The Last of the Valois (Henry III.), and accession of Henry of Navarre. 1559-1589

Front matter

ANNE BUC BE MOIf TMOMEHCY. * I !o_me'l able de P ranee) Paris' Richard Bentley and Son: 1887. THE LAST OF THE VALOIS, AND ACCESSION OF HENRT OF NAVARRE. I559— !589- BY CATHERINE CHARLOTTE, LADY JACKSON, AUTHOR OF f-£ 'OLD PARIS,' 'THE OLD REGIME,' 'COURT OF LOUIS XVI.,' 'COURT OF THE TUILERIES,' 'COURT OF FRANCE IN THE I 6tH CENTURY,' ETC. IN TWO FOLUMES. FOL. I. LONDON : RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON, •.lublishcrs in (©rtinaru to Sjer JHajcstr. the 6\}\xun. 1888. [AU Rights Reserved 7\ PACR 5 32 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHp'VPTER I. Introductory

Chapter II

Accession of Francis II. — The King's ' Uncles.' — Catherine and Diana. — The Keys of the King's Cabinet and the Crown Jewels. — Exchange of Chaumont for Chenonceaux. — Francis II. and Oueen Mary. — The 'New Opinions.' — Antony, King of Navarre, and Louis de Conde. — Antony's Journey to Paris. — The Flying Squadron. — Antony threatens to head the ' Malcontents' -------

Chapter III

Coronation Festivities. — Tearful Adieux. — The Bridal Cortege. — Terrible Weather and Terrible Roads. — Philip's Perils by Sea.— His Grand Auto-da-fe.— Jeanne d'Albret and the Bridal Party. — The Ceremony at Roncevaux. — Grand Reception at Madrid.— A Sudden Friendship - CONTENTS. IV PAGE 4-5 59 87 109

Chapter IV

The King's Mysterious Malady.— The ' Wise Men :' their Enchantments.— Magic Scenes at Chaumont. — Ruggieri's Predictions. — Religious Persecution. — Anne Dubourg. — Appeal to the Young King. — The Gracious Concession. — The 'Malcontents.' — The Scotch Reformers : their Example followed -

Chapter V

The Amboise Conspiracy. — Barry de La Renaudie. — The Six Brothers of the House of Guise. — Antony, King of Navarre. — The Plot revealed. — Conde joins the Court at Amboise. — Nemours* Errand of Mercy. — -La Renaudie's Encounter in the Forest of Chateau- Renault. — Nemours succeeds in his Mission. — Treachery. — Royal Amusements. — Conde's Challenge to Single Combat ------

Chapter VI

The Court leave Amboise. — De L'Hopital succeeds to the Chancellorship. — The Inquisition opposed by him. — Death of Marie de Guise. — Court Gaieties and Court Intrigues. — The Plan of the Tuileries. — Cellini invited by Catherine to Paris. — Much flattered, but declines to leave Florence. — The Admiral at Fontainebleau. — States-General convoked -

Chapter VII

The Guises and the Protestant Chiefs. — Arrest and Trial of Conde. — Proposed Assassination of King Antony. — Plot a Failure. — Conde condemned to Death. — Illness of Francis II. — His Death, December 5th, 1560. — Queen-Mother's Arrangement with Antony. — Conde* Free. — The Chancellor de L'Hopital CONTENTS. V PAGE 134 148 16.1 182

Chapter VIII

Accession of Charles IX. — Catherine his Guardian with the Power of Regent. — King of Navarre Lieutenant- General. — Cardinal de Lorraine leaves for Rheims. — States-General abolish many Abuses. — The Parliament oppose the Reforms. — Extinction of Debts of the Crown.— States-General adjourn. — Conde's Innocence publicly proclaimed -

Chapter IX

Catherine's Crooked Policy. — Her ' Flying Squadron.' — -Mary Stuart's Mourning. — Sir Nicholas Throckmorton's Letters.— Mary in Lorraine. — Her Brother, the Bishop, and other Advisers.— Her Departure. — Charles's Deep Impressions. — Damville, Brantome and others accompany her. — Arrival in Scotland. — The Nobles sympathize - - - - -

Chapter X

Conde's Return to Court. — Antony roused to Action. — The States of Pontoise. — Colloquy of Poissy. — The Calvinistic Minister, Theodore de Beze. — Catherine's Letter to Pius IV. — Consternation at the Vatican. — The Legate and the General of the Jesuits. — Edict of Tolerance, January, 1562 -

CHAPTER XL

The Cardinal Ferrara. — Antony's Conversion. — His promised Rewards. — His Treatment of Jeanne d'Albret.— Her Heart henceforth closed to Love.— Guise urged to return to Paris. — Massacre of Vassy. — Catherine and Charles at Monceaux.— Court flying from Chateau to Chateau.— Guise enters Paris in great State. — Antony and De Beze- CONTENTS. VI ■AGE '97 220 240 261

Chapter XII

Catherine perplexed. — Massacre of Sens. — Frightful Retaliation. — Churches sacked. — The Admiral's Wife. — Attack on Rouen. — -Antony wounded.- — Jeanne d'Albret. — Her Anxiety respecting her Son.— Returns to her own Dominions -

Chapter XIII

Battle of Dreux. — Montmorency and Conde' Prisoners. — Guise's proposed Attack on Orleans. — His Assassination. — The Peace of Amboise. — Conde and the Flying Squadron. — Princess of Conde dies of Grief. — Mademoiselle de Limeuil. — The Marechale Saint-Andre. — Catherine's Reign now begins -

Chapter XIV

Coligny accused of assassinating Guise. — Siege and Capitulation of Havre. — A Royal Tour in the Provinces.- -A Change of Tactics. — Catherine decides for the Catholic Cause. — The First Stone of the Tuileries. — Piety and Pleasure the Order of the Day. — The Queen of Spain at Bayonne. — Grand Festivities. — The Salmon and the Frogs. — Double Marriage proposed - - - - -

Chapter XV

The Court at Moulins. — The Reconciliation and ' Kiss of Peace.' — -The New Year. — Horrors in the Netherlands. — Surprise and Arrest of Conde and Coligny projected. — Hasty Departure of the Court. — Charles in a Rage at flying before his Subjects. — A Long Ride ; Charles Weary and Hungry. — Battle of Saint- Denis, November, 1567. — Death of Montmorency - CONTENTS. VII 'AGE 283 304 328

Chapter XVI

-^njou Lieutenant-General. — Siege of Chartres. — Jean Casimer and the German troops. — Catherine's Treachery. — Warned by Tavannes. — Fording the Loire. — Jeanne d'Albret and her Son. — Odet de Chatillon and Elizabeth of England. — De L'Hopital's Retirement. — Don Carlos and Elizabeth of France -

Chapter XVII

Battle of Jarnac. — Death of Conde. — Anjou's Delight ; the Te Deum. — Henry of Navarre ; the Oath and the Medal. — Death of D'Andelot ; Poison suspected. — Fifty Thousand Crowns for Coligny, Dead or Alive. — Victory or Death ; Money or Battle. — Battle of Moncontour. — Coligny wounded. — Peace of Saint- Germain, 8th of August, 1570

Chapter XVIII

Peace disapproved by Philip and Pius V. — Marguerite and Due de Guise. — Anjou refuses to marry Queen Elizabeth. — Philip's Fourth Wife. — Charles marries Elizabeth of Austria. — Marguerite's Hand refused by Sebastian of Portugal. — The Bourbon Marriage resolved on. — Biron sent to Queen of Navarre to offer Marguerite to Henry. — Coligny invited by Charles IX. to Chateau de Blois. — Sets out from La Rochelle, against Advice of Friends - - - -

Chapter XIX

Coligny's Reception at Blois by Charles IX. — Catherine jealous of Coligny's Influence. — Jeanne d'Albret visits the French Court. — Jeanne's Letter to her Son, Henry CONTENTS. VIII PAGE 34-5 363 377 of Navarre. — The Court of Catherine de' MedicL — The Pope refuses the Dispensation for the Marriage. — Catherine's Proposals to Queen Elizabeth. — Warlike Preparations : Coligny's Plans. — The Court leaves Blois for Paris. — Death of Jeanne d'Albret. — Poison suspected ------

Chapter XX

Marriage of Marguerite and Henry deferred. — Catherine seeks to thwart Coligny's Plans. — Charles flies from his Counsellors. — Catherine opposed to War with Spain. — Elizabeth again pressed to marry D'Alencon. -Arrival in Paris of Henry of Navarre. — The Betrothal. — The Dispensation dispensed with. — 'Les Noces Vermeilles.' — Marguerite declares she never accepted Henry. — The Admiral's fatal Confidence in Charles IX. — A Saturnalia -

Chapter XXI

Anjou a Candidate for the Crown of Poland. — The Kiss of Peace twice given. — Attack on the Admiral instigated by the Guises. — The King in a Rage when informed of it. — Charles visits the Admiral, but cannot free himself from his Mother's and Brother's Company. — The Admiral's Private Advice to Charles. — The Massacre arranged. — A Band of Demons. — Charles long withstands his Infamous Mother's Arguments. — ' Par la Mort Dieu ! give your orders. Let them die ! Let none remain to reproach me ' - CONTENTS. IX PAGH 391

Chapter XXII

.Arranging for the Success of the Massacre. — The Provost ot Paris, Le Charron. — Catherine regardless even of her Daughter's Safety. — To the Guises the Honour of beginning the Massacre. — Alert before Dawn. — Guilty Consciences. — The Admiral's Death countermanded : Too late. — Already slain. — His Head sent to Catherine. — Charles like a Madman: 'Kill! kill !' — Catherine and her ' Filles d'Honneur.' — Rejoicings in Rome and Madrid. — Bells, Bonfires, Te Deums and Cannon. — Medals, Pictures and Compliments ------ LIST OF PORTRAITS. VOL. I. ANNE DE MONTMORENCV , . . Frontispiece {Constable of France) CHARLES IX To face p. 134 THE CHANCELLOR DE L'HOPITAL „ „ 29s CATHERINE DE' MEDICI . ,. ,. THE LAST OF THE VALOIS.

Chapter I. Introductory

HE death of Henry II. of France — suddenly struck down in the full force of manhood, and in the midst of the brilliant festivities following the Peace of Cateau- Cambresis and the royal betrothals and marriages, pledges of its ' perpetual endurance ' — was regarded by Protestants as a signal mark of Heaven's displeasure on the persecuting king. But while the infamous compact he had entered into with the cruel and fanatical Philip II. of Spain was especially de precated by the Reformers, Frenchmen generally, whether Catholics or Protestants, who were animated by a spark of patriotism, bowed their heads with shame and deplored the political incapacity of the sovereign who had assented to a treaty so humilivol. i. ! [1559- THE LAST OF THE VALOIS. ating to France, both as regarded her interests and her honour.

For at the instance of a grasping and unscrupulous favourite (the Constable Anne de Mont morency) Henry had ceded to the Spaniard — whose military resources were at the time far inferior to his own, and his financial difficulties even more pressing — all the Italian conquests of the three preceding reigns. The Italian wars, now ended by the renunciation of all the claims of France on Italy, had continued for upwards of sixty years, causing immense expenditure to the State, and a prodigal waste of human life. But this cessation of foreign warfare was not to ensure the future tranquillity or prosperity of France. War more bitter, more bloody, more savage, was to succeed it, and lay waste and depopulate the country for the next thirty-six years — war whose object was not the conquest of territory, but the extermination of heresy.

For Philip and Henry had bound themselves to aid each other, by rigid and persistent persecution, in suppressing the efforts then making in France and elsewhere to secure liberty of conscience and freedom of religious worship. An entire change soon ensued in the social relations of the French. Instead of going forth I559-] INTRODUCTORY. 3 to fight their foes Frenchmen now took up arms to fight among themselves, religious fanaticism as a demon suddenly seeming to possess them. The torch of discord blazed forth ; the burning pile was ignited ; brothers, parents, children, friends and citizens, armed against each other. The wildest and most inordinate passions inflamed and perverted men's minds. The kingdom was given up a prey to various factions, to spies, assassins, executioners ; and religious strife and civil war with their attendant horrors stalked through the land.

Thus did the brilliant sixteenth century, the era of the Renaissance, so resplendent at its dawn, become for the greater part of its latter half occu pied with the combat of the spirit of progress against the spirit of death — that ' Demon of the South who would have stifled the independent nationalities under a counterfeit Roman Empire, and suppressed the growth of human intelligence under a counterfeit Gregory VII.' (H. Martin). During the time that Henry lingered, hovering between life and death, the several parties in the State were actively intriguing, each to secure its succession to, or continuance in power. The monarch's death occurred on the eleventh day — I oth July, 1559 — after receiving the fatal wound 1 — [1559- 4 at the tournament. It was the signal for the commencement of those intestine troubles and series of calamities which so long afflicted France under the last of the weak and dissolute Valois kings.

Urged to crime by their iniquitous mother, Catherine de' Medici ; preyed upon by a host of unworthy favourites — to support whose reckless extravagance the people were oppressed and brought to the very verge of desperation and poverty by heavy and unjust taxation — each of Catherine's unhappy sons pursued his short career of vice and bloodshed while revelling in the profli gate pleasures of the depraved Court over which she as queen-mother presided. '559-1 THE DUKE AND THE CARDINAL. 5

Chapter II

Accession of Francis II.— The King's ' Uncles.'— Catherine and Diana. — The Keys of the King's Cabinet and the Crown Jewels. — Exchange of Chaumont for Chenonceaux — Francis II. and Queen Mary. — The 'New Opinions.' — Antony, King of Navarre, and Louis de Conde. — Antony's Journey to Paris. — The Flying Squadron. — Antony threatens to head the ' Malcontents.' HE unexpected event that placed Francis II. — a sickly youth in his sixteenth year — on the throne of France, also raised the Due de Guise and his brother, the Cardinal de Lorraine, to that prominent and important position in the State which by their intrigues they had already prepared for themselves in bringing about the marriage of the dauphin with their niece Mary Stuart. This marriage, considered at the time the most favourable event that could happen for furthering the views of France on Scotland and England, and for the interests of the dauphin, became in a great measure the source of most of the troubles that [1559- followed the death of Henry, by giving a free course to the ambition of the Guises of Lorraine.

That their ambitious views would be so speedily realized was, of course, far from being then foreseen. But Fortune was said to be always on the side of the Guises, playing into their hands by a timely clearing away of the obstacles that stood between them and the wealth and lucrative honours they so eagerly coveted, no matter what means must be employed to obtain them.* Since the release from captivity and return to Court of Henry's bosom friend and ' good gossip ' the Constable Montmorency, the influence of the Guises had greatly waned. Consequently they had held much aloof latterly from affairs of State, retiring to their estates in Lorraine to conceal their dissatisfaction, as well as to watch and wait for an opportunity of thwarting the views and schemes — no less rapacious than their own — of * The Guises were six brothers, of whom the two eldest, Francois de Lorraine, Due de Guise, and Charles de Lorraine, Cardinal and Archbishop of Rheims, played the most con spicuous part in the government of the kingdom.

The other brothers were Claude de Lorraine, Due d'Aumale, Louis de Lorraine, Cardinal dc Guise, Rene de Lorraine, Marquis d'Elbeuf, and Francois, Grand Prieur de France, the recognised bastard of the House of Guise. 59-] ANNE DE MONTMORENCY. 7 their formidable rival. To supplant him in the con fidence and affections of his royal master it would have been vain to attempt. For so entirely was the weak monarch guided and governed by the constable, whose aim was to abase the Guises, as it was theirs to bring discredit on him, that Henry's opinions and decisions on all matters relating to the government of the kingdom were but the reflex of those of his arrogant and self seeking favourite. But the Guises, the Bourbons and Mont morencys were not the only aspirants for power who in that intriguing Court hastened to turn to account this critical moment of general confusion and alarm.

The long-pent-up hatred of Catherine de' Medici towards the Duchesse de Valentinois — Diana of Poitiers — was now, she believed, to be fully gratified. The vengeance of the slighted wife should be wreaked on the hitherto powerful and haughty favourite, to whom for many years she had been compelled submissively to yield the honours due to herself as queen. Apparently she had borne this humiliation with much meekness, though her assumed air of subjection deceived but few — perhaps not even Diana herself. The time, however, had arrived for casting aside the mask that so long had partly concealed the true feeling [1559- 8 THE LAST OF THE VALOIS. and character of this worthy daughter of the Medici. No sooner did the heavily long-drawn sigh in which Henry II. breathed his last tell to those around him that the spirit had departed, than the anxious, weeping wife, watching beside him for the supreme moment that was to give her power and freedom of action, rose from her kneeling posture.

Already a change had come over her. Her usually subdued manners and forced gentle ness of expression — little in harmony with her true feeling, as her large, dark, restless, flashing eyes often betrayed — had wholly vanished. She now stood proud and defiant, and, as some thought, seemed to have gained in stature, as, with a queen-like air she had hitherto never dared to assume, she summoned an attendant and despatched an authoritative command to the Duchesse de Valentinois. Diana had remained in her apartment at the Palais des Tournelles in the hope that her royal lover, who had received what proved his death blow while wearing her colours and displaying his prowess in her presence, might yet rally, so robust was his constitution. This was not, however, the general expectation. An order to leave the palace and retire to her estates had been sent to her some '559-J DIANA'S REPLY TO CATHERINE. 9 few days after the tournament.

But on ascer taining that it came from Catherine, and that the king still lived, and had partly recovered conscious ness, she replied that ' she obeyed no orders but those of her sovereign.' From hour to hour those in her confidence kept her informed of Henry's condition. On the eleventh morning, on being told that Henry was rapidly sinking and could not survive through the day, the duchess, already prepared for a sudden departure, at once left Les Tournelles and retired to her magnificent Chateau of Anet. Thus she avoided the mortifi cation of being expelled from the palace by the ' banker's daughter ' whom she had so long patron ized, compelled her husband to tolerate and to refrain from sending back to her Florentine relatives, as both Henry and Francis I. had at times threatened they would do during the first ten years of her marriage.

In compliance with Catherine's demand for the restitution of the Crown jewels and the keys of the king's cabinet, Diana forwarded from Anet the magnificent rings she for years had been accustomed to wear. Also with the keys of the cabinet, some pearls, diamonds, and other jewels which, although the property of the Crown, were not reserved for the adornment of the queens of [1559- THE LAST OF THE VALOIS. 10 France, but from the time of Francis I. had passed, together with the monarch's favour, from mistress to mistress. They were now deposited with Catherine, who, however, was not to have the satisfaction of appearing in them at Court, for the young king, acting on the suggestion of his ' uncles ' — the Guises had arrogated to themselves that title — ordered their delivery to the brilliant young Queen Mary.

Francis II., although legally of age, was of course from youth and inexperience wholly in capable of taking any important part in the government of the kingdom. He was, however, so greatly elated at becoming King of France, that his joy entirely overcame any natural grief or regret he might have been supposed to feel or express at the death of his father, or the accident that produced it. His delight was indeed so excessive that the historian Mathieu says ' it had the singular effect of curing him of a fever he was suffering from when Henry died.' The new king's weakly constitution, and, as most contemporary writers assert, deficiency of intelligence, together with the ascendency acquired over him by the wiles of his lively, pleasure-loving, youthful wife, placed him wholly in the power of the Guises, by whom Mary herself was guided and governed. '5 59-] THE KING'S UNCLES. 11 By flattery they gained his confidence, and having conducted him and his queen from the Palais des Tournelles to the Louvre on the announcement of Henry's death, they there in full council induced him to announce that ' he desired to be assisted in governing his kingdom by the experi ence and counsels of his " uncles." ' He had there fore committed the command of his armies to the Due de Guise, and the charge of the finances to the Cardinal de Lorraine, Archbishop of Rheims.

The queen-mother soon perceived that she could not reckon on the obedience of, a son so com pletely under the spell of his wife's fascinations. That wife was her own apt pupil. But Catherine detested her ; for it was painfully evident to her that as she had bowed to the yoke of the elderly maitresse-en-titre, she must again dissemble for awhile, and submit to that of a wife of seventeen. On the former she had hoped for the satisfac tion of being revenged ; but here the Guises once more thwarted her. Originally they had mainly owed their elevation to the Duchesse de Valen tinois ; but now they were independent of her favour, needing not her good offices, and, but that these six brothers furthered each other's interests in every way, would have cared little * how deeply she was humiliated. One of their [1559- THE LAST OF THE VALOIS. 12 number, the Due d'Aumale, had, however, married the duchess's second daughter ; consequently he was one of»her heirs.

They were unwilling, therefore, that estates, which eventually, in part if not wholly, would come into their family, should be lost to them by confiscation. A prudent attempt at conciliation had also been made by Diana's offer to Catherine of her chateau and domain of Chenonceaux-sur-Cher, which she had long desired to possess, and had compelled Diana to pay for, having, in her indignation at Henry's disregard of her wishes, instigated a former owner of the estate to contest her free right to it as a royal gift. Diana had greatly embellished the chateau and grounds, and Catherine gladly con sented to accept her offer, but not exactly as a gift. She gave her in exchange for it the Chateau of Chaumont-sur-Loire, the advantage of the ex change being greatly on Catherine's side. It is scarcely probable that her revengeful feelings were fully appeased by the possession of Chenonceaux, as she was supposed to have determined not only on the humiliation, but the death of her rival.

But the frustration of her hopes of governing the young king and, as a matter of course, his kingdom, deprived her of the power of carrying out designs to which the Guises, in their !559-] DIANA LENIENTLY DEALT WITH. 13 own interests, gave no countenance. The Duchesse de Valentinois was therefore so leniently dealt with. She made her splendid abode of Anet her habitual residence, and retained her other estates and the immense wealth she possessed wholly un molested. Occasionally she visited Chaumont, after its legal cession to her in December, 1559. There, architects and other artists were employed in transforming that feudal fortress into a more modern, elegant, and suitable residence for the lady of Anet. Meanwhile political intrigue for the purpose of undermining the power of the Guises, and trans ferring it to herself, occupied the time and thoughts of Catherine de' Medici.

The duke and the cardinal shared between them the effective power of the kingdom ; but to conciliate Catherine they left her the apparent general superintendence of the Government. She had, in fact, seized on that almost at the very moment of Henry's death. The Venetian ambassador, Giovanni Michiel, says, ' She had been thought timid because during the king's lifetime she had not dared to meddle in any matter of importance. But no sooner was the breath out of his body than the courage and audacity of her character were fully displayed. [1559- 14 Disregarding the custom of the French Court, requiring a widowed Queen of France to seclude herself for forty days, she gave no time to such useless grief, but dined in public on the morrow of her husband's death, and gave audience to all who sought it.

She sent to the chancellor for the great seal used by the sovereign, and began to take in hand the direction of affairs, less like a woman than a man full of courage and well versed in the government of a State. She has not allowed,' he continues, ' her designs to be easily penetrated, for, like Leo X. and all his race, she is a proficient in the art of dissimulation.' Catherine, however, accompanied the king and queen, the Guises, and the Dukes of Ferrara, Savoy, and Nemours, who attended them, to the Louvre. When about to enter the carriage, as usual, before her daughter-in-law, she suddenly seemed to bethink her that she had descended a step in rank. Drawing hastily back, and turning with a dignified air towards the young queen, she said, ' Madame, it is now your turn to take pre cedence of me.' * Besides his high office of Constable of France, Anne de Montmorency held that of grand-master of the household.

This enjoined on him the duty * Mathieu, ' Histoire de France.' 5S9-] THE CONSTABLE'S VISIT TO THE KING. 15 of remaining with the body of the late king until removed from the palace for burial. Excessive grief at the untimely end of the sovereign, who alone of the Court showed him either friendship or affection, also prevented him from following Francis and his ' uncles,' the queen and queen mother to the Louvre. But ere the preparations for the royal obsequies — ' surpassing in solemn splendour any that France had hitherto witnessed ' — were quite ended, the constable, accompanied by his sons and nephews, snatched a moment from his duties to repair to the palace to pay his respects to the new king, and to see and advise the queen mother. But the Guises had taken advantage of his forced absence from the council to confirm their own power.

If they stood not high in the favour of the Court because of their avarice, and still more because of their success in gratifying it, they were at least not abhorred, as was the constable, for brutally insulting manners. On the contrary, they were exceedingly courteous, and were regarded by the younger nobility as models of courtly dignity and high breeding. Their reputation too, especially that of the duke, was great among the people. Had he not saved Metz and retaken Calais, and shed fresh lustre on his arms by his [1559. humanity to the suffering soldiers of the defeated armies ? Both brothers had also raised their voices in condemnation of Montmorency's ready conces sion to all the demands of Philip II., when the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis was signed. Further, zealous Catholics looked to them, as the declared irreconcilable enemies of the ' new opinions,' to put down and effectually stamp out the ' devilish heresy ' now troubling the Church, also the righteous spirit of the violent and persecuting pontiff, Paul IV., as well as threatening disaster to the kingdom.

Such indeed was their credit that Catherine — in conversation with Montmorency, while the young king was learning from ' his uncles ' how he should receive the constable, and what he should say to him — declared that she thought it more dangerous to irritate than to raise them to power, and that it was on the whole safer to employ them in the great offices of State than to dismiss them from the Court. But the constable, who had hitherto treated Catherine with much superciliousness, was now willing, in order to regain that influential position in the Government which had been so audaciously, as he considered, snatched from him, to ally himself with her and the Bourbon princes for the overthrow of the Guises. He advised her, 1559-1 THE FLORENTINE BANKER'S DA UGHTER. 17 therefore, not to allow France at the 'beginning of the new reign to have reason to doubt of its happy and peaceful continuance. ' The ardent love,' he said, ' which the French bore to their princes made them their willingly obedient subjects ; but, on the other hand, the domination of foreigners — as were the Guises of Lorraine — was an odious and insupportable yoke to the nation.

He urged her, then, to lose no time in summoning the King of Navarre — first prince of the blood — and his brothers to Court ; their absence being much to be regretted. Hitherto the constable had paid assiduous court to Diana, and entered into family connections with her by marrying one of his sons to her grand daughter. Diana's day, however, was ended, and Montmorency, like the Guises, had turned his back on her. But the ' Florentine banker's daughter,' as he as well as Diana had sometimes called her, abhorred both her husband's favourites. She did not forget that the constable had suggested doubts of her fidelity by remarking to the king ' how strange it was that none of his children at all resembled him except his natural daughter, Diana.' Yet she dissembled as usual, and while affecting to believe, as he assured her, that her own interests vol. 1. [1559- 18 were identical with those of Antony of Navarre, resolved to accept with good grace that share in the government of the kingdom which the Guises were willing to allow her — trusting to the future, and no distant one probably, for the fuller realiza tion of her ambitious aims.