac, Louis de, his words at the stake, i. 27S. Marshals, remonstrance of the, ii. 255. Martigues, Sebastian of Luxemburg, Vis- count of, ii. 341 ; his impiety, ib. , note. Martin Theodoric, of Beauvais, his ele- gies on Louis de Berquin, i. 157; re- marks respecting Barthelemi Milon, i. 172. Martyr, Peter, or Pietro Martiro Ver- migli, a native of Florence and a re- former, invited to the Colloquy of Pois- sy, i. 494 ; his arrival, i 527 ; fais speech, i. 536 ; takes part in the Conference of Saint Germain, i. 539 ; his candid paper, i. 540. Martyrs, Protestant, constancy of, i. 177 ; ingenious contrivance for prolonging their sufferings, ib. Mary, Queen of Scots, wife of Francis II. , i. 347 , ii. 146, 545. Mass, Roman Catholic, songs against, ii. 121, seq. Massacre, of Protestants in Holy Week, 1561, i. 474 ; of Vassy, March 1, 1562, 11. 22; of Sens, April 12, 1562, ii. 46, 55, of Orange, June 5, 1562, ii. 49; of Toulouse, ii. 52-54; of Troyes, ii. 128, 129, of Roman Catholics at Nismes, ii. 224, 225 ; in prisons of Orleans, Aug. 21, 1569, ii. 326; of the garrison of Ra- basteins, ii. 361 ; at Paris (see Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day) ; of Meaux, Aug. 25 and 26, 1572, ii. 505-507; of Troyes, Sept. 4, 1572, ii. 507, 508 ; of Orleans, ii. 508 seq.; of Bourges, Sept. 12, 1572, ii. 511, 512; of Angers, ii. 512, 513 ; of Lyons, ii. 513-518 ; of Rouen, Sept., 1572, ii. 519-521 ; of Toulouse, ii. 521,522; of Bordeaux, Oct., 1572, ii. 522-524 ; why the massacre is not uni- versal, ii. 524, 525 ; cases of mercy, ii. 526, 527. Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, in Paris, the question of its premeditation, chapter xvii. passim ; La Huguerye's statements, ii. 423, 424 ; a significant mock combat, ii. 431 ; the plan as sketched by Anjou, ii. 433 seq.; Sal- viati's testimony respecting the want of premeditation and the ignorance of the king, ii. 435, 43f> ; Coligny wounded, ii. 4o7 ; Catharine and Anjou resolve upon extreme measures, ii. 446 ; the blood council, ii. 447, seq. ; Charles re- luctantly consents, ii. 449 ; few victims selected at first, ii. 450 ; religious hatred as a motive, ii. 452 ; precautions taken, ib. ; the municipal officers of Paris called in, ii. 454 ; murder of Coligny, ii. 457, seq. ; of Huguenot leaders in the Louvre, ii. 465, seq. ; on the signal-bell from the Palais de Justice, the massacre becomes general, ii. 470 ; the part taken by the courtiers and the royal guard, ii. 471 ; pitiless butchery, ii. 474 ; shamelessness of the court ladies, ii. 476 ; Avonderful escapes, ii. 477 ; the dead bodies buried by the municipality of Paris, ii. 484; the massacre not at first a popular move- ment, ii. 484, 485 ; pillage of the rich, ii. 485 ; action of the municipal officers, ii. 486 ; ineffectual orders issued to lay down arms, ii. 487 ; miracle of the haw- thorn of the Cimetiere des Innocents, ii. 488 ; number of the victims in Paris, ii. 489; speech of the king at the "lit de justice," ii. 492 ; servility of parliament, ii. 493 ; Coligny's memory declared in- famous, ii. 496 ; the verbal orders, ii. 502 ; two kinds of letters sent out, ii. 504; uncertain number of victims, ii. 530. Masso, an agent in the massacre at Lyons, ii. 504, note, 514, 516. Matignon, M. de, saves the Protestants of Caen and Alen^on from massacre, ii. 526. Maubert, Place, ii. 329. Maurevel murders De Mony, ii. 337 ; he is rewarded with the collar of the order, ii. 338 ; wounds Admiral Coligny, ii. 438, 439. " Mauvais Carbons," highwaymen, i. 44. Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, styles the French king "a king of asses," i. 14 ; ii. 360, etc. May, Du, attempts to assassinate Admi- ral Coligny, ii. 194. Mayenne, Charles, Duke of, son of Fran- cis, Duke of Guise, ii. 324. Maynet, a Huguenot member of the Par- liament of Rouen, ii. 519. Mazurier, Martial, i. 75, 82, 90, 91. Medici family, the, is reputed to be des- tined to be fatal to Christendom, i. r>i>'.). Meaux. Reformation at, i. 67 seq., 74, 75, 83, 86, 92 ; new persecutions at, i. 253 ; the "Fourteen of Meaux," i. 254; their execution, i. 255 ; iconoclasm at, ii. 6S ; INDEX. 667 consequent severity of the Parliament of Paris, ib.: massacre at, Aug. -'."> an I :.''). l.'.T'.'. ii. :>t'.W>i.7. Medals, commemorative of the junction of the Huguenots and their German al- lies, ii. 318; of the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour, ii. 330. note; of the \I i>sacre of St Bartholomew's Day, ii Melanchthon, i. 43 ; answers the Sorbon- ne's condemnation of Luther, i. 1W ; risited by a French agent, i. 100 ; draws up a plan of reconciliation, ib. ; his ex- travagant concessions, i. 161 ; his own misgivings, i. 102; his plan makes a favorable impression on Francis L, ib. ; is entreated to come to France, i. 182 ; his perplexity, i. 183 ; he is formally invited by Francis, and consents, i. 1^ ; but fails to obtain permission from the Elector of Saxony, i. 185 ; his chagrin, i. 1S6; his articles reprobated by the Sorbonne, L 1 87 ; approves of the execution of Servetus, i. 21''. Menendez. or Melendez, de Abila, sent by Philip II. to destroy the Huguenot set- tlements in Florida, ii. 200 ; his cruelty and success, ib. try troops, i. 11. "Mercuriale," nature of, i. 331 ; Henry IL goes in person to one of the Parliament of Paris, June 10, 1559, 332 ; that of June 23, 1561, i 480, seq. Me'rindol, some inhabitants of, summoned to Aix, i. 235 ; the infamous ' Arret de Mt'-rindol," November IS, 1540, i. 236; preparations to carry it into effect, i. ~'-',~ ; it is delayed by friendly interpo- sition, i. 238 ; the place is taken and destroyed, i. 247. Merle, d'Aubigne, a singular mistake of, i. 200. Mt-rlin, Jehan Reymond, a Protestant pastor, at the Colloquy of Poissy, L 509 ; counsels moderation to the Queen of Navarre, ii. 149 ; chaplain of Coligny, ii. 440, 457 ; his wonderful escape, u. 477. Mem, a younger Montmorency, ii. 441, not*-. Messignac, Huguenot loss at, ii. 284. Metz, labors of Jean Chatellain at, i. 114 ; anger of the people at his execution, L 110. 11 Michelade," the, at Nismes, ii. 224. 225. Milhau-en-Rouer^ue, calls for ministers, i. 479; the entire population becomes Protestant, ii. 147; refuses to admit a garrison, ii. 250; a Huguenot place of refuge, ii 2SO ; political Huguenot as- sembly at, ii. 600; second assembly, Dec. 17, 1573, at which the scheme of organization is perfected, ii. 017-619. Miracles popular, i. 57; miracle of the hawthorn tree of the Cimetiere des In- nocents, ii. 4 s *;. Milon. Barthe'lemi, a paralytic, executed, i. 1 72 ; remarks of Martin Theodoric, of Beauvais, respecting, ib. Minard, President, assassination of, i 370. Ministers, Protestant, the popular clamor for, i. 479 ; their moderation, 479, 4HJ ; the demand unabated for, ii 14S Mirabel, a Huguenot leader, ii 348. Mirambeau, a Huguenot negotiator, ii 888. Miron, the Duke of Anjou's confession to, ii 433. Mole, La, one of the party of the Poli- tiques, ii. 620; he is executed on the Place de Greve, ii. 62\ Monastic orders incur contempt, i 60. Monclar, Viscount of, ii 230. Moncontour, battle of, Oct. 3, 15* ">9, ii 333 seq.; exultation of the Roman Catholic party after, ii. 33ii ; medals struck at Rome, ib., note; extravagant action of parliament, ii 337. Money coined by the Huguenots, with the name and arms of Charles IX., ii 219. Mons, capture of, by Count Louis of Nas- sau, ii 412. Montagut, or Montaigu, Viscount of, ii 230, note. Montargis, the residence of the Duchess of Ferrara, affords a safe refuge to the Huguenots, ii. 73, 327; flight of Hu- guenots from Montargis to Sancerre, 5.328. Montauban, the Protestants of, being maligned, vindicate their loyalty, i. 4bO ; beg that no more ex-monks be sent in- to France as Protestant ministers, ib.; iconoclasm at, i. 485, 486 ; it refuses to admit a garrison in, 1568, ii 250; a Huguenot place of refuge, ii 280 ; Co- ligny at, ii 349; lecomes, through Regnier's agency, a Protestant strong- hold, ii. 574 ; political Huguenot assem- bly at, ii 600 ; it provides for a military organization of the Huguenots, ib. Montbeliard, Farel at, i. 117. Montbrun, nephew of Cardinal Tournon, a Huguenot leader, in the Comtat Ve- naissin, etc., i. 414 ; ii. 220. 230. 284, 348, 526 ; his exploits in Dauphiny, ii 621. Mont de Marsan, ii. 351. Montecuccoli, Count of. accused of hav- ing poisoned the dauphin, Francis, and drawn asunder by four horses, i. 259. Monte'limart, Huguenots of, i. 404. Montereul. Claude, a curate, active in the massacre of Rouen, ii. 520. Montesquieu, captain of Anjou's guards, treacherously murders the Prince of Conde, ii. 302. Montferrand, M. de, Governor of Bor- GC3 INDEX. deaux, ii. 522 ; his brutal boast before ! the parliament that he had killed more than two hundred and fifty persons, ii 524. Montgomery, Gabriel, Count of, captain of the Scotch guard, mortally wounds Henry II. in the tournament, i. 339 ; commands the Protestants at Rouen, ii. 78 ; escapes with D'Andelot to La Rochelle, at the beginning of the third civil war, ii. '281, 232; throws himself into St. Jean d'Angely, ii. 312 : takes for the Huguenots a great part of Be'arn, ii. 323 ; goes to Cpligny's assistance, ii. 332 ; his raids, ii. 349, 451 ; escapes from the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 481-483; obtains help from England for La Rochelle, ii. 588 ; Queen Elizabeth's interest in him, ib. ; he lands in Normandy, ii. 630 ; takes Carentan, ib.; is taken prisoner at Domfront, ii. 631 ; delight of Catharine de' Medici, ii. 631, 632 ; his sentence and execution, ii 633 ; his constancy, ii 634. Montigny's remark as to the Burgundians, ii 185. Mpntluc, Bishop of Valence, his speech in the assembly of notables of Fontaine- bleau, i. 418, 419 ; his description of the Protestant ministers, i 403, 418 ; his evangelical preaching, i. 469; confers with the Protestants at Poissy, i. 538 ; Cardinal Lorraine's reference to him in the Colloquy of Poissy, ii. 8 ; at the Conference of Saint Germain, ib.; he is erroneously credited with writing Con- de's reply to the Triumvirs, etc.. i. 61, 64 ; he is sent to secure the election of Anjou to the throne of Poland, i. 552 ; his embarrassment, i 553, 560, note; his success, i. 592, 593. Montluc, Blaise de, a cruel general, ii. 51, 52 ; at Toulouse, ii 53, 54 ; is praised by Pius IV. for his part in the massa- cre, ii. 54 ; his conversation with Alva at the Bayonne conference, ii 171 ; breaks down Coligny's bridge of boats, ii. 350 ; accuses Damville, ii. 352 ; suc- ceeds in Beam, ii. 361, 574. Montmorency, Anne de, Grand Master and Constable, i. 261 ; his ancient fam- ily and valor, i 263 ; his cruelty, i 2(53, 264 : his unpopularity, i. 264 ; disgraced by Francis I. , but recalled by Henry II i. 2(i5 ; opposes the breaking of the truce of Vaucelles, i. 297 ; taken pris- oner at the battle of St. Quentin. i 302 ; favors the peace of Cateau-Cam- bre'sis, i 322 ; his fall from power at the accession of Francis II., i 347 ; re- tires to his estates, i 352. 353; his wealth, ib.; indignation of Catharine I de' Medici with him, i. 352 ; his disgust ! at the progress of Protestantism and j the popular demand for restitution, i. 469; joins in the triumvirate, notwith- standing his son's remonstrances, i. 470, 471 ; disappointment of the Protestants at, i. 470, note ; his exploits at Paris in burning the Protestant preaching-places earn him the title of " le Capitaine Bru- lebanc," ii 37 ; is taken prisoner at the battle of Dreux, ii. 94 ; he espouses the defence of Coligny, ii. 13o; he takes sides against Cardinal Lorraine at Me- lun, ii. 155; opposes the nuncio's de- mand that the red cap be taken away from Cardinal Chatillon, ii. 182,183; at the Conference of La Chapelle Saint Denis declares that the king will not tolerate two religions, ii 211; he is mortally wounded in the battle of Saint Denis, ii 215 ; three times a prisoner in previous wars, ib., note ; his charac- ter and exploits, ii. 216; his conduct on entering La Rochelle, ii 273. See Tri- umvirs. Montmorency, Francois de, Marshal, eld- est son of the constable, remonstrates with his father on the formation of the triumvirate, i. 470 ; he is temporarily removed from the governorship of Paris, ii. 32; his inability to check the ex- cesses of the turbulent mob, ii. 97 ; es- pouses Coligny's defence, ii. 135 ; takes energetic measures with the Parisians, ii. 166 ; his encounter with Cardinal Lorraine, ii. 166, 167 ; he brings Coligny to Paris, ii. 167 ; proclaims the edict of Amboise by public crier, ii. 180 ; hol- low reconciliation with the Guises, ii. 184 ; at Saint Denis, ii. 214 ; his retort to Catharine de' Medici, when Santa Croce demands the surrender of Cardi- nal Chatillon to the Pope, ii 229 ; re- monstrance of, ii. 255 ; reply to Coligny, ii. 323 ; proposes the marriage of Henry of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, ii. 394 ; his honorable reception by Queen Elizabeth, ii. 399 ; Charles's estimate of, ii 409 ; thrown into the Bastile, ii. 628. Montpezat, M. de, ii. 523. Montpellier, gathering of Huguenots for worship in the large school-rooms, i. 42S, 429 ; the chapter of the cathedral intro- duces a garrison, whereupon the Prot- estants rise and strip the churches, i. 563, 504 ; the consuls write to Geneva to double their corps of Protestant ministers, ii. 148. Montpeusier, the Duke of. at the Bayonne conference, ii. 170; incites the massa- cre of Protestants, ii. 471 i, 529. Montpipeau, the "tears" of, ii. 418, 419. Montreal, ii. 3^9. Montsoreau, M. de, hib letter to Paigail- INDEX. 660 lard. ii. 503 ; he treacherously murders M. de la Riviere, ii. 512. Morata, Olympia, her precocity, i 206. Morel, Francois de, a minister at the Col- loquy of Poissy, i. 509. Mornas, cruelty of Huguenots at, ii. 50, 51. Mornier, Andre, an echevin, heads the murderers of Lyons, ii. 51 5. Mortier, Du, a privy councillor, refuses to sign the sentence of the Prince of Conde, i. 440. Morvilliers, Bishop of Orleans, a skilful negotiator, his noble words on straight- forward diplomacy, ii. 194, note ; royal envoy, ii. 210, 255, 265, 368 ; replies to Coligny's memorial, ii. 417, note. Mothe Fenelon, La, French ambassador in England, his recommendation of the Duke of Anjou, ii. 379; his perplexity in defending the massacre, ii. 541 ; de- clares himself ashamed to be counted a Frenchman, ii. 543 ; his cold reception by Queen Elizabeth, ib. ; confesses that he is not believed, ii. 545 ; he is instruct- ed to press the suit of Alen^on for Queen Elizabeth's hand, ii. 606. Motley, Mr. J. L., ii. 289, note, 537. Mouchy, De, apologizes for using French language, i. 50 ; at the Conference of Saint Germain, ii. 7 ; his delight at its dismissal, ii. 8. Moulin, Charles Du, a jurist, writes an able treatise against the Council of Trent, ii. 155, 156. Moulins, the assembly of notables at, in 15 '.. ii. 1J3 ; alleged plan of the "Sicil- ian Vespers" to be executed at, ib. ; re- conciliation of Coligny and the Guises, and of the Montmorencies and Guises at, ii. 184 ; fresh encounter of Cardinal Lorraine and Chancellor L'Hospital at, ii. 1>\J, 186. Mouvans, a Huguenot leader in Provence, i 407 ; his message to the Duke of Guise, i. 408 ; ii. 220, 230, 284. Mouy, M. de, ii. 315, 333 ; murdered by Maurevel, ii. 337. Mucidan, ii Muntz, on Clemangis, i. 64. Murderer, the, of a Huguenot rescued, ii. J * If. Nan7; is said to have threatened Charles IX., ii. 195 ; he approves Alva's procrasti- nating policy respecting assistance to the Guises, ii. 208 ; oners 200,000 crowns if Charles will continue the war against the Huguenots, ii. 228 ; recalls his troops, u. 342 ; opposes the peace, ii. 360, 365; his ambassador leaves the French court in disgust, after giving away the silver plate Charles had given him, il. 391 ; his delight at hearing of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii., 5o(i seq. Philippe, M., an inconsiderate minister at Cateau-Cambre'sis, leads the icono- clasts, ii 190 ; he is executed, ii. 191. Philippi, ii. 003. Pibrac, avocat-ge'ne'ral, ii. 493. Picardy, the Duke of Longueville pre- vents the massacre of the Protestants from extending to, ii 526. Pierre-Gourde, M. de, ii. 284. Piles, M. de, ii. 812 ; his brave defence of St. Jean d'Angely, ii. 340 ; ravages the Spanish county of Roussillon, ii. 351, 355, 439 ; his murder at the Louvre on St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 467. Pinart, ii 623. Pithiviers, or Pluviers, captured by Conde', ii. 87 ; retaken by Guise, ii. 97. Pius IV., Pope, his solicitude respecting France, i. 548 ; sends the Cardinal of Ferraraas legate, ib. ; commends Philip II., i. 568; praises Blaise de Montluc, by a brief, for his part in the massacre of Toulouse, ii. 54: his bull against princely heretics, April 7, 15<'>3, ii. 141. Pius V. , Pope, is said to have threatened Charles IX., ii 195 ; his nuncio tries to prevent peace being concluded with the Huguenots, ii. 228 ; praises the Duke of Nemours for his severity, ii. 245 ; approves by a bull the crusade at Toulouse, ii. 279 ; his sanguinary in- junctions after the battle of Jarnac, ii 308, 309 ; severely reproves Santa INDEX. 673 Fioro for sparing any heretics, ii. .135, Tif'iS ; his congratulatory letters after the battle of Moncontour, ii. 336 ; re- calls his troops, ii. 342 ; his bull against Queen Elizabeth, ii. 359 ; opposes the peace, ii. 360, 365, 369; alarmed at the prospects of the Huguenot ascendancy in France, he despatches his nephew, tho Cardinal of Alessandria, as legate, to Paris, ii. 400 ; the king's assurances, ii. 400-403 ; the conditions required for granting a dispensation for the marriage of Henry of Navarre and Margaret of Valois, ii. 410 note ; gives no dispen- sation until after the marriage, his bull being dated Oct. 27, 1572, ii. 427; his letters to Charles, Catharine, Anjou, etc., instigating them to exterminate tin- heretics, ii. 561, seq. ; his thirst for Huguenot blood, ii. 5(57, 568; redeems tae Huguenot captives of Alornas in order to have the satisfaction of order- ing their public execution, ii. 5(53. Placard, the, of 1534, Feret sent to Neufchatel to have it printed, i. 104 ; its authorship, ib. ; its publication opposed by Courault and other prudent reformers, i. 165; its contents, ib. ; it produces great popular excitement in Paris, i. Ili7 ; a copy posted on the door of the king's bedchamber, ib. ; anger of Francis I., ib. ; barbarous executions consequent upon it, i. 171, 177; marks an epoch in the history of the Hugue- nots, i. It to. I, the year of the, i. 164, etc. Placards and pasquinades, both for and against the reformed doctrines, i. 103. Place, Pierre de la, President of the Cour d' Aides, and a historian, murdered in the massacre at Paris, ii. 4.7',t. Plague, the, in Paris and Orleans, ii. 85. Planche, Kegnier de la, consulted by Catharine de' Medici, i. 410. Pleasantries, Huguenot, ii. 192. Plessis Mornay, Philippe du, writes for Coligny a memorial on the Flemish pro- ject, ii. 4 It). Poissy, the prelates at, i. 493 ; Beza and other French Protestants invited to a conference, i. 4l>4 ; wrangling of the prelates, i. 499 ; their demand, L 542 ; their character, i. 547. Poissy, the Colloquy of, the Huguenots petition for fair treatment at, i. 505 ; vexatious delay, i. 506; the Huguenots determine to leave unless their peti- tion is granted, i. 507 ; an informal decree m their favor, ib. ; the last efforts of the Sorbonne to prevent the conference prove abortive, i. 508 ; the Huguenot ministers and delegates of churches proceed from St. (Jermain to Poissy, i. 50tt ; list of the former, VOL. II. 43 ib. ; the assembly in the nuns' refec- tory, L 510; the prelates, i. 511 ; diffi- dence of Be/a, L 512 ; Chancellc - L' Hospital's oration at the opening, ib. ; the Huguenots are summoned, i. 513 ; a cardinal's sneer and Beza's retort, i. 514; Beza's prayer and address, i. 514- 521 ; he is interrupted by the theolo- gians of the Sorbonne with cries of "Blasphemy!" i. 519; Cardinal Tour- non tries to cut short the conference, i. 521, but Catharine declines to permit its interruption, i. 522 ; advantages gained, ib. ; the prelates' notion of a conference, i. 5','6 ; arrival of Peter Mar- tyr, i. 527 ; Cardinal Lorraine replies tr> Beza, i. 528 ; Cardinal Tournori's new- demand, i. 529 ; Beza asks a hearing, ib. ; he replies, i. 532, 533 ; speechea of Claude D'Espense and Claude de Sainctes, i. 532 ; Cardinal Lorraine's demand that the Huguenot ministers should subscribe to the Augsburg Con- fession, i. 533 ; Beza's reply, L 533-535 ; anger of the prelates, i. 536 ; speeches of Martyr and Lainez, i. 536 ; close of the colloquy, i. 537 ; is followed by a private conference, i. 538 ; and the arri- val of live Protestant theologians from Germany, i. 544 ; causes of the failure of the colloquy, i. 540. Poitiers, demands of the clergy at, i 431 ; captured by the king, ii. 71 ; siege of, by the Huguenots, ii. 324, 325. Poland, news of the massacre, how re-- ceived in, ii. 553 ; Henry of Anjou elected king, ii. 593 ; ambassadors from, come to France, ii. 598 ; their magnifi- cent reception, ib. " Politiques," or Malcontents, the party of the, ii. 615 ; their unsuccessful ris- ing, ii. 625. Poltrot, Jean, de Me'rey, assassinates Francois de Guise, ii 103 ; his history, it 104 ; his torture and execution, ii. 1 05 ; accuses Beza and Coligny of hav- ing instigated the murder, ii. 106. Poncher, Bishop of Paris, L 71. Pons, ii. 283. Pont, Baron du, ii. 476. Popincourt, a Protestant place of worship at Paris, destroyed by Constable Mont- morency, ii. 37. Populace, cruelty of, i. 366. Porcien, the Prince of, ii. 193; attempt to assassinate, ii. 1H4. Poulain, Poulin, or Polin, otherwise called Baron de la Garde, i. 24l>; ii. 361, 576. Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis, L 26; of Bourges, i. 29, 30; anger of the Popo at, i. 31 ; abrogated, i. 30 ; m-onacted, i. :;:;, :!.">; abrogated by Francis L, L SO; still recognized by parliament, i. 40 ; ita restoration demanded. L 459. 674 INDEX. Pre aux Clercs, the public grounds of the university, psalm-singing on the, i 314. Prelates, French, cited to Rome and con- demned, ii. 141. Prerogative, royal, books upon, ii 615, 616. Presidial judges, no appeal from their de- cisions in cases of heresy, i. 279. Primacy of France divided between the Archbishops of Lyons and Sens, i. 118. Princes, scanty revenues of, i. 8. Prior, the Grand, of France, i. 269 ; at Saverne, it 13. Privas, a Huguenot place of refuge, ii. 280. Processions, indecent, i. 59 ; expiatory, i 142, and especially, i. 173, etc.; to intercede for help in the war against La Rochelle, ii. 592. Profane oaths a test of Catholicity, ii. 134, 585. Profligacy of the court, the, ii. 132, note ; alienation of, from the Huguenots, ii. 133. Protestants of France, appeal to the Swiss and Germans, i. 191 ; persecuted in various places, i. 216, 217 ; the tongues of the victims cut out, L 217 ; or iron balls forced into their mouths, i. 257; place a remonstrance in the chamber of Henry II., i. 308; they appeal to Catha- rine de' Medici, i 362 ; a second and more urgent appeal, i. 364. See Hugue- nots. Protestantism, causes of its sudden de- velopment in the last years of Henry II. and the reign of Francis II., i. 399- 403. Provence, Huguenots of, under Mouvans, L 407; disorders and bloodshed in, ii. 47 ; saved from witnessing a massacre of the Protestants in 1572 by the mag- nanimity of the Count de Tende, ii. 527 ; demands of the tiers e'tat of, ii. 603. Provius. preaching of friars at, ii. 5, 6, 279 ; intolerance at, ii. 191, 241, 242. Psalms, versified by Marot and Beza. sung on the Pre aux Clercs, i. 314 ; indigna- tion of Henry II. at, i. 315; set to music for worship by Bourgeois and others, especially by Goudimel, in sev- eral parts, ii 517, note. Pnigaillard, ii. 503, 504, 512, 513, 617. Punishments, barbarous, i. 45 ; especially for heresy. 46. Puyroche, M., his monograph on the mas- sacre at Lyons, ii 513, note. <* Quercu, or De Chesne, i. 23, 50. Quintin, Jean, orator for the clergy in the States General of Orleans, makes a speech of insufferable arrogance, i. 458 ; he pictures the sad straits of the clergy, and asks for the restoration of the Prag- matic Sanction, i 459 ; his word for the down-trodden people, i 460 ; he is com- pelled to apologize to Admiral Coligny, ib. R. Rabasteius, massacre of the garrison of, ii. 361. Ramee, Pierre de la, or Ramus, assas- sinated at the instigation of Charpen- tier, ii. 478. Rapin, a Protestant gentleman sent by the king, judicially murdered by the Par- liament of Toulouse, ii. 239. "Rapin, Vengeance de," ii. 351. Rapin, Viscount of, ii. 230, note. Read, M. Charles, i. 446 ; ii 569. Rector of the university, i. 22. Reform, abortive efforts at, i. 61. Reformation, the French, becomes a popu- lar movement, i. 196. Regnier, a Huguenot gentleman of Quercy, spared in the massacre at Paris, through the magnanimity of his personal enemy Vezins, ii 480 ; by his bravery and de- termination saves Montauban for the Huguenots, ii. 574, 575. "Reiters," i 11. Relics, reverence for, i 49 ; great variety of, 50. Renaissance, era of the, i. 41. Renaudie, Godefroy de Barry, Seigneur de la, leader in the Tumult of Amboise, i. 379; assembles the malcontents at Nantes, i 380; is betrayed by Des Avenelles, i. 382 ; his death, i 3S<) ; his body hung and quartered, i. 392 ; in- scription over his remains, ib. ; an al- leged admission of disloyal intentions on his part, i. 394. Rene'e de France, Duchess of Ferrara, her hospitality, i, 179; her court, i. ~05 ; her eulogy by Brantome, i 206 ; on her return to France, rebukes the Duke of Guise, i 437 ; affords a safe asylum to the Huguenots at Montargis, ii. 73, 110, 111, 327; her letter to Calvin respecting the Duke of Guise, ii. 109 ; her answer to Malicorne, ii 111 ; her aversion to war, ii. 327, note. Renel, Marquis de, murdered by Bussy d' Amboise, ii 472. Rentigny, Madame de, courageously re- fuses a pardon based on recantation, and is executed as a Protestant, i. 311. Renty, ii 352. Representative government, long break in history of, i. 13 ; demanded by the " tiers etat" at Pontoise, i. 4'.l'2. Rescue of Protestant prisoners, i. ol!7. INDEX. 675 Reti, De, Count and Marshal (Albert de Gondy), ii. 339, 443 ; at the blood coun- cil, ii. 447, 448, 44 ( J; obtains the office and property of Lome'nie, including Versailles, and then causes him to be put to death, ii. 485, 527. 638. Re-union of Romanists and Protestants, hopes of, long entertained, i. 159. Rhinegrave, the, ii. 71, 298, 334. Ribault, Jean, leads the first expedition to colonize Florida, ii. 199 ; returns to Florida in command of the third ex- pedition, ii. 200 ; flayed and quartered by the Spaniards, ib. Riviere, M. de la, first Protestant pastor of Paris, i. 295 ; he is treacherously murdered, at Angers, by M. de Mont- soreau, ii. 512. Roanne, la, the common prison of Lyons, ii. 515 ; butchery of Huguenots in, ii. 516. Roche Abeille, La, Huguenot victory at, ii 319. Rochefort, De, orator for the noblesse in the States General of Orleans, i. 457. Rochefoucauld, Count de la, escapes into Germany, hearing of the prescriptive plans of the court, i. 442 ; ii. 3-19, 428, 439, 451 ; he is murdered on St. Bar- tholomew's Day, ii. 470. Rochelle, La, the city of, secured for the Prince of Conde' by the skill of Fran- c,ois de la Noue, ii. 226, seq.; the alleged payment to Catharine de' Medici, in order to be free from a garrison, ib., note ; execution of Protestants at, in 1552, ii. 227, 272; refuses, in 1568, to receive a garrison, ii. 250; its govern- ment and privileges, ii. 270-273 ; icono- clasm at, ii. 272 ; places for Protestant worship in, accorded by Charles IX., ib. ; Constable Montmorency's rough- ness, ii. 273 ; becomes a city of refuge, ii. 280 ; strengthens its works, ii. 342 ; the tidings of the massacre at Bordeaux iic trrmine it to refuse to admit the emissaries of Charles IX,, ii. 524; in Protestant hands, ii. 573 ; a great num- ber of refugees in, ii. 576; refuses to receive Biron, who is sent as royal gov- ernor, ii. 578 ; first skirmish before, ii. 5T'.t ; mission of La Noue to, ib. ; he is badly received, ii. 5sO ; the Rochellois reject the royal proposals, ii. 581 ; they make advances to La Noue, ib. ; de- scription of La Rochelle, ii. 582, 583 ; resoluteness of the Rochellois, ii. 583 ; their military strength, ii. 584 ; they fight and pray, ii. 5S5 ; bravery of the women, ii. 586; determination of the inhabitants, ii. 587 ; La Noue retires, ib.; the promised aid from England miscarries, ii. 588 ; great losses of the royal army before, ii. 591 ; treacherous attempt upon, Dec., 157R, ii. 616; the severe punishment for it approved by Charles IX.. ii. 617; resumes arms, at the persuasion of La Noue, in the begin- ning of the fifth religious war, 1574, ii 623. Roche-sur-Yon, La, Prince of, his warn- ing respecting the danger impending over the Huguenots from the designs adopted at Bayonne, ii 197. Rochetti, Louis de, an inquisitor, becomes a Protestant and is burned alive at Tou- louse, i 289. Horn*. De, a Dominican monk, his threat, i 76 ; his cruelty, i. 235. Roman Church, how far responsible for the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, ii. 562, seq. Romans, the Huguenots of, i. 404. Rome, quarrels of France with, i. 279 ; Protestants never more exposed to dis- aster than when such quarrels exist, ib. ; the couriers going to, stripped of their dispatches on the frontiers, i. 495; rejoic- ings at. over the news of the massacre of the Protestants in France, ii. 530. Romorantin, the edict of, May, 1560, i 410. Ronsard, the poet, takes the sword against the Huguenots, ii 68. Roquefort, ii 351. Rouen, capital of Normandy, persecution at, i 217 ; rescue of a Protestant book- binder at, i. 367 ; Protestant assemblies in, i. 408 ; seven thousand gather in the new market-place and sing psalms, i. 430; besieged by the king, ii. 77 ; makes a brave defence, ii. 79 ; its fall, ib. ; vexatious delays in publishing the edict of Amboise at, ii. 129 ; partiality of parliament, ii. 130; its protest against the return of Protestant exiles, ii 131 ; it meets with a decided rebuff, ii. 131, ir,2 ; riot when the edict of pacification of Longjumeau is published at, ii. 241 ; troops quartered upon the Huguenots, ii. 244 ; violence at, ii 249 ; Protestants attacked at, March 4, 1571, ii 374; massacre of, ii. 519-521. Roussel, Gerard, i 74, 75, 83, 150, 151 ; retires to Strasbourg, i 84 ; his exces- sive caution, i. 85 ; his theology and fortunes, i. 97 ; his death, i. 98. Roussillon, county of, Spanish, ravaged by M. de Piles, ii 351. Reussillon, declaration of Aug. 4, 1564, infringing upon the edict of pacifica- tion^ Amboise, ii. 161, 102. Roy, Etienne le, a singer, ii 429, 431. " Royal council," the name given to meet- ings at which the king is not present, ii 33. .. Roye, Ele'onore de, wife of Louis de Con- j de', her grief and death, ii. 145, 303, note. 676 INDEX. Roye, Madame de, mother-in-law of Con- de, arrested, i. 437 ; but subsequently declared innocent, i 465. Ruble, Baron de, his remarks respecting La Huguerye's misrepresentation of the character of the Queen of Navarre, ii. 435. Rubys, an agent in the massacre at Lyons, ii. "504, note, 514. Russanges, De, a goldsmith, betrays the Protestants of Paris, i. 360. S. Sacramentarians excepted from the par- don extended in the Declaration of Coucy, i. 179. Sadolet, Bishop, his kindness to the Wal- denses or Vaudoia of Provence, i 242. Sague, an agent of the King of Navarre, arrested, i. 424. Sainctes, Claude de, his speech at the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 532 ; complains of Huguenot boldness, i. 570 ; a violent advocate of persecution, ii. 254. "Saint," the prefix of, insisted upon by the Sorbonne, L 823. Saint Andre', Jacques d'Albon, Marshal of, i 266 ; his rapid advancement, L 272 ; makes terms with the Guises, i. 354 ; his influence with Constable Mont- morency, i. 469 ; becomes one of the triumvirs, i. 470, 471 ; he returns a de- fiant answer to Catharine de' Medici, when ordered to go to his government, ii. 27 ; lays siege to and takes Bourges, ii. 71, 72; is killed in the battle of Dreux, ii. 95 ; enmity of Catharine de' Medici toward, ii. 97. See Triumvirs. Saint Denis, battle of, Nov. 10, 1567, ii. 213. . Saint Etienne, ii. 353. Saint Germain, Conference of, 1561, i. 539; its article on the eucharist rejected by the Roman Catholic prelates, L 541 ; assembly of notables at, i. 574 ; con- ference of, January 28, 1562, ii. 7 ; its Sofitless discussions, ii. 8 ; delight of ouchy and his companions at its close, ii. 8, 9 ; flight of the court from, ii 626. Saint Germain, the edict of pacification of, ending the third civil war, Aug. 8, 1570, ii. 363; dissatisfaction of the clergy, ii. 365 ; sincerity of the peace, ii. 367. Saint-Germain-des-Pres, the old abbey of, ii. 4S3, note. Saint Germain rAnxerrois, church of, i 174 ; bell of, ii. 455, 470, note. Saint Goard, ii. 537, 38. Saint Htran, Governor of Ativergne, his reported magnanimity, ii. 527. Saint Hippolyte, Wolfgang Schuch at. i. 118. Saint Jacques, Rue, affair of, Sept. 4, 1557, i. ol)o, 3U4 ; savage treatment of the prisoners, i. 305 ; malicious rumors respecting Protestants, i. 316 ; trials and executions, i. 307. Saint Jean d'Angely, ii. 312 ; disastrous siege of, by the Roman Catholic armv, ii. 339, seq. Saint L6, in Normandy, L 40S; ii 631, 632. Saint Medard, the "tumult" of, i 571, seq. Saint Michael's Day, the Huguenots to rise upon (Sept. 29, 1567), ii 205; the secret leaks out, ii 206. Saint Paul, Franfois de, a minister at the Colloquy of Poissy. i. 509. Saint Quentin, defeat of, Aug. 10, 1557, i 302. Saint Re'my, Nicole de, a mistress of Henry II., and a Spanish spy, suggests the marriage of Cardinal Bourbon in the contingency of the death of all Catharine de'Medici's sons, ii. 180, 181. Saint Remain, Archbishop of Aix, cited by the Pope, ii. 141, 161. Saint Remain, M. de, ii 600. Saint Thomas, M. de, ii 511. Sainte Chapelle, founded by Saint Louis, its relics, i. 174. Sainte Foy, De, or Arnauld Sorbin, a vio- lent Roman Catholic preacher, ii. 254 ; instigates the massacre of Orleans, ii 508 , acts as confessor of Charles IX. before his death, ii. 637. Sainte Gemme, La Noue's success at, ii 361. Saintes, ii. 283,361. Salcede, sentenced to be boiled alive for counterfeiting, i. 46. Salic law, the, a bit of pleasantry, ii. 208. Salignac, Abbe, confers with the Protes- tants at Poissy, i. 538; his professed sympathy with the Reformation, and his timidity, i 538, 539. Salviati, papal nuncio in France, his tes- timony respecting the want of premedi- tation of the Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew's Day, and the king's ignorance, ii 435, 436, 531, 535, 564. Sancerre refuses to admit a garrison, in 1568, ii 250 ; ford near, ii. 269 ; a Hu- guenot place of refuge, ii. 280 ; fruitless siege or, by Martinengo, ii. 297 ; siege of, in 1573, ii. 589; incipient famine in, ii. 590 ; terrible straits of, a. 595, 596 ; capitulation of, ii 597. Sansac. ii. 325, 344. Santa Croce, Cardinal, sent as nuncio to France, i. 548 ; his reluctance, i. 549 : his alarm at the time of the assembly of notables at Saint Germain, i. 575 ; he claims the surrender of Cardinal Cha- tillon to the Pope, ii 228, 2i^. INDEX. 677 Santa Fiore, pontifical general in France, his instructions, ii. 319, note ; severely reproved by Pius V. for having spared any heretics that fell into his hands, ii. 335, 508; recalled, 342. Sapin, a member of the Parliament of Paris, executed by order of Conde', by way of retaliation, ii. Saumur, ii. 324, 503, 504, 512. Saunier, or Saumier, Matthieu, L 90. Saverne, conference of, between the Duke of \Yurtemberg and the Guises, ii. 13- 17. Savoy, Duke of, intercession of Charles IX. with, in behalf of the Waldenses, or Yaudois, of Piedmont, ii. 3'.K) ; col- lects an army to overwhelm Geneva, ii. 567. Saxony, the elector of, refuses to let Me- lancnthon go to France, i. 1 85 ; his severe language to the reformer, ib. ; refuses to help the Huguenots, ii. 817. Schism, the, i. 28. Schmidt, Professor C., on Roussel's mys- ticism, i. 117. Bobomberg, Gaspard de, a negotiator, ii. 71, 291), 550, 551, 608. Schuch, Wolfgang, tragic end of, i. 116. Sebastian, King of Portugal, affronts Charles IX. by declining the hand of Margaret of Valois, ii. 37'.i. . ille, Pierre de, i. 83. Se'guier, President of the Parliament of Paris, makes a manly speech against the introduction of the Spanish Inqui- j eition, L 289, 290 ; liis leaning to Pro- testantism, i. 3'. H .t. Senlis, the bishop of, translates the " Hours " of Margaret of Angouleme in a Protestant fashion, i. 151. Srns, provincial council of, i. 138; its de- crees against heresy, i. 130 ; persecution at, i. 2:>6; massacre of, ii. 40, 55. Serbelloni, Fabrizio, cousin of Pope Pius IV., massacres the Protestants at Or- ange, ii. 48, 49. Serignan, Viscount of, ii. 230, note. is, seditious and fanatical, ii. 5, 24. Title-pages, deceptive, i. 275. Toledo, Don Frederick of, routs Genlis and takes him prisoner, ii. 415. Toleration, religions, demanded by the tiers e'tat at Pontoise, i. 4'.2. Toulouse, execution of Jean de Caturce at, i. 150 ; character of the city accord- j ing to Protestant and Roman Catholic authors, ib. ; massacre of Huguenots at, May. 1 5ti2, ii. 5:2-54 ; commemorated in l~t>2, but the commemoration forbidden ' by the French government in 180:3, ii. 54 : the parliament, instead of publish- ing the edict of Amboise, forbids the profession of the reformed religion, ii. 1v>; the parliament of, murders judi- cially M. Rapin, a Protestant gentleman sent by the king, ii. 239 ; reluctantly rojrist'-rs the edict of pacification of 15t>8, ii. 240; a " crusade " preached at, ii. 27b; massacre of, in 1572, ii. 521, Tour, Jean de la, a minister at the Collo- quy of Poissy. i. 509. Tournon, Cardinal of, i. 139 ; his argu- ments to dissuade Francis I. from in- tercourse with heretics, i. 188; insti- gates the persecution of Protestants, i. 282 ; hiwreported bad faith, i 285 ; tries to cut short the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 521 ; his new demand, i. 529. Tours, the Protestants of, attacked while at worship, ii. 162. Tourtray, M. de, executed on the Place de Greve, ii. 628. Toussain, Pierre, on the timidity of Le- fevre and Ge'rard Rousael, i. 86. Trade despised, i 15. Traps for heretics, i. 307. Treacherous diplomacy, ii. 220. Treaty of amity between Charles IX. and Queen Elizabeth, April 18, 1572, ii. 898. Treaty of Cateau-Cambre'sis, i. 322. Trent, the Council of, closes its sessions, Dec., 1563, it 152 ; confirms the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, and renders indelible the line of demarcation between the two religions, ii. 153, 154 ; Cardinal Lorraine makes a fruitless at- tempt to have the decrees received in France, ii. 155; able treatise of Du Moulin against them, ii. 155, 156. Triumvirate, the. formed by Montmor- ency, Guise, and St. Andre, L 470, 471 ; a spurious statement of its objects, i. 471^73 ; it retires in disgust from Saint Germain, i. 556. Triumvirs, petition of, ii. 58 ; they amuse Conde' before Paris with negotiations until reinforcements arrive, ii. 90, 91 ; they consult Catharine de' Medici re- specting the engagement, ii. 92, 93. "Trivium" and "quadrivium," i. 20. Trouillas, an advocate, pretended orgies in the house of, i. 3ti5 ; he insists onoe- ing put on trial for these orgies, and not for heresy, and is tardily released, L 3a5. 366. Troyes, progress of Protestantism in, i. 563 ; great crowds at the Huguenot ser- vices, iL 11 ; massacre of Huguenots in the prisons of, iL 128, 129 ; formation of the "Christian and Royal League'' at, ii. 246 ; violence at, ii. 249 ; Prot- estants returning from worship attack- ed, ii. 432, 433 ; massacre of, Sept. 4, 1572, ii. 507, 508. Truchares, a political Huguenot, mayor of La Rochelle, ii 227. Truchon, a judge, much edified by the signs of concord, jnst before the out- break of the second civil war, ii. 197. Tuileries, new palace of the, built by Catharine de' Medici, ii. 588. Turenne, ii. 625. Turks, French civilities to, iL 181. Tytler-Fraser, Mr., ii. 291, note. U. University of Paris, i. 20; the four na- tions, i. 21 ; the faculties, ib. ; chancel- lor and rector, L 22 ; number of its students, L 24 ; gives name to a quarter of the city, i. 24 ; barbarism at, i. 42. Unlettered persons forbidden to discuss matters ot faith, i. 281. Uzes, Duke of, iL 604. T. Val, Du, Bishop of Se'ez, confers with the Protestants at Poissy, L 538. Valence, Huguenots of, seize the church of the Franciscans, L 404 ; a public assem- bly of the citizens, L 405 ; progress of good morals, ib. ; orders sent for the extermination of the Protestants, L 406 ; treacherous treatment of, L 407. Valenciennes captured by Count Louis of Nassau, iL 412. Vale'ry, iL 20U. C80 INDEX. Valet te, Jean de la, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, ii. 181. Varillas, M., an untrustworthy historian, ii. 25, 20 ; his good remarks respecting Admiral Coligny, ii. 315. Vasari paints three pictures in the Vati- can, by order of Pope Gregory XIII. to commemorate the Massacre of St. Bar- tholomew's Day, ii. 533, and note. Vassy, a town in Champagne, part of the dower of Mary, Queen of Scots, ii. ly ; establishment of the Huguenot church at, ij. 19, 20 ; arrival of the Duke of j Guise, ii. 21 ; massacre of, March 1, i 1562, ii. 21, 22; pamphlets respecting' it, ii. 22, 23 ; upon whom rests the guilt i of the butchery, ii. 23-26. Vatable, i. 43. Vaud, Pays de, conquered by Berne, i. 197. " Vauderie," crime of, L 63. Vaudrey, Anne de, bailli of Troyes, an agent in the massacre of Troyes, ii 507, 508. Vaudois, execution of, at Arras, i. 63. Vaudois, or YValdenses, of Piedmont, mission of the four " evangelical " can- tons in their behalf, i. 309 ; Charles IX. intercedes in their behalf with the Duke of Savoy, ii. 390. Vaudois, or Waldenses, of Provence, i. 230; their industry and thrift, ib. ; their villages in the Comtat Venaissin, L 231 ; they send delegates to the Swiss and German reformers, i. 232 ; their I doctrines and practices, ib.; cause the ' Bible to be translated by Olivetanus, i. | 283 ; preliminary persecutions of, i. i 234 ; iniquitous order of the Parlia- j ment of Aix against, i. 235 ; followed i by the " Arrdt de Merindol," L 236 ; I temporarily saved by Chassane'e, i. 238 ; i report of Dn Bellay respecting their I character and history, i. 240 ; pardoned ! by Francis I., i. 241 ; are again sum- | moned by the Parliament of Aix, ib. ; i they publish a new confession, L 242 ; | stealthy organization of an expedition against, i. 245 ; villages burned, and the ; inhabitants butchered, L 246, 247 : de- i struction of Me'rindol, i. 247 ; destruc- tion of Cabrieres, i. 248 ; of La Coste, i L 249 ; the results, i. 250 ; Francis led to give his approval to the massacre, i. 251 ; an investigation ordered, ib.; im- punity of most of the culprits, i 252. Venaissin, Comtat. See Comtat Venais- sin. Venetian ambassadors, opinions of, i. 10. Verbal orders respecting the massacre iu the provinces, ii. 502, 514. Verbelai, ii. 226. Verez, De, throws himself into Geneva with a body of French soldiers, L 197; Vergue, La, ii. 302. Versailles, the title how obtained by the king, ii. 485. Vertueil, the King of Navarre dismisses his escort at, i. 435. "Very Christian King," title of, i. 35. Vt-zelay, birthplace of Theodore Beza, i. 497 ; refuses to admit a garrison in 1568, ii. 250 ; a place of refuge, ii. 280 ; sustains a successful siege, ii. 343, 344. Vezins, a Roman Catholic gentleman of Quercy, magnanimously saves the life of his personal enemy, the Huguenot Regmer, ii. 4SO, 481. Vialard, President, at Rouen, ii. 519. Vieilleville, Marshal of, magnanimously refuses to take advantage of a royal patent giving him a share of the con- fiscated property of heretics, L 282 ; sent as envoy to the Huguenots, ii. 210 ; remonstrance of, ii. 255 ; the king's es- timate of, ii. 409. " Vierg," the designation of an officer at Autun, i. 489. Vigor, Archbishop of Narbonne, a violent Roman Catholic preacher, ii. 254, 375, 634. Villars, Count de, burns books from Ge- neva at Pont St. Esprit, i. 428 ; influ- ences Constable Montmorency, i. 409 ; appointed admiral after the death of Coligny, ii. 523, 524. Villegagnon, Vice-admiral of Brittany, sent with a Protestant colony to Brazil, L 291 ; founds Fort Coligny, i. 2(12 ; be- comes an enemy of the Protestants, L 293 ; and brings ruin on the expedition, L 294 ; vows eternal enmity to the Hu- guenots, ii. 180; writes to Rene'e of France, ii. 327. Villemadpn's letter of remonstrance to Catharine de' Medici, L 3G3. Ville'mongys, L 392. Villeneuve, capture of, by the Huguenots, ii. 589. Viole, Claude, his speech in the " mercu- riale " of 1559, i. 334. Virel, Jean, a minister at the Colloquy of Poissy, i. 509. Viret, the reformer, intercedes for the poor non-combatants at Lyons, ii. 102. Visconte, affair in the house of. i. 361. "Viscounts," the army of the, ii. 226; they march to meet Conde', and defeat the troops collected by the Governor of Auvergne at Cognac, or Cognat, ii. 2'JO ; relieve Orleans, ib. ; take Blois, ib. ; list of the viscounts, ii. 230, note. Visions of celestial hosts, ii. 3i>4. Vitelli, Chiappin, routs Genlis and takes him prisoner, ii. 415. Vivarez, Montbrun's exploits in, ii. 021. Vore' de la Fosse sent to Melanchthon, L 182: his interviews with him, and his letters, i. 183. INDEX. 681 Vulcob, M. de, French ambassador to the Emperor of Germany, ii. 550. W. Waldenses. See V.iudois. Walsingham, Francis, on the peace of Saint Germain, ii. 368 ; receives the as- surances of the king as to his intention to observe the peace, ii. 371 ; on the at- tempts to dissuade Anjou from marry- ing Queen Elizabeth, ii. 379 ; on the English marriage and the anxiety of the Huguenots, ii. 382; his enthusiastic de- scription of Count Louis of Nassau, ii. 384, note ; urges Queen Elizabeth to ad- vocate the invitation of Coligny to court, ii. 388, note ; he sets forth the critical nature of the situation, ii. 41 G ; he mentions rumors of Elizabeth's de- sertion of her allies, ii. 420 ; he praises Coliguy's magnanimity, ii. 421 ; his re- ply to Catharine de' Medici respecting Coligny's loyalty, ii. 495, 547 ; on the forced conversions of Navarre and Conde', ii. 4'.)9 ; his conversation with the queen mother as to the mainte- nance of the edict of pacification, ii. 547, 548. Winter, severity of the, 1568-1569, ii 286, 297. Winter, Admiral, carries morey, cannon, and ammunition to La Rochelle, ii. 296. Wolmar, Melchior, i 43 ; a teacher ot Calvin, L 199. Wolrad, Count of Mansfeld, succeeds the Duke of Deux-Ponte in command of the German auxiliaries of the Hugue- nots, ii 318, 335, 364. Worship, Protestant places of, assigned at the most inconvenient distances, ii. 163, lf',4, note ; 432, note. Wotton, Dr., his view of the court of Henry II. of France, i. 261. Wiiugle, Pierre de, or Van, the printer of Serri&res, near Neufchatel, i. 233. Wiirtemberg, Christopher, Duke of, sends theologians to Poissy_, who come too late for the colloquy, i. 544 ; meets the Guises at Saverne, ii 13 ; he remon.. strates with them respecting the perse- cution of the Huguenots, ii. 14 ; his judgment on the whole matter, ii. 17 ; he declines the offer of the post of lieu- tenant-general of the king, ii. 113. Y. War, the first civil, or religious, April, Year, the old French, begins at Easter, i 156:2, to March 19, 1563, ii. 34-115; its 276. results, ii. 118; it prevents France from becoming Huguenot, ii. 119 ; the second civil war, Sept., 1567, to March 23, 1568, ii. 203-234 ; the third civil war, Sept., 1568, to Aug. 8, 1570, ii. 274- 366; the fourth civil war, Dec., 1572, to July, 1573, ii. 582-593; meagre re- sults of, ii. 51'4 ; beginning of the fifth civil war, 1574, ii. 622. Westmoreland, Earl of, his rebellion, ii. 358. White, Henry, Dr., the remark respecting Cardinal Lorraine which he ascribes to Beza, i. 529 ; cf. also ii. 46, 252, 427, note, 527, note. Whittingham, Win., Dean of Durham, ii. 292, note. Yolet, ii. 603. Yverny, Madame d', butchered in the massacre at Paris, ii. 474. X. Zuleger, a councillor of the elector pala- tine, sent to France to see the state of affairs at the time of the second civil war, ii. 218; he reports favorably to the Huguenots, ii 219. Zurich, intercedes for the French Protes- tants, i 191 ; but receives an unsatis- factory reply, i. 192 ; intercedes with Henry 1L , after the affair of the Rue St. Jacques, with little success, i. 309, 310. O R K S PUBLISHED BY HODDER AND STOUGHTON. Crown Bra, Is. Gd. Hoiniletical and Pastoral Lectures, Delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral, before the Church Homiletical Society, with a Preface by the Eight Rev. C. J. ELLICOTT, D.D., Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. This Volume consists of Twenty Lectures, including the following : The Archbishop of York on " The Emotions in Preaching ; " Dean Howson's ' Homely Hints on Preaching ; " Dean Perowne on " The Study of Scripture ; '' The Bishop of Rochester on " The Preparation of a Sermon ; " Arch- deacon Perowne on " Text " ; The Bishop of Carlisle on " Plain Sermons " ; Prof. Heurtley on " Village Sermons " ; Preb. Cadman on " Pastoral Visita- tion " ; Bishop How on " Pastoral Dealing with Individuals ; " Preb. 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His two present Tolumes form not only a complete history of missionary enterprise, but also of Educational and social progress in Bengal during the past fifty years of British administration. They will always be in demand for the religious interest of the noble life they record, while the immense mass of official df>cnment8 quoted by Dr. Smith, will give them a permanent place in the library of every student of the development of English civilization in the East." Crown Svo, Is. 6d., nnth Steel Portrait. THE LIMITATIONS OF LIFE; AND OTHER SERMONS. By W. M. TAYLOR, D.D., of New York, Author of "The Ministry of the Word," etc. Works publislied 5y Hodder and Stougfiion. A History of PMlosopliy from Thales to the Present Time, BY DE. FEIEDEICH UEBEEWEG. Translated by GEORGE S. MORRIS. A.M. With additions by the Translator ; by NOAH PORTER, D. D., LL.D.. on English and American Philosophy ; and by V. BOTTA, Ph.D., on Italian Philosophy. VOL. I. ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY. 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THE OLD TESTAMENT: A LIVING BOOK FOR ALL AGES. BY AUSTEN PHELPS, D.D., Author of "The Still Hour," etc. " The well-known author of ' The Still Hour,' the earnest and accomplished Professor of Andover Theological Seminary, hax given us another of his thoughtful, practical, and withal de lightful books. We can cordially recommend it as a deeply suggestive book." WtMy Review. Worlcs published by Hodder and StougTiton. iii DE. H. S. PATEBSON'S LECTUEES ON LIFE. Cron-n 8vo, 2s. 6d. STUDIES IN LIFE. BY H. SINCLAIR PATERSON, M.D. " Dr. Paterson has won the favour of the Christian Young Men of London, because he inherits most of tho qualifications necessary for the honourable, but difficult office he has chosen. His rrnsi'iiiiif; is concise and clear, he knows what he is aiming at, and avoiding technicalities, the plainest scholar can comprehend his arguments." Baptist. " Tin -.-e lectures are well worth printing, since they present great truths, with a simplicity and clean irs-i that will awaken thought and enlighten the minds of the youngest readers." Daily Chronicle. CHEAP EDITIONS OF "HOOD'S ANECDOTES." I. Fotirth Thousand. Cron-n Svo, 6g. pp. 700. THE WORLD OF ANECDOTE. An Accumulation of Facts, Incidents and Illustrations, Historical and Biogra- phical, from Books and Times, Recent and Remote. By B. PAXTON HOOD. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS Ways and, Means of Doing Good Romantic Tranxftir motions of Human Life Great Events from Trifles Dogs, and the Atiinml \\'<>rld Crime and Cruelty Silence and some of its Votaries Illus- trations of Adventure Ghosts, Dreams, and the Supernatural Anecdotes of Lift' ninl Character Humour and the Humorous Side of Life Things Clerical and Pulpit Celebrities Cooks and Cookery Varieties of Womanhood In- stances of Hitman Folly Lan-yers and some of their Words and Ways Death and Dyhit/. " The reverend gentleman is not only one of the " bookieet" men of his day, and one of its most ready writers, but he is one of its best anecdotists. He has the art of being amusing, con- trolled by a self-respect that keeps him from being frivolous. This book of his is very largely instinctive, as well as entertaining, and the research it displays is real and wholesome." Leedt Mercury. II. Fifth Thousand. Cron-n 8vo, 6*. pp. 776. The World of Moral and Religious Anecdote, " A very pleasant book to read ; full of gems from many quarters." EngJith Churchman. " It is really a very amusing book, which you can hardly open anywhere without feeling a temptation to read on." Guardian. " The book is both entertaining and useful." Post. " The book is delightful and amusing, as well as instructive." Ei-aH/jrlical Magazine. "One of the most charming books in our language." Baptist Magazine. iv Workt published by Hodder and Stoughton. M. DE PRESSENSE ON HIS CONTEMPORARIES. Crown Svo, 7*. 6d. CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS. BY E. D. PBESSEXSE, D.D. Translated by ANNIE HAEWOOD-HOLMDEN. " This very exquisite and interesting gallery of representative portraiture is worthy of the illustrious author of ' The Life and Work of Jesus Christ.' " Literary Churchman. " An interesting volume. The book is excellently translated." Athtnceum. " His comparison of Strauss with Voltaire, and his sketches of such men as Biehop Dupan- loup, of Vinet the Academician and critic, are remarkable pieces of psychological analysis." Daily New*. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. New and Cheaper Edition. In Four Vols., IK. 6d. each. A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE FIRST THREE CEN- TURIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Comprising I. The Apostolic Age. II. The Martyrg and Apologist*. III. Heresy and Christian Doctrine. IV. Life and Practice in the Early Church. "The four volumes of this work are a splendid addition to our stores of church history." Rev C H. Spurgeon, in Stcord and Trnicel. " The author's keen spiritual insight, his rich eloquence, and his epigrammatic characterisa- tions have given him, among his compeers, perhaps the very foremost place as a Church His- torian aud Apologist. His work, both in France and England, holds a place of its own, and with a power of completeness, and eloquence, not likely soon to be surpassed." British Quarterly Jteview. " The student who cares for a subject, which is becoming one of ever deepening interest, will find bis pains amply rewarded, if he gives a close and attentive perusal to M. de Pressense's pages." Spectator. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. Seventh Edition, Unabridged. Oroicn 8vo, 7*. 6 derived from a visit to the Holy Land. The result is a work which has been referred to by Canon Liddon, as "a most noble contribution to the cause of truth," and by the Contemporary Review as " one of the most valuable additions to Christian literature which the present generation has seen."