Images de page
PDF
ePub

her communing with the occult, her consultations of horoscopes. They were little better than charlatans, though clever and well educated. The elder was an alchemist, the younger an astrologer, but they worked in common. Their minds were regulated by the dictates of imagination and pure thought, as distinct from reason. Judgment and

accuracy in mental processes, which are an outcome of scientific training, were extremely rare at a time when the occult and the mystic were the equivalents of science in our own time. They were honest enough in their ideals, but their methods of investigation were defective. The mechanical process of reasoning was subordinate in a complex, where on the road leading to deduction-illusion and prejudice were harnessed to analysis and induction. Superstition is born of faulty induction when evidence is lacking or defective. Logic was not the servant of these mystics. Their father was chief of the secret University, which turned out Paracelsus, Cardan, Agrippa, and Nostradamus. The last mentioned was also frequently consulted by the Queen of France. A strong character in many respects, Catherine's decisions were, however, influenced by the significance which Ruggieri attached to certain astronomical phenomena. Balzac, whose reason sometimes abdicates in favour of undisciplined emotion, credits these two Italians with great powers of clairvoyance. He pictures them in a scene with Marie Touchet and Charles IX, in which the elder brother makes some astounding prophecies, including the violent deaths of the last of the Valois and the first of the Bourbons.

Ruggieri's room is a feature in the castle of Chaumont near Amboise, and a tower in the Chate u of Blois is known as Catherine's observatory.

V

The death of Francis I was the signal for the Guise family to step into active participation in State control. Henry II, an undutiful son, celebrated his accession by acting in nearly every particular in opposition to the methods of his father. The Constable Montmorency, who had been disgraced under Francis, was immediately recalled to power. Francis, Duke of Guise, obtained full command of the army, his brother the Cardinal, who was almost absolute head of the Church, being invested with practically supreme control of the national exchequer. Diana

of Poitiers assumed a position of great influence. St. André became Field Marshal: Catherine de Medicis had great faith in the sword for adjusting differences, though once it was unsheathed she was ever ready to find an excuse for restoring it to the scabbard. Like Jeanne d'Albert, however, whose influence in French politics came later, she had, at the outset, little to do with shaping Henry's course. Grieved by the loss of her father-in-law and tried by the exigencies of maternity, she had neither inclination nor leisure, even if she were granted the occasion, to play a part in politics. Between the years 1543 and 1554 she had ten children. These people who jumped into power with the advent of Henry were ambitious and war-loving. Guise made a hobby of armaments and military preparation. Montmorency, who had been eating the bitter bread of banishment,' had no desire to remain inactive when restored to place and power. St. André, to whom fighting was la sève de la vie, took precedence of Guise after a time, owing to the intervention of certain loyalists who had no faith in Balafré's motives. Diana loved battle because she

[ocr errors]

was not a good peace-loving woman. 'Ils etoient quatre qui le devoroient comme un lion sa proie,' says Vieilleville.

Certes the royal will was duly swayed by this camarilla, but it would be wrong to shoulder them with entire responsibility for subsequent events. Unlike Francis in many respects, there was, however, one aspect of his father's policy to which Henry adhered-the warring propensity. He pursued war for war's sake. Neither he nor his satellites loved peace, and with this knowledge he chose them. One of these whose name to the father was anathema remained in baneful relation to the son: mutual aversion and fear between the new king and the Emperor Charles were at once apparent. A special messenger of condolence was sent to France by the imperial court on the death of Francis I, but this act, which might have been construed into a desire for pacific relations, made no impression on Henry; and when the latter invited the emperor to be present at his coronation Charles, in reply, expressed his desire to accept at the head of 50,000 men!

A summary of the principal wars of Henry's reign, with a study of their causes in so far as we can understand them, their political and religious aspects, his part in the control of the armies in the field, will give some insight into his career. European European politics were now even more complex

than in the reign of Francis I, when the mutual hatred and jealousy existing between the French and German rulers formed the real basis of all strife, the fons et origo mali. But a little consideration will make the sequence of events fairly clear. We must look first to Germany. Charles V was now at the zenith of his power, after his signal victory over the Lutherans, the Landgrave of Hesse and the Elector of Saxony. He wished to alter the system in vogue for election to the imperial throne, making it hereditary in the house of Austria. He was strongly suspected, like his predecessor Maximilian, of having designs on the Papal throne for himself, a suspicion which caused irritation, not only in Rome but in France, where, too, the dependence of the German States seemed to augur badly for French progress. Pope Paul III, in an anxious moment, removed the Ecumenical Council of Trent to Bologna, and preparation was made for war in Italy and France. The Pope, after some hesitation, formed an alliance with France, and Guise was sent to Rome to sustain it.

Paul III showed great energy and decision in comparison with his predecessors Leo X and Clement VII. Had he been in power some ten or fifteen years earlier the course of the Reformation might have been different. With advancing years, however, disappointment and age affected his mental powers. He had become weak and vacillating, and the attentions of Guise, who seemed destined for the throne of the Sicilies, were thought necessary as a stimulus. Cardinal Guise-he was not Cardinal of Lorraine till 1550-had also considerable influence at Rome. The Papal Bull for the establishment of the Inquisition came through him. He was French representative at the Council of Bologna. His eloquence was much admired, even by his enemies the Calvinists. Clever and diplomatic as they were the brothers Guise soon found their task too difficult with the Pontiff. The removal of the Council from Trent took place ostensibly because further efforts at reconciliation with the Lutherans were deemed hopeless, but fear of the absolute power of the Emperor was the real cause. It was almost certainly an error of judgment; it bears for posterity the appearance of Papal admission of failure; it made the breach wider. Charles endeavoured to restore the assembly to its former seat, but was met with decided refusal. He then appointed an interim administrative council, consisting of one Lutheran and two Catholic

theologians, which annoyed Rome still more. It was a sort of opposition assembly to that at Bologna, which was attended by Italian and French prelates. The separation was the immediate cause of the Pope's alliance with France, and it must be considered a factor in the causation of the wars which followed.

The disaffection of the Florentines, under Cosmo de Medicis, and the banishment of Strozzi, held out an inducement to Henry to prepare for an attack on Milan, in conjunction with the exile and Louis Farnese. The latter, who had received Plaisance, fief of the Holy See, had himself designs on the Duchy of Milan. Naples and Milan governed by the Spaniards, Florence governed by the de Medicis, and Genoa governed by the Doria were all on the side of the Emperor. The French had the support of Rome, and of Parma, under Farnese, ably seconded by Strozzi and Fieschi. Fieschi, Count of Lavagna, a hereditary enemy of the Doria house, took Genoa by surprise (1547), but at the moment of victory was drowned in the harbour. The Pope wavered before the prospect of attacking Milan, much as he desired it, and much as he had prepared for it. The appeals and importunities of Guise did not avail, and much time was lost. Paul III soon found an excuse for the complete rupture of the alliance, because he considered the intervention of the French in Scotland imprudent, in the face of the danger at home and the probable difficulties with England which it involved. The Scotch regent, Marie of Guise, had appealed to France for help to suppress the assassins of Cardinal Beatoun. The Pope died in the following year (1549).

With the political situation described above, other troubles cropped up in France, in the shape of salt tax riots and exacerbations of religious difficulties. The riots took place in the province of Guyenne; they were still more formidable than those of La Rochelle in 1541. The insurgents were more numerous and better equipped; they routed the soldiers of Navarre, who was governor, and assassinated Moneins, his chief, at Bordeaux. A few brigades were requisitoned from the army to suppress the revolt, and prompt reprisals were taken. Some one hundred and fifty of the ringleaders were compelled to disinter the body of Moneins with their nails, and were then executed. But the rigour and severity of these measures did not cure the spirit of rebellion. It was the occasion for the

[ocr errors]

production of Etienne de la Boetie's Voluntary Servitude,' a symptom of ferment, and prelude to the coming religious and political turmoil.

The Duke of Somerset, during the minority of Edward the Sixth, was a partisan of the reformers; they had great freedom in England, where their numbers and power were becoming greatly augmented. There was uneasiness in France at the situation. An excuse for war with England was desired so that a bid might be made for Boulogne and Calais. The English were accused of fortifying Boulogne, in opposition to the terms of the treaty. The casus belli came with the despatch of French troops to Scotland, already mentioned, and the engagement of Mary Stuart to the Dauphin a little later. She was brought to France by Villegagnon in 1548. The declaration of war actually came from England.

Open profession of the reformed religion was made by many prominent men in France, and though the real crisis from this came at the end of Henry's reign, Calvin had already many successes at the beginning of it. Coligny, Dandelot, the Prince of Condé, and many others followed the example of the King of Navarre and embraced Protestantism. Some members of the clergy and one Bishop, at least, the Bishop of Nevers, turned Huguenot. The name Huguenot, probably derived from the German word Eidgenossen, was at this time coming into general use. There were two types of Huguenot. Some were actuated by religious fervour alone, but the majority by politics in the main. The accusation of heresy alone was rare; it generally connoted charges of treason and conspiracy. Coligny, the leader of the Calvinists, in the field was loyal in politics until the final rupture. The peasants rose later against all taxes, tithes, and revenue. La Renaudie, a gentleman of Gascony, who was the real instigator of the first religious war, had to leave France owing to his uncompromising stand. He lived for some years at Berne, acting in concert with Calvin, to whom his intimate knowledge of the higher world in France was of great service. The press came to the aid of both sides in the struggle, and rendered it very acute. Parliament viewed the situation with alarm; some of its members favoured the adoption of physical force against the Huguenots, but a few of the others, more valorous than discreet, rose to denounce what they called clerical tyranny and absolutism. Certain

« PrécédentContinuer »