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HUGUENOTS. 



l. to enforce his claim by arms, but he was taken 

 prisoner by Hugh, anil died 992. Thus Hugh 

 touiiiic 1 the thini race of French kings, in three prin- 

 cipal lines : the Capets, who filled the throne from 

 987 to 1328, the line of Valois to 1589, and that of 

 Bourbon till Louis XVI. (1793), occupied the throne 

 800 years, and, in 1814, after the abdication of Napo- 

 leon, returned to it in the person of Louis XVIII. In 

 1830, the elder line was deposed, and the line of 

 Orleans called to the throne. The family estates of 

 Hugh were converted into royal domains, except 

 tliat the duchy of Burgundy passed over to his bro- 

 thers, Otho and Henry, and to their successors. 

 Hugh endeavoured to confirm his power by courage 

 and prudence, without taking vengeance on his 

 earlier enemies. According to some, he obtained 

 the name of Capet (q. v.) from his large head ; ac- 

 cording to others, from his sagacity ; others consider 

 it his family name. Hugh died 996. He made 

 Paris the capital of the kingdom. 



HUGUENOTS. This term, which was applied 

 to the Protestants in France in contempt, is of uncer- 

 tain origin. In public documents, they were styled 

 Cewc de la religion pretendue reformee, or Religion- 

 naires. The principles of Luther and Zwinglius had 

 t>iiined an entrance into France, during the reign of 

 Francis I. (1515 47). The doctrines of Calvin 

 spread still more widely, although Francis endeavour- 

 ed to suppress them, by prohibiting Calvinistic books, 

 and by penal laws, and, in some instances, by capital 

 punishments. Under Henry II., the successor of 

 Francis, these doctrines made greater progress, in 

 proportion as they were more violently persecuted. 

 The opinions and influence of queen Margaret of 

 Navarre had no small share in this extension, and the 

 parties at court contributed much to the bloody per- 

 secution of the Protestants. One party wished to 

 enrich themselves by the estates of tlie heretics, who 

 were executed or banished, and the other to gain the 

 favour of the people by their punishment. The par- 

 ties of the Bourbons and of the five princes of Guise, 

 under the government of the weak Francis II., made 

 use of this religious dispute, in order to advance their 

 i-.wn political ends. The Bourbons belonged to the 

 Protestant party; and the Guises, in order to weaken, 

 and, if possible, to destroy their rivals, continued the 

 persecution of the heretics with fanatical fury. In 

 every parliament, there was a chamber established 

 to examine and punish the Protestants, called by the 

 people the burning chamber (chambre ardente), 

 because all convicted of heresy were burnt. The 

 estates of those who fled were sold, and their chil- 

 dren who remained behind were exposed to the 

 greatest sufferings. But notwithstanding this perse- 

 cution, the Protestants would not have thought of a 

 rebellion, had not a prince of the blood encouraged 

 them to it, by the promise of his assistance. In 1560, 

 the conspiracy began. The discontented inquired of 

 lawyers and theologians, whether they could, with a 

 good conscience, take arms against the Guises. 

 The Protestant divines in Germany declared it proper 

 to resist the tyranny of the Guises, if it were under 

 the guidance and direction of a prince of the blood, 

 nnd with the approbation of the majority in the states. 

 The malcontents having consulted upon the choice of 

 a leader, all voices decided in favour of the brave 

 prince Louis of Conde,who had conducted the whole 

 affair, and gladly seized the opportunity to make 

 himself formidable by the support of the Huguenots. 

 The name of the leader was, however, kept secret, 

 and a Protestant gentleman of Perigord, John du 

 Barry, seigneur of Kenaudie, was appointed his de- 

 puty. It was determined, that a number of the 

 Calvinists should appear on an appointed day, before 

 t!ic kijig at Klois, to present a petition for the free 



exercise of their religion; and, in rase this request 

 was denied, as it was foreseen it would be, a chosen 

 band of armed Protestants were to make themselves 

 masters of the city of Blois, seize the G uises, and 

 compel the king to name the prince of Conde regent 

 of the realm. This plot was betrayed. The court 

 left Blois, the military were summoned, and the 

 greatest part of the Protestants, who had armed 

 themselves to carry the conspiracy into effect, were 

 executed or imprisoned. Few of those who fell into 

 the power of the court, found mercy; and about 1200 

 expiated their offence with their lives. The Guises 

 now desired to establish the inquisition, but the wise 

 chancellor, Michael de PHopital, in order to avoid 

 the greater evil, advised that all inquiries into the 

 crime of heresy should be committed to the bishops, 

 and that parliament should be prohibited from exer- 

 cising any jurisdiction in matters of faith ; and it was 

 so ordered by the edict of Romorantin (1560). 



In the reign of the next king, Charles IX., during 

 whose minority the queen mother, Catharine de' 

 Medici, was at the head of the government, the con- 

 test between the parties became yet more, violent, and 

 their contending interests were more and more used 

 for a pretence to accomplish unholy designs ; and 

 it was only from motives of policy that the free exer- 

 cise of their religion was secured to the Protestants, 

 by the queen, in order to preserve the balance 

 between the parties, by the edict of January (1562), 

 so called. The Protestants thereby gained new 

 courage ; but their adversaries, dissatisfied with this 

 ordinance, and regardless of decency, disturbed the 

 Huguenots in their religious services. Bloody scenes 

 were the result, and the massacre of Vassy (1562) 

 was the immediate cause of the first civil war. 

 These religious wars desolated France almost to the 

 end of the sixteenth century, and were only inter- 

 rupted by occasional truces. The suffering which 

 these ware brought upon the people, is to be ascribed 

 to the instability and bad policy of queen Catharine de' 

 Medici, who exerted the most decided influence, not 

 only over the feeble Charles IX., but likewise over 

 the contemptible Henry III. She wished, in fact, for 

 the extirpation of the Huguenots, and it was merely 

 her intriguing policy, which induced her, much to 

 the vexation of the opposite party, to favour the 

 Protestants from time to time, and to grant them 

 freedom of conscience. Always wavering between 

 the two parties, she flattered herself with the expecta- 

 tion of holding them in check during peace, or of 

 destroying the one by the other in war. Both parties 

 were, therefore, generally dissatisfied with the court, 

 and followed their own leaders. A wild fanaticism 

 seized the people. Heated with passion and religi- 

 ous hatred, they endeavoured only to injure each 

 other ; and, with the exception of some party leaders, 

 who made use of this excitement for the accomplish- 

 ment of their own ambitious schemes, their only 

 object was to acquire the superiority for their own 

 creed, by fire and sword. The horrible effect of 

 Catharine's policy was the massacre of St Bartholo- 

 mew's (1572), of which she and her son, her pupil 

 in dissimulation, had laid the plan with the confi- 

 dants. 



Shortly before the line of kings of the house of 

 Valois had become extinct with Henry III., and the 

 way was opened for the house of Bourbon, the head 

 of which was the Protestant Henry king of Navarre, 

 the relations of the two parties became still more 

 involved. The feeble king found himself compelled 

 to unite with the king of Navarre against the common 

 enemy, as the intrigues of the ambitious Guises, who 

 openly aimed at the throne, had excited the people 

 against him to such a degree, that he was on the 

 point of losing the crown. After the assassination of 



