[68] See the observations of La Place, 41-45.
[69] It is true that De Thou so says: “et établir en France une république semblable à celle des Suisses,” Book XXV, 501, but it is to be remembered that De Thou was writing late in the reign of Henry IV, and read back into the past the republicanism of 1572.
[70] See the eminently sane remarks of Tavannes, 260.
[71] Cf. Castelnau, Book I, chap. vi.
[72] The avarice and dishonesty of the cardinal, it is said, even went so far as to force Catherine de Medici to divide with him the fees arising from the confirmation of offices and the privileges accorded towns and municipal corporations in the time of Henry II, which sums lawfully went to her; and even then he is said to have fraudulently estimated them in livres instead of écus d’or.—La Planche, 208. The écu d’or was worth two livres tournois in the reign of Francis I, so that the cardinal’s little trick cut the sum in half.
[73] See the character sketch in Rel. vén., I, 437-39.
[74] Cf. La Place, 28.
[75] Baschet, 497, 498.
[76] See C. S. P. For., 1559-61, passim.
[77] Ibid., No. 405, December 12, 1559. The duchess of Lorraine was a daughter of Christian II, the exiled ruler of Denmark. On this question see the long note (with references appended) in Poulet, I, 126. Cf. Arch. de la maison d’Orange-Nassau, I, 132. There is little doubt that Philip II and the Guises contemplated such a move (Languet, Epist., secr., II, 22, 30, 34). The war going on between Denmark and Sweden favored the project. This war lasted for seven years (Arch. de la maison d’Orange-Nassau, I, 103, 104; Raumer, II, 211).