Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/23

Rh gave him the means of showing kindness to his Protestant brethren, and oftentimes shielding them from oppression. He was much beloved by his brother officers, and by the men under his command, which made the Roman Catholic party afraid of disturbing him; though, at the same time, his exemplary piety and benevolence marked him as one for whose blood they thirsted.

You may read in history how the kingdom of France was laid waste by abominable persecutions and civil wars, on account of religion. Open hostilities were occasioned by an event which occurred at the little town of Vassy, in Champagne, in the year 1562. The Protestants were engaged in prayer outside the walls, in conformity with the king's edict, when the Duke of Guise approached. Some of his suite insulted the worshippers, and from insults they proceeded to blows, and the Duke himself was accidentally wounded in the cheek. The sight of his blood enraged his followers, and a general massacre of the inhabitants of Vassy ensued. The report of this roused the suffering Huguenots throughout the kingdom, and a savage and bloody war followed, during which, Anthony of Bourbon, King of Navarre, fell, fighting in the Catholic ranks, leaving a son eight years old—the future Henry IV.—that great supporter of the Protestant cause. The constable Montmorency was taken prisoner, and the Duke of Guise slain: thus the Catholics were without a leader. The Prince of Condé being also a prisoner, and the Protestant Coligny the only chief remaining on either side, an accommodation appeared indispensable; and in March, 1563, an edict was granted, which allowed the Huguenots to worship within the towns they were possessed of, up to that day. This permission led some of the bishops and other clergy who had embraced Protestantism, to celebrate divine worship in the cathedrals, according to the rites of the Reformed Church. Such an extension of the meaning of the edict had never been contemplated, and it was soon modified by a duration, that ancient cathedrals should in no case be used as Protestant churches.

Another edict was passed very shortly, which imposed greater restrictions, and the Huguenots, finding that they were likely to lose by edicts all that they had wrested from the king by the sword, prepared to take up arms again, and in 1567 another struggle commenced, which, with a very short interval of peace, lasted until 1570, when a treaty was concluded upon terms so favorable to the Huguenots, as to excite some suspicion in their minds that all was not right. They were to have liberty of conscience, and their In the interval, between the year 1534