[393] State Papers, vii. p. 439.
[394] 'The 28th the emperor departed from hens' (State Papers, viii. p. 438), 'and went to Milan' (p. 447).
[395] Du Bellay, Mém. p. 189.
[396] Ibid.
CHAPTER XXVII.
STORM AGAINST THE QUEEN OF NAVARRE AND HER 'MIRROR OF THE SINFUL SOUL.'
(Summer 1533.)
=UNEASINESS OF THE ULTRAMONTANES.=
THE Romish party would not be comforted under its defeat. Beda, Le Picard, and Mathurin in exile; evangelical sermons freely preached in the great churches of the capital; the new doctrines carried through Paris from house to house; and the Queen of Navarre seated, as it were, upon the throne during her brother's absence, protecting and directing this Lutheran activity—it was too much! The anxiety and alarm of the ultramontanists increased every day: they held numerous conferences; and if the young Alsatian whom we saw at the gate of the Sorbonne, or any other inquisitive person, could have crept into these catholic committees, he would have heard the most violent addresses. 'It is not only the approach of the enemy that alarms us,' they said: 'he is there ... the revolutionary, immoral, impious, atheistic, abominable, execrable monster!' Other epithets were added, to be found only in the popish vocabulary. 'He is making rapid progress; unless we resist him vigorously, it is all over! The world will perhaps see crumbling under his blows those ancient walls of Roman catholicism under which the nations have taken shelter for so many ages.' And hence the Sorbonne was of the same opinion with the priests and the most hot-headed laymen, that, overlooking for the moment secondary persons, it was necessary to strike the most dangerous. In their eyes the Queen of Navarre was the great enemy of the papacy; the monks, in particular, whose disorders she had not feared to expose, were full of fury against her; their clamours were heard in every quarter. 'The queen,' they said, 'is the modern Eve by whom the new revolt is entering into the world.'—'It is the nature of women to be deceived,' said one; and to prove it he quoted St. Jerome. 'Woman is the gate of the devil,' said another, citing the authority of Tertullian. 'The wily serpent,' said the greatest doctors, 'remembers that memorable duel fought in Paradise. Another fight is beginning, and he is again putting in practice the stratagems that succeeded so well before. At the beginning of the world and now, it is always against woman—that tottering wall, that pannel so weak and easy to break down—that he draws up his battery. It is the Queen of Navarre who supports the disciples of Luther in France; she has placed them in schools; she alone watches over them with wonderful care, and saves them from all danger.[397] Either the king must punish her, or she must publicly recant her errors.' The ultramontanists did not restrict themselves to words: they entered into a diabolical plot to ruin that pious princess.
=PLOTS AGAINST MARGARET.=
This was not an easy thing to do. The king loved her, all good men revered her, and all Europe admired her. Yet, as Francis was very jealous of his authority, the priests hoped to take advantage of his extreme susceptibility and set him at variance with a sister who dared to have an opinion of her own. Besides, the Queen of Navarre, like every other eminent person, had powerful enemies at court, 'people of Scythian ingratitude,' who, having been received in her household and raised by her to honours, secretly did all in their power to bring her into discredit with the king and with her husband.[398] The most dangerous enemy of all was the grand-master Montmorency, an enterprising, brave, and imperious man, skilful in advancing his own fortune, though unlucky with that of the kingdom; he was besides coarse and uncultivated, despising letters, detesting the Reformation, irritated by the proselytism of the Queen of Navarre, and full of contempt for her books. He had great influence over Francis. The Sorbonne thought that if the grand-master declared against her, it would be impossible for Margaret to retain the king's favour.