A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Medicis, (Catherine de)
Henry was then only in his 13th year, and when he succeeded to the throne 1547, Catherine was held in contempt, not only by him, but also by all those who surrounded him; yet the pliancy of her disposition, and her profound dissimulation, at length enabled her to become the head of a party. By caressing the duchess of Valentinois (Diana of Poitiers, mistress to the king, who had the most powerful party at court], although she detested her; by perpetually flattering the pride, and asking the advice of the Constable Montmorenci, whom she considered as her greatest enemy; and by stopping at nothing which could in the smallest degree promote the objects which she had in view, she obtained considerable favours for herself and partizans; but during the reign of her husband her influence was comparatively small: his death, which happened in 1559, by a wound he received at a tournament, introduced Catherine to the exercise of full power. Her son, Francis II, who succeeded, had never enjoyed more than a passive existence; without vices, without virtues, pronounced of age by the law, but condemned by nature to a perpetual minority, he was destined to become a blind instrument In the hand of the first person who should take possession of him.
Under these circumstances, Catherine might justly urge her superior pretensions to power; but, as the times, were turbulent and unsettled, requiring uncommon exertions of firmness, prudence, and sagacity, she deemed it prudent to associate with her in the administration, men of active minds, who should take upon them the chief burden of the state. Francis therefore, then sixteen, immediately upon the demise of his father, informed the parliament, he meant to take the reins of government into his own hands, aided by the advice of his mother, and assisted by the experience of the duke of Guise, and the cardinal of Lorrain. In endeavouring to humble the pride of the Constable Montmorenci, she so offended him that he left the court, attended by such a numerous train of friends, that his retreat wore the appearance of a triumph, and Catherine, though she wished to restrain his power, still desired to have kept him in the council, to balance the authority of the Guises, of whom she soon became apprehensive, lest it might be turned against herself; especially as they were supported by Mary Stewart, their niece, whose sweetness of temper and personal charms had given her entire ascendency over her husband. Besides it was her interest to conciliate the different factions: she had therefore recourse to the Chatillons, nephews to the constable, who accepted her offers; while all the princes of the blood, who from their birth might justly claim a share in the administration, were on various pretences excluded, and the Guises held despotic sway. The duke had secured the attachment of the troops, by the repeated proofs he had given of skill and courage in the field, while his liberality, magnificence, and courtesy endeared him to the people; his disposition was moderate, equitable, and intrepid in the hour of danger: the cardinal was chiefly indebted for his influence to the strength of his oratorical talents and religious orthodoxy; but his temper was vindictive, choleric and enterprising, too readily elated by success, and too easily depressed by defeat. Such were Catherine's associates, to whom she looked for support, yet trembled lest their excessive power should annihilate her own. At first she seemed averse to the dreadful spirit of persecution, which then raged against the Huguenots, and even reproved the cardinal for some sanguinary measures. In the discovery of the Calvinistic conspiracy, which was secretly headed by the prince of Condé, she had recourse to the advice of the Chatillons (one of whom was the Admiral Coligni) who were acknowledged protestants, to know what was the occasion of the threatened insurrection, and the best means to be adopted to prevent it. Coligni assured her it was from the cruelty of the edicts against those who professed to live according to the purity of the gospel, and the severity with which they were enforced. His observations were attended to, and by their united influence, a partial and temporary amelioration of those evils took place by means of a more merciful edict; she even liberated a great number of the rebels that were taken, whom it was supposed had not been privy to the plot, but had only wished to force a passage to the throne, that they might there present a supplication against the usurpation of the Guises, and obtain liberty of conscience. At the trial of baron Castelnau who was taken up in the affair, the noble and christian-like spirit he evinced so struck the queen-mother, that she joined her voice with those who interceded in his behalf; but it was in vain, for the young monarch, tutored by his uncles, confirmed the sentence of death. The royal family, and all the court, attended this and other executions, which were performed in the castle yard. Anne of Este, duchess of Guise, was the only person who expressed any horror at the sight: pale, and trembling, she uttered a loud shriek, then quitting the place, ran to her apartment. The queen-mother paid her a visit, and found her in. tears, desiring to know the cause of her grief: the duchess replied, "Alas! madam, never had mother a greater cause for affliction; what a dreadful storm of hatred, blood, and revenge, is now suspending over the heads of my unhappy children!"
The prince of Condé had retired to his own dominions; for though suspected to have been concerned in the plot of the Huguenots, it was not clearly ascertained; but the Guises wishing to get him and his brother the king of Navarre into their power, made use of the meanest and most dishonest artifices to effect it. Catherine united with them in exerting all those arts of hypocrisy in which she was so eminently versed; they succeeded but too well, and the king and prince too soon repented accepting the deceitful invitation, in repairing to court, attended only by their usual retinue. On entering the royal presence, they found his majesty seated between the duke and cardinal; he received them coldly, and conducted them to the apartment of the queen-mother, who on their appearance shrieked, and burst into tears. Condé was presently apprehended by the king's guards, upon his order; the king of Navarre, whose easy credulity had greatly contributed to reduce his brother to that situation, repeatedly called upon the queen-mother to declare whether she had not solemnly pledged her word that neither he nor his brother should meet with any molestation; but that artful and perfidious princess refused to answer him. The prince of Condé was tried by a commission appointed for the purpose; found guilty of lèze majesté, and condemned to suffer decapitation. The day of his execution was fixed at an early period, and the late of this gallant man appeared inevitable; but the Sovereign Arbiter of the world, who baffles the presumptuous hopes of aspiring mortals, and speaks comfort to despair, had otherwise ordained. Whilst the king was attending vespers at the Jacobins, he suddenly fainted, and was conveyed senseless and motionless to his apartment; when he recovered his senses, he complained of a violent pain in his ears, which was occasioned by an abscess forming in his head. Whilst he was dying, the Guises at first meditated the immediate execution of Condé, but the queen concluded an accommodation both with him and his brother, on condition that on the king's demise he should renounce all pretensions to the regency, and submit to a reconciliation with the Guises, who she assured him had been in no wise instrumental to his imprisonment. He was accordingly liberated.
The king's death, which took place 1560, threw the whole court into confusion; the crown devolved on his brother Charles IX, then only eleven years of age. His early years incapacitating him to hold the reins of government, Catherine, at first, assumed the authority, though not the title of regent. But was soon obliged to relinquish a portion of her power to the king of Navarre, one of the first princes of the blood.
The states general were assembled, to adopt some measures with respect to the finances, whilst the queen-mother strove to secure the attachment of the Huguenots: causing letters patent to be issued, whereby the king forbade all his subjects, under the severest penalties, to insult each other on matters of religion, and ordered all those to be released from prison, whose only crime was, having attended conventicles, exacting from them a promise to live catholiquement in future; if they would not make this promise, they were still to be released, on condition they left the kingdom in a given time. But the parliament were so far influenced by the spirit of bigotry, that they at the same time issued an arrêt, forbidding all persons, under pain of death, from holding conventicles, or unlawful assemblies; from buying and selling any book on religion, without the permission of the court. But the death of the king seemed to have suspended the power of the Guises, and the presence of the Prince of Condé turned the scale in favour of the Huguenots. It had ever been the policy of Catherine, to profit by the animosity of two parties, for the augmentation of her power; and so to hold the balance between them as to prevent either from securing a preponderance. Finding her authority questioned by the Huguenots, she thought it prudent to secure the attachment of their leaders: and accordingly applied to Coligni, who from his rank, station and principles, was justly considered as entitled to have great weight with his party. Unambitious of honours, and negligent of rewards, all the Admiral required was the promulgation of edicts favourable to the religion he professed; believing that those doctrines, which had made such rapid progress in the time of persecution, would thrive so fast under the influence of toleration, that the whole nation would in a few years be induced to adopt them, without bloodshed; that the immense riches of the Romish clergy might be employed in paying the national debts, and in the support of the reformed ministers. Catherine was easily persuaded, being more anxious to preserve her rank, and to liquidate the public debt, than to maintain the established religion. Moderate measures were pursued, and the butchers, even in the time of Lent, were allowed to keep their shops open. Though Catherine did not dare attend the sermons of the Huguenots, yet she allowed the bishop of Valence, who had imbibed their principles, to hold daily conferences with them on controverted points in the king's anti-chamber, at which she was always present, accompanied by the ladies of the court. Though she at the same time contracted a contrary engagement with the cardinal of Lorrain, it appears probable she did not mean to fulfil it, as she retained Theodore Beza, the famous reformer, and his companions, near her person, suffering them to preach in the precincts of the Palais St. Germain.
The most dreadful disorders were continually occasioned by the mutual opposition of the parties. At a meeting of the deputies from the different parliaments, the queen declared it was the intention, both of herself and son, to live and die in the catholic religion; yet edicts were still published to favour the reformed, which much engaged the others. Catherine, alarmed at hearing that a catholic league was forming, to repress the progress of heresy, of which the king of Spain was chief, sent an ambassador to Philip, to inform him that the edicts in favor of the Huguenots displeased her much; and that only the critical situation of the kingdom had induced her to sanction them with her assent. Philip, in his answer, strenuously exhorted her to purge the kingdom of those contagious disorders by fire and sword, offering her all the assistance she might want for that purpose. But, at the very time this artful princess was thus amusing the pope and king of Spain, with professions of attachment to the establishment, she carried on negociations with the protestant princes of Germany, urging them to enter into a league, which might enable them to oppose the sanguinary resolutions about to be adopted by the Council of Trent, which she represented as a conspiracy of all the catholic princes against the protestants. She well knew, she said, how odious the favour she had shewn to those who lived according to the purity of the gospel had made her appear to their barbarous persecutors; and that she must expect her refusal to join in their plots would draw their attacks upon herself.
About this time, the king of Spain wrought so on the mind of the credulous king of Navarre, as to engage him to forego the principles of the reformation; and, assisted by himself, procure the dismission of the Chatelans, whose places were to be filled by himself and good catholics. The queen-mother was very much displeased; but, being obliged to yield, gave leave of absence to Coligni, and his brother the chancellor, and the king soon invited the Guises to return to court. Condé was at Paris, which was filled with armed men of both parties. Catherine and the king had left that city, intending to put themselves under the protection of the Huguenots, who were to conduct them to Orleans. A considerable body of troops, attended by the king of Navarre, secured the king and his indignant mother, under pretence of rescuing them from the enterprises of the Huguenots; and they were reconducted to the capital. The reformed religion was forbidden there, and all the Huguenots fled to Orleans, where an association was formed, of which the prince of Condé was declared protector; they declared their objects were the liberation of the king and queen-mother, and to obtain toleration; they thence made proposals, which, though agreeable to the queen, were rejected by the council; who prepared tor war, after constraining the king and queen-mother to declare they had come to Paris of their own will, and were then at liberty.
The most dreadful tumults, massacres, and civil wars, took place throughout the kingdom; catholics and protestants seemed to vie with each other in acts of cruelty. Foreign powers were applied to on each side, and different treaties concluded. The Guises had at length entirely engaged Catherine in their interest; she earnestly wished for peace and the abolition of the reformed religion: she made frequent overtures to the prince of Condé, and several personal interviews took place between them; but Catherine positively declared, she would never permit the re-establishment of the edict of January, (one highly favorable to the protestants, that had been suppressed); and that her son was determined to allow the public exercise of no other religion than the catholic. The conferences failed, and the most dreadful persecutions followed; the parliament of Paris pronounced an arrêt, permitting all the Catholics in towns and villages to assemble in arms at the ringing of the bells, to pursue and destroy the Huguenots; and France became a scene of carnage, in which the protestants, when it was in their power, retaliated the cruelties on their persecutors, but several cities were taken from them.
At length, on the plains of Dreux, the armies being opposite each other, the catholic chiefs sent to the queen, informing her, they had it in their power to bring the Huguenots to action, and only waited for orders. Catherine, ever an enemy to all strokes of decision, and still anxious to preserve her credit with both parties, asked their messenger, whether those great captains thought a woman and child better able than themselves to decide on the propriety of ordering Frenchmen to cut each others throats? Then conducting him to her son's apartment, she found him with his nurse, who was going to retire; but Catherine exclaimed, "Nurse, stay where you are; since it has become the custom for generals to consult women on what they are to do, say, shall we give battle or not?" The decision of the question was left to the commanders; the battle was fought: victory at first favoured the protestants, but at length sided with the catholics, and the prince of Condé was taken prisoner. The king of Navarre had been before killed in battle, and the duke of Guise was soon after shot by a cowardly assassin; with his dying voice he recommended peace to the queen; and, during the interval betwixt his wound and death, displayed a dignified and manly composure: he was esteemed the greatest general of his time. By his death the reins of government fell entirely into the hands of the queen. Both parties sincerely desiring peace, it was at last concluded, with a limited toleration to the protestants, 1563; and the prince of Condé returned to court. The declaration of the king's majority was hastened, from the assiduous application Catherine had given to settling the foreign and domestic affairs of the state. It must be owned, that at this time, she shewed herself abundantly capable of exercising, and not altogether unworthy of that supreme authority in the government, to which she had always aspired with excessive eagerness. By her prudence and address she satisfied the German emperor, and negociated amicably with Elizabeth of England. The king was declared of age 1563, when Catherine resigned the regency, and took the tour of France with her son. At Bayonne she had an interview with her daughter, the queen of Spain, and the duke of Alva, an ambassador appointed for that purpose by Philip; but the subject of the conference remained unknown: it is supposed that Spain and France agreed to maintain an uniformity of conduct in matters religious and political. But Catherine, now entirely devoted to the Catholics, by repeated affronts and constant violations of the edicts in their favour, alarmed the minds of the Huguenots, who saw their destruction was intended. Yet the queen, by soothing them, made them the means of engaging Swiss troops to enter as her mercenaries, under pretence that she feared a foreign invasion; nor till it was too late did they perceive her craft. They, in their turn, affected tranquillity, till their plot was laid, and train ready to take fire. A fruitless attempt to seize the person of the king a second time, commenced the civil war, and after some undecisive, though bloody battles and sieges, peace was concluded, and in a short time again broken on both sides. The protestant religion was proscribed by more rigorous edicts, the leaders pursued with inveteracy, and war again commenced, but after much effusion of blood, peace was again made 1570, and a great degree of toleration, and liberty, allowed the Huguenots. A marriage was proposed between the prince of Navarre, afterwards Henry IV, and the sister of the king; alliances were sought for by the court with most of the foreign protestant princes; and war was about to be declared against Spain. The king seemed to exert every effort to conciliate the affection of the protestants. Admiral Coligni, now the head of the party, was invited to court, that Charles might be assisted by his advice; and honour and profit was there heaped upon him; whilst the king was swift in avenging any insult committed against their party; and such was the deep laid plan of deception now practised by Catherine and her son, that Sully justly calls it "an almost incredible prodigy of dissimulation!" Such, indeed, it must have been, since it completely imposed on Coligni's penetrating and sagacious mind. A conversation that had passed between them being overheard, on the queen of Navarre's arrival at court, was treated by him with neglect. "Have I not," said Charles, "acted my part well?" "Admirably!"—replied his mother,—"you have begun; but you must continue." "I will not finish," said Charles, with horrid execrations, "until I bring them all into the toils." Henry of Navarre soon after married Margaret; and this was the crisis for perpetrating their dark designs. The scheme for drawing together the protestant leaders at the marriage of; Henry had succeeded beyond their hopes; above 700 of the nobility and gentry, the flower of the chieftains of that persuasion, were in the city and suburbs, unarmed and unprepared.
The death of Coligni was intended as the first stroke of vengeance inflicted by the merciless and perfidious junto; a fruitless attempt soon after made to assassinate him, by a creature of the duke of Guise, alarmed once more their fears: but Charles and Catherine expressed so much detestation of the deed, that they in a measure lulled their suspicions. A guard was appointed about Coligni's person, and all the protestants lodged in his neighbourhood. Charles is said to have betrayed such fear and irresolution on the eve of St. Bartholomew, that all the art of his mother was requisite to make him give the order. "Shall the occasion," said the blasphemous Catherine, "that God presents of avenging the obdurate enemies of your authority, be suffered to escape through your want of courage? How much better is it to tear in pieces these corrupt members, than to rankle the bosom of the church, the spouse of our Lord?" This impious exhortation expelled from his bosom every sentiment of humanity, and with eyes glaring with rage, he pronounced the horrid mandate:—"Go on, then; and let none remain to reproach me with the deed." Having thus obtained her aim, Catherine anticipated the hour of the signal; the bell was rung! Coligni's house was first beset; and the admiral died as he had lived, anxious for the safety of his friends. The greatest indignities were offered to his corpse. A general massacre then ensued; and horrors, which humanity can scarce conceive, were perpetrated. About 6000 protestants, 500 of whom were nobility, thus perished in Paris, and this inhuman slaughter appears to have been premeditated before the last peace was agreed on; or it might be the subject of one of the queen's conferences with the duke of Alva, at Bayonne. About 30,000 were butchered in other parts of the kingdom. The exasperated protestants, regarding the faith of their enemies as worthless, fortified themselves to the utmost of their power, and demanded full toleration. The duke of Anjou, offended at not being appointed lieutenant-general of the kingdom after his brother's accession to the crown of Poland (the former duke of Anjou), entered into a plot to escape to the protestant chiefs; but his plan was discovered by Catherine, who greatly enlarged upon it to the king; and, by pretending to make use of means for its full discovery, kept both his majesty (who was then very ill) and the duke almost as state prisoners; and on this plea she apprehended some of the principal nobility, who were disaffected. Mean while the king's indisposition increased; and in its last stage, he issued letters patent to the governors of the provinces, requiring them to obey his mother, during his illness: he also nominated her, on his demise, to the regency of the kingdom, until his brother the king of Poland should arrive. Yet before his death, which happened 1574, he expressed the greatest remorse for the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the various other cruelties to which he had been instigated by his unnatural mother. Catherine immediately assumed the reins of power, until her son's arrival, closely guarding the king of Navarre and the duke of Anjou.
The people expected an active, vigilant and high spirited monarch; but they found Henry III. irresolute, inconstant, indolent, and voluptuous: a strange compound of sensuality and devotion. Alternately governed by licentious minions, and bigoted priests. Civil war was again kindled, arid the king of Navarre effected his escape to Tours, where he publicly resumed the exercise of the protestant religion. But Catherine once more contrived to avert the storm that hung over the kingdom; and by exerting her usual address in the arts of negotiation, the combined princes were induced to lay down their arms; the reformed were allowed the free exercise of their religion, on condition they should not preach within two miles of Paris. These favourable terms granted to the Huguenots, furnished the catholics with a plansible pretext for forming themselves into a league 1576, of which Henry III. was declared head. A. D. 1583, the duke of Anjou died, and the king of Navarre became heir apparent to the throne; but Catherine exerted all her influence over her son to prevail on him to promote his exclusion, and transfer his rights to the children of her daughter, by the duke of Lorrain. The duke of Guise and his brother, encouraged by the queen-mother, put themselves at the head of the league, and their emissaries were loud against an heretical sovereign. The armies took the field, and many sieges ensued. In 1586, Catherine had an interview with the king of Navarre, and the prince of Condé, attended as usual, by the most beautiful women of the court; but neither the persuasions of the one, nor charms of the other, could prevail on the princes to renounce their religion. Meanwhile the dissensions between the king and duke of Guise daily encreased, each party were determined on extremities: Henry had little more than the name of king; and that little continually decreased. Catherine in vain, by tears and remonstrances, attempted to reconcile them; but the breach was too wide to be filled by pacific measures. Henry at length fled from Paris, but now the mediation of Catherine was once more successfully employed, and Henry in appearance reconciled to his rebellious subjects; but by his orders the duke of Guise was assassinated, 1588. As soon as Henry was informed of his death, he passed into the apartment of the queen-mother; and, acquainting her with the event, added, "I am now a king, madam; for the duke of Guise is no more." Catherine, without blaming or commending the action, only coldly asked, if he had considered the consequences? Those which immediately followed, were in the highest degree prejudicial to his interests; and he now totally withdrew his confidence from Catherine. Mortified at the loss of an authority she had so long enjoyed, and advanced in years, she expired at Blois, 1589, in the 73d year of her age. In her last moments she perceived the fatal effects of her own insidious policy, and strenuously exhorted Henry to be reconciled to the princes of his blood, particularly the king of Navarre, whose sincerity, she declared, she had constantly experienced; and advised him to restore tranquillity to his kingdom, by putting a stop to the persecution of the protestants, and allowing them the free exercise of their religion.