| View of Paris | [Frontispiece] | |
| FACING PAGE | ||
| Huguenot March to Orleans, March 29-April 2, 1562 | [139] | |
| Campaign of Dreux, November to December, 1562 | [180] | |
| Battle of Dreux, According to Commandant De Coynart | [181] | |
| Sketch Map of the Fortifications of Havre-de-Grace | [202] | |
| The Tour of the Provinces, 1564-66 | [232] | |
| March of the Duke of Alva through Savoy, Franche Comté,and Lorraine | [308] | |
| Execution of Egmont and Hoorne in the Market Square atBrussels | [314] | |
| Paris and Its Faubourgs in the Sixteenth Century | [327] | |
| Blockade of Paris by the Huguenots, October-November, 1567 | [328] | |
| Huguenot March to Pont-à-Mousson after the Battle of St.Denis | [329] | |
| The Battle of St. Denis | between pp. [332, 333] | |
| Autumn Campaign of 1568 | [368] | |
| Croquis du Théatre de la Guerre pour la Période du 24Février au 13 Mars 1569, according to M. S. C. Gigon | [376] | |
| Bataille de Jarnac, according to M. S. C. Gigon | [377] | |
| Campaign of the Summer and Autumn of 1569 | [380] | |
| Poitiers in the Sixteenth Century | [386] | |
| Plan of the Fortress of Navarrens Made by Juan MartinezDescurra, a Spanish Spy | [398] | |
| Voyage of the Princes after the Battle of Moncontour; Montgomery’sItinerary in Bigorre and Gascony; Union ofColigny and Montgomery in December, 1569, at Port Ste. Marie | [402] | |
| The Massacre of St. Bartholomew | [422] | |
| Plan de la Rochelle en 1572 | [458] | |
| Letter of Henry III of France to the Duke of Savoy | [484] | |
| Letter of Henry III to the Swiss Cantons | [485] | |
| Map of France Showing Provinces | [602] | |
[CHAPTER I]
THE BEGINNING OF THE HUGUENOT REVOLT. THE CONSPIRACY OF AMBOISE
The last day of June, 1559, was a gala day in Paris. The marriages of Philip II of Spain with Elizabeth of France, daughter of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici, and that of the French King’s sister, Marguerite with Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, were to be celebrated. But “the torches of joy became funeral tapers”[3] before nightfall, for Henry II was mortally wounded in the tournament given in honor of the occasion.[4] It was the rule that challengers, in this case the King, should run three courses and their opponents one. The third contestant of the King had been Gabriel, sieur de Lorges, better known as the count of Montgomery, captain of the Scotch Guard,[5] a young man, “grand et roidde,” whom Henry rechallenged because his pride was hurt that he had not better kept his seat in the saddle in the first running. Montgomery tried to refuse, but the King silenced his objections with a command and reluctantly[6] Montgomery resumed his place. But this time the Scotch guardsman failed to cast away the trunk of the splintered lance as he should have done at the moment of the shock, and the fatal accident followed. The jagged point crashed through the King’s visor into the right eye.[7] For a minute Henry reeled in his saddle, but by throwing his arms around the neck of his horse, managed to keep his seat. The King’s armor was stripped from him at once and “a splint taken out of good bigness.”[8] He moved neither hand nor foot, and lay as if benumbed or paralyzed,[9] and so was carried to his chamber in the Tournelles,[10] entrance being denied to all save physicians, apothecaries, and those valets-de-chambre who were on duty. None were permitted for a great distance to come near until late in the day, when the duke of Alva, who was to be proxy for his sovereign at the marriage, the duke of Savoy, the prince of Orange, the cardinal of Lorraine, and the constable were admitted.[11]
MONTGOMERY IN TOURNAMENT COSTUME
(Bib. Nat., Estampes, Hist. de France, reg. Q. b. 19)
After the first moment of consternation was past, it was thought that the King would recover, though losing the sight of his eye,[12] since on the fourth day Henry recovered his senses and his fever was abated. Meanwhile five or six of the ablest physicians in France had been diligently experimenting upon the heads of four criminals who were decapitated for the purpose in the Conciergerie and the prisons of the Châtelet. On the eighth day Vesalius, Philip II’s physician, who had long been with the emperor Charles V, and who enjoyed a European reputation, arrived and took special charge of the royal patient.[13] In the interval of consciousness Henry commanded that the interrupted marriages be solemnized. Before they were celebrated the King had lost the use of speech and lapsed into unconsciousness, and on the morrow of the marriages he died (July 10, 1559). On August 13 the corpse was interred at St. Denis.[14] When the ceremony was ended the king of arms stood up, and after twice pronouncing the words “Le roi est mort,” he turned around toward the assembly, and the third time cried out: “Vive le roi, très-chretien François le deuzième de ce nom, par la grace de Dieu, roi de France.” Thereupon the trumpets sounded and the interment was ended.[15] A month later, on September 18, Francis II was crowned at Rheims. Already Montgomery had been deprived of the captaincy of the Scotch Guard and his post given to “a mere Frenchman,” much to the indignation of the members of the Guard.[16]