Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/340

HUGUENOTS. ait6 HUGUENOTS. Toward the end of his reign Francis I. op- posed the Huguenots with great severity, and eauM'd iiMny to be liurnini. During the reign of lienry IJ. the persecution assumed a still severer chaTOcter, tlic Chiimbrc AnUiilc (q.v.) being erected in 1547 for the trial of heretics. Nevertheless the Protestants increased in num- l>ers, and strengthened their organization. The lirst national synod on May 2;t, l.5o!». adopted a C'alvinistic code of eighty articles which be- came the constitution of French Protestantism. The influence of the Guise family, who began to come into power in the reign of Francis I., now showed itself in bitter warfare upon the Hugienots, whose cause was supported by the powerful Bourbon family, the great rivals of the <;uises. In 15(i0 the extremists among the Hu- gienots. headed by La R<'naudie. a nobleman of Perigord, conceived the plan of seizing the per- son of the young King. Francis II.. and placing him under the guardianship of the Bourbon j)rinces. The plot, however, known as the con- spiracy of . iboise, was betrayed, the King was made secure in the castle of Amboise. and the Duke of Guise was appointed Governor-Gen- eral. Numerous executions and reprisals fol- lowed, and CondO was imprisoned. The Edict of Romorantin, in JIay. 1.560. took the prosecu- tion of heretics oiit of the hands of the Parle- nients and put it into those of the bishops. By the .•s»embly of Notables in August, it was resolved that the whole matter of religion should rest until the next assembly of the States-Gen- eral. Francis II. died on December 5. 1.560, and Charles IX., a boy of ten. nscended the throne. The Queen-mother. Catharine de' Medici (q.v.), being determined to take the power into her own hands, was eomi)elIed to seek Huguenot support against the Guises. In .Tuly. 1.561. ap- peared an edict which freed dissenters from the penalty of death. For the complete termination of strife, the Court caused a religious conference to be held at Poissy in September, 1561. between the representatives of the two religious parties. The chief disputants were the Cardinal of Lor- raine on the one side, and Theodore Beza (q.v.) on the other. The effect of th<' discussion was merely to widen the breach between the Catholics and the adherents of the new confession, but it served to unite and embolden the Huguenots, with whom the machinations of the Guises forced Catharine into closer alliance. On .Tanuary 17, 1562. appeared an edict, giving noblemen the right of the free exercise of their religion on their own estates. This was followed by the recourse to arms on the part of the Guise fac- tion. Violence and reprisals were perpetrated on both sides. On March 1. 1562. a company of Protestants meeting in a barn at Vassy for re- ligious e.xercises. was attacked, and many of them were massacred by the followers of the Duke of Guise. CondC- raised the Protestant standard at Orleans, while the Guises seized the person of the King and proclaimed the Hugue- nots rebels. This was the beginning of the First Civil War. The Hugiienots were at first suc- cessful, overran the southwestern part of the country, and were joined by 4000 soldiers from Germany. .t Dreiix. however. December 10. 1562. the Protestants were defeated. The Duke of Guise was assassinated before Orleans in February. 156.3. and on March 19th the Queen- mother concluded the Peace of Amboise, which granted a large measure of religious freedom to the nobles, but set aside one town only in every l>ailiwick as a place of worship for the Huguenots. The terms of the treaty were disadvantagenus when eom])ared with the provisions of the edict of ■lanunr^', 1562, and were accepted by CVmde against the vehement remonstrances of Coligiiy (q.v.). Catharine hated the new faith, and formed a close alliance with the Spaniards for the extirpation of heresy, retrenched the privi- leges of the Protestants, and niai'e attempts upon the liberty and life of Condf- and of Admiral Coligny. These leaders then determined to take possession of the King's person in September. 1567. The Court took refuge in Paris, which Conde in- vested: on November 10, 1567. an indecisive bal tie was fought at Saint-Denis between Condf and a much superior force under the Constable Mont- morency (q.v,). and soon after CondO fell l)ack into Lorraine, where he efTccted a junction with an auxiliary force of 10.000 men from (Jermany, and again threatened Paris: upon which Catha- rine determined to conclude peace, and the Second Civil War was terminated by the Tre.ity of l.ong- jumcau on March 2.'?, L5(>8, which confirmed the terms of the Treaty of Amboise. Catharine, however, had consented to the treaty only to gain time, and had no intention of acting up to its terms. Plots were fnrmed airainst the lives of Condf' and Coligny. who lied to La Rochellc, where they were joined by .leanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, and her young son Henry. With reenforcements from Germnnv and Kng land, the Huguenots bepin the Third Civil War. but at Jarnac. March 1.3. 1560. they were de- feated by the royal troops under the nominal command of the Duke of Anjou. afterwards Henry III., and Condf was slain after he had rendered himself prisimer. Th"se misfortunes greatly dispirited the Protestants. .Jeanne d'.Mbret endeavored to reanimate them in ,nn assembly at Cognac, and set up her son. then but fifteen years of age. as the head of the Prot- estant cause, Coligny became their military leader, and having received a further accession of troops from (Jermany. laid siege to Poitiers, but was again defeated by the Duke of . jou :it Moncontour, October 3d, Fresh reenforcements from England, 8witz.erland. and Germany en- abled ColiLTiy to take Nlmes in 156il, and to re- lieve La Rochelle, while La Noue obtained a vic- tory over the royal troops at Lucon. Catharine and her son now sought for peace, to which the Protestants, weary of the hard contest, con- sented. The treaty, concluded at Saint-Germain- en-I.aye on .uarust 8, 1570, gave to the Protes- tants the free exercise of their religion everjwhere except in Paris, and the possession of a number nf strongholds, Cath.nrine, having failed to overthrow the Protestant cause in the open field, sought to accomplish her object by treachery. She entered into friendly relations with the Huguenots, part- ly, it is true, out of fear of the Guise famiry. After September. 1571. .dmiral Coligny exer- cised great influence at Court, and was received with much show of affection by the young King and the Queen-mother. The marriage of Henry of Navarre, who had just succeeded his mother in his little kingdom, to Margaret of Valois. sis- ter of Charles IX., seemed to promise an end to the period of civil strife. Then came the mas-