◆“Petit-Lit” is Leith,—the port of Edinburgh, on the Firth of Forth. The English army under Lord Grey of Wilton invaded Scotland in 1560, and laid siege to Leith, then occupied by the French. The place was stubbornly defended, but must soon have fallen, when envoys were sent by Francis II. from France to conclude a peace. These were Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and the Sieur de Rendan mentioned in the text; the negotiators appointed to meet them on the English side were the Queen’s great minister Cecil and Wotton, Dean of Canterbury. The French troops were withdrawn.
◆The little Leith. (Cf. Jean de Beaugué, Histoire de la guerre d’Ecosse, reprinted by Montalembert in 1862, Bordeaux.)
◆Jacques de Savoie, Duke de Nemours, died in 1585.
◆Charles de La Rochefoucauld, Count de Randan, was sent to England in 1559, where he arranged peace with Scotland.
[9] P. 14:
◆An imaginary king without authority.
◆Philibert le Voyer, lord of Lignerolles and of Bellefllle, was frequently employed as a diplomatic agent. He was in Scotland in 1567. He was assassinated at Bourgueil in 1571, because he was suspected of betraying Charles IX.’s avowal regarding Saint Bartholomew.
◆Brantôme knew quite well that the woman the handsome and alluring Duke de Nemours truly loved was no other than Mme. de Guise, Anne d’Este, whom he later married.
[10] P. 15:
◆XVIth Tale. Guillaume Gouffier, lord of Bonnivet.