THE COASTS OF SAIN'JXXN'GE. 259 



the city was begun on the 15th of February, 1573,and 

 was carried on for four months with unparalleled 

 valour and obstinacy on both sides. At length in 

 the middle of June the Duke d'Anjou made one 

 groat concentrated assault upon the city, but having 

 been seven times repulsed, he finally ordered a 

 retreat to be sounded, and confessed himself van- 

 quished. These repeated checks had brought the 

 royal army to a state of hopeless demoralisation. 

 Disease was raging in the camp and decimating the 

 soldiers, whilst even their bravest captains were 

 discouraged at the hopeless progress of the siege. 

 The Duke d'Anjou, who had lately been elected 

 king of Poland, and in whose camp were the ambas- 

 sadors charged with the duty of conveying him to 

 his new states, earnestly desired to come to some 

 arrangement which would save appearances and 

 enable him to depart. The queen-mother, Catherine, 

 who felt that the glory of her favourite son had been 

 tarnished by the result of this prolonged siege, 

 caused negotiations to be seriously entered into 

 between the belligerents, and, as a first pledge of the 

 good faith of the royal party, the Rochellais received 

 a promise that the besiegers would destroy all their 

 works. Soon after this, Charles IX. was compelled 

 to sign one of the most favourable edicts that had as 

 yet been obtained by the reformed party, for the 

 Rochellais not only secured liberty of conscience for 

 themselves, but stipulated that the same privileges 

 should be accorded to all those who professed the 

 reformed faith in France. 



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