Henry III. King of France--Escape of Alençon--Rising of the Huguenots--Revival of the marriage negotiations--Suggested marriage of Queen Elizabeth and Don John of Austria--Efforts of Henry III. and Catharine to provide for Alençon abroad-- Alençon’s negotiations with the Flemings--Flight of Alençon from Paris--Elizabeth’s distrust of French interference in Flanders--Her negotiations with Alençon on the subject--De Bacqueville and De Quincy’s mission to England--L’Aubespine and Rambouillet sent by the King--Spanish fears of the Alençon match--Alençon enters Flanders and clamours for English aid. For the first year after the new King’s arrival in France, he and his brother seemed to hold rival Courts. The King’s, perhaps, was the more horribly and shamelessly licentious, but both were filled with quarrelsome, dissolute, and utterly unscrupulous young men, who gloried in their vices. Those who surrounded the King were mostly Catholics, whilst Alençon’s courtiers were oftener Huguenots and moderates. Between the two Courts quarrels, duels, and secret murders were incessant, and a fresh civil war was the inevitable outcome of such a rivalry. At last matters came to a crisis, and Alençon, on the evening of September 15, 1575, walked out of the Louvre with his face covered, and accompanied only by a single attendant. Outside, in a quiet spot near the Porte Ste. Honoré, his faithful courtier, Jehan Simier, of whom more anon, was waiting with a fair lady’s carriage into which Alençon mounted, and was carried as fast as the horses could gallop to where a body of three hundred horsemen were ready to serve as his escort. They got two hours’ start before the King learnt of his brother’s flight, and orders were given in rage and panic to bring him back at any cost. But Alençon was the heir to the crown, and the courtiers did not care to risk his future displeasure by too much zeal, and he reached Dreux unharmed. There he issued his proclamation, demanding reform of abuses but taking care not to identify himself too closely with the Huguenot cause.