learned to confound piety and ferocity, and were made ready to immolate
their countrymen. During the civil war an association was formed in the
South for the purpose of making war upon the Huguenots; and it was
fortified by Pius V. with blessings and indulgences. "We doubt not," it
proclaimed, "that we shall be victorious over these enemies of God and
of all humankind; and if we fall, our blood will be as a second baptism,
by which, without impediment, we shall join the other martyrs
straightway in heaven."[150] Monluc, who told Alva at Bayonne that he
had never spared an enemy, was shot through the face at the siege of
Rabasteins. Whilst he believed that he was dying, they came to tell him
that the place was taken. "Thank God!" he said, "that I have lived long
enough to behold our victory; and now I care not for death. Go back, I
beseech you, and give me a last proof of friendship, by seeing that not
one man of the garrison escapes alive."[151] When Alva had defeated and
captured Genlis, and expected to make many more Huguenot prisoners in
the garrison of Mons, Charles IX. wrote to Mondoucet "that it would be
for the service of God, and of the King of Spain, that they should die.
If the Duke of Alva answers that this is a tacit request to have all the
prisoners cut to pieces, you will tell him that that is what he must do,
and that he will injure both himself and all Christendom if he fails to
do it."[152] This request also reached Alva through Spain. Philip wrote
on the margin of the despatch that, if he had not yet put them out of
the world, he must do so immediately, as there could be no reason for
delay.[153] The same thought occurred to others. On the 22nd of July
Salviati writes that it would be a serious blow to the faction if Alva
would kill his prisoners; and Granvelle wrote that, as they were all
Huguenots, it would be well to throw them all into the river.[154]
Where these sentiments prevailed, Gregory XIII. was not alone in
deploring that the work had been but half done. After the first
explosion of gratified surprise men perceived that the thing was a
failure, and began to call for more. The clergy of Rouen Cathedral
instituted a procession of thanksgiving, and prayed that the King might
continue what he had so virtuously begun, until all France should
profess one faith.[155] There are signs that Charles was tempted at one
moment, during the month of October, to follow up the blow.[156] But he
died without pursuing the design; and the hopes were turned to his
successor. When Henry III. passed through Italy on his way to assume the
crown, there were some who hoped that the Pope would induce him to set
resolutely about the extinction of the Huguenots. A petition was
addressed to Gregory for this purpose, in which the writer says that
hitherto the French court has erred on the side of mercy, but that the
new king might make good the error if rejecting that pernicious maxim
that noble blood spilt weakens a kingdom, he would appoint an execution
which would be cruel only in appearance, but in reality glorious and
holy, and destroy the heretics totally, sparing neither life nor
property.[157] Similar exhortations were addressed from Rome to Henry
himself by Muzio, a layman who had gained repute, among other things, by
controversial writings, of which Pius V. said that they had preserved
the faith in whole districts, and who had been charged with the task of
refuting the Centuriators. On the 17th of July 1574, Muzio wrote to the
King that all Italy waited in reliance on his justice and valour, and
besought him to spare neither old nor young, and to regard neither rank
nor ties of blood.[158] These hopes also were doomed to disappointment;
and a Frenchman, writing in the year of Henry's death, laments over the
cruel clemency and inhuman mercy that reigned on St. Bartholomew's
Day.[159]
This was not the general opinion of the Catholic world. In Spain and
Italy, where hearts were hardened and consciences corrupted by the
Inquisition; in Switzerland, where the Catholics lived in suspicion and
dread of their Protestant neighbours; among ecclesiastical princes in
Germany, whose authority waned as fast as their subjects abjured their
faith, the massacre was welcomed as an act of Christian fortitude. But
in France itself the great mass of the people was struck with
consternation.[160] "Which maner of proceedings," writes Walsingham on
the 13th of September, "is by the Catholiques themselves utterly
condemned, who desire to depart hence out of this country, to quit
themselves of this strange kind of government, for that they see here
none can assure themselves of either goods or life." Even in places
still steeped in mourning for the atrocities suffered at the hands of
Huguenots during the civil war, at Nimes, for instance, the King's
orders produced no act of vengeance. At Carcassonne, the ancient seat of
the Inquisition, the Catholics concealed the Protestants in their
houses.[161] In Provence, the news from Lyons and the corpses that came
down in the poisoned waters of the Rhone awakened nothing but horror and
compassion.[162] Sir Thomas Smith wrote to Walsingham that in England
"the minds of the most number are much alienated from that nation, even
of the very Papists."[163] At Rome itself Zuniga pronounced the
treachery of which the French were boasting unjustifiable, even in the
case of heretics and rebels;[164] and it was felt as an outrage to
public opinion when the murderer of Coligny was presented to the
Pope.[165] The Emperor was filled with grief and indignation. He said
that the King and Queen-mother would live to learn that nothing could
have been more iniquitously contrived or executed: his uncle Charles V.,
and his father Ferdinand, had made war on the Protestants, but they had
never been guilty of so cruel an act.[166] At that moment Maximilian was
seeking the crown of Poland for his son; and the events in France were a
weapon in his hands against his rival, Anjou. Even the Czar of Muscovy,
Ivan the Terrible, replying to his letters, protested that all Christian
princes must lament the barbarous and needless shedding of so much
innocent blood. It was not the rivalry of the moment that animated
Maximilian. His whole life proves him to have been an enemy of violence
and cruelty; and his celebrated letter to Schwendi, written long after,
shows that his judgment remained unchanged. It was the Catholic Emperor
who roused the Lutheran Elector of Saxony to something like resentment
of the butchery in France.[167]
For the Lutherans were not disposed to recognise the victims of Charles
IX. as martyrs for the Protestant cause. During the wars of religion
Lutheran auxiliaries were led by a Saxon prince, a margrave of Baden,
and other German magnates, to aid the Catholic forces in putting down
the heresy of Calvin. These feelings were so well known that the French
Government demanded of the Duke of Wirtemberg the surrender of the
Huguenots who had fled into his dominions.[168] Lutheran divines
flattered themselves at first with the belief that it was the
Calvinistic error, not the Protestant truth, that had invited and
received the blow.[169] The most influential of them, Andreae, declared
that the Huguenots were not martyrs but rebels, who had died not for
religion but sedition; and he bade the princes beware of the contagion
of their spirit, which had deluged other lands with blood. When
Elizabeth proposed a league for the defence of Protestantism, the North
German divines protested against an alliance with men whose crime was
not only religious error but blasphemous obstinacy, the root of many
dreadful heresies. The very proposal, they said, argued a disposition to
prefer human succour rather than the word of God.[170] When another
invitation came from Henry of Navarre, the famous divine Chemnitz
declared union with the disciples of Calvin a useless abomination.[171]
The very men whose own brethren had perished in France were not hearty
or unanimous in execrating the deed.[172] There were Huguenots who
thought that their party had brought ruin on itself, by provoking its
enemies, and following the rash counsels of ambitious men.[173] This
was the opinion of their chief, Theodore Beza, himself. Six weeks
before, he wrote that they were gaining in numbers but losing in
quality, and he feared lest, after destroying superstition, they should
destroy religion: "Valde metuo ne superstitioni successerit
impietas."[174] And afterwards he declared that nobody who had known the
state of the French Protestants could deny that it was a most just
judgment upon them.[175]
Beza held very stringent doctrines touching the duty of the civil
magistrate to repress religious error. He thought that heresy is worse
than murder, and that the good of society requires no crime to be more
severely punished.[176] He declared toleration contrary to revealed
religion and the constant tradition of the Church, and taught that
lawful authority must be obeyed, even by those whom it persecutes. He
expressly recognised this function in Catholic States, and urged
Sigismund not to rest until he had got rid of the Socinians in
Poland;[177] but he could not prevail against the vehement resistance of
Cardinal Hosius. It was embarrassing to limit these principles when they
were applied against his own Church. For a moment Beza doubted whether
it had not received its death-blow in France. But he did not qualify the
propositions which were open to be interpreted so fatally,[178] or deny
that his people, by their vices, if not by their errors, had deserved
what they had suffered.
The applause which greeted their fate came not from the Catholics
generally, nor from the Catholics alone. While the Protestants were
ready to palliate or excuse it, the majority of the Catholics who were
not under the direct influence of Madrid or Rome recognised the
inexpiable horror of the crime. But the desire to defend what the Pope
approved survived sporadically, when the old fierceness of dogmatic
hatred was extinct. A generation passed without any perceptible change
in the judgment of Rome. It was a common charge against De Thou that he
had condemned the blameless act of Charles IX. The blasphemies of the
Huguenots, said one of his critics, were more abominable than their
retribution.[179] His History was put on the Index; and Cardinal
Barberini let him know that he was condemned because he not only
favoured Protestants to the detriment of Catholics, but had even
disapproved the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.[180] Eudaemon-Johannes, the
friend of Bellarmine, pronounces it a pious and charitable act, which
immortalised its author.[181] Another Jesuit, Bompiani, says that it was
grateful to Gregory, because it was likely to relieve the Church.[182]
The well-known apology for Charles IX. by Naude is based rather on
political than religious grounds; but his contemporary Guyon, whose
History of Orleans is pronounced by the censors full of sound doctrine
and pious sentiment, deems it unworthy of Catholics to speak of the
murder of heretics as if it were a crime, because, when done under
lawful authority, it is a blessed thing.[183] When Innocent XI. refused
to approve the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Frenchmen wondered
that he should so far depart from the example which was kept before him
by one of the most conspicuous ornaments of his palace.[184] The old
spirit was decaying fast in France, and the superb indignation of
Bossuet fairly expresses the general opinion of his time. Two works were
published on the medals of the Popes, by a French and an Italian writer.
The Frenchman awkwardly palliates the conduct of Gregory XIII.; the
Italian heartily defends it.[185] In Italy it was still dangerous
ground. Muratori shrinks from pronouncing on the question,[186] while
Cienfuegos, a Jesuit whom his Order esteemed one of the most
distinguished Cardinals of the day, judges that Charles IX. died too
soon for his fame.[187] Tempesti, who lived under the enlightened rule
of Benedict XIV., accuses Catherine of having arrested the slaughter, in
order that some cause should remain to create a demand for her
counsels.[188] The German Jesuit Biner and the Papal historian Piatti,
just a century ago, are among the last downright apologists.[189]
Then there was a change. A time came when the Catholics, having long
relied on force, were compelled to appeal to opinion. That which had
been defiantly acknowledged and defended required to be ingeniously
explained away. The same motive which had justified the murder now
prompted the lie. Men shrank from the conviction that the rulers and
restorers of their Church had been murderers and abetters of murder, and
that so much infamy had been coupled with so much zeal. They feared to
say that the most monstrous of crimes had been solemnly approved at
Rome, lest they should devote the Papacy to the execration of mankind. A
swarm of facts were invented to meet the difficulty: The victims were
insignificant in number; they were slain for no reason connected with
religion; the Pope believed in the existence of the plot; the plot was a
reality; the medal is fictitious; the massacre was a feint concerted
with the Protestants themselves; the Pope rejoiced only when he heard
that it was over.[190] These things were repeated so often that they
have been sometimes believed; and men have fallen into this way of
speaking whose sincerity was unimpeachable, and who were not shaken in
their religion by the errors or the vices of Popes. Moehler was
pre-eminently such a man. In his lectures on the history of the Church,
which were published only last year,[191] he said that the Catholics, as
such, took no part in the massacre; that no cardinal, bishop, or priest
shared in the councils that prepared it; that Charles informed the Pope
that a conspiracy had been discovered; and that Gregory made his
thanksgiving only because the King's life was saved.[192] Such things
will cease to be written when men perceive that truth is the only merit
that gives dignity and worth to history.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 6: _North British Review_, Oct. 1869.]
[Footnote 7: Satius fore ducebam, si minus profligari possent omnes, ut
ferrentur omnes, quo mordentes et comedentes invicem, consumerentur ab
invicem (Hosius to Karnkowsky, Feb. 26, 1568).]
[Footnote 8: The Secretary of Medina Celi to Cayas, June 24, 1572
(_Correspondance de Philippe II._, ii. 264).]
[Footnote 9: Quant a ce qui me touche a moy en particulier, encores que
j'ayme unicquement tous mes enffans, je veulx preferer, comme il est
bien raysonnable, les filz aux filles; et pour le regard de ce que me
mandez de celluy qui a faict mourir ma fille, c'est chose que l'on ne
tient point pour certaine, et ou elle le seroit, le roy monsieur mondit
filz n'en pouvoit faire la vengence en l'estat que son royaulme estoit
lors; mais a present qu'il est tout uni, il aura assez de moien et de
forces pour sen ressentir quant l'occasion s'en presentera (Catherine to
Du Ferrier, Oct. 1, 1572; Bib. Imp. F. Fr. 15,555). The despatches of
Fourquevaulx from Madrid, published by the Marquis Du Prat in the
_Histoire d' Elisabeth de Valois_, do not confirm the rumour.]
[Footnote 10: Toutes mes fantaisies sont bandees pour m'opposer a la
grandeur des Espagnols, et delibere m'y conduire le plus dextrement
qu'il me sera possible (Charles IX. to Noailles, May 2, 1572; Noailles,
_Henri de Valois_, i. 8).]
[Footnote 11: Il fault, et je vous prie ne faillir, quand bien il seroit
du tout rompu, et que verries qu'il n'y auroit nulle esperance, de
trouver moyen d'en entrettenir toujours doucement le propos, d'ici a
quelque temps; car cella ne peut que bien servir a establir mes affaires
et aussy pour ma reputation (Charles IX. to La Mothe, Aug. 9, 1572;
_Corr. de La Mothe_, vii. 311).]
[Footnote 12: This is stated both by his mother and by the Cardinal of
Lorraine (Michelet, _La Ligue_, p. 26).]
[Footnote 13: In reliqua Gallia fuit et est incredibilis defectio, quae
tamen usque adeo non pacavit immanes illas feras, ut etiam eos qui
defecerunt (qui pene sunt innumerabiles) semel ad internecionem una cum
integris familiis trucidare prorsus decreverint (Beza, Dec. 3, 1572;
_Ill. vir. Epp. Sel._, p. 621, 1617).]
[Footnote 14: Languet to the Duke of Saxony, Nov. 30, 1572 (_Arcana_,
sec. xvi. 183).]
[Footnote 15: Vidi et cum dolore intellexi lanienam illam Gallicam
perfidissimam et atrocissimam plurimos per Germaniam ita offendisse, ut
jam etiam de veritate nostrae Religionis et doctrinae dubitare
incoeperint (Bullinger to Wittgenstein, Feb. 23, 1573; Friedlaender,
_Beitraege zur rel. Gesch._, p. 254).]
[Footnote 16: De Thou, _Memoires_, p. 9.]
[Footnote 17: Il me dist qu'on luy avoist escript de Rome, n'avoit que
trois semaines ou environ, sur le propos des noces du roy de Navarre en
ces propres termes; Que a ceste heure que tous les oiseaux estoient en
cage, on les pouvoit prendre tous ensemble (Vulcob to Charles IX., Sept.
26, 1572; Noailles, iii. 214).]
[Footnote 18: _Memoires de Duplessis-Mornay_, i. 38; Ambert,
_Duplessis-Mornay_, p. 38.]
[Footnote 19: Digges, _Compleat Ambassador_, pp. 276, 255.]
[Footnote 20: Correr, _Relazione_; Tommaseo, ii. 116.]
[Footnote 21: He said to Catherine: Que quando quisiesen usar de otro y
averlo, con no mas personas que con cinc o seys que son el cabo de todo
esto, los tomasen a su mano y les cortasen las cabecas (Alva to Philip
II., June 21, 1565; _Papiers de Granvelle_, ix. 298).]
[Footnote 22: Ci rallegriamo con la maesta sua con tutto l' affetto
dell' animo, ch' ella habbia presa quella risolutione cosi
opportunamente sopra la quale noi stesso l' ultima volta che fummo in
Francia parlammo con la Regina Madre.... Dipoi per diversi gentilhuomini
che in varie occorrenze habbiamo mandato in corte siamo instati nel
suddetto ricordo (Alfonso II. to Fogliani, Sept. 13, 1572; Modena
Archives).]
[Footnote 23: Muchas vezes me ha accordado de aver dicho a Su Mag. esto
mismo en Bayona, y de lo que mi offrecio, y veo que ha muy bien
desempenado su palabra (Alva to Zuniga, Sept. 9, 1572; Coquerel, _La St.
Barthelemy_, p. 12).]
[Footnote 24: Kluckhohn, _Zur Geschichte des angeblichen Buendnisses von
Bayonne_, p. 36, 1868.]
[Footnote 25: Il signor duca di Alva ... mi disse, che come in questo
abboccamento negotio alcuno non havevano trattato, ne volevano trattare,
altro che della religione, cosi la lor differenza era nata per questo,
perche non vedeva che la regina ci pigliasse risolutione a modo suo ne
de altro, che di buone parole ben generali.... E stato risoluto che alla
tornata in Parigi si fara una ricerca di quelli che hanno contravenuto
all' editto, e si castigaranno; nel che dice S.M. che gli Ugonotti ci
sono talmente compresi, che spera con questo mezzo solo cacciare i
Ministri di Francia.... Il Signor Duca di Alva si satisfa piu di questa
deliberatione di me, perche io non trovo che serva all' estirpation
dell' heresia il castigar quelli che hanno contravenuto all' editto
(Santa Croce to Borromeo, Bayonne, July 1, 1565, MS.).]
[Footnote 26: Desjardins, _Negociations avec la Toscane_, iii. 756, 765,
802.]
[Footnote 27: Io non no fatto intendere cosa alcuna a nessuno principe;
ho ben parlato al nunzio solo (Desp. Aug. 31; Desjardins, iii. 828).]
[Footnote 28: Alberi, _Relazioni Venete_, xii. 250.]
[Footnote 29: Alberi, xii. 328.]
[Footnote 30: Son principal but et dessein estoit de sentir quelle
esperance ilz pourroient avoir de parvenir a la paix avec le G.S. dont
il s'est ouvert et a demande ce qu'il en pouvoit esperer et attendre
(Charles IX. to Du Ferrier, Sept. 28, 1572; Charriere, _Negociations
dans le Levant_, iii. 310).]
[Footnote 31: Ranke, _Franzoesische Geschichte_, v. 76.]
[Footnote 32: Digges, p. 258; Cosmi, _Memorie di Morosini_, p. 26.]
[Footnote 33: Alberi, xii. 294.]
[Footnote 34: Mittit eo Antonium Mariam Salviatum, reginae affinem eique
pergratum, qui eam in officio contineat (Cardinal of Vercelli, _Comment.
de Rebus Gregorii_ XIII.; Ranke, _Paepste_, App. 85).]
[Footnote 35: Desp. Aug. 30, 1570.]
[Footnote 36: Oct. 14, 1570.]
[Footnote 37: Sept. 24, 1570.]
[Footnote 38: Nov. 28, 1570.]
[Footnote 39: Quando scrissi ai giorni passati alla S.V. Illma in
cifra, che l'ammiraglio s' avanzava troppo et che gli darebbero su l'
unge, gia mi ero accorto, che non lo volevano piu tollerare, et molto
piu mi confermai nell' opinione, quando con caratteri ordinarii glie
scrivevo che speravo di dover haver occasione di dar qualche buona nova
a Sua Beatitudine, benche mai havrei creduto la x. parte di quello, che
al presente veggo con gli occhi (Desp. Aug. 24; Theiner, _Annales_, i.
329).]
[Footnote 40: Che molti siano stati consapevoli del fatto e necessario,
potendogli dizer che a 21 la mattina, essendo col Cardinal di Borbone et
M. de Montpensier, viddi che ragionavano si domesticamente di quello che
doveva seguire, che in me medesimo restando confuso, conobbi che la
prattica andava gagliarda, e piutosto disperai di buon fine che
altrimente (same Desp.; Mackintosh, _History of England_, ii. 355).]
[Footnote 41: Attribuisce a se, et al nipote, et a casa sua, la morte
del' ammiraglio, gloriandosene assai (Desp. Oct. 1; Theiner, p. 331).
The Emperor told the French ambassador "que, depuis les choses avenues,
on lui avoit mande de Rome que Mr. le Cardinal de Lorraine avoit dit que
tout le fait avoit este delibere avant qu'il partist de France" (Vulcob
to Charles IX., Nov. 8; Groen van Prinsterer, _Archives de Nassau_, iv.
App. 22).]
[Footnote 42: Marlot, _Histoire de Reims_, iv. 426. This language
excited the surprise of Dale, Walsingham's successor (Mackintosh, iii.
226).]
[Footnote 43: _Archives Curieuses_, viii. 305.]
[Footnote 44: Egli solo tra tutti gli altri e solito particolarmente di
sostenere le nostre fatiche.... Essendo partecipe di tutti i nostri
consigli, et consapevole de segreti dell' intimo animo nostro (Pius V.
to Philip II., June 20, 1571; Zucchi, _Idea del Segretario_, i. 544).]
[Footnote 45: Serranus, _Commentarii_, iv. 14; Davila, ii. 104.]
[Footnote 46: Digges, p. 193.]
[Footnote 47: Finis hujus legationis erat non tam suadere Regi ut foedus
cum aliis Christianis principibus iniret (id nempe notum erat
impossibile illi regno esse); sed ut rex ille praetermissus non
videretur, et revera ut sciretur quo tenderent Gallorum cogitationes.
Non longe nempe a Rocella naves quasdam praegrandes instruere et armare
coeperat Philippus Strozza praetexens velle ad Indias a Gallis inventas
navigare (_Relatio gestorum in Legatione Card. Alexandrini MS._).]
[Footnote 48: Con alcuni particulari che io porto, de' quali
ragguagliero N. Signore a bocca, posso dire di non partirmi affatto mal
espedito (Ranke, _Zeitschrift_, iii. 598). Le temps et les effectz luy
temoigneront encores d'advantage (_Memoire baille au legat Alexandrin_,
Feb. 1572; Bib. Imp. F. Dupuy, 523).]
[Footnote 49: _De Sacro Foedere, Graevius Thesaurus_, i. 1038.]
[Footnote 50: Catena, _Vita di Pio V._, p. 197; Gabutius, _Vita Pii V._,
p. 150, and the Dedication.]
[Footnote 51: D'Ossat to Villeroy, Sept. 22, 1599; _Lettres_, iii. 503.
An account of the Legate's journey was found by Mendham among Lord
Guildford's manuscripts, and is described in the Supplement to his life
of Pius V., p. 13. It is written by the Master of Ceremonies, and
possesses no interest. The _Relatio_ already quoted, which corresponds
to the description given by Clement VIII. of his own work, is among the
manuscripts of the Marquis Capponi, No. 164.]
[Footnote 52: Vuol andar con ogni quiete et dissimulatione, fin che il
Re suo figliolo sia in eta (Santa Croce, Desp. June 27, 1563; _Lettres
du Card. Santa Croce_, p. 243).]
[Footnote 53: La Chastre to Charles IX., Jan. 21, 1570; Raynal,
_Histoire du Berry_, iv. 105; Lavallee, _Histoire des Francais_, ii.
478. Both Raynal and Lavallee had access to the original.]
[Footnote 54: Il Papa credeva che la pace fatta, e l'aver consentito il
Re che l'Ammiraglio venisse in corte, fusse con disegno di ammazzarlo;
ma accortosi come passa il fatto, non ha creduto che nel Re Nostro sia
quella brava resoluzione (Letter of Nov. 28, 1571; Desjardins, iii.
732). Pour le regard de M. l'Admiral, je n'ay failly de luy faire
entendre ce que je devois, suyvant ce qu'il a pleu a V.M. me commander,
dont il est demeure fort satisfaict (Ferralz to Charles IX., Dec. 25,
1571; Bib. Imp. F. Fr. 16,039; Walsingham to Herbert, Oct. 10, 1571; to
Smith, Nov. 26, 1572; Digges, p. 290).]
[Footnote 55: Marcel to Charles IX., December 20, 1571; _Cabinet
Historique_, ii. 253.]