been done under compulsion."
G. W. Kitchin,
History of France,
volume 2, book 2, chapter 5.
"By the Treaty of Madrid, signed January 14th, 1526, Francis
'restored' to the Emperor the Duchy of Burgundy, the county of
Charolais, and some other smaller fiefs, without reservation
of any feudal suzerainty, which was also abandoned with regard
to the counties of Flanders and Artois, the Emperor, however,
resigning the towns on the Somme, which had been held by
Charles the Bold. The French King also renounced his claims to
the kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the county of Asti,
and the city of Genoa. He contracted an offensive and
defensive alliance with Charles, undertaking to attend him
with an army when he should repair to Rome to receive the
Imperial crown, and to accompany him in person whenever he
should march against the Turks or heretics. He withdrew his
protection from the King of Navarre, the Duke of Gelderland,
and the La Marcks; took upon himself the Emperor's debt to
England, and agreed to give his two eldest sons as hostages
for the execution of the treaty. Instead, however, of the
independent kingdom which Bourbon had expected, all that was
stipulated in his favour was a free pardon for him and his
adherents, and their restoration in their forfeited domains.
... The provisions of the above treaty Francis promised to
execute on the word and honour of a king, and by an oath sworn
with his hand upon the holy Gospels: yet only a few hours
before he was to sign this solemn act, he had called his
plenipotentiaries, together with some French nobles,
secretaries, and notaries, into his chamber, where, after
exacting from them an oath of secrecy, he entered into a long
discourse touching the Emperor's harshness towards him, and
signed a protest, declaring that, as the treaty he was about
to enter into had been extorted from him by force, it was null
and void from the beginning, and that he never intended to
execute it: thus, as a French writer has observed,
establishing by an authentic notarial act that he was going to
commit a perjury." Treaties have often been shamefully
violated, yet it would perhaps be impossible to parallel this
gross and deliberate perjury. In March, Francis was conducted
to the Spanish frontier, where, on a boat in mid-stream of the
Bidassoa, "he was exchanged for his two sons, Francis and
Henry, who were to remain in Spain, as hostages for the
execution of the treaty. The tears started to his eyes as he
embraced his children, but he consigned them without remorse
to a long and dreary exile." As speedily as possible after
regaining his liberty, Francis assembled the states of his
kingdom and procured from them a decision "that the King could
not alienate the patrimony of France, and that the oath which he
had taken in his captivity did not abrogate the still more
solemn one which had been administered to him at his
coronation." After which he deemed himself discharged from the
obligations of his treaty, and had no thought of surrendering
himself again a prisoner, as he was honourably bound to do.
T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
book 2, chapter 5 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
A. B. Cochrane,
Francis I. in Captivity.
W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
book 4 (volume 2).
C. Coignet,
Francis I. and his Times,
chapters 5-8.
{1193}
FRANCE: A. D. 1526-1527.
Holy League with Pope Clement VII. against Charles V.
Bourbon's attack on Rome.
See ITALY: A. D. 1523-1527, and 1527.
FRANCE: A. D. 1527-1529.
New alliance against Charles V.
Early successes in Lombardy.
Disaster at Naples.
Genoa and all possessions in Italy lost.
The humiliating Peace of Cambrai.
See ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529.
FRANCE: A. D. 1529-1535.
Persecution of the Protestant Reformers and spread of their
doctrines.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1521-1535.
FRANCE: A. D. 1531.
Alliance with the Protestant princes of the German League of
Smalkalde.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1530-1532.
FRANCE: A. D. 1532.
Final reunion of Brittany with the crown.
See BRITTANY: A. D. 1532.
FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.
Treaty with the Pope.
Marriage of Prince Henry with Catherine de' Medici.
Renewed war with Charles V.
Alliance with the Turks.
Victory at Cerisoles.
Treaty of Crespy.
Increased persecution of Protestants.
Massacre of Waldenses.
War with England.
Death of Francis I.
"The 'ladies' peace' ... lasted up to 1536; incessantly
troubled, however, by far from pacific symptoms, proceedings
and preparations. In October, 1532, Francis I. had, at Calais,
an interview with Henry VIII., at which they contracted a
private alliance, and undertook 'to raise between them an army
of 80,000 men to resist the Turk.'" But when, in 1535, Charles
V. attacked the seat of the Barbary pirates, and took Tunis,
Francis "entered into negotiations with Soliman II., and
concluded a friendly treaty with him against what was called
'the common enemy.' Francis had been for some time preparing
to resume his projects of conquest in Italy; he had effected
an interview at Marseilles, in October, 1533, with Pope
Clement VII., who was almost at the point of death, and it was
there that the marriage of Prince Henry of France with
Catherine de' Medici [daughter of Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, and
granddaughter of Piero de' Medici] was settled. Astonishment was
expressed that the pope's niece had but a very moderate dowry.
'You don't see, then,' said Clement VII.'s ambassador, 'that
she brings France three jewels of great price, Genoa, Milan
and Naples?' When this language was reported at the court of
Charles V., it caused great irritation there. In 1536 all
these combustibles of war exploded; in the month of February,
a French army entered Piedmont, and occupied Turin; and, in
the month of July, Charles V. in person entered Provence at
the head of 50,000 men. Anne de Montmorency, having received
orders to defend southern France, began by laying it waste in
order that the enemy might not be able to live in it. ...
Montmorency made up his mind to defend, on the whole coast of
Provence, only Marseilles and Aries; he pulled down the
ramparts of the other towns, which were left exposed to the
enemy. For two months Charles V. prosecuted this campaign
without a fight, marching through the whole of Provence an
army which fatigue, shortness of provisions, sickness, and
ambuscades were decimating ingloriously. At last he decided
upon retreating. ... On returning from his sorry expedition,
Charles V. learned that those of his lieutenants whom he had
charged with the conduct of a similar invasion in the north of
France, in Picardy, had met with no greater success than he
himself in Provence." A truce for three months was soon
afterwards arranged, and in June, 1538, through the mediation
of Pope Paul III., a treaty was signed at Nice which extended
the truce to ten years. Next month the two sovereigns met at
Aigues-Mortes and exchanged many assurances of friendship."
F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 28 (volume 4).
In August, 1539, a revolt at Ghent "called Charles V. into
Flanders; he was then in Spain, and his shortest route was
through France. He requested permission to cross the kingdom,
and obtained it, after having promised the Constable
Montmorency that he would give the investiture of Milan to the
second son of the King. His sojourn in France was a time of
expensive fêtes, and cost the treasury four millions; yet, in
the midst of his pleasures, the Emperor was not without
uneasiness. ... Francis, however, respected the rights of
hospitality; but Charles did not give to his son the
investiture of Milan. The King, indignant, exiled the
constable for having trusted the word of the Emperor without
exacting his signature, and avenged himself by strengthening
his alliance with the Turks, the most formidable enemies of
the empire. ... The hatred of the two monarchs was carried to
its height by these last events; they mutually outraged each
other by injurious libels, and submitted their differences to
the Pope. Paul III. refused to decide between them, and they
again took up arms [1542]. The King invaded Luxembourg, and
the Dauphin Rousillon; and while a third army in concert with
the Mussulmans besieged Nice [1542], the last asylum of the
dukes of Savoy, by land, the terrible Barbarossa, admiral of
Soliman, attacked it by sea. The town was taken, the castle
alone resisted, and the siege of it was raised. Barbarossa
consoled himself for this check by ravaging the coasts of
Italy, where he made 10,000 captives. The horror which he
inspired recoiled on Francis I., his ally, whose name became
odious in Italy and Germany. He was declared the enemy of the
empire, and the Diet raised against him an army of 24,000 men,
at the head of which Charles V. penetrated into Champagne,
while Henry VIII., coalescing with the Emperor, attacked
Picardy with 10,000 English. The battle of Cerisoles, a
complete victory, gained during the same year [April 14,1544],
in Piedmont, by Francis of Bourbon, Duke d'Enghien, against
Gast, general of the Imperial troops, did not stop this double
and formidable invasion. Charles V. advanced almost to
Château-Thierry. But discord reigned in his army; he ran short
of provisions, and could easily have been surrounded; he then
again promised Milan to the Duke of Orleans, the second son of
the King. This promise irritated the Dauphin Henry, who was
afraid to see his brother become the head of a house as
dangerous for France as had been that of Burgundy; he wished
to reject the offer of the Emperor and to cut off his retreat.
A rivalry among women, it is said, saved Charles V. ...
{1194}
The war was terminated almost immediately afterwards [1544] by
the treaty of Crespy in Valois. The Emperor promised his
daughter to the Duke of Orleans, with the Low Countries and
Franche-Comté, or one of his nieces, with Milan. Francis
restored to the Duke of Savoy the greater part of the places
that he held in Piedmont; he renounced all ulterior
pretensions to the kingdom of Naples, the duchy of Milan, and
likewise to the sovereignty of Flanders and Artois; Charles,
on his part, gave up the duchy of Burgundy. This treaty put an
end to the rivalry of the two sovereigns, which had
ensanguined Europe for 25 years. The death of the Duke of
Orleans freed the Emperor from dispossessing himself of Milan
or the Low Countries; he refused all compensation to the King,
but the peace was not broken. Francis I. profited by it to
redouble his severity with regard to the Protestants. A
population of many thousands of Waldenses, an unfortunate
remnant from the religious persecutions of the 13th century,
dwelt upon the confines of Provence, and the County Venaissin,
and a short time back had entered into communion with the
Calvinists. The King permitted John Mesnier, Baron d'Oppède,
first president of the Parliament of Aix, to execute [1546] a
sentence delivered against them five years previously by the
Parliament. John d'Oppède himself directed this frightful
execution. Twenty-two towns or villages were burned and
sacked; the inhabitants, surprised during the night, were
pursued among the rocks by the glare of the flames which
devoured their houses. The men perished by executions, but the
women were delivered over to terrible violences. At Cabrières,
the principal town of the canton, 700 men were murdered in
cold blood, and all the women were burnt; lastly, according to
the tenor of the sentence, the houses were rased, the woods cut
down, the trees in the gardens torn up, and in a short time
this country, so fertile and so thickly peopled, became a
desert and a waste. This dreadful massacre was one of the
principal causes of the religious wars which desolated France
for so long a time. ... The war continued between [Henry
VIII.] and Francis I. The English had taken Boulogne, and a
French fleet ravaged the coasts of England, after taking
possession of the Isle of Wight [1545]. Hostilities were
terminated by the treaty of Guines [1547], which the two kings
signed on the edge of their graves, and it was arranged that
Boulogne should be restored for the sum of 2,000,000 of gold
crowns. ... Henry VIII. and Francis I. died in the same year
[1547]."
E. de Bonnechose,
History of France,
volume 1, pages 363-367.
ALSO IN:
W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
book 6-9 (volume 2).
J. A. Froude,
History of England,
chapters 20-23 (volume 4).
FRANCE: A. D. 1534-1535.
The voyages of Jacques Cartier and the taking
possession of Canada.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1534-1535.
FRANCE: A. D. 1534-1560.
Persecution of the Protestants.
Their organization.
Their numbers.
"Francis I. had long shrunk from persecution, but having once
begun he showed no further hesitation. During the remainder of
his reign and the whole of that of his son Henry II.
(1534-1559) the cruelty of the sufferings inflicted on the
Reformers increased with the number of the victims. At first
they were strangled and burnt, then burnt alive, then hung in
chains to roast over a slow fire. ... The Edict of
Chateaubriand (1551), taking away all right of appeal from
those convicted of heresy, was followed by an attempt to
introduce an Inquisition on the model of that of Spain, and
when this failed owing to the opposition of the lawyers, the
Edict of Compiègne (1557) denounced capital punishment against
all who in public or private professed any heterodox doctrine. It
is a commonplace that persecution avails nothing against the
truth--that the true Church springs from the blood of martyrs.
Yet the same cause which triumphed over persecution in France
was crushed by it in Spain and in the Walloon Netherlands. Was
it therefore not the truth? The fact would rather seem to be,
that there is no creed, no sect which cannot be extirpated by
force. But that it may prevail, persecution must be without
respect of persons, universal, continuous, protracted. Not one
of these conditions was fulfilled in France. The opinions of the
greater nobles and princes, and of those who were their
immediate followers, were not too narrowly scanned, nor was
the persecution equally severe at all times and in all places.
Some governors and judges and not a few of the higher clergy
inclined to toleration. ... The cheerful constancy of the
French martyrs was admirable. Men, women and children walked
to execution singing the psalms of Marot and the Song of
Simeon. This boldness confounded their enemies. Hawkers
distributed in every part of the country the books issued from
the press of Geneva and which it was a capital offence even to
possess. Preachers taught openly in the streets and
market-places. ... The increasing numbers of their converts
and the high position of some among them gave confidence to
the Protestants. Delegates from the reformed congregations of
France were on their way to Paris to take part in the
deliberations of the first national Synod on the very day
(April 2, 1559) when the peace of Cateau Cambresis was signed,
a peace which was to be the prelude to a vigorous and
concerted effort to root out heresy on the part of the kings
of France and Spain. The object of the meeting was twofold:
first to draw up a detailed profession of faith, which was
submitted to Calvin--there was, he said, little to add, less
to correct--secondly to determine the 'ecclesiastical
discipline' of the new Church. The ministers were to be chosen
by the elders and deacons, but approved by the whole
congregation. The affairs of each congregation were placed
under the control of the Consistory, a court composed of the
pastors, elders and deacons; more important matters were
reserved for the decision of the provincial 'colloques' or
synods, which were to meet twice a year, and in which each
church was represented by its pastor and at least one elder.
Above all was the national Synod also composed of the clergy
and of representative laymen. This organisation was thoroughly
representative and popular, the elected delegates of the
congregations, the elders and deacons, preponderated in all
the governing bodies, and all ministers and churches were
declared equal. The Reformed churches, which, although most
numerous in the South, spread over almost the whole country,
are said at this time to have counted some 400,000 members
(1559). These were of almost all classes, except perhaps the
lowest, although even among the peasantry there were some
martyrs for the faith."
{1195}
On the accession of Charles IX., in 1560, "a quarter of the
inhabitants of France were, it was said, included in the 2,500
reformed congregations. This is certainly an exaggeration, but
it is probable that the number of the Protestants was never
greater than during the first years of the reign of Charles
IX. ... The most probable estimate is that at the beginning of
the wars of religion the Huguenots with women and children
amounted to some 1,500,000 souls out of a population of
between fifteen and twenty millions. But in this minority were
included about one-fourth of the lesser nobility, the country
gentlemen, and a smaller proportion of the great nobles, the
majority of the better sort of townspeople in many of the most
important towns, such as Caen, Dieppe, Havre, Nantes, La
Rochelle, Nimes, Montpellier, Montauban, Châlons, Mâcon,
Lyons, Valence, Limoges and Grenoble, and an important
minority in other places, such as Rouen, Orleans, Bordeaux and
Toulouse. The Protestants were most numerous in the
South-west, in Poitou, in the Marche, Limousin, Angoumois and
Perigord, because in those districts, which were the seats of
long-established and flourishing manufactures, the middle
classes were most prosperous, intelligent and educated. It is
doubtful whether the Catholics were not in a large majority,
even where the superior position, intelligence and vigour of
the Huguenots gave them the upper hand. Only in some parts of
the South-west and of Dauphiny do the bulk of the population
appear to have been decidedly hostile to the old religion.
During the course of the Civil War the Protestants came to be
more and more concentrated in certain parts of the country, as
for instance between the Garonne and the Loire."
P. F. Willert,
Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots in France,
chapter 1.
FRANCE: A. D. 1541-1543.
Jacques Cartier's last explorations in Canada.
See AMERICA: A. D. 1541-1603.
FRANCE: A. D. 1541-1564.
The rise and influence of Calvinism.
See GENEVA: A. D. 1536-1564.
FRANCE: A. D. 1547.
Accession of King Henry II.
FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.
The rise of the Guises.
Alliance with the German Protestants.
Wars with the emperor, and with Spain and England.
Acquisition of Les Trois Evêchés, and of Calais.
Unsuccessful campaign in Italy.
Battle and siege of St. Quentin.
Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis.
"The son of Francis I., who in 1547 ascended the throne under
the title of Henry II., was told by his dying father to beware
of the Guises. ... The Guises were a branch of the ducal House
of Lorraine, which, although the dukedom was a fief of the
German empire, had long stood in intimate relations with the
court and nobility of France. The founder of the family was
Claude, a younger son of René II., Duke of Lorraine, who,
being naturalised in France in 1505, rendered himself
conspicuous in the wars of Francis I., and was created first
Duke of Guise. He died in 1550, leaving five daughters and six
sons. His eldest daughter, Mary, became the wife of James V.
of Scotland, and mother of Mary Queen of Scots. The sons were
all men of extraordinary energy and ambition, and their united
influence was, for a number of years, more than a match for
that of the crown. Francis, second Duke of Guise, acquired,
while still a young man, extraordinary renown as a military
commander, by carrying out certain ambitious designs of France
on a neighbouring territory. ... As is well known, French
statesmen have for many centuries cherished the idea that the
natural boundary of France on the east is the Rhine, from its
mouth to its source, and thence along the crest of the Alps to
the Mediterranean. ... To begin the realisation of the idea,
advantage was taken of the war which broke out between the
Emperor Charles V. and his Protestant subjects in North
Germany [see GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552]. Although the
Protestants of France were persecuted to the death, Henry II.,
with furtively ambitious designs, offered to defend the
Protestants of Germany against their own emperor; and entered
into an alliance in 1551 with Maurice of Saxony and other
princes, undertaking to send an army to their aid. As bases of
his operations, it was agreed that he might take temporary
military possession of Toul, Verdun, and Metz, three
bishoprics [forming a district called the Trois Évêchés], each
with a portion of territory lying within the area of the duchy
of Lorraine, but held as distinct fiefs of the German empire--
such, in fact, being fragments of Lothair's kingdom, which
fell to Germany, and had in no shape been incorporated with
France. It was stipulated that, in occupying these places, the
French were not to interfere with their old connection with
the empire. The confidence reposed in the French was
grievously abused. All the stipulations went for nothing. In
1552, French troops took possession of Toul and Verdun, also
of Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, treating the duchy,
generally, as a conquered country. Seeing this, Metz shut her
gates and trusted to her fortifications. To procure an
entrance and secure possession, there was a resort to
stratagems which afford a startling illustration of the tricks
that French nobles at that time could be guilty of in order to
gain their ends. The French commander, the Constable
Montmorency, begged to be allowed to pass through the town
with a few attendants, while his army made a wide circuit on
its route. The too credulous custodiers of the city opened the
gates, and, to their dismay, the whole French forces rushed
in, and began to rule in true despotic fashion. ... Thus was
Metz secured for France in a way which modern Frenchmen, we
should imagine, can hardly think of without shame. Germany,
however, did not relinquish this important fortress without a
struggle. Furious at its loss, the Emperor Charles V.
proceeded to besiege it with a large army. The defence was
undertaken by the Duke of Guise, assisted by a body of French
nobility. After an investment of four months, and a loss of
30,000 men, Charles was forced to raise the siege, January 1,
1553, all his attempts at the capture of the place being
effectually baffled."
W. Chambers,
France: its History and Revolutions,
chapter 6.
{1196}
"The war continued during the two following years; but both
parties were now growing weary of a contest in which neither
achieved any decisive superiority"; and the emperor, having
negotiated an armistice, resigned all his crowns to his son,
Philip II., and his brother Ferdinand (October, 1555).
"Meantime Pope Paul IV., who detested the Spaniards and longed
for the complete subversion of their power in the Peninsula,
entered into a league with the French king against Philip;
Francis of Guise was encouraged in his favorite project of
effecting a restoration of the crown of Naples to his own
family, as the descendants of René of Anjou; and in December,
1556, an army of 16,000 men, commanded by the Duke of Guise,
crossed the Alps, and, marching direct to Rome, prepared to
attack the Spanish viceroy of Naples, the celebrated Duke of
Alva. In April, 1557, Guise advanced into the Abruzzi, and
besieged Civitella; but here he encountered a determined
resistance, and, after sacrificing a great part of his troops,
found it necessary to abandon the attempt. He retreated toward
Rome, closely pursued by the Duke of Alva; and the result was
that the expedition totally failed. Before his army could
recover from the fatigues and losses of their fruitless
campaign, the French general was suddenly recalled by a
dispatch containing tidings of urgent importance from the
north of France. The Spanish army in the Netherlands,
commanded by the Duke of Savoy, having been joined by a body
of English auxiliaries under the Earl of Pembroke, had invaded
France and laid siege to St. Quentin. This place was badly
fortified, and defended by a feeble garrison under the Admiral
de Coligny. Montmorency advanced with the main army to
re-enforce it, and on the 10th of August rashly attacked the
Spaniards, who outnumbered his own troops in the proportion of
more than two to one, and inflicted on him a fatal and
irretrievable defeat. The loss of the French amounted,
according to most accounts, to 4,000 slain in the field, while
at least an equal number remained prisoners, including the
Constable himself. The road to Paris lay open to the victors.
... The Duke of Savoy was eager to advance; but the cautious
Philip, happily for France, rejected his advice, and ordered
him to press the siege of St. Quentin. That town made a
desperate resistance for more than a fortnight longer, and was
captured by storm on the 27th of August [1557]. ... Philip
took possession of a few other neighbouring fortresses, but
attempted no serious movement in prosecution of his victory.
... The Duke of Guise arrived from Italy early in October, to
the great joy of the king and the nation, and was immediately
created lieutenant-general of the kingdom, with powers of
almost unlimited extent. Be applied himself, with his utmost
ability and perseverance, to repair the late disasters; and
with such success, that in less than two months he was enabled
to assemble a fresh and well-appointed army at Compiègne.
Resolving to strike a vigorous blow before the enemy could
reappear in the field, he detached a division of his army to
make a feint in the direction of Luxemburg; and, rapidly
marching westward with the remainder, presented himself on the
1st of January, 1558, before the walls of Calais. ... The
French attack was a complete surprise; the two advanced forts
commanding the approaches to the town were bombarded, and
surrendered on the 3d of January; three days later the castle
was carried by assault; and on the 8th, the governor, Lord
Wentworth, was forced to capitulate. ... Guines, no longer
tenable after the fall of Calais, shared the same fate on the
21st of January; and thus, within the short space of three
weeks, were the last remnants of her ancient dominion on the
Continent snatched from the grasp of England--possessions
which she had held for upward of 200 years. ... This
remarkable exploit, so flattering to the national pride,
created universal enthusiasm in France, and carried to the
highest pitch the reputation and popularity of Guise. From
this moment his influence became paramount; and the marriage
of the dauphin to the Queen of Scots, which was solemnised on
the 24th of April, 1558, seemed to exalt the house of Lorraine
to a still more towering pinnacle of greatness. It was
stipulated by a secret article of the marriage-contract that
the sovereignty of Scotland should be transferred to France,
and that the two crowns should remain united forever, in case
of the decease of Mary without issue. Toward the end of the
year negotiations were opened with a view to peace." They were
interrupted, however, in November, 1558, by the death of Queen
Mary of England, wife of Philip of Spain. "When the congress
reassembled at Le Cateau-Cambresis, in February, 1559, the
Spanish ministers no longer maintained the interests of
England; and Elizabeth, thus abandoned, agreed to an
arrangement which virtually ceded Calais to France, though
with such nominal qualifications as satisfied the
sensitiveness of the national honour. Calais was to be
restored to the English at the end of eight years, with a
penalty, in case of failure, of 500,000 crowns. At the same
time, if any hostile proceedings should take place on the part
of England against France within the period specified, the queen
was to forego all claim to the fulfillment of the article."
The treaty between France and England was signed April 2,
1559, and that between France and Spain the following day. By
the latter, "the two monarchs mutually restored their
conquests in Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Picardy, and Artois;
France abandoned Savoy and Piedmont, with the exception of
Turin and four other fortresses [restoring Philibert Emanuel,
Duke of Savoy, to his dominions--see SAVOY AND PIEDMONT: A. D.
1559-1580]; she evacuated Tuscany, Corsica, and Montferrat,
and yielded up no less than 189 towns or fortresses in various
parts of Europe. By way of compensation, Henry preserved the
district of the 'Trois Évêchés'--Toul, Metz, and Verdun--and
made the all-important acquisition of Calais. This
pacification was sealed, according to custom, by
marriages"--Henry's daughter Elizabeth to Philip of Spain, and
his sister Marguerite to the Duke of Savoy. In a tournament, at
Paris, which celebrated these marriages, Henry received an
injury from the lance of Montgomery, captain of his Scottish
guards, which caused his death eleven days afterwards--July
10, 1559.
W. H. Jervis,
Student's History of France,
chapter 15.
ALSO IN:
J. L. Motley,
The Rise of the Dutch Republic,
part 1, chapters 2-3 (volume l).
Lady Jackson,
The Court of France in the 16th Century,
volume 2, chapters 9-20.
L. von Ranke,
Civil Wars and Monarchy in France,
16th and 17th Centuries, chapter 6 (volume 1).
FRANCE: A. D. 1548.
Marriage of Antoine de Bourbon to Jeanne d'Albret, heiress of
Navarre.
See NAVARRE: A. D. 1528-1563.
FRANCE: A. D. 1552.
Alliance with the Turks.
See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1528-1570.
FRANCE: A. D. 1554-1565.
Huguenot attempts at colonization in Brazil and in Florida,
and their fate.
See FLORIDA: A. D. 1562-1563; 1564-1565;
1565, and 1567-1568.
FRANCE: A. D. 1558-1559.
Aid given to revolt in Corsica.
See GENOA: A. D. 1528-1559.
FRANCE: A. D. 1559.
Accession of King Francis. II.
{1197}
FRANCE: A. D. 1559-1561.
Francis II., Charles IX., the Guises and Catharine de' Medici.
The Conspiracy of Amboise.
Rapid spread and organization of Protestantism.
Rise of the Huguenot party.
Disputed origin of its name.
Henry II. "had been married from political motives to the
niece of Clement VII., Catharine de Medici. This ambitious
woman came to France conscious that the marriage was a
political one, mentally a stranger to her husband; and such
she always remained. This placed her from the first in a false
position. The King was influenced by anyone rather than by his
wife; and a by no means charming mistress, Diana of Poitiers,
played her part by the side of and above the Queen. ...
Immediately after the death of her husband, in 1559, she
[Catharine] greedily grasped at power. The young King, Francis
II., was of age when he entered his fourteenth year. There
could therefore be no legal regency, though there might be an
actual one, for a weakly monarch of sixteen was still
incompetent to govern. But she was thwarted in her first grasp
at power. Under Francis I., a family [the Guises--see above]
previously unknown in French history had begun to play a
prominent part. ... The brothers succeeded in bringing about a
political marriage which promised to throw the King, who was
mentally a child, entirely into their hands. Their sister Mary
had been married to James V. of Scotland, whose crown was then
rather an insignificant one, but was now beginning to gain
importance. The issue of this marriage was a charming girl,
who was destined for the King's wife. She was betrothed to him
without his consent when still a child. The young Queen was
Mary Stuart. Her misfortunes, her beauty, and her connection
with European history, have made her a historical personage,
more conspicuous indeed for what she suffered than for what
she did; her real importance is not commensurate with the
position she occupies. This, then, was the position of the
brothers Guise at court. The King was the husband of their
niece; both were children in age and mind, and therefore
doubly required guidance. The brothers, Francis and Charles,
had the government entirely in their hands; the Duke managed
the army, the Cardinal the finances and foreign affairs. Two
such leaders were the mayors of the palace. The whole
constitution of the court reminds us of the 'rois fainéants'
and the office of major-domo under the Carlovingians. Thus,
just when Catharine was about to take advantage of a
favourable moment, she saw herself once more eclipsed and
thrust aside, and that by insolent upstarts of whom one thing
only was certain, that they possessed unusual talents, and
that their consciences were elastic in the choice of means. It
was not only from Catharine that the supremacy of the Guises
met with violent opposition, but also from Protestantism, the
importance of which was greatly increasing in France. ... In
the time of Henry II., in spite of all the edicts and
executions, Protestantism had made great progress. ... In the
spring of 1559, interdicted Protestantism had secretly
reviewed its congregations, and at the first national synod
drawn up a confession of faith and a constitution for the new
Church. Preachers and elders had appeared from every part of
France, and their eighty articles of 28th May, 1559, have
become the code of laws of French Protestantism. The
Calvinistic principle of the Congregational Church, with
choice of its own minister, deacons, and elders; a consistory
which maintained strict discipline in matters of faith and
morals ... was established upon French soil, and was
afterwards publicly accepted by the whole party. The more
adherents this party gained in the upper circles, the bolder
was its attitude; there was, indeed, no end to the executions,
or to the edicts against heresy, but a spirit of opposition,
previously unknown, had gradually gained ground. Prisoners
were set free, the condemned were rescued from the hands of
the executioners on the way to the scaffold, and a plan was
devised among the numerous fugitives in foreign lands for
producing a turn in the course of events by violent means. La
Rénaudie, a reformed nobleman from Perigord, who had sworn
vengeance on the Guises for the execution of his brother, had,
with a number of other persons of his own way of thinking,
formed a plan for attacking the Guises, carrying off the King,
and placing him under the guardianship of the Bourbon agnates.
... The project was betrayed; the Guises succeeded in placing
the King in security in the Castle of Amboise; a number of the
conspirators were seized, another troop overpowered and
dispersed on their attack upon the castle, on the 17th of
March, 1560; some were killed, some taken prisoners and at
once executed. It was then discovered, or pretended, that the
youngest of the Bourbon princes [see BOURBON, HOUSE OF], Louis
of Condé, was implicated in the conspiracy [known as the
Conspiracy or Tumult of Amboise]. ... The Guises now ventured,
in contempt of French historical traditions, to imprison this
prince of the blood, this agnate of the reigning house; to
summon him before an arbitrary tribunal of partisans, and to
condemn him to death. ... This affair kept all France in
suspense. All the nobles, although strongly infected with
Huguenot ideas, were on Condé's side; even those who condemned
his religious opinions made his cause their own. They justly
thought that if he fell none of them would be safe. In the
midst of this ferment, destiny interposed. On the 5th of
December, 1560, Francis II. died suddenly, and a complete
change took place. His death put an end to a net-work of
intrigues, which aimed at knocking the rebellion, political
and religious, on the head. ... During this confusion one
individual had been watching the course of events with the
eagerness of a beast ready to seize on its prey. Catharine of
Medici was convinced that the time of her dominion had at
length arrived. ... Francis II. was scarcely dead when she
seized upon the person and the power of Charles IX. He was a
boy of ten years old, not more promising than his eldest
brother, sickly and weakly like all the sons of Henry II.,
more attached to his mother than the others, and he had been
neglected by the Guises. ... One of her first acts was to
liberate Condé; this was a decided step towards reconciliation
with the Bourbons and the Protestants. The whole situation was
all at once changed. The court was ruled by Catharine; her
feverish thirst for power was satisfied. The Guises and their
adherents were, indeed, permitted to remain in their offices
and posts of honour, in order not fatally to offend them; but
their supremacy was destroyed, and the new power was based
upon the Queen's understanding with the heads of the Huguenot
party."
L. Häusser,
The Period of the Reformation, 1517 to 1648,
chapter 25.
{1198}
"The recent commotion had disclosed the existence of a body of
malcontents, in part religious, in part also political,
scattered over the whole kingdom and of unascertained numbers.
To its adherents the name of Huguenots was now for the first
time given. What the origin of this celebrated appellation
was, it is now perhaps impossible to discover. ... It has been
traced back to the name of the Eidgenossen or 'confederates,'
under which the party of freedom figured in Geneva when the
authority of the bishop and duke was overthrown; or to the
'Roy Huguet,' or 'Huguon,' a hobgoblin supposed to haunt the
vicinity of Tours, to whom the superstitious attributed the
nocturnal assemblies of the Protestants; or to the gate 'du
roy Huguon' of the same city, near which those gatherings were
wont to be made. Some of their enemies maintained the former
existence of a diminutive coin known as a 'huguenot,' and
asserted that the appellation, as applied to the reformed,
arose from their 'not being worth a huguenot,' or farthing;
And some of their friends, with equal confidence and no less
improbability, declared that it was invented because the
adherents of the house of Guise secretly put forward claims
upon the crown of France in behalf of that house as descended
from Charlemagne, whereas the Protestants loyally upheld the
rights of the Valois sprung from Hugh Capet. In the diversity
of contradictory statements, we may perhaps be excused if we
suspend our judgment. ... Not a week had passed after the
conspiracy of Amboise before the word was in everybody's
mouth. Few knew or cared whence it arose. A powerful party,
whatever name it might bear, had sprung up, as it were, in a
night. ... No feature of the rise of the Reformation in France
is more remarkable than the sudden impulse which it received
during the last year or two of Henry II.'s life, and
especially within the brief limits of the reign of his eldest
son. ... There was not a corner of the kingdom where the
number of incipient Protestant churches was not considerable.
Provence alone contained 60, whose delegates this year met in
a synod at the blood-stained village of Mérindol. In large
tracts of country the Huguenots had become so numerous that
they were no longer able or disposed to conceal their
religious sentiments, nor content to celebrate their rites in
private or nocturnal assemblies. This was particularly the
case in Normandy, in Languedoc, and on the banks of the
Rhone."
H. M. Baird,
History of the Rise of the Huguenots,
book 1, chapter 10 (volume 1).
ALSO IN:
C. M. Yonge,
Cameos from English History,
4th series, chapter 29.
FRANCE: A. D. 1560.
Accession of King Charles IX.
FRANCE: A. D. 1560-1563.
Changed policy of Catharine de' Medici.
Delusive favors to the Huguenots.
The Guises and the Catholics again ascendant.
The massacre of Vassy.
Outbreak of civil war.
Battle of Dreux.
Assassination of Guise.
Peace and the Edict of Amboise.
"Catherine de Medici, now regent, thought it wisest to abandon
the policy which had till then prevailed under the influence
of the Guises, and while she confirmed the Lorraine princes in
the important offices they held, she named, on the other hand,
Antoine de Bourbon [king of Navarre] lieutenant-general of the
kingdom, and took Michel de l'Hôpital as her chief adviser.
... Chancellor de l'Hôpital, like the Regent, aimed at the
destruction of the parties which were rending the kingdom
asunder; but his political programme was that of an honest man
and a true liberal. A wise system of religious toleration and
of administrative reform would, he thought, restore peace and
satisfy all true Frenchmen. 'Let us,' he said, 'do away with
the diabolical party-names which cause so many
seditions--Lutherans, Huguenots, and Papists; let us not alter
the name of Christians.' ... The edicts of Saint Germain and
of January (1562) were favourable to the Huguenots. Religious
meetings were allowed in rural districts; all penalties
previously decreed against Dissenters were suspended on
condition that the old faith should not be interfered with:
finally, the Huguenot divines, with Theodore de Bèze at their
head, were invited to meet the Roman Catholic prelates and
theologians in a conference (colloque) at Poissy, near Paris.
Theodore de Bèze, the faithful associate and coadjutor of
Calvin in the great work of the Reformation, both at Geneva
and in France, is justly and universally regarded as the
historian of the early Huguenots. ... The speech he delivered
at the opening of the colloque is an eloquent plea for liberty
and mutual forbearance. Unfortunately, the conciliatory
measures he proposed satisfied no one."
G. Masson,
The Huguenots,
chapter 2.
"The edict of January ... gave permission to Protestants to
hold meetings for public worship outside the towns, and placed
their meetings under the protection of the law. ... The
Parliament of Paris refused to register the edict until after
repeated orders from the Queen-mother. The Parliament of Dijon
refused to register it. ... The Parliament of Aix refused.
Next, Antoine de Navarre, bribed by a promise of the
restoration of the Spanish part of his little kingdom,
announced that the colloquy of Poissy had converted him,
dismissed Beza and the reformed preachers, sent Jeanne back to
Beárn, demanded the dismissal of the Chatillons from the
court, and invited the Duke of Guise and his brother, the
Cardinal, who were at their château of Joinville, to return to
Paris. Then occurred--it was only six weeks after the Edict
of January--the massacre of Vassy. Nine hundred out of
3,000--the population of that little town--were Protestants.
Rejoicing in the permission granted them by the new law, they
were assembled on the Sunday morning, in a barn outside the
town, for the purpose of public service. The Duke of Guise and
the Cardinal, with their armed escort of gentlemen and
soldiers, riding on their way to Paris, heard the bells which
summoned the people, and asked what they meant. Being told
that it was a Huguenot 'prêche,' the Duke swore that he would
Huguenot them to some purpose. He rode straight to the barn
and entered the place, threatening to murder them all. The
people relying on the law, barred the doors. Then the massacre
began. The soldiers burst open the feeble barrier, and began
to fire among the perfectly unarmed and inoffensive people.
Sixty-four were killed--men, women, and children; 200 were
wounded. This was the signal for war. Condé, on the
intelligence, immediately retired from the court to Meaux,
whence he issued a proclamation calling on all the Protestants
of the country to take up arms. Coligny was at Chatillon,
whither Catharine addressed him letter after letter, urging
upon him, in ambiguous terms, the defence of the King.
{1199}
It seems, though this is obscure, that at one time Condé might
have seized the royal family and held them. But if he had the
opportunity, he neglected it, and the chance never came again.
Henceforward, however, we hear no more talk about Catharine
becoming a Protestant. That pretence will serve her no more.
Before the clash of arms, there was silence for a space. Men
waited till the last man in France who had not spoken should
declare himself. The Huguenots looked to the Admiral, and not
to Condé. It was on him that the real responsibility lay of
declaring civil war. It was a responsibility from which the
strongest man might shrink. ... The Admiral having once made
up his mind, hesitated no longer, and, with a heavy heart, set
off the next day to join Condé. He wrote to Catharine that he
took up arms, not against the King, but against those who held
him captive. He wrote also to his old uncle, the Constable
[Montmorency]. ... The Constable replied. There was no
bitterness between uncle and nephew. The former was fighting
to prevent the 'universal ruin' of his country, and for his
'petits maitres,' the boys, the sons of his old friend, Henry
II. Montmorency joined the Guises in perfect loyalty, and with
the firm conviction that it was the right thing for him to do.
The Chatillon fought in the name of law and justice, and to
prevent the universal massacre of his people. ... Then the
first civil war began with a gallant exploit--the taking of
Orleans [April 1562]. Condé rode into it at the head of 2,000
cavalry, all shouting like schoolboys, and racing for six
miles who should get into the city first. They pillaged the
churches, and turned out the Catholics. 'Those who were that
day turned outside the city wept catholicly that they were
dispossessed of the magazines of the finest wines in France.'
Truly a dire misfortune, for the Catholics to lose all the
best claret districts! Orleans taken, the Huguenots proceeded
to issue protestations and manifestoes, in all of which the
hand of the Admiral is visible. They are not fighting against
the King, who is a prisoner; the war was begun by the Guises.
... They might have added, truly enough, that Condé and the
Admiral held in their hands letters from Catharine, urging
them to carry on the contest for the sake of the young King.
The fall of Orleans was quickly followed by that of Rouen,
Tours, Blois, Bourges, Vienne, Valence, and Montauban. The
civil war was fairly begun. The party was now well organized.
Condé was commander-in-chief by right of his birth; Coligny
was real leader by right of his reputation and wisdom. It was
by him that a Solemn League and Covenant was drawn up, to be
signed by everyone of the Calvinist chiefs. These were,
besides Condé and the Chatillons, La Rochefoucauld, ...
Coligny's nephew and Condé's brother-in-law--he was the
greatest seigneur in Poitou; Rohan, from Dauphine, who was
Condé's cousin; the Prince of Porcian, who was the husband of
Condé's niece. Each of these lords came with a following
worthy of his name. Montgomery, who had slain Henry II.,
brought his Normans; Genlis, the Picards. ... With Andelot
came a troop of Bretons; with the Count de Grammont came 6,000
Gascons. Good news poured in every day. Not only Rouen, but
Havre, Caen, and Dieppe submitted in the North. Angers and
Nantes followed. The road was open in the end for bringing
troops from Germany. The country in the southwest was
altogether in their hands. Meantime, the enemy were not idle.
They began with massacres. In Paris they murdered 800
Huguenots in that first summer of the war. From every side
fugitives poured into Orleans, which became the city of
refuge. There were massacres at Amiens, Senlis, Cahors,
Toulouse, Angoulême--everywhere. Coligny advised a march upon
Paris, where, he urged, the Guises had but a rabble at their
command. His counsels when war was once commenced, were always
for vigorous measures. Condé preferred to wait. Andelot was
sent to Germany, where he raised 3,000 horse. Calvin
despatched letters in every direction, urging on the churches
and the Protestant princes to send help to France. Many of
Coligny's old soldiers of St. Quentin came to fight under his
banner. Elizabeth of England offered to send an army if Calais
were restored; when she saw that no Frenchman would give up
that place again, she still sent men and money, though with
grudging spirit. At length both armies took the field. The
Duke of Guise had under him 8,000 men; Condé 7,000. They
advanced, and met at the little town of Vassodun, where a
conference was held between the Queen-mother and Navarre on
the one hand, and Condé and Coligny on the other. Catharine
proposed that all the chiefs of both sides--Guise, the
Cardinal de Lorraine, St. Andre, Montmorency, Navarre, Condé,
and the Chatillon brothers--should all alike go into voluntary
exile. Condé was nearly persuaded to accept this absurd
proposal. Another conference was held at Taley. These
conferences were only delays. An attempt was made by Catharine
to entrap Condé, which was defeated by the Admiral's prompt
rescue. The Parliament of Paris issued a decree commanding all
Romanists in every parish to rise in arms at the sound of the
bell and to slay every Huguenot. It was said that 50,000 were
thus murdered. No doubt the numbers were grossly exaggerated.
... These cruelties naturally provoked retaliation. ... An
English army occupied Havre. English troops set out for Rouen.
Some few managed to get within the walls. The town was taken
by the Catholics [October 25, 1562], and, for eight days,
plundered. Needless to say that Guise hanged every Huguenot he
could find. Here the King of Navarre was killed. The loss of
Rouen, together with other disasters, greatly discouraged the
Huguenots. Their spirits rose, however, when news came that
Andelot, with 4,000 reiters, was on his way to join them. He
brought them in safety across France, being himself carried in
a litter, sick with ague and fever. The Huguenots advanced
upon Paris, but did not attack the city. At Dreux [December
19, 1562], they met the army of Guise. Protestant historians
endeavor to show that the battle was drawn. In fact both sides
sustained immense losses. St. André was killed, Montmorency
and Condé were taken prisoners. Yet Coligny had to retire from
the field--his rival had outgeneralled him. It was
characteristic of Coligny that he never lost heart. ... With
his German cavalry, a handful of his own infantry, and a small
troop of English soldiers, Coligny swept over nearly the whole
of Normandy. It is true that Guise was not there to oppose
him. Every thing looked well. He was arranging for a 'splendid
alliance' with England, when news came which stayed his hand.
{1200}
Guise marched southwards to Orleans. ... There was in Orleans
a young Huguenot soldier named Jean Poltrot de Méré. He was a
fanatic. ... He waited for an opportunity, worked himself into
the good graces of the Duke, and then shot him with three
balls, in the shoulder. Guise died three days later. ... Then
a peace was signed [and ratified by the Edict of Amboise,
March 19, 1563]. Condé, won over and seduced by the sirens of
the Court, signed it. It was a humiliating and disastrous
peace. Huguenots were to be considered loyal subjects; foreign
soldiers should be sent out of the country; churches and
temples should be restored to their original uses; the suburbs
of one town in every bailiwick, were to be used for Protestant
worship (this was a great reduction on the Edict of January,
which allowed the suburbs of every town); and the nobility and
gentry were to hold worship in their own houses after their
own opinions. The Admiral was furious at this weakness. 'You
have ruined,' he said to Condé, 'more churches by one stroke
of the pen than the enemy could have done in ten years of
war.'"
W. Besant,
Gaspard de Coligny.
chapter 8.
ALSO IN:
Duc d' Aumale,
History of the Princes de Condé,
book 1, chapter 3 (volume l).
E. Bersier,
Earlier Life of Coligny,
chapter 21-26.
FRANCE: A. D. 1563-1564.
Recovery of Havre from the English.
The Treaty of Troyes.
Under the terms on which the Huguenot leaders procured help
from Elizabeth, the English queen held Havre, and refused to
restore it until after the restoration of Calais to England,
and the repayment of a loan of 140,000 crowns. The Huguenots,
having now made peace with their Catholic fellow countrymen,
were not prepared to fulfill the English contract, according
to Elizabeth's claims, but demanded that Havre should be given
up. The Queen refusing, both the parties, lately in arms
against each other, joined forces, and laid siege to Havre so
vigorously that it was surrendered to them on the 28th of
July, 1563. Peace with England was concluded in the April
following, by a treaty negotiated at Troyes, and the Queen
lost all her rights over Calais.
Duc d'Aumale,
History of the Princes of Condé,
volume 1, chapter 4.
ALSO IN:
J. A. Froude,
History of England: Reign of Elizabeth,
chapters 6 and 8 (volume 1-2).
FRANCE: A. D. 1563-1570.
The conference at Bayonne.
Outbreak of the Second Civil War.
Battle of St. Denis.
Peace of Longjumeau.
The Third Civil War.
Huguenot rally at La Rochelle.
Appearance of the Queen of Navarre.
Battle of Jarnac.
Death of Condé.
Henry of Navarre chosen to command.
Battle of Moncontour.
Peace of St. Germain.
The religious peace established under the Edict of Amboise
lasted four years. "Not that the Huguenots enjoyed during
these years anything like security or repose. The repeated
abridgment even of those narrow liberties conferred by the
Edict of Amboise, and the frequent outbreaks of popular hatred