| Charles de Bourbon, Duc de Vendôme, descended from the sixth son of Louis IX. | ||||
| │ | (Saint Louis) | |||
| ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┐ | ||||
| Anthony, Duc de Vendôme | = Jeanne d’Albret, │ Queen of Navarre │ │ │ | Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, killed at Jarnac, 1569 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ | Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, set up as King by the League after Henry III.’s death under the title of Charles X. | |
| ┌────────┐ | ||||
| Henry Duc de Vendôme afterwards Henry IV. | Catherine = | Henri, Duc de Bar, eldest son of the Duke of Lorraine | ||
| ┌──────────┬──────┬────────┐ | ||||
| Henri, born 1552, Prince de Condé. | François, Prince de Conti, born 1558. | Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, born 1562. | Several other children. | |
[10] Montmorency, the eldest son of the famous Constable Anne de Montmorency, and himself Duc de Montmorency and Marshal of France. He was born in 1530, and fought at St. Quentin, and at the taking of Calais. He and Cossé were suspected of being implicated in the rising of Shrove-Tuesday, 1574, concerted between Alençon and the Huguenots, and were imprisoned in the Bastille. His wife was a natural daughter of Henry II. by Diane de Poitiers, who had been legitimated. He died without issue in 1579. His four brothers were, Damville, Monsieur de Montbéron, killed at the battle of Dreux in 1562, Monsieur de Méru, and Monsieur de Thoré. See note page [11], and also note page [16].
Cossé took part in Guise’s famous defence of Metz in 1552, was appointed surintendant des finances in 1563, and Marshal in 1567. He fought at St. Denis and Moncontour, but was defeated by Coligny at Arny-le-Duc in 1570. He died in 1582, aged 70. According to Brantôme (ii. 434), he remarked on his imprisonment: ‘Je ne sçay pas ce que M. de Montmorency peut avoir faict, mais quant à moy, je sçay bien que je n’ay rien faict pour estre prisonnier avec luy, sinon pour luy tenir compagnie quand on le fera mourir, et moy avec luy; que l’on me fera de mesmes que l’on faict bien souvent à de pauvres diables, que l’on pend pour tenir compagnie seulement à leurs compagnons, encor qu’ilz n’ayent rien meffaict.’
[11] ‘Le peuple de la ville, n’agueres partisan de cette famille, les reçeut avec injures et contribua 800 harquebusiers de garde tant que leur prison dura.’—Aubigné, Histoire, vol. ii. bk. ii. ch. vi.
[12] By Nove Busbecq probably means the town which d’Aubigné (Histoire, vol. ii. bk. ii. ch. ix.) calls Nonnai, now Annonay, 24 French miles from Lyons. D’Aubigné says the distance is nine leagues, which roughly corresponds with Busbecq’s twelve miles. See note, vol. i. page [80]. Annonay was a town in the Vivarais, one of the districts which were the strongholds of the Protestant cause, and was itself a Protestant town. For an account of the sieges it underwent, and of the civil war in the Vivarais, see Poncer, Mémoires sur Annonay. On this occasion the town was summoned on October 22nd, and blockaded till December 8th, so the news in the text was premature. Dr. Dale, the English representative at the French Court, mentions the raising of the siege of ‘Noue,’ in a letter dated December 23rd.—Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, 1572-74, p. 583.
[13] Louis de Bourbon, Duc de Montpensier, born in 1513, was descended from a branch of the Bourbon-Vendôme family, and on his mother’s side was nephew to the Constable de Bourbon. He served as a volunteer at St. Quentin, where he was made prisoner. He was a bitter enemy to the Huguenots. ‘Quand il prenait les heretiques par composition,’ says Brantôme (iii. 364), ‘il ne la leur tenait nullement, disant qu’à un heretique, on n’estoit nullement obligé de garder sa foy.’ He distinguished himself at Jarnac and Moncontour. He took a prominent part in the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew. From 1574 to 1576 he commanded in Poitou and Saintonge, and died in 1582. By his first wife, Jacqueline de Longwy, who was a Protestant, he had a son and four daughters, one of whom, Charlotte, married the Prince of Orange. See Letter [XIX]. and note. His son—who, till he succeeded to the title of Montpensier, on his father’s death, was known as the Prince Dauphin d’Auvergne—is frequently mentioned in Busbecq’s letters to Rodolph. Fontenay is a town, nearly due west of Poitiers, and about fifty-five English miles from it.
[14] Guy du Faur, Seigneur de Pibrac, was born at Toulouse, in 1529. He became member of the Parliament there, and was one of the French ambassadors at the Council of Trent in 1562. In 1565, at the recommendation of the Chancellor l’Hôpital, he was appointed Avocat-Général to the Parliament of Paris. He accompanied Henry to Poland as Chancellor, and was in great danger during the precipitate flight of the King. After his return to Paris he sold his office of Advocate. He was again despatched to Poland, to persuade the Diet to allow Henry to retain the crown, but his mission proved unsuccessful. He was afterwards Chancellor of the Queen of Navarre, with whom he was supposed to be in love. He went with Alençon to Flanders, as his Chancellor, and died in 1584. He was celebrated for his eloquence.
[15] The Comte de Damville was second son of the Constable, and brother to the Duc de Montmorency (see page [8]). He was born in 1534, and was made Governor of Languedoc in 1563, which he held for nearly fifty years, almost as an independent sovereign. He was the leader of the moderate Roman Catholic party, known as the Politiques, and after the death of Henry III. adhered to the cause of Henry IV., who on December 8th, 1593, created him Constable. He succeeded to the Dukedom of Montmorency on his brother’s death in 1579. He died in 1614.
[16] The Castle of Lusignan was the original seat of the famous family of Lusignan, which gave kings to Jerusalem and Cyprus. In the keep of the château was a fountain, said to be haunted by the fairy Melusine, the ancestress and tutelary genius of the family. According to the legend, the founder of the family first met her by a forest spring. Before she became his wife she exacted a promise from him that he would not attempt to see her on the Saturday in every week, or to find out where she had gone. For a time all went on well, but unfortunately the husband was at last persuaded to peep into the room to which Melusine had retired. To his horror he discovered that on every Saturday half her body was transformed into a serpent. Finding the secret was no longer hers, she thrice flew round the château, and then vanished. She was believed to appear at times on the keep of the château, and whenever she was seen it was said to presage a death, either in the Lusignan family or in the Royal family of France.
Lusignan is situated about fourteen English miles south-west of Poitiers. De l’Estoile, i. 49, gives some details of the siege and capitulation. “Le mardy, 25e janvier, la ville et chasteau de Lusignan furent rendus par les Huguenos à M. de Montpensier, chef de l’armée du Roy en Poictou, soubs condition de vies et bagues sauves, et d’estre conduits seurement à la Rochelle: de quoi furent baillés ostages pour seureté de ladite capitulation, encores que la foy de M. de Montpensier ne peust ni ne deust estre suspecte aux Huguenos, lesquels furent assiégés trois mois et vingt et un jours, durant lesquels furent tirés de sept à huict mil coups de canon.” If Brantôme does not belie Montpensier (see note 2, page 9), the besieged had good reason for the precautions they took.