XXIV. CHAP. the country south of the Loire, withdrew to Paris, and Catherine despatched Castelnau to procure succours from Duke John William of Saxony. This prince, who had been at the court of Henry the Second, and who was of the Confession of Augsburg, did not scruple to appear in the field against Calvinists. He came with 5000 Germans at Catherine's request. The queen mother was, however, naturally suspicious,, and as much alarmed as pleased at their approach. She saw 6000 Calvinist reistres with the Prince of Condé before Chartres. If she brought 5000 more, also Protestant, to oppose them, these foreigners would be masters of the kingdom, and the rival leaders of the auxiliaries might come to an understanding for the purpose. To such a pass had the contempt of the upper classes of the French for their own peasantry and lower orders brought the country, that both it and they were at the mercy of German soldiers. And whilst Frenchmen were struggling, or supposed to be struggling, for their rights and creeds, which most interest and excite the mind of man, the population literally allowed itself to be set aside, and have its quarrels fought and decided by strangers. It has been before observed, that the exclusive employment of mercenary troops in Italy, and the little zeal or activity which they showed against each other, disgusted the princes of that country with war altogether, as the means of wringing advantages or crushing enemies. They in consequence had recourse to treachery and assassination. Catherine of Medicis was perhaps led by the same experience to the same line of policy and conduct. At all events she now, after duly consulting her astrologer, Novio*, made offers of peace, and there were forthwith acclamations in the Huguenot camp to accept them. The gentry and their retainers, who chiefly composed the army, who received no pay, and foresaw * Norreys. H no battle, were most desirous of revisiting their homes threatened by their Catholic neighbours. The admiral and the Prince of Condé were for refusing the peace, which was proposed merely to get them to disarm and to dismiss their reistres. They were, however, as La Noue observes, overborne, and had no powers of resistance. The offers of the court to renew the terms of the peace of 1562 were therefore accepted. The Huguenots stipulated in turn to surrender the towns they had conquered, themselves to disperse and to disarm, and the reistres to be sent home, the court undertaking to pay them with the aid of 100,000 crowns, which the Protestants were to furnish. The treaty of Longjumeau was concluded on the 7th of March, 1568. And the Prince of Condé not only abandoned the siege of Chartres, but gave up Orleans, Blois, Auxerre, Soissons, La Charité, and with them almost all the advantages which the brief but well fought campaign had won.* Peace, however, was more easy to sign than to enforce. The Duc de Nemours in his government refused to execute its conditions. The parliament of Toulouse hanged the messenger who came to signify the treaty. The Catholic garrisons which reoccupied Protestant towns, indulged in such excesses, and committed so many acts of vengeance and oppression, that the still independent towns refused to receive the royal troops or governors.† La Rochelle pleaded that it had always been exempt from a garrison, and was determined to continue so. At the same time several of the regi *For the Treaty of Longjumeau, see, as well as printed annals, MSS. Colbert, 29. † Pasquier enumerates amongst the bad results of these wars, the habit of appointing a governor to every little town, which was done at first, he says, to resist and keep down the Huguenots, and which in Letters of Rochellois, MSS. CHAP. XXIV СНАР. ments which had served under Condé, especially one commanded by Coqueville, took the road to the Low Countries to enter the service of the Prince of Orange. Marshal Cossé attacked, defeated, and hanged Coqueville. The court entered into engagements with the Swiss soldiers to maintain them as a permanent force, and sent them to garrison the towns upon the Loire.* A bull was procured from the Pope for the extirpation of heresy, and the sale of 150 millions of ecclesiastical revenue to enable the court to accomplish it. These and other indications filled the leading Huguenots with alarm, both parties at the same time endeavouring to gain the king's young brother, the Duke of Anjou, to their side. The Cardinal of Lorraine promised him a large sum yearly from the Church if he would unite with it, and forbear to court the Huguenots. A descent on England to liberate the Queen of Scots, a marriage with her, and a successful claim in her name to the throne of England, were held out as an enterprise easy. of achievement. To defeat these dangerous machinations of the Guises, the Constable Montmorency represented to young Anjou how much preferable it would be for him to demand the hand of Elizabeth, and reign as her husband. Montmorency communicated his plan through its envoy to the English government, which replied that it did not repudiate the overture, and that however little likelihood there might be of a result, still it was advisable to go on with it. In these negotiations Anjou was induced to betray the secrets of the court, and the admiral thus learned of a deep plot laid for his destruction.‡ * Fontanieu, portf. 313. † Négot. de Cardinal Rambouillet. MSS. Bethune, 8750. Norreys' letter to the Queen, June 7, 1568. After stating the admiral's account of the cardinal's offers to Anjou, and his design upon England, Norreys proceeds:—" The admiral gives your highness to understand of great practices of late, to surprise the nobility here; that the Prince of Condé was sought to be entrapped by La Valette, L'Amiral by Chavigny, D'Andelot by XXIV. Warnings from other quarters were not wanting. CHAP. Tavannes himself, on receiving orders to arrest Condé and Coligny, states in his memoirs, that he warned them of their danger. They escaped in consequence, the one from Noyon, the other from Tanlay, with their wives and children, and narrowly avoiding capture as they passed the Loire, with some difficulty succeeded in reaching La Rochelle, August 1568. This town, surrounded by a Protestant population and "within twenty-four hours of Falmouth," consequently open to English succour from sea, became henceforth the stronghold of the Huguenot party. From hence the chiefs issued a hasty summons to the Reformers, who were generally as eager to commence a new war as precipitate to terminate one in full operation. A provocatory edict issued by the king, prohibiting any religion save the Catholic, and confiscating the property of all who professed dissentient tenets, gave a stimulus to their zeal. It was at this time the Chancellor de l'Hôpital withdrew from court and from the duties of his office to his retreat at Vignay, after refusing to sign a decree banishing Protestant pastors. The Huguenots rose in all parts of the south, and showed no more mercy to their enemies than had been shown to them. D'Andelot, Montgomery, the Vidame de Chartres, and La Noue brought 2000 foot and 800 horse from Britanny and the adjoining provinces south of the Loire. Mouvans raised a large force in Dauphiné, and although it was defeated and dispersed by the Duke of Nemours, considerable numbers of it rallied to the Prince of Condé. The Queen of Navarre traversed Gascony with 3000 foot and 400 horse, Tavannes and Barbassière. Being advertised, the scheme was frustrated, but they were so sure of it, that the regiment of Genlis was promised to Villeroy, and the government of the Isle of France, which Montmo- 43. XXIV. CHAP. accompanied by her young son of fifteen, the future Henry IV. Him she solemnly presented to the people of La Rochelle as a soldier of the Prince of Condé for the present, and for the future, if required, a princely leader. If the Huguenots were the first to be formidable, and to make use of their strength in reducing the towns between the Loire and Garonne, the Catholics were not idle. Catherine spared no effort to muster a formidable army for her son, the Duke of Anjou, who, as lieutenant-general, was to command it. The Pope had provided funds; Spain, Savoy, and Germany furnished troops, and in the spring of 1569 the royalist army outnumbered that of Condé, which was still 20,000 strong. After several skirmishes and encounters during the month of March the armies manœuvred in each other's presence between Angoulême and Cognac, the river Charente separating them. The aim of the Huguenots was to prevent their enemies crossing it. But the officer, charged with observing the broken bridge of Châteauneuf, having dispersed his men in too dis tant quarters, the Duke of Anjou repaired the bridge and brought his army over it in the night of the 12th of March, 1569. Perceiving, at dawn, that the royalists had effected a passage, D'Andelot attacked them, but with very insufficient force. The admiral came to his aid, but at the same time reinforcements joining the Catholics, whilst the Prince of Condé could only come up from Jarnac with half his force, the Duke of Anjou was able to bring the whole of his army into action. The Huguenot chiefs sought to compensate by their audacity for having allowed themselves to be surprised, the Prince of Condé himself fighting with desperate valour. Although his leg had been broken by the kick of a horse he charged the enemy's vanguard, checked and drove it in, but was immediately attacked in flank by the Duke of Anjou's battle of gens-d'armerie. The |