Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

152

THE TRIUMVIRATE.

[воок III.

destruction of Protestantism was entered into by Montmorenci, Guise, and the Marshal, and cemented by their taking the sacrament together on Easter Sunday (1561). This alliance obtained the name of the TRIUMVIRATE. But the time was not yet ripe for action; and Guise and the Constable withdrew at present from the court.

The measures of the government encouraged the Protestants, who now began to display an active resistance. Riots took place at Beauvais, the episcopal residence of the Cardinal of Châtillon, and at Paris the disturbances were still more serious. A body of the fanatical party, among whom were a great number of students, stormed a house in the suburb of St. Germain, where the Protestants were assembled for worship; several noblemen among the congregation rushed out sword in hand, and a bloody fight ensued, in which many of the assailants were killed, and the whole body routed and dispersed. The contest was renewed on the following day with similar results.

These disturbances afforded the Cardinal of Lorraine a pretext to step forth as head of the Catholic Church in France. The cardinal was no fanatic. He was candid enough to admit that the greater part of the people were averse to the superstitions of Rome; yet he coolly maintained that the dominant system must be upheld by the secular arm. His motives for this opinion were better than his reasons. Under Charles IX., the cardinal succeeded in installing himself in no fewer than twelve episcopal sees, among which were three archbishoprics, Rheims, Lyon, and Narbonne, and the three rich and newly-acquired German sees of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, which were, in fact, principalities. Their wealth may be computed from the fact that in Verdun alone the cardinal made the Duke of Lorraine a present of vacant fiefs to the value of 200,000 crowns.14 Catherine had not sufficient firmness to assert the principles of L'Hôpital in opposition to the Catholic leaders. It was determined that, in awaiting the meeting of the ecclesiastical synod, some arrangement must be come to with the Parliament of Paris respecting the treatment of dissenters; and on the 23rd of June 1561, the Royal Council and the spiritual and temporal peers met the Parliament in the Palais de Justice. The debates lasted three weeks. One party demanded the penalty of death, without conditions, against all heretics; another, that all penal proceedings should be suspended till the meeting of the

14 Michelet, Guerres de Religion, p. 55. It was computed that the cardinal and his brothers held benefices of the yearly

value of 300,000 crowns. Beza, Réveillematin, p. 14.

CHAP. V.]

EDICT OF JULY.

153

general council; the third and largest party voted for sentence of death against all who attended conventicles, and that cases of simple heresy should be remitted to the ecclesiastical courts; persons condemned, however, were not to be subjected to a heavier penalty than banishment. An edict, known as the EDICT OF JULY, was drawn up in conformity with this decision, but mitigated in some of its articles by the chancellor. Neither party was satisfied. The Protestants complained that they had been deceived; the Parliament, that the decree had been altered; and the edict was only provisionally registered.

The States-General again assembled at Pontoise in August 1561. The deputies of the clergy, who had met at Poissy in the preceding month and voted a considerable supply, did not appear in this assembly, which, therefore, consisted solely of the representatives of the nobles and Tiers Etat. The elections had gone completely against the Guises and the high Catholic party. One of the first acts of the States was, to insist that the Parliament should enregister the Edict of Orleans; after which they proceeded to discuss the subject of the regency, the religious differences, and the public debt. The arrangement which Catherine had made with the King of Navarre was acquiesced in, but only at the pressing instance of Antony himself and Admiral Coligni. But the States declared, in opposition to the Guises, that no cardinals should sit in the Council of Regency, because they were in the service of a foreign master; nor any bishops, because they were bound to reside in their dioceses; nor, lastly, any foreign princes, a veto which included the whole family of Lorraine. With regard to religion, the States demanded complete toleration, and the assembly of a council; and they agreed to throw upon the clergy the chief burthen of the public debt.

The religious conference, after several adjournments, at length took place in September, in the refectory of the Benedictines at Poissy. The Reformed Church was represented by twelve ministers and twenty-two deputies, who were joined by Peter Martyr Vermiglio, once an Italian abbot, and now a distinguished reformer. The Hugonots had pressed Calvin to be present; but the Council of Geneva would not allow him to enter France unless hostages of the first distinction were given for his safety; nor, indeed, did the state of his health render it prudent for him to undertake so long a journey. The Reformers probably lost nothing by his absence. Beza, who managed the conference on the part of the Hugonots, was, perhaps, better qualified to conduct it on the present occasion, on which was arrayed against him all the splendour of the French

154

CONFERENCE AT POISSY.

[Book III. court and hierarchy. His handsome person, his noble bearing, his perfect self-possession and natural fluency of speech, rendered him well qualified to treat with Catherine and her courtiers; and though in theological learning, and especially in patristic lore, he was not so well prepared, yet on such points he would be assisted by Peter Martyr, the most learned of the Reformers. Previously to the opening of the conference, Beza was unexpectedly introduced to an interview with the Queen-Mother and the Cardinal of Lorraine, during which Catherine displayed much inquisitiveness respecting Calvin.

The conference was opened on the 9th of September. The young King presided in person, surrounded by the Queen-Mother, the King and Queen of Navarre, the Duke of Guise, the Cardinals of Lorraine, Tournon, Bourbon and d'Armagnac,, together with many prelates, doctors of the Sorbonne and distinguished theologians. The Cardinal of Lorraine managed for the Catholic party, who though no theologian was a man of ability, a good scholar, and fluent Latin speaker. It is unnecessary to specify the arguments advanced, especially as, with the customary fate of such discussions, they had not the slighest effect on either side. In the midst of the conference, Ippolito d'Este, Cardinal of Ferrara, son of Alphonso d'Este by Lucretia Borgia, arrived as Papal legate, bringing with him Lainez the General of the Jesuits. The legate met with a bad reception. His cross-bearer was hooted in the streets by the Protestants, so that he was obliged to dispense with that ensign of his dignity, Lainez, in an abusive speech which lasted an hour, protested against the meeting as unauthorised, and succeeded in converting it into a sort of private conference, with five managers on each side. In order to set the Protestants at variance, the Cardinal of Lorraine pretended that he should not be indisposed to accept the Confession of Augsburg. He had brought some Lutherans with him in order that there might be a quarrel between them and the Calvinists respecting the doctrine of the Lord's Supper; and he proposed that the Calvinists should subscribe a Lutheran formula, in which the real presence in the Eucharist was acknowledged; but Beza foiled him by remarking that such an act would lead to nothing unless the cardinal himself would also sign.

On the whole, the conference at Poissy gave an impulse to Protestantism in France. It was something gained that such a meeting should have been even tolerated, and the Calvinists allowed by the government openly to state and defend their opinions without danger of the stake. After the breaking up of the conference, Catherine

CHAP. V.]

EDICT OF JANUARY.

155

requested Beza to remain in France, in the hope that his presence might contribute to quell the disturbances with which the kingdom was afflicted; and as the leaders of the Hugonots were also desirous of retaining him, permission was obtained from the Council of Geneva for the prolongation of his stay. At Paris, however, where the populace were fanatical Papists, his presence was the signal for tumult instead of peace; and though he obtained permission to preach, it was necessary that d'Andelot should escort him to the church at the head of an armed band. The day after Christmas Day, these Protestant meetings occasioned a bloody conflict. Beza, escorted by command of Catherine by the prefect of the watch and his men, attended a sermon preached by a minister named Malot in the suburb of St. Marceau. Malot had scarcely begun his discourse, when the Catholic priests in the neighbouring church of St. Médard began to ring the bells with all their might in order to drown his voice; and one of Malot's congregation, who had civilly requested them to desist, was run through the body with a partisan. A general affray ensued. The Catholics called the people to arms by the sound of the tocsin; the Hugonots, headed by the prefect of the watch, took the church by assault, captured a number of their adversaries, and among them ten priests, most of whom had been wounded. The tumult was renewed on the following day with still bloodier results, and gave the signal for similar riots in the provinces.

After the conference at Poissy, it had been resolved to call another assembly of Notables with a view to publish at least some provisional edict on the subject of religion. Such a step was vehemently opposed by the Guises and the high Catholic party; who, finding the Queen resolute, retired to their country seats. The assembly in question, which was composed of the presidents and counsellors of the different parliaments of France, met at St. Germain in January 1562; and the result of their deliberations was the famous EDICT OF JANUARY, or EDICT OF TOLERATION. This law, by which the existence of Protestantism was formally recognised, and which formed the basis of the privileges it has subsequently enjoyed in France, was the work of the Chancellor L'Hôpital. Its main provisions were: that all penalties contained in former edicts against the Protestants should be suspended till the meeting of a general council; and that Protestant congregations should be allowed to assemble for worship in the day-time, and in the suburbs of towns, but not in the towns themselves. On the other hand, the Hugonots were not to come to their conventicles with arms, except such gentlemen as were privileged to wear them; they were

156

EXULTATION OF THE HUGONOTS.

[BOOK III. ordered to restore all the churches which they had seized upon, and to replace all the ornaments and sacred utensils which they had defaced or removed; they were forbidden to resist the payment of tithes, to levy troops, or to contribute among themselves for any other purpose than providing salaries for their ministers.

These events raised the spirits of the Hugonots above the pitch of moderation, and even men of talent and learning shared in the popular fervour. After the promulgation of the edict, and in spite of its provisions, La Ramée, or Ramus, the celebrated opponent of the Aristotelian philosophy and founder of a new system of logic, caused all the images in the chapel of the college of Presle, of which he was principal, to be thrown down. Calvin foretold that if the provisions of the edict were carried out, the Popish power I would be annihilated in France. 15 Yet this measure, which the Protestants regarded with so much confidence, proved the immediate cause of the ensuing civil war, by which, after many years of bloodshed, the supremacy of the Roman Catholic faith was finally established.

The edict was received with violent indignation by the Catholic party. The Constable Montmorenci and the Duke of Guise were resolved to oppose it by force of arms. The King of Spain and Pope Pius IV. used every artifice to excite opposition to it; and as both were represented in France by very able diplomatists, their efforts were attended with considerable success. Perrenot de Chantonay, the Spanish minister (a brother of Cardinal Granvella), whose letters throw great light on the intricate policy of the period1, succeeded in detaching the Queen from the Protestant cause, although she still kept up the appearance of an alliance with the Hugonots. Philip II. had written to his mother-in-law that if she continued to tolerate heresy in France it would be impossible for him to prevent its entrance into Spain and the Netherlands: she must therefore purge her kingdom from this pestilence with fire and sword, no matter what the number of the victims; and he would assist in its extirpation in whatever way she might require.

De Chantonay, assisted by the Cardinal of Ferrara, the Papal legate, also succeeded in gaining over the King of Navarre to the cause of the triumvirate; an acquisition, however, of no great importance except from the rank of the apostate. It would be useless to speculate on the motives which operated on so weak a mind as Antony's; whether he was shaken by the conference of Poissy and the eloquence of the Cardinal of Lorraine, as he himself gave out;

15 Letter to Sturm, ap. P. Henry, Leben Calvins, B. iii. S. 523.

16 Published in the second vol. of Mém. de Condé.

« AnteriorContinuar »