[484] Henry II.'s letters of March 17, 1549, summoning Meynier and his accomplices to the bar of the Parliament of Paris, state distinctly the motives of the perpetrators of the massacre, as alleged by the Waldenses in their appeal to Francis I.: "Auquel ils firent entendre, qu'ils étaient journellement travaillés et molestés par les évêques du pays et par les présidens et conseillers de notre parlement de Provence, qui avaient demandé leurs confiscations et terres pour leurs parens," etc. Hist. ecclés., ubi supra.
[485] "Sur ce que l'on auroit fait entendre audit feu Seigneur Roi, qu'ils étaient en armes en grande assemblée, forçant villes et châteaux, eximant les prisonniers des prisons," etc. Letters Patent of Henry II., ubi supra, i. 46; also, i. 28; De Thou, i. 541. Notwithstanding the evident falsity of these assertions of Courtain, the parliament's messenger, writers of such easy consciences as Maimbourg (Hist. du calvinisme, liv. ii. 83) and Freschot (Origine, progressi e ruina del Calvinismo nella Francia, di D. Casimiro Freschot, Parma, 1693, p. 34) are not ashamed to endorse them. Freschot says: "Nello stesso tempo che mandavano à Parigi le loro proposizioni, travagliavano ad accrescere le loro forze, non che ad assicurare il proprio Stato. Per il che conseguire avendo praticato alcune intelligenze nella città di Marsiglia, s'avanzarono sin' al numero di sedici mila per impossessarsene," etc. The assertions of so ignorant a writer as Freschot shows himself to be, scarcely require refutation. See, however, Le Courrayer, following Bayle, note to Sleidan, ii. 256. The impartial Roman Catholic continuation of the Eccles. Hist. of the Abbé Fleury, xxviii. 540, gives no credit to these calumnies.
[486] The substance of the royal order of January 1, 1545, is given in the Letters-Patent of Henry II., dated Montereau, March 17, 1549 (1550, New Style), which constitute our best authority: "Le feu dit Seigneur permit d'exécuter les arrêts donnés contre eux, révoquant lesdites lettres d'évocation, pour le regard des récidifs non ayant abjuré, et ordonna que tous ceux qui se trouveraient chargés et coupables d'hérésie et secte Vaudoise, fussent exterminés," etc. Hist. ecclés., i. 46.
[487] The names are preserved: they were the second president, François de la Fond; two counsellors, Honoré de Tributiis and Bernard Badet; and an advocate, Guérin, acting in the absence of the "Procureur géneral." Letters-Patent of Henry II., ubi supra; De Thou, i. 541; Hist. ecclés., i. 28.
[488] De Thou, ubi supra; Sleidan, Hist. de la réformation (Fr. trans. of Le Courrayer), ii. 252.
[489] The fleet carrying these troops, consisting of twenty-five galleys, was under the joint command of Poulin, Poulain, or Polin—afterward prominent in military affairs, under the name of Baron de la Garde—and of the Chevalier d'Aulps. Bouche, ii. 601. The Baron de la Garde is made the object of a special notice by Brantôme.
[490] Crespin, fol. 115. Sleidan and De Thou give a similar incident as befalling fugitives from Mérindol. Garnier, alluding to the absence of any attempt at self-defence on the part of the Waldenses, pertinently remarks: "On put connoître alors la fausseté et la noirceur des bruits que l'on avoit affecté de répandre sur leurs préparatifs de guerre: pas un ne songea à se mettre en défense: des cris aigus et lamentables portés dans un moment de villages en villages, avertirent ceux qui vouloient sauver leur vie de fuir promptement du côté des montagnes." Hist. de France, xxvi. 33.
[491] So say the Letters-Patent of Henry II.: "Furent faites défenses à son de trompe tant par autorité dudit Menier, que dudit de la Fond, de non bailler à boire et manger aux Vaudois, sans savoir qui ils étaient; et ce sur peine de la corde." Hist. ecclés., i. 47; Crespin, fol. 115.
[492] Crespin, and Hist. ecclês., ubi supra.
[493] Many, overtaken in their flight, were slain by the sword, or sent to the galleys, and about twenty-five, having taken refuge in a cavern near Mus, were stifled by a fire purposely kindled at its mouth. Sleidan, ii. 255.