took this deadly insult to himself: he, however, could not come forward. The rude Chataigneraie did, and asserted, that he had heard Jarnac boast of having been too intimate with his step-mother. A challenge, of course, was the consequence, and Francis was besought by the antagonists to appoint the field for a combat, the issue of which was to decide the guilt or innocence of Jarnac. Francis, however, forbade the duel, either averse to the absurd principle of judicial combat, or aware how much the imprudence of his son had been the occasion of the quarrel. On Henry's accession Jarnac renewed his challenge and demand. The king consented. The lists were prepared at St. Germain ; Henry and his court were witnesses. When the antagonists met in the enclosed field, the slender Jarnac seemed unable to resist the powerful Chataigneraie : he retired before his blows, covering himself with his buckler, until seizing an opportunity he wounded his adversary in the back of the leg, and completely disabled him. The victor, however, spared his adversary. Having in vain asked Chataigneraie to recall the calumnies that he had uttered, Jarnac advanced towards the monarch, and, by the usual courtesy of placing it at the sovereign's disposal, waved his right to his enemy's life. The fierce Chataigneraie scorned to be thus spared he refused chirurgical aid; even tore his wounds open when they had been dressed, and died. Such was the judicial combat, in which may be said to have originated the modern duel.

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The new reign was signalised by a number of new edicts. Robberies and assassinations had become more common: commerce with Italy, and the recent invention of the pistol, that convenient weapon for concealment and menace, contributed to this. Severe laws for seizing murderers were enacted, and the condemned were to be broken on the wheel. Arms were forbidden, except for the military. The jurisdiction of the provost of police was extended, to the dissatisfaction of the parliament, who protested, and could only be brought to register

1548.

INSURRECTION AT BORDEAUX.

267

the law by considering the wickedness of the age. A complete poor-law was at the same time enacted for the capital; and sumptuary edicts prohibited the use of silk and velvet, with curious exceptions in favour of different garments and personages. To call together the states was no more the policy of Henry than of Francis; and to impose new taxes was an unpopular commencement of a new reign: nevertheless, the fixed revenue did not suffice; war was becoming daily more expensive. An increase in the current value of coin, the sale of the crown lands, and the demand of a free gift from the good towns, were the first financial measures of Henry.

After his consecration the king proceeded to make the tour of his dominions, visiting his strong places, and reviewing his armies. He had reached Turin, when tidings arrived of a serious insurrection in Angoumois and Saintonge. The gabelleurs, or collectors of the salt tax, had commenced their operations in the new reign with increased rigour. The inhabitants of the little town of Lorignac first thought proper to resist: they beat the collectors, and put them to flight. The whole country, on learning this success, fell on the odious gabelleurs : the peasants armed and mustered; and the collectors having disappeared, they proceeded to attack the châteaux of the gentry. The insurrection at length reached Bordeaux; and its governor, Monneins, found it necessary to shut himself in Château-trompette, the fortress of the town. Imprudently coming forth soon afterwards to parley with the insurgents, he was slain. The people salted his mangled remains, to mark the cause of their sedition.

The king, on learning these excesses, instantly returned to Lyons, and despatched the constable with an army to crush the insurrection. The Bordelais, who

knew his severe temper, were terrified at his approach. They sent a splendid bark for his conveyance, with their keys, in token of submission, and a prayer that the lansquenets, whose violence they dreaded, might not be allowed to enter their walls. 66 My lansquenets are

loyal servitors of the king," replied Montmorency; "take back your keys; here are those I intend to make use of.”. He pointed to a formidable train of artillery. The constable's entry was like his answer,—menacing. His first care was to erect gibbets and scaffolds. One hundred citizens were thereon executed. Two peasant leaders died on the rack. The city was to lose its privileges; and its chief magistrates were compelled to disinter, with their nails, the body of Monneins, and transport it for honourable burial to the cathedral. Montmorency's progress through the insurgent provinces was marked by equal severity. Henry made afterwards some compensation for this rigour. Bordeaux recovered its privileges; and the gabelle itself was diminished. After this success the court celebrated at Moulins the marriage of Antoine de Bourbon duke de Vendôme with Jane d'Albret, daughter and heiress of the king of Navarre. From this union Henry IV. was destined to spring.

The peace with England and with the emperor had subsisted during the two first years of Henry's reign, notwithstanding the determination of all parties to reengage in war. But the emperor, though victorious over the protestants, was yet occupied in establishing and confirming the superiority that his arms had acquired. The English flag, waving on the walls of Boulogne, was what chiefly touched and occupied Henry. His views were turned in that direction, rather than towards Germany. The cautious counsels of Montmorency alone kept the young king from open war with England. The policy of France, however, acquired a victory over her enemy at this time, greater than any that her arms could effect. This was the abstraction of Mary, heiress of Scotland, from that country to France, where she was betrothed to Francis, eldest son of Henry II. In the following year the French attacked Boulogne with a large force, while the duke of Somerset, occupied with the discontents and dissensions at home, was unable to despatch an army to its relief. Nor could the emperor be induced to aid or interfere. A wet season, and an inun

1550. TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND. 269

dation, which broke up the camp of the French, and dispersed their forces, alone saved Boulogne for that year; and in the next a treaty was concluded between the crowns, greatly to the advantage of France. Boulogne was surrendered; a certain sum was paid by France, who nevertheless refused to continue the pension that Francis I. had paid to Henry. Scotland was included in the treaty.

Hume remarks, that during these negotiations the emperor observed that the prerogatives of an English king were more extensive than those of a king of France. The emperor, in one respect, spoke truth. The English king had more power over his nobles, to ruin, or cause them to be beheaded. This proceeded from the late civil wars, from the change of dynasty, and from the frequency and danger of treason. Hence the king of England was more dreaded in his court, the etiquette of which was most severe. Vieilleville, sent as an envoy to England by Henry II., observed with wonder that the British monarch was served by lords on the knee. The debonnaire Francis had established for nobles much

greater equality with the crown. But if the English kings were more powerful judicially than the French, or rather, if they made more use of that authority, the English commons, on the other hand, preserved their principal right and custom of granting taxes; and however base and obsequious were the parliaments of the Tudors, still they did wisely in not risking their existence and influence in a premature struggle with the crown,—such as had proved the ruin of the French states-general,—until the public mind had gathered the information and consistency requisite to support them; or until religious dissent and freedom of opinion had arisen to give a new and stubborn principle of force to the people.

France had now remained for six years at peace with the empire. Charles had well employed this interval of leisure in humbling and subduing the protestant league of German princes. With the aid of Maurice of

Saxony, he had defeated them at the battle of Muhlberg, in 1547. He had been severe, and even unjust, in his treatment of their chiefs, whom he retained prisoners. But his efforts had been zealously and not illiberally directed towards the impracticable task of reconciling and uniting the two hostile sects. Had the debate been even confined to Germany, any arrangement short of toleration would have been impossible. But the rights and claims, the spiritual and temporal interests of the pope, joined with his bad faith and intrigues, might have deterred even the politic and powerful Charles from the attempt. A general council was summoned at Trent. The protestants disowned, and the pontiff dreaded its authority. The appearance of a pestilential disease afforded Paul a pretext to remove it to Bologna. Months passed in discussions. The pope and the emperor could not take the same views. The pope would not yield a jot of his authority; and the emperor, sincerely interested in its consequences, was bent on restoring peace to the church. Enmity broke out between them. The assassination of the pope's nephew Farnese, by some malcontent nobles of Placentia, and the subsequent occupation of that town by the emperor, completed the disgust of Paul, who applied to Henry for his alliance and aid. But the French monarch was not yet prepared; besides, the great age of the pontiff deterred him. The emperor, in the mean time, tried his plan of conciliation. He caused to be drawn up such a series of religious tenets, as he imagined both parties might accept from a love of peace. These, known under the name of Interim, were presented to a diet: they were dissatisfactory to both parties; but the emperor insisted on submission to them, until a general council should decide.

Henry II. had hitherto forborne to interfere in these religious quarrels. He wisely determined on first settling his differences with England. Nevertheless his edicts against heretics, and his pursuit of them in his own dominions, manifested his orthodoxy. In