THE ASSEMBLY OF NOTABLES AT FONTAINEBLEAU, AND THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF
FRANCIS THE SECOND.
[Sidenote: Rise of the name "Huguenots."]
[Sidenote: Various explanations given.]
The tempest which had threatened to overwhelm the Guises at Amboise had
been successfully withstood; but quiet had not returned to the minds of
those whose vices were its principal cause. The air was still thick with
noxious vapors, and none could tell how soon or in what quarter the
elements of a new and more terrible convulsion would gather.[847] 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.[848] What the origin of
this celebrated appellation was, it is now perhaps impossible to
discover. Although a number of plausible derivations have been given, it
is not unlikely that all are equally far removed from the truth, and
that the word arose from some trivial circumstance that has completely
passed into oblivion. 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;[849] 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;[850] or to the
gate _du roy Huguon_ of the same city, near which those gatherings were
wont to be made.[851] 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.[852] 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.[853] In the diversity of
contradictory statements, we may perhaps be excused if we suspend our
judgment of their respective merits, and prefer to look upon this
partisan name as one with whose original import not a score of persons
in France besides its fortuitous inventor may have been acquainted, and
which may have had nothing to recommend it to those who so readily
adopted it, save novelty and the recognized need of some more convenient
name than "Lutherans," "Christaudins," or the awkward circumlocution,
"those of the religion." Be this as it may, 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.[854]
[Sidenote: Its sudden rise.]
A powerful party, whatever name it might bear, had sprung up, as it
were, in a night. There was sober truth conveyed in the jesting letter
of some fugitives to the Cardinal of Lorraine. Twenty or thirty
Huguenots succeeded in breaking the bars of their prison at Blois, and,
letting themselves down by cords, escaped. Some others at Tours, a few
days later, were equally fortunate. Scarcely had the latter regained
their liberty when they wrote a letter to the prelate who was supposed
to take so deep an interest in their concerns, informing him that,
having heard of the escape of his prisoners at Blois, they had been so
grieved, that, for the love they bore him, they had immediately started
out in search. And they begged him not to distress himself on account of
their absence; for they assured him that _they would all soon return to
see him, and would bring with them not only these, but all the rest of
those that had conspired to take his life_.[855]
[Sidenote: How to be accounted for.]
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 the Second's life, and especially within the brief limits of the
reign of his eldest son. The seed had been sown assiduously for nearly
forty years; but the fruit of so much labor had been comparatively
slight and unsatisfactory. Much of the return proved to be of a literary
and philosophical, rather than of a religious character, and tended to
intellectual development instead of the purification of religions belief
and practice. Much of the seed was choked by relentless persecution.
Bishops and preachers, the gay poet, and the time-serving courtier, fell
away with alarming facility, when the blight of the royal displeasure
fell upon those who professed a desire to abolish the superstitious
observances of the established church.
[Sidenote: A sudden harvest.]
But now, within a few brief months, the harvest seemed, as by a miracle,
to be approaching simultaneously over the whole surface of the extended
field. The grains of truth long since lodged in an arid soil, and
apparently destitute of all vitality, had suddenly developed all the
energy of life. France to the reformers, whose longing eyes were at
length permitted to see this day, was "white unto the harvest," and only
the reapers were needed to put forth the sickle and gather the wheat
into the garner. There was not a corner of the kingdom where the number
of incipient Protestant churches was not considerable. Provence alone
contained sixty, whose delegates this year met in a synod at the
blood-stained village of Merindol. 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.
[Sidenote: The progress of letters]
[Sidenote: and of intelligence.]
It may be worth while to pause here, and inquire into some of the causes
of this rapid spread of the doctrines of the Reformation after the long
period of comparative stagnation preceding. One of these was undoubtedly
the astonishing progress of letters in France during the last forty
years. From being neglected and rough, the French language, during the
first half of the sixteenth century, became the most polite of the
tongues spoken in Western Europe--thanks to a series of eminent prose
writers and poets who graced the royal court. The generation reaching
manhood in the latter years of the reign of Henry the Second were far
better educated than the contemporaries of Francis the First. The public
mind, through the elevating tendencies of schools fostered by royal
bounty, was to a considerable degree emancipated from the thraldom of
superstition. It repudiated the silly romanese, passing for the lives of
the saints, with which the public had formerly been satisfied. It
scrutinized minutely every pretended miracle of the papal churches and
convents, and exposed the trickery by which a corrupt clergy sought to
maintain itself in popular esteem. Thus the growing intelligence and
widening information of the people prepared them to appreciate the
merits of the great doctrinal controversy now occupying the attention of
enlightened minds. Interest in the discussion of the most important
themes that can occupy the human contemplation was both stimulated and
gratified by a constant influx of religious works from the teeming
presses of Strasbourg, Basle, Lausanne, Neufchatel, and especially
Geneva. And the verdict of the great majority of readers and thinkers
was favorable to the Swiss and German controversialists.
[Sidenote: Calvin's Institutes.]
[Sidenote: Marot and Beza's Psalms.]
Next to the Bible, translated originally by Olivetanus, and in its
successive editions rendered more conformable to the Hebrew and Greek
texts, the "Christian Institutes" exerted the most powerful influence.
The close logic of Calvin's treatises, speaking in a style clear,
concise and nervous, and touching a chord of sympathy in each French
reader, made its deep impress upon the intellect and heart, while
captivating the ear. Calvin's commentaries on the sacred volume rendered
its pages luminous and familiar. Other works exerted an influence
scarcely inferior. The "Actions and Monuments" of the martyrs, by Jean
Crespin, printer and scholar, not only perpetuated the memory of the
witnesses for the truth, but stimulated others to copy their fidelity.
Marot and Beza's metrical versions of the Psalms, wafted into
popularity, even among those who at first little sympathized with the
piety of the words, by the novelty and beauty of the music to which they
were sung, were powerful auxiliaries to the arguments of the theologian.
They entered the house of the peasant and invested its homely scenes
with a calm derived from the contemplation of the bliss of a heaven
where the fleeting distinctions of the present shall melt away. They
nerved the humble artisan to patience and to the cheerful endurance of
obloquy and reproach. They attracted to the gathering of persecuted
reformers in the by-street, in the retired barn, or on the open heath or
mountain side, the youth who preferred their melody and intelligible
words to the jargon of a service conducted in a tongue understood only
by the learned. In the royal court, or rising in loud chorus from a
thousand voices on the crowded _Pre-aux-Clercs_, they were winged
messengers of the truth, where no other messengers could have found
utterance with impunity.
[Sidenote: Morals and martyrdom.]
The blameless purity of life of the men and women whom, for religion's
sake, the officers of the law put to death with every species of
indignity and with inhuman cruelty, when contrasted with the flagrant
corruption of the clergy and the shameless dissoluteness of the court,
openly fostered for their own base ends by cardinals themselves accused
of every species of immorality and suspected of atheism, deeply affected
the minds of the reflecting. One Anne Du Bourg put to death by a Charles
of Lorraine made more converts in a day than all the executioners could
burn in a year.
[Sidenote: Character of the ministers from Geneva.]
But, if the rapid spread of Protestant doctrines at this precise date is
due to any one cause more than to another, that cause may probably be
found in the character and numbers of the religious teachers. Converts
from the Papal Church, principally priests and monks, were the first
apostles of the Reformation. Few of them had received systematic
training of any kind, none had a thorough acquaintance with biblical
learning. Many embraced the truth only in part; some professed it from
improper motives. The Lenten preachers whose leaning towards
"Lutheranism" was sufficiently marked to attract the hatred of the
Sorbonne, were generally orators, more solicitous of popularity than
jealous for the truth--fickle and inconstant men whose apostasy
inflicted deep wounds upon the cause with which they had been
identified, and more than neutralized all the good done by their
previous exertions. But now a brotherhood of theologians took their
place, not less zealous for the faith than disciplined in intellect.
Geneva[856] was the nursery from which a vigorous stock was transplanted
to French soil. The theological school in which Calvin and Beza taught,
moulded the destinies of France. The youths who came from the shores of
Lake Leman were no neophytes, nor had they to unlearn the casuistry of
the schools or to throw off a monastic indolence which habit had made a
second nature. They embraced a vocation to which nothing but a stern
sense of duty, or the more powerful attraction of Divine love, could
prompt. They entered an arena where poverty, fatigue, and almost
inevitable death stared them in the face. But they entered it
intelligently and resolutely, with the training of mind and of soul
which an athlete might receive from such instructors, and their
prayerful, trustful and unselfish endeavor met an ample
recompense.[857]
[Sidenote: The Huguenots of Valence]
[Sidenote: seize the church of the Franciscans.]
The course of events in many cities of Southern France is illustrated by
the occurrences at Valence, which the most authentic and trustworthy
historian of this reign has described at length. This episcopal city,
situated on the Rhone, about midway between Lyons and Avignon, had for
some time contained a small community of Huguenots. When, in order to
avoid persecution, their minister, who had become known to their
enemies, was replaced by another, a period of unexampled growth began.
The private houses in which the Protestants met were too small to
contain the worshippers. They now adjourned to the large schools, but at
first held their services by night. Soon their courage grew with the
advent of a second minister and with large accessions to their ranks.
The younger and more impetuous part of the Protestants, disregarding the
prudent counsels of their pastors and elders, ventured upon the bold
step of seizing upon the Church of the Franciscans, and caused the
Gospel to be openly preached from its pulpit. The people assembled,
summoned by the ringing of the bell; and it was not long before the
reformed doctrines were relished and embraced by great crowds. A goodly
number of armed gentlemen simultaneously took possession of the
adjoining cloisters, and protected the Protestant rites. The
co-religionists of Montelimart and Romans, considerable towns not far
distant, emboldened by the example of Valence, resorted to public
preaching in the churches or within their precincts.[858]
[Sidenote: A public assembly of citizens.]
[Sidenote: An impressive scene.]
[Sidenote: The public morals.]
On receiving the intelligence of the sudden outbreak of Protestant zeal
in his diocese, the Bishop of Valence--himself at one time possibly
half-inclined to become a convert--despatched thither the Seneschal of
Valentinois with the royal Edict of Forgiveness published at Amboise for
all who had taken arms and conspired against the king. The citizens were
summoned to a public assembly, in which the magistrates, the consuls,
the clergy, and the chief Huguenots were conspicuous. After reading and
explaining the terms of the royal clemency, the seneschal turned to the
Protestants, who stood by themselves, and demanded whether they intended
to avail themselves of its protection. Mirabel, their chief spokesman,
replied that it was the custom of the reformed churches to offer prayer
to God before treating of so important affairs as this, and proffered a
request that they be allowed to invoke His presence and blessing.
Permission was granted. A citizen of Valence, who was also a deacon of
the Reformed Church, thereupon came forward, and uttered a fervent
prayer for the prosperity of the king and his realm, and for the
progress of the Gospel. The Protestant gentlemen reverently uncovered
their heads and knelt upon the ground, and their Roman Catholic
neighbors imitated their example. But it was noticed that the clergy
stood unmoved and refused to join in the act of worship. The prayer
being ended, a Huguenot orator delivered the answer of his brethren. It
was, that they rejoiced and rendered thanks for the benignity of their
young prince; but that they could not avail themselves of the pardon
offered. They had never conspired against their king. On the contrary,
they professed a religion that enjoined the most dutiful obedience. As
for bearing arms, it had only been resorted to by the Huguenots in order
that they might protect themselves against the unauthorized insults and
violence of private persons. The citizen was followed by a _procureur_,
who, for eight years, had kept the criminal records of Valence. He bore
public testimony to a wonderful change that had come over the city
since the introduction of the preaching of the Gospel. The acts of
violence which formerly rendered the streets so dangerous by night that
few dared to venture out of their houses, even to visit their neighbors,
had almost disappeared. The fearful story of crime which used to
confront him every morning had been succeeded by a chronicle of quiet
and peace. It would seem that with a change of doctrine had also come a
transformation of life. The speaker challenged the other side to gainsay
his statements; and when not a voice was heard in contradiction, he
administered to the Papists a scathing rebuke for the calumnies which
some of them had forged against the Protestants behind their backs. With
this triumphant refutation of the charges of disorder, the assembly
broke up.[859]
[Sidenote: The Huguenots of Dauphiny to be exterminated.]
The province of Dauphiny, within whose limits Valence, Romans and
Montelimart were comprehended, was a government entrusted to the Duke of
Guise. Moved with indignation at finding it become the hotbed of
Protestantism, he determined to crush the Huguenots before impunity had
given them still greater boldness. The governors of adjacent provinces
were ordered to assist in the pious undertaking. King Francis, in a
paroxysm of rage, wrote to Tavannes, acting governor of Burgundy, to
take all the men-at-arms under his command and march to the assistance
of Clermart, Lieutenant-Governor of Dauphiny, in cutting to pieces those
who had taken up arms under color of religion. They were, he heard,
three or four thousand men, and had instituted public preaching "after
the Geneva fashion," with all other insolent acts conceivable. He begged
him to punish them as they deserved, showing no pity or compassion,
since they had refused to take advantage of the forgiveness of past
offences which had been sent them. He was to _extirpate_ the evil.[860]
These and other equally brutal instructions were obeyed with alacrity;
but their execution was effected rather by treachery than by open
force. The Huguenots of Valence were first induced by promises of
security to lay aside their arms, then imprisoned and despoiled by a
party consisting of the very dregs of the population of Lyons and
Vienne. Two of the ministers were put to death[861] in company with
three of the principal men, one being the _procureur_ who had given such
noble testimony to the morals of the Protestants. More would have been
executed had not the Bishop of Valence been induced to intercede for his
episcopal city, and obtain amnesty for its citizens. Romans and
Montelimart fared little better than Valence.[862]
[Sidenote: Concourse at Nismes.]
At Nismes, in Languedoc--destined periodically, for the next three
centuries, to be the scene of civil dissension arising from religious
intolerance--as early as in Holy Week, three Protestant ministers had
been preaching in private houses and administering baptism. On Easter
Monday a large concourse from the city and the surrounding villages
publicly passed out into the suburbs--armed, if we may believe the
cowardly Vicomte de Joyeuse, with corselets, arquebuses, and pikes--and
celebrated the Lord's Supper "after the manner of Geneva." Neither the
presidial judges nor the consuls exhibited much disposition to second
the efforts of the provincial government in suppressing these
manifestations.[863]
[Sidenote: Mouvans in arms in Provence.]
[Sidenote: His message to Guise.]
In Provence the commotion assumed a more military aspect, in immediate
connection with the conspiracy of Amboise. Mouvans, an able leader,
after failing in an attempt to gain admission to Aix, long maintained
himself in the open country. Keeping up a wonderful degree of discipline
in his army, he allowed his soldiers, indeed, to destroy the images in
the churches and to melt down the rich reliquaries of gold and silver,
but scrupulously required them to place the precious metal in the hands
of the local authorities. At length, forced to capitulate to the Comte
de Tende, the royal governor, he obtained the promise of security of
person and liberty of worship. New acts of treachery rendered his
position unsafe, and he retired to Geneva. It was thence that he
returned to the Duke of Guise, who professed to be eager to secure for
himself the services of so able a commander, a noble answer: "So long as
I know you to be an enemy of my religion and of the public peace, and to
be occupying the place of right belonging to the princes of the blood,
you may be assured you have an enemy in Mouvans, a poor gentleman, but
able to bring against you fifty thousand good servants of the King of
France, who are ready to endanger life and property in redressing the
wrongs you have inflicted on the faithful subjects of his Majesty."[864]
[Sidenote: A popular awakening.]
It was impossible to ignore the fact: France had awakened from the sleep
of ages. The doctrines of the Reformation were being embraced by the
masses. It was impossible to repress the impulse to confess with the
mouth[865] what was believed in the heart. At Rouen, the earnest request
of the authorities, seconded by the prudent advice of the ministers,
might prevail upon the Protestant community still to be content with an
unostentatious and almost private worship, upon promise of connivance on
the part of the Parliament of Normandy. But Caen, St. Lo, and Dieppe
witnessed great public assemblies,[866] and Central and Southern France
copied the example of Normandy. The time for secret gatherings and a
timid worship had gone by. They were no longer in question. "When cities
and almost entire provinces had embraced the faith of the reformers," a
recent historian has well remarked,[867] "secret assemblies became an
impossibility. A whole people cannot shut themselves up in forests and
in caverns to invoke their God. From whom would they hide? From
themselves? The very idea is absurd."
[Sidenote: Pamphlets against the usurpers.]
[Sidenote: The queen mother consults La Planche.]
The political ferment was not less active than the religious. The
pamphlets and the representations made by the emissaries of the Guises
to foreign powers, in which the movement at Amboise was branded as a
conspiracy directed against the king and the royal authority, called
forth a host of replies vindicating the _political_ Huguenots, and
setting their project in its true light, as an effort to overthrow the
intolerable usurpation of the Guises. The tyrants were no match for the
patriots in the use of the pen; but it fared ill with the author or
printer of these libels, when the strenuous efforts made to discover
them proved successful.[868] The politic Catharine de' Medici, fearing a
new and more dreadful outburst of the popular discontent, renewed her
hollow advances to the Protestant churches,[869] held a long
consultation with Louis Regnier de la Planche (the eminent historian,
whose profoundly philosophical and exact chronicle of this short reign
leaves us only disappointed that he confined his masterly investigations
to so limited a field) respecting the grounds of the existing
dissatisfaction,[870] and despatched Coligny to Normandy for the purpose
of finding a cure for the evil.
[Sidenote: Edict of Romorantin, May, 1560.]
[Sidenote: No abatement of rigor.]
The Guises, on the other hand, resolved to meet the difficulties of
their situation with boldness. The opposition, so far as it was
religious, must be repressed by legislation strictly enforced.
Accordingly, in the month of May, 1560, an edict was published known as
the _Edict of Romorantin_, from the place where the court was
sojourning, but remarkable for nothing save the misapprehensions that
have been entertained respecting its origin and object.[871] It
restored exclusive jurisdiction in matters of simple heresy to the
clergy, excluding the civil courts from all participation, save to
execute the sentence of the ecclesiastical judge. But it neither
lightened nor aggravated the penalties affixed by previous laws. _Death_
was still to be the fate of the convicted heretic, to whom it mattered
little whether he were tried by a secular or by a spiritual tribunal,
except that the forms of law were more likely to be observed by the
former than by the latter. A section directed against the "assemblies"
in which, under color of religion, arms were carried and the public
peace threatened, declared those who took part in them to be rebels
liable to the penalties of treason.[872]
[Sidenote: Death of Chancellor Olivier.]
A remarkable figure now comes upon the stage of French affairs in the
person of Chancellor Michel de l'Hospital. Chancellor Olivier, who had
merited universal respect while losing office in consequence of his
steadfast resistance to injustice under the previous reign, had
forfeited the esteem of the good by his complaisance when restored to
office by the Guises at the beginning of the present reign. Overcome
with remorse for the cruelties in which he had acquiesced since his
reinstatement, he fell sick shortly after the tumult of Amboise. When
visited during his last illness by the Cardinal of Lorraine, he coldly
turned his back upon him and muttered, "Ah! Cardinal, you have caused us
all to be damned."[873] He died not long afterward, and was buried
without regret, despised by the patriotic party on account of his
unfaithfulness to early convictions, and hated by the Guises for his
tardy condemnation of their measures.
[Sidenote: Chancellor Michel de l'Hospital.]
Of L'Hospital, because raised to the vacant charge by the Lorraine
influence, little good was originally expected.[874] But the lapse of a
few years revealed the incorruptible integrity of his character and the
sagacity of his plans.[875] Elevated to the highest judicial post at a
critical juncture, he accepted a dignity for which he had little
ambition, only that he might the better serve his country. What he could
not remedy he resolved to make as endurable as possible. It was not
within the power of a single virtuous statesman to allay the storm and
quiet the surging waters; but by good-will, perseverance, and nerve, he
might steer the ship of state through many a narrow channel and by many
a hidden rock. An ardent lover and earnest advocate of toleration, he
yet considered it politic to consent to urge the Parliament of Paris, in
the king's name, to register the Edict of Romorantin, in accordance with
which the system of persecution was for a while to be continued. One of
the original conspirators of Amboise, according to the explicit
statement of a writer who saw his signature affixed to the secret papers
of the confederates,[876] he made no opposition to the article that
pronounced the penalties of treason upon those who assembled in arms to
celebrate the rites of religious worship. Yet he dissembled not from
timidity, treachery, or ambition, but solely that by unremitting labor
he might heal the unhappy dissensions of his country. "_Patience,
patience, tout ira bien_," were the words he always had in his mouth for
encouragement and consolation.[877]
[Sidenote: Perplexity of the ruling family.]
As the summer advanced the perplexities of the Guises increased. Every
day there were new alarms. The English ambassador, not able to conceal
his satisfaction at the perplexity of his queen's covert enemies, wrote
to Cecil: "If I should discourse particularly unto you what these men
have done since my last letters ... you would think me as fond in
observing their doings as they mad in variable executing. But you may
see what force _fear_ hath that occasioned such variety.... They be in
such security, as no man knoweth overnight where the king will lodge.
Tomorrow from all parts they have such news as doth greatly perplex
them. Every day new advertisements of new stirs, as of late again in
Dauphiny, in Anjou, in Provence; and to make up their mouths, the king
being in the skirts of Normandy, at Rouen, upon Corpus Christi Day,
there was somewhat to do about the solemn procession, so as there was
many slain in both parts. But at length the churchmen had the worse, and
for an advantage, the order is by the king commanded, that the priests
for their outrage shall be grievously punished. What judge you when the
Cardinal of Lorraine is constrained to command to punish the clergy, and
such as do find fault with others' insolence, contemning the reverent
usage to the holy procession!"[878]
[Sidenote: Montbrun in the Comtat Venaissin.]
[Sidenote: Universal commotion.]
New commotions had indeed arisen in the south-east, where Montbrun, a
nephew of Cardinal Tournon, the inquisitor-general, had entered the
small domain of the Pope, the Comtat Venaissin, as a Huguenot
leader.[879] Conde had dexterously escaped the snares laid for him, and
had taken refuge with his brother, Navarre.[880] Their spies reported to
the Guises a state of universal commotion; and deputies from all parts
of France rehearsed in the ears of the Bourbon princes the story of the
usurpations of the Guises and the Protestant grievances, and urged them,
by every consideration of honor and safety, to undertake to redress
them.[881] The Guises had for some time been pressing the King of Spain
and the Pope to forward the convening of a universal council, without
which all would go to ruin.[882] In view of the great apathy displayed
both by Philip and by Pius--perhaps, also, with the secret hope of
enticing Navarre and Conde to come within their reach[883]--they
consented to the plan which Catharine de' Medici, at the suggestion of
L'Hospital and Coligny, now advocated, of summoning a council of
notables to devise measures for allaying the existing excitement.[884]
[Sidenote: Assembly of notables at Fontainebleau, August 21, 1560.]
On the twenty-first of August this celebrated assembly was convened by
royal letters in the stately palace at Fontainebleau.[885] Antoine of
Navarre and the Prince of Conde declined, on specious pretexts, the
king's invitation. Constable Montmorency accepted it, but came with a
formidable escort of eight hundred attendants. His three nephews, the
Chatillons, followed his example, and shared his protection. At the
appointed hour a brilliant company was gathered in the spacious
apartments of the queen mother. On either side of the king's throne sat
Mary of Scots, and Catharine de' Medici, and the young princes--Charles
Maximilian, Duke of Orleans, Edward Alexander, and Hercules.[886] Four
cardinals, in their purple--Bourbon, Lorraine, Guise, and Chatillon--sat
below. Next to these were placed the Duke of Guise, as
lieutenant-general of the kingdom; the Duke of Montmorency, as
constable; L'Hospital, as chancellor; Marshals St. Andre and Brissac;
Admiral Coligny; Marillac, Archbishop of Vienne; Morvilliers, Bishop of
Orleans; Montluc, Bishop of Valence; and the other members of the privy
council. In front of these, the members of the Order of St. Michael, and
the rest of the notables, occupied lower benches.[887]
[Sidenote: Chancellor L'Hospital's speech.]
The session opened with brief speeches delivered by Francis and his
mother, setting forth the object of this extraordinary convocation, but
referring their auditors to the chancellor and to the king's uncles for
further explanations. Chancellor L'Hospital was less concise. He
entertained the assembly with a lengthy comparison of the political
malady to a bodily disease,[888] pronouncing the cure to be easy, if
only the cause could be detected. He closed by assigning a somewhat
singular reason for summoning but two of the three orders of the state.
The presence of the _people_, he said, was in no wise necessary,
_inasmuch as the king's sole object was to relieve the third estate_.
Because, forsooth, the poor people--bowed down to the earth with taxes
and burdens, which the _noblesse_ would not touch with one of their
fingers--was the party chiefly interested in the results of the present
deliberations, it was quite unessential that its complaints or requests
should be heard! The Duke of Guise and his brother, the cardinal, next
laid before the assembly an account of their administration of the army
and finances; and the first day's session ended with the pleasant
announcement that the royal revenues annually fell short of the regular
expenses by the sum--very considerable for those days--of two and
one-half millions of livres.
[Sidenote: Coligny speaks and presents two petitions.]
When next the notables met, two days later, the king formally proposed a
free discussion of the subject in hand. The youngest member of the privy
council was about to speak, when Gaspard de Coligny arose, and,
advancing to the throne, twice bowed humbly to the king. By the royal
orders, he said, he had lately visited Normandy and investigated the
origin of the recent commotions. He had satisfied himself that they were
owing to no ill-will felt toward the crown; but only to the extreme and
illegal violence with which the inhabitants had been treated for
religion's sake. He had, therefore, believed it to be his duty to listen
to the requests of the persecuted, who offered to prove that their
doctrines were conformable to the Holy Scriptures and to the traditions
of the primitive church, and to take charge of the two petitions which
they had drawn up and addressed to his Majesty and the queen mother.
They were without signatures; for these could not be affixed without the
royal permission previously granted the reformed to assemble together.
But, with that permission, he could obtain the names of fifty thousand
persons in Normandy alone. In answer to Coligny's prayer that the king
would take his action in good part, Francis assured him that his past
fidelity was a sufficient pledge of his present zeal; and commanded
L'Aubespine, secretary of state, to read the papers which the admiral
had just placed in his hands.
[Sidenote: The petitions are read.]
[Sidenote: They ask for liberty of worship.]
The petitions,[889] addressed, one to the king, the other to the queen
mother, purported to come from "the faithful Christians scattered in
various parts of the kingdom." They set forth the severity of the
persecutions the Huguenots had undergone, and were yet undergoing, for
attempting to live according to the purity of God's word, and their
supreme desire to have their doctrine subjected to examination, that it
might be seen to be neither seditious nor heretical. The suppliants
begged for an intermission of the cruel measures which had stained all
France with blood. They professed an unswerving allegiance, as in duty
bound, to the king whom God had called to the throne. And of that king
they prayed that the occasion of so many calumnies, invented against
them by reason of the secret and nocturnal meetings to which they had
been driven by the prohibition of open assemblies, might be removed; and
that, with the permission to meet publicly for the celebration of divine
rites, houses for worship might also be granted to them.[890]
It was a perilous step for the admiral to take. By his advocacy of
toleration he incurred liability to the extreme penalties that had been
inflicted upon others for utterances much less courageous. But the very
boldness of the movement secured his safety where more timid counsels
might have brought him ruin. Besides, it was not safe to attack so
gallant a warrior, and the nephew of the powerful constable. Yet the
audible murmurs of the opposite party announced their ill-will.
[Sidenote: Speech of Montluc, Bishop of Valence.]
[Sidenote: The remedy prescribed.]
The fearlessness of the admiral, however, kindled to a brighter flame
the courage of others. Strange as it may appear, toleration and reform
found their warmest and most uncompromising advocates on the episcopal
bench.[891] Montluc, Bishop of Valence, drew a startling contrast
between the means that had been taken to propagate the new doctrines,
and those by which the attempt had been made to eradicate them. For
thirty years, three or four hundred ministers of irreproachable morals,
indomitable courage, and notable diligence in the study of the Holy
Scriptures, had been attracting disciples by the sweet name of Jesus
continually upon their lips, and had easily gained over a people that
were as sheep without a shepherd. Meanwhile, popes had been engrossed in
war and in sowing discord between princes; the ministers of justice had
made use of the severe enactments of the kings against heresy to enrich
themselves and their friends; and bishops, instead of showing solicitude
for their flocks, had sought only to preserve their revenues. Forty
bishops might have been seen at one time congregated at Paris and
indulging in scandalous excesses, while the fire was kindling in their
dioceses.[892] The inferior clergy, who bought their curacies at Rome,
added ignorance to avarice.[893] The ecclesiastical office became odious
and contemptible when prelates conferred benefices on their barbers,
cooks, and footmen. What must be done to avert the just anger of God?
Let the king, in the first place, see that God's name be no longer
blasphemed as heretofore. Let God's Word be published and expounded. Let
there be daily sermons in the palace, to stop the mouths of those who
assert that, near the king, God is never spoken of. Let the singing of
psalms take the place of the foolish songs sung by the maids of the
queens; for to prohibit the singing of psalms, which the Fathers extol,
would be to give the seditious a good pretext for saying that the war
was waged not against men, but against God, inasmuch as the publication
and the hearing of His praises were not tolerated. A second remedy was
to be found in a universal council, or, if the sovereign pontiff
continued to refuse so just a demand, in a national council, to which
the most learned of the new sect should be offered safe access. As to
punishments, while the seditious, who took up arms under color of
religion, ought to be repressed, experience had taught how unavailing
was the persecution of those who embraced their views from conscientious
motives, and history showed that three hundred and eighteen bishops at
the Council of Nice, one hundred and fifty at Constantinople, and six
hundred and thirty at Chalcedon, refused to employ other weapons,
against the worst of convicted heretics, than the word of God. Montluc
closed his eloquent discourse by opposing the proposition to grant the
right of public assembly, because of the dangers to which it might lead;
but advocated a wise discrimination in the punishment of offenders,
according to their respective numbers and apparent motives.[894]
[Sidenote: Address of Archbishop Marillac.]
The Archbishop of Vienne, the virtuous Marillac, an elegant and
effective orator, made a still more cogent speech. He regarded the
General Council as the best remedy for present dissensions; but it was
in vain to expect one, since, between the Pope, the emperor, the kings,
and the Lutherans, the right time, place, and method of holding it could
never be agreed upon by all; and France was like a man desperately ill,
whose fever admitted of no delay that a physician might be called in
from a distance. Hence, the usual resort to a national council, in spite
of the Pope's discontent, was imperative. _France could not afford to
die in order to please his Holiness._[895] Meanwhile, the prelates must
be obliged to reside in their dioceses; nor must the Italians, those
leeches that absorbed one-third of all the benefices and an infinite
number of pensions, be exempted from the operation of the general
rule.[896] Would paid troops be permitted thus to absent themselves from
their posts in the hour of danger? Simony must be abolished at once, as
a token of sincerity in the desire to reform the church. Otherwise
Christ would come down and drive his unworthy servants from His church,
as He once drove the money-changers from the temple. Especially must
churchmen repent with fasting, and take up the word of God, which is a
_sword_, "whereas, at present," said the speaker, "_we have only the
scabbard--in mitres and croziers, in rochets and tiaras_." Everything
that tended to disturb the public tranquillity, whether from seditious
leaders, or from equally seditious zealots, must be repressed.
[Sidenote: The States General must be called.]
Nor was the advice given by Marillac for securing the continued
obedience of the people less sound. He regarded the assembling of the
States General as indispensable, in view of the great debts and burdens
of the people. He warned the king's counsellors lest the people,
accustomed to have its complaints of grievances unattended to, should
begin to lose the hope of relief, and lest the proverbial promptness and
gentleness which the French nation had always shown in meeting the
king's necessities should be so badly met and so frequently offended as
at last to turn into rage and despair.[897]
[Sidenote: Speech of Admiral Coligny.]
Such was "the learned, wise, and Christian harangue," as the chronicler
well styles it, of "an old man eloquent," whom, like another Isocrates,
"the dishonest victory" of his country's real enemies was destined to
"kill with report." The profound impression it made was deepened by the
speech of Admiral Coligny, whose turn it was, on the next day (the
twenty-fourth of August), to announce his sentiments, he declared
himself ready to pledge life and all he held most dear, that the hatred
of the people was in no wise directed against the king, but against his
ministers, whom he loudly blamed for surrounding their master with a
guard, as though he needed this protection against his loyal subjects.
Supporting the proposition of the Archbishop of Vienne for assembling
the States General, the admiral advocated, in addition, the immediate
dismissal of the guard, in order to remove all jealousy between king and
people, and the discontinuance of persecution, until such time as a
council--general or national--might be assembled. Meanwhile, he advised
that the requests of the reformed, whose petitions he had presented, be
granted; that the Protestants be allowed to assemble for the purpose of
praying to God, hearing the preaching of His word, and celebrating the
holy sacraments. If houses of worship were given them in every place,
and the judges were instructed to see to the maintenance of the peace,
he felt confident that the kingdom would at once become quiet and the
subjects be satisfied.[898]
[Sidenote: Rejoinder of the Duke of Guise.]
The Guises spoke on the same day. The duke made a short, but passionate
rejoinder to Coligny, and gave little or no attention to the question
proposed for deliberation. He bitterly retorted to the proposal for the
dismissal of the body-guard, by saying that it had been placed around
the king only since the discovery of the treasonable plot of Amboise,
and he indignantly maintained that a conspiracy against ministers was
only a cover for designs against their master. As for the announcement
of the admiral that he could bring fifty thousand names to his
petitions, which he construed as a personal threat, he angrily replied
that if that or a greater number of the Huguenot sect should present
themselves, the king would oppose them with a million men of his
own.[899] The question of religion he left to be discussed by others of
more learning; but well was he assured that not all the councils of the
world would detach him from the ancient faith. The assembling of the
States he referred to the king's discretion.[900]
[Sidenote: The Cardinal of Lorraine is more politic.]
The cardinal was more politic, and suppressed the manifestation of that
deadly hatred which, from this time forward, the brothers cherished
against Coligny. He declared, however, that, although the petitioners
laid claim to such loyalty, their true character was apparent from the
affair at Amboise, as well as from the daily issue of libellous
pamphlets and placards, of which he had not less than twenty-two on his
table directed against himself, which he carefully preserved as his best
eulogium and claim to immortality. He advocated the severe repression of
the seditious; yet, with a stretch of hypocrisy and mendacity uncommon
even with a Guise, he expressed himself as for his own part very sorry
that such "grievous executions" had been inflicted upon those who went
"without arms and from fear of being damned to hear preaching, or who
sang psalms, neglected the mass, or engaged in other observances of
theirs," and as being in favor of no longer inflicting such useless
punishments! Nay, he would that his life or death might be of some
service in bringing back the wanderers to the path of truth. He opposed
a council as unnecessary--it could not do otherwise than decide as its
predecessors--but consented to a convocation of the clergy for the
reformation of manners. The States General he thought might well be
gathered to see with what prudence the administration of public affairs
had been carried on.[901]
[Sidenote: Results of the Assembly of Fontainebleau.]
[Sidenote: The States General to be convened.]
With the Cardinal of Lorraine the discussion ended. All the knights of
the order of St. Michael acquiesced in his opinions, but indulged in no
farther remarks. On the twenty-sixth of August the decision was
announced. The States General were to convene on the tenth of December,
at Meaux, or such other city as the king might hereafter prefer. A month
later (on the twentieth of January) the prelates were to come together
wherever the king might be, thence to proceed to the national, or to the
general council, if such should be held. Meanwhile, in each bailiwick
and "senechaussee," the three orders were to be separately assembled, in
order to prepare minutes of their grievances, and elect delegates to the
States General; and all legal proceedings and all punishment for the
matter of religion were to be suspended save in the case of those who
assembled in arms and were seditious.[902]
Such was the history of this famous assembly, in which, for the first
time, the Huguenots found a voice; where views were calmly expressed
respecting toleration and the necessity of a council, which a year
before had been punished with death; where the chief persecutor of the
reformed doctrines, carried away by the current, was induced to avow
liberal principles.[903] This was progress enough for a single year. The
enterprise of Amboise was not all in vain.
[Sidenote: New alarms.]
[Sidenote: Antoine and Conde summoned to court.]
The Assembly of Fontainebleau had not dispersed when the court was
thrown into fresh alarm. An agent of the King of Navarre, named La
Sague, was discovered almost by accident, who, after delivering letters
from his master to various friends in the neighborhood of Paris, was
about to return southward with their friendly responses. He had
imprudently given a treacherous acquaintance to understand that a
formidable uprising was contemplated; and letters found upon his person
seemed to bear out the assertion. The most cruel tortures were resorted
to in order to elicit accusations against the Bourbons from suspected
persons.[904] Among others, Francois de Vendome, Vidame of Chartres, one
of the correspondents, was (on the twenty-seventh of August) thrown into
the Bastile.[905] Three days later a messenger was despatched by the
king to Antoine of Navarre, requesting him at once to repair to the
capital, and to bring with him his brother Conde, against whom the
charge had for six months been rife, that he was the head of secret
enterprises, set on foot to disturb the peace of the realm.[906] At the
same time an urgent request was sent to Philip the Second for
assistance.[907]
[Sidenote: Philip adverse to a national council.]
[Sidenote: Projects to crush all heresy and its abettors.]
Nor was his Catholic Majesty reluctant to grant help--at least on paper.
But he accompanied his promises with advice. In particular, he sent Don
Antonio de Toledo to dissuade the French government from holding a
national council in Paris for the reformation of religion, as he
understood it was proposed to do during the coming winter. This, he
represented, would be prejudicial to their joint interests; "for, should
the French alter anything, the King of Spain would be constrained to
admit the like in all his countries." To which it was replied in
Francis's name, that "he would first assemble his three estates, and
there propone the matter to see what would be advised for the manner of
a calling a general council, not minding _without urgent necessity_ to
assemble a council national." As to the Spanish help, conditioned on the
prudence of the French government, the Argus-eyed Throkmorton, who by
his paid agents could penetrate into the boudoirs of his
fellow-diplomatists and read their most cherished secrets,[908] wrote to
Queen Elizabeth that a gentleman had reported to him that he had seen
"at the Pope's nuncio's hands a letter from the nuncio in Spain, wherein
the aids were promised, and that the King of Spain had written to the
French king that he would not only help him to suppress all heresy,
trouble, and rebellion in France, but also join him to cause all such
others as will not submit to the See Apostolic to come to order." In
fact, Throkmorton was enabled to say just how many men were to come from
Flanders, and how many from Spain, and how many were to enter by way of
Narbonne, and how many by way of Navarre. Quick work was to be made of
schism, heresy, and rebellion in France. "This done, and the parties for
religion clean overthrown," added the ambassador, "these princes have
already accorded to convert their power towards England and Geneva,
which they take to be the occasioners and causers of all their
troubles."[909]
[Sidenote: Navarre's irresolution embarrasses Montbrun.]
The King of Navarre had, even before the receipt of the royal summons,
discovered the mistake he had committed in not listening to the counsel,
and copying the example of the constable, who had come to Fontainebleau
well attended by retainers. Unhappily, the irresolution into which he
now fell led to the loss of a capital opportunity. The levies ordered by
Francis in Dauphiny, for the purpose of assisting the papal legate in
expelling Montbrun from the "Comtat," enabled the Sieur de Maligny to
collect a large Huguenot force without attracting notice. It had been
arranged that these troops should be first employed in seizing the
important city of Lyons for the King of Navarre. A part of the Huguenot
soldiers had, indeed, already been secretly introduced into the
city,[910] when letters were received from the irresolute Antoine
indefinitely postponing the undertaking. After having for several days
deliberated respecting his best course of conduct in these unforeseen
circumstances, Maligny decided to withdraw as quietly as he had come;
but a porter, who had caught a glimpse of the arms collected in one of
the places of rendezvous, informed the commandant of the city. In the
street engagement which ensued the Huguenots were successful, and for
several hours held possession of the city from the Rhone to the Saone.
Finding it impossible, however, to collect the whole force to carry out
his original design, Maligny retired under cover of the night, and was
so fortunate as to suffer little loss.[911]
[Sidenote: The _people_ not discouraged.]
[Sidenote: "The fashion of Geneva."]
[Sidenote: Books from Geneva destroyed.]
Maligny's failure disconcerted Montbrun and Mouvans, with whom he had
intended to co-operate, but had little effect in repressing the courage
of the Huguenot _people_. Of this the royal despatches are the best
evidence. Francis wrote to Marshal de Termes that since the Assembly of
Fontainebleau there had been public and armed gatherings _in an infinite
number of places_, where previously there had been only secret meetings.
In Perigord, Agenois, and Limousin, _an infinite number_ of scandalous
acts were daily committed by the seditious, who in most places _lived
after the fashion of Geneva_. Such _canaille_ must be "wiped out."[912]
A month later those pestilent "books from Geneva" turn up again. Count
de Villars, acting for Constable Montmorency in his province of
Languedoc, had burned two mule-loads of very handsomely bound volumes,
much to the regret of many of the Catholic troopers, who grudged the
devouring flames a sacrifice worth more than a thousand crowns.[913] But
he quickly followed up the chronicle of this valiant action with a
complaint of his impotence to reduce the sectaries to submission. The
Huguenots of Nismes had taken courage, and guarded their gates. So, or
even worse, was it of Montpellier[914] and Pezenas. Other cities were
about to follow their example.
[Sidenote: Fifteen cities in one province receive ministers.]
[Sidenote: The children learn religion in the Geneva catechism.]
These were but the beginnings of evil. Three days passed, and the
Lieutenant-Governor of Languedoc sent a special messenger to the king,
to inform him of the rapid progress of the contagion. Fifteen of the
most considerable cities of the province had openly received
ministers.[915] Ten thousand foot and five hundred horse would be needed
to reduce them, and, when taken, they must be held by garrisons, and
punished by loss of their municipal privileges.[916] A fortnight more
elapsed. Three or four thousand inhabitants of Nismes had retired in
arms to the neighboring Cevennes.[917] When they descended into the
plain, a larger number, who had submitted on the approach of the
soldiery, would unite with them and form a considerable army. "Heresy,
alas, gains ground daily," despondingly writes Villars; "_the children
learn religion only in the catechism brought from Geneva; all know it by
heart_." The cause of the evil he seemed to find in the
circumstance--undoubtedly favorable to the Huguenots--that, of
twenty-two bishops whose dioceses lay in Languedoc, all but five or six
were non-residents.[918]
To all which lamentations the answer came back after the accustomed
fashion: "Slay, hang without respect to the forms of law; send lesser
culprits, if preferable, to the galleys."[919]
In Normandy, too, it began to be impossible for the Huguenots to conceal
themselves. At Rouen, in spite of the severe penalties threatened, seven
thousand persons gathered in the new market-place, on the twenty-sixth
of August, "singing psalms, and with their preacher in the midst on a
chair preaching to them," while five hundred men with arquebuses stood
around the crowd "to guard them from the Papists." A few days before, at
the opening of the great fair of Jumieges, a friar, according to custom,
undertook to deliver a sermon; but the people, not liking his doctrine,
"pulled him out of the pulpit and placed another in his place."[920]
[Sidenote: Elections for the States General.]
Nor was the courage of the Huguenots less clearly manifested a little
later in the elections preparatory to the holding of the States General.
In spite of strict injunctions issued by the Cardinal of Lorraine to the
officers in each bailiwick and senechaussee, to prevent the debate of
grievances from touching upon the authority of the Guises or that of the
Church, and especially to defeat the election of any but undoubted
friends of the Roman Church, his friends were successful in neither
attempt. The voice of the oppressed people made itself heard in
thunder-tones at Blois, at Angers,[921] and elsewhere. Even in
Paris--the stronghold of the Roman faith--the reformed ventured, in face
of a vast numerical majority against them, to urge in the Hotel-de-Ville
the insertion of their remonstrances in the "cahiers" of the city. Of
thirteen provinces, ten addressed such complaints to the States
General.[922]
[Sidenote: Clerical demands at Poitiers.]
But the clerical order did not forget its old demands, even where the
Tiers Etat leaned to toleration. The provincial estates of Poitou,
meeting in the Dominican convent of Poitiers, presented a contrast of
this kind. The delegates of the people, after listening to the eloquent
appeal of an intrepid Huguenot pastor, determined to petition the States
General for the free exercise of the reformed religion. The
representatives of the church made its complaints regarding the
"ravishing wolves, false preachers, and their adherents, who are to-day
in so great numbers that there are not so many true sheep knowing the
voice of their shepherds." The "mild and holy admonitions" of the church
having been thrown away upon these reprobates, the clergy proposed to
open a register of all that should neglect to receive the sacrament at
Easter, and to attend the church services with regularity. And it made
the modest demand that all persons honored with an entry in this book
should, as heretics, be deprived of all right to make contracts, that
their wills be declared hull and void, and that all their property--in
particular all houses in which preaching had been held--be confiscated.
Of course, the aid of the secular arm was invoked, in view of "the great
number and power of the said heretics."[923]
[Sidenote: Theodore Beza invited to Nerac.]
[Sidenote: Jeanne d'Albret.]
On the twentieth of July, at the urgent request of the King and Queen of
Navarre, the "Venerable Company of the Pastors of Geneva" had sent the
eloquent Theodore Beza to Gascony "to instruct" the royal family in the
word of God.[924] In the dress of a nobleman he had traversed France and
reached Nerac in safety. Here he at once exercised a powerful influence
upon the king. The fickle mind of Antoine was susceptible of no deep
impressions; but it was very easily affected for the time. His queen,
Jeanne d'Albret, was his very opposite in mental and moral constitution.
Whereas the very first blast threw him into a fervor of enthusiastic
devotion to the purer faith, the heart of the queen--a woman not made to
be led, but to lead--yielded slowly to the melting influences of the
Gospel. But it never lost its glow. Jeanne came very reluctantly to the
determination to cast in her lot with the Reformation. She hesitated to
risk the loss of her possessions, and regretted to abandon the
attractions of the world. When, however, the decision was once made, the
question was never reopened for fresh deliberation.[925]
[Sidenote: Antoine's short-lived zeal.]
[Sidenote: New pressure upon Navarre and Conde.]
[Sidenote: Navarre's concessions.]
At this time, Antoine, we are told, renounced the mass, and was supposed
to think, as he certainly spoke, of nothing but the means of advancing
the cause in which he had embarked. Beza preached before him in one of
the churches, and all signs pointed to the rapid establishment of the
Reformation on a firm basis. The eloquent orator added his persuasion to
the entreaties of the representatives of the Protestant churches of
France and the exhortations of Constable Montmorency. All had urged
Antoine to make his appearance at Fontainebleau with a powerful escort.
We have seen the ill-success with which the joint effort was attended.
The spies whom the Guises kept in pay around the King of Navarre, in the
persons of his most intimate advisers, deterred him from a movement
which they portrayed as fraught with peril. A few days after the
conclusion of the assembly came the king's summons. To this Antoine at
first replied that, if the accusers of his brother, of whose innocence
he was fully persuaded, would declare themselves, and if he were assured
that impartial justice would be shown, he would come to the court in
company with few attendants. Conde wrote, at the same time, and
expressed perfect confidence in his ability to disprove all the
allegations against him, provided a safe access to the court was
afforded him. On this point the suspicions of the Bourbon princes were
soon set at rest by new letters from the king and his mother, assuring
them that they would find not only security, but an opportunity to
refute charges which Francis and Catharine professed themselves
unwilling to credit.[926] To these reassuring words were joined the
solicitations of their own brother, the shallow Cardinal of
Bourbon,[927] and of the Cardinal of Armagnac. The princes, already
discouraged by tidings of the failure of the projects of Montbrun,
Mouvans and Maligny in the east, lent too ready an ear to these
suggestions. The first open manifestation of weakness was when the King
and Queen of Navarre, with their son, young Prince Henry of Bearn,
consented to hear mass in the presence of many of their courtiers. But
the extent of Antoine's concessions was, for a time, kept concealed from
his followers. At the very moment when Beza was diligently visiting the
well affected nobles, and urging them to lend prompt assistance, the
Guises were exulting, with joy mingled with fear, over the promise given
by Antoine to the Count of Crussol, that he would come, with an
insignificant escort to Orleans, whither Francis had advanced. The
tidings appeared too good to be true.[928] For, although the French king
had received assurances of assistance from Philip--who was reported by
the French envoy at Toledo to be favorable to the exercise of any
severity against the Bourbon princes,[929] so great was his personal
enmity toward them--yet the same ambassador had not failed to inform
Charles that the troops ostensibly prepared for a French campaign were
really intended for Italy and to make good the Spanish monarch's losses
in Africa. On the other hand, unless Philip could send six hundred
thousand or seven hundred thousand crowns to Flanders to pay arrearages
and debts, he could not move a soldier across the lines from that
quarter.[930]
[Sidenote: The Huguenot gentry offer him aid.]
[Sidenote: He dismisses his escort.]
The strictest orders had been given to the commandants of important
points, such as Bordeaux and Poitiers, through which Antoine might
intend passing, to guard them against him, in case of his showing any
inclination to come otherwise than peaceably.[931] These precautions,
however, proved unnecessary. Antoine intended to abide by his
engagement. When by slow stages he had at length reached Limoges, he
found a number of friendly noblemen awaiting him. In a few days more
seven or eight hundred gentlemen had come in, well equipped and armed.
They begged him at once to declare for the liberation of France,
according to his previous promises. The nobility, they said, were only
waiting for the word of command. Meanwhile Gascony, Poitou, and the
coasts offered six or seven thousand foot soldiers, already enrolled
under captains, and prepared to defend him against present attack.
Provence and Languedoc would march to his assistance with three or four
thousand horse and foot. Normandy would raise as many more. He would at
once become so formidable that, without a blow, he could assume the
guardianship of the king. Bourges and Orleans would fall into his hands,
and the States General be held free of constraint. The very forces of
the enemy would desert the sinking cause of the hated Guises. As for the
necessary funds, with the best filled purses in France at his command,
he could scarcely feel any lack. The suggestions of the Huguenot lords,
backed by the entreaties of Beza, were, however, overborne by the
secret insinuations of his treacherous counsellors. At Verteuil--a few
leagues beyond--Navarre clearly announced his intentions, and dismissed
his numerous friends with hearty thanks for their kind attentions. He
would ask the king's pardon for those who had accompanied him thus far
in arms. "Pardon!" replied one of the gentlemen, "think only of very
humbly asking it for yourself, who are going to give yourself up as a
prisoner with the halter around your neck. So far as I can see, you have
more need of it than we have, who have determined not to sell our lives
at so cheap a rate, but to die fighting rather than submit to the mercy
of those detested enemies of the king. And since we are miserably
forsaken by our leaders, we hope that God will raise up others to free
us from the oppression of these tyrants."[932] This retort proving
futile, as did also the warning of the Princess of Conde, who wrote and
sent a messenger to her husband to escape from the toils of his enemies
while it was still possible, the Huguenot gentry retired in disgust; and
Beza seized the first opportunity (on the seventeenth of October) to
steal away from the King of Navarre, and undertake his perilous return
to Geneva, which he succeeded in reaching after a series of hair-breadth
escapes.[933]
[Sidenote: Infatuation of the Bourbons.]
The King of Navarre had disregarded the counsels of Calvin and other
prudent advisers, who believed that, if he presented himself with a
powerful escort at the gates of Orleans, the Guises would yield without
a blow.[934] Antoine felt confident that his enemies would never venture
to lay hands on a prince of the royal blood. His blind infatuation
seemed to infect Conde also. Their presumption was somewhat shaken when
the royal governor of Poitiers forbade their entrance into that city.
But the depth of the ruin into which they had plunged was more clearly
revealed to their eyes as they began to approach Orleans. Friendly
voices whispered the existence of a plan for their destruction; friendly
hands offered to effect their escape to Angers, and thence into
Normandy.[935] But the die was cast. Hostile troops enveloped them, and
they resolved to continue their journey.
[Sidenote: They reach Orleans.]
[Sidenote: Conde arrested.]
Navarre had figured upon the journey much as a provost-marshal leading
his brother to prison.[936] Now the imaginary resemblance was turned
into a sad reality. On Thursday, the thirty-first of October, the
Bourbons reached Orleans.[937] Their reception soon convinced them that
they had placed their heads in the jaws of the lion. None of the
courtiers save the cardinal, their brother, and La Roche-sur-Yon, their
cousin, deigned to do them honor. That very day, after a few angry
accusations from Francis, and a courageous vindication of his conduct by
the chivalrous prince, Conde was arrested in the king's presence and by
his order.[938] The King of Navarre also was, indeed, little better than
a prisoner, so closely did he find himself watched.[939] In vain did
Navarre remonstrate and plead the royal promise of security, offering
himself to become a surety for his brother; the king denied redress.
Then it was that Conde turned to the Cardinal of Bourbon, one of the few
that had come to do him honor and said: "Sir, by your assurances you
have delivered up your own brother to death."[940] Others shared in
Conde's misfortune. Madame de Roye, his mother-in-law and a sister of
Admiral Coligny, was brought a prisoner to St. Germain, and a careful
search was made among her papers and elsewhere for the purpose of
obtaining proofs of Conde's guilt.[941]
[Sidenote: Return of Renee of Ferrara.]
It was at this inauspicious moment that a distinguished princess reached
Orleans, after an absence of thirty-two years from her native land, and
was received with marked honors by the king and all the court, who went
out to meet her and escort her to the city.[942] This was the celebrated
Renee, younger daughter of Louis the Twelfth, and widow of Ercole, Duke
of Ferrara, now returning, after the death of her husband, to spend her
declining years at her retreat of Montargis on the Loing. The scene
which she beheld awakened in her breast regret and indignation which she
was not slow in expressing. To the Duke of Guise, who had married her
daughter, Anne d'Este, she administered a severe rebuke. "Had I been
present," she said, "I would have prevented this ill-advised step. It is
no trifling matter to treat a prince of the blood in such a manner. The
wound is one that will long bleed; for no man has ever yet attacked the
blood of France but he has had reason to regret it."[943]
[Sidenote: Conde's courage.]
[Sidenote: His wife repulsed.]