Henry of Navarre invested Paris, and it is not questioned that the
Jesuits were amongst the most ardent advocates of resistance to him.
In the later trial before Parlement, which we shall consider, they
admitted that the crown-jewels were deposited in their house during the
siege, and that the chiefs of the League met there. A curious incident
of the siege is worth quoting. Food became painfully scarce, and
half-famished citizens struggled over the possession of cats and rats,
but the inmates of the religious houses remained sleek and comfortable.
The civic authorities ordered an inspection of their houses, and
it is admitted by their apologist that the Jesuits tried to obtain
exemption from this search. When the authorities insisted, a rich
store of food was found in their house. Their fervour in the popular
cause, however, was enough to outweigh this unpleasant discovery, and
they continued to thunder against the heretic. The Duke of Mayenne
was now the Catholic candidate for the throne, though a considerable
number of the Jesuits now looked to Philip of Spain. He was to be, as
in England, the "protector of the faith"--until it was safe for him to
annex the country to his swollen dominions. Sixtus V., however, by no
means shared this Jesuit and Spanish ideal of making Philip the head
of a vast world-power, and he began to negotiate with Henry, whose
forces were gaining ground. Then Sixtus died, and the accession of a
pro-Spanish Pope gave fresh energy to the League. But Paris was weary
of the siege, and, when Henry prudently announced that he was about
to make a serious study of the evidences for the Catholic faith, the
opposition collapsed. The Jesuits were amongst the last in Paris to
fan the dying embers of the League, and when at length, in March 1594,
Henry entered Paris and received the crown, they (with the Capuchins
and Carthusians) refused to submit until the Pope had absolved him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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