[207] C. S. P. For., No. 193, August 30, 1560; Paris, Négociations relatives au règne de François II, 481; Correspondance de Catherine de Médicis, I, 149, n.; La Place, 68; La Planche, 363. “The government seems determined not to await the meeting of a council general, the decision of which will be tardy, but to convene a national one, assembling in a synod all bishops and other leading and intelligent churchmen of the kingdom, to consult and provide for the urgent need of France in matters of religion which admit of no delay.”—C. S. P. Ven., No. 142, 1560.
[208] La Place, 70.
[209] In Tours as early as April, 1560, a letter was published to all the governors and ministerial officials of the cities and provinces of the kingdom concerning the reformation of the church by means of a congregation of the prelates of the Gallican church to be assembled for a national council (C. S. P. Ven., No. 151, 1560).
[210] The ultra-Catholic party at Trent accused the cardinal of wanting to create an independent patriarchate out of the Gallican church. Desjardins. Nég. de la France dans le Levant, II, 728.
As a matter of fact, at this season, the cardinal was disposed to favor the project of a national council, as he hoped thereby to enlarge the power and dignity of his office as primate of France. His ambition was to become a sort of French pope, so that “he would not have thought it wrong had all obedience to the pontiff ceased.”—Despatches of Suriano (Huguenot Society), September 23, 1560.
[211] Maynier, Etude historique sur le concile de Trente (1545-62), 1874; Journal du concile de Trente, redigé par un secrétaire vénitien présent aux sessions de 1562 à 1563, et publié par Armand Baschet, avec d’autres documents diplomatiques relatifs à la mission des Ambassadeurs de France au concile; Desjardins, Le pouvoir civil au concile de Trente, Paris, 1869; Baguenault de la Puchesse, “Le concile de Trente,” R. Q. H., October, 1869.
[212] C. S. P. Ven., No. 161, 1560.
[213] Ibid., For., No. 232, June 24, 1560. When the Pope showed anger at the determination of France, the cardinal of Lorraine actually apologized for himself by saying that it was neither by his orders nor with his consent, but that the printers took the liberty to give the name of National Council to the “Congregation” which the King intended to convoke! (ibid., No. 174, 1560).
[214] Ibid., No. 569, September 8, 1560.
[215] Ibid., No. 615, October 8, 1560. The demands of the Protestants were as follows: (1) That the Council be convened in a free city of Germany; (2) that summons be not by a papal bull, but by the Emperor, who should provide them with safe-conducts; (3) that the Pope be subordinated to the Council; (4) that those of the Confession of Augsburg have a vote equally with the Catholics; (5) that the judgment be according to the Holy Scriptures, and not according to the decrees of the Pope; (6) that the prelates of the Council be absolved from the oath by which they are bound to the Pope and the Church of Rome; (7) that the acts of the Council of Trent be annulled (cf. C. S. P. For., No. 782, sec. 14).