[5] While public wars were to decide the feuds of nations and of tribes, a private war was considered right to settle individual disputes. In this private hostility, however, the kindred of both parties were obliged to espouse the quarrel, or forfeit all the rights and privileges of relationship; and it may be easily believed, from the inveteracy that marks all intestine discord, that these wars were waged with every possible refinement of ferocious revenge.
[6] A remarkable instance of this influence of brute force, that set at defiance all power and subordination, occurs in the history of Clovis, whose soldiers having plundered a church, and borne away various sacred utensils of great value, the bishop sent a deputation to the prince to solicit the restoration of a certain precious and sanctified vase. Clovis replied that when the booty was divided, if this vase fell to his lot, it should be immediately returned. Arrived at Soissons, the prince requested as a favour that this vessel should be allowed him as the only share of booty he would claim. All appeared willing to comply with this request; when a fierce soldier, striking the holy vessel with his battle-axe, exclaimed in a thundering voice, “You shall secure nothing here but that which the lot shall give you.” And there is but little doubt, that, had Clovis persisted, the battle-axe would have lighted upon his head.
[7] The accused was also sometimes obliged to walk barefoot and blindfold over nine red-hot ploughshares, laid lengthwise at unequal distances.
[8] This cut of the sabre is to this day called coup de Jarnac.
[9] The expressions quoted by the chronicler were affecting beyond translation. Sire je vous le donne—prenez-le pour Dieu! et l’amour que vous l’avez nourri; but the romantic monarch was deaf to the entreaty!
[10] This accident was strangely commented on by the theologic writers of the time, as appears by the following extract from Cockburn:—
“There was another observation made of this (accident), not only by the Protestants, but some of the moderate Roman Catholics, and which disposed some to turn Protestants. For this King Henry, by the persuasion of Cardinal Lorrain, had begun a severe persecution of the Protestants; and said, as was reported of him, that he would raise a mountain out of the ashes of Protestants that should be burned, higher than any in France: and, a day or two before, the Count Montmorency, by an order brought him by Oliver the Chancellor, seized and committed to the Bastile eleven eminent councillors and members of the Parliament of Paris, who lay under suspicion of favouring the Protestant doctrine: wherefore it was concluded and believed a visible and just judgment of God for avenging the blood of some of his servants, and the intended cruelty against others, that the King should receive his death by the same hand which seized these innocent men, in the very face of the Bastile where they were imprisoned, and that he should die too between twelve and one, the same hour in which he signed the order for seizing them. Thuanus reports that it was given out that King Henry said to those who came to take him up, that ‘he was afraid he had been injurious to those innocent persons,’ pointing to the Bastile; which Cardinal Lorrain checked in great wrath, telling him that these thoughts proceeded from an evil spirit. It is also remarkable how that the same Count Montgomery had afterwards his head struck off publicly at Paris, being condemned for treason because he joined the Prince of Condé’s party against the Queen and the Regency.”
[11] A still more ingenious mode of fighting was adopted by a young soldier, of a diminutive stature, who had been insulted by a tall sturdy Gascon: he insisted that they should both wear a steel collar round their necks, bristled with pointed blades as sharp as razors; and, wearing no armour, their bodies and limbs were exposed to the swords of each other. By this invention the little man could look up at his antagonist without any danger; while the tall fellow could not look down at his adversary without cutting his chin with the acerated points of his collar, in consequence of which he was soon run through the body.
[12] In Lady Blessington’s “Idler in Italy,” we find the following feminine remark, when speaking of Nice:—
“A marble cross marks the spot at Nice where an interview took place between Francis I, Charles V, and Pope Paul III. As I stood on the spot, I could call up to my mind’s eye these three remarkable men: but I found my fancy more disposed to dwell on the chivalrous sovereign of France than on the gloomy warrior of Spain, who exchanged a throne for a convent, or the churchman, who established the inquisition. I believe, all women take a stronger interest in the memory of two French monarchs of ancient days, than in that of any of their contemporaries. I refer to Henry IV. and Francis I; both were distinguished by great bravery and courtesy, which have a peculiar attraction for ladies; and the weaknesses of which they are accused, are such as women are most disposed to pardon, except in the persons of their suitors or their husbands.”