Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: a History of France principally during that period. Translated by M. A. Garvey

Preface

. As a German I venture to say a word upon the History of France. Great peoples and states have a double cha racter, — one national, and the other belonging to the destinies of the world. Their history, in a si mdar manner, presents a twofold aspect. So far as it forms an essential feature in the development of humanity generady, or records a prevaihng influ ence exercised upon that development, it awakens a curiosity which extends far beyond the limits of nationahty ; it attracts the attention and becomes an object of study even to those who are not natives of the countries whose story is narrated. Perhaps the difference between the Greek authors who have treated on the history of ancient Rome in its flourishing period, and the Romans them-

PREFACE.

. selves, consists in the fact that the Greeks have re garded the subject as it affected the whole world, whdst the Romans have looked at it nationady. The object is the same : the writers differ in the positions from which they view it, but together they inform posterity. Amongst modern nations none has exercised a more manifold and enduring influence upon others than the French. It is not surprising to hear men say that the history of France — that at least of modern ages — is the history of Europe. I am my self very far from sharing this opinion. France has by no means shut herself up from the impidses springing out of the four great civilized nations of Europe by which she is surrounded. From Italy she has received hterary and artistic culture. The chief founders of her monarchy hi the seventeenth century took Spain for their model.

The tendencies to rehgious reformation were derived from Germany ; those to political regeneration from the example of England. It is however unquestionable that general fer mentations, at least throughout the Continent, have for a long period commenced principady in France. The French have always taken the hvehest interest

PREFACE.

. V in the great problem of the State and the Church, and expounded it to ad others with peculiar power of utterance : it has ever been their manner to cen tralize the free efforts of intedect, — to give to a theory, once conceived, a practical application. But the realm of opinion is not the only one in which they have sought to rule. Ambitious, warlike, and in cited by feelings of national pride, they have kept then neighbours in a state of constant* excitement and anned exercise, for causes springing from the claims of their system, or even without them, — now assuming an attitude defiant and aggressive, now one of defence against actual or imaginary dangers ; sometimes liberating the oppressed, stdl more frequently oppressing the free. Epochs have occasion ady arisen in which the national history of France has, through the importance of the events whose occurrence it detads, and the extent of their opera tion, acquired in itself a universal character.

Such an epoch is that which I have undertaken to depict in the foUowing pages. Characters hke those of Francis I., Catharine de' Medici and her sons, the Admiral Coligny, the two Guises, the great Bourbon Henry IV., Mary de' Medici, Richelieu, Mazarin, and Louis XIV., belong

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. VI as well to universal history as to that of France. Ad these personages, distinguished whether by great and good quahties or by the opposite, derive their distinctive character from their connection with the politico-rehgious contest which extended gene rady over the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This contest did not arise so much from the antagonism of the two systems of doctrine — for within the boundaries of France neither on the one side nor the other was there much addition made — as it did from the relations in which those who struggled for ascendency stood to the State and to parties. The supreme authority was often disputed, and nearly overwhelmed, hmited less by law than by insubordinate threatenings, until at length by in conceivable efforts it secured and fortified itself, and the monarchy arose from amidst all the storms which assaded it in a sadness of power such as royalty had never before attained in any Romanized German nation.

The phenomenon of unlimited monarchy in itself, — the desire of imitation it ex cited, — its pretensions and enterprises, — as wed as the resistance it called forth, made France for a long period the central point of the movements which agitated Europe and the world.

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. VII Much has been written upon the history of this epoch, but to me it appears that the appropriate conception of the times has scarcely been attained. The contemporary writings carry in their vivid co louring the impress of the moment in which each originated ; they are for the most part imbued with the peculiar views of parties or of private individuals. Of the traditional history which has been formed since Mezeray's time, and the manner in which Sismondi has extended it, learned Frenchmen have long since remarked how insecure the foundation is upon which it is based. In a few instances this traditional authority has been departed from, but it has been on the whole submitted to. For a closer examination of the truth of facts, the original documentary matter pubhshed in France during the last ten years, as wed as that which has appeared in the Netherlands and in Italy, none of which has ever before been used, I have found of the greatest value.

I have, in the progress of the work, had opportunities of drawing my information from a vast number of unprinted documents : — Itahan relations from the Venetian Ambassadors and the Papal Nuncios at Paris, to their respective courts, extending over the whole period; Spanish

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. VIII aud English correspondence relating to some of the most important years, the former having reference to the sixteenth, the latter to the seventeenth cen tury ; letters and proclamations of French kings and statesmen ; rods of the Estates, and records of the parliamentary debates ; diplomatic communications, and many other original sources of information, much of which deserves to be pubhshed in its entire extent. These documents have given me valuable information at ad times, and have not unfrequently decided my historical convictions. I may take another opportunity of giving a detailed account of them. They are to be found, not in the French and English libraries alone, but also in the archives of Italy, Germany, and Belgium, — for ad took an in terest in that which affected ad. I have not desired, even had I the ability, to pro duce a history arranged according to the models of the ancient and modern masters of narrative \ for such a work it would require a whole life devoted to the uninterrupted study of the archives of France and neighbouring countries.

It wdl be sufficient for me if, unaffected by the reciprocal complaints of the contemporary writers of the age, and avoiding the frequently limited con-

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. IX ceptions of later authors, I may flatter myself with having, through authentic and credible information, succeeded in placing before the reader the great and true features of the events which have occurred. I have not devoted much space to less signifi cant events ; but this has enabled me to pay the greater attention to those whose importance is of world-wide extent. Finady, I am of opinion that the internal arrangement of an historical work should accord with the object of the author, and with the nature of the problem proposed for solution. December, 1852. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Elements Of The French Nation

There are many kinds of war, and many degrees of heroic renown, but the highest praise is due to those who by then victorious arms have opened new scenes for the civilization of mankind, and overcome barbarism in some important portion of the world. Under this point of view Julius Cæsar has earned for himself one of the greatest of names, and, as regards the West, unquestionably the greatest of all. It is impossible to mention any wars which have had a greater and more enduring influence upon the extension and consolidation of the general civilization of the world than his campaigns' in transalpine Gaul. It may appear surprising that we should comb prehend the tribes of Iberian, and especially of Celtic race, which held possession of that territory, under the designation of barbarians. In fact, the products of their manual skid, which have been brought to light out of then tombs, attest their acquaintance with various arts.

They were in possession of municipal institutions and other elements of society. A peculiar system of opinions extended over their social state, of which it is to be regretted that no authentic monument gives us a nearer view. But at the same time we find in their manners traces of a savage — rather than merely rude — condition, which, sustained by a religion that consecrated human sacrifices, and by an hereditary arrogance which despised everything in comparison with itseff, woidd hardly have permitted a free participation in the progress of the human race to arise among them. However doubtful this may seem from an ethnographical point of view, it is not so histori cady. The ancient Celts make their appearance as the most formidable enemies of the civilized nations on whose confines they dwelt, and whom for cen times they threatened with destruction.

Their sole occupation was war, which, repelled by no natural boundaries, they waged, as an inborn passion for adventure suggested, in vast masses and with irre sistible force. They overflowed upper and middle Italy, and conquered Rome. They scattered the hitherto invincible phalanx of the Macedonians, and carried to Tolosa the treasures of the Delphic temple. They seized the ships which were to have prevented them' from crossing over into Asia, and by their means effected the passage, and for a time the ancient Ilion was their stronghold. It became a vital necessity for the polished nations of the an cient world to free themselves from these enemies. When, after long and severe conflicts, this had been effected, Julius Cæsar sought them out in then own homes, and subdued them in those memorable campaigns.

By these means not only were the two great peninsulas of the Mediterranean and the adjacent islands and coasts, upon which the Greek and Ro man culture unfolded itself, for a long period at least, secured against all danger from the interior of the Emopean continent, but at the same time in the very midst of it new abodes were prepared for civdization. Tribes of an inexhaustible vital energy, brave and ingenious, were drawn within its circle and subjected to its ideas. After their defeat the Gauls begin for the first time the general cultivation of their native land*, and to enjoy the advantages which its geographical position afforded for peaceful occupations. The Romans fided the country with those great works which everywhere indicate their presence — amphitheatres, baths, aqueducts, and mi litary roads, which last, as they traversed the land * Strabo, iv, 1, 2 : vxiv 5e exvayice{£oinae ytejipyeCev , Ka.rex&e\fxiveie to. r6ir\a. in various directions, were the chief cause of the progress of the Gauls, for they brought every por tion into immediate connection with the principal centres of Roman influence.

Lyons became the transalpine Rome. It were to be wished that a computation could be made of the number of per sons of Latin or Italian extraction who settled in Gaul: the first centimes were characterized by a colonizing and civilizing activity which produced here an entirely new world ; but there is no doubt that the native inhabitants united with the new coiners with joyful alacrity. From the blending of the tribes and races which had hitherto inhabited the land with the colonies of the conquerors there arose a new people — a great and distinct Romanic nation. In the second century Gaul was the most populous, and in the fourth, one of the most civilized, of the Roman provinces, although in the in terior many national peculiarities were still preserved. Wherever the peculiar genius of the native races came in contact with some branch of the Latin culture, they attained at once to a remarkable de gree of perfection.

For a long time there were no schools more frequented than those in Gaul ; Ro mans themselves learned Latin eloquence, in the acceptation of the age, on the banks of the Garonne. The most important operation of this change was its effect upon the religion of the primitive races. It has been remarked that the religion of the Gadic Druids was the only one whose peculiarities the Romans did not tolerate ; wherever altars are found on which the Celtic gods are represented, together with those of Greece and Rome, they appear simply as idols, without any reference to nationality or polity ; the human sacrifices had to disappear. This prohibition cannot be regarded however as a mere political transaction. The Emperor Claudius, who destroyed the Druidical system, was, without knowing it, an afly of the universal religion of humanity, which even then was beginning to appear in another place.

When Christianity then made more and more progress in its contest with the various systems of Pagan idolatry, the Romanized Gauls, amongst others, were most deeply interested in its doctrines, and in the questions to which it gave rise. They accounted it an honour that the house of the Roman emperors which, in the contest between the various religions, gave the decision in favour of Christianity, had its chief abode in Gaul ; it was there, it was said, that Constantine had placed the sign of the Christian faith upon the Labarum. Some time elapsed however before the people were converted. It was not tdl the second half of the fourth century that the Pan nonian warrior St. Martin appeared, who, exposing his own person, destroyed before the eyes of the people the objects of their worship, — the conic mo numents and sacred trees of the native gods, as well as the temples and statues of the Roman deities, — for both had stood, and now both fell together, — aud erected Christian churches on their ruins.

He founded the great Minster at Tours, which was succeeded by many other monkish institutions, both in the interior of the land and on the neighbouring islands, seminaries alike for theological studies and for the service of the Church, which gave bishops to the cities and missionaries to the rural districts. Thus complete was the incorporation of the Gauls in the system of the Roman Empire, in the progress and decline of its civilization, and in the alteration which took place in its religion. The external changes which the Empire experienced must there fore of necessity have affected them immediately and with full force. In the earlier times, if ever the conquered made an attempt at insurrection, they were reproved by being informed that the supremacy of Rome guaranteed them from the hostility of neighbouring states, and prevented a universal war of nations ; but after the lapse of a few centuries, the Empire no longer possessed the power to occupy the proud position of defender of the obedient, and repeller of their enemies.

The boundaries of the province ceased to extend themselves into the territories of the neighbouring tribes, and were soon after over stepped by them in turn. The expedient of taking German troops into pay for the defence of the frontiers brought but a momentary respite. They were of necessity impelled and driven forwards by the inundating motions of a stdl semi-nomadic world behind them, and at the same time being involved in the disputes of the Roman governors, they took a decided and hostile direction towards the interior provinces ; so that the elements which had been at first repeded with all power, now pressed forwards, as if by the force of necessity, into the Gallo- Roman territory. In Southern Gaul, the troops which had been brought in for the defence of the land settled themselves down as its lords and proprietors.

The Burgundians compelled the chiefs of the Roman provincials to grant them possessions in the Se quanian and Lugdunian districts, and it is believed that the remains of their settlements, in the mountain regions, may stdl be discerned, the plains and cities having remained with their ancient possessors. The West-Goths, in conflict with the highest powers of the State, sought to obtain settlements in the very centre of the empire, and then, desisting from the attempt, fixed themselves in Aquitanian Gaul. The confusion was already so great, that even the regu lations which they ordained on taking forcible pos session of that region, were less oppressive to the native inhabitants than the burden of tribute which they had been compelled to bear previously. In Northern Gaul, where some efforts for indeb pendence had formerly been made, there was raised at the same time, upon the ruins of the fallen Empire, a very irregular power, in which, if we do not err, the influence of German ideas is discernible.

It was a kind of Romano- Gallic monarchy, but incapable of coping with the aggressive power of the neighbouring Frankish kings, which was far more firmly grounded in the hereditary customs and ideas of then subjects. Clovis entirely destroyed it in one pitched battle, and made himself master of its territories. Other portions of the intruding people disappeared again ; and we see the Germans, who were once expelled by Cæsar from the Gallic soil, nearly the only strangers who remained and became citizens of the country. An earlier possession woidd have been of less importance to the history of the world, since they would have united with barbarous or semi-barbarous people only ; now it was of eminent consequence, because the Gauls had become Romanized, and therefore, by a union with them, the Germans entered into relations with the civilized world, which could not again be interrupted.

If we ask what it was that subjected the con quests to a fixed rule, and put a stop to the popular flood, which at one time pushed on gradually, at another rushed on violently ; the answer must be, first, the idea of the Empire, which was acknowledged by the Germans, and entered into their ideas ; and secondly, and with far greater force, religion in the ecclesiastic form, — for, although we cannot say with certainty in what manner it was generally effected, Christianity had now taken throughout Gaul the form of a hierarchical system. The adoption of Christianity by Clovis and his followers was not perhaps an event proceeding from any lofty spiritual impulse ; but it was one of incalculable historical importance, not only to Gaul, but to the whole world ; for this warlike confede racy immediately spread the faith among their kindred races, the Franks and other German tribes, up to the Rhine, and even beyond that river, and thus put an end to the ancient enmity of the Ger man people against the Romans and the Gauls.

Had not this occurred, a complete Germanizing of the people, such as took place in the valley of the Rhine, the Netherlands, and Britain, could not have been prevented on the banks of the Marne and the Seine. Religion, as its mission is, smoothed down the most stubborn national contrarieties. The Franks could no longer wish to destroy the places where they worshiped; on the contrary, they united with their teachers, and gave them selves up with vigorous zeal to the form of faith and worship which these had communicated to them. The strife between the Catholic and Allan creeds was not yet terminated. The latter, to which the West-Goths and Burgundians adhered, obtained an accession of power in Gaid, through the immigration of these peoples, to the deep dis satisfaction of the orthodox bishops.

But they found assistance amongst the Franks, with whom many of them had long stood in close adiance. St. Remigius, who received Clovis and his people into the bosom of the Church at Rheims, was renowned, not only as a destroyer of idols, but also as a successful antagonist of the Arians. The ambition of the Prankish military monarch, and the religious zeal of the Romish bishops, entered into the closest union. Supported by the population of the land, Clovis and his sons overturned, throughout Gaul, the power of the German kings, who were Arians, and obtained the mastery in all the provinces, as they also extended their dominion far towards the interior of Germany. They accomplished what the Roman Empire had no longer power to effect : they averted from Gaul the pres sure of the colonizing Germans, and suppressed the varying sects in the interior ; the conquerors protected the Romanized nationality, and the unity of the Catholic Church ; and when the Roman Em pire failed in force of arms, the common ruin was prevented by the converted barbarians.

Many of the yellow-haired kings appeared, as it were, and voluntarily did so, as priests of God. They bestowed large treasures upon the Church, for the manifest purpose of increasing the pomp of its external ceremonies ; but at the same time their generosity had reference to the conquered people. The chroniclers of the age record that one of the chief motives to the endowment of the Church was that it might have the means of being liberal to the poor, so that those who possessed nothing might not be left altogether without a resource. The decree of the Council of Orleans is well known, — according to which a portion of the income arising from the lands bestowed by the king was to be devoted to the support of the poor, and to the redemption of captives. The Church brought the very lowest class, which had been hitherto totally neglected, with its necessities, into relation with the conqueror.

A deliberate and systematic destruction of the Roman system no longer lay within the range of possibility. Romanized persons were in the im mediate service of the kings, and appear to have been throughout the most distinguished and wealthy proprietors of the sod. The Frankish kings, like the Roman emperors, claimed obedience and duty from their subjects. They preserved the old finance system as nearly as possible in its in tegrity : the ancient tribute was levied on landed property as well as the person, which includes a continuance of the former state of things in general. We even hear that the games of the Circus were revived under the Merovingian kings. The Roman royal prerogative was brought into operation, and men might have believed that they still lived under the old empire. Notwithstanding all this, however, an unexampled change had taken place, not only in the material condition, but in the very thoughts of men : its extent may be conceived from the fact (if great changes can be described in few words) that the supreme power was regarded as a personal possession, which might be transferred and divided by gift or inheritance.

The old kings insisted upon an unconditional hereditary right ; and, in ordinary cases, we hear nothing of an election, nor of any part taken either by the populace or the aristocracy in the elevation of the monarch to the throne. The great officers of the state, both Romanic and German, swore fealty to the person of the king, and he rewarded them with fiefs from the lands of the Crown. The government was intimately connected with the palace, and the major-domo of the royal house was also the chief officer of the kingdom; but since that office and the emoluments connected with it were also in their turn regarded as personal and irrevocable possessions, the whole system had a tendency to individual independency and arbitrary power. We soon hear the kings complaining : some that all their honours had passed over to the bishops of the cities ; others, that the temporal princes had de prived them of both property and power.

They saw themselves surrounded by independent nobles, who claimed, as a reward for the share they might have taken in the erection of the new kingdom, a participation in the enjoyment of power. The principle of personal power, when once it had been transferred to others, rebelled against the prince, who regarded it as his own peculiar property. It seemed almost as if the old Gadic spirit of client ship under the chiefs of the tribes, and of subjection to the priesthood, — which had vanished before the dominion of the Romans, — were now again emerg ing from the deep, and renewing itself in this power of the bishops and of the great nobles ; even the native peculiarities began to make their appearance once more. At ad events Gaul, under the successors of Clo vis, attained a. far greater variety of social life than it had exhibited under the Romans.

Power was everywhere free, and developed itself in distinct forms by means of the division of principalities, which were held together, and at the same time kept separate, by the dynasty. This however had the effect of enfeebling that social union and sub ordination without which the idea of a state is inconceivable. The violent attempts made from time to time by the kings to enforce then authority only served to display their weakness, and it soon became doubtful whether the Frankish kingdom would be able to maintain itself; for there were other powers, of a totally different character, better knit together, or depending upon the more free exercise of masculine bravery, — powers which regarded the world as an open arena for the conquest of dominion. Bursting forth from the wddernesses of Arabia, the might of the successors of Mohammed rolled on with resistless arms ; subdued the Romano-Greek territories, Syria, Egypt, and Africa ; overthrew in its rapid course the advanced Germanic kingdom in Spain, and already, in alliance with the natives, had obtained a footing on the hither side of the Pyrenees.

How could it be expected that the Merovingians, whose power of action was dead, and whose authority was paralysed by intestine divisions, would be able to withstand the threatening storm ? It appeared indeed as if what had happened in Spain was about to take place in Gaul also. It is the merit of the house, afterwards caded the Carlovingian, that at the head of their warlike Aus trasian fodowers they met and withstood this irrup tion, and saved the Christian Frankish nation from the utter destruction that seemed to hang over it. Every power that will rise must be grounded upon some great service ; for every great service secures authority and power. It was to this defence of Gaul against the Arabians that the Carlovingians were indebted for their elevation to the royal dignity. The race of weaklings vanished before a succession of great men.

The Carlovingians were also in adiance with the Church; not however with the Gadic branch, which was then chiefly intent upon increasing its possessions, and obtaining an independent position, and upon which they imposed the severest duties of obedience, but with the general Chinch of the West, which had just separated from that of the East, and which had a thorough conception of the danger with which Islam threatened the Christian name. In that respect, as in its strife with the Eastern Chinch, it needed the assistance of this powerful race, and was not ungrateful for it. The power of the Carlovingians depended not alone upon its victorious arms, but also upon the sanction of the Church. In this struggle Frankish Gaid received a fresh ac cession of German energy through the armies which chiefly fought her battles, and, which being after wards retained for the defence of the country against the foe, and for the preservation of order, finafly settled down there.

The nation thus attained a greater and stronger form. The union with Ger many gave it a warlike, that with Italy an intedec tual and phdosophical impulse. Every one felt conscious, whether willingly or unwdlingly, that he belonged to an ad-embracing religious and political whole — the established Empire, — and was bound to it in his whole personality. As in former times, war was again the sole occupation ; but it no longer depended upon the irregular impulses of the people or their leaders, and did not threaten civilization : the idea of war was penetrated with that of the defence of religion, and of the extension of a great monarchy, upon which was grounded an organiza tion which was all-pervading, and which required unconditional obedience. Meanwhde, however well constructed the empire of the Carlovingians may appear, it wanted the very key-stone of its constitution.

The question con cerning the continuance of the supreme power in the ruling house was not yet determined. Power ful also as the monarchy might be, its power was not equal to its pretensions. On the firm land it had subdued every foe, and within its well-fortified frontiers it had scarcely anything to fear, but it was deficient in that which constitutes the half of all national strength — the marine power. It appears sometimes as if whole generations were smitten with blindness, for while they are contending amongst themselves, they are preparing the way for the common enemy. Whdst the succes sors of Charlemagne were at discord about the in heritance of the monarchy, the peoples became again disunited; the powerful militia which had been called out for the defence of the country dissolved away ; the great and influential men of the kingdom took different sides, and a struggle commenced which engrossed all their attention and ad their power.

Meanwhile, the sea-riding Germans of the north, amongst whom heathenism, expelled from the rest of Europe, had once more concentrated its entire energy, spread themselves over ad the mari time territories of the kingdom, from the mouth of the Elbe to the mouth of the Garonne. The peculiar geographical advantages which the western provinces possess over the eastern, the French over the German, consists in the diversified course of their rivers, which bring the land into connection with the sea in various directions ; but from this very circumstance now arose their greatest danger. The Northmen seized the mouths and islands of the rivers, and the adjacent shores. The Somme conducted them to Amiens, the Seine to Paris, the Loire up to Tours and Amboise, and the Garonne up to Toulouse. The land between the rivers was laid waste far and wide, and here and there the inhabitants apostatized from Christianity, and associated themselves with the invaders.