.IFE OF 
 JEANNE DALBRET
 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 JEANNE D'ALBKET, 
 
 QUEEN OF NAVARRE.

 
 THE LIFE OF 
 
 JEANNE D'ALBKET 
 
 QUEEN OF NAVARRE 
 
 FROM NUMEROUS UNPUBLISHED SOURCES 
 
 INCLUDING MS. DOCUMENTS IN THE BIBLIOTHEQUE IMPERIALE 
 
 AND THE ARCHIVES ESPAGNOLES DE SIMANCAS 
 
 BY 
 
 MARTHA WALKER FREER 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 ELIZABETH DE VALOIS AND THE COURT OP PHILIP II.,' 
 
 " THE LIFE OF MARGUERITE d'aNGOULEME," 
 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 " Pax certa, Victoria Integra, Mors honesta." 
 
 Le&ende de Jeanne D'Albret 
 
 LONDON 
 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET
 
 LIBRARY j 
 
 Richard Clay & Sons, Limiteb, 
 London & Bunoay.
 
 voo 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Birth of Jeanne d'Albret — Baptism of the princess — Her sponsors — The 
 baillive de Caen appointed governess to the princess — Her education 
 — Favours shown towards Jeanne by Francis I. — Affection of the 
 princess for her uncle — Departure of the king and queen of Navarre 
 into Beam — Refusal of Francis to permit the princess Jeanne to ac- 
 company her parents — The king's reasons for that act — King Francis 
 announces his intention to betroth the princess Jeanne to the duke of 
 Orleans — Establishment of the princess at Plessis-les-Tours — Details 
 respecting her household — Character of Jeanne d'Albret — Illness of 
 the princess — Francoise de Bohan — Melancholy of the princess — Her 
 aversion to Plessis — Arrival of the duke of Cleves at the court of 
 France — Francis designs to wed the princess to the duke — Her dis- 
 approval of the project — She quits Plessis — Her haughty reception 
 of the duke of Cleves — Arrival of the princess at Alencon — Anger of 
 queen Marguerite at her daughter's conduct — Francis commands the 
 solemnization of the betrothment — Protest of the princess Jeanne — 
 Ceremony of the affiancing performed at Alencon by the bishop of 
 Seez — Second protest of the princess — Arrival of queen Marguerite 
 with the princess Jeanne at Chatellerault, and ceremony of Jeanne's 
 marriage with the duke of Cleves — Fetes given on the occasion — 
 Jeanne retires with her mother to Pau — Her pursuits — Contest of 
 the duke of Cleves with the emperor Charles V. — Issue of the war — 
 Francis prepares to succour the duke — He summons the princess to 
 the camp in order to present her to her consort — Passionate grief 
 evinced by the princess Jeanne at this command — Her arrival at Sois- 
 sons — The duke of Cleves renounces his alliance with Francis I., and 
 makes peace with the emperor — Terms of his treaty with Charles V. 
 — The journey of the princess arrested by command of the king — 
 She retires to Fontainebleau — Francis decrees the dissolution of the 
 marriage between the duke of Cleves and his niece — Suit made to 
 Borne for the purpose — The duke of Cleves petitions pope Paul III. 
 to grant a divorce — A third protest made by the princess at Alencon
 
 n CONTENTS. 
 
 — Her favour with Francis I. — She becomes one of the sponsors of 
 the princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the dauphin Henry — Jeanne 
 quits the court, and repairs to Plessis-les-Tours — Her fourth and final 
 protest against her marriage with the duke of Cleves — Ceremonial 
 observed on the occasion — Dissolution of the marriage between the 
 duke of Cleves and the princess is pronounced by the pope, and re- 
 gistered by the parliament of Paris 1 — 32 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Death of Francis I. — The princess Jeanne holds mourning state at 
 Mont de Marsan — Changes at court — Henry II.— Diane de Poitiers 
 — Catherine de Medici — The prince of Spain renews his suit for the 
 hand of Jeanne d'Albret — Desire of the emperor Charles V. to nego- 
 tiate this alliance — The project is opposed by the king of Prance — 
 Departure of Jeanne for Pontainebleau — Profusion of the princess — 
 Her letter to the chancellor of Alencon — The dukes de Vendome and 
 de Guise become suitors for her hand — Character of Antoine de 
 Bourbon — The duke de Guise — King Henry supports the suit of the 
 duke de Guise— Reply made to the king by Jeanne d'Albret — Mar- 
 riage of the princess Jeanne with the duke de Vendome — Her mar- 
 riage articles— She visits Beam — She is acknowledged by the states 
 of Beam as heiress presumptive to the principality — Death of queen 
 Marguerite — Affliction of the princess — Her love of study — Her 
 despondency at her want of offspring — Negotiation for the marriage 
 of the kingr of Navarre with the infanta Juana of Spain — Pregnancy 
 of Jeanne d'Albret — Her correspondence with the duchess de Guise — 
 Birth of the duke de Beaumont — The baillive d'Orleans is appointed 
 goiivernante to the infant prince — Her injurious treatment of the 
 prince — His decease — Birth of the count de Marie — Journey of the 
 princess into Beam — Joy of the king of Navarre — Accident which 
 befell the infant prince at Mont de Marsan — His death — Anger of the 
 king — His reproaches to his daughter— Engagement exacted by the 
 states of Beam from the duke and duchess de Vendome — Their de- 
 parture from Beam — Jeanne takes up her abode at the castle of La 
 Fleche — Her correspondence with the duchess de Guise — Her third 
 pregnancy — Departure of the duchess de Vendome for the camp in 
 Picardy — Accident which happened to her there — A deputation from 
 the states of Beam waits on the princess Jeanne — She receives the 
 envoys at Compiegne — Her journey into Beam — Birth of Henry IV. 
 — Incidents connected with that event — The king of Navarre takes 
 the sole charge of the infant prince — His treatment of the babe — He 
 presents the child to the nobles of Beam and Foix — The king con- 
 fides his infant heir to the care of Jeanne Fourcade — Baptism of the 
 prince — Convalescence of the duchess de Vendome — She returns 
 into France — Her meeting with the duke de Vendome at Estree-au- 
 Pont — She retires to the castle of Brenne — Correspondence of the 
 princess with the duchess de Montmorency — Decease of the king of 
 Navarre 33—61
 
 CONTENTS. vii 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Arrival of Antoine de Bourbon at Baran — Jeanne causes him to be pro- 
 claimed king of Navarre — He is summoned to St Germain — Designs 
 of the French cabinet relative to Beam — Deportment of the king of 
 Navarre — His reply to the demands proposed to him — Queen Jeanne 
 is compelled to visit the court — Her deportment — Measures which 
 she adopts to defeat the designs of the king of France — Nominates 
 the baron d'Arros military governor of Bearn — Treachery of the 
 chancellor of Navarre — Politic conduct of the baron d'Arros — He 
 defeats the conspiracy to surrender Beam to the king of France — 
 Arrival of Jeanne and Antoine at Pau — Their enthusiastic reception 
 — Jeanne's reply to king Henry's commissioners — Coronation of the 
 king and queen of Navarre — They issue a new coinage — Antoine 
 favours the Reformation — State of religion throughout France — The 
 court — Correspondence of Jeanne d'Albret with the viscount de 
 Gourdon — Antoine's imprudent conduct — Letter of remonstrance is 
 addressed to the queen by the cardinal dArmagnac — The queen 
 assumes the sole administration of affairs — She resolves to visit the 
 court of France — Letter addressed to the sovereigns of Beam by 
 Henry II. — Jeanne appoints the cardinal dArmagnac governor of 
 Beam during her absence — Fetes given at La Rochelle to the sove- 
 reigns — Their arrival in Paiis — Antoine releases from the Chatelet a 
 gentleman of the train of the marechale de St Andre — Anger of the 
 king of France — His reception of the sovereigns of Navarre — Regard 
 shown by king Henry for the young prince of Navarre — His future 
 marriage with Marguerite de Valois is proposed — Satisfaction evinced 
 by Antoine and Jeanne at this design — Queen Jeanne announces the 
 alliance to the senechale of Poitou — Power of the house of Guise — 
 Departure of the sovereigns of Navarre from the court of France — 
 Birth of the princess Madelaine — Decease of the infant princess — 
 Battle of St Quentin — The duke de Guise declared lieutenant-general 
 of the kingdom — His conquests — Demands the immediate solemniza- 
 tion of the marriage between the dauphin and Mary Stuart — Opposi- 
 tion of queen Catherine to this project — The marriage is celebrated 
 in the presence of the king and queen of Navarre and the court of 
 France — La Guerre Mouillee — Peace of Cateau Cambresis — League 
 of Peronne — Marriage festivities of madame Claude with the duke 
 de Lorraine — Birth of the princess Catherine de Bourbon — Cor- 
 respondence of queen Jeanne with the constable de Montmorency — 
 Return of Jeanne and Antoine to Pau — Death of Henry II. king of 
 France 62—92 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The king of Navarre is summoned to the capital by the constable de 
 Montmorency — His vacillations and delays — Counsel given to An- 
 toine by queen Jeanne — The king's favourites oppose his departure
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 for the court — Nature of their insinuations — The princes of Guise 
 possess themselves of the government — King Francis II. and his 
 mother retire to the Louvre — Position of Catherine de Medici — Her 
 designs — Triumph of the house of Lorraine — Catherine countenances 
 their projects — Departure of the king of Navarre from Nerac — His 
 dilatory progress towards the capital — He is joined at Vendome by 
 the chiefs of the Huguenot party — He arrives in Paris — Proceeds to 
 St Germain — His contemptuous reception by the king and queen 
 Catherine — His interview with Catherine — Conduct of the princes of 
 Guise — Antoine retires from court — He visits the tomb of the late 
 king Henry II. at St Denis — He is joined by Conde — Interview of 
 the princes with Throckmorton, the English ambassador — Message 
 sent to king Antoine by Elizabeth, queen of England — His reply — 
 The princes receive a command to attend Francis II. to Rheims for 
 the ceremony of the king's coronation — Letter of the cardinal de 
 Bourbon to the duchess de Nevers — Menaces of the king of Spain 
 — Their effect upon Antoine — He accepts the mission of conducting 
 the queen of Spain to the frontier — Perilous position of the queeu of 
 Navarre — Design of the cardinal de Lorraine to cede the fortress of 
 Bayonne to the Spanish crown — The queen retires to Navarreins — ■ 
 She joins king Antoine at Bordeaux — Jeanne takes precedence of the 
 queen of Spain when within the limits of the principality of Beam — 
 Embassy ot the baron d'Audaux to Toledo — Correspondence of An- 
 toine de Bourbon with the king of Spain — Philip's supercilious reply 
 — Ardent love of study displayed by queen Jeanne — Mission of the 
 cardinal d'Armagnac into Beam — His reception by Jeanne d'Albret — 
 He orders the arrest of the minister Barran — The queen of Navarre 
 directs Barran's liberation — Despotic proceedings of the French go- 
 vernment — Conspiracy of Amboise — Conde is implicated in the de- 
 signs of the conspirators — He is examined before the council — He 
 retires to Nerac — The king of Navarre is summoned to attend the 
 states-general assembled at Orleans— Correspondence of Francis II. 
 with the king of Navarre — Counsel given to king Antoine by his 
 consort — Jeanne feels distrust of the machinations of the house of 
 Lorraine — The princess de Conde entreats her husband to refuse 
 obedience to the summons of the court — The king of Navarre deter- 
 mines to proceed to Orleans — Letter written by queen Jeanne to 
 Montmorency — The queen refuses to accompany her consort — She 
 makes a progress throughout Beam — Jeanne sends an embassy to 
 Borne — Her defence is espoused by cardinal Muret — His harangue 
 before the consistory — Pius IV. consents to receive queeu Jeanne's 
 letter — Intrigues of queen Catherine — Her letter to the constable — ■ 
 Arrival of the king of Navarre at Limoges — He receives deputies 
 from the reformed churches of France — His interview with the car- 
 dinal d'Armagnac — His reply to the deputation — Antoine's letter to 
 Catherine de Medici — His repulse from Poitiers — The king of Navarre 
 retires to Lusignan — Remonstrance of queen Catherine — She sends 
 the marshal de Termes to encourage the princes to proceed on their 
 journey to Orleans — Her message to the princess de Conde — The 
 queen of Navarre receives orders to arrest the Lutheran ministers of
 
 CONTENTS. ix 
 
 her principality — Her refusal to obey — She retires to Navarreins — 
 Her employment when there — Entry of Francis II. into the town of 
 Orleans — Numerous arrests made by command of the king — Arrival 
 of the princes — Arrest of Conde — His condemnation to death — Inso- 
 lent demeanour of the Guises towards the king of Navarre — Conduct 
 of Catherine de Medici — Project to assassinate the king of Navarre 
 — Catherine sends Antoine information of the plot — His brave de- 
 portment — Message to queen Jeanne — Illness of Francis II. — Cathe- 
 rine proposes to the king of Navarre to renounce his pretensions to 
 the regency — Assent of king Antoine to the proposal — Decease of 
 Francis II. — Changes at court — Antoine de Bourbon summons his 
 consort to join him at St Germain — Jeanne confides the care of the 
 principality to the baron d'Arros and the cardinal d'Armagnac — She 
 proceeds to the castle of Nerac with her children . . 92 — 128 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Queen Jeanne makes public avowal of her religion — Her distrust of the 
 sincerity of the court — She makes donations to the Lutheran church 
 within her dominions — Jeanne receives missives from Catherine de 
 Medici — Queen Catherine proposes the betrothment of the princess 
 of Navarre with the duke d'Anjou — Deportment of the king of Na- 
 varre — His intrigue with mademoiselle de Rouet — Queen Jeanne 
 liberates the minister Brassier — Arrival of the queen in Paris — In- 
 trigues of the Spanish ambassador, and of the Papal nuncio — Their 
 designs against Jeanne d'Albret — Correspondence of Chantonnay, the 
 Spanish ambassador— Jeanne takes up her abode in the hotel de 
 Conde — The king and queen of Navarre entertain the Danish ambas- 
 sador — They remove from Paris to St Germain — Conference between 
 Theodore de Beze and the cardinal de Lorraine — Caution of queen 
 Catherine's proceedings — The last session of the states-general — 
 Feud between the princes and the prelates of the realm — Discourse 
 of queen Catherine to the assembly — Harangue of the queen of Na- 
 varre — Conferences of Poissy — Arrival of the cardinal Hippolyte 
 d'Este — His mission — The sovereigns of Navarre are present at the 
 nuptials of the viscount de Rohan — Complimentary deportment of 
 the cardinal of Ferrara towards Jeanne d'Albret — King Antoine's 
 servile compliance with the suggestions of the Spanish ambassador — 
 Prudent conduct of queen Jeanne — Return of her ambassador from 
 Spain — Answer of Philip II. to the demands of Jeanne d'Albret — His 
 private message to king Antoine — Chantonnay proposes to Antoine 
 de Bourbon the divorce of his consort — Proposes an alliance between 
 Mary Stuart and the king of Navarre — Coldness between Catherine 
 de Medici and Jeanne d'Albret — Its occasion — Personal appearance 
 of the king of Navarre and his consort. Antoine attempts to compel 
 his consort to attend mass — Her refusal — Menaces her with divorce 
 — Her indignant reply — Her grief — Intrigues of Chantonnay — Nego- 
 tiation for exchanging the claims of the house of Albret upon Upper 
 Navarre for the island of Sardinia — Indignation of queen Jeanne —
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 Coalition between Montmorency, the king of Navarre, and the duke 
 de Guise — Objects of the Triumvirate — Correspondence of queen 
 Jeanne with the viscount de Gourdon — Catherine de Medici exhorts 
 Jeanne to be reconciled to her husband, by changing her faith — Reply 
 made by the queen — Assumptions of Chantonnay, the Spanish ambas- 
 sador — Departure of Coligny, and the chiefs of the reformed party 
 from Paris — Disturbed condition of the kingdom — Turbulent pro- 
 ceedings of the Triumvirate — Departure of Catherine with her son 
 for Fontainebleau — Jeanne demands permission to depart — Project for 
 her arrest — She intimates her danger to Conde — Visits her son at St 
 Germain — Her resolute deportment — She departs from Paris — Her 
 arrival at Vendome — She continues her journey to Chatellerault — 
 Her sojourn at Duras — Receives ambassadors from Guyenne — Her 
 illness — She despatches envoys to mediate between the Protestants 
 and the marshal de Montluc — Restores the count de Condale his 
 liberty — Project of Montluc to surprise the queen at Caumont — Her 
 flight across the frontier — Proceedings of the Triumvirate— Politic 
 deportment of Catherine de Medici— Her letters to Conde — Despatch 
 of one of Catherine's secretaries to the Prench ambassador at Madrid 
 — Unpopularity of the king of Navarre — His conduct satirized in 
 ballads and lampoons — Indignation felt by the public at his desertion 
 of his consort . . . . 12S — 168 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Position of the queen of Navarre after her return into Beam — Jeanne 
 makes her entry into Pau — Progress of the reformation in Beam — 
 Illness of the prince of Navarre — Letter of queen Jeanne to Catherine 
 de Medici — The parliament of Paris decrees the penalties of treason 
 to the Huguenot leaders — The prince de Conde is exempted there- 
 from — Queen Jeanne publishes letters-patent, permitting the exercise 
 of the reformed faith throughout her dominions — She augments the 
 fortifications of Beam — Anger of Antoine de Bourbon — He despatches 
 his secretary Boulogne into Beam — Boulogne's errand — The queen 
 orders Boulogne's arrest and imprisonment — The name of the king 
 of Navarre is omitted in the prayers used by the reformed churches — 
 Queen Jeanne remonstrates against this omission — Reply sent to the 
 queen by Theodore de Beze — The king of Navarre is wounded at the 
 siege of Rouen — Particulars relating to his illness and death — His 
 funeral obsequies — Grief of the queen — She retires to Orthez — Re- 
 ceives letters of condolence from the prince and princess de Conde 
 and others — Jeanne nominates the viscount de Rohan to be lieutenant- 
 general of Beam — She issues a medal — Battle of Dreux — Submission 
 of the towns captured by the Huguenots to the government — Siege of 
 Orleans — Assassination of the duke de Guise — The admiral de Cofigny 
 is accused of the crime — His defence — Anecdote of queen Jeanne — 
 The king of Spain nominates an ambassador to the court of Pau — 
 His mission — Proposes an alliance between Jeanne d'Albret and Don 
 Carlos, prince of the Asturias, or with Don John of Austria — Deport-
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 ment of the queen — Correspondence of the Spanish envoys — The 
 queen issues letters-patent interdicting the Romish faith throughout 
 her dominions — She confiscates the temporalities of the clergy — She 
 burns the images, and confiscates the treasures at Lescar — Corre- 
 spondence of the ambassador d'Escurra with Philip's secretary of state, 
 Erasso — Tumults at Lescar and Morlas — Interview of queen Jeanne 
 with Escurra — Details of the audience — Queen Jeanne sends to Geneva 
 for the minister Merlin — Her letter to Jansana — The bishop of Lescar 
 is reprimanded by the cardinal d'Armagnac — His letter to the queen 
 of Navarre — Its effect — Jeanne's reply — Designs of king Philip and 
 the pope respecting the queen of Navarre . . . . 169 — 216 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Queen Jeanne convokes a synod at Pau — Measures of the court of 
 Rome — Apathy displayed by Conde — Broils of the court — Designs 
 of the pope — Seven Gallican bishops cited before the tribunal of the 
 Inquisition — The pope publishes the Bull of excommunication against 
 Jeanne d'Albret — Queen Jeanne appeals to Catherine de Medici — 
 Discontent universally felt at the act of pope Pius — The queen-regent 
 promises her support to the queen of Navarre — She sends a menacing 
 letter to Rome — Pius revokes his censure against the prelates — He 
 refuses to absolve Jeanne d'Albret — The pope consents finally to the 
 virtual abrogation of his bull — Project to declare the marriage con- 
 tracted between Jeanne d'Albret and Antoine de Bourbon illegal, is 
 discussed by the courts of Rome and Spain — Attitude of the French 
 ambassador — Politic deportment of Catherine de Medici — Rebellion 
 in Lower Navarre — Queen Jeanne's sovereign rights over Beam are 
 disallowed by the parliaments of Bordeaux and Toulouse — The queen 
 resolves to visit the court of France — Her letter to Montmorency — 
 She appoints the count de Grammont governor of B6arn — Arrival of 
 the queen at Vendome — Her suite — She pleads her cause before the 
 parliament of Paris — Decision of the court in favour of the queen's 
 sovereignty — Erancoise de Rohan — -The duke de Nemours — The 
 queen arrives at Macon — Her enthusiastic reception — Her reply to 
 the address of the Maconnois — Displeasure of queen Catherine— The 
 king sends a message to the queen of Navarre — Her ministers are in- 
 terdicted from preaching — Procession of the court during the festival 
 of Corpus Christi — Jeanne accompanies the king to Lyons — Decease 
 of the princess de Conde — The queen of Navarre retires to Vendome 
 — Conspiracy to deliver her to the Inquisition in Spain — Details of 
 the plot — She returns to Pau — Mission of Dimanche into Spain — 
 Queen of Spain communicates Jeanue's danger to the French ambas- 
 sador — The queen of Navarre retires to Navarreins — Her appeal to 
 the French government — Its result — Violent measures of the Inquisi- 
 tion — Political position of the French court — The league of Peronne 
 — Conferences of Bayonne 216 — 250
 
 su CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Queen Jeanne entertains Charles IX. at Nerac — The queen accompanies 
 the court to Moulins — Her visit to Vendoine — Panic with which her 
 presence inspires Miron, governor of Vendome — His letter to the 
 duke de Montpensier — The queen gains a suit against the cardinal de 
 Bourbon — She visits the printing establishment of the Etiennes — Im- 
 promptu composed by Jeanne d'Albret on this occasion— Reply sent 
 to the queen by Henri Etienne — Revolt of the inhabitants of Pamiers 
 — Insurrection is suppressed by the count de Rambouillet — The 
 Bearnnois send a deputation to the queen at Paris — Its object — Let- 
 ters-patent issued by queen Jeanne, July, ]5G6 — The queen visits La 
 Eere — She requests permission to take her son — Displeasure of queen 
 Catherine — Her parting words to Jeanne d'Albret — The queen de- 
 parts for La Eere — She visits the castles of Beaumont and la Eleche 
 — League formed in Beam by the Roman Catholic prelates to resist 
 the execution of Jeanne's letters-patent — Return of the queen to Pau 
 — Conspiracy of the barons — Its progress — Sanctioned by the court 
 of Erance — Jeanne convokes the states-general of Eoix, Beam, and 
 Navarre — Contumacious deportment of the assembly — They demand 
 the repeal of the letters-patent — The queen refuses their petition — 
 The assembly demands its dismissal — Edicts published by the queen 
 regulating matters of religion — Marriage of the count de Guiche with 
 Corisande d'Andouins — Correspondence of Jeanne with Charles IX. — 
 Her letters to the viscount de Gourdon — Renewal of the civil war in 
 Erance — Jeanne retires to Pau — Scandal current respecting queen 
 Jeanne — Condition of the country — Battle of St Denis — Conde be- 
 sieges Chartres — Catherine tenders an offer of peace, which is ac- 
 cepted by Conde — Terms of the peace of Chartres — The inhabitants 
 of La Rochelle refuse to make submission to Charles IX. — The in- 
 surgent barons of Beam request the intercession of Catherine de 
 Medici — The queen sends Fenelon to intercede on their behalf — Reply 
 of the queeu of Navarre to the ambassador's suit — The barons sur- 
 render themselves — Their audience of queen Jeanne — Jeanne sends a 
 gentleman of her chamber to king Charles with suggestions for a 
 permanent peace — She assembles the states of her principality — Their 
 loyal deportment — Catherine de Medici attempts to surprise Conde 
 and the insurgent leaders — Plight of Conde from Noyers — Its conse- 
 quences — Commencement of the third civil contest — Plot discovered 
 by the queen of Navarre for the abduction of the prince of Navarre — ■ 
 Jeanne determines to espouse the cause of the princes — She repairs 
 to Nerac — Correspondence with the marshal de Montluc — Her in- 
 terview with Fenelon — Her letter to the viscount de Gourdon — 
 Her flight from Nerac — Her journey and safe arrival at Bergerac 
 — Montluc pursues the queen — Jeanne's letter to Charles IX. — 
 Her letters to the cardinal de Bourbon and to queen Catherine — 
 Edict issued by the king, totally suppressing the reformed worship 
 throughout Erance — Procession of the court to Notre Dame de Paris 
 — Queen Jeanne proceeds to Archiac — Her meeting with Conde and
 
 CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 the confederate barons — Entry of the queen of Navarre into La 
 Rochelle 250— 2S9 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Queen Jeanne grants audience to the municipality of La Rochelle — 
 Speech of prince Henry — His popularity — Anecdote of the young 
 prince — Fac-simile of his handwriting — Jeanne presides at a council 
 of state — Conde is proclaimed generalissimo of the Huguenot forces 
 — The queen undertakes the government of La Rochelle, and the 
 management of the finances of the confederate princes — She sends an 
 embassage to queen Elizabeth — Her letter — Elizabeth's reply— She 
 presents queen Jeanne with a subsidy — Rapid progress of the Hu- 
 
 fuenot arms — Renewed revolt of the barons of Beam — Decree issued 
 y the king of France, confiscating the principality of Beam, with its 
 dependencies — Military measures adopted by Jeanne d'Albret for the 
 suppression of the revolt — The army of the Viscounts — Catherine 
 makes overtures of peace to Conde — She despatches Portal to the 
 camp — Conde's reply — Jeanne's letter to Catherine de Medici — Pro- 
 gress of hostilities — Battle of Jaraac — Death of Conde — Coligny 
 effects his retreat to St Jean d'Angely — Grief of the army — Queen 
 Jeanne arrives in the camp, with the prince of Navarre and Conde's 
 son — Her oration to the army — Its enthusiasm — Prince Henry is pro- 
 claimed general-in-chief, under the guidance of Coligny — Te Deum 
 chanted in Paris for the victory of Jarnac — Jeanne applies to queen 
 Elizabeth for aid — Her letter to the queen — Correspondence of Jeanne 
 d'Albret with Marie de Cleves — Advance of the duke de Deux-Ponts 
 — Junction of the German levies with the forces of the confederates — 
 Troubles in Beam — Jeanne nominates Montgommery her lieutenant- 
 general — Entry of Terride into Beam — He subjugates the whole of 
 Beam — Siege of Navarreins — March of Montgommery into the princi- 
 pality — His successful progress — Joined by the army of the Viscounts 
 — Combat at La Roche Abeille — Decrees issued by the parliament of 
 Paris, setting a price upon the Admiral's head — The queen of Na- 
 varre, her son, and Conde are specially exempted from the decree, by 
 command of king Charles — Storm and sack of the town of Orthez — 
 Montgommery takes the revolted barons prisoners — He marches upon 
 Pau — Flight of de Navailles, its governor — His assassination — Trans- 
 port of the people of Beam on receiving queen Jeanne's lieutenant — 
 Montgommery re-establishes the council of state — Death of the six 
 barons is resolved upon — Their execution — The whole of the terri- 
 tories of the queen of Navarre submit to her lieutenant-general, the 
 count de Montgommery 290 — 323 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Measures adopted by Montgommery in Beam — His summons to the in- 
 habitants of Lower Navarre — Their submission — Arrest of Bassillon
 
 X1Y CONTENTS. 
 
 —His assassination— Battle of Moncontour— Coligny is wounded— 
 Arrival of queen Jeanne at Niort— Her defence of Coligny— Holds a 
 council of war — Jeanne proposes a plan of campaign — Dissensions of 
 the court— The queen returns to La Rochelle— She causes the New, 
 Testament to be translated in the Basque dialect— Plot to surprise 
 La Rochelle— Revolt of the town of Tarbes— Its bloody suppression 
 by Montamar— The queen publishes an edict, banishing Roman Ca- 
 tholic ecclesiastics from her dominions— The Romish faith is re- 
 nounced by the majority of the queen's subjects at Beam— Capitula- 
 tion of St Jean d'An'gely— Discontent of the French nobles— Catherine 
 despatches Castelnau to the queen of Navarre with propositions for 
 peace — Jeanne's cautious reply — She despatches a courier to the camp 
 of the princes— Articles of peace are forwarded by the queen and 
 princes for the assent of king Charles— Jeanne's embassy to the court 
 of France— Charles rejects the demands of the princes— He proposes 
 other terms of peace— Second embassage sent by Jeanne to the court 
 —Mission of the marshal de Biron to La Rochelle— Catherine medi- 
 ates in favour of the baron de Luxe— Letter of Lansac to queen 
 Catherine — Jeanne refuses to pardon the baron, or to reverse his at- 
 tainder—Victory gained by La Noue at Ste Gemme— La Noue is 
 dangerously wounded — He suffers amputation of the arm at the prayer 
 of the queen — Jeanne's courageous deportment — She is in danger of 
 being captured by the king's lieutenant, Puy Gailliard— Progress of 
 the campaign— Discontent of Charles IX.— His anger against his 
 mother and his brother— Catherine finds herself compelled to make 
 renewed overtures for peace — She nominates ambassadors to sign a 
 peace at St Germain— Its articles— The peace proclaimed at La Ro- 
 chelle in presence of the queen— Public distrust and despondency- 
 Anxieties of the queen of Navarre— She refuses to visit the court— 
 Her letter to Charles IX.— Menacing deportment of the Huguenot 
 leaders— Catherine invites the queen of Navarre to visit the court, 
 on the occasion of the king's marriage festivities — Jeanne declines 
 the honour— Embassage of Cosse to La Rochelle— His proposals- 
 Marriage proposed between the prince of Navarre and Marguerite de 
 Valois— Reply of queen Jeanne— She nominates envoys to proceed to 
 the court— Charles's gracious deportment and assurances— He sanc- 
 tions the holding of a Synod of ministers at La Rochelle— Marriage 
 of Coligny— Incidents connected with that event— Jeanne presides at 
 the Synod— Its acts— She publishes the New Testament in the Basque 
 dialect— Embassy of the marshal de Biron— Negotiations for the mar- 
 riage between the prince of Navarre and madame Marguerite — 
 Jeanne's excessive disinclination to negotiate this alliance— Her ex- 
 cuses and procrastination — Remonstrances of the ambassador— De- 
 tails of the interview— Coligny is invited by the king to repair to 
 court— His decision— Remonstrances of queen Jeanne and the princes 
 —His honourable reception by king Charles and restoration to his 
 dignities and offices— Departure of Jeanne d'Albret from La Rochelle 
 forPa'u 323-354
 
 CONTENTS. xv 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 Rumours of the alliance between Henry and Marguerite at court — Its 
 reception by the princess Marguerite — Her aversion to the proposal 
 — Beauty of Marguerite de Valois — Her portraits — Details of her 
 attachment to the duke de Guise — Marriage of the duke with the 
 princesse de Porcien — Illness of Marguerite — Her resentment — Pro- 
 gress of the queen of Navarre through her dominions — Her entry 
 into Pau— Revises her code of laws — Her correspondence with the 
 viscount de Gourdon — She constructs the chateau de Castel-Beziat 
 for her daughter, madame Catherine — Attitude of the French court — ■ 
 Correspondence of the queen with Coliguy — Arrival of the marshal de 
 Biron on a special embassy to Pau — Renewed discussions on the union 
 of Henry and Marguerite — Queen Jeanne refers the matter to her 
 council of state — Decision of the council — Grief of the queen of Na- 
 varre on giving her assent to the marriage — Her letter to king Charles 
 — She journeys to Nerac — Summons the nobility of Foix, Beam, and 
 Navarre to a conference at Nerac — Her advice to her son — She re- 
 ceives the allegiance of her subjects of Lectoure — Queen Jeanne bids 
 farewell to her son — Her distress and anxiety of mind — She proceeds 
 to Blois — Her suite — She sojourns at Biron — Her letter to the prince 
 of Navarre — Her meeting at Vendome with the legate Alexandrini — 
 Deportment of Charles IX. — Dissensions between the king, and his 
 mother, and brother — Queen Jeanne sojourns at Tours until after the 
 departure of the legate — Is visited by queen Catherine and the court 
 — Negotiations on the marriage — Catherine's demands are rejected by 
 the queen of Navarre — Correspondence with the prince of Navarre — 
 Gracious deportment of Marguerite de Valois — Correspondence of 
 Jeanne with the baron de Beauvoir and others — Her letter to the 
 prince of Navarre — Fac-simile of the handwriting of Jeanne d'Albret 
 — The queen journeys to Blois — Her cordial reception by king Charles 
 — Details of her interview with the king — Insulting demeanour of 
 Catherine de Medici — Her insincerity in the negotiation — Her de- 
 mands — Resolute deportment of the queen of Navarre — Jeanne's 
 letter to her son — Her complaints of the court — Her anger at the 
 treatment to which she is subjected — She intimates to the queen- 
 mother her intention to arrest the journey of the prince, her son, to 
 the court — Anger of Catherine de Medici — Her instructions to the 
 prince of Navarre — Henry's love and confidence in his mother — He 
 returns to Pau — Resumption of the negotiation — The king forbids his 
 mother to interfere more in the affairs — Deputies are nominated to 
 discuss the marriage articles — Jeanne's interview with queen Eliza- 
 beth's ambassadors — Her perplexity — The king and queen-mother 
 continue to urge the presence of the prince of Navarre at Blois — 
 Jeanne steadily refuses her assent to the journey of the prince — De- 
 liberation of the deputies — Catherine still continues to influence the 
 proceedings — Displeasure of the king — He suddenly resolves to be- 
 stow his sister upon Henry without conditions, provided that the 
 prince of Navarre repairs to court to espouse Marguerite — Reluctant
 
 xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 assent given by Jeanne d'Albret — Ai - ticles of the marriage contract 
 between Henry and Marguerite — The cardinal de Lorraine applies 
 to Rome for a dispensation authorizing the marriage — Refusal of 
 Pius V. to sanction the union — Rage of the king — He refuses per- 
 mission to the queen of Navarre to retire to Vendome pending 
 the negotiation with the Holy See— Failing health of the queen of 
 Navarre 354—390 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Letter sent to queen Elizabeth by the queen of Navarre — Illness of the 
 princess Catherine of Navarre — Distress of queen Jeanne — She inter- 
 cedes for Charlotte de Bourbon, abbess de Jouarre — Arrival of the 
 dispensation authorizing the marriage between Henry and Marguerite 
 — Queen Jeanne summons her son — She consults the Calvinist minis- 
 ters on the ceremonial to be observed at the nuptial ceremony — She 
 departs from Blois — Her sojourn at Vendome — Her correspondence 
 with mademoiselle de Bourbon — Arrival of the queen in Paris — She 
 takes up her abode in the Hotel de Conde — Failing condition of her 
 health — Her occupations — Her illness — Nature of the queen's malady 
 — Her resignation— Her last interviews with Coligny and others — 
 Her message to her daughter — Death of Jeanne d'Albret — Her de- 
 cease supposed to have been occasioned by poison — Examination of 
 her remains — Its result — Ceremony of her lying in state — Funeral 
 obsequies of queen Jeanne — The intelligence of his mother's death 
 reaches prince Henry at Chaunay — Illness of the king of Navarre — 
 Epitaph and tomb of the queen of Navarre in the cathedral church of 
 Vendome — Homage rendered to the memory of Jeanne d'Albret — 
 Eulogiums on her character and virtues — Epigram composed in her 
 honour — Bequests made by queen Jeanne in her will — Her device and 
 motto — Her benefactions — Portraits of the queen of Navarre — Con- 
 sternation occasioned by her decease — Deportment of Coligny and the 
 Huguenot chieftains — Arrival of the king of Navarre in Paris — Mar- 
 riage of Henry and Marguerite — Attempted assassination of the ad- 
 miral de Coligny — The massacre of St Bartholomew — Letter of the 
 cardinal de Lorraine to Charles IX 390 — 416
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 1528—1545. 
 
 Birth of Jeanne d'Albret — Baptism of the princess — Her sponsors — The bail- 
 live de Caen appointed governess to the princess — Her education — Favour 
 shown towards Jeanne by Francis I.- — Affection of the princess for her uncle 
 — Departure of the king and queen of Navarre into Beam — Refusal of 
 Francis to permit the princess Jeanne to accompany her parents — The king's 
 reasons for that act — King Francis announces his intention to betroth the 
 princess Jeanne to the duke of Orleans — Establishment of the princess at 
 Plessis-les-Tours — Details respecting her household— Character of Jeanne 
 d'Albret— Illness of the princess — Fraucoise de Rohan — Melancholy of the 
 princess— Her aversion to Plessis — Arrival of the duke of Cleves at the 
 court of France — Francis designs to wed the princess to the duke — Her dis- 
 approval of the project — She quits Plessis — Her haughty reception of the 
 duke of Cleves — Arrival of the princess at Alencjon — Anger of queen Mar- 
 guerite at her daughter's conduct — Francis commands the solemnization of 
 the betrothment — Protest of the princess Jeanne — Ceremony of the affiancing 
 performed at Alem;on by the bishop of Seez- — Second protest of the princess — 
 Arrival of queen Marguerite with the princess Jeanne at Chatellerault, and cere- 
 mony of Jeanne's marriage with the duke of Cleves — Fetes given on the 
 occasion — Jeanne retires with her mother to Pau — Her pursuits — Contest of 
 the duke of Cleves with the emperor Charles V. — Issue of the war — Francis 
 prepares to succour the duke — He summons the princess to the camp in 
 order to present her to her consort — Passionate grief evinced by the princess 
 Jeanne at this command — Her arrival at Soissons — The duke of Cleves re- 
 nounces his alliance with Francis I., and makes peace with the emperor — 
 Terms of his treaty with Charles V. — The journey of the princess arrested 
 by command of the king — She retires to Fontainebleau — Francis decrees the 
 dissolution of the marriage between the duke of Cleves and his niece — Suit 
 made to Rome for the purpose — The duke of Cleves petitions Pope Paul 
 III. to grant a divorce — A third protest made by the princess at Alen^on — 
 Her favour with Francis I. — She becomes one of the sponsors of the princess 
 Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the dauphin Henry — Jeanne quits the court, 
 and repairs to Plessis-les-Tours — Her fourth and final protest against her 
 marriage with the duke of Cleves— Ceremonial observed on the occasion — 
 Dissolution of the marriage between the duke of Cleves and the princess is 
 pronounced by the Dope, and registered by the parliament of Paris. 
 
 1
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 Jeanne d'Aleeet was born in the palace of Fontainebleau 
 on the 7th day of January, 1528. 
 
 She was the eldest child of Henry II., King of Navarre, 
 and of Marguerite d' Angouleme, sister of Francis I., King of 
 France. At the period of Jeanne's birth, Marguerite was re- 
 siding at Fontainebleau with her mother, Louise de Savoye 
 duchesse d' Angouleme, the king of Navarre being absent from 
 his consort, on pressing affairs connected with the levying of 
 finances in the duchy of Berry, for the government of his 
 brother-in-law, king Francis. Throughout the period of her 
 pregnancy the health of Marguerite occasioned serious alarm 
 to her royal relatives ; and her depression of spirits defeated 
 the unremitting endeavours of her physician, the learned Maitre 
 Jehan Groinret, to afford her alleviation. 
 
 Queen Marguerite's anxiety was occasioned by her un- 
 avoidable separation from her brother ; and by her distress at 
 the adverse condition of public affairs, when her own failing 
 health prevented her from offering to the king that political 
 aid and consolation which the attachment subsisting between 
 them prompted. At the time when the birth of Marguerite's 
 infant was expected, the armies of Francis in league with 
 Henry VIII. king of England, and with pope Clement VII., 
 were ravaging Italy. The treaty of Madrid — that most unjust 
 and arbitrary of compacts — not meeting with implicit accept- 
 ance by Francis and his people, on the king's return from cap- 
 tivity in 1526, the emperor Charles V. had angrily rejected 
 compromise ; and, detaining in rigorous captivity the young 
 dauphin and his brother the duke of Orleans, again commenced 
 an exterminating warfare on the plains of Italy, in opposition 
 to the armies of the League, fighting under the French and 
 Papal banners. 
 
 Constant was the correspondence maintained at this time 
 between the royal brother and sister, both in prose and in 
 verse. 1 Marguerite cherished the hope that Francis would 
 find leisure to quit Paris, and the political conferences which 
 so greatly absorbed him, in time to receive her expected babe 
 at its birth. 
 
 A few days only before her accouchement, the queen wrote 
 thus to her brother : — " I assure you, Monseigneur, that the 
 fear I feel at the result of my approaching trial — which I dread 
 as much as, for many reasons, I earnestly desire it — is almost 
 converted into certain hope, seeing that my sorrow so affects 
 you, that to relieve it, you would even sacrifice the health so 
 
 1 Life of Marguerite d' Angouleme, queen of Navarre, vol. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 3 
 
 dear to me ; and in comparison of which I esteem my life as 
 nothing : nor can I endure pain so great as that which would 
 befall me, did any harm happen to you. I hope, nevertheless, 
 that God will permit me to see you before my hour arrives : 
 but if this happiness is not to be mine, I will cause your letter 
 to be read to me, instead of the life of Sainte Marguerite ; as, 
 being written by your hand, it will not fail to inspire me with 
 courage. I cannot, however, believe that my child will pre- 
 sume to be born without your command ; to the last, therefore, 
 I shall eagerly expect your much desired arrival." l The pres- 
 sure of public aft'airs permitted not the king's absence from 
 Paris : he, however, despatched Goinret and his first physician, 
 Noel Barnard, to remain with his sister until she was conva- 
 lescent : both of these learned doctors were in attendance on 
 Francis himself whose health, since his illness at Madrid, had 
 never recovered vigour. On Tuesday, January 7th, queen 
 Marguerite was safely delivered of a daughter, in the presence 
 of the duchesse d'Angouleme, who received the babe in her 
 arms from the midwife. There were also present at the birth 
 of the princess Jeanne, Madame de Silly, baillive de Caen, 2 
 and Madame la Senechale de Grammont, ladies of honour to 
 the queen of Navarre ; also a woman of the bed-chamber, who 
 bears the singular appellation of Madame Dartigaloube. A 
 courier was despatched to carry the happy tidings of the birth 
 of his infant niece, and the safety of his sister, to Francis ; 
 whose anxiety on this occasion is represented to have been ex- 
 cessive. The king wrote letters of congratulation in return to 
 Marguerite, conveying the gratifying assurance that her child 
 would henceforth hold the same place in his affection as did 
 his own daughters, Mesdames Madelaine, and Marguerite de 
 France — a promise which Francis ever afterwards faithfully 
 remembered. 
 
 The king of Navarre, at the period of his daughter's birth, 
 was sojourning in the town of Bourges, in Berry. A missive 
 from the duchesse d'Angouleme apprized him of his consort's 
 safety. Never Avas intelligence received with more thankful 
 joy ; for the precarious health of Marguerite had occasioned 
 Henry serious solicitude. 
 
 Queen Marguerite's faithful friend Aymee de la Fayette, 
 baillive de Caen, was appointed governess to the infant princess. 
 At a very early period of her existence, Jeanne began to dis- 
 play symptoms of the energetic temperament for which she 
 
 1 Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme, -vol. ii. p. 42. 
 
 8 Aymee de la Fayette, widow of Francois de Silly, seigneur de Lonray, 
 and de Fay, gentleman of the chamber to the king, bailiff and captain of Caen.
 
 4 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 was afterwards so renowned ; and her royal mother was con- 
 tinually cheered during the period of her convalescence, by 
 reports of the vigorous health and the beauty of the new-born 
 babe. When Jeanne was little more than nine days old, she 
 was privately baptized in the chapel of the Holy Trinity, in the 
 palace of Fontainebleau. Her sponsors were king Francis — 
 who was represented by proxy ; the duchesse d'Angouleme ; 
 and one of the sisters of the king of Navarre, probably Madame 
 Isabel d'Albret, Henry's favourite sister. The unsettled state 
 of public affairs, and the absence of the king, prevented any 
 display of pomp on this occasion. The little Jeanne, moreover, 
 was not a royal daughter of France ; neither, at the period of 
 her birth, did it appear probable that she would eventually in- 
 herit the territories and royal title of her ancient house. Con- 
 sequently, there has been no official record preserved of the 
 solemnities observed on the occasion of her baptism. 
 
 The nativity of the princess Jeanne de Navarre, meantime, 
 gave occasion to many jests and sarcasms amongst the Spanish 
 people ; who were at once the most independent and obsequi- 
 ous of the varied races which acknowledged the sway of the 
 emperor Charles V. The resentment of the Spanish against 
 king Francis, for his evasion of the treaty of Madrid, exceeded 
 all bounds. By this treaty, Francis had pledged himself not 
 to afford the king of Navarre aid or countenance, in his endea- 
 vours to re-conquer the kingdom of Spanish Navarre ; which 
 had been wrested from Henry's mother, Catherine, by the 
 victorious arms of Ferdinand the Catholic, in virtue of a papal 
 interdict, launched in 1512, by Julius II., — a pontiff, whose 
 savage enthusiasm for war sent dismay to the heart of the 
 most ardent of Rome's adherents. This stipulation, which so 
 deeply affected the interests of the new-born princess, like the 
 remaining clauses of the treaty, remained unfulfilled. Francis, 
 nevertheless, carefully supported his rejection of the various 
 articles of the treaty, with the formalities which so grave a 
 decision required ; and the refusal to put into execution each 
 stipulation was skilfully made to emanate from the parties 
 most concerned by its import, rather than from the fiat of 
 Francis himself. Thus, a few weeks before the birth of Jeanne, 
 a summons from the privy-council was addressed to her father 
 in conformity with the treaty of Madrid, requiring the king to 
 execute a deed renouncing the ancient heritage of his house in 
 favour of the emperor, and his heirs for ever ; and also to 
 relinquish the title of king of Navarre. As Francis expected, 
 Henri d'Albret returned a peremptory refusal to these de- 
 mands. In his answer, which is addressed to the privy-coun-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLEKET. 5 
 
 cil, Henry declared, " that, desiring above all things to give 
 contentment to the king, if a demand had been made to him 
 to cede his personal wealth to the said sieur the king, he would 
 give his Majesty carte blanche to dispose of that at pleasure ; 
 but he prayed his Majesty to consider that these were demands 
 which concerned the ancient patrimony of the House of Na- 
 varre ; the which, as he could not relinquish them without in- 
 curring the just reprobation of his heirs and successors, he 
 prayed the said sieur the king, not to take ill his positive re- 
 fusal to comply with such a proposal." l The indignation of the 
 emperor was great ; and he made many scoffing observations 
 on the improbability that any serious command addressed by 
 the sovereign of France to his subject, the prince of Beam, 
 would be met by defiance so determined. The birth of Henry's 
 child, the presumptive heiress of his claims on Spanish Navarre, 
 was. therefore, far from affording satisfaction to Charles. His 
 dislike for queen Marguerite, added to his knowledge of the 
 power that she exercised over her brother's mind, increased 
 the emperor's disquietude. " Milagro ! la vaca liizo una 
 oveja!" satirically exclaimed Charles's subjects, when they 
 heard of the birth of the princess Jeanne ; in allusion to the 
 arms of Beam, which quartered two cows on a field or. The 
 usual soubriquet which the Spaniards gave to Henri d'Albret, 
 was that of el vaquero — the cowherd. 2 
 
 When Jeanne was a month old she was committed to the 
 care of the baillive de Caen, who departed with her charge 
 from Fontainebleau to Lonray, a castle close to Alencon. 
 This was Madame de Silly's residence, when not in attendance 
 on her royal mistress. The constitution of the princess was 
 strong and healthy. Her courage, as she grew older, astonish- 
 ed every one ; and her frolicsome disposition kept her qouver- 
 nante in a state of perpetual excitement. In accordance with 
 the wise directions of queen Marguerite, none of the vexatious 
 restrictions, which in those days surrounded the children of 
 royal personages, were suffered to depress the joyous disposi- 
 tion of the little Jeanne. Her childhood was spent in pleasant 
 companionship with the children of Madame de Silly : living 
 at a distance from the court, the character of the princess suf- 
 fered no injury from the homage which there would have sur- 
 rounded Marguerite's daughter, child as she was ; while her 
 principles sustained not the shock of earlier initiation with the 
 profligacy of the courtiers. Often did Madame de Silly speak 
 to Jeanne of her royal mother ; she told her of Marguerite's 
 
 1 MS. Bibliotht-que Royale.— Inedited. 
 2 Cayet, Chrou. Novenaire, p. 105.
 
 G LIFE OF JEANNE B ALBRET. 
 
 goodness, of the love which every one bore her, and of the 
 queen's efforts, when at Madrid, to procure the libei'ation of 
 king Francis from captivity. These lessons sank deep into the 
 heart of the princess ; her veneration for her mother became, 
 at length, a leading trait of her character, and influenced many 
 important events of her subsequent life. 
 
 "When the princess Jeanne had attained the age of two 
 years and a half, queen Marguerite gave birth, at Blois, to a 
 son, July, 1530. The infant was sent to Lonray, to be brought 
 up by the baillive de Caen ; but, to the grief of his parents, 
 the prince survived only five months, and died at Alencon, in 
 the arms of queen Marguerite. By this event, Jeanne again 
 recovered her position, as heiress presumptive of Navarre and 
 Beam. But, fortunate would it have been for her had it never 
 been her fate to succeed to a heritage contested from her birth ; 
 and fraught with perils during the troublous days impending 
 over France. 
 
 Jeanne remained at Lonray until she had completed her 
 fifth year. During this period she made occasional visits to 
 the court of her uncle at St Germain, who caressed the beauti- 
 ful child, and so overwhelmed her with indulgences, that, but 
 for her noble disposition, this favour might have proved most 
 injurious. The king of Navarre, likewise, took great pride in 
 his little youthful daughter, and never tired of watching her 
 infantine sports. The little madame Jeanne, therefore, the 
 darling and plaything of her royal father, and of her uncle, was 
 distinguished at court by the name of la mignonne des rois ; l 
 and the greatest nobles of the kingdom requested, as an espe- 
 cial favour, that their own daughters might be selected as com- 
 panions for the youthful princess. 
 
 After the decease of the duchesse d'Angouleme, in 1531, 
 Marguerite and her husband announced their intention to 
 leave the court of France for a season, and to reside within 
 their own dominions at Pan. Henry's frequent residence at 
 St Germain was a necessity entailed by his alliance with the 
 sister of his sovereign ; though the obligation was not the less 
 felt by him to be one intolerably irksome. The amour-propre 
 of the king of Navarre was continually wounded by a sense of 
 his dependence on the will of his brother-in-law. He felt that 
 his royal rank scarce gave him pre-eminence over the princely 
 aristocracy which thronged the court of Francis ; for the king, 
 while he shared his diadem with Marguerite, reluctantly per- 
 mitted king Henry to receive the homage which the latter de- 
 
 1 Caret, Chron. Novenaire
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 7 
 
 rived from his proximity to the throne. With jealous in- 
 dignation, Francis repressed any disposition, on the part of the 
 king of Navarre, to exercise conjugal influence over the actions 
 of Marguerite. While sojourning in the royal palaces of the 
 Valois, Francis willed that La Marguerite des Marguerites 
 should acknowledge no other sceptre than his own ; yet pro- 
 found as was the attachment which the queen of Navarre felt 
 for the king, she often voluntarily retired from the French 
 court, and sought, in her husband's society, a happiness more 
 tranquil, and, probably, more complete than that which she 
 partook of amid the pageantries she shared with her brother. 
 
 Marguerite, therefore, yielded cordial assent to her hus- 
 band's desire to visit his dominions. She had, moreover, im- 
 portant private reasons for quitting Paris ; 1 and so urgently 
 did she entreat the permission of the king, that Francis at 
 length reluctantly signified his consent to the departure of the 
 royal pair. As Marguerite and her husband contemplated a 
 residence of eighteen months in Beam, it was their desire to 
 take the princess Jeanne and present her to. her future sub- 
 jects. Francis, however, peremptorily refused to allow the 
 princess to leave his kingdom ; and he declared that her edu- 
 cation must be completed in France, under his own direction. 
 The persuasions of her brother prevailed upon Marguerite to 
 declare her acquiescence in this design. Her devotion to the 
 will of Francis never swerved ; she was, besides, sensible of the 
 many advantages which must follow this virtual adoption of 
 her daughter by the king. Not so, however, the king of Na- 
 varre. He was aware that the motive which prompted Francis 
 to this arbitrary act was distrust of his fidelity to the interests 
 of France. Jeanne was the presumptive heiress of her father's 
 dominions, in the south of France — comprehending the princi- 
 pality of Beam, and the counties of Foix, Armagnac, Albret, 
 Bigorre, and Comminges. She would inherit Henry's claims 
 to the kingdom of Upper Navarre, usurped by the crown of 
 Spain ; also the title of queen. Henry's extreme desire to re- 
 cover the territory so unjustly appropriated was known to 
 king Francis ; as well as the indignation which his brother-in- 
 law felt, that his interests had been so disregarded during the 
 conferences of Cambray, and in preceding negotiations. The 
 policy of the Emperor Charles aimed always at decreasing the 
 power of his popular rival by fomenting civil dissensions 
 throughout France ; and by kindling discord in the cabinet. 
 The rumour, therefore, had gradually gained ground — partly 
 
 * Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme, vol. ii. p. 156.
 
 8 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 owing to the silence of the imperial ambassador, resident in 
 Paris ; and partly by the well-known coldness subsisting be- 
 tween the king of Navarre and king Francis — that secret 
 overtures had been made to Henry by the emperor, for the 
 betrothal of the princess Jeanne to his eldest son, Philip, 
 prince of the Asturias ; when, in favour of this alliance, 
 Charles had professed himself willing to make present and ad- 
 vantageous concessions to the house of Albret. The onlv con- 
 dition insisted on by the emperor was reported to be, that 
 Jeanne should receive her education at Toledo, with her future 
 consort. Marguerite in vain endeavoured to persuade the 
 king that this rumour was without foundation ; and that her 
 husband was incapable of so disloyal an action as that of con- 
 fiding his daughter, and presumptive heiress, to the guardian- 
 ship of the emperor. But Francis, believing that Marguerite 
 was likewise deceived, steadily adhered to his resolution of not 
 permitting his niece to approach the Spanish frontier. It is 
 probable, however, that the suspicion of Francis was then 
 needlessly excited, and that no direct overtures had been made 
 to king Henry relative to the marriage of his daughter with 
 the prince of the Asturias. The succession of the prin- 
 cess to her father's dominions was, at this period, doubtful ; 
 and in the event of the birth of a male heir to the heritage of 
 Albret, Jeanne's alliance would have been considered scarcely 
 brilliant enough for the future sovereign of Spain, and its de- 
 pendencies. 
 
 Having procured the consent of Marguerite to the per- 
 manent establishment of the princess Jeanne in France, the 
 king coldly signified to Henry his irrevocable decision on the 
 subject ; but, to give a certain sanction to this arbitrary 
 exercise of his royal prerogative, Francis informed the king of 
 Navarre that it was his intention to bestow the princess in 
 marriage on his second son, Henry, duke of Orleans. This 
 project received Marguerite's cordial assent; the alliance was 
 also one highly acceptable to the king of Navarre, despite the 
 unceremonious manner in which king Francis took upon him- 
 self to dispose of his niece. The young duke had entered his 
 thirteenth year, and seemed, in every respect, a suitable consort 
 for Jeanne ; while the probable reversion of the territories of 
 the house of Albret, with a revenue of six hundred thousand 
 crowns, formed a magnificent appanage in prospect for the 
 second prince of the blood royal. " Monsieur d'Orleans, 
 although his temper is somewhat reserved and melancholy, 
 already gives evidence of great good sense and judgment," 
 writes the Venetian ambassador, Marino Giustiniano ; " he is
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 9 
 
 destined for the daughter of the queen of Navarre, who, jointly 
 with her husband, possesses a revenue of 600,000 crowns." 1 It 
 is uncertain whether any formal ceremony of betrothment 
 passed between the youthful pair before the departure of the 
 king and queen of Navarre for Beam: no official record is 
 extant ; but, as the alliance was never accomplished, it is possi- 
 ble that such a document may have been destroyed by command 
 of the king, on the marriage, in 1533, of the duke of Orleans 
 with Catherine de Medici. Had the good and noble-minded 
 Jeanne d'Albret ascended the throne of France when that 
 brilliant heritage fell to the duke of Orleans, by the prema- 
 ture decease of his elder brother, instead of the Italian 
 princess, whose alliance was hastily sought to further the king's 
 short-sighted policy respecting the Milanese, France might 
 have been spared the anarchy and the bloodshed with which 
 the latter half of the 16th century — that dark episode in her 
 history — abounds. 
 
 As queen Marguerite expressed a decided objection to leave 
 her daughter at the court of France, it was decided by the 
 king that the royal castle of Plessis-les-Tours should be assigned 
 as a permanent residence for the princess Jeanne. The greater 
 part of the household expenses of the princess, Francis took 
 upon himself to defray ; an arrangement of strict equity, as 
 the king had insisted that she should hold separate state, apart 
 from her royal parents. Madame de Silly, baillive de Caen, 
 was nominated chief lady of honour, and governess to the 
 princess. The poet, Nicholas de Bourbon, 2 received the 
 appointment of preceptor to Jeanne. It was his duty to teach 
 the princess languages, belles-lettres, and poetry ; an art in 
 which she never attained the proficiency of her mother, queen 
 Marguerite. King Francis appointed two chaplains to instruct 
 his niece in her religious duties and in theology ; they formed 
 part of her household, and were placed under the control of 
 Pierre du Chatel, bishop of Tulle and Macon. This illustrious 
 prelate seems to have been associated with the baillive of Caen 
 in directing the education of the princess Jeanne. M. d'Izernay 
 was appointed steward of the household of the princess at 
 Plessis. She had, moreover, a certain number of companions of 
 
 1 Relations dcs ambassadeurs Venetiens sur les affaires de France au 16eme 
 siecle, recueillies par Tommasio. Relation de Marino Giustiniano, ambassadeur 
 en 1.535, t. i. p. 105. 
 
 ? The poet Nicholas de Bourbon was born in 1503, at Vendoeuvres, a village 
 near to Langres. He was the son of a master blacksmith. The talent dis- 
 played by the young poet soon gained him powerful patrons. Francis I. gave 
 him a post about the palace, and he had only attained the age of 29 when the 
 queen of Navarre appointed him preceptor to her daughter.
 
 10 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 her own age ; a master of the horse, tirewomen, and many other 
 subordinate attendants. Jeanne took up her abode at Plessis 
 about the beginning of the year 1532, soon after the departure 
 of her mother into Beam. 
 
 Until the year 1537 all went on prosperously with Jeanne 
 in her lonely state at Plessis. She made rapid improvement in 
 learning ; and the truthfulness of her character developed 
 itself. The fault which her preceptress had to contend against 
 was the obstinacy of her temper. Once resolved on any 
 subject, the youthful Jeanne, undeterred by the fear of punish- 
 ment, and not to be subdued by remonstrances or persuasion, 
 always carried her point. Sometimes she found it expedient to 
 temporize ; but she unvaryingly resumed her project at the 
 first propitious opportunity. The freedom of her remarks to 
 her royal uncle, who visited Plessis as frequently as state 
 affairs permitted, excited the amazement, and often kindled the 
 alarm, of the good baillive de Caen. It was to her mother 
 alone that Jeanne testified the submission becoming to her age 
 and position ; for the pertinent remarks of the young princess 
 when reprimanded often occasioned discomposure to her in- 
 structors, and made them shrink from encountering her witty 
 and sharp retorts. 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1538, Jeanne's paternal 
 aunt and godmother, the princess Isabel d'Albret, viscountess 
 de Rohan, came to reside at Plessis. The pecuniary affairs of 
 the viscount de Rohan were much involved ; and had it not 
 been for the generous offer of queen Marguerite to afford a 
 home at Plessis to Madame de Rohan and her children, the 
 viscount's reverse of fortune would have entailed ruin on his 
 family. The two eldest sons of the viscount were placed by 
 Marguerite amongst the pages of the dauphin ; his eldest 
 daughter, Francoise, the queen adopted as her own child. 
 She caused her to be educated at Pau, under her own immediate 
 control ; an advantage which the jealous umbrage of Prancis 
 had denied to the princess Jeanne. When Marguerite visited 
 the Prench court, la petite Francoise — as Mademoiselle de 
 Rohan was called by her royal relatives — was sent to Plessis, 
 to pass the interval in her cousin's society. Possibly Pran- 
 coise, when there, often sighed to be restored to the gentle 
 guidance of her aunt ; and to resume her place again amongst 
 the noble damsels, whom Marguerite, when resident at Pau or 
 Nerac, condescended to instruct with her own lips. Prancoise 
 seems occasionally to have received very unceremonious treat- 
 ment from the hands of the youthful Jeanne, who already be- 
 gan to testify supreme indifference, and even contempt, for
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 11 
 
 those amongst her companions whose disposition she con- 
 sidered to be 'weak and vacillating. Steady rectitude of prin- 
 ciple, added to a disregard of consequences where truth was to 
 be supported or enforced, formed distinguishing traits of the 
 character of Marguerite's daughter, even during her childhood. 
 The temperament of Framboise de Rohan Avas the very opposite 
 of that other cousin. Gentle, timid, and dependent, she shrank 
 from contest of any description ; and was always ready to yield 
 a point, rather than combat it. Sometimes Jeanne's vivacity 
 of disposition surpassed her courtesy to her gentle cousin ; and 
 in their childish pastimes Erancoise used to receive severe 
 chastisement from the hand of the princess, for her want of 
 self-command and energy. When the queen of Navarre re- 
 turned into Beam, she usually visited Plessis to take leave of 
 the princess. On one of these occasions, before Marguerite's 
 departure, a poetical epistle of farewell was composed to pre- 
 sent to the princess, each lady of the queen's suite writing a 
 verse. Mademoiselle de Rohan, who was to return with the 
 queen, also contributed her share ; she there alludes to her 
 cousin's propensity for administering wholesome castigation. 
 But for the youth of " la petite Franchise," her lines might be 
 considered as written with satirical point. She says in her 
 address to the princess : — 
 
 Plus j'ay de toy souvent este battue, 
 Plus mon amour s'esforce et s'evertue 
 De regreter ceste main, qui me bat : 
 Car ce mal la m'estoit plaisant esbat. 
 Or adieu done la main, dont la rigueur, 
 Je preferois ii tout bien et honneur ! ' 
 
 The writers of the remaining verses are, Madame de Clermont, 
 Madame de Benestaye, Madame Dartigaloube, Madame de 
 Brueil, Madame de Saint Pather, and the Senechale de Gram- 
 mont, 2 and her daughter. This latter lady was the favourite 
 companion and friend of the princess Jeanne, who deeply re- 
 gretted her departure into Gascony. Catherine d' Aster was 
 several years older than Jeanne ; and, like all the members of 
 her illustrious family, she was distinguished for superior abili- 
 ties. In her valedictory verse Catherine speaks of the proba- 
 bility of her own early marriage, and of that of the princess ; 
 
 1 Les adieux des dames de chez la royne de Navarre allant en Gascogne a 
 Madame la Princesse de Navarre. — Marguerites de la Marguerite des Prin- 
 cesses. 
 
 2 Claire de Grammont, heiress of the noble house of de Grammont, and 
 niece of the celebrated Gabriel de Grammont, cardinal bishop of Tarbes. 
 Claire espoused Menhauld d' Aster, viscount d'Aure, who assumed the name 
 and arms of Grammont
 
 12 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 which, considering that Jeanne had only attained her eleventh 
 year, and Mademoiselle de Grammont her fourteenth, shows 
 that the princess already believed herself to have reached 
 woman's estate, and conversed accordingly with her friend. 
 Mademoiselle de Grammont's farewell is pretty and energetic. 
 She writes thus : 
 
 Je te requievs que me Teuilles permettre, 
 
 Que non adieu icy je puisse mettre. 
 
 A Dieu je clis eelle, dont la presence 
 
 J'ay desire depuis la mienne enfance; 
 
 Et main tenant que j'ay reiju ce bien ! 
 
 Te perdre de veiie et ne scay pour combien. 
 
 Car un mary ou toy, ou moy prendra, 
 
 Dont eslongner ta veiie me faudra. 
 
 Mais j'ay espoir que ceux que nous prendront, 
 
 En liberte plus grande nous rendront 
 
 De nous revoir ; et quoy qu'il advienne, 
 
 Je te requiers que de moy te souvienne. 
 
 Car quelque part que tu ailles, ira, 
 
 Et vive ou morte a jamais t'aymera 
 
 Ta Catherine, estant d'Aste nommt'e, 
 
 Qui de regret est quasi assomee ! ' 
 
 As soon as queen Marguerite and her train departed, a fit 
 of profound melancholy overpowered the princess Jeanne. The 
 loss of her two young companions, Mesdemoiselles de Rohan, 
 and de Grammont, seems to have greatly affected her; for 
 Jeanne, despite her occasional brusquerie of deportment, had a 
 very affectionate disposition, and became sincerely attached to 
 those whom she thought worthy of her regard. Her separa- 
 tion from her mother, likewise, was deeply felt by Jeanne ; nor 
 could she be appeased, even though it was represented to her 
 that her royal uncle, Francis I., for reasons which she would 
 hereafter appreciate, had decreed this painful parting. Jeanne 
 was now past the age of childhood ; her education, with its se- 
 vere study and philosophical bias, had prematurely developed 
 her character. She had intense veneration for justice and con- 
 sistency ; and then, as throughout her life, no arbitrary dictum, 
 the lawfulness and expediency of which was not at once appar- 
 ent to her, had power to compel her submission. In vain the 
 poet Nicholas de Bourbon invited the princess to return to 
 her studies ; and the baillive de Caen reproved her for her re- 
 pinings, and the unseemly levity of her deportment towards 
 her royal uncle, whose letters she scarcely condescended to 
 answer. Jeanne passionately desired them to obtain for her 
 permission to rejoin her royal parents, which was her para- 
 mount desire ; or else to prevail upon the king to suffer her to 
 reside at the court of France. For hours together the princess 
 
 1 Marguerites de la Marguerite.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 13 
 
 wept in her lonely chamber at Plessis, listening to the wailing of 
 the wind as it swept through the dense forests which, at this 
 period, encircled the fortress-palace of Louis XI. The gloomy 
 courts of Plessis, bristling still with the terrible defences and 
 iron cages, in which that stern despot immured the helpless 
 victims of his tyranny, filled the sensitive mind of the princess 
 with dismay. JN"or could the internal splendour of the palace, 
 assigned for her home by her uncle, reconcile her to its gloom. 
 Jeanne eagerly listened to every fearful legend connected with 
 the past history of the castle. The magnificent hall of Plessis, 
 in which the ceremonies of betrothmeut of Francis I., when 
 duke de Valois, with the princess Claude of Prance had been 
 performed, brought reminiscences only, to the excited mind of 
 Jeanne, of the terrible interviews which King Louis had there 
 granted to the famed provost of his archers, Tristan l'Hermitte ; 
 whose victims had often knelt in mute agony on the marble 
 pavement at the feet of the inexorable monarch. When she 
 walked abroad yawning chasms marked the spots where Louis 
 had caused pitfalls to be constructed to defend the approaches 
 of his fortress-palace against unauthorized intruders. Even 
 the rushing waters of the Loire, in the morbid imagination of 
 the princess, echoed back the moans of the unhappy wretches 
 who had perished in its depths ; or had met with death at the 
 hands of the merciless provost and his archers, by hanging 
 from the boughs which shadowed the river's bank. In truth, 
 a more gloomy residence for his young niece than Plessis-les- 
 Tours king Francis could not have chosen throughout his 
 wide dominions. Daily, therefore, the depression of the prin- 
 cess grew darker ; and she sighed to find herself in a scene 
 more congenial with the lively tone of her mind, and surround- 
 ed by companions of her own age, who could share her pur- 
 suits. " Jeanne, the heiress of our Henry and Marguerite," 
 says Olhagaray, the historian of Beam, 1 "was brought up in 
 France, at Plessis-les-Tours, which place her uncle, Francis L, 
 seldom permitted her to leave, because he feared that his 
 brother-in-law intended to bestow this princess on Philip, son 
 of the emperor. This abode proved very wearisome to our 
 princess, so that her chamber often echoed with her lamenta- 
 tions, and the air with her sighs, while she gave a loose rein to 
 her tears. The lustre of her complexion (for she was one of 
 the fairest princesses of Europe) was marred by the abundance 
 of her tears ; her hair floated negligently on her shoulders, 
 and her lips remained without smiles." 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Histoive de Foix, Bt'arn et Navarre, p. 503.
 
 14 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 It was the fear lest the king of Navarre should bestow his 
 daughter's hand on prince Philip which induced Francis to 
 insist on Jeanne's residence at Plessis ; and, with habitual de- 
 ference to the commands of her brother, queen Marguerite 
 acquiesced in a separation from her daughter, knowing well 
 how vain it was to combat the will of the king. Already the 
 name of Philip of Spain was a sound of evil omen to Jeanne, 
 and shadowed her youthful clays, even as her future was em- 
 bittered by his baneful influence. 
 
 The alliance of his daughter with the heir of Spain pre- 
 sented great and dazzling advantages, of which the king of 
 Navarre was sensible; it flattered his pride and his resentment, 
 that Jeanne — whose hand had been so unceremoniously reject- 
 ed by Francis, for his son the duke of Orleans, when it had 
 appeared expedient to the king to propitiate the Medici — 
 should ascend the proudest throne in Europe, and place upon 
 her brow the diadem relinquished by Isabel, the lamented con- 
 sort of the emperor Charles V. Had the king of Navarre per- 
 sisted in his design, there is little doubt that, with the active 
 connivance of the emperor, this union would have been accom- 
 plished. Charles, at this period of his life, desired it intensely ; 
 for the disgrace of his unsuccessful invasion of France, in 
 1536, would have been triumphantly effaced by the acquisition 
 to the crown of Spain of the rich frontier provinces of Jeanne's 
 southern heritage. 
 
 The increasing discontent evinced by the princess at the 
 secluded education which it was the will of her royal uncle to 
 bestow upon her occasioned serious embarrassment to Francis 
 I. He perceived that it was no longer possible to pursue the 
 same system ; but, before he confided the princess Jeanne to the 
 guardianship of her parents, the king resolved, by solemnly af- 
 fiancing her to a spouse of his own selection, to frustrate any 
 secret understanding which might exist between her father and 
 the emperor, relative to the disposal of her hand. It happened 
 that about this period, the year 1540, while king Francis was 
 sojourning at his castle of Amboise, during the month of May, 
 he received a visit from the duke of Cleves and Juliers, who had 
 journeyed to France to implore the assistance of the king in his 
 contest with the emperor, relative to the duchy of Guelders. 
 This succession formed one of the most complicated of the 
 questions then agitating Germany. The claimants of the duchy 
 were three ; first the duke of Cleves and Juliers, who was the 
 grandson of Ulric, last duke of Guelders ; secondly, the duke 
 of Lorraine, nephew of duke Ulric ; and thirdly, Charles V., 
 who put in a twofold demand for this important succession.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 15 
 
 The emperor claimed the province of Gueklerland, as an 
 escheat to the imperial crown, owing to the decease of duke 
 Ulric without leaving heirs male; also, as a territory apper- 
 taining to the house of Hapsburg, in virtue of the will of 
 Arnoul, duke of Guelders, who, disinheriting his son Adolphus, 
 bequeathed the dominions of his house to the emperor's great- 
 grandfather, Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. On the 
 decease of Ulric, duke of Guelders, the states of the duchy 
 adjudged his territories to his son-in-law, William II., duke of 
 Cleves and Juliers; but the latter dying before he could claim 
 a ratification of his investiture from the emperor, the cardinal 
 de Granvelle replied to the application, when made by William's 
 son and successor, " that the emperor declined to recognise the 
 pretensions either of the duke of Cleves or of the duke of 
 Lorraine ; as both these princes traced descent from female 
 members of the house of Guelders, who could transmit no right 
 to their posterity ; but that it was the intention of his imperial 
 Majesty to incorporate the duchy to his provinces of the Low 
 Countries, as a fief escheated to his crown." On learning the 
 determination of the emperor, the duke of Cleves renounced 
 his allegiance to the imperial crown ; and, hastily levying troops, 
 he placed strong garrisons in the principal towns of the ducby 
 of Cleves, and despatching a body of forces under the command 
 of Martin Yon Eossem to the borders of Guelderland, he 
 himself proceeded to Paris to implore succour from Francis I., 
 and to demand the coveted investiture at the king's hands. 1 
 The welcome which the duke of Cleves received from Francis 
 exceeded his most sanguine expectations. The king promised 
 him succours in men and money : and, moreover, offered to 
 bestow upon him the hand of his niece Jeanne d'Albret, the 
 heiress of Beam. The king, by this measure, at once exoner- 
 ated himself from anxiety respecting Jeanne's future union 
 with the son of the emperor ; and by a subtle stroke of policy 
 he, in his turn, kindled in Charles's bosom the direst alarm, as 
 the duke of Cleves professed Lutheran tenets, and was consider- 
 ed to be one of the chief upholders of the reformed doctrines in 
 Germany. This alliance, therefore, would necessarily have the 
 effect of' strengthening the king's relation with the German 
 Lutherans — subjects always in revolt under Charles's imperial 
 sceptre. 
 
 The duke of Cleves had completed his twenty-fourth year : 
 he was tall and handsome in person, and endowed with the 
 
 1 Mezeray, Abrege Chronologique, t. ii. p. 504. Varillas, Hist, de 
 l'Heiesie, t. iii. p. 162. Sandoval, Hist, de la vida del Emperadur 
 Carlos V.
 
 1G LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 accomplishments which, in that martial age, constituted a 
 finished cavalier. He was an expert horseman, magnificent in 
 his attire and equipage, profuse to his dependents, while he 
 possessed learning enough to discuss literature with the erudite 
 professors who thronged the court of France ; and to appreciate 
 the gorgeous specimens of art with which the king loved to 
 surround himself. The revenues of the duchy of Cleves were 
 ample for the maintenance of its sovereign's state : the position 
 of the duke in Germany was one of power and dignity. His 
 eldest sister, Sybilla of Cleves, was the consort of the elector of 
 Saxony, Frederick ; his youngest sister. Anne, had recently 
 become the fourth consort of Henry VIII. , king of England. 
 His descent, on the maternal side, from the house of Gruelders 
 — a race notorious for its criminal annals — was the only 
 apparent blemish to be discerned in the son-in-law presented 
 by king Francis for the acceptance of his sister and her royal 
 consort. 
 
 The king, meantime, informed the king and queen of 
 Navarre of his intention relative to the disposal of their 
 daughter's hand ; and, to reconcile the royal pair to this arbi- 
 trary decision, Francis announced that the duke of Cleves had 
 readily assented to the only condition he had thought proper 
 to impose, which was, that Jeanne after her betrothal should 
 be permitted to remain in France for the period of three years, 
 under her mother's guardianship. The intelligence was re- 
 ceived with great indignation by the king of Navarre ; who, 
 amongst other causes of complaint treasured against his brother- 
 in-law, added now the violation by Francis of his promise to 
 wed the princess Jeanne with his second son, Henry, duke of 
 Orleans. The marriage of the heiress of Beam with the duke 
 of Cleves, a prince in arms against his suzerain the emperor, ap- 
 peared to Henry a design fatal to the safety of the remaining 
 dominions of the house of Albret ; which lay on the Spanish 
 frontier, and exposed to the first impulse of indignation felt by 
 Charles, on hearing of the intended alliance. The king of 
 Navarre, moreover, knew that his last chance of inducing the 
 Spauisli monarch to restore the kingdom of Upper Navarre 
 expired from the day that the hand of Jeanne was bestowed on 
 the duke of Cleves. The states of the principality of Beam 
 also protested against this marriage ; their objections being 
 grounded on the inexpediency of allying their future sovereign 
 with a prince, whose territory was so remotely situated as re- 
 garded Beam; for they justly observed, that if the marriage 
 were accomplished, the principality, during the absence of its 
 sovereign, would, at no distant period, pass under the sway of
 
 LTFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 17 
 
 the French or Spanish crown. 1 Queen Marguerite, however, 
 evinced no disapproval of the alliance proposed for her daugh- 
 ter ; and she applied herself to moderate her husband's oppo- 
 sition. Henry dreaded too much the threats of Francis to 
 offer prolonged resistance : for the king had declared that a 
 military occupation of Beam would follow the discovery of any 
 attempted negotiation with the emperor ; while the annexation 
 of that principality to the crown of France should he the penalty 
 inflicted if the king of Xavarre conveyed his daughter across 
 the Spanish frontier. The religion professed by the duke of 
 Cleves recommended him to Marguerite's favour ; his opulence, 
 and his pretensions to the imperial purple, after the members 
 of the house of Hapsburg, flattered her ambition ; but, above 
 all, it was the will of the king that this alliance should be 
 effected. 
 
 The princess Jeanne was at length apprized of the event 
 destined to effect so complete a subversion of the domestic 
 routine at Plessis. One day Francis, while sojourning at 
 Amboise, commanded a royal hunt along the banks of the 
 Loire ; and, attended by a few of his most favoured courtiers, 
 he separated from his train, and suddenly appeared before the 
 gates of Plessis-les-Tours. Jeanne, summoned to the presence 
 of her royal uncle, welcomed him with transports of delight, 
 and in return received from his lips the intelligence that her 
 hand having been promised to the duke of Cleves, she was to 
 fulHl immediately the engagement contracted for her; and was, 
 consequently, to depart with the shortest possible delay to join 
 her mother, queen Marguerite, at Aleucon. The proud blood 
 of her race mantled the brow of the princess at this per- 
 emptory command ; and, overpowered by surprise and indigna- 
 tion, she burst into a passionate flood of tears. Soon, how- 
 ever, recovering her self-possession, she resolutely approached 
 her uncle and "very humbly besought him that she might 
 not be compelled to marry M. de Cleves." 1 Francis, who 
 could never brook opposition to his will, turned coldly from the 
 weeping child ; and reiterating his directions for her immediate 
 departure from Plessis, he took his leave. 
 
 There remained no alternative for the princess but to obey 
 her uncle's mandate, and prepare for her formal presentation 
 to her intended consort. Jeanne desired a more cheerful 
 abode, and companionship with maidens of her own age ; but 
 she was passionately attached to France, and the thought of 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 11. 
 
 ■ Lettre de Marguerite, Reine de Navarre, au roi. See Life of Marguerite 
 d'Angouleme, v. ii. p. 370. o
 
 18 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 quitting her country wrung tears from her eyes. In Paris, 
 where she made a brief sojourn on her road to Alencon, king 
 Francis presented to his niece the bridegroom he had chosen 
 for her. Jeanne did not attempt to disguise the repugnance 
 which she felt for the duke : and child as she was, she demean- 
 ed herself so haughtily as to incur her uncle's displeasure. 
 She evinced not the slightest complacency at receiving the 
 homage of so brilliant a cavalier as duke William ; and it was 
 observed that the lip of the royal bride elect curled disdain- 
 fully as she marked the servility of deportment manifested by 
 the duke towards the king and the all-powerful constable de 
 Montmorency. When remonstrated with by the baillive de 
 Caen and others on her unconciliating demeanour, which, it 
 was observed, was likely to produce the worst possible effect 
 on the mind of her future spouse, Jeanne carelessly replied, 
 " that she deemed it no advantage to leave France, and her 
 own heritage of Beam, to espouse a duke of Cleves." Francis 
 manifested excessive anger at the contumacy displayed by the 
 young princess ; whose dawning intellect ancl strength of 
 character he was far from properly appreciating. The king 
 expressed himself with great severity to the baillive de Caen, 
 before her departure with the princess for Alencon ; command- 
 ing the former to communicate his words to queen Marguerite, 
 in order that her representations might induce the princess to 
 show becoming submission to his will. The jealous umbrage 
 of Francis took alarm at the unexpected opposition which he 
 encountered ; as he, perhaps rightly, attributed Jeanne's dis- 
 obedience to the secret encouragement afforded to her by her 
 father. 
 
 Queen Marguerite received the report of the baillive in 
 consternation. She sent for her daughter, and questioned her 
 on the reason of this rebellious defiance ; and expostulated 
 with her on the daring request which she had made to the 
 king on his visit to Plessis. Jeanne calmly replied: "that 
 she had then taken the liberty of speaking frankly to the king ; 
 having been in the habit of saying to him all she thought and 
 wished." Aware of her brother's suspicion of the want of 
 loyal fidelity manifested by the king of Navarre, and anxious 
 to excuse her daughter's conduct, Marguerite wrote thus to 
 the king : 
 
 " Monseigneur, in my extreme tribulation I experience but one 
 consolation, which is the certain knowledge that neither the king of 
 Navarre nor myself feel other desire than to obey you, not only in the 
 matter of this marriage, but in all that you command us. I have 
 heard, Monseigneur, that my daughter — not appreciating as she ought
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 19 
 
 the great honour which you conferred hy deigning to visit her, nor 
 the obedience which she owes to you ; neither, that a maiden ought 
 to have no will of her own — was bold enough to utter so senseless a 
 request as to beseech you that she might not be married to M. de 
 Cleves. I know not what to think, Monseigneur, nor how to address 
 you, for I am overpowered with grief, and have none in the world to 
 whom I can apply for comfort, or for counsel. The king of Navarre 
 is also so astonished and grieved that I have never before seen him 
 so indignant ; for we cannot divine whence this great boldness on 
 her part arose, she never having even mentioned such a design to us. 
 She excuses herself on the plea that she is on more intimate terms 
 with you than even with ourselves ; but this intimacy ought not to 
 inspire so great a freedom on her part, being, as I believe, not ad- 
 vised to it by any one. If I could discover the personage who inspired 
 her with such an idea, I would make so great a demonstration of my 
 displeasure as should convince you, Monseigneur, that this foolish 
 affair has been attempted without the sanction and desire of her pa- 
 rents, who have no will but yours. Knowing, therefore, Monseigneur, 
 that it is your habit to pardon eiTors, rather than to punish them — • 
 especially, when understanding fails, as it has evidently done in the 
 case of my poor daughter — I entreat you very humbly, Monseigneur, 
 that for this one unreasonable petition which she has preferred — and 
 which is the first fault she has committed in respect to yourself — you 
 will not withdraw that paternal favour which you have ever manifest- 
 ed towards her, and ourselves." 1 
 
 Jeanne, meanwhile, continued to offer pertinacious opposi- 
 tion to the alliance proposed for her ; her mother's eloquent 
 entreaties failed to mollify her heart towards her German suit- 
 or ; and she vehemently declared " that she should die if the 
 project were persisted in." The duke's religion proved no re- 
 commendation to his suit : for the princess had been brought 
 up in strict communion with the Church of Rome ; nor was it 
 until a subsequent period, after Jeanne had been domesticated 
 for several years with her royal mother, that she insensibly im- 
 bibed that leaning towards the tenets of Calvin which imparted 
 a distinctive colouring to her after-life. There is reason to 
 believe, however, that Marguerite caused her daughter to be 
 carefully instructed in the principles of reform ; for the prin- 
 cess herself asserts, that one of the reasons why she did 
 not make an earlier profession of its doctrines was, her 
 resentment at the little gratitude demonstrated by the 
 majority of the Calvinistic ministers for the benefits which 
 they received from the sovereigns of Navarre ; but, prin- 
 
 1 Lettre de la reine de Navarre au roi. See Life of Marguerite d'Angou- 
 leme, v. ii. p. 370.
 
 20 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 cipally, for their misappropriation of a considerable sum of 
 money, despatched by her royal mother into Switzerland 
 and Germany as alms for the proscribed and suffering 
 Lutherans. 
 
 The bishop of Seez, meanwhile, returned from the mission 
 which queen Marguerite had confided to him — that of con- 
 veying her letter to the kiug — briugiug very positive com- 
 mands from Francis that the princess should be affianced with- 
 out delay to the duke of Cleves. When this ceremony was 
 accomplished, Francis requested his sister to conduct the prin- 
 cess to Chatellerault, that her marriage might there be solem- 
 nized in the presence of the court. So overwhelmed was 
 Jeanne by this command, and so indignant was her protest, 
 that queen Marguerite was compelled to have recourse to the 
 ludicrous expedient of threatening the princess with a severe 
 whipping, unless she evinced a more lowly and becoming deport- 
 ment. Jeanne's intrepid spirit was not, however, to be so 
 daunted ; indeed, to such a length did she carry her opposition 
 to the commands of her mother and her royal uncle, that, when 
 it is considered the princess had only just completed her twelfth 
 year, the conviction maintains itself that Jeanne was secretly 
 abetted in her rebellion by her father. Finding that her resist- 
 ance availed little, Jeanne adopted the extraordinary expedient 
 of making a secret protest against her compulsory nuptials — a 
 document which she caused three of the officers of her house- 
 hold to witness. This curious protest was composed by the 
 princess herself; it is written throughout by her own hand, 
 and its tenour is as follows: 1 — 
 
 " I, Jeanne de Navarre, persisting in the protestations I have al- 
 ready made, do hereby again affirm and protest, by these present, that 
 the marriage which it is desired to contract between the duke of 
 Cleves and myself, is against my will ; that I have never consented 
 to it, nor will consent ; and that all I may say and do hereafter, by 
 which it may be attempted to prove that I have given my consent, 
 will be forcibly extorted against my wish and desire, from my dread 
 of the king, of the king my father, and of the queen my mother, who 
 has threatened to have me whipped by the baillive of Caen, my gover- 
 ness. By command of the queen my mother, my said governess has 
 also several times declared, that if I do not all in regard to this mar- 
 riage which the king wishes, and if I do not give my consent, I shall 
 
 1 Papiers d'Etat clu cardinal Granvelle publies d'apres les MSS. de Besan- 
 (jon, par Charles Weiss, t. iii. docum. 30. This protest and the following one 
 have been published by the author in the Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme , 
 nevertheless, these curious documents are too important to be omitted in the 
 history of Jeanne d'Albret.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 21 
 
 be punished so severely as to occasion my death ; and that by refus- 
 ing I may be the cause of the ruin and destruction of my father, my 
 mother, and of their house ; the which threat has inspired me with 
 such fear and dread, even to be the cause of the ruin of my said father 
 and mother, that 1 know not to whom to have recourse, excepting to 
 God, seeing that my father and my mother abandon me, who both 
 well know what I have said to them — that never can I love the duke 
 of Cleves, and that I will not have him. Therefore, I protest before- 
 hand, if it happens that I am affianced, or married to the said duke 
 of Oaves in any way or manner, it will be against my heart, and in 
 defiance of my will ; and that he shall never become my husband, nor 
 will I ever hold and regard him as such, and that any marriage shall 
 be reputed null and void; in testimony of which I appeal to God 
 and yourselves as witnesses of this my declaration that you are about 
 to sign with me ; admonishing each of you to remember the compul- 
 sion, violence, and constraint employed against me, upon the matter 
 of this said marriage. 
 
 (Signed) " Jeanne de Navarre." 
 "J. d'Arros." 
 " Frances Navarro." 
 "Arnatjld Duquesse." 
 
 Notwithstanding the fervour of her refusals, the ceremony 
 of betrothment was performed between the princess Jeanne 
 and the duke of Cleves, in the great hall of the castle of Alen- 
 con ; the prelate officiating being the bishop of Seez. In the 
 midst of her annoyance and distress, the princess exhibited 
 great presence of mind ; and afterwards she composedly pre- 
 pared to accompany her mother to Chatellerault, at which 
 place the more trying ordeal of her public nuptials was to 
 take place. Before her departure from Aleucon, prompted 
 probably by the parties who had before inspired her with 
 resolution to place on record a written protest against this 
 marriage, the princess drew up a second memorial, which she 
 presented for the signature of the same persons who had 
 witnessed the first. The princess expressed herself in the 
 following terms : — 
 
 " I, Jeanne de Navarre, in the presence of you, who out of love 
 for truth, signed the protestation which I before presented, and who 
 perceive that I am compelled and obliged by the queen my mother, 
 and by my governess, to submit to the marriage demanded by the 
 duke of Cleves between himself and me ; and that it is intended, 
 against my will, to proceed to the solemnities of a marriage between 
 us ; I take you all again to witness that I persevere in the protest I 
 made before you, on the day of the pretended betrothal between my- 
 self and the said duke of Cleves, and in all and every protestation that 
 I may at any time have made by Avord of mouth, or under my hand ;
 
 22 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 moreover, I declare that the said solemnity of marriage, and every 
 other thing ordained relative to it, is done against my will, and that 
 all shall hereafter be regarded as null and void, as having been done, 
 and consented to by me, under violence and restraint : in testimony 
 of which I call you all to witness, requesting you to sign the present, 
 with myself, in the hope that by God's help it will one day avail me. 
 
 (Signed) " Jeanne dk Navarre.'" 
 " &c. &c. &c." 
 
 Jeanne received a cordial reception from king Francis on 
 her arrival afc Chatellerault, where sumptuous preparations 
 were in progress for the ceremony of her marriage. The king 
 disregarded every remonstrance made to him by his niece ; 
 affecting to regard her objections as childish and unreasonable. 
 The duke of Cleves, wearied of his vain attempt to propitiate 
 his youthful bride, devoted himself to queen Marguerite ; whose 
 beauty and fascinations made him oblivious of the disdain 
 manifested by her daughter. 
 
 The marriage ceremony between the duke and the princess 
 Jeanne of Navarre was performed on the 15th of July, 1510. 2 
 The bride was attired in a robe of cloth of gold, beset with 
 jewels. A ducal coronet circled her brow ; and the train of 
 her mantle was bordered with ermine. The ceremonial was 
 ordered with pompous splendour : all the great officers of state 
 had been summoned to Chatellerault ; and so great was the 
 profusion and display, that the coronation ceremonies of the 
 emperor Charles V. cost considerably less than the pageant in 
 which Jeanne performed so reluctant a part. 3 When king 
 Francis presented himself to lead the bride to the altar, Jeanne, 
 who was determined to oppose the measure to the very last, 
 rose from her chair ; then, suddenly complaining of indisposi- 
 tion, she professed her inability to walk under the weight of the 
 jewels and gold with which her robe was adorned. Francis, 
 inexpressibly annoyed, summoned the constable de Montmo- 
 rency, and commanded him to take the princess in his arms, 
 and carry her to the chapel. Montmorency obeyed, though 
 the king's command was considered by many persons, including 
 the constable himself, to inflict so manifest a degradation on 
 the eminent dignity of his office, as to betoken approaching 
 disgrace. Montmorency's inordinate vanity, wounded by the 
 command given by Francis, therefore prompted the exclama- 
 tion, as he returned to his position in the procession after 
 
 1 Papiers d'Etat du cardinal Granvclle, t. iii. clocum. 30. 
 
 2 Mezeray, Abbrege, chron. t. ii. p. 504. Paradin, Hist, de Notre Temps 
 
 3 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 13.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 23 
 
 placing the princess at the altar: " (Test fait desormais de ma 
 Javeicr. Adieu luy dis f" 1 The office lie had just so reluctantly 
 fulfilled, nevertheless, had been performed on other occasions 
 by princes of the blood royal, and therefore could bring no 
 degradation, even to a Montmorency. Eumours, however, had 
 long been rife of the king's intention to exile his quondam 
 favourite the constable : the courtiers therefore were on the 
 alert to detect, and perhaps to impute, more than due signifi- 
 cance to any incident in which Montmorency was concerned. 
 
 A magnificent banquet aud ball followed the solemnization 
 of Jeanne's nuptials, at which she was compelled to appear by 
 the express will of the king. She was then permitted to retire 
 to her mother's apartments ; where the princess was again 
 formally consigned by the duke of Cleves to the guardianship 
 of queen Marguerite, and the control of the baillive de Caen, 
 " until such time as she should have attained suitable years to 
 fulfil the conjugal engagements she had contracted." 2 
 
 For eight subsequent days brilliant pageants celebrated the 
 event. Jeanne still avoided her bridegroom, whose persistence 
 in a suit so displeasing to herself, she resented with more than 
 juvenile indignation. "In the meadow of Chatellerault," re- 
 lates one of the chroniclers of these festivities, "jousts and 
 tourneys were holden ; for which halls, galleries, triumphal 
 arches, and palaces were constructed of verdant boughs, within 
 which armed knights were placed to defend them in honour of 
 the ladies of their hearts, whose devices were interlaced in the 
 foliage with the arms of the cavaliers, and with other spoil 
 captured from the assailants. Close to these said edifices were 
 verdant booths tenanted by hermits, clad in green or gray 
 velvet, and other gay colours, whose office it was to serve as 
 guides to any strange knights, who might happen to arrive. In 
 another part of the meadow were ladies, who personated nymphs 
 and dryades, attended by their dwarfs ; all ordered according 
 to the mode and fashion of bygone days. This joust, for 
 novelty and magnificence, was the most memorable thing of the 
 kind which had been done or heard of in our days. These 
 knightly encounters came off in the day-time ; but that there 
 might not lack amusement at night, lists were constructed in 
 which the joustings continued by torchlight ; a thing never be- 
 
 1 Brantome, Dames Illustres — Vie de Marguerite de Valois. 
 
 2 Du Haillan, Hist. Gen. de France, p. 1466. Brantome, Barnes Illustres — 
 Vie de Marguerite de Valois. Dictionaire Historique de Bayle — Art. Jeanne 
 de Navarre. The nuptials of the princess Jeanne were sometimes designated 
 under the soubriquet of " les noces saU.es" as the profusion displayed by the 
 court on this occasion was liquidated by a rise of the gabelle, or salt duties pay- 
 able to the crown.
 
 24 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 fore heard of in France." 1 The duke of Cleves, at the con- 
 clusion of the festivities, took his leave and departed, to prose- 
 cute his war against the emperor; encouraged by the positive 
 promise of king Francis to march a body of troops into Ger- 
 many, under his own immediate command, or of that of the 
 dauphin. The princess Jeanne, now scrupulously addressed at 
 court as duchess of Cleves, gladly bade farewell* to her uncle 
 who overwhelmed her with costly gifts, and accompanied her 
 royal parents to their castle of Nerac, from whence they pro- 
 ceeded to winter at Pau. 
 
 For the two following years Jeanne remained in Beam 
 happy in the society of her mother, and sharing the lessons 
 and the recreations of the noble damsels of Marguerite's train. 
 This period was productive of great moral benefit to the 
 character of the princess. The vehemence of her temper be- 
 came softened under the judicious guidance of her mother; 
 and her education made progress, though rather from associa- 
 tion with the learned men of the court of Pau, than from the 
 study of books ; for Jeanne's temperament was too lively to 
 permit her to display great power of application. From con- 
 stant companionship with the reformed teachers, refugees in 
 Beam, Jeanne began gradually to imbibe a liking for their 
 doctrine ; their lives, and the stern self-denial practised by 
 their followers, recommended itself to a mind which repudiated 
 compromise with principle for the sake of ease or expediency. 
 
 It was a problem at which every one wondered, though few 
 sought to solve it, the marvellous indifference so early displayed 
 by the niece of the magnificent Francis I. and the child of the 
 refined Marguerite d'Angouleme for qualities, or objects, how- 
 ever attractive in themselves, but which, upon closer survey, 
 might be pronounced deficient in genuine worth. The severe 
 simplicity of mind, and the habit, which early distinguished 
 Jeanne, of probing the motives of others, and of penetrating to 
 the origin of what was averred to be fact, rendered the princess 
 more than ordinarily liable to be impressed by the doctrines of 
 reform. Her inquiring mind was never checked in its search 
 of proof, when studying theology under Farel, or Boussel ; nor 
 was she arrested in her deductions by that solemn barrier so 
 often opposed by the bishop of Macon — the authority of the 
 church. Jeanne daily studied the Scriptures under the guid- 
 ance of her mother, and of Gerard Boussel, bishop of Oleron, 
 almoner to the queen ; a prelate of singular piety, and who as- 
 serted under the Boman purple a liberality of sentiment, and 
 a boldness in discussing theological tenets, worthy of Calvin 
 
 1 Paraclin, Hist, de Notre Temps.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 25 
 
 himself. The only distasteful circumstance connected with the 
 opinions so fearlessly broached, was the fact tbat her betrothed 
 spouse, the duke of Cleves, professed Lutheran tenets ; and 
 any trifling incident which seemed to strengthen the bond 
 wliich united the duke's career with her own became repugnant 
 to the princess. Nevertheless, the lessons which the princess 
 Jeanne imbibed during her residence in Beam ; and the truths 
 that she heard from the eloquent lips of queen Marguerite, left 
 their indelible impression on her mind, and afterwards brought 
 forth a plentiful result. 
 
 The political fortunes of the duke of Cleves, meantime, 
 declined. Scarce had eighteen months elapsed after the cele- 
 bration of his nuptials with the princess Jeanne, than the 
 formidable displeasure of the emperor threatened destruction to 
 the traitor vassal, who had offered allegiance to the lily of the 
 Yalois. The career of Martin Von Kossem, the general in 
 command of the troops of the duke of Cleves, received a check ; 
 not, however, before the province of Brabant had been ravaged, 
 and even the town of Antwerp menaced; but so exasperated 
 was Charles at this defiance, that he vowed " qu'il quitteroit 
 plutot sa couronne, que de laisser cm due un pouce de terre." 1 
 About the month of August, 1543, the emperor, at the head of 
 an army of 40,000 infantry and 8000 horse, levied for the in- 
 vasion of France, and the reconquest -of Luxembourg, entered 
 the duchy of Cleves, and laid siege to the town of Dueren. 
 King Francis, meanwhile, under whose protection alone the 
 duke of Cleves had ventured to defy his suzerain, occupied the 
 duchy of Luxembourg ; and at the time the emperor appeared 
 before Dueren, the king was employed in reconstructing the 
 fortifications of the castle of Landrecy upon a stupendous scale. 
 Appalled at the certain destruction which menaced him, the 
 duke of Cleves despatched courier after courier to implore the 
 aid of a division of the French army ; but Francis, with that 
 strange instability which characterized many of his measures, 
 now appeared as indifferent about espousing the defence of the 
 prince upon whom he had bestowed the hand of his niece, aa 
 he had been imperative in forcing the inclination of the prin- 
 cess. Part of the French army was engaged before Landrecy ; 
 the other half, under the command of the dauphin Henry, 
 penetrated to the borders of the provinces of Brabant and 
 Hainault, where many important fortresses had been captured. 
 The duke's messengers, therefore, were dismissed with vague 
 promises of future assistance on the part of the king; who already 
 
 1 M6m. de Martin du Bellay.
 
 26 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 found it a difficult matter to provide efficient garrisons for the 
 conquests bis own army had achieved. 
 
 The town of Dueren, meantime, fell before the arms of 
 the irate emperor ; the inhabitants were indiscriminately 
 slaughtered, and the fortifications razed. Ruremonde, and 
 other of the principal towns of the Duchy, hastened to make 
 submission, apprehending the same massacre. The province of 
 Guelderland already acknowledged the sway of the invincible 
 Charles, who at the head of his victorious army laid siege 
 to the town of Venloo, which he menaced with destruction, 
 unless it capitulated within a given interval. The conquest 
 of the duchy of Clevea was complete. The panic which over- 
 whelmed duke William and his ministers, seems to have de- 
 prived them of power to meet the impending crisis ; still 
 greater was their incapacity to provide for future emergency. 
 There remained but two alternatives for the choice of the duke. 
 The first was unqualified submission to the potent Charles, 
 with the renunciation of alliance with Trance, and acceptance 
 of any terms which the emperor chose to impose for his late 
 defection : the second was, to abandon the duchy to the mercy 
 of its conqueror, and, at the head of the troops under the com- 
 mand of Von Rossem, to join the Trench army in Luxembourg, 
 and, beneath the banner of the fleur-de-lis, gloriously to win 
 back his ancient heritage. If a spark of martial energy had 
 glowed in the bosom of the duke of Cleves, such would have 
 been his undoubted decision. The recreant blood of the house 
 of Guelders, from which he maternally descended, however, 
 silenced the promptings of honour; and the duke suffered him- 
 self to be convinced of the expediency of adopting measures of 
 abject submission to propitiate his offended liege. It was 
 represented to the duke that his duchy, if once incorporated 
 with the dominions of the Hapsburg, would probably never be 
 restored ; but that the emperor, if duly propitiated, and being 
 on the eve of a momentous struggle with his ancient adversary 
 king Trancis, might extend his imperial clemency, rather than 
 drive the duke to more intimate alliance with France. Almost 
 beside himself at the uncertainty of his position, the courage of 
 the duke abandoned him ; the recollection of his bride and her 
 fair southern heritage, of her magnificent uncle, and the latter's 
 still more splendid promises, faded from his mind ; and he 
 determined to make peace with the emperor, at the cost of 
 any personal humiliation which Charles might think fit to 
 inflict. 
 
 During these transactions, the king had been engaged in 
 making active preparations for the succour of the duke of
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 27 
 
 Cleves. Believing that no better indication could be afford the 
 emperor, that it was his intention to espouse the protection of 
 the rebel vassal of the empire, than by perfecting the marriage 
 between duke William and his niece, he despatched the cardinal 
 Du Bellay into Beam, with express orders to conduct Jeanne 
 to the camp in Luxembourg, from whence the king intended 
 to escort her himself to Aix. 1 The despair of the young Jeanne 
 was overwhelming when she was apprized of the nature of the 
 cardinal's mission to Pau. "With tears she protested that she 
 should die if compelled to obey her uncle's summons. 2 Con- 
 vinced of her father's sympathy, Jeanne implored him to save 
 her from exile ; and from a destiny which she shuddered to 
 contemplate. Jeanne closed her ears to the remonstrances of 
 the cardinal Du Bellay, one of the most eloquent and insinuating 
 prelates of Trance : equally vain were the pleadings of queen 
 Marguerite, to impress upon her daughter the necessity of 
 submission to the will of the king. Jeanne, however, was 
 obliged to depart after taking an agonized farewell of her 
 royal mother ; and, accompanied by the king of Navarre, she 
 set forth for her new home. 
 
 The duke of Cleves, in ignorance of the exertions making 
 in his favour by king Francis, proceeded to the imperial camp 
 at Venloo, attended by fifteen of his officers, and demanded 
 audience of the emperor. This request was harshly refused ; 
 but it was intimated to the duke that the chancellor de Grran- 
 velle would grant him hospitality until his imperial Majesty 
 had decided on his fate. To the tent of de G-ranvelle the duke 
 accordingly repaired ; and by dint of entreaty he at length 
 induced that potent minister to intercede in his behalf with 
 Charles. Before nightfall the chancellor brought to his 
 suppliant the cheering intelligence that the emperor, in his 
 gracious clemency, on due representation being made of the 
 duke's repentance and readiness to atone for his treason, had 
 consented to admit him to his presence on the morrow. 
 
 Early on the following morning, the duke of Brunswick, 
 the coadjutor of the archbishop of Cologne, and another noble- 
 man, who acted as ambassador from the city of Cologne, 
 presented themselves, and introduced the duke to the presence 
 of his offended suzerain. The place of audience, selected by 
 the emperor, was a large tent which was fitted as a chapel for 
 the besieging army. Charles received the duke seated in a 
 
 1 Gailliard, Hist, de Francois I , t. i. Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, 
 t. i. p. 15. 
 
 See Life of Mar- 
 guerite 
 
 * Lettre de Marguerite, Reinc de Navarre, a Francois I. 
 erite d'Angouleme, vol. ii. p. 425.
 
 28 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 chair of state, with the crown on his head and the sceptre in 
 his haud.^ As his offending vassal approached with hesitating 
 step, the brow of the emperor contracted. The betrothed hus- 
 band of the princess of Navarre and his three mediators then 
 humbly knelt at the foot of the throne ; the emperor took not 
 the slightest heed of this action, but averted his head. The duke 
 then exclaimed : " Most august emperor ! I come to throw 
 myself at your feet, to accept whatever chastisement it may 
 please you to inflict for my past sins ; or to receive from your 
 clemency a hope, however faint it may be, of pardon and grace." 
 The duke of Brunswick then pronounced an oration in the 
 German language which lasted a quarter of an hour, still 
 kneeling : his address was followed by another from the ambas- 
 sador of Cologne, praying the emperor to exercise his gracious 
 clemency towards the criminal, though repentant, subject at 
 his feet. Charles listened with disdainful attention, having 
 first commanded a secretary to take note of the intercessory 
 harangues addressed to him : when they concluded, and the 
 culprit awaited the fiat in breathless suspense, he replied in a 
 short address, promising oblivion of the past, upon certain 
 conditions ; then with a smile he stretched forth his hand, 
 and raised the duke from his humble attitude. 1 The same day, 
 September 13, 1543, a treaty was presented to the duke of 
 Cleves for signature, which contained the stipulations upon 
 which the emperor consented to reinstate him in his forfeited 
 dominions. The first article stipulated, that the duke of 
 Cleves should return to the public exercise of the Romish 
 Faith, and restore that religion to its ancient pre-eminence 
 over the duchy ; and that he should engage to renounce his 
 alliance with the king of France. The duke further ceded the 
 disputed territory of Gruelderland and Zutphen to the empire ; 
 and engaged never to sign a treaty with any foreign power 
 whatsoever, which did not include the emperor and his brother 
 Ferdinand, king of the Romans. The forces of the duchy of 
 Cleves were to be incorporated in the imperial army ; and as a 
 guarantee for the performance of these conditions, duke Wil- 
 liam consented that the largest fortresses in the duchy — the 
 castles of Heinsberg and Sittard — should be garrisoned for ten 
 years by the emperor's troops. 2 
 
 "When these conditions were signed, the duchy of Cleves 
 was restored to its duke, now to all intents a vassal of the 
 house of Hapsburg. By the advice of the emperor, the duke 
 next wrote to excuse his act to king Francis, alleging, with 
 
 1 Sandoval — Historia del Emperador Carlos V., libro 25, p. 454. 
 
 2 Ibid.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 29 
 
 great truth, that to the king's delay in Luxembourg might be 
 attributed Charles's successful invasion of the duchy of Cleves. 
 Finally, the duke demanded that his consort, the princess 
 Jeanne de Navarre, might be conducted without delay to Aix- 
 ia-Chapelle, according to the agreement in her marriage con- 
 tract ; as the three years during which she was to remain 
 under the guardianship of her royal mother were nearly 
 expired. 
 
 The princess Jeanne had reached the city of Soissons, on 
 her route to the camp. She remained there one night to re- 
 cruit her strength ; for the most gloomy depression preyed 
 upon her spirits, as she drew nearer to the French frontier. 
 In the middle of the night the princess and her suit were 
 aroused by the arrival of a courier from the camp, bearing des- 
 patches from the king to the cardinal du Bellay. The royal 
 missive announced the abject surrender of the duke of Cleves 
 to the emperor ; and the consequent determination of Francis 
 to procure a dissolution of the duke's marriage with the prin- 
 cess of Navarre ; as the king impetuously declared that no 
 vassal of the empire should receive investiture of a fief apper- 
 taining to the French crown. The king, therefore, directed 
 that his niece should return, and take up her residence with 
 queen Eleanor at Fontainebleau, until he had decided on the 
 measures most politic to be pursued under the circumstances. 
 The joy felt by the princess Jeanne for her unexpected release 
 was boundless — a satisfaction participated in by her father, 
 who hastened to conduct her from the French frontier. 1 
 
 Queen Marguerite's indignation was greatly excited when 
 she heard of the ignoble concessions made by the duke of 
 Cleves to the emperor ; and she at once concurred in her bro- 
 ther's project to annul her daughter's marriage. " Monseign- 
 eur," wrote the queen to king Francis, " I would rather see 
 my daughter in her grave, than know her to be in the power 
 of a man who has deceived you, and inflicted so foul a blot on 
 his own honour." 2 Now that it suited the king to break the 
 bond he had so pertinaciously formed, the young princess was 
 suffered to state her objections to the alliance ; her aversion, it 
 was now gi^anted, might have a reasonable foundation ; and the 
 protests which she had made against the violence her uncle 
 sought to inflict, became important documents of state. Ap- 
 plication was at once made by the French ministers to the Holy 
 See, for a bull, annulling the marriage — the plea placed on record 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 16. Mem. de Martin du 
 Bellay. 
 
 s Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme, Queen of Navarre, vol. ii. p. ±25.
 
 30 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 being the violence which had been done to the inclination of 
 the pi-incess throughout the affair. The duke of Cleves, who 
 certainly could not be expected to exhibit symptoms of exces- 
 sive disappointment at the prospect of losing his ungracious 
 bride, on hearing of this step despatched an envoy to Home 
 to second the demand for his release, w T ith somewhat unseemly 
 eagerness. The emperor, as some indemnification to the duke 
 for the loss of the rich heritage of his French bride, promised 
 to bestow upon him the hand of the archduchess Mary, daugh- 
 ter of the king of the Romans, in the event of his recovering 
 his matrimonial liberty. 
 
 Early in the year 1544, the princess again renewed her pro- 
 test against the marriage, at Alencon, where she was then re- 
 siding with her mother, queen Marguerite ; but, owing to the 
 unsettled condition of political affairs and the vacillations of 
 pope Paul, Jeanne was not released from an alliance so odious 
 to her until the spring of the year 1545. She was then an in- 
 mate of the castle of Plessis-les-Tours, where probably she 
 went at the suggestion of the king, to make a final declaration 
 respecting this marriage ; that, at a distance from her kindred, 
 and therefore beyond their personal influence, this act might 
 be deemed conclusive and satisfactory by the Holy See. During 
 this interval the princess had completely recovered her favour 
 with the king, which had been seriously shaken by her oppo- 
 sition to his commands. The princess had been chosen by 
 Francis to be god-mother to his inl'ant grand-daughter Eliza- 
 beth, the child of the dauphin Henry, and of Catherine de 
 Medici. The christening of the princess was solemnized with 
 great pomp at Eontainebleau, her other god-mother being 
 Eleanor, consort of king Francis ; the godfather was Henry 
 VIII. of England, represented at the ceremony by Dudley 
 lord Lisle, admiral of England, and by Thomas lord Cheney, 
 who bestowed upon the infant princess the name of Eliza- 
 beth. 1 
 
 It was a few months subsequently to this ceremony, about 
 Easter of the year 1545, that Jeanne took leave of her royal 
 relatives, and, attended by the baillive de Caen, proceeded to 
 Plessis. Easter-day fell that year on the fifth of April ; high 
 mass was chanted in the castle chapel in the presence of the 
 princess and her household, and an illustrious assemblage of 
 prelates and nobles ; who had journeyed to Tours expressly to 
 witness the ceremony of Jeanne's fourth and final protest 
 against her compulsory espousals at Chatellerault. Amongst 
 
 1 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. ii. p. 156.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 31 
 
 the personages present were the cardinal de Tournon prime 
 minister of Francis, the count de Saint-Maurice ambassador of 
 the emperor, Pierre Palmier archbishop of Yienne, Philip de 
 Cosse-Brissac bishop of Coutances, Philibert Babou bishop of 
 Angouleme, and Pien*e du Chatel bishop of Tulle and Macon. 
 At the conclusion of mass, the princess, standing in the centre 
 of the chapel, addressed the assemblage with great self-pos- 
 session and dignity. " Messeigneurs," said she, " I have already 
 protested against, and caused declarations to be put on record 
 concerning, the marriage which it was once wished to contract 
 between Monsieur the duke of Cleves and myself. I further- 
 more declare in the presence of you all, messeigneurs, the car- 
 dinal, archbishop, and bishops here assembled, that it is my 
 wish and desire to persevere in those my said declarations and 
 protests; and that I persist in them, and will never retract. 
 My lords, in order the better to inform you of my will and in- 
 tent, I have drawn up a memorial, and signed it with my own 
 hand. This memorial and protest I will now read to you ; and, 
 my lords, by that holy sacrament I am about to receive, I swear 
 and affirm that what is here written contains nothing but the 
 truth, in all which things I steadily persist." Jeanne then 
 unfolded a sheet of paper which she held in her hand, and dis- 
 tinctly read as follows : 
 
 " Monseigneur le cardinal, and you, my lords the bishops and pre- 
 lates here assembled, in your presence, and in that of the notaries here 
 in this place, I declare that I have before written and signed with my 
 own hand two protests — one of these protests was signed upon the 
 day upon which certain solemnities of betrothment passed between 
 monseigneur the duke of Cleves and myself — the other, on the day 
 preceding this said pretended betrothal — both of which protestations 
 I will presently produce, and cause to be read before you. I swear, 
 and make affirmation on God's holy Gospels, that I made, wrote, and 
 signed them on these said days ; and, moreover, caused them to be 
 witnessed for greater surety by tho<e whose signatures appear with 
 my own. I swear and make affirmation that they contain the truth ; 
 and that such was then my Mill and intention, in the which I have 
 since persisted until the time that I made the declaration now before 
 you in the month of October last, in the town of Alencon — which 
 declaration I likewise swear and affirm contains the truth ; also, that 
 I still persist in the same will ; and intend to maintain it now, and 
 for the future — to wit, that I never had the will, nor am I so inclined 
 at the present moment, to bind myself under the law of marriage to 
 the said sieur de Cleves. nor to accept him for my husband ; but, on 
 the contrary, all that has passed in the matter of these said pretended 
 betrothal and solemnities, Avas done according to the statement con- 
 tained in my said protestations. I, therefore, demand judicial testi-
 
 32 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 mony of this my declaration made before you my lords, the cardinal 
 and bishops here assembled, from the notaries present for that pur- 
 pose. 
 
 (Signed) " Jeanne de Navarre." » 
 
 Laying her hand upon an open missal presented by one of 
 the prelates, Jeanne d'Albret took a solemn oath that all she 
 had read and signed was the truth. She then delivered the 
 documents to the cardinal de Tournon, who transmitted them 
 by courier to Borne, together with a statement verified on 
 oath by queen Marguerite, and signed by the senechale de 
 Poitou, lady of honour to Marguerite, and by the baillive de 
 Caen ; containing the circumstances connected with the cere- 
 mony performed at Chatellerault. A few weeks afterwards 
 Paul IV. published a decree annulling the marriage, 2 and per- 
 mitting the parties to contract fresh alliance. 
 
 Thus the princess again became free ; and the marriage so 
 peremptorily insisted upon by king Francis was as unceremo- 
 niously dissolved. Its evil influence, however, clung through- 
 out life to the princess, shadowing her at times like a dark 
 cloud. The doubts, which this prior alliance inspired, marred 
 the happiness of the early part of her career as a wife. Jeanne 
 lived to hear the legitimacy of her children questioned, inas- 
 much as it was averred that, contrary to the solemn oath of 
 the princess and her mother, her marriage with the duke of 
 Cleves had been full aud perfect in every respect ; while the 
 papal bull cancelled the union on the ground only of its having 
 been nominally contracted. The princess, however, dreamed 
 not of the sorrows of the future ; but, says the historian, Olha- 
 garay, " the visage of our princess Jeanne grew serene again, 
 her deportment became cheerful, and she consoled herself as 
 best she might ; for it had appeared very grievous to her to 
 quit Trance to become the spouse of a simple duke, when she 
 could choose amongst the greatest princes of the blood royal ; 
 in fact, the emperor mightily desired to obtain her for his son 
 Philip, and would have bestowed great advantages on our 
 king Henry, her father ; who, nevertheless, refused to consent 
 to an alliance so hurtful to the crown of France ; or to have it 
 believed that he desired such an event." 3 
 
 1 Papiers d'Etat du cardinal de Granvelle, publies d'apres les MSS. de 
 Besan^on, document 30, t. iii. 
 
 2 The papal bull, decreeing the dissolution of the marriage between the 
 duke of Cleves and Jeanne d'Albret was registered by the parliament of 
 Paris after its promulgation. 
 
 3 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam et Navarre, p. 504.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1545—1555. 
 
 Death of Francis 1. — The princess Jeanne holds mourning state at Mont cle 
 Marsan— Changes at court — Henry II. — Diane de Poitiers Catherine de 
 Medici — The prince of Spain renews his suit for the hand of Jeanne d'Albret 
 — Desire of the emperor Charles V. to negotiate this alliance — The project 
 is opposed by the king of France — Departure of Jeanne for Fontainebleau — 
 Profusion of the princess — Her letter to the chancellor of Alenc_on — The 
 dukes de Vendome and de Guise become suitors for her hand — Character of 
 Antoine de Bourbon — The duke de Guise— King Henry supports the suit of 
 the duke de Guise — Reply made to the king by Jeanne d'Albret — Marriage 
 of the princess Jeanne with the duke de Vendome — Her marriage articles — 
 She visits Beam — She is acknowledged by the states of Beam as heiress^ 
 presumptive of the principality — Death of queen Marguerite — Affliction of 
 the princess — Her love of study — Her despondency at her want of offspring — 
 Negotiation for the marriage of the king of Navarre with the infanta Juana 
 of Spain— Pregnancy of Jeanne d'Albret — Her correspondence with the 
 duchess de Guise — Birth of the duke de Beaumont— The baillive d' Orleans 
 is appointed gouvernante to the infant prince — Her injurious treatment of 
 the prince — His decease — Birth of the count de Marie — Journey of the 
 princess into Beam — Joy of the king of Navarre — Accident which befell the 
 infant prince at Mont de Marsan — His death— Anger of the king — His re- 
 proaches to his daughter — Engagement exacted by the states of Beam from 
 the duke and duchess de Vendome — Their departure from Beam — Jeanne 
 takes up her abode at the castle of La Fleche — Her correspondence with the 
 duchess de Guise — Her third pregnancy — Departure of the duchess de Ven- 
 dome for the camp in Picardy— Accident which happened to her there — A 
 deputation from the states of Beam waits on the princess Jeanne — She re- 
 ceives the envoys at Compiegne — Her journey into Beam — Birth of Henry 
 IV. — Incidents connected with that event — The king of Navarre takes the 
 sole charge of the infant prince — His treatment of the babe — He presents 
 the child to the nobles of Beam and Foix — The king confides his infant heir 
 to the care of Jeanne Fourcjade — Baptism of the prince — Convalescence of 
 the duchess de Vendome— She returns into France — Her meeting with the 
 duke de Vendome at Estree-au-Pont — She retires to the castle of Brenne — 
 Correspondence of the princess with the duchess de Montmorency — Decease 
 of the king of Navarre. 
 
 TnE next event that exercised important influence over the 
 fate of Jeanne d'Albret, "was the death of her uncle, Francis I., 
 which occurred on the 31st of March, 1547. Queen Margue- 
 rite was sojourning at the nunnery of Tusson, in Angoumois, 
 at the time of her brother's decease ; the king of Navarre was 
 at Mont de Marsan ; and the princess Jeanne an inmate of 
 the castle of Plessis-les-Tours. The princess immediately join- 
 ed her father at Mont de Marsan; and there they together 
 
 3
 
 34 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 held their mourning state for the deceased king, during the 
 space of a month. 
 
 A thorough change ensued on the death of king Fran- 
 cis in the politics of the court and the cabinet ; those per- 
 sonages whose influence had hitherto been paramount — the 
 veteran statesmen, and favourites of the late king — received 
 courteous dismissal from office ; or a peremptory mandate of 
 exile from the capital, according as they had rendered them- 
 selves more or less obnoxious to the powers then in the as- 
 cendant. The cardinal de Tournon, the admiral d'Annebaut, 
 the secretary of state Bayard, the duchesse d'Estampes, and 
 numbers of minor individuals composing the privy council of 
 the deceased king, were amongst those thus punished. The 
 constable de Montmorency, who had been deprived of his dig- 
 nities, and exiled to his castle of Ecouen by king Francis, was 
 recalled, and invested with powers of unlimited extent, by his 
 sovereign. 1 The queen of Navarre, though treated with re- 
 spect by her nephew king Henry II., lost her political influ- 
 ence — a reverse which affected her not ; as, absorbed by sor- 
 row for the loss which she had sustained, Marguerite, during 
 the remainder of her life, shunued the world, and devoted her- 
 self to prayer and to works of charity. 
 
 The dominant characters of the new court were the duchesse 
 de Valentinois, the queen Catherine de Medici, Montmorency, 
 and the princes of the house of Lorraine Guise. For undi- 
 vided possession of Henry's confidence, and for control over his 
 counsels, these noble personages contended duriug the entire 
 reign. Henry II. was a prince of mediocre capacity : impetu- 
 ous and daring like his father, he possessed not the political 
 capacity of Francis I. His disposition was reserved ; and in- 
 stead of that gracious affability and ready wit which endeared 
 his father to all classes of his subjects, Henry's manners were 
 cold, and often ungracious. In person he was very handsome ; 
 his stature rose above the ordinary standard : he was an ac- 
 complished swordsman, and excelled in martial games and 
 amusements. 
 
 Henry loved splendour as his father had done : the mag- 
 nificence which surrounded Francis I. seemed but the dazzling 
 emanation of his princely qualities ; while the diadem reflected 
 its lustre on his son and successor. The attachments of the 
 king were permanent ; his constancy was irreproachable in 
 love, as in friendship. He was slow in yielding to external 
 influences ; but his good opinion won, the individual so favour- 
 ed might enjoy this distinction without dread of reverse. 
 1 Mathieu, Hist, de Henri II., p. 32.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 35 
 
 Henry loved to be surrounded by the most brilliant cavaliers 
 and ladies of the court ; not, indeed, like his royal father, to 
 be the divinity, at -whose shrine every one offered incense ; but, 
 standing aloof with Diane de Poitiers at his side, Henry loved 
 to listen in silence, and in seeming indifference, to the witty 
 sallies of his courtiers. 
 
 Diane de Poitiers, duchesse de Valentinois, was the centre 
 from wheuce the rays of Henry's royal favour emanated. She 
 regulated the king's preferences, his dislikes, and his political 
 prejudices. On the accession of Henry II., this remarkable 
 woman, at the age of forty-nine, ruled the king with a sway 
 of almost magical power. Her beauty, once of dazzling lustre, 
 was somewhat on the wane ; yet even at this period not a 
 siugle silver hair, we are told, mingled with the tresses which 
 adorned the brow of the stately s6nechale. A daughter 
 of the noble Provencal house of St Vallier, the widow of Louis 
 de Ereze, grand senechal of Normandy, Diane de Poitiers, 
 though the mistress of the king, never forgot her illustrious an- 
 cestry. Scorning the paltry intrigues through which the 
 duchesse d'Estampes, during the late reign, prolonged her em- 
 pire, Diane governed the court with the haughty fearlessness 
 which might have appertained to Catherine de Medici ; con- 
 tent, whenever it should be the will of the king, to resign her 
 puwer, and retire to her dower-palace at Anet. Her powerful 
 mind inspired vigour and energy into Henry's counsels. She 
 was liberal, amiable, and generous; her discretion and tact 
 have been greatly lauded ; and her judgment was generally 
 sound on political affairs, except in matters affecting religion ; 
 for the very zeal kindled by a sense of her position at court — 
 a position which her conscience rebuked — warped her liberal- 
 ity, and led her to make atonement in the way deemed most 
 meritorious by the church. 
 
 As the characters of the constable de Montmorency and 
 the princes of the house of Lorraine Guise will develope them- 
 selves gradually, according as their influences affected the des- 
 tinies of the princess Jeanne d'Albret, we pass to the second 
 dominant persou at the court of St Germain — one, whose si- 
 lent influence pervaded everywhere, but who attracted little 
 observation, just as in gazing on a mighty river, the streamlet 
 trom whence the thronging waters take their source, is for- 
 gotten by the beholder — the queen, Catherine de Medici. 
 The wonderful ascendancy possessed by the young queen — 
 whose beauty of countenance made no great impression 
 on the astute ambassador of Venice, Giovanni Cappello, 
 though he condescended to pronounce her modesty of
 
 3G LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 demeanour laudable 1 — was rather felt than acknowledged. 
 From the period (1533) when her uncle, pope Clement VII., 
 confided Catherine to the care of king Francis, as the bride of 
 Henry duke of Orleans second prince of the blood, and she 
 entered upon that brilliant career, once destined for Jeanne 
 d'Albret, her life was chequered by extraordinary adversity. 
 Catherine was then fourteen years old : an orphan from her 
 birth, her life had been spent partly in the turbulent city of 
 Florence ; partly at Eome, under the auspices of her kinsmen, 
 Leo X., and Clement VII., pontiffs of the race of Medici. Her 
 talents had been cultivated — for Catherine possessed the liter- 
 ary tastes of her race in an eminent degree — but her moral 
 education was totally neglected by Clement VII. ; and her 
 mind suffered to mould itself, so that its dictates became pliable 
 to her personal interests. From her aunt Clarice,' 2 consort of 
 the exiled republican Philippo Strozzi, Catherine received an 
 early initiation into the tortuous policy, and the system of 
 temporizing deceit, successfully practised by the petty rulers of 
 Italy. An apt pupil, as much of this crafty theory was imbib- 
 ed by the youthful heiress of the Medici as suited her circum- 
 stances, and no more. It is related that the parting word of 
 her uncle, Clement VII., when he took leave of his niece at 
 Marseilles, after her marriage, was the counsel, "fatti figliuoli 
 de ogni maniera" Catherine, however, was too politic to 
 follow her uncle's advice. Her conduct became cited as a 
 model of feminine propriety ; and she gained the affection, and 
 the powerful support, of Francis I. and of his sister the queen 
 of Navarre. So flattering did Catherine find this tribute to the 
 decorum of her demeanour, that it rendered her comparatively 
 indifferent to the neglect with which she was treated by her 
 boy-husband, the duke of Orleans. During the vicissitudes of 
 the subsequent ten years that she passed as dauphiness — a 
 period during which her position was forlorn, her father-in- 
 law the king being the only person willing to protect her 
 against the hatred of her husband, who taunted her with 
 her plebeian origin, and her want of offspring — Catherine bowed 
 before the storm, to rise with serene brow and composed 
 resolve. During this interval a frightful malady threatened 
 permanently to impair her mental and bodily faculties. Cather- 
 ine, however, desponded not ; and, in due time, her recovery 
 was complete. Again, after the decease of the dauphin Francis, 
 in 1536, dark rumours of poison and assassination were current ; 
 
 ' Tommasio, Relations des ambassadeurs Yenitiens sur les affaires de 
 France au 16eme siecle. 
 
 2 daughter of Pictro de Medici and Alfonsina d'Ursino, his consort.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 37 
 
 and the withering blight of suspicion affixed itself on the fame 
 of his young sister-in-law, Catherine de Medici. Catherine 
 uttered* no defence ; she put forth no protest ; her resignation 
 under the calumny — for the accusation was false — served her 
 better, as she had well divined, than the most fervid of denials. 
 The sword of every cavalier of the court sprang from its scab- 
 bard to defend the fame of that melancholy young girl, whose 
 seventeen years bad been darkened with unprecedented sorrow. 
 Next came the project of divorce, which the dauphin 
 formally presented for the deliberation of the privy-council. 
 The heart of Catherine quailed with apprehension : she was 
 childless, friendless, powerless. All the faculties of fascination 
 which she possessed, Catherine quietly brought into play to 
 defeat the measure. Her weapons were the prejudices, the 
 jealousies, the hatreds of those high in power. With unparal- 
 leled dexterity she wielded her arms ; for no one knew better 
 how to probethe weak points and the foibles of men than the 
 voung dauphiness. She triumphed: the suit for divorce was 
 withdrawn on the absolute command of the king, by the advice 
 of his cabinet. The indignation of the dauphin was great ; he, 
 however, consoled himself with the reflection that one day he 
 should likewise reign. The star of Catherine de Medici, 
 nevertheless, still shone. Warned by her past peril, she con- 
 trived to propitiate her husband ; so that, on the death of her 
 protector, Francis I., she sat enthroned in the halls of the 
 Louvre, her brow circled by the diadem of Jeanne d'Evreux, 1 
 with a fair young dauphin by her side, a proud, if not a happy 
 mother. 
 
 Queen Catherine was not a woman of genius. She possessed 
 promptness of action, and a facility of resource seldom at fault. 
 She read with precision the intricacies of the most versatile 
 character ; for her natural powers of observation had been 
 sharpened by the adverse destiny which surrounded her from 
 her cradle ; and by the ever present consciousness that her 
 enemies were far more numerous than her friends. During the 
 seventy-four years of her life, it was Catherine's luckless fate 
 to combat the hostility of faction without respite. She exer- 
 cised a perfect command over her sentiment and feelings : even 
 the very expression of her features was brought into subjec- 
 tion to her will ; though, when strongly moved, the flashing 
 glance of her dark prominent eyes betrayed the passionate 
 
 1 The crown of Jeanne d'Evreux, consort of Charles IV., was always used 
 at the coronation of a queen of France, as that of Charlemagne was at the 
 crowninar of the kin".
 
 38 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 impulses repressed. Her attire was skilfully adapted to dis- 
 play her personal charms. Her complexion during her youth 
 was eminently beautiful ; and Phidias himself could not have 
 desired a fairer model for the graceful form of his Venus de 
 Medici than the figure of the great-grand- daughter of Lorenzo 
 the Magnificent. 
 
 Catherine never designedly made an open enemy ; if such 
 she possessed it was greatly against her will, and arose 
 from some mutual antipathy which she found it impossible to 
 subdue. The graceful figure, the gliding step, the sweet smile, 
 and the courteous words of queen Catherine, when she met her 
 court, beamed upon every one ; for it was her policy to con- 
 ciliate all — from Madame de Valentinois, to the lowest page of 
 the chamber. Such was the princess against whom Jeanne 
 d'Albret wielded a life-long contest, opposed in interests, in 
 principles, and sympathies ; the controversies between these 
 royal ladies ; each remarkable for mental powers of rare descrip- 
 tion, afford a subject of absorbing interest. 
 
 During the first few months of the new reign, the princess 
 Jeanne was permitted to remain in Beam with her royal 
 mother, whose failing health excited alarm. Though but re- 
 cently released from the unwelcome bond which united her to 
 the duke of Cleves, the heiress of Beam soon became again 
 the object of speculation and interest to numberless suitors for 
 her hand. Amongst other personages, Philip of Spain again 
 renewed his pretensions for the favour of the princess, the 
 greater portion of whose inheritance was already incorporated 
 with the Spanish monarchy. Philip's Portuguese consort died 
 in giving birth to a prince, after an union with her husband of 
 little more than a year. The emperor manifested the same 
 eager wish to obtain the hand of Jeanne for his son ; the 
 sovereignty of Navarre, wrested so arbitrarily from the house 
 of Albret, weighed heavily on the conscience of Charles. The 
 restoration of the kingdom having become impracticable in a 
 political sense, the emperor earnestly desired to legalize its 
 acquisition by this alliance. In the will which the emperor 
 Charles dictated at Augsburg, in the year 1548, he emphati- 
 cally admonished his son to contract marriage, either with the 
 sister of the king of Prance, or with the heiress of Albret, " a 
 princess in vigorous health, of admirable character, virtuous, 
 and of heart worthy of her birth." 1 The emperor proceeds to 
 advise his son, in case this alliance should be negotiated, to 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son temps, liv. xxi. Sandoval, Hist, del emperador 
 Carlos V. libro xxx.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 39 
 
 enter into a proper understanding with the princess relative to 
 their mutual claims on Navarre ; and to make a compensation 
 for the past, satisfactory to the house of Albret. 1 
 
 The French court, however, prevented the possibility of 
 negotiation, for which the king of Navarre was well disposed, 
 by sending a mandate to Pau, requiring the presence of the 
 princess at Fontainebleau. Jeanne had then nearly com- 
 pleted her twentieth year. The expression of her countenance 
 was pleasing and animated, and her demeanour majestic. 
 Jeanne's readiness of speech, and her frank and open temper, 
 secured her great consideration at the court of her royal kins- 
 man, Henry II. The polished sophistry indulged in by the 
 queen was totally repugnant to the temper of the princess ; 
 and in consequence of the somewhat abrupt retorts by which 
 she repulsed Catherine's silken phrases, commenced that alien- 
 ation between these princesses, so especially unfortunate for 
 Jeanne, as she remained long ignorant of the dislike which she 
 had inspired. 
 
 The household of the princess continued to be maintained 
 on the same scale of magnificence ordered by Francis I. Queen 
 Marguerite complains, in her correspondence, of the vast ex- 
 penses which Jeanne's establishment entailed ; and she wrote 
 more than one peremptory letter to M. d'lzerney, steward of 
 the household to the princess, requiring him to introduce strict 
 economy in the departments over which he presided. 2 
 
 The queen likewise thought proper to admonish her daugh- 
 ter to be less profuse in her expenditure ; but, like her uncle 
 Francis I., Jeanne never knew how to refuse a suppliant ; and 
 she often bestowed her benefactions in so lavish a mode, that 
 not an ecu remained at her treasurer's disposal. One of the 
 earliest letters extant, written by the princess Jeanne, is a 
 pecuniary appeal to her mother, through the chancellor of the 
 duchy of Alencon, in favour of her nurse, and probably made 
 after she had exhausted her own resources. The letter is as 
 follows : 
 
 THE PRINCESS JEANNE OF NAVARRE, TO THE CHAN- 
 CELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF ALENCON. 
 
 " Mon compere. Since I last wrote to you, my nurse has been 
 with me to say that some man wishes to marry her daughter, but that 
 he expects a dowry with her of a thousand francs. As I understand 
 that the queen, my mother, has given you power to act for her in 
 
 1 Papiers d'Etat du cardinal Granvclle — Testament politique de l'enipe- 
 reur Charles Quint. 
 
 2 See Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme, vol. ii. p. 491.
 
 40 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 these matters, I pray you write to her a word on the subject; and, 
 out of love to me, entreat her so that she may, at least, bestow some- 
 thing on my said nurse, in furtherance of this her project; in doing 
 which thing you will confer a favour upon one who, acknowledging 
 that it is done for her sake, will never prove ungrateful ; but will sup- 
 plicate always, that our Lord, mon compere, may grant you your 
 petitions, of the which, I feel assurance, that I shall partake, and 
 profit. 
 
 " Vostre bonne commere, et amie, 
 
 " Jeanne de Navarre."' 
 
 We are nowhere told the result of this application pre- 
 ferred in terms so characteristic and matter of fact. The at- 
 tention of the princess, nevertheless, was occupied at this 
 period, by the homage of two of the most exalted cavaliers of 
 the court, Antoiue duke de Vendome, and Francis duke de 
 Guise, who each had become an eager aspirant for her hand, 
 from the moment that the king placed his veto on the suit of 
 the prince of Spain. 
 
 Antoine de Bourbon was the eldest son of Charles duke 
 de Vendome, who died at Amiens in 1536, and of Francoise 
 sister of the duke d'Alencon, a prince, the first husband of the 
 mother of the princess Jeanne. The most intimate friendship 
 existed between the queen of Navarre and her sister-in-law 
 the duchess de Vendome ; a fact, which doubtless encouraged 
 Antoine to press his suit with the princess. The duke de 
 Vendome was born in the castle of LaFere, on the 18th of April, 
 1518. 2 He had, therefore, entered his twentieth year when he 
 sought the hand of the princess. The character of Antoine de 
 Bourbon presents one of those strange anomalies, where a 
 captivating address conceals grave moral deficiency. Super- 
 ficial and frivolous, the duke disarmed censure by his frank 
 admission of ignorance, and his good-natured condescension. 
 His disposition was vacillating and uncertain ; perpetually 
 wavering, and devoid of principle, he invariably became the 
 victim of those who last possessed his ear ; being himself totally 
 regardless of antecedent engagements. His temper was excit- 
 able ; in the first heat of passion his resentments appeared 
 unbridled, and his energy irresistible. His anger pacified, all 
 sense of wrong to himself, or of justice to others, passed away; 
 and Antoine became again the luxurious, effeminate prince. 
 
 As a soldier, however, the duke de Vendome had achieved 
 considerable repute ; he had bravely served the king in several 
 campaigns : but his love of ease, and his capricious temper, 
 
 i Ancien Fonds Franqais, 849o, p. 6. MS. Bibl. Roy.— Inedited. 
 2 Thevet, Vies des Homines Illustres. — Vie d'Antoine de Bourbon, t. ii.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 41 
 
 were as adverse to his attainment of military excellence, as 
 they were inimical to his social and political renown. Antoine 
 had a noble presence ; he was upright in figure, and carried 
 himself with grace. In his attire he was fastidious ; and the 
 fashion of the jewels and of the habits worn by M. De Ven- 
 dome was eagerly copied by the courtiers. His popularity with 
 the fair dames of the court was great ; the manner in which he 
 raised his plumed chapeau when paying obeisance to a lady, was 
 deemed a model of elegance ; and at the court balls he yielded 
 the palm to no cavalier in address, as, leading a fair partner, he 
 threaded the mazes of the lively coicranto. 
 
 At the conference of Nice, in 1538, pope Paul III. had 
 offered to bestow upon the duke de Vendome the hand of his 
 niece, Victoria Farnese ; but political events prevented the 
 accomplishment of this alliance. 1 Again, soon after the acces- 
 sion of Henry II., the king had proposed to give his sister the 
 princess Marguerite in marriage to the duke de Vendome ; who 
 held the first rank in the kingdom, after the dauphin and his 
 brothers. Marguerite, then in her twenty-seventh year, was 
 not dazzled by the duke's popular deportment ; and she coldly 
 excused her rejection of his suit by observing, " that she would 
 never condescend to espouse a subject of the king her brother's, 
 however illustrious might be his rank." 2 On the arrival of 
 Jeanne at the court of France, the duke de Vendome was free 
 and heart-whole ; for the attachments of so capricious a cavalier, 
 notorious though they might be, left neither trace nor impression 
 behind. The animation and the joyous spirits of the princess 
 were greatly admired by the duke ; even the occasional per- 
 versity of her humour seemed a charm to the fancy of one so 
 sated with adulation. It has been said that those persons 
 whose characters present the strongest contrast assimilate best 
 together ; be this as it may, Jeanne, with her serious mind, 
 her worship of truth, and her commanding talents, returned 
 duke Antoine's regard, over whom she soon exercised an extra- 
 ordinary degree of influence. 
 
 King Henry's interest at this period, however, was given 
 to Antoine's rival, the duke de Guise, 3 whose favour remained 
 paramount throughout this reign. The queen, also, who 
 secretly detested the duke de Vendome, and his flattery, feel- 
 
 1 Mczeray, Abrege Chron. — Vie de Francois I. t. ii. 
 
 " Brantome, Dames Illustres — Vie de Marguerite de France. 
 
 3 At the period of which we are now treating, the old duke Claude de Guise 
 was living, and his son bore the title of duke d'Aumale. As the death of the 
 duke de Guise soon ensued, we have given Francois de Lorraine the title of 
 duke de Guise, to avoid the confusion arising from a variety of appellations for 
 the same personage.
 
 42 LTFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 
 
 ing that he was almost as great an adept as herself in that 
 mystic cabala called Veau benite de la cour, supported the pre- 
 tensions of the prince of Lorraine. 
 
 The character of the duke de Guise presented a complete 
 contrast to that of Antoine de Bourbon. Already Francois de 
 Lorraine was the darling of the populace ; and whenever he 
 appeared in Paris, the streets of the capital echoed with the cry, 
 "a Guise ! a Guise ! " — the name destined, ere a quarter of a cen- 
 tury lapsed, to fall with omen so portentous on the ear of the 
 grandsons of Francis I. Seldom does the page of history pre- 
 sent the assemblage of so many brilliant qualities united in the 
 person of one individual, as is displayed in the character of Fran- 
 cois, the great duke de Guise — the soaring ambition of his race 
 seeming but the one alloy to mar its excellence. With liberal 
 hand the duke distributed his vast revenues ; munificent was 
 his patronage of learning and art ; his affability corresponded 
 with his lofty rank. The charm of the duke's address was 
 such that the kin£ himself succumbed to its fascination. 
 " Henry II. treated this prince almost as an equal," says 
 Davila,' " admitting him to his conversation, his recreations, and 
 to share in those bodily exercises which were welcome and suit- 
 able to the age and tastes of each." The duke's military talents 
 were universally acknowledged ; and the French, with acclama- 
 tions, hailed him the successor of the young hero of Cerizolles, the 
 lamented count d'Anguien. Iu a court adorned by such men as 
 Brissac, 2 Vieilleville, JS T evers, s Montmorency, 4 and St Andre — 
 soldiers, statesmen, and wits — men who had converted by their 
 exquisite tact the metier of the courtier into a science — it was no 
 slight triumph for Francois de Lorraine to maintain pre-emin- 
 ence. The eldest of six b brothers — each of whom individually 
 possessed capacity to confer distinction on his house — the duke 
 de Guise seemed especially calculated to become the leader of a 
 powerful faction by his command of temper, and the perse- 
 verance which characterized his actions. He possessed not the 
 fiery eloquence nor the subtle craft of his celebrated brother, 
 the cardinal de Lorraine ; nor yet the latter's versatile intel- 
 
 1 Davila, Hist, ties Guerres Civiles de France, t. i. 
 
 2 Timoleoo de Cosse, marechal, count de Brissac. 
 
 3 Francois de Cleves, duke de Novers, son of Charles, count de Nevers, 
 and Marie d'Albret. 
 
 4 Anne de Montmorency, the renowned Constable, son of Guillaume, baron 
 de Montmorency, and Anne Pot, born in 1493. 
 
 5 Charles de Lorraine, cardinal-archbishop of Rheims, known as the cardi- 
 nal de Lorraine ; Claude, due d'Aumale ; Louis, cardinal de Guise ; P'rancois, 
 grand-prieur of France ; Rene, marquis d'Elbceuf ; — sons of Claude de Lorraine, 
 first duke de Guise, and of Antoinette de Bourbon, sister of Charles, duke de 
 Vendome.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 43 
 
 lect, which seemed created to compass every possible casualty 
 and circumstance. "The six brothers of the house of Guise," 
 says the Venetian ambassador, Jean Miehiel, 1 " possessed re- 
 venues, which, including their paternal patrimony, their ec- 
 clesiastical preferments, and the posts bestowed upon them by 
 the king, amounted together to the sum of 600,000 francs. 2 
 The cardinal (de Lorraine) also possesses ecclesiastical bene- 
 fices yielding him a yearly income of 300,000 francs. This great 
 wealth, added to the lustre of their rank, their piety, their 
 beauty of person, and the harmony which subsists between 
 them, elevates these princes above all the other nobles of the 
 realm." 
 
 The rivalry between the duke de Yendome and Francois de 
 Lorraine divided the court from the commencement of the 
 reign of Henry II. Favoured by the king, and by madame de 
 Yalentinois, whose daughter had espoused his brother, 3 the 
 duke de Guise, supported by the additional prestige of his well- 
 merited popularity, found it no difficult task to eclipse the fri- 
 volous Antoine de Bourbon. The dissension between these 
 princes was increased by the suit which the duke de Guise 
 was daring enough to make for the hand of Jeanne d'Albret. 
 The self-appreciation of the duke de Guise, however, offended 
 the princess ; and she expressed indignation that he should pre- 
 sume to place his pretensions on a level with those of Vendome, 
 and her other royal suitors. The king, nevertheless, persisted 
 in urging the suit of his favourite, whom he overwhelmed with 
 marks of distinction in the presence of the princess. 
 
 The queen of Xavarre encouraged ber daughter in her re- 
 jection of this alliance. In Marguerite's eyes, the accession of 
 dignity gained by the house of Guise by the union of the 
 duke's sister, Marie de Lorraine, with James V. of Scotland, was 
 more than balanced by the marriage which the duke d'Aumale 
 had contracted with the daughter of madame de Yalentinois. 
 One day, when king Henry was warmly recommending the 
 princess to accept the suit of the duke de Guise ; and assuring 
 her that the diadem of her ancestors could not be better be- 
 stowed than upon so princely a cavalier, Jeanne indignantly re- 
 plied, " What, monseigneur, would you indeed permit that the 
 duchess d'Aumale, who now feels herself honoured by perform- 
 
 i Tommasio, Relations des ambassadeurs Venitiens au lGeme siecle. 
 
 8 The wealth of the house of Guise was enormous, when it is considered 
 that money in those days had fifteen times its present value. 
 
 ' Claude, due d'Aumale, espoused Louise de Breze, iu the chapel of the 
 Louvre. She was the daughter of Louis, count de Maulevrier, grand senechul 
 of Normandy, by Diane de Poitiers.
 
 44 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 ing the office of my train-bearer, should become my sister-in- 
 law ; or that this duchesse, the daughter of madame de Valen- 
 tinois, through the marriage which you advocate, should ac- 
 quire instead the right to walk by my side ? " ' King Henry 
 made no reply to this impetuous speech ; but desisted, thence- 
 forth, in his attempt to obtain Jeanne's hand for his favourite. 
 Anxious, however, to defeat the schemes of those who would 
 have united her to the prince of Spain, Henry transferred the 
 weight of his royal influence to the suit of the duke de Ven- 
 dome. But the courtship of the duke suffered formidable 
 obstacles, from the sudden unwillingness manifested by the 
 king of Navarre to consent to the alliance, so soon as Antoine's 
 pretensions had received king Henry's sanction ; and the mar- 
 riage, in consequence, had become one of probable accomplish- 
 ment. The prodigal character of the duke excited the appre- 
 hension of the king of Navarre ; but the reluctance of the 
 latter served only to increase the suspicion of the king as to 
 his ulterior designs respecting the bestowal of his daughter's 
 hand. This distrust, added to the entreaties of the princess 
 herself, induced the king to summon the king and queen of 
 Navarre somewhat peremptorily from Beam ; in order that 
 the affair might be discussed and the marriage celebrated with- 
 out unnecessary delay. 2 
 
 It is asserted that queen Marguerite, also, opposed her 
 child's inclinations ; and positively refused to sanction the 
 suit of the duke de Vendome. No reason has been assigned by 
 historians for this pretended reluctance on the part of the 
 queen, which probably existed not at all. Antoine was the son 
 of Marguerite's sister-in-law, and old friend, Franchise, sister 
 of the duke d' Alencon ; and Vendome's known inclination for 
 the doctrines of the Beformed Church, — a predilection which 
 might be supposed as likely to give umbrage to the king of 
 Navarre, — was calculated to produce a contrary effect on the 
 mind of queen Marguerite, always the ardent upholder of the 
 Beformation. The absolute command of king Henry at length 
 compelled the assent of the king of Navarre ; and Marguerite, 
 whatever might have been the nature of her objections, sub- 
 mitted to receive her son-in-law with very good grace ; and at 
 queen Catherine's public entry into the city of Lyons, the 
 last state ceremonial in which Marguerite participated, duke 
 Antoine rode by the side of the litter, in which the queen and 
 her daughter sat. 3 The affability displayed by Marguerite on 
 
 1 L£gende de Charles, cardinal de Lorraine, p. 12. Mem. de Conde, t. vi. 
 
 2 Vauvilliers, t. i. p. 25. 
 3 Godefroy, Grand ceremonial de France, t. i. p. 850.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 45 
 
 this occasion towards the duke was remarked by many spec- 
 tators of the pageant. 
 
 The king of Navarre, meantime, was propitiated by a pen- 
 sion of 15,000 livres — a sum to be levied by his own officers 
 on the customs of Gascony ; and the promise, so often fruit- 
 lessly given, of aid to recover the kingdom of Navarre. 1 The 
 satisfaction evinced by the princess, and the fervour of her as- 
 surances as to the stability of principle possessed by her affi- 
 anced husband, did not reconcile the king of Navarre to her 
 union, nor mitigate his forebodings as to its ultimate issue. 
 Some days, therefore, before his daughter's marriage-contract 
 received the public assent of Henry, the king of Navarre sum- 
 moned the duke to his presence, and addressed him in lan- 
 guage of reproof, for the frivolity of his pursuits, his extrava- 
 gance, and his dissipated life. 2 The duke patiently submitted 
 to the rebuke ; and assured the king of Navarre that the pos- 
 session of his daughter's hand, being a priceless boon, would 
 for the future render him indifferent to dissipated pleasures. 
 As an earnest of his good intentions, Antoine proceeded to re- 
 form his household, and to dismiss many useless retainers, 
 whose brawls and profligate orgies reflected disgrace on their 
 master's name. 
 
 The marriage contract between Jeanne d'Albret and An- 
 toine de Bourbon was signed at Moulins, October 20th, 1518, 
 in the presence of Henry and Catherine, the king and queen 
 of Navarre, the duchesse de Vendome, the cardinal de Bour- 
 bon, and other noble personages. The king and queen of 
 Navarre gave their daughter a dowry in money of one hundred 
 thousand gold crowns, Tournois. Being still distrustful of 
 Antoine's promises of amendment, and believing that his 
 habits of extravagant expenditure were incorrigible, the king 
 of Navarre stipulated that this sum should be paid in yearly 
 payments of twenty-five thousand livres ; ten thousand livres 
 of which were to be devoted for the sole and separate use of 
 his daughter, while her husband was only to receive interest 
 on the remainder. The duke de Vendome, on his part, settled 
 lands on his future bride, to the annual amount of twelve 
 thousand livres ; and engaged to present her with jewels of 
 the value of ten thousand gold crowns, which jewels were to 
 become the personal property of the princess. As king Henry 
 considered that this jointure of twelve thousand livres was a 
 dower of scarcely adequate proportion for a lady who 
 brought a crown to the house of Vendome, the cardinal de 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 26. 
 * Ibid. t. ii. p. 26.
 
 46 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 Bourbon, the younger brother of duke Antoine, was induced 
 to offer the lands of Conde and La Eerte, a part of his own 
 heritage, as a free gift for the benefit of his future sister-in- 
 law ; a cession which was accepted by the king and assigned 
 to the princess. It was, moreover, stipulated, that in the 
 event of children being born to Autoine and Jeanne, that 
 their eldest son should succeed to the united heritages of his 
 parents ; and that he should bear the joint arms of Navarre 
 and France. In case of widowhood, Jeanne was declared sole 
 guardian and tutoress of her children. As if a foreshadowing 
 of the dark future had been legible on the pale brow of the 
 young Catherine de Medici, as she listened with her accus- 
 tomed composure to the rehearsing of the marriage articles, 
 queen Marguerite caused a clause to be inserted, wherein it 
 was expressly stated that Jeanne was to be responsible to no 
 one for the education and nurture which it might please her 
 to bestow upon her children ; and that until her son attained 
 the age of eighteen years be was to be subject to her sole 
 government. The contract was witnessed by three public no- 
 taries ; and signed by the secretaries of state, Bochetal, Clausse , 
 and Du Tiers. 1 
 
 The following day the marriage ceremony was performed 
 in the chapel of the castle of Moulins, in the presence of the 
 court, the king giving away the royal bride. Early on the 
 marriage day, however, the court was thrown into consterna- 
 tion indescribable, by a report of the alleged refusal of the 
 duke de Vendome to suffer the spousal ceremony to proceed ; 
 it was even insinuated that but from wholesome dread of the 
 king's wrath, the hitherto impatient bridegroom elect would 
 have departed from Moulins at early dawn for his castle of 
 Chatellerault. All kinds of speculations circulated amongst 
 the courtiers respecting this extraordinary whim of duke An- 
 toine's ; and until the bridal procession issued forth in the 
 pomp of royal pageantry from the castle portal, many doubted 
 whether, after all, the heiress of Navarre would wed with a 
 Bourbon. The truth of the matter was, that during the even- 
 ing of the day previous to his marriage, the duke had been as- 
 sailed with terrible misgivings as to the validity of Jeanne's 
 former marriage with the duke of Cleves. 2 His excitement 
 increased, until at length it bordered upon frenzy ; and forget- 
 ting the unmerited disgrace which his desertion would have 
 inflicted on the young princess whose hand he had so ardently 
 
 • Contrat fie manage d' Antoine de Bourbon, et de Jeanne d'Albret. 
 Leonard, Recueil des Traitez de Paix, &e. t. ii. p. 468. 
 ? Brantome, Dames illustres — Vie de Marguerite de Valois.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 47 
 
 sought, Antoine protested that nothing should induce him to 
 perfect the alliance. In alternate paroxysms of jealous fury 
 and lamentation, the vacillating Autoine spent several hours, 
 until he was soothed somewhat by the solemn and reiterated 
 assurances of queen Marguerite, of madame de Silly, and of 
 the senechale of Poitou, 1 that the duke of Cleves had placed 
 the princess Jeanne under her mother's protection, immediate- 
 ly on the termination of the ceremonial performed at Chatelle- 
 rault ; and had never subsequently conversed with her, but in 
 the queen's presence. 
 
 King Henry, on his return from the nuptial ceremony, 
 publicly signed the marriage contract of the duke de Guise, 
 with Anne d'Este, daughter of the duke of Ferrara, and grand- 
 daughter of Louis XII. 2 Aware of the mortification inflicted 
 on his magnificent favourite, by the unceremonious way in 
 which his suit had been rejected by the princess of Navarre, 
 Henry devised this flattering method of reparation. Anne 
 d'Este was the king's first cousin ; and held precisely the same 
 degree of affinity to the royal family of France as did the 
 duchesse de Vendome. She was beautiful in person ; and 
 having been educated under the rigid surveillance of her mo- 
 ther the princess Renee, her rare acquirements rendered her a 
 suitable consort for the duke. Apart from the territorial ag- 
 grandizement, which the duke de Guise would have obtained 
 by an alliance with the heiress of Navarre, this marriage probably 
 afibrded him greater domestic felicity than he would have en- 
 joyed as the husband of Jeanne d'Albret. The gentle and 
 womanly disposition of the duchess de Guise endeared her to 
 her husband ; whose haughty independence of character would 
 not have brooked the semblance of rivalry in a consort of even 
 queenly rank. 
 
 On the termination of their marriage festivities at Moulins, 
 the duke and duchess de Vendome retired from court, and 
 took up their abode in the castle of La Fere, in Picardy, of 
 which province Antoine was governor. After making a brief 
 sojourn there, Antoine and Jeanne journeyed to Pau, in order 
 that the young duchess might receive the homage of the states 
 of Beam ; and the formal recognition of her right of eventual 
 succession, as heiress of the principality. Her reception was 
 enthusiastic. The people flocked to behold her again ; and to 
 welcome the consort she had chosen, whose religious sympathies 
 
 1 Louise de Daillon, wife of the seigneur de la Chateigneraye, chamberlain 
 in ordinary to the king, and senechal of Poitou. Madame de la Chateigneraye 
 was first lady of honour to the queen of Navarre. 
 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret.
 
 48 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 were hailed with rapture by the Bearnnois. 1 The duke, with 
 the happy tact which rescued him from so many difficulties, 
 perceived that the loyal inhabitants of Beam had few things 
 more at heart than reverence for their good queen Mar- 
 guerite, and attachment to the religion which she had beeu so 
 instrumental in establishing amongst them. To queen Mar- 
 guerite, therefore, and to her Lutheran ministers, Antoine 
 offered devoted homage ; and, consequently, he won golden 
 opinions from all parties in the principality. The young 
 duchess, however, too honest to feign a sympathy which at 
 this period she did not feel for the Reformers, steadily continu- 
 ed her countenance to the Romish party, and to the prelates 
 of Beam. Although Jeanne's belief in the doctrines inculcat- 
 ed from her earliest youth had been shaken by her residence 
 in Beam with queen Marguerite, she was not prepared to 
 throw off her allegiance to Rome With less principle, but 
 with more policy, Antoine, whose interest was his creed 
 throughout life, perceived the advantage which might accrue 
 from such a course. The result realized his anticipations ; for 
 his name was associated with that of Jeanne d'Albret in the 
 formula of recognition, by which the states of the principality 
 acknowledged the successor of Henry and Marguerite. 
 
 As soon as the emperor was informed of the marriage of 
 the princess with the duke de Vendome, and of her recog- 
 nition as the future sovereign of Beam, he caused his son 
 Philip to be proclaimed king of Navarre, in a cortes he sum- 
 moned at Pamplona for the express purpose. He, moreover, 
 issued a proclamation wherein that kingdom was again for- 
 mally annexed, by right of conquest, to the Spanish crown. 
 The viceroy of Navarre, the duke d'Alberquerque, even me- 
 naced the frontiers of Beam. The king of Navarre assembled 
 levies, and increased the fortifications of Bayonne and Navar- 
 reins ; when the war, which seemed on the point of breaking 
 forth, was arrested by the illness and death of queen Margue- 
 rite ; an event which occurred at the castle of Odos, in Bigorre, 
 December 21st, 1548. 2 Prom that period the energy of the 
 king of Navarre departed ; and during the remainder of his 
 reign he made but feeble resistance to the hostile designs of 
 the emperor. 
 
 The loss of her admirable mother was a sorrow deeply felt 
 by the duchess de Vendome ; and in years subsequently she 
 ailuded to this event as one of the greatest calamities of her 
 life. The decease of queen Marguerite, in another point of 
 
 1 Olhagaray. Hist, de Foix, Beam et Navarre, p. 50o. 
 2 Lite of Marguerite d'Angouleme, vol. ii. p. 508.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 49 
 
 view, was a great misfortune for her daughter ; as she alone 
 possessed salutary influence over the duke de Vendoine, and 
 could check, in some measure, his wayward projects. Mar- 
 guerite's gentle firmness, the prestige of her great name 
 throughout the kingdom, and the power which she still pos- 
 sessed at court, imposed respect upon the unstable mind of 
 Antoine, and commanded his deference. Though the duke de 
 Vendome was attached to his young wife, and proud of the 
 esteem in which she was held by others, Jeanne's earnestness 
 of purpose, and the diligence with which she fulfilled her duties 
 seemed to rebuke his own frivolous pursuits, which seldom had 
 higher aim than the enjoyment of the moment. No two cha- 
 racters could present a greater contrast than those of duke 
 Antoine and his consort : the duchess, noble-minded, unselfish, 
 and acting always from principle, however great the pain of 
 self-denial ; Antoine, gay, luxurious, ever ready to make com- 
 promise with conscience, unstable, and passionate. While the 
 duke feasted royally with his boon companions, Jeanne, who 
 inherited the literary tastes of her mother, devoted herself to 
 the study of philosophy, theology, and history. The religious 
 questions of the day — topics so hotly debated, and assailed 
 with scepticism so impious — occupied much of her leisure. 
 Jeanne weighed and discussed these opinions with fearless in- 
 dependence : her mind partook of the severe tone which dis- 
 tinguished that of her grandmother Louise de Savoye ; and at 
 this period of her history, like that celebrated princess, it is to 
 be feared the duchesse de Vendome viewed the divisions agita- 
 ting the church more as curious speculations for the student 
 and politician than as subjects of vital import, in the elucida- 
 tion of which the well-being of all was involved. The duke's 
 dissipated habits, and the familiarity to which he condescended, 
 were very displeasing to his consort, and had the effect of in- 
 creasing the dignified reserve of her manner. Yet Jeanne was 
 tenderly attached to her husband ; and had he possessed wisdom 
 enough to be guided by her penetration, his career might have 
 been as prosperous as it proved the reverse. 
 
 Another source of disquietude, at this season, assailed the 
 princess Jeanne : she had been a wife for upwards of two 
 years, and yet there seemed no prospect of her bringing an 
 heir to the houses of Vendome and Albret. Her father, the 
 king of Navarre, openly expressed his disappointment ; a sen- 
 timent reciprocated by his subjects of Beam. The emperor, 
 therefore, had insidiously proposed, as the duchesse de Ven- 
 dome remained childless, that Henry himself should contract 
 a second marriage with the infanta Juana of Spain. Charles, 
 
 ■i
 
 50 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 moreover, professed a willingness to make some important 
 concessions relative to the kingdom of Navarre, in favour of 
 any offspring resulting from this alliance. 1 The project was 
 not unfavourably received by the states of Beam, loyal as 
 was the attachment felt for the daughter of Marguerite d'An- 
 gouleme. The king of Navarre, whose territory and alliance 
 had been so often the object of the emperor's political combin- 
 ations, received the proposal with indifference. Nevertheless, 
 the negotiation made such progress that Jeanne's ultimate 
 succession began to appear doubtful, even to her most faithful 
 adherents ; when the joyful news reached the principality 
 that the duchesse de Vendome was at length in a condition to 
 fulfil the ardent aspirations of her subjects of Beam. 2 The 
 overtures of the emperor were forthwith negatived ; for few 
 persons were credulous enough to believe that Beam woidd 
 ever again become independent of the sway of Spain, when 
 once a princess, daughter of the emperor, had been installed 
 over the heritage of Albret. 
 
 Jeanne retii'ed from court, and took up her abode in the 
 castle of Coucy soon after her pregnancy was announced. The 
 duke de Vendome made some sojourn with her there. An- 
 toine's content seemed unbounded ; for already the enemies of 
 the young duchesse, aware of her husband's besetting foible, 
 had ventured to insinuate their conviction that Jeanne's bar- 
 renness was a judgment from heaven, sent to signify the Divine 
 indignation at her abandonment of the duke of Cleves. After 
 the departure of the duke de Vendome for his military com- 
 mand, Jeanne wrote thus to her friend Anne d'Este, duchesse 
 de Guise : — 
 
 THE PRINCESS JEANNE OF NAVARRE TO THE 
 DUCHESS DE GUISE. 
 
 "Ma Cousine, 
 
 Not having been able to bid you adieu in person when I quitted 
 the court, I have resolved to do so in writing, to beg you always to 
 hold me in your affectionate remembrance, as I return the same to 
 you. I assure you, ma cousine, that you have no relative better 
 affected towards you than myself; and if you do not believe this you 
 do me great injury. To prevent you from becoming forgetful of the 
 friendship which I bear you ; and, also, that your esteem may not de- 
 crease for me, I will often remind you of it by letter ; so you will per- 
 ceive how desirous I am that our regard should continue throughout 
 our lives. Ma cousine, if you should happen to have news from the 
 
 i Olhaptaray, Hist, de Foix, Bt'arn ct Navarro, p. 507. 
 - Olhagaray. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 13.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 51 
 
 camp, I pray you send me word of it by my messenger, and especially 
 concerning the health of monsieur my husband ; also, of the time 
 when they think of leaving the camp, and whether you are likely to be 
 besieged where you are, that I may lead succours to your rescue ! I 
 beg you to present my very humble commendations to the queen, 
 when you see her Majesty. I have not dared at present to importune 
 her with my letters. In conclusion, ma cousine, if you have tidings 
 from the camp, I pray you send the news to me ; and in return, I will 
 pray that God may bestow upon you all that, after commending her- 
 self to your favour and affection, she desires for you, who signs 
 herself, 
 
 " Votre bien bonne cousine, et parfaite amie, 
 
 Jeanne de Navarre." 1 
 
 On the 21st day of September, 15-30, the ducliesse de Yen- 
 dome gave birth to a son. 2 The young prince was named 
 Henry ; his sponsors were the king of Navarre, the count 
 d'Enghien. and Marguerite de France, afterwards duchess de 
 Savoye. The royal infant bore the title of duke de Beaumont, 
 an ancient pairie of the house of Vendome. 
 
 The faithful affection displayed by madame de Silly during 
 her own infancy determined the duchess to confide to her the 
 care of her infant. Madame de Silly, however, had become an 
 infirm old woman ; while several years of failing health had 
 subdued her energy. She had, moreover, espoused, some years 
 previously, Jerome Groslot bailiff of Orleans, and chancellor of 
 the duchy of Alencon, a man highly esteemed by queen Mar- 
 guerite for his integrity and learning. Instead, therefore, of 
 residing in the beautiful and salubrious castle of Lonray, where 
 Jeanne d'Albret had spent so many of her early years, the 
 baillive had taken up her abode in Orleans. The failing health 
 of the baillive had rendered her susceptible of the least change 
 of temperature; so that she now passed her days in an apart- 
 ment heated to an oppressive degree, and closely hung with 
 arras. The windows, by her directions, were rendered air tight ; 
 every aperture through which the slightest current could pass 
 being closed; and a fire was kept burning in a stove through- 
 out the twenty-four hours. To this stifling den, madame la 
 baillive bore her helpless charge; there she kept the prince 
 muffled in the barbarous appendages to baby-toilette of those 
 days; whilst she refused to permit him to be carried into the 
 open air, even during the finest weather. The baillive held 
 tenaciously to the doctrine that heat matured all things; and 
 when remonstrated with on the treatment of her nurseling, her 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. F. de Bethunc, No. S74G, fol. 21.— Inedited. 
 ' i Cayet, Chron. Novenaire, p. 99. Favyn. Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14.
 
 52 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 invariable reply was, " Laissez V enfant ! il vaut mieux suer que 
 trembler ! The consequence of this regimen was, that the un- 
 fortunate little duke de Beaumont wasted gradually away ; 
 and at length became so attenuated, that his attendants were 
 obliged to nurse him on a pillow. When the duchess was in- 
 formed of the pitiable condition to which her son was reduced, 
 she journeyed to Orleans. Shocked at the spectacle, the duchess 
 bitterly reproached the baillive for her selfish neglect of the 
 child confided to her care. She then took the prince to the 
 castle of Graillon, in Normandy, where she was sojourning in ex- 
 pectation of her second accouchement. The constitution of the 
 little prince, however, had been quite exhausted by the baillive's 
 sudorific treatment. He died, therefore, when little more than 
 one year and a half old ; a few weeks before the duchess gave 
 birth to her second child. 1 
 
 The death of this young prince was a great mortification to 
 his grandfather the king of Navarre ; and many a fervid ex- 
 pletive did he lavish on the doting old baillive, and her per- 
 nicious system of rearing children. The people of Beam began 
 again to discuss the expediency of their sovereign's union with 
 the daughter of the emperor, when Jeanne brought into the 
 world a second son at the castle of Graillon, during the month 
 of August, 1552. The duke de Vendome was, at this period, 
 with the royal forces in Picardy ; and the projected invasion 
 of the imperial territories of Artois and Hainault, and the 
 consequent unsettled state of the adjacent provinces, was the 
 reason wherefore the duchess Jeanne had retired from her 
 usual abode, the castle of La Fere, to the shelter of the strong 
 towers of Gaillon. 
 
 The new-born prince had the title of count de Marie be- 
 stowed upon him ; but so apprehensive was the duchess lest 
 some disaster should happen to him, that she insisted upon 
 having the child brought up under her own superintendence. 
 Jeanne's system answered perfectly. In a few months, the 
 infant became a strong and healthy child ; and the duchess was 
 able to comply with the earnestly expressed wish of the father, 
 that she would bring the prince, and present him to the 
 Bearnois, during the ensuing festival of Christmas. 
 
 On the conclusion of hostilities for the year 1552, the 
 duke de Vendome and his consort, with the young heir of 
 Navarre, set out for Pau. King Henry, anxious to greet his 
 daughter, " sa bonne filled as he called the princess, met the 
 royal couple at Mont de Marsan. The king contemplated 
 
 1 Cayet, Chron. Novenaire, p. 100. Vauvillicr.?, Favyn, liv. 14.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 53 
 
 his infant grandson with proud satisfaction ; and seemed never 
 weary of fondling the child, and exhibiting him to the admir- 
 ing gaze of the loyal Bearnois. The duke and duchess de Ven- 
 dome, soon after their arrival at Mont de Marsan, one day ac- 
 companied the king on a grand hunting expedition, leaving 
 their son in the care of his nurse, and that of the cham- 
 berlain, already appointed to attend upon monsieur Je Prince. 
 It happened that, during the afternoon, the nurse carried her 
 young charge to an open window. She was there joined by a 
 gentleman of the chamber to king Henry, who approached and 
 conversed from without. After some discourse had passed 
 between the pair, the nobleman noticed the young prince, 
 who was sleeping placidly, and requested permission to hold 
 the child. The lady complied : a scene of unseemly jesting 
 then ensued, during which the young prince several times 
 passed backwards and forwards from the arms of his nurse to 
 those of the cavalier, who sometimes took him, and, at others, 
 only feigned to do so. It so happened, that the window was 
 situated over an outer staircase, leading to the under-ground 
 apartments of the castle. For some time the two continued 
 their pastime ; when the nurse suddenly relinquishing her 
 grasp of the child, thinking that her companion held him, the 
 young prince fell on the marble steps, and fractured a rib. 1 
 Terrified at the result of their heedless mirth, the pair agreed 
 to conceal the accident. The nurse found means to quiet the 
 agonized cries of the poor infant ; and when the duchess de 
 Yendome returned home nothing was said on the subject. 
 During the following few days the cries of the suffering child 
 were ascribed to every cause but the right one ; and its shrink- 
 ing from the touch was attributed to magic, or to some fabu- 
 lous agency, believed in by the credulous of that age. It was 
 only after the death of the child, which happened some four 
 days from the date of the accident, that the injury was disco- 
 vered ; and the guilty parties brought to condign punishment 
 for their misdemeanour. 
 
 The wrath of the king of Navarre was excessive at this 
 second disappointment of his hopes ; but the accident aroused 
 the latent energy of his nature. He bitterly reproached his 
 daughter for her careless neglect of her children, to which he 
 was pleased to declare the loss of her two hopeful sons might 
 be attributed. He even went so far as to taunt her with the 
 appellations of maratre and inhuman. 2 He announced to her 
 his intention to marry a second time ; and bade her attribute 
 
 1 Cayet, Chron. Novenaire, p, 101. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14. 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, p. 38. Cayet.
 
 54 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 to her neglect of her maternal duties any eventual loss of her 
 heritage of Navarre which might ensue from that event. The 
 princess, who could scarcely be considered as responsible for 
 the calamity which bereft her of her child, opposed submission 
 only to her father's anger. At length Henry suifered himself 
 to be pacified, on receiving his daughter's solemn promise, 
 that if ever she became likely to bear another child she would 
 repair to Pau for her accouchement ; and, after that event, re- 
 linquish the management of the infant to his care. The 
 duchess was, moreover, obliged to give the same assurance to 
 the states of the principality ; l the duke de Vendome, like- 
 wise, expressed his concurrence. After this untoward event, 
 duke Antoine and his consort declined to accompany the king 
 of Navarre to Pau ; and the princess Jeanne and her father 
 parted in mutual dissatisfaction. The high-spirited Jeanne re- 
 sented her father's strictures, which she thought unjust and 
 unmerited. She felt aggrieved also at the ascendency which 
 a certain noble lady exercised over the king and the little 
 court at Pau. It was believed that this lady, who was beauti- 
 ful, unscrupulous, and distantly allied to the house of Poix, 
 aspired to a matrimonial alliance with Henry ; to whom, since 
 the death of queen Marguerite, she had borne a son. The 
 duchesse de Vendome, therefore, had every reason to ap- 
 prehend that her father, even if he did not proceed to the 
 extremity of demanding the hand of the Spanish infanta, or to 
 that of espousing his misti'ess, would seek to legitimatize his 
 son, so as to place him next to herself in the succession to the 
 principality, should she die childless. Henry, indeed, had in- 
 timated the probability of his adopting such a measure in the 
 heat of his resentment at the loss of his grandsons ; because, 
 as the king told his daughter, " as she was not worthy, after 
 her careless disregard, to possess other children, God would 
 surely withhold from her the blessing of posterity." 
 
 In much mental disquietude, therefore, the duke and 
 duchess de Vendome took up their abode in the castle of La 
 Pleche, in Anjou, the magnificent dower palace of Francoise 
 d'Alencon, the duke's mother. In superintending the archi- 
 tectural embellishments of the edifice, then in the course of con- 
 struction by the duchess-dowager, Jeanne found alleviation 
 from sorrow. Like her mother, she was passionately fond of 
 flowers ; and the garden at La Fleche afforded her many hours 
 of relaxation, during the absence of duke Antoine, in Picardy. 
 Jeanne again renewed her correspondence with the duchess de 
 
 1 Vauvillicrs, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, p. 38. Cayet.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 55 
 
 Guise, during her sojourn at La Fleche. The character of the 
 duchess was much esteemed by Jeanne ; who admired her gen- 
 tle and womanly deportment, and the undeviating rectitude of 
 her conduct. From the anxiety which the princess always ex- 
 presses to hear news of her husband, it may be presumed that 
 Jeanne was not satisfied with the amount of intelligence which 
 she was in the habit of receiving from her consort. 
 
 THE PRINCESS JEANNE DE NAVARRE TO THE DUCHESS 
 
 DE GUISE. 1 
 
 " Ma Cousine, 
 
 " I entreat you to send me the news from the camp, by the messen- 
 ger whom I despatch to you, as I have heard that Coutel is arrived 
 from thence. You will do me an infinite good if you will send me 
 the tidings of what has recently happened there, by my messenger, 
 who is to be trusted ; also, what you may have heard relative to the 
 return of our husbands. I have been informed that monsieur has 
 quitted Chalons. I pray you write me word all that you know of this 
 matter. If there should be news which you fear may get abroad, as- 
 sure yourself that I shall as scrupulously guard the secret as any 
 friend that you have. As I know that you are rather idle at writing 
 with your own hand, I shall be content if the letter is written by your 
 secretary, provided that it be of ample length, and comprehensive, 
 stating whether you know anything of the proceedings of monsieur 
 man mart ; to whom I have written the enclosed letter, which I beg 
 you will forward to him. Do not deem me importunate if I address 
 myself to you, as to her from whom I have already received many 
 tokens of friendship ; so much so, that you may always rely upon me 
 as a personage more at your disposal than any relative or friend that 
 you possess. I pray God, ma cousine, to give you long life, and to 
 grant your desires. 
 
 " Votre bien bonne cousine, et loyalle amie, 
 "Jeanne de Navarre. 
 
 " P.S. Do me the kindness to prevent any letters that I write to 
 my husband from falling into other hands than his own." 
 
 It must have been mortifying to the pride of Jeanne 
 d'Albret to owe her knowledge of the proceedings of her con- 
 sort to the wife of the prince whose hand she had so positively 
 rejected. The duke de Guise dominated in the counsels of his 
 sovereign ; while Antoine de Bourbon appeared there as first 
 prince of the blood, and only in virtue of his rank. Had 
 Jeanne accepted the suit of the duke de Guise it is impossible 
 to divine to what power and state the house of Lorraine might 
 have aspired, supported by the royal title and heritage of her 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. Be'thune, 8746, fol. 19— Inedited. The letter is addressed 
 " A madame la ducliesse de Guise, ma cousiuc."
 
 56 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 ancestors. Brighter days, however, dawned after a time for 
 the princess ; and early in the spring of the year 1553 Jeanne 
 found herself again likely to realize the hopes of the king of 
 Navarre. With some exultation, the princess despatched a 
 courier to notify the event to her father. Henry received the 
 intelligence with the utmost satisfaction ; and sent back a 
 message to remind his daughter of her promise to bring him 
 her child, that it might be reared in Beam, and not, like her 
 other offspring, " mollement, et a la Francaise.'''' 
 
 During part of the summer of 1553 the duchess de Ven- 
 dome shared the discomforts of the camp with her husband ; 
 devoted to Antoine, she was his constant companion ; and her 
 enlightened mind proved of essential service to him, on more 
 than one occasion during the campaign. " Like a bold and 
 courageous Amazon, this noble princess followed her husband 
 to the camp, to kindle and support the courage of our warriors, 
 as she was well able to do," says a contemporary historian. 
 Instead of repaying the devotion manifested by his wife with 
 heartfelt homage and affection, Antoine lavished upon the 
 duchess the gallant attentions of a petit-maitre. There was a 
 reality in all that Jeanne did — a purpose in her actions, which 
 made her shrink from obtrusive and senseless adulation. The 
 heart of Jeanne must have grown sore within her, as she listen- 
 ed to the commendation lavished by all on the suitor whom 
 she had so peremptorily discarded for the sake of Antoine de 
 Bourbon — the chivalrous duke de Guise, whose deportment 
 elicited homage even from the foes of the house of Lorraine. 
 
 An incident occurred during the sojourn of the duchesse 
 Jeanne at the camp in Picardy, which nearly again frustrated 
 her hope of offspring. The duke de Vendome, with his 
 habitual thoughtlessness, perceiving one day an arquebuse 
 standing in a corner of his tent, took it up, and, without dis- 
 continuing his discourse, levelled it at his wife, and pulled the 
 trigger, believing it to be unloaded. To the horror of the 
 spectators, an explosion followed ; most providentially, however, 
 the bullet had dropped on the floor as Antoine raised the gun ; 
 and the young duchess stood agitated, but unharmed. Such 
 was the strength of Jeanne's nerves, that she experienced no 
 ill effects from this abominable escapade — an act very charac- 
 teristic of Duke Antoine. 1 
 
 As the period of the princess's delivery drew nigh, the 
 greatest excitement prevailed throughout Beam. The states 
 of the principality assembled ; and doubting whether duke 
 
 » Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, p. 374, t i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 57 
 
 Antoine, of voluble renown, would suffer bis consort to under- 
 take tbe promised journey, tbey nominated a deputation of 
 members to request king Henry to adopt measures to satisfy tbe 
 wisbes of bis subjects. 1 With tbe consent of tbe king, envoys 
 were cbosen to proceed to France, to make known tbe desire 
 of tbe Bearnnois to tbe duchess ; and their expectation that 
 she would punctually fulfil her engagement. 
 
 The duchess de Vendome received this deputation, whilst 
 sojourning at the royal castle of Compiegne, whither her con- 
 dition had compelled her to retire from the discomforts of a life 
 in tbe camp. She assured the deputies that she was ready to 
 comply with their prayer ; and she informed them that, before 
 their arrival to renew the petition of the states, she bad intend- 
 ed to proceed to Pau for her accouchement : an assertion which, 
 perhaps, Jeanne's loving subjects permitted themselves to 
 doubt, as she had entered the ninth month of her pregnancy 
 without having made any preparation for a journey into Beam, 
 in the depth of winter. The duchess, however, perceived that 
 king Henry and his subjects were too much in earnest to admit 
 of any excuse on her part : besides, private information reached 
 her that her father bad recently made bis will ; in which 
 document his beautiful mistress claimed to have great interest. 
 These causes combined, inspired the duchess Jeanne with 
 courage to undertake so painful an expedition : she accordingly 
 bade adieu to the duke de Vendome at Compiegne, on tbe loth 
 of November, and set out for Pau, attended by tbe Bearnnois 
 deputies and a numerous suite. 
 
 The princess pursued her journey with speed, reclining in 
 a litter drawn by mules. She arrived at Pau on the 4th of 
 December ; having spent a fortnight and four days on the 
 road from Compiegne, in Picardy. The king received his 
 daughter with tender affection, and installed her in the apart- 
 ments formerly occupied by her mother, queen Marguerite, on 
 the first story of the castle. Jeanne soon recovered from the 
 fatigue of her journey, and charmed the Bearnnois, by frequent- 
 ly showing herself in public. Meantime, she was not unmind- 
 ful of the proceedings of her father's ambitious mistress ; and 
 of tbe latter' s intrigue to bring forward her son. Jeanne 
 often attempted to penetrate the secret of her father's will, much 
 to the amusement of the king, who seemed to take pleasure in 
 increasing her curiosity and anxiety on the subject. One day, 
 the duchess being alone with her father in his cabinet, made 
 allusion to tbe subject which so greatly occupied her thoughts ; 
 
 • Olhagaray, Hist, de Navarre, p. 507.
 
 58 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 expressing a desire to be informed what the king's testamentary- 
 injunctions were, respecting this son. Henry rose, and open- 
 ing a coffer, took therefrom a small gold box, having a chain 
 attached to suspend it from the neck ; showing it to the duchess, 
 he said with a smile : " Ma fille, you see this box : well, it shall 
 be your own with my last will which it contains, provided that, 
 when the pains of labour assail you, you will sing me a Gascon 
 or a Bearnnois song. I do not want a peevish girl, or a 
 drivelling boy!" 1 The duchess laughed; but accepted the 
 proposal. The king, thereupon, placed an old and faithful 
 valet-de-chambre named Cotin in the princess's wardrobe- 
 chamber, ordering him to bring instant intelligence of the first 
 symptoms of indisposition felt by his daughter. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 13th of December, between 
 the hours of one and two o'clock, the duchess de Vendome felt 
 that her delivery was at hand. Faithful to her engagement 
 she ordered that Cotin might be informed of the event, and 
 sent with a summons to king Henry. The king rose in haste, 
 and proceeded to visit his daughter. When Jeanne heard her 
 father's step approach, she commenced in a firm and clear voice, 
 the Bearnnoise chanson " Kotre-Dame, du bout du pont, aidez- 
 moi a cette heure ! " This ditty was popular throughout 
 Beam : the Virgin invoked as " ]\ T 6tre-Dame dubout dupont," 
 being a miraculous image, honoured as a Lucina, by the Bearn- 
 noise matrons, and whose chapel was built at the extremity of 
 the bridge crossing the river Gave, in the town of Pau. Jeanne, 
 it is recorded, bravely sang on, omitting not one of the numerous 
 verses of the song. -2 She had scarcely made an end, when her 
 son was born — the future hero of Coutras and d'Arques — 
 Henry IV., of illustrious memory, 
 
 Ce heros qui regna sur la France 
 Et par droit de conquete, et par droit de naissance ; 
 Qui par de longs malheurs apprit a gouverner, 
 Cahna les factious, sut vaincre et pardouner ! 
 
 Transported with joy, king Henry received the new-born 
 babe in his arms, and carefully enveloping the child in the 
 skirt of his robe, he approached the duchess, and placing the 
 gold box in her hand, exclaimed, " There, that is thine own, 
 daughter ; but," continued the king, pointing to the infant, 
 " this is mine ! " It is stated, however that Henry mischiev- 
 ously withheld from the duchess the key of the golden box ; 
 therefore, though she possessed the much-desired document, 
 
 1 Cayet, Chron. Novenaire, p. 104 — Edition de 1790. 
 2 Cayet- Chron. Novenaire. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALI3RET. 59 
 
 Jeanne being still tantalized by ber desire to peruse it, felt 
 mueb disconcerted at the king's subtle method of evading her 
 curiosity. King Henry, meantime, conveyed the babe to his 
 own apartments. The child, it was remarked, did not cry on 
 coming into the world — a circumstance considered one of 
 happy augury. Before the king consigned his grandson to the 
 nurse's care, he performed an ancient ceremony practised by 
 the Bearnnois. First, he took a clove of garlic, and gently 
 rubbed the lips of the little prince ; next, he presented him 
 with wine in a golden cup. The infant, it is asserted, on smell- 
 ing the wine raised his head, and otherwise testified satisfaction. 
 The king then put a few drops of wine on the child's tongue, 
 which he swallowed. " Va, tu seras un vrai Bearnnais!" ex- 
 claimed the old king, with rapture. Taking the infant in his 
 arms a second time, king Henry passed into his ante-chamber, 
 which was crowded with gentlemen and courtiers eager to offer 
 him congratulations. " SeTwres ! " said he, holding the child 
 aloft, that all might gaze upon him, "mira; agora esta oveja 
 parib un leone I "' 
 
 The nurse chosen by the prudent old king for his grandson 
 was not a superannuated lady like the baillive d' Orleans, nor 
 yet a flighty dame, likely to subject her nurseling to the same 
 disaster as befell the unfortunate count de Marie ; but a strong 
 and healthy peasant woman, who took the young prince from 
 the castle to her humble abode, to rear him with ber own child. 
 This nurse, however, soon fell sick of a low fever epidemic then 
 throughout the principality. Eight successive nurses, to 
 whose care Jeanne's royal infant was consigned, sickened of the 
 same disease. The prince was then confided to the care of Jeanne 
 Fourcade, the wife of a poor labourer named Lassansaa, of the 
 hamlet of Bilheres, situated on the river Gave. The park be- 
 longing to the castle of Pau extended along the banks of the 
 river to this hamlet, so that the duchesse de Vendome could 
 privately visit her son. 2 In the year 1820, the cottage occupied 
 by Jeanne Fourcade existed almost in the same condition as 
 during the infancy of Henri Quatre. It is described as a poor 
 cottage, standing in a garden of half an acre, surrounded by a 
 mud wall. Over the doorway the ancient arms of France 
 were blazoned, with the words " Sauve-garde die Boy;" such 
 distinction having been conceded to Jeanne Fourcade and to 
 her posterity for ever. 
 
 The duchesse de Vendome became speedily convalescent. 
 
 1 In allusion to the injurious expressions made use of by the Spanish people 
 on the birth of Jeanne d'Albret. 
 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, p. 46.
 
 60 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 
 
 She was recovered sufficiently on twelfth-day of the ensuing 
 year, 1554, to witness the ceremony of the christening of her 
 son in the castle of Pau. The godfathers were the king of 
 France, and the king of Navarre : the godmother was the prin- 
 cess Isabel of Navarre, 1 sister of king Henry, and widow of the 
 viscount de Rohan. The prince was borne to the font by his 
 gi'andfather, on the shell of a tortoise ; which is still treasured 
 at Pau, and shown to travellers, and called the cradle of 
 Henry IV. 
 
 During the following month of February, the duchesse 
 Jeanne quitted Beam, and returned into Prance. The duke 
 de Vendome still retained a joint command of the army as- 
 sembled on the frontier of Pieardy, with the constable de 
 Montmorency. Jeanne met the duke at Estree-au-Pont. 
 After making a brief sojourn there with her husband she re- 
 tired to the castle of Baran, near to Brenne, a town situated 
 about four leagues from Soissons. 
 
 From this antique abode of the Merovingian kings, Jeanne 
 wrote to condole with Madelaine de Savoye, consort of the 
 constable de Montmorency, on the decease of a near relative, 
 whose name the duchess does not state in her letter. Probably, 
 the lady so affectionately mentioned by Jeanne d'Albret was 
 the countess de Villars, widow of madame de Montmorency's 
 brother, Rene, bastard of Savoy, count de Tende and de Yillars, 
 who was killed at the battle of Pavia. 
 
 The letter of the duchess de Vendome is as follows : — 
 
 THE DUCHESS DE VENDOME, TO MADAME LA CONNE- 
 TABLE, DUCHESSE DE MONTMORENCY. 1 
 
 " Ma Cousine, 
 
 " I should, indeed, give you cause to doubt the friendship which I 
 bear you, if I failed at this season to address you ; not, however, with 
 the intent to propose a better consolation for your grief than that al- 
 ready offered by many worthy personages, but to lament with you the 
 loss of so good a relative and friend. Believe me, ma cousine, that 
 after having experienced the loss of such a mother as I had, I know 
 how to sympathize in this your sorrow. That I may not renew your 
 distress by dwelling on this calamitous loss, I will now supplicate the 
 Sovereign Consoler of the afflicted to bestow on you all needful solace, 
 and to grant you life as long as she desires who is — 
 
 " Votre bien bonne cousine, et parfaite amie, 
 
 "Jeanne de Navarre." 
 
 The early letters of Jeanne d'Albret — very few of whicb 
 
 1 Isabel, third daughter of Jean d'Albret and Catherine, queen of Navarre. 
 She espoused in 1534, Kene, viscount de Rohan et de Laon, count de Porrhoet. 
 ■ M.S. Bib. Imp., F. de B6thune, No. 8769.-Inedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. Gl 
 
 are extant — admit us to an insight into her character. Simple 
 and unadorned, they express her sentiments in words concise 
 as possible. The elaborate style, and courtly compliments, in 
 which queen Marguerite d'Angouleme excelled, find no place 
 in her daughter's correspondence. With a boldness of ex- 
 pression which, in those days, found few imitators, Jeanne 
 asserted her opinions, let who might gainsay or oppose them. 
 Her truthfulness rendered her formidable to the courtiers ; 
 and hateful to the young queen, whose insincerity Jeanne 
 loved to expose. Like the rest of the court, the duchess held 
 Catherine's talents in little estimation ; but disastrous for her 
 was the development of that character trained in the discipline 
 and self-control of the theory embodied by the words — " a 
 prudent prince cannot, and ought not, to keep his word, except 
 when he can do it without injury to himself; or when the cir- 
 cumstances under which he contracted the engagement still 
 exist. It is necessary, however, to disguise the appearance of 
 craft, and thoroughly to understand the art of feigning and 
 dissembling ; for men are generally so simple and so weak, 
 that he who wishes to deceive, easily finds dupes." 1 So taught 
 the famed protege of Lorenzo de Medici, Machiavelli — senti- 
 ments, however, which many princes, when placed in circum- 
 stances of peril, unless endowed with extraordinary integrity of 
 character, have more or less acted upon, as well as the astute 
 Catherine. 
 
 The duchesse de Vendome was still sojourning at Baran, 
 when intelligence reached her of the decease of her father the 
 king of Navarre, which event happened in the town of Hagetmau, 
 May 25th, 1555. Henry was organising a military expedition 
 for the invasion of Spanish Navarre, when he fell a victim to 
 the epidemic, which still ravaged certain districts of his do- 
 minions. 2 Long after her attendants hailed her as queen of 
 Navarre, Jeanne mourned her loss : so intense was her grief, 
 that a presentiment of the future trials and miseries which that 
 fatal title entailed upon her might have agitated her mind, and 
 have even shaken, for a season, the fortitude of a spirit so con- 
 stant and elevated. 
 
 1 Machiavelli, II Principe, cap. xviii. 
 
 2 Olhagaray, Hist, de iNavarre et Beam, p. 108. This quaint historian, 
 when recording the decease of king Henry, relates it in the following words : 
 " Le roy Henry estant a Hagetmau Fan 1555, le 25 de Main, il s'en alia jouyr 
 du rcpos eternal au Fare des bienheureux."
 
 02 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1555—1559. 
 
 Arrival of Antoine de Bourbon at Baran — Jeanne causes him to be proclaimed 
 kins? of Navarre — He is summoned to St Germain — Designs of the French 
 cabinet relative to Beam — Deportment of the king of Navarre — His reply to 
 the demands proposed to him — Queen Jeanne is compelled to visit the court 
 — Her deportment — Measures which she adopts to defeat the designs of the 
 king of France — Nominates the baron d'Avros military governor of Beam — 
 Treachery of the chancellor of Navarre — Politic conduct of the baron d'Ar- 
 ros — He defeats the conspiracy to surrender Beam to the king of France — 
 Arrival of Jeanne and Antoine at Pau — Their enthusiastic reception — 
 Jeanne's reply to king Henry's commissioners — Coronation of the king and 
 queen of Navarre — -They issue a new coinage — Antoine favours the Reform- 
 ation — State of religion throughout France — The court — Correspondence of 
 Jeanne d'Albret with the Viscount de Gourdon— Antoine' s imprudent con- 
 duct — Letter of remonstrance is addressed to the queen by the cardinal 
 d'Armagnac — The queen assumes the sole administration of affairs — -She 
 resolves to visit the court of France — Letter addressed to the sovereigns of 
 Beam by Henry II. — Jeanne appoints the cardinal d'Armagnac governor of 
 Beam during her absence — Fetes given at La Rochelle to the sovereigns — 
 Their arrival in Paris — Antoine releases from the Chatelet a gentleman of 
 the train of the marechale de St Andre — Anger of the king of France — His 
 reception of the sovereigns of Navarre — Regard shown by king Henry for 
 the young prince of Navarre — His future marriage with Marguerite de 
 Valois is proposed — Satisfaction evinced by Antoine and Jeanne at this 
 design — Queen Jeanne announces the alliance to the senechale of Poitou — 
 Power of the house of Guise — Departure of the sovereigns of Navarre from 
 the court of France — Birth of the princess Madelaine— Decease of the infant 
 princess — Battle of St Quentin — The duke de Guise declared lieutenant- 
 general of the kingdom — His conquests — Demands the immediate solemniza- 
 tion of the marriage between the dauphin and Mary Stuart— Opposition of 
 queen Catherine to this project — The marriage is celebrated in the presence 
 of the king and queen of Navarre and the court of France — La Guerre 
 Mouille — Peace of Cateau Cambresis — League of Peronne — Marriage festivi- 
 ties of madame Claude with the duke de Lorraine — Birth of the princess 
 Catherine de Bourbon — Correspondence of queen Jeanne with the constable 
 de Montmorency — Return of Jeanne and Antoine to Pau — Death of Henry 
 II. king of France. 
 
 Whek Jeanne had recovered from the first sensation of 
 grief, which she experienced on learning her father's sudden 
 decease, she despatched a courier to the duke de Vendome, who 
 was with the camp at Estree-le-Pont, to request Antoine's 
 presence at Baran, in order to salute him as king of Navarre. 
 
 The title of king flattered the vanity of the duke de Ven- 
 dome in a supreme degree ; and while Jeanne was realising the 
 difficulties which beset her new dignity, Antoine thought only 
 of the appendages and power of patronage appertaining to royal 
 station. The duke, however, complied with his consort's re- 
 quest, and repaired to the chateau of Baran. His arrival 
 diminished Jeanne's anxieties ; for she had received intimation
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 63 
 
 that the king of France intended to profit by the difficulties 
 attending upon her accession to wrest from Antoine various 
 concessions prejudicial to her authority over Beam. The de- 
 lusion which possessed Jeanne at the period of her marriage 
 relative to duke Antoine's mental qualities, was at an eud. 
 Though still fondly attached to her husband, she perceived his 
 want of political sagacity ; and she knew that no means were 
 so effectual to win acquiescence from him in any matter as to 
 minister to his ease, or to his luxurious pleasures. 
 
 Antoine had been sojourning only a few days at Baran 
 when the missive arrived, so deprecated by the queen of Na- 
 varre, to summon her husband to the court at St Germain. 
 The constable de Montmorency, meanwhile, and the duke de 
 Guise, the active enemies of Antoine de Bourbon, had inspired 
 the king with sinister apprehensions relative to the future 
 career of the sovereigns of Navarre. The wealth of the new 
 sovereigns was declared by them to be excessive. The rich 
 heritage of the house of Albret, augmented by that of Ven- 
 dome, seemed to menace the royal supremacy over the south ; 
 while the lands of Beam, lying contiguous to the Spanish 
 frontier, afforded, they asserted, a dangerous facility for disaf- 
 fection, on the part of the prince. Henry listened eagerly to 
 these insinuations ; for, although the king of Navarre was 
 highly favoured by him, he had never ceased to regret the 
 assent he had yielded to his union with the heiress of Albret. 
 The king, therefore, resolved to compel the sovereigns to cede 
 to the French crown the principality of Beam, and its depend- 
 encies, in exchange for territories of equal extent lying in the 
 centre of France. 1 Never was there a more arbitrary and un- 
 just demand preferred by the French council ; it required, 
 moreover, of Jeanne, the representative of a line of illustrious 
 princes, the cession of her claims to Spanish Navarre, as well 
 as to the Basque portion of her heritage. It wrested from her 
 the possession of the venerable castle of Pau, the abode of her 
 ancestors ; and of the duchy of Albret with its splendid castle, 
 constructed by the English during their tenure of Gascony. 
 This measure was proposed to the king of Navarre by Henry 
 himself, immediately after Antoine's arrival at St Germain, in 
 obedience to the royal summons. Henry understood the dis- 
 position of the prince with whom he had to deal ; the royal 
 favour, therefore, seemed boundless in its manifestations to- 
 wards Antoine, whose vanity was flattered by the distinctions 
 ostentatiously accorded to his rank. The king then remon- 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Navarre, p. 508. De Thore.
 
 64 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBEET. 
 
 strated with Antoine on the general prevalence of heresy 
 throughout his wife's principalities ; assuming, with great as- 
 tuteness, that the king of Navarre was perfectly orthodox in 
 his own creed, and demanded nothing better than the re-estab- 
 lishment of the ancient faith. He next proceeded to show 
 that the sword alone could restore the religion of Rome to its 
 former dominance in Beam ; and undo the evil which the late 
 queen Marguerite with her proselytizing propensities had in- 
 flicted on her subjects. Antoine listened with deferential at- 
 tention to these observations : he hazarded no objections ; on 
 the contraiy, the promise of territories adjacent to his own 
 duchy of Vendome in exchange for Beam, appeared to him to offer 
 a position far from unacceptable. Fortunately for the honour 
 of the king of Navarre, the thought of his high-hearted and 
 courageous consort interposed to stay him from committing 
 himself by act or promise, in sanction of the extortion medi- 
 tated by the French court. Antoine was king of Navarre, but 
 by Jeanne's sufferance and consent ; lie had no power to alien- 
 ate the principality ; nor yet to cede one of the ancient pre- 
 rogatives of the sovereign of Beam. He, therefore, requested 
 that a brief space might be allowed him for reflection ; at the 
 expiration of which period, Antoine returned the following an- 
 swer : — " That it was out of his power to dispose of the crown 
 of Navarre without the consent of the queen his consort ; he, 
 therefore, humbly prayed his Majesty to give him time and op- 
 portunity to confer with the said queen on the subject." 1 
 
 King Henry manifested some displeasure at this response. 
 However, the necessity of obtaining the consent of Jeanne, as 
 the preliminary to the intended transfer of Beam to the crown 
 of France, was so palpable, that the king had no valid objection 
 to urge against Antoine's proposal. In the suite of King 
 Antoine, was the chancellor of Navarre, Nicholas d'Angu, 
 bishop of Mende. This prelate was the bastard son of the 
 famous cardinal-chancellor Duprat. Subtle, enterprising, and 
 unscrupulous, the bishop of Mende, in many points, was the 
 couuterpart of Duprat. The falseness and duplicity of the 
 cardinal formed prominent traits of his son's character. The 
 manoeuvres of Duprat, however, with a kingdom for the arena 
 of his political intrigues, when imitated by his son in his deal- 
 ings with the affairs of a petty principality, assumed an aspect 
 of ignoble scheming, which might have been deemed ludicrous 
 but for its disastrous results. The enemies of the queen of 
 Navarre, therefore, aware that the ruling influence over this 
 
 » Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 53.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 65 
 
 bishop's mind was personal aggrandizement, applied to him to 
 forward their project. The injustice of the cabal to despoil his 
 royal mistress, proved no obstacle to this corrupt prelate ; and 
 he secretly promised Henry to use every artifice to procure the 
 assent of all parties concerned in the transfer. 
 
 Meanwhile the queen of Navarre, uneasy at the prolonged 
 absence of her husband at St Germain, and placing no reliance 
 on his stability of character, journeyed from Baran to the castle 
 of Coucy ; from whence she sent to request him to join her, 
 that together they might proceed into Beam. Antoine eagerly 
 demanded conge ; the king assented, but only on the express 
 coudition that Jeanne should visit St Germain ; that the matter 
 concerning the cession of the principality might be discussed 
 :n her presence. The king of Navarre reposed much trust in 
 his consort's shrewd ability : he, therefore, unhesitatingly gave 
 the promise required of him ; especially, as it was plainly 
 intimated, by the constable de Montmorency, that the royal 
 pair would not be permitted to quit the realm without the 
 express sanction of the council. 
 
 The indignation of queen Jeanne was boundless, when she 
 heard the details of the scheme devised to despoil her of the 
 territories of her father. The timid opposition hazarded by 
 Antoine inspired her with contempt ; for, rather than yield a 
 town of her heritage, Jeanne would have preferred rigorous 
 captivity. This difficult problem was queen Jeanne's first 
 initiation into the cares of royalty ; solved, however, she deter- 
 mined it should be to the confusion of her enemies. Distrust- 
 ful of the bland courtesy of her chancellor's deportment, Jeanne 
 despatched him into Beam under pretext of business, much 
 to the regret of the king of Navarre. AVithout intrust- 
 ing her design to any ear, she next entered into communication 
 with Bernard, baron d'Arros, 1 one of the twelve barons of 
 Beam; a man valiant, of elevated mind, and unblemished 
 honour. To him she confided the notable scheme concocted by 
 Henry's council ; also, she indicated, at the same time, the 
 measures which she desired him to pursue, in order to defeat 
 the project. D'Arros responded to her appeal with zealous 
 enthusiasm. The baron was still at Hagetmau, in command of 
 the levies raised by Henri d' Albret for the invasion of Navarre. 
 Iu case the baron's right to the military command-in-chief over 
 the principality, bestowed by the deceased king, should be dis- 
 
 1 The father of Bernard, baron d'Arros, was chamberlain to Henri d' Albret, 
 and shared with the king the perils of his escape from the fortress of Pavia, 
 where Henri was detained a prisoner after the defeat of Francis I. before that 
 city. See Life of Marguerite d'Angouleme, t. i. p. 453. 
 
 5
 
 6G LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 puted, Jeanne secretly renewed his warrant, in her own name ; 
 which d'Arros was instructed to produce only in extreme emer- 
 gency. 
 
 Queen Jeanne then declared her willingness to pay her re- 
 spects to Henry at St Germain. At this juncture, the queen 
 conducted herself with extraordinary prudeuce. Aware that it 
 was in Henry's power to command her detention in France, 
 until such time as she should agree to his proposition, Jeanne 
 adopted the most serene and submissive deportment. In her 
 first audience of the king, she assured his Majesty that if the 
 states of the principality could be induced to sanction his de- 
 sire, she would personally offer no opposition to the union. 
 She then represented to the king that as the states of Beam 
 were renowned for their fidelity to their sovereigns, it would 
 be expedient for her to proceed thither, and absolve them, in 
 person, from their oath of allegiance. The king yielded a re- 
 luctant assent to Jeanne's words, the truth of which could not 
 be impeached, even by Henry's eager council. " Ma cousine, 
 there must be but one holding the title of king in Trance ! " 
 was king Henry's often-repeated and emphatic behest. 
 
 Permission was, at length, vouchsafed to the queen of 
 Navarre to depart for Pau. She was, however, accompanied 
 by three French commissioners, empowered by Henry to ac- 
 cept in his name the cession of Beam and Lower Navarre ; 
 and also to receive an oath of fidelity from the states of the 
 principality. So persuaded was Henry that his attempted 
 usurpation would be crowned with success, that he actually 
 commenced preparations for a journey into Beam ; the pro- 
 ject of which was alone confided to the bishop of Mende, in 
 whom the council placed implicit reliance. 1 
 
 The royal pair quickly availed themselves of Henry's per- 
 mission for their depai'ture, and set out for Pau. The bishop 
 of Mende, meantime, had been industriously intriguing amongst 
 the nobility of the principality, and with some success. The 
 expected arrival of the queen disconcerted his projects: the 
 personage chief-in-command over the principality was d'Arros, 
 in virtue of his commission of military governor, granted by 
 the deceased king. To the baron, therefore, d'Angu resolved 
 to apply ; being ignorant of the fact that the former had been 
 consulted by the queen. The chivalrous d'Arros had difficulty 
 in repressing his indignation, when the bishop, with some cir- 
 cumlocution, confided to him his treacherous design for the 
 subversion of his royal mistress's authority. He feigned, how- 
 
 1 Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'ALBRET. G7 
 
 ever, acquiescence in the project, until d'Angu had revealed the 
 extent of his treasonable league, and had delivered into his hands 
 a list of the principal conspirators. The bishop of Mende, 
 aware of the importance of placing the garrisons of Beam un- 
 der the command of officers well-affected towards France, next 
 proposed that d'Arros should quit Hagetmau, under pretext of 
 meeting queen Jeanne on the frontier, taking in his suite de 
 Tic, governor of Navarreins, an officer devoted to Jeanne's inter- 
 est. The subtle bishop imagined that d'Arros would fail into the 
 snare, and so afford him the opportunity he thirsted for, of 
 placing himself at the head of the levies raised for the invasion 
 of Spanish Navarre ; and with them to seize the strong fortress 
 of Navarreins in the name of the king of France. The baron 
 d'Arros appeared well satisfied with this proposal ; d'Angu, 
 therefore, retired to Lescar to await his opportunity. 
 
 D'Arros, now the depository of the secret of his sovereign, 
 and of her rebel subjects, hastened to frustrate the iniquitous 
 designs of the chancellor. Marching at the head of his levies 
 upon Pau, he assembled the states of the principality, and de- 
 veloped the plot in all its bearings. He explained the designs 
 of the French king ; and announced the near approach of their 
 own legitimate sovereign. The revelation of their chancellor's 
 connivance in Henry's project was received with vehement in- 
 dignation. The people gathered together, and prepared to in- 
 flict summary chastisement on the tniitorous prelate. His 
 house was burned to the ground ; and himself pursued by the 
 infuriated populace to the very confines of the principality, 
 beyond which alone he found safe refuge. The states voted 
 reinforcements to the garrisons of Navarreins, Oleron, Pau, 
 and those in Lower Navarre ; and issued the most energetic 
 protest against the annexation of Beam to the French crown. 1 
 
 In the midst of this tumult, queen Jeanne and her husband 
 made their public entry into Pau. Before Antoine's departure 
 from Paris the king created him governor of Gruyenne, the most 
 influential and important of the governments into which France 
 was divided; and bestowed that of Picardy, vacated by the king of 
 Navarre, upon Antoine's youngest brother, Louis, prince of 
 Conde. 2 Queen Jeanne took up her abode in the castle of 
 Pau, where the young prince of Navarre had been brought 
 from the castle of Coaraze, by his governess Suzanne, baroness 
 
 1 Olhagary, Hist, de Navarre, p. 509. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre. Cayet, 
 Chron. Nov. p. 109- 
 
 Louis de Bourbon, prince de Conde, due d'Enghien, son of Charles, due 
 de Vendome, and Franchise d'Alenqon. born May 7th, 1530, and killed at the 
 battle of Jarnac, March 13, 1569. Conde was the younger brother of Antoine, 
 king of Navarre.
 
 68 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 de Miossens, 1 to meet his royal parents. It was the first time 
 that Antoine looked upon the son whose rights he had recent- 
 ly so feebly defended. The strength and beauty of her child 
 delighted Jeanne ; and with tears of joy she vowed that no- 
 thing should compel her to alienate one of his eventual rights. 
 Whenever the queen appeared in public her presence was 
 hailed with enthusiasm ; crowds of people surrounded the 
 chateau patiently waiting for a glance from their sovereign. 
 Antoine de Bourbon likewise obtained a large share of popular 
 ovation ; his predilection for reform insured him the applause 
 of the Lutheran population of Beam. Instead of accompany- 
 ing his consort to hear mass daily in the cathedral, Antoine 
 made a parade of his attendance on the Lutheran worship, 
 established in Pau by queen Marguerite. This behaviour 
 occasioned the queen much uneasiness. In the troubled con- 
 dition of the principality it was important to conciliate all 
 classes of her subjects ; and especially to avoid exasperating 
 those persons who professed the Romish faith, and who, if 
 provoked, might league with king Henry, and encourage the 
 turbulent demonstration which the cardinal d'Armagnac had 
 already thought proper to make against the sectarian ministers 
 resident in Beam. 
 
 When Jeanne and Antoine took possession of the castle of 
 Pau, they found their new abode rich in works of art, and 
 splendid in decorations. The refined taste of Marguerite 
 d'Angouleme was visible everywhere. Jeanne's presence- 
 chamber was adorned with hangings of crimson satin embroi- 
 dered by the hand of Marguerite herself. The embroidery re- 
 presented a passage from the history of the queen's own life. 
 At the four corners of the room, the arms and ciphers of Henry 
 and Marguerite were magnificently wrought in gold. In the 
 picture gallery hung fifty large portraits of eminent personages; 
 there were, moreover, sixty small portraits, twelve medallion 
 portraits, and fifteen landscapes ; also, twenty-five wax medal- 
 lion pictures of kings and princes, arranged together in a 
 glass case. Jeanne's jewel-chamber was stored with precious 
 treasures ; cups of agate studded with gems, reliquaries, jewel- 
 led salt-cellars, ewers of silver gilt, vases of rock crystal, and 
 mirrors set in frames adorned with diamonds. Curious rings 
 and charms appear in the inventory of the queen's treasures 
 deposited in the castle of Pau. Amongst other articles men- 
 
 1 Suzanne de Bourbon-Busset, -wife of Jean cl'Albret, baron d' Miossens. 
 This lady sprang from an illegitimate branch of the house of Bourbon, tracing 
 descent from Louis de Bourbon, archbishop of Liege, son of Charles I. duke de 
 Bourbon and of Agnes of Burgundy
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 69 
 
 tioned, is the celebrated tortoise-shell upon which prince 
 Henry was carried at his baptism. The queen also possessed 
 a great variety of ornamental pieces of gold plate, of quaint de- 
 sign, for the adornment of the banquetting board — for in- 
 stance, one piece is thus described : " item, a demoiselle of 
 gold represented riding upon a horse of mother-of-pearl, stand- 
 ing upon a platform of gold, enriched with ten rubies, six tur- 
 quoises, and three fine pearls." The following description is 
 given of a personal ornament belonging to queen Jeanne : 
 "item, a fine rock crystal, set in gold, enriched with three 
 rubies, three emeralds, four pearls, and by a large sapphire, 
 set transparently ; the whole suspended from a small gold 
 chain." These valuable effects were treasured in coffers, la- 
 belled with the name of a saint for a distinguishing mark. 
 One coffer was named Ste Marguerite ; another, which con- 
 tained fifty pieces of plate, brought by the king of Navarre from 
 the castle of La Fleche, was distinguished as St John. 1 
 
 The commissioners despatched by the king to receive the 
 abdication of the queen of Navarre were, meantime, much dis- 
 concerted at the adverse turn affairs had taken throughout the 
 principality ; and being apprehensive for their own safety, 
 they clamorously demanded a final answer from the queen, 
 and a safe conduct to the frontier of Beam. Jeanne graciously 
 conceded both these requests : her reply to Henry was moder- 
 ate and conciliating, though she was aware that the condition 
 of his foreign relations was such, as to prevent him from at- 
 tempting a military seizure of her dominions. Her answer 
 was to the effect, "that her subjects, far from yielding to per- 
 suasion upon the projected tran>fer of Beam to the crown of 
 France, had been so transported with fury at the simple re- 
 port of such a project, that it was quite out of her power to 
 control their repugnance. The people had recently risen tu- 
 multously in defence of their ancient privileges and fors, as 
 his Majesty's commissioners might testify ; and she, therefore, 
 prayed the king to forego his purpose, and to hold her absolved 
 from pressing a matter distasteful to her subjects of every 
 rank." 2 
 
 The recreant chancellor of Navarre was at the court of 
 France when the commissioners returned. His malignant 
 representation of the conduct pursued by the queen highly in- 
 censed Henry ; but the king's sarcastic and angry reply to 
 
 1 Inventaire general de tous les meubles du chateau de Pau, pour le roy et 
 royne, &c., fait par messieurs l'Eveques d'Oleron, et de Lescar, et autres. 
 Le— jour de — 1561. M.S. Bibl. Imp F. de Bethune — Inedited. 
 
 2 Yauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albrct, t. i. p. 61.
 
 70 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 Jeanne's notification produced little effect at the court of Pan. 
 Arros and her valiant barons of Beam applauded the queen's 
 firm resolve to hold her own ; and by their advice she com- 
 menced preparations for her coronation. The king, however, 
 proceeded to deprive Antoine of the most important part of 
 the command recently bestowed upon him, by detaching Lan- 
 guedoc from the jurisdiction of the governor of Gruyenne. 
 The prince of Conde was likewise dismissed from the command 
 given him in Picardy ; and that government was conferred on 
 the admiral de Coligny, nephew of the constable. 
 
 The ceremony of the coronation of the king and queen of 
 Navarre was performed in the great hall of the castle of Pau. 
 It was the first time that a sovereign of Beam had been con- 
 secrated within the limits of the principality. The coronation 
 of John d'Albret and his consort Catherine, heiress of Na- 
 varre, was performed with great pomp at Pamplona. Henry 
 and Marguerite never were formally invested with the royal 
 insignia, on account of the sanguinary warfare existing between 
 the emperor and Prancis I ; and the consequent unsettled con- 
 dition of the principality from dread of invasion. It was with 
 sorrowful regret, not unmingled with indignation at the usurp- 
 er of the fairest portion of her heritage, that the mind of 
 Jeanne dwelt upon the traditions of the past coronations of 
 her ancestors in the venerable cathedral of Pamplona, while she 
 prepared for the ceremony of her own consecration. As the 
 place of her coronation corresponded not with her lofty pre- 
 tensions as the sovereign of the two Navarres, Jeanne thought 
 proper to dispense with a portion of the ceremonial observed 
 at the inauguration of her predecessors. No royal pageant, 
 therefore, defiled through the ancient capital of the principal- 
 ity ; at the hour appointed, the states of Bearn, Bigorre, Poix, 
 Lower Navarre, the chief nobles, the municipalities, and the 
 officers of the various courts, entered the great hall of the 
 castle. Antoine and Jeanne presented themselves to the as- 
 sembly, and took their seats in chairs of state, placed under a 
 dais at the upper end of the hall. They were received with 
 acclamations, and with every mark of homage and affection. 
 The oaths were then administered to the sovereigns by the 
 bishop of Lescar. 1 The queen solemnly engaged to maintain 
 the ancient laws, the charters, and the privileges of her sub- 
 jects lay and ecclesiastical ; to maintain her territory intact ; 
 and to administer impartial justice to all. The same oath was 
 afterwards taken by the king of Navarre. The remaining 
 
 1 Louis d'Albret, natural son of Jean, king of Navarre, the grandfather of 
 Jeanne d'Albret.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 71 
 
 portion of the ceremonial was performed by the bishop of 
 Lescar ; and Jeanne and her husband were afterwards pro- 
 claimed joint sovereigns of Navarre and Beam. 1 
 
 Some months after her coronation, queen Jeanne issued a 
 gold and silver coinage from the royal mint, established in 
 subterraneous chambers under the castle of Pau. The money 
 was stamped with the effigy of the queen and of her husband ; 
 the exergue of the coin bore the legend : " Antonio et Joanna., 
 D.G.Reg., Nav., D.B. ;" the reverse, the ancient motto of 
 the sovereigns of Beam : " Gratia Dei sumas id quod sumus." 
 To commemorate her coronation the queen also distributed 
 medals of beautiful design. One side of the medal displayed 
 the arms of Navarre and Beam, surrounded by the legend : 
 " No : son : tales : mys : amoves : " the reverse bore the he- 
 raldic device of the king of Navarre, with the motto : " Ad 
 calculos revert ere." 
 
 The reformed ministers, meanwhile, continued to find safe 
 asylum in Bearn ; their principles still held sway over the 
 minds of the majority of Jeanne's subjects. Queen Margue- 
 rite's revised missal, and the translation of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, made by Briconnet bishop of Meaux, a work corrected 
 by Gerard Roussel bishop of Oleron, under the queen's imme- 
 diate superintendence, were books treasured as their solace 
 and pride by the Beamnois. The pious bishop of Oleron, 
 Mai'guerite's friend and chaplain, was no more : and no prelate 
 of equal ability, professing the reformed faith, had risen to 
 supply his place. The bishop of Lescar had little repute or 
 influence in the principality : though he was supposed to be 
 favourably inclined to the " new doctrines," the bishop's age 
 and mental indolence, and his assiduity as a courtier, prevented 
 him from studying the controversy, or from opposing his epis- 
 copal veto against the dissemination of reform. In Trance, 
 edicts had to be promulgated against heresy, rigorous enough to 
 satisfy the malevolence of the Sorbonne ; and that of the most 
 bigoted upholders of the supremacy of Borne. Decrees sub- 
 jecting the Lutherans to capital pains and penalties were issued 
 by the council during the years 1548, 1551, and 1555. The 
 executions throughout France for heresy were innumerable — dis- 
 persed, and intimidated, the Reformers for a time yielded 
 outward acquiesence to the cruel edicts fulminated against 
 them ; but in silence, amid adversity and oppression, the 
 principles they professed gained strength, so that the throne 
 hereafter quailed before their irresistible manifestation. At 
 
 ' Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14. Vauvilhers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, 
 t. i. p. 63.
 
 72 LIFE OF JEAKNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 the court of France, the ancient faith was omnipotent : 
 often at open warfare with the pope, and at times menacing 
 with his armies the territory of the Holy See, king Henry 
 never stayed his persecution of the sectarian teachers and their 
 adherents. The Sorbonne, so turbulent during the reign of 
 Francis I., seemed to relax in its denunciations, content to 
 confide in the zeal of the cardinal de Lorraine — the self-con- 
 stituted champion of orthodoxy throughout the realm. It 
 was the court which now had become intolerant; and its 
 orator, the cardinal de Lorraine, played the part enacted by the 
 formidable syndic of the Sorbonne, Noel Beda, during the pre- 
 ceding reign. But even in that court, so pitiless and stern, 
 the Beformers descried sympathy in the deportment of one, 
 whose future countenance, eagerly anticipated, sufficed to in- 
 spire them with present resignation. The young queen, 
 Catherine de Medici, received with marked favour those 
 leaders of the reformed party whose rank entitled them to ap- 
 pear at court. It was known that the queen had dared to 
 plead for the modification of some of the most rigorous edicts; 
 that she constantly cited the conduct of the deceased queen of 
 Navarre, and spoke of Marguerite as a princess whose deport- 
 ment was worthy of imitation. The character of the queen at 
 that early period was little understood. The people pitied her 
 as a forsaken wife, domineered over daily by madame de Valen- 
 tinois. She was supposed to have little influence in the state ; 
 and yet, by some means as surprising to Henry's ministers as 
 the obstacle often proved unexpected, Catherine showed herself 
 indirectly a formidable opponent to many of their projects. 
 The queen never in any circumstance abated her submissive 
 protestations ; or voluntarily offended any one ; she was never 
 elated — never dejected. Above all, she avoided that shoal upon 
 which so many princes make shipwreck — she never took a 
 favourite. In fact, the pi'otection of the reformed party, which 
 numbered many great and influential nobles, was, at this period, 
 Catherine's road to power. The court was divided into two 
 factions — the one, headed by the Guises, and the duchess de 
 Valentinois, was in favour with the king, and had constituted 
 itself the arbiter of public affairs, and the castigator of heresy. 
 The other party followed the constable de Montmorency, his 
 nephews of the house of Chatillon, chiefs of the reformed party, 
 and the Bourbon princes. The power of the princes of Lorraine 
 had long given umbrage to Montmorency : he, the veteran con- 
 stable, beheld his honours pale before the suavity of the great 
 duke, and the energy of the cardinal. An intimate alliance 
 with the princes of the blood, Montmorency, therefore, felt to
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 73 
 
 be needful, for the maintenance of his credit at court. His re- 
 conciliation was effected with the king and queen of Navarre, 
 and the other princes, through the good offices of the con- 
 stable's great-niece, the fair and gentle Eleanor de Roye, 1 
 princess of Conde. Catherine quickly read the secret of this new 
 alliance ; she remembered the axiom of her ancestors of the 
 house of Medici, by the which they had subjugated Florentine 
 faction. " 77 faut diviser four regner" Aloof from the great 
 dominant parties, Catherine was a mere cipher in the court ; 
 allied to the cause of the princess, she might hope successfully 
 to balance the authority of Diane de Poitiers and the Guises. 
 The queen, therefore, perceiving her advantage, accepted it with 
 her usual prompt address. 
 
 The king of Navarre, meanwhile, emboldened by his alliance 
 with Montmorency, proceeded with so little caution in the 
 favour which he was then pleased to lavish on reform, as to 
 kindle great discontent amongst the Roman Catholic portion of 
 his subjects of Beam. The queen remained stedfast in her 
 outward adherence to the Romish communion ; and she often 
 gravely remonstrated with Antoine on the peril to which he 
 was so heedlessly exposing her heritage. 
 
 There remains no doubt, however, that Jeanne fully par- 
 ticipated in her husband's religious sympathies, though she 
 manifested greater prudence in demonstrating her sentiments. 
 The example of her admirable mother was, doubtless, ever pre- 
 sent, stimulating the queen to examine the doctrines so keenly 
 contested. Jeanne's adoption of the principles of reform, seems 
 to have been a gradual process; and no one can be specially 
 indicated as having influenced her mind thereto. With the 
 duchess of Ferrara she maintained, indeed, a constant and con- 
 fidential correspondence ; for the daughter of Louis XII. 
 found congenial sympathy in Jeanne's spirit. Amongst many 
 other great barons of" the south, who had espoused the tenets 
 of Calvin, was the viscount de Gourdon. His character and 
 military repute seem to have recommended him to the favour 
 of the queen of Navarre, who honoured him with much friend- 
 ship and confidence. Beyond this fact, and the detail of a few 
 valiant exploits, history is silent on the career of de Gourdon. 
 
 1 Eleanor was the daughter of Charles, sieur de Roye, and Madeleine de 
 Mailly, daughter of the baron de Conty, by Louise de Montmorency, sister of 
 the Constable. Eleanor was born at the castle of Chastillon-sur-Loire, on the 
 eve of St. Matthew's Day, 153-5. She received the name of her godmother 
 Eleanor, second queen of Francis I. Her other sponsors were Marguerite 
 d'Angouleme, queen of Navarre, the dauphin Francis, and the bishop of Beziers, 
 Eleanor's great-uncle. She was married to the prince de Conde at Plessier do 
 Roye, June 22nd, 1551, in the presence of *-* 1 the members of the house of 
 Yendome.
 
 74 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 Jeanne appears to have confided many of her perplexities to the 
 viscount. Some of the letters which she wrote to him remain 
 amongst the most curious and interesting records of her life ; 
 and alone detail her early resolves on religious matters. Hop- 
 ing to profit by the advice and experience of de Gourdon, 
 Jeanne, about this period, invited him to confer secretly, at 
 the castle of Odos in Bigorre. Her letter was written a few 
 weeks after her arrival at Pau ; and, as it contains a revelation 
 of her most secret sentiments, mingled with many other curious 
 details, this epistle deserves to find a place in the history of the 
 queen's life. 
 
 JEANNE, QUEEN OF NAVARRE, TO THE VISCOUNT DE 
 
 GOURDON. 1 
 
 "Monsieur le Viscomte, 
 
 " I write to inform you, that up to the present time, I have followed 
 in the path indicated by the deceased queen, madame my most honour- 
 ed mother, (whom may God absolve,) relative to my choice between 
 the two i-eligions ; nevertheless, the said queen, being persuaded by 
 her brother, monseigneur king Francis I., of happy and glorious me- 
 mory, my most revered uncle, not to puzzle her brains with new dog- 
 mas, after a time seemed to care only for humorous and witty ro- 
 mances. Moreover, w r ell do I remember, that long previously, the 
 king, monsieur my most honoured father and lord, hearing that the 
 said queen was engaged in prayer in her own apartments, with the 
 ministers Roussel and Farel, entered and dealt her a blow on the right 
 cheek — the ministers having contrived to escape in great perturbation 
 — while he soundly chastised me with a rod, forbidding me to concern 
 myself with matters of doctrine ; the which treatment cost me many 
 bitter tears, and held me in dread until his decease. At the present 
 moment, however, free by the demise of the said monseigneur my 
 father two months ago, and incited by the example and the exhorta- 
 tions of my cousin the duchess of Ferrara, it appears to me that re- 
 form is as reasonable, as it seems necessary ; so much so, that I deem 
 it disloyal cowardice towards God, towards my conscience, and towards 
 my people, to halt longer in suspense and perplexity. Inasmuch as 
 the long disputes and altercations between monseigneur king Henry 
 of France and the pope resulted three years ago in the publication of 
 an edict of great severity against the said reform, it seems needful to 
 me that all worthy people should confer together to meet such pre- 
 sent and future danger. Having, therefore, been duly apprized that 
 you have about you certain reverend personages, and that in yourself 
 are united wit, nobility, and courage, if you will with them repair to 
 the castle of Odos in Bigorre, I for my part will not fail to give you 
 the meeting there, towards the end of the ensuing month of Septem- 
 ber. Hoping there to meet you, I pray God, monsieur le viscomte, to 
 
 i Bibl. Roy. M.S. de Valiant— Portef. ler. p. 290— Inedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 75 
 
 have you in His holy keeping. Written at Pau, this 22nd day of August, 
 1jo6. 
 
 " Votre bien bonne et asseuree amye, 
 "Jeanne, Royne." 
 
 Jeanne's reminiscences of her early days are amusing 
 enough ; and the earnestness with which she alludes to her 
 father's anger confirms the opinion that King Henry had ob- 
 tained great ascendancy over the mind of his daughter. It is 
 nowhere on record whether Jeanne journeyed to Odos to meet 
 the viscount de Grourdon as she proposed : the probabilities, 
 however, are in the negative : as Antoine's incautious conduct 
 gave great umbrage to his Roman Catholic subjects, and to in- 
 crease such disapprobation would have been totally at variance 
 with the tenour of the queen's policy at this period. 
 
 The king, nevertheless, in defiance of his consort's example, 
 persisted in his imprudent acts ; and not content with accord- 
 ing favour to the reformed ministers, he exclusively bestowed 
 his patronage on their adherents. One of the most conspicu- 
 ous of these ministers was David, a man of fierce zeal, who had 
 rendered himself bitterly obnoxious to the Romish party by 
 the virulence of his aspersions. David's orations made great 
 impression upon Antoine ; for stout words and a resolute 
 manner generally take effect upon wavering and unstable na- 
 tures. The king, therefore, took the minister David under 
 his special protection ; he nominated him his chaplain in or- 
 dinary, and bestowed upon him the title of " Predicateur du roi, 
 et de'la royne de Navarre." 1 At the suggestion of his chaplain, 
 the king sent a messenger to Geneva, to invite thence a cele- 
 brated minister named Boisnormaud, to whom he promised 
 great favours, provided he established himself in Beam ; in 
 short, Antoine, with the tenacity of feeble intellect, blindly 
 pursued the policy which won him popular applause on his first 
 arrival at Pau, without thought of its suitableness to the present 
 circumstances of his consort, and her dominions. 
 
 During the first few months after her arrival at Pau, the 
 queen of Navarre seldom took a prominent part in the affairs 
 of the principality ; her time was devoted to her son, and in 
 superintending the orderly conduct of the royal household, 
 which, upon her accession, Jeanne found in a condition of lax 
 discipline. Probably had Antoine de Bourbon displayed ta- 
 lents, even of ordinary description, Jeanne d'Albret would 
 never have been handed down to posterity as one of the hero- 
 ines of history. The murmurs of her people ; the coldness 
 
 1 Brautome, Eloge d' Antoine de Bourbon, rov de Navarre
 
 70 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 with which many of the nohles, faithful to their allegiance 
 to Home, regarded Antoine ; added to her own disapproval of 
 his caprice, at length roused the attention of the queen, and 
 drew her from her retirement. From Rome, the manifesta- 
 tions of displeasure with which pope Paul IV. viewed the con- 
 duct of Antoine, alarmed the queen. The cardinal d'Armag- 
 nac, 1 the prelate, who, as archbishop of Toulouse, exercised the 
 authority of metropolitan over Beam and its dependencies, 
 was then resident in Rome, and addressed from thence a letter 
 of stern remonstrance. He represented the anger of the su- 
 preme pontiff at innovations not even publicly sanctioned by 
 the late sovereigns, Henry and Marguerite ; and finally, he ad- 
 monished the queen, that unless these unseemly proceedings 
 were checked, the pontifical censures, withheld then only at his 
 intercession, would assuredly be hurled upon the principality. 
 The reception of this letter was the occasion which Jeanne 
 chose for asserting her sovereign prerogatives. The queen 
 understood that the menaces of d'Armagnac were not to be 
 disregarded with impunity ; she was aware of the power which 
 that courtly and subtle prelate possessed at Rome ; and of the 
 unscrupulous use he made of it to put down heresy. The car- 
 dinal had been the first prelate who had dared to protest against 
 the protection accorded to reform by queen Marguerite. 
 During the reign of Francis I., when to censure his sister was 
 regarded by the king as an offence of deepest dye, the cardinal 
 d'Armagnac laid a formal complaint of her proceedings in 
 Beam before the privy council and the Parliament of Paris. 
 The avidity manifested by Henry II. to annex the domains of 
 Albret to his crown, was not forgotten by queen Jeanne. It 
 was in consequence of a papal interdict that Upper Navarre 
 — the brightest jewel in the diadem of her ancestors — had been 
 wrested from them by the Hapsburg. Jeanne felt that a tem- 
 porizing policy might result in her dethronement, bounded as 
 were her territories by the dominions of Prance and Spain — 
 the sovereigns of both these countries being equally covetous 
 for possession of her principality and its dependencies. The 
 queen, therefore, summoned the barons d'Arros and d'Audaux, 
 and the count de Grammont. 2 Their first measure was to issue 
 
 1 George d'Armagnac, cardinal-archbishop of Toulouse. He was created 
 cardinal by Paul III., December 19th, 1544. The cardinal d'Armagnac was 
 the son of Pierre, Bastard d'Armagnac, count de l'lsle en Jourdain, by Yo- 
 lande de la Haye, dame de Passavant He died June 5th, 1585, aged 84. 
 
 s Antoine d'Aure, eldest son of Claire, heiress of Grammont, and of the 
 viscount d'Aster. Antoine assumed the name and arms of Grammont. This 
 great noble was one of the most faithful partizans of Jeanne d' Albret, who 
 elevated him to the highest offices in Bearn. He died a.d. 1576.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 77 
 
 letters patent, addressed to the bishop of Lescar, directing 
 him to admonish priests holding beuefices in his diocese to re- 
 side on their cures ; and authorizing him, after this intimation 
 had been thrice given, to remove all ecclesiastics who should 
 prove contumacious. The queen next signed an edict forbid- 
 ding any person to preach in public, without having first ob- 
 tained a license from the bishop of Lescar. David, Boisnor- 
 mand, and other reformed ministers, protested against this 
 prohibition ; and petitioned the king of Navarre to procure its 
 revocation. Antoine felt highly displeased at his consort's 
 independent act ; but Jeanne met his angry remonstrances 
 with a firmness, very discouraging to his design of compelling 
 her to repeal the obnoxious limitation. " If it be your plea- 
 sure, monseigneur, to lose your own domains by confiscation, 
 as a penalty for your intemperate zeal, I have nothing to 
 observe thereon. As for myself, it is not my intention thus to 
 hazard the little remnant that remains to me of the territories 
 of the kings, my predecessors ! " ' was the stern response that 
 Antoiue's importunity, at length, drew from his consort. 
 
 King Antoine himself was soon compelled to acknowledge 
 the wisdom of Jeanne's decisions ; the imprudence of his con- 
 duct had so irritated Paul IV. that the pope addressed remon- 
 strances on the subject to the king of France, admonishing 
 him to check betimes the heretic real displayed by the chief of 
 the house of Bourbon. Henry had not forgotten the grudge 
 he owed Jeanne, for the tact with which she had frustrated 
 his views on Beam : he, therefore, dictated a severe re- 
 primand to the king of Navarre — a document signed by a 
 majority of the cabinet — in which the king declared it to 
 be his royal intent to despatch an army under the duke de 
 Guise, to take possession of the principality, unless the king 
 and queen of Navarre interdicted by proclamation the minis- 
 trations of the reformed teachers ; and dismissed Boisnormand, 
 David, and other sectarian preachers from their territories. 2 
 To render his menace more effective, the king commenced pre- 
 parations for the despatch of an army to the south ; and his 
 lieutenants in Languedoc received instructions to lead towards 
 the frontiers of Beam the forces under their command. The 
 danger seemed imminent, as the intrigues of the French party 
 daily grew more formidable. Jeanne therefore found herself 
 compelled to adopt decisive measures for averting the calamities 
 impending. She determined, in the first instance, to visit the 
 court, and to confer personally with king Henry. To render 
 
 ' Brantome, Eloge d' Antoine de Bourbon. 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Bearn et Navarre, p. 517.
 
 7S LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 her conference productive of good she proceeded, before her de- 
 parture, to effect important reforms in the government. The 
 obnoxious Calvinist minister Boisnormand received an order 
 to retire from Pau ; an ordonnance was published prohibiting 
 persons to assemble in the streets for the purposes of public 
 worship ; the edicts in force during the reign of Henry and 
 Marguerite were revived, to the great joy of the Bearnnois. The 
 numerous ministers patronized by the king, and attached to 
 the court, were dismissed, and forbidden to preach in public, 
 excepting the minister David, who was duly licensed for the 
 office by the bishop of Lescar. The bishops of Oleron and 
 Lescar, moreover, received letters patent signed by the queen's 
 hand, empowering them to suppress religious tumults, and to 
 punish their promoters. The crowning concession which 
 Jeanne d'Albret made to the exigencies of her position, was to 
 recall the cardinal d' Armagnac from Rome, and to constitute him 
 her lieutenant throughout Beam, and its dependencies, during 
 her absence at the court of France. 1 Antoine submitted with 
 very bad grace to these proceedings ; but as the queen and her 
 council declared the measures to be imperative, he was com- 
 pelled to acquiesce. Prom thenceforth, however, Jeanne d'Al- 
 bret assumed her regal sceptre, which she nevermore delegated 
 to the hands of her husband ; on her accession she had suffer- 
 ed him to rule supreme over her councils ; but, having made 
 experience of his incapacity, the queen trusted him no more 
 with the sole conduct of her affairs. 
 
 The king and queen of Navarre quitted Pau about the 
 middle of March, of the year 1557, accompanied by the 
 young prince of Beam, and his governess, madame de Mios- 
 sens. Proud of her son, Jeanne d'Albret wished to show him 
 to her royal kinsman, the king of France ; and to ask favour 
 for the grandson of Marguerite d'Angouleme, from the 
 son of Francis I. In order that their journey to the court 
 might not be regarded as a compulsory measure, the royal 
 pair made a progress through the different towns of Antoine's 
 government of Guyenne. They were entertained with great 
 splendour at Bordeaux and at La Rochelle. At this latter 
 place, amongst other fetes provided by the municipal coun- 
 cil, was a theatrical performance. With much want of con- 
 sideration for the sentiments and position of the sovereigns, 
 the piece performed contained satirical and offensive allusions 
 to the Romish faith ; and a complete travesty of the ceremonies 
 of the church. 2 The brave Rochellois concluded that the 
 
 ' Olhagaray, Favyn. Vauvilliers. 
 4 Bayle, Dictionuaire Historique. Article Navarre.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 79 
 
 daughter of Marguerite d'Anrrouleme could not, in her heart, 
 be inimical to the faith of the Reformed ; while the eclat of 
 Antoine's late proceedings in Beam, gave undeniable proof, 
 that to him such an exhibition must be acceptable. The 
 queen sat throughout the performance, without testifying any 
 applause whatever, and retired to her lodgings with so grave a 
 demeanour, that the authorities remained in doubt whether 
 their farce had not grievously offended their royal guests. 
 From this suspense, however, they were speedily relieved by 
 the king of Navarre, as far as he was himself concerned, who 
 highly commended the performance ; and, as a mark of appro- 
 bation, took all the comedians under his special patronage, 
 and, moreover, presented each with a considerable gratuity. 1 
 Autoine, when he committed this egregious blunder, was at- 
 tended by the chancellor of Navarre, Bouchard,' 2 and by Des- 
 cars, his first chamberlain, and one of Jeanne's privy council- 
 lors. These personages, it was subsequently discovered, were 
 secret partisans of the Guises, whose stedfast purpose it was, 
 
 rst to humble, and then to destroy, the Bourbon princes ; 
 
 hat no party in the state might prove strong enough to 
 balance their own authority. The want of politic tact, so 
 glaringly displayed in the conduct of the king of Navarre, 
 must have been galling beyond measure to Jeanne d'Albret ; 
 for not all the brilliant wit, and the many personal and social 
 qualities which Antoine possessed, could compensate, as Jeanne 
 felt when too late, for the absence of that conduct and dis- 
 cretion in which her husband was deficient. Antoine's weak- 
 ness of character rendered him the tool of his party. Trusted 
 by no one, he was sought for the splendour of his name ; and 
 feared in proportion as his capricious defection might entail 
 evils which his personal prestige, apart from his rank, would 
 have led none to dread. 
 
 From La Rochelle, the king and queen of Navarre jour- 
 neyed to Paris, and from thence to Amiens, where the French 
 court was sojourning. "While in the capital, Antoine's luck- 
 less destiny involved him in another affair, which, as it trench- 
 ed upon the prerogatives of the king of France, might have 
 had a disastrous termination, and have totally defeated the 
 pacific intent upon which Jeanne visited the court. It hap- 
 pened that the marechale de St Andre had a favourite retainer, 
 the sieur de la Rochechampdieu, who was confined in the 
 diocesan prison of the Chatelet on a charge of heresy. The 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 82. 
 
 2 Aymcry Bouchard, succeeded the traitor bishop of Mende, as chancellor 
 of Navarre.
 
 80 LIFE OP JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 marechale, upon Antoine's arrival, applied to him to procure 
 the liberation of her gentleman usher. The king of Navarre 
 promised his assistance, without reflecting that snch an act 
 was injudicious ; especially when the stigma of heresy was 
 attached to his own name, and had involved him in much pre- 
 sent trouble. The cardinal de Bourbon, 1 being governor of 
 Paris, Antoine had little difficulty in procuring the release of 
 the marechale's retainer. Fortunately, however, in the first 
 instance, he applied for the sanction of the law officers of the 
 crown ; who, whatever might be their opinion of the culprit's 
 guilt, thinking it too iusignificant a question upon which to 
 incur the displeasure of the first prince of the blood, responded 
 as Antoine desired. The whole affair, however, was represent- 
 ed to Henry in a different light ; and the previous displeasure 
 he entertained against the king and queen of Navarre, was 
 greatly increased by this officious interference on the part of 
 king Antoine. On their arrival at Amiens, Jeanne and An- 
 toine proceeded without delay to pay their respects to the 
 king. Henry received them with the utmost sternness of 
 countenance ; and his greeting was so cold, that Jeanne felt 
 that her conciliatory overtures had been politic and necessary. 
 The king, addressing Antoine, haughtily exclaimed, " How, 
 monseigneur ! have I not before told you that there is, and 
 shall be, but one king in France ? " " Sire," replied Antoine, 
 with that courtly suppleness which had extricated him from 
 so many difficulties, " before your gracious Majesty, my sun is 
 in eclipse, and in this kingdom I am but your subject and 
 servant." " Why, then, did you presume to open my prisons 
 with royal authority ? what has induced you to do that ? " 
 resumed the king. "Sire," responded Antoine, "it was at 
 the entreaty of madame la marechale de St Andre, 2 that I in- 
 terfered to deliver a gentleman her retainer, by and with the 
 advice and consent of your own officers and judges — a fact, 
 which I will maintain against any one. The cavalier, more- 
 over, had not been proved guilty of the crime charged against 
 him." The marshal de St Andre being one of the king's fa- 
 vourites, Henry was unwilling to investigate further into an 
 affair which probably might implicate madame la marechale ; 
 although the latter, despite of her enormous wealth, did not 
 
 1 Charles de Bourbon, cardinal-archbishop of Rouen, brother of Antoine 
 de Bourbon, and of Louis prince de Conde. 
 
 2 Marguerite de Lustrac, consort of Jacques d'Albon, marechal de St. 
 Andre, marquis de Fronsac. This lady was renowned for her extravagant 
 luxury and ambition. So improvident was she, that though a great heiress, 
 and thrice married to nobles of the highest rank, she died in the utmost 
 penury in Paris, about the year 1580.
 
 LIFE OF JEAXNE D'ALBRET. 81 
 
 enjoy much consideration at court, and lived on bad terms 
 with her husband. " Tlie affair has been represented to me 
 differently," replied Henry, in more conciliatory tones; "never- 
 theless, I am willing to overlook it. You will do well, mon- 
 seigneur, however, in future, to remember the rank you hold 
 in France." 1 
 
 As king Henry uttered these words, the little prince of 
 Navarre ran into the room, and took hold of his father's hand ; 
 the patience of the child being exhausted by waiting so long 
 in the royal ante-chamber. It proved a fortunate diversion 
 for king Antoine. The beautiful boy, with his innocent and 
 merry smile, made Henry forget his wrath. Calling the little 
 prince to his side, the king placed him on his knee, embraced 
 him, and paid queen Jeanne many commendations on her son's 
 beauty of countenance and artless manner. " Will you be 
 my son ? " asked Henry, caressingly, after talking for some 
 time with the child, in delight at the acuteness of his replies. 
 " Ed que es Jo pay,'''' responded the young Henri de Navarre, 
 in the dialect of Beam, lixing his eyes on his father. "Well, 
 then, will you not like to become my son-in-law?" 2 rejoined 
 the king. " Oui bien, sire! " answered the child, gravely. 
 
 From thenceforth, it is asserted, that an alliance was con- 
 templated between Henri de Navarre and the king's youngest 
 daughter, the celebrated Marguerite de Valois, who, at this 
 period, had entered her fourth year. The project of tins alli- 
 ance appears to have afforded equal satisfaction to Jeanne and 
 her royal consort. The honour conferred on the young prince 
 was great ; for to have been selected as the future husbaud of 
 madame Marguerite, gave the prince virtual adoption into the 
 royal family, with the privileges appertaining to the rank of un 
 frfs de France. King Antoine wrote forthwith to his sister, the 
 duchesse de JSevers, 3 that this alliance " was the thing in the 
 world that he desired most to obtain ; and which from thence- 
 forth placed both his repose and prosperity upon a secure 
 basis." 
 
 The queen also addressed a letter, during her sojourn at the 
 court of France, to the senechale of Poitou, her mother's old 
 and devoted servant, who was then confined to her house by 
 sickness, in which she expressed herself, concerning the pro- 
 posed alliance, in the following words : " Ma grande amie : To 
 
 1 Caret, Chron. Novenaire, p. 111. " Ibid. p. 112. 
 
 a Marguerite de Bourbon, second daughter of Charles, duke de Vendome 
 and Francoise d' Alencon. She married the duke de Nevers in 1538. Her 
 beauty and wit are highly extolled, and she was an especial favourite with 
 Francis I. n
 
 $2 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 cheer and console you in your sickness, I send you the news 
 which I have heard from the king my husband, that he having 
 taken courage, boldly and finally, to ask the king to bestow 
 madame his young daughter upon my son, his Majesty has been 
 pleased to grant us this favour ; for the which I will not at- 
 tempt to conceal the gladness and content I feel." l When 
 Jeanne wrote thus to the senechale of Poitou, she was at St 
 Germain, with queen Catherine. In after years, amidst the 
 anguish which attended the negotiations for this alliance, here 
 so exultingly alluded to, mournful must have been Jeanne's 
 smile, if she recalled her words ; and contemplated the abhor- 
 rence with which she then regarded the project. 
 
 Queen Jeanne, meantime, made politic use of her sojourn at 
 the court of France. With extreme apprehension, she beheld 
 the power of the duke of Guise and his brothers dominant 
 everywhere. Montmorency, and the princes of the house of 
 Bourbon, were alike compelled to yield them pre-eminence. 
 The consummate tact of the cardinal de Lorraine, combined with 
 his unprincipled daring, swept away every obstacle which might 
 have arrested the more disciplined ambition of the duke de 
 Guise. Closely connected with the house of Bourbon, 2 there 
 seemed no barrier before the throne itself, to interdict its as- 
 cent to the princes of Guise. Their alliances had been con- 
 tracted with politic dexterity ; all tending to the one supreme 
 point— their elevation to uncontrolled dominion over the coun- 
 cils of the sovereign. The alliance of the duke d' Aumale with 
 the daughter of madame de Valentinois was negotiated in this 
 view; the queen alone, impracticable, and dexterousas themselves, 
 afforded them unmitigated solicitude. Catherine was ambitious ; 
 but by the betrothal of their niece, Mary Stuart, to the dauphin, 
 they trusted to extort from her that support which they had 
 ceased to expect from her favour. The duke de Lorraine, the 
 youthful chieftain of their house, was pursuing his education in 
 France under the auspices of the duke de Guise ; the intense 
 aversion shown by the duchess Christine, his mother, to an 
 alliance with France, had not diverted her ambitious kinsmen 
 from their purpose, which finally issued in the betrothal of the 
 young duke to Claude de France, second daughter of the king. 
 Their wealth, their alliances, and above all, their undoubt- 
 ed talents, encircled them, and constituted a barrier, insur- 
 
 1 Brantome, Dames Illustres. — Vie de Marguerite de France. 
 
 2 The mother of the duke de Guise and his brothers was Antoinette de 
 Bourbon, sister of Charles duke de Vendbme. The duchess-dowager de Guise 
 was, therefore, the aunt of the king of Navarre. Kenee, sister of the constable 
 de Bourbon, espoused Antoine le Bon, duke de Lorraine, elder brother of 
 Claude, first duke de Guise, the husband of Antoinette de Bourbon.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 83 
 
 mountable to such puny assailants as the princes of the blood 
 royal. 
 
 At the period when Jeanne arrived at court, the intrigues 
 of the cardinal de Lorraine had procured the subversion of the 
 treaty of Vaucelles, the last political act of importance executed 
 by the emperor Charles V.. previous to his departure for the 
 retirement of Tuste. Before the queen quitted the court, the 
 duke de Guise, at the head of a numerous army, was on the 
 point of proceeding to Italy, armed with regal powers of com- 
 mand ; and with unlimited privilege of negotiation. The re- 
 newal of the war was universally mourned by the French, who 
 cared little for the intrigues of the unprincipled nephews of 
 Paul IV., the cardinal Carafta, and his brothers ; or the contest 
 in which that imperious pontiff was involved with Spain. The 
 nation manifested even less interest in the revival of the anti- 
 quated pretensions of the crown of France upon the kingdom of 
 Naples ; to wrest which from the Spaniards was the ostensible 
 errand of the duke in Italy. To the Guises alone peace was 
 unwelcome. The battle-field was the arena upon which the 
 chivalrous duke could only hope to win the renown he coveted. 
 The fiery oratory and insidious argument of the cardinal de 
 Lorraine, were never heard to greater advantage than when he 
 developed before the council his schemes of daring aggression. 
 The Guises had learned, moreover, that peace invariably lowered 
 them in the scale of political eminence ; for king Henrv, the 
 creature of habit, deferred often, in matters of internal policy. 
 to the advice of Montmorency, witli whom it was notorious 
 that they never agreed. The exquisite address of the cardinal 
 de Lorraine, nevertheless, was seldom disconcerted. The 
 Guises boldly placed themselves at the head of the religious 
 movement and reaction, which ensued on the decease of Francis 
 I. The faith of Home, during that reign, though dominant in 
 the state, had suffered eclipse. On the accession of Henry II., 
 " the sectarian heresy " was proscribed by edict. The princes 
 of Lorraine, therefore, assumed to themselves the offices of 
 champions of the faith, and the promoters of orthodoxy through- 
 out the realm. Although the veteran constable had never given 
 symptoms of defection from the creed of Rome, the cardinal de 
 Lorraine skilfully contrived to throw doubt on the sincerity of 
 his profession, by artful allusions to the avowed heresy of the 
 Chatillons, Montmorency's favoured nephews. At this period, 
 though, Jeanne d'Albret had nothing to dread from the religi- 
 ous animosity of the princes of Lorraine, as she herself had, at 
 this time, committed no overt act of disloyalty to the ancient 
 faith ; yet what evils might she not then descry from the future
 
 84 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 conflux of such characters as the dauphin Francis, the queen 
 Catherine, the Guises, Antoine de Bourbon, the princes of 
 Bourbon, and the stern Montmorency ! 
 
 As no military command had been assigned to the king of 
 Navarre in the expedition under the duke de Gruise to recover 
 the diadem of Naples, Jeanne, wearied of seeing her husband a 
 mere cypher at court, determined to return to Pau. The 
 queen, moreover, was within a few weeks of her accouchement, 
 which event she desired should happen in Beam. Henry 
 made no opposition to the departure of the royal pair ; except 
 that he desired Jeanne would leave her son to be educated at 
 the court of France with madams Marguerite. This proposi- 
 tion was declined by the queen ; but, as Henry did not persist 
 in his demand, probably influenced by Catherine de Medici, 
 ivho had more ambitious views for her daughter, Jeanne was 
 finally suffered to depart with her son. 1 
 
 Soon after the arrival at Pau, the queen gave birth to a 
 daughter. The young princess received the name of Madelaine, 
 an appellation endeared to the Bearnnois from their grateful 
 reminiscences of Madelaine, sister of Louis XL of Prance, 
 mother of Gaston Phoebus, king of Navarre, who for some 
 years governed the principality for her son. The infant princess, 
 however, survived only a fortnight. Her royal mother had 
 scarcely leisure to deplore the loss of her child, when the in- 
 telligence of the defeat at St. Quentin 2 filled the sovereigns of 
 Navarre with dismay. The brilliant victory gained by the 
 armies of Spain, under the command of the young duke of 
 Savoy, reduced France to the verge of ruin. Had Philip's 
 victorious army marched upon Paris, the surrender of the 
 capital was inevitable. The constable remained a prisoner in 
 the hands of the Spaniards ; and the fatal field of Pavia itself 
 displayed not a more indiscriminate slaughter of the noblest 
 aristocracy of France. In Italy, the successes of the duke de 
 Guise had been checked by Alba, and by the treason of the 
 pope's perfidious nephews ; and probably the military renown 
 of the duke was saved some diminution by the command which 
 was forwarded to him from the privy council to return and un- 
 dertake the defence of his own country. 3 
 
 The duke was received on his landing with rapturous wel- 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 84. Cayet, Chron. No- 
 renaire. 
 
 - The battle of St Quentin was fought August 10th, 1557, on St Law- 
 rence's Day. 
 
 3 Lettre de Henri II. au due de Guise, dated September 1st, 1557. Let- 
 tres et Memoire* d'etat de Ribier, t. ii. p. 700.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBKtT. 85 
 
 come. Never before had the popularity of the Guises so ob- 
 scured the prestige of the princes of the blood. It was even 
 proposed to confer upon him the title of viceroy of France ! 
 Letters patent, however, were issued by Henry nominating the 
 duke " lieutenant des armeesdu, roi, dedans et dehors le royaume," 
 with powers which for the time superseded the authority of 
 the king himself. 1 On perusing this edict, conveying the most 
 comprehensive authority ever intrusted by sovereign to subject, 
 the helplessness of king Henry in abdicating the prerogatives 
 of his crown, though but for an interval, is more to be wonder- 
 ed at than that the great duke, intoxicated by his brief experi- 
 ence of supreme power, and sated with adulation, should after- 
 wards somewhat forget the pliant bearing of the courtier. 
 
 The valiant exploits of the duke, however, seemed to justify 
 his elevation : in less than a fortnight from the period of his 
 nomination to supreme command, the Spanish army no longer 
 menaced the frontier; the towns of Calais, Guisnes. and Ham, 
 were conquered from the English, and the fortresses of the 
 two last places razed to the ground. Finally, the security of 
 France was insured by the capture of Thionville. "When the 
 duchess de Guise appeared in public, she was saluted with ac- 
 clamations ; and the cry of " vive la petite Jille die Ion roi 
 Louis!" echoed through the streets of Paris, in the hearing 
 of the sovereign himself. The guerdon which the duke de 
 Guise demanded for his exploits was the immediate union of 
 the dauphin with Mary Stuart. Queen Jeanne and Antoine 
 de Bourbon resolved on a journey to Paris to witness the royal 
 nuptials ; and, if possible, to balance by their presence the 
 overwhelming power of the Guises. The junction of the 
 princes of Bourbon, and their union during the captivity of 
 Montmorency, could alone maintain the semblance of power for 
 their party. 
 
 Jeanne was welcomed by Catherine de Medici, to whom 
 the project of her son's marriage with the niece of Guise was 
 hateful beyond measure. From his prison in Ghent the con- 
 stable wrote to implore his master to pause ere he permitted 
 his ambitious subjects to place a princess of their own blood on 
 the throne of France. It is more than probable, that had not 
 the peculiar position of affairs placed the Guises at the head of 
 the government, the fair brow of the queen of Scotland would 
 never have been circled by the crown matrimonial of France, 
 as the bride of Henry's eldest son. The constable, and his 
 faction, wished that Mary should espouse the duke of Orleans, 
 
 1 Mezeray, Abbreg. Chron. Vie de Henri II. Mem. de Rabutin, 1. 9eme. 
 
 Mem. de Muutluc.
 
 8G LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 afterwards Charles IX. This design received the sanction of 
 Jeanne d'Albret ; and earnestly did she employ her influence 
 with king Henry to accomplish that alliance. In vain the 
 Guises tried to propitiate Catherine ; the queen absolutely re- 
 fused her consent, on the plea that the dauphin's health remain- 
 ed as yet too infirm to permit him to marry. " I will not, there- 
 fore, ask the king to do a thing which I cannot approve. Is 
 not the king the guardian of both parties ? The queen of 
 Scots is not likely to be removed from the kingdom ; then, 
 Avherefore, I pray you, should I seek to hurry a marriage which 
 may be accomplished at any time, while the health of monsieur 
 le dauphin my son remains in so precarious a condition ? " 
 The sovereign who permits his subject to assume undue as- 
 cendency, personal or political, is certain some day to be made 
 sensible of his error. Henry, when immediate danger of inva- 
 sion was averted from his realm, discovered that he had be- 
 come a puppet in the hands of his new ministers. The tone of 
 courtly arrogance assumed by the conqueror of Calais imposed 
 as much upon the sovereign as the dictatorial hauteur of the 
 cardinal de Lorraine curbed freedom of deliberation at the 
 privy-council board. " I have been constrained to create the 
 duke de Guise my lieutenant-general," wrote Henry to the im- 
 prisoned constable de Montmorency ; " also affairs have now 
 compelled me to conclude the marriage of monsieur le dauphin 
 with the niece of the said duke ; and likewise to do many other 
 things. Time, however, nx'en fera la raison." 1 The ominous 
 conclusion to the royal despatch testifies that Henry at length 
 realized the prudence of his father's dying injunction relative 
 to the Guises : 2 his conviction, however, came too late, and the 
 marriage of the dauphin Francis, with Mary Stuart, was solemn- 
 ized with regal pomp on the 24th day of April, 1658. 
 
 The details of this splendid ceremonial do not appertain to 
 the history of the queen of Navarre. Jeanne and her husband 
 held their royal rank in the procession ; the queen walked by 
 the side of the little madame Marguerite, youngest daughter of 
 the king, destined to be the bride of the prince of Navarre, and 
 followed next in rank to the queen Catherine de Medici. The 
 king of Navarre supported the youthful bridegroom in his mag- 
 nificent progress to Notre Dame. At the grand banquet in 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 89. 
 
 2 Francis I. emphatically admonished his successor to check the aspiring 
 assumptions of the princes of the house of Guise, if he wished for a prosperous 
 reign, and to transmit his crown to his posterity. The princes of Lorraine, 
 the king warned his son, " pouvaient mettre les enfans royaux en pourpoint, 
 et tous leurs sujetx ea chemise." Charles IX. put this royal prediction into 
 Terse.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 87 
 
 the Palais, on the eve of the bridal day, queen Jeanne sat at 
 the right hand of the king, next in rank after the beautiful 
 bride, and mesdanies Elizabeth and Marguerite, the eldest 
 daughter and the sister of the king. On the left of the queen 
 s.\t the pope's nuncio. After the banquet, queen Jeanne danced 
 at the ball which ensued, taking for her partner madame Claude, 
 second daughter of the king ; and she entered heartily into the 
 merriment excited by the attractive pageant, which closed the 
 festivities of the day. 1 
 
 During the remainder of the year 1.558 Jeanne d'Albret 
 remained in France. Amid the attractions of the splendid 
 court of Henry II. the queen studied politics and theology. 
 Jeanne possessed not the social talents of her beautiful mother ; 
 she had Marguerite's solidity of understanding, without that 
 sprightliness of demeanour, so fascinating in the sister of 
 Francis I. But neither, it must be remembered, had Jeaune 
 d'Albret the prosperity which gilded the early and the middle 
 life of queen Marguerite ; the latter shared the throne of 
 Francis I., then the most magnificent in Europe ; and her 
 brother's affection rendered her omnipotent over the court. 
 Jeanne d'Albret, on the contrary, held rank only after the 
 royal family: her small territories were unjustly coveted by 
 her suzerain, the king of France ; and to reward merit, litera- 
 ture, or personal service, Jeanne had resource but in her own 
 revenues — while the exchequer of the state at her mother's 
 command poured forth its treasures. Sometimes the queen of 
 jSavarre found herself comparatively isolated in the midst of 
 that court, over which she was once destined to reign ; the 
 courtiers shunned converse with a princess whose learning and 
 powers of language exposed their own ignorant pretensions. 
 The learning and the diplomatic ability of Marguerite were in- 
 herited by her daughter; but as the power and the beauty of 
 person which had graced their late idol, descended not to Jeanne, 
 the venal courtiers preferred to offer homage at the shrine of 
 Diane de Poitiers. 
 
 During the year 1558 an expedition was organized by 
 Antoine de Bourbon for the recovery of Navarre. The armies 
 of Philip of Spain and of the king of France confronted each 
 other, prepared for combat, on the banks of the river Somme. 
 The Spanish government was embarrassed by home defections 
 and financial difficulty; the advisers of Antoine de Bourbon, 
 therefore, urged him to take advantage of so favourable a junc- 
 ture for the recovery of his consort's heritage. The levies 
 
 1 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. ii. Mariage du dauphin Francois, 
 fils de Henri II., avec Marie Stuart, Royne d'Escosse.
 
 88 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 raised by Henri d'Albret were accordingly re-organized, and, 
 under the command of d'Arros, marched to the Spanish fron- 
 tier ; but the dissensions which arose in the camp, and the re- 
 ligious animosities subsisting between the commanders, added 
 to the secret discountenance of the king of Trance, occasioned 
 the failure of the entire plan of campaign. Antoine had hastily 
 quitted Paris to place himself at the head of his army. There 
 he narrowly escaped falling victim to a plot to betray him into 
 the power of the Spanish viceroy of Navarre, through the 
 treachery of one Gamare, a confidential valet-de-chambre ; who, 
 like the king's other favourites, was in the pay of the house of 
 Lorraine. The weather, during the expedition, was tempest- 
 uous ; and the rivers, swollen by heavy rains, overflowed their 
 banks, and caused a disastrous inundation ; so that, ever after, 
 this unlucky campaign was ironically alluded to as la guerre 
 tnouillee} 
 
 The conferences, meanwhile, for the re-establishment of 
 peace between the crowns of France, England, and Spain, 
 opened on the 15th of October, 1558, in the Abbey of Cercamp, 
 near the town of Hesdin. The sovereigns of Beam despatched 
 thither an ambassador to negotiate for the restitution of Na- 
 varre. The plenipotentiaries on the part of Spain were Christine 
 duchess of Lorraine, Perrenot de Granvelle bishop of Arras, 
 Philip's favourite minister Ruy Gomez de Silva, and the duke 
 of Alba. The ambassadors nominated by Henry were the con- 
 stable de Montmorency, who still remained in captivity, the 
 cardinal de Lorraine, the marshal de St. Andre, Morvilliers 
 bishop of Orleans, and de l'Aubespine, principal secretary of 
 state. The death of Mary, queen of England, intervening on 
 the 15th of November, the plenipotentiaries agreed upon a 
 suspension of negotiation for the space of two months. During 
 this interval occurred the famous conference in the town of 
 Peronne, between the king of Spain, the duchess Christina, and 
 Granvelle, with the Guises. 3 This interview exercised potent 
 influence on the after-life and the fortunes of Jeanne d' Albret. 
 The king of Spain had no military genius ; his diplomatic ability, 
 however, was great; and he had inherited his father's hostile 
 disposition towards France. Bigotry was the ruling principle 
 which guided the policy of the Spanish cabinet. To depress 
 the power of France, by involving her in domestic tumult, and 
 thus to cripple her resources, was Philip's design when he 
 sheathed his sword, and yet resolved upon remaining the first 
 
 1 Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, p. 830 and 831. 
 
 - Cayet, Chron. Noveuaire. De Thou, Hist, de son Temps. Memoires de 
 Rabutin.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 89 
 
 potentate of Europe. The horror which king Philip professed 
 to feel at the spread of heresy was genuine. Every kingdom 
 throughout the then civilized world counted its defaulters from 
 the old faith by thousands. The provinces of the Low Countries 
 especially harboured schism. The bold burghers of Antwerp, 
 Ghent, and Liege, clung tenaciously to opinions which bestowed 
 upon them religious emancipation — a boon they had as yet 
 failed to obtain from their civil rulers, despite their frequent 
 revolts. In all countries where the Reformation had made 
 progress, Philip remarked the growing antipathy of the people 
 to submit to a despotic form of government. The contiguity 
 of the provinces of the Netherlands with France, therefore, 
 justly excited his apprehension. The mission for the extirpation 
 of heresy throughout Europe suited the sentiment of abject 
 veneration for the popedom in which Philip had been educated : 
 it coincided with the genius of his policy, which aimed at blood- 
 less victories won by the glossing skill of his diplomats ; and 
 the repression of that bold spirit of inquiry, which, whenever it 
 became dominant, subverted despotism. 
 
 In Eranee, this had been the role aimed at by the princes 
 of Guise; the weakness of the king of Navarre had favoured 
 the wily designs of the cardinal de Lorraine ; for the vacillating 
 support of the former injured the cause of reform. Philip 
 penetrated the subtle depths of the cardinal's policy ; and 
 through the medium of the duchess of Lorraine a secret 
 league was proposed by the king for the extermination of 
 heresy, and the restoration of the ancient faith to its supremacy 
 — in fact, to undo all that the Reformation had hitherto effected. 
 Christine was a princess of quick intellect, decision, and devoted 
 to the cause of Rome and the Hapsburg, which she identified 
 as one. She was efficiently aided by Granvelle, who worked 
 on the cardinal's overweening vanity. The princes of Guise 
 were invited to the closest alliance with Spain : their elevation 
 to supreme power was guaranteed ; and a mode pointed out by 
 which they might at all times, independently of their sovereign, 
 communicate with the cabinet of Madrid. Thus commenced 
 the fatal league which, for more than half a century, inundated 
 Eranee with blood. With Erancis I. the grandeur of the 
 ancient monarchy expired ; decimated by subsequent bloody 
 wars, the nobles never recovered their preponderance — but 
 amongst the first of the noble houses whose glory departed, was 
 that of princely Guise. 
 
 After concluding this secret convention with Spain, the 
 duke de Guise and his brother returned to Paris to complete
 
 90 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 the alliance of the youthful madame Claude, second daughter 
 of the king, with the duke de Lorraine, the head of their house. 
 In the pompous ceremonial the queen of Navarre was to have 
 occupied the same rank as at the nuptial ceremony between the 
 dauphin and Mary Stuart. Jeanne, however, excused herself 
 from gracing this unwelcome festival with her presence, on the 
 plea, that as she had entered the eighth month of her pregnancy, 
 the fatigue would be too great. 1 The king of Navarre declined 
 upon some account not on record ; as did also his sister, Mar- 
 guerite de Bourbon, duchess de Nevers. 
 
 The marriage, however, was solemnized with great magnifi- 
 cence on the 22nd day of January, 1559. The fetes and 
 rejoicing lasted eight days. The duke de Guise, during this 
 period, held open board to all comers ;■ lists were erected before 
 the Hotel de Guise, and the magnificence of the jousts there 
 holden eclipsed those given in honour of his daughter's mar- 
 riage by the king himself.' 2 
 
 Ten days after the conclusion of these festivities, Jeanne 
 d'Albret gave birth to a daughter, her fifth and last child. The 
 princess was born on the 7th of February, 1559 ; Catherine de 
 Medici stood godmother, and bestowed her own name, of 
 Catherine, on the infant princess. Soon after her accouchement, 
 the queen wrote to the constable de Montmorency, in reply to 
 a letter which she had received from him congratulating her on 
 the happy birth of the princess. Montmorency was still a 
 captive in the Low Countries ; where he was engaged in draw- 
 ing up articles of peace, which were afterwards accepted by the 
 belligerent states at Cateau Cambresis. Jeanne and her husband 
 had solicited the constable to support their interests during the 
 negotiation ; and to make the restitution of Spanish Navarre 
 one of the conditions of peace. The queen's letter, written be- 
 fore she quitted her sick chamber, is as- follows : 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO THE CONSTABLE DE 
 MONTMORENCY. 
 
 "Mon Cousin, 
 
 " I feel so assured of the affectionate regard which you hear me, 
 that I harbour not a doubt on that matter ; neither do I question your 
 desire to promote my interest, and that of the king my husband, the 
 which I pray you ever to hold in remembrance. Respecting my health, 
 I thank you much for your kind inquiries. I must tell you that I find 
 myself making progress, and my daughter also ; so much so, that I hope 
 
 1 Godefroy, Grand Cerem. de France, t. ii.— Benediction nuptiale du due 
 de Lorraine, Charles II. et de Claude de France. 
 
 - Mem. de Francois de Rabutin, liv. xieme.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 91 
 
 to bs well again in ten or twelve days ; for the rest, the messenger 
 who brings you this letter will more amply inform you of my condi- 
 tion. I supplicate the Almighty, mon cousin, to give you the felicity 
 of concluding a happy peace, and to bestow upon you a life as long as 
 she desires, who is, 
 
 " Vostre bien bonne cousine, et parfaite amie, 1 
 
 Jeanne." 
 
 The queen, nevertheless, did not make the rapid progress 
 towards convalescence which she anticipated. The health of her 
 infant failed ; and she suffered much anxiety of mind on this 
 account, for Jeanne was now the most devoted of mothers. 
 During the queen's indisposition the peace of Cateau Cambresis 
 was ratified, April 3rd, 1559. The interests of the queen of 
 Kavarre were again passed over ; and nothing was stipulated 
 relative to the restoration of Jeanne's ancient heritage. France 
 had always too many grievances of her own to adjust with the 
 Spanish crown ; and her need of pacification was generally too 
 intense to permit her to stipulate for other interests than her 
 own. Tbe disappointment was deeply felt by Jeanne d'Albret ; 
 she foresaw that it probably would be the last time that this 
 often-debated question could be brought before the Spanish 
 cabinet: for on no occasion less momentous than the ter- 
 mination of sanguinary warfare between the two countries, 
 could the cession of a kingdom be proposed to the monarch of 
 Spain. 
 
 The articles of peace negotiated at Cateau Cambresis, be- 
 tween the plenipotentiaries of the powers, stipulated that each 
 monarch should respectively restore the conquests effected by 
 his arms during the last eight years. France reinstated the 
 duke of Savoy in his territories, and abandoned her Italian con- 
 quests ; in return, she was confirmed in the possession of the 
 imperial cities, Metz, Toul, and Verdun ; and the places cap- 
 tured in Picardy by the duke Emmanuel Philibert w r ere re- 
 stored to her. The king bestowed the hand of his eldest 
 daughter Elizabeth on Philip II. of Spain, with a dowry of 
 400,000 gold crowns; and gave his sister Marguerite to the 
 gallant young duke of Savoy, with a portion of 300,000 gold 
 crowns. It was commonly observed throughout France, when 
 the treaty of Cateau was published, that king Henry had re- 
 linquished more to obtain the release of Montmorency, than 
 the nation had sacrificed to procure the liberty of Francis I. 
 after the defeat of Pavia. 
 
 The result of this peace which proved most disastrous to 
 the destinies of Jeanne d'Albret, was the league of Peronne. 
 
 1 MS. de Beth. No. S788. p. 63. Bibl. Imp.— Iiieditcd.
 
 92 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 Emboldened by his secret liaison with the Guises, then omnipo- 
 tent in the state, Philip first cautiously intimated to Henry 
 that his court was infected with heresy ; and that the most 
 illustrious of the nobles of France, the house of Lorraine 
 excepted, were converts to the sectaries, and their doctrines. 
 The consequence of this insidious notification was the revival 
 of the celebrated edict of Chateaubriand. The persecution 
 commenced afresh ; inquisitorial chambers were established ; 
 and even five members of the parliament of Paris were arrest- 
 ed in the presence of the sovereign, on the odious charge of 
 heresy. 
 
 The queen of Navarre and her husband had quitted Paris 
 before the commencement of these rigorous measures. Jeanne 
 retired to Nerac with her children, having declined to partici- 
 pate in the ceremonial of the approaching royal marriages. 
 The character of Philip was well understood by Jeanne d'Albret. 
 She was aware of the unextinguishable hatred which the king 
 of Spain bore towards the legitimate claimant of one of his 
 crowns : she divined the enmity he felt towards Antoine de 
 Bourbon, for his heretical opinions, for the accident of his 
 position as first prince of the blood ; and as the prince whom 
 she had chosen to espouse in preference to Philip himself. But 
 before the queen had leisure to organize measures to meet the 
 impending danger, the sudden decease of Henry II. changed 
 the tenor of politics, not only in France, but throughout Europe. 
 In the prime and vigour of manhood, king Henry was smitten 
 by the lance of Montgomery, at the tournament given in honour 
 of the nuptials of his daughter Elizabeth with Philip of Spain. 
 The wound, accidentally inflicted by the count de Montgomery, 
 was pronounced a mortal injury. The lance had entered the 
 king's eye, and penetrated to the brain; and eleven days after 
 the catastrophe, Henry ceased to exist, leaving his crown to his 
 son Francis, the husband of Mary Stuart, the niece of the 
 duke de Guise. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 1559—1560. 
 
 The king of Navarre is summoned to the capital by the constable de Montmo 
 rency — His vacillations and delays — Counselgiven toAntoine byqueen Jeanne 
 — The king's favourites oppose his departure for the court — Nature of their in-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 93 
 
 sinuations — The princes of Guise possess themselves of the government — 
 King Francis II. and his mother retire to the Louvre — Position of Catherine 
 de Medici — Her designs — Triumph of the house of Lorraine — Catherine 
 countenances their projects — Departure of the king of Navarre from Nerac — 
 His dilatory progress towards the capital — He is joined at Vendome by the 
 chiefs of the Huguenot party — He arrives in Paris — Proceeds to St Germain 
 — His contemptuous reception by the king and queen Catherine — His inter- 
 view with Catherine — Conduct of the princes of Guise — Antoine retires from 
 court — He visits the tomb of the late king Henry II. at St Denis — He is 
 joined by Conde — Interview of the princes with Throckmorton, the English 
 ambassador — Message sent to king Antoine by Elizabeth queen of England 
 ■ — His reply — The princes receive a command to attend Francis II. to 
 Rheims for the ceremony of the king's coronation — Letter of the cardinal de 
 Bourbon to the duchess de Nevers — Menaces of the king of Spain — Their 
 effect upon Antoine— He accepts the mission of conducting the queen of 
 Spain to the frontier — Perilous position of the queen of Navarre — Design of 
 the cardinal de Lorraine to cede the fortress of Bayonne to the Spanish 
 crown — The queen retires to Navarreins — She joins king Antoine at Bor- 
 deaux — Jeanne takes precedence of the queen of Spain when within the 
 limits of the principality of Beam — Embassy of the baron d'Audaux to 
 Toledo — Correspondence of Antoine de Bourbon with the king of Spain — 
 Philip's supercilious reply — Ardent love of study displayed by queen Jeanne 
 — Mission of the Cardinal d'Armagnac into Beam — His reception by Jeanne 
 d'Albret — He orders the arrest of the minister Barran — The queen of Na- 
 varre directs Barran's liberation — Despotic proceedings of the French go- 
 vernment — Conspiracy of Amboise — Conde is implicated in the designs of 
 the conspirators — He is examined before the council — He retires to Nerac — 
 The king of Navarre is summoned to attend the states-general assembled at 
 Orleans — Correspondence of Francis II. with the king of Navarre — Counsel 
 given to king Antoine by his consort — Jeanne feels distrust of the machina- 
 tions of the house of Lorraine — The princess de Conde entreats her husband 
 to refuse obedience to the summons of the court — The king of Navarre de- 
 termines to proceed to Orleans — Letter written by queen Jeanne to Mont- 
 morency — -The queen refuses to accompany her consort — She makes a pro- 
 gress throughout Beam — Jeanne sends an embassy to Rome — Her defence 
 is espoused by cardinal Muret — His harangue before the consistory — Pius 
 IV. consents to receive queen Jeanne's letter — Intrigues of queen Catherine 
 — Her letter to the constable — Arrival of the king of Navarre at Limoges — 
 He receives deputies from the reformed churches of France — His interview 
 with the cardinal d'Armagnac — His reply to the deputation — Antoine's letter 
 to Catherine de Medici — His repulse from Poitiers — The king of Navarre 
 retires to Lusignan — Remonstrance of queen Catherine — She sends the mar- 
 shal de Termes to encoui-age the princes to proceed on their journey to Or- 
 leans—Her message to the princess de Conde — The queen of Navarre receives 
 orders to arrest the Lutheran ministers of her principality — Her refusal to 
 obey — She retires to Navarreins — Her employment when there — Entry of 
 Francis II. into the town of Orleans — Numerous arrests, made by command 
 of the king — Arrival of the princes — Arrest of Conde — His condemnation to 
 death — Insolent demeanour of the Guises towards the king of Navarre — 
 Conduct of Cathei-ine de Medici — Project to assassinate the kins? of Navarre 
 — Catherine sends Antoine information of the plot — His brave deportment — 
 Message to queen Jeanne — Illness of Francis II. — Catherine proposes to the 
 king of Navarre to renounce his pretensions to the regency — Assent of king 
 Antoine to the proposal — Decease of Francis II.— Changes at court —Antoine 
 de Bourbon summons his consort to join him at St Germain — Jeanne con- 
 fides the care of the principality to the baron d'Arros and the cardinal 
 d'Armagnac — She proceeds to the castle of Nerac with her children. 
 
 "Whex the official reports announced that king Henry's re- 
 covery was hopeless, the constable de Montmorency despatched
 
 94 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 a courier with the important news to the king and queen of 
 Navarre, who were then at Nerac. To remove every lingering 
 doubt from the mind of Antoine that the danger of the king 
 might he exaggerated, the constable despatched la Mare, 
 Henry's faithful and attached valet-de-chambre, on the mission. 
 He was the bearer of letters addressed by the constable, by the 
 princes of Bourbon then resident in Paris, and by other in- 
 fluential personages, to Jeanne and Antoine, urging the latter 
 to hasten to Paris ; and warning the royal pair of the designs 
 of the princes of Lorraine, which could only be defeated by the 
 presence of the chief of Bourbon in the capital, and by his 
 union with the party opposed to the Guises. 1 These missives 
 must have reached the king of Navarre before the decease of 
 Henry; and it is even supposed that Catherine de Medici was 
 cognizant of and sanctioned the departure of the constable's 
 messenger. The magnitude of the part he was urgently sum- 
 moned to perform appalled the feeble Antoine. When politi- 
 cal power was distant and apparently unattainable, the king of 
 Navarre had resorted to intrigue of every description to acquire 
 authority, though its burden seemed now intolerable. Jeanne, 
 on the contrary, hailed the summons sent by the constable. 
 Her spirit exulted in the grandeur of the prospect opened before 
 them. The guardianship of the young king, scarcely past the 
 age of boyhood, the pacification of parties, the emancipation of 
 Prance from Spanish rule, and the abasement of the house of 
 Guise, were the noble missions which seemed now to await her 
 husband, the chief of Bourbon. The thought of queen Cather- 
 ine, with her subtle genius and her dexterous diplomacy, ap- 
 pears not to have cast even a temporary shadow over the san- 
 guine aspirations of Jeanne. With fervour she represented 
 to her husband that now was the time to retrieve the fortunes 
 of the princes ; and to reinstate the Bourbons in their proper 
 rank in the councils of the sovereign. She commented with 
 irony on the subordinate position which Antoine had content- 
 edly accepted ; and she ventured a comparison between the 
 energy displayed by the great duke, and his brother the cardi- 
 nal, and the supine indifference manifested by the princes of 
 Bourbon. Taking the young prince of Navarre by the hand, 
 the queen exhorted her husbaud to insure the high destiny for 
 their son to which his birth entitled him. 
 
 Prom the exhortations of his heroic wife, Antoine turned to 
 
 the more congenial counsels of his favourites. Pre-eminent 
 
 amongst these reigned Nicholas d'Angu, bishop of Mende, the 
 
 identical nrelate whose traitorous connivance with Henry's 
 
 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps. 1. 23.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 95 
 
 scheme for annexing the principality of Beam to the crown of 
 France, had procured his ignominious expulsion from the ter- 
 ritories of Jeanne. The versatile mind of this bishop exercised 
 potent influence over Antoine, as he never failed to suggest in- 
 genious remedies for the personal and political difficulties of 
 common occurrence with his royal patron. The duke de Guise, 
 therefore, found little difficulty in bringing about the reconcili- 
 ation of the bishop of Mende with the king of Navarre, much 
 to the displeasure of Jeanne d'Albret, who had refused to rein- 
 state the bishop in his forfeited offices, or to permit his return 
 into Beam ; though she was unable, or, perhaps, felt reluctant, 
 to interdict his intercourse with Antoine, in virtue of her 
 sovereign authority, when the latter was sojourning at Nerac. 
 This factious prelate, therefore, with Descars, chamberlain to 
 Antoine, and Bouchard, the new chancellor of Navarre, united 
 in dissuading the king from repairing to court in obedience to 
 the summons addressed to him from thence. Antoine's pre- 
 sence they were well aware must prove a grave impediment to 
 'he ambitious aspirings of the princes of Guise, whose cause 
 hey favoured. Instead of promptly adopting a line of action, 
 which, with the powerful intervention of Montmorency, must 
 have placed the government of the country at his disposal, 
 Antoine trifled away the opportunity in debating the matter; 
 while indulging in ill-timed invectives on the political turpitude 
 of the constable, in permitting the exclusion of the ambassador 
 of Navarre from the congress at Cateau Cambresis. The 
 bishop of Mende even went so far as to express his fears, lest 
 the constable's invitation would prove only a subtle snare to en- 
 trap the king into a compulsory exchange of his principality 
 of Bearn in accordance with that design of the late king ; who, 
 it was notorious, had acted in this matter on the suggestion of 
 Montmorency. The chamberlain Descars feigned to believe 
 that, should the power of the Guises chance to be dominant, 
 the axe of the executioner would free them from vexatious op- 
 ponents, even though it were bathed in royal blood ; he, there- 
 fore, adduced from this assertion that his conscience would not 
 permit him to advise his master to incur so grave a peril with- 
 out more positive knowledge of events. 
 
 Meantime, while Antoine indulged in these and other 
 gloomy forebodings, the Guises, by a skilfully-planned stroke, 
 made themselves masters of the position so ingloriously ceded 
 by the first prince of the blood. Sensible of the grandeur of 
 the role that their relationship to the queen Mary Stuart 
 would enable them to enact, if they suffered themselves not to be 
 forestalled in the favour of Francis II., the duke de Guise,
 
 96 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 some days before the decease of the king, adroitly availed him- 
 self of the universal consternation, to assemble and introduce 
 within the walls of Paris large bodies of his partisans. When 
 king Henry had received the last sacraments of the church, the 
 duke repaired to the palais des Tournelles, attended by a picked 
 band of gentlemen devoted to his service. He posted this 
 guard in the wardrobe-chamber of the apartments assigned to 
 him in the palace ; and prepared forcibly to oppose any project 
 for the removal of the king. He next rallied to his standard 
 the members of his house ; and with such energy and foresight 
 were all the movements of the duke concerted, that, at the 
 moment when king Henry expired, accompanied by the car- 
 dinals de Lorraine and d'Este, 1 by the prince Alphonso of Fer- 
 rara, he was the first to congratulate the young sovereigns on 
 their accession. It then required little persuasion, on the part 
 of Guise, to induce the young Francis to accept of his escort 
 to the palace of the Louvre. The body of the deceased king 
 was consigned to the guardianship of Montmorency, the Colig- 
 nis, the prince de Conde, and the duke de Montpensier. The 
 nomination of these noble personages was another consummate 
 artifice on the part of the Guises : for, until the obsequies of 
 king Henry were celebrated, the princes remained bound, by 
 the duties of their office, in captivity as stringent as if circled 
 by the walls of the Bastille. Attended by the duke de Guise, 
 king Francis, who had not yet attained his sixteenth year, 
 entered a carriage provided for the occasion, and, escorted by 
 the duke's guard, proceeded to the Louvre. To the duke 
 de Nemours 2 was committed the task of escorting the two 
 queens. 
 
 On her arrival at the Louvre Catherine de Medici betook 
 herself to her chamber, where, during forty days, inexorable 
 custom required that royal widows should mourn their bereave- 
 ment. The apartment was hung with black cloth, beset with 
 silver ornaments, intended to represent tears. Never had any 
 previous queen entered that chamber with a mind so little de- 
 jected for her loss, or with a heart so tortured by worldly anx- 
 ieties. The queen beheld her son monarch of the realm the 
 rule of which she coveted ; but feeble in health, and infirm of 
 mind, without discrimination, incapable even of enacting the 
 part of king ; and much less able, therefore, to fulfil the duties 
 
 1 Hyppolite d'Este, son of Alphonso duke of Ferrara, and Lucretia Borgia. 
 The cardinal d'Este was a prelate of consummate dexterity in political affair.*, 
 lie was the uncle of the duchess de Guise. 
 
 2 Jacques de Savoye, due de Nemcurs, one of the most gallant and wealthy 
 cavaliers of the court. After the decease of the duke de Guise, Anne d'Este 
 bestowed her hand upon him.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 97 
 
 of so exalted a station. The true ruler of France, consequently, 
 would be the personage on whom the feeble Francis first cast 
 the burden of his embarrassments ; and whose energy should, 
 hereafter, hold in subjection his timid, yet wayward spirit. 
 During the progress of king Henry's malady, the two parties — 
 that of the princes of the blood united with the Montmorency ; 
 and that of the princes of Lorraine, supported by the influence 
 of their niece, the queen consort — had each, indirectly, sought 
 to obtain from the astute Catherine a pledge of adherence to 
 their interests. The queen, whose hatred of the Guises w r as 
 notorious, happened, at this period, to be on unfriendly terms 
 with the constable, and with madame de Valentinois ; l she, 
 therefore, held aloof, knowing that both parties w r ere so equally 
 balanced in public esteem, that whichever faction she finally 
 judged it expedient to uphold, could hardly fail to become 
 dominant. 
 
 Meantime, the party of the duke de Guise (or Guisards, as 
 his adherents began to be popularly termed) daily increased in 
 Paris, and gained in numbers through the dilatory delays of 
 the king of Navarre. The great majority of the nation, how- 
 ever, beheld with displeasure the efforts of the house of Lorraine 
 to usurp that which appeared to be the peculiar office of the 
 first prince of the blood. Moreover, a powerful party of the 
 nobility declared for Antoine ; though his chief strength lay in 
 the adherence of the constable, and his nephews the Colignis. 
 From her darkened chamber Catherine watched these indica- 
 tions of popular sentiment ; the wonderful faculty which she 
 possessed of combining together, and, by intuition peculiar to 
 herself, rendering, as it were, present to her mind a political 
 intrigue in all its several stages, served her well at this juncture. 
 She excelled in minute deductions, and proved herself unrivalled 
 in the faculty of tracing results to their cause. Catherine was 
 forty years old when her husband died ; though not strictly 
 handsome, her figure was stately, and formed with grace ; she 
 was fluent of speech in the French, Italian, and Spanish 
 tongues ; while in the graciousness of her demeanour, her tact, 
 and dissimulation, she surpassed the courtly savoir of her great 
 uncle, pope Leo X. The Guises, the young Mary Stuart, and 
 the princes of Bourbon, felt that in the queen dowager existed 
 the incarnation of that tortuous policy which for centuries had 
 convulsed the Italian states. Jeanne d' Albret in vain attempted 
 
 1 Catherine resented the alliance which the constable had sanctioned be- 
 tween his second son Damville, and Antoinette de la March, daughter of the 
 marshal de la March, duke de Bouillon, and Franchise de Breze, eldest daughter 
 of the ducliess de Valentinois. 7
 
 98 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBKET. 
 
 tp reassure the wavering spirit of Autoine de Bourbon, by 
 expressing her conviction that he to whom Catherine gave her 
 hand in political alliance must ere long be master of the 
 destinies of the kingdom ; nevertheless, the king continued 
 immovable in his resolve to wait events in the tranquil se- 
 curity of N£rac. The duke de Guise and his brother, while 
 Antoine deliberated, omitted no precautionary measure likely 
 to give stability to their administration. All minor posts in 
 the government were declared vacant, and filled with the 
 adherents of the ministry, which as yet, however, was not 
 publicly acknowledged. The reformation of the council, and 
 the banishment of his ancient enemy, Montmorency, next 
 occupied the attention of the cardinal de Lorraine ; but even 
 the daring spirit of that prelate shrank from the responsibility 
 of these reforms. The Guises felt themselves, as yet, establish- 
 ed only in the young king's favour through their dexterotis 
 scheming, and the favour of queen Mary. They dreaded a re- 
 action, perhaps fatal to their power, when the remonstrances, 
 which they knew were impending from the distant parliaments 
 and courts of the kingdom, should be presented to Francis, 
 enforced by the stern censure of Catherine de Medici ; whose 
 character they appreciated too well to doubt but that she would 
 resent their assumption of independent power, by leaguing 
 herself with the Bourbon princes. It was, therefore, indispens- 
 able for the future tenure of their authority to gain over 
 Catherine ; or, at least, if she openly refused to declare herself 
 of their party, to extort from her a promise of neutrality in the 
 pending contest. 
 
 Catherine admitted no one to her presence ; foreseeing the 
 difficulties attendant on the advent to power of either factions, 
 she resolved to abide in her seclusion, and from thence to watch 
 events. The cardinal de Lorraine, however, being convinced, 
 as was the queen of Navarre, that Catherine's favour or dis- 
 countenance must eventually establish or crush any adminis- 
 tration, boldly determined to compel the queen to grant the 
 interview he had so frequently solicited. Accordingly, one day, 
 probably aided in his project by the young queen, he presented 
 himself unexpectedly in her mourning chamber. Without 
 heeding the queen's indignant protest at being thus intruded 
 upon, the cardinal entered upon his errand. With that tact 
 and eloquence in which he was unsurpassed, the cardinal defined 
 her position, as she herself had done in her own secret cogita- 
 tions. He commented on the incapacity of Antoine, and on 
 his heretical tendencies, which were tolerated, if not shared, by 
 the queen of Navarre ; he promised the dismissal from office of
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 99 
 
 any individuals he chose to name, and the banishment from 
 court of the duchess de Valentinois. He pointed out to the 
 queen, that in the event of the formidable coalition of Antoine 
 and his brothers with the house of Montmorency, her influence 
 would be deemed secondary to their legitimate pretensions. 
 Moreover, that with a cabinet thus equally balanced, and in 
 which the Huguenots beheld their chief occupy precedence 
 second only to the king and his brothers, she could not advance 
 the semblance of a reason for demanding a larger share of 
 power than her position as queen-mother warranted. Leagued 
 with themselves, on the contrary, the subtle cardinal argued, 
 the case would be reversed : opposed to the princes, and to a 
 powerful faction of the nobility, the house of Lorraine would 
 perpetually need her support and countenance. Catherine too 
 well appreciated the resources of her own diplomacy to doubt 
 the premises so ably put forth by the cardinal ; though she 
 was aware, that when once established in the government, it 
 was not his intent to accept the protection which he now so 
 plausibly evoked. Catherine, at length, permitted the cardinal 
 to believe that he had vanquished her reluctance by his impor- 
 tunate pleadings : she therefore signified her assent to the 
 administration of the Guises ; and promised her open recog- 
 nition of, and her private support for, their government. 
 Catherine, also, concurred in their project of removing the 
 constable from his high offices. This step proved a defective 
 link in Catherine's finely-drawn politics ; for the disgrace of 
 Montmorency, whose house was alone powerful enough to 
 compete with that of Guise, removed the only barrier to the 
 unlimited dominion of the uncles of the reigning queen. 
 Subsequently, the queen became sensible of her oversight, and 
 sought, when too late, to repair the error. 1 
 
 fearlessly, now, the Guises derided the machinations of 
 king Antoine, who still remained at Nerac. The clergy, and 
 the ultra-Eomanists throughout the kingdom, looked upon the 
 cardinal and his brother as specially deputed by God to preserve 
 the ancient faith from extinction. The presidents of the par- 
 liament of Paris favoured their designs ; the king of Spain ex- 
 horted his youthful brother-in-law to take to his counsels men 
 animated with so admirable a zeal for the spiritual welfare of 
 his subjects ; 2 and last, but not least important, were the 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, 1. 1. chap. ii. Mem. du mareehal de 
 Tavamies, chap. xv. 
 
 2 Lettre de l'Aubespine— eveque de Limnges, amhassadeur en Espagne, a 
 Francois II. Negotiations et pieces sur le regne de Francois II. — Documents 
 ineditss sur l'Histoire de France, edited by M. Louis Paris — Docum. 4, dated 
 luly 19, 1559
 
 100 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 
 
 secret, but zealous efforts of the young queen Mary Stuart, in 
 their behalf. 
 
 Thus reinforced, the first object of the Guises was to cause 
 their future position in the state to be acknowledged by the 
 nation at large. Accordingly, when the king quitted his 
 chamber to receive the condolences of the parliament, the duke 
 de Guise, presumptuously assuming the peculiar privileges of 
 the princes of the blood, insisted on bearing the train of the 
 royal robe, with the prince de Conde, and the prince de la 
 Hoehe-sur-Yon. 1 "When the deputies, sent by the parliament, 
 concluded their harangue, they put the customary question on 
 such occasions, " to whom it would please his Majesty that they 
 should thenceforth apply to learn the royal will and pleasure ? " 
 Great must have been the triumph of the house of Lorraine 
 to hear the young king reply, in the presence of the princes, 
 " that by the consent and council of the queen his mother he 
 had chosen his uncles, the duke de Guise and the cardinal de 
 Lorraine, to govern his realm ; and that the duke would take 
 the military department under his jurisdiction, and the cardinal 
 the direction of the finances." 2 From that moment, to quote 
 the words of the valiant Tavannes, " tout fuit, tout erie — vive 
 Guise!" 
 
 During these transactions, Jeanne d'Albret perseveringly 
 continued her efforts to rouse her vacillating consort to a pro- 
 per sense of his importance in the realm. Failing in her at- 
 tempts, she wrote to the prince of Conde, desiring him to 
 second her endeavours by making one more fervid appeal to 
 his brother's patriotism. Of all the princes of Bourbon, Louis 
 prince of Conde gave the enemies of his house the keenest 
 alarm ; while he inspired respect by the consistent conduct 
 which he displayed. Of mean stature, but courageous, of 
 quick perception and sound judgment, this young prince had 
 as yet achieved little military repute. Nevertheless, the re- 
 formed church, throughout France, looked upon Conde as its 
 future chief; for his decision of purpose acquired double 
 appreciation in public esteem when contrasted with the shift- 
 ing tactics of his brother, king Antoine. A whole month was 
 consumed by queen Jeanne in the thankless office of advocat- 
 ing the interests of a prince, who thus showed himself so reck- 
 lessly indifferent. At the expiration of this period, the 
 persuasions of his queen, and the remonstrances of the prince, 
 
 1 Charles de Bourbon, prince de la Roche-sur-Yon, younger brother of the 
 duke de Montpensier. The duke de Montpensier and his brother were the 
 sons of Louise de Bourbon, sister of the great constable de Bourbon. 
 
 z De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, liv. 23.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 101 
 
 induced Autoine to set out on bis journey to court ; on 
 condition that Conde, the duke de Montpensier, the count de 
 la Rochefoucauld, Daudois secretary to Montmorency, and the 
 admiral de Coligny, gave him rendezvous at Vendome, and 
 from thence formed his body-guard to Paris. Before he took 
 his unwilling departure from Nerac, Antoine's paroxysms of 
 iudecision returned, after a conference -with his favourite bishop 
 of Mende ; who communicated to his royal master that he 
 had learned from the duke of Alba, 1 " that in case the princes 
 of Lorraine were molested in the exercise of their functions 
 as ministers by the royal princes, it was the intention of king 
 Philip to create a diversion in their favour by directing the 
 Spanish viceroy of Navarre to cross the frontier and invest 
 Bayonne or Navarreins." 
 
 This threat made a deep impression on the mind of the 
 queen of Navarre. She was aware that the king of Spain 
 would oppose, by every artifice, the elevation of Antoine de 
 Bourbon. Philip's tenure of the kingdom of Navarre might be 
 endangered, should Antoine assume supreme direction of the 
 military resources of the realm. As soon, therefore, as An- 
 toine had taken his departure for Paris, Jeanne summoned her 
 faithful servant the baron d' Arros to JNerac, and committing to 
 his care her children, Henry and Catherine, she proceeded on 
 a tour of inspection throughout the principality. Every fortress 
 of her dominions did the queen visit ; she even penetrated to 
 the frontiers of Spain, and gazed towards the capital of her 
 ancestors — Pampluna, so cherished by its ancient princes. 
 Throughout her progress, the queen was enthusiastically hailed. 
 as followed by a brilliant military escort she presented herself 
 to her subjects. Jeanne reinforced the garrisons of all the 
 frontier towns, and commanded that double stores of provision, . 
 and military ammunition, should be provided for the fortresses 
 of Bayonne and Xavarreins. 
 
 The cardinal d' Armagnac probably accompanied the queen 
 on her progress. Prom the castle of Pan Jeanne issued letters 
 patent appointing the young prince her son lieutenant-general 
 of Beam and its dependencies, with the cardinal as his associate 
 in the government, provided that any unforeseen event com- 
 
 1 Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, duke of Alba, born in 1.508. The duke 
 was one of the most valiant captains of the age, and successively rilled the 
 highest offices of state. He espoused donna .Maria Henriquez Guzman Alba de 
 Liste, and died in 1-582, at the age of 74 years. The duke of Alba had been 
 nominated to espouse the princess Elizabeth of France, as proxy for his master 
 Philip II. He was, therefore, sojourning in Paris, when he communicated 
 with the bishop of Mende.
 
 102 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 pelled her to quit her dominions. 1 In all her public and 
 private actions at this period the queen showed the greatest 
 caution ; Philip of Spain, and the devices of his cabinet, cast 
 always a dark shadow over Jeanne's life. The queen made a 
 brief sojourn at Pau ; she then returned to Nerac, leaving the 
 cardinal d'Armagnac in Beam, and made preparation to follow 
 Antoine to Paris, provided his reception by the court seemed 
 propitious. 
 
 At Vendome, meantime, king Antoine was received by a 
 goodly and gallant company. The king was everywhere 
 greeted with enthusiasm, both by the nobles and the people. 
 The intelligence which the admiral de Coligny brought from 
 Paris, however, was discouraging in the extreme : the Guises, 
 now firmly established in the government, defied their enemies ; 
 and had not the counsel of the Spanish ambassador been ne- 
 gatived by Catherine's more cautious policy, a royal mandate 
 would have interdicted Antoine's approach to the capital. To 
 enforce the rights of the princes there was now no other re- 
 source than warfare: the vidame de Chartres 2 advocated this 
 alternative. The w r iser counsels of Coligny however prevailed ; 
 and it was unanimously agreed that before any hostile demon- 
 stration was made the king of Navarre should proceed to Paris, 
 and demand the convocation of the states-general — a request 
 certain to meet with denial ; but which would serve as a basis 
 for the remonstrances which the princes were preparing to lay 
 before the parliament. 
 
 By slow journeys Antoine continued his unwilling progress. 
 When he reached Paris, the court had quitted the capital for 
 St Germain. Thither he despatched a chamberlain to notify 
 his arrival, and to prepare for his use the lodging which he 
 usually occupied in that palace. Those apartments, however, 
 were assigned to the duke de Guise ; who absolutely refused to 
 vacate them. The duchess de Guise had likewise been installed 
 in the suite of rooms appropriated for the use of the queen of 
 Navarre. The unfortunate chamberlain was ordered into the 
 presence of the duke and the cardinal. The latter subjected 
 him to a severe cross-examination on the motives of his master's 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret. 
 
 2 Francois de Vendome, vidame de Chartres, prince de Chabanois. This 
 nobleman descended from the ancient counts of Vendome, and was the last 
 of his race. Catherine de Medici bestowed at one time much favour on the 
 vidame de Chartres. He died, December 16th, 1560, aged 38, leaving no chil- 
 dren by his consort, Jeanne, daughter of Louis, baron d'Estissac, governor of 
 La Kocbclle.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 103 
 
 visit, and the number of the king's suite. " Tell your master," 
 exclaimed the imperious prelate, " that it will cost him his life, 
 and that of some 10,000 men, before he deprives us of the place, 
 and of the apartments assigned to us here by the good favour 
 of the king!" 1 
 
 Shortly before the hour when the arrival of Antoine was ex- 
 pected, the king left the palace to hunt, accompanied by the duke 
 de Guise ; while the cardinal de Lorraine proceeded to pay his^ 
 respects to the queen, under pretext of announcing the visit of 
 the king of Navarre ; but, in reality, to observe how Catherine 
 received that prince. Meantime, by command of the Guises, 
 no preparation was made for the reception of Antoine ; and 
 when the latter arrived, not one of the royal household was in 
 waiting to greet him. Even his admission into the palace 
 seemed a doubtful matter; for king Antoine's baggage had 
 been unladen in the court-yard ; and his coffers, and those of 
 his numerous retinue, were piled here and there, and purposely 
 left to block up the way. For a few seconds, Antoine hesitated 
 whether he should not retrace his steps back to Paris ; the^ 
 Guises, however, had calculated upon the timid spirit of 
 their rival. They knew that rapid and decisive measures 
 created dismay in his mind; and that during the bewilder- 
 ment of the moment, Antoine would temporize, and conse- 
 quently alienate many of his adherents by such a display of 
 weakness. 
 
 Antoine therefore alighted from his horse in awe and per- 
 plexity ; the chilling aspect of the deserted palace-courts pro- 
 duced' the effect which the Guises anticipated. He was imme- 
 diately ushered into the presence of queen Catherine. The 
 queen was seated at her tapestry-frame ; the cardinal de 
 Lorraine stood at her right hand. As the king approached, 
 neither the queen nor the cardinal suffered any token of recog- 
 nition to escape them. After Antoine had performed the 
 customary obeisances, Catherine resumed her discourse with 
 the cardinal, occasionally addressing a word to the appalled 
 prince; who, daunted by this insolent reception, 2 advanced, 
 and actually embraced the cardinal. 
 
 On the return of Francis from the chase, Antoine approached 
 to pay his respects, as his Majesty alighted from his horse in 
 the courtyard of the castle ; which was still encumbered with 
 baggage. Francis met him with reserve ; while the duke de 
 Guise studiously held aloof. Astounded at such a reception, 
 Antoine's presence of mind again deserted him ; and he drew 
 
 1 Regnault de la Planche, Hist, de l'Estat taut de la^ republique que de la 
 religion, p. 47. De Thou, Hist, de son Tumps, 1. 23. 2 Ibid.
 
 101 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 upon himself the sneers of the court, by condescending to 
 throw the utmost empressement into his manner towards the 
 duke, addressing him as " mon cousin ; " and feigning not to 
 remark the supercilious way in which his overtures were 
 received. Disgusted at this undignified deportment, many of 
 the nobles in Antoine's suite took leave and returned to 
 Paris, uncertain how far they might be compromised by a 
 prince so careless of his own honour. Others openly aban- 
 doned the Bourbons, and ranged themselves on the side of the 
 Guises. 
 
 It was presently intimated to the king of Navarre, that 
 accommodation could not be afforded within the precincts of 
 the castle to the members of his suite ; his Own reception, mean- 
 time, yet appeared doubtful, as the duke de Guise refused to 
 vacate the chambers usually occupied by the king. At length, 
 the marshal de St Andre, prompted, probably, by madame la 
 marechale, who had not forgotten Antoine's deed in releasing 
 her gentleman usher from the dungeons of the Chatelet, offered 
 to cede his apartments for the king's use. Antoine accepted 
 the proposal, to the triumph of the Guises and the mortification 
 of his own adherents. 1 
 
 Not satisfied with the indignities already heaped upon the 
 first prince of the blood, the cardinal proceeded to exclude 
 king Antoine from the privy council-board. After this con- 
 tumelious treatment, were it not too well attested to admit of 
 dispute the fact would appear incredible, that the contemptible 
 Antoine suffered himself to be persuaded to express to king 
 Francis his approbation of the appointment, and the conduct 
 of his ministers ! 2 
 
 A missive from his high-minded consort, filled with re- 
 proachful comments on his unworthy deportment, roused Antoine 
 from his apathy. Jeanne counselled him to demand his conge, 
 and return to her. The delusive hope of the restoration of 
 the kingdom of Navarre, however, had been again presented 
 to the king by the Spanish ambassador, provided that he ab- 
 stained from any overt act of disapprobation. Antoine, there- 
 fore, instead of quitting a court which had treated him with 
 ignominy, demanded permission to visit the tomb of the late 
 king at St Denis ; a request graciously acceded to. 
 
 The constable de Montmorency had likewise been de- 
 spoiled of his offices of grand-master of the king's household, 
 and keeper of the privy seal. Francis, after his father's obse- 
 quies were performed, intimated to the veteran constable that 
 
 1 La Planche, Hist, de l'Estat, &c, p. 47. 
 
 2 Ibid. De Thou, Hist, de son Temps.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 105 
 
 for the future he must yield precedence to the Guises, both at 
 the council-board and in the circle of the queens. Montmo- 
 rency received the communication with great equanimity , and 
 prepared to retire to Chantilly, notwithstanding the positive 
 commands sent to him by queen Catherine to remain at court. 
 The policy of the queen woidd have been supported by the 
 presence of Montmorency in Paris. The old constable, 
 however, was not to be diverted from his purpose by the 
 menaces of his royal mistress ; and he retired to Chantilly, 
 escorted by so large a number of the most influential person- 
 ages of the realm, that the king's suite seemed small in com- 
 parison. 1 
 
 At St Denis Antoine was joined by his brother Conde. 
 Instead of demeaning himself by making unworthy concession 
 to the dominant faction, this gallant young prince had been 
 engaged in organizing the designs of his partisans in Paris. 
 He had, moreover, entered into secret relations with Nicholas 
 Throckmorton, the English ambassador. The alarm of Antoine 
 was unbounded at this announcement ; he, nevertheless, after 
 much persuasion, consented to grant Throckmorton a midnight 
 audience at St Denis, that the ambassador might deliver a 
 message from queen Elizabeth, who warmly interested herself 
 in the welfare of king Antoine and his noble consort. 
 
 It was entirely owing to the entreaties of Conde that 
 Antoine consented to admit Elizabeth's ambassador. So 
 entirely had he become impressed with a conviction of the 
 "charmed fortunes" of the Guises, that it even irritated 
 him to hear their downfal projected. The message sent to 
 Antoine by queen Elizabeth, stated in general terms "the 
 esteem which her Majesty felt for his virtues ; her wish to form 
 an alliance with him for the honour of God ; and her trust 
 that by yielding mutual assistance to each other, they might 
 prevent their enemies from injuring the cause of God, and of 
 true religion." "With ludicrous promptness, king Antoine 
 replied, " that he should be happy to accept so illustrious an 
 ally in so sacred a cause ; but that for greater security, he 
 would correspond dh'ectly on the matter with the queen 
 herself." 2 
 
 The intrigues of the Bourbon princes, meantime, escaped 
 not the watchful eyes of the cardinal de Lorraine. Antoine 
 was still sojourning at St Denis, when a missive reached him, 
 containing a peremptory summons to follow the king to 
 
 1 La Planche, Hist, de PEtat de France, &c, p. 20. De Thou, Commentaires 
 de l'estat de la religion et republiquc, par le president la Place. 
 
 2 Lingard — Forbes.
 
 106 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 Rheims, where his Majesty was about to proceed for his coron- 
 ation. All the princes were commanded to attend the august 
 ceremony,' and required to submit to the position and prece- 
 dence allotted to them. The cardinal de Lorraine thought 
 his triumph over the princes incomplete until their humiliation 
 was participated in by the queen of Navarre. Catherine, 
 therefore, signified her desire that Jeanne should journey to 
 court for the occasion. The queen's determination, however, 
 proved as unalterable as that of the Guises ; and she positively 
 declined to quit her own dominions. " The king of Navarre 
 is here in very good health ; he has not sent for the queen, 
 his consort, being yet uncertain whether he will not, instead, 
 return to her himself," wrote the cardinal de Bourbon to his 
 niece, the witty duchess de Nevers. The cardinal was the 
 only one of the Bourbon princes whose presence at Bheims 
 was dispensed with, probably on account of his age and infirm- 
 ities. The duchess de Nevers had, likewise, excused herself 
 to queen Mary Stuart, on the plea of her failing health. 2 In the 
 same letter, the old cardinal grumbles in the most amusing 
 manner about the treatment experienced by the princes ; and, 
 considering the unscrupulous manner in which the Guises 
 availed themselves of every means of information, his petulance 
 might have entailed unpleasant results. " Madame," writes 
 the cardinal, " I only wish that you could witness the fine 
 sports going on here, though I protest to you, that I deem 
 you happy in being exempt from the sight. The coronation of 
 the king is postponed until the 17th of this month; after 
 which it is thought that the king of Navarre will make a jour- 
 ney into Lorraine, where the king, it is said, goes to instal 
 madame, his sister, 3 in her menage ; from thence, it is said, the 
 queen of Spain will set out to join the king, her husband. As 
 for myself, madame, I shall depart as quickly as I can from 
 this court and return home, until they command my services 
 to go into Spain, or elsewhere. I can assure you, madame, 
 that seeing what I do see, I shall much more gladly serve them 
 afar off than near." 4 
 
 1 Francis II. was crowned at Rheims, on the 18th day of September, 1559. 
 
 - The duchess de Nevers suffered frequently from ill-health. She lived, 
 nevertheless, to a good old age, dying at the castle of Augilon in Berry, Octo- 
 ber 20, 1589, at the age of 73. She is buried in the cathedral of Nevers. 
 Marguerite de Bourbon had four younger sisters, all nobly endowed abbesses. 
 Marie, her eldest sister, was once the betrothed bride of James V. of Scotland. 
 
 3 Claude de France, second daughter of Henry II. and of Catherine de 
 Medici, consort of the young duke of Lorraine. 
 
 4 Negotiations et Pieces sur le regne de Francois II. Col. de Docum. 
 Inedits, p. 108. Bibl. Roy. MSS. de Beth. No. 8655. The cardinal's letter is 
 dated " de Villars Cotterets, le 3 de Septembre 1559."
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 107 
 
 As soon as the coronation of the king was accomplished, 
 the Guises, by another politic move, separated the princes, 
 and despatched them on different missions from Paris. This 
 step was partly resolved upon by the unusual energy displayed 
 by the kiug of Navarre ; who, after the coronation, finding 
 himself surrounded by the noblest peers of France — the ma- 
 jority opposed to the pretensions of the house of Lorraine — ■ 
 took courage to enter the council-chamber, and demand the 
 assembly of the states-general. The Guises, having perfect 
 insight into the character of Antoine, played upon his well- 
 known credulity, and thus defeated the cabal. At the council- 
 board, in the presence of king Antoine, they read a letter 
 from Philip of Spain, in which that monarch threatened dire 
 chastisement to any subject of France daring enough to op- 
 pose the king his brother-in-law, and the minister whom he 
 had chosen ; "if there is any such presumptuous enough thus 
 to rebel, his Catholic Majesty will annihilate them by the 
 weight of his power, and of his military resources." 1 Antoine 
 understood that the invasion of Beam was here hinted at ; and 
 in proportion as he dreaded that measure he unfortunately 
 lowered his tone. On the other hand, the Spanish ambassador, 
 and Catherine de Medici, vaguely insinuated that the king of 
 Spain was not unwilling, provided that Antoine acquiesced 
 quietly in the existing order of affairs, to open negotiations for 
 the restoration of Navarre ; or that, at least, his Catholic Ma- 
 jesty would consider whether the island of Sardinia might not 
 be allotted to queen Jeanne in compensation. 
 
 This bait was eagerly swallowed by Antoine ; and he 
 readily undertook the mission of conducting the young queen 
 of Spain to the Spanish frontier, and of delivering her to the 
 noblemen sent by Philip to receive his bride. " The king of 
 Navarre has promised the king to conduct, and demean himself 
 on this august mission, so as to give his Majesty full content- 
 ment, and to them (the Spanish nobles) no occasion of com- 
 plaint," wrote the cardinal de Lorraine, to de l'Aubespine, the 
 French ambassador at Madrid. 2 
 
 Meantime, the queen of Navarre had been exposed to great 
 peril within her own principality. The cardinal de Lorraine, 
 it has been supposed, in his hatred and fear of the Bourbon 
 princes, had secretly consented that Philip should garrison 
 Jeanne's fortress of Bayonne. Jn furtherance of this design, 
 he despatched orders on his own responsibility to de Montluc, 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 108. Castelnau. De Thou. 
 
 2 Docum. sur le regne de Francois II. p. 160. The letter is dated, " La 
 Haye en Touraine, Novembre, 1559.''
 
 108 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 and the marshal de Termes, generals commanding in the south, 
 to co-operate with the Spanish viceroy of Navarre. This dark 
 intrigue was discovered by Montmorency: the constable, like- 
 wise, asserted that the viscount d'Orthez had been gained over 
 by the Guises ; and had engaged to surrender Bayonne on the 
 first summons of the Spaniards. The duke de Guise and his 
 brother indignantly denied the imputation ; and the discovery 
 of the plot effectually defeated its execution, if it were really 
 contemplated. The queen of Navarre, neverthless, quitted 
 Nerac, and retired with her children to the fortress of Navar- 
 reins. The queen immediately bestowed the command of her 
 fortress of Bayonne upon the baron d'Arros, of whose fidelity 
 she had received ample demonstration. 
 
 Jeanne quitted Navarreins about the middle of December, 
 1559, and journeyed with the prince her son, to meet her hus- 
 band and the young queen of Spain at Bordeaux. Accom- 
 panied by Elizabeth, the royal pair entered Pau on the 20th 
 of December, and there kept the festival of Christmas, 1559. 
 At Bordeaux, and throughout the journey in Guyenne, Jeanne 
 yielded precedence to the queen of Spain, as madame Roy ale 
 of France. "Within her own dominions, at Pau, however, the 
 queen of Navarre asserted her sovereign rank, and everywhere 
 took precedence of Elizabeth ; by which act she gave great 
 offence to the king of Spain, and to the court of France. 1 
 
 During his sojourn at Pau, king Antoine commenced 
 another notable negotiation for the restoration of Spanish Na- 
 varre, without asking the previous assent of his consort, though 
 he freely compromised her name throughout the affair. In 
 truth, this first Bourbon king excelled not in the arts of di- 
 plomacy ; and his shallow artifice must have excited derision 
 amongst the astute councillors of king Philip. On the strength 
 of the promise made to him in Paris by the Spanish ambassa- 
 dor, Antoine despatched, on his own authority, Pierre d' Albret, 2 
 brother of the bishop of Lescar, to sound the intentions of the 
 Spanish king. This individual, whom the king addresses as 
 " seigneur don Petro," on Antoine's arrival at Pau, had made 
 little progress in his mission, not having been able to obtain 
 audience of any of Philip's ministers, as his errand was not 
 acknowledged by the French ambassador. The king, there- 
 fore, wrote fresh letters to the king of Spain ; he also addressed 
 one to the ambassador de lAubespine. These missives An- 
 toine despatched by Claude de Levis, baron d'Audaux ; he 
 
 1 Cayet, Chron. Novenaire. 
 
 - Pierre d' Albret was afterwards elevated to the see of Cornminges, through 
 the favour of Jeanne d' Albret.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBKET. 109 
 
 also sent instructions to Pierre d'Albret, directing the latter 
 to aid the new envoy in every way in his power. In his letter 
 to the king of Spain, Antoine requested that safe-conducts 
 might be forwarded to himself and to his consort, to enable 
 them to wait upon his Majesty, and kiss his hand. " I have sent 
 the sieur d'Audaux," said king Antoine, in his letter addressed 
 to the French ambassador, 1 " one of my gentlemen in waiting, 
 to pray that the king (of Spain) will grant permission to my 
 wife and to myself to journey, and kiss his hand ; having cal- 
 culated that this expedition must bring us fruitful result ; for 
 if I obtain anything," adds the royal sophist, " that little will 
 be more than I now possess ; if I get no satisfaction, even 
 then I shall be a gainer, as it will serve to dissipate many 
 hopes and illusions with which they have entertained me." 
 Antoine continues, " I have thought it good to notify thus 
 much, as, having imparted my project to the king, and to the 
 queen his mother, they were pleased to signify approval." 
 
 The sequel of this affair will show Avith what facility the 
 king of Navarre was imposed upon ; and how venial a matter 
 it was thought by any party in the state to palm upon him a 
 delusive scheme. 
 
 The baron d'Audaux, on his arrival at Toledo, delivered his 
 letters of credence. In virtue of his rank, he obtained audience 
 of Philip. The king, in the first place, eagerly demanded news 
 of his young bride; he then promised to give the baron an 
 answer upon the various articles of his mission, after he had 
 conferred with his council. When d'Audaux had taken leave, 
 Philip sent for the French ambassador, and asked whether 
 Antoine's proceedings had the sanction of his government. 
 De l'Aubespine answered, " that he had received no instruc- 
 tions on the subject." 
 
 The result of this reply was, that the king quitted Toledo, 
 leaving letters for the king of Navarre, and for d'Audaux, with 
 his secretary of state, Cortavilla. The latter was commanded 
 to state, in his master's name, " that it would be useless to ex- 
 pose the duke de Vendome and his consort to the fatigue of a 
 journey into Spain; as when there the only answer they could 
 receive to their demands would be a repetition of the reply 
 given to their ambassador at the conference of Cateau." 2 
 
 Antoine had departed for the Spanish frontier with the 
 young queen, when d'Audaux returned to Pau with Philip's 
 letter and message. Jeanne's mortification was excessive when 
 
 1 Negociations et Pieces sur le regne de Francois II. publics d'apres les 
 MSS. de la Bibliotheque Royale, par M. Louis Paris, par ordre du ltoi. Do- 
 cum. p. 164. The letter is dated, " Pau, le 16eme jour de Decembre, 1559." 
 
 2 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps.
 
 110 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 she learned the humiliating overtures to which she had been 
 made accessory by her husband. The queen, however, found 
 consolation for this and other disquietudes in her love of study. 
 With the stedfast purpose which distinguished the character 
 of her grandmother, Louise de Savoy e, Jeanne applied herself 
 to learning. Like that renowned princess, she loved know- 
 ledge as a source of power : and theology, philosophy, and 
 logic, were the studies which engaged the queen's mind, rather 
 than the more gentle accomplishments. Alone in her cabinet, 
 Jeanne studied the ancient charters, or fueros, of Beam, pre- 
 paratory to their revision ; and she examined into the ecclesi- 
 astical questions which convulsed tbe principality. " The 
 queen of Navarre was eloquent and learned above all the 
 princesses of her age, following in this the example of her 
 mother, queen Marguerite, who, by the persuasive eloquence 
 of her discourse, charmed and soothed the very passions and 
 emotions of the soul," says Pavyn, with enthusiastic praise, as 
 he recounts the patriotic actions of queen Jeanne. 1 
 
 The revival of the chambres ardent es, or inquisitorial cham- 
 bers, established during the regency of Louis de Savoye, to 
 take cognizance of heresy, had created tumults in many parts of 
 Prance. The cardinal de Lorraine was installed in the office of 
 chief commissioner ; with the power of nominating other pre- 
 lates to perform the same functions, in various districts of the 
 kingdom. The cardinal d'Armagnac accepted the office of in- 
 quisitor-general over the duchy of Albret, and the principality 
 of Beam and its dependencies. This appointment, and the 
 pending executions created the greatest consternation through- 
 out Beam. The cardinal traversed Guyenne, and visited the 
 towns of Poitiers, Toulouse, and Narbonne, leaving behind him 
 sanguinary indications of his fearful powers. At length he 
 approached Pau, where Jeanne d Albret held her court ; all re- 
 mained in suspense, watching the reception which the daughter 
 of Marguerite d'Angouleme would accord to a prelate bound 
 on so terrible a mission. At Oleron, while d'Armagnac was 
 passing through the streets, arrayed in the insignia of his rank, 
 the cortege halted, that the cardinal might bestow the custom- 
 ary benediction on the people. Instead of kneeling to receive 
 the priestly benison, the crowd profanely greeted the cardinal 
 with shouts of derisive laughter, and bade him pass on. 2 At 
 Pau, the queen had taken measures to prevent tumult ; she re- 
 
 1 Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, 1. 14. 
 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d' Albret. La Gaucherie, preceptor to the 
 young prince of Navarre, joined in the mocking cry of the multitude. Although 
 the cardinal d'Armagnac complained of this conduct, La Gaucherie retained 
 his appointment at the court of Jeanne d'Albret.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. Ill 
 
 ceived the cardinal with the honour due to his dignitj' ; but by 
 her command, all public disputations on religious matters were 
 forbidden by the bishops of Oleron and Lescar. Thus she de- 
 prived d' Armagnac of one of his principal weapons. Her next 
 act was dexterously ordained. She granted permission to the 
 cardinal to make inquisition, and to report any suspected case 
 of heresy to the privy council ; reserving to herself, as sove- 
 reign princess, the power of arrest and punishment. The car- 
 dinal, thinking to awe the queen by a display of the power he 
 held from the cardinal de Lorraine, caused the minister Barran 
 to be arrested, and thrown into prison. Jeanne immediately 
 issued a warrant under her great seal, which designated the 
 cardinal's act as unauthorized and illegal, and commanded the 
 instant release of Barran. Subsequently, she addressed a 
 spirited remonstrance to the cardinal, informing him that such 
 arbitrary measures could not be tolerated within the limits 
 of the principality ; and admonishing him to respect the ancient 
 ecclesiastical codes of Beam. 
 
 The despotic proceedings of the government, meantime, re- 
 sounded throughout France, creating disaffection and tumult. 
 The execution of Anne de Bourg, for heresy, had been followed 
 by countless trials and condemnations. The courts of inquiry 
 proceeded with pitiless severity to exterminate heresy. All 
 who dared openly to oppose the princes of Gruise were doomed 
 to destruction. Rigorous edicts were issued, forbidding any 
 person to carry firearms ; or even to wear a dress capable of 
 concealing weapons. Catherine herself, treated with insolent 
 disrespect by the cardinal de Lorraine, and closely watched by 
 queen Mary, who made a daily report of Catherine's depoi'tment 
 to the duke de Guise, felt herself a prisoner ; and saved only 
 from actual captivity by the outward sanction which she be- 
 stowed upon the acts of the ministry. Montmorency remain- 
 ed at Chantilly ; while Conde was detained under the surveil- 
 lance of the Guises at court. Acts of murder, and of lawless 
 aggression, became of daily occurrence in the capital. The 
 president de Minard, one of de Bourg's judges, was assassinated 
 in the public streets, by a Scotch Calvinist of the name of 
 Stuart : inquisitorial measures were then adopted to discover 
 concealed heretics ; and terror, with a burning thirst for venge- 
 ance, inspired the minds of both the Catholic and the Pro- 
 testant population of France. 1 
 
 The popular exasperation at length demonstrated itself in 
 the celebrated conspiracy of Amboise ; a plot to procure the 
 forcible removal of the princes of Lorraine from the councils of 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, 1. i. De Thou, Hist, de son Temps.
 
 11^ LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 the sovereign, and to obtain their impeachment before the 
 states-general. The leaders of the movement were Calvinists ; 
 the conspirators, under la Eenaudie their ostensible chief, con- 
 certed their measures with consummate skill ; throughout every 
 province of France numbers of the disaffected were organized, 
 ready to rise at the signal of their chief, and overthrow the 
 tyrannical government. A body of armed malcontents was to 
 assemble at Blois on a given day ; after forcibly presenting a 
 petition to the king, their design was to seize the royal person, 
 transfer the government to Paris, and effect the arrest of the 
 cardinal de Lorraine, and his brother. So profoundly secret 
 had the design been kept, that Francis and his court were 
 quietly sojourning at the castle of Blois, unapprehensive of 
 danger, until within a few days of the period fixed for the exe- 
 cution of the enterprise. When all preparations had been 
 completed by the Huguenot leaders, the plot was basely be- 
 trayed to the cardinal de Lorraine by a lawyer of Paris, named 
 des Avenelles, who professed the reformed faith, and to whom 
 it had been heedlessly revealed. 1 
 
 The Guises, thus forewarned, easily defeated the machina- 
 tions of their enemies. The conspirators were dispersed, ar- 
 rested, and condemned to death. The prisons of Prance could 
 scarce contain the number of victims doomed to destruction; 
 while the Avaters of the Seine, and the Loire, actually became 
 tinged with the blood of the multitudes massacred in Paris, and at 
 Amboise, whither the cardinal de Lorraine had transferred the 
 court. The depositions of some of the prisoners implicated 
 Conde — even Catherine herself was suspected by the Guises of 
 participation in the plot. Conde was examined by the council, 
 in the presence of the king ; he was at length pronounced 
 guiltless of the treasonable attempt, more, however, as a matter 
 of policy, than from any conviction which the Guises entertained 
 of his inuocence. The prince retired from Amboise, and sought 
 refuge at his brother's court at Nerac ; where he was warmly 
 welcomed by queen Jeanne, whose indignation was excited at 
 the merciless executions desolating Prance. 2 
 
 King Antoine, during these transactions, fearful of being 
 implicated in the pending investigations, placed himself at the 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, 1. i. Mem. de Tavannes. De Thou, Hist, 
 de son Temps, liv. 25. 
 
 2 Ihid. La Planche, Hist, de l'etat de France, p. 393, &c. " Cliacun 
 savoit," wrote Regnier de la Planche, "que le due de Guise, et son frere le 
 cardinal estoient deux testes en un chaperon, en sorte que n'y l'un n'y l'autre 
 ne proposaicnt rien au conseil qu'ils ne l'eussent premedite ensemble aupara- 
 vant ; on s'esbahit done comme ce cardinal avait mit en avant de sc saisir de la 
 pcrsonne de Conde, car son frere fut d'avis tout contraire.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 113 
 
 head of a body of men at arms, and proceeded to the Agenois ; 
 where he dispersed and slaughtered a division of the insurgent; 
 forces, about to march to the succour of the Huguenots. This 
 exploit, designated as " valiant " at the court of France, received 
 neither sanction nor commendation from Jeanne d' Alb ret. 
 She deemed it an act fatally reflecting on her consort's reputa- 
 tion, to have assailed and slaughtered men whose opinions he 
 approved ; and whose rebellion he would have imitated had he 
 been endowed with their fearless courage. 
 
 The condition of the young king at this period, however, 
 cannot fail to inspire compassion : a prey to the deepest depres- 
 sion of mind, or goaded into transports of jealous fury by the 
 insinuations of his ministers, Francis found no solace. Cathe- 
 rine de Medici, stern and resolute in anticipation of future 
 vengeance for the affronts so heedlessly offered to her, stood, at 
 this period, aloof. The queen, Mary Stuart, ill-judging and 
 reckless, devoted to her brilliant uncle the duke de Guise, 
 undertook the perilous office of a spy on the actions of her 
 mother-in-law. 1 Hereafter, the fair head which then so proudly 
 wore the diadem of France, paid forfeit on the block for the 
 hatred thus incautiously inspired. The constable and his 
 nephews, of the house of Coliguy, waited events in gloomy fore- 
 boding. The princes of the house of Bourbon gathered round 
 the standard of King Antoine and his heroic consort ; and 
 armed bands of men garrisoned the fortresses and towns of 
 Beam. Attended by Conde, queen Jeanne made her royal 
 progresses, and prepared her subjects for the expected conflict ; 
 whilst Antoine indolently lamented the untoward condition of 
 affairs with his favourites, Descars and the bishop of Mende. 
 The assembly of Fontainebleau 2 met, and separated without 
 devising a remedy for the evils which afflicted the realm ; and 
 the states-general were, at length, convoked to meet in the 
 town of Orleans. 
 
 A scheme of daring magnitude was then projected by the 
 house of Guise. In the presence of the representatives of the 
 people, it was determined to exterminate the power of the 
 Bourbon princes ; and to suppress heresy throughout the realm, 
 by the scaffold, or the knife of the assassin. After the convoca- 
 tion of the states at Orleans, the cardinal resolved that no future 
 risings of the people, in behalf of religion, or of the princes, 
 should disturb his peaceful tenure of power. Rumours of the 
 connivance of Conde, in the late sedition at Amboise, daily 
 gained ground ; a suspicion which was confirmed by the arrest 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps. 
 * The conferences of Fontainebleau commenced on the 18th of August, 1530. 
 
 8
 
 Ill LIFE OF JEANNE D A.LBRET. 
 
 of one La Sague, the bearer of certain confidential despatches 
 of Antoine and his brother, to the constable, and others. An 
 attempt to surprise the city of Lyons, by Maligny, an adherent 
 of the princes, augmented the fears and confirmed the san- 
 guinary designs of the princes of Lorraine. Military prepara- 
 tions were made to an unparalleled extent, to support their 
 lawless projects. Troops were distributed over the kingdom : 
 those suspected of favouring the pretensions of the princes, or 
 of being infected with sectarian principles, were detached from 
 their regiments and joined to divisions trusted by the govern- 
 ment. The Guises proceeded so far as to suspend, for the 
 time, the powers of the constable as commander-in-chief; so 
 fearful were they that any deviation from the prescribed 
 routine might give their enemies the ascendency. 
 
 All things being thus disposed for their project, Francis wrote 
 a peremptory letter to the king of Navarre, commanding him 
 to bring his brother Conde to Orleans, to respond to the treason- 
 able charges alleged against him, in the presence of the states. 
 " Mon oncle," said the young king, " you, doubtless, well re- 
 member the letters which I wrote to you, touching the rising 
 which lately happened at Amboise, and also concerning mon 
 cousin, the prince de Conde, your brother, whom many of the 
 prisoners accused vehemently ; a belief which I could not then 
 entertain against one of his blood, out of the affection which I 
 bear towards my own lineage, hoping that time, and his own 
 loyal depoi*tment, would demonstrate the falsehood of his un- 
 happy accusers, and give me satisfactory proofs of his innocence. 
 Nevertheless, I have since received repeated information, from 
 various parts of my kingdom, of the evil designs and deeds of 
 the said prince against the welfare of my realm ; all which re- 
 ports, however, I have steadily refused to credit, until lately, 
 when I have myself perceived such evident tokens of disloyalty, 
 that I have decided to investigate the matter, having resolved 
 not to pass my life in trouble, through the mad ambition of 
 any one of my subjects." The king then charges his uncle to 
 bring Conde to Orleans, whether the said prince were willing 
 or not, " for should the said prince refuse obedience, I assure 
 you, mon oncle, that I shall soon make it apparent that I am 
 your king, as I have commissioned monsieur de Crussol to ex- 
 plain to you both." 2 
 
 This letter, half persuasion, half menace, created constern- 
 ation at the little court of Nerac. Queen Jeanne divined at 
 once some sinister design in this project of the Guises to as- 
 
 1 Lettre de Francois II. a Antoine, roj r de Navarre — Memoires de Conde, 
 t. i. p. 572.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 115 
 
 semble together the princes of the blood, and the most illustrious 
 personages of the kingdom ; and she strongly opposed the de- 
 parture of her consort, unless Antoine consented to be accom- 
 panied with an armed force, powerful enough to awe the enemies 
 of his house. " It is your salvation," exclaimed she to Conde, 
 " and that of the king of Navarre, to remain here. Stay, or at 
 least appear before the princes of Lorraine surrounded by a force 
 which shallcompelthem to respectthe august blood of Bourbon!" 
 
 Antoine, however, perversely affected to see the affair in a 
 totally different light ; and as his consort grew more earnest in 
 her admonitions to him to remain, his desire to visit the court 
 increased. The count de Crussol assured the king that he had 
 nothing to apprehend. Catherine de Medici wrote private let- 
 ters to Antoine of the same purport ; being either ignorant of 
 the ultimate design of the Guises, or that weary of living sub- 
 servient to their policy, she considered that the arrival of the 
 princes would create a diversion favourable to her own projects. 
 Conde constantly received secret warning that some perfidious 
 scheme was meditated by the court ; the disarming of the inha- 
 bitants of Orleans, and the military preparations everywhere ap- 
 parent, afforded, in queen Jeanne's opinion, confirmation suffi- 
 ciently alarming. The duchess of Ferrara, 1 Marillac, archbishop 
 ofVienne, the duchess de Montpensier, 2 Catherine's fa vouritehuly 
 of honour, all warned the princes to be on their guard. The prin- 
 cess of Conde wrote to her husband, that " every step he took 
 towards the court brought him nearer to destruction ; and that 
 if his death was inevitable, it was more glorious to die at the head 
 of an army, than to perish ignominiously on the scaffold ! " 
 
 In vain, also, Jeanne with tears besought Conde to remain 
 behind in Beam ; the prince was too courageous, or too confident 
 of his innocence, to suffer his brother to proceed alone to court. 
 
 "The queen-mother," wrote d' Aubigne, 3 "persuaded the king 
 of Navarre to advance with fearless courage ; so that at leno;th 
 all this patelinerie made him resolve on the journey, against the 
 counsel of his faithful friends and servants; and above all against 
 the advice of the Dame de Boye, mother of the princess de Conde 
 — all these faithful counsellors being unfortunately regarded by 
 the princes as foolish and importunate." 
 
 1 Renee do Franco, daughter nf Louis XII., and of Anne de Bretagno. 
 
 2 Jacqueline de Longwy, ou de Givry, daughter of Jean, sieur de Givrv, 
 and of Jeanne, natural daughter of Charles, count d'Angouleme, father of Fran- 
 cis I. Jacqueline de Longwy married Louis de Bourbon, duke de Montpensier, 
 fourth prince of the blood royal, nephew and heir of the constable de Bourbon. 
 Madame de Montpensier was first lady of honour to Catherine de Medici. She 
 was a princess of great learning and strong intellect, and she favoured the 
 Reformation . 
 
 J D'Aubigne, Hist. Uuivers, t. i. 1. 2.
 
 116 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 With a mind oppressed by sorrowful anticipations, Jeanne 
 prepared to take leave of her husband, and of his gallant brother. 
 Aware of the participation of Conde in the counsels of the late 
 conspirators, although he shared not in the actual demonstra- 
 tion against the Guises, Jeanne deplored his infatuation in 
 placing himself in their power. The conduct of the king of 
 Navarre had been more guarded ; although the cardinal de 
 Lorraine distrusted his professions of submission. In her anx- 
 iety for the fate of the king and his brother, Jeanne wrote to 
 the constable, praying Montmorency to afford them every aid 
 and protection in his power. " Mon cousin, I fail not to write 
 you a line, knowing that Dardeuil is about to be despatched to 
 you, to entreat, mon cousin, that you will continue to the king 
 my husband, and towards myself, that good will you have 
 always been accustomed to show us, especially at this time, 
 when the king will need your counsel. I pray you be to 
 him such as he hopes and desires ; and as for myself, I beg you 
 only to keep me in his good favour and grace." ' 
 
 Antoine continued to disregard the remonstrances of his 
 wife; for the queen felt daily more persuaded that some trea- 
 cherous coup d'etat was meditated. Every despatch brought 
 indications of the insincerity of queen Catherine. In the let- 
 ters delivered by the count de Crussol to the king of Navarre, 
 Catherine had caused it to be inserted, on purpose to embroil 
 Montmorency with Jeanne and her consort, that la Sague, the 
 bearer of the despatches of the princes, had been arrested on 
 private information afforded by the constable. About a fort- 
 night afterwards, Montmorency was informed by Catherine 
 herself of what she had done, in an audience granted to him at 
 St Germain. Catherine laughed excessively at, as she termed 
 it, " le bon tour qu'elle avoit joue a son compere." The indig- 
 nation of Montmorency, however, was greatly kindled ; and 
 when he quitted the palace, he wrote to Jeanne and Antoine, 
 to deny the implied treachery. " Sire," said he, in his letter, 2 
 "you can well imagine for what reason the queen made that 
 charge. I very humbly entreat you not to believe anything 
 they may have informed you of; nor any matter in which they 
 may have made, or may cause me to speak words offensive to 
 your honour and to your rank. If any other parties except the 
 queen-mother and the king had dared to write such statements, 
 1 should at once speak and act as becomes a man of honour, 
 
 1 Lettre de la reine de Navarre, au connetable de Montmorency. Bibl. 
 Roy. F. de Beth. 8671, fol. 19.— Inedited. 
 
 - Le connetable de Montmorency, au roy de Navarre. — Memoires de Conde 
 t. i. p. 5S3
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 117 
 
 when falsely accused of a thing of which he has not even once 
 thought." 
 
 The queen of Navarre, and the princess de Conde, con- 
 tinued to receive intimations, warning them to he on their 
 guard, and to keep the princes from attending the states- 
 general, through the duchess de Montpensier, the archbishop 
 of Yienne, and others — who all vaguely hinted that the caution 
 proceeded from queen Catherine herself. The king of Navarre, 
 however, was not to be dissuaded from obeying the royal sum- 
 mons ; his favourites, Bouchard and Descars, dependents of 
 the princes of Lorraine, were as eloquent in persuading their 
 master to disregard the wise remonstrances of his consort, as 
 they had before industriously thwarted her desire that he 
 should hasten to court after the decease of king Henry." 
 " Madame, je m 'assure tant sur les prowesses du roy, et de la 
 ■parole de la royne sa mere, et en la justice de notre cause, que je 
 ne pense pas qu 7/ puisse m 'arriver mal /" seems to have been 
 the invariable reply of the impracticable Antoine to his queen's 
 objections. 
 
 Alarmed at the hesitation displayed by Antoine and his 
 brother in setting out from Nerae, Catherine despatched the 
 cardinal de Bourbon to admonish the king and queen of Na- 
 varre that king Francis viewed with suspicion and displeasure 
 the reluctance displayed by them to obey his royal mandate. 
 The cardinal was, moreover, commissioned to deliver a message 
 from the king, pledging his royal word that Antoine and his 
 brother Conde should be allowed to depart from court after 
 they had confronted their accusers. In the parting audience 
 which she granted to the cardinal, Catherine wept while she 
 deplored the miserable condition of the kingdom, torn by fac- 
 tion and religious dissension. "What is the object of the 
 princes!" exclaimed she, "in fomenting civil discord? If 
 affairs go against them, why do they not come in person and 
 remonstrate ?" 
 
 The cardinal de Bourbon seems to have been completely 
 imposed upon by these tears of Catherine; " ces larmes de 
 crocodile," 1 as a contemporary historian designates the queen's 
 emotion ; he wept with the astute princess, and promised to 
 bring his brothers without delay before the tribunal of the 
 nation. The Guises thought that the queen-mother, both 
 dazzled and subdued by the grandeur and the extent of their 
 success, had resigned herself to become their subordinate in 
 the administration. They, however, found that they had been 
 
 1 Regr.ier de la Planche.— Hist, de l'Estat de France, &c.
 
 US LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 deceived ; and that she had been preparing the sharp -weapon 
 for their overthrow, when apparently most devoted to their 
 interests. 
 
 The persuasions of the cardinal de Bourbon, after his ar- 
 rival at Nerac, completely prevailed over the prudent counsels 
 of Jeanne; and together the brothers set out for Orleans, 
 attended by a numerous retinue, including the chancellor 
 Bouchard. The queen bade her husband farewell with many 
 tears : at the moment of his departure she made another pow- 
 erful but fruitless appeal to him, to leave Conde behind. 
 " Monseigneur, consider your own honour and safety. Leave 
 M. le Prince here, to command in your cities of Beam, until 
 after your most desired return !" With almost incredible in- 
 fatuation, Antoine persisted in rejecting his consort's solicita- 
 tions. Queen Jeanne said no more ; but contented herself 
 with dictating a reply of stern refusal to the message brought 
 to her by the cardinal de Bourbon from Catherine, praying her, 
 in courteous terms, to join the court at Orleans. If Jeanne 
 could not prevent her husband from compromising his honour 
 and his life, she possessed sufficient resolution and foresight to 
 preserve herself and her son from like peril. 
 
 The king of Navarre had no sooner, therefore, taken his 
 departure, than Jeanne, with her children, quitted Nerac, and 
 proceeded to Pau. There she assembled her thirteen barons 
 in council. By their advice she levied troops, and placed her 
 principality in a complete state of defence. She stationed gai'- 
 risons in all her fortresses bordering upon Prance. So deeply 
 impressed was she with the necessity of propitiating, at this 
 critical period, the Roman Catholic portion of her subjects, that 
 she resolved to despatch Pierre d'Albret, now bishop of Com- 
 minges, to Borne, on a mission of conciliation to his Holiness, 
 Pius IV. In her letter to the Pope, Jeanne gave Pius the as- 
 surance that it was not her intention to appropriate, or in any 
 way alienate, the temporal possessions of the Romish clergy, 
 throughout her hereditary dominions ; and she concluded by 
 offering an excuse to his Holiness for the long period she had 
 suffered to elapse, before she tendered her homage to the Holy 
 See. The Pope being exceedingly enraged at the proceedings 
 sanctioned in Beam by Jeanne and her consort, whom he 
 branded as "heretics and schismatics," forbad the queen's am- 
 bassador to approach Rome. Queen Jeanne, however, with 
 politic foresight, obviated this expected obstacle by the secret 
 overtures which she had made to cardinal Muret, a prelate of 
 ability and learning. Muret undertook to plead Jeanne's 
 cause in the consistory ; to remonstrate in private with Pius ;
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLEEET. 110 
 
 and to entreat the Pope not to suffer the invectives of the 
 Spanish ambassador to prejudice him against the submissive 
 overtures of his "queenly penitent." In consequence of the 
 cardinal's interference, the bishop of Comminges was admitted 
 to kiss his Holiness's slipper ; after which Pius received and 
 publicly read queen Jeanne's letter — a document that appeared 
 to give him satisfaction. 
 
 Although the cardinal Muret was the ostensible agent in 
 this temporary reconciliation between Jeanne d'Albret and the 
 Holy See, it is believed, and a careful consideration of docu- 
 mentary evidence confirms the supposition, that Catherine de 
 Medici herself disposed the pope to receive Jeanne's ambassa- 
 dor with favour. It is impossible to study the political history 
 of this period without feeling amazement at the wonderful 
 resources in intrigue possessed by queen Catherine. Some- 
 times her acts appear to aim in direct opposition to her private 
 projects of aggrandizement ; but follow the intrigue to its 
 termination, and some wondrous complication, or disposition of 
 events, favourable to Catherine's designs, is certain almost to 
 result. Catherine went to Orleans, in apparent obedience to 
 the projects of the duke de Cruise, and the cardinal his brother. 
 She had aided them with the power of her subtle wit to draw 
 the king of J^avarre and the other princes thither ; but it was 
 her firm resolve to depart from thence mistress of their position. 
 As one step towards this design, which could only be accom- 
 plished by the help of the princes, she promoted the seeming 
 reconciliation of Antoine de Bourbon and the Holy See, with the 
 view of presenting him, as chief and leader of the Catholic 
 population of Prance, in opposition to the duke de Guise. 
 Catherine's secret correspondence with Montmorency developes 
 the same intricate and far-sighted policy. While in the pre- 
 sence of the Guises, and on all public occasions, the queen 
 affected to treat the constable with haughty indifference, she 
 privately demanded his sympathy and support against the 
 oppressions of her son's ministers. " Mon compere," wrote 
 Catherine, at this period, " I desire greatly that your health 
 might permit you to remain at court ; for then I believe that 
 all things would be better conducted than now, and that you 
 would aid me to deliver the king, Jiors de page ; for you have 
 always willed that your master shall be obeyed by all his sub- 
 jects. I shall not write a longer letter, but will leave the sieur 
 marquis, 1 to give you farther news of me, only contenting 
 
 1 The marquis de Villars, who was the bearer of Catherine's letter to the 
 constable.
 
 120 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 myself by observing tbat I wish that you alone were here with 
 the king ; vostre bonne commere et amie. — Catherine." 1 
 
 Meantime, the threatening aspect of affairs might well have 
 daunted a prince of firmer resolution than Antoine de Bourbon. 
 The country swarmed with soldiers, whose fierce aspect awed 
 the people, and repressed the enthusiasm with which they 
 welcomed the princes. At Limoges, deputies from the reform- 
 ed churches of France met Antoine, to offer him a force of six 
 thousand men as an escort to Orleans, and engaging to defray 
 the expenses of their maintenance for six months. At the 
 same time nine hundred noblemen offered to join the standard 
 of the Bourbon princes. 2 The proposal was a tempting one: the 
 warnings so repeatedly uttered by Jeanne d'Albret often rung 
 in the ears of king Antoine ; but to obey the royal mandate, 
 marching at the head of such a body of troops, would be con- 
 sidered as a virtual declaration of war. The distraction of 
 king Antoine's mind at length became so great, that he took 
 to his bed with a low fever, in which condition the cardinal 
 d'Armagnac found him at Vertueil, the palace of the count de 
 la Rochefoucauld ; he having been despatched by the king to 
 command Antoine not to approach the court with more than 
 his usual retinue of attendants. The cardinal manoeuvred with 
 so much dexterity, that he prevailed ; and the princes were 
 persuaded to continue their journey, followed only by their 
 respective households. During the audience of farewell which 
 king Antoine granted to the deputies sent by the Protestant 
 communities of France, he addressed them at length, and con- 
 cluded his harangue by promising to ask the king's gracious 
 pardon for all who had taken up arms to meet him thus at 
 Limoges. " Pardon ! " indignantly responded one of the depu- 
 ties ; " think only of asking pardon for yourself, monseigneur, 
 and that right humbly, when you are going to yield yourself 
 a prisoner, with a rope round your neck ! " 3 
 
 At a place named Mussidan, Antoine attempts to relieve 
 the disquietude of his mind by addressing a long epistle to 
 Catherine, in which he bitterly complains of the indignities and 
 accusations to which he and his brother were subjected. Oc- 
 casionally, in kiug Antoine's letters, he manifests a spirit 
 worthy of his princely descent ; but, in this epistle, the indica- 
 tions which he affords of his trifling and irresolute character, 
 
 1 Negotiations et Pieces sous le regne de Francois II., p. 678. Col. de 
 Docum. Inedits. 
 
 2 La Planehe, Hist, de l'Estat de France, p. 609. 
 
 3 La Planehe.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 121 
 
 must have moved the scorn of the queen. " Madame," writes 
 kiug Antoine, 1 " I have received the letters which it has 
 pleased you to send by Bouchet my secretary, who found me 
 in this place confined to my bed. It was meet, therefore, that 
 I should hope to derive consolation from these said letters ; 
 nevertheless, as no one can be considered to have his feelings 
 and emotions under perfect command, especially when they 
 have rise in events of only too probable occurrence, I confess to 
 you, madame, that your letters, though they imparted comfort, 
 have not dissipated the languor which assails me ; so much so, 
 that I perceive that this indisposition, a low fever, will always 
 hang about me, until I have the felicity to see the king, and 
 you, madame." Antoine continues, in the same strains, to 
 lament the misrepresentations of his enemies ; he implores the 
 queen to refuse credit to their assertions ; and he promises to 
 travel as rapidly as the condition of his health will permit. 
 
 King Antoine's letter is dated October 9th. Between that 
 time, and the 18th of the same month, Catherine had respond- 
 ed so satisfactorily to his expostulations, that her letter inspired 
 Antoine, as he states, with vigour to continue his journey. He, 
 therefore, indited a second epistle from Lusignan, to inform 
 the queen that he intended to make his entry into Poitiers on 
 the following day. 2 On the morrow, nevertheless, when the 
 king and his brother presented themselves before Poitiers they 
 found the gates of the town closed, cannon ready mounted for 
 action on the ramparts, while Montpezat, governor of the town, 
 peremptorily refused to admit them. In utter consternation, 
 king Antoine returned to Lusignan. Again the princess of 
 Conde renewed her protest against her husband's further pro- 
 gress ; and implored Antoine to return to iNerac, whilst it was 
 yet time. After a few days of anxious suspense, the marshal 
 de Termes arrived to make the amende honorable, brinsrius: 
 letters from Catherine, in which she gave some sort of explana- 
 tion of their repulse from Poitiers, and invited the princes to 
 proceed. The princess de Conde received letters at the same 
 time, from the duchess de Montpensier, in which Catherine 
 sent her a message to the effect, " que c'etoit la niort de son 
 mary s'il venoit a la coicr.'" Probably, the repulse of the king 
 of Navarre from Poitiers was the result of a manoeuvre on the 
 part of queen Catherine, alarmed at the daring schemes of the 
 Cruise faction ; or, perhaps, she had only then ascertained their 
 
 1 Lettre d'Antoine de Bourbon a la reine mure du roi. Bibl. Roy. MS. F. 
 de Colbert, vol. xxvii. — Inedited. 
 
 ? Lettre d'Antoine de Bourbon a la reinc mere du roi. MS. Bibl. Roy. F. 
 de Colbert.
 
 122 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEKT. 
 
 bloody design relative to Conde, and desired as eagerly then to 
 check the approach of the princes as she had before promoted 
 it. The wit of king Antoine, however, was far too circum- 
 scribed to follow in the mazes of Catherine's tortuous intrigues ; 
 and, as he persisted in giving faith to the authorized and open 
 communications sent him by de Termes, the princess de Conde 
 took leave other husband in tears, " ains sen alia esploree comme 
 elle estoit venue" adds one of the chroniclers of these events. 1 
 
 Meantime, simultaneously with Antoine's repulse before 
 the town of Poitiers, queen Jeanne received a peremptory 
 command from the privy council, to arrest the ministers, David, 
 Boisnormand, Theodore de Beze, and three others of minor 
 note, and to send them, under a strong guard, to Orleans, that 
 they might be put on their trial for sedition. 2 The better to 
 enforce this mandate, the marshal de Termes was directed to 
 concentrate the forces under his command on the frontier of 
 Beam ; and to hold himself prepared to execute the royai 
 behest, in case Jeanne should refuse obedience. 
 
 The menacing language adopted by her former suitor, the 
 duke de Guise, occasioned the queen little dismay ; but, as a 
 measure of prudence, she retired, with her children, to her 
 strong fortress of iNavarreins, and issued her ordonnance 
 respecting the ministers. Jeanne courageously refused to 
 deliver them over to the sanguinary fate which awaited them at 
 Orleans. She, however, revoked the permission given to them 
 to teach throughout the duchy of Albret, and the other domains 
 which she held as fiefs of the crown, and restrained their 
 ministrations to the principality of Beam, over which she 
 acknowledged no superior. All the ministers rendered prompt 
 obedience to the queen's mandate, excepting Theodore de Beze ; 
 who preferred to seek refuge at Geneva. 
 
 For some weeks Jeanne sojourned within the shelter of 
 Xavarreins. During the period that she remained in suspense 
 whether her refusal to apprehend the Huguenot ministers 
 would be punished by the invasion of her territories, Jeanne's 
 recreation consisted in aiding La Gaucherie, preceptor of the 
 young prince of Navarre, in the lessons he daily gave his pupil. 
 In the life of Jeanne d'Albret there are no passages of brilliant 
 happiness, and few of courtly magnificence upon which her bio- 
 grapher may enlarge : surrounded by tumult, and oppressed 
 always with care, her existence passed in laborious conflict. 
 She was born rather to command admiration by her talents, her 
 heroic self-denial, and her learning, than to inspire love. The 
 
 1 Lu Planehe, Hist, de l'Estat de France. 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne D'Albret, t. i. p. 148.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 123 
 
 volatile and courtly Antoine de Bourbon felt himself out of his 
 sphere in the decorous and most irreproachable circle of his 
 consort. While Jeanne's ministers expounded, or discussed 
 the philosophy of the ancient schools, the lively imagination of 
 king Antoine wafted him to the perfumed saloons of the Louvre, 
 where the beautiful young maidens in queen Catherine's train 
 nightly assembled — Vescadron de la reine-mere, as this brilliant 
 band, which numbered three hundred ladies, was popularly 
 termed. During the hours which the queen allowed herself 
 for relaxation, she worked tapestry, and discoursed with some 
 one of the learned whom she protected. Like her mother, 
 queen Marguerite, Jeanne understood the Greek and Latin 
 languages. She spoke Spanish with fluency; her style in writ- 
 ing her own tongue is terse and vigorous ; she excelled in the 
 arts of rhetoric ; and her readiness of speech was so great, that 
 at the council-board she was often known to rise and discourse 
 eloquently upon subjects which she had not previously medi- 
 tated. 
 
 The education of prince Henry seems to have been very 
 precocious. One of his daily tasks consisted in making Latin 
 and Greek translations, and rendering them back again into 
 the original language. The queen generally corrected with 
 her own hand these exercises ; and when she was separated 
 from her son, his preceptor forwarded them for her inspection. 
 At the age of eight, it is asserted, that Henry had translated 
 the greater part of Plato, under the guidance of his royal 
 mother. As the gallant and chivalrous Henri Quatre cai'ed 
 little in after life for student's lore, it is to be presumed that 
 the elaborate lessons of his boyhood left few pleasant remi- 
 niscences. Henry, at a very early age, wrote a bold and legible 
 hand ; an accomplishment which few princes then possessed. 
 The hand-writing of queen Jeanne is small, and for the age, 
 very distinct. The character is pale ; and many of her writings 
 bear the impress of haste. 
 
 The intelligence which reached Jeanne, and her little court 
 at Navarreins, after the lapse of some weeks, was portentous 
 enough to awaken dread in every heart. King Francis, accom- 
 panied by the duke de Guise, and his brother, entered Orleans, 
 on the 18th day of October, at the head of a body of 8000 men, 
 with drums beating, colours flying, and surrounded by the 
 paraphernalia of war.' Catherine de Medici, with her daugh- 
 ter-in-law, Mary Stuart, made her entry the same afternoorij 
 mounted on a white palfrey, and superbly attired. The inhabit- 
 
 1 De Thou, liv. 26, p. 564. La Place, Commentaires de l'Estat.
 
 124 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 ants of Orleans had been previously required to give np their 
 arms ; and every household suspected of harbouring heretical 
 inmates, had troops quartered in it. 1 Every noble in France 
 had been summoned to attend this congress; and no one was 
 permitted to plead in excuse, age, or sickness, under pain of 
 immediate attainder. 
 
 The day following the entry of the court, warrants were 
 issued, commanding the arrest of Groslot, high bailiff of 
 Orleans, and of several hundred noble personages of the realm : 
 — including the nephews of the constable de Montmorency, the 
 count de la Rochefoucauld, the prince de Porcien, and many 
 illustrious ladies of Orleans, amongst whom figures the name of 
 the old baillive d'Orleans, nurse to the little duke de Beaumont, 
 eldest son of Jeanne d' Albret. In utter consternation, the 
 inhabitants of Orleans expected the arrival of the princes : and 
 the nation, arraigned before the tribunal of the cardinal de 
 Lorraine, seemed to wait its doom in gloomy silence. 
 
 On the last day of October, king Antoine and his brother 
 entered Orleans. They were publicly received by Francis, 
 attended by the Guises. The platform upon which the throne 
 stood, was surrounded by an armed guard. On the evening of 
 the same day, the prince de Conde was arrested as he left 
 the apartment of Catherine de Medici, for his alleged partici- 
 pation in the conspiracy of Amboise, and his relations with 
 the insurgent leaders of the Calvinistic faction. As Conde, 
 escorted by a guard of soldiers, was on his way to the prison 
 prepared for him, he met the cardinal de Bourbon, whose 
 persuasions had confirmed the princes in their design to 
 confide in the word of the king, and fearlessly to approach 
 the court. " Monseigneur," reproachfully exclaimed the 
 prince, " by your credulous faith in the promises of the court, 
 you have delivered your brother to the executioner!" The 
 cardinal, it is reported, turned aside and wept. 2 
 
 Privy-council warrants were next issued for the arrest of 
 Conde's mother-in-law the countess de Roye, the courier la 
 Sague, and of Bouchard, chancellor of Navarre, 3 and others. 
 The position of the king of Navarre was perilous in the ex- 
 treme ; and had it not been for the protection of queen Cathe- 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, 1. 2, chap. x. 
 La Place, Commentaires de l'Estat, &c, fol. 103. 
 
 3 The treacherous Bouchard was arrested by his patron, the cardinal de 
 Lorraine, because the latter believed that he withheld secrets of vital import 
 to the king and queen of Navarre ; secrets, which would probably involve 
 the former in the designs of the insurgent leaders, and therefore furnish 
 ground for an appeal to the privy-council for the impeachment of king 
 Antoine.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 125 
 
 rine, he doubtless would have shared his brother's prisou. 
 Tbe cardinal de Lorraine had already determined upon the 
 death of Conde. As the future vengeance of Antoine, there- 
 fore, might greatly be apprehended, he essayed every means to 
 involve the latter in the same destruction. The duke de 
 Guise, during this period of terror, demeaned himself with 
 greater moderation ; more politic, and less sanguinary in his 
 resentments, he refrained from voting in the council, when the 
 doom of Conde was discussed ; and, moreover, he affected to 
 deprecate the violent counsels of his brother. 
 
 The prince de Conde was eventually adjudged to suffer the 
 penalty of death by decapitation before the royal lodging in 
 Orleans, on the 26th day of November. "When this most arbi- 
 trary sentence was published, Antoine de Bourbon visited the 
 cardinal and his brother, to request their intercession with the 
 king, in behalf of the prince. The Guises received the king of 
 Navarre without the usual marks of respect paid to royal per- 
 sonages ; and returned a decided negative to his request. An- 
 toine made a like unsuccessful suit to the two queens. Cathe- 
 rine shed tears, whether real or feigned, it were difficult to say, 
 and lamented the straits to which the princes were reduced. 
 A few days afterwards, however, she rendered the king of 
 Navarre an essential service, by which his life was probably 
 saved ; for with the destruction of the princes, her own ambi- 
 tious views would have been annihilated. It is related that 
 the cardinal de Lorraine, being determined to effect the ruin 
 of both the Bourbon princes, resolved to render the helpless 
 young king the agent of his atrocious design. Francis had 
 been previously exasperated almost to frenzy by the insidious 
 reports of his ministers. It was, therefore, decided that the 
 king should summon Antoine into his presence : after reproach- 
 ing him for the disturbed condition of the kingdom, Francis, 
 as if suddenly transported with passion, was to strike at him 
 with a poniard ; when the duke de Guise, the marshal de St 
 Andre, and the cardinal de Lorraine, who were alone to be 
 present at the interview, were then to fall upon the unfortunate 
 prince, and complete the bloody deed. 
 
 Catherine, having been informed of this project by the 
 young king himself, remonstrated against it in horror ; and 
 conjured her son to refrain from so heinous a crime. She then 
 sent for the duchesse de Montpensier and commissioned her to 
 warn Antoine to excuse himself, upon any plea, from visiting 
 the king in private. When next summoned by the king, An- 
 toine, consequently, declined to obey. A second and more 
 peremptory mandate followed. The king of Navarre, who was
 
 12G LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 personally brave, then resolved to repair to the royal presence. 
 He called, however, a favourite valet-de-chambre named Eenty, 
 and desired him, in case of his assassination, to carry the shirt 
 stained with his blood to his consort. " Brave Eenty, the 
 queen will avenge rny death. Let her send the fragments of 
 this shirt to every court in Europe, that all its sovereigns may 
 read in my blood how they ought to avenge the assassination 
 of a king ! " 1 When Antoine entered the apartment of Fran- 
 cis, the king stood by a table attired in a loose robe, having a 
 short dagger in his girdle. The marshal de St Andre and the 
 cardinal de Lorraine were also present. The latter instantly 
 closed the door of the cabinet behind Antoine. The king of Na- 
 varre, warned beforehand, carefully avoided opposing the king 
 on any matter ; and his demeanourwas so humble and conciliatory, 
 that Francis found it impossible to provoke a dispute. Proba- 
 bly the young king felt his courage fail, when called upon to 
 perpetrate the contemplated crime ; he, therefore, dismissed 
 Antoine from his presence unharmed. The cardinal de Lor- 
 raine, beside himself with rage, was heard to exclaim : " Voila 
 le plus poltron coeur qui fut jamais /" 2 This anecdote would 
 appear incredible, if queen Jeanne herself was not the guaran- 
 tee of its truth ; for the fact is related in one of her manifestoes 
 published in the year 1568, in which she states that Catherine 
 bad avowed to her the part which she and the duchesse de 
 Montpensier took in saving the life of the king of Navarre on 
 this occasion. 3 
 
 As the day for the execution of Conde approached, all was 
 terror and confusion within the city of Orleans. The Guises 
 remained inflexible to the numerous intercessions made them 
 to spare the life of the prince ; and such was the surveillance, 
 also, to which the king of Navarre was subjected, that, meet- 
 ing the unhappy princess of Conde, he dared not address her, 
 but turned his head another way. All at once king Francis 
 fell sick ; his illness rapidly increased ; and in a few days, 
 Pare 4 and his surgeons pronounced his Majesty's recovery to 
 be hopeless. The malady of Francis was an abscess in the 
 head. The king's sombre and sinister looks, and the fevered 
 irritation of his spirits, had been remarked with wondering as- 
 tonishment by his subjects of Orleans. The Guises, in con- 
 
 • Cayet, Chron. Novenaire, t. i. 
 
 2 Davila, Histoire des guerres civiles de France, t. i. p. 85. 
 
 s Queen Jeanne uses the following words in her declaration : " De vray la 
 reine m'a souvent dit que le roy mon mary estoit oblige a elle de sa vie, et 
 que si latlite duchesse de Montpensier estoit en vie, elle lui en seroit temoin." 
 
 4 Amboise Pare, the first surgeon of his day ; born at Laval, and deceased 
 in Paris, 1592.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 127 
 
 sternation at the reverse which awaited them, and dreading 
 the anticipated vengeance of the princes, sought to hasten the 
 execution of Conde ; and urged the queen to grant a warrant 
 for the safe apprehension of the king of Navarre. Catherine, 
 better advised by the chancellor de l'Hopital and by madame 
 de Montpensier, dismissed the cardinal de Lorraine with 
 vague promises. The regency of the kingdom was again about 
 to be contended for : the queen's favour could elevate Antoine 
 to the highest honours in the realm, provided that he avowed 
 himself obedient ; the Guises, on the contrary, already estab- 
 lished in the government, had arrogantly proclaimed their 
 independence of her patronage. By the queen's directions, 
 therefore, the chancellor de l'Hopital found means to delay 
 the execution of Conde; and Catherine, meantime, summoned 
 the king of Navarre to a private conference. Antoine found 
 the queen bathed in tears, and attended only by the duchesse 
 de Montpensier. In a few words Catherine explained her 
 position. Her son Charles, the future king, had just attained 
 his tenth year ; l she, therefore, demanded from the king of 
 Navarre the renunciation of his pretensions to the regency. 2 
 She offered, in return, to nominate him lieutenant-general of 
 the kingdom, and to publish all edicts in their joint names. 
 ' The queen promised king Antoine that he should become 
 lieutenant-general of the king of France, and have the sole 
 management of affairs of war ; that he should first open all 
 despatches relating to warlike measures; and that nothing, 
 generally, should be ordained in the kingdom, without his ad- 
 vice and assent." 3 If the king refused her overtures, and per- 
 sisted in claiming the regency, Catherine declared it to be her 
 intention to espouse the party of Guise; as the duke and his 
 brother had offered to support her claims upon any conditions 
 she was pleased to impose — and to exclude him forcibly from 
 her son's counsels. Having been previously warned by ma- 
 dame de Montpensier not to oppose the queen if he desired to 
 save his own life, and that of Conde, king Antoine, bewildered 
 by the perils which surrounded him, tendered to Catherine 
 his solemn renunciation in her favour of the regency. 
 
 On the 5th of December the unfortunate young king, Francis 
 II., expired, surrounded to the last by cabals. The dying prayer 
 dictated to Francis, by the cardinal de Lorraine, was : " Lord ! 
 pardon my sins: and impute not to me. thy servant, the sins 
 
 j Charles IX. was born at St Germain-en-Laye in L5.j9. 
 Hist de I'etat de France, Kegnier de la Plane-he, p. 7-14. De Thou. 
 Mathieu, Hist, de Francois II.. t. iv. 
 
 - Montl'uucon, Monuments de la Monarchic Francois, t. v. p. 92.
 
 128 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 committed by my ministers, under my name and authori- 
 
 ty ! " 1 
 
 Thus terminated the celebrated assembly of Orleans. The 
 funeral procession of the unfortunate Francis II. traversed in 
 gloomy majesty the streets through which, scarcely six weeks 
 previously, he had passed in the pomp of military appareil ; 
 intent on crushing heresy throughout his realm, by the cruel 
 massacre of many of the best and noblest of his subjects. 
 Catherine de Medici and king Antoine remained arbiters of 
 the destinies of France. The states were transferred from 
 Orleans and its terrific reminiscences to Pontoise. Conde, 
 liberated from prison, retired to the castle of Ham in Picardy. 
 The duke de Guise betook himself for a brief season to his 
 castle of Joinville ; and the cardinal de Lorraine to his diocese 
 of Metz. The widowed queen Mary Stuart, who had abetted 
 in every way the violent counsels of her uncles, retired to Fon- 
 tainebleau, where she spent her forty days of seclusion. She 
 then joined her uncle the cardinal; and accompanied by him 
 she visited Nancy. 
 
 By the first day of the year, 1560, Jeanne d'Albret receiv- 
 ed the new T s of her husband's escape from the thraldom of his 
 enemies. Antoine prayed his consort with her children to 
 join him at St Germain, as he needed her counsels, he then 
 modestly averred, to support his new dignities.' 2 Queen 
 Jeanne, therefore, quitted Kavarreins, and proceeded to Pau. 
 When there, she confided the government of the principality 
 to d'Arros, and to the baron d'Audaux, senechal of Beam. 
 Jeanne with her two children, prince Henry and madame 
 Catherine, then journeyed to Nerac ; where, still distrustful 
 of the designs of the court, she took up her abode until further 
 tidings reached her from the king her husband. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 1560—1562. 
 
 Queen Jeanne makes public avowal of her religion — Her distrust of the sin- 
 cerity of the court — She makes donations to the Lutheran church within her 
 dominions — Jeanne receives missives from Catherine de Medici— Queen 
 Catherine proposes the betrothment of the princess of Navarre with the duke 
 
 1 La Place, Commentaires de l'Etat, p. 106. 
 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 129 
 
 d'Anjou — Deportment of the king of Navarre — His intrigue with mademoi- 
 selle de Itouet — Queen Jeanne liberates the minister Brassier — Arrival of 
 the queen in Paris— Intrigues of the Spanish ambassador, and of the Papal 
 nuncio— Their designs against Jeanne d' Albret — Correspondence of Chanton- 
 nay, the Spanish ambassador — Jeanne takes up her abode in the hotel de 
 Conde — The king and queen of Navarre entertain the Danish ambassador — 
 They remove from Paris to St Germain — Conference between Theodore de 
 Beze and the cardinal de Lorraine — Caution of queen Catherine's proceedings 
 • — The last session of the states-general — Feud between the princes and the 
 prelates of the realm — Discourse of queen Catherine to the assembly— Ha- 
 rangue of the queen of Navarre — Conferences of Poissy — Arrival of the car- 
 dinal Hippolyte d'Este — His mission — The sovereigns of Navarre are 
 present at the nuptials of the Viscount de Rohan — Complimentary deport- 
 ment of the cardinal of Ferrara towards Jeanne d' Albret — King Antoinc-'s 
 servile compliance with the suggestions of the Spanish ambassador — Prudent 
 conduct of queen Jeanne — Return of her ambassador from Spain — Answer 
 of Philip II. to the demands of Jeanne d' Albret — His private message to 
 king Antoine — Chantonnay proposes to Antoine de Bourbon the divorce of 
 his consort— Proposes an alliance between Mary Stuart and the king of 
 Navarre — Coldness between Catherine de Medici and Jeanne d'Albret — Its 
 occasion — Personal appearance of the king of Navarre and his consort — 
 Antoine attempts to compel his consort to attend mass — Her refusal — 
 Menaces her with divorce — Her indignant reply — Her grief — Intrigues of 
 Chantonnay — Negotiation for exchanging the claims of the house of Albret 
 upon upper Navarre for the island of Sardinia — Indignation of queen Jeanne 
 — Coalition between Montmorency, the king of Navarre, and the duke de 
 Guise — -Objects of the Triumvirate — Correspondence of queen Jeanne 
 with the viscount de Gourdon — Catherine de Medici exhorts Jeanne to be 
 reconciled to her husband, by changing her faith — Reply made by the 
 queen — Assumptions of Chantonnay, the Spanish ambassador — Departure 
 of Coligny and the chiefs of the reformed party from Paris — Disturbed con- 
 dition of the kingdom — Turbulent proceedings of the Triumvirate — -Depar- 
 ture of Catherine with her son for Fontainebleau — Jeanne demands permis- 
 sion to depart — Project for her arrest — She intimates her danger to Conde — 
 Visits her son at St Germain — Her resolute deportment — She departs from 
 Paris— Her arrival at Vendome — She continues her journey to Chatelleraut 
 — Her sojourn at Duras — Receives ambassadors from Guyenne — Her illness 
 — She despatches envoys to mediate between the Protestants and the mar- 
 shal de Montluc — Restores the count de Condale his liberty — Project of 
 Montluc to surprise the queen at Caumont — Her flight across the frontier — 
 Proceedings of the Triumvirate — Politic deportment of Catherine de Medici 
 — Her letters to Conde — Despatch of one of Catherine's secretaries to the 
 French ambassador at Madrid — Unpopularity of the king of Navarre — His 
 conduct satirized in ballads and lampoons — Indignation felt by the public at 
 his desertion of his consort. 
 
 Queen Jeaxxe possessed too much experience in politics 
 implicitly to trast the new aspect of affairs at court. The 
 ambitious daring of the princes of Lorraine, and the subtle 
 wiles of queen Catherine, justified this suspicion. United by 
 so many bonds with the Protestant community of France, 
 Jeanne felt that her caution could not be too strongly exer- 
 cised on the present emergency. The eagerness displayed by 
 Catherine de Medici for her presence at St Germain might 
 possibly be but a snare to draw her from her stronghold of 
 Xavarreins ; while the gracious favour lavished by the queen- 
 regent upon Antoine was probably bestowed with a view to 
 
 9
 
 130 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 the same object. Jeanne was well aware of the credulous con- 
 fidence too frequently displayed by her consort : she was, also, 
 perfectly cognizant of the fact that the strong garrisons and 
 armed men of the principality of Beam had contributed not a 
 little to insure Antoine's comparative safety of person, during 
 the late congress at Orleans. She felt, moreover, that her 
 consort's dignity, and perhaps even his life, would be more 
 secure whilst she remained at the head of a powerful force in 
 the south : besides, Jeanne prudently determined not to expose 
 the liberty and the heritage of her son, until perfectly assured 
 of Catherine's good faith. 
 
 By the advice of her council, Jeanne now determined to 
 make a fearless and public avowal of her religious faith. This 
 step answered two purposes : it tested the sincerity of the 
 government, which Antoine intimated was prepared to tolerate 
 reform in religion ; secondly, at the commencement of a new 
 reign, the juncture seemed propitious for the open profession of 
 so great a princess. The queen, therefore, publicly received 
 the Holy Communion, according to the reformed ritual, in the 
 cathedral at Pau, before her departure for Nerac. As she 
 passed through Condom, on her way to this latter place, Jeanne 
 bestowed the Franciscan convent, which she found deserted 
 by its inmates, on the Protestant community of Beam, to 
 found a college of theology. The queen made a similar dona- 
 tion to her subjects at Nerac ; and presented them with a 
 spacious monastery, which she converted, at her own expense, 
 into a church, combined with lodgings for the ministers. 1 
 
 Soon after her arrival at Nerac, Jeanne received letters 
 from queen Catherine, pressing her to repair to court without 
 delay ; and proposing a project of betrothal, between the little 
 madame Catherine, then in her fourth year, and Henry, duke 
 d' Anjou. " This alliance, madame, ma bonne soeur, will render our 
 union indissoluble," wrote the politic Catherine. She proceeds 
 to assure Jeanne of her great desire to see her at court, with 
 her children, whom Catherine calls " her own ; " and she ter- 
 minates the epistle, by assuring queen Jeanne that she cannot 
 have a more affectionate and sincere relative than herself. 2 This 
 letter, however, tended only to increase Jeanne's suspicions. 
 
 Meantime, the court had removed to Pontainebleau, after 
 the departure thence of queen Mary Stuart. Catherine and 
 the king of Navarre exercised an equal share of power ; and, 
 for some weeks, things proceeded smoothly, until the return of 
 the duke de Guise. Coligny and the Huguenot leaders were 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret t. i. p. 165. 2 Ibid.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 131 
 
 now received by Catherine with gracious favour ; ministers of 
 every denomiuation nocked to the court ; each great noble en- 
 tertained there his favourite preacher ; and animosities, arising 
 from conflicting creeds, filled the palace with brawls. Cather- 
 ine herself, accompanied by the young king, by the king of 
 Navarre, and the duchesses de Montpensier and d'TJsez 1 , at- 
 tended the daily ministration of the eloquent bishop of Valence, 
 Jean de Montluc. The papal nuncio, Prosper de Sainte Croix, 2 
 and the Spanish ambassador, Thomas de Chantonnay, wrote m 
 despairing language to their respective courts, on the license 
 prevailing at Fontainebleau ; from whence, in truth, all decorum 
 on religious matters seems to have been dispensed with. " The 
 day after Easter Sunday, the preches which were publicly 
 holden in the grand court of Fontainebleau, before the lodgings 
 of the admiral de Coligny, the prince of Conde assisting thereat, 
 have been forbidden ; so that from henceforth it is not lawful 
 for any person here to have, or to hear, other preachers when at 
 court, excepting him who is appointed to officiate before the 
 king, and the very Christian queen. God grant that this com- 
 mand may be observed ! " wrote the Spanish ambassador. 3 
 
 At the same time the Papal nuncio preferred a formal com- 
 plaint to queen Catherine, remonstrating on the levity of some 
 of the courtiers, who had dressed up the young king in mas- 
 querade costume as a priest, with a mitre on his head. Cather- 
 ine carelessly replied, " that what had been done was only a 
 childish jest ; but as the Papal envoy made so great an affair of 
 it, the thing should not happen again." 4 
 
 The constable de Montmorency alone presumed, at this 
 juncture, to uphold the ancient faith ; and he boldly reproached 
 the queen for the toleration which she accorded to heresy, with- 
 in the precincts of the court, once so zealous and orthodox. 
 Catherine replied, by assuring Montmorency, " that she still 
 cherished the old faith, and was prepared to make any sacrifice 
 to restore the religion of Rome to its ancient pre-eminence ; 
 provided that she could content the vacillating mind of her co- 
 
 1 Louise de Clermont, daughter of Bernardin, viscount de Tallart, and of 
 Anne de Husson, countess de Tonnerre. She married, first, Francois, sieur 
 du Bellay ; secondly, Antoine de Dacier, count de Crussol, first duke d'Uzes. 
 The duchess d'Uzes was celebrated for her wit, beauty, and learning, and she 
 commanded great influence at the court of Catherine de Medici. 
 
 2 Prospero de Santa Croce, cardinal-bishop of Chisamo, one of the most 
 intriguing diplomatists of the age. 
 
 3 Lettre de M. de Chantonnay, ambassadeur d'Espagne au roi catholique. 
 — Memoires de Conde, t. ii. p. 5. Edition de M. de Secousse. 
 
 4 Lettre du Nonce Prosper de St Croix, au cardinal Charles Borromeo, 
 t. i. des Actes Ecclesiastiques Civils, et Synodaus par monsieur Aymou, p. 5. 
 This letter is datf-d November 15, 1561.
 
 132 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 adjutor in the government, king Antoine, whose defection would 
 ensue, if she discountenanced reform." 
 
 She drew Montmorency's attention to the numher and in- 
 fluence of the Protestants of France ; she observed that a party 
 which acknowledged for its leaders the first prince of the blood, 
 his consort a sovereign princess, and the Colignis, nephews of 
 the constable, merited some indulgence and consideration from 
 the head of the state. To the reformed party at court, the 
 queen, meantime, expressed her satisfaction ; she alluded often 
 with shuddering horror to what she designated as the " iron 
 sway of the Guisards," and she admonished the princes to pro- 
 mote friendly relations between herself and their followers, as 
 the only method of defeating the projects of the Spanish and 
 Papal courts. By thus conciliating both parties, it was Cather- 
 ine's intention gradually to form a third faction, solely devoted 
 to her own interests, armed with power formidable enough to 
 defy opposition. The queen, nevertheless, took the very de- 
 cided step of writing to Pius IV., demanding, amongst other 
 things, that the images of the saints, and of the Virgin Mary, 
 should be removed from the churches throughout the realm ; 
 and that the holy communion might be administered in both 
 kinds to the laity. 1 This demand excited great consternation at 
 Some ; and the Spanish and Papal envoys received instructions 
 to spare no efforts to sow dissension between the queen-regent 
 and the king of Navarre ; and by dint of any promises and bribes 
 to detach that very unstable prince from the reformed party. 
 
 Political dissensions were again resuming their ascendency 
 at the court of Catherine ; and undignified contests between 
 king Antoine and the duke de Guise daily afforded mingled 
 diversion and disgust to the courtiers. Antoine demeaned him- 
 self throughout these disputes with peevish querulousness : the 
 duke, calm and imperturbable, treated his opponent with pro- 
 found respect, and always appeared ready to tender any ex- 
 planation likely to soothe the latter's irritation. Antoine found 
 matter of ofience in many of the duke's most harmless actions. 
 If Catherine smiled upon, or discoursed with, the duke de Guise 
 longer than Antoine thought meet, the fiery jealousy of the 
 latter was sure to be evoked ; and the queen had to put forth all 
 her arts of persuasion to entice him back into more amiable mood. 
 
 The vagaries of Antoine's restless spirit afforded infinite 
 disquietude to Catherine de Medici ; and induced her to re- 
 quest the queen of ]N T avarre, with much solicitude, no longer to 
 delay her journey to the court. No dependence could be placed 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, liv. 28, p. 78. This letter is dated August 
 4, 1561. — Mem. de Conde.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 133 
 
 upon Antoine ; his private conferences with Chantonnay and 
 the nuncio at times filled her with alarm ; whilst, at other 
 periods, the king's hostility towards these redoubtable person- 
 ages, offended them so greatly, that they threatened to demand 
 their conge, and retire from France. Catherine, also, informed 
 queen Jeanne, doubtless to the hitter's infinite astonishment, 
 of various negotiations which Antoine was engaged in with the 
 king of Spain, for the recovery of the kingdom of Navarre ; and 
 she admonished Jeanne, that the king, duped by the promises 
 made to him by Chantonnay, had actually proposed to cede the 
 principality of Beam to the crown of Spain, in exchange for 
 the island of Sardinia, which was to be tendered and accepted 
 in lieu of all other claims on the Spanish government. In fact, 
 Catherine had to watch closely the proceedings of her coad- 
 jutor in the government ; for this contemplated exchange was 
 as repuguaut to French interests, and to the queen-regent per- 
 sonally, as it could possibly be to Jeanne herself. A fragment 
 of a curious despatch still exists, addressed by command of 
 Catherine to de l'Aubespine, the French ambassador in Spain, 
 directing him to take every method of discovering whether 
 Antoine had seriously consented to such a proposal; and. if so, 
 to frustrate the project : " for, to speak the truth, the king of 
 Navarre gives himself up to many designs, which those who 
 love and honour him regret to perceive ; and they therefore 
 hold him to be badly advised." 1 The queen-regent ordered her 
 ambassador to give every support to Antoine's fulsome suppli- 
 cations to king Philip that his wife's heritage might be re- 
 stored ; though he was directed to oppose the exchange. Queen 
 Catherine added another powerful incentive to induce Jeanne 
 to hasten to Paris. She apprized her that conferences were 
 about to be opened at Poissy, between the Eoman Catholic 
 clergy of France and twelve eminent ministers of the Ee- 
 formed Church, at which her presence was indispensable. This 
 resolution of inviting the reformed ministers to a controversy 
 with their opponents, had been taken at a council holden after 
 the coronation of the young king.'- chiefly at the instigation of 
 the cardinal de Lorraine ; who flattered himself that his elo- 
 quence and learning, in expounding the doctrines of the church, 
 would greatly contribute to the extirpation of the Lutheran 
 heresy. Jeaune, moreover, received private advices that the 
 conjugal faith of king Antoine presented any aspect rather 
 than an edifying one to the court; and that his attentions to 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Royale. F. de l'Aubespine Villebon. — Inedited. 
 
 2 Charles IX. was crowned at Rheiins by the cardinal de Lorraine, on 
 Ascension Day, May 15, 1561.
 
 134 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 Catherine's beautiful maid of honour, mademoiselle du Rouet, 1 
 had become a matter of public comment and censure. 
 
 The queen, therefore, reluctantly resolved to proceed to 
 Paris. Before she quitted Nerac, Jeanne wrote to her faithful 
 friend the viscount de Gourdon, to inform him of her intent, 
 and of the proposed conferences at Poissy, — a project which 
 the queen hailed with enthusiasm, as she states, " for the peace 
 of the realm, and for her own better instruction in the faith of 
 the reformed." The queen probably quitted Nerac about the 
 end of July, or the beginning of August, 1561. She was ac- 
 companied by her children, and by a numerous suite of ladies 
 and cavaliers ; her chaplain, Jean de la Tour, followed his royal 
 mistress. Jeanne had intended that la Tour should take a 
 prominent part in the Colloque de Poissy ; but the presence of 
 Theodore de Beze, who was appointed with acclamation by the 
 churches to the honourable office of defending the reformed 
 faith against the assaults of its two ardent opponents, the car- 
 dinals de Tournon and de Lorraine, frustrated her intent. 
 
 At Perio-ueux, Jeanne liberated the minister Brassier, who 
 had been thrown into prison at the suit of the canons of the 
 cathedral in that town, for his advocacy of reform. Jeanne 
 somewhat mischievously committed him to the charge of these 
 said churchmen who had cast him into prison, telling them that 
 on her return she should demand Brassier at their hands. 
 
 Prom Perigueux the queen travelled rapidly to Paris. Her 
 arrival was dreaded by the Spanish factions in the capital. 
 They feared lest the queen's penetration might bring their 
 sinister designs to light. Her rectitude, they knew, was irre- 
 proachable ; and her intellect too keen to permit them to hope 
 that she also could be deluded with facility. Guided by the 
 counsels of his consort, they apprehended that king Antoine 
 would detect their projects ; which tended to establish the om- 
 nipotence of the pope, and the king of Spain, over the counsels 
 of France. Dark and mysterious does the chain of Spanish 
 politics become, after the arrival of Jeanne d'Albret in Paris ; 
 and far could the latter have been from divining the anguish 
 which would overwhelm her, ere she retraced her steps to the 
 sunny heritage of her ancestors. 
 
 To the Spanish ambassador de Chantonnay, and to the 
 Papal nuncio, the cardinal Prospero de Santa Croce, was as- 
 signed the conduct of the intrigue, the object of which was to 
 
 1 Louise de la Beraudiere, daughter of Louis de la Beraudiere de la Guiche, 
 seigneur de 1' Isle Rouet en Poitou. Louise was distinguished at the court of 
 Catherine by the name of la belle de Rouet. After the death of the king of 
 Navarre, she espoused M. de Combault, to whom she bore two daughters.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 135 
 
 separate Jeanne d'Albret from her husband ; to procure from 
 the feeble Antoine a recantation of bis Calvinistic heresy ; and 
 to promote his union with the Guises, and the consequent 
 triumph of the Eomish faith. It is a curious circumstance 
 that tbese two famous agents of Philip II. have left on record 
 in their letters a full avowal of the unprincipled part which 
 they took in aggravating the political difficulties of the times. 
 Chantonnay inberited the sagacity, and more than the astute 
 daring, of his father, the chancellor Nicholas de Granvelle : 
 Santa Croce, the Papal nuncio, was a prelate of cunning and 
 intriguing genius, plausible, and excelling in the art of courtly 
 parlance ; calculated in every way to attract the fastidious ap- 
 proval of a prince, who like Antoine de Bourbon exclusively 
 judged individuals and circumstances by their outward bearing. 
 The known inflexibility of Jeanne's character, and her argu- 
 mentative turn of mind, rendered it hopeless to expect that, in 
 passive unconsciousness, she would aid the scheme to restore 
 the Guises to their former power over the realm : indeed, the 
 idea never seems to have been entertained — but her destruc- 
 tion was all along coolly resolved. It is a matter of historical 
 inquiry whether Catherine de Medici was privy to the projects 
 of Philip's cabal ; or whether the queen-regent, finding that 
 she had herself been duped, eventually gave her countenance 
 to the strongest party, and that with such consummate address, 
 as to appear even to the chief actors concerned, never to have 
 differed from them in design. 
 
 Chantonnay, when he had occasion to mention the king 
 and queen of Navarre in his despatches, gives them the title of 
 '• Monsieur et madame de Vendome." He makes the follow- 
 ing comment on the arrival of the queen of Navarre at Paris : 
 '• Madame de Vendome arrived here a few days since ; she 
 continues to live after her own peculiar fashion, in which she 
 is resolved to make no change." l In another letter, Philip's 
 ambassador hazards many acrimonious remarks on the sectarian 
 spirit pervading the court, which had suffered no abatement in 
 consequence of the edict, lately promulgated. 2 " The heretic 
 faith goes on in its accustomed routine," writes the Spanish 
 ambassador, " we have always a prcche going on in the apart- 
 ments of some lord or lady of the court, quelque chose que 
 fen crye. The upshot of my remonstrances is always that no one 
 knows anything of the matter, but that inquiry shall be made." 
 
 1 Lettre de M. de Chantonnay, au conseiller Tisnacq. — M6m. de Conde, t. 
 ii. This letter is dated, de St Cloud, le 6eme de Septembre, 1561. 
 
 - This edict, against the holding of public assemblies by the Huguenots, 
 was published at the demand of the Spanish court, July, 1561.
 
 136 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 Queen Jeanne took up her abode, while in Paris, in the 
 hotel de Conde rue de Grenelle, and declined the pressing in- 
 vitation of the queen-regent that she would accept of lodgings 
 in the Louvre. AVhen the queen with her consort appeared a 
 few days subsequently on the Pre-aux-Clercs, then the fashion- 
 able promenade of Paris, she was received with acclamations 
 by the populace. 
 
 Soon after her arrival in Paris, Jeanne and Antoine enter- 
 tained the Danish ambassador Gluck, at a banquet given in 
 the hotel de Conde. Polemics mingled then in discourse even 
 during the most convivial meetings ; and king Antoine took this 
 opportunity to assure the ambassador, at the instigation, it is 
 said, of the queen his consort, that ere many months elapsed, 
 the pure faith of the Bible should alone be preached at court. 
 This unguarded observation was repeated to the nuncio, and 
 gave great offence to that eminent personage. 1 
 
 During the first week in August, the king and queen of 
 Navarre accompanied the court to St Germain-en-Laye. 
 Catherine proceeded thither for the double purpose of dissolv- 
 ing the states-general which were holding their last session at 
 Poissy ; and to convoke the congress of prelates and ministers 
 summoned to confer upon matters of religion. The secret, 
 meantime, of the proposed conferences was carefully concealed; 
 and by Catherine's command every method was taken to pre- 
 vent the details of the project from reaching the ears of the 
 pope. The greatest distrust was manifested by the court of 
 Spain and that of Rome, relative to the designs of the regent. 
 The frequent interviews between Catherine and the queen of 
 Navarre were viewed with extreme jealousy ; for the firm yet 
 politic deportment of the former, at this crisis, afforded evi- 
 dence that she was yielding to the guidance of a mind which 
 rejected the wiles of tortuous diplomacy. 
 
 On the 23rd of August, Theodore de Beze arrived at St 
 Germain, 2 where the principal prelates of the realm had as- 
 sembled in readiness to present their ecclesiastical report to 
 the sovereign, previous to the prorogation of the states. The 
 day following, Beze preached before the court, in the apart- 
 ments of Conde. At midnight he received a summons to re- 
 pair privately to the presence chamber of the queen of Navarre. 
 He was there received by Jeanne dAlbret, queen Catherine, 
 the king of Navarre, Conde, the cardinals de Bourbon and de 
 Lorraine, the duke d'Estampes, and the duchesses de Mont- 
 
 1 De Thou, liv. 27. 
 The colleagues of De Beze were the ministers Saules, Marlorat, Pierre 
 Martyn, Jean de l'Espine, Claude d'Espence, Merlin, and others.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 137 
 
 pensier and d'Uzes. 1 A conference then ensued between the 
 great reformer and the cardinal de Lorraine, in the presence 
 of the above illustrious personages. The subtle and refined 
 eloquence of the cardinal was greatly praised by Beze ; who, 
 however, qualified his admiration by commending its ingenuity, 
 while avowing himself still unconvinced by its argument. The 
 cardinal replied : " It gives me great content to have seen and 
 conferred with you. I adjure you, in God's name, that we 
 frequently renew our conference in order that I may hear your 
 statements, and you mine. You will then acknowledge that I 
 am not so black as I have been represented to you." " In 
 such case," promptly observed the duchess d'Uzes, addressing 
 Queen Catherine, " we ought to have paper and ink here, in 
 order that monseigueur may sign that admission. To-morrow, 
 M. le Cardinal Avill publish a different statement respecting 
 this conference." This assertion, despite its apparent harsh- 
 ness, was verified ; for, after the conference, the cardinal osten- 
 tatiously proclaimed that he had totally vanquished Beze at 
 the outset of their argument. The constable de .Montmorency 
 was so transported with joy at this news, that he presented 
 himself at Catherine's lever to congratulate her : but the 
 queen very gravely assured him that his triumph was prema- 
 ture; for that, on the contrary, the reformer had acquitted 
 himself with the utmost ability during the conference. 2 
 
 As the period fixed for the public debates between the pre- 
 lates and the ministers approached, Catherine renewed her care 
 that no information of her proceedings should reach Borne. 
 Couriers, who were suspected of conveying inconvenient reve- 
 lations from the country, were arrested, and their despatches 
 detained. " These few last days, a courier despatched to the 
 pope by his nuncio here, was arrested near to Turin, by com- 
 mand of the government, and detained four days," Avrote the 
 ambassador Chantonnay, in high indignation. 3 " All his des- 
 patches were opened and read, even to the smallest letter. 
 My letters were also read. All the letters addressed to private 
 persons were restored to the courier; but those written by 
 the nuncio, and by myself, were brought back again to Paris. 
 This is the gratitude shown by the queen, and by monsieur de 
 Vendome, for the favours conferred on the said sieur by the 
 pope ; and the friendship his Holiness has demonstrated towards 
 the young king. I fully expect that, one of these days, my 
 own despatches for Flanders, or even for Spain, will be thus 
 
 1 The. de Beze — Hist, des Esdises Refomiees de France, t. i. p. 392. 
 
 2 Hist, des Cinq Roys, p. 137. 
 
 3 Lettre de Chantonnay, au conseiller Tisnacq. — Mem. de Conde, t. i. p. 17.
 
 138 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 detained ; and, if the king endures it, they will do even worse. 
 However, I leave all to the consideration of his Catholic Ma- 
 jesty ! " 
 
 On the 27th day of August, the states-general, convoked 
 by Francis II. to meet in the town of Orleans, closed their 
 session at Poissy. The king, with his mother, and the king 
 and queen of Navarre proceeded in state to the Hall of As- 
 sembly, to receive the resume of the matters discussed by the 
 three estates of the realm, during their stormy deliberations. 
 The princes of the blood, headed by Conde, took this oppor- 
 tunity to dispute precedence with the cardinals : as the lieu- 
 tenant-general of the realm professed Calvinist tenets, and 
 the queen-regent declared herself favourably disposed towards 
 reform in the church, the result of this feud was, that the car- 
 dinals had to cede the pas to the princes. The cardinals de 
 Lorraine, de Tournon, and de Guise, refusing to comply with 
 the royal mandate, retired from the assembly ; the cardinals 
 de Bourbon, de Chatillon, and dArmagnac, however, consented 
 to lead the procession of prelates. The clergy, dreading the 
 general odium which had befallen their order, essayed to pro- 
 pitiate the regent, by voting a subsidy of fifteen millions of 
 livres. Catherine, in return, thanked the clergy for their aid 
 in a speech of great dexterity. She promised that the Boman 
 faith should be maintained throughout the realm, and the 
 privileges of the hierarchy suffer no diminution ; although, in 
 refutation of this, her Majesty's statement, the prelates might 
 have appealed from her words to her recent decision respecting 
 their precedence before the princes. When the Tiers-Etat 
 presented itself before the sovereigns, Catherine replied to the 
 remonstrances addressed to her, respecting the dissolute morals 
 and the rapacity of the Eomish clergy, by engaging that the 
 reformed doctrines should be allowed full toleration through- 
 out the realm ; she even carried her dissimulation so far, as to 
 assure the deputies that she would cause the young king and 
 his brothers to be brought up in that belief. By this de- 
 claration, however, Catherine defeated her subtle calculations. 
 The queen's words roused the bigoted ire of the partisans of 
 the popedom. Chantonnay, the nuncio Ste Croix, and the 
 constable, quoted Catherine's own words as the basis of their 
 subequent appeal to the upholders of the ancient faith, to de- 
 feat the machinations of the sectarian party. 
 
 When Catherine had separately addressed the three estates 
 of the realm, the king of Navarre pronounced an harangue in 
 presence of the united assembly. Jeanne d'Albret, it is re- 
 corded, then made, in her turn, an oration, which was received
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 139 
 
 with great applause. It is difficult to divine under what pre- 
 text queen Jeanne addressed the states ; nevertheless, with her 
 usual judgment, the queen of Navarre said what was required 
 from her, and no more. Even the nuncio, Ste Croix, finds ap- 
 plause for the " heretic queen," in his admiration of her ca- 
 pacity. " Two days ago, the assembly of the states-general 
 closed," writes the nuncio, in one of his celebrated epistles. 1 
 " It is commonly reported that the chancellor propounded his 
 sentiments with so much moderation, that, to listen to him 
 then, he might readily have been taken for another individual. 
 The king and queen of Navarre addressed the assembly last. 
 That princess stated her opinions with such force and facility, 
 that it is said, never has any orator before expressed himself 
 with greater eloquence, or with more energy and success." It 
 was precisely, however, because she possessed these talents, 
 that Jeanne was singled out as the object of the most bitter 
 persecution ; and it proved little consolation to the queen, 
 that her enemies thus admired, whilst they oppressed her. 
 
 The conferences of Poissy, meantime, opened on the 9th of 
 September. Jeanne accompanied the court, and was present 
 at the public disputations. She sat on the haut-dais, having 
 the princess Marguerite on her right hand. Queen Catherine 
 and the young king occupied chairs of state on the platform, 
 which was magnificently draped with purple velvet. 2 The 
 pope, alarmed at the threatening aspect of affairs iu France, 
 hastily nominated a legate to proceed thither on a special 
 mission to co-operate with the Spanish envoy ; but, ostensibly, 
 to congratulate the king on his accession. The prelate chosen 
 by Pius, was the cardinal Hyppolite d'Este, uncle of the duchess 
 de Guise ; " an ambitious churchman, who, born of Lucrezia 
 Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI., appeared to have 
 inherited the character of his grandfather, and that of 
 Csesar duke de Valentinois his uncle," says the historian 
 Galluzzi. 3 
 
 The cardinal of Ferrara gloried in the repute of being one of 
 the master spirits of that corrupt diplomacy which deems sub- 
 terfuge lawful, so that the end aimed at is accomplished. "I have 
 always found it advisable," says the cardinal of Ferrara, " to 
 bend to the times, and to the exigencies of the period ; not to 
 precipitate affairs, is the method most likely to achieve them, 
 and proves generally a much more efficacious plan than a vio- 
 
 1 Lettrc du nonce, Prosper de Ste Croix, au cardinal Borromeo, t. i. Actcs 
 synodaux de France. 
 
 - See, Montfaucon, Monuments de la Monarchic Franchise, t. v. 
 3 Istoria del Granducato, t. i. p. 19-5.
 
 HO LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 
 
 lent decision I have most thoroughly realized this, and can 
 assuredly assert that having hitherto laboured in all gentleness 
 and moderation, I have profited much more than others with 
 their haste, and threatening deportment. Nevertheless, I also 
 have acted with wily diplomacy, and in secret, when it was 
 necessary ; and I have proved to all that I never slumber at 
 my post. 1 
 
 The mission confided to this subtle prelate, was to detach 
 Antoine de Bourbon from the Huguenot party ; to bring oyer 
 the queen of Navarre to the Bomish communion ; or failing 
 which, to procure her divorce from her husband, and her de- 
 thronement. This accomplished, it was moreover planned to 
 arraign Jeanne before the tribunal of the inquisition, as a con- 
 tumacious heretic. The king of Spain held the tempting 
 bribe, the kingdom of Navarre — which was to lure Antoine 
 through his lust of power, from his duty to his consort, and 
 his defence of the Beibrmation in France. Having once avow- 
 ed herself a member of the Protestant communion, they knew 
 that queen Jeanne would not retract: on this, her firm 
 refusal, they relied for the accomplishment of their political 
 schemes. 
 
 On Michaelmas-day, 1561, the king and queen of Navarre 
 were present at the marriage of M. de Bohan, 2 cousin-german 
 to the queen, with Diane de Barbancon, niece of the duchesse 
 d'Estampes, the once powerful favourite of Brands I. The 
 marriage was celebrated at Argenteuil, by Theodore de Beze, 
 according to the reformed ritual. The prince de Conde, and 
 Coligny and his brothers, were likewise present. This affair 
 exerted the displeasure and uneasiness of the legate, Avho had 
 looked upon the king as already half Avon. The cardinal of 
 Berrara, however, ascribed the blame to the wilful obstinacy 
 of Jeanne d'Albret ; who, regardless of the high authority to 
 which her consort had attained, compelled him to make so 
 public a demonstration of his preference for reform. 
 
 Jeanne, soon after her arrival at Paris, accredited an am- 
 bassador, the sieur d'Ozance, to proceed to Madrid, and de- 
 mand from Philip II. the restitution of her kingdom of Upper 
 Navarre. D'Ozance was furnished by Catherine with letters 
 to the Brench ambassador, and to Philip himself, wherein the 
 queen expressed her desire that the conquered heritage of the 
 
 1 Negotiations diverses d'Hvppolite d'Este, cardinal de Ferrara, p. 3. 
 
 '■= Jean de Rohan, seigneur de Frontenay, second son of Rene, viscount de 
 Rohan, and of Isabel d'Albret, aunt of queen Jeanne. He was killed at the 
 massacre of St Bartholomew. Diane de Barbancon his wife, was the daughter 
 of Michel de Iiarbancon, seigneur de Cany, and of Peronne de Pisscleu, eldest 
 sister of the duchess d'Estampes.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 141 
 
 house of Albret might be restored. Charles IX. indited one 
 of the earliest letters written by him now extant, to his sister 
 Elizabeth, Philip's youthful cousort, praying her to intercede 
 with her husband, that he would grant the prayer of the sove- 
 reigns of Beam. The Spanish cabinet, however, had other 
 designs ; for the articles of the league of Peroune prescribed 
 its line of action. Already the king of Navarre listened with 
 complacent attention to the wily suggestions of the nuncio — 
 that neither grace nor justice could he aud his consort expect 
 from the hands of the Catholic king, whilst they countenanced 
 heresy. " The sieur de Vendome," wrote Chantonnay at this 
 period, 1 " appears more favourably inclined towards the Catho- 
 lic religion. If the king (of Spain) will only give him hope, 
 we shall yet gain him over, which will be a thing most advan- 
 tageous for Christendom." The cardinal of Perrara was, 
 meantime, paying assiduous court to Jeanne d' Albret : during 
 his visits to her apartments at St Germain, he even tolerated 
 the presence of Beze and other ministers in her suite. One 
 day, he carried his compliance so far as to propose to the 
 queen to be present with her at Beze's sermon, provided that she, 
 in return, would attend a mass celebrated by fete Croix, during 
 which the nuncio was to preach. Jeanne smiled, and accepted 
 the proposition ; the cardinal, thereupon, to the amazement of 
 the court, escorted the queen to Conde's apartments, and pa- 
 tiently remained to the end of the sermon.'-' This politic over- 
 ture is stated to have been tendered by the legate at the insti- 
 gation of the cardinal de Tournon. The kini;- of Navarre has- 
 tened to express to Ste Croix, his appreciation of the cardi- 
 nal's condescension ; at the same time, he took the opportunity 
 of requesting that prelate's intercession with Philip for the 
 restoration of Navarre. " The king of Navarre," wrote fete 
 Croix, satirically, 3 " requested me to observe that his ministers, 
 though he retains a good number in his household, have ceas- 
 ed, by his command, to speak against the authority of his Holi- 
 ness ; or to say anything that might offend. 1 profited by 
 this opening, to beseech his Majesty that he would be pleased 
 to give such commands, that these said ministers might not be 
 suffered to preach again ; representing to his Majesty, how 
 very agreeable and pleasant to his Holiness such a decision 
 would be." The proposition of the wily nuncio was evaded in 
 some confusion by Antoine ; who knew too well his consort's 
 
 1 Lettre de M. de Chantonnay a M. de Tisnacq.— Mem. de Conde, t. ii. p. 20. 
 - Lettre du nonce, Prosper de Ste Croix, au cardinal Borromeo. Aymon, 
 Actes synodaux de France. 
 J Ibid.— Lettre 2.
 
 142 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 character, to pledge himself to a proceeding which he was 
 aware she would not sanction. 
 
 The intrigues of the cardinal de Ferrara, meantime, gained 
 over Descars, principal chamberlain to Antoine, and the bishop 
 of Auxerre, 1 a prelate whose luxury and ostentatious mode of 
 life had recommended him to the friendship of the king. By 
 the advice of Lainez, general of the Jesuits, who had accom- 
 panied the cardinal of Ferrara to France, Antoine took, as hia 
 physician in ordinary, one Vincent Lauro, a Calabrian by birth, 
 notwithstanding the expostulations of his consort. These men 
 continually irritated the mind of Antoine by their invidious 
 representations : they feigned to deplore the little influence he 
 possessed over the party for which he had sacrificed so much ; 
 but which, in reality, regarded Conde as its head. They com- 
 mented in daring language on what they presumed to term the 
 " obstinate heresy " of Jeanne d'Albret ; and they commise- 
 rated Antoine for his subserviency to the will of so hard and 
 imperious a woman. Lauro failed not to play his part in these 
 proceedings ; he terrified his royal patron by vivid descriptions 
 of the eternal pains that awaited the contumacious heretic ; 
 and he offered to become the medium of Antoine's secret com- 
 munications with the subtle Spanish diplomatist, Chantonnay. 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret conducted herself with consummate pru- 
 dence during these tracasseries, though beset by snares. Con- 
 fiding in no individual of the dissolute court, she preserved an 
 impenetrable reserve. In vain the supple cardinal de Ferrara 
 sought to insinuate himself into her favour ; she received him 
 with courteous grace ; b.ut he gained nothing from his daily 
 visits to her apartments. Indeed, the cardinal's attentions be- 
 gan to excite wonder and suspicion ; the rumour of them even 
 reached Rome, and drew from the sovereign pontiff a severe 
 censure on the legate's complaisance, in having appeared with 
 Jeanne d'Albret at Beze's preche. Ste Croix, however, wrote 
 to Rome, in defence of the legate's tactics ; he says, " I find 
 myself compelled to remark that the threatened departure of 
 monsieur le legat from hence, would so essentially damage the 
 interest of our religion, that if his Eminence were even at Con- 
 stantinople, my advice would be, that he should be promptly 
 summoned thence." 2 The legate excused himself to the sove- 
 reign pontiff for his courteous deference towards Jeanne, by 
 explaining that he assisted at the obnoxious preche, on purpose 
 to recommend himself to the favour of the sovereigns of Na- 
 
 1 Philippe de Lenoncourt. 
 
 2 Lettre du nonce, Prosper de Ste Croix. Aymon, Ar.tes synodaux de 
 France, t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 143 
 
 varre, in order that, from that confidence, salutary effects might 
 ensue. 
 
 The ambassador, meantime, whom Jeanne despatched to 
 the court of Spain, returned, bearing Philip's reply to the 
 queen's demand. The sieur d'Ozance was admitted to a per- 
 sonal audience of the king, at the intercession of the young 
 queen Elizabeth. Philip's answer was to the effect, " that, if 
 the sovereigns of Beam wished for the restitution of Navarre, 
 they must, in the first place, declare war to the death against 
 heretics ; in proof of which, Antoine de Bourbon, in his ca- 
 pacity of lieutenant-general and co-regent, must subdue and 
 punish for their heresy, Conde, his brother, and the princes of 
 the house of Chatillon." 1 The nuncio, Ste Croix, was com- 
 missioned, at the same time, secretly to wait upon the king of 
 Navarre, and to inform his Majesty, "that if he achieved some 
 notable deed, tending to the glory of God, and the maintenance 
 of the true religion, his Catholic Majesty promised, on the word 
 of a king, to bestow upon him, out of favour, and not by way of 
 right or reward, so good a compensation in the Low Countries, 
 or in Italy, as would give him ample satisfaction." 
 
 At this conference, the nuncio, and the Spanish ambassador, 
 unfolded to Antoine their perfidious design relative to Jeanne 
 d'Albret. After commenting, with subtle casuistry, on the 
 queen's defiant attitude, and her resolute refusal to attend 
 mass, Chantonnay exhorted Antoine to rid himself of a consort 
 whose prejudices impeded his political advancement. The 
 nuncio then added, that a suit to Borne, for the dissolution of 
 the marriage, founded on the plea of Jeanne's pre-contract 
 with the duke of Cleves, would probably be received with ap- 
 probation by his Holiness. Ste Croix proceeded to tempt the 
 credulous Antoine, by promising, in the name of the Holy See, 
 to negotiate his marriage with Mary Stuart ; whose relatives 
 of the house of Guise were ready, he asserted, to promote the 
 alliance, provided that the king of Navarre abandoned his 
 connection with the Calvinistic faction. The Spanish ambassa- 
 dor then commented on the glorious future, which a frank 
 reconciliation with the church revealed for Antoine. He added, 
 that the triple crowns of England, Scotland, and Navarre, would 
 form a royalty worthy to be accepted by the first French 
 prince of the blood. To such cogent arguments, these de- 
 lectable diplomatists added others, which, they trusted, might 
 prove equally dazzling. They hinted, that the Catholic king 
 would willingly see the regency conferred upon Antoine de 
 
 1 Lettre du nonce, Prosper de Ste Croix. Aymon, Actes synodaux de 
 France, t. i. — Lettre 4eme.
 
 144 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBKET. 
 
 Bourbon, and queen Catherine deposed from her dominion, to 
 become the tutoress only of the king's person, during his 
 minority. Finally, they exhorted the king of Navarre to ac- 
 complish his reconciliation with the Holy See, seeing that 
 three princes only, of tender years and failing health, stood 
 between himself and the throne of France. Antoine listened to 
 these expostulations without surprise or repugnance. Instead 
 of repulsing the evil counsellors who incited him to do such 
 cruel wrong to his consort, he presently demanded, "how, in 
 the event of his assent to this measure, could Navarre be se- 
 cured to him ; as he held that crown only in right of queen 
 Jeanne?" Ste Croix replied, that the sovereign pontiff was 
 not only ready to annul his marriage with Jeanne d'Albret, 
 but also to declare that princess deprived of her dominions for 
 the crime of heresy, and to confer the principality of Beam 
 upon himself. Antoine then, with all the appearance of being 
 much disturbed in mind, requested a few days to consider the 
 proposal, promising, meantime, inviolable secrecy on the matter. 
 The queen of Navarre, against whom this dark intrigue was 
 directed, continued to live almost isolated at the court. She 
 had adopted the Beformed tenets from principle ; Antoine de 
 Bourbon from expediency — being prompted by that craving 
 vanity which induced him, during the late reign, to accept the 
 title of chief of the Calvinistic faction, rather than remain com- 
 paratively obscure. The colloque de Boissy, meantime, had 
 terminated without favourable results ; the disputants, as in 
 most cases of controversial strife, commenced by contradiction 
 of each other, and ended by personal abuse. Theodore de Beze, 
 and the other ministers, excepting La Tour, Jeanne's private 
 chaplain, had quitted St Germain in high indignation at the 
 vacillating conduct of king Antoine. A slight coldness had 
 arisen between Jeanne and the queen-regent, on account of an 
 anonymous sonnet, which was published after the closing of 
 the conferences at Boissy, in which the writer exhorted the 
 queen of Navarre to lead Catherine and her son to a know- 
 ledge of true religion ; an insinuation which greatly piqued 
 the regent. In these lines, Jeanne was told more emphatically 
 than gracefully, — 
 
 " II vous fault a la Roine et a son fils aussi 
 Ouvrir les vrais tresors de l'escripture-saincte ; 
 Puis la France affranchir de ces pipeurs eagots, 
 Qui s'engressoycnt d' abus, a l'ombre des fagots, 
 Souillants l'honneur de Dieu de farces et de feintes ! " ' 
 
 The primary defect of Jeanne's character was the uncom- 
 1 Mtm. de Conde, t. ii. p. 517.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 145 
 
 promising indifference which she manifested towards those 
 whose actions she disapproved. She seldom attempted the 
 gracious medium of conciliation ; but, rigid in her appreciation 
 of right, she suffered the intrigues of those around her to work 
 their own result, unheeded, apparently, by herself. When 
 Jeanne d'Albret was roused to remonstrance, her words fell 
 with telling force on the culprit's ear. At the present junc- 
 ture, her reproaches kindled the utmost exasperation in the 
 mind of Antoine de Bourbon. He fled from his consort's 
 appeals ; and resented the assertions which he was powerless 
 to disprove. The public homage which the king of Navarre 
 thought proper to offer in the presence of his consort to 
 Catherine's beautiful maid of honour, mademoiselle de Eouet, 
 added another insult to the many heaped upon the queen by 
 her husband, at this season. One of the most successful of the 
 artifices resorted to by the queen-regent, was to subjugate 
 the unruly spirit of her warriors and nobles, by potent spells, 
 woven by her fair attendants. The behests of Catherine were 
 usually obeyed with scrupulous minuteness ; and when, on the 
 arrival of the king of Navarre at Orleans, mademoiselle de 
 llouet was directed by her royal mistress to put forth her ut- 
 most fascinations to detain and amuse him, the queen was only 
 too well obeyed. The result of her criminal intrigue with the 
 king of Navarre, was a son, 1 born a few weeks prior to the ar- 
 rival of Jeanne d'Albret at the French court. The nuncio, Ste 
 Croix, and Philip's ambassador, Chantonnay, in pursuance of 
 their unscrupulous designs, inspired mademoiselle de llouet 
 with the delusive hope of becoming Antoine's lawful con- 
 sort, provided that she aided in preparing the mind of the king 
 to assent to the repudiation of queen Jeanne, whom they con- 
 sidered as the chief obstacle to Antoine's secession from the Re- 
 formed party. Mademoiselle de llouet therefore, in the arrogance 
 of her power over the feeble mind of Antoine de Bourbon, in- 
 dulged in his presence in all manner of insolent invective rela- 
 tive to the queen: she fearlessly branded her as a heretic, utter- 
 ing flippant comments on the sedate gravity of Jeanne's deport- 
 ment; while she conducted herself withreprehensible levity when 
 present before the queen of Navarre, in the circle of the regent. 
 The Venetian ambassador, Giovanni Michieli,residentatthis 
 period at the court of Catherine de Medici, gives the following 
 description of Antoine's personal appearance. " The king of Na- 
 varre," writes the ambassador, " is now between forty-four and 
 forty-five years of age. His beard is getting grey ; his demean- 
 
 1 Charles de Bourbon, afterwards bishop of Commiuges, and archbishop of 
 Rouen. JO
 
 146 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 our is much more imposing than that of his brothers, whose 
 stature is low, and their figure awkward. The king is tall, 
 robust, and well made ; and his courage in battle is highly laud- 
 ed ;"though he is rather a good soldier than a skilful general." 1 
 
 The king is represented as a great coxcomb in his attire ; 
 he being marvellously fond of gorgeous robes and jewels. 
 All the portraits of Antoine portray him arrayed in a dress 
 puffed, slashed, and adorned in the most approved fashion of the 
 age. His hair is carefully frizzed and curled ; and his plumed 
 chapeau beset with rich gems, his sword-knot and gloves, evi- 
 dence the care and taste of the most complete petit maitre. 
 
 Another ambassador, sent by the Venetian senate, com- 
 ments, in wonder, on the number of goodly rings, and rich ear- 
 rings, worn by the king of Navarre. Jeanne d' Albret is described 
 as a woman of serene and stately presence, with a fresh complex- 
 ion, dark hair, and eyes very large and melancholy in expression. 
 
 At this period the queen had only completed her thirty- 
 third year ; sorrow was Jeanne's heritage ; and it had long ago 
 subdued the buoyant spirit of her youth. The atmosphere of 
 love and sympathy had never swept with cheering influence 
 over the character of Jeanne d' Albret. Endowed with genius 
 for command, Jeanne's mind was divested of many of its 
 feminine attributes by the philosophical bias of her education ; 
 while her girlhood was spent in solitary state at Plessis-les- 
 Tours, surrounded by objects and reminiscences calculated to 
 harden the mind and to induce self-control. The disposition, 
 therefore, of queen Jeanne partook of the stern discipline of her 
 earlier years ; so that she was enabled, beneath a composed and 
 even frigid demeanour, to hide the anxiety which oppressed her. 
 
 The effect of the insidious counsel of the nuncio was soon 
 perceptible in the conduct of the king of Navarre ; he became 
 moody, perverse, and exacting. By the advice of the cardinal 
 de Ste Croix, and of Louise de Eouet, Antoine displayed great 
 coldness towards his consort ; and even threatened to deprive 
 her of her children. The bribe of an independent kingdom 
 was constantly held towards Antoine by Chantonnay and his 
 unprincipled coadjutors ; and Jeanne d' Albret was represented 
 by them as the sole obstacle to his aggrandizement. When 
 Catherine issued a command, requiring all the ladies of the 
 court to attend mass, and to forbear from introducing theolo- 
 gical discussions into their private converse, the king of 
 Navarre — to demonstrate to the Guises and the nuncio that 
 he lived not under the dominion of his consort — insisted that 
 
 1 Tommasio, Relation des ambassadeucs Veniticns sur les affaires de 
 France, au 16eine siecle.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 147 
 
 Jeanne should likewise comply with the mandate. Antoine 
 even ventured to try compulsion ; and it is recorded that one 
 day when Jeanne was about to step into her litter to attend 
 the preche of one of the ministers, Antoine presented himself, 
 and taking the queen by the hand, he led her back to her 
 apartments, and commanded the litter to be dismissed. He 
 next proceeded to signify his commands that she should no 
 more attend the services of the Calvinist ministers ; but out- 
 wardly conform in all things to the worship of the Eoman 
 Catholic Church. Jeanne coldly replied, " that it was not her 
 purpose to barter her immortal soul for territorial aggrandize- 
 ment ; and that she would not be present at mass, or at any 
 ceremony of the Eomish Church whatever." 
 
 Perhaps, had the queen shown a more docile spirit, An- 
 toine might have been diverted from the unworthy course he 
 meditated. Exasperated by his wife's contemptuous firmness, 
 the king avowed the plot in agitation against her ; and threat- 
 ened, unless she paid implicit obedience to his commands, to 
 sue for divorce. Indignation sealed the queen's lips for some 
 minutes ; then tears, wrung from the depths of Jeanne's proud 
 heai-t, fell from her eyes. The scorn which she felt for the 
 contemptible prince before her, who, in addition to the foul 
 wrong he threatened, boasted of his intention to despoil her of 
 the inheritance of her ancestors, presently restored Jeanne to 
 composure. With eloquence the queen descanted on his 
 treacherous liaison with the legate, and with the Papal nuncio, 
 which she characterized as dishonourable and treasonable : she 
 warned him that their object was his own degradation, and the 
 elevation of his hereditary enemies, the princes of the house of 
 Guise, to supreme power over the realm ; " and for this pur- 
 pose, monseigneur, to overthrow you, it is that they seek to 
 embroil you with Conde, with the admiral, and with his party." 
 She continued then to assure king Antoine that it was not her 
 purpose to abandon her dominions to the rapacity of her foes ; and 
 that she knew how to hold, by the aid of her true subjects, the 
 royal state conferred upon her by God. Eeferring then to the 
 infamous projectof divorce with which he had menaced her, queen 
 Jeanne exclaimed, " Monseigneur, although my fate does not 
 move you, at least have mercy upon your two children. Know you 
 not that this repudiation of their mother, while consummating 
 her ruin, will also destroy them ! that they will be branded as bas- 
 tards ; They, your children ! The fruit of a holy union recognized 
 bymen,upon which God bestowed his benediction, and the legiti- 
 macy of which is now only questioned by our mutual enemies ! J 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Aibret, t. i. p. 199.
 
 148 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBKET. 
 
 Under the blind delusion of passion, Antoine had never 
 contemplated the obvious fact brought before him by his con- 
 sort. Her reasoning seemed to move him ; and he sullenly re- 
 plied, " that such being the case, she had better, by her prompt 
 compliance with his will, and by her consequent reconciliation 
 with the courts of Rome and Spain, render that step unneces- 
 sary ; as for himself, he was still undecided which religion was 
 the true one ; but that whilst his incertitude continued, he was 
 minded to follow the faith of his fathers." J 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret might have recalled to his mind the early 
 days of their rule over Beam, when his imprudent zeal for the 
 cause of reform, had exposed the principality to imminent peril 
 of invasion. " Well then," replied Jeanne vehemently, in reply 
 to her consort's last observation, "if you entertain equal doubts, 
 monseigneur, on the subject of both religions, I beseech you, 
 adopt, at least, the one likely to do you the smallest prejudice ! " 
 
 The king of Navarre made no reply, but quitted the apart- 
 ment, to report his progress to the intriguing junta without ; 
 who were doubtless waiting with eagerness to learn how queen 
 Jeanne had received his announcement. 
 
 In solitude, however, Jeanue indulged the anguish which 
 oppressed her. She was attached to Antoine, despite the many 
 wrongs and the slights which she had received at his hands. 
 Too proud to complain, she had witnessed in indignant silence 
 his devotion to mademoiselle de Rouet ; but not the less bit- 
 terly did she mourn his alienation. During the few subse- 
 quent days after her interview with Antoine, Jeanne seems to 
 have lived in seclusion ; doubtless her grief was too poignant 
 to enable her to bear unmoved the curious scrutiny of the court, 
 and the hypocritical homage of the cardinal de Ferrara and his 
 colleagues. Chantonnay instantly forwarded a despatch to 
 Madrid announcing the fracas between the royal pair ; he 
 says : " Madame de Vendome has been compelled by her hus- 
 band to forego her preches ; there are now no sermons per- 
 mitted in her apartments at the castle of St Germain ; the 
 which causes grief and astonishment to many. Madame de 
 Crussol, madame l'Admirale, and the bishop of Valence, and 
 such like personages, cease not to importune the queen with 
 their accustomed pernicious wickedness to restore them." 2 
 
 Total alienation seems to have subsisted from this period 
 between Jeanne and her husband ; the queen insisted on- her 
 right to retire into Beam and to take her two children. An- 
 toine, at one time, seems to have assented to her desire, doubt- 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne D'Albret, t. i. p. 199. 
 
 2 Lettre de M. de Chantonnay — Mem. de Conde, t. xi.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 149 
 
 less feeling glad to be relieved from his consort's presence. 
 The cardinal de Ferrara did all in his power to widen this do- 
 mestic strife. In a letter written by that subtle prelate to the 
 cardinal Charles Borromeo he owns his share in the design for 
 separating the royal pair. "The king of Navarre, on purpose 
 to give me a certain proof that his dispositions are good respect- 
 ing religion, told me a few days ago that he designed to send 
 the queen his wife home to Beam, under the plea that aifairs 
 required her presence there ; and that she had testified to him 
 her willingness to depart. However, since then things have 
 changed their aspect, and she does not yet go, whether on ac- 
 count of the rigour of the season, or her own failing health, I 
 know not. The king (of Navarre), nevertheless, is very firmly 
 resolved to send her back early in the spring : for my part, I 
 shall not fail, you may feel assured, to contribute with all my 
 power to the achievement of either of these designs." ' 
 
 Probably, ill and broken-hearted, Jeanne delayed her journey 
 to make one more effort to reclaim her faithless consort. An- 
 toine alluded less frequently to his intent to espouse Mary 
 Stuart. 2 Perhaps Mary herself may have sent him the same 
 indignant denial which she gave to Damville, the constable's 
 second son, who was madly enamoured of her, and offered to 
 put away his wife, Antoinette de la Marck, to espouse her ; or 
 that the cautious diplomacy of the cardinal de Perrara aroused 
 some suspicion that Philip's overtures were not so sincere as 
 they were represented. Meeting the legate one day in 
 Catherine's presence-chamber at St Germain, the king of 
 Navarre put the question direct, whether his Catholic Majesty 
 were indeed ready upon certain conditions to bestow upon him 
 the kingdom of Navarre ? The cardinal replied with hesita- 
 tion, " that effectively his Majesty might find opposition in his 
 cabinet, which it would require time to overcome ; but that at 
 any rate king Philip would gratify him with the donation of 
 Sardinia, after declaring that isle a kingdom." The effect of 
 this frank declaration was, that Antoine's elation being some- 
 what subdued, he offered no impediment to the departure of 
 Jeanne from St Germain to Paris. Wearied of the court, the 
 
 1 Negociations, ou Lettrcs politiques d'Hippolyte d'Este, cardinal dc Fer- 
 rare, p. 11. 
 
 - The Protestant writers satirized this design of the king of Navarre in the 
 following lines : 
 
 " Cependant par cautele, et mille beaux portraits 
 Qu'on apporte a propos, on lui grave les traits, 
 La grace, et la beaute dc- la Heine d'Escosse, 
 Jeunc, fraische, gentillc, arm que par la noce 
 Faite.d'ellc et de luy, pnisse etre conyerti 
 A leur religion, et tenir leur party."
 
 150 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 queen took up her abode again at the hotel, Rue de la Grenelle. 
 She was there joined by the prince de Conde, who warmly re- 
 sented the heartless treatment she experienced at his brother's 
 hands. The little madame Catherine, then four years old. ac- 
 companied her mother, and proved a great solace to Jeanne in 
 her affliction. The prince of Navarre, by the command of his 
 father, remained at St Germain, to the extreme regret of the 
 queen ; who dreaded lest the mind of her son might become 
 contaminated by association with the depraved court. " The 
 palace of the queen of Navarre is truly a school for the study 
 of the new doctrines," writes the Venetian ambassador, then 
 resident in the capital. 1 "The religious belief of the king of 
 Navarre was once sustained by his consort's exhortations, for 
 he loved her much and submitted to her guidance. This woman, 
 born with a perverse mind, but endowed with wit, marvellously 
 sagacious and subtle, urged him on, and confirmed him in these 
 opinions whenever she perceived that he relaxed in his fervour 
 respecting them." 
 
 The formidable coalition, meantime, was effected between 
 the constable de Montmorency, the duke de Guise, and the 
 marshal de St Andre to maintain the ascendancy of the Romish 
 faith throughout the realm ; to compel the queen-regent to re- 
 instate the princes of Guise in the government ; to discoun- 
 tenance heresy ; and to revive the ancient edicts decreeing pains 
 and penalties against defaulters from the faith. These great 
 champions of Romish supremacy thus leagued together, were 
 designated the Triumvirate. The Protestants, scattered and 
 divided by Antoine's veering politics, were too feeble to make 
 successful head against the preponderance of the rival faction 
 in the cabinet. Most urgent became the importunity of., the 
 legate that Antoine should abandon the Reformed party, and 
 league himself with the Guises against the aspiring pretensions 
 of Queen Catherine and Conde. Every condition which An- 
 toine stipulated for was promptly conceded ; because it was 
 intended to fulfil nothing. The Spanish ambassador promised 
 him in his royal master's name the immediate possession of 
 the island of Sardinia, should he prefer to keep his consort 
 Jeanne, rather than accept the hand of Mary Stuart. The 
 sterile island tendered for his acceptance was represented to 
 Antoine as a paradise of delights. The balmy climate, the 
 orange and lemon groves, the luxuriant foliage and verdure, 
 and the fertility of the soil, were themes upon which the wily 
 Chantonnay perpetually dwelt. He even proceeded to the 
 
 1 Tommasio, Relation des ambassadeurs Venitiens sur les affaires de France 
 au 16eme siecle. Relation de Marco Antonio Barbaro. 1563.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBEET. 151 
 
 length of causing an apocryphal map to be drawn of the coun- 
 try, having the districts most famed for fruitful produce and 
 delicious scenery indicated thereon. Sites of noble cities in- 
 debted for existence to the felicitous imagination of the legate, 
 were there noted. The venal chamberlain Descars affirmed on 
 oath, that having visited Sardinia and examined with his own 
 eyes the country so rapturously eulogized, it surpassed in 
 beauty the description given by the legate. The bishop of 
 Auxerre, who had never even approached the island, boldly 
 confirmed Descars's assertions ; and dilated enthusiastically on 
 the subject to his unsuspecting master. Antoine was at length 
 so overpowered by the glowing description of the magnificent 
 kingdom tendered for his acceptance, that he finally sent his 
 reply to the Spanish ambassador in the following words : " Tou 
 may inform his Catholic Majesty that it has been all along 
 rather your fault than mine, that his will has not been already 
 accomplished." 1 
 
 The cardinal of Ferrara, as may be divined, did not relax in 
 his endeavours to dazzle the mind of Jeanne d'Albret, with a 
 relation of the donations in store for herself also, provided that 
 she renounced her connection with the Eeformed party. Jeanne 
 coldly replied, " that she desired from his Catholic Majesty only 
 her just rights ; and that she was by no means minded toalienate, 
 or exchange, any part of the heritage still remaining to her." 
 
 When the court removed from St Germain to Paris, at the 
 commencement of the year 1563, Antoine commenced a series 
 of most scandalous persecutions towards his unhappy consort. 
 On several occasions he tried to compel her forcibly to attend 
 mass. The young prince of JNavarre, a bold and gallant boy of 
 ten years old, happened to be present at one of these scenes. 
 Being devotedly attached to his royal mother, Henry flew to 
 her side, and with all his strength tried to defend her from 
 violence ; angrily protesting that nothing should induce him- 
 self, either, to go to mass. In spite of Jeanne's supplications, 
 Antoine, in a fury, snatched up his son, and after soundly box- 
 ing his ears, he summoned the prince's sub-preceptor, and com- 
 manded that he should undergo further castigation. 2 
 
 These many and varied provocations roused at length the 
 spirit of the queen. In her affliction she sought the advice of 
 her staunch friend, the viscount de Gourdon. The queen's 
 letter is peculiar : its phraseology savours of the stern, senten- 
 tious style, then in vogue with the sectarian ministers. It is 
 greatly to be regretted, that the hard, and even ascetic, tone of 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. 2 Ibid.
 
 152 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 Jeanne's mind, veiled so much that was lovable and womanly 
 in her character. Jeanne expresses herself very strongly, as 
 will be seen in her letter to the viscount, respecting Antoine's 
 follies, in terms such as, if she had the indiscretion to taunt 
 him with personally, could not fail to aggravate his displeasure 
 and their alienation. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE, TO THE VISCOUNT DE GOURDON.i 
 
 MONSIEUE LE VlSCOMTE, 
 
 During the early days of this reign, perceiving that madame the 
 queen-mother, and monsieur the king of Navarre, my husband, con- 
 tinued in peace and concord to discharge the affairs of the regency, 
 and that they not only put a stop to the tortures and executions for 
 heresy, but even granted liberty of conscience, with leave to erect 
 churches outside the towns, and within all castles and fiefs de haubert, 
 such as yours — after mature thought I came to the conclusion that 
 from thenceforth all things might progress to a happy end. Since 
 which, however, the king of Navarre, hungering after the seductive 
 flatteries of several fair damsels, dexterous and versed in toils for 
 inspiring love, of whom the said queen avails herself to accomplish and 
 perfect her secret designs, the said king of Navarre, I repeat, has 
 become so deluded and enervated, both, mentally and bodily, by 
 indolence and luxury, that he has permitted the Guises, assisted by 
 the constable, to regain the tipper hand, to his great shame and the 
 public calamity. Besides which, the said triumvirate has traitorously 
 and unworthily assailed the prince de Conde ; while the said king of 
 Navarre is become so stultified by the trickery and false promises of 
 Rome made through the queen-mother, to give as restitution of our 
 kingdom, iniquitously retained by the Spaniards, and by his fear of 
 losing what still remains to us, that he will neither say nor do any- 
 thing, nor yet permit me. My heart feels heavy and sorrowful, when 
 I contemplate all that is concocting here in so sinister a manner ; and 
 when I see this said triumvirate oppose the princes and the peace of 
 the realm, and purpose to sow tares with discord throughout the 
 kingdom — as all here who are expert, and advised in the modes of 
 good government, acknowledge ; amongst whom I name the arch- 
 bishop of Vienne, the bishops of Valence and Oleron, the chancellor 
 de l'Hopital, and other sage personages not misled and distracted by 
 vice, avarice, and ignorance. Amidst all this woe, my soul, sad and 
 perplexed, yearns to be counselled and consoled by a loyal friend. 
 Come then to me here, or at least write me word what it appears to 
 you that I ought to do, and I will try and conform to your opinion. 
 Since the unexpected skirmish which occurred at Vassy, through the 
 said duke de Guise, the prince of Conde has courageously manifested 
 himself as becomes the champion of reform, and the declared enemy 
 of the said triumvirate ; although the king of Navarre, his brother, 
 has most unnaturally placed himself at its head. I pray God, mon- 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy., Valiant, Portef. ler.— Inedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 153 
 
 sieur le Viscornte, to have you in his Holy keeping. Written at Paris, 1 
 this 28th day of January, 1562. 
 
 Your very good and assured friend, 
 
 Jeanne, Royne. 
 
 In reply to this flattering letter from queen Jeanne the 
 viscount de G-ourdon despatched a courier -with his response ; 
 which did not reach the queen until the middle of February, 
 as he was sojourning at the castle of Sennecieres, in Querey. 
 After a rambling statement of fears kindled by the critical 
 position of parties, the viscount gives his opinion on the con- 
 duct which his royal mistress ought to pursue, thus : " In 
 respect to the measures which it appears to me that your 
 Majesty should adopt on this present emergency, it is my 
 advice, that, being tied to a husband, and living under his 
 authority, and being at the same time despoiled of your king- 
 dom, but having present hope of its final restitution, your 
 Majesty should neither act, nor undertake anything whatever, 
 against the will of your said husband, in the matter of religion. 
 Every one is convinced that your Majesty — a most enlightened 
 princess, and virtuously firm in well-doing — follows the Eeform- 
 ed opinions. Such being the fact, it is needless to furnish your 
 enemies with subject and cause for declaration and controversy 
 as heretofore." 2 The viscount de G-ourdon seems to have 
 attached a certain degree of credit to Philip's fallacious pro- 
 mises ; and, consequently, he advises the queen to temporize. 
 Jeanne's spirit, however, could not brook such counsel ; nor 
 vet to make submissive overtures to a prince who had threat- 
 ened her with divorce ; and whose ill-usage had degraded her 
 in the presence of the court. Conde, Coligny, La Eochefou- 
 cauld, and a multitude of brave cavaliers, injured by the shifting 
 politics of the court, looked to her for countenance and sup- 
 port ; and Jeanne vowed in her innermost heart that they 
 should not be disappointed. 
 
 The bloody fray at Vassy, between the retainers of the duke 
 de Guise, and the Huguenots, who were assembled at worship 
 when the duke passed through, with his armed train, had 
 revived the ancient animosities of creed. Antoine refused to 
 listen to the representations of the Protestant ministers, who, 
 headed by Theodore de Beze, proceeded to Paris, to demand 
 justice for the outrage ; declaring, " que qui toucheroit au lout 
 die, cloigt au clue de Guise, son frere; le. toucheroit au corps." 
 
 1 The letter is dated from Pau, in the document preserved in the Biblio- 
 theque Imperiale. But as the queen was undoubtedly sojourning- in Paris 
 during the early part of the year 1562, it is doubtless a fault of transcription. 
 
 2 MS. Bibl. Royale.— Valiant, Portef. ler.— Ined.
 
 154 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 The queen-regent, alarmed at the reconciliation and junction of 
 the king of Navarre with the chiefs of the Romish faction — 
 which destroyed the balance of parties enabling her to dominate 
 over the cabinet — in vain attempted to create a diversion. It is 
 stated, by some historians, that, in order to retain the king of 
 Navarre as chief of the Reformed party, to oppose his influence 
 to that of the duke de Guise, Catherine offered Antoine the 
 hand of her youngest daughter, Marguerite de Valors, the pro- 
 mised bride of his son, the prince of Navarre. This assertion 
 is scarcely deserving of credit, as the king of Navarre was 
 nearly forty-four years of age, and the young princess had not 
 yet accomplished her tenth year. In her perplexity, Catherine 
 had recourse to the queen of Navarre, remembering how entire 
 was once Jeanne's empire over the restless mind of king An- 
 toine. Catherine implored the queen to exert her power over 
 her consort, to induce him to break his fatal alliance with 
 Guise. She recalled to the mind of Jeanne the happiness of 
 the early days of her union with Antoine ; and, with the win- 
 ning argument in which she excelled, Catherine exhorted her 
 to make the most unqualified submission to appease her hus- 
 band's resentment, and to conform, in all things, to his direction, 
 until the dawn of a more propitious day. Jeanne's heart, how- 
 ever, was sore ; the insults she had received left behind a feel- 
 ing of ineffaceable resentment ; and she coldly declined " to 
 hold any communication with the king of Navarre, on the sub- 
 ject of religiou or politics, in which matters they so materially 
 differed." The queen-regent persisted in her remonstrances, 
 and admonished Jeanne to yield, at least, outward conformity 
 to the Romish faith ; and to reconcile herself to the papal en- 
 voys, the cardinals of Ferrara and Ste Croix. Jeanne demand- 
 ed of the queen what step her Majesty, on her conscience, 
 would advise her to take to achieve that desirable end ? 
 Catherine replied, that she counselled her to attend mass, 
 which, in her opinion, was the only remedy by which she could 
 hope to reconcile herself to her husband, and to preserve the 
 principality of Beam for her son. "Madame," exclaimed the 
 queen of Navarre, with passionate vehemence, "if I, at this 
 Aery moment, held my son, and all the kingdoms of the world 
 together, in my grasp, I would hurl them to the bottom of the 
 sea, rather than peril the salvation of my soul." 1 
 
 The king of Navarre finally leagued himself with the trium- 
 virate, and attended mass publicly on Palm Sunday, 1562, ac- 
 companied by the Guises, and his brother the cardinal de 
 Bourbon. The procession passed in solemn pomp through the 
 1 Theodore de Beze, Hist, des Eglises Refbrmees de France, t. i. p. 689
 
 LTFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 155 
 
 streets of Paris, to the church of Ste Genevieve. The con- 
 stable surrounded by a staff of valiant captains rode some little 
 distance in advance of the procession, proclaiming to the as- 
 sembled multitude, " Mes amis, thank God for having rescued 
 you from mighty woes, in sending to your aid the king of Na- 
 varre. You perceive the cordial union which exists between 
 his Majesty and the duke de Guise, and which will serve to 
 maintain you in concord, while serving God and the cause of 
 religion, and will contribute to the glory and exaltation of our 
 king!" 1 
 
 The warlike attitude of parties in Paris created much 
 solicitude in the mind of all true subjects of the king. The 
 hotels de Montmorency and de Guise resembled hostile cita- 
 dels, ready at any instant to pour forth bauds of armed soldiery, 
 and to deluge the streets of Paris with blood. The consort of 
 the constable, Madelaine de Savoye, a woman of dauntless and 
 imperious spirit, incessantly urged her husband to uphold the 
 true faith ; and, if needs be, to wrest from Catherine the power 
 which she seemed inclined to delegate to Conde, and to the ad- 
 miral de Coligny. " Monseigneur, you are the representative 
 of the noblest barony of France. The escutcheon which you 
 have inherited from your ancestors, with its right noble legend, 
 ' Dieu conserve le premier Baron Chretien, 11 indicates to you the 
 part which their example ought to compel you to take for the 
 maintenance of religion. It is your illustrious mission to de- 
 fend the faith with all your power, and to preserve it pure and 
 undefiled. It is for you, Monseigneur, to uphold religion 
 throughout the realm, and to maintain it with the inviolable 
 constancy which your forefathers manifested for the holy Eo- 
 man Church." 2 The duchesse de Yalentinois also addressed 
 urgent supplications to the constable, entreating him to uphold 
 the true faith ; and to aid the princes of Guise in checking the 
 sectarian tendencies of the court. Damville, Montmorency's 
 second son, a prince of fiery and impetuous temper, and a fer- 
 vid partisan of Pome, implored his father to become a second 
 time the saviour of his country. The marechal de Montmo- 
 rency, 3 on the contrary, prudently advised the constable to adopt 
 moderate measures ; to conciliate and persuade the queen-re- 
 gent, rather than attempt to intimidate her ; and to gain the 
 
 1 Lettre du Nonce, Prosper de Ste Croix, au cardinal Borromee. Aymon, 
 Receuil des Actes Synodaux de France. 
 
 - De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, liv. 27. 
 
 3 Francois, the eldest son of the constable de Montmorency and of Made- 
 laine de Savoye, was born at Chantilly in July 1;330. He espoused, in 1550, 
 Diane de France, the legitimated daughter of Henry II., and widow of Horace 
 Farnese, duke de Castro.
 
 15G LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 confidence of the queen of Navarre, as a future means of con- 
 trolling her consort. So suspicious did this sage advice appear 
 to the intolerant duchesse de Montmorency, that fearing lest 
 her sou, the heir of Montmorency, should fall into the toils of 
 the Lutheran party, she quitted Chantilly, and took up her 
 abode with the marechal in his official residence at the Hotel 
 de Ville as governor of Paris, the better to watch his move- 
 ments. " Madame la connetable, the mother of monsieur de 
 Montmorency, suspicious of the latter's intentions, is gone to 
 live with her son, to watch his conduct, and to take care of 
 him. That right noble lady manages in so adroit a way, that 
 she often induces monsieur le marechal to attend with her the 
 sermons of a learned monk of the order of Minimes," approv- 
 ingly wrote the nuncio, Prosper de Ste Croix. 1 
 
 Meanwhile, the most deadly alarm possessed queen Cather- 
 ine, at the unexpected desertion of the king of Navarre. The 
 duke de Guise, at the invitation of Antoine de Bourbon, entered 
 Paris with 3000 horse ; and took every possible opportunity, 
 when in the presence of the two queens, Jeanne and Catherine, 
 to demonstrate his good understanding with that misguided 
 prince. The cardinal de Perrara and the nuncio aggravated 
 by their subtle intrigues the distrust and the perplexity of 
 parties. The ambassador, Chantonnay, demeaned himself in 
 the most insolent manner when in the presence of the regent, 
 openly threatening her with the displeasure of the king of 
 Spain. The queen of Navarre he treated with scornful disre- 
 spect ; and he was heard more than once to menace her with 
 the immediate invasion of her domains in the south, unless 
 she very materially altered her conduct, so as to give satisfaction 
 to king Philip. As some check to the daring interference of 
 this ambassador, Catherine caused the young king to sit at the 
 council-board ; and to be present at the audiences which she 
 granted to foreign ambassadors. One clay, the queen remarked, 
 in reply to some observation that Chantonnay made with his 
 usual freedom, " that the king would not always continue in 
 his minority ; and that those who presumed most now, would 
 then find themselves only his servants and subjects, and very 
 far removed from the power and influence they coveted ; but 
 that she herself should always remain a queen, a mother, and 
 one whose behests would be implicitly obeyed by her children." 
 Addressing the young king, Catherine said, " Is it not so, mon- 
 seigneur ? " " Madame, you may feel very well assured that it 
 is so, and will be so ! " responded Charles, in no very gentle 
 
 1 Lettrc du Nonce, Prosper de Ste Croix, Actes Synodaux de France, t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 157 
 
 accents, with a frowning glance at the audacious Chantonnay. 1 
 Nothing daunted, however, by the menaces of the youthful 
 king, and of his royal mother, the intrigues of Chantonnay and 
 the Italian cardinals at length achieved the expulsion of the 
 great Huguenot chieftains from the court. The king of Na- 
 varre, the blind tool of the Spanish faction, and the nominal, 
 leader of the triumvirate, enforced Philip's mandate with wil- 
 ful obstinacy. The admiral de Coligny, Conde — whose noble 
 bearing throughout these cabals challenged the worship of the 
 Huguenot population of France — the cardinal de Chatillon, 
 d'Andelot, the count de la Rochefoucauld, and the prince de 
 Porcien, retired from court, and sought refuge in the towns of 
 Meaux and Orleans. Catherine, incensed beyond measure, 
 told the intriguing nuncio, " that the princes departed by their 
 own free will from the court, and had her permission to return 
 whenever they deemed it expedient." The ambassador Chan- 
 tonnay directly replied, " in that case, his Catholic Majesty 
 had less to thank the Christian queen for than he had sup- 
 posed ; nevertheless, it mattered not to the king of Spain upon 
 what pretext the admiral and his brothers received their de- 
 mission from court, provided that they did depart." In his 
 next despatch to his royal master, Chantonnay observes, after 
 informing Philip that it was debated in the council of the tri- 
 umvirate whether it would be expedient to interdict the Re- 
 formed ministers from preaching in public : " Monsieur de 
 Yendome has prayed me to mention this circumstance to the 
 Catholic king ; and to supplicate his Majesty to bear in mind 
 the compensation which the said sieur expects from the king."* 2 
 Philip's envoys, meantime, irritated the queen-regent by 
 their malignant insinuations. Catherine's perplexity was ex- 
 treme : Jeanne d'Albret implored her to place herself under 
 the protection of Conde, and to quit Paris for Orleans. The 
 triumvirate affected to hold councils in the palace of the sove- 
 reign, to which Catherine was not admitted. The most violent 
 measures, it was rumoured, were then discussed, r-elative to the 
 two queens, Catherine and Jeanne d'Albret. The Papal and 
 Spanish envoys, in reality, advocated sanguinary expedients to 
 rid themselves of the opposition, which they expected to en- 
 counter from both these princesses. The queen, with her ac- 
 customed daring, being resolved one day to ascertain the sub- 
 ject discussed by the triumvirate with closed doors, caused a 
 tube to be introduced between the wall and the arras hangings 
 
 1 Lettre de l'ambassadeur Chantonnay au roi Catholique. Memoires de 
 Conde, t. ii. p. 23. 
 * Ibid. p. 26.
 
 158 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 of the apartment in which they assembled, so that from the 
 chamber above she could hear their debates. After listening 
 to some factious and treasonable propositions from the duke de 
 Guise and the king of Navarre, Catherine heard the marshal de 
 St Andre propose that the triumvirate should rid themselves 
 of the queen-regent, by causing her to be seized and secretly 
 drowned in the Seine. 1 This atrocious project was combated 
 by the king of Navarre ; who, on the first impulse, generally 
 opined with regard to some principle and honour. This pro- 
 posal was probably not seriously proffered by St Andre, who 
 was a bold and bluff soldier, intemperate, and somewhat jocular in 
 debate ; the menace, however, insph'ed Catherine with such hor- 
 ror, which, added to the tumultuous condition of the capital, deter- 
 mined her to retire precipitately to Fontainebleau with the king. 
 Jeanne d'Albret, therefore, remained alone in the factious 
 capital, exposed to the assaults of her rancorous enemies, the 
 nuncio and the cardinals de Lorraine aud of Ferrara. As soon 
 as the court departed she renewed her demand to be permitted 
 to retire into Beam ; supporting her application on the express 
 sanction given to her project by the queen-regent. Philip 
 and his emissaries, however, were again plotting Jeanne's over- 
 throw : she was alone in the capital, deserted by Conde aud 
 Coligny, who had retired to Orleans ; oppressed by her hus- 
 band ; and ill and sick at heart from the persecution which 
 she endured. At this period Jeanne's life was even in serious 
 jeopardy ; and it was more than once hinted in the councils of 
 the formidable triumvirate, that a well-directed bullet from 
 the arquebuse of one of the fanatics who swarmed in the 
 streets of Paris, would probably save the future effusion of 
 much Catholic blood. It is certain that it was formally pro- 
 posed in the council to arrest Jeanne d'Albret, and detain her 
 as a prisoner of state in one of the fortresses of Prance. The 
 matter was brought before the council, it is surmised, by 
 Chantonnay, the Spanish ambassador. Philip II. hated Jeanne 
 d'Albret, as the protectress of reform, and as the rightful 
 claimant of one of his Spanish crowns. The cowardly Antoine 
 gave his full and voluntary consent to this scheme for the im- 
 prisonment of his noble-minded consort ; and expressed him- 
 self so well pleased at the design, that the cardinal de Lorraine 
 grasped the king's hand, and ironically exclaimed : " Voila, 
 monseigneur, un acte digne de vous ! jDieic vous donne honne 
 vie, et long ue ! " 2 The warrant for the queen's detention was 
 prepared ; but during the time that elapsed, whilst the self-con- 
 
 1 De Thou. Hist, de son Temps. 
 2 Vauvill'ers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 212.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 159 
 
 stituted council debated upon whom the questionable honour 
 of its execution should devolve, Jeanne obtained information 
 of the proceeding. The queen manifested no emotion on learn- 
 ing this fresh instance of ber husband's desertion, and of his 
 collusion with her bitter foes ; " but from that moment," she 
 sadly remarks in one of her letters, written some years after 
 the event, " I closed my heart for ever against the affection 
 which I still cherished for my husband, and devoted its every 
 impulse to perform my duty." 1 
 
 Queen Jeanne notified to Conde the danger to which she 
 was exposed. The secret soon transpired, doubtlessly by de- 
 sign, and the Huguenots of the capital, encouraged by their 
 ministers, gathered tumultuously before the Hotel de Conde, 
 where the queen resided, hoping to protect her against the 
 designs of her enemies. The queen then again firmly demand- 
 ed permission to depart ; and she intimated to her worthless 
 consort, that, whether license were granted to her or not, she 
 intended to quit Paris. Some slight remorse seems, at this 
 period, to have agitated the contemptible Antoine ; Chanton- 
 nay, however, was always at hand — the tempter who stifled 
 misgivings, and who urged him to ruin. He represented that, 
 if affairs remained as now, the king would never receive any 
 indemnity from king Philip ; but, on the contrary, his Majesty 
 would incur the resentment of the Catholic king. It was, 
 nevertheless, unanimously agreed that to arrest the queen of 
 Navarre in the capital, after the turbulent demonstration so 
 recently made in her favour, would be an experiment too 
 hazardous to attempt. Jeanne's enemies, therefore, came to 
 the conclusion, to execute their design at Yendome, in which 
 town the queen would sojourn on her journey homewards. 
 The triumvirate committed a grave error in permitting the 
 queen of Navarre to quit the capital. Jeanne's energies re- 
 vived, when she found herself free : her friends were numerous ; 
 and Conde, with several thousand troops, held possession of 
 Orleans. Had the Guises persisted, with unwavering courage, 
 in commanding her arrest, the Eoman Catholic faction would 
 have effected a comparatively easy and bloodless triumph. 
 
 Queen Jeanne quitted Paris about the beginning of April, 
 15G2, accompanied by her daughter madame Catherine, and 
 escorted by a numerous and imposing troop of horsemen. 
 Before her departure, Jeanne visited her son at St Germain, 
 where it was the will of Antoine de Bourbon that Henry 
 should reside, under the care of Vincent Lauro ; who had been 
 
 1 Vauvilliers. Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 212.
 
 160 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 recently nominated as governor to the young prince, in the 
 room of La Gaucherie, and the other professors appointed by 
 the queen. This had been a deep grievance to Jeanne ; and 
 in vain she remonstrated against the nomination of the in- 
 triguing Lauro, to be the prince's preceptor. The king of Na- 
 varre, nevertheless, by the advice of the Jesuit Lainez, persisted 
 in his design. The young prince was greatly afflicted at his 
 approaching separation from his mother ; the queen wept bit- 
 terly, as she clasped the prince in her arms, and besought him 
 never to forget her counsels, amidst the distractions of the 
 court. After a brief interval, queen Jeanne dried her tears ; 
 then, taking her son by the hand, she earnestly and aifection- 
 ately forbad him to attend mass ; she added thereto a threat, 
 that if the prince disobeyed her command, she would disinherit 
 him, and refuse longer to own him for her son. 1 
 
 The following day, Jeanne took leave of her husband. 
 Her parting from him was melancholy : with the eloquence of 
 which she was mistress, the queen besought Antoine to abjure 
 his connection with the Guise faction ; to return to her, and 
 to his allegiance to Catherine, whose good faith Jeanne does 
 not seem to doubt. The king made an evasive reply ; the 
 royal pair, once so fondly attached, then separated to meet no 
 more. 
 
 It appears that the queen did not suspect the design of the 
 council, for her arrest at Vendome, until after she quitted 
 Paris. She rested, the first night, at Olivet ; Theodore de 
 Beze here met the queen, bringing letters sent by Catherine to 
 Conde, and which Jeanne was requested to deliver to the 
 prince in person. 
 
 The following day, Jeanne continued her journey with 
 great despatch. She reached Vendome about the 14th of May, 
 The queen took up her abode in the chateau of her husband's 
 ancestors, intending to make a brief sojourn there to recruit 
 her strength, which was much exhausted. It was at this place 
 that peril awaited queen Jeanne from the machinations of the 
 council. The king of Navarre was aware that his consort in- 
 tended to repose at Vendome ; accordingly secret instructions 
 had been forwarded to the authorities of the town to prevent 
 the queen from continuing her journey. This danger Jeanne 
 escaped only by the sudden and lawless descent of a body of 
 four hundred mercenary troops upon the town of Vendome, 
 for the purpose of pillage. As these troops were on their way 
 to reinforce the garrison of Orleans, Jeanne forbade that their 
 
 1 Negociations d'Hippolvte d'Estt', cardinal de Ferrara, p. 136.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 161 
 
 entrance into the town should be opposed. No sooner, how- 
 ever, were these fierce marauders admitted, than they formed 
 themselves into bands, and paraded the town, pillaging the 
 houses of the inhabitants, and slaughtering all who opposed 
 them. They entered the cathedral, and overthrew the altar, 
 breaking the images of saints, and otherwise mutilating the 
 sacred edifice. Even the monumental effigies of the ancient 
 counts de Vendome were destroyed by these ruthless soldiers ; 
 who, moreover, smashed the stained glass windows of the 
 splendid sepulchral chapel of Vendoine. Jeanne does not ap- 
 pear to have made any effort to appease the tumult. She 
 was suffering from indisposition, and probably was too pros- 
 trated in mind to be capable of exertion. It is possible, more- 
 over, that these troops may have been sent by Conde to cover 
 Jeanne's retreat from Vendome ; he having obtained inform- 
 ation of the plot against her liberty : certain is it, however, 
 that they offered the queen neither insult nor molestation ; 
 but remained in possession of the town until Jeanne had taken 
 her departure thence. The ambassador Chantonnay, amidst 
 other choice morsels collected for the special enlightenment of 
 his royal master, king Philip, says, " whilst madame de Ven- 
 dome was sojourning in Vendome, a body of four hundred 
 horsemen made a descent on that town. Madame de Vendome 
 forbad any one to oppose them, saying, ' that she would not 
 have them harassed ; but that she herself would so control 
 them, that they should commit no ravage.' Nevertheless, as 
 soon as these lawless marauders entered the town they dese- 
 crated the churches, and especially the monastery where that 
 sacred relic the Holy Tear is deposited, and drove away the 
 priests and monks : after having pillaged everything they 
 could lay their hands upon, they took their departure. I be- 
 lieve, however, that this enterprise was executed without the 
 sanction or knowledge of the said dame de Vendome." 1 
 
 From Vendome, queen Jeanne continued her journey to 
 Chatellerault. Here she remained one night an inmate of the 
 lordly castle appertaining to her consort. On the morrow 
 she proceeded to Duras. Jeanne was received with great 
 magnificence by M. de Duras, who was one of the most re- 
 nowned of the Huguenot chieftains. After her arrival at the 
 castle of Duras the indisposition of the queen increased ; and 
 worn out by anxiety, Jeanne took to her bed on the following 
 day. The queen was still suffering from sickness when she re- 
 ceived a visit from one M. de Eemy, who came to Duras to 
 
 1 Lettre de M. de Chantonnay au roi Catholique, Mem. de Conde, t. ii. 
 Journal de Brulart. ,-,
 
 1G2 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 represent to her Majesty the lamentable condition of the Pro- 
 testant population of Guyenne, of which province the king of 
 Navarre was governor ; and to supplicate the queen to inter- 
 cede in their behalf with king Antoine and his lieutenant de 
 Burie. The count de Burie had been a staunch friend of 
 Jeanne's mother, queen Marguerite. Jeanne readily promised 
 her intercession, and despatched a messenger to de Burie, 
 with whom she was on terms of amity. The count, who bore 
 Jeanne reverential respect, readily promised to comply with 
 her request, as far as his orders permitted him freedom of 
 option. He also sent a private message to the queen, enjoin- 
 ing her not to bestow her public patronage upon the Hugue- 
 nots, after her arrival in Beam ; as, in case she adopted so 
 imprudent a step, he had received formal instructions from 
 the government not to oppose the entrance of Spanish troops 
 into her principality. 1 
 
 All the Protestant leaders of the province of Guyenne, 
 meantime, had risen to arms ; and the capture of Orleans by 
 Conde was the signal for a general insurrection. The marsha. 
 de Montluc, commissioned by the government to suppress the 
 rebellion, executed his commission with unrelenting cruelty. 
 Montluc, who was the elder brother of the pious and eloquent 
 bishop of Valence, a favourer of the Reformation, was, on the 
 contrary, the fiery champion of Rome : the marshal's renown 
 as a soldier was great ; though Montluc and the marshal de 
 Tavannes had the repute of being the most ferocious and san- 
 guinary generals in the king's service. 
 
 Jeanne listened in sorrowful concern to the report brought 
 to her of the persecutions endured by the Huguenot popula- 
 tion of Guyenne, and of the indiscriminate slaughter by which 
 their risings were avenged ; and she resolved to despatch Bar- 
 baut her secretary, to remonstrate with Montluc, and to re- 
 quest him to suspend the executions ; pi'omising to accomplish 
 the pacification of the country herself, with the aid of de Burie. 
 Barbaut found Montluc at Calonge, on his way to succour 
 Bordeaux, then menaced by a party of Huguenot troops under 
 the count de Duras. Montluc, however, turned a deaf ear to 
 the queen's expostulation, for his savage disposition delighted 
 in bloodshed. " When the Huguenots heard my name men- 
 tioned they fancied that the executioner was at their back ; 
 and consequently they gave me the name of le tiran, ,, ' i writes 
 the marshal himself, with much complacency, in his celebrated 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret. Mem. du marechal de Montluc. 
 
 2 Commentaires de Messire Blaise de Montluc, marechal de France, liv. 
 3eme.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 163 
 
 Commentaries. Montluc was not to be diverted from his en- 
 terprise on Bordeaux by the remonstrances of Jeanne's secre- 
 tary. He, however, consented to despatch two gentlemen to 
 confer with the queen at Duras, and to hear from her own lips 
 the remedy which she proposed to adopt for the pacification of 
 the province. This apparent concession on the part of Mont- 
 luc, who continued his march upon Bordeaux without abate- 
 ment of speed, was merely a feint to amuse the queen, so that 
 she might fall an easier victim to the snare he had laid for her. 
 The marshal had received a command from Antoine de Bour- 
 bon, and his colleagues of the triumvirate, to arrest the queen 
 and to escort her back to Paris ; but above all, he was directed 
 carefully to intercept her passage, so that she might not cross 
 the frontier into Beam. 
 
 Jeanne continued ill at Duras whilst her secretary Avas 
 absent. During a skirmish in the neighbourhood, between 
 some of M. de Duras' troopers and a party of Montluc's levies, 
 the count de Candale 1 was taken prisoner, on his way from 
 Bordeaux to Cadillac. By command of Duras, Candale was 
 presented to queen Jeanne as her prisoner, by his captors. 
 The count was the son-in-law of the constable de Montmorency ; 
 so that Jeanne, if she felt disposed, might have avenged the 
 slights she had recently received from the constable and his 
 consort, by commanding the detention of her prisoner. Instead 
 of which she instantly gave him his liberty ; after first de- 
 manding and receiving a promise from the count, who was her 
 own near relative, that he would not in future bear arms 
 against the Huguenots. Candale promised all that was asked 
 of him, intending to perform nothing; and with the perfidious 
 intent of going over again to the enemy, when Montluc's bands 
 approached Duras — a design which he successfully accom- 
 plished. 2 
 
 Prom Duras, queen Jeanne proceeded to Caumont, where 
 she was received by M de Clerac, brother of the great Protest- 
 ant chieftain, Cauinont de la Force. Montluc's ambassadors 
 
 i Henri de Foix, count de Candale, dc Beranges et d'Astarac, Captal de 
 Buch, chevalier de l'Ordre du Roi. He married Marie de Montmorency, 
 fourth daughter of the constable, Anne de Montmorency. The count left one 
 daughter, Marguerite, heiress of the princely house of Candale, Captal de 
 Buch, who married Louis de la Valette, duke d'Epernon. The count de 
 Candale died in 1573. 
 
 2 " Mons. le comte," says the marshal in his memoirs, " related to me the 
 promise he had made, for otherwise he could not have escaped out of their hands. 
 I told him that M. de Bordeaux should grant him absolution. After all, that 
 promise could not bind him, as the count was not a prisoner of war ; besides, 
 the promise had been given to the queen of Navarre, who styled herself the 
 very humble servant of our king, and very loyal to render his Majesty service."
 
 1G4 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 followed her thither, but before their arrival, Jeanne received 
 the important advice from the count de Duras, that Montluc, 
 with the army under his command, was advancing rapidly upon 
 Caumont, in the hope of surprising the castle, and taking her 
 prisoner. The feeble condition of her health had induced the 
 queen to travel by slow stages after she quitted Yendome ; for 
 Jeanne fully appreciated the sorrowful fact that there was no 
 safe abiding place for her in the kingdom over which her royal 
 consort nominally ruled. The queen had taken the precaution 
 of despatching a missive addressed to the barons d'Arros and 
 d'Audaux, commanding them to meet her on the banks of the 
 Garonne with a force sufficiently strong to protect her retreat 
 into Beam. "When Jeanne, therefore, received intelligence of 
 the advance of Montluc, ill as she was, she rose from her bed, 
 and taking to horse, she made rapidly for the frontier, protected 
 by a small troop of the loyal retainers of Caumont. Fortun- 
 ately for the queen, her mandate had been well and promptly 
 obeyed by the gallant seneschal of Beam. The cavalry, eight 
 hundred strong, headed by the brave d'Audaux, met the queen 
 and her slender escort as she was flying towards the frontier. 
 The blast of Montluc's trumpets was distinctly audible as the 
 gallant troop closed round their sovereign : and by the time 
 that Jeanne found herself in safety within her hereditary prin- 
 cipality, the marshal's standard was floating above the tower 
 of Caumont. "Thus we came to the chateau de Caumont," 
 relates Montluc in his Commentaries.' "Heaven only knows the 
 grudge the queen of Navarre afterwards bore me, and how she 
 reviled me, calling me tyrant, and every other sorry epithet she 
 could think of; but she was a woman, and therefore enjoyed 
 immunity from personal combat," adds the marshal, with ap- 
 parent regret. Montluc continued Jeanne's bitter enemy ; and 
 solicited permission to pursue her to her own capital at Pau ; 
 uttering, at the same time, a threat, that to subdue her haughty 
 spirit he would there have recourse to so atrocious an ex- 
 pedient, as demonstrates both the violence and profligacy of his 
 character, and the license of the times which permitted of so 
 treasonable a boast without consigning the offender to well- 
 merited chastisement. " God, however, preserved the queen 
 of Navarre to become the prop of our France ! " says the his- 
 torian who records the incident. 2 
 
 From Fontainebleau, during this interval, the queen regent 
 had addressed her celebrated series of letters to Conde ; in 
 which she implored him to take up arms in behalf of "the 
 
 1 Livre oeme. 2 Hist, des Cir.q Roys, p. 218.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALIJRET. 1G5 
 
 mother and her children," and not to disarm until her enemies 
 and those of the kingdom should be subdued. " Mon cousin, 
 be assured that I will never forget what you do for me. If I die 
 before having the means of acknowledging your services, I will 
 leave behind me a memorandum to that effect, for my children's 
 guidance." l In these letters, Catherine undeniably authorizes 
 Conde to arm for her rescue from the tutelage of the triumvir- 
 ate. These famous epistles, which transfer to the queen the 
 responsibility of placing weapons in Conde's hands, and, by 
 this act, of having sanctioned the bloody war which ensued, 
 were perused by every cabinet in Europe ; and were even sub- 
 mitted to the judgment of the German Diet. So general was 
 the impression that Conde, as a true and good subject, could 
 not have refused obedience to the summons of the regent, and 
 had not, therefore, been guilty of rebellion, that Catherine 
 found herself compelled to publish an explanation of what her 
 words did really signify ; as she afterwards peremptorily 
 denied the interpretation everywhere given. The gloss which 
 Catherine was pleased to assign to her letters, when she no 
 longer needed Conde's services, is quite at variance with the 
 words she there uses ; so that, if the queen's statements are to 
 be credited, the text of her epistles to Conde can only be re- 
 garded as a clever cypher, to be accepted in sense contrary to 
 the usual meaning of the language employed. 
 
 Soon after Jeanne's departure from Paris, the king of Na- 
 varre and the Guises, at the suggestion of the nuncio, to whom 
 Catherine had imprudently avowed her intention of proceeding 
 to Orleans, set out for Fontainebleau ; and, despite the regent's 
 opposition, they compelled her, with the king, to return to the 
 capital. 2 The politic Catherine, though almost beside herself 
 with consternation, managed affairs with her accustomed ability. 
 She lavished more than ordinary favour on the king of Na- 
 varre and the Guises, whilst she continued her importunity to 
 Conde, " to deliver the king from the power of messieurs de 
 Guise, who held his Majesty a captive." The valiant Conde 
 promptly obeyed the mandate. Manifestoes were published 
 by the Huguenot chieftains, summoning all loyal subjects to 
 join their standard, and rescue their sovereign from the princes 
 of Lorraine. Copies of the queen-regent's letters were for- 
 warded to the Protestant electors of Germany ; and levies of 
 troops were made throughout the Germanic states. Conde 
 remained at Orleans, which he garrisoned with two thousand 
 eight hundred men. The queen of Navarre, after her return 
 
 1 Lettre de Catherine de Medici au prince de Conde, Mem. de Conde, t. ii. 
 
 2 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau. Mem. de Tavannes. De Thou.
 
 166 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 iuto Beam, despatched the count de Grammcmt to the prince, 
 with a body of six thousand Gascon troops, " all old and 
 choice soldiers," says Brantome, " veterans who had weathered 
 many a Spanish campaign." This important reinforcement en- 
 abled Conde to take the field in equal force to his opponents. 
 "When Antoine de Bourbon was apprized of this proceeding on 
 the part of his consort, his fury surpassed bounds; and, pro- 
 bably, queen Jeanne might have witnessed the advance of the 
 terrible Montluc and his legions upon her capital, had not the 
 lukewarm countenance which the queen-regent afforded to the 
 mandates of the triumvirate held them somewhat in restraint. 
 Though Antoine and his colleagues threatened and oppressed 
 queen Catherine, they lived in constant dread of her intrigues. 
 Catherine had succeeded in inspiring them with so unfeigned a 
 fear of her powers of dissimulation, that they would willingly 
 have resigned into her hands the authority so violently usurped, 
 provided that they could satisfy themselves that the queen had 
 forgiven their rebellion, and that she was prepared to maintain 
 the Romish faith. 
 
 Rapid triumphs attended the arms of Conde. Ere three 
 months elapsed, the Huguenots were in possession of the towns 
 of Orleans, Bourges, Blois, Tours, Pont de Ce, Poitiers, La 
 Rochelle, Agen, Montauban, Castres, Montpellier, Beziers, 
 Nimes, Tournon, Lyons, Valence, Rouen, Havre de Grace, 
 Dieppe, Caen, Bayeux, and eight other places of smaller note ; 
 "so that," says Brantome, " when any one inquired what towns 
 the Huguenots had reduced, the - reply was, " you should rather 
 inquire the names of the places which they do not hold." 
 
 The extremity to which Prance was reduced, by the double- 
 dealing of her rulers, and the conflict of faction, is detailed, in 
 a highly interesting and important letter, written by a con- 
 fidential secretary of Catherine's, and addressed to the bishop 
 of Limoges, the Prench ambassador in Spain — a document 
 hitherto iuedited. 
 
 The king of Navarre is mentioned in this despatch under 
 the contemptuous soubriquet of " V Eschangeur" so little was 
 Antoine respected, or confided in, by the Roman Catholic party. 
 " AVhen Lutaine quitted this, we were involved in troubles, of 
 which he has doubtless given you account," writes the queen's 
 scribe to de l'Aubespine. 2 " Since which, nevertheless, Blois, 
 Tours, Angers, le Mans, Rouen, Lyons, and an infinite number 
 of other places have deserted our cause ; so that the king is no 
 longer obeyed — or at least, what is written from hence, is not 
 regarded by the prince; who states that he does everything 
 
 l MS. Bibl. Royale.— Iuedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 167 
 
 for the king's service, and that those around his Majesty, and 
 the Queen-mother, detain them as prisoners. In every town 
 the greatest licence prevails. All the churches are ruined, and 
 the churchmen driven away. Amidst this desolation, I leave 
 you to imagine the murders, pillage, and violence committed. 
 They (the Huguenots) hold the hanks of the river from Nevers 
 to Xantes ; so that not a soul do they suffer to pass without 
 searching and rifling his person, seizing his letters, and detain- 
 ing the king's moneys. The inhabitants of the towns have 
 no liberty of egress ; nor can they take from their homes so 
 much as' a single shirt; so that it may be said, that we have 
 fallen into the most pitiable and lamentable condition. The 
 queen-mother does all in her power to tranquillize affairs ; but 
 I know that it must be all in vain. One faction insists on estab- 
 lishing a new religion-; the other defends and maintains the 
 old by fire and sword, at the expense of the king's poor sub- 
 jects, and the ruin of the kingdom ; and all through the counsels 
 of that fine league, 1 the details of which we have before dis- 
 cussed. Your Chantonnay and the legate have stirred these 
 troubles ; so that, between them, we are reduced to go bare- 
 footed, and are so under the sway of our passions, as even to 
 think of introducing strange troops into our kingdom. L'Es- 
 changeur, and those of his train, said lately to the said Chan- 
 tonnav, that his Catholic Majesty must succour us by sending 
 10,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry' to our aid. He even pressed 
 the said ambassador to write and procure these troops from 
 Flanders. Chantonnay replied, ' that such an order must 
 proceed straight from Spain.' The queen-mother is mad with 
 rage, perceiving that the kingdom is partly lost. She knows 
 not what security she can take for herself and her children ; 
 for she can expect nothing from the party in the asctudant, 
 except that they will attempt to impose law upon her and the 
 kingdom, a thing which she believes appertains only to her son. 
 V ' Eschangeur understands nothing and perceives nothing ; it 
 is not possible for any man to conduct himself worse than he 
 does. He knows not to what saint to vow himself; and in 
 these negotiations he is turned by every wind. The said prince 
 de Conde is at the head of from '7000 to 8000 horse ; and such 
 is the disposition here, that without the great favour of God, it 
 will not be long before we come to a hard encounter." 
 
 In this curious missive, Mary Stuart is alluded to as " Je 
 gentilhomme ; " and the Guises as " Jes parents du gentil- 
 homme;" and the writer states, " qu'ils gastent tout par leur 
 obstination." He then continues to inform the bishop that 
 
 1 The League of Peronne.
 
 1<38 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 a cabinet courier, named Carbonnieres, had been arrested 
 by the admiral de Coligny, near to Orleans ; when, in the 
 packet of letters addressed to the bishop of Limoges, they found 
 the copy of a letter written by that bishop to a person whose 
 name is illegible, " dont Us ont fait leur clioux gras pour y avoir 
 trouve des nouvelles de VEschangeur." Catherine's secretary 
 continues his gossiping despatch by giving a recital of the 
 froward and unstatesmanlike manner in which the king of 
 Navarre demeaned himself. He says, " the said V Eschanr/eur has 
 not seen the letter written by you, and intercepted at Orleans ; 
 for its perusal would only have embittered his temper ; as it 
 indeed happened, when Chantonnay told him that you had 
 said to his Catholic Majesty, he was growing insolent, though 
 he pretends not to show his displeasure. I know that this 
 said ambassador couceals nothing from VEschangeur, nor V Es- 
 changeur from the ambassador. To-day, when the matter was 
 debated, whether we should accept from his Catholic Majesty 
 the said 10,000 men and 3000 horse, the queen said, that to 
 do so would be to proclaim the Catholic king, king of France. 
 Incontinently, the said Eschangenr departed straight, and re- 
 ported the queen's words to Chantonnay, at which the queen- 
 mother feels annoyed ; doubting not that the said ambassador 
 will transmit her observation to his Majesty." 
 
 Antoine's political and religious apostasy was satirized in 
 ballads and lampoons innumerable. Every weakness was ridi- 
 culed : and his shameful treatment of his consort elicited keen 
 traits of satire. Mademoiselle de Eouet shared the king's un- 
 enviable notoriety ; and her name was posted with his in scan- 
 dalous publicity, from one end of France to the other. In a 
 song, composed by the Huguenot troopers of Conde's army, 
 and sung in the streets of Orleans, amongst other comparisons, 
 Antoine was likened to Julian the Apostate ; and the refrain 
 and chorus of each verse of the sonnet was " Caillette qui tourne 
 sajaquette ! " — Caillette being a favourite epithet for the king of 
 Navarre, whose capricious veerings, from Koine to Calvin, from 
 Calvin to Luther, and back again, as a very devoted son of the 
 holy Roman church, challenged mocking irony.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. I 69 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 1.562—1563. 
 
 Position of the queen of Navarre after her return into Beam — Jeanne makes 
 her entry into Pau — Progress of the Reformation in Beam — Illness of the 
 prince of Navarre — Letter of queen Jeanne to Catherine de Medici — The 
 parliament of Paris decrees the penalties of treason to the Huguenot leaders 
 — The prince de Conde is exempted therefrom — Queen Jeanne publishes 
 letters patent, permitting the exercise of the reformed faith throughout her 
 dominions — She augments the fortifications of Beam — Anger of Antoine 
 de Bourbon — He despatches his secretary, Boulogne, into Beam — -Boulogne's 
 errand — The queen orders Boulogne's arrest and imprisonment — The name 
 of the king of Navarre is omitted in the prayers used by the reformed 
 churches — Queen Jeanne remonstrates against this omission — Reply sent to 
 the queen by Theodore de Beze — The king of Navarre is wounded at the 
 siege of Rouen — Particulars relating to his illness and death — His funeral 
 obsequies — Grief of the queen- — She retires to Orthez — Receives letters of 
 condolence from the prince and princess de Conde and others — Jeanne no- 
 minates the viscount de Rohan to be lieutenant-general of Beam — She issues 
 a medal — Battle of Dreux — Submission of the towns captured by the Hugue- 
 nots to the government — Siege of Orleans — Assassination of the duke de 
 Guise — The admiral de Coligny is accused of the crime — His defence — Anec- 
 dote of Queen Jeanne — The king of Spain nominates an ambassador to the 
 court of Pau — His mission — Proposes an alliance between Jeanne d'Albret 
 and Don Carlos, prince of the Asturias, or with Don John of Austria — De- 
 portment of the queen — Correspondence of the Spanish envoys — The queen 
 issues letters-patent interdicting the Romish faith throughout her domin- 
 ions—She confiscates the temporalities of the clergy — She bums the images, 
 and confiscates the treasures at Lescar — Correspondence of the ambassador 
 d'Eseurra, with Philip's secretary of state, Errasso — Tumults at Lescar and 
 Morlas — -Interview of queen Jeanne with Escurra — Details of the audience — 
 Queen Jeanne sends to Geneva for the minister Merlin — Her letter to Jan- 
 sana— The bishop of Lescar is reprimanded by the cardinal d'Armagnac — ■ 
 His letter to the queen of Navarre — Its effect — Jeanne's reply — Designs of 
 king Philip and the pope respecting the queen of Navarre. 
 
 The life of Jeanne d'Albret after her return from the 
 court of Trance took a new and higher development. Prom 
 this period her career of fame commences. The difficulties 
 which she had to encounter were sufficient to paralyse a spirit 
 undaunted even as her own. When she returned to assume 
 the government of her hereditary principality, Jeanne possessed 
 not a single friend from whom she could seek succour and 
 counsel. Her husband had become her bitter persecutor ; and 
 she was deprived of her son. Catherine de Medici, who, for 
 the sake of the power which she then believed Jeanne exercised 
 over the mind of Antoine de Bourbon, had once conciliated 
 and flattered, now treated her with disdain ; and repeatedly 
 sent the queen word that if she wished to retain the favour of
 
 170 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 king Charles, she must conform to the religion recognised at 
 court. The perseverance shown by Jeanne in the faith which 
 she had deliberately accepted, became a tacit reproach to Ca- 
 therine for her own convenient latitude in religious matters. 
 The queen-regent abhorred a character at once consistent and 
 open ; it was an anomaly which she could not fathom, but which, 
 nevertheless, she persecuted with rancour. Queen Jeanne's 
 frankness of speech disconcerted the astute Catherine ; and sen- 
 timents, which the queen intended to veil amid the flowery 
 mazes of rhetoric, were frequently brought to a premature reve- 
 lation by some apt comment or word from the lips of the 
 queen of Navarre. 
 
 When Jeanne retired into Beam, the marshal de Montluc, 
 with an army animated with fanatical animosity against the so- 
 called sectarians, hovered on the French frontier of her do- 
 minions ; on the Spanish border the duke de Albuquerque, 
 viceroy of Navarre, commanded a formidable body of troops — 
 veterans of the renowned armies of Charles V., who all had sig- 
 nalized their zeal against heresy during the religious warfare in 
 Germany. These armies waited but a word from the monarchs 
 of France and Spain to cross the frontiers, and to wrest from 
 Jeanne the sovereignty of Beam. To render the queen's po- 
 sition, at this period, even more critical, pope Pius IV. menaced 
 her dominions with interdict ; while her name appeared on the 
 rolls of those cited before the terrible tribunal of the Inquisition. 
 The inhabitants of Beam, faithful to their princes, and devoted 
 to their reformed ritual, welcomed the queen with rapture ; 
 religious feuds, however, desolated Jeanne's sovereignty of 
 Lower Navarre, where the Bomish faith was dominant ; and 
 the disaffection of a portion of her subjects considerably aug- 
 mented the queen's peril. 
 
 The courageous heart of queen Jeanne rose as she contem- 
 plated the dangers which beset her. Persecution, instead of 
 inducing her to relinquish the religion which she had adopted 
 by choice, and by conviction, rendered her only the more sted- 
 fast in upholding the doctrines of Beform. While Philip of 
 Spain and the princes of Guise strove to crush the Beformation 
 by sanguinary edicts, and by overpowering armies, Jeanne 
 gloried in beholding the pre-eminence which the pure ritual 
 she professed had obtained over the kingdoms of Europe. 
 England, Denmark, Sweden, a considerable number of the 
 states of Germany, and of the Low Countries, had thrown off 
 the yoke of Borne. The victorious arms of the gallant Conde 
 appeared on the verge of rescuing France also from the thral- 
 dom of the Papacy. With enthusiasm, Jeanne recalled the
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 171 
 
 firmness displayed by her mother queen Marguerite, in the 
 cause of religion : the first princess of any royal house, who 
 embraced the principles of the Reformation, Marguerite had 
 courageously encountered the persecutions of the Sorbonne and 
 the universities ; and that at a period when doubt, and a linger- 
 ing reverence for the ancient forms, reigned in the minds of 
 even the promulgators of the " new doctrines " themselves. In- 
 spired with laudable emulation, queen Jeanne resolved not to 
 forsake the faith she deemed to be truth, when the example set 
 by that revered mother had brought forth so noble a return ; 
 and while many princes rendered homage to the belief, which 
 Marguerite, once the only one of her royal order, had professed. 
 To Elizabeth, queen of England, the Protestants of the conti- 
 nent looked for support, succour, and counsel. The power of 
 Philip II. was, at this period, and for many subsequent years, 
 almost supreme over continental Europe. By matrimonial 
 alliances, or by the ties of kindred, he dominated, as his Im- 
 perial father had before done, over the cabinets of the civilized 
 world. 
 
 The sixteenth century is pre-eminently the era presenting 
 the most dazzling combination of female regal talent ; these 
 fair rulers, however, Philip appears to have taken malicious 
 pleasure in discomfiting, or in tyrannizing over, did they hap- 
 pen to hold delegated authority from the crown of Spain. In 
 England, Elizabeth reigned with glory ; the only sovereign of 
 Europe who successfully defied Philip's thraldrom. In France, 
 Catherine de Medici wielded her son's sceptre ; but, at this 
 period, more as the viceroy of king Philip, than as an inde- 
 pendent sovereign. In the Low Countries, Marguerite duchess 
 of Parma, Philip's illegitimate sister, administered that sove- 
 reignty with able rule. Portugal was governed with consum- 
 mate ability by the dowager-queen, Catherine, sister of the 
 emperor, and aunt of king Philip, as regent for her grandson, 
 Sebastian I. Jeanne d'Albret ranked in power as the fifth 
 sovereign-princess of Europe ; though, perhaps, not one of her 
 crowned sisterhood had to contend with foes so overwhelming, 
 or with difficulties apparently so insurmountable, as herself. 
 The heartless treatment which Jeanne experienced, and the 
 perils that she had so narrowly escaped, admonished her that 
 her safety, and her sovereign dignity, depended upon her own 
 able conduct. She thenceforth devoted herself with enthu- 
 siasm to the high mission which she believed was assigned to 
 her. In her desolation, the queen looked for comfort from the 
 ministers of her religion : the stern asceticism of their doctrines 
 fell with consoling power upon her spirit. The joys and the
 
 172 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 amenities of life seemed to hold no place in the struggle before 
 her; and by self-denial and rigid discipline, the queen prepared 
 herself for the arduous future. The contrast between the 
 destinies of Marguerite d' Angouleme and those of her daugh- 
 ter cannot fail to inspire wonder. The one, cradled from her 
 birth in the luxury and splendour of the most magnificent court 
 of Europe ; prosperous, and revered by courtiers and men of 
 letters ; omnipotent, almost, in her influence over the sovereign 
 — beautiful, gracious, and fascinating. The other, oppressed, 
 and deserted by her nearest kindred ; maintaining her rank by 
 invincible strength of character ; stern, of austere morals and 
 carriage, and rigidly devout in religious matters. Yet the 
 character of each of these princesses was adapted to the exigen- 
 cies of her destiny : Jeanne was born to command ; to become 
 the life and support of a powerful faction ; and to lead, with a 
 tenacity of purpose and of intellect which disdained the very 
 notion of failure. Marguerite, with her literary gifts and 
 persuasive eloquence, often stood in the character of a media- 
 tor between her brother and his people : " She won all hearts," 
 says Brantome, " by her most gracious speech." 
 
 The martial spirit of her ancestress Catherine d' Albret, 1 and 
 the political capacity of her grandmother Louise de Savoye, 
 seem to have united in Jeanne's character. On all points, she 
 bore a closer resemblance to the duchess d' Angouleme than to 
 her brilliant and gifted mother. The early training of her 
 youthful years had not been without pernicious effect on the 
 softer traits of her character. After her marriage, the miser- 
 able vacillation displayed by the husband of her choice, roused 
 the spirit of peremptory command in Jeanne's bosom, which 
 under happier auspices might, perhaps, have slumbered. An- 
 toine de Bourbon had finally wounded and outraged her feel- 
 ings as a wife, a mother, and a sovereign princess : for such 
 offence Jeanne deemed that there could be no forgiveness on 
 her part ; and in measure as the king of Navarre pledged him- 
 self more positively to the Spanish faction, the queen, to de- 
 monstrate her disapprobation, daily lavished signal marks of 
 favour on the cause of Beform. " To obtain for all men liberty 
 of conscience, I am minded to do good battle, and not to relax 
 my efforts. The cause is so holy and sacred, that I believe God 
 will strengthen me by his mighty power ; and although I may 
 
 1 Catherine de Foix, queen of Navarre on the decease of her brother, king 
 Gaston Phoebus, was the daughter and eventually sole heiress of Gaston, 
 prince of Viana, and of Madelaine, sister of Louis XI. king of France. Ca- 
 therine was born in 1469 : she married Jean d' Albret in 1494, and became the 
 mother of Henry, king of Navarre, father of Jeanne d'Albret, in 1503 
 Queen Catherine died at Mont de Marsan, a.d. 1516, at the age of 47.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 173 
 
 not at once avow my full and entire sentiments, I will conduct 
 myself with such dexterous energy, so as greatly to aid by my 
 endeavours the common cause, to the glory of the Eternal", and 
 the public weal ; for it is high time to quit the land of Egypt, to 
 traverse the Bed Sea, and to rescue the church of Christ from 
 amid the ruins of that throne of all pride, unclean Babylon ! " 
 wrote Jeanne, to ber friend and adviser, the viscount deGrourdon. 1 
 
 Surrounded by a troop of valiant men-at-arms, queen Jeanne 
 made her triumphant entry into the castle of Pau. There, 
 under the shadow of the princely banners of Navarre and 
 Beam, the queen recovered her health ; and applied berself 
 with unwearied perseverance to promote the pacification of Low- 
 er Navarre ; and to suppress the tumultuous assemblies which 
 aggravated popular discontent. The Huguenots of Gruyenne 
 and Languedoc maintained their defiant attitude; while the 
 king's lieutenants, Montluc and de Burie, still perpetrated appal- 
 ling massacres ; but despite their cruel zeal, the cause of reform 
 flourished. Numbers of the persecuted escaped over the 
 frontiers, and sought refuge for their lives in Beam. Jeanne 
 gave them compassionate welcome ; she furnished them with 
 food and with every necessary comfort at her sole expense ; and 
 she, moreover, assured the refugees of her protection, though, 
 as she well knew, at great risk to the safety of her dominions. 
 
 Soon after Jeanne's arrival at Pau, Catherine de Medici 
 addressed a letter to her, praying the queen to use her influence 
 over Conde, to induce him to lay down arms, and to accept the 
 propositions which, in conjunction with the Guises, aud the 
 king of Navarre, she was preparing to tender. Civil war now 
 desolated every province of the kingdom. The Protestant 
 population of Erance, so easily intimidated during the reign of 
 Erancis I., and so obedient to the smallest indication vouchsafed 
 to them by their former patroness, Marguerite d'Angouleme, now 
 boldly demanded toleration ; and permission to erect churches, 
 wherever the prevalence of their opinions rendered a place con- 
 secrated for worship desirable. The vacillating policy pursued 
 by the government, in its issue of edicts and counter-edicts, 2 — 
 
 ' Lettre de Jeanne d'Albret, au viscomte de Gourdon. MS. Bibl. Roy. 
 Valiant, Portef. i. p. 294.— Inedited. 
 
 2 The edict of the 17th of January, 1561, given at St Germain-en-Laye, 
 granted toleration, and places for public assembly to the Huguenots. The 
 violation of this celebrated edict was the cause of the subsequent civil war. 
 Counter-edicts were issued by the court, July 31st, 1561, and August 16th. 
 The parliament of Paris, however, had refused to register the edict of January, 
 " No?i possumus, nee debenms," said the members by acclamation. The edict 
 was eventually registered, under stringent protest, by the absolute command 
 of the queen-regent, and the threats of the young king.
 
 174 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 at one time granting those concessions, which, if they had heen 
 honestly carried out, would have restored concord throughout 
 the country ; at another, annulling the boon conferred, under 
 the pressure of temporary embarrassment, — exasperated the 
 people, and led them to place confidence neither in the pro- 
 mises nor in the acts of their rulers. Until the period when 
 the queen-regent appealed to the queen of Navarre, Catherine 
 trembled equally at the dark and insolent menaces of Philip's 
 agents, and before the threats of Conde. One party possessed 
 the allegiance of the priesthood, and of the Catholic potentates 
 of Europe ; it had also at command the censures of Rome, 
 the treasures of the New World, the disciplined forces of the 
 mighty Charles, so recently deceased, and the prestige of tra- 
 dition and orthodox faith. The popular party enlisted the 
 vigorous intellects of the age ; and the principles of the Reform- 
 ation were now defended by the sword of soldiers, such as 
 Conde, Coligny, d'Andelot, la Rochefoucauld, and Montgom- 
 mery ; and not, as in the two previous reigns, solely by the 
 eloquent discourses of the learned. Hundreds of noble ladies 
 contributed their silent, but not less potent, influence ; so that 
 there existed scarcely a princely house throughout the realm 
 which counted not one of its members, or even more, amid the 
 ranks of Conde's forces. Queen Catherine's two principal 
 ladies of honour, the duchesses de Montpensier and d'Uzes, made 
 no secret ot their preference for reform. Both these princesses 
 were women of energy and masculine understanding ; and well 
 skilled in ancient divinity and classical lore. Catherine con- 
 fided in madame de Montpensier as much as she trusted any 
 one ; but, as the policy pursued throughout by the queen- 
 regent consisted of dexterous combination and unscrupulous 
 use of present opportunity, rather than systematic design in 
 politics, the advice of the duchess profited her little. 
 
 The compulsion which the king of Navarre and the princes 
 of Guise had presumed to use, in compelling the return of king 
 Charles to Paris, was considered by the queen as so decisive a 
 proof of their superior power in the state, that she at once 
 resolved on leaguing herself with the Roman Catholic party. 
 The princes of Guise and Antoine de Bourbon were profuse in 
 expression of exaggerated deference to her authority, after the 
 king's return to Paris. Reassured, therefore, by their submis- 
 sive attitude, and by the comparative tranquillity that now 
 reigned in Paris, owing to the preponderance of the Romish 
 party, the queen finally gave her adherence to the dominant 
 faction, which maintained the faith of her ancestors — a belief
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 175 
 
 which she had only feigned to neglect, when its profession 
 seemed to menace her authority. 
 
 Catherine was now at liberty to demonstrate the dislike 
 she instinctively felt for Jeanne d'Albret. The letter she 
 addressed to that princess was drawn in haughty terms : she 
 informed the queen of the proposed interview with Conde at 
 Toury ; and admonished her, as a faithful subject of king 
 Charles, to use the influence that she so notoriously possessed 
 over the mind of the prince, to induce him to make his sub- 
 mission. The daughter of Marguerite d'Angouleme, however, 
 was not to be intimidated by disdainful words ; the queen, 
 moreover, had totally lost the good opinion of the austere 
 Jeanne, by her faithless denial of her own commands, when, 
 considering herself in extremity of peril, she had invoked the 
 assistance of the Huguenot party. The sense of another 
 wrong — a deep and personal one — burned angrily at this period 
 in Jeanne's bosom. The young prince of Navarre was seized, 
 while at St Germain, with virulent small-pox. For some 
 weeks his life had been considered in imminent danger. 
 Throughout his sickness, the prince had called piteously for 
 his mother ; but the queen was then flying before enemies who 
 were instigated in their persecution by her husband. As soon 
 as Jeanne heard of prince HemVs illness, she despatched an 
 urgent entreaty that he might be sent back to her maternal 
 care. The king of Navarre and the queen-regent, however, 
 were too wary to grant this petition : they regarded the young 
 prince as a precious hostage in their hands, knowing that 
 Jeanne's actions must necessarily be fettered, so long as they 
 held her son and heir in safe custody. The queen of Navarre, 
 finding that she could prevail nothing by entreaty, next wrote 
 to request that Henry might be committed to the care of 
 Renee duchess of Ferrara, 1 of whose friendly feeling towards 
 herself Jeanne had had many proofs. As the duchess was 
 mother-in-law to the duke de Guise, the queen's prayer was 
 granted ; and the young prince was happily transferred from 
 the guardianship of mademoiselle de Eouet, to that of the 
 admirable and gifted duchesse Eenee. 
 
 Jeanne's mood, therefore, when she received Catherine's 
 commaTid to employ her good offices with Conde, was not very 
 placable. The queen, doubtless, at many periods of her life, 
 
 ! Renee, daughter of Louis XII. The duchess, on the decease of her 
 husband, the duke Ercole I. of Ferrara, returned to France, and took up her 
 residence in the castle of Montargis, where, despite the commands of the 
 privy-council, she professed the reformed faith, and protected the Cahinist 
 ministers.
 
 17G LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 aggravated the malevolence of her enemies by her freedom of 
 speech, and her disdain of conventional courtesies. Her letter 
 to Catherine de Medici greatly incensed the regent ; its pur- 
 port is as follows : — 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE, TO CATHERINE DE MEDICI, QUEEN 
 
 OF FRANCE. 
 Madame, 
 
 It has pleased your Majesty to write to me by Bladre 1 (whom I 
 sent on a mission to the king, my husband) desiring me to counsel 
 the prince my brother to lay down arms. I hold, madame, little 
 communication with the said prince ; and, moreover, as on reflection 
 it appeared to me that it would be unbecoming on my part to offer 
 advice to so many personages of more competent understanding than 
 myself, you will be pleased, madame, to hold me excused, if I have 
 not done more in this affair than to commission a cavalier, who was 
 about to join the standard of the said prince, to inform him of that 
 which it has pleased you to command me. To this message, madame, 
 the prince has returned me such an answer, that it seems to me that 
 he has no other desire than to serve and obey you in all things. 3 I 
 assure you, madame, that I lament deeply, as any loyal subject of the 
 king can do, the unhappy differences in which you are involved. I 
 will even confess to you that I should dread to behold their effect up- 
 on your health, were it not that I believe that the continual prayer 
 which is made for you will be granted by our gracious God. 
 
 Madame, you were pleased to promise me the post of gentleman of 
 
 the chamber, vacant by the decease of Monsieur de (na?ne illegible) 
 
 for M. d'Audaux, 3 as your Majesty may perhaps remember. Never- 
 theless, madame, another has been recently nominated to the office ; 
 and your promise, upon which I steadily relied, remains unfulfilled. 
 I entreat you very humbly, madame, to recall your promise and to 
 fulfil it ; failing the which, you will cause me to receive the most cruel 
 vexation, as I have spoken assuredly, and even boastingly, to others, of 
 my credit with you in this matter, which, it seems, that I have for- 
 feited only because I felt reluctant to importune you earlier on the 
 subject. I entreat you, therefore, madame, not to allow those to tri- 
 umph who would rejoice in proclaiming the little influence which I 
 possess with your Majesty. The messenger I send with this, if it 
 pleases you to hear him, will tell you how the matter stands, and the 
 remedy which I propose. 
 
 I commend to your care, madame, my husband and my son ; espe- 
 cially I would remind you of the promise which you made to me, 
 not to command my said son to do anything opposed to the principles 
 in which I have caused him to be educated. Meantime, until I have 
 the honour to offer to you my personal service, I will pray God, 
 
 1 A courier. 
 
 2 The prince reiterated his assertion that Catherine and her sons were 
 captives in the hands of MM. de Guise and the king of Navarre. He profess- 
 ed his willing desire to obey the queen, when her Majesty was released from 
 the control of the triumvirate. 
 
 3 Claude de Levis, barou d'Audaux, senechal of Beam.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 177 
 
 madame, to grant you a long and happy life, with every satisfaction 
 which she could desire for you, who subscribes herself, 
 
 Your very humble and very obedient sister and servant, 
 
 Jeanne. 
 
 The superscription of the letter is, " To the queen, my Sove- 
 reign Lady." 1 
 
 Queen Catherine had disavowed her letters, and her appeals 
 to Conde to arm for the rescue of la mere et lejils, and Jeanne 
 was at little pains to conceal the contempt which she felt for 
 such double dealing. The proposed interview between Cather- 
 ine and Conde took place in the presence of the king of Na- 
 varre ; but resulted in nothiug. The king of Navarre over- 
 whelmed his valiant brother with reproaches; but failed to 
 move Conde's determination to effect the exile from court of 
 the Guise faction, and to obtain toleration for the Protestant 
 churches, ere he laid down arms. 
 
 On the 2Gth of June, 1562, the parliament published a de- 
 cree, declaring the Huguenot chieftains, and all who had share 
 in the capture of the towns seized by Conde, guilty of high 
 treason, and subject to the penalties inflicted by the laws of 
 the realm upon traitors to their sovereign. 2 As the prince de 
 Conde, in his manifestoes, thought proper to treat the king and 
 the queen-mother as captives, in the hands of Antoine de Bour- 
 bon and the princes of Guise, the parliament retaliated and ex- 
 empted the prince from the pains of treason, on the supposi- 
 tion that he was an unwilling participator in the enormities 
 committed by the Huguenots. 
 
 Queen Jeanne, during these transactions, had been medi- 
 tating important reforms within her principality of Beam, over 
 which she reigned as sovereign-princess. When legislating for 
 Gascony, Foix, Lower Navarre, and Albret, Jeanne had to ap- 
 peal, in contested cases, to the decision of her suzerain, the 
 king of France. Free, therefore, as regarded her principality, 
 to follow the dictates of her will, the queen assembled her 
 council, and published letters - patent, authorizing the public 
 celebration of divine service, in conformity with the Protestant 
 ritual. She likewise published an ordonnance for the more 
 effectual defence of the principality against Spanish invaders. 
 She caused the fortifications of Navarreins to be strengthen. -d ; 
 and the garrison augmented to a force of 2000 men. Seventy 
 cannons were there mounted, by Jeanne's especial directions ; 
 and, moreover, she provided the place with abundant stores of 
 
 1 This letter is in the possession of M. Louis Paris, Rue d'Angouleme, St 
 Honore, Paris, who has courteously forwarded a copy of it to the author. 
 '' The edict is published in the Memoires de Conde, t. iv. p. 114. 
 
 12
 
 178 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 provisions and ammunition. The citadel of Bayonne was also 
 thoroughly repaired, and the garrison changed ; and the forts 
 of Azenuilas and Orthez were reinforced by supplies of artil- 
 lery, and by the nomination of efficient commanders. The king 
 of Navarre, meanwhile, watched his consort's proceedings in 
 bewildered amazement. Aghast at her defiance, he seems, for 
 a time, to have been incapable of devising any method of repri- 
 sal. The king's wholesome consciousness of his consort's men- 
 tal prowess, was not even comprehensive enough for her pre- 
 sent daring. Jeanne occasionally still addressed letters to her 
 husband ; whom she compassionately regarded as one sojourn- 
 ing under blind infatuation in a court, where, in her opinion, 
 "there abided neither safety nor salvation." For fear lest 
 these letters, which doubtless contained stirring: counsel, might 
 be intercepted, Jeanne frequently transmitted them under cover 
 to Anne d'Este, duchesse de Guise, the daughter of her friend 
 and cousin, Eenee de France, duchesse de Ferrara. In an 
 epistle to the duchesse de Guise, Jeanne says, " I pray you, ma 
 cousine, do me the kindness to take care that the letter which 
 I have written to monsieur mon marl falls only into his hands. 
 Do not, therefore, think me importunate, if I address myself in 
 this matter to you, from whom I have often received many 
 tokens of friendship." 
 
 The reproaches of the legate, Ste Croix, at length roused 
 Antoine from his apathy. Conde and the Huguenot army lay 
 encamped between queen Jeanne and her irritated consort ; or 
 Antoine might have proceeded, in person, to avenge the im- 
 poverished hierarchy of Beam. A fear of calling down the 
 legions of the mighty Elizabeth of England upon the southern 
 provinces, prevented the council from " praying that the king 
 of Spain would occupy the principality." The same dread, 
 likewise, restrained the sanguinary advance of Montluc upon 
 Pan. Conde had recently signed a treaty, offensive and de- 
 fensive, with queen Elizabeth, 1 who promised to aid the cause 
 with men and with subsidies. Elizabeth acknowledged a kin- 
 dred spirit in the queen of Navarre ; and throughout the war she 
 manifested the deepest interest in Jeanne's welfare, and, upon 
 several occasions, afforded her substantial aid. The friendship of 
 Elizabeth stood Jeanne in good stead at this crisis ; as, but for 
 her powerful protection, the regent of France and the king of 
 Spain would speedily have obliterated the principality of Bearn 
 from its rank amongst the sovereignties of Europe. King 
 Antoine, therefore, as he could imagine nothing more menacing, 
 
 1 The treaty between queen Elizabeth and Conde was signed at Hampton 
 Court, September 20th, 1562. See the treaty, Mem. de Conde, t. iii. p. G89.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 179 
 
 despatched one of his secretaries, named Boulogne, upon a 
 secret mission into Beam. His errand was to protest, in the 
 name of Antoine, against the innovations perpetrated by Jeanne. 
 He was ordered to proceed in the matter with the greatest 
 caution ; and to gain, by persuasion or by bribery, a majority 
 in the approaching assembly of the states of the principality, 
 convoked by the queen. Boulogne's instructions empowered 
 him to remove all Protestants from offices of state ; to interdict 
 the exercise of the reformed worship, throughout queen Jeanne's 
 dominions ; and, finally, to require from every individual hold- 
 ing a public office in the principality, a distinct confession of 
 his adherence to the Bomish faith, under pain of banishment 
 and confiscation. Obedience to these mandates, Boulogne was 
 empowered to demand from the queen, the states, and the coun- 
 cil, in the name of the king of Xavarre, their lord and sovereign. 
 In case of contumacious resistance, Antoine's envoy was au- 
 thorized, after having employed every personal and private 
 method of persuasion and menace, to call in the aid of the 
 king's lieutenant, the redoubtable marshal de Montluc. Elated 
 by the importance of the functions confided to him, Boulogne 
 set out on his mission. Jeanne, nevertheless, received private 
 intimation to be on her guard respecting the instructions given 
 to Boulogne; and she, therefore, resolved to test them, before 
 she permitted the envoy to approach her capital. She, accord- 
 ingly, transmitted orders for the detention of Boulogne, as 
 soon as he entered the principality ; and directed that his 
 papers should be seized and forwarded for the inspection of the 
 privy council. Her command was punctually obeyed ; and the 
 discomfited envoy, who hoped to play so conspicuous a role in 
 Beam, was placed in safe arrest, until the decision of queen 
 Jeanne was known. The queen's indignation was profound, 
 when, on perusing Boulogne's secret instructions, she read 
 fresh evidence of her husband's disloyal desertion and ingrati- 
 tude. In her anger at the persecution to which she was sub- 
 jected, Jeanne determined to make a salutary demonstration of 
 her sovereign rights, by the punishment of the envoy sent, so 
 perfidiously, to plot the overthrow of her authority. Compelled 
 to regard her husband as her most implacable foe, the queen 
 hesitated not to perform the duty which she believed to be ne- 
 cessary for the safety of her people. She, therefore, signed a 
 warrant, committed Boulogne to the custody of the baron 
 d'Arros, a prisoner for an indefinite period. "By this act," 
 said the queen, "I asserted the power that God had given me 
 over my own subjects, but which I once ceded to my husband, 
 in deference to the obedience which God commands wives to
 
 ISO LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 show towards their husbands. But when I perceived that, by 
 this concession, the glory of God and the welfare of my people 
 were outraged, I, without hesitation, exercised my royal rights." ' 
 Boulogne remained a close prisoner until after the death of 
 king Antoine ; and Jeanne appears, against her usual practice, 
 to have used much severity in his case. Probably, as there were 
 many malcontents, even within the limits of her loyal princi- 
 cipality, and that the neighbouring states of JFoix and Gascony 
 continued in a fever of religious excitement and rebellion 
 against her authority, she deemed it requisite to make an ex- 
 ample of one whose treasonable designs had been so noto- 
 rious. 
 
 Although Jeanne felt the deplorable necessity of defending 
 herself against the machinations of her husband, she still paid 
 him great outward respect. His name was always joined with 
 her own in the prayers of the liturgy daUy recited before her. 
 The queen being informed, about this time, that the ministers 
 throughout France had ceased to mention the king's name in 
 their services, she wrote to remonstrate against this omission 
 to Theodore de Beze ; who exercised, apparently, the office of 
 presbyter in chief over the reformed churches. De Beze re- 
 sponded in his usual self-sufficient style, refusing the queen's 
 request that Antoine's might be re-inserted in their liturgy ; 
 but yet vouchsafing to give her Majesty some hope that the 
 king's perdition was not yet consummated. 
 
 " Whilst the king, your husband, madame, manifested the 
 smallest reverence and fear for his God, he was named in our 
 prayers with yourself, in the hope which we cherished that he 
 would gradually profit by our petitions. Even when he had 
 made profane league with the enemies of God, we ceased not 
 earnestly to commend him to mercy in the prayers of our 
 church ; and that the more ardently, seeing the ruin and misery 
 which his perversion entailed. This contiuued until he so 
 thoroughly divested himself of all godly restraints, to our very 
 unfeigned regret, that he not only scandalized the church, but, 
 moreover, declared himself chief and protector of those whose 
 hands are imbued with the blood of God's children, and who 
 have always professed and gloried in the title of their perse- 
 cutors and avowed foes. Reflect, madame, I beseech you, and 
 believe, that not without great grief and anguish of mind has 
 this great and grievous omission been decided upon. We 
 were, however, compelled so to act ; for with what colour could 
 we pray agaiust the enemies of God and his church, and after- 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 181 
 
 wards particularly commend to mercy in our prayers one 
 •whom we had been forced to name in the first category ? " l 
 
 The queen made no more efforts to propitiate the stern 
 Reformer. The carping spirit so constantly displayed by de 
 Beze impaired the queen's regard ; whose generous mind 
 scorned the censorious insinuations by which the Reformer too 
 often sought, in his writings, to avenge himself and his 
 cause. His unjust strictures, likewise, on the conduct of her 
 mother, whose memory was proudly venerated by Jeanne, had 
 offended the queen, and she consequently showed him little 
 favour ; nor did she manifest any desire that Beze should as- 
 sume a pastoral office over her churches in Beam. 
 
 Jeanne, however, was soon to be released from the domestic 
 feuds which so greatly aggravated the sorrow of her position. 
 The king of Navarre was severely wounded at the siege of 
 Rouen, October 25th, 1562 ; and his subsequent follies, rather 
 than the injuries which he had there received, caused his death 
 on the 17th of the following month of November. 
 
 The royal army had opened the campaign against Conde, by 
 the capture of Poitiers, on the 1st day of August. On the 29th 
 of the same month the town of Bourges surrendered at the 
 summons of the king of Navarre and the duke de Guise. The 
 army next laid siege to Rouen. The garrison was commanded 
 by the count de Montgomery, and included three thousand 
 English soldiers, sent by queen Elizabeth to the aid of Conde. 
 The entire contingent furnished by Elizabeth consisted of 6000 
 men ; part of this force garrisoned Havre-de- Grace, which had 
 been ceded to the queen by Conde, on her Britannic Majesty's 
 promise to hold that port until the termination of the war, 
 that it might serve for a sure retreat to the king's persecuted 
 subjects of the reformed faith. The garrison of Rouen made a 
 valiant defence, and refused to surrender. At length the town 
 was taken by assault on the 26th of October, and abandoned to 
 fire and pillage. Catherine and the young king were present 
 in the camp during the siege operations ; and the queen greatly 
 encouraged the troops by her affability, and by the large gra- 
 tuities which she lavishly promised, as the reward of the capture 
 of Rouen. On the last day but one of the assault, the king of 
 Navarre was wounded while standing in the trenches, by a 
 bullet which penetrated his left shoulder. He was immediately 
 borne to his quarters, and his physicians summoned, but they 
 failed in their endeavours to extract the ball. The king's con- 
 dition, nevertheless, was not considered dangerous : he was 
 
 1 Lcttre de Theodore de Beze a la reine de Navarre. Mem. de Conde, t. 
 ii. p. 359.
 
 182 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 enjoined to keep his bed, and to maintain perfect tranquillity of 
 mind and body. " The physicians have good hope of the cure 
 of M. de Vendome from the gun-shot wound which he lately 
 received in the left shoulder," writes Chantonnay to his royal 
 master. 1 " The surgeons say that there is no danger. God 
 grant it ! One of my people discoursed long with the prince 
 yesterday as he reclined in his bed." This subtle ambassador 
 had by no means abjured his evil practices of fomenting discord 
 between queen Jeanne and her husband. In a letter to Philip, 
 dated "from Chartres, September 16, 1562," Chantonnay 
 sends his master the following choice piece of information : 
 " Madame de Vendome, finding that her designs do not pros- 
 per, appears inclined to lay down arms. She has sent to her 
 husband to say that she is now willing to obey him in all 
 matters. She wished to propose some novelty or other for the 
 sanction of the states of Beam ; but the members replied that, 
 being a wife, she could do nothing without the permission of 
 her husband ; and therefore if her said spouse did not append 
 his assent to whatever transaction she might propose, they 
 would not confirm any of her mandates." The queen had not 
 summoned the states of Beam to meet since her return from 
 the court of Prance : nor did the arrest and imprisonment of 
 Boulogne look as if Jeanne was prepared to surrender her 
 conscience, or to obey the commands of a husband who had 
 forfeited all claims to her confidence and respect. 
 
 For some days the king of Navarre continued much in the 
 same condition ; but instead of the repose prescribed by his 
 physician his apartment was the resort of the gayest and most 
 profligate of the courtiers in the train of the queen. Reposing 
 on a low couch, placed near the stove which warmed his cham- 
 ber, with mademoiselle de Rouet by his side, Antoine de Bour- 
 bon passed a great portion of the day in watching young 
 girls and boys dance to the sound of timbrels, or engage in 
 other sports. 2 The effect of the noise, and the excitement of 
 such a scene, upon the shattered nerves of the king may be ima- 
 gined. When Antoine learned the surrender of Rouen, he in- 
 sisted upon making his triumphal entry into the town through 
 the breach in the wall. Accordingly, reclining in his litter, 
 surrounded by a division of the victorious army, the unfortu- 
 nate Antoine performed his deplorable progress. He was car- 
 ried in his litter across the battered ramparts, as far as the 
 Hotel de Ville, and then back again to his chamber, where he 
 was consigned to his bed in a fainting fit. 
 
 1 Lcttre de Thomas Perronot a sa majeste Catholique. Mem. de Conde, t. ii 
 
 2 De Thou, livre 33, p. 431.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 1S3 
 
 His wound, after this absurd exploit, began, as might be 
 expected, to inflame rapidly, and fever and delirium consumed 
 his strength. Still, mademoiselle de Rouet never quitted the 
 king ; and the same scenes of ribald license continued to dis- 
 tract his dying hours. At length, at the solicitation of his 
 first physician, the sieur de Mezieres, 1 a Huguenot, whose skill 
 had induced the king of Navarre to retain his services, the bishop 
 of Mende 2 informed the king that his days were numbered. 
 Antoine received the intelligence with resignation ; he com- 
 manded his chamber to be cleared of the noisy throng of 
 courtiers ; and no one to remain, but mademoiselle de Rouet, 
 and his personal attendants. 
 
 The same day the king made his will. In that document 
 he bequeathed his stud of horses to the duke de Guise ; leav- 
 ing various small legacies to his servants, and the remainder of 
 his wealth to his son Henry. 3 He also wrote a letter to the 
 queen of Navarre, in which he bade her farewell, and solemnly 
 commended their son to her care. He admonished the queen 
 not to visit the court of France ; but to guard the safety of 
 Bearn. 4 Antoine then received a visit from the officious 
 Chantonnay, who, like a spirit of discord, seems to have haunt- 
 ed every scene of carnage and tumult. " The Spanish ambas- 
 sador," says de Beze, 5 " coming to visit the king, the latter 
 greatly heated himself in discourse. After the departure of 
 the said ambassador, the king exclaimed, ' that he was begin- 
 ning to understand the wiles by which he had been deceived ; 
 and that if he could only get cured of his wound, he would 
 take heed for the future : nevertheless, he desired that his wife 
 might be admonished to look well after the affairs of her prin- 
 cipality.' " Unfortunately, this first Bourbon king always 
 perceived his errors when too late to retrieve them. Religious 
 matters then harassed the weary and halting spirit of the un- 
 happy prince. He professed the Romish faith, while his heart 
 inclined towards the ritual he had so faithlessly abandoned. 
 Lauro, one of his physicians, nevertheless, prevailed upon the 
 king, during the afternoon, to make his confession to an eccle- 
 
 1 Raphael de Tailleiis de la Mezieres, and the Calabrian, Vincent de 
 Lauro, were the two household physicians of the king of Navarre. The first 
 was a rigid Lutheran ; de Lauro, a bigoted Roman Catholic, who, afterwards 
 taking priestly orders, obtained a cardinal's hat. 
 
 - Nicholas d'Angui, son of the cardinal Luprat. He was chancellor to 
 king Antoine, and held other offices in that prince's household. 
 
 s Relation de la mort du roy de Navarre. MS., Bibl. Roy., Dupuy, vol. 
 500, p. 2. This curious document is published in the Mem. de Conde. 
 
 * De Thou, liv. 33. 
 
 5 The. de Beze, Hist, des Eglises Reformees de France, t. ii. p. 665.
 
 1S4 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 siastic, who filled the office of judge in the archiepiscopal court 
 of Rouen. 
 
 Late on the same evening, queen Catherine entered the 
 king's apartment to take leave before the departure of the 
 court for Yincenues. She found Antoine plunged in mournful 
 despondency ; while the sorrowful faces of those around show- 
 ed how grievous had been his plaints of mental and bodily an- 
 guish. " Mon frere," said the queen, " why do you not com- 
 mand some one to read to you ? " " Madame," replied the 
 unhappy prince, doubtfully, "allarouud me here are Huguenots." 
 " They are, nevertheless, your servants, monseigneur, aud will 
 do as you direct," 1 responded Catherine. When the queen 
 had taken her departure, Antoine called de Mezieres, and bid 
 him read from the book of Job, to which he listened with 
 clasped hands. De Mezieres then pronounced a long admoni- 
 tion to the royal penitent ; and set before the eyes of king 
 Antoine the evils of his past career, especially of the last few 
 years of his life, bidding him put away hope of intercession 
 and acceptance, except in the merits of Jesus Christ. " Ah, 
 Raphael ! " exclaimed the dying prince, reproachfully, " I per- 
 ceive now, indeed, that the hand of death is upon me. Here, 
 for the last twenty years have you served me, and only to-day 
 do you perceive and warn me against the deplorable errors of 
 my life ! " The king then made confession of his past sins, 
 and vowed, if God restored him to health, that he would cause 
 the gospel to be preached throughout France, according to the 
 Lutheran belief. Another day, the king said to his attendants, 
 " You will report everywhere that the king of Navarre is be- 
 come a Huguenot, being now better advised. Never mind, if 
 so it is believed ; as I am firmly resolved to live or die in ac- 
 cordance with the confession of Luther." 2 Thus, for the fifth 
 time, did king Antoine change his belief. Finding himself 
 gradually growing weaker, the king requested to be moved 
 from the infected atmosphere of Rouen. With restless perti- 
 nacity, he insisted upon going down the river as far as the 
 village of St Maur-les-Fosses. His sufferings from fever and 
 the inflammation of his wound were intense. The thought of 
 his consort seems often to have weighed heavily on his mind ; 
 and he several times expressed disappointment that she had 
 not set out to visit him in his extremity. De Mezieres was 
 reading to his suffering master one evening the chapter in St 
 
 > Bibl. Roy.— Dupuy, vol. 500. 
 
 - Pavticularites de la mort du roy de Navarre. Bibl. Roy., Dupuy 
 vol. .500.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 185 
 
 Paul's epistles, where the apostle exhorts -wives to he obedient 
 to their own husbands. Antoine made a gesture for his phy- 
 sician to pause ; he then hastily said, " Raphael, you perceive 
 that God commands women to pay obedience to their hus- 
 bands ? " " It is true, sire," replied de Mezieres ; " but 
 Holy Scripture also says, Husbands, love your wives I" 1 
 
 About the 14th day of November, ait night, Antoine was 
 carried from his sick chamber, and placed in a boat on the 
 Seine, to proceed to St Maur. He was accompanied by his 
 brother, the cardinal de Bourbon, and the prince de la Roche 
 sur Yon. The movement of the boat increased the torment of 
 his wounds. He suffered during the night from sickness and 
 convulsions ; towards morning he faintly desired Raphael, at 
 once his faithful physician and chaplain, to recite the prayers 
 for those in extremity. All on board knelt round the dying 
 prince, excepting the cardinal de Bourbon and the prince de 
 la Roche sur Ton, who stood aside covered. When the pray- 
 ers terminated, the cardinal de Bourbon was heard to murmur 
 to himself, " These are indeed true prayers and orisons, and not 
 what I supposed ; they believe as we do." 
 
 When the boat reached Andelis, it was evident that the 
 last moments of the king of Navarre were at hand. He was 
 carried on shore, and every remedy used to allay his sufferings. 
 About three hours before he expired, Axitoine was roused from 
 the stupor preceding dissolution by the voice of some person 
 beside him, who exclaimed, " Jesus Christ died for you ! " 
 Antoine opened his eyes, and perceiving the strange figure 
 of a monk, leaning over his couch, said, " Who are you, who 
 thus address me. I die a Christian ! " " Sire," interposed 
 Merieres, "hear him. He is a pious and worthy man." 
 
 The intruder was a noted Jacobin monk, who had been 
 sent for by the cardinal de Bourbon, to soothe the last moments 
 of the dying king. Antoine uttered a fervent amen ! when 
 the monk concluded his exhortation ; he then addressed a few 
 words to Raphael, and to an Italian valet-de-chambre. Soon 
 after, a paroxysm of convulsions ensued, during which the king 
 expired, in the forty-fourth year of his age. 2 
 
 The comments which Antoine's two subtle tempters, the 
 cardinal de Ste Croix and the ambassador Chantonnay, make, 
 on his decease, in their despatches to Spain, are characteristic. 
 Chantonnay writes : " Having been informed of the decease of 
 monsieur de Vendome (whom may God assoilize ! ), which hap- 
 pened at nine o'clock yesterday evening, I would not delay in 
 
 1 Particularites de lamort du rov de Navarre. Bibl. Rov., Dupuy, vol. 5C0. 
 
 2 Bibl. Roy., MSS., Dupuy, vof.500.
 
 186 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 making this event known to your Majesty. I have not yet 
 heard whether the said sieur ended his days as a good Catholic; 
 nevertheless, I think so, as monsieur le cardinal, his brother, 
 was with hiin." Prosper de Ste Croix, in an epistle to the 
 cardinal Borromeo, flippantly says, after announcing the fact 
 of the king's demise: "The Portuguese 1 is just returned from 
 Spain : from the minutes of the resolution of the (Spanish) 
 privy-council which he brings, I think it a most lucky event 
 that he found the king of Navarre dead ; because I believe that 
 had not this event happened, the refusals (of his Spanish Ma- 
 jesty) would have worked a great revolution in the mind of that 
 prince." 2 
 
 The mortal remains of the king of Navarre where abandoned 
 to the care of de Mezieres, who caused them to be embalmed 
 and placed in a leaden coffin until instructions should be issued 
 by the court for their interment. The cardinal de Bourbon re- 
 paired to Vincennes the day after his brother's decease ; so 
 anxious was he to profit by the alteration which that event 
 produced in the position of pai'ties at court. Antoine's funeral 
 obsequies were celebrated some weeks after his decease in the 
 cathedral church of St George, at Vendome, where his tomb 
 and monumental effio-v are still to be seen. The cardinal de 
 Bourbon officiated as chief mourner. Never had the faults of 
 any prince been more fatally visited to his own discomfort and 
 ruin than those of Antoine de Bourbon. A faithless husband, 
 and a fickle friend, no wife, child, or ally, shed a tear over his 
 untimely grave. With gifts eminently calculated to gain the 
 heart of men, brave, chivalrous, and accomplished, Antoine's 
 instability of character, his shallow wit, and cold affections 
 alienated all. His obsequies were celebrated in obscurity and 
 haste ; his funeral cortege traversed a country in arms, and a 
 prey to fearful devastation ; while the notes of his requiem 
 were drowned in the din of battle, wherein his valiant brother 
 was a second time taken prisoner by the duke de Guise. 
 Queen Jeanne dared not even nominate ambassadors from her 
 household to be present at the funeral solemnities of her royal 
 spouse ; for no security of person, even for the performance of 
 this sacred duty, could be given in the face of hostile armies 
 preparing for conflict. Innumerable were the pasquinades, and 
 indecent satires, which commemorated the demise of Antoine, 
 the first Bourbon king: his project of divorcing Jeanne 
 d'Albret to espouse Mary Stuart ; his simplicity in crediting 
 
 i A courier, whom the nuncio sent on special missions. 
 
 - Lettres du Nonce Prosper de Ste Croix. Aymon, Actes synodaux de 
 France, t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 187 
 
 theegregious deceptions of the legates and the Spanish am- 
 bassador ; his discreditable intrigue with la belle de Rouet, 1 
 and his unfortunate instability of purpose, are all noted in every 
 variety of verse. 
 
 The intelligence of her husband's decease was brought to 
 queen Jeanne at Pau, by a courier despatched from Andelis by 
 the cardinal de Bourbon. Jeanne deeply mourned her loss : 
 her wrongs, and the insults to which she had been subject, 
 were forgotten by her. The grave shed its all-atoning influence 
 on Antoine's memory, and Jeanne remembered only the hus- 
 band of her early love. Jeanne retired to her favourite castle 
 of Orthez, 2 there to hold her mourning state ; and for some 
 time she maintained rigorous seclusion. Austere, indeed, must 
 have been the religious exercises, and the acts of self-denial, by 
 which the queen sought to control her grief. During her re- 
 tirement, the queen received letters of condolence from the 
 prince and the princess de Conde, the count and countess de la 
 Rochefoucauld, 3 from the sieur Pumee, a member of the parlia- 
 ment of Paris ; and from the prince of Amalfi. The letter 
 written by the countess de la Rochefoucauld is singular in 
 its import ; and suggests grounds of consolation, finding little 
 sympathy, we may suppose, with the practical and unimagin- 
 ative mind of Jeanne d' Albret. She says : 
 
 THE COUNTESS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD TO 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE. 
 
 Madame, 
 
 Doubtless the evil which has befallen you is great, the grief just, 
 the loss irreparable. To be severed from one's better half, to be se- 
 parated from one's head, from one's own flesh and blood ; is there not 
 enough in this to aittict, and to fear ? Yes, truly ; nor can there be 
 heart so hard as not to melt at so grievous a loss; so that I would even 
 that my tears might mingle with your own, and fall together on the 
 sepulchre of your deceased king, that we might give evidence of our 
 grief, and relieve the emotion inherent to flesh and blood on so doleful 
 an occasion. But what of this body, which is given for a life short 
 and calamitous ? What regret ought we to feel for the loss of a thing 
 ■which brings us nothing but sorrow and disappointment ; and winch 
 hinders us often from gathering the fruit of a more holy life ? Let all 
 
 1 The gallant inclinations of the king of Navarre were so well appreciated, 
 that it used to be said of him, " Pour t'assurer de ce prince assure-toi de sa 
 dame." 
 
 - The ruins of queen Jeanne's apartments in the castle of Orthez are still 
 shown to travellers. The castle of Orthez was especially called by the Bearn- 
 nois, " Le chateau de la royne Jeanne," from the queen's well-known prefer- 
 ence for that ahode. 
 
 3 Charlotte de Roye, sister of the princesse de Conde. The countess de la 
 lluchefoucauld was a lady of great piety and learning.
 
 188 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 of us, therefore, that be married, live as though we were not ! Let us 
 not, even in thought, attach to corruptible flesh the divine image and 
 semblance in which we were created ; let us detach the spirit from 
 that gross and material substance ; so that despite the body and its 
 belongings we may take possession of the things to come, over which 
 death has no power. You will then, madame, perceive, while think- 
 ing to have lost the king, your spouse, that you will enjoy his society 
 a hundredfold more than if he were living with you. For who will 
 now prevent you from speaking to him, reasoning with him, and con- 
 versing with him as long as you please, without fear that monsieur 
 and madame may come to whisper in his ear, to pull him by the robe, 
 to divert his attention from you ? It is now, madame, that he will ex- 
 plain to you the reason of his long absence, of his change of life, and 
 of his other affairs. It is now, madame, if he has committed any fault 
 in respect to yourself, that he will confess it, making you all his satis- 
 faction that the regard between you requires. In short, madame, it 
 seems to me that the body cannot prevent you from having pleasure 
 in his presence ; seeing that his spirit of delusion [son vieil esprit) be- 
 ing also cast aside (with the flesh) he will for ever be united to you : 
 the which ought to be greatly consoling, for God has left his spirit 
 free, so that you may commune together often as it may please you. 
 If you receive and heartily accept this belief, I shall esteem you happy, 
 and myself also, madame, if I have the felicity of remaining youi 
 Majesty's very humble, and very obedient servant, 
 
 Chaklotte de Roye. 1 
 
 One of Jeanne's first acts, on emerging from her retirement, 
 was to appoint her cousin, the viscount de Rohan, lieutenant- 
 general of Beam, and its dependencies, during the minority of 
 her son, prince Henry. Jeanne next ordered a medal to be 
 struck and distributed amongst her people ; its device and 
 emblem indicated her determination to surmount every diffi- 
 culty. On one side of the medal the arms of Beam were 
 blazoned with the motto of Albret : — sum id quod sum, Sfc. — 
 The reverse bore the device of a flame, with the words, aut 
 facie t, aut inveniet viam. 
 
 Queen Jeanne was thirty- four years old when she became a 
 widow. From the time that she bade farewell to the king of 
 Navarre, in Paris, she seems to have had a presentiment that 
 she should never more behold her husband. She too well 
 knew the unscrupulous daring of the dominant parties at 
 court, to doubt that the life of the nominal chief of the trium- 
 virate would be sacrificed upon the first symptoms of his vacil- 
 lation in the cause which be bad been prevailed upon to sup- 
 port ; " for," says le Grain, " this princess was a woman of 
 great discernment." It was always doubted by queen Jeanne, 
 
 1 Lettre de madame la comtesse de la Rochefoucauld a la Royne de Na 
 varre, Mem. de Conde, t, iv.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. ISO 
 
 whether the bullet, fatal to her husband's life, was fired from 
 the ramparts of Rouen ; or whether it proceeded from a hand 
 which Antoine had recently grasped in friendship. From the 
 very earliest days of her widowhood the queen protested that 
 she would never more enter into the bonds of matrimony. Her 
 life had been embittered by Antoine's neglect, her power as a 
 sovereign princess curtailed ; and her fine and noble spirit, so 
 susceptible of good in its aspirations, had been wounded. Out- 
 raged and disappointed in her hopes of domestic happiness, 
 Jeanne, concentrating those admirable talents with which na- 
 ture had endowed her, became the dauntless and politic prin- 
 cess, against whose genius such a character as that of Antoine 
 de Bourbon became helpless as a straw tossed on the waves of 
 the ocean. 
 
 The hopes, meantime, of the Huguenots, suffered a great 
 reverse. The capture of Bourges and Rouen had been follow- 
 ed by the battle of Dreux, fought December 20th, 1562, which 
 resulted in the complete triumph of the Boman Catholic party, 
 and the capture of the prince of Conde. As some compensa- 
 tion for this disaster, the constable de Montmorency remained 
 a prisoner in the hands of the Huguenots. He was conducted 
 to Orleans, and placed in the keeping of the princess de Conde, 
 as a hostage for the safety of her gallant consort. 
 
 Rapid, from thenceforth, was the progress of the royal 
 arms ; most of the towns captured by Conde, and his adherents, 
 submitted to their sovereign. Orleans alone refused ; and 
 boldly defied the menaces of Guise, and the remonstrauces of 
 queen Catherine. During the month of February, 1563, the 
 duke de Guise laid siege to the town, before which he was 
 basely assassiuated by Jean Merey Poltrot, a Huguenot, in 
 the service of the Baron de Soubise. Thus, in little more than 
 three years from the decease of Francis II., Catherine de Medici 
 found herself delivered from the formidable competition of the 
 two princes, who had menaced her authority and coerced her 
 will. Humanly speaking, the queen-regent appeared at the 
 summit of fortune : Guise and Bourbon both prostrate in an 
 untimely grave ; the first prince of the blood, Antoine's son, in 
 his minority ; the heir of Guise yet in his boyhood ; Conde a 
 prisoner ; the Huguenot faction apparently vanquished ; Mont- 
 morency, the veteran constable, in captivity — nothing seemed 
 powerful enough to resist the omnipotent fiat of Catherine de 
 Medici. Nevertheless, a cloud rested on the horizon, the har- 
 binger of woes more terrible than had yet riven the ancient 
 monarchy. "When Catherine, in the fulness of sovereign power, 
 seated herself on the throne of St Louis, without a competitor
 
 190 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 who presumed to aspire to her authority, the bloody feud be- 
 tween the houses of Coligny and of Guise, fostered by Philip 
 of Spain, chief of the league 'of Peronne, already shadowed forth 
 those dark scenes of anarchy which finally swept the crown 
 from the grasp of the royal line of Francis I. The admiral de 
 Coligny was accused of having caused the assassination of the 
 duke de Guise. Protestant historians invariably and fully 
 acquit the admiral of this crime, doubtless from a partial or 
 imperfect perusal of documentary evidence ; their admiration 
 of his valour and military skill rendering them oblivious of, or 
 determined to veil, his misdeeds. Yet, in the manifestoes pub- 
 lished by the admiral, and presented to the queen, Coligny, 
 while denying that he had either openly bribed or incited 
 Poltrot to commit the crime, distinctly avows that he was 
 aware of the design ; and knew the motive of the assassin's 
 desire to visit the camp of the duke de Guise before Orleans. 
 His own words attest, moreover, that he sent Poltrot to the 
 camp as a spy, after having heard him make revelation of his 
 purpose when there : " the admiral takes his honour to witness, 
 that when the said Poltrot told him aforetimes that he should 
 be glad to take the life of the seigneur de Guise, the said ad- 
 miral replied nothing to the observation, nor said he anything 
 in favour, or deprecation of the deed." ' If the admiral did not 
 actually compass the assassination of his potent rival, surely he 
 was morally and intentionally guilty of the crime, when he 
 permitted the assassin to depart, without a word of warning to 
 the intended victim. Poltrot all along affirms that Coligny 
 was accessory to the deed ; nor can it be wondered that his 
 words met with belief, after such an assertion as the above — 
 or, as the admiral calls it, " a defence," which was circulated 
 throughout Prance. This circumstance, though it cannot pal- 
 liate the subsequent atrocious assassination of Coligny by the 
 son of the murdered Guise, yet diminishes, somewhat, the guilt 
 of the reckless animosity evinced by the house of Lorraine 
 against that of Chatillon, else so sanguinary and inexplicable. 
 Such expressions as the following, which the admiral indis- 
 creetly addressed to Catherine de Medici, were not calculated 
 to confirm a belief in Coligny's innocence ; nor yet to diminish 
 the thirst for vengeance felt by the relatives of the duke de 
 Guise : " Think not, madame," wrote the admiral, 2 " that the 
 words which I utter in self-defence are said out of regret for 
 
 1 Declaration de M. 1' admiral quant a son faict particulier, etc., du 5eme 
 de Mai, 1563. Mem. de Conde, t. iv. p. 339. f 
 
 - Lettre envoyee a la royne par le seigneur admiral, datee de Caen, lieme 
 de Mars, 1562. Beze, Hist, des Eglises Ileformees de France. Mem. de 
 Conde, t. iv. p. 304.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 191 
 
 the death of M. de Guise; for I esteem that event as one 
 which cannot be surpassed by fortune for the good of the king- 
 dom, and the church of God. and most especially is it beneficial 
 for myself, and for all my house." 
 
 The Protestant party of France, despite the admiral's ad- 
 missions, asserted his innocence of participation in the crime ; 
 and to lessen the odium attaching to the event, de Beze, and 
 other ministers as unscrupulous, overwhelmed the memory of 
 the deceased duke with undeserved opprobrium. Even Jeanne 
 d'Albret herself seems to have connived at these slanderous 
 imputations ; and the only incident which reflects upon her 
 truth and candour occurred at this juncture, when the ebulli- 
 tion of party-spirit defied restraint. 
 
 If the anecdote in question were not given on such unim- 
 peachable testimony as that of Eenee de France, duchess of 
 Ferrara, under her own hand, in a curious, inedited letter, 
 which she addressed to Calvin, its insertion here, judging from 
 the past character of queen Jeanne, would justly admit of hesi- 
 tation, as a story apocryphal and untrue. The duchess states, 
 that some short time after the decease of the duke de Guise, 
 the queen of Navarre paid a visit to her castle of Montargis. 
 The secretary of one monsieur d'Arzy was present, and tried to 
 entertain the royal ladies with scandalous tales respecting the 
 duke, whom he appeared to forget was the son-in-law of the 
 duchesse Benee. The duchess presently asked this loquacious 
 visitor whether he could affirm that all he stated was the truth. 
 He made an evasive answer ; but upon being closely questioned 
 by the duchess, he acknowledged that the greater part of what 
 he had stated was fictitious ; naming the person who had in- 
 vented the slander, which he excused, by saying " that it was 
 done to benefit religion." The duchess indignantly rebuked 
 such a theory ; but it is affirmed that the queen of Navarre in- 
 terposed, saying, " that she believed such fictions were lawful 
 in self-defence ; and that falsehood might even be commendable 
 and holy, when uttered to advance the cause of religion." " I 
 could not help resisting such a doctrine," writes the duchess of 
 Ferrara, with honest warmth; "so that I observed to them, 
 that God was not the father of lies, but that the devil is. God 
 is the God of truth, and His word is potent enough to defend 
 his own, without using the devil's armour, and that of his chil- 
 dren. Nevertheless," adds the duchess, '-the said queen of 
 Navarre shows so much zeal, and is endowed with so admirable 
 a judgment in most matters, that I desire to take pattern by 
 her ; for, as the late queen of Navarre, her mother, was the first 
 princess of this realm who favoured the gospel, it may be that
 
 192 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 the queen, her daughter, may build up and complete the work. 
 She is, it appears to me, able to do so, as any princess or lady of 
 my acquaintance. I bear towards her a mother's love ; and ad- 
 mire the manifold graces which God has bestowed upon her." ' 
 
 The proceedings of the queen of Navarre continued to be 
 closely watched by the court of Spain. A minute record of 
 the most trivial proceedings of Catherine and her sons, of 
 Jeanne d' Albret, and of the princes of Vendome and Chatillon, 
 was furnished to Philip by his ambassadors. The recent 
 widowhood of the queen of Navarre opened a fresh prospect 
 for intrigue to the Spanish cabinet. To obtain possession of 
 the fertile provinces of Beam, Foix, and Armagnac, by alliance, 
 conquest, or exchange, had been one of the favourite schemes 
 of the emperor Charles V., from the period that the kingdom 
 of Navarre became annexed to Spain, by the arms of his grand- 
 father Ferdinand the Catholic. The conscience of the Spanish 
 monarchs, nevertheless, smote them for their unjust spoliation 
 of the rightful sovereigns of Navarre ; and Philip II., with the 
 assent of the emperor, had desired to legalize that important 
 acquisition by his union with Jeanne d' Albret. But the com- 
 placent feelings with which Philip had once regarded the heiress 
 of Albret had been long exchanged for sentiments of bitter hate. 
 To despoil the heretic princess, and to wrest from her the heritage 
 of ber ancestors by arms, or by treacherous intrigue, Philip now 
 considered as a sacred and imperative duty. Any scruples which 
 he might still retain on the subject, were removed by the ex- 
 press commands of the pope ; who exhorted his Catholic Ma- 
 jesty to prevent the overthrow of the Roman Catholic religion 
 in Beam by every means in his power. The Spanish archives 
 of Simancas aiford us some important revelations of the means 
 adopted by Philip's envoys to impose upon Jeanne, and to 
 induce her by the most fallacious artitice to attempt nothing 
 against the Romish religion, and the hierarchy of Beam and 
 Foix. The subtle fraud with which Antoine de Bourbon had 
 been plied by Chantonnay and Ste Croix was now brought to 
 bear, with even keener point, on the mind of his consort. The 
 past defeats which Philip's diplomatists had suffered at 
 Jeanne's hands were forgotten in the ardour with which they 
 adopted their royal master's pi'ojects. 
 
 At the commencement of the year 1563, about the third 
 month of Jeanne's widowhood, the king of Spain nominated as 
 his envoy to the court of Pau, Don Juan Martinez d'Escurra 
 
 1 Lettre de madame Renee de France, duchesse de Fen-are, a Calvm. 
 Bibl. Roy., MSS. Dupuy, 85, 86, fo. 120.— Inedited. Dated " de Montargis, 
 ce xxi. Mars."
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 193 
 
 — an unexpected appointment, which Philip explained, by ob- 
 serving that the demise of Antoine de Bourbon having render- 
 ed queen Jeanne an independent sovereign, such a measure 
 had become requisite. D'Escurra was accompanied by one 
 Jansana, as secretary of legation ; and both these individuals 
 were placed in subordinate capacity to Chantounay, the Span- 
 ish ambassador at the court of France. It was with feelings 
 of little complacency that queen Jeanne beheld this junta 
 established in her capital ; believing, however, that d'Escurra 
 and his colleagues were placed there as spies upon her conduct, 
 she determined to receive them with the honour due to their 
 master's dignity ; but, nevertheless, to accept with confidence 
 the challenge to diplomatic combat offered by her persevering 
 opponent, the Spanish king. In the subsequent intercourse 
 which took place between Jeanne and the envoys of Spain, it 
 is amusing to observe the queen's skilful diplomacy : during 
 an interview, Jeanne would pretend to listen with deference to 
 the opinions of d'Escurrra, and adopt his inferences with a do- 
 cility which sometimes emulated even that once shown by 
 king Antoine to the suggestions of Chantounay. When the 
 time for action arrived, the queen proceeded to the execution 
 of the project under discussion, as she had pre-determined, 
 often to the extreme confusion of her dishonest counsellors. 
 
 The alleged object of d'Escurra's mission to the court of 
 Jeanne d'Albret, was to negotiate a marriage between the 
 queen and don Carlos, son and heir of king Philip ; or, if her 
 Majesty preferred — the suit of don John of Austria, brother 
 of his Spanish Majesty, was tendered for her acceptance. The 
 insincerity of Philip's proposals, with respect to the prince of 
 the Asturias, was at once palpable to queen Jeanne. The 
 prince had not completed his eighteenth year ; while his violent 
 temper, and strange vagaries, caused it to be apprehended that 
 the hereditary insanity of his house had claimed another victim. 
 Don John of Austria, the illegitimate son of Charles V., was a 
 bold and gallant prince, some two months younger than don 
 Carlos ; and who already displayed that spirit of martial enter- 
 prise which, twenty-six years afterwards, covered the brave 
 victor of Lepauto with glory. This notable scheme was kept 
 profoundly secret, and confided alone to the queen ; a reserve 
 in which Jeanne coincided, as she could not help feeling that 
 such preposterous proposals, on the part of the king of Spain, 
 were degrading to her royal dignity. She, nevertheless, pre- 
 tended to feel satisfaction at the alliances proposed for her ac- 
 ceptance ; and declared that, of the two cavaliers, her choice 
 would lead her to prefer the suit of the prince of Spain. 
 
 13
 
 194 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 " Madame de Vendome," wrote the secretary Jansana to 
 d'Escurra, who was then absent in Paris, " shows herself to be 
 excessively flattered by the hope of an alliance with so excel- 
 lent and lofty a prince." 1 Upon receiving this intimation, 
 d'Escurra forwarded a despatch to Madrid. He addresses 
 himself to Philip's secretary of state, Eraso. " On the 29th of 
 March," writes he, " I informed your Excellency that we were 
 expecting an answer from the wife of Vendome 2 upon the 
 memorandum which we read to her, respecting religious affairs ; 
 and whether she will submit her opinions to the judgment of 
 the forthcoming council. As to the matrimonial projects, I 
 have heard that she is willing, if such is his Majesty's desire ; 
 but that she desires to espouse his Majesty's son, rather than 
 his brother. I suspect that as she is not yet assured of this 
 marriage, she will pledge herself to nothing. In affairs of 
 religion, the secretaires Jansana and Colon do well their duty j 
 they have recently certified to me, that the wife of Vendome 
 confers with no one but themselves on the matter of this ne- 
 gotiation." 3 
 
 The plausible overtures of Philip and his agents had no 
 effect on the mind of the queen, except perhaps to hasten the 
 measures, which, with the assent of the council of state, she 
 had determined to adopt, relative to the suppression of the 
 Romish faith in Beam. The scneehal of Bearn d'Audaux, 
 was at this period faithful to the interests of his royal mistress; 
 the Spanish envoys, however, aware of d'Audaux's influence in 
 the council, made overtures to him on the part of the king of 
 Spain, and even offered to impart the secret of their negotia- 
 tion. This step coming to the knowledge of the queen of Na- 
 varre, she wrote to d'Escurra, forbidding him to hold confer- 
 ences with any of her subjects on the proposed alliance between 
 herself and the prince of Spain ; intimating, that in case her 
 wishes on this point were disregarded, she should decline to 
 discuss the project. During this interval the Spanish ambas- 
 sador was congratulating himself on the success of his diplo- 
 matic wiles ; which he flattered himself prevented the queen 
 from attempting anything to the prejudice of the Romish 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas, K. 1392, A. B. 16, No. 44. De Jansana a Juan 
 Martinez d'Escurra, dated 2 April, 1563. — lnedited. 
 
 '-' The Spanish envoys use the most disrespectful terms in speaking of Jeanne 
 d'Albret. She is generally called by them " la inuger de Vendoma," Madame 
 de Vendoma, or la Prineipessa de Beam, 
 
 a Archives de Simancas, K. 1392, No. 42 (73), dated, 10 April, 1563. These 
 documents are now deposited in the Archives de France, with many other in- 
 valuable papers, comprehending the negotiations between France and Spain 
 during the sixteenth century. These state documents were forwarded to Paris 
 on the capture of the Castle of Simancas by Marshal Victor.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 195 
 
 faitli. The astonishment and confusion of d'Escurra were, 
 therefore, boundless, when the queen, at the commencement of 
 Juue, 1563, assembled her council, and boldly published let- 
 ters-patent interdicting the exercise of the Romish religion 
 within the limits of Beam ; and authorizing the seizure of the 
 temporalities of that church, and their union with the domains 
 of her crown. The queen states her royal will in the preamble 
 to the letters-patent, thus : 
 
 " We ordain, declare, and command by this our present 
 edict, that we will that all our subjects of the said countries, of 
 whatever condition and degree, do make public profession of 
 the faith which we now publish under our seal and authority, 
 as being most surely grounded on the doctrine and written 
 word of the prophets and apostles ; and that no one may 
 plead ignorance in default of obedience, we have thought meet 
 to command that the said articles of faith should be incorpor- 
 ated, and inserted in these our said letters-patent." 
 
 The articles of the Calvinistic confession are then inserted, 
 clothed in the vigorous phraseology none knew better how to 
 wield than Jeanne d'Albret — not even her famed contempo- 
 rary, queen Elizabeth. The queen proceeds to regulate the 
 future application of the temporalities which she had declared 
 confiscated. She establishes a permanent ecclesiastical council 
 of nine personages, to settle the affairs of religion, and to ad- 
 minister these revenues. She commands that all charters, 
 title-deeds, and documents connected with benefices, or other 
 sources of ecclesiastical emolument, shall be delivered into the 
 hands of the said commissioners by a certain day, under pain 
 of severe penalties, arbitrary fines, and imprisonment. " For- 
 asmuch," continues queen Jeanne, in language rivalling even 
 that of king Hemw VIII., in his warrants decreeing the dis- 
 solution of monasteries in England — " as it is expedient to 
 elect competent persons to administer these temporalities, we 
 ordain and command that all the lands hitherto appertaining 
 to the said bishops, canons, abbes, deans, archdeacons, deacons, 
 priors, cures, prebends, monks, and nuns, in virtue of nomina- 
 tion, or presentation from patrons lay or ecclesiastical, and 
 which they enjoyed in virtue of their several titles, and insti- 
 tution, by the provision of their ordinaries, or of the pope, and 
 which they possessed under the title of benefices, or command- 
 eries, or hospitals for lepers, or hospitals for the sick generally, 
 or brotherhoods, or chapelries, shall, from the present time and 
 henceforth, be placed under the control, government, and ad- 
 ministration of the said council." Then follows a paragraph, 
 by which the queen makes over to her commissioners these
 
 196 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 church lands ; all of which were placed at her disposal : and 
 she confirms the lay peers of Beam in any impropriation of 
 tithes in fee, granted to them, or to their ancestors, within the 
 memory of man. 1 
 
 This celebrated edict, abolishing the Eoman Catholic wor- 
 ship throughout Beam, was issued by queen Jeanne, from her 
 castle at Pau ; it is countersigned by the senechal of Bearn, 
 Claude de Levis, baron d'Audaux, president of the queen's 
 privy council. An act of more dauntless independence than 
 the issue of these letters-patent has never been perpetrated by 
 any sovereign whatever. At this juncture, queen Jeanne's 
 little territory was beleaguered by hostile armies. Montluc, 
 animated with religious fury, almost insensate in its manifesta- 
 tions, waited but the permission of his government to carry 
 fire and sword throughout the length and breadth of Beam. 
 Philip of Spain hungered to unite the fragment of heritage 
 which still remained to the grand-daughter of the heroic 
 Catherine de Poix, with the four-and-twenty realms which al- 
 ready bowed beneath his sovereignty. Pius IV. menaced the 
 queen with interdict and excommunication ; while her young 
 son remained a hostage at the court of Catherine de Medici. 
 The daring of the queen in this matter, it must be owned, 
 amounted to rashness ; and the dissensions of the government 
 of France alone saved her from irretrievable ruin. Moreover, 
 this arbitrary confiscation of the temporalities of the church of 
 Eome within the limits of her principality, partook too much 
 of the nature of a persecution to be attended with satisfactory 
 results, political or moral. 
 
 The queen speedily followed the issue of these letters-patent, 
 by the publication of a second edict, regulating the disposal of 
 the funds so acquired. A large grant was made by queen 
 Jeanne for the foundation of a college of theology at Orthez. 
 She founded, also, secondary collegiate institutions in various 
 parts of Beam for the education of her youthful subjects. No 
 part of the ecclesiastical forfeitures did the queen appropriate 
 for her own private expenditure, or to the temporal service of 
 the state ; nor yet did she bestow a single acre in donation 
 upon private individuals. She ordained that all churches, hav- 
 ing insufficient congregations, should be delivered over to her 
 Protestant subjects. Ju those places where the two religions 
 were equally balanced, she decreed that the church should be 
 the common property of both denominations of worshippers. 
 
 1 Lettres patentes de la royne Jehanne sur le Conseil Ecclesiastique touch- 
 ant l'union au domaine des biens Ecclesiastiques Catholiques. MS. Bibl. •Roy- 
 ale, F. Dupuy, No. 152-153. — Inedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 197 
 
 This last ordonnance extended to all her subjects and vassals of 
 Beam, Foix, and Lower Navarre, indiscriminately. Jeanne 
 proceeded steadily in her work of reform : she listened to no 
 protests ; she coldly disregarded the menaces of France and 
 Spain, and day after day she issued fresli mandates with inex- 
 orable pertinacity, completing and regulating her design. 
 
 Amongst the members of her council, Jeanne occasionally 
 met with steady opposition. D'Audaux, though he still ad- 
 hered to the policy of the queen of Navarre, and countersigned 
 the decree suppressing the exercise of the Romish faith, wavered 
 somewhat in his co-operation, owing to the intrigues of the 
 Spanish envoys. Antoine de Pardaillon, senechal of Albret, 
 one day warmly represented to the queen that she grievously 
 transgressed the laws of God and of the king by so oppressing 
 her Roman Catholic subjects. Jeanne replied, that, on the 
 contrary, she was proving herself a zealous servant of God ; 
 " and as for the king of France, monseigneur, what then ? Am 
 I not an anointed queen, and a sovereign, likewise?" "Dare 
 you venture upon such a comparison, madame ?" bluffly re- 
 torted the senechal, " I could clear the frontier of your Ma- 
 jesty's realms with a bound." Jeanne fixed her eyes steadily 
 on her insolent censor. " 'Tis well, monseigneur," replied she, 
 "you will do well, therefore, to quit my realm without delay." 
 
 " The next act of the queen was to sign a privy-council 
 warrant, authorizing the removal of images, relics, and shrines, 
 from the churches in Beam. The vessels used heretofore at 
 the celebration of the mass were confiscated ; nevertheless, the 
 queen refused to permit the gold and silver plate to be melted, 
 or otherwise appropriated ; but she confided the whole under 
 sequestration to the care of one of her recently appointed 
 ecclesiastical commissioners. To invest her act with more 
 solemnity and weight, queen Jeanne was present when the 
 images were taken from the cathedral church of Lescar. She 
 afterwards caused the high altar to be removed ; and, attended 
 by a numerous train of courtiers, she was present at the first 
 Protestant service performed in the cathedral, and celebrated 
 after the work of demolition was pronounced complete. " On 
 the second day of this month I went to Lescar," wrote the am- 
 bassador d'Escurra, to Philip's secretary of state, Eraso, " and 
 there I saw the church despoiled of the holy images, the Host, 
 and the crucifix ; also of a silver statue of Our Lady, and of 
 the child Jesus, with the pixes, wherein the said holy sacrament 
 reposed, all which, with the i"emaining treasure of silver plate, 
 madame de Vendome carried away with her to Pau, on the 
 17th of June last. The following day, being the 18th of the
 
 198 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 said mouth, she sent people of her accursed sect, to break all 
 the images, crucifixes, aud altar-pieces within the said church ; 
 moreover, they overthrew the altars, and burned the holy 
 wafers appertaining thereunto ; carrying away with them other 
 vessels ; no inhabitant of the said town of Lescar daring to 
 molest them, under pain of death, or confiscation of goods." 1 
 At other places, however, the people rose to resist the queen's 
 mandate for the spoliation of their churches. At a small place, 
 a league from Pau, Jeanne's commissioner was severely handled 
 by the women of the district, who seized the unfortunate envoy 
 while he was in the act of burning their images ; they tore olf 
 his hair and beard, and dragged him from the church to strangle 
 him, had he not fortunately been rescued by a party of Hu- 
 guenots, who, heai'ing his cries, hastened to his assistance. A 
 fight ensued between the Protestant and Roman Catholic in- 
 habitants of the place, during which the minister received 
 several wounds from a dagger. At length he made his escape 
 to Pau, and waited on the queen, to inform her of the outrage 
 to which he had been subjected. Jeanne instantly despatched 
 personages to investigate the affair, and arrest the guilty 
 parties ; but when her commissioners arrived, they were so 
 roughly assailed by the excited populace, that they were forced 
 to flee for their lives. 2 
 
 At the little town of Morlas, six miles from Pau, the same 
 tumultuous scenes occurred ; but Jeanne, nothing daunted, 
 executed her designs with calm determination, causing the 
 treasures from all the churches to be conveyed to the subter- 
 raneous chambers of the mint, situated beneath her castle of 
 Pau ; and presiding most days, personally, at the ecclesiastical 
 council, which she had instituted for the sequestration and 
 future disposal of the revenues and benefices of the priesthood. 
 So little had her purpose been divined by the astute Spanish 
 minister, who still remained absent in Paris, that on the next 
 day (June ISth, 1563) to that upon which queen Jeanne 
 seized the treasures at Lescar, we find him writing thus to 
 Madrid : — " The secretary, Jansana, certifies to me that the 
 wife of Vendome (la inuger de Vendoma) greatly desires the 
 completion of the marriage between herself and the prince of 
 Spain ; but not the alliance proposed between herself and the 
 uncle of the said prince. Jansana asks whether I have informed 
 your Excellency of this, to which I replied in the affirmative. 
 He further stated, that if this project (which is most desirable) 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas, 1392, No. 42, 148 (66). D'Escurra a Don Juan 
 Eraso, dated 14 Agosto, 463. — Ined. 
 
 * Archives de Simancas, K. 1392, No. 42. — Ined.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 190 
 
 be persisted in, so that she can rely on the performance of the 
 articles proposed in the letter sent to her, the wife of Vendome 
 will remain faith fid to the Catholic Apostolic church ; and that 
 all will end prosperously, especially if the hand of the prince 
 be tendered for her acceptance." To which I replied, "that I 
 knew not why the term prosperously was used in the matter ; 
 but that no matrimonial negotiation would be entered into 
 whatever, unless the said wife of Vendome reconciled herself 
 to the Romish church. In her own territories, the wife of 
 Vendome undertakes nothing adverse to our religion ; to all 
 her subjects she permits liberty of conscience, a fact in which 
 I am well informed, and which I impart to your Excellency be- 
 cause I know that it is the truth, should you have heard to 
 the contrary." l Philip's secretary Eraso replies to this des- 
 patch in very gloomy strains ; he informs the envoy that he 
 had submitted his letter, and that of Jansana, to his Catholic 
 Majesty ; but that the king had not been pleased to ordain any- 
 thing fresh concerning the proposed union between the prince of 
 Spain and madame de Vendome, " inasmuch as the latter otters 
 no substantial pledges, but persists in treating only upon matters 
 in general." Upon the progress of the reformed faith through- 
 out France, the Spanish secretary proceeds to descant thus : "It 
 appears to me that each day our faith falls into greater disre- 
 pute ; our churches are demolished, and many other things are 
 perpetrated, most unworthy and prejudiciable to the service of 
 God our Master. These things are much felt here, and your 
 Excellency may believe that his Majesty, being eminently a 
 most Catholic prince, and so near a neighbour to the realm of 
 Erance, will never cease until he descries a remedy for these 
 evils ; which remedy would be best found in the alliance of 
 madame de Vendome, should such be possible, as it would 
 satisfy both herself and her party, and would afford ground for 
 further negotiation." 2 
 
 A rumour of the probable intentions of the queen of Navarre 
 had, meantime, reached the French court. Catherine, there- 
 fore, sent directions to Montluc, rigorously to suppress the 
 exercise of the reformed faith within his government, which 
 comprehended the military supervision of the territories Jeanne 
 held in feudal tenure under the French crown. Montluc was, 
 likewise, desired by Catherine to make his peace with the queen 
 of j\avarre, and to apologize for certain violent expressions 
 which he had used, and respecting which Jeanne complained. 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas, K. 1392, A. B. 16, No. 42 (76).— Iuecl. 
 - Ibid. No. 43 (123).— Iiied.
 
 200 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 The marshal, it appears, had publicly alluded to a reported de- 
 scent of the English on the coast of Gruyenne ; adding, "that 
 it was not to be believed, but that they were encouraged and 
 summoned to the enterprise by some personage of exalted rank, 
 and which could only be the queen of Navarre ; but, if it even 
 were the said queen, or any other individual, he would cause 
 them to expiate such treason with their life." This allusion 
 gave great offence to queen Jeanne, and she appealed to Ca- 
 therine for redress. As the French court, at this period, was 
 likewise indulging in the hope of cajoling the queen into a be- 
 trayal of the interests of the Huguenot party, Montluc receiv- 
 ed a command from his sovereign to write to the queen of 
 Navarre, and offer the best explanation in his power, relative 
 to the offensive allusion. As words cost Montluc little, he un- 
 hesitatingly obeyed Catherine's directions : " I supplicate you 
 in all humility, madame," wrote he to Jeanne d'Albret, 1 "not 
 to hold me inexcusable, if in my extreme consternation, hold- 
 ing the office that I do over these countries, I did use those 
 words. I hold them now in great displeasure ; and if it pleases 
 you that I humbly crave your pardon for such, I am quite pre- 
 pared to do so, and ask it earnestly. If you will condescend, 
 madame, to confer so great a benefit upon me as to forget my 
 offence, in pledge of the contentment and delight wduch your 
 gracious pardon will confer, I offer to you my lifelong service, my 
 fortune, and my sons, to render you very devoted service against 
 all your foes ; excepting only my prior duty to their Majesties, the 
 king and the queen, and their Highnesses the princes." - Mont- 
 luc, when he thus wrote in terms which, for a man of his 
 haughty and unscrupulous bearing, the queen of Navarre might 
 well deem ironical, had not heard of Jeanne's edict, confiscat- 
 ing the temporalities of the Romish clergy. Catherine also wrote 
 to Jeanne, mentioning the rumour that had moved the indigna- 
 tion of the French court, exhorting her to caution and forbear- 
 ance. This interference, which Jeanne ascribed to the gossip 
 of Jansana, addressed to his chief, Escurra, in Paris, greatly 
 offended the queen of Navarre. It appears that Jeanne took 
 no further notice of the unwelcome admonition than to intimate 
 to the secretary, Jansana, how ill she received the officiousness 
 of those who busied themselves in recording her actions to 
 satiate the animosities of her enemies of the French and Span- 
 ish courts. " On Sunday last, madame de Vendome sent me 
 
 i Archives de Simancas, K. 1302, No. 44 (156), translado de una carta 
 scripta de 12 Julio (1563) a madama de Vandoma de la parte del Senor de 
 Montluc. — Ined.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 201 
 
 word by my nephew, that the queen-mother had also written 
 to her to say that it was rumoured she (madame de Vendome) 
 intended to compel her subjects to profess the same religious 
 opinions as herself — a report which the said wife of Vendome 
 declared that she deemed both strange and extraordinary," [ 
 adds Jansana ; who throughout his despatches evinces a keen 
 sense of Jeanne's knowledge of his faculty of misrepresentation 
 and slander. 
 
 The queen of Navarre, regardless of the subtle manoeuvring 
 of her enemies, was now actively negotiating to obtain suitable 
 ministers to officiate in the churches which she had so uncere- 
 moniously provided for her Protestant subjects. She wrote to 
 Geneva to request that the elders of the Calvinistic church 
 would send her a noted minister named Merlin, and twenty 
 other sound preachers, to administer the word of God to her 
 Bearnnois people; 2 but especially to the inhabitants of Eoix 
 and Lower Navarre, her loving vassals, who still remained 
 stedfast in their fidelity to what queen Jeanne designates as 
 the "Romish idolatry." 
 
 The unfavourable report which Jansana gave of the queen's 
 proceedings, and especially of the stripping of the churches in 
 Beam, and of the suspension of the Romish ecclesiastics, caused 
 the ambassador d'Escurra to quit Paris, and to hasten with 
 all speed to Pau in the hope of prevailing upon the queen of 
 Navarre to recall some of her edicts ; and upon a more positive 
 promise of alliance with Don Carlos, to reconcile herself with 
 the Holy See. D'Escurra, on his arrival, found that the queen 
 had quitted Pau, to sojourn for a few days in the episcopal 
 palace at Lescar. Thither he, therefore, proceeded, observant 
 for once during his ambassage of the queen's prohibition 
 against his holding conference with d'Audaux, or any member 
 of his council. He sent to notify his arrival to the queen, and 
 to request audience. Jeanne, aware of the menaces and of the 
 probable insolence of the expostulation she was likely to receive 
 from Philip's envoy, replied that d'Escurra might speak with 
 her, if he pleased, on the following day at three in the after- 
 noon, in the garden attached to the episcopal palace of Lescar. 
 The envoy punctually made his appearance at the period indi- 
 cated ; he found the queen walking in the garden attended by 
 her ladies. At a sign from Jeanne they retired to some dis- 
 tance, so as not to be able to hear the discourse of the ambassador. 
 D'Escurra approached, and with an obeisance presented to the 
 
 i Archives de Simancas, 1392, No. 126. — Ined. 
 2 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre.
 
 202 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 queen a letter from king Philip, to deliver -which was the 
 ostensible purport of the audience he had demanded. Be- 
 fore Jeanne opened the letter he exclaimed, " Madame, if 
 I had thought to have seen all that I have beheld in this town, 
 and in the church of Lescar, I should not have waited 
 upon your Majesty in this place ; never before has there been 
 committed by any Christian prince so enormous a sacrilege 
 as has been perpetrated here. Omnipotent God! hast thou 
 indeed patience to suffer that the Holy Sacrament of thy 
 body should be impiously consumed by fire, with the images of 
 thy Blessed Mother ! " 
 
 The speech of the envoy was arrested by the queen, who 
 quietly said, " What have the princes, to whom you allude, to do 
 with my actions here in Pau ? They do what pleases them in 
 their own dominions. I have acted in accordance with the 
 commands of God, as I read in His Holy Gospel." " Madame 
 de Vendome," says d'Escurra, " looked fixedly in my face, being 
 paler than usual when she thus spoke, and somewhat agitated. 
 I replied to this last speech," continues he, " by observing, that 
 what she thus deemed to be truth, was error ; and that, in 
 thiukiug to do well, she had committed great wrong." To this 
 the queen made no reply ; but opened the letter sent to her by 
 Philip, and read it attentively. " Madame," persevered the 
 officious envoy, " when his Catholic Majesty addressed that let- 
 ter to you, he might have divined that which you recently have 
 performed, because, at the very hour when his Majesty w r rote it, 
 which was on the 17th of June, you began the demolition of 
 the church of Lescar." " Monseigneur," rejoined queen 
 Jeanne, "I feel indebted to his Catholic Majesty for the in- 
 terest which he deigns to show me, for which I remain his 
 humble servant. I would fain demonstrate, by my actions, the 
 good will which I bear him on the several points discussed in 
 this letter. In that which concerns the religion in which I 
 have been born and educated, and professing the w r hich my 
 father, my mother, and my husband died — God gave me the 
 dominion of these countries at a very youthful age, that I might 
 rule by the guidance of His Gospel, and cause those holy pre- 
 cepts to be taught everywhere. If, for this act of duty, his 
 Catholic Majesty chooses to declare war against me and my 
 people, I commend my cause to God, who is over all, and 
 above all. If it is the intention of the Catholic king to take 
 advantage to do me harm, as his Majesty insinuates, of the con- 
 tiguity of our vassals and territories, why does he not perform 
 the same threats as respects the queen of England, who has
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 203 
 
 executed the very same things which I have done in her king- 
 dom?" " Madame," replied the astute Spaniard, " two men 
 kill a third ; but from the one, justice asks nothing ; hut from 
 the other, she takes and exacts retribution. Finally, however, 
 justice pounces equally upon both." " Monseigneur," inter- 
 posed the queen, " for these many years past I have been 
 harassed by similar negotiations on the part of his Catholic 
 Majesty : your king places confidence in you ; I will now reci- 
 procate the trust, as far as you are concerned, by asking what, 
 in your opinion, would be the remedy to obviate all the things 
 that I have lately done ? " For an instant the wily diploma- 
 tist paused, before he gave his answer ; feeling conscious that 
 the queen intended to probe the extent of concession expected 
 from her by the Spanish court. " Madame," replied d'Escurra, 
 " I know of no remedy excepting one, which is, that you com- 
 mand the arrest of all heretic, ministers, and others who have 
 counselled you to commit this heinous crime ; and, at the same 
 time, assemble your nobles, gentry, and the principal citizens 
 of your dominions. When this is done, you should, in presence 
 of them all, demand pardon of Almighty God; next, you must 
 condemn those, your late evil counsellors and abettors, to the 
 flames ; and, afterwards, command a solemn procession, and, 
 with your own hand, replace the holy images in the churches 
 from whence, by your orders, they have been torn. You 
 ought, then, to despatch an embassy, to ask pardon and 
 absolution from the pope. By so acting, madame, you will 
 mitigate the great anger felt against you by the Catholic 
 princes of Europe." Great must have been the self-com- 
 mand of the high-spirited Jeanne, when she heard herself so 
 insolently taken to task by Philip's envoy. She replied, that 
 nothing should induce her to adopt his counsel : that, before 
 she had. undertaken such important matters, she had consulted 
 with her parliament, and with many learned and wise person- 
 ages ; and that, having perpetrated so notable a thing, to re- 
 voke, or to modify it in any way, would be holding forth an 
 example very pernicious in its consequences. Jeanne then 
 abruptly dismissed the ambassador, saying, " that another time 
 she would discourse with him on these matters." 1 
 
 During the time that the Spanish embassy remained in 
 Beam, a period of one year, Jansana and his agents were 
 directed by Philip's cabinet to transmit statements respecting 
 Jeanne's fortified places, the distances between the principal 
 towns of Beam and Navarre, the condition of the roads, and tho 
 1 Archives de Simancas, K. 1395, No. 42, 148, fol. 2.— Ined.
 
 204 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 complement of the queen's garrisons. After d'Escurra re- 
 turned from Paris, Jansana seems to have employed especial 
 diligence in pursuing these inquiries, whilst his chief was occu- 
 pied in quarrelling with the queen. The queen quitted Les- 
 car a few days after her interview with Escurra, and proceeded 
 to another place, which is nameless, about six miles from Pan, 
 probably, however, the little town of Nai. "While here, Jeanne 
 tried to compose some of the differences in her cabinet, by re- 
 conciling the baron de Luxe, one of the most potent and wealthy 
 peers of Beam, with the seigneur de Mazaux. Her efforts, 
 however, so deeply offended the senechal d'Audaux, who was 
 the personal enemy of de Luxe, that he took leave of the queen, 
 and departed with his consort and her children to his castle in 
 Perigord, vowing never more to return to Pan. The queen, 
 who attributed the disaffection of d'Audaux to the wily over- 
 tures of the Spanish envoy, manifested how deejdy she was dis- 
 pleased by their proceedings. 1 
 
 D'Escurra, during this interval, still importunately demand- 
 ed audience ; Jeaune at length sent for him one afternoon, 
 while she took her after-dinner promenade in the great hall of 
 her castle of Pau. The audience lasted for five hours, the am- 
 bassador trying to read the queen's intentions ; while Jeanne 
 essayed by the subtilty of her questions to penetrate the tor- 
 tuous politics of Philip II. She opened the parley by putting 
 the singular question to the ambassador, whether, u being of 
 the religion she was, she could marry a husband professing the 
 iiomish faith?" "I perceive," continued the queen, "that 
 all the discourse which has been held to me concerning my 
 marriage with Don Juan of Austria, or with the prince of Spain, 
 tends to the same fashion and effect as the fine negotiations 
 which were held with my deceased husband relative to the 
 kingdom of Sardinia. Since the death of my said husband, 
 monseigneur, a letter has fallen into my hands, written by the 
 pope's legate, 2 in which his Eminence stated to his Holiness, 
 that it might be convenient for the fortune of the war to in- 
 spire me, if possible, with the same delusive hopes relative to 
 the realm of Sardinia — " The queen's remarks being exceedingly 
 unpalatable to the envoy, he hastened to break the thread of 
 her discourse by observing, " It is true, madame, that neither 
 the prince of Spain, nor yet Don Juan of Austria, will consent 
 to espouse a consort professing a religion contrary to his own 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas, R. 1392, No. 126.— Ined. 
 
 '" The cardinal d'Armagnao, orProspero de Santa Croce, cardinal bishop of 
 Chisamo.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 205 
 
 belief, even were she queen and mistress of the world itself. As 
 to what you say, that you see not proof sufficient on our part 
 to lead you to believe in the sincerity of this proposed alliance, 
 we also affirm that we perceive nothing on your side to en- 
 courage us to propose more, as you confer on things generally, 
 and on nothing in particular." 
 
 " Tou know, monseigneur, that I am now thirty-four years 
 old ; besides, no princess enters into second nuptial engage- 
 ments before she has completed her year of widowhood. When 
 that is accomplished, I may have changed my mind respecting 
 this alliance ; even if the king of Spain is pleased to maintain 
 his friendship for me during so long a period." D'Escurra re- 
 plied : " If you, madame, were sensible of the offence which you 
 have committed in the sight of God, I should have great hope 
 of the fortunate issue of this negotiation ; but as you experience 
 no remorse, I cannot anticipate a happy result." Jeanne's 
 patience, at this renewed objurgation on the part of the envoy, 
 failed her : she turned towards d'Escurra, and with eyes flash- 
 ing with anger, exclaimed : " What you term Sacrament, mon- 
 seigneur, is an idolatrous fraud, which has caused the everlast- 
 ing perdition of countless souls ! I saw the wafer belonging to 
 the church of Lescar, which was made only of flour and water, 
 kneaded together with a crucifix ; it was old, and green as the 
 colour of grass ! And you assert that God is incarnate there ! " 
 " That Sacrament, madame," rejoined Escurra, " was the true 
 body of God ; and, for such, it is adored and reverenced by all 
 orthodox Catholics. But, as vou hold it in such little esteem, 
 I may no longer converse with you." The envoy proceeded to 
 state, that having satisfied himself of the truth that the queen 
 had committed the horrible profanity of burning the Host, he 
 requested dismissal from her presence. The lion spirit in the 
 bosom of Jeanne d'Albret, was now thoroughly roused, both 
 against the subtle envoy and his unscrupulous master. The 
 bitterness of her contempt for their artifices, so long repressed, 
 fell now in words of telling power. " I should have been con- 
 tent in knowing what were your true instructions, monseigneur, 
 respecting this negotiation. Although the Catholic king is a 
 great prince, I also have the power of serving you. I leave all 
 to your discretion ; you perceive my intentions at the present 
 time, and for the future. My conscience dictates this course ; 
 for, even if I knew that the king of Spain, or any other poten- 
 tate, would take my head, and before my death slay my children 
 under my eyes, I would suffer all, sooner than believe any other 
 creed than that which I now profess. I desire the favour and 
 friendship of the Catholic king more than that of any other
 
 206 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 prince ; nevertheless, I am not so forlorn and defenceless, but 
 that I command the allegiance of 1500 gentlemen of valour, all 
 professing the reformed faith ; besides which, I have 30,000 
 soldiers, who would die to accomplish my will ; and all the 
 warriors who fought in France, during the last civil war, have 
 placed their swords at my disposal ! " D'Escurra made no reply, 
 except to request Jeaune to favour him with a written state- 
 ment of her response to his Spanish Majesty. Jeanne replied, 
 that she would send her reply in cypher to the ambassador ; 
 she then terminated the audience, by summoning back her 
 ladies, and discoursing with them in a pleasant and merry 
 tone. 1 
 
 D'Escurra consoled himself for the little influence which his 
 words had produced by writing a despatch for Spain, in which 
 he urged his royal master to undertake an expedition to punish 
 the heresy of the queen of Navarre. He said that the queen 
 was badly served by her vassals, so that if any Catholic prince 
 would confirm them in their privileges as Roman Catholics, 
 they would rise against her authority, including Jeanne's Basque 
 subjects ; for the entire Calvinist population of Beam, accord- 
 ing to the ambassador, amounted to less than one thousand 
 persons. D'Escurra concludes his despatch by a pitiable state- 
 ment of the way in which queen Jeanue had foiled his designs. 
 
 " For two years have I been occupied with this negotiation, 
 hoping one day to reap fruit for my pains," writes d'Escurra, 
 " but now I witness its termination without result whatever. I 
 have lost my time and my money in making journeys hither 
 and thither, besides, also, sending my son to this court, as your 
 Excellency may recollect." The despatch ends by a supplica- 
 tion on the part of the envoy, that Philip would reimburse him 
 for the sums thus lavished in his service." 2 
 
 The queen of Navarre allowed some days to elapse before 
 she sent the response to Philip's letter, so imperiously demanded 
 by d'Escurra. Being well aware that her strength lay in the 
 support of France, and not wishing to offend queen Catherine, 
 who had already testified surprise at the empressements of the 
 Spanish envoys in Beam, Jeanne despatched her secretary, le 
 Royer, to St Germain, to communicate with the queen-mother; 
 and to submit, for the approval of the council, the answer which 
 she intended to make to Philip's propositions. D'Escurra, 
 offeuded at the reception which he had received from Jeanne, 
 quitted Pan, and proceeded to Paris, leaving Jansana to conduct 
 affairs. To him, therefore, the queen communicated her reply, 
 
 1 Archives de Simanca, K. 1392. No. 148.— Inecl. 2 Ibid. A. 1392.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 207 
 
 which was to this effect, " that the queen greatly prized and 
 desired the friendship and countenance of king Philip. Never- 
 theless, all that she had done in the matter of religion she 
 firmly maintained and ratified, and that she would sooner die 
 than act differently. Finally, she reminded king Philip that 
 amongst princes, it was a rule not to interfere in the internal 
 government of each other's territories ; and she, therefore, 
 prayed his Catholic Majesty to remember this fact, and to re- 
 frain from promoting disaffection in the countries over which 
 she ruled as sovereign princess." 1 
 
 Jansana despatched this reply to Escurra, in Paris ; and 
 from thence the latter sent it to Madrid, adding a letter of his 
 own, in which he informs the secretary of state, Eraso, that 
 the answer of madame de Vendome had been read and approved 
 by the French court ; and that there was no chance of her 
 submission, as she obstinately adhered to the errors of her 
 sect. " I beseech your Excellency to inform me, whether, under 
 these circumstances, it is becoming to treat more with her. I 
 greatly fear, that she will induce her people to become as she is 
 herself; but, as I know not the ultimate designs of his Majesty, 
 although I feel persuaded that they are good aud holy, I cannot 
 decide whether it will be better to dissimulate the remedy we 
 propose, on the supposition that some day Ave may agree with 
 her. But, if what I am about to suggest will not mar other 
 negotiation, it appears to me that now is our opportunity to 
 strike a blow at smaller cost, and by fewer troops, inasmuch as 
 her vassals and nobles are indignant and disaffected. 2 In due 
 course, Escurra received a reply from Madrid. His instruc- 
 tions directed him still to dissimulate ; and to express again to 
 the queen of Navarre the horror which his Majesty, in common 
 with other Catholic princes, felt at her conduct. The ambas- 
 sador was also instructed to request Jeanne, in his master's 
 name, to be satisfied with the destruction which she had 
 wrought at Lescar and Morlas ; and not to attempt other 
 sequestrations of treasure. 3 Queen Jeanne, always watchful 
 of the proceedings of the Spanish envoys, knowing that they 
 were constantly occupied in subtle plots for the overthrow of 
 her authority, addressed about this period a note, in Spanish. 
 to Jansana one Saturday evening, evidently to intimate that 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas, A.B. 16, No. 65. De Juan Martinez d'Escurra, 
 a Eraso, secretario de estado. — Ined. 
 
 8 Ibid. 
 
 3 Ibid. K. 1392, 126. De Don a Don Juan Escurra. The following 
 
 words are appended in a marginal note to the original despatch in the hand- 
 writing of Philip II., "Esto tambien que no podia ser, no son a niipare^er. " — 
 Ined.
 
 203 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 she was cognizant of his intrigues, and prepared to circumvent 
 them. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE, TO THE SECRETARY JANSANA. 
 
 " Jansana, 
 
 " I request that you will continue to send notice to myself of all 
 things concerning my government, with which you have to do. I 
 have received news from the court of France, where my religion 
 prospers. The queen has especially done me the honour to write to me, 
 that she has heard a rumour that the Spanish king (el Espanol) intends 
 to invade my dominions, but she assures me that neither the king nor 
 herself will suffer such an outrage Besides which, nearly the whole 
 of my friends, relatives, and allies, design to come to my assistance. 
 You will, therefore, take an early opportunity of informing me of all 
 that you have to communicate resjjecting this design. I pray God to 
 grant you your desires. 
 
 "Juana." 1 
 
 This letter of Jeanne's was also forwarded to Madrid ; in 
 fact, so alert were Philip's agents in reporting her designs, 
 words, and actions, that, besides the usual couriers passing 
 between Madrid and Paris, Escurra maintained an army of 
 spies and agents, whom he despatched on his missions over the 
 Pyrenees, under all kinds of disguises. 
 
 Religious matters, were, at this period, progressing to the 
 desire of the queen's heart in her territories. The new minis- 
 ters, and Merlin, had been welcomed with enthusiasm ; and the 
 ecclesiastical commissioners carried out the work intrusted to 
 them with ability and success. The papal court, however, had 
 not been unobservant of Jeanne's proceedings. Inflamed by 
 the insidious representations of Philip II., the wrath of pope 
 Pius, which had been drifting hither and thither, throughout 
 civilized Europe, now concentrated itself upon Beam. The 
 support afforded to the queen of Navarre by Catherine de 
 Medici offered a serious obstacle to the designs of Jeanne's 
 enemies in the consistory ; but they relied on the alleged 
 disaffection of her subjects, and on the wily diplomacy of Philip 
 of Spain. 
 
 The cardinal d'Armagnac at length returned from Trent, 
 and resumed his legatine and inquisitorial functions over 
 Beam and the south of France. Notwithstanding the able 
 apology for her proceedings, pronounced in full consistory by 
 the cardinal Muret, Jeanne's name had not been removed from 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas, No. 65, K. 1392. — Ined. Del Secretario Jansana 
 a d'Escurra. "Mi senor,'' says the secretary, " sabado a la noche, digo 
 el passado, madama de Vandoma me scrivio una carta, que es del tenor segui- 
 eate."
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 209 
 
 the lists of the Holy Office in Home : and Pius IV. never 
 heard her mentioned in his presence without manifesting angry 
 emotion. The first indication of the coming storm fell on the 
 devoted head of Louis d'Albret, bishop of Lescar ; l who, it 
 must be owned, merited censure for suffering, even at the 
 command of his sovereign, that the sacred vessels and the 
 images should be removed from his cathedral, while he styled 
 himself an obedient son of the holy Eoman church. The cardi- 
 nal, in his legatine capacity, therefore, addressed a sharp repri- 
 mand to the bishop : " Monsieur," wrote he, " I have been long 
 without believing what occurred lately in your church of Lescar, 
 because it could not enter into my imagination that you would 
 concert the ruin of the said church ; nor yet so unworthily aban- 
 don the flock over which you are appointed, to side with the ene- 
 mies of God and of Christendom. I am, however, constrained 
 to believe, and to hold for truth, that in your presence, and by 
 your consent, the images in your said church of Lescar have 
 been taken from the altars, the crucifixes and the baptismal 
 fonts broken, the ornaments and reliquaries sequestrated, and 
 your priests and canons suspended, and forbidden to serve God 
 according to the ritual of our Catholic church ; and all this you 
 have permitted, in order to introduce heresy, and sanction the 
 preaching of abominable errors ; the which the devil has sown, 
 in our days, by the instrumentality of his ministers. Monsieur, 
 can it be possible that you have so far forgotten the duties of 
 your priestly calling, the salvation of your soul, the repose of 
 your conscience, the faith that you have vowed to God, and 
 the obligations that you have contracted in the sight of men ? 
 A prelate so advanced in years as yourself, who has so solemnly 
 sworn obedience to the Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 engaged to feed his sheep, to cherish them, and to keep them 
 within the fold — can he forget himself so immeasurably as to com- 
 mit so notable a perjury, and abandon his poor flock to become 
 a prey of famishing wolves ? Monsieur, Monsieur, I fear me that 
 the scandal and the crime are so infinite, that retribution will 
 fall upon him who has committed them ! " In this strain, the 
 cardinal rates the bishop through a very long epistle : and finally 
 he signs himself, " votre ancienfrere, cousin, et meilleur ami, 
 qiiand votes serez reconcilie a Dieu, et son eglise" 2 
 
 1 The bishops of Lescar were appointed directly by the Holy See. They 
 held most important rank in the principality ; the bishop of "Lescar being 
 always president of the states of Beam. 
 
 2 Lettre du cardinal d'Armagnac a 1'eveque de Lescar. Mem. de Conde, t. 
 iv. p. 628. The cardinal, amongst other charges, accuses the bishop of having 
 publicly espoused a young wife. The cardinal's zeal often transports him 
 beyond the boundary of fact ; and in this instance no evidence exists to prove 
 
 14
 
 210 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 
 
 The poor old bishop, alarmed by this threatening address, 
 could choose no better course than to lay the letter before his 
 good mistress and her privy council. The council had scarcely 
 perused the missive than Jeanne herself received an admonition 
 from the irate legate. The letter was couched in more moder- 
 ate language ; but its insolent insinuations greatly incensed the 
 queen. 
 
 " Madame," said this indefatigable prelate, " I cannot deny 
 that I have felt great and just regret on learning what has re- 
 cently happened in your town of Lescar, when the images in 
 the church were felled, the fonts and altars destroyed, the 
 jewels, ornaments, and silver plate seized by your people, and 
 the canons and priests interdicted from celebrating their ac- 
 customed service. All this is the more to be deplored, madame, 
 as I understand that the said outrage was committed in your 
 presence, and by your commandment. Reflect, madame, on 
 the consequences of this enterprise, which can only entail great 
 disasters, and which has been concocted by the evil counsellors 
 you retain round your person, who under pretext of religion 
 would place you in such a position, that, unless Grod himself 
 interposes, you could not extricate yourself. Madame, al- 
 though you are minded through their evil council to plant a 
 new religion in your countries of Beam and Lower Navarre, 
 the design will not succeed. Tour subjects will never consent ; 
 they have already plainly intimated to you, during the session 
 of the states-general, that they will never abandon the faith in 
 which they have been nurtured. Assure yourself, madame, that 
 you have to deal with a people, constant, and devoted to the 
 traditions and customs of their country ; and that were you 
 to touch even the smallest of their seignorial rights, you would 
 find a jealous resistance of the design ; how much greater, 
 therefore, will be their opposition, when you attempt to force 
 their consciences, and to deprive them of the religion of their 
 ancestors." 
 
 The cardinal next menaces the queen with the discounten- 
 ance of her potent neighbours, the kings of France and Spain. 
 " Moreover, madame," continues he, " I pray you to reflect, 
 that your states are encircled by the dominions of tw T o of the 
 most potent kings of Europe, who abhor nothing more than 
 the religion which you favour, and into whose countries your 
 subjects will retire. Should they not do this, the king of Spain 
 will not, as you know, endure such neighbours ; but his Ca- 
 tholic Majesty will gladly avail himself of this unhappy pretext 
 
 that the aged prelate had brought so great a scandal on the church iu which 
 he ministered.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 211 
 
 to invade your dominions. I do not know, madame, what our 
 own king will say to the matter; and whether he will not himself 
 seize your territories rather than suffer another to possess him- 
 self of them. Assure yourself, therefore, madame, that it is 
 impossible for you to plant peacefully and to maintain perma- 
 nently a new religion in your small territories, surrounded as 
 you are by such potent kings — you not having for a rampart 
 and defence the great ocean as has the realm of England. I 
 know full well, madame, that you will say to me that you pre- 
 fer to forfeit kingdom, duchy, and principality, and to content 
 yourself with a revenue of five hundred livres, rather than re- 
 linquish your enterprise, which is founded, as you imagine, 
 on the Gospel ; but, madame, messieurs your children have 
 deserved better from you, than that you should deprive them of 
 such fine heritages, which the kings of holy memory, your royal 
 ancestors, have so carefully preserved for them ; having first 
 placed the crown of a kingdom, and of so many duchies and prin- 
 cipalities, upon your head, that you might transmit it unimpair- 
 ed to monseigneur le prince, your son." 1 
 
 Queen Jeanne, like her mother, wielded the pen of a ready 
 writer. So transported with indignation did she feel at the 
 audacious remonstrances addressed to her. that she commanded 
 the courier who had brought the legate's letter, to wait, and 
 carry back at once her response. She then retired into her 
 cabinet, and penned the following spirited reply. The letter, 
 notwithstanding its great length, is given almost entire ; as no 
 other document exists which presents so vivid a picture of the 
 passionate energy of mind and deed which distinguished this 
 noble princess. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE, TO THE CARDINAL D'ARMAGNAC. 
 
 "Mon Cousin, 
 
 " Having knowledge from my earliest years of the manner in which 
 you devoted yourself to render service to the deceased king and queen, 
 my father and mother, your present strange delusions shall not pre- 
 vent me from acknowledging and lauding such fidelity ; nor also, from 
 owning that you have, until lately, continued such towards her who 
 has inherited their worldly substance. I could, nevertheless, have de- 
 sired that this good and faithful friendship on your part should not 
 have been lessened, or rather crossed, by that which I scarcely know 
 whether to term religion or superstition: nevertheless, I thank vou 
 for the warnings which you have given me, taking them as I do with 
 
 1 Lettre du cardinal d'Armagnac a la rovne de Navarre, datee de Belle- 
 perehe le lOeme d'Aoust, 1563. Olhagaray, Hist, de Fuix, Beam, et Navarre. 
 Mem. de Conde, t. iv. p. 59-1.
 
 212 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 reservation, as inconsistent, like the mingling of Heaven with the clay 
 of earth. As to the first point upon which you comment — the reform- 
 ation in religion which 1 have commenced at Pau, and at Lescar — I 
 am very earnestly resolved, by the grace of God, to continue such re- 
 formation throughout my sovereignty of Beam. I have learned to do 
 so from my Bible (which I read more than the works of your doctors), 
 in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, from whence I 
 take king Joash for my pattern, in order that I may not be reproached, 
 as were some of the kings of Israel, that, professing myself a servant 
 of God, I yet destroyed not the high places consecrated to idols. As 
 for the ruin which you state that my evil counsellors prepare for me, 
 I am not yet so forsaken by God and my friends, as not to have still 
 some worthy persons near me — persons, who not only wear the sem- 
 blance of religion, but practise its precepts : for, such as the head is, 
 so are the members. Neither have I undertaken, as you assert, to 
 plant a new religion, but only to build up again the ruins of our an- 
 cient faith, in which design I feel certain of a fortunate issue. 
 
 " I clearly perceive, mon cousin, that you have been deceived, both 
 in the matter of the answer of the states, and also upon the condition 
 of my subjects generally. The said states have tendered me obedience 
 in religious matters. My subjects, ecclesiastical, noble, and plebeian, 
 have, without one single exception, offered me obedience, and continue 
 daily to pay me the same deference, which, you will own, differs mate- 
 rially from your assertion of their menaced rebellion. I do nothing 
 by compulsion : I condemn no one to death, or to imprisonment, 
 which penalties are the nerves and sinews of a system of terror. I 
 know the kings my neighbours perfectly : the one hates the religion 
 which I profess : I also abhor his faith. Yet despite this, I feel as- 
 sured that we shall not cease to live in amity. Nevertheless, I have 
 not taken so little heed of my affairs, nor am I so destitute of relations, 
 allies, and friends, but that my remedy is promptly at hand if he de- 
 cided otherwise. My other neighbour is he who sustains my strength, 
 and who is the root of my race, from whence the greatest honour I 
 have is to be an offshoot. This my neighbour abhors not the reform- 
 ed faith, as you say ; but permits its exercise around his person, by 
 the nobles and princes, amongst whom it is my son's happiness to be 
 included ; and finally, throughout his kingdom. 
 
 " You have invented a response for me which I approve, when you 
 assert that I would rather be poor than cease to serve God. Never- 
 theless, I do not perceive that I am endangering any worldly interest ; 
 but, on the contrary, instead of lessening my son's heritage, I augment 
 it, and increase his greatness and honour, by means which every true 
 Christian ought to seek. If the Spirit of God did not lead me to this 
 conclusion, my common sense would teach me the lesson by an infin- 
 ity of examples ; but more especially, by that of the king, my deceased 
 husband, whose history is known to you from beginning to end, and 
 whom you beguiled by the promise of all those fine crowns which were 
 to be his, if he fought against true religion and his conscience — a fact 
 his death-bed confession testifies ; also, the words which he addressed 
 to the queen, protesting that, if he recovered, he would cause the
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 213 
 
 ministers to preach everywhere throughout France the doctrines of 
 the Reformation. Behold the true fruits of the gospel, which divine 
 mercy perfects in due season ! behold how the Eternal Father cares 
 for those in favour of whom his clemency has been invoked! 
 
 '• I blush for you, and feel shame, when you falsely state that so 
 many atrocities have been perpetrated by those of our religion. Pull 
 the mote from your own eye, then shall you see clearly to cast out the 
 beam in your neighbour's eye ! Purge the earth first from the blood 
 of so many just men shed by you and yours; take in witness of which 
 the facts that you are well aware, I know, of the origin of the first 
 seditions, when patiently, and by the permission of the king and queen, 
 our ministers, according to the edict of January, preached the word of 
 God, when, by the evil counsel of M. le Legat, of the cardinal de 
 Tournon, and of yourself, all this subsequent trouble was concocted ; 
 you, aiding your designs by imposing on the easy good-nature of the 
 late king, my husband. "When I assert this, I do not mean to palliate 
 the evil that has been done under the guise of true religion, to the 
 very great regret of her faithful ministers, and of all worthy persons. 
 I, for one, am most earnest in demanding retribution against those 
 who thus pollute the true faith ; from which pestilential persons, by 
 the grace of God. Beam shall be exempt, as it has been to the present 
 time, from this and other ills. 
 
 " I perceive by the description that you adventure upon, that you 
 do not know our ministers ; or, at least, that you have not profited 
 greatly by their converse ; otherwise, you would know that they preach 
 the necessity of obedience to their temporal rulers, patience, and 
 humility, according to the pattern set them by their great examples, 
 the martyrs and apostles. You state that you do not wish to enter 
 into controversy with us upon a doctrine which I assert is so true 
 that you cannot prove its falsity. Herein I agree with you ; not be- 
 cause I doubt the sufficiency of our faith, but that I fear 1 should reap 
 too little profit from the holy desire which possesses me to show you, 
 out of charity and love, the true path to our Sion. You are pleased 
 to assure me that the number of our people is small. I, on the con- 
 trary, inform you that our faithful increase daily. As to what you 
 remark respecting the books of the ancient fathers of the church, I 
 hear them constantly quoted by our ministers, and approve them. 
 Nevertheless, I own that I am not learned as I ought to be in this 
 matter ; but neither do I believe that you are more competent than 
 myself, having observed that you have always applied yourself more 
 to the study of politics than to that of divinity. When you state 
 that we have left the true faith to follow the religion of apostates, 
 look to yourself first — you, who have unworthily rejected the holy 
 food with which the late queen, my mother, led you, before the 
 honours of Pome darkened the eyes of your understanding. "We 
 unite in opinion, as you state, on the necessity of studying the Holy 
 Scriptures ; but we care not to look beyond. We do not deny that 
 therein are things hard to be understood ; but we know that the 
 errors which thereon ensued in the early church inflicted but a slight 
 wound in comparison to the cancer which now devours your eccle- 
 siastical theory. I agree in all your comments on the Prince of
 
 214 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 Darkness ; and own that you and yours afford admirable examples of 
 the evil nature which you censure. 
 
 "As to the difficulty in interpreting the true meaning of the words, 
 'this is my body,' Saint Augustine, in his treatise against Adaman- 
 tius, has amply vindicated that matter (as I have learned more by the 
 teaching of our ministers than by study of books), when he says that 
 Jesus Christ made no scruple to name the body when he gave its 
 symbol. I think that our ministers have more profoundly studied 
 this passage than you and yours, else you would not fall into the 
 error of asserting that Jesus Christ said before the communion, 
 " Henceforth, I speak no more in parables," when it is manifest by 
 the 13th chapter of St John, that he uttered those words after the 
 conclusion of His Holy Supper. Turn to the 22nd chapter of St 
 Luke's Gospel, and learn for the future to comprehend a passage before 
 you quote it: an error of the kind, nevertheless, would be excusable 
 in a woman, such as myself; but, certes, mon cousin, to see an old 
 cardinal like yourself so ignorant, kindles shame. 
 
 " You desire to learn in what degree I put confidence in the books 
 of your learned doctors in theology : I reply, in the measure that they 
 take Holy Scripture for their guide and model. I find that the 
 works of Calvin, Beze, and others, are founded on the word of God. 
 You say that you wish to refer our ministers to the decision of a 
 general council— a thing which they themselves desire, provided that 
 efficient security of person is guaranteed ; they, in demanding this, 
 having before their eyes the examples of John Huss and Jerome of 
 Prague. I know not where you have learned that there are so many 
 diversities of sects amongst our ministers : though, at the Colloque 
 de Poissy, I became very sensible of your own divisions in doctrine 
 and practice. We have one Gocl, one faith, one law ; and the Holy 
 Ghost has promised to be with His Church to the end of time, to 
 bless and to maintain this faith. 
 
 " I thank God that I know, without the aid of your teaching, how 
 toserve and please God, the king my sovereign lord, and all other 
 princes my allies and confederates ; all of whom I appreciate better 
 than you can do. I also know how to bring up my son, so that 
 hereafter he may be great and revered ; and to maintain myself in 
 communion with that church, without the pale of which there is no 
 salvation. You request me not to think it strange or to take in bad 
 part what you have written. Strange I do not deem your words, 
 considering of what order you are, but as to taking them in bad 
 part, that I do as much as is possible in this world. You excuse 
 yourself, and allege your authority over these countries, as the pope's 
 legate : I receive here no legate at the price which it has cost France ; I 
 acknowledge over me in Beam only God — to whom I shall render 
 account of the people he has committed to my care. As in no point 
 have I deviated from the faith of God's Holy Catholic Church, nor 
 quitted his fold, I bid you keep your tears to deplore your own errors; 
 to the which, out of charity, I will add my own, putting up, at the 
 same time, the most fervent prayer that ever left my lips, that you 
 may be restored to the true fold, and become a faithful shepherd 
 instead of a hireling. As respects my present enterprises, if you can-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 215 
 
 not convince me of evil by stronger argument, cease, I pray yon, to 
 importune me. I pity, from my heart, your worldly wisdom, which, 
 with the apostle, I deem foolishness before God. He will not dis- 
 appoint my hopes in Himself; He is not a liar, like men; and He 
 will never desert those who place their trust in His providence. 
 Your doubts, mon cousin, may well make you fear ; while my sted- 
 fast faith gives me assurance. I must entreat that you will use other 
 language, when next you would have me believe that you address 
 me, impelled, as you affirm, by motives of respect, and by the duty 
 which you say that you owe me ; and, likewise, I desire that your use- 
 less letter may be the last of its kind. 
 
 " I have seen that malignant, pernicious, and most seditious letter 
 which you have thought it expedient to write to mon cousin de Les- 
 car, who is about to answer you. Suffice it for me to inform you 
 that I perceive that you are determined to bring upon this little coun- 
 try of Beam that deluge of misfortune in which you have recently 
 attempted to drown France. You envy our happy condition ; the 
 which, being bestowed by our great God and Master, He will main- 
 tain for us, despite your malicious conspiracies. I pray Him to par- 
 don your crime ; though do I even tremble at the prayer, lest it 
 should be replied to me as to Samuel weeping and interceding for 
 Saul. 
 
 " From her who knows not how to subscribe herself ; being fearful of 
 signing herself your friend, and who even doubts her relationship to you ; 
 but whom, in the day of your penitent repentance, you will find, 
 
 " Yotre bonne cousine et amve, 
 
 " Jeanne." 1 
 
 This epistle was penned by queen Jeanne, at Yillepinte, in 
 Beam ; the assertions in which she indulges, respecting the 
 astute cardinal, tilled her loving subjects of the reformed faith 
 with rapture ; and such was the enthusiasm her letter created, 
 that many hundreds of copies of d'Armagnac's address, with 
 the queen's reply thereto, were printed and circulated through- 
 out Beam and Lower Navarre. " Our queen," says Olhaga- 
 ray, 2 " forbad all religious processions in public ; which man- 
 date could not fail to be highly displeasing to her Roman 
 Catholic subjects. The blow stirred up all the Romish clergy ; 
 and consternation so greatly obscured their minds, that they 
 knew not to what saint to vow themselves. Some said that it 
 was nought but a feminine freak, which would soon exhaust 
 itself, and be extinguished, as the sun sinks for a time before 
 the shades of night. But the wise providence of God, guiding 
 the hand of our valiant Judith, and quickening her appi-ehen- 
 sion, raised opportunity for her triumph, where neither human 
 
 1 Lettrc de la royne clc Navarre au Cardinal d'Armagnac— Mem. de Conde, 
 t. iv. Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Bearn,et Navarre. 
 
 2 Hist, de Foix, I3earn,et Navarre.
 
 216 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 "wisdom nor counsel descried ought. The cardinal d'Armagnac 
 was most exasperated, and vowed to arrest our queen in her 
 progress ; ' so that,' said he, ' in the midst of the tempest which 
 she has created, and which seems to bear her onwards to tri- 
 umph and to victory, she shall be plunged into an abyss dark 
 as the most dismal of sepulchres.' Nevertheless, as enterprises 
 are not always well concerted, he miscarried in this his design ; 
 and all that he obtained for his pains, was the famous letter 
 which, our queen sent him from Villepinte, where she was 
 sojourning." 
 
 Versed in the secrets of the Spanish and Papal councils, 
 the cardinal d'Armagnac meant to utter more than a mere 
 figure of speech, when he spoke the threat against Jeanne 
 d'Albret, recorded above. He intended and hoped to witness 
 its literal fulfilment. The queen's letter, the reply of the 
 bishop of Lescar, and copies of other edicts, recently promul- 
 gated by Jeanne, were forwarded without delay to Rome by 
 the cardinal. The bishop of Lescar, intimidated by the menaces 
 of the stern prelate, returned a conciliatory reply, promising to 
 be more orthodox for the future ; and to yield as little to the 
 commands of his imperious mistress as seemed consistent with 
 his own safety and the tenure of his see. An assiduous courtier 
 of queen Marguerite d'Angouleme, the bishop's infirmity of 
 purpose had been hidden beneath her potent patronage: for, 
 in company with Lefevre, Farel, Calvin, and Roussel, the 
 alleged heresy of the bishop of Lescar became absorbed in their 
 greater delinquency — at least in the opinion of his ecclesiastical 
 superiors. Queen Marguerite, besides, as the bishop pleaded, 
 never proceeded to the extremities which her dauntless daughter 
 had decreed. 
 
 The bishop of Lescar, therefore, infirm and wavering in 
 intellect, withdrew from the contest ; Jeanne d'Albret fearlessly 
 awaited the result of her defiance of the mandates of the Spanish 
 and Papal courts. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1563—1565. 
 
 Queen Jeanne convokes a synod at Pau — Measures of the court of Rome — 
 Apathy displayed by Conde— Broils of the court — Designs of the pope— 
 Seven Gallican bishops cited before the tribunal of the Inquisition — The 
 pope publishes the Bull of excommunication against Jeanne d'Albret —
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 217 
 
 Queen Jeanne appeals to Catherine de Medici — Discontent universally felt at 
 the act of pope Pius — The queen-regent promises her support to the queen 
 of Navarre — She sends a menacing letter to Rome — Pius revokes his censure 
 against the prelates — He refuses to absolve Jeanne d' Albret — The pope con- 
 sents finally to the virtual abrogation of his bull — Project to declare the 
 marriage contracted between Jeanne d' Albret and Antoine de Bourbon 
 illegal is discussed by the courts of Rome and Spain — Attitude of the French 
 ambassador — Politic deportment of Catherine de Medici — Rebellion in 
 Lower Navarre — Queen Jeanne's sovereign rights over Beam are disallowed 
 by the parliaments of Bordeaux and Toulouse — The queen resolves to visit 
 the court of France— Her letter to Montmorency — She appoints the count de 
 Grammont governor of Bearn — Arrival of the queen at Vendome — Her 
 suite — She pleads her cause before the parliament of Paris — Decision of the 
 court in favour of the queen's sovereignty — Francois de Rohan — The duke 
 de Nemours — The queen arrives at Macon — Her enthusiastic reception — Her 
 reply to the address of the Mac;onnois — Displeasure of queen Catherine — The 
 king sends a message to the queen of Navarre — Her ministers are interdicted 
 from preaching — Procession of the court during the festival of Corpus 
 Christi — Jeanne accompanies the king to Lyons — Decease of the princess de 
 Con.de — The queen of Navarre retires to Vendome — Conspiracy to deliver 
 her to the Inquisition in Spain — Details of the plot — She returns to Pau — 
 Mission of Dimanche into Spain — Queen of Spain communicates Jeanne's 
 danger to the French ambassador — The queen of Navarre retires to Navar- 
 reins — Her appeal to the French government — Its result — Violent measures 
 of the Inquisition— Political position of the French court — The league of 
 Peronne — Conferences of Bayonne. 
 
 About ten days after the despatch of her letter to the 
 cardinal d'Armagnac, Jeanne convoked a synod of ministers to 
 meet in the great hall of her castle at Pau. The queen formally 
 laid hefore the assembly the letters and mandates of the papal 
 legate, with her replies thereto ; all which documents she caused 
 to be publicly read. The clergy and the people applauded the 
 brave heart and resolute daring of their queen ; and they pro- 
 mised her every moral aid and pecuniary support in their power 
 to bestow. The inhabitants of Foix and Lower Navarre alone 
 looked on in sullen displeasure. It is impossible to view without 
 admiration the courage, and the powers of tenacious resistance, 
 displayed at this juncture by the queen of ]S"avarre. Though her 
 peril was imminent — her counsellors few and incompetent — and 
 the whole burden of responsibility for the measures adopted rest- 
 ed upon herself, the queen appears never to have shrunk before 
 her enemies ; or to have suffered the slightest sinking of heart 
 to impair the vigour of her opposition. Had queen Jeanne 
 swayed the sceptre of France, or of Spain, the world would 
 have resounded with her exploits : so that, as Marguerite 
 d'Angouleme conquered all hearts by her beauty and learning, 
 the talents and the heroic spirit of her daughter must have 
 commanded universal homage and respect. 
 
 The aspect of the court of Eome, meantime, became more 
 mysterious and threatening. The cardinal d'Armagnac quitted 
 his archiepiscopal residence at Toulouse, and proceeded to
 
 218 LIFE OF JEANNE d"aLBRET. 
 
 Rome : the cardinal of Ferrara, likewise, received a summons 
 to repair thither without delay. Moreover, the nuncio Ste 
 Croix suddenly departed from the French court, stating to all 
 inquirers that he was about to proceed into Flanders, to confer 
 with madam e Marguerite, duchess of Parma ; whereas, it sub- 
 sequently transpired, to the indignation of the skilful and 
 scheming Chantonnay, that the cardinal had taken the road 
 direct for Italy. 1 
 
 Meanwhile, the treaty of peace negotiated between Conde 
 and queen Catherine, after the death of the duke de G-uise, 
 gave contentment to no party. The court, grudgingly fulfilling 
 the conditions of accommodation, issued an ordonnance'va. favour 
 of the Huguenots — a modification of the celebrated edict of 
 January — which the parliament ol Paris angrily accepted, and 
 registered under protest. The provinces of France continued 
 agitated, and a prey to the lawless ravages of the soldiery of 
 both parties ; the people taking part, with factious violence, in 
 the broils of their local parliaments, which in many places 
 refused to register the edict of pacification, or to annul, in 
 accordance with the clauses of that document, the censures and 
 penalties adjudged against heresy. The court was a focus in 
 which this animosity met, and expended itself. To render the 
 prince de Conde more subservient, Catherine spread the same 
 toils by the which she had before entrapped the king of Navarre : 
 and Mademoiselle de Limeuil, 2 another beautiful attendant 
 upon the queen, showed herself not less compliant to the com- 
 mands of her royal mistress than la belle de Rouet had been 
 before her. Conde, like his brother Antoine, forgot, amid 
 pleasure and dissipation, to exact from Catherine the fulfilment 
 of various stipulations which the queen found it advantageous 
 to evade ; and amongst other things, that he should be ap- 
 pointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom. The great ladies 
 of the court followed the example of disunion set them by their 
 lords. The Huguenot ladies, under the guidance of the prin- 
 cess de Conde, the duchesse de Ferrara, and the duchesse d' tJzes, 
 waged open warfare against the Roman Catholic dames of the 
 court, who chose the widowed duchesse de Guise for their 
 leader. 
 
 The presence-chamber of the queen was often the arena of 
 unseemly disputes. One day, soon after the termination of 
 hostilities, the princess de Conde introduced her mother, madame 
 
 1 Lettre de Chantonniy, auroi Catliolique. 
 
 2 Isabelle de la Tour, daughter of Gilles de la Tour Turenne, seigneur de 
 Limeuil, and of Marguerite de la Cropte, dame de Lanquais. Mademoiselle 
 de Limeuil finally espoused Seipion Sardini, viscount de Buzancy, baron de 
 Chaumont, an Italian protege of queen Catherine de Medici.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 219 
 
 de Roye, a lady of stately presence and rigid morals, to kiss the 
 queen's band. Madame de Eoye had never condescended to visit 
 the court since her brief imprisonment at St Germain, during the 
 reign of Francis II., for her supposed connivance in the conspi- 
 racy of Amboise. Catherine gave her a gracious welcome, and all 
 went well so far, when the princess de Conde, taking her mother's 
 hand, led her to a seat next to herself ; and, consequently, as the 
 princess held rOyal rank, above madamede Guise and all the other 
 ladies present. There was a brief and ominous silence through- 
 out Catherine's presence-chamber : at length, the duchesse de 
 Guise rose, and making a profound obeisance to the queen, 
 swept majestically from the apartment, followed by all the 
 Roman Catholic ladies present, excepting the queen's personal 
 attendants. Queen Catherine, after a pause,retired to her cabinet, 
 manifesting much displeasure at the proceeding of the princess: 
 thus leaving the Huguenot ladies in possession of the held. 1 
 
 The queen used to threaten the leaders of these unmannerly 
 disputes with banishment from her presence ; and she often 
 talked in a very indignant strain on this and on several other 
 matters to Conde, telling him that she would have no coadjutor 
 in the council ; but that he, and all the king's subjects, must 
 demean themselves humbly and loyally when at court. " This 
 Mould have been a very fine declaration on the part of her 
 Majesty," says the adroit Chantonnay, who recounts with sar- 
 castic humour the doings of the court, " provided that she 
 had maintained the same language on all matters. Instead of 
 which, they do little else here again at court than preach 
 sermons and sing psalms ; and daily prayers are said in the 
 saloon of the prince de Conde, with the help of all who have 
 the will and the ability to go there ; so that the Christian king 
 is less respected and obeyed in his own household than the 
 lowest judge of the realm within his district." 2 
 
 Upon this mass of social and religious disorganization, pope 
 Pius IV. hurled the anathemas of the church. The war with 
 the sword having ceased, the pope commenced a crusade with 
 the pen. After the conclusion of the conferences at Poissy, 
 the name of seven eminent prelates of the Gallican church had 
 been inscribed with that of the queen of Navarre, on the rolls 
 of the Holy Office, preparatory to their citation before the 
 tribunal on a charge of heresy. The consistory had, afterwards, 
 feigned to be content Avith the explanation given by cardinal 
 Muret, respecting the designs and opinions of Jeanne d'Albret. 
 The embassy she had sent to Home had likewise softened the 
 
 1 Chantonnay, au roi Catholique — do Paris, ce 27 de Juin, 1563. 
 2 Chantonnay, au roi Catholique, p. lo9. Mem. <L- Conde.
 
 220 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 indignation of the supreme pontiff. As for the accused pre- 
 lates, the civil war which menaced France rendered it probable 
 that heresy might be extirpated without having recourse to 
 extreme ecclesiastical procedures. The citations, therefore, 
 against the bishops had not been issued, partly owing to the 
 above considerations ; and partly out of deference to the 
 remonstrances of the Guillart du Mortier. the resident French 
 envoy at the papal court. 
 
 The contumacy recently displayed by the queen of Navarre, 
 and especially the letter which she had addressed to the legate, 
 so exasperated the pope as to induce him to deviate from the 
 wise and cautious policy he had hitherto pursued. Jeanne's 
 defiance was rendered more unpalatable by the treaty of Or- 
 leans, recently signed between the regent and Conde. Pius 
 perceived that defection from the faith of Rome was everywhere 
 tolerated ; and in defence of the papacy, he resolved to put 
 forth those spiritual weapons which his predecessors had so 
 unscrupulously wielded. 
 
 The cardinal de la Bourdaisiere, in his despatches, con- 
 stantly gives the queen-regent intimation that some secret 
 affair of magnitude occupied the attention of the members of 
 the Holy Office in Some, after the arrival thither of the car- 
 dinals d'Armagnac, de Ferrara, and de Ste Croix. He, at 
 leno-th, writes to inform the bishop of Rennes, 1 that the former 
 
 i -i it* 
 
 decrees issued against the bishops were to be executed ; and it 
 was rumoured that the queen of Navarre was likewise cited. 
 " Monsieur," wrote the cardinal, " although I have no letter 
 from you, I will not delay in sending you tidings that the case 
 of the prelates 2 of our realm accused of heresy, was decided 
 yesterday in consistory : when, in default of their appearance, 
 judgment was pronounced against them all, front in cedula, as 
 the term mentioned in their citation was holden to have ex- 
 pired. I know not whether this sentence is to be regarded as 
 final, or interlocutory ; but this matter rests with M.M. de 
 l'lnquisition. I made all the remonstrances I could in their 
 favour, which was the reason matters did not take the evil turn 
 that many apprehended. The pope demeaned himself very gra- 
 ciously. It is universally reported in Rome that the queen of 
 
 1 Bernardin Bochetel bishop of Rennes, and French ambassador at Vienna. 
 
 2 The bishops were, Jean de St Gelais, bishop d'Uzes, Claude Regin, bishop 
 of Oh'ron, Jean de St Chamond, archbishop of Aix, Jean d'Albret, bishop of 
 Lescar, Franqois de Noailles, bishop d'Acqs, Jean de Montluc, bishop of 
 Valence, Charles Guillart, bishop of Chartres, Jean Caraccioli, bishop of 
 Troyes, Jean de Barbancon, bishop of Pamiers, and the cardinal de Chatillon, 
 whose ecclesiastical title is totally ignored, he being simply named count de 
 Beauvais. The pope had reason for alarm, it must be owned, when all these pre- 
 lates, who filled the most illustrious sees of France, were denounced as heretics.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 221 
 
 Navarre is txcommunicated by the consistory ; this, however, 
 is not precisely true, although she is cited to appear. I know- 
 nothing more of the affair, not having the honour of beiug a 
 member of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ; for, although 
 the pope offered, and commanded me to accept the said post, I 
 have invariably declined." 1 
 
 About the middle of the month of October, 1563, the pope 
 published his celebrated Monitory against Jeanne d'Albret. It 
 was affixed during the night to the doors of St Peter's, and on 
 the palace of the Vatican, and posted in all public places in 
 Eome. In this document the queen is cited to appear within 
 the space of six months before the Holy Tribunal of the In- 
 quisition, there to give account of her proceedings, and to clear 
 herself from the stain of heresy. If the queen contumaciously 
 disregarded the citation, and failed to present herself within 
 the given period, she was declared convicted of heresy, excom- 
 municate and accursed, " her kingdoms, principalities, sovereign- 
 ties, lordships, and domains, being given to the first despoiler ; 
 or to those on whom his Holiness, or his successors, may please 
 to bestow them." This bull 2 was confirmed and sealed on the 
 28th day of September, 1563 : at the same time sentences of 
 excommunication were launched against Elizabeth, queen of 
 England, the kings of Sweden and Denmark, the elector of 
 Saxony, the landgrave of Hesse Cassel, the duke of Wirtem- 
 burg, Conde, Coligny, and all the leaders of the Huguenot 
 faction in Erance. At the court of France alone this whole- 
 sale anathema made impression ; in Beam, not a single copy of 
 the bull entered the principality. Calm and resolved, Jeanne, 
 aware of the peril which menaced her dominions from the am- 
 bition of Philip of Spain, appealed to the queen-regent for sup- 
 port and protection ; and declined to take any direct measures 
 to propitiate the papal court. She represented to Catherine 
 that she was vitally interested in not suffering the Spanish 
 king to possess himself of Beam ; and that the Pyrenean chain 
 was the natural boundary line between France and Spain, the 
 which could not be violated with impunity to the monarchy. 
 She commented on the flagrant disregard manifested by the pope 
 for the articles of the Concordat of Francis I., in his presump- 
 tuous citation of seven prelates of France and a princess of 
 
 1 Le Laboureur — Additions aux Mt'moires de Castelnau, t. i. p. 863. 
 
 * The woi\;s of the bull are, " Ita quod in casu contraventionis, quod Deus 
 avcrtat, et contumaciam, Rcgnum, Principatus, ac alia cujuscunque Status et 
 dominia hujuscemodi, dentin- ct dari possint cuilibet ilia occupanti, vel illi aut 
 illis quibus Sanctitati sua?, et successoribus suis dare et concedere magis pla- 
 cuerit." Moratorium et Citatio Officii Sanutae Inquisitionis, contra ilhistris- 
 simam et serenissimam Dominam Joannam Albrctiam, Reginam Navarrse.
 
 222 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 the blood royal before the tribunal of the Inquisition, without 
 the assent of the king. Finally, she asked the aid of France to 
 defend her dominions against the violence of the Roman pon- 
 tiff, and the king of Spain, if only on the ground that her an- 
 cestors lost the fairest portion of their heritage for their faithful 
 adherence to Louis XII. in his contest with pope Julius II." 1 
 
 The dignified deportment of the queen of Navarre rendered 
 her essential service at this crisis ; it reassured her subjects, 
 and it roused their enthusiasm in her cause. The extreme pro- 
 ceedings of the pope found few supporters, even amongst the 
 most devoted champions of the papacy. The age was past, it 
 was universally felt, when such demonstrations of ecclesiastical 
 authority might be attended with beneficial results to religion ; 
 for delinquents were now so numerous that they afforded each 
 other both courage and countenance in their contumacious 
 courses. The prelates assembled in council at Trent unani- 
 mously indicated their disapproval of the pope's precipitate 
 measure. The aim of their deliberations professed to conciliate 
 all, and to restore religious concord throughout the civilized 
 world. Most imprudent did it, therefore, appear to the pre- 
 lates, that the pope, before the termination of the conferences, 
 should have thought proper to launch sentences of excommuni- 
 cation against the most puissant rulers of Europe ; and to 
 alienate the friendship of France, by his ill-timed censures on 
 seven bishops of the Gallican church, and against a sovereign 
 princess, the vassal and ally of the French crown. 
 
 The cardinal de la Bourdaisiere received instructions from 
 Charles IX. to remonstrate with Pius, and to use every per- 
 suasion to induce him to annul his decrees ; but the consistory 
 advised the pope to persist in enforcing the sentences. The 
 condition of religion in France might well inspire the minds of 
 Pius and his councillors with misgiving ; the extraordinary and 
 unusual proceedings of the chief prelates, who still professed 
 reverential obedience to the Holy See, demonstrated how much 
 the papal prerogative, and ecclesiastical discipline, had lost in 
 •prestige. The cardinal de Bourbon had twice applied to the 
 Holy See, to be so far released from his priestly vow, that he 
 might marry ; and requested that the dispensation should state 
 that no discredit thereby attached to his ecclesiastical rank. 
 The cardinal de Chatillon, bishop of Beauvais, had openly 
 espoused a wife, to whom he gave the appellation of madame de 
 Beauvais : 2 the cardinal de Lorraine led a life of open license, 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre. La Popeliniere. Hist, de 
 France, t. i. liv. 10. 
 
 2 The cardinal's assumed consort was Isabelle de Hauteville, dame de Lora.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 223 
 
 to the great scandal of both his friends and his foes. The 
 voluptuous life of the bishop of Auxerre had passed into a pro- 
 verb throughout France; like the cardinal de Lorraine, there 
 seemed no indulgence, lawful or prohibited, which that luxu- 
 rious prelate did not revel in, setting at defiance the obligations 
 of the priesthood and of public morality. 
 
 The conduct of the pope, meantime, greatly incensed 
 Catherine ; and she wrote to assure the queen of Xavarre, that 
 the king heartily responded to her appeal : and that his 
 Majesty would undertake her defence against the oppressions 
 of Rome. In this unexpected step, on the part of the supreme 
 pontiff, Catherine descried the revival of the intolerant preten- 
 sions of the popedom, as once exercised by Gregory VII. ; and 
 no tenet or prerogative of the papacy met with more utter re- 
 jection by the monarchs of the sixteenth century, than the 
 assertion, that princes might be lawfully deposed by the fiat 
 of the successor of St Peter. It was. therefore, in behalf of 
 her son's throne that Catherine undertook Jeanne's defence ; 
 especially as the queen by no means felt herself bound in con- 
 science to resist, out of zeal for the papacy, any future modifi- 
 cations of the Roman Catholic ritual, which might content the 
 king's enterprising subjects of the reformed faith. She, ac- 
 cordingly, despatched the sieur d'Oysel, on a special embassy 
 to Rome, in order to represent to the pope, that the citation of 
 the French bishops before the tribunal of the Inquisition could 
 not be tolerated by the privy-council, it being opposed to the 
 liberties and privileges of the Grallican church. " Should his 
 Holiness still persist in the measure," wrote Catherine to her 
 ambassador at Vienna, when giving him a summary of d'Oysel's 
 instructions to lay before the emperor Maximilian, " you know, 
 monsieur de Rennes, the remedies and resources which we 
 possess. As for the queen of Xavarre, her case is one of para- 
 mount import," continues the royal diplomatist ; " we have, 
 therefore, given the said sieur d'Oysel charge to make his Holi- 
 ness comprehend that we do not acknowledge his authority and 
 jurisdiction over those who bear the title of king or queen ; and 
 that it is not for him to give their kingdoms and territories to 
 any conqueror whatsoever ; and not even as respects the queen 
 of Xavarre, who holds the greater part of her dominions under 
 the king, my lord and son." 1 
 
 D'Oysel, moreover, was commissioned to present to the 
 
 She took up her abode in the episcopal palace of Beauvais about the year 1561. 
 Chantonnay, in his despatches, sarcastically gives her the title of Madame la 
 Card in ale. 
 
 1 Lettre de Catherine de Medici, a l'eveque de Rennes. Additions aux 
 Mem. de Castelnau, Le Laboureur, t. i. p. ~S'd.
 
 22 A LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 
 
 consistory a statement of the various motives and causes by 
 which king Charles was induced to espouse the protection of 
 his vassal and relative, the queen of Navarre, against the usurp- 
 ation of the Holy See. The document terminated with the 
 threatening intimation that, unless the pope recalled his decree 
 of citation and excommunication against the queen of Navarre, 
 " the king, to his very great and infinite regret, would find him- 
 self compelled to employ the remedy resorted to by his ances- 
 tors, on such occasions — his Majesty being under the necessity 
 thus to act, upon so just a demand as that made to him by the 
 said queen of Navarre ; which admonished him to spare neither 
 the strength nor the power that God has given him, in aid of 
 right : all which, the king, upon occasion, is minded to do and 
 perforin." ' Catherine's envoy performed his office with ad- 
 mirable spirit and effect : the pope made not much demur about 
 reversing the citation issued against the prelates, provided that 
 they were arraigned before their own national tribunals, and 
 deposed from their sees. Pius, nevertheless, obstinately per- 
 sisted in his censures on Jeanne d'Albret. Catherine found 
 herself under the necessity of sending more peremptory instruc- 
 tions to her envoy ; as also to the French resident ambassador 
 in Rome. After much angry discussion, the pope remained 
 firm in his refusal to annul the sentence of excommunication, 
 by a second formal decree. He agreed, however, that it should 
 be virtually considered of non-eft'ect, as regarded its temporal 
 pains and penalties ; and he furthermore consented that the 
 document should be expunged from the ecclesiastical ordinances 
 of his pontificate. 2 This concession was celebrated by public 
 rejoicings throughout Jeanne's principality; and the people, 
 in their enthusiasm at the effectual manner in which the king 
 had defended their princess, relaxed in much of their hostility 
 towards Charles, which had been provoked by the cruel deeds 
 of Montluc in the south. It was always a subject of honest 
 gratulation to the Bearnnois, that neither priest nor layman had 
 presumed to publish the pope's Monitory ; for not a copy of it 
 even reached Pau. 
 
 Jeanne's persecutions were, nevertheless, not terminated 
 for this most luckless year, in the course of which she had 
 found herself in danger of imprisonment, and even of the knife 
 of the secret assassin. As a mother, she had been bereft of her 
 son ; as a sovereign, she had lain under excommunication, and 
 her territory subjected to interdict. The unappeasable aui- 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, cle Foix, Beam, et Navarre. Mem. de Conde. t. iv. 
 De Thou, Hist, de sou Temps. 
 
 2 He Thou, Hist, de sou Temps, liv. 35, p. 583.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 225 
 
 mosity of Pius IV. and of Philip of Spain never relaxed : 
 scarcely, therefore, had the affair of the Monitory been decided, 
 than some prelate of the consistorial council — probably the 
 cardinal d'Armagnac — proposed that queen Jeanne's marriage 
 ■with Antoine de Bourbon should be pronounced null and void, 
 and her children declared illegitimate, and incapable of suceeed- 
 ino- to the heritage of Albret, on account of her previous contract 
 with the duke of Cleves. 1 This infamous design, so evidently 
 vindictive in its object, actually met with support in the papal 
 council, and was there discussed in the presence of the pope. 
 " Mi seiior," wrote the indefatigable envoy Jansana, who yet 
 lingered at Pau, "from letters which have reached me here 
 from the court of France, I have heard how it has been pro- 
 posed in council to declare the marriage contracted between 
 madame de Vendoma and Vendoma, null and void ; a thing not 
 to be moved without caution, as being displeasing to the said 
 court of Prance, which is resolved to defend her territories 
 against any who shall attempt to assail her. The individual 
 who writes this to me says, moreover, that it would be well 
 not to undertake the affair rashly, on account of the great 
 leagues and cabals forming everywhere throughout Christen- 
 dom ; for that, while we act on the one side, we lose ground 
 in another." Although no precise record of the deliberation 
 exists, yet the queen's honour, and the legitimacy of her chil- 
 dren, must have been in imminent peril, from the attitude as- 
 sumed by the French court. Even those most inimical to the 
 projects of'the queen of Navarre, perceived that the assumptions 
 of the papal court must be checked. King Charles, therefore, 
 wrote a letter to the pope, with his own hand, remonstrating 
 against this design, at the request and entreaty, as he stated, 
 of his auut, the queen of Navarre. The French ambassadors 
 were directed to make a formal protest against the proceeding ; 
 after which, if the pope persisted in his project of annulling the 
 marriage which Jeanne had contracted with Antoine de Bour- 
 bon, they were ordered to withdraw to Venice, and wait further 
 orders from the court. 2 
 
 In both these affairs, Catherine warmly espoused the cause 
 of Jeanne d' Albret ; and, doubtless, without the powerful pro- 
 tection of the regent of France, the results must have been dis- 
 astrous to the queen of Navarre. Catherine, however, acted 
 sagaciously, and with politic foresight, in the energy which she 
 
 1 Archives de Simancas.— K. 1292, B. 16— 6.5.— Ined. Jansana, a Don 
 Martinez d'Escurra. 
 * De Thou. liv. 35. 
 
 15
 
 226 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 displayed on those occasions ; her decision in the matter arose 
 from a careful consideration of her own interests, rather than 
 from affection for the person or for the prosperity of the queen 
 of Navarre. She was far too ahle a politician to admit the doc- 
 trine of the pope's supreme right to depose princes, upon any 
 ground whatever. At any juncture, the recognition of such a 
 power was dangerous ; still more so, therefore, did it become, 
 when a portion of the subjects of every European realm were 
 demanding, at the sword's point, from their prince, a recognized 
 deviation from the Roman ritual. Catherine herself, at this 
 very period, was prepared, upon the demand of the majority of 
 her son's subjects, to acquiesce in such a project ; and to abide 
 by the appeal which, on the accession of Charles IX., she had 
 made in her famous letter to Pope Pius IV. The queen ex- 
 pressly states her sentiments on the matter in a despatch which 
 she wrote to her ambassador at the court of Vienna ; when 
 directing the bishop to watch and report minutely the result of 
 a similar application which the emperor Maximilian II. had 
 just made to the Holy See, that the cup, at the holy commun- 
 ion, might be administered to both clergy and laity irrespect- 
 ively. The queen says, " we are anxious to learn what the 
 pope replies to the demand, made in the despatch just sent to 
 him by the emperor, to permit the marriage of priests, and the 
 administration of the holy communion, sub utrdque. If we 
 find that the emperor our good brother obtains his desire, and 
 we think it would profit us here in our realm, we will take into 
 consideration how we shall demean ourselves in the matter." 1 
 Professing opinions so liberal and accommodating, Catherine's 
 pobcy might well reject the precedent which was sought to be 
 established by the arbitrary deposition of Jeanne d'Albret. The 
 scheme set afloat by the king of Spain, to declare that the mar- 
 riage of the queen of Navarre had been void, was, moreover, 
 injurious to the interests of the crown of France. If king An- 
 toine's son were pronounced illegitimate, the cardinal de Bour- 
 bon became first prince of the blood, in collateral descent. A 
 priest, and consequently incapable of bequeathing his rights to 
 legitimate issue, the succession would then devolve on the 
 prince de Conde and his children. Catherine's political per- 
 ception was acute enough to discover the immense accession of 
 power which this hypothetical claim on the part of Conde to 
 the crown of France would infuse into the Huguenot faction, 
 of which the prince was the acknowledged chief. The letter 
 
 1 Lettre de Catherine de Medici a Bernardin BocheteL eveque de Rennes- 
 Le Laboureur, Additions au Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEAXXE D'ALBRET. 227 
 
 written by king Charles was drawn in terms emphatic enough 
 to convince Pius that his sentence, annulling the legality of 
 the union between Jeanne cl' Alb ret and her deceased husband, 
 would never be accepted in France; and, moreover, that it 
 would occasion a breach between the Papal and French cabinets 
 most hurtful to the interests of the true faith. The matter, 
 therefore, was gradually and skilfully put aside by the assent of 
 the Spanish ambassador; and it ceased to be debated in con- 
 sistory, under plea that more important affairs demanded the 
 attention of the Sacred College. The design, however, was 
 not relinquished ; it was appended as an additional article to 
 another plot of still more monstrous intent, and fatal issue, 
 then negotiating against Jeanne d'Albret by the courts of 
 Rome and Spain. 
 
 The discussion of the affairs of the Monitory, and the legal- 
 ity of the marriage of the queen of Navarre, occupied from the 
 mouth of September to the middle of December of the year 
 1563. Scarcely had the excitement abated, when a rebellion 
 broke out in the queen's provinces of Lower Navarre; while 
 simultaneously the parliaments of Bordeaux and Toulouse issued 
 a decree, pronouncing Jeanne's sovereign rights over Beam to 
 be invalid; and stating that the principality, like the other 
 domains of the house of Albret, was subject to the controlling 
 power of the king of France, as suzerain-paramount. The de- 
 cree proceeded to state that the queen of Navarre, therefore, 
 could not establish in Beam a new religion, or a civil code. 
 without a notorious breach of fealty to her sovereign the king; 
 neither without the assent of the said king was she at 
 liberty to alienate ecclesiastical temporalities, or to confer any 
 benefices whatever. 
 
 So notable an impeachment of her sovereign preroga- 
 tive occasioned great disquietude to the queen ; its evil effect 
 on all the disaffected amongst her subjects was likely to be 
 speedily evidenced, when every delinquent convicted under the 
 stringent code of laws, promulgated by Jeanne for the go- 
 vernment of her principality, might appeal to the superior tri- 
 bunal of the king of France. Aware of the absolute necessity 
 of procuring from king Charles the early annulling of the 
 decrees of the ollicious parliament, and a distinct recogni- 
 tion of her independent sovereignty over Beam, the queen 
 of Navarre resolved to undertake a journey to the court of 
 France, whither she had been pressingly invited by queen 
 Catherine. Doubtless, also. Jeanne desired to tender her per- 
 sonal thanks to the queen-recent and to the young king for 
 the countenance which she had received from them during
 
 228 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 her contest with the Holy See. Having determined upon 
 visiting the court of Catherine, where Conde still maintained a 
 hotly contested pre-eminence, Jeanne's chief difficulty rested 
 in the nomination of a suitable personage to govern the princi- 
 pality, and its dependencies, during her absence. It was re- 
 quisite that this personage should possess her own confidence 
 and that of the French court, besides being welcome to her 
 subjects. D'Arros, the gallant governor of Pau, displeased 
 queen Catherine ; for his loyal devotion to his sovereign was 
 without reproach ; and he bore implacable enmity to the mar- 
 shal de Montluc, who still retained his detested sway over the 
 southern provinces of France. In this emergency, Jeanne had 
 recourse to the count de Grammont, the brother of her early 
 friend Catherine d'Aster. Of his faith to her interests, Jeanne 
 had many proofs ; of his devotion to the reformed tenets, she 
 was equally convinced ; and in his favour with her subjects the 
 queen confidently relied. Grammont, however, was sojourning 
 at the French court, being one of the most zealous of the coun- 
 sellors of Conde. On the completion of the convention of Or- 
 leans, a certain number of the Huguenot chiefs had bound 
 themselves to repair to court, and there dutifully serve his 
 youthful Majesty of France. As Grammont was one of these 
 noble cavaliers, queen Jeanne applied to the constable to re- 
 quest him to use his influence with Catherine to send the 
 count to undertake the government of Beam during her sojourn 
 in France. " Mon cousin," wrote queen Jeanne to Mont- 
 morency, 1 "having ascertained that it is his Majesty's good 
 pleasure that I should repair to kiss his hand, I have resolved 
 to journey to the court. I have despatched a courier to learn 
 the route which his Majesty takes ; and the place where he wills 
 that I should join the court. Nevertheless, mon cousin, feel- 
 ing that interest in the affairs of my principality of Beam 
 which I am bound to do, I am anxious to depose the chief 
 authority, during my absence, in the hands of one who will 
 govern prudently. I, therefore, humbly desire that his Majesty 
 will command monsieur de Grammont to repair hither ; for I 
 should be glad to commit this government to the care of one 
 whom the king approves, to avoid all occasion for that calum- 
 nious dealing to which I have been subject. Mon cousin, the 
 thing which I desire most," continues queen Jeanne, with 
 earnestness, " is, that as by my very humble obedience, and 
 faithful service to his Majesty, I may set a worthy example to 
 the subjects of this realm, so also my territories may be those 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. F. de Bethune, No. 8761.— Inedited. Archives de 
 Simancas, K. 1392. A. B. 16. No. 117— Ined.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 229 
 
 in which his royal commands are most observed and honoured. 
 I greatly fear that during my absence this may not be the case, 
 for the reason which you may divine ; for that intermeddler, 1 
 that enemy of concord, will never stay his hand until he has 
 disquieted something, on purpose to say, ' it is in the country 
 subject to the queen of Navarre that this tumult arises,' a 
 tiling he would have before said, if I had not diligently main- 
 tained order everywhere. I fear, therefore, that he will find 
 his opportunity during my absence. This is the reason where- 
 fore I desire that the queen should permit monsieur de Gram- 
 niont, at my request, to hold command during my absence over 
 Beam. He will be well obeyed ; because he will be placed 
 there by my authority ; being my subject born, and a most 
 worthy gentleman : moreover, if it pleased the queen to com- 
 mand that he shall also govern over my dependencies, which 
 are under the suzerainty of the king, his Majesty will there 
 likewise be more implicitly obeyed." 
 
 Queen Catherine was pleased to condescend to the desire 
 expressed by Jeanne d'Albret ; she therefore despatched M. 
 de Grammont to Pau, with all diligent speed. Jeanne im- 
 mediately issued letters -patent, nominating the count lieu- 
 tenant-general over Beam and Navarre ; and suspending, 
 during the interval of her absence, the similar functions hitherto 
 exercised by the viscount de Bohan. 2 Queen Jeanne quitted 
 Pau, for her castle of Nerac, about the middle of January. 1564. 
 Her suite was very numerous ; though, unfortunately, it was 
 principally composed of personages likely to prove unacceptable 
 to the king, and to his politic mother. The zeal which inspired 
 the queen of Navarre frequently led her to commit great im- 
 prudence ; and many of Jeanne's misfortunes may be traced to 
 the indiscretion with which she pursued the object upon which 
 her mind was concentrated. The queen travelled, attended by 
 the most learned jurisconsults and lawyers of Foix and Beam, 
 to demonstrate the legitimacy of her sovereign rights, which 
 had been so rudely assailed by the parliaments of Bordeaux 
 and Toulouse, before the privy council. She was also accom- 
 panied by no less than eight Calvinistic ministers, all learned 
 and ready of speech, to the horror and consternation of the 
 Spanish ambassador, Chantonnay. " The duchesse of Ferrara 
 has quitted the court, which is, indeed, a very notable good ; 
 
 1 The marshal do Montluc, who still continued to wage a bloody war in 
 the provinces adjacent to Jeanne's dominions, in order to suppress heresy. 
 
 - The queen had bestowed upon de Rohan a patent, conferring upon him 
 the dignity of lieutenant-general of Beam, during the minority of prince 
 Henry.
 
 230 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBKET. 
 
 for every day prayers and preches were holden in her apart- 
 ments. Nevertheless, I must tell your Majesty that madame 
 de Vendome is expected, who unhappily will follow in the same 
 evil courses ! " writes Chantonnay to king Philip, in disconso- 
 late mood. " Though his Holiness has summoned madame de 
 Vendome hefore his tribumal, the king has resolved to under- 
 take her defence, and to protect her against any adversary, 
 whoever he may be! " were words in his ambassador's despatch, 
 doubtless of unpalatable meaning to the king of Spain. 1 
 
 Attended by her train of ladies, ministers, and jurisconsults, 
 queen Jeanne arrived at Vendome about the first week in 
 March, 1564. While sojourning here, Jeanne issued her royal 
 letters, granting and confirming to the sieur d'Ozay, senechal 
 de Beaumont, and to Marie de Moulinet, his wife, the right of 
 commonage in her royal forest of Parsaine, an important and 
 lucrative privilege. 2 
 
 Catherine and her son, meantime, had quitted Paris for a 
 progress through the provinces of France. The tracasseries of 
 the court, and the strife on religious matters between the 
 nobles — the feuds of these illustrious personages often leaving 
 his Majesty in danger of having no court at all — decided Ca- 
 therine to undertake the progress. Interviews had been like- 
 wise agreed upon between Catherine and her married daughters, 
 the queen of Spain and the duchess of Lorraine ; both of which 
 meetings have acquired fatal notoriety from the political mea- 
 sures supposed to have been then concerted. The duchess 
 Claude had just given birth to a son and heir, to whom the 
 young king was to stand godfather ; and, during the time of 
 Charles's visit to Bar-le-Duc, where the baptismal ceremony 
 was performed, the queen of Navarre was sojourning at 
 Vendome. 
 
 Prom Vendome Jeanne proceeded to Paris, where she was 
 enthusiastically welcomed by the Huguenot nobles; most of 
 whom had refused to accompany the king in his progress, as 
 the royal journey had been undertaken without their assent. 
 Conde accompanied the court as far as Vitry, where an express 
 met him, announcing the dangerous illness of the princess his 
 consort, whose recovery was despaired of. The prince, there- 
 fore, took leave of Catherine, and repaired to the castle of Conde, 
 in the county of Brie. 
 
 During her sojourn in the capital, the queen of Navarre 
 
 1 Lettres de Chantonnay au roi Catholique. Mem. de Conde, t. ii. 
 
 2 Lettres patentes de la royne de Navarre datics de Vend6me le denxieme 
 jour de Mars l'au de grace 1564, signees Jehanne ; et sur le pli — par la Royne 
 duehcsse. MSS. Bibl. Roy.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 231 
 
 caused her suit, relative to her sovereign rights over Beam, to 
 he pleaded before the parliament of Paris, and the council of 
 state. Her jurisconsults so ably defended her rights, that the 
 case was decided in her favour by these potent courts ; and the 
 sentence waited only the royal confirmation before the requisite 
 edict was issued, annulling the decrees of the hostile parliaments 
 of the south. This affair having made so satisfactory a pro- 
 gress, the queen applied her energetic mind to procure a simi- 
 lar solution for another cause, pending before the high courts 
 of the realm ; one in which she considered the honour of the 
 house of Albret to be singularly compromised. 
 
 La petite Frangoise, the early friend and playmate of queen 
 Jeanne, had grown up a beautiful and gentle woman, as de- 
 pendent upon others for kindness and countenance as her royal 
 cousin had established an opposite character. In due time, 
 Mademoiselle de Eohan was enrolled amongst the maids of 
 honour in the train of queen Catherine. Whilst one of that 
 brilliant throng, Erancoise attracted the homage of the duke de 
 Nemours ; an attachment to which she responded. The duke 
 was considered, by the fair dames of the queen's suite, to be 
 the most captivating cavalier of the court ; he was handsome, 
 brave, and wealthy ; his extraction, like that of mademoiselle de 
 Eohan, was royal ; and the alliance seemed in every way suit- 
 able for both parties to contract. There was, however, one 
 adverse ingredient. The duke professed ardent admiration for 
 the stately duchesse de Guise ; and had actually worn her co- 
 lours, yellow and black, at the tournament which inaugurated 
 the reign of Henry II. Notwithstanding this preference, which 
 the duke openly avowed, he made suit to Trancoise de Eohan ; 
 and exchanged rings of betrothment with her, in the presence, 
 as it is asserted, of some third party. Taking advantage of his 
 position, and the influence which he exercised over the yielding 
 mind of mademoiselle de Eohan, the duke de Nemours betrayed 
 the trust reposed in his honour ; and the condition of Fran- 
 chise, about to become a mother, soon attracted the attention 
 of the court. In that age of lax morality, however, made- 
 moiselle de Eohan's fault was deemed a mere unfortunate 
 deviation from the propriety befitting her illustrious rank ; the 
 queen considered her as the betrothed consort of the duke de 
 Nemours, and continued to receive her in that character. To 
 do Catherine justice, she was extremely anxious, at this juncture, 
 that the duke should publicly espouse mademoiselle de Eohan ; 
 and she frequently urged him to repair the wrong he had in- 
 flicted. The viscount de Eohan, Comic, and the queen of 
 Navarre, joined their indignant expostulations to the queen's
 
 232 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 remonstrances. The contract drawn on their betrothal existed ; 
 and Francoise delivered to the queen the written promise of 
 marriage, on the strength of which the duke had betrayed her. 
 The duke de Nemours, having due respect for the august pa- 
 rentage of Francoise, and overpowered by the accumulated proofs 
 of his perfidy in the hands of the queen, seemed inclined to give 
 mademoiselle de Rohan a legal title to his name. Whilst the 
 affair remained thus in suspense, the duke de Guise was assas- 
 sinated by Poltrot ; and Anne d'Este, consequently, became 
 free to contract fresh matrimonial engagements. The insipid 
 beauty of Francoise de Rohan, and her gentleness, became 
 odious to the duke, in contrast with the character and the lofty 
 features of the duchesse de Guise. The birth of a son made 
 no difference m the duke's sentiments ; excepting that, after 
 that event, he positively declined to acknowledge the contract 
 which bound him to mademoiselle de Rohan. Unfortunately, 
 as it proved for Francoise, she was a Huguenot, like her bro- 
 ther ; her religion, therefore, acted fatally, as well as her con- 
 nection with the house of Albret, to the success of the suit, 
 which she immediately carried to Rome, to obtain the recognition 
 of her right as the duke's consort, and the mother of his heir. 
 Nemours opposed the suit, backed by the mighty influence of 
 the house of Guise ; all the members of which were anxious to 
 promote the union of the widowed duchess with a prince of 
 such lineage and wealth. Pius annulled the contract, as illegal 
 and void ; and granted a dispensation for the marriage of the 
 duke with Anne d'Este. The affair had been brought before 
 the parliament of Paris by the viscount de Rohan ; and was 
 under consideration when the queen of Navarre arrived in the 
 capital. 
 
 During her residence there, Jeanne put forth all her in- 
 fluence and her eloquence to ward the wrong from her suffer- 
 ing kinswoman ; but the cause was still pending before the 
 courts when the queen quitted Paris. As this suit was brought 
 to an issue in the year 1565, its termination may as well be 
 recorded here. The duke's betrothal to Francoise de Rohan 
 was then summarily pronounced null and void by a privy- 
 council warrant ; and their child declared illegitimate. In the 
 following month of May, 1566, the duke de Nemours espoused 
 the duchesse de Guise, at St Maur, in the presence of the court. 
 The nuptial ceremony was performed by the cardinal de Lor- 
 raine. Its progress was interrupted by a gentleman sent by 
 the unfortunate Francoise, and by her brother, to forbid the 
 ceremony. He advanced to the altar, and was commencing 
 the requisite form of protest, when, at a sign from queen
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 233 
 
 Catherine, the captain of her gentlemen-at-arms arrested the 
 envoy, and conveyed him to the prison of the town. 1 Made- 
 moiselle de Rohan was, subsequently, created duchesse de 
 Loudonois by king Charles. She retired with her son, and 
 sought refuge in the dominions of the queen of Navarre ; and 
 spent the remainder of her life in sorrow and obscurity. Her 
 son bore the title of prince de Genevois, and was, in after life, 
 advanced and patronised by his father. As some excuse for 
 the weakness manifested by Francoise de Rohan towards the 
 duke de Nemours, Brantome says of this prince, " Jacques de 
 Savoye was, in his day, the most perfect and accomplished of 
 princes, lords, or gentlemen. The full meaning of this eulogium 
 must be conceded to him ; others, besides myself, can bear 
 witness to this fact. He was a very handsome prince, grace- 
 ful, brave, valiant, amiable, and affable ; he spoke well and 
 wrote well, in prose and verse ; he attired himself with skill, 
 so that all the nobles of the court fashioned their habits on his 
 model. He was endowed with great wit and wisdom ; his 
 orations were fine ; and his discourse in council eloquent and 
 plausible. He was a perfect horseman ; and very skilful and 
 graceful in running at the ring, and in breaking a lance in 
 tourney. He played admirably at rackets and ball ; vaulting 
 and dancing with wonderful dexterity ; in fact, he was perfect 
 in all chivalrous and manly exercises." 2 
 
 From Paris queen Jeanne proceeded to join the court at 
 Macon. She made her entry into that town before the arrival 
 of the king from Dijon. The reformed faith had made great 
 progress amongst the inhabitants at Macon ; and one-half of 
 the population professed the tenets of Calvin. Jeanne's wel- 
 come was enthusiastic ; all the Hugnenots of the place went 
 out to meet the queen about a league from Macon. They after- 
 wards presented to her a humble address, praying her Majesty 
 to stand as mediatrix between themselves and king Charles. 
 They further supplicated her to maintain, as she had so nobly 
 done, the cause of religion ; and they offered her Majesty bodily 
 service, and pecuniary aid, in any enterprise which she might 
 undertake, in her wisdom, for the benefit and extension of the 
 reformed faith. This promise on the part of the Maconnais 
 was certainly not consistent with the duty and fealty which 
 they owed to king Charles. The queen of Navarre, never- 
 theless, replied, " that she would take care so to demonstrate 
 her zeal in religious matters, that the inhabitants of Maqon 
 
 1 Journal de Brulart. 
 2 Eloge de Jacques de Savoye, due de Nemours.
 
 234 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 should acknowledge that they had a good and firm protectress." 
 She further added, " that during her residence in Macon they 
 might attend la preclie in her house, as she had with her eight 
 sound and efficient ministers." 1 
 
 The Protestants at Macon were constructing a new church 
 on the city ramparts ; and the queen Jeanne gained great ap- 
 plause by paying a daily visit to the building. So eager were 
 the Maconnais to prove themselves worthy of her notice, that 
 the works proceeded with extraordinary alacrity ; the younger 
 male and female members of the congregation joining in the la- 
 bour in her Majesty's presence, and greatly assisting the workmen 
 employed. The queen caused a service to be celebrated in the 
 half-finished edifice by one of her " right reverend chaplains." 
 
 This ovation to the queen of Navarre, and her countenance 
 of so fervid a demonstration in a town about to be honoured 
 by the presence of the sovereign, the princes of the blood, and 
 many Koman Catholic prelates, greatly incensed Catherine ; 
 and certainly, on this occasion, queen Jeanne cannot be said to 
 have acted with her usual prudent caution. The day following, 
 therefore, after the entry of the court into Macon, Jeanne re- 
 ceived a sharp reprimand from Catherine for her conduct ; and 
 also, for having permitted her ministers to preach in public. 
 The message was conveyed to the queen with formal ceremony ; 
 its purport was " that the king being informed that the queen 
 of Navarre permitted her ministers to preach, in defiance of the 
 articles of pacification, his Majesty had sent very expressly to 
 forbid her to do so more ; moreover, that if any of her minis- 
 ters presumed to preach at all while with the court, the king 
 would inflict so sharp a chastisement upon them that others 
 should thereby take wholesome warning." 2 
 
 Jeanne was very indignant at this menacing message ; she, 
 however, dissembled her anger, and applied for a licence to 
 celebrate divine service privately in her apartments. This re- 
 quest was peremptorily rejected, without a word to soften its 
 refusal. These misunderstandings cast a gloom over the re- 
 ception of Jeanne d'Albret at court ; nor did they augur well 
 for the accomplishment of the purpose for which she had un- 
 dertaken the journey from Pau. Queen Catherine gave her a 
 cold welcome ; and altogether affairs seemed so adverse, that 
 had it not been for the joy which she felt at embracing her 
 
 1 Lottre d'Antoine Scarron, secretaire d'ambassade d'Espagne, au roy 
 Catholique.— Mem. de Conde, t. ii. 
 
 2 Lettre d'Antoine Scarron, au roy Catholique, datee de Lyons ce 16eme de 
 Juin, 1854.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBKET. 233 
 
 son, Jeanne would have retreated hastily to Orleans. The 
 prince had improved in courtly grace, though not in learned pro- 
 ficiency. Catherine discouraged knowledge in a prince. The 
 young Henry, moreover, was compelled to attend mass daily 
 with his companions, the king's brothers. The queen of Na- 
 varre deplored this decision ; but Catherine insisted upon being 
 obeyed, and positively refused to allow the prince to return 
 with his mother. Jeanne's spirits became greatly depres^d 
 as she marked the development of the training which her son 
 had received since he was taken from her guidance. Already 
 in the humour of the child of ten years old, the observant eye 
 of the queen detected that inclination for gallant frolic, and for 
 games of chance, which became afterwards the besetting sins 
 of the great Henri. Catherine ridiculed Jeanne's prudish 
 fears, when the latter remonstrated on the scenes of levity 
 which the prince daily witnessed in the queen's ante-chamber ; 
 or when the queen of Navarre deprecated the profane oaths and 
 jests, and the indecent songs habitually on the lips of the king 
 and his brothers, the dukes d'Anjou and d'Alencon. Prince 
 Henry, nevertheless, assured his royal mother that he well re- 
 membered her teaching ; and that when opportunity occurred 
 she should have full proof of it — a declaration which Henry, 
 boy as he was, vindicated ere many months elapsed. 
 
 Another dispute on religious matters again brought Ca- 
 therine and Jeanne into angry collision during their sojourn at 
 Macon. On Thursday, in the Octave of Corpus Domini, the 
 court traversed the city in solemn procession to hear mass 
 chanted in the cathedral dedicated to St Vincent. The pre- 
 cession was one of extraordinary pomp and solemnity; it was. 
 in fact, a kind of expiatory offering to Heaven for the preva- 
 lence of heresy amongst the inhabitants. The day previous to 
 this event, the king issued an edict, commanding all the Hu- 
 guenot inhabitants to walk in procession, each man and woman 
 bearing a lighted torch : it was also ordained that the houses 
 of those inhabitants in the line of procession, irrespective of 
 religious distinction, should be adorned with arras, or with ver- 
 dant branches. This ordonnance excited violent clamour : and 
 at the request of the Protestant congregations, the queen 
 of Navarre undertook to remonstrate with the queen ; and to 
 represent to her Majesty that if preaching in towns, or localities, 
 other than those conceded by the edict of Orleans, was illegal, 
 it was no less so to require the king's subjects to do violence 
 to their consciences by taking part in a procession of the 
 Eomish church. Jeanne's representations were of no avail : 
 obedience to the ordonnance was enforced ; and on the mor-
 
 230 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 row the king departed for Lyons, after having greatly alien- 
 ated and offended his faithful lieges of Macon. 1 
 
 Jeanne accompanied the court to Lyons ; and during the 
 sojourn there of the king she obtained his recognition of her 
 sovereign rights over Beam ; a piece of fortune she was scarcely 
 prepared to hope for, after the unpleasant discussions at Macon. 
 News, meantime, reached the court of the decease of the prin- 
 cess de Conde in child-bed, at the castle of Conde. Queen 
 Jeanne wrote a letter of condolence to madame de la Roche- 
 foucauld, sister of the deceased princess. The letter contains 
 merely the expression of the queen's grief at the loss of the 
 princess, " knowing, ma cousine, the great distress that you 
 feel at the loss of our sister, in which I heartily participate." 
 She desires her affectionate commendation to Conde' s mother- 
 less children ; and promises to stand towards them in future in 
 lieu of the mother they had lost. 2 
 
 The queen, after the despatch of this epistle, having obtain- 
 ed the boon that she came to solicit, took leave of the court, and 
 proceeded to Vendome, to hold an assembly of the states of 
 that duchy. Jeanne knew that the ministers in her train were 
 a source of perpetual heart-burning and discord amongst the 
 Roman Catholic courtiers of the king ; while the peremptory 
 mauner in which Chaides had forbidden her to profit by their 
 ministrations, even in private, became necessarily a source of 
 embarrassment to herself in her dealings with the court. The 
 queen apprehended, moreover, that any injudicious display of 
 zeal on the part of these champions of reform, whom she had 
 so imprudently conducted into the vortex of controversy, would 
 be punished by a decree of council, revoking the important 
 concession she had obtained. Jeanne, therefore, took leave of 
 Catherine, and arrived at Vendome about the end of the month 
 of July, 1564. 
 
 By her early departure from Lyons, queen Jeanne uncon- 
 sciously aided the conspiracy aimed, at this time, against her 
 life and liberty by the courts of Rome and Spain. The hatred 
 which Philip bore the queen of Navarre was peculiar as it was 
 vehement : and he thirsted, with vindictive eagerness, for the 
 destruction of her life, and of her renown. Jeanne had twice 
 refused his overtures of marriage ; she resolutely maintained 
 her claim to the crown of Spanish Navarre, usurped by his 
 great-grandfather, Ferdinand the Catholic ; and she applied the 
 
 1 Lettre de Scarron, an roi Catholique. — Mem. de Conde, t. ii. p. 202. 
 
 2 Lettre de Jeanne d'Albret a madame la comtesse de la Rochefoucauld. — 
 MS. Bibl. Roy. F. de Beth. No. 8697, p. 17.— Inedited. The princess de 
 Conde died July 23rd, 1564.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 237 
 
 energy, arising from sincerity of belief and intellectual capacity, 
 for the defence of that faith which was deemed accursed by the 
 gloomy tyrant at Madrid. Philip's persecution of Elizabeth, 
 queen of England, had its origin in the self-same cause. _ He 
 had dared to defy even that puissant sovereign ; the weight, 
 therefore, of his hate fell with crushing power upon Jeanne, her 
 little territory, and insufficient resources. At the interview of 
 Peronne, a.d. 1558, it had been accepted as one of the funda- 
 mental bases of the confederation there entered into by the 
 king of Spain with the house of Guise, that to insure the tri- 
 umph of the orthodox faith, it would be requisite to extermi- 
 nate utterly all princes, nobles, and wealthy individuals what- 
 soever who professed the tenets of Luther, Calvin, or Zuinglius ; 
 all, who after due invitation refused to make recantation of 
 their heresy. No ties of parentage or alliance were to be re- 
 spected ; and no intercession was to alleviate the fate of those 
 doomed. Jeanne d'Albret, therefore, had notoriously subjected 
 herself to the penalties so decreed : the queen, however, was a 
 princess of France ; she had been the consort of the first prince 
 of the blood, lieutenant-general and co-regent of the kingdom ; 
 and she was, moreover, the near relative and the vassal of the 
 king. This lofty position held in check the more overt designs 
 of Philip and his colleagues, parties to the treaty of Peronne ; 
 they had, nevertheless, raised all manner of political and reli- 
 gious feuds to effect her destruction — but, hitherto, without suc- 
 cess. Through the intrigues of the agents of the pope, and of 
 the king of Spain, Jeanne had been menaced with deposition 
 from her royal dignity, by divorce, imprisonment, assassination, 
 and by excommunication ; finally, it was suspected, and not on 
 idle surmise alone, that her husband had been assassinated in 
 the trenches before Eouen, to render her condition more for- 
 lorn, and to degrade her from the rank that the position which 
 the king of Navarre held in the realm bestowed upon his con- 
 sort. It was believed that the condemnation of Jeanne d'Al- 
 bret by the tribunal of the Inquisition would be deemed so fear- 
 ful an example of the judicial powers possessed by the Holy 
 See, that heresy thereby must receive its final overthrow in 
 Erance, Spain, and the Low Countries. It was not, also, without 
 a feeling of triumph that the church proceeded in its attempt 
 to wrest expiation from the daughter of Marguerite d'Angou- 
 leme for the mortifications aud losses which the sister of Fran- 
 cis I. had inflicted on the orthodox faith and its priesthood, by 
 her obstinate support of heresy. 
 
 The juncture of political circumstances, during the autumn 
 of 1564, was deemed favourable for the execution of the con-
 
 238 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 templated enterprise. The compact of Peronne had been 
 further consolidated, by the assent of Catherine de Medici and 
 of her son, king Charles, to its various clauses — the league 
 having been gradually revealed, with certain obvious restric- 
 tions of detail, to the queen by the cardinal de Lorraine. In- 
 stead of rejecting this compact with horror, and inflicting the 
 penalties of treason upon those traitorous servants who had 
 entered into such a league with a foreign monarch, unknown 
 to their own sovereign, Catherine accepted the articles. Dur- 
 ing the royal sojourn at Bar-le-Duc they were communicated 
 with the utmost caution and secresy to the duke de Lorraine ; 
 and when the duke of Ferrara visited the king at Lyons they 
 were also confided to him. Catherine, about this time, also, 
 despatched a gentleman of the name of Villemontes to Edin- 
 burgh, to invite her daughter-in-law, queen Mary Stuart, to 
 join in the convention of Peronne, negotiated by her maternal 
 kindred ; ' but with what success, still remains a matter of his- 
 torical controversy. The queen, likewise, made ceaseless efforts, 
 at this period, to bring about an interview between herself, the 
 king of Spain, and the emperor Maximilian II., for the better 
 settlement of the religious and political questions of the day. 
 She argues, in her despatches, that when once they, the three 
 most powerful monarchs in Christendom, shall have come to a 
 definite decision, no minor potentate, not even the pope him- 
 self, would presume to legislate in civil or religious matters, 
 other than they should decree. Although Catherine's concur- 
 rence cannot be denied in the compact of Peronne — a compact 
 accepted, but not originated by herself, and which bore as its 
 latal fruit the massacre of St Bartholomew, and the disastrous 
 wars of the league — historical justice compels the statement, 
 that at this period, in the despatches which the queen addressed 
 to her ambassador at Vienna, Catherine, contradictory as it 
 may seem, states it as her opinion that concession ought to be 
 made to the members of the reformed communion. She com- 
 mands the bishop of Eennes to impart her sentiments to the 
 emperor : and to urge upon him the expediency of their inter- 
 view on that ground ; when they might, in conjunction with 
 Philip of Spain, compel the pope to receive whatever ecclesias- 
 tical compact the good of their respective dominions might seem 
 to require. It was always thus, however, with Catherine de 
 Medici ; incapable of conceiving or of perfecting a grand de- 
 sign, her energies expended themselves .in providing for the 
 transient, though pressing, emergencies of the moment. The 
 intricate combination of Catherine's political intrigues, at home 
 1 Memoirs of Melville, v. i. p. 194.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 239 
 
 and abroad, exhibits an array of present resource so amaz- 
 ing, as may well astonish and sadden the student of this event- 
 ful era. 
 
 Queen Catherine having adopted the compact of Peronne in 
 its broader details, Philip and his colleagues believed, conse- 
 quently, that the period had arrived when neither Jeanne's 
 royal blood, nor her parentage to the A'alois, would interpose 
 to arrest their long-delayed vengeance. Throughout her queenly 
 career, Catherine de Medici believed herself to be the soul and 
 the originator of every political enterprise of importance that 
 agitated Europe ; when, after all, she was only a tool in the 
 hands of others. Had Catherine united to her powers of dis- 
 simulation a mind of equal strength in integrity and independ- 
 ence of action, she might have given the law to her royal con- 
 temporaries ; whereas, always busied in intrigue, overreaching, 
 or being deceived, she became only a dreaded enemy, wondered 
 at for her astuteness, feared for her want of principle, and not 
 unfrequently outwitted by masculine understandings, as de- 
 signing, but more comprehensive, than her own. 
 
 The object of the conspiracy against Jeanne d'Albret was 
 to seize the queen, with her children, in the royal city of Pau, 
 and to deliver her to the Spanish Inquisition. Incredible as 
 this project may appear, it is confirmed by authentic evidence. 
 The queen was to be incarcerated in the prisons of the Holy 
 Office at Madrid, while her trial for heresy proceeded ; the 
 children were to be confined in one of Philip's fortresses. 
 Lower Xavarre was to be invaded and seized by Spanish troops ; 
 and the king of Prance invited to annex Beam to his crown. 
 The conspirators were king Philip, the cardinal de Lorraine, 
 pope Pius IV., the marshal de Montluc, d'Aspremont viscount 
 d'Orthez, Descars, formerly chamberlain to king Antoine, and 
 the cardinal d'Armagnac. To this list, the name of Jeanne's 
 brother-in-law, the cardinal de Bourbon, is added. That feeble 
 prelate, who eventually opposed the accession of his nephew, 
 Henry I V., and suffered himself to be proclaimed by the Guises 
 as king of the League, replied to those who afterwards remon- 
 strated with him on his unnatural proceeding, " No ties of 
 blood must be heeded; and no deed must be thought too atro- 
 cious, if it aids the extermination of heresy ! " It is believed 
 that Catherine de Medici was not cognizant of the meditated 
 crime : her actions, at any rate, both before and after the dis- 
 covery of the conspiracy, confirm the supposition. Montluc, 
 the king's lieutenant in the southern provinces, nevertheless, 
 was one of the initiated ; and he was prepared to employ the 
 royal army under his command in support of Philip's enterprise,
 
 210 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 The question remains undecided, in this case, whether so loyal 
 a subject as the marshal, and so devoted a partizan of queen 
 Catherine's, would render himself liable to the penalties of 
 treason by consenting to act in so grave a matter without in- 
 structions from his royal mistress ; or without even confiding 
 the project to her ear. 
 
 The first phase of the conspiracy manifested itself during 
 the sojourn which the queen of Navarre made at Vendome, 
 after taking leave of Catherine and her son at Lyons. The 
 whole province of Lower Navarre broke into revolt ; the rebels 
 being incited by certain ecclesiastics, who had been despoiled 
 of their beuefices by the decree alienating the temporalities of 
 the Roman church throughout the principality. The energetic 
 measures pursued by the count de Grammont partially put 
 down the insurrection : but the sedition more than answered 
 the designs of Jeanne's enemies ; inasmuch, as the queen, on 
 receiving intelligence of it, departed instantly for Pau, where 
 she arrived soon after the ringleader of the insurgents, one 
 Guillaume Labaddie, a canon of the cathedral at Oleron, was 
 brought a prisoner to the capital. 
 
 Philip, meantime, was at Moncon, holding the Cortes of 
 Arragon. A report was purposely propagated that his Span- 
 ish Majesty intended, on leaving Moncon, to undertake a 
 campaign to expel the remainder cf his Moorish subjects from 
 Spain ; and that Philip purposed to assume the command in 
 person, on the rising of the Cortes. This rumour served as a 
 plausible pretext for bringing up numerous bodies of soldiery 
 along the frontiers of French Navarre ; for Barcelona had been 
 named by the king as the place of rendezvous for his army. 
 When every portion of the plan seemed matured, it was agreed 
 that Philip should despatch a division of this army to Tarra- 
 gona ; a detachment was to be drafted therefrom, and sent 
 over the Pyrenees by mountain passes and hidden tracks to 
 form a junction with the troops of Montluc. Amidst the gene- 
 ral rising of the disaffected population of Lower Navarre an 
 advance was designed upon Pau. The queen was then to be 
 conveyed a prisoner over the frontier, and delivered to the 
 mercy of her implacable enemy. Every measure to insure the 
 success of the scheme was calculated with consummate ability. 
 Jeanne's possible retreat over the frontier of Beam into 
 Gruyenne was provided against ; and had not a providential 
 circumstance occurred to defeat the design, her capture must 
 have been inevitable. 
 
 In the most skilfully concerted schemes the failure of a 
 single incident, however trifling, is often sufficient to overthrow
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 211 
 
 the whole ; and so it fortunately proved at this juncture — 
 though the defect proceeded from a source whence it could 
 least have heen expected. A certain malcontent Bearnnois, 
 named Dimanche, had been employed by the conspirators as 
 their medium of communication. This man was a staunch 
 Komanist. His hatred against the queen of Navarre was in- 
 creased almost to frenzy by an edict which she published after 
 her return from Vendome, securing to Roman Catholic eccle- 
 siastics the full enjoyment and tenure of their benefices, on 
 condition that they accepted the reformed ritual. The edict 
 was followed by numerous instances of submission ; the test, 
 which the priesthood considered as likely to be most pleasing 
 to their sovereign, that they should marry, being very univers- 
 ally adopted. This Dimanche, having first communicated 
 with all the participants in the design, was despatched by 
 Montluc from Bordeaux into Spain to confer with Philip and 
 the duke of Alba. He, therefore, crossed the Pyrenees and 
 repaired to the town of Alba, where the duke waited his 
 arrival. After many conferences, the duke gave Dimanche in- 
 structions to proceed to Mon^on, and present himself before 
 Philip, who was still presiding there over the Coi'tes ; he also sent 
 an aide-de-camp, Don Prancisco Ayala, to introduce the Bearn- 
 nois envoy to his royal master. 
 
 At Madrid, however, Dimanche fell ill, and was unable to 
 proceed ; but, as it was first believed that his sickness would 
 only be temporary, Don Francisco journeyed alone to Moncon, 
 to announce to the king the envoy's expected arrival. The 
 malady which had stricken Dimanche, however, increased ; and 
 in his paroxysms of suffering he repeatedly implored the pre- 
 sence and attendance of one of his own countrymen. Vespier, 
 a valet- de-cliambre in the service of the queen of Spain, charit- 
 ably responded to the appeal of the dying man, as Dimanche 
 was then considered to be. Contrary to the expectations of 
 every one, however, Dimanche rallied. In the warmth of his 
 gratitude for the generous assistance he had received from 
 Vespier, the Bearnnois mysteriously hinted, that although he 
 was too poor to reward his charitable offices, yet, that those 
 who had sent him into Spain, on the errand upon which he 
 was bound, were mighty enough to grant Vespier recompense. 
 This speech, together with other dark allusions uttered by 
 Dimanche during the delirium of fever, convinced Elizabeth's 
 sagacious valet-de-ehambre that the Bearnnois was the depository 
 of some state secret of importance. Vespier, therefore, re- 
 doubled his attentions to the sick man, and resorted to various 
 devices to unravel the mystery. At length, he extorted from 
 
 16
 
 242 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 the Bearnnois the entire plot in all its details. Vespier listened 
 with affright and indignation to the words exultingly pro- 
 nounced by Dimanche, " before many weeks have elapsed, the 
 princess of Beam and her children will be in the power of the 
 Holy Inquisition." Whether this revelation escaped in the 
 transports of delirious agitation, or was extorted from a mind 
 weakened by disease, its effect upon the actions of the queen's 
 gentleman of the chamber was decisive ; the more so as Ves- 
 pier happened to be a subject born of the house of Albret. 
 He very prudently, however, first requested a sight of Di- 
 manche's written instructions ; and this was, likewise, con- 
 ceded by the Bearnnois. 
 
 Having thus acquired certainty of the existence of the 
 plot, Vespier confided the secret to the abbe St Etienne, 
 formerly preceptor to the queen of Spain ; and who then filled 
 the post of Elizabeth's grand almoner. St Etienne immediately 
 sought audience of his royal mistress, and revealing the intrigue 
 which menaced the life of the queen of Navarre, he implored 
 Elizabeth to save so near a relative from the dreadful fate im- 
 pending. The young queen listened to his recital with indig- 
 nation ; tears bedewed her beautiful face as she exclaimed, " A 
 Dieu ne plaise, que cette mcchancete advienne !" The fear of 
 Philip's wrath, so paralyzing to every other individual about 
 the palace, deterred not the queen from taking immediate 
 measures for frustrating the scheme. Elizabeth, conscious of 
 the empire which her beauty gave her over the heart of the 
 stern monarch, dared even to thwart that which Philip seemed 
 to prize most amongst his royal prerogatives — the power of 
 revenge. She instantly wrote a letter in cypher to the French 
 ambassador Everard de Saint Sulpice, revealing the enterprise ; 
 she sent the ambassador a description of Dimanche's person ; 
 and she even indicated the lodging which he was to occupy 
 after his arrival at Moncon, when convalescent. Finally, she 
 prayed Saint Sulpice to inform the queen of Navarre of her 
 peril. Elizabeth's courier arrived at Moncon one day before 
 Dimanche. Saint Sulpice took measures to watch his move- 
 ments ; and ascertained that Ayala, during the course of a day, 
 had introduced the envoy three times into Philip's private cabi- 
 net, and that a long conference ensued at each interview. The 
 extraordinary movements of the Spanish army in Catalonia 
 had before excited the suspicion of the French ambassador ; 
 and now confirmed his belief in the reality of the enterprise 
 denounced by the queen. 1 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, liv. 36, who gives a minute detail of every
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 243 
 
 Saint Sulpice, therefore, secretly despatched his secretary, 
 Eouleau, the bearer of letters to Catherine de Medici, contain- 
 ing a detail of Dimanche's revelation. He also intrusted him 
 with a despatch for the queen of Navarre, which Eouleau was 
 directed to forward to Pau, on his arrival at Bayonne. The 
 ambassador exhorted Jeanne to retire from the principality, 
 and seek refuge at Nerac; where she would find a safe refuge 
 under the protection of the king of France. 
 
 The valiant heart of Jeanne d'Albret surpassed itself in 
 this moment of peril. Instead of following the advice of Saint 
 Sulpice, she commenced measures of defence ; she visited her 
 fortresses, penetrating to the very frontiers of Spain ; then, 
 she retired to her strong castle of Navarreins, taking with her 
 her ladies and the little madame Catherine, and waited the 
 event — prepared to sustain a vigorous siege. She addressed to 
 Catherine de Medici, and to the king, a most indignant de- 
 nunciation of the plot. She declared that Philip, by his disloyal 
 and cruel project, had, in her person, aimed a murderous blow 
 at all the sovereign heads of Europe. Finally, Jeanne de- 
 manded that condign punishment might be awarded to all who 
 had joined and abetted the conspiracy. 
 
 Eouleau found the court sojourning at Valence on the 
 Ehone. Catherine, at first, refused to believe in the reality of 
 the plot, saying, " that her daughter, the queen of Spain, if 
 there had been any truth in the alleged design, would have 
 written the details directly to herself." Elizabeth, however, 
 no doubt believed that she had interfered in the affair to the 
 very extent of her duty as the consort of Philip : she had pre- 
 sumed to frustrate her husband's project — a deed which would 
 have brought any other person, subject to the laws of Spain, 
 upon the scaffold. Eouleau assured Catherine that he had 
 himself seen Diinanche enter Philip's cabinet, in disguise. The 
 queen then sent for the constable, and the secretary of state, 
 Claude de l'Aubespine, and ordered Eouleau to read the am- 
 bassador's letter, and to repeat his own statement, in their 
 presence. Montmorency counselled the queen to issue a war- 
 rant of arrest for Dimanche, when he should return to Prance, 
 elate with the apparently successful result of his mission. This 
 advice the queen declined to adopt. Catherine's conduct, at 
 this period, certainly seems mysterious : she, however, ex- 
 pressed the utmost abhorrence and amazement at the contem- 
 plated enterprise ; though she refused to allow any investigation 
 to be made, or inquiry instituted, into the guilt of the parties 
 
 circumstance connected with this conspiracy to betray Jeanne d'Albret into the 
 power of the Inquisition. — Memoires de l'Etat de France, sous Charles IX.
 
 214 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 
 
 implicated. Probably, the rank of the accused convinced 
 Catherine that their arraignment would again plunge France 
 into the abyss of civil warfare. Sheltered within the fortress 
 of Navarreins, the queen of Navarre was safe from the treason 
 of her enemies ; and with that knowledge Catherine declared 
 herself content. In reply to the continued appeals for justice 
 made to the privy-council by Jeanne d'Albret, Catherine 
 positively returned the answer, " that the Protestants had more 
 than once been guilty of similar violent intents towards the 
 king, their sovereign lord; and that the queen of Navarre 
 ought to follow the example his Majesty had set, of freely for- 
 giving those injuries which it Avas out of his power to punish!" 1 
 Dimanche escaped all chastisement, both for his treacherous 
 revelation of the plot, and, likewise, for having undertaken such 
 a mission. On his return from Spain he proceeded in disguise 
 to Paris, where he found shelter for some time in the hotel 
 of one of the conspirators — probably that of the cardinal 
 de Lorraine — and afterwards in the monastery " des Bons 
 Homines." This concealment on the part of Dimanche was 
 adopted to escape the vengeance of some of his original em- 
 ployers, whose safety his revelations had compromised ; rather 
 than from fear of arrest from the government. 
 
 A circumstance, meantime, occurred which offered testi- 
 mony that Philip's design towards Jeanne d'Albret had neither 
 been misrepresented, nor exaggerated ; for the self-same plot, 
 originally organized against her life, was successfully executed, 
 at this very time, upon two persons whose heretical opinions 
 had given offence to the Inquisition. Two French merchants, 
 formerly inhabitants of Sardaigne, in Tiousillon, having become 
 converts to the principles of reform, quitted that county, and 
 established themselves in Foix. under the tolerant sway of the 
 queen of Navarre. These persons had long been marked for 
 destruction by the Holy Office. One night, therefore, a party 
 of Philip's soldiery, accompanied by a band of officials from the 
 Inquisition, made a sudden descent upon the little town where 
 these unfortunate men had found refuge, surprised, and con- 
 veyed them, bound hand and foot, to Sardaigne, where they 
 were delivered over to the tender mercy of that dreaded tri- 
 bunal. It was in vain that the magistrates of Foix offered every 
 opposition in their power to this flagrant violation of the right 
 of territory ; and admonished the Spanish officer, in command 
 of the troop, that he was invading a country held by the queen 
 of Navarre, under the crown of France. The parliament of 
 
 1 Yauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 215 
 
 Toulouse immediately memorialised the queen of Navarre, and 
 urged her to address remonstrances on the subject to the court 
 of France. " Madame," said the counsellors, who a few months 
 before had so violently assailed Jeanne's sovereign rights, "in 
 tii is outrage, the king and your Majesty have beeu notably in- 
 jured; not only in the matter that these persons have, without 
 your permission and assent, executed the mandate of this said 
 court of Inquisition, which is not recognized in this realm ; but 
 also, that they have entered this kingdom, and your dominions, 
 in arms, and have committed a violent deed, demonstrating on 
 the part of those who sent them an outrage and contempt most 
 inexcusable." 1 The queen wrote from Navarreins on this 
 matter to Catherine de Medici ; the latter being very sensible 
 of the spirit of enterprise which possessed her son-in-law, as 
 respected the realm of France, thought proper to order the 
 French ambassador, in Madrid, to make a remonstrance on the 
 subject. Accordingly, Saint Sulpice waited upon Philip IF, 
 before he quitted Madrid to spend the Christmas festival of 
 1564, in seclusion, at some monastery, as was his Spanish Ma- 
 jesty's invariable custom. In reply to the ambassador's re- 
 monstrances at the bold inroad of Spanish troops on the terri- 
 tories of queen Jeanne, Philip replied, "that he had never 
 given any special command ou the subject, and that he should 
 be sorry to ordain such a thing. Nevertheless, the Inquisition, 
 without having respect to nation, quality, or person, proceeded, 
 as it was privileged, to take cognizance in affairs of religion, 
 and to chastise those guilty of heresy." The king added, 
 '• that he would speak on the affair to the Grand Inquisitor, 
 and let the ambassador know the result of the conference." 2 
 There is no record, however, that the unfortunate merchants 
 regained their liberty. The French court did not, probably, 
 persist iu its solicitations on the subject, satisfied with having 
 entered a protest on the lawless invasion of territory by the 
 emissaries of the king of Spain. 
 
 During her residence at Navarreins queen Jeanne issued 
 some excellent laws for the pacification of Lower Navarre — 
 that unhappy province, always torn by domestic and religious 
 strife, coveted by the king of Spain, and infested by his agents, 
 Avho, under plea of zeal for the Komish faith, kindled disaffec- 
 tion and revolt. AVhile abiding in her fortress-palace, the 
 
 1 Inquisition d'Espnirnc. — Les Avocats et Proeureurs do la Ville de Tou- 
 louse ala roynede Navarro. MSS. Bib. Roy. — Mortemart, vol. 3 l J. — Inedited. 
 The document is dated, Tholouse, 12 Novembre, 1564. 
 
 - Lettrc de St Sulpice, ambassadeur en Espagne, au roy Charles IX. — Bib. 
 Roy. MSS. de .Mortemart, yj : datee de Madrid, ce dernier jour de Decembre, 
 1564— Inedited.
 
 216 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 
 
 queen seems to have resorted to the same severe studies by 
 which she had diversified her former abode there in 1560. She 
 had then studied the ancient fueros of her principality ; the 
 codes promulgated by Henry and Marguerite ; and the laws 
 which governed the innumerable local courts of her dominions, 
 Jeanne, at this period, enlarged her studies ; she perused the 
 codes of the most celebrated legislators of antiquity, with a 
 view to the thorough reformation of the existing laws of Beam. 
 Assisted by the chancellor Erancourt, the queen devoted many 
 hours daily to this laborious undertaking. The criminal code 
 Jeanne submitted to her judges to undergo a thorough revision. 
 Severe penalties were decreed in the new code against persons 
 convicted of uttering counterfeit coin ; or of clipping, or other- 
 wise defacing, her Majesty's coinage — a crime which appears to 
 have been very prevalent. The salaries of the officers presiding 
 in all her courts are carefully regulated by the queen. Jeanne's 
 attorney-general had a salary of 300 livres Tournois ; the first 
 master of requests, and the president-criminal, 400 livres Tour- 
 nois. All barristers pleading in her courts are expressly ad- 
 monished, by Jeanne, not to attempt to conceal truth, by florid 
 declamation : but to represent facts as they found them, so 
 that the minds of her people, and of her judges, might not be 
 distorted by partiality or by prejudice. Many other admirable 
 exhortations abound in this code of laws, which at once evi- 
 dence the intellectual powers possessed by Jeanne d'Albret, 
 and her insight into the social wants of her people. The queen 
 quitted JNavarreins to spend the Christmas of 1564 at Pau, 
 and to publish her code. These laws were received with raptur- 
 ous gratitude by the Bcarnnois, who found in their application 
 a remedy for many abuses which had long oppressed them. 
 Even the inhabitants of Lower Navarre discovered, for once, 
 matter for approbation in the deeds of their noble-hearted 
 sovereign ; and they deigned to nominate a deputation to 
 thank the queen for her enlightened legislation. This code, 
 which was called le Stil de la Royne Jeanne, remained in force, 
 without modification, throughout the domains of the house of 
 Albret, until after the Great Revolution. 
 
 The winter of 1564 set in with extraordinary severity. The 
 rivers in Trance were frozen for the space of several weeks. 
 The vine and olive-yards suffered severely from the frost ; and 
 the public roads were blocked with snow, so as to interrupt, 
 for days tog;ether, all traffic aud communication. In the midst 
 of this inclement season the king and his mother continued 
 their progress as the weather permitted. At Carcassone, 
 where the young monarch arrived on the 12th of January,
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 217 
 
 15G5, so heavy a storm of snow fell, that Charles was detain- 
 ed for ten days. The object of this journey taken by Catherine 
 de Medici, through the southern provinces of the realm, was 
 to meet her daughter, Elizabeth, queen of Spain, at Bayonne, 
 in the territories of the queen of Navarre. The duke of Alba, 
 Philip's minister and the favoured counsellor to whom the king 
 confided his schemes for the annihilation of heresy, accompanied 
 his royal mistress. Most historians have stated, and document- 
 ary evidence confirms the assertion, that the object of this 
 celebrated interview was to give greater development to the 
 convention concluded at Peronne. The interview of the young 
 and innocent Elizabeth with her mother and brother was the 
 veil which concealed the purport of the ominous conference. 
 
 " It is a well-known fact, in respect to these conferences," 
 says the President de Thou, 1 "that Jean Baptiste Adriani, who 
 continued Cruicciardini's history with great fidelity and exacti- 
 tude, and who, according to all appearances, made deep research 
 into the papers of Cosmo duke of Elorence, has stated in his 
 writings that this conference was holden at the request of the 
 pope ; and that the king of Spain desired greatly that the pope 
 should be present : the matter to discuss being — the means to 
 deliver France from the Protestants, whose faith was regarded 
 as pestilential. The conference ended in the adoption of the 
 opinion expressed by the duke of Alba, which coincided with 
 that of Philip ; namely, that all the most illustrious heads 
 should first fall ; and that the plan of the Sicilian Vespers 
 should be followed, and all Protestants massacred indiscrimin- 
 ately." 
 
 It was the frequent boast of the king of Spain, "that 
 instead of employing doctors to convert heretics, he commis- 
 sioned executioners to destroy them." Catherine de Medici, 
 therefore, was extremely* anxious to come to some definite 
 determination with the king of Spain, on the all-absorbing 
 topic of politics in the sixteenth century — the suppression of 
 heresy. 
 
 The interview between Catherine and her daughter took 
 place during the month of June, 15G5. The splendour of the 
 fetes and pageants, given on the occasion by the courts of 
 Erance and Spain, exhaust the descriptive powers of the various 
 chroniclers who have recorded them. The duke of Alba 
 escorted his royal mistress ; he was, moreover, commissioned 
 by his sovereign to invest the young king of France with the 
 order of the Golden Fleece. Although the interview between 
 
 1 Hist, de son Temps, liv. 37.
 
 248 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 the queens of France and Spain took place in Jeanne's terri- 
 tory, the queen of Navarre was not invited to be present at 
 the festivities. Catherine dreaded Jeanne's penetration ; and 
 did all in her power to induce the queen to believe that the 
 interview had no other object than to gratify her maternal 
 tenderness. At Bayonne, during the day, nothing was heard, 
 or debated, but the details of balls, fetes, and pompous pageants. 
 Even statesmen of the gravity of Alba and de l'Hopital 
 appeared to be inspired with no graver care than the pastime 
 of the present. At night, however, Catherine repaired to her 
 daughter's apartments by a secret passage constructed between 
 their two abodes, which were contiguous. 1 There she met the 
 dukes of Alba and Najara, the bishops of Pampeluna and Bur- 
 gos, and other trusted members of the Spanish cabinet. These 
 midnight conferences were not unknown to the queen of 
 Navarre, and they naturally excited alarm and consternation 
 in her mind. In the suite of king Charles was the young 
 prince of Navarre, then in his twelfth year. Jeanne had felt 
 reluctance to permit her son to take part in the interview 
 between the courts ; fearing that his rights to the kingdom of 
 Upper Navarre might be thereby compromised. Catherine, 
 however, had insisted on the presence of the prince in the 
 king's train. The queen, therefore, unable to resist the man- 
 date, had wisely determined to mitigate the evil by surround- 
 ing her son with some of the wisest and most trusted of her 
 faithful Bearnnois nobility. She very expressly commanded the 
 young prince to conduct himself solely by their advice and 
 counsel, as if she herself were present to claim his obedience. 
 The prince was frequently admitted by Catherine to her private 
 apartments; his youth and the enjouevient of Henry's character 
 deceived the queen, who believed that pleasure was his para- 
 mount object. One day, it is recorded, Henry overheard the 
 duke of Alba observe to queen Catherine, that the only way 
 to tranquillize the kingdom, and to subdue the disaffection of 
 the princes, was to re-enact in France the tragedy of the Sicilian 
 vespers ; and not to spare the noblest blood : " Car, tnadame," 
 said the duke, " une fete de saumon vaut inieux que cent tetes de 
 grenouilles^' 1 The duke, moreover, exhorted king Charles to 
 follow the example of his brother, Francis II., who, had his 
 life been prolonged, intended to have exacted from every noble 
 in the kingdom a distinct profession of faith, taking condign 
 vengeance on all dissentients from the holy Roman faith. On 
 
 1 Elizabeth de Valois, and the Court of Philip II., vol. ii. for a full detail 
 of this interview. 
 
 - Mathieu, Hist, de France, t. i. p. 1S3.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 219 
 
 quitting the apartments of Catherine, Henry repeated all he 
 had heard to on'e of Jeanne's privy councillors, named de 
 Calignon, in attendance about his person. De Calignon, finding 
 his fears confirmed respecting the treacherous nature of the 
 conference, despatched a messenger with a letter in cypher to 
 the queen of Navarre, who was sojourning at Pau. Jeanne 
 was suffering from illness and depression ; a presentiment of 
 the evil likely to follow from the personal conference of such 
 spirits as those of Alba and Catherine, each commanding the 
 resources of a powerful kingdom, filled her mind with appre- 
 hension. The president de Calignon added, moreover, that it 
 had been debated in the secret conclave, held nightly in the 
 apartment of the young Elizabeth, whether the town of Moulins 
 should not be the scene of the measure contemplated ; whither 
 the court was to repair on its return, that Catherine might 
 effect an outward reconciliation between the hostile houses of 
 (uiiseand Chatillon. Without losing an instant in useless 
 conjecture, Jeanne despatched missives to Conde, to the admiral 
 de Coligny, the cardinal de Chatillon, and to the chiefs of the 
 Huguenot faction ; thus were the seeds sown that gradually 
 ripened into disastrous maturity, and which, ere long, resulted 
 iu a second bloody war. 
 
 It is probable, however, that the fears and the distrust felt by 
 the Protestant chiefs, respecting Catherine de Medici, induced 
 them to exaggerate their danger. There exists no doubt that the 
 question of the extirpation of heresy was discussed by Catherine 
 and the duke of Alba ; but the assertion that a massacre of the 
 Huguenot chieftains at Moulins was absolutely contemplated is 
 not confirmed by documentary evidence of valid description. 
 Indeed, at the very time of the interview at Bayonne, Catherine, 
 with her habitual dissimulation, was carrying on a secret cor- 
 respondence with the emperor, with a view to the pacification 
 of Prance by the concession of certain rights and prr\ ileges to 
 the reformed Galilean churches. The rapid spread of Luther- 
 anism, throughout the provinces of Philip's dominions of the 
 Low Countries, inspired Catherine with disquiet. The formid- 
 able party, distinguished by the soubriquet of Jes Gueux, applied 
 to it first by the duchess of Parma's confidential minister, 
 the count de Barlaimont, had established relations with the 
 French Protestants. It is not to be wondered, however, that 
 gloomy distrust roused the passions and defiance, lulled by the 
 concessions so reluctantly made by Catherine at the Peace of 
 Orleans. Gradually the privileges granted to the Huguenots 
 had been curtailed. Edict after edict diminished somewhat of 
 their privilege of freedom of worship. The peril to which the
 
 250 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 queen of Navarre bad been subjected ; and the sinister proceed- 
 ings of the Inquisition to establish its authority over the south 
 of France, excited keen apprehension. The massacres perpe- 
 trated by the king's lieutenant, de Montluc, in Languedoc and 
 Guyenne, impelled and kept ever glowing a spirit of retaliation. 
 Aware of the want of confidence felt towards her, both bv the 
 Catholic king and the Protestant league, and placed between 
 two potent factions, without possessing strength of purpose to 
 adhere faithfully to either, Catherine conceded first to one 
 party, and then to the other ; maintaining her position by 
 dexterous artifice, and dissimulating her weakness, until the 
 necessity for definite action led her to assent hastily to the 
 subsequent massacre on the eve of St Bartholomew's day, 1572, 
 which has consigned her memory to opprobrium. 
 
 During the interview of Bayonne, the princely bearing of 
 the young heir of Beam excited the admiration of the Spanish 
 court. Henry's adroitness in all manly games elicited from 
 the duke de Medina de Rioseco 1 the exclamation, " Mi parece 
 que este principe 6 es Emperador, 6 lo ha de ser ! " 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1565—1568. 
 
 Queen Jeanne entertains Charles IX. at Nerac — The queen accompanies the 
 court to Moulins — -Her visit to Vendome — Panic with which her presence 
 inspires Miron, governor of Vendome — His letter to the duke de Mont- 
 pensier — The queen gains a suit against the cardinal de Bourbon — She visits 
 the printing establishment of the Etiennes — Impromptu composed by Jeanne 
 d'Albret on this occasion — Reply sent to the queen by Henri Etienne — 
 Revolt of the inhabitants of Pamiers — Insurrection is suppressed by the 
 count de Rambouillet — The Bearnnois send a deputation to the queen at Paris 
 — Its object — Letters-patent issued by queen Jeanne, July 1566 — The queen 
 visits La Fere — She requests permission to take her son — Displeasure of 
 queen Catherine — Her parting words to Jeanne d'Albret — The queen departs 
 for La Fere — She visits the castles of Beaumont and La Fleche — League 
 formed in Beam by the Roman Catholic prelates to resist the execution of 
 Jeanne's letters-patent — Return of the queen to Pau — Conspiracy of the 
 barons — Its progress — Sanctioned by the court of France — Jeanne convokes 
 the states-general of Foix, Beam, and Navarre — Contumacious deportment 
 of the assembly — They demand the repeal of the letters-patent — The queen 
 refuses their petition — The assembly demands its dismissal — Edicts published 
 by the queen regulating matters of religion — Marriage of the count de 
 Cjuiche with Corisande d'Andouins — Correspondence of Jeanne with Charles 
 IX. — Her letters to the viscount de Gourdon — Renewal of the civil war in 
 
 1 Don Juan Alonso Enriqucz de Cabrera, Duque de Medina Rioseco, 
 Condc de Medica, grand-admiral of Castile.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 251 
 
 France — Jeanne retires to Pan — Scandal current respecting queen Jeanne — 
 Condition of the country — Battle of St Denis — Conde besieges Chartres — 
 Catherine tenders an offer of peace, which is accepted by Conde — Terms of 
 the peace of Chartres — The inhabitants of La Rochelle refuse to make sub- 
 mission to Charles IX. — The insurgent barons of Beam request the inter- 
 cession of Catherine do Medici — The queen sends Fenelon to intercede on 
 their behalf — Reply of the queen of Navarre to the ambassador's suit — The 
 barons surrender themselves — Their audience of queen Jeanne — Jeanne sends 
 a gentleman of her chamber to king Charles, with suggestions for a per- 
 manent peace — She assembles the states of her principality — Their loyal 
 deportment — Catherine de Medici attempts to surprise Conde and the in- 
 surgent leaders — Flight of Conde from Noyers — Its consequences — Com- 
 mencement of the third civil contest — Plot discovered by the queen of 
 Navarre for the abduction of the prince of Navarre — Jeanne determines to 
 espouse the cause of the princes — She repairs to Nerac — Correspondence 
 with the marshal de Montluc — Her interview with Fenelon — Her letter to 
 the viscount de Gourdon — Her flight from Nerac — Her journey and safe 
 arrival at Bergerac — Montluc pursues the queen — Jeanne's letter to Charles 
 IX. — Her letters to the cardinal de Bourbon and to queen Catherine— Edict 
 issued by the king, totally suppressing the reformed worship throughout 
 France — Procession of the court to Notre Dame de Paris — Queen Jeanne 
 proceeds to Archiac — Her meeting with Conde and the confederate barons 
 — Entry of the queen of Navarre into La Rochelle. 
 
 The visit of the queen of Spain to her royal mother and 
 brother lasted seventeen days. Catherine, after taking leave of 
 her daughter, proceeded on her progress. On the 28th of July 
 king Charles made his entry into the town of Nerac, 1 where he 
 was received and magnificently entertained by the queen of 
 Navarre. If the misgivings of Jeanne had been excited by the 
 report sent to her of the conferences at Bayonne, the deport- 
 ment of Catherine and her son confirmed her distrust. Never 
 were the gracious and winning manners of Catherine more 
 condescendingly demonstrated. The king, likewise, over- 
 whelmed Jeanne with friendly courtesies ; yet less practised in 
 dissimulation than his mother, his hatred of the Huguenots 
 continually betrayed itself. The pungent jest, and the mock- 
 ing allusion to the calamities of Prance, so often on the lips of 
 her monarch, revealed to the penetrating eye of Jeanne 
 d'Albret the resentment which agitated his mind against the 
 " disturbers of the peace of the realm." 
 
 During the sojourn of the court at Nerac, the queen of 
 Navarre repeated her request, that the prince of Beam might, 
 for the future, remain under her guardianship. As usual, the 
 request was refused. Jeanne, therefore, suddenly decided upon 
 accompanying the king to Moulins. She was resolved to rescue 
 her son from the moral ruin which menaced him in the licen- 
 tious court of the Yalois. She had, likewise, another reason 
 for her journey into France, one which affected the pecuniary 
 interest of the prince, her son. The cardinal de Bourbon, to 
 
 1 Itineraire des rois de France.
 
 252 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 punish his sister-in-law for her heresy, unexpectedly claimed 
 again the lauds lie had ceded to Jeanne on her marriage, and 
 which were secured to her by contract. To defend her rights, 
 therefore, Jeanne determined to proceed to Moulins ; and from 
 thence to journey to the capital. Charles quitted Nerac on the 
 1st of August. Tt is related that the desolate condition of the 
 country through which the king travelled, and the sight of the 
 ruined churches and monasteries, excited in Charles's mind a 
 transport of wrath. With gloomy mien, and with eyes sparkling 
 with fury, he pointed out these ravages to Jeaune d'Albret, 
 while sarcastically commenting on the alleged humility of the 
 sectarians ; and on the Christian spirit attributed to them of 
 preferring martyrdom to the crimes of vengeance and rebellion. 1 
 From that moment, it is asserted, the queen of Navarre pre- 
 dicted the bloody tragedy impending over the country. 
 
 Jeanne made a brief sojourn at Moulins ; from thence she 
 proceeded to her favourite city of Vendorne. Popular tumults 
 disturbed the peace of the inhabitants ; and La Curee, the 
 governor appointed by the queen, had been slain by his Roman 
 Catholic townsmen. The provinces of Maine, Touraine, and 
 l'Orleannois, through which she passed, were agitated by re- 
 ligious factions ; so that Jeanne often travelled in peril of her 
 life, from the violence of the seditious multitudes. Vendorne 
 Avas under the sway of a commissioner, one Gabriel Miron, sent 
 by the king to suppress the insurrectionary movement during 
 which La Curee fell. When Miron heard of the approach of 
 queen Jeanne his apprehension was greatly excited ; as he 
 supposed that the object of her journey was to avenge the 
 death of La Curee. He, accordingly, despatched a courier to 
 the duke de Montpensier, lieutenant-iu-chief over the midland 
 provinces of France, to inform him that the queen of Navarre 
 was on her road to Orleans, at the head of 1500 men at arms ; 
 and that it was her Majesty's inteut to sui'prise aud capture 
 Orleans, Blois, Tours, aud Amboise. He requested the duke 
 to send a body of soldiers to intercept Jeaune's march ; " be- 
 sides which, monseigneur, you must graciously grant permis- 
 sion, liberty, and command, to the people to rise en masse, and, 
 at the sound of the tocsin, to take up arms and go forth to seize 
 aud annihilate the said queen of Navarre !" 2 — so greatly did 
 the arrival of queen Jeanne terrify the king's commissioner. 
 While Miron remained thus fired with martial excitement, the 
 queen of Navarre made her peaceful entry into Vendorne, at- 
 tended by a numerous suite of ladies, and escorted by twelve 
 
 1 Davila, Hist, dcs Gucrres Civiles, t. i. liv. 3, p. 216. 
 - Vauvilliers, Hist, do Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 233 
 
 gentlemen only. She proceeded to the castle, and there took 
 up her abode. The inhabitants of her duchy received Jeanne 
 with acclamations ; and, far from sharing in Miron's bloody 
 projects, they guarded the queen with watchfulness during her 
 residence among them. The panic felt by the royal commis- 
 sioner, so ludicrously assuaged by queen Jeanne's pacific caval- 
 cade and entry, afforded the brave Vendomois with subject for 
 many a witty jest. 
 
 The proceedings instituted by the cardinal de Bourbon to 
 regain possession of the domains of Conde la Ferte, obliged 
 the queen to repair hastily to Paris, after a brief sojourn at 
 Vendome, much to the relief and contentment of messire 
 Gabriel Miron. The animosity which the cardinal felt against 
 his sister-in-law was extreme at this period. The weak intel- 
 lect of this unfortunate prelate rendered him a ready instru- 
 ment for evil in the hands of the partisans of Spain and Lor- 
 raine. The king of Spain affected to regard the cardinal as the 
 only prince, in collateral descent, capable of succeeding here- 
 after to the crown of France ; Jeanne's son and Conde and 
 his children having forfeited, as Philip averred, their right to 
 the succession, should it lapse from the direct line. The car- 
 dinal had all the faults of his brother, king Antoine, increased 
 by a neglected education, and an intellect even more contracted 
 and puerile. His cause against Jeaame d'Albret was supported 
 by the influence of the house of Guise. His ungenerous pro- 
 ject of despoiling his brother's widow was, nevertheless, disal- 
 lowed by the parliament of Paris. That august body, despite 
 its many short-comings, and its fervid bigotry, generally legis- 
 lated with due regard to principle and honour. The cardinal's 
 suit was, therefore, rejected by an immense majority of the 
 assembled chambers ; a decision immediately confirmed by the 
 council of state. 1 
 
 During her sojourn in Paris, Jeanne visited the printing 
 establishment of Henri Etienne, son of the celebrated printer, 
 Robert Etienne, who died at Geneva, in 1559. The queen 
 manifested the greatest interest in every portion of the estab- 
 lishment- Though Jeanne's life was passed amid contention 
 and warfare, she inherited from her mother a love for literature. 
 She spoke Latin with ease and elegance ; her acquirements in 
 the Greek tongue are also highly lauded. Her poetic talents 
 she had not leisure to cultivate ; yet, the readiness with which 
 Jeanne composed the following impromptu, in praise of print- 
 ing, on the occasion of her visit to the Etiennes, proves that 
 
 1 Cayet, Chronologic Novenaire, p. 22.
 
 251 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 the art so prized by her accomplished mother, was likewise 
 appreciated by herself. The verse is the only one now extant, 
 composed by the queen of Navarre. 
 
 " Art singulier, cl'ici aux derniers ans 
 Ilepresentez aux enfans de ma race, 
 Que j'ai suivi des Craignants-dieu la trace 
 Afin qu'ils soient des mimes pas suivants ! " 
 
 In reply to this address, Etienne presented the queen with 
 the following sonnet. 
 
 REPONSE EN FORME DE SONNET AU NOM DE L'lM- 
 PRIMERIE A LA DITE DAME ROYNE. 
 
 Princesse que le ciel de graces favorise, 
 A qui les Craignans-dieu souhaitent tout bonheur, 
 A qui les grand esprits ont donne tout honneur, 
 Pour avoir doctement la science conquise. 
 
 S'il est vrai que clu temps la plus brave entreprise, 
 Au devant des vertus abbaise sa grandeur, 
 S'il est vrai que les ans n'offusquent la splendeur 
 Qui fait luire partout les enfans de l'Eglise. 
 
 Le ciel, les Craignans-dieu et les hommes savants 
 Me feront raconter aux peuples survivans, 
 Vos graces, et votre heur et louange notorie. 
 Et puisque vos vertus ne peuvent prendre fin 
 Par vous je demeurerai vivante, a cette fin 
 Qu'aux peuples a. venir j'en porte la memoire. 1 
 
 During the following month of June, 1566, the queen of 
 Navarre received news, while sojourning at Paris, that her 
 subjects, the citizens of Pamiers, had risen in revolt, and tur- 
 bulently refused to submit to her officers. The cause of the 
 tumult originating in a mandate issued by the queen, to sup- 
 press throughout her dominions the May games ; and certain 
 ceremonies connected with the celebration of that floral festi- 
 val, which she thought highly injurious to public morality. 
 The excesses to which the malcontents resorted, supported by 
 their bishop Jacques de Peleve — who cared not for the cause 
 of sedition, provided that the sovereign right of the queen of 
 Navarre was assailed — at length became so flagrant, that 
 Jeanne was compelled to request the aid of king Charles's 
 lieutenants in putting down the revolt. The count de Eam- 
 bouillet, therefore, entered the country of Foix, and soon put 
 the daring rebels to rout ; but less merciful than their injured 
 
 i MS. Bibl. Roy. F. Gaignieres, No. 13S4.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBKET. 255 
 
 and oft-defied sovereign, the count condemned the ringleaders 
 of the insurgents to expiate their crimes on the gallows. 1 
 Jeanne's faithful lieges of Beam, meantime, contemplated with 
 sorrow and indignation the enormities committed by their fel- 
 low-subjects, the inhabitants of Lower Navarre, under pretext 
 of allegiance to the See of Eome. The chief inhabitants of 
 Pau, therefore, convoked an assembly at the commencement of 
 the month of June, 156G, in which it was determined to des- 
 patch a deputation to the queen of Navarre to implore her 
 Majesty to make final and total abolition of the Eoman Catho- 
 lic faith throughout the hereditary domains of Albret. She 
 was likewise solicited to govern in strict accord with the 
 maxims of Holy Scripture ; and to issue stringent laws against 
 thieves, usurers, drunkards, gamblers, and tavern-keepers, 
 all which class of persons greatly infested her Majesty's loyal 
 principality. The Calvinist minister, Michel de Vignaux, was 
 elected chief of the deputation, which immediately set out for 
 Paris, taking a very notable exposition of the causes provoking 
 the turbulent condition of Lower Navarre, according to the 
 opinion of Jeanne's faithful lieges of Pau, to present to the 
 sovereign. 2 
 
 No petition could be more in accord with Jeanne's private 
 wishes and sentiments. The minister de Vignaux received 
 cordial greeting, and was lodged in the hotel de Conde, where 
 the queen resided. In matters of religion the queen of 
 Navarre conceded nothing to expediency ; nor would she even 
 postpone any decision connected with the controversy between 
 the two modes of faith, after its utility had once impressed it- 
 self on her mind, until a more propitious opportunity. Her 
 sense of the overwhelming injury which she had received 
 from the pope, and from the king of Spain, hurried her often to 
 acts solely intended to manifest her utter disregard both of 
 their power and of their vengeance. Her dauntless temper 
 defied their threats ; and her retaliations were prompt, and 
 seldom unsuccessful. The queen, therefore, condescended to 
 the prayer of the deputation. Jeanne issued her letters-patent 
 about the commencement of July, 1500. She thereby forbade 
 the ecclesiastics of Beam, Poix, and Navarre to confer bene- 
 fices ; the same prohibition extended to all lay patrons profess- 
 ing the Romish faith. The benefices lapsed were to be 
 conferred by the same ecclesiastical board that administered 
 the confiscated revenues of the priesthood. The queen inter- 
 dicted public processions, interment in churches, dissolute 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 5.59 
 2 Ibid, p. 563.
 
 256 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 amusements, and games of chance. She likewise ordained in 
 this comprehensive edict, that all persons excommunicated by the 
 ministers of the reformed faith, should after the lapse of one 
 year be deemed guilty of felony, and their property forfeited ; 
 unless they forthwith made submission to the church, and re- 
 ceived the benefit of absolution. 1 The queen then dismissed 
 de Vignaux and his colleagues, confiding to them her edict, 
 which she expressly commanded should be delivered to the 
 count de Grammont, and promptly published. 
 
 After Jeanne had taken leave of de Vignaux, she prepared 
 to visit her domains of La Fere, in Picardy. Before her depar- 
 ture she waited upon the king, to request his Majesty's leave 
 to take prince Henry with her, that she might present him to 
 the vassals and retainers of Vendome. Charles unhesitatingly 
 granted the queen's request, without having even a suspicion 
 of the project which absorbed her mind. AVhen Catherine 
 was informed of the permission which her son had given, she 
 displayed much annoyance ; and more wily than the king, she 
 seems to have suspected Jeanne's secret design. Catherine, 
 therefore, convinced of the policy of retaining the young prince 
 de Beam under her own control as a hostage for his royal mo- 
 ther's fidelity, refused her assent to his journey into Picardy ; 
 and even absolutely prohibited his departure from St Germain. 
 Jeanne conducted herself with her usual moderation : she en- 
 tered into no debate on the subject with the queen ; but she 
 firmly reiterated the promise which the king had made her, re- 
 marking, " that it would be too great a discredit to his Majesty 
 to suppose him capable of breaking his word." Charles, there- 
 fore, insisted that his promise should be fulfilled, as Jeanne 
 had rightly conjectured. Obliged, then, to yield the point 
 against her better judgment, Catherine exclaimed, when she 
 bade farewell to the prince, and suffered him to depart with 
 his mother from St Germain, " Madame, once more I rely 
 implicitly on your word, and on your honour, that the peace 
 and the repose of Prance shall not be endangered by this con- 
 cession which we have made ! " " Tour Majesty honours me 
 greatly by asking my co-operation in so desirable an object. I 
 entreat you, madame, to be assured that I shall never fail in the 
 devotion which I owe to the king my sovereign lord, and to your- 
 self. The peril, or the menaced destruction of my house, could 
 alone inspire me with altered sentiments ; " 2 was the unbending 
 reply given by the queen of Navarre to Catherine's admonition. 
 
 i Olhagm-ay, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 563. Vauvilliers, Hist 
 de Jeanne d'Albret. 
 
 - Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. p. 353
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 257 
 
 Jeanne and her son were, nevertheless, suffered to depart ; 
 but, by vouchsafing this permission, Charles severed the last 
 link which enabled him to exercise a controlling power over the 
 Huguenot faction. Its chief personages were now all free from 
 the dominion of the court : Conde, and his new consort, Fran- 
 chise d'Orleaus, 1 were sojourning at his castle of jNbyers ; the 
 admiral and his brothers were at Chatillon ; la Eochefoucauld 
 at Verteuil ; the prince of Navarre, again under the guidance 
 of his wise aud politic mother — all were at liberty, angry, dis- 
 contented, and ready to take up arms at the slightest indication 
 that their conjectures relative to the interview of Bayonne had 
 real foundation. The departure of the young prince with his 
 mother was the error which darkened the after political for- 
 tunes of Charles IX. : on the reversal of that decision, though 
 the king divined it not, rested the future prosperity of the 
 monarchy, as then constituted under the Valois. 
 
 Joy, such as had rarely of late years been the lot of the 
 queen of Navarre, inspired Jeanne when she embraced her son, 
 and felt that he was rescued from the snares of the court of 
 Catherine. Without delay she departed with the prince, and 
 an imposing suite, for Picardy : much caution was yet requi- 
 site, for the merest suspicion of her ultimate design would have 
 sufficed for Henry's detention. From La Fere Jeanne pro- 
 ceeded to visit her castle of Beaumont, in Vendomois ; from 
 thence, accompanied by her son, she journeyed to the most 
 magnificent of the feudal domains of the house of Venduiiic, 
 the castle of La Fleche in Anjou, where the happiest days of 
 her married life had been spent. During her progress, Jeanne 
 kept up a diligent correspondence with Catherine ; and ap- 
 peared tacitly to request her Majesty's sanction for the pro- 
 longation of her journey, on the plea that the ravages occasion- 
 ed by the recent civil warfare on the various appanages of 
 Vendome required the presence of the prince. 
 
 At La Fleche the queen of Navarre received intelligence of 
 a dangerous league forming in Beam, to resist the publication 
 of the letters-patent which she had issued when in Paris, at the 
 request of Michel de Vigneux. The disaffected were chiefly 
 ecclesiastics, or dependents on the church's bounty, whose in- 
 terests had been compromised by the sequestration of the re- 
 venues of the priesthood. Their leader was Jean d'Albret, 
 abbe de Pontac. The malcontents met to deliberate in the 
 palace of the bishop of Lescar ; who had been terrified, by the 
 
 > Franchise d' Orleans Longueville, daughter of Francois, marquis do 
 Rothelin, and of Jacqueline de Rohan. She espoused the prince of Conde in 
 1565, and brought for her dowry the counties of Chateau-Chinon and Noyers. 
 
 17
 
 258 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 sentence of excommunication launched against him, into mak- 
 ing humble overtures for reconciliation with the Holy See. 
 The power and resources of the disaffected, and their obvious 
 relations with the Spanish government, so alarmed de Gfram- 
 mont, that he consented to suspend the publication of the edict 
 xmtil another embassy had waited upon queen Jeanne to peti- 
 tion her to annul, or, at any rate, to modify this decree. De 
 Gframmont, therefore, despatched d'Aureau, the queen's at- 
 torney-general, to La Fleche, to receive Jeanne's instructions ; 
 and to explain the motive of his apparent disobedience to her 
 commands. 
 
 Although the queen felt greatly incensed at the factious 
 attitude of her Roman Catholic subjects, yet this untoward 
 event favoured her own designs ; and she determined to make the 
 revolt the pretext she had been so long seeking, of excusing her 
 own return, and that of her son, to the French court. Catherine, 
 alarmed by the queen's lengthened progress, had despatched a 
 positive mandate for the instant return of the prince to Paris : 
 the terrible Montluc hovered on the confines of Anjou ; and 
 Jeanne knew that he was authorized by his royal mistress to 
 watch her movements, and to arrest the prince did he attempt 
 to cross the frontier of the principality. The resolution 
 displayed by queen Jeanne generally surmounted every 
 obstacle which opposed her designs. She dismissed d'Au- 
 reau from La Fleche, the bearer of a message to the count 
 de Grammont, announcing her own speedy return to Pau ; and 
 desiring that he would despatch a body of soldiers for her 
 escort within a given period. Within six hours after the 
 departure of d'Aureau, the queeu with her. son and a small 
 retinue quitted La Fleche secretly, and, rapidly traversing 
 Gruyenne, she arrived safely on the frontiers of Beam ; where 
 she was received by the brave d'Arros, at the head of a 
 body of troops, who escorted her in safety and triumph to 
 Pau. 1 
 
 Jeanne's first act, after her return, was to write to Cather- 
 ine de Medici aud excuse her infraction of the promise she had 
 given to conduct her son back to Paris ; alleging the revolt of 
 the barons of Beam, which demanded her presence in the 
 principality. This letter increased Catherine's discomfiture; 
 she felt that again Jeanne had adroitly foiled her designs ; and 
 the courage displayed by the queen of Navarre inspired her 
 with profound uneasiness. 
 
 After queen Jeanne had despatched her letter of explanation 
 
 1 Olkagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre. Favyn, liv. 14. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 259 
 
 to the French court, she applied herself to subdue the cabal 
 formed against her authority by her Roman Catholic subjects. 
 Her first action was not a conciliating one, though, considering 
 the threatening aspect of affairs in France, it would have been 
 more prudent if the queen had tendered such ; but Jeanne's 
 mind ever prompted her to destroy the subject of contention, 
 where she believed herself in the right, rather than by conces- 
 sion to retard an act of final necessity. She accordingly issued 
 a second edict commanding the literal execution of her letters- 
 patent of July, 1566. Moreover, believing that peace would 
 never be established until every trace of the religion of Home 
 was proscribed, she nominated commissioners to proceed 
 throughout her dominions to remove images from the churches ; 
 to destroy the shrines and altars wherever erected; to seize the 
 vestments of the priesthood ; and to interdict the exclusive 
 celebration of mass in any church or cathedral. 1 
 
 The edict was met by renewed defiance from the clergy : 
 they assembled in the house of Gabriel de Beam, seigneur 
 de G-erdrest, where such was their animosity against the queen, 
 that they actually entered into a league to compass her destruc- 
 tion. The names of the conspirators were, Henri de Navailles, 
 seigneur de Pere, Sainte Colombe, Jean de Bordenave, the 
 baron de Monein, two learned advocates of the civil courts of 
 Pau named Tasta and Supersantis ; and the principal canons 
 of the cathedral towns of Oleron and Lescar. The object of 
 the league was to seize and imprison the queen of Navarre and 
 her son in the fortress of Navarreins; and to massacre the 
 Protestants of the principality as they assembled to partake of 
 the Holy Sacrament, on Whitsunday. 1567. The chapters of 
 Lescar and Oleron undertook to furnish the pecuniary funds, 
 requisite for the execution of the plot. Before the conspirators 
 separated, they each signed the articles of this iniquitous league 
 with their blood ; and bound themselves, by frightful anathe- 
 mas, never to rest until the project was accomplished, and the 
 Roman Faith once more dominant.- 
 
 Notwithstanding Jeanne's vigilance, no rumour of this con- 
 spiracy reached her ear ; and so totally unconscious was she of 
 danger that the queen quitted Pau for the baths of Eaux- 
 Chaudes. Ste Colombe, meantime, was despatched into France, 
 to justify, and to ask the co-operation of the king, in the design 
 for dethroning the queen of Navarre. It was decided to put 
 the plot into execution before Charles's answer was known ; 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. 
 * Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 565. De Thou.
 
 260 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 that neither the refusal of king Charles to abet the project, 
 nor his avowed disapprobation, might dishearten the conspir- 
 ators. 
 
 The baron de Moneins, however, experienced many mis- 
 givings of conscience ; the only individual amongst the con- 
 spirators who could boast of illustrious extraction, his aristo- 
 cratic prejudices were perpetually wounded by the tone of 
 equality assumed by his colleagues. At leugth, his disquietude 
 and remorse became so intense, that he sought an interview 
 with the baron d'Audaux, and disclosed the design of the 
 conspirators. DAudaux promptly despatched his brother, 
 St Greniez, with a troop of horse to seize the town of Oleron, 
 the principal haven of the disaffected. He then conducted the 
 repentant de Moneins to the feet of his royal mistress ; who, on 
 her way to les Eaux-Chaudes, was sojourning in her town of 
 Ossau. The queen returned to Pau, from whence she des- 
 patched d'Audaux to disarm the rebels ; who, upon receiving a 
 secret notification of their betrayal by de Moneins, fled to 
 Oleron ; and to reduce that town to submit to her authority. 
 The most sanguinary insurrection, meanwhile, broke out there 
 after the arrival of St Geniez. The inhabitants of Oleron, 
 triumphant for a brief season, massacred the Protestant popu- 
 lation of the town, committing savage outrages. Led by the 
 abbe de Saubalade, they opposed the entrance of dAudaux with 
 the troops sent by Jeanne. After several engagements in the 
 suburbs and streets of Oleron, the rebels were subdued ; and 
 the abbe de Saubalade and other leaders of the revolt were 
 arrested, and sent in chains to Pau. They were instantly put 
 on trial and condemned to death. 1 
 
 The queen during this interval steadily enforced the pub- 
 lication of her letters-patent. She next convoked the states of 
 the principality, hoping to allay the seditious spirit which 
 animated her subjects of Poix and Lower Navarre. The first 
 day of the session Jeanne proceeded to the chamber, and pro- 
 nounced an harangue, in which she explained to the assembly 
 the condition of the country ; and the remedies which she pro- 
 posed to adopt in order to restore concord. She presented her 
 son to the chambers ; and concluded her discourse by announc- 
 ing a royal act of grace, which should have mollified the heart 
 of the most seditious in that assembly. She proclaimed the 
 full and complete pardon of Saubalade and the rebel leaders 
 condemned for their treasonable design against her life, and 
 
 1 Olhagaray. De Thou. Favyn.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 261 
 
 for participation in the insurrection at Oleron. This pardon 
 Jeanne granted on her sole responsibility ; the senechal of 
 Beam, the baron d'Arros, aud the count de Grammont being 
 unanimously of opinion that the criminals ought to suffer the 
 penalty of their crime at Oleron ; which town was still filled 
 with wailing and bloodshed through their lawless violence. 
 
 The states responded ungraciously to the concession tender- 
 ed by their royal mistress. On the day following, after voting 
 a reply to the address made by the queen, the assembly nomin- 
 ated a deputation of members, headed by the bishop of Oleron, 
 to represent to their sovereign, that her dominions would never 
 enjoy the blessing of peace and concord until she had repealed 
 her letters-patent of July, 1566. They therefore prayed her to 
 issue a revocation of the edict, ere they proceeded to discuss 
 other matters. The members of the states of Beam, mean- 
 time, secretly assured the queen of their support ; and counsel- 
 led her not to yield to the menacing demand of their colleagues 
 of Foix and Lower Navarre. The queen, therefore, received 
 the prayer of the deputation with haughty displeasure ; ad- 
 dressing the bishop of Oleron, she declared, " that she wonder- 
 ed much at the countenance he afforded to the factious demand 
 of the members for Foix and Navarre ; seeing that he had 
 many times conjured and exhorted her not to attend mass." 1 
 She then dismissed the members from her presence, with the 
 assurance, that it was her determination to maintain the edict, 
 and to suppress the Roman Catholic religion as the dominant 
 faith ; adding, that " she willingly tolerated its profession, but 
 denied its ascendancy." The following day the assembly sent 
 to demand its dismissal ; as the queen refused to accede to the 
 only method which occurred to the majority of members as 
 likely to restore peace. Jeanne replied, " that there was no 
 need for the sovereign to take leave of rebellious subjects ; 
 that it was not her intent to do violence to the assembly ; but 
 it was her desire, that they should proceed to legislate upon 
 other matters." This, however, the members refused to do 
 until the obnoxious edict was repealed ; and they again de- 
 manded their dismissal in more peremptory terms. Jeanne, 
 finding that the states were resolutely resolved to exact the 
 recall of her edict, and being as determined to resist their dic- 
 tation, she finally decided to grant them leave to depart. Ac- 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist.^ de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 569. The bishop of 
 Oleron was Claude Regin. His origin was obscure; and he owed his see to 
 the favour of the queen of Navarre. The bishop had once been an ardent ad- 
 herent of the reformed faith ; but, like the bishop of Lescar, the menaces of 
 Rome arrested his zeal for the reformation of the church.
 
 262 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 cordingly, the queen sent, through the count de Grammont, 
 the necessary authority for their dispersion ; accompanying her 
 mandate with the message, " that to bad and faithless subjects 
 she willingly accorded conge ! " ' 
 
 The members, thus released from the duties of legislation, 
 dispersed over Jeanne's dominions advocating revolt, and hold- 
 ing tumultuous meetings in various places of the principality. 
 Another plot was formed to imprison the queen, and to offer 
 the domains of the house of Albret to the crown of Spain, or to 
 the king of France. The baron de Luxe, one of the most 
 powerful and wealthy of the queen's subjects, joined the rebels. 
 They were further reinforced by the adherence of the viscount 
 d'Orthez, of Ste Colombe, now returned from his traitorous 
 mission into France, of Valentine count de Damesau, and by 
 the baron de Moneins — who, although he had before betrayed 
 the design of the conspirators, was again accepted as a confeder- 
 ate. It is, moreover, believed that Ste Colombe was commis- 
 sioned by Catherine de Medici to convey to the conspirators 
 the approval of the French council in their project ; provided 
 that no personal violence was offered to the queen of Navarre, 
 further than for her safe apprehension, and her transfer into 
 France. This plot was, in fact, but the re-organization of 
 that which had before been suppressed by the energy and de- 
 termination of the senechal of Beam. 
 
 The queen at this season, by the advice of de Grammont, 
 issued edicts prohibiting any to carry fire-arms, to hold secret 
 assemblies, or to ring the tocsin. She, moreover, published an 
 ordonnance authorising the profession both of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic and reformed religion in Beam and Foix ; though still 
 insisting on the perfect temporal equality of the churches in 
 the division of ecclesiastical benefices, and the possession of the 
 cathedrals for the purposes of worship. The queen forwarded 
 this edict to the bishop of Lescar, and required his co-operation 
 for its due execution. The bishop refused to countenance the 
 decree ; and peremptorily demanded that the sacred vessels, 
 and the ornaments of the churches, confiscated by the mandate 
 of the queen, should be restored ; and especially the treasures 
 appertaining to the cathedral of Lescar. The queen made a 
 characteristic response to this demand by commanding a public 
 sale of the greater part of the treasures confiscated ; the re- 
 maining portion, chiefly consisting of vessels of silver and gold 
 plate, was conveyed to the mint, and forthwith coined into 
 money. Her next proceeding was to direct by letters -patent 
 
 1 Olhagaray.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBPvET. 2G3 
 
 the seizure of the temporalities of the bishopric of Lescar ; and 
 the appropriation of all churches and chapels deserted by the 
 priesthood within that diocese. The queen committed the ex- 
 ecution of her mandate to two counsellors of la Chambre des 
 Comptes, named Tissuis and Coulomme. l 
 
 After the queen had satisfactorily arranged these important 
 affairs, she permitted herself some relaxation from politics. It 
 •was at this season that she celebrated the marriage of the count 
 de Guiehe, eldest son of her faithful subject and friend de 
 Grammont, with the beautiful Corisandre d'Andouins, the 
 richest heiress of her principality, and a lady who brought her 
 husband a revenue of 25,000 livres Tournois. 2 
 
 The queen, during this period of comparative leisure, estab- 
 lished rules for the education of her son ; whom she caused to 
 be thoroughly examined in his religious belief, and confirmed in 
 the tenets of the reformed church, by the most learned doctors. 
 She appointed as his preceptor, Florent Chrestieu, a man well 
 versed in literature and poetry, and a devoted adherent of Cal- 
 vinism. To madame Catherine, her youthful daughter, the 
 queen gave as a preceptor the sieur de la Roche, son of the 
 learned professor Macrin. She likewise confirmed madame de 
 Thignonville in her office of governess, and principal lady of 
 honour to the princess. Hitherto, the queen had exercised 
 little influence over the education of her sou ; as Henry, while 
 resident at the court of France, shared the studies of the 
 king, and his mother's inclination had been only consulted so 
 far as it coincided with Catherine's designs. When he return- 
 ed to his mother's guardianship, at the age of thirteen, Henry 
 was proficient in the gallant accomplishments of the day. He 
 rode well, danced, wrestled, and was thoroughly initiated in the 
 bearing and deportment of the brilliant cavalier. His taste 
 for poetry was cultivated ; by Catherine's command the young 
 prince had been well versed in the French, Spanish, and Italian 
 languages. The queen of Navarre, however, prepared to cor- 
 rect the defects which she disarmed in the system of her son's 
 past education. By her desire the prince commenced in good 
 earnest a diligent study of the Greek and Latin tongues ; the 
 chivalrous lays and novelettes of France and Spain, in which the 
 young Henry delighted, were exchanged for books of history, 
 politics, and religion. To demonstrate to her son that the 
 reality of war was other than the mimic warfare exhibited by 
 the tourney, Jeanne confided the prince to the care of her 
 senechal of Beam ; and sent him to aid in suppressing a second 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. 
 8 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre.
 
 2G4 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 insurrectionary movement of the town of Oleron. The queen, 
 moreover, strictly interdicted all games of chance, such as dice, 
 cards, and billiards ; she also established regulations for the 
 deportment of her ladies of honour, when in the presence of 
 the prince ; and she discouraged, to the utmost of her power, 
 any social intercourse between her son and the fair damsels in 
 her train. Probably, the strict etiquette of his mother's court 
 would have speedily proved intolerable to the gay and gallant 
 prince, had not the incidents of the impending war roused in 
 Henry that great and martial spirit which Catherine had in 
 vain essayed to quell. 
 
 The queen of Navarre about this time rendered essential 
 service to her husband's son by mademoiselle de Eouet. Jeanne 
 had great magnanimity of spirit ; and from the day that the 
 grave closed over the remains of her husband, once so fondly 
 loved, all cause of offence between them was forgotten ; and 
 every person or thing which Antoine had cared for was regard- 
 ed by Jeanne with reverence. The reversion of the bishopric 
 of Comminges had been promised to king Antoine for his son ; 
 the see becoming vacant, Catherine de Medici, forgetful of her 
 former engagement, nominated to the benefice the bastard son 
 of the baron de Lansac — the latter being one of the most able 
 diplomatists of the day, and queen Catherine's devoted ad- 
 herent. Jeanne, willing always to aid the oppressed, undertook 
 to write to king Charles on the subject ; and to remind his 
 Majesty of the promise made to the king of Navarre. Accord- 
 ingly the queen wrote as follows : 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO CHARLES IX., KING OF FRANCE. 1 
 
 " MONSEIGNEUR, 
 
 " I am bound by so many souvenirs of the honour which was mine 
 during the life of monseigneur the late king, my husband, that if I 
 did not now employ every means in my power to aid and favour those 
 who were dear to him, I should consider myself most culpable. Mon- 
 seigneur, I feel assurance, therefore, that you will not take in bad part 
 (until you shall be pleased to grant me my just request), if I cease not 
 to importune you for the bishopric of Comminges, the which having 
 been bestowed upon the king my husband, as an acknowledgment of 
 his services, he was, in his turn, pleased to give to his bastard son. I 
 pray you, therefore, monseigneur, to consider whether it is a just act 
 to deprive the said bastard of this bishopric, to bestow it upon the son 
 of M. de Lansac ? If it will please you, monseigneur, to compare the 
 
 1 Catalogue La Verdet, No. 528. Vente du 31 Janvier, 1854. The original 
 of this curious document was sold in Paris on the above date. The author is 
 indebted for a copy of the letter, which has never been published, to Monsieur 
 L. Paris.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 265 
 
 dignity of the fathers of these two claimants, I feel certain you will 
 perceive that without doing us great wrong and injustice, you cannot 
 bestow the benefice on the bastard of Lansac. I pray you very hum- 
 bly, monseigneur, to remember that the observance of your promise is 
 a thing worthy of your royal dignity. You have so many other ways 
 of recompensing the said de Lansac, that, if it pleases you, both claim- 
 ants may remain satisfied. 
 
 " I cannot, hoAvever, fail to inform you, monseigneur, that in defiance 
 of the edict of pacification between your Majesty and_ your subjects, 
 the said bastard of Lansac has taken up arms in the diocese of Com- 
 minges, as I have heen advertised by the marquis de Villars. I have 
 requested M. de Villars to explain to you, that this violence may be 
 the cause of sedition ; to foment which, MM. de Toulouse, 1 according 
 to their usual custom, leave nothing undone, having already com- 
 menced their practices by sending the said bastard arms and artillery. 
 I entreat you very humbly, monseigneur, to chastise the audacity of 
 this said de Lansac ; and to acknowledge the patience and loyal en- 
 durance displayed by the bastard de Bourbon. If the latter were as 
 headstrong as his competitor, he might have contrived more ways to 
 punish this insolence than de Lansac has found means to act on his 
 side : but, monseigneur, you will always perceive by our actions, with 
 what sincerity we offer you service. I, therefore, again tender to you, 
 monseigneur," my righteous petition, while praying that God may 
 augment and pour upon you His holy favours, 
 
 " Votre tres humble," et tres obeissante, servante et subjecte, 
 
 " Jeanne." 
 
 The queen of Navarre finally obtained her petition for her 
 husband's illegitimate son. During the earlier years of his 
 reign, Charles was impressed with a proper sense of the in- 
 violability of his royal word. Upon most subjects, however, 
 when Jeanne made one of her fearless appeals to king Charles, 
 and to his royal mother, she seldom failed in obtaining its ob- 
 ject ; but, while Catherine dreaded her scrutiny, the young 
 king loved her not, who rebuked him in language so resolute 
 and uncompromising. 
 
 Jeanne's polemical ardour revived again at this period ; and 
 she addressed a letter to the viscount de Grourdon, on the 
 comparative merits of the reformed and the Eomish churches, 
 and their respective claims to be regarded as Catholic and or- 
 thodox. The queen expresses her opinions with great violence, 
 throughout this strange epistle. The controversy absorbed 
 every faculty of Jeanne's mind. She lived immersed in dis- 
 cussion : the time that she could spare from politics was spent 
 by her in drawing up expositions of her faith, or in debates on 
 the disputed points with the Eomish prelates of her princi- 
 
 1 The members of the parliament of Toulouse.
 
 266 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 pality. Doubtless, her influence over the reformed churches 
 of continental Europe was almost despotic ; she inherited the 
 ready pen of her ancestors of the house of Angouleme ; and her 
 dissertations on the controversial points which agitated the 
 churches, and the irony of her style, produced more permanent 
 impression than the turgid compositions of de Beze and his 
 colleagues. A true descendant of Louise de Savoy, Jeanne's 
 courage bore her triumphant over obstacles often most formid- 
 able ; while that ability cannot be too highly appreciated, situ- 
 ated as the queen of Navarre was — her territory surrounded by 
 hostile courts, and agitated by factions — which yet perseveringly 
 pursued the policy that had caused her to incur the ban of all 
 neighbouring princes. On the duty which she owed to her 
 subjects, the queen expresses herself thus, in her epistle to de 
 Gourdon ; " I remember well, as a child (being born to queenly 
 heritage), the exhortations and artifices which were resorted 
 to, to induce my acceptance of the Roman faith. I was told 
 that it was only necessary to make an outward profession of 
 this said faith, in order to govern my subjects as slaves ; wdien, 
 by the Holy Testament of our Celestial Father, I learned that 
 all earthly power proceeded from Himself, and was delegated 
 to princes, that they might maintain justice, and succour the 
 fatherless, widows, and orphans, and protect them against evil 
 and malignant men. Power is not given to me, to pamper and 
 indulge my worldly pride, avarice, and vanity, at the expense 
 of the blood of my brethren in the flesh, although they be my 
 subjects in this lower w T orld." In another part of her letter, 
 Jeanne says, " I pray you, tell me in what part of the Holy 
 Scripture it is written, that the pope may usurp the attributes 
 and office of our Lord Jesus Christ ? or that he may, at the 
 promptings of avarice, open Heaven, close the gates of Hell, 
 quench the fires of Purgatory, bind the devils, and exalt his 
 own sceptre above the thrones of angels, principalities, and of 
 all the hosts of heaven ; that he may decide upon the cecumeni- 
 cality of councils, and grant indulgences of a thousand years for 
 the commission of any crime wdiatever ? The Church has not 
 maintained her pristine innocence and vigour — her purity, and 
 holiness of doctrine and practice : she has exchanged the spirit- 
 ual for the carnal ; her roses are become thistles ; her healing 
 balms, as venomous banes ; her charity is nought but chilling 
 vanity ; her priests and bishops, who ought to be like Timotheus, 
 chaste, sober, humble, hospitable, watching night and day to 
 cherish the holy fire which glows in the bosom of every true 
 priest of God, have defiled themselves, and have become
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 2G7 
 
 abominable, by their avarice and most unholy sloth." 1 In 
 such like strains queen Jeanne continues, through an admir- 
 ably written letter of several pages — eloquent in its fervour : 
 but stern and defiant in its denunciation of heresy. The viru- 
 lence of the hate with which Jeanne was regarded by the ad- 
 herents of Rome, may be divined, when such statements of her 
 sentiments were not confined to the letters addressed to her 
 personal friends, but were launched by her in the shape of 
 manifestoes, and dispersed by hundreds over France, Germany, 
 and the Low Countries. 
 
 About the end of August, 1567, the queen quitted Pau to 
 visit her county of Foix, accompanied by the prince of Beam, 
 and by a numerous suite. She was sojourning at St Gaudens, 
 when she received an express from Conde, and the admiral de 
 Chatillon, announcing that the Huguenots had again taken up 
 arms ; that fifty towns in France already acknowledged their 
 authority ; and that by the merest accident the king and his 
 brother had escaped capture, while sojourning at Catherine's 
 palace of Monceaux in Brie. This important intelligence in- 
 duced the queen to return without delay to her capital : she, 
 therefore, delegated authority to the seigneur de Rabat to con- 
 voke the states of Foix at Vrilles, over which assembly Jeanne 
 had intended personally to preside, in the hope of finding the 
 members in more tractable humour, when separated from their 
 turbulent colleagues of Lower Navarre. 
 
 " M. de Montluc," wrote the queen to Catherine's lieutenant, 
 " as I was on my road for the county of Foix, there to hold the 
 states, and to visit my subjects under the suzerainety of the 
 king my sovereign lord, I heard, when at St Gaudens, that in 
 various parts of the realm there were assemblies of the dis- 
 affected in arms, for which reason I have resolved to return to 
 Pau. I am now on my way thither, being firmly resolved still 
 to hold and maintain my countries and subjects in that peace 
 and tranquillity, which, by the grace of God, I have hitherto 
 been enabled to do, despite the troubles that have prevailed 
 around me : being, likewise, firmly minded to spare nothing in 
 my power to render his Majesty service." 2 
 
 The impression produced by Catherine's interview at 
 Bayonne with the queen of Spain and the duke of Alba, acted 
 fatally on the peace of the kingdom. The intimate political re- 
 
 1 Lcttre de la royne de Navarre au vicomte de Gourdon. — MS. Bibl. Roy. 
 Valiant.— Portef. ler. f. 295, dated de Pau, 12 Juillet.— Inedited. 
 
 2 Archives Espagnoles de Simancas, K. 1393. No. 200. — Inedited — Lcttre 
 de madame de Vendome a Montluc. — The letter is dated, Tarbes, ce 3 d'Oe- 
 tobre, 1567. — Archives Imperiales de France.
 
 2G8 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 lations into which she had entered with her son-in-law and the 
 Spanish cabinet were regarded with dread and distrust. Let- 
 ters had even been intercepted, and placed in the hands of the 
 queen of Navarre, proving the fact that the French government 
 coincided with the political projects entertained by Philip of 
 Spain. The cardinal de Lorraine again dominated in the 
 cabinet ; and the counsels of the enlightened chancellor de 
 l'Hopital were negatived with angry vehemence by the princes 
 of Guise at the council-board, in the presence of the sovereign. 
 The belief received fresh affirmation every day that some coup 
 d'etat was meditated, to rid the state of the Huguenots : some- 
 times, it was rumoured that this was to be effected by a mas- 
 sacre ; at others, by a proscription, like that which Philip had 
 issued against the unfortunate Moorish population of Spain. 
 The fact, however, which completed the exasperation of the 
 Huguenots, and led them to reject all further trust in the pro- 
 fessions of Catherine, was, that notwithstanding the known 
 amicable understanding existing between the courts of Prance 
 and Spain, the queen had taken the pretext afforded by the 
 passage of the duke of Alba through Pranche Comte at the 
 head of an army to chastise the revolt of the Flemish rebels, to 
 levy a body of six thousand Swiss mercenaries. The funds re- 
 quisite for this levy were, moreover, raised by Catherine with 
 the utmost secrecy from certain rich merchants of Lyons; and 
 the negotiation was concealed from the majority of the council. 1 
 The Huguenots, therefore, assembled at Chatillon, to discuss 
 hostile measures, tending to remove the cardinal de Lorraine 
 from the ministry, and to establish Conde at the head of the 
 government. It was resolved, in the first place, to attempt a 
 surprise of the court at Monceaux : the expedition was, there- 
 fore, organized and led by the admiral in person, on the 28th 
 day of September, 1567. 2 Simultaneously, a general rising of 
 the Huguenot population took place throughout France : on 
 the preceding day outward tranquillity reigned everywhere — 
 within the next twenty-four hours the king had fled from 
 Meaux to Paris ; public order was annihilated ; half of the 
 population of France had recourse to arms ; and the sound of 
 the tocsin echoed through the large and opulent cities of the 
 kingdom, rousing the murderous passions of the multitude to 
 slaughter and pillage. 3 
 
 The admiral de Coligny, failing in his design of seizing the 
 person of the king, followed his sovereign to Paris, and en- 
 
 1 Mathieu, Hist, du regne de Charles IX. liv. o. p. 288. 
 
 2 Memoires du due de Bouillon. Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 4. — De Thou. 
 
 3 Journal de Brulart, p. 170. Mem. du marechal de Travannes, chap, xx
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 2G9 
 
 camped his army on the plains of St Denis, from whence he 
 menaced the capital. The king's escape was entirely owing to 
 the fidelity manifested by his Swiss guard ; and the bravery 
 displayed by the officers of his personal suite. On the arrival 
 of the court in Paris, the constable de Montmorency was 
 nominated to command the army destined to repulse the 
 advance of the Huguenots upon Paris. 
 
 The queen of ]N"avarre, during these events, entered her 
 capital, from whence she observed, with the greatest solicitude, 
 the progress of the war. Jeanne took no active share in this 
 second religious contest, beyond granting to certain of her 
 subjects of Beam permission to enrol themselves in the army 
 of Conde. The disaffected in her principality, however, seized 
 the opportunity to renew their traitorous cabals. The inhabit- 
 ants of Oleron, especially, manifested disaffection. The queen, 
 therefore, sent her son, with a gallant train of nobles, to expos- 
 tulate with the citizens, and to persuade them to return to 
 their allegiance. The frank and vivacious bearing of the young 
 Henry captivated the populace of Oleron : and when he 
 addressed them, and declared that the queen, his mother, desired 
 not to force their consciences, but required only the loyal 
 obedience which subjects owed to their sovereign, their enthu- 
 siasm was unbounded. They assured the prince that they 
 would from henceforth live and die the faithful subjects of 
 queen Jeanne ; and they accused the turbulent Basque nobles 
 of fomenting revolt by the calumnious reports which they 
 propagated, to the detriment of the queen their mistress. 
 
 The baron de Luxe and his colleagues persevered, neverthe- 
 less, in their treasonable designs. At the head of a body of 
 armed brigands, the baron seized the castle of Oarris in Lower 
 Navarre, a fortress situated on the frontiers of Spain. Jeanne 
 despatched her son with de Grammont and d'Arros to retake 
 this important place, and to put the insurgent forces to the 
 rout. This was the first military expedition undertaken by 
 Henri le Grand. On the approach of the prince, de Luxe 
 escaped from Oarris with the greater number of his officers, and 
 took refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains. The fortress 
 surrendered on the first summons ; and Henry triumphantly 
 despatched the remaining members of the garrison as prisoners 
 of war to Pau. Moneins, de Luxe, Ste Colombe, and other of 
 the principal leaders of the insurrection refused to avail them- 
 selves of the amnesty immediately published by the queen, on 
 condition that they laid down arms, and submitted to her 
 mercy. Protected by the king of Spain, they found refuge in
 
 270 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 some of tbe towns on the Spanish frontier, where their turbulent 
 demonstrations at the head of bands of lawless marauders, 
 occasioned serious solicitude to the queen throughout the dura- 
 tion of the civil war in France. 1 The persistance of these rebel 
 subjects of Navarre in their treason was afterwards discovered 
 to have been encouraged by Catherine de Medici, and by the 
 king of Spain : who both dreaded lest Jeanne should actively 
 espouse the party of Conde, and so infuse into the Protestant 
 councils her own vigour and steadiness of design. 
 
 The shafts of scandal, meantime, spared not even the reput- 
 ation of the austere Jeanne. Surrounded by ministers of the 
 reformed churches, and by theologians of every grade and per- 
 suasion, the queen led a secluded life at her castle of Pau ; 
 seldom showing herself in public, except when she attended 
 daily prayers in the cathedral. Amongst her gentlemen-in- 
 waiting was one Goyon, a man zealous in religious matters, and 
 possessed of great mental ability. His devotion to his royal 
 mistress was remarkable ; but so little discretion did he manifest 
 in its avowal, that soon it became rumoured abroad, that the 
 queen had bestowed her hand upon him, in a kind of morgan- 
 atic alliance, sanctioned by her ministers of the Calvinist 
 persuasion. The queen's enemies, moreover, insinuated that 
 Jeanne had borne this Goyon a sou, who, immediately after his 
 birth, was sent, as they asserted, into Holland. The story, at 
 the time, obtained many believers ; aud, some years after 
 the queen's decease, a Protestant minister at the Hague, named 
 Goyon, declared himself to be the grandson of this princess — a 
 claim acquiesced in by many credulous persons. It is almost 
 needless to add, that the story is not confirmed by evidence of 
 any description ; nor by the historians of the day. It is 
 recorded by Bayle, as one of the traditions of the times, and 
 is transcribed by him as such. The individual named Goyon 
 is never mentioned in history in conjunction with Jeanne 
 d'Albret ; nor is his name even enrolled amongst the officers 
 of her household. 
 
 The queen quitted Pau in the month of March, 1568, for 
 St Palais, in Lower Navarre, at which place she had convoked 
 the states. She there again solemnly confirmed her act of 
 amnesty, excepting only the rebel nobles who still contuma- 
 ciously defied her authority ; and two persons captured at; 
 Garris, and condemned by the Chancellerie de Navarre to 
 expiate their treason on the scaffold. While the queen sojourn- 
 ed at St Palais, the news reached her of the peace concluded 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre.
 
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 271 
 
 between Conde and the court, at Chartres. In the battle-field, 
 the arms of Charles IX. had again nominally triumphed. 
 Conde and the admiral de Coligny were repulsed from before 
 Paris ; but the victory of St Denis was purchased after a bloody 
 struggle, in which the veteran constable de Montmorency fell, 
 assassinated by Stuart, a Scotch trooper. The Huguenot 
 forces, nevertheless, held possession of the adjacent country for 
 upwards of five days after their defeat ; and then retired in 
 battle-array upon Montereau, on their march to form a junction 
 with Jean Casimir, son of the Elector Palatine, who was 
 advancing at the head of a body of six; thousand horse to their 
 aid. So valiant had been the deportment of the Huguenots, 
 that the envoy of the Sultan, watching the muster of the army 
 from the walls of Paris at the close of the action, exclaimed, 
 " AYould that my master had only six thousand horsemen like 
 those men of the white great-coats, and he would be lord of 
 Europe ! " 
 
 On the news of the check received by the Huguenot army 
 at St Denis, the most menacing demonstrations ensued in the 
 south of France. The Protestant population of Languedoc, 
 Eoix, and Beam, led by the seven valiant Viscounts of the 
 South, 1 rose to arms. Orleans, Bourges, la Bochelle, Auxerre, 
 Blois, and Charite sur Loire, opened their gates and received 
 Huguenot garrisons. Succours of men and money were 
 promised to Conde, for the prosecution of the war, by the queen 
 of England, the duke of Saxony, and the marquis of Branden- 
 burg. Catherine trembled lest the sceptre should at length be 
 snatched from her grasp. In her dismay, she despatched envoys 
 to the principal Roman Catholic courts of Europe, to ask 
 succours for the defence of her son's crown, menaced by the 
 insurgent violence of Conde, and his Huguenots. She sent 
 La Suse with a message to the king of Spain ; Annibal Bucellai, 
 by the queen's command, proceeded to Italy ; while to Castel- 
 nau was intrusted the most important of these negotiations — 
 that of communicating with the duke of Alba, and requesting 
 that a detachment of the Spanish army might pass the Flemish 
 frontiers, for the support of the royal authority. 2 Castelnau, 
 accordingly, proceeded to Brussels, and was admitted to several 
 conferences with Alba. The duke offered to march at the head 
 of the entire Spanish army under his command, and subdue 
 
 i The names of these valiant noblemen, distinguished in the history of 
 these troublous times as the seven Viscounts of the South, were, de Comminges 
 viscount de Borniquel, Bertrand de Rabesteins viscount de Montclar, the vis- 
 counts de Caumont, de Gourdon. de Montamar, de llapin, and the viscount de 
 Paulin. 
 
 2 Davila, liv. 4. p. 253.
 
 272 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 and punish the insurrection. He expressed his deep sorrow to 
 learn that their most Christian Majesties had been besieged in 
 their capital by "their rebel Calvinist subjects, whom the 
 king must destroy, root and branch, and utterly exterminate." 
 As Castelnau had not power to accept the offer made by the 
 duke, which would virtually have placed France under the 
 sceptre of Philip II., the duke of Alba declined to sanction the 
 advance of a division of Spanish troops over the frontier ; assur- 
 ing Castelnau, however, that whenever their Majesties should 
 need his personal services, he was ready to place himself and 
 his army at their devotion. 1 
 
 If compelled to make a choice between evils of such magni- 
 tude, Catherine preferred la preche, with Conde for her coad- 
 jutor in the government, rather than the iron despotism of 
 Philip of Spain. From this consideration alone resulted the 
 peace of Chartres, or of Longjumeaux, as it is sometimes termed. 
 Conde and his army proceeded from Montei'eauto Chalons-sur- 
 Saone, and from thence into Lorraine, where he was joined by 
 prince John Casimir, 2 and the German levies. Thus reinforced, 
 the prince had laid siege to the city of Chartres. As a coun- 
 terpoise to this important move on the part of Conde, Catherine 
 despatched Castelnau into Germany, to request the advance of 
 duke John of Saxony, 3 with five thousand horse, to check the 
 march of the Huguenots upon Paris. She, moreover, accepted 
 the sum of four hundred thousand livres as a voluntary gift 
 from the citizens of Paris. The clergy, likewise, presented the 
 king with two hundred and fifty thousand crowns for the pro- 
 secution of the war. 
 
 Catherine's financial difficulties, however, being increased 
 by the enlistment of these German mercenaries ; and as the 
 merchants of the capital excused themselves from furnishing 
 her Majesty with a loan, the queen resorted to the extreme 
 measure of commanding the seizure, in the king's name, of the 
 sum of sixty thousand pistoles, appertaining to one of these 
 aforesaid recusant traders, which sum he was about to convert 
 into Flemish bonds, and transfer to the Low Countries. The 
 queen, likewise, despatched Charles de Gontaut, seigneur de 
 Biron, and Henri de Mesme, seigneur de Mai- Assise, to treat 
 for peace with Conde and the Huguenot leaders. Catherine 
 perceived no other alternative, other than this mortifying eon- 
 cession, to preserve her son's realm from destruction. The 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, chap. G. 
 
 2 Second son of the Elector Palatine Frederic III. 
 
 3 Second son of Jean Frederic the Great, elector of Saxony, deposed by- 
 Charles V. The dukes of Saxe-Weimar are the lineal descendants of duke 
 John of Saxony,
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 273 
 
 kingdom was inundated with foreign legions, whose lawless 
 rapacity defied restraint : over all loomed the threatening 
 hosts of the Catholic king, ready to traverse France, and exact 
 submission to the Hapsburg both from the sovereign and his 
 seditious people. The confederacy of the French and German 
 Protestant princes once dissolved, the moral power vested in 
 the successor of St Louis, and the strength to be hereafter de- 
 rived from alliances as yet only projected, would avenge the 
 present humiliations of the throne ; and annihilate that power- 
 ful faction which had dared to dictate to its sovereign. More 
 and more vividly, however, did the ominous words uttered by 
 the duke of Alba, at Bayonne, impress themselves on the heart 
 of Catherine. 
 
 The peace, therefore, was signed on the 2nd of March, 
 1568. The edict in favour of the Protestants, given after the 
 peace of Orleans, March, 15G3, was published anew ; and all 
 subsequent decrees contrary to its letter and to the spirit of 
 its enactments were repealed. The king, moreover, took upon 
 himself the payment and dismissal of the German reiters, and 
 duke John Casimir— the equivalent for these concessions, on 
 the part of the crown, being the restoration of the places cap- 
 tured by Conde and his Huguenots. La Bochelle, and several 
 other towns, refused to accept the conditions of peace; believ- 
 ing them to be offered in order to dissolve the formidable coali- 
 tion of the Protestant powers, against which Catherine found 
 herself wholly unprepared to contend. 
 
 The viscount Caumont de La Force brought the news of 
 the pacification into Foix and Beam. He caused the royal 
 edict to be published ; and required the inhabitants of Lower 
 Navarre and Foix to accept its enactments, and to reconcile 
 themselves to their countrymen of the reformed religion. The 
 insurgent nobles, meantime, still sought the refuge of the 
 Pyrennean fastnesses. De Luxe, who possessed some influ- 
 ence with Catherine de Medici, applied to her, after the ratifi- 
 cation of the peace of Chartres, to make intercession, in their 
 behalf, to queen Jeanne. Catherine, accordingly, despatched 
 La Mothe Feuelon 1 to pray the queen to show clemency to- 
 wards the rebels, and, once more, to offer the amnesty which 
 they had hitherto disdained. Fenelon found the queen at 
 Orthez : Jeanne received the ambassador with dignity, being 
 well aware that de Luxe and his colleagues had so long main- 
 
 1 Bertram! do Salignac, seigneur de la Mothe Fenclon. Fenelon was one 
 of the most sagacious and able diplomatists of the age. He was for long am- 
 bassador at the court of queen Elizabeth, who highly esteemed his moral 
 worth and eminent abilities. i q
 
 274 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 tained their factious defiance only in obedience to the mandates 
 of the French court. She, therefore, replied, " that she never 
 had other intent than to vindicate her sovereign rights, and to 
 teach her subjects the duty they owed to their queen. If, 
 therefore, the rebel barons wished to obtain the pardon they 
 had before contumaciously rejected, they must personally im- 
 plore her clemency." The fidelity with which Jeanne adhered 
 to her word was universally appreciated by all her subjects : 
 the outlawed nobles, therefore, no sooner heard from Fenelon 
 the queen's reply to his application, than they fearlessly quitted 
 their places of refuge, and surrendering themselves to Jeanne's 
 officers, were conducted to Pan. The queen granted them im- 
 mediate audience. They entered her presence-chamber, where 
 she sat under a canopy of state, attended by her ladies, her 
 officers of state, and by king Charles's ambassador. The baron 
 de Luxe, Monneins, the viscount de Damesan, d'Eschaux, and 
 others, then humbly knelt, and besought the gracious pardon 
 of their liege-lady for their late revolt. Jeanne received their 
 prayer with stern severity ; for she could not forget the calam- 
 ities occasioned by their treasonable league. " Messieurs," 
 said she, addressing the suppliant cavaliers, " bad subjects like 
 yourselves, traitors to their sovereign and to their country, can 
 no longer be addressed by the titles of noblesse : such persons 
 as yourselves are unworthy of honour ; for you are traitors 
 whose crimes scarcely admit of expiation in the sight of God, 
 or in that of man. Nevertheless, He, who orders all things 
 according to His holy pleasure to enhance His glory, having 
 rescued me from past dangers, He teaches me to exercise 
 clemency, even in respect to such as yourselves, who have now 
 assured me of your repentance for the past ; and of your desire 
 (penetrated by a just horror of your crimes) to live, from 
 henceforth, so blameless a life, that the very memory of your 
 late detestable conspiracy may be effaced from the mind of 
 man. Go, messieurs ; I forgive the past, in consideration of 
 the contrition you have so humbly expressed ; and in the firm 
 trust that the great clemency which I this day show towards 
 you, may in time produce a result worthy of faithful and loyal 
 subjects. May God grant this my prayer! " ' 
 
 The barons then kissed the hand extended towards them 
 by the queen, and quitted the presence. De Luxe retired 
 to his castle in the county of Foix, where any unpleasant 
 reminiscences of the rebuke administered by his offended 
 sovereign was effaced in joy at his decoration with the grand 
 collar of St Michael, which Charles IX. sent in acknovv- 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Bearn, et Navarre, p. 573. — De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 275 
 
 ledgment of the baron's services in finding employment for the 
 queen of Navarre within her own dominions during the recent 
 war ; though his Majesty had made public admission of the 
 heinous nature of the revolt. 1 
 
 After having thus so justly excited the indignation of the 
 queen, Catherine again despatched La Mothe Fenelon to the 
 court of Beam, to persuade Jeanne to visit France, or to send 
 her son thither. At the desire of his royal mistress, Fenelon 
 had recourse to every device of diplomacy to obtain her object. 
 He represented to Jeanne the unsettled condition of affairs, 
 and urged her to proceed to the court, on the ground that the 
 Protestant party would acquire confidence by Avitnessing her 
 fearless trust in the promises of Catherine ; while he asserted 
 his belief that Jeanne, alone, could negotiate a peace accept- 
 able to both parties. With sagacious foresight, Jeanne avoid- 
 ed the snare ; she had little confidence in the stability of the 
 compact recently concluded, and, therefore, she positively de- 
 clined to leave her own territories. The queen, however, drew 
 up a project of pacification, which she despatched to the king 
 by a gentleman of her chamber, named de la Vaupilliere. In 
 this remarkable document Jeanne denounces the marshal de 
 Montluc as the instigator of the horrors perpetrated in the 
 southern provinces of the realm ; and she entreats the king to 
 recall him from his command : she informs the king of Mont- 
 luc's design of garrisoning Beam and Foix with French soldiers ; 
 and she cautiously intimates that so flagrant an assault upon 
 her sovereign rights she was fully prepared to resist. She be- 
 seeches his Majesty to tranquillize the Protestant churches of 
 the realm by the issue of a second edict, embodying of his own 
 free will the concessions extorted by Conde at the Aveapon's 
 point before Chartres. Finally, she assured the king of her 
 devotion to his interest ; of her attachment to his person ; and 
 of her reverence for the anointed representative of St Louis. 
 
 When queen Jeanne had despatched her missive to the king, 
 she assembled the states-general of Foix, Bigorre, and Beam 
 to meet at Pan. When the queen appeared in the hall of as- 
 sembly, she Avas greeted with acclamation, and scarcely a tear- 
 less eye Avas to be seen Avhen Jeanne concluded her address. 
 The capacity of their queen inspired a feeling of admiration in 
 the bosom even of her most inveterate foe. "This great prin- 
 cess," says d'Aubigne, " was a woman only in her sex ; her 
 soul soared in flights of lofty contemplation. Her mind Avas 
 mighty in comprehension of great matters ; her valiant heart 
 rose invincible before the darkest assaults of adversity." 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 573. — De Thou.
 
 276 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 The loyal fervour manifested by the deputies gave much 
 satisfaction to the queen. Her first measure was a daring trial 
 — one which might again have compromised the friendly feeling 
 manifested towards her by the representatives of the people. 
 Before a single matter was discussed relating to the present 
 emergencies of the principality, political and local, the queen 
 caused her edict of July, 1566, which formerly had been so an- 
 grily rejected, to be presented for the assent of the assembly. 
 In a few simple words, Jeanne recommended the measure as 
 one of paramount necessity ; and, as she had done before, she 
 intimated her inflexible resolve to obtain for it the ratification 
 of the assembly before she permitted the members to legislate 
 on other matters. The edict, however, instead of provoking 
 the stormy discussion it had previously given rise to, was re- 
 ceived and registered without further debate. The bishops of 
 Lescar and Oleron, who before had factiously opposed most of 
 the queen's ecclesiastical measures, now gladly sanctioned her 
 designs, under shelter of the edict of Chartres. The bishop of 
 Lescar even accepted a commission from the queen to translate 
 the Gospels and Epistles into the Bearnuois dialect. The queen 
 obtained, moreover, the recognition of her ecclesiastical commis- 
 sion ; and the sanction of the states to various alterations which 
 she desired to make in the mode of celebrating public worship. 1 
 
 Meantime, the projects of queen Catherine had been ripen- 
 ing. Her alliance with the Catholic powers of Europe, and 
 especially with the king of Spain, was now placed on a satisfac- 
 tory footing. The chancellor de l'Hopital was disgraced. The 
 exile of this faithful servant of the state was occasioned by his 
 general opposition to the violent designs of the cardinal de 
 Lorraine ; the immediate cause of the chancellor's disgrace 
 being, that he had applauded and implored his royal master 
 to accept the project of pacification sent by Jeanne d'Albret. 
 The seals were given to the President de Birague, with the 
 title of Lord Keeper. Birague was a devoted adherent of the 
 Guises ; he, likewise, possessed Catherine's confidence, and had 
 secretly negotiated for her the loan which enabled the queen to 
 enrol the 6000 Swiss ; the ostensible cause of the late infrac- 
 tion of peace by the Huguenots. 
 
 The enterprise of Meaux, where Coligny had nearly cap- 
 tured the king, made an indelible impression on Catherine's 
 mind, and she resolved, in concert with the cardinal de Lor- 
 raine, to retaliate, and entrap the Huguenot leaders by the 
 same subtle device. Conde was sojourning at Noyers with 
 his consort ; the admiral de Coligny at d'Andelot's fortified 
 1 Mem. de Gaspard de Tavannes.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 :/ / 
 
 castle of Tanlay ; the la'ter was residing on the estates of his 
 wife, in Bretagne ; and the cardinal de Chatillon was sojourn- 
 ing, in luxurious ease, at Bresle, his country house ; the queen 
 of Navarre and the prince of Beam were making a royal pro- 
 gress through the disaffected districts of the principality, ac- 
 companied by their personal attendants only. Queen Catherine 
 took as her coadjutor in the design, only the cardinal de Lor- 
 raine ; the plot, therefore, which might have been successfully 
 executed, had it been placed under the conduct of one versed 
 in military tactics, proved a failure in the hands of a woman 
 and of a churchman. The queen suddenly sent orders to the 
 marshal de Tavannes, governor of Burgundy, to surprise ISToy- 
 ers, and to arrest Conde and his family ; similar directions 
 were transmitted to the governors of the provinces where the 
 princes of Chatillon resided. Tavannes, however, refused to 
 undertake the mission, unless the measure was first authorized 
 by an open declaration of war against the Huguenots ; or by a 
 positive order under the sign manual of the king. De Tavannes, 
 though the most inveterate enemy of" Conde, was so moved by 
 the disloyal project of the court, that he contrived to warn the 
 prince of his danger. The marshal relates, in his Memoirs, the 
 ingenious method which he took to apprise Conde of his peril, 
 without compromising his loyal fidelity to his sovereign. The 
 sobriquet given to Conde by the Bomish party was " le cerf." 
 Tavannes, therefore, wrote letters addressed to his friends, con- 
 taining only the words, " Le cerf est anx toiles : la chctsse est 
 preparee." These letters he gave to couriers, desiring them to 
 pass on their route before Xoyers. As the marshal had antici- 
 pated, one of his messengers being arrested by command of the 
 prince, the mystic scroll was unfolded by Conde himself. The 
 prince instantly took alarm ; and prepared to quit Xoyers. 
 During the subsequent few hours, Coligny arrived, with a train 
 of forty gentlemen only ; having ridden with breathless speed 
 from Tanlay, to admonish Conde of the meditated perfidy ; the 
 admiral having received an intimation to hold himself on his 
 guard against the designs of the queen from some unknown 
 friend at court. D'Andelot fled, in like manner, from Bretagne ; 
 while the cardinal de Chatillon escaped in disguise from Bresle 
 to the coast of IVormandy, from whence he took boat, crossed 
 the Channel, and sought refuge in England. 1 
 
 On the 25th of August, 1568, just five months after the 
 signature of the peace of Chartres, Conde, with his consort, 
 Mho was daily expecting her accouchement, his eldest sou, and 
 
 1 De Thou, liv. 4-1. Mem. de C'astelnau, chap. i. liv. 7. Mem. de Tavannes, 
 clinp. xxi.
 
 278 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 
 
 four young children, fled precipitately from Noyers, escorted 
 by Coligny. The priuce crossed the Loire opposite Sancerre. 
 Prom this place Conde" despatched a messenger to the queen of 
 Navarre, to inform her of the sinister proceedings of the court, 
 and of his own contemplated l'etreat to La Rochelle. Conde's 
 envoy found the queen at Vic, in Bigorre ; he remained in 
 close conference with her for upwards of four hours. Circum- 
 stances, moreover, had recently unfolded to the vigilant eye of 
 the queen a plot to seize the prince of Beam, and restore him 
 to the guardianship of Catherine. De Losse, captain of the 
 royal body-guard, had been selected for the mission : he was 
 the bearer of a warrant from Catherine to the marshal de 
 Montluc, authorizing him to support the design ; and to pre- 
 vent, at any risk, the departure of Jeanne from her own terri- 
 tories, excepting as a prisoner under escort for Paris. 
 
 The faithless policy of the court, its seeming moderation, 
 yet vindictive intent, roused vehement anger in the bosom of 
 the queen of Navarre. Her penetration enabled her to per- 
 ceive that the fortunes of her children were involved in the 
 fate of Conde and his adherents; and she judged that the time 
 was arrived when it became her duty to take an active part in 
 the contest. The banishment of the house of Guise from the 
 kingdom appeared to Jeanne a measure absolutely requisite 
 for the safety of the princes of the blood. The pacification of 
 the kingdom was perpetually interrupted by the intrigues of 
 these princes with foreign potentates ; for the fatal compact of 
 Peronne proved alike the bane of public and private interests. 
 Against the promoters of that league, Jeanne determined, at 
 length, openly to array herself. In the manifestoes which she 
 issued about this period, the queen expressed the most devoted 
 allegiance and respect towards the young king, whom she re- 
 presented as being under the tutelage of the cardinal de Lor- 
 raine, calumniated and deceived by that prelate's mendacious 
 statements. 
 
 Queen Jeanne, therefore, despatched a messenger to the 
 fugitive princes, assuring them of sympathy, and promising to 
 give them the rendezvous at no distant period in La Rochelle. 
 Jeanne then hastily returned to Pau, and during some days 
 she occupied herself in publishing edicts for the better go- 
 vernment of the principality. The prince accompanied his 
 mother everywhere ; so fearful was Jeanne of being deprived 
 of her son. Having accomplished the purpose of her return 
 to her capital, Jeanne took a reluctant and tearful farewell of 
 the castle of her ancestors, and attended by a small but chosen 
 suite she proceeded to Nerac. At this season the queen's re-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 279 
 
 serve was impenetrable ; and she seems to have revealed her 
 projects, and the thoughts which inspired her, to no person. 
 
 Jeanne arrived at Nerac on the first Sunday in August, 
 1568. The marshal de Montluc was at Cassaigne, from whence 
 he anxiously observed the queen's movements. Her most 
 trifling acts appear to have been reported to Catherine's un- 
 scrupulous agent. Numbers of Protestant gentlemen daily 
 arrived at Nerac to offer their services to the queen. She 
 thanked them with many gracious words ; but Jeanne neither 
 accepted nor rejected their proffered service. Montluc also 
 sent his nephew M. de Leberon to compliment Jeanne on her 
 arrival at Guyenne, with the message, that he very humbly 
 besought her Majesty to render her happy arrival beneficial 
 for the maintenance of peace ; for be assured her that the first 
 signal for war should not be given by the Roman Catholics. 
 The queen replied, " that the purport of her journey to Nerac 
 was to preserve the peace of the realm, and to put down the 
 evil designs of all, whether of the reformed or of the Romish 
 communion, who desired war. That it gave her infinite grati- 
 fication to learn that M. le Marechal was of the same will as 
 herself respecting this matter ; and she requested that he 
 would inform her of all matters concerning the said question." 1 
 The queen added, moreover, " that she would take upon herself 
 to command in all that related to those of the reformed 
 churches," It is asserted by another author, that Montluc 
 wrote at this period in a menacing tone to the queen, threaten- 
 ing her with personal detention, and Beam with invasion, if 
 she presumed to stir from Nerac ; or to sanction the most in- 
 significant rising on the part of the Protestant population. 
 The queen replied, "that she was the king's obedient subject, 
 and ready to obey his Majesty in all matters that did not 
 violate her duty to her own subjects." 
 
 While the queen sojourned at Nerac, Fenelon made another 
 effort to draw her to the court of France. As Fenelon was 
 the queen's personal friend, and a noble of most honourable 
 and virtuous repute, it is to be surmised that he was not aware 
 of the sinister projects entertained by Catherine and the Guises 
 against Jeanne d'Albret. He sincerely believed that her pre- 
 sence at St Germain would smooth the difficulties in the way 
 of a final settlement of the controversy. The repute of the 
 queen, her anxiety for peace, and, above all, the moral influ- 
 ence which Jeanne exercised, led him to entertain sanguine 
 hopes relative to the success of her personal mediation. "Mon- 
 seigneur," replied the queen, "what trust can I repose in the 
 
 1 Commeutaires de Blaise de Montluc, liv. 6ome.
 
 2S0 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 promises of a court which, at the very time that it professes to 
 treat with me, is plotting my arrest, and now would tear my 
 children from me ! No ; I am well informed that the pro- 
 scriptions of Flanders and merciless executions for heresy are 
 on the point of being adopted here, according to the resolution 
 taken at Bayonne with the duke of Alba, Our royal blood is 
 even more interested in this measure than our Protestant 
 faith ; for the victim of these perfidious designs must be my 
 son, the first prince of the blood. The court of France, mon- 
 seigneur, is agreed with that of Spain to complete my destruc- 
 tion, and that of my son also. Montluc already devours in 
 anticipation my country of Beam ; the Spanish king is ready 
 to seize upon Lower Navarre. Losse, captain of his Majesty's 
 body-guard, has been deputed to arrest me, and to tear my 
 loved children from my arms. Montluc and d'Escars are di- 
 rected to afford every facility in their power to the enterprise. 
 In this extremity what resource is thei e left to my son, or to 
 myself, except to make common cause with a noble and mag- 
 nanimous pi-ince, whose ruin is no less desired than our own ! 
 No, monseigneur, never will we more submit our lives and our 
 fortunes to the inconstant favour of the court." 
 
 Fenelon then represented to the queen that she was ex- 
 posing her dominions to the danger of invasion, both by the 
 French and the Spaniards ; that her son would be deprived of 
 the crown of his ancestors, while she herself must be reduced 
 to the condition of the most miserable princess in Europe. 
 " Monseigneur, I deem it a sacred duty to share the perils 
 of my fellow-worshippers, to afford them aid and every sup- 
 port in my power in a contest which has for its holy objects 
 the cause of religion, of patriotism, of their king, and of liberty !" 
 rejoined the queen. " This flame of civil war, when once kin- 
 dled, will destroy your kingdom, madame, and the realm of 
 France likewise," said Fenelon. The young prince of Beam 
 was present during the conference : after this last remark from 
 Fenelon, he quickly replied, " Bali, hah ! monseigneur, c'est un 
 feu a eteinclre avec tin seau d'eau." The ambassador appearing 
 puzzled at the simile, Henri laughingly rejoined, for from his 
 boyhood he could never resist the utterance of a hon-mot, " II 
 faut faire avaler ce seau d'eau au cardinal de Lorraine jusqu'a 
 crever, voila tout, monseigneur." 1 
 
 Finding that he could prevail nothing with the queen, 
 Fenelon reluctantly took leave, and returned to Paris. Jeanne, 
 meantime, had been making secret preparation for her depar- 
 
 1 Yauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. De Thou. Commentaires de 
 Montluc. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14, p. 853.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 2S1 
 
 ture from Nerac ; for she well knew that any attempt to quit 
 the castle openly would be opposed by Montluc. She sent to 
 desire the baron de Fontrailles, and Armand de Clermont, 
 seigneur de Piles, both devoted adherents of her house, to ga- 
 ther troops, and hold themselves in readiness to protect her re- 
 treat. She likewise despatched missives to Montamar, one of 
 her noted viscounts of the south, and to the viscount de St 
 Maigrin, to levy soldiers, and to be prepared to join her stand- 
 ard at the shortest notice. The queen likewise wrote thus to 
 her faithful friend, the viscount de Gourdon, to request his 
 presence at Nerac at this period of anxiety. 
 
 JEANNE, QUEEN OF NAVARRE, TO THE VISCOUNT 
 DE GOURDON. 
 
 " Monsieur le Viscomte, 
 
 '• You are, I presume, informed, ere this, that by the grace of God, 
 and without sloth or deceit, 1 have openly engaged to follow the pro- 
 fession of the reformed faith, and to peril my crown, my dominions, 
 and my son, to insure its public exercise, and the safety of all its pro- 
 fessors. If damage happens to your castles, and to your worldly 
 goods, through the cruel and iniquitous edicts lately issued, fear not, for 
 the God of Hosts will maintain His own righteous cause, and will 
 abundantly recompense those who have fought and laboured in His 
 service. The prince de Conde, my brother-in-law, has claimed and 
 obtained the aid of the princes of Germany ; and the queen of Eng- 
 land, who shares and sustains our belief, will in a short time aid me 
 with troops and money ; and not myself alone, but also all those 
 faithful ones who refuse to bow the knee before Baal. You, and the 
 other viscounts also, who like myself are firmly built up in the faith, 
 must set an example of fortitude and resignation. The Eternal God 
 rejects the weak and faint-hearted. The blessed hour is at hand 
 when those who are of Israel must risk the loss of their worldly 
 goods, to build temples wherein God may be adored in spirit and in 
 truth, in bodily worship, and with the homage of the heart ; but 
 where abominable idols are now enthroned before the mighty and the 
 jealous God. For this purpose, at the end of the present month, I 
 shall join the Prince at La Rochelle, with my son the prince de 
 Beam, who bears you esteem and love. Since he has been with me, 
 the latter prince has made progress in the faith, and shows himself to 
 be a lover of truth and of arms. You will find him tall for his age. 
 I pray you hold frequent converse with him on the subjects of reli- 
 gion, controversy, and war, in which matters you are expert, and the 
 prince eager. I pray God, monsieur le Viscomte, to have you 
 in his holy keeping. Written at Nerac this 1 st day of September, 1568, 
 
 " Votre tres bonne, et assuree amie, ' 
 
 " Jeanne." 
 
 On Sunday, September 6th, 156S, all was prepared for the 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. Valiant, Poitef. ler.— Iuedited.
 
 282 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLERET. 
 
 queen's flight. To deceive the marshal de Montluc the more 
 thoroughly as to her projected enterprise, Jeanne treated him 
 with distinguished attention ; and appeared to be entirely oc- 
 cupied with those affairs to which he directed her notice. 
 Madame de Monti uc and her children, being at Agen with the 
 marshal, were frequently invited by the queen to Xerac, On 
 the day fixed for her departure, the queen asked them to visit 
 her, that the prince might run a course at the ring with de 
 Montluc's eldest son. 1 All things being prepared, Jeanne and 
 her son received the Holy Communion in the chapel of Nerac 
 at early dawn. She then placed herself in a litter, with the 
 little madame Catherine, and madame de Thignonville, precep- 
 tress to the princess, and surrounded by fifty valiant gentlemen, 
 Jeanne and her little train, before sunrise, were safe beyond 
 the walls of JNerae. 
 
 The young prince of Beam commanded the queen's escort. 
 Rapidly the fugitives took the road for Castel-Jaloux. The 
 rencontre of a single band of the lawless marauders enrolled in 
 Montluc's army would have been disastrous to the queen and 
 to her cause. With dauntless courage, however, the troops 
 advanced, encouraged by Jeanne's hopeful spirit and gracious 
 words. At length, they descried the approach of a body of 
 cavalry bearing down full upon their route. Jeanne com- 
 manded a halt. The moment was one of anxious suspense. 
 The standard of the chief in command at length became visi- 
 ble ; and with a shout of exultation, the queen's gallant gen- 
 tlemen-at-arms pushed forwards, and soon Jeanne found herself 
 surrounded by the company of her senechal of Armagnac, de 
 Fontrailles.' 2 Thus reinforced, there was no longer danger of 
 immediate capture ; for every town and village through which 
 they passed gave Jeanne defenders, and augmented the ranks 
 of her escort. 
 
 At Castle-Jaloux, the viscount de Montamar joined the 
 queen with a regiment of infantry, consisting of ten companies. 
 The queen refused to rest, or to suspend her journey, until she 
 had passed the river Dordogne. At Bergerac she was received 
 by de Piles and by the viscount de St Maigrin with a power- 
 ful reinforcement. Jeanne's escort now amounted to four 
 hundred horse, and three thousand infantry. At the head of this 
 gallant body of troops, the queen made her entry into Bergerac, 
 amidst the plaudits of the inhabitants, with the intent of so- 
 journing there until she had communicated with Conde. 3 
 
 1 Commentaires de Blaise de Montluc, liv. 6eme. 
 
 2 La Popeliniere, Hist, de France, liv. 14, f. 62. Olhagaray, Hist, da 
 Foix, etc. 
 
 3 Mem. de Castelnau, chap. i. liv. 7.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 2S3 
 
 The first intimation which the marshal de Montluc received 
 of the flight of the queen was from one of her chamberlains, 
 who by his mistress's command presented himself at Agen dur- 
 ing the morning of Sunday, September Gth, to express the 
 queen's regret that it was impossible for her to receive madaine 
 de Montluc — a satisfaction she had promised herself on that 
 day, as pressing affairs required her presence at Castel-Jaloux r 
 for which place she had quitted Nerac. 1 The marshal perceiv- 
 ed that Jeanne had proved herself more dexterous than him- 
 self, and had escaped from his toils. Transported with fury, 
 he transmitted orders to the captains and commandants of the 
 various districts to intercept the queen of Navarre, and to cut 
 off her passage into France, or her retreat into Beam ; then 
 taking to horse himself, he pursued her with such impetuosity, 
 that at the head of a troop of cavalry, Montluc entered Castel- 
 Jaloux only four hours after the queen had quitted the town. 2 
 D'Escars, governor of Limousin, had also received orders to 
 occupy the country, and to prevent the queen of Navarre from 
 passing the Garonne ; and if Jeanne had quitted Nerac only a 
 few hours later, or had d'Escars punctually fulfilled his in- 
 structions, the arrest of the queen must have been inevitable. 
 "Well might Jeanne d'Albret exclaim, when she heard of the 
 perils which she had escaped, " a cceur vaillant rien (Pim- 
 •possible ! " 
 
 During the sojourn of the queen at Bergerac, she addressed 
 the following letter to Charles IX., in which she gives the king 
 a clear statement of her actions and future designs : 
 
 JEANNE, QUEEN OF NAVARRE, TO CHARLES IX. 
 
 " MONSEIGNEUR, 
 
 " When I received the letter which it pleased you to write and send 
 by M. de la Mothe, I was far advanced in my present enterprise, being 
 overwhelmed with sorrowful dismay at the late disastrous revolution 
 in affairs. Nevertheless, it is one by which we have been menaced 
 long ; for we have noted the animosity of our enemies. Their malice, 
 monseigneur, has now extinguished the hope of tranquillity on which 
 we relied, after the publication of your last edict of pacification. 
 Monseigneur, this edict has not only been badly observed, but its 
 clauses have been reversed, and its import falsified by the cardinal de 
 Lorraine, who in defiance of the promises which you have been 
 pleased to make to your subjects of the reformed faith, by letters to 
 your parliaments, and to others (as I myself witness), has rendered all 
 
 1 Commentaires de Blaise de Montluc, liv. 6eme. 
 
 2 Commentaires du marechal de Montluc, liv. 6eme.
 
 234 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 the enactments of your said edict null, and of no effect. The said 
 cardinal has kept all things in suspense, and has been the cause of so 
 many unresented massacres, that, emboldened by the patience which 
 we have hitherto manifested at his unprincipled dealings, he has now 
 passed the limits of our endurance, by making enterprise even against 
 the princes of your blood ; in witness of which, mark the pursuit 
 which he has instituted against the prince my brother. Monseigneur, 
 this said prince has been compelled to seek succour and refuge 
 amongst his kindred ; so that I and my son, being so nearly allied to 
 him, find ourselves constrained to afford him that aid which the ties 
 of blood and of friendship exact. We are well convinced of your 
 gracious will : you have so often assured us both by word of mouth 
 and in writing that you desire from us only the service, fidelity, and 
 obedience which we owe towards your Majesty, and in which we will 
 not foil for any advantage that the world can offer. Monseigneur, 
 we know that your goodness and benignant feelings would compel 
 you to preserve our lives and fortunes, rather than to compass our 
 ruin. Therefore, when we see such enterprises concerted against us, 
 knowing that you are a monarch most faithful and veracious, and 
 have promised us the contrary, we can arrive at no other conclusion, 
 but that we are persecuted despite your royal will and intent, by the 
 malicious enmity of the cardinal de Lorraine, whose hatred we have 
 so often experienced : I repeat, that we have ample reasons forjudging 
 thus. I pray you, therefore, monseigneur, to take in good part, and 
 let it not excite your royal displeasure that I have departed with my 
 son from my dominions, in the firm intent of serving my God, your- 
 self, my king and sovereign, and in succouring my kindred ; and, in 
 concert with the latter, of opposing myself, as long as life and fortune 
 lasts, to the shameless enterprises and malice of our enemies. I 
 entreat you, moreover, monseigneur, to believe that we have taken up 
 arms for three things alone ; first, to hinder our enemies from exter- 
 minating us, our children, and our friends, as they maliciously design ; 
 secondly, to fight for your honour and service ; thirdly, to defend and 
 protect the princes of our blood from the murderous violence of some 
 about your person. Monseigneur, in regard to myself personally, the 
 said cardinal did great wrong, when he wished to commit so gross an 
 outrage, and hide it under the cloak of your royal power and authority, 
 as to steal away my son from my protection, to conduct him to you, as 
 if your simple command would not have proved effectual both with 
 myself and the prince. Monseigneur, I very humbly entreat you to 
 believe that we are your devoted servants ; and that our fidelity and 
 loyal obedience more than equals the duplicity and want of faith 
 manifested by the said cardinal and his accomplices. I assure your 
 Majesty, that when it will please you to make the trial, you will find more 
 truth in my deeds than in his words, as the gentleman, whom I send 
 to your Majesties, will further explain. Monsieur de la Mothe, also, 
 departs satisfied with the blameless nature of my intentions, the which 
 will never falter. "We shall continue to devote our lives and our 
 worldly substance for your glory, and the prosperity of your reign ; 
 which, monseigneur, I pray God to render eminent by his benedictions,
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 285 
 
 and to grant you a long and happy life. From Bergerac, this lGth day 
 of September, 1568. 
 
 " Your very humble, and very obedient subject, and aunt, 
 
 "Jeanne. 1 " 
 
 Jeanne wrote, also, during her abode at Bergerac to queen 
 Catherine, to the duke d'Anjou, the brother of the king — who 
 had just been appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and 
 as such was invested with the command of the army preparing 
 to encounter the prince de Conde — and to the cardinal de 
 Bourbon. When addressing that weak and cowardly prince, 
 Jeanne attempts not to conceal her sentiments of indignation 
 and contempt. She reproaches him with his degrading subser- 
 viency to the house of Lorraine ; and she reminds him of the 
 terror and affright which he experienced, when, during a dan- 
 gerous illness of queen Catherine, it was supposed that the 
 carninal de Lorraine had conspired to assassinate all the princes 
 of Bourbon, the marshal de Montmorency, and the chancellor 
 de l'Hopital, in order to maintain his contested pre-eminence in 
 the council, in case of Catherine's decease. 
 
 " Until when will you remain the slave of the cardinal de 
 Lorraine ? " asks the heroic Jeanne in her letter to her brother- 
 in-law. "Have you already forgotten his design upon your 
 life ? Do you remember no longer the disquietude he occa- 
 sioned you, and which for long prevented your eyes from 
 slumber ? The false oath which this cardinal has sworn before 
 you, seems to have dissipated your fears; you have chosen 
 rather to believe the treacherous protestations of that knavish 
 prelate, than to save your race from destruction, or to ward from 
 your House the peril that menaces it ! My brother, show to 
 the world, and to France, that you resent the injuries inflicted 
 on your kindred ; prove that you share the indignation which 
 animates my noble son, which glows in my own bosom, I who 
 have adopted the interests of your House as my own. Let us 
 both serve the king ; you, according to your own holy and 
 peaceful calling,— I, according to the duties of my sex, and 
 my royal dignity. We may not sheath the sword ; neverthe- 
 less, let us both labour to accomplish the same mighty work — 
 that of negotiating a peace ; not merely a temporary suspension 
 of arms, but solid and irrevocable peace." 2 To the queen, 
 Jeanne wrote not less forcibly. She implored her to stay the 
 effusion of blood, and to grant permanent peace to the suffering 
 and persecuted Protestants. She briefly alludes to the cruel 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Xavarre, p. 576. 
 2 De Thou, Hist, de sou Temps, liv. 44.
 
 286 LIFE OF JEAKNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 treatment she had herself experienced from the court, during 
 the life of her husband. She protests before God her willing- 
 ness to pardon all injuries inflicted upon herself personally ; 
 and to combine with Catherine for the restoration of concord. 
 
 Jeanne confided these letters to a gentleman of her cham- 
 ber, to convey to Paris ; giving him express directions to 
 deliver them to Fenelon, that the latter might present the 
 missives to the royal personages whom she had so eloquently 
 admonished, in the hope that that prudent and subtle diplo- 
 matist would support their prayer. The most violent irritation 
 against the Huguenots, unfortunately, agitated the mind of 
 Catherine at this period; careless of everything but of re- 
 taliating their defiance, the queen rejected the more moderate 
 counsels of the men who would have preserved the kingdom 
 from the calamities of war, forgetting that her own unprovoked 
 aggression had again driven Conde to revolt. The cardinal de 
 Lorraine, execrated by the French Protestants, and foreseeing 
 that the recognition of their faith must inevitably be followed 
 by his exile and disgrace, inflamed the resentment of the young 
 king, and the more bigoted members of the council, by his 
 specious harangues. The prayer of the queen of Navarre was, 
 therefore, rejected ; and the remonstrances presented to Cathe- 
 rine, and signed by Conde and Ccligny, were cast aside with 
 words of insolent derision. Tavannes, and the duke de Mont- 
 pensier, were ordered to pursue Conde to the banks of the 
 Garonne ; to incite the Romish population to massacre the 
 Protestants ; and to lead as prisoners to Paris the queen of 
 Navarre, her son, Conde, and all the leaders of the Huguenots. 
 On the 28th dav of September, about two days- after the receipt 
 of the missive sent by queen Jeanne, the king issued an edict, 
 which was ratified on the day of its publication by the parlia- 
 ment, interdicting the exercise of the reformed religion through- 
 out France. The edict forbad the private, as well as the public, 
 profession of any doctrine contrary to the religion dominant 
 throughout the realm ; it decreed capital pains and penalties 
 to any sectarian minister found resident in the kingdom fifteen 
 days after the promulgation of the edict. All Huguenot officers 
 in the service of the state were dismissed from their posts ; and 
 it was provided that, for the future, individuals nominated to 
 any public employ, should previously swear to live and die 
 in the profession of the Romish faith ; or, in case of defec- 
 tion therefrom, to consent to be summarily deprived, without 
 form or process, of office and dignity. 1 This edict raised the 
 
 i Journal do Brulart.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 2S7 
 
 fury of the Huguenot population to such a degree, that even 
 queen Jeanne avowed herself powerless to check its lawless 
 manifestations. Catherine had rendered herself doubly odious 
 by despatching, a few weeks previously, letters-patent, counter- 
 signed by the cardinal de Lorraine, offering the protection of 
 the king to his Majesty's Protestant and Romish subjects, 
 without favour or partiality, provided that the inhabitants of 
 Guvenne, Languedoc, Beam, and Foix, refrained from taking 
 up arms. 1 This offer was received with distrust, and rejected 
 by all ; it deceived no one, so universally were the cardinal's 
 perfidious designs appreciated. As either the axe of the exe- 
 cutioner, or the sword of the warrior, seemed destined to gleam 
 over every head, the battle-field, as the lesser evil, was the 
 alternative accepted. 
 
 To inaugurate this edict of woe and carnage, king Charles 
 commanded a solemn procession from the Sainte Chapelle to 
 the church of Notre Dame. The cardinal de Lorraine, arrayed 
 in pontificalibus, carried the Host, his feet and head uncovered. 
 The shrines of Ste Genevieve, and of St Marceau, were, more- 
 over, borne in procession. The king followed the Host, on 
 horseback, as the condition of his health prevented him from 
 walking. He was preceded by his two brothers, bearing his 
 crown and sceptre. Queen Catherine, attended by a numerous 
 train of ladies, the cardinals, and princes of the blood, followed 
 walking, each personage bearing a torch of wax. The court of 
 parliament, the members wearing their scarlet robes, closed the 
 procession. 2 
 
 During the residence of the queen of Navarre at Bergerac, 
 she received intelligence of the capture of the town of Mazeres, 
 in the county of Foix, by the viscount de Caumont. Attended 
 by Fontrailles, Piles, Montamar, St Maigrin, and a suite of 
 brave officers, Jeanne quitted Bergerac, after a sojourn there of 
 four days, and repaired to Mucidan in Perigord. She was 
 there received by Briquemaud, at the head of five hundred 
 lances. Leaving Aubeterre and Barbesieux on her left, the 
 queen entered Archiac, escorted by her brave army, which now 
 mustered nearly four thousand men, in the presence of d'Escars, 
 governor of Perigord and Limousin, who had been sent by the 
 duke de Montpensier to arrest her progress. Not a single 
 accident happened to interrupt the queen's admirably contrived 
 evasion from Nerac ; not one of her measures failed. Her 
 escorts awaited her punctually, at the moment indicated ; the 
 devotion and energy of her officers supplied every deficiency. 
 
 1 Mezeray, Abbrege Cbron. Vie de Charles IX. : Brulart.
 
 2S8 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 
 
 The people received her with homage, as a queen ; and with 
 admiration, as a heroine. 
 
 The town of Archiac having been chosen, by the queen, for 
 her meetiug with Conde, and the principal Huguenot chieftains, 
 Jeanne made a sojourn of a few days there. During this in- 
 terval, Montluc essayed again to propitiate the queen, and to 
 tempt her from the safe protection of her loyal troops, by de- 
 lusive offers of peace. " Tell him," responded Jeanne d' Albret, 
 " that I, also, even now, seek to restore union and concord 
 throughout the realm. Do not my actions prove this fact to 
 his satisfaction ? " 
 
 Conde, meantime, after his flight from Xoyers, crossed the 
 Loire at Bonny, near to Sancerre, just in time to escape the 
 troop of horse sent in pursuit by Tavannes. As the last of the 
 fugitives passed the river, Tavannes' s cavalry appeared on the 
 opposite bank, at St Godon. li It touched the hearts of all 
 with sincere commiseration, to witness the lamentable plight 
 in which the second prince of the blood travelled," says the his- 
 torian Mathieu. " The heat of the weather was intense : the 
 princess, being pregnant, travelled in a litter; the prince had 
 three little children in the cradle ; besides which, he was ac- 
 companied by the admiral and his family ; by d'Andelot with 
 his wife ; there being, altogether, a great number of children 
 and nurses. Their escort consisted only of 150 men ; their 
 only consolation being, that one day the memory of this their 
 present misery would be sweet, as their resentment was strong 
 and vehement." The prince continued his march with celerity; 
 and entered La Eochelle on the 18th of September, having, by 
 the exercise of sagacious foresight, escaped the numerous de- 
 tachments sent out by Montluc and de Vieilleville, to intercept 
 his route. Probably, had the flight of Jeanne d' Albret and 
 Conde been less precipitate, they could not have evaded cap- 
 ture ; the premature revelation, by Catherine, of the plot for 
 their arrest, took Charles's officers by surprise ; so that, whilst 
 they deliberated on the measures expedient to be pursued, the 
 fugitives escaped. Tavannes, in his memoirs, speaks very 
 scornfully of the imperfect organization of this design, which 
 he calls, " dressee de quenouille et de plume" by the queen and 
 the cardinal de Lorraine. 
 
 As soon as Conde received news of Jeanne's arrival at 
 Archiac, he quitted La Eochelle to meet and escort the queen 
 thither. At the head of a gallant body of troops, he first 
 stormed the town of Cognac, which had refused to open its 
 gates ; and, triumphantly passing thence, he arrived at Archiac, 
 attended by the elite of the Huguenot noblesse. Great must
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 289 
 
 have been queen Jeanne's exultation, as she gazed upon the 
 valiant throng, kneeling to offer her homage. Montgommery, 
 Gourdon, La INoue, d' Andelot, Barbesieux, Montamar, Coligny, 
 le Vidame de Chartres, Fontrailles, Pardaillan, and her valiant 
 viscounts of the south, whose almost fabulous exploits are re- 
 corded in ballads and Provencal lays, all rallied round the 
 standard of Beam. The princely bearing of her son, and his 
 aptitude for military exercises, likewise gave singular pleasure 
 to the queen. The young son of Conde appeared also to have 
 inherited his father's genius, with other qualities worthy of his 
 illustrious ancestry. 
 
 As queen Jeanne was gifted with excellent powers of speech, 
 she frequently harangued the assembled warriors and nobles. 
 In all matters the queen seems to have taken the lead ; and 
 often did she rouse the martial ardour of that assemblage by 
 recapitulating all that she had suffered from the artifices of the 
 French court. The intrigues to separate her from her husband ; 
 the arrest of Conde ; his condemnation to death on the scaffold 
 — a doom he escaped by the premature decease of Francis II. 
 only; the plots of the courts of Eome and Spain; the project 
 of delivering her to the Inquisition, — were all skilfully dwelt 
 upon by the queen. " The half of the crown of Charles rests on 
 the brow of our adversary. Shall we, therefore, withhold the 
 salutary shock which may restore it entire to its anointed pos- 
 sessor ? " exclaimed queen Jeanne, in one of the harangues 
 pronounced by her before the confederate princes. 
 
 On the 28th day of September, 1568, the queen of Navarre 
 made her entry, on horseback, into the town of La Eochelle, 
 escorted by Conde. The prince of Beam rode by the side of 
 his royal mother, and Conde at the left hand of the queen. Her 
 reception was one of extraordinary solemnity. The mayor and 
 the authorities met the queen, and presented her with the keys 
 of the town ; and on her entry into La Eochelle, Jeanne waa 
 received by a cavalcade of ladies, headed by Madame d' Ande- 
 lot, in the absence of the princess de Conde, who was too indis- 
 posed to bear the fatigue of the ceremonial. With royal 
 honours, and in the midst of the acclamations of the people, the 
 queen of Navarre was conducted to the Hotel de Ville, where 
 lodgings had been provided for herself, and for her train, by 
 the Eoehellois. 
 
 19
 
 290 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 15G8 — 1569. 
 
 Queen Jeanne grants audience to the municipality of La Rochelle — Speech of 
 prince Henry— His popularity — Anecdote of the young prince — Fac-simile 
 of his handwriting — Jeanne presides at a council of state — Conde is proclaim- 
 ed generalissimo of the Huguenot forces — The queen undertakes the govern- 
 ment of La Rochelle, and the management of the finances of the confeder- 
 ate princes — She sends an embassage to queen Elizabeth — Her letter — 
 Elizabeth's reply — She presents queen Jeanne with a subsidy — Rapid pro- 
 gress of the Huguenot arms — Renewed revolt of the barons of Beam — Decree 
 issued by the king of France, confiscating the principality of Beam with its 
 dependencies — Military measures adopted by Jeanne d'Albret for the sup- 
 pression of the revolt — The army of the Viscounts — Catherine makes over- 
 tures of peace to Conde — She despatches Portal to the camp— Conde's reply 
 — Jeanne's letter to Catherine de Medici — Progress of hostilities — Battle of 
 Jarnac — Death of Conde — Coligny effects his retreat to St Jean d'Angely — 
 Grief of the army — Queen Jeanne arrives in the camp, with the prince of 
 Navarre and Conde's son — Her oration to the army — Its enthusiasm — Prince 
 Henry is proclaimed general-in-chief, under the guidance of Coligny — Te 
 Deum chanted in Paris for the victory of Jarnac — Jeanne applies to queen 
 Elizabeth for aid — Her letter to the queen — Correspondence of Jeanne d'Al- 
 bret with Marie de Cleves — Advance of the duke de Deux-Ponts— Junction 
 of the German levies with the forces of the confederates — Troubles in Beam 
 ■ — Jeanne nominates Montgommery her lieutenant-general — Entry of Terride 
 into Beam — He subjugates the whole of Beam — Siege of Navarreins — March 
 of Montgommery into the principality — His successful progress — Joined by 
 the army of the Viscounts — Combat of La Roche Abeille — Decrees issued 
 by the parliament of Paris, setting a price upon the Admiral's head — 
 The queen of Navarre, her son, and Conde are specially exempted from the 
 decree, by command of king Charles — Storm and sack of the town of Orthez 
 — Montgommery takes the revolted barons prisoners — He marches upon Pau 
 — Flight of de Navailles, its governor — His assassination — Transport of the 
 people of Beam on receiving queen Jeanne's lieutenant — Montgommery re- 
 establishes the council of state — Death of the six barons is resolved upon — 
 Their execution — The whole of the territories of the queen of Navarre sub- 
 mit to her lieutenant-general, the count de Montgommery. 
 
 During the afternoon of the day upon which she entered 
 La Eoehelle, queen Jeanne gave audience, in the Hotel de Ville, 
 to the authorities of the town; and was complimented by an 
 harangue, pronounced on behalf of his townsmen, by the mayor, 
 Jean de Labeje. Her spirited reply to this address enchanted 
 the Eochellois ; so that the hall of audience rang with acclama- 
 tions. The young prince of Navarre was welcomed, in his 
 turn, by the people of La Eoehelle, in a second most erudite 
 address. Henry listened with a gravity above his years ; and 
 when the mayor brought his harangue to a close, he replied : 
 " Messieurs de la Ville, I am not sufficiently advanced in my 
 studies to speak as you do. I assure you, however, that,
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 291 
 
 though I possess not yet great facility of speech, my conduct 
 shall deserve your approbation : I know much better how to 
 act than to speak." The simplicity of these words, and the 
 grace and frankness of the prince's manner, greatly affected the 
 assembly ; and Jeanne, with her noble son, retired, escorted by 
 the people to the very threshold of her private apartments. 1 
 
 The engaging deportment of the young prince was of es- 
 sential service to the cause Jeanne had so much at heart ; and 
 to promote which she had risked the confiscation of her hered- 
 itary dominions, and rendered her son liable to the penalties 
 of treason. Great was the sacrifice that the queen of Navarre 
 thus made from conscientious motives : the future hung on the 
 success of the arms of Conde. If the court triumphed, there 
 remained no other fate for Jeanne and her heroic son, than 
 proscription, and, possibly, dependence upon the bounty of 
 Elizabeth, queen of England. Well might Jeanne exclaim, " I 
 have a work to perform, and I must steel my heart to accom- 
 plish its demands ! " The prince won favourable opinions from 
 all classes of persons. " We have with us here the young 
 prince of Beam," wrote one of the inhabitants of La Rochelle, 
 " and he is, I assure you, a most loveable creature. He is 
 agreeable, affable, and obliging. He receives his friends with 
 a most noble and gracious air ; and in all things he acts as be- 
 comes a great prince. When he enters into conversation, it is 
 with the tone of one who perfectly understands his subject. He 
 talks well ; and when the discourse turns on the court, he 
 shows himself cognizant with its ways and projects. In shoi't, 
 the prince always expresses what he ought ; and never says any- 
 thing irrelevant to his dignity, or to the position in which he 
 now finds himself." Another writer at this season states, 
 " This young prince of Navarre daily gains fresh adherents. 
 He insinuates himself into all hearts with an ease and dexterity 
 perfectly marvellous. If men honour and esteem him greatly, 
 I can assure you that he is not less favoured by the ladies here. 
 His face is very handsome ; his nose is neither too large nor 
 too small ; his eyes have a mild expression ; his complexion is 
 brown, of a clear hue, and most healthful to look upon. His 
 vivacity is so piquante and animated, that if the ladies do not 
 fall in love with him, it will be a most strange and surprising 
 circumstance." The object of Henry's chivalrous gallantly at 
 this season was the beautiful Corisandre d' Andoins, the youth- 
 ful bride of the count de Guiche, who had followed in queen 
 Jeanne's train to la Rochelle. The ardour of the prince's court, 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, cle Jeanne d'Albret, vol. i. Lc Grain, Vie de Henri IV.
 
 292 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 and the manner in which his overtures were received hy the 
 countess, occasioned much disquietude to Jeanne d'Albret, as 
 it greatly offended the count de Grammont, her old and attach- 
 ed servant, to reward whose fidelity she had bestowed the heir- 
 ess of d'Andoins on his son. ' As an instance of the influence 
 exercised by the versatile gifts of Henry over the minds of his 
 friends, the following anecdote is recorded. The young prince 
 was addicted to habits of profusion. As he never presumed to 
 apply for pecuniary aid from his mother — who, having assigned 
 the prince a sufficient revenue, reserved her treasures for higher 
 purposes than to defray the cost of his dissipation — Henry 
 several times resorted to the extraordinary expedient of address- 
 ing a letter, signed by himself, to the principal nobles and 
 ladies of Guyenne and Beam, in which he requested the loan 
 of a certain sum, specified therein, in consideration of which 
 the lender was at liberty to keep the billet ; if, on the contrary, 
 the loan were refused, the prince desired that the letter might 
 be returned. 
 
 " Such was the affection borne towards the prince," says the 
 historian, Le Grain, 2 " that no one ever thought of refusing 
 his demand ; for there was not a house that felt it not an 
 honour to possess amongst its records the writing and auto- 
 graph of this noble prince." 
 
 It would be doing the queen of Navarre great injury to 
 suppose that this clever ruse, on the part of the prince of Beam, 
 was countenanced bv herself. Jeanne would have regarded 
 her son's extravagant expenditure with indignation ; so frugal 
 and self-denying were her own habits. The following is a fac- 
 simile of the signature so highly prized by Henry's future 
 lieges of Beam and Guyenne, given when the prince had ac- 
 complished his eighth year. 
 
 Henry excelled in penmanship ; his firm and well-formed 
 characters present themselves with refreshing distinctness to 
 
 1 After the decease of her husband, Philibert, count de Guiche, the beau 
 tiful Corisandre became the avowed mistress of the king of Navarre. 
 - Hist, de Henri le Grand.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 293 
 
 the eye wearied in dwelling on the confused, and often illegible, 
 manuscripts of the latter half of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The day that followed queen Jeanne's entry into La 
 Eoehelle, witnessed an imposing ceremonial. The council, 
 composed of the queen of Navarre, the princes, the nobles, and 
 the principal citizens of La Eoehelle, assembled to nominate 
 and proclaim a commander-in-chief for the Huguenot army ; 
 and to determine the form of government proper for the Bochel- 
 lois and the inhabitants of the adjacent Pays d'Aunis, during 
 the suspension of their allegiance to the crown of France. 
 This important deliberation was holden in the Hotel de Ville. 
 The command of the army could alone be claimed by the vete- 
 ran Conde, or by the young prince de Beam, to whom honour- 
 able precedence properly appertained by right of birth. Jeanne 
 and her son took the chief places at the council-board ; the 
 ladies and gentlemen in the queen's suite occupied the space 
 immediately behind the chair of their royal mistress, and the 
 lower end of the hall was filled by spectators. It was a triumph- 
 ant moment for the gallant heart of Jeanne d'Albret, as well 
 as an incident of deep and painful import in her life, when she, 
 the hitherto devoted subject of Charles IX., sanctioned, for con- 
 science-sake, by her presence and active participation, the re- 
 bellion which threatened to dethrone the grandson of Francis I. 
 
 Amidst the silence of the assembly, Conde rose ; in an elo- 
 quent address he resigned the chief command of the confeder- 
 ated army to the Prince de Beam. After expatiating on the 
 heroic virtues which adorned the character of the queen of Na- 
 varre, the prince promised her son paternal guidance. The 
 enthusiasm manifested for her son, and the words of Conde, 
 deeply affected the queen ; and it was observed that she had 
 difficulty in repressing her emotion. She then rose, and on 
 behalf of her son, declined the command-in-chief of the con- 
 federated armies. " No, messeigneurs, I and my children are 
 here to promote the success of this great enterprise, or to share 
 in its disasters. We will joyfully unite beneath the august 
 standard of Conde, and obey the behests of a chieftain who has 
 gathered glory from every enterprise. The cause of God, 
 messeigneurs, is dearer to me than the aggrandizement of my 
 son. The same sentiments inspire the prince ; he would rather 
 return and abandon his share in this great design, than permit 
 a resignation so pernicious to the glory of our God, and to the 
 successful issue of our arms. Continue, monseigneur," added 
 Jeanne addressing Conde, " continue to us your counsels. For 
 the salvation of all, for the sake of my son, the chief of your 
 race, retain the command which you have rendered illustrious
 
 294 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 by deeds of heroic valour. As for myself and my son, we are 
 ready and willing to obey you everywhere, and in all things." l 
 In vain the chiefs of the council tried to shake the queen's re- 
 solution ; Conde, in his turn, represented to Jeanne that while 
 prince Henry was invested with the nominal command, he 
 would fulfil towards him an office similar to that performed by 
 the marshals de Tavannes and de Biron in the camp of Cathe- 
 rine's son, the young duke d'Anjou. But the queen's grateful 
 affection for Conde, and her trust in his integrity, rendered 
 her firm in her refusal not to permit that any authority should 
 even nominally supersede his own. By her command, there- 
 fore, Conde was proclaimed general-in-chief of the confederated 
 army. " My son," exclaimed the queen, when Henry had sig- 
 nified his assent to the measure, " policy, gratitude, and neces- 
 sity have combined to render it expedient that you should 
 resign this command to your uncle. This honour, in truth, 
 appertained to yourself in virtue of your birth and rank ; but it 
 is a privilege which you cannot now safely claim without ex- 
 posing your party to ruin — a ruin that must entail your own. 
 Europe is at this moment watching your actions ; you have 
 ceased to be a child. You have become a man. Go then, 
 my son, and being subordinate now, learn under the valiant 
 Conde to command some day also in your turn. Show yourself 
 worthy of the blood you inherit ; and augment the ancient glory 
 of our race ! " The noble spirit of Henri le Grand was moved 
 within him at this address. Jeanne appreciated the magnani- 
 mous heart of her son. In a few brief' words the prince pro- 
 mised obedience to his uncle, and vowed to devote himself to 
 the cause ; and never to sheathe his sword until his mother's 
 enemies were vanquished. 
 
 The next act of the council, before it separated, was to offer 
 to the queen the civil administration of La Eochelle ; the 
 management of the finances of the confederates ; the conduct 
 of negotiations with the court of Trance, and with foreign 
 cabinets ; and the general supervision of the allied forces. 2 In 
 fact, Jeanne's duties were as onerous as those of Conde : 
 whilst his standard led the combined forces to the battle-field, 
 the queen's intellect, foresight, and prudence, were needed to 
 insure the successful execution of the designs of the confeder- 
 ates. This post of difficulty and anxiety was accepted by the 
 queen : Jeanne's intrepid spirit knew no wavering ; as her 
 health declined under the pressure of misfortune, her mental 
 powers shine the more brilliantly. Already, the queen's con- 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps. 
 2 De Thou. Vauvilliers. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 205 
 
 stitution showed symptoms of the disease which had heen so 
 fatal to her mother and to other members of the royal house 
 of Angouleme ; and, at times, she suffered acutely from pul- 
 monary disorders. After Jeanne's arrival at La liochelle, her 
 nights were disturbed and sleepless. During the day, her 
 activity, and her surprising memory, excited the wonder of all 
 persons admitted to audience ; but when she retired to the 
 privacy of her apartments, heavy care oppressed her, and often 
 she was observed to sit motionless, as if exhausted with the 
 mental effort of the past day. 
 
 One of queen Jeanne's first acts was to despatch Chastellier, 
 a gentleman of her household, holding a high command in the 
 navy of the confederates, to queen Elizabeth, to ask her aid ; 
 and to explain the cause of the hostile attitude which she had 
 assumed against Charles IX. She commences her letter by 
 statiug, that as God had given Elizabeth grace to become one 
 of the nursing mothers of His church, it behoved all who were 
 engaged in the same holy work to render her Majesty a due 
 account of their proceedings. " In that which relates to my- 
 self, madame, I entreat you to believe, that three things alone 
 have induced me to depart from my kingdom ; the first of which 
 is — the cause of religion, menaced and afflicted by the treach- 
 ery and barbarous policy of the cardinal de Lorraine, and 
 others inspired with like sentiments. It would be a scandal, 
 and a shame, madame, that my name should be even mentioned 
 in so holy a cause, in concert with other noble princes and lords, 
 if I did not determine to spare neither my blood, nor my trea- 
 sures, to insure its success." The queen proceeds to discourse 
 on the other points which had occasioned her departure from 
 Xerac, nearly in the language she uses in her letter to the king, 
 dated from Bergerac ; and she makes the same statement re- 
 lative to Conde's flight from Xoyers. " I very humbly be- 
 seech you, madame, to accept these my assurances, and to assist 
 us with your favour and countenance. I will, further, pray 
 God to reward your efforts, and to augment His benedictions 
 upon you, to the preservation of your person and realms. I 
 pray you, madame, receive the humble commendations of a 
 mother and her children, who would fain render you service ; 
 also to credit what the sieur de la Chastellier has in charge to 
 unfold to your Majesty, whom I take the liberty of recommend- 
 ing to your gracious notice." ' The cardinal de Chatillon, who 
 yet remained the guest of Elizabeth, visited the queen at her 
 palace at Richmond, to represent the condition of the princes, 
 and to beseech her Majesty to send them succour. Elizabeth 
 1 MSS. Cotton. Calig. E. vi. No. 61.— Inedited.
 
 296 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 was moved with indignation when she learned the perils to 
 which Conde had been exposed ; but especially after she had 
 perused the edict issued by the king, in defiance of his past 
 royal assurance, suppressing the reformed faith, and declaring 
 its adherents guilty of misdemeanour and treason. She grant- 
 ed the succour solicited; and despatched to La Rochelle six 
 pieces of artillery, with ammunition in great abundance. She 
 likewise presented to the queen of Navarre, as a gift, the sum 
 of one hundred thousand angelots ; l she also sent her a letter 
 of sympathy, containing the promise of more effectual aid at a 
 future period. Conde acknowledged Elizabeth's present bj 
 sending her Majesty, by the same vessels that conveyed the 
 welcome succours, some musical bells, woollen goods, and 
 several tons of iron and other metal." Elizabeth always mani- 
 fested the staunchest friendship for Jeanne, and for her son ; 
 and in addressing the queen, she invariably discarded the per- 
 emptory strain of her style of correspondence with foreign po- 
 tentates. Her support of the hostile demonstration made by 
 Jeanne and Conde occasioned serious disquietude to the French 
 government ; and it induced Catherine to make the overture 
 for peace which she subsequently tendered. 
 
 Meantime, the forces of the confederated princes increased 
 with astonishing rapidity. The towns of St. Maxent, Eontenay, 
 Niort, St Jean d'Angely, Pons, Blaye, Angouleme, and Taille- 
 bourg, received garrisons from the army of Conde. The ad- 
 miral de Coligny, with an army of twenty-five thousand men, 
 lay encamped on the plains of Jaseneuil. D'Andelot, his 
 brother, found himself, in less than a month, at the head of one 
 hundred thousand combatants ; Jacques de Crussol, count 
 d' Acier, raised a body of twenty-two thousand infantry, by the 
 command of queen Jetinne, in Languedoc, and marched to join 
 the prince. The duke de Montpensier in vain tried to inter- 
 cept and defeat this division : a conflict ensued at Messignac, 
 in which the Huguenots lost three thousand troops ; but they 
 nevertheless continued their march, and joined the army of the 
 Prince without further molestation. In less than a month after 
 Conde's flight from Noyers, he had subjugated the greater 
 part of Angoumois, Saintonge, and Poitou, with the territory 
 adjacent to La Rochelle. The generals commanding the royal 
 army, distracted by counter-orders from the court, did little 
 more than oppose an ineffectual resistance to the enthusiasm 
 demonstrated in the south for the Protestant cause. Driven 
 from Campron, by Conde and Coligny, the duke de Mont- 
 
 1 An angelot was a coin of the value often shillings. 
 2 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, liv. 7, chap. ii.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 297 
 
 pensier and the viscount de Martigues, failing to check the 
 advance of the Huguenots across the Loire upon Saumur, the 
 campaign for the year 1568, in all only two months of warfare, 
 was terminated by the retreat of the royal army into Limousin, 
 for winter quarters. 1 
 
 The queen of Navarre, during the progress of the campaign, 
 had quitted La Eochelle, and repaired with her son to Tonnay- 
 Charente. There she bade farewell to the prince, who depart- 
 ed to join the army. With her own hands Jeanne invested 
 her son with that armour, which during his eventful and glori- 
 ous career Henry was destined never to lay aside. The 
 woman and the heroine shone in the few emphatic words with 
 which she dismissed him to fight for the great cause ; to main- 
 tain which she was content to sacrifice dignities and life it- 
 self. "When some individual expressed astonishment that she 
 could thus witness, with unshaken fortitude, the departure of 
 the prince, Jeanne replied, " The felicity and glory of promoting 
 so holy a cause enables me to surmount the emotions of my 
 sex ; while it has inspired my noble son with courage to rise 
 above his age." 
 
 From Tonnay-Charente the queen journeyed to Niort, to 
 confer with Conde on the finances of the confederated princes. 
 Jeanne devoted the treasure, which she had conveyed from 
 Nerac, to the purposes of the war ; she also sold jewels of great 
 value, and gave the money to replenish the exchequer of the 
 princes. The town of La Eochelle advanced the sum of 16,000 
 gold crowns, for the same purpose. As these sums, added to 
 the 100,000 angelots, the gift of queen Elizabeth, proved in- 
 adequate to defray the vast expenses already incurred, the ob- 
 ject of Jeanne's journey to Niort was to consult Conde on a 
 measure for improving the finances of the confederates. The 
 queen proposed, that the church lands, situated within the 
 territory recently subjugated, should be confiscated, and offered 
 for sale, and the funds arising therefrom applied for the prose- 
 cution of the war. 2 This project was adopted ; and Conde and 
 the queen jointly issued the required commission, authorizing 
 the seizure of the temporalities of the Eoman church, wherever 
 the Huguenot arms triumphed. 
 
 King Charles and his mother, during these transactions, 
 quitted St Germain, and took up their abode in the Louvre. 
 When Catherine found that her plausible promises produced no 
 impression on the mind of Jeanne d'Albret, her rage and con- 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau. De Thou, Hist, de son Temps. D'Au- 
 bigne, Hist. Universelle, t. i. liv. 5. 
 - Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 7, chap. ii.
 
 298 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 
 
 sternation were excessive. Her schemes, which she had thought 
 so cleverly planned, were defeated with ignominy ; for Jeanne's 
 letter to king Charles proved that she had all along been cog- 
 nizant of the existence of such design, when Catherine believed 
 that the secret rested in her own bosom, and in the keeping of 
 her tried agents. Catherine's forte was the art of gaining in- 
 significant successes by tortuous diplomacy ; of providing in- 
 genious interpretations for state documents without strictly 
 violating their letter; and of veiling her true intents beneath 
 the figures of a gracious and fluent rhetoric. She, therefore, 
 hated the queen of Navarre, because Jeanne generally discerned 
 the true object of her diplomatic wiles. 
 
 The council was immediately summoned, on the news reach- 
 ing Paris of the departure of the queen of Navarre for the 
 camp of the confederates ; the letter which she had addressed 
 to the king from Bergerac, being read before the assembly by 
 the cardinal de Lorraine. Charles expressed intense resent- 
 ment at the conduct of the queen ; while the cardinal de Lor- 
 raine, whose removal from ofhce was declared by the Huguenot 
 leaders to be the object of their demonstration, pleaded no less 
 bitterly. The sequestration of the domains and of the lands 
 held in fief by the queen of Navarre was hastily decided upon. 
 With a plausible reserve, doubtless emanating from the cautious 
 policy of Catherine de Medici, the seizure of Beam was com- 
 manded on the plea, that the queen and her son were captives 
 in the camp of the confederates ; and compelled, despite their 
 will, to sanction the hostile attitude of Conde against the king, 
 his sovereign. In her ardour for the cause, Jeanne had reck- 
 lessly abandoned both her territory and her friends to their 
 fate. When d'Arros, to whom the queen had intrusted the 
 government of the principality before her departure from Nerac, 
 announced to the council and states of Beam the retreat of the 
 queen, the consternation was general. The people at first 
 listened to the communication in silent dismay ; murmurs and 
 discontent soon prevailed everywhere ; and all began greatly 
 to dread the sovereign before whose displeasure their valiant- 
 hearted queen had been compelled to flee. It was, perhaps, one 
 of the gravest errors committed by Jeanne d'Albret, thus to 
 abandon her dominions, before she had provided for their de- 
 fence, or for the means of allaying the panic certain to arise 
 there on the news of her departure for the camp of the con- 
 federates. 
 
 The malcontent barons, whom the queen had pardoned at 
 the intercession of Catherine de Medici, forthwith renewed 
 their treasonable intrigues in Beam. The county of Bigorre
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALB3ET. 203 
 
 revolted, and transferred its allegiance to Charles IX., at the 
 instigation of Antin, its senechal. In the county of Foix, the 
 standard of revolt was raised, and some bloody massacres en- 
 sued. To complete the calamitous condition of Jeanne's here- 
 ditary domains, the Spaniards entered Foix, and besieged the 
 castle of d'Heurs. 1 Philip's designs greatly alarmed the French 
 council ; and an order was forwarded, without delay, to the 
 baron de Luxe, 2 the leader of Jeanne's rebellious subjects, to 
 seize the principality of Beam, the territory of Lower Navarre, 
 and the counties of Foix, Armagnac, and Bigorre, in the name 
 of the king of France. An edict was likewise despatched to 
 the parliament of Toulouse, enjoining the members to aid de 
 Luxe to execute the commission intrusted to him. This docu- 
 ment is worded with great caution; the queen and her son 
 were therein expressly exonerated from the crime of treason, 
 so as to afford the possibility of treating with them, should a 
 favourable opportunity occur. The tenor runs thus : 
 
 " Charles, by the grace of God, King of France, to our 
 trusty and well-beloved members of the High Court of parlia- 
 ment at Toulouse. AVe have been informed that our very dear 
 and beloved aunt, and the prince of Navarre, her son, our dear- 
 ly beloved brother, are, at this present time, with those of our 
 subjects in arms against our authority. Nevertheless, as the 
 favours and gifts which they have received from our crown are 
 numberless, we cannot believe that they have taken this 
 measure voluntarily and of their own free-will; otherwise, 
 they would most justly be chargeable with the crime of ingra- 
 titude, considering the manifest and most notorious treason of 
 those our said subjects. We having, therefore, always em- 
 braced the cause, and taken under our royal protection the 
 persons and domains of our said aunt, and our brother, her son, 
 regarding their territories in all things as our own, it would 
 now be unbecoming to our dignity not to extend to them our 
 aid in their present calamitous captivity ; and, also, to employ 
 ourselves to the utmost, to preserve to the said lady and queen 
 her dominions, which may hereafter descend and appertain to 
 the prince her son. Such being our desire, and after due ex- 
 amination made of the means in our power to effect this object, 
 we have found no remedy better calculated to obviate the evil 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, 
 liv. 14. 
 
 - Charles, sovereign Count of Luxe in Lower Navarre, Knight of the 
 order of St Michael, and Captain of fifty men-at-arms. He espoused the 
 daughter of the baron de Lansac, and their daughter and heiress became the 
 consort of Louis de Montmorency, seigneur de Bouteville.
 
 300 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 designs of those who would do the said queen disservice, than 
 to take possession of her territories ; and not only those which 
 she holds in fief from our crown, but, also, the countries be- 
 longing to her in sovereign right. For this reason we order, 
 command, and very expressly require you, by these our letters, 
 to seize and retain, until our further command, all lands, towns, 
 places, castles, and lordships, belonging to the said lady and 
 queen, whether situated under our jurisdiction or not ; for 
 which purpose we have given ample instructions to our well- 
 beloved and trusty Sieur de Luxe, Knight of our order of St 
 Michael. Given at Paris, this 18th day of October, in the 
 year of our Lord, 1568.'" 
 
 The first act of the parliament of Toulouse, after receiving 
 Charles's mandate, was to despatch an agent, one Christopher 
 Hicharde, into the county of Foix, with an order authorizing 
 him to take down the armorial bearings of the queen of Na- 
 varre from public buildings, to efface her seal from all state 
 documents, and to substitute the arms of Charles IX. The 
 parliament of Bordeaux, receiving from the council an edict of 
 similar tenor, entered with alacrity into the designs of the 
 sanguinary Montluc upon Beam. The marshal published a 
 manifesto at Agen, in which he branded Jeanne d'Albret as a 
 traitor to her sovereign, declared her domains forfeited to the 
 crown of France, and exhorted the king's faithful lieges to slay 
 and imprison all the queen's subjects of B£arn who should re- 
 sist the ordonnance of the king of France. 2 D'Arros, and the 
 brave Montamar, organized measures for the defence of the 
 principality ; they levied twelve companies of infantry, the 
 command of which they bestowed upon one Bassillon, an ad- 
 herent of the house of Albret. 3 From La Rochelle queen 
 Jeanne watched the progress of the storm which was about to 
 desolate her heritage of Albret, and to concentrate its fury up- 
 on Beam. She issued commissions to the viscounts de Bour- 
 niquel, Montclar, Gourdon, and Rapin, to levy more troops, 
 and to march with all speed to the aid of d'Arros and Monta- 
 rnar. This brave body of troops, distinguished as " Varmee des 
 Vico?ntes," afterwards rendered the queen right noble service. 
 
 The extreme severity of the weather continued to suspend 
 all warlike operations. King Charles's lieutenant-general, the 
 duke d'Anjou, had retired into winter quarters at Chinon, 
 while the royal army encamped in Limousin. The rapidity of 
 the successes of Conde filled the mind of Catherine with per- 
 plexity. The organization of his army, and the ardour which 
 
 1 Olhngaray, Hist, de Foix. Beam, et Navarre, p. 578. 
 2 M6m. de Montluc. Oluagaray. D'Aubigne. 3 Ibid.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 301 
 
 actuated the Protestant population of the south, occasioned, 
 also, deep misgivings in the mind of Charles's counsellors. The 
 royal generals, Montluc, Bellegarde, and Montpensier, vainly- 
 essayed to repress the risings in the southern provinces ; for 
 inspired with enthusiasm, the Huguenots gathered round the 
 standard of their chieftains. Already the Protestant popula- 
 tion of the German states responded to the animated appeal 
 made to them by Jeanne d' Albret ; and levies of troops waited 
 but the dawn of spring to pour upon Prance. The army of 
 the viscounts clamoured to be led to the combat ; while the 
 fleets of Elizabeth of England transported to the Eochellois 
 supplies of provisions and ammunition of war. During this 
 brief suspension of arms, Catherine de Medici, moved by these 
 considerations, resolved to make an effort to dissolve the for- 
 midable confederation which her own treachery had cemented. 
 In the prison of La Conciergerie was one Portal, a Hugue- 
 not, formerly accountant-general at Agen, who was incarcerated 
 for false testimony, and alleged malversation in his office. For 
 reasons which, at this distance of time, defy explanation, 
 Catherine liberated this Portal, and despatched him, as her 
 ambassador, to Conde, the bearer of a message from the queen, 
 to this effect — that if the prince would propose negotiations 
 for peace, his overtures would be warmly seconded by the court. 
 Tbe mission of Portal occurred during the last days of Decem- 
 ber, 1568. Conde granted Portal audience, in presence of the 
 princes and of his officers. His reply to the queen's message 
 was, " that he had not taken up arms against the king, but to 
 subdue the enemies of his faith, and principally the cardinal de 
 Lorraine ; also, that he was ready to lay down arms, provided 
 his Majesty would grant liberty of conscience to his subjects 
 generally, with license for the public exercise of the Protestant 
 faith." 1 Jeanne, likewise, addressed expostulations to the 
 queen, by the sieur de Eenty, and her secretary, La Chas- 
 setiere, who accompanied Portal back to Paris. Queen Ca- 
 therine's reply to Conde's message being unfavourable, Jeanne 
 again despatched Eenty with the following letter : — 
 
 JEANNE, QUEEX OF NAVARRE, TO CATHERINE DE 
 
 MEDICI, QUEEN OF FRANCE. 
 
 " Madame, 
 
 " It has pleased your Majesty to receive and listen to the sieurs de 
 Renty and la Chassetiere with so much condescension and favour, that 
 I should fail in my obligation if I omitted to return you my humble 
 thanks. Nevertheless, madame, as it has pleased you to return us no 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, liv. 7. La Popeliniere, Hist, de France.
 
 302 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 answer to the things we craved of your Majesty's goodness — such as, 
 that it would please the king to grant us liberty of conscience, the 
 public exercise of our faith, with the restitution of our estates, hon- 
 ours, and dignities, we cannot proceed with this negotiation. For 
 this cause, madame, I again despatch the sieur de Renty to be in- 
 formed through him of your Majesty's final intentions. Madame, the 
 said sieurs de Renty and la Chassetiere have apprized us that your 
 Majesty said, that we must make no demand respecting the exercise of 
 our religion. I can scarcely persuade myself, having once had the 
 honour to know your Majesty's sentiments intimately, that you could 
 wish to see us reduced to such an extremity as to profess ourselves of 
 no religion whatever, which must be the case if we are denied the 
 public exercise of our own ritual. As you, moreover, assured them, 
 madame, that you sincerely desired peace, I will state to you the only 
 way to obtain this blessing : it is, madame, to be achieved only by 
 allaying the feuds and animosities which now exist amongst all classes 
 in the realm ; and to satisfy your humble subjects, of whatever degree 
 and faith, who desire nothing so much as permission to worship God 
 according to their conscience in obedience to their king. Madame, 
 with tears in my eyes, and actuated by sentiments of affection and 
 loyalty towards you, I solemnly assure your Majesty, that if it will 
 not please the king and you to condescend to our sorrowful demands, 
 I see that nothing can result from this negotiation but a truce, to be 
 followed by disastrous civil conflicts. We have come to the deter- 
 mination to die all of us rather than to abandon our God, and our 
 religion, the which we cannot maintain unless permitted to worship 
 publicly, any more than a human body can live without meat and 
 drink. 1 pray you, therefore, madame, take gracious heed of my 
 fervent and humble supplications, and grant peace, with tranquillity, 
 to this realm. I have indicated to you the sole method of achieving 
 this purpose ; consider, moreover, madame, the torrents of blood which 
 must flow ; and the iniquities certain to be committed during this 
 cruel war, which one word from your royal lips can arrest. 
 
 '• You may, perhaps, suspect, madame, that we ask much at first, in 
 order to obtain concession the more readily on divers points. Be- 
 lieve, madame, however, that the affairs of the immortal soul admit 
 not of the same latitude as temporal concerns. There is only one road 
 to obtain eternal salvation : therefore, what we propose for your 
 Majesty's acceptance, is all that we can concede, and neither more nor 
 less. I can, therefore, but implore for it your Majesty's earnest at- 
 tention. I know well, that if it pleases you, you can grant our de- 
 mands to the full : the age of the King, and the maturity of his sense 
 and judgment, having confirmed his sense of duty as a son towards 
 his mother, of which legitimate influence and authority, if your Ma- 
 jesty makes tho use we trust in, all will doubtless be well. 
 
 " Madame, la Chassetiere repeated to me the many words of kindness 
 which your Majesty was pleased to use respecting myself; for which 
 honour and favour I very humbly return you thanks ; nothing do I 
 desire more earnestly, madame, than that by the conclusion of a satis- 
 factory peace, I may be enabled personally to assure you of my 
 gratitude.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 303 
 
 " Madame, I will unceasingly supplicate the God, who disposes the 
 hearts of kings according to His holy will, so to inspire the mind of 
 the king and of yourself, that peace and concord may again reign in 
 this realm to His glory and the prosperity of your Majesties, despite the 
 base intrigues of Monseigneur the cardinal de Lorraine, as revealed 
 by himself to Villegagnon, respecting the which, if your Majesties 
 were not already well informed, I could state something. 
 
 " I pray God, madame, in his mercy, to grant your Majesty a long 
 life. 
 
 " "W ritten at La Rochelle, this 27th day of December. 
 
 " Votre tres-humbie et tres-obeissante serviteur et subjecte. 
 
 " Jeanne." 1 
 
 Catherine returned no answer to this appeal ; every hope 
 of negotiation passed away, and the massacres committed by 
 both the belligerent parties inspired all peacefully disposed sub- 
 jects of the realm with disgust and horror. Jeanne retired to 
 La Eochelle, where she ruled with consummate wisdom, pro- 
 pitiating all parties, providing for the efficient victualling of 
 the garrisons of the confederates, and forwarding, almost daily, 
 large supplies of food and provision for the army of the princes. 
 Her energy and decision were deemed marvellous ; the queen 
 superintended all things often in person ; and attended by a 
 staff of officers, she visited the port and every part of the town. 
 She daily held council, and ordained all matters relating to the 
 finances of the confederates. 
 
 The royal army, meantime, quitted Limousin, in January 
 of the year 1569, and passing the Vienne, advanced upon Ver- 
 teuil. The forces of the duke d'Aujou had been augmented 
 by the junction of the count de Tende with a body of 3000 
 troops. Several weeks were spent in skirmishes by both 
 parties, and in the assault and capture of towns and fortresses. 
 
 The forces of the princes advanced in the beginning of 
 March upon Cognac, where they were joined by a division from 
 the army of the Viscounts. It was Conde's intent to wait the 
 arrival of Wolfang of Bavaria, duke de Deux Ponts, witli a 
 succour of 13,000 German mercenaries, before engaging in con- 
 flict with the royal troops. The duke d'Anjou, however, by the 
 advice of Tavannes and Biron, opposed Conde's progress to- 
 wards Cognac, and passing the Charente, he attacked the prince 
 at Jarnac. The vanguard of the confederates was commanded 
 by Coligny, who being repulsed by the impetuous onslaught of 
 the king's troops, sent to entreat Conde to hasten to his aid 
 with the main body of the army. Conde complied with the re- 
 
 1 The original of this letter is in the collection of M. Louis Paris, who has 
 courteously forwarded a copy to the author. It is now published for the first 
 time.
 
 304 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 quest, and led the battle in person, though at the commence- 
 ment of the action his right leg was broken by a kick from the 
 horse of the count de la Rochefoucauld, who never quitted the 
 side of the prince throughout that disastrous day. The con- 
 flict became general : Conde performed prodigies of valour ; 
 his presence animated and sustained the drooping courage of 
 the Huguenot troops, who, attacked by overwhelming numbers, 
 and before any of the numerous detachments in reserve could 
 advance to their aid, gave way on all sides. Tavaunes and 
 Biron pursued their advantage ; and, at length, the prince him- 
 self was surrounded, and taken prisoner. The rout then be- 
 came universal. Coligny rallied his broken battalions ; and by 
 the exercise of the highest skill and judgment he effected a re- 
 treat to St Jean d'Angely. 1 
 
 Conde, meantime, strictly guarded by his captors, d' Argence 
 and Jean de la Roche, was conducted to the rear of the enemy. 
 An officer, high in the favour of the duke d'Anjou, named 
 Montesquiou, then suddenly rushed forwards, accompanied by 
 several companions, loudly vociferating " Tue, tue, Mort Dieu /" 
 and, before any could interpose, he levelled a pistol, and shot 
 the prince dead on the spot. 2 This barbarous murder was suf- 
 fered to remain unavenged : the duke d'Anjou is supposed to 
 have expressed approbation of the crime ; and it is, at least, 
 certain that he proposed to erect a chapel, and found a per- 
 petual service of thanksgiving, on the spot where the unfor- 
 tunate prince fell. 3 The body of the valiant Conde was treated 
 with contumely : thrown carelessly, without any covering, 
 across the back of an ass, it followed in the rear of the royal 
 army, when Anjou made his entry into the town of Jarnac. 
 The remains of the prince were subsequently restored to his 
 son ; and queen Jeanne caused them to be interred in the 
 mausoleum of the Bourbon princes at Vendome. 
 
 For many days after the fatal battle of Jarnac, the spirit of 
 the Huguenot army seemed extinct. Conde was mourned 
 with frantic lamentations by his army : his gallant deeds, 
 courage, and affability, and his base assassination, aroused, by 
 turns, the most powerful emotions of sorrow, admiration, and 
 vengeance. The soldier, dispirited and desperate, no longer 
 yielded willing obedience to his superior; discipline, during 
 the few dreary days succeeding Conde's death, appeared to be 
 set at nought and defied within the Huguenot camp. The 
 
 1 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 7. De Thou. Maimbourg, Hist, du Calvinisme, 
 liv. 5, p. 422. 
 
 2 Ibid. D'Aubigne. De Thou, liv. 45. La Popeliniere. Brantome. 
 
 3 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 305 
 
 movements of the royal generals, at length, admonished Co- 
 ligny, that do longer interval of suspense might be indulged in 
 with impunity : the army required a fresh stimulus, and to 
 be roused to renewed eflbrts in the cause. He, therefore, 
 despatched a messenger to La Bochelle, to entreat the presence 
 of Jeanne d'Albret in the camp. The queen, however, was 
 already upon her way thither, accompanied by the two young 
 princes, neither of whom had been actually engaged in the 
 bloody fight of Jarnac. 
 
 The most acute grief for the loss she had sustained op- 
 pressed the queen ; for no one understood better than Jeanne 
 d'Albret the peril to which the Huguenot cause was exposed 
 by this defeat. By the command of Coligny the army was 
 drawn up in battle-array, to receive the queen. The gloom 
 which darkened every brow, the trailing banners, the mourning 
 veil which everywhere covered the escutcheen of the fleur-de- 
 lis, the emotion of Conde's son, who rode at her left hand, se- 
 verely tried Jeanne's fortitude as she approached But the 
 queen permitted no weak lamentations to impede the fulfil- 
 ment of her varied duties : her sense of what was due to the 
 glorious cause for which she suffered and laboured, supported 
 Jeanne d'Albret at this crisis, and she demeaned herself as be- 
 came the heroine and the queen. Her popularity with Conde's 
 soldiers had been confidently relied upon by Coligny ; and the 
 shouts of joyous welcome which saluted her as she rode along 
 the front ranks of the army, proved that her influence was un- 
 impaired. Cheers were also given for the prince of Beam, 
 who, clad in armour, and bearing the shield with the fleur-de-lis 
 emblazoned, which became afterwards so renowned, seemed in- 
 spired with martial ardour to avenge the disastrous defeat. In 
 Jeanne's train were Coligny, d'Andelot, la Bochefoucald, Font- 
 railles, de Piles, Rohan, Pontivy, several of the valiant Vis- 
 counts, Genlis, and others. The queen advanced, having Con- 
 de's son on her left, and the prince de Navarre on her right ; 
 and, sustained by " that high heart, and lofty and resolute 
 spirit," says de Thou, 1 she spoke thus to the assembly : — 
 
 "Children of God, and of Prance, — Conde is no more! 
 That prince, who has ofttimes set you the example of courage, 
 and of unstained honour, who was always ready to combat for 
 his king, his country, and his faith ; who never took up arms 
 except to defend himself against implacable enemies ; that 
 heroic prince, whom even his foes were constrained to reverence, 
 has sacrificed his life for the noblest of causes ! Instead of re- 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, liv. 45. Mathieu, Hist, de Charles IX., 
 liv. 7. 20
 
 306 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 
 
 ceiving from us the laurel crown, the just guerdon of his valour, 
 his brows are now circled with the diadem of immortal glory. 
 Conde has resigned his breath on the battle-field, in the midst 
 of his career of fame. He is dead ! A sacrilegious hand has 
 severed the thread of life. His enemies have deprived him of 
 being, by a deed of cowardly perfidy. What say I ? Have 
 they not even added foul insult to his cold remains ? Oh ! 
 how, by this base outrage, have they not increased his renown, 
 and defiled for ever the laurels culled on the fatal field of 
 Jarnac ! 
 
 " Soldiers, you weep ! But does the memory of Conde de- 
 mand nothing more than tears? AVill you be satisfied with 
 profitless regrets? No! let us unite, and summon back our 
 courage, to defend a cause which can never perish, and to 
 avenge him who was its firmest support ! Does despair over- 
 power you? Despair! that shameful failing of weak natures; 
 can it be known to you, noble warriors, and Christian men ? 
 "When I, the queen, hope still, is it for you to fear ? Because 
 Conde is dead, is all, therefore, lost ? Does our cause cease to 
 be just and holy? No! God, who placed arms in his hand 
 for our defence, and who has already rescued you from perils 
 innumerable, He has raised us up broth ers-in-arms worthy to 
 succeed him, and to fight for the oause of religion, and the 
 king, our country, and the truth ! Not only princes of royal 
 lineage remain for our leaders, but Coligny, la Rochefoucauld, 
 la Noue, Rohan, de Piles, d'Andelot, Montgommery ! To these 
 brave warriors I add my son. Make proof of his valour! The 
 blood of Bourbon and of Valois flows in his veins ! He burns 
 with holy ardour to avenge the death of the prince. Behold, 
 also, Conde' s son; now become my own child. He is the 
 Avorthy inheritor of his father's virtues. He succeeds to his 
 name, and to his glory. Soldiers ! I offer to you everything 
 in my power to bestow : my dominions, my treasures, my life, 
 and that which is dearer to me than all — my children ! I make 
 here solemn oath before you all — and you know me too well 
 to doubt my word — I swear to defend to my last sigh the holy 
 cause which now unites us : which is that of honour and of 
 truth!" 1 
 
 Profound silence succeeded Jeanne's harangue ; then cheers 
 resounded from every part of the field. The soldiers crowded 
 round the queen, clamorously demanding to be led to the com- 
 bat. During this scene of excitement, the young prince of 
 Navarre mingled with the soldiers. Inspired with sudden im- 
 
 1 De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, liv. 45. Mathieu, Hist, de Charles IX., 
 liv. 5. Mezeray. D'A»bign6, liv. 5. Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, liv. 7-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'-ALBKET. 307 
 
 pulse, the army unanimously hailed him for its chief and leader 
 in the room of Conde. Jeanne having signified her assent, the 
 youug Henry was saluted on the spot as generalissimo of the 
 confederate forces. " Soldiers, your cause is mine, our inter- 
 ests are identical. I swear to you on the salvation of my 
 soul, and by my honour, and life, never to abandon you ! ' M ex- 
 claimed he, enthusiastically. Proclamation was made of the 
 command henceforth to be exercised by the prince of Xavarre 
 under the guidance of Coligny. By the queen's direction, the 
 youug prince de Conde* took the same oath as Henry had done 
 to remain faithful to the cause. Jeanne then publicly presented 
 him to her son as his brother-in-arms. " Thus," says the 
 historian, " queen Jeanne, by her courage and heroism, dissi- 
 pated the dejection of our warriors, so that the army, after 
 hearty cheering, and a great salvo of artillery, dispersed, every 
 man retiring content to the quarters allotted to him." 
 
 The news of the defeat and death of Conde was received 
 with transport by the court. The courier arrived in Paris at 
 midnight, when the king rose, and attended the chaunting of a 
 Te Deum for the victory of Jarnac, performed in the chapel of 
 the Louvre. 2 The valour and military science of the duke 
 d'Anjou 3 became a theme of laudation for the poets and cour- 
 tiers ; not one of whom, however, believed that the prince had 
 of himself contributed to the victory, which was due solely to 
 the ability of Tavannes and Biron. Catherine, however, exult- 
 ed in the praise of her best-loved son ; and she was even be- 
 trayed into expressing her delight more fervently than was 
 politic in the presence of the king, who was jealous of his bro- 
 ther's growing renown, and who loathed the inaction in which 
 his mother held him. Castelnau was commissioned to hasten 
 the advance of the marquis of Baden and the German levies in 
 the pay of the king ; while the dukes de Nemours and d'Au- 
 male were despatched by the council, at the head of six thou- 
 sand men, to intercept the advance of the duke de Deux Pouts 
 to join the army of the princes. 
 
 Queen Jeanne quitted St Jean d' Angely two days after she 
 had harangued the troops, and retired to Saintes. After so- 
 journing there for a short time, she departed for La Eochelle. 
 The finances of the confederates being exhausted, Jeanne again 
 had recourse to the friendship of queen Elizabeth ; who con- 
 
 * Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. i. 
 
 - Journal de Brulart. Charles sent the standards and colours captured at 
 Jarnac to the pope. 
 
 3 The duke d'Anjou had just attained his sixteenth year, when the laurels 
 won by Tavannes and ZJiron were awarded to him, by the flattery of the court 
 poets.
 
 308 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 sented, at the request of the queen of Navarre, to advance a 
 considerable sum of money upon certain valuable jewels and 
 other effects offered by the prince de Conde and the admiral. 
 The queen also placed in the keeping of Elizabeth a diamond 
 necklace of great value, one of the most precious heir-looms of 
 the house of Albret. The necklace is described in the inven- 
 tory of the jewels given into the hands of Elizabeth as " being 
 set with eleven large table diamonds, one diamond being set 
 clear, as a pendant, the said necklace being valued at the 
 sum of 160,000 crowns. Jeanne, likewise, pawned a ring set 
 with a large balass ruby, surrounded by pearls, and valued at 
 1000 crowns. l Upon these jewels Jeanne received consider- 
 able sums, which enabled her to transmit the necessaiy funds 
 to her valiant viscounts for the military enterprises which she 
 at this time contemplated in the south. 
 
 The inventory of the jewels sent by Jeanne to Elizabeth is 
 dated June 4th, 1569. A few weeks later the queen addressed 
 the following letter to the queen of England, whose support 
 she fouud so constant and encouraging. 
 
 JEANNE, QUEEN OF NAVARRE, TO QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 " Madame, 
 
 " I will not fail to profit by the present opportunity to thank you 
 for your past kindnesses, and for the assistance which it has pleased 
 you to bestow upon us, beseeching you, madame, to continue this 
 your favour and countenance, in return for which, I pray God to grant 
 you rewards worthy of your piety, and exalted dignities. First, ma- 
 dame, I supplicate that the great God may bestow everlasting felicity 
 upon you, who so nobly sustains the church. Secondly, the heartfelt 
 homage of all the valiant princes, nobles, and captains, who have vow- 
 ed to serve you ; thirdly, glory and honour so exalted that your re- 
 nown, madame, may resound to the limits of the world itself. Madame, 
 I will not enter upon the subject of our affairs, as M. l'amiral intends 
 to explain to you every incident connected therewith. I shall only 
 commend myself, madame, to your Majesty's gracious favour, while 
 supplicating God to augment the mercies He is pleased to vouchsafe 
 you. 
 
 " Written at La Rochelle, this 19th clay of July, by your Majesty's 
 " Very humble and obedient sister, 
 
 " Jeanne." 2 
 
 Elizabeth sent to the queen the most affectionate reply to 
 this flattering letter ; and she caused the fleet to transport to 
 La Rochelle a second succour of artillery, powder, and ammu- 
 nition of various descriptions ; also, she promised to take under 
 
 1 MS. Cotton. Calig. E. vi. No. 93.— Inedited. 2 Ibid. No. 106.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 309 
 
 ber own guardianship the valuable jewels intrusted to ber by 
 Jeaune. 
 
 The queen about this season addressed the following curious 
 letter to her niece, Marie de Cleves, youngest daughter of the 
 duke de JNevers, and Marguerite de Bourbon, sister of ber late 
 husband. 
 
 JEAXXE, QUEEN OF NAVARRE, TO MARIE DE 
 CLEVES, MARQUISE DTSLE. 
 "Ma Niece, 
 
 " I have singular pleasure in learning that your health continues in 
 a satisfactory condition. I experience, nevertheless, much sorrow to 
 hear that the affairs of your soul progress not so well, as, knowing the 
 zeal which you feel for religious matters, I doubt not that it is a very 
 great trouble and unhappiness to you to live thus. God, ma niece, 
 will remedy this misfortune at His own good time. As for news of 
 myself it is good — excepting only the extreme grief which we feel 
 for the loss of M. le Prince, my brother, in 'which sorrow I doubt 
 not that you share. Our sole and only consolation is that he died on 
 the bed of true honour (au lit d'honneur). spiritually and bodily, for 
 the service of his God, his king, and for the welfare of his country. 
 Mv son lias received so great honour from the army as to be elevated 
 to the command, in the place of M. le Prince. He will render good 
 service, or else he will likewise give his life for his God and his king. 
 Our army is in a better condition than it has yet been. Nevertheless, 
 we trust more in God than in the strength of our forces : peradven- 
 ture He may grant us peace and repose, after so long a period of ad- 
 versity. Be assured, ma niece, that wherever I may be, I will always 
 fulfil towards you the duties of a mother ; and you will confer sin- 
 gular pleasure upon me by often sending me news of yourself, as you 
 have greater opportunity of doing so than myself. I send you your 
 furrier, M'hom I retained here until after the arrival of Coderson, in 
 the hope that I might learn from him happy tidings of you. I beg 
 you to heed the dictates of your conscience. Praying that our merci- 
 ful God will keep you in safety, and bestow upon you all requisite 
 blowings, 
 
 " I remain, your loving aunt, and best friend, 1 
 
 "Jeanne." 
 
 Marie de Cleves 2 eventually espoused the young prince ot 
 Conde. The queen took great interest in her welfare ; and at 
 the request of the duchesse de JNevers she had selected a pre- 
 ceptress for the princess, madame de Belestar, whose attach- 
 ment to the cause of reform had been the means of inspiring 
 
 1 MS. Cotton. Vespasian, F. iii. art. 5. — Incdited. 
 
 2 The duke de Nevers left three daughters only, coheiresses ; Henriette, 
 dueliesse de Nivernois, espoused Ludovico de Gonzaga, brother of the duke of 
 Mantua; Catherine espoused, first, Antoine de Croy, prince de Porcien — 
 secondly, Henri duke de Guise; Marie became the consort, in L572, of Henry 
 de Bourbon, prince de Conde.
 
 310 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 Mademoiselle de Cleves with distaste for the religion of her 
 ancestors. The passion which the duke d'Anjou conceived for 
 Marie de Cleves, and which was thwarted by the ambitious in- 
 trigues of Catherine de Medici, embittered the after life of 
 both parties, and occasioned disastrous results. 
 
 The queen, meantime, continued to enforce obedience to 
 her mandates within the town and district of La Rochelle. 
 Her rigid justice was appreciated and respected. It had been 
 ordained in the council of war holden in the camp of the 
 princes, that the levies of money made on the Rochellois for 
 the payment of the foreign mercenaries about to join the army, 
 and to defray the expenses of the new fortifications construct- 
 ing at La Rochelle, should be raised arbitrarily from the citizens, 
 according to the allotment made upon each householder by the 
 council. A mandate was, moreover, issued, forbidding the 
 members of the town-council, established by queen Jeanne, to 
 take cognizance of any complaints and grievances made by 
 those so mulcted. This law was submitted, in the first instance, 
 to Jeanne d'Albret ; its prompt and uncompromising tenor, 
 providing for a necessity which could not be obviated without 
 its enforcement, gratified the queen ; and she replied, " that 
 the law had so much of her entire approval, that it was her 
 pleasure it should be exactly and wholly obeyed by the mem- 
 bers of her council in La Kochelle." It so happened, however, 
 that the town-councillors sympathized more with the alleged 
 grievance of their brethren than did the members of the con- 
 federate council ; and the ordonnances of the princes were 
 modified, and even sometimes totally evaded. The consequence 
 was, that delays arose in the levy of the requisite funds. The 
 princes, therefore, republished their former decree during the 
 month of June 1569, supported this time by a formal mandate 
 from queen Jeanne, decreeing heavy penalties for any evasion 
 of its letter or intent. 1 
 
 The duke de Deux Ponts, and the count de Mansfeldt, 
 during these transactions accomplished their march through 
 France, from the banks of the Rhine into G-uyenne, at the head 
 of a body of mercenary troops, to join the army of the princes 
 at St Tvrier. The dukes d'Aumale and de Nemours had been 
 sent, each at the head of a considerable division of the royal 
 army, to intercept its progress. The duke de Deux Pouts, 
 however, skilfully evaded the conflict, and crossed the Loire 
 between the towns of la Charite and Nevers. In the army ot 
 
 1 Registres des Ordonnances et Deliberations du Conseil estably par la 
 Reine de Navarre a la Roehelle.— MS. Archives Imperiales, K. 100. No. 55. 
 ■ — Inedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 311 
 
 the duke -were the brave Huguenot chieftains, the marquis de 
 Renel, de Mouey, d'Autricourt, and Franeourt, chancellor of 
 Navarre, who had been seut by his royal mistress, after the 
 defeat of Jarnac, to hasten the advance of the German troops. 
 The duke d'Anjou prepared to oppose the duke on his entry 
 into the province of Limousin ; and Montluc and Bellegarde 
 advanced to arrest his passage across the river Char^nte : but 
 the Germans steadily continued their pi'ogress, and avoided a 
 combat. The duke de Deux Ponts, their skilful leader, how- 
 ever, succumbed beneath the fatigues of the campaign, struck 
 by a fit of apoplexy at Nessun, a town close to Limoges. The 
 count Wolrad Alansfeld assumed the command of the troops ; and 
 capturing Nontron on his route, a place appertaining to Jeanne 
 d'Albret, he effected a junction with Coligny at St Yvrier. 
 
 The queen of Navarre immediately repaired thither. The 
 
 army reinforced, and inspirited by the repulse of the duke 
 
 d'Anjou from Cognac, received Jeanne with its accustomed 
 
 enthusiasm. Again she electrified the soldiers by an harangue, 
 
 pronounced in the presence of the assembled chieftains. Her 
 
 noble spirit showed itself competent to meet every contingency. 
 
 She then granted audience to the officers of the confederated 
 
 armies. At this reception the queen renewed the articles of 
 
 confederation and alliance between the German Protestant 
 
 princes and the Huguenot party in France. Before her 
 
 departure from La Pochelle to commemorate the alliance, 
 
 Jeanne had caused a gold medal to be struck, bearing her own 
 
 effigy, and that of her son : on the reverse were the words, 
 
 Pax cert a ; victoria Integra; mors honesta ! Each medal was 
 
 suspended to a chain of gold. Jeanne placed one of these 
 
 chains round the neck of each of her brave officers, French and 
 
 German, in sign of friendship and alliance, as they stooped to 
 
 kiss her hand, at the conclusion of the audience. 1 By the 
 
 queen's direction, a quantity of medals of inferior value, but of 
 
 similar design, were liberally distributed to the soldiers. 
 
 The news which Jeanne received from Beam, meantime, was 
 of disastrous import. It overwhelmed the queen with anxiety 
 and grief; and increased her many causes of disquietude. The 
 town of Oleron had declared for Charles IX. Ste Colombe, 
 one of the most factious of the barons of Beam, led the revolt, 
 which soon extended throughout the principality. Beam became 
 divided against itself; one half of the population declaring for 
 Charles and theEomish faith, present security, and future fa- 
 vours from the court ; the other party, comprehending thequeen's 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, pp. 6, 7. Castclnau, liv. 7, 
 chap. vi.
 
 312 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 poorer subjects, strenuously resisting the decree of confiscation 
 issued by the Trench government. Amongst the nobles faith- 
 ful to their royal mistress and her interests at this crisis, were 
 d'Arros, governor of the principality, and his two sons ; Mont- 
 amar, 1 one of the viscounts who was associated with d'Arros in 
 the government ; Henri d'Albret Miossens, de Sales, and many 
 other personages of less note. The party hostile to the cause 
 of the queen, comprehended the faction whose disaffection had 
 harassed the government of Jeanne from the day of her acces- 
 sion, the barons de Luxe, de Pordiac, de Gerdretz, de Ste 
 Colotnbe, de Gfoas, and Henri de Navailles, whose brother, the 
 baron de Peyre, nevertheless, was one of the queen's bravest 
 servants. 
 
 D'Audaux, senechal of Beam, once favoured by the queen 
 above her other counsellors, held aloof for some time from 
 leaguing with either of the factions desolating the principality. 
 One of the most important and wealthy of Jeanne's subjects, 
 his aid was eagerly coveted both by d'Arros, and by Ste Co- 
 lombe, chief of the rebels of Oleron. D'Audaux, compelled at 
 length to declare himself, decided on obeying the mandate of the 
 king, whom he publicly acknowledged as sovereign paramount 
 over the principality. He, therefore, in his capacity of senechal of 
 Beam, published a manifesto, calling upon all loyal Bearnnois, 
 to render obedience to their sovereign, by respecting the man- 
 dates of king Charles ; as his Majesty had seized the principal- 
 ity, with the benevolent intention of restoring it to queen 
 Jeanne as soon as she had recovered her liberty. The valiant 
 de Grammont, meanwhile, Jeanne's devoted partisan, declined 
 to take share in the conflict ; and retiring to his castle, he 
 sturdily maintained a neutral attitude. It is supposed, that 
 both d'Audaux and de Grrammont 2 felt the slight inflicted by 
 their royal mistress, in excluding them from all share in the 
 administration during her absence ; and that this cause greatly 
 influenced their subsequent conduct. Jeanne, however, beset 
 by treason and ingratitude, had confided the care of her domin- 
 ions to the subject who never betrayed her interests ; who was 
 a devoted personal friend, as well as an enlightened counsellor. 
 The father of d'Arros aided the escape of Henry, king of 
 Navarre, from the fortress of Pavia ; and his son had been 
 
 1 The viscount de Montamar -was the brother of Michel d'Astarac, baron 
 de Fontrailles. 
 
 2 It is asserted by some, that when summoned by Montamar to join the 
 army of the Viscounts, de Grammont replied, " that when queen Jeanne 
 deigned to request his services, he would implicitly obey her Majesty's com- 
 mands." The letter announcing this, the determination of one of her most 
 faithful subjects, never reached the queen at La Rochelle.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 313 
 
 educated by queeu Marguerite d'Angouleme, as her favourite 
 page of honour. To the ear of d'Arros Jeanne confided all 
 her projects, as he professed the reformed religion ; these cir- 
 cumstances, therefore, induced the queen, at her departure, to 
 place the sceptre of her principality in his keeping, to the 
 exclusion of her potent subjects, d'Audaux and de Grrammont. 
 
 Oleron continued successfully to resist the queen's lieuten- 
 ants, d'Arros and de Montamar. Ste Colombe, dreading the 
 result of a prolonged siege, wrote to Antoine de Lomagne, 
 seigneur de Terride, general-in-chief of the French army, who 
 had been commissioned by Catherine to take military possession 
 of Beam, to delay no longer his entry into the principality. 
 Terride, therefore, passed the frontiers, and encamped on the 
 plains of Bisanos. D'Audaux, senechal of Beam, then joined 
 the camp of the French general, summoning all the towns on 
 his route to receive Terride, and defeat the designs of the 
 revolted Huguenots, who, he asserted, after detaining queen 
 Jeanne in captivity, wished to seize on the heritage of Albret. 
 Soon all Beam had made submission to the king's lieutenant : 
 town after town received detachments from the main army, 
 with one of the rebel barons as commandant of its garrison. 
 Perceiving that it was impossible to resist the overpowering 
 force under the command of Terride, d'Arros and his brave 
 band retreated to the fortress of Navarreins, and there declared 
 their intention of defending themselves, until succours arrived 
 from the queen, their mistress ; or of falling sword in hand. 1 
 
 The army of the Viscounts still remained encamped in 
 Quercy : upon this brave body of men the hopes of the queen's 
 lieutenants were fixed. Dissensions, however, between the 
 commanders, had hitherto prevented its advance into the prin- 
 cipality. Jeanne caused these troops to be augmented by con- 
 siderable levies. She then nominated the count de Montgom- 
 mery 2 to the command-in-chief over her armies of the south, 
 and intrusted to him unlimited powers for the pacification of 
 Beam. The letters-patent conferring upon Montgommery 
 this high mission, were placed in his hand by Jeanne herself, 
 in the presence of her council, at La Bochelle. Every day 
 increased the perils to which her hereditary domains were sub- 
 jected, through the resentment of the king and his mother. 
 Pau, her capital city, had surrendered to Terride ; from thence, 
 the baron led his victorious army before Navarreins, and laid 
 
 1 Olhagaray, Hist, de Beam. Favyn, Hist, de Navarre. De Thou, liv. 4-5. 
 
 1 Gabriel de Lorges, count de Montgommery. Montgommery had been 
 living a refugee in England from the period of the fatal tourney in which he 
 accidentally killed king Henry II. He returned to his own country to combat 
 for the Protestant cause, and was present at the siege of Kouen, 1563.
 
 3U LIFE OF JEANNE DALE-RET. 
 
 siege to this her last stronghold. Tears of mortification and 
 grief were shed by Jeanne when she thought of the ravages 
 committed throughout Beam — the heritage of her ancestors — 
 by Terride's fierce soldiery ; the pillage and sack of her flourish- 
 ing towns ; the overthrow of the laws which she had established ; 
 and the misery of her subjects, roused within the bosom of the 
 queen a longing for signal retribution on the authors of such 
 calamity. 
 
 Montgommery's warrant bestowed upon him unlimited 
 authority. All the queen's subjects, whatever might be their 
 degree and position, were placed under his authority. He was, 
 also, invested with power of life or death, over all criminals 
 convicted of offences against the state. " Go, valiant Mont- 
 gommery," exclaimed the queen in the presence of her council, 
 " go, and deliver Beam ! Smite traitors, and those guilty nobles 
 whom no past clemency has been able to subdue. Pardon my 
 misguided people. If these traitorous nobles escape retribution 
 from your hands, provide, at least, that they do no more harm ; 
 assail their vital interests ; you will then, at least, render them 
 obedient to the laws, from a knowledge that submission is 
 unavoidable ! " The queen then received Montgommery's oath 
 of fidelity and allegiance : he promised her Majesty " to perish in 
 her service, or to win back her dominions.'" 
 
 Every hour added to the critical position of d'Arros and his 
 brave followers, besieged in INavarreins by Terride. Their 
 faith in the word of the queen, and their knowledge that she 
 would exert every effort for their relief, inspired them with 
 fortitude to endure the terrible privations of a lengthened siege. 
 Already Moutluc had received an order from the duke d'Anjou, 
 to attack the army of the Viscounts ; and to put it to the rout. 
 The royal troops, led by the most renowned commanders of 
 France, such as Montluc, Bellegarde, Negrepelisse, Damville, 
 hemmed in Jeanne's principality, while Terride occupied every 
 fortress in her country, excepting Navarreins. The duke 
 d'Anjou, with Tavannes and Biron, his coadjutors in command, 
 lay encamped in Limousin ; the mission, therefore, which 
 Jeanne had conferred on the valiant Montgommery, seemed to 
 be one impossible of accomplishment, until the arms of Coligny 
 had thrown back the tide of war upon the banks of the Loire. 
 
 Montgommery, nevertheless, commenced his march from 
 La Rochelle, escorted by two hundred horse equipped at the 
 private expense of the queen. He boldly pushed forward into 
 Limousin, passed the camp of the duke d'Anjou, crossed the 
 Dordogne, and arrived safely at Montauban. Prom thence he 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 315 
 
 proceeded to Castres, a little town on the river Agout, avoiding, 
 with most astonishing good fortune, capture from the outposts 
 of* the royal camp at Moissac, under Fontenille. At Castres 
 Montgommery was joined by the Viscounts and their army, and 
 by numbers of gentlemen professing the reformed faith. Gra- 
 dually the ranks of Jeanne's defenders increased. Montamar, 
 Cau mont de la Force, Eapin, Serignac, j oined the standard of Mont- 
 gommery ; and by the middle of July the queen's army amount- 
 ed to many thousand men. Damville and Bellegarde vainly 
 strove to arrest the count's march. With incredible rapidity 
 and success Montgommery passed onwards through the county of 
 Foix. After defeating Negrepelisse in a skirmish, close to 
 St Gaudens in the Pyrenees, the count stormed and captured 
 the town of Bigorre. "After this success, Jeanne's army steadily 
 increased ; the proclamations of the general were responded 
 to with alacrity ; and provisions in abundance were furnished 
 to the troops by the peasantry of the district. In short, 
 the successful march of Montgommery into Beam, through a 
 country swarming with hostile armies, was only to be equal- 
 led by the celebrated progress of the duke de Deux 
 Ponts, from the Bhine into Gruyenne. Historians are at a 
 loss to assign motives for the extraordinary inactivity and 
 incompetence displayed by Charles's generals, in both these 
 instances. The opposing force, which they were commanded 
 to intercept and destroy, amounted not to half the num- 
 ber of troops under their own command ; yet, Nemours, 
 and d'Aumale, Montluc, Bellegarde, and Damville, Tavannes 
 and Biron, suffered themselves to be beaten and out-manoeuvred 
 in military tactics by an enemy inferior in numbers and 
 prowess. Every anomalous incident in war, or politics, during 
 the reigns of tlie three last Yalois kings, is attributed to the 
 intrigues of Catherine de Medici. Faithful to her motto, " que 
 tout perisse pourvu que je regne" the queen, it is asserted, fear- 
 ing that the complete triumph of the Catholic arms would ren- 
 der the power of that faction dominant, and wishing to retain 
 the balance of parties in her own hands, contrived that such 
 contradictory orders should be transmitted to the royal gener- 
 als, as might paralyse their operations, and thus prolong the 
 contest so favourable to her ambitious designs. 
 
 Montgommery entered Beam on the 6th day of August, 
 1569. He was the leader of an imposing force ; Montamar 
 being second in command. The people, groaning under the 
 sanguinary oppression of Terride's soldiery, rallied with en- 
 thusiasm round the banner of Albrct. Jeanne possessed, in 
 an eminent degree, the affectionate homage of the lower classes
 
 316 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRZT. 
 
 of her subjects ; the simplicity of her deportment and the 
 frankness of her disposition attracted their respect and admira- 
 tion. On the 7th of August, Montgommery traversed the river 
 Gave, below Coaraze, in the sight of Terride's army, besieging 
 Navarreins, and prepared to offer him battle, or to compel him 
 to retreat. During the night of the 8th, the besieging army 
 retired in battle-array, and sought refuge in the town of Orthez, 
 declining the combat against troops fresh, and animated with 
 enthusiastic ardour for their cause. 1 The following morning 
 Montgommery and his gallant army entered Navarreins, which 
 had been defended so long and valiantly by d'Arros. The tri- 
 umph of Jeanne's brave adherents was great in proportion as 
 their victory had been signal and complete. 
 
 AVhilst Montgommery thus subjugated the royal forces in 
 Beam, queen Jeanne triumphed in another success obtained by 
 the arms of Coligny at the great skirmish of La Roche- Abeille, 
 gained by the Huguenots in the presence almost of queen Ca- 
 therine herself ; who had advanced Avith the court to Limoges 
 to visit her favourite son, though ostensibly to treat for an 
 armistice with the queen of Navarre. The army of the Princes 
 then laid siege to Poitiers, which was defended by the young 
 duke de Guise. 
 
 On the 13th of September the parliament of Paris issued a 
 decree, declaring Gaspard de Coligny, admiral de Prance, guilty 
 of high treason, and degrading him from his dignities. The 
 decree condemned him to death, and directed that the sentence 
 of the High Court should be executed on his effigy, if Coligny 
 himself was not previously apprehended. The admiral's estates 
 were confiscated ; his children degraded, and pronounced ple- 
 beian ; and, lastly, a sum of 50,000 crowns was offered for his 
 apprehension alive or dead. 3 The same day the admiral was 
 hanged in effigy on the Place de Greve ; and the escutcheon of 
 his arms was broken and defaced by the public executioner. 
 This sentence received the assent of the king on the 27th day of 
 the same month ; his Majesty, however, forbad Messieurs de la 
 Cour to proceed, as they intended, to pronounce j udgment against 
 the queen of Navarre," the prince of Navarre, and the prince de 
 Conde ; nor yet to attaint the memory of the late Louis, prince de 
 Conde : " We, therefore, address to you these present letters, by 
 which we expressly command and enjoin, that you proceed not 
 yourselves, nor suffer any judgment to be recorded against the 
 
 1 La Popeliniere, Hist, de France, t. i. liv. 17. D'Aubigne, Hist. Univer- 
 Belle, t. i. liv. o. Mem. de Montluc. 
 
 - Mem. de Michel de Castelnau, liv. 7- 
 3 See the Edict — Journal de Brulart.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 317 
 
 said personages, on account of present troubles, as we reserve 
 for ourselves the sole cognizance and decision in all and every- 
 thing which may concern them ; also, in the matter concerning 
 the memory of the late prince de Conde. Moreover, if any 
 proceedings have already been instituted against the said per- 
 sonages by the parliament, it is our will and pleasure that such 
 be rescinded, and declared void. Given au Pare du Plessis-les- 
 Tours, this 23rd day of September, 1569." 1 
 
 It must be admitted that Charles and his mother invariably 
 interposed to save Jeanne d'Albret and the princes from the 
 penalties arising from their defiance. The Pvoman Catholic 
 faith was dominant in Prance ; and in the eyes of the majority 
 of Prenchmen Jeanne and her party were guilty of malignant 
 treason, in taking up arms against the king, calling in the aid 
 of foreign potentates, and in presuming to encounter the armies 
 of the sovereign in the battle-field. Though the maintenance 
 of their religion was the pretext alleged by the Huguenots for 
 their rebellion, yet if its public exercise were denied by 
 the king, his fiat had been voluntarily confirmed by the vast 
 majority of their countrymen. The treaty offensive and de- 
 fensive, concluded by Jeanne with queen Elizabeth, was of it- 
 self a misdemeanour which exposed her, as a vassal of the crown 
 of France, to the confiscation of all her territories, and digni- 
 ties holden within the realm. Her position as sovereign ot 
 Beam alone prevented this act from lapsing into absolute trea- 
 son ; though her independence of the crown of France had 
 been repudiated by her subjects of Foix, Beam, and Navarre, 
 by their immediate submission to Terride when he demanded 
 their obedience in Charles's name. 
 
 Doubtless the true motive of the tender regard evinced by 
 the crown for Jeanne d'Albret, and its clemency towards the 
 princes at this period, arose from the successes of Montcjom- 
 mery in Beam. As Montluc observes in his Commentaries : 
 " The victories of Montgommery procured for queen Jeanne 
 that consideration which later neither treaties nor supplication 
 could have extorted from Charles IX." 
 
 After Terride had been compelled to decamp from before 
 Navarreins, brief was the interval consumed by Jeanne's vic- 
 torious chieftains in mutual congratulations on their triumph. 
 After the troops had reposed for the space of one hour, and 
 had joined in a solemn religious service, Montgommery led his 
 army upon Orthez, in which place Terride, the rebel barons, 
 and nearly the whole of Charles's army, had sought precarious 
 
 i Mandement du Roy a sa Cour du Parlemont. MS. Bibl. Roy. Dupuy, 
 500, p. 120.— Inedited.
 
 318 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 refuge, in the hope of being succoured by Fontenille, or Belle- 
 garde. Montgommery's first halt was at the village of St Maigret; 
 from thence he commanded a view of the devoted town. Pre- 
 parations were therein making for a vigorous defence ; the 
 place swarmed with troops, French and Bearnnois, with priests 
 and friars, who, all at Terride's bidding, assumed arms. The 
 senechal de Beam had retreated thither with the French army ; 
 as soon, however, as d'Audaux heard of Montgommery's ad- 
 vance, he quitted Orthez, under pretext of hastening the ad- 
 vance of some recently hired bands under Damazan, and sought 
 refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains. Montgommery 
 advanced to the assault under a hot fire from the besieged ; the 
 irresistible ardour of his troops overpowered all obstacles. 
 Led by Montamar, Caumont de la Force, Montclar, and Gour- 
 don, all Jeanne's devoted friends and adherents, they valorous- 
 ly attacked the fauxbourgs of the town. The walls were scaled 
 — the soldiers making use of the hayracks of their horses in 
 lieu of scaling-ladders ; whilst the surrounding country was 
 fired by a division under Montclar. Montgommery's soldiery 
 soon entered the town ; the carnage then became of the most 
 horrible description : all were massacred at the sword's point 
 without respect to age, sex, or supplication. The current of 
 the Gave was arrested by the bodies of multitudes of victims 
 hurled into the river to find therein a more merciful release 
 from torment than some of their unhappy townsmen. The 
 monasteries and convents were burned ; while not one of the 
 inmates was permitted to escape from the blazing edifices. 
 The lamentations of women and children, the shouts of the 
 ferocious soldiers, and the burning city, gave terrible evidence 
 of the savage prowess of the " army of the Viscounts." ' 
 
 Terride, and the rebel barons de Ste Colombe, Gohas, 
 Gerdretz, Pordeae, Caudan, and Favas, fought their way through 
 the streets, and took refuge in the citadel, which was situated 
 on a hill, commanding the town of Orthez and a great extent of 
 country. So total was their rout, that they fled thither without 
 artillery, or provisions of any kind. The city, after a combat 
 of a few hours, surrendered unconditionally to queen Jeanne's 
 lieutenant. Then commenced a terrible act of retribution, by 
 command of Montgommery and the viscounts : every Boman 
 ecclesiastic, proved to have borne arms during the conflict, suf- 
 fered the punishment of death, by being precipitated, bound 
 hand and foot, from the bridge over the Gave into the river. 
 
 1 Castelnau, liv. 7. Commcntaires de Montluc, liv. 6. D'Aubigne, Hist. 
 Univevselle, p. 296. D'Aubigne estimates the slaughter in the streets of Or- 
 thez to have exceeded three thousand men. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBKET. 319 
 
 The spot where this sentence was executed is still shown to 
 the traveller ; and is known by the designation, in the Basque 
 dialect, of " lajinestre deous caperoits." Of all the ecclesiastics 
 then congregated in Orthez, one alone escaped, — the dean of 
 Oleron. 
 
 After having authorized this act of retributive justice, 
 queen Jeanne's chieftains gathered their troops, and proceeded 
 to bombard the castle, the last refuge of the rebel barons, and 
 of Charles's lieutenant, de Terride. By the order of Mont- 
 gommery, the cannon of the vanquished, captured in the streets 
 of Orthez, was seized, and brought to bear on the fortress. For 
 some time the besieged defended themselves by deeds of sur- 
 prising valour ; the troops in the town, however, set fire to the 
 city from several points, and the flames soon reached the out- 
 works of the castle. The attack continued, on the part of 
 Montgommery's soldiers ; and the spirit even of the bold Bearn- 
 nois barons, who had so long defied their sovereign, died within 
 them when they contemplated the doom awaiting them, if the 
 castle fell by assault. Accordingly, Terride and the barons 
 hoisted a flag of truce, preparatory to a capitulation. For- 
 tunately for the vanquished, the brother of Terride, the vis- 
 count de Serignac, interceded on their behalf with Jeanne's 
 lieutenant ; or their prayer to capitulate would have been re- 
 jected. Articles of surrender were drawn up, and sent to 
 Terride, who accepted them without demur. The bombard- 
 ment of the castle then ceased, the gates were opened, and 
 Montgommery and the viscounts entered the fortress. The 
 conditions imposed on the rebels were, "first, the liberty of all 
 Protestant ministers taken during the war, with restitution of 
 their property. Secondly, that Terride should remain a prison- 
 er, 1 until he had paid the sum of eight hundred gold crowns for 
 his ransom ; or was exchanged for the brother of Montgom- 
 mery and the baron de Pouilly, both prisoners of war in the 
 hands of the French." The third condition was the most im- 
 portant, and the one which has given rise to much historical 
 inquiry and conjecture. The article was that which decided 
 the fate of the rebel barons whose intrigues had brought inde- 
 scribable calamity on their country. It stipulated that " the 
 chieftains and gentlemen of every degree within the castle of 
 Orthez, at the moment of Terride's capitulation, without even 
 excepting the rebel Bearnnois barons, should incur no peril of 
 their lives (rtaiiront vial desplaisir, metis la vie sanlve) ; only, 
 that they bound themselves to remain prisoners of war, until 
 
 1 Terride died some few months afterwards of mortification at his disgrace- 
 ful defeat, while still a prisoner in one of queen Jeanne's fortresses.
 
 320 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 exchanged for Protestant captives of the same rank, then in the 
 hands of his Majesty's generals in the south ; or, the alternative 
 might be offered them of paying a ransom for their liberty." 
 The fourth clause of the conditions imposed upon Terride, 
 states, that the common soldiers engaged should be liberated 
 and permitted to return to their homes ; and, that the ammu- 
 nition of war taken in Orthez and the castle, should be for- 
 feited to queen Jeanne. 1 The first part of this latter clause 
 was punctually executed by Montgommery : Jeanne had said, 
 " Pardon my misguided people!" Throughout his public ca- 
 reer, as viceroy of Beam, Montgommery cannot be said to have 
 violated one command given to him by his royal mistress ; but, 
 while acting to the very letter of the sentiments he had heard 
 her express, he refrained from exercising the discretionary 
 power with which she had likewise invested him. 
 
 As soon as Orthez surrendered, Montgommery despatched 
 Montamar and a division of the army, to summon the governor 
 of Pau, de Navailles, to yield the capital. This de Navailles, 
 during his brief tenure of power, had become the scourge of all 
 classes of the queen's subjects. Cruel and perfidious, he ruled 
 by terror and the sword. Roman Catholic and Protestant 
 alike fell victims to his rapacious tyranny. The day that 
 Montamar appeared before Beam had been fixed by de Na- 
 vailles for the execution of the president la Vigne, and three 
 members of the council of state, for having presumed to render 
 some negative assistance to the cause of their royal mistress. 
 The governor of Pau refused, at first, to surrender at the sum- 
 mons of the viscount de Montamar ; but, when informed of the 
 advance of Montgommery, he escaped in disguise from the 
 capital, and fled to Hagetmau. Pursuit was instantly made, by 
 order of the queen's lieutenant. The unhappy de Navailles 
 was discovered crouching, in abject terror, under one of the 
 arches of the bridge at Hagetmau, over the Grave — that river 
 already red with the blood of Jeanne's enemies. Montauban, 
 the officer in command of the detachment, approached, and, 
 drawing a pistol from his girdle, deliberately shot the baron ; but 
 whether actuated by motives of private enmity, or in obedience 
 to the commands of Montgommery, 2 has not been ascertained. 
 On discovering the flight of their governor, the populace of 
 Pau rose to arms, and, with loud shouts for the queen, they 
 massacred a great part of the garrison placed over them by 
 Terride. Montgommery and his victorious army entered Pau 
 
 1 De Thou, liv. 45. Commentaircs de Montluc, liv. Geme. Olhagaray, 
 Hist, de Beam, p. 617- 
 -' Ibid.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 321 
 
 on the 23rd day of August, 15G9, after a campaign, brief, yet 
 brilliant in success. The white banner of France was lowered 
 from the hold of the ancient castle of Pau, and that of Albret 
 raised in its stead, amidst clamorous vivas. The minister 
 Vinet then addressed the people, taking the words of the 124th 
 Psalm as the subject of his discourse : " Praised be the Lord, 
 who hath not given us over for a prey to our enemies ; for they 
 had swallowed us up, when they were so wrathfully displeased 
 with us ! " 1 
 
 The following day, two individuals named Audios and du 
 Puy, this last being a canon of Lescar, who had rendered them- 
 selves peculiarly subservient to the tyranny of de Navailles, 
 were hanged, by order of the queen's lieutenant. Meantime, 
 the rebel barons, Gohas, Ste Colombe, Gerdretz, Sus, Pordeac, 
 and Favas, had been conducted, under a strong escort, to Na- 
 varreins. where they Avere incarcerated in a dungeon beneath 
 the castle. A ruler, stern, unrelenting, and impracticable, 
 dominated now in that hall, where these rebel leaders had be- 
 fore received pardon from their merciful sovereign, for their 
 treacherous conspiracy against her bfe. The council of state 
 was immediately reconstituted by Montgommery ; it com- 
 menced its operations by annulling the ordonnances given by 
 Terride, and restoring the Code of queen Jeanne. In the 
 fervour of their indignation against their late oppressors, the 
 members declared every noble who had joined, or even coun- 
 tenanced, the insurrection against the queen's authority, guilty 
 of treason ; and condemned all such to proscription and confis- 
 cation. Montgommery declined to sanction this edict; but, 
 satisfied with the spirit of loyalty it displayed, he published an 
 amnesty, granting pardon to all rebels who voluntarily re- 
 newed their oaths of obedience to the queen, excepting, how- 
 ever, by name, the six barons, leaders in the late revolt. The 
 council, nevertheless, seized the goods and chattels of the 
 rebels ; or, to use the words of the edict, " of all those engaged 
 in the late conspiracy, whether dead or alive, absent or pre- 
 sent ;" and commanded a public sale of the effects thus confis- 
 cated, to replenish the exchequer of the state. 3 
 
 The ominous exception of the names of the barons from the 
 list of the amnestied, might have prepared their adherents for 
 the fate awaiting them. The barons and their friends, how- 
 ever, persisted in asserting their claim to eventual liberation, 
 on the faith of the articles of capitulation, signed at Orthez, 
 
 i Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, p. 619. 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d' Albret. 
 21
 
 322 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 where ' mil deplaisir, inais la vie saulve " was guaranteed to 
 them. 
 
 The danger of liberating these nobles, who, for twelve suc- 
 cessive years, systematically defied their sovereign ; who had 
 conspired against her life, and had raised the standard of revolt 
 three times in the heart of her dominions, — was forcibly repre- 
 sented to Montgommery. The pardon which they had before re- 
 ceived from the lips of the queen herself, seemed only to have 
 provoked still more malignant disaffection. It was represented 
 to the count, that in tbe present condition of the country, the 
 liberation of these traitors would again inflict the woes, civil 
 and religious, from which he had delivered them. The council 
 clamoured for their execution. Montgommery's own secret 
 conviction of the impolicy of the concession which he had made 
 at Orthez, added greater weight to these representations. It 
 had first been resolved that the barons should be detained in 
 safe custody, whde their ultimate fate was decided by the 
 queen. This decision, however, was overruled : Ste Colombo 
 and his fellow-prisoners were hastily arraigned, and condemned 
 to die. On the 24th of August, therefore, they were led from 
 their prison, and placed in the middle of a company of soldiers, 
 drawn up to receive them. At a given signal, the soldiers fell 
 upon the condemned barons, and massacred them on the 
 spot. 1 
 
 Most historians assert that this execution was directly 
 commanded by Jeanne d'Albret. Such, however, is not the 
 case. The despatch written by Montgommery to Jeanne, who 
 was at La Eochelle, announcing the capitulation of the town 
 of Orthez, is dated August 17th : so that the surrender even 
 of the rebel barons to her lieutenant, could not have been 
 known to the queen on the 24th of the same month — the day 
 of their execution. The last order which Jeanne transmitted 
 to Montgommery was received by him while at Castres, July 
 27th ; while tbe queeu's reply to her lieutenant's despatch, 
 communicating the capture of Orthez, and the captivity of 
 the barons, is dated September 15th. Montgommery had no 
 further indication of the queen's will in the matter, than 
 what was conveyed to him by her parting words : " Go, Mont- 
 gommery ; go, and deliver Beam ! Smite the traitors, and 
 those guilty nobles whom no past clemency has been able to 
 tmbdue ! Pardon my misguided people ! " It is almost im- 
 possible to divine what Jeanne's decision would have been, 
 
 1 D'Aubigne, Hist. Universelle, t. i. liv. 5. De Thou, Hist, de son Temps, 
 liv. 44. Olhagaray, Hist, de Navarre, p. 620.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 323 
 
 under the circumstances, if the fate of these guilty men had 
 been referred to herself. Her sense of justice, and of duty to 
 her subjects must, doubtless, have rendered her sensible of the 
 inexpediency of interposing to rescue from their just doom 
 men stained with crimes of the most atrocious description, and 
 whose only claim to pity is the barbarity of the punishment 
 inflicted. It is to be presumed, however, that Jeanne would 
 have redeemed her general's plighted word, had appeal been 
 made to her ; so unsullied is her own repute for frank and 
 scrupulous honour. 
 
 The violation of the capitulation of Orthez is the only stain 
 resting on the renown of Montgommery : his achievements, at 
 this period, seem almost fabulous in their prowess and fortune. 
 He took leave of queen Jeanne at the end of the month of 
 June, traversed one hundred and fifty leagues of country, beset 
 by no less than five hostile armies ; avoided the king's gener- 
 als ; gathered his own troops together ; leagued with the Vis- 
 counts, without loss or hindrance ; and marched into Beam on 
 the 6th day of August, surmounting every obstacle. Once 
 within the principality, in the space of fourteen days he raised 
 the siege of the queen's strongest fortress ; stormed the town 
 of Orthez ; routed the royal army, and took its general prison- 
 er, capturing the rebel lords, whose treason had convulsed their 
 country for years ; and, finally, on the 23rd of August, 15G9, 
 he crowned his valiant exploits by planting again the standard 
 of Albret on the castle of Pau. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1569—1571. 
 
 Measures adopted by Montgommery in Beam — His summons to the inhabit- 
 ants of Lower Navarre — Their submission — Arrest of Bassillon — His assas- 
 sination — Battle of Moncontour — Coligny is Mounded — Arrival of queen 
 Jeanne at Niort — Her defence of Coligny — Holds a council of war — Jeanne 
 proposes a plan of campaign — Dissensions of the court — The queen returns 
 to La Rochelle — She causes the New Testament to he translated in the 
 Basque dialect — Plot to surprise La Rochelle— Revolt of the town of Tarhes 
 — Its bloody suppression by Montamar — The queen publishes an edict, ban- 
 ishing Roman Catholic ecclesiastics from her dominion — The Romish faith 
 is renounced by the majority of the queen's subjects of Beam — Capitulation 
 of St Jean d' Angely — Discontent of the French nobles — Catherine despatches 
 Castelnau to the queen of Navarre with propositions for peace — Jeanne's 
 cautious reply— She despatches a courier to the camp of the princes — Articles 
 of peace are forwarded by the queen and princes for the assent of king 
 Charles — Jeanne's embassy to the court of France — Charles rejects the
 
 324 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 demands cf the princes — He proposes other terms of peace — Second embassage 
 sent by Jeanne to the court — Mission of the marshal de Biron to La Rochelle 
 — Catherine mediates in favour of the baron de Luxe — Letter of Lansac to 
 queen Catherine — Jeanne refuses to pardon the baron, or to reverse his 
 attainder — Victory gained by La Noue at Ste Gemme — La Noue is danger- 
 ouslywounded — He suffers amputation of the arm at the prayer of the queen — ■ 
 Jeanne's courageous deportment — She is in danger of being captured by the 
 king's lieutenant, Puy Gailliard — Progress of the campaign — Discontent of 
 Charles IX. — His anger against his mother and his brother — Catherine finds 
 herself compelled to make renewed overtures for peace — She nominates 
 ambassadors to sign a peace at St Germain — Its articles — The peace pro- 
 claimed at La Rochelle in presence of the queen — Public distrust and de- 
 spondency — Anxieties of the queen of Navarre — She refuses to visit the court 
 — Her letter to Charles IX. — Menacing deportment of the Huguenot leaders 
 — Catherine invites the queen of Navarre to visit the court, on the occasion 
 of the king's marriage festivities — Jeanne declines the honour — Ambassage 
 of Cosse to La Rochelle — His proposals — Marriage proposed between the 
 prince of Navarre and Marguerite de Yalois — Reply of queen Jeanne — She 
 nominates envoys to proceed to the court — Charles's gracious deportment and 
 assurances — He sanctions the holding of a Synod of ministers at La Rochelle 
 — Marriage of Coligny — Incidents connected with that event — Jeanne pre- 
 sides at the Synod — Its acts — She publishes the New Testament in the Basque 
 dialect — Embassy of the marshal de Biron — Negotiations for the marriage 
 between the prince of Navarre and madame Marguerite— Jeanne's excessive 
 disinclination to negotiate this alliance — -Her excuses and procrastination — ■ 
 Remonstrances of the ambassador — Details of the interview — Coligny is in- 
 vited by the king to repair to court — His decision — Remonstrances of queen 
 Jeanne and the princes — His honourable reception by king Charles, and 
 restoration to his dignities and offices — Departure of Jeanne d'Albret from 
 La Rochelle for Pau. 
 
 The terrible justice of Montgommery continued to strike 
 persons of whatever degree, compromised in the late revolt. 
 If queen Jeanne wished to exact retaliation to the utmost for 
 the heinous offences committed by her turbulent barons, her 
 selection of the stern and able Montgommery as her lieutenaut 
 had accomplished this purpose. His openly expressed deter- 
 mination to punish with the sword every malcontent noble 
 captured in arms, produced a salutary terror on the minds of 
 the rebel barons still at large. De Luxe, that most malignant 
 of traitors, fled for refuge to the Pyrenean fastnesses ; and 
 placed himself under the protection of the Spanish viceroy of 
 Navarre, the duke de Medina Celi. Goas fled to Tarbes, from 
 whence he joined de Luxe. The inhabitants of Lower Navarre, 
 intimidated by the rumour of the vast preparations making by 
 the queen's lieutenant to punish their rebellion, despatched 
 deputies to sue for pardon and amnesty. They engaged to to- 
 lerate and protect the ministers of the reformed faith ; and to 
 construct a certain number of churches for the purposes of 
 Calvinistic worship. 
 
 Montgommery had already despatched Bassillon at the 
 head of a body of troops to take possession of Navarre, when 

 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 325 
 
 these deputies arrived at Pau ; and the oft-repeated treason of 
 the Navarrois would have been avenged by a bloody expiation, 
 but for an accident which arrested the army in its march. 
 Circumstances occurred which rendered questionable the fidel- 
 ity of Bassillon to the cause of the queen. He was accused of 
 holding treasonable communications with the marshal de 
 Montluc ; aud of even harbouring the design of delivering into 
 the hands of the French the fortress of Navarreins, of which 
 he was commandant. Prompt in all his actions, Montgommery 
 despatched an officer to overtake and deprive Bassillon of the 
 command of the army he was about to lead into Lower Na- 
 varre, giving orders that he should be conducted to Xavarreins, 
 where the accusation might be investigated. The envoy, more- 
 over, desired Bassillon, in the name of the count, " to prove to 
 the satisfaction of all men, his loyal adherence to his sovereign 
 lady, the queen." 
 
 During the interval between Bassillon's arrest and his ar- 
 rival at Navarreins, information was received by Montgommery 
 which confirmed his guilt. The absence of documentary proofs 
 was little heeded by Montgommery ; and he at once issued 
 his usual unrelenting fiat against the enemies of queen Jeanne. 
 The unfortunate Bassillon, therefore, was stabbed to the heart, 
 as he entered the gates of the fortress. 1 The most humble 
 submission and pecuniary fines were exacted from all convicted 
 of having even " spoken of queen Jeanne in terms of con- 
 tempt." Montgommery himself commanded the sequestration 
 of the revenues of the bishoprics of Lescar and Oleron ; of the 
 abbeys of Vic and Saubalade, and of all the benefices appertain- 
 ing thereto ; because the ecclesiastics were suspected of having 
 furnished pecuniary loans to the defeated rebels. 2 He then 
 despatched an envoy to the queen at La Rochelle, praying her 
 Majesty to issue a new edict, suppressing the exercise of the 
 Romish faith within her dominions, and confiscating the reve- 
 nues and benefices of the church. Jeanne was pleased to com- 
 ply with this request. She, moreover, nominated a commis- 
 sioner to repair to Pau, and to c'onfer with Montgommery on 
 the execution of various projects. The principal articles were 
 contained in a memorandum, written by the queen herself, and 
 which Jeanne commanded her lieutenant to execute before he 
 withdrew his army from Beam. The queen therein directed 
 the suppression, total aud entire, of the Roman Catholic faith ; 
 the convocation of a Synod at Pau, the restoration of all her 
 
 1 Olhagarav, Hist, de Navarre, p. G20. 
 2 MS.Bibl. Roy. F. de Beth.
 
 326 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 codes and ordonnances ; and the re-establishment of her officers 
 of state, and of justice, in their respective posts. 
 
 The most important part of the envoy's mission was the 
 presentation of an amnesty signed by the queen ; a document 
 which Jeanne directed him to deliver to Montgommery, with 
 the injunction that the latter was to delay its publication for 
 as brief a period as possible. This act of grace was extended 
 by Jeanne to her subjects generally ; she excluded from parti- 
 cipation in her clemency, only the baron de Luxe, Armand de 
 Gontaut baron d'Audaux senechal of Beam, the bishop of 
 Oleron Claude de R6gin, and seven magistrates, subjects of 
 Beam, who had been appointed to that office by Terride, and 
 under whose mandates so many of her subjects had perished. 
 When these, her injunctions, were satisfactorily accomplished, 
 the queen commanded her faithful Montgommery to re-establish 
 d'Arros and the viscount de Montamar as joint lieutenants 
 over Beam and its dependencies ; and to march with his victo- 
 rious army to Condom, there to wait her future behests. Her 
 last command was, the somewhat singular one, that Montgom- 
 mery before his departure should cause it to be proclaimed 
 " that the queen forbade any of her loving subjects to recall or 
 to discourse of the past under penalty of death." 1 
 
 This mission was soon accomplished by Montgommery. 
 At the head of his victorious army he passed from Pau to 
 Mont de Marsan, and from thence, according to the orders of 
 the queen, he intrenched himself at Condom, waiting until 
 Coligny should give the signal for a descent upon Languedoc. 
 
 The successes of Montgommery were balanced in a degree 
 to the royalist party by the fortunate issue of the siege of 
 Poitiers, which was valiantly defended against the attack of 
 Coligny by the young duke de Guise ; and by the sanguinary 
 defeat of the admiral at Moncontour, by the army under the 
 duke d'Anjou, October 3rd, 1569. The combat lasted only 
 two hours. Some historians assert, and amongst them the 
 brave La ]S T oue, who was there taken prisoner, that the battle 
 raged only during the space of half an hour. The defeat of 
 the Huguenots was bloody and complete. The Roman Catho- 
 lic chieftains performed feats of valour and daring. Mont- 
 pensier, Coss<5, Tavannes, Biron, and Martigues, retrieved the 
 discredit fallen on the king's lieutenants in consequence of the 
 extraordinary inertness of their past measures to terminate the 
 war. The duke d'Anjou won fresh laurels on this occasion by 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, do Jeanne d'Albret.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 327 
 
 his personal conduct during the conflict ; the young prince being 
 unhorsed, and several times exposed to peril. Coligny was severe- 
 ly wounded by a pistol discharged in his face by the marquis 
 of Baden, commanding the German reiters in the royal army, which 
 shattered his jaw. The admiral unflinchingly maintained him- 
 self in his saddle, despite the severity of his wound, and shot 
 his assailant dead on the spot. 1 After the rout of the Hugue- 
 not army, a dreadful massacre ensued. The French soldiers 
 and the German mercenaries butchered the unhappy prisoners, 
 amidst savage shouts of Eoche-Abeille ! Sainte Colombe ! 2 " for 
 they perpetrated this great and terrible carnage," says La None, 
 "under pretext of avenging the death of the barons, and the 
 loss at La Eoche-Abeille, and at Orthez." The duke d'Anjou, 
 to his honour be it told, spared no eftbrt to terminate the horrid 
 spectacle ; his voice being heard in every part of the field, con- 
 trolling the ferocity of his soldiery. 
 
 The shattered army of the princes precipitately retired from 
 the battle-field, and sought refuge at Partheney ; from thence 
 it marched to Xiort. The admiral grievously wounded, and 
 unable to articulate, was conveyed thither in a litter. It is 
 impossible to imagine a more cruel position than that in which 
 the brave Coligny found himself. The bloody defeat was 
 ascribed to his imprudence ; and the grief and anger, in short, 
 every emotion which agitated the minds of his officers, seemed 
 concentrated upon himself. Confined to his couch, and unable 
 to justify himself by word, or by action, Coligny's agitation of 
 mind threatened alarming results. Eelief, however, was not 
 distant ; for the queen of Navarre was already on her road 
 to the camp. The tidings of the defeat of Moncontour 
 were no sooner received by her, than Jeanne d'Albret quitted 
 La Eochelle, and, attended only by her usual suite of gentle- 
 men, she traversed the country, beset by perils innumerable, 
 and safely arrived at Niort. Coligny received the queen as an 
 angel sent from heaven for his rescue ; and tears bedewed the 
 cheeks of the stern warrior as he clasped the royal hand stretch- 
 ed so compassionately towards him. " The admiral," says 
 d'Aubiane, 3 "was deserted by his officers and the nobles, who 
 showed no pity for his deplorable condition, and by all his 
 friends, excepting by one woman, who having nothing in com- 
 
 1 D'Aubigne, Hist. Universelle, liv. 5, p. 306. 
 
 2 Ibid. La Popeliniere, liv. 19, fol. 140. The Swiss soldiers, in the vain 
 hope of trying to propitiate their conquerors, knelt on the ground, and with 
 clasped hands, exclaimed : " Bon Papiste, bon Papiste moi ! " 
 
 3 Hist. Universelle, liv. 5, p. 309. Havila, Hist, des Guerres Civiles, liv. 5.
 
 328 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 mon with lier sex, except the name of woman, heroically ad- 
 vanced to Niort, to raise up and comfort the afflicted, and to 
 re-establish order in the affairs of the confederates. Jeanne's 
 indignation was greatly excited at the isolation of the admiral ; 
 and she publicly expressed her opinion of the selfish ingratitude 
 of his officers. After the arrival of the queen, the camp of the 
 confederates resumed its wonted aspect ; her words inspirited 
 the troops ; she held council daily ; and above all, her presence 
 and support cheered the admiral, and exercised the most bene- 
 ficial influence on his health. " The genius, the valour, and the 
 virtue of the illustrious Coligny," exclaimed Jeanne, with gen- 
 erous enthusiasm, " soar above the misfortune which has now 
 smitten him. Let vulgar natures condemn him; noble and 
 elevated minds will cheer, pity, and console him ! " 
 
 A council of war, attended by all the confederated princes, 
 and over which Jeanne presided, was holden soon after the 
 arrival of the queen in the camp. Many important resolutions 
 were there adopted. It was determined to despatch envoys to 
 the courts of England, Scotland, Denmark, and Germany, to 
 crave succours for the cause. The queen, likewise, decided that 
 from thenceforth her son and the prince de Conde should share 
 in the perils of the conflict, as she was desirous that they should 
 " become competent and inured to hardships by experience and 
 toils." The admiral, on account of the youth and inexperience 
 of the princes, had hitherto only permitted them to view the 
 battles in which he had been engaged from a distance. The 
 queen herself promised to defend La Eochelle, in case of attack 
 from the duke dAnjou ; and she selected the count de la Roche- 
 foucauld for her lieutenant in this arduous undertaking. 
 Jeanne then herself proposed that admirable plan of cam- 
 paign which ultimately insured the success of the confederate 
 cause. 
 
 Another ingredient of discord had meantime arisen in the 
 court of Catherine de Medici, creating a diversion in favour of 
 Coligny and his colleagues, and obstructing the vigorous pro- 
 secution of the war. This impediment was the jealousy felt by 
 Charles IX. for the military renown of his brother. The cold 
 approbation expressed by the court for the victory gained at 
 Moncontour ; and the vacillating mandates thence transmitted, 
 provoked disunion in the royal camp. The counsels of the 
 brave marshal de Tavannes were unheeded, when he earnestly 
 recommended that pursuit should be made after the remnant of 
 the Huguenot army, until it was exterminated ; and no time 
 be wasted in useless sieges. " We know the character of the
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 329 
 
 admiral de Coliguy well," pleaded Tavannes, Cosse, Biron, and 
 the other chieftains. " AVe know him to be one of the most 
 wary and cunning of commanders, and one who is pre-eminently 
 fitted to retrieve a disaster. If we afford him leisure, he will 
 rally his forces and form a junction with Montgommery in 
 Languedoc; so that in the spring we shall see him re-appear at 
 the head of a fresh army, with which he will ravage our pro- 
 vinces, and perhaps even beard us in Paris itself." 1 This sage 
 counsel was disregarded ; by the peremptory order of the king, 
 the duke d'Anjou besieged St Jean d'Angedy ; while Charles 
 announced his intention of arriving speedily in camp to super- 
 intend the operations. Already the paroxysms of fiery wrath 
 in which the king indulged were dreaded by his mother ; but 
 with consummate address Catherine yielded apparent acquies- 
 cence, while studying the foibles of her son's character, until 
 she achieved the art of governing his wayward temper, and 
 of subduing it by the fascination almost of her own even 
 tones. 
 
 The queen of Navarre, therefore, proposed, as a plan of 
 campaign, to leave the towns garrisoned by Hugueuot troops 
 to their own resources. She proudly directed the attention of 
 the chiefs of the council to her army of the Viscounts, under 
 Montgommery, flushed by recent success, admirably disciplined, 
 and waiting her orders at Condom. She proposed that Coligny 
 should march to winter in Languedoc after uniting his standard 
 with that of Montgommery ; aud that the campaign of 1570 
 should open by an attack on Languedoc, and the conquest of 
 the towns on the Rhone, and so transfer the theatre of war 
 from the south-western provinces of France. The proposal 
 was unanimously acceded to ; the admiral departed from Niort, 
 October 18th, penetrated into Saintonge, and reached Agen in 
 safety : " this our escape was owing to the imprudence of the 
 Catholics," writes La Noue, 2 "they despised our prowess; 
 but like a ball of snow they allowed us to roll along the ground 
 while gradually our dimensions increased until we had grown 
 into a mass the size of a house." 
 
 The queen, accompanied by the count de la Rochefoucauld, 
 retired to La Rochelle : the town was re-victualled ; and vast 
 stores of arms and ammunition were amassed by the provident 
 foresight of Jeanne, should the siege of the place be resolved 
 upon by the royal forces. 
 
 Amidst the exciting cares of her daily life, Jeanne still 
 
 1 Mum. do Francois sieur de la Noue, chap, xxvii. 
 - Ibid. chap. xxix.
 
 330 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 found leisure to pursue her theological studies. La Eochelle 
 was the refuge of many ministers, who had fled thither to avoid 
 tortures on the scaffold. Under Jeanne's auspices, the chap- 
 lains attached to her household had commenced a translation 
 of the New Testament into the Basque dialect; which the 
 queen destined for the special instruction of her subjects of 
 Lower Navarre. The intestine troubles which convulsed Beam 
 having interrupted the labours of Jeanne's chaplains, the queen, 
 about this period, expressed a desire that the work should be 
 concluded. She nominated an eloquent minister, of the name 
 of Lecarague, to superintend the translation ; aud his fiat was 
 to be decisive on any disputed point during the prosecution of 
 the task. This Testament was published at La Eochelle during 
 the following year. Several copies of it are still extant ; and 
 its execution affords honourable testimony of the diligence and 
 learning of queen Jeanne and her chaplains. The queen daily- 
 attended the afternoon sermon, preached by her chaplains in 
 rotation. Often, however, weary with the excess of her mental 
 labours, and lulled by the drowsy intonation of some of these 
 ministers, the queen slept during part of the discourse. Jeanne 
 always felt severe reproach of conscience when she had thus 
 involuntarily yielded to fatigue; and finding the inclination 
 grow upon her, she demanded permission from the Synod to 
 work tapestry during the sermon. This request was granted ; 
 and from thenceforth, queen Jeanne, bending decorously oyer 
 her tapestry frame, and busy with her needle, gave due attention 
 to the rambling addresses of her ministers. 1 
 
 Meantime, the royal army was wasting its strength before 
 St Jean d'Angely ; which proved as disastrous an undertaking 
 to king Charles, 'as the siege of Poitiers had been to Coligny. 
 The towns of Partheney, Niort, Pontenoy, Chatellerault, and 
 others yielded, when summoned by the duke d'Anjou ; the An- 
 goumoi's was subdued : nevertheless, in the south, Coligny and 
 Montgommery defied the king's lieutenants, and ravaged the 
 country with remorseless fury. A design was also formed by 
 Tavannes, and the duke d'Anjou, to surprise La Eochelle by 
 means of traitorous intelligences, which they had established in 
 the town. The conspiracy was discovered in time, and de- 
 feated by the vigilance of the queen, and her lieutenant, La 
 Eochefoucauld ; but its details are not on record. 
 
 The battle of Moncontour had been followed by another 
 
 1 Mathieu, Hist, de France (Regne de Charles IX.), liv. 5. Mathieu is 
 the historian who first applied to queen Jeanne the words of Quintus Curtius, 
 " .Nihil prater vultuin fecmineum gerens."
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBEET. 331 
 
 insurrection in Beam and Lower Navarre. The baron de Luxe 
 again raised the standard of revolt in the Basque provinces, en- 
 couraged by an intimation from the duke d'Anjou, that he was 
 about to send thither puissant succours. The marshal de 
 Montluc also fanned the flame of revolt ; and engaged to take 
 Beam with a strong detachment of troops — a promise which he 
 would undoubtedly have fulfilled, had not the menacing attitude 
 of the army of the Viscounts restrained his malevolent intent. 
 As an encouragement to the rebel lords, however, he advanced, 
 and stormed the town of Babesteins, which he took by assault, 
 putting to death every individual of its garrison. At this as- 
 sault, Montluc received a wound in the face, which disfigured 
 him in so terrible a manner, that ever afterwards he was com- 
 pelled to wear a velvet mask. D'Arros and Montamar 
 gathered their troops, and marched upon the town of Tarbes, 
 which had opened its gate to de Luxe, determined to crush the 
 rebellion at its commencement. 
 
 The rebels, de Luxe, and the barons de Podens and d'Au- 
 daux, had fortified themselves strongly in the town, and were 
 prepared to defend their position to the last. Montamar, how- 
 ever, to the confusion of the rebels, proved to be a warrior of 
 Montgommery's energy. One summons was given to the citi- 
 zens of Tarbes, to submit to the queen's generals : its rejection 
 was followed by an attack upon the city, which was carried by 
 assault, and subjected to the same terrible penalties as the town 
 of Orthez. Tarbes was. then burned to the ground, by com- 
 mand of Montamar. 1 De Luxe managed to escape during the 
 combat ; he fled to the mountains, and finally found refuge in 
 the town of St Jean-Bied-de-Port, under the protection of the 
 Spanish government. The baron de Podens remained a pri- 
 soner in the hands of Montamar, who condemned him to per- 
 petual imprisonment at Xavarreins. The extensive estates of 
 tie Luxe were confiscated ; his castles and villages were burned 
 to the ground ; and his lands ravaged, by the orders of the 
 queen's lieutenants. The sentence of confiscation and attainder 
 was confirmed by Jeanne, when the matter was referred for her 
 pleasure thereon. The baron de Luxe never recovered his 
 wealth, which the queen firmly refused to restore, though 
 afterwards warmly solicited to do so by Catherine de Medici. 
 
 1 " Ainsi Tarbes," says the historian Olhagaray, " qui s'etoit rejouie et 
 enrichie du sac de Beam, fut rendue miserable, et brulee bientot apres." Many 
 of the rebel chieftains were killed during the conflict in the streets of Tarbes. 
 The abbe de Saubalade, Bonasse, and the captain Sguarebaque, one of the 
 chief leaders of the seditious populace of Oleron, perished.
 
 332 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBKET. 
 
 The effects of this rash rebellion fell heavily on the Soman 
 Catholic portion of Jeanne's subjects of Beam, whose position 
 it had been intended to ameliorate. The queen determined to 
 temporize no longer with subjects whose obstinate rebellion de- 
 fied alike every measure of conciliation, or of stern justice, that 
 she had adopted. Believing that the designs of the rebels were 
 fomented and countenanced by the Eoman Catholic ecclesiastics 
 of the principality, she despatched a mandate, addressed to her 
 lieutenants, d'Arros and de Montamar, requiring them to issue 
 decrees expelling from the territory of Beam all Eoman 
 Catholic prelates, priests, and monks, whom she calls, in the 
 edict, " enemies of the state, and her own." She excepts only 
 those ecclesiastics who were willing to take solemn oath, in 
 presence of her lieutenants, to conform to the existing order of 
 affairs in the principality. The queen promises to all such 
 ecclesiastics, who are willing to join the reformed communion, 
 the tranquil enjoyment of their several benefices. Upon 
 non-beneficed ecclesiastics Jeanne engages to bestow adequate 
 preferment, on their abjuration. Finally, the queen solemnly 
 renewed her prohibition of the Bomish worship in Beam. This 
 edict produced marvellous results, numbers of the ecclesiastics 
 of Beam hastened to abjure the Bomish faith. The laity, 
 wearied with the wars, and the consequent horrible slaughters, 
 offered prompt submission. Scarcely one of the Bearnnois ad- 
 hered to the Eomish communion. Those who still clung to the 
 faith of their fathers, were regarded, by the queen's direction, 
 as personages defunct. Their posts were distributed to others ; 
 and the lands which they possessed in the principality were al- 
 lotted to their nearest heir who professed the dominant faith. 
 The queen strictly forbade executions for heresy. In the re- 
 cords of the public administration of Jeanne d'Albret, not a 
 single case occurs ; all those who, despite her tolerance, con- 
 tinued to intrigue with covert treachery for her overthrow, 
 Jeanne punished by fines and banishment. 
 
 The town of St Jean d'Angely capitulated to the king on 
 the 2nd of December, after a siege of two months, during which 
 his Majesty lost ten thousand troops, and one of his bravest 
 generals, Sebastian de Luxembourg, viscount de Martigues. 
 Charles, accompanied by the queen his mother, the duke 
 d'Anjou, and the cardinal de Lorraine, made his entry into the 
 town on the following day. 1 Notwithstanding his military 
 ardour, Charles had soon wearied of the monotony of the camp 
 
 1 Mem. de Michel de Casteluau, liv. 7, chap. x. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 333 
 
 The perpetual presence of his mother, and the duke d'Anjou, 
 annoyed and vexed him. He felt that although he bore the 
 name of king, the authority of the sovereign office was virtually 
 vested in other hands. Jealous and discontented, Charles 
 retired to Angers ; for that mysterious fascination which 
 Catherine's manner ever presented, imposed yet upon her un- 
 happy son. 
 
 The battles of Jarnac and Moncontour, and the capture of 
 St Jean d'Angely, proved to the Koman Catholics rather a sub- 
 ject for self-laudation than of profit. The miserable condition 
 of the country, the exhausted finances, the menaces of Coligny 
 and Montgommery, who were still unsubdued and powerful, the 
 threats of queen Elizabeth and the Protestant states of Europe 
 to arm for the triumph of the cause throughout France, pro- 
 duced a powerful impression on the mind of Catherine de 
 Medici. The dissensions of the court, the jealousy which 
 reigned between King Charles and his brother, and the king's 
 impatient endurance of his mother's control, all acted as warn- 
 ings to Catherine to adjust affairs while the power to do so re- 
 mained in her hands. The great nobles were disaffected ; and 
 many even professed in secret the Protestant faith, against 
 which they were called to combat. The duke de Guise, chief 
 of that race, whose fiat made or destroyed the last kings of the 
 house of Yalois, had received mortal offence in the refusal of 
 the king to bestow upon him the hand of his beautiful sister, 
 Marguerite de Valois, once the betrothed bride of Henri de 
 Navarre. To escape from the violent death, which the impru- 
 dent Charles had been rash enough to menace him with, the 
 duke hastily espoused Catherine de Cleves, 1 widow of the prince 
 of Porcien — an illustrious alliance, but one inferior to the pre- 
 tensions of the family, whose aim was to establish itself upon 
 the throne of St Louis. The quarrels of the Italian adven- 
 turers, such as Gondy, de Retz, and Birague, who followed 
 Catherine into Prance, and whom the queen had forced into 
 the ranks of the French nobles, then the most exclusive and 
 princely aristocracy in Europe, augmented the embarrassments 
 of the realm. Peace had now become necessary for a season to 
 
 1 Catherine de Cleves, comtesse d'Eu, second daughter of the duke de 
 Nevers and Marguerite de Bourbon, the sister of Antoine king of Navarre. 
 She espoused Antoine de Croy, prince de Porcien, a famed Huguenot leader. 
 The prince died in 1564, making, it is recorded, as his last request, that his 
 young and wealthy widow would refrain from bestowing her hand upon his 
 enemy, Honri due de Guise, in case she was solicited to do so, as the prince 
 predicted would be the case.
 
 331 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBKET. 
 
 Catheriue de Medici ; and she felt neither shame nor reluctance 
 in being the first to propose negotiations. 
 
 Michel de Castelnau, seigneur de la Mauvissiere, whose 
 dexterous tact had so often opposed with success the diplomacy 
 of the English cabinet, was the agent chosen by the queen to 
 effect her project. Castelnau was, therefore, despatched to La 
 Kochelle, to demand in the queen's name admission to the 
 presence of Jeanne d'Albret, whom all parties recognized as 
 the chief and representative of the Huguenot cause. His mis- 
 sion occurred in December of the year 1569. Castelnau readily 
 obtained audience: he was commissioned by Catherine to re- 
 present to Jeanue d'Albret, " that her Majesty desired to be 
 affectionately commended to the queen of Navarre ; secondly, 
 that being well disposed to promote her interest and repose, as 
 well as that of the country at large, the queen promised to ob- 
 tain from the king her son, favourable terms of peace for the 
 queen of Navarre, and for her adherents, provided that, acting 
 like good, loyal, and dutiful subjects, they woul'd petition his 
 Majesty, and present for his acceptance reasonable articles of 
 accommodation." 1 
 
 Feeling much astonishment at this overture, Jeanne replied 
 with caution ; after tendering her thanks for queen Catherine's 
 expressions of friendship, she added, " that she was herself 
 inspired with a most ardent desire for the success of the over- 
 ture of peace, which it had pleased her Majesty, the queen- 
 mother, to make." She then boldly expressed to Castelnau her 
 distrust of the court, and her doubts that any sincere desire for 
 peace could be entertained, while the cardinal de Lorraine 
 remained in the cabinet. " At this very moment, monseigneur, 
 that you are deputed to propose to me peace, the agents of the 
 French court are at work to frustrate the attempt. Witness 
 the intrigues of the ambassador Eourquevaulx, at Madrid ; those 
 of the emissaries of the cardinal de Lorraine, in Rome ; the 
 secret intelligences which the court maintains with the duke of 
 Alba ! They have also stirred up a faction to revolt in the 
 realm of England, to prevent any assistance from that quarter 
 being afforded to us ! " Jeanne, having thus expressed her 
 sentiments and asserted her disbelief in the sincerity of Cathe- 
 rine's overtures, abruptly brought the couference to a con- 
 clusion by saying, "that she would despatch a courier to the 
 army of the Princes, with information of her Majesty's conde- 
 scending overture ; that they might forthwith draw up articles 
 embodying their just demands, the which she would forward 
 1 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 7, chap. x.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 335 
 
 without delay to tue court." 1 The array lay in the neighbour- 
 hood of Toulouse, when Jeanne's envoy, the baron de Beauvoir, 
 reached this camp. At a council, hastily summoned, the princes, 
 with Coligny and Montgommery, drew up this memorial, which 
 stated, "that the queen of Navarre, the princes, and the 
 Huguenots generally, supplicated his Majesty to grant them 
 the unrestricted exercise of their religion everywhere throughout 
 the kingdom ; to annul all legal proceedings against them ; to 
 give his royal assent and countenance to all enterprises under- 
 taken by them, within or without the limits of the realm ; 
 with the unconditional restitution of their estates, honours, 
 and dignities." Upon these conditions, the princes declared 
 themselves willing to lay down arms and to make submission 
 to the king. 2 The document was forwarded to La Eochelle, 
 for the sanction of the queen. Jeanne confirmed it without 
 hesitation ; and she despatched de Beauvoir, and Teligny, son- 
 in-law of Coligny, to convey it to their Majesties, who were 
 then sojourning at Angers. 
 
 The anger of queen Catherine was extreme. The demands 
 of Coligny and his captains seemed almost ironical, in the 
 extent of the concessions prayed for. The king at once rejected 
 the ultimatum of the princes : yet Catherine still hoped to 
 impose on the queen of Navarre, by the plausible gloss which 
 no one knew better than herself how to impart to a document 
 of state. The marshal de Biron and the seigneur de Mesmea 
 were, therefore, instructed to proceed to La Eochelle, and 
 inform the queen of Navarre of the rejection of the memorial 
 sent by the princes ; and to offer, in the name of the king, the 
 following terms : first, that his Majesty was willing to permit 
 the private exercise of the Calvinist faith, and to guarantee his 
 royal protection to its adherents. He consented, moreover, to 
 cede to his Protestant subjects two towns of the realm, where 
 they might worship as seemed good to them, without molesta- 
 tion ; his Majesty reserving to himself the right of nominating 
 the governor of such towns, so ceded. The king, also, promised 
 the restoration of their wealth, houses, and dignities, provided 
 that the Huguenots dispersed, and retired to their respective 
 homes within a given period. 3 The queen of Navarre coldly 
 remarked, that the response of the court was what she had 
 expected, and consistent with its disastrous policy. The marshal 
 then proceeded to the camp of the admiral at St Etienne de 
 
 1 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 7, chap. x. 
 • Davila. De Thou. Aubigne. 
 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 7. Be Thou, liv. 47.
 
 336 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 Porets. Coligny, still suffering from the severe wound he had 
 received at Moncoutour, greeted the envoy with his accustomed 
 sang-froid. He replied to the communication, by observing, 
 " that to induce the council of the king to do justice to his 
 Majesty's subjects of the reformed faith, it was evidently 
 necessary that the army should approach the gates of Paris, so 
 that the court might personally experience some of the miseries 
 and horrors of Avar." 1 Although Jeanne never believed in the 
 sincerity of the court, she yet conceived it her duty to promote 
 the conclusion of peace by every means in her power. She, 
 therefore, addressed a letter to Charles, setting forth the rea- 
 sons which ought to induce him to condescend to the demands 
 of his Protestant subjects. At the same time, she wrote to 
 Catherine, to decline to interfere with the measures adopted by 
 her lieutenants in Beam, in respect to the baron de Luxe. 
 Catherine had been requested to mediate between Jeanne and 
 her turbulent subject, by the baron de Lansac, whose daughter 2 
 de Luxe had espoused. The letter of the baron is curious and 
 peremptory ; and he alludes with great asperity to the proceed- 
 ings of the queen of Navarre. He writes thus : 
 
 THE BARON DE LANSAC TO QUEEN CATHERINE 
 
 DE MEDICI. 
 " Madame, 
 
 " Understanding that M. de Villeroy is about to visit your Ma- 
 jesties, 3 I have requested him to remind you (before the conclusion of 
 a treaty of peace with the Huguenots, a thing greatly to be desired 
 by your Majesty, and by all your faithful, subjects) of the claims of 
 poor monsieur de Luxe, and of those of his party, who, out of respect 
 and obedience to your commands, have sacrificed their persons and 
 friends. I assure you, madame, that this loyal service has already 
 cost my son-in-law, M. de Luxe, more than the sum of 50,000 livres ; 
 moreover, if he is bereaved of your potent protection, and abandoned 
 to the discretion of the queen of Navarre, the best he can expect is 
 the loss of his life, and of whatever property he may still possess. _ I 
 very humbly, therefore, beseech your Majesty to take pity upon him, 
 and not forget his case. I pray you also to remember, madame, that 
 in obedience to your command, I bestowed upon him my daughter. 
 I write, therefore, in certain hope that your Majesty will not consent 
 that M. de Luxe should be put to shame and ruined for having only 
 too faithfully obeyed your command : it would, moreover, afford a 
 precedent most pernicious to your service. 
 
 1 Mem. de Castelnau, liv. 7. De Thou, liv. 47. 
 
 2 Claude de St Gelais. 
 
 3 The court was sojourning at Chateaubriand, "pour prendre le plaisir de 
 la chasse, et se dormer du bon temps."
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 337 
 
 "Madame, I pray God to grant you good and perfect health, 
 with a long and prosperous life. 
 
 "From Paris this 1st day of April, 1570. 
 
 " Your Majesty's humble subject, and very obedient 
 and obliged servant, 
 
 " Lansac." ' 
 
 Jeanne properly proved inexorable in her decision respect- 
 ing the baron ; for many years afterwards de Luxe led a roving 
 life, chiefly dependent for subsistence on the bounty of Philip 
 of Spain, and of his father-in-law. 
 
 The country adjacent to La Eochelle, meantime, continued 
 to be ravaged by combats between the rival factions. The 
 honours of war rested chiefly with the Huguenots, under the 
 valiant La ]S T oue. On the 12th of June, 1570, La Noue gained 
 a decisive victory over the Catholic army, commanded by Puy- 
 Gailliard, at Ste G-emme, a village close to the town of Lucon. 
 The slaughter was great ; and five hundred men, chiefly officers, 
 were left on the field of battle. La K"oue himself was 
 w r ounded by a ball, which fractured his right arm, and com- 
 pelled him to relinquish his command, and retire to La 
 Eochelle. He was welcomed with enthusiasm by Jeanne and 
 the Eochellois ; every care was lavished upon him, and his 
 sufferings were sorrowed for as a public calamity. The skill of 
 the queen's physicians, however, was exercised in vain; the 
 wound mortified — and, at length, it was announced to La ]Noue 
 that he must undergo amputation of the arm, to afford him 
 even a chance of life. This was a terrible fiat for one of the 
 bravest warriors of France. For long, La Noue refused to 
 submit to the operation ; preferring, as he declared, to die 
 rather than to accept of existence, a maimed and disabled man. 
 Every hour lost in debate and entreaty increased the peril of 
 his case ; some of the friends of La Noue, therefore, appealed 
 to the queen, and besought her interference. In a brief 
 space of time Jeanne stood by the bedside of the wounded 
 man, consoling his grief, and gently chiding his impatience. 
 "Valiant La Noue," exclaimed the queen, "ought you to 
 hesitate in this matter ? If you refuse to yield to the en- 
 treaties of your friends, your death is certain, and you are lost 
 for ever to our cause, to our brothers-in-arras, and to the faith 
 which you have maintained by your courage, and honoured by 
 your virtue. If, on the contrary, you consent to follow the 
 advice of men skilled in their art ; if you will heed the voice of 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. — Inedited. This letter affords very convincing evidence 
 of Catherine's intelligence with queen Jeanne's rebel subjects. 
 
 22
 
 338 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 friendship, and the demands of duty, the precious life maj 
 perhaps be spared, which serves as an example to our warriors, 
 and a support to our holy cause. Beloved La Noue, a hero so 
 dear to his country and to his friends, ought, when in peril, 
 to welcome every ray of hope ; if after all he succumbs, he 
 carries with him to the tomb the consciousness of having ful- 
 filled his duty to the last ! " 
 
 Vanquished by the words, and by the emotion manifested 
 by his beloved mistress, La Noue promised to afflict her no 
 longer by his refusals ; and he signified his intention of sub- 
 mitting himself to the knife of the surgeons. A sign from the 
 queen brought the latter to La Noue's couch. Jeanne, with 
 her own hands, then tenderly laid bare the wound, and with 
 heroic fortitude she supported the arm whilst the surgeon per- 
 formed the operation, encouraging the sufferer the while with 
 words of cheering comfort. 1 In after life, when La Noue re- 
 counted the act of devoted sympathy which he had received 
 from the queen of Navarre, tears of profound emotion rose ; 
 his gratitude was unbounded ; and manifested itself by num- 
 berless acts of loyal service. During La Noue's convalescence, 
 the queen continued her friendly care ; she sought out a 
 famous machinist, who fabricated an iron arm, ingeniously 
 contrived, so that La Noue was enabled to guide his horse. 
 From thenceforth he acquired the appellation of La Noue Bras 
 de fer. 
 
 Soon after the combat of Ste Gemme, the queen one day 
 quitted La Rochelle, and proceeded for change of air and exer- 
 cise to a place called La Font, about half a league from the city, 
 intending to spend a night there. Some unknown reason, after 
 her arrival, however, induced her to return in the evening to 
 the safe shelter of La Rochelle ; and very fortunate, as it 
 proved, was her decision. One of the emissaries of Puy-Gail- 
 liard, who was defeated at Ste Gemme by La Noue, informed 
 that officer of Jeanne's intended sortie. Burning to wipe away 
 the disgrace of defeat, Gailliard quitted St Jean d'Angely, 
 Avhere he had taken refuge after the combat, and marched dur- 
 ing the night upon La Font, with a body of seven hundred 
 cavalry, intending to surprise and capture the queen. When 
 Gailliard arrived at La Lout, Jeanne was abiding in safety 
 within the citadel of La Rochelle ; but the attempt, though 
 frustrated, confirmed the queen and the Huguenot party in 
 their opinion of the perfidious designs of the court. No faith, 
 as queen Jeanne observed, could be reposed in the honour of 
 
 1 Moyse Amyrant — Vie de La Noue.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBEET. 339 
 
 Catherine de Medici; at the time when most deluding by her 
 blandishments and apparent frankness, the queen designed to 
 prevail by craft or by sudden violence. Even when she professed 
 an earnest desire for peace and unity, and tried to accomplish 
 the object, she secretly abetted measures to overthrow the party 
 she avowed a wish to conciliate. This incident made a deep 
 impression upon Jeanne d'Albret, and she never subsequently 
 quitted the walls of La Eochelle without sufficient escort. 
 
 The princes, meantime, continued their victorious route, tra- 
 versing the provinces of Languedoc, Gascogne, Dauphine, Cham- 
 pagne, and Burgundy, without meeting an obstacle to check 
 the ravages of their troops. They left the country behind them 
 burned ; the inhabitants decimated ; the churches destroyed ; 
 and the towns deserted and battered. The marshal de Cosse 
 was despatched to oppose their progress ; he effected nothing ; 
 and on the 25th of June, the admiral encamped his army at 
 Arnay-le-Due, and prepared to offer combat. The panic was 
 overwhelming in Paris ; all subordination was at an end ; the 
 people prepared to flee from the capital, as on the memorable 
 advance of Charles V. to Epernay, in the reign of Francis I. 
 Catherine, dejected, yet beside herself with rage and meditated 
 revenge, perceived then that nothing but the apparent con- 
 cession of the king to the demands of the Huguenots could 
 save the capital ; or relieve her government from its embarrass- 
 ments. 
 
 So efficiently had Catherine's policy of extermination served 
 her, that there'now remained two only of the numerous rival 
 claimants for power, who had beset her sou's throne on his ac- 
 cession. These two personages were the queen of Navarre 
 and the admiral de Coligny. That the peace which the court 
 now found itself compelled to grant was conceded under the 
 firm intent of renewing hostilities ou the first favourable oppor- 
 tunity cannot be questioned ; the same spirit of dissimulation, 
 and the same intent, inspired Catherine, when she signed the 
 peace of Orleans, in 1563, and that of Longjumeau, or Char- 
 tres, in 1568. The plan of a general massacre of the Hugue- 
 not chieftains had, at this period, certainly been discussed in 
 detail by the queen and the Spanish conned, through the duke 
 of Alba. The design, however, though it existed in theory, 
 had received no definite realization. It was afterwards execut- 
 ed on the fatal eve of St Bartholomew. 157.!. on a sudden im- 
 pulse, arising from an imaginary peril, and before its different 
 details had received the requisite organization. The atrocious 
 deed, therefore, like most of the schemes of the cabinet pre- 
 sided over by Catherine de Medici, though fraught with blood-
 
 340 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 shed and woe, failed to accomplish the object of its unscrupul- 
 ous originators. Above all, the massacre realized not the secret 
 objects aimed at by Catherine de Medici. The destruction of 
 the enemies of the Church of Rome was not the design do- 
 minating in the mind of the queen when she sanctioned the 
 persecution of the Huguenots, but the overthrow of the great 
 political party, professing liberal opinions, civil and religious, 
 headed by the prince of .Navarre. Astrology was the only 
 revelation implicitly believed in by the niece of two pontiffs, 
 Leo X. and Clement VII. It had been predicted to Catherine, 
 by every professor of the occult sciences, whom her fears led her 
 to consult, that Henry, the son of Jeanne d'Albret, would 
 triumphantly ascend the throne of the Valois. Catherine now 
 beheld prince Henry at the head of an army of indomitable 
 valour, commanded by able chieftains, who, after two nominal 
 defeats, at Jarnac and Moncontour, yet rallied in renewed vigour, 
 and marched through 300 leagues of country, garrisoned by the 
 flower of the French army, and encamped only sixty miles from 
 the gates of Paris ! Catherine dreaded lest the heir of her 
 hated rival should despoil her own luxurious and incompetent 
 sons of their kingly heritage, rather than that the authority 
 of the see of Rome should falter. More than this, Charles IX. 
 had prohibited the duke d'Anjou, with a vehemence bordering 
 on frenzy, from assuming any command whatever over his 
 armies, in case the war continued. Another acute pang thence- 
 forth agitated the heart of the ambitious Catherine ; for she 
 foresaw that the general of the royal army, whom the king in- 
 sisted on nominating of his own unbiassed will, in case of the 
 successful conduct of the war, would at once become her for- 
 midable and dangerous rival. 
 
 The envoys of the queen of Navarre, Teligni, the baron 
 Beauvoir, la Noue, Cavagnes, and la Chassetiere, still lingered 
 at court. Charles seemed imbued with reckless indifference, as 
 to the conduct of the war and his mother's proceedings. He 
 hunted in the dense forests which then covered the province of 
 Bretagne — for his Majesty was then the guest of the count de 
 Chateaubriand, — he played at tennis sometimes for four hours 
 together. His sarcasms on his brother's battles of Jarnac 
 and Moncontour, and his allusions to the superiority of the 
 Huguenot chieftains over his own generals, alarmed the queen. 
 She knew that this carelessness of demeanour concealed feelings 
 of poignant irritation, which needed but one trivial incitement 
 to break forth with fury, and overwhelm every supposed, as 
 well as existing, impediment to the prosperity of his realm. 
 Catheriue knew her son too well to doubt that if the will pos-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 341 
 
 sessed him, no consideration for herself, or for his brothers, 
 would prevent Charles from installing the queen of Navarre, 
 and her party, in the highest posts of the realm. She recoiled 
 repeatedly under Charles's taunting allusions to the superiority 
 of the young Henri de Navarre — his abilities, frankness, and 
 principles: — to Ins own brothers, whom Catherine had trained 
 in the arts of servile expediency and treachery. " Henry alone 
 of my royal House loves me, and I love him," were often known 
 to be the concluding words of many conferences, alter which, 
 Charles, his lips pale and trembling with rage, quitted his 
 mother's cabinet. Maddened frequently by Catherine's sar- 
 casms, and by the suspicions which she infused into his mind, 
 the unfortunate Charles, believing himself surrounded by trai- 
 tors and assassins, fled from his miserable thoughts, cursing the 
 destiny which had made him a king, and sought refuge in in- 
 temperate and dissolute pleasures. For several days consecu- 
 tively, when under the influence of this dark speil, he would 
 ride frantically from forest to forest, in pursuit of the boar ; 
 his features sunken and of leaden hue, his brow contracted, 
 and his eyes expressive of such concentrated fury, that when 
 in these moods, no one — not even his mother herself, dared to 
 accost him. After one of these paroxysms, the reaction too 
 surely came: the unhappy Charles, exhausted in body and 
 mentally spent, lamenting, and too often vainly, the deeds per- 
 petrated during his period of insensate fury, became an easy 
 victim to the wiles oi the party dominant at court. 
 
 The peace, therefore, when it became queen Catherine's 
 will to negotiate it, was soon adjusted. The plenipotentiaries 
 appointed by king Charles were Henri de Mesmes, seigneur 
 de Eoissy, count de Malassise, and the marshal de Biron. 1 The 
 articles were as follows : permission was guaranteed to the 
 Huguenots to celebrate their worship, publicly, in the faux- 
 bourgs of two towns in every province throughout the realm. 
 Every individual was declared to be at liberty to profess the 
 reformed faith, without dread of persecution. The Huguenots 
 were to be admitted, upon equal rights with their Eomau Ca- 
 tholic fellow-subjects, to partake in the benefit of all public 
 institutions ; they were likewise declared eligible to fill every 
 post in the state. The king engaged to publish a general 
 amnesty for all past offences ; aud to declare the queen of 
 Navarre, her son, and the prince of Conde, his loyal and faith- 
 ful subjects. All estates confiscated were to be restored. The 
 
 1 This peace was wittily nicknamed " Paix Boiteuse et Malassise," from 
 the two royal plenipotentiaries who concluded it, Biron, who was lame, and 
 de Mesmes, sei«neur de Malassise.
 
 342 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 king, moreover, permitted his Protestant subjects of the south 
 to appeal from the judgment of the parliament of Toulouse, 
 hitherto irrevocable, to his Majesty's Masters of Bequest. 
 Finally, the king consented to permit the Huguenots to retain 
 possession of the towns of La Rochelle, Cognac, Charite, and 
 Montauban — conquests achieved by their arms — on condition 
 that the princes of Navarre and Conde, with forty of the Hu- 
 guenot chieftains, bound themselves to restore these towns to 
 the crown of France, two years after the faithful execution of 
 this edict of pacification." 
 
 " A peace of such a nature," says the Jesuit Maimbourg, 
 approvingly, "was not in reality contemplated by Catherine 
 de Medici. This princess had her designs in reserve ; and she 
 only granted the Huguenots their demands in order to disarm 
 them, and to surprise those on whom she desired to be revenged, 
 and specially the admiral, on the first favourable opportunity." 
 
 The parliament confirmed the edict three days after it had 
 received the royal assent, at St Germain. 1 It was conveyed by 
 Teligny to the camp of the princes, and published there, on the 
 11th of August, 1570. The baron Beauvoir, La None, and La 
 Chassetiere, secretary to the prince of Navarre, departed with 
 the edict for La Rochelle. The queen of Navarre received 
 these, the concessions extorted from the fears of Catherine de 
 Medici, with distrust and reluctance. Jeanne unerringly read 
 the mind and actions of queen Catherine : she knew that the 
 latter never forgave those whom she feared. " Can the queen, 
 who has never pardoned, pardon me ? " exclaimed she to the 
 admiral, when, some months after, Coligny pressed her to repair 
 to the court. Jeanne looked upon a peace so concluded — con- 
 cessions indignantly rejected three months previously, and 
 accepted at the present time without protest — as a calamity 
 presaging darker malice. The temper of the Huguenot army, 
 nevertheless, was decidedly adverse to a prolongation of the 
 contest, now that toleration for their faith had been virtually 
 conceded. As Frenchmen, they deplored the lamentable con- 
 dition to which their country was reduced ; as husbands, 
 fathers, and masters, but one feeling actuated the bosom of both 
 chieftains and soldiers, — that of being restored to their families, 
 and to their homes. The peace, therefore, was proclaimed with 
 great solemnities, in the grand square of the citadel of La 
 Rochelle, in the presence of queen J eanne and her court, on the 
 26th day of August, 1570. The queen's chaplain, Le Nord, 
 then read prayers, and offered the accustomed admonition to 
 the people. The guns on the ramparts were fired ; the bells of 
 
 1 Journal de Brulart
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 343 
 
 the churches pealed ; the people uttering hearty vivas for king 
 Charles, the queen of Navarre, and her gallant son. 1 The 
 following day, all things resumed their accustomed gloom in 
 La Kochelle, as if no tidings of peace had roused a thrill of 
 joy in the breast of its warlike citizens. The queen, unhappy 
 and pre-occupied, refrained from showing herself in public. A 
 thousand fears and anxieties distracted Jeanne's mind: for the 
 confederacy of the princes and their allies dissolved, her son, 
 at the mercy of the court, would have no resource, save in his 
 mother's energy and foresight. Not the least of Jeanne's 
 care, was the fact that her suspicions of the good faith of the 
 court, and her forebodings for the future, were lightly regarded 
 by Coligny. Ever sanguine, the admiral persisted in his 
 opiuion, that it was the secret resolve of the young kiug to 
 place himself at the head of a powerful party of the Huguenot 
 faction, and by their support to emancipate himself from the 
 control of his mother and her favourites. Jeanne understood 
 better the stormy passions, and the chaos of conflicting feelings 
 of good and evil preponderance, which agitated the mind of the 
 miserable Charles. She had seen him goaded to anger, almost 
 insensate, against the very men whom, in reality, he respected 
 and loved. For the Huguenots, therefore, to place their confi- 
 dence in the favour of such a sovereign, Jeanne knew to be 
 both delusive and perilous. 
 
 Four days after the publication of the edict of pacification, 
 Jeanne addressed a letter of congratulation to king Charles, 
 whom she regarded with feelings of sincere commiseration. 
 Its tenor shows that when she deemed it requisite the sage 
 Jeanne d'Albret could abound in phrases of politic compliment. 
 
 QUEEN JEANXE TO CHARLES IX. 
 
 " MoNSETGNEUR, 
 
 "I cannot express to your Majesty the general satisfaction, and 
 pleasure which has resulted from the publication of the peace, that it 
 has pleased God, and you, sire, to give to us. We all place our only 
 hope in your goodness, and your prudence, that the effect of this ; 
 your said edict, will increase the joy which inspires every one here, 
 and unite your humble and obedient subjects in piety and justice un- 
 der the authority of your sceptre ; the which, sire, will render your 
 Majesty's reign happy, long, and prosperous, under the favour and 
 blessing of God, the mighty King of kings. Having expressed to 
 your Majesty the content which actuates every one, I will now attempt 
 to describe my own satisfaction, which for many reasons is infinite ; 
 but more especially from the intimation which it has pleased you, sire, 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. Favyn, liv. 14.
 
 344 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 to make to me, of your confidence and trust in my loyal fidelity to 
 your crown, the which gracious hope on your part, monseigneur, I 
 promise never to disappoint. Monsieur le Premier ' will doubtless 
 have informed you, monseigneur, of the pleasure and content written 
 on every face ; and what great joy the fortunate results of his holy 
 and much desired negotiation has given to all. He will also impart 
 to you divers especial matters, which my duty to you, sire, urged me 
 to confide. I will also humbly pray your Majesty to accept my 
 words as arising from the hearty desire which inspires me to honour 
 and obey you. Monseigneur, I have already satisfactorily replied to 
 that which you commanded the sieur de Beauvoir to say to me on 
 your behalf, the which was confirmed to me by Monsieur le Premier. 
 I will not, therefore, allude more to this subject except to beseech 
 your Majesty to do me the honour to believe that you have no sub- 
 ject or servant within this realm over whom you exercise more influ- 
 ence ; and who is inspired with greater desire to devote everything 
 to your service than her, who having commended herself to your fa- 
 vour, supplicates that the Almighty will augment His blessings, and 
 bestow upon you, a long and happy life. 
 
 " From La Rochelle, this 30th day of August. 
 
 " Your very humble, and very obedient aunt and subject, 
 
 " Jeanne." 2 
 
 If Charles's ambassadors had taken note of the demeanour 
 of the Bochellois, their report, if truthfully made, must have 
 informed his Majesty, that despite his edict, and queen Jeanne's 
 exaggerated expressions, no cordiality or trust existed between 
 the two recently reconciled factions. The gates of La Eochelle 
 were not the less guarded; nor, even in the interior of the 
 town, nor in the port and quays, were there signs of abated 
 activity. Warlike stores continued to arrive, and to be accepted 
 with alacrity. The princes, and Coligny, Montgommery, Te- 
 ligny, and the count Louis of Nassau, after having taken leave 
 of count Wolrad Mansfeld and the German mercenaries at 
 Langres, instead of availing themselves of the eager invitation 
 of the king to visit St Germain, repaired to the court of the 
 queen of Navarre. The sombre suspicion which weighed upon 
 all, was not diminished when it was known that Philip II. had 
 offered to the king a force of three thousand horse, and six 
 thousand infantry, " provided that the king engaged never to 
 make peace with the heretic rebels of his realm." 3 Couriers 
 almost daily arrived at La Eochelle, bringing letters from 
 Catherine to the queen of Navarre, containing pressing invit- 
 
 1 Probably the queen alludes to M. de Biron, the king's chief envoy for the 
 negotiation of the peace with the Huguenots. 
 
 2 Bibl. Roy. MS. F. de Dupuy, 209—211. fol. 44.— Inedited. 
 
 3 Mem. de Casteluau, liv. 7.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 315 
 
 ations ; and filled with expressions of esteem and friendship. 
 The particular occasion upon which Catherine desired to 
 welcome the queen and her son, was during the festivities to 
 he holden at court in celebration of the nuptials of Charles 
 IX. with Elizabeth, daughter of the emperor Maximilian II. 
 Jeanne never relinquished the idea that Catherine wished 
 to deprive her of liberty, or to obtain some ungenerous advan- 
 tage, by the warmth with which she solicited her presence 
 at court. The king had, as yet, very imperfectly executed the 
 clauses of the edict of pacification. The Huguenots were not 
 molested in the exercise of their religion within the bounds 
 prescribed ; but massacres of these unfortunate people still 
 occasionally occurred ; and these outrages the law took no 
 paius to avenge. Queen Jeanne, therefore, excused herself 
 from being present at Charles's espousals. She alleged the 
 unsettled condition of the country ; " for," said Jeanne, 
 " the populace, excited by the past troubles, will not willingly 
 see me travel attended by a numerous escort of armed men ; 
 Avhile the state of the roads, infested by banditti, permits me 
 not to attempt the journey surrounded only by my ordinary 
 suite." 1 
 
 The prolonged sojourn of the queen and the princes at La 
 Eochelle gave inteuse umbrage to the court. Catherine was 
 determined to compel the Huguenots to quit their refuge, or 
 at any rate to assume a less menacing attitude. Charles, on 
 his part, did all in his power to reassure them, whether sincere- 
 ly or otherwise can never be solved. He frequently corre- 
 sponded with Coligny, using towards the veteran admiral the 
 most endearing and filial expressions ; he publicly reprimanded 
 the duke d'Anjou for the caustic malice which he evinced 
 towards the Protestant party ; and he repressed Catherine's 
 enterprises. The king frequently exclaimed, " that he was 
 sickened of war ; and that he had been deceived in all that 
 related to his good subjects, the Huguenots." Yet Charles 
 jested, played, threatened, and cajoled, without once giving 
 satisfactory demonstration of the sincerity of his placable in- 
 tention towards his persecuted subjects. " Sire," said the 
 admiral, in a letter written to the king, " to inspire your sub- 
 jects with confidence and faith in your gracious intentions, it 
 is necessary that you should yourself set the example of ob- 
 serving your own edict. Show to your courtiers that you are 
 resolved to punish its infringement, even by those nearest to 
 you." 
 
 It was at length determined to send the marshal de Cosse 
 
 1 Yauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii.
 
 346 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 to La Boehelle to seek another interview with, the queen, to 
 learn from her Majesty's own lips why she refused to proceed 
 to court. Catherine, at the same time, with that incredible 
 disregard of policy and combination apparent in most of her 
 schemes, commanded the marquis de Villars, the king's lieu- 
 tenant in Guyenne, to advance towards La Eochelle with the 
 army under his command. Cosse was, likewise, commissioned 
 to sound the disposition of queen Jeanne as to a renewal of the 
 alliance once proposed between her son and Marguerite de 
 Valois, the king's sister. Catherine's political art shone con- 
 spicuously in the faculty which she possessed of governing in- 
 dividuals by a subtle adaptation of her schemes to their beset- 
 ting passions. She knew that the legitimate aggrandizement 
 of her idolized son was the ruling motive of many of Jeanne's 
 actions ; hence, therefore, her offer of bestowing her daughter 
 on the son of the princess whose interests had clashed with, 
 and in many instances marred her own, from the earliest period 
 of her arrival in France. The queen, likewise, knew that the 
 project which monopolized the chivalrous spirit of Coligny, 
 was a campaign in Flanders to assist the Protestants against 
 their persecutor, the duke of Alba ; and to re-establish the 
 prince of Orange and his brother, the count de Nassau, in their 
 estates and dignities. Catherine, therefore, commanded Cosse 
 gravely to discuss the possibility of this expedition with 
 Coligny ; while she secretly derided the credulity which could 
 accord credit to any project so chimerical as a rupture between 
 the court of France and its trusted ally the Spanish king. 
 
 The marshal de Cosse was introduced into the presence of 
 the queen, whom he found surrounded by many goodly person- 
 ages and learned ministers. He unfolded his errand, com- 
 mencing by some complimentary allusions, to which the queen 
 replied in a few apt and courteous words. Cosse than ha- 
 rangued the queen at length on the subject of his mission. In 
 eloquent language he assured Jeanne of the desire of their Ma- 
 jesties to see her at court ; and of their anxiety to accomplish 
 the marriage between her son and madame Marguerite. The 
 queen commanded the sieur de la Proutiere to reply, and to 
 state to his Majesty's ambassadors the grievances which yet 
 prevented the cordial co-operation of the Huguenots for the 
 restoration of peace. The complaints personal to herself, 
 which Jeanne had directed Proutiere to make, were — that the 
 king still retained her town of Lectoure, the capital of her 
 county of Armagnac ; and that the marquis de Yillars, lieu- 
 tenant of Gruyenne, of which province her son was governor, 
 conducted himself with such arrogance, that he refused to ac-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 347 
 
 knowledge his subordination to the prince of Navarre. Jeanne, 
 therefore, prayed that the marquis might be removed from bis 
 office. She then desired La Proutiere to inquire whether the 
 king bad anything to allege against his Huguenot subjects? 
 Cosse replied in the affirmative, and declared that bis Majesty 
 was highly dissatisfied on the two following points; namely, that 
 the Protestant faction bad not disbanded its forces, but main- 
 tained an army efficient, and strong enough to garrison the 
 Pavs d' Aunis ; secondly, that the queen of Navarre, the princes, 
 and Huguenot chieftains, obstinately remained in the town 
 of La Pioehelle, in despite of bis Majesty's cordial invitation 
 to them to repair near to his royal person. 1 Jeanne, upon 
 this, replied with great presence of mind, before the sieur de 
 la Proutiere could collect himself sufficiently to make response, 
 " that a month previously, there were no troops in La Pochelle ; 
 but, haviug been advertised that both Cosse himself and the 
 marquis de Yillars were advancing, each at the head of a con- 
 siderable force, she had, therefore, thought it expedient to 
 prepare, if necessary, for a vigorous defence. The troops so 
 gathered," the queen assured Cosse, " would be dismissed as 
 soon as those of de Yillars retired from the vicinity of La 
 Eocbelle." 2 The queen then requested the marshal de Cosse 
 to negotiate the recall of the chancellor de l'Hopital ; and to 
 ask, in her name, for the exile of the princes of Guise, the 
 rigid maintenance of the edict, and the recognition of her 
 sovereign rights over the county of Foix. The queen added, 
 '• that if it pleased his Majesty to grant these requests it would 
 be the means of removing every particle of distrust from the 
 minds of his Huguenot subjects of every degree." Kespectinsj; 
 the proposed marriage between the prince of Navarre and 
 madame Marguerite de France, Jeanne declared herself unable 
 to reply to so important a demand in the absence of her son, 
 who was then sojourning in Beam. To gain time, however, 
 the queen consented to nominate deputies to treat on all these 
 matters at court. She, accordingly, accredited thither, M.M. 
 de la Proutiere, de Beauvoir, Teligny, Briquemaut, and Cavag- 
 nes. These deputies accompanied Cosse, Avho took leave of 
 the queen on New Year's Day, 1571. 3 
 
 Jeanne's envoys were received by the king and his mother 
 with marked consideration. Charles himself condescended to 
 grant them personal audience, instead of receiving a resume of 
 
 1 Mem. de FEtat de France sous Charles IX., p. 40, t. i. 
 8 Ibid. Tavannes. 
 
 3 Instructions donnees par la Royne de Navarre au capitaine Lalaine 
 pourctre lus aux Etats de Beam. Archives Imperiales, K. 129G. — Inedited.
 
 348 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 
 
 their mission through a secretary of state. The king expatiated 
 much upon the advantages likely to result from the alliance 
 between the houses of Valois and Albret. He said that he was 
 resolved to bestow his sister's hand on "son bonfrere, Henri,''' 
 to whom she had been virtually betrothed by his royal father ; 
 " et qu'il vouloit par ce moyen marier en quelque maniere les 
 deux religions.'''' As for the exile of the princes of Guise, 
 Charles exclaimed, with an oath, "that he would dispose of 
 them as he chose." " Am I not king and master here ? These 
 Guises hold offices under my crown ; but they do not control 
 my pleasure. Subjects they are ; and I will compel them to 
 conform to my commandments. Say to my good aunt, that 
 more than this I cannot now promise." Charles promised to 
 restore the town of Lectoure to the queen ; and, at the re- 
 quest of the deputies, he nominated commissioners to proceed 
 to Rouen and to Orange, to investigate the origin of the 
 massacres perpetrated since the promulgation of the edict, 
 and to punish the aggressors. 1 He also granted his royal sanc- 
 tion for the convocation of a synod of ministers in La Ro- 
 chelle, as a voluntary act of grace, which the king said he 
 knew would be agreeable to his aunt. To demonstrate, more- 
 over, his desire to favour even the hidden adherents of the 
 Huguenots, Charles announced his intention of spending some 
 days at Chantilly, with the marshal de Montmorency, who had 
 fallen somewhat in disfavour with Catherine, from a suspicion 
 that the proscribed tenets were not so abhorrent to the marshal 
 as she could have desired. In short, nothing could exceed the 
 king's gracious affability, and his apparent desire to conciliate 
 the Protestant party. Still, however, Jeanne believed not, nor 
 trusted ; her confidence had been broken ; her experience, and 
 the misfortunes of her life, rendered her incredulous, despite 
 the protestations of the court. 
 
 During the month of February, 1571, the court of Jeanne 
 d'Albret was enlivened by unwonted festivity, on the occasion 
 of the marriage of the admiral de Coligny with Jacqueline de 
 Montbel, coinptesse d'Entremont, widow of the baron d'Anthon, 
 who was killed at the battle of Dreux. Coligny had lost his first 
 wife, Charlotte de Laval, several years previously ; while the 
 fame of his exploits and virtues had made an ineffaceable im- 
 pression on the heart of madame d'Entremont. This lady was a 
 subject of the duke de Savoye, and one of the richest heiresses 
 of his dominions. As she made no attempt to conceal her ad- 
 miration of the admiral, and her ultimate intention to offer him 
 
 1 Mezeray, Abbrt'g. Chrou. Vie de Charles IX.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 319 
 
 the band which so many nobles contended for in vain, duke 
 Emmanuel Pbilibert signified his disapprobation of her project 
 of allying herself with a rebel vassal of the French crown ; and 
 commanded her to accept the proposals of one of her own coun- 
 trymen, a nobleman in his suite. Jacqueline boldly refused ; 
 and, despite the duke's avowed intent of sequestrating her vast 
 estates, in case of disobedience, she quitted Savoy on the con- 
 clusion of peace, and repairing to La Eochelle, placed herself 
 under the protection of queen Jeanne, " inspired," as Davila 
 says, "with an ardent longing to become the Martia of her 
 modern Cato." The duke de Savoye fulfilled his threat, and 
 confiscated the domains of Entremont. Nevertheless, the mar- 
 riage between the countess and Coligny was celebrated in the 
 presence of the queen of Navarre. In her marriage contract, 
 Jacqueline de Montbel made donation of her estates to Coligny 
 and his heirs, in case they were eventually restored ; and the 
 admiral settled upon her a jointure of 1200 livres Tournois, and 
 his beautiful castle of Chatillon. Jeanne d'Albret witnessed 
 both these transactions, and appended her signature to the 
 contract. This romantic incident, for the countess d'Entre- 
 mont and the admiral had never met before the arrival of the 
 former in La Eochelle, created great excitement and interest. 
 Coligny's valour and worth were greatly enhanced in the 
 opinion of his party, seeing that the renown alone of his virtues 
 had won for him so illustrious a bride. 1 On the same day that 
 the admiral's nuptials were solemnized, he bestowed the hand 
 of his eldest daughter Louise, on Teligny, whose wisdom and 
 moral endowments were prized by queen Jeanne. The queen 
 afterwards appointed madame de Teligny to an important office 
 in her household. 
 
 During the rejoicings which succeeded the celebration of 
 these marriages, the queen's indefatigable mind dwelt on the 
 subjects to be proposed before the approaching synod of minis- 
 ters, which she had convoked to meet in La Eochelle, on the 
 2nd day of April, 1571. The queen presided at the discus- 
 
 ' After the assassination of Coligny, his wife fled in a destitute condition 
 from France, and retired into Savoy. On the 21st of December, 1572, a few 
 months after her widowhood, she gave birth to a daughter, Beatrice de Co- 
 ligny, at St Andre de Brior The unfortunate countess in vain pleaded for 
 the restitution of her noble patrimony ; duke Emmanuel proved inexorable to 
 her prayers ; and soon she was cast into prison, under a shameful charge of 
 " sorcellerie, de magie, et de partes avec le Diable." For many years she re- 
 mained a close prisoner, her property having been again formally confiscated. 
 After the accession of Henry IV., the court of France made earnest intercession 
 for " la veuve de Coligny ;" but before the king's representations could be of 
 avail, madame de Coligny died in her prison, after a life of unparalleled ca- 
 lamity.
 
 350 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBKET. 
 
 sions, accompanied by her sou, who returned from Pau, ex- 
 pressly to meet the assembly. By Jeanne's desire ecclesias- 
 tical discipline was restored to its primitive severity ; and the 
 ceremonial to be observed during the celebration of the Lord's 
 supper was discussed and decided. These matters occupied 
 the attention of the assembly for two days. On the fourth day 
 of April, the queen demanded of the assembly, " whether she 
 could without hurt to her conscience retain in her service the 
 Roman Catholic members of her household, provided that she 
 could not provide herself with other officers professing the re- 
 formed doctrines?" In answer to this, "says the historian, 
 recording the acts of the synod of La Rochelle," 1 her Majesty 
 was very humbly entreated to examine well who these said 
 Roman Catholic officers were, and to be served as much as pos- 
 sible by those professing her own faith, such beiug trustworthy 
 by having the fear of God. As for the Papists of her house- 
 hold, the assembly besought her Majesty to cause all such who 
 led quiet and orderly lives to be well instructed in the faith. 
 But; in respect to those traitors, once of her household, who be- 
 trayed her Majesty in her necessity, and committed unheard-of 
 cruelties during the late troubles, the synod admonished her 
 Majesty never to admit them again into any public office, 
 either in her household or appertaining to the court." Jeanne 
 approved the decision of her ministers : through her chaplain, 
 Le Nord, she thanked them for their loyal advice, to the which 
 she promised faithfully to conform. 
 
 During the session of the assembly the queen caused the 
 New Testament, translated in the Basque dialect by the minis- 
 ters assembled at La Rochelle, to be published ; for which 
 patriotic aud honourable achievement the queen publicly re- 
 ceived the thanks of the synod. Jeanne viewed the acts ot' this 
 assembly with exultation : she regarded its legal convocation as 
 the crowning point of the war she had successfully waged ; and 
 as a solemn ratification of the recent edict of pacification. 
 
 Before the assembly dispersed, the queen's deputies re- 
 turned from Paris. They announced the speedy arrival of an 
 embassy from the king to negotiate the marriage of his sister. 
 The deputies expressed their belief in the sincerity of the 
 king's expressions of good-will ; and they besought Jeanne to 
 consent to the union so ardently desired by the sovereign. 
 
 A few days subsequently, the marshal de Biron and the 
 seigneur de Quince arrived in La Rochelle, the bearers of more 
 distinct overtures on the part of his Majesty relative to his 
 
 1 Aymon, Recueil des Synodes Nationaux des Eglises Reformees dc Fiance, 
 >ii. Synode, art. 47, p. 108. La Rochelle, le 2 Avril 1571.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 351 
 
 sister's union with prince Henry ; coupled with an intimation 
 that, after all his gracious overtures and promises, the king 
 would take it exceedingly ill if the princes maintained their 
 present hostile attitude, and contumaciously refused to visit 
 the court. The perseverance of Charles and his mother in 
 making all the preliminary propositions for the alliance between 
 Henry and Marguerite appeared of most significant import to 
 Jeanne. No overtures had as yet emanated from the young 
 prince himself. The exquisite loveliness of the princess, her 
 exalted birth and rich dower, rendered Charles's eagerness the 
 more remarkable ; for why should the king persist in bestowing 
 his sister on a prince, born to fortunes, as it then appeared, so 
 mediocre, and \mworthy of the splendour of the alliance? 
 Jeanne could trace but three actuating motives. Either the 
 king was sincerely desirous to be reconciled to his Huguenot 
 subjects, and in pledge of which bestowed upon their leader 
 the brightest jewel of his house ; or he feigued to tender that 
 honour as a snare to lull their suspicions, and to lure them to 
 captivity and death. The third surmise dyed the pure cheeks 
 of Jeanne d'Alhret with shame and indignation to dwell even 
 upon its possibility. It was rumoured that the known attach- 
 ment between the princess Marguerite and the duke de Guise 
 had passed the limits of decorum, and that a secret alliance had, 
 in fact, united them. Could it, therefore, be probable that, as 
 the mad folly of the king, on discovering this liaison, had com- 
 pelled the duke de Guise to become the husband of Catherine 
 de Cleves, contrary to his inclination, that Charles, knowing his 
 sister's position, and not daring to bestow her hand upon any 
 of her kingly suitors, destined her for his vassal Henri de Na- 
 varre ? 
 
 During the first audience which she granted Biron, on the 
 subject of this marriage, the queen raised two objections which 
 she hoped might relieve her from further negotiation on the 
 unwelcome subject. She objected that the union could not be 
 accomplished on account of the nearness of kin ; and the re- 
 ligion of the parties. 
 
 Biron replied, that the king had had several conferences on 
 the subject with the papal nuncio, JSalviati ; and that his 
 Eminence was of opinion that these obstacles might easily be 
 surmounted. The marshal then represented to the queen how 
 offensive her delays were to the court ; and that the conse- 
 quences might be the restoration of the house of Guise to its 
 ancient influence in the state, and the proscription of the 
 Protestants throughout France; whereas, the proposed mar- 
 riage would for ever cement the happy union of the two factions.
 
 352 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 " The juncture, madame, is admirable ; and seems even to have 
 been created expressly by God, to assure for ever the peace of 
 the realm. Come, madame," proceed fearlessly to the court. 
 "Lo?e precious time no longer in perpetual delay — in irresolu- 
 tions, especially humiliating to his Majesty ; inasmuch as no 
 reason can be assigned for such excess of distrust." He then 
 represented the charms and graces of person possessed by Mar- 
 guerite, the "pearl of the court;" and descanted on the 
 honour and fortune of her son in being selected as the recipient 
 of so signal a treasure. Jeanne made no reply to these cour- 
 teous congratulations ; she was, perhaps, intently musing on 
 the words, addressed to her, it is believed, by her devoted 
 servant Rosny, who, notwithstanding the disparity of age, 
 exhorted his mistress to try to obtain the hand of Elizabeth of 
 England for her son. "Madame," said he, "the spouse whom 
 they have offered to you for your royal son is of more subtle 
 intellect than you think ; rumour speaks of her in a dispar- 
 aging manner. Her blandishments will soon supersede your 
 influence over the mind of the prince." 
 
 A few days later, Jeanne summoned Biron to her presence. 
 She then replied, that she was sensible of the great honour 
 done her by the king in proposing such an alliance ; neverthe- 
 less, before she returned a definite reply, it was necessary for 
 her to consult the ministers of her persuasion on the matter of 
 the lawfulness of the intended union. " My conscience, mon- 
 seigneur, once at rest, there is nothing that I am not ready to 
 grant to please the king and the queen, and to guarantee the 
 peace of this realm ; for the which I would willingly sacrifice 
 life itself. But, monseigneur, I should prefer to descend to the 
 condition of the simplest gentlewoman in France, rather than 
 to sacrifice my own soul, and that of the prince, my son, for the 
 aggrandizement of my house." 1 Perceiving that Jeanne would 
 bind herself to nothing, and that she evidently intended to pro- 
 ceed no further at that period with the negotiation, Biron 
 directed bis assaults on the admiral. He delivered a most 
 gracious letter from the young king, praying Coligny, son bon 
 fere, to repair to court, and aid him with his counsels ; and, 
 lest fears for his safety should still prevail, Charles enclosed a 
 patent, signed by his own hand, permitting Coligny to enrol a 
 body-guard of fifty men-at-arms. The admiral shed tears on 
 perusing this mark of confidence on the part of his youthful 
 sovereign, and he promised to visit the court without delay. 
 To confirm the favourable impression already wrought in the 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. Mem. de l'Etat de France 
 sous Charles IX., t. i. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 353 
 
 mind of the admiral, Biron informed him that the king had 
 been pleased to intercede with the duke de Savoye, for the 
 restoration of the heritage appertaining to madame l'Amirale. 1 
 
 Nothing could exceed the dismay with which the Protest- 
 ants of La Eochelle received the news of Coligny's intended 
 departure for the court. Eosny, Conde, Teligny, and Jeanne 
 herself, all united in remonstrances. The supplications of his 
 bride even failed to move the admiral's purpose. Frank and 
 loyal, he indignantly rejected the idea, that his anointed sove- 
 reign could overwhelm him with signal favours, only with the 
 perfidious intent of taking his life. " No, no, madame," ex- 
 claimed Coligny, addressing the queen of Navarre ; " I firmly 
 confide in the honour and word of my king ; otherwise, life is no 
 longer life, to exist in the midst of perpetual alarms. Madame, 
 I would rather die, smitten by one effectual blow, than live 
 a hundred years, subject to dread apprehensions ! " 
 
 The admiral, therefore, departed for the court, where he 
 arrived in June, 1571. The king advanced, and affectionately 
 greeted Coligny, who threw himself at his sovereign's feet, and 
 besought his gracious pardon for the past. Charles raised the 
 admiral, and embraced him three times with every mark of 
 affection, giving him the appellation of " mon pere." The same 
 day, the king restored to Coligny his place in the council ; and 
 presented him with the sum of one hundred thousand crowns. 
 Catherine was prodigal of her most winning smiles ; the duke 
 d'Anjou received his recent adversary with gracious affability, 
 and compliments on the prowess displayed by the admiral on 
 the battle-field ; and the young and lovely Marguerite charmed 
 him by her condescension, and the interest which she displayed 
 respecting the queen and the prince of Navarre. "AVe have 
 you, now, amongst us, mon pere" exclaimed Charles joyously ; 
 " nor shall you be able to escape at will! " These words were 
 capable of two meanings : and, for once, distrust was roused in 
 Coligny's mind ; but the shadow passed, dissipated by the 
 flattery and the homage bestowed upon him. Another day, 
 Charles casually observed, " Mon pere, we know your influence 
 with the queen of Navarre. Exert yourself, therefore, I pray 
 you to induce her to come hither, with the prince, her son." 
 
 Jeanne, however, not to be deceived by the blandishments 
 of the court, and foreseeing that other attempts would be 
 made to shake her resolve, had departed from La Eochelle, 
 perceiving that her residence there gave umbrage to the court, 
 and afforded an ostensible cause for the embassies sent to her. 
 
 In the middle of the month of September, 1571, Jeanne, 
 
 1 La Popeliniere, Hist, de France, t. ii. fol. 21. 
 
 23
 
 351 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 therefore, accompanied by her two children, the prince de 
 Conde, and a numerous suite, quitted La Rochelle — the city 
 which had sheltered her during the darkest hours of adversity. 
 Her beneficence and piety had endeared her to the gallant 
 hearts of the Eochellois; deputations attended her to the 
 gates of the town ; aud, amid the tears and blessings of the 
 citizens, queen Jeanne departed for the venerable abode of her 
 ancestors ; one which she had never expected to visit again — 
 the castle of Pau. 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 1571—1572. 
 
 Rumours of the alliance between Henry and Marguerite at court — Its recep- 
 tion by the princess Marguerite— Her aversion to the proposal — Beauty of 
 Marguerite de Valois — Her portraits — Details of her attachment to the duke 
 de Guise — Marriage of the duke with the princesse de Porcicn — Illness of 
 Marguerite — Her resentment — Progress of the queen of Navarre through 
 her dominions — Her entry into Pau — Revises her code of laws — Her corre- 
 spondence with the viscount de Gourdon — She constructs the chateau de 
 Castel-Beziat for her daughter, madame Catherine — Attitude of the French 
 court — Correspondence of the queen with Coligny — Arrival of the marshal 
 de Biron on a special embassy to Pau — Renewed discussions on the union of 
 Henry and Marguerite — Queen Jeanne refers the matter to her council of 
 state — Decision of the council — Grief of the queen of Navarre on giving her 
 assent to the marriage— Her letter to king Charles — She journeys to Nerac — 
 Summons the nobility of Foix, Beam, and Navarre to a conference at N6rac 
 — Her advice to her son — She receives the allegiance of her subjects of 
 Lectoure — Queen Jeanne bids farewell to her son — Her distress and anxiety 
 of mind — She proceeds to Blois — Her suite — She sojourns at Biron — Her 
 letter to the prince of Navarre — Her meeting at Vendome with the legate 
 Alexandrini — Deportment of Charles IX. — Dissensions between the king, 
 and his mother, and brother — Queen Jeanne sojourns at Tours until after 
 the departure of the legate — Is visited by queen Catherine and the court — 
 Negotiations on the marriage — Catherine's demands are rejected by the 
 queen of Navarre — Correspondence with the prince of Navarre — Gracious 
 deportment of Marguerite de Valois — Correspondence of Jeanne with the 
 baron de Beauvoir and others — Her letter to the prince of Navarre — Fac- 
 simile of the handwriting of Jeanne d'Albret — The queen journeys to Blois 
 • — Her cordial reception by king Charles — Details of her interview with the 
 king — Insulting demeanour of Catherine de Medici — Her insincerity in the 
 negotiation— Her demands — Resolute deportment of the queen of Navarre 
 — Jeanne's letter to her son — Her complaints of the court — Her anger at 
 the treatment to which she is subjected — She intimates to the queen-mother 
 her intention to arrest the journey of the prince, her son, to the court — 
 Anger of Catherine de Medici — Her instructions to the prince of Navarre — 
 Henry's love, and confidence in his mother — He returns to Pau — Resump- 
 tion of the negotiation — The king forbids bis mother to interfere more in the 
 affairs — Deputies are nominated to discuss the marriage articles — Jeanne's 
 interview with queen Elizabeth's ambassadors — Her perplexity — The king 
 and queen-mother continue to urge the presence of the prince of Navarre at
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBKET. 355 
 
 Blois — Jeanne steadily refuses her assent to the journey of the prince — 
 Deliberation of the deputies — Catherine still continues to influence the pro- 
 ceedings - Displeasure of the king— He suddenly resolves to bestow his sister 
 upon Henry without conditions, provided that the prince of Navarre repairs 
 to court to espouse Marguerite — Reluctant assent given by Jeanue d'Albret 
 — Articles of the marriage-contract between Henry and' Marguerite — The 
 cardinal de Lorraine applies to Rome for a dispensation authorizing the 
 marriage — Refusal of Pius V. to sanction the union — Rage of the king — He 
 refuses permission to the queen of Navarre to retire to'Veudome pending 
 the negotiation with the Holy See — Failing health of the queen of Navarre. 
 
 The first person who presumed openly to speak at court 
 of the projected alliance between Marguerite de Valois and 
 the prince of Navarre, was M. de Meru, brother of the mar- 
 shal de Montmorency. The latter, from the liaison existing 
 between the Houses of Albret and Montmorency, possessed 
 much of Jeanne's confidence; and by the queen's direction, 
 nothing had been negotiated by the ambassadors relative to 
 this alliance, without the previous co-operation of the marshal. 
 His affection for his cousins of Chatillon, and his total disap- 
 proval of Catherine's disastrous policy, rendered the marshal 
 de Montmorency little appreciated at court, where, on the 
 contrary, his second brother, Damville, possessed great influ- 
 ence. Charles de Montmorency, seigneur de Meru, 1 third son 
 of the constable Anne, held the post of chamberlain to queen 
 Catherine. In discharge of the functions of his office, M. de 
 Meru was one day in attendance behind the chair of Catherine, 
 as she dined in public, when he ventured to congratulate her 
 Majesty, in the presence of the assembled court, on the con- 
 templated union of her daughter Marguerite with the prince of 
 Navarre. "Upon this," says Marguerite, in her memoirs, 2 
 " the queen, my mother, desired M. de Meru to speak to me 
 on the same subject; which, when he did, I replied, that to do 
 so was superfluous, as I had no other will in the matter than 
 to obey my said mother. Nevertheless, I entreated him (M. 
 de Meru) to bear in mind that I was devoted to my faith, and 
 that it would be a source of great disquietude to me to be 
 compelled to espouse a prince who professed not the Catholic 
 religion." 
 
 Yet after this avowal on the part of the young princess, 
 Coligny was so deluded by the flattery of the court, as to ex- 
 press himself thus to queen Jeanne. " Concerning the princess, 
 madame, be assured that she will have no will but that of her 
 
 ' Charles de Montmorency afterwards became duke d'Amville, on the ac- 
 cession of his second brother, Henry, to the honours of his house, on the de- 
 cease ol the marshal de Montmorency, in 1579. He was elevated to the dignity 
 of admiral of France. 
 
 * Mem. de Marguerite de Valois, Reine de Navarre, liv. 1.
 
 356 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 brother, the king ; an obedient sister and daughter, she will 
 submit to all that is required from her ; she is most witty ; her 
 temper is kiud, supple, docile ; her mind is peuetrating, and 
 enlighteued. AVhy should she not, therefore, madame, end by 
 inclining her ear to the truth, and by accepting from convic- 
 tion the faith professed by her future husband, and her mother- 
 in-law ? " No supposition could be more completely fallaci- 
 ous, as Coliguy discovered, unhappily, but too soon. 
 
 After her conversation with M. de Meru, Marguerite was 
 summoned to her mother's private apartment, where, appar- 
 ently for the first time, the contemplated project was seriously 
 imparted to her. She was reminded by Catherine that the 
 prince of Navarre possessed a claim to her hand, which had 
 been pledged to him by her royal father, Henry II., when the 
 king and queen of Navarre and their son visited Compiegne in 
 1557. Marguerite, at this period, was suffering from her bro- 
 ther's arbitrary interference with her attachment to the duke 
 de Guise : outraged, and feeling herself injured, she seems to 
 have received the communication with passive sang-froid. She 
 says, in her account of this interview Avith Catherine, "my 
 mother, the queen, called me afterwards into her cabinet and 
 said, ' that M.M. de Montmorency had proposed to her this 
 marriage for me, and that she had sent for me to learn what 
 was my pleasure on the subject.' I replied," relates Mar- 
 guerite, " that I had no other will or choice than her own ; 
 only I supplicated her Majesty to remember that I was a very 
 devout Catholic." 1 
 
 But since the period, when, as a child of three years old, 
 and the youngest of the daughters of France, Marguerite's 
 hand had been hastily pledged by her father to the son of the 
 king and queen of Navarre, she has become one of the most 
 fascinating and lovely women of Europe. Her elder sister 
 Elizabeth 2 had ascended the throne of Spain; her second sister, 
 Claude, became the consort of the chief of the line of Lorraine ; 
 and suitors innumerable craved the favour of Marguerite. When 
 the project of her marriage with Henri de Navarre occupied 
 the mind of Catherine, the princess had not completed her 
 twentieth year. If the many historians are to be credited, and 
 Brantome especially, who have described the charms of Mar- 
 guerite de Valois, a more perfectly beautiful face and figure 
 never adorned a court. Many portraits of the princess, taken 
 both before and after her marriage, exist ; the majority of these 
 represent her as having possessed great personal beauty^ 
 
 1 Mem. de Marguerite de Valois, liv. 1. 
 2 Elizabeth, queen of Spain, died in 156S.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 357 
 
 enough, perhaps, to justify, in some degree, the exaggerated 
 eulogies of the poets and courtiers of the day. 
 
 Marguerite's complexion was exquisitely fair, and her eyes 
 of a very bright blue. As golden tresses were thought to har- 
 monize best with her complexion, the princess often hid her 
 beautiful black hair beneath a coiffure of pale-coloured curls. 1 
 " Nevertheless," says Brantome, 2 " I have seen this magnificent 
 princess wear her own hair without devices of borrowed tresses ; 
 and, although her hair was very black, like that of her father, 
 king Henry, she knew well how to curl, frizzle, and dress it, in 
 imitation of her sister, the queen of Spain, that such head- 
 dress seemed more becoming to her than any other she could 
 invent." Marguerite's features were soft, and perfectly mould- 
 ed ; her nose resembled that of her mother, Catherine de Me- 
 dici ; her mouth, chin, and throat, in the portraits drawn dur- 
 ing early youth, are exquisitely beautiful. Her figure was 
 majestic, and displayed, to the admiration of the court, her 
 costly, and often fantastic attire. Well might Jeanne 
 d'Albret dread the demoralization of her little court, when she 
 heard from Coligny and others of the voluptuous graces and 
 habits of her future daughter-in-law. 
 
 Catherine had sought, through the influence of her daughter 
 Elizabeth, to negotiate an alliance for Marguerite with the in- 
 fant Don Carlos of Spain, Philip's eldest son. The decease of 
 the prince, in 1568, frustrated her design. She next sanctioned 
 the overtures of Sebastian, king of Portugal, nephew of the king 
 of -Spain. This alliance, however, did not meet with the appro- 
 bation of king Philip, who entertained the project of bestowing 
 a member of his own lineage on Sebastian. During the inter- 
 val occurred Marguerite's liaison with the duke de Guise : 
 " those princes of Lorraine have so noble and majestic a mien, 
 that, in comparison to them, all other men appear plebeian and 
 common," said madame de Eetz, one of the most fastidious and 
 learned ladies of the court. The duke's influence over the 
 spirit of Marguerite soon became paramount ; and for the first, 
 and only time, her affections were touched, and she loved with 
 a passion equal to that which she so often inspired. Probably 
 had Marguerite been permitted to yield to her inclinations, the 
 tenor of her life had been changed ; but the duke d'Anjou hated 
 the princes of Lorraine, and, therefore, with malignant per- 
 tinacity, he schemed to foil their projects. Before his de- 
 
 1 There is a picture of Marguerite in the Bibliotheque Imperiale, as a child 
 of't'isht years old, in which she is represented, even at that early age, with 
 blonde tresses. 
 
 2 Brantome, Dames Illustres, Tie de Marguerite de Valois.
 
 358 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 parture as generalissimo of the royal forces, sent against the 
 Huguenots, the duke had chosen Marguerite as the confidante 
 of his designs ; he therefore initiated her into his policy ; and 
 praying his mother to consult the princess as the depository of 
 his opinion and desires, he quitted the court, after giving Mar- 
 guerite many injunctions to support his interests, and to send 
 him early tidings of all that passed there. 1 On his return, 
 great was the indignation of d' Anjou to find the duke de Guise 
 established in the favour of the princess ; he bitterly reproached 
 Marguerite for the interest which she evinced for his enemy, 
 and lie at once withdrew his confidence from her. He, more- 
 over, represented to Catherine and the king, " that his sister 
 was becoming most beautiful and fascinating, and that M. de 
 Guise wished to obtain her in marriage, urged thereto by his 
 uncles. He, therefore, thought it important that nothing of 
 an} r consequence should be said before the princess, as she 
 would be sure to report it to the duke de Guise. The queen, 
 his mother, knew well, and could bear witness of the mad am- 
 bition of that House, and how it had always opposed that of 
 Yalois." 2 The anger and jealousy of the king were further in- 
 creased by the incautious boasting of the cardinal de Lorraine, 
 who was imprudent enough to exclaim publicly, referring to 
 the duke de Lorraine, who had espoused the princess Claude of 
 France: " L'aine a eu Vainee — Je cadet aura la cadetteV 
 
 One day Charles returned from the chase in a paroxysm of 
 fury, after witnessing the attentions bestowed on his sister by 
 the duke de Guise. He was attended by his brother, the duke 
 d' Anjou, and by his illegitimate brother, Henri d'Angouleme, 
 Grand Prior of France. Addressing the latter in a tone hoarse 
 with passion, the king pointed to two swords which chanced to 
 be lying on a table before them, saying : " Henri, you see those 
 swords ? well, one of them, I swear, shall pierce thee to the 
 heart, if to-morrow when we go to the chase, thou dost not kill 
 the duke de Guise with the other! " 3 The same evening Guise 
 was entering the great hall of the palace, arrayed with the ut- 
 most magnificence, for a ball, at which Marguerite was to 
 appear. At the door, the duke met king Charles, who impe- 
 riously demanded " whither he was going?" "Sire," replied 
 Guise, " I am here to serve your gracious Majesty." " Mon- 
 seigneur, I have no need of your services, you may depart," 4 
 
 1 Mem. de Marguerite de Valois, liv. 1. The scene of this compact between 
 Marguerite and her brother, d' Anjou, was the castle of Plessis-les-Tours. 
 -Mem. de Marguerite de Valois, liv. 1. 
 '■' Mathieu, Hist, du llegne de Charles IX., liv. 5, p. 333. 
 4 Davila, Hist, des Guerres Chiles.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 359 
 
 was the uncourteous retort of Charles to the most puissant 
 prince of his realm. The duke de Guise replied not a word ; 
 but retired, and gave orders for his departure for Paris. Whilst 
 making preparation for the journey, the duke received a secret 
 message from the Grand Prior, admonishing him to quit the 
 court ; and if he wished to preserve his life, to delay no longer 
 his marriage with Catherine de Cleves ; ' whose favour he had 
 sought as a blind to his court of the princess. The duke 
 hastened to consult his mother, Anne d'Este, duchesse de 
 Nemours : the duchess had, likewise, received a mysterious 
 intimation that her son's life was menaced ; she also appre- 
 ciated the hate with which Anjou persecuted the individual, 
 whom a presentiment seemed to indicate as his future and 
 most unrelenting foe. The duke de Guise had not a less vivid 
 conviction of his peril ; won, therefore, by the tears of the 
 duchess, he consented that his union with the princess de 
 Porcien should be solemnized without delay. That very night, 
 therefore, Catherine de Cleves was summoned to the Hotel de 
 Nemours, and the matter unfolded to her by the duchess. The 
 alliance was too august, and had moreover been one too deeply 
 desired by the princesse de Porcien, to render hesitation on her 
 part probable. The contract, therefore, was drawn, and the 
 spousal rites celebrated before the dawn of morning ; and great 
 was the wonder and the envy of the court, when, a few days 
 afterwards, the duke de Guise presented his youthful bride to 
 their Majesties at St Germain. 2 Charles suppressed his ex- 
 ultation, and gave the bride a courteous greeting : but the 
 happiness of Marguerite de Valois had been sacrificed ; and 
 from that day, reckless of fame, she pursued that career of dis- 
 sipated pleasure, so injurious to her repute. 
 
 A long and serious illness proved nearly fatal to Marguerite 
 after the marriage of the duke de Guise ; the sight of her 
 brother, d'Anjou, became hateful to her. Most of the disasters 
 which darkened the subsequent reign of Henry III. are to be 
 traced to the ungenerous and treacherous part which he played 
 in this affair. The unappeasable hate of the duke de Guise 
 towards Henry acquired its deadliest venom ; while Marguerite, 
 ever radiant in beauty and wit, taking advantage of her position 
 
 1 Catherine de Cleves, second daughter of the duke de Ncvers and Mar- 
 guerite de Bourbon, widow of Autoine de Crov, prince de Porcien, who died 
 in 1564. 
 
 - Varillas. Mathicu, Regnc de Charles IX. During the life of her first 
 husband, the princesse de Porcien professed the Lutheran faith. After his 
 decease, she made recantation of that faith in the royal chapel of St Germain, 
 at the solicitation of queen Catherine de Medici.
 
 3G0 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 as the wife of the sovereign of the Huguenot faction, avenged 
 the wrong which she had received. 
 
 The queen of Navarre, meantime, accompanied by her son, 
 traversed the provinces of her dominions. She was everywhere 
 hailed with respect and attachment. Even the rebel cities 
 yielded reluctant admiration to the clemency which she ex- 
 hibited. Many forfeit privileges did she restore, and numerous 
 were the penal ordonnances issued by her lieutenants which she 
 annulled, while pronouncing their tenor to have been wise and 
 serviceable for her cause. Arros and Montamar accompanied 
 the queen throughout her progress ; and it delighted Jeanne to 
 give them public and signal marks of her favour and gratitude. 
 Animosities disappeared under the genial influence which the 
 queen exercised, wherever she bent her steps : her mission was 
 one of reconciliation and peace to all her subjects, of whatever 
 degree. Long afterwards, this royal progress of the good queen 
 Jeanne was remembered by the Bearnnois, with feelings of 
 mournful reverence. About the middle of October, 1571, 
 queen Jeanne made her entry into Pau. She was received 
 with acclamations. That city, so long agitated by faction and 
 tumult, hailed her re-appearance ; and the people crowded 
 round, invoking blessings on her head. The queen's tears 
 mingled with the plaudits of her people : this enthusiastic wel- 
 come was the last earthly joy destined to move the noble heart 
 of Jeanne d' Albret. 
 
 In the midst of her popularity, a presentiment of evil op- 
 pressed the queen. JSo moment did she devote to repose or 
 recreation, now that she again rested in safety within the 
 palace of her ancestors, after the mental and bodily fatigues of 
 the past two years. A restless eagerness to accomplish some- 
 thing, as yet unachieved, possessed her ; and the greetings of 
 her people alone had power to dissipate, momentarily, the 
 pre-occupation which had become the habitual expression of 
 her features. 
 
 Jeanne's first act was to convoke the states of the princi- 
 pality : she then demanded the aid of the abler members of the 
 assembly, to effect a third revision of the code of laws. Many 
 new ordonnances were added by the queen, for the enforcement 
 of order and morality. Her watchful care for her subjects ex- 
 tended even to the most minute incident of their lives. Her 
 code regulated their marriages, the education of their children, 
 and their pursuits. She banished all persons of depraved 
 morals, after a second conviction, from the principality ; she 
 condemned the drunkard, for each offence, to imprisonment for 
 three days, on bread and water; and the proprietor of the
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 361 
 
 tavern, to a fine of one hundred sous. Blasphemy was pun- 
 ished by imprisonment, fine, and exile. The punishment of 
 death Jeanne allotted to murderers alone. The queen fixed 
 the period for the attainment of the majority of her male sub- 
 jects at the age of twenty-five ; that of females at twenty. 
 Games of chance, banquets, luxurious and costly clothing, 
 public processions, and dissolute assemblies, she strictly pro- 
 hibited. Many clauses were, likewise, added by the queen, for 
 the better regulation of ecclesiastical discipline, the payment of 
 the ministers, and the celebration of divine service. She, also, 
 distinctly defined the limits of her own royal authority, and 
 that of the council of state. 
 
 The code, thus augmented and revised, was presented by 
 the queen to the assembly, on the 2Gth day of November, 
 1571 ; it was unanimously accepted, without discussion. Its 
 enthusiastic reception was regarded by Jeanne as an atonement 
 in full from her subjects, for the factious troubles of preceding 
 years. On the first day of the new year, 1572, Jeanne pub- 
 lished another ordonnance, reforming the calendar, and fixing 
 the commencement of the year on the 1st of January. The 
 year, under the old style, Avas reckoned from the Saturday pre- 
 ceding Easter-Day. This reform had recently been adopted 
 throughout France, by the chancellor de l'Hopital. 
 
 About this pei'iod, queen Jeanne wrote to her friend, the 
 viscount de Gourdon, giving him a detailed account of her pro- 
 ceedings, relative to the principality of Beam ; and informing 
 him of the change she had there effected in religion. This 
 document is valuable, as a statement under the queen's own 
 hand, of her recent exercise of her sovereign rights over Beam ; 
 a point which has been the subject of much controversy. 
 
 THE QUEEN OF NAVARRE TO THE VISCOUNT DE 
 
 GOURDON. 
 
 " Monsieur le Viscomte, 
 
 " At the time that I sent the count de Montgommcry to be my 
 lieutenant over Beam, to establish again everywhere the reformed 
 faith, (which you well know, as the said count had in his army troops 
 levied by you, and the other viscounts,) Terride, your cousin, Mas 
 taken prisoner, with other traitors. Out of regard tor you, he alone 
 of all the said prisoners was not condemned to death ; for which thing, 
 I pray you render the said Terride grateful, and peacefully disposed. 
 I now inform you that I have issued general orders for the maintenance 
 of discipline in the church in Beam, as it is my resolve that the re- 
 formed religion shall remain dominant throughout my sovereignties ; 
 all superstition and idolatrous practices being from henceforth sup- 
 pressed. It is my will that all my subjects throughout my dominions
 
 362 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 shall attend hpreche, under certain penalties; and that all persons 
 who absent themselves from the holy communion more than once, 
 without good and reasonable excuse, shall suffer banishment Besides, 
 1 have established an ecclesiastical council, composed of two gentle- 
 men, two counsellors, two ministers, two persons of the tiers Hat, one 
 proctor, one registrar, and one deacon, having authority given him to 
 receive dues. This council has power to rule, and to dispose of eccle- 
 siastical revenues ; in the first place, for the maintenance of the 
 ministers of our church, for the support of schoolmasters, and for the 
 relief of the poor and destitute : the surplus of this fund is afterwards 
 to be devoted for the payment of the salaries of the officers of our 
 sovereign council of state, of the governors, captains, and officers of 
 the garrisons, to the manifest relief of these our countries. My said 
 ordonndnce, moreover, grants license to cousins-german to marry ; and 
 permits husbands to put away their wives for just causes, and to marry 
 again ; with and by the license of our said ecclesiastical council. "We 
 also grant permission to all monks and nuns to quit their convents ; 
 and other matters we also there decree in conformity to the confession 
 of faith which we uphold. I shall not fail to advertise you of the 
 time when I return to La Rochelle, which will be, if it pleases God, 
 very shortly. I will inform you of the clay when I shall be at Ber- 
 gerac ; at which time I may possibly spend a few days with you, so 
 that I may take you onwards with me. I pray God, M. le vicomte, to 
 have you in His safe and holy keeping. Written at Pau, this 29th 
 day of November, 1571. 
 
 " Your very good and assured friend, 
 
 "Jeanne." 1 
 
 After perusing this letter, and taking into consideration 
 the preceding acts of the queen, Jeanne's Roman Catholic 
 subjects, it must be acknowledged, had reason to complain of 
 the rigour exercised towards them in religious matters by 
 their sovereign. It must be remembered, however, that these 
 severe enactments were not felt in Beam, where the great ma- 
 jority of her subjects professed the reformed faith. It was 
 against the inhabitants of Lower Navarre, and of the county 
 of Foix, that these laws were framed — subjects always in re- 
 volt, and incited to treasonable enterprises by the priests and 
 disaffected nobles in the pay of Philip of Spain, or of the French 
 government. Jeanne believed that her life w r ould never be 
 safe, or her territories in repose, until these traitors, and the 
 faith which served as the pretext for such frequent rebellion, 
 were together proscribed. 
 
 The queen's chief amusement at this period, between the 
 hours devoted by her to study, was in superintending the con- 
 struction of a fanciful edifice in the park of the palace at Pau. 
 This chateau was designed by the queen for her daughter, 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. Valiant, Portef. ler. No. 10— Inedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 363 
 
 madame Catherine, that the princess might there piirsue her 
 studies in retirement, with her preceptress, madame de Thignon- 
 ville. In shape, the building resembled a Turkish kiosk ; the 
 interior -was highly decorated, and consisted of a great number 
 of small apartments. The queen bestowed upon this little 
 edifice the name of Castel-Beziat, or Chateau-cheri. She did 
 not live to witness its completion ; but Catherine resided in 
 solitary state, in this her picturesque abode, during the weary 
 period of the wars of the League, whilst her heroic brother 
 contended for the crown of his ancestors. As the gift of her 
 mother, whose memory she almost worshipped, 1 Catherine clung 
 to Castel-Beziat as she did to no other abode. "When sum- 
 moned to preside over the splendid court of Henry the Great, 
 it was on the walls of her favourite apartment, facing the Gave 
 at Castel-Beziat, that the princess wrote, " Quo me fata vocant," 
 words inspired by the melancholy presentiment of her future 
 destiny, which always haunted the daughter of Jeanne d*Al- 
 bret. 
 
 The commencement of the year 1572 opened gloomily for 
 the queen. Her distrust and disinclination to treat with Ca- 
 therine and her son, or to repair to St Germain, excited clam- 
 ours amongst the Huguenot chieftains. Blinded by the artful 
 condescension of queen Catherine, they implicitly believed 
 her protestations: and, in their anger, they accused Jeanne 
 d'Albret of purposely retarding the peace, in order to extort 
 from the French council conditions exclusively advantageous 
 to herself, as a sovereign princess. The court cast the entire 
 odium on the queen of Navarre, of its infringement of the late 
 edict ; and of the dilatory delays of the council to enforce 
 obedience to its enactments. Catherine plausibly pleaded that 
 while Jeanne held aloof in hostile attitude, in league with 
 Elizabeth of England, and pertinaciously refused for her son 
 the highest honour which prince could bestow on his vassal, it 
 was unreasonable to expect the king to disarm. She further 
 intimated to Coligny, that the war in aid of the Flemish Pro- 
 testants could never be undertaken, while disaffected French 
 Huguenots found support against their sovereign, and a rally- 
 ing point under the standard of Albret. Catherine skilfully 
 fomented the murmurs which now arose on all sides against the 
 queen. She represented Jeanne to the chieftains of her party, 
 
 1 After Henry had renounced the Protestant Faith, he urged the same 
 measure of expediency on his sister. Catherine replied, "I will never re- 
 nounce the religion in which I have hecn nurtured, if only for the respect 
 which I owe to the memory of my mother, whose life and actions I hold to be 
 inimitable ! "
 
 364 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 as a princess of reckless ambition, ready to sacrifice trie welfare 
 of the realm to her resentments. She demanded whether 
 Coligny and the Huguenots, his colleagues in command, had 
 taken up arms in defence of the Protestant faith, or for the 
 personal aggrandizement of queen Jeanne ; " the one you have 
 had guaranteed, on the word of a king ; the other you have yet 
 to contend for." 
 
 The admiral having retired to his castle of Chatillon, the 
 king sent for him again to confer on matters affecting his 
 government. To inspire the Huguenots with still greater con- 
 fidence, Charles feigned to deplore the contumacy displayed by 
 his aunt, the queen of Navarre. He spoke in slighting terms 
 of his mother, and the duke d'Anjou ; and avowed his intention 
 of removing them by degrees from all influence in public affairs. 
 These words had been probably suggested to the king for the 
 occasion, though they were, nevertheless, sincerely spoken by 
 the unfortunate Charles. Catherine relied on the terrible 
 power which she possessed of rousing the passions of her son 
 to maniacal fury — a frenzy which she could generally direct at 
 will upon those whom, but the hour previously, he had caressed 
 and distinguished. The queen could, therefore, afford to 
 tolerate a few depreciating observations from the lips of her 
 son, to serve her ulterior purpose. Every individual of his 
 court was in turn suspected by Charles. The chamberlains 
 placed about him by Catherine were chosen from amongst her 
 Italian adherents, and perfected, by apparently aimless jests, 
 the suspicions which it was the queen's intent to foster. 
 " IS art de deviser, c'est regner," was the maxim from which 
 Catherine never deviated. The favour shown by the king to 
 Coligny was not, however, altogether feigned ; in the chivalrous 
 integrity of the admiral, he hoped to find succour against those 
 whom he distrusted, and from whose thrall he vainly sought 
 emancipation. Conversing one day with Teligny, on the con- 
 templated expedition into Flanders which Charles desired, the 
 king expressed himself thus respecting his privy councillors. 
 " Shall I tell you truly, Teligny, my opinion of all these people ? 
 I distrust every one of them. Tavannes' ambition disquiets 
 me ; Vieilleville is too fond of wine ; Cosse is avaricious ; de 
 Montmorency cares only for hunting and hawking ; the count 
 de Eetz is Spanish at heart ; the other nobles, composing my 
 court and council, are all of them fools. In short, to conceal 
 from you none of my thoughts, my secretaries of state are 
 traitors, so that often I know not to whom to have recourse." ' 
 
 Another day, when discoursing privately with the admiral 
 
 1 Mem. de l'Etoile, t. i. p. 48.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 3G5 
 
 on the same subject — the campaign in Flanders, — the king 
 said, ' ; Mon pere, there is another matter which you must care- 
 fully heed : it is, that the queen, my mother, is always poking 
 everywhere, as you well know, and she must not be told of this 
 enterprise ; at least, not in detail. She would mar our design." 
 "As you please, sire," responded Coligny. "Nevertheless, I 
 hold her Majesty to be so good a mother, and one so devoted to 
 your welfare, that even if she were told all, she would offer no 
 obstacle. On the contrary, she might materially aid our design ; 
 while I apprehend many difficulties in hiding the matter." 
 '• You are totally misinformed," rejoined Charles ; "leave the 
 matter to me. I perceive that you do not yet know my mother : 
 she is the greatest mischief-maker on the face of the earth.'" 
 Charles probably firmly believed all that he asserted ; but, 
 devoid of experience, incautious, and possessing no fixed prin- 
 ciples of administration, he blindly followed one dominant idea, 
 without reflecting on its bearings. Unfortunately for the queen 
 of Navarre, the project then in the ascendant with the king- 
 was to compel her presence at court, when Charles indulged in 
 a vain conviction that some method would be discovered for 
 reconciling party divisions. 
 
 The queen speedily received fresh solicitations from Coligny 
 to consent to the union of her son with madame Marguerite ; 
 when her presence at St Germain would be indispensable to 
 sanction that great event. " The king, madame," wrote Coligny, 
 will smooth every obstacle ; even that of religious prejudice. You 
 have nothing to apprehend." Again. Coligny wrote, relative to 
 the campaign in aid of the Flemish Protestants, which he knew 
 that Jeanne regarded as the test of the sincerity of the court. 
 " Madame, the king has so firmly set his mind on this enter- 
 prise, that every day it is delayed seems to him as ten years."" 
 The baron de Rosny 3 appears to have been most confided in by 
 Jeanne at this critical juncture. He firmly deprecated the 
 alliance with Marguerite de Valois, and counselled his royal 
 mistress to end the matter by offering the hand of her son to 
 Elizabeth of England. Jeanne, much as she esteemed and 
 prized queen Elizabeth's friendship, declined to negotiate an 
 alliance, however advantageous, between parties of so unequal 
 an age. The queen, moreover, was unwilling to draw upon her 
 gallant son the ridicule with which the duke d'Anjou had 
 recently covered himself, by preferring the same suit to the 
 wily Elizabeth ; who laughed at, and deluded the ambitious 
 
 1 Mem. del'Etoile, t. i. p. 47. 
 * La Popeliniere,Hist. de France, liv. 17, fol. 47. 
 
 3 Father of Maximilian de Bethune, duke de Sully, the famous minister 
 and friend of Henri le Grand.
 
 3GG LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 aspirants for her crown, while investing their demand with the 
 solemnity of a state negotiation. 
 
 At the commencement of January, 1572, another formal 
 embassy arrived at Pau, sent by king Charles to demand a final 
 answerfrom Jeanne and her son on all the points discussed 
 with the court of France ; but principally relative to the union 
 of the prince of Beam with Marguerite de Valois. Biron was 
 at the head of the embassy ; and his arrival had been duly 
 intimated to the queen by Coligny. He was empowered to 
 announce to the queen of Navarre that king Charles restored 
 all her rights over the castles and fortified places situated in 
 the domains which she held in fief from the crown of France, 
 including the town of Lectoure, which was still garrisoned by 
 the marquis de la Valette, and French troops. The king, more- 
 over, was ready to agree that the marriage of her son with his 
 sister should be solemnized according to the reformed ritual. 
 Finally, Biron added, that the Guises had been required to 
 absent themselves from court ; and especially the cardinal de 
 Lorraine, whom the king had already intrusted with a special 
 mission to Koine, in order to afford a plausible pretext for his 
 departure from the realm. Biron delivered to queen Jeanne a 
 letter from Catherine de Medici, in which the following passage 
 occurs. " Gratify, I beseech you, madame, the extreme desire 
 which we all feel'to welcome you in this company: you will 
 here be loved and honoured, as it is meet that you should be, 
 considering what you are ! " 
 
 As a last resource, Jeanne assembled her council of state, 
 and submitted the projected marriage between Henry and 
 Marguerite. She had still hope that the nobles of the princi- 
 pality would interpose to arrest a project which she contem- 
 plated with invincible repugnance. Francourt, chancellor of 
 Navarre, however, had been won by the expostulations of the 
 admiral, and the promises of the court. In an harangue of 
 great length, he recapitulated the advantages of the alliance, 
 which he averred would at once give the Huguenots a political 
 standing in the realm. His eloquence so moved the assembly, 
 that Arros, Grammont, Montamar, and even prince Henry 
 himself, united in entreating the queen to yield her assent to 
 the alliance, and to proceed to the court of France. Jeanne 
 received the representations of her privy council in mournful 
 silence : presently she uttered with a deep sigh, " Helas I je 
 compte pen, (Vamis /"' 
 
 Further opposition being impossible, the queen, with her 
 accustomed decision, signified her assent to the alliance between 
 
 1 Vauvilliers, t. ii.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 367 
 
 Henry and madame Marguerite in a letter which she addressed 
 to the king : and which announced also her prompt departure 
 from Pau for the court, to negotiate the marriage articles. 
 She stated to his Majesty, "that what she had done had been 
 in vindication of her faith, for the safety of her friends, the 
 welfare of her subjects, and in behalf of that Grod, from whom 
 she owed everything ; wealth, honours, and life itself." Charles 
 flippantly replied through Biron, " that the contemplated mar- 
 riage would be deemed a miracle ; and that he gave his sister 
 Marguerite not to the prince of Beam alone, but to all the 
 Huguenots, to cement alliance with them all, in pledge of the 
 immutable nature of his edicts." l The queen had directed 
 Biron to inform the king that she would not sanction the cele- 
 bration of her son's marriage in Paris ; a city she disliked, as 
 she distrusted the Parisians, who were, to use the queen's 
 own expressions, "peuples mutins ennemis d'elle, et des siens." 
 Biron made some temporizing reply ; and thus, for the time, 
 that matter rested. 
 
 The queen took an early opportunity of assembling her 
 council ; she detailed the measures which she had adopted in 
 deference to their counsels so lately expressed ; but at the same 
 time she reiterated her own fears and forebodings : " Messeigu- 
 eurs, you know whether it is for myself that I tremble," 
 exclaimed Jeanne with affecting earnestness, " nevertheless, 
 when I stand in the presence of the king, I will avoid all mat- 
 ter of dissension : but I will sooner lose life itself than promise 
 aught contrary to the commands of God, who will dispose of 
 the event according to His holy pleasure !" 
 
 The queen next announced, to the surprise and displeasure 
 of her council, that she had nominated the prince of Navarre 
 her lieutenant-general and representative in Beam during her 
 absence, having decided that her son should not visit the court 
 of France, until his marriage with the princess Marguerite was 
 finally arranged, and the contract signed. In vain the council 
 remonstrated ; Jeanne firmly withstood their representations, 
 and asserted her sovereign right to act as she pleased in the 
 matter. She had already combated Coligny's arguments and 
 Biron's anger ; but her resolution remained unshaken. " My 
 son," said the queen, " will stay in Beam until I summon him 
 thence ; and, moreover, he will remain surrounded by more 
 than five hundred of our trusty and loyal adherents," for she 
 knew well, says the historian Le Grain, 2 " what manner of peo- 
 ple she had to deal with at court." To the solicitations not to 
 
 1 Mem. sur l'Etat de France, sous le Regnede Charles IX., p. 206. 
 2 Vie de Henry IV., t. i.
 
 3G8 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBKET. 
 
 remain behind, which were personally addressed to himself, the 
 prince of Beam calmly replied, " cest Vordre tie ma mere ! " so 
 entire and implicit was the affection felt by Henry for his no- 
 ble mother. 
 
 Jeanne next addressed letters, written by her own hand, to 
 all her faithful nobles of Beam, Foix, and Navarre, inviting 
 them to meet her at Nerac, during the month of January, 1572, 
 when it was her intention to make a brief sojourn there, on her 
 road to join the court at Blois. Amongst the nobles thus 
 summoned, were La Bochefoucauld, Caumont, Arros, Monta- 
 mar, Navailles, Lavardin, Segur, Bosny de Bethune, Grammont, 
 Beauvoir, Fontrailles, Francourt, and Grourdon ; altogether, 
 more than five hundred of the noblest peers of France. These 
 nobles were summoned to confer with the queen, that she 
 might impart to them that which it was impossible to reveal by 
 letter. " My son joins me in this desire of seeing you," says 
 the queen, in her letter to Caumont de la Force, one of the 
 most valiant of her viscounts ; " but I pray you that it may be 
 without delay ; for, periculum est in mora ! " l 
 
 The queen quitted Pau for Nerac, early in January, 1572. 
 Her farewell to the citizens was a melancholy one. Jeanne 
 Avas overpowered with a presentiment of the dark destiny clos- 
 ing round her. Crowds of people accompanied the cortege of 
 the queen to the gates of the town; and many even attended 
 her some distance on her road — so reluctant were they to say 
 farewell. 
 
 Jeanne was received at Nerac by a large asssemblage of 
 cavaliers, obedient to her summons. Caumont de la Force 
 alone was absent, owing to a severe domestic affliction. The 
 conferences between Jeanne and her gallant nobles were fre- 
 quent and long : to their fidelity, knowledge, and loyalty, she 
 confided the destinies of the prince, her son. In the presence 
 of them all. she bade the youthful prince to be docile to the 
 counsels of Montgommery, of Arros, and of Beauvoir, his govern- 
 or ; to undertake nothing without the assent of his nobles ; 
 and to let no solicitation induce him to approach the court, 
 unless she had first authorized the visit. Brave, loyal, and de- 
 voted, as were these nobles, not one of them — not excepting 
 Montgommery himself — had penetration and strength of will to 
 resist, afterwards, the fatal importunities of the admiral de 
 Coligny, whose folly proved the destruction of his party. The 
 queen further admonished the prince " to assemble the states 
 of Lower Navarre at St Palais, during her absence ; and to 
 
 1 Lettro de la Reine de Navarre au vicomte Caumont de la Force. MS. 
 Bibl. Roy.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 3G9 
 
 confirm anew to her Eoman Catholic subjects of that district, 
 her firm resolve to tolerate their faith." The young prince 
 then solemnly promised to obey his mother's commands in the 
 matters which she had suggested ; and to await her summons 
 before he repaired to court. 
 
 A few days subsequently, queen Jeanne proceeded to the 
 town of Lectoure, the capital of her county of Armagnac, to 
 receive a renewed oath of fidelity from its inhabitants. The 
 marquis de la Yalette, on surrendering the town to commis- 
 sioners despatched for the purpose by queen Jeanne, took the 
 opportunity to harangue the people of Lectoure ; he purposely 
 worded his address, so as to convey the impression that the 
 queen intended to. punish their defection by abrogating their 
 municipal privileges. Jeanne no sooner heard of this calum- 
 nious report, than she resolved to visit Lectoure, and, by her 
 voluntary confirmation of their charters, to repress the me- 
 naced disaffection of the citizens. 
 
 The queen was received in the hall of the Hotel de Yille, 
 where a dais and throne, covered with cloth of gold, had been 
 erected. Jeanne took her seat, having on her right her two 
 children, Henry and niadame Catherine; on her left stood 
 a brilliant group of cavaliers, the foremost personages being 
 the count Louis de Nassau, the baron d'Arros, and Biron, 
 Charles's ambassador. The queen pronounced a short address 
 with grace and fluency. " car la reine Jeanne, et sa mere Mar- 
 guerite d? Angouleme" says Brantome, 1 " etaient deux bouches 
 d'or des plus disertes de la France.'" The chief citizens then 
 approached the dais, and, kneeling, took the oath of allegiance 
 to the queen. Jeanne in her turn rose, and, standing with 
 her right hand resting on the book containing the charters, 
 records, and privileges of the citizens, she solemnly engaged to 
 maintain them inviolate. The queen afterwards took her de- 
 parture, and returned to Nerac, very satisfied with her recep- 
 tion by her subjects of Lectoure. " Dieu rnerci" wrote she to 
 ( aumont de la Force, "ils sontfort contens de moi, et moi d'eux." 2 
 Another few days swiftly elapsed. Jeanne then bade fare- 
 well to her son for ever. She proceeded on her dreaded jour- 
 ney to the court of the Valois, accompanied by her daughter 
 Catherine, " her only consolation," as Jeanne often termed 
 this beloved child. In the queen's suite were Biron, the 
 count de Nassau, the viscount de Eohan, the count de la Boche- 
 foucauld, Teliguy, la ]S"oue, de Bosny, madame de Thignon- 
 ville, mademoiselle de Perray, and others. The depression of 
 
 1 Dames Illustres, Vie de Marguerite de Valois. 
 2 Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. Olhaearay
 
 370 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 spirits from which the queen suffered, visibly increased after 
 she quitted Beam ; her health seemed to fail, and at times 
 listless iuaction overwhelmed her. Her servauts and friends 
 contemplated with grief the aged and careworn expression of 
 Jeanne's countenance. Her dark eyes had lost none of their 
 fire ; but the air of languor which rested upon her features, 
 and the desire that the queen constantly expressed for repose 
 and solitude, testified that her constitution was sinking be- 
 neath labours of unparalleled magnitude. 
 
 The town of Poitiers was the first place at which Jeanne 
 made any sojourn after quitting Nerac. She remained there 
 several days. She then continued her journey to Biron, where 
 she spent some short interval at the castle which appertained 
 to M. de Biron. It was during her sojourn here that the first 
 letters were interchanged between queen Jeanne and her son. 
 Jeanne's response to the prince is replete with evidence of the 
 tender affection subsisting between them ; the familiar inci- 
 dents to which she alludes, and the playful tone of the letter, 
 so different to the queen's accustomed style of correspondence, 
 demonstrate that no restraint on either side subsisted to mar 
 perfect confidence between the mother and her son. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO HER SON, THE PRINCE OF 
 
 NAVARRE. 
 
 "MON FILS, 
 
 "I have received your letter, and am very glad to hear that you 
 continue in good health ; also, I feel pleased to learn that Pistolle 
 has got her puppies. I thought to have found your cousin 1 arrived 
 in this place : I hear that he is not so tall and stout noAV as yourself ; 
 the reason, I believe, is, that he is too much in love. You do not, of 
 course, doubt the courteous reception which we have met with here, 
 from M. de Biron, which is good as we could wish. Yesterday, we 
 celebrated the wedding of Reynette ; 3 though I must own to you, that 
 your absence deprived me of half the joy which I should otherwise 
 have felt. My cousin will escort me hence as far as (name illegible 3 ), 
 to visit his fair mistress. I send you the memoranda, which the cap- 
 tain Morene brought to me here, to lay before the council, at which 
 I entreat you to attend constantly, and more than your pleasure would 
 lead you to do, as much for your own future benefit as for the wel- 
 %re of our subjects. I pray you, moreover, mon fils, often to frequent 
 ihe preches of our ministers ; to command that daily prayer be read 
 
 1 Henry, prince de Conde, who was then betrothed to Marie de Cleves, 
 jiarquise d'Isle. 
 
 2 A femme-de-chambre in the service of the queen of Navarre. 
 
 3 Probably the chateau de Blandi, a residence belonging to the house of 
 Nevers, and where the marriage of Conde with Maria de Cleves was eventually 
 solemnized.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALERET. 371 
 
 before you ; and to obey and confide in monsieur de Beauvoir, as 
 you have always done. Also, do not fail to hear what M. de Fran- 
 court has often to impart, as you promised me. Poor M. de Puch is 
 dead: his brother, M. de Pardaillon, has been to me to ask for the 
 office of senechal, the which I could not refuse him, as he is loyally 
 inclined to render you any service in his power, as he himself assured 
 me : besides, he is better fitted for the office than his deceased brother 
 was, being more fluent of speech. Madame de Vaulx 1 arrived here 
 the same day that I did : and now, mon fils, having nothing more to 
 write about to-day, I will pray God to guide and protect you in and 
 through all trials. Written from Biron, this 21st day of January, by 
 
 "Votre bonne mere, et amie, 
 
 " Jeanne." 
 "I send you, also, the memorial which my nephew brought for me. 
 Since I wrote my letter, the capitaine Morene has resolved to journey 
 and see you for himself." 2 
 
 From Biron Jeanne proceeded to Tours. On the road she 
 met the cardinal Alexandrini, sent by the pope on a special 
 mission of expostulation to the king on his project of bestow- 
 ing his sister on the chief of the Huguenots ; and to exhort his 
 Majesty to return a favourable answer to the suit of the king 
 of Portugal. The cardinal rudely traversed the queen's train, 
 without even bestowing upon her the customary salutation, 
 deeming it, " a crime and an impiety to offer any greeting to 
 an excommunicated person." 3 
 
 The approaching arrival of queen Jeanne greatly excited the 
 king; lie laughed, jested, and rudely repulsed counsel from his 
 mother, or the duke d'Anjou. Sometimes his sarcasms were 
 unexpectedly aimed at the admiral and his friends. In vain 
 the Huguenots of the court examined Charles's countenance ; 
 but the glistening eye, which wandered searehingly round, be- 
 trayed none of the emotions or the resolves agitating the mind 
 of the king. The fierceness of the taunts which lie occasionally 
 addressed to his mother in the court circle often made Ca- 
 therine's brow grow livid with anger. The duke d'Anjou feared 
 for his life, and withdrew as much as possible from the royal 
 presence. It is asserted that these angry demonstrations on 
 the part of king Charles were but a portion of the farce enact- 
 ing by the court to delude the Huguenots, and to throw them 
 completely off their guard, by opening before their chieftains 
 the flattering prospect of firmly establishing themselves in the 
 government by a breach between Catherine and her son, and 
 
 1 The wife of one of the queen's chaplains, Merlin de Vaulx. 
 
 2 MS. Bibl Roy. Dupuy, 209-211, fol 42.— Inedited. 
 
 3 Mem, surl'Etat de France. De Thou. Mem. de Tavannes, chap. xxv.
 
 372 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 the queen's consequent removal from any share in the adminis- 
 tration. That Catherine and her favourite son d'Anjou had 
 already contemplated the crime of ridding themselves of the 
 Huguenots on the occasion of the marriage of the prince of 
 Navarre, is possible ; hut the king's resolutions were always 
 suddenly adopted, and what he resolved upon one day, he be- 
 trayed the next. Charles was, moreover, much attached to 
 Henry de Navarre ; he abhorred his mother's rule, and could 
 scarcely contain his rage, when, with wary caution, upon in- 
 different matters, Catherine revealed her designs. His jealous 
 hate of his brother d'Anjou, and his fear of his duplicity, were 
 evidently not assumed, as they maintained ascendency over the 
 king's mind to the last moment of his life. If Charles's alien- 
 ation from his mother was put on at this period, it is certain that 
 the semblance wasnever again discarded; for the courtiers, during 
 the remainiug years of the king's life, lived in perpetual expecta- 
 tion of hearing of the disgrace of Catherine, and even of her ban- 
 ishment from France. No condition could be more deplorable 
 than that of the unfortunate Charles IX., hating those nearest to 
 him with sullen intensity, and yet urged by their representa- 
 tions to deeds of fury, for the which, when the paroxysm sub- 
 sided, the miserable king suffered agonies of repentance. 
 
 The cardinal Alexandrini sought immediate audience of 
 the king, on his arrival at Blois. Charles positively declined 
 the alliance with Portugal, saying " that he had other views for 
 his sister." The prelate continued his expostulations, and re- 
 presented the heinousness of his concessions to the Huguenots, 
 and the repugnance which madame Marguerite herself felt at 
 contracting marriage with one out of the pale of the church. 
 The king listened with visible impatience ; at length he ex- 
 claimed, in the ambiguous language which he usually adopted 
 at this period : " M. le cardinal, would to God that I might 
 explain all ! You would then understand, as well as the sove- 
 reign pontiff", that there is nothing more conducive to establish 
 religion, and to exterminate the foes of the church, than this mar- 
 riage." 1 The cardinal then sought audience of Catherine and 
 the duke d'Anjou ; and finally retired, after a sojourn of some 
 days, very well satisfied, it is stated, with the result of his mission. 
 
 Queen Jeanne and her suite arrived at Tours, soon after 
 the cardinal made his appearance at Blois. The queen was 
 there met by a messenger, praying her, in the name of king 
 Charles, to take up her abode in the citadel of Tours, or at her 
 old abode of Plessis, until after the departure of the legate. 
 
 1 Mezeray, Hist, de France, Vie de Charles IX. Aubigne. De Thou.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 373 
 
 The request seems to have excited the queen's indignation. She 
 says, in a letter written to her son : " The queen does not wish 
 me to go to Blois until the legate is gone. They were all in a 
 great hurry for my arrival here, though now they seem to make 
 no great haste to see me." Jeanne's ancient prejudices against 
 the castle of Plessis apparently still subsisted, for she chose to 
 remain in Tours until the papal envoy departed. Coligny had, 
 likewise, been requested by the king to retire from court during 
 the visit of the legate, in order that no pretext of offence might 
 be given to either party. The king previously assured the ad- 
 miral, " that the legate might say and do what he liked, but 
 that, despite of all and everybody, the marriage between Henry 
 and Marguerite should be accomplished." 
 
 Queen Catherine, madame Marguerite, the widowed princess 
 of Conde, her future daughter-in-law Marie de Cleves, and other 
 ladies of the court, immediately visited Jeanne at Tours, leaving 
 king Charles at Blois. Marguerite, meanwhile, whose destinies 
 the arrival of Jeanne so deeply affected, conducted herself, 
 when in the queen's presence, with such prudence and dignity 
 as greatly to excite her approval. Probably, the instructions 
 of her mother, and more than all, the dreaded menaces of her 
 brother, the king, may have influenced the conduct of the prin- 
 cess on this occasion ; for she was even induced to intimate to 
 queen Jeanne how favourably she was impressed with the merit 
 of the prince of JSavarre. To her private friends, however, 
 Marguerite ceased not bitterly to repeat " that she would never 
 resign herself to the loss of the duke de Guise, to whom she 
 had given her affections and her faith ; neither would she, of 
 her own free will, accept for a husband the duke's greatest 
 enemy." 1 "Madame Marguerite," wrote Jeanne, to her son, 
 from Tours, " has paid me every honour and welcome in her 
 power to bestow ; and she has frankly owned to me the agree- 
 able ideas which she has formed of you. With her beauty and 
 wit she exercises great influence with the queen-mother, and 
 the king, and messieurs her younger brothers." 
 
 The day following the arrival of the queen of Navarre, the 
 conferences opened between Jeanne and Catherine respecting 
 the marriage. It was Jeanne's intention that her son should 
 be married by proxy ; after that ceremony, the queen desired 
 to conduct Marguerite to Pau, to her youthful bridegroom. 
 This design was unpalatable in the extreme, both to queen 
 Catherine and to her daughter. Catherine demanded, in her 
 son's name, first, that the marriage between Henry and Mar- 
 
 Davila, Hist, des Guerres chiles de la France, t. i. p. 267-— Edition in4to.
 
 371 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 guerite accomplished, that they should reside at the court of 
 France ; secondly, that Marguerite should not be compelled to 
 attend the prayers or the preckes of the Huguenots ; hut that, 
 wherever she went, her husband should provide her with a 
 chapel, priests, and with the other requisites for the celebration 
 of mass ; thirdly, that the prince of Beam should refrain from 
 the public exercise of his religion when at court. 1 These pre- 
 liminary articles agreed upon, Catherine proposed that they 
 should next discuss the minor stipulations of revenue, jewels, 
 and dower. Indignant at the subterfuge used to bring her to 
 the court, to propose such demands, Jeanne rejected the nego- 
 tiation altogether upon this basis. The only gleam of hope 
 that had risen in the queen's mind, through all these transac- 
 tions, was, that Marguerite might eventually be won to con- 
 formity with the Huguenot ritual ; a trust totally at variance 
 with the proposals of the court. " Madame," exclaimed the 
 intrepid de Hosny, " cut short the negotiation while you may. 
 Return to your own country. Believe me, that if these nuptials 
 are ever celebrated at Paris, the liveries worn on the occasion 
 will be blood-coloured!" The queen, however, thought it her 
 duty to persevere ; she had not yet been admitted to audience 
 of the king, and trusted in his oft-repeated assurances. " I 
 strengthen my courage, as well I may," wrote Jeanne at this 
 period to her son's governor, M. de Beauvoir. " I try not to 
 let their evil dealings ruffle my temper ; but I am sorely tempt- 
 ed. You know well the personages here ; suffice it I trust 
 them not more than I did." 2 Jeanne, at the same time, having 
 been informed that the prince, impatient to join her, had 
 advanced as far as the town of Tartas, she wrote to her son 
 the following interesting letter ; to which the princess Cather- 
 ine added a postscript, as will be seen. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO THE PRINCE OF NAVARRE. 3 
 
 "MoN FILS, 
 
 "The long account that I have already sent to you of the discourse 
 which I held with the queen and madame, renders it needless for me 
 to write a long letter, as I am sorry that I cannot yet impart any 
 decisive resolution. I perceive, by what you have written to me, that 
 you are journeying towards Tartas as we had resolved; hut as it 
 appears that our affairs here have still to be settled, both by the pen 
 and the eye, I pray and command you not to quit Beam until you 
 have received another despatch from me : if you have already travelled 
 some way, devise an expedient to return upon your steps, as you may 
 
 1 MS. Cotton, Vesp. F. vi. fol. 1. B. Museum.— Inedited. 
 
 ' l Vauvilliers, Hist, de Jeanne d'Albret, t. ii. 
 3 MS. Bibl. Roy. Dupuy, 209, 210, 211, fol. 39.— Iuedited.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBKET. 375 
 
 easily do. This is my advice, and that of all here who understand 
 how things are : nothing is talked of at court but to bring you hither 
 speedily, even before we have concluded anything, which the queen 
 has said to me three times, depends solely upon your decision and will. 
 As I clearly perceive the said lady believes that all I say proceeds 
 from my own head alone, and that you have a separate opinion and 
 will from myself (as you know Le Croc insinuated to her Majesty), 
 when you write, I be^ of you, my son, to request me, under your own 
 hand, to remember all you have said and enjoined, especially on the 
 inclination which madame manifests upon religious matters, intimat- 
 ing, that it is that consideration alone which prevents you from con- 
 cluding the negotiation. I can then show her Majesty this under 
 your own hand ; she will then know that your inclinations and my 
 own are identical, which will very much advance our affairs. 
 
 " I assure you, mon fils, that I am in great trouble ; for they taunt 
 me without mercy ; and I have need of all the patience in the world. 
 I must inform you that madame Marguerite has given me every 
 honour and welcome in her power to bestow ; she has frankly owned 
 to me the agreeable idea which she has formed of you. With her 
 beauty and wit she exercises great influence with the queen-mother, 
 the king, and with messieurs her younger brothers. Should she 
 embrace our faith, I may say it will be the most fortunate event in the 
 world ; for not only our House, but the entire realm of France will 
 partake in this happiness, judging from the prudence and wisdom 
 which she already displays. If she, hoAvever, remains obstinate in the 
 profession of her present faith, she being attached to it as it is reported, 
 it is to be feared that this marriage will entail the ruin of our souls, 
 and of our country, and prove so great an advantage to the Papists, 
 considering the kind of favour which the queen-mother bears us, that 
 our peril will be followed by the destruction of all the churches of 
 France. Therefore, my son, if ever you had need to supplicate the 
 Almighty, it is now in this our extremity. I, for my part, pray to 
 Him incessantly to aid us in this negotiation ; so that this marriage 
 may not be accomplished in wrath, as our chastisement, but granted 
 as a merciful blessing to augment His glory and our repose. 
 
 "My sister, the princess, 1 and my niece," are here : they agree like 
 the fingers of my hand in {illegible) themselves perpetually, and I come 
 in for my share, like everybody else. I find them both much changed ; 
 they have assumed airs which I esteem as extraordinary as they are 
 disagreeable. If you cannot make love with better grace than your 
 cousin, 3 I counsel you, mon fils, to leave the matter alone. Neverthe- 
 less, I shall not fail to speak to the king on all these subjects ; which 
 when I have done, I will send you information thereof. The queen 
 does not wish me to go to Blois until the legate is gone ; they were 
 all in a great hurry for my arrival here, though now they seem to 
 make no haste to see me. The count de Mansfeld is at Blois, and 
 very clamorous for his money. I pray you, mon fils, remember what 
 I told you respecting the intended passage of some of the count's 
 
 1 Franchise d'Orleans, widow of the prince dc Conde, killed at Jarnac. 
 
 2 Marie de Cleves, betrothed to the young Conde. 
 J The prince dc Conde.
 
 37G LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 troops through Beam. Your sister Catherine has been indisposed. I 
 am now waiting the reply they mean to send me from the court. My 
 son, I beseech you pray fervently that God may guide us ; for if ever 
 you needed His aid it is now. As all your words and actions are 
 watched and reported at court, forget not, my son, to attend diligently 
 the prayers and preches of our ministers: you will be able to judge 
 from the minute facts which the queen mentioned to me, how alert 
 they all are to profit by everything which occurs. 
 
 " Monsieur de Montmorency has written to me, to say that the king 
 and monsieur are willing to see him at court ; but that the queen 
 makes objection: he requests me to procure the consent of the said 
 lady, that he may accompany you hither— which thing, mon fils, I 
 have promised to obtain, should your favour here be sufficient to 
 accomplish it. Mon fils, I pray you forget not to write as I have 
 requested you to do ; and attend diligently to your religious duties 
 and to my affairs. As for your health, I confide it to the°care of M. 
 de Beauvoir, and of M. de Got. I pray God, mon fils, that, for your 
 salvation and His glory, He may give you all needful things. 
 
 " Written at Tours, this 21st day of February, by 
 
 ^ frU-rfCu^yl/ 
 
 " Monsieur, j'ay veu Madame que j'ay troue fort belle et euse bien 
 desire que vous l'eusie vue : ie luy ay bien parle pour vo us quelle vous 
 tint en sa bonne grace ce quelle ma promis, et m'a fait bien bonne 
 chere, et m'a donne un bau petit chien, que jeme bien.'" 
 
 At length, the answer arrived which the queen had been 
 expecting at Tours. King Charles entreated his aunt to 
 repair without delay to Blois, that under his own immediate 
 auspices the negotiation might be concluded to the satisfaction 
 of all parties. Jeanne being resolved that the rupture of the 
 negotiation should not be attributed to a want of conciliation 
 on her part, assented to the king's demand. She was attended 
 to Blois by the members of her retinue, including count Louis 
 of Nassau, 2 her faithful friend, who was also interested in the 
 
 1 Catherine's little billet to her brother is as follows — " Monsieur, — I have 
 seen madame, whom I think very beautiful, and I wish much that you could 
 also see her. I talked well to her for you ; and asked her to hold you in her 
 gracious favour, the which she promised me to do. She gave me very cordial 
 welcome, and has presented me with a beautiful little dog, that I love much." 
 
 2 Count Louis of Nassau was the brother of the prince of Orange, who, with 
 his brothers, had been deprived of their inheritance by the duke of Alba.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 377 
 
 treaty, as far as it concerned the proposed campaign in Fland- 
 ers. " The count Louis de Nassau is the only one here of my 
 party who supports me altogether ; he sees, as I do, that not 
 much faith is to be placed in the professions of this court, and 
 the courtiers," exclaims Jeanne sadly, in a letter written to the 
 baron de Beauvoir. 
 
 The queen of Navarre was received at the portal of the 
 castle of Blois by Charles and his court. The royal guard was 
 under arms ; cannon saluted, and the bells of the collegiate 
 church of St Sauveur rang merrily in honour of her arrival. 
 The king manifested his joy at the meeting by vehement 
 demonstrations ; he repeatedly embraced the queen, clasped 
 her hand, and frowned signal defiance at any orthodox courtier, 
 who ventured, as Charles thought, to pay his devoirs to the 
 heretic queen with insufficient fervour. He publicly addressed 
 Jeanne as " sa bonne et cliere tante ; son tout ; sa mieux aymee." l 
 Led by the king, Jeanne entered the castle ; in the grand hall 
 she was received by queen Catherine, the young queen Eliza- 
 beth of Austria, and by madame, attended' by all the principal 
 ladies of the court of France; for such had been the express 
 commands of king Charles. Marguerite advanced to kiss the 
 queen's hand, closely followed, however, by her lady-in-waiting, 
 madame de Curton. 2 It is asserted by those historians who 
 affirm that the king was privy to the design of a general mas- 
 sacre of the Huguenots, and signed the peace of 1570 with this 
 intent, that on the evening of the day of Jeanne's arrival at 
 Blois, Charles demanded of his mother, " Well, madame, what 
 do you think of affairs now ? Do I not play my part excellent- 
 ly ? " " Very well, my son," replied Catherine de Medici ; " but 
 it is nothing if you do not persevere." " Leave that to me, 
 madame," rejoined the king, "you will see how well I will 
 manage to thrust them altogether into our net ! " 3 
 
 The day following, the conferences on the marriage were 
 renewed; Catherine, however, still retained the conduct of the 
 affair. While paying the utmost outward repect to the queen 
 of Navarre, she had recourse to every artifice to annoy and 
 thwart her. Jeanne bore all with patient fortitude ; firm in 
 her decisions, it was in vain that Catherine sought to compel or 
 to surprise her into submission. " I assure you, nion fils, that 
 they taunt me without mercy, and I have need of all the pa- 
 
 1 Mem. de l'Etoile, t. i. p. 43. Mem. de Tavannes. De Thou. D' Aubigne 
 Bayle, Dictionuaire Historique, art. Jeanne de Navarre. 
 
 2 Charlotte de Vienne, widow of the sieur de Chabannes, baron de Curton, 
 preceptress and first lady to Marguerite. 
 
 3 Mathieu, Hist, de France, t. i. p. 340.
 
 378 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 tience in the world," bad been Jeanne's mournful comment to 
 her son on tbe treatment which she received while at Tours. A 
 few days after her arrival at Blois, she wrote : " mon fils, I am 
 compelled to negotiate quite contrary to my expectations, and 
 to their promises. I have no longer liberty to speak to ma- 
 dame even, but only to the queen-mother, qui one traite a la 
 fourche, as my messenger will recount. As for Monsieur, 1 he 
 tries also to domineer over me, though in a very cautious man- 
 ner, half in jest and half by deceit, as you know. Madame I 
 only see in the saloon of the queen, from whom she never stirs ; 
 and she only retires into her own apartments during the hours 
 when it is impossible for me to visit her. She is then always 
 accompanied by madame de Curton, so that I can never speak 
 a word that the latter does not hear. I have not yet shown 
 madame your letter ; but she shall see it soon. I mentioned 
 it to her, and she replied in general terms (being very dis- 
 creet) of obedience and reverence to you and to myself, in case 
 she ever becomes your wife." Catherine peremptorily insist- 
 ed that her daughter might be at liberty to exercise her faith 
 in any part of Jeanne's dominions ; and that a chapel, with an 
 establishment of priests and choristers, should be maintained 
 for her in the palaces of Pan aud Nerac. She, moreover, re- 
 peated her demand that the prince of Navarre and his consort 
 should spend the greater part of the year at court ; where the 
 prince, in common with all Huguenots, according to the arti- 
 cles of the late edict, was prohibited from causing the celebra- 
 tion of divine service after the Protestant ritual. The decision 
 of purpose shown by the queen of Navarre, and her perfect 
 self-command, greatly incensed Catherine. One day she asked 
 the marshal de Tavannes what he recommended her to do, in 
 order to read the mind and intentions of the queen of Navarre ? 
 "Madame," replied the marshal, "put her into a passion, and 
 keep yourself cool : you will then learn everything from her, 
 and she nothing from you. That is the way to manage women 
 in general." 2 
 
 Despite of Jeanne's self-command and dignity, Catherine, 
 however, felt that she held her in her toils. Days elapsed, and 
 nothing was decided upon ; she had succeeded in humiliating 
 Jeanne by compelling her presence at court ; but she resolved 
 to abase her yet more. It has been stated by several histo- 
 rians, that the queen-mother's delays arose from a perfidious 
 project which she then revolved, of transferring the place of 
 conference from Blois to Paris, after having insisted on the 
 presence of the prince of Navarre, and by anticipating the fatal 
 
 1 Henri, due d'Anjou. s Mem. de Tavannes, chap. 24.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 379 
 
 massacre, to deliver her daughter from an alliance equally de- 
 tested by both. When queen Jeanne remonstrated with Ca- 
 therine on the different treatment which she had been led to 
 anticipate, and commented on the eager desire manifested by 
 the court for the conferences to open, the queen denied that 
 such had ever been the case ; or that other treatment had been 
 guaranteed to the Huguenots. She misrepresented Jeanne's 
 word, in order to create divisions in her party ; while she 
 affirmed that the prince would concede the mass to his wife 
 were he not under his mother's tutelage ; and she desired the 
 queen to contradict this statement if she dared, by sanctioning 
 the arrival of Henry at court. " Mon fils," wrote Jeanne indig- 
 nantly, " nothing progresses ; and they do all in their power to 
 make me come to a precipitate decision, instead of conducting 
 affairs with order and gravity. I have remonstrated upon 
 three separate occasions with the queen ; but she ridicules me, 
 and afterwards states to every one just the very contrary to 
 that which I said ; therefore, when many of our friends blame 
 me, I know not well how to contradict the queen, for when I 
 venture to say to her Majesty, ' Madame, it is reported that I 
 have said such and such things to you,' although she it was 
 who herself spread the statement, she denies it, laughing in my 
 face, and treating me in such shameful fashion, that you may 
 believe my patience surpasses that of Griselda herself" 
 
 Hard as this treatment was to bear, Jeanne had departed 
 from Pau with the full persuasion that nothing but contumely 
 awaited her at the court of the Yalois. She had waged a suc- 
 cessful war against Catherine and her party, who, while they 
 abated nothing of their hatred, offered concession only to com- 
 mand retaliation. She had prepared her council to find the 
 offers of the court, which in the abstract appeared inviting, to 
 be delusive and treacherous. " Can the queen, who never par- 
 dons, pardon me ? " had been Jeanne's frequent exclamation. 
 Against her better judgment, the confederation of the princes 
 had been dissolved ; and Jeanne felt that the presence of her 
 son at court was alone wauting to perfect the ruin of her party. 
 " The more I watch the course of events, the more I dread the 
 issue for my son, in this court so treacherous and licentious ! " ' 
 exclaims Jeanne in one of her letters to de Beauvoir, the 
 prince's governor. 
 
 Catherine, though immersed in her projects, and unable to 
 conquer the resolution displayed by the queen of Navarre, felt 
 that the menacing gaze of king Charles rested upon her. She 
 had demanded the conduct of the negotiation, and it was con- 
 
 1 Lcttre de la Iteine de Navarre u M. de lieauvoir, MS. Bibl. Roy.
 
 380 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 
 
 ceded. Days had been spent in futile contest ; the king mani- 
 festly had difficulty in repressing his impatience ; while Jeanne 
 d' Albret refused to summon her sou, or to yield to the proposal 
 respecting the mass. The queen, therefore, suddenly declined 
 to negotiate longer in person ; but requested Jeanne to appoint 
 commissioners to debate the question with certain mem bers of 
 the privy council. She, likewise, permitted the queen of 
 Navarre to summon three noted ministers, Espina, Merlin de 
 Vaulx, and Vinet, to aid her by their counsel. Jeanne imme- 
 diately wrote to her son, to send Francourt, her chancellor, to 
 Blois. This celebrated letter, written in terms of indignant 
 protest against the humiliation to which she was subjected, de- 
 monstrates the heroic spirit ever animating Jeanne d' Albret, as 
 well as the corruption of the court. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO THE PRINCE OF NAVARRE.' 
 
 " MON FILS, 
 
 " I am in travail, and in such extremity of suffering, that had I not 
 foreseen all that has happened. I must have succumbed beneath the 
 torment. The haste in which I despatch the bearer of this will pre- 
 vent me from writing to you so long a letter as my last. I have, 
 therefore, confided to him notes, and various memoranda, upon which 
 he will answer all you please to ask. I should have sent Richardiere, 
 but he is too weary to undertake the journey at present ; besides, I 
 shall despatch him soon after the departure of this courier, whom I 
 send for a special purpose. I am compelled to negotiate quite con- 
 trary to my expectations, and their past promises. I have no longer 
 liberty to speak even to madame, but only to the queen-mother, qui 
 me traite a la fourche, as my messenger will recount. As for mon- 
 sieur, he tries also to domineer over me, but in a very cautious man- 
 ner, half in jest, and half by deceit, as you know. Madame I only 
 meet in the saloon of the queen, from whence she never stirs ; and she 
 retires into her own apartments only during the hours that it is im- 
 possible for me to visit her. She is always accompanied by madame 
 de Curton ; so that I can never speak a word that the latter does not 
 hear. I have not yet shown madame your letter ; but she shall see it 
 soon. I mentioned that I had one for her : she replied in general 
 terms (being very discreet) of obedience, and reverence to you and to 
 myself, in case she becomes your wife. 
 
 " Perceiving, my son, that nothing progresses, but that they do all 
 in their power to make me come to a precipitate decision, instead of 
 conducting affairs with order and gravity, I have remonstrated upon 
 three separate occasions with the queen ; but she ridicules me, and 
 afterwards repeats to every one just the very contrary to that which I 
 said : therefore, when many of my friends blame me, I know not well 
 how to contradict the queen's words, for when I venture to say to her 
 Majesty, ' Madame, it is reported that I have said such and such a 
 
 ' MS. Bibl. Roy. This letter has been published by Le Laboureur, Ad- 
 ditions aux Mem. de Castelnau, t. i. p. 858.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 3S1 
 
 thing to you,' although it was she herself who spread the statement, 
 she denies the thing, laughing in my face, and treating me in such 
 shameful fashion, that you may believe my patience surpasses that of 
 Griselda herself. Moreover, if I venture to remark how far I find 
 everything from the hope that I entertained of speaking and confer- 
 ring with her earnestly and in private, she denies all ; and you may 
 judge of the position in which I am placed, from the summary of our 
 discourse, which I send by the courier. "When I leave the apartment 
 of the queen I am beset by a multitude of Huguenots, who come to 
 converse with me, more to spy out my proceedings than to offer me 
 aid. To some of these I am obliged to dissemble greatly, to prevent 
 more serious difference. I have visitors, also, of another temper ; 
 against whom I defend myself as well as I can. I cannot say that I 
 am without counsel : for every one gives me his advice ; but not two 
 of these opinions agree. 
 
 '• The queen has just intimated to me, perceiving that I do nothing 
 but vacillate, that as we cannot personally agree in this negotiation, 
 that some of your people -must assemble to debate the matter. I send 
 you the list of those whom her Majesty has been pleased to nominate 
 on both sides. All is decided by the queen ; which is the reason, mon 
 fils, that I despatch this courier in haste to beg you to send me my 
 chancellor ; for I have none with me here who can equal him in learn- 
 ing and conduct ; otherwise I shall relinquish the negotiation ; as I 
 came here on the understanding alone that the queen and myself 
 were to debate matters together. She (the queen) does nothing but 
 ridicule my assertions : and will not yield in her demand respecting 
 the mass, although nothing was stipulated before on this point, as she 
 well knows. The king wishes me only to write to Francourt. 
 
 "Their Majesties have, at length, permitted me to summon several 
 ministers of our religion ; not, however, for purposes of controversy, 
 but to take counsel with them on these matters. I have, therefore, 
 sent for MM. d'Espiner, Merlin, and others. I observe, however, that 
 their aim is to obtain your presence here ; therefore, mon fils, look well 
 to yourself, for if the king undertakes to accomplish this, as it is said 
 he will do, I am greatly troubled for the result. I have, therefore, 
 despatched this courier on two errands : the principal one being, to 
 inform you how greatly they have altered their mode of negotiating 
 with me ; and how needful it is, therefore, for M. de Francourt to 
 come without delay, as I have written to him. I request you, more- 
 over, my son, to persuade and command him to set out, should he 
 make objections to the journey. If you could realize the distress and 
 anxiety which I suffer, you would pity me ; for they treat me with the 
 greatest rigour, and with foolish discourse and ridicule, instead of 
 negotiating as the gravity of the subject merits ; so that I have great 
 difficulty in repressing my wrath. I have, however, resolved not to be 
 irritated ; and the patience which I demonstrate is miraculous : but I 
 know that if I have hitherto had occasion for forbearance, I shall still 
 more need it. I fear that I shall soon fall ill with anxiety, as already 
 my health is failing greatly. 
 
 '• I approve of your letter, and shall present it to madame on the 
 first opportunity. As for her picture, I will send and procure one for
 
 3S2 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 you from Paris. She is beautiful, discreet, and graceful : but she has 
 been educated in the midst of the most vicious and corrupt court that 
 can be imagined. I see no one here exempt from its evil influences. 
 Your cousin, the marchioness, 1 is so greatly altered, that she exhibits 
 no sign of religion, if it be not that she abstains from attending mass : 
 for in everything else, except that she refrains from this idolatry, she 
 lives like other Papists ; and my sister, the princess, 2 sets even a worse 
 example. This I write to you in confidence. The bearer of this letter 
 will tell you the license which the king already indulges in : it is a 
 pity. I would not, for any consideration whatever, consent that you 
 should abide here. For these reasons, I desire to see you married, 
 that you and your wife may be withdrawn from this corrupt society; 
 for, although' I believed the license great, it surpasses my antici- 
 pations. 
 
 " I send you a bouquet, as you are now upon your preferment ; also, 
 some buttons to loop your hat and plume. The men here cover them- 
 selves with jewels : the king has recently purchased gems to the amount 
 of one hundred thousand crowns ; and he buys many almost daily. It 
 is reported that the queen and monsieur go soon to Paris. If I remain 
 in this part, I shall retire into Vendomois. Mon fils, send back the 
 courier without delay : say to me that you dare not write to madame 
 for fear of displeasing her, not knowing how she received the letter 
 which you have already sent to her. Your sister is well. 
 
 " I have read the letter which M. de la Case has written to you. I 
 advise you to inquire more into the circumstances of the person for 
 whom he intercedes. I again enjoin upon you to send M. de Fran- 
 court without delay, as it has been thought expedient to put an end to 
 my own personal negotiation. I still maintain my opinion that it is 
 best for you to return into Beam. You have, doubtless, perceived, 
 my son, by the letter that I have lately written, how earnestly they 
 are striving to separate you from God and from myself : you may 
 judge by what I now write, whether they have relaxed their said pur- 
 pose, and how great is my anxiety respecting you. I implore you, my 
 son, cease not to pray to God : you have always need of His protection, 
 and esepcially at this time. I pray that He will assist and bestow 
 upon you, mon fils, the utmost that you can desire. From Blois, the 
 8th day of March, from 
 
 " Vostre bonne mere, et meilleure amie, 
 
 "Jeanne." 
 
 " Mon fils, since writing the above, having no means of delivering 
 your letter to madame, I have repeated to her its contents : she replied, 
 'that before these negotiations commenced, you were well aware 
 of the religion which she professed, and how devoted she was to her 
 faith.' I told her, that those who commenced the first overtures, had 
 represented the matter very differently, and that they had even inti- 
 mated that the question would not be one of difficult solution, as she 
 already had shown some inclination towards our faith : and that with- 
 
 1 Marie de Cleves, marquise d'lsle, betrothed to Conde. 
 
 2 Franchise d'Orleans, the widowed priiicesse de Conde.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 3S3 
 
 out this conviction I should not have urged the marriage : neverthe- 
 less, while it was yet time, I besought her to reflect well. At other times, 
 Avhen I have spoken to her on this subject, she has never answered so 
 peremptorily, and even rudely. I believe, however, that madame 
 speaks as she has been commanded to do : also, that the story respect- 
 ing her inclination for the reformed doctrines was only a device to 
 lure us to this negotiation. I never lose an opportunity to draw from 
 her some avowal which might console me. I asked her this evening 
 whether she had any message to send to you. Madame for some time 
 made no reply ; at length, on my pressing her for an answer-, she 
 replied ' that she could not send you any message without having 
 first obtained permission : but that I was to present to you her com- 
 mendations, and to say that you were to come to the court ; ' but I, my 
 son, I bid you do just the contrary? 
 
 The lofty spirit of the queen of Navarre at length became 
 thoroughly roused at the treatment which she experienced, and 
 at the insulting irony of Catherine's tone. She, therefore, inti- 
 mated to the king, that unless the question of the marriage of 
 her son with the princess Marguerite was treated with the 
 gravity and importance which the subject demanded, she should 
 at once retire from court. She informed Catherine, at the 
 same time, that the trifling insincerity of her mode of proced- 
 ure, having raised in her own mind, and in that of the princi- 
 pal Huguenot chieftains, doubts whether her Majesty had 
 proffered the alliance between Henry and the princess in good 
 faith, she had thought it expedient to arrest the journey of 
 the prince, who would, therefore, retire again to Pau. The 
 angry consternation of Catherine at this announcement was 
 unbounded ; her desire was to draw Henry to the court ; and 
 when once there, Catherine believed too confidently in the 
 spells of luxurious pleasure, which she had hitherto so success- 
 fully cast round previous victims, to doubt of her ultimate 
 triumph over the habitual reverence which the prince gave 
 to his mother. She had even boldly insinuated as much to 
 Jeanne d'Albret. The king, likewise, addressed frequent let- 
 ters to the prince, pressingly inviting him to share the splen- 
 dours and recreations of the court, such as, " hunting, banquet- 
 ting, and other pleasures, which raon frere, Montane, whom I 
 send to you, will explain." But Henry indignantly resented 
 the treatment which his mother experienced ; he trusted the 
 depth of her love, and prepared implicitly to follow her coun- 
 sels. The prince had journeyed from Tarbes to La Kochelle, 
 when Jeanne's letter, requesting that Fraucourt might be sent, 
 reached him. Without delay, therefore, Henry set out for Pau, 
 despite the remonstrances of his governor de Beauvoir, and 
 even of Prancourt himself, who advised the prince to remain at
 
 3S4 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBKET. 
 
 La Roehelle, at least until the queen reiterated her directions 
 for his return into Beam. Henry, nevertheless, insisted on 
 following his mother's directions to the very letter ; he had 
 given his solemn promise to act, throughout the negotiation, 
 in strict subordination to her commands. The society of the 
 beautiful bride offered to him by king Charles proved no lure 
 to the prince. The countess de Gruiche was, at this period, the 
 object of Henry's homage ; while the frightful libels current, 
 respecting the levity of Marguerite de Valois, and the little 
 empressement which she demonstrated to accept his suit, re- 
 pressed any anxiety to meet her. " I shall remain in this 
 place until I hear certain and satisfactory tidings from the 
 queen my mother," wrote Henry to Caumont de la Force, 
 after his return to Pau. 
 
 Aware of the susceptibility of her son's temperament, there 
 was nothing that Jeanne dreaded so much for him as a pro- 
 longed sojourn at the court of the Valois ; and the excesses 
 into which Henry was subsequently betrayed proved the wis- 
 dom of her caution. One of Jeanne's greatest sorrows in re- 
 spect to her son, was, that in his love of pleasure and license, 
 he resembled his father, Antoine de Bourbon. The queen was 
 often heard to express a conviction, that the profligate morals 
 of the princes of the houses of Bourbon and Valois, Avould 
 some day occasion the overthrow of their respective dynasties 
 — a prediction which has since met with literal accomplishment. 
 " Mon fils," observed the queen, in one of her many letters to 
 her son, " so abandoned are the women in this court, that it is 
 they, instead of your sex, who resort to the arts of seduction." 
 The contrast between her own young and innocent daughter, 
 and the wanton dames of Catherine's court, struck Jeanne so 
 forcibly, that she could not help exclaiming to Beauvoir, " You 
 cannot imagine how graceful and lovely my daughter appears 
 in the midst of this court ! Oh ! M. de Beauvoir, what a 
 court ! I weary in it exceedingly ! " 
 
 After the despatch of Jeanne's letter to her son, affairs pro- 
 gressed more satisfactorily for the prompt solution of the ob- 
 stacles attending the marriage. Charles, perceiving that in his 
 mother's hands the affair became more complicated, interfered 
 with characteristic impetuosity. He insisted, and in so posi- 
 tive a manner that Catherine dared not resist the mandate, 
 that his aunt should consult whom she pleased on the matter ; 
 and, moreover, receive such counsellors, if so she desired, at 
 Blois. He forbade Catherine to intervene with her own per- 
 sonal negotiation, which, the king bitterly observed, always 
 rendered every affair impracticable. Demands of a most em-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 385 
 
 barrassing nature had been recently proposed by Catherine, 
 relative to the solemnization of the marriage ceremonies ; and 
 which threatened to prove a difficulty insuperable as the re- 
 quest which she had made, relative to the establishment of a 
 chapel, with its complement of priests for the celebration of 
 mass hefore the princess Marguerite, when she sojourned at 
 Pau. The ministers, Merlin, Espina, and Vinet, had already 
 arrived at Blois, where, by the king's commands, they received 
 courteous entertainment. To discuss the perplexing demands 
 which had been presented by Catherine's directions, queen 
 Jeanne summoned these ministers to her private apartments 
 on the 14th day of March, 1572. Availing herself of Charles's 
 permission to consult whom she would, the queen sent to ask 
 the aid and presence of queen Elizabeth's ambassadors, Sir 
 Francis Walsingham and Sir Thomas Smith. Walsingham, in 
 a despatch probably addressed to Lord Burleigh, thus recounts 
 the interview : — 
 
 " Since I wrote last unto your lordship, there hath fallen out 
 nothing worthy of advertisement. The matter of the marriage 
 between the prince of Navarre and the Lady Marguerite con- 
 tinueth doubtful, whereof Sir Thomas Smith and I have the 
 more cause so to judge, for that on the 14th of this month it 
 pleased the queen of Navarre to send for us to dinner, and 
 after dinner was ended she called us into an inner chamber, 
 where we found twelve others, of the which, three were min- 
 isters. 
 
 " Immediately upon our coming she showed unto us, that, 
 with the consent of the queen-mother, she had sent for us as 
 the ministers and ambassadors of a Christian princess, whom 
 she had sundry causes to honour, to confer with us and certain 
 others in whom she reposed great trust, touching certain diffi- 
 culties, which were impediments to the marriage, which thing 
 she would communicate to us after dinner. She said unto us, 
 that she had now the wolf by the ear ; for that in concluding, 
 or not concluding the marriage, she saw danger everyway; 
 and that no matter, though she had dealt in matters of great 
 consequence, did so much trouble her as this ; for that she 
 could not tell what to resolve. Among divers causes of fear, 
 she showed us that two things chiefly troubled her. The first, 
 that the king would needs have her son and the lady Margue- 
 rite, the marriage proceeding, to be courtiers, and yet would 
 not yield to grant him (the prince) any exercise of his religion, 
 the next way to make him become an atheist ; as also no hope 
 to grow of the conversion of the lady Marguerite, for that it 
 was said she should not resort to any sermon. The second, 
 
 25
 
 3S6 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 that they would needs condition that the lady Marguerite, re- 
 maining constant in the Catholic religion, should have, where- 
 soever she went into the country of Beam, her mass — a thing 
 which, the queen said, she could in nowise consent unto, hav- 
 ing cleansed her said country of all idolatry. Besides, said 
 she, the lady Marguerite remaining a Catholic, whensoever she 
 shall come to inhabit in the country of Beam, the Papists 
 there will make a party which will breed divisions in the coun- 
 try, and make them the more unwilling to give ear to the gos- 
 pel, they having a staff to lean unto. 
 
 " So dinner ended, the said queen of Navarre sent for us 
 into an inner chamber, where we found a dozen others of cer- 
 tain chosen gentlemen of the religion, and three ministers. She 
 declared unto us briefly what had passed between the king, the 
 queen-mother, and her, touching the marriage ; as also, what 
 was the cause of the present stay, of the same wherein she 
 desired us severally to say our opinion, and that as sincerely as 
 we would answer unto God. The stay stood upon three 
 points, and concerned a good conscience. First, whether she 
 might substitute a Papist for her son's procurator in the 
 jianqailles ; which thing was generally agreed that she might. 
 Secondly, whether the said procurator going to mass, inconti- 
 nently, after the said Jiangailles, the same being expressly for- 
 bidden in his letters procuratory, it would not breed an offence 
 to the godly. It was agreed that forasmuch as he was express- 
 ly forbidden the same by the letters procuratory, the same 
 could justly minister no offence, for he was no longer a pro- 
 curator than he kept himself within the limits of the letters 
 procuratory. Thirdly, whether she might consent that the 
 words of betrothment should be pronounced by a priest in his 
 priestly attire, with his surplice and stole. This latter point 
 was long debated ; and for that, the ministers concluded that 
 the same (though it were a thing indifferent) would breed a 
 general offence unto the godly, the queen protested that she 
 would never consent for no respect to do that thing whereof 
 there might grow a public scandal ; for she knew, she said, that 
 she should so incur God's high displeasure ; upon which pro- 
 testation, it was generally concluded, that in no case she might 
 yield thereto, her own conscience gainsaying the same ; so that 
 now the marriage is generally holden for broken ; notwith- 
 standing, I am of a contrary opinion, and do think assuredly 
 that hardly any cause will make them break— so many neces- 
 sary causes there are, why the same should proceed." 1 
 
 Walsingham's shrewd conjecture was verified : the king 
 1 MS. Cotton, Vesp. F. vi. fol. 1.— Inedited. Dated March 29th, 1572.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 3S7 
 
 was firmly resolved upon the marriage. During his short and 
 troublous career, Charles exhibited equal pertinacity of purpose 
 on one occasion only — the banishment from France of his bro- 
 ther d'Anjou, by compelling his unwilling acceptance of the 
 crown of Poland. The king's exasperation at the obstacles 
 perpetually raised to thwart his project, might possibly have 
 been used to Jeanne's utter discomfiture, had it not been for 
 the absence of her valiant son, and his five hundred gentlemen 
 and chieftains, including Coligny himself, who, perhaps at the 
 queen's own suggestion, still remained aloof from the court at 
 Chatillon. Whilst Jeanne lived, her political sagacity saved 
 the leaders of the Huguenot party from the snare subsequently 
 laid for them by Catherine de Medici ; and the historian, in 
 reviewing the momentous events, and the duplicity and treach- 
 ery practised by the court, previous to the fatal eve of St 
 Bartholomew's day, 1572, cannot but conjecture, in amazement, 
 on the blind credulity, amounting almost to stupidity, which 
 led such men as Coligny, Montgommery, La Rochefou- 
 cauld, and La Noue, to yield themselves unresisting victims to 
 the vengeance of a princess, whom they had defied and menaced. 
 Had Jeanne d'Albret lived, no such fatal slaughter would, 
 in all probability, have stained the annals of French history. 
 King Charles redoubled his expressions of favour towards 
 Jeanne d'Albret : he became her constant companion, and as- 
 sured her daily that, let what might happen, Henry would 
 espouse his sister ; and that no molestation of the Huguenots, 
 or of their worship, should be permitted. Four commissioners 
 were nominated, at length, by the king, and four by the queen 
 of ]S T avarre, after the arrival of her chancellor, Francourt, to 
 go into the details of the marriage, and arrive at some com- 
 promise. The king appointed the lord-keeper Birague, the 
 count de Retz, Biron, and the count de Maulevrier : Jeanne 
 d'Albret's commissioners were, Francourt, the count Louis de 
 Nassau, La Noue, and her secretary, Le Royer. 1 
 
 The debates between these ministers continued until nearly 
 the close of the month of March ; the queen-mother, through 
 her adherents, de Retz and Birague, continued to insist upon 
 the exercise of the Romish worship being allowed to Marguerite 
 when in Beam ; and that the ceremonial of the marriage 
 should be arranged according to the authorized ritual. Com- 
 promise seemed hopeless, however well disposed the com- 
 missioners individually were to agree on the marriage. Wearied 
 by these dissensions and cavils, Charles suddenly declared it to 
 be his royal pleasure to discard all conditions whatever, as it 
 1 MS. Cotton, Vesp. F. vi. fol. 1.— Inedited.
 
 3S8 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 
 
 was clear that the Huguenots and his Roman Catholic subjects 
 could never agree ; and to proceed at once to stipulate the 
 articles of his sister's marriage-contract, provided that queen 
 Jeanne would, on her side, concede a point, and sanction the 
 presence of the prince of Navarre at court, instead of solemniz- 
 ing his nuptials with Marguerite by procuration. If the king 
 is to be considered sincere in the demonstrations of friendship 
 which he offered to Jeanne and to her friends, a request preg- 
 nant with results more fatal he could scarcely have preferred ; 
 while, if Charles, with execrable duplicity, had throughout dis- 
 simulated his true sentiments, this demand of his must be re- 
 garded as a master-stroke of craft, far exceeding any of his 
 mother's achievements — if, indeed, it were not suggested by 
 Catherine herself. The proposal of the king made great im- 
 pression upon the Huguenots in the queen's suite ; its apparent 
 generosity, and the confidence it evinced in their loyal faith, 
 greatly moved them. Catherine preserved a gloomy and sinis- 
 ter silence ; Marguerite was indifferent and volatile ; the duke 
 d'Anjou, obsequious and plausible. Solicitations poured upon 
 Jeanne from all quarters, to meet Charles in his liberal desire 
 to propitiate his subjects, and to restore peace to his realm. 
 
 The queen's health was sinking rapidly beneath the anxieties 
 of her position ; she had striven nobly and resolutely to ward 
 from her house the perils she too surely descried. Her dis- 
 trust of the court had not diminished ; and her disapproval of 
 the proposed alliance increased rather than decreased. Months 
 had elapsed in vain protests, on her part, against the honour 
 destined for her. She had seen herself deserted by all, except- 
 ing by her gallant son. Coligny, Conde, La Rochefoucauld, 
 and Montgommery, implored her to rescind her decision ; and 
 amongst her own immediate subjects and counsellors, Fran- 
 court, Beauvoir, Le Royer, Grrammont, and d'Arros, warmly 
 seconded the desires of the court. The king's sudden with- 
 drawal of every condition and stipulation, excepting the simple, 
 and apparently very reasonable, request that the prince of Na- 
 varre should evince his sense of the honour done him, by coming 
 in person to receive the hand of the beautiful Marguerite, left 
 the queen without plea or excuse for further opposition. 
 Jeanne's consent was at length wrung from her ; abandoned 
 by all, she struggled no longer against what appeared her 
 relentless destiny. 
 
 King Charles continued in too complacent a disposition to 
 render the negotiation of the marriage articles difficult. Charles 
 gave his sister the sum of 300,000 gold crowns — the crown 
 valued at fifty-four sous. Catherine presented her daughter
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 3S9 
 
 with a marriage gift of 200,000 livres Tournois. 1 Marguerite's 
 brothers, the dukes d'Aujou and d'Alencon, each offered her 
 the sum of 25,000 livres Tournois. The queen of Navarre, on 
 her part, covenanted to surrender to her son on his marriage 
 the revenues of her county of Armagnac ; and to secure, more- 
 over, to the prince, an income of 11,000 livres Tournois, on 
 her county of Marie : also, the lands ceded to her by the cardi- 
 nal de Bourbon, on her own marriage with the duke de 
 Vendome. Marguerite's dower, in case she survived her hus- 
 band, was fixed at the annual sum of 40,000 livres Tournois, 
 secured on the duchy of Vendome. Prince Henry, moreover, 
 promised to spend the sum of 30,000 livres in furniture and 
 decorations for the palace of his future bride. Queen Jeanne 
 reserved to herself the pleasure of presenting the accustomed 
 jewels and rich vestments to the bride elect, so that nothing 
 was stipulated in the contract on that subject. The wedding- 
 gift presented by the old cardinal de Bourbon to his nephew, 
 was, the sum of 100,000 livres Tournois, and the estate of 
 Chateauneuf in Thimerais. 2 So eager was the king to hasten 
 the marriage, that the usual stipulation respecting pin-money 
 for the royal bride seems to have been totally overlooked. Not 
 a sentence was inserted in the marriage-contract regarding 
 difference of religion. 
 
 When the marriage-articles had received the signature of 
 the queen of Navarre, Charles despatched a courier to the 
 cardinal de Lorraine, who was then sojourning at Borne, direct- 
 ing him to apply without delay for a dispensation to enable 
 the prince of Navarre to espouse his cousin, the princess Mar- 
 guerite. The supreme pontiff, Pius V., 3 positively refused to 
 grant this grace to the heretic son of the princess still stricken 
 by the anathema launched by his predecessor in the pontificate. 
 " Sooner than grant dispensation of marriage to a heretic, I 
 would lose my head," exclaimed the fiery old pontiff. " This 
 said prince of Navarre is unworthy of the favours of the church, 
 while he remains an alien from her flock, and a member severed 
 from her body ! " 
 
 The king flew into one of his accustomed transports when 
 informed of the pontiff's refusal to issue the requisite dispensa- 
 
 1 Twentj - -four thousand livres Tournois amounted to about two thousand 
 pounds sterling. It must be remembered that money in those days had about 
 fifteen times its present value. 
 
 2 Contrat de mariacre de Madame Marguerite de France, avec le Roy de 
 Navarre. Leonard, t. ii. p. »9i. Moetjens. t. ii. p. 334. 
 
 3 Michel Ghislieri succeeded Pius IV., in 1566. Before his elevation he 
 bore the title of cardinal bishop de Mondovi. Pius V. was canonized by Cle- 
 ment XI.
 
 390 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 tion. The effect of this intelligence was very different upon 
 the mind of Jeanne d'Albret. Every impediment to the comple- 
 tion of the alliance was hailed by her as a welcome interposi- 
 tion of Providence in her behalf. Her health having recently 
 become so delicate and uncertain as to warrant the most seri- 
 ous apprehensions on the part of her friends, the queen one clay 
 hinted to Charles her desire to retire to Vendome, pending the 
 settlement of the matter with the Holy See, the king hastily re- 
 plied : " No, no, ma tante, I honour you more than the pope, and 
 I love my sister more than I fear his Holiness. I am not a Hu- 
 guenot, but neither am I a fool. If M. le Pape demeans himself 
 too absurdly in this affair, I promise you that I will take Mar- 
 got by the hand, and lead her to be married in full ■preche.' n l 
 Queen Jeanne submitted unwillingly to the mandate of the 
 king : upon one pretext or another she still delayed the arrival 
 of the prince her son. The restless disquietude of her mind 
 increased her indisposition. Worn by perpetual watchings 
 and anxieties, the spirit of the queen of Navarre longed for 
 that repose which soon was to be vouchsafed. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1572. 
 
 Letter sent to queen Elizabeth by the queen of Navarre— Illness of the prin- 
 cess Catherine of Navarre — Distress of queen Jeanne — She intercedes for 
 Charlotte de Bourbon, abbess de Jouarre — Arrival of the dispensation 
 authorizing the marriage between Henry and Marguerite — Queen Jeanne 
 summons her son — She consults the Calvinist ministers on the ceremonial to 
 be observed at the nuptial ceremony — She departs from Blois — Her sojourn 
 at Vendome — Her correspondence with mademoiselle de Bourbon — Arrival 
 of the queen in Paris — She takes up her abode in the Hotel de Conde — Fail- 
 ing condition of her health — Her occupations — Her illness — Nature of the 
 queen's malady — Her resignation — Her last interviews with Coligny and 
 others — Her message to her daughter — Death of Jeanne d'Albret — Her de- 
 cease supposed to have been occasioned by poison — Examination of her re- 
 mains — Its result — Ceremony of her lying in state — Funeral obsequies of 
 queen Jeanne — The intelligence of his mother's death reaches prince Henry 
 at Chaunay — Illness of the king of Navarre— Epitaph and tomb of the queen 
 of Navarre in the cathedral church of Vendome— Homage rendered to the 
 memory of Jeanne d'Albret — Eulogiums on her character and virtues — 
 Epigram composed in her honour — Bequests made by queen Jeanne in her 
 will — Her device and motto — Her benefactions — Portraits of the queen of 
 Navarre — Consternation occasioned by her decease — Deportment of Coligny 
 and the Huguenot chieftains — Arrival of the king of Navarre in Paris — 
 Marriage of Henry and Marguerite — Attempted assassination of the admiral 
 de Coligny — The massacre of St Bartholomew — Letter of the cardinal de 
 Lorraine to Charles IX. 
 
 i Mem. de l'Etoile, t. i. p. 47.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 391 
 
 As soon as every obstacle to the marriage between Henry 
 and Marguerite bad been removed by the unalterable determin- 
 ation of king Charles, Jeanne wrote to queen Elizabeth to ap- 
 prise her of the event, and to thank her Majesty for the notable 
 aid and advice which she had derived from the English ambas- 
 sadors, Sir Erancis Walsingham and Sir Thomas Smith. Jeanne 
 wrote thus to her potent ally and warm friend: 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF 
 ENGLAND. 
 " Madame, 
 
 " Events which order the destinies of great personages are usually 
 so beset -with difficulties that it is impossible to divine their conclu- 
 sion. Such has been the cause, madame, why I have not sooner in- 
 formed you of the matters which I came to negotiate at this court. 
 This uncertainty had not its rise, madame, in the Avant of good-will 
 manifested by those chiefly concerned, but through the evil practices 
 and devices of turbulent men, who opposed thus both the public 
 weal and their own private welfare. Despite these impediments, He, 
 who cares specially for those who rest on His wisdom and providence, 
 has looked down upon me with paternal favour, and has at length dis- 
 posed the hearts of all to take final and determinate resolution to 
 complete the marriage proposed between madame Marguerite and my 
 son. This, madame, was concluded yesterday. Although the Evil 
 One, since my arrival here, raised in many the spirit of dissension and 
 opposition, God has manifested His gracious goodness to the over- 
 throw of their malicious intent ; and has inspired those animated with 
 benevolence, lovers of concord and repose, to accomplish this union. 
 I would not, therefore, madame, lose time in informing you of the 
 event, so that I may rejoice with you, as with her who has so wisely 
 foreseen how greatly this alliance may conduce, not only to the pros- 
 perity and peace of this realm, a thing which interests your Majesty 
 greatly, but may also extend its real benefits to neighbouring states. 
 
 " Amongst so many results, which cannot fail to give you content. I 
 will yet add my own peculiar satisfaction, knowing, madame, the 
 friendship which you bear me, and that you will sympathize with my 
 feelings. I should justly be accused of ingratitude, if I omitted, ma- 
 dame, to tender you my very humble thanks for the welcome services 
 which MM. your ambassadors have rendered me here; and as they 
 informed me that it was by your special commandment, this knowlei ge 
 doubles the obligations which I have so long received from your Ma- 
 jesty. I entreat you, madame, to pardon the boldness which your 
 goodness inspires, if I venture very earnestly to desire that I may soon 
 have occasion to congratulate you on a similar event personal to your- 
 self: for I will not conceal from you, madame, that as one wishful for 
 your happiness and prosperity, I fail not daily to pray that God will 
 speedily give you a husband, in whose society and presence yourself, 
 your people, and your realm, may enjoy the satisfaction and blessings 
 which God promises to His children. While continuing to offer this 
 supplication, I will further pray, madame, that He may bestow upon
 
 392 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 you a long andhappy life, and a reign peaceful and prosperous, and such 
 as your virtue merits. I commend myself very humbly, madame, 
 to your gracious favour. Written at Blois, this 5th day of April, by 
 your Majesty's 
 
 " Humble and obedient sister, 
 
 " Jeanne." l 
 
 Scarcely had Jeanne enjoyed a brief repose from the tur- 
 moil of dissension and debate, when madame Catherine, her 
 daughter, fell alarmingly ill. Her malady was a violent cold, 
 attended with inflammation of the lungs. According to the 
 almost universal practice in those days in cases of illness of 
 every description, the princess was bled copiously several times. 
 "Amidst the joy that I feel at the conclusion of my son's mar- 
 riage, God has seen fit to afflict me with great sorrow and anx- 
 iety respecting my daughter, who has fallen ill of a pleurisy, 
 and for four days she remained without promise of amendment," 
 wrote the queen to Charlotte de Bourbon, abbess de Jouarre, 
 daughter of the duke de Montpensier. The seeds of pulmonary 
 malady had likewise long been lurking in the constitution of 
 the queen of Navarre ; for consumptive disease was the fatal 
 heritage of the houses of Bourbon and Savoy, from which lat- 
 ter Jeanne d'Albret maternally descended. Perhaps in watch- 
 ing by the side of her idolized child, Jeanne hastened the de- 
 velopment of the malady which also had been consuming her 
 own strength ; or it is probable, even, that in nursing her 
 daughter the malady was imbibed, considering her predisposi- 
 tion to disease of the lungs, which was too soon to terminate 
 her own brief but glorious career. 
 
 During the four anxious days while Catherine's life was 
 in jeopardy, Jeanne, unselfish always, and practising so per- 
 fectly the difficult task of self-denial, in forgetting her own 
 sorrow to serve others, employed herself in mediating between 
 the duke de Montpensier and his daughter, Charlotte de Bour- 
 bon. The duke de Montpensier was an ardent adherent of 
 the church of Borne. The nephew and heir of Charles de 
 Bourbon, constable of Prance, his august descent, his wealth, 
 and military repute, gave the duke great influence in the state. 
 His first consort, Jacqueline de Longwy, 2 had, moreover, been 
 chief lady of honour, and the favourite of Catherine de Medici, 
 an office of supreme importance, where every political event 
 was confirmed or frustrated by the caprice of the queen. Ma- 
 dame de Montpensier's power would have been still more in 
 the ascendant, had it not been for the religious opinions which 
 
 1 MS. Cotton, Vesp. F. vi. fol. 9.— Inedited. 
 
 2 Jacqueline de Longwy, or de Givry, duchesse de Montpensier, daughter of 
 the seigneur de Givry, and of Jeanne d'Angouleme a illegitimate sister ofFraneis I.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 393 
 
 she secretly professed. She was a "woman of strong energy 
 arid determination of purpose, somewhat feared by her husband, 
 and by the courtiers. She governed her royal mistress by the 
 very fervour of her will ; while Catherine, confident in the 
 sincerity of the affection borne towards her by the duchess — a 
 sentiment she so seldom inspired — loved and admired her for 
 that characteristic in which the queen felt herself deficient. 
 The representations of madame de Montpensier retarded the 
 execution of Conde ; and saved the life of Antoine de Bourbon, 
 at the congress of Orleans, in 1560. Her sympathy sustained 
 and consoled Jeanne d'Albret, during the previous persecution 
 which she endured from the court. Dreading no one, madame 
 de Montpensier, supported by the undeviating favour shown 
 towards her by Catherine de Medici, maintained opinions de- 
 fined and precise, from which no one in her presence ventured 
 to dissent. The duchesse de Montpensier died in 1561. The 
 duke her husband married subsequently Catherine de Lor- 
 raine, only daughter of Francis the great duke de Guise, and 
 of Anne d'Este. By his first wife, the duke de Montpensier 
 had one son and five daughters. His eldest daughter, Francoise 
 de Bourbon, married Bobert de la Marck, duke de Bouillon. 
 Following her mother's example, the duchesse de Bouillon re- 
 nounced the Bomish faith, in the year 1567, to the excessive 
 displeasure of her father. Her sister, Charlotte de Bourbon, 
 abbess of Jouarre, however, first manifested dissent from the 
 Catholic ritual. This princess had been placed at a very youth- 
 fid age, by her mother, under the care of her cousin-german, 
 Jeanne Chabot, 1 then abbess of Paraclit, in Champagne, and 
 prioress of Jouarre. The duchesse Jacqueline possessed a 
 stedfast will ; but, although she secretly favoured reform, yet 
 the sight of five daughters to be portioned and married suitably 
 to their royal rank, was sufficient to obviate her scruples as to 
 her husband's design of providing for three of them out of the 
 revenues of the church. Charlotte, therefore, was placed with 
 the abbess of Paraclit ; Jeanne at the convent of Ste Croix 
 of Poitiers ; and Louise at that of Faremoustier. It has been 
 supposed that Charlotte de Bourbon was first led to doubt the 
 efficacy of the religion she professed, from the early conversa- 
 tion of her mother, whose intellect she inherited ; others assert 
 that the principles of reform were first instilled into her mind 
 by the abbess of Paraclit. She evinced much repugnance at 
 her profession — a circumstance which was afterwards attested 
 
 1 Daughter of the admiral de Brion, and of Franchise de Longwy, sister of 
 madame de Montpensier.
 
 39i LIFE OF JEANNE D ALERET. 
 
 by several nuns of Jouarre ; and she declared that she consented 
 only to take the veil, being intimidated by the letters written 
 by her mother. In the space of a few years, Charlotte and her 
 sisters became abbesses of their respective convents. But the 
 spirit of inquiry had been roused ; and the youthful abbess 
 loathed her religion, and became weary of her seclusion. Hav- 
 ing no one to control her proceedings, she entered into corre- 
 spondence with the queen of Navarre. Jeanne earnestly sought 
 to reconcile her to her destiny, but in vain ; and during the 
 summer of the year 1570, while the queen was at La Eochelle, 
 the intelligence reached her that the abbess de Jouarre had 
 quitted her veil and her convent, and, renouncing her country 
 and kindred, had fled from France in disguise, and sought 
 refuge with her sister, the duchess de Bouillon, at Sedan, from 
 whence she proceeded to the court of Frederic III., count 
 Palatine. 1 
 
 The rage of the duke de Montpensier was unbounded ; in- 
 cited by the representations of his second consort and her family, 
 he overwhelmed his daughter with reproaches. He adjured her 
 to return to her convent, not as before its honoured abbess, 
 but as a humble penitent ; that, casting aside her royal rank, 
 the very depth of her humiliation might earn the pardon of 
 Heaven. The queen of Navarre, soon after her arrival at Blois, 
 received a letter from the fugitive princess, entreating her 
 mediation, and her good offices with her father. The repre- 
 sentations of Jeanne d'Albret had little weight with the duke 
 de Montpensier : his bigoted zeal led him to reject with scorn 
 the intercession of a " heretic — a princess accursed, and excom- 
 municated by the church; with whom, peace was sacrilegious 
 and profane." In reply to this letter from mademoiselle de 
 Bourbon, the queen wrote from Blois, on the 9th day of April : 
 " Ma cousine, — as they are sending a courier into Germany, I 
 avail myself of the opportunity of writing to the count palatine, 
 and to monsieur the duke Casimir his son, to inform them of 
 the happy news of the marriage of madame with my son ; and 
 to thank both these princes for the reception which they have 
 given you; and to supplicate them to continue to you their 
 kindness and protection. I believe that this marriage of my 
 son will serve you ; for, probably, I shall henceforth possess 
 much greater credit at court, of which, ma cousine, you may 
 avail yourself, as proceeding from one of the most attached of 
 your relatives. I perceive how Monsieur de Montpensier views 
 
 1 Hilarion d5ie Coste, Eloges cles Enfans de France. MS. Harleian, No. 
 1582, fol. 3G7.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 395 
 
 your circumstances ; it is true that he continues very irritated ; 
 but I shall not weary of the task of soliciting for you." 1 
 
 The duke, however, proved inexorable to every entreaty 
 made in favour of his daughter ; and he addressed several letters 
 to the Count Palatine, demanding that she might be restored 
 to him. He also instituted an inquiry at Jouarre, respecting 
 the profession of the princess, and her alleged aversion to take 
 the veil. Finding that her statements were confirmed by the 
 evidence of several of the nuns, he offered to petition the Holy 
 See to cancel her profession, provided that she would remain 
 constant to the Romish religion, and return to his protection ; 
 when, after the lapse of some interval, he promised to bestow 
 her in marriage on a personage of suitable condition. Charlotte, 
 however, had made a formal renunciation of her ancient faith, 
 and she, therefore, declined her father's overtures. 
 
 Before the princess Catherine became convalescent, the 
 papal dispensation arrived, authorizing the marriage of Mar- 
 guerite and Henry de Navarre. How this document was ob- 
 tained is still a mystery ; and some authors do not hesitate to 
 assert that, unable to vanquish the objections of the supreme pon- 
 tiff, Gregory XIII., who had just assumed the tiara, Catherine 
 de Medici, or her son, caused a false dispensation to be fabri- 
 cated and published. 2 If so, Catherine proved herself as care- 
 less of her daughter's honour as she had been regardless of her 
 affections. On the other hand, it is stated that the dispensa- 
 tion was granted by Gregory XIII., after the project consum- 
 mated on the eve of St Bartholomew's Day had been confided 
 to him by the cardinal de Lorraine. The inferences, however, 
 seem to place the matter beyond dispute, that, either the pope 
 listened to the details of the abominable conspiracy, and, sanc- 
 tioning its perpetration, granted the license which was to place 
 this vengeance in the power of the adherents of the papacy ; or, 
 that Catherine caused the document to be forged, in further- 
 ance of her schemes : otherwise, it cannot be credited that 
 pope Gregory, without some powerful incentive, would, after 
 his past positive refusals, issue his dispensation for the union of 
 the sister of the most Christian king with a heretic, the son of 
 a princess anathematized, and under the ban of the church. 
 The impossibility of such a concession on the part of the pou- 
 nd' is at once apparent, when it is remembered, that the mar- 
 
 1 MS. Harleian, lo82, fol. 367. — Inedited. Lettre de la lloyne Jeanne de 
 Navarre, a mademoiselle de Bourbon. 
 
 a A letter written to the kino; by the cardinal de Lorraine, seems somewhat 
 to sanction this supposition, as the cardinal there mentions that the dispensa- 
 tion was under debate on the 10th of September, 1572, when the marriage be- 
 tween Henry and Marguerite had been solemnized on the 18th of August.
 
 396 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBEET. 
 
 riage was to be solemnized with many grave innovations on the 
 accustomed formularies ; and, that no stipulation existed in the 
 contract, guaranteeing to Marguerite the free exercise of her 
 religion after the nuptials. Not all the menaces, vehement 
 though they might be, which issued from the lips of king 
 Charles, could have induced the pope to assent to a measure 
 so injurious to the Eomish faith, and subversive of the claims 
 put forth by the see of Eome to the allegiance of the princes 
 of Europe. 
 
 Not until after the arrival of the papal dispensation, permit- 
 ting the marriage, did queen Jeanne summon her son to the 
 court. She then authorized his advance at the head of a certain 
 number of Huguenot gentlemen only ; the remaining members 
 of that chivalrous band, to whom she had confided the destinies 
 of her son before her own departure from Beam, were to re- 
 main within the limits of the principality, ready to receive 
 their prince and his bride ; or to revenge any treacherous sur- 
 prise on the part of the court. 
 
 No sooner was the dispensation received, than the most 
 vexatious debates again harassed the unfortunate Jeanne, re- 
 lative to the public ceremonial to be observed on the marriage 
 of her son. The king had decided that the nuptial ceremonial 
 should be performed before the portal of Notre Dame de Paris, 
 according to the ancient usages, on the marriage of a daughter 
 of France. Again, queen Jeanne yielded the point in deference 
 to the vehement expression of the royal will. She then sum- 
 moned the ministers Espina, Mallot, Merlin de Vaulx, Barbasle, 
 and Holbrac, and submitted to them the following queries, 
 promising to abide by their decision. Jeanne asked in the 
 first place, "whether her son's marriage would be deemed 
 legal and holy, if it were not celebrated in the midst of the con- 
 gregation of the faithful?" To this the ministers replied, 
 " that considering the urgent necessity of the case, if the con- 
 sent of the sovereign of these realms can be obtained on no 
 other terms, this ceremony may be dispensed with, and the 
 marriage celebrated elsewhere without scandal." Secondly, the 
 queen demanded, "whether the spousal ceremony might be 
 performed by M. le cardinal de Bourbon, named by his Majesty 
 for that office ?" To this it was replied, " that if "it pleases the 
 king to nominate the said cardinal to perform that office, the 
 troth of the parties may be received by him, provided that at 
 the ceremony he arrays himself only in the vestments which 
 the said cardinal wears on ordinary occasions, such as when he 
 attends the royal council, or the court of parliament. More- 
 over, that during the ceremony he shall content himself with
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBEET. 397 
 
 delivering the ring only to the parties without uttering the 
 accustomed nuptial henediction." The next question put by 
 Jeanne was, " whether it would he unlawful for the marriage 
 to be celebrated upon a platform reared at the portal of the 
 great temple in Paris, where the daughters of France have been 
 usually espoused?" The ministers decided "that it might 
 be permitted, provided that the marriage was solemnized ac- 
 cording to the above injunctions." Lastly, Jeanne requested 
 to be informed, " whether M. le prince de Navarre, having thus 
 espoused madame Marguerite, might attend the king and his 
 train within the portal of the temple ? " The junta of ministers 
 replied, " that if the said prince received the express commands 
 of the king he might accompany his said Majesty, provided that 
 he quitted the cathedral before the commencement of the 
 Romish service, and by the same door that he entered ; the 
 said prince taking his departure in as conspicuous a manner as 
 possible in the sight of all, that it may at once be evidenced 
 that he appeared there with no intention of assisting at mass, 
 or at any other ceremony whatever." 1 
 
 The queen of Navarre presented the paper containing the 
 decision of her ministers to king Charles and his mother, and 
 professed her intention of adhering to their advice on the matter 
 of the ceremonial to be observed. Charles received the document 
 with favour, assented to the prohibitions which it contained, 
 and warmly requested queen Jeanne to ordain all necessary 
 preparations on her own part, so that the union between her 
 son and Marguerite might be celebrated early during the 
 ensuing month of June. That the king, however, did not 
 willingly accept the interference of the Calvinistic ministers is 
 evinced by the subsequent alteration in the formula drawn by 
 them, which Charles demanded and obtained from Henry de 
 Navarre. 
 
 On the first day of May, the queen took leave of Charles and 
 his mother, and attended by the ladies and cavaliers of her 
 suite, she proceeded towards Paris. Her object in visiting the 
 capital, was to ascertain, in the first place, the temper of its 
 citizens towards the house of Bourbon, ere she trusted her 
 beloved son to their hospitality ; and to make extensive pur- 
 chases for the adornment of her son's promised bride, and for 
 the suitable equipment of the court of Navarre, in the regal 
 solemnity then pending. 
 
 On her road to Paris queen Jeanne spent a few days at 
 
 1 MS. Bibl. Roy. Dupuy, p. 591. Avis sur les ceremonies du manage det 
 M. le prince de Navarre, et de Madame socur du Roy, en la Convocation des 
 miuistres, 1572. — Inedited.
 
 39S LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 Vendome — her last interval of rest from earthly care and 
 Buffering. A letter addressed to mademoiselle de Bourbon is 
 the sole act of Jeanne d'Albret, which remains on record during 
 her sojourn in this city, at once the appanage and the burial- 
 place of her son's royal ancestors. Probably it is the last 
 letter written by the queen, and shows that amid her engrossing 
 cares Jeanne's sympathy was never invoked in vain. 
 
 QUEEN JEANNE TO CHARLOTTE L»E BOURBON, 
 
 ABBESSE DE JOUARRE. 
 "Ma cousixe, 
 
 " You must by this time have received my letter, and M. le 
 comte the acknowledgment and thanks which I tendered to him for 
 the reception which he has given you. As regards your case, ma 
 cousine, I showed to the queen-mother the letters which M. le comte 
 Casimir wrote to me on the subject, and added, on my own part, every 
 argument and persuasion that I thought likely to serve you ; but I 
 grieve to say that I received not such an answer from her Majesty as 
 I could have desired. There are here many persons who express sorrow 
 for your position, but few who exert their influence in your cause, on 
 account of the anger and displeasure evinced by M. de Montpensier 
 against all of that court.' Nevertheless, I will permit nothing to close 
 my lips ; but I will heartily employ every means to serve you that I 
 can descry, or you may indicate to me. My two children have been 
 extremely ill ; but God, ma cousine, who gave them both to me, will 
 preserve them for His glory and service. I pray you, ma cousine, make 
 what use you please of my influence and worldly possessions, while I 
 will entreat God that He may give you His holy favour and assistance 
 in your great need. From Vendome, this 5th day of May, 1572. 
 " 'Your very good cousin and perfect friend, 
 
 " Jeanne." 2 
 
 For two years Charlotte de Bourbon remained the guest of 
 the elector Palatine, at Heidelburg ; she then proceeded to 
 Holland, where, on the 12th of June, 1574, she became the third 
 consort of Gruillaume de Nassau, prince of Orange, whose heroic 
 resistance to the tyranny of Philip II. and his minister, the 
 duke of Alba, has rendered his name for ever illustrious. 3 The 
 duke de Montpensier for long refused to hold communication 
 with the prince and princess of Orange ; though it is believed 
 that before his death, in 1582, he became reconciled to his 
 daughter. Charlotte de Bourbon, by her marriage with the 
 prince of Orange, had six daughters ; the fifth of whom, Char- 
 lotte Flandrine de Nassau, made compensation to the church 
 
 1 The court of the Elector Palatine. 
 - MS. Harleian, No. L582, fol. 367— Inedited. 
 
 3 William I., prince of Orange, was assassinated at Delft, May 1584, by 
 Balthazar de Gerard.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 399 
 
 for her mother's defection, by assuming the veil at Ste Croix 
 de Poitiers, of which convent she eventually hecame abbess on 
 the decease of her aunt, Jeanne de Bourbon Montpensier. 
 
 Jeanne arrived in Paris during the last week in May ; the 
 impatience manifested by the court, and the frequent missives 
 which she received from Charles, announcing his own speedy 
 departure from Blois for the capital, admitted of no procras- 
 tination. Jeanne took up her abode in the Hotel de Conde, 
 Rue de Crenelle Saint Honore. 1 Her health, which for 
 several years had been delicate, now seemed thoroughly broken ; 
 the fever of intense excitement in which she existed through- 
 out her negotiations at Blois having subsided, her strength ap- 
 peared to expire with the necessity for exertion. A melancholy 
 which she could not check clouded the once beaming energy of 
 Jeanue's mind ; but the die was cast ; and the queen committed 
 the fortunes of her beloved children into the hand of Provi- 
 dence. 
 
 The splendour of the preparations making in Paris for the 
 reception of the prince of Navarre roused the queen from the 
 apathy which overpowered her : a gleam of the same energy 
 which had often paralyzed the designs of her enemies again 
 lighted the mind of Jeanne d'Albret. Once more eloquent 
 words flowed from her pen ; and her gracious deportment con- 
 ciliated the good-will of the Parisian populace. Attended by 
 the marshal de Montmorency, governor of Paris, Jeanne visited 
 the ateliers of the artists, and the warehouses of the most 
 noted merchants of the capital. Gold, jewels, and rich habili- 
 ments were commanded by her with a lavish hand; and every- 
 thing that could contribute to the pomp of the approaching 
 solemnity was liberally chosen under Jeanne's immediate su- 
 perintendence. Amongst other shops which the queen visited, 
 was that of maitre Rene, perfumer to queen Catherine. Here, 
 it is averred, that Jeanne purchased drugs, perfumes, embroid- 
 ered ruffs, and gloves. The most sinister suspicions subse- 
 quently became rife relative to this visit paid by the queen to 
 maitre Rene. Catherine made no secret of the intense aver- 
 sion which she felt for the queen of Navarre ; and her subjects 
 generally acknowledged the stedfast pertinacity with which 
 she cherished a resentment, and avenged a supposed injury. 
 But sorrow and persecution were no more to overwhelm the 
 noble-hearted and generous Jeanne d'Albret. Her spirit, 
 worn by ceaseless contest, was soon to be at rest. 
 
 1 Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14. Some authors assert that Jeanne tonk 
 up her residence in the hotel of Jean Guillart, bishop of Chartres, one of the 
 prelates excommunicated in 15G3 by l'ius IV.
 
 400 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 The queen's last recorded act was to summon Coligny to 
 Paris, that she might confer with that imprudent counsellor, 
 but faithful friend. 
 
 On Wednesday evening, the 4th of June, 1572, the queen 
 of Navarre, on her return from one of her toilsome progresses 
 in the capital to the hotel de Conde, complained of pain in her 
 limbs, and of excessive lassitude. 1 The ensuing night was 
 passed in fevered restlessness, the queen complaining of ex- 
 cruciating pain in the chest, from which nothing gave her 
 relief. On the second day after her seizure, Jeanne's breath- 
 ing became impaired ; and other symptoms demonstrated them- 
 selves, which occasioned disquietude to her physicians in ordi- 
 nary, Caillard and Desnoeux. Other physicians appertaining 
 to the household of the king were then summoned, but their 
 skill suggested no relief for the queen. The greatest conster- 
 nation prevailed amongst the Huguenots in Paris, when the 
 sad news of Jeanne's condition transpired : her abode was 
 thronged with anxious visitors. The queen alone preserved 
 her presence of mind; not even the agony she endured — to 
 behold which drew tears from the eyes of her attendants — 
 extorted a plaint from the lips of Jeanne d'Albret. Her pa- 
 tience and resignation at this solemn moment was a sublime 
 example to those around, and afforded evidence of the self- 
 denial of her past life. 
 
 Prom the second day of her illness the queen intimated 
 her conviction of the hopelessness of her recovery. She de- 
 sired that her chaplains might visit her, for the better settle- 
 ment of her conscience. "I know," exclaimed the dying 
 queen, " that the prayers of the righteous avail much. I sub- 
 mit myself to the holy will of God, taking all evils from Him, 
 as inflicted by a loving Father. I have never feared death ; 
 still less dare I murmur at the dispensations of Providence, 
 though He afflicts me with these most grievous pains. Never- 
 theless, I grieve deeply to leave the children whom God has 
 given me, in their tender age, exposed to so many dangers, 
 and such adversity : but in God's Providence I confide ! " 2 
 Then addressing madame de Thignonville and her attendants, 
 who were weeping bitterly, Jeanne exclaimed : " Ought you to 
 weep for me ? You have all witnessed the miserable wretch- 
 edness of my past life ? Ought you to weep when, at length, 
 God takes pity upon me, and calls me to the enjoyment of a 
 blessed existence, for the which I have unceasingly prayed ? " It 
 was remarked that from the first day of her illness, the queen 
 
 1 Favyn, Hist, de Navarre, liv. 14. 
 2 Mem. de l'Etat de France sous Charles IX., t. i.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 401 
 
 of Navarre never mentioned her son's approaching nuptials ; 
 and that when the event was alluded to, she showed marked 
 aversion to hear or to discuss its slightest details. During 
 the night of Saturday, the 7th of June, the queen caused ma- 
 dame de Thignonville to be summoned, and held a conference 
 with her relative to madame Catherine. She besought her 
 not to abandon the princess, but to depart with her into 
 Beam, far from the corruption of the court. " Tell her," said 
 the queen, " that her dying mother implored her to repose a 
 firm and constant trust in God ; to be obedient to her brother, 
 and to her preceptress, who, both of them, will guide her steps 
 through the danger which besets her : let her receive their 
 counsels as if I myself spoke them. Finally, tell my beloved 
 child that I solemnly confide her to the care of Almighty God, 
 who will protect and bless her, if she offers Him faithful ser- 
 vice." Early on Sunday morning, Jeanne had a last conference 
 with the admiral de Coligny, the substance of which never 
 transpired ; the admiral quitted the queen's presence, it was 
 observed, with every demonstration of anguish, and retired to 
 bis residence in Paris. 
 
 The violent pains endured by the queen seemed gradually 
 to subside during the day ; but her strength was evidently 
 ebbing away. Later in the same day she made her will, ap- 
 pointing the cardinal de Bourbon and the admiral de Coligny 
 her executors. Throughout the evening the ministers, Merlin 
 and Espina, prayed by her bedside ; they read the 14th, 15th, 
 and 16th chapters of the Gospel of St John, at Jeanne's 
 especial request ; these portions of Scripture, she declared, 
 having been alone a sufficient support and consolation to her 
 throughout the troubles of her past career. " O my Saviour, 
 hasten to deliver my spirit from the misery of life, and from. 
 its prison in this suffering body, so that I may offend thee no 
 more, and enter joyfully into the glorious rest which thou hast 
 promised, and that my soul longs for ! " l was Jeanne's petition, 
 during the intervals when her chaplains ceased to pray audibly. 
 Throughout the early part of the morning of June 9th, the 
 queen spoke little ; she lay with her eyes closed, exhausted, 
 but apparently suffering no pain. After this interval, another 
 paroxysm of suffering ensued ; she was raised in the arms of 
 her attendants ; her difficulty of breathing was excessive, while 
 the queen's hands and feet became cold and pulseless. By the 
 direction of Caillard, her chief physician, her chest was rubbed, 
 and everything done to restore vital heat. The queen's respir- 
 
 1 Mem. de l'Etat de Frauce, t. i. 
 26
 
 402 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 ation at length became easier ; but the power of articulation 
 had departed ; and it was evident that her dissolution was at 
 hand. Her mind, however, preserved its powers to the last ; 
 and presently she made a gesture to her chaplains to continue 
 their intercessions on her behalf to God. A faint smile was 
 observed to pass over her countenance, when one of them com- 
 menced the psalm " In te, Domine, speravi." Throughout the 
 remaining period of her existence she gradually continued to 
 sink ; and between the hours of eight and nine, on the morning 
 of Monday, June 9th, 1572, the pure and heroic spirit of the 
 queen of Navarre passed from earth. 1 
 
 The friends who ministered to queen Jeanne in her last 
 moments, were madame de Thignonville, the admiral de Colig- 
 ny, her chancellor Francourt, and her chaplains, Mallot, Mer- 
 lin, and Espina ; the count Louis de Nassau, and other of the 
 most notable personages of the Huguenot party, remained in 
 the lower apartments of the hotel de Conde during her agony. 
 One author cursorily asserts that Jeanne d'Albret was visited, 
 shortly before her decease, by king Charles and queen Catherine, 
 who had arrived in Paris ; but no satisfactory record remains 
 of such an interview. 
 
 A gloom most ominous in its import shadowed the great 
 Huguenot party assembled in Paris on the day of the demise 
 of Jeanne d'Albret : a few hours elapsed, and the cry arose 
 prolonged and menacing, — "The queen of Navarre has been 
 poisoned !" It rang through the streets of the capital ; it car- 
 ried dismay into the dwellings of the Huguenot chieftains ; and 
 its echo was heard in the halls of the Louvre. The visit which 
 queen Jeanne had paid, on the day of her sudden seizure, to 
 the Italian perfumer, Bene, was dwelt upon with sombre 
 suspicion : the hate of Catherine de Medici inspired feelings of 
 awe. Had the queen adopted a horrible method of removing 
 a rival from her path, whom she could neither beguile nor sub- 
 due ? And did she, therefore, hope now to rule the mind of 
 her future son-in-law with paramount power ? " It was suspect- 
 ed," says la Planche, " that the queen-mother had recourse to 
 maitre'Rene, her reputed poisoner, who, in selling his perfumes 
 and scented ruffs to the queen of Navarre, contrived to ad- 
 minister poison to her, from the effects of which she died 
 shortly afterwards." Another historian recounts that the 
 poison was communicated by a pair of gloves. 2 Nevertheless, 
 
 1 Mem. de l'Etat de France sous Charles IX., t. i._ De Thou. Favyn, liv. 
 14. Olhagaray, Hist, de Foix, Beam, et Navarre, 627. 
 
 2 Hist, des Cinq Roys. Olhagaray asserts that the queen of Navarre was 
 poisoned at a banquet, by order of the duke d'Anjou. Villegomblaiu, in his
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 403 
 
 plausible as the suspicion appeared, that the queen of Navarre 
 had been assassinated by the command of Catherine de Medici, 
 all circumstances conduce to the firm persuasion that this 
 charge was unfounded. The life of toil, and the mental tor- 
 ment which Jeanne had endured without respite, was of itself 
 sufficient prematurely to sever the thread of life when the 
 moment of reaction came, and the pressure of care was some- 
 what relaxed. The previous declining state of her health, 
 which for several years had failed her, would account for her 
 sudden attack of illness. In one of her letters to her son, writ- 
 ten from Blois, the queen complains of her health, which she 
 fears will succumb beneath her mental anxiety. Moreover, the 
 jjost mortem examination clearly establishes the causes of the 
 death of the queen of Navarre, without having recourse to the 
 charge of poison to account for her demise. 
 
 AVhen the rumour reached the king's ears, that the queen of 
 Navarre had met her death by foul practices, his fury is repre- 
 sented as being indescribable. Not the slightest consideration 
 for the feelings or for the reputation of his mother and the 
 duke d'Anjou, ever arrested Charles's actions. He, therefore, 
 impetuously commanded that the body should be forthwith 
 opened, and rigorous examination made of the causes of death, 
 by his own surgeon-in-chief, and Jeanne's physicians, Caillard 
 and Desnceux, in the presence of certain Huguenot officers of 
 the deceased queen's household. Probably Charles attached 
 some degree of credit to the charge of poison ; a suspicion con- 
 sistent with the opinion he so often expressed of his mother's 
 flagitious proceedings. 
 
 The autopsy took place during the night of Monday, June 
 9th, the day the queen of Navarre expired. All the various 
 parts of the queen's body were found to be perfect and free 
 from disease, excepting the lungs. A large abscess was there 
 discovered, which had broken, the secretion being partially ab- 
 sorbed by the lungs, which were, besides, extensively diseased. 
 " The queen's body was opened and examined with all science 
 and diligence by several learned physicians and surgeons, who 
 pronounced her organs to have been perfect and healthful, ex- 
 cepting the lungs, upon which, on the right side, was found an 
 abscess of some dimensions, besides an extraordinary hardening 
 of the entire organ, the which, they all agreed, had caused her 
 decease. Commands, however, had been given them not to 
 open the head, where the chief evil lay, as it was believed ; 
 
 Memoirs, on the contrary, declares in the most positive manner, that Jeanne 
 died a natural death. " Elk mourut" says he, " de inort naturvlle, combieii 
 ou'on-ait voulu parler autrement."
 
 401 LIFE OF JEANNE DALBRET. 
 
 therefore, the said physicians could give no opinion on that 
 matter." 1 The evil, one would imagine, had been made apparent 
 enough, without seeking to prove by further evidence, that 
 congestion of the brain was the cause of death, in support of 
 the assertion that the poison had been communicated by the 
 perfumed gauds of Messire Rene, in the odour of which the 
 queen had greatly delighted. The accusations of certain his- 
 torians, however, who, in their abhorrence of Catherine's charac- 
 ter and policy, think it no injustice to ascribe to her agency 
 every crime and mysterious deed which admits not of precise 
 explanation, is, in this instance, coutradicted by the testimony 
 of Jeanne's own medical attendants. Caillard and Desnoeux 
 state that the queen's head was examined in their presence, 
 and that no trace of poison was anywhere to be detected in her 
 body ; a statement confirmed both by documentary evidence, 
 and by the inferences to be deduced from the queen's previous 
 state of health, the which, it must be allowed, ought to have 
 weight in the consideration of the question. Caillard distinctly 
 stated to the persons present at the autopsy, that the queen 
 died from the bursting of an abscess on the lungs. " Mes- 
 sieurs," continued he, addressing his colleagues in the in- 
 vestigation, " you are well aware of the command that I re- 
 ceived from the late queen, our good mistress, that if it should 
 be my fate to attend upon her last moments, I was not to fail 
 to examine her brain, to discover from what cause proceeded an 
 itching sensation which she often experienced on the crown of 
 her head, so that if M. le Prince her son, or madame la Prin- 
 cesse her daughter, are afflicted with the same, we should know 
 what remedy to apply." Desnoeux, in obedience to the com- 
 mand given to him, opened the head of the queen, when it was 
 discovered that the uncomfortable irritation, which Jeanne had 
 complained of, proceeded from certain little vesicles full of 
 water, lying between the brain and the membrane investing it. 
 Before the personages present quitted the chamber, the sur- 
 geon Desnoeux, it is recorded, also thus addressed them : 
 " Messieurs, if her Majesty had died, as it has been wrongly 
 alleged, from having smelled some poisoned object, the marks 
 would be perceptible on the coating of the brain ; but, on the 
 contrary, the brain is as healthful and free from injury as pos- 
 sible. If her Majesty had died from swallowing poison, traces 
 of such would have been visible in the stomach. We can dis- 
 cover nothing of the kind. There is no other cause, therefore, 
 for her Majesty's decease, but the rupture of an abscess on the 
 
 1 Hist, des Cinq Roys. La Planche, Mem. de l'Etat sous Charles IX., t. 
 i. p. 160, expresses the same opinions.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 405 
 
 lungs." 1 It may, moreover, be observed, tbat the symptoms 
 attending Jeanne's malady were not of a nature to be produced 
 by poison ; also, that the queen herself, during her illness, 
 which lasted five days, suspected nothing of the kind, or she 
 would surely have imparted her suspicions to Coligny, during 
 their frequent confidential interviews, that he might warn and 
 protect her son against a similar fate. The admiral, on the 
 contrary, insisted on the expediency of Henry's journey to 
 Paris, to perform the contract negotiated for him by his lament- 
 ed mother. 
 
 The mortal remains of Jeanne d'Albret lay in state during 
 the five days subsequent to her decease. No splendid ecclesias- 
 tical insignia, or priests with relics and censers, surrounded 
 her bier. 2 The queen reposed on the couch upon which she 
 had surrendered her breath ; the corpse was arrayed in a robe 
 of white satin embroidered with silver, over which was thrown 
 a regal mantle of violet velvet. Her crown and sceptre lay 
 beside the bed. The apartment was hung with black draperies ; 
 and the ladies and gentlemen of her household were ranged 
 around, clad in mourning vestments. 
 
 The court vouchsafed the empty homage of a visit to the 
 remains of a princess it had hated and persecuted. Margue- 
 rite de Yalois, the promised bride of Henry, attended by the 
 cardinal de Bourbon, by the duchesses de Nevers and de Guise, 
 and their sister, Marie de Cleves, the betrothed of Conde, per- 
 formed, also, this last duty. The solemnity of the scene, and 
 the thought of the virtues of her who lay before them stricken 
 by death, had not power to awe the levity of the princesses. 
 Marguerite thus relates the circumstances of their visit, in her 
 Memoirs : she says, " I went accompanied by the cardinal de 
 Bourbon, by mesdames de Guise, de Nevers, and their sister 
 madame la princesse de Conde, to the abode of the queen of 
 Navarre, to acquit myself of the duty owing to her dignity, and 
 the proximity of kindred between us ; not, however, with the 
 pomp and the ceremonies which our religion sanctions, but 
 with the little appareil tolerated by Huguenot erie. The queen 
 was lying on her ordinary bed, the curtains of which were 
 drawn back, without lights, without priests, without crosses, 
 without holy water. As we stood together, about the distance 
 
 • Cayet, Chronologic Novenaire, liv. 1, p. 313, edit. 8vo. Cayet was a min- 
 ister of the Evangelical church, and preceptor to Catherine de Bourbon, the 
 only daughter of Jeanne d'Albret. He was subsequently converted, Nov. 9, 
 159-5, to the church of Home, by the representations of the bishop of Evreux. 
 Cayet died in Paris, March 10, 1610, a priest and professor of history of the 
 college of Navarre. 
 
 2 Favvn liv. 14.
 
 406 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 of six steps from the bed, madame de JSevers, whom the queen, 
 in her life-time, had disliked above every other person in the 
 world (the former paying back the dislike both in word and 
 deed, as you are aware how well she knew how to spite those she 
 hated), stepped from amongst us, and, with several fine, hum- 
 ble, and low curtseys, approached the bed, and taking the 
 queen's hand in her own, she kissed it ; then, with another 
 profound obeisance, full of respect, she returned to our side." ' 
 If Marguerite had not sufficiently intimated, by her comments, 
 that this act of madame de JNevers was performed in a spirit of 
 mocking ridicule, it might be supposed that the heart of the 
 duchess smote her for her past unkindness, and that her 
 homage to the dead was a voluntary tribute of repentance. 
 
 Queen Jeanne's funeral obsequies were instantly celebrated : 
 the body, arrayed in regal robes, after lying in state for five 
 days in the hotel de Conde, was placed in a leaden coffin. A 
 rumour became generally prevalent that, by command of the 
 court, the coffin was filled with quick-lime ; the truth of the 
 report has never been ascertained ; but it does not appear to 
 have met with authoritative denial. Although queen Jeanne 
 left special instructions in her will for her interment in the 
 sepulchre of her ancestors, in the cathedral of Lescar, near to 
 Pau, her wishes were disregarded ; and, by the order of king 
 Charles, her remains were conveyed to Vendome, and deposited 
 near those of her husband, with scarcely the semblance of royal 
 pomp ; the religious ceremonies observed being in strict con- 
 formity with the reformed ritual. 
 
 The news of his mother's death reached Henry at Chaunay, 
 in Poitou, at which place he had arrived on his road to the 
 court of France. Intense resentment against those who had 
 embittered the queen's last hours, succeeded Henry's first 
 paroxysm of grief. He wrote to the court, stating his inten- 
 tion, after witnessing the due celebration at Vendome of his 
 mother's obsequies, to return into Beam, without visiting 
 Paris. His next act was to notify the sad event to d'Arros, 
 the faithful friend and adherent of his house under all its re- 
 verses. He specially enjoined that the laws promulgated by 
 his " very dear and honoured mother" should remain in force 
 throughout his dominions. Excitement and distress of mind 
 brought on a severe attack of fever, which prevented Henry 
 from immediately repairing to Vendome. The funeral cortege 
 of Jeanne d'Albret had then traversed the streets of Vendome ; 
 and by the time the son, " whose welfare had been dearer to 
 
 1 Mem. de Marguerite de Valois, Reine de Navarre, Hv. 1.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 407 
 
 her than life," reached that city, she rested in the tomb. A 
 great concourse of Huguenot nobleman, including Coliguy, La 
 Bochefoucauld, Conde, and Montgommery, attended her obse- 
 quies. The grief and consternation of her people of Beam and 
 Foix was profound and permanent, and afforded more illus- 
 trious testimony to queen Jeanne's goodness and virtues, than 
 the most elaborate panegyric that could have been pronounced 
 in her praise. 
 
 Jeanne d'Albret expired in Paris, June 9th, 1572, at the 
 age of forty-four. She is interred in the mausoleum of the 
 princes of Bourbon, in the chapel dedicated to St George, in 
 the cathedral of Yendome, in the same vault with her husband, 
 Antoine, king of Navarre. The following is the inscription on 
 their tomb : — 
 
 " Icy dessus gist ensepulture Antoine de Bourbon, Roy de 
 Navarre, Souverain de Beam, Due de Yendomois, Lieutenant 
 pour le Boy Charles IX £me de ce nora. Lequel Seigneur fut 
 tils du tres haut, tres puissant, et tres magnanime prince, Mon- 
 seigueur Charles de Bourbon I er , Due de Yendome, et de Ma- 
 dame Fraucoise d'Alencon, son epouse, et deceda a Andely le 
 VII ime jour d'Octohre, 1562. 
 
 " En ce meme sepulchre gist tres haute, tres sage, et tres 
 vertueuse Dame Madame Jehanne d'Albret, Boyne de Navarre, 
 Souveraine de Beam, et Duchesse de A\md6mois, fille unique 
 et seule heritiere de Henry d'Albret Boy de Navarre et de 
 Madame Marguerite de France, laquelle deceda a Paris le 
 lX ime jour de Juin, 1572." x 
 
 "This princess," says Le Laboureur, 2 "was the wisest of 
 her age, the most generous, the most learned, the most devoted 
 to the welfare of her subjects ; she governed with the greatest 
 clemency and prudence ; and her heart overflowed with every 
 virtue, and every quality which ennobles and elevates man- 
 kind." Davila is scarcely less enthusiastic in his summary of 
 the character of this great princess. " She was," says he, 3 " a 
 princess of invincible courage, of rare intellect, of elevated val- 
 our, above the condition of her sex ; so that, in very truth, 
 these eminent qualities, accompanied as they were by singular 
 modesty of deportment, by unexampled generosity of character, 
 would have earned for her eternal renown, had it not happened, 
 that, desirous of penetrating into the profound mysteries of 
 theology, and even of explaining them, she imbued her mind 
 
 1 Sainte Marthe, Hist. Genealogique de ia Maison lloyale ilc France. 
 
 2 Notice sur Jeanne d'Albret — Additions aux Memoires de Casteluau. 
 " Davila, t. i. p. '266.
 
 40S LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 with the tenets of Calvinism, to which errors she pertinaciously 
 adhered." 
 
 Many odes and epigrams were composed on the decease 
 of Jeanne d'Albret by her adherents of the reformed faith. 
 The court, however, did not willingly receive such tribute to 
 the memory of a heretic princess ; one, also, who died unabsolv- 
 ed from the censures of the church. Amongst the most in- 
 genious of the epigrams composed in honour of Jeanne d'Albret, 
 was this : 
 
 " S'ebahit-on pourquoy la Royne tie Navarre 
 En sagesse, en bonte, en piete, si rare, 
 N'a languy que cinq jours a s'envoller au ciel ? 
 C'est le peu qu'elle avoit en elle de mortel." 
 
 Another friend of the queen of Navarre composed the fol- 
 lowing Latin epitaph to her memory : 
 
 DE EADEM. 
 
 Bum mens continue coelestia spirat, anhelum, 
 Deficiens corpus, cessit, humique jaoet. 
 
 No funeral oration from the lips of the orators of the capi- 
 tal, lay or ecclesiastical, offered homage to the virtues of the 
 queen of Navarre. Catherine de Medici suppressed, as far as 
 etiquette permitted, all outward mourning for the fate of a 
 princess whom she regretted not, and whose decease opened to 
 her aspiring .genius a vast scope for future intrigue. It was in 
 the hearts of her people of Beam that the memory of Jeanne 
 d'Albret was enshrined : while Europe, with unanimous acclam- 
 ation, acknowledged that a great and politic spirit had pass- 
 ed away ; and that the name of the queen of Navarre would 
 remain for ever on record, as that of one of the noblest of 
 heroines, who had suffered and triumphed in defence of the 
 principles of the Reformation. 
 
 The queen of Navarre bequeathed all her dominions, lord- 
 ships, and fiefs to her son absolutely, " in testimony of the love 
 and dutiful reverence the prince had always demonstrated to- 
 wards her." She commands him never to forsake the profes- 
 sion of the reformed religion, and to banish from his court 
 " those men, apostates from their God, who live immersed in 
 voluptuous indolence and corruption ; " atheists, and flatterers. 
 She entreats the prince to love and cherish his sister Catherine, 
 to protect her from ill, and, finally, to bestow her in marriage 
 on a prince professing the same religion as herself. She di- 
 rects, that madame de Thignonville may be retained as the pre- 
 ceptress of the princess ; and that Mesdames de Vaulx, de 
 Eontrailles, and mademoiselle de Perray, may be nominated as
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 409 
 
 ladies of the household of the princess, "heing all ladies of 
 rank, of the reformed faith, whose morals and conduct accord 
 ■with their religious profession." The queen especially recom- 
 mends to the affection of her son, the prince of Conde, and his 
 brother, the marquis de Conty ; the admiral de Coligny, de 
 Beauvoir, his preceptor ; the chancellor Francourt, and M. de 
 Bethune, her faithful friend and counsellor. She desired that 
 the princess Catherine might be educated in Beam ; she com- 
 mends also this beloved daughter to the protection of the king, 
 and the queen-mother ; and she entreats madame Marguerite 
 to love her as a sister. The queen reiterates her confirmation 
 of the contract recently concluded at Blois, "en taut que besoin 
 serait." Queen Jeanne bequeaths all her jewels to her daugh- 
 ter, madame Catherine, absolutely, including her grand parure 
 of emeralds. She excepts only the jewels in the hands of 
 Elizabeth queen of England, consisting of a rich carcanet of 
 diamonds, and a large balass ruby set in a ring, which she gives 
 to her son, as heir-looms of the crown of Navarre. In addition 
 to this bequest, Jeanne leaves to her daughter the jewels 
 pledged in Paris by the prince of Orange ; and which she had 
 redeemed for the sum of thirteen thousand francs. If the 
 prince of Orange chose to retain his jewels, he was then to 
 pay the said sum of thirteen thousand francs to madame Ca- 
 therine, to be disposed of at her pleasure. 1 The queen, more- 
 over, directs her son to give his sister the accustomed dowry of 
 the princesses of the house of Navarre, on her marriage. Fi- 
 nally, the queen nominated the cardinal de Bourbon, and the 
 admiral de Coligny, executors of her last will and testament. 2 
 
 The motto generally used by Jeanne d'Albret was that of 
 the royal House of Navarre, " Gratia Dei sumus id quod sumus" 
 which so well expressed the dependence she demonstrated on 
 the favour and protection of God. During the subsequent 
 wars in which she was involved, the queen took for her device 
 a flame of fire, with the motto, " Aut faciei, aut inveniet viam," 
 to proclaim her sense of the difficulties which beset her path, 
 and her resolution to overcome them. 
 
 The charitable institutions founded by queen Jeanne are 
 too numerous to be recorded in detail. Throughout her do- 
 minions of Beam, Foix, and Lower Navarre, there was scarcely 
 a town which participated not in her bounty. Her principal 
 
 1 As the queen bequeathed none of her jewels to her son's betrothed bride, 
 Marguerite de Valois, a sum of thirty thousand crowns was given by the 
 young king of Navarre for the suitable equipment of his future consort. 
 
 2 Mem. de l'Etat de France sous Charles IX,, t. i. p. 160. MS. Bibl. Roy. 
 The queen's will was made by two notaries, Gaudicher and Goguyer, and 
 dated, " Fait a Paris le Dimanche, huitieme jour de Juin, 1572."
 
 410 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 foundation was the once famous college at Orthez. The col- 
 lege subsisted until the year 1621, when queen Jeanne's grand- 
 son, Louis XIII., caused it to be demolished; and, by the 
 advice of the cardinal de Richelieu, the king applied its noble 
 revenues for the foundation and maintenance of a college of 
 Jesuits at Pau — an order which the queen had rigorously sup- 
 pressed throughout her dominions. Over the portal of the 
 college at Orthez, Jeanne placed the inscription : " Sic Joanna 
 Orthesii novas Athenas principes instituit, decusque avorum 
 auget." 
 
 The portrait of Jeanne d'Albret, appended to this volume, 
 represents the queen at the age of thirty-six years. Very few" 
 other portraits of Jeanne, queen of Navarre, are extant ; the 
 troublous times in which the queen lived, and the little popu- 
 larity that she possessed at court, are, perhaps, the reasons to 
 be assigned for the scarcity of her pictures. Only on one oc- 
 casion in her life is it on record that Jeanne presented her 
 portrait, as a mark of royal favour and regard ; and this ex- 
 ception she made in favour of the municipal council of Geneva, 
 at the prayer of Calvin and other ministers of the reformed 
 churches. 
 
 Party malevolence, however, found scope in the dissemina- 
 tion of multitudes of caricatures, all satirizing the queen's 
 theological pursuits, and her resolute support of her faith. In 
 the Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliotheque Imperiale, there is a 
 curious caricature of Jeanne, representing her armed cap-a-pied, 
 wearing a hood formed of the shell of a tortoise, and wielding 
 a lance in the shape of a spindle. In her hand the queen holds 
 an open Bible ; she has spurs on her heels ; and she is drawn in 
 the act of crushing under her foot a tuft of tall bulrushes. The 
 legend at the base of this hideous caricature is 'Donee ponam 
 inimicos twos." 
 
 The death of the queen of Navarre roused the deadliest 
 suspicion in the minds of the Huguenots in Paris, which even 
 the examination into the cause of her death could not allay. 
 The people persisted in believing that Catherine, by the aid of 
 magic, a study to which she was notoriously addicted, had 
 succeeded in destroying every vestige of her crime. The chief- 
 tains of the party alone seemed to view the event with apathy ; 
 they being probably convinced that no foul practice had been 
 adopted to destroy the life of their late munificent patroness. 
 In vain Coligny was exhorted to retire in time from the capi- 
 tal ; he refused to listen to any such solicitations ; prefer- 
 ring "to rely on the good faith of the king." His newly 
 married wife, then near her accouchement, united her en-
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBEET. 411 
 
 treaties to those of the more wary of the admiral's adherents ; 
 Francourt predicted, moreover, the impending calamity. Co- 
 ligny's invariable reply was, " I cannot quit the capital without 
 plunging the country into renewed war ; I choose rather to be 
 dragged in the very gutters of Paris than to resort to such an 
 extremity." Charles continued to lavish on the admiral marks 
 of the warmest favour ; while Catherine's mourning garments, 
 and the regret which she expressed for the decease of queen 
 Jeanne, completely deceived him. He, therefore, requested 
 Teligny, Francourt, Grammont, and Beauvoir, to allay popular 
 excitement by their confident representations ; while he wrote 
 urgent letters to the king of Navarre, which he sent by two 
 ministers, imploring him to proceed at once to Paris, to perfect 
 the alliance negotiated for him. 
 
 Henry was at Yendome, where illness still detained him ; 
 on the receipt of Coligny's despatch, he, in a fatal hour, de- 
 cided upon proceeding to court, reposing on the prudence and 
 sagacity of one who had been so trusted by his mother. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 8th day of July, therefore, a mournful 
 cavalcade approached the gates of Paris. Henry de Navarre^ 
 at the head of eight hundred of the most gallant cavaliers of 
 France, all clad in mourning habiliments, was received by the 
 municipality of Paris. In the fauxhourg, awaiting Henry's 
 approach, were the dukes d'Anjou and d'Alencon, attended by 
 the duke de Guise, the four marshals of France, and four hun- 
 dred of the courtiers. The streets were lined with guards ; 
 and from every window numbers of personages witnessed the 
 pageant which welcomed queen Jeanne's valiant son to the 
 capital. At the right hand of the king of Navarre rode the 
 cardinal de Bourbon : immediately around his person were the 
 prince dauphin of Auvergne heir of the duke de Montpensier, 
 the duke de Nevers, the prince de Conde, Coligny, La Bcche- 
 foucauld, and Montgommery. Following, rode the flower of 
 the Huguenot chivalry ; the valiant Montamar, and his brother 
 Fontrailles, de Piles, Beauvoir, Francourt, Teligny, Caumont 
 de la Force, Grammont, Gourdon, Soubise, Benel, and Pardail- 
 lan-Segur, beside other personages of less note. Never had 
 there been assembled together a more chivalrous and devoted 
 troop, led, nearly all, to destruction by a blind and mistaken 
 confidence in the integrity of the court. 
 
 It was a political oversight of the most fatal description, 
 which never would have occurred had the queen of Navarre 
 lived, as her constant command exemplifies, to assemble this 
 formidable band of Hutruenot noblemen in Paris. Their num- 
 bers and their valour struck the court with consternation, and
 
 412 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 hastened the catastrophe, meditated, hut not even then organ- 
 ized. Their presence enabled Catherine to rouse the fierce 
 passions of king Charles, by her subtle representations that 
 Henry's eight hundred Huguenot gentlemen alone, to say 
 nothing of their followers, were more than a match for the gar- 
 rison of Paris ; which, moreover, she significantly added, was 
 commanded by a Montmorency, the devoted partisan of the 
 house of Bourbon. The prowess of these brave commanders 
 in Beam and the adjacent districts, would have insured the 
 lives and liberty of the Huguenots in Paris. All the cavaliers 
 who entered Paris with the king of Navarre wore long mourn- 
 ing mantles of black cloth. The cavalcade, when united to 
 that of the dukes d'Anjou and d'Alencon, amounted to more 
 than twelve hundred noble personages ; who, with the king of 
 Navarre, proceeded to the Louvre, to pay homage to the 
 king, queen Catherine, and to madame Marguerite, the bride 
 elect. 1 
 
 On the 18th day of August, 1572, the ill-omened marriage 
 was solemnized, between Marguerite and Henry, at the portal 
 of Notre Dame. Davila asserts,' 2 that on the officiating prelate, 
 the cardinal de Bourbon, demanding of the princess whether 
 she would accept the king of Navarre for her husband, Mar- 
 guerite refused to reply; when king Charles advanced and 
 forcibly compelled her to incline her head — which gesture was 
 accepted instead of the prescribed words. This act is much in 
 accord with the previous deportment of the princess, and her 
 repeated protests against this union : the duke de Guise, more- 
 over, was present, in attendance upon the king, when the mar- 
 riage was celebrated. 
 
 On the 22nd of August the tragedy commenced. The ad- 
 miral de Coligny was wounded by a ball from an arquebuse, 
 while passing through the streets of Paris, on his return from the 
 Louvre. The assassin perpetrated the crime at the suggestion of 
 Catherine de Medici, and of her son Henry, duke d'Anjou, who 
 dreaded the influence which the admiral was gaining over the 
 mind of the king. The duke, after his accession to the crown 
 of Poland, avowed the share which he and his mother had taken 
 in the crime. In this statement, the duke expressly declares 
 that the assassin Maureval received his commission from him- 
 self, in the presence of queen Catherine. Marguerite de Valois, 
 also, confirms this statement in her Memoirs. On the news of 
 the attempt on Coligny's life, the Huguenots assembled in tu- 
 multuous bands around the house in the rue de Bethisy, where 
 
 1 Lcttre d'un Particulier de Paris— Registres de l'Hotel de Ville. 
 - Davila, t. i. liv. 24, p. 267.
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 413 
 
 be lay. Their rash and warlike demonstrations, 1 their menaces, 
 and their numbers, inspired the court with terror and distrust. 
 The doom of the Huguenots was sealed : Catherine trembled 
 before their threats — an indignity which she never pardoned. 
 
 The insinuations and the menaces of Catherine having 
 lashed the unfortunate young king into a frenzy of rage against 
 those who so boldly threatened him in the heart of his capital, 
 the massacre of all the Huguenot chieftains was finally decided 
 upon, on Saturday, August 23rd, in a council holden in the 
 garden of the Tuilleries. There were present at the conference, 
 king Charles, Catherine de Medici, the duke d'Anjou, the count 
 de Retz, the marshal de Tavannes, and the chancellor Birague. 2 
 
 On the eve of Sunday, August the 24th, 1572, St Bartholo- 
 mew's day, the fatal tocsin tolled from the tower of St Germain 
 l'Auxerrois. The subsequent hours surpassed in horror all 
 that the queen of Navarre had feared or foreboded. The 
 streets streamed with the blood of the unfortunate Huguenots, 
 surprised in their beds, and unprepared for the assault. The 
 roll of musketry echoed throughout the capital, mingling with 
 the shrieks of victims, the clash of swords, and the savage cheers 
 of the infuriated soldiery. Such a saturnalia of blood never 
 before desecrated the capital of a Christian realm at the com- 
 mand of its sovereign. The maniacal fury of the miserable 
 Charles, throughout that night, appalled even queen Catherine 
 and her abettors in crime. His livid features quivered with 
 excitement ; while drops of perspiration welled from his fore- 
 head, as armed with an arquebuse he aimed from the windows 
 of the Louvre at the fugitives fleeing for their lives to the banks 
 of the Seine, while, with hoarse shouts, he encouraged their 
 pursuers. Coligny, Montamar, la Rochefoucauld, Caumont, 
 Francourt, Teligny, Piles, perished during this night of terror, 
 with five hundred other gentlemen of less repute. The total 
 number of the slaughtered, of every condition, exceeded ten 
 thousand persons. Moutgommery, by rare good fortune, 
 effected his escape from Paris, and eventually from the kingdom. 
 The duke de Guise and his brother, and the marshals de Ta- 
 vannes and de Biron, led the massacre, and commanded the 
 regular troops. " The tocsin," says de Tavannes in his 
 Memoirs, 3 " continued to toll ; everything clashed, everything 
 became in tumult ; all hurled defiance and combat ; rage and 
 
 1 Piles entered the Louvre at the. head of four hundred gentlemen, and de- 
 manded instant vengeance on the assassin of Coligny. The king of Navarre 
 and Conde supported his petition, and declared their resolve to quit Paris un- 
 less it were complied with. 
 
 2 Mem. de Tavannes, chap, xxvii. De Thou. * Ibid.
 
 414 LIFE OF JEANNE D ALBRET. 
 
 blood predominated, and Death strode through the streets of 
 the capital in such horrid array, that their Majesties, the authors 
 of the tumult, could not help quaking with fear in the Louvre. 
 All Huguenots were slaughtered indiscriminately ; the majority 
 without attempting to defend themselves." 
 
 All historians agree that this massacre was long resisted by 
 king Charles, whose threats of vengeance, on the day of the 
 admiral's attempted assassination, caused Catherine, her son 
 d'Anjou, and the duke de Guise, to tremble for their lives. In 
 fact, Charles issued orders for the arrest of the duke de Guise, 
 who, to escape the anger of the king, was compelled to conceal 
 himself for a day. The indiscreet threats of the Huguenot 
 chieftains, and especially of Pardaillan-Segur, Piles, and others, 
 whom La Noue taunts as " de vrai fous, et malhabiles," re- 
 peated to the king by Catherine, with malicious comments, 
 roused in the unfortunate king that frenzy of insane violence, 
 which rendered him incompetent to act, except on the dictation 
 of othei's. Had one of the great Huguenot chieftains, regard- 
 less of personal peril, proceeded direct to the Louvre on the 
 day upon which Coligny was wounded, to support and possess 
 himself of the king's confidence, while tendering assurances of 
 the loyal fidelity of his party, in the frame of mind in which 
 Charles then was he might with equal facility have obtained a 
 decree annihilating the authority of Catherine and her ad- 
 herents. All, however, was dismay and confusion — Coligny, 
 wounded, was not permitted to address the king privately, when 
 Catherine and her son paid their visit of condolence- ; Mont- 
 gommery was interdicted from approaching the palace, on ac- 
 count of the unfortunate accident which had made him the 
 slayer of Charles's royal father ; la Rochefoucauld and Coiide 
 were young men, rash, heedless, and enjoying the festivities of 
 the court ; and the king of Navarre, Catherine's son-indaw, 
 was one of the inmates of the Louvre, and, therefore, under the 
 queen's constant surveillance. Moreover, two days only elapsed, 
 after the attempt on Coligny's life, before Catherine struck the 
 final blow, which was to free her, as she hoped, from political 
 opponents, and deliver the realm from faction and heresy. 
 
 The day following the massacre of St Bartholomew's Hay, 
 the king of Navarre, the prince de Conde, and madame Cather- 
 ine de Bourbon, were compelled, by the king, to make recanta- 
 tion of their alleged heresy. They yielded to the exigencies of 
 their position ; for instant death would have been the penalty 
 of opposing Charles in his frenzy. During the space of a 
 month the massacre was repeated, on a smaller scale, in several 
 provincial towns. France, intimidated and appalled by the
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET. 415 
 
 atrocities committed on her soil, protested, by the inaction of 
 the majority of her population, against the horrors perpetrated 
 by command of the king's lieutenants, throughout her various 
 provinces. The names of the viscount d'Orthez, de Sigognes, 
 governor of Dieppe, Philibert, count de Guiche, Bertrand de 
 Simiane, de Grordes, the counts de Tende, de Carces, de Yau- 
 cluse, de St Herein, and Mandelot, and the bishop of Lisieux, 
 are worthy of immortal renown, as all these chivalrous nobles 
 declined at the peril of their lives to execute the barbarous 
 orders transmitted by the court, within their respective govern- 
 ments. The Montmorency refused to participate in the crime, 
 or to share in the subsequent responsibility ; while queen 
 Jeanne's friend, Salignac de la Mothe-Fenelon, declined to be- 
 come the apologist of the massacre to queen Elizabeth. 
 
 The tidings of the slaughter on St Bartholomew's Day 
 was received with transport at Borne. The cannon of St 
 Angelo saluted ; the city was illuminated ; and the supreme 
 pontiff, Gregory XIII., proceeded, with his cardinals, to visit 
 the churches in succession, to offer thanksgiving at the shrine 
 of every saint. The cardinal de Lorraine, envoy extraordinary 
 from the court of France, presented the gentleman who brought 
 him the intelligence with a thousand gold crowns ; and then 
 proceeded to chaunt a solemn Te Deum in the church dedicat- 
 ed to St Louis, in the presence of all the French residents in 
 the papal capital. 
 
 The biography of queen Jeanne d'Albret cannot be more 
 appropriately terminated than by the transcript of the letter 
 which the cardinal de Lorraine addressed to Charles IX. on 
 the occasion. Throughout her numerous manifestoes, the re- 
 moval of the cardinal from his post in the government is inva- 
 riably declared, by the queen, to have been the object of her 
 hostile demonstration; as to his evil influence she averred that 
 all the miseries which assailed the realm might be traced. How 
 sagaciously the queen of Xavarre had judged, may be inferred 
 from the perusal of the cardinal's epistle. 
 
 THE CARDINAL DE LORRAINE TO CHARLES IX. 
 
 " Sire, 
 
 "The sieur de Beauville is arrived, bringing letters from your Ma- 
 jesty confirming the news which we had received here, relative to the 
 very Christian and heroic resolutions of your council, and the subse- 
 quent executions, not only in Paris, but in all the principal towns of 
 your realm. I hold myself assured, sire, that you have been pleased 
 to bestow so much honour upon me, that knowing my views and de- 
 sires on the subject, you have concluded that, amongst all your loyal 
 subjects I am not the last to praise God, and rejoice: for truly, sire,
 
 410 LIFE OF JEANNE d'aLBRET. 
 
 that which you have achieved was so infinitely above my hopes, that 
 I never should have dared to contemplate it. Nevertheless, I have 
 always believed that the deeds of your Majesty would augment the 
 glory of God, and tend to immortalize your name ; so that, with the 
 growth of your renown, the Lord God will so sustain you, that ere 
 long you will have become the recipient of His greatest and most 
 signal favours. Sire, on my bended knees, I humbly kiss your Ma- 
 jesty's hands, vowing that, after God, I will henceforth serve you 
 with tenfold faith, obedience, and reverence, and never fail so long as 
 life lasts. 
 
 " Presuming upon the good-will and piety of your Majesty, I again 
 venture to commend to your justice the cause concerning the abbey 
 of Clairvaux. God will reward your Majesty ; for you cannot under- 
 take a more glorious work in honour of God and our faith than this. 
 Your Majesty will also be enabled to preserve that which otherwise 
 would be lost. Your Majesty, moreover, will now have opportunity 
 to avail yourself of the abbey of Vezelet, nominally appertaining to 
 monsieur mon neveu Louis, 1 which I now feel assured your Majesty 
 will not require him to resign. Nevertheless, I pray your Majesty to 
 bestow this abbey upon the cardinal de Rambouillet : after you have 
 signified your pleasure thereon, my nephew will voluntarily resign the 
 benefice, and cause all the necessary despatches to be forwarded from 
 hence. I shall esteem this a personal grace ; although I have no in- 
 terest in the matter, excepting that of God and your Majesty, which 
 I have always preferred to my own. 
 
 " I am writing to the queen on various affairs of your Majesty ; 
 amongst others, concerning the dispensation for your sister's marriage. 2 
 I will not, therefore, weary your Majesty with the repetition ; but, as 
 a conclusion to my letter, I again humbly kiss your hand, while pray- 
 ing that God will confer upon your Majesty a happy and prosperous 
 reign, with long life, as your Majesty's most Christian and very 
 glorious actions deserve. Written at Rome, this 10th day of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 " Your very humble and very obedient subject and servant, 
 
 '■ C. Cardinal de Lorraine." 3 
 
 1 Cardinal de Guise. 
 
 - The marriage between Marguerite and Henry had been solemnized on the 
 18th day of August, 1572. 
 
 3 MS. Bibl. Roy. Dupuy, 209, 210, 211, fol. 89. 
 
 TUE END. 
 
 RICHARD CLAY &, SONS, LIMITED, LONDON (Si BUNGAY.
 
 a a 
 
 HUEST & BLACKETT'S 
 
 STANDARD LIBRARY. 
 
 To be had at all Booksellers and Railway Book-stalls. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED, 
 
 13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1891. 
 
 ■B- 
 
 -Et
 
 WORKS by the AUTHOR of 'JOHN HALIFAX. 1 
 Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s. 
 
 JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. 
 
 A woman's thoughts 
 
 ABOUT WOMEN. 
 A LIFE FOR A LIFE. 
 NOTHING NEW. 
 MISTRESS AND MAID. 
 THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM. 
 
 CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE. 
 
 A NOBLE LIFE. 
 
 HANNAH. 
 
 THE UNKIND WORD. 
 
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 YOUNG MRS. JARDINE. 
 
 WORKS by GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
 
 Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s. 
 
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 Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s. 
 
 IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS 
 
 LASS 
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 ADAM GRAEME OF MOSS- 
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 PHffiBE, JUNIOR. 
 AGNES. 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING. 
 
 WORKS by the A UTHOR of ' SAM SLICK' 
 
 Each in a Single Volume, with Frontispiece, price 5s. 
 
 NATURE AND HUMAN 
 
 NATURE. 
 
 wise saws and modern 
 instances. 
 
 THE OLD JUDGE ; OR, LIFE 
 
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 TRAITS OF AMERICAN 
 
 HUMOUR. 
 
 THE AMERICANS AT HOME. 
 
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 I.— SAM SLICK'S NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE. 
 
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 present convenient and cheap shape. The volume combines with the great recommenda- 
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 success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and 
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 The work abounds in incident, and many of the scenes are full of graphic power and true 
 pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better." — Scotsman. 
 
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 children; and the conclusion of the book is beautiful and touching." — Athenaeum. 
 
 III.— THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. 
 
 BY ELIOT WARBURTON. 
 
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 information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with 
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 reverent and serious spirit." — Quarterly Review. 
 
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 IV.— NATHALIE. 
 BY JULIA KAVANAGH. 
 
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 attractive. Its matter is good. A sentiment, a tenderness, are commanded by her which 
 are as individual as they are elegant. We should not soon come to an end were we to 
 specify all the delicate touches and attractive pictures which place ' Nathalie ' high among 
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 V.— A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
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 think: they are much more to the purpose than the treatises upon the women and daugh- 
 ters of England, which were fashionable some years ago, and these thoughts mark the 
 progress of opinion, and indicate a higher tone of character, and a juster estimate of 
 woman's position." — Athenxum. 
 
 "This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and feeling, and is 
 written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as practical spirit" — Morning Pott.
 
 HURST & BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY 
 
 VI.— ADAM GRAEME OF MOSSGRAY. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
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 admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The plot is cleverly complicated, and 
 there is great vitality in the dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive pas- 
 sages, as who that has read 'Margaret Maitland ' would not be prepared to expect? 
 But the story has a 'mightier magnet still,' in the healthy tone which pervades it, in its 
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 virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in 
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 Post. 
 
 VII.— SAM SLICK'S WISE SAWS AND 
 MODERN INSTANCES. 
 
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 will stand as long as that of Scott's or Bulwer's novels. The remarkable originality of 
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 OF THE LAST FOUR POPES. 
 
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 — Athenaium. 
 
 IX.— A LIFE FOR A LIFE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OP " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
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 masterly hand ; the events are dramatically set forth ; tho descriptions of scenery and 
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 defined moral — most poetically, most beautifully drawn, and through all there is that 
 strong, reflective mind visible which lays bare the human heart and human mind to the 
 very core." — Morning Post. 
 
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 BY LEIGH HUNT. 
 
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 pleasant reading." — Spectator. 
 
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 duced his reminiscences of Johnson." — Observer. 
 
 XL— MARGARET AND HER BRIDESMAIDS. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OP " THE VALLEY OP A HUNDRED FIRES," 
 
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 themselves. They will find it well worth their while. There are a freshness and origin- 
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 sentiment and incident which ia not often found."— Athenxutn.
 
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 XIL— THE OLD JUDGE ; OR, LIFE IN A COLONY. 
 
 BY SAM SLICK. 
 
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 safer guide than the talented author of this work, who, by a residence of half a century, 
 has practically grasped the habits, manners, and social conditions of the colonists he de- 
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 country, unlike England in some respects, yet like it in many, should read this book." — 
 John Bull. 
 
 XIII.— DARIEN ; OR, THE MERCHANT PRINCE. 
 
 BY ELIOT WARBURTON. 
 
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 elements of a very wide popularity. It will please its thousands." — Globe. 
 
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 OF THE ARISTOCRACY. 
 
 BY SIR BERNARD BURKE, ULSTER KING OF ARMS. 
 
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 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
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 Standard Library. For neatness, elegance, and distinctness the volumes in this series 
 surpass anything with which we are familiar. 'The Laird of Norlaw' will fully sustain 
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 is impossible to close the book without liking the writer as well as the subject. The work 
 is engaging, because real." — Athenxum. 
 
 XVII.— NOTHING NEW. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
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 XVIII.— LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET, QUEEN OF 
 
 NAVARRE. 
 
 BY MISS FREER. 
 
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 it to general perusal. It reflects the highest credit on the industry and ability of Miss 
 Freer. Nothing can be more interesting than her story of the life of Jeanne D'Albret, 
 and the narrative is as trustworthy as it is attractive." — Morning Post. 
 
 XIX.— THE VALLEY OF A HUNDRED FIRES. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " MARGARET AND HER BRIDESMAIDS." 
 
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 'The Caxtons.' " — Standard. 
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 XX.— THE ROMANCE OF THE FORUM ; OR, NARRATIVES, 
 SCENES, AND ANECDOTES FROM COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 BY PETER BURKE, SERJEANT AT LAW. 
 
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 BY JULIA KAVANAGH. 
 
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 to the close." — Athenaeum. 
 
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 —John Bull. 
 
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 novel." — Daily News. 
 
 XXIL— STUDIES FROM LIFE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.'' 
 
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 book will not diminish the reputation of the accomplished author." — Saturday Review. 
 
 XXIIL— GRANDMOTHER'S MONEY. 
 
 BY F. W. ROBINSON. 
 
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 the circulating library." — Lancet. 
 
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 much that appears in print for the first time, and which, of course, gives increased value 
 to this very readable book.'' — Athenceum. 
 
 XXV.— NO CHURCH. 
 
 BY F. W. ROBINSON. 
 
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 study." — Athenceum. 
 "A work of great originality, merit, and power."— Standard. 
 
 XXVL— MISTRESS AND MAID. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
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 tive." — Athenceum. 
 " A charming tale, charmingly told." — Standard. 
 
 XXVII.— LOST AND SAVED. 
 
 BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON. 
 
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 there is that indefinable charm with which true genius invests all it touches." — Daily News. 
 
 XXVIIL— LES MISERABLES. 
 
 BY VICTOR HUGO. 
 
 Authorised Copyright English Translation. 
 
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 BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS. 
 
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 and so we intend it" — Tfie Times. 
 
 XXX.— LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
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 "A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. 'Irving's Life' ought to have a niche 
 in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of in- 
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 XXXI.— ST. OLAVE'S. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JANITA'S CROSS." 
 
 "This novel is the work of one -who possesses a great talent for writing, as well aB 
 experience and knowledge of the world. The whole hook is worth reading." — Athenaeum. 
 
 " ' St Olave's ' belongs to a lofty order of fiction. It is a good novel, but it is something 
 more. It is written with unflagging ability, and it is as even as it is clever. The author 
 has determined to do nothing short of the best, and has succeeded." — Morning Post. 
 
 XXXII.— SAM SLICK'S TRAITS OF AMERICAN HUMOUR. 
 
 " Dip where you will into this lottery of fun, you are sure to draw out a prize. These 
 ' Traits ' exhibit most successfully the broad national features of American humour.".— Post. 
 
 XXXIII.— CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OP " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 " A more charming story has rarely been written. It is a choice gift to be able thus to 
 render human nature so truly, to penetrate its depths with such a searching sagacity, and 
 to illuminate them with a radiance so eminently the writer's own." — Times. 
 
 XXXIV.— ALEC FORBES OF HOWGLEN. 
 
 BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
 
 "No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades 
 the work from the first page to the last." — Athenaeum. 
 
 " A novel of uncommon merit. Sir Walter Scott said he would advise no man to try 
 to read 'Clarissa Harlowe' out loud in company if he wished to keep his character for 
 manly superiority to tears. We fancy a good many hardened old novel-readers will feel 
 a rising in the throat as they follow the fortunes of Alec and Annie." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 XXXV.— AGNES 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
 " 'Agnes" is a novel superior to any of Mrs. Oliphant's former works."— Atfienceum. 
 
 " Mrs. Oliphant is one of the most admirable of our novelists. In her works there 
 are always to be found high principle, good taste, sense, and refinement. 'Agnes' is 
 a story whose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all readers." — Morning Post. 
 
 XXXVI.— A NOBLE LIFE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 "Few men and no women will read 'A Noble Life' without feeling themselves the 
 better for the effort." — Spectator. 
 
 " A beautifully written and touching tale. It is a noble book."— Morning Post. 
 
 " ' A Noble Life ' is remarkable for the high types of character it presents, and the 
 skill with which they are made to work out a story of powerful and pathetic interest." 
 —Daily News. 
 
 XXXVII— NEW AMERICA. 
 
 BY W. HEPWORTH DIXON. 
 
 "A very interesting book. Mr. Dixon has written thoughtfully and well"— Times. 
 " We recommend everyone who feels any interest in human nature to read Mr. 
 Dixon's very interesting book" — Saturday Review. 
 
 XXXVIII.— ROBERT FALCONER. 
 
 BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
 
 " 'Robert Falconer' is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human 
 interest. It is a book to be returned to again and ngain for the deep and searching 
 knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings." — Athenaum.
 
 HURST & BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY 
 
 XXXIX.— THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 " ' The Woman's Kingdom ' sustains the author's reputation as a writer of the purest 
 and noblest kind of domestic stones." — Alhenceum. 
 
 " ' The Woman's Kingdom ' is remarkable for its romantic interest. The characters are 
 masterpieces. Edna is worthy of tho hand that drew John Halifax." — Morning Post. 
 
 XL.— ANNALS OF AN EVENTFUL LIFE. 
 
 BY GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.G.L. 
 
 " A racy, well-written, and original novel The interest never flags. The whole work 
 sparkles with wit and humour." — Quarterly Review. 
 
 XLI— DAVID ELGINBROD. 
 
 BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
 
 "A novel which is the work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest class of 
 readers." — Times. 
 
 XLIL— A BRAVE LADY. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 "We earnestly recommend this novel. It is a special and worthy specimen of the 
 author's remarkable powers. The reader's attention never for a moment flags." — Post. 
 
 "'A Brave Lady' thoroughly rivets the unmingled sympathy of the reader, and her 
 history deserves to stand foremost among the author's works." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 XLIIL— HANNAH. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 "A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide 
 circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty." — Standard. 
 
 "A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most successful efforts of a 
 successful novelist." — Daily News. 
 
 XLIV.— SAM SLICK'S AMERICANS AT HOME. 
 
 "This is one of the most amusing books that wo ever read." — Standard. 
 "' The Americans at Home ' will not be less popular than any of Judge Halliburton's 
 previous works." — Morning Post. 
 
 XLV.— THE UNKIND WORD. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 " These stories are gems of narrative. Indeed, some of them, in their touching grace 
 and simplicity, seem to us to possess a charm even beyond the authoress's moBt popular 
 novels. Of none of them can this be said more emphatically than of that which opens the 
 series, 'The Unkind Word.' It is wonderful to see the imaginative power displayed in 
 the few delicate touches by which this successful love-story is sketched out" — The Echo. 
 
 XLVL— A ROSE IN JUNE. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
 "'A Rose in June' is as pretty as its title. The story is one of the best and most 
 touching which we owe to the industry and talent of Mrs. Oliphant, and may hold its own 
 with even ' The Chronicles of Carlingford.' " — Times.
 
 HURST & BLACKETT'S STANDARD LIBRARY 
 
 XL VII.— MY LITTLE LADY. 
 
 BY E. FRANCES POYNTER. 
 "This story presents a number of vivid and very charming pictures Indeed, the whole 
 book is charming. It is interesting in both character and story, and thoroughly good of 
 its kind." — Saturday Review. 
 
 XL VIII.— PH03BE, JUNIOR. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
 "This last 'Chronicle of Carlingford ' not merely takes rank fairly beside the first 
 which introduced us to 'Salem Chapel,' but surpasses all the intermediate records. 
 Phoebe, Junior, herself is admirably drawn." — Academy. 
 
 XLIX.— LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
 BY PROFESSOR CHARLES DUKE YONGE. 
 
 " A work of remarkable merit and interest, which will, we doubt not, become the most 
 popular English history of Marie Antoinette." — Spectator. 
 
 L.— SIR GIBBIE. 
 
 BY GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
 
 " ' Sir Gibbie ' is a book of genius." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 "This book has power, pathos, and humour." — Athenxum. 
 
 LL— YOUNG MRS. JARDINE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN." 
 
 "'Young Mrs. Jardine ' is a pretty story, written in pure English." — The Times. 
 
 " There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome." — Athenaium. 
 
 LIL— LORD BRACKENBURY. 
 
 BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS. 
 
 " A very readable story. The author has well conceived the purpose of high-class 
 novel-writing, and succeeded in no small measure in attaining it. There is plenty of 
 variety, cheerful dialogue, and general ' verve ' in the book." — Atlienxum. 
 
 LIII.-IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
 " In ' It was a Lover and his Lass,' we admire Mrs. Oliphant exceedingly. It would be 
 worth reading a second time, were it only for the Bake of one ancient Scottish spinster, 
 who is nearly the counterpart of the admirable Mrs. Margaret Maitland." — Times. 
 
 JAY.— THE REAL LORD BYRON— THE STORY OF 
 THE POET'S LIFE. 
 
 BY JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON. 
 
 " Mr. Jeaffreson comes forward with a narrative which must take a very important 
 place in Byronic literature; and it may reasonably be anticipated that this book will be 
 regarded with deep interest by all who are concerned in the works and the fame of this 
 great English poet." — The Times. 
 
 LV.— THROUGH THE LONG NIGHT. 
 
 BY MRS. E. LYNN LINTON. 
 
 " It is scarcely necessary to sign ' Through the Long Night,' for the practised pen of 
 Mrs. Lynn Linton stands revealed on every page of it. It is like so many of its prede- 
 cessors, hard and bright, full of entertaining reflection and brisk development of plot." — 
 Saturday Review.
 
 WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 'SAM SLICK, THE CLOCKMAKER.' 
 
 Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s. 
 NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 "We enjoy our old friend's company with unabated relish. This work is a rattling 
 miscellany of sharp sayings, Btories. and hard hits. It is full of fun and fancy."— Mhenceum. 
 
 " Since Sam's first work he has written nothing so fresh, racy, and genuinely humorous 
 as this. Erery line of it tells in some way or other — instructively, satirically, jocosely, or 
 wittily. Admiration of Sam's mature talents, and laughter at his droll yarns, constantly 
 alternate as with unhalting avidity we peruse the work. The Clockmaker proves himself 
 the fastest time-killer a-going." — Obserctr. 
 
 WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES. 
 
 "This delightful book will be the most popular, as beyond doubt it i3 the best, of all the 
 author's admirable works." — Standard. 
 
 "The book before us will be read and laughed over. Its quaint and racy dialect will 
 please some readers — its abundance of yarns will amuse others. There is something to 
 suit readers of every humour." — Athenseum. 
 
 "The humour of Sam Slick is inexhaustible. He is ever and everywhere a welcome 
 visitor; smiles greet his approach, and wit and wisdom hang upon his tongua We pro- 
 mise our readers a great treat from the perusal of these • Wise Saws,' which contain a 
 world of practical wisdom, and a treasury of the richest fun." — Morning Post. 
 
 THE OLD JUDGE; OR, LIFE IN A COLONY. 
 
 "By common consent this work is regarded as one of the raciest, truest to life, most 
 humorous, and most interesting workB which have proceeded from the prolific pen of ita 
 author. We all know what shrewdness of observation, what power of graphic descrip- 
 tion, what natural resources of drollery, and what a happy method of hitting off the 
 broader characteristics of the life he reviews, belong to Judge Haliburton. We have all 
 those qualities here ; but they are balanced by a serious literary purpose, and are employed 
 in the communication of information respecting certain phases of colonial experience 
 which impart to the work an element of sober utility." — Sunday Times. 
 
 TRAITS OF AMERICAN HUMOUR. 
 
 " No man has done more than the facetious Judge Haliburton, through the mouth of the 
 inimitable ' Sam ' to make the old parent country recognise and appreciate her queer 
 transatlantic progeny. His present collection of comic stories and laughable traits is & 
 budget of fun, full of rich specimens of American humour." — Globe. 
 
 " Yankeeism. portrayed in its raciest aspect, constitutes the contents of these superla- 
 tively entertaining sketches. The work embraces the most varied topics — political parties, 
 religious eccentricities, the flights of literature and the absurdities of pretenders to learn- 
 ing all come in for their Bhare of satire; while we have specimens of genuine American 
 exaggerations and graphic pictures of social and domestic life as it is. The work will 
 have a wide circulation." — John Bull. 
 
 THE AMERICANS AT HOME. 
 
 "In this highly entertaining work we are treated to another cargo of capital stories 
 from the inexhaustible store o; our Yankee friend In the volume before us he dishes up, 
 with his accustomed humour and terseness of style, a vast number of tales, none more 
 entertaining than another, and all ot them graphically illustrative of the ways and man- 
 ners of brother Jonathan The anomalies of American law, the extraordinary adventures 
 incident to life in the backwoods and. above all, the peculiarities of American society, are 
 variously, powerfully, and, for the most part amusingly exemplified." — John Bull. 
 
 "In the picturesque delineation of character, and the felicitoui portraiture of national 
 features, no writer equals Judge Haliburton and the subje»ts embraced in the present 
 delightful book call forth, in new and vigorous exercise. hiB peculiar powers. • Tb.e> 
 Americans at Home ' will not be less popular than any of his previous works." — Post. 
 
 LONDON : HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.
 
 WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN, 
 
 Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s 
 
 JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. 
 
 " This is a very good and a very interesting work. It is designed to trace the career 
 from boyhood to age of a perfect man — a Christian gentleman ; and it abounds in incident 
 tooth well and highly wrought. Throughout it is conceived in a high spirit, and written 
 with great ability. This cheap and handsome new edition is worthy to pass freely from 
 hand to hand as a gift-book in many households." — Examiner. 
 
 " The story is very interesting. The attachment between John Halifax and his wife is 
 beautifully painted, as are the pictures of their domestic life, and the growing up of their 
 children, and the conclusion of the book is beautiful and touching." — Athenaeum. 
 
 •' The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great 
 cuccess. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this 
 his history is no ordinary book It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one of 
 nature's own nobility. It iB also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English one. 
 The work abounds in incident, and is full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book 
 that few will read without becoming wiser and better."— Scotsman. 
 
 A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN. 
 
 "A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well written, 
 true hearted and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady 
 may thank the author for means of doing po." — Examiner. 
 
 •' These thoughts are worthy of the earnest and enlightened mind, the all-embracing 
 charity, and the well-earned reputation of the author of ' John Halifax.' " — Standard 
 
 " This excellent book iB characterised by good sense, good taste, and feeling, and is 
 written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well aB practical spirit."— Poit. 
 
 A LIFE FOR A LIFE. 
 
 "We are always glad to welcome this author. She writes from her own convictions, 
 and Bhe has the power not only to conceive clearly what it is that she wishes to Bay, but 
 to express it in language effective and vigorous. In 'A Life for a Life ' she is fortunate 
 in a good subject, and she has produced a work of strong effect The reader, having read 
 the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of our persuasion) to return and read 
 again many pages and passages with greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole 
 book is replete with a graceful, tendnr delicacy ; and, in addition to its other merits, it is 
 ■written in good careful English."— Athenstum. 
 
 NOTHING NEW. 
 
 " ' Nothing New' displays all those superior merits which have made 'John Halifax' 
 one of the most popular works of the day." — Post. 
 
 " The reader will find these narratives calculated to remind him of that truth and 
 energy of human portraiture, that spell over human affections and emotions, which have 
 stamped this author as one of the first novelists of our day."— John Bull. 
 
 THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM. 
 
 " 'The Woman's Kingdom' sustains the author's reputation as a writer of the purest 
 and noblest kind of domestic stories. The novelist's lesson is given with admirable force 
 and sweetness. ''—Athenseum. 
 
 " ' The Woman's Kingdom ' is remarkable for its romantic interest The characters 
 are masterpieces. Edna is worthy of the hand that drew John Halifax."— Post. 
 
 STUDIES FROM LIFE. 
 
 "These studies are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often earnest, always full of right 
 feeling and occasionally lightened by touches of quiet genial humour. The volume is re- 
 markable for thought, sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling 
 for ail things good and beautiful."— Post.
 
 WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN. 
 
 (continued.) 
 
 CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE. 
 
 "A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. "Within the compass 
 of a single volume the writer has hit off a circle of varied characters, all true to nature- 
 some true to the highest nature — and she has entangled them in a story which keeps us 
 in suspense till the knot is happily and gracefully resolved; while, at the same time, a 
 pathetic interest is sustained by an art of which it would be difficult to analyse the secret. 
 it is a choice gift to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its depths 
 with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a radiance so eminently the 
 writer's own. Even if tried by the standard of the Archbishop of York, we should expect 
 that even he would pronounce ' Christian's Mistake ' a novel without a fault." — The Times. 
 
 " This is a story good to have from the circulating library, but better to have from one's 
 bookseller, for it deserves a place in that little collection of clever and wholesome stories 
 which forms one of the comforts of a well-appointed home." — Examiner. 
 
 MISTRESS AND MAID. 
 
 "A good, wholesome book, as pleasant to read as it is instructive." — Athenaeum. 
 "This book is written with the same true-hearted earnestness as 'John Halifax.' The 
 spirit of the whole work is excellent " — Examiner. 
 "A charming tale charmingly told." — Standard. 
 
 A NOBLE LIFE. 
 
 "This is one of those pleasant tales in whijh the author of 'John Halifax' speaks out 
 of a generous heart the purest truths of life." — Examiner. 
 
 "Few men, and no women, will read 'A Noble Life' without finding themselves the 
 better." — Spectator. 
 
 "A story of powerful and pathetic interest" — Daily News 
 
 A BRAVE LADY. 
 
 "A very good novel, showing a tender sympathy with human nature, and permeated 
 by a pure and noble spirit" — Examiner. 
 
 "A most charming story." — Standard. 
 
 " We earnestly recommend this novel It is a special and worthy Brecimen of the 
 author's remarkable powers. The reader's attention never for a moment flags." — Post. 
 
 HANNAH. 
 
 " A powerful novel of social and domestio life. One of the most successful efforts of a 
 successful novelist." — Daily News. 
 
 "A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide 
 circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty." — Standard. 
 
 THE UNKIND WORD. 
 
 "The author of 'John Halifax ' has written many fascinating stories, but we can call to 
 mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring charm than thn graceful sketches in 
 this work. &uch a character as Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of 
 all that is truly noble, pure, and womanly." — United Service Magazine. 
 
 YOUNG MRS. JARDINE. 
 
 "'Young Mrs. Jardine ' is a pretty story, written in pure English.''— The Times. 
 
 "There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome." — Athenstum. 
 
 "A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any of its predecessors 
 in elevation of thought and style, it is perhaps their superior in interest of plot and 
 dramatic intensity. The characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural 
 and clear." — Morning Post. 
 
 LONDON : HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.
 
 WORKS BY 
 
 MRS. OLITHANT. 
 
 Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s. 
 ADAM GRAEME OF MOSSGRAY. 
 
 '• " 'Adam Graeme ' is a story awakening genuine emotions of interest and delight by its 
 admirable pictures of Scottish life and scenery. The plot is cleverly complicated, and 
 there is great vitality in the dialogue, and remarkable brilliancy in the descriptive pas- 
 sages, as who that has read 'Margaret Maitland ' would not be prepared to expect? 
 But the story has a 'mightier magnet still,' in the healthy tone which pervades it, in its 
 feminine delicacy of thought and diction, and in the truly womanly tenderness of its 
 sentiments. The eloquent author sets before us the essential attributes of Christian 
 virtue, their deep and silent workings in the heart, and their beautiful manifestations in 
 the life, with a delicacy, a power, and a truth which can hardly be surpassed."— Morning 
 Post. 
 
 THE LAIRD OF NORLAW. 
 
 "We havo had frequent opportunities of commending Messrs. Hurst and Blacketfs 
 Standard Library. For neatness, elogance, and distinctness the volumes in this series 
 surpass anything with which we are familiar. 'The Laird of Norlaw' will fully suBtuin 
 the author's high reputation. The reader is carried on from first to last with an energy 
 of sympathy that never flags." — Sunday Times. 
 
 " ' The Laird of Norlaw ' is worthy of the author's reputation. It ia one of the most 
 exquisite of modern novels."— Observer. 
 
 IT WAS A LOVER AND HIS LASS. 
 
 "In 'It was a Lover and his Lass,' we admire Mrs. Oliphant exceedingly. Her story is 
 a very pretty one. It would be worth reading a second time, were it only for the sake of 
 one ancient Scottish spinster, who is nearly the counterpart of the admirable Mrs. Mar- 
 garet Maitland."— Times. 
 
 AGNES. 
 
 •' ' Agnes ' is a novel superior to any of Mrs. Oliphant's former works." — Athenmum. 
 
 "Mrs. Oliphant is one of the most admirable of our novelists. In her works there are 
 always to be found high principle, good taste, sense, and refinement. 'Agnes ' is a story 
 whose pathetic beauty will appeal irresistibly to all readers." — Morning Post. 
 
 A ROSE IN JUNE. 
 
 " ' A Rose in June ' is as pretty as its title. The story is one of the best and most 
 touching which we owe to the industry and talent of Mrs. Oliphant, and may hold its own 
 ■with even ' The Chronicles of Carlingford.' " — Times. 
 
 PHGEBE, JUNIOR. 
 
 'This last 'Chronicle of Carlingford' not merely takes rank fairly beside the first 
 which introduced us to ' Salem Chapel,' but surpasses all the intermediate records. 
 Phoebe, Junior, herself is admirably drawn." — Academy. 
 
 LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING. 
 
 " A good book on a most interesting theme." — Times. 
 
 "A truly interesting and most affecting memoir, 'lrving's Life ' ought to have a niche 
 in every gallery of religious biography. There are few lives that will be fuller of in- 
 struction, interest, and consolation." — Saturday Review. 
 
 LONDON : HURST AND ELACKETT, LIMITED.
 
 WORKS BY 
 
 GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D. 
 
 Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s. 
 
 ALEC FORBES OF HOWGLEN. 
 
 "No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades 
 the work from the first page to the laBt." — Athenseum. 
 
 " \ novel of uncommon merit. Sir Walter Scott said he would advise no man to try 
 to read 'Clarissa Harlowe' out loud in company if he wished to keep his character for 
 manly superiority to tears. We fancy a good many hardened old novel-readers will leel 
 a rising in the throat aB they follow the fortunes of Alec and Annie." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " The whole story is one of surpassing excellence and beauty." — Daily News. 
 
 "This book is full of good thought and good writing. Dr. Mac Donald looks in his stories 
 more to the souls of men and women than to their social outside. He reads life and 
 Nature like a true poet"— Examiner. 
 
 ROBERT FALCONER. 
 
 '" Robert Falconer' is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human 
 interest. It is a work to be returned to again and again for the deep and searching 
 knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings." — Athenseum. 
 
 "This story abounds in exquisite specimens of the word-painting in which Dr. Mac 
 Donald excels, charming transcripts of Nature, full of light, air, and colour." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 " This noble story displays to the best advantage all the powers of Dr. Mac Donald's 
 genius." — Illustrated London News. 
 
 " ' Robert Falconer ' is the noblest work of Action that Dr. Mac Donald has yet pro- 
 duced." — British Quarterly Review 
 
 "The dialogues in ' Hobert Falconer ' are so finely blended with humour and pathos as 
 to moke them in themselves an intellectual treat to which the reader returns again and 
 agaia ' ' — Spectator. 
 
 DAVID ELGINBROD. 
 
 " A novel which is the work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest clasB of 
 read ers. " — Times. 
 
 "There are many beautiful passages and descriptions in this book. The characters are 
 extremely well drawn." — Athenseum. 
 
 "A clever novel. The incidents are exciting and the interest is maintained to the 
 close It may be doubted if Sir Walter Scott himself ever painted a Scotch fireside with 
 more truth than Dr. Mac Donald." — Morning Post. 
 
 " David Elginbrod is the finest character we have met in Action for many a day. The 
 descriptions of natural scenery are vivid, truthful, and artistic ; the general reflections are 
 those of a refined, thoughtful, and poetical philosopher, and the whole moral atmosphere 
 of the book is lofty, pure, and invigorating."— Globe. 
 
 SIR GIBBIE. 
 
 "'Sir Gibbie' is a book of genius." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 "This book has power, pathos, and humour. There is not a character which is not 
 lifelike. There are many powerful scenes, and the portraits will stay long in our 
 memory." — Athenseum. 
 
 " ' Sir Gibbie ' is unquestionably a book of genius. It abounds in humour, pathos, 
 insight into character, and happy touches of description." — Graphic. 
 
 '"Sir Gibbie' contains some of the most charming writing the author has yet pro 
 duced " — Scotsman. 
 
 "' Sir Gibbie ' is one of the most touching and beautiful stories that has been written 
 for many years. It is not a novel to be idly read and laid aside ; it is a grand work, to be 
 kept near at hand, and studied and thought over." — Morning Post. 
 
 LONDON : HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.
 
 STANDARD EDITIONS 
 
 EACH IN ONE VOLUME CROWN Svo-FIVE SHILLINGS. 
 
 LIFE OF JEANNE D'ALBRET, QUEEN of NAVARRE. 
 
 BY MISS FREER. 
 
 "We have read thia book with great pleasure, and have no hesitation in recommending 
 it to general perusal. It reflects the highest credit on the industry and ability of Miss 
 Freer. Nothing can be more interesting than her story of the life of Jeanne D'Albret, 
 and the narrative is as trustworthy as it is attractive."— Morning Post. 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE REV. EDWARD IRVING. 
 
 BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 
 
 "A truly interesting and most affecting memoir. ' Irving's Life ' ought to have a niche 
 in every gallery of religious biograpny. Tuere are few lives that will be fuller of in- 
 struction, interest, and consolation." — Saturday Review. 
 
 THE LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
 
 BY PROFESSOR CHARLES DUKE YONGE. 
 
 "A work of remarkable merit and interest, which will, we doubt not, become the most 
 popular English history of Marie Antoinette."— Spectator. 
 
 THE REAL LORD BYRON— THE STORY OF 
 THE POET'S LIFE. 
 
 BY JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON. 
 
 " Mr. Jeaffreson comes forward with a narrative which must take a very important 
 place in Byronic literature ; and it may reasonably be anticipated that this book will be 
 regarded with deep interest by all who are concerned in the works and the fame of thia 
 great English poet" — The Times. 
 
 THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. 
 
 BY ELIOT WARBURTON. 
 
 "Independent of its value as an original narrative, and its useful and interesting 
 information, this work is remarkable for the colouring power and play of fancy with 
 which its descriptions are enlivened. Among its greatest and most lasting charms is its 
 reverent and serious spirit." — Quarterly Review. 
 
 A BOOK ABOUT DOCTORS. 
 
 BY JOHN CORDY JEAFFRESON. 
 
 " ThiB is a pleaBant book for the fireside season, and for the seaside season. Mr. Jeaffre- 
 son has, out of hundreds of volumes, collected thousands of good things, adding thereto 
 much that appears in print for the first time, and which, of course, gives increased value 
 to this very readable book." — Athenxum. 
 
 FAMILY ROMANCE ; OR, DOMESTIC ANNALS OF 
 THE ARISTOCRACY. 
 
 BY SIR BERNARD BURKE, ULSTER KING OF ARMS. 
 
 " It were impossible to praise too highly this most interesting book, whether we should 
 have regard to its excellent plan or its not less excellent execution. It ought to be found 
 on every drawing-room table. Here you have nearly fifty captivating romances with the 
 pith of all their interest preserved in undiminished poignancy, and any one may be read 
 iu half-an-hour." — Standard. 
 
 LONDON : HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.
 
 7 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 
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