Produced by Paul Dring, Sigal Alon, Daniel J. Mount and
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  HISTORY OF THE

  RISE OF THE HUGUENOTS.

  BY

  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 (1574)._

  London:
  HODDER AND STOUGHTON,
  27, PATERNOSTER ROW.
  MDCCCLXXX.

  Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury.

  CONTENTS

  OF

  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 Würtemberg at Saverne               13
    Their Lying Assurances                                             15
    The Guises deceive Nobody                                          17
    Throkmorton's 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 Condé appeals to the King                                 26
    Beza's Remonstrance                                                27
    An Anvil that had worn out many Hammers                            28
    Guise enters Paris                                                 28
    The Queen Mother takes Charles to Melun                            30
    Her Letters imploring Condé's Aid                                  31
    Revolutionary Measures of the Triumvirs                            32
    Condé retires to Meaux                                             33
    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 Brûlebanc"                     37
    Condé 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 Manoeuvres                                              57
    Condé's Reply to the Pretended "Petition"                          59
    Third National Synod of the Protestants                            61
    Interview of Catharine and Condé 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
    Condé takes the Field and appears before Paris                     85
    Dilatory Diplomacy                                                 90
    The Battle of Dreux                                                93
    Montmorency and Condé Prisoners                                    94
    Riotous Conduct of the Parisians                                   96
    Orleans Invested                                                   98
    Coligny again in Normandy                                          99
    Huguenot Reverses                                                 101
    Assassination of Duke François de Guise                           103
    Execution of Poltrot                                              105
    Beza and Coligny accused                                          106
    They vindicate Themselves                                         106
    Estimates of Guise's Character                                    109
    Renée de France at Montargis                                      110
    Deliberations for Peace                                           113
    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                                          116
    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                                      129
    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                         135
    Petition of the Guises                                            136
    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 Châtillon                            141
    The Queen of Navarre cited to Rome                                141
    Spirited Reply of the French Council                              142
    Catharine seeks to seduce the Huguenot Leaders                    144
    Weakness of Condé                                                 145
    Recent Growth of Protestantism                                    146
    Milhau-en-Rouergue                                                147
    Montpellier--Béarn                                                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
    Condé 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 Béarn 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 Châtillon                  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-Cambrésis                   187
    Insults and Violence                                              192
    Huguenot Pleasantries                                             192
    Alarm of the Protestants                                          193
    Attempts to murder Coligny and Porcien                            194
    Alva sent to the Netherlands                                      195
    The Swiss Levy                                                    196
    Condé 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
    Condé at Saint Denis                                              209
    The Huguenot Movement alienates the King                          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
    Condé 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 Condé                                     226
    Spain and Rome oppose the Negotiations for Peace                  228
    Santa Croce demands Cardinal Châtillon's Surrender                229
    A Rebuff from Marshal Montmorency                                 229
    March of the "Viscounts" to meet Condé                            230
    Siege of Chartres                                                 231
    Chancellor L'Hospital's Memorial                                  232
    Edict of Pacification (Longjumeau, March 23, 1568)                234
    Condé for and Coligny against the Peace                           235
    Condé's Infatuation                                               235
    Was the Court sincere?                                            236
    Catharine short-sighted                                           238
    Imprudence of the Huguenots                                       238
    Judicial Murder of Rapin at Toulouse                              239
    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, Condé to Noyers             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 Condé and Coligny                         256
    Téligny sent to remonstrate                                       256
    The Oath exacted of the Huguenots                                 257
    The Plot Disclosed                                                259
    Intercepted Letter from Spain                                     259
    Isabella of Spain her Husband's Mouthpiece                        261
    Charles begs his Mother to avoid War                              262
    Her Animosity against L'Hospital                                  263
    Another Quarrel between Lorraine and the Chancellor               263
    Fall of Chancellor L'Hospital                                     264
    The Plot                                                          265
    Marshal Tavannes its Author                                       266
    Condé's Last Appeal to the King                                   267
    Flight of the Prince and Admiral                                  268
    Its Wonderful Success                                             269
    The Third Civil War opens                                         270

    The City of La Rochelle and its Privileges                        270

  CHAPTER XVI.

  1568-1570.

  THE THIRD CIVIL WAR                                                 274
    Relative Advantages of Huguenots and Roman Catholics              274
    Enthusiasm of Huguenot Youth                                      274
    Enlistment of Agrippa d'Aubigné                                   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 Condé'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 Condé                                  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                                    312
    Death of D'Andelot                                                312
    New Responsibility resting on Coligny                             314
    The Duke of Deux Ponts comes with German Auxiliaries              315
    They overcome all Obstacles and join Coligny                      317
    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                                         324
    Disastrous Siege of Poitiers                                      324
    Cruelties to Huguenots in the Prisons of Orleans                  326
    Montargis a Safe Refuge                                           327
    Flight of the Refugees to Sancerre                                328
    The "Croix de Gastines"                                           329
    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 Vézelay and Nismes                          344
    Coligny encouraged                                                347
    Withdrawal of the Troops of Dauphiny and Provence                 348
    The Admiral's Bold Plan                                           348
    He Sweeps through Guyenne                                         349
    "Vengeance de Rapin"                                              351
    Coligny pushes on to the Rhône                                    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 Châtillon                                     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 OF 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 Châtillon        371
    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
    Alençon 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 Anjou Match falls through                                     396
    The Praise of Alençon                                             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
    The Mémoires inédits 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 DAY                               426
    The Huguenot Nobles reach Paris                                   426
    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 Prévôt des Marchands                         454
    The First Shot and the Bell of St. Germain l'Auxerrois            455
    Murder of Admiral Coligny                                         456
    His Character and Work                                            460
    Murder of Huguenot Nobles in the Louvre                           465
    Navarre and Condé spared                                          468
    The Massacre becomes general                                      470
    La Rochefoucauld and Téligny 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
    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 "Cimetière 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 Condé                            499

  CHAPTER XIX.

  1572.

  THE MASSACRE IN THE PROVINCES, AND THE RECEPTION OF 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 Mandelot                                        517
    Rouen                                                             519
    Toulouse                                                          521
    Bordeaux                                                          522
    Why the Massacre was not Universal                                524
    Policy of the Guises                                              525
    Spurious Accounts of Clemency                                     525
    Bishop Le Hennuyer, of Lisieux                                    525
    Kind Offices of Matignon at Caen and Alençon                      526
    Of Longueville and Gordes                                         526
    Of Tende in Provence                                              527
    Viscount D'Orthez at Bayonne                                      528
    The Municipality of Nantes                                        529
    Uncertain Number of Victims                                       530
    News of the Massacre received at Rome                             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 jubilant, but wary                                           540
    England's Horror                                                  541
    Perplexity of La Mothe Fénélon                                    541
    His Cold Reception by Queen Elizabeth                             543
    The Ambassador disheartened                                       546
    Sir Thomas Smith's Letter                                         546
    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                                           558
    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               564
    Paul the Fifth instigates the French Court                        564
    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
    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
    Sommières 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 "Politiques"                                     615
    Hotman's "Franco-Gallia"                                          615
    Treacherous Attempt on La Rochelle                                616
    Huguenots reassemble at Milhau                                    617
    They complete their Organization                                  618
    The Duke of Alençon                                               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 "Politiques" make an Unsuccessful Rising                      625
    Flight of the Court from St. Germain                              626
    Alençon and Navarre examined                                      627
    Execution of La Mole and Coconnas                                 628
    Condé 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.

[Sidenote: Inconsistencies of the Edict of January.]

The Edict of January was on its very face a compromise, and as such rested
on no firm foundation. Inconsistent with itself, it fully satisfied
neither Huguenot nor Roman Catholic. 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?

[Sidenote: Huguenot leaders urge the observance of the edict.]

Yet there was this difference between the attitude assumed by the rival
parties with reference to the edict: while the Roman Catholic leaders made
no secret of their intention to insist upon its repeal,[1] the Huguenot
leaders were urgent in their advice to the churches to conform strictly to
its provisions, restraining the indiscreet 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
compelled 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 progress of the purer
doctrines, who, on account of their appreciation 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 doubtful 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.[2] 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.

[Sidenote: Seditious Sermons.]

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 Protestant 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.[3] The
pulpits resounded with denunciations of the government. The King of
Navarre 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.[4] A single specimen of the
spirited discourses in vogue will suffice. A Franciscan monk--one
Barrier--the same from whose last Easter sermon an extract has already
been given[5]--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. 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 worthless 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 preaching '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 hung! 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."[6]

[Sidenote: Opposition of the parliaments.]

The parliaments exhibited scarcely less opposition to the edict than did
the pulpits of the Roman Catholic churches. One--the Parliament of
Dijon--never registered it at all;[7] while that of Paris instituted a
long and decided resistance. "_Non possumus, nec debemus," "non possumus,
nec debemus pro conscientia_," were the words in which it replied when
repeatedly pressed to give formal sanction.[8] The counsellors 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 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,[9] the counsellors, instead of proceeding to the
registry of the obnoxious law, returned a recommendation that the
intolerant Edict of _July_ be enforced![10] 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.[11] The delay served to inflame yet
more the passions of the people.

[Sidenote: New conference.]

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 ever unsuccessful
method of a conference between theologians. On the twenty-eighth of
January a select company assembled in the large council-chamber of the
royal 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 l'Hospital, and other members of the
council. On the papal side appeared the Cardinals of Bourbon, Tournon, and
Ferrara, 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 exhibited the extremes of profound
learning and silly conceit. Bishop Montluc of Valence,[12] and four
doctors of theology--Salignac, Bouteiller, D'Espense, and Picherel--not
only admitted the flagrant abuses of image-worship, but drew up a paper in
which they did not disguise their sentiments. They recommended the removal
of representations of the Holy Trinity, and of pictures immodest in
character, or of saints not recognized by the Church. They reprobated the
custom of decking out the portraits of the saints with crowns and dresses,
the celebration 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.[13] It was a futile task to reconcile views so discordant even
among the Roman 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 programme marked out for
it.[14] The cardinals had prevailed upon Catharine de' Medici to refer the
settlement to the Council of Trent.[15] The joy of De Mouchy, the
inquisitor, and of his companions, knew no bounds when Chancellor
L'Hospital declared 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 their delight
at being relieved of the necessity of debating with him![16]

[Sidenote: Defection of Antoine and its results.]

[Sidenote: Constancy of Jeanne.]

But, in truth, the time for the calm discussion of theological
differences, the time for friendly salutation between the champions of the
rival systems of faith, was rapidly drawing to a close. If some rays of
sunshine still glanced athwart the landscape, 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 trembled
before the coming of the storm. Although they were mercifully 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.[17] That unhappy prince seemed determined to earn the
title of the "Julian Apostate" of the French Reformation. Plied by the
arts of his own servants, D'Escars (of whom Mézeray 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, Cardinal 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 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."[18] He did not even show displeasure when faithfully rebuked and
warned.[19] Yet he had after long hesitation completely 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 terrestrial paradise, "worth four Navarres."[20] 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.[21] 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
execution of the edict of toleration.[22] But he was unsuccessful in
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 not be a
hinderance to me."[23] 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 father's lewdness
and inconstancy!

[Sidenote: Immense crowds at Huguenot preaching.]

[Sidenote: The canons of Sainte Croix.]

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 dismissed 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.[24] But meanwhile the truth was making
daily progress. At a single gathering for prayer and preaching, but a few
days before, twenty-five thousand persons, it was computed, had been in
attendance, representing all ranks of the population, among whom were many
of the nobility.[25] 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.[26] Elsewhere there was equal zeal and growth. Indeed, so
rapid was the advance of Protestantism, so pressing the call for
ministers, that the large and flourishing church of Orleans, in a letter
written the last day of February, proclaimed their expectation of
establishing 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 had given notice of their intention to attend
the lectures that were to be delivered![27] In such an encouraging 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
partisan 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.

[Sidenote: The Guises meet the Duke of Würtemberg at Saverne.]

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 January, the Guises desired to strengthen
themselves in the direction of Germany, and secure, if not the assistance,
at least the neutrality of the Protestant princes. Could the Protestants
on the other side of the Rhine be made indifferent spectators of the
struggle, persuaded that their own creed resembled the faith of the Roman
Catholics much more than the creed of the Huguenots; could they be
convinced that the Huguenots were uneasy and rebellious radicals, whom it
were better to crush than to assist; could, consequently, the "reiters"
and "lansquenets" be kept at home--it would, thought the Guises, be easy,
with the help of the German Catholics, perhaps of Spain also, to render
complete the papal supremacy in France, and to crush Condé and the
Châtillons to the earth. Accordingly, the Guises extended to Duke
Christopher of Würtemberg 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.[28] The duke came as he was requested, accompanied by his
theologians, Brentius and Andreä; and the interview, beginning on the
fifteenth of February,[29] lasted four days. Four of the Guises were
present; but the conversations were chiefly with Francis, the Duke of
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
distinction, in the French wars. This circumstance afforded an
opportunity for the display of extraordinary friendship. And what did the
brothers state, in this important consultation, respecting 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.[30] 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 shameless 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 telling the truth_."

[Sidenote: Lying assurances.]

Duke Christopher made the acquaintance of Charles of Lorraine 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 condition 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. Würtemberg corrected 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 guiltless 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 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 Würtemberg, "_with great sighs_: 'I
know that my brother and I are accused of that, and of many other things
also. But _we are wronged_,[31] as we shall both of us explain to you
before we leave.'"

The cardinal entered more fully than his brother into the doctrinal
conference, talking now with Würtemberg, 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
punishment 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 _venerated_ 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 præstiti 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
pretended 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."

[Sidenote: The Guises deceive no 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 approve their
doctrines, and I might speedily agree with them in all that concerns the
ecclesiastical hierarchy. _But I am compelled still to dissemble for a
time_, that I may gain some that are yet weak in the faith." A little
later he adverted to Würtemberg'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 Second. 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 department, that they had to do
with the secular power, and I went away."[32] 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 Würtemberg, "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
Würtemberg again "conjured them not to persecute the poor Christians of
France, for God would not leave such a sin unpunished," both the 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 Christopher of Würtemberg to publish for their
vindication among the Lutherans of Germany. But the liars were not
believed. The shrewd Landgrave of Hesse, on receiving Würtemberg's
account, even before the news of 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!
_Deus sit ultor doli et perjurii, cujus namque res agitur._"[33]

[Sidenote: Throkmorton's account of the French court.]

Meanwhile events of the greatest consequence were occurring at the
capital. The very day after the Saverne conference began, Sir Nicholas
Throkmorton wrote to Queen Elizabeth an account 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 important crisis in the first half of February, 1562, which we
present very nearly in the words of the ambassador himself. "The Cardinal
of Ferrara," says Throkmorton, "has allured to his devotion the King of
Navarre, the Constable, Marshal St. André, the Cardinal of Tournon, 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
Condé, 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, fearing this conspiracy might be the means of losing her authority
(which is as dear to her as one religion or the other), and mistrusting
that the Constable was going about to reduce the management 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 Tournon and the Marshal St.
André. The King of Navarre being offended with these proceedings, and
imputing part of her doings to the advice of the Admiral, the Cardinal
Châtillon, and Monsieur D'Andelot, intended to compel those personages to
retire also from the court. In these garboils [commotions] the Prince of
Condé, 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 Condé 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 Châtillon ready to leave the
court, fell again dangerously sick. Nevertheless his coming so revived
them, as by the covert aid of the Queen Mother, they attempted to make the
Protestant preachers 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 Châtillon retiring
from the court, and it is believed the Queen of Navarre, and they, will
not tarry long there."[34]

Such was the picture drawn by the skilful pencil of the English envoy. It
was certainly dark enough. Catharine and Navarre 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.[35]

From Saverne the Cardinal of Lorraine returned to his archbishopric of
Rheims, while the duke, accompanied by the Cardinal 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 reformed faith.

[Sidenote: Vassy in Champagne.]

[Sidenote: Origin of the Huguenot Church.]

Vassy, an important town of Champagne--though shorn of much of its
influence by the removal of many of its dependencies to increase the
dignity of Joinville--and one of the places assigned to Mary of Scots for
her maintenance, 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 the disadvantage of having no pastor, and of having
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. When, after a short absence, the founder of the
church of Vassy returned to the scene of his labors, he came into
collision with the Bishop of Châlons, 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 "singing of the commandments"
and a prayer. But when he attempted to interrupt the services and asserted
his episcopal authority, the minister firmly repelled the usurpation,
taking his stand on the king's edict. Then, waxing warm in the discussion,
the dauntless Huguenot exposed the hypocrisy of the pretended shepherd,
who, not entering the fold by canonical election, 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 Châlons in the attempt to induce
the king to issue a commission to the Duke of Guise against the
unoffending inhabitants, and Vassy was spared the fate of Mérindol and
Cabrières. At Christmas nine hundred communicants, after profession of
their faith, partook of the Lord's Supper according to the reformed rites;
and in January, 1562, after repeated solicitations, the church obtained
the long-desired boon of a pastor, in the person of the able and pious
Leonard Morel. Thus far the history of Vassy 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 secured for it a tragic notoriety.[36]

[Sidenote: Approach of the Duke of Guise.]

On the twenty-eighth of February, Guise, with two hundred armed retainers,
left Joinville. That night he slept at Dommartin-le-Franc. On Sunday
morning, the first of March, he continued his journey. Whether by accident
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 summarily
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. "_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.[37]

[Sidenote: The massacre.]

On entering Vassy Guise repaired to the monastery chapel to hear mass
said. He 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 admonish
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 invited to sit down: but they replied by noisy
interruption and threats. "_Mort-Dieu_, they must all be killed!" was
their exclamation as they returned to report to Guise 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 besieging party. Only after an hour and a half had
elapsed were the soldiers of Guise called off by the trumpet sounding a
joyful 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 dangerously wounded.[38]

In a few hours more Guise was resuming his journey toward Paris. He was
told that the Huguenots of Vassy 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."[39]

Upon whose head rests the guilt of the massacre of Vassy? This was the
question asked by every contemporary so soon as he 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
agitations 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 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 massacre
was premeditated. He averred that it was merely an unfortunate 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 followers.

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.[40] It is difficult, indeed, to accept the argument
of Brantôme and Le Laboureur, 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 Würtemberg 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 community
of Huguenots at Vassy--"scandalous, arrogant, extremely seditious
persons," as he styles them. He tells us that he intended, as the
representative of Mary Stuart, and as feudal lord of some of their number,
to admonish them of their disobedience; and that for this purpose he sent
Sieur de la Bresse (or Brosse) with others to interrupt their public
worship. He accuses them, it is true, of having previously armed
themselves with stones, and even of possessing weapons in an adjoining
building; but what reason do the circumstances of the case give us for
doubting that the report may have been based upon the fact that those who
in this terror-stricken assembly attempted to save their lives resorted to
whatever missiles they could lay their hands upon? If the presence of his
wife, and of his brother the cardinal, is used by the duke as an argument
to prove the absence of any sinister intentions on his part, how much
stronger is the evidence afforded to the peaceable character of the
Protestant gathering by the numbers of women and children found there? But
the very fact that, as against the twenty-five or thirty Huguenots whom he
concedes to have been slain in the encounter, he does not pretend to give
the name of a single one of his own followers that was killed, shows
clearly which side it was that came prepared for the fight. And yet who
that knows the sanguinary spirit generally displayed by the Roman Catholic
masses in the sixteenth century, could find much fault with the Huguenots
of Vassy if they had really armed themselves to repel violence and protect
their wives and children--if, in other words, they had used the common
right of self-preservation?[41]

The fact is that Guise was only witnessing the fruits of his
instructions, enforced by his own example. He had given the first taste of
blood, and now, perhaps without his actual command, the pack had taken the
scent and hunted down the game. He was avowedly on a crusade to
re-establish the supremacy of the Roman Catholic religion throughout
France. If he had not hesitated to hang a poor pin-dealer for allowing his
child to be baptized according to the forms of Calvin's liturgy; if he was
on his way to Paris to restore the Edict of July by force of arms, it is
idle to inquire whether he or his soldiers were responsible for the blood
shed in peace. "He that sowed the seed is the author of the harvest."

[Sidenote: Condé appeals to the king.]

The news quickly flew to Condé that the arch-enemy of the Protestants had
begun the execution of the cruel projects he had so long been devising
with his fanatical associates; that Guise was on his way toward seditious
Paris, with hands yet dripping with the blood of the inhabitants of a
quiet Champagnese town, surprised and murdered while engaged in the
worship of their God. Indignant, and taking in the full measure of the
responsibility imposed upon him as the most powerful member of the
Protestant communion, the prince, who was with the court at the castle of
Monceaux--built for herself by Catharine in a style of regal
magnificence--laid before the king and his mother a full account of the
tragic occurrence. It was a pernicious example, he argued, and should be
punished promptly and severely. Above all, the perpetrators ought not to
be permitted to endanger the quiet of France by entering the capital.
Catharine was alarmed and embarrassed by the intelligence; but, her fear
of a conjunction between Guise and Navarre overcoming her reluctance to
affront the Lorraine family, induced her to consent; and she wrote to the
Duke, who had by this time reached his castle of Nanteuil, forbidding him
to go to Paris, but inviting him to visit the court with a small escort.
At the same time she gave orders to Saint André to repair at once to
Lyons, of which he was the royal governor. But neither of the triumvirs
showed any readiness to obey her orders. The duke curtly replied that he
was too busy entertaining his friends to come to the king; the marshal
promptly refused to leave the king while he was threatened by such
perils.[42]

[Sidenote: Beza's remonstrance.]

[Sidenote: An anvil that has worn out many hammers.]

The King of Navarre now came from Paris to Monceaux, to guard the
interests of the party he had espoused. He was closely followed by
Theodore Beza and Francour, whom the Protestants of Paris had deputed, the
former on behalf of the church, the latter of the nobility, to demand of
the king the punishment of the authors of the massacre. The queen mother,
as was her wont, gave a gracious audience, and promised that an
investigation should be made. But Navarre, being present, seemed eager to
display a neophyte's zeal, and retorted by blaming the Huguenots for going
in arms to their places of worship. "True," said Beza, "but arms in the
hands of the wise are instruments of peace, and the massacre of Vassy has
shown the necessity under which the Protestants were laid." When Navarre
exclaimed: "Whoever touches my brother of Guise with the tip of his
finger, touches my whole body!" the reformer reminded him, as one whom
Antoine had himself brought to France, that the way of justice is God's
way, and that kings _owe_ justice to their subjects. Finally, when he
discovered, by Navarre's adoption of all the impotent excuses of Guise,
that the former had sold himself to the enemies of the Gospel, Theodore
Beza made that noble reply which has become classic as the motto of the
French Reformation: "Sire, it is, in truth, the lot of the Church of God,
in whose name I am speaking, to endure blows and not to strike them. _But
also may it please you to remember that it is an anvil that has worn out
many hammers._"[43]

[Sidenote: Guise's entry into Paris.]

At Nanteuil, Guise had been visited by the constable, with two of his
sons, by Saint André, and by other prominent leaders. Accompanied by them,
he now took the decided step of going to Paris in spite of Catharine's
prohibition. His entry resembled a triumphal procession.[44] In the midst
of an escort estimated by eye-witnesses at two thousand horse, Francis of
Guise avoided the more direct gate of St. Martin, and took that of St.
Denis, through which the kings of France were accustomed to pass. Vast
crowds turned out to meet him, and the cries of "_Vive Monsieur de
Guise!_" sounding much like regal acclammations, were uttered without
rebuke on all sides. The "prévost des marchands" and other members of the
municipal government received him with great demonstrations of joy, as the
defender of the faith. At the same hour the Prince of Condé, surrounded by
a large number of Protestant noblemen, students, and citizens, was riding
to one of the preaching-places.[45] The two cavalcades met, but no
collision ensued. The Huguenot and the papist courteously saluted each
other, and then rode on. It is even reported that between the leaders
themselves less sincere amenities were interchanged. Guise sent word to
Condé that he and his company, whom he had assembled only on account of
the malevolent, were at the prince's commands. Condé answered by saying
that his own men were armed only to prevent the populace of Paris from
making an attack upon the Protestants as they went to their place of
worship.[46]

[Sidenote: Anxieties of Catharine de' Medici.]

For weeks the position of the queen mother had been one of peculiar
difficulty and anxiety. That she was "well inclined to advance the true
religion," and "well affected for a general reformation in the Church," as
Admiral Coligny at this time firmly believed,[47] is simply incredible.
But, on the other hand, there can be little doubt that Catharine saw her
interest in upholding the Huguenot party, of which Condé and the three
Châtillon brothers were acknowledged leaders. Unfortunately, the King of
Navarre, "hoping to compound with the King of Spain for his kingdom of
Navarre," had become the tool of the opposite side--he was "_all Spanish
now_"[48]--and Chantonnay, Philip's ambassador, was emboldened to make
arrogant demands. The envoy declared that, "unless the house of Châtillon
left the court, he was ordered to depart from France." Grave diplomatists
shook their heads, and thought the menace very strange, "the rather that
another prince should appoint what counsellors should remain at court;"
and sage men inferred that "to such princes as are afraid of shadows the
King of Spain will enterprise far enough."[49] None the less was Catharine
deeply disturbed. She felt distrust of the heads of the Roman Catholic
party, but she feared to break entirely with them, and was forced to
request the Protestant leaders to withdraw for a time from the vicinity of
Paris. That city itself presented to the eye a sufficiently strange and
alarming aspect, "resembling more a frontier town or a place besieged than
a court, a merchant city, or university." Both sides were apprehensive of
some sudden commotion, and the Protestant scholars, in great numbers,
marched daily in arms to the "sermons," in spite of the opposition of the
rector and his council.[50] The capital was unquestionably no place for
Catharine and her son, at the present moment.

[Sidenote: She removes the king to Melun.]

[Sidenote: and thence to Fontainebleau.]

[Sidenote: Her painful indecision.]

At length, Catharine de' Medici, apprehensive of the growing power of the
triumvirate, and dreading lest the king, falling into its hands, should
become a mere puppet, her own influence being completely thrown into the
shade, removed the court from Monceaux to Melun, a city on the upper
Seine, about twenty-five miles south-east of Paris.[51] She hoped
apparently that, by placing herself nearer the strongly Huguenot banks of
the Loire, she would be able at will to throw herself into the arms of
either party, and, in making her own terms, secure future independence.
But she was not left undisturbed. At Melun she received a deputation from
Paris, consisting of the "prévost des marchands" and three "échevins,"
who came to entreat her, in the name of the Roman Catholic people of the
capital, to return and dissipate by the king's arrival the dangers that
were imminent on account of Condé's presence, and to give the people the
power to defend themselves by restoring to them their arms. Still
hesitating, still experiencing her old difficulty of forming any plans for
the distant future, and every moment balancing in her mind what she should
do the next, she nevertheless pushed on ten miles farther southward, to
the royal palace of Fontainebleau, and found herself not far from half the
way to Orleans. But change of place brought the vacillating queen mother
no nearer to a decision. Soubise, the last of the avowed Protestants to
leave her, still dreamed he might succeed in persuading her. Day after
day, in company with Chancellor L'Hospital, the Huguenot leader spent two
or three hours alone with her in earnest argument. "Sometimes," says a
recently discovered contemporary account, "they believed that they had
gained everything, and that she was ready to set off for Condé's camp;
then, all of a sudden, so violent a fright seized her, that she lost all
heart." At last the time came when the triumvirs were expected to appear
at Fontainebleau on the morrow, to secure the prize of the king's person.
Soubise and the indefatigable chancellor made a last attempt. Five or six
times in one day they returned to the charge, although L'Hospital
mournfully observed that he had abandoned hope. He knew Catharine well:
she could not be brought to a final resolution.[52] It was even so.
Soubise himself was forced to admit it when, at the last moment--almost
too late for his own safety--he hurriedly left, Catharine still begging
him to stand by her, and made his way to his friends.

[Sidenote: She implores Condé's aid.]

It seems to have been during this time of painful anxiety that Catharine
wrote at least the last of those remarkable letters to Condé which that
prince afterward published in his own justification, and respecting the
authenticity of which the queen would have been glad had she been able to
make the world entertain doubts. They breathed a spirit of implicit
confidence. She called herself his "good cousin," that was not less
attached to him than a mother to a son. She enjoined upon him to remember
the protection which he was bound to give to "the children, the mother,
and the kingdom." She called upon him not to desert her. She declared
that, in the midst of so many adverse circumstances, she would be driven
almost to despair, "were it not for her trust in God, and the assurance
that Condé would assist her in preserving the kingdom and service of the
king, her son, in spite of those who wished to ruin everything." More than
once she told him that his kindness would not go unrequited; and she
declared that, if she died before having an opportunity to testify her
gratitude, she would charge her children with the duty.[53]

In Paris events were rapidly succeeding each other. Marshal Montmorency,
the constable's eldest son, was too upright a man to serve the purposes of
the triumvirs; and, with his father's consent and by Navarre's authority,
he was removed, and Cardinal Bourbon installed in his place as governor of
the city.[54] A few days after Antoine himself came to Paris and lodged in
the constable's house. Here, with Guise, Saint André, and the other chief
statesmen who were of the same party, conferences were held to which
Condé and his associates were not invited; and to these irregular
gatherings, notwithstanding the absence of the king, the name of the
_royal council_ was given.[55]

[Sidenote: Condé retires to Meaux.]

There were nine or ten thousand horse--Papist and Huguenot--under arms in
Paris.[56] It was evident that Condé and Guise could not longer remain in
the city without involving it in the most bloody of civil contests. Under
these circumstances the prince offered, through his brother, the Cardinal
of Bourbon, to accede to the wish of Catharine, and leave Paris by one
gate at the same moment that the triumvirs should leave by another.
Indeed, without waiting to obtain their promise, he retired[57] with his
body of Protestant noblesse to Meaux, where he had given a rendezvous to
Admiral Coligny and others whom he had summoned from their homes. This
step has generally been stigmatized as the first of Condé's egregious
mistakes. Beza opposed it at the time, and likened the error to that of
Pompey in abandoning Rome;[58] and the "History of the Reformed Churches"
has perpetuated the comparison.[59] The same historical parallel was drawn
by Étienne Pasquier.[60] But the judicious François de la Noue, surnamed
_Bras-de-Fer_, thought very differently; and we must here, as in many
other instances, prefer the opinion of the practical soldier to that of
the eminent theologian or the learned jurist. Parliament, the clergy, the
municipal government, the greater part of the university, and almost all
the low populace, with the partisans and servants of the hostile princes
and noblemen, were intensely Roman Catholic.[61] The three hundred
resident Protestant gentlemen, with, as many more experienced soldiers,
four hundred students, and a few untrained burgesses, were "but as a fly
matched with an elephant." The novices of the convents and the priests'
chambermaids, armed only with sticks, could have held them in check.[62]
It were better to lose the advantages of the capital than to be
overwhelmed within its walls by superior forces, being completely cut off
from that part of France where the main strength of the Protestants lay.

[Sidenote: The Huguenot summons.]

From Meaux messengers were sent to the Protestant churches in all parts of
France to request their aid, both in money and in men. "Since," said the
letter they bore, "God has brought us to such a point that no one can
disturb our repose without violating the protection it has pleased our
king to accord us, and consequently without declaring himself an enemy of
his Majesty and of this kingdom's peace, there is no law, divine or human,
that does not permit us to take measures for defence, calling for help on
those whom God has given the authority and the will to remedy these
evils."[63]

[Sidenote: Admiral Coligny's reluctance.]

Happily for the Huguenot cause, however, the nobles and gentry that
favored it had not waited to receive this summons, but had, many of them,
already set out to strengthen the forces of the prince. Among others, and
by far more important than all the rest, came Gaspard de Coligny, whose
absence from court during the few previous weeks has been regarded as one
of the most untoward circumstances of the time. At his pleasant castle of
Châtillon-sur-Loing, surrounded by his young family, he received
intelligence, first, of the massacre, then of the ominous events that had
occurred at the capital. Condé sent to solicit his support; his brothers
and many friends urged him to rush at once to the rescue. But still, even
after the threatening clouds had risen so high that they must soon burst
over the devoted heads of the Huguenots, the admiral continued to
hesitate. Every instinct of his courageous nature prompted the skilful
defender of St. Quentin to place himself at once at the post of danger.
But there was one fear that seemed likely to overcome all his martial
impulses. _It was the fear of initiating a civil war._ He could not refer
to the subject without shuddering, for the horrors of such a contest were
so vividly impressed upon his mind that he regarded almost anything as
preferable to the attempt to settle domestic difficulties by an appeal to
the sword. But the tears and sighs of his wife, the noble Charlotte de
Laval, at length overmastered his reluctance. "To be prudent in men's
esteem," she said, "is not to be wise in that of God, who has given you
the science of a general that you might use it for the good of His
children." When her husband rehearsed again the grounds of his hesitation,
and, calling upon her seriously to consider the suffering, the privations,
the anxiety, the bereavements, the ignominy, the death which would await
not only those dearest to her, but herself, if the struggle should prove
unsuccessful, offered her three weeks to make her decision, with true
womanly magnanimity she replied: "The three weeks are already past; you
will never be conquered by the strength of your enemies. Make use of your
resources, and bring not upon your head the blood of those who may die
within three weeks. I summon you in God's name not to defraud us any more,
or I shall be a witness against you at His judgment." So deep was the
impression which these words made upon Coligny, that, accepting his wife's
advice as the voice of heaven, he took horse without further delay, and
joined Condé and the other Protestant leaders.[64]

[Sidenote: The king seized and brought to Paris.]

It was unfortunate that the prince, for a week after leaving Paris, should
have felt too feeble to make any movement of importance. Otherwise, by a
rapid march, he might, according to his plan,[65] have reached
Fontainebleau in advance of his opponents, and, with the young king and
his mother under his protection, have asserted his right as a prince of
the blood to defend Charles against those who had unjustly usurped the
functions of royalty. As it was, the unlucky delay was turned to profit by
his enemies. These now took a step that put further deliberation on
Catharine's part out of the question, and precluded any attempt to place
the person of the king in Condé's hands. Leaving a small garrison in
Paris, Guise proceeded with a strong body of troops to Fontainebleau,
determined to bring the king and his mother back to Paris. Persuasion was
first employed; but, that failing, the triumvirate were prepared to resort
to force. Navarre, acting at Guise's suggestion, at length told Catharine
distinctly that, as guardian of the minor king, he must see to it that he
did not fall into his brother's hands; as for Catharine, she might remain
or follow him, as she pleased.[66] Tears and remonstrances were of no
avail.[67] Weeping and sad, Charles is said to have repeatedly exclaimed
against being led away contrary to his will;[68] but the triumvirs would
not be balked of their game, and so brought him with his mother first to
Melun, then, after a few days, to the prison-like castle of Vincennes, and
finally to the Louvre.[69]

[Sidenote: The constable's exploits at the "temples."]

[Sidenote: D'Andelot and Condé throw themselves into Orleans.]

The critical step had been taken to demonstrate that the reign of
tolerance, according to the prescriptions of the Edict of January, was at
an end. The constable, preceding the king to Paris, immediately upon his
arrival instituted a system of arbitrary arrests. On the next morning (the
fourth of April) he visited the "temple of Jerusalem,"[70] one of the two
places which had been accorded to the Huguenots for their worship outside
of the walls. Under his direction the pulpit and the benches of the
hearers were torn up, and a bonfire of wood and Bibles was speedily
lighted, to the great delight of the populace of Paris. In the afternoon
the same exploits were repeated at the other Huguenot church, known from
its situation, outside of the gate of St. Antoine, as "_Popincourt_."
Here, however, not only the benches, but the building itself was burned,
and several adjacent houses were involved in the conflagration. Having
accomplished these outrages and encouraged the people to imitate his
lawless example, the aged constable returned to the city. He had well
earned the contemptuous name which the Huguenots henceforth gave him of
"Le Capitaine _Brûlebanc_."[71] If the triumvirate succeeded, it was plain
that all liberty of worship was proscribed. It was even believed that the
Duchess of Guise had been sent to carry a message, in the king's name, to
her mother, the aged Renée of France, to the effect that if she did not
dismiss the Huguenot preachers from Montargis, and become a good Catholic,
he would have her shut up for the rest of her life in a convent.[72]
Whatever truth there may have been in this story, one thing was certain:
in Paris it would have been as much as any man's life was worth to appear
annoyed at the constable's exploit, or to oppose the search made for arms
in suspected houses. Every good Catholic had a piece of the Huguenots'
benches or pulpit in his house as a souvenir; "so odious," says a
contemporary, "is the new religion in this city."[73] Meantime, on Easter
Monday (the thirtieth of March) Condé left Meaux at the head of fifteen
hundred horse, the flower of the French nobility, "better armed with
courage than with corselets"--says François de la Noue. As they approached
the capital, the whole city was thrown into confusion, the gates were
closed, and the chains stretched across the streets.[74] But the host
passed by, and at St. Cloud crossed the Seine without meeting any
opposition. Here the news of the seizure of the person of Charles by the
triumvirs first reached the prince, and with it one great object of the
expedition was frustrated.[75] The Huguenots, however, did not delay, but,
instead of turning toward Fontainebleau, took a more southerly route
directly for the city of Orleans. D'Andelot, to whom the van had been
confided, advanced by a rapid march, and succeeded by a skilful movement
in entering the city, of which he took possession in the name of the
Prince of Condé, acting as lieutenant of the king unlawfully held in
confinement. Catharine de' Medici, who, having been forced into the party
of the triumvirs, had with her usual flexibility promptly decided to make
the most of her position, sent messengers to Condé hoping to amuse him
with negotiations while a powerful Roman Catholic detachment should by
another road reach Orleans unobserved.[76] But the danger coming to
Andelot's knowledge, he succeeded in warning Condé; and the prince, with
the main body of the Protestant horse, after a breakneck ride, threw
himself, on the second of April, into the city, which now became the
headquarters of the religion in the kingdom.[77] The inhabitants came out
to meet him with every demonstration of joy, and received him between
double lines of men, women, and children loudly singing the words of the
French psalms, so that the whole city resounded with them.[78]

[Sidenote: Condé's justification.]

No sooner had the Prince of Condé established himself upon the banks of
the Loire, than he took measures to explain to the world the necessity and
propriety of the step upon which he had ventured. He wrote, and he induced
the Protestant ministers who were with him to write, to all the churches
of France, urging them to send him reinforcements of troops and to fill
his empty treasury.[79] At the same time he published a "declaration" in
justification of his resort to arms. He recapitulated the successive steps
that revealed the violent purposes of the triumvirs--the retreat of the
Guises and of the constable from court, Nemours's attempt to carry the
Duke of Orleans out of the kingdom, the massacre at Vassy, Guise's refusal
to visit the royal court and his defiant progress to the capital, the
insolent conduct of Montmorency and Saint-André, the pretended _royal_
council held away from the king, the detention of Charles and of his
mother as prisoners. And from all these circumstances he showed the
inevitable inference to be that the triumvirs had for one of their chief
objects the extirpation of the religion "which they call new," "either by
open violence or by the change of edicts, and the renewal of the most
cruel persecutions that have ever been exercised in the world." It was not
party interest that had induced him to take up arms, he said, but loyalty
to God, to his king, and to his native land, a desire to free Charles from
unlawful detention, and a purpose to insist upon the execution of the
royal edicts, especially that of January, and to prevent new ministers of
state from misapplying the sums raised for the payment of the national
debts. He warned all lovers of peace not to be astonished at any edicts
that might emanate from the royal seal so long as the king remained a
prisoner, and he begged Catharine to order the triumvirs to lay down their
arms. If they did so, he declared that he himself, although of a rank far
different from theirs, would consent to follow their example.[80]

[Sidenote: Stringent articles of association.]

The Huguenots had thrown off the shackles which a usurping party about the
king endeavored to fasten upon them; but they had not renounced the
restraints of law. And now, at the very commencement of a great struggle
for liberty, they entered into a solemn compact to banish licentious
excesses from their army. Protesting the purity of their motives, they
swore to strive until the king's majority to attain the objects which had
united them in a common struggle; but they promised with equal fervor to
watch over the morals of their associates, and to suffer nothing that was
contrary to God's honor or the king's edicts, to tolerate no idolatrous or
superstitious practices, no blasphemy, no uncleanness or theft, no
violation of churches by private authority. They declared their intention
and desire to hear the Word of God preached by faithful ministers in the
midst of the camps of war.[81]

[Sidenote: Huguenot nobles and cities.]

The papal party was amazed at the opposition its extreme measures had
created. In place of the timid weakling whom the triumvirate had expected,
they saw a giant spring from the ground to confront them.[82] To Orleans
flocked many of the highest nobles of the land. Besides Condé--after
Navarre and Bourbon, the prince of the blood nearest to the crown--there
were gathered to the Protestant standard the three Châtillons, Prince
Porcien, Count de la Rochefoucauld, the Sieurs de Soubise, de Mouy, de
Saint Fal, d'Esternay, Piennes, Rohan, Genlis, Grammont, Montgomery, and
others of high station and of large influence and extensive landed
possessions.[83] And, what was still more important, the capture of
Orleans was but the signal for a general movement throughout France. In a
few weeks the Huguenots, rising in their unsuspected strength, had
rendered themselves masters of cities in almost every province. Along the
Loire, Beaugency, Blois, Tours, and Angers declared for the Prince of
Condé; in Normandy, Rouen, Havre, Dieppe, and Caen; in Berry and the
neighboring provinces, Bourges, La Rochelle, Poitiers; along the Saône and
Rhône, Châlons, Mâcon, Lyons, Vienne, Valence, Montélimart, Tournon,
Orange; Gap and Grenoble in Dauphiny; almost the whole of the papal
"Comtât Venaissin;" the Vivarais; the Cevennes; the greater part of
Languedoc and Gascony, with the important cities of Montauban, Castres,
Castelnaudary, Beziers, Pézénas, Montpellier, Aiguesmortes, and
Nismes.[84] In northern France alone, where the number of Protestants was
small, the Huguenots obtained but a slight foothold.[85]

[Sidenote: Can iconoclasm be repressed?]

In the midst of this universal movement there was one point in the compact
made by the confederates at Orleans, which it was found impossible to
execute. How could the churches, with their altars, their statues, their
pictures, their relics, their priestly vestments, be guaranteed from
invasion? To the Huguenot masses they were the temples and instruments of
an idolatrous worship. Ought Christians to tolerate the existence of such
abominations, even if sanctioned by the government? It was hard to draw a
nice line of distinction between the overthrow of idolatry by public
authority and by personal zeal. If there were any difference in the merit
of the act, it was in favor of the man who vindicated the true religion at
the risk of his own life. Nay, the Church itself had incontrovertibly
given its sanction to this view by placing among the martyrs those
primitive Christians who had upon their own responsibility entered heathen
temples and overthrown the objects of the popular devotion. In those early
centuries there had been manifested the same reckless exposure of life,
the same supreme contempt for the claims of art in comparison with the
demands of religion. The Minerva of Phidias or Praxiteles was no safer
from the iconoclastic frenzy of the new convert from heathenism than the
rude idol of a less cultivated age. The command, "Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image," had not excepted from its prohibition the
marvellous products of the Greek chisel.

It was here, therefore, that the chief insubordination of the Huguenot
people manifested itself--not in licentious riot, not in bloodshed, not in
pillage. Calvin, with his high sense of law and order, might in his
letters reiterate the warnings against the irregularity which we have seen
him uttering on a previous occasion;[86] the ministers might threaten the
guilty with exclusion from the ordinances of the Church; Condé might
denounce the penalty of death. The people could not restrain themselves or
be restrained. They must remove what had been a stumbling-block to them
and might become a snare to others. They felt no more compunction in
breaking an image or tearing in pieces a picture, than a traveller, whom a
highwayman has wounded, is aware of, when he destroys the weapons dropped
by his assailant in his hurried flight. Indeed, they experienced a strange
satisfaction in visiting upon the lifeless idol the punishment for the
spiritual wrongs received at the hands of false teachers of religion.[87]

[Sidenote: It bursts out at Caen.]

We have an illustration of the way in which the work of demolition was
accomplished in events occurring about this time at Caen. Two or three
inhabitants of this old Norman city were at Rouen when the churches were
invaded and sacked by an over-zealous crowd of sympathizers with the "new
doctrines." On their return to their native city, they began at once to
urge their friends to copy the example of the provincial capital. The news
reaching the ears of the magistrates of Caen, these endeavored--but to no
purpose, as the sequel proved--to calm the feverish pulse of the people.
On a Friday night (May eighth), the storm broke out, and it raged the
whole of the next day. Church, chapel, and monastery could testify to its
violence. Quaint windows of stained glass and rich old organs were dashed
in pieces. Saints' effigies, to employ the quaint expression of a Roman
Catholic eye-witness, "were massacred." "So great was the damage
inflicted, without any profit, that the loss was estimated at more than a
hundred thousand crowns." Still less excusable were the acts of vandalism
which the rabble--ever ready to join in popular commotions and always
throwing disgrace upon them--indulged. The beautiful tombs of William,
Duke of Normandy and conqueror of England, and of the Duchess-queen
Mathilda, the pride of Caen, which had withstood the ravages of nearly
five hundred years, were ruthlessly destroyed. The monument of Bishop
Charles of Martigny, who had been ambassador under Charles the Eighth and
Louis the Twelfth, shared the same fate. The zealous Roman Catholic who
relates these occurrences claims to have striven, although to no purpose,
to rescue the ashes of the conqueror from dispersion.[88]

[Sidenote: The "idol" of Sainte Croix.]

The contagion spread even to Orleans. Here, as in other places where the
Huguenots had prevailed, there were but few of the inhabitants that had
not been drawn over to the reformed faith, or at least pretended to
embrace it. Yet Condé, in his desire to convince the world that no
partisan hatred moved him, strictly prohibited the intrusion of
Protestants into the churches, and assured the ecclesiastics of protection
so long as they chose to remain in the city. For a time, consequently,
their services continued to be celebrated in the presence of the faithful
few and with closed doors; but soon, their fears getting the better of
their prudence, the priests and monks one by one made their retreat from
the Protestant capital. On the twenty-first of April, word was brought to
Condé that some of the churches had been broken into during the preceding
night, and that the work of destruction was at that very moment going
forward in others. Hastening, in company with Coligny and other leaders,
to the spacious and imposing church of the Holy Rood (Sainte Croix), he
undertook, with blows and menaces, to check the furious onslaught. Seeing
a Huguenot soldier who had climbed aloft, and was preparing to hurl from
its elevated niche one of the saints that graced the wall of the church,
the prince, in the first ebullition of his anger, snatched an arquebuse
from the hands of one of his followers, and aimed it at the adventurous
iconoclast. The latter had seen the act, but was in no wise daunted. Not
desisting an instant from his pious enterprise, "Sir," he cried to Condé,
"have patience until I shall have overthrown this idol; and then let me
die, if that be your pleasure!"[89]

The Huguenot soldier's fearless reply sounded the knell of many a sacred
painting and statue; for the destruction was accepted as God's work rather
than man's.[90] Henceforth little exertion was made to save these objects
of mistaken devotion, while the greatest care was taken to prevent the
robbery of the costly reliquaries and other precious possessions of the
churches, of which inventories were drawn up, and which were used only at
the last extremity.[91]

[Sidenote: Massacre of Huguenots at Sens.]

Far different in character from the bloodless "massacres" of images and
pictures in cities where the Huguenots gained the upper hand, were the
massacres of living men wherever the papists retained their superiority.
One of the most cruel and inexcusable was that which happened at Sens--a
city sixty-five or seventy miles toward the south-east from Paris--where,
on an ill-founded and malicious rumor that the reformed contemplated
rising and destroying their Roman Catholic neighbors, the latter, at the
instigation, it is said, of their archbishop, the Cardinal of Guise, and
encouraged by the violent example of Constable Montmorency at Paris,[92]
fell on the Protestants, murdered more than a hundred of both sexes and of
every age, and threw their dead bodies into the waters of the Yonne.[93]
While these victims of a blind bigotry were floating on under the windows
of the Louvre toward the sea, Condé addressed to the queen mother a letter
of warm remonstrance, and called upon her to avenge the causeless murder
of so many innocent men and women; expressing the fear that, if justice
were denied by the king and by herself, the cry of innocent blood would
reach high heaven, and God would be moved to inflict those calamities
with which the unhappy realm was every day threatened.[94]

A few days before Condé penned this appeal, the English ambassador had
written and implored his royal mistress to seize the golden opportunity to
inspirit the frightened Catharine de' Medici, panic-stricken by the
violent measures of the Roman Catholic party; assuring her that "not a day
passed but that the Spanish ambassador, the Bishop of Rome, or some other
papist prince's minister put terror into the queen mother's mind."[95] But
Throkmorton's words and Cecil's entreaties were alike powerless to induce
Elizabeth to improve her advantage. The opportunity was fast slipping by,
and the calamities foretold by Condé were coming on apace.

[Sidenote: Disorders in Provence and Dauphiny.]

In truth, few calamities could exceed in horror those that now befell
France. In the south-eastern corner of the kingdom, above all other parts,
civil war, ever prolific in evil passions, was already bearing its
legitimate fruits. For several years the fertile, sunny hills of Provence
and Dauphiny had enjoyed but little stable peace, and now both sides
caught the first notes of the summons to war and hurried to the fray.
Towns were stormed, and their inhabitants, whether surrendering on
composition or at the discretion of the conqueror, found little justice or
compassion. The men were more fortunate, in being summarily put to the
sword; the women were reserved for the vilest indignities, and then shared
the fate of their fathers and husbands. The thirst for revenge caused the
Protestant leaders and soldiers to perpetrate deeds of cruelty little less
revolting than those which disgraced the papal cause; but there was, at
least, this to be said in their favor, that not even their enemies could
accuse them of those infamous excesses of lewdness of which their
opponents were notoriously guilty.[96] Their vengeance was satisfied with
the lives, and did not demand the honor of the vanquished.

[Sidenote: The city of Orange.]

The little city of Orange, capital of William of Nassau's principality,
contained a growing community of Protestants, whom the prince had in vain
attempted to restrain. About a year and a half before the outburst of the
civil war, William the Silent, then a sincere Roman Catholic,[97] on
receiving complaints from the Pope, whose territories about Avignon--the
Comtât Venaissin--ran around three sides of the principality, had
expressed himself "_marvellously sorry_ to see how those _wicked heresies_
were everywhere spreading, and that they had even penetrated into his
principality of Orange."[98] And when he received tidings that the
Huguenots were beginning to preach, he had written to his governor and
council, "to see to it by all means in the world, that no alteration be
permitted in our true and ancient religion, and in no wise to consent that
those wicked men should take refuge in his principality." As Protestantism
advanced in Orange, he purposed to give instructions to use persuasion and
force, "in order to remedy a disorder so pernicious to all
Christendom."[99] While he was unwilling to call in French troops, lest he
should prejudice his sovereign rights, he declared his desire to be
authorized to employ the pontifical soldiers in the work of
repression.[100] But in spite of these restrictive measures, the reformed
population increased rather than diminished, and the bishop of the city
now called upon Fabrizio Serbelloni, a cousin of Pope Pius the Fourth, and
papal general at Avignon, to assist him by driving out the Protestants,
who, ever since the massacre of Vassy, had feared with good reason the
assault of their too powerful and hostile neighbors, and had taken up arms
in self-defence. They had not, however, apprehended so speedy an attack as
Serbelloni now made (on the fifth of June), and, taken by surprise, were
able to make but a feeble resistance. The papal troops entered the city
through the breach their cannon had effected. Never did victorious army
act more insolently or with greater inhumanity. None were spared; neither
the sick on their beds, nor the poor in their asylums, nor the maimed that
hobbled through the streets. Those were most fortunate that were first
despatched. The rest were tortured with painful wounds that prolonged
their agonies till death was rather desired than dreaded, or were hurled
down upon pikes and halberds, or were hung to pot-hooks and roasted in the
fire, or were hacked in pieces. Not a few of the women were treated with
dishonor; the greater part were hung to doors and windows, and their dead
bodies, stripped naked, were submitted to indignities for which the annals
of warfare, except among the most ferocious savages, can scarcely supply a
parallel. That the Almighty might not seem to be insulted in the persons
only of living creatures formed in His own image, the fresh impiety was
perpetrated of derisively stuffing leaves torn from French Bibles into the
gaping wounds of the dead lying on this field of carnage. Nor did the
Roman Catholics of Orange fare much better than their reformed neighbors.
Mistaken for enemies, they were massacred in the public square, where they
had assembled, expecting rather to receive a reward for their services in
assisting the pontifical troops to enter, than to atone for their
treachery by their own death.[101]

[Sidenote: François de Beaumont, Baron des Adrets.]

But the time for revenge soon came around. The barbarous warfare initiated
by the adherents of the triumvirate in Dauphiny and Provence bred or
brought forward a leader and soldiers who did not hesitate to repay
cruelty with cruelty. François de Beaumont, Baron des Adrets, was a
merciless general, who affected to believe that rigor and strict
retaliation were indispensable to remove the contempt in which the
Huguenots were held, and who knew how by bold movements to appear where
least expected, and by vigor to multiply the apparent size of his army.
Attached to the Reformation only from ambition, and breathing a spirit
far removed from the meekness of the Gospel, he soon awakened the horror
of his comrades in arms, and incurred the censure of Condé for his
barbarities; so that, within a few months, becoming disgusted with the
Huguenots, he went over to the papal side, and in the second civil war was
found fighting against his former associates.[102] Meantime, his brief
connection with the Huguenots was a blot upon their escutcheon all the
more noticeable because of the prevailing purity;[103] and the injury he
inflicted upon the cause of Protestantism far more than cancelled the
services he rendered at Lyons and elsewhere. At Pierrelate he permitted
his soldiers to take signal vengeance on the garrison for the recent
massacre. At Mornas the articles of the capitulation, by which the lives
of the besieged were guaranteed, were not observed; for the Protestant
soldiers from Orange, recognizing among them the perpetrators of the
crimes which had turned their homes into a howling desert, fell upon them
and were not--perhaps could not be--restrained by their leader.[104] The
fatal example of Orange was but too faithfully copied, and precipitating
the prisoners from the summit of a high rock became the favorite mode of
execution.[105] Only one of the unfortunates, who happened to break his
fall by catching hold of a wild fig-tree growing cut of the side of the
cliff, was spared by his enemies.[106] A number of the naked corpses were
afterward placed in an open boat without pilot or tiller, and suffered to
float down the Rhône with a banner on which were written these words: "O
men of Avignon! permit the bearers to pass, for they have paid the toll at
Mornas."[107]

[Sidenote: Blaise de Montluc.]

[Sidenote: Massacre at Toulouse.]

The atrocities of Des Adrets and his soldiers in the East were, however,
surpassed by those which Blaise de Montluc inflicted upon the Huguenots of
the West, or which took place under his sanction. His memoirs, which are
among the most authentic materials for the history of the wars in which he
took part, present him to us as a remorseless soldier, dead to all
feelings of sympathy with human distress, glorying in having executed
more Huguenots than any other royal lieutenant in France,[108] pleased to
have the people call the two hangmen whom he used to take about with him
his "lackeys."[109] It is not surprising that, under the auspices of such
an officer, fierce passions should have had free play. At Toulouse, the
seat of the most fanatical parliament in France, a notable massacre took
place. Even in this hot-bed of bigotry the reformed doctrines had made
rapid and substantial progress, and the great body of the students in the
famous law-school, as well of the municipal government, were favorable to
their spread.[110] The common people, however, were as virulent in their
hostility as the parliament itself. They had never been fully reconciled
to the publication of the Edict of January, and had only been restrained
from interference with the worship of the Protestants by the authority of
the government. Of late the Huguenots had discovered on what treacherous
ground they stood. A funeral procession of theirs had been attacked, and
several persons had been murdered. A massacre had been perpetrated in the
city of Cahors, not far distant from them. In both cases the entire
authority of parliament had been exerted to shield the guilty. The
Huguenots, therefore, resolved to forestall disaster by throwing Toulouse
into the hands of Condé, and succeeded so far as to introduce some
companies of soldiers within the walls and to seize the "hôtel de ville."
They had, however, miscalculated their strength. The Roman Catholics were
more numerous, and after repeated conflicts they were able to demand the
surrender of the building in which the Protestants had intrenched
themselves. Destitute alike of provisions and of the means of defence, and