Henry could not succour without crossing the Marne, The success of this feat, so demonstrative of the mili- i Prince of Parma, in State Papers, CHAP. XXVI. CHAP. accord, without consulting Henry's orders or con XXVI venience. The king regretted the lenience he had shown to the Parisians, for which Elizabeth reproached him, and attempting a tardy redemption of that fault, he des patched Chatillon with the infantry to surprise Paris on the side of the quarter of the University, to scale the wall if possible, and take possession of the Abbaye of St. Germain. Chatillon was too precipitate; he reached the walls too early in the night, and his presence being suspected, the Jesuits, who had their convent near, kept good watch and ward, and at daybreak appeared in armed numbers upon the walls to repel the royalists. Having failed in this attempt, all that remained for Henry was to give the semblance of a decent retreat to a complete break-up of his army; the gentry withdrew to their homes, and the king, with such soldiers as remained for pay, withdrew to Creil and Clermont, leaving the Prince of Parma to enter the capital în triumph.* Such was the campaign of 1590, and perfectly similar was that of 1591. Whenever the king mustered the valiant gentry of the province in which he happened to be at war, he was the superior in the field. The Duke of Mayenne dared not show himself, and even when the Prince of Parma joined him with his Spaniards, they were careful to take such positions as could not be forced, and to advance by such marches as did not admit of surprise. On the other hand, Henry's bril liant army, though formidable in the field, was inefficient to besiege, and very little under his command. Though they had beaten Mayenne at Ivry, and had been anxious for the capture and plunder of Parist, they * Account of disbanding of Henry's army in Sir Edward Stafford's letter of Sep. 6, 1590. S. P. France, 96. †The soldier's gains or plunder were at this time so considerable that a regular tax of one-fifth was levied upon it, and formed a handsome source of revenue. PalmaCayet. XXVI. were evidently not desirous of fighting a battle with the CHAP. Prince of Parma, the gain of which would only have confirmed Henry in his Huguenotism. The king therefore turned his hopes to the German levies, which his agents were raising, and which he trusted to Elizabeth's generosity to pay. He spent the winter of 1590-91 waiting for them, engaged at first in the siege of Clermont, and in harassing the Prince of Parma's retreat* and the spring in the siege of Chartres, which surrendered at length on the 10th of April. In the remote provinces his partisans and lieutenants vigorously held their ground, although Philip the Second sent Spanish armies to Languedoc and to Britanny. The capture of Hennebon and the fortification of the port of Blavet, in the latter duchy, had had the good effect of stirring Elizabeth to send succour, the Earl of Essex coming with 3000 of his compatriots, whilst as many more were sent to Britanny.† In the south, Montmorency held his ground against Joyeuse, who, aided by 4000 Spaniards, maintained the cause of the League. Sancy enabled the Genevese still to defy the Duke of Savoy, whilst the gallant Lesdiguières completely subdued the Catholics of Dauphiné, and compelled its capital, Grenoble, to submit. The fortunes of the war remained, however, sufficiently balanced and uncertain not only to fill Henry's mind with anxiety, but those of his supporters with disaffection. The Catholics, who had rallied to him, pressed for his conversion. The Huguenot cities held aloof, and gave small support in men or in funds. And even his own kith and kin conspired to take advantage of his weakness. One great cause of this was the inveterate enmity of Rome. Experience, indeed, had suggested to Sixtus the Fifth the folly as well as iniquity of dethroning the rightful heir of the French crown for *For this retreat see the letter of S. P. ib. Grimston, who accompanied Henry, † Henry's letter, January, 1591. XXVI. CHAP. the mere profit of Spain; for he had soon perceived the absurdity of hoping to acquire any portion of the kingdom for himself. He had therefore listened to the French envoy, the Duke of Luxemburg, had disapproved of Caietano's having identified himself with the Parisian democrats, and would no doubt have relaxed in his severity towards Henry, but death cut short his good intentions (Aug. 1590); and Philip the Second, triumphant in the conclave, procured the election of successive Popes, after his own principles and heart. Henry was also embarrassed by intrigues and infidelity on the part of his own Bourbon family. The Count of Soissons and the Cardinal of Vendôme, called also Cardinal of Bourbon, began to entertain hopes, each of them, to succeed to Henry's rights, should the Pope succeed in dethroning him as heretic. Vendôme entered into negotiations with the League, and asked for a daughter of the Duke of Guise.* Soissons' project was to espouse Catherine, Henry's sister, and strengthen his own claims by hers. The Countess of Grammont, Henry's discarded mistress (he was now completely captivated by Gabrielle d'Estrées), had planned that Soissons should carry off Catherine, but the project was defeated. What even more alarmed Henry than the intrigues of the Condés, was the discontent of the Huguenots, whom the stipulations entered into at St. Cloud left in the same oppressed condition, which they had endured under the previous king. That the accession to the throne of their own prince and chief should not restore to them the immunities they had enjoyed by previous edicts of Henry the Third himself, seemed inconceivable and intolerable. To take their just complaints into consideration, and satisfy them as far as could be done, without offending or alienating the Catholics of his party, *He afterwards asked for a daughter of the Duke of Mayenne in marriage. Letter of D'Orbais in Paulin's Paris Cabinet Historique, tom. iii. Henry summoned a council of all his friends at Mantes in July 1591. No sooner had the king opened to them his desires, as well as this claim to have the last unjust edicts of 1585 and 1588 repealed, in order to restore the Huguenots to the rights they enjoyed under the edicts of January, than the Cardinal of Vendôme arose, and in a most intemperate speech declared he would never consent to such concessions. Henry mildly replied to his relative that the old Cardinal of Bourbon had himself consented to the edict of January.* The cardinal's interested opposition to the crown's conciliating the Huguenots was eagerly supported by the Catholic followers of the king, who had pledged himself at St. Cloud to confine all grants of governorship to them. The other prelates, however, thought the cardinal vehement and exaggerated. They were fully satisfied by the declaration which Henry had recently (July) made, in answer to the accusations and anathemas of the Papal nuncio. Henry therein declared that he felt no repugnance to any set of men or of doctrines, and was desirous that a holy concile should be held to decide and instruct him in these matters, until which time he would allow no change to be made in the position of the Catholic Church. The Duke of Luxemburg was at the same time sent to Rome with proffers to the Holy See. And the Catholic prelates of his party, thus mollified and encouraged with hope of Henry's conversion, sanctioned an edict which he issued from Tours (August 8th), revoking the late iniquitous order of his predecessor, and restoring the relative state of the two religions established by the edict of January.‡ * The MSS. De Mesmes, 8931, 8, contains a report of this meeting, with Bourbon's speech. † After the battle of Ivry, Henry, from these stipulations, was obliged to refuse the governorship of Mantes to Sully, though Mantes was at his very door, and Sully was most trust- Printed copy, MSS. Fontanieu, CHAP. XXVI. |