Volume II Part 44 (2/2)

And now the great bell of the ”Palais de Justice” pealed forth the tocsin.

About the Louvre the work of blood had begun when Catharine, impatient, and fearful lest Charles's resolution should again waver at the last moment, gave orders to antic.i.p.ate the appointed time by ringing the bell of the neighboring church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois. But now the loud and unusual clangor from the tower of the parliament house carried the warning far and wide. All Paris awoke. The conspirators everywhere recognized the stipulated signal, and spread among the excited townsmen the wildest and most extravagant reports. A foul plot, formed by the Huguenots, against the king, his mother, and his brothers, had come to light. They had killed more than fifteen of the royal guards. The king, therefore, commanded that quarter should not be given to a single Huguenot.[1011]

Nothing more was needed to inflame the popular hatred of the Huguenots, nor to prepare the rabble for an indiscriminate slaughter of the Protestants.

[Sidenote: La Rochefoucauld and Teligny fall.]

Among the earliest victims of this day of carnage was Count de la Rochefoucauld. This witty and lively young n.o.ble had been in the Louvre until a late hour on Sat.u.r.day night, diverting himself with the king, with whom he was a great favorite. Apparently in his anxiety to save La Rochefoucauld's life, Charles invited, and even urged him, to spend the night in the royal ”garde-robe;” but the count, suspecting no danger, insisted on returning to his lodgings, while the king reluctantly abandoned his boon companion to his fate, rather than betray his secret.

Early awakened from his sleep at his lodgings by loud knocking at the door and by demands for admission in the king's name, and seeing a band of masked men enter, he recalled Charles's threat at parting, that he would come and administer to him a whipping. The practical joke would not have been unlike many of the mad antics of the royal jester, and La Rochefoucauld, addressing himself to the person whom he supposed to be his Majesty in disguise, begged him to treat him with humanity. His deception was not long continued; for the maskers, after rifling his trunks, drew him from his place of concealment and murdered him. His lifeless body was dragged through the streets of Paris.[1012]

Teligny was, perhaps, even more unfortunate than the rest, because he awoke too late to the fact that his own blind confidance in the word of a faithless prince had been a chief instrument of involving his father-in-law and his friends in destruction. He was among the first to pay the penalty of his credulity. More than one of the parties sent to destroy him, it is said, overcome by compa.s.sion for his youth and manly beauty, or by respect for his graceful manners and extraordinary learning, left their commission unexecuted. To avoid further peril, he ascended to the roof, from which he made his way to an adjoining house; but he had not gone far before he was seen and shot with an arquebuse by one of the Duke of Anjou's guards.[1013]

[Sidenote: Self-defense of a few n.o.bles.]

The Huguenots, attacked in the midst of their slumbers by the courtiers and the soldiers of the royal guard,[1014] among whom were prominent the Swiss of Charles or his brother, or by the people of Paris, who every moment swelled the ranks of the a.s.sa.s.sins, were too much taken by surprise to offer even the slightest resistance. Guerchy, the same gentleman who had offered his services to Coligny the night before, is almost the only man reported to have fought for his life. With his sword in his right hand, and winding his cloak around his left arm, he defended himself for a long time, though the breastplates of his enemies were proof against his blows. At last, he fell, overborne by numbers.[1015] The Lieutenant de la Mareschaussee, if not more determined, was better prepared for the combat. All day long, with a single soldier as his comrade, he defended his house against the a.s.sailants, expecting at every moment to be relieved from his perilous situation by the king. But, far from meriting such confidence on the part of his subjects, Charles was indignant at his prolonged resistance, and sent a powerful detachment of guards, with orders to bring him the lieutenant's head. The brave Huguenot, however, still maintained the unequal siege, and fought till his last breath. The soldiers had only the poor satisfaction of pillaging his house, of dragging his sick daughter naked through the streets until she died of maltreatment, and of wounding and imprisoning his wife.[1016]

[Sidenote: Victims of personal hatred.]

Personal hatred, jealousy, cupidity, mingled with religious and political zeal, and private ends were attained in fulfilling the king's murderous commands. Bussy d'Amboise, meeting his Protestant cousin, the Marquis de Renel (half-brother of the late Prince of Porcien), by a well-directed blow with his poniard rid himself of an unpleasant suit at law which Renel had come to Paris to prosecute.

[Sidenote: Adventure of young La Force.]

The case of Caumont de la Force was still more revolting. His daughter, Madame de la Chataigneraie, in accordance with the shameless code of morals in vogue at the French court, had taken for her lover Archan, captain of the guard of Henry of Anjou; and it was to gratify her covetousness that Archan obtained from the Duke the order to despatch La Force and his two sons. The plan was successfully executed so far as the father and his elder son were concerned. The second, a boy of twelve, escaped by his remarkable presence of mind and self-control. Certain that his youth would excite no pity in the breast of his inhuman a.s.sailants, when his father and his brother fell at his side and he perceived himself covered with their blood, he dropped down with the exclamation that he was dead. So perfectly did he counterfeit death, all that long day, that, although his body was examined by successive bands of plunderers, and deprived not only of every valuable, but even of its clothing, he did not by a motion betray that he was alive. Most of these persons applauded the crime. It was well, they said, to kill the little wolves with the greater.

But, toward evening, a more humane person came, who, while engaged in drawing off a stocking which had been left on the boy's foot, gave expression to his abhorrence of the b.l.o.o.d.y deed. To his astonishment the boy raised his head, and whispered, ”I am not dead.” The compa.s.sionate man at once commanded him not to stir, and went home; but as soon as it was dark he returned with a cloak, which he threw about young La Force's shoulders, and bade him follow. It was no easy matter to thread the streets unmolested; but his guide dispelled the suspicions of those who questioned him respecting the boy by declaring that it was his nephew whom he had found drunk, and was going to whip soundly for it. In the end the young n.o.bleman reached the a.r.s.enal, where his relative, Marshal Biron, was in command. Even there, however, the avarice of his unnatural sister pursued him. Vexed that, on account of his preservation, she must fail to secure the entire inheritance of the family, Madame de la Chataigneraie tried to effect herself what she had not been able to do by means of another; she visited the marshal in the a.r.s.enal, and, after expressing great joy that her brother had been saved, begged to be permitted to see and care for him. Biron thought it necessary, in order to preserve the boy's life, to deny her request.[1017]

[Sidenote: Pitiless butchery.]

The frenzy that had fallen upon Paris affected all cla.s.ses alike. Every feeling of pity seemed to have been blotted out. Natural affection disappeared. A man's foes were those of his own household. On the plea of religious zeal the most barbarous acts were committed. Spire Niquet, a poor bookbinder, whose scanty earnings barely sufficed to support the wants of his seven children, was half-roasted in a bonfire made of his own books, and then dragged to the river and drowned.[1018] The weaker s.e.x was not spared in the universal carnage, and, as in a town taken by a.s.sault, suffered outrages that were worse than death. Matron and maiden alike welcomed as merciful the blow that liberated them from an existence now rendered insupportable. Women approaching maternity were selected for more excruciating torments, and savage delight was exhibited in destroying the unborn fruit of the womb. Nor was any rank respected. Madame d'Yverny, the niece of Cardinal Briconnet, was recognized, as she fled, by the costly underclothing that appeared from beneath the shabby habit of a nun which she had a.s.sumed; and, after suffering every indignity, upon her refusal to go to ma.s.s, was thrown from a bridge into the Seine and drowned.[1019]

Occasionally the women rivalled the cruelty of the men. A poor carpenter, of advanced age, with whom the author of the ”Tocsain contre les ma.s.sacreurs” was personally acquainted, had been taken by night and cast into the river. He swam, however, to a bridge, and succeeded in climbing up by its timbers, and so fled naked to the house of a relative near the ”Cousture Sainte Catherine,” where his wife had taken refuge. But, instead of welcoming him, his wife drove him away, and he was soon recaptured and killed.[1020] It is related that the daughter of one Jean de Coulogne, a mercer of the ”Palais,” betrayed her own mother to death, and subsequently married one of the murderers.[1021] The very innocence of childhood furnished no sufficient protection--so literally did the pious Catholics of Paris interpret the oft-repeated exhortations of their holy father to exterminate not only the roots of heresy, but the very fibres of the roots.[1022] Two infants, whose parents had just been murdered, were carried in a hod and cast into the Seine. A little girl was plunged naked in the blood of her father and mother, with horrible oaths and threats that, if she should become a Huguenot, the like fate would befall her. And a crowd of boys, between nine and ten years of age, was seen dragging through the streets the body of a babe yet in its swaddling-clothes, which they had fastened to a rope by means of a belt tied about its neck.[1023]

[Sidenote: Shamelessness of the court ladies.]

[Sidenote: Anjou encourages the a.s.sa.s.sins.]

The bodies of the more inconspicuous victims lay for hours in whatever spot they happened to be killed; but the court required ocular demonstration that the leaders of the Huguenots who had been most prominent in the late wars were really dead. Accordingly the naked corpses of Soubise, of Guerchy, of Beaudine, d'Acier's brother, and of others, were dragged from all quarters to the square in front of the Louvre.

There, as an indignant contemporary writes, extended in a long row, they lay exposed to the view of the varlets, of whom when alive they had been the terror.[1024] Cruelty and l.u.s.t are twin sisters: when the one is at hand, the other is generally not far distant. The court of Catharine de'

Medici was noted for its impurity, as it was infamous for its recklessness of human life. It was not out of keeping with its general reputation that toward evening a bevy of ladies--among them the queen mother--tripped down the palace stairs to feast their eyes upon the sight of the uncovered dead.[1025] Indeed, the king, the queen mother, and their intimate friends seemed to be in an ecstasy of joy. They indulged in boisterous laughter[1026] as the successive reports of the munic.i.p.al authorities, from hour to hour, brought in tidings of the extent of the ma.s.sacre.[1027]

”The war is now ended in reality,” they were heard to say, ”and we shall henceforth live in peace.”[1028] The Duke of Anjou took a more active part. In the street and on the Pont de Notre Dame he was to be seen encouraging the a.s.sa.s.sins.[1029] The Duke of Montpensier was surpa.s.sed by no one in his zealous advocacy of the murderous work. ”Let every man exert himself to the utmost,” he cried, as he rode through the streets, ”if he wishes to prove himself a good servant to the king.”[1030] Tavannes, if we may believe Brantome's account, endeavored to rival him, and, all day long, as he rode about amid the carnage, amused himself by facetiously crying to the people: ”Bleed! Bleed! The doctors say that bleeding is as good in the month of August as in May.”[1031]

Of the Duke of Alencon it was noticed that, alone of Catharine's sons, he took no part in the ma.s.sacre. The Protestants even regarded him as their friend, and the rumor was current that the pity he exhibited excited the indignation of his mother and brothers. Indeed, Catharine, it was said, openly told him that, if he ventured to meddle with her plans, she would put him in a sack and throw him into the river.[1032]

[Sidenote: Wonderful escapes.]

Of the pastors of the Church of Paris, it was noticed as a remarkable circ.u.mstance that but two--Buirette and Desgorris--were killed; for it was certain that no lives were more eagerly sought than theirs.[1033] But several Protestant pastors had wonderful escapes. The celebrated D'Espine--the converted monk who took part in the Colloquy of Poissy--was in company with Madame d'Yverny when her disguise was discovered, but he was not recognized.[1034] In the case of Merlin, chaplain of Admiral Coligny, the divine interposition seemed almost as distinct as in that of the prophet Elijah. After reluctantly leaving Coligny, at his earnest request, and clambering over the roof of a neighboring house, he fell through an opening into a garret full of hay. Not daring to show himself, since he knew not whether he would encounter friends or foes, he remained for three days in this retreat, his sole food an egg which a hen daily laid within his reach.[1035]

The future minister of Henry the Fourth, Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of Sully, at this time a boy of twelve and a student in the college of Burgundy in Paris, has left us in his ”Economies royales” a thrilling account of his escape. Awakened, about three o'clock in the morning, by the uproar in the streets, his tutor and his valet-de-chambre went out to learn the occasion of it, and never returned. They were doubtless among the first victims. Sully's trembling host--a Protestant who consented through fear to abjure his faith--now came in, and advised the youth to save his life by going to ma.s.s. Sully was not prepared to take this counsel, and, so putting on his scholar's gown, he ventured upon the desperate step of trying to reach the college. A horrible scene presented itself to view. Everywhere men were breaking into houses, or slaughtering their captives in the public streets, while the cry of ”Kill the Huguenots” was heard on all sides. Sully himself owed his preservation to two thick volumes of ”Heures”--Romish books of devotion--which he had the presence of mind to take under his arm, and which effectually disarmed the suspicions of the three successive bands of soldiers that stopped him. At the college, after with difficulty gaining admission, he incurred still greater danger. Happily the princ.i.p.al, M. Du Faye, was a kind-hearted man.

In vain was he urged, by two priests who were his guests, to surrender the Huguenot boy to death, saying that the order was to ma.s.sacre even the very babes at the breast. Du Faye would not consent; and after having secretly kept Sully locked up for three days in a closet, he found means to restore him to his friends.[1036]

[Sidenote: Death of the philosopher Ramus.]

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