THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (1567-68)
In this wise, after a respite of four years, the second civil war was
precipitated. There was an exodus of Huguenots at once from Paris, some
repairing to the prince of Condé, some to the duke de Rohan, others
to Montgomery in Lower Normandy where a war of the partisans began at
once.[1123] The capital was in a furious mood and the King’s presence
alone prevented the Parisians from massacring the Protestants there and
the Montmorencys.[1124]
[Illustration: PARIS AND ITS FAUBOURGS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY]
The chief effort of the Huguenots was to seize the towns on the
Seine above and below Paris, in order to stay provisions, and so to
compel the government to submit.[1125] The capture of the Pont de
Charenton[1126] by Condé’s forces was a heavy blow to the government,
as Charenton chiefly supplied Paris with wheat and flour. The Parisians
fully expected to be attacked and made preparations therefor by
breaking up the stones in the streets and piling them in heaps for
ready service or taking them into their houses; at the same time they
destroyed pent-houses and other similar insignificant structures
in order that they might the better hurl their missiles.[1127] So
suddenly had the war been begun that the blockade of Paris for the
time being was almost complete. Lagny on the Marne,[1128] Charenton,
Porchefontaine, Busanval, Argenteuil, St. Ouen, Ambervilliers, and St.
Denis constituted the inner zone of Huguenot control while farther out
Montereau on the highroad to Sens, Etampes on the road to Orleans and
in the heart of the wheat district that supplied the capital,[1129]
Dourdan at the junction of the Blois-Chartres roads, and Dreux on the
road toward Normandy, formed an outer circle. So closely was Paris
invested that the windmills in the faubourgs of St. Denis, St. Honoré,
and Port St. Martin were burned by the Huguenots. The churches for
leagues around were plundered of copes, chasubles, tunics, and other
rich silk and satin garments. The Huguenot gentry made shirts and
handkerchiefs out of the lace and linen of the clergy. But all gold
and silver taken, as altar-vessels, crosses, chalices, were turned into
the general spoil for the sake of the cause.[1130] Forced loans were
imposed upon small merchants and even the peasantry were constrained to
forced labor,[1131] so that the latter fled by hundreds to Paris.
The ravages of the Huguenots were so great that they defeated the very
purpose they had in mind. For thousands of the peasantry, under cover
of a liberal ordinance intended to provision Paris,[1132] drove their
cattle into the city and carted thither the grain and provisions they
had stored up against the winter, where they sold it cheap, rather
than see it destroyed by “volleurs quilz pillent et brulent granges,
maisons, moulins et font tout le mal qu’ilz peullent faire.”[1133]
Wine, meat, and bread were not dear in Paris; beechnut oil and oats
were at a reasonable price.
[Illustration: BLOCKADE OF PARIS
by the Huguenots
OCT.-NOV. 1567
Huguenot positions ...
_Methuen & Co_
]
[Illustration: HUGUENOT MARCH TO PONT-à-MOUSSON after the battle of
S^[T]. DENIS
_Methuen & Co._
]
The queen mother, who looked to Alva for the most immediate aid,[1134]
sent the chancellor L’Hôpital, the liberal marshal Vieilleville, and
Jean de Morvilliers, bishop of Orleans, to confer with the prince of
Condé in order to gain time. But the prince was so elated with his
successful blockade of Paris that his demands rose in degree, and could
not be accepted by the government. Yet the nature of these demands is
to be observed, for it is evidence of the fact that the conflict was
becoming more and more a _political_ one, and that the religious issue,
if not a minor issue, at least was but an element in the programme of
the Huguenots. Moreover, these demands are interesting for the reason
that they represent a new stage in the evolution of the struggle and
that henceforth they are a permanent contention of the Huguenots and
ultimately are embodied in the Edict of Toleration. The prince, whose
chief object was to overthrow the Guises and get the government of the
King and the management of affairs into his own hands[1135] insisted on
the free exercise of religion throughout the realm without limitation
or distinction of places or persons; that all taxes lately authorized
should be remitted and all new forms of taxation imposed since the
reign of Louis XII abolished; that an accounting be made of the money
granted for defraying the King’s debts; that all those who had been
deposed from their offices on account of religion should be reinstated;
and that four fortified towns be placed in his hands as security for
the good intentions of the crown. Furthermore, the prince demanded the
dismissal of the Swiss and Spanish regiments.[1136]
In due time the prince of Condé discovered that delay was disastrous.
Although his force had daily increased by new accessions from the
south,[1137] nevertheless the Huguenot position was not so strong
as it appeared. Paris rallied to the cause of the King and gave him
400,000 écus, while the clergy advanced 250,000.[1138] The duke of
Guise was in Champagne with troops of Champagne and Burgundy, besides
eight companies of men-at-arms.[1139] Moreover, recruits were pouring
in to help the King, some from the duke of Savoy,[1140] some from
Piedmont under command of Strozzi, whose approach the admiral and De
Mouy tried to prevent, and some from Pope Pius V, who bestirred himself
in behalf of France as soon as he was informed of the renewal of
hostilities once more.[1141] The Huguenots made strenuous efforts to
break the Swiss alliance and to persuade the Protestant Swiss cantons
to withdraw. But fortunately for the French crown, the cantons remained
firm, for without the assistance of Swiss troops, Charles IX would have
been hard put to it for an army, for he dared not accept the all too
interested offers of Philip II.[1142] As in the first civil war, both
parties looked to Germany for assistance[1143] and the queen mother
sent Lignerolles “to practice the stay of the reiters, and on his
return, to the count palatine to desire him not to succor the prince
and his associates, affirming that their rising was not of any zeal of
religion, but only to rebel against their prince.”[1144] The Huguenots
also made overtures to Philip II’s revolted subjects.[1145]
By the middle of October the prince of Condé discovered that he was
lying between two enemies, Paris and the new troops coming up, and
every day added to his peril. There can be little doubt but that the
queen mother purposely protracted the negotiations, knowing that by so
doing Condé’s security would be diminished. Signs were not wanting to
indicate that matters were coming to a head. On October 7 the King sent
a herald to the prince to proclaim that all who were with him should
unarm and repair to Paris, whereby they might save their lives and
goods, which, if they refused to do so, should be confiscated.
The same day the constable declared how the King, trusting to bring
certain of his subjects to good conformity by his clemency, had sent
his chancellor to assure them that his edicts made for religion and
pacification should be inviolably kept, and that no man should be
molested for the same; and that touching other small articles he was
in full mind to have satisfied them. Notwithstanding, they would not
submit themselves to any reason; wherefore the King was fully resolved
to declare them rebels and prosecute them accordingly, for the
maintenance whereof he would venture both body and goods. On October
8 proclamation was made that if the prince with his associates would
submit themselves to the King within three days he would freely pardon
all that was past; but if they refused, they were to be accounted as
rebels and it was to be lawful to all the King’s subjects to kill
all such as they should find armed. In expectation of battle, the
constable was made lieutenant-general of the King’s army.[1146]
Yet despite the precariousness of his situation the prince was still
confident. His pride was hardened by the capture of Orleans by La
Noue on September 28,[1147] and of Soissons.[1148] He enlarged the
Protestants’ demands, requiring that Calais, Boulogne, and Metz[1149]
be delivered to them as surety, that the King disarm first and that
one church of every “good town” in France be permitted to those of the
religion; and that 300,000 francs be granted the prince to pay his
troops, “whereby they may return hence without pillage.”[1150] The
crown scornfully rejected the terms and assumed a rapid offensive. On
the night of November 6 Strozzi’s band destroyed a bridge of boats
planked together which the prince had made in order more effectually
to cut off Paris; on the following day another point on the river
which threatened Paris was captured by the duke of Nemours, and on
the 9th Condé was compelled to withdraw from Charenton after breaking
the bridge and firing the town. On November 8 the prince had made the
blunder of weakening his main force by sending D’Andelot to seize
Poissy and Montgomery to get possession of Pontoise, the two open
places in the inner zone of steel drawn around Paris.[1151] The crisis
of real battle came in their absence, on November 10, the battle of St.
Denis. It was a fierce and bloody fray beginning about 3 o’clock and
lasting till dark, in which both sides suffered severely. Montmorency,
“more famous than fortunate in arms,” was twice slashed in the face by
a cutlass and then shot in the neck and the small of his back by pistol
bullets fired by the Scotch captain named Robert Stuart[1152] serving
with the Huguenots. The old veteran, thinking his assailant did not
recognize him, cried out: “You do not know me. I am the constable.”
But the Scot, as he fired, replied: “Because I know you, I give you
this!”[1153] Though the white-liveried horsemen of Condé passed through
and through the King’s soldiery and though the constable was mortally
wounded the battle was not won by the prince.[1154] On November 14
the Huguenot army filed out of St. Denis “without sound of trumpet
or stroke of drum.” The prince established temporary headquarters at
Montereau toward Sens, but later moved up the Marne to the vicinity of
Troyes with the duke of Guise following slowly after him, in order to
effect a junction with the reiters of duke Casimir of the Palatinate,
which the government was unable to prevent.[1155]
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF ST. DENIS
From photograph of the original sketch, probably made by the son of Sir
Henry Norris, English ambassador in France. Original in Public Record
Office, State Papers, Foreign, Elizabeth, Vol. XCV, No. 1813. It is
dated November 10, 1567, and measures 31½ × 23⅛
The presence of the Huguenot forces seemed like the return of the
reiters to the folk in Champagne, who hid their treasures in stables,
gardens, chimneys, and the like. Some concealed their money and jewels
in crannies in the walls; others hid them in the swaddling clothes of
babes. But even this was to no purpose, for the soldiers plucked the
children from the very breasts of their mothers and stripped them in
order to find what was hidden upon them.[1156]
After the battle of St. Denis two opinions divided the King’s council.
Some urged the queen, who was at Fontainebleau, to make new overtures;
others, who reflected the opinion of Paris, were for pursuing the war.
The queen mother acted upon the first suggestion, but nothing came
of the overtures because the King insisted upon disarmament of the
Huguenots before considering their terms.[1157] Active preparations
were therefore made to push the war in the provinces, somewhat to the
surprise of the Catholic gentry who had thought it was finished on the
field of St. Denis.[1158] Camps of artillery, the infantry, and the
Swiss were established at Voulton, St. Martin-des-Champs, Gymbrois,
and other points in Champagne and Brie, while the cavalry was lodged
in other parishes. Garrisons were also posted in the châteaux and
_maisons fortes_ of the Huguenots in the region. Without counting the
territory covered by the advance guard of the King’s army, a strip of
territory was occupied over ten miles long and six wide, and containing
more than fifty thousand persons.[1159] For the feeding of this host,
an ordinance of the master of the camp ordered the seizure of all
the local bakeries, the necessary grain being commandeered from the
merchants and farmers of the locality. Besides these provisions the
soldiery, since they were quartered on households, freely consumed
bread, meat, wine, and other food where they were, without payment.
The presence of the King’s troops was a heavy drain upon the resources
of the region, more especially since the summer had been so dry that
the crops were thin. Indeed so great was the drought that even swamps
grew dry and there were public prayers and processions for rain in all
the parishes of France. Fortunately rain fell in time to save the vines
so that the wine did not fail, else the condition of France would have
been one of great distress.[1160]
On November 20 two thousand horsemen arrived in Paris from Flanders.
The hope of the French Protestants was chiefly pinned upon John Casimir
of the Palatinate, son of the elector Frederick, and a force of German
reiters, the expectation of whose coming had induced Condé to move
eastward toward Troyes. The count palatine drew a sharp line in his own
mind between religion and politics. He would have been quick to resent
any invasion of his rights as a ruler. But he did not understand French
politics, and looked upon the Huguenot movement as a purely religious
one to which he felt bound to give support because he was a zealous
Protestant.[1161] The French government sent the bishop of Rennes and
Lignerolles to endeavor to dissuade the count palatine; they affirmed
that the rebellion of Condé was not for any zeal of religion but for
political advantage. But the prince’s emissary outmatched the bishop
and his colleague, assuring the count palatine that the sole cause of
the Huguenot insurrection was the preservation of the free exercise
of religion, together with their honor, lives, and goods.[1162] The
argument of Charles IX that the estate of himself and realm was so
intermingled with that of religion that the count palatine could
not touch one without offense to the other, was not convincing to
Casimir.[1163]
To add to Catherine’s anxiety the Emperor revived the old project to
seize the Three Bishoprics,[1164] a project made doubly dangerous by
the new machinations of the cardinal of Lorraine. For, in order to
safeguard the Catholic cause in France and to save Metz from being lost
entirely after the Huguenots had captured the citadel in October, the
cardinal of Lorraine, had resumed his secret negotiations with Spain.
Instead, however, of writing direct to Philip II he wrote to Alva,
for time was pressing and the danger great. On November 1, 1567, a
chaplain of the cardinal appeared before the duke in Antwerp bearing
a letter imploring Alva to come to the assistance of the French crown
and offered to put him in possession of certain places in France. At
first Alva was so incredulous that he imprisoned the bearer[1165]
until he was satisfied of the verity of his mission. Nevertheless he
immediately sent 3,000 horsemen into the country of Seyn (between Wied
and Bas-Isenberg) whose ruler was a pensioner of Spain, ordered count
Mansfeldt to go to Luxembourg, and dispatched a message to the margrave
of Baden for 1,000 horsemen with the object of preventing Germans going
to France or the war there from spreading to the Spanish provinces.
Finally, when persuaded of the truth of the cardinal’s overtures, Alva
said that if circumstances so developed as to make such action on his
part an imperative duty before the King of France could be apprised, he
would do so; and that if the King were overwhelmed by the Huguenots, he
would believe it his duty for the sake of protecting the Catholic faith
to occupy the places offered by the cardinal, which might be held in
pawn by Spain as collateral for French repayment of her services.[1166]
But the treasonable designs of the cardinal of Lorraine went even
farther than an offer to surrender some of the border fortresses
of France into Spanish hands. As early as this time the possible
deposition of the house of Valois was contemplated by the Guises in
favor of the Spanish-Hapsburg dynasty. For the cardinal went on to say
that in event of the early death of Charles IX and his brothers Philip
II of Spain would be heir to the throne of France through his wife,
Elizabeth of Valois. “The Salic law is a pleasantry,” he added, “and
force of arms could overcome any opposition”![1167] “This last,” wrote
Alva to Philip, “is a different matter and I cannot risk taking a hand
in it without express instructions from your Majesty.”
The habitual self-control of the Spanish monarch must have been heavily
taxed to subdue his emotion when he learned of this astonishing
negotiation. But he was true to his second-nature. Without apparent
excitement he endorsed the document thus: “This point is one upon which
more time is needed to reflect, because it would be difficult to do
what the cardinal asks without compromise. On the other hand, it is
hard to decline for such a cause what is thrown into my arms. However,
I think that a decision in this matter is not urgent. Let the duke
inform me what he thinks about it, according to the state of things
there.”[1168] Was it caution, or hesitation, or procrastination?
As an intermediate course, one less compromising and perhaps quite
as effective in the long run, Alva suggested, although with some
misgiving, to the cardinal of Lorraine that he come in person to
the relief of the French crown.[1169] While he was debating this
question with himself, news came of the battle of St. Denis and of the
approach of the reiters; and hard upon this, word from Catherine de
Medici asking for the aid of 2,000 Spanish arquebusiers against the
reiters.[1170] The duke of Alva, in reply, after chiding Catherine for
not accepting the offers of assistance he had made immediately after
Meaux,[1171] offered to send 2,000 arquebusiers and 2,000 cavalry—he
could not now spare the great force he had proffered earlier—to
the assistance of the duke of Aumale against the reiters,[1172]
although admitting, with grim pleasantry, that there was a certain
humor in casting firebrands into a neighbor’s house when one’s own
was burning.[1173] But the offer came too late to be of service,
thus fortunately sparing Catherine from the humiliation of having
introduced in France a power whose purpose was the overthrow of
France.[1174]
In the meantime, while Condé was encamped between Sens[1175] and
Troyes, the reiters had entered Lorraine to the number of about six
thousand.[1176] Their coming thwarted the plans of the duke of Guise,
who was on the frontier with the marshal Tavannes, for it prevented the
French commanders from joining with Count Mansfeldt and the duke of
Lorraine and compelled them to fall back.[1177] The junction of Condé
and the reiters was effected on December 28, and a camp established at
Dessay. The King’s army of all sorts comprised 30,000 footmen and half
as many horse.[1178] Nevertheless, despite the adverse prospect, the
government did not waver. The capital was intensely loyal. In response
to a call of the King, the Parisians made a general muster of 30,000
and offered 1,200,000 francs for the maintenance of the war.[1179]
Tentative efforts, however, were even yet made to make peace, to the
indignation of the Parisians.[1180] The insistence of Charles IX,
though, upon an immediate laying-down of arms was an effective obstacle
to any cartel that might have been arranged. In reply to the articles
sent by the King to the prince of Condé, the latter responded that
the Protestants had no intention to prescribe the law to the King,
but only humbly to require such things as were necessary for the
liberty of their consciences and the preservation of their lives and
goods, namely, that the edict of Orleans should be observed without
any alterations; that bailiwicks should be appointed for the free
exercise of religion; that they should be preserved in the enjoyment
of their estates and offices; that those of Lyons should have the same
liberty as the rest of the subjects of the realm; that synods should
be permitted, and that the Edict of Pacification should be declared
irrevocable.[1181]
In his answer Charles IX declared that he would never agree to treat
with the prince of Condé or any other subject as with an equal; he
promised to pardon what had passed if the Protestants would lay down
their arms within three days and retire to their houses and give up the
places taken by them; that where certain gentlemen complained of having
been prosecuted for exercising their religion in their houses, he was
content that this should cease, provided that there were not more than
fifty persons present exclusive of their families; that he intended
to keep his forces in his hands and to dispose of and govern towns as
he pleased; that the town of Lyons, being full of strangers, should
not be allowed the exercise of religion; that all enrolment of men,
associations, and synods, must cease; and finally, that the King would
immediately dispatch his letters-patent to assure the prince and his
company of their lives, goods, and the liberty of their consciences, if
these conditions were complied with.[1182]
The truth is, the French government prepared for war with great
reluctance. Philip II’s anxiety lest the queen would come to terms with
her adversaries was a just one.[1183] The King’s expenses amounted to
nearly a million livres per month,[1184] and he had “to quiet such
storms as daily arose in his camp amongst his nobility, partly for
religion and partly for ambition.”[1185] Unless Spain came strongly
to the relief of the Catholic cause in France, it was apparent that
Condé could go almost wherever he pleased in the country, his force was
so great.[1186] Many of the King’s soldiers were ill-minded to fight
against their countrymen and many deserted. The Swiss were wearied
by travel and the inclemency of the season and there was much disease
among them.[1187] The leaders wrangled for the command.[1188] There
was mutiny and desertion in the ranks of the Scotch Guard, thirty
of whom deserted to the prince, or rather to their old commander
Montgomery.[1189] All along the line of the King’s forces there was
opposition to the war. The chevalier Battres told Charles IX that many
of the nobles were determined to hazard the King’s displeasure rather
than to stain their hands in their kinsmen’s blood.[1190] The marshal
Cossé showed unwonted courage in his advocacy of moderation[1191]—a
policy which he openly admitted and approved in the Council meeting
(February 10). The germ of the Politique party is thus early
discoverable.[1192]
The duke of Anjou, who had been made commander-in-chief of the Catholic
forces,[1193] seeing the Protestant army considerably augmented and
that they had crossed the Seine and controlled the passages over
the Yonne and the Loire, sent most of his troops back to Paris, and
scattered the rest along the banks of the Seine, to guard the road
between Troyes and Paris. The Catholic camp in Paris was established in
the faubourg St. Marceau, where were lodged all the gendarmerie, both
foot and horse, the artillery and the Swiss. But most of the cavalry
was quartered in the villages, where the horses could get better
grazing, to the detriment of the country round about, for the soldiers
amused themselves by pillage, so that the better towns and châteaux
were compelled to fortify themselves as though against the enemy.[1194]
Strenuous efforts were made to provision Paris against a future siege,
and to establish magazines of provisions and ammunition in the towns
of the Ile-de-France and Champagne. To this end the government bought
up grain in the early spring of 1568, paying 50 livres per muid, or 10
sous, 5 deniers, per bichet.[1195]
As the prince drew nearer to the city, the conduct of Paris became
a matter of anxiety. Although bigotedly Catholic, the populace of
the capital had no mind to experience another siege in the cause of
religion, and the popular rage against the government, especially
toward Catherine de Medici, became so intense that she dared not go
abroad without being heavily guarded. The popular voice claimed that
the queen mother nourished the quarrel and consumed the revenues of the
King,[1196] a belief which the Guises cleverly fostered, if they were
not the immediate authors of it.[1197]
“The money of the kingdom today is in the hands of a single class,”
wrote the Venetian ambassador. “The clergy is ruined. Without counting
the property of the church which has been mortgaged or sold with
the authorization of the Pope, the church since 1561 has paid out
12,000,000 écus for the King. This would be immaterial, for it is but a
seventh of its annual revenue, if the church had not suffered so much
from the civil war. The nobles are at their wits’ ends and have not
a sou on account of the war. The country folk have been so pillaged
by the soldiery, whose license is frightful, that they are reduced to
beggary. Only the bourgeoisie and the _gens de robe longue_ still have
money. It is difficult for the King to obtain money without force. In
addition to these troubles with his subjects the King has lost all
his credit with foreign merchants and cannot raise an écu outside
the kingdom without giving collateral. But good may come out of this
calamitous state, for the King and his subjects have come to such a
dead stop that peace may result.”[1198]
Under these circumstances the crown earnestly renewed negotiations for
peace. Even astrology was invoked by the superstitious Catherine and
the signs of the zodiac were sagely said to point toward peace. For
the queen, walking one day in her garden, discoursing of the peace,
called unto her Messire Nonio, an Italian famed for his knowledge of
astrology, of whom she asked what he found by the stars touching peace;
to which he presently answered that the heavens did not promise it, nor
was the earth yet ready to receive it; since the effect of the eclipse
of the sun was then in its greatest force, and likewise the virtue of
the conjunction of Saturn and Mars which was in Aries last year; but
the wise man concluded with the oracular statement that the heavens did
not _constrain_ the inferior powers but only _disposed_ them.[1199]
On February 28 the King sent the marshal Montmorency, Morvilliers,
the bishop of Limoges, and D’Allny, one of his secretaries, to
confer with representatives appointed by the prince of Condé, the
cardinal Châtillon, the bishop of Valence, and Teligny at Longjumeau.
The prince made two notable conditions to the demands already
outlined—that all the articles, agreements, and capitulations should
be confirmed by _all_ the Parlements of the realm, and that certain
cautionary towns—he named Boulogne or La Rochelle[1200]—be given to
the Protestants as guarantees of the just purposes of the government.
These two demands are of interest because they became invariable
demands of the Huguenots in the future and foreshadowed important terms
in the edict of Bergerac (1576) and that of Nantes of 1598. Those
of the King replied that to make such demands impugned the King’s
honor, that the prince of Condé ought to trust the crown without
requiring guaranties of assurance. As to the particular demands,
Charles IX declared he did not think it meet to make the edict of
1563 perpetual[1201] and protested against the political and military
organization of the Protestants, “insomuch as this liberty remaining,
the King shall never be assured in his realm.” On March 4 the
commissioners of the prince, tired of the parleying and vexed at the
diversion the King tried to introduce by proposing a double alliance
between the warring houses in the marriage of the duke of Guise with
the prince’s eldest daughter, and of D’Andelot’s eldest son to the
duke’s sister, demanded express answer regarding church edifices;
better observance of the edict by the King’s officers; Huguenot
schools, etc. To these Charles IX assented and the Huguenots waived
the matter of confirmation by provincial Parlements and the surrender
of certain cautionary places for the time being. It remained to settle
the question of the reiters’ pay. Five hundred thousand livres in the
royal chest at Amboise were appropriated by the crown and the balance
of the obligation was provided for by the cardinal of Bourbon and the
dukes of Montmorency and Longueville, who went security for it.[1202]
As finally concluded on March 26 the terms of Longjumeau were in
reality a confirmation of the edict of March, 1563, which was not
enlarged as the prince of Condé had at first demanded, except that the
edict in its new form also applied to Provence.[1203] The terms of
Longjumeau were suppressed for a short time and the army not dismissed,
however, because it was thought perilous to disarm until the reiters
had taken their leave. These marauders, who followed war as a trade
and with whom faith and piety were not virtues, had not ceased their
depredations during the course of the negotiations. The people “being
everywhere environed both with their own or foreign enemies, dared
not approach town or village, all being replenished with reiters or
those who entreated them as ill, whereby they miserably died in the
fields.”[1204]
The publication of the edict encountered bitter opposition throughout
the country.[1205] At Toulouse the King’s messenger who brought the
royal order for its registration by the Parlement was actually tried,
condemned, and executed for the “offense,” so inflamed was the public
mind.[1206] At Rouen a furious multitude assailed the magistrates and
mobbed the dwellings of those of Huguenot inclination. The same thing
happened at Bourges. At Orleans the soldiers murdered several at the
gates of the city, with impunity. In Languedoc there were commotions
and slaughters.[1207]
The strife in the south of France, in Provence, Languedoc, and Guyenne,
had never entirely ceased since the inception of the first civil war.
The King’s tour of the provinces had overawed the combatants to a
certain extent and in Languedoc Damville, who had succeeded his father
on April 28, 1563,[1208] managed to keep things with a pretty even
hand, enforcing the edict of Amboise throughout his jurisdiction.[1209]
But the hostility of Montluc, whose government of Guyenne adjoined
Languedoc, toward Damville, was a serious bar to pacification, for
Montluc not only sought to diminish Damville’s authority by complaining
to the King of him, but also secretly connived with the doings of
ultra-Catholic partisans in Toulouse and elsewhere.[1210]
So intense was the hatred in the south of France between the Catholics
and the Huguenots that there was scarce any intermission of hostilities
at all after the peace of Longjumeau, especially in Provence. The
duke of Joyeuse, who commanded the royal forces here, was a man after
Montluc’s own heart. Early in 1568 he had passed up the Rhone for the
purpose of aiding the counts of Tende and Suze. He had with him 2,000
foot and from five to six hundred horse, and easily overcame the little
fortresses until he reached Pont St. Esprit in February. Failing to
take this, the army was divided. Joyeuse crossed the Rhone at Avignon
on March 7, took Loudun, Orsenne, and Tresques, then, retracing his
steps, he again joined the count of Tende and renewed the siege of
Pont St. Esprit. The Protestants under the command of Montbrun gave
battle in the plains of Montfran near Aramon, and were badly defeated
May 24, 1568. When peace was made Joyeuse returned to Avignon. Most
of the towns of lower Languedoc were carefully garrisoned by him, but
Montauban, Castres, and Montpellier resisted. Everywhere he exacted
disarmament and the oath of fidelity.[1211]