FRANCE. 
707 
might juftly urge her fuperior pretenfions to power. 
Bold, enterprifing, and fagacious, her magnanimous fpirit 
was never depreflTed, nor her penetration eluded. Infi- 
nuating in her manners, magnificent in her difpofirion, 
and liberal to a fault, file became a generous patronefs of 
the arts, and amidft the horrors even of war, (lie foftered 
and protected the feeds of literature, which had been (own 
in the reigns of Francis and Henry; yet reverfe the me¬ 
dal, and (he was cruel, rapacious, and deceitful ; profli¬ 
gate in her morals, and unbounded in her ambition ; 
without religion, her prejudices and her paffions were 
equally abforbed by an inordinate luft of dominion. 
Catharine and the Guifes, as a preliminary (lep to ar¬ 
bitrary power and unlimited controul, took every pre¬ 
caution to enfure the obedience of the people, by depriv¬ 
ing them of the means of defence. An edidt appeared, 
forbidding all perfons from carrying fire-arms, or wearing 
any drefs favourable to the concealment of fuch weapons. 
Coligny, who had fo long and fo nobly defended St. 
Quintin in the preceding reign, and whofe high fpirit and 
commanding genius were peculiarly dreaded, was aimed 
at by a fecond regulation, which declared that no perfon 
ihould bold two ports at the fame time ; the admiral im¬ 
mediately refigned the government of Picardy; but the 
pretenfions of the prince of Conde were difregaraed, and 
that province was entrurted to marefchal Brifac, while 
the duke of Guife fucceeded to the office of mailer of 
the houfehold, of which the conftable Montmorency had 
been difpofl'dled. Such were the public meafures prepa¬ 
ratory to the perfecution of the protedants, who about 
this time began firrt to be fty led kugonots ; but no fooner was 
the ground cleared before them, than the counfels of 
Catharine and the Guifes were dirtinguiffied by a more 
fanguinary and decifive fpirit. Courts of ecclefiaiiical 
judicature, inverted with inquifitorial powers, were erect¬ 
ed, which took cognizance of herefy ; and they were de¬ 
nominated the Chambres Ardentes , from the feverity of the 
puniihments which they inflifted. The drifted fearch 
was made to difcover offenders ; the moft flagitious 
crimes were ftudioufly imputed 10 their nightly aflemblies; 
and every orthodox catholic was taught to regard them 
with abhorrence. The rigour which prevailed in tire ca¬ 
pital was foon extended to the provinces ; and, in 1560, 
the profelytes to the refor.mft religion, after fruitlefs ap¬ 
peals to their blamelefs conduft, found themfelves com¬ 
pelled to feek fafety in refirtance. The feeds of difeon- 
tent were widely diffufed, and the breath of an able leader 
was only wanting to give them life. This was found in a 
gentleman of Perigord, named John de Bary la Renaudie, 
of an ancient family, but of a ruined fortune. Under a 
feigned name, and in difguife, he traverled the different 
provinces of France, explored the hopes, and inflamed 
the refentments of thofe who profeffed the fame religious 
principles with himfelf; and at length appointed a general 
rendezvous at Nantes, where the parliament of Brittany 
was then fitting. From various parts of the kingdom, 
above two hundred gentlemen of noble extraction, and 
confiderable influence in their refpective diftrifts, attended 
his fummons ; and Renaudie, in glowing' colours, pre- 
fented to their view the arrogance and formidable power 
of the Guifes, the weaknefs of the king, the dangerous 
artifices of Catharine, the wrongs of the proteftants ; and 
their juft hopes that the prince of Conde would place 
himfelf at the head of an affociution, which alone could 
afford fecurity to the public caufe. His fpeech was re¬ 
ceived with univerfal approbation; the confpirators agreed 
to affemble at Blois where the court refided ; to prefent 
a petition to the king to indulge them in the free exercife 
of their religious tenets ; and to feize the perfons of the 
duke of Guile, and the cardinal of I.orrain his brother, 
as enemies to the kingdom, and to the public tranquillity. 
To difconcert tliefe fchemes, the Guifes immediately 
removed the weak and fupine Francis to the caftle of 
Amboiie, as a place more capable of defence ; under the 
royal iignature they commanded the inftant attendance of 
the prince of Conde, the admiral Coligny, and his bro¬ 
ther d’Andelot ; and the prompt obedience of th'efe 
powerful chiefs allayed for the prefent the fears of the 
court, and evinced, whatever might be their private 
wifhes, that they had not openlv embarked in the daring 
project of Renaudie. The duke of Guife himfelf, to 
piovide againft every emergency, was'created lieutenant- 
general, with fupreme power in all caufes, both civil and 
military. 
Though Renaudie was confcious that the court was 
prepared, lie did not defift from his daring enterprife ; 
and feveral of the confpirators, marching in fniall bands, 
and only during the night, appeared at the gates and 
ftruck terror through the caftle of Amboife; they were 
repulfed and cut to pieces by the zeal of the inhabitants, 
animated by the fpirit of the duke of Guife. Several 
parties of the confederates were intercepted ; and the 
baron de Cartel nan, at the head of a confiderable body 
off calvinifts, was inverted in the caftle of Noify by the 
fuperior forces of the duke of Nemours, and furrendered 
on promife of life for himfelf and his affociates. Renaudie, 
informed of the danger of Cartelnau, with a few defperate 
companions, preffed forwards to (hare his fortune. In the 
foreft of Chateau. Re.oaud he was met by the baron de Par- 
daillon, at the head of 1 wo hundred cavalry ; he defended 
himfelf with a bravery heightened by defpair ; and, after 
beholding the (laughter of almoft the whole of his party, 
he 1 'purred his horfe up to Pardaillon, and thrufting a 
poniard through his vizor, laid him dead upon the 
ground. He himfelf was immediately after (hot through 
the thigh, and died fighting defperately to the laft. His 
body was publicly expofed on a gibbet, and a label affixed 
to it, with the infeription of Chief of the Rebels-, and his 
difmembered limbs were afterwards left to putrify on 
ftukes in the neighbourhood of Amboife. 
Yet the fate of Renaudie, and the unrelenting feverity 
of the Guifes, could not extinguirti that flame which re¬ 
ligion had kindled, and which has conftantly been found 
to derive new force from perfecution. In a few days after 
their leader had fallen, La Motive and Coqueville, two of 
the confpirators, penetrated into the fuburbs of Amboife. 
They were overwhelmed by the numbers of the royal 
forces ; and, combating with a refolution that religious 
frenzy alone could infpire, they were buried under the 
ruins of the burning houfes. This fecond attempt fti- 
mulated ihe ardour of juftice ; each haunt of the con¬ 
fpirators was explored ; twelve hundred expired under 
the hand of the executioner; the waters of the Loire 
were purpled with their blood ; and the air was tainted 
with their feetid carcafes, which were denied the rites of 
interment. But the definition of the obfeure multitude 
fatiated not the vengeance of the perfecutors of the re¬ 
formed. The affuranc.es of fafety which Cartelnau had 
received from the duke of Nemours, and the interceffion 
of the moft refpetable noblemen of the court, could not 
preferve him from the implacable enmity of the prince of 
I.orrain ; he fubmitted to his fentence with Chriftian 
fortitude, and rejected every temptation that was held out 
to include the prince of Conde as his accomplice ; a de¬ 
claration to that effeft had been extorted by torture from 
two of his companions ; but Cartelnau firmly refuted 
the afperlion, and in the laft moments of his life afferted 
the innocence of the prince. In the prefence of the king, 
the prince of Conde vindicated his honour from the late 
imputation, and with the intrepidity natural to him, of¬ 
fered to maintain his innocence in (ingle combat againft 
his accufer. The duke of Guife, at whom his defiance 
was levelled, eluded the challenge, by warmly praifing 
the prince’s conduct, and declaring that he was ready to 
be his fecond againft any antagonift ; yet in private he 
urged the propriety of fecuring a chief whofe birth, 
genius, and fpirit, rendered him capable of the moft daring 
enterprifes. But Catharine fecretiy fupported the prince 
of Conde and the hugonots. In a (liort time after the exe¬ 
cution of Cartelnau, an affembly of the nobility was con¬ 
vened 
