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BiroiSO LIST JUN 1 5 1925
THE NATIONAL HISTORY OF PRANCE
EDITED BY
FR. FUNCK-BRENTANO
With an IntroAuction by J. E. C. BODLEY
THE CENTURY OF THE
RENAISSANCE '
THE NATIONAL HISTORY OF FRANCE
EDITED BY FR. FUNCK-BRENTANO
With an Introduction by J. E. C. BODLEY
Each Volume Demy %vo. Price 6«
THE MIDDLE AGES. By Fr. FunckBrentANO
{To be 'published
THE CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE. By L.
Batiffol [Ready
THE GREAT CENTURY. By JACQUES Boulenobr
[Shoray
THE XVIIlTH CENTURY. By Cabimir Stbyienski
[/n the Prets
THE REVOLUTION. By Louis Madelin
[In the Prets
THE CONSULATE AND THE EMPIRE. By Louis
Madelin [To be Published
LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN
l^ I / /THE NATIONAL HISTORY OF FRANCE
'^V,
THE CENTURY OF THE
RENAISSANCE
r CROWNED BY THE ACAD^MIK DEST
L SCIENCES MORALES ET POLITIQUKSj
BY
LOUIS BATIFFOL
AUTHOR OF "THK DUCHKSSE DE CHEVEEUSE"
TRANSLATED FEOM THE FRENCH BY
ELSIE FINNIMORE BUCKLEY
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
JOHN EDWARD COURTENAY BODLEY
COERESPONDINO MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE
)
3
j^x
^y^
/
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
^
DC
III
London: WilUam Heinetnann, 1916
INTRODUCTION
By JOHN EDWARD COURTENAY BODLEY
COURESPONDINQ MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE
FOR the keener enjoyment of life there is no pursuit so
profitable and so easy as the familiar study of French
history. It does not require that special education
which enables the few to find consolation at times of trouble
in the ancient classics, where Greek tragedy makes sublime the
depths of human woe, or where the brighter scepticism of Horace
dispels for a sunny hour the darkest clouds of dejection. Apart
from such favoured amateurs of distraction there are very
many cultivated English people who, in their desultory or
regular reading, like to understand allusions, and who have a
sense of missed enjoyment when a name of place or person
conveys to them no distinct idea.
To comprehend every allusion met with in general literature
and to recognize every name would need, if not the whole sum
of human knowledge, at least a portion so large that it would be
more conveniently lodged in an encyclopaedia than in the
memory of man or woman. But it is astonishing what an
extensive and enlivening light is thrown on ordinary reading
by a knowledge of the history of France. This has always
been the experience of English readers in their perusal
of fiction and of memoirs, of political and of philosophical
works. It is more than ever apparent in the present war-time,
when every morning brings a list of places in France where
things have happened, which when details are known, may for
ever after be associated in many a British home with proud
sorrow or pathetic rejoicing.
The part of France which is now the scene of war is a
relatively small tract of that country. There is many a pro-
V
INTRODUCTION
vince — Touraine, Burgundy, Provence — richer in traditions
of the past. Yet this north-eastern region, which includes
populous industrial districts of unromantic aspect as well as
rural expanses of mountain, forest, and vineyard, has more
historical associations on its soil than the whole of Great Britain
— our comparative poverty in that respect being chiefly due to
our insular immunity from invasion. Not that all the annals
of north-eastern France are those of siege and battle, as we
shall see if we pass in review some of the place-names which to-
day are of warlike sound to English ears. From a survey of this
limited portion of France, which happens to be of peculiar
interest to us just now, we shall gain some idea of the wealth of
associations which abound on the whole of French territory for
those who enjoy a knowledge of the history of France.
In one of the recurring periods of war which desolated this
region, when Louis XIV had so many feats of arms to celebrate
that he founded the Academy of Inscriptions to invent devices
for his medals and triumphal arches, not a few of the inscrip-
tions so composed relate to towns on either side of the present
frontier, the names of which are sadly familiar in England to-day.
*' Ypris captis " and " Atrebatum liberatum," engraved on
fine examples of the medallist's art, show that, in the days of
la guerre en dentelles, Ypres was taken and Arras relieved without
the barbarous havoc which before our eyes has irreparably
wrecked noble monuments which even then were the ancient
pride of Flanders and of Artois.
In these war-frequented provinces the memory of a hundred
battles and sieges in different ages is reviveddnthenaines of places
where the forces of England and France have resisted a common
foe. At Compiegne the Tour de la Pucelle recalls Joan of Arc
captured by the Burgundian army and delivered to her execu-
tioner, Cauchon, bishop of Beauvais. The stately collegiate
church of Saint Quentin witnessed the deadly assault when
Coligny and his Huguenots were overcome, and Philip II of Spain
vowed to build the Escorial in gridiron shape, in honour of the
martyrdom of St. Lawrence, under whose invocation the
Catholics won the day. The cathedral-crowned mountain of
Laon stands above the fateful plain where Napoleon, in his last
struggle in France, might have won a victory to save him from
vi
INTRODUCTION
Fontainebleau and Elba, if Marmont had only come up sooner
from Berry-au-Bac — that ferry on the river Aisne well-known
to all who pore over the war-maps of to-day.
While battle scenes such as these make the invaded
French provinces of unusual interest to the student of military
history, they are rich in associations which can charm the
imagination away from memories of warfare. Herein lies a
signal advantage of a familiar knowledge of the history of
France. The names of places in the dry official communiques
of the war need no longer be associated solely with heroic and
tragic conflict:s. As we scan them the brilliant procession of
the annals of France defiles before us, illustrating every element
and phase of human intelligence and emotion, as expressed in
romantic adventure, in ambitious statecraft, in religious con-
troversy, in philosophic and popular movement — all recorded,
in poetry and in prose, in that noble tongue which reflects
the genius of the people, who, since their language attained its
perfection, have never lost their proud position in Europe,
in spite of harsh vicissitudes.
Take, for instance, the little town of Albert on the blood-
stained road from Amiens to Arras. Its name, often men-
tioned in the dispatches, had its origin in events from which
modern France may be said to have sprung. It was once called
Ancre, after the rapid tributary of the Somme which flows
thereby ; and when Louis XHI was a boy, Concini, the Italian
favourite of the Queen-mother, became Marechal and Marquis
d'Ancre, and governor of Picardy. The young king also had
a favourite, his falconer, Albert de Luynes, who had Concini
slain on the drawbridge of the Louvre and inherited the Mar-
quisate, which, as the name of Ancre had become odious, was
henceforth called Albert. It was out of the disorders caused
by the government of the two favourites that Richelieu arose
and moulded the future destinies of France.
Then there is Cambrai, the witness of wars for a thousand
years, yet endowed with gentler associations, such as those which
cling to the remains of the archiepiscopal palace where Fenelon
solaced his exile from the Court by writing TiUmaque — not
imagining, as Voltaire said, how superior was the pastime of his
banishment to his controversial works on quietism. At the far
vii
INTRODUCTION
limit of the invaded territory where the German advance was
turned, stands another city, Meaux, which had much to do
with those same controversies ; for it was there that the mystical
Mme. Guyon was interned until she retracted her doctrines
before Bossuet, who lies in the cathedral made famous by his
eloquence. It has now a new title to fame, since the first
anniversary of the battle of the Marne was celebrated at its
high altar under circumstances not anticipated by the Eagle of
Meaux, when mass was sung by a gallant lieutenant on leave
from active service, who in civil life was a Jesuit father.
Thence each town and village on the line of the German
retreat is full of old memories. Away to the right is Sainte
Menehould, where Postmaster Drouet changed the course of the
Revolution and the history of Europe by his chance recognition
of Louis XVI and the Queen trying to escape from France
through the Argonne woodlands. Westward from here is
Reims, where German barbarians showed that there are even
worse enemies of noble architecture than restoring architects,
who had already ravaged the superb cathedral. Amid the
memorials of coronation pageants it is rarely remembered that
under its shadow La Fontaine, till he found his own vocation,
studied for the priesthood, coming from another ancient town
on the line of retreat, Chateau Thierry, where, by the Marne, he
kept company with Mattre Corbeau and Petit Poisson, whose
descendants have watched the flight of German airships or felt
the shock of spattering shells.
Northward hence is all that bombardment has left of Soissons,
whither Louis XIV used to send noble Protestant maidens to
be converted to the Catholic faith in the Benedictine Abbey
of Our Lady. This brings us again near Compi^gne, where
Louis le Grand in different mood set up a glittering camp
as a spectacle for Mme. de Maintenon. Here too is the
site of another camp which Napoleon pitched — for once in his
life with peaceful intent — to grace his first meeting with his bride,
Marie Louise, when Berthier, who had married her by proxy,
brought her to France as tribute from vanquished Austria.
Here on the edge of the forest is the frigid chateau of Louis XV,
which was warmed into boisterous life by the other Napoleon,
who held his gay court there when Mexico was giving premoni-
viii
INTRODUCTION
tions of Sedan, and Galliffet, a hero of both fatal campaigns, led
the imperial revels.
This beautiful woodland country is now associated in many
English hearts with a rare episode in the grim, underground
war of trenches ; for it was here that British cavalry was able
to charge the enemy in the open. To one who for many a
year wandered at leisure through the exquisite region which
stretches from the confines of lie de France and Picardy to the
undulating plains of the Brie and the vineyards of Champagne,
it is difficult to realize that such pleasant scenes, which had lost
all trace of ancient battles, should now be dotted with little
crosses which mark the resting-places of hundreds of brave
young Englishmen who were the light and joy of their distant
homes. When one drove on a summer morning through the
forest, where Pierrefonds rises among the trees like a fairy
palace, and met with peasants on their way to market atVillers-
Cotterets ; or at the Fete-Dieu passed a procession of rustic
maidens crossing the fields to a village by the Marne ; or
among the autumn tints heard " le son du cor, le soir, au fond
des bois," which rallied a joyous troop cantering along grass-
rides after the stag or the wild boar — how little one thought that
Every turf beneath their feet
Shall be a soldier's sepulchre
— a sepulchre in which lie side by side stalwart young English
heroes in khaki and gallant little red-legged soldiers of the
French army, united in fraternal sleep, never anticipated by the
warriors of old who passed this way, from Joan of Arc to
Napoleon.
Of all the picturesque towns hereabout, whose names
have now pathetic significance in many an English home,
Villers-Cotterets is perhaps most suggestive of historical reminis-
cence, for a particular reason. Noyon, embowered in fruit
blossom in the spring, has the austere tradition of Calvin,
descended from a race of bargemen who lived upon the Oise ;
and the less austere memory of its bishops, such as Clermont-
Tonnerre with his heraldic fancies still traced on a fragment
of the palace, and his Galilean presumption which moved him
to refer to the Pope as " Monsieur de Rome." Senlis, sad
ix
INTRODUCTION
victim of German savages, who murdered its mayor and left
it in ruins, was so desirable that Saint-Simon records how
the son of the Grand Conde envied his family the governorship
of this royal town — " Monsieur le Prince muguetoit fort le
gouvernement de Senlis." Yet Villers-Cotterets, though its
church, unlike those of Noyon and Senlis, was never a cathedral,
and though its chateau, a faded memorial of the most magnificent
of royal builders, Fran9ois I, has been put to base uses, has an
importance in the romance of French history which none of its
neighbours can approach. For here Dumas Pere was born ;
and having died during the invasion of 1870 he was brought
back to his birthplace by his illustrious son when the Germans
had departed, and he lies by the side of his parents beneath the
great trees of the cemetery at Villers-Cotterets.
Whatever inaccuracies flowed from his rapid pen in describing
unfamiliar scenes, Dumas' works relating to his native region
are better than any guide-book. There is scarcely a town or
village of north-eastern France touched by the present war
which he has not illustrated. Many of the itineraries traced in his
novels read like passages from the letters of English officers at
the front, whose mention of place-names has escaped the censor.
Take the last youthful adventure of the Mousquetaires when
they were riding down Milady to her doom. From Bethune
(where they had found the red-mantled headsman), they rode
in silence through the village of Festubert, past the woods of
Richebourg, to Herlies. Just before Fromelles a storm broke,
and then on their right, by a lightning flash, they saw the village
of Erquinghem, and at midnight, the moon, rising behind
Armenti^res, lit up the scene of the drama on the banks of the
Lys. This is pure romance ; but when Dumas enters the
domain of history we find similar enumeration of places which
we all know by name too well. Twenty years later, when the
son of Athos was on his way to join the staff of Conde, just
before the battle of Lens, " the little troop followed the road to
Cambrin, where they expected to find the Prince. But he had
retired to La Bassee, having been informed that the enemy
would cross the Lys at Estaires. Misled by this information
the Prince had withdrawn his forces from Bethune and had
concentrated between Vieille Chapelle and La Ventie." What
INTRODUCTION
memories and associations the dozen names in those two passages
evoke in the minds of many an English family which has known
the anguish of suspense while waiting for news from the front.
A score of similar passages, relating to places where English
soldiers have fought and died in the present campaign, are at
hand from Dangeau, Saint- Simon, Voltaire, and other orthodox
historians who wrote not long after the events which they
described. But Dumas is chosen for a special reason. To him
a very large number of English people of the last three genera-
tions owed the only notions they possessed of French history,
and many of them were first tempted by his fascinating pages
to study the authentic annals of France, a knowledge of which
doubles the enjoyment of his romances by enabling his readers
to reconstitute the scenes while verifying their accuracy. In-
deed with such a knowledge we may sometimes find that the
history of France in its unadorned details is more romantic than
any romance founded upon it. Thus, in Vingt Ans Apres Dumas
wrote retrospectively, in a moment of exaggerated restraint, that
Concini, whose career we have noted, was prosaically hanged ;
the bare truth being that the favourite of Marie de Medicis was
shot by the captain of the guard beneath the portcullis of the
Louvre amid picturesque surroundings of melodrama.
After all, professional historians are often more inaccurate
than Dumas ever was. When he placed the sale of Charles I
by the Scots in the month of the King's execution, he made a
milder error than did Lord Morley of Blackburn, the author of
several works of serious merit on French history, when in a debate
on the Parliament Bill he told the House of Lords that the " Day
of Dupes" — on which Richelieu foiled an intrigue of the Queen-
mother in 1630 — was an episode of the Revolution in 1789, when
" the aristocrats, as they were called, surrendered their rights."
More pertinent to our subject than the Minister's mistake
was the failure of the Lords to detect it. The force of his
didactic warning lay in the allusion to the French Revolution
which had swept away another nobility, and his words offered a
twofold opening for retort — first that the " Day of Dupes "
was 159 years before the Revolution; and second, that when
the French nobility did surrender their privileges on a famous
day of 1789, those rights had no analogy whatever with the
INTRODUCTION
powers of the House of Lords. While a moderate knowledge
of the capital events of French history would have furnished an
effective reply, no one moved — ^neither the peers by inheritance ;
nor the bishops, some of whom still merit their consecrated
epithet of " well-learned " ; nor even the lords of the new
plutocracy, who earned the purchase-money of their peerages
after enjoying the advantages of " a good modern education,"
which being innocent of the ancient humanities ought to include
the rudiments of modern history.
While the incident indicates the utility of an acquaintance
with French history, and the limitations of educated English-
men in that pleasant field of knowledge, there is no doubt about
the keen interest which our cultivated classes take in the litera-
ture of France. Though a large number of English people read
the French language as easily as their own, there is a considerable
demand for good translations of memoirs and historical works
among those who are too indolent or too diffident to read the
French originals. For such the systematic study of French
history is not easy if they seek pleasure in their reading. There
is no lack of English works on various periods of French history,
and among them are a certain number of valuable monographs,
well written by conscientious workers who have gone to original
sources for their material. None the less it must be confessed
that the majority of English books on the history of France are
ill-made and unattractive. It is to be hoped that we have left
behind the age when anything was considered good enough for a
handbook of modern European history — as Matthew Arnold
complained when his son, by the rule of Balliol, had to read for
a low " class " in the History-school, from second-rate manuals
produced by second-rate minds, instead of learning thoroughly
the Plato and the Tacitus set for the old Pass-degree. Yet even
now the compilation of books on French history for the use of
candidates for honours at the Universities is sometimes confided
to writers so incompetent that their confused pages show that
they have not mastered even the elements of the French
language.
However good may be a monograph which deals with a
single period or movement, it fails to give the reader who has
little previous acquaintance with the subject, a general view
xii
INTRODUCTION
of the history of a nation which will make him feel at home
in any of its epochs and with its chief characters. It would be
a very great labour for an Englishman to write a general history
of France. Ten years of incessant toil would not suffice for it,
and however well equipped the writer, the result would certainly
not justify his trouble. The English reader, therefore, who
would have that general view of French history which, as was
said in the first words of this preface, will make his outlook on
the world more agreeable, must find it in a French work, either
in its original form or in a translation.
It is to be hoped that the history of France, which is here
presented in an English translation, will fulfil that purpose.
The National History of France — which in its original version
is entitled '' Uhistoire de France raconUe d tous'' — in form and
volume stands between Duruy's excellent abridgement and the ex-
haustive Histoire de France, depuis les origines, jusqu'd la Revolu-
tion, edited by M. Lavisse. For a complete survey of French history
there is no work more useful than that of Victor Duruy, Minister
of Education under the Second Empire, and under the Third
Republic the successor of Mignet, a more academic historian,
at the French Academy. The industrious Duruy's manual is a
marvel of compression and of lucid narrative, but is perhaps too
concise to be read with pleasure in a translation. On a different
plan is the more recent work, edited by M. Lavisse, each section
of which, written by an expert, is an invaluable guide for the
special student — such as that masterpiece of attractive erudition
Les Premiers CapHiens by the lamented Achille Luchaire. But
this series of big volumes is perhaps too long for general readers.
The National History of France is planned on the same model
— but on a smaller scale. It is written for a more numerous
though not a less cultivated class of readers. The serious student
will find in it a scientific exposition of the development of France
from the period when it first became a homogeneous nation
down to the lifetime of old people whom some of us have
known. The reader who looks for artistic or romantic diversion
will meet with many a page, drawn from contemporary memoirs
or correspondence, which illustrates the manners, the social
conditions, the intellectual achievement of successive genera-
tions of the French.
xiii
INTRODUCTION
Each volume of this history has been written by an author
whose abihty has been recognized by competent French autho-
rities, and all of them but one are " Laureates " of the Institute
of France. The Institute, with the five Academies composing
it, holds vast revenues to distribute for the encouragement of
every branch of human intelligence. About £18,000 of these
funds are dispensed each year in prizes for recently published
books. Many of the prizes awarded by the Academic Fran9aise
and the Academic des Sciences Morales are for works on history,
and often an historian who has won fame and a seat in one or
both of those companies found his first incentive when he carried
off a prize together with the title of " Laureate of the Institute."
Those who fear that criticism in France is going the way that
George Meredith thought it had taken in England when he
wrote, " I have seen many reviews, not one criticism of my
books," should look at the reports of the academicians who
recommend the awards of these prizes. Hidden away in the
official Bulletins, they are sometimes fine examples of that critical
faculty which is inborn in most Frenchmen, and a prize-winner
often feels that, with a substantial recompense, he has received
a stimulating criticism which if heeded will add to the value of
his future work. A history book " crowned " by the Institute
is sure to be a sound piece of work, sometimes the first-fruits of a
promising career, sometimes a masterpiece of mature talent ; for
historians as eminent as Albert Sorel and Albert Vandal {nulli
jiebiliores quam mihi) have been glad to submit their work to an
academic prize tribunal. While poets and novelists have some-
times revolted against the taste of the French Academy, com-
plaint is rarely heard of the judgment of the Institute of France
in appraising historical work.
The Institute thus fulfils the traditional functions of aca-
demies in maintaining a certain standard of excellence ; it also
out of its wealth aids promising writers to persevere in their
work, relieved from that care which often dogs unremunerated
literary labour. One reason for the rarity we have noted of
good English monographs on French history is the cost of their
production. An eager student spends time and money in
exploring foreign archives, and on his researches writes a book
of real value. If he is urged to continue his work he will reply
xiv
INTRODUCTION
- that he cannot ailord it, as the only material result of his labour
I is a debt to his publisher. Many an English author of such
unrequited work would in France be aided in his difficult years
by the substantial encouragement of academic prizes. The well-
meaning people who periodically conceive the idea of starting
in England an Academy on the French model should bear in
id that even if they could possess the unattainable authority
tradition for performing academic functions, they would still
;d rich endowments to make their influence effective.
M. Louis BatiffoFs history of the age of the Renaissance in
-"iftmce, which forms this volume, was awarded the Prix Ferret
jy the Academic des Sciences Morales et Politiques. The
report of M. Welschinger, recommending that award, is an
lirable example of the judicious criticism which, as has been
jerved, academicians bestow on the books submitted to their
imination. M. Welschinger is a patriotic Alsatian, who for
-and-forty years has been longing for the day — perhaps
irly in sight — when his birthplace and the scenes of his
ith may be once more united to France. This loyal patriot
[also an accomplished writer of French history in its most
tractive guise, whose work had won the highest academic
pmpenses before he was called to a seat in the Palais Mazarin.
report on M. Batiffol's work is one of those which shows
lat an advantage writers enjoy in France to have their early
forts reviewed and analysed by distinguished veterans who
yve won fame in their own paths of literature.
The National History of France when complete will have as
first part a volume on the Middle Ages by M. Funck-Brentano,
editor of the series, the other books, in their order of publica-
^n, being The Century of the Renaissance, by M. Louis Batiffol ;
Great Century {Le Grand Siecle), by M. Jacques Boulenger ;
Eighteenth Century, by M. Casimir Stryienski ; The Revolu-
, by M. Louis Madelin ; and The Consulate and the Empire,
the same author.
^Pending the publication of the volume on the Middle Ages,
[English reader need have no reason to regret that his study of
ich history begins at a later period. For it was only with the
dssance that the territory which we know as France became
ition, and took its place on the map of Europe in a shape not
h XV
INTRODUCTION
far removed from its present contour — though each subsequent
century has seen considerable adjustments of its frontier, which
have not yet come to an end. It was during the Renaissance
that the French language developed its present form. Until
then French was a language which in its relation with modem
French may, in an unscientific way, be compared with the
language of Wyclif 's Bible in its relation with the English of thjt
Authorized Version. Just when that period was ending " Enfisi
Malherbe vint " — as Boileau wrote to a later generation — a]S
doing for poetry what Calvin, Amyot, La Boetie and Montai^
had already done for prose, with them gave to the newly-formc ..
nation the noble language which more than any other element
has contributed to the greatness of France.
Our narrative begins before either of those writers was
born, in 1483, with the death of Louis XI at Plessis-le-Tours,
and it is a good starting-point for the English student of the
modern history of France. He must bear in mind the iax-
portance of the reign of Louis XI, who, coming after the Hundred
Years' War, carried on the work of the unification of France wiwi
results more definitive than those produced by the expulsion of
the English when Joan of Arc inspired the idea of nationality.
The Burgundian domain of Charles the Bold was only a small
part of his annexations, when he crushed the feudal territorial
houses and out of their ruins began the building of the absolute
French monarchy on the double basis of unity of government
and unity of territory. In 1483 it was only thirty years sin,ce
the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, and the invention
of printing. As Hume says, writing of two years later, " We
have at last reached the dawn of civility and science." The
Renaissance was in full progress ; but it was so young that it
was only in 1483 that two lives began which in difi^erent ways
aifected the course of one of its greatest movements — Martin
Luther and Catherine of Arragon being born in that year.
M. Batiffol is a skilful guide through that most important
century of human progress which spans the interval between
the Middle Ages and modern civilization. It is a confused epoch
of French history, a period of contradictory movements and
currents, in which the nation was only beginning to discover its
destiny. The author instead of subjective dissertations on thfe
origins of events and movements, gives us a series of vivid
xvi
INTRODUCTION
pictures and portraits, chiefly taken from contemporary records,
and the result is an animated narrative which cannot fail to
impress the memory and charm the imagination of the reader.
After the sinister and forcible figure of Louis XI, his young
son, Charles VIII (1483-1498) and his cousin, the virtuous
Louis XII (1498-1515), are somewhat pale shadows. France,
becoming a united nation, was prosperous, but the importance
of territorial unity was not yet understood. The lure of Italy
tempted these kings and their immediate successors to try to
extend their domain beyond the Alps, instead of consolidating
the conquests of Louis XI, which were so little valued that
Artois and Franche Comt6 were ceded in their vain efforts to
annex Italian provinces. Their failure was a blessing for
French nationality, and the main result of the Italian cam-
paigns was the importation to France of the artistic spirit of the
Renaissance. How much France owed to the Italian Renais-
sance is discussed in these pages. Even if the debt is smaller
than usually estimated, as M.'Batiffol argues, the Italian
artists brought to France by Fran9ois I (1515-1547) un-
doubtedly had a great influence on the native genius. In
popular tradition that king was a magnificent voluptuary, the
munificent patron of artists and of poets. Yet as one reads the
fascinating story of his reign one wonders how he found the
time to hold a brilliant court and to adorn France with sump-
tuous monuments of domestic architecture, which taking the
place of the fortified feudal castles, seem to have been planned at
leisure for the enjoyment of luxurious peace. If one studied
his reign in an old-fashioned history dealing only with public
events and international relations, he would seem to be a warrior
king passing from Italian battlefields to Spanish prisons, the
rival or the captive of the Emperor Charles V, instead of the
builder of Fontainebleau and Chambord, the patron of Clement
Marot, Jean Goujon and Philibert Delorme.
The shorter reign of his son Henri II (1547-1559), who had
little taste for art, was associated with two women. There was
his wife Catherine de Medicis, destined to play a great part when
she became Queen-mother; and there was his amie Diane de
Poictiers, whose cipher, still seen on the walls of Chenonceaux
intertwined with that of Henri, suggests the romantic union of
two ^^oungjives to console a king whose childhood was saddened
^o^Acxf* ^" xvii
INTRODUCTION
by captivity in Spain as a hostage for his father, and who was
married to an unattractive wife. In these pages it is written
that when Henri II succeeded at the age of twenty-nine, Diane
was nearly fifty and was the pious companion of the royal
couple, under whose influence the King was an affectionate
husband — an edifying version of the royal romance.
While such sidelights on history are instructive and enter-
taining, the great undercurrent of French history in the
sixteenth century must not be ignored. While the spirit of
reform was transforming the civilized world in art, letters,
philosophy, and religion, there was no such movement affecting
the system of government in France. The Renaissance con-
solidated the absolute powers of the monarchy, and from the
reign of FranQois I the ancien regime may be said to have
begun. This is an important fact to be noted by the student
who follows the history of France, in the volumes which will
succeed this, through the seventeenth century, early in which
the policy of Richelieu under Louis XIII leads to the absolute
reign of Louis XIV, and through the eighteenth century, in
which the excesses of absolute monarchy lead to the catastrophe
of 1792. In the sixteenth century, whatever the feeling in the
nation about the character of the sovereign, whatever the
controversy about the succession to the Crown, whatever the
religious test to which the King had to submit, there is no
aspiration, no movement towards popular government.
After Henri II came the turbulent reigns of his three sons :
Fran9ois II (1559-1560) who died at seventeen, the tragic boy-
husband of Mary Queen of Scots ; Charles IX (1560-1574), who
was a king at nine ; Henri III (1574-1589), an effeminate
prodigal, the extravagances of whose Court began that disarray
of the public finances which was never permanently repaired
till it ended two centuries later in the Revolution, of which it was
the chief determining cause. In these reigns the Reformation
took a dramatic form. It had begun under Francois I, when
Clement Marot, leaving his madrigals, rhymed a Huguenot
version of the Psalms — as did the author of Comus in the next
century, under dissimilar circumstances. Among the Protest-
ants were the greatest names of France — La Rochefoucauld,
Grammont, Cond6, Rohan, La Tremouille. But the time had
not yet come for Protestantism to be withstood as a power
xviii
INTRODUCTION
within the State. The imperium in imperio which was resisted
by the last of the Valois kings was the catholic League, headed
by the Guises, a family of unbounded ambition, which had
intended to rule France by Mary Queen of Scots, whose mother
was a Guise ; and when the death of her husband sent her back
to Scotland, the clan devoted its power and ability to obtain
the supremacy by other means. The story is graphically told
in these pages, how Catherine de Medicis, who had encouraged
one of her sons, Charles IX, to countenance the Protestant
massacre of St. Bartholemew, abetted his brother Henri III to
wage war on the catholic League and to have Henri de Guise
murdered before his eyes at the Chateau of Blois.
With Henri IV (1589-1610) the crown of France fell to the
Bourbon family, which was the last line of French kings. The
reign which began with civil war and anarchy became pacific
when Henri of Navarre abjured the Protestantism of which he
was the champion and embraced the religion of the majority of
his subjects. In becoming a Catholic the King did not adopt the
inflexible policy of his new faith. By the Edict of Nantes he
established liberty of conscience in matters religious, and by
thus proclaiming the modern principle of toleration he illus-
trated his reign by a definitive rupture with the Middle Ages.
Among the Protestants he chose the wisest of all his counsellors,
Sully, whose re-organization of the disordered national finances
established the prosperity of France on so firm a basis that it
took three long reigns of prodigality to undo all his good work.
With the end of the reign of Henri IV this volume closes. It
leaves France consolidated as a nation, enjoying temporary
peace and a more solid prosperity, after long years of warfare at
home and abroad. In that period of frequent civil war, in •
which the king was constantly in conflict with part of the |
nation, we have noted that the issue to be decided was never
the power of the Crown or the monarchical principle. Another
point, not less important, is to be observed. In the civil wars off
this age which were known as the Wars of Religion, the forces!
opposed to the doctrines and claims of Rome were little in-
fluenced by that rationalistic " free-thought " which later became
the chief factor in the opposition of the French nation to the
Roman Church. Tn thp T^f>fnrmfl^-^''^n ^p^^b JJie struggle^was
between Catholic believers and Protestant believers. The
~~ "xix
b
INTRODUCTION
execution of Etienne Dolet, who held heretical opinions which
happened to be atheistic, was an almost isolated case having no
connexion with any great intellectual movement such as was to
come.
When Henri IV died in 1610 the French language as we have
seen had attained its classical form ; but the great masters who
were soon to give expression to it were as yet unborn, excepting
one or two, such as Descartes, who was fourteen, and Corneille,
six years old. In respect of national literature England was in
advance of France, for in 1610 Shakespeare had nearly com-
pleted his work. But in the age which was then dawning,
France after a tardy start was to surpass its neighbour for a
time in the splendour of its literature. The new period was so
abundant and illustrious in intellectual achievement that it has
been called by posterity the Grand Siecle.
The boundaries of the Grand Siecle are not unanimously
defined. Some make it co-terminous with the reign of Louis XIV
(1643-1715). Others extend it to the Regency (1715-1723),
under which such great writers as Saint Simon, Le Sage and
Montesquieu did some of their work. M. Jacques Boulenger in the
second part of the English edition of this history, considers the
reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV to constitute the Grand
Siecle. There is good reason for including in it the reign of
Louis XIII (1610-1643), which in politics saw the whole career
of Richelieu and in literature the finest dramas of Pierre Corneille.
In commenting upon this and the other volumes of the
series no attempt will be made to give a summary of the events
recorded in them, which are probably familiar to the majority of
the readers of this work. But for those who are commencing
their study of French history it may be useful to take a rapid
view of some of the movements which mark the periods extend-
ing from the end of the Renaissance to the French Revolution.
The reign of Louis XIII was the reign of Richelieu, who,
having been the spokesman of the clergy at the meeting of the
States General when the King was a boy of thirteen, became
Minister two years later. It was owing to the outgrowth of
Richelieu's policy that the representatives of the nation never
met again till 1789. Although the Third Estate made some
revendication of the rights of the commons, it was not with them
that Richelieu joined issue. He had to deal with the great
XX
INTRODUCTION
nobles, still tenacious of their old feudal rights, who again and
again revolted against the practical application of his theory
that all the political power of the nation should be vested in the
King. Many of the nobles were Protestants and utilized the
privileges of association, granted to the Huguenots by Henri IV,
to set up a State within the State. Richelieu crushed the
Protestants and the nobles too, whether Huguenot or Catholic.
He died six months before Louis XIII, leaving the monarchy
in a position of absolute power, such as the most masterful of the
Valois kings had never contemplated.
Richelieu's twofold work, the investiture of the sovereign
with absolute power, the abuses of whichleH to the Revolution,
and its corollary, the centralization of government, jwliich-still
is the basis of the Frenchadministrative system, had onejrapid
result. The feudal aristocracy, with its localized influence, was
transformed into a noblesse de cour which established itself in the
royal precincts, and out of this arose French polite society,
which soon became the most brilliant that the world has ever
seen. During the reign of Louis XIII and the minority of
his son the Hotel de Rambouillet and the rival salons
became the centre of all that was most distinguished by
birth or intelligence, and Cardinal Richelieu had in 1685
founded the French Academy, thus securing the support of
men of letters to further his policy. Henceforth French history
in its minutest detail may be studied in most attractive form.
For the age of Memoirs had arrived, and the use which has been
made of them in M. Boulenger's and the following volumes
should tempt many readers to find inexhaustible delight in the
originals. They will not fail to be so tempted by M. Bou-
lenger's narrative — which is as easy to read as a romance —
in order to make more intimate acquaintance with some of
the makers of the Grand Siede^ of whom only a passing
glimpse can be given in his attractive pages.
Louis XIV was not five years old when he began his reign,
and during his minority the policy of Richelieu was continued by
his successor the Sicilian Mazarin, for whom the greater Car-
dinal had obtained a red hat, and to whom the Queen-Regent,
Anne of Austria, gave her affection as well as her confidence.
The story of the long reign of Louis XIV is in one sense the
chronicle of his Court, for the people counted only as so many
xxi
INTRODUCTION *
millions of human beings capable of being taxed. For this,
before another century ended, the monarchy had to pay the
supreme penalty. Meanwhile the civil strife which disturbed
the minority of Louis XIV did not shake the ever growing royal
authority. When the Parlement, which was not a representa-
tive body but a corporation of magistrates with quasi-legislative
powers, resisted the King's government, and when this move-
ment developed into the first war of the Fronde, the leaders on
both sides professed their devotion to the person and to the
office of the King — in contrast to what had happened in England
in that year 1649. So on Mazarin's death, when Louis was
twenty-three, all was prepared for his^ absolute autocracy^ and
he was trained and readyto^xercise it. Other kings of France
had reigned with unlimited powers ; but Louis XIV established
absolute monarchy as a divine theory.
This being accepted by his subjects, so far as they had any
voice in the matter, there arose out of the absolute prerogatives
of the King a sentiment corresponding to what later on was
called patriotism. The word in its French form is not found in
the Dictionary of the Academy until the next century, for it
did not exist in the Grand Siecle, the sentiment as yet being
inspired not by the patrie and the soil of France, but by the
person and the office of the King. The glories of France, in
war and in peace, show how strong that devotidn was. The
highest exponents of the genius of the nation, in every branch
of human intelligence and action, were proud of the monarch
who encouraged it, and who with their co-operation, added to the
national patrimony not only rich territories, but a greater glory
than that of conquest — the intellectual supremacy of France
and of the French language.
When Louis XIV, his minority ended, took the government
into his own hands, the genius of France which illustrated the
seventeenth century was already in full development. In letters
the work of Pascal, in art the work of Lesueur and Poussin was
done. But that posterity was not wrong in giving the name of
" the age of Louis XIV " to the most brilliant period of the
seventeenth century is shown by a very incomplete list of those
who served him or who enjoyed his protection : La Rochefou-
cauld, Moli^re, La Fontaine, Bossuet, Boileau, Racine in letters ;
in art, Lebrun and Mansard ; in war Turenne, Conde, Louvois ;
xxii
INTRODUCTION
in civil and financial administration Colbert. After Colbert's
death in 1683 the glory began to fade, though the reign had still
thirty-two years to run. War and the King's extravagance,
notably in the building of Versailles and other royal palaces,
brought dire distress upon the people, owing to the unjust inci-
dence of taxation. Two years after the death of Colbert, who
began to re-organize on a sound basis the finances of France and
founded its industrial prosperity, Louis XIV revoked the Edict
of Nantes. It was the greatest blunder of his reign. The in-
tolerant act, which gave religious monopoly to the Catholic
Church, was one of the causes of the philosophic movement in
the next century hostile to all religion. It was also economically
disastrous, as the persecution of the Protestants swept out of
France the industry, the intelligence and the wealth of a large
community. This folly was committed when the King had fallen
under the influence of Mme. de Maintenon. Had she died and
had the great financier lived to direct his master, the reign of
Louis XIV perhaps would have been as solidly glorious as it was
on the surface, and the monarchy might have avoided the
Revolution, which Mirabeau said at its outset was the result of
" two centuries of depredation and brigandage."
While the brilliant Court, which insatiably swallowed up the
resources of the nation, had, with its social authority, high
influence in the domain of art and letters, the nobles composing
it had no political power. This point, already mentioned in
this preface, cannot be too clearly borne in mind by the English
student of French history, who is apt to suppose that there was
some analogy between the attributes of the French nobility and
the English peerage. The reign of Louis XIV was so long that
it covered several entire epochs of English history, in which the
relative positions of the Crown and the Estates of the Realm
were settled. It began in the year that Hampden fell, when
Charles I was fighting for the right divine to tax his subjects. It
did not end until England, by Act of Parliament, had imported
the Hanoverian dynasty, and George I was reigning under
statutory limitations. During the reign of Louis XIV, which
had strengthened his absolute prerogatives, our two Revolutions
had so settled the British Constitution that the monarchy was
subordinate to the Parliament, of which the House of Lords
had legislative powers similar to those of the House of Commons.
xxiii
INTRODUCTION
In England the hereditary nobility was a very limited body enjoy-
ing immense political power which descended solely to the eldest
sons of peers, without any " privileges " in the French sense of the
term. In France the nobility was an ever growing multitude
which enjoyed immense fiscal immunities inherited by all their
male descendants, without any political power, which was
entirely vested in the King. The nobles served in the army
and had most of the rich prizes of the Church ; but they were so
, j,^xcluded from the government of the country that almost all
^j the great administrative and judicial posts fell to members of
r\^ \ the bourgeoisie — some of whom were ennobled and added to the
l^-^jrowd of privileged persons. The privileges of the French
^nobility were mainly fiscal, and their exemption from the ever
increasing burden of taxation caused it to fall on the part of the
nation least able to bear it.
The foregoing is not a digression. It is a necessary exposi-
tion of what was at the background of French history in the
generations preceding the Revolution. In the third volume of
this series — The Eighteenth Century, by M. Casimir Stryienski —
the author quotes Voltaire's well known observations, made
during his exile in our country, on the advantages of the British
Constitution. " Over here a man is not exempt from paying
certain taxes because he is a noble or a priest. . . . The English
nation is the only one in the world which has succeeded in limit-
ing the power of the Kings by resisting them. ... If in
England there were only one religion there would be danger of
it becoming a despotism : if there were only two they would
cut one another's throats ; but as there are thirty they live in
peace and happiness." The last proposition is somewhat ex-
aggerated, though the others are of sober truth. They were
written at the time when the English Constitution, based on a
parliamentary system which was in the hands of a governing
class, was perfection in the eyes of philosophers whose admira-
tion of it made it the envy of the civilized world. Such senti-
ments it ceased to inspire when the representative system became
democratic and imitations of it were set up in every corner of the
globe. At all events Voltaire's remarks sum up the condition of
things which undermined the brilliant surface of the French
monarchy in its last days — the unjust incidence of taxation ;
the unlimited prerogative of the royal power ; the monopoly
of religion held by one Church,
xxiv
INTRODUCTION
M. Stryienski, the author of this interesting study of the
eighteenth century, though not a Frenchman by origin, is so pro-
ficient a master of French history and of the French language that
three of his works, including this volume, have been " crowned "
by the Institute of France — a distinction of special significance
when conferred on a foreigner. Seventy-four years of the
eighteenth century are covered by this volume — from the
accession of Louis XV in 1715 to the meeting of the States
General in 1789, when the march of the deputies through the
streets of Versailles to the solemn service before the opening
session was likened to the funeral procession of the monarchy.
M. Stryienski does not make excessive allusion to the dark
undercurrents of national life which were rushing along to the
flood of revolution ; nor does he show himself too sensible to the
charm of that society which, wilfully unconscious of the rising
flood, maintained its gracious brilliancy until it was over-
whelmed.
The history of the eighteenth century in France affects
attentive students of the declining years of the monarchy in
different ways, according to their temperament. By those who
judge an epoch not by the general prosperity of the people who
lived in it, but by the amount of happiness its products have
given to later generations, the eighteenth century, with all its
abuses, cannot be deplored without insincerity. For it was
those very abuses, arising out of the extravagances of a luxurious
and powerful Court, which left for posterity the enjoyment of a
profusion of works of art, destined to give refined pleasure to
mankind so long as beauty can inspire the most delicate joys of
the human senses. After the Renaissance, when France began
to take delight in the creations of art revealed to her by the
campaigns of her kings in Italy ; after the Grand Steele under
the pompous yet noble authority of Louis XIV, who ordained
a system, emanating from the King, in which every group of
workers, including artists, should have its assigned function in
the State in order to enhance the august splendours of the
monarchy ; after these epochs, the eighteenth century, in spite
of the continued influence of the Royal Academy founded by
Louis XIV, is a period of freedom and spontaneity in art which
represented all that was most gracious in the society soon to be
swept away. In one branch of art alone, that of painting, a
mere enumeration of the names of a few of the masters shows
XXV
INTRODUCTION
that the irregularities of the Regent and of Louis XV, and the
light-hearted frivolity of Marie Antoinette, before the evil days
drew nigh, were not without compensation. In portraiture there
were Rigaud, Largilliere, Nattier and Drouais ; among decora-
tive painters Van Loo, Boucher and Fragonard ; among the
painters oi fetes galantes, Watteau, Pater and Lancret ; among
painters of more familiar scenes, Chardin and Greuze. In this
list there are, perhaps, no names of the highest rank such as those
of Velasquez or of the chief masters of the Italian Renaissance.
Yet the world would be poorer without their memorials of the
age in which they lived. It is likely that the present generation,
in more than one democracy, will see public misery not less acute
than that suffered by the people in the latter days of the French
monarchy. If it befalls us it will be found that its causes are
some of those which were at the root of the distress in France
in the eighteenth century — ruinous war, improvident states-
manship, extravagant finance in peace-time. But our posterity
will not be consoled with the heritage of exquisite works of art
reflecting a brilliant society which brought to perfection the rela-
tions of human intercourse.
Without referring to the other branches of French art we
should note that in the eighteenth century literature and art
did not go hand in hand. While the prevailing characteristic
of French painting was an unrestrained love of lightness and
grace, the general tendency of literature was profoundly serious —
not solemn or austere, for there is little solemnity in the fine
sarcasm of the Lettres Persanes or austerity in the bitter raillery
of the Ingenu. There are exceptions, such as the comedies of
Marivaux, which re-echo the graceful trifling of the age ; but
the great names in letters, which fill the period, are Montesquieu,
Voltaire and Rousseau. Never before or since have writers had
such influence on the opinion and the destinies of a nation.
If Louis XV had not been a fool as well as a profligate, if he
had been advised by ministers of the intelligence of Colbert, and
had followed their advice, the people, receiving a due share of the
wealth of their rich country, would have remained the in-
different and contented spectators and subjects of the absolute
government. But the public misery was so profound under the
ever-growing burden of inequitable? taxation that the philoso-
phers, continuing the studies of social conditions begun by La
xxvi
INTRODUCTION
Bruyere, Fenclon, and others under Louis XIV, first created
a public opinion which had not hitherto existed in France,
and then guided it to demand full inquiry into the causes of
the ills which oppressed the nation. The circles about the
Court did not oppose the new ideas. The salons and boudoirs
which inspired the graceful masterpieces of artists, became the
meeting- places of philosophers, dilettante and serious, of both
sexes, who discussed the Esprit des Lois, the Dictionnaire
Philosophique and the Control Social, little thinking that the
application of the doctrines contained in them was about to
sweep out of existence their brilliant society.
Every school of thought and intelligence encouraged the
revolt, from the authors of the Encyclopedia — in which the
whole range of the sciences was expounded in a manner hostile
to the existing social order and to religion — to Beaumarchais,
whose Mariage de Figaro, played at the Franyais in 1785, was
the final expression before the Revolution of the hatred and
contempt of the commons for the privileged classes of society
and for the institutions from which the privileged alone derived
any profit. So it came about that the chaos in all departments
of the State, the defective judicial and administrative organiza-
tion, the financial disarray, the plunder of public money and the
crushing incidence of taxation on the lower classes — all this
combined with military disasters abroad, in which France lost
her finest oversea possessions, and with religious persecution at
home, aided the philosophic precursors of the Revolution to stir
up the people to overthrow the power which had made France
a nation. Even though Louis XVI had been a wise man, he
came too late to save the absolute monarchy, though he might
have saved his own head.
Then came the Revolution. If any one is capable of writing
a brief summary of the ten years between the election of the
Deputies of the States-General and Bonaparte's coup d'Stat of
Brumaire, 1799, it is not the author of this Introduction. M.
Madelin, who contributes to this series the section on the Revo-
lution, apologizes for having attempted to do it in a closely
printed volume of 600 pages in the French edition. Every
year brings to light a mass of new documents on the period, in
such abundance that Reviews and Societies have been founded
for the purpose of studying them. Moreover, the Revolution is
xxvii
INTRODUCTION
not a " bloc,'"'' as M. Clemenceau argued in 1891 when he opposed
the representation of Sardou's Thermidor at the Fran9ais, on the
ground that nothing should be played at a state- subventioned
theatre which held up to reprobation any part of the Revolu-
tion from which the Republic claimed its origin. In the words of
the lamented Albert Vandal, quoted in the Preface to this volume :
" The Revolution, far from being a ' bloc ' is perhaps the most
complex phenomenon that ever existed, a phenomenon essentially
manifold in its causes, its elements, its movements, its con-
sequences." M. Madelin has done his work well, as might be
expected from a historian whose shorter monographs have
shown great promise. With this volume he won the Grand
Prix Gobert of the French Academy. That distinction, which is
the blue riband of history-prizes, puts him in the same category
with Albert Sorel, Albert Vandal and Thureau-Dangin, among
historians who have died in recent years, and with M. Henri
Welschinger and M. Pierre de la Gorce, who are happily still
with us. The bibliographies at the end of each chapter are a
testimony to M. Madelin's thoroughness. If any student of
French history first masters the text and then sets to work to
examine every authority named in the bibliographies he will
acquire a knowledge of the French Revolution such as no
Englishman ever possessed. But he must be prepared to devote
at least ten years of his life exclusively to the task.
M. Madelin has another volume nearly ready on the Consu-
late and the Empire, the publication of which has been delayed
by the war, and it will be added to the English series. The
Revolution had not run its course when General Bonaparte
returned from Egypt to drive out of power and place the
lawyers and the other politicians, who had brought France
to the brink of ruin and were reviving all the extravagant vices
of the ancient monarchy with none of its dignity and traditions.
The history of the reconstruction of France by Napoleon —
whose mission it was to repair the disintegrating mischief per-
petrated by the so-called representatives of the people, before
the ambitious conqueror had got the better of the statesman
and the organiser, — is full of lessons for the coming
generation.
J. E. C. BODLEY
December 12, 1915
t\
CONTENTS
CBAFTSB PAOB
INTRODUCTION v
I. THE " SMOKE AND GLORY " OF ITALY :
CHARLES VIII, LOUIS XII 1
II, THE KING AND THE EMPEROR 43
III. THE COURT OF FRANCIS I 88
IV. EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II 118
- V. THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM. FRANCIS II 155
VI. BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY. CHARLES IX 191
^11. THE CATHOLIC REACTION. HENRY III 241
^^ni. INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV 286
IX. CIVILIZATION UNDER THE LAST VALOIS 828
X. THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE AT THE CLOSE OF
THE XVI CENTURY 366
INDEX 415
y > \ X
*
CHAPTER I
THE "SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY:
CHARLES VIII. LOUIS XII.
Charles VIII, 1483-1498 : the Regency of Anne de Beaujeu ;
States-General of 1484 ; Rebellion of the Duke of Orleans and the
Mad War ; Battle of Saint-Aubin du Cormier ; Treaty of Sable,
1488. Marriage of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, 1491.
Charles VIII's personal government : characters of Charles VIII
and Anne of Brittany. The Italian War : the rights over Naples ; *
the crossing of Italy, 1494 ; entry into Naples, 1495 ; the retreat,
Battle of Fomovo, 1495. Death of Charies VIII, 1498. jLouis XII,
1498-1515 : Cardinal Georges d'Amboise ; marriage 4f the King
with Anne of Brittany, 1499. Conquest of the State of Milan, 1500,
and of Naples, 1501. Conflict with Spain, the defeats of Seminara
and Cerignola, evacuation of Naples. The trial of Marshal de Gie,
1504. The League of Cambray against Venice, 1508 ; the victory
of Agnadello, 1509. Pope Julius II and the Holy Alliance against
Louis XII, 1511 : Battle of Ravenna, 1512 ; evacuation of Italy.
Louis XII at Blois : death of Anne of Brittany, 1514, and of
Louis XII, 1515.
WHEN, on August 30, 1483, the old King, Louis XI,
passed away in the solitude of the Chateau du
Plessis, near Tours, the prince, his son, who
succeeded him under the title of Charles VIII, was a child
of thirteen, and a puny, delicate boy into the bargain.
Charles VUI, His father, anxious about his health, had arranged
1483-1498. for him to be brought up at Amboise, a place
beautifully situated on the banks of the Loire within
a stone's throw of the forest. Here he had confided him
to the care of Jean Bourre, an accountant, and fitienne
d^ Vesc, a sheriff.* The child had been a difficult one to rear ;
* Sheriff is perhaps the nearest English equivalent for the French hailli,
a term used in the north of France, whilst a similar official in the south
was called «^^/ta/.—[Tr.]
A 1
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
he had a large head and a feeble body, and his guardians had
hunaoured his health in every way and taught him nothing.
They had merely encouraged him to take physical exercise —
hunting above all — in order to develop his body. The King,
though inspired by no very great affection for his son — ^for there
were but few he loved — was nevertheless full of solicitude on
his behalf. He used to write frequently to Jean Bourre to
ask for news and to give advice. The child's chief amusement
consisted in reading the Grandes Chroniques de France and
romances of chivalry.
The question as to who should govern the kingdom when
he was dead was one which had not escaped Louis XI. Queen
Regency o! Charlotte, his wife, he passed over as incom-
Anne de petent, and rested all his hopes upon his daughter
Beaujeu. Anne. It is true she was only twenty-two, but
" she was a proud woman and as shrewd as any, the very
image in every way of King Louis, her father," says Brant ome,
who had heard a great deal about her from his grand-
mother. Louis XI had married Anne when she was quite
young to Pierre de Beaujeu, a wealthy man twenty-one years
her senior. He was a younger son of the House of Bourbon,
rich in lands, influential, and of royal birth. Louis had grown
fond of this son-in-law, who was a good, quiet man, "sweet-
tempered and humble," and had gradually allowed him to
help him in the government, showing him every mark of con-
fidence and initiating him into all his business. When he felt
that death was approaching, Louis XI went to Amboise on
purpose to tell his son, the Dauphin, that when he was no more
he must obey Pierre de Beaujeu, and on his death-bed he ex-
plained to the latter that he left the new King under his guar-
dianship. Whereupon he breathed his last without leaving
any other will.
Pierre de Beaujeu found himself in a difficult situation.
His position was ill-defined. He was not regent, as in another
year the little prince, Charles VIII, would be fourteen, an age at
which, in accordance with tradition, he would attain his majority.
Moreover, his guardianship had only been conferred upon hih\
by the late King by word of mouth, unratified by any authentic
act. He felt extremely uneasy. But he had an inteUigent
S
"SMOKE AND GLORY'' OF ITALY
and imperious woman at his side. Contemporary writers are
not very friendly towards Anne de Beaujeu. They describe
her as " full of dissimulation and a great hypocrite," " shrewd '*
it is true, but " very vindictive, and a regular little mischief-
maker." The Venetian ambassador adds that she was ex-
tremely miserly, " that she would do anything for money and
regarded the glory of God as little as the honour of the Crown."
However that may be, she was essentially a " masterful woman "
and led her husband with great firmness and decision.
The difficulties of the situation were such as to cause con-
siderable anxiety. Louis XI's government had been so harsh
Difficulties towards all concerned that reactionary outbursts
of Govern- were to be feared. In order to forestall these,
ment. the Beaujeus hastened to sacrifice the officials
who had been most deeply compromised in the late King's
service. Olivier le Daim was sentenced to be hanged.
They cancelled taxes that were overdue, lowered the taille,
reduced the army, opened the prisons, and gave back goods
that had been confiscated. These measures apparently met
with success.
The most pressing problem, however, was connected with
the nobility. There was a certain number of persons who
were redoubtable on account of their wealth, power, and autho-
rity, and whose discontent would entail the worst possible
consequences. First and foremost among these were : the heir
presumptive to the throne after the weakling Charles VIII,
a young prince of twenty-one, frivolous, impetuous, and rest-
less, " with a small head in which there was not room for many
brains," a second cousin, Louis, Duke of Orleans, grandson of
a brother of Charles VI ; then the eldest Beaujeu, the Duke
of Bourbon ; Ren6, Duke of Lorraine ; Francis II, Duke of
Brittany ; Alain d'Albret, a southern nobleman ; Dunois,
the son of the famous Orleans bastard of the same name, who
afterwards helped his great friend, the Duke of Orleans, and
organized his rebellions ; and many others. How would all
these people regard or acquiesce in the exceptional position
enjoyed by the Beaujeus ? .
In order to conciliate them the Beaujeus tried heaping
favours on their heads. Pierre and Anne formed a council of
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
twelve to carry on the government, at the head of which they
placed the Duke of Orleans, whom they also made Governor
of rile de France, Champagne and la Brie. They appointed
the Duke of Bourbon Constable, Lieutenant-General to the
King and Governor of Languedoc, and they made Dunois
Governor of Dauphiny. Their plan proved abortive, for they
learned that the Duke of Orleans regarded their dominant
position as intolerable and had made iip his mind to demand
their downfall. Thereupon they decided to summon the States -
General in order that their powers might be confirmed by the
representatives of the nation.
In doing this they set to work very cleverly. Wherever
they could they nominated their own candidates. They decreed
that members should be indiscriminately elected by the three
estates of the realm, the clergy, the nobility and the people,
instead of having separate members for each order, and they
issued a dazzling programme of which the essential feature was
to be a reduction of taxes.
On January 15, 1484, the States-General solemnly assembled
at Tours, in the great hall of the Archbishop's palace. It was
States-General chiefly composed of honest but somewhat timid
of 1484. individuals who were uncertain as to their duties
and not very sure of their rights, but who at all events
had plenty to say. They made contradictory statements
and few among them were of the same opinion. The
Duke of Orleans had his followers, and Anne had her
partisans to whom she gave instructions. A struggle at
once ensued. The Duke's friends asserted that from time
immemorial the heir presumptive to the throne had been the
guardian of a king who was still a minor. The other side retorted
that as Charles VIII would attain his majority in a few weeks
it was useless to discuss the matter. The States admitted the
truth of this. They thereupon debated the question of the com-
position of the King's council, or rather the question as to who
should nominate the members of the council. The nobles,
with the Duke of Orleans at their head, demanded this right.
Anne de Beaujeu had the States informed that she proposed
granting this privilege to the Assembly. The States refused.
Each member gave expression to his own opinion and some
4
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
confusion followed. Thereupon PhilijDpe Pot, Sire de la
Roche, one of the members for Burgundy, who was one of
Anne's supporters, and the King's chamberlain and private
tutor, made a long speech. He enunciated some bold theories,
asserting that if authority were put in the hands of princes,
anarchy would be the result. He gave utterance to ideas
which have a very modem ring : " The State belongs to the
people ; " "in the beginning the sovereign people created
kings ; " " sovereignty cannot belong to a prince who only
exists by the will of the people." He maintained with great
eloquence that as the Assembly was superior to the King, it
had only to issue its orders. His audience listened attentively
and applauded him, but did not dare to carry his principles
into practice. In the end they decided to entrust themselves
*' to the good pleasure of the King and the said lords and princes
and the council " ; which seemingly amounted to answering
one question by another, but in reality left matters exactly
where they stood. The Assembly added that they desired
to be convoked every other year. The next day they
found the hall dismantled, the hangings taken down and
the benches removed. They understood and took their
departure. Pierre and Anne de Beaujeu remained masters
of the situation.
The Duke of Orleans was extremely angry and entertained
the extraordinary notion of kidnapping Charles VIII. Un-
fortunately for his designs Anne was warned in time and
hastened to place the young King in safety behind the solid
walls of Montargis. Upon being found out, the Duke of Orleans
cast aside his mask. He went to Brittany, a semi-independent
grand-duchy of France, and invited its Duke, Francis II, who
detested the Beaujeu government, to join with him in driving
out Anne. He also found supporters among the nobility —
the Count of Angouligme, the Duke of Alengon and Dunois.
Anne, for her part, was energetic and resolute. She mustered
The her troops, stripped Orleans and Dunois of
" Mad War." their offices and functions, and marched boldly
against them in the direction of fivreux and Verneuil,
where they were encamped. Orleans took flight. Brittany
was not moving a finger to help him. He capitulated, was
5
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
granted pardon and resumed his seat on the council. Thus
ended the first act of what was known as the " Mad War."
The second was not slow to follow and its result was no less
disastrous. Hunted, surrounded, and blockaded at Beaugency,
the Duke of Orleans and Dunois were obliged to capitulate.
This time Dunois was exiled to Piedmont.
The third and final act followed in 1486. Dunois, who
had returned from exile, had taken up the negotiations with
Brittany on behalf of his friend, and had extended them to
Lorraine. He won over the King of Navarre to his cause, as
well as the Sire d'Albret and the Counts of Angouleme, Nevers,
and Comminges. With their help he formed a league and
matters began to assume a serious aspect. Anne de Beaujeu
acted with her usual decision. The first step to take was to
rout her enemies in the south before the rest could be rallied.
She marched against them and broke their lines everywhere.
D'Angouleme, dAlbret, and Comminges, taken unawares and
put to confusion, laid down their arms. She thereupon sent
three bodies of troops against Brittany under the command
of the Comte de Montpensier, the Comte de Saint -Andr6 and
Louis de Tremoille, a clever young general of twenty-seven,
full of promise. The first campaign, which was fought in
1487, was unsuccessful. In the following year La Tremoille
was made commander-in-chief over 16,000 men. He captured
Ancenis and Foug^res, and at Saint-Aubin du Cormier came
into contact with the Duke of Orleans, who was lying in
wait for him with 6000 foot, 2400 horse, and a number of
cannon. A sharp fight took place. Orleans was beaten
and made prisoner. By this time, however, Anne was tired
of pardoning him. She had her dangerous cousin imprisoned
in the depths of a strong tower at Bourges, where, at last
reduced to subjection, he lay for three years lamenting his
fate.
The Duke of Brittany then sued for peace. This was
granted him at Sable on harsh and humiliating terms. His
heir was a daughter, the celebrated Anne of Brittany. By
the Peace of Sable, Francis II was bound not to give her in
marriage without permission from the King of France, and he
was also forced to pay all the expenses of the war. Francis II
6
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
was so deeply afTected that he died. The question which
now assumed important proportions was the marriage of his
daughter.
The aspirants to her hand were both numerous and for-
midable. First and foremost were foreigners, and, among
Marriage of these, the Archduke Maximilian of Austria, the
Charles Vin. son of the Emperor Frederick III. Maximilian's
first wife had been Mary of Burgundy, a daughter of Charles the
Bold. She had died leaving him with two children, one of
them a girl Margaret, who had been betrothed to Charles VIII
and even sent to the French Court. Her father sighed after
the brilHant heritage of Charles the Bold, upon part of which
Louis XI had laid hands. If he married Anne of Brittany, in
spite of the difference of age between them, he would be master
of Brittany and hold France in a vice. The other suitors
were Alain d'Albret ; the Duke of Buckingham, whose suit
was backed by the King of England ; Don Juan, the heir
to the thrones of Aragon and Castille ; and several others. In
the face of the dangers which any one of these combinations
afforded, Anne de Beaujeu resolutely decided to arrange a
marriage between the precious heiress and Charles VIII, an
arrangement which would solve all difficulties. Unfortunately
the news suddenly reached her that Anne of Brittany was
about to marry Maximilian. Those who surrounded the person
of the young princess had arranged this in accordance with
the dying wishes of her father. The French Court was furious.
An energetic protest was drawn up against this violation of
the Treaty of Sable, and between 30,000 and 40,000 men were
dispatched to ask the Duchess of Brittany to give up Maxi-
milian and accept the hand of Charles VIII. The French
troops laid siege to Nantes and the Duchess was faced by the
alternative of either marrying the Archduke and being driven
out of Brittany, or accepting the King of France and retaining
her lands. Anne had no choice. She gave way and the
contract of marriage was signed on December 13, 1491, in
the great hall of Langeais castle. The wedding followed,
celebrated with great pomp, and the new queen was crowned
at Saint-Denis.
Charles VIII was now twenty-one and was showing signs
7
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of wishing to govern the kingdom himself. Anne of Brittany
was seventeen and seemed a self-willed young lady whom it
would not be easy to manage. The Beaujeus realized that their
pubUe part was at an end. They retired gradually, and little
by little relinquished their hold on the reins of government.
The Duke of Bourbon, the head of their family, had just died
without issue, leaving them vast possessions. They withdrew
into the background. They had, on the whole, ruled the kingdom
with firmness and decision, solved difficulties skilfully, and come
safely out of perilous situations. Louis XI had done well in
making them the guardians of his son.
The young King who now took upon hianself the govern-
ment of his kingdom was far from being a brilliant youth. He
Character of was short and terribly thin, with an enormous
Charles VIII. head. The portrait of him found on PoUajuolo's
curious terra-cotta in the museum at Florence and a minia-
ture in a manuscript in the Biblioth^que Nationale, both
depict him with large goggle eyes, a huge prominent nose,
a vulgar, thick-lipped mouth with a loose underlip, and
a short chin upon which sprouted a sparse red beard.
He was certainly ugly. Zachariah Contarini, the Venetian,
declared that he was " misshapen." /His appearance
stamped him as a mediocre, ill-balanced individual. Phy-
sically he was a degenerate. He indulged in strange tastes,
soaking himself with insufferably pungent perfumes and loading
his fingers with numberless rings. He was either silent or
spoke but rarely. He was a prey to nervous, twitching move-
ments to which his jerky signature bears witness. He was,
in short, an altogether misbegotten creature. His letters,
which have been published, have been cited as proofs of his
intelligence. But these letters were the work of secretaries.
Stress has been laid upon the manner in which he entered into
personal negotiations with foreign ambassadors. These am-
bassadors, however, declare that he saw no one himself but
referred everybody to some member of his council. Delia
Casa, the Florentine, calls him " a fool, guided by the first
comer " ; Contarini adds, " In body as in spirit he is of httle
worth." There are, indeed, many facts which point to his
being but a poor specimen of royalty.
8
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
His wife, the little Duchess of Brittany, had a very dilTerent
personality, and was greatly his superior, though she, too.
Character of '^^^ ^^^ beautiful. She was small, flat-chested
Anne of and thin, and was even lame in one leg, an infirmity
Brittany. she managed to hide by means of pattens. Her
face was rather long and colourless, with a short nose, and
too large a mouth. But, as Brant 6me says, she was
" a shrewd Brittany woman," alert, fiendishly clever,
prudent, and above all, self-willed to the point of obstinacy ;
when she wanted a thing, she wanted it with her whole
heart and soul. She was well educated and knew Greek
and Latin, and she prided herself upon patronizing poets and
granting them pensions. She possessed artistic tastes and
had quantities of wrought gold and silver ornaments made for
her, as well as tapestries and pictures. She gave commissions
for manuscripts adorned with miniatures, which rank among
the most beautiful creations of their kind that France possesses.
She also had quantities of chased gold and silver plate, trinkets
and stuffs, for her domain of Brittany brought her vast wealth.
She and Catherine de' Medici were the richest of all the Queens
of France. Anne had two entirely different sides to her nature.
She could be a simple little native of Brittany, dressed
for ordinary occasions in a modest black costume, her
head covered with the hood characteristic of her country,
also black, with a white coif on the top, a woman with an eye
to the main chance, severe, and even miserly. But she could
also be a proud princess, who kept no count of her fine dresses
in cloth of gold lined with ermine, and who on feast days
covered her person with glistening jewels and distributed her
largesse sumptuously both to Church and poor. Through-
out her life she remained a true Brittany woman at heart.
She was worshipped in her Duchy where she always came
open-handed. At Amboise she had a permanent bodyguard
of a hundred Breton nobles, and a band of native singers
and musicians who soothed her spirit with songs of her own
land. As she was richer than Charles VIII and had done him
the honour of embellishing Amboise with beautiful hangings.
Oriental carpets, and artistic furniture, she insisted upon living
a fairly independent life. She was surrounded by a brilliant
9
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
court and had thirty or forty maids-of-honour. Though she
was very jealous she did not interfere in her husband's affairs,
but allowed him to rule the kingdom as he pleased.
Charles carried on his government in a peculiar fashion.
This boy of twenty-one who, according to Comines, " was
Charles Vin's ^ mere fledgling," indulged in an extraordinary
dreams of dream of conquest. It was his great wish to
conquest. march on Constantinople, drive out the infidel
Turk, and place upon his own head the imperial crown of
Const antine. Undertaken by a powerful prince the scheme
would have been an audacious one ; but conceived as it
was by a sick boy it was merely the figment of a dis-
ordered imagination. However, there was one tangible fact
which gave some substance to the dream. The right of the
Kings of France to lay claim to the throne of Naples was
destined to put Charles VIII on the high road to Greece and
Constantinople.
Two hundred years had gone by since a brother of St. Louis,
Charles, Count of Anjou and Provence, had set forth at his
own risk and peril to carve out a kingdom for himself in the
south of Italy. His success was short-lived. In 1282 the Sicilians
revolted, massacres took place, and Spanish princes of the
House of Aragon came over, drove out the Angevins, and for
two hundred years remained undisturbed masters of Naples. But
the Counts of Anjou and Provence on their return to France
had jealously preserved their pretensions to the kingdom they
had once held. In 1420, Alfonso V, another prince of Aragon,
crossed the sea and seized the ill-fated kingdom, because its
Queen, Juana II, who had no children, had adopted Rene of
Anjou, an Angevin prince. On July 10, 1480, Rene of Anjou,
the last Count of Anjou and Provence and pseudo-king of
Naples, surnamed " good King Ren6 " died, leaving no
direct heir. In his will he bequeathed Anjou to the King of
France, the counties of Maine and Provence and the famous
rights to Naples to a nephew, Charles, Comte du Maine, on
condition that the latter at his death should leave his entire
heritage to the King of France. Charles du Maine died on
December 11, 1481, and Louis XI thus found himself possessed
of all the lands and rights of the House of Anjou. Louis XI
10
'SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
was a practical man. He seized all the territory offered him ;
but in the shadowy rights connected with a distant land, which
he would need men and money to win, he took not the smallest
interest. His daughter, Anne de Beaujeu, who inherited his
ideas, held these rights of so little account that she was on the
point of handing them over to Ren6 II, Duke of Lorraine, a
relative of the Angevins. A stray chance, however, was destined
to revive their memory in the breast of the romantic successor
of the most matter-of-fact and astute of mediaeval monarchs.
Italy, at this time consisted of a mosaic of independent
states of varying sizes, each one jealous of its neighbour and
constantly at war one with the other. Those amongst them
who felt themselves too weak, would call in foreign Powers to
help them, such as the Emperor of Germany, the King of Spain
and the King of France. The King of Spain was far away ;
the Emperor of Germany, trammelled by the semi-federated
constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, had his hands tied.
The King of France alone was in a position to help. Louis XI
had frequently been asked to act as mediator, and France had
thus entered into relations with Italy. At this juncture the
reigning Duke of Milan was Gian Galeaz^o_Msj:ia Sforza, a
young man of somewhat delicate health, who had succeeded
his father under the guardianship of his mother, Bona of Savoy,
a sister of Louis XI's wife, Charlotte, and therefore aunt to
Charles VIII. Bona was a woman of scant intelligence ** with
but little sense." Her brother-in-law, Ludovico Sforza, surnamed
Ludovico the Moor on account of his dark complexion, seized
Sforza. the reigns of government and made up his mind to
usurp the throne of his nephew. The existing portraits of
Ludovico the Moor and especially the picture by Zenale
in the Brera Museum at Milan, do not give us a very
engaging idea of this man. They depict him with
regular features, straight unflinching gaze and the close -shut
thin lips of a man whose thoughts are veiled. His face was
inscrutable and untrustworthy, with a disingenuous glance,
whilst his head was that of a shady attorney, deficient in courage
and in scruple, if not in intelligence, with feelings entirely
self-centred or base. The plan he had conceived was not
easy to carry out. The chief obstacles in his path were the
11
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
claims of Charles VIII, the cousin of the Duke whom he wished
to dethrone, and of the latter's father-in-law, Alfonso of Cala-
bria, the eldest son of King Ferrante of Naples. Ludovico
could think of no better plan for ridding himself of these two foes
than that of setting them at war with each other.
He forthwith dispatched ambassadors to Amboise with
instructions to bribe Charles VIII's most powerful counsellors
and imbue the King of France with the desire of making good
his rights over Naples. Amongst these counsellors the most
important were fitienne de Vesc, the ex-sheriff of Meaux, who
had been made sheriff of Beaucaire and whose influence was all
powerful with the King ; a priest named Guillaume Brigonnet,
whom Charles VIII had raised to the bishopric of Saint Malo,
and Jean de Baudricourt, Marshal d'Esquerdes. The two first
mentioned were the real masters; They accepted large sums
from Ludovico, as is conclusively proved by documents found
in the archives of Milan. According to Comines theywerie
also dazzled by seductive hopes, ifitienne de Vesc was "told
that in Italy he would win territories and titles and Brigonnet
was promised a cardinal's hat. The four men were hand
in glove, ifitienne de Vesc was the most determined of
them all, and Charles VIII, for his part, entered stoutly upon
the adventure. Certain Neapolitan nobles, who had fled their
country on account of the brutal behaviour of their King,
urged him to undertake the expedition. King Ferrante of
Naples, a big man with a fat, bestial face, and hard pitiless
expression, had carried on his government entirely by violence ;
he had massacred, betrayed, and imprisoned right and left.
Eltienne de Vesc had learned treatises drawn up, proving the
legality of the French King's rights over Naples and Sicily,
and preparations were made forthwith.
When the news of this enterprise was made known, it was
regarded as ridiculous by every one in France. Not a single
Charles VIII voice was raised in its favour and the opposition
decides to to it became exceedingly active. But Charles VIII
invade Italy. stood his ground. Ludovico the Moor was
delighted and swore that Charles and all his council
together " did not make up half a wise man between them ; "
but when Charles came down into Italy, he added, " It
12
\
r
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
is I who brought him here, and I shall lead him yet further
afield ! " However it was not long before he himself met with
grave difficulties.
A commission, consisting of the King's four counsellors
and Comines, was nominated to prepare for the "enterprise " as
it was called. They decided that 500,000 to 600,000 ducats must
be set aside, that the people must be taxed to the extent of
800,000 ducats, that 24 ships, 12 galleons and 50 galleys must
be chartered at Genoa and elsewhere, for the transport of the
main body of the army, consisting of 10,400 men, and that a
force of 41,900 must be levied. Steps were immediately taken
to raise these niunbers
The expedition also required the help of diplomacy. An
envoy. Perron de Baschi, was dispatched to Italy to see how
the land lay. The Italians were alarmed. The advent of
this foreign King and his army boded but little good in their
eyes. Ludovico the Moor began to grow uneasy. A treaty
of alliance was made between France and the Duke of Milan,
in which Ludovico succeeded in having his name inserted.
The Republic of Venice sent evasive answers. Piero de' Medici
gave expression to vague protestations of good will from Florence.
In Rome, Pope Alexander VI confined himself to generalities.
Ferrante, for his part, was getting under arms. But at all
events the neutrality of the various States had been secured.
Lastly, before leaving France, Charles VIII made all the
arrangements necessary for his absence. He confided the
Treaties with regency to Pierre de Bourbon and handed over
England, the various departments of government to trust-
Spain, and worthy individuals. With the view of preventing
Austria. the Kings of England and Spain, or Maximilian
of Austria, from seizing upon some pretext to profit by
his absence in order to attack his frontiers, he made treaties
with them. For the sum of 745,000 golden crowns the
King of England bound himself by the Treaty of Staples of
November 3, 1492, not to interfere. An old story was
revived of a loan of 300,000 golden crowns made by France
to Aragon as a surety for which France had occupied Cerdagne
and Roussillon. By the Treaty of Barcelona, of January 3,
1493, Charles VIII agreed to cancel the debt and give up the
18
^
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
security in return for the neutrality of Aragon. Maximilian
had entered a claim for the return of the provinces which he
had given his daughter, Margaret of Austria, as a dowry, before
she had been sent home to him by Charles VIII upon his marriage
with Anne of Brittany. By the terms of the Treaty of Senlis,
Charles VIII gave back Franche-Comte and Artois to Maxi-
milian. Thus did the King of France relinquish the substance
for the shadow I
When these arrangements had been made, Charles VIII
set forth. His army, which had been laboriously con-
centrated, marched on ahead, divided into two bodies. The
Charles Vin ^smd army was under the command of Gilbert
enters Italy. de Montpensier ; the troops destined for em-
barkation were placed under the Duke of Orleans, who had
been released from prison and had made his peace with
the King. The Col di Genevra was crossed, the baggage
being carried by mules. But no sooner had the troops left
the mountains behind them, than they discovered that they
were already short of money. Charles VIII, however,
received a friendly welcome from the Duke and Duchess of
Savoy, from whom he borrowed 12,000 ducats, and at Asti
he fell in with Ludovico the Moor, from whom he extracted
60,000 ducats. King Ferrante of Naples, terrified by the storm
that was about to break over his head, had tried to raise troops
and collect thirty galleys. He had sent envoy after envoy far
and wide to seek allies. His overtures, however, had been
coldly received. To the court of Charles VIII he had dispatched
ambassadors charged to bribe the French King's counsellors.
They had been conducted back to the frontier. Ferrante,
maddened by this, died of rage. His son, Alfonso of Calabria,
who succeeded him, inherited all his cruelty without his talents.
He dispatched his brother, Frederick, to Genoa, with orders
to attack the French troops as they embarked. Frederick
landed at Rap^llo, near Genoa, with 4000 men, whom the
Duke of Orleans speedily attacked with his Swiss troops and
routed. This first French victory caused a great stir.
Charles VIII, after a mild attack of small-pox, renewed his
march. The forces that followed him felt no enthusiasm for
the enterprise. They found the weather hot and the wine sour.
14
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
As Comines says, " They firmlybelieved that the King would go
no farther." The State of Milan was crossed without difficulty
(October, 1494). At Milan Charles paid a visit to his cousin
Gian Galeazzo Maria, whom he found laid up in bed, very weak
and ill, and then marched on to Placentia. He advanced
with an escort of 7000 cavalry and forty cannon, followed by a
throng of vehicles. Sometimes he drove, sometimes he rode
on horseback, dressed invariably in black. The whole of the
French army collected at Placentia, presenting to the astonished
eyes of the Italians a motley and barbarous crowd. They
were, according to Sanuto : "A haughty people, full of courage
and spirit, who had enormous wide slippers on their feet, very
long stirrups, top boots coming up over their greaves, large
hats on their heads, and short coats with long sleeves." The
Italians were greatly incensed.
The next step was to enter Tuscany. At Florence, the
ruling city of the district, the people were quite willing to
Charles Vin receive Charles VIII. But Piero de' Medici,
at Florence. whose wealthy relatives had succeeded in
abolishing the republic, would not give his consent.
The Dominican monk, Girolamo Savonarola, who was
an eloquent preacher and a stirring apostle of the people,
had, in his sermons, long been condenming the pagan
corruption of manners. " You will be punished ! " he warned
the Florentines. ** There cometh a man who in a few weeks
will overrun Italy without drawing the sword, and fortresses
shall fall before him " ! The attitude of Savonarola lent strength
to the feelings of the populace. Charles VIII advanced and
crossed the Apennines. Piero de' Medici, caught between two
fires, came to him and offered to allow him to cross Tuscany
on condition that the French King secured him in his ruler-
ship of Florence. Charles VIII accepted his terms and borrowed
200,000 ducats from him. The Florentines, however, rose
up in fury against Piero de' Medici and sacked his house.
Charles VIII marched forward to Lucca and Pisa, and finally
reached Florence on November 17. He was accorded a mag-
nificent reception, in spite of two heavy showers which forced
the clergy, in their gold-embroidered vestments, to retreat.
The streets were strewn with sand and adorned with hangings ;
15
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the bells pealed and crowds of people hailed him. The Italians
were astonished at the sight of the great drums and small fifes of
the French troops ; they were filled with admiration by their
beautiful gilt halberds, and the archers of the guard, with
their ' hoquetons,^ or mantles, covered with gold lace, looked
like noblemen in their eyes. Charles VIII, however, mounted
on his black horse, with his gilded armour, his jacket of gold
brocade, his full blue cloak and his white hat covered with
black plumes and surmounted by the royal crown, seemed to
them insignificant. Meanwhile, Gian Galeazzo Maria, had
died in Milan. Ludovico at once had himself proclaimed
Duke of Milan, after having bought the consent of the Emperor
of Germany with a sum of money. Charles VIII was taken
entirely by surprise, but he was so deeply involved in his under-
taking, that he was obliged to make the best of a bad business,
and bow to circumstances over which he had no control.
His sojourn in Florence proved a pitiful affair. The
Florentines, irritated by the King's awkwardness, showed
themselves hostile. Charles VIII prevailed upon them to
allow Piero de' Medici to return as a private citizen. Some
scuffles took place, and at last the people paid Charles VIII
120,000 gold ducats and requested him to take his departure,
which he did on November 28.
He now had to cross the Papal States. Alexander VI,
who had but little love for the House of Aragon, was never-
CharlesVm theless still less in favour of the King of France
in Rome. as a neighbour in Naples. On being asked whether
he would allow Charles VIII to cross his territory or not, he
was at a loss to know what answer to give. Mechanically,
he took measures to fortify himself and then sent to beg
the King not to come. Finally, moved by a sudden impulse,
he summoned the Neapolitan Duke of Calabria to Rome
with 5000 infantry and fifty-five squadrons. The French
immediately made a rapid advance. Gilbert de Montpensier
galloped with his cavalry right up to the walls of Rome. At
this moment a piece of the city walls fell in, an occurrence
which the Pope regarded as a sign from heaven for him to yield.
The Duke of Calabria was asked to evacuate Rome, whose
gates were thrown open for 1500 French soldiers to march
16
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
through the streets on December 27. Charles VIII arrived
on the 31st by night, without making any show. The Pope
had shut himself up in the Vatican, thinking that the French
wished to depose him. He was meditating hurling a bull of
major excommunication against the King of France when,
upon further reflection, he decided to come to terms and granted
him a free passage and stores, together with Civita Vecchia
and Ostia. Alexander VI and Charles now became extremely
friendly. Brifonnet obtained his Cardinal's hat and the King,
after staying at the Vatican and receiving a solenm blessing
from the Pope on January 28, took his departure.
Meanwhile, Alfonso of Naples, terrified, and realizing that
his subjects were irreconcilably hostile to him, had abdicated Yf'
Entry into i^ favour of his son Ferrante II. The populace
Naples, 1495. of Naples had risen up with shouts of " Francia '*
and Ferrante had only just had time to shut himself up
in the Castel dell' Uovo while his faithful friend Pescara
held Castel Nuovo. The vanguard of the French army
advanced apace and Marshal de Gi6, with forty horse,
took one of the city gates amid the cheers of the crowd.
Charles VIII reached Poggio Reale, the country seat of the
Kings of Naples, whither Neapolitan envoys were sent to
congratulate him. At this point Ferrante fled to the island of
Ischia and from thence to Messina, and the Castel dell' Uovo,
also surrendered to Charles VIII, who had ridden into the city
on February 12, with ninety horse and found himself master
of Naples. In a few days the provinces on all sides offered to
submit. The conquest had been achieved, accomplished by
magic, as in a dream, without resistance and without effort.
Charles VIII was enchanted. He sent accounts of his
victories to France, and had them all printed and distributed
in the form of " bulletins of the Grand Army," one of the first
examples of an " inspired " press. He then set to work to
organize his new kingdom, confirming privileges, lowering the
taxes, appointing magistrates and governors, and distributing
rewards all round, l^tienne de Vesc was given two Duchies,
d'Aubigny was made a Marquis, lands were divided amongst
his archers and officers, and the Duke of Montpensier was made
Lieutenant-General and Viceroy of the kingdom. After this
B 17
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Charles VIII sought diversion ; he organized jousts and festivals,
and gave himself up to amusement, whilst his army drank and
revelled beneath soft and pleasant skies.
But he had a rude awakening. The Italian States roused
themselves from the stupor into which the rapid conquest of
Retreat of the kingdom of Naples had cast them. They
Charles VIII. realized that they were all threatened, and joining
together decided to form a league against the dangerous
victor, calling in the help of the Emperor and the King
of Spain. On April 1, 1495, in the cabinet of the Doge, at
Venice, a league was formed including the Pope, the
Emperor, the King of Spain, Ludovico the Moor — who was
now anxious to defend himself against Charles VIII — and
Venice. The Kang of France was indignant. He flew into a
passion, exclaiming that it was a scandalous shame. Never-
theless, the allies continued to arm, and there was no time to
be lost. It was imperative for Charles VIII to reach the French
frontier as quickly as possible if he wished to avoid being cut
off from the Alps. The French fleet had not been of much
use since the victory at Rapallo, and the Duke of Orleans had
even gone so far as to shut himself up in Asti. Charles VIII
summoned his ships to Naples to take away part of the artillery
and the booty, and then, after having indulged in a childish
notion of having himself crowned King of Naples, and making
a solemn entry into the city, clothed in the purple robes of
emperor, and holding the imperial orb in his hand, he set forth
on his return journey, leaving 12,000 men behind him under
the command of Montpensier.
He took the same route by which he had come. The Pope
did not wait to receive him but took flight, and ambassadors
were sent by Florence to implore Charles VIII not to pass
through that city. The king was irritated by this, but made
direct for Pisa and began crossing the Apennines.
The allies were lying in wait for him on the other side of
the mountains. They had 40,000 men under the command
Battle of of Francesco di Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua,
Fomovo, 1495. who had sent on his vanguard as far as Fornovo,
on the Ceno, at the foot of the hills. Charles VIII had only
10,000 men. The rest were either in garrison, or dispersed
18
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
and lost. He met with great difficulty in crossing the passes,
for it was the end of June and the heat was stifling.
The cannon, fourteen huge pieces, had to be dragged along
by the Swiss guards. On June 30 the French army took
up its position round Fornovo, and on July 6 the two armies
met. It was raining, the cannon boomed, the troops charged
with lances lowered and a furious hand to hand fight took place.
At this juncture the baggage convoy of the French army was
seen advancing on the left. The allies jumped to the conclusion
that the baggage, which was said to contain much booty, was
going to slip through their fingers. Many of them made a rush
for it. The lines wavered and the French seized the oppor-
tunity to break through. In a short time, thanks to the in-
efficiency of the Italian soldiery, the enemy was routed.
With the road thus cleared before him, Charles ^0QX pressed
forward as quickly as possible. In a week he reached Placentia
. amid tropical heat. He passed the town without entering it,
^ marched by Alessandria, and on July 15 reached Asti. Mean-
^ while all his work at Naples had fallen to pieces. King Ferrante
^ re-entered the town amid the acclamations of the same populace
^ which had saluted Charles VIII with cheers, and the whole
vi kingdom returned to its former allegiance. Gilbert de Mont-
^ pensier at first shut himself up in Castel Nuovo. He afterwards
c took flight, collected 10,000 men, which were all that remained
I of the French army, and was besieged at Atella. On July 20
he capitulated and four months later died of fever, a prisoner j^^.
in the hands of Ferrante. No sign remained of the fleeting
conquest of Naples ; and Charles VIII recrossed the Alps.
What had he gained by this enterprise, which according to
Comines, had not proved ill-omened from the beginning merely
Futility of " because the expedition had been guided by
the Ebqiedi- God, and owed but little to the good sense of
*^®°* its leaders " ? He had gained nothing — " nothing
but glory and smoke," says the same writer. It is
asserted that the French, wonder-struck, discovered Italy
and brought back the Renaissance with them. Con-
temporary writers, however, prove that this crowd of rough
men-at-arms crossed Italy with their eyes shut. The poets
Octavien de Saint Gelais and Andr6 de la Vigne, in their Vergier
19
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
d'honneur which is a record of the expedition, describe only
the merrymaking. At Pavia, Comines and Gaguin, it is true,
noticed a Charterhouse "built of marble with a doorway in
alabaster." But that was all! The thing which struck
Charles VIII most in Florence was a menagerie of Uons. He
visited Rome, and the Vatican, where his cicerone was Burchard,
the master of ceremonies. In his Diarium, the latter has left
us a description of this visit. Charles VIII, it seems, found
nothing to admire ! Naples alone made any impression on
him. He wrote that he was particularly struck by the gardens
and the ceilings of the houses. He was anxious to ^ake back
workmen with him and engaged about twenty men, joiners,
tailors, and "scent-makers" as well as masons, painters, and
sculptors. The only certain fact we know about these workmen
is that one of them, Pacello de Mercoliano, introduced Italian
gardens at Amboise and Blois. Charles VIII had additions
made to Amboise both before and after the expedition ; and
further, it is difficult to tell what was due to him and what to
Louis XII. It is, consequently, hard to see what impetus the
expedition against Naples gave to the progress of the arts in
France.
The remainder of his reign was short and sad. It was only
possible for sickly children to spring from a father so unhealthy
Death of as Charles VIII. He had two childien, the elder
Charles Vin, of whom was named Charles Orland. But they
1498. both died on his return from Italy. He did not
seem to feel their loss and " his mourning was but short-lived."
He was not destined to survive them long. On April 7,
1498, on the "eve of Palm Sunday," the King left the
Queen's room at Amboise about twelve or one o'clock
in the day, accompanied by his wife, to go and watch
a game of tennis in the castle moat. He went through a
gallery, called " Haquelebac's Gallery" after some Swiss
guard. The door happened to be out of order and he struck
his forehead against it. In spite of this, however, he went
and watched the players, and remained a long time talking
and chatting. Suddenly about two o'clock he fell back in a
faint. They laid him down on a mattress, where he remained
till eleven o'clock at night, surrounded by a crowd of frightened
20
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
people, hurrying to and fro. Three times he seemed to be
coming round and spoke a few words. But at eleven o'clock
he breathed his last. The real reason of his death is uncertain,
as also whether or not the blow he gave himself was in any way
responsible for his end. Comines speaks of a "catarrh or
apoplexy," probably a cerebral lesion. He was twenty-eight
when he died. He was given magnificent obsequies, which
lasted a month and cost 45,000 francs.
The Duke of Orleans, who succeeded him as Louis XII, was
a man of thirty-six. He was a second cousin of Louis XI
Louis Xn, through his father the poet, Charles of Orleans,
1498-1516. his grandfather Louis of Orleans, who was assas-
sinated in the Rue Barbette, and his ancestor Charles V.
Years had brought him discretion. He again was not handsome ;
he was thin, with a pronounced stoop, a bony face and a long
nose. He had the feeble health of an old man's son, as his father
was well advanced in years when he was born, and throughout
his life he remained a valetudinarian. He had been brought
up to love physical exercise. According to Saint Gelais he
was a good rider and hunter, a skilled wrestler and a fine
tennis player. He was a marvellous archer and withal, if
tradition is to be believed, a hearty eater and heavy drinker.
He was, moreover, a charming man, with an elegant, easy
carriage, "sweet-tempered, graeious, and benign." He was
always amiable and good-natured with everjrbody, obliging,
anxious not to give offence, easy to get on with, and open-
handed. His manner was " urbane and frank " ; he was, in
short, endowed with an altogether sympathetic nature, which
he inherited from his mother, Mary of Cleves, who was the best
of creatures and the most modest of women. He had been
brought up at Blois, his birthplace, which he loved to the end
of his days, surrounded by all the wealth and luxury that ample
means could afford— for his family was extremely rich. This
circumstance gave him the distinction of a gentleman of birth
and breeding, of which the elder branch of the family could no
longer boast.
Such were the qualities which made Louis XII so popular,
that throughout the centuries he has preserved the reputation
of a good king. The masses loved him for his kindness and his
21
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
sense of justice, and considered themselves happy under his
rule. As a matter of fact, this well-being was due to the ex-
ceptional prosperity enjoyed by France at the end of the
fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, a con-
dition to be attributed to compHcated economic causes gene-
rally prevalent at the time, for which Louis XII was in no
way personally responsible. He merely reaped the fruit of this
auspicious state of affairs. For his policy, with its perpetual
wars and consequent ruinous expenditure, ought to have made
him a hated monarch. But his country's good fortune saved
his reputation by allowing him to meet his expenses without
over-burdening the people, and his own attractive personality
did the rest.
The levity of mind of which he had been accused in his
youth, by Louis XI and Anne de Beaujeu, covered a substratum
of somewhat mediocre intelligence. His poHcy was never
skilful and his lack of aptitude for statecraft lent an undue
importance to his counsellors.
The principal and most celebrated of these was Cardinal
Georges d'Amboise. The son of a former chamberlain of
Cardinal Charles VII and Louis XI, he had been destined
Georges for the Church, and at the age of fourteen had
d'Amboise. been appointed Bishop of Montauban. At Court
he made the acquaintance of the future King Louis XII,
who was his junior by three years, and the two young men
formed an intimate friendship which was to last through-
out their Hves. From Montauban, Georges d'Amboise was
raised to the bishopric of Narbonne, and after that he
became Archbishop of Rouen. On his accession, Louis XII
made him his minister. He was a sweet-tempered man of
refined demeanour, prudent, fat, and bald, somewhat heavy
and slow of comprehension, but dihgent and loyal. Louis XII
placed the utmost confidence in him. He comprised in his
person "the whole government of the king and of France."
He was endowed with a sense of economy and of justice, the two
virtues which stood highest in the estimation of the people
who used to exclaim famiharly : " Leave it to Georges ! " He
had a love of magnificence ; was himself responsible for several
buildings, and spurred on Louis XII to follow his example.
22
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
Only two faults marred his character. He was too anxious
to push forward his own family, his brothers and his nephews ;
and he was over-ariTbitious. He had set his heart upon be-
coming Pope, an aspiration which proved a source of great
vexation to his country. But, Hke his master, he profited
by the extraordinary prosperity of the masses at this time and
consequently left behind him the reputation of having been a
better minister than he really was.
The other counsellors were men of well-balanced minds,
used to the conduct of affairs of State — Chancellor Guy
Louis Xn's ^^ Rochefort ; Marshal de Gie ; Louis de la
advisers. Tr^moille ; Canon ifitienne Poncher ; Florimond
Robertet, and Imbert de Batarnay, Admiral de Graville.
Louis de la Tr^moiflle was the man who had beaten the Duke
of Orleans at the Battle of Saint Aubin du Cormier, and he
felt somewhat nervous when the new King ascended the
throne. His fears, however, were set at rest by Louis XII's
amiable reception of him. fitienne Poncher, who afterwards
became Bishop of Paris, was a learned and extremely eloquent
divine and a virile personality, endowed with sound judgment ;
whilst Florimond Robertet, " Florimond the good " as he was
called, the son of a humble Montbrison family, who was
destined, on the death of Georges d'Amboise, to take the whole
weight of the government on his shoulders, was a zealous
administrator and a precise and conscientious worker — the
prototype and model of all secretaries of State, whose fore-
runner he was.
As soon as Louis XII became King he set to work to calm
the fears of all who had reason to tremble at his accession.
" It is not becoming or honourable to a King of France," he was
fond of saying, " to avenge the quarrels of a Duke of Orleans."
He made it known that he would introduce no changes either
in things or persons. He was most considerate to all with
whom he came in contact, and everybody thought him perfect.
Anne of Brittany, above all, who was weighed down with grief,
had nothing but praise to bestow on his behaviour towards her.
He was extremely attentive to her. By the terms of her
marriage contract with Charles VIII, she was bound, in the
case of being left a widow, to marry her husband's successor.
23
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Louis XII was not forgetful of this. He realized that he would
derive three advantages from such a marriage ; he would keep
Brittany; he would marry a princess with whom he had long
been secretly in love ; and he would have to repudiate his own
wife, who was ugly and had no children and towards whom
he felt utterly indifferent. He made this the first duty of his
reign.
Jeanne de France, the wife of Louis XII, was a daughter
of Louis XI. She was a woman with masculine features — ^to
Annnlment of i^^S^ ^V ^^^ death-mask in the Louvre — ^lean and
Louis XII's ungraceful, " short, dark, round-shouldered " and
first lame into the bargain. The match had been
marriage. arranged by Louis XI to suit his convenience,
and he had had the couple married when they were mere
children. The Duke of Orleans, who was but eleven years
old at the time, had wept and refused to do as he was
bid. The old king had then threatened to make *' a monk or
a priest " of him, and he had been obliged to give way. But
the young prince never developed any feeling of affection for his
wife. As soon as he had decided to marry Anne of Brittany,
Louis XII's first step was to get his former marriage annulled
by the Papal Court. The Chair of St. Peter was occupied
at this time by Alexander VI, the famous Borgia. Georges
d'Amboise had an interview with the pontiff's sinister son, Caesar
Borgia, and they agreed to terms together. The grounds
for annulling the marriage were based upon eight canonical
objections — ^the youth of the parties, their consanguinity, the
absent of consent on their part, &c. The suit ended favour-
ably and, as a reward for his pains, Louis XII granted Caesar
Borgia the County of Valentinois, which he raised to the rank
of a Duchy, and a pension of 20,000 pounds. In return for
this Caesar brought a Cardinal's hat to Paris for Georges
d'Amboise. Jeanne de France conducted her defence with
dignity and firmness. Public sympathy was on her side and
Louis XII did not show to advantage. The judges, however,
naturally returned a verdict in favour of the annulment, which
was thereupon decreed. The unfortunate Jeanne, who was
consoled by visions, humbly accepted the will of God. She
retired to Bourges, where she founded the Order of the
24
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
Annunciation, and in 1505 she died there in obscurity, unnoticed
by the world, but locally regarded as a saint.
Anne of Brittany accepted Louis XII. Having loved
Charles VIII, she was also ready to love her new husband.
She had tasted of the sweets of royalty and did
Marriage ol not care to return to the rank of a mere duchess.
Louis Xn and The marriage was celebrated at Nantes, in
^tttanv January 1499. *' The shrewd Brittany woman,"
Hlfl Iflff'S! as Louis XII used playfully to call her, took care
^ '' to make a stipulation that if she died without
issue, Brittany should not fall into the hands of the King
of France, but should remain in her own family. The
newly married couple took up their abode in the castle of
Blois and, to judge by their mutual tenderness and their
devotion and loyalty to each other, they must have been a
model couple.
This first act of the new reign was followed by another
far graver in its results. Louis XII conceived the desire of
invading Italy to conquer the Duchy of Milan.
Lotus XIIs There was no immediate connexion between
Conauest ^^^^ enterprise and that of Charles VIII. The
motives which led up to it and the end in view
were alike different. Whilst it was not quite so mad as
Charles' scheme for the conquest of Constantinople vid Naples,
Louis XII's project was none the less extremely impolitic.
As l&tienne Poncher, who was violently opposed to the idea,
maintained at the king's council-board, Louis XII would
have done far better to turn his attention towards " fixing
the boundaries " of his own kingdom. For years Louis XII
squandered men and money in trying to keep this precarious
conquest. He became involved in an interminable and tedious
series of international complications which were constantly
breaking out afresh, and in the end merely resulted in his
final evacuation of Italy ! Few reigns afford the spectacle
of a policy so vain, supported by so many futile efforts. The
council, or rather Georges d'Amboise in the council, upheld
and encouraged the king. The fact that during the French
occupation of Milan, Georges d'Amboise tried by every means
in his power to have himself elected Pope, seems to point to
25
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the true reason of Louis XII's persistency in maintaining his
rights over the Duchy of Milan.
These rights were derived from his grandmother, Valentina
Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke
of Milan, and wife of that Louis of Orleans who was murdered
by John the Fearless. As the line of Gian Galeazzo had be-
come extinct, the descendants of Valentina should by right
have been lords of Milan. But during the fifteenth century
the princes of the House of Orleans had either been prisoners
in London, or else were too young to assert themselves, and
the Sforzas, who were condottieri, had seized their lands. All
the House of Orleans had managed to keep was the county of
Asti, in Piedmont, which had been Valentina's dowry. Louis XII
made up his mind to claim his rights, which had been in
abeyance for fifty years, ever since 1447. Louis XII may
not have avenged his wrongs as Duke of Orleans on private
individuals, but he was thoroughly mediocre in his policy and
used his people's money to support a cause which concerned
his dukedom, but was of no interest to the nation at large.
The council, obliged to follow his lead, prepared for the
venture. Negotiations were entered into with foreign Powers
to secure their neutrality. Venice was approached
COTi^estoI ^j^j^ ^ ^-^^ ^Q ^^ alliance and the Swiss for a
supply of soldiers. Csesar Borgia was flattered
in order to win over the Pope. The scandalous Ludovico
Sforza, who was universally hated on account of his knavery,
was abandoned by all. By July, 1499, the French army
was ready. The three generals in command, Gian Giacomo
Trivulzio, Louis de Luxembourg, Lord of Ligny, and Stuart
d'Aubigny crossed the Alps with 13,000 foot, 6000 horse and
fifty-eight cannon. They seized upon the strongholds one by
one. Alessandria was captured by assault and brutally sacked.
Isolated and betrayed on every hand, Ludovico packed up his
treasure in carts and fled to Como. Thence he crossed the
Alps, where he had to hide in a grotto, and finally took refuge
at Innsbruck with the Emperor Maximilian, the strangest and
most changeable personality of his time. The State of Milan was
now in the hands of Louis XII. A leisurely march of twenty days
had been sufficient to ensure its occupation. Meanwhile, on the
26
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
east, Venice, the ally of the French, was laying hands upon
the whole of the Cremona district, as far as the Adda, a task
much to her liking. Delighted by his conquests, Louis XII
decided to pay his new territories a visit. He was given
a magnificent reception everywhere. He feasted, granted
audiences to ambassadors from every corner of Italy who
came to bow before the conqueror, and lent some of his
French troops to Caesar Borgia, for the conquest of the towns
of Imola, Forli, and Pesaro, which belonged to the relatives
of Ludovico, and with which Caesar proposed to create a small
independent principality for himself.
However, when he returned to France to take into his
arms the little daughter, Claude, who had just been born to
L f Mil ^"^' everjrthing changed in Milan. Trivulzio,
whom he left behind in command, committed
several blunders, and caused great discontent by his " haughty
swashbuckler airs." The French soldiery, moreover, were
brutal. Ludovico sent emissaries to sound the country and
succeeded in raising a band of 20,000 Italian, Swiss, and
German adventurers, at whose head he crossed the frontier
into Milan. The people, fickle as ever, declared them-
selves in his favour. On January 25, 1500, Milan revolted
and Trivulzio, who escaped death by the skin of his teeth,
took flight. Ludovico entered Milan in triumph, and thus —
the usual fate of such achievements — a conquest gained with
ease fell to pieces at a touch. The French evacuated the territory
under great difficulties and retreated to the foot of the Alps.
Louis XII, however, was determined to regain his possessions.
A fresh army crossed the Alps under the command of Louis
de la Tremoille, who was accompanied by Georges
of^MUan^^^ d'Amboise. Ludovico marched with 30,000 men
to meet the French force, which he encountered
at Novara on April 8, 1500. Unfortunately for him his
mercenaries were not to be relied upon. They had no desire
to enter into a serious conflict and their pay was overdue.
Some refused to move, others deserted, and the remainder were
utterly routed. Ludovico, who was obliged to disguise
himself as a German foot-soldier, was recognized and taken
prisoner. But this time his fate was sealed. La Tremoille
27
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
treated him with courtesy, invited him to dinner and tried to
console him by talking of the " King's clemency." But the
unfortunate man was destined for the remainder of his life to
pay a heavy price for his brief spell of glory and good-fortune.
Whilst Cardinal d'Amboise entered Milan and in solemn state
promised to forgive the inhabitants who begged for mercy,
Ludovico was conducted by an escort of two hundred archers
to Lyons. He entered the town through serried ranks of
curious and hostile citizens who lined the streets on either side.
Mounted on a mule and clad in a black camlet cloak, he pre-
sented an impressive figure with his tall frame, his long white
hair and his cold calm glance. Louis XII refused to receive
him and had him imprisoned first at Pierre -Encise, afterwards
at Lys-Saint-Georges in Berry, and finally at Loches in " a
vaulted underground chamber " secured by iron bars, where
he is believed to have died about 1510.
It was left to Georges d'Amboise to reorganize the State
of Milan. He had appointed as governor one of his nephews,
Charles d'Amboise, Lord of Chaumont-sur-Loire, a man, who
though still very young, was already Lord High Steward of
France. He was a mild, benevolent youth, who succeeded
very well in his new office. As a sign of good will the Pope
nominated Georges d'Amboise his legate in France, an ex-
tremely important position, which practically amounted to
making him Vice-Pope.
Louis XII, delighted by his success and having whetted his
appetite for conquest, now conceived the notion of extending
his possessions in Italy. With this object in view, and with
the traditional claims of the French kings over Naples as his
pretext, he revived the schemes of Charles VIII with regard
to that state. His predecessor's failure had taught him
nothing ; he may, perhaps, have been spurred on by the desire
of d'Amboise to get nearer Rome.
With the sole object of avoiding a dispute with the
King of Spain, should the latter challenge his right to the
coveted kingdom, Louis XH thought it wise to
I'^J. -ke a friendly division of territory between
himself and liis possible rival. By the Treaty
of Granada it was decided that Spain should have Calabria and"
28
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
Apulia, and that France should take the rest — extremely
vague terms. Thus the most dangerous adversary was satisfied
and Italy was humoured by the suggestion that Louis XII
did not aspire to be the sole conqueror of Naples. These
precautions, however, were destined to recoil upon their author.
A French army set forth on the march in May 1501, under
the command of Stuart d'Aubigny. Cardinal d'Amboise went
on ahead and Caesar Borgia, also eager for a share
Conques o -^^ ^j^^ spoil, led the rear-guard. Once again the
^"*\ .* expedition proved a mere military parade. The
Frerich entered Rome on June 25, where they received the
Pope's blessing and good wishes which, however, were not as
sincere as they might have been. The French and Spaniards
from opposite sides made a simultaneous invasion of Naples,
whose king, Frederick, unable to offer any resistance, shut up
his troops in some of the towns. The latter surrendered
at the first summons. Capua, alone, was carried by assault
on July 25 and was mercilessly pillaged, whilst its inhabitants
were put to the sword. Frederick, in terror, capitulated and
left the country in tears " with his disconsolate wife and children
stripped of their patrimony." He retreated to France where
he was promised a pension of 50,000 pounds. Upon his de-
parture the Spaniards and the French each took the share of
territory allotted them by the terms of the Treaty of Granada.
The Spaniards were under the command of Gonzalo di Cordova,
a soldier of great valour, a skilled general and a cold, calm man
of remarkable ability, who, moreover, had a larger army at
his back than the French.
Contingencies which should have been foreseen naturally
followed. As the Treaty of Granada had not clearly defined
the exact limits of the possessions to be divided
Soain^ ^ between the two kings, disputes arose. Louis XII
had appointed Louis of Nemours governor and
viceroy of Naples. Gonzalo di Cordova was impatient. He
solved the difficulties at issue by abruptly seizing the places in
dispute and driving out the French garrisons. Relations
between the two governors grew increasingly strained and
bitter, and eventually Gonzalo broke off all communication
with Nemours. Gradually a state of war was established,
29
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and Louis XII, who had divided the state of Naples with Spain
in order to avoid a conflict, found that he had only succeeded
in provoking it.
He sent reinforcements, 2000 Swiss and 10,000 Gascons.
The King of Spain did likewise — 2500 Germans and 10,000
Spaniards. On April 21, 1503, a battle took
Battles of place at Seminara. The French were under the
Cerignola command of Stuart d'Aubigny. Gonzalo di
1503. Cor^ioYa routed him completely, and, after killing
2000 of his men, summoned the soldiers from all
the garrisons and marched against the Duke of Nemours, whom
he caught at Cerignola. Nemours was beaten and slain and
the disaster of the French army was complete. At that very
moment Louis XII was holding negotiations with the King
of Spain ; but to this Gonzalo paid no heed. " This is the
second time he has deceived me ! " the King of France exclaimed
indignantly of Ferdinand the Catholic. When this remark
reached the latter's ears, however, he merely retorted : " He
lies, the sot ! I have deceived him ten times over ! "
Instead of learning wisdom by this cruel lesson Louis XII
merely became more determined than ever, and sent out a
fresh relay of 11,000 men to Naples. Alexander VI had just
died under dramatic circumstances, possibly poisoned by the
drugged food he had himself intended for others. Georges
d'Amboise hastened to the conclave in order, if possible, to
have himself nominated Pope. He had done all he could to
prepare the way for this, but he was doomed to disappointment.
Pius III was elected and, on his death three weeks IsAer, he was
succeeded by Giuliano della Rovere, who became the famous
pontiff, Julius II, the patron of the arts and the Maecenas of
his time, and withal a fiery, bellicose, and martial personage.
The 11,000 men sent out to Naples dragged out a miserable
existence. Their chiefs were quarrelling, they were de-
cimated by plague, and the weather was abomin-
Naples 1504* ^^^^' Rounded down by the able Gonzalo di
Cordova, they were gradually demolished, and
finally, on January 1, 1504, they laid down their arms at
Gaeta. It was during the course of these daily combats that a
knight, whose name rings through the centuries as an example
30
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
of courage, tenacity, vigour, and heroism — the famous Bayard
— won great renown. Among other feats of valour his defence
of the bridge at Garigliano has remained famous to this day.
Louis XII, who was very sensitive, was filled with con-
sternation at the news of this fresh disaster. In fact he made
himself quite ill over it. His health had long
m-ne^n of been delicate and he grew visibly thinner, weaker,
and more exhausted. So feeble did he become
that he seemed on the point of death, and the people about
hira were filled with anxiety. Anne of Brittany, alarmed for
her own future, thought it her duty to take precautions. As
Louis XII had no son, the heir to the throne was a distant
cousin, Francis, Count of Angoul^me, the future Francis I,
a young man who had been brought up at Amboise by his
mother, Louise of Savoy, an extremely strong-minded woman,
and his tutor, Pierre de Rohan, Marshal de Gi6. Anne and
Louise very naturally detested each other and the two
households of Amboise and Blois were divided by feelings
of the deepest antipathy. Anne of Brittany, who was anxious,
in the event of the King's death, at once to make good her
escape to her own Duchy, out of the menacing clutches of Louise
of Savoy and her minions, hastened to pack all her belongings
at Blois — furniture, tapestries, and works of art — into boats,
and dispatched them down the Loire to Nantes. Marshal de
Gi^, who had sunmioned troops to the side of the Count of
Angoul^me, and was making preparations for the new reign
which he beheved to be imminent, played her the trick of
seizing this convoy, and the rumour was spread abroad that
he was actually planning the arrest of Anne the moment she
was left a widow. But at this juncture Louis XII surprised
the whole world by recovering from his malady. The Queen,
however, whose haughty Breton spirit had been severely
wounded by what had occurred, demanded the
Trial of immediate arrest and trial of Marshal de Gi6 for
Gi6 1504 ^^S^ treason. Louis XII was greatly distressed
by this, as he would fain have avoided placing
an old servant of the Crown and a personal friend of long
standing in such a lamentable predicament. The Queen,
however, stood her ground, and he was obliged to give way.
81
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
The trial of Marshal de Gie formed one of the most important
events in the reign of Louis XII. It stirred public opinion
deeply, and its progress was watched by the people with pas-
sionate interest. It dragged on for a long time. As the Par-
liament of Paris seemed favourable to the accused, whom they
restored to temporary liberty, Anne had the Parisian court
disqualified — she paid the enormous costs of the proceedings
in order to make sure of her revenge — and the trial was there-
upon handed over to the Parliament of Toulouse, whose re-
putation for severity was notorious. The judges, however,
could or would only convict the prisoner of having slightly
overstepped the limits of his authority, and made a few wrongful
exactions. Gi6 was sentenced to be deprived of the tutorship
of the Count of Angoul^me, to be suspended for five years from
the rank of Marshal, and to be exiled from Court, which he was
not to approach within a radius of ten miles. He retired to
his magnificent seat, the Chateau du Verger, where he died in
1513, and Georges d'Amboise was popularly accused of having
supported Anne of Brittany, from fear and jealousy of his
rivalry.
After his first illness in 1504 Louis XII had a relapse in
1505 which proved quite as serious. But he once again re-
covered, to the great joy of his subjects, who were devoted to
their excellent, kindly, and sympathetic monarch. During the
hours of his convalescence the King pondered over many things,
amongst others the question of his will. He also came to the
conclusion that it was sheer folly to persist in the Neapolitan
Betrothal of enterprise. It was at this juncture, moreover,
the Princess that he made up his mind to give his beloved
Claude. daughter, Claude, whom he worshipped and
who was " his only treasure and solace in this world,"
in marriage to his cousin and heir presumptive, the Count
of AngoulSme, in order that she might be Queen of
France and keep Brittany in the possession of that country.
His council, to whom he communicated his plan, gave it their
approval, but Anne of Brittany, who could not bear any mention
of the House of Angoul^me, had to be won over. It was her
desire to marry her daughter to some archduke, who would
place her upon the imperial throne of Germany and thus preserve
32
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
for Brittany some sort of independence, which she would lose
if she were constantly bound to France. As she advanced in
years " the shrewd Brittany woman " became ever more
obstinate, over-bearing, and self-sufficient. She only gave vague
answers to the entreaties which assailed her from every
quarter. Louis XII grew anxious. He wanted a more formal
understanding, and pressure was brought to bear upon the
Queen to come to some definite decision. In obedience to
secret orders from the King, deputations from various towns
came to him at Tours, and assembling in a suppliant mass,
solemnly begged him to proceed to the betrothal of Claude
and Francis. At the sight of their sovereign sitting in his
arm-chair, bowed with sickness, pale and thin, and holding
himself up with difficulty, the worthy envoys began to weep
and called him the " father of his people." In accordance with a
pre-arranged plan, the council, upon being consulted, returned
a favourable reply. The King declared the petition just and
reasonable, and gave his royal word that the betrothal should
take place forthwith. Anne of Brittany thus had her hand
forced. The betrothal followed and the whole kingdom indulged
in great rejoicings. But Italy, alas, was destined to cast a gloom
over it once more I
A proud and haughty city, selfish and cynical, who from
the inaccessible fastnesses of her great lagoons seemed to look
The League of forth with disdainful eyes upon the rest of the
Cambray, 1508. world, the Republic of Venice was held in detesta-
tion by the other States of Italy. She had carved out
for herself a fairly wide domain in the peninsula by filching
from the Emperor territory to the north near the Alps,
from the Pope lands to the south near the Apennines, and
on the east, towards the Adda, by encroachments on the
State of Milan. The chief sufferer from these amputations was
Julius II, who made up his mind to form a league against Venice
with the object of forcing her to give back the lands she had
stolen. He sent invitations to Louis XII, the Emperor
Maximilian, the King of Spain and the King of England to
join him. Louis XII, to whom the deceit, treachery, and
violence of the Republic were described, gave his consent.
Spain and England, neither of whom had much to gain or lose,
c 33
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
also acquiesced, and the allies formed at Cambray the League
which bears that name (1508). It was decided to send an
army against Venice. But whose army ? Clearly Louis XII
was the only signatory who was in a position to carry out any
efficacious miKtary stroke. In vain did the faithful ifitienne
Poncher raise his voice in the council against any such futile
and suicidal policy, pointing out that the other allies were
useless, and that Louis XII would be exerting himself for their
benefit alone, merely to be betrayed by them in the end. Georges
d'Amboise was enthusiastically in favour of the expedition,
for some reason which is not very clear, and war was declared
against Venice.
A French army of some 40,000 men was collected in the
State of Milan under the command of Chaumont dAmboise.
Battle o! "^^e Venetians placed a similar number in the
Agnadello, field, headed by Petigliano and Alviane.
1509. Louis XII rode forth on horseback to watch
his troops cross the Adda with drums beating. The two
armies met at Agnadello on May 14, 1509. In spite of the fact
that the advance on the hostile forces had been carried out
somewhat clumsily, the attack was made in perfect order,
and notwithstanding the deadly fire of the Venetian artillery,
which ravaged the French columns, the latter, in a vigorous
onslaught, broke through the ranks of their adversaries and
put them to flight. It was a brilliant victory. Julius II
seized the opportunity to get back Ravenna, Faenza, and Imola
from Venice. The Emperor Maximilian, anxious to have a
share of the spoil, appropriated Vicenza, Padua, Verona, and
Treviso, whilst Louis XII occupied the Ghiara d'Adda, Brescia,
Cremona and Bergamo. Thereupon the incident was regarded
as closed. The King of France disbanded his army, which was
already decimated by pestilence and overcome by the excessive
heat. The Pope, who had got what he wanted, made overtures
of peace to the Venetians and offered to absolve them from
the excommunication which he had hurled against them, a
proposal which, like sensible people, they hastened to accept.
And thus, after having formed a league against Venice, in order
to make Louis XII enter the field, Julius II withdrew from
it the moment he had obtained all he could from it. The ever-
34
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
changing, restless Maximilian, for his part, had also made good
his escape.
The Venetians, however, raised another army, and at last,
when it was too late, Louis XII realized that ^fitienne Poncher
had been right and that the whole weight of the conflict was
destined to fall on his shoulders alone. His friend. Cardinal
d'Amboise, had died on May 25, 1510, of some internal complaint
aggravated by gout. He was only fifty at the time of his death,
and his loss was a great sorrow to the King.
The Pope, instead of being an ally, was now neutral, and
it was not long before this attitude was changed to one of avowed
Holy Alliance hostility. He. declared, whether sincerely or not,
against that the ambition of the King of France was a
Louis xn, menace to Italy, which stood in danger of a general
1511. invasion by this foreigner, and preached the
necessity of a Holy War. Louis XII's entreaties and threats
were alike vain ; the bellicose pontiff in alliance with Venice
prepared for hostilities. The King of France tried the
expedient of summoning a Council of the French Church
to meet at Tours, in order to implore the Pope to put an end to
this sacrilegious conflict, but the Pope turned a deaf ear to aU
their remonstrances. Europe was terrified at the idea of a war
against the sovereign pontiff, and Anne of Brittany, who was
extremely pious, was in a state of consternation. Something
had to be done. The Marquis of Mantua, the conamander-in-chief
of the papal forces, who had been given the title of Gonfalonier
of the Church, was advancing in the direction of Ferrara, attack-
ing and seizing places on his march. Chaumont d'Amboise,
thereupon mobilized his troops, retook the conquered towns,
and marched upon Bologna, the headquarters of Julius II. The
news that the Venetian army was advancing on his rear obliged
him to fall back. Thereupon the Pope excommunicated Chau-
mont and came in person to lay siege to the little town of Miran-
dola. As he was making his exit from Bologna, he was surprised
by an ambuscade and almost captured by Bayard, with the
result that " he shook with fever the whole day from the great
alarm he had felt." Aged as he was, however, he was to be
seen riding out on horseback to superintend the attack on
Mirandola, giving orders as to the position of the batteries
35
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and inspecting the outposts. As soon as a breach had been made
the town surrendered, and Julius II entered in state through
a gap in the walls.
On the death of Chaumont d'Amboise, the French army was
placed under the command of Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours,
Battle of ^ young prince of twenty who had already won
Ravenna, distinction by great valour. Louis XII sent out
1512. reinforcements and the French once more took
the offensive. After the capture of Bologna they offered to
make peace with the Pope, but the latter, who was a
prey to " obstinacy, hatred, and contempt," refused to come
to terms. He fled to Rome, where he joined forces with
the Aragonese princes of Naples, and then marched back
upon Gaston de Foix, who, with 18,000 infantry, 1600
men-at-arms, and eighty cannon was prepared to offer him
a stout resistance. The two armies met at Ravenna (1512)
where a hotly contested fight took place. Finally '*the
clerics and Spaniards " as they were called, were worsted,
but, unfortunately, in a final charge of minor importance,
Gaston, carried away by his temerity, was wounded in the
side by a lance and killed. The victory was a brilliant one,
but it had been bought at a heavy price. La Palice then took
over the command of the French troops.
To make matters worse this victory bore no fruit. On
the contrary, it was the signal for complete disaster. After
Evacuation complicated negotiations, the Venetians, who
of Italy. declared that the King of France must be driven
out once and for all, succeeded in rousing the interest of the
Swiss, of Maximilian, and of the King of England in the fate
of Italy. The League of Cambray was thus turned against
Louis XII. Three armies marched forth against La Palice,
who, realizing the impossibility of showing fight in such
circumstances, did not even attempt to hold his ground, but
beat a retreat, evacuating everything, including the city and
State of Milan. In a few short days that costly and hard-
w^on conquest crumbled away and Maximilian Sforza, a son
of Ludovico Sforza, who had been brought to light, ascended
the ducal throne of his father. v^M
Julius II was triumphant. He excommunicated the King
36
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
of France and placed his kingdom under an interdict. This
time Louis XII realized that he was beaten. Anne of
Prance and Brittany now proposed to her husband that she
the Papacy. should approach the Pope in person. Harrowed
by the conflict which the King persisted in sustaining
against the sovereign pontiff, she had, after, giving birth
to another child who did not live, remained in a state of
pining sickness and depression. Her health was giving way
and preoccupations for the future filled her mind. In
spite of the betrothal of her daughter Claude to Francis
of Angoulfime, she still nursed the hope of marrying her to the
Austrian Archduke, a plan which peace alone would allow her
to set on foot. She accordingly offered her services to bring
pressure to bear upon JuUus II. Weary of the whole matter,
Louis XII allowed her to have her way. Julius II was im-
movable. However, seized by a slow fever, he died on
January 21, 1513, at the age of seventy. He was succeeded
by a young cardinal of thirty-seven, Giovanni de' Medici, who
became the celebrated Leo X, a more amenable character
\vith whom to carry on negotiations. At first he declared
that he would remain neutral, but agreed to receive Claude
de Seyssel and Claude de Forbin, Louis XII 's ambassadors,
at Rome. His next step was to annul the decrees against
the King of France. In the direction of the Holy City the
horizon was clearing.
But elsewhere it remained dark and lowering. Henry VIII,
King of England, had landed in France with an army, and
Difficulties meeting the French force at Guinegate, had
with England, routed it so completely that the vanquished
Austria, and troops had fled in hot haste and were obliged
Switzerland. iq be^j. the shame of hearing the encounter dubbed
the Battle of Spurs. Louis XII hastened to Amiens to
guard the frontier. But the Emperor, on his side, was
threatening to invade Burgundy, and the Swiss were making
a deUberate attack. It was a critical and anxious moment.
Fortunately for the King of France the difficulty solved itself
owing to the lack of unity among the enemy. The Swiss con-
sented to retire, upon securing a treaty signed by La Tr^moille,
the terms of which were so onerous for Louis XII that he
87
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
subsequently refused to ratify it. But the essential point had
been gained, inasmuch as the Swiss had left the country. Maxi-
milian, as usual, vanished into space. Henry VIII, angry
at his desertion, also retreated, and Louis XII finally made peace
with him. The Pope showed himself disposed to restore tran-
quillity to Italy on condition that the King of France renounced
all claims upon the State of Milan. Louis XII was obliged
to reconcile himself to the distasteful idea, but asked, in return,
to be allowed to give that state as a dowry to his second daughter
Ren6e, whom he proposed to marry to a son of the King of
Spain. The King of Spain, thus allowed to share the spoils,
became reconciled with France. Matters gradually calmed
down, and peace was at last restored at the cost of the final
shipwreck of all Louis XII's plans of conquest in Italy.
The poor King went into melancholy retirement at Blois,
the home in which he had spent the first happy years of his
Louis Xn life* and in which he was now to pass his last
at Blois. sad hours, the old house " beneath whose roof
his mother and father had dwelt, his birthplace and the
citadel of Kings ! " As he could not endure the old feudal
manor house, a massive and imposing edifice, the original
comfortless and gloomy fortress, he had had the east wing
pulled down and rebuilt in the new style. It was the fashion
among the great folk of this period to raise buildings of regular
appearance well open to the sun, instead of shutting themselves
up, as they had done before, inside the dark towers of defence
characteristic of the castles of the fifteenth century. With
their high roofs gilt at the extremities, dormer windows encased in
graceful sculpture, pierced galleries, window-frames with mould-
ings simple but suitable in design, the whole still in the Gothic
style with gables and rosettes, after the manner of the old cathe-
drals, but novel in virtue of the high artistic taste displayed, the
new buildings were eminently pleasing to the eye. Pierre
de Rohan, Marshal de Gie, had built the Chateau du Verger ;
Georges d'Amboise, who loved magnificence, was responsible
for the Courts of Justice at Rouen, as well as the Archbishop's
Palace and the Chateau Gaillon, one of the most remarkable
monuments of the period, admirable alike for the elegance
and variety of its structure. At his instigation Louis XII
88
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
had also added the Court of the Exchequer to the Law Courts
in the French capital and carried on the constructions at Amboise
begun by Charles VIII. Blois was built on a similar principle,
and the Louis XII wing is a charming edifice, thoroughly
French in its taste, its proportions, its restraint and the sobriety
of its decoration. The names of some of the workmen have
been discovered, but the architect remains unknown to this
day. It is possible that he never existed, and that master
masons of the district, who were accustomed to the building
of similar structures in those parts, carried out a particularly
finished and skilful piece of work for the King. Louis XII
might possibly have reconstructed the whole of Blois Castle in
the same style had not time and means failed him. His emblem,
a porcupine with bristling quills, with the device Cominus ac
eminus " from far and near " (an allusion to the belief of the
time that the porcupine shoots out its quills in self-defence)
marks the buildings for which this prince was responsible.
And here in the '* new dwelling " of Blois, as it was called,
Loius XII passed his last days in the company of Queen Anne,
in loving and peaceful unity. As in the time of Charles VIII
the rich Brittany heiress had adorned the royal home with her
works of art. On its walls she had hung rich " storied " tapes-
tries. The great hall had a hanging representing the Fall of
Troy ; in the " King's Dining-room " was one called " The
Battle of Formigny." The room of the little Princess Claude
was adorned with pastoral scenes, " little inscriptions " and
tiny figures. In the Queen's room were illustrations of tales and
battles ; in the bedroom extraordinary birds and beasts from
foreign climes. Everywhere she placed a profusion of furni-
ture and draperies, cloth of gold mantelpiece-covers, beds
" hung with cloth of gold " and adorned with canopies of crimson
or white damask ; silver chandeliers supported by silver chains ;
red and yellow taffetas curtains ; sideboards draped with
cloth of gold ; stools to sit upon covered in velvet or
"checkers;" "carved and gilded chairs from Italy." The
floors were covered by carpets " so thickly woven that the
boards were entirely hidden," and a glow of luxury prevailed
beneath the thick low beams, a scintillating play of gold and
colour set in a frame of intimate peace.
3d
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Here Anne of Brittany dwelt surrounded by her ladies-in-
waiting, working at her distaff or sewing, whilst a secretary
read aloud from the pages of romance or history, or a poet —
some favourite or pensioner of hers, such as Jean Marot or
Jean Meschinot — ^recited verses, to which she Ustened more
because it was the fashion than because she Uked them, for
she was not a particularly good judge of Uterature. Or else,
some court jester, like Triboulet, a misshapen creature, with
goggle eyes, big nose and narrow brow, would entertain them
with his insolent quips and buffooneries. All the denizens
of the royal Court, ladies-in-waiting, maids-of-honour, squires
and knights, surrounded her with respectful attention. She
had the cold imposing presence of a great lady, but as soon
as she was addressed, her sweetness and kindliness at once
aroused sympathy. People were struck by her goodness and
left her bewitched by her charm. The populace — or at all
events that of France, if not the Bretons, whose hearts she
had won by her liberality — only kntw her self-willed character
and her rancorous spirit, and she was but little loved by them.
The ministers were frequently irritated by her dictatorial
airs and by the commands which she took upon herself to send
them with the high-handed comment : " Unknown to the King."
" Be patient," Louis XII would observe with a smile, when
they came to him with complaints about her. But her imme-
diate circle adored her.
Death came to her swiftly. Ever since the birth of her
last child, the poor woman had been failing. Persistent weak-
Death of ^^^^ ^^^ been wearing away her strength as if
Anne of some mysterious malady were gradually under-
Brittany, 1514. mining her. There was some talk of gravel. On
December 31, 1513, she was seized with fever, and ten
days later, on January 9, 1514, she died. She was only
thirty-eight, and her loss was the occasion of universal
mourning. The whole Court was in tears ; even the people
were moved and talked of nothing but the "noble lady's"
generosity, and the King, for his part, was in the depths of
despair. Rarely in the course of history has the death of a
Queen been the cause of such wide-spread grief. She was
buried with great solenmity at Saint Denis. A long funeral
40
"SMOKE AND GLORY" OF ITALY
procession accompanied her remains on their way from Blois
to Paris, and the crowds of sorrowing people who thronged
round it bore witness to the mourning in which the whole nation
was plimged.
The greatness of his grief made Louis XII leave Blois, which
had now become odious to him on account of the memories
Marriage o! ^^ revived. He went to Saint-Germain-en-
the Princess Laye, another old mediaeval castle, and to
Claude. Vincennes, thoroughly depressed and indifferent
to everything, for he had received a blow from which he
was destined never to recover. It was pointed out to him
that as he had no heir except the yoimg Count of Angou-
iSme, it was now perhaps time to consummate the marriage/
of that prince with his daughter, Claude, as at present th^'
couple were merely betrothed. He accepted the advice withoirt
demur, and the ceremony took place in the deepest gloom in
the chapel of Saint-Germain (still in existence) on May 18,
1514. The congregation was all in black and the bride was
in tears.
Those who surroimded Louis XII, arguing that as he was
only fifty-two, an age at which it is possible for a man to marry
Louis xn's again and have children, and thinking that the
Marriage with creation of a new home would rouse the King
Henry vm's from the fatal grief which overwhelmed him,
Sister. conceived the idea of a third marriage for him.
The King of Aragon, who at this juncture was doing his
best to secure a settled peace between England and France,
suggested that this should be sealed by a marriage between
Louis XII and Henry VIII's sister, Mary, a strapping young
Englishwoman, a '^haquenie^* as the disapproving populace
dubbed her. Henry VIII gave his consent, and Louis XII,
worn and feeble, and moved, perhaps, by some vague desire
of having an heir, or of escaping from his melancholy, gave
way. The marriage was celebrated without pomp or show
of any kind.
But the King's health was ruined. He grew daily thinner
and more delicate ; broken down by grief and sickness,
his constitution had lost all power of resistance. His young
Queen, full of delight at her new greatness, insisted upon
41
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
making Louis XII lead a life of gaiety. The poor King found
himself obliged to change all his habits. He had to go to
Death of ^^^ late, eat a great deal at all sorts of hours,
Louis XII, and also, as Fleurange I'Aventureux says in his
1515. Mimoires, act the part of the "loving spouse
to his wife." He was seized by a violent attack of fever
aggravated by dysentery, and on January 1, 1515, he passed
away in the Hotel des Tournelles in Paris, leaving the throne
of France as a New Year's gift to his successor.
Sources. The very important work by H. Hauser, Les' Sources de
Vhistoire de France, XV F si^cle, 1906 ; Lettres de Charles VIII, ed. Pelicier
and B. de Mandrot, 1898 ; Octavien de Saint Gelais and Andr6 de la Vigne,
Le Vergier d'honneur in Godefroy's Hist, de Charles VIII, 1684 ; Robert
Gaguin, Compendium, de origine et gesiis Francorum, 1586 ; Comines,
Mimoires, ed. B. de Mandrot, 1901 ; Brantome, CEuvres completes, ed.
Lalanne ; Marino Sanuto, Diarii, vol. i to xxvi, 1879 ; Burchard, Diarium,
ed. Thuasne, 1883 ; J. Masselin, Journal des Stats giniraux en 1484, 1835 ;
Jean d'Auton, Chronique de Louis XII, ed. Manlde la Claviere, 1889 ;
Claude de Seyssel, Hist, singuliire du roi Louis XII in Th. Godefroy's
Hist, de Louis XII, 1615 ; Fleurange rAventvu-eux, M&moires, ed.
Michaud and Poujoulat ; Histoire du gentil seigneur de Baydrt par le Loyal
Serviteur, ed. Roman 1878 ; Procedures politiques du rigne de Louis XII, ed
De Maulde, 1885 ; Lettres de Louis XII et du cardinal d'Amboise,
1712.
Works. Du Cherrier, Histoire de Charles VIII, 1871 ; P. Pelicier,
Essai sur le gouvernement de la dame de Beaujeu, 1882 ; Fr. Delaborde,
Expedition de Charles VIII en Italie, 1888 ; P. van der Haeghen, Examen
du droit de Charles VIII sur Naples {Rev. hist. 1885) ; Muntz, La Renais-
sance en Italie et en France d, Vipoque de Charles VIII, 1885 ; De Boislisle,
Notice biographique et historique sur Stienne de Vesc (Annulaire-bullet. de
la Soc. de Vhist. de France, 1878-1883) ; De Maulde, Histoire de Louis XII,
1889 ; Le Roux de Lincy, Vie de la Reine Anne de Bretagne, 1860 ; and
Details sur la vie privee d'Anne de Bretagne, 1850 ; Legendre, Vie du
cardinal d'Amboise, 1725 ; L.-G. Pelissier, Louis XII et Ludovic Sforza,
1896 ; Kohler, Les Suisses dans les guerres ditalie de 1506 a 1512, 1897.
N
42
f
CHAPTER II
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
Francis I, 1515-1547. Conquest of the Duchy of Milan and the
victory of Marignano, 1515 ; the Concordat of Bologna, 1516.
Candidature of Francis I for the Imperial Throne ; election of
Charles V, 1519. Conflict between the King of France and the
Emperor. Interview with Henry VIII on the Field of the Cloth of
Gold, 1520. The hostilities of 1521 ; defeat of Lautrec m Italy at
the Bicocca, 1522. Constable Bourbon's treachery, 1523. Defeat
of Bonnivet in Italy at Rebecco and Romagnano, 1524 ; invasion
of Provence by Charles V and his retreat. Descent of Francis I
into Italy and the disaster of Pa via, 1525. The captivity of the
King of France and the Treaty of Madrid, 1526. The Holy League
of Cognac. Sack of Rome by the Emperor's soldiers under Charles
of Bourbon, 1527. Peaceof Cambray, 1529. Fresh preparations for
war on the part of Francis I and his alliance with the Turks. Re-
opening of hostilities, 1535. Second invasion of Provence by
Charles V and his retreat, 1536. Truce of Mon5on, 1537 ; fresh
rupture, 1544 ; descent into Italy and victory of the Due d'Enghien
at Cerisola. Treaty of Crepy, 1544. Death of Francis I, 1547.
De sa beaut6 il est blanc et vermeil
Les cheveux bruns, de grande et belle taiUe ;
En terre il est, comme au ciel le soleil.
Hardi, vaillant, sage et preux en bataille ;
II est benin, doux, humble en sa grandeur,
. I .?\V ^ Fort et puissant, et plein de patience.*
THIS portrait of Francis I, drawn by his charming sister,
Margaret of Navarre, is on the whole accurate. He
was very tall and strong, with broad, powerful shoulders
— though rather thin in the leg — his face was broad and massive,
* White and rose is he in his loveliness,
With his brown hair and stature fair and tall ;
As the Sim in the heavens, he seems on earth ;
Bold, full of valour and most skilled in war.
Humble and sweetly kind despite his strength ;
Steadfast endurance his and kingly power.
48
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the features fine enough, though the nose was somewhat too
aquiline ; his hair showed black upon a white skin and
Francis I, his expression was frank and straightforward.
1515-1547. Altogether the new king of twenty who succeeded
the gaunt and cadaverous Louis XII deserved his prede-
cessor's compUment when the latter exclaimed, " What a fine
young gallant 1 " He was above all a fascinating young
prince, full of life and spirits, vigorous, imprudent, frivolous,
lavish, and witty. All with whom he came in contact were
delighted with him, he scattered money right and left without
a thought, he was chivalrous, generous and full of the joy of
life — a true Frenchman with the best qualities and the worst
faults of his race. " All our work is useless, " Louis XII used
to say, shaking his head, "that great youngster will spoil
it all ! " il5! ^
Francis had been brought up at Cognac and at Amboise
by two women who worshipped him — his mother, Louise of
Education of Savoy and his sister Margaret, who was his
Francis I. senior by two years. Louise of Savoy, whose
husband, Charles of AngoulSme, had died and left her a
widow at the age of eighteen, had surrounded her son during
the time of his tutelage with all the joys that an easygoing
and inexperienced character could provide. The child had v ^
been the pride of her heart and she had spoilt him. In *'^
the kindly atmosphere of Louise's little Court, surroimded by
art, poetry and festivals, the young prince had developed
his gracious and light-hearted nature. His sister, Margaret,
had played no small part in his education. Herself extremely
bright, intelligent and well-read, — "no bread-and-butter-miss,"
according to Brantome — ^witty, not a very great stickler for
morality, with an extremely independent spirit, but otherwise
a superior woman worthy of respect, she had surrounded her
brother, who was the passion of her life, with tender devotion.
In this atmosphere of affection Francis grew up. He was
allowed to do exactly as he pleased. Twenty times over,
carried away during some violent exploit while hunting or
riding, he narrowly escaped death. He studied little or not at
all, read romances of chivalry, led the gay life of a rich young
man, wrote verses, had adventures and came into power with
4,4,
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
everything calculated to make him a magnificent monarch,
a Maecenas of taste, and a thoroughly bad politician. With
his mother and sister he always remained on very good
terms, and he was also extremely fond of his wife, Claude,
the daughter of Louis XII. She was a good, modest and
sensible woman, not uncomely in face, but short and fat
and slightly lame. In theory, if not in practice, Francis was
faithful to this *' good lady of honest and upright life," and
when, in 1524, after bearing him seven children, she died, worn
out with travail, at the age of twenty-five, his grief was sincere.
Queen Claude is now remembered only on account of the plums
that bear her name.
One day when Francis was talking with his friends at
Amboise, he amused himself by listening to their jesting enum-
Advisers o! eration of the Crown offices it would be the dream
Francis I. of their ambition to fill. As soon as he became
King, the first step he took was to gratify each man's desire.
Arthur de Gouffier, Sieur de Boissy, was made Lord High
Steward of France, and his brother, Bonnivet, High Admiral,
whilst Anne de Montmorency was destined to become
Constable. Naturally generous, Francis distributed money
and honours with a lavish hand. His mother was given the
Duchy of Anjou and Maine ; his brother-in-law, the Duke of
Alen9on, Margaret's husband, was made Duke of Berry and
Governor of Normandy. Charles of Bourbon received the>|
sword of Constable and the Governorship of Languedoc, whilst
Lautrec and La Palice were appointed Marshals of France.
The post of Chancellor was vacant, and to fill this he summoned
Antoine Duprat, the first President of the Parliament of Paris —
the man who was destined to act such an important part as
his adviser !
For this young and vigorous monarch, light-hearted and
full of fire, the glory of some military campaign was absolutely
Invasion o! essential. There was no need to seek far for a
Milan. cause. As Louis XII's heir through his wife
Claude, and consequently possessing rights over that perpetual
bone of contention the State of Milan, Francis I had only
to make good his claim, sword in hand, at the expense of
Maximilian Sforza, Duke of Milan. It was a brilliant moment.
45
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
A formidable army was raised, consisting of 30,000 foot, 10,000
horse and seventy-two cannon. The whole of the youth of
France hastened to join the standards ; princes and soldiers
of renown wished to share in the enterprise, and, in the summer
of 1515, the French host crossed the Alps by the steep and
arduous pass of Largentiere, surrounded by incredible diffi-
culties, which it seemed impossible for any army ever to over-
come, leading their horses by the bridle, dragging along the
cannon, and blowing up rocks. The Swiss, who were in the pay
of Duke Maximilian, retreated beneath the walls of Milan, and
Battle of Francis I took up his position close by at Marig-
Marignano, nano, a place which he was to make famous by
1515. a brilliant victory. The attack was made by
chance, and arose out of a scuffle between some scouts.
Matthaus Schinner, Bishop of Sion, a fiery prelate who de-
tested the French, stirred up the Swiss. He had the tocsin
rung and the drum beaten, with the result that on September
13, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, the Swiss battalions,
to the sound of the cornets of Uri, Unterwalden and Schwiz,
headed by Schinner, mounted on a Spanish jennet, marched
out against the French army. The latter were in an un-
favourable position, drawn up in lines on the road between
Milan and Marignano. They could only meet the onslaught
of the enemy, who were charging with lowered pikes, by a
series of partial counter-attacks. Bourbon and La Palice
retaliated with their men-at-arms, whilst Francis I made a
charge with 600 horse to defend his artillery which was in
danger. At nightfall the battle was undecided, and both sides
remained as they were. But before day had dawned, the King
of France, who had spent the night leaning against a gun
carriage, succeeded in collecting his forces into a single body,
with Bourbon on the right, Alen9on on the left, and the cannon
forming a battery in the centre. Eight thousand Swiss advanced,
but were held in check by the artillery. Whilst Alenyon's
lines were wavering on one side, Bourbon held firm on the
other, and Francis I made a vigorous onslaught with all his
cavalry, routing and hewing down the Swiss, who took to flight.
The young King, flushed with victory, had himself dubbed a
knight by Bayard on the field of battle. The State of Milan
46
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
was won, and Duke Maximilian consented, in consideration of
a yearly pension, to abandon his territory and retire to France.
This was a glorious dawn for the new reign. The victory
filled Francis I with joy and hope. The long chain of defeats
Concordat of ^i^d misfortunes which were to follow were des-
Bologna, 1516. tined to give the lie to these first favourable
auspices ! But, for the moment, everything smiled upon the
victor. The Pope, who had made common cause with the
Duke of Milan, terrified by the news of Marignano, now wished
to make peace. Francis I was quite ready to negotiate, and a
magnificent meeting took place between the two sovereigns at
Bologna. The young King had an escort of 1200 men-at-arms
and 6000 lansquenets, whilst the Pope was surrounded by thirty
cardinals. Francis I and Leo X vied with each other in ameni-
ties. They ate their meals together and took part in grand
ceremonies. Whilst the terms of the treaty were under dis-
cussion, Leo X pointed out to the King that, by the clauses
of a pragmatic^sanction dating from the reign of Charles VII,
France_e_nj.Qyed the privilege of electing her archbishops, bishops
and„ abbots ; that a certain, right, called the right of annats,
by which the Pope appropriated for one year the revenues of
a see on the appointment of a new bishop, had been abolished ;
and that the Holy Chair had no jurisdiction over ecclesiastical
cases in France. The Pope maintained that he could not allow
the vaUdity of this pragmatic sanction, which was heretical
and a menace to his privileges. Its revocation was the price
he demanded for a cessation of hostilities. Francis I and his
counsellors discovered a via media by signing a convention in
virtue of which the archbishops, bishops and abbots should in
future be appointed by the King. This was the chief clause.
A few vague words were added on the subject of the third point
and nothing at all was said about the second. The convention
was signed and became the celebrated Concordat of 1516, which
gave the Church of France over to the King's nomination. The
Parliaments offered a lively opposition. The treaty during
the course of centuries, was destined to produce very different
results from any that could have been foreseen by the con-
temporaries of Leo X !
Francis I returned to France surrounded by a halo of glory.
47
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
He was the most conspicuous monarch in Europe and the most
fortunate. No hope seemed too great for him to nurse.
The question of the moment was the forthcoming election of
• an Emperor in Germany. Francis I considered himself great
Candidature of ^^<^"g^ to stand as a candidate and make an
Francis I for attempt to win this crown. Never in the whole
the Imperial course of history, since the days of the old
Throne. Roman Emperors or of Charlemagne, would any
prince have been so great as he. He made his preparations
and entered upon the adventure which was destined to bring
about the disasters of his own life and the gravest compli-
^ cations for his country !
A vast amorphous body, the German Empire was made up
of an infinite number of small semi-independent and federated
Rivalry of States. In accordance with ancient custom, the
Charles V. Emperor was elected at Frankfort by seven
electors — the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne and Treves, the
King of Bohemia, the Duke of Saxony, the Count Palatine
and the Margrave of Brandenburg. The electors chose an
Emperor before the death of his predecessor, and whilst
waiting to ascend the throne, the heir presumptive took the
title of King of the Romans. Now Maximilian, the reigning
Emperor, had his own candidate — his grandson Charles, the
future Charles V ! In order to understand the mosaic of territory
which Charles V had to rule, it must be borne in mind that his
grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian, had married Mary of
Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold, from whom the family
inherited Burgundy and Flanders ; and that his father, the
Archduke Philip the Fair, who died in 1506, had married Joanna
the Mad, the daughter of Ferdinand, King of Aragon, and
Isabella, Queen of Castille. From this source Charles V in-
herited Spain and Najgks^ Accordingly it was the lord of
Spain, Flanders and Naples that the Emperor Maximihan
wished to make Emperor of Germany. Francis I, in proposing
to solicit the votes of the imperial electors, not only dreamed
of securing the overlordship of all Europe for himself, but was
also inspired by the legitimate desire of preventing the creation
of such a monarchy for another's advantage. Had he been wiser,
the King of France would have reaUzed the danger of facing
48
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
the countries concerned with the choice of two dangers, of
which, whether rightly or wrongly, they were bound to con-
sider his election the graver. In order to checkmate the
grandson of Maximilian he should have sought out some in-
offensive candidate. But this he did not see. He threw him-
self into the electoral campaign. The adversary whom he was
attacking was destined, by his character, to be the most
implacable agent of the drama which was beginning.
Charles V, who was born in 1500, at the dawn of the new
century, offered a complete contrast to Francis I. He was
of medium height and pale complexion, with a pinched aquiline
Contrast be- ^^^e obstructed by adenoids. His eyes were
tween Charles V grey, and his ugly chin was so excessively pro-
and Francis I. minent that it obliged him to keep his mouth
perpetually open — a characteristic known as a prognathous
jaw, and, according to doctors, a sign of incipient degeneracy.
Altogether he was far from handsome, though, if we may
judge by Titian's portrait of him, he had an air of
distinction. He was a cold, calm person, who spoke but little,
and was neither amiable nor open-hearted, but perfectly
self-possessed, calculating, judicious and decided — a man who
took a long time to make up his mind, and when he had once
done so never changed it, but was absolutely ruthless and
frigid in his tenacity of purpose. His look was that of one
who never lost his head, and was embarrassing as revealing
a nature formidable in its superior self-mastery and inexorable
will. To crown all, he was miserly. Francis I, full of exuber-
ance and spirit, wore his heart on his sleeve ; Charles V was
reserved and self-contained. The King of France, open-
handed and pleasure-loving, conducted affairs of State with a
light-hearted superficiality, whilst his adversary, a man of shrewd
administrative gifts, hating hunting and amusement of any
kind, gave himself up studiously to serious matters. Francis I's
nervous, enthusiastic, unreliable nature met in Charles V a
cool, evenly balanced mind, obstinacy and subtlety of judgment.
Even if their political positions Bad not forced them into enmity
they would never, as Queen Margaret pointed out to the Venetian
ambassador, Giustiniano, have understood each other. They
were made to hate each other to the death !
D 49
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
From 1516 onwards, Francis I sent envoys to Germany to
buy over the electors. He instructed them to promise anjrthing
Manoeuvres that might be asked — matrimonial alliances,
of Francis I. pensions, or sums of money. A policy of bare-
faced trafficking was the result. Two of the electors dis-
tinguished themselves by their greed — Joachim, Margrave
of Brandenburg and his brother, the Archbishop of Mainz.
They consented to sell themselves. The Archbishop of Treves
and the Count Palatine followed their example, thus securing
Francis I four votes — ^the majority ! At the same time,
the King of France won over various other personages from
different localities to his cause, among them Franz von
Sickingen, a bold and extremely popular soldier from the
Rhineland, a man of superior intellect and a friend of Ulrich
vonHutten, the man of letters attached to the little archiepiscopal
court of Mainz. He was a warrior who could summon a host of
lansquenets to muster about his fortress of Ebernburg near
Kreuznach and terrorize the surrounding country. Franz
paid a visit to Amboise, where he was loaded with costly gifts
and given a pension.
Charles of Austria, from the depths of his Spanish kingdom,
learnt what was happening and immediately warned his grand-
Counter- father. Maximilian replied that they must outdo
manoeuvres Francis I in bribery. Had his grandson any
of Charles V. money ? Hampered though he was by grave
difficulties caused by subjects who detested the Flemish ad-
visers of their King, a poor man still, and lacking in authority
on account of his youth, Charles nevertheless succeeded in
raising a loan of 300,000 ducats, which he forwarded to Maxi-
milian. The old Emperor, who had not the slightest intention
of spending a farthing of his own money, sent word that the
sum was too small and borrowed 30,000 gold florins from the
banking house of Fugger on account of the King of Spain. The
latter thereupon found means to send a further instalment
of 100,000 gold ducats, and the work was set on foot. In re-
sponse to extremely tempting offers, Joachim of Brandenburg
and his brother of Mainz decided to abandon Francis I. The
Count Palatine was no less easy to win over, whilst the King
of Bohemia and the Archbishop of Cologne had already been
50
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
secured. Charles now possessed five votes, but the transaction
had cost 514,000 gold florins without counting promises for
the conferring of privileges, rights, &c. Maximilian sent in the
bill to his grandson with the addition of 50,000 gold florins for
his own petty personal expenses ! He then summoned the
electors ; but on January 12, 1519, this strange person breathed
his last !v
Francis I, however, was not to be discouraged. He sent
fresh envoys to Germany, some of them official ambassadors,
Election o! such as Jean d'Albret, Bonnivet, and President
Charles V, 1519. Guillart, and others as secret agents. It was now
a question of winning back the electors by means of fresh
inducements. "If it is necessary," exclaimed Francis I,
" I will spend three millions in order to be Emperor ! " He
wrote plainly and crudely enough : " I want the Margrave
Joachim to be glutted to surfeit ! " — and his bribes were in-
creased. Charles, on his side, also raised his prices and the
contest became so hotly disputed, feverish, and implacable, that
its like had not been seen for many a long day. Brandenburg,
the Count Palatine and the Archbishops of Mainz and Cologne,
greedy and cynical, consented to return to the King of France,
on exorbitant terms. But as soon as Armestorff, the envoy
of Charles of Austria, arrived upon the scene, they admitted
the state of affairs, and added that for an increase of 100,000
florins, they would go over to his side. Armestorff succeeded
in beating them down to somewhat less than 100,000 florins,
and they accordingly kept their word to support him. Francis I
thereupon sent off 400,000 crowns packed up in leather bags
and collected some troops to intimidate them. But as a matter
of fact, when the electors met at Frankfort on June 18, 1519,
nobody felt sure of anything. They entered into discussions,
and brought forward many reasons to prove the danger for
Germany which the choice of the King of France would entail,
and finally, Charles of Austria was elected without much diffi-
culty. Francis I was at Poissy when the news of his defeat
was brought to him on July 3. He bore the disappointment
without flinching, and in public even congratulated himself
upon his escape from the responsibilities of the German Empire.
He had no idea that he had just made an irreconcilable enemy,
51
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and that Charles V would never forgive him for having tried
to rob him of a crown which had been in his family for eighty
years !
But a conflict between these two monarchs was inevitable I
Charles V, who hemmed in France with his territories, was a
Conflict between source of perpetual menace. Moreover, pretexts
Francis I and for quarrels were ready to hand. The Emperor,
Charles V. as the heir of Charles the Bold, laid claim to
Burgundy, which had been seized by Louis XI. France
demanded the restitution to Henri d'Albret of the Kingdom
of Navarre, which Ferdinand the Catholic had appropriated;
whilst in Italy Charles V would certainly desire the expulsion
of the French from the State of Milan ; and the French,
on their side, would endeavour to drive out the Spaniards from
Naples. It would have been a miracle if the colUsion had
been avoided at a time when wars were waged for the merest
trifles.
Before coming to blows in an encounter which they felt
would be decisive, both rivals endeavoured to win over the
Negotiations *^^ sovereigns of Europe whose alliance would
of both with be most useful — ^the Pope and Henry VIII, King
the Pope and of England. The same process was repeated as
Henry VIII. i^ ^j^g ^ase of the electors — it was a question as
to which would make the highest bids. Francis I promised
Leo X half the Kingdom of Naples as soon as he had conquered
it ; Charles V consented to give up Parma, Placentia, and
Ferrara, and talked of driving the French out of Milan and
putting an Italian, a Sforza, in their place. The Pope con-
sidered the Emperor's offer the safer of the two and entered
into a secret treaty with him. The negotiations with Henry
VIII were even more mortifying. It was necessary to have
an understanding with England, in order to prevent Henry VIII
from making an attack upon the north of France whilst Francis I
was fighting his Italian battles. Francis I accordingly pro-
posed a meeting with the English King between Calais and
Ardres, to which the latter gave his consent — an acceptance
which resulted in the celebrated interview of the Field of the
Cloth of Gold. But as soon as Charles V heard of the project
he immediately set sail from Spain, and hastening to London
52
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
in five days, promised Henry VIII that if Spain were victorious
he would hand over several French provinces to him; then
turning to Cardinal Wolsey, the all-powerful minister to whose
advice the King always lent a ready ear, he offered him the
Triple Crown. When Henry VIII disembarked at Calais to
meet Francis I he had already been won over by the astute
and crafty Emperor I
What a melancholy and hxmiiliating spectacle the magni-
ficent pageant of the Field of the Cloth of Gold was destined
The Field o! *^ present, since its negative result had been
the Cloth of decided even before it took place ! Francis I
Gtold, 1520. wished to dazzle Henry VIII by the sight of
matchless luxury and splendour. He came with a gorgeous
escort of 5172 people and 2865 horses. All the Court was
present, including the Queens, Louise and Claude, the King's
sister Margaret, four cardinals, and all the princes and nobility
of the realm. Near Ardres he pitched his camp, consisting
of 300 teiits covered with cloth of gold and silver and
lined inside with velvet and silk. Above the King's tent,
which was also of cloth of gold, was erected a golden statue
of St. Michael. The whole presented the spectacle of a glistening
mass of gold. In order not to be outdone Henry VIII was
obhged to put up a little palace of wood also covered with velvet
and silk, and adorned with Arras tapestries. The interview
took place with great solemnity on June 7. The two Kings
rode out to meet each other mounted upon horses caparisoned
with gold and silver ; their clothes were glistening with pearls,
diamonds, emeralds, and rubies; their velvet caps, covered
with precious stones, were adorned with huge white plumes,
whilst their attendants, dressed in suits of gold and silver,
surrounded them on prancing steeds. The two Kings, preceded
by their Constables carrying huge drawn swords, rode down
towards each other from opposite slopes and met in front of a
pavilion situated in the middle of the little plain of Valdore.
They saluted and kissed each other whilst still on horseback
and then, dismounting and linking arms, they entered the
pavilion followed only by their chief advisers, Wolsey and
Bonnivet respectively. The interview was most cordial. The
conversation lasted a long time, but Henry VIII evaded any
53
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
idea of a definite engagement whilst assuring Francis I of his
good will and friendship. For five and twenty days the two
monarchs exchanged an uninterrupted series of festivals,
dinners, tournaments, and jousts held in vast lists surrounded
by elegant stands in which the ladies of the two Courts had
seats. Francis I proved himself an adept in games, whilst
Henry VIII showed great vigour. The athletic strength of
the English King and his solid sporting qualities were objects
of universal admiration. He even challenged Francis I in joke
to wrestle a bout with him and seized him round the waist with
his muscular hands. But his opponent, with a twist of his leg,
sent him flying, and it was necessary to interfere between them
in order to put a stop to an incident which would have ended
in a scene. When they finally bade each other farewell they
exchanged words of friendship and no more. On leaving
Francis I, Henry VIII went straight to Gravelines to meet
Charles V, who was awaiting him, and concluded his under-
standing with the Emperor.
Whether he had been deceived or not, Francis I made up
his mind not to postpone his attack upon the Emperor. Cir-
Hostilities of cumstances chanced to be propitious. In Spain,
1521. where Charles V was struggling with money
difficulties, the people, exasperated by constant demands for
taxes, were in a state of rebellion. In Germany, the dawn
of Lutheranism was causing a profound upheaval, and the
Emperor had his vast and too widely scattered dominions
badly in hand. In the spring of 1521, Andre de Foix, Sieur
de Lesparre, crossed the Pyrenees with 8000 infantry and
seized Navarre without meeting with any resistance except
at Pampeluna, where one of the defenders, a nobleman of
Guipuzcoa, had his leg broken. This man was none other than
Ignatius Loyola, and the wound he received on this occasion
was destined to play an important part in the history of the
foundation of the Jesuit Order ! When Charles V heard of
this act of aggression he was delighted, and exclaimed, " The
King of France wishes to make me greater than I am. In a
little while either I shall be an extremely poor Emperor, or he
will be a poor King of France ! " "the Duke of Najera, his
representative in Navarre, collected 12,000 men and 2000 horse
54
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
and attacking Lesparre, routed his army and took him prisoner.
The Emperor's prophecy was beginning to be fulfilled.
Charles V immediately went to Flanders with the intention
of himself leading an attack upon the French frontier from that
quarter. He also set on foot a movement in Italy. The King
of France mobilized three armies ; he sent Lautrec with some
troops to Milan, Bonnivet with 6000 lansquenets to the Pyrenees,
and marched in person to the north with a force of 26,000
infantry, 1500 men-at-arms, and twelve cannon to the relief
of Bayard who, shut up in Mezi^res, was holding his own vigor-
ously against the Count of Nassau and Franz von Sickingen,^
the latter of whom had taken service under the Emperor. He
put these two generals to flight and presently near Valenciennes
fell in with Charles V, who had entrenched himself behind the
Scheldt. Francis I might have offered him battle ; but he did
not dare to attack him, and allowed him to escape. The favour-
able opportunity he thus missed was never offered to him
again.
From this moment everything turned against Francis I.
In Italy, Lautrec was attacked by an army of 20,000 men under
Battle of the Prospero Colonna. Deserted by his Swiss mer-
Bicocca, 1522. cenaries, because, owing to lack of funds, he had
not been able to pay them, and with the Milanese in a state
of rebellion against his brutalities, he was obliged to evacuate
the country. Francis I entrusted him with another army with
which he tried to win back Milan, but the Emperor's general
attacked him at the Bicocca. He might have held his own
in triumph had not the Swiss, who had not been paid, once
again insisted upon either fighting or being discharged. Lautrec
consented to fight on April 27, 1522. He was worsted and the
Swiss disbanded themselves, whereupon he retreated to France,
leaving the valley of the Po in the hand? of the Imperialists.
This proved one of the first disastrous moments of the
reign of Francis I. Henry VIII informed him of his alliance
Treachery of ^^th Charles V, and broke off all relations with
Constable him. The Pope and the Venetians followed the
Bourbon, 1523. example of the English King, and Francis I found
himself with the whole of Europe against him. He met the
blast with calm dignity and lofty resignation. " All Europe
55
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
is in league against me," he proudly informed the Parlia-
ment of Paris ; " Well, I will face all Europe ! " And he
prepared a great army which he proposed to lead in person
into Italy. Why, like his predecessors, was he so enamoured
of those unfortunate Italian provinces which it was impossible
to hold, when he ought to have turned his attention to the
north from which he was presently to be attacked ? The only
explanation that can be found for this obstinacy is afforded
by the fact that he had deJGinite rights over Milan which he did
not possess elsewhere. But, to crown his ill-luck, when the
whole of Christendom was against him, Francis I found himself
betrayed by the most powerful man in his own kingdom. His
cousin, Charles, Duke of Bourbon, a high Crown official and
Constable of France, went over to the enemy !
This act of treason caused a profound sensation. The effect
produced was due not so much to the results of the act, which
Bourbon's were not so grave as they might have been, as
grievance to the moral conditions which had brought it to
against pass. Feminine animosities have wrongly been
Francis I. niixed up in the affair, which in itself was, re-
latively speaking, simple enough. Charles of Bourbon, a man
of thirty-three, thin and bony-faced, with a narrow receding
brow, close -cropped beard, and a restless, troubled and discon-
tented expression — if we may judge by Titian's portrait of
him — did not inspire confidence by his appearance. He was
somewhat feeble in character. He was the head of the powerful
House of Bourbon, which traced its descent from Saint Louis
and was destined to ascend the throne at the end of the century
in the person of Henry IV. He himself belonged to the younger
branch, the Montpensiers, but had united all the rich lands
of his family by marrying the sole heiress of the elder branch —
Suzanne de Bourbon, the daughter of Pierre, Duke of Bourbon,
and Anne de Beaujeu. But the latter, ever prudent and far-
sighted, had made it a condition of the marriage settlement
that if Suzanne died without issue, her property should revert
to the Crown. Charles, who was the greatest landed noble of
France, was well treated by the Court. He was made Cham-
berlain, Governor of Languedoc, and Constable. He frequently
entertained Francis I at his residence at Moulins, giving magni-
56
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
ficent festivals in his honour and spending his money without
stint. The King, who was extremely kind to him, was never-
theless unfortunately guilty of some imprudences in connexion
with him ; he gave him a rank in the army inferior to his
position and wounded his vanity by a lack of ceremony. With
the object of keeping the colossal heritage of the Bourbons in
his own hands, Charles had secured from his wife a will in which
she left him all her property. In 1521, Suzanne died without
issue. The question arose as to whether she had any right to dis-
pose of property the destination of which had already been fixed
by her marriage contract, and which, consequently, did not
belong to her. The Crown was of opinion that she had no such
right and brought an action to this effect before the Parliament
of Paris. Louise of Savoy, who also had some claim to the
heritage, lodged her protest as well. In view of the services
he had rendered and all he had done for the royal family, the
Constable was hurt by what he regarded as an attempt to rob
him, though it was only a question of the nominal ownership
of his property, the revenue of which was secured to him for
life.
As soon as Charles V, who was a distant relative of
Bourbon, heard of his discontent, he sent an envoy to express
Charles V's sympathy with his troubles and to offer him the
negotiations hand of his sister Eleonora. The Constable was
with Bourbon, touched by this attention, and, moved either
by politeness or by self-interest, did not dare to reject the
overture. In addition to this, the attitude of the Parliament,
which seemed prepared to return a verdict against him,
was a cause of extreme irritation to him. Charles V then
offered to make a treaty with the Constable by the terms
of which the Emperor bound himself to maintain, if necessary
by force of arms, Bourbon's territorial rights, if the latter,
for his part, would support the Emperor's claim to Bur-
gundy. Partly from a desire for revenge and partly out of
weakness, Bourbon gave his consent. Francis I got wind of
the proceedings. He was extremely angry, but as he was not
absolutely certain of his ground, he told the Constable that he
would bear his conduct in mind. " Is that meant as a threat.
Sire ? " demanded the latter.
57
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Meanwhile Charles V was busy inducing Henry VIII to
join his league, and this time the plan of action was complete.
It was decided that when the allies attacked France the Constable
should help them from within the borders. Henry VIII was
to have a substantial share of the spoil, but was to hand over
Poitou, Provence, and Champagne to Bourbon, whilst Charles V
was to have Burgundy. The conspirators were to set out on
the march as soon as Francis I made his descent into Italy.
The utmost that the unfortunate Constable could do was to
refuse to give his signature or plight his word to anything.
Far from being an actively guilty party, he had been dragged
somewhat against his will into this act of treachery. As a
matter of fact, he even wept as he related these details to his
friend Saint-Vallier, who bore witness to the fact at the subse-
quent trial. Francis I was informed of the whole proceeding
by two young Norman nobles. Monsieur d'Argouges and
Monsieur de Matignon, to whom Bourbon had foolishly un-
bosomed himself in order to prepare the way for Henry VIII 's
landing in Normandy. They were indignant and immediately
went and reported all they knew. It was out of the question
for the King of France to go to Italy and leave such a danger
in the rear. But how could he have his Constable arrested
without evidence ? He went to pay him a visit at Moulins,
but found him ill in bed ; the doctors vowed that it was
impossible for him to move. The King made him promise
to come and join him at Lyons the moment he was better,
giving him to understand that he would not start without him,
but would await his arrival. Time passed, and Bourbon did
not put in an appearance. Francis I sent several messengers
to bid him hasten, but excuse after excuse was the only reply.
Suddenly a rumour was spread that the King, goaded by these
equivocations, had made up his mind to have the Constable
arrested, and that he was sending troops for the purpose.
Oblivious of his real or feigned malady, Bourbon mounted his
horse and fled without stopping till he reached the fortress of
Chantelle, where he shut himself up. After a revelation such
as this, it was difficult to be in any further doubt, and Francis I
no longer hesitated. Bourbon thereupon disguised himself as
a lackey and fled in the company of a gentleman named de
58
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
Pomperant. After numerous dramatic adventures, he reached
the eastern frontier, where he was welcomed by the Emperor
and given a post in his army with the prospect of being made
Lieutenant-General of the force in Italy destined to fight against
the King of France ! Francis I gave orders for all the property
of the fugitive to be seized, but ofTered to restore it if the Con-
stable would consent to return. Bourbon replied that it was
too late I This treachery caused a profound agitation among
the public.
In these circumstances it was wiser for Francis I not to
cross the Alps. Moreover all his frontiers were being attacked
Battles of simultaneously. The enemy's scouts had reached
Rebecco and Compiegne and terrified the Parisians who had
Romagnano, been obliged to prepare for defence. The in-
1524. decision of the allies, however, saved France.
Henry VIII did not advance ; the Flemish army fell back ;
and in the south the Spaniards made an unsuccessful attack
on Bayonne and beat a retreat ; with the result that the year
1523 had a less dangerous ending than there had been reason
to fear. The King then turned his attention to Italy, whither
he ordered Bonnivet to march with 25,000 foot and 1500 men-
at-arms against Prospero Colonna, a man who was destined on
his death to be replaced to sojne extent by Lannoy, Viceroy
of Naples, but even more conspicuously by Bourbon. The
Imperialists were stronger than the French, and Bonnivet was
driven from the banks of the Ticino as the result of the battle
of Rebecco. He retreated towards the Alps in order to effect
a junction with the Swiss mercenaries he was expecting, but
was attacked once more at Romagnano on the Sesia and again
defeated. It was diuing the course of this retreat that Bayard,
who was in command of the rearguard, was shot in the back
by an arquebuse and mortally wounded. He was laid on the
ground at the foot of a tree. Bourbon, who chanced to be
passing by at the moment, expressed his sorrow at seeing him
in such a grievous state and assured him of his pity. The fear-
less and faultless knight — le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche
— answered in melancholy accents : " There is nothing to pity
in me, for I am dying the death of an honourable man. But
I pity you for serving against your King, your country,
59
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and your plighted word ! " Bonnivet then recrossed the
Alps.
At this juncture the Imperialists, on the suggestion of
Bourbon, crossed the mountains in their turn and invaded
The Imperial- Provence (June, 1524). Their object was to
ists invade take Marseilles and then to march through
Provence. Lyons to Paris, where Henry VIII was to meet
them in order to be crowned King of France. Marseilles,
however, was well stocked with food and ammunition, and
was admirably defended by its citizens, who fought with
invincible courage. The project failed. Bourbon's troops, —
mercenaries raised from many sources and difficult to keep in
hand — after several wearisome and futile attacks, announced
that they had had enough. Bourbon was obliged to give up
the campaign and return to the valley of the Po. No invasion
of France from that quarter ever succeeded.
This seemed to Francis I to afford a favourable opportunity
for returning to the plan he had formed two years previously,
and marching in person into Italy at the head of a large army,
to repeat his success at Marignano. He had faith in his star
and believed that victory was assured. When once he had
conquered Milan he would go even as far as Naples ! Former
reverses had taught him nothing. He regarded the vindication
of his rights merely as a means for attacking Charles V, for the
legal aspect of his case seemed for the moment to have supplanted
any abstract notion of conquest. The catastrophe of Pa via
and the imprisonment which was to follow were to prove
a rude awakening from his dreams !
In October, 1524, he crossed the Alps with 30,000 infantry
and 1500 lancers under the command of his oldest and most
Francis I experienced generals. The Imperialists were
invades Italy, terrified and melted away at his approach. He
entered Milan. In Pavia only 6000 men held their ground,
and he marched to lay siege to the city. For three months
he blockaded it, hoping to starve out the defenders. Mean-
while, however, Lannoy and Bourbon were matching to its
relief with 20,000 infantry, 700 men-at-arms, and 500 light
cavalry. The two armies met in January, 1525: For three
weeks they faced each other, but at last the Imperialists,
60
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
threatened by the desertion of their troops en masse, owing to
lack of funds for paying them — the Grisons and the Italians
had already abandoned the King of France — decided to give
battle. JUaey accordingly opened the attack beneath the walls
Battle o£ of Pavia on the night of February 24, reaching
Favia, 1525. the left flank of the French army through a large
park, surrounded b^ high walls, in which stood the castle
of Mirabello. The French wheeled to the right in order to
face their assailants, and the artillery, imder the conmiand
of Galiot de Genouillac, opened fire. For a moment, the
Imperialists, surprised by this coimter-movement, wavered.
But Pescara, one of the leaders, urged them on to the attack.
Francis I made a vigorous sally at the head of his nobles and
two free companies. But on his flank and in his rear, Pescara
was cutting his way through with his Spaniards. The right
wing of the French army was demoralized; it wavered and
broke. The centre, in its turn, was routed, and the Swiss, who
were held in reserve in the second echelon, seeing the confusion
in the centre, fled without striking a blow. The whole of the
French army was routed. Fran<^is I and his nobles were left
unsupported, fighting with the courage of despair. Rather
than take flight the chivalrous King of France made up his
mind to meet his death. He continued his charge like a mad-
man. One by one his bfave nobles fell about him — a hecatomb
of the best blood in France : the aged La Tremoille, Marshal la
PaUce, Marshal de Foix, Admiral Bonnivet, the Lord High
Steward and the Master of the Horse. Recognizing the King,
the enemy's soldiers endeavoured to capture him. At length
the unfortunate monarch's horse fell ; his foes rushed upon
him and M. de Pompdrant, Bourbon's friend, tried to make
Francis I give up his sword, which, however, he would only
consent to surrender to the Viceroy Lannoy. All was over !
It was a fearful disaster ! In two short hours the French
army had been dispersed, 10,000 men had fallen, high Crown
Capture o! officials and illustrious subjects lay scattered on
Francis I. the field of battle or had been taken prisoners.
The King of Navarre, the Count of Saint-Paul, and Marshal
Anne de Montmorency had fallen into the hands of the
enemy. The Duke of Alenjon, the King's brother-in-law,
61
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
alone had escaped — but he died of shame two months later !
Francis I was taken away in the darkness of the evening and
shut up in the fortress of Pizzighettone under a guard of 200
men-at-arms and 1200 infantry commanded by a Spaniard
named Alarcon. A letter which he wrote to his mother, Louise
of Savoy, to inform her of the full extent of the disaster is still
in existence. In it he said : " Of all I possessed only my
honour and my life are saved."
Francis I and his country were indeed in a terrible plight !
The eldest of the captive King's children was but eight years
old ! Louise of Savoy, who was made Regent, had not a
regiment, a general, or a crown piece for the defence of the
State ! If France was not conquered and dismembered at
this juncture she owed it to the incompetence which divided
her foes against themselves.
Charles V was at Madrid when he received the extraordinary
and unexpected news of his decisive victory ! He maintained
his usual imperturbability, however, and when it was suggested
that he should celebrate his triumph by some magnificent
festival, he refused. With perfect calmness he went to a service
to return thanks to the Almighty for his success, and took part
in a thanksgiving procession, after which he deliberated upon
his future course of action. Bourbon wished him to invade the
conquered country without delay, have Henry VIII crowned
at Saint-Denis, and divide the spoils. Henry VIII, on his side,
lai^ claim to France, though he consented to hand over Bur-
gundy, Provence, and Languedoc to the Emperor, whilst the
Duke of Bourbon was to have Dauphiny and the whole of his
ancient heritage. If this claim were considered too exorbitant
he would be content with the provinces which had once belonged
to England : Normandy, Gascony, Guyenne, Anjou, Poitou
and Maine, with Brittany thrown in.
Two courses of action were proposed in Charles V's council.
Either the downfall of Francis I must be compassed and his
Demands of ^^uin completed once for all, or peace must be
Charles V. made with him on terms more or less acceptable
to all concerned. Gattinara, the Chancellor, who supported
the latter alternative, held his ground firmly, pomting out
that Henry VIIl's proposals were degrading to a fallen foe,
62
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
and that, moreover, their realization would make the King of
England far too formidable. Charles V agreed, and a discussion
ensued as to the conditions which should be imposed upon
Francis I. They were extremely harsh ! The King of France
was to renounce all his rights in Italy, both in Milan and in
Naples ; he was to give back the territories of Charles the Bold
which had been unlawfully seized by Louis XI, including Bur-
gundy and a number of seigniories ; he was solemnly to abjure
any right of suzerainty over Flanders and Artois, a privilege
humiliating to Charles V, inasmuch as it made him a vassal
of the King of France ; and, lastly, he was to give back to
Charles of Bom-bon all his possessions with the addition of
Provence. Henry VIII was to receive compensation. In order
to make this treaty more binding it was to be ratified by the States
General and as soon as the King of France found himself thus
obviously crippled, he was to make an alliance with the Emperor,
and accompany the latter on a campaign he was meditating
against the Turks, with the object of checking the Mussulman
invasion which had become serious in the valley of the Danube.
If Francis I refused, his country would be occupied. /^
These conditions were conveyed, not to Francis I himself,
but to Louise of Savoy. In spite of the gravity of the situation,
Louise of Louise had kept her head. With the help of
Savoy, Regent. Florimond Robertet, the clever Secretary of
State, and Chancellor Duprat, she had taken active measures
to put the country in a state of defence. In this task she
had been backed by all. Nobody tried to turn the condition
of affairs to account or to make trouble. The Parliament
of Paris had organized a defence of the capital. In
Normandy, the clergy, the nobility and the towns had com-
bined to offer resistance to any invasion and to maintain order.
The Regent on going to Lyons had succeeded in raising a small
army, and the paralysis that had seized the country when the
blow had first fallen was followed by a growth of confidence
and a firmer hope for better things. When Charles V's envoy
presented himself to Louise of Savoy in order to make known
to her his master's conditions, she answered resolutely that
the State was in a position to defend itself, and that she would
not yield an inch of territory 1
68
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Francis I, shut up in the prison of Pizzighettone, passed
through contradictory phases of depression and careless levity.
Francis I. a -^^ ^^^ dressed himself in clothes of ashen grey
captive at and had written Charles V letters of doubtful
Pizzighettone. dignity, in which he begged him to be generous
and not drive him to extremity, but on the contrary to make
a friend of him rather than force him to despair. *' You
may be certain," he assured him humbly, "that instead of a
useless prisoner you will make a king your slave for all time ! "
After an entreaty of this kind he would play tennis or write
verses which he sent to his mistress, the fair Mademoiselle
d'Heilly, and snatch a few hours of gaiety in spite of the fact
that, although treated with all possible respect, he was closely
watched and not allowed the smallest liberty. Charles V had
him informed of the conditions he had sent to Louise of Savoy.
Francis I received them with a gesture of unutterable weariness
and replied that the terms were "extremely hard," but that
he left the task of discussing them to his mother, the Regent.
As far as he was concerned he was ready to renounce all right
over Italy, Milan, Naples, Artois and Flanders ; he would
give Bourbon back his territories with the addition of Provence,
and pay Henry VIII compensation. About Burgundy he
said nothing. Louise of Savoy considered these concessions
excessive, whilst Charles V was of opinion that they were
inadequate.
Francis I then thought that if he could see the Emperor
and speak to him personally he might perhaps find it easier
Francis I. a ^^ secure terms which negotiations carried on
captive in at a distance through intermediaries armed with
Spain. insufficient authority would never wring from
him. He begged his custodians — ^Alarc6n, Lannoy, Viceroy of
Naples, Pescara and Antonio de Leiva — to take him to Spain.
They had received orders from Charles V that after an
imprisonment of three months at Pizzighettone, the captive
King was to be removed to Naples. To this Francis I objected
violently, as the climate of Naples did not agree with him.
Lannoy, a kindly, temperate man, who wished to see matters
settled and an honourable peace concluded, suddenly, without
consulting any one, not even the Emperor, took the step of
64
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
putting the French King on board ship and sailing for Spain.
He landed at Barcelona on June 19, 1525, and announced his
arrival by a letter to Charles V, who was in Toledo. Charles
was furious, but the Viceroy of Naples succeeded in assuaging
his wrath. It was decided that Francis I should be shut up
in Madrid in the tower known as the Alcazar. The captive's
journey across Spain was made the occasion for demonstrations
of respect and esteem which the unfortunate man had little
expected. He was everywhere received with the deepest
sympathy and speeches were addressed to him as he stood
beneath a canopy. He made his entries on horseback sur-
rounded by troops, his dignity, in reality so gravely impaired,
affording a sad contrast to his actual position as a prisoner
kept constantly under surveillance. He was even allowed
to hunt, attend bull-fights, and watch festivities held in his
honour. But his mind was tortured by the knowledge that
Charles V absolutely refused to see him, and after a journey upon
which he had been surrounded by consoling attentions, his
awakening in the prison of the Alcazar was indeed a rude one.
The Alcazar was a lofty tower in Madrid with thick walls rising
a hundred feet above the ground; it looked out upon the
dry bed of the Manzanares and the vast barren plain of Castille
beyond. The room in which he was lodged was small and
bare, and sparsely furnished with a bed, a table, and some
chests. Hangings adorned with the fieur-de-lys had to be
brought from France in order to cover and lend a little brightness
to the dismal walls. The only window, which was barred,
opened from an embrasure in the walls so deep that it had
been possible to make a separate room of it by glazing it on
the inside. Such was the place in which the unfortunate
prince was doomed to spend long months of imprisonment
without distractions or outdoor exercise of any kind. A body-
guard of arquebusiers guarded him below.
Negotiations were re-opened, but they were long and painful.
Louise of Savoy had sent Jean de Selve, the First President of
Prolonged the Parliament of Paris, and Fran9ois de Tournon,
negotiations. Archbishop of Embrun, to discuss matters on
behalf of the Government. They had instructions to re-
nounce all rights over Italy and the suzerainty of Artois and
£ 65
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Flanders ; they were at liberty to consider a proposal of
marriage between Francis I, whose wife Claude was now
dead, and Eleonora, the sister of Charles V and widow of the
King of !?ortugal. If necessary a money ransom might be
paid for the King's release ; but on the subject of Burgundy
no concession was to be made. Charles V refused to accept
a ransom, and on the question of Burgundy he remained firm.
Nothing on earth would move him. It was his property and
he considered himself extremely moderate in not laying claim
to all that was his due. In vain did the two ambassadors
discuss, reason, and plead with him. The Emperor, who was
still at Toledo with his council, refused to yield. The negotia-
tions had to be suspended, as it was impossible to come to an
understanding on such a basis.
At one moment it seemed likely that a diversion might be
caused which would change the face of affairs. Henry VIII, hurt
by the fact that Charles V was paying no heed to him and his
interests, accused the Emperor of ingratitude and arrogance.
Louise of Savoy profited by the occasion to ask him to make
peace in return for a sum of money of which she knew he was
for the moment urgently in need. Henry VIII promptly
accepted. In Italy, moreover, the Italians were beginning to
think that Charles V was growing too dangerously powerful
and feared that he would entertain the ambition of making
himself absolute master of the peninsula and dominating them.
They accordingly combined. Louise of Savoy was clever
enough to suggest that they should come to an understanding
with her as well. She was ready to renounce all French claims
in Italy; her only stipulation was that she should be allowed
to put Francesco Sforza on the throne of Milan. It was
mei'ely a question of driving out the Imperialists. The Italians
welcomed these terms which the Pope, Venice, and Florence
signed. The Pope even went so far as to offer to place Pescara,
Charles V's general, on the throne of Naples and have him
crowned King, thus depriving the Emperor of one of his best
soldiers. But moved by scruples of loyalty and honour Pescara
refused, and at the same time sent a warning to Charles V. The
danger, as he pointed out, was extremely great. The bribe which
he had refused might be accepted by another, in which case the
06
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
Emperor would find himself involved in inextricable difficulties !
The whole of Italy was declaring against him, and it would be
better, continued Pescara, to come to terms with Francis I, and
accede to his original proposals even at the cost o^Burgundy,
than to tempt fortune. Louise of Savoy and her son awaited
his decision with anxiety. The Emperor replied that his decision
was unalterable, and absolutely refused to yield an inch !
Deprived of the physical exercise necessary for a vigorous
and active prince, and above all of the slightest hope of
Illness o! ^ver seeing the end of a confinement which had
Francis I. become intolerable, Francis I fell ill under the
crushing effects of these repeated disappointments and his
long captivity. He was seized with fever. He realized
that he was in danger and in a few days the disease secured
a disquieting hold over him and reduced him to a state of
prostration. On September 18, 1525, after a period of three
weeks, he became unconscious and was thought to be dying.
The Emperor was seriously alarmed, and realizing, moreover, that
if his prisoner were to die, he would lose his case, hurriedly rode
to the scene bringing with him the best doctors he could find.
He arrived at Madrid in hot haste one evening at nine o'clock.
Lannoy and Marshal de Montmorency received him at the
Alcazar, and the latter, bearing a lighted torch, led the way up to
the sick man's chamber. Charles V showed the utmost affection.
He kissed Francis I, assuring him that there was no need for
him to torment himself, as everything could be arranged between
them, and telling him that his first duty was to get well. The
French King's devoted sister, Margaret, had been summoned
from France, and by travelling two stages at a time she managed
to arrive at Madrid on September 20. Charles V went to meet
her at the bottom of the stairs in the Alcazar. She was in
tears. He kissed her and endeavoured to console her, then
conducted her to her brother and returned to Toledo, ordering
public prayers to be offered on the King's behalf.
Francis, however, seemed to grow worse. For three days
he was unconscious and the doctors declared that there was
Recovery of no hope. Margaret, in despair, had mass cele-
Francis I. brated in the invalid's room by the Archbishop
of Embrun. When at the elevation of the host the celebrant
67
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
held it out towards Francis I for adoration, the King, to
the surprise of every one, half opened his eyes. They tried
to make him receive the communion, and he managed to
take half a wafer, of which Margaret consumed the remaining
portion. It is possible that some abscess had just burst,
but contemporary accounts of the nature of his illness are
rather obscure. From that time forward the King improved,
though he remained extremely feeble. But his strength
seemed to return from day to day and finally he was out
of danger.
An attempt was made to profit by the presence of Margaret
to make the princess re-open the negotiations with Charles V
Charles V and ^^^ *^^^ *^^^ *° account the good will of which
Margaret of the Emperor had just given evidence. On
Navarre. October 3 Margaret went to Toledo, where she
was courteously received by Charles V, who came to meet her
and conducted her to the house he had had prepared for her.
On the following day they had a long conversation of two hours
alone together. But Margaret found her host as inexorable
as ever. She proposed a marriage between her brother and
Eleonora, with the stipulation that the bride should receive
Burgundy as a dowry from the hands of the Emperor, an arrange-
ment which would imply that the King of France had renounced
his ancient rights over that province, but held it, in actual
fact, by virtue of a freshly conferred privilege. Charles V
refused. She then suggested that the Parliament of Paris
should decide the question at issue. Again the Emperor refused.
Moreover he insisted upon every one of the conditions he had
already demanded — ^the renunciation of Italy and Flanders,
the re-installation of Bourbon in the whole of his territory,
with the addition of Provence, and the promise that, once
peace was made, Francis I should accompany the Emperor
against the Turks. He considered himself generous in not
demanding a ransom. Margaret had failed ! There was nothing
more to be done, and on October 13 she left Toledo.
In a fit of temper caused by the Emperor's inflexible ani-
mosity and the barren result of the conciliatory feeling he
had displayed during his illness, Francis I made a desperate
resolve. He decided to abdicate and thus leave merely a
68
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
worthless prisoner in the hands of his adversary. He accordingly
abdicated in favour of the Dauphin. This step terrified the
Emperor's counsellors, who advised their sovereign to give in.
Pescara reiterated his warnings about the dangerous state of
Italy, Louis de Bruges,. Sieur of Praet, Charles V's ambassador
in France, wrote saying that it would be wiser not to insist
upon all his terms. Charles V turned a deaf ear to everybody.
The abdication left him cold. Its only result was that as he
no longer had a King of France in his hands, he seemed disposed
to make his prisoner's captivity less strict.
Francis I thereupon tried to make his escape. He had a
negro to wait upon him and keep up his fire. This man was
Francis I tries bribed, and it was arranged that the King should
to escape. change clothes with him, blacken his face and
one evening at dusk take flight. Relays of horses were
to be held in readiness. But, unfortunately, a valet, who
had a grudge against Montmorency for having once taken
him to task, betrayed the whole plot, with the result that
the King was more closely watched.
Meanwhile, in France, Louise of Savoy, seeing month after
month pass by without bringing any solution, began to lose
The Treaty heart. It was impossible for the kingdom to
of Madrid, remain indefinitely without a master. The King's
1626. presence was becoming more and more urgent j
and she herself felt she had not the strength to assume the
unlimited responsibilities of government indefinitely. What
was the point at issue ? After all, the whole quarrel was
over the matter of a single province. Was the destiny of
all France to hang upon one province ? Would not the evils
entailed be far greater than the loss of a mere duchy ? Had
not John the Good sacrificed far more in order to regain his
liberty ? Louise eventually made up her mind to give in and
to renounce Burgundy, and sent Chabot de Brion to Madrid
to make known her resolve. Francis I, whose courage had com-
k pletely ebbed, bowed his head to the inevitable, and the French
wL plenipotentiaries, the Archbishop of Embrun, Jean de Selve,
■ji and Chabot de Brion met the Spanish envoys Lannoy, Ugo
^pde Moncada and Jean Lallemand in conclave. Francis I
insisted upon marrying Eleonora. She had been promised
69
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
to Charles of Bourbon and the latter was angry at the demand.
In order to solve the difficulty Charles V asked the young widow
her opinion on the subject and she replied that she would prefer
to be Queen of France. Gattinara, the imperial Chancellor,
moved that, pending the actual surrender of Burgundy, Francis I
should be kept prisoner. Whereupon the latter offered to give
his two sons as hostages for his word, a proposal accepted by
Charles V. The final clause of this grievous treaty was com-
pleted on December 19, and by it a stipulation was made that
the King of France should have the agreement ratified by the
States-General and the various Parliaments of the country
within four months. January 14 was fixed for the solemn
signing of the treaty.
On the evening before this day Francis I assembled in his
room at the fortress all the French plenipotentiaries — ^the
President de Selve, the Archbishop of Embrun, and Chabot
de Brion, together with Marshal de Montmorency, the Provost
of Paris, who happened to be on the spot, and his own private
secretary. In firm accents he declared to them that his action
of the morrow had been wrung from him by force. He pro-
tested against this use of force and considered that it annulled
the obligations demanded of him in advance, for these obligations
were a menace to the rights of the Crown, prejudicial to the
interests of his country, and injurious to his honour. The
Emperor was making exorbitant demands upon him which
it was impossible for him to fulfil. He was yielding from
necessity, but he called upon God and every one present to witness
that inasmuch as he was not a free man he regarded the pro-
mises he was about to make as non-existent, null and void.
On the following day, after mass had been celebrated
by the Archbishop of Embrun, both parties signed the treaty.
Signing o! Charles V, who did not trouble to attend in person,
the Treaty. was represented by the Spanish plenipotentiaries.
Francis I swore upon the Gospels to keep the treaty and
the French negotiators in their turn likewise took the oath.
Only on February 11, after an interval of almost a month, did
the Emperor ratify it. The betrothal of the King of France
to Eleonora was solemnized, but he was kept in prison to
await the arrival of his sons to take his place. The utmost
70
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
he was allowed was a certain freedom to go to mass, but
even on these occasions he was always strictly guarded. At
length Charles V decided to pay his fallen foe a visit. He
came dressed in black velvet with an escort of 250 horsemen,
and Francis I went to meet him on the bridge of the Manzanares
mounted upon a richly caparisoned mule. The interview
between the two princes was conducted with great courtesy.
They supped together and had a long conversation. On
February 16, upon the King expressing a desire to see his bride
elect, the two monarchs went to the castle of lUescas, near
Toledo, where the princess was staying. Francis I was exceed-
ingly amiable. A festival was given at which Eleonora per-
formed a Spanish dance with much grace, and finally, on
February 19; the King and the Emperor bade each other adieu,
the latter in order to go to Seville for his marriage with the
Infanta of Portugal, and Francis I, who had at last been given
leave to depart, to make his way to the French frontier, where
he was to regain his liberty. Before parting, however, Charles V
was seized with qualms of doubt. " Give me your word,"
he said to Francis I, "that you will faithfully fulfil your pledges."
" I swear to you that I will keep my word," the King replied.
They then saluted each other and parted.
On February 21 Francis finally turned his back upon
Madrid and the dismal fortress in which for six long months
Release of he had suffered so much physical and moral
Francis I^ agony. Another month was required to reach
the frontier. He was still closely guarded and infinite pains
were taken to ensure that the King should be replaced
by his sons at a meeting-place on the Bidassoa between
Hendaye and Fontarabia. Here Louise of Savoy had sent
the little princes of eight and a half and seven years old
respectively — ^the latter the future King Henry II — in the care of
Lautrec. On March 17 at seven o'clock in the morning, in
the presence of two bodies of troops representing France and
Spain, who occupied either bank, the King and his sons, borne
in two boats containing an equal number of rowers and pas-
sengers, were exchanged in the middle of the river on crossing
an empty landing-stage which had been erected in the water.
As he placed his foot on French soil Francis I exclaimed : '* I
71
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
am a King again I " He then mounted his horse and rode
quickly to Bayonne where in the great church of the city he
returned a solemn thanksgiving to the Almighty.
Up to this moment the clauses of the treaty had been kept
secret. They were now made pubUc, and their extreme charac-
ter aroused universal indignation. In Italy, over which the
document in question proclaimed the Emperor's hegemony,
the voice of discontent was unanimous. The Pope gave vent to
the opinion that there was no ground for regarding as valid
an agreement which had been extracted under constraint, an
agreement; moreover, which placed the King of Spain " upon
the throne of Christendom." Henry VIII was of the same
mind, whilst in France the general outburst of fury reached
its height. States, Parliaments, and nobility all raised a
concert of vehement protestation.
Francis I, by the terms of the treaty, had boimd himself
to ratify it the moment he was free. He did nothing of the
Francis I. kind, however, and when the imperial ambassador
repudiates the came to remind him of this obligation, he evaded
Treaty. the question by giving dilatory answers and
excusing himself on the ground that opposition was breaking
out in every quarter and that it was necessary for him at
least to consult the States of Burgundy, the province chiefly
affected. Charles V, who was extremely busy, sent Lannoy
to the King of France to insist upon his keeping his word
and to bring home to him the argument that as he was an
absolute monarch it was luinecessary for him to pay any
attention to the' arguments of his subjects. Lannoy reached
Cognac, where Francis I arrived on May 8. On May 10, accom-
panied by the ordinary ambassador, Louis de Praet, he was
given an audience before the King's council, at which he was
officially informed, without much beating about the bush,
by the French Chancellor, Duprat, in the name of the Govern-
ment, that it was impossible to separate Burgundy from France.
Then Francis I, in his turn, addressed them, and declared
that inasmuch as his word had been wrested from him in Madrid
at a moment when he had no freedom whatever, his promise
was null and void, and that he consequently regarded himself
as free from all obligation. Nevertheless, he was desirous of
72
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
living in peace and concord with the Emperor, and apart from
this matter, counted upon fulfilling all such clauses of the treaty
as allowed of fulfilment. Charles V's envoys made no reply.
They merely bowed and withdrew. Francis I without further
delay profited by the terror with which the menacing spectre
of "a monarchy of all Christendom " inspired the Italians,
The Holy ^^ j^i^ ^^ alliance formed under the aegis of
League of Pope Clement VII — the Holy League of Cognac.
Cognac. And the allies thereupon prepared for war.
Charles V was in Seville, where his marriage with the Infanta
of Portugal had just taken place, when he received the news
of these events. So the Treaty of Madrid had been repudiated
and torn in two, and Italy stirred up against him ! It was a
violent blow. After securing so fair a prospect, to lose all in
this way ! The English ambassador wrote to his master that
the Emperor " remained in retirement plunged in silence, often
spending three or four consecutive hours alone with his own
thoughts." Charles V now had to start afresh from the very
beginning. He had hoped to turn his attention to (iermany,
where Lutheranism was spreading, and the advance of the
Turks was threatening; but he was now forced to return to
Italy. He gave orders for the French King's sons to be put
into strict confinement. The little princes were shamefully
treated by the brutal soldiers to whom they were entrusted.
They were dragged from one fortress to another, imprisoned
behind barred windows in dark bare rooms, cut ofi from all
French society, miserably clad, and were altogether pitiable
to behold.
The Papal forces, together with those of Venice and the other
confederates, began to concentrate in Italy. The Pope informed
the Emperor of the existence of the Holy League, and the French
ambassador, Jean de Calvimont, President of the ParUament
of Bordeaux, was sent with a similar mission from Francis I.
He demanded from Charles V the remmciation of Burgundy and
the return of the French princes upon payment of a ransom.
" Your master," replied Charles V to Calvimont, " has deceived
me. I shall never again trust his word. His behaviour is
not that of a knight and a gentleman ! " The children he refused
to give up at any price. Nevertheless he endeavoured to
73
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
turn aside the blast by separating the Italians from Francis I.
He made persistent overtures to Clement VII, using all manner
of inducements and threats. But in vain. The menace of im-
perial domination was too great. And meanwhile the excesses
of his representatives in Italy were making matters worse for
his cause.
In Rome, Ugo di Moncada, the imperial delegate, had
come to an understanding with the Colonna family, who were at
enmity with the Pope. These latter raised a tumult which
degenerated into frightful disorder, during which the Vatican
was carried by assault, pillaged and sacked. The Pope was
obliged to seek refuge in the Castle of St. Angelo where they
forced him to sign an agreement to withdraw from the League.
This event aroused the indignation of Europe, and Charles V
himself was extremely annoyed by an escapade which was a
scandalous act of barbarism. It was not, moreover, destined
to be unique of its kind.
The Emperor had sent Charles of Bourbon to €he north
of Italy to take over the command of an army which was being
Sack of Rome raised there by recruiting mercenaries from all
by the Im- quarters — Italy, Spain, and Germany — a violent
perialists, 1527. mob of hirelings inspired by no faith and governed
by no law. Bourbon made for central Italy, but he had
no money, and his soldiers, seething with discontent, were
demanding their pay. Moreover a perpetual downfall of rain
was soaking these miserable and frenzied desperadoes, who
had neither clothes, shoes, nor provisions. They were in a
constant state of mutiny and Bourbon barely escaped with
his life. In order to calm them he was foolish enough to dazzle
their eyes by the prospect of towns to be sacked, and even
breathed the name of Rome. With one accord the imperial
army, beside themselves at the idea, insisted upon marching
on Rome against the Pope, who had rejoined the League.
There was no help for it, and Bourbon grimly faced the in-
evitable. He made a rush through the valley of the Arno,
and on Monday, May 6, 1527, the imperial hordes attacked
the Eternal City in the Borgo quarter. As he was attempting
to scale the walls Charles of Bourbon was mortally wounded
by a bullet. He was carried to a neighbouring chapel where
74
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
he just bad time to make his confession and receive the sacra-
ment before he died. The Borgo was captured and after it
the rest of the city. A week of horrible carnage followed.
The Lutheran lansquenets threw off all restraint; murder,
arson, and sacrilege were rife. Over 4000 people were put to
the sword. The Pope, who had shut himself up in the Castle
of St. Angelo, capitulated together with thirteen cardinals,
and was kept a prisoner in the hands of Alarc6n, the Spanish
captain who had once had charge of Francis I. Happy
the Emperor who had had both the Pope and the King
of France prisoners in his power ! The sack of Rome,
however, caused universal horror throughout Christendom,
and when, by command of Francis I, Lautrec descended
upon Italy with an army of 40,000 men for the deliverance
of the Pope, he was everywhere greeted with acclamations
of joy.
But alas ! Lautrec's new campaign was doomed, like its pre-
decessors, to a disastrous termination. After winning back
the valley of the Po from the Imperialists without striking a
blow, Lautrec marched upon Rome. Charles V, by a bold stroke
of policy, ordered the Sovereign Pontiff to be liberated upon
payment of a ransom of 368,000 crowns. A French herald
at arms was thereupon dispatched to Spain to make an official
declaration of war against the Emperor, Charles V received
him sitting upon his throne and surrounded by all his Court,
when with profound solemnity he replied that as the King of
France had broken his faith he was a "coward" and that if
he wished to "gainsay the same he would prove it to him man
to man." This was a challenge. When the herald returned
to France with this reply Francis I also sat upon his throne
surrounded by all his Court, and with equal solemnity gave
audience to the Spanish ambassador, Granvelle. Reminding
hin;i of the terms of the insult which Charles V had hurled
at him, he charged Granvelle to tell his master that *' he lied
in his throat " and to challenge him to a duel. A contest in
the lists between these two monarchs would have provided a
strange epilogue indeed to the drama ! But although the
Emperor retorted that his adversary was himself a " liar "
and consented to meet him on the Bidassoa, the duel was never
75
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
fought. Minor obstacles were raised, but, as a matter of fact,
neither side was really anxious for it to take place.
Meanwhile Lautrec pushed forward in Italy, occupied the
Papal States, and conquered the Kingdom of Naples without
The French encountering much resistance. He laid siege
driven from to the city itself, and might have succeeded in
Italy. capturing it, as the sea was in the hands of one
of the cleverest and most famous admirals of the day —
the Genoese Andrea Doria, who had for some time been
in the service of Francis I. Unfortunately the latter had
offended him by various ill-considered acts and irritated him
by injudicious threats, with the result that Doria, deeply mor-
tified, had gone over to the Emperor. Naples was re-victualled
and put in a position to hold out against a siege, and the French
army, as usual, gradually melted away, decimated by plague,
famine, and lack of funds. Lautrec himself fell ill and died
and the remnant of his troops — less than 10,000 men — ^took their
departure and wandered about until they were made prisoners
in Aversa. This fresh attempt had resulted in utter failure
and the whole of Italy remained in the hands of the Emperor.
Louise of Savoy then attempted to use her influence in order
to make peace between her son and Charles V. The contest
The Peace of had now dragged on for eight years, and there
Cambray, 1529. must surely be some means of putting an end
to it. She approached the Emperor's aunt, the Arch-
duchess Margaret, who was Governor of the Netherlands, and
the latter consented to do her best. The two princesses
settled the basis upon which a settlement could be reached.
The terms were the same as before. France was to renounce
all right over Italy, Flanders, and Artois, but Margaret was
begged to induce Charles V to give up Burgundy. Twenty
times over the negotiations were almost broken off, but, by
dint of patience, the Archduchess succeeded in convincing
her imperial nephew that the wisest course was to give up the
province of Burgundy, which France would never, on any
consideration, consent to relinquish, and remain the undisputed
master of Italy, which would otherwise be constantly rising
up against him. Charles V, with infinite difficulty, was at last
induced to consent. He agreed to give back the French King's
76
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
sons for a ransom of two million gold crowns. The two prin-
cesses had held their discussions at Cambray, and the peace
was accordingly named the Peace of Cambray or the " Ladies'
Peace " after its authors. It was signed on August 3, 1529.
When the little princes returned from Spain and described
the treatment they had received, Francis I was furious. His
children's sufferings, together with the remembrance of all
he had himself endured at Madrid, left in his breast an in-
vincible hatred for his implacable foe. He signed the peace,
but only whilst awaiting an opportunity for making a war of
revenge. The events which had taken place, wrote the Venetian
ambassador, Giustiniano, had so " roused the hatred of the
King and exasperated him that he never mentioned these
matters without showing violent anger and an unquenchable
thirst for vengeance."
But on this occasion Francis I meant to take his time. He
would make his preparations slowly and to good purpose.
Francis I ^* ^^* moreover, necessary to give his kingdom
makes fresh a breathing-space. He entered upon a long
preparations campaign of diplomacy calculated to place the
for war. Emperor gradually in a position of political isola-
tion. French envoys were sent to solicit the various Italian
states, the Pope, and the King of England ; they foiind
the ground well prepared. The imperial omnipotence which
overshadowed Europe was a veritable nightmare to all who
had reason to fear they might become its victims. Clement
VII, especially, and his cardinals, who had terrified recollec-
tions of the sack of Rome, were ready for any alliance against
their hated adversary. So friendly were they that a marriage
was even arranged between Francis I's son, the future King
Henry II, and a distant cousin of the Pope, Catherine, Duchess
of Urbino. This Catherine was none other than the famous
Catherine de' Medici, daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, who
at this time was but thirteen years old, the same age as the
young prince to whom she was betrothed. An interview took
place at Marseilles between Clement VII and Francis I, at
which the latter kept recurring to the ever-vexed question of
the Duchy of Milan, with the result that the Pope gave his
consent to the King's re-conquest of the lost province.
77
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
An interview also took place with Henry VIII, and in return
for a sum of money that self-seeking and greedy monarch
consented to follow any line of policy desired. Thus the alliance
was set on a firm basis.
This time Francis I went even further, and attempted
to win the support of the German princes who were hostile
French *° *^^ Emperor. In the midst of the struggles
alliance with occasioned by the growth of Lutheranism, the
the Protestants German princes who upheld the new doctrines
and Turks. had been obliged in 1530 to form a league at
Schmalkalden in order to defend themselves against the designs
of Charles V and the Catholic princes. His Most Christian
Majesty, however, had the boldness to propose making common
cause with them. They accepted. And why not ? since the
theologians had explained to Francis I that "natural right
and the canons of the Church allowed a man to make use
of any means of defence " if he were gravely menaced. B]|P
virtue of this principle Francis I went even further and
had recourse to the Turks themselves — a daring innovation !
For the first time the Sultan entered the concert of European
Powers. Francis I dispatched Rincon to Constantinople in
order to see how the land lay. In 1534 Khair Eddin
Barbarossa, a Turkish admiral, came on a mission to France,
and in 1535 a second French ambassador. La Forest, pre-
sented himself at the Court of the Grand Turk, Solyman.
This act laid the foundations of a connexion destined to last
to this day. Europe was taken by surprise. " The French
people," wrote one of the Italian ambassadors, " consider
this alliance as shameful as it really is" . . . "an ignomini-
ous blot." An unconscious feeling having sprung up that
a balance of power was necessary in Europe, the use of
any efficacious means to this end, regardless of an3rthing
but political expediency, seems to have been accepted as its
corollary.
In addition to political innovations the government of
Frgrims T ynade various alterations in-Hlilitary matters. Under
the old system of recruiting, a captain was entrusted with the
charge of raising a force of 300 men whom he might have to
take anywhere, frequently to foreign lands. On July 24, 1534,
78
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
following the ancient Roman system, seven legions of infantry
were created, each containing six companies of 1000 men.
These seven legions were appointed respectively to each of
the seven provinces of Normandy, Burgundy, Languedoc,
Brittany, Picardy, Dauphiny, and Guyenne. This made a sum
total of 42,000 infantry, of which 80,000 were armed with pikes
and halberds, and the rest with arquebuses, forming the nucleus
of the old French regiments.
When everything was ready, the death in 1535 of Francesco
Sforza, Duke of Milan, afforded Francis I a pretext for taking
Re-opening of ^P ^^ms against the Emperor once more. He
hostiUties, laid claim to Milan, and when Charles III, Duke
1535. of Savoy, raised difficulties, he began operations
by occupying Savoy and Piedmont, which were invaded by
Admiral Chabot de Brion. Charles V had not failed to realize
as soon as the Peace of Cambray was signed, that the war
had merely been interrupted. He had been informed of his ad-
versary's diplomatic campaigns and the success which attended
them, and, profoundly irritated, had also made military pre-
parations. He faced the war resolutely, and with 50,000
men crossed the Alps in 1536 and invaded Provence, deter-
mined to capture Marseilles. The French army which had
been told off to keep him in check, had been placed under the
command of^ Anne de Montmorency, a prudent and cautious
soldier. He • avoided an encounter with the imperial forces,
and systematically laid bare the whole country before the
invader, burying the corn and wine and destroying the mills,
so that when the Emperor's army advanced it found no food.
Aix was pillaged, but Marseilles, Aries, and Tarascon, strongly
fortified and armed, and with an ample supply of provisions
and soldiers, awaited the enemy. Charles V hurled himself
upon these barriers, whilst Montmorency kept watching over
him from the Rhone. Tne Emperor attempted the impossible
in trying to take Marseilles, which held out against him. His
army was dying of hunger and crumbling away. After a
campaign of two months, during the whole of which Mont-
morency remained immovable in his camp at La Durance,
Charles V decided to beat a miserable retreat to Italy without
having accomplished anything.
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Things then dragged on in a state of impotence and general
lassitude on both sides. Anne de Montmorency, put on his
Truce of mettle by the success of his defensive tactics,
Mon^on, 1537. forced the Pas de Suse by a brilliant attack in
which he was accompanied by the Dauphin, Henry. But on
November 16, 1537, the two adversaries, unable to accomplish
anything, signed a three months' truce at Mon9on on the basis
of the statu quo. What was it possible for either side to do ?
It was arranged that an interview should take place between
the Emperor, the Pope, and the King of France, at which an
attempt would be made once more to restore peace. But at
the meeting in 1538 it was admitted that it was impossible
to agree upon any definite plan. A fresh truce was signed,
this time for ten years, by the terms of which Francis was
temporarily to keep Savoy and the Emperor Milan, and a
short lull followed upon the preceding period of hatred and
hostility.
The lull, indeed, was of such a nature that when, in the
following year the people of Ghent rebelled against their
sovereign, and Charles V, in difficulties about reaching Flanders,
ventured to ask Francis I to allow him to cross France, the
latter gave permission with alacrity. By his orders the detested
monarch was everywhere given a cordial and sumptuous re-
ception, showing how perfectly the French could practise the
chivalrous virtue of courteous hospitality. At Bordeaux,
Poitiers, Chatellerault, Blois, and Orleans there was a constant
succession of triumphal arches, speech-making, and festivities
of all sorts. In a spirit of bravado directed against his anxious
counsellors who predicted terrible disasters, the Emperor was
accompanied by an escort of only 20 or 25 nobles and 50 horse-
men. He made his entry into Paris with great magnificence,
and was lodged at the Louvre, from which he attended
a series of banquets and jousts. He was thus enabled to
reach Flanders without difficulty. The French people had
received him with smiles and gracious words, but in their
hearts three wounds still remained unhealed : the remem-
brance of the hardships of Madrid, the fear of the
Emperor's overpowering influence in Europe, and regret for
the loss of Milan.
80
THE KING AND THE EMPEROR
Consequently when, five years later, in 1544, Rincon and
Fregose, two French ambassadors, were treacherously murdered
Fresh rupture, on the banks of the Po by some of the Emperor's
1544. soldiers, Francis I profited by the occasion once
more to break with his hated enemy and attack him. A
young prince, the Due d'Enghien, the brother of Antoine de
Battle of Bourbon, King of Navarre, and uncle of the future
Cerisola. Henry IV, was placed at the head of an army
which crossed the Alps and on April 14, 1544, gained a brilliant
victory at Cerisola over the Emperor's general Del Guasto.
Every student of history is familiar with the spirited account
given by Monluc, who was with the French forces, of
how he was sent to France to ask leave to give battle, and
the difficulty he had in gaining the consent of the Council,
in spite of his southern fire and eloquence which fascinated
Francis I ; also with his description of that magnificent feat
of arms. After a few abortive attempts to open a campaign on
the northern and southern frontiers, in Picardy and Lorraine,
the two monarchs concluded a fresh peace — the Peace of Soissons
Treaty of or Cr^py-en-Valois — by the terms of which Charles,
Cr£py, 1544. Duke of AngoulSme, the King's second, son, ^"^^
was to marry a niece of the Emperor's, who was to have
Milan for her dowry, while the Duke of Savoy was to regain
his territories the day the son of Francis I entered Milan
as its sovereign.
During this last conflict the fickle Henry VIII had declared
for Charles V. It was, therefore, necessary to fight him, and
a few attempts were made in the north both by land and sea.
The French forces crossed the Channel and made a descent
upon the Isle of Wight ; on land a few encounters took place.
But Henry VIII finally made a treaty at Ardres by which, in
return for 800,000 crowns, he gave up Boulogne and its
territory. Everybody was thoroughly tired out.
Henry VIII did not long survive this last episode. His
death, which was rather sudden, took place in 1547. The
Death of disappearance of a man who was more or less
Francis 1, 1547. his contemporary gave Francis I a profoimd
shock, and he followed him to the grave in the same year,
at the age of fi&ySrhree He died . discouraged and over-
'lu-^^ f 3
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
whelmed by a reign of thirty-two years, which had counted
more horn's of misery than moments of happiness, and had
left bitter memories of a series of disasters more permanent in
their effects than any joys and satisfactions, at least in the
domain of politics.
Sources. Catalogue des actes de Frangois I", 1887 onwards ; Martin
du Bellay, Mimoires, ed. Michaud and Poujonlat ; Louise de Savoie,
Journal, same edition ; Comptes de Louise de Savoie et de Marguerite
d'AngouUme, ed. A. Lefranc, 1905 ; Marguerite d'Angouleme, Lettres,
ed. Genin, 1841 and 1842 ; Journal de Jean Barillon, secretaire du chancelier
Duprat, ed. de Vaissiere, 1897 ; Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris sous le
rtgne de Frangois /"", ed. Lalanne, 1854 ; Chronique du roi Frangois I""
de ce nom, ed. Guiffrey, 1860 ; Monluc, Commentaires et lettres, ed. de
Ruble, 1864 ; Brantome, CEuvres completes, ed. Lalanne ; Captivitd du
roi Frangois I"', ed. A. Champollion-Figeac ; Tommaseo, Relations des
ambassadeurs vinitiens, 1838 ; Alberi, Relazzioni degli ambasciatori veneti
al senato, 1889.
Works. R. de Maulde, Louise de Savoie et Frangois I", 1895 ; De
Leseure, Frangois I"', 1878 ; P. Paris, JStudes sur Frangois i"", 1885 ;
B. Zeller, Claude de France, 1892 ; Mignet, Rivaliti de Frangois I"' et de
Charles Quint, 1875 ; Baumgarten, Geschichte Karls V, 1885 ; A. Lebey,
Le connitable de Bourbon, 1904 ; A. de Barral, Le camp du Drap d'or, 1879 ;
Gaehard, La captimti de Frangois I"" et le traiti de Madrid, 1860 ; Jac-
queton, La politique ext&rieure de Louise de Savoie, 1892 ; Decrue, Anne
de Montmorency grand maitre et conndtable de France, 1885 ; A. Spont,
Marignan et Vorganisation militaire sous Frangois l"" {Rev, des quest,
hist., 1899).
82
CHAPTER III
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
Francis I towards the end of his reign, the King and the man ; his
mother, Louise of Savoy ; his sister, Margaret of Navarre ; his
Queens, Claude and Eleonora ; Madame de Chateaubriant ; the
Duchess d'Etampes ; the King's children ; his counsellors — ^Mont-
morency, Admiral d'Annebaut, Cardinal de Tournon. The con-
stitution and the officials of the King's household. Court
gatherings, balls, festivals, and jousts. The King's journeys. The
luxury of Francis I and of his courtiers ; his financial extravagance
and one of its victims : Semblangay. Francis I's love of art and
letters. The personal nature of the literature of the day — Clement
Marot, Margaret of Navarre, Rabelais, Dolet. Francis I's
encouragement of learned men ; the library of Fontainebleau, the
College de France. The arts, the Renaissance ; evolution of French
art ; its precursors — Jean Fouquet, Bourdichon, Perr^al, Colombe.
Gradual change in architecture — Amboise, Blois ; great buildings
of Francis I, Chambord, Madrid, Fontainebleau ; Italian decora- '
tive work, II Rosso, Primaticcio, Benvenuto Cellini ; the Fon-
tainebleau School.
IN the print-room of the BibHoth^que Nationale there is
a curious chalk drawing dating from the time of Jean
Clouet vv^hich gives a portrait of Francis I towards the
end of his Ufe. It shows the King considerably aged, although
he was but fifty-three. His features are drawn with years
Francis I. to- ^^^ obvious fatigue ; beneath his grey beard
wards the end his mouth is compressed and bitter, as though
of his reign. he had lost all illusions ; his gaze is sad, his
eye dull, and the \vhole picture conveys the impression of
a man weighed down by the disappointments of hfe, disen-
chanted, and painfully resigned. And, indeed, if we consider
the political history of the period, few reigns in the annals of
France -except that of John the Good — record such lament-
able disasters as the defeat of Pavia and the captivity
88
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
in Madrid, few witnessed such an interminable succession
of unfortunate wars, constantly repeated complications, and
mortifying diplomatic failures. Nevertheless, the reign of
Francis I preserves its reputation as a brilliant epoch in the
history of France — a reputation due to the character and tastes
of the King, and to all he did for the cause of art and letters.
Marino Cavalli, the Venetian ambassador, who arrived at
the French court in 1546, a few months before the death of
Francis I, sent his government an account of the impression
produced upon him when he saw the King. His description
is extremely minute. Francis I, who was still tall and upright
and apparently strong, possessed the measured and noble
dignity of gesture which long years of public life and the weight
of maturity confer upon a man. He was impressive, extremely
majestic, and regal. Like Louis XIV, he would have been
recognizable anywhere by his stately appearance. Robust,
inured to fatigue, indefatigable in riding, hunting, and travelling,
a large eater, a heavy drinker, and an even better sleeper, he
appeared to enjoy excellent health. The allegations about
some serious disease that consumed him seem never to have
been substantiated. He merely suffered from an abscess which
formed and burst every year, a symptom which the doctors
regarded as favourable, inasmuch as it *' purged his humours."
And, indeed, in 1547, the abscess did not make its appearance,
with the result that Francis I died rather suddenly. He was,
moreover, a dandy. Invariably well-dressed himself, he set
the fashion for all. There was even a certain studied refinement
and affectation in his attire. He would only wear costumes
trimmed with lace and embroidery and covered with precious
stones. His doublets were of gold tissue, with an opening
showing a shirt of fine linen edged with rare lace ; and he had
rich clothes innumerable.
He was above all a charming talker. Full of life and gaiety,
and cordial with everybody, his spirits and good temper were
Character of the life and soul of every party. Without having
Francis I. read much or studied methodically, he, never-
theless, knew something of everything and his varied and
inexhaustible store of knowledge astonished his listeners.
Whether he were discussing war, painting, literature, languages,
84
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
geography, hunting, physical exercise or agriculture, he had
accurate knowledge and sensible ideas on every subject.
" Not only artists might profit from his conversation," wrote
Thomas Hubert of Li^ge, who, in 1535 accompanied the Elector
Palatine on a visit to Paris, " but gardeners and labourers as
well." His memory was so good that he could discuss the
genealogies of the gentry, of which he knew every particular,
just as he remembered every noble in his kingdom. With
soldiers he talked about strategy, the management of armies,
artillery, and commissariat ; and astounded them by the pre-
cision and clarity of his ideas. When they expressed their
surprise, the King would laugh and say it was perfectly true
that he knew the right thing to do, but that he had no idea of
how to apply his conceptions, or rather, he could not trouble
to try, and had unfortunately never discovered the person who
could carry them out for him. Finally, with men of learning,
he loved to discuss philosophy, books, and manuscripts, and
by a curious anomaly, it was perhaps this kind of conversation
which best pleased this monarch, who was essentially an aris-
tocrat and a typical representative of an amiable though
fundamentally frivolous race. As a matter of fact, he was
endowed with an inquisitive mind, and possessed the gift of
picking up information by making those who knew a subject
talk about it. He was extremely adaptable and endowed, in
addition, with good sense and judgment; "there was," ac-
cording to Cavalli, " no subject, whether it were a branch of
knowledge or one of the arts, upon which his arguments were
not very much to the point, or on which he could not express
quite as confident an opinion as anyone who was a specialist
in the matter." No other King of France, not even excepting
Henry IV, whom in certain respects he so closely resembled,
was able to confer greater charm and distinction upon his
banquets and Court gatherings, great or small.
But taking him all in all, Francis I was nothing more than
a man of pleasure. If, in his youth, he had had such a fondness
for rough and dangerous games that twenty times over he had
run the risk of being killed ; if he had had somewhat savage
tastes, as shown by the fact that he made a bull and three lions
fight in the moat of Amboise ; if, as the spoilt son of a rich
85
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
family he had amused himself with such follies as masquerading
with boon-companions, and as the Journal d'un Bourgeois de
Paris relates, " going about the town and into sundry houses
for pleasure and amusement " and committing Heaven alone
knows what excesses " which the people bore with a bad
grace " ; in his old age he certainly preserved a marked love
of dissipation. Himting, festivals, conversations, constant
journeys, dress and the collection of beautiful things all en-
grossed a mind which gradually became incapable of appl}ang
itself for any length of time to serious matters. In spite of
his good judgment and knowledge this lack of concentration
made Francis I a frivolous man.
This frivolity was chiefly displayed in matters connected
with his government. He hated affairs of State, and his duties
as a King were a regular nightmare to him which he preferred
to discuss as little as possible. Easy to approach, good-natured
and simple, he accepted any idea suggested by his advisers,
in order to have done with the matter as quickly as possible.
His sister, Queen Margaret, frequently complained of this to
the ambassador Giustiniano, more especially when she thought
of Charles V, the King's jealous, reserved, and calculating foe 1
But fortunately, in really momentous cases, Francis I claimed
his right to decide for himself, and in such circumstances, he
even assumed a peremptory tone of authority. The good side
to this levity of character was his utter inability to bear a
grudge. He found it easy to forgive and forget. Its bad side
was responsible for a foolish policy which may have given him
scope for proving his gallantry and spirit, two qualities he
certainly possessed, but attested his lack of subtlety and skill,
which would have been of far greater use to him. It is possible
that the feminine influences which had been exercised upon him
from his childhood upwards, and in his maturity assumed such
undue importance, were to some extent responsible for this
frivolity of mind.
Of the women who influenced him the first and foremost
was certainly his mother, Louise of Savoy. The historians of
Louise of the seventeenth century who had to tell the story
Savoy. of Charles of Bourbon after his family had as-
cended the throne of France, were anxious to offer some sort
86
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
of excuse for his treachery. They accordingly vilify Louise
of Savoy and represent her as a splenetic, avaricious creature,
moved by base feelings of resentment, and ready to sacrifice
anybody and everybody to her disappointment at not being
able to find a second husband. The fact that she was
grasping when her interests were at stake is certainly beyond
dispute, but that she was base in character is doubtful. She
was proud of her son, upon whom she lavished her whole affec-
tion, and she adored him too much to be able to guide him
aright. The part she played during his captivity at Madrid
was both dignified, intelligent, and resolute, and the high esteem
in which Francis I held her is proved by the letters he wrote
her. When this slim, pallid woman died on September 22, 15i8,
at the age of fifty-six, she was universally regretted and the
melancholy epitaph, " Here lieth the body of one whose soul
hath been raised to glory," &c., which the King, her son,
wrote for her tomb, seemed justified in the eyes of the whole
world.
The woman who, after his mother, influenced Francis most,
was his sister " Madame Marguerite d'Orldans " as she was
Margaret of called, the charming Queen of Navarre, who,
Navarre. after the death of her first husband, the Duke
of Alengon, following upon the battle of Pavia, contracted
on January 31, 1527, a loveless marriage with Henri d'Albret,
King of Navarre. She bore him a daughter, Jeanne d'Albret,
who became the mother of Henry IV. This clever, intelligent
woman, so kindly and gracious, so good, so sweet, so
charitable, so incapable of despising anyone, whose mind
was open to every idea, who loved to talk with learned men
and who wrote tales, comedies, pastorals, songs, and verses —
Marguerites de la Marguerite — also idolized the spoilt brother —
who called her his darling — far too much to attempt to correct
his faults. "Don't talk to me about her," was Francis I's
reply to a man who was denouncing his sister's Lutheran
tendencies, " she loves me far too much ; she will believe only
what I believe ! " . . . And, indeed, she believed and desired
everything her brother wished. This attitude of admiring
approval — or at all events in cases where she actually dis-
approved, her inability to hazard a remonstrance — made this
87
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
brilliant, though somewhat indolent princess but a poor in-
strument in the hands of those who wished her to make the
King more businesslike and serious. It is possible that in
her heart of hearts she was herself ashamed of her weakness,
and the marigold * her favourite flower, which she chose as her
emblem, may have been a symbol of the secret anxiety of her
mind !
The influence of the two Queens, Francis I's first and second
wives, was negligible. The first, Claude, who died at the age
Wives of of twenty-five, was too young to have any weight
Francis I. with him ; whilst the second, Eleonora, the sister
of Charles V, was married from motives of political expediency.
She had no children by the King and lived apart, somewhat
lonely and isolated, though she had a numerous Court of
her own. She remained a stranger to the end, without
influence, appearing but rarely, and playing no active part of
any kind.
The King's mistresses, on the other hand, filled a much more
important position. Francis I enjoys the reputation of having
His mistresses : l*een one of the gayest and most fickle monarchs
Anne de who ever reigned in France. But this is an
Graville. exaggeration. In his youth he may, perhaps,
have shown himself both ardent and volatile in his affections,
but he only had three real passions, lasting moreover throughout
his life, which is saying a good deal. The first and least im-
portant was the love inspired by Anne de Graville, one of Anne
of Brittany's maids-of-honour. She was a fair, delicate girl,
intelligent and graceful, and very attractive with her dark eyes,
broad forehead, small mouth and pink complexion. The
romance did not last long, for one fine day Anne eloped with
her cousin Pierre de Balzac d'Entraigues. The couple were
subsequently married and given a dowry, and the union proved
extremely fruitful.
The second liaison was more serious. Frangoise de Foix
was the sister of two great soldiers of that family of Foix which
Madame de was to be found on every battlefield of the period —
Chateaubriant. Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, who received
twenty wounds at Ravenna, and Andre de Foix, Seigneur
* In French, souci, which also means care.
88
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
dc Lesparre, who was blinded by a gun-shot. She had
married in 1509 a Breton nobleman, Jean de Laval, Sire de
Chateaubriant. She was a tall, strong woman, dark, massive
and of ample proportions. She wrote poetry more remarkable
for quantity than for delicacy, though she had a cultivated
mind. But she was a coquette by disposition, with but little
distinction, lacking in reserve, and indifferent to her husband.
The King's preference for her dated from his return from
Marignano in 1516. Their relations proved tempestuous.
They exchanged reams of poetry — it was the fashion of the
period to write verse — and quarrelled a good deal, for she was
lively, high-handed, and jealous, whilst he was gay and careless.
She became somewhat of a nuisance, and Marot in composing
her epitaph later on, had good reason to say : '* Here lieth in
nothingness one who once was all-triumphant." The Countess
of Chateaubriant was supplanted about 1523 by the Duchess
of !fitampes, who was in every respect her opposite.
Anne de Pisseleu, demoiselle d'Heilly, who afterwards
became Duchess of fitampes, was, in 1523, a fair, pale young
The Duchess gi^l of seventeen, charming, distinguished, slight
of Etampes. and graceful. She was maid-of -honour to Louise
of Savoy, and was as gentle and reserved as her prede-
cessor had been bold and outspoken. Francis I remarked her
among his mother's elegant little band of maids-of-honour,
and though he hid his passion, Louise of Savoy and Margaret
were not deceived. At the time of the King's departure for
Pavia, the Court knew nothing, but all was revealed on his
return. Her rival, Madame de Chateaubriant, was beside
herself with rage. She gave way to ungovernable fury and
kept calling Anne d'Heilly a " fuzzy-haired chit." Francis I
was obliged to inform the Countess that all was over between
them, and give her her dismissal. This he did in a letter in
verse in which he compared her to a " rabid beast."
Likened to a rabid beast she was sent
With the flocks in the meadows to pasture !
wrote Queen Margaret ironically. The King's new passion,
which was destined to last for four and twenty years, until
the day of his death, won for him a faithful and intelligent
89
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
devotion, a dainty, witty, affectionate, and serene mistress. On
the death of Louise of Savoy, Madame d'fitampes was appointed
governess to the King's daughters, Margaret and Madeleine, who
were ten and seven years old respectively — a signal testimony
of esteem and affection. In 1534, when she was twenty-eight,
she married Jean de Brosse, Count of Penthi^vre. The King
conferred upon the newly wedded pair the county of fitampes,
which after two years, he raised to the rank of a duchy.
It was chiefly in the company of this group of women that
Francis I passed his life. He rarely left them, for he delighted
in their society, and made them accompany him on his various
journeys.
But his daughters must be included in the list. By his wife,
Claude, he had six children — ^three sons, Francis, Henry, and
Children of Charles, and three daughters, Louise, Madeleine
Francis I. and Margaret. The eldest of the three boys
died rather suddenly in 1586, as the result of drinking a
glass of very cold water immediately after taking violent
exercise. The third, the Duke of Orleans, fell a victim in
1545, at the age of twenty-three, to some epidemic caught
near Abbeville ; whilst the second, Henry, was destined to
become Henry 11. Of the three daughters, Louise died when
she was just betrothed ; Madeleine became Queen of Scotland ;
and Margaret was still at home with her father at the time of
his death. She was then twenty-two. Francis I had not been
able to arrange a match for her, though she was intelligent
and gifted like her aunt, and knew Latin, Greek, and Italian.
She was a charming girl of whom her father was extremely
fond, and she gave the finishing touch to the pleasant circle
which surrounded and entertained the King.
As a result of the indifference of a King whogave himself
up to social life and an existence of constant enjoyment and
Advisers of pleasure, the advisers of Francis I who enjoyed
Francis I. their master's favour assumed an extremely
-/L, important position. At the beginning of his reign the
King had four or five favourites — his old friends Bonnivet,
Brion, Montchenu, and Montmorency. After his brilliant
campaign against Charles V, Montmorency took the lead and
was seconded in the government by Admiral Chabot de Brion
90
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
and the Chancellor Poyet. But these three men did not
agree. Montmorency and Poyet hated Brion. They com-
passed his downfall, drove him from office, and made him stand
his trial. Montmorency, however, in his turn, was disgraced,
when the policy of remaining on good terms with the Emperor,
which he had advocated, proved a failure. Poyet shared in
his fall. Towards the end of his life, Francis I placed his whole
trust in Admiral Claude d'Annebaut, a good soldier, and an
extremely honourable and worthy man who was afflicted with a
slight stammer ; and Cardinal de Tournon. He saw everything
through their eyes, transferred all cares of State to their shoulders,
and approved of anything they did. " The King," wrote the
Venetian ambassador, " no longer comes to any decision or
gives any reply without hearing their advice. In everything
he listens to their counsels and if ever — a contingency which
but rarely occurs — an answer is given to some ambassador, or
a concession made that has not been approved by these two
advisers, he revokes or modifies it." And thus, in his dislike
for affairs of State, having found two administrators to whom
he could commit the whole care of government, Francis I was
free to give himself up to the life of his choice — a life of Court
festivities, pleasure, and travel.
The Court of Francis I was the earliest of those royal gather-
ings of lords and ladies who were always elegantly dressed.
Court of always en fete, and who, with their air of per-
Francis I. petual enjoyment, their love of display, brilliance,
and splendour remained for so long the highest achievement
of social life. The actual constitution of the Court, with
its functions and its offices, had existed for some time. It
had been gradually formed during the centuries of the Middle
Ages, and was destined to last, without many changes
or fresh additions, till the reign of Louis XIV and even Louis
XVI. By giving a special position to women, by arousing in
the breasts of all a love for magnificent personal adornment,
and by multiplying Court gatherings, Francis I gave life, as it
were, to this setting, and endowed it with that character of state-
liness, richness, and elegance which reached its apogee in the
time of Louis XIV. "A court without ladies," wrote Brantome,
"is a garden without flowers." Women shone with particular
91
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
brilliance under Francis I, but in addition, a lavish supply of
attendants, officials, and " servants " surrounded the King with
a vast retinue that increased his dignity and added lustre to
his prestige. Let us make a ra()id survey of this gallery.
Under the direction of the master of the King's household,
Boissy, who was succeeded by Montmorency, the various
Officials of attendants in this royal hierarchy were as follows :
his Royal first, the Chamberlain, who had charge of the
Household. King's bedchamber ; four Gentlemen of the Bed-
chamber, afterwards called the First Lords-in-waiting, who
each served for a quarter, that is to say three months at
a time, never leaving the King. They had twelve Pages
of the Bedchamber under them ; a bevy of Lords of the
Bedchamber, varying in number from twenty to fifty>-four,
supported these four. Then came some twenty stewards —
also nobles — ^whose charge was to see to the material wants of
the King's life, especially the food. They had under them for
the practical accomplishment of their duties about thirty
pantlers, five-and-twenty cup-bearers, and fifteen carvers.
Everjrthing connected with secretarial work, correspondence,
and State documents, belonged to a department consisting of
seven private secretaries, among them the famous family of
Robertet, including Frangois, one of the King's godsons, and
Jean, all of whom owed their posts to their ancestor Florimond.
A certain Nicolas de Neuville was also of this number. He
was the first of the interminable series of royal and State secre-
taries of the same name, who afterwards assumed that of
Villeroy, and for three hundred years, handed on from father
to son, so to speak, the right to fill posts in the royal household.
The pages of Francis I, called enfants d'honneur, were about
thirty in number. Upon them devolved innumerable small
offices, such as fetching the King anything he might happen
to want, and above all adorning Court receptions by their youth-
ful beauty and handsome silver livery.
Then there was the royal chapel with its Grand Chaplain,
who was a cardinal ; the Master of the Oratory, who was a
The Royal bishop ; the King's confessor, who was a Domi-
Chapel. nican ; fifty royal chaplains, from whom Francis I
chose the bishops whom the Concordat of Bologna gave him
92
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
the right to appoint to the dioceses of the kingdom ; and lastly
seven ordinary chaplains and seven lay chapel attendants.
Below these were a host of officials of lower rank who fulfilled
subordinate duties, chiefly " servants " — ^four Ushers of the
Bedchamber, who were personages in their way ; from twenty
to forty Grooms of the Chamber ; this title was not confined to
those who fulfilled the actual duties but was also conferred
upon persons the King desired to honour, such as Clement
Marot and Fran9ois Bude, and carried with it an annual pension
of 240 pounds ; a Master of the Robes, two cloak-bearers, seven
choristers, seven doctors, seven surgeons, four barbers, one
librarian, eight to twelve handicraftsmen, eight clerks of the
kitchen and eight ushers of the audience-room.
The kitchens required a large staff which was divided
into two sections : those who prepared the King's meals — la
The kitchens, cuisine houche — and those who were responsible
for the food of the rest of the court — la cuisine commun.
Each of these kitchens had four chefs and six under-cooks,
together with a whole array of soup-cooks, roasters, sauce-
makers, pastry-cooks, scullions, kitchen-boys and cellar-men,
wjthout counting assistants. There was, besides, in addition
to all this, a whole crowd of functionaries of various kinds,
the inevitable retinue of a great Court, fruiterers, butchers,
upholsterers, farriers, musicians — players of tambourines, fifes,
cornets, and other instruments — pursers, &c. &c.
The stable formed a department in itself ruled by the
Master of the Horse, Galiot de Genouillac, who had under
The stables. his orders twenty-five Equerries, all men of
good family, superintending a host of coachmen and grooms.
For, indeed, Francis I required a huge stable to meet all the
necessities of his constant journeyings with his Court and
household !
Yet another department was formed by the hunting staff,
which was no less numerous. There was the Captain of the
The hunt. Toils with a hundred archers, whose duty it was
to arrange the toils used for enclosing certain parts of the
forest ; the game was beaten into this enclosure and then
shot. There were also fifty waggoners, twelve huntsmen,
and numerous kennel attendants ; over a hundred dogs and
93
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
bloodhounds ; as well as the falconry with its three hundred
falcons, in the charge of fifty sub-falconers and fifty nobles
under the command of the Grand Falconer, Ren6 de Coss6.
The two Queens, the Queen of France and the Queen of
Navarre, and the princes had their separate households, forming
satellites to the King's household ; if not quite so magnificent,
these had at least as many grades. The Queens, moreover,
had ladies-in-waiting. By an irony of fate one of Queen
Claude's ladies was none other than Madame de Chateaubriant !
Of ladies-in-waiting proper, Claude had fifteen and Margaret
ten ; of maids-of-honour, called filles demoiselles^ there were
sixteen for the former and eight for the latter. The King's
daughters had nineteen ladies-in-waiting, three of whom were
governesses, not to mention numberless lady's maids, &c.
To the persons of the King's sons were attached two tutors,
five chancellors, ten stewards, three gentlemen, fourteen pages
and a whole host of servants similar to those in the King's
household.
This rapid survey would not be complete without mention
of the King's guards, consisting of four hundred archers of the
guard, of whom three hundred were French and the rest Scotch —
the origin of the bodyguard ; the hundred Swiss, halberdiers
clad in the royal livery ; and the two hundred gentlemen " each
of whom carried on his shoulder a staff decorated with a falcon's
beak " — dressed in suits of various colours that added splendour
to the Court ceremonies by a display of gorgeous uniforms.
These ceremonies must be pictured with all the splendour
conferred upon them by the costumes of cloth of gold and silver
(jonrt so dear to the heart of Francis I, standing out
gatherings. in relief against the background of black, white,
and tan provided by the royal liveries. As a matter of
fact Francis I had some difficulty in finding a mansion in
Paris suitable for such display. He would not live in the
Louvre, a square, dark, inconvenient old fortress, obstructed
in the middle by a huge keep, which shut out the light from
the rooms and made them sombre and gloomy. The Louvre
was used solely as a prison and treasure-house. Francis pre-
ferred Les Toiu-nelles, near the Bastille, which consisted of an
agglomeration of ill-assorted buildings of various periods
94
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
and styles, packed with small rooms and courtyards, possessing
but little accommodation. Or failing this he stayed at the
Palace, where the Parliament used to sit. This contained a
huge hall, called the procurators' hall, divided into two Gothic
naves, and adorned with statues of painted and carved wood,
representing all the kings of France. It was, indeed, the finest
room in Paris, and here Francis I generally held his receptions,
when the walls would be hung with tapestries. If the occasion
were that of a solemn audience granted to some ambassador,
a platform adorned with hangings was raised near the marble
table at the end of the hall, and upon this platform was placed
the King's seat, or, as it was called at that period the King's
" Chair of State." If a banquet was to be given or an evening
ball, the hall was lighted by innumerable candles, " glowing wax
lights hanging in the form of a cross from the roof." Against
the background of sumptuous tapestries, beneath the flood of
light falling from the vaulted roof, the golden dresses of the
lords and ladies of the court gleamed and scintillated. Francis I
also held receptions in the bishop's palace behind Notre Dame ;
and gave banquets in the court of the Bastille, when all the
walls were hung with tapestry adorned with garlands of ivy
and illuminated by twelve hundred torches, i These were called
festivals " of the burning torch " and the banquet would be
followed by a ball. But besides dinners and balls, the chief
amusement of the courtiers consisted of the jousts which were
held in front of the Hotel des Tournelles, when tapestry-covered
stands were put up in which elegantly dressed ladies took their
seats, whilst their cavaliers clad from head to foot in the inlaid
armour, of which France still possesses some wonderful speci-
mens, would hold contests of skill, vigour, and endurance.
Twice a week Francis I loved to assemble his Court at some
joyous and brilUant gathering, a custom, however, which was
partly a matter of policy. For his daughter-in-law Catherine
de' Medici, in later years once wrote to Charles IX, "I
have heard your grandfather, Francis I, say that to live
peaceably with the French and have them love their King,
he must keep them amused for two days in the week, for
that otherwise they would find themselves more dangerous
employment."
95
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
As a matter of fact the King never stayed very long in
Paris, or indeed, anywhere else. He was so changeable that
Journeys of he was perpetually on the move and constantly
Francis I. travelling. He would stay a fortnight at most
in one place and then suddenly go off somewhere else. His
whole Court was obliged to follow him, a tremendous cortege
demanding a vast transport system. Benvenuto Cellini writes
in his Memoirs that twelve thousand horses were required,
or, if the whole Court were present, eighteen thousand, to
convey all these people about ! According to Soranzo, the entire
train consisted of six thousand who rode on horseback, and
twelve thousand pedestrians. Now life was not very agreeable
during these extraordinary peregrinations. If the caravan
arrived in the evening at some place where there were only a
few houses or none at all, it was necessary to make a camp, and
pitch tents and canvas huts. According to Cellini, who suffered
a great deal under these circumstances, it was something like
a " gypsy " camp ! Every one had to undergo hardship of
some description. The King alone apparently did not suffer
in any way from the consequences of this unstable manner of
life. He wanted for nothing. He had upholsterers, called
reposteros, who went on ahead to arrange his lodging for the
night. They put up his bed — for all the furniture of his room
was carried about — " went about the fields spreading tapestries,
cleaning thick carpets for the floor of his room (Oriental rugs)
and clothes for him to wear." His table lacked nothing but
was served with everything he could possibly desire. " Whether
he is in a village, in a forest or at the assembly," writes Bran-
tome, "he is treated as though he were in Paris." Charles V,
on his journey across France, was astonished by all these ar-
rangements. But the Court grumbled and wrangled. The
nobility were ruined by these expensive journeys, upon which
everything was excessively costly, whilst the foreign ambas-
sadors, who were obliged to accompany the King on his travels,
never ceased to complain bitterly. Whilst creating the first
Court of modern times, Francis I still preserved the wandering
spirit of his vagrant Capet predecessors.
96
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
This restless existence also proved extremely costly
for the King himself. Expenditure, however, was a matter
Extravagance to which he never paid the smallest heed. Francis
of Francis I. I was one of the French Bangs who squandered
most money, in an exceedingly magnificent way, no doubt,
but with no care or consideration of any sort.
He carried this extravagance into every department of life.
He adored luxury for its own sake. We have already pointed
out that as an arbiter of elegance, he set the fashion ; and
the fashion, in his time was extremely expensive. Everything
that Francis I wore was of gold. The numerous trinkets with
which he delighted to cover his person were all of gold, as well
as his spurs, his mirrors, and the buttons and hooks on his
clothes. The mule he rode had a saddle-cloth adorned with
gold, a bridle of silk studded with gold, and gold buttons on its
trappings. His clothes were of cloth of gold, embroidered and
edged with gold, like sacerdotal vestments. He covered his
fingers with rings of diamonds and rubies. His underclothing
was made of the finest Flanders linen and his shirts, embroidered
with black silk, were kept in scented Russia leather cases. The
common objects of everyday use about him, his inkstands,
flagons, candlesticks, plate, his rebec (the musical instrument
upon which he played) and his desk were all of silver. He had
endless elegant sable and martin furs, whilst the sheath of his
sword was of white velvet. One year his tailors' bill amounted
to 15,600 poimds.
His Court was obliged to follow his example. On days of
grand ceremonies, the two hundred lords of the guard wore
Extravagance cloth of gold, whilst the King appeared all in
of the Court, white, in cloth of silver, with the Chancellor of
France at his side dressed in his robes of State with a scarlet
mantle. The Pages and Grooms were also in white, partly
velvet, partly cloth of silver, whilst the courtiers were obliged
to outshine each other in magnificence and splendour and spend
their last farthing on their clothes. The pubUc, though filled
with admiration, nevertheless ridiculed all this display, and the
morality plays acted at the Place Maubert made mock of the
noble lords " who carried their estates on their backs."
But this extravagance was most ruinous of all to the Kmg
Q 97
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
himself. At any other period in the history of France but this,
when the pubUc revenue was very large, the misery caused by
this lavish expenditure would have been extremely great. It
is not easy to arrive at the exact figures, for, as we shall see,
the accounts were not very strictly kept. The regular revenue
seems to have been about three million gold crowns. On paper
the expenditure seemed to balance this. The estimate for the
King's expenditure was as follows : 50,000 crowns for dress,
presents and current expenses ; 50,000 crowns for his petty
pleasures ; 200,000 for the upkeep of the guards ; 70,000 for
the Queen and her household ; 300,000 for the Dauphin ;
40,000 for sport. But as a matter of fact as Francis I made
presents and gave commissions without either reflexion or
reserve, the list of expenses increased indefinitely. Costly wars,
pensions paid to foreigners, and sums handed over to the King
of England, helped to widen the breach, and it is impossible to
find out how much the reign of Francis I cost. As early as
1518 the deficit amounted to 1,261,203 pounds. Every possible
means for getting money was used. Loans were perpetually
raised from all sources — the towns, the clergy, and French and
foreign bankers ; the Hotel de Ville fund was invented, the first
experiment in Government loans from the public ; property
was alienated, all manner of expedients were employed, duties
were raised, and offices were negotiated for money. It was a
miracle that the Government did not become bankrupt. But so
great was the prosperity of the country that the people paid
without over-much grumbling, inspiring a certain Italian am-
bassador with admiration of their submissiveness. At his
death, moreover, Francis I managed to leave over two millions
in gold in his coffers ! But one man, at least, was doomed to
fall a victim to the disorder which reigned in the King's finances
— and this was Semblan^ay. The history of Semblan9ay pro-
vides a typical example of the King's carelessness and frivolity
in his extravagances, and throws light upon the organization
and method of administration of the period.
It has been asserted that Semblan9ay's fall was due to
Louise of Savoy who prevented him from forwarding to
Semblan^ay. Lautrec, then fighting in Italy, a certain sum
of money which the latter demanded. She is said to have done
98
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
this in order to have her revenge on Lautrec, with whom she
was in love, for his coldness towards her, and was thus respon-
sible for the defeat of that unfortunate general at the Bicocca.
But this story is a mere fabrication. Jacques de Beaune de
Semblan9ay was an old servant of the Crown, who had grown
white in the administration of the finances. He was the son
of a plain merchant of Tours, and had been in turn Treasurer
to Anne of Brittany, General (Receiver-General) of Languedoc
in 1495, and of Langue d'oil in 1509 ; in 1518 he became a sort of
Superintendent of PubUc Finance with " charge, cognizance, and
administration of the business and handling of all our finances '*
to quote the words of the royal act. He managed the King's
money and also the private fortune of Louise of Savoy, and was
an important functionary. Unfortunately for a man in his
position, though he was clever, he had no method, and his book-
keeping left much to be desired. When Francis I's extrava-
gances got the royal exchequer into debt and it became necessary
to use various expedients to replenish it, the complicated
treasury transactions ended by compromising Semblan9ay's
administration. But he did not trouble about the matter, and,
moreover, whether rightly or wrongly, he was under the impres-
sion that Louise of Savoy meant her own private fortune to
come to the rescue in extremity when the royal exchequer was
exhausted. He availed himself of this permission, which was,
as a matter of fact, admissible in principle. The result was
dire confusion. When the money required was about to
be dispatched to Lautrec it was found that the treasury owed
to the account of Louise of Savoy a sum equivalent to that
destined to cross the mountains, and instead of reaching Italy
it remained in the coffers of the King's mother. The raising of
loans, alienations of property, sales of public offices and various
devices of a similar nature, were the result. But the chaos in
the public finances only increased. In 1522 the deficit was
2,500,000 pounds. The King, not so much alarmed at his own
lavish expenditure as irritated by the perpetual embarrassment
of his finances, according to Semblan9ay, suddenly realized that
Semblan9ay himself was extremely rich — ^that every day he
seemed to grow more and more opulent, and that he was
constantly buying huge estates, building castles, and displaying
99
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the possession of a strangely large fortune. Filled with mis-
trust and suspicion the King demanded to see his " Superin-
tendent's " accounts. The latter gave evasive replies. Francis I
and Louise of Savoy, however, insisted, and returned again
and again to the charge. At last the King, tired out by Sem-
blangay's delay and subterfuges, appointed a Commission to
examine and audit the accounts. After many evasions, Sem-
blangay produced his books. The Commission examined them
and pronounced them to be in order. Matters consequently
remained as they were. Two years passed, when it chanced
that one of Semblangay's clerks was sent to prison for some
offence. Out of revenge the man confessed that his master
had made him and others of his fellow-clerks produce false
entries, antedated memoranda, and sham receipts — in short,
that Semblan9ay had bribed and corrupted his employees to
falsify the accounts which had been submitted to the com-
mission. Francis I was furious, and decided to take criminal
proceedings against the Superintendent. Semblan9ay was
cross-examined, confronted by the evidence and tried, with the
result that he was found guilty of theft, fraud, malversation,
and abuse of confidence, and was sentenced to be hanged and
to have all his property confiscated. The judges, under the
impression that the King would not have the sentence executed,
were inexorable. But Francis I carried it out. The sight of
the old man — Semblan9ay was seventy-five — whose life had
been so enviable, going to the scaffold at Montfaucon, was
indeed lamentable. He met his death on August 11, 1527, with
constancy and courage. Maillart, the governor of the criminal
department of the Chatelet, who conducted him, trembled
more than the doomed man. As Marot said :
Et Semblanfay fut si ferme vieillard
Que ron cuidoit au vrai qu'il menat pendre
A Montfaucon le lieutenant Maillart.*
Such was the revenge or ransom demanded by the magnificence
of the Court !
* So dauntless was the aged Semblan^ay
That one had deemed Lieutenant Maillart went
Led forth by him to hang at Montfaucon.
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THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
Of all Francis I's financial extravagance nothing connected
with his festivals and merrymakings has left a trace behind.
All that remains is a half-obhterated memory of them. But to
the glory of this monarch a part, and that not the least part,
of the result of his lavishness has survived ; his patronage of
letters, to which the College de France even now bears witness,
and his love of art, attested by the castles built by him and I
still existing.
The interest which Francis I took in literature and in art
was certainly due to some extent, as in the case of the Italian
Francis I's love art -patrons of his time, to a desire to appear
o! Art and great and generous by an intelligent appreciation
Letters. of artists. But unlike Louis XIV, he was actuated
by something deeper than the idea of making his reign illustrious
by the glory shed upon it by men of letters, painters, architects,
and sculptors. Francis I had a disinterested personal love of
beautiful things. Brought up as he had been, surrounded by
the delicate luxury of works of art, he preserved throughout
his life a inarked predilection for everything elegant in shape
or form. He had taste, and took pleasure in inspiring creations
of beauty, in following their progress to completion, and correct-
ing their defects. It was not, therefore, merely as a rich and
extravagant man, who gave endless commissions and allowed
artists to produce works without number, that he played a
part in the important artistic movement of his country. He
contributed to some extent by his preferences to the new
fashions which were gradually introduced, and his example
inspired great lords and financiers to imitate him. His in-
fluence was a factor in the development of the Renaissance
in France.
This influence was least important in the domain of letters.
The literature of the first half of the sixteenth century was too
personal in character to submit to any action from without.
It is unnecessary to discuss Francis I's Hterary talents. He
composed verses and exchanged rhymed letters with his mother,
his sister, Madame de Chateaubriant, and Anne d'Heilly ; and
rondeaux, madrigals, songs, and epigrams from his pen are still
in existence. They are, however, all specimens of mediocre
versification rather than poetry.
101
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
But he was quite capable of appreciating good verse. It
was he who recognized, protected, and encouraged the most
Marot. famous poet of his reign, Clement Marot, whose
independent humour, essentially French in spirit, and easy
graceful verse, with its pretty pictures of rural life, are very
typical of the age. Queen Margaret, who took a great delight in
him, gave him a pension of 155 pounds and Francis I conferred
upon him the title of Groom of the Chamber, which carried with
it a pension of 240 pounds. He displayed a great interest in
his compositions and urged him to make a verse translation of
the Psalms, a task which he actually carried out. But Clement
Marot had Lutheran proclivities, and his translation of the
Psalms, which had considerable success in Protestant circles
and was sung by all the Huguenots of the sixteenth century,
provided a pretext for virulent attacks upon him, which finally
drove him into exile. He left France and died at Turin in
1544. Francis I, however, remained faithful to him, and the
lists of the royal household contained the entry of Marot's name
as Groom of the Chamber to the King, together with the
pension attached to that office, two years after the death of
the poet.
Bonaventure des P^riers was also an independent and
original character, who was likewise a pensioner of Margaret of
Navarre. He was admitted to the Court, and like his royal
patroness was a poet and a prose-writer who, in his Cymbalum
mundi revealed a mocking spirit of scepticism akin to that of
Voltaire. He turned Protestant, or perhaps merely atheist,
was persecuted by everybody — even Calvin — and ended, it is
said, by committing suicide in 1544.
But, save in the case of Clement Marot, it was not so much
poetry as the tale and the novel that flourished under Francis I.
Margaret of "^^^^ style of writing, copied from Italy, had a
Navarre and great success among the King's courtiers, as well
Rabelais. as with the monarch himself. Margaret of
Navarre cultivated it sedulously, and in her Heptameron left to
posterity her best title to literary fame, certainly a stronger
claim than can be made for her somewhat colourless poetry.
Margaret's tales are a little wanting in relief, perhaps, but they
show a pleasant ingenuity and differ from similar productions
102
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
of the time by the choice of stories of a more actual and
" modern " kind. Francis I, who is the subject of at least one
of these tales, took a dehght in them ; he certainly also read
the first book, which appeared in 1535, and the third, which
came out in 1545, of Pantagruel, a work truly representative of
the many-sided sixteenth century, so jealously free in spirit,
and bold and prompt in accepting new ideas. Rabelais, with
his wide learning and his independence of character, his
audacities of thought, his open and cynical mind, and his
critical and well-informed judgment, charmed an epoch which
saw itself reflected in him. The force of a unique creative
imagination and an almost unequalled richness of vocabulary,
combining to pour out a mingled torrent of inimitable beauty
and unblushing grossness, the whole possessing an undisputed
philosophical and social value, make his work an incomparable
monument of his times. But how individual and isolated he
remains, notwithstanding ; understood probably by himself
alone, and doubtless careful not to be too lucid, on account of
the boldness of his ideas, and the vivacity of his criticism.
Living a simpler life than has been supposed, and probably a
worthy fellow without pretensions of any sort, Rabelais was not
cast in the heroic mould of the man who risks his life to maintain
his principles.
But one of his contemporaries dared to do so, and duly
paid the penalty for his courage. This was ]£tienne Dolet, a
Dolet. learned printer of Lyons, who was a sceptic and
an atheist. He printed and hawked heretical books which led
to his being arrested and tried. According to Calvin " he
openly showed his contempt for the Gospel " and declared
" that the life of the soul was in no respect different from that
of dogs and swine." The Parliament sent him to the stake ;
the sentence seems very severe nowadays. In the absence of a
penal code at this period. Parliament decided the punishments
to be inflicted for " crimes " brought within its jurisdiction,
and these punishments were, as a rule, extremely harsh. In
the case of Dolet, independence of thought was carried to its
utmost limits, and natures such as his could be affected by the
King of France only in so far as the monarch might interfere
with the execution of parliamentary justice, or let it take its
108
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
course. Thus by reason of its character the literature of his
time^escaped the influence of Francis I.
"^ With a Httle more learning the King would have obtained
a firmer hold over letters ; not that he discovered or directed
Francis I's ^^^ ^^ talent, but his patronage contributed
encouragement notably to the support of philological studies,
of learned Thanks to the invention of printing, fresh editions
°^®°* of Greek and Latin authors came into existence
every day, and interest in the works of the ancients, which had
hitherto been practically inaccessible, increased considerably.
Publications such as Bud6's Commentaires sur la Langue
Grecque and Robert Estienne's Thesaurus Linguce Latince
facilitated acquaintance with the wisdom of antiquity, and a
large number of people developed a taste for the careful study
of Greek and Latin forms. Interested in everything connected
with the exercise of the intellect, Francis I was greatly attracted
by this movement. He was eager to follow it, to know the men
who were its most skilled workers, and keep himself informed
through them of all that was being done or remained to be
done. Thus the most famous scholars of his reign were
gradually introduced into his circle ; he invited them to his
board, conversed with them on terms of familiarity, and listened
to their counsels.
The most illustrious of these was Guillaume Bud6, the
omniscient Bude, who was jurist, theologian, mathematician,
Bud6 and philologist, historian, critic, archaeologist, and
other Savants, above all Hellenist, " one of the wise men of
Christendom," as he was called, " the French prodigy," accord-
ing to Erasmus, a typical sixteenth-century savant and one of
the first scholars to apply himself to the study of antiquity*-
Louis XII had already noticed him, and with complete con-
fidence in his powers, had sent him as his ambassador to the
court of Julius II. Francis I conferred upon him the title of
Groom of the Chamber, together with the pension attached to
this office, and paid great attention to his opinion. The advice
of the learned Hellenist was, above all, invoked for two or three
schemes which were set on foot and carried out by the King.
Next in importance to Bude came Lef^vre of Staples, Faber
Stapulensis, as he signed himself in his books, thus earning for
104
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
himself the surname of Stapoul. He was a philosopher, mathe-
matician, moralist, and exegetist, though but Uttle of a philo-
logist. The King, who had a very high opinion of him, made
him tutor to his third son. There were also the Hellenist,
Jacques Toussaint, Tussanus, Robert Estiennes' master ;
Robert Estienne himself ; Vatable, whose real name was
Watebled, a Hebrew scholar and also something of a Hellenist,
destined to become a professor in the College de France ; and
above all, Guillaume Postel, the OrientaUst, one of the first to
unravel the tangled skein of Oriental languages. He was a
strange creature, full of visions, who only escaped the Inquisi-
tion later on by passing as slightly mad. Francis I took a
delight in discussing scholarship and philological science with
all these men.
During the course of these conversations certain projects
were discussed, the realization of which will always remain to
The library of the credit of Francis I. In the first place, his
Fontainebleau. attention was drawn to the fact that to help these
learned men in their studies, it would be extremely useful to
fijid and buy precious manuscripts from all quarters, chiefly
from abroad, and to house them all in one building where they
could be consulted by scholars. This twofold idea was the
origin of the Royal Library, which was destined throughout the
centuries to carry out this policy of buying and preserving texts
most useful to the pursuit of learning. Francis threw himself
heart and soul into the scheme. Venice was at this time the
great market for manuscripts from Greece and Italy. Guillaume
PelUcier, the French ambassador to Venice, was accordingly
charged with the task of collecting as many of these manuscripts
as possible, and money was sent him for this purpose. In 1541
PelUcier dispatched four boxes of Greek manuscripts to Fon-
tainebleau. Guillaume Postel was sent on a mission to the
East to find manuscripts. He went to Constantinople, Syria,
and Egypt, and reaped a rich harvest. Others played their
part in making similar acquisitions. And thus the foundations
of a library were laid which, in spite of various vicissitudes,
continued to grow and finally developed into the Biblioth^que
Nationale of the present day. Francis I placed his manuscripts,
to which he added a collection of books, at Fontainebleau, in a
105
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
room above the little gallery painted by II Rosso, on the second
floor, just under the roof. Guillaume Bud6 was at one time
the Ubrarian of this collection, but was succeeded in the post by
Pierre Gille.
Francis I also founded the College de France. As a matter
of fact, as was the case to some extent even with the Biblio-
The College th^que Nationale, he is to be credited with the
de France. realization of an idea, rather than with any great
development of it. It was at the instigation of Bud^ that the
King undertook this work, which aimed at forming outside the
ancient and rigid framework of the Universities, a series of free
courses on a wider scope of subjects and sciences than those
taught by the Universities. It was started on an extremely
modest scale. The King allocated '400 pounds for the salaries
of the professors who were appointed ; Vatable for Hebrew,
Postel for Oriental languages, Oronce Fin6 for mathematics,
and Galland for Latin. Bud6 did no teaching, but supervised
the organization. In the absence of a special building the
courses were held in the class-rooms of the College de Cambray.
Each professor took the text of some work, read it aloud, and
commented upon it. Such was the system of instruction, and
hence we have the title lecteur (reader) which is given to
professors to this day. Francis I would fain have engaged
Erasmus and actually wrote to him, but the Dutch savant did
not care to come. The institution was founded in 1530, and in
that year the lecteurs royaux began their courses, under
very humble and precarious auspices ! In the eyes of its
contemporaries the College never possessed that distinction it
afterwards attained, but was regarded with indifference or
jealousy. Francis I, with his usual instability and frivolity,
failed to maintain his interest in the institution, and more
than once the salaries of the neglected professors fell into
arrears. But the establishment was made, and was destined
to survive and develop ; and the King's reputation had the
good fortune to benefit by its happy survival and ultimate
celebrity.
Perhaps Francis I has not been given due credit for the
incomparable brilliance of the arts in his reign !
There has been much discussion as to whether the Renais-
106
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
sance, i.e. that transformation, chiefly in the reaka of the arts,
by which the reahstic, varied, picturesque, fantastic Gothic
style, with its undisciphned freedom and disorderly appearance,
gave way to an art that was idealized, regulated, subjected to
geometrical canons and a well-balanced discipline, was the
immediate product of Italian influence alone, or the result of a
spontaneous modification of the French genius. The advocates
of the first theory attribute the great castles of the Loire to
Italy, whilst their opponents refuse to acknowledge Italian
influence anywhere. It is probable that the truth lies some-
where between these two extremes. Is the very word Renais-
sance, which implies a resurrection — ^that is to say, the resur-
rection of the artistic principles of the ancient world to new
life and honour — itself correct ? This indeed is open to doubt,
but it is impossible to modify a term which expresses something
that everybody understands.
As a matter of fact, there was first an evolution of
French taste ; love of the vital ruggedness of fifteenth-
Evolution of century art with its restless architecture, gave
French art. place to an admiration for order, harmony, and
grace. This evolution was no sudden transformation, and
was not entirely due to the sudden discovery of Italy by the
conquering armies of the French Kings. France had for a long
time enjoyed an intimate connexion with Italy. Traders and
bankers, more especially in Lyons, which was a great centre
for international business transactions, were well acquainted
with the various Italian towns. Prelates and other dignitaries
of the Church were constantly crossing the Alps and visiting
Rome in connexion with their work, and they had not failed to
observe and appreciate specimens of ItaUan art, which had
reached a high degree of perfection at that date. The proof of
this is to be found in the fact that a man like Thomas James,
Bishop of Dol in Brittany, had a seal made for himself in
Italy in 1478 which might pass for work of the best Renais-
sance period, whilst in 1507 the Abbot of Fecamp gave a
commission in Genoa for a Shrine of the Holy Blood which is
still in the church of the old abbey and is one of the most
exquisite art productions of the sixteenth century. The great
art patrons of the fifteenth century had employed Italian
107
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
workmen. The good King Ren6, who had stayed a long while
in Italy, had taken Piero of Milan and Francesco Laurana into
his service and was responsible for the tomb of Charles du
Maine in the cathedral of Mans, a piece of Italian work carried
out entirely in the new style. Others had studied the ancient
monuments and there were signs of a reaction in favour of their
severity of style. Jean, Duke of Berry, had had antique
cameos and medals in his collection. Thus, at the beginning
of the sixteenth century the French were not absolutely
unacquainted with Italy or entirely ignorant even of classical
art. But artists and works of art gradually made their
appearance, bearing witness to a modification in the idea of
the beautiful in France, and almost insensibly preparing the
public mind for the ideal which was to prevail in the sixteenth
century.
There were painters, for instance, like Jean Fouquet, who
was born in 1415, died in 1480, and worked for Charles VII,
Jean Fonquet, Louis XI, and ifitienne Chevalier. His incom-
Bourdichon, parably conscientious and talented work was in
PerrSal. many respects still reaUstic, though his realism, it
is true, was less harsh than that of the Flemish painters of the
same period. But how eloquently his backgrounds of classical
architecture, the loftiness of his conceptions, and the arrange-
ment of his subjects, emphasize the change which the data
of his predecessors had undergone ! The transition is re-
vealed, and shows itself in a more pronounced fashion in the
miniatures of Jean Bourdichon of Tours (1457-1521) who
worked for four kings and painted the picture representing the
great moments in the life of Anne of Brittany — a masterpiece
in which the purity of the figures of the Queen and the
saints surrounding her, the lightness and noble delicacy of the
detail, and of the values, are much more closely allied to
the charming productions of the sixteenth century than to
the Gothic ideal, which was beautiful in its way, but extremely
rigid and inflexible. We might quote yet another artist of the
late fifteenth century, who, like Bourdichon, was attached to
the court of Charles VII, Jean Perr^al, surnamed Jean de
Paris, were it not that there is still some doubt as to the works
attributed to his brush.
108
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
Sculpture was represented by Michel Colombe (1430-1512),
one of the best of French artists. He was a native of Brittany,
Kichel who took up his abode on the banks of the Loire
Colombe. and seems never to have visited Italy. Like
Bourdichon, he represents a very high degree of the evolution
of French taste in the direction of more refined forms. His
Saint George and the Dragon, made for the Chateau de Gaillon,
is a product of French genius in every respect, both in form
and feeling, and owes nothing whatever to Italian influence.
And his tomb of Francis II of Brittany, in the cathedral at
Nantes, which was ordered by Queen Anne in 1501, is one of
the most striking examples of the modifications which were
taking place. The figiu'es of the Virtues, standing at the four
comers of the tomb, admirable in their harmony, suppleness,
intelligence, sobriety, and simplicity, prove the extent to which
pre-Renaissance French artists had learnt to apply the best
quahties of taste and elegance, before the repeated Aench
expeditions to the valley of the Po had enabled them to take
lessons from the ItaUans. In addition to Colombe, we must
mention the anonymous artist responsible for the beautiful
sculptures of Solesmes, the tombs of Charles VIII's children at
Tours, and various other isolated works of art which critics
attribute to Colombe or his school. French sculpture of the
sixteenth century was no spontaneous growth ; it had its own
antecedents.
The same may be said of architecture. The buildings of
the late fifteenth and the early sixteenth century, such as
Architecture. Amboise, the Blois of Louis XII and the Ch&teau
de Gaillon are French Gothic. The accounts of the Chateau de
Gaillon published by M. Deville contain the names of over one
hundred artists, of whom only three are Italians ; two of these
had been established in France for a long time and, moreover,
played no important part in the building or decoration of the
castle. But the elements which were to be characteristic of
the new art of the Renaissance : semicircular arches, engaged
columns with Corinthian capitals, niches between windows, and
carved friezes, gradually made their appearance. These details
were not unknown to the painters of the fifteenth century, who
frequently made use of them in the backgrounds of their
109
k
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
pictures. Obviously, they did not invent them, and Italy alone
could have provided them with their models. It was probably
due to them that as early as the building of Amboise, the masons
introduced those semicircular arches and niches for statues,
which are to be found in the plans of Amboise reproduced by
Du Cerceau in his work Les Plus excellens hastimens de France.
The first building to which these principles were largely applied
is the portion of Blois built during the reign of Francis I.
Many attempts have been made to discover the names of
the architects responsible for the chateaux of Francis I's time,
and the fact that none have been found, and that only the
names of master-masons have been brought to light, has
caused a good deal of surprise. But, as a matter of fact, the
architect in the modern sense had not yet come into existence
at that period. As in country districts at the present day,
there were only builders and workmen, many of them men of
taste and skill, with whom contracts for buildings were made.
And thus the edifices of that time were the product of a colla-
boration of the master's idiosyncrasies with the ideas of the
craftsmen. Queen Claude, who inherited Blois from her
father Louis XII, was anxious to have something better to
look out upon than the cold, sombre walls of the feudal castle
which enclosed the court to the right of the elegant structure
for which Louis XII had been responsible. As soon as Francis I
ascended the throne in 1515, she had the work set on foot. An
architect, in the modern sense of the word, would have pulled
down the existing edifice and raised a grand building on a
definite plan. Jacques Sourdeau, however, the master-mason
with whom Claude had to deal, preserved the old castle from
motives of economy, and rebuilt the facade. Hence the
irregularity of this fa9ade, which, in our opinion, gives it
additional character. The windows are placed at unequal
intervals, and the chimney-stacks defy the laws of symmetry.
It was found necessary to construct a staircase, and, as it was
impossible to introduce it in the interior, Sourdeau put it
outside on the fagade, and not even in the middle of this. But
his design for the framework is so rich and elegant that it
compels our admiration. The windows were still the casement
windows of Louis XII's time, but they were enframed by little
110
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
pilasters with capitals. The whole still preserved the irregular
and asymmetric composition of the Gothic style, whilst the new
taste was revealed in a greater geometric simplicity and the
kind of elegance produced by purity of line. The outer facade
on the north side was an even better example of the empirical
nature of an art resulting, not from the theoretical conceptions
of an architect, working on an d priori plan, but from the clever
manipulations of masons who built from day to day to meet
unexpected demands. In front of the mediaeval fa9ade, which
was left intact, a terrace was built, and upon this loggias were
raised, forming another terrace for the next storey, and so on
up to the roof. And as the roof could not be brought into the
arrangement, a Uttle gallery of pilasters different from the rest
of the fa9ade had to be added to mask the defect.
Queen Claude's buildings at Blois were apparently com-
pleted in 1519. Francis I followed the work with great interest
and in his turn made up his mind to build.
Francis I was one of the greatest, if not the greatest builder
of any of the Kings of France, and was responsible for eight or
Francis I's nine chateaux and palaces. By providing artists
Chdteaux. with generous supplies for their work, by setting
an example which was followed by others, by collaborating as a
man of taste with the builders and by his ideas and his prefer-
ences, he contributed towards the invention and development
of new forms. And thus he set the fashion and inspired the
taste of his period.
The first work, upon which he embarked in 1519, was the
building of Chambord. Few chateaux afford a better example
of the manner in which edifices were raised at this period.
They were not built all in one style, previously conceived as a
whole, but piece by piece, in accordance with a succession of
ideas. Francis I's reason for choosing the site is not known.
The hypothesis of some amorous intrigue is a myth. He may
have wanted a hunting-box, and it is possible that a feudal castle
had already stood on the spot. The central portion of Chambord
is, as a matter of fact, nothing but a fifteenth-century feudal
castle in plan, very similar to Vincennes : a square structure
with four large towers at the corners, and the walls only pierced
by high windows* The f a5ade was afterwards continued to the
111
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
right and the left as far as some towers, in the form of dovecots,
which stood a short distance away ; and to complete the general
silhouette, a further addition was made still later, in 1544, of a
central lantem-tower, built \under a special contract with the
mason Jacques Coqueau, who furnished the design. The result
of this method of construction is a fa9ade which is most magni-
ficent and regal in appearance. But if the edifice be examined
minutely it will be discovered that nothing is regular. This is
not said in any spirit of criticism, for the fine effect of the whole
may be due to this very irregularity in detail. There are more
windows on one side than on the other, the chimney-stacks are
placed haphazard, the windows in the roof do not correspond,
and a turret in the right wing is not balanced by its counterpart
in the left. The masons who built Chambord, Denis Sourdeau,
Pierre Neveu surnamed Trinqueau, Jacques Coqueau and Jean
Grossier, took a tremendous time about their task, over thirty
years, if we include prolonged intervals of idleness. In 1530,
after his return from Madrid, Francis I employed as many as
1800 workmen. The timbers of the roof were put up in 1584,
but the castle was only completed about 1550. As a matter of
fact, it is little more than a splendid fa9ade erected in front of
a magnificent staircase, a monumental and imposing piece of
work. The castle is uninhabitable ; it was the artistic whim
of a rich and extravagant monarch. It is, nevertheless, remark-
able in every way as an illustration of the genesis of Renaissance
architecture and the conditions under which this art developed.
It was above all on his return from captivity in Madrid that
Francis I indulged his passion for building. He opened build-
ing-yards almost everywhere ; in Paris he conceived the idea of
altering the old castle of the Louvre and making it suitable for
habitation. At his command the great tower which occupied
the court of the fortress was pulled down in 1528. The public
regretted this step for, as the Journal d'un Bourgeois de Paris
says, " it was fair, lofty, and strong." The interior was rebuilt,
and large reception-rooms, kitchens, and stables were added on
the side of the Rue Froidmantel on the west. In 1534 the
Court was able to take up its abode in the Louvre. At the
same time, according to the Bourgeois de Paris, the King set on
foot at the very gates of Paris " near the Bois de Boulogne and
112
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
the convent of the nuns of Longchamp, the building and
erection of a mansion and pleasure-grounds he called Madrid,
because it resembled the Spanish building in which he
had for so long been a prisoner " — a very doubtful statement.
The master-mason who was given the contract was a certain
Pierre Gadier. If the fa9ade of Madrid illustrated by Androuet
du Cerceau in his Plus excellens hastimens de France be com-
pared with that of Blois — ^the north fa9ade built by Francis I —
it is evident that the builder found his inspiration in the loggias
which had been an accidental feature of the latter edifice. In
1532 the Chateau of Villers-Cotterets was begun by the master-
masons Jacques and Guillaume le Breton, whilst in 1533 the
King conceived the plan of having the Hotel de Ville in Paris
reconstructed, according to one account, by Pierre Chambiges
*' foreman of masonry for the city of Paris " and according to
another by the Italian Domenico of Cortona surnamed Boccador.
The building, however, is quite French and shows no traces of
Italian influence. At Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a favourite spot
of the King's, it was decided to raze to the ground the old
pentagonal feudal castle which stood there, and build in its
place a new edifice which would be well lighted, airy, lofty, and
spacious. This new castle, which had the same ground plan as
the former structure, was built in 1539 by the master-masons
Pierre Chambiges, Guillaume Guillain, and Jean Langeois, who
borrowed their ideas from the Chateau de Madrid. But
Francis I's favourite spot, where he preferred to live towards
the end of his life, the home he really loved, was Fontainebleau.
**A harmony of age and season," says Michelet, "Fon-
tainebleau is essentially an autumn landscape, most original,
Fontainebleau. most wild, and yet most gentle and most serene.
With its sun-baked rocks, giving shade to the invalid, its
fantastic shadows, empurpled by October tints, which set
one dreaming ere winter comes ; and with the Uttle Seine a
stone's throw away flowing between golden vineyards, it forms
a deUcious retreat in which to rest and drink what remains of
life's cup ! " According to Benvenuto Cellini, Fontainebleau
was "the spot in his kingdom which Francis I loved best."
The King began building operations there in 1528. In this
case also an old pentagonal castle dating from the time of
H 118
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Louis VII and Saint Louis stood upon the site. Without more
ado the builders razed the old edifice to the ground, and on its
foundations built the new palace. This accounts for the curious
shape of the oval court. The keep, at the back, and the chapel
of Saint Saturnin were alone preserved. From a distance the
general effect is not imposing. It is difficult to say why Francis I
conceived the idea of building the great court, afterwards
called the Cour du Cheval Blanc, farther on, and joining the two
buildings by a gallery, the Galerie de Fran9ois I, thus turning
the castle of Fontainebleau into a strange series of isolated
structures without any logical connexion, forming an incom-
prehensible and inconvenient whole. The only explanation
that can be given is that it sprang from the Gk)thic disregard
of order and symmetry, which was not yet extinct, and the
successive whims of an owner who had any ideas which came
into his mind carried out, careless whether they were compatible
with what already existed. The master-masons responsible for
the building were Gilles le Breton and Pierre Chambiges. The
name of Serlio has been mentioned and is still mentioned in this
connexion. But SerUo did not come to France until 1541,
when the castle had been furnished for eight or nine years.
After his long wanderings Francis I was glad to go to Fontaine-
bleau *' for recreation, inasmuch as the place and the country
were fair and pleasant and fit for the pursuit of the chase."
He had his own suite of rooms there, in the decoration of which
he took great interest, superintending it in person.
To carry out this decoration, which was begun about
1532, he had recourse to Italian workmen. Here indeed the
influence of Italy in France is an ascertained fact. The employ-
ment of transalpine craftsmen in this case was due to several
reasons. In the first place, France was somewhat poor in
artists. In fact there were practically none of any note, with
the exception of the Clouets, who were portrait -painters about
whom Uttle is known. They were true to the reaUstic French
traditions in art, though they displayed consummate tact and
restraint in their adherence to it, more especially in those chalk
drawings, with their clear strong technique, which were so
fashionable in the sixteenth century. When Charles V paid his
visit to France the King wanted to make him a present of a
114
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
Hercules in chased silver. A pitiable piece of work was sub-
mitted to him which the Parisian craftsmen assured him was
the best that could be produced. Moreover, Francis I, a man
of taste and culture, loved to surround himself with works of
art, and in the top story of the Pavilion Saint Louis at Fontaine-
bleau he had a cabinet where he kept vases, medals, statuettes,
and drawings, which he used frequently to visit. Merchants
made purchases for him almost everywhere abroad, of tapestries,
gold- and silversmith's work, and engraved gems. Pictures also
figured in his collections. He had a number of canvases
brought from Italy, including Salviati's Portrait of Aretino,
Bronzino's Venus and Cupid, Titian's Magdalen, Leonardo da
Vinci's Gioconda, and Michelangelo's Leda, as well as bronzes
and statues. He was fully alive to the splendour of Italian art
at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the heyday of the
Italian Renaissance. Francis was not the first French king
who had thought of summoning artists to France to carry out
under his own eyes the works he wished to possess. Louis XII
made imsuccessful attempts to seciu'e the services of Leonardo
da Vinci, and the family of Amboise had employed Andrea
Solario. The first artist of any importance whom Francis
I asked to enter his service and who consented to do so was
II Rosso.
II Rosso, who was summoned to Fontainebleau in 1531,
undertook the decoration of the gallery called the Galerie de
Italian artists Fran9ois I, and worked on it until 1541. The
at Fontaine- work as we now see it was very much restored
bleau. under Louis Philippe. It was a product of purely
Italian decorative art and possessed all its qualities and defects.
French taste in no way modified the transalpine conceptions of
the artist, which it must have done with singular success in the
domain of architecture, if Italian architects were really respon-
sible for the French Renaissance chateaux. After II Rosso,
Francis I summoned Francesco Primaticcio, Le Primatice, (1504-
1570) to his Court. This artist remained in France until
his death. He helped II Rosso, continued his decorations at
Fontainebleau, and enjoyed a position of great authority under
Henry II. The generous and liberal Francis I paid these men
handsomely.
115
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Hearing how lucrative a position under Francis I was, other
artists flocked to offer their services — among them, Benvenuto
Cellini, sculptor, graver, goldsmith, chaser, and a man of
great talent, though of somewhat difficult temper. The King
welcomed him to his Court, gave him a commission to make a
bronze nymph for Fontainebleau, and employed him more
particularly on articles in gold and silver, such as a gold salt-
cellar, a silver figure of Jupiter, ewers, and dishes. But he
kept him barely five years in his service. Around II Rosso
and Primaticcio there was a little constellation of Italian artists
and collaborators, none of whom attained any very great
pre-eminence. In addition to their decorative work, these men
and their pupils produced pictures painted in a particular style
of their own. They were somewhat colourless productions,
devoid of any very great vigour or merit, though not lacking
in elegance and facility. These artists are known as the painters
of the Fontainebleau School.
The chief contribution which this group of Italian decorators
and Italian influence in general made to French art was the
The Fontaine- detail of ornament. As a matter of fact, in this
bleau School, sphere their influence made itself felt very soon.
The egg ornament, spirals, candelabra, naked cherubs gambol-
ling and innumerable " grotesque " details appeared very early
in the work of French artists, and continued to increase until
the sixteenth century. If the statuary, of which there are but
few examples under Francis I, bears witness in such works as
the statues of the Amboise family, of Louis de Bt6z6 at Rouen,
and of Admiral de Chabot and G^nouillac, to the maintenance
of the best quaUties of Colombe: simpUcity, firmness, and
taste, the intricate and fantastic sculptural ornament of the
period reveal the principles of Italian decoration. It is in this
domain that Italy chiefly made her influence felt in the artistic
movement which took place in France during the sixteenth
century.
SouBCES. Same as for preceding chapter with the addition on the
subject of the Royal Household, of the French manuscript 7858 in the
Bibliotheque Nationale. Also Poisies du roi Frangois I"', de Louise de
Savoie, ed. Champollion-Figeac, 1847 ; Lettres de Catherine de Mddids,
ed. La Ferri^re, 1880 ; Th. Hubert, De vita et rebus gestis Frederici II,
1624 ; Benvenuto Cellini, Mimoires, ed. Leclanche, 1843 ; Deville, Comptes
116
THE COURT OF FRANCIS I
de dipemes de la construction du chdteau de Gaillon, 1850 ; Compte dea
bdtimens du roi, de 1528 <ik 1571, 1877 ; A. du Cerceau, Les plus excellens
bastimens de France, 1576.
WoKKS. Same as for preceding chapter and Rouard, Francois I""
chez M"" de Boisy, 1863 ; Louis de Bt6z6, Les chasses sous Francois I"",
1869 ; De Boislisle, Semblan^ay et la surintendance des finances {Annuaire-
Bulletin de la Soc. de Vhist. de France, 1881) ; Jacqueton, Semblanfay,
1895 ; Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue et de la literature frangaises,
vol. iii, 1897 ; Darmesteter and Hatzfeld, Le XV I' sUcle en France, 1883 ;
Faguet, XV r siicle, itudes litteraires, 1893 ; L. Delisle, Le cabinet des
manuscrits de la Bibliotliique imperiale, 1868 ; A. Lefranc, Histoire du
ColUge de France, 1893 ; E. Miintz, La Renaissance en Italie et en France
i V4poque de Charles VIII, 1885 ; L. Palustre, La Renaissance en France,
1885 ; E. Miintz, Histoire de Vart pendant la Renaissance, 1889 ; L. Courajod
Legons professes a Vicole du Louvre, 1901 ; P. Vitry, Michel Colombe et
la sculpture frangaise de son temps, 1901 ; J. de Croy, Nouveaux documents
pour Vhistoire de la creation des residences royales des bords de la Loire, 1894 ;
Geymiiller, Geschichte der Baukunst der Renaissance in Frankreich, 1896 ;
Le Pdre Dan, Trisor des merveilles de Fontainebleau, 1642 ; Diniler,
Le Primatice, 1900 ; F. Boumon, Bhis et les chdteaux de la Loire, 1908.
117
CHAPTER IV
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
Henry II, 1547-1559. Queen Catherine de' Medici and her Court ;
the King's children ; Mary Stuart ; Diane de Poitiers ; his coun-
sellors— Constable Montmorency, Duke Francis of Guise and the
Guise family. Clearness and precision of French policy under
Henry II ; determination to renounce Italy, to conquer in the north,
and to secure peace. Hatredof Henry II for Charles V. Short war
with England and the capture of Boulogne, 1550. The German
princes solicit his intervention : conquest of the three bishoprics —
Metz, Toul, and Verdun, 1552. Charles V makes peace with the
German princes and lays siege to Metz ; his defeat, 1552-1553. The
hostilities of 1554, the Duke of Guise at Renty. Abdication of
Charles V : Truce of Vaucelles, 1556. Renewal of the war and the
disaster of Saint-Quentin, 1557. Guise seizes Calais, 1558. Treaty
of Cateau-Cambresis, 1559. The marriage festivities after the war,
Henry II slain at a joust, 1559 «
OF the three sons born to Francis I, the second, who
succeeded him as Henry II, in 1547, at the age of
twenty-nine, was certainly the one least loved by his
father. There had always been a strong contrast between their
characters. Whereas Francis I was lively and outspoken.
Character of Henry, as the Venetian Dandolo writes, was
Henry U. " sombre and taciturn by nature. He rarely
laughs, so rarely, indeed, that many persons about the Court
assert that they have never seen him do so." He was a great
hunter, " all muscles," and had the reputation of having
developed his physical qualities at the expense of everything
else. *'He has more bodily than spiritual virtue," said
Tavannes. His melancholy was supposed to be the result of
the indelible impression made upon him by his imprisonment
in Spain. Francis I had other reasons for not being particularly
proud of him, such as the little zeal he showed for learning,
118
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
and above all his intrigue with Diane de Poitiers, a woman
twenty years older than himself. Henry II was to reign for
twelve years and three months, and to die in the prime of life
at the age of forty-one, as the result of an accident.
The coolness felt by Francis I for his son was not shared by
those who came into intimate contact with the new King. Tall
and strongly built, extremely elegant in appearance, and with
every sign of race about him, Henry II was one of the finest
gentlemen among French monarchs. On his well-proportioned
body was set a rather small, refined head, which was, however,
devoid of much expression owing to the vague melancholy
which overshadowed his features. His complexion was very
dark ; according to Brantome *' he looked slightly Moorish."
His hair and beard were black, but he turned grey very young.
He had the appearance of a man who enjoyed good health ; he
was sound in body, solidly built, and robust, and would have
had a tendency to grow stout had not a sober life and plenty of
exercise preserved his royal dignity of bearing. The only
complaint from which he suffered was headache.
He lived a regular and methodical life. Rising early, he
began the day by holding a Council of State with the three or
four high officials on whose experience and judgment he relied
during his reign. This council was called " the select council."
Then, every morning, he went to mass, which he attended
devoutly, for he was a religious man. After this, having but a
small appetite, he partook of a frugal dinner ; he would then
read a little, go for a ride, and, two or three times a week, hunt,
or else grant audiences. His manner on such occasions was
easy, courteous, and amiable. Like a true man of the world,
he took care to give offence to no one. Nobody left his presence
dissatisfied, wrote Giovanni Soranzo, whom he frequently
received. He gladly granted anything he was asked and did
so right royally, showing himself " extremely affable and kind '*
to all. Endowed with a very good memory, he never forgot
persons whom he had once seen, which flattered their vanity.
He spoke Italian and Spanish. At the end of the day he used
to spend an hour with Diane de Poitiers, after which he supf>ed
in public, when he enjoyed talking to the people about him.
His evenings he reserved for receptions given by the Queen,
119
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Catherine de' Medici, who every night had a gathering of the lords
and ladies of the Court in her apartments. He would then con-
verse with everybody in a friendly fashion, and retire early to bed.
But Henry II was above all a " sportsman." He was a
very good rider and had a passion for horses, of which he had
numbers in his possession. He exercised a personal super-
vision over his studs at Mehun, Saint-Leger and Oiron, and took
a delight in showing off the most beautiful animals in his stables.
He was particularly fond of hunting, chiefly stag- hunting, and
rode to the chase with his packs of grey hounds and white
hounds. On a journey he would hunt all along the route to
pass the time. But he also indulged in every other form of
physical exercise. He played tennis, ball, football, and mall,
and also shot, although he had a painful recollection of having
when he was Dauphin shot out the eye of one of his equerries,
M. de Boucard. He was an admirable skater, and it was one
of the joys of his Court to watch him cutting elegant and
difficult figures on the ice when the pond at Fontainebleau was
frozen. But above all he loved to take part in the great games
of the period : jousts on horseback, when two riders, armed
from head to foot, charged from either end of an enclosure
and tried to unseat each other by a violent thrust of the
lance, running the risk of shivering the weapon against the
mailed breastplate of the adversary ; and the tournament,
a violent milSe of mounted knights in heavy armour who
endeavoured to unhorse each other by lance thrusts ; this was
a real battle in miniature. It was this love of sport which led
him at the beginning of his reign to give his consent somewhat
carelessly to a certain duel in order to provide a spectacle for
the Court. The combatants were two young noblemen, Jarnac
and La Chataigneraie, who were exasperated because the
former had cast some aspersion upon the latter's honour.
Francis I had forbidden them to fight as the point at issue was
both uncertain and futile. But Henry II ordered the duel to
take place, and it was fought with great solemnity. Jarnac,
with two thrusts of his sword cut through his adversary's leg,
and so brought him to the ground, but there was some difficulty
in persuading Henry II to stop the fight and allow La Chataig-
neraie to escape with his life.
120
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
A man of sport, Henry II had but little love of art and
letters. He was fairly fond of music and willingly attended
the concerts held in the Queen's apartments, but he did not
know much about it. He regarded everything of an artistic
nature as superfluous, though he confessed that he too would
have started the building of some great mansion had the
termination of the war given him the leisure to do so. But,
unfortunately, the war only ended at his death. As he held
the profession of letters in low esteem he natiu'ally had no very
high opinion of writers. He preferred soldiers, and kept all
his honours and pensions for them.
To sum up, he was, on the whole, a gentle and gracious
monarch. His letters, published by J. B. Gail, are those of a
man of much fine feeling and great staunchness in his friend-
ships, which were constant, deep, unchangeable and free from
all stiffness and hauteur. He was an excellent father who
adored his children and took great care of their health, insisting
upon their having a change of air as soon as any danger
threatened them. On his return from a journey he would
gallop ahead of all his suite in order to clasp them in his arms
the sooner. His tenderness was touching to behold. Those
whom he loved, he loved with all his heart ; but whether his
wife, Catherine de' Medici, was included in the number is open
to question.
Queen Catherine de' Medici could hardly be called an
attractive woman. She was the same age as her husband, her
Catherine de* birthday falling barely a fortnight later than his.
Medici and She was afflicted with a fat, coarse face, crowned
her Court. by black hair, large goggle eyes, heavy eyebrows,
a big nose, loose, pouting lips, surmounting a body which lost
its shape very early in life. The bourgeoise granddaughter of
Florentine bankers and merchants, she was distinctly ugly.
But to counterbalance this, she became a great lady of high
importance when she was very young. She was intelligent,
possessed considerable discrimination and prudence, and, more-
over, displayed the impenetrable reserve of an Italian woman
who has suffered and thought much. From the first, during the
reign of Francis I, when she felt that she was unwelcome on
account of her origin, she had studied to achieve an attitude
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of modest retirement and to please every one by her agreeable
manners. And she had succeeded. Francis I, with whom she
used to ride out to the hunt, appreciated her intelligent firm-
ness, and was fond of her ; whilst she won the sympathy of the
Duchesse d'HStampes, as well as of Montmorency, Brion, d'Anne-
baut, and all who had influence at Court. But she kept a very
strict watch over her own conduct.
As soon as she became Queen, however, she was trans-
formed into an accomplished hostess, who received a great deal.
Her amiability was unstinted, and she made herself charming
and attractive to everybody. People were enchanted with her,
and the whole Court considered her perfection itself. She'
dressed as a rule simply and in a severe style ; but on reception
days she wore extremely rich and elegant clothes, covered with
numberless chased ornaments, for the designs of which she
herself gave instructions to her goldsmiths. She conferred
incomparable order and brilliancy upon Court gatherings, and
as she inherited vast wealth from her family, she spared no
outlay in order to increase the success of her receptions. Her
table was abundantly supplied. She attached to her person a
host of ladies-in-waiting and maids-of-honour in order to make
sure that the composition of her gatherings should be in
accordance with her wishes. She was generous in her distribu-
tion of costly gifts to those about her, and showed herself very
kind-hearted in finding husbands and providing dowries for
young girls, spending a great deal on clothes for her dependents
and giving generous help to one and all. This conduct was not
calculated on her part. For her husband was young and
strong, and she had nothing to expect or to fear. But she was
a woman of the world who loved to receive, and as she was in
a position to do so, she indulged lavishly in her favourite
pastime.
The Court became the centre of a society which was one of
the most brilliant that has ever existed. Fair ladies and
young lords full of life formed the magnetic nucleus attracting
the best people in the kingdom, who flocked from all quarters.
An uninterrupted succession of balls, musical evenings, and
banquets took place. " The Court of Catherine de' Medici,"
wrote Brantome, " was a veritable earthly paradise and a
122
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
school for all the chivalry and flower of France. Ladies shone
there like stars in the sky on a fine night." The Queen pre-
sided over everything with grace and dignity. " You alone are
Queen," Pietro Aretino told her, " you are both woman and
goddess ! " Much more intelligent than her husband, she I
extended her patronage to artists and men of letters. She *
employed Delia Robbia and Leonard Limosin, the enamellist,
chose Amyot as a tutor for her children, and arranged per-
formances of the works of Mellin de Saint-CJelais. Later on in
the seventeenth century she was credited — as a matter of fact
erroneously — with the introduction of refinement into the
French Court by the inculcation of ItaUan manners. Sur-
rounded by charming princesses — her sister-in-law Margaret, a
dainty and distinguished personality who presented Ronsard to
her, and encouraged du Bellay — her son's little wife, Mary
Stuart, and her own daughters, she directed this life of luxury
and pleasure with tact and discrimination.
For her husband, that distinguished, somewhat cold, but
extremely fascinating prince, she had a real passion. She
worshipped him and was terrified of displeasing him, though
she was fully aware that Henry II felt nothing but respect
for her. In 1560 she wrote to her daughter, the Queen
of Spain, " You have seen me as contented as yourself, never
imagining the possibility of any other trouble than that of not
being loved as well as I could wish by the King your father,
who honoured me more than I deserved. But I loved him so
much that, as you know, I was always afraid." The knowledge
that she did not possess the whole of his affection was a cause
of unhappiness to her ; and she stood in dread of aUenating
him even further. When he went out to war, she put on
mourning and begged the Court to pray for the success of their
absent King. She brought up her children to respect their
father, and after his death she revered his memory.
Henry II thoroughly appreciated his wife. He felt her
superiority and had great faith in her judgment. But she
never inspired him with love. In the course of time he drew
nearer to her and would tell her political secrets, ask her advice,
and give proofs of a sympathy which, as a matter of fact, he
had always felt. In public, he never failed to show her every
128
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
possible mark of respect, honour, and deference. But his
heart and his affections were in the keeping of another.
The royal couple were long without children. They had
none for ten years, and Catherine began to despair. There was
Henry n's some talk of annulling the marriage. Catherine
children. threw herself in tears at the feet of Francis I,
offering to sacrifice herself, and consenting to retire into a
convent. Francis I, with his usual gallantry, raised her up,
and kissing her, told her that she was his daughter-in-law
and was to remain so. Subsequently she had ten children
in thirteen years, thus giving rise to some little consternation.
*' As their Majesties are yet young," wrote one of the ambas-
sadors, "they are afraid of having more children than they
ought, for the King is desirous of leaving to each one of them a
heritage in keeping with the greatness of his name." Catherine
was a very good mother. She was sedulous in her attention
to the smallest details in the lives of the young princes, and,
when she was separated from them, wrote every day to their
governess, Madame d'Humi^res. Her two daughters, Ehsabeth
and Claude, she decided to bring up herself.
Three out of the ten children, a boy and twins, died, in
infancy. The seven others consisted of four sons and three
daughters. Elisabeth, the eldest girl, eventually became
Queen of Spain ; the second, Claude, was given to the Duke of
Lorraine, whilst the third, Margaret, was the vivacious, intelli-
gent and sparkling Margaret of Valois, the wife of Henry IV,
" Queen Margot," as she was called, whose life was so gay and
so brilliant. Of the four sons, the youngest, Francis, Duke of
Alenyon, died young, and the three others were the last three
Kings of the House of Valois — ^Francis 11^ Charles IX, and
Henry III, the feeble scions of an exhausted race, dying out
amidst the pleasures, the festivities and the bloodstained dramas
of an involved poUcy.
The eldest of the whole family, the Dauphin Francis, was,
at the age of fourteen, a fairly pleasing youth. He was well-
proportioned and his figure was made yet more attractive
by the becoming Henri II costume of about 1555. He
favoured his mother, rather than his father. Of a melan-
choly temperament, and subject to fits of anger and obstinacy,
124
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
he was also lazy, a characteristic which was extremely irritating
to his father. Henry II adopted in his case the opposite
system to that which Francis I had followed, and made his
son attend council meetings when he was quite young, in order
to initiate him into his duties. In 1558, when he was fourteen,
Mary Stnart. his father married him to the only daughter
of the Bang of Scotland, Mary Stuart, who came to live
at the French Court. This exquisite, dainty child, destined
to a tragic end, was very fair, with deUcate features. She
was the joy of the Court, "that little Scottish queenlet, who
had only to smile to turn every Frenchman's head," wrote
Catherine de' Medici. She sang well, played the lute, and
was an excellent musician. She was also learned ; she knew
several languages, could write in Latin, took lessons in poetry
from Ronsard, and was loved by all with whom she came in
contact. Henry II delighted in her. " The King has taken
such a fancy to the queen, your daughter," wrote the Cardinal
of Lorraine, to the Queen of Scotland, Mary Stuart's mother,
*' that he is content to spend a whole hour in talking to her,
and she is quite as capable of entertaining him with good and
wise conversation as a woman of five and twenty."
But in addition to Catherine de' Medici and Mary Stuart,
there was another woman who filled the Court of Henry II
with the brilliance of her name and the splendour of her reputa-
tion : Diane de Poitiers. Hers is a singular history — ^the
strange romance of the heroine whose fame was sung by poets,
whom artists depicted in so many admirable forms, and who
throughout the centuries has preserved such an extraordinary
halo of love and beauty I The truth is more modest, and
perhaps more enigmatic.
Born in 1499, Diane was the eldest daughter of Jean de
Poitiers, Sieur de Saint- Vallier, a gentleman of Dauphiny, who
Diane de had been compromised in the plot of Constable
Poitiers. Bourbon by the fact that he had not revealed
what he knew about the conspiracy. Diane has been credited
with having saved her father's head by sacrificing her honour,
an episode upon which Victor Hugo founded his play Le Roi
8*amuse. It has been proved, however, that this act on her
part was neither probable nor even possible. She was married
125
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
at the age of fifteen to a humpbacked old nobleman, Louis de
Br^z^, Count of Maulevrier, Lord High Seneschal of Normandy, to
whom she was faithful. She bore him two daughters and was
left a widow at the age of thirty-three. She raised a superb
mausoleum to her husband, still to be seen in Rouen cathedral,
and made a vow to dress always in black and white She was
a tall, beautiful woman, of majestic bearing, proud 'and impos-
ing. She bore a certain resemblance to the Countess of Chateau-
briant, though, to judge by the drawings of the period, her
features were less refined. But she possessed greater distinc-
tion of mind and character. Extremely cold and calm, she
had a resolute spirit and a well-balanced judgment. Her
letters, which have been published, reveal no sign of a romantic
imagination, but rather a precise and definite common sense,
combined with a certain dryness, and a lack of enthusiasm and
spontaneity.
Henry II, while he was still Dauphin, saw her at Court and
fell deeply in love with her. He was seventeen at the time
and she was thirty-six. His family was very angry and
Francis I reprimanded his son severely, but without effect ;
for in later years, Henry II was able to remind Diane that
he had not been afraid to risk losing his father's favour
on her account. Catherine de' Medici was greatly distressed,
but Henry II was immovable, and as soon as he became King
he made no further attempt to hide his infatuation. He
created Diane Duchess of Valentinois, overwhelmed her with
gifts of money, and loaded her with crown jewels, which she
kept until his death. He took her with him on his journeys,
and at each place where he was given a reception the authorities
in their speeches made allusions to the favourite, whilst on
the triumphal arches, crescents, or figures of Diana the Huntress
accentuated their flattery. Henry II adopted her colours —
black and white — as his own. He chose as an emblem a
crescent moon, and when he wrote to her he signed his letters
with the familiar monogram of an H and two interlaced
crescents which might also stand for two D's (Diane). His
letters, which have been published, bear witness to the extreme
tenderness he felt for her. "I cannot live without you," he
would say ; "He who loves you more than himself " ; "I beg
126
*
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
you to remember him who has known but one God and one
love." Henry II preserved this passion in all its intensity to
the day of his death. In 1558 he w6rte to Diane, " I beseech
you ever to remember one who has never loved and never will
love any woman but you. I pray you, my beloved, wear this
ring for the love of me." Yet he was forty-two at the time,
and she was nearly sixty, old enough to be a grandmother,
with grey hair and wrinkled cheeks !
This passion lasted until old age, faithful as a friendship.
Henry and Diane were both religious, and used to pray for one
another. " Do not forget my paternosters," the King used
frequently to write to his mistress when he was on a campaign.
Moreover, although Catherine de' Medici was violently jealous
of her, Diane played the unexpected part of an attentive and
sympathetic friend to the royal family. Owing to her influence
Henry was an affectionate and considerate husband. Diane
greeted the birth of each of the ten royal children with great
joy, and if one of them, or the Queen, fell ill, she displayed a
touching devotion, nursing them herself, sitting up with
them at night, and showing them every attention. Every one
noticed that Henry II never treated her with anything but
the greatest respect. The King led a very regular life, and as
Contarini points out, he never gave the least occasion for
scandal on the subject of his relation to Diane. Marino Cavalli,
also, mentioning the matter to the Venetian senate in a letter
written in 1546, compared the connexion of Diane with Henry II
to that of mother and son. Diane had a medal struck of herself
upon which she was represented with the attributes of the beau-
tiful goddess whose name she bore, spuming love beneath her
feet ; it was surrounded by the symbolic device Omnium victorem
vici, ** I have conquered the conqueror of all" ; and Catherine
de' Medici in after years wrote to her son-in-law, Henry of
Navarre, the future Henry IV, these words, the meaning of
which is perfectly clear : " As for Madame de Valentinois, her
position was altogether honourable ; but those women who
were foolish enough to make a scandal about her, he (the King)
would have been sore displeased for me to keep in my service."
And, finally, Henry II, in a piece of poetry, laboured and
clumsy enough, which he composed in honour of his friend and
127
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the original draft of which corrected by his own hand is still in
existence, declares the chivalrous nature of his passion :
£t si n'estime rien que sa bonne grAce,
Car autre chose ne veux ni ne pourchasse.*
insists on Diane's calmness :
Et si ne crains tromperie qu'on me fasse
Etant tant sur de sa grande fermet^ ;
Impossible est qu'un autre ait done ma place
M'ayant donn6 si grande siiret^.f
and emphasizes the respect in which he holds her :
Quand j'aperjois mon partement soudain,
Et que je laisse ce que tant estimai,
Je la supplie de vouloir donner
Pour grand faveur de lui baiser la main4
In the light of all these facts it is open to question whether
Brantome and posterity have not been deceived by appearances,
which certainly seem to justify all their suspicions, and whether
we are not here confronted by the exceptional case of an
intelligent and ambitious woman, who, flattered at having
inspired so ardent a passion, encouraged it, but intentionally
kept it within the limits of a respectful friendship, and turned
it to account in order to exercise a power that found expression
in useful and salutary counsels. May she not thus have inspired
a devotion for which the King had never to blush either in the
sight of God, his family, or his kingdom ? At all events, the
point is doubtful.
An intelligent woman, gifted with moderation and a sound
judgment, Diane possessed conversational powers which were
* Nothing I value but her kindly grace . . .
Nor seek nor follow after aught beside . . .
■j" No fear afflicts me that she may deceive
Who am so certain of her steadfastness ;
That any rival should usurp my seat
Can never be, while such safeguards are mine 1
J When I perforce must face the sudden hour
Wherein I part from all I dearly prize,
I pray that she may deign to offer me
The supreme favour — cleave to kiss her hand.
128
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
a source of infinite delight to Henry II, who confided all his
secrets to her, and consulted her on all affairs of State. Her
firmness and independence made her a source of happy inspira-
tion to the King. " She was an extremely clever and generous
lady," writes Brantome, " with a great and noble heart, and as
such she could not advise, exhort, or persuade the King to
anything save to grand, lofty, and generous actions. And
this, indeed, she did, as I know on reliable authority." ** She
was good, charitable and extremely generous to the poor,"
continues Brantome. She was a woman of taste, and made
great improvements at Chenonceaux, which Henry II had
presented to her. In the place of the old manor of Anet, the
seat of the de Br6z6 family, she entrusted Philibert Delorme
with the building of the magnificent castle so well known to
fame, for the decoration of which she employed the greatest
artists of the day. The King used frequently to visit her at
this sumptuous abode, and would stay for some time with all
his Court, and even receive ambassadors there. As the King's
gifts had made her extremely rich, she was able to meet the
expenses involved without embarrassment.
The sufferings and tortures of jealousy endured by Catherine
de' Medici were unspeakable ! But she bore them in silence,
though her hatred for the favourite, in spite of the correct
appearances she maintained, was violent in the extreme. As
soon as Henry II died, the Duchess of Valentinois was obliged
to leave Court, and the crown jewels were taken from her as
well as Chenonceaux. *' The Queen disliked her so much,"
says Reguier de la Planche, " that she would have liked to go
much further, ruin her completely, and despoil her of all her
wealth." Saulx Tavannes seriously offered to cut off Diane's
nose, but the Queen refused. She was obliged to tread warily.
But in the meanwhile during the King's lifetime, Diane was
all-powerful in the State. High and low addressed themselves
to her. "It is impossible to exaggerate the pitch to which the
onmipotence of the Duchess of Valentinois has attained," said\
the Florentine Ricasoli. She was one of the most important
members of the King's Council. The others either owed their j
influence to her, or were chosen for qualities of mind that 1
resembled her own.
I 129
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
5^ The chief of these counsellors was the Constable Anne de
Montmorency. On the day following his accession to the
Henry II's throne, Henry II, whom his father had kept
Advisers : aloof from affairs of State, and who was, conse-
Constable quently, quite inexperienced, summoned the man
Montmorency. ^Jjq jj^d so long held the reins of government
under Francis I : Constable Montmorency. As Dauphin,
Henry II had had no very great fondness for him, but as King
he placed the interests of the State above his own personal
predilections. He proved his wisdom in so doing. Anne de
Montmorency, a man of fifty-six, sound, sturdy, intelligent,
and with the details of administration at his finger-tips, was
endowed with practical common sense and prudence, and was
above all lucky, for almost everything he had done up to that
moment had been attended with success. The only accusa-
tion brought against him was that of harshness and arro-
gance. He was not much of a favourite at the Court, and
at times he gave way to inexorable brutality. For instance,
on the occasion of the revolt of Bordeaux in 1548, against
the levy of the salt -tax, when the Governor Monneins was
killed by the people, the Constable hastened to the scene
of insurrection with some troops and twenty cannon. He
razed the town-hall to the ground, abolished the privileges of
the city, and forced the inhabitants to make honourable amends
by digging up the body of Monneins with their fingers in order
to give him a proper burial. He then, according to Vieilleville,
had over a hundred persons hanged, broken on the wheel,
and beheaded. But, on the other hand, he was also reproached
with having moments of extreme caution, which were attributed
to cowardice. Henry II had great confidence in him ; he
consulted him in everything and evinced the liveliest friendship
for him. Some of his letters to the Constable are still in
existence, in which the King calls him " my friend " and styles
himself "his good friend." This affection was both intimate
and touching, and sprang from a close sympathy in their ideas
and views on the questions which formed the subject of
their common deUberations. Although Lorenzo Contarini de-
clares that Diane and Montmorency were but rarely in agree-
ment, if we are to judge by the letters that passed between
180
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
them, they seem, on the contrary to have been united by
a similar sympathy, the King forming the bond of union.
The King and the favourite used to write joint letters to the
Constable, signing them : " Your oldest and best friends,
Henri, Diane." Montmorency, who had twelve children, five
sons and seven daughters, took great pains to push them and
find positions for them. He was also solicitous for the advance-
ment of the children of his sister, Louise de Montmorency, wife
of Gaspard de Chdtillon, Sire de Coligny, who had been made a
Marshal under Francis I. On this side he had three nephews,
who were destined to become famous and to be converted, all
three of them, to the Protestant faith : Odet de Chatillon,
Archbishop of Toulouse, and afterwards Cardinal de Chatillon ;
Gaspard de Coligny, the Admiral ; and Francis, Seigneur
d'Andelot, the Colonel-General.
In addition to Montmorency, Henry summoned to his
council board, Jacques d'Albon de Saint- Andr6, his old tutor,
whom he held in high esteem, and made a Marshal of France,
and also Duke Francis of Guise, a strange and attrac-
tive figure, destined to win great popularity by his victories
and to perish by assassination during the religious wars,
a man whose family played a very prominent part in French
history !
At the beginning of the century a younger son of the House
of Lorraine, the third son of Duke Ren6 II, who could find no
The Gnises. opening at home, had come to France to seek his
fortune. This was Claude of Lorraine, Count of Aumale.
He fought bravely at Marignano, and as a reward Francis I
created him Duke of Guise in 1527. His brother, the
^ Cardinal of Lorraine, was a very influential member of the
King's council. The, power of the family increased by leaps
and bounds. Claude married Antoinette of Bourbon, the
great-aunt of Henry IV, and by her had eight sons and four
daughters, a brilliant family which was destined to fill the latter
half of the sixteenth century with the splendour of its achieve-
ments. The eldest of these was the Francis of Guise mentioned
above. He was about the same age as Henry II. They had
been brought up together as boys, and had a lively sympathy
with each other, born of ideas and tastes in common. Francis
181
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
was a man of sterling worth ; he possessed good sense, j-idgment,
an extremely lucid mind, and a tenacity that was proof against
every assault. He was one of the most remarkable generals
that France has ever had. Full of energy and with a keen eye
for the right course of action, which he carried out with elegant
mastery, he inspired the greatest confidence in his soldiers,
and trained them admirably. Monluc has done him justice.
" There was nobody," he says, " who did not hold him one of
the most alert and diligent lieutenants that could be found in
our day, and, moreover, one so full of wisdom in choosing a
course of action that after he had given his opinion it was
impossible to find a better." In the council he was always in
favour of vigorous decisions. Until the death of his father
(1550) he bore the title of Duke of Aumale, but when in suc-
cession to the aged Claude, he became Duke of Guise, he passed
on the title of Aumale to his third brother, who was also called
Claude. Another of his brothers, Charles, the next in age to
himself, who was bom in 1524, was made Bishop of Rheims at
the age of fourteen, and became Cardinal de Lorraine after his
uncle of the same name. He was twenty-three when Henry II
ascended the throne and summoned him to the council. He
afterwards managed the exchequer with great ability, but was
unpopular on account of his avarice and want of frankness.
Louis, the third brother, also went into the Church, and became
Archbishop of Sens and cardinal in 1553 — he was known as
the Cardinal de Guise. The fifth, who was named Francis, like
his eldest brother, became General of the Galleys and Grand
Prior of France, whilst the youngest, Rene, was the Marquis of
Elbeuf. As for the eldest sister, Mary, a marriage was con-
trived for her with James V of Scotland, by whom she became
the mother of Mary Stuart, who in her turn was given to
Henry II's son, the Dauphin.
All the members of this family made brilliant matches,
Duke Francis married an Italian, Anna d'Este, a granddaughter
of Louis XII, through her mother Renee, Duchess of Ferrara,
The Duke of Aumale found a wife in one of Diane de Poitiers'
two daughters, an expedient union which, through the agency
of the favourite, contributed with various other causes towards
securing the unique position at Court enjoyed by persons who
182
I
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
became more and more powerful every day. Their pres-
tige was indeed extraordinary ! The younger branch of a
foreign ruling house — the House of Lorraine; connected
with the royal family through Ren6e of France ; brothers
of a Queen — the Queen Regent of Scotland ; uncles of
Mary Stuart, the future Queen of France ; supported by
two cardinals, one of whom, it was said, even aspired to
the Triple Crown, the Guises were superior to all the best
families in France and enjoyed a political position that had
no paralfel 1 t j^
^ Montmorency, Francis of Guise, and Marshal de Saint -Andr6 l|
'^formed the nucleus of the council which Henry II summoned to
his side to help him in the task of government. They were the
three chief personages in it. " Through the hands of this trio,"
says Monluc, " everything passed," and they guided the policy
of the nation. Montmorency was the chief. " The counsellor
of whom the King makes most account," wrote Capello, " is
the Constable ; for he is the senior in age and the man whose
advifce and exploits have best proved his zeal and devo-
tion." \At the beginning, he tried to monopolize the King's
favour, more particularly by inviting him to his castles at
Chantilly, ificouen, and I'lsle-Adam, and endeavoured to
establish himself as the sole master. But in this he did not
succeed.
Henry II has been accused of being a pale shadow, devoid
of initiative and intelligence, and guided entirely by his coun-
Precision ol sellors, who did exactly as they pleased. But to
Henry II's prove the error of this view it would only be
policy. necessary to call to mind the events which took
place after the disaster of Saint- Quentin, when the King,
deprived of his three advisers, showed great resolution in the
conduct of affairs. As a matter of fact, though he had
formed this council at the beginning of his reign, by reason
of his inexperience, he derived so much benefit from its
deliberations, that he thought there was no need to make any
change. Very different in character — Montmorency's love of
temporizing contrasting with the vigour and activity of Guise
— these counsellors were of one mind with the ICing in matters
of practical common sense. Now Henry II was a man of a
188
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
very lucid mind. " He is very definite," wrote Marino Cavalli,
** and very firm in his opinions. When he has once said a
thing he abides by it." From the very first hour of his reign
he showed his love of regular and sober living, by changing the
over-dissipated tone his father had given to the Court. He
reduced the balls and receptions, cut down the expenses of
festivals, and exacted less boisterbus and more decorous
manners. In politics, with the help of his counsellors, he
adopted a line of conduct which made his reign one of the most
remarkable in French history, for no other was marked by the
pursuit of so wise and healthy a policy — a policy absolutely
French, and exclusively concerned with useful and tangible
realities. This policy may be summed up under three heads :
Benunciation ^^^ ending of the interminable wars which for
of Italian fifty years had been ruining the country j the
Wars. definite renunciation of the absurd Italian will-o'-
the-wisp, which had beguiled France out of her natural channels ;
and, finally, the re-opening or creation of these natural channels
by turning all martial endeavour in the direction in which there
was a real necessity for expansion, that is to say, to the north
and the east, to regions French in language and race, where the
close proximity of the frontier to Paris made hostile attacks
extremely dangerous, and the smallest defeat fraught with the
gravest menace. He waged three wars one after the other.
During the first he took Boulogne ; during the second Metz,
Toul, and Verdun ; and during the third Calais — all lasting
coniquests. The coping-stone of his reign was the Peace of
Cateau-Cambr^sis,^ which once and for all put an end to the
disappointing expeditions for the conquest of Milan and Naples,
and secured him in the acquisitions he had made. "His
Majesty in the course of conversation with me," wrote one of
the ambassadors, *' seemed to covet peace rather than to desire
the greatest victories." But if it was necessary to wage war,
in order to force the enemy to make peace, the King was of
opinion that the French nation " would find it more profit-
able to turn in this direction (the east and the north) than
to Italy." The problem thus clearly defined was firmly
and resolutely solved. And the credit for this is due to
Henry II.
184
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
Of all the passions that stirred the breast of Henry II on
his accession to the throne in 1547, none was so profound and
Henry II's vital as his hatred of Charles V. The memory of
hatred of the painful hours spent in Spanish dungeons had
Charles V. been ineffaceably branded on his heart. " As for
the Emperor," wrote the Venetian ambassador, " the King
hates him and boldly declares his hatred. He wishes him all
the evil that it is possible to wish one's most mortal foe, and
this complaint is so virulent that the death or the complete
undoing of his adversary alone can heal it ! " Henry II's
first act was one of defiance and anger against his enemy.
Forgetful of the formal treaties by which France had renounced
all suzerainty over Flanders, he summoned the Emperor, as a
French vassal, to his coronation. The Emperor replied that
he would come, but at the head of 50,000 men, and it was clear
that the truce between the Empire and France could not last,
Henry II realized this and made his preparations. He raised
troops, made sure of his usual allies, Turkey and Pope Paul III,
and in the spring of 1548 carefully visited his frontiers in
Champagne and Burgundy, the provinces which were in the
occupation of France, and also Savoy and Piedmont. Before
coming to blows in this quarter an episode took place with
England. Mary, the sister of the Guises, Queen Regent of
Scotland^ was having great difficulties with hfer Protestant
subjects, who were supported by Edward VI, King of England.
At the urgent instigation of the Guises, Henry II consented to
help her, and sent her 6000 men. Amongst other things, there
was a question of preventing Edward VI from marrying Mary
Stuart, and thus uniting the Crowns of England and Scotland,
and of arranging a marriage between the young princess and the
Dauphin, Henry II's eldest son. A rupture naturally followed
with England. Hostilities broke out here and there, and finally
Henry II and Montmorency marched upon Boulogne, which was
Capture of at that time an English possession, and laid siege to
Boulogne, 1550.it. The English Government was paralyzed for
the moment by conspiracies. It opened negotiations, and con-
sented to surrender Boulogne for the sum of 400,000 crowns on
March 24, 1550. This was the young King's first victory.
The state of affairs in Germany was propitious for an
185
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
attack. After having conquered the rebellious Lutheran
princes, and crushed the Elector of Saxony at Miihlberg in
1546, Charles V considered himself the undisputed master of
the Empire. Drafts for changes in the constitution were
accordingly submitted to him by which the elective principle
was to be abolished, and the Imperial Crown made hereditary
in his family, thus establishing his uncontested omnipotence.
Charles V proved hard and dictatorial. In order to shelve the
irritating religious question, he had conceived the extraordinary
plan of appointing two Catholic theologians to collaborate with
one Lutheran in the drawing up of a sort of declaration, a
compromise, which, pending the decision of a general council
on these matters, he authorized his subjects of the reformed
faith to believe and to practise — Communion in both kinds, the
marriage of priests, &c. This basis for beliefs that were to be
tolerated was called the Interim of Augsburg. It raised a
regular tumult in the Empire. What business had the Emperor
to interfere in matters that did not concern him ? Why did he
presume to settle points of doctrine which did not fall within
his sphere ? The towns refused to recognize the Interim.
Fearing that Charles V might succeed in becoming omnipotent
in Germany, and in view of his despotic proceedings, the
G^erman princes sought a fresh opportunity for rebellion. Alone
and unaided they could not do much ; they were perforce
driven to ask the support of the monarch whom they knew to
be the irreconcilable enemy of Charles V, the only ruler in
Europe, moreover, strong enough to help them at that moment
— ^Henry II. From Augsburg, where the Diet of the Holy
Negotiations Roman Empire was sitting, an embassy was
with the dispatched to Fontainebleau, consisting of over
German princes, a hundred horsemen headed by WilUam, Count
of Nassau, the father of William the Silent. The deputation
was very well received. The French treated the envoys with
great courtesy, and a ball was given in their honour at Fon-
tainebleau, after which discussions were held. The Germans
explained that they had been sent by the States of the Holy
Roman Empire, to solicit the alliance of the King of France.
They had been outraged by the behaviour of the Emperor, who
was threatening all the rights, privileges, and statutes of Ger-
many. The Free Towns of the Empire more especially found
186
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
themselves menaced. They were too weak to resist, and in-
capable of offering any opposition to the designs of Charles V,
who merely laid hands on their territories and added them to
his own domains. Three towns, Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which
were in close proximity to the French frontier, were at that
very moment the objects of the Emperor's designs. If Henry II
would consent to give his support to the German princes, the
latter saw no reason why the King of France should not tem-
porarily occupy the three towns in question, in order to protect
them from the Emperor's ambition.
Henry II admitted to his council that he was very much
tempted by the offer of the three French towns ; that he did
not intend to occupy them merely temporarily, but *'to turn
them into a pretext for the extension of the boundaries of his
kingdom." This, however, would mean immediate war.
Francis of Guise supported the proposal hotly. An excellent
soldier, skilful and vigorous, he was all eagerness for the cam-
paign. Anne de Montmorency would have preferred waiting a
little longer. But in either case a favourable reply was the
only answer that could be given to the Germans, and a treaty
drawn up in due form and order was at all events necessary.
The German princes gave their consent to the treaty, and, after
some discussions, Maurice of Saxony signed in their name the
secret convention of Friedwald with Henry II in October, 1551.
By the terms of this convention the King of France was to
receive the title of " Vicar of the Empire " in the four imperial
towns of Metz, Toul, Verdun, and Cambray. The Germans thus
obviated the difficulty of abandoning certain of their towns to
a foreigner, by making that foreigner enter the imperial sys-
tem. In return for this the King, in addition to giving them
armed support, promised the princes an immediate subsidy of
240,000 gold crowns and, prospectively, regular monthly pay-
ments of 60,000 crowns.
It only remained to begin operations. In February, 1552,
Henry II made up his mind. In a public manifesto he declared
Conquest ol ^^^ against the Emperor, and confiding the
the three Regency to Catherine de' Medici, he set out for
Bishoprics, Ch&lons, where an army of 40,000 men had been
^^^** collected under the command of Francis of Guise
and Montmorency's nephew, Gaspard de Cohgny. The nobility
187
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of France hastened to join the standards, and the troops were
full of enthusiasm, for it seemed clear that in marching east-
wards to the conquest of French territory in the direction of
the Rhine, a route had once more been discovered which would
lead to really useful achievements. As a matter of fact
Henry II and Francis of Guise were nursing rather more exten-
sive plans than those proper to a mere Imperial Vicar in three
or four towns. Pont-a-Mousson was occupied without striking
a blow ; Toul delivered up its keys, and Nancy threw open its
gates. At Metz an escort managed to make an entry under
some pretext and seizing the drawbridges, let in the rest of
the troops. The behaviour of the King of France gave rise to
some anxiety. Until that moment the French army had
pushed forward boasting, in the words of Tavannes, that " it
was marching for the liberty of Germany," and the towns, held
in awe by fear of the Emperor, had hailed the deliverers with
joy. But now, instead of halting or returning in the direction
of Verdun, Henry II was continuing his onward march and
\ penetrating into German-speaking territories, and it was
asserted that he meant to let his horses drink the waters of the
Rhine. His reception became colder. He succeeded in making
an entry into Hagenau and Weissenburg, but Strasburg closed
its gates in his face and swore that not a single French pikeman
should be allowed to enter. At Spires, the citizens informed
Henry that they were quite willing to receive him, but that
he must come into the town alone without the shadow of
an escort. Public opinion was alarmed, and foresaw the
possibility of the King of France over-running the country as
far as the Rhine. Disquieting intentions were attributed to
him, as, for instance, that he would maintain that these regions
had once formed part of France, including the whole of Alsace ;
Austrasia was a name given to a fairly wide dominion which
extended a long way north. Everywhere the town walls
bristled with arms, and it was becoming difficult to advance
without turning a hitherto peaceful progress into a bloody
march. The German princes were grumbling. Henry II
became anxious, and judged it wiser, for the moment, at all
events, not to proceed any farther, lest he should compromise the
results he had already obtained. He turned back — a course
138
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
prompted by the profoundest wisdom. One of his regiments
occupied Verdun, and excited by the ease of the conquest and
occupation of territories which it seemed so natural should
return to the possession of France, the troops began to murmur
at what they called the King's weakness.
Meanwhile in Germany matters had come to a head. Sud-
denly attacked by the princes, Charles V, taken by surprise.
Treaty o! was hustled and hunted down by Maurice of
Passan, 1652. Saxony, who followed him in hot pursuit. He
fled to Innsbruck, with Maurice close on his heels, and was
obliged to escape on a mule in great haste, almost alone,
across the Tyrol, and seek refuge in Carinthia. His brother
Ferdinand, who was forced to sign the Treaty of Passau in his
name, on August 2, 1552, granted all the demands of the
German princes — the confirmation of the German constitution,'
that is to say of the Golden Bull, and permission for the Pro-
testants to practise their religion without let or hindrance.
The German princes, who were now satisfied, felt that they
had no further need of the alliance with Henry II, whose
conduct irritated them ; and Charles V, consequently, found
himself at liberty to turn with all the forces at his command
against the King of France, with the object of recapturing
the towns which the "Imperial Vicar" had thought fit to
appropriate. Moreover, the princes now joined him, and in
September, 1552, 80,000 Germans marched against Metz to
drive out the French troops.
Francis of Guise had been the heart and soul of the French
conquests, and it was Francis of Guise whom the King appointed
Charles V to march to the defence of Metz against the blow
besieges Metz. that was about to fall. He was given the title of
the King's Lieutenant -General in the three bishoprics. The
affray looked as though it would reach important dimensions.
Crowds of the nobility and of the best families in France flocked,
full of zeal and ardour, to join the army : the Prince of Cond^,
the Due d'Enghien, the Duke of Aumale, the Prince of Roche-
sur-Yon, Monsieur de Nemours, the Marquis of Elbeuf , and the
Vidame de Chartres. And indeed the defence of Metz proved
one of the great feats of arms of the century. But, above all,
it rooted firmly in the popular imagination the warlike renown
189
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of the skilful and energetic general in command of the place,
and brought into marvellous relief his active qualities of vigour
and intelligence.
With the help of his engineers, Piero Strozzi and Marini,
Guise immediately repaired the tottering walls of the town. He
made entrenchments, put up supports, and pulled down houses
and whole suburbs in order to clear the outskirts. From
morning to night he was in the work-yards encouraging the
soldiers by word and deed. It is even said that he himself and
his officers used to help carry the hods. Owing to his fore-
thought, provisions in large quantities were stored. There was
plenty of ammunition, and he had powder magazines installed,
and organized in advance the hospitals in which the illustrious
Ambroise Pare, who has left us a stirring account of the siege,
was to win such great distinction. He laid cannon, even
placing them on the church steeples by means of platforms.
Not content with the forces he had brought with him, he
enrolled the able-bodied men of the district, divided them into
twelve ensigns or companies of infantry, and had them in-
structed and trained under severe discipline. He divided
the defence of the town up into sections, at the head of
each of which he placed a responsible officer, and distributed
his troops skilfully, declaring that he could hold out for ten
months.
On September 15, Charles V set forth in person at the
head of his army, which was under the command of the Marquis
of Marignano and the Duke of Alba. He crossed the Rhine,
and on October 19 laid siege to Metz. The Imperial troops,
amply supplied with provisions of every kind, placed 114
cannon in line. Guise made a few sorties in order to get a
change of air, and in one of these his brother d'Aumale was
taken prisoner. The Emperor had divided his army into three
camps, and had encompassed the town completely. On
November 26 the bombardment was begun ; the trenches had
already been opened. The besieged defended themselves
vigorously. The Duke of Guise, who never left the ramparts,
gave orders to all with perfect clearness and self-possession,
having the breaches filled as soon as they were made, the walls
rebuilt and the platforms repaired. For a whole month the
140
EXTERNA LPEACE. HENRY II
bombardment was kept up. The imperial army used over
15,000 cannon balls, but thanks to the tenacity of the defenders
the shots proved futile. The approach by way of the trenches
had been no more successful. Meanwhile the winter was
making itself felt with cold bleak weather ; there were falls of
snow and sharp frosts made the ground as hard as iron. The
besieging army, insufficiently provided with shelter, was exposed
to terrible sufferings. Some of the soldiers fell in the trenches
never to rise again ; the rest dragged themselves along numbed
with cold, shivering, with their feet in the frozen mud. Epi-
demics broke out ; the losses of the imperial army became a
hecatomb. It was said that 20,000 or 80,000 men had died
and the rest wished to take to flight. Charles V realized that
Retreat of his cause was hopeless, and on December 26,
Charles V. after a bombardment of thirty days, forty-five
days entrenchment, and sixty-eight days siege, he gave the
signal for departure. Bertrand de Salignac, who has left us an
account of the siege, describes the terrible shock the defenders
of Metz received on visiting the deserted camp. In the midst
of miserable accumulations of rubbish of all kinds they found
the dead and the dying, half -frozen soldiers and others lying ill
in the mud and the filth. Guise had all who could be moved
carried into the hospitals, where Par6 amputated the limbs of a
good many. And the fame of the Duke of Guise rang through
the length and breadth of France.
Three months later (in April, 1558) Charles V, determined
as ever, in spite of a painful attack of gout which racked him
from head to foot, dispatched to the northern frontier a fresh
army, which invaded Picardy and captured Hesdin and '
Th^rouanne. On hearing the news that the latter town had
fallen into his hands, the Emperor gave orders for it to be razed
to the ground. Its destruction caused universal mourning.
The French armies did not march until July, and Montmorency
was bitterly reproached for the delay. He was always in
favour of peace and hoped that it would be secured, with the
result that he was never ready at the right time. And owing
to his excess of caution the army of 40,000 under his command
did not accomplish much, but merely kept watch and ward
over the country.
141
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
PI Hostilities were renewed in 1554. The imperial army,
attacked in the direction of Hainault by Antoine de Bourbon
Battle ol and Marshal de Saint -Andr6, at first fell back,
Renty, 1554. but it took the offensive once more under the
command of the young and distinguished Duke of Savoy,
Emmanuel Philibert, who pushed the French towards the
Boulogne district, and forced them to fight at Renty near Saint-
Omer. Charles V was present at the battle, carried about in a
litter on account of his gout. Duke Francis of Guise, who was
in the front ranks, had to meet the shock. With a vigorous
onslaught he charged the enemy, and breaking thei» lines,
succeeded in capturing seventeen ensigns, five standards, and four
cannon. Unfortunately, Montmorency, who was in command
of the main body, considered it more prudent not to support him,
and, as the Imperialists held their ground, the engagement
seemed indecisive ; finally the French beat a retreat. But
the brilliant conduct of Guise added to his poputerity. The
following month, everything dragged, as the opposing armies
found it impossible to accomplish anything. Charles V had
retired to Brussels.
All at once the unexpected news was noised abroad that he
was going to abdicate ! * Endless conjectures have been made
Abdication of as to the reasons which drove the powerful
Charles V. Emperor to descend from the throne, he, the
master of Europe and the ruler of dominions so vast that since
the days of Charlemagne no monarch had been so formidable,
he, the despotic, cold, and determined character that history
depicts ! Discouragement at his want of success has been urged
as a cause. " Fortune is a woman," he said, " she does not
love old men ! " It has been asserted that he was weary of the
terrible complications of a government which had to fight in
(Germany, fight on the frontiers, and enter into discussions and
conflicts everywhere. His religious feelings have also been held
responsible, and the need he felt for retiring into a cloister to
end his days in silence and repentance. There is some truth in all
these explanations, although the self-reliant and self-possessed
character of Charles V must make us accept his alleged dis-
■ couragement with some reserve. As a matter of fact, his body
was crippled by suffering, and it was impossible for him to
142
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
attend to affairs of state. Gout had cramped all his limbs and
shaken him by constant severe pain. " I suffer so terribly,"
he confessed to the Venetian ambassador, " that I am sometimes
forced to bite my hand and pray for death I " One day when
Coligny brought him a letter from Henry II he could scarcely
open it, owing to the stiffness of his fingers. " Am I not a
brave knight," he remarked sadly to his visitor, "to rush out
and break a lance when I can only open a letter with the very
greatest difficulty I " The disease had aged him terribly.
Although he was only fifty-three, he was worn out, white-
haired, » pale, and wrinkled. He sat huddled up in a chair
covered with black cloth in a room which some morbid whim
had made him have draped entirely with black. He could bear
no more. The idea of abdicating had been in his mind for
some time before he carried it into execution ; he had long
considered the advisability of such a course. He would have
liked to hand over to his son, the future Philip II of Spain, who
was twenty-eight at the time, the whole of his power, including
the Empire. But the German princes refused to be ruled any
longer by a Spaniard who had other things besides their welfare
to consider. The Protestants, moreover, had no liking for a
Catholic prince whom they had every reason to consider dan-
gerous. At the very first overtures that were made they refused to
accept Philip as Emperor. After cruel deliberations with him-
self Charles V decided to leave the Crown of the Holy Roman
Empire to his brother, Ferdinand, and keep the rest of his
possessions for his son. He handed them over to him one by
one, as though he did so tentatively with regret, reserving to
himself the position of a supreme master, who could come to a
decision at the last moment and go back upon his deeds. He
passed on to him one after the other the government of Milan,
Naples, the Netherlands, and last of all of Spain. The final scene
of the abdication took place on October 23, 1555, at Brussels
in the presence of a vast concourse of nobles, courtiers, and the
representatives of the various states of the Netherlands. It
presented a spectacle that was impressive in its grandiose
solemnity — ^the shrunken old man, looking ghastly white in his
black dress, with features distorted by suffering, pronouncing
from an armchair raised ftloft under a canopy, the few short
143
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
words which were to transform him from Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire, King of the Spanish dominions, obeyed and
held in awe by the whole of Europe, with a name known and
respected throughout the world, into an ordinary private
citizen, shortly to become a sort of monk. He spoke very
slowly, declaring that the state of his health made it impossible
for him to continue in the exercise of power, and that he trans-
mitted this power to his son, whom he commended to them all.
Philip of Spain was kneeling before him. He laid his hand on
his head, and in a voice that shook said : " My beloved son, I
give you absolute possession of all my heritage and commend
to you the service of God and justice." He then gave him
his blessing. His emotion was so great that, according to
Fran§ois de Rabutin great tears " coursed down his pale and
withered cheeks and dropped upon his white beard." He then
rose, and begging Philip to take the seat he had left, he descended
two steps and listened to the new sovereign, who returned a
few words of thanks in accents as broken as his own. The
proceedings were brought to a conclusion by the administration
of the oath of allegiance to the nobles who were present.
Charles V went into retirement in Spain, in the monastery of
San Yuste in Estramadura, where he died two years later.
When Charles V disappeared from the political stage it
became easier for France, which had hailed his abdication with
Trace of unconcealed joy, to accept a cessation of hos-
Vancelles, 1556. tilities. Henry II had always expressed his
esteem for Ferdinand, " speaking with respect of his rare virtues
and the goodness of his character," and he had no feeling of
animosity for Philip II. In default of peace, the details of
which it was too difficult to arrange in haste, a truce for five
years was signed on February 5, 1556, at Vaucelles, near
Cambray, on the basis of the statu quo for both sides. This
provided a respite. The nation was tired out, and the pre-
carious condition of the exchequer made a period of rest impera-
tive. But, as the word implied, it was nothing more than a
truce. From the moment when, during the first discussions, it
had been realized that it was impossible to come to an under-
standing with regard to a definite peace, the vista of fresh
campaigns to be undertaken at some future date remained
144
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
open. By striking the enemy in his weakest spots France
would certainly succeed in finally forcing him to the desired
end. But for the time being it was necessary to wait.
Francis of Guise, however, whether lurged by impatience to
fight, or spurred by ambition, or for some other obscure reason,
Qnise's unearthed the rights which he inherited from his
expedition ancestress Ren^e of Anjou over the kingdom of
to Italy. Naples, and asked leave to go and conquer his
Italian possessions. Were the chimerical expeditions of former
years once more to be repeated ? Montmorency offered a
lively opposition to the project, and urged the necessity of
reserving the strength of the nation for the approaching conflict
with Spain, and of consolidating the frontiers of France whilst
scrupulously observing the truce. But backed by Diane de
Poitiers, who already saw her son-in-law, d'Aumale, the brother
of a King, and also by all the young nobility who were consumed
by the desire of following the lucky Duke Francis to fresh
victories, the Guises ended by having their way. They were,
however, only given 13,000 men. As early as 1554, the King
had already lent a gracious ear to the overtures of Monsieur
de Termes and some cardinals in Tuscany, who wished to bring
about the revolt of certain towns against the imperial sway.
Amongst others, Signa had taken up arms, driven out the
Spanish garrison, and prevailed upon the King of France to
send a force to defend her in case of attack. Strozzi had been
dispatched with Monluc and some troops. The town had been
besieged, and Monluc had defended it valiantly during a
memorable siege made famous by his descriptions of it, which
are not free from a^ certain Gascon exaggeration. But in
the end Siena capitulated. Guise accordingly set forth. He
manoeuvred cleverly, anxious, above all, not to allow any en-
croachment to be made upon his slender forces, when suddenly a
messenger arrived bringing him the news that the King of France
had suffered a terrible disaster at Saint-Quentin, and recalled
him immediately. What was the disaster that had occurred ?
The expedition against the Kingdom of Naples had made a
conflict with Spain inevitable, and war had been declared on
January 1, 1557. The government of Philip II, determined to
see the matter through vigorously, had collected an army of
K 145
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
50,000, to which Queen Mary of England, as an ally of Spain*
had added a contingent of 6000 men, the whole under the
command of the clever and active Duke of Savoy, Emmanuel
Philibert. This army crossed the frontier and came and laid
siege to Givet. Montmorency was bitterly reproached for his
weakness and indecision. Perpetually clinging to the hope
that hostilities would not be pushed to extremes, and that he
could go on temporizing whilst seeming to keep the peace, he
had not collected a sufficient body of troops — barely 26,000
men — and he continued to maintain an attitude of prudent
circumspection. Public opinion grew impatient ; he was
accused of being a " pusillanimous creature and a coward
devoid of spirit," and satiric sonnets were circulated at his
expense. The inaperial j^army, gaining courage, then made a
Disaster o! vigorous advance and laid siege to Saint- Quent in.
Saint-Quentin, This time the position of affairs was extremely
1657. grave, for if Saint-Quentin fell, the road to Paris
—would lie open. The Parisians were in a state of utter dismay.
Coligny threw himself into Saint-Quentin with 700 men, an
absolutely insufficient force ; he had neither the provisions nor
the ammunition he needed. Montmorency made a rapid
advance in order to try, if there were yet time, to introduce into
the town the reinforcements and provisions which d'Andelot,
Coligny's brother, was bringing. With an imprudence incom-
prehensible in a man like Montmorency, who was generally so
timorous, the Constable had the temerity to advance almost on
' to the enemy's lines, and swerved from his course towards the
marshes which bordered one side of the town, in order to allow
his troops to advance by night in boats. The boats stuck in
the mud and the whole manoeuvre was a failure. Thereupon
Emmanuel Philibert, profiting by the false position in which
the Constable found himself, thus isolated and with an inferior
force, opened an attack. A clever general would have en-
deavoured to fall back in good order, covering his retreat by a
series of squadrons on the defensive to protect it, arranged in
echelons in favourable positions. But Montmorency gave
hurried orders to retreat in columns, as though he had no enemy
at his heels. Count Egmont collected all the Spanish cavalry,
and charging the French rearguard vigorously, broke its lines.
146
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
The Constable tried to form the main body of his army into
squares, but the imperial forces, galloping headlong upon him
supported by all their artillery, charged him en masse, and in
four or five hours he was overwhelmed. In the end the French
army was utterly destroyed. The Comte d'Enghien, brother of
Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre, had fallen, together with
a whole host of nobles and soldiers. Montmorency had been
wounded and taken prisoner as well as Marshal de Saint-Andr6, '
Longueville and Montpensier, whilst the whole of the artillery,
baggage, and supplies, and eighty standards had been captured.
Monsieur de Nevers, who gathered together the fugitives some
distance away, was able to collect barely a thousand men-at-
arms and a thousand cavalry. No such disaster had occurred
since the battle of Pavia.
In France there was universal consternation. As the King
no longer had an army to defend his country, the enemy had
only to march straight on Paris, for they could meet with no
opposition on the way. And indeed Emmanuel Philibert
advised Philip II, who had hastened to the spot, to turn the
triumph of his arms to immediate account by marching forward.
But upon reflection Philip II deemed it a necessary preliminary
to seize the places on the route " in order to have the road
behind him more open and secure for further advances and
encroachments," says Fran9ois de Rabutin. The siege of Saint-
Quentin was accordingly pushed on vigorously. On August 27
the assault was made under the command of the Duke of Savoy.
The town was captured, pillaged, burnt, and sacked ; Coligny
was taken prisoner and sent to the Netherlands. Philip II
then advanced towards Noyon.
When at last the news was received in France that Francis
of Guise, summoned back from Italy and returning in hot haste,
Betom of had just landed at Marseilles, a sigh of relief
Guise. spread through the whole country. " Joy was
everywhere aroused at the sound of his name," says Brant6me,
" and in all places the people with one voice exclaimed : ' Now
will this man with one touch set everything right and restore
all that has been twisted and turned awry.' "
Henry II did not wait for Guise to return in order to take
the steps demanded by the state of affairs. He acted with
147
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
great manliness. Deprived though he was of his usual coun-
sellors, he proved that he was a person of will and initiative.
Owing to his efforts, troops were collected from every quarter
and directed towards the places that were threatened. The
towns of Picardy were fortified with men and ammunition. At
his earnest request Catherine de' Medici attended the council of
the City of Paris and askedf or 300,000 pounds, which were granted.
On all sides the nobility took up arms at the call of their
King. The towns, vying with each other in zeal, put themselves
in a state of defence and also sent help. There was a sort of
universal outburst of popular enthusiasm, so that when at last
Henry II was advised to leave Paris and seek refuge beyond the
Loire, he refused. " It only remains to be of good courage and to
be surprised at nothing," he wrote bravely to Francis of Guise,
And indeed the Duke of Guise was the only man upon
whom the King and country could rely to repair such a disaster.
In order to confer full authority upon him he was made
** Lieutenant-General-in-Chief in the interior and beyond the
borders of the realm," an exceptional rank which conferred
upon him the same authority as that enjoyed by the Constable,
who was then a prisoner in the hands of the enemy. He took
over the command of the small army which Henry II had just
collected at Compi^gne.
This one movement immediately produced an unexpected
result. After the capture of Saint-Quentin and the march
against Noyon, Philip II 's army had begun to melt away. The
English, who were tired of the business, had fallen off, and
mutinies had broken out. On receiving the news of the arrival
of a general of the Duke of Guise's determination, Philip II, who
had only an uncertain quantity at his back, came to the conclu-
sion that a march upon Paris was out of the question. It would
be better to end the campaign before the favourable impression
produced by his recent successes had passed away. In October
he accordingly beat a sudden retreat and returned to Brussels.
What was Francis of Guise to do with his impatient army
all eager for the fray ? Public opinion demanded that some
Guise seizes effort should be made after the general impetus
Calais, 1558. given by the whole nation. The popularity of
the young hero was at stake, and he then conceived the bold
148 ^
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
design of swooping down upon Calais. This port was an
English town which had been captured by Edward III two
hundred and ten years previously, in 1847, and was now so
English that it seemed incredible that it could ever be French
again. Guise, however, determined to take it by surprise as it
lay unarmed for the winter behind the surrounding marshes,
and capture it. No one ever dreamed of such a possibiUty,
least of all the English, who were fully persuaded that Calais
was impregnable behind its belt of wide marshland, its deep
moats through which ran a river, and its lofty walls. Lord
Wentworth, its Governor, had sent home part of his garrison.
He had indeed heard rumours that M. de S6narpont, the
Governor of Boulogne, was nursing some vague scheme for
taking the town by surprise, but the idea was so absurd that he
had given it no further thought.
The engineer Strozzi was sent in disguise to make an exami-
nation of the ramparts, whilst Guise had boats collected with
the profoundest secrecy all along the coast. Thereupon, when
everything was ready, after a feint in another direction, on
December 31, in bitterly cold weather, he made a rush for
Calais. Fortified outposts guarded the road across the marsh.
He bombarded them vigorously, took them by surprise, and
then turning towards the sea, he attacked the fortress which
commanded the port. The garrison was stunned with astonish-
ment, and a fierce fusillade soon got the better of it. After
this Guise directed his efforts against the castle. He placed
his batteries on the beach and bombarded the citadel at low
tide, covering up his guns when the water rose. As soon as a
breach was made, d'Aumale made a vigorous assault. The
castle was taken and the town capitulated. The English
garrison consisted of 500 men only, but there was ammunition
in quantities, hyge magazines and 800 cannon.
The news was received with stupefaction I The capture
with such marvellous speed of one of the most impregnable
strongholds of Europe was " one of the miracles and most
astounding feats of the century " ! Fran9ois de Rabutin wrote
that it was the work, not of men but of God ; " The deeds of
the Almighty," he said, " surpass all the powers and proposals
of men however great they may be ! " Bonfires were lighted
149
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
all over the country, and Henry II hastened to visit his new
township. He ordered the English who had taken up their
abode in Calais to be driven out, forcing them to sell their
houses, and completed the seizure of what was known as the
" reconquered territory " by taking Guines and Ham. When
he returned to Paris with Guise at his side, the welcome he was
given by the people was enthusiastic in the extreme. He was
greeted with delirious acclamations of joy. His lucky general
enjoyed unparalleled popularity, and the monarchy was still
strong enough to bear this with equanimity. For the English,
the blow was one of the most terrible they had ever received,
f and Queen Mary declared that if her heart were opened the
name of Calais would be found graven upon it, so inconsolable
was she at the loss of this stronghold.
In the following year, 1558, owing to hesitation on the part
of Philip II and a desire to make peace on that of Henry II,
hostilities dragged on. Guise had managed to raise an army
of 50,000 to 60,000 men. In order to make use of them he
marched against Thionville, which he captured with his usual
luck and rapidity ; but to counterbalance this success vl. de
Termes, Governor of Calais, was worsted at Gravelines.
In 1559 it seemed that the time had come to consider
/whether circumstances were not more favourable for negotiat-
Treaty of ^^S ^ definite peace. The French and Spanish
Cateau- plenipotentiaries met at the Abbey of Cercamps.
Cambr^sis, Philip II was represented by Cardinal de Gran-
1559. velle, the Duke of Alba and the Prince of Orange,
and Henry II by Montmorency and Marshal de Saint -Andre,
who were set free for the proceedings, and the Cardinal de
Lorraine. The discussions were stormy. Both sides demanded
that all the conquests the other had made should be restored —
an agreement by which France would have been the loser. The
English insisted above all that Calais should be given ba6k to
them. Mary Tudor meanwhile had died and had been suc-
ceeded by Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne
Boleyn. At this juncture Elizabeth, partly from conviction
and partly from expediency, was inclining to the reformed faith,
and Philip II, disgusted at her attitude, decided not to give
his support to the demands of England.'^r Finally it was decided
150
J5
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
that Henry II should keep Calais for eight years, at the end of
which period he was to pay 100,000 gold crowns if he did net
restore it. Calais, as is well known, has remained French
to this day. On the east, Henry II insisted upon keeping
the Three Bishoprics. This was a question for the Emperor
Ferdinand, who had his hands full for the moment with the
Turks and the Protestants ; he made only a formal resistance
before yielding. With Spain a rough-and-ready agreement
was made. Philip II gave back Saint-Quentin and the neigh-
bouring fortresses, whilst Henry II restored Thionville and
Marienburg. As for Italy, the French Government determined
to go to the root of the matter, and resolutely renounced
all connexion with that country, solemnly renewing its definite
abandonment of rights in Naples and Milan. . Savoy and Pied-
mont were kept, but they were restored to their Duke, Em-
manuel Philibert, who had put in a vigorous claim for them, as
Henry II did not consider he had a right to despoil a third
party unjustly. In order to save appearances it was decided
that Emmanuel Philibert should marry Henry II 's sister.
Princess Margaret, who had waited so long for a husband.
She was over thirty-six and possessed neither health nor beauty ;
but she was gracious and amiable, beloved by all the Court,
and Piedmont and Savoy was to be her dowry. But as a
precaution Henry II. kept, for the time being, a few places
such as Turin, Pinerolo, Chivasso, and Villanova. Lastly, to
cement the reconciliation with Spain it was arranged that
Philip II should marry Henry II 's daughter Elizabeth. Every-
thing was at length settled, and on April 3, 1559, the Treaty
o^ateau-Cambr^sis was signed. "- —
This treaty was one of the most important in French history.
After the hard and arduous labours of the first Capets who had
to establish their authority in their own possessions ; after the
painful efforts of their successors, who had to consolidate the
whole of France under their sway, the French Kings had under-
taken the task of extending their power beyond the borders of
their own country. The campaigns in Italy had been a mistake ;
an obstinate determination to make distant conquests in
foreign regions, which it was impossible to keep and ruinous
to regain, whilst neglecting territory which was really French
161
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and whose proximity to Paris made its annexation doubly-
indispensable, was irrational. The Peace of Cateau-Cam-
br^sis put an end once for all to the Italian wars which -had
lasted for sixty-five years, and turned the attention of France
to the north and the east, that is to say, into its proper channels.
The populace was fully aware of the significance of this, and
hailed the peace with unfeigned joy^>^
But on the other hand the " military party " were loud
in their recriminations and protests. To abandon Italy,
Discontent of which for half a century had provided an un-
** Military rivalled school for those who wished to learn the
Party." art of war ! To sacrifice Savoy and Piedmont, a
number of towns and fortresses and quantities of supplies, by
a mere signature without striking a blow ! Nothing more
outrageous could be imagined ! " Those who loved France,"
moaned Brant6me, " wept at the thought ! " " In a single
hour and by a single stroke of the pen," exclaimed Vieilleville,
*' to give up everything, and with three or four drops of ink to
sully and besmirch all our glorious victories in the past, was
indeed depressing and degrading to our souls ! " Brissac and
Monluc joined the chorus. Monluc declared that 180 fortresses
were being surrendered, and calculated that something like a
third of the kingdom would be lost, while in the opinion of
Brissac, Piedmont alone was worth as much as Burgundy and
Champagne together. " And thus France evacuated so many
provinces, towns, and castles and such a wondrous tract of
country, the conquest of which had cost the late King over
forty millions in gold and a hundred thousand human souls ! "
Monsieur de Vigne, however, the French ambassador at Con-
stantinople, wrote with greater judgment and political dis-
crimination : "A second Salic Law should be passed to have
the first man who advises the renewal of the Italian wars or
the surrender or exchange of the towns of Metz and Calais,
burnt alive as a heretic ! " He was perfectly right.
In order to allow the people to join more heartily in the
rejoicings at the consummation of peace, Henry II decided that
The marriage the marriages of his sister and his daughter should
festivities. be solemnly celebrated in Paris, and signalized
by a long series of brilliant festivities in June, 1559. The Duke
152
EXTERNAL PEACE. HENRY II
of Alba, accompanied by a magnificent escort of 500 horsemen,
was sent from Madrid to represent the King of Spain. Em-
manuel Philibert of Savoy came in person. The Parliament
was moved to the Augustinian monastery on the quay in
order that the whole of the Palace, which was decorated with
tapestries, might be free. At the Tournelles, where Henry II
was staying — ^the Louvre having been reserved for the Duke
of Alba — a vast temporary hall was erected for the occasion.
In the Rue Saint-Antoine, lists, enclosures for tournaments
and jousts, were arranged with barriers and stands hung with
tapestries.
The festivities began ; there was a succession of feasts
and banquets. The Provost of the Merchants and Aldermen
of Paris received the royal guests at the H6tel de Ville. Tourna-
ments and jousts followed one after the other and were
attended by vast crowds of people who h&,d collected from
every corner of France, and who were delighted by what they
considered the superiority of their own countrymen over the
Spaniards. Henry II did not hesitate to take part in the
games. Mounted on a trained charger and protected by heavy
armour, he was anxious to break a lance. On June 30, jousts
on horseback were held in the Rue Saint-Antoine. The King
announced his intention of riding in them. According to
custom he had to break three lances on his adversaries without
being unseated. The first two he broke very neatly on the
Duke of Savoy and the Duke of Guise. For the third his
opponent was Montgommery, the son of M. de Lorges, his
captain of the guard, " a tall stiff young man," says Vieilleville.
The two riders charged each other and Montgommery gave
the King such a fierce thrust with his lance that he almost
imhorsed him. Henry II was provoked, and insisted upon
having his revenge. His opponent hesitated and declined,
but the King persisted and the contest had to be renewed.
This time both lances were broken, but Montgommery, in
raising the stump of his weapon, caught and opened Henry II's
visor, and, as he was carried along by his horse's impetus, his
broken spike went into the King's eye and pierced his brain.
The King fell forward on to his horse's neck, clasping it with
his arms. The animal was stopped and the prince was taken
158
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
down, laid flat and undressed, after which he was carried to
his room, where five or six surgeons tried to extract the splinters.
But their elTorts were futile, and for nine days Henry II lay
Death of unconscious. On the tenth he died, at the age of
Henry n, 1559. forty-two. On the eve of his death the religious
ceremonies of the marriages were quickly performed at mid-
night. " The proceedings were more like a funeral procession
and obsequies than anything else." The consternation among
the people was universal. Catherine de' Medici was beside
herself, and remained for a whole day prostrated by grief
without being able to utter a syllable. " I am afraid she will
have a terrible illness," Mary Stuart wrote to her mother.
And for the rest of her life Catherine de' Medici wore mourning
for the man she had loved so well and who was torn from her
in such a tragic manner !
SouBCES. Lettres de Catherine de MMicis, ed. La Ferri^re and Bague-
nault de Puchesse ; Brantome, CEuvres completes, ed. Lalanne ; Tommaseo,
Relations des ambassadeurs venitiens, 1838 ; Alberi, Relazioni degli anibas-
ciatori veneti al senato, 1839 ; Mar^chal de Vieilleville, Mdmoires, ed.
Michaud and Poujonlat (on this work see C. Marchand, Le marichal de
Vieillemlle et ses mimoires, 1893) ; Gaspard de Sanlx-Tavannes, Mdmoires,
ed. Michaud and Poujoulat ; Monluc, Commentaires et lettres, ed. de
Ruble, 1864 ; Francois de Rabutin, Commentaires sur le fait des dernier s
guerres, ed. Buchon, 1836 ; Pierre de la Place, Commentaires de V6tat de
la religion et ripvblique, 1565 ; Lettres inidites de Henri II, 1818 ; J. B.
Gail, Lettres inidites de Henri II, Diane de Poitiers, Marie Stuart, 1828 ;
G. Guiffrey, Lettres incites de Diane de Poitiers, 1866 ; Amb. Pare, Rela-
tion du siige de Metz en 1552, 1847 ; Bertrand de Salignac, Le sUge de
Metz en ran 1552, ed. Michaud and Poujoulat.
Works. Leopold Ranke, Histoire de France pendant le XV I' et le
XVir sitcle, translated into French by Porchat, 1854 ; E. de la Barre-
Duparcq, Histoire de Henri II, 1887 ; H. Bouchot, Catherine de Miiids,
1899 ; M. Hay, Madame Diane de Poytiers, 1900 ; F. Decrue, Anne de
Montmorency, 1889 ; H. Forneron, Les dues de Guise et leur ipoque, 1877 ;
J. Delaborde, Gaspart de Coligny, amiral de France, 1879 ; Chabert, Le
sitge de Metz en 1552, 1856 ; Mignet, Charles-Quint^, son abdication, 1857 ;
Gachard, Retraite et mort de Charles-Quint, 1852 ; La guerre de 1557 en
Picardie, bataille de Saint-Laurent, siege de Saint-Quentin, 1896 ; A. de
Ruble, Le traitd de Cateau-Cambrisis, 1889 ; P. Courteault, Blaise de
Monluc, 1909.
154
CHAPTER V
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM. FRANCIS II
The rise of Protestantism in France ; its favourable reception at
Court at first ; subsequent hostility of Francis I ; statuette of the
Virgin smashed in Paris, 1528 ; the posting of placards by the
Protestants, 1584 ; several executions, 1535. Case of Merindol and
Cabridres, 1545. Repressive policy of Henry II ; the Edict of
Ch&teaubriant of 1551 ; the trial of Anne du Bourg, 1547. , 'The
organization of Calvinism, its doctrine and discipline ; Jean Calvin,
1509-1564. The first reformed church in Paris, 1555 ; the first synod
in Paris, 1559. Francis II, 1559-1560. The Guises seize the reins
of power. Growth and progress of Protestantism ; increasingly
repressive policy of the Guises, 1560. Press campaign on the part
of the Protestants ; discontent of the Catholics at the autocratic
and miserly government of the Guises ; the Conspiracy of Amboise,
1560. The executions following upon it ; attempt to compromise
the Bourbons in the conspiracy. Signs of the approach of civil
war ; the moderates succeed in securing the convocation of the
States-General at Orleans ; arrest of the Prince of Cond6. Sudden
death of Francis II, 1560.
" TN the year 1520," says the Bourgeois de Paris, " there
I arose in the Duchy of Saxony, in Germany, a
-■- heretical doctor of theology of the Order of St. Augus-
tine, named Martin Luther, who said many things against
the authority of the Pope and compiled whole books in his
Rise of desire to diminish it, writing also against the
Protestantism ordinances and ceremonies of the Church."
in France. These books penetrated into France, and Pope
Leo X warned Francis I about them with a view to having
them condemned. It was thus that the Protestant Reforma-
tion was first heard of in Paris. Following the instructions
given, the Parliament had the trumpets sounded in the public
places and proclaimed that all books by Martin Luther were
to be delivered up on pain of imprisonment, with the result
155
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
that a certain Louis Berquin was convicted of having translated
some of these works and was cast into gaol, whilst his books
were burnt in front of Notre Dame de Paris. He himself would
have been put to death had not Francis I intervened and begged
that he should be let alone. Meanwhile the rumour was spread-
ing that the new heresy was making converts in various places,
and as a precaution mendicant friars were sent in 1523 all over
the country to preach against the false doctrines. In 1525,
a Cordelier was arrested at Grenoble, on the charge of having
given utterance to Lutheran ideas, and one of the Lords Justices
of the place, the Grand Commander of Viennois, sentenced him
to the stake. This man was one of the first adherents of the
Reformation to pay for his ideas with his life. The measure
was hotly criticized, but people in the end came to the conclusion
that it was justified on the ground that it was the duty of the
magistrates to avenge the honour of the Almighty, which was
outraged by heresy, and also to protect societv^^for heresy
upset society '• and tended altogether to the subversion of
human monarchy." The first step had been taken. In 1526,
on February 17, " veille des brandons," a young licentiate of law
named Guillaume Joubert, aged twenty-eight, was sentenced
by the Parliament of Paris to be conveyed in a cart to the
Place Maubert and there to have his tongue pierced and after-
wards to be strangled and burnt " for having held the doctrines
of Luther." On August 28 a Picardy scholar was sent to the
stake for the same reason in the Place de Gr^ve. What were
the doctrines professed by the new heretics ? The people were
extremely vague on the subject. Thgy maintained that the
Lutherans wished to do away with, the images of the Saints,
refused the use of holy water^ and objected to prayers for
the dead ; and they accordingly held them in detestation. The
magistr£^tes, for their part, as the vigilant guardians of public
order, would not allow any heresy to destroy that order, and
consequently thought it their duty to punish the delinquents,,
who, by attacking the divine majesty and by blasphemy were
guilty of an inexpiable crime that deserved capital punishment.
As a matter of fact, owing to the comparative rarity of this
criminal offence, sentence of death was passed readily enough
for the sake of making examples, and Lutherans were either
156
/^
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
burnt or hanged — sentences which at the time were not regarded
as excessive.
These first repressive measures did not stop the spread of
the new doctrines. A strong current of criticism was begin-
ning to make itself felt, and suspicion began to fall upon
preachers, because even from the pulpit they declared that
regrettable abuses certainly existed in the Church. Gradually
the idea gained ground that there was obviously something
to be said against practices which had needlessly been intro-
duced into the Catholic religion, and at Court this point of
view presented itself under a peculiar aspect.
Guillaume Bri9onnet, Bishop of Meaux, was a man endowed
with an open and inquiring mind. He loved learning and had
gathered around him a band of erudite philologists, among
whom were Guillaume Farel, a native of Dauphiny, and three
men from Picardy, Gerard Roussel, Amaud, and Jacques
Leffevre. These four philologists studied the Bible together
in the Hebrew or Greek texts and hazarded some criticisms
which seemed inspired by the Lutheran spirit. The Parhament
of Paris was informed of the matter and appointed a commission
to inquire into it. The four learned men took fright and crossed
the frontier into Germany, whilst Bri9onnet, who was repri-
manded, made his excuses. But Farel and his friends had left
behind them a small nucleus of followers.
It was this element of erudition that had first attracted the
attention of Princess Margaret of Valois. Deeply 'interested
Margaret o! ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^ anything that was new, Friemcis I's
Valois favours sister could not fail to be enticed by what appeared
the Pro- to her the results of research, and the irrefutable
testants. truths of philology. In 1527, she married Henri
d'Albret, King of Navarre, who was on bad terms with the
Papacy ; for Julius II had excommunicated his father, Jean
d'Albret, in 1512, and had given Spanish Navarre to Ferdinand
of Aragon — an illegal manner of disposing of kingdoms that
were not fiefs of the Church, against which the Kings of Navarre,
supported by the King of France, had lodged violent protests.
The Albrets were consequently perfectly ready to listen with
favour to anything that was said against the Pope. As soon
as she was installed at Beam, Margaret of Valois welcomed
157
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Jacques Lefevre to her house, as well as Gerard Roussel, who
passed for a saint and whom she made her spkitual director.
These men were not actually " Lutherans^" but in the name
of history they criticized the Catholic institutions of their day,
demanding the Communion in both kinds, refusing to admit
the strict doctrine of the Real Presence in the Eucharist as the
Church did, and proclaiming that the Church had "corrupted
the purity of the religion of Christ by superstitious inventions.
When Margaret returned to Francis I in Paris, she tried to make
him share these new opinions with her.
As a matter of fact, the new teaching had already found a
sympathetic echo in the frivolous society at Court. After all.
Attitude of ^* ^^^ argued, why should it not be possible to
the Court to take and keep hold of the substance of the Christian
Protestantism, faith " just as Jesus Christ had founded it, and
the Apostles had published it abroad and drawn it up in writing,"
and to reject " the superstitions and accretions " which had
been added by time, recognizing only the pure Word of
God and the life of the primitive Church ; to worship God in
spirit and in truth ; to exercise that *' Christian liberty that
shakes off the yoke of superstition and man's traditions
and clings to God alone," in short " to reform morals and do
away with certain abuses that had crept into the Church."
This did not mean separation from the Church. With their
minds set at rest by such arguments as these " everybody,"
says Florimond de Raymond, " wished to sample the novelty."
When the " sweet and soothing " fashion of singing Marot's
French translation of the Psalms was introduced it was thought
very beautiful. Everybody joined in the singing, and it be-
came a regular furore at Court. " The metrical version of the
Psalms attracted the souls of men by their harmony."
/ / At first Francis I, in his easy way, paid no particular atten-
; ' tion to the new ideas. Though he did not share them he did
' not regard them with antipathy. He had had Berquin released,
and at one moment he even consented, at Margaret's request,
to send to Germany for the Lutheran, Philip MelancVhon, upon
whose influence the princess counted to touch her brother's
heart. But he gradually changed his mind on the subject.
Francis I was after all a ruler, and in conjunction with his
158 ^
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
counsellors, the Cardinal de Tournon and the Cardinal de
Lorraine/ he came to the conclusion that to favour the spread
of heresy meant to compromise the unity of the State, to shake
the foundations of the kingdom, and to lay himself open to
all nlanner of trouble, as the populace would remain firmly ,
attached to the Catholic religiojj^^ He made up his mind, and
certain incidents shortly afterwards occurred which greatly
inp^sed him.
/^On the morning of Whit Monday, 1528, the statuette of
the Virgin which stood at the angle of Monsieur Harlai's house
in front of the door of Petit Saint -Antoine's Church in the
parish of Saint-Germain in Paris, was found mutilated. The
heretics had smashed the heads of the Virgin and Child. Public
opinion, which had already been roused against the Lutherans,
was extremely excited, and there was a considerable uproar.
The King and the government thought it incumbent on them
to share the general resentment. Francis I promised a reward
of a thousand crowns to anyone who would denounce the
culprits, and replaced the mutilated statuette by a new one in
silver. He brought it solemnly in person accompanied by an
impressive procession in which all the parishes of the city
were represented, as well as Parliament, officials, prelates,
nobility, and gentry, surrounded by a vast concourse of peopl^^
Parliament began to take severe measures. Louis Berquin^
who was imprudent enough to draw attention to himself again,
was once more arrested and tried. He frankly confessed his
ideas, did not conceal the fact that he had written Lutheran
books, and showed copies of them. He was condemned to
death. The King was at Blois, and in order to prevent the royal
intervention from saving the culprit as on the'previous occasion,
he was executed at once before the news could reach Francis I.
The Provost of Paris, the head of the criminal department,
and all the judges tried cases and condemned the accused.
When the Provost gave a lenient sentence, and the prisoner
nevertheless appealed to the Parliament, the latter made the
penalty more severe. But, as is always the case when persecu-
tion intervenes, the zeal of the adherents of " the new teaching,"
far from being cowed, merely grew stronger, and the Lutherans
retorted by various reprisals.
159
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
The mutilation of the Virgin on Monsieur Harlai's house
had been an isolated incident. But it was now repeated. In
Protestant ^^.y, 1530, the statuettes of Our Lady, of the
ontrages and Infant Christ, of Saint Roch and Saint Fiacre,
Catholic which stood at the angles of houses, were broken
reprisals. during the night, and each outrage necessitated
an expiatory procession on the part of all the parishes. The
Parliament, in scarlet robes, accompanied these processions
and promised a reward of twenty gold crowns to any person
giving information against a Lutheran culprit. The populace
was furiously excited, and a further outrage, which was even
graver and more audacious, brought their rage to boiling-point.
On October 18, 1584, heretical placards were discovered posted
up everywhere, attacking " the Holy Sacrament of the Altar
and the honour of the Saints." There were even some in the
Louvre, on the door of the apartments of the King, who hap-
pened to be away at Amboise ; and some were also taken to
Amboise itself. There wa,s a universal outburst of indignation.
The King was furious, and commanded the magistrates of Paris
to do " rigorous justice." They forthwith proceeded to make
[! numerous arrests, followed by executions. The year 1535 was
Jl the first blood-stained year in the annals of Protestantism All
kinds of people were arrested. It was quite enough for a man
to have a Lutheran book in his house for him to be suspect.
Shoemakers, woollen-drapers, printers, booksellers, clerics, rich
merchants, scholars, and attorneys were seized, and the Parlia-
ment and the head of the criminal department vied with each
other in condemning the culprits, who were burnt at the Halles,
at the Croix du Trahoir, at the end of the Pont Saint-Michel,
at the Place Maubert, at the Carrefour du Puits Sainte-Gene-
vi^ve, and in the cemetery of Saint Jean ; at the pig-market
they hanged in iron chains those who had been condemned to
death, after dragging them on hurdles to the front of Notre
Dame. Those who were most leniently treated were banished
after doing penance by standing in their shirts with bare
feet, holding a candle in their hands, in front of a church or
during the celebration of High Mass ; they had previously been
birched on a cart, and had had their goods confiscated. When
the accused persisted in their blasphemies and refused to
160
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
recant, their tongues were cut out. Numbers of people fled
in fear. The Parharaent summoned seventy-three persons who
had disappeared to stand their trial — among them Clement
Marot. Men, women, and children of all ages and all ranks
fell victims ; and public opinion signified its approval. Matters
reached such a pitch that Francis I began to think the authorities
were going too far. At his request Parliament stopped the
persecutions. A lull followed, and the seventy -three Lutherans
who had been banished by proclamation were authorized to
return. Prisoners were released with a warning that if they
were arrested again they would be sent to the stake. The King
explained to the ambassador Giustiniano that he had some
difficulty in getting heretics burnt, especially as it was not done
in Flanders.
But the impetus had been given, and Francis I was obUged
once more to see his magistrates, with the sanction of public
opinion, exceed the limits he himself would have set. In the
villages of Provence there were a certain number of people who
were said to have held somewhat heretical ideas for a long time,
ever since the thirteenth century. They drew their inspiration
from the Holy Scriptures and maintained that as the words
Mass, Pope, and Purgatory could not be found in the Gospel,
they were not bound to accept them. These people hated
Catholicism. They were known as the Vaudois. Attracted
by a certain community of feeling, the Protestants studied
their doctrines sympathetically, as those of precursors. The
Vaudois, on their side, adopted the ideas of Luther ; and out
of this certain incidents arose. The Vice-Legate of Avignon
intended to lodge information against some of them ; they
thereupon took up arms, and committed some acts of pillage
and murder. The Parliament of Aix opened an inquiry into
the matter, and having convicted the inhabitants of two
Case of particular towns — M^rindol and Cabri^res — of
M6rindol and heresy, passed sentence on November 18, 1540,
Cabriferes. to the effect that these two places should be
destroyed and their inhabitants banished. Francis I, who was
annoyed by these proceedings, ordered the execution of the
sentence to be postponed. But after the lapse of four years,
the Parliament of Aix determined to put an end to the matter
L 161
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and, at the instigation of d'Opp^de, the First President,
and Guillaume Guerin, the Advocate-General, they appointed
a commission of five members to proceed to the execution of
the sentence. The commissioners made an agreement with
Captain Paulin, Baron de la Garde, who let loose his soldiers
and allowed them to commit all kinds of excesses. They
massacred the people and burned twenty-four villages. It
was said that the victims numbered 3000, whilst 900 houses
were burnt down. The matter made a great stir in France
and the King, in hot indignation, resolved not to allow such
excesses to pass unpunished ; he ordered the magistrates of
Aix to stand their trial before the Parliament of Paris. The
proceedings dragged on interminably. Francis I did not live
to see the end of them, and under Henry II, when ideas had
undergone a change, after a final trial, which lasted for fifty
sittings, d'Opp^de and three of the commissioners, together
with Paulin, were acquitted. Guillaume Guerin alone was
found guilty of having forged certain documents, and for this
offence was beheaded in the Place de Gr^ve. On the whole,
Francis I, although his ruler's instinct told him that it was
impossible to countenance heresy without compromising the
unity of the State, would have inclined to toleration had he
not been irritated by various provocations. But his magistrates,
who were whole-heartedly Catholic and anxious to preserve
public order with a firm hand, over-ruled him.
Under Henry II, however, the aspect of affairs changed.
Protestantism had continued to spread. Pierre de la Place,
Repressive ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^ ^ Religion et de la R^publique, says :
policy of " Men talked of nothing but the increase in the
Henry n. numbers of the Lutherans, in spite of the severe
measures and punishments inflicted on them, and of the secret
meetings which were held both by day and by night in many
places, more particularly in the City of Paris." And, indeed,
the Lutherans, formerly isolated individuals, had now formed
themselves into groups, meeting secretly for common prayer
and mutual exhortation. Like everything mysterious, these
meetings excited the suspicions of the multitude, and one night
thewrath of the populace broke out. In the Rue Saint -Jacques,
in front of the College du Plessis, an assembly of about 100 or
162
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
120 people was discovered. Crowds flocked to the spot, and
when the congregation tried to escape they were attacked and
overwhelmed. The women were beaten, had their hair pulled
down, and were rolled in the mud, whilst a few people were^
killed. Among those present were some ladies of rank —
Madame de Rentigny, Madame de Champagne, and Madame
de Graveron ; a Parliamentary lawyer. Monsieur de Gravelles,
and an aged University Professor, Monsieur Clinet. Arrests
were made, and the Parliament had the culprits burnt in the
Place Maubert after their tongues had been cut out.
These meetings provoked a fresh outburst of persecution.
Henry II, less broad-minded than his father, had not the sort
of scepticism which predisposes to toleration. He was a stricter
Catholic and was scandalized at seeing what he held to be
divine truth a matter of dispute. Moreover, the progress of
the Reformation, which daily became more threatening, con-
stituted a growing menace to the State, and the Council was
even more alarmed than the King. The first measure taken
by Henry II in 1549 was to open a special court in the Parlia-
ment of Paris for the prosecution of heretics. It was called
the " burning chamber " {Chambre ardente). In 1551 he pub-
The Edict of Hshed an edict known as the Edict of Chateau-
Chateaubriant, briant, which classified in forty-six articles all
^^l* the measures passed against the Lutherans and
codified the laws dealing with them. It was high time, asserted
the preamble to this document, that precautions should be
taken. " The error grows from day to day and from hour to
hour, and has become a conunon plague " . . . " this is the
cause of God, in which every man is bound to lend a hand and
use all his strength." ^- The printing, sale, or possession of
heretical books was accordingly forbidden,^hformers against
heretics were to be given a third of their goodsj'Wd any indi-
vidual convicted of holding Lutheran ideas was to be condemned
to death. In order to free the Parliaments from the burden
of prosecuting these crimes, inferior tribunals, called presidial
courts, were allowed to take cognizance of them. But, in
curious contrast to the state of affairs under Francis I, when
the magistrates had been the most ardent instigators of persecu-
tion, the rumour now became rife that heresy, which was gaining
168
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
ground rapidly, had even invaded their ranks, and that they
could no longer be trusted. The Edict specified that in future
information might be lodged against judges who were suspected
\y> of negligence towards the Lutherans rT:hat every three months
sessions, called mercurial sessions, would be held in the Law
Courts, when religion would be discussed, in order to keep the
magistrates true to right doctrine, and. to discover whether
any of them were tainted with heresy ;>^nally, that no man
would be made a judge in future without producing a certificate
to prove that he was a good Roman Catholic.
But it was not only in the ranks of the magistrates that
the new ideas found converts. Every class in society was in
turn corrupted. Under Francis I the nobility had for a time
been drawn towards the new doctrines, but their convictions
had not been very profound. Now, however, great personages
Heresy gains at Court, nobles of high standing, and even princes
ground. betrayed an intelligent sympa,thy with the
heretical creed. In 1558, the Cardinal of Lorraine, who had
been sent to the frontier of the Netherlands to arrange a peace
with the Spanish Minister, Granvelle, Bishop of Arras, was
informed by the latter that he possessed proofs showing that
the kingdom of France was infested by Lutherans, of whom
one of the most distinguished was d'Andelot, the nephew of
Constable Montmorency himself. D'Andelot, he said, had
just sent to his brother Coligny, who was a prisoner, a
book which contained abominable language on the subject of
the Mass. On his return to Paris, the Cardinal of Lorraine
warned the King, who was irritated by the news and also, by
reason of his affection for the Constable, somewhat embarrassed.
However, he charged d'Andelot's brother, the Cardinal de
Chatillon, to try to obtain from the culprit some satisfactory
explanation on the subject of his beliefs. D'Andelot confined
himself to declaring that no man should force him to say any-
thing of which his conscience did not approve. At this juijcture
it chanced that he had occasion to visit the Chateau de Mon-
ceaux, where Henry II was staying. The King was unable
to restrain himself, and questioning him sharply, asked him
whether it were true, as people declared, that he regarded the
Mass as an abomination. D'Andelot replied very firmly, that
164.
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
if the Mass were regarded as a propitiatory sacrifice for the
sins of the living and of the dead, he certainly did regard it
as " a detestable and abominable thing," in no wise instituted
by God, seeing that the death of Christ constituted once and
for all a sufficient sacrifice and oblation. Henry II indignantly
ordered d'Andelot to leave his presence on the spot, and then
had him arrested by his Master of the Robes, Babou de la
Bourdaisi^re, and conducted by a strong escort under the
command of Monluc to the Chateau de Melun, where he was
shut up. D'Andelot's assurance proved the confidence he felt
in the general progress of the new doctrine. His brother
Coligny was a convert, as well as the King of Navarre, Antoine
de Bourbon, his' wife Jeanne d'Albret — daughter of Margaret
of Navartre a^d Henri d'Albret — ^and Antoine's brother, the
Prince of Conde, these three composing an important group of
princes of the blood royal. The Bourbons, together with the
Chatillons — d'Andelot and Coligny — ^were to form a kind of
impressive and formidable general staff.
^ This spirit of confidence increased. It was certainly true
that the magistracy was becoming more seriously infected every
day. The criminal court of the Parliament of Paris showed
itself singularly indulgent towards heretics, whom they no
longer condemned, but merely sent before the Bishop. If the
number of Lutherans was rapidly increasing, declared the
Cardinal of Lorraine in anger, it was because the public knew
the judges were conniving at heresy. The Government was
extremely irritated. On one occasion, when Seguier, President
of La Tournelle, came to the King for the magistrates' salaries,
which had not been paid for twenty-two months, the Cardinal
of Lorraine answered sharply, ** Your salaries would not be
kept back if you performed your duties faithfully ! " When
Siguier answered that he did not think they had failed in this,
the Cardinal exclaimed, " But you have ! For you are not
punishing the heretics." The President protested. " You send
them up to their Bishops," continued Lorraine, " a fine expedi-
tion indeed I " Siguier replied that they could not pronounce
against their consciences. " Then you are the cause," cried
the minister, " that France is filled to overflowing with this
vermin, which, trusting in you, brings forth and multiplies."
165
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Shortly after this the^^ercuriai, session prescribed by the
law wtd held. The King commanded the Bar to speak with
great firmness. On the appointed day — ^the last Wednesday
in April, 1559 — ^the session was opened in the Augustinian
monastery on the quay, as the Palace was engaged for the
marriage festivities. The Parliament assembled in large
numbers, some 100 or 120 magistrates being present. Bourdin,
the Attorney-General, made a speech in which he vehemently
arraigned the magistrates " for disaffection to the faith and
adhesion to the false doctrines of Luther " ; which meant that
La Tournelle did not condemn heretics to death, but let them
■,^yliXcj- go free contrary to the ordinances. There was a dbpadty
(j between the sentences of the Grand Chamber, which carried
out the edicts and those of La Tournelle, which merely banished
Lutherans. This disparity was a " scandal " ! After the
speeches were finished, the opinions of the members were asked
in the usual way, and all the magistrates, one after the other,
expressed their views. Those who had leanings towards the
new doctrines bravely declared that abuses and errors had
undeniably crept into the practices of the Catholic Church ;
that numbers of good men were demanding the summoning
of a general council to decide the matter, and to extirpate these
abuses ; and that in the meantime it was only reasonable not
to inflict capital punishment upon people who adopted a critical
attitude, inasmuch as their objections might be proved by the
council to have some foundation. Amongst those who were
of this opinion were Du Ferrier, the President of the Court of
Inquiry, and Antoine Fumee. The session was terminated before
all opinions had been taken, and the further discussion of the
question was adjourned till the next meeting. In the meanwhile
the Presidents, Le Maitre and Minard, went to the King to give
him an account of the views that had been expressed at the
mercurial. There was no longer any room for doubt ! the
heretics had the effrontery to advertise their beliefs before the
whole Parliament, and from the magisterial benches, under
peculiarly irritating circumstances ! Henry II decided that
he would be present at the next mercurial and listen to the
speeches. At this session, over which the King presided, the
Catholic magistrates demanded the application of the existing
166
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
edicts without any alteration whatever. But the counsellors,
Claude Viole, Louis Dufaur, and Anne du Bourg, pronounced
for the suspension of capital punishment until the council had
met. Dufaur was highly intelligent, and Anne du Bourg, a young
magistrate of thirty-seven, extremely eloquent. He made a
passionate and vivacious speech in which he displayed more
courage than prudence. When all was over, Henry II curtly
ordered Saint-Germain, the Registrar, to read the minutes of
all the opinions that had been expressed, and then declared
that there were certain magistrates in the Parliament who had
*' strayed from the faith," and that he had decided to punish
them. Thereupon, turning towards the Constable, who was
also present, he ordered him immediately to arrest Louis Dufaur,
Anne du Bourg, Claude Viole, Antoine Fumee, du Ferrier, and
three others, whom a captain of the guard was to conduct to
the Bastille forthwith. On his return to the palace the King,
beside himself with rage, exclaimed *' that he would go and
see Du Bourg burnt with his own eyes." A judicial commission,
consisting of a President of the Parliament, a Master of Requests,
two counsellors, the Bishop of Paris and an Inquisitor of the
Faith was appointed to judge the prisoners. Henry II, how-
ever, was not destined to be present at the end of the trial or
" to see du Bourg burnt " — -for Montgommery's lance laid him
low a few days afterwards.
Far from arresting the spread of the Reformation, Henry II's
repressive policy merely increased it. But in addition to these
temporary conditions, a circumstance of considerable importance
had for some time been conducing to the growth and spread
of heresy : Calvin had just provided it with a creed, a discipline,
and an organization. ^
Martin Luther, a vigorous and fiery spirit, had contributed
not so much to the founding of a new " religion " as to the
( overthrow throughout Christendom of the ancient compact
i faith of the Middle Ages. He had begun by criticizing the
abuse of putting up spiritual indulgences for sale by auction.,
Rome would not tolerate criticism of any kind, but Luther,
sure of his ground, persisted, and supported by public opinion,
extended the scope of his invective. In the face of coercive
measures of the ecclesiastical authorities, who declined to
167
inc
/ov
Ia^
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
enter into any discussions, but merely condemned him, he
had opened an attack, arousing the enthusiasm of the multi-
tude by his fiery eloquence in support of a cause which -was
becoming popular. Little by little, carried away by his own
feelings, and the favour of public opinion, he had succeeded in
undermining the very foundations of Catholicism. And he
hus destroyed the prestige of absolutism in the eyes of the
fpeople, who had hitherto r^arded the teaching of the Church
/ as the expression of eternal truth*. -Everybody now thought
/ himself capable of dissecting the ark of the covenant, and of
discriminating in accordance with his own private tastes, know-
ledge, and tendencies between doctrines he regarded as accept-
able and those he rejected as false. Lutheranism to the subjects
of Francis I was merely the Hght to criticize Catholicism^ It
was in this sense that scholars like Farel and his friends at
Meaux were Lutherans, and, as a matter of fact, though they
may have agreed upon the points to be rejected, they were
not unanimous as to those that were to be accepted. It was
reserved for Jean Calvin to formulate the creed of Protestantism.
Jean Calvin was born at Noyon in 1509. His father was
a certain Gerard Cauvin (Calvin is the Latinized form of CauvinjT
Jean Calvin, who was attorney, registrar to the diocesan courts,
1509-1564. notary to the Chapter, and procurator fiscal to the/t'^^^
episcopal county — in short, a sort of ecclesiastical lawyer. ^
Thus, Jean Calvin's earliest recollections were connected with
his father's quarrels with dignitaries of the Church. When on
one occasion he was summoned to show his accounts, Gerard
Cauvin refused. He was abused, threatened, and excom-
municated, and in 1531 the unfortunate attorney died in
disgrace and was denied religious rites at his burial. Charles,
the eldest of his four sons, succeeded to his father's business,
was in his turn excommunicated, and died three years later in
similar circumstances. Jean Calvin, who was the second child,
could hardly have been expected to feel sympathetically
inclined towards Church officials. He was placed at the college
of Noyon to begin his education, and was afterwards sent to
Paris to live with his uncle, a locksmith, who made him attend
classes at the College de la Marche and, later on, at the College
de Montaigu. At the age of nineteen he went to study for a
168
tUi^O^
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
law degree at Orleans, where the University was famous for its
courses in jurisprudence. He was a diligent, hard-working
student who ate little, was delicate in health, and suffered from
a bad digestion. He was recognized as a scholar of a supple^^^^
intellect with a great gift for diakctic$. When he had taken his^^'^'^
law degree he devoted himself to the study of Greek literature , ^^*^
and developed a strong taste for literary subjects. He even aban-
doned the law^<«lid gave himself up entirely to the humanities,
returning to Paris at the age of twenty-two. In the following
year (1532), twelve months after the death of his father, he
brought out his first book, a commentary on Seneca's De
Clementia. This reduced him to poverty, for he was not rich
and the printing of his work was expensive. The feelings
aroused in his heart by his family's misfortunes and his own
studies had already prepared the ground, and he beganjtp show
a sympathetic curiosity about Lutheran ideas.- He became a
constant visitor at the house of one of his fellow-townsmen,
a rich merchant of the Rue Saint-Martin, named fitienne de
la Forge, who habitually entertained a whole band of heretical
friends, among them Gerard Roussel. The development of
Calvin's faith was slow and gradual and he passed through
periods of great difficulty. The blood-stained year of 1535
proved fatal to the band of the Rue Saint-Martin, fitienne de
la Forge was denounced and arrested, and on February 16 was
sent to the stake. His friends were hounded down, and Calvin
was obliged to flee in haste. He wandered about, going to
Ndrac, to Poitiers, and to Noyon, where he was recognized,
arrested, and thrown into prison. Upon his release he crossed
the frontier an(I"reache3"^31e,'^ where he finished a book on
religion which was destined to enjoy considerable success —
his ChristiancB Religionis Institutio, printed in 1536. Finally,
in this same year, at the age of twenty-seven, he arrived at
Geneva, as yet a modest and obscure young man« •
An ancient town contemporary with the Romans, Geneva
had had a turbulent history during the Middle Ages, owing to
Calvin in perpetual disputes between its Bishop and the
Geneva. Count, afterwards the Duke of Savoy, as to the
lordship of its territory. In opposition to both competitors,
the inhabitants had ended by declaring that they belonged to
169
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
neither, but were citizens of a free imperial town that ought
to be independent. The partisans of this theory were called
"the Libertines." This party endeavoured to gain support
from outside. They succeeded, and formed a confederation
with the cantons of Freiburg and Berne, whence arose the
appellation Eidgenossen, the German word for confederates,
and the origin of the term Huguenots ; eventually, having
driven out the supporters of the Duke of Savoy — ^the Bishop's
adherents had long since disappeared — ^they remained masters
of the situation/^ Geneva became a kind of free republic
governed by a grand council under the vague suzerainty of the
Emperor of Germany. Lutheran ideas were favourably received
there and developed without much difficulty. At one moment
they met with some opposition, but the grand council decided
to allow the citizens absolute freedom of belief. Whereupon
heresy grew so rapidly that it ended by establishing a majority
in the city. At this juncture, a phenomenon occurred
which, as we shall see later, was repeated in France. The
Protestants, having acquired the ascendency, decided that
it was impossible to tolerate " error, idolatry, and superstition
in their midst," and that it behoved them to " shake off the
yoke of the Roman Antichrist." Accordingly, on August 27,
1535, the grand council forbade the exercise of the Catholic
religion in Geneva. The images and crucifixes in the churches
were thrown down, the altars overturned, and the priests
banished. From this time forth Geneva became the sanctuary
of the new creed and a refuge for the fugitives from persecution
in France, who speedily flocked to its gates. One of the first
of these was Guillaume Farel, whose gift of eloquence quickly
won him a position of considerable influence in Geneva ; and
in the following year, 1536, Calvin reached the city.
As he was obliged to work for his living, Calvin asked and
obtained permission to give lessons in theology. He was
favourably received on account of his remarkable precision,
conciseness, and lucidity, and was admired for his learning,
the thoroughness of his methods, and a certain inflexibility of
character. It was not long before he was given leave to exercise
the functions of a pastor. His success was rapid, and he speedily
won a position of incontestable authority. Shortly after this
170 s
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
the pastors had a meeting to consider the question of compiling
a catechism, and Calvin was entrusted with this duty. Thanks
to the neophyte zeal of the Protestants in the city, the pastors'*'^ ,
assembly possessed an extraordinary moral influence, capable
even of checkmating the political powers of the grand council.
In their rcHgious enthusiasm, the pastors decided that with
the view of making the morals of Geneva compatible with the
Christian faith, disciplinary regulations should be drawn up
to compel the inhabitants to practise virtue and eschew vice
under threat of severe penalties. This amounted to the institu-
tion of ecclesiastical government. Calvin drafted the regula-
tions, which were extremely severe^ A, number of citissens at
once lodged a vehement protest against this invasion of matters
of conscience in the domain of politics.. A party was organized
which claimed to defend the old families of Geneva, who were
anxious to protect the liberties of the city, as well as the in-
dependence of the body politic against the " strangers," as
they called them. The pastoral body retaliated by dubbing ,
their adversaries " Libertines," and a fierce conflict was in-
augurated. The Libertines gained the upper hand and drove
out the pastors.. .Calvin, who thus became an exile once more,
sought refuge in Strasburg, where he opened a fresh theological
class in order to earn his livelihood, for he was in great distress
and was obliged to sell his library and take in boarders. But
in the meanwhile a revolution was changing the aspect of affairs
in (ieneva. Aggravated by the excesses of the Libertines, the
people rebelled and returned a majority in favour of the pastoral
party, now called the *' Eyangelicals^" Calvin was recalled
and returned on September 13, 1541« This time the pastors
Organization had definitively gained the upper hand ; they
of Calvinism, proceeded to enforce their disciplinary regula-
tions and, at the instigation of Calvin, reorganized the citv
in conformity with his ideas. The functions of tea'^hing the
doctrines of The new faith and of administering tne sacra-
ments were assigned to the ministers. Twelve elected
elders and the ministers together formed a consistory which
kept watch and ward over the morals of the community,
punished the guilty by reprimands, censures, and excommunica-
tions, and in cases requiring corporeal chastisement, summoned
<• 171
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the delinquents before the grand council. All luxury was
prohibited ; festivals were forbidden, rejoicings were restricted,
every man's opinions were scrutinized, and life was made sad
and austere. Under the guidance of Oalvin, whose authority
daily increased, and who gradually succeeded in imposing his
ideas upon the rest of his colleagues, religion assumed a severe
and forbidding aspect. All ceremonies were abolished ; sermons,
prayers, the reading of the Gospel, and the singing of the Psalms
were considered sufficient. Baptism and the Lord's Supper
being the only sacraments mentioned in the New Testament,
Calvin preserved them, but the bread and wine of the Lord's
Supper were regarded merely as signs or symbols and not, as
in the Catholic Church, as the actual body and blood of Christ.
By his sermons, and by his continual courses of theology, which
soon became so famous that people from far and wide came to
hear him, Calvin defined and circumscribed the faith. His
fame spread through the length and breadth of France, and
letters asking for instructions reached him from every quarter.
With indefatigable zeal and prodigious activity, he carried on
a world-wide correspondence, encouraging and fortifying his
followers, recommending the foundation of churches on the
model of the Church of Geneva, and upholding the persecuted,
all in the language which made the success of his Institutio
Christiance — a style supple, concise, firm, and lucid, which places
him in the ranks of the best French writers. Crowds flocked
to his side. The population of (Geneva, which in 1543 had
numbered 13,000, rose in 1550 to 20,000. Calvin instructed
the ministers and then sent them forth to preach the Gospel ;
(Jeneva became the seminary and the " Rome " of Protestantism.
But whilst he defined the doctrines of Protestantism, Calvin
was also determined to fix them categorically. With an extra-
ordinary lack of consistency, the reformer, who had taken
such liberties in connexion with Catholic doctrines, would not
allow anyone to discuss his creed. He used to terminate the
prayer with which he ended his sermons by asking God to
preserve His Church from " all false doctrine, heresy, and schism,
which are the seeds of trouble and divisions among His people."
Rigid and merciless, he persecuted all who differed from him
with inexorable severity. Sebastian Castellio, who had ventured
172
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
to dispute the inspiration of the Song of Solomon, was driven
from Geneva, and certain pastors whose opinions did not seem
above suspicion, or who were over-bold, were deposed, im-
prisoned, or banished. A certain Spanish doctor of medicine,
named Miguel Serveto, attacked some of Calvin's ideas, to the
extreme irritation of the latter ; and in his book Christianismi
Restitutio Serveto dared to make certain assertions which Calvin
regarded as inadmissible. Some time after this the Spanish
doctor rashly supposed that it would be safe for him to pass
through Geneva ; he was arrested, tried, and burnt there on
October 27, 1553. Calvin was bitterly reproached with the
death of this man, and in order to defend himself he wrote in
1554 his Diclaration oti il est montri quHl est licite de punir les
Mritiques. And, indeed, the Protestants, true children of their
age, after having repudiated the authority of the Catholic
Church, continued to profess the intolerant opinions prevalent
in their time. Melancthon agreed with Calvin ; and Theodore
Beza published in 1554 his De hcereticis a civili magistratu
puniendis lihellus, in which he maintained that liberty should
be allowed to truth, but denied to error, the devotees of which
should be punished — a statement which was the very theory
of the Inquisition itself. Castellio was the first to proclaim the
necessity of liberty of conscience, and to maintain that ideas
should be defended by ideas and not by the sword ; but it was
some time before this opinion was accepted by the reformers.
His implacable spirit, supported by prodigious activity,
indefatigable energy, and lofty unbending faith, is sufficient
to account for the immense authority wielded by the founder
of Calvinism. He wore himself into his grave. Exhausted
by headaches and indigestion, gout, gravel, and asthma, his
emaciated body and hollow cheeks revealing the weakness of
his constitution, Calvin's life flickered out on May 27, 1564.
He^was fifty-five years old, and he died in povert;^^,^^?!^
y Thus it was at the instigation of Geneva and following in
her footsteps that the Lutheran bodies who had met together
First Reformed ^^^^ ^^^ there secretly in France, organized them-
Church in selves into churches. In September, 1555, there
Paris, 1555. arrived in Paris a minister from Geneva, named
La Riviere, who gathered together a certain number of converts
178
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
to the new faith in a house in the Pre-aux-Clercs. He was
elected pastor, and had a consistory of elders nominated, thus
founding the first reformed Church in Paris. Churches of a
similar kind were afterwards created at Meaux, Angers, Poitiers,
Agen, Bourges, Blois, and Tours, and at the end of two or three
years, some twenty of them were in existence. Ministers from
Geneva arrived in the towns all over the country, but if they
did not find enough followers, or if, on account of the hostility
of the people, secret meetings were impracticable, they went
away. They preached and prepared the ground, and, as in
Geneva, they read aloud from the Scriptures, prayed, exhorted
. their congregations, and sang psalms. When once it had been
|i organized, the Church in Paris in its turn sent out ministers
! in all directions. These men, in concert with the assemblies,
nominated the elders of the consistories, and these latter collected
the money for the pastor's salary and for almsgiving. Advice
and directions were asked from Geneva. Calvin had issued
orders that the pastors should be well versed in theology, that
scandals should be energetically suppressed, and that the lives
of the faithful should be narrowly scrutinized. And thus,
little by little, the organization of Geneva spread throughout
the whole of France. Soranzo wrote in 1558 that the Protes-
tants numbered 400,000. They were now called " the Calvin-
ists," and their numbers became so large that it was thought
necessary to complete their organization by securing the unity
of all the churches among themselves. Variations existed in
the doctrines that were taught, and, in conformity with Calvin's
ideas, it was thought necessary to discipline the teaching and
come to some agreement as to a general formulary. This led
The first to the meeting in Paris in May, 1559, of the first
Synod in Paris, national Synod, an imitation of the Councils of
1559. the Catholic Church. This Synod, at which each
church was represented by its pastor and its elders, sat in the
Faubourg Saint-Germain and lasted for four days in the midst
of perils and dangers without number. It adopted a formulary,
the text of which was inspired by Calvin, and then proceeded
to the regulation of discipline. All the churches were to be
\jequal among themselves, and no one of them was to claim
primacy ; in every church the pastors were to be equal ; the
174
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
representatives of several churches in the same neighbourhood
were to meet together in assembhes called colloquies ; the
representatives of churches in the same province were to meet
once a year in provincial synods, and at the head of all was
to stand the national synod. The Synod of 1559, which com-
pleted the foundation of the Protestant churches in France,
formed the starting-point for the triumphant rise of Calvinism,
which spread so rapidly that in 1561 there were over 2000
reformed churches in the country. It was this swift and
unexpected growth which so alarmedthe government of Henry II
and caused that monarch such profound anxiety. And when
he died, the future looked dark and disquieting indeed to the
ministers of his successor^i^
This successor, Francis II, was a delicate and unhealthy
boy of fifteen and a half. According to Regnier de la Planche,
Francis n, he had *' a pale, puffy face " covered with pimples
1559-1560. and blotches ; he suffered from some affection of
the nose — probably adenoids — and was, moreover, morose,
taciturn, and obstinate. He was destined to reign only a few
months, and his personality is a negligible quantity in history.
He had been married to the charming Mary Stuart, and showed
a tender affection for his " little wife." He passed his time
by her side ; they were delightful to see, as they fondled each
other and went apart from their companions to whisper un-
important secrets.
The Guises, taking advantage of their position as the Qjieen's
uncles, at" once seized the reins of power. Duke Francis had
in his favour his brilliant military exploits and the prestige
of his popularity and glory. His brother, the Cardinal of
Lorraine, was already in the government ; both were powerful,
fiery, and autocratic spirits. The Cardinal had everything
connected with the finances and internal administration of the
country in his hands. He was extremely clever, and a good
speaker, and brought great application to bear upon all he didr
Grave in demeanour and dignified in person, he possessed much
knowledge, more especially in the domain of theology. But
he was treacherous, miserly, and violent in temper, He
directed everything, his brother, the Duke, confining himself
to military matters.. It was impossible to resist them ! Their
175
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
niece, the Queen, Mary Stuart, was on their side, and conse-
quently the King himself. They were in possession of practical
power, and they made their authority felt harshly, with the
result that everybody stood in awe of them. Catherine de'
Medici, the King's mother, finding that she was altogether
powerless, adopted a cautious attitude of circi^mspection and
reserve. She was now forty ; she felt herself to be a woman
of capacity, who could rule if she had the chance, and over her
son, the new King, she maintained an ascendency which made
him fear and respect her. But political events were for the
moment too strong for her, and matters had so fallen out that
she had no alternative but to wait in silence. Constable Mont-
morency held aloof. The Bourbons and the Chdtillons remained.
For the Guises, who were half foreigners, to be ev^ything,
whilst the Bourbons, who were princes of the blooi^ were
ciphers, was intolerable." But at first the notorious sympathy
of the King of Navarre and his family for the Reformation
placed them, as well as the Chatillons, in a particularly false
position. The Guises profited by the state of affairs to make the
situation of their rivals even worse. They resolutely isolated
the Chatillon-Bourbon group from Court, and on pretence of
religious expediency, excluded them from the councils of state.
Thus the stage was left free for themselves. The Bourbons
and the Chatillons gathered together at Venddme in order to
see what could be done. Cond^, who was hot-tempered and
impatient, supported by the Vidame de Chartres, proposed
having recourse to arms. Coligny, calmer and more cautious,
and naturally straightforward and honest, was in favour of
more conciliatory methods and suggested that they should
appeal to Catherine de' Medici against the unauthorized usurpa^
tion of power by the Guises. The meeting voted in favour of
this resolution, and Antoine, King of Navarre, was chosen to
represent the case to the Queen Mother. Antoine was a quiet,
irresponsible person, whose thin face, darkened by a short,
sparse beard, and poorly illuminated by a pair of shifty eyes,
masked a mediocre character, deficient in courage. He came
to Court, where he had a very bad reception. Francis II kept
him waiting two days for an audience, and when he finally
granted it, treated him, in obedience to his uncles' instructions,
176
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
with marked coldness. When, disconcerted by this treatment,
Antoine addressed himself to Catherine de' Medici, she gave
him evasive replies, telling him that he must be patient, that
in time things would arrange themselves, and that later on the
Bourbons would return to their legitimate position of power
about the King's person. The King of Navarre, who by this
time was thoroughly disgusted with his mission, came to the
conclusion that he must be contented with these fair words.
Moreover, there was no one else to whom he could turn, as the
Guises had secured the King's immediate circle by keeping him
under the constant surveillance of their own friends and sup-
porters, notably, the Chancellor Olivier, Marshal de Saint-
Andr6, and Marshal Brissac. By thus isolating the Bourbon-
Chdtillon faction on account of their Calvinistic proclivities,
as well as with the object of keeping the rivals of their power
out of the way, the Guises threw them into the arms of the
Protestants, and ended by providing the latter with leaders,,,.^*'''^
Meanwhile, from all quarters news came to Paris of the
daily increasing audacity of the Reformers. Thus in one small
Growth and southern town, where hitherto the ministers who
progress of came from Geneva had only been able to preach
Protestantisni. by night hidden away in private houses, they now
dared to hold public meetings in broad daylight in the schools.
If the magistrates hastened to the spot, with the object otj.^ ^
reporting them, altercations ensued, and the ministers gave'^^
explanations, which, in the end, left the King's officials undecided
what course to pursue. In other places, too, meetings were
held with perfect freedom, and the number of Calvinists grew
from day to dsy with astonishing rapidity. *' The conflagration
is spreading everywhere," wrote Soriano, and he was perfectly
right. The Guises, ardent Catholics — especially the Cardinal
of Lorraine, a man of uncompromising ideas — were also, as
heads of the Government, devotees like Francis I of the principle
of authority, which was compromised by the very existence
of heresy. Naturally combative, energetic, and resolute, they
revived and ex9,ggerated the repressive policy of Henry II.
A series of mel-ciless measureS~was the result. Edicts were
published throughout the country commanding the immediate
imprisonment of anyone known to be a Calvinist. Orders were
M 177
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
sent to the judifical commission charged with the trial of Anne
du Bourg to terminate the matter. Du Bourg had tried
dilatory methods of procedm*e, appeahng from one jurisdiction
to another, maintaining that as a cleric he was entitled to appear
before the episcopal judge in the Bishop's court, and raising
an agitation through his friends. The trial was hastily con-
cluded, but passions had been roused to such a pitch of excite-
ment that one of the judges, the President Minard, was assas-
inated by a Calvinist. In the end du Bourg was condemned
to death and executed. The Protestants called his death " a
triumph," and the murder of Minard " the judgment of God."
The King's procurators, magistrates of all ranks and callings,
bailiffs and sergeants bestirred themselves in the provinces
with feverish activity. Everywhere there was a constant
succession of citations, arrests, and imprisonments. The year
1560 was particularly calamitous. " It is impossible," wrote
Hubert Languet, " for this to go on any longer. The prisons
are full ! "
The Protestants, however, who now possessed a regular
organization, with colloquies and synods, were in a position to
combine and offer resistance, or at least to demand some abate-
ment of the draconian measures with which they were being
overwhelmed. It was useless for them to approach the King
or the Guises, and, like the Bourbons and the Chatillons, they
determined to address themselves to Catherine de' Medici. The
Queen Mother made no sign. Possibly, she was not so rigid
in her opinions as those who held the reins of government ;
she represented a latent influence, and at least exercised some
moral authority. Unfortunately, however, she was powerless,
and once again, as in the case of the King of Navarre, she
maintained an attitude of reserve. In her reply she confined
herself to advising the Protestants to remain calm and to say
nothing, adding a few vague words of toleration and peace.
Thereupon the Calvinists, the most fiery among whom,
realizing the strength of their movement, had come to the
The Calvinists conclusion that they had at least the right to
appeal to demand liberty to meet and to preach, turned
the Bourbons, to the Bourbon-Chatillon faction. After all,
were they not princes and the highest nobility in the kingdom ?
178
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
How could they allow foreigners like the Lorraines to seize the \
government, drive them from Court, and use the power thus
usurped to inflict intolerable persecution upon t|iem, their
friends, and their creed ? The Bourbons must be induced to "''*
return to Court, to drive out the Guises, and take their place.
Once masters of the Government, they would put an end to
persecution, and grant the Calvinists the liberty they demanded.
But they were once more unfortunate in having to deal
with a man like the King of Navarre, who was not great enough
for the part they wished him to play. The nobility liked him
because he was cordial, good-natured, and, though he was not
rich, generous, open and simple " in the true French style,"
says Giovanni Michiel, also gallant enough in battle though a
mediocre general. But his was a soft nature, devoid of daring.
He recoiled in terror. In vain di^J^y try to act upon him
by means of his wife, the intelli(^H^Jeanne d'Albret, who,
unlike her husband, was fiery and ailRmined. Nothing came
of it, and he refused his help. No other champion was to be
found. His brother, the Prince of Conde, would have been
more ambitious and active, but he lacked the solid qualities
necessary for a leader, and, moreover, as he was a younger
brother, it would have been difficult for him to undertake a
task refused by his senior. As for the Ch&tillons, they had not
the requisite authority.
The Protestant ministers, finding they could get nothing
from the persons they had relied on, then decided to fight their
Protestant °^^ battles with the only weapon they possessed
Press cam- — the Press. They multiplfed their pamphlets
paigJi* and entered upon a campaign of eloquent and /
inflammatory polemics. "The blood of the just crietli'^ "
aloud," wrote La Planche, "and God useth persecution as
bellows to fan the flame of His Word ! " They made a /
passionate attack upon the Guises, denouncing their tyranny
and their unjust usurpation of the royal power, and anathema-
tizing their ambitions. What was their goal, they asked, but
the appropriation of the Crown, the deposition of the King,
and the usurpation of the throne by one of themselves ?
After having driven away the princes of the blood, they aimed
at nothing less than their destruction in order that every
179
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
obstacle might be removed from their path. And in the mean-
while they were ruining the finances, corrupting the Court, and
sowing the seeds of hatred on every side. Now in connexion
with the various points just enumerated the complaints of the
Protestants found an echo in the breasts of others besides
heretics.
The harsh and autocratic rule of the Guises had not been
I established without arousing a certain amount of discontent
I even among Catholics. After the Peace of Cateau-Cambr&is,
in view of the financial difficulties of the situation — past debts
and heavy liabiUties to be met — ^the Guises had decided to
make substantial economies. They had reduced the expenses
of the Court, cut down the army considerably, and restricted
pensions. These measures had called forth loud protestations
from their victims. A large number of the nobility who had
but slender fortunes and had hitherto made a livelihood by
war, were deprived of their means of subsistence. Arrears of
pay were due to them, and they laid claim to them. The
straitened condition of the Exchequer made it impossible to
satisfy them, but they insisted and agitated. The Cardinal of
Lorraine was not the man to tolerate such methods of intimida-
tion and showed himself hard and overbearing. Even under
ordinary circumstances, says BrantSme, " he was extremely
insolent and short-sighted, having no respect for persons, and
showing them no consideration ! " A fierce animosity was
kindled against him and his brother. The refusals were at-
tributed not to the penury of the Exchequer, but to the avarice
of the Cardinal, and loud murmurs were heard on all sides.
Lorraine imagined that he could close people's mouths by holding
out the threat of the gibbet for all grumblers, which did not
tftend to smooth matters. Thus there was a strong party among
Ithe nobles extremely hostile to the government of the Guises.
The arguments of the Protestants went home, and a large
heterogeneous political opposition was formed. From this
opposition the elements of that strange enterprise called the
Conspiracy of Amboise were recruited.
A certain gentleman of obscure origin, a native of Perigord,
named Francois de Barry, Sieur de la Renaudie, was at this
time roaming about the world. He had come into conflict
180
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
with the judicial authorities in the past, had been compro-
mised in a case against du Tillet, condemned for forgery and
The Con- ^^^ uttering a forgery, and had been compelled to
spiracy o! cross the frontier. He took refuge in Switzerland
Amboise, 1560. and became a Calvinist. His family had b^p
unfortunate, and one of his brothers-in-law had been sent to
prison by the Guises. He wandered about from town to town
until the idea of attempting to wrest the power by force from
J the House of Lorraine and give it to the Bourbons germinated (
in his brain. On the part of this insignificant exile the notion
was little short of madness. However, he confided his scheme
to some Calvinist pastors, and even to Calvin himself. The
pastors replied vaguely that even if it were wrong to make any
attempt against the King himself, no doubt it might be allowable
to overthrow a tyranny of usurpers. They did not attach much
importance to La Renaudie's proposals, and Calvin, upon being
pressed, avowed his disapproval of the idea. However, it
became more and more firmly rooted in the mind of its originator,
who returned to France secretly in the month of February, 1560.
He went to Nantes, where the assizes of the Parliament of -
Brittany were being held at the moment of his arrival. These
assizes had attracted a large number of people, amongst whom
La Renaudie found some old friends, Calvinist gentlemen hke
himself. He talked to them, and entirely engrossed by his
scheme, communicated it to them, but in the following cautious
terms. He proposed that they should go in a body to the
Court and present a petition to the King asking him to allow
members of the reformed faith liberty to practise their rehgion.
If they went in large numbers — several hundreds — ^the demon-
stration would make some impression. La Renaudie's secret
hope, at which he merely hinted, was that if the manifestation
were only large enough, a rising might perhaps be organized,
which, if it succeeded, might lead to the arrest of the Guises.
J In the shape, however, in which he represented his plan — as
a sort of petition — it seemed to his friends capable of realization.
It amounted, in short, to a respectful and orderly proceeding
which the King could not regard as abnormal, organized with
the object of modifying the persecutions from which all members
of the reformed faith suffered. The date and place of the
181
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
rendezvous was fixed for March 10 at Blois, where the Court
was to be staying. The main point was to ensure that the
members of the deputation should come in imposing numbers.
La Renaudie's friends told those they knew about the plan, and
asked them to pass the secret on in confidence. The news
spread from mouth to mouth and gradually assumed the asp act
of remonstrances to be made to the King on the subject of the
Guise government. From that moment the opposition joined
%| the movement. Among the crowd which was making for Blois
\ at the beginning of March were not only Calvinists, but also
officers and discontented soldiers demanding arrears of pay.
Meanwhile La Renaudie, still engrossed with his cherished
project — ^an attempt at a coup de main — confided his secret to
some of his most trusty supporters, and in order to secure
larger numbers, and more resolute auxiliaries, he recruited
^ bands of unemployed soldiers, though without informing them
of his intentions. He exhorted his adherents to keep the
secret and to come to the rendezvous one by one, or in very
small groups. In short, out of all the people who were on their
ray to Blois in March, some, the hired soldiers, did not know
jwhy they were going ; others, the majority, believed they
pvere about to attend a mere respectful demonstration ; whilst
m exceedingly small group were aware of the fact that it was
question of provoking an insurrection at the last moment.
Jt is open to question whether the Bourbons and ChStillons
were in the secret. They probably knew something about the
proceedings, but were ignorant of the proposed attack. The
whole affair was very badly organized. It was ambiguous and
uncertain, at once too much and not enough of a secret, shared
by too many and too few, foolishly short-sighted and naively
cautious. The conspirators might have foreseen that the Govern-
ment would never allow such a body of armed men, arriving
suddenly in so menacing a fashion, to approach the King, who
was always surrounded by his guards and well defended.
The Guises were informed of the enterprise in all its minutest
details by one of La Renaudie's friends, a Protestant lawyer >
named des Avenelles, who lived in Paris. The instigator of
the plot had confided it to this man, who was alarmed at being
made the depository of a secret which might land him in a
182
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
criminal suit if he did not betray it. With men of the Lorraine
temperament, the news naturally provoked an outburst of
fury, the results of which were to become cruelly manifest.
As Blois was too open and not sufficiently isolated to be
securely protected, the Guises decided to transfer the Court at
a moment's notice to Amboise, which was more inaccessible,'^
surrounded by high walls, and easy to guard. This sudden
change upset the plans of the conspirators, and La Renaudie
postponed the date of the rendezvous from the 10th to the
16th, substituting Amboise for Blois. The Government then
took speedy and vigorous action. Bands of cavalry were
immediately ordered to beat the woods in the neighbourhood
of Amboise as far as possible, and to collect all the people they
found in them. The conspirators arrived singly, one after
the other, or else in small groups, and they were accordingly
seized without any idea of what was going on. Some, who
had clear consciences, offered no resistance. Others, seizing
their pistols, were attacked and cut down, whilst a few succeeded
in making good their escape. A certain number, who were
warned in time, took to flight ; but most of the unfortunate
victims walked straight into the trap. On the morning of
March 20, La Renaudie, feeling somewhat anxious, was making
his way through the forest pf Chateau Renaud, when he found
himself confronted by a troop of horsemen, commanded by
Monsieur de Pardaillan. " Who goes there ? " demanded
Pardaillan. " Liberty I " replied La Renaudie. " Long live
the King ! " was Pardaillan's retort, as he bore down upon
La Renaudie and fired his pistol at him. The shot missed
La Renaudie, who, drawing his sword, plunged the blade into
Pardaillan's body with deadly effect. But at this moment one
of the latter's companions rode up, shot La Renaudie through
the head at close range with his pistol, and killed him on the
spot. Thus the chief of the conspiracy disappeared beforq it
had so much as taken shape. " Never," said Calvin, " was
an enterprise so badly conceived or so stupidly put into execu-
tion I "
The news of the conspiracy aroused a tremendous commotion, y
gThe Guises represented it in the light of a plot against the
Bang's person, got up by the heretics, an infamous crime and an
183
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
unutterable outrage I Their indignation was sincere, not so much
on account of the alleged plot against Francis II as by reason
The Ezecu- ^^ *^^ danger they themselves had run. They
tions following ended by beheving that this danger had been more
upon it. real and menacing than they had at first supposed,
and the reaction resulted in a series of merciless measures.
Francis of Guise began by having himself appointed Lieutenant -
General of the kingdom, which gave him an unrivalled position
of authority and put the whole army under his command. He
then set about repression of the revolt. The cells of Amboise
were filled with people who had been surprised in the woods.
They were summarily sentenced and executed en masse —
hanged, beheaded, or drowned. It was a pitiless slaughter in
which no quarter was given. The Protestants were all the
more indignant as the guilt of the victims in general was by
no means established, and in many cases was certainly venial ;
they accused the Guises of taking vengeance for the terror they
had felt. To crown all, the Lorraines had the audacity to
hang the bodies of La Renaudie and the chief conspirators from
the balconies of the royal residence itself, facing the river at
Amboise. The corpses of all these gentlemen swinging in
the wind, dried and withered, in full view of the great bridge
over the Loire, was a horrible spectacle. Jean d'Aubign6,
who chanced to pass by the spot with his son Agrippa, the
future writer, then a boy of eight and a half, remarked to him
as he pointed out the sinister string of human heads : " My
child, look well at them ! Your head, when my own has fallen,
must not be spared in avenging these honourable leaders. If
you spare yourself, my curse will be upon you ! " And Agrippa
d'Aubign6 never forgot the indelible impression made upon him
by the terrible sight of those dangling corpses and his father's
deep emotion as he made him swear to avenge the blood of the
*' martyrs I "
But the matter did not end here. At Court and through
the country generally a rumour spread abroad that there were
Attempt to y^* other leaders responsible for the attempt,
compromise A conspiracy of such importance could not have
the Bourbons, been organized by so insignificant an individual
as La Renaudie ; and it was permissible to seek the real instiga-
184
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
tors among those who would have profited by the success of
the enterprise, that is to say, among the Bourbons. They
were accordingly accused of having inspired the plot, and as
t Antoine, King of Navarre, was not the sort of man to have
^ conceived such a project, the Prince of Cond6 was marked out ,
as the leader of the enterprise. In the King's immediate circle,
the imputation was promptly accepted. It coincided only
itoo well with the interest the Guises had in isolating and ruining
the Bourbons.
Cond6 was summoned before the King and his council to
offer an explanation. He was cross-questioned and returned
indignant answers, humiliated at having suspicion cast upon
him and being made to appear as a culprit before his enemies.
He protested, and defied anybody to produce the smallest shadow
of evidence that he had had anything whatever to do with the
f matter. He even offered to fight anyone who maintained that
y he had. The whole family joined in his protestations with
such warmth that the Calvinists, to whom the severity of the
repressive measures had endeared the victims of Amboise,
considered this method of denying all connexion with the
vanquished somewhat excessive, and accused the princes of
" cowardice.'! The incident went no farther, but it left in the
^breasts of all concerned a fermentation of hatred and anger
which was destined to bear fruit at no very distant date. The
Conspiracy of Amboise was the first tentative effort, the fore-
runner of civil war. The experiment of gathering together a
crowd of armed men had been made. The sword-thrusts and
pistol-shots exchanged in the woods round the royal residence
had been a rehearsal, and the finises' mistjaken policy of forcing
the Bourbons against theit will into the ranks of the rebels _
^ provided the latter with leaders who, as princes of the blood,-
V . satisfiedJLhfiLScruples of loyalist§.> Finally, the political question
\) whicli had. been grafted upon the religious problem — the
tyrannical usurpation of power by strangers, who deserved to be
driven out — added infuriated partisans to the opposition. The
two parties, facing each other in a state of great excitement,
were ready to come to blows.
But at this juncture there began to appear between the two
camps a certain number of honest men who deprecated thc^^
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
passions that had been aroused and would have liked to arrange
an understanding upon a basis of mutual toleration. They
were advocates of the tradition outlined by Francis I — the
tradition of conciliation and intelligent good-will. And as it
happened, just after the Conspiracy of Amboise, Olivier was
succeeded as Chancellor of France by a magistrate of a little
over fifty, a learned and dignified man of great experience and
high character, whose " grey beard, pale face, and grave
manner " were very impressive— the famous Michelde^l'Hopital.
His name in history stands for a whole policy. He kept repeat-
ing " Patience ! patience I " In his eyes this was the guarantee
and condition of improvement. " Everything will come right,"-
was his assurance. But for the time being this party was too
small to have any influence.
In view of the general state of fermentation the Guises
raised troops everywhere. The Bourbons, exiled from Court,!*
kept a disquieting silence. The Protestants, exalted by martyr-
dom, had revived their services in all the towns, whilst the
magistrates still carried out the severe decrees against them.
" In a year's time," wrote the Bang's secretary, Robertet, " the
fire will be even more surely kindled than it is now." Indeed,
it was felt that far from dying down, passions were becoming
excited to boiling-point, and that before very long a conflict
would break out. The peace party made an attempt at concilia-
tion. They approached Catherine de' Medici, and induced her
The Assembly **^ demand an Assembly of Notables to consider
of Notables, means of pacification. The Guises gave their
1560. consent, and the assembly met at Fontainebleau
in August, 1560. It was composed of great personages in the
State and of distinguished members of the reformed church.
_^The Chatillons came, but the Bourbons refused to appear, and
their absence did not pass unheeded by the Court. At the
meetings, over which the King presided, Michel de I'llopital
^^ spoke eloquently in favour of peace. Coligny, who possessed
great influence, owing to the respect his character inspired —
" for he was," says Brantome, " a noble knight, a good man,
wise, mature, prudent, diplomatic, brave, critical, judicious,
and a lover of honour and virtue " — presented a petition from
the Calvinists of Normandy, who begged to be allowed freedom
186
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
of belief and liberty to practise their religion without let or
hindrance. Coligny added that he was in a position to collect
over 50,000 signatures to the petition. The Duke of Guise
answered him by an irritable speech, declaring that if Coligny
could collect 50,000 signatures from people who claimed
liberty for Calvinism, he could find millions against it. A
discussion ensued. Monluc, Bishop of Valence, was of opinion
that the States-General should be summoned, as this assembly^
would carry more weight than a mere gathering of Notables,
and that a National Council should be convoked to settle the
disputed points in the Catholic doctrines, and, if possible, to
reform abuses. The idea of sunmioning these two assemblies-
seamed to meet with a favourable reception. The Cardinal **-
of Lorraine gave his consent to the States-CJeneral, but opposed
the Council. In the end, however, the proposed resolution was
passed to the effect that the States should meet in December
1560, and the Council in January 1561, unless the Pope took
the initiative and summoned a General Council. Nothing was_ .
decided on the subject of Coligny's demands, the consideration
of which was postponed till the next meeting. The moderate
party had gained the upper hand.
But everywhere the signs of impending conflict became j-
more menacing. News kept arriving of sporadic rebelUons on
the part of the Protestants. In Dauphiny, Montbrun tried
to make his co-religionists take up arms. Normandy was in
a state of ferment. Villars, Lieutenant-General of Languedoc,
said that he could no longer answer for his province ; and bands
of armed men were reported to be scouring the country. The
King and the Guises suspected the Bourbons, and above all
^ the Prince of Conde, of instigating these movements, in prepara-''
tion for a general rebellion. Military precautions were increased ;
recruits were raised, even in (Germany ; and reinforcements
were sent to the garrisons in the towns. It was arranged that
a clear explanation should be demanded from the bourbons —
at the States-General, and that if it were necessary they should
be treated with the utmost rigour. The question was whether
they would attend the States-General.
The place for the meeting of the assembly, which had at
first been fixed at Meaux, was changed to Orleans as being more
187
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
secure. The King arrived there surrounded by an imposing
body of troops. He had summoned the ban and rear-ban of
Meeting of *^^ nobility. A whole army surrounded the town,
the States- the inhabitants of which had been disarmed.
General at All the garrisons along the route by which the
.Orleans. Bourbons would have to travel had been rein-
forced. In the face of such precautions the Bourbons were
undecided what course to pursue. Their immediate followers
begged them to remain at Beam and not to run any risk.
Catherine de' Medici, on the other hand, advised them to come,
and offered them safe-conducts, provided only that they did
not come in force, as the Government had determined at once
to attack any concourse of people that seemed the least sus-
picious. After numberless hesitations they at last made up
their minds to attend. A general feeling of anxiety had pre-
— vailed at Orleans, which was relieved on hearing this news.
" The majority of the madmen," wrote Francis II to the
Constable, " perceiving the path I am taking, are drawing in
their horns a little." It was supposed that methods of intimida-
tion had been successful.
The Bourbons arrived at Orleans k few days before the
meeting of the States-General. They were frigidly received,4
and were immediately called upon to give a categorical explana-
tion of the events that were taking place in the provinces and
of their own attitude. The Prince of Cond6 retorted angrily,
and exclaimed in great irritation that he was the victim of
^ infamous calumnies on the part of the Guises. If he had had
a guilty conscience he would not have come ! On other points
his answers were vague and dilatory. Antoine de Bourbon
maintained an attitude of reserve and indecision. The Govern-
ment promptly decided upon the course to be pursued. At
Arrest of the command of Francis II, the Prince of Conde
Cond6. was arrested, and his officers and secretaries were
thrown into prison. The King of Navarre, in deference to his
rank, was merely placed under close supervision. A judicial
commission composed of magistrates belonging to^the Parha-
ment of Paris and presided over by de Thou, the father of the
historian, was instructed to prepare the indictment of Cond^
on a charge of high treason. Cond6, in his exasperation, kept
188
THE DRAMA OF PROTESTANTISM
repeating that he would settle the whole matter personally
with the Guises, his enemies, " at the point of the lance." At
first he consented to answer his judges, but suddenly he refused
to do so any more, and demanded to be tried by his peers before
the Parliament of Paris. In order to give him some sort of
satisfaction the number of the commissioners was increased
by the addition of the Knights of Saint Michael, an order to
which the Prince belonged, and on November 26 the tribunal
returned the verdict that the prisoner was guilty of treason,
heresy, and conspiracy. Michel de I'Hopital refused to sign
the decree, on the pretext that the case had not been proved,
as the judges had only had presumptive evidence to act upon.
The whole proceeding had a disastrous effect. The Protestants i
were indignant at the fact that a political manoeuvre had been!
falsely hidden beneath legal forms. The party in favour or
toleration deplored an incident calculated to aggravate matters
rather than to improve them ; whilst the Catholics could find
no answer to these protests except the fact that an adversary
had been warned and that it was a fair fight.
It was in the midst of the painful impression produced by
this trial that the members of the States-General met. They
Sadden death ^^^^e extremely troubled in their minds. Em-
o! Francis n, boldened by the success of their enterprise, the
1860. Guises had decided to guide the deliberations of
the Assembly towards the most rigorous repression of Calvinism.
Their plans were already laid. They proposed to have a
formulary of the Catholic faith signed by all the judges and
Crown officials of every rank in the State, and even by all the
King's subjects, one by one, parish by parish, under pain of
summary arrest. By this means heresy would be stamped out,
and the complete annihilation of the Bourbons would leave
the uncontested supremacy in their own handst Through the
States-General, which they had in their grip, they would at
last get the better of the Reformation. The Guises might well
have thought they had reached the pinnacle of their power and
greatness, when an event, upon which they had not counted,
suddenly cast them down. Francis II died after an illness of
only a few days.
Always puny and ailing, after having suffered for some time
189
'7^
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
from a suppurating ear, the unfortunate young King was seized
with sudden weakness accompanied by high fever. Every
effort was made to save him. The Cardinal of Lorraine multi-
plied prayers, vows, and processions on his behalf. The Duke
of Guise flew into a passion with the doctors, threatening to
hang them, and accusing them of stealing the King's money.
Francis II rapidly lost consciousness, and on December 4 at
eleven o'clock he died, according to one theory, from the effects
of an abscess on the brain caused by the suppurating inflamma-
tion of the ear from which he suffered, and, according to another,
from the rupture of the temple bone, followed by a cerebral
effusion. Politically his death meant a revolution.
Sources. Journal (Tun bourgeois de Paris sous lerigne de Frangois J,**
ed. Lalanne, 1854 ; Jean Barrillon, Journal, ed. De Vaissiere, 1897 ;
Tommasco, Relations des ambassadeurs vdnitiens, 1838 ; Catherine de
Medieis, Lettres, ed. La Ferriere and Baguenault de Puchesse ; Brantome,
CEuvres completes, ed. Lalanne ; Pierre de la Place, Commentaires de Vdtai
de la religion et de la Ripublique, 1565 ; Regnier de la Planche, Histoire
de Vital de France sous Frangois II, ed. Mennechet, 1836 ; Florimond de
Raymond, Histoire de la naissance, progr^s et decadence de Vhirisie de ce
Steele, 1610 ; Hubert Languet, Epistoke politicce, 1646 ; J. Calvin, Lettres
frangaises, ed. Bonnet, 1854 ; and, Opera omnia in the Corpus reformatorum,
vol. X to XX ; d'Aubign^, Histoire universelle, ed. de Ruble, 1887.
Works. Th. de Beze, Histoire eccUsiastique des Eglises reformdes au
royaume de France, ed. Baiun and Cunitz, 1883 ; Lutteroth, De la reforma-
tion en France, 1859 ; P. Imbart de la Tour, Les origines de la Rdforme,
la France moderne, 1905 ; Weiss, La Chambre ardente, dtude sur la liber U
de conscience en France sous Frangois i*' et Henri II, 1889 ; Haag, La
France protestante, 10 vols. ; Doumergue, Jean Calvin, les hommes et les
choses de son temps, 1899 ; Kampschulte, Johann Calvin, seine Kirche,
1869 ; Roget, USglise et VStat a Geneve depuis la Rijorme, 1870 ; F.
Buisson, Sibastien Castellion, 1891 ; C. Bouvier, La question Michel Servet,
1908 ; Le P. Maimbourg, Histoire du calvinisme, 1682 ; J. Crespin, Les
actes des martyrs, 1565 ; A. de Reumont, La jeunesse de Catherine de
Midids, translated by A. Baschet, 1866 ; Capefigue, Catherine de MMicis,
1856 ; de Ruble, Antoine de Bourbon et Jeanne d'Albret, 1882 ; Ren6 de
Bouill6, Histoire des dues de Guise, 1849 ; H. Forneron, Les Guise et leur
dpoque, 1877 ; Guillemin, Le Cardinal de Lorraine, 1847 ; J. Delaborde,
Gaspard de Coligny, 1879 ; Dupre-Lasale, Michel de VHopital, 1875 ;
C. Paillard, Additions critiques a Vhistoire de la conspiration d'Amboise,
1880 ; Potiquet La maladie et la mort de Frangois II, 1893.
190
CHAPTER VI
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY. CHARLES IX
Charles IX, 1560-1574 : Regency of Catherine de' Medici with
Michel de THopital as her Chancellor. Change of poUcy with regard
to the Protestants ; the results of this new policy ; the Diary of
Faurin of Castres. The Triumvirate of Montmorency, Saint- Andr^,
and Guise ; resistance of the Catholics. Attempts to come to an
understanding, the Colloquy of Poissy, 1561 ; its failure. Violence
of men's passions ; the Massacre of Vassy, 1562. First Civil War :
terrible disorders of the year 1562. Battle of Dreux ; the Protes-
tants beaten, they fall back on Orleans ; assassination of the Duke
of Guise, 1563. The Peace and Edict of Amboise, 1563. Travels of
the Court through France ; the Conference of Bayonne, 1565.
Attempt on the part of the Protestants to kidnap the Court, 1567.
Second Civil War ; Battle of Saint-Denis, 1567 ; Peace of Long-
jumeau, 1568. Fall of I'Hdpital. Third Civil War ; Battle of Jamac
won by the Duke of Anjou, 1569 ; death of Cond6 ; CoUgny
becomes the leader of the Protestants ; his defeat at Moncontour,
1569, is followed, owing to the distress of the Government, by the
disastrous Peace of Saint-Germain, 1570. Marriage of Henry of
Beam to Margaret of Valois : the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew,
August 24, 1572. Death of Charles IX, 1574.
FRANCIS II, who passed away at the age of seventeen
after a reign of one year and five months, was succeeded
\ by his brother Charles IX, a child of between nine and
ten. He was at the time and continued to be throughout his
life an amiable prince, lively, extremely alert, graceful, as were
Charles IX, all the members of the elegant House of Valois,
1560-1574. and with much ease of manner. He was also a
sportsman, and loved riding, hunting, shooting, and tennis ;
he had artistic tastes and tendencies, and took an interest in
painting and sculpture, though., on the other hand, he hated
study and business. His health, which had been delicate from
the beginning, betrayed the degeneracy of his race. He was
191
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
tall and slight, with thin legs, and was short of breath. He
ate and drank very little, and was easily overcome by fatigue,
whilst his pale face and bowed head suggested a feeble constitu-
tion. Giovanni Michiel, the Venetian ambassador, who recog-
nized his generosity, ardour, and intelligence, considered him
handsome. He had fine eyes, and an expression that was by
no means unpleasing, but the exaggerated angularity of his
face gave his protruding mouth a disagreeable, sulky expression.
The personality of this monarch, who died in his twenty-fifth
year, had the qualities and the defects of youth. An evil fate ^
destined his reign to be one of the most sinister in French
history, and this has sufficed to make him almost a detestable
figure. ^
By the laws and traditions of France which fixed the majority
of kings at the age of fourteen, Francis II had been accounted
Regenoy of ^ major when he ascended the throne, a circum-
Catherine de' stance which allowed the Guises to seize the --^
Medici. reins of power on the pretext that the King was
free to confer authority. But with Charles IX the case was
different. He was a minor, and it was necessary to have a
regency. Now, by these same traditions the Queen-Mother
usually became Regent. Catherine de' Medici, with cha-
racteristic promptitude and intelligence, did not wait for
the death of Francis II before securing the government. The
Guises had no legal rights to maintain ; they accordingly held
their peace. Princes of the blood alone — in this case the
Bourbons — had any claims to urge. But Catherine came to
an understanding with them and promised them all they asked :
Conde's release, and the admittance of the King of Navarre
to the council and to a share in the government with the title
of Lieutenant- General of the Kingdom, provided he made some
profession of the Catholic faith. She obtained their support,
and they for their part were well pleased at such a significant
change in their position. In order to prevent them from wreak-
ing vengeance on the Guises, she insisted on a reconciliation.
She welcomed Montmorency, made herself extremely agreeable
to the Chdtillons, and spoke of toleration for the Huguenots.
In fact she tried to be conciliatory to everybody. It is essential
that her policy should be clearly understood.
192
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
As a woman and a foreigner, springing from a family of
newly enriched merchants, she felt that she had no authority.
" God has left me with three young children," she wrote to her
daughter, the Queen of Spain, " and a kingdom divided against
itself, without a soul in whom I can place the slightest confi-
dence." Prudence — a quality of which she possessed no small
share — counselled her to act warily, and to use soothing and
CQiELciliatory measures. In the midst of conflicting passions
she had to try to be friendly to all. She has been condemned for-
'dissimulation. But the position in which she was placed, her / r^
Italian blood, her education, and her former habits combined
to make this almost inevitable. She had but a single object
in view — ^the preservation of the Kong's authority and her own)
Rightly or wrongly, she thought that but one method could
secure this object — ^the method of conciliation. She failed,
and has been accused of weakness and treachery. Greater
ability, greater luck, or better conditions enabled Henry IV
to succeed. He is called a great man ; and yet fundamentally
their-two-policies were identical.
Moreover, her own character predisposed her to this con-
ciliatory attitude. A healthy, robust woman, who had a
Character of large appetite, took plenty of exercise, and was
Catherine de' extremely brisk and lively, though she was so
Medici. enormously stout that Brantdme calls her '* a
lady of masculine proportions," she was now more kind and
amiable than ever. Every one agreed in thinking her " an
extremely agreeable and gentle princess." The smile never
left her poor plain face with its sallow olive complexion, baggy
cheeks, and large goggle eyes, and she was affable and modest,
without ever losing the dignity of a great lady. Generous to
the point of prodigality and disorder, loving comfort, receptions,
and all the splendour of a sumptuous Court Ufe, she was honoured
and loved by the courtiers who thronged about her. Her
greatest joy was to see the nobility at peace enjoying them-
selves at her festivities. But she was far too intelligent to be
deceived. " It is difficult to keep up this farce [the government
of the kingdom] before so large an audience without displeasing
some one ! " she wrote disconsolately to the Bishop of Limoges,
her ambassador in Spain. In public she assumed a demeanour
N 198
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of calm self-possession. But Correro declares that more than
once he found her weeping hot tears in her own room over what
she called the troubles and misfortunes of France. What course
was open to her but that of conciliation ? Did not reason
agree with necessity ? Speaking of Protestantism and her
^^ system of toleration towards it, she wrote : " For twenty or
X^^Jicv<. thirty years we have tried cauterization to stamp out the
contagion of this evil in our midst, and we have foimd by
experience that violent measures do but increase it. . . ."
" In this respect," she added, " I have acted as a woman, the
mother of a royal ward, who thought that mildness was more
suited to this disease than any other remedy." She reaUzed
her own powerlessness and the necessities of the poUtical
situation.
Even if she herself had not felt as she did, the man who
was destined to be her most trusted counsellor, the Chancellor,
Michel Michel de I'Hopital, would have imbued her with
de PHdpital. this spirit. A cold, dry man, with a firm, precise
mind, I'Hdpital hid behind a thin bony face, rendered venerable
by a long white beard and illuminated by a pair of clear eyes
with a straightforward, penetrating glance, a vigorous intellect
and decided ideas. He was a resolute and determined partisan of
Uberty of conscience for the Protestants, and a policy of con-
ciliation towards the nobiUty. He supported, inspired, and
encouraged Catherine de' Medici.
When once Francis II was dead and Charles IX proclaimed
Bang, Catherine de' Medici, in her capacity as Regent, began
by bringing the meeting of the States-General to a speedy
conclusion. L'Hopital attended it and made an eloquent
speech during which, exhorting to toleration, he pronounced
the famous words, " Let us do away with these diabolical terms,
Lutherans, Huguenots, and Papists, the names of parties,
factions, and seditions ; let us cling to the title of Christians 1 "
The States drew up their hst of grievances, which showed a
-wide diversity in the desires of the three orders. On January 31,
1561, they were declared closed, and as the corollary demanded
by custom, the Chancellor prevailed upon the Regent to publish
a grand ordinance, containing 150 articles, in which he inserted
several of his own ideas about reform. Amongst them were
194
(/*
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
the re-establishment of canonical elections in the Church, which^
had been suppressed by the Concordat, abolition of the sale
of judicial offices, limitation of the jurisdiction of the eccle-
siastical courts, injunctions to the sheriffs of the North and
South to leave trials to the care of lieutenants of various ranks,
etc. — reforms which were only partially or imperfectly carried
out.
The Government then made public its resolution with regard
to the Protestants. Catherine explained that after so many
Change years of repression, now recognized as inefficacious,
o! policy the experiment of a pohey of gentleness and
towards the liberalism was to be tried. On February 24, 1561,
Protestants. ^n edict was published, by the terms of which
all Protestants who were in prison were to be released, and
judicialsuits brought against them were to be stopped. Hugue-
nots who had been banished were authorized to return, and
those who had been sent to the galleys were recalled. The Act
added, it is true, *' on condition that they become Catholics " ;
but no notice was taken of this proviso. As a matter of fact,
this edict of toleration gave Protestantism the most decided
impetus that it had ever received. Hitherto as a restricted,
threatened, and dangerous faith, the Protestant religion had
succeeded in collecting but a small number of converts. But!
from this moment it assumed a prominent position. People
began to attend the services out of curiosity, and the simple
piety of the new rehgion attracted and converted many. Gradu-
ally a movement was inaugurated which became a force and a
fashion, accelerating the development of Protestantism before
the very eyes of the astonished Catholics, who were held in
check by the idea that the King approved of it, or that it was
an irresistible power. At the end of six months in one of the
southern towns the Huguenots were in the majority. To prove
this we need only refer to the curious Diary of Jean Faurin,
a Protestant hosier of Castres, in which he relates the events
which took place from day to day in that Uttle town :
The end of the year 1560 was marked in Castres by a terrible
persecution. Magistrates arrived from Toulouse and Carcas-
sonne and multiplied the number of summonses, arrests, and
imprisonments. The services were celebrated secretly by
195
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
night, but enormous difficulty was experienced in holding them
without provoking outbursts of fury on the part of the popu-
Faurin's lace, which was ready to stone the hated Hugue-
" Diary." nots. In February, 1561, the edict arrived. All
the Protestants in the prisons were at once set free. Monsieur de
Lostau, the Huguenot minister, began to preach in the houses.
Nothing was said to him. On April 18 he preached publicly
in the school to an audience of 500 or 600 people. The magis-
trates were angry and ordered him out of the town. He refused
to go, and they did not dare to force him " for fear of a popular
outbreak." On April 26 and 28 ministers arrived from Geneva.
On June 5 the procession of the Holy Sacrament of Corpus
Christi took place in the town, and, for the first time, the
Protestants did not decorate their houses with hangings.
" But no one took any notice of it." On July 6 the Lord's
Supper was celebrated at the school, and 600 people received
the Sacrament. One Tuesday in August the Protestants all
shut their shops at midday and went to prayers with their
servants. They repeated this every Tuesday, and nobody
said anything. On Sunday, August 31, the first Huguenot
funeral took place, and " there was not the slightest commo-
tion." On September 1 the election of borough consuls and
of the procurator royal was held. Protestants were returned
for all the posts. The consuls and the members of the consistory
went to the clergy of the second most important parish in the
town, Notre Dame de la Plat6, and demanded the keys of the
church in order that they might hold a Calvinistic service in
it. The priest in charge refused to admit them, and they there-
upon broke open the doors of the church and held the service
in spite of him — " nobody raised any commotion." On
October 5, the Lord's Supper was celebrated in the same church.
At the end of October *' by order of their honours the magis-
trates, all the idols — ^the statues — and all the altars " of this
church were pulled down " without any opposition." And
thus, before the end of the year 1561, Protestantism, which at
the beginning of it had been restricted, repressed, and punished,
was installed at Castres with the enjoyment of full Uberty of
conscience and freedom of worship, and was in possession of
the municipality and the chiirches. Much the same thing
196
1
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
took place almost everywhere. From one end of France to
the other, the Catholics, unable to understand what was happen-
ing, looked on in stupefaction.
Meanwhile at Court complications were arising. CatherinCi,
de' Medici, true to her promise, had released Cond6. But he//
wished to be legally rehabilitated and not merely pardoned/I
and had demanded and obtained a verdict from the Parliament!
attesting his innocence. The Guises, already enraged by all
that was taking place, protested loudly, and declared that this
verdict amounted to the repeal of an act of the late King.
The Cardinal of Lorraine left the Court, and Cond6 informed
Catherine that he would only return to her on condition that
his mortal enemy, Francis of Guise, was driven from her presence.
By dint of manoeuvring, Catherine succeeded in calming this
first storm. She summoned Cond^ to Fontainebleau and
received him in the most charming manner. Cond6 himself,
according to Brantome, was " extremely agreeable, amenable,
and amiable " ; and allowed himself to be won over. The
cloud passed by. The King of Navarre had been made Lieu-
tenant-General of the Kingdom.
But it was impossible for the Catholics to remain indefinitely
silent in face* of the changes which were being introduced to
Montmorency,, f^^ detriment of their religion. The Duke of
Saint-Andr6, ^uise consulted with the Constable Montmorency
Guise. and Marshal de Saint -Andr6 on the situation,
and agreed with them that they must combine to resist a
movement which threatened to ruin the State. The threes
men made a compact and formed themselves into a sort of
triumvirate. As soon as their agreement became known
adherents flocked to them from all quarters. Like Chantonnay,
the ambassador of Philip of Spain, they all considered that
whether deliberately or not, Catherine de' Medici by her policy
of toleration was paving the way for the triumph of Protestant-
ism. Was not Cond^ already freely inviting Huguenot ministers
to preach at Court ? Were not the Protestants influential
enough tp bring about the disgrace of CathoHc officials, like
Montmorency's brother-in-law Villars, in Languedoc, who had
been over zealous against the Calvinists ? The triumvirate
was welcomed with acclamations, and the Cardinal de Tournon
197
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and the Dukes of Montpensier and Brissac lent it their support.
The CathoUc sovereigns, the Pope, the King of Spain, and the
Duke of Savoy, displayed their deep sympathy, for Europe
was watching the events that were taking place in France with
the closest attention. Philip II more especially was concerned
to know whether Protestantism was going to win yet another
great kingdom — an anxious question for the King of Spain,
seeing that the Netherlands had already gone over to the new^
religion. Catherine, who was greatly harassed, tried to calm
them and reassure them as to her intentions. She wrote to
her daughter, Elizabeth of Spain, " I am obliged to have the
King of Navarre at my side. The laws of France insist upon
it." She explained to her ambassador in Spain that, as a
matter of fact, with Protestants on one side and CathoUcs on
the other, the Bourbons and the triumvirs, she was trying " to
find a via media between the two parties." She informed
foreign Courts and the Pope that nothing had been changed
in France with respect to the Protestants, and that there was
no need for them to be concerned. But causes for further
alarm were not slow to arise.
Like a plague spot. Protestantism gradually spread farther
and farther with astonishing rapidity. But as the inevitable
Protestant consequence of this, in those places where the
outrages. Protestants were in a majority, they declared,
as they had done at Geneva, that they could not tolerate what
they called " idolatry " in their midst, and the scandal of
'* Romish superstition." They had demanded toleration, and
it had been granted them. They had taken freedom of worship,
and the officials had been obliged to let them have their way.
And now, intolerant in their turn, they wished to destroy
Catholicism. Irritated chiefly by the worship of images, the
Protestants began to smash the statues in the churches all
over the country.
The Catholics resisted, and conflicts took place, resulting
in a certain number of deaths. The Huguenots attacked
religious processions and tried to disorganize them, whilst the
Catholics invaded the Protestant services. Disorders occurred
throughout the kingdom, and from all quarters there reached
the Government in general, and I'Hopital in particular, unani-
198
I
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
nious complaints on the part of the CathoHcs against his policy
of weakness and concession. The Chancellor was regarded as
a Huguenot. What had he done with the ancient laws ? Had
he or had he not repealed them ? The Government, in some
anxiety, published a new edict in July, 1561, recommending
people to keep the peace and to practise toleration, prohibiting
the bearing of arms, and whilst renewing the retrospective
armistice with regard to the Protestants, forbidding them, in
accordance with the old edicts of the past, to hold public or
private meetings on pain of being summoned before the civil
tribunals and being punished with imprisonment or the confisca-
tion of their goods, the extreme penalty of death being pro-
hibited. This timorous expedient contented nobody, and the
universal seething of discontent continued unchecked whilst
I'Hdpital was declared to be absolutely powerless.
The Chancellor thereupon conceived an unexpected plan —
that of reuniting the Protestant and the Catholic communions
by endeavouring to reconcile their doctrines. The Catholics
were to make concessions on questions of discipline and cere-
mony, whilst the Protestants on their side were to give way
on points of dogma. A conference was to be convoked between
the bishops and the Protestant ministers at which the conditions
of the agreement were to be discussed. Catherine approved
of the plan, and the Protestants gave their consent to it. The
bishops, humiliated by the thought of a discussion of this kind,
would never have agreed to take part in it, had not the Cardinal
of Lorraine, who hoped to win a great oratorical victory by
his eloquence, prevailed upon them to do so. The CoUocj^ujr^
The Colloquy ^^ ^^^ meeting was called, was summoned to
of Poissy, meet at Poissy in August 1561. Twelve Protestant
1661. ministers arrived headed by the illustrious Theo-
dore Beza, Calvin's favourite disciple, a supple-minded, elegant,
and fiery-tempered divine ; and Peter Martyr from Zurich.
On their way they passed through Saint-Germain where the
Court was staying and were granted a gracious reception, " far
more friendly a one than the Pope would have received if
he had come," as Claude Haton petulantly observes in his
Diary. The assembly was opened on September 9 at Poissy
in the old refectory of the Dominican monastery dating from
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the time of Saint Louis, and was attended by enormous
numbers. The little King, Charles IX, presided over it with
his mother, Catherine de' Medici, at his side. Theodore Beza
spoke temperately. He had, according to Haton, " an eloquent
tongue combined with a beautiful and apt use of the French
language, whilst his face and gestures attracted the hearts and
minds of his hearers." He held the attention of the audience.
But, unfortunately, he made some unhappy comparison on
the subject of the Euchajust. Exclamations burst forth from
the assembly, and the Cardinal de Tournon sternly called the
speaker to order. " I was on the point," Catherine afterwards
wrote, " of bidding him be silent ! " At the next sitting, the
Cardinal of Lorraine replied, and speech succeeded speech
without any result. At length it was decided that it would be
wiser to appoint a commission of ten members — five Catholics
and five Protestants — ^to find some formula of agreement. But
they too failed. The proceedings had been altogether barren,
and it was realized that reunion was out of the question.
The Colloquy of Poissy served only to increase the general
disorder. The Protestants considered themselves the victors,
** The Protestants," wrote d'Aubign^, " exalted by their rights,
proclaimed the victory of their ministers." And it was indeed
a triumph and a distinction to have been allowed to enter upon
a discussion on equal terms with prelates who had hitherto
regarded the Huguenots as criminals and infamous heretics I
Protestantism was now becoming a recognized religion, worthy
of attention and respect ! The courage of the Calvinists rose
high, and all over the country the result immediately made
itself felt. Let us return to Faurin's Diary.
On December 14, 1561, in the Cathedral church of Saint
Benoit at Castres, a certain friar, Claude d'Oraison, preached
Further ^ sermon in which he vehemently denounced the
Protestant Reformation. A Protestant scholar interrupted
outrages. him, and at the top of his voice shouted out that
" he was a liar." The congregation kicked the scholar out
of the church, with the result that there was a great commotion
among all the Huguenots in the town. In the evening they all
gathered together carrying arms, went to the cloisters of Saint
Benoit, where the friar lived, seized him, and cast him into
200
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
prison. The Catholics were terrified and made no protest.
The next day Father d'Oraison was conducted to the gate of
the town and told to depart. On December 81 the borough
magistrates, still all Protestants, ordered the statues and images
in the churches to be demolished. On January 1, 1562, they
formally forbade the Roman Catholic clergy to say Mass inside
the town — thus abolishing the Catholic religion in Castres. On
January 4 the magistrates went in a body to the Convent of
Sainte-Claire and drove out the twenty nuns they found there.
On February 2 a Trinitarian monk was discovered celebrating
the Mass in secret in the presence of a small congregation of
the faithful. He was seized, put on a donkey with his face
to the tail, to which he clung with both hands, and, dressed
in his ^cerdotal vestments, was marched through all the/-^-
streets of the town. After this exhibition he was taken to
the square, set upon a chair and shaved, and was then shown
the consecrated wafer, and asked whether he were ready to die
for it. The poor man was terrified and replied in the negative
whereupon his sacerdotal garments were burnt, and he himself
was driven away after having been made to promise that he
would never again celebrate the Mass.
Similar occurrences took place on every side. In all quarters
the Protestants invaded the churches, drove out the priests,
and usurped their places. The church bells were suppressed,
and were replaced by drums. The altars were overthrown
and the images of the saints were destroyed. Here and there
the Catholics were either less patient or stronger than their
co-religionists in Castres, and attacked their adversaries. In
December, 1561, a scuffle took place in Paris in the Faubourg
Saint-Marcel, during which the Huguenots invaded the church
of Saint-Medard and pillaged it. The Catholics retaliated by
rushing to the Protestant meeting-house and burning the
contents.
In face of the advancing tide, Michel de I'Hdpital came to
the conclusion that he must swim with the current if he hoped
Concessions ^^^^ *o stem it, and in January, 1562, he published
to the an edict authorizing the Protestants to hold
Protestants. meetings — which was merely the legal recognition
of an accomplished fact — but only on condition that they took
201
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
place outside the towns, in the suburbs, for instance, and
that no places of worship should be built ; there was a
further proviso that the Calvinists should give back to the
Catholics all the churches they had seized. The Protestants
were satisfied with this concession. And, indeed, it was consider-
able. For the first time they had received official recognition.
Their meetings were authorized, and the practice of their religion
was no longer an offence, but the regular exercise of a right.
They accepted the conditions. At Castres the Huguenots gave
up the churches of La Plate and Saint -Benoit, and held their
meetings on the boulevard of the Porte de I'Albinique under
tents put up for the occasion. No priest, however, had the
courage to enter the town to celebrate Mass.
The edict was greeted by a violent outburst of indigna-
tion on the part of the Catholics. The Government was accused
Discontent of of definitively giving way to the heretics. The
the Catholics, latter, it was argued, were only a minority, and
*' in the wrong," yet they were gradually gaining privileges
equal to those enjoyed by the majority, who had remained
faithful to the true religion. The Catholics were no longer in
a position to insist that the Calvinists should not be allowed
to practise their religion ; they were now called upon to defend
themselves against adversaries who, after having demanded
and obtained freedom of worship, were arrogating to themselves
the right of interfering with the religious liberty of others, and
from being persecuted had themselves become persecutors.
There was no longer any room for doubt — the Regent and her
Chancellor were giving the country over into the hands of the
Protestants ! Urgent complaints were addressed to the Govern-
ment from abroad on the subject of its weakness. PhiUp II
wrote angrily that if the Regent were not in a position to cope
with the heretics, she might have the use of his troops. When
Catherine in high dudgeon replied that it was out of the question
for the affairs of France to be managed " by any other than
her own forces," the King of Spain retorted that if this were
so, he would offer his soldiers to the Catholics, a reply which
only enraged the Queen-Mother the more. However, as
Philip II, in his anxiety at the thought of the effect which events
in France might have in his own provinces of the Netherlands,
202
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
remaxked : " It was better to go and put out the fire in a neigh-
bour's house than to wait for it to spread to one's own." The
Regent wrote letter after letter to explain and justify her
attitude, and gave him every assurance that she was firmly
resolved to suppress heresy. She was merely accused of double
dealing, and Maisonfleur gave her the nickname of Madame
la Serpente. The Duke of Alba, the Governor of the Nether-
lands, was of opinion that in the end it would be necessary to
interfere in France. Owing to the absence of forces sufficient
to maintain public order in the country, the smallest incident
was sufficient to produce civil war, which was already immi-
nent. An incident of this nature occurred on March 1, 1562,
at Vassy.
Duke Francis of Guise chanced to be returning from Saverne
to Paris with an escort of over two hundred horsemen, when.
The Massacre as he was going through Vassy, on the frontier
ol Vassy, 1562. of Champagne, one Sunday morning he passed
a barn where a Protestant service was being held at which
about 400 or 500 people were present. The members of his
train and some oi the congregation exchanged taunts. This
led to blows, and the Duke oi Guise's nobles backed their own
men, with the result that the whole body attacked the Protestant
assembly. The Huguenots tried to defend themselves by
throwing stones, one of which wounded the Duke, whose
followers thereupon drew th^ swords in fury, and struck out
right and left. The Protestants fled helter-skelter, but twenty-
three were killed and over a hundred were wounded. It was
the first really serious incident in the struggle that was about
to begin, and the fh-st in which there had been much bloodshed^'
The incident was turned to account by the Protestants,
among whom it aroused a considerable commotion. The
Catholics tried to make light of an affair which they termed
" an accident," *' a mere scuffle." The Huguenots could talk
of nothing but " the Massacre of Vassy," and indignantly
declared that the plot on the part of their enemies to destroy
them had now been unmasked. Catherine, much alarmed,
forbade Francis of Guise to enter Paris, where the populace,
who were fervent Catholics, might, in their ardom-, provoke
fresh complications, and ordered him to join her at Montceaux.
203
k
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
The passions which had been unloosed were, however, too
strong to be curbed. Guise disobeyed her orders and went to
Paris, where he was received by the two other triumvirs and
greeted by the frenzied acclamations of the mob. The Provost
of the Merchants welcomed him at the Porte Saint -Denis and
hailed him as the " Defender of the Faith." Catherine de'
Medici, growing more and more anxious, left Montceaux, with
all the Court, and shut herself up in the Chateau de Melun,
a safer and stronger position. From thence she reached
Fontainebleau. There was no knowing what might happen
next. The Prince of Cond^ was in Paris, surroimded on all
sides by resolute partisans, and never going out without arms
and an escort. A hostile encounter between the two foes was
inevitable. By dint of ent;reaties the Cardinal of Bourbon
succeeded in inducing Conde to leave the city. But he merely
went to Meaux, whither he summoned all his friends, servants,
and supporters. The Chatillons joined him, though Coligny
did so unwillingly — recognizing that this concentration of
forces at Meaux was neither more nor less than the nucleus
of an army of revolt, and unable to reconcile his conscience to
the idea of becoming a rebel. In a very short space of time
100 gentlemen and 1500 horsemen were collected. In order
to allay Coligny's scruples, Conde explained that the King was
a prisoner in the hands of counsellors, of whom they themselves
were the victims, that there was no question of taking up arms
against his Majesty, but that they purposed to release him,
and inaugurate a wiser plan of government in his name. In
this way the semblance of legality was preserved.
. In point of fact the Court, henmied in between the two
opposing parties, the Catholic triumvirs on the one side and
the Protestant Bourbons on the other, was faced with the
problem of deciding which of the two it should support. Paris
was in a state ot acute agitation, and Catherine de' Medici made
up her mind to advance at all costs, and use her authority.
She left Fontainebleau and together with the King came and
shut herself up in Vincennes. The triumvirs, however, inter-
preted this as a public avowal that the Government was on
their side. A council was held at the Louvre at which the
Regent was present. The triumvirs proposed that they should
204
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
march out resolutely against Cond^. Catherine and rH6pitaI
refused to sanction this step.
The Court, however, was practically in the power of the
Catholics, and Cond6 made up his mind that the die had been
cast. He left Meaux, which was too near Paris — as he had
not sufficient forces at his command — and reached Orleans,
where he published a manifesto, declaring that the King was
no longer free, and must be set at liberty, and calling upon all
the Calvinist churches in the kingdom to raise troops and send
them to him. He declined all responsibility for the conflict,
which he laid to the charge of the Guises and theii provocative
behaviour, and ended by repeating that he wished to liberate
the King, his brother, and the Queen-Mother, and secure the
carrying out of the edicts. According to him, right was entirely
on his side.
Meanwhile, civil war was breaking out all over the country.
Catholics and Protestants were attacking each other on every
PiPgt hand. The Parisians refused to acknowledge the
Civil War. edict of January, and would not tolerate the
presence of any known Huguenot in their city. In the provinces
anarchy reigned unchecked. The Protestants went about in
bodies attacking the churches, smashing the statues with their
muskets, breaking open the doors, collecting in a heap in the
choir all the ornaments, reliquaries, pyxes, and chalices they
could find, and making a bonfire of them. They then turned
to the tombs, broke them open, and scattered the bones. The
tomb of Louis XI at Clery was violated in this way, and the
remains of the Bourbons at Vendome were disinterred. Claude
de Sainctes, who recounts these deeds, was scandalized by
them. They carried country towns by assault and drove out
the Catholic priests. " The walls of Puylaurens," writes Jean
Faurin, " were scaled and the town was captured by members
of the reformed faith. When once they had made an entry
they put down idolatry and the Mass, and established the
ministry of the Word of God according to the Holy Scriptures.
And in so doing they acted after the manner of the good Josiah."
Catholic services were abolished in every place where the
Protestants had the upper hand — in the south and in Normandy,
at Caen, Rouen, and Bayeux. They sent help to each other
k
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
from town to town, exchanging men, ammunition, etc., from
enormous distances. The open country, traversed by com-
panies marching to their destinations, was no longer secure,
and men with fire-arms lurked in every hedge and ditch. The
royal officials were powerless, and some of the Governors were
murdered by the rioters. In Dauphiny the terrible Huguenot
Baron des Adrets scoured the country, killing, burning, and
pillaging. Bands of Catholics and Protestants, driven out of
the towns, wandered about until they fell in with armed troops
who massacred them. Ardent Catholics carried out the repres-
sive measures pitilessly. Monluc, for instance, on the banks
of the Garonne, hanged every Huguenot he met. " One man
hanged," he said, " is a better example than a hundred killed."
He carried out his decrees swiftly without either verdict or
writing, " for," he added, " in these matters I have heard tell
that it is best to begin with the execution. If all who had
charge of the provinces had acted as I do, the conflagration
which has burnt up everything would have been stamped out."
The year 1562 was one of the most lamentable in French
history. Never had the country presented such a terrible
spectacle, not even during the Hundred Years War, when the
misery was not nearly so widespread. *' There is not a corner
of land that has escaped devastation," wrote Hubert Languet.
*' All business in the kingdom is suspended," Chantonnay, the
Spanish Ambassador, informed Margaret of Parma, "which
is a great pity " ; whilst Castelnau declared " the civil war
is like a raging fire burning and consuming the whole of France."
Meanwhile Catherine de' Medici in despair was leaving no
stone unturned to postpone the conflict with the Prince of
Conde. She kept writing to him, trying to calm him and bring
him back, bidding him come to see her, and asking him to name
his conditions. Cond6 replied that he demanded the expulsion
of the triumvirs, and the punishment of those responsible for
the massacre of Vassy. The triumvirs consented to absent
themselves from Court, but on condition that the Government
should ensure the exclusive exercise of the Catholic religion in
France. The dilemma was insoluble. From the provinces
news kept arriving day by day which added fuel to the
fire. At Toulouse fighting in the streets had lasted for four
206
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
days, one quarter of the town had been set on fire, and 400
people had been killed. The taxes were no longer paid, and
the whole country was in a state of terror. Under the stress
of public opinion, which had become exasperated, and at the
instigation of the Papal Nuncio and the Spanish ambassador,
Catherine de' Medici decided to allow the army mustered against
Conde to march. It consisted of 6000 infantry and 4(000 cavalry,
under the command of Antoine de Bourbon, King of Navarre,
Lieutenant- General of France. This frivolous, inconsistent,
and apathetic individual who, reviewing his position, pre-
ferred to keep the honours and dignities which the State had
conferred on him, had abandoned the Protestants, and made
profession of the Catholic faith, with the result that he
was constrained to lead a body of troops against his own
brother.
Before the hostile forces met Catherine made one last
attempt to come to terms. Conferences were held at Toury,
but both sides persisted in making irreconcilable demands.
The Protestants declared that these negotiations were mere
feints, and Conde's gentlemen insisted upon war. Gradually
the Court became convinced that the Government would soon
be in the same position as the towns ; that if once the Huguenots
secured toleration, they would claim equality ; when they had
equaUty, they would want to be masters, and if they were,
masters they would destroy Catholicism in France.
On July 3 Cond6 attempted a coup de main and tried at
night to take the Catholic army by surprise. He failed, and
rpiig retreated towards Blois and Tours. The army
Protestants of the triumvirs pursued him, and Poitiers was
negotiate with occupied without much difficulty by Marshal de
England. Saint-Andr^. The Protestant forces, which were
badly disciplined, began to disband and offered no resistance.
The Government thereupon decided to march upon Rouen,
and a rumour spread abroad that Conde had entered into
negotiations with Elizabeth, Queen of England, with a view
to obtain her support. Conde had, as a matter of fact, sent
La Haye and Jean de Ferri^res to Hampton Court to dis-
cuss matters with Elizabeth. Moved purely by self-interest,
she had replied that she would consent to furnish 6000
207
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
men and pay a sum of 100,000 crowns on condition of
being allowed to occupy Havre, adding that, by the terms of
the Treaty of Cateau-Cambr^sis, Calais was to be returned to
her at the end of eight years, and that she would keep Havre
as a security for that town and evacuate it if Calais were given
back to her at once. La Haye and Jean de Ferri^res thought
that the occupation of Havre would terrify the French Court,
and they accordingly signed an agreement with Elizabeth. As
soon as the clauses of this convention were made known they
aroused violent indignation. Cond6 and Coligny protested,
and informed the Queen of England through her ambassador,
Throckmorton, that they regarded the occupation of Havre
as purely temporary, that anything else would be an everlasting
blot upon their memory, and that if, when peace was made
between the Huguenots and the King of France, the English
did not evacuate the place unconditionally, all the forces of
the country would be sent against them. Jean de Ferri^res,
heart-broken at his own error, wrote to Elizabeth's minister
Cecil : "I cannot tell you the grief I feel ! Do your best to
prevent my being tempted to despair at seeing jacturam honoris
esse sine fructu.^' He realized that he had disgraced himself.
At the head of 18,000 men, Charles IX marched in person
upon Rouen, where the garrison had been reinforced, as soon
He as Havre had been occupied, by 500 English
Catholics under the command of Montgommery — the slayer
capture Rouen, of Henry Tl. The King of Navarre accompanied
the King of France. The attack was made on October 26.
It was successful ; the town was captured, and Montgommery
fled. The victory, however, cost the life of the unfortunate
King of Navarre, who was shot by an arquebusier. He was
forty-four at the time of his death, which he met in the
service of the Catholics after having been the hope and mainstay
of the Huguenot cause. He died unregretted.
Meanwhile, however, Cond^ had reorganized his army,
reinforcing it with a body of 2600 German reiters and 3000
lansquenets, had marched boldly upon Paris and pitched
camps at Gentilly, Arcueil, and Montrouge. The city, which
was well defended, held out against him, whereupon he
decided to fall back upon Chartres^ proposing to reach Normandy
208
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
and co-operate with the EngHsh. But the army of the Royalists
and CathoHcs, consisting of 14,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry
under the command of the three triumvirs in person, was track-
ing him down, and fell m with him at Dreux. This time an
Battle of encounter was inevitable, and it took place on
Dreux, 1562. November 19, 1562— the first battle of the civil
wars. Every one was deeply moved. " Each man," says La
Noue, " thought within himself that the soldiers he saw advanc-
ing were French, that some of them were his own relatives and
friends, and that in an hour*s time, they would have to kill
each other ; which filled him with horror at the thought of
battle." In order to recognize each other the Huguenots had
adopted the " imiform " which they wore throughout the civil
wars — a white cloth doublet ; whilst the Catholics carried
crucifixes and images in their hats. Under the skilful and
vigorous generalship of Francis of Guise the battle was decisive.
By five o'clock in the evening all was over, and the Protestants
had been defeated and routed. But the victory had been
dearly bought. Marshal de Saint-Andr6 had been killed, and
the old Constable, Montmorency, unhorsed and wounded, had
been made prisoner by the Huguenots, who carried him oS
with them in their flight. On the other hand, Cond6 had
been surrounded and was in the hands of the Catholics. Six
thousand men lay dead upon the blood-stained field of battle.
The news of the victory gave rise to unparalleled rejoicings
throughout France. Processions were formed and Te Deums
sung. As the death of Antoine de Bourbon left the post of
Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom vacant it was offered to
Guise, who thereupon took over the command of the troops.
After Cond^, the leadership of the Protestant forces devolved
upon Coligny, who prudently beat a retreat and fell back upon
Murder ol Orleans, where he shut himself up. With his
Guise, 1563. habitual determination Guise followed in pursuit,
resolved, in his own words, to catch the foxes in their holes.
He pitched his camp beneath the walls of the town, whilst he
himself together with his family found lodging at Valins, some
distance away. He stayed in the camp all day and went home
at night. On February 9 the fort of Les Tourelles was taken,
and everything was progressing favourably. On the 18th, as
O 209
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Guise was returning to his lodging between six and seven o'clock
in the evening, a horseman was observed riding up and down
the road, asking the passers-by whether the Duke would really
return that way. Guise had sent one of his gentlemen on
ahead at a gallop to inform the Duchess that he would be late,
but was coming. He rode his horse at a walk and was preceded
by a page mounted on a mule, and accompanied by Tristan
de Rostaing. As soon as he saw the group, the horseman, who
was on the watch, plunged into a thicket and allowed Guise to
pass him ; but the moment he was five or six feet ahead he
covered him with his pistol and fired. The weapon was loaded
with three balls, and Guise was wounded in the right arm-
pit. He fell back exclaiming : " I am killed ! " but pulling
himself together with a violent effort, he tried to unsheathe his
sword. He had not the strength to do so, however. Rostaing
sprang in the direction from which the shot had come, but the
murderer succeeded in keeping him off for some time at the point
of the sword, and then setting spurs to his horse, disappeared
into the darkness of the wood. He wandered about the whole
night and lost his way ; in the morning, worn out with fatigue
he went into a barn belonging to a farm to rest, and there fell
asleep. He was under the impression that he had been riding
away from the camp, but, as a matter of fact, he had come
back to it in a circle, and was on the Pont d'Olivet, near the
spot where the Swiss were encamped. Monsieur de Seurre,
one of Guise's lieutenants, discovered him in the barn and
arrested him. He offered no resistance. He was a young man
of six-and-twenty, a Protestant from the Angoumois, whose
name was Poltrot de M6r^.
For six days Guise hovered between life and death. He
bore his sufferings courageously, and died on February 24,
Coligny between ten and eleven o'clock in the morning,
accused o! The news of his death caused a profound sensation,
the murder. The chief of the nation had passed away, the
skilful and lucky general, the glorious victor in many a battle.
Smith, the English ambassador, wrote to Queen Elizabeth :
" He was the greatest warrior that France or even Christendom
has ever seen, hardened to fatigue, courteous and eloquent,
loved alike by the common soldier and by men of rank." Public
210
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
opinion with one accord accused Coligny of having armed the
hand of the assassin ; but this has never been proved, nor is
it likely to have been the case. Poltrot, when he was cross-
examined, confessed that he had received 100 crowns from the
Admiral to do the deed ; and the Government published this
avowal all over the country. Coligny was obliged to answer
the accusation, and did so very clumsily. He acknowledged
that on two different occasions he had given Poltrot £50 and
£300. The Duke of Guise, he added, was an enemy of God,
of the King, and of the country, who had planned, so he had
been informed, to have him, Coligny, killed. But though he
never actually instigated anyone to murder the Duke, he
certainly never tried to stop those who talked of doing so
from carrying their threats into execution ; and he ended this
reply, which was addressed to Catherine, by saying, " Do not
imagine. Madam, that what I have said means that I regret
the death of Monsieur de Guise ; for I think it was the
greatest blessing that could be conferred upon the Church of
God and this kingdom in general, and more particularly upon
myself and all my house." This letter produced a deplorable
effect. " Though he does not frankly confess to having con-
sented to this murder," wrote Pasquier, " he nevertheless
defends himself so coldly that those who wish him well would
fain he had either held his tongue or made a better apology ! "
And Brantome added, " Many people were astonished that a
man who was so cold and modest in speech should have given
utterance to such words, which served no purpose and with
which he might well have dispensed 1 " With all his great
qualities Coligny was guilty of certain errors of judgment. The
Guise family, convinced that he was the murderer, were for
the future imbued with the one idea of avenging the death
of Duke Francis by the blood of the Admiral. Poltrot de M^r^
was hanged and quartered on the Place de Gr^ve on March 18.
With Conde a prisoner. Guise deadj and Coligay-discjifidited,
Catherine de' Medici's task was simplified. An agreement was
The Peace and reached and a peace concluded, the terms of which 1
the Edict of were proclaimed by a royal edict — the Edict of
Amboise, 1563. Amboise of March 19, 1563. The prisoners on
both sides, Montmorency and Cond6, were set free. The exercise
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of the Protestant religion was definitely authorized in any
town on permission being obtained from the sheriff, as well as
in all towns where the Calvinists were the undisputed masters,
but it was forbidden in Paris. Huguenot nobles were em-
pOWered to have services held in their own houses. In return, the
Protestants were to evacuate the churches, which were to be
given back to the Catholics, and they were still to be excluded
from public office. Cond6 was extremely dissatisfied. He
wanted better terms, but his eagerness to be set free made him
agree to the peace. The Catholics, who would hear of nothing
but repressive measures, were even more discontented. But
Catherine de' Medici was determined to re-establish order at
all costs ; which, indeed, was extremely necessary ; for the
misery throughout the country was terrible, the cultivation
of the fields having been abandoned, and the life of the people
interrupted. She laboured under no illusion, however. " We
have only recoiled to spring the further," she remarked sadly
in one of her letters. But it was above aU necessary to gain
time. In the meanwhile troops were sent against Havre to
drive out the English, a task which was accomplished without
difficulty, and on the return of the expedition, Charles IX was
proclaimed of age at Rouen. He was now fourteen, but he
begged his mother to continue the direction of the government.
The leaders of the Catholics and the Protestants once more
returned to Court, but with what implacable feelings of mutual
hatred may well be imagined ! The Guises — more especially
the mother and the widow of Duke Francis — demanded the
trial of Coligny. The son of the murdered man, Henry, who
was now Duke of Guise, and iiis uncle, the Duke of Aumale,
were constantly uttering threats against the Admiral, who only
dared to put in an appearance surrounded by a number of
gentlemen. But Cond6, delighted at having regained his
liberty, threw himself with careless frivolity into all the joys
of Court life, and the Protestant ministers were scandalized at
seeing this lively little man assiduous in his attentions now to
the widow of Marshal de Saint-Andr6 and now to Mademoiselle
de Limeuil. Everybody felt that the Peace of Amboise was
nothing more than a truce.
At this jimcture, Catherine de' Medici decided to keep all
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BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
this company of people occupied by taking them a journey
across France. She resolved to hold festivals and to amuse the
Travels o! nobility in order to prevent them from hatching
the Court conspiracies, and more particularly she wished to
through show the new monarch his kingdom, and prove to
France. ^jjg provinces, which had been plunged in anarchy,
that they really had a sovereign whom it was their duty to
obey.
On January 24, 1564, the expedition set forth, and the
lengthy caravan passed through Troyes, the Lorraine districts,
Dijon, Lyons, and Dauphiny. The Catholics flocked to welcome
the procession, assuring the King of their devotion and urging
him to pursue an energetic policy. " This belongs to you,"
Tavannes informed his sovereign at Dijon, placing his hand
upon his heart, " and here is a weapon you can use," he added,
striking the handle of his sword. Solemn entries, receptions,
banquets and balls followed each other in close succession.
" And they all dance together," Catherine informed the Duchess
of Guise, " Huguenots and Papists alike ; and so happily indeed,
that I do not think they would have gone so far as they have,
if God had disposed others elsewhere to act as wisely." The
royal procession crossed Provence and Languedoc slowly,
paying lofag visits to the various towns, and only reached
Toulouse in February, 1565. From thence it passed on to
Bordeaux, and arrived at Mont-de-Marsan in the month of
May ; on June 3 it reached Bayonne, where Elizabeth, Queen
of Spain, the daughter of Catherine de' Medici, came to see
her mother, accompanied by the Duke of Alba. This meeting
at Bayonne excited general interest.
For a long time Catherine de' Medici had been dreaming
of some sort of " international understanding " between the o^,
C!onferenee ol Catholic Powers, in order that they might agree
Bayonne, 1565. as to the policy they intended to adopt towards
Protestantism. A " Holy Alliance " of this nature would have
strengthened her own position in France. To gain this end,
she was anxious to have interviews with the Emperor of
Germany, the King of the Romans, and, above all, the King
of Spain. " My aim," she wrote on November 9, 1563, to the
Bishop of Limoges, one of her ambassadors, " is none other
218
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
than to see whether we, who are the greatest and most powerful
of Christian Princes, cannot, if we meet together, come to
some agreement, and unite in order to secure the peace and
tranquillity of Christendom by some better method than that
of taking up arms." But the Catholic sovereigns did not
respond to her overtures. The King of Spain and his lieutenant
the Duke of Alba, who were combating a revolt of the Protest-
ants in the Netherlands, cared only for one thing : that the
King of France should strengthen them by stifling heresy in
his own kingdom. " I can see quite clearly," Catherine replied,
" that the Duke of Alba would like everybody to be joining
in the dance with his master. But, for our part, as God by
His good grace has allowed us to escape from it, I am content
never to return to it again if I can help it." Philip II was not
anxious to have an interview, and wanted to know beforehand
what would be the outcome of it. But owing to the persistence
lof Catherine and his wife, Elizabeth, he at length unwillingly
iDonsented. " This interview has been postponed for various
reasons," he wrote to Granvelle, " but I have given in at last
to the importunity of the two Queens. It will, however, have
no political object, and it is important that this should be made
perfectly clear and the interview be represented in its true
light." Then at the last moment he decided not to go himself,
but to send his wife Elizabeth alone to Bayonne under the
escort of the Duke of Alba. The Duke was given precise
instructions. He was to insist most emphatically that the
[King of France should take energetic measures to suppress
heresy in his kingdom ; the Protestant ministers were to be
driven out ; Protestant worship, whether public or private,
was to be formally forbidden ; all Calvinist judges and officials
were to be dismissed ; and the decrees of the Council of Trent,
which had just come to a conclusion, and the validity of which
French jurists refused to acknowledge, on the plea that they
were contrary to the law of the land, were to be promulgated.
A tall, straight, thin man, with hollow cheeks and a long sallow
face lit by two keen black eyes, the Duke of Alba, who was
fifty-seven at this time, was ready to play his part with
brutal severity.
The meeting took place in June. From the beginning the
214
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
Duke of Alba conjured Charles IX " to chastise the offences
which were every day committed in his kingdom." But
Charles IX, who was beginning to think for himself, answered
evasively, " I do not wish to take up arms — that would mean
the ruin of my country." With Catherine de' Medici the
discussion was very strenuous. The Spaniard attacked the
question resolutely, and demanded rigorous measures against
the heretics. " You must banish this sect from France," he
exclaimed, " the King, your son, has no alternative." Catherine
answered by suggesting a League with the Emperor Maximilian.
" That is impracticable," the Duke replied, and the debate
grew hot. Alba declared that I'Hopital was a Huguenot.
'* Indeed he is not ! " the Queen retorted. " You are the only
person in France, Madam, who is of that opinion," answered
the Duke. On the question of the Council of Trent the dis-
cussion was equally futile. Catherine evaded the issue by
consenting to appoint a Commission to decide whether **the
decrees that had been passed by it were in any wise hostile
to the liberties of the Gallican Church." On the whole the
interview was fruitless. A last solemn conference was held
on June 30. In order to give more weight to her declarations,
which were those of the Government, Catherine summoned the
chief leaders of the Catholic party, the Constable Montmorency,
the Duke of Montpensier, and the Cardinals of Guise and
Bourbon, to the meeting, at which Charles IX was present.
Montmorency made a speech, and summing up the feelings of
his whole party, declared that whilst they were all good Catholics
they regarded civil war as dangerous and uncertain ; the King
would nevertheless be capable of suppressing heresy. These
last words were vague, and were only uttered to save appearances.
In a letter to Philip II dated July 6, Catherine repeated this
declaration : " You may rest assured," she wrote, " of our
good-will and zeal in the cause of our religion and of our desire
to see all things conducing to the service of God — a matter
which we shall never forget but will endeavour so to carry out
as to do His will." But at the same moment she wrote to the
King's ambassadors abroad : " Their Majesties in no way either
desired or arranged to alter any of the promises made (to the
Protestants) by the edicts of pacification and the declarations
215
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
which have since been published ! ** Thus both sides failed
in attaining their object, Catherine in her project of a League,
and the Duke of Alba in his attempt to drag the French Govern-
ment into a policy of violence./
This interview, however, the details of which were not made
public, produced great anxiety among the Huguenots, who
were convinced that their extermination hud been demanded —
in which they were perfectly right — and that it had been deter-
mined, which was not the case. After the massacre of Saint
Bartholomew, ten years later, however, the Conference of
Bayonne appeared in a somewhat sinister light. But in reality,
when the Duke of Alba consulted some French Catholics upon
the best means of stamping out heresy in France, the Duke
of Montpensier's confessor replied, " The shortest way would
be to behead Cond6, the Admiral, d'Andelot, La Rochefoucauld,
and Grammont." This was all that was said on the subject,
and it was merely the private opinion of an irresponsible person.
From Bayonne, the Court returned to Paris through N6rac,
Angoul^me, Tours, and Blois. At Moulins Michel de I'Hopital
Betam of made the authorities sign one of the grand ordin-
the Court. ances supplementing the Ordinance of Orleans
and continuing the reforms required to simplify the administra-
tion of justice. In Paris they found religious hatreds and
passions in a more excited condition than ever. The Guises
and the Chatillons hurled threats and defiance at each other
daily. The Duke of Aumale was talking of challenging Coligny ;
and d'Andelot, it was said, wanted to have d'Aumale assas-
sinated. In the provinces the mutual hatred between the
Catholics and the Protestants was at its height. The Edict
of Amboise, which had been carried out with brutal rigour,
had in some places given rise to a fierce reaction. At Castres,
royalist troops invaded the town and reinstated the priests and
nuns, forcing the Protestants to hold their services secretly
in garrets, and removing all the arms and pieces of artillery
with which the Huguenots had previously furnished the place.
In Provence the Protestants were banished after being forced
to sell their goods, and the sheriff of Troyes forbade any
Protestant meetings to be held. But in other cases the heretics
remained masters of the situation, and refused to acknowledge
216
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
the edicts. " We have no power," wrote Bourneuf and Maspa-
rault from Saintonge, " to enforce the observation of the edict.
Not a single cleric has the courage to risk returning to the
villages and unfortified towns, and no officer of the law dares
to do his duty ! " From Thouars, Monsieur de Sanzay wrote :
*' There are a hundred parishes in which divine service has not
been held for two years." Here and therd. the clergy were
murdered, and the gentlemen, it was said, were selling their
goods to buy arms, whilst quarrels resulting in bloodshed were
too numerous to be counted.
The truth had at length to be faced. Jf the repressive policy
of Henry II and Francis II had failed to arrest the development
Change in o^ Protestantism, the conciliatory method in-
Catherine*s augurated by Catlierine de' Medici had produced
policy. effects very much more_c4isastrous._ Disorder,
anarchy, civil war, and all the worst conditions of a State
that was falling to pieces were the lamentable results. ^The
fTUnt.ry wns going to niin. A gradual change then began to
take place in the mind of Catherine de' Medici, who was
thoroughly discouraged. So nothing, it seemed, could be done
with the Protestants, who were clearly aiming — and this convic-
tion little by little gained ground in her mind — at nothing less
than a usurpation of power with the object of destroying
Catholicism and forcing the French people to become Huguenots,
whether they liked it or not! Her travels through France
had given the old Queen the opportunity of realizing that they
were, as a matter of fact, in the minority, and that the Catholics
were the more numerous and the stronger party. Surely then
it was unnecessary to submit to the tyranny of the heretics I
Charles IX, who was young and ardent, began to feel more
exasperated than anyone, and in a discussion with Coligny he
lost his temper and exclaimed angrily, *' Not so very long ago
you were content with being tolerated by the Catholics, but
now you demand equality ! Soon you will want the power
for yourselves alone, and will wish to drive us out of the
country ! " He understood the state of affairs. Anger against
the rebels rose high, and the imprudent and provocative con-
duct of the Protestants aggravated the exasperation of the
Government.
217
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
The Reformers, regardless of the fact that in a number of
places their co-religionists were violating the edicts and making
themselves absolute masters, made loud complaints that in
many districts the Edict of Amboise was not carried out, to
the detriment of the members of their faith, as indeed was true.
For even murders of Huguenots were allowed to pass unpunished.
To these complaints, Catherine's Government returned curt
and dilatory answers. " I can do nothing more here," exclaimed
Conde, beside himself with rage, and he thereupon left the
Court. Conferences between the Protestant leaders were held
under his roof in the Chateau de Valery and in Coligny's home
at Chatillon, at which they came to the definite conclusion that
they were being deceived, and that the Edict of Amboise was
not being carried out, owing more to the powerlessness than
to the ill-will of the Government ; they were not allowed to
practise their religion in a town even after they had got per-
mission from the sheriff. The question was raised as to the
objective of the foreign troops which the King was summoning
from Switzerland and Germany. A rumour was current that
the Government intended to arrest the Protestant leaders.
Clearly they were menaced, and under these circumstances it
would be wiser to steal a march upon the Government than
to wait for it to open the attack. D'Andelot made the daring
proposal that they should attempt the manoeuvre which had
succeeded in Scotland against Mary Stuart, and kidnap the
King and the royal family at Mon|5eaux ! Coligny objected
strongly to the idea, but the majority were in favour of the
scheme, and it was decided that troops should be secretly
collected with the object of surrounding MxjQtceaux,
Catherine de' Medici was warned in time, and she barely
managed to beat a hurried retreat from Montceaux onj^eptember
Protestant ^^' l^^'^' ^^^ ^^^^ shelter behind the walls of
attempt to Meaux. But the sense of shame, anger, and
kidnap the humiliation with which this attempt and the
Court, 1567. flight it necessitated filled a Queen who was
extremely sensitive on the score of her dignity, already sorely
wounded, and its even deeper effect upon an impetuous young
man like Charles IX, cannot well be imagined. " Never should
I have believed," wrote Catherine to the Duke of Savoy,
218
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
" that such great and grievous designs against their King
could have occurred to the minds of subjects." " ' They shall
not give me any further alarms of the kind,' exclaimed
Charles IX, with oaths of unseemly vigour," wrote Bouchefort,
in a letter to Ren^e of Ferrara. " * I will go into their houses
and even into their beds to fetch out those who furnish
them ! ' " Tavannes was right — the Protestants had gone too
far in conceiving such a plan, and in failing to carry it out, not
far enough. The attempt was destined to weigh heavily on
the future, inasmuch as it definitively alienated Catherine from
the Huguenots, and more especially because it filled her mind
with a perpetual terror of abduction and, perhaps, of a general
massacre.
Closely guarded by 6000 Swiss, the King and the Court
returned to Paris. Cond6, feeling that a fresh civil war — ^the
Second second — was upon the point of breaking out.
Civil War. rallied his followers, and collecting a force of
4000 men, began to send out scouts round Paris. With 16,000
men Constable Montmorency, Marshal de Damville, and the
Duke of Aumale, left the city in order to surround him. They
reached him at Saint-Denis on November 10, 1567. The aged
Montmorency, notwithstanding his weight of seventy-four
years, charged like a young man. He was mortally wounded
and fell from his horse. Three days afterwards he died ! The
Huguenots did not hold their ground ; at the end of an hour
they took to flight, and their troops disbanded themselves.
Hostilities dragged on for some time. But eventually Michel
de THopital proposed to make peace. " The good pilot never
insists upon fighting the storm," he remarked sadly ; "he
lowers his sails and waits." The Protestants gave way and
a peace was signed at_LQngjumeau on February. 2a^-1568j_by
the terms of which the Edictof" Amboise was ratified, and its
execution promised. But the Catholics raised endless objec-
tions ; was it seemly that the King should treat with rebels, his
subjects, on terms of equality, and give way to them out of
weakness ? This peace was destined to be the Chancellor's
last success. The years that had passed had brought a chartge
in men's ideas, and, as his policy had failed, the time for concilia-
tion and liberalism, which had clearly proved disastrous, was
219
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
over. "It is you," exclaimed Catherine, who was now dis-
illusioned, " it is you, who with your fine words about modera-
tion and justice have landed us where we are ! " At the end
of the month I'Hopital gave up the seals and left the Court in
disgrace.
Everybody felt that the Peace of Longjumeau was nothing
more than a truce. And as far as the provinces were concerned,
it mattered little whether the country were at peace or at war,
for the state of anarchy remained unchanged, with mutual
intolerance, surprises, and massacres. After the incident at
Montceaux, Conde and the Protestant leaders felt that it was
out of the question for them to return to Court ; their position
there would have been too insecure. In all their discussions
the Catholics kept reiterating that the evil sprang from five or
six leaders, and that if these were suppressed there would be
a change for the better. This opinion gained ground, and was
far from reassuring for the Protestants. Conde accordingly
retired to La Rochelle with the Chatillons. They were joined
by their followers, and almost imperceptibly a Protestant army
was formed. The fiery Jeanne d'Albret brought her son, Henry
of Beam, the future Henry IV, who was then fifteen years old.
The third war was on the point of breaking out.
The Government thereupon threw off the mask, and casting
away all show of forbearance, published an edict on September
Third 28, 1568, unconditionally forbidding the exercise
Civil War. of the reformed faith in France in any form whatso-
ever, ordering the Protestant ministers to leave the country
within a fortnight, and excluding all Calvinists from public
office. This was a return to the repressive policy of Henry II.
Condi's only reply was to set out on the march with his army
of 21,000 men, including 3000 cavalry, representing the
largest force the Protestants had yet been able to raise. The
Government with difficulty collected 20,000 men whom they
dispatched to meet Cond6 under the command of the Duke of
Anjou, the King's younger brother, the future Henry III, with
Tavannes as his lieutenant. For a long time the two armies
watched each other's movements, manoeuvring and counter-
manoeuvring, and not daring to open battle. The conflict
eventually took place at Jarnac on March 18, 1569, and was
220
"^ BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
in the nature of a surprise. Conde led a charge at the head
of 250 men against 2500, and was surrounded. A kick from
a horse broke his leg. His charger fell and he was brought to
the ground ; he was just giving up his sword when a gentleman
named Montesquiou, came up behind him and shattered his
skull with a pistol shot. Thus, at the age of nine-and-thirty
Death o! f^H this prince, a brilliant and inspiring general,
Cond6. a supple and gracious man, self-willed and
obstinate, but frivolous and unstable. In the Biblioth^que
Nationale a letter has been preserved which was found in his
pocket on the field of battle, and which Jeanne d'Albret had
written to him on the* very morning of the fight on the subject
of her son Henry. This letter is stained with Conde 's blood !
The disaster of Jarnac and the loss of their leader dis-
couraged the Protestants. They could no longer pretend, if
they rebelled again, that they proposed to deliver the King
from tyranny, for they had fought against the monarch's own
brother. The fact that they had had a prince of the blood
to lead them had saved appearances hitherto ; but for the
moment they were deprived of this advantage. Jeanne d'Albret
hastened to present her son, the young Henry of Beam, and
her nephew, Henry of Cond^, to the Calvinists. The two
cousins were about the same age — fifteen and sixteen years old
respectively. Jeanne harangued her co-religionists at Saintes
and tried to raise their spirits. Conde was succeeded as active
leader by Coliff^j, a man of a calmer temperament, more
3elrberate and more mature, but lacking his predecessor's
vigorous qualities. As his brother d'Andelot had died two
months after the battle of Jarnac, Coligny had become the
virtual head of the Protestant party in France.
He marched against Poitiers with the intention of making
for Paris, but lost seven weeks and 3000 men in besieging the
Battle of former place which he failed to take in the end.
Moncontour, The Duke of Anjou, still accompanied by
1569. Tavannes, was marching against him with an
army. The two forces met at Moncontouron October 3, 1569.
After a moment of indecision, the Protestant lines wavered, then
broke and fled. A veritable massacre took place, and some 5000
or 6000 men were left dying upon the field. Coligny fled to
221
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Niort and from thence went south, where he raised fresh recruits
with the intention of making his way back towards Paris from
the east. He was endowed with the patience, the constancy
under disaster, and the calm decision which inspire troops
with confidence. Simple in his manners and easy of approach,
although his face, while extremely sweet in expression, had a
touch of melancholy, he gained influence by his dignity and
his absence of personal ambition. Men followed him readily.
In July, 1570, he reached Charit6-sur-Loire. The Protestants,
though beaten, were ever ready to raise their heads again. But
at this juncture tlifi-GeJifiEQiaent was in a most pitiable plight.
They had no money, for, after several years of universal dis-
order, the taxes had ceased to come in, and they did not know
how to subsist ; it was impossible to raise troops or to pay
them. Were they destined to find themselves at the mercy
of the Huguenot leader, they asked themselves anxiously. It
is possible that they may have exaggerated the critical nature
of their situation, but in the dilemma in which they found
themselves, Catherine and Charles IX came to the conclusion
that it was necessary to treat for peace at all costs and accept
any terms that were demanded, however exorbitant — and
Peace of they were indeed disastrous. By the Peace of
Saint-Ger- Saint-Germain of August 8, 1570, it was stipulated
main, 1570. that liberty of conscience and freedom of worship
should be definitely accorded to the Protestants throughout
the country with the exception of Paris and in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Court. A general amnesty was pro-
nounced in favour of the rebels ; the Huguenots were to be
eligible for all public ofiices, and for a space of two years, as
guarantees for the execution of the treaty, they were to receive
four cities as guarantees — La Rochelle, Montauban, Cognac, and
La Charite. In return for these concessions Catholicism was
to be re-established in all the districts where it had been sup-
pressed by the Protestants. Thus at one fell swoop the King
granted full liberty to the heretics. It was the first time such
a thing had been known in France I The King had actually
made a treaty with rebels whom he had conquered, and had
submitted to their terms ; and he had given them towns as
a guarantee — a monstrous proceeding, indeed ! The Catholics
222
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
were dumbfounded and called the peace " a humiliating capitula-
tion." Monluc wrote : " We had beaten our enemies over and
over again ; we were winning by force of arms, but they
triumphed by means of their diabolical writings 1 " The
Catholic Powers protested, but Charles IX replied that he had
learnt " by experience that it was impossible to end the trouble
by force of arms," and that he had acted under the pressure
of necessity. To the Pope Catherine wrote that the King had
made peace with the Huguenots " the better to arrange every-
thing in accordance with his wishes." The moderates remarked
philosophically in the words of Pasquier that the Government
had " ended where they ought to have begun."
But this time the Protestants were satisfied, and peace was
established. Catherine seized the moment of respite to arrange
Marriage o! a match for Charles IX, and married him to
Charles IK. Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of the Emperor
Maximilian II. The Protestants talked vaguely of a marriage
between their prince, Henry of B6arn, and Elizabeth of England,
but the Queen decided to give him her own daughter, Margaret
of Valois, and proposed her second son, the Duke of Anjou,
as a husband for the Queen of England. On the latter point,
however, she did not succeed. She was extremely fond of the
Duke of Anjou, who was her favourite son and the apple of
her eye, a gentle boy, whom she had well in hand. As early
as the Conference of Bayonne, she had tried to arrange a match
for him with a Spanish Infanta, but without success. England
kept the question in suspense for some time as a matter of ,^p.
policy. But the union was impracticable ; Ulizg^llV- an/ //•
ardent Protestant, was thirty-seven, whilst the DukeoTAnj ou," ^^
£n6"less^fdB"nt Catholic, who had every intention of remaining
true to his faith in England, and even of endeavouring to restore
it in that country, was only nineteen. The negotiations had
no result.
But the suggested marriage between Henry of B^arn and
Margaret of Valois was a very different affair. Catherine saw
various advantages in this alliance; she would be giving her
daughter to a King, the King of Navarre ; she would be laying
hands upon the nominal chief of the Huguenots, a prince of
the blood, with the vague hope of one day converting him ;
228
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and she would be realizing a project which Henry ILhad nursed
for many a long year. Difficulties arose in the first place in con-
nexion with Jeanne d'Albret on the score of religion. Jeanne
hoped that Margaret of Valois would become a Protestant, but
Margaret refused. Catherine had then insisted upon the
marriage being celebrated in church, to which Jeanne would
not consent. But in the end the Queen of Navarre, who in her
heart was rather proud of the fact that her son was to marry
the sister of the King of France, gave way. It was from Rome
that protests were next raised, and the Pope demanded that
Henry of B^arn should make profession of the Catholic faith.
Catherine de' Medici paid no attention to this and persuaded
the Cardinal of Bourbon to perform the ceremony without
waiting for the dispensation. This marriage determined the
reconciliation between the Court and the Protestant party.
Jeanne d'Albret and her son came to Blois, as did also Coligny
(September 18, 1571) with over 500 Protestant nobles. They
were received as cordially as possible. Owing to a certain lack
of decision in their ideas,, Catherine and Charles IX gave them-
selves up entirely to the peaceful sentiments of the moment,
Charles IX The young King was touched by Coligny's cha-
and Coligny. racter. The fine melancholy features and gentle,
deep-set eyes of the Admi>^l attracted him, and he felt himself
moved by a sudden sympathy for his upright, honest character.
During the long conversations they had together, the young
King of twenty gained confidence in the veteran of fifty, who had
seen so many wars and had lived under four reigns. Their
intimacy increased rapidly, and Coligny took advantage of
it to impart to Charles IX a project which he had deeply at
heart. The Netherlands had rebelled against Philip II, and
Coligny suggested that France should support them, with the
object of laying hands on the French provinces, which might
be induced to return to their allegiance. By this means the
martial ardour of the nobility would be engrossed by a foreign
war, whereas otherwise they might seek satisfaction in civil
conflicts. " If we do not give them amusement abroad," said
Coligny, " they will begin their quarrels at home again."
Moreover, he added, he felt that the King must be extremely
irritated by Philip II 's proceedings, his constant remonstrances,
224
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
and the protective attitude he had assumed. Had not the
Duke of Alba offered to come and command the Catholic forces
in France ? Did not Philip II negotiate with the Guises
without consulting the Court, and did he not act as though he
were master of France ? An attack upon him would be perfectly
legitimate. Charles IX lent a ready ear to these suggestions.
But the Catholics protested vehemently. Not only, it
seemed, had the Treaty of Saint-Germain given everything
to the Protestants, but now the King himself was ready to go
over to them. The Guises left Blois. Already the new Duke,
Henry of Guise, the son of Duke Francis, a brilliant, ambitious
young man, of great courage and strength of will, and his
brother, Mayenne, were becoming conspicuous among them.
The hatred this family felt for Coligny, the reputed murderer
of Duke Francis, was aggravated by the menacing popularity
of the Admiral at Court.
The marriage contract between Margaret of Valois and
Henry of Beam was signed at Blois on April 11, 1572, and the
date of the wedding itself was fixed for August. Jeanne d' Albret
was not destined to witness the ceremony, for she died somewhat
suddenly in June. " She was a great Queen," says d'Aubign^,
*' who had nothing feminine about her except her sex. Her
whole soul was absorbed by virile interests, and she had a heart
that was undaunted by adversity."
Coligny turned Charles IX's favourable attitude to account,
and in his capacity as Admiral began to make military prepara-
Croligny the tions, and raise troops for the proposed war in
head of the the Netherlands. His influence at this juncture
Government, ^ag preponderant at Court, and he was regarded
as the head of the Government. But a strong opposition began
to be formed against him. It was natural that Catherine de'
Medici and her counsellors should regard his power with appre-
hension. As the Chancellor de Birague subsequently explained
to the Venetian ambassador, Giovanni Michiel, Coligny was
actually the undisputed leader of the Protestant cause ; the
Protestants never carried a royal edict into execution without
securing a favourable opinion on the matter from their leader,
and they were in a position to raise for him a force of 7000 or
8000 cavalry and 25,000 or 30,000 infantry within one month —
p 225
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
numbers which the King could only collect in four. Thus the
country had another master besides the King — an intolerable
state of affairs. As far as the Netherlands were concerned,
moreover, Coligny's plan of war was absolutely unreasonable.
The kingdom was in debt and its own internal troubles had
barely calmed down. Surely to engage in a foreign war against
Spain with the provinces rising up in rebellion in the rear was
sheer madness ? And were the Catholics, forsooth, to march
under the command of the very men they had conquered at
Jarnac and Moncontour, in order to help the Huguenot cause
abroad and thus add such additional strength to Coligny's
position in France that on his return he would be able to Protes-
tantize the whole country ? Tavannes, in high dudgeon,
threatened to leave the Court. By what right, he demanded,
was Coligny now raising troops without the King's command ?
His preparations were giving people cause for alarm.
Impatient at the opposition which he felt rising against
him, Coligny asked that the question of the Netherlands might
be settled at a grand council. This council was held, and the
majority was against intervention. Coligny was annoyed and
confessed that he had promised the Prince of Orange, the leader
of the rebels in the Netherlands, the support of France, and
that if the King backed out of the war he would be under the
necessity of going himself together with his followers and friends,
in order to fulfil his engagement as a private individual. ,Then,
turning towards Catherine de' Medici, he ended his speech by
saying, " The King, Madam, refuses to enter upon this war.
God grant that another may not break out, from which it will
not be so easy for him to escape perhaps ! " Was this meant
as a threat ? Catherine was startled, and began to feel seriously
anxious.
August, and the date fixed for the marriage of Henry of
Beam, was fast approaching. From all quarters the news came
Marriage of ^^^^ ^^^ Protestant nobility intended to present
Henry of themselves en masse for the festivities. Haunted
B6am. by the dread of some plan of kidnapping similar
to the Montceaux incident, or even worse, Catherine de' Medici
had refused to allow the ceremony to take place in any small
provincial town where the Court would be at the mercy of the
226
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
Huguenots, and had insisted upon Paris, a thickly populated
Catholic city. At the time arranged Henry of B6arn and Conde
entered Paris followed by an escort of 800 cavalry, and by all
the roads the Protestant gentry made their way to the city,
hastening to take part in the festivities which were to consecrate
the triumph of their church, and curious to behold the splendid
pageant about to be unfolded. The influx of all these heretics
put the (Jovemment and the Catholics into a state of extrenie
excitement. Charles IX, alone, who was still on the best of
terms with Coligny, remained unmoved. The marriage, which
had been fixed for August 10, was not celebrated until the 18th,
and in accordance with custom it took plaQC in the open air
outside Notre Dame, whilst Mass was said inside the church
in the presence of the bride alone. The festivities then followed.
But the conversations which took place betrayed the irritable
condition of men's minds. The Protestants were filled with
indignation at the Government's refusal to interfere in the
Netherlands ; they kept insisting on the dilemma pointed out/
by Coligny; "either civil war or a foreign war" ; and they
were extremely outspoken in their criticisms of the King,
Catherine de' Medici, the Catholic leaders, and the Guises.
Among the Catholics, too, the flood of discontent rose daily
higher. They declared that the Court was being carried away
headlong in the tide of Protestantism, and hinted covertly at
a fresh stroke of violence on the part of the Huguenots, like
the attempt at Montceaux, which would aim at placing the
royal family entirely in the hands of the Protestants. Coligny's
)sition, above all, aroused their ire, and the Guises uttered
irious threats against him. Anger was seething on all sides.
A continual muttering of discontent was heard, and the air
ras heavy with two opposing electric currents, the first spark
rom which would fire the mine. This spark was kindled on
•"riday, August 22.
On the morning of that day Coligny was making his way
to the Louvre from his house at the corner of the Rue de 1' Arbre
Attempt to S^c ^■^d *he Rue de B6tizy (the present Rue de
murder Rivoli). As he was going down a narrow street
Coligny. which skirted the Hotel du Petit Bourbon between
the Rue des Fosses Saint-Germain and the quay, he bent down
227
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
to arrange his shoe which was sUpping off his foot, when he
was shot from behind a small curtained window. The bullet cut
of! the first finger of his left hand, ripped up his arm, and entered
his elbow. " This is how honest men are treated in France 1 "
he exclaimed. His companions rushed towards the house, and
burst open the door, but found only a smoking arquebuse. The
assassin had made his escape in the rear on horseback. They
discovered that the house belonged to the Guises, that the
murderer, whose name was Maurevert, was a member of their
suite, and that the horse had come out of their stables. A
unanimous outcry was raised that the Guises were responsible
for the attempt. Coligny was carried back to his house, where
he was placed under the charge of Ambroise Par^. The bullet
was extracted with great difficulty, and the arm was badly
mangled in the operation. The surgeon, however, answered
for the life of his patient.
Charles IX was playing tennis when the news of the crune
was brought to him. " Am I never to have any peace I "
he exclaimed, throwing down his racket in a violent fit of anger.
He returned to the Louvre where considerable excitement
prevailed. It was useless to blink matters — the event which
had just oiffcurred was very probably the signal for a catastrophe.
The royal palace was immediately cleared, and the guards at
the gates doubled.
Coligny's; house was besieged by all the Protestants in a
state of feverish commotion — ^the Prince of Cond6, the King
Agitation in of Navarre, the leaders of the party, and a constant
Paris. influx of Huguenots who went to and fro asking
for news amidst a babej of violent language, curses, and furious
oaths. Vengeance must be wreaked upon the Guises at once,
they kept repeating. They must be killed if necessary in the
presence of the King himself, in the heart of the Louvre. " They
used extremely insolent language," writes Brantdme, " declaring
that they were prepared to strike and to kill ! " Coligny
expressed a desire to see the King, and the Government, knowing
how matters stood, thought it would be best for the whole of
the royal family to go to the Rue de B^tizy, as this courtesy
might perhaps calm the Protestants. The visit was accordingly
paid in the afternoon, and Catherine de' Medici together with
228
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
her two other sons accompanied Charles IX. " You feel the
pain," the King said, as he greeted the Admiral, " but it is I
who feel the grief." And he assured him that he would have
strict and exemplary justice done him. He even proposed to
have him conveyed to the Louvre, but Coligny refused. They
discussed matters, and Coligny kept reverting to the idea of
an expedition to the Netherlands as the sole solution for the
difficulties of the existing situation. In the evening Charles IX
informed all the ambassadors of the crime. " This evil act
proceeded," he declared, " from the hostility between the
House of Chatillon and that of Guise, and I shall take good care
to ensure that they do not mix up any of my subjects in their
quarrel." He was doing his best to limit the sphere of danger.
** I am determined," he continued, " to have justice done on
such a scale that it shall be a warning to every man in my
kingdom."
On the morning of the following day, Saturday, August 23,
the Duke of Guise and the Duke of Aumale presented them-
selves to the King and asked permission to leave Paris. " Go
wherever you like," Charles IX answered curtly, and as soon
as their backs were turned, he added, " I shall always be able
to find them again I " Instead of taking their departure,
however, the Guises went back to their house, the Hotel de
Lorraine, where they barricaded themselves. Huguenots kept
passing to and fro beneath their windows shouting threats of
death. As a precaution the Court sent fifty arquebusiers to
guard Coligny ; an inquiry into the crime was instituted and
opened by de Thou, the First President.
Meanwhile, however, the excitement among the Protestants
was increasing every moment. The house in the Rue de
B6tizy, its court and its staircase were crowded with people
uttering vehement threats. " That arm shall cost 30,000 other
arms I " they cried. They wished to kill the Guises, if neces-
sary, they repeated, in the Louvre itself, and they threatened
even to burst open its gates and massacre the guards. Other
names were mentioned, and among them that of the Duke of
Anjou, who was accused of having connived at the crime of
the Guises. But in the tumult what would happen to the King,
the Queen-Mother, and the princes ? In vain did Briquemaut
229
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
try to put a stop to these declarations. The agitation was
beginning to spread to the streets, and the people, irritated by
the attitude of the Huguenots, were leaving their houses and
forming menacing groups in open spaces ; some of them even
carried arms.
In the evening a council was held in the apartments of
Catherine de' Medici, at which the Duke of Anjou, the Chancellor
Agitation of ^^ Birague, Nevers, Tavannes, and Gondi were
the Govern- present. They had to face the facts of the situa-
Toaent. tion. The position was most critical ; they were
within an ace of civil war in Paris, and in the midst of such a
fiery populace this would mean nothing short of butchery.
The lives of the King and of the royal family were in danger.
Echoes of the threats pronounced round Coligny's sick bed
reached them from without, and in any case, civil war, whether
in Paris or in the provinces, was once more a foregone conclusion.
The council was in a great state of agitation, when suddenly
Bouchavannes arrived from the house in the Rue de B^tizy,
announcing as a fact that the Protestants had decided to
attack the Louvre, and to massacre the King, his brother,
and the Queen-Mother " on the following day at supper-time."
What truth was there in the allegation of this terrible conspiracy?
It is possible, nay probable, that Bouchavannes mistook for
a general decision the mere approval expressed by a few minor
personalities of a suggested plan of action. However tjiis
may have been, the effect produced was terrible. At the
thought of the impending catastrophe consternation filled the
breasts of Catherine de' Medici and her counsellors, who were
already in a state of alarm, and brought the nervous terror
which had possessed them for some hours to a climax. They
thought they were lost. To order the arrest of the conspirators
was impossible ; their friends would defend them or rescue
them. And after all, as Catherine de' Medici afterwards
explained to her ambassador, du Ferrier, Charles IX was
" sovereign King and prince " and supreme judge of the realm —
for the magistrates only passed sentence as delegates of his
unique power. He had the right, motu propria, summarily
to punish all criminals known to be such. For ten years every-
body had been repeating ad nauseam that if the heads of five
230
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
or six of the leaders were forfeited, the diabolical conspiracy
of the heretics, which was bringing the country to ruin, would
be stopped once and for all. The hour had come. They must
either strike or perish ! It would be better to prevent the war
that was on the verge of breaking out by one bold move than
to drag on for months in all manner of perils and miseries. The
Duke of Anjou was particularly emphatic on this head.
It only remained to win over the King. A terrible scene \
took place. According to Pibrac, who was given a minute
description of it afterwards, Charles IX, utterly disconcerted,
began by offering a fierce resistance. He proposed having the
instigators of the plot of wliich he was informed arrested, and
an inquiry opened. But he was told that time pressed, and
that if the business were not stopped within a few hours, the
royal family was lost. " But since the conspiracy has been
discovered," exclaimed the King, '' surely we can ward it off
without having recourse to murder ! " *' There are too many
of them," was the retort. *' You might capture one or two,
and even so you would be obliged to kill them, and you would
not escape a fourth civil war." For two hours the discussion
continued, passionate and breathless, Charles IX holding out,
in feverish agitation, with Catherine, the Duke of Anjou, and
the rest arguing and imploring, beside themselves with terror.
jAt last the King gave way, but with a cry of rage and fury,
lexclaiming : " Well then, kill them all, that not a single man \
' may be left to reproach me ! "
The die was cast ! In the mind of Catherine and of her
counsellors it was merely a question of the death of five or six
men — Coligny, the Count de la Rochefoucauld, T61igny, Caumont
la Force, Montgonunery, and the Marquis of Resnel. Prepara-
tions for the deed were made. The Provost of the Merchants
was summoned to the Louvre. He was informed of the
conspiracy that was threatening the King, and ordered to
have all the gates of Paris closed immediately, to call out and
arm all the city miUtia, to concentrate them in the squares and
on the quays, to mass the artillery in front of the Hotel de
Ville so that it might be used whenever it was found necessary,
and to await further orders. For the execution of the sentence
passed upon Coligny, none were better fitted than the Guises.
281
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Duke Henry and the Duke of Aumale were summoned, and
the mission, which they accepted, was confided to them. The
parties entrusted with the other executions were also appointed.
Unfortunately the instructions issued were not sufficiently
precise. It was arranged that the signal should be given
on the following day, August 24, the Feast of Saint Bartholomew,
at three o'clock in the morning by the bell of the Palais de
Justice.
if^^Th&t night no one in the Louvre closed his eyes. The
Eing, his mother, and his brothers kept vigil, the prey of
Massacre of indescribable emotion. In their deadly anxiety
Saint they were even on the point at one moment of
Bartholomew, giving up the whole project and countermanding
•*'^'^2* their orders. But about one o'clock in the
morning news was brought that fighting was going on all over
Paris. Had the conspirators been warned ? They decided
to give the signal earUer, and sent to have the bell of Saint-
Germain-rAuxerrois rung. At half-past one the fatal peal
rang through the silence of the night. Guise, who was ready,
sprang on his horse, accompanied by the Bastard of Angouleme,
and at the head of 800 soldiers rode rapidly to the house in the
Rue de Bdtizy, which he surrounded. Cohgny was in bed,
watched by Ambroise Par^, the Protestant minister. Merlin,
and his own servant, Nicolas. The tramp of the soldiers
arriving in the street together with the clang of the tocsin,
awoke him. Violent knocking was heard below, and voices
ordering the inmates to open in the name of the King. The
gate was unbarred. As soon as Coligny heard the troops march-
ing into the court, he understood. Rising from his bed, he
put on his dressing-gown and asked Merlin to read prayers.
Cornaton burst hurriedly into the room exclaiming, " They are
breaking in the door ! We are lost ! " Their last hour had come.
Cohgny replied calmly : "I have long been prepared for death ;
save yourselves. I commend my soul to the mercy of Gk)d I "
Up the stairs heavy footsteps were hastening. The soldiers
burst in, headed by one Besme, a German by extraction. " Are
Death of yo^ the Admiral ? " he demanded brutally. " I
Coligny. am 1 " Besme then drove his sword into Coligny's
breast, drew it out, and slashed his face. The Admiral fell
232
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
to the ground, and the soldiers thrust at him again and again.
A voice from the court below cried out, "Is it done ? " It
was Guise. " Yes," one of the soldiers replied. '* Well, throw
him out." The body was pushed through the open window,
and Coligny, who was not dead, clung to the ledge. He was
forced to let go, and his body fell with a thud on the pavement.
Guise approached it, and Angoul^me, wiping away a little of
the blood from Coligny's face with his handkerchief, said,
** Yes, it is he " ; then kicking him he exclaimed, " Now for
the others." Whereupon they remoimted their horses and
rode away to finish their work.
A regular man-hunt took place. The Count of La Roche-
foucauld was stabbed, and died in his bed. T^ligny ran over
the roofs of three or four houses, and was finally laid low by
a shot from an arquebuse. Caimiont la Force and his son had
their throats cut. Resnel was killed by a pistol-shot and
thrown into the Seine ; whilst Montgommery had time to
mount his horse, and clearing the city moat, made good his
escape.
But at the news of what was happening a rumour inmie-
diately ran through Paris that the Huguenots were being
massacred, with the result that Catholic nobles, soldiers of the
guard, archers, members of the populace, and people of every
rank rushed out armed into the streets to take part in the
execution. A general massacre began to the sound of ferocious
yells of " The Huguenots I The Huguenots 1 Death to the
Huguenots ! " They were slain, drowned, and hanged. No
one who was known to be a heretic escaped, and private revenge
completed what religious passion had begun. Terrible incidents
occurred ; illustrious victims fell, among them Ramus ; inno-
cent persons were massacred, and then, as was inevitable,
pillage ensued. The envoy from Mantua wrote : ** I with my
own eyes saw soldiers of the royal guard bearing away money
and objects of value." " Paris," said Tavannes, " was like
a conquered city. As soon as blood ceased to flow, the sack
began." At eleven o'clock in the morning the terrified aldermen
came to inform the King that " princes and nobles of his Court,
lords, archers, soldiers of the royal guard, and all sorts and
conditions of men mingled with them, and under their protection,
288
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
were pillaging, sacking, and killing in the streets." Thus the
Government in giving the signal had let loose the beast. Anarchy
reigned, bloodthirsty and destructive. Public order was at
an end.
Horrified; at their handiwork, Charles IX and those about
him endeavoured to stem the torrent. Ev^erywhere proclama-
tions were made to the sound of the trumpet, ordering the
crowd to go home. Patrols of mounted archers, guards, and
city officials were sent to scour the streets, and in the afternoon
the uproar seemed to be dying down. It began again, however,
on the following night, and was only quelled next day, the
26th. How many victims had fallen ? It is impossible to
tell the numbers exactly ; de Thou says 2000.
The Government immediately dispatched letters to all the
provincial Governors informing them that a terrible conflict
Paralysis had broken out in Paris between the House of
o! the Guise and the House of Ch&tillon, and that the
Government. King had found it impossible to hold it within
bounds. In the evening Charles IX wrote to the French
ambassadors abroad to tell them that " a conspiracy had just
been brought to light which the members of the so-called
reformed religion had formed against himself, his mother, and
his brother," and that a " commotion " had resulted, of which
nothing could be said until the full details were known. It
was clear that the Government was paralysed and did not
know what attitude to take. On the 25th, the day following
the massacre, as the Guises refused to accept responsibility for
the events that had occurred, the Government was forced to
confess, more especially as the triumphant Catholics were
acclaiming the King as the avenger of their religion. Charles IX
went to the Parliament, and at a lit de justice * declared that
the Guises had acted by his orders " for the punishment of those
who so frequently before and now once again had conspired
against his person, desiring to annihilate religion, overturn the
monarchy, and by means of heresy establish a new form of
* This ceremony, which consisted in the meeting of the King and the
Parliament with the object either of conferring upon some matter of law
or poUcy, or merely of honouring the Parliament, was one of the most
solemn and important functions of the monarch. (Tr.)
234
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
government in France.*' All Protestant services and meetings
were forbidden throughout the country, and further communica-
tions were addressed to the provincial Governors, imperatively
commanding them to maintain order. The Government,
embarrassed and confused, babbled contradictions and in-
coherencies.
The effect of the events that had taken place in Paris
made itself felt in the provinces, and massacres took place
in many of the towns — Orleans, Troyes, Meaux, Bourges,
La Charite, Rouen, Lyons, and Toulouse. The strife was
fiercest at Lyons and Orleans, where the inmates of the prisons
were put to death. According to de Thou 800 victims fell
at Lyons and 1000 at Orleans. The Governors set to work
energetically to hold the populace in hand, and there were no
outbreaks in Burgundy, Provence, and Dauphiny. The Massacre
of Saint Bartholomew stirred the provinces less than Paris.
But, as Tavannes wrote : " When once the blow had fallen
and the danger was past, the bloodshed weighed heavily on
men's consciences ! " And, indeed, the Massacre of Saint
Bartholomew had been a terrible surprise. " The suddenness
of the danger," de la Mothe F^nelon, the French Ambassador
to England, informed Queen Elizabeth on behalf of his Gk>vern-
raent, " had not even left the King time for reflection, and he
had been constrained to allow that to be done to the Admiral
and his followers which they had planned against his own
person." " As the conspiracy was on the eve of realization,"
the first President of Bordeaux informed his Parliament, ^
^ " matters were so pressing that it had been impossible to wait
for justice to take its ordinary course : it had been thought
better to siu-prise the conspirators than to be surprised by them,
and this the King had declared in his court of Parliament to
have been his sole reason for taking action." *' The event,"
said Tavannes, " had been the result of necessity and wise
counsel, owing to the errors and recklessness of the Huguenots."
^ Catherine de' Medici, whom the envoy of the Duke of Savoy
described as looking " like a person who had just escaped from
Catholic 8, great peril," kept repeating to every one " that
exultation. it was better for the blow to have fallen on them
than on us ! " The Catholics certainly approved the course the
285
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Government had taken, maintaining that they had escaped
from an intolerable situation by a measure of public safety,
and that the revolutionary schemes directed against the royal
family necessitated the employment of exceptional, though
ilegitimate measures. Philip II in a transport of joy had a
[Te Deum sung, and wrote to his ambassador in France : " This
has given me one of the greatest joys of my life, and will be
the greatest title to glory of the King, my brother, with pos-
terity." In Rome Pope Gregory XIII, radiant with triumph,
attended a thanksgiving celebration of the Mass in the
Chapel of Saint Louis. He also had a medal struck repre-
senting an avenging angel, with the inscription Ugonotorum
strages, and prescribed an annual Te Deum, which was destined
to be celebrated longer than is generally known. But the full
consequences of the act had also to be faced.
In Vienna the impression produced was lamentable, and
the Emperor Maximilian did not hesitate to make this felt.
Horror of I^ England Elizabeth received the French Ambas-
Eorope. sador arrayed in deep mourning and ^.ddressed
him with grave melancholy, whilst her minister, standing by
her side, openly told the envoy in severe accents that the deed
had been too bloody. In Switzerland, the Netherlands, and
Germany, the effect was deplorable. The event was described
and exaggerated, and it was even said that the marriage of
Henry of B^arn and Margaret of Valois had been nothing but
a monstrous snare. Schomberg, the French Ambassador, wrote
in despair : " These calumnies turn everything upside down.
I shall die of vexation." At (Jeneva pamphlets were printed
stigmatizing the monarch who murdered his subjects, and
Fran9ois Hotman, in his De Furoribus Gallicis, attacked the
very principle of royalty. The lUveille-Matin des Frangois
took a delight in publishing gruesome details, and a legend
was current that Charles IX had shot at the Huguenots with
an arquebuse from his window in the Louvre. This rumour,
indeed, was persistent — ^but, as a matter of fact, there was not
a single witness of the act, which was highly improbable, if
only for material reasons. In Italy, under the pretext of exalting
the deed, the massacre was compared to the action of a Caesar
Borgia or a Catherine Sforza, and was represented as having
236
«
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
been consciously prepared with Machiavellian craft for many
years, led up to with incredible coolness and audacity, and
executed with incomparable skill at a marvellously opportune
moment. The Cardinal of Lorraine, who was at Rome at the
time, and was flattered by these insinuations, allowed people
to believe in their truth. But this only increased the horror
felt by the rest of Europe. " King Charles IX," William of
Orange wrote to his brother Ludovic of Nassau, " is condemned
not only here but throughout the world " ; and he even went
so far as to tell Mondoucet, the French envoy, that his master
would never be able to wash the blood of the massacre of Saint
Bartholomew off his hands.
The French Government, through the medium of its ambas-
sadors all over Europe, thus learnt the truth as to the impression
that had been made. Catherine de* Medici held her ground,
at all events in public, and put a bold face on the matter,
declaring that they had only intended to execute five or six
men, and that all the rest was due " to the excesses of the
populacci which she deeply deplored." But Charles IX,
Remorse of utterly prostrated, was stricken to death. In
Charles IX. the eyes of the world, he told himself, he was
merely a criminal, a dastardly assassin, a miserable wretch,
covered with the blood of his own people. Under the weight
of grief and remorse he changed visibly. He did not long
survive the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, for tuberculosis,
to which he had always had a tendency, began to make swift
ravages in a body rendered anaemic by sorrow.
The French Protestants, utterly cast down and disconcerted,
were for the moment terror-stricken, and many of them
abjured their faith. Henry of B^arn and the Prince of Cond6,
who as a precautionary measure had been kept in the Louvre,
upon being invited to change their religion, consented to do
so. In order to impress upon men's minds that a conspiracy
had really existed and was the true cause of the event, though
the public had lost sight of it in their horror of the consequences,
the Government made the Parliament pass a resolution confirm-
ing their action, so to speak, in which Coligny was declared
guilty of conspiracy and rebellion, and condemned to be hanged
in effigy at Montfaucon, to have his goods confiscated and his
287
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
children degraded from their rank. Two " accomplices " were
unearthed who had escaped the assassins^Briquemaut and
Cavagnes — and they were publicly tried and solemnly executed.
But all these measures served no purpose. Both contemporaries
and posterity quickly forgot the circumstance which had caused
a panic in the government of Charles IX and remembered only
the atrocity of the deed.
Beneath the lowering clouds created by August 24 and in
the humiliating isolation into which the Massacre of Saint
Anion elected Bartholomew had plunged the French Govern-
King o£ ment, one single gleam of light appeared — a
Poland. semi-successful stroke of diplomacy. Catherine
de' Medici succeeded in placing her favourite son, the
Duke of Anjou, upon the vacant throne of Poland. He left
France, to the great joy of Charles IX, who was jealous of him
and had scenes with him which caused their mother many
bitter tears. On behalf of her youngest son, the Duke of
Alen9on, Catherine revived the negotiations for a marriage
with Elizabeth of England. D'Alengon, who was a young man
of a frivolous and discontented disposition, and held in very
slight esteem, was flattered by this prospect, and had the Queen
of England informed that he would not be so irreconcilable on
the score of religion as his brother had been. He showed signs
of sympathy for Calvinism, and gained the reputation of being
favourably disposed towards heresy. But Elizabeth eluded
him. Finally, he decided to flee from Court in the company
of Henry of B6arn, a species of conspiracy which once more
filled the royal family with alarm, and resulted in the arrest,
trial, and execution of two nobles, La Mole and Coconas, who
were regarded as the instigators of the escapade.
Meanwhile, however, Charles IX gradually sank into a
decline. Since the terrible catastrophe he had never been
Death of himself. Bowed down with melancholy that
Charles IX, nothing could alleviate, he looked like a mourning,
1574. terror-stricken shade. The foreign ambassadors,
and among them Giovanni Michiel, noticed that he always held
his head down, that he no longer dared to look men in the face,
but kept his eyes closed. Occasionally when he was addressed
he made an effort and raised his eyelids, but after a swift glance
288
BLOODSTAINED ANARCHY
he dropped them again. A contemporary portrait, of the
school of Clouet, which was till recently in the Ch&teau d'Azay
le-Rideau, depicts him with pale tired features, haggard eyes,
and transparent tremulous hands — an arresting image of a man
racked by remorse and the haunting obsession of a fixed idea.
He spat blood, and the doctors declared that he was " consump-
tive." Day by day, consumed by fever, he grew gradually
feebler and thinner. In the spring of 1574 he was nothing but
a skeleton dragging himself painfully along. In May, reduced
to a state of extreme weakness, he took to his bed which he
never left again. During the night of the 29th-30th he had
an attack, when he was thought to be in extremis, and exclaimed
in agonized tones : *' Oh, what streams of blood ! . . . God
forgive me ! . . . I don't know where I am ! . . . I am
lost ! " He was in a bath of perspiration and wept bitterly.
The nurse who was watching him wiped his face with a hand-
kerchief. On the morning of the 30th he sent for the Duke of
Alen^on and the King of Navarre, and told them that after
his death his mother would be Regent, and that they must
obey her. He confided a little child he had to the care of Henry
of Beam. He then received the Sacrament and was given
Extreme Unction. On the 31st, Catherine de' Medici, who
never left him, tried to say a few words to him on affairs of
State, but he gave her to understand that " earthly things
were no longer of any account to him." The end was at hand,
and at four o'clock in the evening he died. The last word that
passed his Ups was " Mother I " . . .
SouECES. Same as for preceding chapter, and : Monluc, Commen-
taires et Lettres, ed. de Ruble, 1864 (on the subject of this author see P.
Courteault, Blaise de Monluc historien, 1908) ; Michel de Castelnau,
Minwires, ed. Le Laboureur, 1731 ; Claude Haton, Mimoires, ed. Bour-
quelot. 1857 ; La Noue, Discours politigues et militaircs, 1587 ; Jean
Fauria Journal, ed. Pradel, 1878 ; Claude de Sainctes, Discours stir le
saccagement des iglises en 1562 in Cimber and Danjou, Archives curieuses,
vol. iv ; M6moires-Journaux of the Due de Guise, ed. Michaud and Poujou-
lat ; Marguerite de Valois, Mimoires, ed. Guessard, 1842 ; J. Blanchet
Recueil de lettres missives adressies h Antoine de Bourbon (1553-1562), 1905 ;
Saulx-Tavapnes, Memoires, cd. Michaud and Poujoulat ; Vicomte de
Turenne, Mdmoires, ed. Bagucnault de Puchesse, 1901 ; Michel de la
Huguerye, Mdmoires,' ed. De Ruble, 1877 ; Bertrand de Salignac-Fenelon,
Correspondence, ed. Teulet, 1840 ; Cardinal de Granvelle, Papiers d'Etai,
239
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
ed. C. Weiss, 1841 ; Correspondence de Philippe II sur les affaires des
Pays-Bos, 1851 ; Correspondence inddiie de la maison d* Orange-Nassau,
ed. Groen van Prinsterer, 1886 ; Jeanne d'Albret, Mimoires et poisies,
ed. de Ruble, 1883 ; Et. Pasquier, (Euvres, 1723 ; de Thou, Histoire
universelle, 1734, vol. iv.
Works. H. de la Ferriere, Le XVP si^cle et les Valois, 1879 ; Soldan,
Geschichte des Protestantismus in Frankreich bis zum Tode KarVs IX, 1855 ;
Kervyn de Lettenhove, Les Huguenots et les Gueux, 1883 ; Amphoux,
Michel de VHdpital et la liberti de conscience au XV I" siicle, 1900 ; H.
Klipffel, Le colloque de Poissy, 1867 ; A. de Ruble, Le collogue de Poissy,
1889 ; J. Galas, Le massacre de Vassy, 1887 ; Coynart, Uannie 1562
et la bataille de Dreusc, 1894 ; H. Hauser, Frangois de la Noue, 1892 ; de
Ruble, Vassassinat de Frangois de Lorraine, due de Guise, 1897 ; F. Combes,
Uentrevue de Bayonne, 1882 ; Kervyn de Lettenhove, La conference de
Bayonne, 1883 ; H. de la Ferrifere, UEntrevue de Bayonne de 1565, 1888 ;
G. G. Soldan, La France et la Saint-Barthilemy, 1855; H. Bordier, La
Saint-Barthilemy et la critique modeme, 1879 ; J. Loiseleur, Les nouvelles
controverses sur la Saint-Barthilemy, 1881 ; and, Trois 6nigmes historiques,
la Saint-BarthSlemy, 1883 ; H. de la Ferriere, La Saint-Barthilemy, 1892 ;
H. Monod, JJn document sur la Saint-Barthilemy (Rexme de Paris, August
1908) ; S. C. Gigon, La troisieme guerre de religion, Jamac et Montcontour,
1911 ; P. de Vaissi^re, De quelques assassins, 1912.
240
CHAPTER VII
THE CATHOLIC REACTION. HENRY III
Causes of the Catholic reaction against Protestantism. The cha-
racter of Henry III, 1574-1689 -^ his difficulties with his brother
the Duke of Anjou and Henry of iB^arn ; the Peace of Monsieur and
the Edict of Beaulieu, 1576. TheLeague^l5I6. The States-General
of Blois, 157C. The Peace of Bergerac with the Protestants, 1577.
The Duke of Anjou in the Netherlands. The Lover's War and the
Peace of Fleix, 1580. Fresh expedition of the Duke of Anjou to
the Netherlands, 1581 ; his defeat ; his death, 1584. The Protestant
Henry of Beam heir to the throne of France ; violent protesta-
tions ; the Committee of the Sixteen in Paris. The unpopularity of
Henry III ; his minions ; Henry III obliged to give way to the
League, Treaty of Nemours, 1585. War against the Protestants :
defeat of Joyeuse at Coutras by the King of Navarre, 1587 ; Guise's
victory at Vimory and Aimeau, 1587. Growing hostility of the
mob towards Henry III : the day of the barricades, 1588. Defeat
of Henry III. The States-General of Blois and the assassination
of the Duke of Guise, 1588. Upheaval of France. Henry III
reduced to a combination with Henry of Beam : march on Paris ;
assassination of Henry III, 1589.
AT the conference of Saint-Bris held in 1586, Catherine
ZA de' Medici, discussing matters with the Vicomte de
-^ -^ Turenne, Henry of Beam's envoy, said : *' The King
will have but one religion in France." The Protestant
replied, " We are of the same mind, madam, but it must be
Causes of ^^^ religion." This had long been the case in
Catholic Beam, where Jeanne d'Albret had succeeded in
reaction. abolishing Catholicism. The Huguenots would
fain have ended by making France a Protestant country
against her will. But France was >^calcitrant. The. reign of ^
ll€nfy-lll-i&-the history of the definitive Catholic reactipp_
I *g^instjthe exclusive designs or aspirations of the Protestants. _
^ Until about 1J564 Protestantism had steadily increased and
developed. From that time forth it ceased to grow. The
Q 241
K'
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
causes of this arrest are numerous, but^Baongst the-reasons
\Ehickle(L±cx-the revival ol X^holicism, the sight of the-de=
struction for which the Huguenots were responsible was certainly
one, of^ the most potent. Lippomano on his journey across
France in 1577 noted with horror all the unrepaired ravages
with which he met — devastated towns, plundered monasteries,
cathedrals in ruins, crumbling churches, violated tombs and
disinterred bones. Orleans, Blois, Tours and Poitiers were in
a deplorable condition. " The sight of these things is truly
lamentable," he said, *' and it is difficult to understand how
men can let themselves go to such a pitch of ferocity and bar-
barity as to rage against mere stones." The public conscience
awoke in revolt. But the work of destruction did not cease.
In spite of the peace that had been proclaimed, Jean Faurin
remarks, acts of hostility were continually perpetrated. During
the course of twenty-seven years this same Faurin had witnessed
459 sieges, captures of castles, and siu-prise attacks in the
region round Castres. Tl^ t)eople were exasperated beyond
endurance. The conclusion of the_Council of Trent made a
favourable impression upon public opinion, for the Catholic
Chui^il m_the_fac£_of hostile rriticismr-haa-jayised-and defined,
h^—dactrinear ' fotmiilated. her -teaching, andf^ reformed her_
discipline. The Council had lasted a long while, in the midst
of various vicissitudes ; but it had accomplished its task, and
had formulated decrees the terms of which seemed to give
satisfaction to the troubled minds of the Catholics, and to
strengthen their faith. Finally, a— new . army - adapted,, to
vfcheiresh i^^edsLQl the time was fighting against the Reformation^
This was the Jesuit militia, fcomded. by Saint Ignatius Loyola
in 1540, with the object of I3^^sing the Protestant principle.
oLfrfie^inqiuty-bjiL^lfL-CQntrary doctrine of passive obedience.
This order abjured all ecclesiastical dignities, while adapting
itself to every form of priestly function — oratory, teaching,
hearing confessions, and the study of theology ; its members
preached and founded colleges everywhere. The Jesuits spread ,
with- su.ck-xapidity andijecame so powerful that by the end of
the century they inspired universal fear and were driven out
everywhere. Th£yiyantributcd,^howaver^to the accentuation of
tjip Cathnliq reftctignj which took place under the reign of one
242
k
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
of the most extraordinary and complex characters among the
Kings of France.
A man above the average height, extremely thin, with a
very long face, the half-veiled glance of his father Henry II,
Character ol ^ broad forehead and mocking mouth, Henry HI
Henry m, was far from being a fool. He was a prince
^-^^^^J^^ endowed with a lively intelligence and much
perception ; but he was a, jiceptic^ and a scoflet with a touch
of the ^lettante, amused by life and at times himself amusing.
He once wrote to Villeroy *' There was a certain King of Judah
who owing to bad counsels was lost. May God preserve the
King of France from such a fate ! I know very well, it seems
to me, what I ought to do, but I am like a man who feels he
is drowning, and from an instinct of obedience is content to
do so rather than save himself. And then, nobody else would
agree with me and I may possibly be wrong ! 'I'' For a King of
France who came to the throne when his country was passing
through a most critical phase in her internal history, this state
of mind was by no means desirable. In other respects Henry
HI was an amiable man with a gentle, affable disposition. He
had eyes that were charming when they looked at his inter-
locutors, and, when he spoke, the corners of his mouth had an
attractive curve. He held himself extremely well and had a
noble and graceful bearing. In short he was every inch a
JKing, and very conscious of his own dignity.- It was he who
laid down the rules for an augmented ceremonial about his
person — a Court etiquette which was destined to be applied
more particularly under Louis XIV and resulted in keeping
people at a distance from the King, and in multiplying the
" idolatrous " obeisances performed, not only in his presence,
but even before the conamon objects he used ; " apish tricks,"
wrote Claude Dupuy, " imported ab uUimis Sarmatis to our
country of France : barbari moris sunt ! "
But if Henry III had the intelligence and wit to understand
the course of events without having the energy to direct them ;
Henry Hi's ^^d if, conscious of his rank, he aimed at inspiring
tastes. resp)ect by means of external signs of deference,
many other elements contributed to contradict these qualities.^
** Everything about him is contradictory " said Morosini.
243
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Extremely delicate in health, with a sickly constitution, subject
to violent headaches, abscesses in his ear, and a skin disease —
which the doctors called a sort of *' itch '* and for which they
ordered him sea baths — and suffering from constant attacks
of indigestion, he had the characteristic tastes and habits
of a degenerate. All who came into contact with him regarded
him as *' effeminate." Contrary to the traditions of his family,
/he hated physical exercise, regarded riding and hunting with
horror, and lay late in bed. On the other hand, his attention
to his toilet was carried to the point of ridiculous excess. He
invented fashions each more extravagant than the last, covering
himself with precious stones, wearing ear-rings, bracelets, and
numberless rings, and curling his hair. But above all he
delighted in perfumes, scattering musk violet powder and bags
of rose-leaves everywhere, even in his bed. He also loved
amusement. Utterly indifferent to affairs of state — especially
at the beginning of his reign, though later on he was obliged
to take part in them — ^and detesting work, he threw himself
into a life of gaiety. He was essentially a.m,an of pleasure, and
(iermain Pilon's medal of him certainly gives this impression.
In the company of comrades and friends of his own age who
never left his side, he gave himself up to all the follies in which
rich and overbearing yoimg men, in a position to ventiure upon
anything, can afford to indulge. He once arranged a dinner-
party where the task of waiting upon the guests was performed
by ladies of the Court dressed as men, and every one was clad
in green silk. And on another occasion, at Chenonceaux, a
dinner was given on the terrace at which young ladies of the
Court played a similar part, with their hair hanging loose about
their shoulders and their dresses cut excessively low. But his
most successful entertainments were masquerades. On Shrove
Tuesday he would dress himself up as a woman, in a *' fish-
wife's skirt '* of red, black, white, and orange, and wearing a
mask over his face, would scour the streets with ten young boon
companions, jostling people, entering houses and playing a
thousand impudent pranks all through the night until six
o'clock in the morning. For balls he disguised himself in a
lady's gown "opening his doublet and uncovering his neck,
round which he wore a pearl necklace and three linen collars."
244
T'lE CATHOLIC REACTION
His weakness for his friends and companions, which amounted
to infatuation, and his relative indifference to women have laid
him open to certain imputations. But there is not the slightest
evidence of a taste which would brand him as a man of perverted
instincts. The abnormality of his character, however, was
displayed in other strange caprices. He affected an attitude
of excessive piety which, in a man of pleasure, presented a
somewhat surprising contrast. He went on pilgrimages to
Chartres and C16ry from Paris on foot. He used to wander
from one church to another with two or three companions
" holding large Paternosters in his hand, which he kept muttering
and repeating through the streets." He marched at night by
torchlight in the processions of the Blue Penitents, with his body
tied up in a sack which had two holes for the eyes. He founded
the Brotherhood of the Penitents of Our Lady, and took part
in, their processions with a monk's cowl on his head, carrying
a candle in his hand. The people derided him, calling him
*' the churchwarden of Saint Germain-l'Auxerrois, the son-
in-law of Colas." * He had a chaplet made for himself the
beads of which represented death's heads — ^the death's head
was his chosen emblem, and is seen on the bindings of his books
— and he'danced at balls wearing this chaplet suspended 'from
his waist. He had no children. This distinguished, witty,.
effpminat.e and fantastic prince^ represents the degenerate end
of a royal race.
Henry III was at Cracow, in Poland, when he heard of the
death of his brother, Charles IX, whose heir he was. As he
detested life in that remote country, he took flight by night,
galloping away on a mare, which he killed by riding her hard
for seventy-two hours, and leaving his followers to manage as
best they could without him. He passed by Venice where
he was given a very friendly reception. Catherine de* Medici
awaited his arrival in France, carrying on the government
♦ A reference to an old sixteenth-century term of abuse applied to
Huguenots, and in its original form " the cow of Colas " (la vache d Colas).
It arose out of an incident at Bionne, where a stray cow belonging to one
Colas Pannier entered a Protestant place of worship. The Huguenots,
thinking the cow was driven in among them on purpose, seized and killed
it. The Sheriff, however, made them indemnify its owner. Songs were
soon written and simg by the Catholics in memory of the incident. (Tr.)
245
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
meanwhile. Henry III, overjoyed at his accession to the throne,
was extremely amiable to everybody. He set free his brother,
the Duke of Alen9on, and the King of Navarre, who had been
kept in a state of semi -confinement ever since their last es-
capade ; he was attentive to the Guise§, assured the Huguenots
that he was ready to grant them an amnesty for the past, and
won the hearts of the Catholics by his reverent piety. In
February, 1575, he married, taking to wife a charming young
Henry Hi's g"*l of twenty, Louise de Vaud^mont, a niece of
marriage, 1575. the Duke of Lorraine. It was not a brilliant
match, but in spite of Catherine de' Medici's opposition, he
insisted upon it, having fallen in love with the girl, whom he had
met at the time of his departure for Poland. Queen Louise,
with her pale face and pretty, delicate features, her graceful
carriage and elegant slender figure, her laughing eyes and ex-
tremely sweet, simple, and modest nature, was destined to
retire somewhat into the background. She adored her husband
and never took her eyes off hini, but later on she was rather
neglected by him. Henry III bought her an estate at Ollain-
ville, near Paris, where she used to spend the long summer
months.
Though the Queen took no part in public affairs, the Duke
of Alen9on, the King's younger brother^ caused him much
anxiety. This youth, who was two years younger than Henry
III, and consequently twenty-two at the time of his accession,
was small, squarely built and fat, extremely dark in complexion,
with curly black hair. He was amiable and jovial, however,
although wild, turbulent, and unruly; he was jealous of his
brother, whom he accused of being their mother's favourite,
and had no affection for him. On the pretext that he was being
spied upon, he fled from Paris on September 15, 1575, hidden
in a carriage, and reached Dreux, where he published a manifesto
declaring that the King wished to cast him into prison. The
situation became somewhat serious, as he opened negotiations
with Conde and made overtures to the Huguenots/ Grave
complications were feared if the party should adopt him as
its leader. Catherine de' Medici set out in pursuit of him
with the object of inducing him to come back, and followed
him to Chambord. At that moment a body of 2000 Reiters
246
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
was actually crossing the frontier on their way to join Cond^.
Fortunately, however, the Duke of Guise, who was Governor
of Champagne, attacked and dispersed them at Dormans, when
he received a volley in his face which left a deep scar. From
that day forth he went by the nickname of Le Balafri (the
scarred man). Catherine succeeded in allaying the storm by
paying Cond6 160,000 crowns, and giving the Duke of Alengon
a bodyguard to make him feel safe, y
But at a Court under a King of four-and-twenty who passed
his days in revelry surrounded by excitable young men, it was
Difficulties inevitable that the passions that were surging in the
with Henry of provinces should have free play ; and Protestants
B6am. and Catholics alike committed acts of provocation.
" We are nearly always ready to cut each other's throats,"
Henry of Navarre wrote to Monsieur de Miossens. " We carry
daggers and wear coats of mail and very often breastplates
under our cloaks. I am only waiting for the opportunity to
have a little fighting, for I am told that they are plotting to
kill me and I want to steal a march on them." The threats
against him became so alarming that he in his turn fled from
Court on February 3, 1576, during a hunting-party, and hastened
to join Alen$on, publicly declaring that he was a Calvinist, and
announcing that his recantation after the Massacre of Saint
Bartholomew was of no account. He then made for Beam,
where he summoned all his gentlemen to him. The Duke of
Alen9on and Conde showed an inclination to support him, and
the position of the Government was embarrassing in the ex-
treme. The King did nothing but amuse himself, and the
Exchequer was empty. " The only topic at Court at the
moment was that there was nothing for the King's dinner."
The Court was living upon loans — ^and miserable loans — of
500 or 600 pounds, borrowed from parliamentary counsellors,
lawyers and procurators. How could they raise the funds to
pay an army ? Catherine de' Medici, who continued to be the
guiding spirit of the Government, was of opinion that every
sacrifice should be made to avoid war. Her fears were ex-
aggerated ; she was growing old. The result of her negotiations
was that the Duke of Alen9on was allowed to add the title of
Anjou to his honours and to become Duke of Anjou ; whilst
247
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Cond6 was made Governor of Languedoc. This treaty, con-
cluded May 6, 1576, was called the Peace of Monsieur. With
Peace of regard to the Protestants, the concessions made
Monsieur, them were ratified by the Edict of Beaulieu.
Edict of The terms of this edict were so unexpected and
Beaulieu, 1576. g^ extraordinary that the country was filled with
stupefaction. The Protestants were granted full liberty of
worship everywhere without restrictions of any sort ; eight
surety cities, mixed chambers in the parliaments, that is to
say, chambers with two Presidents, one Catholic and the other
Huguenot, and twelve counsellors, four of whom were to be
Huguenots ; Coligny and the other victims of the Massacre
of Saint Bartholomew were to be rehabilitated and the verdicts
against them rescinded ; Protestants were to be eligible for
all posts, and the meeting of the States-General was promised.
Never had the Court conceded so much — ^and this, too, so soon
after the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew ! It was inexplicable,
and the Catholics were completely at a loss to understand the
reasons for such indulgence. In Paris the public refused to
light bonfires, and when the government wished to have Te
Deuriis sung to celebrate the solenmization of peace, the
precentors and canons refused to take part in them. The
Edict of Beaulieu was destined to lead to many other dangerous
complications for France.
The destitution of the Court was indeed pitiable. In spite
of the loans they had raised they had not a penny to go on with,
and it became necessary to pawn the crown jewels, to sell
offices, and live by all manner of expedients. "In whatever
direction we turn our eyes," wrote Monvillier, " nothing but
despair stares us in the face." And unfortunately, the public
was exasperated because Henry III did not stop his merry-
making, but continued to squander and give away the little
money at his disposal to his boon companions. Thus on the
one hand the King was indifferent, and on the other the feeble
Gk)vernment was yielding everything to the Protestants. In
these circumstances the Catholics came to the conclusion that
as the power of the Crown could not or would not defend them,
the only alternative was for them to take their own cause in
hand. Thus the League — the famous League — was formed ;
248
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
a lamentable expedient to which subjects were driven, creat-
ing a State within the State, in order to demand from a new
The League, organization the protection which the old could
1576. no longer afford them. Its results, however, were
war, disorder, and anarchy.
The origin of the League was accidental. By the terms
of the Peace of Monsieur, the town of P^ronne had been given
over to the Prince of Cond^, as a guarantee-city. But the
inhabitants of the place refused to accept a master who would
they feared insist upon making Huguenots of them all.
They accordingly combined with the clergy, the magistrates,
and the nobility of the neighbourhood, none of whom were
anxious to see Peronne turned into a Protestant town. The
idea of a Catholic league was thus inaugiu*ated ; it spread
rapidly and other districts followed the example set by Peronne.
In Paris it was owing to the initiative of a certain lawyer,
Pierre Hennequin, and a citizen named La Bruy^re, that the
association was formed with the consent of the Guises. A
definite programme was formulated ; the defence of the Catholic
religion and the re-establishment of the royal authority, the
weakening of which was bringing ruin upon the Catholics. The
populace joined with astonishing rapidity and enthusiasm,
so ripe was the moment for such a project. Everywhere leagues
. were formed and provinces, towns, and boroughs gave in their
adhesion, but all were merged in a general association inspired
by one spirit and one desire.. The question of choosing a
leader arose, and public opinion pointed to Henry of Guise.
Of the same age as Henry III, taller than the King, with
fair curly hair, bright eyes and a sparse beard, his majestic
features rendered more manly by his scar, the young hero whose
family was so popular attracted the sympathies of every one
by his easy grace of bearing. He accepted the post.
From the very first Henry III realized how humiliating
and how exceedingly dangerous the formation of the League
was for him. He tried to oppose it. "I am greatly dis-
pleased," he wrote, " inasmuch as the inhabitants of Peronne
have resolved not to obey my commands." When he saw the
extent to which the association was developing, however, he
had to give way and make the best of a bad business. He then
249
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
declared that he had encouraged it, and wrote to the Duke of
Nevers : " The Huguenots maintain that these associations
have been formed without orders from me. This is false. I
shall establish them throughout my kingdom and shall not rest
till I have done so." On reflection he had come to the con-
clusion that he might profit by the League, and use it as an
instrument.
To the Protestants, already weakened by the feeling that
the Reformation was no longer spreading, and still suffering
from the effects of the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, the
violent revolt on the part of Catholic public opinion attested
by the League, had all the appearance of intimidation. They
held special prayer-meetings and fasts everywhere. *'The
ministers of Geneva offered up special prayers on behalf of the
French churches'." Formerly, under similar circumstances,
they would have raised troops, bought arms, and fortified
towns. But times were changing and the new attitude adopted
by the Calvinists betrayed their sense of inferiorityy'^^
The first result of this dual situation was the composition
of the States-General summoned to meet at Blois, in 1576, in
States- accordance with the terms of the Peace of
General of Monsieur. The elections proved favourable to
Blois, 1576. the League. The Protestants, certain of being
defeated, did not even stand. Three hundred and sixty-two
deputies were returned. As a matter of fact, Henry III, who
since the formation of the League had become seriously anxious
and had begun to direct his Government himself, had con-
sented to the meeting of the States for the sake of getting
money from them, and in order to lay hands on the formidable
association. The opening meeting at which he presided took
place on December 6 in the ancient Salle des Etats at Blois,
still in existence. He made an extremely dignified speech in
which, after paying tribute to all his mother had done, and
saying : " All who love France will be bound for ever to
praise her great vigilance," he assured the assembly that he
intended to re-establish order and public peace, and to redress
abuses. He spoke well. At the proposal of an eloquent
lawyer, named Versoris, the house declared that there could
be only one religion in France — ^the Catholic religion — and a
250
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
formal resolution to that effect was carried. Determined to
side with the majority, Henry IH replied that he would abide
by the Edict of Beaulieu. Did this mean war against the
Huguenots ? Henry of Beam protested in those firm, moving,
and loyal terms which made all the letters he wrote at this
time so beautiful, and said : " Religion is implanted in the hearts
of men by force of doctrine and belief and is confirmed by living
example and not by the sword. We are all Frenchmen and
fellow-citi25ens of one country and as such it behoves us to come
to an agreement founded upon reason and kindness and not
upon harshness and cruelty." But as the States wished for
war against the Huguenots, Henry III opined that they
would forthwith contribute the money for it. On the motion
of a deputy from Vermandois, named Jean Bodin, however,
the assembly voted for the re-establishment of religious unity
" in all gentleness without recourse to war." The question of
the finances was then raised, and when the Government con-
fessed that there was a deficit of 100 millions, the States loudly
condemned the extravagance of the Exchequer. On being
asked for a grant of two millions by means of a hearth-tax or
a tax on the alienation of demesnial property, they refused
to give it, or only granted insignificant subsidies. Henry III
felt that he had been fooled. In vain he had himself supported
the League in order to conciliate the deputies and had even
declared himself the head of the movement — a strange manoeuvre
indeed ! To insist would have been undignified. He accord-
ingly dissolved the States, informing them that as they refused
to make wa^ he had no alternative but to treat with the
Huguenots. By way of compensation he confined himself
to drawing up, out of the voluminous papers presented to him
by the States on February 9, 1577, one of those grand ordinances
which were always so full of good intentions, but never operative.
It contained 363 articles and formed the Ordinance of Blois
of 1579.
After the dissolution of the States, and a few insignificant
acts of hostility, Henry III signed a definite peace with the
Peace of Protestants. This was the Peace of Bergcrac of
Bergerae, 1577. September 17, 1577, by the terms of which the
Calvinists were granted liberty of conscience, though freedom
251
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of worship in any place was allowed solely on condition of
obtaining the sanction of the authorities. The mixed chambers
were re-established, but only in the southern Parliaments. This
peace, which was confirmed by the Edict of Poitiers, was destined
to secure seven or eight years of tranquillity. The Protestants,
with ministers and princes at variance, Henry_pf Navarre an
unwelcome leader to many, and some of their towns, La
Rochelle, for instance, taking up the attitude of independent
republics, were divided against themselves. They had lost
their pristine vigour and were now in a condition of weakness
and paralysis. tn
The Ptotestant question be^ng at rest for the moment, it
remained for Henry III to face the problems presented by the
AnjoQ in the League and the Catholic princes. The most
Netherlands. pressing of these was the conduct of the latter.
The turbulence of the ex-Duke of Alen9on, who had become
the Duke of Anjou, was, in the first place an occasion of per-
petual alarms. The master of five duchies and four counties,
with an income of 400,000 crowns and an establishment almost
as large as the King's, the Duke of Anjou was an extremely
dangerous rival. In 1577 an opportunity for getting rid of
him occurred which Henry III seized with alacrity. Ever
since 1572 the Netherlands — ^that is to say the northern Dutch
provinces — had been in a state of rebellion against Spain, and
in 1577 the southern provinces of Flanders joined the movement.
The Governor, Don Juan of Austria, found it impossible to
hold his own, and anarchy reigned. The French envoy,
Mondoucet, conceived the idea of sunmioning the Duke of
Anjou and placing him at the head of the rebellious Catholics,
thus making an attempt to win back at least those southern
provinces that had once belonged to France. The Duke of
Anjou, like the reckless madcap he was, consented to this
plan, and Henry III, who was enchanted, allowed him to go,
though to avoid offending Spain he refrained from formal
recognition of the expedition. The Duke of Anjou entered
Flanders at the head of 7000 men, nobles eager for war, dis-
banded soldiers and volunteers. The States-General, the
deliberative assembly of the rebel provinces of the north, made
a pretence of accepting this succour, though determined, as
252
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
was also their military leader, the Prince of Orange, to insist
upon the French returning over the frontier the moment they
had no further need of them. Anjou took Hainault, Maubeuge,
and Binche. But at this point he was obliged to stop short.
His troops were plundering, and the inhabitants were pro-
testing, and betraying them on all sides. The affair was
hopeless and Anjou, unable to accomplish anything, returned
to France at the end of three months. The adventure, however,
had only been postponed.
On the side of Henry of Navarre all was peaceful. The
prince had loyally accepted the Peace of Bergerac, and had '^
Henry of retired to his gay castle of Ndrac, devoting himself '*«^
B^am at entirely to a life of ease and pleasure. I^nry III i '^^^
Nirao. gave his consent for his sister, Margaret — Queen
Margot — to join her husband in Gascony ; and Catherine de'
Medici decided to go with her. The two set off together and
took the journey slowly, giving balls and festivals everywhere
and preaching peace and good-will, visiting the towns and
sojourning in them ; their travels took them a year. Though
they found the provinces fairly tranquil they were nevertheless
received with loud complaints on the part of the people, who
inveighed against the taxes and the poverty-stricken condition
of the State. " They are ready to believe anything against
the King," said Estoile, " who daily burdens them with fresh
impositions and new officials and pays none of his debts out
of the vast sums he raises thereby, but spends them on pro-
digal luxm-ies and huge gifts." When he heard of these
complaints Henry III replied: "These are the results of the
League that are beginning to make themselves felt. But I
will put a stop to them if I can." The arrival of Margaret at
N^rac served to redouble the gaiety of the little Court, at which
there was a perpetual round of dances, himting-parties, and
festivities. The Protestant ministers were scandalized. Henry
and his wife, who vied with each other in frivolity and incon-
stancy, passed the time joyously. A cloud, however, arose
and for a moment cast a gloom over the period of tranquillity
which had begun to set Henry Ill's fears at rest. In the
north, Cond6, irritated by provocations on the part of the
League, had suddenly seized La F^e ; whilst in the south,
258
k
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the town of Cahors, which was part of Margaret of Valois'
dowry, refused to receive the Governor sent by the King of
Navarre. The latter, enraged by this, set out hurriedly for
the place, and on May 29, 1580, placing a petard at the entrance,
blew up the gate and threw himself into the streets at the
head of a troop of cavalry as if he had been a simple carabineer.
At the same moment Lesdigui^res in Dauphiny showed signs
of activity. Full of anxiety at these commotions, Henry III
dispatched Matignon to La F^re, Mayenne to Dauphiny, and
Biron in the direction of Guyenne, at the head of bodies of troops.
La F^re was recaptured and a treaty signed at Fleix, in Perigord,
Peace of reiterating the articles of the Peace of Bergerac,
Fleix, 1580. put an end to disturbances which, according
to I'Estoile, had been merely " a little straw fire," " a lover's
quarrel " ; the brilliant life at Nerac resumed its course.
An unexpected event, however, was destined to give it a rude
shock, and to change the whole future of the King of Navarre.
It was to place both him and the Kingdom of France in a
terrible situation, confusing the problems presented by the
princes and by the Protestants to Henry III in such a way as
to make the reign of Henry III one of the most dramatic and
most bloodstained through which a King of France had ever
lived.
The Duke of Anjou, who had never abandoned the idea of
the expedition to the Netherlands, was making preparations
to return to Flanders. He had paid a visit to England with a
view to obtaining the good-will of Elizabeth. But she was
holding herself in reserve. The success of Alessandro Farnese,
Prince of Parma, the new Spanish Governor of Brussels, who
proved more fortunate than Don Juan of Austria, had induced
the States-General of the United Provinces and the Prince of
Orange to make a fresh appeal to the French King's brother.
They offered to make him commander-in-chief of the forces.
The moral support of the great neighbouring kingdom would,
they thought, strengthen them, in spite of the fact that Henry
III refused to recognize his brother's activities. Anjou,
on his side, hoped to be made king. Every one was buoyed
up with false hopes. In June, 1581, the Duke of Anjou
assembled his troops, and in July, Holland and Zetland de-
254
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
finitely declared themselves independent of Spain. At the
head of 14,000 men, of whom 3000 were gentlemen, Anjou set
out on the march, raised the siege of Cambray, entered Ghent
Anjou returns and Antwerp, and was crowned Duke of Brabant
to the and Count of Flanders. Attracted by success,
Netherlands. adventurers of all nationalities hurried to join
him, and the young victor, finding himself well supported, and
impatient at the equivocal attitude assumed by the States-
Crcneral, determined to make a dash for " his sovereignty," to
take it a la frangaise and grasp it vigorously, with or against
their will. As Busbccq, the imperial ambassador remarked,
" his head was turned." He captured places belonging to the
States-General by surprise, and tried to lay hands on Antwerp
in a similar manner. But the citizens of this town rose up
against him. Hunted through the streets, the Duke of Anjou's
troops found it impossible to get the upper hand. Two thousand
of them were massacred and the rest driven out. This defeat
proved Anjou's undoing. Irrevocably compromised in the
eyes of the Netherlanders, he had no alternative but to take
his departure. He held out for two months longer and then
returned to France ; his adventure was at an end. Casting
about for some one to blame, he accused Henry III of not
supporting him, sulked, and refused to return to Court.
Catherine de' Medici succeeded in reconciling the two brothers,
who met again in 1584. The Duke of Anjou, however, hke all
the members of this unfortunate family, was constitutionally
delicate ; worn out by excesses, he was suddenly attacked by
violent haemorrhage of the lungs. The end came rapidly. On
June 10 he breathed his last at Chateau Thierry at the age of
thirty-one, after a few hom-s of illness.
' tr^ "But now the King's last brother was dead, he himself had
H no children, and the question of the succession became pressing.
Henry of By virtue of the traditional rules of succession
B6am heir to in order of primogeniture, the nearest heir was
the throne. Henry of B^arn, King of Navarre, descendant
of a sixth son of Saint Louis and cousin in the 22nd degree of
the reigning monjarch. The throne of France was the heritage
of a Protestant prince I The country was filled with consterna-
tion at the idea. A Protestant King was an impossible event-
255
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
uality. The eldest son of the Church could not be a heretic ;
as such, he could not even be crowned. A violent campaign
broke out in the press. The year 1584 gave the signal for an
outburst of publications which continued throughout the reign
of Henry III, forming, with the reign of Louis XIII and the
period of the Fronde, one of the three epochs imder the old
regime when *' the poUtical press " was most prolific. The
agitation was extremely lively in the immediate circle of the
princes. In the opinion of Henry III there was but one solution
— ^that Henry of B6arn should become a convert. He ap-
proached him on the matter, and the King of Navarre's friends
added their counsels to his. Henry of Beam, however, loyally
replied that he could not present the nation with a spectacle
of such fickleness of conscience merely for his personal ad-
vantage. Let them call a council together, he suggested, to
discuss the two religions with a view to his instruction. He
asked for nothing better than enlightenment. Any other
course was aUen to his straightforward character. The members
of the League thereupon declared that under these circum-
stances, there was no alternative but to summon the States-
General and make them alter the order of succession to the
throne; the nation should revive its ancient rights. The
partisans of Henry of Navarre retorted that there was a legal
order of succession, which the States had no power to modify.
But already future candidates for the throne were being dis-
cussed, and the name of Henry of Guise was in many mouths.
Genealogists even proved that the illustrious family of Lorraine
was descended from the Carlovingians — a very fantastic theory —
and all extolled the steadfast faith of those who had so valiantly
defended the Catholic religion. At all events, they declared,
the States would do as they pleased. Others brought forward
the name of the King's uncle, the aged Cardinal Boiu-bon ;
which meant postponing rather than solving l;he problem.
Foreign countries followed the discussion with interest. Philip
II, alarmed at the prospect of a Protestant King in France,
offered to come to an understanding with the Guises, to which
they agreed. They were somewhat surprised at the turn things
were taking, but did not dare to stipulate that the throne should
revert to them. By the Treaty of Joinville of January, 1585,
256
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
which they signed with Spain on behalf of the League, it was
Treaty ol decided that Cardinal Bourbon should succeed
Jom,me, 1686. to the throne. The King of Spain was to give
subsidies, m return for which B^n and Navarre were to be
ceded to him later on. Thus, not content with forming
foref nerT ^****' **"* ^*^* ™' ''*^*'"8 "^^^ *^^^
But they were emboldened by the fact that the sentiment of
the great majority in the kingdom was on their side It
was clear that the country would not have the Huguenots
at any price, much less, therefore, would they tolerate a kine
who was a heretic. The League increased with amazing rapidity
inflamed their congregations at the mere idea of becoming the
subjects of a Calvnist ; and pamphlets were issued in vast
numbers During the general effervescence the League formed
Xr^l^^K P*^" '"-"Po^d ''t fl'^t of five members; °ut
after 1587 this number was raised to sixteen, who rapidly
assumed a revolutionary authority, 5id "laid d"own the law i
masters They were known as the "Sixteen." The forcS
of anarchy began to be organized. U
frmts of his hfe of dissipation; he was hated by the people.
S°E?m "" restraining his fantastic tastes, he had
of Henry m. exaggerated them, and, in spite of the general
poverty continued to heap honours and money upon his Zn
compamons, for whom he displayed a ridiculL'ltt^^er
These young men, Caylus, Saint Luc, d'O, d'Arques sint
^u2v a^nd'-'^rr'* ^''tP"*'"*' •'y '"^^ absurdi'ties thd^
ex^t f Thr° . ^'•n"'r r*'"*'""^ -n^nners ani their
excesses. The people caUed them the King's "minions"
Duels, however, and acts of revenge were thimf ng thS^"^
Caylus and Maugiron had been kiUed in duels, and W MetS^
had been assassinated. Henry III was welk enoZ to rf^
XTtX: w ^^^^-*^''. -gnifioence to their mem™^
uZu^T^ Jr ° *'"=^'''''^ ^^^- H« tad three speda
andTlri^^ f^'^''''; 7"°'° ^^ ^'^ ™d« Duke of Jore J
and married to one of the Queen's sisters during the course of
257
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
some scandalous festivities, when seventeen banquets were
given to a crowd of people bedizened with gold and precious
stones ; La Valette, who was created Duke of fipernon ; and
d'O, who afterwards fell into disgrace. The^King called them
" his three children." Joyeuse and ifipernon were extremely
powerful " grand viziers " as the people dubbed them. The
latter, in the end, became " the most conspicuous of them all,"
the King's first "minion" "his eldest son." In 1587 he
married the Countess of Candale with great pomp ; the King
gave the bride a necklace of 100 pearls valued at 100,000 crowns,
and the bridegroom 400,000 crowns in cash. The public and
" the press " thereupon attacked Henry III.
The King at last.feoftH^e seriously anxious. He cross-
examined the Guises and dfcmanded an explanation. They
replied that public opinion was greatly disturbed by the question
of the succession, but that guarantees were all that was re-
quired. Even in the King's immediate circle the Court was
divided. Many were in favour of the League, whose intentions
were, they said, radically just. Among these were the Queen's
brother, PhiUp Emmanuel of Lorraine, whom Henry III had
created Duke of Mercoeur, and made Governor of Brittany ; the
Duke of Nevers, and Joyeuse. l^pernon, on the other hand,
supported the cause of Henry of B6arn. Henry III could not
come to a decision. If he had been master of the situation he
would have persuaded the King of Navarre to recant, and
suppressed the League. As it was, he could do neither the
one nor the other. • r. •
The League went its way. In March the Duke of Gmse,
U Balafri, occupied CMlens in its name, and his brother, the
Cardinal ^^^^ ^^ Mayenne, who was thirty-one, a tall,
Bourbon's elegant man with a gentle expression, and great
manifesto. courage and vigour, seized Dijon. Cardmal
Bourbon had retired to P^ronne. On March 31 he pubUshed
a grandmanifesto— or at least it was pubUshed with his signature
—in which the League declared that it aimed at securing a
CathoUc successor to the throne, the establishment^f _one
religion only in'lVance, the convocation of the States-Ggperal,
and their regular assemblage every three years, and all this
without prejudice to the privileges of the clergy, the nobility,
258
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
the Parliaments, and the bourgeoisie. The unfortunate King
of France found himself in the most precarious predicament.
He had neither an army nor money. " About his person,"
wrote Busbecq, " he has only a few feeble and powerless
friends." The provincial Governors followed the example of
the public and pronounced themselves in favour of the League.
Even the ministers, Cheverny, Belli^vre, and Villeroy hesitated.
The entire sympathies of the nation were on the side of the J/
Catholic association. Henry III published a manifesto in reply' '
Henry in*8 to~tHe one issued by Bourbon, in which he en-
reply, deavoured to defend his policy, by explaining
that he had concluded peace with the Huguenots because the
States-General had refused to provide him with the funds to
make war upon them ; that after all he had secm-ed long years
of peace by this means ; and without discussing the principles
of the League, he reprobated its methods. The manifesto was
a colourless production, devoid of dignity, and its effect was
negligible. Only one solution remained : to treat with the
League. CatJierine de' Medici devoted herself to the task,
and went to fipernay, in Champagne, to discuss matters with
the Duke and Cardinal Bourbon. But they insisted upon war
against the Protestants. The problem was insoluble, for the
King no more had money or men at his command for an attack
upon the Huguenots than he had for fighting the Guises and
their party. Catherine therefore replied that in this case the
League must bear the burden and expense of the war. The
Guises in retiu^n demanded some towns as guarantees. Thus,
with territory and authority alike divided, the kingdom was
threatened with dismemberment on every side.
These painful negotiations dragged on for three months
and finally the Government had to give way. By the Trfiat^
Treaty of of Nfmnnys of July 7, 1585, the King consented
Nemours, 1585. to publish an edict making Catholicism the only
religion allowed in France, and commanding the people to con-
form within six months or else leave Uie country. The mixed
chamDers were abolished and the towns given to the Protestants
were withdrawn, whilst others were handed over to the League
for five years. Its leaders, Cardinal Bourbon, Guise, Mercoeur,
Aumale and Elbeuf, were granted the right of maintaining a
259
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
private bodyguard, and, to crown all, it was formally acknow-
ledged that the League had acted in the best interests of the
State. It was a pitiful business I After having made every
possible concession to the Protestants, the Government was
now handing itself over bound hand and foot to the members
of the League and making itself their chattel. " The King was
on foot," said I'Estoile, " and the League was on horseback."
The person who suffered most was Henry of Beam. He
had always declared that he did not know whether he would
ever ascend the throne, but that he was certain that men's
consciences should not be forced, and that they should be free
to believe what they liked. The Treaty of Nemom^s over-
whelmed him. " My fear of the evils I foresee," he told the
Marquis de la Force, " is so great that it has made my moustache
turn white." He wrote an eloquent letter of protest to the
King of France whilst the Huguenots in despair prescribed
prayers and fasts. After twenty years of struggle they had
returned to the point from which they had started, and they
were now in the presence of a formidable foe indeed, the name-
less mob, whose strength was increased tenfold by their con-
fidence in a successful issue, and the knowledge that they were
sailing before the wind.
But at this juncture Henry Ill's cynical and mocking spirit
came once more to the surface. He was as indignant as any one
Preparations ^^ the extremities to which he had been reduced,
for Civil War. He informed the League that it was now ob-
viously necessary for him to make war upon the Calvinists, but
that he would require three armies for this object, which it
would be their business to raise for him. Secondly, he would
need money, and as he himself was ready to ruin himself and
give " his last shirt " in the cause, he considered that the
Catholics should be prepared to do as much. He therefore
informed them that he should cease to pay the salaries of the
officers and the interest on the H6tel de ViUe funds, that he
intended to tax the citizens, and put ecclesiastical property
up to sale. This retort provoked vehement protests. " I am
very much afraid," Henry III replied, " that if we try to stop
Protestant services we shall greatly endanger the mass 1 '*
Of the three armii'iP ^**p>»^"r!fidj one was to protect the King
260
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
in Paris, the second, under the command of Mayenne, was to
march south against Henry of B^n, and the third — since
news had been received that German Protestants were on the
way to help their co-religionists in France — was to keep watch
over the eastern frontier under the leadership of Guise. Having
made up his mind to act, Henry III wrote to the King of Navarre,
asking him to recant, and ordering the Huguenots to stop
their services and give up the towns they held. This amounted
to a declaration of war. Henry of B^arn sent out in all direc-
tions letters which he made public with the object of justifying
his conduct, and throwing the responsibility for the events
that were taking place upon the Guises. He reiterated his
desire for instruction in the matter of religion, on condition
that a council were summoned for this purpose, and declined to
obey the King's command to stop the Protestant services and
give up the towns. The Protestants increased their mani-
festos, but took up a defensive instead of an offensive attitude,
clumsily accusing the Catholics of undermining the authority
of the King, the offence with whic^ they themselves had been
so bitterly reproached in the pasjt^
Whereupon, on September 9, 1585, there arrived from Rome
a thundering Bull, which the League had demanded from the
Ezcommnmca- P^P^' Sixtus V, solemnly excommunicating Henry
tion of Henry of B^rn and his cousin the Prince of Cond6,
of B6am and declaring them both heretics and renegades,
Cond6. cutting them off from the succession, and de-
finitively discrediting them in the eyes of convinced Catholics.
It was a rude blow. The King of Navarre appealed to the
Court of Peers. "As it is contrary to the laws of the land,"
he exclaimed, " for the Pope to arrogate to himself the right
of determining the succession to the throne in such a manner,
the Bull is null and void in France." Pamphlets appeared,
supporting his protestations. Jiuists were also of opinion that
this act on the part of the Pope was an infringement of the rights
of the Crown. The clergy, taken by surprise, held their peace,
whilst the moderates openly expressed their indignation.
Nevertheless, the League put three armies in the field.
Hostilities, however, were merely tentative. Cond6 had col-
lected troops in Poitou, but they were disbanding. Mayenne
261
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
occupied a few places in Limousin, and Henry of B6arn
Civil War. manoeuvred, holding himself in reserve. Once again
Catherine de' Medici endeavoured to arrange matters, and
conferences were held at Saint-Bris, between Cognac and Jarnac,
on October 18, 1586. The solution of all the difficulties was
still to be found in the conversion of the King of Navarre, but,
Henry of B^arn, ever loyal to his cause, returned the same reply.
And, indeed, such was the condition of men's minds after the
issue of the Papal Bull, that his conversion would have lost him
his friends without winning over his enemies. He demanded
that the League should be severely reprimanded, and even
completely suppressed. The conferences were foredoomed to
failure. Meanwhile in Paris, the public, uneasy at these negotia-
tions, began to agitate. The Sixteen declared that no reliance
could be placed on Henry III, and proposed to seize his person.
This was a serious insurrectionary design, the prologue, possibly,
of a deliberately planned revolution. Terrified by this de-
magogic spirit, the Guises refused their support, and here the
matter ended for the time being.
The Germans, whose arrival had long been expected, at
last appeared upon the frontier to the number of 35,000, cavalry,
lansquenets, Swiss and Grisons under the command of the
Baron von Dohna. Their intention was to go to the support
of the King of Navarre in the south. The Duke of Guise set
out in pursuit at the head of 15,000 men. The Germans
captured Chatillon-sur-Seine, and marched towards La Charity
in order to cross the Loire. Henry III with some troops took
up a post of observation at Gien. To hold Henry of Beam in
check he had already dispatched his young favourite, the
beloved minion, Joyeuse, to whom he had confided his best
soldiers. Joyeuse advanced, took Saint-Maixent, and at
Battle of Coutras fell in with the troops of the King of
Coutras, 1587. Navarre. His own forces were twice as strong,
"ahH^he decided to attack (October 20, 1587). To judge by the
appearance of the Catholic army, which was well equipped and
numerous, and that of the Huguenot force, poor, ragged, and
armed with rusty swords, the result seemed a foregone con-
clusion. But Joyeuse had to reckon with the valom* of Henry
of Navarre, who charged with an impetus which carried along
262
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
his whole army. The Catholics were repulsed. Four hundred
nobles of the League remained upon the field, whilst Joyeuse,
Death ol thrown from his horse, was struck by three bullets,
Joyeuse. and killed. He was only twenty-eight. The
battle of Coutras was the first victory won by the Huguenots
since the beginning of the civil wars. It produced a profound
impression and once more aroused a feeling of exasperation on
the part of the League, expecially against Henry III. They
reproached the King with having sacrificed his army and the
public interest to a foolish wish to give an inexperienced young
man, his minion, the opportunity of distinguishing himself in
the field. The victory, however, was a barren one for the
Calvinists, who were much divided, and had comparatively
few supporters under arms. After the battle Henry of B^arn
rejoined the Countess of Guiche, whom he adored. He was
sharply censured for this proceeding.
The Germans, abandoning the intention of crossing the
Loire near La Charity, returned northwards towards La Beauce,
Battles of ^*^ *^® intention of fetching a compass and
Vimory and descending upon Vend6me and Saumur, where
Anneaa, 1587. they could cross the Loire more easily. The
Duke of Guise followed them. At Vimory, near Montargis,
he seized an opportunity to attack part of their columns,
burning a camp and seizing the money-chest and horses. This
success was vociferously applauded. On another occasion, by
means of a forced march accomplished by a body of picked men,
he surprised the enemy at Auneau (November 24, 1587) and cut
them to pieces ; 2000 Germans were massacred. The rest were
discouraged. The winter was setting in cold and raw ; they
had no clothes and lacked provisions. They went to Henry III,
who had advanced towards VendSme, and he consented to
treat with them and allow them to return to Germany in peace.
The Guises, who declared that they could make a speedy end
of the remaining invaders, were loud in their disapproval.
On his return to Paris, Guise was greeted with acclamations.
Popularity The King, it was said, had done nothing except
of Guise. send his unworthy favourite, Joyeuse, to bring
about the defeat of the Catholic army at Coutras, whilst
Guise alone, with the modest army at his conunand, had
263
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
achieved some result. " Saul hath slain his thousands, but
David his tens of thousands " was the cry that was repeated
on all sides. The Duke was called " Moses, Gideon, and David,"
and his popularity increased proportionately as Henry HI lost
favour and incurred public odium. The King, conscious of
the state of affairs, was irritated to the last degree. He felt
the menacing power of Guise increasing daily before him. The
absence of a direct heir to the throne, the prospect of a Huguenot
successor who was unacceptable to the country, the public dis-
cussions on the rights of the States-G^eneral to revive the ancient
privilege of the nation to choose its own king, the latent can-
didature of Guise to the throne, and the danger that if public
feeling became embittered, means would be found to hasten
the moment for the transmission of the crown, provided an
aggregate of elements which made his situation intolerable.
He began to be seriously alarmed. His crown, nay, his very
life, was in danger. He had Polybius and Machiavelli read
aloud to him. He made up his mind to form about his person
a nucleus of firm, reliable and devoted partisans, who would
at least be capable, in case of extremity, of defending his life.
As early as 1578, when his mind had been vaguely preoccupied
with considerations of this nature, he had created a new order
of chivalry, the famous order of the Holy Ghost — ^in imitation
of that formerly founded by one of the Anjous — ^to take the place
of the Order of Saint Michael, instituted by Louis XI, which
had been discredited by abuse. The new knights, whose number
was limited to a hundred, wore a blue ribbon, and took most
rigorous oaths of loyalty. " His Majesty," wrote I'Estoile,
*' conceived the idea of strengthening himself by means of these
new knights, who would, he believed, be swift and faithful to
defend him should any commotion arise." But he did not stop
here. He created a special body of forty-five nobles, chiefly
men of Gascony, vigorous and courageous fighters in the prime
of life — ^from twenty-five to forty years of age — lively and
unscrupulous swashbucklers. He paid them a salary of 1200
crowns, which'][was a large amount for those days, fed them,
provided them with everything and refused them nothing, but
demanded of them absolute devotion. These ruthless individuals
understood his intention : they were to be the " King's trusty
264
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
bodyguard," ready for any emergency. Events in Paris seemed
to justify these precautions.
Day by day the agitation in that city increased and hatred
for the King waxed stronger. People no longer hesitated to
speak of him in terms of contempt, as though the ancient cult
of royalty were already a thing of the past. He was called a
royal drone, a Sardanapalusr'^nd abusive placards abofit him
were posted up. Finally, it was currently agreed that it was
absurd to keep upon the throne a monarch so weak, so false,
and so maleficent in matters of religion, so scandalous in his
life, and so revolting in the manner in which he abandoned
himself to unworthy favourites. The Sixteen, who little by
little, were forming a sort of revolutionary government, outside
the regular authorities, wrote to the magistrates of the large
towns in France, such as Lyons, Rouen, Amiens, and Orleans,
asking them whether it would not be as well to face the pos-
sibility of deposing Henry III. The Duchess of Montpensier
said that *' she carried in her girdle the scissors which would
give a third crown to brother Henry of Valois."
In the presence of provocations such as these, Hemy III
determined to have done with moderation. The Guises had
Insnbordina- demanded the vacant Governorship of Picardy
tion of Guise, for the Duke of Aumale, a member of their family.
The Kang refused it, and nominated the Duke of Nevers instead.
Events were coming to a climax with dramatic rapidity.
D'Aumale occupied some towns in Picardy, and the Duke of
Guise had the impertinence to write and tell him to keep them.
Henry III gave due warning that unless d' Aumale immediately
ceded the towns in question to the new Governor, he would be
regarded as a rebel and his head would be forfeited ; he himself
would go and arrest him. " If the King leaves Paris," the Duke
of Guise insolently replied, " I will make him think of returning
before he has advanced a day's journey towards Picardy."
The conflict was on the verge of breaking out. The King of
Spain, who was keeping a watchful eye on the course of events,
exhorted Guise to break off all relations with the King of France,
and offered him 800,000 crowns and a force of 6000 men.
Henry III immediately summoned a body of 4000 Swiss to
Paris. The Sixteen invited the Duke of Guise, who was at
265
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Soissons, to come and join them. The King informed the
Duke that he forbade him to enter the city. For a moment
Guise enters Guise hesitated ; then he sprang upon his horse,
Paris. and accompanied only by eight persons hastened
to the capital as fast as he could ride. On Monday, May 9,
1588, he entered Paris through serried ranks of people, who
greeted him with enthusiastic cheers, and so dense was the
crowd that he could scarcely make his way through it. They
covered him with flowers, and kissed the corner of his cloak.
" France," said Balzac, " was crazy about the man ; to say
that she was in love with him would be to understate the case."
Calm and cold, bare-headed, sitting erect upon his horse, his
face, with its fair curling locks, keen eyes, and warlike scar,
sternly set, this hero of eight-and-thirty, the most popular
personage who lived under the old regime, had the grand manner.
As Madame de Retz said : " One had only to look at him to
become a Leaguer.'* He dismounted at his house in the Rue
Saint-Antoine.
It was Villeroy who came to announce the news to Hem*y
III. " How do you know ? " the King demanded, beside
himself with rage. *' Has he actually arrived ? 'Sdeath, he
shall die for it ! " and in his fury " he swore, contrary to his
habit." Guise went to see Catherine de' Medici in her own
house — she did not live in the Louvre, but occupied a mansion
built for her, afterwards known as the H6tel de Soissons, near
the Rue Coquilli^re — and begged her to go to the palace with
him. The old Queen got into her litter and accompanied the
Duke to the royal abode. As they entered the Louvre, all the
King's guards were standing ready, the French and Swiss lined
Interview "P °^ either side. The King's reception of them
between was icy, and he curtly asked Guise why he had
Henry in come in spite of his prohibition. The Duke
and Guise. replied that he wished to clear himself of the
calumnies that were being circulated against him and that,
moreover, he had not supposed the King's order to be a formal
one. Henry III made an exclamation of annoyance, and an
altercation would have taken place had not Catherine de' Medici
interfered to prevent it. Whereupon Guise, on the pretext that
he was tired, went home, followed by an excited crowd which
266
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
cheered him without ceasing. In the evening the Sixteen held
a consultation at his house together with the captains of the
city quarters and over 400 gentlemen. At the Louvre a surprise
was feared, or at all events some commotion, and the inmates
passed the night in terror. On the following morning, the 10th,
Guise returned to the palace escorted by a numerous retinue.
He was admitted to the King's presence, when he demanded
the dismissal of the most obnoxious of the favourites, the Duke
of fipernon. Henry III refused and then spoke himself. He
said that he was exasperated at the encroachments made by
the League upon his sovereign power, and, consenting to enter
into further details, confessed his embarrassment with regard
to money, and pointed out the inextricable difficulties of his
situation, and the conflicting interests he was called upon to
reconcile. Guise replied with a few vague phrases in which
the words help and succour were noted.
Meanwhile the troops summoned by the King had reached
Paris, and were marching through the streets. They con-
centrated at the Louvre, where Henry III had shut himself up.
Swiss and French guards were then stationed round the palace
to hold the approaches, and detachments even advanced as
far as the Place de Grdve and the Cemetery of the Holy In-
nocents. The city was full of soldiers and the bridges were
barred. What did all these precautions mean ? Paris was
filled with terror. A rumour was rife that Henry III was
meditating the arrest of 120 persons, the leaders of the League,
intending to put them to death, and then proceed to a massacre
of the Catholics similar to the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew.
Ten thousand Huguenots, it was said, were arriving in the
Faubourg Saint-GJermain ! The Swiss drums, beating a muster,
gave the alarm. The shops were closed, and everybody rushed
out into the streets, filling the squares and pubUc places,
The day of the where the crowds held eager discussions. At the
barricades. corner of one of the streets some people conceived
the idea of stretching chains across the road, planting barrels
filled with earth and paving-stones, and piling up beams and
furniture — barricading, in fact I This gave the signal. To
the cries of " Long live the Union ! " burghers, workmen, and
magistrates set to work to raise similar barricades every-
267
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
where, in order to prevent the royal troops from advancing.
Henry III commanded Crillon and d'O to push forward on
one side as far as the Place Maubert and on the other to the
Rue Saint-Antoine in order to secure an outlet. But it was too
late. Neither Crillon nor d'O was able to force a passage.
The tocsin was ringing and the roar of the growing tumult filled
the streets. In the March6 Saint-Innocent, where a body of
900 Swiss was stationed, the sound of shots was heard. The
people had fired on them and twenty men fell. The rest laid
down their arms. In the Rue Neuve Notre-Dame, near Saint
Denis de la Chatre, in the Cit6, when some other Swiss fired
one or two shots, a fusillade was immediately opened upon
them to shouts of " Kill them 1 Kill them ! " From the win-
dows women hurled projectiles and struck down the soldiers,
screaming at the tops of their voices, " France, France ! We
are Christians ! " Some fifty or sixty victims fell. Many of
the French guards laid down their arms. In the Louvre Biron
declared that nothing could be done unless they were prepared
to besiege every street, which was impracticable. He was
accordingly dispatched together with d'Aumont to try to hold
a parley, but at the first barricade they were received with a
volley and were obliged to retreat. About four o'clock in the
evening Guise rode out on horseback, recommending the people
everywhere to keep calm, telling them to stand firm, but not
to move. He sent back to the Louvre the royal troops who
had laid down their arms. According to Nicolas Poullain's
Diary, the people replied that the King must be killed or at all
events captured, and that his Gk)vernment must be changed
and he himself reduced to impotence.
The demoralization of the Louvre was complete. The
terrified princesses were in tears. Catherine de' Medici had
Demoralization herself taken by night through side streets to
of the the Hotel de Guise, and there demanded an
Lonvre. explanation from the Duke, asking him what he
wanted and what he demanded. Guise replied that he wished
to be appointed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and
stipulated that the chief provincial Governorships should be
reserved for members of the League, that suspicious characters
should be dismissed, that Huguenot princes should be excluded
268
I
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
from the succession to the throne, and that the States-General
should be summoned. Catherine returned without having
made any promises. On the following night all remained on
the watch and the next day Catherine sent to the Duke of Guise,
proposing that he should come to the Louvre and discuss matters
with the King. But the Duke refused, on the grounds that he
could not thus deliver himself up into the hands of his enemies.
Thereupon violent incidents broke out in the streets. Students
rushed down in a shouting disorderly throng from the Montague
Sainte- Genevieve and tried to make their way to the Louvre.
The tumult was increasing and preparations were on foot
indicating that a violent effort was about to be made to attack
the royal troops and force the King's residence. The danger
was indeed pressing. It is true that the King might have
escaped through the Tuileries, which at that time was outside
Paris, for the town walls only reached to the middle of the
gallery on the river-bank, where there was a gate opening on
to the Seine, called the Porte Neuve. This gate was still free.
The Provost of the merchants and aldermen of Paris informed
Henry III that the situation was becoming more alarming every
moment. There was only one remedy : the withdrawal of the
troops whose presence had provoked the outbreak. Henry III
replied that he would not withdraw his troops unless the
barricades were removed. The insurgents retorted that they
would only remove the barricades when the troops had departed.
An agreement seemed impossible. At this juncture — ^four
o'clock in the evening — a messenger arrived to warn the King
that a strong detachment of Parisians was skirting the walls
outside the town, coming round the Tuileries, and making for
Flight of the Porte Neuve with a view to seizing it. Henry
Henry HI. Ill was about to be blockaded. There was no
time to be lost. He went down to the garden as if he were going
for a stroll, reached the Tuileries where the stables were situated,
changed his clothes quickly, and springing on horseback ac-
companied by a very small escort — the Parisians had not yet
secured all the outlets from the city — galloped away in the
direction of Saint-Cloud. The Court nobles and secretaries
of State followed shortly afterwards, though they had to make
their escape through occasional volleys aimed at them along
269
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the banks of the Seine. The Queens remained behind. Once
Henry III had made good his escape the troops were ordered
to fall back, after which the French guards and the Swiss left
Paris in their turn to rejoin the King. Henry III slept that
night at Rambouillet and the following day took up his quarters
at Chartres. In 1575 his mother had written to him : " You
would rather be dead than a fugitive or a vanquished man."
He was now both.
Guise remained master of the situation. He secured the
Bastille, Vincennes, and the Arsenal, had a new municipality
Guise master elected as the existing one was not sufficiently
of Paris. subservient to him, and invited Achille de Harlay,
the first President of the Parliament, to carry on the regular
administration of justice. Harlay, however, answered haughtily :
*' It is lamentable, sir, for the servant to drive out the master I "
He deposed the Provost of Paris and nominated a fresh one.
The Sixteen, for their part, on their own initiative removed
from their benefices clerics suspected of liberalism, and filled
their places with other men. " They are playing the King
and the Pope," remarked Henry III, shrugging his shoulders.
Colonels, captains, and quartermasters of the city miUtia who
were considered lukewarm, were also superseded.
The news of the events which were taking place in Paris
was received in the provinces with mixed feelings. Between
the rabid Catholics and the Protestants, a moderate party con-
sisting of those who were concerned at seeing the State falling
into anarchy — ^a party of reputable and reasonable people,
known as royaUst or political Catholics — ^increased in numbers.
The Day of the Barricades, as it was called, caused as much
indignation to some as it aroused joy in the breasts of others.
Many were utterly perplexed. " This day," wrote d'Aubign6,
" clove in two the kingdom, the court, every province, every
town, every family, and often the very brain of an individual
man." Many protestations of fidelity and loyalty reached the
King, even, nay above all, from Paris, either on behalf of
individuals or organized bodies. This unexpected movement
embarrassed the League. They began, indeed, to wonder what
they could do with their victory, now they had achieved it ;
to what decision could they come ? Mechanically, they tried
270
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
to justify themselves to the King at Chartres — a grave con-
cession I Henry III, however, was even more embarrassed
than themselves. Deeply womided by his humiliation, and
a prey to excessive uneasiness, he found it impossible to sleep.
What was he to do ? On whom or on what could he rely ?
As the moderate Catholics were not yet sufficiently strong
to be counted upon, he found himself under the hard necessity
of turning to the League, which was his worst foe. This
he endeavoured to do in a dignified manner. To the overtures
Henry in made him by the Parisians, he replied, in a few
treats with haughty and disdainful words, reproaching them
the League. with their ingratitude and their forgetf ulness of
all he had done for their city, in which he had resided
longer than any of his predecessors. It remained to settle
the conditions of an agreement. Henry III consented to
sacrifice the Duke jof Epernon ; he deprived him of the
Governorship of Normandy, to which he nominated the Duke
of Montpensier, and begged the favourite to retire to Provence.
He sanctioned some of the changes that had been made in Paris,
and promised to convoke the States-General at Blois. With
regard to the Huguenots, it was agreed that he would chastise
them, that he would not acknowledge the King of Navarre as
his heir-presunaptive, and that Tie would support the candidature
of Cardinal Bourbon. He gave four more towns as guarantees
to the League, and appointed Henry of Guise Generalissimo
of the royal forces. The treaty, known as the " Edict of Union '*
was concluded, and Henry III endorsed his own defeat. Not
realizing the absolute impotence of the King, the moderate
Catholics, indignant at his weakness, wrote lampoons against
him. " Many steps lead up to the throne," they said, " but
none lead down. You should not allow persons to receive you,
and expect you to go to them ; they must come to you, and you
must receive them. To be King is your function. The man
who has taken upon himself to make you a fugitive to-day,
may compass your death to-morrow ! " Compass his death
to-morrow ! That was precisely Henry Ill's private opinion
as to the projects of the Guises. The question between
him and his new Generalissimo, who was already King
in deed though not yet in name, was which of the two was
271
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
to get the better of the other. The drama was developing
apace.
The results of the elections for the States-General were
entirely favourable to the League. The royalist Catholics were
States-General beaten ; the Protestants did not even face the
of Blois, 1588. conflict. The Assembly was opened at Blois in
October, 1588, by a procession of the Order of the Holy Ghost,
and the King took his seat on the 16th. The session was held
as usual in the great hall of the ancient counts, in the presence
of the princes and princesses, the Crown officials, and the nobles
of the Court. As Grand Master, the Duke of Guise was seated
Just below the King, facing an assembly of which he was, in
reality, the actual chief. The King's speech was lofty, resolute,
and personal. He protested that he intended to defend the
Catholic faith loyally, that he was ready to lend a willing ear to
any proposals of reform the States might make, but that it was
impossible for him to tolerate any League which intrigued
against him, and by raising subsidies and troops, made an attack
upon his sovereign power. He would consent to grant an
amnesty for the past, provided acts of this sort were never
repeated. His attitude was courageous enough. He did not
mention the question of the succession.
The debate was at once opened, and the hostile feeling of
the assembly became evident from the first moment. It began
by demanding the exclusion from the succession of the King
of Navarre, and intimated that it expected vigorous war to
be made upon him. The question of finance was raised, and
the budget of the country's receipts and expenditure presented
by the Government excited mistrust and was regarded as
incorrect. The States insisted upon the suppression of certain
offices, the abolition of taxes that had been recently raised,
and the reduction of the taille to the amount at which it had
stood in the time of Francis I; Henry III proposed the raising
of a loan for war expenses. The assembly retorted that if
they sanctioned this loan it would be on the understanding
that they superintended the spending of it. They became
aggressive and waxed bolder, dismissing thirty-five financial
officers — a most extraordinary innovation. They passed a
resolution to the effect that their decisions should immediately
272
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
have the force of law without further confirmation — which
amounted to revolution ; and that as soon as the assembly
was dissolved, a procurator should represent them and superin-
tend the execution of their wishes. In the face of all these
measures, what was to become of the traditional absolute
power of the Crown and " its full authority " ? Henry IH
was exasperated. It was an open secret that the States were
entirely under the control of a committee, which prepared the
motions, and included amongst others Henry of Guise, his
brother Cardinal Guise, Cardinal Bourbon, and d'fipinac. Arch-
bishop of Lyons. What were they all — and more especially
Guise — ^aiming at ? Clearly they wished to begin by reducing
the reigning monarch to a cypher in order to set him aside more
easily later on. As Henry III descended, Guise would ascend.
The words " Guisards " and " Royalists " became current
terms denoting opposite factions. Further extensions of power
were demanded for the Duke, and there was even some talk
of having him made Constable by a decree of the States and not
by the King — yet another revolutionary measure. Guise,
Murder o! surrounded by the States, who were devoted to
Guise pro- him, and by his own partisans, was practically
jected. master at Blois. At this juncture, the problem
in all its terrifying simplicity presented itself to the agonized
mind . of the King. One of his own subjects, nay more, a
foreigner, rising up against his lawful sovereign, had made
himself all-powerful in the State, and spurred on by an inordinate
ambition, was endeavouring to overthrow that sovereign, and
usurp his throne. As King, Henry III found himself face to
face with a rebel guilty of high treason ; as a man, he was
confronted by the murderer who wished to kill him. Once the
problem had been defined, the solution presented itself auto-
matically— it was necessary for the King to forestall him and
take action himself. The idea of a trial hardly entered his
thoughts. " I might have appointed judges ! " he exclaimed
later in answer to one of the Presidents of Paris, who made the
suggestion. " Where, pray, was I to find them ? " And,
indeed, almost the whole of France was on the side of the
League. Before making up his mind to strike the blow Henry
III consulted his faithful friends — d*Aumont, Rambouillet,
s 278
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
d'Angennes, d'Ornano and Beauvais-Nangis. With hardly a
dissentient voice they declared he must not hesitate. The
occasion was unique. Guise was at Blois, in the King's hands.
It would be easy to take him by surprise. They recalled his
threatening speeches and the provocation he had given. It
would be best to put an end to it all. A step taken by the
Duke himself precipitated the catastrophe.
On Thursday, December 22, as Henry III was coming
away from Mass, he was followed by Guise, who demanded an
explanation from him. The Duke declared with animation
that he found himself the object of a growing antipathy on the
part of his Majesty, that all he said or did had an unfavourable
construction put upon it by the King, and that the situation,
under these circumstances was " intolerable." He had had
enough of it and wished to leave and send in his resignation
of the post of Generalissimo. Surprised by this outburst, the
King refused to accept the resignation. A stormy discussion
ensued ; Guise reiterated the tale of his grievances and renewed
his offer to retire. Henry III persisted in refusing it. The
interview lasted a long time, causing grave anxiety to those
who were following it at a distance without understanding what
was going on. But as soon as he got home the King felt con-
vinced that Guise " only wished to resign his office because the
States had promised to make him Constable." He was certain
that the Duke would flee. There was not a moment to be lost.
Henry III sent for Crillon, who was in conmiand of the regiment
of guards, and cross-questioned him. Crillon replied that he
was quite ready to kill Guise in a duel, if he were called upon
to do so, but not otherwise. Whereupon Loignac, the leader
of the forty-five gentlemen, assured the King that he might
count upon his men and that he would answer for them.
Henry III made his preparations with extraordinary cool-
ness and presence of mind. In the evening, after supper, he
Preparations ordered his coach for the following day at four
for the • o'clock, as if he meant to make an excursion,
murder. He commanded the council to attend a meeting
at six o'clock in the morning, and sent a special summons to
Guise, his brother the Cardinal, and the Archbishop of Lyons.
The forty-five were to be at the castle at five o'clock, and
274
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
Loignac was to choose out ten resolute feUows from among
them. At nine o'clock in the evening Monsieur de Larchant,
the captain of the guard, was ordered to station himself
with his men at seven o'clock in the morning on the grand
staircase, and to prevent anyone from ascending or descending
the stairs after the Duke of Guise had passed. He was also
to send a detachment to guard the stairs which led from the
Galerie des Cerfs to the King's old cabinet in the court. At
midnight Henry III went to bed in the Queen's room, after
having given du Halde, his valet, instructions to call him at
four o'clock.
At four o'clock in the morning du Halde accordingly came
and knocked at the door. " Who's there ? " demanded Madame
de Piolant, the woman of the bedchamber. " It is du Halde ;
tell the King that it is four o'clock." " The King and the
Queen are both asleep ! " — " Wake him up, then. He told
me to call him." Henry III had not closed his eyes. He
jumped to the foot of his bed. " Piolant," he called " here !
my boots, my gown, and my candle." And he went out into
his cabinet. The grand staircase at Blois leads on the second
storey to a guard-room on the left. Crossing this to come to
the fa9ade, which now overlooks the town, but formerly faced
the garden, we find on the right the Queen's apartments, which
extend as far as the great hall where the States-General used
to meet ; the first room is the bed-chamber ; on the left, three
rooms open into each other — the council-room, the largest of
the three, where the King took his meals ; the King's bed-
chamber or state room ; and the King's cabinet. Adjacent
to the state room, but looking into the court, was the King's
old cabinet, le cabinet vieil. The King found du Halde and de
Termes in his cabinet. The men who had been picked out
of the forty-five arrived one by one in the state-room and as
they came Henry III, followed by de Termes, who carried the
candle, led them by a secret stair to the floor above and shut
them up in little rooms which were supposed to have been
prepared for some Capuchin monks. At six o'clock the members
of the council arrived and took their seats in the council-chamber.
The King, thereupon, made the guardsmen he had shut up
come down into his state-room, telling them to make no noise,
275
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
in order not to awaken the Queen, his mother, who was sleeping
below. As soon as this was done he entered the council
chamber. Guise had not yet arrived. Henry III proceeded
to make a speech in which he ennumerated everything the
Duke had done for some years past to undermine his authority,
the insolence of that " ungrateful and disloyal soul," and his
audacity in coming to Paris on the eve of the barricades, in
spite of having been commanded not to do so. " And now,"
he continued, raising his voice, " in his unbridled ambition he
is on the eve of making an attempt against my Crown and my
life, so that he has reduced me to this extremity, that either
I must die or he must die not later than this very morning."
He had made up his mind to forestall his enemy, and he asked
the members of the council for their consent. Speechless
with surprise, they tamely acquiesced. Thereupon Henry III
returned to his ;;;tate-room and collecting those of the forty-five
who were there, he reminded them of all he had done for them,
how he had honoured them by attaching them to his person,
and how he had absolute confidence in thenL Never had he
refused them anything, but on the contrary, had'loaded them
with benefits. And now it was his turn to ask them a favour.
They must, of course, be aware of the violent conduct of the
Duke of Guise towards him — ^his insolence and the provocation
he had given. Matters had reached such a climax that at that
very moment his life and his Crown were in danger. And he
repeated the phrase : " I am reduced to this extremity, that
this very morning either he must die or I must die ! " Would
they consent to kill the Duke ? He spoke with great energy,
and with one voice the bullies declared that they were ready.
"Cap de Diou, Sire," one of them, named Sariac, exclaimed
in his Gascon dialect, '* I'll kill him for you ! " The band
consisted of eight men armed with daggers and their chief,
Loignac, who had a sword. They were hidden in the old
cabinet. It was arranged that Guise was to be called from
the council-chamber to the old cabinet on the pretext that
the King wished to speak to him, and that as he crossed the
state room he was to be executed. When all was ready
Henry III retired into his cabinet, the room next door, and
waited, walking up and down in feverish agitation,
276
I
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
Cardinal Guise and the Archbishop of Lyons had arrived
at the council. The Duke of Guise, who had spent the previous
Murder o! evening in agreeable company, had not gone to
Onise. bed till nearly three o'clock in the morning.
Various notes had been delivered to him bidding him beware.
He had merely shrugged his shoulders exclaiming: "There
would be no end to it if I paid attention to every warning. He
would never dare ! " At eight o'clock he awoke, and putting
on a suit of grey satin came to the council. As soon as he had
gone upstairs all the exits were guarded in accordance with the
King's instructions. He went in, saluted the council, said he
felt cold, and ordered the fire to be heaped up. He thereupon
said he would like something to eat, and some Brignoles plums
were brought to him. A Master of Requests was making a
report on some question of taxation. Monsieur de R6vol, the
usual gentleman in attendance, came in looking rather pale, and
whispered in the Duke's ear that the King wished to see him
in his old cabinet. Guise rose, slung his cloak over his left
arm, and putting down the plums on the table asked : " Who
would like some ? " Then picking up his gloves he added,
" Farewell, gentlemen ! " and passed through the state-room
door which Nambu, the usher, locked behind him. The nine
men who had been chosen from the forty-five were sitting
round the room. They rose as if in deference to the Duke.
Guise returned their salute, and went towards the door of the
old cabinet. He was stroking his beard with his hand, and was
only a couple of paces from the curtain over the doorway,
when, as the men 'were following him, he turned roimd to
see what they wanted. Whereupon one of them, Monsieur
de Montf^ry, seized him by the arm and stabbed him violently
in the breast. " Ah I " exclaimed the Duke, as he sprang
back hastily. But another man had already flung himself
upon him, and laid tight hold of his legs in order to prevent
him from moving, whilst all the rest rushed forward striking
at him. There was a horrible scuffle. In the room next
door, the coimsellors, hearing Guise's hoarse cry, had sprung
to their feet, pale to the lips, guessing what was taking place.
They heard the tramp of feet during the struggle, and the
heartrending appeals of the Duke — "Ah I . . . What treachery !
277
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
... Oh I my God I . . . Mercy ! " . . . Then followed the
dull thud of a heavy fall. Dragging along his assassins,
who clung to him, Guise had managed to stagger across
the room, and, mortally woimded, panting, and covered
with blood, had simk down beside the King's bed. "They
are killing my brother 1 " exclaimed Cardinal Guise hoarsely."
'Sdeath, sir, don't move," answered Marshal d'Aumont, roughly,
as he drew his sword, " the King will deal with you." Henry
III, informed that all was over, raised the curtain of his room
and with face convulsed, gazed upon the scene. Guise was in
his death agony. They searched him hurriedly ; he died in
a few minutes. An Oriental carpet was flung over his body ;
two great pools of blood stained the floor.
The King went downstairs to announce the sinister news
to his mother, who was ill at the time. " What have you
done ? " exclaimed Catherine de' Medici, wringing her hands
in terror. Then after a moment's silence she continued : *' God
grant you may benefit by it ! " Henry III answered firmly :
" Now, I alone am King ! " He was wrong, however. He was
King no more !
He then gave orders for the arrest of Cardinal Guise, the
Archbishop of Lyons, Elbeuf, Nemours, and Joinville, and
Murder of conmianded Cardinal Bourbon to be strictly
Cardinal Guise, guarded. His first intention had been merely
to imprison Cardinal Guise ; the following morning he changed
his mind and gave orders for his execution. But this time no
one could be found to carry out his commands, and he was
obliged to fall back upon three soldiers, who were prevailed
upon to kill the Cardinal with their halberds in a gaUery whither
he was summoned for the purpose.
The news of the tragedy that had been enacted at Blois
reached Paris on December 24, Christmas Eve, between three
and four o'clock in the evening. It produced an upheaval in
the city, and the streets were thronged with people crying:
" Murder I Fire ! Death and vengeance 1 " The council of
the Union met at once in the H6tel de Ville, appointed the Duke
of Aumale Governor of Paris, put the militia under arms, seized
the gates, and deliberated what course to pursue. After a
moment's stupor the whole of France was filled with rage
278
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
and hatred. No I Henry III was no longer King, the people
repeated, he was merely " Henry of Valois, sometime King of
France." He was nothing but " a murderer, an assassin, a
false heretic I " Violent pamphlets appeared, and the name
of the King was vilified, insulted, and dragged through the mud.
No King of France was ever treated as Henry III was treated
at this moment. His authority was virtually extinct. He
was "the tyrant." Sermons in the pulpits, couplets at the
cross-roads, lampoons and placards poured imprecations on his
head in unanimous chorus. Morally speaking, Henry III was
already deposed. He received anonymous letters announcing
that he himself would very shortly be executed ; he felt as if
his kingdom were crumbling to pieces around him.
Throughout the country rehgious ceremonies were held
for the repose of the souls of the victims of Blois, at which
funeral sermons were preached denouncing the murderer. The
Faculty of Theology in Paris announced at the Sor bonne " that
as the tyrant had fallen " no one was called upon to obey him.
Parliament was suspected of harbouring among its magistrates
certain *' politicians," dangerous and sinister people, *' the
enemies of the Catholic religion," amongst others the First
President de Harlay. He was accordingly sent to the Bastille
together with the Presidents Potier and de Thou and a number
of counsellors. Brisson was nominated First President and
M0I6 Procurator-General. A declaration was published in
which the League announced its intention of defending re-
ligion, avenging the death of the Guises judicially, and protecting
the States-General. And, indeed, a judicial commission ap-
pointed by the Parliament opened an inquiry. Some of its
depositions have been preserved. A herald who presented
himself on behalf of Henry III was soundly thrashed, and public
notice was given that the League refused to hold any com-
munication whatsoever with " Henry of Valois." Paris was
in a state of insurrection. The Sixteen wrote to all the towns
in the kingdom calling on them to judge in the case. Nearly
all pronounced in their favour — Rouen, Amiens, Chartres,
Rheims, Troyes, Angers, Marseilles, Le Mans and Toulouse.
In Bordeaux, Matignon remained loyal, but P^igueux and Agen
declared against the King. Lyons issued its manifesto on
279
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
February 24. The provincial governors in their turn followed
the example of the towns.
Henry III was beside himself, weeping and declaring that
*' he would think himself lucky if somebody had already killed
Despair of him." Only Blois, Tours, Saumur, Bordeaux,
Henry HI. and a few isolated spots remained to him. He
declared the States-General dissolved, and in order to explain
his conduct dispatched a proclamation throughout the country
which no one would even receive. In May a finishing stroke
in the form of a Bull from Rome arrived, in which Sixtus V
declared that if within ten days " Henry of Valois," as he
was called in the text, did not release Cardinal Bourbon and
the Archbishop of Lyons, he would be excommunicated ;
it summoned him to Rome to stand his trial for the blood
of Cardinal Guise criminally shed by him. This was the coup-
de-grdce. The whole of France regarded Henry III as ex-
communicated.
The Duke of Mayenne, who assumed the title of Lieutenant-
G^eneral, now found himself at the head of the League. He
convoked the States-General. In his pitiable state of distress
Henry III declared both him and d'Aumale to be felons and
called to his aid the ban and rear-ban of the kingdom — ^that
nobility, who in despair at the events which had taken place,
and humiliated by the demagogic excesses of Paris, at heart
still felt some remnant of loyalty for him, though they remained
silent and perplexed. In spite of the fact that he had no money
and that the taxes were not being paid, Henry III sent Monsieur
de Sancy to Switzerland to raise recruits for him. But, in the
midst of the universal hatred against him, whither was he him-
self to turn ? Would it be possible for him to hold out for
long at Blois ? At this Juncture his friend of old days upon
whom he had once heaped so many favours, d']^pernon,
hastened to him, and reviving the idea which he had always up-
held and which had been the cause of his disgrace, begged
Henry III to throw in his fortunes with those of his heir, the
King of Navarre. At this opportune moment, March 4, Henry
of Navarre published a declaration noble and lofty in tone,
in which he generously held out his hand to the fallen monarch.
" Misery, confusion, and want everywhere," he said, " such
280
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
are the fruits of war. I ask for peace in the name of us
all from my Lord, the King. I ask it for myself and for
every Frenchman — for France herself !" He begged the King
to pardon and to welcome those who might come and offer
him their allegiance. It was impossible to hesitate any longer,
and du Plessis-Mornay and Sully secretly came to Tours,
where Henry III was staying, to hold a consultation with him.
Henry m. '^^^ coalition was decided upon and a treaty
combines with signed defining the conditions. But hereupon
Henry of the whole kingdom exclaimed that " at last the
B^am. lying features of the arch-hypocrite of France
have been unveiled 1 " The '* tyrant " had put the coping-
stone to his " treacheries, perfidies, sacrilege, exactions, cruelties,
and deeds of shame ; " he had cast aside the mask and had
openly declared himself the defender of heresy.
The meeting between the two Kings took place on April
80, 1589, in the park of Plessis-les-Tours. Henry of Navarre,
that needy hero, arrived clad in a " doublet worn on the
shoulders and sides by the rubbing of his cuirass, velvet breeches
the colour of dead leaves, a scarlet cloak and a grey hat with
a large white plume — the costume of a soldier on campaign."
The throng of people was so great that the two sovereigns had
some difficulty in coming together. With deep emotion they
embraced each other, and Henry of Navarre even wept. He had
been warned against taking so dangerous a step, considering
the character of the man with whom he had to deal. But he
remained true to his purpose. " The ice has been broken,'*
he wrote that evening to du Plessis-Mornay, " I have crossed
the water after commending myself to God."
Under a leader so distinguished as Henry of B^rn the
conditions of the conflict assumed a very different aspect. A
March on nian of clear and resolute judgment, the King
Paris. of Navarre decided that all the troops that were
ready to hand should be collected at once to march straight
on Paris. The nobility, who, in spite of everything, had a
certain sympathy for him on account of his brilliant qualities,
and who now saw him at the side of the lawful King, gathered
round him. The Protestant forces had ralUed ; the march was
begun and vigorously led by Henry of Navarre. They won a
281
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
few successes in small skirmishes and met with no serious
opposition. On July 24 Pontoise was taken. On the 25th
Sancy joined them, bringing a reinforcement of 16,000 men
which he had succeeded in raising in Germany and Switzerland.
The royal army almost reached the imposing number of 42,000
men. On the 29th the bridge of Saint-Cloud was occupied and
the troops extended from this point to Vaugirard. Hope began
to revive. Noting the energetic measures of the two Kings,
the people of Paris became anxious and hesitated ; the mode-
rates held deliberations. On the 30th, Mayenne had 800
persons arrested in the hope of suppressing the threatened
reaction. But entrenchments had been begun ; the work
advanced apace. Henry of B6arn had decided to attempt
an assault on August 2, and his success seemed certain.
Mayenne, in despair, had already determined to make a
sortie from the town, and, rather than allow himself to be sur-
rounded and taken, to hurl himself upon the royal army in
the open country, when on the morning of August 1, a piece
of news was suddenly spread abroad which put an end to the
hopes of some and the fears of others : Henry III had been
assassinated !
In the midst of the passions that had been let loose and the
seething of an infuriated mob, one individual of distorted
Plan to intelligence had taken the curses hurled against
murder the tyrant King, the destroyer of religion, Uterally,
Henry HI. and, choosing as his example similar instances
described in the Old Testament, had thought he would ac-
comphsh a noble deed in ridding " the Church of God " of the
*' monster " who wished to ruin her. He was a Dominican
monk, or, as he was called, a Jacobin, of twenty-eight. The
idea had taken firm hold of his mind, iand he believed himself
to be a Jehu, or a Judith, a weapon designed by Providence
for the salvation of his people. Deterred by one last scruple
he had consulted doctors of theology with the object of ascer-
taining— the question, he said, had been put to him theoretically,
by a third party — whether one might without sin, assassinate
Henry of Valois, and whether if the King's murderer were
killed upon the spot, he would go to heaven. The doctors had
replied that, theologically speaking, if the miu*derer had in
282
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
view any personal interest or the satisfaction of a desire for
revenge, he would be guilty of a grave sin, but that if he acted
for the public good and the interests of religion, his deed would
be a meritorious one, *'and that there was no doubt that if
he died after having carried it out he would be saved and win
eternal bliss." Clement, accordingly, made his preparations ;
he fasted, prayed, and received the Sacrament. The announce-
ment that an assault was to be made decided him. After
some difficulty he obtained a letter of introduction to the
immediate circle of Henry III from a royalist prisoner confined
in Paris, the Count of Brienne. The King was staying at Saint-
Cloud in the house of Monsieur de Gondi, called "the red
house," which was situated on the hill a little above the town,
on the left in the direction of Meudon. Clement presented
himself at the outposts, and was taken to Monsieur la Guesle,
Procurator-General of the Parliament, who was close at hand.
He asked La Guesle to present him to the King on the pretext
that he wished to tell his Majesty of a certain plot that was
being hatched in Paris for delivering one of the gates of the
city into his hands. La Guesle cross-questioned the monk,
and, thinking that his story might, after all, be true, promised
to conduct him to the King on the following morning.
The next day, August 1, C16ment went to the " red house."
Here he waited an hoiur ; the King was getting up. Henry*s
Murder of retinue did not wish him to receive an unknown
Henry 111,1589. man m this way, but he replied that it would
produce a very bad impression if he refused an audience to a
priest and a monk. At eight o'clock the Dominican was shown
into his presence. In his loose white sleeve he carried a little
common knife. The King had on only his breeches and a
dressing-gown over his shoulders. Clement bowed before him
and presented his letter ; as the King perused it, he pretended
to be seeking for another paper in his sleeve ; and drawing
t)ut the knife with a swift, violent movement he plunged it
nto the King's belly. Henry III had guessed his intention,
and bent forward quickly to parry the blow. But it was too
jate. " Ah ! the wretch, he has killed me I " he exclaimed.
' Kill him I " The suite rushed at Clement, and hustled
dm into a corner of the room where he fell dead, riddled with
288
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
sword-thrusts. After bleeding copiously Henry III was carried
to bed, where his wound was dressed. He did not suffer
much. The physicians told him that it would be nothing ;
but Portail, the head surgeon, in probing the wound had
discovered that the intestine was pierced and knew that there
was no hope for the King. In the evening the wound
became inflamed, and fever accompanied by violent pains set
in. Henry III knew that all was over. But he was calm and
resigned. He embraced the King of Navarre and said : "I am
dying happy in the knowledge that you are by my side. The
Crown is yoiu-s. I command all the officers to recognize you
as King after me." Henry of Navarre kissed the hand of the
dying man, his eyes full of tears. The spectators, on their
knees, promised to do their sovereign's bidding, and turning
to Henry of B6arn the King added : " You will have many
troubles unless you make up your mind to change your religion.
I exhort you to do this ! " At midnight he became unconscious,
and at three o'clock in the morning he was dead.
Catherine de' Medici had preceded him to the grave.
Shocked beyond measure by the execution o! the Guises at
Death of Blois, she had afterwards had a scene with
Catherine de' Cardinal Bourbon. He had reproaciied her with
Medici, 1589. the events that had taken place, and had ex-
claimed : *' Ah ! Madam, this is your doing. It is yow who are
killing us all I " She had protested vehemently, saying that
she had had nothing whatever to do with the matter ; and then
she added : " I can bear no more. I must go to bed." She never
left it again. She died of pneumonia on January 5, 1589, at
the age of seventy. The public, absorbed in other mattters,
was quite indifferent to her death. " They paid no more h^jed
to it than they would have done to the death of a goat," anid
the Parisians declared that if her body were brought to Saint -
Denis they would throw it out into the gutter. Of the numerous
and brilliant family of Henry III no single prince remainc
and the Crown reverted to a heretic whom the majority
Frenchmen repudiated.
Sources. Same as for two preceding chapters, and : M6moit
due de Neoers, ed. Gomberville, 1665 ; Minwires d'Stat de Villeroy,
Mimmres de la lAgtie, 1758 ; Combes, Letlres inddites de Henri de (
284
THE CATHOLIC REACTION
de CaOierine de M^dicis et de Henri de Navarre, 1879 ; Henri IV, Tjcttres
missives, ed. Bcrger de Xivrey, 1843 ; Sully, JSconomies royales, ed. Michaud
and Poujoulat ; du Plessis-Momay, M&moires et correspondence, 1824 ;
Pierre de I'Estoile, Mimoircs-Joumaux, ed. G. Brunet, 1875 ; LeUres de
Busbecq, ambassadeur de fernpereur, in Cimbcr and Danjou, Archives
curieuses, vol. x ; H. Davila, Histoirc des guerres civiles de France, ed.
Mallet, 1757 ; Loutchizky, Docuvients inddits sur la R^forr/ie ct la Ligue,
1875 ; Dubois, La Ligue, documents relatifs d la Picardie, 1859 ; Docu-
ments historiques sur Vassassinat des due et cardinal de Guise, in Revue
retrospective, vol. iii and iv, 1884 ; Nicolas Poullain, Journal, in Cimbcr
and Danjou, Archives curieuses, vol. xi ; Diegerick and Miiller, Documents
concemarU les relations entre le due d'Anjou et les Pays-Bas, 1889.
Works. Same as for the preceding chapter, and : Marquis de Noailles,
Henri de Valois et la Pologne en 1572, 1867 ; M. W. Freer, Henry III,
King of France, his Court and Times, 1858 ; E. Fremy, Henri III p&nilcnt,
1885 ; Comte de Baillon, Histoire de Louise de Lorraine, 1884 ; E. Charlc-
ville, Les Stats g&niraux de 1576, 1901 ; V. de Chalambert, Histoire de la
Ligue, 1854 ; H. de I'fipinois, La Ligue et les papes, 1886 ; F. Decrue,
Le parti des politiques au lendemain de la Saint-BartMlemy, 1892 ; Robiquet,
Paris et la Ligue, 1886 ; B. Zeller, Le mouvement guisard en 1588, 1889 ;
A. (J^rard, La rdvolte et le siige de Paris (in Mem. de la Soc. de rkist. de
Paris, 1906) ; Baguenault de Puchesse, Les nigodaiions de Catherine de
Midicis d, Paris apris la joumie des barricades, 1903 ; Richard, Pierre
d'HpiruiCi archeveque de Lyon, 1901.
285
CHAPTER VIII
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
Henry IV's diflBculties (1589-1610) in obtaining recognition of
his title to the throne. The siege of Paris raised. Battle of Arques,
1589 ; fresh march against Paris and failure to capture the city.
Battle of Ivry, 1590. Renewed unsuccessful siege of Paris.
Henry IV seizes Chartres. Violence of the demagogic faction of
the Sixteen in Paris : execution of President Brisson, 1591.
Attempts at negotiation with Henry IV : Mayenne convokes the
States-General, 1593. Philip II's attempts to have his daughter
nominated Queen of France. Conference with Henry IV at
Suresnes. Recantation of Henry IV, 1593. His coronation at
Chartres, 1594. All parties enter into negotiations with him.
Surrender of Paris, 1594. The end of the League. Henry IV drives
out the Spaniards : Battle of Fontaine-Fran9aise, 1595. Peace of
Vervins, 1598. The end of war : Henry IV sets his kingdom in
order ; Sully ; the finances ; Assembly of Notables at Rouen, 1596 ;
agricultiure, commerce, public works, colonization. Religious
peace and the Edict of Nantes, 1598. Annulment of Henry IV's
first marriage and his ^liance with Marie de' Medici, 1600. The
case of Marshal de Biron, 1602. Scant popularity of Henry IV
during his lifetime. His assassination, 1610.
THERE was a moment of singular confusion in Monsieur
de Condi's " red house " at Saint-Cloud on the morning
of August 1, 1589, when the death of Henry III left the
nation to face the inevitable fact that France had a new King and
Henry IV., that this King was a Protestant. The prevailing
1589-1610. sentiment in the monarch's immediate circle,
which was chiefly composed of Catholics, was that of rage.
*' With cries and yells," said d'Aubing^, " they pulled down
their hats over their eyes or flung them to the ground, clenched
their fists, and with the airs of conspirators, shook each other
by the hand, and made vows and promises, the conclusion of
which was : rather would we die a thousand deaths ! " They
hardly knew Henry IV. D'O, d'Entraigues, and Chateauvieux
286
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
kept repeating that there was no one they would not have
preferred as master. On the night of the 2nd, the chief
Catholics of the Court met together to consider the situation.
A few of them, such as the Duke of Longueville, Baron de Givry,
and Monsieur de Rambouillet, were of opinion that as the
siege was in progress, it was necessary to recognize the King
of Navarre, and push on the attack upon Paris with the object
of avenging Henry III. The majority, however, were against
this, saying that it was impossible to take as their King a man
who was excommunicated. Henry of B^arn would never be
converted ; his vacillation in the past had conclusively proved
this. Finally, at the instigation of d'fipernon, it was decided
that a deputation should be sent to explain to Henry IV, that
if he would immediately abjure the Protestant faith, he should
be proclaimed without further delay.
The new King of France was a man of five-and-thirty, of
medium height, wiry, vigorous, and nervous, the most in-
Character of t^Higent of all the French Kings, endowed with
Henry IV. one of those lively and supple intellects which
see all the shades of a question and make prompt decisions.
In addition, he was witty, charming, simple in manners and
bearing, and an excellent soldier. He possessed too lofty a
conception of his own personal dignity and that of his position
to accept the terms offered him, though he was fully conscious
of his precarious situation. The army by which he was sur-
rounded contained barely 2000 Huguenots, encamped apart
at Meudon, the butt of the rest of the troops, who mockingly
dubbed them " the highwaymen." At the very first moment
he had despatched Biron to administer the oath of allegiance
to the Swiss, foreigners, mercenaries, and Protestants, who
would obey him. But outside these groups he had no supporters.
A few Catholics might follow him ; the rest might go ; he would
remain a King without a country, and a general without an
army. He was a proud man, and held his ground firmly
against the deputation which came to bid him be converted.
He answered with vehement emotion that they were holding
a knife at his throat and demanding from him an action that
would dishonour him. He promised to give the Catholics
every possible guarantee and was ready to receive instruction
287
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
by means of a national council. Let those who did not wish
to stay take their departure. *' My supporters among the
Catholics," he said nobly at the end of his speech, " will be those
who love France and who love honour I "
This determined attitude disconcerted the Catholic leaders,
and they held another meeting. What were they to do ?
Provisional Whom could they take as King ? The prince's
recognition scruples were certainly worthy of respect. Some
of Henry IV. one, thereupon, proposed that Henry IV should
be provisionally recognized, and given six months in which
to be converted ; a resolution to this effect was carried. Henry
IV accepted the terms. An agreement was signed on August
4, by which it was arranged that the King should be instructed,
that diuring the course of the six months he should summon a
national council, and that in the meanwhile no alteration should
be made in the position of the Catholics and the Huguenots
respectively. But was this really a solution ? Unfortunately,
a number of stubborn Catholics refused to accept the com-
promise. They collected their baggage and left the army, one
man taking his departure with the whole contingent under
his conunand — a body of 7000 men. And, on the other hand,
the Protestants, discouraged by the promises Henry IV had
just made, also retired. La Tremoille broke up his camp and
left with nine battalions. The royal army was thus thoroughly
disorganized, and Henry IV, who, to add to his misfortunes,
had no money, finding it impossible to carry on the siege,
retreated from the banks of the Seine and fell back in the
direction of Normandy.
The country received the agreement of Saint-Cloud with
mixed feelings. A minority accepted it, but the mass of the
people remained undecided, uncertain, and troubled, not willing
to go as far as the League, and yet refusing to submit to a heretic
King. The League regained confidence. It was no longer a
question of defending themselves against the possible accession
of a Reformer ; the heretic was actually King. " A second
rebellion,'* said Palma Cayet, " almost took place." Mayenne,
realizing that he could not himself lay claim to the Crown,
made up his mind to abide by the decision of the States-General
at Blois, and to proclaim Cardinal Bourbon King with the title
288
I
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
of Charles X. Cardinal Bourbon was shut up in the Chltteau
Cardinal ^^ Loches. He let Mayenne proceed and wrote
Bourbon pro- to Vergn^es : " I have embarked on the enterprise
claimed King, and nobody knows why. They (the League)
have a grudge against the House of Bourbon. As long as I
side with them they will be obliged to recognize the Bourbons.
Meanwhile, the King of Navarre, my nephew, will make his
own way. What I am doing is merely to preserve my nephew's
rights." The Cardinal was a wise man. Notification of the
accession of Charles X was sent to all the towns in France,
and Mayenne assumed the title of Lieutenant-General of the
kingdom.
Fortified by the knowledge of his rights and p)enetrated by
a sense of duty, inspired, not by any personal ambition, but by
a strong and admirable conviction of what he owed to France,
Henry IV realized that he would have to conquer his kingdom
step by step. He made up his mind to the task. He had
10,000 men at his disposal, and with them he marched upon
Rouen. The fall of that important town would have had a
considerable effect. Mayenne hastened from Paris with a much
more powerful army to force him to raise the siege. As it
was impossible to await him in such a disadvantageous position
Henry IV retreated towards Dieppe. Wherever he went he
was cordial and afTable to all. " I want no ceremony, my
children," he remarked on entering Dieppe, *' but your friend-
ship, and good bread, good wine, and kind, hospitable faces."
He entrenched himself strongly at Arques, whither Mayenne
came with 32,000 men to attack him. For twelve days, the
army of the League endeavoured to force the lines of the
Battle of Royalists in spite of the cannon of Arques and
Arques, 1589. Dieppe. At last on September 21, they thought
they had succeeded. A breach had been made in the en-
trenchments through which they poured in. Henry IV, how-
ever, collecting his soldiers, threw them against the enemy so
vigorously that the latter was obliged to give way after suffering
severe losses. Mayenne tried to turn the tables, but failed ;
whereupon he gave up the enterprise in disgust and went
away.
This success at Arques produced an extremely favourable
m 28d
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
impression. Supporters hastened to Henry IV's side, and
Longueville with his troops joined him. He received everybody
with smiling cordiality. In a short time, he fomid, to his
surprise, that he had mustered a force of some 28,000 men about
him. They were miserably equipped, it is true, and in rags,
but they were fairly well in hand and confident of success.
Few French generals before Henry IV were more clear-headed
and resolute than he. He immediately made up his mind to
march to Paris, " the bull's-eye of the target," as he called it.
He was fully aware that if he held Paris the rest would follow.
On November 1 he attempted an assault on the city at three
different points on the left bank, more particularly at the
Porte de Nesle. Unfortunately for him, however, the League
made a strong defence and repulsed him. The news that
Mayenne was advancing swiftly against him made him fall
back, and, not wishing to be caught between two fires, he
retreated to Tours. Still attracted by the ** target," however,
he soon set out again, and occupied Le Mans, Alen9on, Falaise,
and Honfleur, always hovering round Paris. He went about
gaily, full of energy, and was popular with his soldiers on account
of his brilliant and thoroughly French qualities. He called
himself " a King without a country, a soldier without money,
a husband without a wife " (owing to incompatibility of tem-
permanent and mutual infidelity, Henry IV and Margaret of
Valois had long been separated). In that quick incisive style,
which makes him one of the great writers of France he ordered :
" To horse, Fervagues, I want to see at once of what feather
are the geese of Normandy. Come straight to Alen^on."
People followed readily. Meanwhile the situation of his enemies
was becoming more and more complex.
In Paris, Mayenne's cause was far from prosperous. The
tyranny of the faction controlled by the Sixteen was increasing.
Mayenne's Exasperated by their humiliating and demagogic
difficulties. conduct, the nobility had adopted the attitude
of holding aloof, more especially as they were attracted by
secret feelings of sympathy for a gallant soldier like Henry IV.
Mayenne, deprived of the swords of the nobility, was obliged
to get troops where he could, that is to say, from abroad. Now
the foreign country where these were most plentiful was
29Q
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
Spain. The King of Spain was still keeping a watchful eye
on events in France. He had conceived the extraordinary
idea, not merely of profiting by her troubles in order to
lay hands on certain portions of territory, but actually of
seizing France and turning it into a province of his vast
empire. He had accordingly charged his ambassador, Mendoza,
to offer Mayenne all the troops and money he required on
condition that he made a treaty recognizing Philip II as " Pro-
tector of the State and of the religion of the kingdom of France.'*
This was the first step. Mayenne, who was in sore need of help,
hesitated. But Villeroy persuaded him not to accept Philip's
offers. One of Henry Ill's old ministers, who had entered
public life at the age of eighteen under Catherine de' Medici,
and had quickly risen to the position of Secretary of State,
Monsieur de Villeroy had been dismissed by Henry III on the
eve of the assassination of the Guises, and had thrown in his
lot with the League. He was a man of vast experience, ex-
tremely calm and deliberate, with a clear mind, and endowed
with skill and plenty of good sense and judgment. He was
destined to be minister under Henry IV and Louis XIII, and to
die at the age of seventy-four, having served for fifty-six years
under five Kings in succession. It was his secret aim to arrange
a definite understanding between Henry IV and the League —
an understanding of which he would be the author. He offered
a vigorous opposition to the Spanish pretensions. *' It would
be absolutely disgraceful," he said, " even to lend an ear to
such proposals, which are only directed towards a usurpation
of the State and its destruction." Public opinion would never
tolerate them and they would be the undoing of Mayenne.
Mayenne, thereupon, declined the offers. But he was now
holding out without any forces to support him. News was
arriving that, encouraged by the impotence of France, foreigners
were preparing to invade her territories — that the Duke of
Lorraine proposed to occupy the Three Bishoprics, and the
Duke of Savoy, Provence and Dauphiny. Ever3i;hing was
going wrong. But in his distress Mayenne at length found an
ally in the Pope. Sixtus V had sent Caietano to Paris as Legate
Extraordinary to study the situation, and Caietano had pro-
nounced in favour of the League, declaring that the idea of
2^1
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
recognizing Henry IV, who was a heretic and excommunicated,
could not be discussed for a moment. In the name of the Pope
he forbade a national council to be summoned for the conversion
of the King of Navarre, on the ground that it was quite un-
necessary for the King of Navarre to have the assistance of a
national council in order to be converted. He also provided
Mayenne with money. Strengthened by this moral support
and assisted by this subsidy, Mayenne left Paris and marched
against Henry IV, hoping to reduce him by force of
arms.
Henry IV had retreated towards Dreux, to which he laid
siege. He had at this moment an army of 11,000 men including
3000 cavalry. The army of the League amounted to 16,000.
At the approach of this force, which outnumbered his own,
the King decamped from Dreux and descended the valley of
the Eure. Mayenne followed cautiously. Then, suddenly,
Henry IV made up his mind to attack his adversary. Ow
Battle o! March 14, 1590, he arranged his army on the plain
Ivry, 1590. of Ivry with six cannon in the centre surrounded
by cavalry and flanked by companies of infantry. His own
battered helmet adorned, according to du Bartas, " with a horrible
plume " he galloped along the front of his troops, who were miser-
ably clad and poorly armed, repeating the famous words :
*' Rally round my white plume ; you will always find it on the road
to honour and victory ! '* Mayenne would have preferred not
to fight, but he was obliged to accept the encounter. After a
few cannon shots his cavalry broke up. Their retreat was
badly managed, however, for the horsemen, fleeing in haste,
hustled each other, and confusion prevailed. The King of
Navarre seized the opportunity to charge right through them,
and carried along by his vigorous onslaught, his cavalry
wrought havoc in the enemy's lines. Henry IV fought like
an ordinary carabineer, bravely and heroically. Galvanized
by his example his men followed him shouting, " Long live
the King ! " As soon as the cavalry was beaten they
hurled themselves upon the infantry. The Swiss contingents
belonging to the League laid down their arms, and Mayenne,
seeing that the battle was lost, took to flight, leaving 6000 men
and eighty standards on the field. " God has shown," Henry
292
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
IV wrote that evening, " that he loves right better than might."
He invited all the chiefs of the victorious army to dinner at the
Ch&teau de Rosny.
Having beaten the enemy, Henry IV, ever faithful to his
goal, turned towards Paris. Unfortunately, the impracticable
Siege o! Paris condition of the roads made the march of his
renewed. army slow, and want of money obliged him to
remain a fortnight at Mantes in order to reorganize his forces.
It was only in April that he was able to begin the investiture
of Paris by occupying Charenton, the Buttes-Chaumont, and
Montmartre. Mayenne had left for Picardy in order to raise
an army, leaving Paris under the charge of his brother, the Duke
of Nemours, a young man of two-and-twenty, an extremely
active and intelligent youth. He took advantage of the fort-
night's respite which Henry IV's delay at Mantes gave him
to prepare for the siege. The city was very badly equipped.
It had neither provisions nor ammunition, the ramparts were in
ruins, and there was but one moimted cannon, the rest having
been removed for use on campaign. He had provisions brought
in, strengthened the walls, obliging everybody, workmen and
citizens ahke, to lend a hand ; and made ready to receive
the attack. The organized militia, it was said, gave him
50,000 men. Henry IV had only 18,000, and not daring to
attempt a capture by assault, he tried to starve out the garri-
son. All the exits of the city were guarded and the roads
occupied. Not a single waggon was allowed to pass the roads,
nor a boat to navigate the Seine. In time, it was hoped, success
would crown his efforts. On May 9, the news arrived that
Cardinal .Bourbon was dead. Mayenne sent word to say
that this event made no difference, that he was still Lieutenant-
General of the kingdom, and that the States-General would
decide the question of a successor. The beleaguered capital
continued to hold out. In order to keep up the spirits of the
inmates grand processions were organized. A solemn one was
held on May 14, in which the Papal Legate, three bishops and
all the clergy and authorities joined. A yet more extra-
ordinary exhibition took place later, when some 1800 priests,
monks, friars, and students, wearing breastplates and helmets,
with muskets on their shoulders, marched through the streets.
293
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
The upper middle classes who were favourable to Henry IV
afterwards derided these demonstrations.
But the days were sUpping by. Provisions began to run
short and prices were raised. Well-to-do people sold their
plate. Finally, to avoid reproach, the Papal Legate gave a
sum of 50,000 crowns and all his own plate for the benefit of
the poor. He also allowed Church vessels to be pawned. The
ambassador, Mendoza, talked of advancing 120 crowns a day ;
and princes, communities, and people of importance subscribed
to aid the sufferers. In the streets " huge caldrons of soup "
were to be seen from which the destitute were fed. What
was Mayenne doing all this time ? Why did he not come
to the help of the city ? Mayenne in despair was trying
to collect troops in Pica^^y, where he only succeeded in
raising 3000 or 4000 men. He begged Spain to help him. But
Spain, now assuming a haughty attitude, insisted upon his
first delivering up some* towns in Picardy. This Mayenne
refused to do. He appealed to Alessandro Farnese, the Grovernor
of the Netherlands, a less harsh and grasping man than PhiUp.
The Duke at first objected that he had not yet completed the
conquest of the Netherlands, but he nevertheless consented to
send a contingent of troops. As a precaution Mayenne hastened
to garrison the towns of Picardy, the gates of which were kept
carefully closed. Farnese, indeed> talked of coming to France
himself.
Mayenne advanced towards Paris with the Spanish con-
tingent, and Henry IV, accompanied by a few detachments,
marched to meet him. Somewhat alarmed, Mayenne took
refuge behind the walls of Laon. The King of France left him
there and retiu-ned to the beleaguered city. He felt more
confident than ever. From all sides recruits, both numerous
and important, were flocking to his standard, saluting him as
the King of to-morrow on the eve of victory. They included
Chatillon, La Tr^moille, Conti, the Duke of Nevers, and their
followers. He now had 23,000 men at his disposal. On July
7, 1590, he took Saint-Denis ; on the 24th he attempted a
general assault on Paris by night at about two o'clock in the
morning. It was unsuccessful, but it had the effect of drawing
the blockade closer. In the city provisions became gradually
294
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
scarcer and scarcer. Famine was staring people in the face,
and they were eating dogs, cats, and rats, after having lived on
Horrors of a wash of oatmeal and water. Butter was sold at
the siege. three crowns a pound instead of twopence-half-
penny ; eggs, if there were any at all to be had, were sixpence
a piece. In three months 1800 people died of want. Miserable
wretches were to be seen devouring raw remains and the entrails
of animals out of the gutters ; it was even said that there were
cases of cannibalism. Moved by pity at the description of
these horrors, Henry IV is said to have allowed provisions to
be sold to a few people of rank, and permitted many poor persons
to leave the city. Meanwhile public opinion in Paris began to
be exasperated by all this misery. Crowds collected demanding
" bread or peace." Violent manifestations took place, and so
lively a pressure was brought to bear upon the Duke of Nemours
that he was obliged in terror to ask the Bishop of Paris to see
Henry IV and discover what conditions he would accept. The
King of France demanded the submission of Paris, pure and
simple ; but, allowing his feelings of pity to get the better of
him, he granted a week's respite during which the women and .
children were allowed to leave Paris. This concession proved
his undoing, for during this interval, the Duke of Parma kept
his word, and joined Mayenne at Meaux on August 23, with a
force of 13,000 men. The Duke of Nemours, informed of this,
took measures to hold out, whilst the army of the League, now
23,000 strong, one-third French and the rest foreigners, a well
disciplined, well armed and well equipped force, followed by
1500 waggons stocked with provisions, was hurrying towards
the place it was to relieve. The struggle became impossible
for Henry IV, who was caught between two fires ; his soldiers
were worn out and the nobles were anxious to return home.
He himself, as usual, was short of money and was living on
Siege of Paris loans. He raised the siege, dismissed his volun-
raised. teers, and contented himself with distributing
his companies of infantry and cavalry in the various garrisons
round about Paris behind the shelter of solid walls, so that the
League's sphere of power might at least be kept within bounds.
This was a serious check. The Papal Legate had a solenm
Tt Deum of thanksgiving sung. Mayenne congratulated
295
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
himself. His joy, however, was destined to be but short-Uved.
Once the siege had been raised, the Duke of Parma, declaring
that he had come for that purpose alone, took his departure
and began to make his way back to the Netherlands. Mean-
while, the indefatigable Henry IV, far from losing heart, was
returning to his campaign with more energy than ever. His
plan of action was to harass the capital, with the support of
the garrisons belonging to him, and thus prepare the way for
a fresh investment, and starve out the city once more. He
consequently kept hovering about *' Uke a bird of prey,'*
blockading roads and stopping the entry of provisions. He
reinforced his garrisons, raised loans in Italy, and begging all
his partisans to join him, laid siege to Chartres, which he took
Capture of at the end of a month. Mayenne, in great anxiety,
Chartres. begged for and obtained a reinforcement of 4000
soldiers from Spain.
More clearly than ever did Henry IV realize that he would
only win his kingdom by forcibly laying hold of it. Dieu et
mon droit, he kept repeating. This was his motto, and he be-
Ueved in it. In vain did Rome hurl her thunderbolts against
him. Pope Sixtus V had been succeeded by Gregory XIV,
who, in a brief, dated February 1591, had conmianded his
Legate, Philip Sega, Caietano's successor, to forbid the French
bishops to recognize Henry IV, and summoned the King's
Catholic partisans to withdraw their allegiance on pain of
excommunication. This was a heavy blow. His Catholic
supporters had begged the King of France to make up his mind
to recant, and his whole family had supported this request.
Vendome and Soissons had pointed out that he would lose the
crown for the House of Bourbon and the moderates added
their voices to the general chorus, in the name of reason, common
sense, and prudence. Henry IV, greatly irritated, had resisted
their demands, telling his relatives to hold their peace, and
protesting hotly against the interference of the Pope in political
questions that did not concern him. At his instigation protests
were made by the Royalist ParUaments, who remained true
to the old Gallican traditions, and even by a small assembly
of nine archbishops and bishops. The French clergy were
extremely anxious, divided, and uncertain.
296
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
Landriano, a fresh legate, who was sent to Paris, advised
Mayenne to settle the matter by summoning the States-Gteneral
and having a King elected. But the time was not ripe for
this. The King of Spain and his ambitious designs excited
suspicion ; elections, in a country so divided in opinion, were no
easy matter ; nor was it feasible to get the deputies to Paris.
All Mayenne's counsellors, including Villeroy and Jeannin,
advised him to give an evasive reply. He accordingly dechned
to act, utterly at a loss what course to pursue.
The Sixteen thereupon attributed this irresolute attitude
to the growing influence of the moderate party ; and there was
Violence of an outburst of anger against the " politicians." The
the Sixteen. more ardent imperatively demanded that measures
should be taken against the moderates in order to secure the
safety of the cause. They insisted upon expulsions, arrests,
and even the use of the harshest measures. Lists were issued,
called red papers, containing the names of suspects, with letters^
against them — p. d. or o. {pendu, dagtU, or chassi, hanged,
stabbed, 6r exiled). Amongst those most seriously menaced
were members of the Parliament, calm and sedate adminis-
trators of justice, who were indignant at the demagogic
transports of excited persons, for the most part of low birth,
vulgar, brutal people who set themselves up to be masters of
Paris, and tried to lay down the law for everybody. An in-
cident occurred which made the bolt fall. The procurator
royal at the H6tel de Ville, a certain Brigard, was caught in
the act of sending a letter to Saint-Denis, to the enemy's camp.
It was couched in enigmatical terms, but was thought to contain
the proofs of his treachery. He was arrested. The extremists
demanded his trial ; but the Parliament, regarding the charge
as non-proven, acquitted him. The indignation of the violent
Execution of spirits was unbounded, and they vented it chiefly
Brisson, 1591. on the President, Brisson, a somewhat feeble and
complaisant individual, the victim of his own vacillation. *' I
feel I am drowning," he said. *' I should Uke to save myself
and reach some landing-place, but I am unable to do so and
am carried away by the strength of the current." On November
16, 1591, as he was on his way to the Parliament, he, together
with the counsellors Tardif and Larcher, was stopped by a
297
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
band of zealots and conducted to the prisons of the Petit
Chatelet. Here he was brought before a sort of judicial board,
over which one of the Sixteen presided ; and after a farce of
a trial was hanged with the two counsellors from the beam of
one of the rooms in the Chatelet. These sunmiary executions
produced a profound impression. Parliament declared that
the administration of justice had been taken out of its hands,
and begged Mayenne, who was away from Paris at the time,
to come back and put a stop to the bloodthirsty fury of an
intolerable oligarchy. Mayenne hastened to the city with
3000 cavalry, and seized fourteen of the ring-leaders, among
them those who had been responsible for the execution of the
magistrates. He had four of them hanged from the rafters
of the great guard-room at the Louvre, and the rest cast into
prison. Their accomplices fled. With one energetic blow he
had punished the outrage they had committed ; but the situa-
tion remained as gloomy as before. He still stood irresolute
between the extremists and the moderate party, unable, un-
willing, or afraid to express his wishes clearly.
Henry IV was constantly in the saddle, galloping and laying
about him. "I am making good progress," he wrote, " I go
A fruitless wherever God leads me, for I know not where I
campaign, 1591. shall end." He conceived the idea of capturing
Rouen, which was defended by Villars Brancas, a member of
the League. On November 11, 1591, his lieutenant, Biron,
began the siege. Mayenne again appealed to the Duke of
Parma, who consented to come to his aid with 25,000 men.
The season was bad. It rained and snowed, and the country
was broken up. The two armies skirmished continuously, the
Royalist forces taking shelter behind entrenchments. Nothing
decisive occurred. After some time the two adversaries each
went his way. Farnese returned home, and Henry IV, whose
army, composed half of Huguenots and half of Catholics, always
quarrelling with each other, was worn out and famished, dis-
missed the main body of his troops, and set himself to harassing
the retreating Spaniards with the help of a few intrepid and
faithful followers. The campaign had been fruitless, and
matters had not advanced a single step.
In this state of general uncertainty, Villeroy thought it
298
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
might be possible to come to a solution by negotiation with
Henry IV on the one hand, and by summoning the States-
Attempts at General on the other. If only the King of
negotiation. Navarre could be brought to understand that his
conversion was the one possible way of escape from the con-
flict 1 Mayenne let him have his way, and Villeroy had an
interview with du Plessis Mornay and Henry IV. He was
insistent, and pressed his case home. The League, he said,
was about to find itself involved in very unacceptable preten-
sions on the part of Spain. A choice had to be made. Every
day Henry IV was besieged by similar arguments from his
Catholic supporters, whilst even a few Protestants, hke his
faithful friend Rosny, afterwards Duke of Sully, ended by
acknowledging that the only way out of the difficulties seemed
to be a recantation. Henry IV accordingly decided to send
the Marquis of Pisani and Cardinal Gondi to Rome to negotiate
with the Pope. Was he wavering ?
In Paris the news of Villeroy's mission produced a con-
siderable agitation, resulting in the strengthening of moderate
ideas. Public opinion was gradually veering towards tlie
solution it felt to be inevitable. Moreover, the arrival of the
Spanish troops, the foreigners, had upset the people. The
moderate party, headed by a certain d'Aubray, an ex-Provost
of the Merchants, grew bolder. They won over the Parisian
militia, thirteen out of sixteen of whose colonels were already
on their side, as well as the commandants and a number of
captains. They proposed that an exhortation (semonce) should
be presented to Kang Henry asking him to be converted. The
party was accordingly dubbed the "exhorters" {semonnetix).
After having been overwhelmed by the extremists, Mayenne
was now overwhelmed by the moderates, so little did he com-
mand the situation. The truth was that he wanted the crown
himself ; but caught in the toils between the dangerous am-
bitions of Spain, the extremists, the moderates, and the supporters
of Henry IV, and feeling that his own candidature was not
even admissible, he was uncertain as to the course which would
best further his own interests. In this state of indecision he
convoked the States-General. They might perhaps be able
to hold the " exhorters " and the extremists in cheek, and give
299
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
time for deliberation. From Rome the news came that the
Pope had refused to receive the King of Navarre's envoys.
The States-General, sunmioned to meet in Paris, assembled
on January 26, 1593. They could hardly be called " General.'*
The States- A large number of provinces had refused to send
General of 1593.deputies, and many had found it impossible to
reach Paris owing to the dangers of the journey. There were
barely 128 representatives : forty-nine ecclesiastics, twenty-four
nobles and fifty-five members of the Third Estate ; whereas
the States which had met at Blois had consisted of 505 deputies.
It was the ghost of a parliament. The Satyre Menippie covered
it with ridicule, but it deserves a better reputation than it
possesses ; for it showed judgment, moderation, dignity and
patriotism in peculiarly difficult circumstances.
Mayenne presided over the opening session in the Louvre,
sitting under a royal canopy of cloth of gold, as if to prepare
the minds of the assembly for his election. He explained that
the States had been summoned in order to nominate a Catholic
King of France. But unfortunately for Mayenne nobody took
his candidature seriously, a fact which embarrassed him, and
made his address vague and devoid of character. The envoy
of the King of Spain was seated in one of the tribunes, and the
Papal Legate was also present. In the first place it was pro-
posed to open negotiations with Henry IV, with a view to
examining the situation. The Legate then spoke and opposed
the suggested conferences. The States, irritated by this
interference, voted in favour of the conferencies. In the end
they even refused to hold their debates in the presence of the
Pope's envoy. The feeling that obsessed all minds was the
fear of Spain. They stood in need of her help — ^her money
and her soldiers. She was sending yet another contingent
of 5000 men under the command of the Count of Mansfeld.
But her pretensions were disconcerting. It had been known
Philip n's ever since the battle of Ivry, that PhiHp II's
pretensions. dream was to be elected King of France.
France would thus become a province of his Empire. The
privileges to be accorded her would certainly be appreciable :
municipal freedom, the regular convocation of the States -
General, which would have passed laws and voted taxes, the
300
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
exclusive nomination of Frenchmen to official posts — in short
a broad and intelligent autonomy. Many men in France had
admitted the possibility of this combination, and committees
had been formed to defend the idea, adding the stipulation that
France should be allowed free trade with the Spanish colonies.
But on reflection Philip II had renounced this plan and turned
to another scheme. As he himself had married a sister of the
last three Valois, he considered that his daughter, Isabella
Clara Eugenia, as a descendant of Henry II, might claim the
vacant throne of France. The Salic law, it was true, precluded
this, that famous Salic law which everybody talked about,
though no one could quote the text bearing on the succession
to the throne — a text, as a matter of fact, which was non-
existent. The Salic Law could be set aside. This was the
candidature which the States expected to have presented to
them under the most embarrassing political conditions. The
Duke of Feria was sent from Spain as ambassador extraordinary
to follow the proceedings. Mayenne had an interview with
him at Soissons, when he renewed his demand for troops. Feria
was somewhat curt with him; he offered, if Mayenne would
accept the King of Spain's proposals, to make him Lieutenant-
General of the kingdom and Governor of Burgundy and Picardy.
Mayenne answered evasively, saying that he would refer the
matter to the States. The ambassador retorted with con-
siderable vivacity and the discussion became heated, Mayenne
even going so far as to tell Feria that the French would not
be treated like the Indians.
Feria came to Paris and attended the assembly of the States,
where he was given an official reception on April 2, 1593. He
made a long speech, in which he dwelt on all the King of Spain
had done and was doing for the Catholic cause, but confined
himself to concluding that it was high time that the States
elected a king. Their attention, however, at this moment was
occupied by the conferences with Henry IV, the principle of ,
The Con- which had been adopted. These conferences were
ferences of being held at Suresnes. The League was re-
Suresnes. presented by Villeroy, Jeannin and d'Epinac,
Archbishop of Lyons ; the Royalists by de Thou, Schomberg,
and Regnault de Beaune, Archbishop of Bourges. They were
801
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
inaugurated under excellent conditions, for on the eve of their
first meeting, Henry IV, in conversation with the Superintendent
d'O and the Archbishop of Bourges, had confessed that he
certainly saw no solution of the dilemma with which they were
grappling save to turn CathoUc. The vital word had been
spoken. If the League, argued Henry IV, appointed a
King, an interminable struggle would begin against the new
monarch. It was obvious that France would not acknowledge
a Protestant sovereign at any price, and under these circum-
stances it would perhaps be best for him to yield. These
confidential remarks, which were repeated at Suresnes, greatly
facilitated the task of the negotiators. They began by deciding
upon an armistice of ten days, the news of which was received
with great joy in Paris as foreshadowing a possible speedy
conclusion of peace. The extremists had the ground cut from
beneath them. When they were asked what they would do
if the King of Navarre were converted, they replied that they
would await a decision from Rome. But the possibility of his
recantation disconcerted them.
No one was more embarrassed than Mayenne, whose per-
sonal interests were inextricably involved ! He maintained an
enigmatic attitude. "Nobody," wrote Estoile, "can discover
what part the Duke of Mayenne is playing. He is a mystery
to all." He confined himself to saying that he would always
defend the interests of Catholicism — a vague declaration !
The Spaniards, partly from insolence and partly from igno-
rance, kept demanding the election of a king of France ;
and finally officially proposed the candidature of the Infanta
Isabella Clara Eugenia. " The abscess of the King of Spain's
ambition has burst at last 1 " people exclaimed. The Salic
Law was invoked, and the Parliament protested vigorously
in the name of the fundamental laws of the land. The am-
bassadors wrote memoranda answering these objections, and
one of their theologians came to the States and explained to
them that there was nothing to prevent the proposed election.
The States listened in silence. The Spanish ambassador,
thereupon, boldly called upon them to proceed to the election
of the Infanta Isabella as Queen of France in her own right,
and even went so far as to add that the princess would prob-
802
I N T E RNAL PEA C E, _ H E N R Y IV
ably marry an Austrian Archduke, the Archduke Ernest, who
did not know French perhaps, but who would certainly learn
it. To this proposal the States refused to give their consent :
the plan presented to them was contrary to the " laws and
ordinances of France." Maycnne then suggested that the
States should elect a king who should marry the Infanta. This
proposal seemed to meet with a certain amount of favour, and
the Spanish envoys said they would accept it, on condition
that Isabella was recognized as Queen in her own right, and
that PhiUp II chose his daughter's husband. The States
retorted that they must first know the name of the husband
in question. It was clear that they were merely trying to
gain time whilst awaiting the result of the conferences at
Suresnes.
Public opinion was slowly turning in the direction of Henry
IV and demanding peace. Petitions were signed, and Villeroy
Opposition to deliberately abandoned the League and went over
Spanish to the King of France. Many others followed
demands. his example, and all were graciously received by
Henry IV. The Parliament issued decree after decree against
the Spanish demands, declaring them contrary to public law,
and Le Maistre, the President, maintained that as the States
were not represented in their full numbers, they were not
qualified to make any fundamental change in the laws of the
land. The States thereupon decided to tell the Spaniards that
after due reflection they had come to the conclusion that the
moment was unfavourable, and that they could not proceed
to the election of a King wh'om the League was not in a position
to defend. Philip II's ambassadors then retreated step by
step, sajdng that they would accept the candidature of the
Duke of Guise, and proposing a marriage between that prince
and the Infanta. But the Duke of Guise was unwilling to
accept a position which he could not maintain ; he refused.
To the demands for money and soldiers which they received
from all quarters, the Spaniards returned evasive replies, with
the result that they were reproached with trying to back out
of their agreements, and taunted with being unable to give
anything. " There is not a single person," Mendoza wrote to
Spain, " who does not cast it in our teeth that we lack every-
808
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
thing." Mayenne seized the opportunity to propose a truce
with Henry IV.
The forthcoming conversion of the King of France was
awaited and counted upon by everybody ; it went forward
Recantation apace. In July, 1598, Henry IV had a con-
of Henry IV, ference with the bishops at Saint-Denis, to discuss
1593. certain religious questions that occupied his mind.
The conference lasted five hours and was extremely lively.
The theologians were obliged to pass over certain points to which
they could not get the King to agree — ^the doctrine of Purgatory,
for example, the worship of the Saints, which Henry IV re-
garded as "an absurdity," and the authority of the Pope. He
gave way, apparently without much faith in the things he was
told. " You do not fully persuade me," he kept repeating.
" I am not as satisfied as I could wish to be. But to-day I
put my soul in your hands. I pray you take care of it ; for
wherever you make me enter I shall leave only by the gate
of death — ^that I promise and vow to you." And so saying
he wept. He was sincere though he was not firmly convinced.
The Protestants of France, who still doubted his conversion,
were fasting and praying '* that it might please God to grant
their King constancy of purpose." He was made to sign a
formal act of recantation. On July 23, he wrote to his mistress
Gabrielle d'Estrees, half jestingly, half anxiously, " On Sunday
I shall make the perilous plunge." He was taking this step
not from any personal ambition but for the good of the State.
The solemn recantation took place on July 25 at Saint-Denis,
under the great porch of the Abbey Church, in the midst of a
vast concourse of spectators. Henry IV was dressed entirely
in white, and was sm-rounded by princes, nobles. Crown officials
and guards with drums beating. Sitting on a chair covered
with white damask the Archbishop of Bourges awaited him,
supported by about ten bishops and the monks from the mon-
astery. " Who are you ? " asked the prelate. *' I am the
King." " What is it you ask ? " "I ask to be received into
the bosom of the Church." " Do you really desire this ? "
*' Yes, I wish and desire it." Henry IV then knelt down and
read his profession of faith. " I promise and vow before the
face of Almighty God to Uve and die in the Catholic religion."
804
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
He was thereupon conducted to the choir, whilst the swarming
crowd shouted, " Long Hve the King I " He made his con-
fession, heard High Mass, and was present at a Te Deum. His
recantation was consummated. ^
In Paris furious preachers declared that it was null and
void, and the Papal Legate announced that the prelates at
Saint -Denis had no power to withdraw the pontifical excom-
munication. Throughout the kingdom, however, Te Deums of
joy were sung, and public opinion became more and more
favourable to the new King. Mayenne signed a truce of three
months and also adjourned the States -GJeneral for that period,
asserting, however, that until the Pope had pronounced his
verdict, nothing was decided. The Spaniards, somewhat taken
aback, held themselves in reserve and waited. Rome had yet
to be persuaded to give her consent, and Henry IV sent the Duke
of Nevers, together with some prelates, to discuss matters with
Pope Clement VIII. The Holy Father received them coldly
in a private audience, and not as ambassadors. He raised
numerous difficulties, saying that Henry IV had offered no
guarantees, that the Papacy did not wish to abandon Spain,
and that the Catholics of the League were superior to the
others. In vain did the envoys insist that the King had two-
thirds of the country on his side, together with the various
Parliaments, and that he was the lawful King of France ;
Clement VIII vouchsafed no reply.
When the three ^months truce had expired, Mayenne was
at a loss what course to pursue. He had neither money nor
Gradual men, and the growing impotence of the League
recognition was now patent to all. Its leaders, well aware
of Henry IV. of the fact, and seeingtthat their cause was lost,
dropped off one by one, recognizing Henry IV independently
of each other, and endeavouring to make the best of a hopeless
position. On all sides negotiations were opened with the King.
The least the Governors of provinces and towns demanded was
to be allowed to retain their offices ; and to this request Henry
IV, ever smiling and sceptical, gave a ready consent. " All I
want is to get back the kingdom that belongs to me," he said,
*' and any who help me to do so I shall recognize as my ser-
vants." Vitry, the Governor of Meaux, made an agreement
U 805
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
with him on December 24 ; La Chatre, Governor of Orleans
and Bonrges, followed suit ; those Parliaments which still
adhered to the League imitated them and pronounced for Henry,
whilst even the towns were unwilling to be left behind. The
inhabitants of Lyons revolted against their Governor, the Duke
of Nemours, a member of the League, and putting up barricades,
drove him out and summoned Monsieur d'Ornano, Henry IV's
lieutenant in Dauphiny, to take his place, on condition that the
privileges of their town were recognized — ^a condition which
was granted.
Thus the League gradually drifted towards dissolution.
The press attacked it with an ardour all the more efficacious
inasmuch as it was now a question of completing the downfall
of the vanquished. It was at this juncture that the Satyre
.Menipph made its appearance, an eloquent, vigorous journal,
full of freshness, good sense, and natural wit, in the pages of
which a few moderate men succeeded in covering with ridicule
a turbulent and violent party which had exposed itself only
too freely to criticism. Far from giving way as everybody
else was doing, but feeling, nevertheless, that the end was near,
Mayenne would not wait for it in Paris. He left the city on
March 6, 1594, on the pretext that he was going to arrange w;ith
Mansfeld about collecting troops, and left Monsieur de Brissac
in charge — an extremely injudicious choice.
Meanwhile, to the various elements of success which secured
his right to the throne, Henry IV now added 'yet another.
Coronation ^ decisive and sovereign element ; he had himself
of Henry IV, crowned King, and prevailed upon the Church
1594. to bestow that sacred unction which transformed
him into a semi-religious personage with quasi-pontifical powers,
and constrained Christian consciences to bow to his authority^
As it was impossible for' him to have the ceremony performed
at Rheims, which was still in the hands of his enemies, he had it
celebrated on February 27, 1594, in the ancient cathedral of
Chartres, a chiu*ch beloved of his Vend&me ancestors. The
choir was hung with tapestries ; the bishop was enthroned
beneath a silken canopy ; the royal chair placed against the
rood-screen was siu'mounted by a canopy of purple velvet
studded with gold fleurs de lis, and stands set up in the choir
306
V
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
provided seats for the princesses and ladies of the Court. A
new sceptre, crown, and main de justice * of chased gold had
been made for the occasion. The coronation produced a pro-
found sensation throughout the country, and it was felt that it
must succeed in forcing the hand of the Pope. Brissac, Mayenne's
lieutenant in Paris, thought the time had now come for him
to escape from the conflict and safeguard his own interests.
He accordingly negotiated with Lhuillier, the Provost of the
Merchants, Langlois, the Sheriff, Mol^, the Procurator-General,
and the various captains, and notified his conditions to Henry IV,
who at once accepted them. On the date agreed upon, the
night of March 21-22, at four o'clock in the morning, three
Surrender of of the gates were opened to the troops of the
Paris, 1594. King of France, which, to the number of 2500
infantry and 1500 cavalry, were waiting a short distance away.
Vitry entered by the Porte Saint-Denis, d'O by the Porte
Neuve, on the banks of the Seine, alongside the Louvre ; and
some detachments disembarked in the Quartier Saint-Paul.
The bridges and squares were occupied, and the Parisians,
taken by surprise, made no resistance. As soon as it was hght
Henry IV rode on horseback to the Porte Neuve where Brissac
received him, accompanied by the Provost of the Merchants,
and handed him the keys of the city. He entered Paris wearing
his helmet and breastplate, the former adorned by his great
white plume, and with an escort of 500 or 600 men-at-arms with
pikes in their hands and muskets over their shoulders. He
went to Notre-Dame where he heard Mass, and then returned
to the Louvre. Astonished and inquisitive crowds rushed into
the streets trying to get a glimpse of him, but with no hostile
intention. " Let them alone," the monarch commanded his
soldiers, who wanted to drive them off, " they are eager to see
a King." Heralds went through the streets annoimcing a
complete amnesty, and the church bells rang out in full peal.
There was a festive air about the whole proceeding, and the
crowd, completely won over, shouted " Long live the King 1 *
The Duke of Feria had ordered the foreign contingent of 4000
Spaniards, Walloons, and Neapolitans lent to the League by
♦ A sort of sceptre with a hand at the top, forming part of the regalia
of the French Kings. (Tr.)
807
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Philip II to take up their arms and keep in their quarters.
The King, however, sent Matignon to tell him to send them
quietly away ; and on the same day, these troops marched out
by the Porte Saint-Denis with drums beating and flags flying.
Henry IV went to see them pass from the top of the gate, and
called out, as he saluted them, *' (ientlemcn, commend mo to
your master, but do not come back again." By the evening all
The end of was quiet ; the Papal Legate had taken his
the League. departure, and life had resumed its peaceful
course. Without striking a blow, the League had melted
away.
The amnesty was observed, except in the case of some
120 monks, preachers and others, who had compromised them-
selves too deeply, and were obhged to leave the city. The
religious orders said that they were awaiting the decision of
Rome. The Parliament was reinstalled ; the Sorbonne acknow-
ledged Henry IV, and everybody breathed again. " All good
citizens," said Estoile, " of the middle and lower classes were
extremely glad to find themselves deUvered from slavery, and
out of the power of the party and government of the Sixteen ;
restored to liberty, with the honours and goods that belonged
to them ; and freed from the tyranny of the Spaniards and
foreigners, which was regarded by Frenchmen as harsh and
intolerable." When once Paris had been won the rest of France
followed without delay.
The various governors were won over by bribes of money
and honours. " Do not bargain," Henry IV told Rosny, who
was discussing terms with them, *' the things they are delivering
up to us would cost us ten times as much if we had to take them
by force." Paris had exacted 482,000 crowns. At Rouen,
Villars Brancas was given 715,000 crowns, together with the
title of admiral and the governorship of seven fortresses. On
March 27, 1594, he gathered together the merchants of Rouen
and the garrison captains at a great dinner, and at the end of
the feast rose and told them bluntly : " Gentlemen, the League
has gone to the devil. Let us shout with one accord ' Long hve
the King I ' " And he thereupon put on the white scarf. The
House of Lorraine gave way one by one ; its head, the Duke,
on November 16. Altogether they cost 9,000,000 pounds,
808
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
which they extracted as an indemnity for their losses during
the civil wars. Mayennc was the last to yield, together with
the Duke of Mercoeur in Brittany.
Henry IV now settled down. Difficulties, however, soon
confronted him on every side. He was besieged by f)eople
Henry IV'a demanding reprisals, and objecting to seeing
difflcolties. those who had stood loyally by him placed on
the same footing as those who had gravely compromised them-
selves. '* If you said the Lord's Prayer every day with real
sincerity," Henry IV replied, " you would not talk as you do.
As God has pardoned me, so too will I pardon others. If there
are some who forgot themselves, it is enough for me that they
should return to their senses. /I wish to hear no more about it."
All his appointments aroused recriminations : the reinstallation
of Villeroy, who was hated by Catholics and Protestants alike,
as minister ; and the elevation of the Duke of Bouillon, who
was a Huguenot, to the rank of Marshal of France. Not only
did the rivalry between Catholics and heretics continue, but
amongst the Catholics themselves a conflict now began between
the Royalist Catholics, who became advanced Gallicans, and the
Catholics who had been members of the League and remained
Ultramontanes. The Order of the Jesuits formed one of the
chief points at issue. They were accused of having given too
much support to Spain and the League, and of not having
acknowledged Henry IV ; they were still awaiting the decision
of Rome. The Parliament and the University attacked the
Order vigorously upon various pretexts of minor importance ;
but it was really a war upon principles. On December 27,
1594, a certain pupil of the Jesuits, a youth of eighteen named
Jean Chatel, stealing up to Henry IV, dealt him a blow with a
knife, which cut his Up and broke two of his teeth. The wound
was a slight one, and the would-be assassin merely a fanatic.
He was hanged and quartered, and the hot-heads tried to place
the responsibility for the deed upon the Jesuits. They were
accordingly banished by acts of Parliament from the confines
of Paris, Rouen, and Grenoble. *' The end of the year 1594,"
wrote Estoile, *' was as grievous for the Parisians as the spring
had been full of rejoicings ; for Chatel's attempt filled them
309
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
with fear of future misfortunes, and tightened their purse-
strings, cooled the enterprise of the merchants, and plunged
them, together with the people, into fresh poverty." Moreover
further troubles were threatening. In default of a direct heir —
for Henry IV had no children by Margaret of Valois — the
throne reverted to his nephew, the Prince of Cond6, another
Protestant, a fact which irritated the Catholics. The Pro-
testants were displeased at the King's recantation, and
altogether the horizon was dark and lowering.-
In order to clear it Henry IV decided to make war upon
Spain, and drive out the Spaniards from French territory. By
this means he would win victories which would consolidate
his position, he would give occupation to the martial lust of
the nobility, and deprive the Leaguers of their last vestige of
support. Philip II accepted the conflict, and dispatched the
Count of Fuentes at the head of an army. Henry IV, marching
against the troops commanded by Mayenne and Velasco, fell
Battle of ^^ with them near Saint-Seine, at Fontaine-
Fontaine- Fran9aise, and had the boldness to attack a body
Fran^aise, of 1200 cavalry with a force of only 300. A fierce
1595. fight took place, in which he narrowly escaped
with his life ; but fortunately for him, Velasco, thinking that
he had to deal with a far larger body of troops, retreated. " A
little more, and you would have become my heir," Henry IV
afterwards wrote to his sister Catherine. He had run an
extremely grave risk. This engagement, which was insignificant
as far as the numbers which took part in it were concerned,
produced the effect of a great victory. Mayenne, thoroughly
discouraged, asked for a truce in order to negotiate, and in
Rome, Clement VIII, who had already been shaken by the
King's general success in his own country, consented to
discuss a reconciliation. D'Ossat and du Perron, in whom
Henry IV had great confidence, and whom he had sent to Rome
to replace Gondi, conducted the negotiation. The consistory
of Cardinals before whom the matter was debated pronounced
in favour of the reconciliation. Seven conditions were insisted
upon: the absolution granted by the bishops was to be null
and void, though the King's subsequent acts were to be valid ;
the] Prince of Cond6 was to be brought up in the Catholic
310
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
religion ; the decrees of the Council of Trent were to be published ;
and all Church property that had been stolen was to be given
back. On September 17, 1595, Clement VIII decided to pro-
claim his decree of absolution ; and from that day, French
Catholics had no further excuse for refusing allegiance to
Henry IV.
Mayenne realized this, and at length offered to treat with
him. He demanded three towns as guarantees ; the governor-
ship of the He de France ; the payment of his debts — which
were numerous, on account of the expenses of the war ; an
official declaration that he was innocent of the blood of Henry
III, for the King had announced his intention of prosecuting
those responsible for the murder of his predecessor ; and an
acknowledgment that he was negotiating in the name of the
League. Henry IV made some objections over the matter
of the debts, but he finally gave way on all the points. After
the treaty had been signed at Folembray in January, 1596, an
interview took place between the King and the Duke in the
park of the Chateau de Montceaux. Henry IV was cordial
and charming, and showed his old enemy over the garden,
making him walk about quickly for a long time. Mayenne,
who was big and fat and afflicted with sciatica, was streaming
with perspiration, and suffering agonies. Henry IV noticed
it, and whispered in Rosny's ear : " If I lead this fat lump a
long enough dance I shall have my revenge without much
difficulty for all the ill he has done us ; for he will be a dead
man." Then turning to Mayenne, he said : " I am walking a
little too fast for you ; I have worked you too hard. Come
now, shake hands, this is the only evil and inconvenience you
will ever have to suffer from me."
Joyeuse came to terms on January 24 in return for his
appointment as Marshal and Lieutenant of Languedoc. The.
Duke of Aumale preferred to leave the country. Henry IV
welcomed all who came to him with outstretched hand. He \
was anxious to secure peace at home in order to complete his \
expulsion of the Spaniards.
The latter held their ground. They had taken Calais and
Saint-Quentin. On March 10, 1597, the alarming news arrived
that they had suddenly pushed forward and surprised Amiens,
811
I «
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
sending soldiers disguised as peasants to seize one of the gates,
and had installed a force of 6000 infantry and 700 cavalry in
that town. With the enemy masters of the course of the
Somme, Paris lay open to attack. At every epoch in French
history news of this sort had filled the Parisians with consterna-
tion. Everybody, and more particularly Henry IV himself,
was deeply perturbed. He sprang on his horse and departed
forthwith for Amiens, summoning to his support the ban and
rear-ban of the country. The siege which he undertook lasted
for six months, and cost eight millions, which had to be raised
by means of lamentable expedients. But at last, on September
125, 1597, the town surrendered. The success was as brilliant
'as the check had been mortifying. Henry IV seized the oppor-
tunity to endeavour to end the war with this victory, and the
Papal Legate offered his mediation, which the King accepted.
Peace of Peace was discussed and negotiations conducted
Vervins, 1598. at Vervins from February to May, 1598. On
May 5 a treaty was signed. Spain, completely tired out,
consented to give back all she had won, with the exception
of Cambray, which she kept. On September 15 in the same year
Philip II died, calm and impassive as ever, slowly consumed
by a lingering disease at the age of seventy-one. His ambition
had been greater than his resources, and its frustration in
France had been as complete as its aims had been extravagant.
All cause for fear from the direction of Madrid was now at an
end.
There still remained two or three districts in France in
which the fire had not been extinguished, and these Henry IV
hastened to pacify. Amongst them was Brittany, where the
Duke of Mercoeur, the brother of Queen Louise of Vaud^mont
and brother-in-law of Henry III, was maintaining his inde-
pendence, declaring that in default of a direct heir to -Anne
of Brittany he considered that as he had married an heiress
he had a right to claim the succession. But the King of Spain
alleged an even stronger claim to the Duchy, and Henry IV
accordingly sent troops who captured Dinan. Mercoeur gave
way, and it was arranged that the King of France should pay
his debts, and that one of Henry IV's natural sons, Cesar, Duke
of Vendome, a child of four, should marry Mercoeur's six-year-
812
#
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
old daughter and become Duke of Brittany. And thus this
matter was arranged.
But there was yet another — the question of the Duke of
Savoy, who ever since the time when he had tried to turn the
troubles of the League to account in order to snatch some French
territory, had remained in a state of war. The Duke, Charles
Emmanuel, an ambitious, quarrelsome and deceitful prince,
had cast a covetous eye upon Dauphiny and the Marquisate
of Saluces. Lesdigui^res had prevented him from seizing the
former province, and Charles Emmanuel had consoled himself
with the second. Henry IV informed him that he would allow
him to keep Saluces on condition that he gave up Bresse, Bugey,
and Valromey, at that time in the possession of Savoy. As the
Duke vouchsafed no reply, Henry IV collected 80,000 men in
1600, marched on Chambery, and after a short and brilliant
campaign concluded a peace on his own terms. By this peace
France definitively acquired Bresse, Bugey, Valromey, and the
district of Gex.
And now at last all trouble with enemies abroad and armed
foes at home was at an end. Slowly, step by step, with ad-
End of the mirable patience, tenacity of purpose, and steadi-
war. ness, Henry IV had succeeded in pacifying his
kingdom., It had required time and flexibility, but now his
end had been attained. Only half his task, however, was
accomplished. Now that all swords had been sheathed, the
work of repairing the harm they had done remained to be
carried out, or at all events the restoration of some sort of order
and the consolidation of a peace which was still precarious after
so many years of war and violence. The country had yet to
be induced to take up or return quietly to the ordinary daily
occupations of an industrious people secure from alarms.
Henry IV applied himself resolutely to this task, in which he
was powerfully supported by his friend and companion-in-arms,
a Huguenot noble who consecrated all his talents and energies
to his King — Monsieur de llosny, Duke of Sully.
A man of about the same age as Henry IV, devoted and
steadfast, Rosny combined a sure judgment and a clear mind
Sully. with an extraordinary capacity for work. As an
administrator he was unsurpassed ; always busy, going through
819
') J'**. .
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
papers, allowing nothing to escape his attention, he directed
business with inexorable severity. He was a rough diamond, a
big fierce man, with a bald forehead, a long beard and steely
glance, who Uved all by himself in the Arsenal in an austerely
furnished room adorned with portraits of Luther and Calvin.
He never ceased working, received people with intolerable
rudeness, without getting up or asking them to be seated, and
constantly refused to do as he was asked. " He is a beast,"
said one ambassador ; "a groom " added another ; "an
animal " declared a third. But he rendered the King invaluable
services, more especially in the domain of finance.
These finances were in a terrible state of confusion. The
one thing which seemed clear to Henry IV was that he had
a great many debts and never any money. ** I am reduced
to such straits," he wrote one day to Rosny, "that I have
scarcely a horse on which I can ride into battle, nor a complete
suit of armoTU" to my back ; my shirts are in rags, my doublets
out at elbows, my pots are often empty, and for two days past
I have been dining and supping with one or other of my friends."
In contrast to his own penury, he saw with surprise " that the
treasurers of his finances kept dainty and well-servfed boards,
and that their houses were full of wealth and luxury." Robbery
and brigandage were not the sole explanation of this anomaly.
There were causes accounting for it connected with the financial
organization of the period, by virtue of which the King had
pledged all his revenues and was left without a penny, whilst
in the meantime the taxes were collected under the ordinary
advantageous conditions enjoyed by the financiers. Deter-
mined as he said "to cut oif Dame Peculation's arms and
legs," the King turned to his rugged friend. Monsieur de Bosny,
though the latter did not know much about finance. After
the deatlr of Superintendent d'O in 1594, Henry IV replaced
his office by a financial committee of nine, and in 1596 he
appointed Monsieur de Rosny a member of this board. Eager
to set to work, Rosny suggested making a rigorous examina-
tion into the whole financial administration of the country,
and set out in person to inspect the districts of four receivers-
general that very year. He was terrifying ; he hustled the
receivers, asked to see title-deeds, registers and receipts. He
814
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
examined leases, and — if we are to believe his Economies
royaUs, which, is, it must be remembered, a written apo-
logia, to be accepted with caution — on his own responsibility
he cancelled doubtful claims, dismissed agents, cut down
expenditiu'e which he regarded as imnecessary, and, when he
had accomplished this, brought back, still according to his
own account, a surplus of 500,000 crowns, sufficient to fill seventy
waggons. It was a large sum. There was a general outcry.
His colleagues exclaimed that he did not understand what he
was doing, and accused him of wholesale pillage, declaring that
the money must be returned and that he had acted like an
impetuous soldier rather than a qualified financier. There
was some truth in these assertions. In order to form a clear
notion of what was required, Henry IV convoked an assembly
of Notables at Rouen in November, 1596, not daring to summon
the States -General, which would have been too dangerous.
These Notables were eighty in number. They were elected
by the provinces, and consisted of nine ecclesiastics, nineteen
Assembly of nobles, and fifty-two members of the third estate.
Notables, 1596. At the opening of the session Henry IV made a
celebrated speech, full of good sense and of witty French
vivacity : " You know to your own cost," he said, *' as I do to
mine, that when God called me to the throne, I found France
not only half ruined but almost lost altogether to the French
nation. ... I have not summoned you, as my predecessors
used to do, to make you approve my desires. I have summoned
you to ask your advice, which I wish to believe and to follow ;
in short, to place myself in yoiu* hands for guidance, a course
rarely palatable to Kings, greybeards, and victors. Yet the
ardent love I bear my subjects, and the great longing I feel^
to add two fair titles to my name — those of liberator and re-
storer of this State — make all this easy and honourable in my
eyes." The Chancellor then proceeded to state the financial
situation. It was simple enough — quantities of debts. Sully
said 296 million pounds — and no credit. The gross receipts were
twenty-three miUion pounds per annum, of which the provincial
administration absorbed sixteen millions as necessary expen-
diture, leaving the rest — the absolutely inadequate sum of
seven millions — to the Government for central expenses. The
815
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Notables were of opinion that the existing taxes might be
raised without having recourse to loans or the creation of new
offices to be put up for sale — ^there were too many of these
already. According to the details of offers that had already
been made, there would be a revenue of thirty millions,
fifteen of which would suffice for the provincial administration,
and fifteen for the central government. Sully maintains that
the Notables went even further, and demanded that a council
named the advisory council should be nominated by themselves
to control the expenditure of at least the fifteen millions devoted
to the provinces ; and that Henry IV agreed to the appointment
of this council because he considered it would strengthen the
credit of the State and put a somewhat stricter check upon
the administrators of the revenue. But the truth of this
statement has been disputed.
Little by little Henry IV allowed himself to be won over by
Rosny's rigorous notions. He was himself, as a matter of fact,
naturally somewhat inclined to be avaricious. He ended by
establishing a sort of financial sup^rintendency, a post which
Rosny seems to have filled in 1598, and the official title of which
was bestowed upon him in 1601. In 1599 the new superinten-
dent took up, his quarters at the Arsenal, and in addition to
this office, was also made Superintendent of Artillery, Public
Buildings, and Fortifications. An extremely hard working
man, he wished to undertake all he could, both out of zeal
for the public good and from a desire to apply his precise and
splenetic methods in as many directions as possible.
To make the taxes bring in as much as could be raised
with little incidental expense ; to institute rigid economies ;
Sally's policy, to pay off most of the debts or diminish them
])y every kind of contrivance ; and, finally, to put money
aside, was the programme that Rosny traced out for himself.
lie conceived no new ideas in financial matters, he merely
utilized methods already existing. It is incorrect to say
that the keeping of public accounts at this period was in
an embryonic condition, and that any individual connected
with them could enrich himself at his leisure in the dark jungle
of taxation. There were regulations, the observance of which
was controlled by the Court of the Exchequer more strictly
316
IIS'^'ERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
than is geuerally imagined. As a matter of fact, if we leave
out of the reckoning the bad returns of the taille, it was
owing to a thousand and one decisions which were correct
enough, but ruinous in their results, that the money produced
by the taxes found its way into the pockets of clever agents.
The taxes, like the aids, were farmed out separately on relatively
low terms. Rosny sold them by auction to a single tax-farmer,
Monsieur Jean de Moisset, for a much more advantageous sum ;
and in the same way he increased the amount paid by the five
great farmers-general. In cases where a given annual sum was
due to a man, he had hitherto simply been exempted from the
payment of some State claim upon him, and this exempted
claim always represented a far larger sum than the one to which
he had a right. Rosny had these alienated dues restored to
the State. There were quantities of them, and the property
of the Crown had been dismembered by this process. The
persons concerned, who were chiefly great nobles, remonstrated ;
but the surly minister took no notice and merely told them that
they would be paid in a different way. The debts, above all,
were overwhelming. On every side money was owing to all
manner of people both at home and abroad, for Henry IV had
inherited liabilities incurred by the kings his predecessors during
the civil wars. To the Duke of Tuscany alone a sum of 1,100,000
crowns was owing, and the Grand-Duke, in default of payment,
had seized the Chateau d'lf opposite Marseilles, as security,
a humiliation to which Henry IV had been obliged to submit.
Arrangements were made whereby these debts were to be paid
off in regular yearly instalments. In the case of the King's own
sub j ects Rosny made use of more expeditious methods. Amongst
other liabilities, sixty millions of arrears in interest on state
securities were due. The minister declared that as the titles
of these creditors were not very clear, he wished to revise them.
He then lowered the interest from 8^ per cent .to 6J per cent.
An outcry was immediately raised that he was acting arbitrarily
and that the State was bankrupt ; whereupon Henry IV,
threatened by an insurrection among the investors, was obliged
to ask Rosny to be less drastic. This, however, did not prevent
the latter from reducing the royal debts by 100 millions of
capital. By a series of similar measures, and above all by
317
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
opposing largesse of any sort, and by severe economy in ex-
penditure, a method which the minister called " wonderful
housekeeping," the Government in the end not only succeeded
in balancing its budget, but put aside enough money to stock
the Arsenal with provisions for war, and placed a surplus of
thirteen millions in the Bastille.
When once the financial diflBculties had been overcome,
Henry IV and Rosny, who had been made Duke of Sully in
Agriculture. 1606, set to work to ameliorate the condition
of the people. The importance of tEe" reforms they carried
out in the domain of agriculture, commerce, and pubhc works
must not be exaggerated. Their chief merit lay in the fact
that they put an end to war, and allowed the people to work
in peace. Sully said, " Husbandry and the care of cattle are
the two udders of France." But, as a matter of fact, he did
not do much to alter the conditions of agriculture. In 1595
Henry IV decreed^that agricultural implements and live-stock
could not be seized in payment of debt ; in so doing, however,
he merely revived ancient ordinances which were destined to
be re-enacted again after his day. The peasantry owed twenty
millions in arrears for taUle, and in 1600 the King cancelled
this sum, a sacrifice for which he has been praised, but which
was inspired, amongst other considerations, by the fact that he
would never have been able to recover the money. Between
1597 and 1609, Henry IV lowered the taille from twenty to
fourteen millions, for which he deserves greater credit ; and
he accepted the offers made by the Dutch to drain certain
marsh lands. His predecessors and successors, however, did
the same. Above all he studied Olivier de Serres' book, Le
TlUdtre d^ Agriculture, which was published during his reign
and had a great success. This book taught 'scientific methods
and suggested new objects of cultivation such as the mulberry.
Naturally easy and cordial, Henry IV took a delight in talking
to the peasants. He loved them, and would have liked to see
each of them with " a fowl in his pot on Sundays."
In the domain of commerce, Henry IV encouraged a political
economist of interesting ideas, a certain Barth^lemy de Laff^mas,
Commerce. to whom he lent a willing ear and whom he made
Controller-General of Trade. Laff^mas asserted that a country
818
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
should endeavour to be self-supporting, that it should produce all
the manufactured goods it requires, and not import them from
abroad. It was on his advice, that after the cultivation of the
mulberry had become widespread, the Government promoted
the establishment of factories for silk-spinning and the manu-
facture of silks and cloths of gold and silver ; and encouraged
and protected the creation of glass and crystal works, carpet
factories, wrought leather work and the weaving of fine Flanders
linen. The importation of all similar wares was prohibited.
This was an attempt at a policy of protection before the time
of Colbert. A Board of Trade established at Paris, in the
Palais, examined any proposals submitted to it by private
individuals, and either recommended them to the King or
rejected them.
In connexion with public works, Rosny, who was made
Chief Inspector in 1599, improved the roads, began the paving
Public works, of the highways round Paris — a work which Louis
XIII subsequently continued — and planted great elms along
them which for a long time afterwards were called by his name.
He conceived a plan for the construction of canals, notably
those which were to join the Loire and the Seine — the Briare
Canal — ^the building of which he undertook, and the Atlantic with
the Mediterranean — ^the Canal du Midi in Languedoc — ^the
idea of which he worked out. In a general way he helped to
restore the ravages caused by the civil wars — broken bridges
and fallen walls. To make good all that had been destroyed,
however, time was required, even during the next reign. All
these works are evidences of good administration.
Under Henry IV attempts were made at colonization and
transatlantic commerce. An East India company was created in
Colonization. 1604 ; and settlements were made in Canada about
the same time by des Monts and Champlain, enterprises which
were repeated in 1608 because the first efforts had been failures.
Champlain was eventually to found Quebec, conquer the Red
Indians, and explore the great lakes. The Government of
Henry IV granted these persons the privileges and the letters
patent for which they asked, as did his successors, and as his
predecessors would have done in like circumstances.
In the domain of the moral and religious interests of the
319
CENTURY OF THE reN^^^^^^^^
country the work accomplished by Henry IV wi , i „ ^
^ r^ ' . /' • . . , * howea a very
Religious Owing to diverse circumstances, it s. ^^^ ^^^^
policy of different degree of brilliance, duration," ■, p
Henry IV. The problem was to induce Catholics afi, I
testants to live side by side in a spirit of mutual toleration, ,
Henry IV laid the foundations of a policy destined to last near
a century.
At the request of the ardent Catholics, the King allowed the
Jesuits to return in 1603. The Huguenots and the magistrates
were opposed to this, objecting that the order belonged to the
League and was Ultramontane and Spanish. Henry IV wittily
replied that the Jesuits had only to be allowed to return to
France in order to become French ; that if they had belonged
to the League, so had many others ; that, taking it all in all,
he preferred to have them as friends rather than enemies ; and
that he meant to be master. In spite of the remonstrances of
the Parliament, the Jesuits, on taking an oath of fealty, were
allowed to return. Their colleges were re-opened, and Henry
IV even founded a new one — the College de la Fl^che.
With regard to the Protestants a statute was absolutely
necessary. It is true that the struggle which had lasted for
thirty years spreading from town to town by means of sudden
attacks, surprises, and massacres in the open country, had ceased,
but the uneasiness among the Huguenots was universal. What
was to be their lot ? The Edict of Poitiers was, it is true,
operative. But if the King were to die and another monarch
less well disposed towards them were to succeed to the throne,
what would become of them? They thought of choosing a
leader, but Henry IV forbade them to do so. In 1594 they
elected representatives, who met together, divided up France
into nine circles, and organized these circles into a kind of
republic ; they then discussed the advisability of taking up
arms. This angered Henry IV, but eventually, on the advice
of the moderates headed by du Plessis Mornay, they asked the
King to make their position secure by means of a clear and
decisive edict. Henry IV hastened to grant their request, and
The Edict of o"^ April 13, 1598, he published the edict which was
Nantes, 1598. to bear in history the famous name of the Edict
of Nantes. In ninety-five general articles and fifty-six special
320 y
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
clauses, Henry IV decided that the Protestants wi^re to enjoy
full and entire liberty of conscience. They were to have the
righT of practising their religion at two places in every bailiwick,
with the exception of Paris and the large towns, where services
were to be held outside the gates — in the case of Paris at
Charenton. The^_were to^ejeli^WeJfor all^ffice^^ they were
to have a special -chamber called the Edict Chamber in every
Parliament, in which Huguenot cases were to be tried. They
were to be allowed to hold synods — the Parliaments stipulated
that these synods should only be held by special permission,
and with certain prescribed formalities. For a period of eight
years the King was to leave over 200 towns in the hands of the
Protestants as security for his word and was to maintain the
garrisons in these places. And finally, an unexpected favour,
he was to pay the salaries of the Protestant rninisters and
subsidize Protestant colleges. This was the Edict of Poitiers
over again with added advantages, and it had the merit of
consecrating toleration in the eyes of Europe at a time when
no country. Catholic or Protestant, practised that virtue. It
had the further merit of lasting for eighty-seven years, when
it was revoked by an act of Louis XIV which caused great
excitement, and brought the political prudence of Henry IV
into even stronger relief. It was not carried without violent
opposition on the part of the Catholics, who protested against
the privileges by which their adversaries were practically re-
warded ; and on the part of the Parliaments, which pleaded that
the laws were violated by the articles of the edict. But Henry
IV stood his ground. He had the magistrates summoned to
him. " I pray you, register the edict," he said to them. " What
I have done, I have done in the interests of peace, which I have
succeeded in establishing abroad and now wish to establish
within my^kingdom. You owe me obedience. ... I have
scaled the walls of cities ^nd can easily scale barricades. Do
not take your stand on the ^fWholic religion. I love it better
than you do. I am more Catholic than you. I am the eldest
son of the Church, whi^Lnone oi^vci^fe or can ever be. You
are mistaken if yoi:^^^^^B|a^^^^Hwell with the Pope. I
am on far better termsw^Pil^^^^^K|iare. Once let me take
it in hand, and I will have yc^^^^HlaE^i|eretics for refusing
321
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
to obey me." His speech was admirable in its brief and natural
vivacity, full of sense and reason. Parliament gave way.
We see the opposition with which Henry IV met in the
passing of his best measures. It is a mistake to imagine that
he was popular during his lifetime. Popularity only came to
him after his death. Throughout his reign his contemporaries
were above all alive to his faults — among those with which he
has been most severely reproached, were his avarice and his
forgetfulness of services rendered him. He was also greatly
blamed for his disorderly life, for the general discontent and the
complaints that were everywhere rife. And, indeed, it must
be confessed that his private existence gave some ground for
the bitter remarks of the people he scandalized.
Henry IV had no children by Margaret of Valois and was
separated from her. After several other intrigues he fell in
Gabrielle love with Gabrielle d'Estr^es, a lovely young girl
d'EstrSes. of twenty, fair, sweet, and graceful. For a long
time, distressed at having no direct heir, he had been considering
the possibility of having his marrialge with Margaret of Valois
annulled, and marrying again. His ministers and friends urged
him to do so ; and Margaret, who was of an easy disposition,
gave her consent. But when Henry IV thereupon suggested
that he should marry Gabrielle d'Estr^es, whom he had created
Marchioness of Beaufort, lovable and amiable though Gabrielle
may have been, the disconcerting idea called forth universal
protest. The King of France owed a very different marriage
to the dignity of his position^ The Pope informed him that
he would never consent to annul his first marriage for the
reaUzation of such a project. The ministers and Margaret
herself were violently opposed to it. At this juncture Gabrielle
d'Estr^es died very suddenly in Paris, on April 10, 1599, at the
age of twenty-five. Poison was hinted at, but she probably
merely succumbed to puerperal convulsions in giving birth
to a still-born child. Her disappearance from the horizon
simplified matters. For some time past, ever since 1592, the
project of a marriage between Henry IV and Marie de' Medici,
the niece of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, had been discussed.
In the eyes of the ministers this alliance had, among other
advantages, the fact that her dowry would serve to pay all,
322
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
or part of the debts which the King of France had contracted
to the masters of Florence during the last civil wars. The
death of Gabrielle allowed the negotiations for this match to
be renewed. Henry IV, however, swiftly fell a victim to a new
Henriette passion, inspired by Henriette d'Entraigues, after-
d'Eutraigues. wards Marquise de Vemeuil. He was morbidly
susceptible to women's charms. Henriette was a tall young
woman, slim, elegant, and beautifully made, but arrogant,
bad-tempered, essentially common, mercenary, and heartless.
She extracted a written promise of marriage from Henry IV.
Meanwhile, however, the negotiations with the Tuscan Court
had been concluded, and Henry IV's marriage with Margaret
of Valois annulled ; with the result that the union with Marie
de' Medici, a woman of eight-and-twenty, rather stout, robustly
healthy, and not very intelligent, was celebrated at Florence
and Lyons in 1600. In September, 1601, the Dauphin, after-
wards Louis XIII, was born at Fontainebleau. Henry IV
still continued to see Henriette d'Entraigues. The passion for
her which tormented him caused much unhappiness in his
domestic life, and came near to producing extraordinary
complications. For Henriette, on the grounds that she had
the King's written word, conceived the notion of having his
marriage with Marie de' Medici annulled in order to bring about
her own. To attain her ends, her family, whose members were
unscrupulous people, organized a conspiracy which aimed at
nothing less than killing Henry IV, and, with the help of
England and Spain, proclaiming as King of France a son of
Madame de Vemeuil by Henry. When the plot was dis-
covered the persons concerned were arrested, tried, and con-
demned ; but Henry IV, with excessive weakness, pardoned
them all. The famous promise of marriage was given up, and
the King's passion revived once more. The public was indig-
nant, shocked and disapproving.
But there were yet other reasons for their discontent.
Henry IV was reproached with having been too free with his
pardons, of having paid overmuch to his enemies and heaped too
many favours on their heads whilst neglecting his friends.
His support of Sully, who was universally detested, was un-
popular ; and complaints were made that he kept the nobility
828
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
at a distance and listened only to his ministers, middle-class
bureaucrats, such as Belli^vre, Cheverny and Villeroy. Catho-
lics and Protestants were alike uneasy, both sides suspicious
of the King's sincerity towards them. The pubhc peace,
however, was not destined to be troubled. Only one outbreak
occurred — ^the allair of the Duke of Biron.
The son of an old Marshal, and himself a good and courageous
general who had received thirty-three wounds during his various
The case of campaigns, a companion in arms and a friend
Biron, 1602. of the King, who had twice saved his life, Charles
de Gontaut-Biron was a big swarthy man, with deep-set eyes,
and a dull glance ; he was ambitious, arrogant, and of no great
intelligence. Henry IV had made him Admiral, Marshal,
Governor of Burgundy, and a Duke and Peer of the realm, all
before the age of thirty-eight. But Biron was not content, and
considered that he had not been sufficiently rewarded. He
gambled, lost, and incurred enormous debts. The Archduke
of the Netherlands and the Duke of Savoy, with whom he had
established relations, invited his confidence and listened to his
grievances. The Duke of Savoy offered him his sister in mar-
riage together with 200,000 crowns, hoping to turn him into
an instrument which he could use. He even discussed the
possibility of making him the ruler of Burgundy and Tranche
Comte which had become independent, and completely turned
his head. Henry IV intercepted a suspicious correspondence
between them and demanded an explanation. As no satis-
factory one was forthcoming, he insisted, having made up his
mind to pardon the culprit if he would only confess his double-
dealing. Biron, however, remained stubbornly silent and
treated the matter with a high hand. The King, accordingly, had
him arrested at Fontainebleau and put in the Bastille, where he
was tried and condemned to death. He was executed on July 31,
1602. Henry IV had determined to make an example of him.
The end of Henry IV 's life was sad, darkened as it was by
domestic quarrels rising out of his intrigue with Madame de
Proposed cam- Verneuil, the distrust of his subjects, and fears
paigu in of all sorts. Great dreams have been attributed
Germany. to him. Sully maintains that he conceived the
idea of forming Europe into a sort of United States consisting
d24t
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
of fifteen states — six hereditary monarchies, six elective mon-
archies, and three federated repubHcs. But the authenticity
of this great design has been contested. His attention was
chiefly concentrated upon Spain, with whom he foresaw that
war would break out again before long. A chance circumstance
caused him to renew the conflict. A certain Rhenish Duke,
William of Juliers, Cleves, and Berg, died on March 25, 1609,
leaving no heir. Numerous competitors for the position
presented themselves, and in the meanwhile the Emperor
declared that he would sequester the property, with the in-
tention of keeping it himself. Henry IV, determined not to
allow the Imperial house to install itself at Juliers, formed an
alliance with about ten German Princes in order to secure the
Duchy in dispute to the Elector of Brandenburg and the Count
of Neuburg. This meant war. The King of France collected
an army of 35,000 men and decided to march for the frontier
on May 19, 1610. About this very time, however, he fell
madly in love, though he was a grey-beard of fifty, with the
young wiffe of the Prince of Cond6, Charlotte de Montmorency,
who was only fifteen. Annoyed by this infatuation, the Prince
of Cond^ had taken his wife away to Brussels. It has been
asserted, though the fact was never proved, that the King's
desire to get back this young lady and avenge himself on the
Archdukes, who were keeping her in Belgium, had some con-
nexion with his decision to enter upon the campaign.
Before setting out, Henry IV had Marie de' Medici, who was
to be Regent in his absence, crowned at Saint-Denis on May 13.
But for a long time past he had been constantly besieged by
dark presentiments. With his mind full of the discontent and
the smothered hostility with which he felt himself surrounded,
he would frequently remain lost in thought, seated on a low
chair fingering his spectacle-case. Then he would suddenly
get up and exclaim, " Good God, I shall die if I stay in this
town ! They will kill me ! " His face was frequently clouded
with sadness and he kept repeating to his intimate friends:
" You are happier than I," and wishing he were dead. He
would add : " When I am gone they will see what I was
worth ! "
On May 14, at about four o'clock in the afternoon lie drove
825
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
out to pay a visit to Monsieur de Sully at the Arsenal. He
Murder of went without an escort ; attended only by a few
Henry IV, 1610.1ords-in-waiting, he took his seat in his carriage.
At the corner of the Rue de la Ferronnerie and the Rue Saint
Honor^, his coach was stopped by a block in the traffic. A man
named Ravaillac sprang upon the wheel, and as Henry IV was
reading a letter, he stabbed him twice in the breast with a knife,
piercing his heart and lung. The King fell back without a
sound. Death was almost instantaneous. The curtains of
the carriage were drawn and the body brought back to the
Louvre. The assassin was a madman and had no accomplices.
Henry IV was right: his people were soon to learn his
worth. From one end of France to the other, even in the
poorest country hovel, unexampled sorrow and stupefaction
reigned supreme. " There is not one amongst us," wrote
Bossuet sixty-five years later, *' who cannot remember a father
or a grandfather describing not only the astonishment, the
horror, and the indignation which so sudden and execrable a
blow naturally provoked, but the sense of desolation, such as
children feel who have lost a good father." No King of France
was ever so deeply regretted, and when he was dead his subjects
appreciated the qualities of this monarch, who was the most
Appreciation charming, the most witty, and the most truly
of Henry IV. French of all the old Kings. They reminded
each other of his smiling courtesy, his gentleness and perfect
manners. The nobles recalled his jovial familiarity with them,
so free, so full of good temper and fellowship ; his indomitable
spirits and gaiety. But at the same time all remembered that
he knew how to be a King, master of himself and others, to
whom there was no reply ; and how he could assume this
character in the twinkling of an eye if necessary, with sovereign
impetuosity and pride, knowing how to play the part of a great
lord at the proper time, if he liked, and capable of wearing the
crown of France with the proud dignity befitting a great
kingdom. He was every inch a King and " the poor were
intoxicated with love for their sovereign ! " Henry IV rendered
two invaluable services to his country. He gave pegcgJtaJiis
kingdom after thirty years of civil war, and he taught it the_
meaning of toleration. " France is deeply indebted to me,'*
826
INTERNAL PEACE. HENRY IV
he wrote on one occasion, " for I work hard for her ! " The
country, after his death, and later posterity, ratified this
touching statement.
Sources. D'Aubign6, Histoire Universelle, ed. de Ruble, 1887 ;
Palma Cayet, Chronologic novennaire and Chronologic septennaire, ed.
Michaud and Poujoulat ; Henri IV, Lettres missives, ed. Berger de Xivrey,
1843 ; Sully, Economies royales, ed. Michaud and Poujoulat ; L^Estoile,
Mimoires-Joumaux, ed. G. Brunet, 1875 ; du Plessis-Momay, M6mmres
et correspoTukmce, 1824 ; M&rnoires de la Ligue, 1758 ; Bassompierre,
Mhnoires, ed. Chanterac, 1870 ; Mimoires d'etat de Villeroy, 1665 ;
Cheverny, M&moires, ed. Michaud and Poujoulat ; CI. Groulart, Mimoires,
same publishers ; de Thou, Histoire universelle, 1734 ; Journal d'un curi
ligueur, ed. E. de Barth^lemy, 1886 ; Journal du sUge de Paris en 1590,
ed. Franklin, 1876 ; Proc^-verbaua: des tlUUs-G6rUraux de 1593, ed. A.
Bernard, 1842 ; H. de Laurens, Discours et rapport v&ritable de la conference
(de Suresnes), 1593 ; Satyre Menipp4e, ed. C. Read, 1876 ; Cardinal
d'Ossat, Lettres, 1708 ; Desjardins, Nigociations diplamatiques de la France
avec la Toscane, 1875.
Works. Poirson, Histoire du r^gne de Henri IV, 1865 ; H. de la
Ferrifere, Henri IV, le roi, ramoureux, 1890 ; J. B. Lagr^ze, Henri IV,
vie privie, 1885 ; E. Jung, Henri IV icrivain, 1855 ; Comte de Saint-
Poncy, Histoire de Marguerite de Valois, 1887 ; B. Zeller, Henri IV et
Marie de Midicis, 1877 ; Louis Batiffol, La vie intime d'une reine de France
au XVII siicle (Marie de MMicis), 1906 ; C. Dufayard, Le conndtable
de Lesdiguitres, 1892 ; G. Fagniez, USconomie sociale de la France sous
Henri IV, 1897 ; N. Valois, Le conseil de raison, 1885 ; C. Pfister, Les
Economies royales de Sully et le grand dessein, 1894 ; J. Loiseleur, ProbUmes
historiques, mort de Gabrielle d'Estries, 1873; A. Douarche, UUniversitd
de Paris et les Jdsuites, 1888 ; filie Benoist, Histoire de VSdit de Nantes,
1693 ; A. Lods, USldit de Nantes devant le Parlement de Paris, 1899 ;
Anquez, Histoire des assemblies politiques des nformis de France, 1859 ;
and Henri IV et VAllemagne, 1887 ; Nouaillac, Villeroy, secretaire d'etat,
1909 ; C. de la Ronciere, Histoire de la marine frangaise, vol. iv, 1910.
327
CHAPTER IX
CIVILIZATION UNDER THE LAST VALOIS
Part played by the Valois in the Renaissance movement ; their
luxury ; influence of Catherine de' Medici. The Court ceremonial ;
the ordinance of 1585. Sumptuousness of the Court ; costumes,
works of art ; inventory of Catherine de' Medici's house. The great
lords imitate the Queen Mother. Characteristics of the art of the
time ; the study of antiquity faciUtated by means of printing ;
French taste ; the dogmatic regulation of canons of taste. The
Renaissance ; learned men, historians, publicists, jurisconsults ;
the poets, Ronsard and the Pldiade ; the AccuUmie du Palais ; the
Independents : Noel du Fail, Montaigne, Ambroise Par6, and
Palissy. The arts : architectiu"e ; the architects : Androuet du
Cerceau, Pierre Lescot and the Louvre, Philibert Delorme and the
Tuileries, Jean Bullant and ficouen ; sculpture, Jean Goujon and
Germain PUon ; painting ; drawings, Clouet, Corneille de Lyon ;
tapestry, enamels, stained glass ; music, Goudimel.
NOTWITHSTANDING the troubles of the civil wars and
the drama of disorder and bloodshed enacted through-
out the kingdom, the second half of the sixteenth
century in France was marked by a wonderful brilliance in
the domain of learning, art, and letters. The general con-
P rt 1 d dition of the country did not arrest the develop-
by the Valois Kient of men of brilliant talents — ^nay, these were
in the Renais- actually 'bound together by a universal tendency,
sance Move- a sort of fashion, which gave to the Renaissance
°^®°'* proper in France a peculiar value of its own. It
was more or less due to chance that this remarkable period in
French civilization coincided with the reigns of Henry II and his
sons. The monarchs of the sixteenth century exercised very
Httle influence upon the Uterary and artistic movement of their
time. Henry II took no interest in Uterature ; and though
Charles IX wrote verses, patronised Bonsard, and was interested
in the P16iade, though Henry III weflked Henri Estienne and
328 ^^
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
furnished subjects for debate at the Acaddmie du Palais, it cannot
be maintained that, but for them, the talents of the artists of
their century would have been very dillerent. It was by another
means that they took their unique place in the general movement
of civilization during their epoch : they loved luxury and display
and they were responsible for much building.
Few Courts have left in history reminiscences of greater
magnificence than the Court of the Valois. Festivals, balls,
tapestries, jewels, dresses, scintillating stuffs, velvets and
brocades all mingled together in a somewhat confused picture
full of warm tones and gorgeous colour. Court functions at
every epoch, in the fourteenth as well as the fifteenth centuries,
and more particularly under Francis I, had always been marked
by a studied display of artistic luxury, both in the dress of the
courtiers and in the setting arranged for festivities. But the
last of the Valois carried this luxury to its utmost extreme.
It was their mother, Catherine de' Medici, who endowed
them with this taste. She was rich and she was Italian, a
Influence of daughter of that Florentine House of Medici
Catherine de^ which adored beautiful things and, in collecting
Medici on them, was governed by taste as well as love of
Court life. display. Following in her footsteps, her sons
loved every kind of elegance. Catherine indulged in it partly
from political motives. She wished, by means of external
splendour, to restore to the Crown that prestige, of which
circumstance and the absence of moral power were depriving
it. " Your Court," she wrote to Charles IX, " must acquire
the dignity and decorum I formerly found there." In addition
to a studied refinement in its appointments and costumes, the
Queen Mother introduced, as an indispensable feature, that
elegance of behaviour which is termed etiquette ; and her sons,
Henry III above all, fulfilled her wishes even beyond her hopes.
Together with a consummate taste in dress and jewellery, the
organization of the aesthetics of Court ceremonial is the most
signal contribution made by the sons of Henry II to the artistic
evolution of the sixteenth century.
If they did not create, they at all events considerably
developed that atmosphere of perpetual display in which a King
of France was destined to live from the moment he awoke in
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the morning to the time that he fell asleep at night, a solemn
and meticulous existence which Louis XIV alone was capable
of observing scrupulously. Catherine de' Medici outlined it in
a letter written to Charles IX : the King was to get up at a
particular hour ; admit the nobility into his bedroom " whilst
he put on his shirt, and his clothes were brought in ; " after
this the council, and at ten o'clock mass, to which the King
was to go in procession escorted by his guards, and surrounded
by the Court ; at eleven o'clock dinner, the courtiers to be in
attendance standing ; then twice a week audiences, after which
the King was to be free "to study or to be alone," but only
until three o'clock ; at three o'clock a walk or a ride with the
Court ; supper in the evening with the royal family, and twice
a week after supper, a ball ; in short the King was to be con-
stantly on show, for that pleased the nobility ; he was not
to allow them out of sight, was to amuse them, and above all
to insist that due respect was always shown. Catherine assured
her son that this was how the Court was conducted in the time
of Francis I.
But Henry III went even further. He aimed at isolating
the person of the King ever more and more from the rest of
Ceremonial humanity, with the object of inspiring greater
ordinance respect ; and on January 1, 1585, he issued an
of 1585. edict, a grand ordinance " to keep each man
within the bounds of honour and respect due to his Majesty."
From this time forward no one was to approach the King either
inside or outside the palace without first being summoned by
him to do so ; in the royal presence hats were to be removed,
and no one was allowed to sit down or walk about the room or
touch any object whatsoever. Strict rules were made regulating
the movements of those about the King's person, together with
lists of those who were privileged to approach him, entitled
" The order that the King would have observed in his Court
and the fashion in which he would be honoured, accompanied,
and served." At the levee, in the morning, lists of those who
were to be allowed to penetrate into the various rooms of the
royal suite of apartments — ^the antechamber, the cabinet, the
state-room, and the King's bed-chamber, were made out in
writing. They noted many complicated grades and the ushers
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were strict in seeing that each man's rights were respected.
During the King's toilet the water for him to wash with was
fetched with great ceremony, and the broth for his breakfast
was brought with equal ceremony. A detailed paragraph
designated those who were to be allowed to offer the King a
table-napkin or a piece of bread. The etiquette of the meals
was all arranged, and it was known who might be present to
look on, and who had the right of handing the table-napkin.
The jDcrsons present were forbidden to speak to the King, except
on an extremely lofty plane and on subjects calculated to edify
the audience. If necessary, barriers separated His Majesty
and his Swiss Guards from the rest of the room. When the
King went out, the favoured persons who were allowed to follow
on foot, on horseback or in carriages, were all appointed be-
forehand. Audiences were no less minutely regulated. They
took place twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays in the
afternoon, when the King, seated in his " chair of state," re-
ceived the person admitted, who was instructed to stand at a
distance and invited to be brief," in order not to weary His
Majesty." The ordinance even settled the days on which balls
were to be held — on Sundays and Thursdays after supper ;
princes, lords and gentlemen were expected to attend these
entertainments. These recurrent balls were an innovation
introduced by the Valois, and explain the fact that in the royal
castles of the sixteenth century special large *' ball rooms "
were built — as at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Fontainebleau
— whilst hitherto there had only been ordinary " state rooms."
The enactments of this royal protocol, which were thus made
inflexible, were observed with more or less precision at the end
of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century;
Henry III himself carried them out very incompletely, and
Henry IV extremely badly, for his free and easy manners and
wit were ill adapted to show and ostentation. Louis XIII,
whose tastes were modest, also paid little attention to them.
But Louis XIV's care not to miss a single detail and even to add
to them, was destined later on to exemplify their spectacular
dignity as well as their tyrannical constraint.
In this setting, the movements of which were regulated by
royal mechanism, was displayed all the exaggerated luxury of
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
young princes who were extremely elegant, extremely rich —
or at least thought themselves so — and extremely extrava-
Splendoar gant. They invented fashions in dress, fashions
under the which were considered ridiculous by the wise
last Valois. men of the time, and were above all very costly
and extraordinarily changeable. Willy-nilly the nobles and
courtiers were obliged to follow them, and there was a regular
pageant of magnificent costumes in silks and velvets of every
colour, fine furs, and gold and silver embroidery, the whole
covered, in the case of men as well as of women, with quantities
of jewels representing ridiculous fortunes. At the marriage
of Henry of B6arn, in 1572, the Duke of Anjou, wrote the
Venetian Giovanni Michiel, wore in his cap thirty-two pearls
of twelve carats each, for which he had paid a sum of 23,000
crowns ; whilst the King's dress, including his jewels, was worth
500,000 or 600,000 crowns. In the circle about the princes each
man vied with his neighbour in the number and value of those
elegant costumes of the period, graceful and capricious, if not
comfortable in form. *' A courtier," said Lippomano, " is not
considered rich unless he has between twenty-five and thirty
costumes of various styles and can put on a different dress every
day." Foreigners noticed with astonishment the contrast
presented by this unreasonable extravagance and the misery
and want prevalent in a country ruined by civil wars and
covered with shattered buildings. But careless, frivolous and
pleasure-loving, the young nobles who surrounded Catherine
de' Medici's sons thought nothing of these things, and gave
themselves up to the full enjoyment of luxurious
masquerading.
Together with brilliance in dress, the Valois introduced
another fashion : beauty in the internal decorations of houses
— tapestries, carved wood, curtains, carpets and ornaments.
An inventory made on the death of Catherine de' Medici of all
her possessions has been published. This inventory gives us
some idea of what in the sixteenth century were the private
surroundings of a Queen, whom de Thou calls femina superbi
luxus, " a woman of superb hixury." It is true that she was
one of those who spent money right royally in order to surround
herself with objects of value, and that in spite of the great
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CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
fortune she inherited as the daughter of a Florentine banker,
she died deeply in debt.
The mansion which she inhabited in Paris and which she
had had built for her, occupied the site of the present Bourse
Inventory ol ^^ Conamerce. It was afterwards called the
Catherine de' Hdtel de JSoissons ; but the building is no longer
Medici's in existence. All the walls were hung with
palace. tapestry — Flemish or French tapestry, Beauvais
tapestry, verdures and subject-pieces, such as the history of
Hannibal, which covered a huge tapestry of twelve pieces made
to adorn the great hall of the mansion ; the tale of Vulcan ;
armorial bearings and mottoes. They were frequently changed
in order to vary the aspect of the rooms, and those that were
not in use were put away in attics. Altogether the Queen
possessed 129 tapestries. Sometimes, in the place of tapestry,
the walls were hung with stamped leather, with backgrounds
of various colours, orange, black, green, red or blue, picked out
with gold and silver. Of these there were 134 pieces. Forty-
foiur Oriental carpets were destined to cover the floors. Many
of the rooms in the mansion were panelled with carved wood
in which small pictures, enamels, or Venetian mirrors were set
for decoration. One cabinet, called the Mirror Cabinet, con-
tained 119 mirrors inserted in this way ; whilst another, the
Enamel Cabinet, was adorned with seventy-one Limoges
enamels, thirty-nine of which represented various subjects and
were oval in shape, while thirty-two, about a foot high, were
portraits of princes, lords, and ladies. In addition to these,
Catherine de' Medici, possessed some 259 enamels of all kinds,
an extremely rich collection. The furniture was in keeping
with this sumptuous setting. Beneath ceilings panelled in
carved wood picked out with gold, stood huge foiur-post beds,
enclosed by white damask ciui;ains with gold valances, adorned
with gold trimmings and embroideries. The bed of the Queen,
who, as a widow always wore mourning, was hung with black
velvet embroidered with pearls and had jet or ebony posts
adorned with silver ; the seats and " chairs of state " or arm-
chairs, were of ebony inlaid with ivory ; the candelabra were
of jet, and the tables were covered with black velvet embroidered
in white. Elsewhere there were white guipures mounted on
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CENTURY OFTHE RENAISSANCE
black satin, stuffs of gold and silver, embroidered crapes, crimson
satins and cloth of gold. And in the midst of all this sumptuous
decoration there were collections of objects of all kinds, the
smallest of which were worth large sums, Catherine de' Medici
had 476 pictures including 341 portraits ; some of these, it is
true, were small works meant to be set in the panelling. They
are interesting and agreeable mementoes now, owing to their
life-like expression and the correctness of the costumes depicted ;
a few of them are still preserved in the Louvre and at Versailles.
In her private cabinet she had twenty genre pictures, landscapes,
&c. Next in importance to the pictures was the porcelain.
Catherine had 141 pieces of Palissy ware, dishes and bowls.
The tables and cabinets were loaded with artistic ornaments,
a certain number of which have been preserved in the Galerie
d'ApoUon, and give us an opportunity of appreciating their
elegance of form and their finished workmanship — ewers,
goblets, flagons, gondolas of carved rock crystal or pietra dura
mounted on enamelled gold stands, Chinese lacquers, pieces
of ivory, mother-of-pearl, and coral, artistic bindings, bronzes,
busts, antique medals, fans, and Venetian glass. All the latest
and rarest treasures of the most enlightened taste of the day
were to be found in her possession. There was nothing precious,
even to books and manuscripts, of which she did not covet a
valuable collection. She left 4500 volumes and 776 ancient
manuscripts, bearing witness, not to her erudition — ^the manu-
scripts were in Latin and treated of austere subjects, and she
never read them — but to her eclecticism. We have said nothing
of her jewels and her gold and silver plate.
Important as her collections were, however, they were not
out of all proportion to those belonging to her contemporaries.
The inventories made on the deaths of some of the nobility
reveal the same tendencies. Madame de Sainte-Aulaire had
forty-five tapestries in her house, and the Guises had seventy-
seven in the Chateau de Joinville alone. Not every collector
had as much Palissy ware as Catherine de' Medici ; but they
all had pictures, enamels, and crystal, and above all, those
embroideries on silk or velvet backgrounds which, although they
are now faded, give us an idea of the rich hangings of the period.
It was by their encouragement of these luxurious arts that the
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princes and grandees of the time contributed, in some degree,
to their development. But, in other respects, they did not,
any more than the Kings, exercise any very great influence over
the artistic movement of the second half of the sixteenth
century.
This very important movement is marked by several
distinct characteristics : its claim not to be empirical as in the
Characteristics preceding age, but on the contrary, erudite, and
of the art of to seek its source in a knowledge of antiquity ;
the period. the circumstance, that notwithstanding this, it
remained French and unconsciously followed closely the tradi-
tion of the epoch that had gone before, while improving it ; the
relative unity of all artistic manifestations of the time by reason
of this twofold aspiration ; and lastly, the realization of the
dignity of art, resulting in the fact that architects and poets
no longer regarded themselves as mere craftsmen, but as
creators and scholars of a high order. This was the
beginning of the true French Renaissance, in contradistinction
to the first Renaissance, which may be said to have ended about
1550 ; because by that date, the best representatives of the
age in which individual talents, more or less isolated, coincided
with the maintenance of a French tradition carried on ever
since the Middle Ages, had disappeared, or were about to
disappear. For Marot died in 1544, Rabelais about 1553, and
Margaret of Navarre in 1549. ^. - ' ^ (v>«**./.
The increase, owing to the invention of printing, in the
editions of ancient authors, both Latin and Greek, made the
The study of study of antiquity extraordinarly fashionable in
the ancients, the sixteenth century. This movement, gradually
inaugurated during the Middle Ages, had gathered strength
ever since the beginning of the sixteenth century. It was
generally admitted that to be learned was to possess a title to
glory, and that it was impossible to be learned without having
a thorough knowledge of ancient liter atiu"e. The ancients
had said the last word on morality, law, and art. It was the
fashion to swear only by them. Had not the Reformation found
its first and its best representatives among the learned men
who were familiar with classical philology, and able to refer
triumphantly to the original texts ? In imitation of the
885
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
ancients, it was laid down as an axiom that definite methods
and rules are necessary in every branch of study. What
was a language that had no grammar, no syntax, and no
orthography ? Hence, for instance, arose the idea of fixing
the language and eliminating everything superfluous, all errors
of taste and lack of restraint, and of suppressing all that was
disorderly in the literary and linguistic medley, which was the
legacy of the Middle Ages. In addition to this, the daily
increasing development of printing-works and the growing
output of books published in French gradually led to the idea
of unifying grammatical and orthographical forms, so that all
books might be uniformly readable. And thus ideas of rule
and measure in imitation of the ancients came into existence,
ideas which were destined to characterize the whole artistic
and literary movement of the second half of the sixteenth
centiu:y. In 1549 the book which formulated the new doctrine
was published — Joachim du Bellay's Defense et Illustration
Du Bellay's ^^ ^ Langue FranQoise. Whereas hitherto it had
•* Dfefense de been regarded as necessary, and for a long time
la Langue to come, was still to be so regarded, that scientific
francoise." works should be written in Latin, on account of
the nobility of that language, and also in order that the learned
men of all countries might be able to understand each other,
du Bellay urged his compatriots to write in French. In' this
he was doubtless influenced by the Protestants, who conducted
their services entirely in the vulgar tongue, and following the
example set by Calvin in publishing his Institution Chretienne
in French, refused to employ a language that was not accessible
to all. But on the other hand, du Bellay insisted that the
French language should be made a suitable instrument, that
it should be purified and enriched, if necessary, by learned
philological creations of words which it lacked, and, above all,
be endowed with style. In order to realize these aims, it was
only necessary, he continued, to turn to the ancients and study
their rules. He called upon his countrymen to renounce all the
inventions of the Middle Ages, which were inadequate and ugly,
ballads, rondeaux, and virelays, to return solely to the ancient
tradition illustrated by Horace and Virgil in their odes and
epics, and to establish a French prosody, a French syntax, and
886
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
a French style. Du Bellay's ideas had an enormous success,
and were adopted by the P16iade. They were productive of
three results : an imitation which grew closer every day, till
it amounted almost to plagiarism, of the ancients ; the be-
stowing of a more and more rigorous classical education on
the rising generation ; and a contempt for the so-called bar-
barous works of the Middle Ages ; all of which resulted in the
artificial productions of an erudite literature which was in no
sense popular, but on the contrary, aristocratic.
And, indeed, the imitation of antiquity became the pre-
vailing fashion. Mythology invaded literature and art till it
The classical encumbered them. The gods and goddesses of
obsession. Olympus were to be found everywhere, and
nymphs figured ad infinitum in poetry and bas-reliefs. Every
speech invoked the heroes of the ancient world, and there was
n6 historical personage for whom a parallel was not found in
the pages of Plutarch. The good side of this fashion was to be
found in the fact that instead of losing themselves in mazes
of glossaries and commentary, as preceding ages had done,
people made a direct study of the texts themselves. But
classical works assumed an unparalleled importance and value.
The smallest particle in a classic sentence was weighed and
balanced as though it had the unique significance of some
judicial formula. The fashion became a superstition.
From that time forward it was assumed that outside the
productions of antiquity no creation of the human mind deserved
the clTort of study. The writers of the sixteenth century
were the first to suffer from this narrow theory ; for they were
afterwards neglected, if not actually despised, by succeeding
generations. With the exception of Queen Margaret of Valois
(whose book-shelves contained their works) no cultivated
person in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who formed
a " Ubrary " thought it essential to include the French Re-
naissance writers in it. And even the Biblioth^ue Royale
itself, the present Biblioth^ue Nationale, was not so poor in
any department as in that devoted to French authors of the
sixteenth century. This tendency which is known as "Classi-
cism " weighed heavily upon the development of the French
genius after the sixteenth century. Rome was regarded as a
Y 887
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
school sufficient for all needs. Hence the prolonged indifference
to everything that was not Roman, to the original, free, and
spontaneous literature of the Middle Ages and of Anglo-Saxon
countries, Shakespeare, for instance ; and the contempt for
scientific and political speculations, in so far, at least, as their
' application to practical and industrial life was concerned. It
led to the acquisition and development of valuable qualities of
propriety, taste, and restraint, but was detrimental to inde-
pendent, varied, and vital inspiration. In the State it conduced
to the realization of Roman uniformity under the absolutism
of Louis XIV, which perfectly expressed the juridical idea
of the princeps romanus ; and the classical standard ended by
destroying those communal and provincial institutions charac-
teristic of the Middle Ages, which present such a curious spectacle
of freedom and autonomy.
Contempt for the Middle Ages was indeed one of the dogmas
that the new school professed most eagerly. Apparently
this negative attitude was the very origin of its being.
The school had been formed with the object of making war,
and " a fine war " [wrote Pasquier] " against ignorance." Ignor-
ance meant the Middle Ages, "the ancient barbarism." All
that they had produced in the domain of literature was mere
" spicery " according to du Bellay. A " better age " had been
inaugurated — ^the epoch which aimed at bringing things "to
perfection." And thus, in contradistinction to the artists of
the preceding period, who had endeavoured, each in his own
sphere, to do the best they could in accordance with their
personal tastes and tendencies, their temperaments and fancies,
it was now maintained that an ideal existed destined to be
conamon to all, a theory of beauty brought to light again from
the ancient world, a canon. The promulgators of the new
theories were dogmatists who became exclusive.-
Of this they were fully aware. They also realized that
their learned and reasoned efforts could never result in the
production of works fit for the public at large — that is to say,
popular ; but that they were condemned to remain select and
to a certain degree isolated. They accepted this aristocratic
position and gloried in it. But in spite of their pretensions,
they were not the exclusive creators of the movement they
888
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
represented. They belonged to a sequence and were the links
in a chain. Before their time, the humanists, who had sought
in Latin writers models of fine language which they imitated,
had, in a certain sense, pointed out the road to them. Italian
influence has also been mentioned, that of the Italian banking
colony at Lyons, and that of the Italians attracted to France
by Catherine de' Medici. But, as a matter of fact, this alleged
influence is not easy to trace, and it is admitted that it cannot
have lasted long. And, above all, the Classicists owed more
than they thought to tradition. In short, as is the case with
every fashion, the conditions leading to the development of
this movement are shrouded in obscurity and its evolution had
its root in various general causes. ^
The proof of this lies in the fact that the first representatives
of this second Renaissance were of diverse origin, and sprang
The French from widely different conditions and localities.
Renaissance. Whilst Ronsard, du Bellay and du Bartas be-
longed to the nobility, and Montaigne and Pasquier to the
middle classes, many were of extremely modest, not to say
vulgar extraction. Henri Estienne was a printer's workman.
The members of the Pl^iade lived in Paris ; but Antoine de
Baif, Pontus de Thyard, Louise Lab6 and her group inhabited
Lyons, in the vicinity of their printer, Jean de Tournes ; whilst
Muret and Vauquelin de la Fresnaye belonged to Poitiers. In
the domain of art the provinces were as brilliant as Paris.
If we acknowledge the " resurrection " of antiquity as the
basis of the Renaissance, pride of place must logically be given
to the learned men and philosophers ; for it was they who
endowed others with the elements of their doctrines or the
means for formulating them. The first in this order is the
learned printer Henri Estienne — the son of the no less learned
Henri printer Robert Estienne — who edited so many
Estienne. of the works of ancient Greek and Latin authors,
and above all, compiled a Greek dictionary, the Thesaurus
groBccB lingucB, the prototype of modern lexicons. He was a
clever, precocious man, extremely gifted but terribly bad-
tempered. After having studied deeply and worked hard, he
had been obliged to flee to Geneva on account of his Protestant
ideas. He returned, however, to the Court of Henry III, and
889
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
was kindly welcomed by that monarch. After numerous
troubles brought upon him by his hot temper, he died a ruined,
or an almost ruined man, at Lyons in 1598. Henri Estienne's
work was very considerable. He published the works of nearly
all the Greek writers, translated Pindar and Theocritus into
Latin, edited the whole of Plato, and produced first editions
of Appian and Anacreon. His publications furnished ample
material for study to the philologists.
One of these, a certain Jacques Amyot, wished to make
Greek literature in particular accessible to the public by means
Jacques of translations into French. Amyot was born
Amyot. at Melun of humble parentage in 1513, but had a
brilliant career. He entered the Church, afterwards becoming
Professor of Greek and Latin in the university of Bourges,
where he attracted attention by his translation of the Laves of'
Theagenes and Charicles by Heliodorus, and of Daphnis and
Chloe by Longus. He was subsequently made tutor to Henry
II's sons, who, when they came to the throne, overwhelmed
him with honours, making him Bishop of Auxerre, Grand
Chaplain of France, and Commander of the Order of the Holy
Ghost. He was supple, but his astuteness failed him before
his death ; for he ended his days in great unpopularity in 1593
by reason of his friendship for Henry III. His translation of
Plutarch's works is celebrated, and had a great success, both
on account of the subject matter and the charming simplicity
of its naive style. This translation did more than a good many
editions of ancient writers to make the heroes of antiquity
familiar figures. Every private library for the next two hundred
years gave Amyot's Plutarch a place of honour.
The accurate methods employed by the philologists in the
production and translation of classical texts were also applied
Etienne to the study of history by the historians, the chief
Pasquier. of whom was the worthy ifitienne Pasquier, a
lawyer by profession, born in Paris in 1529. He was a great
jurisconsult, whose name was in everybody's mouth, owing
to his conduct of many important suits — ^the case of the Univer-
sity against the Jesuits, for instance. He was a member of
the States -General in 1588, and lived in honourable seclusion
from 1604 to 1615, when he died. In his Recherches de la France,
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the first volume of which appeared in 1561, the second in 1565,
and the eight others at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
he made an attempt to reconstruct the history of France by
means of direct reference to documents, and the original ac-
counts given by contemporary authors.
Following Pasquier's example, publicists also began to
manifest a similar tendency. Jean Bodin, born at Angers in
The publicists. 1580, was a bad lawyer and a heavy writer,
though he was rich in traditional ideas. He was attached to
the household of the Duke of Anjou, who had him appointed
Grand Master of the Woods and Waters, and afterwards to
the Court of Henry IV. In 1560 he published his MHhode
pour Hudier Vhistoire, followed in 1576 by his voluminous work
De La Ripuhlique (literally De la Chose Publique) the aim of
which was to prove by means of a careful study of the past,
that the French monarchy must be in no sense absolute or
tyrannical, but moderate and limited. His big book is very
confused.
Another publicist, Fran9ois Hotman, was a Calvinist (1524-
1590) and the son of a parliamentary judge. He was a learned
professor and an aggressive controversialist who just escaped
being compromised by the Conspiracy of Amboise, and finally
left France after the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. In the
following year (1573) he published his great work Franco Gallia,
sive tractatus de regimine regum Gallice et de jure successionis, in
which he, too, returning to the study of the ancient documents of
France, tried to prove that the monarchy should be elective
and not hereditary, and that, in any case, its authority should
be held in check by the regular convocation of the States-
General.
After history and political theory, law in its turn felt the
effects of the new tendencies — Roman law as represented by
Jurisconsulte. Jacques Cujas, and Common Law as represented
by Charles du Moulin. Cujas, who was born at Toulouse in
1522, and was a wandering Professor of Law who taught almost
everywhere — at Cahors, Bourges, Valencia, Turin, Paris, and
again at Bourges, where he died in 1590 — had an unrivalled
knowledge of Roman Law. Students flocked to his lectures
in order to hear his illuminating commentaries on the old law
S41
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
texts, which he explained by referring to the testimony of
contemporary writers, thus placing each law and each juris-
consult in the proper period. He was an admirable Greek
scholar and wrote pure Latin. His Commentaires du Corpus
Juris civiliSy his critical editions of Justinian and Ulpian are
monumental works, and his name was a venerable authority
in the legal world under the old regime.
A jurist less celebrated to-day, but who once enjoyed
almost as great a reputation in the legal world, was Charles
Charles da du MouUn, a native of Paris, born in 1500. He
Moulin. was of noble descent and possessed a strong and
well ordered intellect. He was a Protestant, however, and
his reUgion caused him much misfortune. He was cast into
prison, but managed to escape to (Germany, where he became
a Professor at Tiibingen. He subsequently returned to
France, and was again cast into prison for having published
in 1564, his Conseil sur le fait du Concile de Trente, which was
regarded as impertinent. He died in 1566. He was not a good
speaker and took up the profession of a consulting lawyer.
His great work, the Commentaires sur la Coutume de Paris, is a
weighty publication in which he explains, with valuable historical
illustrations, those innumerable Common Law enactments
upon which present French law is partly based. He was the
authority par excellence on Common Law, and was at once
jurist, historian, philosopher and well-informed scholar. His
work was continued by Guy Coquille and Antoine Loisel.
The learned world had set the example, and, following in
its footsteps, literature too prided itself upon returning to
antiquity. In this the poets took the lead.
The sixteenth century was rich in poets, fitienne Pasquier
talks of "the great flotilla of poets produced in the reign of
The Poets. Henry II." Many of these have been completely
forgotten, and even among those whose names have survived,
not one has left a collection of works of such sustained beauty
as have certain seventeenth-century writers. Whether their
preoccupation with classical antiquity marred or benefited
their productions is a dehcate question. One thing at all events
seems certain, and that is that the sixteenth-century authors
are most pleasing when they give free play to qualities of
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simplicity, natural charm, and spontaneous emotional grace,
limpid qualities which seem essentially French. Two different
currents can be distinguished in their work — the inspiration
derived from antique learning, and the continuation of French
traditions with the characteristics of the national temperament.
The two currents appear side by side, whilst in certain isolated
authors, as we shall see, the second gained the upper hand.
Such conflict was inevitable between an education imposed from
without and the traditional instinct of a race asserting itself.
The first group of poets to attract attention appeared in
Lyons — ^a city which was at that time an important centre,
the point of contact between France and Italy, Switzerland,
and Germany. Two names belonging to this group have come
down to us — those of Maurice Sc^ve and Louise Lab6, who in
a tentative and incomplete way foreshadowed the ideas of the
Pl^iade. But in trying to be cleissical, Maurice Sc^ve, a worthy
and learned alderman, became unintelligible, and his chief work,
consisting of 449 decastich verses, Dilie, objet de la plus haute
vertu, is a mere exercise in pedantic subtlety. More spontaneous,
however, was the work of Louise Lab6, la Belle Cordiire, as she
was called (1526-1566) who, after a strange career in her youth,
during which she dressed up as a boy and took part in the siege
of Perpignan under the name of Captain Louis, settled down
to a sober married life with a merchant of Lyons named Perrin.
She wrote sonnets and elegies modelled on the Greek, the
passionate accents of which are not always devoid of sincerity.
She occupies a position superior to that of Sc^ve and her con-
temporaries called her Sappho.
But in discussing the poetry of the sixteenth century the
mind dwells especially on a much more illustrious group, which
The Pleiade. received the name of the Pl^iade. This was a
band of seven authors of imequal merit, who synthesized the
poetical movement of the sixteenth century. The original
founders who banded themselves together about 1550 were
fewer than seven. They called themselves the Brigade, and
it was only when they reached their symbolic number in 1556
that they adopted the name P16iade. The members were
Ronsard, du Bellay, Baif, Belleau, Pontus de Thyard, Jodelle
and Daurat. Daurat, who was a Hellenist and never wrote in
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French, seems at one time to have been the soul of the enter-
prise— and what an enterprise ! " The renewal of poetical
themes, the transformation of style, the reconstitution of the
language I " Their pretensions might have appeared ridiculous
had not partial success ennobled their overweening ambitions.
Two of them were really gifted, Joachim du Bellay and Ronsard.
Du Bellay who was a priest and Canon of Notre Dame de
Paris (1524-1560) was obviously marked out by his Difense et
Illustration de la Langue frangoise, clearly a work of the new
school, to be a member of the Pl^iade. He was a native of
Anjou, with delicate health and a lively imagination, who,
after travelling about Italy from 1558 to 1557, settled down
in Paris. His Poisies frangoises and his two books of sonnets,
Olive and Regrets, are applications of the system of imitating
antiquity. But he is not always happy in his imitations, which
are sometimes clumsy and obscure. When, however, he gives
free rein to his native spirit, which is natural, charming, sweet,
and graceful, and follows the true old French tradition, he is
excellent — an exquisite poet.
Quand reverrai-je, h61as I de mon pauvre village
Fumer la chemin^e, et en quelle saison
Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison ?
Plus me plait le s6jour qu'ont bati mes aieux
Que des palais romains le front audacieux . . .
Plus que le marbre dur me plait I'ardoise fine
Et plus que I'air romain, la douceur angevine.*
More gifted than Du Bellay was Konsard, the greatest poet of
the Renaissance, and one of the best writers of the French
language. Pierre de Ronsard was of noble birth and was born
in 1524 in the Chateau de la Poissonni^re in Vendome. In
his youth he took part in Com*t life and was sent on political
missions abroad. But in 1540 he became deaf and retired from
the world to write verses. In this he found his vocation and
*When shall I look upon the smoke that curls
Above my village chimneys, and behold
The little field about my hiunble house ? . . ,
More fair to me my father's dwelling seems
Than the proud fronts of Roman palaces . . .
Than this enduring marble the grey slate,
Than Roman air the sweet breath of Anjou.
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he became the undisputed chief of the P16iade. ** He made an
end of tlie ugly, vulgar, insipid, stupid, and badly rhymed
poetry that had existed before," says Brant ome, " and created
the well-turned verse of to-day." His first Odes appeared in
1550 together with a collection of sonnets called Amours. In
1556 he published some Hymnes and a continuation of his
Amours. The first edition of his works was dated 1560. They
form a large collection, running to eight volumes in the modern
Blanche main edition, and contain elegies, epithalamia, eclogues
and the beginning of an epic poem. The French Kings over-
whelmed him with honoiu's ; he became famous, and had
numerous abbeys conferred upon him. After having taken
an active part in the conflict against the Protestants he died
in peace, though somewhat isolated and remote, in 1585. He,
too, in addition to his classical pretensions possessed the best
French qualities : brilliance, diversity, and a delicate and
melancholy gift of harmony, now graceful, now violent, now
exquisite, now passionate. But when he tried to imitate the
ancients he became enigmatical and pedantic. His mythology
is wearisome and his ideas obscure. He rendered great services
to literature by the discovery of varied rhythrais, the purification
of a somewhat hybrid language, and by the association of all
that was noble in classical thought with the French spirit. He
was a true poet.
These two together, Ronsard and du Bellay, were the
leaders of a whole school of poetry, the influence of which was
Ronsard and still felt in the reign of Henry IV. Writers like
da Bellay. Philip Desportes, and Vauquelin de la Fresnaye,
were amongst their rivals, as well as Guillaume de Salluste,
Seigneur du Bartas, a native of Gascony, who was born near
Auch (1544-1590). He was a soldier, who was sent on various
diplomatic missions to England and Denmark, and was killed
at Ivry. A fervent and mystical Huguenot, he wrote a poem
on the story of creation which had a great success.
In imitation of the bards of Hellas, Ronsard arid his followers
conceived the idea of having their poems sung. Hence arose
The Academie the project of an association of poets and
du Palais. musicians ; a plan which was carried out in 1570
and developed into an academy called the Academic du Palais.
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The French Kings took a great interest in this institution, more
especially Charles IX, who declared himself its patron, and
granted it certain privileges. It grew and gradually admitted
all kinds of members to its ranks, writers, men of the world,
and women such as Madame de Retz and Madame de Lignerolles,
Its members delivered addresses, to which Henry III came to
Usten, and for which he himself suggested subjects. At one
time this body assumed the name of L'Acad^mie Franjaise,
and was a prototype of the society founded by Richelieu. It
accentuated and confirmed the aristocratic and restricted
character of the whole literary movement of the Renaissance.
But against this aristocratic attitude in literature, pro-
testations were raised in the name of the genius of the race.
Du Bellay's Defense was attacked by the Quintil Horatian, a
work attributed to Barthelemy Aneau. " If anyone, by good
fortune, takes a pleasure in my pastimes," wrote Sibilet in his
preface to the Iphigenia, " I do not so much envy him his joy
as to be anxious to defend the communication of my diver-
sions, in order to reserve them for a group of half a dozen
reputed princes of our language." Independent writers sprang
up here and there, who allowed their talents free play, and
carried on the traditions of the individualistic authors of the
first half of the century, with all the richness of a luxmiant
and disorderly style, and a pleasant roving imagination. Yet
even these were not untouched by the mania for classical
learning so characteristic of the period.
Amongst them was Noel du Fail, a magistrate in the Par-
Uament of Rennes, a worthy Breton gentleman, born about
NoelduFwl. 1520. He travelled about, studying at Paris,
Angers, Blois, Boiu-ges, and Avignon. In 1547 he published
under the pseudonym of L6on Ladulfi his Propos Ritsiiques,
and in 1548 his Baliverneries or Contes nouveaux d'Eutrapel.
He retired from public Ufe in 1585 and died in 1591. " Our
ancestors," he said, " did not speak as rhetorically as we do,
but they spoke better, and their language was clearer and more
intelligible than ours." His rustic tales, which are full of
simpUcity and good-natured wit, bear testimony in the exquisite
pictures they draw of rural life to a charming feeling for nature,
and revive the tradition of the old French story-tellers. If he
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lacks the power of Rabelais, he has the same free spirit and some-
thing of his rollicking gaiety and realism. He had a good
knowledge of the ancient writers, which he displays in his
work.
But the chief of all is Montaigne, the famous Michel de
Montaigne, a native of P^rigord, who was born in 1588 iind
Montaigne. died in 1592. He was the son of a well-to-do
merchant, and, after having been a counsellor in the Par-
liament of Bordeaux, gave up his legal career in 1570 to live a
country life on his paternal estate. This, however, did not
prevent him from travelling in Germany, Switzerland, and
Italy ; from holding the office of Mayor of Bordeaux from
1581 to 1585, an office in which he did not give proof of any
very remarkable civic virtue ; or from accepting the title of
Gentleman of the Bedchamber to Henry III. In 1580, when
he was forty-seven, he published two volumes of his essays ;
a third appeared in 1588. It is a imique work in which the
philosophical author calmly discourses about life in his library
on the second floor of the Ch&teau de Montaigne, where, from
the top of a hill six miles from Libourne, he overlooks the
Lidoire, a tributary of the Dordogne. Free from all worldly
care, independent and tranquil, he judges men and things with
a lenient scepticism. He is of the Uneage described above,
resembling Rabelais in his easy good-humour, his love of nature
and that smiling indulgence which is a species of doubt and
indifference, admirably expressed by a flowing, supple style.
He too was deeply versed in ancient literature, and filled his
works with classical quotations and allusions.
Wc must also mention Pierre La Ram^, the latinized version
of whose name was Ramus. He was born of poor parents in
Ramus. Vermandois about 1515, and worked as a servant
in the College de Navarre. He managed to educate himself,
and subsequently became a professor. He dared to attack
Aristotle, who from the Middle Ages onwards had been regarded
as the great authority, maintaining that many of the works
ascribed to him were spurious, that the remainder were open to
doubt, and that the commentators were misleading. The
University took him sharply to task. He ended by being
appointed a professor at the College de France, where his
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instruction was of a lucid and original type. He taught a little
of everything — grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, and philosophy.
Calvinism proved his undoing ; he was killed in the Massacre
of Saint Bartholomew. He was a jealously independent spirit.
Ambroise Par6 (1517-1590) was also a man of imusual gifts, a
celebrated surgeon, who knew neither Latin nor Greek, but made
Ambroise Par6. a way for himself through the Hotel-Dieu in Paris.
He belonged to a family who lived in very modest circumstances
near Laval, and he followed the French armies on campaign
as a doctor. On the pretext that the little Latin he had been
able to acquire was abominable, the faculty only granted him
his doctor's degree in 1554. As an operating sm-geon, however,
his skill amounted to genius. He bravely wrote treatises on
anatomy and surgery in French, which laid him open to hostile
attacks. He was the founder of French surgery.
Bernard Palissy also was ignorant of Greek and Latin. He
was a savant as well as a great artist, a working man of the
Palissy. south of France, a native of Agenais. He adopted
the calling of geometrical surveyor, and settled at Saintonge,
becoming a convert to Protestantism. The story of his eager-
ness to discover the secret of Italian enamelled earthenware
and of his success is well known. His dishes, *' his rustic
crocks " as he called them, covered with iridescent enamel
which gives the effects of lapis-lazuli, agate, and precious stones
in the form of lizards, crayfish, and animals of all sorts, and
later on, scenes containing human figures, were his chief titles
to fame. Endowed with an inquiring intelligence and an
open mind, he read translations of Pliny and studied and
taught natural science. In 1563 he published his Traiti des
sels divers et de V agriculture, and in 1580 his L'art de terre,
de la nature, des eaux et fontaines, des mitaux, des terres, la
Recepte vSritable, and his Discours viritables, which give proof
of a scientific spirit extremely advanced for his time and almost
proclaim him a precursor of scientific agriculture. He died in
obscurity — ^a prisoner, it is said, on account of his religious
opinions.
Thus we see that the study of antiquity was imposed even
upon the independents of the second half of the sixteenth
century, those who refused to accept the severe discipline to
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which Ronsard and his followers submitted, but remained
faithful to the joyous tradition of their country, its spontaneity
and abundance. These two characteristics are even more
strongly manifested in the domain of the arts.
The art which shone with the greatest brilliance during
the second half of the sixteenth century was architecture.
Architecture. When we think of the works of the Renaissance
we evoke more especially the beautiful buildings of that period,
with their necessary accompaniments of graceful and varied
sculptural decorations. Whereas before this time the architect,
in the strict sense of the word, did not exist, and there were
merely master-masons who, in collaboration with the owner,
built structures which were raised bit by bit, without much
concern about their final effect, and in any case, not on any
preconceived synunetrical plan ; from the time of Henry II
onwards there came into being a class of theorists and scientific
men who laid down principles and prescribed rules. Architects
arose, artists who designed a carefully proportioned whole,
put a complete work of art upon paper before beginning to
build, and moreover, conceived great and exceedingly compli-
cated plans. French architecture at once attained an incom-
parable degree of beauty. And the initial cause of this evolution
was once again the influence of antiquity.
Two Italians, Alberti and Serlio, the former belonging to
the fifteenth and the latter to the sixteenth century, had dis-
covered Vitruvius, the Roman architect who lived in the time
of Caesar and Augustus, and his learned book Be architecturd.
The passion for the study of antiquity fired builders as well as
the rest. Serlio*s Book of Architecture was published in French
in 1545, whilst in 1547, the first translation of Vitruvius ap-
peared ; the Roman buildings that still remained standing in
Italy served as commentaries to the text. After studying the
principles, builders crossed the Alps, and examined these,
measured and drew them ; and then, on their return to France,
published works in which they demonstrated the theory of the
art. Jean Bullant's Regie d* Architecture appecired in 1664, and
Philibert Delorme*s Architecture in 1567. In the name of
classical authorities, these new theorists formulated the ideas
governing their manual craft, raising it to the dignity of a
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
reasoned art ; and those who had been hitherto obscure and
empirical mechanics developed into architects — persons of a
much higher social standing. Like poetry in the hands of
the Pl^iade, architecture became learned, and like the Pl^iade,
the new artists were full of disdain for the " Gothic " style of
the Middle Ages. According to Philbert Delorme it was out
of date, *' barbarous " and had been abandoned by " all who
had an inkling of real architecture." And yet they owed more
to it than they knew. But less aristocratic than the poets
belonging to Ronsard's circle, they consented to work for
everybody, and not merely for a chosen few.
Practically speaking, the lesson taught by antiquity to
French architects was not so much a sense of proportion — for
all the good builders of the past, inspired by some innate, obscure,
and exquisite feeling, had always displayed, in their most varied
structures an admirable taste for artistic proportions — but a
sense of classical symmetry. They studied the Greek orders
and became acquainted with the calculations involved in the
elements of antique architecture, such as columns and pilasters,
pediments and metopes. They learnt all the shades of difference
between Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan and composite capitals,
and they circulated among themselves drawings of Greek and
Roman temples, all of which led them to feel the need of im-
porting into their structural conceptions a regard for perfect
equilibrium between the various parts and an exact corres-
pondence in every particular. A discipline was now established.
One of the most famous names among these theorists was that
of Jacques Androuet, called du Cerceau.
With the exception of the mediocre church at Montargis,
there are few buildyings for which du Cerceau is known to have
been responsible. The chief of a dynasty of architects who
Androuet du worked on as late afr the first thirty years of the
Cerceau. seventeenth century, he was above all a writer.
His Livre d* Architecture, and his other engraved works won him
considerable fame from his own day onwards. He was born in
1512 and travelled a great deal in Italy, pajdng a visit to Rome
and making drawings of the buildings there from 1630 to 1540.
He began to publish his collections in 1545 and died in 1584.
His books, in which he gives designs for building, offer a curious
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medley of the combined influences of antiquity, the Italian
Renaissance — which had long preceded the French Renaissance
in its application of principles borrowed from Greece and Rome,
adapting them, however, to Italian taste, conditions, and manner
of life — French tradition, and a personal idiosyncrasy, which
is occasionally bizarre and unpractical. The point which is
particularly interesting in connexion with him is the persistence
of French tradition revealed in some of his plans, which recall
Louis XII's Ch&teau at Blois, and in the square plan of his
mansions, based upon fifteenth-century models — the square
plan which was destined to become so popular in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries.
For as a fact, in spite of the influence of antiquity, the
genius of the French nation remained true to itself ; and the
The French proofs of this loyalty are to be found throughout
tradition in the sixteenth century. The Blois of Louis XII,
architecture, with its high roofs, its harmonious combination
of brick and stone, its lofty chinmey stacks, regular windows,
and bold general effect, is reflected in the great ch&teaux of the
Renaissance : Ancy-le -Franc, Folembray, Valery and Villers-
Cotterets. The square plan, so typically French, is common
to Charleval, Anet, ]^ouen. Bury and Saint-Mam*, as well as to
Ancy-le -Franc, Villers-Cotterets and Verneuil. If a seventeenth-
century mansion, such as the Chateau de Pont in Champagne, be
compared with late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century build-
ings in France, such as Blois and Amboise, and with classical or
Italian Renaissance buildings, their connexion with the French
style of the end of the Middle Ages is at once apparent. The
decoration alone shows that foreign models have been studied.
In cases where the building allows of developments in the
way of sculptural decoration, antique or Italian influence
is found embodied in classical elements, such as Greek orders,
columns, pilasters, ovoli, bucrania, &c. Mythological subjects
especially abound and pagan inspiration predominates. But
even here the existence of this tradition in France does not
date merely from 1550 and the pubhcation of Vitruvius ; it is
anterior to this and its beginnings are lost in obscurity. We
shall prove this by making a brief survey of artists and their
works.
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CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
These artists had the good fortune to live during an epoch
when the conditions of existence rendered the confined life spent
_. in the sombre fortresses of the fifteenth century
Renaissance distasteful, and when every one was replacing the
chateau frowning walls of defence characteristic of the
supersedes the (Gothic period by the light, open facades of the
feudal castle. ^^^ country seats. People built extensively,
princes, princesses, and illustrious ladies setting the example,
and spending their money freely. Catherine de' Medici was
responsible for the Tuileries ; Diane de Poitiers for Anet and
Chenonceaux ; and Constable Montmorency for ificouen. But
the man who set the example — and the finest example — was
the King when he rebuilt the Louvre.
When the Emperor Charles V passed through France in 1539,
Francis I, it is said, felt humiliated at being able to show him
as a royal palace only the forbidding fortress of Philip Augustus,
slightly improved by King Charles V, of which the Louvre at
that time consisted. He made up his mind to have it pulled
down and replaced by an airy, symmetrical, and agreeable
edifice. It was the brilliant royal victor of Marignano who
initiated the architectiu-al art of the second half of the sixteenth
century. He enlisted the services of a man of talent named
Pierre Lescot. Pierre Lescot. Born in 1510, this Pierre Lescot
was a priest, the son of a procurator -royal in the Court of Aids.
He had a veritable genius for architecture and had been a
draughtsman from his childhood onwards. He was extremely
learned and also very rich. Amply provided with good posts,
for he was made Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the King, Abbot of
Clermont in the diocese of Laval, Canon of Notre -Dame de Paris,
and Seigneur of Clagny at Versailles, he practised architec-
ture for love of the art — it was the passion of his life. Francis I
recognized his worth, and on August 2, 1546, as we know from
the letters -patent which are still in existence, he asked him
** to build and construct in our castle of the Louvre a large
block of dwelling-rooms on the site of the present great hall " —
that is to say, that part of the Louvre now occupied by the
Hall of the Caryatides and the Salle Lacaze above it. We see
that Francis I's idea was somewhat restricted, and it is not
known how much work Lescot carried out during the reign of
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CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
that monarch ; probably very little. But Henry II extended
Henry ll'i his favour to the architect ; and on April 14, 1547,
Louvre. as soon as he succeeded to the throne, he con-
firmed the order given by his father. Lescot, however, pro-
posed to Henry II — who accepted his suggestions — a plan of
construction conceived on a far grander scale, which was after-
wards carried out, at least in so far as the dimensions were
concerned. The architect set to work and remained attached
to the Louvre till the day of his death in 1578. He enjoyed
a privileged position, being entirely independent of the Superin-
tendent of Public Buildings, making his own arrangements
with the workmen, contractors, and artists, and directing every-
thing alone. He continued his work until 1568, when, owing
to political events, building operations were suspended for ten
years. They were begun again in 1580-1581 under the direction
of Baptiste Androuet du Cerceau. Henry II was responsible
for the west wing of the Louvre, that is to say the part con-
taining the Hall of the Caryatides, and also the comer pavilion
on the side facing the Seine (the Pavilion du Roi) and the first
block of the south wing at right angles to it along the quay.
Charles IX continued this wing as far as about the middle of the
present fa9ade ; and this was all that was done dm-ing the six-
teenth century round the square court of the Louvre. After a
peaceful hfe, during which he was extolled by his contemporaries,
beloved by the poets, particularly by Ronsard who sang his
glory, and by the men of letters whose society he frequented,
Pierre Lescot died in September, 1578, in his Uttle house in the
cloisters of Notre -Dame, to which his position as canon entitled
him, and was buried in one of the cathedral chapels. He does
not seem to have built or desired to build much beyond the
Louvre.
Lescot may be regarded as the earliest of the great French
architects, and by singular good fortune, it fell to him to design
not only the greatest of French palaces, but also the most
magnificent ever built in France. It is obvious that he was
not responsible for much of the later work. The part that may
certainly be attributed to him is the idea of the great square
court, and the western fa9ades in that court.
Few buildings give an impression of more consummate
z 853
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
beauty than Pierre Lescot's fa9ade of the Louvre overlooking
the court. No other building has attained such a happy per-
fection of harmonious proportion, elegance, nobility, balance,
delicate taste, and exact fitness in the details contributing to
the general effect. It is neither Greek, Roman, nor Italian,
but absolutely French. The decorative sculpture is calculated
to support and emphasize the lines of the architecture, and is
neither too inconspicuous nor too aggressive, but singularly
right and harmonious. The external facade is simpler and is
built on to the old and enormously thick wall of the Louvre
of Philip Augustus, which was preserved. It rose above the
moat, and with its comparatively unornamented windows, high
roofs and chimney-stacks, bears a strong resemblance to the
traditional French style found at Ancy-le-Franc — ^which is said
to be a little earlier than the Louvre — and at Amboise. The
new features introduced on the internal fagade of the Louvre,
for which Lescot, it is constantly asserted, found his inspiration
in classical or Italian models, are the engaged Corinthian
columns supporting semicircular arches separated by niches for
statues. It is true that these details are frequently found in
Italian Renaissance buildings, but in France Lescot merely
applied principles that were already well known, and had
been slowly penetrating into the country for some years past.
The semicircular arches had previously been used in the
Chateau de Madrid, whilst engaged Corinthian pilasters, niches
for statues, and friezes were already in existence at Blois and
even, as regards certain of these details, at Amboise. Ancy-le-
Franc, moreover, is such a striking example of the application
of the same principles that, unless we are to accuse him of
plagiarism, we may suppose that Lescot was the architect in
this case also. In short, Lescot made use of elements to which
the French were already accustomed ; his originality consists
in skilful, remarkable architectiu-al effect. Tradition, learning,
and inspiration were all combined in his case and guided by an
Charles IX's unfailing artistic instinct. The whole school of
additions to French architecture of the period turned to the
the Louvre. same sources of inspiration. In 1566 Charles IX
had the ground floor of the small gallery built — ^the Galerie
d'ApoUon — and the lower storey of the great gallery on the river
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CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
side ; these buildings, though they may not perhaps have been
designed by Lescot, preserved the same decorative quahties
as the rest of the Louvre. In 1572 the work was stopped by
the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew ; but Henry IV continued
it once more on his return to Paris in 1594. He carried the
gallery along the river as far as the Tuileries, and added to it
an entresol or mez2uinine, and a first storey, which he made
into a great gallery similar to the additional storey he built
over the smaller gallery. His architects, even if they did not
follow Lescot's designs, were at all events governed by the same
ideas.
The other great architects of the second half of the sixteenth
century, though very different in character to Lescot, yet
present us with the same fundamental features. After Lescot
one of the most celebrated was Philibert Delorme.
He too was a priest, and was born in the Lyons district
about 1515. He was the son of a master of the works, and
Philibert travelled in Italy where he made a great many
Delorme. drawings. On his return to France, Cardinal du
Bellay took an interest in him, and commissioned him to build
the Chateau de Saint -Maur, which attracted much attention.
In 1548 Diane de Poitiers entrusted him with the building of
Anet, a sumptuous mansion to which Delorme devoted his whole
genius, looking upon it as his masterpiece. Of the great square
of buildings that he raised, barely one wing and the chapel are
still in existence. Henry II was greatly interested in Anet,
and took a fancy to the architect, whom he appointed
"counsellor and architect to the King," and Superintendent of
Buildings — in order to ensure for him the obedience of con-
tractors— and Chaplain -in -Ordinary. He also made him a
royal treasurer, and overwhelmed him with abbeys — the Abbeys
of Saint Barth^lemy-l^-Noyon, of Ivry in the diocese of ]£vreux,
and of Saint Serge -1^ -Angers, and nominated him like Lescot,
a Canon of Paris. In 1564 Catherine de' Medici asked him to
construct the palace she was planning to have built at a short
distance from the Louvre — the Tuileries. Ever since the death
of Henry II she had disliked Les Tournelles, and had been
looking out for some other place of abode. Delorme made a
colossal plan for her — a rectangular structure 269 metres wide
855
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and 166 metres deep, containing five inner courts and various
amphitheatres. Catherine, however, was destined only to raise
a part of the half of the fa9ade which faced west, and a stable.
Delorme died in 1570 without having finished even that portion
of his fa9ade, and Jean Bullant, who took his place, substituted
his own ideas for those of his predecessor. In 1572, after the
Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, his work too was stopped.
Philibert Delorme was responsible for numerous buildings.
A great many of his works are unknown to us, and those which
are acknowledged to be his, have either been destroyed or very
much modified. But he published a Traiti d' Architecture and
a work entitled Nouvelles inventions pour bien bdtir, which
enable us to form some appreciation of his character. He was
a learned man, a mathematician who took a dehght in difficult
problems and their solution by means of calculations. He made
a great advance in the technique of his art, more especially in
stereotomy or the cutting of stone. But in his case science
proved detrimental to inspiration. When he tried to be
majestic he became heavy. He did not possess Pierre Lescot's
purity of style nor the more advanced science of Jean Bullant.
His laboured calculations are too obvious. When he gives
free play to his imagination, as he does in some of the designs
in his book on architecture, he produces odd results — an arti-
ficial mixture of classical, ItaUan, and French art. The chapel
he built at Anet is almost Italian in style, and the front of
this building, which has been preserved in the ficole des Beaux
Arts, in Paris, and consists of three storeys, each of a different
order, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian, passing from the heaviest
to the most slender form of construction, is an example of his
mathematical methods. The tomb of Francis I at Saint-Denis,
however, which was designed by him, and is a sort of Roman
triumphal arch of three divisions, supporting the kneeling
figures of the King and Queen, whilst below lie the two princes
sculptured with an almost Gothic realism, and surrounded by
equally realistic battle scenes, is a harmonious and graceful
monument. Philibert Delorme had a very violent temper,
and notwithstanding the fact that he was a canon, his morality
was of a somewhat dubious quality. He quarrelled with a
great many people and after the death of Henry II, even fell
856
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
into disgrace from which he was rescued by the favour of
Catherine de' Medici.
His successor, Jean BuUant, was born at ficouen in 1510.
It was indeed a brilliant generation which first saw the light
Jean Bnllant. between 1510 and 1515, and included so many
illustrious names. Like all the rest, he paid his visit to Rome
and Italy, which now formed the indispensable apprenticeship
for every artistic career. On his return to ficouen, the Con-
stable, Anne de Montmorency, who lived there, attached him
to his service. When the Constable was in disgrace, he con-
ceived the idea of rebuilding his castle and charged the young
architect with the task. The construction of ificouen, which
is still standing, made Jean Bullant's reputation. Mont-
morency, who returned to favour during the reign of Henry II,
brought his architect to Court, and recommended him to the
King ; and it was through the Constable's influence that
BuUant was appointed Controller of Crown Buildings in 1557.
Like Delorme he subsequently seems to have suffered an eclipse.
He was, perhaps, disgraced. At all events he went into re-
tirement, when he seized the opportunity to publish two books
— his Recueil d'horlogiographie in 1561 and his B^gle generate
d* architecture in 1568. The latter work proves that Bullant
was a learned mathematician, who studied all the elements of
his art, and especially the Greek orders, columns and capitals,
in accordance with precise calculations and on scientific prin-
ciples. He was almost more of an engineer than an architect,
and might have said with Philibert Delorme that he was
" fascinated by those beautiful inventions that may be dis-
covered by means of mathematics." He studied Vitruvius
thoroughly, and was certainly influenced by antiquity, if it be
really true that on one of the facades of ficouen he reproduced
an arrangement of the Temple of Jupiter St at or at Rome. In
1570, on the death of Philibejt Delorme, Catherine de' Medici
took him into her service and commissioned him to carry on
the building of the Tuileries. But he finished only one pavilion
in it and did not do any f\ui;her work on the palace. He'^died
in the same year as Lescot. His name is exceedingly well
known, though his work is meagre enough. He is best7known
to us by his books. Of the three architects whom we have just
857
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
been considering, Bullant was the most learned, whilst Lescot
was the greatest artist.
Learning and tradition, the two associated terms which
we have just discussed in connexion with architecture, are also
Sculpture. to be found as conjoined elements in other mani-
festations of that sixteenth century which was so highly
endowed with a sense of the beautiful. Let us now note
their effect upon sculpture, a branch of art which may be
summed up in two names : Jean Goujon and Germain Pilon.
There are few artists so famous as Jean Gkjujon about
whose lives so little is known. He is believed to have been a
Jean Goajon. native of Normandy, though there is no proof of
this fact. The accounts of the Cathedral of Rouen, in which his
name is mentioned for the first time in 1540-1541, in connexion
with the columns supporting the organ in the church of Saint
Maclou, which were made by him, as well as the doors of that
building, describe him modestly as a " stone-cutter and mason."
He carved the statue on the tomb of Georges d'Amboise in
Rouen Cathedral. In 1543 we find him in Paris carving
the rood-screen of Saint-G^rmain-l'Auxerrois under the direc-
tions of Pierre Lescot. From that moment he leapt into
fame. The Epitome of Vitruvius which was printed at Toulouse
in 1556, calls him a " sculptor of great repute," and Ronsard
mentions him in his verses. He was called upon to colla-
borate in all the great works of the period. Jean Bullant
employed him at ficouen in 1544 ; Philibert Delorme at
Anet in 1553, and Pierre Lescot on the Fountain of the Holy
Innocents and above all at the Louvre from 1550 onwards.
He was a prodigious worker, but a great many of his productions
have disappeared. The date of his death is unknown. It
probably took place about 1565, and not during the Massacre
of Saint Bartholomew, for it is by no means certain that he
was a Protestant. The sculptural works by him which still
survive are very remarkable : The Diana from the Chateau
d'Anet, now in the Louvre, the Fountain of the Holy Innocents,
the sculptures of the Louvre palace on Pierre Lescot's fa9ade,
the vaulting of Henry II's staircase and the Caryatides in the
great hall of that name. These Caryatides, which were modelled
more or less on descriptions in Vitruvius, and the rich store
358
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
of mythology, which provides the subjects of his works, gods
and goddesses, fauns, nymphs, dolphins, tritons and naiads,
prove that Goujon was certainly a pupil of antiquity, though
it is probable that he may have gone to antiquity by way of
the Italian Renaissance. But how truly French he is in his
grace, his delicacy, his discreet and sterling elegance ! Faithful
to truth rather than to realism, he fashioned the women of his
day, who are at once recognizable, and upon whom he bestowed
the supple lines so characteristic of his genius. Lescot probably
played some part in designing the sculptural decoration of the
fa9ade of the Louvre, but Goujon's share in it was nevertheless
considerable, and reveals a nice instinct for ornamentation by
means of sculpture, the consummate tact and taste of the great
artist, and his skill in adapting himself to certain prescribed
conditions in order to produce a harmonious whole.
Germain Pilon remained more frankly true to realistic
traditions. He was a Parisian workman and was born in 1535.
Germain Pilon. His talent placed him above all rivalry. He was
the favourite sculptor of Charles IX, who gave him a studio
in the Hotel de Nesle. Commissions poiired in upon him and
Catherine de' Medici in particular secured his services for the
Valois chapel, a large round building with two tiers of columns,
which, in imitation of the Medici chapel in Florence, the Queen
built against the south transept of the church of Saint -Denis,
as a sanctuary for the tombs of the Valois. It was never
finished, however, and has since been pulled down. It was a
building almost piurely Italian in style, in the construction of
which Lescot, Bullant, and du Cerceau all took part under
various conditions. Pilon was entrusted with the tomb of
Henry II, which is still in existence, and for which, between
the years of 1565 and 1588, he certainly made the kneeling
figures of the King and Queen, clad in their royal robes, the
recumbent bodies of the deceased, and the four bronze figures
at the corners of the monument. Faith, Temperance, Prudence,
and Justice, allegorical representations in the antique manner.
But, turning from this, how consummate is the realism with
which he portrays the dead bodies of the princes, how crude
and relentless is the rendering, yet how skilful and artistic ;
with what precision too, with what strict and minute observance
359
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
of truth is the modelling of the royal costume carried out ! If
in the famous Three Graces made by him for the shrine designed
to contain the heart of Henry III, the idealism so dear to Greece
and the Italian Renaissance is more apparent, the statues of
Birague and his wife carved for their tomb reveal, on the con-
trary, the sense of life in all its vigour. And what shall we say
of the busts, and more especially the medallions, by (Jermain
Pilon, representing all the Valois Kings, marvels of admirable
precision, of startling vitality, and of elegant art. He was one
of the most remarkable artists France has produced.
A man who is far less well known, but deserves greater
recognition than he has received is Pierre Bontemps, who carved
the bas-reliefs on the tomb of Francis I at Saint Denis, a work
Pierre which is excellent in every respect, and in which
Bontemps. the correctness of detail in the battle-scenes, the
costumes, the movements and gestures is consummate in its
realism, though it is not in the somewhat brutal style of the
Middle Ages, but has a supple and orderly ease and freedom.
Pierre Bontemps is neither Roman nor Italian. Almost nothing
was known about him until Monsieur M. Roy discovered some
references to his work.
If sculpture is well represented in the second half of the
sixteenth century — and we have not even mentioned the
Painting. infinite number of decorative details, bas-reliefs,
&c., which are to be found on all the buildings, revealing
the talent of more than one unknown artist — painting on the
other hand makes but a scanty show. Whether because few
were produced or because many were destroyed, France is very
poor in pictures of this period. Those that survive are not
signed. But such as they are, they are closely allied to the
chalk drawings of the period, which on the other hand, are
extremely numerous, and are chiefly portraits, unfortunately
also unsigned. A few names of artists are recorded — ^the two
Jean Cousins, for example. But the majority of the works
attributed to them are by no means indubitable, and, as a
matter of fact, almost nothing is known about them. The
The Clouets. most famous of all was Francois Clouet surnamed
Janet. Fran§ois Clouet was probably born about 1520 and
died in 1572. He was the son of Jean Clouet, painter to
860
CIVILIZATION UNDERVALOIS
Francis I. He had a great vogue, received the honorary title
of groom of the chamber to the King, and was attached to
the courts of Henry II, Francis II and Charles IX. He made
numerous portraits of these monarchs as well as of other members
of the royal family, and the lords and great men of the realm.
A considerable number of chalk drawings by him have been
preserved, more especially those carried out in three colours.
It is true that he founded a school — or that he followed a
fashion ; for chalk drawings of this kind and period are very
numerous. It is not easy to say which of these are to be
attributed to him and which to his imitators. These portraits
are remarkable for sincerity and accuracy. They are very
French, often charming in their vivacity, and sometimes ex-
traordinarily forcible. Their simplicity and realism would
link them with the old (Jothic school did not a certain fine
sobriety and discreet elegance temper all that was uncouth
in the old style.
To this school belongs Corneille de Lyon, who also drew
portraits of the same type as Clouet. But his works are even
Corneille de more difficult to identify, although experts
Lyon. beUeve they can distinguish the difference in
style between the two. The qualities they possess, however, are
identical, and are common to all the artists who produced
portraits of this nature. They form an unrivalled gallery,
both from the point of view of portraiture and of art, and
illustrate the history of the sixteenth century in a manner which
few other centuries can parallel.
It would be interesting to have more information than we
actually possess about an art that flourished in the sixteenth
Tapestry. century, the art of tapestry-making. We have
already seen how indispensable Catherine de' Medici and other
great personages considered it, to have not only numerous but
exceedingly beautiful specimens of tapestry in their houses.
The walls were covered with these tapestries, which were fre-
quently changed in order to vary the look of the rooms. They
were chiefly foreign products woven for the most part in
Flanders, at Brussels, Valenciennes, Tournay, Ghent and
Bruges. Francis I made numerous purchases in these dis-
tricts and bought amongst others, a " grand history of Scipio *'
861
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
consisting of twenty-two pieces. It cost 40,000 livres and
Catherine de' Medici had it brought in 1565 to the Conferences
at Bayonne, where it was much admired. These Flemish
hangings depicted either subjects reproduced from Italian
works of art, such as the pictures of Giulio Romano and Raphael,
or scenes from real life such as hunting-parties, landscapes,
and battles of the day. The making of tapestry, which was an
extremely prosperous industry in France during the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, was less so at the beginning of the
sixteenth. The Kings tried to revive it. Francis I had a
factory installed at Fontainebleau, and Henry II followed his
example in Paris. It was in this Parisian factory that the
famous tapestry belonging to Catherine de' Medici, called
the Artemis tapestry, was woven about 1570. There was
also a factory at Tours . The French sixteenth-century tapestries
are extremely decorative, and are conspicuous for their variety
of tones blended into a harmonious whole, as well as for their
great wealth of colour; their mythological subjects, gods
and goddesses, classical stories with chariots and temples,
and borders displajdng arabesques in the Italian style, their
realistic subjects, balls of the period, receptions, f^tes, pastoral
scenes, and hunting-parties containing fairly faithful portraits,
also show the influence of the two-fold inspiration that domi-
nated the art of the period.
The enamel work of the sixteenth century won a greater
reputation. Limoges was the centre of production for these
Enamels. famous and beautiful works of art, of which
France has preserved a fair number of specimens. This town
possessed a class of skilful and tasteful craftsmen, who carried
on the profession from father to son — ^the Courteys, the Rey-
monds, and the P^nicauds. The best known of them all was
Leonard Limousin, upon whom the Kings conferred the title
of groom of the chamber and of " painter -in-ordinary and
enameller to the King." The Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre
exhibits samples of his work, enamels of a truly admirable
purity and evenness of tone. In this case again, we find the
customary dual range of subjects — mythological and classical
scenes, heroes from Plutarch, and Olympian deities against
backgrounds borrowed from Roman buildings, side by side
862
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
with contemporary portraits of historical personages and others.
The latter are less supple than those of Clouet and of his school,
and less vital, though they are treated with a realistic atten-
tion to correct detail. About one hundred and thirty enamel
portraits of his contemporaries by Leonard Limousin are still
in existence.
A great deal of stained glass was made during the Renais-
sance in France, much of which has been preserved. It is
Stained glass, regarded as inferior to that produced in pre-
ceding periods by reason of its profusion of details and figures,
which from the distance gives an impression of confusion,
and the predominance or too frequent use of white, which blurs
and confuses the general effect. These stained glass windows,
however, when taken in detail, are remarkable for the beauty
of their gradations of colour, their varied and exact drawing,
and their great wealth of tones, which are more numerous than
before, though, given the style, this is not necessarily a sign of
progress. Some of the colours too are extremely beautiful.
The subjects are either reUgious when used in churches, or,
as in the case of the set of grisaille windows at ficouen repre-
senting the story of Psyche from designs by Michael Coxcie,
they show the influence of prevalent fashion.
And finally, in this all too rapid sketch of the arts under the
House of Valois, some mention must be made of music. The
Music. people of the sixteenth century were extremely
fond of music and employed it in every form, both grave and
gay — the church music of the Catholics, the psalm tunes of the
Protestants, the dance and ballet tunes of Court festivities,
and the songs of the p>eople. The Pl^iade, as we have seen,
considered that poetry would gain by being associated with
music, and the Academic du Palais was founded with the
object of organising this association. Marot made a verse
translation of the Psalms in order that they might be set to
music. Under the influence of Catherine de' Medici, who gave
regular concerts several times a week, her sons, and more
especially Charles IX, developed a liking for music. Their
favourite form of the art was dance-music. They danced a
great deal, in ironic contrast with the tragic nature of the
times in which they lived. These sixteenth-century dances,
868
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the pavane and other slow and stately measures, in which the
couples had to perform the various evolutions with grace,
suppleness, and elegance, constituted a delicate art which
required distinction in the execution. The music for them
was by turns soft and slow or fast and lively — varied, in short.
A certain refined form of dancing — ^the ballet — ^had a great
vogue at the end of the sixteenth century — a vogue which lasted
on into the next century. Attempts had already been made
in Italy to produce pastoral plays the text of which was inter-
spersed with songs. The ballet is a sort of opera representing
a certain theme developed by a series of scenes that are sung,
acted, or danced. The most celebrated of these ballets was
the one produced by Balthazard Beaujoyeux in 1581, in honour
of the marriage of the Duke of Joyeuse, and called " The Queen's
Comic Ballet." From this time forward the French Kings
of the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth
century had a ballet performed every Shrove-tide, an extremely
complicated, gorgeous, and expensive entertainment.
Balthazard Beaujoyeux was an Italian whose real name
was Baldassarini ; but he lived for a long time in France.
Gondimel. As a matter of fact, the great French musicians
of the sixteenth century were to a certain extent foreigners.
Orlando de Lassus and Willaert were Flemish, whilst Goudimel
was a native of Franche-Comt^ a province which at that time
was Spanish. He may, however, be regarded as a Frenchman,
and he was certainly a very great musician. He was a
Protestant, or suspected of Protestantism, for he was killed
at Lyons during the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew in 1572.
He had Uved in Rome and had kept a school there which
produced Palestrina. His masses, motets, and psalm tunes —
it was he who wrote the chants for Marot's verses — are remark-
able for the purity of their harmony. But in the domain
of church music the transformation was destined to come
from Italy and the genius of Palcstrijia, whose Mass of Pope
Marcellus dates from 1565. Fugue and counterpoint were
the two great elements in the method of this new school ;
whilst the writers of songs, like Costeley and Orlando de Lassus,
remained true to free and spontaneous inspiration with its
original and varied forms. And thus in music as in all the
364
CIVILIZATION UNDER VALOIS
other arts of the sixteenth century we find a constant dualism
• — learned and studied forms side by side with the free and
natural play of instinctive talent.
SouBCES. Lettres de Catherine de Midicis, ed. La Ferri^re and Bague-
nault de Puchesse ; de Thou, Histoire universelle, 1784 ; Et. Pasquier,
Becherches de la France, 1661 ; Brantdme, (Euvres completes, ed. Lalanne ;
Tominaseo, Relations des ambassadenrs vinitiens, 1888 ; Alberi, RelazUmi
degli ambasciatori Veneti al senato, 1889 ; A. du Cerceau, Les plus excellens
bastimens de France, 1576 ; Les toilettes d'El^onore d'Autriche (in Reime
des SocUt^s savantes des d&partements, 1876) ; de Mont^gut, Inventaire
des bijoux de Jeanne de Bourdeille dame de Sainte-Aulaire en 1595, 1881 ;
E. Bonnafi6, Inventcdre des meubles de Catherine de Medids en 1589, 1874 ;
Lettres et devis de PhUibert Delorme relaiifs d, la construction du chdteau de
Chenonceaux, by Chevalier, 1864.
Works. H. Lemonnier, Les origines de Fart classique en France ctu
XVI* sUcle (in Revue universitaire, 1895) ; Petit de Julleville, Histoire
de la langue et de la litt&aiure frangaises, vol. iii, 1897 ; Damnesteter and
Hatzfeld, Le XVI sUcle en France, 1883 ; E. Bourciez, Les moeurs polies
et la litt&rature de cour sous Henri II, 1886 ; E. Fr^my, VAcadimie des
demiers Valois, 1887 ; Glasson, Histoire du droit et des institutions de la
France, vol. viii, 1903 ; Palustre, L* Architecture de la Renaissance, 1860 ;
and La Renaissance en France, 1879-1885 ; Geymiiller, Gesckichie der
Baukunst der Renaissance in Frankreich, 1896 ; A. Berty, Les grands
architects de la Renaissance, 1860 ; and Topographic historique du vieux
Paris, le Louvre et les Tuileries, 1866 ; Louis Batiffol, Le Louvre et les
plans de Lescot {Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1910) ; F. Boumon, Blois, Cham-
bord et les cfUlteaux du BUsois, 1908 ; Gonse, La Sculpture frangaise depuis
le XIV' siicle, 1895 ; H. Bouchot, Les Clouet et Comeille de Lyon, 1892 ;
E. Moreau-N^laton, Les Clouet, peinires officiels des rois de France, 1908 ;
and Les frtres du Monstier, peinires de la reine Catherine de Midicis, 1908 ;
J. Guiffrey, Histoire de la tapisserie, 1886 ; L. Boudry and E. Lachenaud
Lionard Limousin, 1897 ; O. Merson, Les Vitraux, 1889 ; H. Expert,
Les maitres musiciens de la Renaissance Jrangaise, 1894 ; E. Lavisse,
Histoire de France (the chapters on the Renaissance written by H. Lemon-
nier) ; M. Roy, Le sculpteur Pierre Bontemps, 1911 ; and, Les deux Jean
Cousin, 1909.
865
CHAPTER X
THE KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
Impression of prosperity produced by Prance upon foreign
visitors. The kingdom had no written constitution but only
traditional customs. The theory of the absolute power of the
King. The dense and complex growth of national administration,
according to Figon. The people surrounding the King : the King's
coimcils, the Chancellor of France, the Superintendent of Finances,
the Secretaries of State. The coimtless multitude of royal oflftcials
in the provinces. Judicial oflBcers : the Grand Council, the Parlia-
ments, bailiffs and seneschals, presidial courts, inferior royal
judges and seignorial judges ; special jurisdictions. The finance
officials ; system of raising the taxes ; Savings Department
(UEpargne) in Paris : the financial division of France into generali-
ties, elections and parishes ; the finance agents ; the numerous and
complicated taxes paid by the people ; the budget of 1600. The
expenditure ; strictness with which the public accounts were kept ;
the Exchequer Coiut. The administration ; governors of provinces
and local governors. Municipalities. The Army and Navy ; the
French people in 1600 and their three Estates — ^the Clergy, the
NobiUty, and the Thbd Estate.
THE France of the reign of Henry IV was, as far as
extent of domain was concerned, pretty much the same
as the France of to-day, save that its somewhat
sinuous frontier line left in the hands of foreigners Artois,
Cambr^sis, the Duchy of Bar, Lorraine — with the excep-
Impression tion of the enclaves of Metz, Toul and Verdun,
^^^^^^T^ and the small territory surrounding these places
FraSc« on —the whole of Franche-Comt^, Savoy, the county
foreign ^^ Nice, Comtat-Venaissin and Roussillon. In
visitors. spite of the turmoil of the civil wars and the
results they left behind them, she impressed strangers who
visited the country as a *' rich and powerful " land. She
had a large population, the exact figiu-es of which, however,
366
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
are not known. Michel Suriano estimated the inhabitants of
Paris at 500,000 ; Davila at 800,000. Travellers remarked
that the number of densely populated towns was very large,
and that the villages were close together and contained a con-
siderable number of inhabitants. " The multitude of people
is everywhere so great," wrote a certain visitor to France, "and
the towns and country places so well populated, that the
ground is constantly under cultivation, and every trade and
mechanical art is well supplied." And, indeed, if the books
of a country scrivener or notary of the end of the sixteenth
century are consulted, the certificates of the various transactions
show that the land was most minutely parcelled out and
apportioned. There was scarcely a single " working trades-
man " or *' manual labourer " who did not possess his own
plot of ground and enclosure, together with a house of two or
three gables thatched or tiled, a courtyard, a little back garden
and a certain amount of arable land, an acre, a rood or two.
He paid quit-rent, ground-rent, and mutation fines, all signs
of the feudal tenure of his land and proofs that it was held in
fief or from a lord of the manor. But, apart from this, a
peasant owned and cultivated his property in precisely the
same way as the French peasant of to-day. He worked hard
and was thrifty, and thus managed to live easily enough.
Travellers such as Erpenius, Jodocus Sincerus, Scamberg,
Abraham Golnitz, Goffridus Hegenitius and others, have de-
scribed the things that constituted the wealth of France. Palma
Cayet before them had already pointed out that the country
abounded in " corn, wine, oil, fruit, vegetables, and wood, in
addition to a vast and luxuriant supply of food for cattle and
horses." Corn was produced in sufficient quantities to allow
of its exportation. Except in Brittany, Normandy and
Picardy, which were cider-drinking provinces, wine was pro-
duced throughout the country. The vintages of Argenteuil
and Suresnes, though they did not rise much above mediocrity,
were known to the Parisians. The wines, however, that were
most appreciated were the white wines of Anjou, of Graves
at Bordeaux, of Gaillac and of Rabastens ; red Burgundy,
quantities of which were sent to Paris ; and muscatel from
Frontignan, which was a special favourite. The export of
»67
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
wine to England and Germany was a great source of revenue,
as was also the export of salt. The salt of Languedoc and
Saintonge was famous, and Flemish and Dutch boats used to
embark cargoes of it all along the coasts of Provence and
Poitou. Provence and Languedoc produced hemp, flax, and oil.
Berry fine wool, as did also Normandy, where excellent cloth
was made. The fruit grown in the southern provinces, and
especially in Provence, was famous, though not so celebrated
as woad, a plant used for dyeing, which formed the wealth
more especially of Languedoc. As many as 200,000 bales of
woad were exported annually from Bordeaux. The cultiva-
tion of silkworms and mulberries became extensive from the
time of Henry IV onwards. Almost everywhere pasturage
was fat and good, and large stocks of cattle were reared. Horse
breeding was also carried on throughout the kingdom, though
the horses were not so strong as those produced in Germany,
and heavy cart and carriage horses used to be imported from
that country. Mules from Auvergne and Gevaudan were sold
to Spain. Milk, butter, and cheese were articles of daily con-
sumption. Louis XIII was fond of Pont I'lfiveque cheese,
and the ofl&cers of his Swiss guard introduced him to the " little
Swiss " cheeses. Capons, chickens, and fowls of all kinds
filled the poultry-yards. There was not a peasant who did not
possess " his pig-sty " or a wood that did not abound in " hares,
rabbits, partridges and field-fares " for the sportsmen. Slate
was quarried in Anjou and marble in Languedoc ; there were
iron mines in Auvergne, coal in the south, and mineral water
at Pougues, Val, Vichy, and Balaruc. Trade was extremely
brisk. In short France was one of the first countries in Europe
to exploit all the elements of agricultm-al and mineral wealth
she possessed, and produced earUer than the rest the average
density of population corresponding to her pubHc fortune.
She was rich ; " the sources of her wealth," said one traveller,
" are inexhaustible."
For the government and administration of this great and
hard-working country, there was no written constitution
or theoretical organization. There were merely traditional
ideas, old established institutions, and habits and customs so
strong that they were caUed laws. The central idea of this
368
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
political constitution based upon " custom," was that of the
" absolute sovereign " power of the King.
" Our public state of France," wrote a certain jurist at
the beginning of the seventeenth century, " is royal, inasmuch
The King's ^^ "^ ^^^ foremost place stands the King, the
absolute power, sole sovereign lord, at the head of all." " The
King," said another, " is the chief, the source and foundation
of all justice and government ; " which means that in the
person of the King alone all judicial and administrative
power was vested, with the result that anyone in the
kingdom exercising a part of one or other of his functions,
did so merely as a delegate or representative of the monarch,
who could resume his rights at any moment. This was
the legal theory in its simplest form. But in practice, as
it was impossible for the King to do everything and be every-
where at once, he delegated the charge of acting for him to
agents whom he appointed to the various functions or "offices,"
and who were accordingly called, not functionaries but
** officers "-1-" the officers of the King," as they were termed.
Five attributes of his power, however, the King never dele-
gated to anyone. These were : the making of laws, the crea-
tion of new offices, decisions of peace and war, the right of
being the final judge in all judicial matters, and the privilege
of coining money. Anybody who dared to encroach upon the
King's prerogative in these matters was guilty of high treason.
The King made the laws. The inferior authorities could frame
regulations " to meet minor contingencies," as the King was
not in a position to take cognizance of local details. But
these regulations were regarded as provisional *' under the
good pleasure of his Majesty," and were valid only within
the jurisdiction of the authority who promulgated them. In
everything and for everything the King was supreme and
decided as he thought fit. ** For this is our good will and
pleasure " was the formula he used in the name of the right
conferred upon him by Gk>d. ' -v
This theory of the royal power did not escape vigorous
attacks during the civil wars of the sixteenth century ; first,
in practice by the revolutionaries ; secondly, in law by the
theorists. After the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew, the
2 A 860
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
question was raised as to whether obedience was due to a King
who had become a tyrant. The position of heir-presumptive
to the throne enjoyed by the Protestant King Henry of Navarre,
raised the problem as to whether the country had not the
right to choose another sovereign by means of the States-
General, and consequently whether this assembly were not
superior to the King. This latter idea was not new. It had
been brought forward by the Cabochiens under Charles VI,
and also at the meeting of the States in 1484. In refusing to
obey the King, first the Protestants and then the Leaguers had
given it great strength and actuality. It seemed to be admitted
ithat the kingship was originally bailed upon the will of the
people, and that if a monarch abused his rights he could be
deprived of them. From this observation on particular cases
it was easy to pass to the very principle of royalty itself,
and certain publicists made a vigorous attack upon the
monarchical idea. How could millions of men, exclaimed
La Boetie, consent to submit, "to one single mannikin,
frequently the most cowardly and effeminate person of the
nation!" "Even the animals," he continued, "if men did
not deliberately ignore their cry, called out to them : * Long
live liberty ! ' " The movement, however, was premature.
For, in reality, under the spell of the wit and ability, the good
humour, firmness, prudence and skill of Henry IV, public
opinion grew calmer, and settled down at the end of the century
into the traditional channels. The theory of royal authority was
as clearly defined in 1600 as it had ever been, and in the writings
of jurists and the minds of contemporaries, the King remained
the supreme pinnacle and keystone of the social organism.
At all events this was so in theory, though in practice it was
different. Under Henry IV the absolute rule of the King was
held in check by a large agglomeration of passive forces : regu-
larly constituted bodies, traditional rules, old established
customs, provincial or municipal privileges, administrative
usages, all of them extremely ancient institutions, that had
gained strength diiring the preceding political anarchy, and had
they not been broken by Richelieu and Louis XIV with the tacit
concurrence of public opinion, would have ensured a general
regime of great variety and vitality.
870
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
We are leaving the States-General out of account. Henry IV,
who mistrusted them, refrained from convoking them. Legally
The States- the representatives of the three Estates of the realm
General. — the Clergy, the Nobility, and the third Estate,
who were elected at the command of the provosts and viguiers* on
the promulgation of a royal edict of convocation sent to the Par-
liaments and transmitted by the bailiffs and seneschals, and
thence to the provosts — only met for the piu-pose of presenting
their grievances to the King in the form of written memoranda.
They had, however, developed other pretensions, which were
too menacing. Nor do we refer to the vague and oft-repeated
appeal to the " fundamental laws of the realm," implying a
restriction of the " full power and authority of the King." Upon
strict scrutiny these words point only to three or four uncertain
traditions — the so-called Salic Law, reduced to the limitation
of the succession to the throne to male heirs only ; the inalien-
ability of the kingdom ; and the injunction that the King must
be a Catholic. It was by trammels other than these that the
absolute power of the Crown was limited, ^^Jb^reason of the
imbecility of the coiuisel, government, and prudence~oFa'singte
man," as" tlie jurist La Roche-Flavin said. His book, inci-
dentally, was condemned. This same La Roche-Flavin, in his
Treize livres des Parlemenis de France, explains that the Parlia-
ments were instituted " in the form of senates to maintain law
and justice in full force " and that, " no edicts or ordinances
were valid or had the right to demand obedience, or rather to
be regarded as edicts or ordinances at all, unless they were
ratified by the sovereign courts and by the free deliberations
of the same." If a royal edict were unseemly, remonstrances
must be addressed to the King until he consented to withdraw
it. And thus in common with many other magistrates. La
Roche-Flavin wished to make the Parliaments play the pre-
dominant part in the constitution. But if as a matter of fact
remonstrance and opposition on the part of these bodies suc-
ceeded on more than one occasion in checking the omnipotence
of the Crown, Henry IV found means, more especially in the
registration of the Edict of Nantes, to impose his decision
* A judge who in Provence and Languedoc performed the duties
fulfilled by a provost in other provinces. (Tr.)
871
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and to vindicate his strict right to be supreme. The will
of the King was law and his word a decree. The Parliaments,
by condemning La Roche's book, implicitly condemned the
theories it contained. There is no sort of principle to be found
in the public law of the time implying that " the monarchy of
France was not absolute." If it was absolute only in theory,
this was due to the fact that passive forces were in practice
more powerful than the law. These forces were represented
by the entire organization of the kingdom, its central, judicial,
financial, provincial and local institutions.
Charles de Figon, wishing to give some idea of the organiza-
tion of France in his day, placed on the title-page of his book
Figon's symbol Discours des offices de France, which was published
of the tree. in 1579, the picture of a great tree springing from
the soil. This represents the King rising aloft by means
of the trunk, which is the Chancellor ; dividing off into
two main branches, the Parliament and the Court of the
Exchequer ; and then into other smaller ones — ^the treasurers
of the country, heads of the finance departments, the Court
of Aids, the Mint, the finance stewards — and the whole once
more subdivided and shooting out tiny branches which are
interlaced and interwoven and grafted one upon the other,
the total giving a complete picture of a bushy and compUcated
tree. The simile is a fairly accurate one. For during the
course of centuries the various institutions of France sprang
up in this way, without any preconceived order, in accordance
with the necessities and demands of the moment, each branch
developing on its own account from a simple bud, some of them
withering up to a certain extent but never altogether disap-
pearing, the whole sprouting in picturesque confusion involving
perpetual conflicts as to scope and functions.
In the King's immediate neighbourhood were his Majesty's
councils, calculated to make the soil about his roots more firm
State Councils, and stable. These furnish the first check upon his
absolutism. The King decided nothing without asking the "advice
of our Council." This was a sensible restriction, inasmuch as
affairs of State were so weighty that the King needed all the en-
lightenment to be gained from men of experience. The King, it is
872
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
true, had the power to over-rule the advice of his Council, more
especially with regard to decisions he had really at heart, but
during the course of each day he would refer to it for guidance.
In so many cases, the old administrators, who had a fundamental
knowledge of the state and its concerns — men like Villeroy,
Brulart, and Belli^vre — ^were capable of supplying just and
reasonable appreciations. Who were the members of the
King's chief Council ? In theory it was composed of princes of
the blood, cardinals, dukes, grand officers of the Crown and
Secretaries of State — a crowd of people. But in practice
only those men were commanded to attend in whose judgment
the King had confidence, the men who administered the affairs
of State — the Chancellor, the Superintendent of Finance, and
the Secretaries of State. The King summoned them to his
cabinet in the morning, or] at| any other time of day, when he
would have the letters he had received read aloud and discuss
them with his advisers, listening to their opinions, and deciding
upon the replies to be sent. And frequently enough he merely
assented to some solution proposed by them. This was the
Council of State, the King's real Council, the one that con-
trolled the national pohcy. In addition to this there was an-
other which dealt with minor questions connected with the ^
administration, such as appeals to the Bang, who was the
supreme judge in the realm, matters of dispute and details
which could only be settled by the so-called decree of the
Council. And indeed, although the right of judgment was dele-
gated to the Parliaments and inferior magistrates, the King
reserved to himself the power of resuming his privilege should j
the necessity arise ; and this Council, called the Privy Council
of State, exercised this function on his behalf, ehiefly, how-
ever, in administrative concerns and matters of dispute. The
members of this Council, in which all the persons belonging to
the first Council, in addition to the controllers and stewards
of the finances and other officials, to the number of thirty-three,
according to an enactment of 1585, had the right to sit — as
a matter of fact they never attended in such numbers — met
almost every day round a " table covered with purple velvet."
Their decisions, which were settled by a majority of votes, were
submitted to the King. Disputes in connexion with financial
373
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
matters were treated separately, as they were numerous enough
to require a special Council. This third Council, called the
Finance Council, sat on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,
from six to half -past nine in the morning, and was composed
of the Chancellor, certain Secretaries of State, and the finance
stewards. Their duties consisted in granting to the towns leave
to raise taxes in their own jurisdiction, in regulating assign-
ments for special expenditure, and in dealing with financial
requisitions addressed to the King. The register of the en-
actments of this council have been preserved.
What was the counterpart at this period of what we now
know as the ministries ? Of all the branches existing in the
Justice and administration of to-day two only were organized
Finance. at this time — ^Justice and Finance, the recognized
and official heads of which were respectively the Chancellor of
France and the Superintendent of Finance.
No important enactment made by the King of France was
valid unless it was sealed with the seal of State. The Chancellor
The alone possessed the seals and sealed with his
Chancellor. own hands — an exceptional prerogative.
Traditional custom forbade his dismissal. The King might
send him away from Court, but he could not deprive him of his
title. " A temporary Keeper of the Seals " had to take his
place. A great personage, clad in a robe of crimson velvet
with huge sleeves lined with red satin and a silk sash of the same
colour, the Chancellor was the natiu'al head of all the judicial
bodies in the kingdom. He was assisted by Masters of Requests
to whom the charge of drawing up reports upon matters that
had been submitted to the royal Council was confided. The
post filled by these Masters of Requests, upon whom extra-
ordinary commissions as stewards in the provinces were con-
ferred later was " a fine office with extensive powers." The
Chancellor was the corner-stone of the whole administration
of the country, for various reasons rising out of a confusion
of judicial and administrative powers.
The Super- "^^^ Superintendent of Finance was supreme in
intendent of the control of the public finances. He was sup-
Finance, ported by financial stewards, men who were
learned in the science of finance, and had under his orders a
374
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
host of agents who were scattered tliroughout the country
for the purpose of the collection, centralization, and despatch
of the money raised by the taxes.
Next to the Chancellor and the Superintendent of Finance,
came the Secretaries of State. It is necessary to understand
Secretaries of their position at this period, which was at once
State. modest and important. In the fourteenth
century the King had three secretaries whose duty it was to
receive and answer his correspondence. When, at the end
of the fifteenth century, one of these " royal secretaries "
chanced to be Florimond Robertet, an experienced man of great
intelligence, well versed in affairs of State, Charles VIII learnt
to appreciate his advice, and Louis XII and Francis I retained
the services of so valuable a helper. And thus the office was
virtually created. Under Henry II there were four secretaries
whose fimctions this monarch defined by an edict of September
14, 1547. They examined the correspondence and " dispatched "
affairs of state. In order to avoid confusion, they divided
France into four quarters, and each dealt with the questions
connected with the provinces in his division and the foreign
countries adjoining them. Thus one had Normandy and
Picardy together with England and Flanders ; the second
Provence, Languedoc, Guyenne and Brittany together with
Spain ; the third. Champagne and Burgundy with Germany,
Switzerland and Savoy ; and the fourth, Dauphiny and Lyons
with Rome, Venice, and the Levant. The four departments
were not equal in importance. Henry III considered it advan-
tageous to centrahze foreign affairs generally in the hands of
one of the four, and matters connected with war in the hands
of another. This was the object of the Edict of Blois of January
1, 1549. Here we have the modern ministerial system in
embryo. Matters were still in this condition in 1600. Louis
XIII's regulations of 1619, and above all of 1626, had to come
before the centralization of foreign affairs and of questions of
war was definitely completed, and even after this the secretaries
concerned still continued to take cognizance of all that affected
their quarter of the coimtry These " Secretaries of State and
Command," as they were called, were often men of the middle
classes, who earned a salary of 50,000 francs a year in the exer-
875
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
cise of their functions. They had a beautiful uniform — a cloak
of violet velvet slashed to the bottom of the right side and
lined with crimson taffetas, and a black velvet cap. To all
appearance merely ordinary scribes, they were in reality, next
to the Chancellor, the most important personages in the kingdom.
They drew up the memoranda and instructions for the ambas-
sadors, and the credentials of the provincial Governors, and
informed everybody of the King's will and the decisions of the
Council of State. There was not a single government secret
which they did not share. Every public letter dictated by the
King had to be endorsed by them in order to be valid, and this
even went so far that their signature alone was of importance,
and the King's autograph was in the end imitated by some
copyist. And thus we find them on the high road to that
omnipotence to which such violent exception was taken in the
eighteenth century. They had a few clerks under them, but
possessed no office, archives, or public building, y'
Such are the rough outlines of the central government.
To the above offices must be added those of the Constable and
the Admiral. But as these functions were more or less restricted
to the army and the navy, we will return to them later on.
The government played but a small part in the King's large
Court, which existed chiefly for the sovereign's personal service.
By the side of the crowd of gorgeous functionaries who sur-
rounded his Majesty — ^the Grand Master of the Household,
the Lord High Chamberlain, the First Lord of the Bedchamber,
the Chief Butler, the Chief Pantler, the Chief Cupbearer, the
Master of the Horse, the Master of the Hounds, the Master" of
the Robes, &c., with their subordinates and others, numbering
altogether in 1601, 1041 persons and in 1589, 1725 — ^the counsel-
lors and Secretaries of State, and even the Chancellor himself,
shine with less brilliance, and seem colourless and circumspect
creatures. But they toiled industriously, and beneath them
laboured the huge army of royal officials in the provinces.
And just as the Chancellor was the most important of the
rfhe ministers, so too the most numerous and powerful
Magistrature. of the officials were the magistrates.
It amounted almost to a principle of public law imder
the old regime that all judicial authority should carry with
376
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
it certain administrative powers, and that all administrative
offices should entail certain judicial functions ; a mixture and
confusion of powers which a certain seventeenth-century jurist
explained by saying : " The magistracy stands above every-
thing, because the aim and end of the public administration
includes within itself the aims and ends of all the others." Hence
it came about that in France there were almost as many judges
as royal officials, and heaven knows that they were numerous
enough, " there being no State in the world that hath so many
officials of all kinds as the kingdom of France I " Any private
individual who possessed the smallest manor had a right of
high, medium, or petty jurisdiction within it. The tiniest
village which to-day might boast a single functionary in the
person of a modest teacher, possessed at this period a royal or
manorial provost, his assessor, a representative of the Procu-
rator-General, and an usher or sergeant. From the King, the
supreme magistrate of the realm, whose fundamental office was
represented by the niain de justice, down to the smallest feudal
bailiff, France was covered with an endless net-work of jurisdic-
tions which formed the real state organization for the main-
tenance of public order.
In the olden days the first Capet Kings used to dispense
justice in person ; Saint Louis, for example, at Vincennes seated
Justice under ** ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ tree. The increase of public
the early business, however, put an end to this patriarchal
Capets. custom, and the council of clerks, who helped
the Kong, constituted themselves into a regular judicial court —
the Parliament, which became free and independent. The
King, however, still reserved to himself the right of judging
certain cases. The second small body of clerks and jurists
which he formed about him in order that they might explain
these cases to him, in their turn also constituted a new court,
dcatched themselves from the King, and formed an organization
of their own, becoming the Grand Council. We have already
The Grand seen how, even after this, the King reserved to
Council. himself the right of participation in certain trials
which were brought before the Council of State. Thus the various
branches of judicial administration gradually sprouted from
the royal trunk. Compared with those of the Parliaments,
377
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the functions of the Grand Council were somewhat uncertain.
The four presidents and the various counsellors belonging to it
took cognizance more especially of the differences that arose
between the principal jurisdictions of the kingdom, those which
were called the sovereign courts by reason of their " ends and
limits." They also took cognizance of certain appeals deter-
mined by an edict of Henry II of September, 1567 ; of " con-
flicting decrees ; " and above all, of matters connected with
archbishoprics, bishoprics, and abbeys. Notwithstanding its
high sounding title the Grand Council played a minor part,
the Parliaments having seized on every function of importance
in this connexion.
A country visitor coming to Paris for the first time must
certainly have felt moved when, in the Rue de la Barillerie,
The he passed through the somewhat low arched
Parliaments, door leading, in front of the Sainte Chapelle,
into the Cour de Mai, round which rose the various buildings
of the Palace belonging to the ancient Parliament of Paris.
His emotion must have redoubled when after crossing the great
hall of the procurators — the Salle des Pas perdus, an old
building with double Gothic aisles, dating from the time of
Saint Louis, adorned with statues of the French Ejngs in
carved wood — he entered the Grand Court, and, on some day
of solemn audience, gazed upon the two hundred magistrates
of the chief sovereign tribunal in the realm, clad in their red
robes, an illustrious and imposing assembly filled with a con-
sciousness of its own dignity and rights, and at once respected
and feared by the subjects whose lives and goods it held in its
power, as well as by the King to whose will it opposed, under
the archaic and impersonal form of rigid decrees, the formidable
mass of law, justice, and tradition. As compared with the
seven other ParUaments, those of Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen,
Aix, Grenoble, Dijon, and Rennes, the ParUament of Paris was
the most illustrious and most ancient. Toulouse, which ranked
next to Paris in age and importance, consisted of about ^
hundred magistrates. ■'
The two hundred magistrates of Paris only met at a general
assembly for cases of extreme importance " the greatest and
most weighty affairs concerning the State and the public
878
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
weal," the ratification of edicts, the reception of magistrates,
mercurial sessions, the drawing up of ordinances, and debates
on the affairs of the kingdom. For although the Parliaments had
orginally been created for the administration of justice alone,
"it is nevertheless recorded in the registers that they fre-
quently interfered in matters of state, of war, and of finance,
either owing to the absence, indisposition or minority of the
Kings of France, or by royal permission, or when business brooked
of no delay. For the hearing of ordinary cases the magistrates
were divided into several separate courts — first, the Grand
Court, which was the kernel of the whole assembly ; then five
Courts of Enquiry, which heard appeals made from the decisions
of inferior judges to the jurisdiction of the Parliament ; here
*' judging " counsellors listened to " reporting " counsellors
and returned the final verdicts ; and two Courts of Requests,
each composed of two presidents and eight counsellors, which
examined the petitions laid before Parliament, sent back some
to the inferior magistrates, dealt with the trivial ones, and
reserved for the Courts of Enquiry those that were of sufficient
importance. In addition there was a Criminal Court, called
La' Tournelle, which had jurisdiction over criminal offences,
and consisted of two presidents, eight counsellors from the
Grand Court, and two from each of the Courts of Enquiry, the
whole body of officials being rfianged every three months " in-
asmuch as the duty of constantly passing sentence of death and
condemning men impairs the natural kindness of the judges
and renders them to a certain extent cruel and inhuman."
Lastly, during the legal vacations, there was a Vacation Court
consisting of a judge and thirteen counsellors, which tried
criminal causes and settled minor cases. To these must be added
the Edict Court, founded by Henry III in 1576, which took j
cognizance of matters of dispute between Protestants and;
Catholics, and which, in the Parliament of Paris, was composed
of two Presidents and sixteen counsellors, eight being CathoUcs
and eight Huguenots. All the Parliaments of the country were
organized on a similar plan, with fewer courts containing fewer
magistrates. Toulouse had only two courts, a Court of Enquiry
and a Court of Requests. The Edict Courts sat in a different
place from the Parliament — in the case of Toulouse at Castres.
S79
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
What cases fell within and what without the jurisdiction
of the parliaments ? This is a complex question, the answers
Jurisdiction ^^ which are somewhat indefinite and arbitrary,
of the In the first place the parliaments might claim
Parliaments, to take cognizance of all cases connected with
important personages — dukes and peers of the realm, princes,
prelates, chapters, lords of the manor and townships and all who
had the right to be heard before it in virtue of a special privilege
called the privilege of committimus ; " also of all cases of great
weight and importance connected with affairs of state," —
matters concerning the universities, navigation, and in general
all appeals from the decisions of inferior tribunals. The limita-
tions were vague enough, and the parliaments did very much
as they pleased and were more or less masters of the situation.
Hence their formidable prestige and the respectful fear they
inspired. Let us examine the magistrates somewhat more
closely.
The chief of these was the First President, a personage,
who filled as important a position in his own province as did
Constitution *he Chancellor in the kingdom ; " Monsieur le
of the 'premier y*'' as he was called, or " Messire So-and-
Parliaments. so " when he was a knight, that is to say of noble
birth. At the end of the sixteenth century, however, all the
First Presidents considered themselves knights ex officio. The
First President was the head of the Parliament ; he presided
over the Grand Court, and also had the right to preside over any
of the others. He alone enjoyed the privilege of being allowed
to come from his own house to the audience-chamber in his
red robes ; the counsellors and other presidents had to dress
at the Palace. He represented the King in the loftiest of all his
functions ; the administration of justice. Hence he took
precedence of the governor or lieutenant-general of a province,
and, except in church, even of archbishops and bishops. Any
great personage, save a prince of the blood, who arrived in a
parliamentary town, even the Constable himself, had to pay
his first visit to him. At Toulouse, on the death of a First
President, all the church bells of the parishes were rung, and the
Cardaillac, the great bell in the cathedral of Saint -fitienne, was
tolled, an honour otherwise reserved for an Archbishop. He
380
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
was so high a dignitary that if the governor of a province and
his lieutenant-general chanced to be absent, he took their
place " considering himself lieutenant-general to the King
within the jurisdiction of his court." He also interfered in
military and financial matters. Moreover, during the civil
wars, he rendered great services in the south by maintaining
or re-establishing public order, taking military measures for
defence, and safe-guarding the country for the King. He was
nominated by the King, who could transfer him wherever he
chose, and appoint a President of Paris First President of
Aix, or promote a First President of Toulouse to the equivalent
post in Paris. All the parliaments of France were supposed
to constitute a single corporate whole.
After the First President came the Presidents who wore
black velvet caps {presidents d mortier) and presided over the
various minor courts, and the Counsellors, who were also august
personages and surrounded by a quasi-religious prestige. In
the exercise of his office the person of a magistrate was sacred
and inviolable. His function was so lofty that it ennobled
both him and his descendants. He enjoyed all the privileges
of the nobility, and was exempt from the payment of the taille
and other dues, and from having soldiers billeted upon him in
time of war. He could not be dismissed from office, his salary
could not be attached, and, in -case of misdemeanour, he could
be judged only by the full body of the parliament assembled
with all its courts. He alone of all royal officials wore the red
robe " scarlet and crimson being the coloiirs and vestments
proper to the King." Among the counsellors were ecclesiastics
called clerical counsellors — ^the others being lay counsellors —
whose number was fixed by the ordinances : forty in Paris,
ten at Toulouse, eight at Rennes, and six in the other Parlia-
ments. If they overstepped these numbers, '* letters of laisa-
tion " (meaning laicisation) were obtained from the King, in
order to revert to the regulation number. To these clerics were
confided more especially ecclesiastical, religious, and sacred
cases, in order that they might defend the rights and privileges
of the Church, and instruct the lay magistrates upon details con-
nected with the ecclesiastical estate.
Lastly came "the Parquet" (the Bar): the Procurator-
881
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
General, the Advocates-CJeneral and "the King's men," all
of whom at royal audiences occupied the centre of the floor of the
Grand Court, kneeling on the floor (parquet), whence their
name. In accordance with the edict of May, 1586, each Parha-
ment had one Procurator-General, two Advocates -General, and
in addition sixteen Vice-Procurators-General in Paris, ten at
Toulouse and Bordeaux, and six everywhere else. As repre-
sentatives of the King, the Parquet defended the royal interests
if they were at stake in any trial, and on behalf of the pubUc
weal opposed the oppression of the weak by the strong, pro-
tecting the former. They prosecuted in criminal trials and gave
opinions in private cases. They were, in short, a species of
" neutral puisne judges, the hands on the balance that inclines
correctly towards the side to which the weight of reason carries
the judgment." They ranked lower than the counsellors, and
did not attend the general meetings of the chambers, though they
enjoyed the privileges of the court. The King relied upon
them to inform him if any violation of the edicts took place
in the Parliaments.
Similar privileges were enjoyed by the registrars — ^the civil
registrar and the criminal registrar, who farmed their registers,
which belonged to the King's estate, wore the red robe, and
attended audiences seated and with their heads covered.
Their duty consisted in transcribing judgments in their registers,
and forwarding them with the assistance of court-clerks and
"bag-keepers," *' well-drilled people and honest creatm'es, steady,
decorous and reliable."
How were the magistrates appointed ? Roughly speaking,
in order to be a counsellor it was necessary for a man to have
been an advocate for four years, and to have taken his degree ;
whilst to be eligible for the presidency he must have been a
counsellor for six years. An enquiry was made into the re-
ligious convictions, and the life and morals of the candidates,
no man being eligible who was either " deaf, dumb, blind,
raving mad, lame, humpbacked, rheumatic, gouty, a Jew,
a peasant, deformed or clip-eared." Magistrates' seats were
sold just as lawyer's practices are sold to-day. On condition
of paying into the royal exchequer a certain annual tax called
the paulette (after Monsieur Paulet, who invented the system)
882
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
the King authorized the judges to sell their offices for ready
money to anybody they pleased. Thus all judicial grades
in France became hereditary and venal. How different from
the days when the King himself appointed the magistrates
upon the recommendation of the Parliaments, when these
magistrates after taking the oath, elected their Presidents from
among the counsellors, and the counsellors from the lawyers
at the bar I The sale of offices was gradually introduced
from the time of Francis I onwards, and the King had no power
to dismiss judges unless they failed in the payment of their
annual tax. The result was, that seats were handed down in
families from father to son, and men often entered the Parlia-
ment too young or remained when they were too old. In
order to maintain discipline and tradition, dignity of bearing
and professional pride in assemblies over-secure in their temu'e
of office, there existed an institution resembling the Chapters of
monasteries — the mercurial Court. A session which was held
originally every Tuesday (Mercredi) — ^whence the title mercurial
— ^afterwards once a month, and under Henry IV once a year,
the mercurial treated ** of the faults of officers of the coiut,
their infringements of the ordinances and customs of the Palace,"
and dealt out exhortations, advice, and threats. It was at these
mercurial sessions that the judges were requested to be punctual
in their attendance ; to go to Mass every day ; to be upright,
sober, and decent in their behaviour ; secret in business ; to
converse only upon lofty and never upon frivolous subjects ;
to avoid any familiarity with the parties in suits, and to refuse
gifts or invitations to dinner from them ; to set an example
of good conduct, that is to say not to hunt, dance or play cards,
not to use scent, wear wigs or dye their hair, and not to laugh.
** It is impossible," declared La Roche-Flavin, ** to find a perfect
magistrate."
Let us examine them as they march past in order of rank,
two and two, the Presidents at the head, preceded by the
ushers carrying rods and the registrars, and followed by the
Parquet, the ushers, the advocates and the procurators, all
majestic in their red robes. Their costume was the old royal
costume of the thirteenth century — a scarlet robe, a long red
cloak, lined with ermine, or some white fur with black stripes
888
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
or spots, " the said cloak thrown open over the shoulders so
as to show the said f ur ; " and on their heads the flat round
velvet cap, adorned in the case of the Presidents, with gold
— ^the mortiers which we see worn by the Kings on thirteenth-
centm-y seals. They took their seats solemnly in the Grand
Court on high benches — ^for ordinary sessions they would wear
only black and sit on low seats. In Paris the setting of this
august assembly consisted of a wainscoted chamber decorated
with red and gold beneath a gilded ceiling with pendentives,
dating from the time of Louis XII, the walls hung with tapestry
and the windows filled with stained glass, the whole sprinkled
with golden fleurs-de-lis. In a corner to the left would stand
the King's empty seat, consisting of great cushions of blue
velvet spangled with gold fleurs-de-lis under a canopy of cloth
of gold embroidered with porcupines (this too dated from
the reign of Louis XII). When the King was present for the
registration of some edict at what was called a lit de justice, the
magistrates would keep silence, because in the presence of the
sovereign their power, as his delegates, was suspended. To
the right of the King's seat was the bench belonging to the lords
temporal of the realm ; on the left that assigned to the lords
spiritual ; beneath it, the presidential bench ; and, lastly, the
counsellors sat in tiers on the three other sides. Ordinary
meetings were held in the morning from eight to ten o'clock.
The Parliament of Paris was the only one to hold a session in
the afternoon (the relevie as it was called) from two to five
o'clock. After the evidence had been given and the pleading
finished, the judges decided the case by a majority, each one
expressing his opinion by order of seniority. He who agreed
with the person preceding him merely said ** idem " (ditto) or
*' raised his cap " whence arose the expression " cap option "
{opiner du bonnet). The Parliament had an annual vacation
from Holy Cross Day, September 14, to the day after the Feast
of Saint Martin, November 12, a well-earned repose from
arduous labours for which the magistrates were but poorly paid.
Their fixed salaries were low, and they had in addition the fees
fixed by the presidents in each case for the reporting counsellors,
which the litigants had to pay.
Lastly, as the indisputable adjuncts to every court there
884
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
was the ''innumerable host" of lawyers, "enough to make
Lawyers. several regiments or even a small army,"
divided up into listeners — the modern " juniors " — pleaders
and consulting counsels — our " leaders " — " the triple palisade of
the garden of justice," " leaves, flowers, and fruit," " bud, sprig,
and perfect branch." They were recommended to speak
*' briefly and to the point," to be " pertinent and short." This
advice was ill-observed. Next came the terrible crowd of
attorneys, "the feet of the Parliament," but "breeders of
law-suits." No one, from Kong to peasant, could do without
them ; for no defence was legal unless it were " heard by an
attorney." What a litigious crew they were ! But for them,
"there would have been extremely few law-suits." They
lived by litigation and abused it. Last of all came the horde
of ushers, criers, and others, who kept order during the hearing
of cases, and executed sentences, made distraints, notified
judgments and presented writs — a vast and swarming black
multitude I ^""^
Under tne Parliaments was the old-estabhshed inferior
jurisdiction of the bailiffs and seneschals in the provinces. The
Bailiffs and kingdom was divided into governments, and the
Seneschals. governments into districts, called bailiwicks in
the north and seneschalships in the south. The bailiff or sene-
schal was a judge representing. the King. The origin of this
office is lost in the shades of time. At one period he had
been the King's only officer, exercising administrative, judicial,
and military functions. But in course of time all these attri-
butes were taken from him by degrees. He had to be of noble
birth and was therefore a " short -robed " judge. To help
him in the administration of justice, and even to act as his
substitute if necessary, he had a civil Ueutenant called " a
long-robed judge," who was a true magistrate, and a criminal
lieutenant for dealing with crimes and misdemeanours. Appeal
could be made from their verdicts to the Parliaments. Finally,
in order to relieve these courts and the Parliaments, Henry II
created, in 1551, an intermediate tribunal called the Presidial
Presidial Court. One of these was allotted to each bailiff
Courts. or seneschal throughout the domain and to
"the best towns," and was composed of six judges of the
2 b S85
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
same rank as those belonging to the bailiff's tribunal, and a
red-robed President. But its jurisdiction was wider, a Presidial
Court being the final court for all civil cases to the amount of
1000 pounds. The institution of a court which curtailed ex-
penses and long journeys was a boon for parties to a suit.
Under the baiUffs or seneschals, there were scattered through-
out the towns and boroughs a number of inferior royal judges
Inferior royal who, according to the district, were called pro-
judges, vosts, viguiers, lords of the manor or viscounts.
They also had jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases, but
only those of minor importance. Their chief function, how-
ever, was to hear appeals from the decisions of the manorial
judges ; for, below them, there was yet another stratum of
magistrates. Every individual fief -holder, who had a right
of high, medium, and petty jurisdiction, had a provost who
judged civil and crinainal cases, a siurvival from early feudal
times when the lord of the manor exercised full sovereign
rights in his own demesne. A perpetual struggle, however,
was carried on between these petty private magistrates of the
villages and the royal judges in the neighbourhood, who in-
vented all manner of trifling pretexts to destroy the judicial
power of individuals, and make the exercise of their rights
impossible.
And thus from one end of the country to the other, France
was covered with a network of judges. In addition to the
Special oii^s already enumerated, there were all kinds
jurisdictions, of special jurisdictions. Mihtary matters, deser-
tions, crimes committed by soldiers, and malversation in the
administration of regimental funds, were under the jurisdiction
of the Marshalsea. Naval affairs, navigation, fishing rights
and prizes were controlled by the Admiralty. All offences
connected with woods and waters were referred to the Master
of the Woods and Waters. This official had under his com-
mand a separate Master for each province who h&d an escort
of captains, gamekeepers, and verderers. In Paris these three
jurisdictions were called the Marble Table. Parisian cases
were judged by the Provost of Paris, or at all events by his
lieutenant, who sat in the Chatelet (the Provost was in the
position of bailiff of Paris). All crimes that could be conamitted
886
.111
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
at the King's Court were dealt with by a special department
called the Provostship of the Royal Residence ; the Provost
of the Royal Residence, like a bailiff, having under him two
lieutenants, and, in addition, fifty archers who acted as police
within the radius of six miles of the Court when it was travelling
about. And lastly, over and above all this, the ParUaments
sent commissions from time to time to "the most distant
provinces " to exercise exceptional judicial powers under the
name of " Great Days." Even now we have made no mention
of the municipal police courts. Every institution that enjoyed
the smallest particle of authority in France administered
justice. And, on the other hand, all the coiuls, on the pretext
of having pohce jurisdiction, passed administrative regulations
which they enforced on pain of penalty. The imiversal confu-
sion between the law and the administration resulted in a
vast unwieldy machine which acted automatically throughout
the country, the King being powerless to control it. Combined
with the claim made by the Parliaments to the effect that no
royal edict should be held vaUd that had not been registered
by themselves, this power was in a position to oppose an ex-
asperating force of inertia to the sovereign's will. The King
had no hold over it even through legislation, as the judg-
ments of the whole of this judicial world were based upon Roman
Law, canon law, common law, usages and customs, " uses and
observances " and equity, and took but small account of edicts
and ordinances. Thus, in spite of all " his plenary powers
and royal authority," the King was paralyzed throughout his
kingdom by the huge growth of a judicial organization, throwing
out minute yet almost independent roots, that adhered to the
soil and became passively immovable. He was no less tightly
fettered by the second branch of the administration, which
was equally minute in its organization — ^the financial depart-
ment.
If the administration of justice for the preservation of pubUc
order has always been regarded as the first necessity of the
Finance and State, the raising of money for maintenance has
Taxation. been looked upon as the second. Men of this
period made ingenious comparisons between the State and the
human body, likening finance to the nervous system. From
887
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Paris to the smallest villages, a whole hierarchy extended whose
business it was to coUect the taxes.
»> The headquarters of the system in the immediate environ-
ment of the King was the central office of the Exchequer called
L'Epargne. VEpargne (Uterally Savings Department) contain-
ing the Receiver-Cienerars office and the Treasury of r£}pargne,
and administered by Treasurers called Trisoriers de VBpargne. It
was to these headquarters that the royal receivers, when they
had paid everjrthing that had to be settled upon the spot,
sent any surplus. Wooden coffers secured by double locks,
the keys of which were confided to the safekeeping of various
officials, had once existed in the Louvre for storing this money.
But, about 1600, when all the money was spent before it could
reach them, these coffers became useless. Sully, however, after
eight years of economical government, was able to place in the
treasury tower of the Bastille 13,000,000 pounds, which were
secured in 8000 sacks, 270 barrels and 4 coffers.
Every year under the direction of the Superintendent of
Finance the Treasurers of VEpargne drew up a " rough estimate "
The financial ^^ ^^^ sums required for the following year — ^the
divisions modern *' draft budget." This *' estimate '*
of France. revised by the Council of Finance and signed by
the King, then had to be provided for. France was cut up
for financial purposes into a certain number of special divisions,
called " genera hties," from the old expression "Receiver-
General of finances '* which became shortened to " General
of Finances." There were in 1607, twenty-one generalities
in the country, of which sixteen were large. Their order of
importance, based on the magnitude of their returns, was as
follows — ^Rouen, Poitiers, Tom's, Limoges, Paris, Caen, Orleans,
Riom, Bordeaux, Lyons, MouHns, Bourges, Amiens, Chalons,
Soissons, and Grenoble. The Council of Finance divided the
taxes to be raised between all the generalities in proportion to
the resources of each one, as shown by the " special estimates "
sent in advance to Paris by the financial agents attached to
the generaUties. The generaUties in their turn were divided
into smaller sections called elections, a word reminiscent of the
time when the tax-assessors were elected by the people. This,
however, was prior to the reign of Louis XI, after which the
888
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
office was in the gift of the King, or was even hereditary. The
election was subdivided into parishes. France, under Henry
IV, contained 149 elections and 23,159 parishes in the sixteen
generalities enumerated above.
At the head of each generality there was a *' general office "
consisting of about ten officials called " treasurers of France "
and " generals of fmance," and numbering altogether through-
out the kingdom 197 treasurers. It was their business to
draw up every year and send to Paris the " rough estimates "
or budgets for their respective generalities. They were helped
by a receiver-general of finance, who centralized the surplus
money collected from the minor centres. They distributed the
burden of taxation over the various elections. For three
months of the year each of them in turn rode round to inspect
their district, examining the accounts of the inferior agents,
looking into cases of malversation, abuses, and mistakes. They
had the power of suspending accountants and temporarily
filling their places. Reports of their " tours of inspection "
were forwarded to Paris.
In each election likewise there was " an office " consisting
of eight or ten agents called *' the elect " (dlus) : *' Monsieur
VMu.'* For the 149 elections, there were 1340 representatives,
who distributed the burden of taxation over the parishes, and
were helped by a local receiver of finances, whose duty it was to
centralize the sums raised by the taxation of the parishes. We
now come to the parishes, which formed the lowest rung in the
admmistrative ladder. The representatives distributed the
claims during the fortnight following the receipt of the "com-
mission." This they did " with equity, justice and impartiality,"
after having informed themselves of the resources of each parish
by means of the tours which they too made every year with the
object of finding out the means of the inhabitants through
cross-questioning the chief men in the villages. The results
of these investigations were recorded in the written reports.
On Sunday, at sermon time at High Mass, the priest announced
the arrival of the document prescribing the amount of taxation
to be raised in the parish. After Mass or Vespers, the men
assembled in the chm-ch, and, if the parish were taxed at less
than 300 crowns of grand taille, appointed two of them-
889
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
selves, and if at more than this amount, fom*, to *' assess "
Assessors and th^ taxes and collect them. These were the
collectors. collectors, the *' assessors " of the parishes.
The assessment made by these officials was of course not ac-
quiesced in by the taxpayer without objection or recrimina-
tion, which was called '* repudiating the assessment " of the
taxes. Recourse was then had to the *' elect " who settled
without appeal any claim not above one crown. The docu-
ment arranging the amount to be demanded from the contribu-
tors, les cotisSs as they were called, was drawn up by the col-
lectors— ^if they could not write a clerk helped them — ^and signed
by the "elect." The collectors then went round from door
to door demanding the money, " crossing " (striking out) the
names of those who paid up, and " endorsing " them (putting
their names on the back), thus making themselves responsible
for the amount collected, which they despatched untouched
to the local receivers of the election. The collector's task was
a hard one, troublesome and unpleasant, and involving endless
responsibility and worry. But everybody had to take his turn
at it.
Such was the fiscal organization of these sixteen generalities
which were called the generalities of the election districts.
Besides them there were districts called the State districts,
which consisted of five generalities : Nantes, Toulouse, Mont-
pellier, Dijon and Aix. Here the distribution was made by
States elected by the provinces — ^provincial assemblies which
were the relics of local liberty and independence, and were
destined to disappear. The States discussed with the King
the amount they considered it possible to raise for him, placing
him in a pitiable position of dependence. The inferior divisions
in these places were called by various names. Brittany had
seventeen local receiver's offices called hearth-tax receiver's
offices, because the taxes were levied on fires. At Toulouse
and Montpellier the eleven receiver's offices were called dioceses,
and were confused with these. In Burgundy and Provence
there were no local receiver's offices, but only a general receiver's
office. The collecting of the taxes in the lower strata was
organized in the way that has already been described.
But of what did this taxation consist ; what were the
890
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
contributions that the subjects of Henry IV had to pay ; and
what were the resources the King of France had at his disposal ?
They were infinite, complicated, and difficult to specify. As
a matter of fact, he lived by all manner of expedients, and
raised money from every possible source.
In the first place he had the revenues belonging to the
royal demesne, the King's revenues as a landowner and his
Numerous and revenues as a feudal lord — farms, corn, wine, poul-
complicated try, quit-rents, rents, fifths and twenty-fifths, land-
taxes paid by cheaps or fines of alienation, waifs, escheats, fines,
the people. confiscations, seals, tabellionage, &c., from which
in 1600 he derived a net income of 89,807 pounds. In addition
to this, there were two kinds of taxes ; those raised directly
by the King's agents, which we should call direct taxes ; those
raised by means of tax-farmers and various receiving offices ;
and, finally what was known as "extraordinary moneys."
The first two kinds, the direct taxes and those which were
centralized by the royal officials, consisted essentially of the
taille. This was the levy the organization of which we have
The Taille. just been discussing. The taille was a real tax,
that is to say a property tax paid on all land, even the royal
estates. This was the system in Provence and Languedoc.
Or it might be personal, that is to say, a percentage on his
possessions paid by every non-privileged person. Or else it
might be mixed, a combination of the two systems. The
King's Council accordingly settled in advance the sum that
the taille throughout the country ought to bring in. This
sum was distributed over the various generalities by means
of warrants addressed to the treasm*ers-general. If the sum
thus obtained were insufficient, or the returns were not high
enough, the King would decide to raise a supplement called an
extraordinary levy or " grand levy." The net receipts from the
taille in 1600 was 10,843,544 pounds of which 893,545 pounds
came from the State districts, and the rest from the election
districts. As may be imagined, the returns were bad, for the
taxpayers were grudging. It was in vain that the parish
collectors, who had the right to make settlements every
three months, were persecuted by the local receivers, and the
local receivers by the general receivers, who had to pay in
891
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the assignments ; the collection of dues was by no means always
easy.
After the taille, which formed the chief revenue of the
State, the farming out of general and special taxes was the
second source of supply. These were revenues which were sold
to the highest bidder for a particular number of years, varying
in different instances. The tax-farmer paid a fixed sum every
year and collected the taxes at his own risk and peril. There
were some thirty taxes that were farmed out in this way,
such as the gabelle or tax on the sale of salt ; the aids : taxes
on provisions and merchandize sold in the country ; taxes on
imports, our modern customs ; tolls ; and taxes on cards, tarots,
&c. In 1600 the farmed taxes brought in 3,000,000 pounds to
the royal exchequer. Like the receivers the tax-farmers paid
such expenses as they were authorized to meet out of their
receipts and sent the surplus from their farming to Vt^pargne
every three months.
There were other sources of revenue, such, for instance,
as the taillon or lesser taille. When the distribution of the
The Budget taille had been made, a supplement was added
of 1600. " arranged on the same basis and at a halfpenny
in the pound," a sort of additional centime. From the taillon
590,238 pounds were raised in 1600. It was devoted exclusively
to expenditure in connexion with the maintenance of the army,
and never entered VEpargne. Then there were the " incidental
dues " such as the tax called the pauleite on magistrates,
temporary levies on various concerns, the total from which
added another 1,644,046 pounds ; and the gifts from the clergy,
who paid no taxes, but instead made voluntary contributions
to the Exchequer.
Altogether the net receipts for the year 1600, which were
forwarded to the King in Paris, amounted to the total sum of
16,208,823 pounds. This sum was insufficient to meet the
expenses, and it was necessary to have recourse to other means,
and to raise what was known "as " extraordinary moneys " by
the creation of new offices, fiscal inventions and ingenious subtle-
ties in the accounts, which produced another 4,333,994 pounds,
thus making the grand total for that year 20,542,817 pounds.
How was this money spent ? It was spent in two ways.
892
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
lii the first place all State expenses in the provinces, the wages
State of royal officials, the upkeep of the royal estates,
expenditure. repairs, legal costs, &c., were paid upon the
spot. Unlike the modern system of account-keeping, particular
expenses were calculated on the basis of particular receipts ;
the receiver paid the money, carefully keeping the budget,
bills, receipts, and registers, the whole signed and initialled.
There were a host of receivers : receivers of incidental moneys,
receivers of the salt magazines, receivers of the farmed taxes.
They all forwarded any surplus to the general receiver's office
of the generality, together with explanatory memoranda, sending
the exact amount of cash they had received. After a certain
period of grace, if they failed to remit their " balance," they
were fined or obliged to pay interest on the sums they kept
at the rate of 8J per cent. The Receiver-CJeneral, in his turn,
forwarded every three months to Vt^pargne any surplus he had
after expenses had been met. He sent the money in sealed
bags, carried by a clerk, with a memorandum describing the
sums despatched, the kinds of coin, the day of dispatch, the
number of waggons filled, the whole addressed to the Superin-
intendent of Finance ; and, at the end of the year he gave the
Court of the Exchequer a duplicate of his accounts.
Thus it was by means of the surplus sent from the provinces
that the central government was carried on. It was calculated
that the Court and the provinces ought to divide the general
receipts of the State equally between them. The government,
of course, decided beforehand the amount to be kept by the
provinces. Each generality received instructions approved by
the King " with details and particulars for each election " of
all the various sums to be paid out and the net amount that
ought to be handed over to His Majesty. As a matter of fact the
net returns to His Majesty varied very considerably, according
as to whether the receipts from the taxes ^vere good or bad.
In 1600, the maintenance of the Court alone cost 2,368,899
Strictness with pounds,- for it was " necessary to make conspicuous
which the and shining, as is only seemly, the splendour and
public Accounts majesty of the household of the King and of his
were kept. suite.'* The money was administered by means
of a strict system of accounts, separate receivers and
898
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
treasurers being appointed to each department of the house-
hold. There was a spencer to deal with expenditiu-e on food,
a '* steward " of the Royal wardrobe, one receiver for the stables
and another for the household officials. Everything was paid
in accordance with statements, receipts, registers and lists.
The budget of the expenditure of the central government in-
cluded, in addition to this, some twenty items such as 1,812 787
pounds for pensions ; 243,322 pounds for the royal guards ;
1,038,000 pounds a year for the Swiss companies ; 201,666
pounds for embassy expenses ; 478,727 pounds for fortifications ;
558,352 pounds for building ; 7,067,685 pounds in interest on
Crown debts, an exceedingly heavy not to say crushing charge ;
for ordinary and extraordinary war expenses — our modern army
budget — 4,946,363 pounds. There were war treasurers in
ordinary who allotted the money from this budget to the
various paymasters of the companies. The treasurer of VEpargne
paid nothing except on receipt of statements, bills, and orders
signed by the King, sealed with the Great Seal and supervised
by a financial steward, all of which transactions were afterwards
revised by the Court of the Exchequer.
For there was an extremely strict Court of the Exchequer
before which sheaves of documents with technical names had to
Excheauer be laid — ^notes of hand called debentur, certifi-
Coort. cates called servivi, &c. This Court, which was
the second great administrative body in the kingdom, consisted
of several offices ; the head office, with ten presidents and sixty-
two chief accountants ; two offices which balanced the accounts ;
a corrector's office which drew up reports of the closed accounts
for the Court of the Exchequer ; and a fourth office, called the
auditor's office, which drew up reports on the accounts waiting
to be closed — ^not to mention the Procurator-General and the
Advocate-General. All these officials were engaged in sifting
the public accoimts, lodging protests, raising opposition, and
coming down for the slightest deficit upon the receivers and
treasurers, who trembled before them. This Court had to
read and ratify the edicts, the ordinances concerning finance,
exemptions, privileges, and abatements, and passed measures
discharging the responsible officials of their liabilities, failing
which their private property could be attached. Injpractice
894
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
its jurisdiction was very far from being nominal ; it was
effective and rigorous, and the financial agents were constantly
having trouble with it, whilst above all the King himself was
not free to do as he pleased.
Besides the Court of the Exchequer, there was the Court
of Aids, which had two presidents and two chambers, each
Court of Aids containing twenty-six counsellors, a procurator-
andMint. general and two advocates -general. It decided
the cases arising from the collection of the taxes, the refusals
to pay, the appeals against fines, and disputed contracts with
tax-farmers. And, lastly, the Court of the Mint, with four
presidents, and twenty masters or general counsellors, which
took cognizance of all disputes arising in connexion with the
coinage of money, and, as an extension of this duty, all cases
related to the trade and industry in precious metals.
And thus at the end of the sixteenth century the legal and
financial administration of the country had been organized
with great precision and even minuteness, through the channel
of traditional institutions slowly built up through the ages,
and preserved, extended, and made more complex with time
(the system of public accounts was stricter than is generally
believed even in the thirteenth century), but preserved in-
tact once the ferment of the civil wars was over and the inevit-
able disorder arising from temporarily disorganized machinery.
The administration properly so called, that is to say the direct
administrative work of the central power in the provinces
was much more embryonic, owing to the survival of strong
municipal rights and liberties which were scrupulously respected.
I For the purposes of administration France was divided
into fourteen governments, at the head of which great nobles
Adininistration. ^^^^ placed as governors. They had lieutenants-
Governors, general, former counsellors of the sovereign
courts, to help them and take their places when, as fre-
quently occurred, they were absent from their province. The
governor's only duties were to maintain the pubUc peace
and, in the words of an ordinance of 1579, " to keep his district
in safety, guard it against ravages, visit the fortresses," and
to inform the King if any event of importance occurred. The
governor was in fact merely a military chief who kept watch
895
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
and ward over his province. He was not allowed to interfere
in the administration of justice, except for the pm*pose of sup-
porting judges in the execution of sentences. He was respon-
sible for the garrisons and their maintenance, for the fortifica-
tion of strongholds and their supply of ammunition. Under
his direct orders local governors or captains fulfilled similar
duties in many of the towns, and in the forts and citadels of the
kingdom, more particularly on the frontier. In short the
governor was more of a military official than anything else.
He was frequently a duke, peer, or grand baron of the realm.
He represented the King, and his authority, which was the highest
in the province, surrounded him with the halo of the royal
power of which he was the delegate, whilst at the same time
he held in his hands the material force necessary to support
this prestige.
At one time, the active agent under the governor was
the bailiff or seneschal. His duty also was to safeguard the
Governor's public peace, and he too was a kind of miUtary
Executive. official, though more of a " national guard."
" By riding round on tours of inspection he saw to it that justice
was rightly and duly administered." He had, moreover, been
a captain or lieutenant of men-at-arms, and was a person of
noble birth appointed by the King from a Ust of candidates
sent by the governor. His " long-robed " lieutenants reUeved
him of the judicial part of his functions, so that the only duty
remaining to him was to keep watch and ward and, when the
country was in danger, to convoke the ban and rear-ban.
For the practical maintenance of peace in the "country-side,
villages and unfortified towns" the "tranquillity and safety
Police. of honest folks," there was the Marshalsea,
composed of the provosts of the Marshals of France, general
and local, supported by lieutenants and archers. They com-
posed the public body charged with the duty of arresting
" robbers, miu*derers, loiterers on the high roads, idlers, vaga-
bonds, and other persons without means of subsistence or
domicile " and conveying them to the prisons of the bailiwick or
of the presidial court — ^the duty of the modern corps of gendarmes
(constabulary). In Paris the police consisted of 240 archers —
of whom thirty-two were mounted — ^belonging to the Knight
896
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT ICOO
of the Watch, and commanded by four heutenants with the
help of commissaries — the former examining commissaries of
the Chatelet, who eventually developed into poUce superinten-
dents. By an edict of June, 1586, there were about forty com-
missaries in Paris, four in parliamentary towns, two in places
which were the seat of a presidial court, and one for all districts
under the jurisdiction of a bailiff or a provost.
Thus the administration exercised the functions of a police
force more than anything else. This was due to the fact that
Municipalities, the towns, boroughs, and parishes still retained
a great deal of local authority. The municipalities varied
considerably in their organization owing to differences of
origin, tradition, and custom. Paris, for instance, had a
Provost of the Merchants instead of a Mayor, four aldermen,
who held office for two years, and twenty-six counsellors ;
whilst each of the sixteen quarters of the city had at its head
a quartenier with dnquanteniers and dizeniers under them, and
a complete municipal guard. At Bordeaux there was a Mayor
and six. jurats ; at P^rigueux a Mayor and six consuls ; at Poitiers
a Mayor, twenty-five aldermen and a council of seventy-five
citizens; in one place there were maieurs,* in a second, such
as Toulouse, capitouls, and in others juris, consuls, and town
syndics. Elected in various ways by the inhabitants, frequently
for one year only, these mimicipal officers looked after the
town police, the cleaning of the streets, and the repair of the
ramparts. They saw to the closing of the gates in the evening
and the ringing of the curfew, ascertained that the town was
well stocked with provisions, that artisans performed their
work conscientiously, and that the weights and measures were
correct. The funds for carrying on the administration were
obtained from the municipal taxes, and when it was necessary
to undertake public works the officials asked the Council of State
to pass a decree authorizing them to raise a fresh levy. In
many places the municipal authorities administered justice —
forming a tribunal of police or of justices of the peace. Appeal
could be made from their verdicts to the inferior royal judges.
An interesting spectacle is afforded by these large and small
towns, boroughs, and villages, discussing and arranging their
* A name given to mayors in the Middle Ages. (Tr.)
897
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
own affairs, sedately and peacefully, like prudent people who
had attained to years of discretion. The life lived in them
was varied and picturesque. But occasionally, even at this
period, when compUcations arose, or it was temporarily neces-
sary to secure strict imity of action, the government sent
Masters of Requests to the frontier provinces with " extra-
ordinary commissions " to take up the provisional administra-
tion " of justice, police, and finance." These were the Inten-
dants (stewards), the futiure instruments of the levelling process,
of a domineering and withering system of centralization, x
The army and the navy remain to be discussed. No standing
army or navy worth mentioning existed. The method pre-
The Army and vailing at this time was to raise regiments only
the Navy. when troops were required for war. Amongst
the class of people who had no homes and few scruples, were
to be found those who were ready to enUst for money ; and
of these there was always a plentiful supply. But in view of the
risk of being kidnapped, to which the Kings of the second half of
the sixteenth century had been exposed, the Court became
inclined to keep a permanent armed force always on foot. In
addition to this, garrisons were required for the fortresses.
But above all the staff of great officers was permanent ; first,
the Constable, who was a grand Crown official, a sort of General-
issimo, who had supreme command of all the forces, even
taking precedence of princes of the blood. Under him were
the Marshals of France who commanded the army under certain
contingencies. Francis I insisted upon having four, but the
Permanent number varied according to circumstances. Next
troops. in rank came the Colonel-General of Infantry,
who was a sort of " director of the forces." The regiments were
commanded by Field Masters or Marshals. Of the troops, the
first permanent unit was the King's^uard, a superb body of
men with brilliant uniforms — ^first the foiu* moimted companies
of the Lifeguards, with 360 men to a company, each of which
was divided into six brigades, making a total of 1440 men and
eighty-three officers, all dressed in the royal colours, the colours
of the House of Bourbon, blue, white, and red. This was a
very old established force dating from the time of Charles VII,
Louis XI, and Francis I. Next came the company of Ught-
398
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
horse belonging to the royal guard, a body of 200 men created
by Henry IV ; and above all the regiment of the French Guards
which was formed about 1564 after the attempt to kidnap
the King at Montceaux, and consisted of twenty companies,
the full complement of which was 500 men to each company.
In 1600, however, they had only eighty, a number raised to
800 for the war with Savoy. This was the oldest and most
glorious of the infantry regiments. And last of all the Swiss.
The regiment of Swiss Guards was only created in 1616 by
Louis XIII. Under Henry IV, the King had only one
company of Swiss, called the Hundred Swiss, in his bodyguard.
This company dated from the time of Louis XII ; its members
wore a variegated slashed uniform and were employed in the
King's special service.
First among the other permanent troops were the Swiss
contingents. Ever since the time of Louis XI the Kings of
Swiss Con- France had hired mercenaries in the cantons
tingent. of Switzerland. Some of these companies were
recognized and acknowledged by the Helvetian authorities,
others were recruited by captains. According to the treaties
not more than 16,000 or less than 6000 could be procmred in
this way. Their Colonel- General was Monsieur de Harlay de
Sancy, and they were divided into companies of 200 men, all
admirable in their discipUne and devotion to the Crown.
Beyond these, the only permanent troops were four regiments
of infantry from Picardy, Piedmont, Champagne, and Na-
varre ; a fifth, belonging to Normandy, dated only from
1616 or 1617. The word regiment was used by Monluc and
meant a group of companies or ensigns which, in the course
of time, thus became stable. After the Peace of Vervins
in 1598, Henry IV either disbanded or reformed all the
regiments he had at that moment, with the exception of
the four just mentioned, which were made up of varying
numbers of companies, ten or twelve, containing a nominal
contingent of 800 men. As a matter of fact they had not nearly
so many. The men were rough soldiers, vigorous and hardy ;
but they were scamps and marauders, insolent and insub-
ordinate. Divided, according to the weapon they carried,
into pikemen and musketeers, they would march along, the
899
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
latter surrounding the former, preceded by their fifes and
drums, escorted by their officers, captains, Ueutenants, and
ensigns, their petty officers, sergeants, corporals, and lance-
pesades. They were drilled, though they wore no uniform,
and were billeted on the inhabitants of the place they were
in. When the King wished to raise fresh troops he gave signed
commissions to captains, who recruited men to the sound of the
drum, offering them earnest-money and payment for their
services. The cavalry consisted in the first place of companies
of light -horse, the members of which wore helmets and breast-
plates, each company containing about fifty " masters." They
were quartered in the small towns and frequently changed
their garrisons. This body was the light cavalry. Then came
the heavy cavalry, consisting of companies called ordnance
companies and companies of men-at-arms, each of 100 lancers,
raised in time of war by princes, governors, and other authori-
ties. The members of this body were men of gentle birth,
well mounted and equipped. But there was a tendency to
replace them by light horsemen. The cavalry regiments were
not created until the reign of Louis XIII. The artillery was even
simpler. The Grand Master of the Artillery, Monsieur de
Rosny, laid in a store of cannon and casks of ammunition in
the Arsenal in Paris. In time of war, people who owned carts
were paid so much a day to transport all this ordnance. No
special artillery corps existed at this period.
And if the country were suddenly invaded, or some grave
and imminent danger threatened, the King had recourse to the
Ban and ^^'^ feudal custom of calling out the ban and
rear-ban. rear-ban, a sort of " general levy." The bailiffs
and seneschals convoked all the enfieffed nobiUty, who had to
serve as cavalrymen for three months without payment, and
the people of the parishes were summoned to serve as infantry
— an inefficacious method which was practically never used./
As for the navy, it was a negligible quantity. There was
certainly an Admiral, a personage who had supreme control
The Navy ^^ everything connected with the sea and the
practically coast. The Admiral, however, who was a great
non-existent. Crown official, like Coligny, for instance, was
not a sailor. He was a sort of judicial administrator who had
400
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
jurisdiction in all the maritime towns and dealt with all crimes
committed at sea " and on the sea-shore," all matters connected
with navigation, fishing, freightage, sales and breaking-up of
ships, and insurance poUcies. He was helped by officers called
Admiralty officers, lieutenants-general and local lieutenants,
counsellors and procurators. He appointed vice-admirals,
superintendents, coast captains and coastguards, and naval
captains and controllers. As for the ships they were a sorry
affair. During the disastrous years of anarchy, everything
had been allowed to go to ruin. There were merely a few
galleys on which criminals were sent to row under the com-
mand of a general of the galleys. When in 1600, Henry IV
wanted a small escort for the ship that bore Marie de' Medici
from Florence, he was obliged to borrow vessels from the
Knights of Malta and from the Pope.
Such, briefly, were the institutions by means of which
France was governed at the end of the sixteenth and the
beginning of the seventeenth century. The administration
certainly resembled the bushy tree described by Charles de
Figon — and even now we have made no mention of the conflict
of functions, the tangle of authorities and the disputes and
encroachments that occurred. The large principal branches
were fairly well defined ; whilst throughout the whole orga-
nism there ran a vital sap, which endowed it with an
originality differentiating the organization of this period from
the automatic mechanism of the uniform institutions of a
later date. It is true that there were many inconveniences
connected with the old methods, creaking wheels, parts that
worked badly or stopped working altogether, duplicate offices,
waste, injustice, and violence. But the whole structiu-e possessed
colour and picturesqueness, it was extremely soUd and above
all it was endowed with vitaUty — a. great merit. What was
the life of the French people within this frame ?
Socially, the French people were divided into three great
The three Estates. Every individual had either entered
Estates or into the ecclesiastical Estate, or he belonged to
Orders. the Estate of the nobility or that of the com-
mons, called the Third Estate. The poUtical assembly of the
2 c 401
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
representatives of these three estates was called the States-
General. A man belonged and necessarily belonged to one
or other of these three Estates. The first in order of precedence
was the ecclesiastical Estate.
In 1600 the clergy constituted a vast body forming, so to
speak, a State within a State. It was a skilfully organized
The Clergy. hierarchy. Its enormous revenues made it
independent. It had its own judges, with special tribunals
rising from the lowest to the highest grades — diocesan courts,
metropolitan courts, appeals to Rome, &c., which the State was
forced to recognize. These tribunals took cognizance of every
sort of case, provided clerics were involved. It had its own
legislation, the canon law, which it alone could modify. It
paid no taxes and was liable to none of the charges, such as
having soldiers billeted upon its members, to which ordinary
subjects were exposed. It formed a complete close society,
which was respectful to the King, but outside his sphere of
power, although, as a matter of fact, he endeavoured to get
some sort of control over it by appointing the Bishops and
Abbots, an extraordinary right conferred upon him by the
Concordat. For a long time the Chm-ch even tried to go beyond
the bounds of its purely ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and, as late
as the reign of Henry IV, its judges claimed the right, to the
exclusion of the lay magistrates, of dealing with all questions
connected with separations, annulments of marriages, and
divorce, on the pretext that matters concerning the sacraments
were at issue. But the officers of the Crown resisted this
demand, and entered upon a struggle to restrict the privileges
of the Church and force the clerics to enter as ordinary subjects
within the sphere of the common law. It was destined to be
a long conflict lasting for centuries.
The staff of the Church at the beginning of the seventeenth
century was extremely numerous. There were so many
ecclesiastics in France that there were not nearly enough posts
for all of them, although the number of situations available
was very considerable. In the 136 archiepiscopal or episcopal
dioceses into which the kingdom was divided — ^large ones
like Rouen, including several modern departments, and tiny
ones like Saint-Papoul containing barely one canton — ^there
402
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
were about 40,000 titular priests. These were helped in theii
duties by an equal number of clerics who were called vicars,
chaplains, or confessors, or lived as best they could, making
a total of 80,000. The cathedral chapters were composed
on an average of sixty canons. Together with those forming
college chapters the number of canons amounted to 19,000,
whilst the number of commendatory, that is to say, secular,
abbots and priors, was 5000. They were all provided with
prebends. The poorest of them all were the country clergy.
A priest could be the titular priest of several cures, that is to
say, he could enjoy the revenues of several posts at once. In
the places he did not visit his duties were performed by a vicar,
to whom he paid a small fixed salary, so small indeed, that
in order to eke out a livelihood the latter was obliged to in-
crease his incidental charges and demand payment for the
administration of the sacraments, even the sacrament of peni-
tence. But in addition to these, there was a whole host of
unattached priests, who, not finding posts, were obliged to
work for their living. They prepared wax, sowed corn, did
carpentry and carried out commissions. They were given
the courtesy title of " messires " but were as badly treated
as if they had been common workmen. The religious services
were very long everywhere. In Normandy, in the Httle country
churches, the Sunday services would be as follows : Matins,
the first High Mass called the Mass of Our Lady, frequently
with an obit — the foundations of obits were innumerable ;
this was followed by the parochial High Mass — the High Mass
with a sermon — ^when the officiating priest gave out all the
notices on administrative and other matters. In the afternoon
came Vespers and often a procession. Benediction did not
exist at this time. The task of preaching, even in country
districts, was left to the religious orders.
The number of monks and nuns was equally great. Under
Henry IV people complained bitterly that there were too many
Religions ot them, too many orders and convents, and above
Orders. all, too many " mendicants." There were the
** old mendicants " the Carmelites, the Augustinians, the Jacobins,
and the Greyfriars, who numbered 13,500. They went about
preaching in country places and got their living by begging from
403
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
door to door ; they were said to collect from 1,200,000 to
1,800,000 pounds a year. These friars made some return for
the money they collected, inasmuch as they preached the Gospel
in rural districts. But those who went by the title of the
" reformed Franciscans " the RecoUets, the Capuchins and the
Picpus,* numbering some 21,000, preached much less and
begged much more — collecting, it was estimated, almost 8,000,000
pounds a year. They were perpetually building and seemed
to irritate the people ; for, according to a contemporary writer,
in order to beg they were continually visiting country houses
one after the other, and the inmates were obliged to receive
them out of charity and give them money. " No one could be
more importunate ; they fed extremely well wherever they went
and only visited the nobility." They were regarded as useless.
There were 8000 Benedictines ; 1600 Carthusians ; 900
Cistercians ; 1500 Premonstrants ; 2500 Jesuits ; and others ;
the grand total amounting to over 70,000 monks and friars.
There were some 80,000 nuns — 12,500 nuns of Saint Clare,
SOOO Carmelites, 9000 Ursulines, 18,000 Benedictines. As a
matter of fact the number of nunneries was countless. So
much for the clergy.
From the mighty lord, who was a great personage at
Court and owned a sumptuous castle in the country —
The Nobility. Uke the Duke of jSpernon's castle at Cardillac,
which was practically a royal palace — to the humble
country squire perishing of hunger on his poverty-stricken
estate, the nobility represented all manner of people of varying
fortunes. But they all possessed certain privileges of their
rank in common — exemption from taxation, and the right to
offer personal service as cavalrymen in time of war in good
positions. In the reign of Henry IV they certainly possessed
all the virtues and vices characteristic of their kind : care-
lessness, valour, gaiety, extravagance, familiarity varied by
insolence, a capacity for deep devotion, and provocative
manners ; they were ready at one moment to embrace a man
and at the next to fight a duel with him. They were charming,
* These were the members of the third religious order of Saint Francis
of Assisi. They derived their name from their headquarters in the Rtte
Picpus, in Paris. (Tr.)
404
KIJNGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
brilliant and terrible people. They may be divided into two
categories : those who went to Court, and those who never left
their estates in the country.
To the first category belonged the highest of the nobility,
'* princes and barons." They were rich and grew even more
wealthy through the patronage of the King, who made them
governors of provinces, ambassadors or Court officials, such
as Masters of the Horse, Grand Cupbearers, &c. They made
a great show and were surrounded by a suite of followers who
lived upon their bounty and gathered up the crumbs that
fell from their tables. They kept open house, had great mansions
in Paris, and fine castles in the country. They were in their
way potentates, and considered themselves more or less thfc
masters, as became abundantly clear during the minority of
Louis XIII. After them came the whole crowd of nobles who
tried to make their way by securing posts at Court. By dint
of perseverance they might be made pantlers, equerries, or
gentlemen-in- waiting ; even then they were only on duty
for three months in the year and obtained extremely modest
salaries. But there was always the chance of finding some
opportunity for putting themselves forward ! Unfortunately
for them. Court life, even for three months out of the twelve,
was ruinous. To live up to his rank a man had so many
expenses in the way of dress, horses, food, and servants, that
moderate patrimonies were exhausted in the process. Fashions
were constantly changing in accordance with the demands of
extravagant luxury, and unless he wished to be a laughing-
stock, a courtier was obliged to follow them. " The amount
spent by the nobility on clothes," says la Noue, " is enormous
and excessive." And, indeed, the fact which particularly struck
strangers about these Court nobles was that they ended in
poverty, in spite of the gambling at cards and at dice in which they
indulged in the hope of replenishing their pm-ses. " If wars have
brought us four ounces of poverty," observes la Noue, " our
follies are responsible for twelve ; " and according to him these
follies consisted of unnecessary expenditure on clothes, food,
furniture, and buildings.
How much calmer was the lot of those who remained in the
country! "Their simple secluded life in their castles," says
405
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
Suriano, " entailed neither great expense, liveries, rich clothes,
valuable horses nor banquets." And the number of these lesser
nobles who lived on their own estates was very large ; France
was full of them. Under Henry IV, courtiers were a mere
handful by comparison with the nobles scattered all over the
country in their manors and little chateaux. There theyUved
the dignified lives befitting their rank, but simply and quietly,
side by side with the villagers in whose interests they shared,
speaking the same dialect and playing the same games, culti-
vating their land and visiting each other on horseback ; for
they travelled about a great deal in the neighbourhood of their
property. Olivier de Serres, in his TMdtre d' Agriculture gives
them good advice on the subject of suitable buildings and
furniture, and the stocking of their houses with everything
necessary for their rural existence. But nothing can give a
Diary of the better idea of their manner of life than a perusal
Sieur de of the entertaining diary written by one of them
Gouberville. — ^the Sieur de Gouberville, Seigneiur of Mesnil-au-
Val, a small parish of the Cotentin near Cherbourg in the Val-
de-Saire. Monsieur de Gouberville was an old bachelor who
inhabited his manor, surrounded by some foiirteen to eighteen
"serving-men and chambermaids," people of the neighbour-
hood, all living together and eating at the same table. He used
to beat them, but also nursed them devotedly when they were
ill. For wages he paid them the price of a bushel of corn a day,
and, in addition, one suit of clothes a year and their shoes. His
own dress was serviceable though not lacking in elegance. He
wore a fine linen ruff trimmed with lace, hose made of velvet,
drugget or satin ; false trunk-hose — ^riding-breeches — of tan
leather. His doublets were made of red cloth and his coats
and cloaks were black. He wore felt or velvet hats, leather
capes in wet weather and boots that he had made at home by a
journeyman bootmaker. In the great hall of his manor,
which also served as a kitchen, in front of the huge chimney with
its high mantelpiece, where trunks of trees were burnt, he
took his meals seated at one end of the massive table with his
people round him eating off pewter dishes. His chief article
of diet was meat, butcher's meat, plenty of fowls, not much
venison, except in pasties ; hares, rabbits from the warren,
406
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
sea fish in abundance — the beach was a stone's throw from
his door — no fruit, and very few vegetables. He drank cider
and cultivated twenty-nine, whilst knowing as many as forty,
different varieties of apple-trees. When he wanted wine he
bought it in the town — claret or Bordeaux, Burgundy, Anjou,
and Orleans. His house was lighted by candles. By way of
amusement he played dice, backgammon, or cards at home ;
or he would go and watch the people of the parish playing
skittles and bowls, and the old French games of croche and
soule or wrestling. He hunted and had plenty of dogs ; he
knew how to handle a musket and a pistol, and how to use
goshawks and ferrets. He was not much of a reader and at
most had Amadis de Gaule, a fashionable novel of the day, read
aloud to him during the winter evenings in the chimney-
corner. His chief occupation was the cultivation of his fields
in which he grew wheat, oats, and barley. He visited them
every day and watched his people at work, unless it " poured
the whole day " when he remained *' at home." When he
wanted to gather in his harvest, in his capacity as lord of the
manor, he had all his tenants, from whom he had a right to
demand forced labour, summoned " by monitory " at sermon
time during High Mass. On the appointed day they all arrived
to the number of some fifty to seventy men and women. They
worked gaily, and in the evening there was a huge supper
at the manor, after which they danced until a late hour of the
night. By way of cattle. Monsieur de Gouberville had a number
of horses, oxen, and cows, " horned cattle," and pigs. But they
all wandered about pretty freely in the forests, and their owner
was very vague as to their numbers. When he wanted to
catch any of them he had to organize battues and summon
everybody in the district to take part in them. Taking it all in
all, he led a somewhat rough life, but one that was healthy and
invigorating and very similar to that of the peasants round
him, attached to the soil and socially speaking, firmly rooted
in it.
This calm and solid stability was also characteristic of the
Third Estate. It is true that the civil wars darkened the
horizon and aroused lively passions ; but once the danger
was past, the people all went back to their work, obliterated
407
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
the traces of the conflict, and re-established the peaceful appear-
ance of the countryside once more. Foreigners visiting France
The Third ^* *^^ ^^^ ^^ *^® sixteenth and the beginning of
Estate or the seventeenth century were chiefly struck by
plebeians. the fact that the masses seemed hardworking and
thrifty and, by their clothes which were usually " seemly and
decent," showed that they were comfortably off. " They are
very particular about their food and their dress," one of these
travellers remarked. These visitors did not, however, shut their
eyes to their faults, but considered the members of the lower
classes at this time gamblers and rakes, who swore and took
the name of God in vain, and were *' hasty and hot-tempered "
and above all frivolous, with that incurable frivolity which
made Charles V declare : " They are wise without seeming
so." Finally they were ardent to the point of exaggeration
in their religious feelings, either for or against a given point
of view. In the eyes of strangers, the artisans and peasants
appeared somewhat coarse and brutal, at all events on occa-
sion. But they rendered justice to their good qualities. " It
is generally noticeable," they remarked, "that the people
of France are everywhere good." They were respectful towards
the great, the nobles, and the officers of justice and of finance ;
they were full of kind attention and courtesy towards strangers ;
hospitable ; and deferential to women, to whom they allowed
a great deal of freedom. The women, it was observed, for their
part, were pious and thrifty ; they went to Mass every day and
spent the whole of Sunday in church attending Low Mass,
High Mass, sermon, and vespers. The utmost that Lippomano
had to say against them was that their thrift verged upon avarice.
As for morals in general, Brantome's scandalous stories
must not be taken too literally. He was a scandalmonger.
Morals. only too ready to collect doubtful versions of
adventures or tales more or less founded on fact, and circulated
as jokes or funny stories. The members of the middle classes,
as well as many of the noble families, could furnish endless
examples of irreproachable conduct and domestic virtue. The
names of the women who became notorious in connexion with
Henry IV have been handed down to us ; whilst nothing
is said about all those who, like the beautiful and sagacious
408
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
Madame de Guerchcville or Madame de Sainte-Beuve, repulsed
his overtures. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that in
comparison with modern tastes and standards there was a
certain lack of delicacy at this period. Monsieur de Gouberville,
for instance, had among his servants some illegitimate brothers
of his own, whom he may perhaps have treated slightly differ-
ently to the rest, but the distinction was scarcely noticeable.
He used also frequently to go to Russy near Bayeux to visit
a certain uncle, who was a worthy ecclesiastic, living on the
revenues of cures in which, as a matter of fact, he never resided.
Now this good priest presented his nephew with little cousins
whose mother was only a servant, a circumstance which does
not seem to have shocked the Sire of Mesnil-au-Val, any more
than the country at large was shocked at the spectacle of Henry
IV bringing up his children by Marie de' Medici, Gabrielle
d'Estr6es, and the Marquise de Verneuil altogether pell-mell at
Saint Germain-en-Laye. Public opinion was less strict on
such matters than it is to-day, both with regard to conduct and
language. For the things that were said, written, or read in the
circle of young ladies of good family, who superintended the
education of the Dauphin of France and of his brothers and
sisters at Saint-Germain, would never be tolerated in any modest
or well-behaved family to-day, especially before children. The
Diary of Jean H6roard, Louis XIII 's doctor when he was a child,
gives us plenty of information on this subject. The people of
this age were more free and easy than we are, or we have
become more scrupulous.
The Third Estate included the magistrates, the merchants,
all classes of citizens, artisans, the masses in the towns, and the
country folk.
Noel de Fail, a counsellor in the Parliament of Rennes, has
described the life of the peasantry in the sixteenth century in
The sixteenth- ^^^ tales, which abound in fun and good humour,
century The rough work in the fields was very much
peasant. the same as it is to-day, neither more wretched
nor less hard and monotonous. Only the merry-making on
Sundays seems to have been more frankly whole-hearted. On
the weekly day of rest the young people, after having been to
church, might be seen practising archery, playing at prisoner's
409
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
base, jumping, and racing, whilst the old men would look on
as they sat chatting under the village trees. Then to the
sound of a rebec, a hautboy, or a flute, the young people would
begin to dance, and their elders, remembering their own exploits
of former days, would get up mechanically and " beat time with
their feet," to the tune they knew so well. After this they
would carouse in the tavern when glasses would be clinked
{dringuer or trinquer from the German trinken) to the singing
of songs. They did not drink brandy, which was a rare and
extremely expensive drug, and was only sold by the apothecary.
These country rustics, like the masses in the towns, dressed
roughly during the week, but kept themselves clean and neat on
Sundays, and above all, were well fed. Writers boast of " the
good nourishment both in food and drink to which the masses
were accustomed as they were in no other country." They
had four or five meals a day, not much bread and fruit, but, like
Monsiem* de Gouberville, plenty of meat. In the towns, public
cooks and pastrycooks (people who sold meat-pasties) retailed
all kinds of ready cooked dishes in abundance. They ate beef
and mutton — pork was left for the poorest — lamb, salt fish,
salmon, cod, and herrings ; and by way of vegetables, peas,
rice, artichokes, and lentils.
The life of the artisans in the towns was extremely cir-
cumscribed and strictly regulated, in the sense that there was
The sixteenth- ^^ such thing as free labour. If a man wished
century to practise a trade, he had to join the corpora-
artisan, tion of that trade, go through his apprenticeship
and be made a companion, after which he had to produce
a masterpiece in order to be admitted to the rank of master,
a position to which not many attained and which it was neither
easy nor cheap to reach, as the price of the masterships was
fixed. The work done was subject to the laws of the corpora-
tion and an individual was not free to make anything he chose.
But people were used to the system and the workman " had
plenty of industry and worked merrily." A great many disputes,
tumults, and strikes took place, but, on the whole, the industry
which belonged to a particular place or district went on quietly
enough. People sometimes grew rich, and it was chiefly the
merchants who amassed fortunes.
410
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
The merchant class was the one that had command of the
money, and was accordingly pandered to and fawned upon ;
The Merchant but the nobility despised this manner of life and
Class. would have considered themselves disgraced if
they had been obliged to make a Uving by trade. In the towns
the merchants were the highest in rank, they formed the muni-
cipalities, and were the notables. But it is curious to observe
that they too had such a low opinion of their calling that
the greatest wish of their lives was to make their sons royal
officials — " functionaries." To amass enough wealth to send
their boys to study at the universities — at the University of
Paris alone there were 15,000 students — and afterwards to
buy them some post was the dream of their ambition. Already
the petty nobility who were badly off were trying to make their
way into the ParUaments, whilst townsmen's sons aspired
to become judges, lawyers, treasiurers, tax-collectors, and re-
ceivers of all kinds. The Kings raised no objection to this
movement, for, as a matter of fact, tradition itself demanded
that the posts of Chancellor of France and Secretary of State
should be given only to members of the Third Estate — a great
privilege I
And thus above or on a par with the merchants we find
the whole citizen class of magistrates, men of law, and others,
Magistrates. dignified and honourable people, excellent
parishioners, charitable, steady, in enjoyment of easy cir-
cumstances and respected by all. They were conspicuous on
account of their correct and quiet dress, and their grave and
measured gait. They were good husbands, good fathers, and
good Christians. They had a town-house and a country-house
where they went for change of air. They were quiet and
moderate in their behaviour, worthy people and loyal subjects.
It was from their ranks that the ** politicians " were recruited.
But they could also be merry and gay, and physical exercises
were among their principal diversions.
For physical exercises — the last factor common to the whole
nation — were universally popular about the year 1600. Nobles,
Love of out- burghers, and peasants alike, gave themselves
door games. up ardently to all kinds of games thrft had sur-
vived from the Middle Ages. The English, who were surprised
411
CENTURY OF THE RENAISSANCE
by this fashion, copied it, though they considered the French
" very immoderate." The most popular sport — from the old
French word desport, game — was the game of 'pawme, which
the Englishman Sir Robert Dallington, who visited France in
1597, calls tennis. "It is in greater vogue here," he says,
*' than in the whole of the rest of Christendom, as is shown by
the number of tennis-courts which are to be found everywhere
in such numbers that there is not a single borough or town
in France that does not possess one or several. At Orleans
there are sixty, and in Paris I cannot say how many hundreds.
Frenchmen are born with a racquet in their hands." Talking
of pall-mall he adds, " I am exceedingly surprised that among
all the mad and ridiculous games we have brought over from
France we have not introduced this one into England "
There was much that was healthy about the subjects of
Henry IV. They lived in one of the roughest and most brutal.
Sterling though also one of the most original and attrac-
qualities of the tive periods of French history. The bad sides
nation as a of this epoch which general history reveals,
whole. (Jq igss than justice to the quaUties of honesty,
diligence, stability, and regularity possessed by the people.
Sources. Dallington, The View of France, 1598 ; 1892 ; Delicia
GcUlicB, 1609 ; Jodocus Sincerus, Itinerarium Gallice, 1616 ; G. Hegenitius,
GaUo-Brabanticum, 1630 ; Th. Erpenius, De peregrinatione gallica, 1631 ;
Abr. Golnitz, Ulysses Belgico-Gallicus, 1631 ; H. Du Boys, De Vorigine
et auioriU des rois, 1604 ; F. Le Jay, De la dignity des rois et princes souve-
rains, 1589 ; P. Constant, De V excellence et digniU des rpis, 1598 ; N.
Bergeron, Police gin&rale du royaume de France, 1617 ; C. de Figon,
Discours des Etats et offices de France, 1579 ; J. Huranlt, Des offices d'Estat,
1588 ; C. Loyseau, Cinq limes du droit des offices, 1613 ; C. Fauchet,
Origine des dignitis et magistrals de France, 1600 ; C. Chappuzeau, TraiU
des diverses juridictions de France, 1618 ; La Roche-Flavin, Treize livres
des Parlements de France, 1617 ; Cimber and Donjou, Archives curieuses
de Vhistoire de France, vols, x and xiv ; Isambert, Receuil girUral, de*
anciennes lois frangaises, vols, xiv and xv ; Traitd des finances de France,
1580 ; N. Fromnanteau, Le Secret des finances de France, 1681 ; Traits
des revenue et dipenses de France en Vannie 1607, in Remie retrospective,
vol. iv ; J. Hennequin, Le Guidon g6niral des finances, 1610 ; N. Remond,
Sommaire traitd des revenus et ddpenses des finances de France, 1622 ; Le
nombre des ecclisiastiques de France, celui des religieux et religieuses, in
Archives Curieuses, vol. xiv ; C. Loyseau, TraiU des seigneuries, 1608 ;
Nicolas Rapin, Les Plaisirs d'un gentilhomme champitre, 1575 ; Gilles de
Gouberville, Journal, ed. Beamrepaire and Blagny, 1892-1895 ; Noel
412
KINGDOM OF FRANCE ABOUT 1600
du Fan, (Ewores faeitieuses, ed. Ass^zat, 1874 ; Jean Hdroard, Journal,
ed. Souli6, 1860.
WoRBW. G. Weill, Les theories sur le pouvoir royal en France pendant
Im guerres de religion, 1892 ; N. Valois, Le conseil du roi aux XIV', XV*
et XVr Slides 1889 ; Fauvelet du Toe, Histoire des secretaires d'Etat,
1668 ; J. Joly, Trois livres des offices de France, 1638 ; Guyot, Traiti des
droits, fonctions . . . en France, 1786 ; P. Picaut, Traiti des Parlements,
1679 ; de Bastard d'Estang, Les Parlements de France, 1857 ; Mallet,
Comptes rendus de r administration des finances du royaume de France,
1789 ; C. de Beaune, Traiti de la Chambre des Comptes, 1647 ; Le P. Daniel,
Histoire de la milice frangaise, 1721 ; Fagniez, VSconomie sociale de la
France sous Henri IV, 1897 ; P. de Vaissiere, Gentilshommes campagnards
de rancienne France, 1903.
>^J
413
f\
INDEX
AcAB^MiE Frangaise, 346
du Palais, 345, 346, 363
Adda (river), 33, 34
Adrets, Baron dos, 206
Agon, 174, 279
Agnadcllo, Battle of, 34
Aids, Court of, 395
Aix, 79, 378, 390 ; Parliament of, 161,
162
Alaro6n (Spanish captain), 62, 64, 75
Alba, Duke of, 140, 150, 152, 203, 213-
216, 225
Alberti (architect), 349
d'Albret, Alain, 3, 6, 7
Catherine, 310
Henri, 52, 87, 157, 165. See also
B6am, Navarre, and Henry IV
Jean, 51, 157
Jeanne, 87, 165, 220, 224, 225, 241
Alcazar, Madrid, 65, 67
Alencon, 290
Duke of, 6, 45, 46, 61, 87
Francis, Duke of, afterwards Duke
of Anjou, 124, 238, 239, 246, 247,
252
Alessandria, 19 ; sack of, 26
Alexander VI, Pope, 13, 16-18, 24, 30
Alfonso V of Aragon, 10
Alfonso of Calabria, 12, 14, 16, 17
Alsace, 138
Alviano (Venetian captain), 34
Amadis de Oaule, 407
Amboise, Ch&teau, 1, 2, 9, 12, 20, 31, 39,
45, 50, 109, 183, 185, 351, 354
Conspiracy of, 180-186, 341
Edict of, 211, 216, 218, 219
Peace of, 212
d'Amboise, Cardinal Georges, 22-25, 27,
28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 38 ; tomb of, 358
Chaumont, 28, 34-36
family, 115, 116
Amiens, 37, 265, 279, 311, 312
Amyot, Jacques, 34<)
Anacreon, 340
Ancenis, 6
Ancy-le-Franc, Ch&teau, 154, 351
d'Andelot, Francis, 131, 146, 164, 166,
216, 218, 221
Androuet, see Cerceau, du
Anet, Chateau, 129, 351, 352, 356, 356
d'Angennes, 274
Angers, 174, 279, 341
Angouleme, 216
Bastard of, 232, 233
Charles, Count of, 5, 6, 44, 81
Francis, Count of, 31-33, 37, 41 ; see
also Francis I
Anjou, 45, 62, 367
Charles, Count of, 10
Duke of, afterwards Henry III, 220,
223, 229, 230, 232, 238 ; see also
Henry III
Francis, Duke of, 247, 252-256, 341 ;
see also Alengon
Ren6, Count of, 10
Rende of, 145
d'Annebaut, 122
Antwerp, 255
Appian, 340
Apulia, 29
Aragon, 10, 13, 14, 41
Aragon, Ferdinand, King of, 167
Architecture, 349-357
Arcueil, 208
Ardres, 52, 53, 81
Aretino, Pietro, 123
Argenteuil, 367
d'Argouges, M., 58
Aries, 79
Armestorff (Austrian envoy), 51
Army, the, 398, 399
Arnaud, 157
Arques, Battle of, 289
d'Arques ("minion"), 257
Arsenal, the, 270, 316, 318, 326, 400
Artois, 14, 63-65, 76, 366
Asti, 14, 18, 19, 26
d'Aubign^, Agrippa, 184, 200, 225, 270,
286
Jean, 184
d'Aubigny, Stuart (commander), 17, 26,
29, 30, 299
Auch, 345
Augsburg, deputation from, 136
Interim of, 136
Augustinians, 403
415
INDEX
Angaitas, 849
d'Aamale, Glande, Count, 131, 132
Duke, 139, 140, 145, 149, 216, 219,
229, 232, 259, 265, 278, 311
d'Aumont, Marshal, 268, 273, 278
Auneau, Battle of, 263
Austrasia, 138
Auvergne, 368
Avenelles, des (Huguenot), 182
I'Aventureux, Fleurange, 42
Aversa, 76
Avignon, 161
Acay-Ie-Eideau, Ch&teau, 239 ^
Bai>, Antoine de, 339, 343
Bailiffs, 385, 396
Balafr6, Le, see Guise, Henry, Duke of
Balaruc, 368
Baldassarini, see Beaujoyeux
Bale, 169
Balzac, 266
Bar, Duchy of, 366
Barbarossa, Khaer Eddin, 78
Barcelona, Treaty of, 13
Barricades, Day of the, 267, 268, 270, 276
Bartas, du (poet and soldier), 292, 339,
345
Baschi, Perron de, 13
Bastille, 94, 270, 318, 324, 388
Batarnay, Imbert de, 23
Baudricourt, Jean de, 12
Bayard, Chevalier, 35, 46, 55
Bayeux, 205
Bayonne, 59, 72, 213, 216
Conference of, 213-216, 223, 362
B^arn, 157, 188, 241, 257
Henry of, 220, 221, 224, 226, 227,
236-239, 241, 251, 255, 256, 258,
260-263, 332 ; see also Navarre,
Henry of, and Henry IV
Beauce, 263
Beaufort, Marquise de, see d'Estr^es,
Gabrielle
Beaugency, 6
Beaujeu, Anne de, 2-8, 11, 22, 56
Pierre de, 2-6, 8, 56
Beaujoyeux, Balthazard, 364
Beaulieu, Edict of, 248, 251
Beaune, Regnault de. Archbishop of
Bourges, 301
Beauvais-Nangis (counsellor), 274
Bellay, Cardinal du, 355
Bellay, Joachim du, 123, 336-339, 343-
346
Belleau (poet), 343
Bellievre (minister), 259, 324
Benedictines, 404 ; nuns, 404
Bergerac, Peace of, 251, 253, 254
Berquin, Louis, 156, 159
Berry, Jean, Duke of, 108
416
Besme, murderer of Coligny, 232
Beza, Theodore, 173, 199, 200
Biblioth^que Nationale, 8, 83, 105, 106,
221, 337
Royale, 105, 337
Bicocca, Battle of the, 55, 99
Bidassoa, 71, 75
Birague, Chancellor de, 225, 230
Biron, Duke of, 254, 268, 287, 324
Bishoprics, the Three, 151, 291
Blois, Chateau, 20, 21, 31, 38, 39, 41, 80,
109, 110, 113, 159, 174, 182 183,
207, 216, 224, 225, 242, 250, 272-
275, 279, 280, 300, 351, 354
Edict of, 375
Ordinance of, 251
Blue Penitents, 245
Boccador (architect), 113
Bodin, Jean, 251, 341
Bohemia, King of, 48, 50
Bois de Boulogne, 112
Boissy (Master of the Household), 46,
92
Boleyn, Anne, 150
Bologna, 35, 36 ; Concordat of, 92
Bona, Duchess of Milan, 11
Bonnivet, Admiral, 45, 61, 53, 55, 59-61,
90
Bontemps, Pierre, 360
Bordeaux, 80, 213, 279, 280, 347, 367,
368, 378, 388, 397 ; insurrection at,
130
Borgia, Caesar, 24, 26, 27, 29, 236
Bossuet, 326
Boucard, M. de, 120
Bouchavannes (counsellor), 230
Bouchefort, quoted, 219
Bouillon, Duke of, 309
Boulogne, 81, 149 ; taken, 134, 135
Bourbon, Antoine de. King of Navarr*,
81, 142, 147
Antoinette de, 131
Cardinal de, 204, 215, 257-259, 271,
273, 278, 280, 284, 288, 289, 293
Constable Charles de, 45, 46, 56-
60, 62, 63, 68, 70, 74, 86, 125
Duke of, 3
Pierre de, 13
Suzanne de, 66, 57
Bourbons, the, 176, 178, 182, 185-188,
198, 204, 289 '
Bourdaisiere, Babou de la, 165
Bourdichon, Jean, 108
Bourdin (Attorney-General), 166
Bourg, Anne du, 167, 178
Bourgeois de Paris, Journal d'un, 112, 156
Bourges, 6, 24, 174, 235, 340, 341, 388 ;
Archbishop of, 302, 304
Bourneuf, 217
Bourre, J«an, 1, 2
INDEX
Brandenburg, Elector of, 325
Margrave, Joachim of, 48, 50, 61
Brantouie, quoted, 2, 9, 44, 91, 96, 119,
122, 128, 129, 147, 152, 180, 186, 193,
197,211,228.408
Brera, Milan, 11
Brescia, 34
Bresse, 313
Breton. Guillaume Lo, 113
Gillcs Le, 114
Jacques Le, 113
Br6z6, Louis de, 126 ; tomb of, 116
Brigonnet, Guillaume, 12, 17, 157
Brie, La, 4
Brienne, Count of. 283
Brigade, the, see Pl^Iade
Brigard (procurator-royal), 297
Brion, Chabot de, 69, 70, 79, 90, 91, 116,
122
Briquemaut (Huguenot), 229, 238
Brissac, Marshal, 152, 177, 198, 306,
307
Brisson, President, 297
Brittany. 5, 6, 25, 62, 79, 312, 313, 367,
375
Anne, Duchess of, 6-9, 14, 23-25,
31-33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 99, 108, 109
Francis, Duke of, 3, 5, 6
Bronzino's Venua and Cupid, 115
Brosse, Jean de, see Penthievre
Bruges, 361
Louis de, 69
Brussels, 142, 143, 148, 325, 361
Bruvere. La, 249
Buckingham, Duke of, 7
Bude, Frangois, 93
Guillaume, 104, 105
Bullant, Jean, 349, 356-359
Burchard (Papal Master o^ Ceremonies),'
20 ; his Diarium, 20
Burgundy, 37, 48, 52, 58, 62-64, 66, 68-
70, 72. 73. 76, 79, 135, 152, 301, 324,
367, 375, 390
Burgundy, Charles the Bold, Duke of, 7,
48, 52, 63
Mary of, 7, 48
Burleigh, Lord, 208
Bury, Chateau, 351
Busbecq (ambassador), 255, 259
CABBli:RBS, 161
Caen, 205, 388
Csesar, 349
Cahors, 241, 254
Caietano, 291, 296
Calabria, 28
Calais, 52, 53, 151, 152, 208, 311 ; taken
from the English, 134, 149, 150 ;
taken by the Spaniards, 311
Calvimont, Jean de, 73
2
Calvin, Jean, 102, 103, 167-174, 181, 330
Calvinism, 189
Calvinists, 174, 178, 186, 212
Cambray, 137. 265, 312 ; League of, 34,
36 ; Peace of, 77, 79
Canada, colonization of, 319
Canal, Briare, 319
Canal du Midi, 319
Candalo, Countess of, 258
Capets, the, 151, 377
Capello (envoy), 133
Capua, 29
Capuchins, 404
Carcassonne, 195
Cardaillac, the (bell), 380
Cardillac, 404
Carinthia, 139
Carmelites, 403 ; nuns, 404
Carthusians, 404
Casa, della, 8
Castellio, Sebastian, 172, 173
Castelnau, 206
Castel dell' Uovo, 17
Castel Nuovo, 17, 19
Castres,' 195, 196, 200-202, 216, 242, 379
Cateau-Cambresis, Peace of, 134, 151,
152, 180, 208
Catherine de' Medici, Queen, 9 ; be-
trothal to Henry of France, 77 ;
quoted, 95 ; her Courts, 120 ; appear-
ance and character, 121-124 ; her
children, 124 ; quoted, 125 ; her
jealousy of Diane de Poitiers, 126, 127,
129 ; quoted, 127 ; Regency of, 137,
148 ; her grief at the death of Henry
II, 154 ; her attitude as Queen
Mother, 176, 177, 178 ; appealed to
by the peace party, 186 ; her negotia-
tions with the Bourbons, 188, 192 ; her
policy of conciliation, 193-195, 197-
199 ; at the Colloquy of Poissy, 20<J ;
second Regency of, 192-2077 211-218 ;
makes peace with the Huguenots, 222 ;
arranges marriage of Charles IX, and
of the Princess Margaret, 223, 224 ;
her hostility to Coligny, 225-227;
visits the wounded Coligny, 228 ;
her part in the Massacre of St, Bar-
tholomew, 230, 231, 235, 237; negotiates
election of Duke of Anjou to throne of
Poland, 238 ; at death-bed of Charles
IX, 239 ; her attitude to Calvinism,
241 ; third Regency of, 245 ; her
opposition to Henry Ill's marriage, 246 ;
her influence at the Court of Henrj' III,
247 ; her progress to N6rac, 253 ;
effects reconciliation between her sons,
265 ; treats with the League, 259,
262 ; intervenes between Henry III
t 417
INDEX
and Guise, 266, 268, 269 ; her terror
at the murder of Guise, 278 ; her
death, 284 ; mentioned, 291 ; the
luxury and elegance of her Court, 329,
330, 332, 333 ; her collections, 334 ;
mentioned, 339 ; orders the building
of the Tuileries. 352, 355, 366;
patroness of Philibert Delorme, 355-
357 ; and of Germain Pilon, 359 ; her
tapestries, 361, 362 ; patroness of
musicians, 363
Cauvin, Charles, 168
Gerard, 168
Cavagnes (Huguenot), 238
Cavalli, Marino, 84, 85, 127, 134
Cayet, Pahna, 288, 367
Caylus (" minion "), 257
Cecil, see Burleigh
Cellini, Benvenuto, 96, 113, 116
Cercamps, Abbey of, 150
Cerceau, Baptiste Androuet du, 353, 359
Jacques Androuet du, 110, 113, 350
Cerdagne, 13
Cerignola, Battle of, 30
Cerisola, Battle of, 8
Chalons, 137, 388
Chambiges, Pierre, 113, 114
Chambord, Chateau, 111, 112
Chambre ardenie, 163
Champagne, 4, 58, 135, 152, 203, 375, 399
Mme. de, 163
Champlain, 319
Chantelle (fortress), 58
Chantilly, 133
Chantonnay, 197, 206
Charenton, 351
Charit^-sur-Loire, La, 222, 235, 262, 263
Charlemagne, 48
Charles V, Emperor, candidature for
Imperial throne, 48 ; appearance and
character, 49 ; elected Emperor of
Germany, 51 ; . quarrel with lYancis I,
52; attacked' by Francis I in Spain,
54 ; counter-attack by the Emperor,
55 ; makes a compact with Henry
VIII of England, 58 ; joined by the
Constable de Bourbon, 59 ; gains the
Battle of Pa via, 60, 61 ; imposes harsh
conditions on Francis I, 62-64 ;
negotiates with Louise of Savoy, 65,
66 ; visits Francis in his prison at
Madrid, 67 ; receives Margaret of
Navarre, 68 ; makes the Treaty of
Madrid, 69, 70 ; releases Francis, 71 ;
sends Lannoy to France, 72 ; his
harshness to the little captive princes,
73 ; gives command to Constable de
Bourbon, 74 ; causes the Pope to be
imprisoned, 74 ; agrees to Peace of
Cambray, 76, 77 ; the Lutheran
418
princes combine against him, 78 ;
invades Provence, 79 ; concludes
Peace of Cr6py, 81 ; his visit to
France, 80, 114, 352 ; rupture with
Henry II of France, 135 ; crushes the
Lutheran princes at Miihlberg, 136 ;
war with Henry II, 137-142 ; abdica-
tion, 142-144 ; his comment on the
character of the French, 408
Charles V, King, 21
Charles VI, King, 370
Charles VIL King, 22, 47, 108, 398
Charles VIII, birth and minority, 1-3 ;
projected abduction of, 5 ; majority
and marriage of, 7 ; his designs on
Constantinople, 10 ; undertakes the
expedition against Naples, 12, 13 ;
takes possession of Naples, 17 ; de-
feated at Fomovo and driven from
Italy, 18, 19 ; death, 20, 21 ; his
claim to Naples, 28 ; mentioned, 39,
375 ; children of, 20 ; tomb of
children of, 109.
Charles IX, mentioned, 95, 124 ; acces-
sion, 191 ; appearance and character,
191, 192 ; mentioned, 194 ; presides
at the Colloquy of Poissy, 200 ; takes
Rouen from the Huguenoti^, 208 ;
his majority proclaimed, 212 ; his
attitude at the Conference of Bayonne,
215 ; his exasperation with the
Huguenots, 217-219 ; agrees to Peace
of Saint-Germain, 222 ; his marriage
with Elizabeth of Austria, 223 ; re-
conciliation with Coligny, 224, 225,
227 ; his anger at the first attack on
Coligny, 228-229 ; mentioned, 230 ;
his reluctant consent to the Massacre
of St. Bartholomew, 231 ; mentioned,
232, 233 ; his attempts to put an end
to the Massacre, 234 ; execrated
throughout Europe, 236, 237 ; his
remorse and premature death, 237-
239, 245 ; his literary tastes, 328 ;
mentioned, 329, 330, 346; his share
in the construction of the Louvre,
353, 354 ; patron of Germain Pilon,
359 ; mentioned, 361, 363
Charles X, see Bourbon, Cardinal de
Charles Orland, Prince, 20
Prince, son of Francis I, 90
Charleval, Chateau of, 351
Charlotte, Queen of Louis XI, 2, 11
Chartres, 208, 245. 270, 271, 279, 306
Vidame de. 139, 176
Chataigneraie, M. de la, 120
Chateaubriant, Edict of, 163
Mme. de, 88, 89, 94, 101, 126
Sire de, 89
Chateau-Renaud, 183
INDEX
Ch&teau-Thierry, 255
Ch&teauvicu, M, dc, 286
Cbatel, Je.-vn, 309
Chitelet, the, 100, 397
Chatellerault, 80
Ch&tillon, Cardinal Odet do, 131, 164
famUy, 176, 178, 179. 182, 186, 192,
204, 216, 220, 229, 294
Gaspard de, 131
Ch&tillon-8ur-Seine, 262
Chaumont, aee d'Amboise, Chaumont
Chenonceaux, Chateau, 129, 244, 352
Chevalier, Etienne, 108
Cheverny, M. de, 259, 324
Chivasso, 161
Cistercians, 404
Civiti Vecchia, 17
Clares (nuns), 404
Classicism, 337-339
CUude. Princess, 27, 32, 33, 37, 39, 41 ;
see also Claude, Queen
Queen, 45, 53, 66, 88, 90, 94, 110,
111
Clement VII, Pope, 66, 72, 73-75, 77
VIII, Pope, 305, 310, 311
Clement, Jacques, 282, 283
Clergy, the, 402
Cl^ry, 205, 245
Clinet, M., 113
Clouet family, 114
Frangois, 239, 360, 361
Jean, 83, 360
Coconas, M. de, 238
Cognac, 72, 262, 319
Coligny, Admiral Gaspard de, 131, 137,
143, 146, 147, 164, 165, 176, 187, 204,
208, 211, 212, 216, 217, 221, 224, 225-
233, 235, 237, 248, 400
College de Cambray, 106
de la Fleche, 320
de France, 101, 106, 347
de la Marche, 168
de Montaigne, 168
de Navarre, 347
du Plessis, 162
Cologne, Archbishop of, 48, 50, 51
Colombo, Michel, 109, 116 ; his George
and the Dragon, 109 ; tomb of Francis
II of Brittany, 109
Colonna family, 74
Prosper©, 55, 59
Comines, Philippe de, quoted, 12, 13, 15,
19, 20, 21
Comminges, Comte de, 6
Como, 26
Compi^gne, 59, 148
Comtat-Venaissin, 366
Concordat of Bologna, 92 , l« T
Cond6, Prince of, 139, 165, 176, 179, 185,
187-189, 197, 204-209, 2117 212,
216, 219-221, 227, 237, 246-248,
253, 261, 310, 325
Condd, Princess of, see Montmorency,
Charlotte de
Constantinople, 10, 78, 105, 152
Contarini, Lorenzo, 130
Zaccaria, 8
Conti, 294
Coqueau, Jacques, 112
Cordova, Gonzalo de, 29, 30
Comaton, 232
Comeille de Lyon, 361
Correro, 194
Cortona, Domenico da, see Boccador
Coss^, Ren6 de, 94
Costeley, 364
Councils, State, 372, 373, 377, 378
Courteys, the, 362
Cousin, Jean, 360
Coutras, Battle of, 262, 263
Coxcie, Michael, 363
Cracow, 245
Cremona, 27, 34
Crdpy-en-Valois, Peace of, 81
Crillon, 268, 274
Cujas, Jacques, 341
Daim, Olivier le, 3
Dallington, Sir Robert, 412
Damville, Marshal de, 219
Dandolo, 118
Dauphiny, 4, 62, 79, 187, 206, 213, 254,
291, 306, 313, 375
Daurat (poet), 343
Davila, 367
Delorme, Philibert, 129, 349, 350, 355,
356,358
Denmark, 345
Deville, M., 109
Dieppe, 289
Dijon, 213, 268, 378, 390
Dinan, 312
Dohna, Baron von, 262
Dol, Bishop of, 107
Dolet, Etienne, 103
Doria, Andrea, 76
Dormans, Battle of, 247
Drawings, chalk, 114, 361
Dreux, 246, 292 ; Battle of, 209
l3ttfaur, Louis, 167
Dunois, 3-6
Duprat, Antoine, 45, 63, 72
Dupuy, Claude, 243
East Ixdia Company, French, 319
Kcole des Beaux Arts, 356
ficouen, 133 ; Ch&teau of, 351, 352, 357,
358, 363
Edict Chamber, 321, 379
Edicts, see under Blois, Nantes, Poitiers, &c.
419
INDEX
Edward VI of England, 135
Egmont, Count, 146
Egypt, 105
Eidgenossen, 170 ; see also Huguenots
d'Elbeuf, Ren6, Marquis, 132, 139, 259,
278
Electors of German Empire, 48, 50, 51
Eleonora of Portugal, 66, 68, 69, 70
of Toledo, 57, 88
EUizabeth of Austria, Queen of Charles
IX 223
Queen of England, 150, 207, 208,
210, 223, 235, 236, 238, 254
of Valois, Queen of Spain, 123, 124,
151, 198, 213, 214
Embrun, Archbishop of, 65, 67, 69, 70
Enamels, 362, 363
d'Enghien, Due, 81, 139, 147
England, 33, 323, 345, 368, 375
d'Entraigues, Henriette, see Vemeuil,
Marquise de
Madame, see Graville, Anne de
M., 286
Pierre de Balzac, 88
l':fipargne (Savings Bank), 388, 392, 393
Epemay, 259
d'fipernon. Due, 258, 267, 271, 280, 287,
404
d'fipinac. Archbishop of Lyons, 273, 277,
278, 280, 301
Erasmus, 104, 106
Ernest, Arch-Duke, 303
Erpenius, 367
d'Esquerdes, Marquis, see Baudricourt
d'Este, Anne, 132
Estienne, Henri, 339, 340
Robert, 104, 105, 339
Estoile, quoted, 253, 254, 260, 264, 302,
308, 309
d'Estrees, Gabrielle, 304, 322, 323, 409
d':^tampes, Duchesse, 89, 90, 122
Staples, Treaty of, 13
" Evangelicals, the," 171
Evreux, 5
Exchequer Court, 394
Faenza, 34
Fail, Noel du, 346, 409
Falaise, 290
Farel, Guillaume, 157, 170
Farnese, Alessandro, Prince of Parma,
254, 294-296, 298
Faurin, Jean, his Diary, 195, 196, 200,
201, 205, 242
Fecamp, Abbot of, 107
Ferdinand of Aragon, 30, 48, 52
Arch-Duke, 139
Emperor, 143, 144, 151
F^re, La, 253, 254
Feria, Duke of, 301, 307
420
Ferrante, King of Naples, 12-14, 17
II, King of Naples, 19
Ferrara, 52
Ben6e, Duchess of, 132, 133, 219
Ferrier, du, 166, 167, 230
Ferri^res, Jean de, 207, 208
Fervaques, 290
Field of the Cloth of Gold, 52-54
Figon, Charles de, 372, 401
Finance, 374
Fin6, Oronce, 106
Flanders, 48, 63, 66, 68, 76, 80, 135, 161,
361, 375
Fleix, Peace of, 254
Florence, 8, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 66, 323,
401
Foix, Andr6 de, 54, 55, 88
FranQoise de, see Chateaubriant,
Mme. de
Gaston de, 36
Odet de, see Lautrec
Folembray, Chateau, 351 ; Treaty of,
311
Fonteinebleau, 105, 113-116, 186, 197,
204, 323, 324, 331 ; Cour du Chevai
Blanc at, 114 ; Galerie de Fran9oi8 I
at, 114 ; School of, 116 ; tapestry
factory at, 362
Fontaine-Fran9aise, Battle of, 310
Fontarabia, 71
Forbin, Claude de, 37
Force, Caumont La, 231, 233
Marquis de la, 260
Forest, La, 78
Forge, Etienne de la, 169
Forli, 27
Fomovo, Battle of, 18, 19
Foug^res, 6
Fouquet, Jean, 108
Franche-Comte, 14, 324, 364, 366
Francis I, mentioned, 31 ; accession, 43,
44 ; appearance and character, 43-45 ;
claims the Duchy of Milan, 45 ;
gains the victory of Marignano, 46 ;
negotiates with Leo X, 47 ; becomes
a candidate for the Imperial throne,
48 ; contrasted with Charles V, 49 ;
bribes the German Electors, 50, 51 ;
meets Henry VIII of England at
Ardres, 62-54 ; makes war upon
Charles V, 54-56 ; his second
Italian campaign, 59-62 ; defeated at
Pa via, 61 ; a prisoner at Pizzighet-
tone, 62-64 ; and at Madrid, 65-71 ;
returns to France, 71 ; joins the
League of Cognac, 73 ; challenges the
Emperor, 75 ; signs the Peace of
Cambray, 77 ; renews his claim to
Milan, 77-79 ; agrees to a truce with
the Emperor, 80 ; renews the war in
INDEX
Italy, 81 ; his death at 53, 81 ;
the King and the man, 83, 84 ; his
mother, Louise of Savoy, 86 ; his
sister, Margaret of Navarre, 87, 88 ;
his Qaeens, Claude and EHtonoro, 88 ;
his mistresses, 88-90 ; his children,
90 ; Court life under, 91-98 ; financial
disorder under, 98-100 ; his patronage
of art and letters, 101-103, 104-116 ;
mentioned, 1 18 ; his coolness to his
heir, 119; mentioned, 121; his con-
sideration for Catherine do' Medici,
124 ; mentioned, 131 ; his inter-
vention on behalf of Berquin, 166,
158 ; his attitude to Protestantism,
158-162; mentioned, 164, 177, 186,
329, 330 ; rebuilds the Louvre, 352 ;
mentioned, 362, 375, 398; tomb of,
356, 360
Francis II, as Dauphin, 124 ; marriage
to Mary Stuart, 125 ; accession, 175 ;
his hostility to the Bourbons, 176 ;
and to the Huguenots, 188 ; his early
death, 189, 190 ; mentioned, 191, 192,
194 ; repressive policy of, 217 ;
mentioned, 361
Francis, Prince, son of Francis I, 90
Frankfort, 48, 51
Frederick III, Emperor, 7
of Naples, 14, 29
Fr6gose, 81
Fresnaye, Vauquelin de la, 345
Friedwald, Convention of, 137
Fronde, the, 256
Frontignan, 367
Fuentes, Count of, 310
Fam6e, Antoine, 166, 167
Gad FEB, Pierre, 113
Gaguin, 20
Gafl, J. B., 121
Gaillac, 367
Galerie d'Apollon, Louvre, 334, 354, 362
Galland, 106
Gaillon, Chateau, 38, 109
Grarde, Baron de la, see Paulin
Qarigliano, Bridge of, 31
Gascony, 62
Gattinara, 62, 70
Gaveron, Mme. de, 163
Geneva, 169-174, 196, 198, 236, 250, 339
Genevra, Col di, 14
Genoa. 13, 107
GenouiUac, Galiot de, 61, 93, 116
Gentilly, 208
German Empire, 48
G6rmany, 135, 136, 139, 218, 282, 343,
347, 368, 375
G^vandon, 368
Gez, 313
Ghent, 255, 361 ; insurrection of, 80
Ghiara d'Adda, 34
Gi6, Marshal de, 17, 23, 31, 32, 38
Gien, 262
Gille, Pierre, 106
Giustiniano, 49, 77, 86, 161
Givct, Siege of, 146
Givry, Baron, 287
Glass, stained, 363
Golden Bull, 139
Golnitz, Abraham, 367
Gondi, Cardinal, 230, 299, 310
M. de, 383, 386
Gonzaga, Francesco di, 18
Gouberville, Sieur de, 406, 407, 409, 410
Goudimel, 364
Gouffier, Arthur de, 45
Goujon, Jean, 358, 359; his Caryatides,
358; his Diana, 358; his Fountain
of the Innocents, 358 ; his sculptures
on the fa9ade of the Louvre, 358
Grammont, 216, 257
Granada, Treaty of, 28, 29
Granvelle, Spanish ambassador, 75, 150,
214
Gravelines, 54, 150
Gravelles, M. de,.jl63
Graves, 367
Graville, Admiral de, 23
Anne de, 88
Greece, 10, 351
Gregory XIII, Pope, 236
Grenoble, 156, 378, 388
Gr^ve, Place de, 156, 162, 211, 267
Grossier, Jean, 112
Guasto, del, General, 81
Guercheville, Mme, de, 409
Guerin, Guillaume, 162
Guesle, M. la, 283
Guiche, Comtesse de, 263
Guillain, Guillaume, 113
Guillert, President, 51
Guinegate, 37
Guipazcoa, 54
Guisards, the, 273
Guise, Cardinal Louis de, 132
Cardinal, 215, 273, 278, 280
Duchess of, 213
Guise family, 131-133, 135, 175-177,
181, 185, 187, 189, 192, 197, 212, 216,
225, 228, 229, 231, 246, 249, 258, 269,
262, 265, 271, 279, 291, 334
Guise, Francis, Duke of, friendship with
Henry II, 131, 132 ; character. 132 ;
marriage, 132 ; a member of Henry
II's Council, 133 ; commands the army
sent against the Emperor, 137-141
successfully defends Metz, 140, 141
leads an expedition into Italy, 145
returns to take chief command in
421
INDEX
France, 147, 148 ; takes Calais from
the English, 149, 150 ; mentioned,
153 ; his predominance at the acces-
sion of Francis II, 175 ; his irritation
against Coligny, 187 ; his attitude
at the death of Francis II, 190 ;
forms a triumvirate against the
Huguenots, 197 ; his share in the
Massacre of Vassy, 203 ; acclaimed by
the Parisians, 204 ; assassination, 209-
211 ; mentioned, 225
Guise, Francis of, the younger, 132
Guise, Henry, Duke of, succeeds his
father, Francis, 225 ; retires from
Court, 229 ; leads in the Massacre of
St. Bartholomew, 232, 233 ; chosen
head of the League, 249 ; suggested
as successor to Henry III, 256 ;
occupies Chalons for the League, 258 ;
his growing arrogance, 259 ; his pre-
parations for civil war, 261 ; gains
the battles of Vimory and Auneau,
263 ; openly braves Henry III, 264-
269 ; occupies Paris, 270 ; appointed
Generalissimo, 271 ; controls the de-
liberations of the States General, 272,
273 ; the King plots his assassination,
274-276 ; murder of, 277, 278
Guise, Duke of, successor of the above,
303
Guise, Mary of,' see Mary, Queen of
Scotland
Guyenne, 62, 79, 254, .375
HAGENAtr, 138
Hainault, 142
Halde, du, 275
Ham, 150
Haquelebac's Gallery, Amboise, 20
Harlai, M., 159, 160
Harlay, President de, 279
Haton, Claude, 199, 200
Havre, le, 208, 212
Haye, La (envoy), 207, 208
d'Heilly, Mile., 64, 101 ; see also fitampes
Heliodorus, 340
Hendaye, 71
Hennequin, Pierre, 249
Henry II, as Dauphin, 71, 73, 77, 90 ;
mentioned, 115 ; accession, 118 ; char-
acter, 118,119-121, 133, 134; marriage
with Catherine de' Medici, 77, 121-
124 ; his liaison with Diane de
Poitiers, 119, 125-129, 131 ; his
advisers, 130, 131, 133 ; his policy,
134 ; his hatred of Charles V, 135 ;
makes a treaty with the Gferman
princes, 137 ; wars against the
Emperor, 137-142 ; takes the initia-
tive after the disaster at St. Quentin,
422
148 ; makes x)caco and agrees to
Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, 150-152 ;
wounded by Montgommery in a tourna-
ment, 153 ; dies ten days later, 154 ;
his repressive policy to the Huguenots,
167, 177, 217, 220; his forebodings
in this connection, 175 ; mentioned,
224, 243, 301, 328, 329, 340, 342, 349 ;
his share in the construction of the
Louvre, 353 ; patronises Philibert
Delorme, 355 ; and Jean Bullant, 357 ;
tomb of, 359 ; his portraits by Clouet,
361 ; establishes tapestry factory in
Paris, 362 ; his secretaries of State, 375
Henry III, as Duke of Anjou, 124 ;
gains the victory of Jamac, 220, 221,
elected King of Poland, 238 ; acces-
sion, 245 ; character, 243-245 ; mar-
riage, 246 ; his financial embarrass-
ments, 247, 248 ; his opposition to
the League, 249 ; presides at the
meeting of the States-General, 259 ;
signs the Peace of Bergerac, 251 ;
difficulties with his brother, the Duke
of Anjou, 252 ; the question of hia
successor, 255 ; his unpopularity,
257; his "minions," 257, 258;
forced to give way to the League,
259 ; makes war upon the Huguenots,
261 ; his forces defeated at Coutras,
.262, 263; creates the Order of the
Holy Ghost, 264 ; his irritation at
the growing power of Guise, 264-267 ;
hostility of the populace and flight of
the King from Paris, 268-270 ; treats
with the League, 271 ; presides at the
States-General, 272 ; determines to
have Guise assassinated, 273 ; his
part in the murder, 275, 276, 278;
execrated by the nation, 278, 279 ;
his despair, 280 ; he comes to terms
with Henry of Navarre, 280, 281 ;
marches on Paris, 282 ; assassinated
by Jacques C16ment, 282-284 ; men-
tioned, 291, 312 ; as patron of litera-
ture, 328, 346 ; his insistence on
Court ceremonial, 330, 331 ; men-
tioned, 347 ; his ministerial system,
375
Henry IV, mentioned, 56, 81, 85, 127,
131 ; accession, 286, 287 ; character,
287 ; provisional recognition by
Catholics, 288 ; hostility of the League,
289 ; he opens his campaign against
Mayenne, 289 ; gains Battle of Arques,
289; and Battle of Iviy, 292; be-
sieges Paris, 293-295 ; seizes Chartres,
296 ; his recantation urged, 299 ;
conferences on this point at Suresnes,
301-303; his recantotion, 304, 305;
INDEX
coronation at Chartrcs, 306, 307;
Paris surrenders to him, 307 ; Chatel
attempts to murder him, 309 ; he
drives out the Spaniards, 310-312 ;
makes peace with the Leaguers, 311 ;
sets bis kingdom in order, 313^319 ;
encourages colonisation, 319 ; grants
the £dict of Nantes, 32Q, 321 ; his
first marriage annulled, marries Marie
de' Medici, 322, 323 ; his mistresses,
322, 323 ; plans a campaign against
Germany, 325 ; assassinated by
Ravaillac, 326 ; his dislike of cere-
monial, 331 ; mentioned, 341 ; nien>
tioned, 366, 368, 383, 399, 401, 404,
406 ; manners and morals under,
408, 409 ; aee also Beam, Henry of,
and Navarre, King Henry of.
Henry VIII of EngUnd, 37, 38, 41, 52,
63-55, 58, 60, 62-64, 66, 72, 78, 81,
150
jJeplnmeron, the, 102, 103
Hiroard, Jean, 409
Hesdin, 141
Holy League of Cognac, 73, 74
HonSeur, 291
I'HopiUl, Michel de, 186, 189, 194, 198,
199, 201, 215, 216, 219, 220
H6tel de Villb, Paris, 113, 231, 260, 278,
297
Hotman, Francis, 236, 341
Hubert, Thomas, 85
Hugo, Victor, 125
Huguenots, 170, 192, 194-196, 198, 209 ;
origin of term, 170 ; their uniform, 209
d'Humieros, Mme., 124
Hundred Years War, 206
Hutten, Ulrich von, 50
d'If, Chateau, 317
Ile-de-France, 311
Illescas. Castle of, 71
Imola, 27, 34
Innsbiuck, 26, 139
Isabella of Castille, 48
Clara Eugenia, Infanta, 301, 302,
345
Ischia, 17
Isle-Adam, 133
Isle of Wight raided, 81
Italian inSuences in France, 107, 108,
110, 113, 114
Italy, 11, 33, 55, 56, 58, 59, 63-68, 72-
7^, 76, 79, 107, 134, 151, 152, 343,
344,347
Ivry, Battle of, 292, 300, 345
Jajies V of Scotland. 132
James, Thomas, aee Dol
Janet, see Clouet
Jamac, Battle of, 220, 221, 220
M. de, 120
Jeanne, Queen o^ Louis XII, 24
Joannin, 297, 301
Jesuits, 242. 309, 320, 340, 404
Joanna the Mad, 48
Jodello, 343
John the Good, King, 69, 83
Joinville, Chateau do, 334
Treaty of, 256
Joubert, Guillaume, 156
Joyeuse, Duke of, 257, 258, 262, 263,
311, 364 ; aee also d'Arques
Juan, Don, 7, 252
Juana, Queen of Naples, 10
Juliers, Duke William of, 325
Julius II, Pope, 30, 33, 34r-37, 157
Jupiter Stator, Temple of, 357
Justice, Administration of, 374
Justinian, 342
Kniqhts of Malta, 401
Lab6, Louise, 339, 343
" Ladies Peace," aee Cambray, Peace of
Laff6mas, Barth^lcmy do, 318
Lallemand, Jean, 69
Landriano, 296
Langeais, Chateau de, 7
Jean, 113
Langlois, Sheriff, 307
Languedoc, 45, 56, 62, 79, 99, 187, 197,
213,248,311,319,368,375
Langue d'oU, 99
Languet, Hubert, 178, 206
Lannoy, Viceroy of Naples, 60, 61, 64,
65, 67, 69, 72
Laon, 294
Larchant, M. de. 275
Larcher (counsellor), 297
Largentiere, Pass of, 46
Lassus, Orlando de, 364
Laurana, Francesco, 108
Lautrec, 45, 55, 71, 75, 76, 98, 99
Laval, 348
Jean de, aee Chateaubriant
Lawyers, 385
League, the, 248, 249, 250, 251, 253,
256-261, 267, 270, 271, 279, 280, 288-
292, 295, 299, 301, 302, 305-309
Lef^vre of Staples, 104, 105
Jacques, 167, 153
Legions, the seven, 79
Leiva, Antonio de, 64
Leo X, Pope, 37, 38, 47, 52, 55, 155
Lescot, Pierre, 352-369
Losdigui^res, 254
Lesparre, aee Foix, A. de
Levant, the, 375
Lhuillier, Provost, 307
428
INDEX
'' Libertines," the, 170, 171
Libourne, 347
Lignerolles, Mme. de, 346
Limeuil, Mile, de, 212
Limoges, 388 ; Bishop of, 193, 213
Limousin, the, 262
LfSonard. 123. 362, 363
Lippomano, 242. 332, 408
Lit de Jiistice, 234 and note, 384
Livarot, 257
Leches, 28, 289
Loignac, 274-276
Loire, 1, 184, 263
Longchamp, 113
Longjumeau, Peace of, 219, 220
Longueville, Duke of, 147, 287, 290
Longus, 340
Lorges, M. de. 153
Lorraine, 6, 81, 213, 366
Cardinal de, 126, 132, 150, 159, 164,
165, 175, 177, 180, 187, 190, 197,
199, 200. 237
Claude, Duchess of, 124
Duke of, 291
House of, 308
Ren6, Duke of, 3, 11, 131
Philippe Emmanuel of, see Mercoeur,
Duke of
Lostau, M. de, 196
Louis VII, 114
Louis XI, 1-3, 7, 10, 11, 21, 22, 24, 52,
63, 108, 205, 264, 389, 398
Louis XII, 20, 21, 22, 25, 32, 110, 115,
351, 375, 384, 399
Louis XIII, 256, 291, 323, 331, 368. 375,
391, 399, 400, 405, 409
Louis XIV, 84, 91, 101, 243, 321, 331,
338, 370
Louis XVI, 91
Louis Philippe, 115
Louise, Princess, daughter of Francis I,
90
of Savoy, Queen, 31, 44, 53, 57,
62-64, 66, 67, 69, 71, 76, 86, 87,
89, 90, 98-100
de Vaud6mont, Queen of Henry III,
246, 257, 258, 275, 312
Louvre, the, 80, 94, 112, 153, 160, 204,
227-232, 266. 268, 269, 298, 307, 326,
358 ; rebuilding of, 352-355
Loyola, Ignatius, 54, 242
Lucca, 15
Luther, Martin, 155, 156, 167
Lutheranism, 73, 78, 155, 156, 162-165,
168
Luxembourg, Louis do, 26
Lvons, 28, 58, 60, 63, 107, 213, 235, 265,
"280, 306, 323, 339, 343, 375, 388
Lys-Saint-Georges, 28
424
Machiavelt I, 264
Madeleine, Princess, daughter of Francis
L90
Madrid, 62, 65, 67, 71, 72, 77. 80, 84.
112, 153; Chateau de, 113, 354;
Treaty of, 69, 70, 73
" Mad War," the, 5, 6
Magistrature, 376, 379
Maillart, 100
Main de Justice, 307
Maine, 10, 45, 62
Charles, Comte du, 10 ; tomb of,
108
Mainz, Archbishop of, 48, 50, 51
Maisonfleur, 213
Maistro, President Le, 303
Mans, Le, 279, 290
Mansfeld, Count of, 300, 306
Mantes, 293
Mantua, Marquis of, 35
Manzanares, the, 65, 71
Margajet, Archduchess, 76
daughter of the Archduke Maxi-
milian, 7, 14
Princess, daughter of Francis I, 90,
151
Duchess of Parma, 206
Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I, -
44, 45, 49, 53, 67, 68, 86, 87, 89,
94, 102, 157, 158, 165, 335
Queen of Navarre, daughter of
Henry II, 123, 124, 223, 224, 225,
236 253
of Valois, 290, 310, 322-324, 337^;
see also Margaret, Queen of
Navarre
Margot, La Keine, see Margaret, Queen
of Navarre, daughter of Henry II
Marie de' Medici, Queen, 322-325, 401,
409
Marienburg, 151
Marignano, Battle of, 46, 47, 00, 89,
131, 352 ; Marquis of, 1*40
Marini (engineer), 140
Marot, Clement, 89, 93, 102, 158, 161,
335, 364
Jean, 40
Marseilles, 60, 77, 79, 279, 317
Marshals of France, 398
Marshalsea, 396
Mary of Cleves, 21
of Guise, Queen of Scotland, 124,
132, 133, 135
Princess, of England, 41. 42
Stuart, 123, 125, 132, 133, 135, 154,
175, 176, 218
Queen of England, 146, 150
Masparault, 217
Matignon, M. de, 58, 254, 279, 308
Maubert, Place, 97, 150, 160
INDEX
MaaglroD (" minion "). 257
Maulton (" minion "), 257
Maurevert (assassin of Coligny), 228
Maximilian, Arch-Duke, 7, 13, 14
Emperor, 33, 35, 36. 38, 48-51, 230
Mayenne, Duko of, 225, 254, 258, 261,
280, 282. 288-295, 297-305
Meaux, 187, 174, 204, 205, 218, 235, 296
Medici, Catherine do', see Cathorine do*
Medici, Queen
Chapel, Florence, 359
Giovanni do', see Leo X
Ijorenzo de', 77
Piero de', 13, 15, 16
Marie do', sec Marie de' Medici.'Qaeen
Mehun. 120
Melancthon, Philip, 158
Melun. 340 ; Chateau do, 165, 204
Mendoza, 291. 294. 303
Merca^ur, Duke of. 258. 259, 309, 312
Mercoliano, Pacello di, 20
^ Mercurials, 383
▼ M6r6. Poltrot de, 210, 211
M6rindol. 101
Merlin, 232
Meschinot. Jean, 40
Mesnil-au-Val, 406, 409
Metz, 134, 137-139, 152, 366 ; siege of,
140, 141 .
Meudon, 287
Mezi^rcs, 55
Michelangelo's Leda,, 115
Michelet, quoted, 113
Miohiel, Gfovanni, 192, 225, 238. 332
Milan. 15, 16, 25, 27. 33, 34, 36, 38, 45,
52, 55, 60, 63, 64, 77, 79, 80, 81, 134,
143, 151 ; French claim to, 56
Minard, President, 178
" Minions " {Mignons), 257, 258
Mint, the, 395
Miossens, M. de, 247
Miiabello, fortress of, 61
Mirandola, 35
Moisset Jean de, 317
Mol6, Procurator-General, 279. 317
M61e, M. de la, 238
Moncada, Ugo de, 69, 74
MonQon, Truce of, 80
Moncontour, Battle of, 221, 222, 226
Mondoucet, 237, 252
Monluc. quoted, 81, 132, 133, 145, 152,
165. 187, 200, 223, 399
Monneins, Governor, 130
Monsieur, Peace of, 248, 249, 250
Montaigne, Michel de, 339, 347
Montargis, 5 ; Church of, 350
Montbrun, 187
Montceaux, Chateau de, 164, 203, 204,
218, 220, 226, 227, 311, 399
Montchenu, 90
Mont-de-Marsan, 213
Montesquiou, M. de, 221
Montfaucon, 100, 237
Montf^ry, M. de. 277
Montgommcry, M, de, 153, 167, 208,231,
233
Montmorency, Marshal Anne de, 45, 61,
67, 69, 70, 79, 80, 90, 91, 92, 122,
130, 131, 133, 135, 137, 141, 142,
145, 146, 147, 150, 176, 192, 197,
209,211,215.219
Charlotte de, 325
Constable Anne de, 352, 3;:7
Montpellier, 391
Montpensier, Count of, 6
Duchess of, 265
Duke of, 18, 147, 193, 215, 216, 271
family, 56
GUbert de, 14, 16, 19
Montrouge, 208
Monts, des, 319
Monvillier, 248
Moro, II, see Sforza, Ludovico
Morosini, 243
Mothe-Fenelon, de la, 235
Moulin, Charies du, 341, 342
Moulins, Chateau de, 56, 68, 216, 388
Muhlberg. Battle of, 136
Municipal officers, 397
Music, 363, 364
Najera, Duke of, 54
Nambu (usher), 277
Nancy, 138
Nantes, 25, 31, 181, 390 ; besieged, 7 ;
Edict of, 320, 321, 371
Naples, 10. 12. 16-18, 20, 28-30. 52, 60,
63, 64, 66. 76, 134, 143, 145, 151
Nassau, Count of, 55, 136
Ludovic, Prince of, 237
Navarre, 52. 54, 257
King of, 6, 6i.
Antoine.'King of, 165. 170-179, 185,
188, 197, 198, 207, 208, 209
Henry, King of, 220, 246, 247, 252,
261, 271, 272,' 280-282, 284, 299,
300, 302, 370, 371; see also
B^rn, Henry of, and Henry IV
Margaret, Queen of, see Margaret
Navy, the, 400, 401
Nemours, Duke of, 293, 295, 306; set
also Foix, Gaston de
Louis de, 29
M. de, 139
Treaty of, 259, 260
N6rac, 169, 216, 253, 254
Nesle, Hotel de. 359
Netherlands, 143, 202, 203, 224-226,
227, 229, 252, 254, 255
Nouburg, Count of, 325
425
INDEX
Neuville, Nicolas dc, 92
Nevers, Count of, 6, 147
Duke of, 230, 2£0, 258, 265, 294, 305
Neveu, Pierre, 112
Nice, 366
Niort, 222
Nobility, the, 404-4C6
Normandy, 58, 62, 63, 79, 205,-208, 288,
290, 358, 367, 368, 3,75, 403 ; governor-
ship of, 271
Notables, Assembly of, 315, 310
Notre Dame, Paris, 160, 227
Noue, La, 209, 405
Novara, Battle of, 27
Noyon, 148, 168, 169
D'O {" minion "), 257, 268, 286
Superintendent, 302, 307, 314
Oiron, 120
Olivier, Chancellor, 177
OUainville, 246
d'Oppede, 162
d'Oraison, Claude, 200, 201
Orange, Prince of, 150, 226, 237, 253,
254
Order of the Holy Ghost, 264, 272
Order of St. Michael, 264
Ofleans, 169, 187, 188, 205, 209, 235,
242, 265, 388, 412
Charles of, 21
Louis, Duke of, 3-6, 14, 18, 21, 24 ;
see also Louis XII
Ordinance of, 216
d'Ornano, 274, 306
d'Ossat, 310
Ostia, 17
Padua, 34
Painting, 360, 361
Palatine, Count, 48, 50, 51
Palestrina, 364
Palice, Marshal La, 30, 45, 46, 61
Palissy, Bernard, 348
Pampeluna. 54
Pantagruel, 103
Papal State, 76
Pardaillan, M. de, 183
Par6, Ambroise, 140, 141, 228,1232, 348
Paris, 60, 147, 148, 155, 182," 216, 219,
248, 261, 263, 266-267, 281, 282, 287,
290, 293, 295, 307, 308, 319, 321, 341,
388, 412; Parliament of, 162, 378,
382, 384 ; Reformers in, 174 ; siege of,
294 ; tapestry factory in, 362
Parliaments, the, 378
Parma, 52
Duke of, see Farnese, Alessandro
Parquet, the (Bar), 381-383
Pas-de-Suse, 80
Pasquier, Etienne, 211, 223, 338-342
426
Passau, Treaty of, 139
Paul III, Pope, 135
Paulet, M., 382
Pauleiie, the (tax), 382, 392
Paulin, Captain, 162
Pavia, Battle of, 60, 61, 83, 87, 89^^*7
Certosa of, 20 *■
Pellicier, Guillaume, 105
Penicauds, the, 362
Penitents of Our Lady, 245
Penthi^vre, Count of, 90
Purlers, Bonaventure des, 102
Perigord, 180, 347
Perigueux, 279, 397
Peronne, 249, 258
Perpignan, siege of, 343
Perrdol, Jean, 108
Perrin, 343
Perron, du, 310
Pesaro, 27
Pescara, Marquis of, 17, 61, 64, 66, 67, 69
Peter Martyr, 199
Petigliano, 34
Philip the Fair, Archduke 48
Augustus, 352-354 -
Philip II of Spain, 143-145, 147, 148,
150, 151, 153, 197, 198, 202, 213-215,
224, 225, 236, 256, 257, 291, 297,
300-303, 308, 321
Pibrac, 231
Picardv, 79, 81, 141, 148, 157, 293, 301,
367, 375, 399
Picpus, Order of, 404
Piedmont, 6, 26, 79, 135, 151, 152, 399
Piero of Milan, 108
Pierre-Encise, 28
Pilon, Germain, 244, 358-360; his
tomb of Birague, 360
Pindar, 340
Piolant, Mme. de, 275
Pisa, 15, 18
Pisani, Marquis of, 299
Pisseleu, Anne de, see d'fitampes, Mme.
Pizzighettone, fortress of, 62, 64
Pius III, Pope, 30
Place, Pierre de la, 162
Placentia, 15, 19, 52
Planche, Regnier de la, 129, 175, 179
Plato, 340
P16iade, the, 328, 339, 343, 345, 350
Plessis, Chateau du, 1, 281
Plessis-Momay, du, 281, 299, 320
Pliny, 348
Plutarch, 340, 362
Po, valley of the, 55, 60, 75
Poggio Reale, 17
Poissy, 51 ; Colloquy of, 199, 200
Poitiers, 80, 169, 174, 242, 388
Diane de, 119, 125-131, 132, 145,
352, 355
INDEX
Poitiers, Edict of, 252, 320, 321
Jean de, 125
Poitou, 5S, 62, 261, 368
Poland, 238, 245, 246
Pollajuolo, 8
Polybius, 264
Pomp^rant, M. de, 69. 61
Poncher, Etienne, 23, 25, 34, 35
Pont, Chateau de, 351
r^^veque cheeses, 368
Pont-^-Mousson, 138
Pont d'Olivet, 210
Pontoise, 282
Portail (jjurgeon), 284
Postcl, Guillaume, 105, 106
Pot. Philippe, 5
Potior, President, 279
Pougues, 368
Poullain, Nicolas, 268
Poyet, Chancellor, 91
Praet, Louis de, see Bruges, Louis de
Pre-aux-Clercs, 174
Premonstrants, 404
Primaticcio, Francesco, 115, 116
Provence. 10, 58, 62-64, 68, 79, 161, 213,
216, 291, 368, 375, 390, 391 ; invaded,
60
PuylaurenS, 205
Quebec, 319
Rabelais, 103, 335, 347, 367
Rabutim, FTan9ois de, 147, 149
Rambouillet, 270
M. de, 273, 287
Bamte, see Ramus
Ramus, Pierre, 233, 347, 348
Rapallo, 14, 18
Raphael, 362
Ravaillac, 326
Ravenna, 34 ; Battle of, 36, 88
Raymond. Florimond de, 158
Rebecco, Battle of, 59
Recollets, 404
Recruiting, 78. 179
Reformation, the, 167
ReIigiou.s orders, 403, 404
Renaissance, the French, 106, 107, 109,
112
Rcnaudie, F. do Barry, Sicur de la, 180-
184
Rcn^ of Anjou, King, 108
Ren^a, Princess, daughter of Louis XII,
38
Rennes, 378
Rentigny, Mme. de, 163
Renty, Battle of, 142
Resnel, Marquis of, 231, 233
Retz, Mme. de, 266, 346
Rheims, 279, 306
Ricasoli, 129
Richelieu, Cardinal, 346, 370
Rincon, 78, 81
Riom, 388
Robbia, Luca dclLi, 123
Robertct family, 92
Florimond, 23, 63, 186, 376
Roche-Flavin, La, 371, 383
Rochefort, Guy de, 23
Rochefoucauld, La, 216, 231, 233
Rochello, La, 220, 252
Roche-sur-Yon, Prince of, 139
Rohan, Pierre de, see Gie
Romagnano. Battle of, 50
Romano, Giulio, 362
Rome, 16, 20, 36, 107 224, 290, 302, 305,
308-310, 350, 351, 367, 375 ; Church
of, 167 ; siege and sack of, 74, 75, 77
Ronsard, Pierre, 123, 328, 339, 343-345,
350, 358
Rosny, Chateau de, 293
Rosny, Maximilieo, 229, 308, 311, 400 ;
see also Sully, Duke of
Rosso, II, 106, 115, 116
Rostaing, Tristan de, 210
Rouen, 38, 126, 205, 212, 235, 265, 279,
308, 378, 388 ; Cathedral, 358
Roussel, G6rard, 157, 158, 169
Roussillon, 366
Roy, M., 360
Sabl^, Peace of, 6, 7
Sainctes, Claude de, 205
Saint-Andr^, Comte de, 6
Jacques Albon de, 131
Marshal de, 133, 142, 147, 150, 177,
197, 207, 209, 212
St. Angelo, Castle of, 74, 75
Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier, Battle of, 6, 23
Saint-Aulaire, Mme. de, 334
Saint Bartholomew, Massacre of, 216,
232-238, 247, 248, 250, 267, 341, 348,
355, 356, 358, 364, 369
Saint-Bris, Conference of, 241, 262
Saint-Cloud, 209, 282, 283. 286, 288
Saint Denis. 7, 40. 219, 284, 294, 297,
304, 305, 325, 356
Saint-Etienne. Toulouse (church), 389
Saint-Grelais. Octavien de, 19
MeUin de, 21, 123
Saint-Germain (registrar), 167
Saint-Gcrmain-l'Auxerrois (church), 232,
358
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 41, 113, 199, 331,
409
Peace of, 222, 225
Saint-Leger, 120
Saint Louis (Louis IX), 10, 56, 114, 200,
255, 377
Saint-Luc, 257
427
INDEX
Saint-Maclou (church), 358
Saint-]\Iaixent, 262
Saint-Maur, Chateau de, 355
Saint-Mesgrin (" minion "), 257
Saint-Paul, Count of, 61
Saint-Quentin, 151, 311 ; Battle of, 133,
145-148
Saint-Satumin, Chapel of, 114
Salnt-Vallier, 58 ; see also Poitiers,
Jean de
Sainte-Beuve, Mme. de, 409
Sainte-Chapelle, 378
Saintonge, 368
Salic Law, 152, 301, 302, 371
Salignac, Bertrand de, 141
Salluste, G. de, see Bartas
Saluces, 313
Salviati, his portrait of Aretino, 115
Sancy, Mme. de, 280, 282
Harley de, 399
Sanuto, 15
San Yuste, Monastery of, 144
Sanzay, M. de, 217
Sappho, 343
Sariac, 276
Satyre Menippee, 300, 306
Saumur, 263, 280
Savonarola, Girolamo, 15
Savoy, 79, 80, 135, 151, 152, 366, 375
Duke of, 14, 169, 170, 198, 291
Duke Charles III of, 79
Duke Charles Emmanuel of, 313,
324
Duke Emmanuel Philibert of, 142,
146, 147, 151, 153
Saxony, Duke of, 48
Maurice, Elector of, 136, 137, 139
Soamberg, 367
Sc^ve, Maurice, 343
Schinner, Matthaus, 46
Schmalkalden, League of, 78
Schonberg, 236, 301
Schwiz, 46
Secretaries of State, 375
Sega, Philip, 296
Siguier, President, 165
Seine, 270
Selve, Jean de, 65, 69, 70
Semblan^ay, Jacques de Beaune de,
98-100
Seminara, Battle of, 30
Semonneux, Les, 299
Senarpont, M. de, 149
Seneca, 169
Seneschals, 385, 396
Senlis, Treaty of, 14
Serlio, 114, 349
Serres, Olivier, 318, 406
Serveto (Servetus) Miguel, 173
Seurre, M. de, 210
428
Seville, 71
Seyssel, Claude de, 37
Sforza, Catherine, 236
family, 26, 52
Francesco, 66, 79
Gian Galcazzo, 11, 15, 16
Ludovico, 11, 12-14, 16, 18, 26-28,
36
Maximilian, 36, 45, 46, 47
Shakespeare, 338
Sibilet, 346
Sicily, 12
Sickingen, Franz von, 50, 55
Siena, 145
Sincerus, Jodocus, 367
Sixteen, the, 257, 262, 265, 267, 270,
279, 297, 298
Sixtus V, 261, 280, 291, 296
Smith (English ambassador), 210
Soissons, 266, 296, 301, 388 ; Hotel de,
266, 333 ; Peace of, 81
Solario, Andrea, 115
.Solesmes, sculptures at, 109
Solyman the Great, 78
Somme, the, 312
Soranzo, Giovanni, 96, 119, 174
Sorbonne, 279, 308
Sourdeau, Denis, 112
Jacques, 110
Spain, 33, 48, 52, 53, 65, 75, 118, 143,
145, 151, 193, 226, 252, 294, 296, 300,
310, 312, 323, 375
Spires, 138
Spurs, Battle of the, 37
Stapoul, see Lefevre
States-General, the, 4, 5, 70, 189, 248,
250, 251, 256, 258, 259, 264, 271, 272,
274, 279, 280, 288, 293, 299-301, 305,
371
Strasburg, 138
Strozzi, Piero, 140, 145, 149
Sully, Duke of, 281, 299, 313-319, 323,
326
Suresnes, 367 ; Conferences of, 301, 302
Suriano, Michele, 367
Swiss Guards, 94 ; Hundred, 399 ;
troops, 268, 269, 292, 399
Switzerland, 218, 280, 282, 343, 375
Synod, first Protestant, 174
Syria, 105
Taille, the (tax), 3, 272, 318, 391
Taillon, the (tax), 392
Tapestry, 361, 362
Tarascon, 79
Tardif (counsellor), 297
Tavannes, 118, 129, 213, 219-221, 226,
230, 235, 138
Taxation, 387-392
T61igny, 231, 233
INDEX
Tennis, popularity of, 412
Termes, M. dc. 145, 150, 275
Theocritus, 340
Tb6rouanne, 141
Thionville. 150, 151
Third Estate, 407-409, 411
Thou, de, 188, 229, 235, 279, 301, 332
Thouars, 217
Three Estates, the, 401, 402
Throckmorton, Sir Nicholas, 208
Thyard, Pontius de, 339, 343
Ticino, the, 59
Tillet, du, 181
Titian's Magdalen, 116
Toledo, 65-67, 71
Toul, 134, 137, 138, 366
Toulouse, 195, 206, 213, 235, 279, 341,
378-382, 390, 397
Tourelles. Les (fortress), 209
Toumav, 361
Toumelles, Hotel des, 42, 94, 95, 153,
166, 355
Toumes, Jean de, 339
Toumon, Cardinal de, 91, 159, 197,
200
F. de, see Embrun
Tours, ], 4, 33, 35, 174, 207, 216, 242,
280, 290, 388 ; sculptures at, 109 ;
tapestry factory at, 362
Toury, 207
Toussaint, Jacques, 105
TremolUe, Louis de la, 6, 23, 27, 37, 61,
288, 294
Trent, Council of, 215, 242, 311
Treves, Archbishop of, 48, 50
Treviso, 34
Triboulet, 40
Trinqueau, eee Neveu, P.
Trivulzio, Gian Giacomo, 26, 27
Troyes, 213, 217, 235, 279
Tuileries, 269 ; building of the, 352, 355,
357
Turenne, Vicomte de, 241
Turin, 151, 341
Turkey, 135
Turkish Alliance, 78
Tuscany, 15 ; Grand-Duke of, 317, 322
Tussanus. see Toussaint
Tyrol, 139
Ulpian. 342
United Provinces, 252, 253, 254
Unterwalden, 46
Uri, 46
Ursuline nuns, 404
Val, 368
Valencia, 341
Valenciennes, 55, 361
Valentinois, Duchess of, aee Poitiers,
Diane de
Duchy of, 24
Valery, Ch&teaa de, 218, 351
Valette, La, 257, 268
Valins, 209
Valois Chapel, 359
House of, 191
Valromey, 313
Vassy, Massacre of, 203, 206
Vatable, 105, 106
Vatican, the, 20 ; sacked, 74
VaucoUes, Truce of, 144
Vaud6mont, Louise de, see Louise, Queen
Vaudois, the, 161
Vaugirard, 282
Velasco, 310
Vence, 375
Vendome, 205, 263, 296, 344
C6sar, Duke of, 312
Venice, Republic of, 13, 18, 26, 27, 33,
34, 66, 73, 105, 245
Verdun, 134, 137-139, 366
Verger, Chateau du, 32, 38
Vergn^tes, 289
Vermandois, 347
Vemeuil, 5, 351
Marquise de, 323, 409
Verona, 34
Versoris, 250
Vervins, Peace of, 312, 399
Vesc, Etienne de, 1, 12, 17
Vicenza, 34
Vichy, 368
Vieilleville, 130, 153
Vigno, Andr4 de la, 19
M. de, 152
Villanova, 151
VUlars, 187, 197
Villars Brancas, 298. 308
Villeroy, 92, 243, 259, 266, 291, 297-299,
301, 303, 309, 324
Villers-Cotterets, Chateau de, 113, 361
Vimory, Battle of, 263
Vincennes, 41, 111, 204, 270, 377
Vinci, Leonardo da, his Oioconda, 115
Viole, Claude, 167
Visconti, Gian Galeazzo, 26
Valentina, 26
Vitruvius, 349, 351, 357, 358
Vitry, Governor, 305, 307
Wateblbd, see Vatable
Weissenburg, 138
Wentworth, Lord, 149
Willaert, 364
Woad, culture of, 368
Zen ALE, 11
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