History of the Rise of the Huguenots Volume II Part 35

[722] Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 305.

[723] In the heat of the engagement, the excited imaginations of the combatants even saw visions of celestial champions, as Theseus was fabled to have appeared at Marathon. A renegade Protestant captain afterward a.s.sured the Cardinal of Alessandria that on that eventful day he had seen in mid-air an array of warriors with refulgent armor and blood-red swords, threatening the Huguenot lines in which he fought; and he had instantly embraced the Roman Catholic faith, and vowed perpetual service under the banners of the pontiff. There were others, we are told, to corroborate his account of the prodigy. Joannis Antonii Gabutii Vita Pii Quinti Papae (Acta Sanctorum, Maii 5), -- 125, pp. 647, 648.

[724] Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 307. "Ne se trouva oncques gens plus fidelles au camp catholicque que lesditz estrangers, et singulierement les Suisses, lesquelz ne pardonnerent a ung seul de leur nation germanique de ceux qui tomberent en leurs mains." Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 582.

[725] "Che non avesse il comandamanto di lui osservato d'ammazzar subito qualunque heretico gli fosse venuto alle mani." Catena, Vita di Pio V., _apud_ White, Ma.s.s. of St. Bartholomew, 305, and De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 228. With singular inconsistency--so impossible is it generally to carry out these horrible theories of extermination--the Roman pontiff himself afterward liberated D'Acier without exacting any ransom. De Thou, _ubi supra_. "Si Santafiore lui avoit obe," says an annotator, "Jacques de Crussol (D'Acier) ne se seroit pas converti, et n'auroit pas laisse une si ill.u.s.tre poterite."

[726] On the battle of Moncontour, consult J. de Serres, iii. 357-362; De Thou, iv. 224-228; Castelnau, liv. vii., c. 9; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c. 17; a Roman Catholic relation in Groen van Prinsterer, Archives de la Maison d'Orange Na.s.sau, iii. 324-326.

[727] "Nihil est enim ea pietate misericordiaque crudelius, quae in impios et ultima supplicia meritos confertur." Pius V. to Charles IX., Oct. 20, 1569. Pii V. Epistolae (Antwerp, 1640), 242. The French victories of Jarnac and Moncontour were celebrated by a medal struck at Rome, with the legend, "_Fecit potentiam in bracchio suo, dispersit superbos_," and a representation of Pius kneeling and invoking the aid of heaven against the heretics. In the distance is seen a combat, and above it appears the Divine Being directing the issue. Figured in "Le Tresor de Numismatique et de Glyptique, par Paul Delaroche" (Medailles des Papes, plate 15, No. 5), Paris, 1839.

[728] La Mothe Fenelon, vii. 65, etc., from Simancas MSS. So Claude Haton, who is rarely behindhand in such matters, makes the Protestants lose fifteen thousand or sixteen thousand men. Memoires, ii. 582. Admiral Coligny was for a time believed by the court to be dead or mortally wounded, "mais ne fut rien." Ibid., _ubi supra_.

[729] If we may credit the curate Claude, Catharine de' Medici alone was vexed at the completeness of the rout and the number of Huguenots slain, "inasmuch as she gave them as much support as possible, and encouraged them in rebellion, that the civil wars might continue, in which she took pleasure because of the management of affairs they threw into her hands"--"pour le maniment des affaires qu'elle entreprenoit et manioit."

Memoires, ii. 583.

[730] Journal d'un cure ligueur (Jehan de la Fosse), 110.

[731] Jehan de la Fosse, 112. The date is stated as "about Oct. 17th."

[732] Ranke, Civil Wars and Monarchy in France, i. 241.

[733] De Thou, iv. 230; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 310. The murderer's name is variously written Maurevel, Moureveil, Montrevel, etc.

[734] This letter, respecting which I confess that I find some difficulties, possesses a history of its own. On the 13th of Ventose, in the second year of the republic, the original was sent to the national convention, which, the next day, ordered its insertion in the official bulletin, and its preservation in the national library, as emanating "from one of the Neros of France." See App. to Journal de Lestoile, ed. Michaud, pt. i., p. 307, 308, and the revolutionary bulletins.

[735] "Ut sese Montalbani c.u.m Vicecomitibus conjungerent, et sperantes Andium, dum se persequeretur, ab San-Jani oppugnandae inst.i.tuto dest.i.turum." De statu rel. et reip., iii. 365.

[736] See Soldan, iii. 372, 373; Anquetil, Esprit de la ligue, i. 317, etc.

[737] With his usual inaccuracy, Davila speaks of Saint Jean d'Angely as "excellently fortified" (Eng. trans., p. 166).

[738] This number, given by Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 313, and by De Thou, iv.

(liv. xlv.) 242, seems the most probable. La Popeliniere swells it to near 10,000 (Soldan, ii. 375), while Castelnau, liv. vii., c. 10, reduces it to "over 8,000." Strange to say, Jean de Serres, who, writing and publis.h.i.+ng this portion of his history within a year after the conclusion of the third civil war, almost uniformly gives the highest estimates of the Roman Catholic losses, here makes them about 2,000, or lower than any one else.

[739] Agrippa d'Aubigne, who was generous enough to appreciate valor even in an enemy, calls him "celui qui entamoit toutes les parties difficiles, a qui rien n'estoit dur ny hazardeux, qui en tous les exploits de son temps avoit fait les coups de partie" (i. 312). Lestoile in his journal (p. 22, Ed. Mich.) affirms that he was killed just as he had uttered a blasphemous inquiry of the Huguenots, where was now their "Dieu le Fort,"

and taunted them with his having become "a ceste heure leur Dieu le Faible." "Le Dieu, le Fort, l'eternel parlera," was the first line of a favorite Huguenot psalm.

[740] On the siege of Saint Jean d'Angely, see J. de Serres, iii. 369, 370; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 311-313; De Thou, iv. 238-242; Castelnau, liv.

vii., c. 10. It scarcely needs to be mentioned that Davila, bk. v., p.

166, knows nothing of any treachery on the part of the Roman Catholics, but duly mentions that De Piles did not observe his promise.

[741] Davila, bk. v. (Eng. tr., p. 163 and 167); De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 250. Gabutius, in his life of Pius V., transcribes the exultant inscription, dictated by the pontiff himself (-- 126, p. 648), and claims for the canonized subject of his panegyric the chief credit of the victory. According to him the Italians were the first to engage with the heretics, and the last to desist from the pursuit.

[742] Davila, bk. 5th (Eng. tr., p. 167); Mem. de Claude Haton, ii. 591.

[743] "L'hiver arriva, il fallut mettre les troupes en quartier; et le fruit d'une victoire si complette, l'effort d'une armee royale si formidable, fut la prise de quelques places mediocres, pendant que La Roch.e.l.le, la plus utile de toutes, restoit aux vaincus, et que les princes retablissoient les affaires, a l'aide d'un delai qu'ils n'avoient point ose se promettre." Anquetil, L'Esprit de la ligue, i. 317.

[744] J. de Serres, iii. 372; De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 234, 235, who makes the loss in the first siege 300 men, and in the second over 1,000 hors.e.m.e.n; Agrippa d'Aubigne, Hist. univ., l. v., c. 19 (i. 315, 316), who states the total at 1,400 foot and near 400 horse; while Castelnau, l.

vii., c. 10, speaks of but 300 in all. Vezelay, famous in the history of the Crusades (see Michaud, Hist. des Croisades, ii. 125) as the place where St. Bernard in 1146 preached the Cross to an immense throng from all parts of Christendom, is equidistant from Bourges and Dijon, and a little north of a line uniting these two cities.

[745] De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 246, 247; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c.

19 (i. 317); J. de Serres, iii. 370. About twenty prisoners were taken, to whom their captors promised their lives. Afterward there were strenuous efforts made, especially by the priests, to have them put to death as rebels and traitors. M. de la Chastre resisted the pressure, disregarding even a severe order of the Parliament of Paris, accompanied by the threat of the enormous fine of 2,000 marks of gold, which bade him send them to the capital. (Hist. du Berry, etc., par M. Louis Raynal, 1846, iv, 104, _apud_ Bulletin de la Soc. de l'hist. du prot. fr., iv. (1856) 27.) Even Charles IX. wrote to him, but the governor was inflexible. His n.o.ble reply has come to light, dated Jan. 21, 1570, just one month after the failure of the Protestant scheme. After urging the danger of retaliation by the Huguenots of La Charite and Sancerre upon the prisoners they held, to the number of more than forty, and the inexpediency of accustoming the people of Bourges to b.l.o.o.d.y executions which they would not fail to repeat, he concludes his remonstrance in these striking words: "Nevertheless, Sire, if you should find it expedient, for the good of your service, to put them to death, the channel of the courts of justice is the most proper, without recompensing my services, or sullying my reputation with a stain that will ever be a ground of reproach against me. And I beg you, Sire, to make use of me in other matters more worthy of a gentleman having the heart of his ancestors, who for five hundred years have served their king without stain of treachery or act unworthy of a gentleman." Inedited letter, _apud_ Bulletin, _ubi supra_, 28, 29. M. de la Chastre became one of the marshals of France. He conducted, three years later, the terrible siege of Sancerre, famous in history. He had the reputation among the Huguenots of being very severe, if not bloodthirsty--a reputation which he deserved, if he was, as Henry of Navarre styles him, "un des princ.i.p.aux executeurs de la Sainct Barthelemy." (Deposition in the trial of La Mole, Coconnas, etc.

Archives curieuses, viii. 150.) La Chastre tried to clear himself of the imputation, by recalling the events of 1569. To Jean de Lery he maintained "qu'il n'est point sanguinaire, ainsi qu'on a opinion, comme aussi il l'avoit desja bien monstre aux autres troubles, lorsqu'il avoit en sa puissance les sieurs d'Espeau, baron de Renty, et le capitaine Fontaine, qui est en son armee: car encores que la cour du parlement de Paris luy fist commandement de les representer, a peine de 2,000 marcs d'or, il ne le voulut faire." Jean de Lery, "Discours de l'extreme famine ... dans la ville de Sancerre," Archives curieuses, viii. 67.

[746] De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 235-237; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c. 19 (i. 316, 317); Jean de Serres, iii. 368, 369.

[747] "Si est-ce que Dieu est tres-doux."

[748] Agrippa d'Aubigne, l. v., c. 18 (i. 309). The words were, as M.

Douen reminds us (Clement Marot et le Psautier huguenot, 1878, 13) the first line of the seventy-third psalm of the Huguenot psalter.

[749] De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 232; Jean de Serres, iii. 366.

[750] Ibid., iii. 372, etc.

[751] Even in December, Languet could scarcely imagine that Coligny would not return and winter at La Roch.e.l.le. Letter of Dec. 12, 1569, Epist.

secr., i. 130.

[752] Mem. de Castelnau, liv. vii., c. 12.

[753] At least, so says Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c. 18 (i. 309).

[754] De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 233; Agrippa d'Aubigne, i. 309, 318 (liv.

v., cs. 18 and 20). The two authorities are not in exact agreement, De Thou stating that Coligny went to Montauban before his march to meet Montgomery, while D'Aubigne makes him follow the left bank of the Dordogne down to Aiguillon. Gasparis Colinii Vita (1575), 91, 92, supports De Thou.

[755] De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvi.) 249; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c. 20 (i.

318); Gasparis Colinii Vita (1575), 94. The author of this valuable and authentic life of the admiral gives a full description of the bridge.

Professor Soldan is mistaken in saying that the bridge was not yet completed (Geschichte des Prot. in Frank., ii. 377). It had been completed, and two days had been spent in taking over the German cavalry ("opere effecto, biduoque in traducendis Germanis equitibus consumpto") when the disaster occurred.

[756] Languet, Letter of January 3, 1570, Epist. secretae, i. 133.

[757] Gasparis Colinii Vita (1576), 91; Vie de Coligny (Cologne, 1686), 378, where the account of the expedition, however, is full of blunders.

Mr. Browning, following this untrustworthy authority, makes Admiral Coligny cross the Garonne and pa.s.s through Bearn, on his way from Saintes to Montauban! A glance at the map of France will show that this would have required a much greater bend to the right than he in reality made to the left, since Bearn lay entirely south of the river Adour. To reach Bearn by land _before_ crossing the Garonne, as the "Vie" evidently imagines he did, would almost have required Aladdin's lamp. In fact, the entire pa.s.sage is a jumble of the exploits of Montgomery and Coligny.

[758] La Popeliniere, _apud_ Soldan, ii. 378.

[759] De Thou, iv. (liv. xlvii.) 303-306; Agrippa d'Aubigne, liv. v., c.

20 (i. 319, 320); Davila, bk. v., p. 168; Raoul de Cazenove, "Rapin-Thoyras, sa famille," etc., 49, 50.

[760] La Mothe Fenelon, vii. 81.

[761] "L'imprudence des Catholiques, lesquels laissant rouler, sans nul empeschement, ceste pet.i.te pelote de neige, en peu de temps elle _se fit grosse comme une maison_." Mem. de la Noue, c. xxix.

[762] Of course, Davila (bk. v., p. 167, 168), who rarely rejects a good story of intrigue, especially if there be a dainty bit of treachery connected with it, adopts unhesitatingly the popular rumor of Marshal Damville's infidelity to his trust.

[763] St. etienne possessed already, at the time the "Vie de Coligny" was written, that branch of industry which still const.i.tutes one of its chief sources of wealth. It was described as a "pet.i.te ville fameuse par la quant.i.te d'armes qui s'y fait, et qui se transportent dans les pas etrangers, en sorte que c'est ce qui nourrit presque toute la province."

P. 381.