Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source:
https://books.google.com/books?id=RGEWAAAAYAAJ
Harvard University
2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
COLLECTION
OF
BRITISH AUTHORS.
VOL. LXV.
---------------
ROSE D'ALBRET BY JAMES.
IN ONE VOLUME.
TAUCHNITZ EDITION.
By the same Author,
MORLEY ERNSTEIN (WITH PORTRAIT) 1 vol.
FOREST DAYS 1 vol.
THE FALSE HEIR 1 vol.
ARABELLA STUART 1 vol.
ARRAH NEIL 1 vol.
AGINCOURT 1 vol.
THE SMUGGLER 1 vol.
THE STEP-MOTHER 2 vols.
BEAUCHAMP 1 vol.
HEIDELBERG 1 vol.
THE GIPSY 1 vol.
THE CASTLE OF EHRENSTEIN 1 vol.
DARNLEY 1 vol.
RUSSELL 2 vols.
THE CONVICT 2 vols.
SIR THEODORE BROUGHTON 2 vols.
ROSE D'ALBRET
OR
TROUBLOUS TIMES.
BY
G. P. R. JAMES.
_COPYRIGHT EDITION_.
LEIPZIG
BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ
1844.
ROSE D'ALBRET;
OR
TROUBLOUS TIMES.
CHAPTER I.
Whatever effect the institution of chivalry might have upon the
manners and customs of the people of Europe; however much it might
mitigate the rudeness of the middle ages, and soften the character of
nations just emerging from barbarism, there was one point which it
left untouched by its softening influence, and which remained, till
within a few years of the present period, as a case of great hardship
upon those who are supposed to have benefited more particularly by the
rise of chivalrous feeling. Women, to whose defence the knights of old
devoted their swords: women, for whose honour and renown so many a
gallant champion has shed his blood: women, for whose love so many
wars have been kindled and so many deeds done, were, till within a
short period of the present day, mere slaves in those matters where
their own happiness was concerned. Their influence, it is true, might
be great over the heart and mind, but in person, at least till after
their marriage, they were simply bonds-women; they ruled without power
even over themselves, and had no authority whatsoever in those
transactions which were of the most importance to them.
Where parents were living--although even then it was thought scarcely
necessary to consult a young woman upon the disposal of her own
hand,--yet we may suppose that parental affection might occasionally
enable her to exercise some influence, however small, in the
acceptance or rejection of a lover. But where the parents were dead,
she had for many centuries, especially in France, no voice whatever in
the matter, and was consigned, often against her inclination, to the
arms of one whom perhaps she had never seen, whom she often regarded
with indifference, and often with hate. It is little to be wondered at
that such a state of things produced gross immorality. The first act
of a young woman's life, the act alone by which she obtained
comparative freedom, being one by which all the fine and delicate
sensibilities, planted by God in the female heart, were violated at
once,--it is little to be wondered at, I say, that the vows by which
men endeavoured to supply the place of principles, should be violated
likewise at the voice of inclination.
The fault, however, was in the feudal system; and the manner in which
lands were first acquired in Europe, produced regulations for their
transmission which generated the greatest social evils,--from the
consequences of which indeed we are not yet altogether free. Each
feoff was required to be held by a man who could do service to his
sovereign in the field; and, consequently, when any vassal or vavasor
died, leaving behind him one or more daughters, the law required that
the feoff should be managed by a guardian till such time as, by
marriage, the heiress or heiresses could present men to do homage for
their lands, and perform military service to the superior lord. Thus,
an heiress could not marry without her lord's approbation; and by the
constitutions of St. Louis it was enacted, that, even where a daughter
was left under the care of her mother, the lord might require security
that she should not form an alliance without his consent; and the good
king, in the rule which he lays down for the choice of a husband for a
ward, directs the guardian simply, if there be two or three who offer,
to take the richest.
As the feudal system declined in France, however, the power of the
lord over his vassals of course diminished, and long before the end of
the sixteenth century it was but little exercised by one nobleman over
another. In cases where large inheritances fell to daughters, their
marriages were made up in their own families; and though they
themselves had, in general, as little choice allowed them as ever, yet
their own relations were the persons who selected the future
companions of their life. Thus fathers, brothers, cousins, uncles,
aunts, had all far more to do with the marriage than the person whose
weal or woe was to be affected by it.
When a father died, however, leaving his daughter to the care of a
guardian, he transmitted to him the great power he himself possessed;
and if the young lady were the heiress of great wealth, it generally
happened that the person selected for her husband was a son or near
relation of her guardian. Very often, indeed, her hand was made a
matter of merchandise and sold to the best bidder, so that the
guardianship of an heiress was not unfrequently a profitable
speculation.
During the last half of the sixteenth century, indeed, almost all
these rules and regulations were broken through, in the midst of the
civil contentions which then existed in France; and we find several
instances, even in the highest ranks of society, of children marrying
against the will of their parents, when an opportunity was afforded
them of escaping parental rule. Such was the case with the daughter of
the Duke of Montpensier; but in this, as in many other instances,
religious differences had their share, and the principle of liberty,
which rose with the Protestant religion, affected even the relations
of domestic life. To guard against the opportunities thus afforded, by
the troubles of the times, for ladies to choose as they thought fit,
many very violent and tyrannical acts were committed; and, on the
other hand, where power could venture to outstep the law, shameful
breaches of right and justice took place to get possession of the
person of an heiress, who was looked upon and treated by all parties
merely as the chief title-deed of the estate. Thus the celebrated Duke
of Mayenne himself carried off by force out of Guienne, from the care
of her own mother, Mademoiselle de Caumont in order to marry her to
one of his own sons, though she had been already contracted to another
person from the very cradle.
Such a strange state of things was farther complicated by the rights
of the monarch to certain privileges of guardianship, known by the
name of _gardes nobles_, by which he was entitled, by himself or his
officers, to take into his charge the estates and persons of certain
orphans under age; and, according to the corrupt practices of the
times, the tutelage of the royal wards, in particular provinces, was
often made a matter of merchandise, and still more frequently was
bestowed upon unworthy persons, and obtained by the most corrupt
means.
To all these complicated and evil arrangements must be added another
custom of those times, which perhaps was devised for the purpose of
obviating some of the bad consequences of the existing state of
things. I allude to the habit of affiancing at a very early period.
Sometimes this engagement between the children of two noble houses was
confirmed by every ceremony which could render the act inviolable in
the eyes of the church and the eyes of the law: sometimes, however, a
less solemn compact was entered into by the parents, subject to
certain conditions, and these were frequently rescinded, changed, or
modified, according to circumstances. In many instances the heiress of
a noble house was left by a dying parent to the guardianship of a
friend, under contract to marry that friend's heir on arriving at a
fixed period of life; and in such circumstances, whatever might be her
inclination to break this engagement, when her reason or her heart led
her towards another union, she would have found it very difficult to
escape from the trammels imposed upon her, even to take shelter within
the walls of a convent.
It has seemed necessary to give these explanations in this
introductory chapter, that the reader may clearly understand the
circumstances of the parties in the following tale; and I shall only
farther add, that at the time when the history is supposed to
commence, a long period of strife and confusion had thrown the country
into a state of anarchy, in which law was daily set at defiance, even
for the pettiest objects; every evil passion found indulgence under
the shield of faction; the most violent, the most unjust, and the most
criminal proceedings took place in every part of the realm; might made
right throughout the country; and the bigoted priesthood were
generally found ready to assist in any dark plot or cunning scheme,
where the interests of their patrons might be served, or the objects
of their own order advanced.
At the same time, though tranquillity was in no degree recovered,
everything was tending to its restoration. Henry III. who had
sanctioned, instigated, or committed every sort of crime, had fallen
under the knife of the assassin. Henri Quatre was daily strengthening
his tottering throne by victory, clemency, and policy. The battle of
Arques had been fought and won, and the king, with a small but veteran
and gallant army, had advanced towards the capital and was besieging
the town of Dreux.