572 
brieres and Merindol, and by the executions which were 
i ipli “: Il. Thus, at the ac- 
wide footing, and could count among its professors, se- 
veral of great talents and influence, O Admieal Cor 
ligny, and his brother D’Andelot, and Cardinal Chatil- 
lon, were firm friends to a reformation ; and the Prince 
of Condé inclined to the same side. The court, on the 
passengers to put money into little boxes, for the ex- 
pence of the Diumination. If a man did not bow to 
these i , and with marks of reverence, while 
the people wer paying this worship, he was either 
down, d to prison, or insulted, These, 
however, were trifling evils, to which the Protestants 
were Courts of ecclesiastical judicature, in- 
vested with inquisitorial powers, were erected, denomi- 
nated Chambres Ardentes, from the severity of their pu- 
nishments. To these the cognizance of heresy was en- 
trusted. The strictest search was made to discover of- 
fenders; and as the Protestants, in order to conceal 
themselves, were obliged to meet by night, they were 
4 with committing in these assemblies the most 
ul crimes. Thus goaded on to resistance, they 
only waited for a fit nity and season to protect 
themselves by force of arms; and this was soon sup- 
plied them by the mixture of folly and wickedness 
which the court displayed. In ; Srumeanenes “hes  ° 
peace, great numbers troo} nm dis! ed, 
without receiving what they oneal due for their 
services. They therefore came up to Paris, and applied 
to the Cardinal of Lorraine, as Minister of the Finances. 
He treated them with insult, unwilling or unable to 
satisfy their demands; and when they again importu- 
ned him, he commanded them to retire, on pain of be- 
ing instantly hung upon a gallows, which had or- 
dered to be erected for that purpose. By this foolish 
and harsh behaviour, these soldiers were totally aliena- 
ted from the house of Guise, to which the military ta- 
lents and success, as well as the popular character of 
the Duke, had hitherto attached them; and they uni- 
Conspiracy 
of Amboise. 
ted themselves with the Protestants. 
Soon after this, the conspiracy of Amboise was form- 
ed, Of this the Prince of Condé-was the invisible mover, 
and La Renaudie, a Protestant gentleman, the open and 
avowed author. The latter was a man of ancient fami- 
ly, but of ruined fortune: he had lost a law-suit, and 
been condemned to banishment for having produced 
fictitious titles. At Geneva and Lausanne, he imbibed 
the doctrines of the Reformation ; and afterwards, un- 
der a feigned name, he traversed the different provin- 
ces of France, for the purpose of rousing the Protestants 
against the Duke of Eniine. At length he appointed a 
os rendezvous at Nantes, where the parliament of 
ittany was at that time sitting; and anowe, 209. ge" 
tlemen of fortune and family, from various the 
kingdom, attended the summons. Before he laid 
his plan for carrying off the Guises from Amboise, 
w the Court then resided; to set the Prince of 
Condé at the head of affairs, and to secure liberty of 
conscience. The day was fixed for the execution of 
this design, and the measures so well concerted, that 
gained a firm and ~ 
FRANCE. 
8 , from the utionary measures adopted 
the court, that his plan was known, resolved to. “a 
vere in its execution ; and several small bands 
spirators, marching only by night, succeeded in reach« 
ing, undiscovered, the gates of the castle of Amboise. 
Here, however, were repulsed, and 
by the inhabitants, at the head of whom 
uise had placed himself. The Baron of Chatelnau, at 
the head of a considerable number of Calvinists, shut 
himself up in the castle of Noissy, where he was attack. 
ed by the Duke of Nemours, to whom, 
that the lives of himself and his associates should be 
spared, he soon surrendered himself. As soon as Re« 
naudie was informed of the us situation of Cha- 
telnau, he put himself at the head of a few men, as des- 
as himself, with the intention of either i 
wy nd ishi 
met by opposi . 
persis action took place; but Renaudie’s companions 
the commander of the cavalry, and thrusting a poinard 
through his vizor, laid him upon the spot. He 
himself was afterwards shot, and died i 
rately to the last. His body was publicly exposed on 
a gibbet, and a label affixed to it, with the inscription, 
Clg ashe Leas : q ; 
, e fate of Renaudie produced not the effects which 
enmity of the 
r ery ion was held out to 
im, to name the Prince of Condé as his accomplice ; 
but though a declaration to that effect had been extort- 
of Som. oon nions, he’ he gps the asper- 
sion, and to the moment is life, proclaimed the 
aa a ee Ne EOS 
prince now ight himse 
to vindicate his honour, which he did in the presence 
of the king, offering to maintain it, in single combat, 
against his accuser. It could not possibly be mistaken 
t he pointed at the Duke of Guise ; but the Duke 
ising the conduct of 
eluded the challenge, warmly 
is second against any 
the prince, and offering to be 
an ist. In private, however, he strongly urged 
the king to secure a chief, who was so formidable, on 
account of his birth, talents, and enterprize. Francis, 
easily led, and sensible of the danger to which he 
might be from the intrigues of the prince, 
seemed disposed to have listened to this advice; but at 
this period, in consequence of the death of the Chancel~ 
lor Olivier, and the succession of Michael De ag 
tal to that office, the power of the Guises suffered a de- 
cline ; for the new chancellor, being a man of cool tem- 
per, great abilities, and a friend rather to his king and 
country than to any of the parties which then endea- 
voured to gain an ascendency over them, pointed out, 
Bere a Reape 
ger o' ises acquiring a permanent 
ascendency, and advised ig to follow that temporising 
