Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/109

 GUISE

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GUISE

Henri de Guise, was denounced by the preachers as a traitor, a heretic, and excommunicate. The Sorbonne and the Parleraent proclaimed his deposition. To- gether with the aldermen and city councillors, repre- sentatives of the Parisian middle classes, Mayenne organized the General Council of Union (Conseil general d'union). This coimcil imdertook measures in behalf of the whole kingdom, decreased taxes by one-fourth, prepared to defend Paris against Henry of Navarre, calletl for material assistance from Philip II and for the moral aid of the pope, and entered into communication with most of the large cities of the kingdom.

Civil war now raged in France, and many cities took the side of the League and Catholicism against the Protestant Henry of Navarre and the indecision of Henry III. After vainly endeavouring to enter into negotiations with Mayenne, who naturally distrusted the assassin of his brother, Henry III joined forces with the Protestant troops of Henry of Navarre (1 May, 1589). For some time Mayenne waged war against the allied forces, but after the defeat of the Due d' Aumale at Senlis (17 May), he felt that Paris was threatened and was obliged to fall back for its defence. The united Roj'alist and Protestant forces received assistance from Switzerland and Germany, while the troops of Mayenne and the League, shut up in Paris (1 June), were cut otf from all reinforcements, weakened by desertions, and reduced to SOOO men, when Henry III and Henry of Navarre with a force of 42,000 began an active siege of the capital (28 July). A sort of terror now seized on the Parisian populace. Suspicion fell on all; domiciliary visits anil proscrip- tions were the order of the day. Finally the Domini- can monk, Jacques Clement, assassinated Henry III (1 August), whereupon Henry of Navarre, abandoned by some of his troops, raised the siege.

The throne was now vacant, the Catholics who formed the majority in France being unwilling to recognize the Protestant Henry of Navarre. Had Mayenne dared to seize the throne and proclaim him- ■self king, his boldness might have succeeded. With Henri de Guise, however, he had five years previously designated the aged Cardinal de Bourbon as heir pre- sumptive, and while the latter lived it was difficidt for Maj'enne to pretend to the throne. But the sick and aged prelate was a prisoner of Henry of Navarre ; the members of the League were therefore unable to place their candidate securely on the throne, since he was in the hands of the Protestant pretender. Mayenne assumed the title of Lieutenant-General of the King- dom, took the offensive, and set out for Normandy. At Arques, near Dieppe, he vainly offered battle to Henry of Navarre, and after eleven days of skirmish- ing (September, 1589) withdrew to Amiens. Learn- ing suddenly that Henry of Navarre had stolen upon Paris, and had taken by surprise the suburbs of the left bank of the .Seine, he hastened to the capital to compel the retreat of Navarre.

A certain number of moderate Catholics, known as les Politiques, were in favour of the latter, and he agreed with them that within six months he would submit the religious question to a council, and until that event would offer no hindrance to the practice of the Catholic religion. Among the Politiques were some who already cherished the hope that Henry of Navarre would become a Catholic. One of them. Faudoas de Belin, urged Mayenne to join the Polili- ques and to entreat Henry IV to become a Catholic. While the violence of the Leaguers in Paris caused Mayenne to reflect, nevertheless he did not accept Belin's propositions, and in the spring of 1590, being reinforced from Flanders and Lorraine, he attacked Henry IV on the plain of Ivry (14 March, 1590). Be- ing defeated, he was compelled to return to Paris, where he announced to the inhabitants that he was going to seek reinforcements in Flanders, and called

upon them to defend themselves energetically. The death of the Cardinal de Bourbon (8 May, 1590) left the members of the League uncertain on an important point. namely, who was the Catholic heir to the throne.

Then began, in Mayenne's absence, the famous siege of Paris by Henry IV. Each day the Spanish ambas- sador, Bernardino de Mendoza, distributed 120 crowns' worth of bread, the papal legate gave his plate to pay the troops, and even the ornaments of the churches were sold. The people satisfied their hunger at the street corners, where they ate from great cauldrons, in which a mixture of oats and bran was boiling, and spent the days in the churches, where twice a day the preachers encouraged them. They assured the people that Mayenne and Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma, would come to their relief. Ma3'enne, however, tar- ried, and the famine continued. Henry of Navarre permitted the beggars, women, and students to leave the city, but the provisions still grew less. Men ate the skins of animals, ground and boiled their bones, disinterred the bodies in the cemetery of the Innocents and made f oodof them.

Mayenne, mean- while, was negoti- ating with Ales- sandro Farnese, governor of the Spanish Low Countries, for re- inforcements. He succeeded in send- ing some troops to the relief of Paris (17 June), and the arrival of Farnese (23 Aug.), who joined Maj'enne at Meaux, made it possible to revictual the city. Henry of Navarre was compelled to retire, and Mayenne re- entered Paris (18 Sept.). The war dragged on, but the capture by Mayenne of Chateau-Thierry in 1591 could not offset the damage done by the occupation by Henry of Navarre of the city of Chartres, regarded as the granary of Paris.

The League now suffered from divided counsels. The young son of Duke Henri de Guise had just left his • prison at Tours, and the more enthusiastic members of the League planned his marriage to a Spanish prin- cess, after which they would make him king. May- enne was considered too lukewarm, and when Gregory XIV, elected 5 Dec, 1590. and more resolutely de- voted to the League than Sixtus V, had renewed the excommunication of Henry of Navarre, and hurled anathema against his adherents (March-June, 1591), the faction of the Sixteen, a bod\' drawn from the coun- cils (nine members in each), which directed the vari- ous quarters of Paris, and about which were gathered more than 30,000 adherents, desired the establish- ment of radical laws, according to which every heretic, whether prince, lord, or citizen, should be burned alive, also that the new king should make war on all foreign heretical princes. If the young Duke of Guise could not or would not become king, the Sixteen were quite willing, under certain conditions, to accept Philip II as King of France. To assert their power and intentions they forthwith hung several Catholics of the moderate part}': Brisson, first president of the Parleraent, and the two councillors Larcher and Tar- dif (15 Nov., 1591).

This news reached Mayenne at Laon, and he returned precipitately to Paris (28 Nov.) ; he caused four of the

Henri I de Lorraine, Third Duke of Guise