KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. ^^75

march out with its arms and baggage, six days were to be allowed for effecting its retreat; whatever vessels might be necessary for conveying the English troops to their native shore, were to enter the port without impediment; and, although the citadel was placed in the hands of the besiegers, as a security for the surrender of the town, the French standard was not to be displayed till the place was evacuated-

The capitulation was signed on the twenty-eighth of July, and two days after, the Earl of Clinton, with a fleet of sixty sail, appeared before Havre, and received the garrison which he had come to support.* But more than three thousand of the Earl of Warwick's soldiers had fallen victims to the plague ; and we find from a letter of the Bishop of London, dated in August, 1563, that the court of England was well satisfied, that the Earl should retire on such favorable terms.

Various negotiations between France and England succeeded; and much heat was shewn on both parts ;

* Although the sick were left behind, (see Memoires de Cas-telnau, lib. v. chap, iii.) the soldiers carried with them the plague into England, and the vast utility of quarantine laws was never more strongly shewn than in this instance. The troops embarked on the thirtieth of July ; the first case of plague took place in London immediately after, having previously appeai'ed in a seaport of Kent. Twenty thousand one hundred and thirty-six persons perished in the capital alone. Trade and business of all kinds nearly ceased, and infinitely greater evils were inflicted in a few months upon commerce, without reckoning human sufferings than ever took place from the regulations of the quarantine during centuries.

T 2

£76 THE LIFE OF HENRY IV.

but in the end, a treaty of peace was concluded by the intervention of Monsieur de Castelnau and Sir Thomas Smith. Some difficulties were made by Elizabeth, in regard to the ratification, but she at leniifth irave her consent; and the faint and untenable claims of England upon Calais, were finally abandoned upon the payment of a hundred and twenty thousand crowns.

Several events of minor importance had taken place in the meantime, into the particulars of which it is not necessary here to enter. The majority of the King, at the commencement of his fourteenth year, had been declared in the Parliament of Rouen; the Queen-mother had suffered a dangerous injury by a fall from her horse, from which, however, she recovered with extraordinary rapidity, although her life was at one time despaired of. Fetes and amusements had succeeded at Fontainebleau, in the midst of which, the Prince de Conde seemed to have totally abandoned the cause for which he had raised the standard of revolt; and, in the arms of the licentious ladies of Catherine's court, to have forgotten his devoted wife, his religious duties, his real friends, and his political position. The Papists of France, and various neighboring princes of the same creed, had strongly urged the Queen-mother and the young King, to set at nought the obligations by which they had so lately bound themselves ; and numerous infractions of the treaty, had been committed by the bigoted Roman Catholics of the southern provinces.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. ^77

One event, however, must be marked more particularly, as the first indication of that mortal enmity conceived by the house of Guise against the Admiral de Coligni, which ended only with the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's day. The accusation brought by Poltrot against that celebrated commander, notwithstanding its formal retraction by him who had made it, still rankled in the minds of the wife and children of the great Prince, who had fallen before Orleans; and shortlv after the capitulation of Havre, Ann of Este, duchess of Guise, with her children and brothers-in-law, made a formal demand of justice against the Admiral, accusing him in direct terms, of instigating the murder of the Duke. Catherine de Medicis endeavored, as far as possible, to smooth these angry feelings, and sought to prevail upon the Duchess, by the hope of a more fitting opportunity for revenge, to abandon her object at this time. But the rancor of the Princes of Lorraine remained unabated ; and the Admiral, while he declared that he was able and ready to clear himself of the charge, was obliged to surround his person by large bodies of Huguenot retainers, to guard against the private attempts with which his life was menaced. At the same time, from every part of France, were heard murmurs in regard to various violations of the edict; and it was apparent, that some steps must be taken, to stay the rash proceedings of the more bigoted Roman Catholics, in order to prevent the civil war from being immediately renewed. Under

these circumstances, Catherine de Medicis determined upon making a pompous progress into different parts of the kingdom, accompanied by the young King and the greater part of the court, which project was executed in the year 1564.

In this expedition, Catherine was followed by the young King of Navarre, for whom, during his youth, she seems to have entertained a great and extraordinary affection, taking a pleasure, even at this early period, in watching the development of his mind, and initiating him into affairs of state, as if she foresaw the high destiny which ultimately awaited him.* In all her pastimes and amusements he was invited to bear a part; and to the council table itself, even when in secret deliberation, he was permitted to accompany her.t Policy, indeed, might have some share in the caresses which Catherine bestowed upon the young King, and her object might be as much to reconcile him to the sort of captivity in which she held him, as to gain his affection for herself and for her children. Whatever might be the motives of her conduct, it is certain that, from the earliest age, she taught him to taste of all the pleasures of the court, and instilled into him, in his youth, licentious views in regard to various points of morality, which produced, at an after period, those acts, that form the chief stain upon his private and public history.

Joy, gaiety, and pageantry, accompanied the court

* Memoires de Nevers. t Memoire du President de Calignon.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. ^79

of Catherine upon her journey through the realm ; and although the menacing aspect of some of the Protestants and some of the Catholics, and the recollection of the force which had been used towards herself and her children by the Triumvirate, had induced her to augment the numbers of the fSwiss guard, and to add thereunto a French guard of five hundred men, but little military display attended her progress. Gay gentlemen and beautiful women were her principal escort; and it seemed as if she had suddenly taken the determination, after having failed in suppressing the troubles of the kingdom by force of arms, to conquer them by pleasure, levity, and licentiousness. In so doing, she shewed her knowledge of the French character, more than her knowledge of human nature ; as she had yet apparently to learn, as well as to teach, that the fiercest crimes, and the most vehement turbulence, are nourished and envenomed by luxury and depravity.

The court first directed its steps to the side of Lorraine; and, mingling the arts of policy with the amusements of the day, the Queen, while at Bar le Due, carried on negotiations with the principal German Princes on the frontier, with a view of engaging them to refrain from giving any farther assistance, to the rebellious subjects of France. In this attempt she was unsuccessful; but pursuing the same plan in the course of her progress, through Burgundy, Dauphiny, and Languedoc, she

held long and secret interviews with the Duke of Savoy, with the Vice-legate, and with a private agent of the Pope, who was sent to confer with her at Avignon. In the meanwhile, from time to time, the court, while refusing openly to listen to the views of the more violent Catholics, and the suggestions of the bigoted Ring of Spain, gave the Protestants, by its acts, good cause to suspect, that one object of the Queen-mother was, slowly and invidiously, to take from them the privileges which had been granted by the treaty of pacification, and to deprive them of the means of future resistance.* Edict after edict, while pretending to interpret the treaty, confined the concessions to the Huguenots within narrower bounds ; the fortifications of various towns and castles, which had afforded refuge and protection to the Protestants, were demolished, and a strong citadel was built in Lyons, to overawe a city which had shewn itself so favorable to the opponents of llomish corruption.

But such mild means did not accord with the more vehement spirit of the Romish Church ; and a number of causes, some of evident magnitude, and others apparently trifling, combined at this time, to lay the foundations of that horrible league, which produced such infinite calamities in France. There can be little doubt that, the original scheme for a general confederacy between the Roman Catholic princes of Europe, and the French papistical leaders, was

-'^ This iiitentioii is admitted by Castelnau, libo v. chap. x.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 281

devised at Trent, where the couneil was still sitting, when Catherine began her progress through her son's kingdom. To the great and disastrous assembly in that city, the Cardinal of Lorraine had been despatched on the part of the court of France ; and he had vigorously opposed, during the earlier meetings, the pretensions of the Roman See, to a domination totally subversive of the privileges of the Galilean Church. But the news of his brother's death, by the hands of an assassin, inflamed his animosity against the Protestants, to such a degree, as to induce him to pass over all other considerations for the sake of vengeance. Nor was the conduct of the Huguenots, it must be confessed, such as could tend to mitigate the indignation of the house of Guise, or to remove the suspicion that they had instigated the assassin to commit the act. Coligni, La Rochefoucault, and others, boldly denied all participation in the crime before its perpetration 5 and history has done them justice on this point. But doubts still hovered over the head of Theodore Beza, at a period when much of the heat of passion was abated ;* and we know that the great body of the Reformed Church, had the folly and the wickedness to adopt the deed after its commission, by the commendations which manv of its leadinof members bestowed upon Poltrot. His name and his actions were celebrated by the pens of their most eloquent writers; his fate was deplored in epitaphs, songs,

* Le Laboureur.

and canticles;* his crime was justified by a comparison with those personages mentioned in the Old Testament, who devoted themselves to the destruction of the persecutors of Israel, and the spirit of Christianity was totally forgotten, in rejoicings over the death of a great and implacable enemy. This conduct, equally unworthy and impolitic, not only incensed their enemies in France even mote than the act itself, but gave the force of probability to all the darkest accusations against them ; and the Cardinal of Lorraine, fully persuaded that the assassination of his brother had been instigated by the leaders of the Protestant party, yielded even the rights and interests of the Church of France, in his eagerness to return and crush those, who were not only religious opponents but private enemies.

In Pius IV., and his representatives at Trent, he found zealous co-operators; and had the King of Spain been even less willing than he was, to take part in any act of furious bigotry, his political position, with regard to the Low Countries, would have afforded sufficient motives, for joining in any scheitie, which tended at once to embarrass France with intestine dissensions, to engage the Protstant forces of Germany in the civil war of the neigh-

* A curious collection of these pieces is given by Le Laboureur, shewing the most deplorable perversion of genius and learning, and how the corrupt heart of man can misapply great examples and holy doctrines, to the justification of the darkest and most fearful crimes.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 283

boring country, and to deprive the Reformers of his northern dominions of all hope of assistance and support.*

It is clear that Catherine de Medicis herself, proposed, during the last sittings of the Council of Trent, an interview between the Pope and the Roman Catholic sovereigns of Europe; and we find by her letters to the Bishop of Rennes, that the Papal nuncio in France, was despatched, first to Vienna, and then to Rome, in order to arrange this important conference. Rumor at once attributed to her, the intention of forming a general league for the suppression of the Protestant religion ; and great fears were entertained in Germany that tumult and civil war would be the immediate consequences. It is probable, however,—as in her secret correspondence she denies all such intention —that the scheme of this confederacy had already been discussed at Trent, and that some private, but vague, intelligence of such proceedings being in agitation, had reached the Protestant princes.

The design, with whomsoever it originated, was eagerly adopted by the Cardinal of Lorraine ; and he pursued it with a degree of vigor, which soon united in its favor the most influential Papists throughout Europe. Thus supported, he returned to France, in the beginning of the year 1564, and it would seem, that the first foundations of the League in that country, were laid at Nancy, during the progress of the

* Castelnau.

court.* The Cardinal, however, had the mortification of seeing the decrees of the council of Trent, rejected generally by the French church, severely censured by the more reasonable Roman Catholics, and scoffed at, with every expression of contempt and derision, by the Huguenots.

After conferences in the south-east of France with the Papal nuncio, and the Duke of Savoy, the court turned its steps towards the west, in order, as it appeared, to give the Queen-mother an opportunity of once more embracing her daughter, the young Queen of Spain. It was not, indeed, without considerable difficulty, that the cold-hearted Philip suffered his young wife to advance as far as Bayonne,! to meet her family, while he himself remained at Madrid ; but the progress of Protestant principles in the Low Countries, and the desire of forming such a party in France, as would give occupation to the more turbulent subjects of the neighboring power, and prevent them from aiding the people whom his tyranny was driving into revolt, had probably a greater share in wringing from him his consent, than the wishes of his Queen, or the solicitations of Catherine. The Princess herself was sent to the interview, with a numerous and splendid escort; and she was accompanied by the famous Ferdinand of Toledo, Duke of Alva, instructed to carry on the negotiations for the league, which both

* Castelnau. f Le Laboureur. Letter of the French ambassador at Madrid to the Bishop of Rennes.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 285

parties had in view, and to give that impulse to the mind of the Queen-mother of France, which the policy of Philip required.

Pomp and pageantry, sport and amusement, appeared to occupy the two courts, and covered from the eyes of the world, the darker and more sanguinary councils, which w^ere held in the apartments of the Queen-mother ; and the steps which were taken by the court of France, to induce Pius IV. to recall the bull of excommunication and deprivation, which he had imprudently fulminated against the Queen of Navarre, might w^ell tend to create a belief, that Catherine and her counsellors entertained no sinister designs against the Protestants of France.

The nature and the tendency of the conferences, between the Queen-mother and the Duke of Alva, however, were discovered by one whom they thought too young, too light, and too fond of pleasure, to apply his mind to the high subjects of which they treated. The Prince of Navarre was permitted to be present at several of the interviews, in which the fate of many of his family was discussed ; and although the purposes of the Queen and the Duke, were concealed under figurative language, he was too keen to be deceived, and too strongly attached to his mother, to refrain from communicating to her the designs entertained against her and others. There is much reason to believe, that a plan for cutting off the Protestants of France at a single blow, was agitated by Catherine and the Duke, and that the Queen-mother expressed some desire

to save the higher personages, who had emhraced the Reformed religion. It is clear that some such suggestion must have been made by Catherine, to draw from Alva the famous reply, that *' The head of a salmon was worth a hundred frogs." Those words were overheard, however, and remarked by the young Prince of Navarre ; and, after meditating over their import, for some time, he caused them to be communicated to his mother, by the President de Calignon, shewing a degree of wisdom and caution, in his choice of the messenger, which was scarcely to be expected at so early an age.*

It is proved, indeed, by contemporary letters, that he already displayed many of those extraordinary qualities, which afterwards so greatly endeared him to the hearts of the French people. We learn from one who was probably present, that his demeanor at the court, attracted the attention of the Spanish courtiers, and that, on first seeing him, the Duke of Medina exclaimed, " Mi parece este Principe, o es Emperador o lo ha deser.—It appears to me, that this Prince is either an Emperor, or deserves to be one."t In the affections of his cousin, the young Queen of Spain, he soon made such progress, that a degree of regard was established between them,

* Memoire du President de Calignon. Anquetil, who sadly disfigures a great part of the history of these times, gives a somewhat bombastic version of Alva's speech, making him say " ten thousand frogs," but as Calignon has furnished the particulars himself, I have adhered to his statement.

t Chronologic Nobenaire, torn. i.

which, at an after period, produced the most beneficial results, and proved the salvation of himself and his mother. But, though mild and affable in his manners, and apparently light-hearted, the young King of Navarre maintained his own dignity, we are assured, whenever the occasion required it; took his place according to his rank in the state, and suffered no one to treat him without due respect.

After passing some time at Bayonne, in festivities, negotiations, and sports, the two courts of France and Spain separated and Catherine de Medicis took her way towards Nerac, the ordinary residence of the Queen of Navarre; but, although the young King and his mother, displayed nothing but smiles and favor towards Jeanne d'Albret, that acute Princess, already informed of the secret conferences of the Queen-mother with the Duke of Alva, placed little reliance upon the professions of regard, with which she was loaded, and prepared to withdraw her son, at the first favorable opportunity, from the court of France. During the stay of the court at Nerac, the Queen of Navarre was persuaded to suffer, within her territories, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion, in which, for several years, the Papists had been denied that entire liberty of conscience, which the Protestants themselves, so eagerly demanded in other parts of France. It is probable, that she made this concession with regret; but the dangerous position in which she was placed, did not permit her to hesitate.

although she firmly resisted every inducement which was held out, to lead her back into the bosom of the Roman Catholic church.

It must not be forgotten, in judging of the difficulties which surrounded Jeanne d'Albret, that the kings of Spain had always looked with a greedy eye, upon the small mountain principality, which was all that remained in her possession of the dominions of her ancestors ; and that the Pope, by declaring her incapable of reigning, had afforded a pretext to the neighboring sovereign, for stripping her of her territories. Her only hope of security, rested in the protection afforded her, by the court of France, the policy of which was of course strongly opposed to the views of the King of Spain. But on that side, also, she had to apprehend, that in case of any unreasonable resistance to the will of her royal relatives, the French monarch himself might take advantage of the Papal censure, to seize upon her possessions, and to deprive her and her son for ever of their independent sovereignty.

Nor were the enemies of her house so few, or so powerless, at the court of France itself, as not to place her in a condition of great danger ; and a conspiracy of the most odious kind was discovered, shortly after the visit of Catherine de Medicis to Nerac, which threatened her liberty, if not her life.*

* Monsieur d'Anquetil, upon whose perversions of French history I have before remarked, places this conspiracy previous to the journey of Catherine de Medicis to Bayonne, and assigns it as one of the causes of the great interest taken in the young

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 289

The particulars of this plot will be detailed hereafter, in speaking of the events of the year 1567. Although some authors have placed it at an earlier date, the facts themselves, as well as the statement of a contemporary writer, the best authority we have on the subject, prove, that the design of Philip to carry off the Queen of Navarre and her son from Beam, could not have been entertained before the young Prince returned to his mother's dominions.

From Nerac, the court of France returned bv slow journeys towards Paris; fetes and rejoicings took place, wherever it paused; and nothing obscured the pleasures of the expedition from its commencement to its close, but the plague which appeared in various cities through which it passed, the severity of the winter which kept it shut up in Carcassone for several weeks, and the consequences

King of Navarre, by those to whom he was introduced during the royal progress. Anquetil seems to have been ignorant of the Memoir of the President de Cahgnon, who distinctly states, that this conspiracy took place in 1567, and attributes the fact of the Queen of Spain having intimated the existence of such a plot to Jeanne d'Albret, to the affection which she conceived for Henry during their interview at Bayonne. I need hardly point out to the English reader, how the want of chro*no-logical accuracy, observable in almost all French historians deprives history of its fruits, by inverting the order of cause and effect, and consequently falsifying all those philosophical deductions, which may be drawn for the instruction of mankind from the acts of our predecessors and their results to society, when the march of events is accurately stated.

VOL. I. ^

of the licentiousness encouraged by Catherine de Medicis herself, between the Prince de Conde and her maids of honor, which ended in one of them bearing him a child, without the prudent precaution of concealing the fact. The Queen affected a due degree of virtuous indignation; but the fault of the beautiful culprit was soon overlooked, and proved no impediment to her forming an after connexion of a more honorable kind.

In 1566, the Queen of Navarre appeared at the court of France, which was by this time re-established in its ordinary dwelling places.^ The ostensible object of her visit to Paris, was to defend the rights of herself and her son, against a suit brought by the Cardinal de Bourbon her brother-in-law, who, after having renounced at the time of her marriage with Anthony of Bourbon, all title to the inhe-ritance of Vendome, now sought to put forward new claims, in which, however, he was not successful. It is probable, that the real object of the Princess was to withdraw her son from the court of the Queen-mother, in order to educate him according to her own views. By this time his Protestant tutor La G^ucherie was dead; and the firm and resolute attachment of Jeanne d'Albret to the Reformed

* Some authors declare that Jeanne d'Albret accompanied the court fromNerac; and it appears certain that she did so part of the way towards Paris ; but Victor Cayet, who was in attendance upon the young King of Navarre, implies that she remained in the south, and afterwards rejoined Catherine de Medicis.

religion, did not permit her to see with indifference, the ascendancy which Catherine de Medicis had gained over the mind of her child. The accomplishment of her purpose, indeed, was by no means easy, and she' was obliged to have recourse to a stratagem which she executed with great skill. The necessity of examining the condition of the estates of the house of Vendome, afforded her an excuse for making a journey into Picardy, in which some of these lands were situated; and, accompanied by the young Prince, she proceeded to Marie, where she spent several days in regulating her affairs, and then returned to Paris, without permitting the slightest indication of her design to appear. Shortly after, she again set out for Vendome, taking her son with her; but suffering it to be understood that it was her intention, speedily to rejoin the court of France. But suddenly turning from her course, after having visited her estates in the neighborhood of Beaumont and la Fleche, she hurried on towards Beam, taking leave of Catherine and Charles IX. by letter.

The young King of Navarre was now placed under the tuition of an old and attached friend,of the house of Navarre, named Florent Chretien, a man who combined with much erudition, a strono-taste for poetry, of which his royal mistress w^as passionately fond ; and under this wise preceptor, Henry made as much progress in the study of polite literature, as the turbulence of the times permitted.

u 2

But it was not long before he was called from a peaceful residence amongst his native mountains, to mingle in the fierce scenes of civil contention, which once more overspread the land.

It is not by any means concealed by the Roman Catholic writers of the day, that a gradual but systematic infringement of the treaty of peace was pursued by Catherine de Medicis, under the insti« gation of the house of Lorraine. Nor can it be denied, that, irritated by persecution, the Protestants themselves committed many atrocious and impolitic acts, which, in turn, aggravated the animosity of the Papists towards them. Among these was the murder of an officer of the King's guard, named Charry, an implacable enemy of the Huguenots, who, having demeaned himself with great insolence towards D'Andelot, Colonel-general of the French infantry* and therefore his superior officer, was assassinated in the open day by Monsieur ChatelUer, a gentleman attached to the house of Chatillon.t It would appear, however, that private revenge had a great share in prompting the crime, as the brother of Chatellier had fallen by the hand of Charry some time before.

Several tumults and murders also took place in the south of France, in consequence of the open violation of the edict of pacification by the Roman Catholic governors of the provinces, and it was

* Bran tome. Aubigne.

t Journal de Bruslart. That author says, that ChatelUer was guidon of the Admiral, otherwise, standard-be rer.

found impossible, by tbe more wise and prudent of either party, to prevent the rashness and intemperance of the bigots. Even Montmorenci himself, is said to have arranged a plan for a rising in the capital against the Protestants ; and the Duke de Damville, his son, pursued the same course, with even greater fury and success, in Languedoc. The attempt to excite the Parisians was suppressed by Catherine de Medicis with great promptitude and vigor, at the very moment it was taking effect, and a number of those who were commencing the work of destruction, were seized in the act, and hanged from the windows of the houses.*

A plot, less criminal perhaps, but which attracted still more attention from the importance of the persons concerned, was discovered by an extraordinary accident, shortly after the return of the Queen of Navarre to her own dominions, accompanied by the Prince her son. It is evident, that great efforts were made to suppress the facts regarding this conspiracy, but they have been detailed at length, in the Memoirs of the Duke of Nevers, apparently by the President de Calignon.t Although the

* I do not scruple to admit these charges against the Roman Catholics, as Anquetil, who shews himself in general their zealous and prejudiced advocate, does not deny the truth of the assertion.

t There may be some doubt whether the words which immediately precede this narrative in the Memoires de Nevers are those of the Duke himself, or of Calignon ; but both one and the other had full opportunity of knowing the truth, and whichever was the writer he gives his full authority to the statement.

house of Chatillon was the chief object of enmity to the ambitious family of Guise, yet the Queen of Navarre had rendered herself obnoxious to them by a calmer, but equally firm and decided, opposition to their views, both religious and political; and her increasing influence with the Protestants of the kingdom, the proximity of her son to the throne, and the rallying point which her dominions afforded to the enemies of the house of Lorraine, not less than her shrewdness, good sense and resolution, rendered Jeanne d'Albret a stumbling-block which they were anxious to remove from their path. The virulent denunciations pronounced by the Pope against the Queen of Navarre, gave the sanction of the highest authority in the Romish church, to any proceedings against her, however violent. The bigotry and ambition of Philip II., pointed him out as a fitting ally, in any iniquitous designs against a Protestant, and the assembly of several large bodies of his troops at Barcelona, destined to carry on his intended operations against the Mahommedans,afforded a favorable opportunity for engaging him in an enterprise, which he considered little less meritorious in the eyes of God than making war upon infidels. The Cardinal of Lorraine did not fail to take advantage of the occasion, and re-opened with Philip, some negotiations for the destruction of the house of Navarre, which we are informed had been commenced by the Duke of Guise shortly before his death. The blood-thirsty Montluc, the Viscount of Orthes, and several other noblemen were engaged in the conspiracy j and a

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. ^95

cunning and determined, but somewhat indiscreet agent, was found in the person of a certain Captain Dimanche, who was employed to treat secretly with the King of Spain himself, without the knowledge of his ministers. The Duke of Alva seems to have been the only Spanish nobleman in whom the conspirators placed any confidence, and the object proposed to him, and to Philip, was, to seize upon the Queen of Navarre and her family, by marching the Spanish troops quietly through the passes of the Pyrenees, and surprising the royal victims in the little capital of Beam. Montluc and the other commanders in Guienne, engaged to favor the enterprise ; and it was proposed, that Jeanne d'Albret and her children, should be led prisoners into Spain and placed at the mercy of the Inquisition.

That the Prince who could employ that horrible instrument of tyranny, for the purpose of justifying the murder of his own son, would have no hesitation in sanctioning any of its proceedings against a sovereign, part of whose dominions he unjustly retained, and whose religious principles he held in the most bigoted horror, not a doubt could be entertained ; so that we may well regard the conspiracy of the house of Guise, as likely to affect the lives of the Queen of Navarre and her familv. The hand of God, however, was against the conspira-tors. Dimanche performed his journey into Spain uninterrupted ; but Philip had some short time before moved from Madrid; and, as the messenger of

the Cardinal of Lorraine was preparing to follow the court, he was taken ill with a violent attack of fever in a small and miserable Spanish inn, without attendance or assistance of any kind. In this wretched state, he forgot the secrecy with which all his proceedings were to be conducted, and inquired of the landlord if there were any of his fellow-countrymen in Madrid, who would give him help and comfort in his sickness. A servant of the young Queen, named Vespier was soon found, who came to visit him, and, moved with compassion, had him carried to his own house, where he attended him through his long sickness, with the- utmost kindness and devotion.

Enfeebled by disease, and filled with gratitude towards his benefactor, Dimanche confided to Vespier, the motive of his journey to Spain, and even, it would appear, shewed him the despatches with which he was entrusted. It so happened, that Vespier was a native of the town of Nerac, and consequently born in the territory of the Queen of Navarre. Horrified at the tidings he had received, and at the danger of his sovereign, he determined immediately to communicate the intelligence to the young Queen of Spain, which he did through her Almoner, who, though a zealous Roman Catholic, was too wise and virtuous a man, not to feel shocked and indignant at the projection of such infamous acts under the veil of religion.

The unhappy Elizabeth was strongly affected by the tidings she heard : and she determined to frus-

trate the barbarous design which was entertained by her husband and the Cardinal of Lorraine. But, as tenderness and pity were equally unknown to the cold-hearted Prince with whom her fate was linked, the only method of effecting her purpose, which presented itself, was, to give information of the plot and its object to her own mother, and to the Queen of Navarre. She paused, however, to obtain confirmation of the tale which had been told her ; and, by means of the French ambassador St. Sulpice, she soon discovered that the messenger of the family of Guise, now restored to health, was admitted secretly to Philip at night, by the intervention of Don Francis of Toledo. The secretary of the French ambassador was consequently despatched immediately to the court of France, with intelligence of this intrigue; but he was commanded by the Queen of Spain, to send information of her danger to Jeanne d'Albret, as soon as he entered the French territory. Measures were instantly taken by the Queen of Navarre to guard against the attempts of her enemies ; and Catherine de Medicis, though she did not venture to inquire minutely into the details of the conspiracy, nor attempt to discover the names of the conspirators, employed means to prevent the plot from having its intended result.

Jeanne d'Albret complained loudly of the house of Lorraine; and it would seem, that a plan was devised for arresting Dimanche on his return to France •, but the secret having been communicated

I.' «/.

'<5

to Aubespine, the secretary of state, that minister, whom the contemporary writer does not scruple to charge with being corrupted by the gold of Spain, gave intimation of the facts to the princes of Lorraine, and the arrest of their emissary was prevented. This conspiracy, however, amongst other circumstances, tended to aggravate the animosity which existed between the two great parties in France ; and the Protestants, conceiving new hopes, from a bitter feud which manifested itself between the houses of Montmorenci and Guise, looked forward to a renewal of the war, with the vain expectation of seeing their enemies divided.

While these events were taking place, and every thing promised a speedy renewal of the civil war, the young King of Navarre, or, as he was still called. Prince of Beam, was each day making progress in his studies, strengthening his corporeal powers by robust exercise, and developing those graces of person and mind for which he was afterwards conspicuous. Several contemporary letters still exist, which give a minute description of his manners and appearance at this period ; but which shew, that while his demeanor was the most captivating, and his mind and character extraordinarily developed for ahoy of his years, he had not escaped some of the vices which were then so diligently cultivated in the court of France, and which re-mained but too apparent throughout his whole career.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. S99

As it is necessary for the true purposes of history, to record the faults and errors of great men, and to trace the progress both of evil and of good, I shall give the statements of those who were eye-witnesses of the conduct of the young Henry, as nearly as possible in their own terms.

" We have here," writes one of the magistrates of Bordeaux, in the year 1567, ^' the young Prince of Beam. One cannot help acknowledging that he is a beautiful creature. At the age of thirteen he displays all the qualities of a person of eighteen or nineteen. He is agreeable, he is civil, he is obliging. Others might say, that as yet he does not himself know what he is ; but for my part, who study him very often, I can assure you that he does know perfectly well. He demeans himself towards all the world with so easy a carriage, that people crowd round wherever he is ; and he acts so nobly in every thing, that one sees clearly he is a great Prince. He enters into conversation as a highly polished man ; he speaks always to the purpose, and when it happens that the subject is the court, it is remarked that he is very well informed, and that he never says anything which ought not to be said in the place where he is.* I shall hate the

* I have translated this last phrase word for word '* en la place ou il est,'' as the precise meaning is somewhat obscure. It might refer to his station in society, to his relative situation as to the court, or to his position at the time in the town of Bordeaux.

new religion all my life, for having carried off from us so worthy a person. Without this original sin he would be the first after the King, and in a short time we would see him at the head of his armies."

Another letter, of about the same date, gives the following account of his manners and appearance at the time. *' The Prince of Beam gains new servants every day. He insinuates himself into all hearts with inconceivable skill. If he is highly honored and esteemed by the men, the ladies do not love him less; and although his hair is inclined to red,* they do not think him the less agreeable. His face is very well formed, the nose neither too large nor too small, the eyes extremely soft, his skin brown but very smooth; and the whole animated with such uncommon vivacity, that if he does not make progress wdth the fair it will be very extraordinary."

In a third, some of his little follies and vices appear. We have not the precise date, but the letter is written from Bordeaux, probably somewhat later than the other two. " We have the pleasantest carnival in the world," says the writer, '^ the Prince of Beam has besought our ladies to mask, and give balls turn by turn. He loves play and

* This is a curious fact, for it is well known that his hair lost its red hue in after life ; and, if we may trust to contemporary-portraits, became dark before it turned grey.

good living. When money fails him, he has skill enough to find more, and in a manner quite new and obliging towards others. That is to say, he sends to those whom he believes his friends, a promise written and signed by himself, begging them to return him the note or the sum which it bears. You may judge whether there is any house where he is refused. People regard it as a great honor to have one of these billets from the Prince; and every one does it with joy, for there are two astrologers here, who declare, that either their art is false, or that this Prince will some day be one of the greatest kings of Europe."

Notwithstanding the propensity for pleasures and excesses which here developed itself, Henry still pursued his studies under his mother's eye, with great zeal and application, and we have the authority of the Memoires de Nevers for stating, it was the constant endeavor of Jeanne d'Albret, to impress upon her son's mind, that it was the greatest disgrace which could befall one born to command others, to be inferior to them in knowledge and judgment, and above all, to be obliged by ignorance, to rely upon any but themselves in the government of their kingdoms and the affairs of peace and war. Her selection of his instructors also did credit to her wisdom. " She chose," says the same writer, " men of letters ; but men who had not been spoiled by study, of a delicate wit, of clear reasoning, of irreproachable morals, and of know-

ledge of the world, such as are fit to teach Princes to love true honor and true piety."

While, under such well chosen teachers, the young Prince of Beam was advancing towards manhood, the struggles and intrigues of the court still continued, and the Queen-mother, with her usual art, strove to balance party against party and man against man. Her position was undoubtedly difficult and painful; for the throne of her son, or at least his authority, was assailed by two factions, equally ambitious, and equally fanatical ; and he himself wanted conduct and vigor sufficient to afford her any assistance, in checking the virulence of political rivalry, and the fury of religious zeal.

The leaning of Catherine towards the Roman Catholic faith can be looked upon as only very slight. Nevertheless it is possible, that predilection for the religion of her fathers, had some share in the mistake which she seems to have committed, in giving the weight of the royal authority, to that faction which was the most dangerous as well as the most powerful. The ambition of the Prince de Conde was wild, fitful, and under the domination of his vices, and though likely to produce turbulence and revolt, was but of small consideration, when compared with the calm, persevering, determined march of the house of Guise.

But, while Catherine, by caresses and dissimulation, endeavored to gain and deceive the Protestants, she suffered the views of the family of

Lorraine to prevail in her councils, and only retarded their operation for the purpose of giving them more certain effect. In a council of notables held at Moulins in 1566, an apparent reconciliation was effected, between the Admiral de Coligni and the princes of the house of Guise, and at the same time the feud between the family of Montmorenci and the Cardinal of Lorraine, was stifled more completely, though some sparks of the fire continued to shew themselves for a considerable period. But during all these proceedings, there can be no doubt that Catherine was anxiously, though secretly, endeavoring to undermine the power which had been obtained by the Calvinists ; and all the memoirs of the times, whether Catholic or Protestant, declare with one voice, that her purpose was, so to separate and enfeeble the power of the Huguenot party, as to crush it with ease at an after period. The slow progress of her policy, however, not only irritated the more bigoted of the Papist nobility, but even annoyed the young King himself; who, by nature violent, and by education brutal, endured with impatience, which could scarcely be restrained, the pretensions of the Protestants to full toleration in the exercise of their religion.

Not all the art of the Queen-mother, was sufficient to conceal from either party, the end which she proposed to herself ; and each clearly perceived that, between the contending factions in the court and the violent passions which were called into action throughout the country, some event must

soon occur, to break through the unstable peace which had been established, and to hasten the renewal of hostilities before the Queen's designs had reached maturity. Each then provided against the moment of active exertion, by combination and organization ; each had its rallying words, its signs, its places of meeting, its oaths of confederacy, and its common purse.

On the one hand, the Roman Catholics, by the advice, it would seem, of the famous Tavannes,* took advantage of the religious associations, called Brotherhoods, which had for some time existed amongst the Roman Catholics of France, and employed the semblance of superstitious devotion, to cover their combination for more warlike purposes. In every large town throughout France, one or more of these Brotherhoods was established, which on certain days made procession through the streets, with banners and crucifixes displayed, and the members of these fraternities were now linked to^e-ther by solemn vows, to devote life and property to the defence of the religion of Rome. The highest persons of the realm associated themselves to these bodies, and the inferior brethren held themselves ready to draw the sword at the first word of their superiors.

While such was the conduct of the Papists, the Huguenots, for the purpose of guarding themselves, carried on hasty and eager negotiations with the Protestants of foreign countries, maintained regular

* Belieforests.

envoys at the courts of various German Princes, and solicited the aid of the Prince of Orange, and the Reformers of the Low Countries.

In order to complicate the affairs of the kingdom still more, and to add to the intestine divisions of the country, with a view of engaging the ever superfluous energies of France, by a struggle within her own bosom, the King of Spain ceased not to urge the most violent measures upon the council of Catherine, and distributed, with a lavish hand, the gold of Spain amongst the leading Papists, and the high officers of the crown, whose continual solicitations, there is every reason to believe, were not without effect upon the Queen, and were still more powerful with her son.

That the infringement of the treaty of peace, and the measures for crushing their opponents, began upon the side of the Papists there can be no doubt ;* but, nevertheless, it must be admitted that the Protestants were far from blameless. When law and justice were scoffed at, when faith and truth were set at nought by their enemies, it was of course justifiable and reasonable in the weaker and oppressed party, to take measures for their own defence, and hold themselves in a state of constant preparation ; but the Huguenots at present, as in former instances, went beyond the due limits ofresis-tance, and promulgated doctrines equally dangerous to the state, and injurious to their own reputation.

* Pasquicr's Letters. VOL. I.

Books were published, justifying private assassination in cases where the preaching of divine truth was opposed by those in authority ; the precepts of the Saviour himself were forgotten, by those who pretended to be his purest followers; and inapplicable examples from the Old Testament, were, again and again, held up to the eyes of the bigoted and enthusiastic, as inducements to perpetrate acts condemned by Christ himself. The person of the Queen-mother even was threatened; with a view of exciting her fears ; and her enmity towards the Protestants of France was confirmed by injury and insult.

Thus went on the affairs o^ France, with rapid strides, to a renewal of the civil war ; and towards the end of the year 1566, both parties were eager to be the first to take up arms, yet anxious for a plausible pretext, before they proceeded to the open violation of their engagements.

The Protestants had lost more, we are informed by a contemporary writer,* during four years of peace, than during the preceding period of hostilities ; and, unable while in repose, to compete with art joined with authority, they were desirous of again having recourse to force, in order to recover lost ground. The Papists, conscious of the advantage they had gained, seeing the suspicion of their adversaries aroused, and fearing that the preparations in progress on the side of the Protestants, might snatch from them the predominance which they had acquired, were equally disposed to renew

* Pasquier.

the struggle; while religious zeal, on both sides, added the fiercest inducement of which the human mind is susceptible.

At length the resolution of the Queen was taken, and she determined to raise foreign forces for the purpose of striking a decisive blow, not choosing to trust entirely to the resources of the Roman Catholic party in France. It was difficult, however, to accomplish this object without producing an immediate insurrection, and the first step, adopted by herself and her counsellors, was quietly to increase the household troops, by the addition of one third to each company.* This body was altogether insufficient for the object in view 5 but an accidental circumstance, not only affbrded a plausible excuse for a more important levy, but induced the principal Protestant leaders to urge the young King and his mother to follow the very plan which the court meditated for their destruction.

Determined to suppress the Calvinistic doctrines in the Low Countries, Philip of Spain had commanded the Duke of Alva, to raise a sufficient force for that purpose and to proceed to Brussels. A thousand Spanish horse formed the nucleus of this army, which was joined in Savoy by large levies of Neapolitans and Milanese, while a considerable body of foot was collected in Franche Comte; and the line of the Duke's march was laid out along the very frontiers of France.t

The Admiral and the Prince de Conde, holding-

* Aubigne. f Meraoires de Castelnau.

X 2

intimate relations with the Protestant leaders in the Low Countries, and placed in a dangerous situation themselves, felt well founded alarm, at the prospect of so formidable a force approaching the French territory, and held themselves bound to do all that they could, to impede its progress, and lengthen its march towards the place of its destination. Blinded by these considerations, they were amongst the first, to advise that a body of six thousand Swiss should be raised for the defence of the kingdom, in case of need ; a proposal which was eagerly caught at by the court. But the imprudence of this suggestion soon became manifest to the Protestant chiefs ; and taking advantage of the rapidity with which the Duke of Alva was carrying on his levies in Piedmont, they endeavored to remedy the error they had committed, by offering to undertake the defence of the French frontiers at their own expense. Their proffered aid was treated with utter contempt, while the Swiss troops were raised without a moment's delay ; aline of conduct, which, to use the words of Castelnau, shewed the Prince de Conde, the Admiral, and their party, that " the mask was raised, and that the effect of the Catholic league against the Huguenots, was no longer to be doubted,"

The advance of tne Swiss into France taught them that no time was to be lost, and a great council of the Protestants was held at Valerie, where much discussion took place, as to the means to be adopted for meeting the peril of the moment.* The Admiral

* Aubigiie.

Strongly urged his friends to abstain from any act of violence, and, trusting to their innocence, to let the shame of recommencing the civil war fall upon the court. D'Andelot, however, opposed his brother 5 and, by shewing him the danger which they all ran, the faithlessness of their enemies, and the evident determination of the Papists to suppress the exercise of the Protestant religion by all means, just or unjust, he brought over Coligni to his opinion. It was consequently resolved that they should take arms, and a proclamation was drawn up, justifying that step on the score of imperative necessity.*' While these measures were in consideration amongst the Huguenots, the court was passing the summer at Monceaux, a country palace in Brie, of which Catherine de Medicis was particularly fond, and where she was carrying on some extensive alterations. The principal body of the Swiss was quartered at Chateau Thierry and in the neighboring villages, about four leagues from Meaux. The preparations for the great enterprise against the Protestants, were yet far from complete, and the large train of gentlemen who usually accompanied the court, were occupied with pleasures and amusements, and armed only with their swords. Of these facts the Admiral and his companions were well aware ; and the project which was undoubtedly entertained in the Catholic party of beginning the war, by seizing upon Conde and Coligni, putting the latter to death, and confining the first for life,t * Castelnau. f Davila.

probably suggested to them the plan, of surprising the whole court during the ceremonies of a chapter of the order of St. Michael, which was to be held on the twenty-eighth of September, of throwing the Cardinal of Lorraine into prison, and giving law to the land, as soon as they w^ere in possession of the persons of the King and his mother. A general rendezvous was appointed at Chatillon, and thither the Huguenots began to flock towards the beginning of the month.

Vague rumors reached the court, of large bodies of armed men traversing the country from diiferent points, of movements in various towns, and of many other signs of agitation in the Protestant party, which might well serve to indicate that some important enterprise was meditated. But so great was the confidence of the Roman Catholics in the measures which had been taken to weaken their adversaries, that they remained perfectly at ease, and unconscious of the approaching danger. In the latter end of September, however, Monsieur de Castelnau, who had been sent on a mission into the Low Countries, joined the court at Monceaux, bringing with him intelligence of all the designs of the Prince de Conde and the Admiral, which he had gained from some French Protestants on the road. The court treated his information with contempt; and he was even severely censured for giving unnecessary alarm. But messenger after messenger soon arrived at Monceaux, with tidings from several parts of the country, which so far confirmed the statement

of Castelnau, that one of his brothers was despatched to make more particular inquiries. What he saw and heard was calculated farther to increase the alarm ; but, nevertheless, the council still turned a deaf ear to all the warnings it received ; and a gentleman, who was sent to the Admiral, for the purpose of discovering his proceedings, strengthened the court in its confidence, hy declaring, that he found Coligni, *' dressed as a good housekeeper, carrying on the vintage." The chief object, indeed, of the Protestant leaders, was to conceal their design till it was on the eve of execution. Those who arrived at Chatillon were immediately sent away, after receiving their directions. Tanlay was named as the meeting place of the army; and orders were given to the Huguenot leaders throughout all France, to take arms on the same day, and to gain the greatest advantages they could in their several districts.*

The moment of action at length arrived, and in one day, fifty towns were capturedt in dififerent parts of the kingdom. The commanders in the principal strong places at which the Protestants aimed, were upon their guard, however; and against them the enterprise failed ; nor was it more successful in regard to the court. Intelligence reached Monceaux on the twenty-seventh, that a large body of Protestant horse had appeared at Rosay, but a few leagues from the residence of the Queen ; and had Conde and the Admiral marched on at once, the

* La Noue. f Memoires de Tavannes.

Sl^ THE LIFE OF HENRY IV.

King, his mother, and the greater part of the families of Montmorenci and Lorraine, must inevitably have fallen into their hands. But the day which had been appointed for the attack was the eve of St. Michael, when it was supposed that a much larger number of Roman Catholic nobles would be present; and thus a fatal delay of a few hours took place, which gave the court time to fly from Mon-ceaux to Meaux, in haste and disarray.

Castelnau, sent to reconnoitre the enemy, impeded their advance by destroying the bridges ; messengers were despatched to call the Swiss from Chateau Thierry ; and after a night spent in consternation and long deliberations, as to whether it would be better to endeavor to appease the Protestants by disbanding the foreign troops, or to remain in Meaux and run the risk of a siege, or to traverse the open country in arms in order to reach Paris ; the latter course was determined upon ; and early in the morning of the twenty-ninth, the King and the court, in the centre of the Swiss battalions, commenced their march for the capital. Ere they had made any great progress, the Prince de Conde appeared at the head of his cavalry, and some unimportant skirmishing took place. Six thousand Swiss infantry were too formidable a body for Conde to attack,*^ with only five hundred horse at his command except under very favorable circumstances ; and he contented himself with pursuing them on the road to Paris, charging from time to time, and endeavoring to take advantage of every

'^ La Noue.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 313

accident to throw them into confusion. We are assured, that had a troop of a hundred and fifty horse arquebusiers, which were expected from Picardy, arrived in time at the rendezvous, the Prince would have risked a general engagement; but although the Protestants had shewed no hesitation in taking arms at the call of their leaders, yet they had been less prompt in obeying the orders on which the success of the whole scheme depended, and the numbers which presented themselves at the genei-al place of meeting, did not amount to one half of those which had been expected. Thus the court was suffered to on ;^ a body of troops came out from Paris to escort the King, and met him at some distance; and the Swiss, fatigued with long duty, halted at Bourget, under the command of the Constable, while the monarch and his mother hastened on to the capital, rejoicing at their deliverance.

The Huguenots, however, boldly kept the field, although the prey had escaped them, hoping, in the unprepared state of Paris, to reduce the Roman Catholic party within the walls, and to make peace on advantageous terms by the strong inducement of famine.* The first act of the Prince de Conde, was to seize upon the small town of St. Denis, and two villages in the immediate vicinity of the capital, which he fortified to the best of his power, while waiting for reinforcements from the provinces. The very act spread consternation amongst the leaders of the Roman Catholic party, who could

* La Noue. Aubigu^.

not imagine that the Admiral, whom they knew to be cautious and prudent, would suffer his rasher companion to take up his position with no other force than between five and six hundred cavalry, within so short a distance of the metropolis, in which were ten thousand good troops,* unless he had some correspondence wit^iin the place itself, as well as the certainty of a vast and speedy addition to his army. Under these circumstances, the Queen had recourse once more to the old means of negotiation. Her object in this case, as in most others, was only to gain time ; but delay was as necessary to Conde and the Admira], as to the court ; for although the Prince carried on the war with extraordinary vigor and rapidity, considering the small number of his forces, seized upon the passages of the rivers, burned the mills, cut off the supplies of the capital, and ventured to skirmish at the very gates, several days passed without his receiving any considerable reinforcement; and the little body of the Huguenots, besieging the great city of Paris, was, to use the expression of La Noue, but ^*as an ant attacking an elephant."

Conferences between the leaders on both sides, were interspersed with combats all over the country round the metropolis, and each party sent off messengers, to call for succor in the extraordinary war in which they were engaged. Protestant and Catholic forces hastened up towards the scene of action from different parts of the realm ; and while Castel-

* La None.

nau was despatched, to beseech the Duke of Alva to march the troops, which he had just led into the Low Countries, to the assistance of the court,* envoys from Conde and the Admiral eagerly urged the German Princes to send a body of auxiliaries to the aid of their fellow-Protestants in France.t

In order to secure the line of advance of the German army, which he expected, Conde endeavored to gain possession of the principal towns upon the Marne and Seine; but the enterprises of the Protestants in that quarter failed at all points, except at Lagny and Montereau; and on the other hand, the negotiations of Castelnau in the Low Countries, were unsuccessful in obtaining prompt support for the court, as the Duke of Alva evaded his request, for the aid of two thousand light horse and four regiments of Spanish foot, by offering repeatedly to march himself at the head of his whole forces, which would have put the capital of France entirely at his mercy. J

In the meantime, however, the little army of the Prince de Conde, received considerable reinforcements from the provinces. An entire regiment joined him from Normandy; Montgomery, La Noue, and other celebrated commanders, hastened to his assistance ; and La Noue, despatched to Orleans with only fifteen men, introduced himself into that city, and after a brief struggle in the streets made himself master of the town. He then, with equal skill and boldness, attacked the citadel with

* Memoires de Castelnau, lib. tI. page 201. f La Noue. % Memoires de Castelnau.

only three hundred men, and after a furious assault forced the governor to surrender.

But, on the other hand, fresh troops arrived in Paris, and the army of the King, without counting the armed citizens, amounted to at least three times the number of the Protestants ;* but still, for more than a month, the Prince de Conde maintained his position at St. Denis ; and Montmorenci did not venture to attack him, till a body of two thousand cavalry from the Low Countries, under Castelnau and Count d'Aremberg, approached the flank of the Huguenot forces. To prevent them passing the river at Poissy, Conde detached D'Andelot with five hundred horse and eight hundred arquebusiers; and, seizing the opportunity, while the little army of the Huguenots was thus weakened, the Constable issued forth from the gates of the capital at the head of the royalist army, and at daybreak on the tenth of November marched to give hattle to the enemy. The Prince de Conde himself had his headquarters at this time, in the small town of St, Denis, the Admiral being at St. Ouin on the right; while

* It is impossible to ascertain exactly, what were the numbers of the Roman Catholic army. Aubigne declares, that there were at this time in Paris, eighteen thousand regular French infantry, six thousand Swiss, four thousand heavy cavalry, and an immense number of armed citizens ; and we find from Castelnau, that, besides those necessary for the defence of the town, the King had disposable, twenty pieces of artillery. It is certain, however, that under Montmorenci at the battle of St. Denis, there were only sixteen thousand foot, and two thousand heavy horse engaged, La None.

on the left was a celebrated commander of the name of Genlis, in the village of Aubervilliers.*

The plan of the Constable,—who never imagined, it would seem, that the inferior Protestant force, without artillery, without the advantage of the ground, and without any of those battalions of pikemen so for-midable to the cavalry of those days, would venture to meet him in the open field,™was to drive the Admiral and Genlis out of the villages they occupied by the fire of his artillery ; and, concluding that those two officers would retreat upon St. Denis, to cut off D'Andelot and Montgomery from the main body.

He was disappointed in his expectations, however; the Prince and the Admiral took counsel together, and it was determined to march out at once and risk a battle, notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which the Protestants labored. Intelligence, received the preceding night of the Constable's intention, had induced Conde to send off messengers to D'Andelot requiring his immediate return ; and had that officer been able to accomplish the march from Poissy in time, there can be little doubt, from the vigor and determination displayed by the Huguenots, both officers and men, that a great victory would have been gained, which would have put the capital and the court at the mercy of the Reformers. But D'Andelot did not receive the summons till the battle had actually commenced, and could not reach St. Denis before midnight. The Protestant army began its march as soon as the forces * La Noue. Castehiau.

of the Constable appeared ; the Prince de Conde commanding the centre, the Admiral the right wing, and Genlis the left. Each flank was guarded by a small body of horse-arquebusiers and foot; and the regular cavalry was ranged, according to the old chivalrous custom, in single line, their numbers being too small to afford a rear rank.*

The infantry was at first kept in reserve to support the cavalry, but the artillery of the Constable, havinof thrown the Protestant horse on the left into some disorder, Conde commanded Genlis to bring his infantry into action; and the arquebusiers on both flanks were pushed forward, firing into the enemy's squadrons, at fifty paces distance, with terrible effect. The Admiral chartjed at the same time at the head of his cavalry, and Conde, seeing the right and left wing engaged, passed his own infantry, who were actually forming in front, and attacked the main body of the Catholics, led by the Constable himself, with such fury, that the greater part of Montmorenci's division gave way, leaving their veteran commander in the heart of the melee.

Though now eighty years of age, Montmorenci fought hand to hand with the enemy, and would not yield a foot of ground. Assailed in front by one of the Protestant gentlemen, he ran him through the bodv with his sword, but at the same moment received the shot of a pistol in the loins, it is sup-

* Castelnau. La Noue blames this disposition, and implies it would have been better, under any circumstances, to form the cavalry into squadrons.

posed, from the hand of an officer of Scottish descent, named Stuart. Upon him the old hero now turned, and striking him in the mouth, with the pommel of his sword, dashed out several of his teeth ; but two more wounds, one in the face, and one in the head, exhausted the strength that yet remained, and the gallant warrior fell fainting from his horse, just as his cavalry were rallying to repulse their assailants. Being raised from the ground, and recalled to life, he looked round, exclaiming, '* There is yet daylight. Why do ye waste your time here ? Pursue the enemy, for the victory is ours."

But although what he said was true, and the Protestant force was by this time in retreat, the Catholics having rallied after the first shock, yet the royal army had suff^ered so severely, that thev did not venture to follow their adversaries, who fell back upon St. Denis, just as night appeared. Some doubt was afterwards raised, indeed, as to the question by whom the victory was gained ; for the good burgesses of Paris had fled diligently, and never returned to the field, and the loss on the part of the royalists was considerably greater than that of the Protestants. But the field of battle remained with the Roman Catholic army; and La None himself admits, with his usual straightforward frankness, that his party was defeated.

The Prince de Conde, however, seeking to diminish the glory acquired by his opponents, marched out of St. Denis on the following day, with trumpets sounding and banners displayed, crossed the scene

of the battle uninterrupted, presented himself at the gates of Paris, and finding no enemy in the field to oppose him, burned the village of la Cha-pelle, and some windmills close to the walls of the capital,* making a parade of strength and resolution, which probably would not have been suffered to pass unnoticed, but for the consternation which was spread amongst the Roman Catholic party, by the declining state of the Constable. Montmorenci died two days after the battle, more regretted by the court at his death, than trusted during his life.

The determination shewn by the Huguenot leaders, in engaging, without cannon, so superior an army well provided with artillery, and insulting the Papists in the capital, though not victorious in the battle, greatly increased their reputation, strengthened their faction, and obviated all the worst consequences of defeat. The presence of D'Andelot, and the corps which he had led to Poissy, might have enabled them still to keep possession of St. Denis and the neighboring villages for some weeks ; but various causes combined to render it expedient, that they should give up an attempt, the most favorable result of which, could be nothing more than to starve the court into a new treaty of peace, as insincere and frail as that which had preceded it. Count d'Aremberg, with the Flemish horse, afforded a reinforcement to the royal army, more numerous than that which D'Andelot brought to the Prince de Conde ; and troops of Roman Catholic nobles poured hourly into Paris from the provinces, so that the forces at * La Noue. Castelnau.

the disposal of the court soon promised to be more than Sufficient both to defend the capital, and meet the enemy in the field.

At the same time, intelligence was received at the head-quarters of the Protestants, that John Casimir, son of the Elector Palatine, was marching rapidly to join them, at the head of seven thousand reiters, and six thousand lanzknechts. The failure of the enterprise against several of the towns upon the Marne and Seine, rendered the line of his advance insecure ; and even had there been a probability of Conde being able to maintain himself, for any length of time, in the neighbourhood of Paris, it would have been advisable for him to hasten to effect his junction with the German auxiliaries, which would put at his disposal the most formidable force that the Protestants had yet brought into the field. All these considerations induced the Prince and the Admiral, to decamp from St. Denis two days after the battle, and direct their march upon Montereau, despatching couriers to Orleans and Etampes, with orders for the Protestant forces assembled in those towns, to join them as soon as possible.

No time was lost by the Queen-mother ere she made efforts both to strengthen her own power, against the party to which she had attached herself, and to embarrass the movements of the Huguenots. She refused to renew the commission of Constable after the death of Montmorenci, but she bestowed the post of Lieutenant-general on her second son,

VOL. I.

the Duke of Anjou, who, accompanied by the Duke of Nemours, and Marshal Cosse, immediately set out in pursuit of Conde, with the view of preventing his junction with his German allies. At the same time the Duke of Aumale, brother of the murdered Duke of Guise, was despatched in haste to the frontiers of Lorraine, to raise all the forces which could be mustered in Burgundy and Champagne, for the purpose of opposing the entrance of the reiters into France.*

Nor was Catherine wanting in her usual arts. In order to delay the progress of the Protestant army, and to enable her son to attack it at a disadvantage, she pursued Conde with negotiations, and twice prevailed upon him to grant a suspension of arms, each for several days. On the second occasion, the Prince weakly consented to halt and treat in the neighbourhood ofChalons,in Champagne, in an unfavorable position, where, if assailed, his defeat must have been inevitable.! The imprudence, however, of Brissac, frustrated the views of the court; for, meeting with a small body of Protestants he attacked and routed them, without regard to the existing truce.J This act warned the Prince de Conde how little he could trust to the sincerity of his enemies ; and, without farther delay, he struck his tents and marched into Lorraine, through difficult and dangerous roads, with scanty provisions, and in

* Memoires de Castelnau. f La Noue.

:|; Castelnau attributes the escape of Conde, on this occasion, rather to the tardiness than the over-activity of the CathoUc leaders.

the midst of a stormy and tempestuous season. Nevertheless, so well conducted was the whole movement, that, notwithstanding the many obstacles on the way, not a gun nor a baggage-waggon was lost, and the Protestants entered the duchy and took up a position, which rendered their junction with the German auxiliaries no longer doubtful.* Still John Casimir did not appear, and fear and consternation began to spread through the Huguenot army. Many of the principal leaders were affected by the same apprehensions as their soldiers, and remonstrances and complaints were addressed to Conde and the Admiral, drawing from the latter a reply, which La Noue has not thought unworthy to be recorded in his Commentaries. Conde treated the fears of the Protestant nobility with joyous raillery ; but when the Admiral was asked, what they must do if the reiters did not arrive, and the army of the court pursued them, he replied quietly, ** March to Bacharach," which was the place where the German troops were to as-semble: " But if they are not there," demanded some one, *'what must we do then ?" " Blow our fingers, I suppose," replied the Admiral, '< for it is very cold." During six days,t no tidings of the German reinforcements reached the head-quarters of the Prince de Conde ; but at the end of that time intelligence of their approach was received. With this gratifying information, however, came a demand for one hundred thousand crowns, wliich the Protes-* La None. f Aubigue.

Y 2

tant envoys had promised to the commanders of the reiters, upon their entrance into the kingdom of France. The amount possessed hy the Prince de Conde, in ready money, did not exceed two thousand; and yet the well known character of the German forces admitted not a doubt, that they would refuse to march, if any delay took place in making the stipulated payment. In this case of extreme necessity, recourse was had to the generosity and devo» tion of the Huguenot army. The Prince and the Admiral led the way, giving up their plate, their jewels and all the money they had brought with them; the nobles and the clergy followed, the preachers exhorted the people to contribute to the utmost of their power; the officers harangued their soldiers to the same effect; and the enthusiasm became general. Every man stripped himself of all that he could spare, even the servants and camp-followers brought in their offering, and amongst a body of men who had found great difficulty in providing themselves with sustenance, the large sum required was speedily collected.*

No sooner had the reiters joined and received their pay, than it was determined to march back into the heart of France, and once more carry on the war in the neighbourhood of the capital. Numerous obstacles presented themselves to the execution of this design, in the midst of a rigorous winter, with an army forced to live upon the people, the great body of whom were opposed to the insurgents in religious * La Noue. Aubigne.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 325

belief. The utmost care of the commissariat was taken by the Admiral; and, though obliged by the severity of the season, to quarter the troops each night upon a wide extended line, with the cavalry in remote villages upon the flanks, and the infantry gathered as closely as possible together in the centre, such was the vigilance maintained in watching, and the good organization established for the provision of supplies, that neither want nor loss took place during the long march from Lorraine to the Orleanois.*

While these movements occurred in the centre and north-eastern parts of France, the Protestants, as we have before mentioned, had risen almost to a man throughout the rest of the realm ; nor were the Roman Catholic leaders in the different provinces inactive in opposing them. The old system of cruelty was resumed on both sides ; and althouo-h the balance of success in the field was decidedly in favor of the Protestants, the struggle was equally disgraceful to both parties, and altogether disastrous in its result to France. To dwell upon the various minor operations in remote parts of the country, would only fatigue the reader, without giving him any thing but a confused notion of that which was in itself confused ; and it may be only necessary to say, that before the Prince de Conde arrived at Orleans, the city had been gallantly succored during an attack made upon it by the Catholics, and that the beautiful town of Blois was taken by Mouvans, a

* La None.

THE LIFE OF HENRY IV.

distinguished leader of the Huguenots.* A large force of Protestants was thus assembled on the banks of the Loire, during the march of Conde and the Admiral, from Pont-a-Mouson to the centre of France, and it was determined, immediately on the Prince's arrival, to undertake the siege of Chartres, which was at once commenced. Though of little importance in a military point of view, the Catholics resolved to defend that large and ancient city to the last, and an officer of the name of Lignieres threw himself into the place, and held it out against the Protestant forces with great skill and gallantr}^

In the meanwhile, the Queen-mother,—seeing the army of the enemy swelled to between twenty and thirty thousand men, a number of the principal places in the realm in the hands of the insurgents, the balance of success decidedly in their favor, the country ravaged and exhausted by the troops of all parties, and the great mass of the French people loudly murmuring at the continuance of this disastrous war, determined once more to treat for peace, and probably was sincere in so doing. At first, the Protestants imagined that her overtures were, as usual, but artifices for the purpose of gaining time, while Castelnau was despatched to Germany to hire bodies of mercenaries for the service of the court. But to convince them that, in this view of her conduct, they were mistaken, Catherine sent without delay to stop the advance of a body of five thousand reiters who had

* Aubigne. Castelnau.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 3^7

already reached Rethel; and the negotiations, which had been commenced, were hurried on rapidly by the Baron de Biron and the Lord of Malassise, on the part of the Catholics, with the Cardinal de Chatillon on the other side. Catherine indeed, neglected not to employ the power of gold upon the foreign troops in the service of the Huguenots, and met with considerable success. Daily desertions took place from the army before Chartres; and the Prince de Conde, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Admiral, gave his weight to the party desirous of peace.

A treaty was at length concluded, which assured to the Protestants the same advantages which had been granted in 1563, expressed in more definite terms, and freed from all the corrupt interpretations, by which the Roman Catholic faction had subsequently loaded the edict of that year. The court undertook to satisfy the Protestant auxiliaries, and also to send out of the kingdom without any delay all the foreign forces which had been called to the standard of the King. But it was with great difficulty that the first of these promises was fulfilled ; and an attempt made to deceive the reiters under John Casimir, and to send them out of the kino--dom unpaid, had nearly proved fatal to Castelnau himself, and produced terrible ravages and disasters in the provinces where they were quartered. A portion of the arrears was ultimately discharged, a considerable present mollified their chief, and the kingdom was at length delivered from the scourge of a large body of mutinous and licentious troops.

It would appear, that, notwithstanding vows and assurances of the most solemn kind, the Roman Catholic party did not entertain the slightest intention of keeping their engagements one moment after it became convenient to break them ;* and that the Protestants were equally far from anticipating anything like a sincere execution of the terms of the treaty, which received immediately the ludicrous name of ^ la paix boiteuse et mal assise/ on account of Biron, one of the negotiators for the crown, being lame, and the name of the other being easily rendered the subject of a bad jest. Conde and the Admiral separated after the signature of the act; and all the principal leaders of the Huguenot party retired to their estates in the country, leaving the court completely in possession of the Roman Catholics.

Several authors have blamed this step, and in some of the letters of the time we find plain indications of a design to cut off the Protestant chiefs, in detail, in various parts of France.! Many of those who were friendly to them, even amongst the Catholics, censured them for the apparent want of caution which their conduct displayed; but Le La-boureur more justly observes, that their safety was really found in this seeming act of imprudence, inasmuch, as while thus scattered through every province in the kingdom, and prepared at a moment's notice to take arms, a net could not be found large enough to envelope them all. The justness of this * See Pasquier's Letters. Le Laboureur, &c. f Pasquier.

^ S' *■ v.

■' ■.« .f. ■;■ i '* 1

observation was shewn not long after by the fatal result of a different line of conduct.

Each party, however, felt that its position was insecure, and each party began immediately to infringe the terms of the treaty ; the one actuated by the eager desire of suppressing the Protestant faith, the other, by anxiety to guard against new persecutions. The state of the country, at this time, and the causes which brought about a speedy renewal of the war, may best be displayed, by giving the words of a very impartial contemporary, who took an active part on the side of the Catholics in all that he relates, but yet does not attempt to conceal the gross infractions of every engagement committed by the court.

After saying, that to all appearance, France, having endured the scourge of civil war, might have been expected for some time to appreciate the blessings of peace. Monsieur de Castelnau goes on to observe, '* But the mutual suspicion of the Catholics and the Huguenots, joined to the ambition of the leaders, and the remembrance, on the part of the court, of the enterprise at Meaux, soon begat new troubles, as dangerous as the first and second, or more so; the occasion of which, some attributed to the disobedience of certain towns, that would not absolutely submit to the power of his majesty, amongst which, the most mutinous were, Sancerre, Montauban, and some others in Quercy, Vivarez, and Languedoc.

" Thus, likewise. La Rochelle, which refused to

receive the garrison that Jarnac, its former governor,

.. -" • "^ f'.

wished to place in it, and afterwards the Mareschal de Vielleville, by command of his Majesty ; nor would suiFer the Catholics to be restored to their goods, employments and offices, or to enjoy the edict of pacification. On the contrary, infringing there-upon, Rochelle carried on its fortifications, and equipped a great number of vessels of war, as much to the prejudice of the King's service, as the troops which several Huguenot captains led into Flanders, to the succor of the Prince of Orange against the Duke of Alva, levied and conducted without the King's authority or commission: amongst which the body that Cpqueville had raised in Normandy, (disavowed however by the Prince de Conde) were defeated at Valery by the Mareschal de Cosse, who cut off his (Coqueville's) head, as well as those of several other commanders of reo-iments."

'' On the other part, the negotiations which were carried on at the court of Rome, for the purpose of obtaining from his Holiness permission to alienate a hundred and fifty thousand crowns of the temporal revenues of the church, in order to employ the sum which would be furnished by the sale, for the extermination of the Huguenot religion ; the brotherhoods and frequent assemblies which took place in Burgundy, and (as the Huguenots insisted, at the instigation of Tavannes, an adherent of the house of Guise,) the regiments of Brissac; and the companies of men-at-arms, which poured into that province, to surprise, they said, the Prince de Conde, who had retired to his town of Noyers, and the Admiral to

Tanle ;* the maintenance of the Swiss and Italian troops, which were sent to garrison Tours, Orleans, and other principal towns ; and the great number of cavalry and infantry which were kept in the neighbourhood of Paris to guard his Majesty, — cast the Huguenots into great apprehension, "f

It must be remembered, that the court, as well as the Huguenot party, had pledged itself to send all foreign troops out of the kingdom; and Castelnau blames the Protestant leaders severely, for not having insisted upon keeping in their hands the principal towns which they had taken, till the terms of the treaty were fulfilled. The Swiss and Italian forces were retained; and the Huguenot writers accuse the court of numerous other infractions of the edict of pacification. The charge brought by the Catholics against Rochelle was greatly exaggerated ; for it is shewn, that the citizens of that place did not absolutely refuse to receive Jarnac, although they would not permit him to introduce such a body of troops, as would have put the town at his mercy -/^ and, before the arrival of Vielleville, every precaution was justified by the excesses committed by the Roman Catholics, who, excited to massacre by the Jesuits and other preachers, had reached so

* Sometimes written Tanlay, but in the Memoires de Castelnau it is spelt as above.

t I have translated these passages baldly, and placed them in the same ill-constructed periods in which they stand in the original, thinking it better to leave the sense somewhat obscure and confused, than to risk any alteration of the author's meaning.

X Le Laboureur.

atrocious a point, that we are assured, in three months, ten thousand Protestants had been slaughtered in diflPerent towns of France, amongst whom were several persons of the first distinction. The Count de Tende himself, was poignarded, with thirty of his attendants, by D'Arci, the governor of Forgues in Provence, to whom he had surrendered; and many other actions of the grossest barbarity are related by the historians of the time, which might well shew the Protestant leaders, that there was no safety but in the resumption of arms.*

Even Anquetil acknowledges, that the most abominable maxims were openly advanced by the Roman Catholics, and that it was publicly announced, no faith was to be kept with heretics, while to massacre them, was proclaimed just, pious, and tending to salvation. " The fruits of these discourses," he continues, " were either public tumults or private assassinations, for which no justice was to be obtained. Evil to those in Paris and in the provinces, who either maintained, or even had once entertained, any intimacy with the Huguenot chiefs ; poison, the poignard, the slow execution of the dungeon, destroyed them everywhere, and with them, the apprehensions of which they were the cause."t

* Aubigne, liv. V. chap. 1.

t Anquetilj who seldom suffers any statement to remain as he found it, says that the Protestants complained that two thousand of their number had been slaughtered in three months ; but that this account must have been exaggerated. The words of Aubigne, however, are distinct, and he says ten thousand. The old folio edition has the number also in figures.

No moderation was shewn at the court, no half-measures were permitted. The Chancellor, who was supposed to he favorable to the Protestants, was dismissed, and banished to his estates in the country.* Catherine gave herself up entirely to the counsels of the Cardinal of Lorraine ; and whoever ventured to urge the necessity of keeping faith and doing justice to the oppressed Calvinists, was stigmatized with the name of Politic, which soon became a word of reproach amongst the zealous Papists. As if intending to drive the leaders of the Huguenot party to despair, the Queen chose this moment for insisting that Conde and the Admiral should immediately reimburse the treasury with the sum of a hundred thousand crowns of gold, which had been paid to John Casimir and the German reiters; and, to crown all, Tavannes received orders to arrest the Prince and Coligni, who were then in consultation at Noyers.

Notwithstanding his zeal for the Roman Catholic religion, his attachment to the house of Guise, and his desire of advancing himself in the royal favor, Tavannes was by no means pleased with the odious and dangerous task thus forced upon him; and, without absolutely betraying his trust, he took means to ensure that Conde should receive intimation of the designs of the Queen. A messenger bearing letters from himself to the court, which contained the following words :—" The stag is in the toils, and the hunt is ready," was intercepted in the immediate * Journal de Bruslart.

neighbourhood of Noyers, by the attendants of the Prince ; and men were openly sent to examine the ditches of the castle. These signs were not lost upon Conde and his friends, who without delay prepared to fly from the approaching danger. They w^ere embarrassed, however, by the multitude of women, children, and attached dependants, who were with them in the castle. But, encouraged by the marks of good will which they could not but perceive in the conduct of Tavannes, they set out on the twenty-fifth of August, 1568.* The two leaders were accompanied by the Princess de Conde, who was far advanced in pregnancy, by Madame D'An-delot, by Mademoiselle de Chatillon, the daughter of Coligni, several other ladies, and even children at the breast. The number of their escort is very dififerently stated by different writers, Castelnau reducing it to between forty and fifty, and Auvigny and others making it amount to a hundred and fifty.t Whatever was the number, it is clear that the force which Conde took with him, was perfectly inadequate to defend the party of fugitives against the troops of Tavannes and the Marshal de Vielle-ville, had those two officers strictly obeyed the orders of the court. It is admitted, indeed, on all hands, that Tavannes connived at the escape of Conde ; and there is every reason to suppose that Vielle-ville pursued the same line of conduct, although

* Memoires de Castelnau. f Aubigne makes the number a hundred and sixty.

the fact is not acknowledged in the memoirs of that nobleman.

Before setting out from Noyers, the two chiefs composed a manifesto in justification of their conduct, narrating the long series of crimes, the murders, the massacres, and the infractions of the treaty of peace which had been committed by the Roman Catholic party since the commencement of the year; attributing the whole to the instigations of the Cardinal of Lorraine and his family, and declaring that, against him and the house of Guise, should henceforth be directed all the efforts of the Protestants. The document was despatched to the court by the secretary of the Prince, who was immediately arrested and cast into prison ; while the fugitives, in the midst of difficulty, danger, and fatigues, made their way with extraordinary rapidity to Rochelle, and there raised the standard of revolt.

At the same time the Cardinal deChatillon effected his escape into England, to negotiate with Elizabeth for assistance in the war which the Protestants w^ere driven to resume. D'Andelot, La Noue, and other distinguished Huguenots, hastened to join the Prince and the Admiral; and letters were written to the leaders of the party, in the different provinces of France, containing directions to raise troops, and march towards Rochelle with all speed. Numbers flocked in every day ; and the steps taken by the court, probably at the suggestion of the Cardinal of Lorraine, were calculated alone to give the vigor

of despair to the oppressed Calvinists. No sooner was the arrival of Conde at Rochelle known, than the exercise of the Protestant religion was prohibited, under the most severe penalties, and a grand religious procession took place on the occasion as if this act of intolerance was a subject of general rejoicing.* A keen inquiry was likewise instituted, into the opinions of all the officers of the court, and the members of the parliament. But no powerful means were employed to crush the insurrection in the bud,—no army hastened to attack Conde in Rochelle, or to impede the progress which the Protestants were already making in Saintonge and An-goumois. The mind of the Queen-mother, artful, politic, and dexterous in negotiation, was unfit for strong and decisive action ; and the qualities of the Cardinal of Lorraine were not those which might have rendered him competent to the direction of great military enterprises. Thus, though he persuaded Catherine to abandon the line of conduct best suited to her genius, he only prompted her to violent designs and rash acts, without guiding her to follow them up by resolute and vigorous measures. In the meantime, the Protestants, without hope of moderation or justice on the part of their enemies, felt the necessity of the greatest exertion, activity, and determination. No one thought himself any longer secure j the course adopted by the court rendered the only chance of safety, the taking of arms j and such was the indignation aroused, and the * Journal de Bruslart.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 337

resolution displayed, that scarcely was it announced in Provence and Languedoc, that Conde was assembling an army at Kochelle, before the Lord of Acier commenced his march to join the Prince with a force of eighteen thousand men.* Nearly at the same period, a still more important addition was made to the Protestant party at Piochelle, by the arrival of the Queen of Navarre and her son, with four thousand men, raised in Beam and the neighbouring districts.! Although the force of Acier was much more considerable in point of numbers, and far better armed than the small body which accompanied Jeanne d'Albret, yet her name was worth another army to the Huguenot leaders ; and the complete union amongst the Protestant Princes, which her junction with Conde displayed, tended more to consolidate the party, to intimidate their enemies, to give confidence to their friends, and to obtain the cordial co-operation of foreign powers, than any event which had taken place during the whole course of the civil wars.

On her arrival, the Queen of Navarre solemnly dedicated her son to the defence of the Protestant faith, and published a declaration announcino- the causes which compelled her, contrary to her wishes, to take arms for her own security, and for general

* La Noue. Castelnau reckons the number of men under Acier, after the defeat of Mouvans, at no more than four thousand men. But the statement of La Noue may be fully relied upon. -,. Aubigne.

liberty of conscience. The young Prince was placed under the especial charge of the Prince de Conde and the Admiral, who undertook to instruct him in that art in which he afterwards so greatly distinguished himself through the long course of a troublous military life.

Hostilities were immediately commenced; and, in a very short time, an immense number of towns were taken by the Protestants ; against whom the Duke de Montpensier, who commanded in that part of the country, could bring no sufficient force. That Prince, however, exerted himself vigorously, and skilfully, to prevent the junction of various bodies of Huguenot troops with the army of the Prince de Conde ; and two regiments having detached themselves too far from the great reinforcement led by Acier, were cut oflP, and totally routed; two celebrated leaders, Mouvans and Pierre Gourdes, being killed upon the field. The loss was, nevertheless, insignificant, compared with the advantages gained every day by the army of the Princes, and with the additions which their forces received from all parts of the kingdom. Nor was the Queen of England slow in sending them supplies. In the course of the autumn, six pieces of artillery, a quantity of ammunition, and a considerable sum of money reached Rochelle from Great Britain;* and more important aid was promised, both by Elizabeth and by the German Princes, to whom applications for

* Castelnau.

assistance had been immediately directed, upon the renewal of the war.

At length the court threw off its inactivity ; and the Duke of Anjou, for whom an army had been slowly preparing in the Orleanois, began his march to join the Duke of Montpensier, who was by this time retreating rapidly before the superior force of the Huguenots, having found it impossible to induce the different Roman Catholic leaders who were scattered over Guienne and Poitou, to obey his orders, or bring him reinforcements.* The troops which were now at the disposal of the Duke of Anjou, amounted to twelve thousand French infantry, four thousand cavalry, and a large body of Swiss auxiliaries ; the whole estimated at twenty-four thousand men, together with a strong train of artillery. Advancing by rapid marches he reached Chatellerault on Friday, the twelfth of November, where he was joined by the Catholic forces commanded by Montpensier.

The army of the court was now superior to that of Conde both in numbers and equipment; but the Protestant leaders shewed no inclination to avoid a battle, trusting to the goodness of their cause, and the enthusiasm of their troops. They followed Montpensier so closely on his march to meet the Duke of Anjou, that they continually slept where he had passed the previous night; and even after the junction of the two bodies of royalists, they pressed

* Memoires de Montpensier. z 2

SO hard upon the enemy, that the baggage of the Duke of Guise and of Brissac fell into their hands. Shortly after they seized upon a village, to which the Roman Catholic forces were directing their march, and compelled them to return into Lusignan.* But it often happens that the presence of a personage of great importance, though it may inspirit the soldiers of an army under his command, brings doubt and hesitation into the councils of the leaders, unless he have himself sufficient experience and decision to judge and act without depending upon the opinion of others. Such would seem to have been the case in the army of the Duke of Anjou, for certainly it has seldom occurred that more opportunities have been lost, of fighting an inferior enemy to advantage, than in the campaign of which I now speak. Near a month was spent in fruitless marches and countermarches; and even after the arrival of the Duke de Joyeuse, with considerable reinforcements, though Anjou advanced towards Loudun, he suffered

* The Duke of Anjou on this occasion lost an admirable opportunity of defeating the Admiral, who had advanced, to take possession of the village, to a considerable distance from the Prince de Conde, and found himself suddenly in presence of a superior enemy. Coligni, however, concealed his weakness, by covering the top of a hill by his troops, with a valley in his rear. Martigues, who commanded the Koman Catholic horse, apparently imagined that this valley contained the array of the Prince de Conde; and he was confirmed in the opinion that a large force was present, by seeing a number of men in a village behind. These he took to be arquebusiers, but they were in fact merely servants and camp followers.—See La Noue, page 933.

Conde to seize upon that town before him, and thouo-h the enemy presented themselves in order of battle, he did not take advantage of his superiority to risk a general engagement.

It has been asserted, that had the counsels of a boy been of any weight with the Protestant leaders, a great victory might have been obtained by the Huguenots at Loudun ; for the Prince of Beam expressed a strong opinion, that from some cause the army of the court was weaker than it seemed. '* Otherwise," he said, '' the Duke of Anjou would attack us." He judged, in consequence, that the policy of the Huguenot leaders was to force a battle upon the enemy,* who, it must be remarked, were little favored by position. It is probable, however, that a hollow way which lay between the two armies, and the severe frost which rendered the ground so slippery that neither horses nor men could keep their feet,t were the real causes of both parties avoiding an engagement. The Catholics and Protestants went into quarters, within a short distance of each other; and the extreme rigor of the season rendering farther movements in the field very hazardous, all operations were suspended for about a month ; during w^hich time, Conde, Coligni, and the young Prince of Beam, proceeded to Niort, and, in conjunction with the Queen of Navarre, labored hard to recruit their forces, and to obtain money for

* Perefixe. Cayet. t Vie du Due cle Montpensier. Aubigiie.

carrying on the war.* Elizabeth was strongly pressed to give more efficient aid, and we find, in a letter from Sir Henry Norris to Cecil, that this was judged a convenient moment to renew the applications of the English court for the restoration of Calais; less, indeed, with a hope of gaining such a concession, than with the design of embarrassing Catherine in her proceedings against the Huguenots. From the same source, we discover, that notwithstanding the powerful army which had been raised to put down the insurrection, the court of France was in a situation of great difficulty and consternation. Important assistance had been promised by Spain, but great delays had taken place, and doubts were now entertained as to the execution of Philip's engagements. But little aid was to be expected from Germany ; and the young King was taken ill in the beginning of the winter, and for some days was unable to quit his bed. At the same time the Protestants continued arming throughout the country ; the Duke of Deux Ponts was levying a large force to give them support, which was magnified by rumor into an army of twelve thousand horse and twenty-five thousand foot ;t and a report which was current at one period, that the Cardinal of Lorraine had been shot in the streets of Rheims, was not altogether without foundation, though the principal fact was false. An arquebuse was dis-

* Aubigne.

t See correspondence of the reign of Elizabeth \ letters from Norris to Cecil, and Leicester to Randolph.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 343

charged into his carriage as he was going through the streets of that city ; but the assassin missed his aim, and the bullet took effect upon an Italian attendant who was with the Cardinal, killing him on the spot. Indeed such crimes were now common on both parts, and the history of the third civil war is stained with enormities of the most horrible and revolting character. The great weight of guilt, it is true, was upon the side of the Papists ; and the tales which are told by their own writers, of the dark and infamous deeds they committed,—of the butcheries in cold blood perpetrated by Montluc, Montpensier, and others, the violation of all faith, the disregard of every thing like justice, and the acts in which lust and murder went hand in hand,—present a terrible picture, and also an awful example of the state of degradation to which the human mind may be reduced by the influence of a religion of persecution and superstition. We would willingly turn our eyes from such scenes, did the annals of the times not repeat them so frequently, that they must be recorded, however painful may be the task.*

Early in the spring, the two armies once more took the field ; and the force of the Duke of Anjou, now strengthened by a considerable body of reiters, marched to attack the Huguenots, whose numbers had been greatly diminished by the severity of the

* The reader who wishes to enter into further investigation of the atrocities committed by the Roman Catholic leaders, has only to look into Brantome, Castelnau, and Le Laboiireur; all papistical writers.

season, and by the necessity of supplying the different towns taken, with sufficient garrisons. Conde and the Admiral, finding themselves weakened, and yet unwilling to retreat into the strong places behind them, determined to defend the line of the Charente, and took up a position near Cognac. The Dukes of Anjou and Montpensier then advanced as far as Chateauneuf, with the intention of bringing them to battle ; but the passage of the river was a difficulty which required some time to surmount, for the Huguenot army was in force on the other side, in the neighbourhood of the small town of Jarnac, and but one bridge e;iisted over the Charente, which was of course insufficient for the object the Catholics had in view. The Protestant troops also, before the enemy reached the river, took the precaution of breaking down the bridge in two places ;* and had the governor of Chateauneuf made a vigorous resistance, the scheme of the Duke of Anjou must have failed entirely. That place, however, was surrendered without striking a blow; and the Roman Catholic officers proceeded to construct a bridge of boats, and to prepare materials for filling up the gaps which had been effected in the old bridge.

Their intentions were now evident; and although the Duke of Anjou endeavored to conceal them by a demonstration upon Cognac,f the Admiral was not to be deceived. Leaving Jarnac to the Prince de Conde, as soon as he heard of the fall of Chateauneuf, Coligni marched with the advanced guard to Bassac, * LaNoue. "f Castelnau. Aiibigne,

in order to reconnoitre the forces of the enemy. A slight skirmish took place between his Protestants and a party of the Catholics who had passed the river ; and the latter were forced to retreat in haste. The Admiral then, having made up his mind to dispute the passage of the Charente at that place, left two regiments of infantry and eight hundred horse, under Montgomery, Soubise and La Loue, to defend the bridge, and retired for the night, with the rest of the advanced guard, to Bassac. The Prince de Conde remained in Jarnac, at the distance of a league from the quarters of Coligni, while the light cavalry of the Admiral's division was posted at Triac, some miles from either of them. This arrangement was undoubtedly imprudent; but the perfect confidence which Coligni placed in the troops that he had left to guard the bridge, induced him to believe, he should receive intelligence of the first movements of the enemy, and be enabled himself to support the body thrown forward, before the Roman Catholics could make any impression upon it, while his own corps in turn would be supported by the forces of the Prince from Jarnac.

The obedience of the commanders left on the banks of the Charente was not such as the importance of the occasion required. Finding no shelter for themselves and their men, and scarcely any forage for the horses, they quitted the position, which they had been ordered by the Admiral to maintain ; and, merely placing a party of fifty light horse to watch the passage during the night, about

half a mile from the bridge^ they proceeded to seek other quarters and better accommodation.*

This act of disobedience was fatal to the Huguenot army. By the activity of Biron and Ta-vannes, the old bridge was repaired, in an incredibly short space of time, the bridge of boats was completed, and before daylight, the army of the Duke of Anjou began to pass the river; the cavalry and artillery filing over the old bridge, and the Swiss and French infantry over the bridge of boats. The whole operation was conducted by the Baron de Biron, mareschal-de-camp to the Duke of Anjou, with the utmost skill, care, and secrecy. No noise was made, no disorder took place ; and the small guard of Protestants was not aware of any movement of the enemy's forces till the sun rose, and they perceived two-thirds of the royalist army in the meadows beside them, headed by a large body of men at arms, and the great blue standard of the Duke of Anjou.

The battle now began by a charge upon the Protestant light horse made by Martigues, who drove the handful before him, over a little rivulet. The alarm, however, was now given ; troop after troop of the Huguenots hurried up ; and the Admiral himself hastened towards the field. His object, was not to engage the enemy, who had already efi^ected their purpose of passing the river, but to withdraw his forces in safety from the skirmish in

* La Noue.

which they were entangled, and to retreat slowly and in good order, with the hope that the large reinforcements, which were daily expected, would soon enable him and Conde to change a defensive into an offensive campaign.

The officers of the Duke of Anjou, however, pressed the Protestant troops so severely; and Montgomery, Acier, and Pluviaut, who were occupied in defending the hill above the Charente, and the neighbouring village, were so tardy in obeying the orders to retire, which they received, that nearly three hours were lost, during which time the whole rear-guard of the enemy passed the river; and the Admiral found that it was absolutely necessary to fight. Messengers were immediately sent to recall the Prince de Conde ; who, according to the determination formed in the early part of the day, was already in retreat. In the meantime, a severe combat took place in the village of Triac, which was taken and retaken more than once; D'Andelot, one of the most impetuous, though one of the most skilful officers of the Protestant force, leading the charge in person against Martigues, one of the boldest and most enterprising of the Catholic party. The old days of chivalry seemed revived ; generals and men fought hand to hand, and D'Andelot, in the very first shock, tore up the visor of his opponent, with his bridle hand, while he shot him through the head with his right. Coligni, at the head of a larger body, advanced to the support of his brother ; but the Count de Brissac, followed by twelve hundred arqucbu-

THE LIFE OF HENRY IV.

siers, forced the Admiral himself to retreat, and established himself in the village, which he barricaded. Fresh messengers were then despatched to hurry the advance of the main body of the Protestants ; but Aubigne remarks that this main body only consisted of seven companies of men at arms, all the rest having been qua^rtered at a distance to the left of the army, and knowing nothing of what was taking place.

Conde was not long, however, in obeying the call of his companions in arms, and advanced rapidly from the side of Jarnac, at the head of eight hundred horse. Sending on three of his principal officers with a small force towards Triac, he followed at full speed with his heavy cavalry. The party who preceded him, though but a handful in comparison with the multitude before them, without the slightest hesitation charged the advanced guard of the Duke of Montpensier, leaving on the left a body of three hundred of the enemy's horse, which immediately took them in flank. But at that moment, Conde appeared in the field, with his banner, bearing the words, " Danger is sweet for Christ and my country."

Just as he was taking his casque, however, he received a kick on the leg, from the horse of La Rochefoucault, by which it was broken. So terrible was the blow, that the bone protruded through his boot; but, pointing to his standard, he exclaimed, '* Behold, ye true nobility of France, the moment which we have so much desired. Forward, to finish what our first charges have begun, and remember

the state in which Louis of Bourbon enters the fio-ht for Christ and his country."*

With these words, he gave the order to charge, and at the head of his men, poured, to use the w^ords of one who saw him, like thunder into the ranks of the enemy.t For a moment ail gave way before him. The young Duke of Guise, and a company of men at arms with a large body of light horse, as well as a number of horse arquebusiers, were thrown into confusion, and driven back. The men at arms of Mont-salis, and the regiment of the Duke of Nevers, were overthrown in an instant; and the regiments of Cha-vigny and Martigues completely routed, and forced in disarray upon those of the Duke of Montpensier, the Prince Dauphin, and two regiments of reiters.

Montpensier, however, his son, and the German cavalry, resisted the shock; and the main body, under the Duke of Anjou and the experienced officers who had been placed about his person, came up at full speed, and entirely surrounded the small force of Conde. Each man amongst the Protestants, fought as long as he was able, and twenty men at arms cut their way through, carrying with them the standard of the Prince. But Conde himself was destined to see no more fields. Wounded in the arm, and with his leg broken, his horse was at length killed, and he fell to the ground. His men still fought round him; at the head of whom appeared an old Protestant, named La Vergne, who, accompanied by twenty-five of his nephews, of whom fifteen were killed upon * Aubigne. f Vie de Montpensier.

the spot and the rest taken prisoner, maintained the ground for some time^ with about two hundred and fifty other gentlemen, though attacked on all sides by more than five thousand men. The whole of the little force of the Huguenots, in that part of the field, must inevitably have been put to the sword, had not Pluviaut come up with his arquebusiers, and under the fire which they kept up, enabled some to escape.* Unable either to fight or fly, Conde at length surrendered to a gentleman of the name of Argence. But shortly after, Montesquieu, captain of the guards to the Duke of Anjou, came up, and asking the name of Argence's prisoner, learned that it was the Prince de Conde; upon which, exclaiming, ** Kill him, kill him," he put a pistol to his head and slew him on the spot.

'' He took care to do so," says Brantome, ** for it had been strongly recommended to several of the favorites of the Duke of Anjou, whom I know, on account of the hatred which he (the Duke) bore towards him, ever after the dav I have mentioned."

The corpse was left where it fell, and the troops of the court pursued their victory, which was now complete ; but Pluviaut and the Admiral retired with a firm face, gathering together the troops which had been scattered over the country in their retreat. Pluviaut, with his small body of arquebusiers, kept the whole Roman Catholic cavalry at bay, marching slowly and calmly towards Jarnac, where he fortunately met with the corps of Acier, consisting of

* Aubigne.

six thousand more arquebusiers ; and then passing the river, he secured his rear by breaking down the bridge. He afterwards threw himself into Cognac, where he maintained his position some time, while the Admiral retired upon Sainctes ; the Protestant army having suffered very much less in the battle than might have been expected from the circumstances under which it began.

Of course, the number of killed and wounded is differently recorded by the Protestant and Roman Catholic writers. On the one side, Aubigne computes the loss at a hundred and forty gentlemen killed upon the field ; and on the other, Coustureau makes it amount to eight hundred. But it is evident that Aubigne has under-stated the consequences of this disastrous battle.

The corpse of the Prince de Conde was sought by the Duke of Anjou's orders, not from any movement of compassion, but merely to ascertain the fact of his death, which was at first doubted. " We had not gone far," says one of those who accompanied the Duke,* ** when we perceived a great number of dead piled up in a heap, which made us judge that this was the spot where was the body of the Prince. In fact, we found it there, cast over an ass ; and the Baron de Magnac having caused the beast to stop, took the corpse by the hair to lift up the face, which was turned towards the ground, and asked me if I recognized him ; but on account of his having lost one eye, and being very much disfigured, I could

* Vie de Montpensier.

only reply that it was certainly his height and his complexion, but further I could not say."

The face of the unfortunate Prince was afterwards washed; and all doubts were then at an end; but nevertheless the body was afterwards indecently exposed upon a stone bench, in the gallery of the castle of Jarnac, where the Duke of Anjou took up his lodging for the night. There, too, the principal prisoners were brought before him; and the scene of butchery in cold blood, which usually followed an engagement during the third civil war, commenced, at the very door of the Prince's chamber. Stuart, who is supposed to have killed the Constable de Montmorenci, w^as stabbed by the friends of that great general, after a short conversation with the Duke. Chatelier was also killed; and La None himself, having been brought before the Duke of Mont-pensier, was told thathis fate was sealed, and that he must prepare for death, but was afterwards spared at the intercession of Martigues.

No doubt can be entertained that great faults were committed by the Protestants in all the arrangements which preceded the battle of Jarnac. The different corps were so scattered, that they could not support each other; and even had the troops, placed to defend the passage of the river, done their duty, still much loss must have been sustained and much danger incurred, before Conde and Acier could arrive to the assistance of the Admiral. The error was remarked at the time by the young Prince of Beam, who observed that it was folly to think of fighting an

united army, making an attack at one spot with forces so divided. "I said, long ago," he exclaimed, " that we were amusing ourselves too much with seeing plays at Niort, instead of gathering together our troops, as the enemy were concentrating theirs." La Noue points out the same mistake^ and dismisses it with a few emphatic words : " Farther," he says, " it is to be remarked, that when armies have scattered quarters, they fall into perils, which the skill of the best chiefs cannot obviate."* Nevertheless, although a fault was decidedly committed by the Protestant generals, and was moreover judiciously taken advantage of by the Roman Catholic commanders, though Conde was killed, and a number of the best officers either fell in the field, or became prisoners in the hands of the enemy, the result was by no means so disastrous as might have been anticipated ; and the rejoicings at the French court soon came to an end. Even the loss of Conde proved, perhaps, rather beneficial to the Huguenot army than the contrary; for its operations were thenceforward conducted upon one regular plan, and the genius of the Admiral was enabled to display itself fully i„ its own peculiar line. Retreating upon Sainctes while Pluviaut remained at Cognac, and taking advantage of the rivers, all the passages of which he caused to be carefully guarded, Coligni placed his forces in security; and, as AubignJ

* La Noue, page 963.

VOL. I. ^

2 A

expresses it, '«saved the honor of the campaign,"* by keeping the field in the face of a victorious enemy. In the meantime, the Duke of Anjou sent a herald to summon Cognac ; and, receiving a haughty reply from Pluviaut, he marched to attack that town at the head of his army. He found it, however, defended by a body of twelve thousand foot, who had taken up a position in the park. On the approach of the Duke and his troops, Pluviaut, instead of waiting within the walls for the assault, caused some breaches, which already existed, to be enlarged, and threw out parties of a thousand at a time to skirmish with the enemy. The reception thus given to the Catholic forces was so fierce and determined, that, after the loss of two standards, the Duke of Anjou took advantage of the coming on of night to retire from Cognac, and directed his steps towards the strong town of Angouleme, which was then garrisoned by a part of the Huguenot army.

His hopes of surprising that place, in the consternation which he imagined the defeat of Jarnac would occasion amongst the Huguenots, were totally disappointed,! though the small town of Montaigu surrendered to the Catholic troops who were besieging it, upon the first intelligence of that battle. The fortress of Mucidan was also taken, but the siege of that place cost the life of Brissac, one of the best, but most sanguinary of the Duke's ofiicers.J

* Aubigne, liv. 5, cap. 9. t Aubigne.

% Coustureau.

The army of the court then paused inactive at Blanc, in Berri; although events, which I am about to detail, rendered it highly expedient that no means should be left untried to prevent the junction of the Protestant forces with a large body of auxiliaries, which were marching to their support from the banks' of the Rhine. It is to be remarked, however, that the troops of the Duke of Anjou had suffered so severely from sickness and desertion, that the in-fantry had been reduced to one half, and the cavalry to one third, while the soldiers who remained were mutinous and discontented on account of their pay, which was several months in arrear.*

While the enemy was thus inactive, the greatest energy and determination were displayed in the Protestant camp ; and the courage and confidence of the soldiery was raised to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by the conduct of the Queen of Navarre and her son. After measures had been taken by the i\dmiral for remedying the disaster at Jarnac, securing the quarters of his army, and strengthening the towns which had been garrisoned by the Huguenots, his head-quarters were fixed for a short time at Tonnay Charente ;t and the Queen of Na-varre, accompanied by the Prince of Beam, and the young Prince de Conde, appeared before the forces assembled for review, and addressed them in

* Castelnau. t A small to^yn, about eight leagues from Sainctes, on the road to Rochellc.

^ A Q

an animated harangue, taking an oath in their presence never to abandon the cause, and exacting from them the same engagement. She spoke at length of the loss of the Prince de Conde, and while she highly lauded his military virtues, and deplored his death, she pointed out that the troops had no occasion to be discouraged by that sad event, when they had so many commanders still left perfectly capable of supplying his place. She then presented to the army the Prince, her son, first leading him to the cavalry, and then to the infantry, solemnly dedicated him to the defence of the Reformed religion, declared him thenceforward the chief of the Protestant party, and expressed her conviction that he would soon display such qualities as would support it against the efforts of all those who had sworn its destruction. In the meantime, she said, they had an excellent general in the great Coligni; who, by his prudence, his valor, and his experience, had already caused himself to be looked upon as one of the greatest captains in Europe.

The assembled forces received th^ir young chief with enthusiastic cries of exultation, all hearts feel-ing moved and elevated by the powerful eloquence of'the extraordinary woman who. addressed them ;* * Aubigne. Auvigny. As usual, Anquetil misstates the whole of this proceeding, representing the presentation of the Prince of Beam to the army, as taking place at Cognac, immediately after the battle of Jarnac, and before the retreat of the Admiral upon Sainctes. Had he looked accurately at the historians of the time, he would have found, first, that the Admiral himself

and Henry having pledged himself in the most solemn manner to defend the Protestant religion, and maintain the common cause till full liberty of conscience was obtained, measures were taken for carrying on the war with vigor and profiting by the errors and inactivity of the enemy. To confirm the chiefs in their resolution, Jeanne d'Albret ordered a number of gold chains to be manufactured, from each of which was suspended a medal, bearing on one side her own name, with that of the Prince of Beam, and on the other, the words, " Certain peace, complete victory, or honorable death." Many of these were distributed to the principal Protestant leaders, some being reserved for the commanders of the auxiliary force, which was by this time hastening to the assistance of the French Protestants, from the banks of the Rhine.

One of the most extraordinary marches recorded in history, is that which was undertaken by the army just mentioned, under the command of William Wolfang of Bavaria, Duke of Deux Fonts, or Zweibrucken. On being driven to re-commence the war, Conde, Coligni, and their companions, had applied eagerly to all the neighbouring princes favorable to their views, for aid in resisting the tvrannv to

did not retreat upon Cognac at all, that place having been defended by Pluviaut ; and secondly, that the Queen of Navarre did not join the army till after the retreat of the Duke of Anjoii; and thirdly, that this famous review took place at Tonnay Charente, and not at Cognac.

which they were subjected; and the Prince of Orange was one of the first to take the field in their cause. His plans, however, had been frustrated, and a great part of his levies dispersed, before the battle of Jarnac, although a number of Protestant gentlemen, with two cornets of horse, and two thousand infantry, under the command of Genlis, had been despatched to his assistance.

With the French Huguenots, and a small body of Germans and Walloons, the Prince then hastened to join the Duke of Deux Ponts, who was assembling troops on the left bank of the Rhine; and undismayed by the prospect of having to traverse the whole of France, from Saverne to Sainctonge, through the midst of a hostile country defended by two considerable armies commanded by experienced officers, the Duke commenced his march as soon as the severity of the season would permit. On the part of the court, immense effbrts were made to cut off* the force under his command, which consisted of from five thousand to seven thousand five hundred reiters, and from four thousand to six thousand lanzknechts, with about eight hundred French cavalry, and seven hundred infantry of the same nation; his artillery amounting only to ten pieces of different sizes.*

The Duke of Aumale, stationed upon the frontier, was ordered to oppose the entrance of the

* I give the numbers both as they are stated by Castelnau and Aubigne. But it is to be remarked, that the Roman Catholic writer makes the amount less than the Protestant.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 359

Germans into France at all risks, and to the army under his orders was speedily added another still more numerous, led by the Duke of Nemours.* To these were afterwards joined a force of two thousand foot, and two thousand five hundred horse, sent by the Duke of Alva to the assistance of the French court.f But a quarrel had taken place between the two French commanders; and instead of uniting for the purpose of opposing the Duke of Deux Fonts, Aumale and Nemours conducted all their operations with cold jealousy of each other; and the German forces advanced with a firm face into the heart of France, continually offering battle to the enemy's army, which, during seventeen days, marched side by side with their adversaries, without venturing to engage them. The numerous rivers which intersect that part of the country, were passed by the Duke of Deux Fonts with very little difficulty, till he reached the banks of the Loire, where, finding that the town of La Charite was but poorly garrisoned, he determined to besiege that important place ; and having captured it after a slight resistance, he pursued his march without any further obstacle, although the army of the Duke of Anjou, sufficiently strong to give him battle, lay inactive between himself and the Huguenot camp. The indolence displayed by the Catholics upon this occasion is totally unaccounted for, and is the more extraordinary, as we find from undoubted authority, that the Duke of * La None. -f Castelnau.

Montpensier urged his cousin of Aiijou in the strongest manner to oppose the junction of the German auxiliaries with the force under Coligni, and to o'ffer battle to the Duke of Deux Fonts. He even so far took the responsibility upon himself, as to give this counsel under his hand. But his opinion was overruled, and the army of the court seemed to slumber till it was joined by the Dukes of Nemours and Aumale.*

By that time it was no longer possible to prevent the reiters and lanzknechts, who had effected so marvellous a march through France, from uniting with the French Huguenots ; for the Duke of Deux Fonts had already reached the banks of the Vienne, which he passed at the ford of Verdamont, after a sharp skirmish with a considerable body of Roman Catholics.f He then advanced to the small town of Cars, where he halted, in the hope of thro wing-off a quartan fever, by which he had been afflicted during the whole of his course. The means he took, indeed, to free himself from this malady, were not such as were likely to produce that effect; and having drunk to excess, immediately after the fatigues of his march, he died on the 11th of June,:}:

* Coustureau. f Aubigne.

J Le Laboureur. Aubigne, who places his death somewhat earlier, mentions the circumstance of his having aggravated the disease under which he suffered by'excess in drinking, otherwise I might have rejected the tale as one of the Roman Catholic libels of the day, which were many.

1569. The glory he had acquired by the enterprise which he had accomplished, rendered his death a serious disadvantage to the Protestant party ; but a still more severe loss had preceded that of the Duke of Deux Fonts by a few days.

D'Andelot, who had long been suffering, as we have before shewn, from intermittent fever, had been despatched shortly after the battle of Jarnac to repair some disasters which the Protestants had sustained in Poitou. Increasing illness, however, compelled him to abandon the attempt; and he retired to Sainctes, where, the disease having changed its character, he expired on the twenty-seventh of May, at the age of forty-eight, leaving a glorious name behind him, little less honored by the Papists than by the Huguenots. The Protestant party attributed his death to poison; but though the basest means were frequently employed at that time to effect the removal of a powerful adversary, the fact of his long previous illness, and the slow progress of the disease, which terminated his career, do not permit us to give any weight to a mere unsupported assertion.

The Duke of Deux Ponts was succeeded in com-mand by the Count de Mansfeldt, and D'Andelot, by the famous x4cier ; and, on the other hand, the army of the court having been joined by the whole forces of the Catholic party in France, together with the Spanish and German auxiliaries, and a considerable body of Italian horse and foot sent by the Pope, took the field, and shewed some signs of activity.* * Aubigne, Coustureau, Castelnau.

In the meanwhile, the Admiral, in the name of the Protestant party, addressed a memorial to the King, reciting the just causes of complaint which had induced the Protestants to take arms, beseeching him to grant his subjects entire liberty of conscience, and decla rin that if the confession of faith, promulgated by the Reformed churches of France, could be shewn to be in any way repugnant to scripture, they were ready to yield to those who would teach them better. The King merely replied, that he would give ear to nothing till the Huguenots had returned to their duty;'^ and the armies proceeded to manoeuvre for some days so close to each other, that a battle was expected hourly on both parts.

The Queen-mother, about this time, visited the head-quarters of the Prince her son, hoping, it would seem, by her presence and exhortations, to inspire the same degree of enthusiasm and zeal in the Roman Catholic soldiery, which had been produced amongst the Protestants, by the eloquence and .devotion of the Queen of Navarre. In this, however, she was disappointed; and although the Cardinal of Lorraine, whom she had brought with her, —less with a view of benefiting by his counsels than of removing him from the neighbourhood of the young King, into whose mind he was basely endeavoring to instil a jealous hatred of the Duke of Anjou,t—eagerly urged the generals of the court to risk a decisive engagement; his advice was treated with contempt, by those who knew how greatly the * Castelnau. f Memoires de Tavannes.

army was enfeebled both by sickness and desertion.* The proximity of the two armies, nevertheless, afforded many opportunities of attempting to force a battle, which the Admiral did not long neglect; and the Duke of Anjou having taken up a position at La Roche I'Abeille, and entrenched himself within strong barricades, Coligni determined to make a general reconnoissance, which might easily be turned into an attack, if the result of the first movement proved favorable. The regiment of Monsieur de Piles accordingly assailed the first barricades of the Roman Catholic army early in the morning; and having been repulsed by the forces under Strozzi, a relation of the Queen-mother, was supported by detachments from the advanced guard. A fierce skirmish ensued, in which the Catholics were driven back, their entrenchments carried, and Strozzi taken prisoner. The rain having extinguished the matches of the arquebusiers, the combat was decided by the sword, the lance, and the pike; but the cannon of the Duke of Anjou, placed upon a height, having opened a tremendous fire upon the Protestant regiments as they moved forward, Coligni at length desisted from his attempt upon a position naturally strong and carefully fortified j and recalling his detachments, he retired slowly, notwithstanding the advantages which he had gained. The loss on the Protestant side was scarcely worthy of notice, while that on the part of the Roman Catholics amounted

* Castelnau.

to from four to eight hundred men, besides thirty-two officers.* This slaughter was occasioned by the determined resistance of Strozzi and his forces; but, in thus sacrificing themselves, they saved the army of the Duke of Anjou, whose artillery must inevitably have been taken, had the barricades been carried at an earlier period of the day.f

The two armies then separated, and, to use the words of one who accompanied the forces of the Duke of Anjou, '' the Catholics did nothing but temporize, and go hither and thither, till, towards the middle of July, they proceeded to Beaulieu, near Loches." Both parties, indeed, found it impossible to maintain themselves in the Limousin, on account of the total want of food for the soldiers and forage for the horses. The Protestants kept the field, however, and six small towns were taken by them in a few weeks. Chatellerault was also surprised; and the gallant defence of Niort, which was attacked by the Count de Lude, at the head of a considerable force, brought fresh renown to Pluviaut, who cut his way through the besieging army with a small body of determined men; and, notwithstanding the existence of two practicable breaches, the animosity of the inhabitants, and the repeated attempts to

* Castelnau computes the loss of his own party at about four hundred, while Aubigne makes it amount to from seven to eight hundred. La None says, that twenty-two officers only fell on the part of the Roman Catholics.

f La Noue.

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. 365

storm made by a gallant and persevering enemy, defended the city, till the approach of a fresh corps of Protestants compelled the Count to raise the siege. The Duke of Anjou, finding that the desertions in his army still continued, and seeing no possibility of keeping it together without money and repose, suffered the principal noblemen, who accompanied him, to retire, towards the end of the month, for the purpose of refreshing their men, and distributed the rest of his forces to different towns ;* proceeding himself to join his brother, the young King, at Amboise, whence the court advanced to Tours, and spent several weeks in inactivity. Coligni, however, knowing well, that energy and action are the soul of a revolt, determined to lead his troops to fresh conquests, in a more productive and less exhausted province. According to the account of La None, the plan which he laid out for the campaign during the rest of the summer and the autumn, and from which he unfortunately deviated, was, to attack St. Maixant,4f^usignan, and Mirebeau, in order to open the way to the siege of Saumur, a town, the possession of which was of great importance to the Huguenots, from the passage across the Loire which it afforded. The design of the Admiral was then to strengthen the fortifications of Saumur; and, leaving a strong garrison in the place, to march towards Paris, for the purpose, if possible, of driving the court into negotiations for a more stable peace than had yet

* Aubigne. Castelnau.

THE LIFE OF HENRY IV.

been obtained.* Part only of this plan was executed ; for while Montgomery carried on the war successfully in Beam, and gathered together a considerable army in that quarter, Coligni, after having taken the town of Lusignan by assault,t and suffered the citadel to capitulate, was persuaded, by the opinion of the majority of his council, to direct his efforts against Poitiers itself,:]: although that large and important place^ was known to be already provided with an ample garrison ; and that the Duke of Guise, accompanied by his brother the Duke of Mayenne, and twelve hundred choice soldiers, had with, or against, the consent of the Duke of Anjou,§ thrown themselves into the city, bent upon defending it to the last. The vast extent of the town, which covers more ground than many places containing a population of treble the number which it possesses, the weakness of its walls, and the commanding" points for placing artillery, afforded by the rocky heights which are found on three sides, as well as the eager solicitations of the people If Poitou, were plausible inducements to undertake the siege.

* La Noue, page 973. f Aubigne. + La None.

§ Castelnau declares that the Duke of Guise was sent by the Duke of Anjou ; but Coustureau, who was with the army, says, that while they were at Loches, " the news came that Monsieur de Guise, and a part of the Italian cavalry which had gone to the side of Niort, previous to the siege by the Count de Lude, had been obliged to throw themselves into Poitiers, and were there besieged, which they judged, at that time, very wrong of the said Duke of Guise/'

KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE. SGj

But the better judgment of Coligni was against it; and even after the attack had commenced, he once more assembled the council, and represented the danger which they incurred of seeing the army melt away in the long operations before them. The opinion of the leaders, however, remained unchanged ; and although some high grounds in the city and suburbs, rising platform above platform, afforded advantages to the garrison, the weakness of the place was too tempting to be resisted by the Protestants. Indeed, so indefensible did it seem, that La Noue declares, that, but for the river, which takes a circuit round part of the town, he " would rather be on the outside, with four thousand men to attack it, than within the walls, with four thousand to defend it 5"^ and the terror of the inhabitants was so great, that it was not till the young Duke of Guise, Monsieur de Ruifec, and others, had made a display of the whole forces of the place, consisting of six thousand foot, and fourteen hundred lances, that they abandoned the idea of immediate capitulation.'}'