If the Royalists had followed up their success, this might have proved a fatal blow to the Protestants; but Charles IX., jealous of the success of Anjou, the nominal commander at Moncontour, himself took command of the army, and frittered its strength away in besieging Saint-Jean-d’Angely, thus giving the Huguenots time to reorganize their forces. Always greatest in adversity, Coligny, taking with him Henry of Navarre and the young Condé, started southwards from Parthenay (6 October), on that wonderful march afterwards known as the “Journey of the Princes.” A month later saw him at Montauban, where he stayed for a while to rest his troops, and then, crossing the Garonne, he mercilessly ravaged the country south of that river. Recrossing to the north bank, where he was joined by Montgommery with reinforcements, he swept down on Toulouse, burned the country houses of the members of the Parlement in revenge for the judicial murder of one of the late Prince de Condé’s gentlemen two years before, passed by the walls of Carcassonne and Montpellier, and entered Nîmes. Here he turned to the North, and marched through Dauphiné and the Lyonnais to the very heart of France, carrying terror and devastation wherever he went. Meanwhile, a Catholic force under the Maréchal de Cossé had gathered in the Orléannais and marched eastwards to intercept his advance. At Arnay-le-Duc, on 26 June 1570, the two armies met. The Royalists outnumbered their adversaries by more than two to one, and were well provided with artillery, whereas the Huguenots had not a single gun. But Coligny took up a masterly position, which prevented the enemy either from employing their cannon or from outflanking him, and drove them back with heavy loss. It was in this engagement that the two young princes received their “baptism of fire.” Hitherto, notwithstanding their urgent entreaties, Coligny had refused to allow them to expose themselves. Thus, though they had been with the army at Moncontour, they had been ordered to the rear before the battle actually began, accompanied by so large an escort that, according to d’Aubigné, the Huguenot forces were thereby seriously weakened. On the present occasion, however, Coligny’s position was too critical for him to spare an escort, and Henri of Navarre was accordingly given the nominal command of the first line of cavalry, while Condé was at the head of the second. Both took part in several charges, and gave abundant proof that they had inherited the bravery of their warlike ancestors.