Critical condition of France at the accession of Charles IX.--Character and policy of Catherine de’ Medici--The Triumvirate--Catherine leans to the side of the Reformers--The “Edict of January”--Massacre of Vassy--Condé remains faithful to the Protestant cause--Beginning of the civil war--The Protestants, at first successful, soon in a desperate position--Condé turns to England for aid: Treaty of Hampton Court--Fall of Rouen--Condé marches on Paris--Battle of Dreux: the prince taken prisoner--Second captivity of Condé--Assassination of Guise--Conference on the Île-aux-Bœufs--The maids-of-honour--Peace of Amboise--Condé follows the Court. Never had the internal condition of France been more critical, never had she stood more in need of a strong and wise government, than at the moment when the imaginary majority of François II. was succeeded by the real minority of Charles IX. The danger which threatened her was no longer, as in the time of the last Sovereign of that name, a struggle between individual ambitions; private ambitions had now identified themselves with the living forces of the nation; the whole of the nobility and gentry were already engaged in the quarrel of the great factions which divided France, and the mass of the people only awaited the signal to follow their example. And the person who was called upon to deal with this critical situation was Catherine de’ Medici, a woman, a foreigner. During the reign of her husband, Catherine had perforce remained in the background, Henri II. being completely under the influence of his mistress, Diane de Poitiers; under François II., the government, as we have seen, had fallen into the hands of the Guises, and she had been, politically speaking, a mere cipher. But the early death of her eldest son had given her the opportunity which she so ardently desired--for all her life she had hungered for power and influence as a starving man hungers for bread--and having persuaded the King of Navarre to resign his claims to the Regency, in consideration of receiving the title of Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, she at once assumed a quasi-absolute authority. She brought to the task a remarkable knowledge of men and affairs--the fruit of long years of quiet study and observation--a boundless activity, an untiring vigilance, a charm of manner which few who came into contact with her could resist, and a soul depraved by a life of subjection and dissimulation. Her master-passion was to govern through her sons, and she dreaded every influence which might weaken by one iota her personal authority.