Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/597

 THE CIVIL WARS.] FRANCE 561 0. head of the Catbolics. Pushing on his advantage, the duke immediately laid siege to Orleans, and there he fell by the hand of a Huguenot assassin. Both parties had suffered so much that the queen-mother thought she might interpose with terms of peace ; the edict of Amboise (March 1563) closed the war, allowing the Calvinists freedom of worship in the towns they held, and some other scanty privileges. A three years quiet followed, thongh all men suspected their neighbours, and the high Catholic party tried hard to make Catherine sacrifice L Hopital and take sharp measures with the Huguenots. They on their side were restless and suspicious, and it was felt that another war could not be far off. Intrigues were incessant, all men thinking to make their profit out of the weakness of France. The struggle between Calvinists and Catholics in the Netherlands roused much feeling, though Catherine refused to favour either party. She collected an army of her own ; it was rumoured that she intended to take the Huguenots by surprise, and annihilate them. In autumn 1567 their patience gave way, and they raised the standard of revolt, in harmony with the heroic Netherlanders. Comic&quot; and the Chatillons beleaguered Paris from the north, and fought the battle of Sfc Denis, in which the old constable Anne of Montmorency was killed. The Hugue nots, however, were defeated and forced to withdraw, Cond6 inarching eastwards to join the German troops now coming up to his aid. No more serious fighting followed ; the peace of Longjumeau (March 15G8) closed the second war, leaving matters much as they were. The aristocratic re sistance against the Catholic sovereigns, against what is often called &quot; the Catholic Reaction,&quot; had proved itself hollow ; in Germany and the Netherlands, as well as in France, the Protestant cause seemed to fail ; it was not until the religious question became mixed up with ques tions as to political rights and freedom, as in the Low Countries, that a new spirit of hope began to spring up. The peace of Longjumeau gave no security to the Huguenot nobles ; they felt that the assassin might catch them any day. An attempt to seize Conde and Coligny failed, and served only to irritate their party ; Cardinal Chatillon escaped to England; Jeanne of Navarre and her young son Henry took refuge at La Rochelle ; L Hopital was dismissed the court. The queen-mother seemed to have thrown off her cloak of moderation, and to be ready to relieve herself of the Huguenots by any means, fair or foul. War accordingly could not fail to break out again before the end of the year. Cond6 had never been so strong ; with his friends in England and the Low Countries, and tbe enthusiastic support of a great party of nobles and religious adherents at home, his hopes rose ; he even talked of deposing the Yalois and reigning in their stead. He lost his life, however, early in 1569, at the battle of Jarnac. Coligny once more with difficulty, as at Dreux, saved the broken remnants of the defeated Huguenots. Conde s death, regarded at the time by the Huguenots as an irre parable calamity, proved in the end to be no serious loss ; for it made room for the true head of the party, Henry of Navarre. No sooner had Jeanne of Navarre heard of the mishap of Jarnac than she came into the Huguenot camp, and presented to the soldiers her young son Henry and the young prince of Cond6, a mere child. Her gallant bearing and the true soldier-spirit of Coligny, who shone most brightly in adversity, restored their temper ; they even won some small advantages. Before long, however, the duke of Anjou, the king s youngest brother, caught and punished them severely at Moncontour. Both parties thenceforward wore themselves out with desultory warfare. In August 1570 the peace of St Germain-en-Laye closed the third war, and ended the first period. 2. It was the most favourable peace the Huguenots Lad won as yet ; it secured them, beside previous rights, four strongholds. The Catholics were dissatisfied ; they could not sympathize with the queen-mother in her alarm at the growing strength of Philip II., head of the Catholics in Europe ; they dreaded the existence and growing influ ence of a party now beginning to receive a definite name, an honourable nickname, the Politiques. These were The Po- that large body of French gentlemen who loved the honour 1 tiquw*. of their country rather than their religious party, and who, though Catholics, were yet moderate and tolerant. The day will come when they will assert themselves as the true patriot-party, and, supporting Henry IV., will find out a solution for the vexed questions and the troubles of their times. On the other hand, the Huguenots were frightened by the peace, and regarded its favourable terms as baits and snares. They withdrew sullenly to La Rochelle ; the friendly attitude of Charles IX. alarmed them still more : they were scarcely reassured by seeing him ally himself with the house of Austria, then not friendly with Spain. A pair of marriages now proposed by the court amazed them still more. It was suggested that the duke of Anjou should marry Queen Elizabeth of England, and Henry of Navarre Margaret of Valois, the king s sister. Charles IX. hoped thus to be rid of his brother whom he disliked, and to win powerful support against Spain, by the one match, and by the other to bring the civil wars to a close. The sketch of a far-reaching resistance to Philip II. was drawn out ; so convinced of his good faith was the prudent and sagacious William of Orange, that on the strength of these plans he refused good terms now offered him by Spain. There seems no doubt that whatever the subtle Catherine may have thought and meant, Charles IX. was sincere. Catherine cared more for her favourite son Henry of Anjou than for the king, whom she despised ; she took no pleasure in those schemes for helping the Netherlanders in their revolt, by which Charles hoped to occupy his Huguenot subjects, while he preserved peace at home. She seems all this while to have wished to see some half dozen Huguenot leaders assassinated ; thereby she thought the party would be neutralized. She was far from pleased at the ascendency which Coligny, from the moment the king saw him, exer cised in the royal councils. The duke of Alengon, the re maining son of Catherine, the brother who did not come to the throne, was deeply interested in the plans for a war in the Netherlands ; Anjou, who had withdrawn from the scheme of marriage with Queen Elizabeth, was at this moment a candidate for the throne of Poland ; while nego tiations respecting it were going on, Margaret of Valois was married to Henry of Navarre, the worst of wives to a hus band none too good. Coligny, who had strongly opposed the candidature of Anjou for the throne of Poland, was set on by an assassin, employed by the queen-mother and her favourite son, and badly wounded ; the Huguenots were in utmost alarm, filling the air with cries and menaces. Charles showed great concern for his friend s recovery, and threatened vengeance on the assassins. What was his astonishment to learn that those assassins were his mother and brother ! Catherine worked on his fears, and the plot for the great massacre was combined in an instant. The very next day after the king s consent was wrung from him, 24th August 1572, the massacre of St Bartholomew s day took place. The murder of Coligny was completed ; his son-in-law Teligny perished; all the chief Huguenots were slain ; the slaughter spread to country towns ; the church and the civil power were at one, and the victims, taken at unawares, could make no resistance. The two Bourbons, Henry and the prince of Conde&quot;, were spared ; they bought their lives by a sudden conversion to Catholicism. The chief guilt of this great crime lies with Catherine cle Medici ; far though it is certain that she did not plan it long before, IX. 71 The St Bartho- lomew -