History of the Rise of the Huguenots, Vol. 2Baird, Henry Martyn
History
History of the Rise of the Huguenots, Vol. 2
Baird, Henry Martyn
Huguenots
Marshal Tavannes, in Burgundy, earned equal gratitude for his opposition
to the concession of Protestant rights. Not content with remonstrance
respecting a peace which had excited every one "to raise his voice against
the king and Catharine," and with dark hints of the danger of handling so
carelessly a border province like Burgundy,[533] he openly favored the
revival of those "Confraternities of the Holy Ghost" which Charles had so
lately condemned and prohibited. Being himself detained by illness, two of
his sons were present at a meeting of one of these seditious assemblages,
held in Dijon, the provincial capital, where, before a great concourse of
people, the most inflammatory language was freely uttered.[534]
[Sidenote: The "Christian and Royal League."]
[Sidenote: Insubordination to royal authority.]
At Troyes, the capital of Champagne, a similar association assumed the
designation of "the Christian and Royal League." The document, containing
the oath taken by the clergy whom the king's lieutenant had associated
with the nobility and the provincial estates in the "holy" bond, is still
extant, with the signatures of the bishop, the deans, canons, and inferior
ecclesiastics appended.[535] The primary object was the maintenance of
"the true Catholic and Roman Church of God;" and after this the
preservation of the crown for the house of Valois was mentioned. It was to
be sustained "against all persons, without excepting any, save the persons
of the king, his sons and brothers, and the queen their mother, and
without regard to any relationship or alliance," and "so long as it might
please God that the signers should be governed according to the Roman and
Apostolic Church."[536] In less public utterances the spirit of
insubordination to the regal authority made itself understood even more
clearly. When the formation of such associations was objected to, on the
ground of the king's prohibition, the response given by those who
pretended to be better informed than the rest was that the Cardinal of
Lorraine could make the matter agreeable to his Majesty. Others more
boldly announced the intention of the Roman Catholic party, in case
Charles should refuse to sanction its course, to send him to a monastery
for the rest of his days, and elect another king in his place. Three
months' time was all that these blatant boasters allowed for the utter
destruction of the Huguenots in France. An end would be made of them as
soon as the harvest and vintage were past.[537]
[Sidenote: Admirable organization of the Huguenots.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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