[1249] That the disturbance was premeditated is proved by the fact, attested by the Histoire véritable, p. 60, that the precious possessions of the church had been removed from St. Médard a few hours before its occurrence. Its object was clearly revealed by the haste with which the parliament despatched a messenger to St. Germain, to solicit the king in council to revoke the permission heretofore granted the Protestants to meet in the suburbs of Paris. Hist. ecclés. des égl. réf., i. 422.
[1250] With this scene the connection of the "Patriarche" with the reformed services disappears from history. It had been let to the Protestants by a merchant of Lucca, who was himself only a tenant. In the ensuing summer the owner, moved by displeasure for the impiety of the religious services it had witnessed, made a gift of the "Patriarche" to the parliament, asking that it might be employed for the relief of the poor and other charitable purposes. Arrêt of parliament, Aug. 18, 1562, Félibien, iv., Preuves, 806. Of course, Saint Médard was suitably propitiated by solemn expiatory processions and pageantry.
[1251] And with every indignity on the part of the people. See extracts from "Journal de 1562," in Baum, ii. 480, 481. The authorities I have made use of in the account of the St. Médard riot given in the text are: "Histoire véritable de la mutinerie, tumulte et sédition, faite par les Prestres Sainct Médard contre les Fideles, le Samedy xxvii iour de Decembre, 1561" (in Recueil des choses mémorables, 822, etc.; Mém. de Condé, ii. 541, etc.; Cimber et Danjou, iv. 49, etc.), a contemporaneous pamphlet written by an eye-witness; other documents inserted in Mém. de Condé, among them the Journal de Bruslart, i. 68; Letter of Beza, who was present, to Calvin, Dec. 30, 1561, apud Baum, ii. App., 148-150; Hist. ecclés., i. 421; De Thou, iii. 100; Claude Haton, i. 179, etc.; Castelnau, l. iii., c. 5; J. de Serres, i. 346; Claude de Sainctes, Saccagement (in Cimber et Danjou). It is almost superfluous to add that the Roman Catholic and Protestant authorities differ widely in the coloring given to the event. If any reader should be inclined to think that I have given undue weight to the Huguenot representations, let him examine the Roman Catholic De Thou—here, as everywhere, candid and impartial.
[1252] De Thou, iii. (liv. xxix.) 118-123; Eecueil des choses mém., 686-695; Mémoires de Condé, ii. 606, etc.
[1253] Abbé Bruslart accuses Chancellor L'Hospital of packing the convention with delegates of the parliaments who were his creatures; "La pluspart desquels avoient esté éleus et choisis par monsieur le Chancelier De l'Hospital, qui n'estoit sans grande suspition." Journal de Bruslart, Mém. de Condé, i. 70.
[1254] Strange to say, Santa Croce employs, in his letters to Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, the very same despairing expressions as those for the use of which in his Latin commentaries he condemns Gualtieri. He wishes to be recalled; he declares: "Che questo regno è nell' estrema ruina, che non vi è speranza alcuna, che si vede cascar a occhiate, che tutto è infetto, in capite et in membris," and that he does not want to be present at the funeral of this wretched kingdom. Letter of January 7, 1562, Aymon, i. 21, 22; Cimber et Danjou, vi. 16,17.
[1255] Ibid., ubi supra.
[1256] Letter of Santa Croce, Jan. 15, 1562, Aymon, i. 35-40.
[1257] Of forty-nine opinions, twenty-two were given in favor of an unconditional grant of the Protestant demand for churches, sixteen for a simple toleration of their religious assemblies and worship, such as had been informally practised for the last two months, while eleven stood out boldly for the continued hanging and burning of heretics. Among the most determined of these last were the Constable and Cardinal Tournon. Much to their regret, they saw themselves compelled to acquiesce in a liberal policy which they detested, in order to avoid opening the doors wide to the establishment of Protestantism in France. See Baum, Theodor Beza, ii. 499. Compare, on the course of the proceedings, Beza's letters and those of Santa Croce, ubi supra.
[1258] See the text of the Edict of January, in Du Mont, Corps diplomatique, v. 89-91; Mém. de Condé, iii. 8-15; Agrippa d'Aubigné, liv. ii., t. i. 124-128; J. de Serres, etc.