IX. 



CHARLKS IX. 



HI 



y, but he WM yet ooly a youth of sixteen, 

 I ia th* hand* of CoUcni. Th* king was 

 jealoot of UM ridag reputation of hi* brother; the Protestants were 

 WtBtBrosd from OenDasv/. aad gained an a.) vantage at La Roche Ab*Ul* 

 sr the Tarn attempt upon Poitim, and a **oood 

 they sotaiiMd from the Duk* of Anjou at Mon- 

 in 1SV, would perhaps have been fatal to their party 

 and the 



5* forth, 

 toward, hi* brother. 



of Coligni, and 



reviving jralou.y of the king 

 Peace ntaooo afterward* (1570) made on term* 

 more favourable to UM Huguenot* than UM events of the war would 

 Mad u* to expect. An amnesty was granted to them, and liberty of 

 tnniolaini; their worship was allowed in all place* held by them 

 during the war, and at any rate in two town* of each provinoa ; and 

 low strong place*, Koebelu, Montauban, Cognac, and La Charite, w*re 

 to be gmrrisooed by them at securities for the faithful performance of 

 UM treaty. In UM tame year Charles married Elisabeth, daughter of 

 UM Emperor Maximilian if. 



IB UM 



mperor Maximili 



For UM mixtrre of 8*. Bartholomew we refer below. Thitdreadful 

 e*t, if it for a moment paralysed the Protestant*, routed them, after 



UM Ant astonishment had passed away, to resistance and vengeance. 

 They held RoeheU*. which th* royal forces beneged in vain ; the 

 massacre had alienated many of the Catholic* from the court, and led 

 to the formation of a middle party. otlUd Les Politiques, headed by 

 the family of Montmorrnci The Protestant courts and nations, and 

 May even of the Catholic, recoiled with horror and loathing from the 

 perpetrator* of so foul a deed. Charie* felt that he had covered himself 

 with eternal infamy. Conscience-stricken at the part he had taken in 

 th* m***aore, he granted peace to the Huguenot*. The short remainder 

 of his rrign wa* troubled by the contest* of parties at the court, by 

 plot* and rumour* of plot*. Charie* died May SO, 1574, having lived 

 nearly twenty-four years, and reigned thirteen yean and a halt 



THI MASSUCKB or ST. BARTHOLOMEW U so important an event in 

 naaxition with the life of Charles IX., aud with the history of France, 

 that we append here a separate account of it, and the circumstances 

 which led to iu perpetration. It it called the ' Bartholomew Massacre,' 

 or aimply ' the Bartholomew,' because it occurred on the 24th of August, 

 St Bartholomew'* day. 'Huguenot* was the name by which the 

 French Protestant* are invariably designated by contemporary writers. 

 Thar* ha* been much discuuiou as to the origin of the term. According 

 to tome, it come* from a German word used in Switzerland, which 

 aiguines sworn (' eidgenos* '), or bound by oath. Others, with Castlenau, 

 who lived at the Urn* it fint came into use, tell us that it was an 

 epithet of contempt derived from a very small coin inferior even to 

 the mailbt, th* smallest coin then in use in France, which had been in 

 circulation aiuoe Hugo Capet 



As the Bartholomew manure U one of the most contested passages 

 in history, and a* there is no historical question upon which it is more 

 difficult to form an opinion not open to objections, it will be conve- 

 nient to divide thi* article into two portion* : 1st, a simple narrative 

 of the transactions ; 2nd, a brief summary of the opinions of historian* 

 with reference to the probable motive* of those who planned and 

 executed it 



I 1. The prepress of the reformation in France was different from 

 what it was in England, where, being the act of the civil magistrate, 

 it wa* conducted with more moderation : in France, on the contrary, 

 tt.e ruling power* were strongly opposed to it, and it* progre** was 

 wholly owing to th* seal and courage of individuals. In England 

 there was a sort of oompromit* with th feelings and opinions of the 

 dhenote of the ancient faith ; while in France a Protestant meant not 

 merely one who shook off the papal authority, but one who denounced 

 UM pop* a* anU-ChrUt, aud the ceremonies of the Romish Church as 

 the worship of Belial In their tenets and political condition the 

 Huguenot* closely membled the English puritan* of the 17th century. 

 Lik* them, discountenanced and at length persecuted by the court, 

 the French Hofuenot* became a distinct people in their native country, 

 abhorring and abhorred by their Catholic fellow-cubjecte ; united to 

 each other by th* closest tie* of religion and a common temporal 

 interest, and submitting solely aud implicitly, in peace and in war, to 

 the guidance of their own leader*. The wan between theM irrocon- 

 cileable parties wen, a* might be expected, frequent and bloody. 



In August 1570 a treaty of Mace was concluded between the French 

 king, Chart** IX., and his Huguenot subject*. This was the third 

 contract of th* kind that bad been entered into between these parties 

 Uhia eight years. Th* two fint were shamefully violated a* it 

 oiled the purpose of the stronger party. It was natural therefore 

 that th* Protestant leaden should ferl very distrustful an to the 

 motiv** of th* Court with rrgard to th* new act of pacification; and 

 this distrust wa* far from being lessened by the circunutance that the 

 overture* to IMC* proceeded from the Court, aud that the term* of 

 UM treaty were unusually favourable to the Huguenot*. The veteran 

 Cottgny [see Couour]. admiral of France, however lent all the 

 ialucnc* of hi* authority, at the leader of tiu Huguenot*, toward* 

 proawtinc ^the avowed object of the treaty. He wa. wnestly pressed 

 to court ; but suspicions of UM queen-mother, the celebrated Catherine 

 de Medici, and of th* party of th* Duke of Ouise, he refused the 

 invitation, sad retired to th. strong Huguenot fortress of Rochelle. 

 H. WM accompanied by the young Prince of Navarr* (afterward* 



Henri IV.), Coode, and other chief* of the Protestant party. This 

 distrust, however, of the admiral, wa* entirely effaced before the end 

 of the second year from the date of the treaty. Charles IX. was but 

 twenty yean of age when he ostentatiously sought to be reconciled 

 with his Huguenot tubjecta, Th* peace wat emphatically called hit 

 own peace, and ha boasted that he had made it in opposition to his 

 mother and other counsellors, saying, that he wat tired of civil 

 illesensinni, and [convinced, from experience, of the impossibility of 

 reducing all hi* subject* to the tame religion. Hit extreme youth 

 his impetuous and open temper and, if we may believe Walungham, 

 who wat the English ambassador at Pari* at the time, the unsettled 

 state of bis religious opinions, inclining "to those of the new religion," 

 naturally operated in removing the distrust of Coligny. Contrary 

 to what had happened after former treaties, pain* were taken to 

 observe the articles of pacification, and to punish those who infringed 

 them. Charles spoke of the admiral in terms of praise and oduiira- 

 tion; the complaint* of the Huguenot* were listened to with attention, 

 and their reasonable request* granted ; and their friend* were in 

 favour, while their enemies were in apparent disgrace at court. 

 Early in 1571 Charles offered hit lister in marriage to the I'riucc of 

 Navarre, the acknowledged head of the Huguenot party : aud though 

 the pope refuted to grant a dispensation for the marriage, and the 

 Spanish Court and the Uuise* strongly opposed it, he persisted in 

 bringing it about, threatening the papal nuncio that he would have 

 the ceremony performed without a dispensation, if the pope continued 

 obstinate in withholding it He enlisted the personal ambition of the 

 admiral on his side, by offering to send an army, under his command, 

 into Flanders, to co-operate with the Priiice of Orange against the King 

 of Spain. 



Charles again, in the summer of 1571, earnestly solicited the admiral 

 to repair to court. The letter of invitation, written with his own 

 hand, was entrusted to Teligny, the admiral's son-in-law. It was 

 backed by warm solicitations from Montmorenci, the admiral's near 

 relation, and the Marshal de Cosse, hi* intimate friend. Coligny'a 

 apprehensions at length gave way, and in September of the same year 

 he repaired to Blots, where Charles held his court His reception 

 was apparently tho most cordial and respectful : he was restored to 

 all his honoun and dignities, and loaded with presents. The king 

 called him " Father," and in a tone of affection added, " We have you 

 at hut, and you shall not escape us." 



This apparent favour of the king towards the admiral continue,! 

 without interruption for many mouth*. When absent from court, 

 Charles maintained a correspondence with him by letters ; aud iu 

 their private conversation he at least affected to unbosom himself 

 without reserve to his new friend ; cautioned him against his mother 

 and her Italian favourites, spoke disparagingly of bis brother Aujou, 

 and in giving the character of his marshals, freely described their 

 faults and censured their vices. Coligny was completely won by this 

 frank demeanour of the young king, and employed his influence to 

 induce the other Huguenot chiefs to repair to court Though re- 

 peatedly warned of his danger his confidence was unshaken. " Rather," 

 said he, " than renew the horrors of civil war, I would bo dragged a 

 corpse through the street* of Paris." 



The marriage of Henry of Navarre with Margaret, the king's sister, 

 was celebrated with great pomp on Monday the ISth of August 1672. 

 Most of the Protestant nobility and gentry, with the admiral at their 

 head, attended on the occasion; and a* their prejudice* would not let 

 them enter a church where moss was celebrated, the ceremony was 

 performed in a temporary building near the cathedral of Notre Dame. 

 The Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were passed in all sorts of 

 festivities. On Friday the 22nd, Coligny attended a council at the 

 Louvre, and went afterwards with the king to the tennis-court, where 

 Charles and tho Duke of Quiae played a game against two Huguenot 

 gentlemen. As ho walked slowly home, reading a paper, an arquebus* 

 was discharged at him from the upper window of a house occupied by 

 a dependant of the Duke of Guise. One ball shattered his hand, 

 another lodged in hi* right arm. The king wa* still playing at tennU 

 with the Duke of Guise when the news of this attack reached him. 

 He threw down his racket exclaiming " Shall I never have peace .' " 

 and retired apparently dejected to his apartment He joined the King 

 of Navarre and the Prince of CondiS in their lamentations, aud 

 promised, with threats of vengeance, to punish the guilty. 



The admiral's wounds were declared on the 23rd not to be danger- 

 ous. He expressed a wish to see the king. Charles visited the wounded 

 man, accompanied by hi* mother and a train of courtiers. Coliguy 

 requested to speak with the king alone, and Charles commanded hi* 

 mother and brother to remain at a distance. Catherine afterward* 

 acknowledged that these were the most painful moment* she ever 

 experienced. " Her consciousness of guilt, the interest with which 

 Charlet listened to the admiral, the crowds of armed men iu constant 

 motion through the house, their look* ami whispers and gestures, all 

 coupircd to fill her with terror. Unable to remain any longer iu such 

 a situation, the interrupted the conference, by pretending that silence 

 and repose were necewsry for the recovery of the admiral. During 

 her return in the same carriage with the king, ihe employed every 

 artifice to draw from him the particulan of the conversation. He dis- 

 closed sufficient to add to her alarm." This passage, which we have 

 extracted from Lingard's history, is confirmed in the main by tLo 



