[1191] He was accused of having “pretermitted many fair occasions to have fought with the prince.”
[1192] Ibid., No. 2,024, §2, February 24, 1568.
[1193] Claude Haton, I, 498 and note; C. S. P. For., No. 1,833, November 24, 1567.
[1194] Claude Haton, I, 524.
[1195] These high prices were partly owing to the fact that speculators had bought up much of the grain, which rose in April to between 60 and 70 livres per muid. But in May, with the promise of a good harvest, the price dropped over one-half, from 15 sous tournois per bichet to 7 sous 6 deniers, to the great regret of the merchants who had counted upon a scarcity. On the other hand, the price of oats went higher, being sold at from 10 to 12 sous per bichet, or boisseau, for there was very little to be had after the passage of the troops; and because it ripened earlier, almost all of it was taken (Claude Haton, II, 523).
[1196] C. S. P. For., No. 2,024, February 24, 1568.
[1197] So ominous was the temper of the Parisians that even the minor gates of the Louvre were equipped with drawbridges (ibid., No. 2,040, §4, March 1, 1568). Part of the indignation of Paris was due to the outrages of some reiters in the King’s army from Luxembourg and Lorraine, who robbed priests and despoiled churches, notwithstanding that they were in Catholic service, so much so that “the Parisians had rather had the prince of Condé’s people should approach Paris as they” (ibid., Nos. 2,040, 2,041, March 1, 1568).
[1198] Rel. vén., II, 145.
[1199] C. S. P. For., No. 2,040, §3, March 1, 1568.
[1200] Correspondance de Catherine de Médicis, III, 136. La Rochelle was already the Huguenots’ most important point and already large supplies of gunpowder and ammunition, chiefly from England, were being brought in there (cf. the captain of La Rochelle to Queen Elizabeth, C. S. P. For., No. 2,057, March 10, 1568). La Popelinière, XII, 68-70, has a dissertation upon the history and institutions of La Rochelle.