History of the Rise of the Huguenots Volume II Part 17

[296] Mem. de Conde (Bruslart), Sept., 1563, i. 133-135.

[297] Ibid., _ubi supra_. "Ces parolles la sont venues de la boutique de Monsieur le Chancellier et non du Roy."

[298] Ibid., i. 136. Even after Charles's lecture and a still more intemperate address of Montluc, Bishop of Valence, when parliament came to a vote there was a tie. To please Catharine, whose entire authority was at stake, the royal council of state gave the extraordinary command that the minute of this vote should be erased from the records of parliament, and the edict instantly registered. This last was forthwith done. De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 426, 427. Bruslart (_ubi supra_, i. 136) denies that the erasure was actually made as Charles had commanded.

[299] De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 441, etc.

[300] Letter of Card. de la Bourdaisiere, Rome, Oct. 23, 1563, in which sentence is said to have been p.r.o.nounced, the day before, on the Archbishop of Aix, and the bishops of Uzes, Valence, Oleron, Lescar, Chartres, and Troyes. Le Laboureur, i. 863, 864.

[301] Monitorium et citatio officii sanctae Inquisitionis contra ill.u.s.trissimam et serenissimam dominam Joannam Albretiam, reginam Navarrae, Mem. de Conde, iv. 669-679; and Vauvilliers, Histoire de Jeanne d'Albret, iii. Pieces justif., 221-240. It is dated Tuesday, September 28, 1563. De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 442. The Card. de la Bourdaisiere (_ubi supra_) merely says: "Tout le monde dit a Rome, que la Reine de Navarre fut aussi privee audit Consistoire, mais il n'en est rien, bien est-elle citee."

Mem. de Castelnau, liv. v., c. ix.

[302] It needed no very extraordinary penetration to read "Philip" under the words of the monitorium: "Ita ut in casu contraventionis (quod Deus avertat) et contumaciae, regnum, princ.i.p.atus, ac alia cujuscunque status et dominia hujuscemodi, dentur et dari possint _cuilibet illa occupanti, vel illi aut illis quibus Sanct.i.tati suae et successoribus suis dare et concedere magis placuerit_."

[303] Summary of the protest in De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 441-447; and Vauvilliers, ii. 7-17; in full in Mem. de Conde, iv. 680-684. "Quant au fait de la Reine de Navarre, qui est celuy qui importe le plus, ledit sieur d'Oysel aura charge de luy faire bien entendre," says Catharine in a long letter to Bishop Bochetel (_ubi infra_), "qu'il n'a nulle autorite et jurisdiction sur ceux qui portent t.i.tre de Roy ou de Reine, et que ce n'est a luy de donner leur estats et royaumes en proye au premier conquerant."

[304] See the interesting letter of Catharine to Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes, French amba.s.sador at Vienna, Dec. 13, 1563, in which the papal a.s.sumption is stigmatized as dangerous to the peace of Christendom. "De nostre part nous sommes deliberez de ne le permettre ny consentir," she says, and she is persuaded that neither Ferdinand nor Maximilian will consent. Le Laboureur, i. 783.

[305] De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 447. Castelnau (liv. v., c. ix.) gives a wrong impression by his a.s.sertion that "the Pope could never be induced to reverse the sentence against the Queen of Navarre."

[306] Le Laboureur, ii. 610, 611; Brantome, Hommes ill.u.s.tres (OEuvres, ix.

259). We cannot accept, without much caution, the portraits drawn of the prince by the English while they were still smarting with resentment against him for concluding peace with the king without securing the claims of Elizabeth upon Calais. "The Prince of Conde," wrote Sir Thomas Smith, April 13, 1563, "is thought ... to be waxen almost a new King of Navarre.

So thei which are most zelous for the religion are marvelously offendid with him; and in great feare, that shortly all wil be worse than ever it was. Et quia nunc prodit causam religionis, as they say, dia ten rhathumian autou kai psychroteta pros ta kala, and begynnes even now gunaikomanein, as the other did; they thinke plainly, that he will declare himself, ere it be long, unkiend to G.o.d, to us, and to himself; being won by the papists, either with reward of Balaam, or ells with Cozbi the Midianite, to adjoigne himself to Baal-peor." Forbes, State Papers, ii.

385.

[307] "Le bon prince," says Brantome, "estoit aussi mondain qu'un autre, et aimoit autant la femme d'autruy que la sienne, tenant fort du naturel de ceux de la race de Bourbon, qui ont este fort d'amoureuse complexion."

Hommes ill.u.s.tres, M. le Prince de Conde. Granvelle wrote to the Emperor Ferdinand from Besancon (April 12, 1564), that word had come from France, "que le prince de Conde y entendoit au service des dames plus qu'en aultre chose, et a.s.sez froid en la religion des huguenotz." Papiers d'etat, vii.

467.

[308] See Bayle's art. on Isabeau de Limueil; J. de Serres, iii. 45, 46; De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 42.

[309] Jean de Serres, iii. 50, 51; De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 412, 413.

Cf. Bolwiller to Cardinal Granvelle, Sept. 4, 1564, Papiers d'etat du cardinal de Granvelle, viii. 305. See, however, the statements in chapter xvi. of this history.

[310] His revenue from his county of Soissons was not 1,000 crowns a year, and he had little from his other possessions (Le Laboureur, ii. 611).

Secretary Courtewille, in his secret report (Dec., 1561), states that the Huguenot n.o.bles of the first rank were in general poor--Vendome, Conde, Coligny, etc.--and that were it not for a monthly sum of 1,200 crowns, which the Huguenots furnished to Conde, and 1,000 which the admiral received in similar manner, they would hardly know how to support themselves. Papiers d'etat du card. de Granv., vi. 440.

[311] Mary herself, however, writing to her aunt, the d.u.c.h.ess of Aerschot (Nov. 6, 1564), represents the offer of marriage as made by Conde, both to her grandmother and to her uncle the cardinal: "a qui il a fait toutes les belles offres du monde." Papiers d'etat du card. de Granv., viii. 481.

[312] Jean de Serres, iii. 32, 33.

[313] Ibid., iii. 45, 46; De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xv.) 414; D'Aubigne, Hist.

univ., i. 197.

[314] On the upper Tarn, in the modern department of the Aveyron.

[315] The very important doc.u.ments which exhibit these facts at great length are in the archives of the "Mairie" of Milhau and in the Bibliotheque nationale, and were inedited until printed in the Bulletin, ix. (1860) 382-392. Among the names of the Huguenots of Milhau figuring here is that of Benoit Ferragut, apothecary.

[316] Graignan, pour l'eglise de Someyre, a la Venerable Compagnie, 19 juin, 1563, Gaberel, Hist. de l'eglise de Geneve, i., Pieces justificatives, 153. "Et pourtant, je ne peux pas suffire a tout. Les paysans se baptisent les enfants les ungs les autres, ou sont contraincts de les laisser a baptiser."

[317] Les consuls de Montpellier a la Ven. Comp., 30 janvier, 1563 (1564), ibid., i., Pieces just., 179.

[318] I know of no more beautiful monument of Jeanne's courage and piety than the letter she wrote to the Cardinal of Armagnac, in reply to a letter of the cardinal, dated August 18, 1563, intended to frighten her into a return to the papal church. It was sent by the same messenger who had brought the letter of Armagnac, and it has every mark of having been Jeanne's own composition. Both letters are given in full by Olhagaray, Hist. de Foix, Bearn, et Navarre, 536-543, and 544-551; a summary in Vauvilliers, i. 347-362. The Queen of Navarre boldly avowed her sentiments, but declared her policy to be pacific: "Je ne fay rien par force; il n'y a ny mort ny emprisonnement, ny condemnation, qui sont les nerfs de la force." But she refused to recognize Armagnac--who was papal legate in Provence, Guyenne, and Languedoc--as having any such office in Bearn, proudly writing: "Je ne recognois en Bearn que Dieu auquel je dois rendre conte de la charge qu'il m'a baillee de son peuple." The publication of these letters produced a deep impression favorable to the Reformation.

[319] Letter of Jehan Reymond Merlin to Calvin, Pau, July 23, 1563, printed for the first time in the Bulletin, xiv. (1865) 233, 234.

[320] Olhagaray, Hist. de Foix, Bearn, et Navarre, p. 535; Vauvilliers, Hist. de Jeanne d'Albret, i. 319.

[321] Letter of Merlin, _ubi supra_, 237, 238; Vauvilliers, i. 320.

[322] Ibid., 238. "Dont plusieurs, voire des grands, s'en allerent fort mal contens, et singulierement quelques-uns qu'elle rabroua plus rudement que je n'eusse desire." Merlin adds that all now saw the excellence of his advice, for, had it been followed, "il y auroit apparence que la reformation eust este faite en ce pays par l'authorite des estats; maintenant il faut qu'elle se fa.s.se de seule puissance absolue de la royne, voyre avec danger." In other parts of France, as well as in Bearn, Jeanne's reformatory movements were looked upon with great disfavor. Upon a gla.s.s window at Limoges (made about the year 1564, and still in existence, I believe) she is represented, by way of derision, as herself in the pulpit, and preaching to a congregation of eight Huguenots seated.

Underneath is the bitter couplet,

"Mal sont les gens endoctrines Quand par femme sont sermones."

M. Hennin, Monuments de l'hist. de France, Paris, 1863, tome ix.

(1559-1589) 76. The statement that this and a somewhat similar representation, also described in this work, came from an old abbey, whose monks thus revenged themselves upon the queen for removing their pulpit, seems to be a mistake.

[323] Letter of Merlin, _ubi supra_, 239: "Brief c'est merveille que ceste princesse puisse persister constamment en son sainct vouloir." Cf. letter of same, Dec. 25, 1563, 245.

[324] Letter of Merlin, Dec. 25, 1563, _ubi supra_, 245.

[325] "Recit d'une entreprise faite en l'an 1565 contre la Reine de Navarre et messeigneurs les enfans," etc., etc.; Cimber et Danjou, Archives curieuses, vi. 281-295. The year should be 1564. The best authority is, however, that of De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xvi.) 496-499, who states that he simply gives the account as he had it from the lips of Secretary Rouleau, who brought the tidings to France, and from the children of the domestic of Isabella who detected the conspiracy. See, also, Leon Feer, in Bulletin, xxvi. (1877), 207, etc., 279, etc.

[326] Michel de l'Hospital frankly told Santa Croce that the misfortunes of France came exclusively from the French themselves, "e della vita dei preti, molto sregolata, i quali non vogliono esser riformati, e princ.i.p.almente quelli del Concilio, e poi nelle loro lettere rejiciunt culpam in Papam." "Io so," adds the nuncio himself, "che sono loro che non vogliono esser riformati, e hanno mandati di qua certi articoli che hanno parimente mandati a Roma, circa gli quali io vi posso dir che se Sua Sant.i.ta li accorda.s.se, conformamente alle loro pet.i.tioni, sariano i piu malcontenti del mondo; ma no le hanno fatte ad altro fine che per haver occasione di mostrar di qua, che il Papa e quello che non vuole, mentre che sono loro che non vogliono quella riformatione del clero." Santa Croce to Borromeo, March 28, 1563, Aymon, i. 230, 231; Cimber et Danjou, vi.

138.

[327] "Il quale (Cardinal di Lorreno) con la morte del suo fratello, havera manco spiriti, e credo io che terra piu conto della satisfattione di Sua Sant.i.ta che di qua." Santa Croce to Borromeo, Blois, March 28, 1563, shortly after Guise's death. Aymon, i. 233; Cimber et Danjou, vi.

140.

[328] "Sed hae nugae ipsi nequaquam placebant." Languet, letter of Feb. 3, 1564, Epist. secr., ii. 283.

[329] Letter of Santa Croce to Borromeo, Melun, Feb. 25, 1564, Aymon, i.

258, 259; Letter of Beza to Bullinger, Geneva, March 6, 1564, Simler Coll.

(Zurich) MSS.; Languet, March 6, 1564, Epist. secr., ii. 286, 287. There has been great confusion respecting this altercation between Lorraine and L'Hospital. According to Henri Martin (Histoire de France, x. 194), it took place "a propos d'un nouvel edit qui accordait aux reformes quelques facilites pour l'enseignement et l'exercise de leur religion en maisons privees dans les villes ou le culte public leur etait interdit." M. Jules Bonnet has kindly made search for me in the Zurich and Paris libraries, and obtained corroborative proof of what I already suspected, that M.

Martin and others had confounded the scene at _Melun_ in February, 1564, with another quarrel between the same persons in March, 1566, at _Moulins_. See the doc.u.ments, including the letter of Beza referred to above, published together with my inquiries, in the Bulletin de la Soc. du prot. fr., xxiv. (1875) 409-415.

[330] "Conseil sur le fait du Concile de Trente," etc. Mem. de Conde, v.

81-129. The dedication to Prince Porcien is dated May 29, 1564. See De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xvi.) 501.

[331] Du Moulin was ordered by a royal letter to be set at large, Lyons, June 24, 1564.

[332] Conclusion of "Conseil," etc. Mem. de Conde, v. 129.

[333] De Thou, iii. (liv. x.x.xvi.), 499, 500; Ag. d'Aubigne, Hist. univ., i. 203 (liv. iv., c. iv.); Mem. de Castelnau, liv. v., c. vi.

[334] Prof. Soldan has discussed the matter at great length. Gesch. des Prot. in Frank., ii. 197, etc.

[335] As early as Dec. 13, 1563, the queen mother had announced to the French amba.s.sador in Vienna her son's expected journey, toward the end of February or the beginning of March, to visit his sister, the d.u.c.h.ess of Lorraine, and her infant son. Letter to Bochetel, Bishop of Rennes, Le Laboureur, i. 784. See, too, Languet's letter of Nov. 16, 1563, Epist.