Volume II Part 27 (1/2)
[564] ”Uti nimirum detur opera ut vires penes Regem sint, primoresque religionis illius occupentur, omnes conveniendi rationes illis demantur: ut ad illas angustias redacti, quemadmodum facillimum erit, possit hujusmodi colluvies regi regnoque adversaria, plane pessundari, omnesque adeo reliquiae profligari: quoniam s.e.m.e.n profecto esset in dies egerminaturum, nisi ea ratio observaretur, cujus a vicinis nostris adeo luculenta exempla demonstrentur.” Jean de Serres, iii. 187.
[565] The letter is given entire, with the exception of some matters of no general interest, in the valuable chronicle of this period, by Jean de Serres (s. l. 1571), iii. 185-190.
[566] ”Haec sunt propemodum ipsa illius verba, quae conatus sum memoriae mandare, ut possem ad te de rerum omnium statu certius perscribere.” Ib., iii. 188.
[567] ”Et quoniam tunc vehementius quam a.s.suevisset, rem illam mihi commemoravit, et forta.s.se regis domini sui, qui ibi tunc erat, mandatu, volui hac de causa te istarum rerum facere certiorem.”
[568] This letter, which was also intercepted by the Huguenots, is preserved by Jean de Serres, iii. 184, 185. It bears unmistakable marks of authenticity.
[569] Conde himself alludes to these words of Charles the Ninth to his mother, in his letter of August 23d. Referring to the king's aversion to a resort to violence, he says: ”Quod mihi repet.i.tis literis saep.i.s.sime demonstrasti, et nuper quidem Reginae matri, ex eo sermone quem c.u.m illa habebas, quo significabas quantum odiosa tibi esset turbarum renovatio c.u.m nimirum illam orabas, daret operam ut omnia pacificarentur, efficeretque ne rursus ad bella civilia rediretur, quae non possent non extremum exitium afferre.” Jean de Serres, iii, 193.
[570] Letter _apud_ J. de Serres, iii. 188-190.
[571] De Thou, iii. 136; Castelnau, liv. vii., c. 1, where the sum is erroneously trebled; Davila, bk. iv., p. 130. See also Soldan, ii., 324, and Von Polenz, ii. 365.
[572] Norris, in a letter to Cecil, Sept. 25, 1568, gives almost the very words of the angry contestants. State Paper Office.
[573] Davila, bk. iv. 130; De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 136.
[574] Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, 236, 237.
[575] Davila and De Thou, _ubi supra_. De Thou seems certainly to be wanting in his accustomed accuracy when he represents--iv. (liv. xliv.) 136, 137--the submission of the test-oath to the Protestants as posterior to, and consequent upon the fall of L'Hospital: ”La reine delivree du Chancelier, et n'ayant plus personne qui s'opposat a ses volontes, ne songea plus qu'a brouiller les affaires, etc.” I have shown that the papal bull which L'Hospital opposed was dated at Rome on the same day (August 1, 1568) on which Charles sent his orders to the president of the Parisian parliament to administer the oath to the Protestants of the capital. Yet, as early as on the 12th of May, 1568, the English amba.s.sador, Norris, wrote to Cecil that Anjou, a cruel enemy of the Protestants, had a privy council of which Cardinal Lorraine was the ”chiefest” member, and his own chancellor, who sealed everything submitted to him, ”which thing he [the good olde chauncelor of the Kinges] hathe so to harte as he is retirid him to his owne house in the towne of Paris; and wheras the King's chauncelor I meane, who nether for love nor dread wolde seal enything against the statutes of the realme, or that might be prejudiciall to the same, this of Mr. d'Anjou's refusithe nothing that is proferid to him.” State Paper Office, Duc d'Aumale, ii. 360.
[576] Jean de Serres, iii. 191; Davila, bk. iv., p. 128.
[577] See Soldan, Gesch. des Prot. in Frankreich, ii. 327, note 63. Yet Conde himself, shortly before the flight from Noyers, expressed himself in strikingly confident terms as to Tavannes's probity. In a letter to the king, complaining of the treacherous plots formed against himself, July 22, 1568, the prince says he is sure that Tavannes is not privy to these designs, ”car je le cognois de trop longue main ennemy de ceulx qui ne veullent qu'entretenir les troubles. Parquoy je croy que cecy se faict a son desceu.” MS. Paris Lib., _apud_ D'Aumale, ii. 356.
[578] ”Le cerf est aux toiles, la cha.s.se est preparee.” See Anquetil, Esprit de la ligue, i. 278.
[579] ”Turbarum causas imputamus adversario illi tuo ac tuae dignitatis hosti Cardinali Lotharingo et sociis, quorum nimirum pravis consiliis et arcta necessitudine et familiaritate quam c.u.m Hispano habent, dissensiones et simultates inter tuos subjectos ab hinc s.e.x annis continuantur, et misere foventur atque aluntur per caedes atque strages, quae ipsorum nutu quotidie ubique perpetrantur.” Jean de Serres, iii. 194. ”Impurusne Presbyter, tigris, tyrannus,” etc., ibid., iii. 196. ”Cardinalis Lotharingus, quasi sicariorum ac praedorum patronus,” etc., ibid., iii., 210.
[580] ”Quodnam item de illo judicium tulerit Caesar Maximilia.n.u.s hodie imperans, c.u.m ad te prescripsit, omnia bella et omnes dissensiones, quae inter Christianos hodie vagantur, proficisci a Granvellano et Lotharingo Cardinalibus.” Jean de Serres, iii. 234.
[581] This pet.i.tion or protestation of Conde is among the longest public papers of the period, occupying not less than forty-three pages of the invaluable Commentarii de statu religionis et reipublicae of Jean de Serres. It well repays an attentive perusal, for it contains, in my judgment, the most important and authentic record of the sufferings of the Huguenots during the peace. The reader will notice that I have made great use of its authority in the preceding narrative.
[582] Jean de Serres, iii. 241.
[583] The place is sufficiently designated by Ag. d'Aubigne (Hist. univ., i. 263) ”a Bonni pres Sancerre;” by Jean de Serres (iii. 242) ”ad SanG.o.doneum vic.u.m (Saint G.o.don) qui tribus ferme milliaribus distat ab ea fluminis parte, qua transiit Condaeus;” by Hotman, Gasparis Colinii Vita, 1575 (p. 68), ”ad flumen accessit, quo Sancerrani collis radices alluuntur,” and by the ”Vie de Coligny” (p. 351), ”vis a vis de Sancerre.”
It will surprise no one accustomed to the uncertainties and perplexities of historical investigation, that while one author, quoted by Henry White (Ma.s.s. of St. Bartholomew, 292), puts the crossing ”near les Rosiers, four leagues below Saumur,” Davila (p. 129) places it at Roanne. The two spots are, probably, not less than 230 miles apart in a straight line.
[584] See De Thou, etc.
[585] Recueil des choses mem. (Hist. des Cinq Rois), 336. The Life of Coligny (1575), p. 68, states that the rise took place within _three_ hours after the Huguenots crossed.
[586] Jean de Serres, iii. 192, and De Thou, iv. (liv. xliv.) 140. The dates of Conde's departure from Tanlay and arrival at La Roch.e.l.le are, as usual, given differently by other authorities.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE THIRD CIVIL WAR.