[1285] Taillander, Vie de L’Hôpital, 200.
[1286] Even Biragues, now the chancellor, was in the secret pay of Spain (Papiers d’état du cardinal de Granvelle, VIII, 387).
[1287] C. S. P. For., No. 2,490, September 1; No. 2,529, September 15, 1568. The two Protestant places of worship in Orleans were burned (ibid., No. 2,561, §2, September 30, 1568). Things would have gone worse with the Protestants of Orleans had it not been for the Politique marshal Vieilleville, whose government it was, and who did all in his power to protect the Huguenots (ibid., No. 190, March 24, 1569).
[1288] Jeanne d’Albret, who had been at Nérac, reached La Rochelle on September 28, having crossed the Garonne “under the nose of Montluc” (Olhagaray, 575), who, it is said, had orders to intercept her (Palma Cayet, Part I, 166). Montluc glosses over his negligence in this particular (Commentaires, III, 175).
[1289] C. S. P. For., No. 2,561, September 30, 1568. D’Andelot was in Brittany, (ibid., No. 2,527, September 15, 1568), but on September 16 he crossed the Loire (La Noue, chap. xix) with 1,500 horse and 20 ensigns of foot (D’Aubigné, III, 13, note 7) in spite of the strict injunctions of the King to prevent him (D’Aubigné, III, 14, note).
[1290] C. S. P. For., No. 2,610, §2, October 29, 1568. Duke William of Saxony earnestly begged Charles IX to employ his soldiery (ibid., No. 2,640, §5, November 22, 1568) and the margrave of Baden accepted a command of reiters in the King’s army (Le Laboureur, II, 724). The duke of Deuxponts offered 8,000 reiters and 40 ensigns of lansquenets to Condé (C. S. P. For., No. 2,666, §1, December 8, 1568). They were to have no pay for two months, expecting to pay themselves by seizing the towns and castles belonging to the house of Guise in Lorraine and Champagne. In the end England paid for their services (see the record of the receipts in C. S. P. For., No. 2,011, September 10, 1571; No. 2,123, November 13, 1571). The Catholic reiters were to be paid by a forced loan exacted of the Parisians (ibid., No. 2,666, December 8, 1568).
[1291] North to Cecil, C. S. P. For., December 30, 1568, January 11, 1569.
[1292] For description of it see C. S. P. For., No. 2,640, §15, November 22, 1568. The engagement of Jazeneuil that followed, November 17, was a blow to them (see La Noue, chap. xxi; D’Aubigné, III, 37; C. S. P. For., No. 2,640, §1). The minute account of the duc d’Aumale may be found in Hist. des princes de Condé, II, 26-34. Whitehead, Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, 204-9, has an admirable account.
[1293] Condé’s army before the defeat at Jazeneuil was estimated at 12,000 foot and 4,000 horse, all well mounted and armed, besides a very large number of irregular troops.
[1294] Fourquevaux to Catherine de Medici, January 13, 1569, on the authority of a letter of the Spanish ambassador in France, dated January 7, 1568 (Dépêches de Fourquevaux, II, 47). Alava must have regarded the news as highly important, for the courier was only six days in making the journey to Madrid.