Volume I Part 46 (1/2)

[Footnote 818: La Planche, 238, 239; Hist. eccles., i. 158, 159; De Thou, ii. 754-762 (where La Renaudie's harangue is given at length); Castelnau, liv. i., c. 8; Davila, 22; La Place, 33. Hist. du tumulte d'Amboise, _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 819: De Thou, ii. 762, 763.]

[Footnote 820: Castelnau, 1. i., c. 8; La Planche, 245, 246; Hist.

eccl., i. 164; La Place, 33; De Thou, ii. 763. The Histoire du tumulte d'Amboise, _apud_ Recueil des choses memorables (1565), i. 5, and Mem.

de Conde, i. 329, describes Des Avenelles as ”prest de se donner a louage au premier offrant;” adding ”estant ambitieux et necessiteux tout ensemble, il pensa avoir trouve le moyen pour se rendre riche et memorable a jamais.” For a favorable view of Des Avenelles's motives, see De Thou, ii. 775. The 12th of February was the date when these tidings reached the Guises, as appears from the speech of Morage or Morague, sent in March to deliver to parliament for registry the edict of amnesty for past religious offences. Mem. de Conde, i. 337. The king, who had started on his hunting tour from Blois on the 5th of February, was, when the news came, between Marchenoir and Montoire (places north and northwest of Blois). The first intimations must, however, have been very vague and general, since, on the 19th of February, the Cardinal of Lorraine wrote to Coignet, French amba.s.sador in Switzerland, directing him to set one or two persons to watch La Renaudie (”a la queue de la Regnaudie pour l'observer de loin, n'en perdre connaissance ni jour, ni nuit”), and seize him the moment he entered the French territories--evidently supposing him to be still in Switzerland and far from Amboise. Letter of Card. Lorraine from Montoire, Feb. 19, 1560, Imp. Lib. Paris, Mignet, Journal des Savants, 1857, 420, 421. It was, doubtless, the receipt of more definite warnings that led the Guises to hasten the termination of the king's pleasure excursion. On the 22d of February, Francis arrived at Amboise, ”which was two dayes sooner then was loked for.” Throkmorton to the queen, Feb. 27, 1560, Forbes, State Papers, i. 334.]

[Footnote 821: Castelnau, _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 822: La Planche and Hist. eccles., _ubi supra_. I need not call attention to the gross absurdity into which Jean de Tavannes falls (Mem. ii. 260, 261), when he makes Catharine, through policy and hatred of Mary of Scots and of the Guises, whom the Scottish queen supported, favor the malcontents! Can the younger Tavannes have been misled by the hypocritical representations with which she once and again attempted ineffectually to deceive the reformers when they appealed to her to put an end to the persecutions?]

[Footnote 823: See the synopsis of Coligny's speech in La Planche, 247, 248. Tavannes ascribes Coligny's impunity throughout this reign to Catharine's interposition, revealing the plans of his enemies, etc.

(Memoires, ii. 264). It was much more probably owing to his powerful family alliances, and particularly to the fear of throwing the weight of the enormous influence of his uncle, Constable Montmorency, into the opposite scale. Yet it must be confessed that Catharine displayed for the admiral, on more than one occasion, that respect which integrity always exacts from vice, and which is most likely to be manifested in the hour of danger. Early in this reign the court faction had endeavored to sow discord between the two princ.i.p.al men of the Protestant party, by intimating to Coligny that Conde was seeking to obtain the governors.h.i.+p of Picardy, which the former held. The calumny, however, failed of its object.]

[Footnote 824: Recueil des anc. lois franc, xiv. 22-24; La Planche, 248; La Place, 37; Hist. eccles., i. 166, 167; De Thou, ii. 764; Forbes, i.

877. A Latin version, but out of its chronological position in Languet, Epist. sec., ii. p. 15. The date of the publication of this important doc.u.ment at Paris is indicated in a letter of Hubert Languet: ”Certum est _undecima Martii_ Lutetiae propositum esse edictum, in quo Rex condonat suis subditis quidquid hactenus peccatum est in religione.”

Epist. sec., ii. 44.]

[Footnote 825: ”Car aucuns conseillers disoyent que c'estoit un attrape-minault.” La Planche, 248.]

[Footnote 826: Beza to Bullinger, June 26, 1560; in Baum, ii., App. 13.]

[Footnote 827: Throkmorton's Correspondence in Forbes, State Papers, i.

353, 354, 374-378.]

[Footnote 828: Hist. du tumulte d'Amboise, _ubi supra_; La Planche, 251, 252; La Place, 34, 35; De Thou, ii. 767, 768; Mem. de Castelnau, liv.

i., c. 8; Throkmorton to the queen, March 21, 1560, Forbes, State Papers, i. 376, 377. Vieilleville, if we may credit Carloix, foresaw the impossibility of keeping his honor in this mission, and refused to take it. Mem. de Vielleville, ii. 420, etc.]

[Footnote 829: La Planche, _ubi supra_.]

[Footnote 830: La Planche, 254; La Place, 35; De Thou, ii. 769; Davila, 25. Sir Nich. Throkmorton, March 21, 1560, Forbes, State Papers, i. 380.

M. Mignet has shown (Journal des Savants, 1857, 477, note) that the death of La Renaudie cannot have taken place before the evening of the 19th, or the morning of the 20th.]

[Footnote 831: Even in their letter to their sister, the Queen Dowager of Scotland (April 9, 1560), the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise had the a.s.surance to speak of the affair of Amboise as ”a conspiracy made to kill the king, in which we were not forgotten.”

Forbes, State Papers, i. 400.]

[Footnote 832: Cf. the commission in the Recueil des choses memorables (1565), 19-24; La Planche, 252, 253; De Thou, ii. 768; Davila, 24.; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. ii., c. 15.]

[Footnote 833: Recueil des anc. lois fr., xiv., 24-26; La Planche, 253, 254; Languet, ii. 48, 49; De Thou, ii. 769. It need scarcely be added that the aim of the insurgents is misrepresented to be, ”under veil of religion, to ravage all the rich cities and houses of the kingdom.”]

[Footnote 834: La Planche, 257, 262.]

[Footnote 835: ”The 17th of this present there were twenty-two of these rebellis drowned in sacks, and the 18th of the same at night twenty-five more. Among all these which be taken, there be eighteen of the bravest captains of France.” Throkmorton to the queen, March 21st, Forbes, i.

378.]