Book III, No. 5, p. 138, letter to the cardinal of Lorraine, same date.

[1306] _C. S. P. Ven._, No. 439, November 9, 1568 and No. 448, January 6, 1569. The distress of commerce and the legal complications arising from the semi-piratical acts were very great (see _C. S. P. Dom._, 1547-80, pp. 378, 386, May 29, 1570, July 29, 1570).

[1307] _Ibid._, _Ven._, No. 448, January 6, 1569. The cardinal Châtillon was the Huguenot agent in England (see _ibid._, _For._, No. 71, January 22, 1569; No. 82, January 30, 1569). On his financial negotiations see the detailed note of the baron de Ruble in D’Aubigné, III, 61.

[1308] Count Mansfeldt to the duke of Aumale, January 22, 1569, Coll. Godefroy, CCLVII, No. 58; _C. S. P. For._, No. 172, March 15, 1569. They came, not merely with weapons and bringing horses, but with great vans, flails, and harvest tools, with which to plunder the fields.

[1309] The forces of D’Aumale were 5,500 reiters, 26 companies of French horsemen, and 30 ensigns of foot, besides others. The troops that the King had were 26 companies of gendarmes, 15 companies of the regular French army, 4,500 Swiss, 2,500 reiters, and his household troops. Montmorency retired to Chantilly owing to the combination against him (_C. S. P. For._, No. 75, January 25, 1569. For the details see _Archives de la maison d’Orange-Nassau_, III, 315). There had been a fierce strife between the factions of Guise and Montmorency for D’Aumale’s place, the three marshals, Montmorency, Vieilleville, and Cossé resisting his appointment. The hostility of the Parisians to Montmorency, though certainly not the accusation of the cardinal of Lorraine that the constable’s son had secret intelligence with the prince of Orange, militated against him. The English ambassador even believed that Montmorency and the duke of Bouillon might appear in arms for Condé. Sir Henry Norris to the queen: “On the 23d ult. the duke of Montmorency required the captains and _échevins_ of Paris to come to the Louvre to speak with him, and declared that their disorders and unaptness to be ruled was not unknown to the King. Lignerolles, of the court of Parlement, and captain-general of twenty-two ensigns, answered that Paris was like to a ship, whereof the master, neglecting his charge, it is requisite that the pilots do put hand to the helm; where unto Montmorency coldly replied, ‘qu’il parloyt en curtault de butique’” _(C. S. P. For._, No. 50, January 15, 1569).

[1310] _Archives de la maison d’Orange-Nassau_, III, 516.

[1311] Claude Haton, II, 516 and note; _C. S. P. For._, Nos. 42, 50, January 11, 15, 1569.

[1312] It appears that the German princes thought of sending a deputation into France to remonstrate with Catherine de Medici. At least the minute of a letter to the queen has been preserved which intimates as much. In it they deplore the sad effects of the persecutions in France (see _Archives de la maison d’Orange-Nassau_, II, 99-100, June, 1567). On January 24, 1569, a decree of the elector of Saxony commanded all captains and soldiers who were his subjects and who might be serving under the duke of Alva or the King of France, to return home within two months after the date of the publication of the decree; and further ordered his officers to arrest any persons whom they might find setting forth for these services.—Dresden, January 24, 1569 (_C. S. P. For._, No. 74). In March, Augustus of Saxony, the count palatine, and other German princes sent 50,000 silver crowns to Condé (_ibid._, _Ven._, No. 452, March 15, 1569).

[1313] William of Orange with his two brothers went into Germany in order to push the plan in conjunction with the duke of Deuxponts—D’Aubigné, III, 45, 60 (_C. S. P. For._, No. 131, February 24, 1569). For the detail of this movement see Gachard, _La Bibliothèque Nationale à Paris_, II, 275, 278, 280. The duke of Aumale has published some of his letters at this time (_Hist. des princes de Condé_, II, 406 ff.).

[1314] D’Aumale at this time lay at Phalsburg and Saverne, with 4,000 reiters, 2,000 French horse, and 10,000 footmen. His penetration within the imperial frontier offended and alarmed Strasburg where a French faction had unsuccessfully plotted to betray the town.

[1315] See News-Letter from La Rochelle, January, 1569, in Appendix XVII.

[1316] _C. S. P. For._, No. 105, February 10, 1569.

[1317] _Ibid._, No. 151, March 5, 1569; Claude Haton, II, 517.

[1318] _Ibid._, _For._, No. 155, March 5, 1569; on the desertions from D’Aumale’s army see No. 172.

[1319] _Ibid._, No. 105, February 10, 1569.

[1320] For contemporary accounts of the battle of Jarnac see La Popelinière, Book XV; Jean de Serres, 315 ff; D’Aubigné, Book V, chap. viii; Claude Haton, II, 548 and notes. The best modern accounts are Gigon, _La bataille de Jarnac et la campagne de 1569 en Angoumois_, Angoulême, impr. Chasseignac (Extrait du _Bulletin de la Société archéologique et historique de la Charente_), 1896; Patry, in _Bull. Soc. protest. franç._, LIII, March 1902; Duc d’Aumale, _Histoire des princes de Condé_, II, Book I, chap. i; Whitehead, _Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France_, 204-9, an extremely lucid account. The evidence upon the assassination of the prince is sifted by Denys d’Aussy, “L’assassin du prince de Condé à Jarnac (1569),” _R. Q. H._, XLIX, 573, and summarized (with some new additions) in Whitehead, 206, note 2. The text of the famous dispatches, which were found in the gauntlet of the prince of Condé are printed in full in Duc d’Aumale, _Histoire des princes de Condé_, II, App. iii.

[1321] _C. S. P. Ven._, No. 454, March 15, 1569; cf. Brantôme, III, 329.

[1322] Claude Haton, II, 549, 550.

[1323] Compare the Pope’s letter of March 6, informing Charles IX that he has sent troops to him under Sforza and has prayed to God for victory (Potter, _Pie V_, 28; ed. Gouban, Book III, letter 9, p. 148) with the letter of congratulation of March 28, after he had learned of the battle (_ibid._, p. 31; ed. Gouban, Book III, letter 10, p. 151). The duke of Anjou sent the flags and standards captured at Jarnac to Rome (Potter, _Pie V_, p. 54; ed. Gouban, Book III, 167, letter 17, April 26, 1569).

[1324] “L’amiral demeurant toujours le principal gouverneur et conseiller en toutes les affaires des huguenots.”—Castelnau, Book VII, chap. vi.

[1325] Jean de Serres, 333.

[1326] D’Aubigné, III, 58.

[1327] Claude Haton, II, 557.

[1328] _Ibid._

[1329] D’Aubigné, III, 57; Jean de Serres, 326, gives details.

[1330] Jean de Serres, 331.

[1331] _C. S. P. For._, No. 294, June 6, 1569.

[1332] Queen Elizabeth was perfectly safe in making the loan, as the jewels were worth three times the sum advanced (Bourgon, _Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham_, II, 334-36). _C. S. P. For._, No. 258, May 12, 1569; Duc d’Aumale, I, 70, note 2; John Casimir and the duke of Deuxponts both promised reiters.

[1333] _C. S. P. Ven._, No. 460, September 15, 1569.

[1334] _Ibid._, _For._, No. 252, May 9, 1569; the prince of Navarre and other leaders of the Huguenot army in Saintonge to the duke of Deuxponts and certain noblemen in his camp, and to the prince of Orange, earnestly urging them to advance on the Loire, and declaring that notwithstanding the death of the prince of Condé their other losses have been small and that their forces are not diminished or disheartened thereby. Not published in _Lettres missives de Henri IV_.

[1335] _Archives de la maison d’Orange-Nassau_, III, 316; Languet, _Epist. ad Camer._, 105; _Epist. secr._, I, 81. Copies of five letters written by De Francourt, the agent for the Huguenot party with the duke of Deuxponts’ and the prince of Orange, to the Huguenot leaders, expressing regret for the death of the prince of Condé, and assuring them of the continued adherence of the duke of Deuxponts and his reiters to their cause are cited in _C. S. P. For._, No. 207, April, 1569. The duke of Lorraine is said to have offered Deuxponts 100,000 crowns if he would withdraw his reiters (_ibid._, No. 234, April 18, 1569).

[1336] Claude Haton, II, 517.

[1337] D’Aubigné, III, 66.

[1338] Preparations looking forward to this movement had begun as far back as March, when the expulsion of all who would not conform to Catholicism was ordered by the cardinal of Lorraine as bishop of Metz and a prince of the empire (_C. S. P. For._, No. 194, March 26, 1569; cf. Charles IX’s proclamation to the same effect on April 6; see also Nos. 179, 197, the opposing petitions of the clergy of Metz and of the Protestants, dated March 19 and 30 respectively).

The correspondence of the duke of Alençon pertaining to the second civil war is in two volumes listed Nos. 36, 36 _bis_, in the St. Petersburg collection. The duke remained in Paris, and attended to the forwarding of powder, provisions, and money. In a letter of November 17, 1569, he writes to Charles IX that it is impossible for him to send the sums demanded unless he sells the plate and jewels of the King. In another he sends information of the duke of Tuscany, who was ready to loan 100,000 écus upon the jewels of the crown. He advises that this be done. According to his estimate they were worth 500,000 livres (La Ferrière, _Rapport sur les recherches faites à la Bibliothèque imperiale de St. Pétersbourg_, 27).

[1339] Proclamation by Charles IX: Commands all gentlemen and soldiers to repair to the camp of the duke of Anjou by the 20th of June, properly armed and equipped for service. Requires his officers to search out the names of such as disobey this order and send them to him, in order that they may be punished in such manner as he may think fit (_C. S. P. For._, No. 281, May, 1569). The King is levying a new army and is disfurnishing his garrisons in Picardy and Normandy (_ibid._, No. 287, June 3, 1569). Alva promised 4,000 Spanish troops (_Nég. Tosc._, III, 591).

[1340] Castelnau, Book VII, chap. v. Alva advised him to treat Coligny _et al._ as he had treated Egmont and Hoorne.

[1341] _Ibid._, _loc. cit._; _C. S. P. For._, No. 236, April 23, 1569.

[1342] Duke of Anjou to Catherine de Medici, May 23, 1569, Coll. Godefroy, CCLVI, No. 12; La Popelinière, Book XVI; Castelnau, Book VII, chaps. v, vi; D’Aubigné, III, 67 and note 2; _Archives de la maison d’Orange-Nassau_, III, 317; La Noue, chap. xxiv; _C. S. P. For._, No. 286, June 3, 1569, Sir Henry Norris to the Queen: “The duke of Deuxponts’ army being before La Charité, he caused 600 French harquebusiers and certain companies of reiters to pass over the river, besieging the town on both sides, and having made a breach which was scant scalable, they made a proud assault, not without loss of some of their soldiers, and entered the town by force, and put to the sword as many as they found within the same. The Cardinal, to save his brother from the stigma of the loss of La Charité, made Count Montmeyo the scapegoat” (_C. S. P. For._, No. 293, June 7, 1569). For other details see Hippeau, “Passage de l’armée du duc des Deux-Ponts dans la Marche et le Limousin en 1569,” _Rev. des Soc. savant des départ._, 5^[e] série, V (1873), p. 571; Le Bœuf (Jean), _Histoire de la prise d’Auxerre par les Huguenots, et de la délivrance de la mesme ville, les années 1567 et 1568_, avec un recit de ce qui a précedé et de ce qui a suivi ces deux fameux événemens et des ravages commis à la Charité, Gien, Cosne, etc. et autres lieux du diocèse d’Auxerre, le tout précedé d’une ample préface sur les antiquités d’Auxerre et enrichi de notes historiques sur les villes, bourgs et villages et sur les personnes principales qui sont nommées dans cette histoire, par un chanoine de la cathédrale d’Auxerre, Auxerre, 1723.

[1343] Castelnau, Book VI, chap. vi; _C. S. P. For._, No. 286, June 3. The reiters and the Swiss in the royal service were paid, to the disadvantage of the King’s subjects, so that many captains resigned (_ibid._, No. 351, July 27, 1569). “L’esquelz n’estoient si sanguinaires ni saccageurs d’églises et de prebstres que ceux des huguenots, toutesfois estoient aussi larrons les ungs que les aultres pour serrer sur leurs harnois ce qu’ilz trouvoient à leur commodité; et par ainsi fut la France pleine d’estrangers pour la désoler et quasi rendre déserte” (Claude Haton, II, 547).

The temper of the Catholic army is shown in a dispatch of the duke of Montpensier to Catherine, May 1, 1569, from the camp at Villebois, reciting the death of young Brissac, the marshal’s son before Mussidan. The town was taken by storm. “J’en trouve meilleu est qu’ils n’ont laissé reschapper ung tout seul de tous ceuls qui estoyent dedans que tout n’ayt esté passé par le fil de l’épée, ce qui semble être le vray droict de ceste guerre.”—Collection Fillon, No. 2,656.

[1344] “The admiral minds ... to refresh his reiters, and after the harvest to march towards Paris.”—_C. S. P. For._, No. 311, June 30, 1569.

[1345] _C. S. P. For._, No. 272, May 27, 1569.

[1346] _Ibid._, No. 300, Norris to Cecil, June 14, 1569.

[1347] _Ibid._, No. 286, June 3, 1569. He required Charles IX, in the name of the empire, to withdraw his troops from Metz (_ibid._, No. 286, Norris to Cecil, June 3, 1569; _ibid._, No. 305, Mundt to Cecil, from Frankfourt [?], June 23, 1569).

[1348] _C. S. P. For._, No. 286, June 3, 1569; Claude Haton, II, 692. Marguerite herself is evidence for this: “La maison de Montmorency aient ceux qui en avaient porté les premières paroles.”—_Mém. de Marguerite de Navarre_ (ed. Guisson, 23), 24.

[1349] “Depuis que je y suis, jé fayst marcher vostre armaye en tele diligense, que cet les reystres eusent vole u marcher jeudi, le jour de la feste Dyeu, je me pouvès dyre le plus heureuse femme du monde, et vostre frère le plus glorieux, car vous eusiés heu la fin de cete guere, aystent réduis le duc de Dus Pons.”—Catherine de Médicis à Charles IX de Limoges, 12 juin 1569, Fillon Collection, No. 127.

[1350] The duke of Deuxponts died on June 11, 1569, of excessive drinking. See Janssen, VIII, 50; D’Aubigné, III, 69, note 1; Jean de Serres, 364; _Commentaires et lettres de Montluc_, III, 208. Fortunately for the Huguenots his death made little difference in the disposition of his army, for Wolrad of Mansfeldt, his able lieutenant, succeeded to the command. His prudence saved the reiters after the battle of Moncontour (see Niemarn, _Geschichte der Grafen v. Mansfeldt_, 1834).

[1351] D’Aubigné, III, 73, 74: a graphic account; cf. _Bulletin de la Soc. archéol. et hist. du Limousin_, IV.

“On l’appela _arquebuse à croc_ quand on l’eut munie d’un axe de rotation reposant sur une fourchette ou _croc_ et facilitant le pointage. L’arquebuse à croc était souvent d’un poids considérable. Elle lançait parfois des balles de plomb de 8, 12 et 13 livres. Jusqu’au commencement du XVI^[e] siècle, on mettait le feu à la charge au moyen d’une mèche allumée que le coulevrinier portait enroulée autour du bras droit. A Pavie, les Espagnols se servirent d’une arquebuse perfectionnée par eux, dans laquelle la mèche était mise en contact avec l’amorce pour faire partir le coup, au moyen d’un _serpentin_, sorte de pince qu’une détente faisait agir, sans que le pointage en fût dérangé. Disposer la mèche à la longueur voulue, en aviver le feu avant de tirer constituait l’opération de maniement d’arme designée sous ce nom compasser la mèche.”—_La grande encyclopédie_, III, art. “Arquebuse.”

[1352] La Popelinière, Book XVII; D’Aubigné, III, 80, 81.

[1353] D’Aubigné, Book V, chap, xii; Jean de Serres, 355, 356.

[1354] Schomberg offered to make a levy of 4,000 Poles; 8,000 Swiss were asked of the Catholic cantons (_C. S. P. For._, No. 351, July 27, 1569). To support them Paris was mulcted for 700,000 francs and confiscation of Protestant lands to the crown eked out the balance (_ibid._, No. 355, July 29, 1569).

The following summary from Sir Henry Norris’ letter to Queen Elizabeth sets forth the government’s fiscal policy at this time: “On the 1st instant the king went to the Palais, where in the end, the Parlement made a general arrest of all the goods, lands, and offices of those who bore arms against the king, and that all their lands held in fee—or knight-service—should revert to the crown; and that for the other lands, first there should be alienated for the sum of 50,000 crowns by the year, and given to the clergy, in recompense of their demesne, which the king had license to sell, and the remainder bestowed on such as had suffered loss by the religion and done service in these wars. It is accounted that this attainture will amount to 2,000,000 francs a year. The same day they made sale, by sound of trumpet, of the admiral’s goods in Paris. Some moved to have him executed in effigy, which was thought unmeet, as serving only to irritate him to proceed the more extremely. The king borrows 300,000 £ and offers to perpetuate the Councillors of Parlement’s offices to their children, on their giving a certain sum of money; besides this they tax all citizens throughout the realm to make great contributions. The cardinals of Bourbon and Lorraine, to show an example to the clergy, have offered to sell 4,000 £ rent of the monasteries of St. Germain and St. Denis” (_C. S. P. For._, No. 375, August 5, 1569).

[1355] D’Aubigné, II, 38, 39.

[1356] Louise de Bourbon, abbess de Fontevrault, daughter of François, comte de Vendôme, and of Marie de Luxembourg, died in 1575.

[1357] For a graphic description of Poitiers in the sixteenth century see Ouvré, _Histoire de Poitiers_, 24, 25.

[1358] _Rel. vén._, II, 271.

[1359] All the historians narrate the history of the siege of Poitiers (see Claude Haton, II, 375 ff.; La Popelinière, Book XVII; D’Aubigné,