it: PULL COURT LIBRARY. Div. //f Shelf F No. queen of Navarre her character. Renewal of war between Henry and the Empe- ror. Catherine of Mede-cis left regent. Siege of Metz. Continuation of the war. Abdication of the Emperor. Power of Diana de Poitiers^ VOL. II, B 2 KINGS OF FRANCE. duchefs of Valentinois. Expedition under the duke of Guife againft Naples. Battle of St. Quentin Capture of Calais. Marriage of Francis the Dauphin to Mary queen of Scotland. Conclufion of the peace of Cateau-en-CambreJis. Caroufals of the court. The king's death. Enumeration of the circumftances which attended it. Cha- racter of Henry the fecond.His MiftreJTes. Reflexions. I547- ' i CHOUGH the death of fo able and ex- Sift perienced a prince as Francis the firlt, r at a period of life when his character promifed happinefs and tranquillity to his people, was an event deeply to be lamented by thofe to whom the interefts of the ftate were dear j yet as his fucceffor had attained to years of manhood, and did not appear to be deficient in the qualities requifite for government, his lofs might be deemed not irreparable. Henry the fecond, who afcended the throne, was the handfomeft prince of his age, and one of the moft accomplifhed cavaliers in his dominions. He excelled in all the martial exercifes where vigour and addrefs are necelHiry ; and bore away the prize in tournaments with diftinguifhed grace. His heart was beneficent and humane ; his temper courteous, open, and liberal ; his intentions ever honourable, and directed to the public good : but he neither poflefled the ca- pacity or difcernment which Francis difcovered i and, HENRY THE SECOND. arid, naturally tractable, and yielding to others, he was formed to be under the guidance of favourites. His father's dying exhortations made no im- preflion on his heart, nor produced any effect upon his conduct; and fcarce were the late king's funeral rites performed, when Henry violated them in every point. Montmorenci, who hdd been during feveral years in difgrace, was re- called to court, and loaded with honours : the admiral d'Annebaut was difmifled, and the Car- dinal de Tournon only retained a fhadow of authority. In their place, Francis duke of Guife, fo celebrated in the fubfequent reigns* and the Marechal de St. Andre, were fubfti- tuted. That pernicious profufion, which had characterifed the commencement of the late king's reign, was carried to a more unjuftifiable length ; and the treafures amafled during his concluding years, were diflipated with a wanton extravagance. Diana de Poitiers, duchefs de Valentinois, who may be faid to have almoft divided the crown with her lover, and who carried her in- fluence, perfonal and political, to a height which the duchefs d'Eftampes never could at- tain under his predeceflbr, was the directing principle of Henry's councils, the object of his tendereft attachment, and unlimited homage. This extraordinary woman, unparalleled in the B 2 annals 4 KINQS OF FRANCE. 1547, annals of hiflory, retained her beauty undirn'r-* nifhed even in the autumn of life, and preierved her powers of captivating, in defiance of time and natural decay. She was already forty-eight, while Henry had fcarce attained his twenty- ninth year. Her father, John de Poitiers, Seig- neur de St. Vallier, had been condemned to die, in 1523, as an accomplice in the revolt of the Conftable, Charles of Bourbon j and though he cfcaped with his life, yet he was degraded from the rank of nobility, and all his eftates were confiscated *. She was married, in the laft year of Louis the twelfth's reign, to Louis de Breze, Count de Maulevrier, and grand Sene- chal of Normandy, by whom fhe had two- daughters then alive. It is not certain when her * Diana de Poitiers was born on the 5th of September 1499. Mezerai, the prefident Henault, and many other writers have afferted, that fhe preferved her father's life, by the facrifice of her chaftity to Francis the firft, from whofe embraces fhe pafTed into thofe of his fon ; but this Jtory is very doubtful, and moft probably falfe. She had been married near ten years to Louis, Count de Maulevrier, at that time, and confequently had not, as thofe authors feem to imagine, her 'virgin honour to beftow. Befides, though her father's life was not taken away, his punifh- ment was changed for another rather worfe than death ; that of being immured perpetually between four walls, in which there fhould be only one little window, through which his provifions might be given him. St. Vallier died of a fever, occafioned by his terror, in a very fhort time afterwards. connections ,7 HENRY THE SECOND. J connexions with the Dauphin Henry firft com- i547- mencedj but it appears, that before he had com- pleted his eighteenth year, her afcendancy over him was well eftablifhed. All the cotemporary authors agree, that her charms were of the moft captivating kind, and worthy of a monarch's love : to thefe perfonal endowments, fhe united a cultivated and juft underflanding, wit, and an animated converfation. Warmly devoted to her friends and partizans, fhe waslikewife a dangerous and implacable enemy : of high and unfubmit- ting fpirit, fhe transfufed thofe fentiments into the royal bofom, and impelled him to actions of vigour and firmnefs. Fond of power, fhe was yet more fo of flattery and fubmiflion. The nobles crouded to exprefs their dutiful atten- tions to this idol; and even the Conftable Mont- morenci, rude, haughty, and more accuftomed to infult than to flatter, bent beneath her, and condefcended to ingratiate himfelf by the moft fervile adulation. The tyes which chiefly bound Henry to Diana de Poitiers, were probably firft thofe of pleafure, and afterwards of tafte and habit. In vain did the duchefs d'Eftampes exert every art of female rivality and hatred, to difunite them ; in vain did fhe publifh, that Diana was married in the fame year, which gave herfelf birth. Thefe efforts only encreafcd the paffion which they were defigned to extinguifh. The B 3 king KINGS OF FRANCE. king carried it to an incredible heighth, and gave her every public, as well as private proof of her afcendancy over him. The furniture of his palaces, his armour, the public edifices of the kingdom, were all diftinguifJhed with her device and emblems ; a " moon, bow, and ar- tl rows." Every favour or preferment was ob- tained thro/ her intereft ; and BrifTac, the moft amiable and gallant nobleman of the court, who was fuppofed to be peculiarly acceptable to her, was created grand mafter of the artillery, at her parti-, cular requeft *. The Count de Boffu, who had been intimately connected with the late king's miftrefs, and who was accufed of treafonablepracr tices with the emperor, could only fhelter him- felf * Charles de Cofle, Marechal de Briflac, was brought up with Francis Dauphin of France, and eldeft fon to Francis the firft, whpfe premature and lamented death in 1536, deeply affected Briflac, and induced him to dedicate him- felf entirely to the profeflion of arms. He eminently dif- tinguifhed his courage at the fiege of Perpignan in 1541, where he was wounded, after having refcued, at the immi- nent hazard of his life, the artillery, which had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards. He was flender, and of a very delicate figure ; but his face was fp uncommonly hand- fome, that the ladies of the court named him always " Le beau Briflac." In all the campaigns towards the con- clufion of Francis the firft's reign, but peculiarly at the fiege of Landrecy in 1543, he gained immortal reputa- tjon. Under Henry the fecond he commanded the armies of France in Piedmont, where he fuccefsfully oppofed the. greateft HENRY THE SECOND. " t felf from punifhment by a refignation of his J 547 palace at Marchez to the Cardinal of Lorrain. The duchefs d'Eftampes, unfupported by the croud of flatterers who had attended on her in Francis's reign, was compelled to quit the court; but Diana, whether from motives of prudence or magnanimity, did not attempt to deprive her of the poflefllons which Ihe had ac- quired from that monarch's generofity. Dif- graced, and forfaken, (he retired to one of her country houfes, where (he lived many years in perfec"l obfcurity *. Henry, on his return from a vifit which he July- had made foon after his accefllon, to the fron- greateft imperial generals, Ferdinand de Gonzague, and the duke of Alva. After the death of Henry in 1559, he returned into his own country, and was made governor of Picardy : he expired of the gout, at Paris, on the jift De- cember 1563, being only fifcy-feven years of age. It can- not be doubted, that he was beloved by the duchefs de Valentinois; and jealoufy was believed to have been the motive which induced Henry the fecond to confer on him the command in Italy, as it necefl'arily compelled Briflac to quit his millrefs. * It is fomewfcat extraordinary, that the year of the duchefs d'Eftampes's death is not mentioned by any cotem- porary author. All we know is, that foe was alive in 1575, as file did homage at that time for one of her eftates. She became a proteftrefs of the Lutherans or Hugonots, for whom (he had always entertain'd a concealed atfe&ion ; and this is the only circumftance with which we are ac- quainted relative to her retreat. B 4 tier S KINGS OF FRANCE. 1547. tier of Picardy, not only permitted, but was ~* publicly prefent with all his court, at the cele- brated duel between Guy de Chabot-Jarnac, and Francis de Vivonne-La Chataigneraie, which was fought in all the forms of chivalry, at St. Germain-en-Laye. The quarrel had originated from an accufation of La Chataigneraie re- fpecting the duchefs d'Eftampes's infidelity to the late king; and was increafed by a fecond imputation thrown on Jarnac, more difho- nourable; that of his having been criminally intimate with his father's fecond wife. La Cha- taigneraie was one of the moft accomplifhed cavaliers in France, and the moft perfonally ac- ceptable to the king : {killed in the practice of arms, vain of his acknowledged addrefs, and relying on the royal favour, he defpifed his an- tagonift 5 while Jarnac, more cautious, and nei- ther fupported by fuperior force, or any hope of Henry's partial protection, endeavoured to fupply thefe defects by artifice. A fever had diminifhed even his ufual ftrength and activity; but the prefumptuous negligence of La Cha- taigneraie decided the duel in his honour. By a thruft totally unexpected, Jarnac wounded him in the ham, and threw him to the ground, Henry inftantly flung down his baton, to put an end to the engagement, and Jarnac, as the law of arms required, defifted , but his competitor, flung with difappointment, covered with fhame, and incapable of furviving thefe accumulated mortifications, HENRY THE SECOND. mortifications, would not accept of a life which he deemed ignominious j and having torn off the bandages applied to his wounds, foon after expired. The king was fo deeply affected with this combat, and its event, fo oppofite to his wifhes and expectations, that he made a folemn vow, never during his reign to permit of a fe- cond, on any pretext whatfoever. The caufes of future wars, which were not extinguilhed by the death of Francis the firft, began to difplay themfelves between the em- peror and Henry ; though as yet many circum- ftances conduced to retard any open rupture. This latter prince made a progrefs through part of his dominions, accompanied with- fplendid entries into the principal cities ; and on his re- turn he celebrated the nuptials of Anthony duke of Vendome with Jane d'Albret, heirefs of the kingdom of Navarre, at the dty of Moulins *. A dan- * The young princefs had been efpoufed feveral years be- fore to the duke of Cleves ; and Francis the firft was prefent at that ceremony, which was performed with great fplendor at Chatelleraud in Poiftou ; but the marriage was not con- fummated, on account of her extreme youth, {he being at that time little more than twelve years old. The day was rendered remarkable by the difmiffion and difgrace of the Conftable Montmorenci ; which was preceded by a very fingular circumftance, fuppofed to foretel his approaching fall. The young bride, according to the manners of the age, was drefled in robes fo weighty, and loaded with fo many pearls and jewels, that not being able to move, Francis KINGS OF FRANCE. A dangerous infurrection, which broke out at this time in Guienne, rendering it neceffary to fend into that province fome general of rank and experience, the duke of Guife and the Conftable were both charged with the com- miffion. The former, courteous, humane, and Francis commanded the Conftable to take her in his arms, and carry her to the church. Though this cuftom was ufual at the nuptials of great perfons, yet Montmorenci was deeply hurt by being feleded for fuch an office; and regarding it as an inconteftible proof of his ruin, hefitated not to de- dare to his friends, that his favour was at an end. The event juttified his fufpicion; for immediately after the ban- quet, the king difmified him from his fervice, and he quitted the court direftly. Margaret of Valois, queen of Navarre, and mother to Jane d'Albret, was fuppofed, by her intereft with her brother, to have accelerated his dif- grace. The Conftable had not fcrupled to accufe her to Francis, of being attached to, and of protecting the ftu- gonots. By this imputation againft his beloved fifter, he offended the king, and raifed up an implacable and power- ful enemy in Margaret herfelf. The marriage of Jane with the duke of Cleves t which had been chiefly made in compliance with the wi(hes of Francis the firft, was afterwards diflblved from motives of policy, the duke having fubmitted to, and reconciled him- felf with the emperor. But Brantpme fays, that Anthony duke of Vendome had great fcrnples of delicacy relative to efpoufing the princefs ; and that be had recourfe to the Senechale of Poidlou, who was a lady of honour to the young queen of Navarre at the time of her firft nuptials, to clear up his fufpicions. She did fo ; and gave him the molt folemn and fatisfaftory proofs, that Jane*s firft marriage had been merely a ceremony, and was never confurama^ed. warmly HENRY THE SECOND. n warmly defirous to conciliate the popular fa- 1549. vour, entered Saintonge and Angoumois, dif- penfing pardon, or only punilhing with lenity and gentlenefs ; but Montmorenci, inexorable, and with a feverity of temper which approached to cruelty, marked his courfe along the river Ga- ronne with blood j and, deaf to the fupplications of the inhabitants, who had recourfe to fubmifilons and entreaties, put to death above a hundred of Oftobcr. the principal citizens of Bourdeaux, and de- prived the city of all its municipal rights and privileges. A conduct fo oppofite, produced among the people fentiments equally diffimilar with refpect to the two commanders j and from this asra the family of Guife began to date that popularity, which in the fequel they carried to fo prodigious and dangerous a length againit the crown and monarchy itfelf. The court meanwhile was wholly engaged in caroufals and feftivities. A gallant and warlike prince of the character of Henry the fecond, who delighted in exercifes of prowefs and dexterity, was naturally followed in his paflion for thole diverfions, by his nobility. Diana de Poitiers, created duchefs of Valentinois, prefided at thefe entertainments, given in her honour j and the queen, Catherine of Medecis, though young, beautiful, and of uncommon capacity, though endowed with diflimulation and manners the moft temporifing, yet acted only an inferior and 10 fubfervient 14 KINGSOFFRANCE. 1549. fubfervient part. She had however the honour lothjune. of being folemnly crowned at St. Denis, and of making afterwards a triumphal entry with her Juifband into the capital ; but thefe were only pageantries of ftate, and Henry, who never ad- mitted her to a real participation of his autho- rity, feems to have been aware, that her cha- racter and genius were more calculated to em- broil, than to afiift the affairs of government. By a tranfition wonderful and inexplicable, if any thing in human nature can be fo efteemed, thefe tournaments and entertainments were im- mediately fucceeded by exhibitions of a very different nature, which miftaken piety and the in- temperate zeal of the age fubftituted by turns in the place of gallantry and pleafure. A number of profelytes to the doctrines of Luther and Calvin were publickly and folemnly burnt, as an ex- ample to their companions ; while the king and his whole court were prefent at thefe inhuman facrifkes, which were performed with a refine- ment of mercilefs cruelty, and varied in different modes of punifhment. ziftDe- Margaret ofValois, queen of Navarre, died cember. about th j s t j mej at t jj C ca ftl e o f Qdos in the province of Bigorre. She had never recover- ed the afflicting news of her beloved brother's death. If Francis the firft was the greatefb monarch of his age, Margaret was indifputably the moft accomplifhed princefs. Devoted to the love HENRY THE SECOND. love of letters, me encouraged and patronized men of genius and learning, from whom fhe re- ceived the flattering epithets of, "the Tenth " Mufe," and " the Fourth Grace." Herfelf an author, fhe has left us inconteftible proofs of her elegant genius, her wit, and graceful ftyle, which though negligent, is full of beauty. Suf- pedled of a partiality towards Hugonotifm, fhe was likewife fufpecled of gallantry ; and per- haps might have been equally feniible in turn to thofe grand movements of elevated minds, devotion and love. Her Tales, which are fcarce inferior to thofe of Boccacio, feem to confirm this fentiment ; and though they ever inculcate and commend the virtues of chaftity and female fidelity, yet contain in certain parts an anima- tion and warmth of colouring, that give room to fuppofe the writer of them was fully fenfible to the delights of the paffion which fhe cenfured and condemned *. Boulogne, * Margaret was born on the nth of April 1492. Eon- nivet, prefuming on his perfonal accomplishments, con- cealed himfelf under her bed, and attempted to violate her honour; but (he repulfed him, tore off the fkin from his face with her nails, and afterwards complained to the king her brother of this daring attempt, at which he only laugh- ed. She has related this adventure, though fomewhat enig- matically, among her Tales. Though Margaret was fome. times fo devout as to compofe hymns, yet fhe was certainly an r Efprit fort," and had even great doubts concerning the 14 KINGS OF FRANCE. *$5' Boulogne, after a long fiege, was at length March, furrendered to France, from the weaknefs and diffentions incident to a minority ; Edward the fixth, king of England, being very young, and the the immortality of the foul, Bran tome has preferved a- very curious ftory relative to the death of one of her maids of honour, at which (he was prefent. The queen was much attached to her, and could not be induced by any entrea- ties to quit her bed-fide, when expiring : on the contrary, fhe continued to fix her eyes on the dying perfon with un- common eagernefs and perfeverance, till fhe had breathed her laft. The ladies of her court exprefled to her majefty their aftonifhment and furprife at this conduft ; and re- quefted to know, what fatisfaftion fhe could derive from fo clofe an infpedtion of the agonies of death ? Her anfwer marked a moft daring and inquifitive mind. She faid, *' that having often heard the moft learned doftors and " ecclefiaftics affert, that on the extinction of the body, the " immortal part was unloofed and fet at liberty, fhe could " not reftrain her anxious curiofity to obferve if any indi- " cations of fuch a feparation were difcernible : that none " fuch fhe had been able in any degree to difcover; and " that, if me was not happily very firm in her faith and " adherence to the catholic religion, fhe mould not know ' what to think of this departure of the foul." Francis the firft took a pleafure in publicly declaring, that to her tendernefs, care, and attentions, he was in- debted for his life, during the fevere illnefs which he fuf- fered in his confinement at Madrid. She had the boldnefs and fpirit to reproach the emperor and his council, in the moft animated terms, for their unmanly and cruel treatment cf the king her brother. It is faid that Charles the fifth was fo much irritated by thefe reprehenfions, which he was con- fcious he merited, that he had intended to feize on her per- ion. HENRY THE SECOND. the authority of his uncle the lord protestor ill eftablifhed. The houfe of Guife, firmly- united with Diana duchefs of Valentinois, con- tinued to aggrandize itfelf, and acquired every year ibme new eftablifhment. The genius and great qualities of the duke and the cardinal of Lorrain, different from each other, but equally pre-eminent and diftinguifhed, eclipfed all other merit : even the Conftable Montmorenci, though fuperior to any rival in the king's favour, and pofiefiing an unlimited influence over him, yet could not fee unmoved the rapid progrefs which the Guifes made in univerfal admiration -, and fbn, and detain her prifoner, if fhe had outftayed the time granted her to remain in the Spanifh dominions. Margaret received intimation of this defign ; and, without being in the leaft afraid, fhe mounted on horfeback, crofled all the pro- vinces between Madrid and Bayonne, and arrived on the frontier of France a very few hours before the expiration of her fafe conduft. She was feized, fays Brantome, with a catarrh of which (he died, while fhe was intently gazing on a comet, fup- pofed to predict the death of pope Paul the third : her illnefs lafled eight days. She feems to have had the fame conftitutional dread and terror of death, which charadlerifed her mother Louifa. The ladies who attended about her bed announcing to her when in extremity, that fhe muft prepare herfelf for her end, and fix her thoughts on the joys of a celeflial ftate ; " Tout cela eft vrai," replied the expiring queen ; " mais nous demeurons ii long temps en terre " avant que venir la." She was above two years older than Francis the firft j and fifty-eight years of age at the time of her deceafe. beheld 1(5 KIN GS O F F RANGE. 1550. beheld with jealoufy thefe new competitors fdf fame and glory. 1551. Italy, deftined during more than half a cen- tury to be the principal fcene of war, was again menaced with indications of approaching hof- tilities. The grandfons of the late pontiff Paul the third, againft whom Julius the third, newly elected pope had taken up arms, with intent to dtfpofleis them of the duchy of Parma, claimed the protection of Henry, who gladly afforded it to them *-. He was plcafed to find an occa- fion again to interfere in the affairs beyond the * Alexander Farnefe, who afcended the pontifical throne under the name of Paul the third, had been raifed to the purple by Alexander the fixth, in 1493, and was about fixty- feven years of age at the time of his election, after the death of pope Clement the feventh. He was a prince of fome abi- lity, and tafte in the arts ; but his reign was fullied by the exceffive fondnefs which he fhewed for his fon, Peter Louis Farnefe, to whom he facrificed the deareft interefts and pof- feffions of the holy fee. To this fon, whom he had by a lady to whom he was married before he embraced the ecclefiafti- cal profeffion, he gave the duchy of Parma in fovereignty ; but the ingratitude of his grandfon Oclavio Farnefe, who had menaced the pope to join the Imperial general Ferdi- nand de Gonzague againft his own grandfather, affecled him fo deeply, as to occaiion his death. On receiving this news, he fainted, and remained in a fort of lethargy for near four hours, without betraying any fign of life; at the end of which time he was feizcd with a violent fever, which terminated his exigence on the tenth of November, 1549, at his palace on the Quirinal Hill, in Rome, after a pontificate of fifteen years. Alps, HENRY THE SECOND. 17 Alps, and of confequence to renew his attempts 1551. on the Milanefe, fo long and fo unfortunately contended for by the French. Briffac was fent ; into Piedmont, and directed to aflift the duke of Parma> though without any open declaration of war againft the emperor. Julius; after an ineffectual attempt to induce the king to re- nounce his allies, made an equally unfuccefsful effort upon the capital of the duke of Parma, of which his general was obliged to raife the fiege. Charles the fifth, though he had fcarce patted his fiftieth year, was already opprefled with all the maladies and infirmities of a premature old age. Solyman, fultan of the Turks, his great and conftant antagonifl, threatened his Hungarian dominions ; while the emperor himfelf, on the other hand, had alarmed all the princes of the empire, by the arbitrary depofition of John Fre- deric, elector of Saxony, by his imprifonment of the Landgrave of HefTe, and his open infringe- ment of the Germanic rights and liberties. Even his brother Ferdinand, king of the Romans, was juftly irritated by Charles's endeavours to com- pel him to refign the fuccefiion of the Imperial crown in favour of Philip prince of Spain, his only fon. Thefe united confiderations induced Henry no longer to diffemble his intentions, or to delay a rupture with the emperor. BrifTac began the campaign in Piedmont, while Anthony duke of VOL. II, C Vendome I* KINGS OF FRANCE. 1551. Vendome entered the provinces of Artois and " Hainault. The king Strengthened himfelf ftill further by a fecret alliance with Maurice, the Goober, new duke of Saxony, head of the proteftant league ; whom he promifed to afiift with troops and money againft Charles, who evidently aimed at defpotifm. 1552. The effects of this confederacy were foon vifible, in the extraordinary and rapid march of Maurice, who had nearly taken the emperor prifoner in the city of Infpruck, while he amufed him with propofals of peace, Charles, terrified, amazed, and on the brink of a Shameful captivity^ fled in a litter by torch-light over the mountains of the Alps, with a few attendants ; and fcarce imagined himfelf in fecurity at Villach in Ca- rinthia, upon the frontier of the Venetian ter- ritories. Henry, improving this favourable juncture, marched in perfon into Lorrain -, and having firft poflefTed himfelf of the perfon of the young duke Charles, nephew to the em- peror, feized on the cities of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which, being dependants of the em- pire, did not expect, and were unprepared for fuch an attack. Thefe important acquisitions have fmce remained to France, without any in- terruption. March. Previous to his departure, Henry vefted the re- gency in the queen, though he at the fame time affociated with her Bertrandi, who was keeper of the HENRY THE SECOND. 19 the feals, and implicitly devoted to the duchefs 1552. deValentinois. Catherine of Medicis, during the fhort time in which fhe was entrufted with the ad- miniftration, was not guilty of any public act in- jurious to her own character, or to the interefts of ftate. That complicated and intriguing genius, that perplexed and pernicious policy, thofe flat- tering but ruinous artifices, which afterwards fo eminently marked her government under the reigns of her three fucceffive children, were as yet unexerted, or unobferved. Accommodating in her manners, and miftrefs of all her paffions, fhe bent beneath the duchefs de Valentinois's fupe- rior power ; and, fo far from making any efforts to diminilh or oppofe it, Catherine prpfeffed for her the moft ftrict and difmterefted friend- fhip. Maurice's fuccefs and mafterly conduft foon reduced the emperor to a neceflity of complying with his offers of peace ; and a treaty was figned between them, at Paffau, which for ever fecured the independence of the German princes, eccle- fiaftical and civil. Charles haftened, and gladly accepted thefe overtures, from the defire of being in a condition to revenge himfelf on the king of France. The infult and indignity which had been offered to him, as fupreme head of the empire, in the height of his profperity, by the capture of three great cities under the Imperial protection, ftung him IKarply j and full of refentment, he C 2 levied 20 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1552. levied a prodigious army, with the refolution " of immediately laying fiege to the city of Metz, 1 8th The feafon was already far advanced when he er * began his attack; but as the place was of a large extent, and only furrounded with weak and ruinous fortifications, he would probably have rendered himfelf mafter of it, if the duke of Guife had not fruftrated all his efforts. This great prince, endowed with every talent of a courtier and a warrior, had thrown himfelf into Metz, and withftood the emperor's afiauits with tmfhaken intrepidity and perfeverance. The feverity of the winter and the froit afilfted his valour, and contributed to the deftrudtion of iff') t the Imperial forces. Charles at length raifed ift Jan. the fiege, after having loft thirty thoufand fol- diers before the place, and began his retreat back into Germany. His flight acrofs the Alps, after the unfortunate campaign of Pro- vence in 1536, was infinitely lefs difaftrpus than the prefent retreat ; and the duke of Guife's humanity and attention towards the numbers of unhappy wretches who fell into his hands, and who were unable to accompany their comman- der in his flight, Ihone as confpicuoufly as his courage had done during the fiege, and ren- dered his fame immortal. In Piedmont the war was feebly fupported be- tween Briffac and Ferdinand de Gonzague. Soly- man, the firm ally of Henry the fecond, as he had been HENRY THE SECOND. ai been of Francis the firft, aided the king of France 1553. with his fleets, while he gained pofleflion of the "" city of Sienna by intrigue ; a place which, had it been preferred, would have facilitated in the greateft degree, any attempts on the Milanefe, or the kingdom of Naples. In the fpring the emperor was again in the field, and anxious to repair his paft defeats, he re-entered France, where Terouenne, which re- fifted his attacks, firft felt the weight of his vengeance. He took and utterly demoliihed it j Francis de Montmorenci, the Conflable's eldeft fon, who had gallantly defended it, be- ing made prifoner in the place. Emanuel Phi- libert, the young duke of Savoy, had the fu- preme command of Charles's forces during this campaign, and began already to difplay that heroifm and capacity for war, by which he was afterwards fo eminently diftinguifhed. He befieged Hefdin, which capitulated ; but while the articles were under agitation, a grenade thrown by a prieft into the town, fet fire to a mine, under the ruins of which, Horace Far- nefe, duke of Caftro, grandfon to Pope Paul the third, and who had married Diana of France, the king's natural daughter, was deftroyed with fifty others *. On the other hand, the Confta-* ble, * Diana was one of the moil amiable, accompliflied, an4 beautiful princefles who have appeared in France ; her C 3 mother'* 22 KINGS OF FRANCE. T 553' ble, to whom Henry had given the command of his whole army, performed fcarce any exploits worthy of remembrance ; and his illnefs, which followed foon after, put an end to the cam- paign-, and permitted the troops to return into winter quarters. 2 1 ft June. The death of young Edward the fixth, king of England, interrupted the harmony between the two crowns, as Mary his fifter who fucceed- ed, in oppofition equally to the wifhes of her people and of Henry, foon after efpoufed Philip 1554. prince of Spain, the emperor's fon. This union, J ul X- as it encreafed the influence and power of the houfe of Auftria, was little calculated to dimi- niili the jealoufy of the king of France, or to produce a peace : on the contrary, both fides prepared anew for war. The emperor, though difabled by the gout, which had contracted the fmews of one of his legs, and had deprived him of the ufe of .one of his arms, appeared for the Uift time, in the field in perfon. Henry, who had ever fludioufly fought the occafion of com- bating his great antagonift, endeavoured to pro- mother's name was Philippa Due, of Montcaillier in Pied- mont. She was infinitely dear to Henry her father, and not lefs fo to the three fucceeding kings her brothers. When left a widow by the duke of Caflro's death, fhe was only fourteen years old : flie afterwards married Francis, duke of Montmorenci. Her name occurs frequently in the hif- lory of Henry the third's life and reign. voke HENRY THE SECOND. 23 voke him to a general engagement. He ra- 1554. vaged Hainault, Brabant, and the Cambrefis -, dem.oliihed Mawemont, a palace of pleafure be- longing to Mary queen of Hungary, who was governefs of the Low Countries ; and razed the magnificent caftle of Bins, which Ihe had lately conftrufted *. Charles marched to the relief of Renty, befieged by the French; and a confi- derable fkirmilh enfued, in which the Imperial ijth forces were obliged to retreat, after a confidera.- ugul * ble lofs of men and artillery. The place itfelf, notwithftanding, continued to hold out ; and the king, * Mary, filler to the emperor Charles the fifth, and wi- dow of Louis the fecond king of Hungary, who perifhed in the battle of Mohatz gained by the Turks in 1521, was a princefs of virtue and capacity. She was made gover- nefs of the Low Countries in 1531 ; and, during an ad- miniftration of twenty-four years, rendered herfelf exceed- ingly beloved, by the Flemings. She conducted the war in which the emperor her brother was engaged againft Henry the fecond of France, with equal vigour and ability. In 1555, fhe laid down the government of the Netherlands, and retired into Spain, where fhe remained till the death, ef Charles the fifth in 1558, whom (he followed to the grave within a very few days, at a time when (he had in- tended to return into the Low Countries. The French writers have accufed her of a propenfity to gallantry, and have named Barbanjon, a Flemifh nobleman, diftin- guiihed by the beauty of his perfon, as her lover; but this imputation is contradicted by the whole tenor of the queen's life and character. Calumny even has ventured to go further, and to name Mary as th mother of Don John C 4 of 24 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1554. king, leaving part of his army under the com<- 1 mand of the duke of Vendome, difmiflfed the remainder, and returned to Paris. After fome few inconfiderable conquefts, Charles the fifth clofed for ever his military exploits, and put an end to all his campaigns. April. In Italy, Sienna was loft, after a long and obftinate defence; but BrifTac maintained the national honour in Piedmont, though he was ill fupported at court, and oppofed by the duke of Alva, who infolently threatened, that he would drive him over the mountains. This gallant commander would even have relieved Sienna, and forced the enemy to raife the fiege, if the oppofition of Montmorenci and the Guifes, who were jealous of his glory, had not defeated his 1555. meafures. Mary, queen of England, attempted to bring about an accommodation between the May. contending princes, and a congrefs was held in a fplendid tent near Calais for that purpofej but it produced no beneficial confequences. of Auftria, by her own brother, the emperor Charles ; but as fhe was born in 1503, and Don John in 1547, the queen muft Lave been forty-four at the time when it is pretended Ihe brought this fon into the world. It was however generally believed by the cotemporaries, that the mother of Don John was a princefs of the higheft rank ; and that to cover and conceal the difhonour of her family, Barbe Blomberg, a lady of Ratifbon, was afferted to have been the mother of that prince. The HENRY THE SECOND. The death of Henry d'Albret, king of Na- varre, who expired about this time at Haget- mau in Beam, left his crown and dominions ex- pofed to the enterprizes and attacks of the king of France, who had intended to incorporate this fmall kingdom with the French monarchy j but the diligence of Anthony duke of Vendome, who had married Jane, heirefs to the kingdom, pre- ferved the independance of Navarre *. The king, who was defirous of making a compenfation to Anthony by the exchange of other lands, was highly offended at his conduct ; and refufing to grant the government of Picardy to his brother Louis prince of Conde, he inftantly conferred it on Coligny. The emperor, chagrined and mortified at the decline of his military glory, and at the fuc- cefTes of Henry ; broken by difeafes, and per- haps partaking in fome degree of his mother, the arch-duchefs Joanna's f more deplorable and * Henry d'Albret, king of Navarre, was an amiable prince, but not diftinguifhed by any extraordinary endow- ments of mind. He was born in 1503, and in 1520 he recovered from Charles the fifth his kingdom of Navarre, but loft it again with equal rapidity. He married, in 1 5 27, Margaret, duchefs of Alen9on, and filter to Francis the firft, by whom he had only one daughter, who furvived him, named Jane, mother of Henry the fourth, who, at length, united in his perfon the kingdoms of France and Navarre. f The princefs Joanna terminated her wretched tffe only fix KINGS OF FRANCE. and remedilefs diforder of mind, determined to refign all his vaft poffefiions to his fon Philip, He executed this extraordinary renunciation foon after at BrufTels, referring only to himfelf the imperial dignity, which he retained a year longer. The profufion and magnificence of the court, added to the unavoidable expence attendant on wars to be maintained againft fuch powerful enemies, rendered it necefiary to encreafe the revenues, by additional taxes, oppreffive to the people. The duchefs de Valentinois was chiefly accufed as the caufe of thefe exactions j and fo far was her influence over the king from fuffer- ing any diminution, that it appeared to be every year confirmed and extended. Henry, flexible and eafily led by thofe whom he loved, only acted ac- cording to the fuggeftions or impulfe of his mif- trefs. She built the fuperb palace of Anet, to which the two lovers frequently retired, and which fix months before her fon the emperor's abdication : fhe furvived her hufband the archduke Philip, forty-nine years, and was above feventy at her own deceafe, which happened on the i zth April 1555. Her attachment to him, and his untimely death, chiefly contributed to deprive her of her intellects. She was (hut up in the caftle of Tordefillas, almoft abandoned, and fleeping upon flraw, which fhe fometimes wanted ; her only recreation being to fight with cats, and to crawl up the tapeflry with which her apartments were hung. Such was the lamentable deftiny of Ferdinand and Ifabella's daughter; of the mother of two emperors, and four queens ! was HENRY THE SECOND. 27 was the chief fcene of their amorous pleafures * ; 1555. while the nation, unable to account for an at- ~" tachment fo unufual between perfons of fuch un- equal ages, attributed it to forcery, and fuper- natural caufes. It was reported that the du- chefs wore magical rings, which equally pre- vented the decay of her own beauty, and of the monarch's paffion. Catherine of Medicis fup- ported and confirmed this abfurd opinion, which foothed her own vanity, by accounting for her rival's triumph f. The * Anet, which is fituated near Dreux, in the ifle of France, upon the river Eure, yet exhibits the remains of fplendor and elegance. Philibert de Lorme was the architect employ'd by Henry the fecond in its confirmation, and the emblems and devices of the duchefs of Valentinois are vifible in every part of the edifice. Voltaire has immortalifed it, in thefe beautiful lines of the ninth canto of his c < Henriade," where Love is defcribed as on his flight to the plain of Ivry. " II voit les murs d'Anet batis aux bords de 1'Eure, ** Lui-meme en ordonna la fuperbe flruclure ; " Par fes adroites Mains, avec art enlaces, * Les ChifFres de Diane y font encore traces ; " Sur fa tombe, en paflant, les plaifirs et les graces " Repandirent les fleurs qui naiffoient fur leurs traces." f Monfieur de Thon, though fo judicious and able an hiilorian, was not fuperior to this weaknefs, charaaeriftic of the age in which he lived ; and very gravely mentions as a fact, the magic powers of which Diana availed herfelf, to continue, and fupport her afcendancy over Henry . Brantome knew her perfonally, and has given a minute defcription of her beauty in its moft advanced period, which KINGS OF FRANCE. The death of pope Julius the third, and the election of Cardinal Caraffa to the chair of St. Peter, who afiumed the name of Paul the fourth, gave another face to the affairs of Italy *. -The new pontiff, though more than eighty years which is too curious and extraordinary to be parted over. " I faw that lady," fays he, " only fix months before me " died ; and at that time me was fo lovely, that the moft " infenfible perfon could not have looked on her without " emotion. She was then on her recovery from a very fe- " vere indifpofition, occafioned by a frafture of her leg, *' which fhe had broke by a fall from her horfe, in riding * f through the ftreets of Orleans. Yet neither the accident, ." nor the intenfe pain which fhe underwent from it, had in " any degree diminifhed her charms." Though Brantome does not abfolutely account for this extraordinary beauty by any magic influence, yet he endea-. vours to explain the caufe of it, by means fomewhat fimi- ] ar . Mais, on dit bien," adds he, " que tous les ma-, " tins elle ufoit de quelques bouillons compofez d'or ** potable, et autres drogues que je ne f9ai pas." At the period of life when he fpeaks of the duchefs in thefe terms, ihe was full fixty-five years old. * John Marie del Monte, who afcended the pontifical throne by the name of Julius the third, was of a very low extraction, and had been raifed to the purple by Paul the third in 1536. On the death of that Pope, Julius was ele&ed his fucceflbr on the 8th of February 1550, after long deliberations and intrigues in the conclave. Tho' a prince of intrepidity, and, previous to his eleftion to the tiara, even a prelate of auftere manners, he abandoned himfelf when Pope, to every fpecies of voluptuoufnefs and immorality. The firft aft of his reign was to confer his own cardinal'!) HENRY THE SECOND. 29 years of age, and of manners the mod auftere, 1555- no fooner attained to his new dignity, than pur- "" fuing a line of conduct the reverfe of that which he had hitherto held, he united an un- exampled pomp and luxury to projects of the moft irregular ambition. Irritated by his ne- phews againft the emperor for fome pretended mifbehaviour of the Imperial generals, he de- manded the protection of France, offered the inveftiture of Naples to the king, and endea- voured to negotiate a ftridt alliance with him cardinal's hat on a young man of the name of Innocent, who was a fervant in his family, and had the care of an ape ; from, which circumftance he was called in derifion the " Cardinal " Simia." The facred college having even complained to his holinefs of the degradation which they fuffered by the introduction of fo improper a perfon into their body, Julius replied, " You have chofen to eleft me Pope; what merit " have you ever difcovered in me, to raife me to fo high a " dignity ?" Julius the third, like almoft all his pre- deceflbrs in the chair of St. Peter, abandoned himfelf to the government of his two nephews, John Baptift, and Fabien del Monte ; but the firft of thefe having been killed before the city Mirandola, and the latter being of a more tranquil character, the Pope purfued, unreftrain'd, his paffion'for plcafures, and immerfed himfelf in debaucheries, equally unbecoming his ftation , and unfit for his age. His palace* were a fcene of intemperance, and of elegance, where magnificent entertainments, heightened by all that genius and refinement could furnifti, continually fucceeded each other. Julius haftened his death by thefe pleafures, which carried him off on the 24th March 1555, after a fhort pon*- tificatc of five years, for KINGS OF FRANCE, for their mutual advantage. The wifeft and the moft difinterefted part of the French coun- cil were averfe to thefe dangerous and chimeri- cal proportions. They forefaw only difgrace and ruin, in the renewal of the antiquated preten- iions on the crown of Naples } they knew that no confidence ought to be placed in the honour or good faith of Italian politicians j and leafl of all, in the promifes of an old man finking under the weight of infirmities, impotent in mind, irafcible, and actuated by two perfidious and violent men, his nephews. They confidered the ftate of the kingdom, already exhaufted by the long and continual wars with the emperor, and they be- held future ones in profpect againft Philip his fon and fucceflbr. They remembered the nu- merous and unfortunate attempts under Louis the twelfth, and Francis the firft, to gain pof~ feflion of the Neapolitan crown. Thefe confi- derations fo truly weighty, ought to have pre- vented any political union or connection with the court of Rome ; but the fubferviency of all the cabinet to the duke of Guife, and his bro- ther the cardinal of Lorrain, did not permit Henry to follow this falutary advice. The car- dinal, impetuous and vain, embraced the papal overtures with his accuftomed enthufiafm, with the intention of placing the duke of Guife at the head of the army deft'med againft Italy : he was immediately difpatched in perfon to Rome, HENRY THE SECOND. Rome, to ratify and conclude the treaty -, but during his abfence, by the intervention of Mary queen of England, a truce was agreed upon for five years between the emperor and France. 1556. With a view of refcinding the agreement for this February, fufpenfion of hoftilities, the Cardinal Caraffa was fent to Paris as embaflador on the part of his uncle the pope, with a fuperb train. He waited on the king at Fontainbleau, prefented his majefty with a hat and fword blefTed by the fovereign pontiff, and made a magnificent entry into the capital. Intriguing and artful, he moved every fpring, and availed himfelf of every means to obtain the purpofe of his embafly. Catherine of Medicis and Diana de Poitiers were both rendered fub- fervient to his views ; while flattery, prefents, and facrifices to their vanity, or ambition, were by turns employed to gain their fuffrages. Henry, wavering and irrefolute, after long hefitation, and in contradiction to the dictates of his own judgment, fuffered himfelf to be borne away by the ftream, and confented to the league. Francis duke of Guifc, nominated to the fu- ' ICC7. preme command of the army, pafled the moun- January, tains, carrying with him the flower of the French nobility, whom the fplendor of his character, and his reputation for courtefy, courage, and li- berality, allured to follow his ftandard. Not one of the Italian powers could however be in- duced to afford him afliftance; and though the pope KINGS OF FRANCE. pope received him with every external mark of a d celebrated his arrival by public feftivities and honours, yet neither the pecuniary or military aids were ready, which by treaty he had promifed and ftipulated. The duke of Alva, Philip's general, with an army, ravaged the terri- tories of the Church -, and the French commander, after an unfuccefsful attempt upon the frontier of Naples, was obliged to return to Rome for the protection of his allies. No progrefs was made in the plan propofed ; and every thing feemed to portend an inglorious termination to the cam- paign, when an event equally unexpected and dif- aftrous to France, recalled the duke of Guife, and extricated him from fo critical and dangerous a fituation. Charles the fifth, who for near half a century had fpread terror throughout Europe, no longer afted upon the great political theatre j and having retired to the monaftery of St. Juftus in Eftre- madoura, was already forgotten while yet alive. Philip the fecond, his fon, not lefs ambitious, than Charles, aflifted by his wife, Mary queen of England, and defirous on his accefiion to imprefs the European princes with the idea of his exten- live power, afTernbled a prodigious army j but not poffefling himfelf either the bravery or conduct neceflary to command it, he entrufted that im- portant commifTion to Emanuel Philibert, the young duke of Savoy. That general, after a 2 number HENRY THE SECOND. 33 number of feints, attacked the town of St. Quen- 1557* tin in Picardy, into which Coligny had thrown ^ Au- ^ himfelf, and which by his determin'd valour he S uft preferved for a confiderable time, though the place was otherwife ill calculated for defence. The Conftable Montmorenci, his uncle, mean- while advanced at the head of the French army, with intent to give him all the afiiftance poflible ; but it was with infinite difficulty that d'Andelot, brother to Cpligny, found means to enter the town with five hundred foldiers. This fervice being effected, Montmorenci would have retired at noon-day, and in fight of the enemy, who ioth AU- were greatly fuperior in numbers, and particu- ** u * larly in cavalry. The duke of Savoy, foon per- ceiving the rafhnefs of the attempt, and feizing inftantly the occafion which prefented itfelf, charged the Conftable furioufly before he had time to iilue the neceflfary orders, or to draw up his forces in a proper manner to receive the at- tack. The French horfe were routed, and thrown into confufion ; but the infantry flood firm, and were almoft all cut to pieces ; Montmorenci him- felf, and the Marechal de St. Andre, with a num- ber of inferior officers, being taken prifoners. Philip, who had not contributed in any degree in his own perfon to this important victory, pre- vented the decifive effects which it might have produced, by hisjealoufy of the duke of Savoy. Inftead of marching directly to the capital, which VOL. II. D was KINGS OF FRANCE. was already in the utmoft confirmation, and ready to have been deferted at his approach, he compelled his general to continue the fiege oi St. Quentin, which Coligny yet defended fome days, and in which he was at length taken pri- foner *. Henr) * The duke of Savcy, by a very able and mafterly ma. nosuvre, after having appeared to menace the town of Guife by a forced march inverted St. Quentin, into which Colign] immediately threw himfelf, with about feven hundrec foldiers. Montmorenci, who had taken the command of the French army, advanced up to the fuburbs of St. Quentin, and attacked the Spanifh forces who formec the fiege with fo much vigour, that the whole camp wa; thrown into diforder, the duke of Savoy's tent was over turned by the artillery, and he himfelf had fcarcely time t< put on his cuirafs, and to retire to the quarters of Coun Egmont. A little rivulet, and fome marfhes, which inter fefted the ground, unfortunately prevented Montmorenc from profiting in its fulleft extent of the confufion in thi enemy's camp ; and it was with difficulty that d'Andelo found means to enter the city, with a fmall number of fol lowers. The Conftable ihen endeavoured to retreat; bu Count Egmont, at the head of two thoufand cavalry, takinj him on one flank, while the duke of Brunfwic, Count Horn and Erneft of Man feldt attacked him on the other, hi troops began to give way. The rout commenced amonj the futlers and followers of the army, and fpread from then .to the foldiery, the aclion having lafled four hours befon the French were totally defeated. Only two pieces of cannoi were faved, all the others falling into the hands of th enemy, who loft only about eighty men, while two thoufan< five hundred of Montmorenci's troops remained dead upoi th HENRY THE SECOND. 35 Henry meanwhile, in this great emergency, ne- 1 557 . glected no meafures requifite for the fafety of his dominions. Levies of Swifs and Germans were the field. John of Bourbon, brother to the king of Navarre! and the prinee of Conde, who had feveral times rallied the troops, and renewed the engagement, was unfortunately mot with a ball from a harquebufle, while he was ftill difplaying the moft undaunted courage, and endeavouring to retrieve the fortune of the day : he was carried into the Spanilh camp, and expired in a very few moments. The Conftable himfelf was wounded in the hip, and taken prifoner^ as was thr marechal de St. Andre, the duke de Longue- ville, and many others of the firft nobility. Loui?, prince of Conde, and the duke of Nevers, retreated to La Fere in, Picardy. Philip the fecond was hot perfonally prefent in, this action, fo glorious to the duke of Savoy : he contented himfelf with offering up vows to St. Laurence for his gene- ral's fuccefs, without having the courage to expofe himfelf to danger; nor did he join his victorious troops till fixteen days after, on the zjth of Auguft, when he arrived in the camp before St. Quentin, with ten thoufand Englifh, and as many Flemifn foldiers. Coligny merited immortal ho<- nour for his obilinate defence of St. Quentin agaimt this numerous army; and the aifault being made at noon-day, he was abandoned by his troops, only a page and four fol- lowers remaining with him, when he was taken prifoner. D'Andelot, his brother, ftill continued to defend himfelf againft the Spaniards, till, covered with vvoands, and over- whelmed with numbers, he was obliged to furrender. On the following night, he found means to efcape. Had Philip pufhed forward inftantly towards Paris, after the victory at St. Quentin, the monarchy of France had probably been fhaken to it's foundation ; but his jealoufy of the duke of Savoy refcued Henry the fecond and his kingdom from this imminent and alarming danger. D 2 made 36 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1557. made with all pofilble expedition ; Paris was fortified towards the fide of Picardy; the duke of Guife was recalled to the defence of France ; and even the moft preffing folicitations were made to Sultan Solyman for affiftance againft the Spanifh monarch. Thefe vigorous efforts were attended with a proportionable fuccefs. Animated by their prince's firmnefs and intre- pidity, and recovering from the firft impreffions of terror, the Parifians gave the moft diftin- guilhed proofs of their loyalty and liberality. 1558. The duke of Guife's arrival, the luftre of his name, and the reliance upon his great abilities, completed the general tranquillity. Philip, during the remainder of the campaign, made no conquefts or acquifitions proportionate to the importance of the battle which he had gained : the capture of the three towns of Ham, Catelet, and Noyon were comparatively flight advan- tages, and were not attended with any decifive confequences. On the contrary, the duke of Guife, though im- peded by the rigour of winter, and the feverity of the feafon, loft not a moment in endeavouring to raife the drooping genius of his country. After having been declared lieutenant-general within and without the kingdom, he undertook the fiege of Calais, which was deemed almoft impregnable; Sth and made himfelf mafter in eight days of that January. c ^^ fo j Qng held by the Englifh, though it had 10 coft HENRY THE SECOND. coft Edward the third above a year's blockade. This fignal fuccefs was followed by the capture of Thionville, in the duchy of Luxembourg ; but June. the Marechal de Termes, although an able and experienced commander, was completely routed near Gravelines by the young Count Egmont ; and he himfelf fell into the hands of the enemy *. So * The Marechal de Termes, having taken Dunkirk, laid liege to Gravelines ; but being fubjecl to the gout, and at that time attacked by a violent fit of the diforder, he left the command of his forces to Eftcuteville, who relaxing the dif- cipline, permitted the foldiers to quit the camp in great numbers, and to occupy themfelves with plundering the peafants. Count Egmont, governor of Flanders, profiting of this error, haftily afiembled the garrifons of Aire, St. Omer, and Bethune ; to which being added a reinforcement which he received from the duke of Savoy, they formed a body of twelve thoufand infantry, and three thoufand cavalry, with which he inftantly marched to attack the French. Termes no fooner received the news of the enemy's approach, than he mounted on horfeback notwithiianding his indifpofition, and prepared to receive the attack. He took a ftrong pofi- tion, his right flank being covered by the fea, his left by the carts of his baggage, and his front protected by eight pieces of artillery. Count Egmont, on the other fide, was totally deftitute of any cannon, and only following the dictates of his courage, he led on his troops, exclaiming, " We are " conquerors. Let thofe who love glory and their country, " follow me!" He was, however, repulfed at the firft onfet, his ranks were thinned by the French artillery, and his own horfe killed under him. The advantage was nearly equal on both fides, and the viftory more than doubt- ful on the part of the'Count, when ten Englilh veflels, whom D 3 the f!2 KINGS OF FRANCE. So aftonifhing and fo favourable a reverfe of fortune ferved to heighten, and add new fplendor to the reputation of the defender of Metz and conqueror of Calais. As he only, amid the calamities of the ftate, feemed able to command the events of war, and uniformly to attach victory to his party, upon him alone the public confidence refted, as the guardian and protector of France. By a combination of events, all contributing to the elevation of the hpufe of Guife, their power was ftill farther confirmed and the noife of the firing had brought to the coa#, decided the fortune cf the battle. Having brought their cannon to play on the right wing of the French army, which lay expofed to the fire from the ftiips, the cavalry, unable to withftand this unexpected and fevere attack, fled in conftifion, and were followed by the infantry. The defeat was entire,, 'fifteen hundred of the French remaining on the field of battle, and a much greater number being maflacred by the peafants, in revenge for the calamities which they had experienced from the depredations of the foldiery. Termes, with ieveral other generals, was made prifoner. It may not be improper tore- mark, that Count Egmont, who had been fo inltrumental in. the defeat of the French at St. Quentin, and to whom alone the glory of the victory at Gravelines was due, terminated his life on a fcaffqld at BrufFels, only ten years afterwards, in, 1568, by order of the tyrant Philip the fecond. His execu- tion is one of the many atrocious deeds of blood which the duke of Alva committed in the Netherlands, and which ftain the annals of Philip's far.guinary reign. The emancipation, of feven provinces from the yoke of Spain, in fome degree re- venged and expiated the death of this gallant commander. extended HENRY THE SECOND. extended by an alliance with the heir to the crown, which took place about this time. Francis the Dauphin, being enamoured of their niece, the young queen of Scotland, who had been fent, after the death of her father James the fifth, to the court of Henry for an afylum, ob- tained the king's confent to his marriage. Mary, fo renowned for her beauty, her talents, and her misfortunes, was at this time in her fixteenth year ; and her charms, though not yet fully expanded, are yet defcribed by all the French hiftorians r.s fo touching and irrefiftible, that a young prince, however deftitute of fenfibility, could not fail to pay them homage. The nuptials were folem- 24 th nifed with unufual fplendor at the church of " Notre Dame ;" and ccnfummated the fame day, at the C Palais," amidft the greateil feftivi- ties, which were fucceeded by a triumphal en- try into the capital, where the Dauphin appeared on horfeback, and the young bride in a magnifi- cent litter. They afiumed the titles of king and queen of England and Scotland, after the death of Mary, queen of England, which happened the fame year. The court of France was engaged in all the entertainments and diverfions ufual at fuch a time j and the duke of Guife, together with the Cardinal of Lorrain, found themfelves at the zenith of their glory and authority. Two great armies, commanded by their re- fpective fovereigns in perfon, threatened each D 4 other ICINGS OF FRANCE. other on the approach of fummer : Henry and Philip feemed to be on the eve of a decifive en- gagement, but mutual fear reftrained them from coming to a general action ; and towards the autumn, by the intervention of the papal nuncio and of the duchefs of Lorrain, a negotiation was Oftober. opened for the conclufion of peace at the abbey of Cercamp, near Hefdin, in^ Picardy. The treaty was facilitated and accelerated by the Conftable Montmorenci, and the Marechal de St. Andre, who, weary of their imprifonment, and jealous of being fupplanted in the royal fa- vour by the Guifes during their abfence from court, made ufe of the duke of Savoy to incline Philip to liften to terms of pacification. The Conftable had previoufly requefted and obtained permifllon to go to Henry in perfon at Amiens, with the defign of effecting a general peace ; and he was received with teftimonies of the warmefl affection by his mailer on that occafion, who (according to the manners of the age, which knew none of the delicacies of the prefent century) carried his condefcenfion and attachment fo far, as even to make him deep in his own bed. It was determined to put an end to the war, at what- ever price, or by whatever means ; and the death of Mary, queen of England, which took place during the courfe of the negotiation, removed the principal obftacle to peace, as Philip, after her deceafe, no longer maintained with the fame ardour HENRY THE SECOND. 41 ardour the interefts of her fucceffor Elizabeth, 1558. or infifted, as he had previously done, on the ab- folute reftitution of Calais. After feveral con- 1559. ferences at Cercamp, the preliminaries were fi- January, nally adjufted, and figned at Cateaii in Cam- brefis. All the conquefts made during the late or prefent reign, _in Piedmont, Tufcany and Corfica, were ceded to Spain, to procure the reftitution of Ham, Catelet, and Noyon, three inconfiderable towns in Picardy j but, in recom- pence, Calais, Metz, Toul, and Verdun re- mained to France. The princefs Margaret, fitter to the king, was affianced to the duke of Savoy * i and Elizabeth, his eldeft daughter, transferred * Margaret, daughter of Francis the firft, was born in 1523. Herperfon was beautiful, and (hepoflefled many of the moft engaging and amiable qualities of the king her father, as well as all the elegance of mind by which he was pecu- liarly characlerifed. After his death, ftie continued that pro- teflion and liberality to men of genius which had acquired Francis fo high a reputation over all Europe. Her marriage with Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, was confummated in the laft moments of the life and reign of her brother, Henry the fecond, the princefs being then thirty-fix years of age She was infinitely beloved, and revered by her fub- jeb, who called her the mother of her people. On the return of her nephew, Henry the third, from Poland into France, in 1574, me received him at Turin, and is faid to have given him fome excellent counfels for his conduft, of which Henry availed himfelf little. The anxiety and earneft- nefs which fhe felt to entertain the king and his train during their ftay in her capital, added to the exertions which (he made 42 KINGS OF FRANCE. i r c 9. transferred from Don Carlos, Philip's only fon, for whom Ihe was firft defigned, and given to Philip himfelf, recently become a widower by the death of the queen of England *. Thefe made to render his refidence in Turin agreeable, threw her into a plcurify, of which fhe died on the i4th of September, 1574, during the abfence of the duke her huiband, who had attended the king of France to Lyons, on his entering his own dominions. She was infinitely regretted by her fubjecls, and her memory was immortalized by the poets, to whom fhe had extended her patronage and generofiry. * Elizabeth of France, daughter of Henry the ferond and Catherine of Medici , was born at Foncairb'eau, in April, 1545, and had been originally intended for Edward t...,- fixth of England ; a marriage which w prevenuci t y the prema- ture death of that prince. She was then deitine. for Don Carlos, fon of Philip the fecond, and heir to the Spanifh monarchy; but the deceaieof Mary queen of England, during the negotiations which preceded the treaty of Cambrefis, leaving Philip free, he demanded the young princels in mar- riage for himfelf, and the nuptials were folemn zed by proxy at the church of " Notre Dame," only a few days before the cataftrophe of Henry the fecond's death. She was named " Elizabeth de la Paix," becaufe fhe formed the cement of the great pacification between France and Spain. Almolt all the cotemporary hiflorians agree in afTerting, that Don Carlos never forgave his father for having thus deprived him of his intended bride; and they either infmuate or declare, that the young queen was tenderly attached to the prince during her whole life, though they exprefsly deny her having ever been capable, or guilty of any criminal weaknefs. In 565, Eli- zabeth was brought by the duke of Alva to Bayonne, where an interview took place between the queen of Spain and her brother, Charles the ninth, who was accompanied by Cathe- rine HENRY THE SECOND. 43 Thefe terms, humiliating and difgraceful to 1559. France, were principally attributed to the Con- "~ ftable, who from felf-interefted motives, and the defire of obtaining 1m freedom, was believed to have advifed the kin 3 to accept of fuch inade- quate conditions. The Guifes openly arraigned the treaty, as unbecoming the national honour, and depriving the kingdom in a moment of the conquefts of near thirty years ; but Henry, not- rine of Medicis. The hiftory and lamentable fate of Don Car- los is too well known, to need recital : that unhappy prince expired, though whether by a natural or a violent death is more matter of conjecture and fufpicion than of certainty, oa the 24th of July, 1568. It is commonly believed that Philip the fecond caufed him to be privately executed, or poifoned ; and it was imagined that jealoufy of his fon's attachment to the queen, haften'd, if it did not produce this unnatural or- der. It is certain that Elizabeth was much affefled by the misfortunes and death of Don Carlos, whom (he only fur- viv'd about ten weeks : (he died in child-bed at Madrid, on the 3d of Olober, 1568, not without ftrong fufpicions of poifon, and infinitely regretted by all her fubjefts. Bran- tome fays, ' On parle fort finiilrement de fa mort." De Thou, and the Abbe de St. Real, likewife infinuate that her death was accelerated by unnatural means ; and the unre- lenting, gloomy character of Philip too much ftrengthens the fufpicion. Elizabeth was beautiful in her perfon, and amia- ble in her manners to the higheit degree. By her hufband file left two daughters, of whom the eldelt was the celebrated infanta Clara-Eugenia, married to the archduke Albert, and who was governefs of the Low Countries for a number of years : me was the favourite and beloved child of Philip the fecond. The fecond daughter, Catherine, was married to Charles Emanuel, duke of Savoy. withftanding 44 KINGS OF FRANCE. withftanding every remonftrance, adhered im- moveably to his refolution. During the reign of Francis the firil, and more peculiarly fo fince his deceafe, the reformed re- ligion had made a mod alarming and univerfal progrefs. All ranks of people had imbibed the new doctrines ; and perfecution unhappily haf- tened and promoted their influence. D'Andelot, nephew to the Conftable, and brother to Coligny, was juflly fufpected, and even accufed of being a profelyte to thefe opinions. Henry, defirous to be fatisfied of the truth or fallhood of the im- putation, queftioned him perfonally on his fenti- ments refpe&ing the Mafs -, and d'Andelot, with an imprudent zeal, made him fo bold ar;d undif- guifed a reply, that the king being exceedingly irritated, was about to have put him to death with his own hand. It required all his uncle's intereft, to procure his pardon and reflitution to his poft of general of the French infan- try *. The fevereft penalties were denounced aainft * The king ordered the cardinal de Chatlllon, brother of d'Andelot, (and who afterwards openly renounced himfelf the Catholic religion, though he retain'd his ecclefiaftical dignity and the purple) to bring d'Andelot into his prefence, that he might queftion him in perfon relative to his religious opinions. The culprit having prefented himfelf at the king's dinner, while the court was at Monceaux, Henry interro- gated him on the fubjecl of the Eucharift j and d'Andelot not HENRY THE SECOND. 45 againft the profeflbrs of Lutheranifm, or Cal- 1559. vinifm j and feyeral members of the parliament " of Paris having prefumed to declare againft the rigour of the punifhments to which by law the Proteftants were made liable, and which were put into execution againft them, the king himfelf went ioth in perfon, and ordered five of the moft refractory Jun members, at the head of whom was Anne du Bourg, to be arrefted and carried to the Baftile imme- diately, who had avowed that fentiment in his prefence. Orders were iffued for their imme- diate and rigorous profecution. With the return of peace, every fpecies of luxury and diiTipation revived. Henry's court, the moft refined and polilhed in Europe, was rendered unufually fplendid by the different en- tertainments exhibited on occafion of the mar- not only avowing his belief in the doctrines of Calvin, but peremptorily refilling to retraft his opinion, Henry was in- flamed to fuch a degree of refentment, that taking up a plate with intent to daih it againft the ground, he wounded the Dauphin, who fat by him at table. He inftantly ordered the fieur de la Bourdafiere to take d'Andelot into arreft, and to conduct him to Meaux, from whence, after fome time, he was transferred to the caftle of Melun. Blaife de Montluc, to whom his office was tender'd, refufed to accept it, from apprehenfion of the indignation of the family of Montmorenci, to whom d'Andelot was very nearly allied by blood. The Conftable's interceffion, joined to d'Andelot's fubmiffion, procured him, however, a restoration to his mili- tary rank and charge. riage 46 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1559. riage of the princefs Elizabeth to Philip the fe~ 27t k cond, which was celebrated by proxy at Paris. June. Tournaments and caroufals added a martial mag- nificence to the other amufements of a gentler nature. The young duke of Savoy, Emanuel Philibert, arriving about the fame time at Paris, accompanied by the duke of Brunfwic, the prince of Orange, and a hundred gentlemen, was re- ceived with every demonftration of refpect and attention by Henry, who met and embraced him at the foot of the great ftair-cafe of the Louvre. This incident redoubled the feftivals, which were interrupted only three days after by the tragical cataftrophe of the king's death. The lifts extended from the palace of the Tournelles to the Baftile, acrofs the ftreet St. Antoine, and Henry himfelf had broken feveral lances with different lords of the court, in all which he had Ihewn unufual vigour and addrefs. 30th On that day, which was the third of the tourna- ments, he wore the colours of his miftrefs the duchefs of Valentinois, in token of his love, and in compliance with the laws of chivalry, of which gallantry always formed fo diftinguifhinga fea- ture. Thofe colours were black and white, in al- lufion to her ftate of widowhood. Towards the clofe of the evening, and before the conclufion of the tournament, Henry had a great inclination to try his prowefs againft the Count de Montgomeri, captain in his life guards. He was fon to that 6 Seigneur HENRY THE SECOND. Seigneur de Lorges, who -had formerly wounded Francis the firft fo dangeroufly on the head at Romorentin in Berri, and was diftinguifhed for- his fuperior addrefs in thefe combats above any nobleman of the kingdom *. Catheriae of Me- dicis, * Gabriel de Lorges, Count de Montgomeri, was captain of the Scotch guards to Henry the fecond. He was brave and aclive in the higheft degree, and had been fent by Fran- cis the firft, in 1545, into Scotland, to command the troops which were then difpatched to the afiiftance of the queen re- gent, Mary of Guife. The death of Henry the fecond cannot certainly be imputed as a crime to Montgomery, he having ur- gently entreated of the king, tho' in vain, to excufe him from giving the fatal proof of his dexterity which took place : it has even been pretended, tho' probably without reafon, that Henry, before he breathed his laft, exprefsly enjoin'd that Montgomeri mould not be profecuted or molefted for having been innocently and unintentionally the author of his death. The belt French authors agree in averting, that the king, though he continued to breathe for eleven days after the ac- cident, never recover'd either his fpeech or intellects. It is plain that Montgomeri conceived himfelf to be in danger ; for he immediately retired into England, and having em- braced the doclrines of the reformation, returned into France at the commencement of the civil wars, under Charles the ninth. Brantome defcribes him, as addifted to gaming and pleafures in the moft immoderate degree, but equally intre- pid and aclive whenever occafion called. His own words are vallly charadleriftic and amufing, from their plainnefs and Simplicity: " C'etoit," fays Brantome, " le plus noncha- " lant en fa charge, et auffi peu foucieux qu'il etoit poffi- " ble ; car il aimoit fort fes aifes, et le jeu : mais, lorfque il 48 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1559. dicis, as if by a fecret prefage of the event, be- ~ fought the king not to re-enter the lifts, but he refuted her felicitations ; adding, that he would break one more lance in her honour. Montgo- meri himfelf accepted the challenge with ex- treme reluctance, and endeavoured by every ar- gument and entreaty to prevail on his fovereign to excufe him 3 but without effect. Henry com- manded him to obey, and even fought with his vizor raifed. The fhock was rude on both fides j but the count's lance breaking againfl the king's helmet, he attacked Henry with the {tump, which remained in his hand. It entered under the eyebrow of his right eye, and the blow was fo violent, as to throw him to the ground, and to deprive him inftantly both of his fpeech and underftanding, which he never more recovered, though he furvived the accident near eleven days. The queen ordered him to be carried immediately to the palace of the Tournelles ; " il avoit une fois le cul fur la felle, c'etoit le plus vaillant " et foigneux capitaine qu'on cut feu voir ; au relte, fi " brave et vaillant, qu'il aflailloit tout, foible ou fort, qui " fe prefentat devant lui." His defence of Rouen, in 1562, againft the royal army, and his efcape, after having ex- hauftcd all the refources of the moft defperate bravery, in a boat, with which he broke thro' the chains ftretched acrofs the river Seine at Caudebec, raifed his reputation to the higheft point. His death, and the circumftances of it, will be mentioned hereafter. every HENRY THE SECOND. every affiftance was procured for him, and the divine mercy implored by proceflions and pub- lic prayers j but the wound was beyond a cure, and he at length expired, having only palled his fortieth year, about four moqths *. icthjuly. * Authors are not agreed whether the king fought with his vizor raifed, or whether it flew open with the blow re- ceived from Montgomeri's lance. Luc Gauric, a famous ailrologer of the time, is pretended by de Thou to have foretold the manner and circumftances of the king's death ; b.ut unfortunately, Gauric's prediction is found in Gaf- fendi, and exprefsly aflerts, that " if Henry could fur- " mount the dangers with which he was menaced in his " fixty-third and fixty-fourth year, he would furvive, and " enjoy great happinefs till the age of fixty-nine years and " ten months." Mezerai, likewife, relates that Charles duke of Lorrain, fon-in-law to Henry the fecond, was ac- cuftomed publickly and folemnly to declare, that, " while *' he was at Paris during the feftivities and tournaments " which preceded the king's death, on the night before that " melancholy event, a lady who was lodged in his own, *' palace near the Baftile, faw in a dream the king thrown " to the ground by a blow from a lance in his eye ; a fplinter " of which ftruck the Dauphin by rebound in the ear, and " extended him breathlefs near the dead body of his fa- " ther." Thefe dreams and predictions carry with them either fo much folly or fo much falfity, as to become mat- ters of contempt and ridicule in an enlightened age. As foon as Philip the fecond received intelligence of the king's accident and defperate fituation, he difpatched Andre Vefal, his own furgeon, from Bruflels to Paris, to attend, and exert his (kill for the recovery of the expiring monarch : but all his efforts were fruitlefs ; an incurable abfcefs hav- ing formed itfelf in the king's brain, of which he died on the tenth of July, 1559. VOL. II. E Confter- 5 o KINGS OF FRANCE. I 559 > Confternation and affright, mingled with in- : trigue and artifice, divided the court; and the contending factions, headed by chiefs of the greateft capacity, whom the late king's vigour had kept in fubjection, now declared their va- rious pretenfions without difguife. The duke of Savoy, rinding the king's recovery defperate, folicited fo preffmgly the completion of his mar- riage with the princefs Margaret, that it was ce- 9th July, lebrated at Cf Notre-Dame," without any pomp, and in the greateft privacy. The duchefs de Valentinois received an order from the queen to retire to her own houfe, and not to prefume to enter the chamber of the dying king, which command {he obeyed. This mandate was fol- lowed by a fecond from Catherine, enjoining her to deliver up the jewels of the crown, and other rich effects then in her poffeffion. She fked if Henry was dead -, the meffenger re- plied, that he yet breathed, but could not pof- fibly remain long alive. " Know," faid Diana, with undaunted intrepidity, cc that fo long as " he fhall retain the leaft appearance of life, I g his funeral, the ceremony of which lafted three-and-thirty days. When, therefore, after thefe folemnities were per- formed, Montmorenci came to exprefs his duty to the young king, Francis, inftrufted by his uncles the Guifes, received the Conftable with every demonftration of refpeft and affection j but, under pretence of fparing his age, permitted him to retire to Chantilli, as a retreat becoming his time of life and infirmities. The Conftable yielded to a ne- ceflity which he was not able to refift, and quitted the court. Anthony, king of Navarre had retired from thence, previous to the death of Henry the fecond ; in difguft that by the late treaty of peace, figned with Spain at Ca- teau en Cambrefis, no attention had been paid to his inte- refts, nor any endeavours ufed to compel Philip the fecond to reftore to him the kingdom of Navarre, On the very day when FRANCIS THE SECOND. 69 king of Navarre, bcfceching him to repair 1559- immediately to court, and claim the autho- rity to which his rank entitled him as firft prince of the blood ; but Anthony, incapable of any bold and deciiive refolution, and diftruft- ful of Montmorenci's attachment to him, ad- vanced by fhort journies, and ftopt at Vendome. This ill-judged and tardy conduct gave the Guifes time to confirm their acquifition, and to ftrengthen their power. Montmorenci was or- dered to retire to his own palace in the coun- try : the Cardinal de Tournon was recalled, and admitted to an oftenfible aflbciatjon in the government : Bertrandi, to whom Diana de Poitiers had caufed the feals to be entrufted, was difmiflfed ; and Francis Olivier, a man of probity and honour, was created chancellor. Meanwhile Anthony, by the inftigation of his brother the prince of Conde, at length ar- rived at court. His reception was cold even to indignity : the lodging afligned him was un- worthy his quality, and he would not have had any, if the Marechal de St. Andre had when Henry the fecond received his wound from Montgo- meri's lance, the Conftable, apprehenfive that it would prove mortal, and confcious of the neceffity of Anthony's perfonal appearance, difpatched a courier to prefs his inftant depar- ture and arrival at court ; but the king of Navarre, who im- puted to Montmorenci the dereliction of his rights, facri- ficed by the late peace, refufed to follow the advice given him, or to profit of it with due celerity. F 3 not KINGS OF FRANCE. not lent him that which he himfelf occupied. When he was prefented to the new king, Francis made the fame declaration to him which he had already done to his parliament. Anthony's friends ftill exhorted him to continue firm, and wait the opportunity of regaining his intereft and credit ; but the Guifes acting on his fears by indirect menaces of the king of Spain's reftntment, 'if he prefumed to controvert the queen mother's or her fon's choice of minifters ; and Catherine, on the other hand, alluring him with a promife of procuring for him the refticution of his ancient kingdom of Navarre, he fubmitted. After the 2 ift Sept. ceremony of the coronation of Francis the fe- cond, he was fent to conduct the young queen of Spain, Elizabeth, to her hufband, Philip the fecond *. The new minifters, confcious of the preca- rious foundation on which their authority rcfted, and * The prince of Conde, Coligni, and many others of the Calvinift lords having met Anthony at Vendome, a coun- cil was held, to deliberate on the fteps requifite to be taken for fharing at leaft the power of the ftate with the houfe of Guife. The prince of Conde and d'Andelot were for the mofl vigorous and violent meafures ; but the king of Na- varre and the admiral Coligni advifed a flow and gentle mode of conduft. This latter opinion prevailed : An- thony was received by the young king in a manner which afforded no hopes of difplacing the Guifes, or even of participating with them in the government : Francis's anfwers were cold, ungracious, and harfh j nor did he ever admit FRANCIS THE SECOND. 7* and dreading left fome attempt ihould be made 1559. upon it, publifhed an edict, forbidding any one to carry fire-arms, or even to wear any drefs favourable to the concealment of fuch weapons. This order, calculated for their per- fonal fafety, and ftrongly expreflive of their fears, was followed by a fecond, which was dictated by their interefl. The king declared, that he would permit no perfon to hold two pofts at the fame time. Coligni, who to the high charge of ad- miral, joined the government of Picardy, re- figned chearfully the latter, in the expectation that it would be conferred on the prince of Condej but the Marechal de Briflac was re- called from his command in Piedmont, and in- vefted with that employment. The.Conftable reluctantly, and after many delays, laid down his office of grand mafter of the houfhold, beftowed on him by his late fovereign, and was fucceeded in it by the duke of Guife. admit the king of Navarre into his prefence, except when the duke of Guife and the Cardinal were with him. Thus repulfed, Anthony endeavoured to work upon the queen mother ; but Catherine, verfed in Italian wiles, duped the king of Navarre j and, partly by terror, partly by flat- tery, induced him to defiit from any further remonftrances. He was then difpatched on the empty ceremony of convey- ing the young queen of Spain to Roncevaux in Navarre, at which place the duke of Alva came at the head of an embaffy to receive the princefs, and conduct her to Philip the fecond. F 4 Animated 72 KINGS OF FRANCE. *559- Animated by an intemperate and fanguinary zeal, the miniiters perfuaded their weak fove- reign that he only adhered to his father's maxims and conduct, in commencing a perfe- cution againft the Hugonots. Courts of ec- clefiaftical judicature, invefted with inquifito- rial powers, were erected, which took cogni- zance of herefy ; and they were denominated the cay. A quartan ague, with which he had been indifpofed during feveral months, made him totally unfit for any application to bufmefs of ftate j and when this diforder left him, his face was covered with puftules, which evinced the dif- eafed ftate of his blood. He was therefore car- ried to Blois, in hopes of receiving benefit from the change of air, and from the methods ufually practifed to abate the acrimony of fcorbutic habits. A report even prevailed, and was ge- nerally believed in the neighbourhood of Blois x that the blood of infants was procured, to make KINGS OF FRANCE, make him a bath. The fame ftory had been afferted of Louis the eleventh during his lail illnefs, though probably without foundation. From the remedies adminiftered, of whatever kind, the young king however derived fome temporary benefit and relief. Dec. Meanwhile the feverities againfl the pro- feflbrs of the Reformed religion were redoubled at Paris. Anne du Bourg, one of the five members of the parliament, whom Henry the fecond had committed to the Baftile a few weeks before his death, was brought to his trial, and adhering pertinacioufly to his opinions, was jothDcc. capitally condemned. His execution was haf- tened by the arTafiination of the prefident Minard, one of his judges ; to whom he had particularly objected, and who had been zea- loufly active in the feizure and conviction of the Calvinifls *. The authors of this crime were never difcovered - 3 but Robert Stuart, a native of * Anne du Bourg was a man of diftinguifhed talents and erudition. The unexpected death of the late king Henry the fecond had protracted his trial ; and as the Eleclor Pa- latine, and many other proteftant princes of the empire interpofed in his behalf, it is probable that his life might have been granted to the requefts of fuch powerful inter- ceffors, if the affaffination of Minard had not irritated the commiffioners who prefided on his trial. This magiftrate, returning from the *' Palais " to his own houfe on the jzth of December, about fix in the evening, was attacked and FRANCIS THE SECOND. of Scotland, and who was afterwards in the bat- tle of St. Denis where he mortally wounded the Conftable Montmorenci, was fufpected and feized on that account. He claimed the young queen's protection, to whom he declared him- felf related by blood ; and when Mary dif- owned his alliance, and would extend no mark of her favour towards him, Stuart found re- fources in his own firmnefs and intrepidity : he underwent the mod excruciating pains of the torture without making any confeflion, and was therefore abfolved and difmifTed. Driven to defpair by the ill-judged tyranny 1560,. of their perfecutors, and oppofing the undaunt- Februar /' ed fpirit of religious conviction to the fuperior power of their enemies, the Calvinifls began fecretly to unite for their common prefervation. Neither Louis prince of Conde, nor Coligni, though notorioufly profelytes to the new opi- nions, had however as yet declared themfelves their chieftains. A gentleman of the province and murdered by three ruffians : Du Bourg was fufpe&ed, from fome obfcure and indiredl menaces which he had thrown out againft Minard, to have been privy to this at- tempt; and the fuppofition tended to accelerate the fentence pronounced, by which he was condemned to be ftrangled, and his body confumed to ames. Du Bourg fuffered this punimment in the " place du Greve," at Paris, to which he was drawn in a fledge, and put to death at thirty-eight years of age. Of 76 KINGS OF FRAN C E. 1560. of Perigord, named John de Bary la Renaudie, 1 was notwithftanding commiflioned by the prin- cipal perfons among them, to collect a number of people under proper leaders, who by dif- ferent roads fhould meet at Blois ; and, hav- ing prefented a petition to the king, fhould feize on the perfons of the duke of Guife and Cardinal of Lorrain, as enemies to the kingdom and public tranquillity. The fecret was di- vulged, and information of the confpiracy fent to court from many quarters *. The Guifes, warned of the coming ftorm, took every mea- fure neceflary to avert it : Francis was removed from Davila and De Thou agree in all the principal and leading features of this memorable confpiracy. La Re- naudie was a gentleman of an antient family, brave even to intrepidity, and of a ruined fortune, having been not only call in a law-fuit, but condemned to a fevere fine and banifhment, for having produced fictitious titles. He re- tired to Geneva and Laufanne, where he imbibed the doc- trines of the Reformation, and became known to a number of French, who had fled into Switzerland to avoid perfecu- tion. By thefe he was regarded as their deliverer \ and re- turning into France, he traverfed many provinces of the kingdom under a feigned name. Nantes was appointed for the general rendevous ; and the ift of February 1560 was named by La Renaudie for the time of aflembling, as the parliament of Bretagne would be then fitting. Every precau- tion was there taken to fecure the fuccefs of this defperate cnterprize ; the refpeclive deltination of the principal con- fpirators was fettled, and the i5th of March appointed for their general union at Blois, where the court then refided. It FRANCIS THE SECOND. from Blois to the caftle of Amboife, as a place more capable of defence, and immediately if- fued letters, commanding the prince of Conde's and the admiral's attendance, who obeyed. The duke of Guife's title of lieutenant-general of It would fecm that the princes of Guife received various tho' obfcure intimation, that fome infurreftion was to be dreaded. Davila fays, it came from Germany; and De Thou confirms this opinion. The firft authentic detail of the confpiracy was, however, brought to court by Avenelles, a proteitant lawyer, at whofe houfe in Paris La Renaudie lodged, and to whom he had divulged this dangerous fecret. Avenelles, from what motive is uncertain, inflantly gave in- formation of the plot to Milet, the duke of Guife's fecretary, and was by him carried to Blois, from whence the king had already removed to Amboife ; but the Cardinal of Lorrain. not having inftantly followed the court, Avenelles revealed to him every circumftance of the confpiracy. It is not only probable, but almoft certain, that had the enterprize been fuccefsful, it was intended to feize, and poffibly to put the Guifes to death, as enemies to the kingdom ; and to declare the prince of Conde regent or adminiftrator, granting at the fame time a compleat toleration of the Reformed religion. Thefe fafts mult be admitted j but it is at leaft as indifpu- table, that the attempt was never extended to the perfon of the king, or of any of the royal family, as calumny pre- tended, with intent to render the Hugonots odious. Da- vila avows this truth, though he mentions the confpiracy with deteftation : De Thou even goes further, and affures us, that the chiefs concerned in the enterprize only meant to liberate the kingdom from the tyranny of the houfe of Guife ; and that they even bound themfelves by oath to defend the king and royal family with their lives and fortunes, againft every attempt contrary to the laws. th.C 78 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. the kingdom, was confirmed; bodies of foldiery " were ftationed on all the furrounding roads; and a company of mufqueteers, mounted on horfeback, was raifed to guard the perfon of the king. i5th Notwithstanding thefe judicious and neceflary UQ ' precautions, the confpirators, marching in fmall bands, and only during the night, appeared unexpectedly at the gates of Amboife. The Cardinal of Lorrain, terrified at the approach of danger, betrayed the timidity which was na- tural to him ; but his brother the duke inftantly prepared to meet it with becoming courage. His cool difcernment appeared confpicuoufly in this hour of trial ; and he inftantly afiembled the guards, the nobility, and the inhabitants. Suf- pecting the prince of Conde., the duke com- mitted to him the poft of one of the gates to defend ; but took care to aflbciate with him the grand-prior, one of his own brothers, who watched all the prince's movements, and pre- vented him from lending the moft indirect af- fiftance to the enemy. The Calvinifts were all difperfed, taken, or cut in pieces. La" Renaudie, with a few defpe- rate aflbciates, was met in the foreft of Chateau- Renaud by the Baron de Pardaillan, at the head of two hundred cavalry. He defended himfelf, notwithftanding the difparity of num- bers, with a bravery heightened by defpair ; but FRANCIS THE SECOND. 79 but his followers being almoft all (lain, and no 1560. chance remaining either of vidtory or retreat, he fpurred his horfe up to Pardaillan, and thrufting a poniard through his vizor, laid him dead upon the ground. He himfelf fell foon after by a ball from a harquebufle; and his body being brought to Amboife, was hung during fome hours on a gallows creeled upon the bridge acrofs the Loire. All the inferior confpirators were treated with the fame igno- miny j their bodies were dragged at the tails of the horfes, and afterwards placed on iron hooks round the walls of the caftle, booted, and drefled as they fell in the field *. Some clemency might yet have been extended towards the chiefs. Olivier, the Chancellor, ad- vifed lenient and conciliating meafures j even the Guifes were in fufpence whether to pardon or to punifh ; when a new, but unfuccefsful at- tempt to furprife the town, (which was made by * La Renaudie, though he found that the court had quitted Blois, and retired for prote&ion to the caftle of Amboife, which, from fituation as well as from art might refill an attack, yet determined to proceed. Lignieres, one of the principal leaders in the confpiracy, having however betrayed his affociates, and given the moft exaft informa- tion of the time and roads by which the different bands were to arrive, the Marechal de St. Andre and the duke of Nemours were fent out to intercept, and cut them in pieces. The baron de Caftelnau, at the head of a confi- body O f his followers, being inverted in the caftle of 8o KINGSOFFRANCE. 1560. by La Mothe and Coqueville, two of the prin- cipal confpirators, who were not difmayed by the ill fuccefs of their friends,) gave a loofe to the utmoft feverity. All who were taken in arms, even though on their return home, were put to death ; and a number not lefs than twelve hundred expired under the hands of the execu- tioner. The ftreets of Amboife ran with blood ; the Loire was covered with floating carcafes ; and all the open places were crowded with gib- bets, on which hung thefe unhappy wretches, who infected the air with a peftilential fmcll. The principal leaders were the laft who were led out to death. The queen-mother, with her three young fons, and all the principal ladies of the court, beheld this horrid fpeftacle from the windows of the caftle, as a diverfion. Two of them, under the agony of the torture, accufed the of Noifai by the duke of Nemours, furrendered on promife of life for himfelf and his aflbciates ; but this capitulation was difregarded and violated. La Renaudie, who had re- ceived information of the danger in which Cailelnau flood, endeavoured to arrive in time for his relief; but was met by Pardaillan in the woods near Amboife. After a brave, though ineffectual refiftance, the Calvinifts were routed ; and La Renaudie, after having killed Pardaillan, was mot through the thigh by that officer's page, and died fighting defperately to the laft. His troops were almoft all put to death upon the fpot. La Renaudie's body was hung upon a gibbet, with a label affixed to it, containing the words te Chefdes Rebelles ;" and his quarters were afterwards cxpofed on ftakes in the environs of Amboife, prince FRANCIS THE SECOND. 81 prince of Conde as their accomplice; but the 1560. Baron de Caflelnau, being confronted with them, denied it ftrongly, and in the moment before his head was fevered from his body, continued to affert the prince's innocence *. Some fufpicions ftill remaining againii him, notwithstanding this depofition in his favour, he demanded permifllon to clear himfelf in full council before the king; and Catherine, ever en- deavouring to hold the balance between the con- tending factions, as the line of conduct moft be- neficial to her own intcrefts, granted his requeft. The * La Bigne, who was fecretary to La Renaudie, being put to the queftion, only aflerted that it was commonly believed the prince of Conde would have put himfelf at the head of the confpirators, if the enterprize had been accompanied with fuccefs. This accufation, if fuch it could be properly termed, was confirmed by Raunay and Mazere, two of the leaders, previous to their execution ; but the Baron de Caftelnau peremptorily contradicted their depofition. This nobleman was of the moft amiable and honourable character, infinitely beloved by the whole court, and of a family which had done diftinguifhed fervices to the ftate. The ftrongeft entreaties were ufed to fave his life : Coligny, d'Andelot, and even the duke d'Aumale, though brother to the duke of Guifc, yet interceded for his par- don. The queen-mother inclined to clemency, and wimed to fpare him ; but Francis, inftigated by the tv/o princes of Lorrain, was inexorable. Caftelnau fubmitted to the fentence of death with perfeft compofure ; but when the crime for which he fuffered was ftated to be that of high, trsafon, he burft into the inoft indignant complaints : VOL. II. G "If/* Si KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. The prince, with that intrepidity which diftin- " guiflied all his actions, vindicated his honour from the imputations cafl upon it j and, after having given the lye to whoever fhould dare to maintain or afiert the charge againft: him, he of- fered to engage with his accufer in fmgle com- bat, as the mod convincing proof of his adver- fary's falfehood. The Cardinal of Lorrain, who clearly faw at whom this defiance was levelled, made a fign to the young monarch to rife with- out reply ; but his brother the duke, conceal- ing his indignation under the mafk of friend- fhip, praifed with warmth the prince's conduct, and offered himfelf to be his fecond, againft whatever antagonift. Yet in private, it was his " If," faid he to his judges, " it be declared treafon to ' have taken up arms againft ftrangers who have violated " the laws, and ufurped the fbvereign authority, let them " be proclaimed kings !" Villemongey, one of the prin- cipal confpirators, being conducted to the fcaffbld, which was already covered with the bodies of his friends who had futFered, imbrued his hand in their blood, and holding it up to Heaven, "Behold!" exclaimed he, ''righteous Judge, " the innocent blood of thofe who have fought thy caufe ! " thou wilt not leave their death unrcvenged." The royal family, and all the ladies of the court were prefent at thefe affe&ing and inhuman fpeftacles. Only the duchefs of r.uife, Anne d'Efte (who was daughter of Renee of France, the youngeft child of Louis the Xllth) retired to her apart- ment to lament thefe executions, which {he had vainly de- precated. The duchefs, as well as her mother, were fuf- pe&ed of an adherence to the doctrines of the Reformation. advice FRANCIS THE SECOND. advice to arreft the prince ; but the queen- mother, who forefaw the annihilation of her own power by fuch an aft> oppofed and pre- vented its execution* The Chancellor Olivier died at this time, of soth Mar. grief and horror excited by the cruejl and fan- guinary fcenes to which he had been a \vitnefs *. * Olivier rofe under the protection of Margaret queen of Navarre, and filler of Francis the firft, to whom he had been Chancellor ; and he was raifed to the fame high dignity by Francis the firft himfelf in 1545. While he held this office, his integrity, firmnefs, and love of his country, rendered him beloved by all France. Henry the fecond deprived him of the feals on his acceffion to the throne, which were en- trufted to Bertrandi, a man devoted to the duchefs de Valentinois. Soon after the time when Olivier was re- called, and reinvefted with his office under Francis the fe- cond, the emperor Ferdinand the firft fent the bifhop of Trent into France, to demand the reftitution of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which Henry the fecond had retained by the peace of Cateau, and which had been difmembered from the empire. Ferdinand chofe the opportunity of a weak and tumultuous reign, fuch as that of Francis, in which to claim thefe fiefs ; and he had befides commifGoned the bifhop his embaflador to bribe fuch of the lords of the council as might be inimical to his demand. The chan- cellor, aware of Ferdinand's intentions, and vigilant to counteract them, opened the debate, and declared that it was incumbent to take off the head of that perfon who fhould dare to propofe fo pernicious and traiterous a roea- fure, as the furrender of the cities and diftricb reclaimed by the emperor. This bold and honeft declaration intimi- dated and overawed thofe who might otherwife have been for fuch a ftep, and preferved thefe valuable acquisitions to the crown of France. G a He *4 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. He was fucceeded by Michael de 1'Hopital, an : ^ble minifter, and devoted to the queen-mother. His advice, though always temperate and judi- cious, yet confirmed her in- that fyftem of tem- porizing and intricate policy, and in thofe arts of divifion and difunion, which mark her character. She trembled left the Guifes fhould obtain a complete victory over the princes of the blood, and therefore fecretly fupported Conde and the Kugonots, An affembly of the nobility was fummoned with this view at Fontainbleau> whither the young king was carried ; and to which came the Conftable Montmorenci, Colig- 20th Aug. ni, and a numerous train of followers. It was held in Catherine's own cabinet, Francis himfelf being prefent. The admiral advancing, threw himfelf on his knees before his fovereign, and preiented him a petition unfigned, in which a to- leration was demanded for the prcfeilbrso f the reformed religion j adding, that though no names were affixed to it, yet whenever his ma- jefty fhould be pleafed to fignify his pleafure, it would be inftantly fubfcribed by an hundred and fifty thoufa'nd perfons. The Cardinal of Lorrain opppfed the indulgence requefted by Coligni, with that impetuous and commanding eloquence by which he was diftinguilhed j and exprefilons of fo much afperity paffed between the princes of Lorrain and the admiral, as to oblige Francis to impofe (Hence on the two parties. No decifive refolution was taken , but FRANCIS THE SECOND. f$ the ftates were ordered to afTemble in the month 1560. of December enfuing, and a .national council was propofed, in hopes of finally adjufting thefe religious differences. Neither the king of Navarre nor prince of Condc were prefent at this conference, they having previoufly retired into Guyenne, where they were engaged in concerting rheafures to difpoffefs the Guiles of their power and offices. Sptent. The perfon whom Anthony employed as his confidant and meflenger, named La Sague, having imprudently communicated the commif- fion with which he was charged, to one of his friends named Bonval, this man betrayed the trufc repofed in him, and gave information of La Sague's errand. He was immediately feized at Eftampes, by order of the queen-mother, on his return into Gafcony, together with a number of letters which he carried. The terror of the torture induced him to confefs the method of difcovering their contents j and thofe of Francis de Vendome, Vidame of Chartres, a perfonai enemy of the duke of Guife, were regarded as peculiarly criminal. He was one of the moft brave and gallant lords of the court, and had even been fo particularly acceptable to, and fa^ voured by Catherine, as to give rife to fufpicidns very injurious to her honour*. As he was how- ever The proteflant writers, who detefted Catherine Medicis, have not failed to accufe her of gallantries, among G 3 her 36 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. ever now become equally an object of her hatred, fhe caufed him to be carried to the Baflile ; and he was transferred fome time after to the palace of the Tournelles, where he died either of chagrin, or of the confequences of his debaucheries. Bouchard, Chancellor to the king of Navarre being likewife feized, and actuated by the fame timidity as La Sague, accufed the prince of Conde of having endeavour'd to feduce his bro- ther to engage in treafonable practices. Not- withftanding this act of undifguifed hoftility on the part of the court, Anthony and Louis, after long irrefolution and many delays, finally em- braced the dangerous refolution of attending the ftates which were convoked at Orleans. Francis himfelf, quitting Fontainbleau on ac- count of the danger to which his perforfwas ex- pofed in fo defencelefs a place, removed to the her other faults and crimes. Jurieu particularly names the duke of Nemours, the Vidame of Chartres, and the Marquis de MeTcouet, as her lovers ; and declares her to have been criminally intimate with all thefe noblemen. Impartial jtiftice muft, however, acquit her from fuch imputations. Ambition, not love, was her predominant paflion ; and her conduit towards Mademoifelle de Limeuil, when feduced by the prince of Conde, of which I fhall have occafion to fpeak particularly hereafter, was very oppofite to any fuch libertinifm. Mezerai, and Le Laboureur, only blame her Jove of pleafures, without any reflections on her honour, which are certainly to be diftrufted as falfe afperfions. palace FRANCIS THE SECOND. 87 palace of St. Germain. His health was even in 1560. fo precarious and declining a flate, as to induce " the Guifes to order public prayers for its refto- ration j but as it was neceffary for him to open the deliberations of the dates in perfon, the young king proceeded towards Orleans, efcort- ed by a thoufand horfe, and accompanied by the queen-mother, and Charles duke of Or- leans, his brother. He entered that city in a i8th oa fort of military pomp, to which the nation had been little accuftomed, and which had more the appearance of a conqueror triumphing over re- bels, than of a king fcarccly yet attained to manhood, and who could neither have forfeited or alienated the affections of his people. Meanwhile the princes of Bourbon fet out to attend the aflembly of the ftates : their friends advifed them to appear well armed, and well accompanied j but the mandate which the Guifes ilTued in the king's name, forbidding them to bring any other followers than thofe of their own houfehold, together with the confidence which they repofed in their own high rank, and rela- tion to the royal blood, made them defpife and neglect thefe falutary precautions *. Various infonna- * Davila, the great direfting hiftorian of thefe times, beautifully lays open the artifices which the Guifes ufed to . draw the two brothers into the fnare. Louis, fays he., con- 'fcious that his. co-operation in the late confpiracies and G 4 com/notions 88 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. informations and intimations of a very alarming nature met them on their way towards Orleans. They were affured that Francis and his mother, hurried on by the impetuous counfels of the duke of Guife and the Cardinal, had been either induced or compelled to adopt the moil fan- guinary meafurcs ; but the two princes, notwith- commotions might be afcertained from the papers and per- fons lately feized, peremptorily refufed to truft himfelf in the power of his enemies: but Anthony, either more inno- cent, or more credulous, and deeming it impoflible that an Italian woman and two ftrangers would venture to arreft and capitally punifh the firft princes of the blood, inclined to attend the ftates. While they ftucluated in this ftate of uncertainty, the Count de CrufTol and the Marechal de St. Andre were difpatched by the young king, to induce them by the ftrongeft aflurances of amity not to delay their journey ; but Conde ftill remained firm in his firft determi- nation. This report being made by the Count de CrufTol on his return to court, the Marechal de Termes was fent into Gafcony, and ordered to levy a body of troops, which might invert them in Beam, where they were unprepared for their defence. At the fame time, the queen-mother, ever effecting lier fchemes by diffimulation, prevailed on Charles, Cardinal of Bourbon, brother to Anthony and Louis, to add his entreaties to her own, and allured him of the good intentions of Francis. The Cardinal, credulous and jelying on Catherine's affurances, inftantly left Orleans, and proceeded to Beam, where he implored the two princes his brothers no longer to refufe their obedience to the repeated orders of their Sovereign. Thefe united ef- forts were at length fuccefsful : the princes reluftantly left Pau, ,1nd with a {lender train proceeded towards Or- leans. {landing FRANCIS THE SECOND. 89 {landing thefe advices, continued their jour- 1560. ney *. On their arrival at Orleans, they en- 3Ct h Oft. tered the royal prefence and faluted the king, who gave them a cold and ungracious recep- tion. The inflant of their departure, two cap- tains of the guard took them into cuftody. Anthony was only carefully watched ; but the prince of Conde was committed clofe pri- foner to a houfe erected purpofely in a public * The king of Navarre confiding in his innocence, and trufiing likewife to his high rank, refufed feven hundred gentlemen of Poiclou the permifiion to accompany him to Orleans, and forbad above fifteen hundred others, who had prepared to attend and efcort his perfon. Marillac, arch- bifhop of Vienne, confcious of the danger into which the two princes of Bourbon were precipitating themfelves, gave them the moll authentic information of the intentions of their enemies ; but they difregarded all admonition. As they advanced towards Orleans, their retreat was cut off by troops, who occupied the provinces behind them through which they mud have returned into Beam; and no fooner had the court received certain advice of their being on the territory of France, than, as if that aft had ferved as a fsgnal for taking off the mafk, Grollot, Bailiff of Orleans, who was fufpeded of holding a correfpondence with Anthony, was committed to cuftody. At Poitiers, Montpezat, the governor ihut the gates of that city againft the princes; but, on their inftantly fuf- pending their journey, and complaining of this infult by a meffenger whom they difpatched to court, the Marechal deTermes was fent to excufe it in the king's name, and they were received in triumph into Poitiers. Termes having executed this commifiion, followed them at fome diltance with a body of cavalry, to obferve their motions, till their final entry into Orleans. fquare, 9 o KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. fquare, and which was defended by fome pieces ' of cannon *. The * The Marechal de Briflac fir/1 propofed In council to arreft the prince of Conde ; and Francis figned the order, which was reluftantly counterfigned by de 1'Hopital, the Chancellor. ' I faw the two brothers Anthony and Louis," fays Brantome, " when they arrived : the king of Navarre en- " tered the court of the palace on horfeback ; the prince, *' on foot. Never did I fee a man exhibit a more bold ff and- fearlefs mien than did the latter ; but on his re- " turn, when arrefted, he appeared covered with aftonifh- " menu. Anthony, who had thought to difconcert and " terrify his enemies by his threats and appearance at court, was not lefs confounded and amazed." Davila has related with equal accuracy and minutenefs all the principal circumftances which preceded and attended the arreil of the two princes : they are too authentic and interefting to be omitted. " When they entered the " city of Orleans," fays he, " they found all the ftreets ' lined with foldiers, thro* whom they pafTed to the king's " lodging ; but, the gate being fhut, and only the wicket " left open, the two princes were compelled to difmount " and enter on foot. Scarce any of the perfons whom they " met, faluted them ; and on being conduced into the ' royal prefence, they found the young king feated be- '* tween the duke of Guife and the Cardinal of Lorrain, ' furrounded by the captains of the guard. Francis re- " ceived them with coldnefs, and then conducted them " himfelf to the apartment of the queen-mother, the Guifes " not following : Catherine, with her accuftomed diffimu- " lation, and to preferve the appearance of impartiality, " treated the princes with every demonftration of afFeftion, < mixed with fadnefs, and even (hed tears on the occafion ; " but Francis, with looks of refentment, and in terms of 4 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1560. fo violent had been purfued. Thirteen day* afterwards the prince quitted Orleans, accom- panied as a mark of honour, by thofe very foldiers who had ferved as his guard, and re^ tired firft to Ham in Picardy, and thence to La Fere, both which places belonged to his brother Anthony, king of Navarre. unfr.aken allegiance to the throne, were the leading fea- tures of Montmorenci's character, on which Catherine re- lied. When he arrived at the palace, where the young king (Charles the ninth) refided, at Orleans, he did ho- mage to his new fofereign with tears in his eyes, and ex- horted him not to be difturbed'at the prefent commotions,, fince l.ehimfelf, and all good Frenchmen, were ready to lay down their lives for the prefervation of the crown and king- dom. Catherine then entered into a long converfation with him ; and by thofe blandilhnjents of which me was fa compleat a miilrefs, worked upon his feelings of public fpirit and regard to the interefts of the ftate, till the Con- ftabie, won to her purpofes, confented to be the common mediator between the princes of Bourbon and the Guifes. Catherine fecured by this means the regency for herfelf, and attached Montmorenci to her fon, independent of either of. the two great faclions. CHAPTER CHARLES THE NINTH. 105 CHAPTER THE TENTH. Reflections on the fituation of affairs at the ac- cejfion of Charles the ninth. Catherine of Me- decis Je cures to herfelf the regency. Formation of the " Triumvirate." Pernicious policy of the regent. A/embly of the ftates. Maffacrt of Vajfy. Duplicity of Catherine. The young king carried to Paris by Anthony king of Navarre. Commencement of the civil wars. Prince of Conde declared chief of the Hugonots. Vain attempts to produce an accommodation. Siege of Rouen. Death of the king of Navarre. Bat" tie of Dreux. Confequences of that aftion.- Siege of Orleans. AJJaJfination of the duke of Guife. Account of the circumftances attending it. His funeral, and Character. Conclufion of Peace. Death of La Cipicrre. Character of the marechal de Retz. 'The prince of Conde 's amours, and fecond marriage. Charles the ninth attains to majority. Adminiftration of Catherine. Interview of Bayonne. Commence- ment of the fecond civil war. Ineffectual enter- prize of Meaux. Battle of St. Denis. Death cf the Canftable Monimcrenci.CircumftGnces of 8 that 106 KINGS OF FRANCE. that event. Character of the young king. ~ Second pacification. 1560. /TM3E circumftances in which Charles the A ninth fucceeded to the crown, were fuch as feemed to indicate the future tempefts which fhook his throne ; nor do the annals of any natjon. prefent us with a reign producing events of- a more -calamitous nature. Religion, a fa- cred name r but proftituted to the purpofes of intereft .or policy, ferved as an oftenfible pre- text, to cover the ambition, and the other real caufes, which confpired to involve the unhappy kingdom in all the horrors of civil war. An hiftorian of fenfibility cannot even relate thefe difaftrous circumftances, without feeling the utmofl commiferation and diftrefs. That inve- terate animofity, that fanguinary fpirit, which ever characterifes theological difputes, actuated and inflamed the whole community. All the provinces .became in turn the theatre of war and rapine -, while the dreadful night of St. Bartholomew, ftained with blood, and veiled in darknefs, completes the mournful picture. An event which Hands unparalleled in the hif- tory of mankind, and which muft imprefs with horror, in ages the mod remote 1 The young king Charles the ninth, who afcended the throne in this critical and perilous jun&ure, was as yet of an age too tender to interfere CHARLES THE NINTH. interfere perfonally in the adminiftration of af- fairs, and could not, during many years, ex- tend any effectual or permanent redrefs to the accumulated evils of the (rate. Catherine of Medecis, only anxious to lengthen the term of her Ton's minority, and of her own regency; ever intent, on projects for the enlargement and the continuance of that authority with which (he was inverted, fowed divifion and difcord among the principal nobility. Oppofing, with Italian refinement, one party to another, negligent of the public tranquillity, and folely attentive to her own private interefts, (lie facrificed every confideration to her thirft of power. Even the feelings of a parent could fet no bounds to this tyrannic paflion ; and Charles, tho' her own fon, yet from the moment that he conceived the defire of reigning without her aid, was regard- ed by her as the moft inveterate enemy. As yet however Ihe had not this event to dread, Francis the fecond's premature end having placed her in the firft poll of government. The flates, afiembled at Orleans, were opened with 13 Dec. a fpeech from the chancellor de 1'Hopital, in which he exhorted them to toleration, unani- mity, and an oblivion of pad diflfentions. Coun- fels the mod wife and falutary, but unhappily impracticable amid the furious zeal of con- tending parties ! Some attempts were made while the flates were fitting, to deprive the queen-mother of the icS KINGS OF FRANCE. 1-560. the regency, which Ihe had affumed by a fort of ' political violence j but the weaknefs of Anthony king of Navarre, and her own addrefs, foon ex- tinguilhed all appearance of oppofition. She then difiblved the afiembly, whofe deliberations fhe feared might tend to dimiuifh the prerogatives, of the crown i and convoked them to meet anew at Poifly in the month of May enfuing. 1561. The court having retired to Fontainbleau, February. Louis 'prince of Conde repaired thither with a /lender train. Defirous of juftifying himfelf from the imputations caft upon him in the late reign, he demanded permiffion to prove his in- nocence before the king, which was granted ; tjie Chancellor pronounced him guiltlefs of the crimes laid to his charge, and he was re-ad- mitted to his feat in council. Unaffected by the elevation of their ene- mies, and the unexpected reverfe of fortune which had befallen them, the princes of Lorrain ftill maintained their ground. Equally fupport- ing, and fupported by the ancient religion, . they yet prderved a prodigious influence, and fpread terror among their opponents. In vain did the king of Navarre, though inverted with the title of lieutenant-general, and though aided by the Conftable and the Colignis, attempt to humble, and compel the duke of Guife to re- linquifh a part of his authority, as grand m af- ter of the houlhold : Anthony was himfelf re- duced, CHARLES THE NINTH. duced, after an ineffectual ftruggle, to renounce his pre-tenfions. Juftly alarmed at fo powerful a combination between the princes of the blood, Montmoren- ci and his nephews, the regent exerted herfelf to diflblve a confederacy, which fhe feared might affix limits to her own power. The Con- ftable was long uncertain and irrefolute which party he fhould join. His eldeft fon Francis, Marechal de Montmorenci, efteemed one of the moft prudent lords of the kingdom, and clofely connected with the Hugonot party, endeavoured to retain his father on that fide ; but Henry d'Amville, his fecond fon, and Magdalen of Sa- voy, Montmorenci's own wife, were attached to the oppofite faction *. Catherine, regardlefs of the engines which fhe made fubfervient to her meafures, and anxious to fucceed by whatever means, recalled Diana de Poitiers again to court, and ordered her to try her powers of perfuafion upon the Conftable. She fucceeded: he de- clared at length in favour of the Guifes ; and a private * Henry, fecond fon of the Conftable Montmorenci, and the favourite of his father, was early diftinguifhed by his courage, and rofe after the extinction of the houfe of Valois, under Henry the fourth, to the dignity of Conftable of France. He was one of the moft accomplished noblemen of the courts of Henry the fecond and Francis the fecond j and after the death of the laft of thofe princes, he followed Mary, queen dowager of France and queen of Scotland, when no KINGS OF FRANCE. 156*. a private union of interefts was eftablifhed be- tween the duke, the Marechal de St. Andre, and himfelf, which obtained the name of " the Triumvirate *." ijthMay. The ceremony of Charles's coronation, which thefe intrigues and difputes had hitherto de- layed, was at length performed at Rheims, with the when flic returned into her own dominions. He was ten- derly attached to her ; and Mary was fo fenfible to his pafllon, that it was 'believed had he been at liberty, fhe would have married him ; but d'Amville had been already married in 1558 to Antoinette de la Marclc, grand-daugh- ter of the celebrated duchefs de Valentinois. His elder bro- ther Francis dying without ifTue, Henry fucceeded in 1579 to the poflefiions and titles of the houfe of Montmorenci. By Louifa de Budos, his fecond wife, he was father to Henry, laft duke of Montmorenci, equally amiable and unfortu- nate, who was put to death at Touloufe by the cardinal de Richlieu, after the combat of Caftelnaudari, in 1632. * This was the laft public aft of the celebrated duchefs of Valentinois ; and fhe ?gaih retired, after this proof of her influence over Montmorenci, to the caftle of Anet. She furvived it about five years, and at length died, in the fixty-feventh year of her age, on the 26th of April, 1566. Her body repofes under a marble maufoleum, in the centre of the choir of the great chapel of Anet, which fhe had herfelf conftru&ed. She was the moft extraordinary iaftan.ce of beauty and powers of pleafmg, preferred even in the . wii-.tcr of life, which occurs in modern hittory ; unlefs Ninon de PEnclos may be fnppofed to form an exception. It w:u !,y no means the intention of the queen-mother, in detachi, i.; the Conftable from Anthony king of Navarre ..! his own nephews the Cciignis, to force him to fo drift a union CHARLfiS THE NINTH. in the accuftomed magnificence. This fplendid 1561. pageantry could not however in any degree heal " the wounds of the ftatej and Catherine's am- biguous conduct:, which tended to fpread uni- verfal jealoufy and diftruft, encreafed and irri- tated the public diforders. Fearful that fhe might be opprefled by the fuperior power of the three great united lords, and incapable of de- taching them from their new confederacy, fhe attempted to balance their political weight by another of equal importance. In confequence of this determination, fhe immediately made propofals to the king of Navarre, for eftablifh- ing a more clofe and intimate alliance between them, which might conduce to their common iupport. Anthony gladly embraced thefe of- fers ; but while, in compliance with her pro- mifes to him, fhe affected to protect and favour the reformed religion, fhe fecretly prevailed on the Conftable to complain of thofe very innova- tions. Not fufficiently powerful to annihilate and comprefs by force the numerous parties, union with the houfe of Guife and the Marechal de St. Andie. She had hoped to attach Montmorenci to herfeif and to the young king her ion, independantly of either of the great factious ; but fhe was deceived in this expecta- tion. The union of '* the Triumvirate" was liudioufly concealed from Catherine, who dreaded and trembled at that powerful combination. Davila and De Thou equally agree in their account of the principal fa els rcfpecling this iranfacHon. flic ii2 KINGS OF FRANCE. jf j. fhe fubftituted cunning and artifice in its Head; *- but her abilities, though great, and equal to al-, moil every undertaking, yet fell fhort of this purpofe. After having fomented the fparks of civil difcord, fhe vainly flattered herfelf that fhe could extinguilh them at pleafure, or direct their fury ; they blazed to the deftruftion of her fon, and to the rum of his kingdom. A feigned reconciliation took place about this time between the duke of Guife and the prince of Conde ; after which they embraced in the royal prefence, and made profefllons of the moft fmcere and cordial amity *. The king of Na- * Mezerai fays, that the Conftable was the author of this pretended reconciliation ; becaufe, conceiving it unbecom- ing his own honour openly to ally himfelf with the duke of Guife, while the prince of Conde was that nobleman's ene- my, he requefted of the queen-mother to undertake the ac- commodation of their differences. The young king in confequence commanded their at- tendance at St. Germain-en-Laye, where the court then refided, and ordered them mutually to forget their paft ani- mofities. The duke of Guife protefted that he had not ad- vifed theimprifonment of the prince of Conde ; who replied, that " whofoever was the perfon from whom that advice ' came, he regarded him as a villain and a traitor." The duke anfwered that he was equally of that opinion, and that the prince's obfervaiion no way affefied him. ThU fcene having been adled, they embraced ; and the king en- joined them to obfervc in future a ftrift and cordial friendmip. Catherine then invited them both to a magnificent enter- tainment, which (he gave as a teiHmony of her fisfac~Hon at this aufpicious event varre, CHARLES THE NINTH. 113 varre, in the affembly of the ftates, was again fo 1561. weak as to renounce his claim to the regen- cy, Catharine, who intimately knew the human heart, who ever addrefled herfelf to its pafiions, and conquered by flattering its propenfities, had enflaved Anthony by a new allurement, peculiarly calculated to retain him in her obe- dience. Mademoifelle du.Rouet, one of the moft beautiful maids of honour in her train, ferved as an inftrument to fafcinate the eafy prince j and her afcendency over a temper yield- ing, voluptuous, and indolent, was only extin- guifhed with, his life. The flates meanwhile were opened with great Augnft. folemnity at St. Germain j the young king, though only ten years of age, feated on his throne, with the queen-mother, and his fitter the princefs Margaret on his left hand, being prefent at the debates. As the admiral Coligni had been principally inftrumental in prevailing upon the king of Navarre not to conteft the re- gent's power, fhe in return avowedly patronifed the Calviniftical doctrines and followers. This pretended partiality, which was the refult not of conviction, but of the moftprofound political hy- pocrify, was equally difplayed by Catherine at the difputation of PoifTy ; a vain attempt made to Sept. reconcile the religious differences, and in which the Cardinal of Lorrain on one fide, and Theo- dore Beza on the other, declaimed with equal VOL. II. I violence KINGS- OF FRANCE. violence and eloquence, in defence of their re- fpective tenets. Difgufted at the lofs of their credit, as well as at the preference (hewn to the Hugonots, and covering their diflatisfaction at Catherine's con- duel; under the pretext of attachment to their reli- Dec. gion, "'the Triumvirate" quitted the court. Still however, attentive to their great political inte- refts, they exerted every artifice which might win the king of Navarre, and bring him over to their party. The Guifes firft propofed to him a divorce from his wife Jane d'Albret queen of Navarre, and his marriage with their niece, the young queen dowager, Mary of Scotland. Find- ing that from attachment to his fon Henry, prince of Beam, he difapproved and rejected this offer, they pretended to have received prornifes from Philip the fecond of Spain, of ceding to him the ifland of Sardinia, in compenfation fo^ the kingdom of Navarre. Anthony, deceived by this ideal advantage, at length united him- fclf to his natural enemies, and became the dupe of their artifices, in contradiction to his honour and real intereils *. The * It is to Davila alone that we can have recourfe, amid this chaos of oppofite and continually fhifting meafures, for any clear or certain explication of the fources, from which fprung the different actions related. According to that great hif- torian, who appears to have traced beyond any other writer, the CHARLES THE NINTH. 115 The voluntary retreat of " the Triumvirate" 1562. having left the prince of Conde and Coligni un- j anuary> diiputed the filent workings of the heart, Anthony's change of condaft is not to be attributed, in any degree, either to religious or to patriotic motives. Intereft, ambition, and rivalfhip, were his fole directing principles ; to which indolence, and a pa- cific temper, added ftrength. His partiality to the Calviniiti- cal tenets had been fhaken at the difpute of Poifly, from the little agreement which he found in the minifters of that per- fuafion on the articles of belief, and their reafons of diffenfion from the Romim chuich. He was offended with the behavi- our of the admiral Coligni, who affefted, and attempted to go- vern him in every particular ; but above all, he was ftung with the preference given to his brother among the Reformers. The prince of Conde's open deteftation of the Guifes ; his perfonal courage, and his avowed protection of the Hugonots, ' had made him in reality the hero of the party. The king of Navarre's interefls were likewife very different, as he was the firft prince of the blood, and might entertain no very diilant or chimerical hopes of the crown. All thefe reafons account for his confederacy with the Guifes. De Thou, though he does not analyze with equal accuracy and perfpicuity the motives to Anthony's conduct, yet accounts for it upon fimilar principles. He adds, that Manriqoez, the Spanifh ambailador, inftrufted by his court to deceive the king of Navarre with falfe promifes and expectations, effected his purpofe by flattering or corrupting the two favourites of that prince, Lcnoncourt, bilhop of Auxerre, and d'Efcars. They engaged to endeavour to induce him to declare himfelf pro- tector of the Catholic religion in France; in return for which Philip was to put him in poffeffion of the kingdoms of Sardinia and Tunis. Anthony was completely deceived by thefe flattering profpefts, and entered into the clofeft union with " the Triuawrate." Jane d'Albret, his wife, 1 2 no n6 KINGS OF FRANCE. ic62. difputed maflers of the court, Catherine iflfued a ~~ new edicl, highly favourable to the Hugonots. She even affected to regulate her meafures by their advice, and fhewed them every mark of perfect confidence; but thefe encouraging ap- pearances were only calculated to deceive, and were followed by the moft dreadful convulfions. The queen had favoured the Calvinift party merely from her apprehenfions of the tyranny of the king of Navarre and " the Triumvirate ;" who, though they feemed to have quitted the court, waited only for an opportunity to refume their authority. Conde and Coligni forefaw the florm ; they knew the queen's duplicity, and prepared to ward off the dangers with which they were menaced. Anticipating the hoftili- ties which they conceived to be imminent and inevitable, they applied to the Proteftant princes of the Germanic empire, and received from them affurances of fupport. Meanwhile the duke of Guife, at the pref- fmg inflances of his friends, and peculiarly of Anthony king of Navarre, fet out on his re- turn to court ; when a fatal accident which hap- pened on the way, haftened the rupture between no fooner found that he had abandoned the party and reli- gion of the Calvinifts, than fhe immediately withdrew from court, carrying with her Henry and Catherine her chil- dren, and retired into Beam, where fhe educated them in the dodlrines of the Reformation. the CHARLES THE NINTH. 117 the two factions, and began the bloody quarrel. 1562. While he ftopt at the little town of Vafly in ~ - Champagne, and was employed in hearing mafs, i Ma r . a crowd of Calvinifts, affembled in a barn, in- terrupted and diflurbed his devotions by their hymns. A difpute arifmg among the duke's domeflics and the Hugonots, he ran eagerly himfelf to prevent it ; but in this attempt he received a blow upon the cheek with a ftone ; and his attendants feeing his face bloody, drew their fwords, and killed above fifty, befides near two hundred others, who were wounded in the The prince of Conde, who had accompanied the young king and court to the palace of Mon- ceaux * If we may credit Davila, the duke of Guife had no in- tention to injure or moleft the Hugonots, while occupied in an aft of their religion ; and the account which he gives of this unfortunate maflacre, inclines us to imagine that the duke regretted, and exerted every endeavour to prevent the fcene of blood which took place. He was on his way from Joinville to Paris, accompanied by his brother the Cardinal, a train of gentlemen, and an efcort of two hundred lances, when the unufual noife of bells, as he patted through the village of Vafly, incited the pages and lacqueys to advance, partly from curiofity, and partly from derifion, to the fpot from. whence the ringing proceeded. A congregation of Calvi- nifts being there aflembled, and hearing that their great ene- my the duke of Guife was in the town, fome of them began the difpute by throwing ftones at his attendants; who in- ftantly betook themfelves to their arms, and a dangerous I 3 quarrel n8 KINGS OF FRANCE. .1 562. ceaux near Meaux, having immediately demand- ' ed juftice and reparation for the maflacre, Cathe- rine, quarrel enfued. The duke nc fooner received intelligence of it, than fpurring his horfe into the crowd, he reprehended his followers, and entreated of the Hugonots to retire ; when a blow from a ftone, which ftruck him on the left cheek, and which caufed a confiderable effufion of blood, compelled him to quit the place. His attendants, irritated at the wound which their lord had received, attacked the houfe into which the Hugonots had retreated for fecurity, killed above fixty of them, and feverely wounded the minifter, who efcaped by climbing over the tiles into one of the adjoining houfes. When it was over, the dukefummoned the magiftrate of the place into his prefence, and feverely reprimanded him for permitting thefe licentious and illegal aflemblies of the peo- ple. On his attempting to juftify himfelf, by pleading the royal edicl lately iflued in favour of the Calvinifts, the duke laid his hand on his fvvord, and replied angrily, " This fhall " foon cut the bond of that edicl, though never fo ftrong." De Thou's narration of the maffacre of Vaffy, differs in ibme material circumftances from that of Davila ; peculiarly in that leading feature of it, which exculpates the attendants of the duke of Guife. De Thou, on the contrary, charges them exprefsly with having commenced the fray, by riding up, and infulting the Hugonots, who were affembled at their devotions, with every injurious and opprobrious epithet; but he allows that the duke himfelf exerted every poffible endeavour, though unfortunately to no purpofe, to flop the fury of his followers and fervants. He draws a very affedling picture of the unhappy wretches who were viclims on this occafion to the mercilefs rage of the duke's attendants : wo- men and children, who made the air echo with their cries, were fhot at, till none remained alive to fatiate their ven- feance. The miniiler, named Leonard Morel, was wounded, CHARLES THE NINTH. rine, diflrefled at this peremptory reqnifition, promifed ample fatisfaction to the prince. She iffued an order to the king of Navarre, com- manding him to provide for the fafety of her fon and of the kingdom j enjoined the duke of Guife to repair inftantly to her, unattended ; and commanded the Marechal de St. Andre to fee out without delay for his government of Lyons. Not one of the three obeyed her mandate. Anthony repulfed" the Hugonot deputies with threats, who were fent to lay before him their as were two hundred others, and fixty were killed upon the fpot. De Thou feems to impute in fome degree this inhuman carnage to the duchefs dowager of Guife, Antoinette de Bourbon, mother of the duke and cardinal ; whofe refi- dence being in the neighbourhood of VaiTy, Ihe had fre- quently complained to her fon the duke, of the meetings of the Calviniib fo near her caftle, and had requefted him to deliver her from fuch a fcandal. Very different, adds this great hiflorian, was the conduct of the young duchefs of Guife, Anne d'Efte, who had derived from her mother Rence, daughter to Louis the twelfth, a partiality towards the Calvinifls. She followed the duke her hufband in a litter ; and hearing the cries of the unhappy people, me in- llantly apprehended the caufe of it, and difpatched a mef- fenger to her hufband, to implore mercy for the Hugonots. The duke had already rode up to the fpot, and was exerting himfelf to terminate the quarrel, when the wound which he received on his cheek gave an immediate loofe to the violence of his attendants. Thefe are the principal cir- cumftances of this unfortunate maftacre, from whence wo may date the origin of the civil wars. I 4 complaints : 120 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1562, complaints : the duke of Guife replied, that he ~" had no leifure to come yet to court, being other- wife employed : and St. Andre, more infolent, informed her majefty to her face, that in the pre- fent critical fituation of affairs, he could not abandon the perfon of his fovereign. The duke of Guife arrived foon after at Paris, attended by twelve hundred horfe. Terrified by his approach, and dreading left he fhould, in conjunction with the other confederates, de- prive her of the fupreme management of affairs, the queen took a ftep the mod pernicious, and productive of future calamities. She wrote to the prince of Conde, who had retired to his own houfe, recommending to him, in terms fo touch- ing and pathetic, herfelf, the kingdom, and her fon, adding, that the combined nobles held her in captivity ; that {he gave him the moil plau- fible and juft pretence to arm his afibciates. He availed himfelf of thefe letters to excufe his proceedings ; but being as yet too feeble to op- pofe enemies fo numerous and powerful, he withdrew a fecond time to his feat of La Ferte- Aucou, near Meaux. March. The queen meanwhile, accompanied by the Chancellor, had carried the young king to Fon- tainbleau. She beheld the awful pifture of a civil war in full view, which her own ambiguous and interefted policy, directed only to preferve the au- thority of regent, had greatly conduced to accele- rate ; CHARLES THE NINTH. 121 rate ; and fhe would yet moft willingly have averted by any means whatever, fo deplorable a calamity. Her own interefts made her wilh to prevent the effufion of blood j and, confcious that her junction with either party muft be the fignal of open hoftility, fhe flill anxioufly hoped to remain in a ftate of neutrality, and to hold the balance j but this middle line of condudb was become impracticable. The duke of Guife, with a prodigious train, calculated to infpire terror, having arrived at Fontainbleau, Cathe- rine again fummoned the prince of Conde fe- cretly to her afiiftance. She vainly flattered her- felf that his prefence would reftore her to free- dom, and render her the common arbitrefs j but' the evil genius of France had decreed otherwife, and all her fchemes became abortive. The prince appeared immediately in arms, and pafled the river Seine at St. Cloud, in his way to join her. Though his forces were too few to terrify the confederate lords, they inftantly availed themfelves of the occafion to render themfelves mafters of the king's perfon, which act of violence they pretended was neceflary, to prevent his falling into the hands of the Hugo- nots. The king of Navarre brought the regent this melancholy intelligence, and Catherine he- fitating, Anthony informed her that he was come to conduct his fovereign to Paris, where he would be in fafety ; adding with a fort of brutality, that if KINGS OF FRANCE. " if fhe did not,chufe to accompany him, fhe f{ might remain alone." He even allowed her no time to deliberate upon this important and decifive meafure. Charles himfelf, too young to oppofe the violence offered him, turned towards his mother, as if to know her fentiments : fhe dared not utter a word j and the young king, burfting into tears of impotent refentment and indignation, fuffered himfelf to be conducted weeping to Melun, and from thence to the ca- pital *. No * Davila has given the moft fatisfactory and interefting de- tail of Catherine's conduct during this whole tranfa&ion. It is beyond a doubt, that fhe yielded to a force which me was unr.ble torefift ; and that fhe exerted every artifice to induce the king of Navarre and " the Triumvirate" to leave her- felf and the young king at liberty. She even ufed fo many powerful arguments to incline them to permit her to remain at Fontainbleau, where the court would at leaft have had the appearance of being free, that the king of Navarre and the Conflable were on the point of yielding to her entrea- ties, if the duk^e of Guife had not difiuaded them from any fuch compliance. De Thou fays, that in a council which was held by " the Triumvirs," the Marechal de St. Andre proceeded to fuch lengths of violence, as to propofe to throw the queen-mo- ther into the Seine, if fhe fhould dare to oppofe or impede the journey to Paris. He adds, that Catherine had prepar- ed a boat, in which fhe meant to carry off her fon Charles the ninth during the night, previous to their departure from Fontainbleau ; but that fhe found it impoflible to deceive the vigilance of Montmorenci. " The queen mother," fays Davila, " perceiving it in vain to attempt any refinance to the peremptory reqnifition of the Catholic lords and of An- 6 thony, CHARLES THE NINTH. 123 No alternative, except open war, remained to 1562. the prince of Conde. Deceived as he appre- hended, by the queen, and feeing his enemies in poffeffion of the king's perfon, he deemed it too late to retract, or even to fufpend his enter- prize. Setting off therefore with the utmoft expedition for Orleans, accompanied by two thoufand cavalry, he rendered himfelf mailer of ^ April, the city, after a vigorous oppofition *. Confcious thony, inftantly refolded to yield with grace ; and mounting on horfeback with the king and her two younger fons, being furrounded by " the Triumvirate " and their attendants, reached Melun that night ; from whence they proceeded on the following day to the Boisde Vincennes, and arrived on the third day at Paris." The young king, continues Davila, was feen by many to weep on that occafion, being confcious that he was treated as a prifoner ; the regent, perplexed in mind, forefeeing a civil war, and finding all her projects overthrown, fpoke not a word, but obferved a gloomy filence ; while the duke of Guife, regardlefs of the king's tears, or of the queen-mother's diftrefs, was heard publicly to fay, that " the good is always good, whether it pro- " ceed from love, or from force." Thefe are the moil interefting circumftances of that memorable tranfaftion. * Louis, prince of Conde, was only at a fmall diftance from the court, when intimation arrived of the Catholics having carried Charles the ninth to Paris. Aflonifhed at this intelli- gence, the prince checked his horfe, and remained a confi- derable time motionlefs, and filent. He perceived the critical fituation in which he flood, while all the troubles and difaf- ters of the future war rofe before his imagination. He had sot yet pafled the Rubicon. As he revolved in his mind thefe KINGS OF FRANCE. Confcious that the meafure which he had em- braced was decifive and irretrievable, he pro- ceeded to form regulations for the military and civil conduct of his followers ; and as in war only his future fafety could be found, he neglect- ed no precautions becoming a general, to enfure fuccefs. He was proclaimed chief of the party by unanimous confent; the pretext for their having taken up arms, was declared to be the releafe of the king and his mother from the captivity in which they were held by " the Tri- umvirate j" and he immediately difpatched mef- thefe confederations, Coligni, who had been behind, overtook him, and they conferred together fome minutes. At length, the prince Teemed to have taken his ultimate resolution j and after a deep figh exclaimed, " Affairs are arrived at " that pafs, that it is neceffary for us to drink, or to be " drowned !" So faying, he proceeded inftantly towards Or- leans, at the head of near 3000 horfe ; and as d'Andelot, Co- ligni's brother, had already attempted to render himfelf matter of that city, in which endeavour he was vigoroufly oppofed by Montcreau the governor, the alarm was com- municated for many miles by the inceffant firing, and ring- ing of the bells. Conde redoubled his hafte, on hearing thefe proofs of the attack made by d'Andelot, and galloped at full fpeed till he reached the gates of Orleans, where he arrived at a moil critical moment, as d'Andelot, overpower- ed by numbers, was on the point of retreating without fuc- cefs. The unexpected arrival of the prince at the head of fuch a body of cavalry, decided the fortune of the day, and rendered him mailer of Orleans. It is Davila who relates thefe particulars of the commencement of the civil war. fengers CHARLES THE NINTH. 125 fengers to the German princes, reqiiefting their I 5^ 2> aid in the great caufe of religion. This condud was the fignal of revolt and fedition throughout the whole kingdom. The Hugonots, excited by their leader's example, having expelled in many places the Catholics, the cities of Rouen, Blois, Poitiers, Tours, and Lyons, fell into their hands; but their ungovern- able zeal carried them every where to the mod violent and fanguinary excefles. Animated with the frenzy commonly characteriftic of new and opprefled feels, they refpedted no places or pro- feflions, however facred j while the prince of Conde in vain attempted to reftrain thefe licen- tious practices, as he was neither heard nor obey- ed amid the fury of religious animofity. The Chancellor de 1'Hopital, who alone in this tumultuous and melancholy period, pre- ferved a calm and equal temper, yet laboured to avert the tempeft. He beheld France ready to be plunged into a civil war, heightened by every circumftance of mutual hatred, and in- veterate antipathy. He felt for his bleeding country a parent's and a patriot's fenfations, and he prevailed on the queen to exert her endea- vours for an accommodation *. Catherine wiihed it * Davila and De Thou perfe&Iy coincide on this point, and affert, that the Chancellor exerted every poffible endea- vour to prevent and avert a civil war. When the king of Navarre J2 6 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1562. it with equal ardour, though from motives of a ' far inferior nature. She faw the prince of Conde already in pofTefiion of half the king- dom ; fhe dreaded left the confederates fhould imitate the precedent, and the king be finally left between the two factions, without places, revenue, or dominions. Stimulated by confiderations fo forcible to an ambitious mind, fhe undertook the arduous tafk of conciliating the rival parties. Not difcou- ra'o-ed by ill fuccefs, and confcious of her own talents in negotiation, fhe made repeated and mafterly attempts to detach the prince of Conde from Coligni and the Hugonots. More than once, her addrefs and perfuafions had nearly proved fuccefsful : fhe allured him by the mod feducing propofals, promifed that " the Trium- Navarre and " the Triumvirate " had fecured the perfon of Charles the ninth by bringing him to Paris, they fum- moned a council at the palace of the Louvre, where the duke of Guife propofed to declare war with the prince of Conde and the Hugonots. De 1'Hopital oppofed this violent meafure very Itrongly ; and the Conftable having faid, that the quef- tion in agitation was not of the refort of perfons of the long robe, the Chancellor replied, that " if he and his " profeflion were not acquainted with the art of making " war, they at leall perfectly well knew under what cir- " cumftances it could be made with equity." In confe- quence of this upright and fpirited anfvver, the Chancellor was excluded from the further deliberations of the council of (late, and the molt violent refolutions were embraced in that aflembly. virate '* CHARLES THE NINTH. 127 virate" fliould quit the court, and a general 1562. freedom of. religious fentiment and worfhip be granted to his followers. An interview even took place between the prince and the queen- mother, at Toury near Orleans ; and though j unge unfuccefsful in its effect, Catherine ftill conti- nued her efforts to produce an accommoda- tion *. Acting in perfon, and not through the medium of delegates ; miftrefs of all the win- ning arts which enflave the human mind ; ever attacking the heart and its favourite propenfi- ties, fhe at length engaged him to give his word that he would quit the kingdom, if his enemies confented to relinquifh the adminiftra- tion. "The Triumvirs," from whom fhe had pre- vioufly obtained apromife to that effect, inftantly performed * The queen-mother, by the mediation and endea- vours of the biftiop of Valence, having induced the prince of Conde to agree to a conference at Toury, a fmall place about ten leagues from Orleans, they met on the day ap- pointed. The king of Navarre accompanied Catherine, and each party was efcorted by thirty-fix horfemen ; Henry d'Amville commanding the efcort of the queen, and the count de la Rochefoucauld that of the prince. To pre- vent any quarrel, the two bands were ftationed at eight hun- dred paces from the town, and they remained more than half an hour in their refpeclive pofts; but gradually ap- proaching, they at length joined, and embracing with warmth, they mutually lamented the hard deftiny which thus armed them againft each other, and which pointed their weapons againft themfelves. A more affecling fpecla- ' cle, 128 KINCSOF FRANCE, 1562. performed it, and retired to Chateau-Dun. Ca~- ' therine having therefore fummoned the prince to the obfervance of his agreement, he affected to obey ; and a fecond interview took place be- tween them at Talfy, only fix miles diflant from either camp, where Conde made his feigned fubmiflions to Charles and the queen. But Co- ligni, who repofed no confidence in her honour, and who beheld the Hugonots in the moft extreme peril if their chieftain abandoned them, by his remonftrances and reprefentations, broke this treaty, which was on the point of being ac- 27 June, complifhed, and led him back to his expecting partizans *. The tie, or one more calculated to difplay the fatal fpirit and effefts of civil difcord, hiftory fcarce ever has commemo- rated. Meanwhile Catherine, the king of Navarre, and the prince of Conde held a conference of two hours, dur- ing which the queen affe&ed the greateft concern at her in- ability to comply with Conde's demands. Anthony, on the contrary, treated his brother with feverity, and rejected all his propofitions for peace with the utmofl afperity. The interview terminated ineffectually, and only ferved to ex- afperate the two princes of Bourbon againft each other. De Thou is very minute in his relation of all the circum- ftances of this interview : Davila is more fuccindl in his account .of it, nor does he feem to have known or appre- hended, that the king of Navarre was prefent at, and a party in the private converfation which took place between Catherine and the prince of Conds. * Nothing can be more evident, than that neither " the Triumvirate," or the Hugonot lords fincerely meant to terminate CHARLES THE NINTH. The war, fo long fufpended by the queen's negotiations, now began in all its fury : the duke of Guife and the Conftable being fent for in great hafte, returned to the camp, and the royal army, in which was the queen and her fon Charles the ninth, after having taken j u iy a nd Blois, Tours, and Bourges, which were aban-, Aa g uft - doned to plunder, laid liege to Rouen. Mont-^ 27 Sept. gomeri, whofe fatal tournament with Henry the fecond has rendered him fo famous in the annals terminate their differences by an accommodation. Davila, who is very exaft and diffufe in his delineation of the prin- ciples of conduct in each party, exprefsly aflerts, that the whole plan was concerted between the prince of Conde and Coligni, previous to the vifit made by the former to the queen- mother and the king, at Talfy. Nor do " the Triumvirs" ap- pear to have been at all more fincere in their affefted renun- ciation of power, and voluntary feceffion from court ; for, tho* they quitted thearmy> and left the perfon of the fovereign free, yet they only removed to Chateau- Dun, five leagues from the royal camp, where they remained, with intent to watch the prince's conduct. Catherine had previoufly obtained a pro- tnife fubfcribed by Conde, in which he engaged to quit the kingdom, provided that " the Triumvirate " likewife retired from court, add laid down their authority. This engagement, into which he had imprudently entered, on a preemption that his enemies never would accede to, or fulfil their part of the conditions, had fo far committed the prince of Conde, that it was impoflible for him to refufe to venture his perfon by pay- ing his duty to the young king, and to the queen-mother. He accordingly went, accompanied with a very flender efcort, to Talfy, where, as the court had only the ordinary guards, VOL. II. K te ijo KINGS OF FRANCE. 1562. annals of France, commanded in it, and made - a moft vigorous defence. Honourable terms were offered him repeatedly, which he as fre- quently refufed. The queen, by the Chancellor's entreaties, thrice prevented the duke of Guife from ftorming the place ; but as the befieged re- jeded obftinately every propofal of an accommo- dation, it was at length permitted *. The city he was under no apprehenfion of being detained by vio- lence. A fcene of mutual duplicity then cook place, the queen urging the prince to leave the kingdom, at leaft for a ftiort time ; and he procraftinating and poftponing any final determination. While this illufory negotiation was per- forming, Coligni, and the other great Hugonot chiefs ar- rived, as pre-concerted, under pretence of paying their re- fpe&s to the king; and affe&ing indignation at the prince's too eafy conceflions, hurried him away by violence,, mounted him on horfeback, and carried him back to their own camp. De Thou agrees with Davila in moftof thefe par- ticulars, which, however, he relates in a manner lefs un- favourable to the prince of Condc and his party. * Among the many great qualities which Catherine of Medecis poflefled, and which are rarely found in women, was her courage : it approached to the nobleft heroifm. During the fiege of Rouen, fhe went every day to the fort St. Catherine, where the moft bloody attacks were made ; the duke of Guife and the Conftable remonftrating with her on the danger to which me expofed her perfon, " Why," anfwered me, " mould I fpare myfelf more than you ? Is " it that I have lefs interest in the event, or lefs courage ? . * True, I have not your force of body, but I have equal * r refolution of mind !" What grandeur of fentiment, had it been guided by principles of virtue ! The foldiers gave her the tide of " Mater Caftrorum," in imitation of the 10 was CHARLES THE NINTH. 131 was carried by afTault, and the pillage lafted 1562. two days without intermiflion. Montgomery ~ with a fev/ defperate attendants, and a party of Englifh whom Elizabeth had fent to his aid, efcaped in a boat upon the Seine, and broke the chains which were ftretched acrofs the river at Caudebec. Anthony king of Navarre met with his death at this fiege ; he was wounded in the trenches, by a ball from a harquebuue, in the fhoulder, on is Oft. the day intended for the aflfault. His emulation of the duke of Guife, and his own perfonal cou- rage, carried him ever into the moft dangerous fituations. When the city was taken, tho' much indifpos'd, he caufed himfelf to be carried by his Switzers through the breach, in a litter. The wound did not at firft aflame a mortal appear- ance y but his fondnefs for Mademoifelle du Rouet, one of the maids of honour to the queen- mother, and the pleafures in which he impru- dently indulged himfelf with her, threw his blood into a violent agitation, and brought on a fever. The uneafmefs of his mind inducing him to em- bark upon the Seine, for the village of St. Maur near Paris, he was feized with a Ihivering and cold fwer.ts, which announced his approaching end. The boat in which he had embarked, flopping at Andely, he foon after breathed his laft, at 17 Nor, forty-two years of age. That irrefolution which diftinguifhed him through life, equally accom- K 2 panied KINGS OF FRANCE. panied him in the article of death : he received the facrament after the forms of the Roman Catholic communion ; but his dying profeflions evinced his attachment to the Reformed reli- gion. He ordered thofe who were around his bed, to carry his ftricteft injunctions to Jane queen of Navarre, on no account to truft either herfelf or her children at court j to be ever upon her guard; and to fortify her places*. While * Davila's account of Anthony's wound, and the circum- ftances of his deceafe, is fomewhat different from that ofmoft other hiftorians. " The king of Navarre," fays he, " had *' gone out to reconnoitre the breach, when he received a *' mufket-ball in his (boulder, which breaking the bone, ' and tearing the nerves, he dropped down upon the fpot " as dead. This accident obliged the commanders to de- " lay the aflault ; the foldiers and attendants bore him to " his tent, and the furgeons immediately drefled his wound, in prefence of the young king, his mother, and all the *' generals. It was their unanimous opinion that he could " not live, on account of the great fize of the orifice, and the depth which the ball had entered." He makes no mention of Mademoifelle du Rouet ; but fays, " That the ' king of Navarre not being able to fupport the extreme * and violent pain which he underwent, was refolute, not- " withftanding the remonftrances and entreaties of his phy- " ficians, to go up the Seine to St. Maur, whither he was ' accuflomed frequently to retire, on account of the pu- " rity and falubrity of the air. His brother the cardinal " of Bourbon, the prince of La Roche-fur- Yonne, Louis Gonzaga, and feveral other perfons Catholic and Hugo- ' not, accompanied him \ but he was fcarcely arrived ac ; Andely, CHARLES THE NINTH. 133 While fuccefs attended on the royal troops 1562. before Rouen, the kingdom became a fcene of ~" defolation, " Andely, when his fever, which the motion of his journey " had irritated, encreafing, he became delirious, and foon. " after expired." Davila mentions his varying religious belief, even in the article of death. He ever fpeaks of Anthony in terms of approbation, mixed \vith companion ; and fays, that he was not calculated for the tempeftuous fcenes in which he was compelled to aft a part. His can- dour, fincerity, and gentlenefs were ill adapted to the uni- verfal diffimulation and fury, which charafterifed his aflb- ciates in power. Davila adds, that his death happened at a time when experience had fo ripened and matured his judgment, that it would probably have produced events widely different from the ideas preconceived of him. Brantome fays, that he was of a fine ftature, and much fuperior in perfonal dignity and appearance, to any other prince of the houfe of Bourbon : He confirms Anthony's un- certainty and fluctuation between the two religions. De Thou defcribes very circumftantially every particular re- fpefting the progrefs of his wound. The ball had pierced too deep into the king of Navarre's moulder, to be found or extracted, tho* the furgeons made repeated incifions and attempts for that purpofe. The flefli returned in great quantity, and clofed up the orifice : he appeared, however, to be on his recovery, when on a fudden he was feized wich a violent fever. New operations being performed, in order to cut away the fleih which had grown over the wound, a quantity of matter was found to have formed, the difcharge of which weakened, without giving him relief. He con- tinued, notwithftanding, adds De Thou, t o flatter himfelf with the hope of a fpeedy recovery : he f **H his imagina- tion with the delufive profpeft of poflefling tne iiland of Sardinia, which Philip the fecond had always held out as a K 3 bait 134 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1562. defolation, rapine, and blood through ail the - provinces; the contending parties, inflamed with civil and religious rage, being equally guilty of the moft barbarous excefles. A mi- bait to delude this eafy prince. Entertainments and play occupied bis time; and he kept conftantly by his bedfide a young lady, mai4 of honour to the queen, whom he paffionately loved, and whom Catherine had intentionally placed about him, to ferve as her inftrument in governing the king of Navarre. His two phyficians, Vincent Lauro, and La Meziere, were of different religious perfuafions, and each endeavoured to influence the dying prince's mind and conduct. In compliance with the exhortations of the firft, who was a Catholic, he received the Viaticum, and con- fefTed himfelf at Rouen, in prefence of the prince of La Roche- fur- Yonne. Yet the queen coming to vifit him, and advifing him to hear fome pious book read, he liftened with great attention to the book of' Job, which his Calvinift phyfician had brought ; and this man reproaching him with IndifFerence for his tenets, Anthony allured him that if he recovered, he would publicly embrace the profeflion of Lu- theranifm, as eftablifhed by the confefllon of Augfbourg. De Thou fays, that during the time when La Meziere was reciting to Anthony the prayers ufed by the proteftants for dying perfons, the Cardinal of Bourbon, brother to the king of Navarre, remained at the other extremity of the boat j but, when he found the king approached his laft moments, he brought in a Dominican monk, difguifed in a fecular habit. The expiring prince feemed for fome inftants to liften to the difcourfe of the friar ; then, fudden- ly turning to his Italian valet-de-chambre, who was at his bed's head, he charged the fervant to exhort the young prince of Beam, his fon, to preferve his loyalty and fidelity unfhaken to the king of France ; and foon afterwards he expired. nute CHARLES THE NINTH. 13 nute recapitulation of thefe calamities would 1562 prefent a picture too humiliating to human na- ture, though the pen of hiftory is compelled to hold them up to view, however reluctantly, for the inftruction and deteftation of future ages. Louis prince of Conde at length took the Nov. field, with twelve thoufand men. He had de- termined, in contradiction to the advice of Co- ligni and d'Andelot, to march directly to Paris, expecting that the confirmation which he fhould ftrike into the inhabitants and the queen, would reduce them to terms of accommodation. In this hope he however found himfelf deceived : Catherine, (killed in all the fubtleties of delay and of negotiation, engaged him in repeated and fruitlefs conferences, only calculated to give the Parifians time to recover from the panic into which they had been thrown by his fudden appearance. While fhe tendered him fallacious conditions of peace, fhe feduced his braveft captains, and prevailed on them to quit his caufe. Conde, convinced how futile and dangerous were all the regent's offers, after fe- veral vain attempts upon the capital, decamped, I0 D eCt and began his march into Normandy. avila attributes all the merit of the victory, very de- fervedly, to the duke of Guife. D'Andelot, one of the mofc intrepid chieftains in the Hugonot army, had been obliged to retire from the field, being ill of an ague, which rendered it impoffible for him to continue there, or to take any part in the action. The prince of Conde, all covered with fweat and blood, was conducted by d'Amville to the duke of Guife's tent atBlainville, where they fupped together, and afterwards divided the fame bed. Thefe are fome of the mofl interefting facts of the battle of Dreux, as enu- merated by Davila ; who however reprefents the victory on the one fide as more compleat, and the defeat on the other as more univerfal, than they appear to have been, as related by De Thou. being CHARLES THE NINTH. being procurable at the time. The prince hirfi- felf afterwards declared, that during the whole night he could not clofe his eyes, while the duke enjoyed the founded fleep by his fide. In this engagement fell the Marechal de St. Andre, one of "the Triumvirate*." At the beginning of the engagement, as the advantage was entirely on the prince of Condi's fide, numbers of the ro/al army fled even to Paris, and publifned that all . was loft. The duc':efs of Guife, who was ufually attended by a prodigious crowd of courtiers and votaries, re- mained almoft alone. The queen-mother, pre- pared for every event, carelefs of the fate of re- ligion, and viewing all objects through the me- dium of policy and interefl, received the news with * St. Andre was a polite and gallant nobleman, much re- gretted by his party. Bran tome has given us the minutefl par- ticulars of his death. The battle was already gained, fays he, when intelligence arrived, that a body of four hundred Hu- gonot cavalry had rallied, and prepared to renew the attack. St. Andre was mounted on a horfe, which fpent with fatigue, fell in the onfet, and had not ftrength to rife. At that mo- ment, a gentleman on the oppofite fide, named Aubigne, or Bobigne, whofe eftate the Marechat enjoyed by confiscation, came up, and difcharged a piftol-ball through his head, which inftantly killed him. His body was not found till the next morning, in a ditch near the fpot where he fell. Davila only mentions very briefly that the Marechal de St. Andre was mortally wounded; but De Thou circumftantially relates the origin and caufe of Bobigne's delegation and ven. geance KINGS OF FRANCE. with extreme compofure, and is reported only to have faid, Cf Eh bien ! il faudra done prier Dieu en Francois !" It was to her indifferent, provided that fhe retained poflefllon of power, whether Conde or Guife ultimately prevailed ; whether the Catholic, or the Calviniftical doc- trines gained the pre-eminence. When the fuc- ceeding day corrected the error, and brought certain intelligence of the victory obtained by the royal forces, fhe from a confequence of the fame principles, was concerned and mortified ; her difcernment compelling her to forefee that it eftablilhed the duke of Guife's authority, and reduced her to a more compleat fubjection. She notwithstanding endeavoured to conceal her feelings ; ordered rejoicings to be made for the geance on that nobleman. His refcntment appears to have been too juftly founded, as St. Andre had repaid the deep- eft obligations conferred on him by Bobigne, with ingrati- tude, perfidy, and rapacity. After having availed himfelf of the pecuniary affiftance of Bobigne to the greateft degree, he had the cruelty and the bafenefs to procure for his own wfe the contifcation of his effe&s ; and to this injury St. An- dre even added perfonal indignities and infults. Bobigne, thus doubly affronted and degraded, fwore revenge, and waited the opportunity of fatiating his vengeance, which he fully obtained. De Thou confefles that the Marechal, though adorned by nature and by fortune with their choiceft prefents, and though alike calculated to ihine in the ca- binet or in the field, was become equally an objedl of hatred and contempt, by his profligacy, injuftice, and infatiabla avidity, to which vices he juitly fell a victim, defeat CHARLES THE NINTH. 141 defeat of the Hugonots ; and conferred upon the 1 562. duke the fupreme command of the army, with ~ which he had already been invefted by his troops. Coligni meanwhile, on whom his forces had 1563. likewife conferred the poft of general, pafied the Loire at Beaugency -, and having left his brother d'Andelot in Orleans with two thoufand J anu * r ) men, in expectation of that city being invefted by the royalifts, marched into Normandy, where he might receive the queen of England's pro- mifed fupplies. After having waited upon the fea coaft fome weeks in anxious fufpe.nce, and hourly menaced with the cries of the German auxiliaries, who loudly demanded their arrears, the expected fuccours arrived under the conduct of Montgomeri, who brought an ample fupply of money, troops, artillery, and ammunition. The admiral's precautions for the fecurity of Orleans werejuftly founded; as notwithftanding the feverity of the winter, and the ftrength of the city, the duke of Guife was determined to commence the fiege. The queen mother ac- companied him, carrying with her the prince of Conde, who was fliut up in the caftle of Onzain, under the cuftody of d'Amville, who had made him prifoner. Though d'Andelot, one of the moft intrepid and experienced captains of the age, animated by the important charge confided to his care, exerted every effort of courage and military fkill to defend the place > yet the fupe- rior J4 2 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1563. rior genius and conduct of the duke had already rendered him matter of the bridge acrofs the Loire, and of the fuburbs. Coligni, occupied in reducing Normandy to fubjection, was not able to march to its relief, in time to have afforded it an effectual aid ; nor can there be any doubt that Orleans muft have furrendered in a few weeks, if the fatal accident of the duke of Guife's death had not fnaiiched the Hugonots from the imminent end unavoidable danger. A gentleman of Angourhois, named John Pol- trot de Mere, was the author of this detettable affaffmation. He was of the Reformed religion, which he had pretended to renounce ; and the duke had received him with his accuftomed courtefy and liberality of fpirit. Poltrot had long watched the favourable opportunity to give the blow. The duke of Guife being accuftom- ed to go every day in perfon LO vifit the works, and to infpeft the advances made, as he returned in the evening, without his armour, only attend- ed by one gentleman, and mounted on horfe- back, the affaffm, who wailed for him, dif- 8thFeb. charged three balls into his left flioulder. Every afliftance of art was procured, but he died at the end of eight days *. The * Davila fays, that the duke was (hot by Poltrot on the *4th of February, in the evening, being the feaft of St. Ma- thias ; that the affaffin was mounted on a fwift jennet, and Ufcharged three balls into his right ihoulder, all which paf- fing CHARLES THE NINTH. 143 The queen-regent, fearful left fhe fnould be jrg* fufpe&ed as inftrumental or privy to his death, * caufed iing through his body, laid him on the ground, as dead. He agrees with Brantome in many of the particulars refpeft- ing the duke's death ; and adds, that he expired on the third day from that on which he received the wound. De Thou coincides with the hiftorians already mentioned, as to all the leading facts. He is very minute in his ac- count of Poltrot, and mentions many curious circumftancea relative to that fanatic, which tend to hold up in the flrong- eft point of view, the atrocious fpirit of the times, where de- votion and the moft flagitious crimes were continually found united in the fame perfon and character. In his interroga- tory before the queen-mother and the principal lords of the court, Poltrot, among many other facts which he confefled, and which evince the force of that gloomy and fanguinary enthufiafm by which he was actuated, declared, that " only " a few moments before he killed the duke of Guife, he had " difmounted from his horfe in a neighbouring wood, and " on his knees had urgently befought the Lord to turn his " mind, and to change his refolution, if it arofe from the fug- " geftions of the evil fpirit." Many fimilar inftances occur in the hiftory of thefe melancholy times, when the human mind was under the dominion of the moft inveterate errors, heightened and inflamed by tke acrimony of religious differ- ences. Jacques Clement, the Jacobin friar, whoftabbed Henry the third in 1589, received the facrament, andpafFed the day in prayer, previous to an adl of regicide and affaflination. Brantome, who fcrved under the duke of Guife, and was at the fiege of Orleans, has given the moft minute account of the circumftances of this aflaffination. On the evening when the duke was killed, fays he, only Monfieur de Roflain accompanied him, and he hadjuft parted the river in a little boat, which conftantly waited for that pur- pofe. Poltrot immediately fled on discharging his piftol ; and 144 KINGS OF FRANCE* 1563. caufed herfelf to be interrogated in his cham- ber, before his own family, and a number" of the nobility. Poltrot had endeavoured to fecure himfelf by flight ; but after having wan- i dered the whole night in the woods on horfe- back, he found himfelf in the morning at the bridge of Olivet, only a league from Orleans ; where exhaufted with fatigue, he entered a houfe to repofe himfelf, and was taken while afleep by one of the duke's fedretaries. When queftioned with refped to the motives that had urged him to the commiflion of fo foul a crime, he declared it to have arifen folely from zeal for his religion. As to his inftigators, he ac- cufed feveral, but without uniformity -, and among others the admiral. Coligni highly refented and denied the imputation, which muft have ftigma- tized him with indelible infamy to his own ad- herents, and to the lateft pofterity. He even de- manded of the queen, that the criminal's punifli- ment Ihould be delayed till they cqujd be per- fonally confronted, and the fallity of the accufa- tion demonftrated. Thefe juftifications and fo- lemn proteftations did not, however, convince the family of Guife of Coligni's innocence. Henry, and affefting to be a purfuer of the aflaffin, cried out, " Take him ! take him '."-The duke perceiving himfelf dangeroufly wounded, cnly faid, ' L'on medevoit celle-la ; " mas je crois que ce ne fera tien." They carried him to his own quarters. fon CHARLES THE NINTH. fon to the expiring duke, and then in very early youth, vowed an immortal hatred, and imprecated vengeance on the admiral's head, as his father's murderer. He fatiated this unrelenting defire of revenge many years afterwards, at the fatal mafiacre of St. Bartholomew *. The * Brantome, though devotedly attached to the houfe of Guife, yet does not abfolutely accufethe admiral as the con- cealed author of the duke's death. He only drops fome ambi- guous intimations that Coligni knew of Poltrot's defigns, without expofmg himfelf to the infamy of a difcovery, in cafe of the aflaflin being taken. He however pretends, that the duke himfelf fufpedled Coligni, and pardoned him, when ex- piring. Davila fays, that the admiral and Theodore Beza were univerfally believed to have perfuaded Poltrot to commit this crime. They conftantly denied the charge, and difperfed long juftifications of their innocence over all Europe; but the Catholics, and the houfe of Guife ftill believed them guilty, and anxioufly waited for an occafion of revenge. Da- vila exprefsly declares, that Poltrot perfifted invariably in the fame aflertions, and confirmed, when under the torture, the accufations of the admiral and Beza, which he had firft vo- luntarily made. De Thou feems to leave the matter more in doubt ; he fays, that Poltrot, though he had twice re- peated on oath, and figned the depofition by which he ac- cufed Coligni of having urged him to the commiflion of the crime, yet on being afterwards put to the torture, retracled this accufation, and exculpated Coligni ; then again he re- peated the fame aflertion. The admiral, De Thou allows, wrote in the moft prefling terms to the queen, befeechingher to delay Poltrot's execution, denying the crime imputed to him, or any participation in it, and demanding to be per- fonally confronted with the aflaflin. VOL. II. L I cannot KINGS OF FRANCE. The duke of Guife, perceiving that his end approached, prepared himfelf for it, as became a hero. That magnanimous and exalted intre- pidity, that mild and equal ferenity of temper, which had {hone eminently in his life, was equally vifible in his dying moments. He re- commended to the duchefs his wife the educa- tion of their children ; and he exhorted Henry, his eldeft fon, to preferve an inviolable fidelity to the king. Mindful of his honour, and defi- rous to clear his conduct from the afperfions which had been caft upon it, he vindicated him- felf from any intention to commit the maflacre of VaiTy s and lamented in the moft pathetic terms, that unhappy event, which had lighted up the deftructive flame of civil difcord. With earneft entreaties he implored the queen, as the common mother of her people, to terminate the quarrels which defolated France ; and pro- nounced the man an enemy to .his country and his fovereign, who fhould venture to offer her any other counfel. I cannot quit the fubjeft of Francis duke of Guife, with- out mentioning a circumftance refpe&ing him, which marks the trueft magnanimity and patriotifm. When previous to theflorm of the breach at Rouen, he harangued his foldiers and put himfelf at their head, he ardently recommended to them three things ; to refpeft the chaftity and honour of the women ; to fpare the lives of every Catholic without diftinc- tion ; and to fhew no mercy or quarter to the Engliih auxili- aries, their ancient and inveterate enemies. The CHARLES THENINTH. The funeral honours paid to him after death, were fcarce lefs than royal, and are equalled by nothing in the French annals, except thofe which Turenne received above a century afterwards. His body was carried in melancholy pomp to iSthMar. the Chartreux at Paris, and from thence to the church of " Notre-Dame," where he lay in ftate ; immenfe crowds of weeping citizens following the procefllon. He was at laft depofited with his anceftors at Joinville, in Lorrain. Poltrot was adjudged by the parliament to fuffer the fame punifhment inflicted on traitors or regicides, and was torn in pieces by horfes. At his execution, it is faid that he flill accufed the admiral, as privy to the commiflion of the crime : and though the whole tenour of Colig- ni's life and conduct feems to refute this impu- tation, though a candid and impartial mind muft refufe to admit fo inefficient a teftimony, yet we too well know what degrading and unnatural vi- olations of honour and juftice, the fpirit of reli- gious zeal, inflamed and heightened by perfonal animofities, can induce mankind to commit. Francis duke of Guife appears to have been one of the greatefl characters of the age in which he flourifhed, whether regarded as a warrior or a flatefman. His errors, and even his faults and vices, were more the refult of fituation than offentimentj and his towering ambition, tho' not juftified, is yet palliated and diminifbcd by L 2 the i 4 8 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1563. the fublime qualities which he poffefled from ~" nature, and by the peculiar circumftances which gave them fcope and exertion. His death mud certainly be confidered as a misfortune to France ; fmce he alone fet fome limits to the reftlefs and intriguing genius of Catherine, henceforth liberated from all conftraint, and without a rival in authority. The queen fhewed her deference to the duke of Guife's dying advice, by the immediate over- tures which fhe made for a pacification. It was pthMar. foon concluded by the mediation of the Con- ftable and prince of Conde, on terms not unfa- vourable to the Hugonots ; though the admi- ral, on his arrival from Normandy, reproached the prince in very fevere exprefilons for his hafty compliance with the propofitions, at a juncture when their great adverfary's death gave them reafon to expect the molt flattering reverfe of fortune. Orleans was evacuated by the Calvihift troops ; and the Seigneur de la Cipierre, one of the moft accomplifhed, virtuous, and amiable lords in the kingdom, was appointed governor of the city. He was already in poflefTion of a poft perhaps the moft important which could be en'trufted to any fubject ; that of preceptor to the young king. No man was more calculated to execute its high duties : he endeavoured to inftil the moft elevated and glorious fentiments into his royal CHARLES THE NINTH, 149 royal pupil j and he would probably have in- 1563. fpired Charles, who poflefled lively parts and a - quick perception, with the love of virtue, and the feelings of a great monarch ; but his death, untimely, and before thefe noble feeds could link deep into Charles's bofom, deprived his country of fo ineftimable a treafure. All the miferies of this unhappy reign, are probably in, a great meafure to be imputed to that inaufpi- cious event. Albert de Gondi, Marechal de Retz, a Flo- rentine, and a devoted creature of Catherine, was placed by her in the charge which La Ci- pierre had occupied. Deftitute of principle, diflblute in his manners, cruel from temper, diflembling, and mafter of every little art of fordid policy, he corrupted and perverted the many ihining qualities with which nature had liberally endowed the king. The unfortunate, prince was ruined while yet in early childhood, and all the high expectations to which he had juftly given birth, were defeated and rendered abortive. Puring the tranquillity which fucceeded to the late troubles of the ftate, Catherine, with her ufual duplicity endeavoured to fow diftruft and jealoufy between the prince of Conde and Co- ligni. To the former fhe made the fame falla- cious propofals, which Ihe had ufed with fo fiiuch fucceis to Anthony his brother , but Louis L was I 5 JKINGS OF FRANCE. 1563. was not to be deceived by her infidious offers, . an d fhe attempted in vain to difTolve the inti- mate connection which continued to fubfift be- tween him and the admiral. The prince of Conde, gallant and amorous, was more available on the fide of love, than on that of policy. No nobleman of the court had received fuch flattering proofs of female attachment, or was more generally acceptable to women. Mar- garet de Luftrac, widow of the Marechal de St. Andre, long difputed the poffeflion of his heart with Ifabella de la Tour de Turenne, known in hiftory under the name of cf La Belle de Li- meiiil." Each of thefe contending .rivals gave him the moft romantic teflimonies of their love : the firft prefented him with her eftate and caftle of St. Valeri, magnificently furnifhed ; the lat- ter carried her paffion yet farther, and facrificed to him her chaftity and honour. She was even brought to bed in the queen's wardrobe ; and Catherine, to whom Ihe was diftantly allied by blood, and to whom Ihe immediately belonged as a maid of honour, ordered her to be inftantly conducted to a convent *. The * Almoft all the French writers have been very minute and circumftantial in the relation of this fingular anecdote, and Even Davila did not deem it unworthy a recital. " It was Catherine's favourite fyftem of policy," fays he, " at the con- " clufion of the firft civil war, to engage the prince of Conde CHARLES THE NINTH. The admiral, who was confcious that thefe irregularities in the chief of his party reflected a difgrace on all its adherents j and who dread- ed left fome one of the prince's amours might prove too ftrong for the weaker ties of ambi- tion or religion, remonftrated with him fo for-> cibly on the pernicious confequences of his continual engagements and gallantries, that he prevailed on him to put an end to them by a fecond ' in all thofe effeminate pleafures which might infenfibly " enervate his mind, and imperceptibly diminifh the natural " aftivityof his difpofition. She peculiarly endeavoured, by " the donation of honours and ample poffeffions, to give him ' a diftafte for the fatigues of a camp. To accomplifh this " end, (he prompted and encouraged the Marechale de St. ' Andre, who inherited from her father and her hufband " prodigious riches, to attempt the conqueft of the prince's ' heart ; but though he accepted her fplendid prefent, he de- " fpifed her perfon, and remained proof againft all her * attacks." To Mademoifelle de Limeiiil he was more deeply attached ; and Davila makes no fcruple to declare that Catherine was not ignorant, though (he affeled to be fo, that he had obtained from her the laft favours. De Thou coincides with the hiftorian already mentioned, in all the principal circumftances of this ftory. " The queen- " mother," fays he, " having firfl vainly attempted to fe- " duce the prince of Conde by the fame fallacious profpe<5ts " of ambition, which had fucceeded with his brother the " king of Navarre, and peculiarly by the pretended promife " 'of the ifland of Sardinia, attacked him thro' another chan- *' nel, with more fuccefs. Having remarked that the prince *' betrayed a partiality towards Mademoifelle de Limeuil, I* 4 one i 5 2 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1563. fecond marriage with Frances, filler to the duke of Longueville. Meanwhile the Catholics and Hugonots for- getting their inveterate animofities, and ani- mated by the love of their common country, joined to retake Havre-de-Grace from the Eng- lifh, to whom it had been ceded during the 28 July. war. The place foon capitulated, and its fur- render was followed by a final accommodation between the two crowns, which took place a few months afterwards. " one of her maids of honour, Catherine herfelf induced " and engaged her to omit no means of augmenting his, " paffion. The princefs of Conde, his wife, was fo deeply . *' affe&ed by his infidelity, that it produced her death. " Mademoifelle de Limeuil then flattering herfelf that the tf prince would marry her, granted him the laft favour; but - *' becoming with child, the queen expelled her from court, " and (he was abandoned by her lover. The Marechale de " St. Andre conceived the fame chimerical projedl, and. " was equally deceived in her expectations." It is fai4 that the prince's wife, Eleanor de Roye, died a martyr to her jealoufy and chagrin at her hufband's amours. Mademoifelle de Limeuil was married afterwards to Geoffry de Caufac, Seigneur de Fremon. The prince of Conde's gallantries and libertinifm gave occafion at the time to the following Vaudeville, or fatiri* cal fonnet j te Ce petit homme tant joly, *' Toujours caufe, et toujours rit, " Et toujours baife fa mignonne : ;* Dieu garde de mal le petit homme !" Catherine, CHARLES THE NINTH. 153 Catherine, who had always amufed the prince 1563, of Conde with promifes of admitting him to *~ a participation in the government, and who knew not how longer to exclude him, deter- mined on a fmgular expedient. The Chan- cellor de 1'Hopital, who had withdrawn from court during the league of the triumvirate, but who had been recalled by the regent, was the author and advifer of the meafure. The young king, Charles the ninth, entered at this time into the fourteenth year of his age. By the famous edict of Charles the fifth, made in 1363, it was necefiary that he Ihould have completed the year, before he attained to majority ; but as the queen, by the declaration of his being no longer a minor, knew that fhe fhould retain tinmolefted the fupreme power in her fon's name, fhe procured an act to be regiftered in 15 Sept; the parliament of Rouen, which declared the king's minority to be expired *. That of Paris refufed to receive or confirm this edict ; but Charles, * No meafure of the admlniftration of Catherine of Me- decis was more able, or more artful, than that of anticipat- ing her fon's majority, by which, under the appearance of refigning, (he in effedl continued and augmented her au- thority. Charles addrefled the parliament of Rouen from his chrone, on that occafion, furrounded by all the princes of the blood, and environed with the infignia of royalty. His fpeech was full of fire, and in a tone of command, which was highly confentaneous to his chara&er. When he had 154 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1563. Charles, inftructed by his mother, reprimanded them in terms fo peremptory and fevere for their audacious temerity, that after a confide^ rable delay, it patted that afTembly. 1564. Magnificent in all her plans, the queen caufed the palace of the Tournelles, in which her huf- band Henry the fecond had expired, to be entire- ly demolilhed ; and began to erect in its place, the more fplendid one of the Tuilleries. She employed in its conftruction the moil celebrated architects of the age, and rewarded them as became a fovereign, with the nobleft liberality. All the branches of polite literature felt her pa- tronage; and Italy, her native country, was ran- facked to enrich and adorn the kingdom over which fhe reigned. She piqued herfelf on the unbounded reverence which fhe paid to the memory of Francis the firft, in whofe court fhe had patted her early years, and whofe character had finifhed his harangue, the queen-mother rofe, and de- clared that Ihe then with infinite joy reftored to her fon the adminiftration of his kingdom. As Ihe prepared to take the oath of allegiance and fidelity, Charles defcended from his throne, uncovered him felf, and went to meet her: Cathe- rine embraced him on her knees, and the king declared that he ihould defer more than ever to her advice and coun- fels. Being again feated on his throne, the princes of the blood, and principal lords of the court, were permitted to kifs his hand, and to do him homage. The edift which declared the king's majority was then read publicly by the proper officer, and inilantly afterwards folemnly regiltered. flier CHARLES THE NINTH. fhe wifhed or affected to imitate. Elegant and luxurious in her tafte, refined and delicate in all her projects far beyond the genius of the century in which fhe flourifhed, Catherine of Medecis forms one of the moil extraordinary characters which is to be found in the hiftory of mankind. The continual complaints which were made by each party, of the infringement of the peace, ftrongly proved the uncertainty of its dura- tion ; and the family of Guile loudly demanded juftice againft Coligni, as the fuppofed author of the late duke's aflaflmation. A conteft be- tween Francis de Montmorenci, the Conftable's eldeft fon, who was governor of Paris, and the cardinal of Lorrain, had nearly lighted up again the fatal brand of civil commotion throughout the kingdom. The queen therefore from a variety of mo- tives, refolved to carry her fon on a progrefs through his dominions. It was fuppofed that a principal inducement to this journey, was to form an eftimate of the Hugonot forces and real ftrength, by an infpection of them in per- fon j to which was added the defire of Ihew- ing the young fovereign to his fubjects, and awakening their loyalty and fidelity by his pre- fence, and their knowledge of his character. Catherine, however, who always concealed her political defigns under the mafk of pleafure, endeavoured j^ KING'S OF FRANCE. 1564. endeavoured to attribute to vanity and affeftion . what originated in deeper motives. All her magnificence of difpofition was betrayed in the preparations for Charles's journey : a train of courtiers and ladies attended his perfon ; and Henry duke of Anjou, the eldeft of the king's two brothers, as well as Margaret his filter, after- wards queen of Navarre, accompanied their mo- April, ther. After having vifited Sens, and Troyes in Champagne, at which latter city Charles con- cluded a folemn treaty with Elizabeth queen of England, from whom he at the fame time re- ceived the order of the Garter, he continued his progrefs to the city of Bar. The duke of Lorrain, and his wife the duchefs Claude, who was filler to the king, met him at that place, and entertained him with the utmofl magnifi- cence. Faffing through Burgundy to Lyons, he was compelled to quit that city on account of the plague, and to remove to the town of Roufillon in Dauphine, where he was vifited by Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy. At Mar- fcilles he made a public entry, and returning by Avignon, he parted the Rhone into Langue- 1565. doc. The court, after vifiting the principal ci- ties of that province, and making fome flay in Touloufe and Bourdeaux, arrived at Bayonne in the fummer of the following year, where June. to k P* ace tn e celebrated interview between Charles and the queen of Spain, Elizabeth, his filter, CHARLES THE NINTHf. 157 fifter. The princefs was conduced by a fplen- 1565. did train, at the head of which was the duke "~ of Alva, and the Count de Benevento. The duke of Anjou, with a number of the young nobility patted the frontiers, and met his fifter at Arnani in the Spanifh. Navarre. Catherine of Medecis, from impatience to embrace her favourite and beloved daughter, crofied the ri- ver BidafToa which feparates the two kingdoms; and on the oppofite fide Elizabeth was met by 10 June;, the king himfelf, who gave her his hand to conduct her out of the vefTel. The young queen was received with prodi- gious pomp at Bayonne, and the interview lafted above three weeks. Every beautiful and bril- liant entertainment, every gallant and elegant diverfion, which Catherine's fertile genius and uncommon capacity could invent or procure, was exhibited to teftify her joy on this occafion, and to infpire the Spaniards with the higheft ideas of the magnificence of her court. Plea- fure feemed to engrofs all prefent, and to have banilhed from this fcene of feftivity the fterner paffions ; but it was the queen's peculiar cha- racteriftic, to cover her fchemes of ambition or vengeance under the mafk of difllpation. A gallery, conftructed to join the houfe in which. Ihe refided, with that of her daughter the queen of Spain, ferved to facilitate the fecret confe- rences which it is faid fiie held with the duke of KINGS OF FRANCE. of Alva, on the fubject of reducing and extir- pating the Hugonots *. Some uncertain and ambiguous informations of this powerful con- federacy for. their deftruction, were circulated abroad, the fufpicion of which was confirmed by Catherine's character and fubfequent conduct. Diftruft neceilarily fucceeded, nor could any ca- reffes of the king or court difpel their apprehen- fions. At the termination of the interview of Bay- onne, the queen-mother conducted her fon to Ne- rac, a little city of Gafcony, in which Jane queen of Navarre had fixed her refidence and eftablifhed her court, on account of its diftance from the Spanifh frontiers, where even her perfon was not fafe from the perfidy and enterprizes of Philip De Thou gives credit to the fufpicion of meafures having been concerted at Bayonne for the extermination of the Proteftants ; though he feems to reft the proof of fuch, an intention chiefly on the afTertion of the Calvinift writers themfelves. Jean Baptifle Adriani, who was the continua- tor of Guicciardini's hiftory, confirms the accufation, and adds, that the conferences between Catherine and the duke of Alva were held at the defire of the Pope ; that it was determined to renew the Sicilian Vefpers, and not to fpare even the perfons of the higheft quality or diftinftion. It is even pretended that the city of Moulin s, where an aflembly* of the principal nobility was convoked to meet in January 1566, was deftin'd to be the fcene of this tragedy. Davila exprefsly avows Catherine's intention of cutting off the heads f Herefy, and deftroying the Hugonots. He only fays, that the duke of Alva was of opinion to employ the moft vio- lent CHARLES THE NINTH. 159 Philip the fecond, who had attempted to feize ic6c. on and deliver her over to the Inquifition as " a heretic. After a fhort ftay in Nerac, the court con- tinued its progrefs through Angoulefme and Nor; Tours, to Blois, where Charles pafTed the win- ter j and early in the enfuing year repaired to 1566. Moulins. An aflembly of the nobility was held J anual > in that city, where a conftrained reconciliation, deftitute of mutual forgivenefs, took place be- tween the admiral and the family of Guife; which was followed by another, not more fincere, be- lent and fanguinary rneafures j while the queen-mother, cdnfulting the genius of the French nation, reluftant to imbrue her hands in the blood of the firft nobility and princes of the royal family, dreading a renewal of the civil commotions, and fearful of the difmemberment of the king- dom by the introduftion of Englifli and German auxilia- ries, leaned to more gentle and temporizing councils. Nothing can be better eftablifhed than the fecret confulta- tions for the deftruftion of the Hugonots, during the in- terview of Bayonne, tho* it is difficult to fay how accu- rately the precife and minute features of that plan were traced. Francis de la Noue, a proteftant writer, aflerts, that the prince of Conde and Coligni received exaft infor- mation of the intention to maflacre themfelves, and their adherents, at the aflembly of Moulins. It is certain that they conceived a general and well-founded fufpicion of the hoftile and treacherous defigns of the court, from the time of the interview at Bayonne ; and that it laid the founda- tion of the renewal of the civil war in little more than two years afterwards. 3 tween rfo KINGS OF FRANCE. 1566. twcen the cardinal of Lorrain and the Marechal de Montmorenci. New fources of war difclofed themfelves everjr day. The edicts of toleration and protection, repeatedly iffued in favour of the Reformed re- ligion, were violated in all the provinces with impunity j while the government indirectly en- couraged thefe proceedings, and afforded no redrefs to the grievances of the Calvinifts. They carried the complaints of their oppreftions to the admiral and the prince of Conde 3 but it was long before either of thofe chiefs could be induced to refume the fword* The latter yet hoped to be appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdonrij as his brother the king of Navarre had been j and both of them peculiarly dreaded im- prefilng their young fovereign, who was now ad- trSj. vancing faft to manhood, with fentiments unfa- vourable and hoftile to themfelves and their party. They twice difmified the delegates fent by their adherents, after having advifed and enjoined them rather to fubmit to any indignities or perfecu- tions, than to have recourfe to fo dreadful a remedy as rebellion, and a renewal of the ca- lamities of which they had already been wit- nefies : but the intimation which they foon Af- terwards received, that it was determined to feize on them both, to detain the prince in perpetual imprifonment, and to put Coligni to death, obliged them to think of taking more decifivo CHARLES THE NINTH. decifive and vigorous meafures. In a great afiem- bly of the Hugonot nobility and leaders, which was held at the caftle of St. Valeri, it was agreed to fufpend all acts of hoftility or violence till they had received more certain intelligence of the intentions of the court; but in a fubfequent* council fummoned at Chatillon, d'Andelot, who was ever of opinion to embrace the moft daring and decided meafuresj flrongly urged an imme- diate and open renewal of the war. His re- monftrances prevailed; and it was refolved to attempt to gain pofiefiion of the young king, which could only be effected by cutting in pieces the Swifs guards, who attended on and protected his perfon * this * Brantome, who was certainly well informed in the court intrigues, declares the war to have been principally caufed by the prince of Conde's difappointed ambition^ He had flattered himfelf with the lieutenancy of the king- dom ; but Catherine, unable longer to delude him with promifes, tutored her favourite fon Henry, and infpired him with the defire of filling that high office. At a fupper in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, the young prince moft fevercly and haughtily reprimanded Conde for his audacity in prefuming to afpire to a poft, which he had refolved to poffefs himfelf. Brantome fays that he was prefent> and heard the converfation. Conde perceived from what hand the blow came ; he faw all his expectations blafted ; he be- held himfelf duped by the queen, and fought for revenge by unftieathing the fword. The writer of Louis duke of VOL. II. M Montpenfier'* KINGS OFFRANCE. This enterpHze was not difficult, as Charles, with the queen his mother, refided fecurely at the palace of Monceaux, where he held a grand chap- ter of the order of St. Michael. The Switzers, difperfed in the furrounding villages, might have been feparately fnrprized, and eafily put to the fword i but Catherine having received intelligence of the enemy's approach, and fufpecting their in- tentions, retired haftily with her fon into the city of Meaux. She then difpatched the Marechal de Montpenfier's life afTerts the fame fat, and Davila confirms its authenticity. This laft hiftorian, with his ufual impartiality and difcern- ment, has laid open, with great exadlnefs, the many latent principles which produced the fecond civil war. He ac- cufes the partizans of both religions with being principally acceffory to it, by their reciprocal injuries and animofities. He attributes it to the young king's high and unconcealed refentment of the prefumption and encroaching fpirit of the Hugonots ; to the prince of Conde's ambitious and reftlefs temper; to the fears of the Calvinifts on account of the fup- pofed fchemes for their deftrution planned at Bayonne ; to the march of the duke of Alva, at the head of a numerous army, along the frontiers, for the purpofe of fubjedling the revolted fubjefts of Philip the fecond in the Low Countries; to the continual infractions of the peace by the Catholics, and the wanton outrages committed by them on the Hu- gonots ; to Coligny and d'Andelot's haughty and unfubmit- ting fpirit; to Catherine's hypocrify and dangerous difli- mulation ; and laftly to the Cardinal of Lorrain's violent counfels. All thefe conjoined caufes, operating on minds already inflamed with mutual animofity, and incapable of being retrained, again involved the kingdom in new com- motion*. Montmorenci CHARLES THE NINTH. 163 Montmorenci with fome unmeaning propofals, 1567. only calculated to gain time, while the Switzers affembled for the king's defence. A council was held, on the meafures requifite to be purfued in this critical juncture. The Con- ftable, cautious and provident of his royal matter's fafety, wifhed if poflible not to expofe him to the hazard of an uncertain combat. The Chancel- lor, touched by the great and falutary confide- rations of the public tranquillity, and confcious that the young king would be irritated to the higheft degree by fo audacious an attempt, which muft infallibly produce a fecond civil war more cruel and inveterate than the firft, joined Mont- morenci in advifing the king to remain at Meaux. Unhappily for France, the cardinal of Lorrain oppofed thefe lenient counfels, and prevailed. At the break of day therefore, Charles quitted the city, furrounded by the Switzers, in the centre of whom he was placed j but before they had advanced two leagues, the prince of Conde ap- peared in fight with near five hundred horfe. The Conflable, dreading the fliock of fo deter- mined a body commanded by fuch leaders, and rendered diftruftful by age, after having fuftain- ed the repeated fhocks of the Hugonot cavalry, fent the king forward with only two hundred horfe by a private road, and he arrived fafely at Paris the fame evening. Conde, who was ig- 3Q Sept norant of this precaution, charged the Switzers M 2 repeatedly, 164 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1567. repeatedly, but in vain: they fuftained the at- tacks unmoved, and after having harrafTed them a confiderable way, he at length retired *. Ineffe&ual * Davila's account of the enterprize of Meaux is very cir- cumftantial, and fomewhat different from that of Mezerai, and moft of the other French hiftorians. He attributes the advice of marching to Paris, not to the cardinal of Lorrain, but to the duke of Nemours. He adds that the Conftable'* opinion would notwithftanding have prevailed, if Fifer, ge- neral of the Switzers, had not requefted to be admitted to the young king's prefence, and aflured his majefty, that his troops would open him a paffage through the enemy with the point of their pikes, if he would entruft his perfon to their protection. This offer was accepted, and the march began at day-break. Charles, the queen-mother, the fo- reign ambafladors, and all the ladies of the court were re- ceived into the center of the Swifs battalion. The Count de la Rochefoucault, and Andelot, having joined the prince of Concle and the admiral, they made a furious attack on the rear, but were received on the Swifs pikes with great intre- pidity. The king gallantly fpurred on his horfe to the foremoit ranks, followed by all the noblemen who attended him ; and when he arrived fafe in the capital, the Parifians filed tears of joy for his prefervation. The whole merit of this action and efcape was due to the bravery of the Switzers. De Thou is by no means fo minute as Davila in his narra- tion of the particulars attending the enterprize of Meaux. He fays, " that the queen-mother aflembled the council in the " duke de Nemours' chamber, who was confined to his bed f ' by the gout ; and that contrary to the advice of the Con- " liable and the Chancellor, it was there determined to en- " dcavourto reach Paris. In confequence of this refolution, " Charles, accompanied by about nine hundred gentlemen, quitted Mtaux at midnight, and proceeded towards the ' capital, CHARLES THE NINTH. 165 Ineffectual conferences fucceeded; but both 1567. parties, inflamed with animofity, were incapable o . of liftening to any terms of peace ; and the Hu- gonots, though few in number, having attempted to block up and diftrefs the capital, Montmo- renci, however reluctant, yet compelled by the murmurs of the Parifians, marched out to give them battle. The prodigious inequality of numbers infured him the victory ; but the glory of the day remained to Conde and Coligni, who with a handful of troops, could venture to engage a royal army fo much fuperior *. The " capital, efcorted by the Switzers." Mezerai and De Thou equally accufe the Cardinal of Lorrain, as the pro- moter of the war, by his violent and injudicious counfels. * The aftion, fays Davila, began about noon, and the fu- periority of the Hugonots in cavalry chiefly contributed to their fuccefs in the commencement of the battle. Though the royal army was fo much fuperior to that of the enemy in numbers and in artillery, yet only the horfe were engaged on both fides, the infantry of the Conftable not being able to keep pace with the fquadrons of cavalry, and being almoft totally thrown out of the engagement. The prince of Conde was oppofed to the Conitable's divifion, which he en tirely routed ; but his horfe was killed under him, and he with great difficulty recovered another. Coligni commanded the van on that day ; and being mounted on a fiery Turkilh horfe, was once fo much engaged among the enemy, that he was borne away in their flight, and narrowly efcaped being taken prifoner. D'Andelot, who had been ftationed on the other fide the Seine, at Paffy, could not join his friends in *ime to be prefent at the battle, on account of the bridges M 3 acroft KINGS OF FRANCE. The engagement was fought in the plains of * Denis, and was rendered famous by the Con- flable's death, who exerted during the action all the courage and activity of a young foldier. Wounded in five places, he yet continued to defend himfelf with undaunted intrepidity, till Robert Stuart difcharged a ball into his reins which proved mortal. Even then, he had vigour enough left to drive the pommel of his fword into Stuart's mouth, with which he beat out feveral of his teeth. His fon Henry d'Amville refcued, and difengaged him from the enemy. Fainting with lofs of fylood, he funk down upon the ground^ but the firft ufe that he made of his fpeech when recovered, was to demand if there yet acrofs the river having been all demolished. The Hugonots took the advantage of a very dark and rainy evening to co- ver their retreat ; and the Catholics, though victorious, yet did not purfue them, on account of the lofs of their general. In all the principal circumftances attending the battle of St. Denis, De Thou and Mezerai concur with Davila. The Conflable only meant originally to drive the prince of Conde from his pofts round Paris, by whick he diftrefled and ftraitened the capital ; but ftung with the complaints and outcries of the Parifians, who even dared to infmuate fufpi- cions injurious to his fidelity and loyalty, Montmorenci at length marched out, affuring the difcontented citizens, that " he would on that day evince his fteady adherence to ' the crown, and return either dead or victorious." The royal army confifted of fixteen thoufand infantry, and three thoufand cavalry, befidcs fourteen pieces of cannon ; whereas that CHARLES THE NINTH. 167 yet remained fufficient day to pnrfue the Hugo- 1567. nots. It was long before he would even permit himfelf to be carried off the fi.'ld, on which he obflinately refolved to expire. and returned to the engagement. Even when almoft oeferted after the retreat of his adherents, and totally furrounded by the oppofite army, he fought with invincible courage. His horfe being killed under him, and himfelf wounded in many places, he yet continued to defend and ward off the blows aimed at him, with one knee upon the ground, till Montefquiou put an end to his life. The duke of Anjou behaved with the utmoil bravery in, this aftion, and (hewed a dauntlefs fpirit above his years. His horfe was killed under him, and he once narrowly ef- caped himfelf, fighting valiantly at the head of his fquadrons. After the prince of Conde's death, no farther refiftance was made ; it became a flight, and evening which drew on, in fome meafure befriended the conquered Hugonots. All thefe particulars are drawn from Davila ; and many others are omitted, lefs interefting. De Thou coincides with the above-mentioned hiftorian, in all the principal circumftancea refpe&ing this engagement. N 2 " a leg *8o KINGS OF FRANCE. 1 569. "a leg broke, fears not to give battle, fince you " attend him ! " The fortune of the day was unfavourable to the Hugonots -, and the prince of Conde, thrown from his horfe, was furrounded and taken pri- foner. Overcome with fatigue and wounded, they feated him at the foot of a tree j when Montefquiou, captain of the duke of Anjou's Swifs guards galloped up to the fpot. Having demanded who he was, and being informed, tc Tuez, tuez, mordieu ! " faid he ; and drawing out a piftol, difcharged a ball into the prince's head, which inftantly killed him. The cool and mercilefs barbarity of this affafli nation, com- mitted upon a man wounded and defencelefs, after the heat of the action was part, excited univerfal abhorrence ; and the enormity of the crime was rendered more confpicuous, from the high rank of the perfon put to death. The duke of Anjou neither avowed nor punifhed it ; but he permitted the prince's body to be laid upon an afs, and carried to the caftle of Jarnac, where he went himfelf to lodge*. Thus * Though Davila does not fpeak of the prince of Conde J s death, as of an afTaflin?.tion, yet as fuch it muft be regarded, and the French hiftorians are unanimous on this point. Davila, however relates the circumftance of his being carried acrofs a pack-horft to the caftle of Jarnac, to the joy and favage di- verfion of the whole army, who jelled at this melancholy and affefting fpedacle ; tho' he adds, that the duke of An~ jou would not fuffer any indignity to be offered to his body. CHARLES THE NINTH. 181 Thus fell the firft Louis prince of Conde, by i5^9 the hand of an afTaflin, rather than of a warrior. The in confideration of the prince's alliance to the blood royal. Pie owns all the fublime and fhining qualities of Conde, and only laments that they were obfcured by rebellion. De Thou, after relating the defperate bravery with which, the prince continued to difpute the field, even afcer the re- treat of the admiral, and notwithftanding the difparity of numbers, fays, that " Conde being at length left almolt " alone, and his horfe falling upon him, in that fituation % " he recognized two officers of the royal army, named Ti " fon d'Argence, and St. Jean. Having raifed the vizor of " his helmet that he might render himfelf known, he fur- " rendered to them, under their promife to fave his life j " but Montefquiou riding up while the prince was fpeaking " to them, inftantly difcharged a ball into him from be- " hind, of which he expired." De Thou celebrates with the warmeft panegyrics, his valour, liberality, eloquence, talents, and numerous virtues, in which he was equalled by few of the princes his cotem- poraries, and excelled by none. He reprobates the indig- nities offered to Conde's remains, dishonouring only to thofe by whom fuch infults were permitted. He infmuates plainly, that Montefquiou afted by fecret orders, and that he did not commit fo bafe an afiaffination without knowing that it would meet with approbation. He even mentions a fingular circumftance highly tending to corroborate this fuf- picion : " The duke of Anjou," fays de Thou, " after the " engagement, communicated to thofe perfons who were in " his confidence, his determination to caufe a chapel to be " erected over the fpot on which the prince of Conde was " killed. This idea had been fuggefted to him by fome t( ecclefiaftics ; but he relinquished it on the advice of Car- " navalet his preceptor, who reprefented to him that it N 3 " would KINGS OF FRANCE. The unhappy circumftances of the times had in fome degree neceffitated him, though allied by- blood to the crown, to unfheath his fword againft his fovereign ; and the great talents for military enterprize and command which he pof- fefTed, rendered him the hero of his own, and the terror of the oppofite party. There is too much reafon- to believe, that Hepry duke of Anjou authorized and commanded the captain of " would confirm the opinion already entertained in both, " armies, that Montefquiou had aflaflinated the prince by " his exprefs directions." " We found him," fays the writer of the duke of Mont, penfier's life, " lying acrofs an afs ; and the Baron de Mag- " nac afked me if I mould know him again ? but as he had " one eye beat out of his head, and was otherwife much " disfigured, I knew not what to anfwer. The corpfe was " brought in before all the princes and lords, who ordered " the face to be wafhed, and recognized him perfectly. " They then put him into a meet, and he v/as carried be- " fore a man on horfeback to the caftle of Jarnac, where ' Monfeigneur, the king's brother, went to lodge." Brantomc has likewife given us many interefting circum- ftances of this tragical event. " The prince," fays he, " fought with a courage heightened by defpair, on that " day ; but he was foon beat to the ground by fuperior " numbers. It had been recommended to the d-uke of An- " jou's favourites to kill Conde at all events ; and Henry ". himfelf did not difguife the joy which he felt at the exe- " cation of his orders. After the aftion was over, he chofe " to gratify his eyes with the fight of the dead body ; and " it was then thrown, in derifion, acrofs an old ihe-afs, the <' head and leg? dangling down on either fide. It even re- " mained CHARLES THE NINTH. of his guard to put him to death. He was not naturally cruel; but the prince had been his rival for the lieutenancy of the kingdom, and was peculiarly an object of his deteftation : be- fides that in the perfon of Conde, they appre- hended the whole Hugonot faction muft infal- libly be deftroyed*. Cohgni, who with the broken remains of the " mained during the enfuing night, in a room exaftly under " that in which the duke himfelf flept ; and after having * been expofed to the view of the whole army, it was re- " ftored to the duke of Longueville his brother-in-law, who " interred him with his anceftors at Vendome. There was " made on him this farcatlic epitaph, " L'an mi} cinq cens foixante neuf, " Entre Jarnac et Chateau-neuf, " Fut porte fur une anefie, " Cil qui vouloit ofter la MefTe." Brantome fays,' he intimately knew Montefquiou, and that he was a brave and gallant gentleman : at the fubfequent fiege of St. John d'Angeli, he was killed by a mufket (hot. * Voltaire, in his beautiful poem of the Henriade, in- troduces Henry the fourth pathetically lamenting the prince's death. It is to our Elizabeth that he relates the ftory ; and the lines are fo mafterly and affecting, that I fliall make no apology for their infertion. It is Henry him- felf who exclaims : " O ! Plaines de Jarnac ! O ! coup trop inhumain ! " Barbare Montefquiou, moins guerrier qu* aflaffin, " Conde deja mourant tomba fous ta furie ; " J'ai vu porter le-coup ; j'ai vu trancher fa vie. " Helas ! trop jeune encore, mon bras, mon foible bras " Ne put ni prevenir ni venger fon trepas." N 4 cavalry, KINGS OF FRANCE. cavalry, had retreated to St. John d'Angeli, na- turally became by the death of the prince, the leader of the Calvinift forces. He was in every refpect equal to, and calculated for this arduous ftation. More advanced in years than Conde, he joined the experience of a veteran com- mander, to the moft intrepid courage, and the moft diftinguifhed military talents. Loyal to his prince even in the midft of rebellion j ar- dently zealous for the glory of his country, though a fatal neceffity compelled him to appear in arms againfl it, Nature had clefigned him to promote its grandeur and profperity. In hap- pier times he would have been the guardian of France, enrolled among her heroes and patriots., her Condes and her Turennes. Lefs ambitious than the prince, he was ever ready to accept the overtures of peace ; but more attached to the religious principles of Calvinifm, and not fe- duced by love or pleafure to facrifice and forget them, he fteadily purfued thefe objects, for the defence of which he had firft drawn his fword. Fertile in refources, vail and capacious in his projects, rifing on his very defeats, and mag- nanimous in circumflances the moft diftrefsful, he long fuftained with inferior force, the utmofl efforts of his victorious enemies. Jane d'Albret, queen of Navarre, a princefs endowed with virtues and qualities of the moft pftimable kind, and inheriting from her mother Margaret CHARLES THE NINTH. Margaret of Valois a itrength of mind and ele- gance of genius rarely found, feconded the ad- miral's meafures for the protection and preferva- tion of the Hugonot party. She brought her fon Henry, as yet in very early youth, to Ro- chelle, where Ihe harangued the troops, who formed a circle round her ; and Coligni was im- mediately declared general of the forces, under the prince of Navarre and his coufm the young prince of Conde. The intelligence of the victory at Jarnac, and the death of the Hugonot leader, were received at Paris with unufual demonftrations of joy. The king rofe at midnight to fmg Te-Deum in perfon, announced it to all the fovereign princes -of Europe, and fent the ftandards gained in the action to Rome, as a prefent the moft accepta- ble to the fovereign pontiff. The real advan- tages refulting from it to the royal party, were however very inconfiderable. Henry duke of Anjou was repulfed before Cognac ; while Co- ligni, reinforced from every quarter, appeared again in the field, more terrible from his late ill fuccefs. The death of his brother d'Andelot, 27 May. who died of a peftilential fever at the city of Saintes, was an event deeply regretted by all his adherents, who loft in him a chieftain eminent for intrepidity- and martial fpirit. Meanwhile the admiral at the head of an zirmy, faced the duke of Anjou in the Limoufin, after 186 K INGS OF FRANCE. 1569. after having effected a junction with Count Mansfeldt, who led to his affiftanc'e a large rein- forcement of German auxiliaries. In the great 25 June, fkirmifh of La Roche Abeille, the Hugonots were victorious ; while the Count de Montgo- meri, one of their moft active and enterprizing generals, reduced all the Province of Beam to obedience, and extended his ravages even into Languedoc. Coligni, encouraged by thefe profperous events, determined once more to pafs the Loire, and carry the war to the gates of Paris, as the only effectual means to procure a termination of -it; but unfortunately he afterwards changed his 25 July, refolution, and undertook the fiege of Poitiers. Henry, the young duke of Guife, fon to Fran- cis, and not inferior to his father in genius, in courage or in ambition, had thrown himfelf into the place. Anxious to fignalize himfelf, and animated with an uncommon deteftation of the admiral, whom he ever regarded as his father's murderer, he made an obftinate and refolute de- fence. Coligni, compelled at length by the duke of Anjou's near approach, who had laid fiege to Chatelleraud, and finding his forces di- minifhed by the lofs of above two thoufand 7 Sept. men, retired without fuccefs from before the . city. The battle of Moncontour, which fol- 3 Oa. lowed only a few days afterwards, Teemed to menace with total deftruction the Hugonot party, 5 CHARLES THE NINTH. party. The action lafted more than three hours ; and victory declared a fecond time for Henry and the Catholics. Near nine thoufand French and Germans of the vanquifhed fide, were left upon the field; and fcarce could Coligni, wound- ed in the face, and accompanied by about three hundred cavalry, who in fome meafure flopt the purfuit of the conquerors, iecure his retreat to Parthenai *. Any * This was the moft bloody and decifive engagement of any which was fought during the civil wars. It began two hours after fun-rife, at eight in the morning, and lafted till ten : Coligni, who knew that the Catholics were fuperior to his own forces in difcipline ftill more than in numbers, would have declined a conteft, the inequality of which was vifible ; but the clamours of his troops, and peculiarly of the German auxiliaries, who demanded their arrears, and refufed to retreat before the Catholics, compelled him re- luctantly to hazard the iffue of a battle. It was difputed with fuch incredible obllinacy and mutual antipathy, ihat the very fullers, lacqueys, and pioneers of either camp took a part in the engagement, and each indi- vidual fought, as if on his perfonal exertion alone the for- tune of the day depended. The event was long doubtful ; but at length the Switzers in the royal army having cut to pieces the Germans, of whom out of four thoufand, fcarce ' two hundred remained alive, a general rout fucceeded. Henry duke of Anjou fignalized his bravery, and ap- peared in the firft ranks of danger; he narrowly efcaped being killed more than once, having rufhed into the thickeft fquadrons of the enemy (where the Marquis of Baden fell by his fide) and expofed his perfon like a common foldier ; but the KINGS OF FRANCE. Any genius, except his own, muft have funk under fo difaftrous a reverfe of fortune ; but his mind, accuftomed to adverfity, and nnfhaken in every fituation, feemed to rally and collect its powers in this moment of diftrefs. On the very evening of the day upon which the battle was the admiral united on that day all the impetuous courage of youth, with the refources and ability of an able and expe- rienced general. The Rhinegrave, who commanded the German troops in the royal army, encountered him in per- fon ; and firing a piftol into his face, beat out four of his teeth, and broke his jaw ; but Coligni difcharging his own into the Rhinegrave's vizor, laid him inftantly dead upon the ground. He afterwards continued gallantly fighting, though the blood ran in fuch quantity from his wound, as to fill both his helmet and gorget. A* length, feeing his troops difperfed on all fides, and flying before the conquerors ; his voice quite fpent, and fcarce capable of being heard j being himfelf covered with blood, and finking under fatigue, he found it in vain longer to difpute the field. Retiring therefore with the two young princes of Navarre and of Conde, who had remained at fome diftance during the combat, he gained Parthenai the fame evening, at fix leagues diftance from Moncontour, only ac- companied by 300 cavalry. The counts of Mansfeldt and Naflau, with about two thoufand of their men, joined him at night, having retreated in good order, and flopped the purfuit of the conquerors. The duke of Anjou com- manded quarter to be given to three thoufand of the French infantry, who had thrown down their arms. Near two hun- 4red colours were taken from the Hugonots. Thefe parti- culars are principally extrafted from Davila, with whom DC Thou and Mezerai agree in alraoft all the circumftances. fought^ CHARLES THE NINTH. fought, though almoft incapable of fpeaking from the effects of his wound, he held a council of his chief officers ; and difpatched meflengers nto England, Switzerland, and the German ftates, to announce his perilous condition and late defeat. He demanded, as in the common caufe of religion, an immediate fupply of troops and money, without which the confequences to his party muft be the moft fatal. He himfelf in perfon retired with the two princes of Na- varre and Conde, into the province of Saintonge ; and collecting the fcattered fugitives difperfed at Moncontour, meditated new oppofition to the royal forces. Had Henry inftantly purfued the enemy < broken and difpirited by fo many calamities, be- fore they had fufficiently recovered from their terror to reunite and appear again in the field , he would probably have deftroyed them entirely, or at leaft have rendered them incapable of farther refiftance : but the fiege of St. John d'Angeli, 16 Oft. which he immediately undertook, prevented all the beneficial confequences otherwife to have been expected from his late victory. Charles, who had long beheld his brother's glory with jealoufy, and who porTefied equal or fuperior courage, could no longer be reftrained from ap- pearing perfonally in the army. Catherine of Medecis, attached to the duke of Anjou with peculiar tendernefs, and anxioufly endeavouring by KINGS OF FRANCE. by every means to exalt this her favourite fen* tried in vain to withhold the king, and to oppofe his determination. On Charles's arrival in the 26 Oft. camp before St. John d'Angeli, he feemed to be tranfported with the fcene : he was conftantly prefent in the trenches, expofed his perfon like the meaneft foldier, and declared publicly that he would gladly fhare his crown with Henry, fo he might alternately command the forces*. 2 Dec. After a fiege of two months the city capitu- lated j but La Noue, and the count de la Ro- chefoucault yet fuftained the party in Rochelle ; while Coligni haying affembled all his adherents nearSaintes, began that celebrated march through * Charles early faw with difcontent, his mother's par- tiality to the duke of Anjou ; he complained of it to her ; and his temper, naturally impetuous and violent, could not bear this preference. Catherine on the other hand feared that Charles, who was endowed with great capacity for af- fairs, would not always be held in tutelage, and might at laft diipenfe with her counfels, and deprive her of all power. Henry's indolence and fubmiffion fecured her from thofe ap- prehenfions, in cafe he fhould ever mount the throne. An anecdote which Brantome mentions, very ftrongly proves the king's diflatisfadlion at Henry's fuccefs, and early greatnefs. Soon after the battle of Moncontour, D'Orat the poet had prefented him with fome verfes in his praife. * ' It " is not to me," faid Charles, " that thefe eulogiums are " due ! I have not merited any panegyrics, or performed " any high exploits ! To my brother they may indeed " juftly be addrefled, who is every day employed in acquir- " ing renown in arms." fo CHARLES THE NINTH. 191 fo many provinces, almoft unexampled in mo- 1570. dern hiftory. In defiance of the inclemency of winter, of fo many confiderable rivers which in- terfected his courfe, of the royal generals and Catholic forces ftationed to oppofe his progrefs j he traverfed all the provinces at the foot of the Pyrenees and Languedoc, returned along the banks of the Rhone, and appeared in Burgundy in the enfuing fummer, after having carried ter- June, ror through all the fouth of France*. Charles * The march of Coligni thro' fo many provinces, defti- tute of artillery, money, baggage, or ammunition ; and the refources by which he maintained and fupported his broken troops under fuch diftrefsful circumftances, convey the highefi. ideas of his military talents. The princes of Navarre and Conde, early inured to the dangers and fatigues of a camp, accompanied him thro' the whole courfe of this perilous en- terprize, and fhared every calamity of their leader and their party. The Hugonots left bloody traces of their pafTage in all the provinces thro' which they pafled ; peculiarly in the environs of Touloufe. Having remained during the feverity of winter near the more of the Mediterranean, in the vicinity of Narbonne, they traverfed Languedoc early in the fpring, re- mounted the Rhone, and marching along the Loire, arrived towards the end of May in the province of Forez, at the little town of St. Etienne. Here Coligni was attacked with a ma- lignant fever, which flopped the army three weeks, during which time the camp was plunged in the deepeft confterna- tion ; but recovering, after imminent danger of his life from this diftemper, he conducted his forces into Burgundy, where they re-appeared in the middle of June. The following fong, fays Brantome, was commonly fung KINGS OF FRANCE. Charles fubmitted with difficulty to perrrfiE the admiral thus to ravage his dominions, un-- purfued. He would even have followed Coligrii immediately, had not the queen mother, who dreaded his afluming the command in perfon, prevented him by the remonftrances of the Marechal de Tavannes; who afiured his ma- jefty, that the troops were already too much ex- haufted and broken, to attempt any new enter- prize in fo advanced a feafon. The re-appearance of Coligni in the heart of France, at the head of a formidable army ; the 25 June, combat of Arnay-le-Duc, where he had mani- feftly the advantage ; the complicated ills under which the unhappy kingdom groaned j and the dread of future calamities yet more infupporta- ble, at length produced a negotiation for the ter- mination of hoftilities. The duke of Anjou, whofe health had extremely fuffered from the fatigues of the preceding campaign, was retired under that pretext to the palace of St. Germain, and by the Hugonot foldiers, after Louis prince of Conde's un- timely death, and on the fucceflion of the admiral to the fu^ preme command of the forces. Lc prince de Conde, II a etc tue ; Mais Monfieur PAdmiral Eft encore a cheval, Avec La Rochefoucaut, *' Pour chafler tous ces papaux, papaux, papaux ! " Charles CHARLES THE NINTH; *? Charles had conferred the fupreme command of 1570. the royal forces on the Marechal de CoiTe. That general, whether from incapacity or want of in- clination, obtaining no advantages over Coligni, peace fo long and anxioufly defired, was again 1 5 -^g re-eftablifhed on terms not unfavourable to the Hugonots; and public tranquillity feemed once more to fpread a calm over the (late, which had been fhaken and convulfed by fo many inteftine commotions. Charles folemnly fwore to obferve the treaty inviolate, and to protect the Hugo- nots in every right which it conferred j but all thefe flattering appearances concealed the moft perfidious defigns , and Catherine, who had been convinced by experience that Coligni and the Calvinifts were not to be reduced by force, had already planned the fatal mafTacre, which fhe executed two years afterwards. All the inter- mediate period was employed in the moft con- fummate diffimulation -, in the deceitful arts of lulling to fleep the wretches deftined to deftruc- . rion. Only the vaft and comprehenfive genius of the queen-mother could have concerted a fyftem of vengeance fo enormoufly flagitious, and fo unprecedented in the records of mankind. Like fome minifter of an angry Deity, fhe ap- pears to have been occupied only in effecting the ruin of her people, and to have always marked her courfe with carnage and defola- tion. VOL. II, O Pleafure i 9 4 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1 570. Pleafure and diflipation notwithstanding feem- ed to engage the whole court ; and the mar- riage of Margaret of Valois, fitter to the king, with Henry prince of Navarre, was already pro- pofed by Catherine, with intent to ftrengthen and confirm the late union between the parties*. The * It is impoflible not to enter with fome minutenefs and curiofity into the amours of Margaret of Valois, one of the rnoft beautiful and accompli (hed, but difTolute princefles of modern times. It is faid, fo violent was her love of plea- fure, that at twelve years old, me had facrificed to it her honour. The young Entragues, and Charry, a captain in the royal guards, difputed the precedency in her affections, when fhe was about that age. Her warm and animated at- tachment to her own brother Henry duke of Anjou, gave rife to fimilar fufpicions, which, indeed, her character, con- duct, and writings all tend to confirm. Henry was hand- fome, amiable, and fond of women ; the libertinifm of the court authorifed every debauchery. The duke of Guile was unqueftionably beloved by Margaret with the moft unbound- ed paffion, which fhe herfelf does not difguife in her memoirs ; and the duke of Anjou withdrew from her his confidence, when he found the duke of Guife mailer of her perfon and affeftions. In the celebrated manifefto which Henry the fourth caufed to be drawn up, and prefented to the pope, as a juftification of his conduft in foliciting a divorce from Margaret, he minutely enumerates her debaucheries, and fucccffive lovers. It contains fo aftonifhing and unparalleled an account of the queen's condudl, that I mall extract from it feveral particulars. " The princefs," fays the manifefto, *' was only eleven " years old, when fhe began to yield to the pleafures of love. ' Entraguea CHARLES THE NINTH. The duke of Guife, who was in love with the princefs, and beloved by her in turn, attempted to raife obftacles to this marriage, in hopes of obtaining her hand himfelf; but Charles, of- fended at his conduct, and refenting his pre- fumption, gave orders to his own natural bro- ther Henry Count d'Angoulefme, to put him to death, as he went to the chace; nor had the duke any other means of averting the blow, except " Entragues and Charry were in turn favoured by her; *' and the former carried his proofs of attachment to fuch a " length, as nearly to facrifice to it his life. The prince " of Martigues fucceeded to their place, and was fondly " beloved ; but naturally vain, he could not conceal an in- " trigue fo flatterbg, and divulged the fecret of their " amours, which became univerfally known. He always " wore on the moil dangerous occafions, an embroidered " fcarf, which his royal miftrefs had given him, together 4( with a beautiful little dog, prefented by the fame hand. " The tears which fhe med for this favourite's death, " were dried by the duke of Guife; who became in turn " her paramour, by the good offices of Madame de Carna- " valet." ' On pretend," continues Henry," " que les " dues d'Anjou et d'Alengon troublerent cette intrigue; " et qu'elle cut pour eux des complaifances, que le droit " du fang n'autorifoit pas; mais je ne puis croire que fa " debauche ait etc jufqu'a cet exces." All thefe lovers preceded the king of Navarre ; and the manifesto continues the enumeration of her fubfequent irre- gularities and gallantries, which almoft exceed the bounds of credibility. Yet Henry, in the beginning of this ex- traordinary piece, which is opened with the greateft folem- nity, calls on God to witnefs the veracity of his affertions, a '.J the integrity of his intentions. O2 by 196 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1570. by a fpeedy marriage with Catherine of Cleves, ' widow to the prince of Portien *. The king being already entered into his twenty-firft year, it was become advifable to marry him ; and his mother, after having in vain folicited the hand of Elizabeth queen of Eng- land, fixed on the archduchefs Elizabeth, daugh- * Even Davila confirms the attachment of the duke of Guife to the princefs Margaret; and fays, that fhe long perfifted peremptorily to refufe any other hufband. " One " night," adds he, " there being a ball at court, as the c duke was going into the great hall of the palace, drefled " with the utmoft magnificence, and adorned with jewels, f he met the king, who had placed himfelf purpofely at " the door. Charles, with an angry air, afked him, ' Whither he was going ?" The duke anfwered, " That " he came to ferve his Majefty." " I have no occafion for " your fervices," replied he. Henry faw the dangerous " fituation in which he had engaged himfelf, and deter- " mined inftantly to recover his fovereign's favour, by put- " ting it out of his own power to be longer obnoxious." De Thou and Mezerai confirm, in the ftrongeft manner, the unconcealed and reciprocal paffion of Margaret and the duke of Guife, as well as the order iflued by Charles the ninth to difpatch the duke, of which he received intima- mation from Francis de Balzac-Entragues. Davila adds, that it was commonly believed a promife of marriage had been exchanged by the lovers ; but, that the duke of Guife, either from inconftancy, ambition, or defire of fa- tiating his revenge upon Coligni, (whom it was requifite to draw into the fnare by the lure of this marriage between the Prince of Navarre and Margaret) defifted from any further profecution of his claims on the princefs^ and con- tracted another alliance. ter CHARLES THE NINTH. 19? ter-of the emperor Maximilian the fecond. The 157- dukes of Anjou and Alencjon, Charles's bro- thers, were fent to receive the new queen at Sedan -, and he himfelf advanced to meet her at Mezieres, where the nuptials were folemnized. 2 6 Nor. She was an amiable and virtuous princefs, de- vout, humble and fubmiflive. Her capacity, limited and (lender, gave Catherine no alarm, and fhe was neither confulted in, nor privy to any of the fanguinary meafures which were pur- iued during her hufband's reign. Though agreeable in her perfon, and gentle in her man- ners, yet fhe never could attain any power over Charles's heart, and only porTefTed his efteem *. The * Elizabeth of Auflria, daughter of Maximilian the fe~ Cond, was born in June, 1554, and was only fixteen years of age at the tipie of her marriage with Charles the ninth. The duke of Anjou was fent at the head of a magnificent train of nobilicy, to receive the young queen at Sedan; to which city the king himfelf came incognito, to view her perfon, and then returned to Mezieres, where the marriage ceremony was performed with a royal fplendor. She pof- fefTed all the characterise fuperftition of the houfe of Auf- tria, and carried her religious exercifes to a length inju- rious to her health ; but her conjugal affe&ion, and fweet- nefs of difpofition, rendered her univerfally beloved. Bran- tome always mentions her with the warmeft cxpreffions of approbation, as one of the moft virtuous and amiable queens who had ever appeared in France. He fays that her perfon was more than merely agreeable: " Elle etoit une tres belle " Princeffe," adds he, " ayant le teint de fon vifage aufli " beau 8s delicat que dame de fa cour, Sc fort agreable. Elle 03 avoit KINGS OF FRANCE. The beautiful Mary Touchet, his miftrefs, had long reigned in his affections without a rival ; and the king, naturally conftant, remained un- alterably attached to her till the hour of his death *. Elizabeth was notwithftanding crowned foon " avoit la taille fort belle auffi, encore qu'elle 1'eut c< moyenne affez." This defcription muft certainly be al- lowed to convey an idea of a very pretty woman. * Mary Touchet was daughter to the " Lieutenant Par- " ticulier" of Orleans, and the time when Charles's attach- ment to her commenced, is not certain ; but it appears from an anecdote related of her, that me had acquired the higheft influence over him before his marriage, fince it is clear that Cie dreaded no rival. Brantome fays, that Elizabeth of Auftria's portrait being ihewn her, me exclaimed, after having long and attentively regarded it, " L'Allemande " ne me fait pas peur!" Her perfonal and mental attrac- tions were equally pre-eminent j but her afcendency over the young king her lover never extended to affairs of ftate, or enabled her to guide the counfels of the fovereign, as the ducheffes of Valentinois and Eftampes had done under Francis the firft, and Henry the fecond. " I have feen her " pifture," fays the author of the Anecdotes des Reines et Regentes de France, " done in crayons, and during '* the prime of her beauty. The contour of her face was " round, her eyes finely fhaped and lively, her forehead " fmall, her nofe juftly proportioned, her mouth little and " crirafon, the lower part of her face admirable." Such was the celebrated Mary Touchet ! She was, by her mar- riage v,ith Francois de Balzac-Entragues, mother of Hen- riette de 'Balzac, miftrefs to Henry the fourth of France, and created by him marchionefs of Verneuil. Mary Touchet died at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, in. March, 1638. after CHARLES THE NTNTH. 199 after at St. Denis; and the queen-mother, whofe 1571. magnificence and tafte eminently appeared on "~ thefe occafions, difplayed all her talents for pleafure in the entertainments which were ex- hibited at court. The fictions of antiquity, as well as the allegories of Greek and Roman fa- ble were called in, to embellifh the reprefen- tations. A refinement, fuperior to the progrefs which the human mind had made in the fix- teenth century, and little, if in any degree in- ferior to the fplendid productions of art and elegance afterwards difplayed under Louis the fourteenth's reign, characterifed all the amufe- ments of Catherine. Her extraordinary and univerfal genius comprehended every thing in its embrace, and fhone equally diftinguifhed in the cabinet or at a banquet, whether directed to the deftruction or delight of mankind. She even feems to have blended and united quali- ties the mod oppofite and difcordant in their own nature. Her verfatility of mind enabled her to pafs with the eafieft tranfition, from the horrors of war, to all the difllpations of indo- lence and peace ; and we are forced to lament that a capacity fo exalted, only produced from the principles with which it was actuated, more general and lading evils to her kingdom, and to the world *. The In the entertainments given at court on Elizabeth's coronation, the peculiar fituation of the ftate was enigma- O 4 tically aoo KINGS OF FRANCE. 1571. The grand fcheme of deceiving the Hugonot " leaders and drawing them into the fatal fnare, now totally occupied the queen-mother. She had tutored the young king her fon but too well, and inflrucled him in all the leflbns of a profound and pernicious difiimulation : His very virtues and great qualities were trans- formed under her baneful touch, into vices and crimes. His prudence, penetration, and dif- cretion, fhe converted into a fubtle and perfi- dious policy j his natural vivacity of temper became pafTion and fury; his courage degene- rated into flern ferocity j and his heart, fteeled againft the imprefiions of benevolence and pity, was inflamed with a favage third of blood and vengeance. For Catherine, there is no juftifi- tically pourtray'd under various forms, which exhibited a political mirror, under the appearance of an amufement. Charles the ninth was reprefented in the character of Ju- piter ; Catherine, in that of Juno; the young queen, in that of Minerva. The Hugonots appeared under the names of Typhon and the Giants. Even the vengeance of St. Bartholomew, already planned, was darkly alluded to in the motto* and devices chofen, of which the following was one, addrcfied to the king : " Cadme, relinque ratem ; paftoria fibila finge ; " Fas fuperare dolo, quern vis non vincit aperta." The meaning of this remark is too evidently connected with the enfuing maflacre to be miftaken ; nor can we avoid be- ing furprifed that allufions fo obvious fhould net have awakened mere fufpicion and diftrufi of the court, in the pinds pf the Calvinift leaders, cation CHARLES THE NINTH. 101 cation or apology to be fuggefted j her name in 1571. diftant ages will be pronounced with deteftation, nor can the brilliancy of her genius, or the fe- duftion of her captivating manners, preferve her from ignominy and abhorrence. But for Charles every heart of fenfibility will form fome cxcufe. Accuftomed from his infancy to pre- cepts and examples the mod depraved, and en- couraged to fpill the blood of his fubjeds, as meritorious and acceptable to Heaven, he awoke too late from the fatal delufion, into which he had been plunged by his mother's maxims and ad- vice. Death permitted him not to expiate his of- fences ; and he expired in the flower of youth, an awful lefTon to future times, that monarch s cannot with impunity violate the great and facred duties of humanity ! Every artifice was ufed, and every appearance of perfect confidence was afTumed, to convince the queen of Navarre and Coligni that the king and court were difpofed to maintain the late peace inviolate. The Hugonot deputies were fent back, after a reception the moft gracious, with the ampleft confirmation of every article of the treaty. Count Ludovic of NafTau having quit- ted Rochelle in difguife, and waited on the king at Lumigny, was received by Charles with Auguft. uncommon diftinftion, and loaded with favours. Teligni, fon-in-law to the admiral, was dif- patched to him with a requefl to lay aiide all diftruft, 202 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1571. diftruft, and to repofe himfelf on his fovereign's "" honour. Confiding in this facred pledge as he deemed it, and happy to give a proof of his implicit reliance on the fincerity and virtue of his prince, Sept. he came at length to Blois, where the court then refided. Charles embraced him, hung upon his neck, and killed him : he gave Coligni the en- dearing epithet of his Father, and profefled for him a filial deference and refpect. He was re- admitted to take his feat in council, received from the royal bounty a donation of an hundred thoufand livres, and all his eftates were reftored. After having permitted him to vifit his caftle Dec. of Chatillon, the king again recalled him, re- doubled his carefles, bellowed on him number- lefs favours, and even carried his diffimulation to fuch a length, that the duke of Guife, and the more zealous Catholics took the alarm ; and began to fear, left Coligni mould really effecl: that alteration in Charles's heart, which at firft they knew was only aflumed, to render the de- ftruction of the Hugonots inevitable*. When * Never was diffimulation and treachery carried to a greater length, or more completely covered with the mafk of affedion, than on the occafion of Coligni's return to court. When the admiral embraced his fovereign's knee, the king raifed him up, aflured him that it was the happieft moment of his reign, and fmiling added, " Enfin, nous " vous tenons ; vous ne vous eloignerez plus de nous quan* duke of Aumale, and Henry d'Angoulefme the king's " natural brother, attended by about three hundred fol- " lowers, repaired to the admiral's houfe. They were there " joined by a company of Catholic foldiers, commanded " by Cofleins, whom the duke of Anjou had ftationed for " that purpofe, under arms, and with their matches lighted. '* The gate of the court, which was only guarded by a few " of the king of Navarre's halberdiers, they infiantly " forced ; putting to death both them, and all the fervants " whom they met, without mercy. The nobles waited " below, while La Befme, a native of Lorrain, and an iin- " mediate dependant of the duke of Guife, went up to " Coligni's apartment. He was accompanied by Achiile " Petrucci, a Siennefe gentleman retained by the duke, by " colonel Sarlebous, and the other foldiers. "The admiral hearing a difturbance, got up; and " kneeling down, fupported himfelf againft the bed, when " one of his fervants, named Cornafon, burfF into the " room. Coligni afked him, ' What occafion'd the noife ?' To which Cornafon haiHly replied, ' My lord, God calls * us to him ;' and inftantly ran out at another door. The ts aflaffins entered a moment afterwards, and advanced " towards him : Coligni addreffing himfelf to La Befme, " who had drawn his fword, faid, Young man, you ought to reverence thefe grey hairs ; but do what you ' think proper : my life can only be fhortened a very little.' " He had fcarce fpoke thefe words, when La Befms " plunged the fword into his breaft, and the others dif- " patched him with their daggers. They then threw his " body down into the court, from whence it was dragged " into a ftable." De 234 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1572. married Coligni's daughter, was maffacred on - that night at the fame time, having attempted to De Them's account differs in no material point what- ever from that of Davila, though he mentions fome cir- cumftances omitted by the laft hiftorian. " Cofieins," fays De Thou, " having united himfelf to the duke of Guife " and his followers on their arrival at the admiral's " houfe, ordered Labonne, who kept the keys, to open the " door in the king's name. He obeyed without the flight- " eft fufpkion of treachery, and was inftantly ftabbed. " The perfons who were with him, aftonifhed and ter- " rifled at this unexpected aflaffination, fled ; and gain- " ing the ftaircafe, endeavoured to ftpp the further en- " trance of the ruffians, by barricading the paflage with " chairs and tables. Meanwhile Coligni, hearing a noife, ' imagined it was caufed by fome tumult ; but perfifting " to repofe himfelf on the honour and good faith of the " king, he ftill conceived his perfon fecure under the *' guard which had been afligned for his protection ; 'till " hearing a harquebuffe fired in the court, he got out of *' bed. While he was preparing himfelf for every event, the *' door of the ftaircafe was burft open, and the afTaffins f mounted to his apartment. Cofleins, d'Attins, Corbe- " ron, Cardillac, Sarlabouz, Petrucci, and a German " named Befme, who had been a fervant in the duke of " Guife's houfe, entered his chamber, all armed with *' cuirafles. They forced the door, and Befme advancing " firft, with a fvvord in his hand, faid to the admiral, ' Eft-ce toi qui es Coligni ?' ' C'eft moi meme,' an- ' fwered he, with a ferene air; and mewing Befme his " grey hairs, * Jeune homme,' added he, ' tu devrois re- * fpecler mon age; mais acheve. Tu ne peux abreger * ma vie que de fort peu de jours.' Befme made na re- " ply, CHARLES THE NINTH. 235 to fave himfelf on the roof of the houfe, where 1572. he was difcovered, and ftabbed by the affaf- fins. " ply, but plunged his fvvord into the admiral's body, and n, the youngeft fon of Henry the fecond, began to difplay his cha- racter, and to form a new party in the diftract- ed ftate. In his perfon, he was little, ungrace- ful, and deformed. Turbulent and reftlefs, he always beheld with envy and difcontent his brother Henry's fuperior glory ; and anxious to raife his own reputation by whatever means, he united himfelf with the Hugonots and the king of Navarre, to revenge the death of Coligni. Irrefolute, capricious, and incapable of firm- he was informed that he had only to imitate the example fet him by Louis the twelfth, of denying the confumma- tion of his nuptials. " No," faid Henry, f it is an afler- " tion which I cannot make ; nor is it credible that a mail " of my conftitution, and a woman of the princefs's com- " plcxion, could poffibly fail to have completed the nup- " tial rites." nefs CHARLES THE NINTH. 251 nefs on great occafions, he ever deferred his 1573. friends in diftrefs ; void of faith and honour, no reliance could be repofed on his promifes or engagements. His rank as prince of the blood, and his perfonal courage, which was undif- puted, counterbalanced however all thefe de- fects of nature and of character; nor was he altogether deftitute of generous and better feelr ings, which fometimes broke out at intervals *. His * Francis, duke of Alei^on, the fifth and youngeft fon of Henry the fecond, was born on the 1 8th of March, 1554, and at his baptifm received the name of Hercules, which his mother Catherine of Medecis afterwards chang- ed, from a fuperftitious expectation of prolonging his life by that alteration. She never loved him, and frequently called him " Mon fils egare." Having received in his childhood fome impreffions favourable to the reformed re- ligion, from the perfons who had the charge of his educa- tion, he had conne&ed himfelf very clofely with Coligni previous to the maflacre, of which he was totally innocent and uninformed. As the duke of Alen9on appeared deep- ly affefted by his death, which he bewailed with tears, the queen-mother, defirous of erafing thefe fentiments from her fon's mind, caufed a part of the admiral's journal, which had been brought her, to be read to him, in which he had ftrongly advifed Charles the ninth not to give his brothers too much authority, or to affign them a large efta- blifhment. *' See," faid fhe, ' what counfel your good " friend gives the king!" "I know not," replied the duke, "whether he loved me much; but I am con- *.* vinccd that none except a man molt faithful to his ma- KINGS OF FRANCE. His practices and connection with the king of Navarre were foon divulged, and fpread a great alarm at court. Charles fent him a fr.nct prohibition from quitting the camp on any pre- tence j and ordered the duke of Anjou to haften by every means the reduction of Rochelle, on account of the urgent necefiity which he had of the troops for the protection of his own perfon, Already " jeJty* an ^ moft zealous for the ftate, would be the au- ' thor of fuch advice." Davila attributes this affected attachment of the duke of Alen9on to the memory of Coligni, entirely to the envy and jealoufy which he felt at his brother Henry's power and great exploits. That hiftorian has always depictured the duke of Alenjon under the moft unfavourable colours, as de- ficient in any talents or qualities worthy of efteem, and as in- capable of fuffering a comparifon with the duke of Anjou. " La propria capacita, e 1'habilita di lui," fays Davila, *' era ftimato molto inferiore, e d'ingegno, & di valore, al *' duca d'Angio." In another place, fpeaking of that prince, he thus delineates his character : " Francefco, " duca d'Alanfone, terzo fratello del re, il quale non folo " era giovane d'anni, & per difetto dell* eta privo d'efpe- " rienza ; ma per natura, ancora dotato di poca capacita ** d'ingegno, e d'animo cofi volubile, e cofi gonfio, che fi " vedeva molto piu inclinato a configli torbidi e precipi- " tofi, che a maniera di vita prudente, e moderata." De Thou has drawn his portrait in a much more flattering manner, though he admits his defects and weaknefTes. ' Vif, eloquent, courageux, affable, et magnifique; mais ambitieux, inquiet, et changeant." Meztrai, on the other CHARLES THE NINTH. Already the miferable king began to awake, though (lowly, from the delirium into which he had been plunged by his mother's fatal ad- vice. The horror of the night of St. Bartho- lomew remained indelibly imprefTed on his imagination j his ufual gaiety and complacen- cy appeared no longer in his countenance ; and in its place a fixed and melancholy gloom fat upon his features. He beheld the ignominy and deteftation with which his unparalleled barbarity and perfidy had marked him to the lateft pofterityj nor could he difTemble his re- fentment of Catherine's pernicious counfels, which had induced him thus to violate the fa- other hand, fpeaks in terms of difapprobation and con- tempt, of his qualities both of body and of mind. - *' Prince ambitieux et inquiet," fays he, " meprife pour " fa petite taille, et fa mauvaife mine j capable d'em- " brafler toutes fortes d'entreprifes fans raifon, et de les " abandonner aufli legerement." Tho' molt of the French hiftorians defcribe his perfon as mean, and almolt deformed, yet De Thou contradicts that aflertion. " II etoit petit, mais bien fait. Sa phifi- " onomie etoit agreable, quoiqu'il eut le teint fort brun, et le vifage gate par la petite verole." Thefe are De Thou's words. Montfaucon, in his '< Monumens de " la Monarchic Fran9oife," has preferved two portraits o Francis duke of Alen9on ; one of which is only a buft ; the other a whole length, in complete armour. In neither of thefe, does he appear to be either deformed in his figure, or deficient in beauty of features, and perfonal elegance. cred KINGS OF FRANCE. cred laws of honour and humanity. The queen- mother having one day reproved him for his furious paifion with fome of his fervants, and told him, that he would do better to exert that anger againft the rebels who caufed the deaths of fo many of his faithful and loyal fubjedls be- fore Rochelle j he replied, " Madame, qui en " eft caufe que vous ? Par la mort .... vous " etes caufe de tout !" While thefe fymptoms of animofity between Charles and his mother began to difplay them- felves, and while Henry exhaufted his army in ineffectual attempts againft Rochelle, the news June, arrived of this latter prince's election to the crown of Poland. It was an event by no means defired on the part of Catherine and her favou- rite fon. The duke of Anjou, who ever con- fidered himfelf as immediate heir to the crown of France while his brother had no male iffue by the queen, and who had from his infancy been accuftomed to the diflipations of the moft magnificent court in Europe, regarded with a fort of horror the idea of going to reign over a barbarous people, fo far removed from his native country. He had even, in conjunction with his mother, endeavoured by every fecret means, to counteract the fuccefs of the nego- ciation which was to place him on the Polifh throne j but Montluc bifliop of Valence, who had CHARLES THE NINTH. 255 had been fent into Poland to gain the fuffrages 1573. of the Diet, regarding his fovereign's orders and his own honour, more than Catherine's or Hen- ry's wifhes, acted with fo much vigour and ad- drefs at the ele&ion, that the duke of Anjou was chofen king. This intelligence formed an honourable pretext for withdrawing his troops, wearied and broken with fo unfuccefsful a fiege. Deputies were appointed on either fide$ and a general pacification was at length concluded, 25 June, not only for the city of Rochelle, but for the whole kingdom, on terms lefs favourable to the Hugonots, than any of the three pre- ceding treaties. The duke of Anjou having terminated this negociation, embarked on board the royal gallies, together with his brother the duke of Alenc,on, the king of Navarre, and the prince of Conde. Landing at Nantes, he remounted the Loire to Clery, at which place having performed a vow which he had made, he proceeded to Orleans, where he was received with every mark of folemnity and magnifi- cence. The Polifh ambafTadors, twelve in num- ber, made their entry into the capital foon *9 Ag after, where Henry had previoufly arrived. The decree which elected him to the throne, inclofed in a filver box, and fealed with a hundred and ten feals of Prelates, Palatines, 2 and 256 KINGS OF FRANCE. J 573' anc * Caftellans, was publicly read; Charles, feated on a fcaffold in his royal robes, and ac- companied by all the grandees of the court, being prefent at this ceremony. When Te Deum had been fung, the king rofe, and em- braced his brother the new fovereignj Henry then kifled the duke of Alen^on, and king of Navarre ; after which all the noblemen of the court paid him the cuftomary refpects and con- gratulations. Catherine of Medecis difplayed all her magnificence and tafte on this occafion, >n the fplendid diverfions and entertainments with which Ihe honoured her fon's acceflion to the throne of Poland*. Charles, who had taken the firm refolution s- P f ' of reigning by himfelf, and of adopting mea- fures more falutary and beneficent to his peo- ple, * Brantome has given us a minute defcription of Cathe- rine's banquets and amufements on the arrival of the Po- lifti ambafladors. Sixteen ladies of the court, reprefent- ing the fixteen provinces of France, drefled with the raoft perfect propriety in habits emblematical of their characters, formed a dance, which was performed in the palace of the Thuilleries. As far as we are able to judge, fcarce any of the fuperb caroufals of Louis the fourteenth were fuperior in elegance, in brilliancy, or in effect, to thofe of Cathe- rine of Medecis, which were exhibited nearly a century earlier. Margaret queen of Navarre was the animating foul of thefe gallant diverfions. Her beauty, gaiety, and above all CHARLES THE NINTH. 257 pie, received with extreme fatisfaclion the news 1573 of his brother's election to a foreign and diftant diadem. He had long perceived the error which his mother's counfels had induced- him to commit, of entrufting to Henry fo extenfive an authority^ and he now faw himfelf on the point of being releafed from a rival, who be- came every year more obnoxious. He haften- ed his brother's departure with a vifible anxiety and impatience; but the king of Poland pro- tracted it -under a thoufand pretences. Not only Catherine's tender and maternal fondnefs for hirrij not only the charms of a luxurious court, the pofieffion of a degree of power fcarce lefs than that of the king himfelf, or the expectation of the crown of France, contributed to detain him : A paflion ftill more violent and tyrannical rendered him deaf to the voice of glory, or the fuggeftions of reafon. He was tenderly attach- ed to the princefs of Conde j and his heart na- turally foft, and fufceptible of the impreffions of love, tried in vain to extricate itfelf from the effect of her charms* all that air which charafterifed her, and which breathed and infpireddefire, rendered her the moft fafcinating prin- cefs in the world. Lafco one of the noblemen in the Po- lifh embaffy, when he was prefented to her, was fo over- come with the luftre of her attractions, that he broke out into the mod paffionate exclamations of rapture and alto- nifhment at the fight of fo beautiful a woman. VOL. II. S Mary KINGS OF FRANCE. Mary of Cleves, married to Henry prince o-f Conde, and who was at this time only feven- teen years of age, poffeffed attractions of perfon the moft winning and irrefiftible. Her mind, improved and elegant, correfponded with her external charms; and her heart, formed to tafte the delights of a mutual pafiion, had not been able to refill fo accomplished a lover, as the hero of Jarnac and of Moncontour. A fenfe of honour, and a regard to the nuptial /vow which Ihe had fo recently made, long fupported her Hiding virtue j but Henry, mailer of all the wiles which fuch a defign infpires and dictates, employed the mofl effectual methods to obtain the gratification of his wifries. His fitter the queen of Navarre lent her afiiftance in obtaining for him the poffeffion of his beloved miflrefs: Even the duke of Guife, forgetting his natural haughtinefs, and united to the king of Poland by the clofefl fnend- fhip, did not heiitate to ' aid him with all his eloquence. His uncle the cardinal of Lor- rain, was the firft to perfuade him to undertake this humiliating office, and to procure his own filler- in-law for Henry. Overcome by fo im- portunate a fuit, the princefs yielded at length ;. the firft decifive interview between herfelf and the king of Poland took place at the palace of the Louvre; and {he was there delivered up to CHARLES THE NINTH. 259 to him as a vi&im by Margaret of Valois and 1573. the duke of Guife*. Amidil the tranfporting enjoyments to which the two lovers at firft abandoned themfelves, they were equally infenfible to the fuggeftions of ambition and of glory. A diftant crown, which could only be purchafed by a removal from the object of his tendernefs, did not in any degree roufe the enamoured king, or ap- pear to him worthy of the facrifice which he muft make to it, of his beloved miftrefs. But a neceffity more cruel foon compelled him to haften his departure. Charles grew hourly * Neither Davila nor De Thou have defcended to the narration of this interefting ftory; but Mezerai exprefsly affigns the attachment of the king of Poland to the princels of Conde as the moft infurmountable obftacle to his de- parture from France. He confirms likewife the part which the duke of Guife afted; and adds, that the duke offered Henry fifty thoufand men to protect him from the refent- ment of Charles the ninth, if he perfifted to refufe to quit Paris, and to take pofleffion of his new dominions. Def- portes, the celebrated poet, who accompanied the king of Poland to Cracow, has given an account of this amour, and has minutely defcribed the interview of the two lovers, in a poem called " Cleophon." Henry is there named Eurilas ; the princefs of Conde, Olympia, and Margaret of Valois, Fleur de Lys. Buffi d'Amboife, the queen of Navarre's lover, is fuppofed to be depictured under the character of Nireus; as are the duke of Guife and his miftrefs Madame de Sauve, under the names of Floridant and Camilla. S 2 more a6o KINGS OF FRANCE. I5"J. more and more impatient at his delays, and at ' ' length informed the queen-mother with his ufual vehemence, that he would not permit. of the king of Poland's longer ftay, and that one or the other of them muft inftantly quit the kingdom. Henry began his preparations, and ordered all his equipage and attendants to be ready, but ftill delayed his final departure. The duke of Guife, his intimate friend, flattered him with the hopes of Charles's death, and even offered, if he was determined to ftay in France, to protect him againft the king's refentment with fifty thoufand forces. Three days having elapfed in this ftate of uncertainty, Charles, irri- tated at length almoft to fury, and perfuaded that Catherine chiefly prevented the king of Poland's journey, perhaps from fome treafon- able and dangerous intentions in his favour, no longer obferved any meafures with his mother. He ordered the door of his apartment to be Ihut againft her, and began to meditate fome more effectual defigns againft herfelf and her favou- rite fon. Thefe open marks of difpleafure terrified Catherine, and Ihe implored the king of Poland to delay no longer, if he regarded his own per- fonal fafetyl Henry confented though with 28 Sept. extreme reluctance, and began his journey. The CHARLES THE NINTH. 161 The whole court accompanied him, and Charles 1573, himfelf, more from motives of prudence, than of affection, was among the number. He could not however conduct his brother to the frontier, as he had intended ; a flow fever, attended with a violent giddinefs in the head, and pains about his heart and ftomach, having obliged him to flop at the town of Vitry in Champagne*. The * De Thou, in his account of the illnefs of Charles the ninth, and the fymptoms attending it, not only attributes it to poifon, but he exprefsly names Charles de Gondi de la Tour, great mafter of the wardrobe, as the perfon who, in concert with his two brothers, the Marechal de Retz, and the bifhop of Paris, was fufpected of having executed this deteltable project. The family of Gondi, originally Tufcan, and who had followed the queen-mo- ther from Florence into France, had been elevated by Charles, at Catherine's fuggeftion, to the higheft dignities and employments. The Marechal de Retz had fucceeded La Cipierre in the important charge of Governor to the young Monarch, and had enjoyed the greateft degree of his perfonal favour and affection. But the king, naturally dif- cerning, had begun to manifeft fome concern at the profu- fion of honours which he had heaped on this family, and to repent of his own work. To this diminution of his public regard and protection, was added another more wounding, though more private affront on the part of Charles. He had been deeply fenlible to the beauty and attractions of Helena Bon, wife to the Count de la Tour, and had re- moved her hufband from court, to facilitate his interviews with the lady. The Count, who fufpected their attach- ment, returned unexpectedly, and was too well fatisfied S 3 by a62 KINGS OF FRANCE. 1^7 3- The queen-mother, the duke of Alenc.on, with " '" the king and queen of Navarre, and a great 3er " train of the nobility continued their rout with by the evidence of his own fenfes, that all his apprehen- fions were founded in truth. Charles, inftead of endea- vouring to mollify and foften the refentment of the Count, menaced him with the fevereft effects of his indignation, if he prefumed to treat his wife with rigour. The ftory became public j and it was faid, that the duke of Guife, difcontented with Charles the ninth, had inftigated and inflamed the Count de la Tour to vengeance. The queen- mother herfelf had not been (pared on this occafion, and popular report had aflerted that ihe was not unacquainted with, or adverfe to the proje&s for the king's deftruflion. Her affurances to the king of Poland at his departure that " he would not be long abfent," increafed thefe fufpicions, and induced her enemies to pretend that flie was privy to the attempts againft Charles's life. This is De Thou's ac- count of that prince's diforder, and its caufe; the fcene of which he lays at the town of Villers Coteretz, between Paris and Vitryin Champagne, to which laft place, though feverely indifpofed, he continued his journey, and where he was abfclutely compelled to Hop, by more violent at- tacks of afimilar nature. Davila makes no mention whatever of Charles's illnefs during the journey of his brother Henry towards the fron- tiers; but Mezerai fpeaks of it in very ambiguous and enigmatical terms. " A few days," fays he, "' after the " menaces which Charles had ufed towards his mother, " he had been feized with a flow, malignant fever, ac- " companied with a vertigo, and pains about his heart at " every moment." He infmuates that unnatural means were fufpedled, but leaves the point dark and undeter- mined. Henry CHARLES THE NINTH. 263 Henry to Blamont in Lorrain, where the fe- 1573. paration took place between him and Cathe- ' rine. She held him long in her arms, unable to bid him the laft adieu, while fighs and tears interrupted her voice. Among the exprefiions of comfort which fhe ufed, to diminifh the ex- cefs of his grief on this exile from his country;