FRANCE: A. D. 1584-1589.
Henry of Navarre heir apparent to the throne.
Fresh hostility of the League.
The Edict of Nemours.
The Pope's Brutum Fulmen.
War of the Three Henrys.
Battle of Coutras.
The Day of Barricades at Paris.
Assassination of Guise.
Assassination of Henry III.
"The Duc d'Anjou ... died in 1584; Henri III. was a worn-out
and feeble invalid; the reports of the doctors and the known
virtue of the Queen forbad the hope of direct heirs. The King
of Navarre was the eldest of the legitimate male descendants
of Hugues Capet and of Saint-Louis [see BOURBON, HOUSE OF].
But on the one hand he was a relapsed heretic; on the other,
his relationship to the King was so distant that he could
never have been served heir to him in any civil suit. This
last objection was of small account; the stringent rules which
govern decisions in private affairs cannot be made applicable
to matters affecting the tranquillity and well-being of
nations. ... His religion was the only pretext on which
Navarre could be excluded. France was, and wished to remain,
Catholic; she could not submit to a Protestant King. The
managers of the League understood that this very wide-spread
and even strongly cherished feeling might some day become a
powerful lever, but that, in order to use it, it was very
needful for them to avoid offending the national amour-propre;
and they thought that they had succeeded in finding the means
of effecting their object. Next to Navarre, the eldest of the
Royal House was his uncle the Cardinal de Bourbon; the Guises
acknowledged him as heir to the throne and first Prince of the
Blood, under the protection of the Pope and of the King of
Spain. ... The feeble-minded old man, whom no one respected,
was a mere phantom, and could offer no serious resistance,
when it should be convenient to set him aside. ... In every
class throughout the nation the majority were anxious to
maintain at once French unity and Catholic unity, disliking
the Reformation, but equally opposed to ultramontane
pretensions and to Spanish ambition. ... But ... this great
party, already named the 'parti politique,' hung loosely
together without a leader, and without a policy. For the
present it was paralyzed by the contempt in which the King was
held; while the dislike which was entertained for the
religious opinions of the rightful heir to the throne seemed
to deprive it of all hope for the future. Henry III. stood in
need of the assistance of the King of Navarre; he would
willingly have cleared away the obstacle which kept them
apart, and he made an overture with a view to bring back that
Prince to the Catholic religion. But these efforts could not
be successful. The change of creed on the part of the Béarnais
was to be a satisfaction offered to France, the pledge of a
fresh agreement between the nation and his race, and not a
concession to the threats of enemies. He was not an
unbeliever; still less was he a hypocrite; but he was placed
between two fanatical parties, and repelled by the excesses of
both; so he doubted, honestly doubted, and as his religious
indecision was no secret, his conversion at the time of which
we are now speaking would have been ascribed to the worst
motives."
{1209}
As it was, he found it necessary to quiet disturbing rumors
with regard to the proposals of the King by permitting a plain
account of what had occurred to be made public. "Henry III.,
having no other answer to make to this publication, which
justified all the complaints of the Catholics, replied to it
by the treaty of Nemours and by the edict of July [1585].
These two acts annulled all the edicts in favour of
toleration; and placed at the disposal of the League all the
resources and all the forces of the monarchy." Soon afterwards
the Pope issued against Navarre and Condé his bull of
excommunication. By this "the Pontiff did not deprive the
Bourbons of a single friend, and did not give the slightest
fresh ardour to their opponents; but he produced a powerful
reaction among a portion of the clergy, among the magistracy,
among all the Royalists; wounded the national sensibility,
consolidated that union between the two Princes which he
wished to break off, and rallied the whole of the Reformed
party round their leaders. The Protestant pamphleteers replied
with no less vehemence, and gave to the Pontiff's bull that
name of 'Brutum fulmen' by which it is still known. ... Still
the sentence launched from the Vatican had had one very
decided result--it had fired the train of powder; war broke
out at once."
Duc d'Aumale,
History of the Princes of Condé,
book 2, chapter 1.
"The war, called from the three leading actors in it [Henry of
Valois, Henry of Navarre, and Henry of Guise] the War of the
Three Henrys, now opened in earnest. Seven powerful armies
were marshalled on the part of the King of France and the
League. The Huguenots were weak in numbers, but strong in the
quality of their troops. An immense body of German 'Reiter'
had been enrolled to act as an auxiliary force, and for some
time had been hovering on the frontiers. Hearing that at last
they had entered France, Henry of Navarre set out from
Rochelle to effect a junction with them. The Duke of Joyeuse,
one of the French King's chief favourites, who had the charge
of the army that occupied the midland counties, resolved to
prevent their junction. By a rapid movement he succeeded in
crossing the line of Henry's march and forcing him into
action. The two armies came in front of each other on a plain
near the village of Coutras, on the 19th of October, 1587. The
Royalist army numbered from 10,000 to 12,000, the Huguenot
from 6,000 to 7,000--the usual disparity in numbers; but
Henry's skilful disposition did more than compensate for his
numerical inferiority. ... The struggle lasted but an hour,
yet within that hour the Catholic army lost 3,000 men, more
than 400 of whom were members of the first families in the
kingdom; 3,000 men were made prisoners. Not more than a third
part of their entire army escaped. The Huguenots lost only
about 200 men. ... Before night fell he [Navarre] wrote a few
lines to the French King, which run thus: 'Sire, my Lord and
Brother,--Thank God, I have beaten your enemies and your
army.' It was but too true that the poor King's worst enemies
were to be found in the very armies that were marshalled in
his name."
W. Hanna,
The Wars of the Huguenots,
chapter 6.
"The victory [at Coutras] had only a moral effect. Henry lost
time by going to lay at the feet of the Countess of Grammont
the flags taken from the enemy. Meantime the Duke of Guise,
north of the Loire, triumphed over the Germans under the Baron
of Dohna at Vimory, near Montargis, and again near Auneau
(1587). Henry III. was unskilful enough to leave to his rival
the glory of driving them out of the country. Henry III.
re-entered Paris. As he passed along, the populace cried out,
'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands';
and a few days after, the Sorbonne decided that 'the
government could be taken out of the hands of princes who were
found incapable.' Henry III., alarmed, forbade the Duke of
Guise to come to Paris, and quartered in the faubourgs 4,000
Swiss and several companies of the guards. The Sixteen [chiefs
of sixteen sections of Paris, who controlled the League in
that city] feared that all was over; they summoned the
'Balafré' and he came [May 9, 1588]. Cries of 'Hosannah to the
Son of David!' resounded throughout Paris, and followed him to
the Louvre. ... The king and the chief of the League fortified
themselves, one in the Louvre, the other in the Hotel Guise.
Negotiations were carried on for two days. On the morning of
the 11th the duke, well attended, returned to the Louvre, and
in loud tones demanded of the king that he should send away
his counsellors, establish the Inquisition, and push to the
utmost the war against the heretics. That evening the king
ordered the companies of the city guards to hold several
positions, and the next morning he introduced into the city
the Swiss and 2,000 men of the French guards. But the city
guards failed him. In two hours all Paris was under arms, all
the streets were rendered impassable, and the advancing
barricades soon reached the positions occupied by the troops
[whence the insurrection became known as 'the Day of
Barricades']. At this juncture Guise came out of his hôtel,
dressed in a white doublet, with a small cane in his hand;
saved the Swiss, who were on the point of being massacred,
sent them back to the king with insulting scorn, and quieted
everything as if by magic. He demanded the office of
lieutenant-general of the kingdom for himself, the convocation
of the States at Paris, the forfeiture of the Bourbons, and,
for his friends, provincial governments and all the other
offices. The queen-mother debated these conditions for three
hours. During this time the attack was suspended, and Henry
III. was thus enabled to leave the Louvre and make his escape.
The Duke of Guise had made a mistake; but if he did not have
the king, he had Paris. There was now a king of Paris and a
king of France; negotiations were carried on, and to the
astonishment of all, Henry III. at length granted what two
months before he had refused in front of the barricades. He
swore that he would not lay down his arms until the heretics
were entirely exterminated; declared that any non-Catholic
prince forfeited his rights to the throne, appointed the Duke
of Guise lieutenant-general, and convoked the States at Blois
[October, 1588]. The States of Blois were composed entirely of
Leaguers," and were wholly controlled by the Duke of Guise.
The latter despised the king too much to give heed to repeated
warnings which he received of a plot against his life.
{1210}
Summoned to a private interview in the royal cabinet, at an
early hour on the morning of the 23d of December, he did not
hesitate to present himself, boldly, alone, and was murdered
as he entered, by eight of the king's body-guard, whom Henry
III. had personally ordered to commit the crime. "Killing the
Duke of Guise was not killing the League. At the news of his
death Paris was stunned for a moment; then its fury broke
forth. ... The Sorbonne decreed 'that the French people were
set free from the oath of allegiance taken to Henry III.' ...
Henry III. had gained nothing by the murder; ... but he had
helped the fortunes of the king of Navarre, into whose arms he
was forced to cast himself. ... The junction of the Protestant
and the royal armies under the same standard completely
changed the nature of the war. It was no longer feudal
Protestantism, but the democratic League, which threatened
royalty; monarchy entered into a struggle with the Catholic
masses in revolt against it. Henry III. called together, at
Tours, his useless Parliament, and issued a manifesto against
Mayenne and the chiefs of the League. Henry of Navarre carried
on the war energetically. In two months he was master of the
territory between the Loire and the Seine, and 15,000 Swiss
and lanzknechts joined him. On the evening of July 30th, 1589,
the two kings, with 40,000 men, appeared before Paris. The
Parisians could see the long line of the enemies' fires
gleaming in a vast semi-circle on the left bank of the Seine.
The king of Navarre established his headquarters at Meudon;
Henry III. at Saint-Cloud. The great city was astounded; the
people had lost energy; but the fury was concentrated in the
hearts of the chiefs and in the depths of the cloisters. ...
The arm of a fanatic became the instrument of the general
fury, and put into practice the doctrine of tyrannicide more
than once asserted in the schools and the pulpit. The assault
was to be made on August 2d. On the morning of the previous
day a young friar from the convent of the Dominicans, Jacques
Clément, came out from Paris," obtained access to the king by
means of a forged letter, and stabbed him in the abdomen,
being, himself, slain on the spot by the royal guards. Henry
III. "died the same night, and with him the race of Valois
became extinct. The aged Catherine de' Medici had died six
months before."
V. Duruy,
History of France (abridged),
chapter 45.
ALSO IN:
L. von Ranke,
Civil Wars and Monarchy in France,
16th and 17th Centuries, chapters 22-25.
W. S. Browning,
History of the Huguenots,
chapters 35-42.
FRANCE: A. D. 1585.
Proffered sovereignty of the United Netherlands declined by
Henry III.
See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1585-1586.
FRANCE: A. D. 1589-1590.
Henry of Navarre as Henry IV. of France.
His retreat to Normandy.
The battles at Arques.
Battle of Ivry.
"On being made aware that all hope was over, this King [Henry
III.], whose life had been passed in folly, vanity and
sensuality ... prepared for death like a patriot king and a
martyr. He summoned his nobles to his bedside, and told them
that his only regret in dying was that he left the kingdom in
disorder, and as the best mode of remedying the evil he
recommended them to recognize the King of Navarre, to whom the
kingdom belonged of right; making no account of the religious
difference, because that king, with his sincere and earnest
nature, must finally return to the bosom of the Church. Then
turning to Henry, he solemnly warned him: 'Cousin,' he said,
'I assure you that you will never be King of France if you do
not become Catholic, and if you do not make your peace with
the Church.' Directly afterwards he breathed his last,
reciting the 'Miserere.' This account is substantially
confirmed by Perefixe. According to Sully, Henry, hearing that
the King had been stabbed, started for St. Cloud, attended by
Sully, but did not arrive till he was dead; and D'Aubigny
says: 'When the King of Navarre entered the chamber where the
body was lying, he saw amidst the howlings some pulling their
hats down upon their brows, or throwing them on the ground,
clenching their fists, plotting, clasping each other's hands,
making vows and promises.' ... Henry's situation was
embarrassing in the extreme, for only a small number of the
Catholic nobles gave in an unqualified adhesion: a powerful
body met and dictated the conditions upon which alone they
would consent to his being proclaimed King of France: the two
first being that within six months he would cause himself to
be instructed in the Holy Catholic Apostolic Faith; and that
during this interval he would nominate no Huguenot to offices
of State. He replied that he was no bigot, and would readily
seek instruction in the tenets of the Romish faith, but
declined pledging himself to any description of exclusion or
intolerance. M. Guadet computes that nine-tenths of his French
subjects were Catholic, and the temper of the majority may be
inferred from what was taking place in Paris, where the news
of the late King's death was the signal for the most unseemly
rejoicing. ... Far from being in a condition to reduce the
refractory Parisians, Henry was obliged to abandon the siege,
and retire towards Normandy, where the expected succours from
England might most easily reach him. Sully says that this
retreat was equally necessary for the safety of his person and
the success of his affairs. He was temporarily abandoned by
several of the Huguenot leaders, who, serving at their own
expense, were obliged from time to time to go home to recruit
their finances and their followers. Others were made lukewarm
by the prospect of his becoming Catholic; so that he was no
longer served with enthusiasm by either party; and when, after
making the best arrangements in his power, he entered
Normandy, he had with him only 3,000 French foot, two
regiments of Swiss and 1,200 horse; with which, after being
joined by the Due de Montpensier with 200 gentlemen and 1,500
foot, he drew near to Rouen, relying on a secret understanding
within the walls which might give him possession of the place.
Whilst preparations were making for the siege, sure
intelligence was brought that the Duc de Mayenne was seeking
him with an army exceeding 30,000; but, resolved to make head
against them till the last extremity, Henry entrenched himself
before Arques, which was only accessible by a causeway." A series
of engagements ensued, beginning September 15, 1589; but
finding that he could not dislodge his antagonist, Mayenne
withdrew after some ten days of fighting, moving his army
towards Picardy and leaving the road to Paris open. "Being too
weak to recommence the siege or to occupy the city if taken by
assault, Henry resolved to give the Parisians a sample of what
they might expect if they persevered in their contumacy, and
gave orders for attacking all the suburbs at once.
{1211}
They were taken and sacked. Davila states that the plunder was
so abundant that the whole camp was wonderfully relieved and
sustained." From this attack on the Parisian suburbs, Henry
proceeded to Tours, where he held his court for a time. Early
in March, 1590, he laid siege to Dreux. "The Duc de Mayenne,
reinforced by Spanish troops from the Low Countries under
Count Egmont, left Paris to effect a diversion, and somewhat
unexpectedly found himself compelled to accept the battle
which was eagerly pressed upon him. This was the renowned
battle of Ivry. The armies presented much the same contrast as
at Coutras. The numerical superiority on one side, the
Catholic, was more than compensated by the quality of the
troops on the other. Henry's soldiers, as described by De
Thou, were armed to the teeth. 'They displayed neither scarf
nor decoration, but their accoutrements inspired grim terror.
The army of the Duc, on the contrary, was magnificent in
equipment. The officers wore bright-coloured scarves, while
gold glittered upon their helmets and lances.' The two armies
were confronted on the 13th of March, 1590, but it was getting
dark before the dispositions were completed, and the battle
was deferred till the following morning. The King passed the
night like Henry V. at Agincourt, and took only a short rest
in the open air on the field. ... At daybreak he mounted his
horse, and rode from rank to rank, pausing from time to time
to utter a brief exhortation or encouragement. Prayers were
offered up by the Huguenot ministers at the head of each
division, and the bishop [Perefixe] gives the concluding words
of that in which Divine aid was invoked by the King: 'But,
Lord, if it has pleased Thee to dispose otherwise, or Thou
seest that I ought to be one of those kings whom Thou
punishest in Thy wrath, grant that I may be this day the
victim of Thy Holy will: so order it that my death may deliver
France from the calamities of war, and that my blood be the
last shed in this quarrel.' Then, putting on his helmet with
the white plume, before closing the vizor, he addressed the
collected leaders:--'My friends, if you share my fortune this
day, I also share yours. I am resolved to conquer or to die
with you. Keep your ranks firmly, I beg; if the heat of the
combat compels you to quit them, think always of the rally; it
is the gaining of the battle. You will make it between the
three trees which you see there [pointing to three pear-trees
on an eminence], and if you lose your ensigns, pennons and
banners, do not lose sight of my white plume: you will find it
always on the road of honour and victory.' It so chanced that his
white plume was the actual rallying-point at the most critical
moment. ... His standard-bearer fell: a page bearing a white
pennon was struck down at his side; and the rumour was
beginning to spread that he himself was killed, when the sight
of his bay horse and white plume, with the animating sound of
his voice, gave fresh courage to all around and brought the
bravest of his followers to the front. The result is told in
one of his own missives. After stating that the battle began
between 11 and 12, he continues: 'In less than an hour, after
having discharged all their anger in two or three charges
which they made and sustained, all their cavalry began to
shift for themselves, abandoning their infantry, which was
very numerous. Seeing which, their Swiss appealed to my pity
and surrendered--colonels, captains, soldiers, and colours.
The lansquenets and French had no time to form this
resolution, for more than 1,200 were cut to pieces, and the
rest dispersed into the woods at the mercy of the peasants.'
He urged on the pursuers, crying 'Spare the French, and down
with the foreigners.' ... Instead of pushing on towards Paris,
which it was thought would have opened its gates to a
conqueror in the flush of victory, Henry lingered at Mantes,
where he improvised a Court, which his female favourites were
summoned to attend."
Henry IV. of France
(Quarterly Review, October, 1879).
ALSO IN:
H. M. Baird,
The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre,
chapter 11 (volume 2).
Duke of Sully,
Memoirs,
book 3 (volume l).
G. P. R. James,
Life of Henry IV.,
books 11-12 (volume 2).
FRANCE: A. D. 1590.
The siege of Paris and its horrors.
Relief at the hands of the Spaniards under Parma.
Readiness of the League to give the crown to Philip II.
"The king, yielding to the councils of Biron and other
catholics, declined attacking the capital, and preferred
waiting the slow, and in his circumstances eminently
hazardous, operations of a regular siege. ... Whatever may
have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the
golden fruit of victory was not plucked, and that although the
confederate army had rapidly dissolved, in consequence of
their defeat, the king's own forces manifested as little
cohesion. And now began that slow and painful siege, the
details of which are as terrible, but as universally known, as
those of any chapters in the blood-stained history of the
century. Henry seized upon the towns guarding the rivers Seine
and Marne, twin nurses of Paris. By controlling the course of
those streams as well as that of the Yonne and Oise--
especially by taking firm possession of Lagny on the Marne,
whence a bridge led from the Isle of France to the Brie
country--great thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of Corbeil
at the junction of the little river Essonne with the Seine--it
was easy in that age to stop the vital circulation of the
imperial city. By midsummer, Paris, unquestionably the first
city of Europe at that day, was in extremities. ... Rarely
have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against
foreign oppression with more heroism than that which was
manifested by the Parisians of 1590 in resisting religious
toleration, and in obeying a foreign and priestly despotism.
Men, women, and children cheerfully laid down their lives by
thousands in order that the papal legate and the king of Spain
might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of France who was
one day to become the idol of Paris and of the whole kingdom.
A census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a
population of 200,000 souls, with a sufficiency of provisions,
it was thought, to last one month. But before the terrible
summer was over--so completely had the city been invested--the
bushel of wheat was worth 360 crowns. ... The flesh of horses,
asses, dogs, cats, rats, had become rare luxuries. There was
nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons. And the
priests and monks of every order went daily about the streets,
preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy. ...
Trustworthy eye-witnesses of those dreadful days have placed
the number of the dead during the summer at 30,000. ...
{1212}
The hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in
ancient or modern times were now reproduced in Paris. ... The
priests ... persuaded the populace that it was far more
righteous to kill their own children, if they had no food to
give them, than to obtain food by recognizing a heretic king.
It was related, too, and believed, that in some instances
mothers had salted the bodies of their dead children and fed
upon them, day by day, until the hideous repast would no
longer support their own life. ... The bones of the dead were
taken in considerable quantities from the cemeteries, ground
into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. It was called
Madame Montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly
proclaimed its merits to the poor Parisians. 'She was never
known to taste it herself, however,' bitterly observed one who
lived in Paris through that horrible summer. She was right to
abstain, for all who ate of it died. ... Lansquenets and other
soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could no longer
find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and
were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the
spot. ... Such then was the condition of Paris during that
memorable summer of tortures. What now were its hopes of
deliverance out of this Gehenna? The trust of Frenchmen was in
Philip of Spain, whose legions, under command of the great
Italian chieftain [Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, commander
of the Spanish forces in the Netherlands], were daily longed
for to save them from rendering obedience to their lawful
prince. For even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal
[Cardinal de Bourbon, whom the League had proclaimed king,
under the title of Charles X., on the death of Henry
III.]--was now dead, and there was not even the effigy of any
other sovereign than Henry of Bourbon to claim authority in
France. Mayenne, in the course of long interviews with the
Duke of Parma at Condé and Brussels, had expressed his desire
to see Philip king of France, and had promised his best
efforts to bring about such a result." Parma, who was
struggling hard with the obstinate revolt in the Netherlands,
having few troops and little money to pay them with, received
orders from his Spanish master to relieve Paris and conquer
France. He obeyed the command to the best of his abilities. He
left the Netherlands at the beginning of August, with 12,000
foot and 3,000 horse; effected a junction with Mayenne at
Meaux, ten leagues from Paris, on the 22d, and the united
armies--5,000 cavalry and 18,000 foot--arrived at Chelles on
the last day of summer. "The two great captains of the age had
at last met face to face. ... The scientific duel which was
now to take place was likely to task the genius and to bring
into full display the peculiar powers and defects of the two."
The winner in the duel was the Duke of Parma, who foiled
Henry's attempts to bring him to battle, while he captured
Lagny under the king's eyes. "The bridges of Charenton and St.
Maur now fell into Farnese's hands without a contest. In an
incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were
poured into the starving city, 2,000 boat-loads arriving in a
single day. Paris was relieved. Alexander had made his
demonstration and solved the problem. ... The king was now in
worse plight than ever. His army fliers, cheated of their
battle, and having neither food nor forage, rode off by
hundreds every day." He made one last attempt, by a midnight
assault on the city, but it failed. Then he followed the
Spaniards--whom Parma led back to the Netherlands early in
November--but could not bring about a battle or gain any
important advantage. But Paris, without the genius of
Alexander Farnese in its defence, was soon reduced to as
complete a blockade as before. Lagny was recovered by the
besieging royalists, the Seine and the Marne were again
fast-locked, and the rebellious capital deprived of supplies.
J. L. Motley,
History of the United Netherlands,
chapter 23 (volume 3).
ALSO IN:
M. W. Freer,
History of the Reign of Henry IV.,
book 1.
C. D. Yonge,
History of France under the Bourbons,
chapter 2.
FRANCE: A. D. 1591-1593.
The siege of Rouen and Parma's second interference.
General advancement of Henry's cause.
Restiveness of the Catholics.
The King's abjuration of Protestantism.
"It seemed as if Henri IV. had undertaken the work of
Penelope. After each success, fresh difficulties arose to
render it fruitless. ... Now it was the Swiss who refused to
go on without their pay; or Elizabeth who exacted seaports in
return for fresh supplies; or the Catholics who demanded the
conversion of the King; or the Protestants who complained of
not being protected. Depressed spirits had to be cheered, some
to be satisfied, others to be reassured or restrained, allies
to be managed, and all to be done with very little money and
without any sacrifice of the national interests. Henri was
equal to all, both to war and to diplomacy, to great concerns
and to small. ... His pen was as active as his sword. The
collection of his letters is full of the most charming notes.
... Public opinion, which was already influential and
thirsting for news, was not neglected. Every two or three
months a little publication entitled 'A Discourse,' or 'An
Authentic Narrative,' or 'Account of all that has occurred in
the King's Army,' was circulated widely. ... Thus it was that
by means of activity, patience, and tact, Henri V. was enabled
to retrieve his fortunes and to rally his party; so that by
the end of the year 1591, he found himself in a position to
undertake an important operation. ... The King laid siege to
Rouen in December, 1591. He was at the head of the most
splendid army he had ever commanded; it numbered upwards of
25,000 men. This was not too great a number; for the
fortifications were strong, the garrison numerous, well
commanded by Villars, and warmly supported by the townspeople.
The siege had lasted for some months when the King learned
that Mayenne had at last made the Duke of Parma to understand
the necessity of saving Rouen at all hazards. Thirty thousand
Spanish and French Leaguers had just arrived on the Somme.
Rouen, however, was at the last gasp; Henri could not make up
his mind to throw away the fruits of so much toil and trouble;
he left all his infantry under the walls, under the command of
Biron, and marched off with his splendid cavalry." He attacked
the enemy imprudently, near Aumale, February 5, met with a
repulse, was wounded and just missed being taken prisoner in a
precipitate retreat. But both armies were half paralyzed at this
time by dissensions among their chiefs.
{1213}
That of the Leaguers fell back to the Somme; but in April it
approached Rouen again, and Parma was able, despite all
Henri's efforts, to enter the town. This last check to the
King "was the signal for a general desertion. Henri, left with
only a small corps of regular troops and a few gentlemen, was
obliged to retire rapidly upon Pont de l'Arche. The Duke of
Parma did not follow him. Always vigilant, he wished before
everything to establish himself on the Lower Seine, and laid
siege to Caudebec, which was not likely to detain him long.
But he received during that operation a severe wound, which
compelled him to hand over the command to Mayenne." The
incompetence of the latter soon lost all the advantages which
Parma had gained. Henri's supporters rallied around him again
almost as quickly as they had dispersed. "The Leaguers were
pushed back upon the Seine and confined in the heart of the
Pays de Caux. They were without provisions; Mayenne was at his
wits' end; he had to resort for suggestions and for orders to
the bed of suffering on which the Duke of Parma was held down
by his wound." The great Italian soldier, dying though he was,
as the event soon proved, directed operations which baffled
the keen watchfulness and penetration of his antagonist, and
extricated his army without giving to Henri the chance for
battle which he sought. The Spanish army retired to Flemish
territory. In the meantime, Henri's cause was being advanced
in the northeast of his kingdom by the skill and valor of
Turenne, then beginning his great career, and experiencing
vicissitudes in the southeast, where Lesdiguières was
contending with the mercenaries of the Pope and the Duke of
Savoy, as well as with his countrymen of the League. He had
defeated them with awful slaughter at Pontcharra, September
19, 1591, and he carried the war next year into the
territories of the Duke of Savoy, seeking help from the
Italian Waldenses which he does not seem to have obtained.
"Nevertheless the king had still some formidable obstacles to
overcome. Three years had run their course since he had
promised to become instructed in the Catholic religion, and
there were no signs as yet that he was preparing to fulfil
this undertaking. The position in which he found himself, and
the importance and activity of his military operations, had
hitherto been a sufficient explanation of his delay. But the
war had now changed its character. The King had gained
brilliant successes. There was no longer any large army in the
field against him. Nothing seemed to be now in the way to
hinder him from fulfilling his promise. And yet he always
evaded it. He had to keep on good terms with Elizabeth and the
Protestants; he wished to make his abjuration the occasion for
an agreement with the Court of Rome, which took no steps to
smooth over his difficulties; and lastly, he shrank from
taking a step which is always painful when it is not the fruit
of honest conviction. This indecision doubled the ardour of
his enemies, prevented fresh adhesions, discouraged and
divided his old followers. ... A third party, composed of
bishops and Royalist noblemen, drew around the cousins of
Henri IV., the Cardinal de Vendôme and the Comte de Soissons.
... The avowed object of this third party was to raise one of
these two Princes to the throne, if the Head of their House
did not forthwith enter the bosom of the Catholic Church. And
finally, the deputies of the cities and provinces who had been
called to Paris by Mayenne were assembling there for the
election of a king. 'The Satire of Ménippée' has handed down
the States of the League to immortal ridicule; but however
decried that assembly has been, and deserved to be, 'it
decided the conversion of Henri IV.: he does not attempt in
his despatches to deny this. ... In order to take away every
excuse for such an election, he entered at once into
conference with the Catholic theologians. After some very
serious discussion, much deeper than a certain saying which
has become a proverb [that 'Paris is certainly worth a Mass']
would seem to imply, he abjured the Protestant religion on the
25th of July, 1593, before the Archbishop of Bourges. The
League had received its death-blow."
Duc d'Aumale,
History of the Princes de Condé,
book 2, chapter 2 (volume 2).
"The news of the abjuration produced in the minds of honest
men, far and near, the most painful impression. Politicians
might applaud an act intended to conciliate the favor of the
great majority of the nation, and extol the astuteness of the
king in choosing the most opportune moment for his change of
religion--the moment when he would secure the support of the
Roman Catholics, fatigued by the length of the war and too
eager for peace to question very closely the sincerity of the
king's motives, without forfeiting the support of the
Huguenots. But men of conscience, judging Henry's conduct by a
standard of morality immutable and eternal, passed a severe
sentence of condemnation upon the most flagrant instance of a
betrayal of moral convictions which the age had known."
H. M. Baird,
The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre,
chapter 13 (volume 2).
"What the future history of France would have been if Henry
had clung to his integrity, is known only to the Omniscient;
but, with the annals of France in our hands, we have no
difficulty in perceiving that the day of his impious, because
pretended conversion, was among the 'dies nefasti' of his
country. It restored peace indeed to that bleeding land, and
it gave to himself an undisputed reign of seventeen years; but
he found them years replete with cares and terrors, and
disgraced by many shameful vices, and at last abruptly
terminated by the dagger of an assassin. It rescued France,
indeed, from the evils of a disputed succession, but it
consigned her to two centuries of despotism and misgovernment.
It transmitted the crown, indeed, to seven in succession of
the posterity of Henry; but of them one died on the scaffold,
three were deposed by insurrections of their subjects, one has
left a name pursued by unmitigated and undying infamy, and
another lived and died in a monastic melancholy, the feeble
slave of his own minister."
Sir J. Stephen,
Lectures on the History of France,
lecture 16.
ALSO IN:
P. F. Willert,
Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots of France,
chapters 5-6.
{1214}
FRANCE: A. D. 1593-1598.
Henry's winning of Paris.
The first attempt upon his life.
Expulsion of Jesuits from Paris.
War with Spain.
The Peace of Vervins.
"A truce of three months had been agreed upon [August 1,
1593], during which many nobles and several important towns
made their submissions to the King. Many, however, still held
out for the League, and among them Paris, as well as Rheims,
by ancient usage the city appropriated to the coronation of
the kings of France. Henry IV. deemed that ceremony
indispensable to sanctify his cause in the eyes of the people,
and he therefore caused it to be performed at Chartres by the
bishop of that place, February 27th 1594. But he could hardly
look upon himself as King of France so long as Paris remained
in the hands of a faction which disputed his right, and he
therefore strained every nerve to get possession of that
capital. ... As he wished to get possession of the city
without bloodshed, he determined to attempt it by corrupting
the commandant. This was Charles de Cossé, Count of Brissac.
... Henry promised Brissac, as the price of his admission into
Paris, the sum of 200,000 crowns and an annual pension of
20,000, together with the governments of Corbeil and Mantes,
and the continuance to him of his marshal's bâton. To the
Parisians was offered an amnesty from which only criminals
were to be excepted; the confirmation of all their privileges;
and the prohibition of the Protestant worship within a radius
of ten leagues. ... Before daybreak on the morning of the 22nd
March 1594 Brissac opened the gates of Paris to Henry's
troops, who took possession of the city without resistance,
except at one of the Spanish guard-houses, where a few
soldiers were killed. When all appeared quiet, Henry himself
entered, and was astonished at being greeted with joyous
cheers. ... He gave manifold proofs of forbearance and good
temper, fulfilled all the conditions of his agreement, and
allowed the Spaniards [4,000] to withdraw unmolested." In May,
1594, Henry laid siege to Laon, which surrendered in August.
"Its' example was soon followed by Chateau Thierry, Amiens,
Cambrai and Noyon. The success of the King induced the Duke of
Lorraine and the Duke of Guise to make their peace with him." In
November, an attempt to kill the King was made by a young man
named Jean Chatel, who confessed that he attended the schools
of the Jesuits. "All the members of that order were arrested,
and their papers examined. One of them, named Jean Guignard,
on whom was found a treatise approving the murder of Henry
III., and maintaining that his successor deserved a like fate,
was condemned to the gallows: and the remainder of the order
were banished from Paris, January 8th 1595, as corrupters of
youth and enemies of the state. This example, however, was
followed only by a few of the provincial cities. The
irritation caused by this event seems to have precipitated
Henry IV. into a step which he had been some time meditating:
a declaration of war against his ancient and most bitter enemy
Philip II. (January 17th 1595). The King of Spain, whom the
want of money had prevented from giving the League much
assistance during the two preceding years, was stung into fury
by this challenge; and he immediately ordered Don Fernando de
Velasco, constable of Castile, to join Mayenne in Franche
Comté with 10,000 men. Velasco, however, was no great captain,
and little of importance was done. The only action worth
mentioning is an affair of cavalry at Fontaine Française (June
6th 1595), in which Henry displayed his usual bravery, or
rather rashness, but came off victorious. He then overran
nearly all Franche Comté without meeting with any impediment
from Velasco, but retired at the instance of the Swiss, who
entreated him to respect the neutrality of that province.
Meanwhile Henry had made advances to Mayenne, who was
disgusted with Velasco and the Spaniards, and on the 25th
September Mayenne, in the name of the League, signed with the
King a truce of three months, with a view to regulate the
conditions of future submission. An event had already occurred
which placed Henry in a much more favourable position with his
Roman Catholic subjects; he had succeeded [September, 1595] in
effecting his reconciliation with the Pope. ... The war on the
northern frontiers had not been going on so favourably for the
King." In January, 1595, "Philip II. ordered the Spaniard
Fuentés, who, till the arrival of Albert [the Archduke],
conducted the government of the Netherlands, to invade the
north of France; and Fuentés ... having left Mondragone with
sufficient forces to keep Prince Maurice in check, set off
with 15,000 men, with the design of recovering Cambrai.
Catelet and Doullens yielded to his arms; Ham was betrayed to
him by the treachery of the governor, and in August Fuentés
sat down before Cambrai. ... The Duke of Anjou had made over
that place to his mother, Catherine de'Medici, who had
appointed Balagni to be governor of it. During the civil wars
of France, Balagni had established himself there as a little
independent sovereign, and called himself Prince of Cambrai;
but after the discomfiture of the League he had been compelled
to declare himself, and had acknowledged his allegiance to the
King of France. His extortion and tyranny having rendered him
detested by the inhabitants, they ... delivered Cambrai to the
Spaniards, October 2nd. Fuentés then returned into the
Netherlands. ... The Cardinal Archduke Albert arrived at
Brussels in February 1596, when Fuentés resigned his command.
... Henry IV. had been engaged since the winter in the siege
of La Fère, a little town in a strong situation at the
junction of the Serre and Oise. He had received reinforcements
from England as well as from Germany and Holland. ... Albert
marched to Valenciennes with about 20,000 men, with the avowed
intention of relieving La Fère; but instead of attempting that
enterprise, he despatched De Rosne, a French renegade ... with
the greater part of the forces, to surprise Calais; and that
important place was taken by assault, April 17th, before Henry
could arrive for its defence. La Fère surrendered May 22nd;
and Henry then marched with his army towards the coast of
Picardy, where he endeavoured, but in vain, to provoke the
Spaniards to give him battle. After fortifying Calais and
Ardres, Albert withdrew again into the Netherlands. ...
Elizabeth, alarmed at the occupation by the Spaniards of a
port which afforded such facilities for the invasion of
England, soon afterwards concluded another offensive and
defensive alliance with Henry IV. (May 24th), in which the
contracting parties pledged themselves to make no separate
peace or truce with Philip II." The Dutch joined in this
treaty; but the Protestant princes of Germany refused to
become parties to it. "The treaty, however, had little
effect." Early in 1597, the Spaniards dealt Henry an alarming
blow, by surprising and capturing the city of Amiens, gaining
access to it by an ingenious stratagem. But Henry recovered
the place in September, after a vigorous siege. He also put
down a rising, under the Duke de Mercœur, in Brittany,
defeating the rebels at Dinan, while his lieutenant,
Lesdiguières, in the southeast, invaded Savoy once more,
taking Maurienne, and paralyzing the hostile designs of its
Duke.
{1215}
The malignant Spanish king, suffering and near his end,
discouraged and tired of the war, now sought to make peace.
Both the Dutch and the English refused to treat with him; but
Henry IV., notwithstanding the pledges given in 1596 to his
allies, entered into negotiations which resulted in the Treaty
of Vervins, signed May 2, 1598. "By the Peace of Vervins the
Spaniards restored to France Calais, Ardres, Doullens, La
Capelle, and Le Câtelet in Picardy, and Blavet (port Louis) in
Brittany, of all their conquests retaining only the citadel of
Cambrai. The rest of the conditions were referred to the
treaty of Câteau-Cambresis, which Henry had stipulated should
form the basis of the negotiations. The Duke of Savoy was
included in the peace." While this important treaty was
pending, in April, 1598, Henry quieted the anxieties of his
Huguenot subjects by the famous Edict of Nantes.
T. H. Dyer,
History of Modern Europe,
book 3, chapters 10-11 (volume 2).
ALSO IN:
Lady Jackson,
The First of the Bourbons,
volume 1, chapters 14-18,
and volume 2, chapters 1-7.
J. L. Motley,
History of the United Netherlands,
chapters 29-35 (volume 3).
R. Watson,
History of the Reign of Philip II.,
books 23-24.
FRANCE: A. D. 1598-1599.
The Edict of Nantes.
For the purpose of receiving the submission of the Duke of
Mercœur and the Breton insurgents, the king proceeded down the
Loire, and "reached the capital of Brittany, the commercial
city of Nantes, on the 11th of April, 1598. Two days later he
signed the edict which has come to be known as the Edict of
Nantes [and which had been under discussion for some months
with representatives of a Protestant assembly in session at
Châtellerault]. ... The Edict of Nantes is a long and somewhat
complicated document. Besides the edict proper, contained in
95 public articles, there is a further series of 56 'secret'
articles, and a 'brevet' or patent of the king, all of which
were signed on the 13th of April; and these documents are
supplemented by a second set of 23 'secret' articles, dated on
the last day of the same month. The first of these four papers
is expressly declared to be a 'perpetual and irrevocable
edict.' ... Our chief concern being with the fortunes of the
Huguenots, the provisions for the re-establishment of the
Roman Catholic worship, wherever in the course of the events
of the last 30 years that worship had been interfered with or
banished, need not claim our attention. For the benefit of the
Protestants the cardinal concession was liberty to dwell
anywhere in the royal dominions, without being subjected to
inquiry, vexed, molested, or constrained to do anything
contrary to their conscience. As respects public worship,
while perfect equality was not established, the dispositions
were such as to bring it within the power of a Protestant in
any part of the kingdom to meet his fellow-believers for the
holiest of acts, at least from time to time. To every
Protestant nobleman enjoying that extensive authority known as
'haute justice,' and to noblemen in Normandy distinguished as
possessors of 'fiefs de haubert,' the permission was granted
to have religious services on all occasions and for all comers
at their principal residence, as well as on other lands
whenever they themselves were present. Noblemen of inferior
jurisdiction were allowed to have worship on their estates,
but only for themselves and their families. In addition to
these seigniorial rights, the Protestant 'people' received
considerable accessions to the cities where they might meet
for public religious purposes. The exercise of their worship
was authorized in all cities and places where such worship had
been held on several occasions in the years 1596 and 1597, up
to the month of August; and in all places in which worship had
been, or ought to have been, established in accordance with
the Edict of 1577 [the edict of Poitiers--see above: A. D.
1577-1578], as interpreted by the Conference of Nérac and the
Peace of Fleix [see above: A. D. 1578-1580]. But in addition
to these, a fresh gift of a second city in every bailiwick and
sénéchaussée of the kingdom greatly increased the facilities
enjoyed by the scattered Huguenots for reaching the assemblies
of their fellow-believers. ... Scholars of both religions were
to be admitted without distinction of religion to all
universities, colleges, and schools throughout France. The
same impartiality was to extend to the reception of the sick
in the hospitals, and to the poor in the provision made for
their relief. More than this, the Protestants were permitted
to establish schools of their own in all places where their
worship was authorized. ... The scandal and inhumanity
exhibited in the refusal of burial to the Protestant dead, as
well in the disinterment of such bodies as had been placed in
consecrated ground, was henceforth precluded by the assignment
of portions of the public cemeteries or of new cemeteries of
their own to the Protestants. The civil equality of the
Protestants was assured by an article which declared them to
be admissible to all public positions, dignities, offices, and
charges, and forbade any other examination into their
qualifications, conduct, and morals than those to which their
Roman Catholic brethren were subjected. ... Provision was made
for the establishment of a 'chamber of the edict,' as it was
styled, in the Parliament of Paris, with six Protestants among
its sixteen counsellors, to take cognizance of cases in which
Protestants were concerned. A similar chamber was promised in
each of the parliaments of Rouen and Rennes. In Southern
France three 'chambres mi-parties' were either continued or
created, with an equal number of Roman Catholic and Protestant
judges." In the "brevet" or patent which accompanied the
edict, the king made a secret provision of 45,000 crowns
annually from the royal treasury, which was understood to be
for the support of Protestant ministers, although that purpose
was concealed. In the second series of secret articles, the
Protestants were authorized to retain possession for eight
years of the "cautionary cities" which they held under former
treaties, and provision was made for paying the garrisons.
"Such are the main features of a law whose enactment marks an
important epoch in the history of jurisprudence. ... The Edict
of Nantes was not at once presented to the parliaments; nor
was it, indeed, until early in the following year that the
Parliament of Paris formally entered the document upon its
registers. ... There were obstacles from many different
quarters to be overcome. The clergy, the parliaments, the
university, raised up difficulty after difficulty." But the
masterful will of the king bore down all opposition, and the
Edict was finally accepted as the law of the land. "On the
17th of March [1599] Henry took steps for its complete
execution throughout France, by the appointment of
commissioners--a nobleman and a magistrate from each province
--to attend to the work."
H. M. Baird,
The Huguenots and Henry of Navarre,
chapter 14 (volume 2).
ALSO IN:
C. M. Yonge,
Cameos from English History,
5th series, chapter 36.
{1216}
The full text of the Edict of Nantes will be found in the
following named works:
C. Weiss,
History of French Protestant Refugees,
volume 2, appendix.
A. Maury,
Memoirs of a Huguenot Family
(J. Fontaine), appendix.
FRANCE: A. D. 1599-1610.
Invasion of Savoy.
Acquisition of the Department of Aisne.
Ten years of peace and prosperity.
The great works of Henry IV.
His foreign policy.
His assassination.
"One thing only the peace of Vervins left unsettled. In the
preceding troubles a small Italian appanage, the Marquisate of
Saluces, had been seized by Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy,
and remained still in his possession. The right of France to
it was not disputed, did not admit indeed of dispute; but the
Duke was unwilling to part with what constituted one of the
keys of Italy. He came to Paris in December 1599 to negotiate
the affair in person," but employed his opportunity to
intrigue with certain disaffected nobles, including the Duke
of Biron, marshal of France and governor of Burgundy. "Wearied
with delays, whose object was transparent, Henry at last had
recourse to arms. Savoy was speedily overrun with French
troops, and its chief strongholds taken. Spain was not
prepared to back her ally, and the affair terminated by
Henry's accepting in lieu of the Marquisate that part of Savoy
which now constitutes the Department of Aisne in France."
Biron, whom the King tried hard to save by repeated warnings
which were not heeded, paid the penalty of his treasonable
schemes at last by losing his head. "The ten years from 1600
to 1610 were years of tranquillity, and gave to Henry the
opportunity he had so ardently longed for of restoring and
regenerating France." He applied his energies and his active
mind to the reorganization of the disordered finances of the
kingdom, to the improvement of agriculture, to the
multiplication of industries, to the extending of commerce. He
gave the first impulse to silk culture and silk manufacture in
France; he founded the great Gobelin manufactory of tapestry
at Paris; he built roads and bridges, and encouraged canal
projects; he began the creation of a navy; he promoted the
colonization of Canada. "It was, however, in the domain of
foreign politics that Henry exhibited the acuteness and
comprehensiveness of his genius, and his marvellous powers of
contrivance, combination, execution. ... The great political
project, to the maturing of which Henry IV. devoted his
untiring energies for the last years of his life, was the
bringing of the ... half of Europe into close political
alliance, and arming it against the house of Austria, and
striking when the fit time came, such a blow at the ambition
and intolerance of that house that it might never be able to
recover. After innumerable negotiations ... he had succeeded
in forming a coalition of twenty separate States, embracing
England, the United Provinces, Denmark, Sweden, Northern
Germany, Switzerland. At last the time for action came. The
Duke of Cleves died, 25th March 1609. The succession was
disputed. One of the claimants of the Dukedom was supported by
the Emperor, another by the Protestant Princes of Germany [see
GERMANY: A. D. 1608-1618]. The contest about a small German
Duchy presented the opportunity for bringing into action that
alliance which Henry had planned and perfected. In the great
military movements that were projected he was himself to take
the lead. Four French armies, numbering 100,000, were to be
launched against the great enemy of European liberty. One of
these Henry was to command; even our young Prince of Wales was
to bring 6,000 English with him, and make his first essay in arms
under the French King. By the end of April, 1610, 35,000 men
and 50 pieces of cannon had assembled at Chalons. The 20th May