destruction was confessed a highly politic and ingenious act. Even the
sage Venetians were constrained to celebrate it with a procession. The
Grand Duke Cosmo had pointed out two years before that an insidious
peace would afford excellent opportunities of extinguishing
Protestantism; and he derived inexpressible consolation from the heroic
enterprise.[94] The Viceroy of Naples, Cardinal Granvelle, received the
tidings coldly. He was surprised that the event had been so long
postponed, and he reproved the Cardinal of Lorraine for the
unstatesmanlike delay.[95] The Italians generally were excited to warmer
feelings. They saw nothing to regret but the death of certain Catholics
who had been sacrificed to private revenge. Profane men approved the
skill with which the trap was laid; and pious men acknowledged the
presence of a genuine religious spirit in the French court.[96] The
nobles and the Parisian populace were admired for their valour in
obeying the sanctified commands of the good King. One fervent enthusiast
praises God for the heavenly news, and also St. Bartholomew for having
lent his extremely penetrating knife for the salutary sacrifice.[97] A
month after the event the renowned preacher Panigarola delivered from
the pulpit a panegyric on the monarch who had achieved what none had
ever heard or read before, by banishing heresy in a single day, and by a
single word, from the Christian land of France.[98]
The French churches had often resounded with furious declamations; and
they afterwards rang with canticles of unholy joy. But the French clergy
does not figure prominently in the inception or the execution of the
sanguinary decree. Conti, a contemporary indeed, but too distant for
accurate knowledge, relates that the parish priest went round, marking
with a white cross the dwellings of the people who were doomed.[99] He
is contradicted by the municipal Registers of Paris.[100] Morvilliers,
Bishop of Orleans, though he had resigned the seals which he received
from L'Hopital, still occupied the first place at the royal council. He
was consulted at the last moment, and it is said that he nearly fainted
with horror. He recovered, and gave his opinion with the rest. He is the
only French prelate, except the cardinals, whose complicity appears to
be ascertained. But at Orleans, where the bloodshed was more dreadful in
proportion than at Paris, the signal is said to have been given, not by
the bishop, but by the King's preacher, Sorbin.
Sorbin is the only priest of the capital who is distinctly associated
with the act of the Government. It was his opinion that God has ordained
that no mercy shall be shown to heretics, that Charles was bound in
conscience to do what he did, and that leniency would have been as
censurable in his case as precipitation was in that of Theodosius. What
the Calvinists called perfidy and cruelty seemed to him nothing but
generosity and kindness.[101] These were the sentiments of the man from
whose hands Charles IX. received the last consolations of his religion.
It has been related that he was tortured in his last moments with
remorse for the blood he had shed. His spiritual adviser was fitted to
dispel such scruples. He tells us that he heard the last confession of
the dying King, and that his most grievous sorrow was that he left the
work unfinished.[102] In all that bloodstained history there is nothing
more tragic than the scene in which the last words preparing the soul
for judgment were spoken by such a confessor as Sorbin to such a
penitent as Charles.
Edmond Auger, one of the most able and eloquent of the Jesuits, was at
that time attracting multitudes by his sermons at Bordeaux. He denounced
with so much violence the heretics and the people in authority who
protected them, that the magistrates, fearing a cry for blood, proposed
to silence or to moderate the preacher. Montpezat, Lieutenant of
Guienne, arrived in time to prevent it. On the 30th of September he
wrote to the King that he had done this, and that there were a score of
the inhabitants who might be despatched with advantage. Three days
later, when he was gone, more than two hundred Huguenots were
murdered.[103]
Apart from these two instances it is not known that the clergy
interfered in any part of France to encourage the assassins.
The belief was common at the time, and is not yet extinct, that the
massacre had been promoted and sanctioned by the Court of Rome. No
evidence of this complicity, prior to the event, has ever been produced;
but it seemed consistent with what was supposed to have occurred in the
affair of the dispensation. The marriage of Margaret of Valois with the
King of Navarre was invalid and illicit in the eyes of the Church; and
it was known that Pius V. had sworn that he would never permit it. When
it had been celebrated by a Cardinal, in the presence of a splendid
court, and no more was heard of resistance on the part of Rome, the
world concluded that the dispensation had been obtained. De Thou says,
in a manuscript note, that it had been sent, and was afterwards
suppressed by Salviati; and the French bishop, Spondanus, assigns the
reasons which induced Gregory XIII. to give way.[104] Others affirmed
that he had yielded when he learned that the marriage was a snare, so
that the massacre was the price of the dispensation.[105] The Cardinal
of Lorraine gave currency to the story. As he caused it to be understood
that he had been in the secret, it seemed probable that he had told the
Pope; for they had been old friends.[106] In the commemorative
inscription which he put up in the Church of St. Lewis he spoke of the
King's gratitude to the Holy See for its assistance and for its advice
in the matter--"consiliorum ad eam rem datorum." It is probable that he
inspired the narrative which has contributed most to sustain the
imputation.
Among the Italians of the French faction who made it their duty to
glorify the act of Charles IX., the Capilupi family was conspicuous.
They came from Mantua, and appear to have been connected with the French
interest through Lewis Gonzaga, who had become by marriage Duke of
Nevers, and one of the foremost personages in France. Hippolyto
Capilupi, Bishop of Fano, and formerly Nuncio at Venice, resided at
Rome, busy with French politics and Latin poetry. When Charles refused
to join the League, the Bishop of Fano vindicated his neutrality in a
letter to the Duke of Urbino.[107] When he slew the Huguenots, the
Bishop addressed him in verse,--
Fortunate puer, paret cui Gallica tellus,
Quique vafros ludis pervigil arte viros,
Ille tibi debet, toti qui praesidet Orbi,
Cui nihil est cordi religione prius....
Qui tibi saepe dolos struxit, qui vincla paravit,
Tu puer in laqueos induis arte senem....
Nunc florent, tolluntque caput tua lilia, et astris
Clarius hostili tincta cruore micant.[108]
Camillo Capilupi, a nephew of the Mantuan bard, held office about the
person of the Pope, and was employed on missions of consequence.[109] As
soon as the news from Paris reached Rome he drew up the account which
became so famous under the title of _Lo Stratagemma di Carlo IX_. The
dedication is dated the 18th of September 1572.[110] This tract was
suppressed, and was soon so rare that its existence was unknown in 1574
to the French translator of the second edition. Capilupi republished his
book with alterations, and a preface dated the 22nd of October. The
substance and purpose of the two editions is the same. Capilupi is not
the official organ of the Roman court: he was not allowed to see the
letters of the Nuncio. He wrote to proclaim the praises of the King of
France and the Duke of Nevers. At that moment the French party in Rome
was divided by the quarrel between the ambassador Ferralz and the
Cardinal of Lorraine, who had contrived to get the management of French
affairs into his own hands.[111] Capilupi was on the side of the
Cardinal, and received information from those who were about him. The
chief anxiety of these men was that the official version which
attributed the massacre to a Huguenot conspiracy should obtain no
credence at Rome. If the Cardinal's enemies were overthrown without his
participation, it would confirm the report that he had become a cipher
in the State. He desired to vindicate for himself and his family the
authorship of the catastrophe. Catherine could not tolerate their claim
to a merit which she had made her own; and there was competition between
them for the first and largest share in the gratitude of the Holy See.
Lorraine prevailed with the Pope, who not only loaded him with honours,
but rewarded him with benefices worth 4000 crowns a year for his nephew,
and a gift of 20,000 crowns for his son. But he found that he had fallen
into disgrace at Paris, and feared for his position at Rome.[112] In
these circumstances Capilupi's book appeared, and enumerated a series of
facts proving that the Cardinal was cognisant of the royal design. It
adds little to the evidence of premeditation. Capilupi relates that
Santa Croce, returning from France, had assured Pius V., in the name of
Catherine, that she intended one day to entrap Coligny, and to make a
signal butchery of him and his adherents, and that letters in which the
Queen renewed this promise to the Pope had been read by credible
witnesses. Santa Croce was living, and did not contradict the statement.
The _Stratagemma_ had originally stated that Lorraine had informed
Sermoneta of the project soon after he arrived at Rome. In the reprint
this passage was omitted. The book had, therefore, undergone a censorial
revision, which enhances the authenticity of the final narrative.
Two other pieces are extant, which were printed at the Stamperia
Camerale, and show what was believed at Rome. One is in the shape of a
letter written at Lyons in the midst of scenes of death, and describing
what the author had witnessed on the spot, and what he heard from
Paris.[113] He reports that the King had positively commanded that not
one Huguenot should escape, and was overjoyed at the accomplishment of
his orders. He believes the thing to have been premeditated, and
inspired by Divine justice. The other tract is remarkable because it
strives to reconcile the pretended conspiracy with the hypothesis of
premeditation.[114] There were two plots which went parallel for months.
The King knew that Coligny was compassing his death, and deceived him by
feigning to enter into his plan for the invasion of the Low Countries;
and Coligny, allowing himself to be overreached, summoned his friends to
Paris, for the purpose of killing Charles, on the 23rd of August. The
writer expects that there will soon be no Huguenots in France. Capilupi
at first borrowed several of his facts, which he afterwards corrected.
The real particulars relative to the marriage are set forth minutely in
the correspondence of Ferralz; and they absolutely contradict the
supposition of the complicity of Rome.[115] It was celebrated in
flagrant defiance of the Pope, who persisted in refusing the
dispensation, and therefore acted in a way which could only serve to
mar the plot. The accusation has been kept alive by his conduct after
the event. The Jesuit who wrote his life by desire of his son, says that
Gregory thanked God in private, but that in public he gave signs of a
tempered joy.[116] But the illuminations and processions, the singing of
Te Deum and the firing of the castle guns, the jubilee, the medal, and
the paintings whose faded colours still vividly preserve to our age the
passions of that day, nearly exhaust the modes by which a Pope could
manifest delight.
Charles IX. and Salviati both wrote to Rome on St. Bartholomew's Day;
and the ambassador's nephew, Beauville, set off with the tidings. They
were known before he arrived. On the 27th, Mandelot's secretary
despatched a secret messenger from Lyons with orders to inform the Pope
that the Huguenot leaders were slain, and that their adherents were to
be secured all over France. The messenger reached Rome on the 2nd of
September, and was immediately carried to the Pope by the Cardinal of
Lorraine. Gregory rewarded him for the welcome intelligence with a
present of a hundred crowns, and desired that Rome should be at once
illuminated. This was prevented by Ferralz, who tried the patience of
the Romans by declining their congratulations as long as he was not
officially informed.[117] Beauville and the courier of the Nuncio
arrived on the 5th. The King's letter, like all that he wrote on the
first day, ascribed the outbreak to the old hatred between the rival
Houses, and to the late attempt on the Admiral's life. He expressed a
hope that the dispensation would not now be withheld, but left all
particulars to Beauville, whose own eyes had beheld the scene.[118]
Beauville told his story, and repeated the King's request; but Gregory,
though much gratified with what he heard, remained inflexible.[119]
Salviati had written on the afternoon of the 24th. He desired to fling
himself at the Pope's feet to wish him joy. His fondest hopes had been
surpassed. Although he had known what was in store for Coligny, he had
not expected that there would be energy and prudence to seize the
occasion for the destruction of the rest. A new era had commenced; a new
compass was required for French affairs. It was a fair sight to see the
Catholics in the streets wearing white crosses, and cutting down
heretics; and it was thought that, as fast as the news spread, the same
thing would be done in all the towns of France.[120] This letter was
read before the assembled Cardinals at the Venetian palace, and they
thereupon attended the Pope to a Te Deum in the nearest church.[121]
The guns of St. Angelo were fired in the evening, and the city was
illuminated for three nights. To disregard the Pope's will in this
respect would have savoured of heresy. Gregory XIII. exclaimed that the
massacre was more agreeable to him than fifty victories of Lepanto. For
some weeks the news from the French provinces sustained the rapture and
excitement of the Court.[122] It was hoped that other countries would
follow the example of France; the Emperor was informed that something of
the same kind was expected of him.[123] On the 8th of September the Pope
went in procession to the French Church of St. Lewis, where
three-and-thirty Cardinals attended at a mass of thanksgiving. On the
11th he proclaimed a jubilee. In the Bull he said that forasmuch as God
had armed the King of France to inflict vengeance on the heretics for
the injuries done to religion, and to punish the leaders of the
rebellion which had devastated his kingdom, Catholics should pray that
he might have grace to pursue his auspicious enterprise to the end, and
so complete what he had begun so well.[124] Before a month had passed
Vasari was summoned from Florence to decorate the hall of kings with
paintings of the massacre.[125] The work was pronounced his masterpiece;
and the shameful scene may still be traced upon the wall, where, for
three centuries, it has insulted every pontiff that entered the Sixtine
Chapel.
The story that the Huguenots had perished because they were detected
plotting the King's death was known at Rome on the 6th of September.
While the sham edict and the imaginary trial served to confirm it in the
eyes of Europe, Catherine and her son took care that it should not
deceive the Pope. They assured him that they meant to disregard the
edict. To excuse his sister's marriage, the King pleaded that it had
been concluded for no object but vengeance; and he promised that there
would soon be not a heretic in the country.[126] This was corroborated
by Salviati. As to the proclaimed toleration, he knew that it was a
device to disarm foreign enmity, and prevent a popular commotion. He
testified that the Queen spoke truly when she said that she had confided
to him, long before, the real purpose of her daughter's
engagement.[127] He exposed the hollow pretence of the plot. He
announced that its existence would be established by formalities of law,
but added that it was so notoriously false that none but an idiot could
believe in it.[128] Gregory gave no countenance to the official
falsehood. At the reception of the French ambassador, Rambouillet, on
the 23rd of December, Muretus made his famous speech. He said that there
could not have been a happier beginning for a new pontificate, and
alluded to the fabulous plot in the tone exacted of French officials.
The Secretary, Boccapaduli, replying in behalf of the Pope, thanked the
King for destroying the enemies of Christ; but strictly avoided the
conventional fable.[129]
Cardinal Orsini went as Legate to France. He had been appointed in
August, and he was to try to turn the King's course into that line of
policy from which he had strayed under Protestant guidance. He had not
left Rome when the events occurred which altered the whole situation.
Orsini was now charged with felicitations, and was to urge Charles not
to stop half-way.[130] An ancient and obsolete ceremonial was suddenly
revived; and the Cardinals accompanied him to the Flaminian gate.[131]
This journey of Orsini, and the pomp with which it was surrounded, were
exceedingly unwelcome at Paris. It was likely to be taken as proof of
that secret understanding with Rome which threatened to rend the
delicate web in which Charles was striving to hold the confidence of
the Protestant world.[132] He requested that the Legate might be
recalled; and the Pope was willing that there should be some delay.
While Orsini tarried on his way, Gregory's reply to the announcement of
the massacre arrived at Paris. It was a great consolation to himself, he
said, and an extraordinary grace vouchsafed to Christendom. But he
desired, for the glory of God and the good of France, that the Huguenots
should be extirpated utterly; and with that view he demanded the
revocation of the edict. When Catherine knew that the Pope was not yet
satisfied, and sought to direct the actions of the King, she could
hardly restrain her rage. Salviati had never seen her so furious. The
words had hardly passed his lips when she exclaimed that she wondered at
such designs, and was resolved to tolerate no interference in the
government of the kingdom. She and her son were Catholics from
conviction, and not through fear or influence. Let the Pope content
himself with that.[133] The Nuncio had at once foreseen that the court,
after crushing the Huguenots, would not become more amenable to the
counsels of Rome. He wrote, on the very day of St. Bartholomew, that the
King would be very jealous of his authority, and would exact obedience
from both sides alike.
At this untoward juncture Orsini appeared at Court. To Charles, who had
done so much, it seemed unreasonable that he should be asked for more.
He represented to Orsini that it was impossible to eradicate all the
remnants of a faction which had been so strong. He had put seventy
thousand Huguenots to the sword; and, if he had shown compassion to the
rest, it was in order that they might become good Catholics.[134]
The hidden thoughts which the Court of Rome betrayed by its conduct on
this memorable occasion have brought upon the Pope himself an amount of
hatred greater than he deserved. Gregory XIII. appears as a pale figure
between the two strongest of the modern Popes, without the intense zeal
of the one and the ruthless volition of the other. He was not prone to
large conceptions or violent resolutions. He had been converted late in
life to the spirit of the Tridentine Reformation; and when he showed
rigour it was thought to be not in his character, but in the counsels of
those who influenced him.[135] He did not instigate the crime, nor the
atrocious sentiments that hailed it. In the religious struggle a frenzy
had been kindled which made weakness violent, and turned good men into
prodigies of ferocity; and at Rome, where every loss inflicted on
Catholicism and every wound was felt, the belief that, in dealing with
heretics, murder is better than toleration prevailed for half a century.
The predecessor of Gregory had been Inquisitor-General. In his eyes
Protestants were worse than Pagans, and Lutherans more dangerous than
other Protestants.[136] The Capuchin preacher, Pistoja, bore witness
that men were hanged and quartered almost daily at Rome;[137] and Pius
declared that he would release a culprit guilty of a hundred murders
rather than one obstinate heretic.[138] He seriously contemplated razing
the town of Faenza because it was infested with religious error, and he
recommended a similar expedient to the King of France.[139] He adjured
him to hold no intercourse with the Huguenots, to make no terms with
them, and not to observe the terms he had made. He required that they
should be pursued to the death, that not one should be spared under any
pretence, that all prisoners should suffer death.[140] He threatened
Charles with the punishment of Saul when he forebore to exterminate the
Amalekites.[141] He told him that it was his mission to avenge the
injuries of the Lord, and that nothing is more cruel than mercy to the
impious.[142] When he sanctioned the murder of Elizabeth he proposed
that it should be done in execution of his sentence against her.[143] It
became usual with those who meditated assassination or regicide on the
plea of religion to look upon the representatives of Rome as their
natural advisers. On the 21st of January 1591, a young Capuchin came, by
permission of his superiors, to Sega, Bishop of Piacenza, then Nuncio at
Paris. He said that he was inflamed with the desire of a martyr's death;
and having been assured by divines that it would be meritorious to kill
that heretic and tyrant, Henry of Navarre, he asked to be dispensed from
the rule of his Order while he prepared his measures and watched his
opportunity. The Nuncio would not do this without authority from Rome;
but the prudence, courage, and humility which he discerned in the friar
made him believe that the design was really inspired from above. To make
this certain, and to remove all scruples, he submitted the matter to the
Pope, and asked his blessing upon it, promising that whatever he decided
should be executed with all discretion.[144]
The same ideas pervaded the Sacred College under Gregory. There are
letters of profuse congratulation by the Cardinals of Lorraine, Este,
and Pelleve. Bourbon was an accomplice before the fact. Granvelle
condemned not the act but the delay. Delfino and Santorio approved. The
Cardinal of Alessandria had refused the King's gift at Blois, and had
opposed his wishes at the conclave. Circumstances were now so much
altered that the ring was offered to him again, and this time it was
accepted.[145] The one dissentient from the chorus of applause is said
to have been Montalto. His conduct when he became Pope makes it very
improbable; and there is no good authority for the story. But Leti has
it, who is so far from a panegyrist that it deserves mention.
The theory which was framed to justify these practices has done more
than plots and massacres to cast discredit on the Catholics. This theory
was as follows: Confirmed heretics must be rigorously punished whenever
it can be done without the probability of greater evil to religion.
Where that is feared, the penalty may be suspended or delayed for a
season, provided it be inflicted whenever the danger is past.[146]
Treaties made with heretics, and promises given to them must not be
kept, because sinful promises do not bind, and no agreement is lawful
which may injure religion or ecclesiastical authority. No civil power
may enter into engagements which impede the free scope of the Church's
law.[147] It is part of the punishment of heretics that faith shall not
be kept with them.[148] It is even mercy to kill them that they may sin
no more.[149]