THE STYLE OF HENRY II. 



159 



Mary Stewart, and 

 leaders of the ex- 

 treme Catholic 

 faction. The 

 Protestants, under 

 the leadership of 

 the Bourbons, a 

 distant branch of 

 the royal family, 

 and the patriotic 

 Coligny, and smart- 

 ing from thirty 

 years of persecu- 

 tion, were deter- 

 mined to secure 

 the recognition of 

 their religion. The 

 moderate Cath- 

 olics, attached to 

 the throne but 

 anxious for con- 

 ciliation, formed a 

 third party the 



r J 



Politiques. Outside 



parties stood the 



sceptical Catharine, 



trained in the 



school of Macchiavelli, not naturally cruel or vicious, but bent on power 



at any price. 



The short reign of Francis II. was marked by constant disturbances ; 

 his death (1560) dispossessed the Guises and gave Catharine the regency 

 for her second son Charles IX. On the failure of compromises three 

 civil wars ensued (1562-70) followed by temporary pacifications. 

 Catharine, with her Italian advisers and the Guises, then decided to end 

 the trouble by a bold stroke, which Charles was induced to authorise 

 (1572), but the situation was only envenomed by the massacre, on St 

 Bartholomew's Day, of Coligny and thousands of Protestants gathered 

 in Paris for the wedding of the young King of Navarre, Henry of 

 Bourbon, with the King's sister, Margaret. Charles IX., though ill- 

 balanced and violent, in his saner moments took pleasure in the society 

 of literary men, and loved music and art. On his death (1574) he was 

 succeeded by his brother, Henry of Anjou. Brave and gifted intellectu- 

 ally, he was morally the worst of his family, and if matters were bad 



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156. 



ROUEN : UPPER PART OK DOOR 

 AT ST MACLOU. 



