the title of Henry II., was told by his dying father to beware
of the Guises. ... The Guises were a branch of the ducal House
of Lorraine, which, although the dukedom was a fief of the
German empire, had long stood in intimate relations with the
court and nobility of France. The founder of the family was
Claude, a younger son of René II., Duke of Lorraine, who,
being naturalised in France in 1505, rendered himself
conspicuous in the wars of Francis I., and was created first
Duke of Guise. He died in 1550, leaving five daughters and six
sons. His eldest daughter, Mary, became the wife of James V.
of Scotland, and mother of Mary Queen of Scots. The sons were
all men of extraordinary energy and ambition, and their united
influence was, for a number of years, more than a match for
that of the crown. Francis, second Duke of Guise, acquired,
while still a young man, extraordinary renown as a military
commander, by carrying out certain ambitious designs of France
on a neighbouring territory. ... As is well known, French
statesmen have for many centuries cherished the idea that the
natural boundary of France on the east is the Rhine, from its
mouth to its source, and thence along the crest of the Alps to
the Mediterranean. ... To begin the realisation of the idea,
advantage was taken of the war which broke out between the
Emperor Charles V. and his Protestant subjects in North
Germany [see GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552]. Although the
Protestants of France were persecuted to the death, Henry II.,
with furtively ambitious designs, offered to defend the
Protestants of Germany against their own emperor; and entered
into an alliance in 1551 with Maurice of Saxony and other
princes, undertaking to send an army to their aid. As bases of
his operations, it was agreed that he might take temporary
military possession of Toul, Verdun, and Metz, three
bishoprics [forming a district called the Trois Évêchés], each
with a portion of territory lying within the area of the duchy
of Lorraine, but held as distinct fiefs of the German empire--
such, in fact, being fragments of Lothair's kingdom, which
fell to Germany, and had in no shape been incorporated with
France. It was stipulated that, in occupying these places, the
French were not to interfere with their old connection with
the empire. The confidence reposed in the French was
grievously abused. All the stipulations went for nothing. In
1552, French troops took possession of Toul and Verdun, also
of Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, treating the duchy,
generally, as a conquered country. Seeing this, Metz shut her
gates and trusted to her fortifications. To procure an
entrance and secure possession, there was a resort to
stratagems which afford a startling illustration of the tricks
that French nobles at that time could be guilty of in order to
gain their ends. The French commander, the Constable
Montmorency, begged to be allowed to pass through the town
with a few attendants, while his army made a wide circuit on
its route. The too credulous custodiers of the city opened the
gates, and, to their dismay, the whole French forces rushed
in, and began to rule in true despotic fashion. ... Thus was
Metz secured for France in a way which modern Frenchmen, we
should imagine, can hardly think of without shame. Germany,
however, did not relinquish this important fortress without a
struggle. Furious at its loss, the Emperor Charles V.
proceeded to besiege it with a large army. The defence was
undertaken by the Duke of Guise, assisted by a body of French
nobility. After an investment of four months, and a loss of
30,000 men, Charles was forced to raise the siege, January 1,
1553, all his attempts at the capture of the place being
effectually baffled."
_W. Chambers,
France: its History and Revolutions,
chapter 6._
{1196}
"The war continued during the two following years; but both
parties were now growing weary of a contest in which neither
achieved any decisive superiority"; and the emperor, having
negotiated an armistice, resigned all his crowns to his son,
Philip II., and his brother Ferdinand (October, 1555).
"Meantime Pope Paul IV., who detested the Spaniards and longed
for the complete subversion of their power in the Peninsula,
entered into a league with the French king against Philip;
Francis of Guise was encouraged in his favorite project of
effecting a restoration of the crown of Naples to his own
family, as the descendants of René of Anjou; and in December,
1556, an army of 16,000 men, commanded by the Duke of Guise,
crossed the Alps, and, marching direct to Rome, prepared to
attack the Spanish viceroy of Naples, the celebrated Duke of
Alva. In April, 1557, Guise advanced into the Abruzzi, and
besieged Civitella; but here he encountered a determined
resistance, and, after sacrificing a great part of his troops,
found it necessary to abandon the attempt. He retreated toward
Rome, closely pursued by the Duke of Alva; and the result was
that the expedition totally failed. Before his army could
recover from the fatigues and losses of their fruitless
campaign, the French general was suddenly recalled by a
dispatch containing tidings of urgent importance from the
north of France. The Spanish army in the Netherlands,
commanded by the Duke of Savoy, having been joined by a body
of English auxiliaries under the Earl of Pembroke, had invaded
France and laid siege to St. Quentin. This place was badly
fortified, and defended by a feeble garrison under the Admiral
de Coligny. Montmorency advanced with the main army to
re-enforce it, and on the 10th of August rashly attacked the
Spaniards, who outnumbered his own troops in the proportion of
more than two to one, and inflicted on him a fatal and
irretrievable defeat. The loss of the French amounted,
according to most accounts, to 4,000 slain in the field, while
at least an equal number remained prisoners, including the
Constable himself. The road to Paris lay open to the victors.
... The Duke of Savoy was eager to advance; but the cautious
Philip, happily for France, rejected his advice, and ordered
him to press the siege of St. Quentin. That town made a
desperate resistance for more than a fortnight longer, and was
captured by storm on the 27th of August [1557]. ... Philip
took possession of a few other neighbouring fortresses, but
attempted no serious movement in prosecution of his victory.
... The Duke of Guise arrived from Italy early in October, to
the great joy of the king and the nation, and was immediately
created lieutenant-general of the kingdom, with powers of
almost unlimited extent. Be applied himself, with his utmost
ability and perseverance, to repair the late disasters; and
with such success, that in less than two months he was enabled
to assemble a fresh and well-appointed army at Compiègne.
Resolving to strike a vigorous blow before the enemy could
reappear in the field, he detached a division of his army to
make a feint in the direction of Luxemburg; and, rapidly
marching westward with the remainder, presented himself on the
1st of January, 1558, before the walls of Calais. ... The
French attack was a complete surprise; the two advanced forts
commanding the approaches to the town were bombarded, and
surrendered on the 3d of January; three days later the castle
was carried by assault; and on the 8th, the governor, Lord
Wentworth, was forced to capitulate. ... Guines, no longer
tenable after the fall of Calais, shared the same fate on the
21st of January; and thus, within the short space of three
weeks, were the last remnants of her ancient dominion on the
Continent snatched from the grasp of England--possessions
which she had held for upward of 200 years. ... This
remarkable exploit, so flattering to the national pride,
created universal enthusiasm in France, and carried to the
highest pitch the reputation and popularity of Guise. From
this moment his influence became paramount; and the marriage
of the dauphin to the Queen of Scots, which was solemnised on
the 24th of April, 1558, seemed to exalt the house of Lorraine
to a still more towering pinnacle of greatness. It was
stipulated by a secret article of the marriage-contract that
the sovereignty of Scotland should be transferred to France,
and that the two crowns should remain united forever, in case
of the decease of Mary without issue. Toward the end of the
year negotiations were opened with a view to peace." They were
interrupted, however, in November, 1558, by the death of Queen
Mary of England, wife of Philip of Spain. "When the congress
reassembled at Le Cateau-Cambresis, in February, 1559, the
Spanish ministers no longer maintained the interests of
England; and Elizabeth, thus abandoned, agreed to an
arrangement which virtually ceded Calais to France, though
with such nominal qualifications as satisfied the
sensitiveness of the national honour. Calais was to be
restored to the English at the end of eight years, with a
penalty, in case of failure, of 500,000 crowns. At the same
time, if any hostile proceedings should take place on the part
of England against France within the period specified, the queen
was to forego all claim to the fulfillment of the article."
The treaty between France and England was signed April 2,
1559, and that between France and Spain the following day. By
the latter, "the two monarchs mutually restored their
conquests in Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Picardy, and Artois;
France abandoned Savoy and Piedmont, with the exception of
Turin and four other fortresses [restoring Philibert Emanuel,
Duke of Savoy, to his dominions--see SAVOY AND PIEDMONT: A. D.
1559-1580]; she evacuated Tuscany, Corsica, and Montferrat,
and yielded up no less than 189 towns or fortresses in various
parts of Europe. By way of compensation, Henry preserved the
district of the 'Trois Évêchés'--Toul, Metz, and Verdun--and
made the all-important acquisition of Calais. This
pacification was sealed, according to custom, by
marriages"--Henry's daughter Elizabeth to Philip of Spain, and
his sister Marguerite to the Duke of Savoy. In a tournament, at
Paris, which celebrated these marriages, Henry received an
injury from the lance of Montgomery, captain of his Scottish
guards, which caused his death eleven days afterwards--July
10, 1559.
_W. H. Jervis,
Student's History of France,
chapter 15._
ALSO IN:
_J. L. Motley,
The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
part 1, chapters 2-3 (volume l)._
_Lady Jackson,
The Court of France in the 16th Century,
volume 2, chapters 9-20._
_L. von Ranke,
Civil Wars and Monarchy in France,
16th and 17th Centuries, chapter 6 (volume 1)._
FRANCE: A. D. 1548.
Marriage of Antoine de Bourbon to Jeanne d'Albret, heiress of
Navarre.
See NAVARRE: A. D. 1528-1563.
FRANCE: A. D. 1552.
Alliance with the Turks.
See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1528-1570.
FRANCE: A. D. 1554-1565.
Huguenot attempts at colonization in Brazil and in Florida,
and their fate.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1562-1563; 1564-1565;
1565, and 1567-1568.
FRANCE: A. D. 1558-1559.
Aid given to revolt in Corsica.
See GENOA: A. D. 1528-1559.
FRANCE: A. D. 1559.
Accession of King Francis. II.
{1197}
FRANCE: A. D. 1559-1561.
Francis II., Charles IX., the Guises and Catharine de' Medici.
The Conspiracy of Amboise.
Rapid spread and organization of Protestantism.
Rise of the Huguenot party.
Disputed origin of its name.
Henry II. "had been married from political motives to the
niece of Clement VII., Catharine de Medici. This ambitious
woman came to France conscious that the marriage was a
political one, mentally a stranger to her husband; and such
she always remained. This placed her from the first in a false
position. The King was influenced by anyone rather than by his
wife; and a by no means charming mistress, Diana of Poitiers,
played her part by the side of and above the Queen. ...
Immediately after the death of her husband, in 1559, she
[Catharine] greedily grasped at power. The young King, Francis
II., was of age when he entered his fourteenth year. There
could therefore be no legal regency, though there might be an
actual one, for a weakly monarch of sixteen was still
incompetent to govern. But she was thwarted in her first grasp
at power. Under Francis I., a family [the Guises--see above]
previously unknown in French history had begun to play a
prominent part. ... The brothers succeeded in bringing about a
political marriage which promised to throw the King, who was
mentally a child, entirely into their hands. Their sister Mary
had been married to James V. of Scotland, whose crown was then
rather an insignificant one, but was now beginning to gain
importance. The issue of this marriage was a charming girl,
who was destined for the King's wife. She was betrothed to him
without his consent when still a child. The young Queen was
Mary Stuart. Her misfortunes, her beauty, and her connection
with European history, have made her a historical personage,
more conspicuous indeed for what she suffered than for what
she did; her real importance is not commensurate with the
position she occupies. This, then, was the position of the
brothers Guise at court. The King was the husband of their
niece; both were children in age and mind, and therefore
doubly required guidance. The brothers, Francis and Charles,
had the government entirely in their hands; the Duke managed
the army, the Cardinal the finances and foreign affairs. Two
such leaders were the mayors of the palace. The whole
constitution of the court reminds us of the 'rois fainéants'
and the office of major-domo under the Carlovingians. Thus,
just when Catharine was about to take advantage of a
favourable moment, she saw herself once more eclipsed and
thrust aside, and that by insolent upstarts of whom one thing
only was certain, that they possessed unusual talents, and
that their consciences were elastic in the choice of means. It
was not only from Catharine that the supremacy of the Guises
met with violent opposition, but also from Protestantism, the
importance of which was greatly increasing in France. ... In
the time of Henry II., in spite of all the edicts and
executions, Protestantism had made great progress. ... In the
spring of 1559, interdicted Protestantism had secretly
reviewed its congregations, and at the first national synod
drawn up a confession of faith and a constitution for the new
Church. Preachers and elders had appeared from every part of
France, and their eighty articles of 28th May, 1559, have
become the code of laws of French Protestantism. The
Calvinistic principle of the Congregational Church, with
choice of its own minister, deacons, and elders; a consistory
which maintained strict discipline in matters of faith and
morals ... was established upon French soil, and was
afterwards publicly accepted by the whole party. The more
adherents this party gained in the upper circles, the bolder
was its attitude; there was, indeed, no end to the executions,
or to the edicts against heresy, but a spirit of opposition,
previously unknown, had gradually gained ground. Prisoners
were set free, the condemned were rescued from the hands of
the executioners on the way to the scaffold, and a plan was
devised among the numerous fugitives in foreign lands for
producing a turn in the course of events by violent means. La
Rénaudie, a reformed nobleman from Perigord, who had sworn
vengeance on the Guises for the execution of his brother, had,
with a number of other persons of his own way of thinking,
formed a plan for attacking the Guises, carrying off the King,
and placing him under the guardianship of the Bourbon agnates.
... The project was betrayed; the Guises succeeded in placing
the King in security in the Castle of Amboise; a number of the
conspirators were seized, another troop overpowered and
dispersed on their attack upon the castle, on the 17th of
March, 1560; some were killed, some taken prisoners and at
once executed. It was then discovered, or pretended, that the
youngest of the Bourbon princes [see BOURBON, HOUSE OF], Louis
of Condé, was implicated in the conspiracy [known as the
Conspiracy or Tumult of Amboise]. ... The Guises now ventured,
in contempt of French historical traditions, to imprison this
prince of the blood, this agnate of the reigning house; to
summon him before an arbitrary tribunal of partisans, and to
condemn him to death. ... This affair kept all France in
suspense. All the nobles, although strongly infected with
Huguenot ideas, were on Condé's side; even those who condemned
his religious opinions made his cause their own. They justly
thought that if he fell none of them would be safe. In the
midst of this ferment, destiny interposed. On the 5th of
December, 1560, Francis II. died suddenly, and a complete
change took place. His death put an end to a net-work of
intrigues, which aimed at knocking the rebellion, political
and religious, on the head. ... During this confusion one
individual had been watching the course of events with the
eagerness of a beast ready to seize on its prey. Catharine of
Medici was convinced that the time of her dominion had at
length arrived. ... Francis II. was scarcely dead when she
seized upon the person and the power of Charles IX. He was a
boy of ten years old, not more promising than his eldest
brother, sickly and weakly like all the sons of Henry II.,
more attached to his mother than the others, and he had been
neglected by the Guises. ... One of her first acts was to
liberate Condé; this was a decided step towards reconciliation
with the Bourbons and the Protestants. The whole situation was
all at once changed. The court was ruled by Catharine; her
feverish thirst for power was satisfied. The Guises and their
adherents were, indeed, permitted to remain in their offices
and posts of honour, in order not fatally to offend them; but
their supremacy was destroyed, and the new power was based
upon the Queen's understanding with the heads of the Huguenot
party."
_L. Häusser,
The Period of the Reformation, 1517 to 1648,
chapter 25._
{1198}
"The recent commotion had disclosed the existence of a body of
malcontents, in part religious, in part also political,
scattered over the whole kingdom and of unascertained numbers.
To its adherents the name of Huguenots was now for the first
time given. What the origin of this celebrated appellation
was, it is now perhaps impossible to discover. ... It has been
traced back to the name of the Eidgenossen or 'confederates,'
under which the party of freedom figured in Geneva when the
authority of the bishop and duke was overthrown; or to the
'Roy Huguet,' or 'Huguon,' a hobgoblin supposed to haunt the
vicinity of Tours, to whom the superstitious attributed the
nocturnal assemblies of the Protestants; or to the gate 'du
roy Huguon' of the same city, near which those gatherings were
wont to be made. Some of their enemies maintained the former
existence of a diminutive coin known as a 'huguenot,' and
asserted that the appellation, as applied to the reformed,
arose from their 'not being worth a huguenot,' or farthing;
And some of their friends, with equal confidence and no less
improbability, declared that it was invented because the
adherents of the house of Guise secretly put forward claims
upon the crown of France in behalf of that house as descended
from Charlemagne, whereas the Protestants loyally upheld the
rights of the Valois sprung from Hugh Capet. In the diversity
of contradictory statements, we may perhaps be excused if we
suspend our judgment. ... Not a week had passed after the
conspiracy of Amboise before the word was in everybody's
mouth. Few knew or cared whence it arose. A powerful party,
whatever name it might bear, had sprung up, as it were, in a
night. ... No feature of the rise of the Reformation in France
is more remarkable than the sudden impulse which it received
during the last year or two of Henry II.'s life, and
especially within the brief limits of the reign of his eldest
son. ... There was not a corner of the kingdom where the
number of incipient Protestant churches was not considerable.
Provence alone contained 60, whose delegates this year met in
a synod at the blood-stained village of Mérindol. In large
tracts of country the Huguenots had become so numerous that
they were no longer able or disposed to conceal their
religious sentiments, nor content to celebrate their rites in
private or nocturnal assemblies. This was particularly the
case in Normandy, in Languedoc, and on the banks of the
Rhone."
_H. M. Baird,
History of the Rise of the Huguenots,
book 1, chapter 10 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN:
_C. M. Yonge,
Cameos from English History,
4th series, chapter 29._
FRANCE: A. D. 1560.
Accession of King Charles IX.
FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563.
Changed policy of Catharine de' Medici.
Delusive favors to the Huguenots.
The Guises and the Catholics again ascendant.
The massacre of Vassy.
Outbreak of civil war.
Battle of Dreux.
Assassination of Guise.
Peace and the Edict of Amboise.
"Catherine de Medici, now regent, thought it wisest to abandon
the policy which had till then prevailed under the influence
of the Guises, and while she confirmed the Lorraine princes in
the important offices they held, she named, on the other hand,
Antoine de Bourbon [king of Navarre] lieutenant-general of the
kingdom, and took Michel de l'Hôpital as her chief adviser.
... Chancellor de l'Hôpital, like the Regent, aimed at the
destruction of the parties which were rending the kingdom
asunder; but his political programme was that of an honest man
and a true liberal. A wise system of religious toleration and
of administrative reform would, he thought, restore peace and
satisfy all true Frenchmen. 'Let us,' he said, 'do away with
the diabolical party-names which cause so many
seditions--Lutherans, Huguenots, and Papists; let us not alter
the name of Christians.' ... The edicts of Saint Germain and
of January (1562) were favourable to the Huguenots. Religious
meetings were allowed in rural districts; all penalties
previously decreed against Dissenters were suspended on
condition that the old faith should not be interfered with:
finally, the Huguenot divines, with Theodore de Bèze at their
head, were invited to meet the Roman Catholic prelates and
theologians in a conference (colloque) at Poissy, near Paris.
Theodore de Bèze, the faithful associate and coadjutor of
Calvin in the great work of the Reformation, both at Geneva
and in France, is justly and universally regarded as the
historian of the early Huguenots. ... The speech he delivered
at the opening of the colloque is an eloquent plea for liberty
and mutual forbearance. Unfortunately, the conciliatory
measures he proposed satisfied no one."
_G. Masson,
The Huguenots,
chapter 2._