[819] De Thou, ii. 762, 763.
[820] Castelnau, 1. i., c. 8; La Planche, 245, 246; Hist. eccl., i. 164; La Place, 33; De Thou, ii. 763. The Histoire du tumulte d'Amboise, apud Recueil des choses mémorables (1565), i. 5, and Mém. de Condé, i. 329, describes Des Avenelles as "prest de se donner à louage au premier offrant;" adding "estant ambitieux et nécessiteux tout ensemble, il pensa avoir trouvé le moyen pour se rendre riche et memorable à jamais." For a favorable view of Des Avenelles's motives, see De Thou, ii. 775. The 12th of February was the date when these tidings reached the Guises, as appears from the speech of Morage or Morague, sent in March to deliver to parliament for registry the edict of amnesty for past religious offences. Mém. de Condé, i. 337. The king, who had started on his hunting tour from Blois on the 5th of February, was, when the news came, between Marchenoir and Montoire (places north and northwest of Blois). The first intimations must, however, have been very vague and general, since, on the 19th of February, the Cardinal of Lorraine wrote to Coignet, French ambassador in Switzerland, directing him to set one or two persons to watch La Renaudie ("à la queue de la Regnaudie pour l'observer de loin, n'en perdre connaissance ni jour, ni nuit"), and seize him the moment he entered the French territories—evidently supposing him to be still in Switzerland and far from Amboise. Letter of Card. Lorraine from Montoire, Feb. 19, 1560, Imp. Lib. Paris, Mignet, Journal des Savants, 1857, 420, 421. It was, doubtless, the receipt of more definite warnings that led the Guises to hasten the termination of the king's pleasure excursion. On the 22d of February, Francis arrived at Amboise, "which was two dayes sooner then was loked for." Throkmorton to the queen, Feb. 27, 1560, Forbes, State Papers, i. 334.
[821] Castelnau, ubi supra.
[822] La Planche and Hist. ecclés., ubi supra. I need not call attention to the gross absurdity into which Jean de Tavannes falls (Mém. ii. 260, 261), when he makes Catharine, through policy and hatred of Mary of Scots and of the Guises, whom the Scottish queen supported, favor the malcontents! Can the younger Tavannes have been misled by the hypocritical representations with which she once and again attempted ineffectually to deceive the reformers when they appealed to her to put an end to the persecutions?
[823] See the synopsis of Coligny's speech in La Planche, 247, 248. Tavannes ascribes Coligny's impunity throughout this reign to Catharine's interposition, revealing the plans of his enemies, etc. (Mémoires, ii. 264). It was much more probably owing to his powerful family alliances, and particularly to the fear of throwing the weight of the enormous influence of his uncle, Constable Montmorency, into the opposite scale. Yet it must be confessed that Catharine displayed for the admiral, on more than one occasion, that respect which integrity always exacts from vice, and which is most likely to be manifested in the hour of danger. Early in this reign the court faction had endeavored to sow discord between the two principal men of the Protestant party, by intimating to Coligny that Condé was seeking to obtain the governorship of Picardy, which the former held. The calumny, however, failed of its object.
[824] Recueil des anc. lois franç, xiv. 22-24; La Planche, 248; La Place, 37; Hist. ecclés., i. 166, 167; De Thou, ii. 764; Forbes, i. 877. A Latin version, but out of its chronological position in Languet, Epist. sec., ii. p. 15. The date of the publication of this important document at Paris is indicated in a letter of Hubert Languet: "Certum est undecima Martii Lutetiæ propositum esse edictum, in quo Rex condonat suis subditis quidquid hactenus peccatum est in religione." Epist. sec., ii. 44.
[825] "Car aucuns conseillers disoyent que c'estoit un attrape-minault." La Planche, 248.
[826] Beza to Bullinger, June 26, 1560; in Baum, ii., App. 13.
[827] Throkmorton's Correspondence in Forbes, State Papers, i. 353, 354, 374-378.
[828] Hist. du tumulte d'Amboise, ubi supra; La Planche, 251, 252; La Place, 34, 35; De Thou, ii. 767, 768; Mém. de Castelnau, liv. i., c. 8; Throkmorton to the queen, March 21, 1560, Forbes, State Papers, i. 376, 377. Vieilleville, if we may credit Carloix, foresaw the impossibility of keeping his honor in this mission, and refused to take it. Mém. de Vielleville, ii. 420, etc.