The marriage of Condé and Marie de Clèves took place on 10 August, 1572, at the Château of Blandy, near Melun, the seat of the Marquise de Rothelin, mother of the Dowager-Princesse de Condé, in the presence of Charles IX., Henri of Navarre, his _fiancée_ Marguerite de Valois, the two queens, Catherine de’ Medici and Elizabeth of Austria, and a great number of noblemen of both religions; and was celebrated “_tout-à-fait à la Huguenote_.” For the Reformers, however, it seemed to take place under somewhat mournful auspices, since she who had planned it was no more. Jeanne d’Albret had arrived in Paris in the last week in May; on 4 June she was taken ill, and on the 9th she died, at the age of forty-four. Sinister rumour were circulated concerning her death, and it was asserted that the Queen-Mother had caused her to be poisoned. But, as we have pointed out in a previous work, there can be no question that Jeanne’s health had been gradually failing for some time past, and the most trustworthy evidence goes to indicate that she died a natural death.[95] Immediately after the marriage, Condé and his bride came to Paris for the marriage of the young King of Navarre, which was celebrated with the utmost magnificence on Monday, 18 August. But the wedding festivities were of very brief duration; for on the Friday came the attempted assassination of Coligny, and on the Sunday the terrible Massacre of St. Bartholomew, to which Catherine had been driven by the failure of the lesser crime. Very early in the morning--the massacre had begun about two hours after midnight by the murder of Coligny at his lodging in the Rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois--the King of Navarre and Condé, who were both lodged with their brides in the Louvre, were arrested and conducted to Charles IX.’s cabinet. “Take that _canaille_ away!” cried Charles, pointing to the attendants of Navarre, who had been apprehended with their master; and the hapless gentlemen were led out and mercilessly butchered in the courtyard of the palace. Then the half-mad King, who was beside himself with passion, informed the princes that all that was being done was by his orders; that they had allowed themselves to be made the leaders of his enemies, and that their lives were justly forfeited. As, however, they were his kinsmen and connections, he would pardon them, if they conformed to the religion of their ancestors, the only one he would henceforth tolerate in his realm. If not, they must prepare to share the fate of their friends.